One word reverberated through his mind. Earth. When that skinny one said it, a burst of familiarity hit him. When he looked down at the gem to find out why he knew that word, that place, something more grew inside of it. The coldness. It filled his entire body the second he saw the look in her eyes and her hand covering her pearl.

It had to be because of Earth. That had to be the part he was missing. The thing that would destroy this icy chill inside him.

Their attempts to stop him only made him more sure. He needed to get there. To Earth. He needed to stop this feeling. It wasn't like anything he knew; he didn't have a word for it. It just cut through him and the wound it made opened him up for such an indescribable pain that he needed to stop.

He felt drawn to a destroyed chamber, the one with a monumental white chair that was split in two. He stepped into the room and looked, eyes landing on a pearlescent piece of flooring. How he knew that would take him to Earth, he wasn't sure. He just did.

He made it to the warp and stepped on it, just barely fitting if he wrapped himself up tightly. It was small. He was big. He stepped over to it and willed the room to grow in size around him as his figure shrank. When he stepped on it, he was no bigger than the yellow enemy he vanquished.

Earth, he thought again, looking skyward. A beam of light consumed him and the destroyed throne room vanished. He patiently waited, though the hunger in his heart grew with every passing second. It gnawed at his chest; each beat painful as the coldness within him throbbed. He would feel warm again soon.

The light ended and pain met his skull as he crashed through a low ceiling. He looked around, slowly reforming to his larger size and watched lights twinkle beneath him.

The floor beneath his feet cracked and he fell through, but what was a two-story drop to others was a mere stumble for him. Wood splintered and groaned as he smashed through it. His feet finally met solid stone and he stepped onto the sand below, not even glancing at his destroyed home.

Screams. He looked over to the sparkling lights and saw little specks darting away from him, arms in the air and yelling loudly. He watched them run; a flash of a cape, a little blue gem with pointed hair, a pink gem with spots on her body, a small human surrounded by two small red dots. As he watched, the chill inside of him grew until he couldn't help but yell out in agony.

All of the dots stopped in fear, looking at the pink monster before slowly backing away again.

He huffed loudly, unable to stop the coldness from growing within him. He took a single step toward the panicking crowds when something small hit him in the side of the head.

He looked over and saw a small green speck launching gray objects at him.

"Hey!" the green one yelled. "Over here!" The green dot ran behind the mountain. Her cackle sounded familiar.

He followed her, the chill only getting stronger with each step. This gem. She was important. Getting rid of her would lessen this feeling.

So he followed her, sprinting as quickly as he could and slowly gaining ground. She had jumped onto a silver disk and was speeding away in the air. He wanted to lunge out but knowing he couldn't reach her yet. They neared new structures, one with spinning fans and a warp in the center, before he felt it. Something latched onto his chest and yanked him back. He looked down and saw a splash of blue.

Water?

A small blue gem soared in front of the green one, her hands out in front of her and clenched. He pulled at the watery chains, breaking one set, only for it to be replaced by three more.

"What is that thing?" Lapis asked, the pink monster taking the rest of her concentration.

"I don't know!" Peridot yelled. Bismuth and the other Crystal Gems slowly appeared, weapons in their hand. "It warped here! We have to stop it!"

He stopped with a huff, having ignored the annoying mumbles of those below and looked down to see a small army of gems forming in front of him. They all were armed. He looked up to the buildings they came from and then back down to them. Most of them were odd looking; spotted and with horns.

Corrupted. Like...like hi-

The cold overtook him and he finally had a name for it as a single thought rang in his ears. Desperation. Shame. So overwhelming that all he could do for a split second was stare at the gems, their faces swimming in and out of focus.

His next thought was more compelling; less painful to think. Hurting them will stop this feeling. Getting rid of them would get rid of this shame. They would never look at him like this again. No fear in their eyes. No disgust. He would never have to see it again. Never have to feel again.

He roared loudly and let loose an attack like nothing the gems on the ground had seen before. At its force, Lapis's water chains shattered and fissures appeared at his feet. The fissures grew and quickly overtook Little Homeworld. Several gems fell in but hung on to the splitting ground before they fell into the dark depths.

As the fissure hit the center of the town, Little Homeworld began to collapse in on itself. Lava spewed out of Bismuth's forge and landed on some roofs, instantly igniting the city.

The Little Homeworld warp activated as Pearl, Garnet, and Blue arrived, but the smoke concealed who it was. The gems on the ground either scattered in fear or regrouped and charged at the pink monster before them.

Steven looked down at them, the glow of the fires doing nothing to stop the icy burning in his chest. But his gem was warm as rage emanated from its core. They couldn't stop him. They couldn't make keep feeling this way.

A pink aura burst forth and covered the field in front of him. Some gems collapsed, their heads in their hands before they poofed. Others dropped their weapons and ran. Some still rushed forward, anger contorting their face and controlling their actions.

He smiled to himself. This would be too easy.

The blue gem launched herself up at him, as she circled his head and formed a fist with one of her wings. The impact barely knocked his head aside. She tried again, getting more reckless as each hit seemed to do less damage to her foe. Then she got too close to his horn. He rammed into her, barely missing the gem on her back as his horn impaled her body.

She gasped, her eyes focusing with recognition as his pink aura spread through her body. "Steven?" she whispered before her form poofed.

Her gem fell to the ground but was caught by the little green gem, who was floating on some sort of silvery sphere again.

She glided off, glancing behind at the monster and landed a good distance away.

He turned his attention back to the gems below him. The ones that stayed were either trying to scale his body or were attacking his feet. He didn't feel any of it. But he did feel...what was that?

His head snapped up as a blue aura raced over his own. He turned his head to the side to block it out and growled lowly. So she was back. The one that made the chill grow beyond his chest and leak out of his eyes. He watched the tall blue figure emerge from the smoke, the pearl and purple fusion at her feet.

An idea formed in his muddled thoughts and a smile broke through his angered exterior as he looked up at the sky.

Make her hurt, he thought. His eyes glowed pink and glinted brightly. Make her feel like this. Make her understand.

The warp lit up again and the gems spun to look at it as the monster lifted its head toward the light.

"White!" Blue called, but something was very wrong. The orange glow of the fires barely hid the pink tint to her skin or the glowing pink light in the middle of her gemstone.

She launched herself at Blue, pinning her to the ground with a growl.

"No!" Garnet yelled, pulling Pearl away. "Steven's controlling her!"

Blue threw White off of her and narrowly dodged a beam of pink light that erupted from her eyes.

"I'll handle her," Blue vowed, standing tall. "You take care of Steven."

Pearl and Garnet nodded, leaping forward and joining the small gem army. They raced over poofed gems, trying not to stare at them for too long.

"Peridot!" Garnet shouted. "Get these gems out of here!"

Peridot, who still had Lapis's gem in her hand, nodded. She raced off, gathering all of the gems she could in her trashcan lid before zooming off to safety.

"Pearl," Garnet said, looking at the pink monster, who's eyes were fixated on Blue and White. His tail lashed out and knocked the gems at his feet away. He raised himself onto his haunches and smashed down, scattering those too close to his chest and neck. A few poofed on impact.

"Get Amethyst over here. We're going to need her," Garnet said.

Pearl nodded and summoned her phone from her head when a whirring sound reached her.

"You guys need a hand?" Amethyst yelled, her form a helicopter. Greg and Connie jumped out of her head before she reformed. "We could see the smoke from the fountain," she said. "I couldn't convince these two to stay back."

"That's…" Greg said, eyes wide as he took in the monster before him. "Steven?"

Connie said nothing. Her sword was now in her hand, but it dangled loosely at her side.

"Yes," Garnet said, voice stern. "We need to get through to him or subdue him long enough to get him to the fountain."

"Will that help him?" Greg asked.

No one answered. With Yellow still being absent, White mind-controlled and Blue in danger, they didn't know how effective it would be.

"We have to try," Connie said, the grip on her sword tightening.

Behind them, a raspy voice yelled. "Hey! What's going on?"

Jasper. She looked at the monster with disgust on her face. "What'd you guys do now?"

"That's Steven," Connie told her. "You still want to fight him? Now's your chance."

Jasper drew back, looking almost scared. "That's Steven?" she said, incredulously. "How?"

"Corruption," Pearl answered.

Jasper said nothing.

"Will you help us, sis?" Amethyst asked, gently.

Jasper shrugged, brushing the fear from her face. "I've got nothing else to do."

Garnet nodded. "Connie, stay with Greg. It's too dangerous."

Before she could protest, the four gems ran off to join the fray. Connie put her hand on Greg's arm and looked at his shocked face, which was fixated on his son.

"Don't worry, Mr. Universe," she said. "We'll help him."

They watched the Crystal Gems fuse and form Alexandrite. They watched her grab Steven's spikes and arms and forced him to the ground. She pinned him briefly before an unseen force knocked her off. Her feet dug into the ground and narrowly avoided a deep fissure. She charged again, a whip with a large fist at the end forming in her hands.

The fusion stopped and used her momentum to force the whip forward. It whipped around Steven and knocked him square against the side of the head. Greg covered his mouth when a pained roar, one that very much sounded like an animalistic version of his son, reached them.

The monster stumbled, but it grabbed the whip in its hands and pulled. It snapped and vanished. It lowered its head as Alexandrite pulled out Opal's bow.

"Don't," Greg said, seeing the giant weapon aimed at his son.

"It's an energy blast," Connie assured him, though she wasn't sure how it would affect Steven either.

But she never got the chance to do more than draw the bowstring back when Steven let out an inhuman scream. Pink waves shot from his body, breaking the fusion on impact. As it hit each gem, they all fell to their knees as the luminescent pink lines appeared on their body from where the wave hit them.

Then it reached Connie and Greg, who expected it to pass through them as gem powers so often did. Connie doubled over, her very heart feeling like it was freezing as unimaginable pain overtook her. Greg fell to his knees beside her and covered his chest with his arms.

She looked up and saw the monster that was her friend slowly look over at them, eyes glinting with an emotion she couldn't recognize.

Steven roared again and another pink wave burst forward. This time, the two humans collapsed on impact, unmoving, as countless gems poofed on the battlefield in front of them.

The only ones left standing were Blue, White, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, barely held themselves together. The force of the attack nearly split them in to, but it was the emotions and coldness behind it that kept them fighting. They needed to reach the boy they loved.

But still, as they stared at the monster in front of them, as they watched his face turn to them and a grin spread across his face, doubt came over them all.

"He doesn't know us," Pearl said, slowly taking a step back. "We can't get through to him."

Amethyst, who was still panting, took Pearl's hand. Garnet stepped next to them.

"No," Garnet said. "But we still have to try."

She summed her weapon and nodded at the others to do the same. Together, the three of them stood in the shadow of the monster. Together, they attacked.