Connie must have gone over it a thousand times. More than that. She thought about it every time she went to bed, and every time she woke up. While she was bathing, and while she was dressing, she considered the implications. Whenever her mind wasn't occupied and sometimes when her mind was occupied, she obsessed over it. She'd cut through Axelle during training because she'd been so focused on thinking about it. It had been awkward when Pearl had shrieked in joy before tending to Axelle's gem. Connie had been a little nauseous to have defeated Axelle so soundly and was mostly sure she couldn't do it again, but soon went back to thinking. Of course, she thought about it when she talked to Steven.
Steven called late at night, from under a pile of blankets if Connie saw correctly. He seemed like he was sulking. Connie didn't know the details, but she desperately wanted to ask about it. She had ideas about what it was about.
Obviously, he was sulking over being Pink Diamond.
Connie had been right all along, that story Steven had told her after she'd been injured was a lie. Or at least some major details were lies. If Connie wanted to be kind, and she so desperately wanted to be kind to Steven, she could say that he'd changed some names to protect the people he loved. But Connie had been right. Steven was the son of Pink Diamond. The pink cloak, the pink shield, it was obvious. And Steven's father was an ametrine, just like the organic ametrine that Pink Diamond was supposed to have favored. Connie had asked Axelle when Steven's birthday was, only to find it was the same day Pink Diamond went into reclusion. It was no wonder Steven never talked about himself. Doing so was inviting someone to figure it out.
But what Connie hadn't known was that Pink Diamond was gone. She'd died making him, and now he had her gem and had to take her place. Meaning his aunts were the other Diamonds, and the Moon Palace was his, and Pink Stars were his guard, and she was Pink Diamond's personal Pearl.
She was obsessed with realization.
"Yo, Conster!" Axelle's voice reached Connie's brain only a moment before Axelle herself hip-checked her nearly to ground.
Barely catching herself, Connie gasped and found Axelle standing next to her smiling.
"Hi, Axelle," Connie muttered with a weak smile. It was strange, using Amethyst's name, but made Connie feel like they were closer, like they shared a secret. Which technically they did.
"What are you dazing out for?" Axelle asked. "Pearl's going to be here for your training any second now."
"I know. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be training with the quartzes today?"
"Not today!" Axelle stuck out her tongue. "Special assignment, all Stars on deck," Axelle leaned in. "I think your training is almost over!" she whispered excitedly. "If your getting this lesson today, there must be a reason. You must be about to join the Pink Stars for real."
"You think?" Connie shifted. "What's the lesson?"
"Well–"
"Connie! Amethyst!" Pearl's sing-song voice ran out over the Sky Arena. "We're here. It's time to start your training."
Axelle nudged Connie again. "Good luck!" she whispered with a wink and then walked towards Pearl, who was coming down the many steps of the Sky Arena with Garnet.
Connie tensed for a moment, then forced herself to relax. Garnet rarely came to observe her training. However, Axelle had said that it was all Stars on deck. With all three of the Pink Stars here to see her, it seemed too daunting a task to train. It had been 10 months since she'd come to New Homeworld, and yet she felt her legs wobble.
"Connie," Garnet said. "Today, we teach you the most important lesson of the Pink Stars."
"That's right!" Pearl sang. "The very pillar of Pink Diamond's Court!"
Garnet looked at Connie seriously and said, "Fusion."
"Fusion," Pearl went on, "is the ultimate bond between gems. Surely you've learned about it in school."
"Yes, Ma'am," Connie said obediently. "Two or more gems synchronize their minds and the light waves that make up their physical bodies. This harmony creates a fusion. Before the rise of Pink Diamond's Court fusion was only permitted between like gems and only under the guidance and with the permission of a higher level gem for a mission or battle."
"Very good," Pearl said.
"Yea, but after Pink Diamond," Axelle said, "everything was different. Cross-gem fusions were allowed because they made bigger, stronger, more awesome gems! Like so. Pearl?"
"Oh!" Pearl laughed. "Well, we might as well get started. Shall we, then?"
Pearl cleared her throat and spun around. Axelle jumped and started dancing in place. Connie watched, delighted. She'd never seen a fusion form before. Sapphire and Ruby, she'd only ever heard about. She'd never even met them, let alone seen them create Garnet.
Pearl and Axelle's dancing styles were nothing alike as they started. However, as they took steps towards each other, they merged. Pearl's graceful, careful moves got quicker and added dramatic popping and locking to them, while Axelle's energetic dancing added long swooping movements and dizzying spins. When Axelle lifted Pearl they both laughed and their laughter rolled and washing over Connie, growing louder and larger until it was neither Pearl nor Axelle's voice at all.
Then there she was. A many-limbed, wide-hipped, big-haired giant woman. She was bigger than Garnet! Connie stood, smiling and opened mouthed.
"Hello, Connie," the beautiful woman said. "My name is Opal. I'll be your teacher for today."
"Hello, Ma'am!" Connie shouted, still grinning. This is what the Pink Court was. Garnet and Opal. Cross-gem fusions!
Connie felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked to find it was Garnet, smiling at her. "This is the power of harmony and love. Love for your partner and respect for the bond. This Pink Diamond's Court. Today we're going to teach you about that power. You and I are going to be fighting Opal."
"Really?"
Garnet nodded. "You'll do fine. Just follow my lead."
There was a glow, and Connie turned to find that Opal had Pearl's spear and Axelle's whip. She twirled them both in her four hands to combine them into a giant bow.
Connie pressed her back teeth together and smiled.
#
The training task had been simple, simpler than most of her training with Pearl, truth be told. Connie merely had to stay standing for an hour against Opal. It had been an easy instruction with a very difficult execution. Opal was quick, unnaturally so, like Axelle. Connie would call her graceful like Pearl, but hardly ever saw her move to back up the claim. Opal was a gust of wind and a rainstorm of arrows. She was a hurricane of attacks swirling around Connie, threatening to topple her over.
Connie, at least, wasn't helpless. Blocking attacks had been the first thing Pearl taught her. Opal rained down light-arrows on her, but most met Connie's sword. Besides, Connie had Garnet's future vision on her side. Garnet and Connie worked as a team, Garnet providing defense and tactics, while Connie fought her hardest. It was the longest hour of Connie's life.
At some point, her mind had drifted to Steven. She had wondered what he was doing, and if he knew about her training if he designed it himself. Connie wondered if he could fuse. She knew she was the only one who couldn't fuse, being organic, but knew they had begun to fuse on Yellow Diamond's moon base. This thought had consumed her. She wasn't sure when she had picked up a shield, but once it was in her hand, she couldn't stop imagining what the fight would be like it was fair, truly fair. Opal against Steven and herself once they were fused. She had pretended that Steven was there beside her, inside her, moving with her limbs. Months of sparring and being in his arms had taught Connie his style of movement, how he blocked, how he dodged. She pretended to be someone else, someone stronger than herself. A fusion like Opal and Garnet.
When they were through, Garnet had praised her for her focus, her clarity. Clarity was high praise, especially for a Pearl. Opal had said she really saw her shine during the training, and that her shield work was surprisingly good.
Connie had blushed and had been tempted to ask about organic fusion, but had stopped herself.
She'd known the answer.
She was lying on her back on her bed. She was still in the same clothes, still had her shoes on. Connie needed to get up and shower, but her bed was comfortable. As she drifted deeper and deeper into black, Steven's smiling face swam in the back of her eyelids.
Sad, Pearl, she thought to herself. Really sad.
She would have fallen asleep pitying her own deep crush on someone way out of her reach, but a loud bark next to her head made her sit straight up and summon her sword.
"What the hells?!" Connie shouted, wide awake and heart pounding. She had no idea what she thought she was going to find in her room, but an absolutely massive pink wolf was not on the list.
Connie stared.
It stared.
Connie glanced toward the door off to right. The wolf wasn't blocking it, but it was directly in front of her, likely to grab her if he ran for the door. The window to the left had the same problem, and the wolf was even closer to that.
She could attempt to fight it. However, it was pink so… maybe it Steven's. There had been the sound of barking in Lars' story right before and after Steven arrived.
"Hi there," Connie mumbled. "Hey. Do you belong to Steven?"
The wolf lay down on the floor and put his head on the bed.
"Okay. I'm going to pet you now."
Things had gone from strange to stranger. She was talking to a wolf. But as she reached out it let her pet it between its eyes before it back up and sat down on the floor.
"What? What do you want?" Conni-assured it would not attack her-put away her sword and walked up to the wolf.
"Hey. What do you–oof!"
The wolf stood and hit her hard enough to flip her onto her stomach. She landed on its back and heard a loud bark. Connie barely had time to see the portal where her window should be before they jumped into it.
"Hey!" Connie shouted. "No, no, no! Bad wolf! Where are you taking me?!"
Thankfully, it was a brief trip and soon they landed in green pastures. However, the sudden stop made Connie fall off the animal and on her front-side on the ground.
"Hell! Thanks, wolf…"
"Wolf! Connie!" Steven's worried voice called.
Connie looked up to find Steven running across the field toward her. He wearing a dark pink tank top and black jeans with his usual flip flops. Steven skidded to a stop beside her and picked her up.
"Connie are you okay? Did Wolf hurt you?"
"Its name is Wolf?"
"His name is Wolf."
"And he teleports?"
"Well," Steven said. "Yea. I don't and sometimes I need a ride. Also, I love him."
Connie laughed. "You would say that about a cute animal."
Steven blushed, then held out a note. "I, uh, wanted him to go get you. I had a note, but he left before I could give it to him."
Sheepishly, Connie took the note and opened it. It read simply: "This is my wolf, Wolf. He'll take you to me if you get on his back. -Steven."
"Makes more sense than what happened," Connie said, pocketing the note. "Where are we?"
"The farms for the Kindergarten Wards," Steven said enthusiastically. "Don't worry, I'm done for now," he added see Connie's face twist into a nervous mask. "I know you don't like handling dead bodies."
"I can do it!" Connie insisted, maybe a little too loudly. "I just… I mean…"
"It's okay." Steven put his arm around her. "It's fine. Come on, let's walk."
#
They walked around the farm, Steven's arm around Connie's shoulders, and up into the surrounding hills. Steven talked about the workings of the farm, about how they were planning on shipping extra food and gems to create hybrid colonies on organic-habitable moon bases on the other Diamond's old planets and make those gems part of the other Diamond's court. It sounded nice, but the rebelling colony in the Jade System was simply killing off so many soldiers they were overproducing food and new gems on Pink's colonies. They needed to do something about that planet. They needed to be subdued.
"Can't you do something?" Connie asked.
"Me?" Steven laughed. "What can do? I can't do anything."
They were at the top of a hill, sitting side by side, watching Wolf idly chew on the tail of some lizard he'd found. Steven got up and walked a few paces down the hill.
"Everyone wants me to be something I'm not. To be… I don't know."
Connie smiled sympathetically. "To be perfect?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.
When Steven whirled around on the spot, eyes wide. She just shrugged.
"Yea," Steven said in disbelief. "But I'm not," he added, getting angry. "I'm not how they want me to be and I don't know why. I do everything they ask, but it's not enough! Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. My aunts say that I have a place, but…"
But Steven wasn't filling that place, wasn't he? Connie thought Pink Diamond was in seclusion, one way or another, and the rebel planet in the Jade System was getting out of hand. The Pink Court needed a leader.
Steven clenched his fists and growled, tears forming in his eyes. "What the point of all this? Why am I bothering to do all this work if nothing is going to come of it?"
"So why not do something Steven?!" Connie said, leaning forward against her knees.
"What can I do?" Steven asked tearfully.
"Anything! You're Pink Diamond, aren't you?"
Steven paused. "I… what?"
"It was pretty easy to figure out. You should not have let Lars tell that story."
Sniffing, Steven smiled at her. "Probably not. I thought… maybe you wouldn't bring it up. I thought… maybe you wouldn't see me anymore."
Connie stood up and went to Steven. She took both his hands in hers. "I guessed you were Pink Diamond's son from the start and it never affected how I saw you. And you don't have to be like your Mom. No one can be like the Diamonds. Even them. If she was so perfect, she would have had you without disappearing and leaving you with this burden."
Steven laughed and wiped his eyes. "I don't think we're supposed to admit that out loud."
"Well, too bad!" Connie shouted. "You don't have to be a Pink Diamond the way she way. You can be a Pink Diamond the way you want to be, your version of what it means to be a leader! Your Mom was different from the other Diamonds. You can be different from her."
Steven laughed again and let go of Connie's hands. Backing up, he tied the bottom of his shirt so that his gem showed. "Okay. Wanna see something cool?"
"Is it your Pink Diamond form?" Connie guessed.
"Why can never surprise you?!" Steven shouted.
"Because I pick the most amazing thing possible and that's usually it," Connie grinned. "So show me. Do you get huge?"
"Well! Not really… But watch, anyway." Steven took a deep breath and seemed to relax.
Connie stared at him intensely, watching for any signs of change. But when it began, she knew it was happening. Steven glowed, starting from his gem, then spreading to the rest of his body. His gem was fully visible in the brightness. It truly was a diamond and looked almost too big for his body. Turned out he'd simply been hiding it by having the bottom of it facing out. Now it was rotating so that the flat side was pointing down and the side was facing out, showing that it was and he was a Diamond.
Steven stopped glowing and opened his eyes. Nothing had changed about him physically. He was still the same shape and size. But his hair, today tied up into a bun, was a pink was dark pink lowlights. His eyes were pink as well, with diamond-shaped pupils.
"So?" Steven asked sheepishly.
A slow grin spread across Connie's face as she saluted. "My Diamond," she said with genuine sincerity.
Closing the distance between them, Steven put down her hands and hugged her. "My Pearl," he said.
They hugged.
They hugged for what seemed like forever.
"You're going to do great," Connie said. "Just march up to the other Diamonds and say, 'I am Pink Diamond and I am going to rule my part of Authority!' They'll have to listen. They can't keep you away from your subjects. You've got to be a leader, Steven."
"You think?" Steven whispered.
"Yea."
"And you'll be with me?"
Backing up, Connie smiled at Steven. "Why would I ever be anywhere else, when you're here?"
Steven nodded, then picked Connie up around the waist and began spinning her around.
"Steven! Ah! No!" Connie wriggled to get loose and fly off, but Steven had too good a grip and she was laughing too much.
"I've got you, Connie!" Steven said, spinning faster, lifting off the ground.
They spun and spun, laughing and shouting until something happened. Connie felt it immediately because she'd never had a gem in her body before. It sat between her breasts like a stone that had suddenly been placed in her sternum. Contrary to making it hard to breathe, it made her warm. It made her flush and hot with power. Finally, she felt respected. Steven took an extra moment to realize that things were changing. The cool aura that washed over was so foreign to him. He was unburdened by destiny. But once he felt he dove into it, embrace the feeling completely. Steven was brilliant in this state. He was the smartest person in the room, but strangely ignored. Connie found herself suddenly to have the opposite problem, to have all eyes on her and have none of the answers they sought.
But they were a hard fact, the two of them, unswayed by the opinions of others. They were a ball of their own emotions. They shouldn't be. They were a brand new thing that had always been in some form or another, in another world, at another time. They lived in a glorious contradiction to themselves!
"Who are we?" Connie and Steven asked.
They were a song they were the tune to, but not the words.
"Who am I?" they asked. "What's this feeling?"
"Well, it could be…" Steven began.
"It could be?" Connie asked.
"It could deep friendship," Steven said, thinking of Axelle and Pearl.
"No," Connie said, thanking a chance. "It could be…"
"What, you know what it could be?" Steven asked.
"I think it could be loyalty," Connie said, too scared.
"So you know it could be…" Steven felt her nervousness.
"… I don't know. Could it be…?" Connie asked breathlessly.
"I mean! Why couldn't it be affection?!" Steven asked.
"But isn't it?" they said. "Isn't it? Isn't it… love?"
They blinked and looked left, then right, then down. Then they decided that down was the important part as they were several feet off the ground.
"Well," they said. "I'd better get down. Steven, how you… we… I? Get down?" They struggled for a moment before finally lowering to the ground. "Hell. That was hard."
Wolf padded over, sniffed their hip, which was where he now came up to, and yawned.
"Good to see you, too," the fusion said. They pet his head only to realize how dark their hand was. "Wow. My hand is dark. Like Connie. And my hair. Pink still." They looked down. "Two gems. Oh, my stars! I have a gem now! And my hair is short and fluffy!"
"I'll say! You look like Pink D!"
The fusion squeak and turned. Axelle was sitting in a tree with a bag of burritos, watching.
"How long have you been there?!" the fusion asked.
"Just a few minutes," Axelle said. "I was going to check on Connie when I heard Wolf. So I had to find out where you went for the day and that took ages. And then I got hungry and had to stop for some burritos. So you two can fuse now?"
"Uh… I guess so," the fusion said. "But I don't have a name or anything."
"So let's take you to Pearl. She'll help." Axelle stuffed and burrito in her mouth.
"Won't she be mad at me?" the fusion asked.
"Nah, she'll be thrilled. Anyway, I'm not talking about Rayne. I'm talking about Lacey."
"Oh!" the fusion said. "Wait. Who are they?"
"Gah," Axelle said. "New fusions. Come on. Ste–Con–Stecon–Stev–Hells! Come on!"
#
Pink Diamond's Tower was only a place for Steven to grow up in on New Homeworld and be close to the Pink Stars. Pink Diamond, before her death, had lived in the reclaimed gem temple while on New Homeworld and had traveled the rest of the time. Like all Diamonds, the seat of her power away from Homeworld was her Moon Base, which Connie had orbited on her way to New Homeworld's surface. The only way into the Moon Base was the warp pad in the Tower, which was simple to access as they were Pink Diamond and were being escorted by a Pink Star.
The Moon Base was not a tiny control base like rotting one on Yellow Diamond's moon. It was a sprawling palace under a clear doom with lush plants, running rivers, and tumbling waterfalls. The fusion looked around, explaining to themself that Steven's Mom wanted organic gems to work at the Base and so she made it habitable for them.
"Stevenconnie!" Axelle said from the arched doorway. "This way!"
The fusion groaned. "I need a name," they muttered.
They followed Axelle down endless hallways, passing a scarce amount of guards, which they explained to themself was because no knew the original Pink Diamond had died just yet. They reached the private rooms of Pink Diamond after a long walk through winding hallways.
"Yo, Pearl! Guess what happened!"
"What?" a voice like Pearl's said.
"Steven fused!" Axelle shouted.
"Oh, my stars! With whom?!"
A sound of running feet echoed on the polished floors, then a pink, nearly flawless pearl came shooting out of a side room. She dressed similarly to the other Pearl but in shades of pink, with a long flowing skirt.
"How many Pearls does Steven have?!" the fusion asked, then immediately answered themself. "Rayne and Lacey are Mom's Pearls. I only have one. You." The fusion blushed.
"This is Pink Diamond's original Pearl," Axelle said. "But we can't go calling every pearl she and Steven collect Pink Pearl. So we call Pink Pearl Lace Pearl, Lacey for short. Then there's P, who's Rainbow Pearl, Rayne for short. And Connie, who's Aubergine Pearl."
Axelle turned to Pearl. "Pearl this is Stevenconnie. She's… he's… they're? Hells. You figure it out! I got 'em here!" Axelle flopped down on a bed and sighed, but got shaken off her seat by something moving under her. She moved aside and a head with two pink heart-shaped buns popped up from under the blankets.
"Did a miss something?"
"Spinel," Pearl said. "Steven learned to fuse!"
Spinel lifted her head and turned it around. Her neck was basically a rubber band.
The fusion waved. "Hi, Ellie. Steven can fuse now."
A wicked smile spread over Spinel's cartoonish face. "Is this Pearl your girlfriend now?"
"What?" the fusion said and barely held together.
"Spinel!" Pearl scolded.
Axelle laughed. "Good one, El!"
Spinel jumped out of the bed. "Look at this! A new best friend! Every fusion is a new best friend!" She bowed. "I'm Ellie! A pleasure to meet you, Stevonnie."
"Stevonnie!" Pearl said. "Perfect. Good job, Spinel. Now for the gem type."
"And the gender," Axelle huffed. "Organic gems have a gender."
"I'm a them," Stevonnie said, then suddenly realized they weren't sure of what they looked like under their clothes. Probably best to not mention that and figure it out later.
"They," Pearl said. "Of course you would be. Obviously. But your gem type… Hmm. There has been Pink Diamond-Pearl fusions before." She led Stevonnie to the side of the room towards a door.
"What?!" Stevonnie shouted. "Did she… did Mom?"
"Of course," Pearl said, throwing open the doors on what turned out to be a closet. "She loved fusion, why wouldn't she fuse?"
"The gem temple," Spinel said, "is a model of her fusions! Once you can fuse with the Pink Stars you can create her."
"Create who?" Stevonnie asked.
"Obsidian, duh," Axelle said. "But for now, who are you?"
"That's right," Pearl came from the closet with an armful of Pink clothes. "You must know who you are before you can fuse anymore. These were some of her clothes. You look like you should fit them."
"Oh! Okay." Stevonnie began to undress. They thankfully found a leotard under their clothes.
Pearl continued. "Now Pink Diamond and I made Pink Quartz. And she and Rainbow Pearl made Rainbow Quartz. So you must be…"
"Raspberry Quartz," Axelle said. "Because of how dark their gems are."
Pearl nodded sagely as she helped Stevonnie into their clothes. "Perfect. Raspberry Quartz. Call Garnet and Rayne, Axelle. They're going to want to see this."
#
Stevonnie ran from place to place in Pink Diamond's old rooms. Their brand new outfit swirled around them. They felt absolutely at home here. All the furniture was just their size. And the pink and blush tones that colored the rooms matched their hair and bounced off their brown skin nicely. With a tap of their feet, Stevonnie launched themself up to the second floor of the apartment. They ran into the bedroom and flung back the curtains.
"Oh, my stars! Look at that bed! Pearl?! Can I jump on the bed?!"
"Go ahead!" Pearl called. "Do you like black?!"
"I LOVE black!" Stevonnie shouted over their shoulder as they ran toward the bed. They kicked off their shoes and jumped feet first into the blankets.
Even without using their ability to float, the bed sent them flying up to the ceiling where they kicked off the surface and sent themselves flying back down to the bed. After bouncing on the bed for a few minutes, Stevonnie stopped themself from falling back on the bed and slowly floated down to its surface.
"This is amazing," Stevonnie said as they landed softly on the bed.
"I'm so glad you're here," Stevonnie said, more Steven than Connie. "I'm so glad I'm not alone anymore."
Stevonnie wrapped their arms around themself and smiled. It was warm in the bed and they could have drifted off and taken a brief nap. They deserved it after all this excitement.
"My Quartz," Pearl's voice said. "They're here! Garnet and Pearl have arrived!"
All thoughts of a nap forgotten, Stevonnie climbed out of bed. "Great! Let's go!" They ran back to the balcony where they'd ascended to the second floor and jumped off it, floating down to the first floor.
"May I announce," Lacey Pearl said from the second floor, "Their Most Lustrous Self, Our Wonderful Leader, Raspberry Quartz!"
Stevonnie grinned at Garnet and Rayne Pearl.
"Hey, guys!" they said. "I'm a fusion. Pretty cool, right?"
Axelle laughed from her place on the bed, while Spinel practically vibrated in place with excitement.
"Steven fused with Connie!" Axelle said. "Connie totally knows everything! And they've been friends for ages! And I knew before Garnet! I wasn't that last to know!"
Garnet dissipated her visor with a swipe of her hand and smiled. "Well," she said. "I did not see this coming."
The room laughed.
"What's your name, Raspberry Quartz?" Garnet asked.
"Stevonnie!" they answered.
"They're a brand new friend!" Spinel said.
"And now we have something to do with Pink's old clothes," Lacey said as she took a place next to Stevonnie. "They fit them perfectly and they look so much like her in them! The other Diamonds will be so happy to meet Stevonnie! Won't they, Pearl?"
"Will they, Pearl?" Stevonnie looked at the Rayne Pearl. "Pearl?"
Rayne Pearl stood where'd she'd been when Stevonnie had jumped down. She was just staring at them, not moving.
"Yo, P," Axelle called. You okay? "Lace, what's up with your girl?"
"Pearl," Lacey called softly. "Are you okay?"
Stevonnie frowned and marched up to Rayne Pearl. "Pearl what's–!"
POOF
Rayne Pearl was gone.