To the Guest that made the super long review about what I'm doing wrong with my writing and how I need to improve specifically on my descriptive writing...Jesus Christ, thank you! Please contact me somehow because I would love to express my gratitude and discuss further with you about my writing. It really helps me out, those are the kind of reviews I'm looking for. Thank you so so much.

To the guest who reported me because i was in violation of one of the rules...what real person/people do I have in this story? I'm not mad or anything, but can you explain that to me? I actually do want to know what I'm doing wrong so I don't do it again in the future. But I don't have any real people in this story, so it seems like you're reporting me just to be a dick. I know you're probably not being a dick and is actually trying to help, but talk to me via my contact info on my profile or leave another review. Thanks.

And here's my tenth chapter for this story. Sorry it's so short, I'm going to be doing better with making longer chapters, but I wanted to get this chapter our of the way so I can move on with the plot. Enjoy.

The crew of gems along with Carnelian and this new fusion Aqua Cobalt helped pull the body of Connie Maheswaren out of the water and set her on a homemade stretcher. They carried the stretcher into the house and set Connie on the couch in the living room. And they just stared at her pale corpse in disbelief and loss, not knowing what to do next.

The friendly gem allies that had came to aid in the fight were there.

Carnelian Quartz and Amethyst were there.

Peridot, who had recently reformed into her signature outfit from before the war, and the new fusion known as Aqua Cobalt were there too.

And so was Soren. He had woken up when everyone barged in with Connie's body. And once he heard what had happened, he felt an overwhelming guilt for not being there to fix things and from being the one at fault for hurting Peridot.

But something happened while everyone stared at the deceased woman.

Every Gem there came together. There were no arguments or disagreements, fights or anything. Everyone was mourning for different reasons.

The allied gems were mourning because a hero from the Second Gem War had died. Was murdered in cold blood.

The Crystal Gems were sad because one of their friends, a member of their mixed face, was dead.

And Soren felt responsible.

Peridot felt absolutely terrible for what she had done. Connie had been trying to bring the Crystal Gems together so they could be a family again. But Peridot just botched any chance for reunion forever, and all because she was jealous. That destroyed her at her very core, and she wished for nothing more than to have Connie back.

Unbeknownst to the Original Crystal Gems, Aqua Cobalt looked at the corpse with a saddening expression, despite not ever meeting Connie. Each of her eyes were crying, meaning that both of the Gems who made Cobalt were sad. But no one noticed.

Then breaking the silence, someone spoke.

"To all the Gems who arrived to help me in battle with the exception of Cobalt, leave now and return to your tenements on the beach.

Without saying a word, they all left except Cobalt.

"Why do you need me here? " Cobalt asked.

"You said you knew Peridot." Carnelian said. "I will discuss that issue with you, but first I need to do something."

Then Carnelian unfused back into Ruby and Jasper. Cobalt gave them a look of shock, but Ruby, ignoring her, walked up to Peridot. Then she summoned her gauntlet and sucker punched Peridot in the gut.

"WE NEVER SHOULD HAVE TRUSTED YOU!" She screamed in a fit of rage, beating Peridot.

The others rushed to stop Ruby's rampage except Cobalt, who was standing there with tears in her eyes. As Amethyst and Soren pulled away Ruby, there was a voice that dominated the room.

"Enough!" Jasper shouted.

Everyone immediately froze and looked at her.

"What in the Hell is wrong with us? Is this what we are? Is this who we've become? All we ever do is fight. We argue, we fight, we bicker, and for what? When I renounced my loyalty to Yellow Diamond 14 years ago, I joined the Crystal Gems because I wanted to have what you had, love. You were a family, something that gems on Homeworld never had. I wanted to have a cause worth fighting for and be whoever and whatever I wanted to be. I had so many reasons to protect Earth and leave my home forever, but the one that made me stay was you guys. You and Steven. After Steven left, it broke us all, and I get that. But we all thought that was a good enough reason to fight against our fellow gems and betray one another. We lost the light of our lives, but we had each other. Why have we become these monsters? How did we become monsters? Is this why Steven left? Because we're monsters? Or did him leaving cause all this to happen? Well whatever the answer is, we need to change. Right now. If we ever want to find ourselves and get Steven back, we need to get all of our issues in check now, or The Crystal Gems will be no more. Do I make myself clear?"

All the Gems nodded.

Then Cobalt spoke. "Guys, look at Connie's necklace."

Everyone turned to face the body only to be overwhelmed with shock and confusion. The gem necklace around Connie's neck was glowing. And then something very strange happened...

Flashback to 14 years ago, before the war began.

May 17, 2017

Connie had just turned 14 when she had gotten the Gem necklace. It was a birthday gift from Steven, and she has absolutely adored it. The minute she opened the box with it inside she immediately put it on.

"I hope you like it." Steven said. "I made it myself."

"Steven it's beautiful, thank you so much!" Connie exclaimed.

"That isn't just any necklace Connie." Steven claimed. "It's made with magic, and it has special abilities."

"Really? What does it do?" Connie asked excitedly.

"Well if I told you what it did, it wouldn't work. And I made it was very special way. I made it so that whenever you need it, it'll work. But it has to be at certain times, you can't control it or have it do it's thing whenever you want." Steven explained.

"I understand, but I have one question. Is there anything you can tell me about it?"

"Well." Steven giggled lighthearted. "Let's just say it has a little bit of everything a gem has "

Although Connie didn't understand his words, Steven knew exactly what it did and how it would be activated. When the time comes, Connie would get an answer to her question.

But not in any way she'd expect.

Flashback over.

The necklace was letting out a pink glow and everyone gathering around. The glow bonded everyone and they had to avert their eyes. When the glow feel finally faded the gems watched as Connie opened her eyes and sat up on the couch.

Everyone gasped. They couldn't believe that Connie has just rose from the dead, seemingly okay. They all waited for her to say something, anything to show if she was still sane after that traumatizing experience. When Connie did speak, it was an unexpected question no one saw coming.

"Who the fuck are are you?" She asked Cobalt.

The fusion gulped. "My name is Aqua Cobalt. I stopped Peridot from destroying the town."

"Unfuse." Connie instructed.

Cobalt didn't do it at first, shooting nervous glances at both Ruby and Jasper. "I'd really rather not."

"Then get out of my house and never return. Or you can comply with my wishes, and then we can all have a nice chat together about how things are going to change."

Cobalt tensed up and looked at everybody's faces before sighing and unfusing.

And the Gems gasped.

The fusion known as Aqua Cobalt...was actually Lapis Lazuli and Sapphire.

Ruby and Sapphire just locked eyes, many different emotions running through both of them.

Lapis and Jasper stared at each other. They were both embarrassed to see that the other had fused with someone else.

Everyone in the living room of the Beach house had many different internal reactions. Connie's was one that she'd been saving for a long time.

It was now officially like Democrats and Republicans in the house again. The differences of opinion and the choices they had made had affected each other in many different ways, but everyone in the room had issues with one another, whether big or small. And so Connie had a wonderful idea that would fix everything.

"I want each and everyone of you to grab a chair and sit down at the table. Now. Nobody say a word, just do it." Connie ordered in a calm but firm tone.

Slowly and awkwardly, everyone did what they were told and gathered in their seats at the table.

"Soren, I want you to leave. I need you to find the exact whereabouts of...the last gem " She said, not wanting to say Pearl's name in front of the others.

Without saying a word the former gem general flew out to the door and into the sky for the mission he just received.

The house was silent. The gems just looked around at each other in confusion, wonder, pain and sadness. Then Connie reached into her pocket and took out her bottle of Brexpiprazole, took quite few pills and set it down on the table with the label facing the Gems. They looked at it in confusion except for Lapis, who had what appeared to be a look of surprise and shock at the same but didn't say anything.

"So I have gathered you all here today because you Crystal Gems have a lot of issues to address." Connie explained. "Nobody will leave their seat until everyone has forgiven each other or explained why they are who they are. So who wants to go first?"

No one spoke.

"I will give you all three seconds. If no one says anything, I'll start shattering gems."

"I miss my family." Said Amethyst.

"Good start. Anyone else?"

"Lapis hasn't spoken since we fused, which was shortly after the split up with the Gems." Sapphire said. "It's just her style I guess. If she has something to say she'll write something down."

Lapis nodded to confirm Sapphire's words.

"I feel terrible for being jealous and going psycho on everyone. And...for what I did to you, Connie." Said Peridot.

"Even though I felt like you were out of control, I feel like you actually did forget i was drowning, so apology accepted. Never bring it up again."

"I felt like I deserved what Peridot did to me." Amethyst said.

"No you didn't." Said Peridot, shaking her head in shame. "I wasn't actually mad at you. Just was mad at myself. It's nothing important, just some abandonment issues. You were never th problem. When a peridot doesn't get what they try to get, it makes us feel like we're failures. I felt like that with Yellow Diamond's Army, and that's why I was so lost when I was with Steven for those first few months. All this love and compassion thing was new to me and I just didn't understand. A part of me didn't want to understand. Then I got to see why you Crystal Gems rebelled and protected the Earth, and I experienced things that I never would've on Homeworld. I began to live life on Earth, and when that happened it was a game changer for me. Then just fell in love with Soren and it was confusing at first. I didn't understand love was different depending on who it was for. It confused me because it wasn't logical. Like I said before, logic and reason we're everyone to me. It just consumed me I guess. But I never should have let my jealousy consume me. I'm sorry Amethyst. I hope you can forgive me."

"Nah I get it." Amethyst replied. "I get that way all the time. We cool. But you're still a nerd."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Peridot said with a smile.

"Anything else?" Connie asked, looking at one face to the other.

"I miss Garnet." Said Jasper.

The silence returned as Ruby and Sapphire started at each other with uncertain expressions. There was so visible hostility or sadness, just uncertainty.

Then they both spoke.

"I missed you." They said.

Then without saying another word the two of them leapt onto each other in a tight bear hug and a few seconds later Garnet stood before them.

"Hello everyone." Garnet said, smiling at them all. "Let's get down to business."

And so they did. Every Gem there at that table spilled their guts to each other, opened their hearts to one another, explained themsleves and made each other understand what it was like being in their shoes. After a few hours of crying, sharing opinions and just being honest with each other, something amazing happened. The love between everyone that they had lost so many years ago has finally been restored. There were no hostilities, no more arguments, just love.

"See? How does that feel?" Connie asked after the Gems finished talking.

"Better." Garnet responded.

The others nodded in agreement.

"Lapis? Do you have anything else to write on your paper?"

Lapis was given a pad of paper and a pencil to communicate. She shook her head no and then put her pencil down.

"Alright, well in that case-" Connie began but was cut off when Soren barged into the door. He flew so hard into the door that it came right off the hinges, then came to a stop in front of the table.

"We have a problem." He said grimly.

"Yeah you bright the door dumbass." Said Jasper.

"Way to go Soren." Connie added.

"I found Pearl. But she's got something wrong with her." He said, ignoring their mockery.

"Well we've found the last Crystal Gem." Said Garnet. "What's the issue?"

"Well to put it lightly, she's not doing too good. She's in a mental institution." Soren said.

"What? Why a mental institution?" Asked Peridot.

"Something happened to her when we split up. She's very close to becoming corrupted." Soren broke down.

"Then what are we doing here, let's go save her!" Amethyst said, springing up from the table before being stopped by Soren.

I know you want to help Pearl, but she's going to need more than just you to help her. She needs a psychiatrist to talk to her. Connie, you need to be the one to help her."

"You do realize that I've brought home every gem in this house, right?" Connie asked, slightly irked that she has to do all the work again.

"That's another reason why I'm sending you to bring her back." Soren explained.

"Fine. I'll leave out first thing in the morning. Will that be enough time?"

"Whatever floats your boat." Soren said before leaving the house again and flying off to God knows where.

"Do you think Pearl's in trouble?" Asked a concerned Amethyst.

"I'm sure she'll be fine after we bring her home." Garnet said reassuringly.

"Personally I think Pearl will be fine. She's just, what's the word...homesick." Peridot said.

"Well actually I might know what's wrong with Pearl. But you might not want to hear it." Connie warned.

"Come on, it's Pearl." Jasper said. "She's tough, so whatever it is is something she can handle."

"I want to hear it anyway." Said Amethyst.

So Connie told them about the dream she has with Greg, the pedestal of Gems, and the strange black gem that seemed to replace Pearl. After she explained everything, the Gems were left with more questions than answers. Like why Greg made an appearance years after his death, and why Pearl's gem was black and not it's usual shining white. It didn't seem to help them though, it just managed to worry the Gems even more.

"Do you think she's corrupt Garnet?" Asked Connie.

Garnet didn't answer right away, so Jasper spoke up. "It doesn't sound like Corruption. Believe me, I know what that is."

"It's not Corruption." Garnet said in a dead serious tone that scared Connie to ask more questions. "I know what it is because it's happened before."

"Wait Garnet you don't mean-" Amethyst started.

"Yes I mean that. The Darkness."

"The Darkness!? Oh no, she's far too gone. We need to help her right now!" Peridot said hysterically.

"What's The Darkness?" Connie asked, getting more worried by the minute.

"The Darkness is very complicated, even more so than Corruption." Garnet explained, adjusting her shades. "But to put it in words, it's a sickness of sorts. Gems can't contract any sicknesses or diseases on Earth, but The Darkness is something that happens inside of a gem at its core. When a gem goes through a large amount of emotional stress and sadness after a traumatic experience, The Darkness grows inside of a gem and begins to do bad things. If Pearl does indeed have the Darkness, she won't be able to summon anything in her gem stored away or her weapon, she won't be able to talk and she'll most likely in a state of insanity. The Darkness also affect gems the same way Post Traumatic Stress Disorder affects humans. Like you."

Connie was overwhelmed with a multitude of emotions from listening to Garnet. A GEM version of PTSD would be monumentally stressful on Pearl, and she's already a bit of a mess. Connie looked sadly at her bottle of pills on the table, as she knew that her nightmares and panic attacks were a constant reminder of everything she's done and seen during the war. Connie felt for Pearl and made sure she would make Pearl feel as safe as possible and do whatever it takes to help her no matter the cost.

"You said this happened already before?" Questioned Peridot nervously.

"It happened when Rose died. She was absolutely destroyed inside when Rose died because she made Pearl feel like she was the world. Pearls have always been lower class gems, the lapdogs of high-ranking gems. But Rose was different. She believed every gem was equal and she treated Pearl as if she were a Diamond. So when Rose passes away she fell into a deep depression that soon led to insanity. The Darkness can lead to Corruption, and it splendid for Pearl but we saved her from it."

"How did you manage to do that?" Asked Jasper.

"She saw Steven for the first time." Amethyst spoke in. "When she met Steven and held him for the first time something changed her inside. She never did tell us what happened to her, but after meeting him she began spending more time with Steven and eventually she got better."

"It's true." Garnet backed up. " Steven somehow brought Pearl out of her own insanity and soon the Darkness faded away. So I'm guessing we need some kind of emotional event she needs to experience in order to be cured of the Darkness. But I'm just guessing."

"I have the perfect solution. And it's one you all need to see." Said Connie.

She stood up from her seat at the table and went up to her room. After a few seconds of rifling through her things she came back down with some kind of paper in her hand and set it on the table so everything could see. The gems looked at the paper and then looked up at Connie. Peridot, Jasper and Lapis had confused looks on her faces.

Garnet and Amethyst were completely different stories. Garnet simply stared at the paper in awe and utter shock, while Amethyst looked at it with tears in her eyes.

Amethyst looked up at Connie. "Is this real?"

"Yes it is and it showed up a while ago. It means Steven was here."

Then everyone looked at the paper with hope and happiness in their faces as the paper told that there would be a sudden turn of events that would change their lives forever.

They were looking at an envelope labeled Mom.

I wonder if anyone can see how this will go. I like being an author, it's like playing God, but People actually like what you're doing.

Anyways like always be sure to favorite, follow and lea e reviews. Tell me how I'm doing! After I finish this story in the next few chapters I want to stop and learn how to write better because I have lots of ideas for more stories I want to write. Like that Guest reviews detailing the huge flaws in my writing. If you see a problem tell me, I won't be mad or anything because it helps. You are my fans, you matter to me and so do your opinions. I want to be the very best writer for you guys.

Ok I'm out everyone. See you in the next one.