Chapter Three

Standing on the beach, the daylight fading and Pearl's poofed gemstone in his pocket, Steven Universe listened as Garnet and Amethyst tried to tell them what they claimed was his 'real' life story. That Garnet was his guardian, his teammate, his family. That five years ago she had gone on a solo mission to investigate an abandoned Homeworld laboratory, and accidentally released a Gem who'd been kept in a stasis pod. That Gem had been Spinel, and Garnet had had visions of her powers: the ability to rewrite memories. That she'd Seen her doing terrible things with her abilities, using the Crystal Gems and humans alike, bending them to her will. Spinel had panicked, and fought back, and managed to poof her, throwing Ruby and Sapphire's gems into stasis.

Amethyst had taken over next, explaining her side of things. How an ordinary day at the Barn had been interrupted when Lapis had apparently gone crazy, acting like they were still enemies, attacking them. How Spinel had been the one egging her on, who had made Lapis force Amethyst to the ground.

Garnet's next memory was reforming in the laboratory as Ruby and Sapphire. Amethyst's next memory was reforming in the beach house, in the middle of a fight.

Steven listened, taught, to all of it, not saying a word until they were finished. Once they were done, he paused for a moment, considering.

"That's BS," he decided.

Garnet winced, more from the emotions in his voice than the words themselves.

Amethyst just stared. "Dude—"

"The story's impossible. Spinel can't be some plant. And there's no way we have a fusion as a team. Fusion is just— just wrong, on every conceivable level—"

"Dude! We literally live inside the statue of a giant fusion!"

Amethyst gestured wildly at the Temple above them, its two stone faces turned out, keeping a constant vigil on the sea and sky. Steven stared at the statue as if seeing it for the first time.

"That's not a fusion!" he protested.

"It has eight arms," said Amethyst.

"I count three."

"That's because a bunch of the hands broke off!" she yelled. "And yeah, a couple of them are sorta hidden by the house, but they're there—"

Garnet tried a different tactic. "The gemstones," she said. "Look at its gemstones. Pearl's at the head, Amethyst as the chest, Rose Quartz at the belly, Sapphire and Ruby at the hands—"

Steven put his hands on his hips, partly to reassure himself with the touch of Pearl's gemstone under his palm. "I don't see those last three."

"BECAUSE THE HANDS FELL OFF AND THE HOUSE IS BLOCKING THE STOMACH!" Amethyst screamed.

But it was no use. Steven refused to listen, and so they'd reached something of an emotional stand off.

Garnet and Amethyst wouldn't leave him, were determined to teach him the truth. But from Steven's perspective, two complete strangers had come into his house, attacked his family, and were now mind controlling them. The only reason he wasn't attacking them right now, and trying to free Spinel, was because he knew he was outnumbered and outmatched.

But Amethyst was stubborn, and wouldn't give up. "Look," she said, "what if I showed you proof that Garnet's a Crystal Gem, and has been for a long time?"

"Sure," said Steven, crossing his arms. "But you're not going to be able to, because there isn't any."

Amethyst smirked. "Sure there is. In my room. Come on."

Steven looked curious despite himself, but he refused to budge. "I'm not leaving Spinel alone."

"She'll be fine under the sand," said Garnet.

Steven made it clear how little he appreciated the fusion's reassurance. But he did realize that the only alternative was just standing there all night, and so finally agreed to go with Amethyst and Garnet, if only to 'keep an eye' on the fusion.

They made it up to the Temple, which was filled with the smell of burning. They paused briefly to turn off the oven. ("The casserole is ruined," Steven lamented, and shot Garnet a venomous look as he silently added one more casualty to her list of crimes).

"We'll buy you a pizza," Amethyst said she dragged Steven towards the Temple door. Garnet suspected this was partly to prevent Steven making a break for the Warp Pad, and pulling Lapis and Peridot into this. A battle with them was the last thing any of them needed.

As they approached the door, Amethyst gemstone began to glow with a purple light. Garnet held up her hand to stop her, and said, "Perhaps I should do it."

Amethyst nodded, her glow fading.

Steven watched with growing unease as the fusion raised both her hands. The gemstones embedded in her palms radiated with light, and the blue and red stones on the Temple door glowed in response. There was a woosh as the burning room came into view.

She could open the Temple. That was impossible. Only Crystal Gems had access! Not even Peridot or Lapis could—

— and neither could Spinel, Steven realized, with a lurch. Spinel had always needed someone to help her get in.

Garnet stepped into the room as if she owned the place, huffing out the faintest sigh of relief. Steven followed her and Amethyst uneasily, noticing the way the fusion paused for a moment, apparently to survey the sea of bubbled gems hanging overhead. Then without a word she set out, and without directions followed one of the many paths which lead towards Amethyst's room.

One they'd arrived, Amethyst immediately began digging into a random trash pile. After a moment, she dragged out a huge picture frame.

"TA-DA~!" she declared, presenting a portrait of Rose Quartz, Amethyst, Pearl… and Garnet.

"I… remember this," said Steven, leaning close. "But… Spinel was the one here, not…?"

"But she wasn't," Garnet said.

He glared at her. "You changed it."

"What? The big bad fusion has scary painting changing powers now?" asked Amethyst.

Steven shook his head. "You planted it. An altered picture to try and trick me."

"That's some planning ya think we have," Amethyst said.

"Not you, Amethyst," Steven corrected, before turning a hardened gaze at Garnet. "You."

"Alright. Ya want something a little more?" Amethyst asked. "I got something for ya."

Amethyst ran off deeper into her room, and Steven had no choice but to follow. She dug real deep into a junk pile— so deep that it threatened to fall down, and Garnet had to hold it up. Finally she came with a huge cardboard box, one covered in dust and some sort of dripping green substance. Steven took it from her before she could open it, carefully lifting up the flaps.

"My… drawings?" said Steven. "You kept this stuff?"

"I keep everything," said Amethyst. "These are your doodles and stuff from when you were like, six or seven."

And sure enough, the box was filled with scrawled pictures in all manner of crayons, pencils and markers. There were a lot of pictures of elephants (' Your elephant phase ,' Garnet wanted to say, but didn't), and flowers, and trees…

… and one picture proudly declaring 'My Famely' in distinctive child handwriting, showing five figures, recognisable for all that it was simplistic. Steven had a red shirt with a star; Amethyst was a roundish purple lump with long hair; Pearl essentially a stick figure; Greg wore the biggest smile…

… and there was a figure clearly meant to be Garnet. No mistaking with how tall she was, or her red coloring, or the square hair or the glasses.

"How..?" Steven breathed, and he kept digging deeper. But there was more evidence. Not just drawings, but the occasional photograph, from the old disposable film cameras. And spelling practice, too; not just list of vocabulary words like fruits and animals, but handmade ones for names. 'Steven' was there, but also Pearl and 'Amefist' ("Oh, yeah, I remember telling you to spell it that way," Amethyst chuckled. "That was fun.")

And again, there was Garnet. But no Spinel.

"This can't be possible."

"It is," Garnet said. He looked at her, and her glasses evaporated. She could feel tears misting her eyes. "Steven, I am a Crystal Gem, and I've been with you…" she was going to say ' the whole time ', "since you were born."

Steven felt his lips tremble. His memories were there, he... saw Spinel, through his entire life. She'd there when he had first summoned shield, when he'd first met Connie, on their first mission.

But looking in this box... full of his childhood scribblings... Garnet was here. But no Spinel... not a trace.

"You... Spinel has been..." It all settled over him. His life, the life he thought he'd known…

Was a... lie?

"I can't believe this." Steven shook his head. "We-... We need to talk to Spinel. Something… weird is happening."

Amethyst snorted.

It was then that a light began to spill out of his pocket.

"Already?" Steven said, fishing Pearl's gemstone out.

"Pearl can be fast when the situation calls for it," Garnet commented.

The gemstone floated into the air, a beautiful white silhouette cycling through dozens of forms before a new body materialized. Nobody paid much attention to the outfit as Pearl came down to the floor. "Stars, what happened?" Pearl asked. "Did anyone see what got me?"

"Uhhhh..." said Amethyst, awkwardly.

"Pearl?" said Steven.

Pearl turned, and her eyebrows flew up. She took in Steven's 'new' height; the broad shoulders, the curlier hair, the muscles under his fat, the stubble on his chin. "More shape-shifting troubles, Steven?"

"Uh... no. I just look like this now."

"Really? My, that was fast. You look very nice though." She smiled, then turned to Garnet. "How long was I out?"

"Complicated question," said Garnet. "You were poofed for approximately an hour. But you've missed a great deal more. We all have."

Pearl took the explanation better than Garnet thought she would. In all honesty, it was always kind of hard predicting what Pearl would and wouldn't panic about, even with future vision. A gem monster destroyed half the house and winters coming? ' Well, we better get started rebuilding .' The wheatloaf was overcooked and they'd have to order out? 'Steven's going to have stunted growth! I read it in a book !'

Thankfully, though Pearl was fairly calm, all things considered.

"The last thing I remember... I heard Steven calling my name." Pearl said. "But when I got to him, he grabbed me by the wrist and..." She furrowed her brow. "The next thing I remember is regenerating here."

Garnet said. "I don't believe that was Steven who grabbed you, Pearl."

Pearl titled her head. "Then who was it?"

Amethyst snorted. "The snake buried in the sand right now."

"Pardon?"

"Spinel, dude."

"Okay, can we stop the Spinel dissing, please?" said Steven. "I'm willing to accept that this fusion was around when I was a kid, and something's going on with my memories, but I'm not letting you turn on our friend."

"'This fusion'?" Pearl echoed, shocked at the venom in Steven's voice.

"Fusions are immune to Spinel's abilities," said Garnet. "I believe she implanted Steven with an intense dislike of fusion in general, and of me specifically."

"Not true," said Steven. "I dislike fusion because it hurts people. I dislike you because you attacked my family, and are probably mind controlling them."

"Dude, if Garnet could really mind control people by poofing them, why didn't we just poof Spinel and take control of her?"

"Uh..." said Steven, clearly grasping at some sort of explanation. He and Amethyst began a debate— or more of a flat out argument— as Steven tried to construct increasingly elaborate explanations. He seemed completely unwilling to even consider the possibility that Spinel wasn't completely trustworthy, or that Garnet might have been telling the truth.

Pearl watched with growing concern, then edged closer to Garnet. "You think it's about fusions and you specifically?"

"Yes."

"What about Ruby and Sapphire?"

"I..." Garnet considered. Then she breathed out, and allowed herself to unfuse.

The light caught Steven's attention. He had almost summoned shield when the glow was gone, revealing Ruby and Sapphire once again.

"Steven," Sapphire said, her voice cool the his ear. "We're not trying to mislead you. We only want to help. As we always have."

"Yeah!" Ruby added. "Listen, you... don't like fusion. You don't trust Garnet. Then... can you give us a chance?"

Steven bit his lip. They weren't fused... and they seemed to prefer to be fused. And if they weren't going to insit in staying in such a monstrous shape, then… maybe... maybe a bit of trust was needed.

"Alright," he said, rubbing his arms. "Let's say I'm buying into this, at least a little. I want to talk to Spinel. Will you let me do that?"

"Yes," said Sapphire.

"But we can't let her touch anyone," said Ruby.

"Well, I can't just keep her tied up in my whip," said Amethyst. "I'll be honest: it's sort of exhausting keeping it out all the time."

"We can build her a containment cage," said Pearl. "We should still have all the wreckage from the handship, and I'm sure Peridot will help me reassemble it."

That was fair enough. And the mention of Peridot made Steven think of something else. "The others have got to be here for this. We're not making any decisions behind their backs."

"Sensible," Pearl agreed.

"Yeah. Peri, Connie and Lapis have t'know what's going on," said Amethyst.

"And Bismuth, and Jasper, and the rubies," added Steven.

A silence fell.

"What?" said Amethyst.

Sapphire could feel flakes of ice forming at her feet. Surely...

Sapphire could remember Jasper falling into the ocean, beyond any of their reach Then there had been the tale Steven had told them, about Jasper begging Lapis on the boat... attacking Steven and Connie on their mission...

And the rubies... The same ones from that had come in the ship? That they had tricked into playing baseball against? Most likely. But...

" Bismuth ..." Pearl said softly. "You... you mean..."

"It's probably a different Bismuth," said Ruby.

Sapphire nodded. Surely. It had to be.

"Yes... I suppose so," Pearl sighed.

Steven stared at them, and kept shaking his head in disbelief as they made their way out of the temple. "You guys really can't remember the last five years?" he asked. "I mean, these are some of our closest friends . Pearl, you and Spinel were so overjoyed when I found Bismuth."

"Uh, who's Bismuth?" Amethyst asked, as the door shut behind them.

"Yeah, that's exactly what you said then, too," said Steven, allowing himself a small smile as he remembered. "Bismuth is one of the original Crystal Gems."

Another stunned silence. Pearl, Ruby and Sapphire looked like they'd been hit with lightning.

"You found Bismuth?" Ruby asked. "Our Bismuth?"

Steven nearly protested how Bismuth wasn't theirs, but realized that'd be kind of petty. She got what the Ruby meant. "Yeah. She was in Lion's mane."

"H-how?" said Pearl. "Why?"

"I dunno. Guess Mom found a way to protect her or something." Steven shrugged. "Never really came up. We all agreed the important thing was that she was here now."

Pearl couldn't help but gawk at him. Bismuth, the Bismuth, the Bismuth that had helped Pearl forge her first sword.

They had found her. And... didn't feel the need to ask more.

"Where is she?" Pearl asked, trying to keep her voice level.

"The lighthouse," Steven answered simply. "She lives there, since there's not much room at the barn, what with Lapis, Peridot, Jasper, and the rubies living there."

"I... see," Pearl said, in a tone that suggested that she really didn't.

"Please, Steven," Sapphire said. "We can... discuss this when we're all gathered. Let us get everyone together."

"Okay. Wait up. Before we go any farther," said Amethyst. "So. This Bismuth is a friend, right? But what about the rest? Like, I'm assuming these are the same rubies we played baseball with?"

Steven nodded.

"Okay, that's probably fine, then," said Amethyst. The rubies hadn't seemed like much of a threat to anyone. "But Jasper? Miss 'Screaming and Punching'? How do we know she's on the level?"

"Because she's changed, Amethyst," said Steven. "I know you can't remember... but we talked with her. Showed her how great Earth is. She's apologized for all the stuff she did, she and Lapis get along great now." He sighed when he saw all the exchanged glances. "You think Spinel mind controlled her, too?"

"It seems like a possibility," said Pearl.

"More than 'a possibility'," Amethyst snorted.

"I am very glad we didn't destroy Spinel's form," said Sapphire. "Releasing their mind control prematurely could have been disastrous."

"Okay, look, you guys can worry and chatter as long as you like," said Steven, stepping onto the warp pad. "But I'm going to tell our friends what's going on. Coming?"