"Steven I need you to listen to me."
His eyes blink open and his surroundings come into foggy perspective. Where was he? A giant crystal cavern, surrounding him was only a warm glowing pink.
He squints.
"Garnet? Amethyst? Pearl?" His voice echoes around the room, he couldn't tell how big it was. The light distorted perspective and the echoes bounced in no particular pattern.
"They are not here, Steven. Do you remember what happened?" The voice was comforting. He knows it from somewhere, where does he know that voice? Where was he?
"Try and remember, Steven."
O
Earlier that day…
"Aaamethyst will you cut that out?" Pearl's voice interrupts incessant giggling as Steven watches Amethyst attempt to eat the next forsaken food she dug up from her pile of junk. Pearl sighs and picks up something on the floor when suddenly the portal buzzes to life and Garnet beams through. She seems distressed, her movements jerky and tense, but her tone is steady.
"We have a serious problem." Stone faced, she beckons them to follow her. The crystal gems leap on the portal after her and beam away from the temple.
"What's going on? Is Steven ok to handle this? Where are we going?" Ever fretting, Pearl asks through the buzzing light surrounding them.
"It's the old battlefield. Dark clouds, lots of monsters. I don't know where they came from or how they got there but they really resemble..." Garnet trails off.
"Resemble what?" Steven asks.
"Gems. Actual gems but, not. They are, were- mashed together." They take a second to let this sink in.
"But that's impossible! There are no gems left on earth, only monsters, we drove Homeworld away from here millennia ago!" Pearl argues.
"I'm not saying that's what they are; I'm saying that's what they look like." Before they can continue, the portal stops and they land on the other platform.
"Get down quick!" Garnet pushes them into a group of bushes by the portal. Explosions rock the ground.
"Woah G, you weren't kidding." Amethyst comments, looking over at the monsters. They were big, overturning rocks and blasting into hills.
"I fought one up close, away from the others. It looked like-" Garnet shudders.
"Fusion. But not real- it's not real fusion!" Her voice has a tone of panic.
"What do you mean?" Pearl whispers.
"Those gems were broken shards, forced together in a sick display of power. Only Homeworld could have done this."
The gems murmur uncomfortably, unsure of what to say.
"Are they looking for something?" Steven whispers. The monsters are tearing into the ground.
Garnet regains her composure. "Looks like it, but it doesn't matter what. The important thing is that they don't find it. We have to stop whatever this is as soon as possible. Help who these gems used to be. Let's move out." Garnet pointed ahead of her and the crystal gems leap into battle.
They fight for what feels like forever, the monsters were unceasing and never tired. Garnet smashes one and turns to Steven, a conflicted look on her face.
"Steven I need you to hide. This battle may take longer than we thought."
"Ok." Steven gladly obliges and camps out in a small bush near her; always watching to make sure none of them spotted him or would step on his bush. The gems seemed really unnerved and upset this battle, Garnet especially. He understood some things about fusion, but not enough apparently to see what was going on. He takes a little while to recover and then decides to check on everyone.
Steven creeps forward from his hiding spot. Garnet is taking on two of the monster warriors at once and there are flashes over the hill where Pearl is. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Amethyst poof one when Garnet suddenly turns around, leaping towards him.
"Steven look out!" He summons Rose's shield almost instantly but before he could turn, blinding pain pierces his back and the last thing he sees is Garnet's terrified face as the world disappears with a poof.
O
Steven snaps out of his flashback. The pink room was silent and still glowing. He remembered the voice.
"Wait, did I... die?" He looks at his hands. They seem fine, but they are shaking.
"Please- who are you, please tell me where I am!" His voice rises to a shout.
"Steven look around you. It's going to be alright. Don't panic, you just got poofed. You're in your gem." The voice came again, and suddenly he knew where he had heard it. The tapes!
"Mom?"
"Yes Steven, it's me."
"What are you doing here? Where are you? Can I see you?"
"I'm part of you, remember?.. It's nice to talk to you, even if it is under these circumstances."
Despite his fear, Steven smiles. The pink room seemed little brighter.
"Now Steven, I need you to listen closely. Your physical form was badly damaged in that battle. Not mortally, thankfully, and your gem is still safe. You poofed, but you're still part human." Her voice was so comforting, even with the ominous news.
"So what does that mean?" The fear crept back into his voice.
"I don't want to take over. You have such an important life to live, such wonderful things to experience, Steven! And I will live on through you. But in order to stay, you have to be strong and brave. Can you do that Steven?"
He nods with determination.
O
The other monsters were destroyed soon, their gems lying in shards around the strawberry fields. They hadn't bothered to poof them yet. The gems pay no heed to them as they hold the rose Quartz gem close.
Now Garnet was talking to herself, pacing through the bushes, the ground smoldering and then freezing below her feet. The other gems had never seen her do anything like that before, then again, nothing like this had ever happened before either.
"This is our fault, if we had just seen it sooner, we were blinded by ignorance and pain of these, these things, we didn't try and see- it's my fault! I blinded us! You could have seen it but I didn't want to look I was so focused on- this is not just you! You can't try and take the blame off me too I know this was my-I know too!-aaaAAAGGH!" Pearl turned around, her vision blurry with tears to see Garnet's form glow and pull apart in a bright light. The purple gems now glowed red and blue and swirled around in turmoil before finally pulling themselves back into her shape.
Garnet stands there in silence for a few seconds before turning back around.
"We have to be together. For him." Pearl nods, even through the comment wasn't directed at her and she pretends not to notice the tears falling from behind the concealment of Garnet's visor.
"Let's go home."
No one had the heart to voice what they were all thinking. They teleport back in silence. Gems could regenerate themselves, but Steven was half human. They landed in the temple, it was dark outside. Amethyst finally broke the quiet.
"What are we going to tell Greg?"
This pushed the gems back into an even more uncomfortable silence.
"I blame myself. It was my duty to protect Rose and I..." Tears well up in Pearl's eyes and splash onto the gem she clutched in her hands.
"I failed."
Amethyst grimaces at her words.
"We all blame ourselves Pearl. But that won't bring Steven back and you know it."
Pearl is shocked by Amethyst's brash comment and grits her teeth, ready to snarl back a retort when Garnet puts a hand on each of their shoulders.
"We need to stay together. For Steven."
"Well- well what if it's not Steven who comes back?!" Amethyst's voice rises to a yell. Garnet couldn't answer that.
"Well we won't know until someone comes out of that gem!" Pearl retorts.
"Easy for you to say! Why would you care who reforms? You probably want Rose back! What do you care about Steven?"
Pearl gasps, her face a mixture of horror and rage.
"How could you say- how dare you-"
Amethyst storms off to her room before Pearl can gather her enraged thoughts into a comprehensible sentence. Garnet places her hand back on Pearl's shoulder and then sits down.
"Don't mind her Pearl, she's just upset. We're all having trouble coming to terms with what just happened. We are much more unsure of the road ahead than we normally are and it scares us. She just needs some time and reassurance."
"How are you always so- calm and collected?" Pearl whispers, finally calming down.
"I'm not. I'm afraid too. I know you saw me back at the fields." Garnet holds out her hands and Pearl sees that they are shaking, the purple gems reflecting the dim lighting of the house.
"Can't you- can't you see what's going to happen?" Pearl says, looking up into Garnet's visor.
"Your future vision..."
"I can't see this." Garnet breaks her gaze.
"I don't know why, I can't- I..."
They lapse back into silence, sitting on the temple floor.
"I've seen so many different things but this; no one has ever seen something like this happen before. I saw the monster that hurt him... I don't know why I couldn't stop it. I was so blinded with rage at Homeworld, the things they did to those gems, I suppose I didn't look out for the gems that mattered most." Garnet continues solemnly. A voice joins from the other side of the portal.
"Hey G? I'm sorry too. You know we don't blame you. Or you, Pearl." The two look up to see Amethyst in the temple doorway.
Pearl smiles though tears and gestures her over, and the three gems fall into a hug, holding the Rose Quartz gem in between them.
O
"Steven, we have to regenerate your human self. This gem does not possess the ability to heal it, and even with our healing powers you are still very badly damaged. I had no idea... No idea that..." Rose's voice shakes slightly.
"But you're going to be ok. You have to be strong, Steven. We have to be strong together."
Tears well up in Steven's eyes. He nods again. He can do this.
"Please tell the gems and Greg that it's not their fault. I know you believe that too. They've done all they can do and we both love them so much. Make sure they know that.
So- are you ready?"
Steven pauses before answering.
"Hey mom?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, darling. Don't ever forget that."
The pink walls light up almost blindingly, and Steven feels himself growing, the light exploding outward as the world forms around him. It's beautiful, and suddenly there a room around him and white hot pain in his back, and he collapses to the ground of the temple.
"STEVEN!" a loud shriek, he can't tell who said it.
"Hos-pital." He manages to answer weakly before blacking out.
O
He awakes to beeping and worried voices all around him.
"He's waking up I think he's waking up!" One sentence he makes out as the white walls of the hospital room and the faces poised around him come in to focus.
His dad, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, all break out into huge smiles as he takes them in.
"Guys?" He croaks.
"Hi Steven" Garnet grins and his dad pulls him into a gentle but firm hug, quickly joined by the rest of the gems and his dad. He can't help but cry again, they're going to be so happy when he tells them about mom-
"Steven you're ok! I'm so, so happy you're back-" His dad is crying too, they must have been so worried, how long was he in his gem?
"Oh Steven we were so worried, I'm so sorry this happened to you I'm so glad you're alright!" Pearl chimes back in.
"Yo Ste-man! Good to have you back buddy!" Amethyst grabs his arm.
"How did you regenerate your human form?" Pearl asks in between waves of emotion.
"Sorry, not a good time."
"Someone needs to call Connie." Garnet adds.
"Aaand the rest of Beach City while you're at it." Amethyst grins, brushing away a tear.
"Steven's ok!"