"Mom was a Diamond who invaded Earth, but saw its beauty and its worth. Mom made an army, and she fought herself. Why'd that even end happening when she'd fake her own kidnapping? Mom ruled her empire with name of Rose, with the friends she made and the form she chose. Now all that's left of her exists in me, and I think that we can all agree, that is a little bit upsetting…"
Steven sighed and stopped playing his guitar, letting his hand fall to the bed. Connie sat on the bed watching him. She'd been halfheartedly taking down his newest song—as depressing as it was turning out to be—but stopped. Bobbie was in her hammock gazing at them with a frown.
"We shouldn't have told him," Bobbi said.
"Oh, hush," Connie bit back.
It had been two days since they'd come back from Centuri. That night, Connie had kept her promise to Steven to stop hiding things from him and had told him what she'd learned about the Rebellion. She started with Bismuth telling her that Rose Quartz was still alive. That had led to the terminal, to Bismuth's story, to Bobbi's mirror, and the whole thing had come out over the course of the night. Steven hadn't left the room since. He'd shut out everyone except Connie and Bobbi, plying them with questions. After a day, he'd started writing a song about the ordeal.
"This is why Rose didn't want him to know," Bobbi said. "You knew that!"
"He deserves to know and do with the information as he sees fit!" Connie snapped.
"… that is a little bit upsetting…" Steven sang under his breath. "I'd rather think about… a… wedding! Ohmygosh!" Steven sat up. "Connie, do you know what's coming up?"
"Um…" Connie considered her answers then settled on, "No."
"It's your birthday in two months," Bobbi said to Connie.
Steven blushed. "It… is. Yes. Ehem. November is your birthday and also Choosening."
"Choosening?" Connie squeaked. "What about it?"
"Well, I thought. We could do that this year. It would good for the Pink Court to take part in the Choosening. We could have a ball! You've done junior Choosenings, but I never have!"
"You want to do a junior Choosening?" Connie questioned.
"Yea! Innae and Gyeogno could do it. Maybe Rayne and Lacey would like to be a pair. I know Ellie and Axelle have done it, but Rayne hates when they fuse because it makes a mess."
"Yea, I'm not fusing," Bobbi grumbled. "I just got myself back."
Steven laughed. "You don't have to fuse, Bobbi. But maybe we," he continued to Connie, "could even try fusing with Garnet or something!"
"Yea?" Connie said. "Great!"
"Great! We can talk to the Stars about everything after. This is just what we need to lighten things up around here."
"So," Bobbi said, "You're going to throw a big party."
"Like Mom used to," Steven said.
"Then tell the Stars you know all about the Rebellion?" Bobbi finished.
"Basically. The Stars," Steven turned to Connie, "and Bismuth. She deserves to know the truth. She thinks Mom betrayed her, but it wasn't like that at all."
Connie nodded and smiled.
"Mom was wrong," Steven said. "We can't fix this with more lies and secrets to the people we love."
"What about your aunts?" Bobbi asked.
Steven sighed. "I need some time to think about them. But, right now, I want to think about flowers and cake. What kind should we have at the Choosening?"
"Let's think about cake! Let's think about flowers! Let's think about dressing up and dancing around for hours!" Steven slid into the dinning room with a flourish and smiled. "There's an awful lot of of awful things we could be thinking of, but for just one day let's only think about love!"
"Um, Steven?" Axelle asked? "What's up with you today?"
"Yes!" Rayne said. "You seem chipper. And you're out of your sad nest."
"Yep!" Steven shouted as he slid over to his chair at the head of the table. Rayne was already there pouring him some oat-milk.
"Well, would you like some tofu eggs and sausages?"
"Yes, please!" Steven said. "Connie, would you like some?"
"I respect your need not to eat animals, Steven," Connie said, "but no thank you. I'll be having bird eggs and pig meat."
"With almond milk," Lacey added. "Because who drinks cow milk?"
Connie lifted her chin and smiled. She was aware of her contradictions and didn't care.
"So, what are you up to?" Innae said, sipping black coffee next to Connie.
Normally, Juhreul sat next to Connie, but today Innae and Gyeogno sat in her chair together, both drinking a coffee, Innae's black and Gyeogno's with milk.
"Well, we thought the Pink Court could do something for this year's Fall Choosening! A fusion celebration. Me and Connie, Innae and Gyeogno, Rayne and Lacey, and… Ellie and Axelle."
Axelle dropped her breakfast burrito and gasped, while Ellie jumped up.
"Hooray! We get to fuse again!" Ellie said.
"Steven!" Rayne whispered. "Are you sure?"
Steven laughed nervously. "Yea. How bad can it be?"
Rayne sighed. "Okay. What about you, Bobbi?" she said. "Do you want to…"
"No." Bobbi said. "I'm not fusing with anyone. I like being me."
"Um…" Terri muttered.
"Is something wrong, Terri?" Connie asked.
Terri was down the table from Connie, picking at some bacon.
"I don't want to fuse either. I'm not sure about it. Ah… I mean!" She blushed. "It's a Pink Court thing and all, I just… don't know if it's for me…"
A hand made of water appeared and patted Terri on the back. Terri glanced at Bobbi and smile hesitantly.
"I'd love to watch though," Terri went on. "Stevonnie was so cool. I might decide about it later."
"Fusion is a large part of the Pink Court," Rayne said. "But it's not the only part, and not the only way to be close to someone. Don't feel pressured to fuse if you don't feel comfortable. Greg and Rose could never fuse, and they were closer than anyone."
"Agreed," Innae said. "Fusion is a very personal choice that should only done with a clear head. Rose knew that."
"Yea…" Steven muttered. "Mom knew a lot…" He sighed. "Anyway, how does the idea sound?"
"I love it!" Ellie said.
"So do I," Lacey agreed.
"Since we all agree," Innae said, "we should start making preparations."
"Great!" Steven said. "Right after breakfast."
"Pearl," Bismuth said as Connie approached her cell. "What are you doing down here? The big get-together is happening soon."
It had been an incredibly hectic month for entire Pink Court. Steven's birthday had been a collaboration between all the Courts and the Pink Court had handled the least of it. Steven and his Court had basically needed to show up and dazzle. But at the Choosening, the Pink Court carried all the weight.
The comparisons to Rose's displays were unavoidable, and Steven was already taking it badly. He didn't seem to know if he wanted to embrace the comparisons or downplay them. Connie wasn't sure where Steven was concerning his mother anymore. Where Rose's flaws had made her clearer and more and understandable to Connie, they only confused Steven. He wasn't sure if he should be more or less like her anymore than he had ever been, and it was driving him crazy.
Connie sat down across from Bismuth's cell and sighed.
"Yea, but I need a break and you need a name," Connie said.
"A name?" Bismuth muttered.
"Yea. We all have names now. You need one." Connie sighed again. "Plus, I have something to tell you. You… were right."
Bismuth narrowed her eyes. "Right about what?"
"Rose," Connie said. "You were right about Rose and Pink."
"And you're still here?" Bismuth hissed. "Don't you get it? Everything is lies!" She stood up and punched the wall of her cell. "This whole place is built on LIES!"
"I know," Connie said coolly. "It had to be that way to protect us from the other Diamonds."
"Wh… what?"
"What else would a Diamond rebel against except the other Diamonds?"
Bismuth stepped back. "Who told you that? Your Diamond?"
"No. A friend. Sit, please. I have a lot to tell you. Then when you've heard the whole thing, you need a name."
"We could you think about lies that we've told in the past. We think about hurt feelings and how long they can last. Or we could think about hope! You know I've been hoping…"
Steven turned from the mirror when Connie walked back into the room. He had been braiding his hair back in the mirror, singing his new song, when Connie trudged in with a sigh.
"How'd she take it?" Steven asked anxiously, braid half-finished.
Connie continued to trudge across the room and threw herself down on their bed face-first. "She wasn't having any of it," Connie muttered into the blankets. "She listened, then told me to go shatter myself."
"Jeez," Steven muttered. "What are we going to to do? Should we send Bobbi down?"
"No. I'll try again. She's just mad right now." Connie rolled over and yawned. "She was so mad. Furious."
"I would be, too," Steven said. He finished his braid, then came over to the bed and lay down. "She thinks Mom betrayed her, and she doesn't understand why. She devoted her whole life to a person who turned on her on a dime. No wonder she's mad."
"Yea. I feel bad for her," Connie muttered as she put her head on Steven's shoulder. "What should we do?"
"Keep her safe until we can calm her down. Just like the corrupted gems."
"Yea…" Connie sighed, then stilled. After a couple of seconds, she sat up. "Wait. Have you tried Diamond essence on the corrupted gems?"
"What?" Steven said.
"We used Diamond essence to heal Bobbi. What if we did that to corrupted gems?"
"There's no way we'd have enough in all the hospitals in all the colonies…" Steven said with a sad smile.
"But what if we got some from the source?" Connie asked, leaning over him. "What if… I don't know, got the Diamonds together in…"
"Their extraction chambers?" Steven said. "We sometimes extract together. If we all got in a big… I don't know bath or something and put the corrupted gems in it…"
"But… the gems… We'd have no way of knowing beforehand if they were rebels or not."
"We can't leave half of them corrupted anyway!" Steven said. "We have to…" He lowered his gaze. "We have to tell them," he whispered. "I was going to wait. I was going to figure something else out. For Mom, for all of us. But… we have to tell Lily, Daisy and Iris about Mom's rebellion."
Connie pressed her back teeth together.
"We have to, Connie! It's the only way to save them! Pink Diamond is supposed to make things better! I have to do this!"
Connie took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, My Diamond," she said. "I'll start making plans as soon as the Choosening is over."
"So what's this Choosening thing all about?" Bismuth muttered.
She was sitting in the far corner of her cell on the floor, her head hanging down, her face in shadow despite the warm flood of lights in the cells. Connie considered adjusting the lights to a higher setting. Bismuth looked like she was fading away.
"It's something that Iris and Daisey came up with that Rose adopted when she took back control of organic life."
"I thought 'Iris' and 'Daisy' were the enemy." Bismuth said with no heat. She was just asking a question.
"Rose always thought they were, but when you have to keep your enemy on your side, you do certain things to keep the peace. The Choosening was part of that, I guess. Bobbi said that when Rose first attempted to keep Earth from being destroyed, she made a plea for the organic life there. So, Iris and Daisy made a zoo for her full of organic life, including what you called humans."
Bismuth tsked. "Sick," she muttered.
"I know," Connie muttered. "But when Rose finished Juhreul's plan and came back into power, she emptied the zoo. She kept the Choosening, however, and added an element of choice. Once a season organics put in an application to be matched together in pairs acknowledged by the Empire."
"And what happened in the zoo? Did they just match you together randomly?"
"Yea, I guess, if Rayne's stories to Bobbi are anything to go by."
Bismuth raised her head. "I get why she fought so hard for them, then. The freedom to choose who to love…"
Connie stayed carefully neutral. She wondered how she would've dealt with being in a zoo? Probably fine. It would have been all she knew. She supposed if she'd met Steven then she'd have reason to doubt.
"Pearl?" Bismuth called, breaking Connie from her musings.
"Hmm?" Connie said.
"Have you been through this thing? A Choosening?"
"Yea. I skipped a few seasons. I was… weird back home. Other gems didn't want to be seen with me."
"I'm sorry," Bismuth muttered.
"It's fine."
"So, you and… your Diamond, you're going to do the Choosening?"
"Yea, but we're already…" Connie trailed off.
"I know what organics do to make more of themselves. Rose liked to do that with organics and with Pearl."
"Rayne," Connie corrected. "And please, I didn't need to know that. Rayne is like my mom."
Bismuth laughed humorlessly. "That's pretty funny."
"If you say so," Connie shrugged. "Anyway, after the Choosening, Steven wants to talk to you. Will you—"
"Are you going to be one?"
Connie frowned. "Be… what?"
"A mom? I mean, how would that work? Are you going to disappear, too, if you and your Diamond have a baby? Would it be a pearl, like you?"
"I'm not a hybrid," Connie said. "My baby would be an organic-gem and would be designated."
"You don't know that," Bismuth said, lifting her head for the first time. "You don't know how any of this hybrid stuff works."
Connie was long past arguing points with Bismuth that neither of them were going to coincidence on. So, she shook her head and looked away.
"What's it like for you, fusing?" Bismuth asked.
Shrugging, Connie sighed. "I've never thought about it," she said. "Being Stevonnie is like… kicking my feet when I'm plunged into water; it's just the right thing to do. It's just instinct."
"Hmm, Garnet… Juhreul, must be glad to hear that."
"I think she's pretty impressed at how well Steven took to it. I worry he won't want to fuse with anyone but me."
"What's wrong with that?" Bismuth said.
"I don't know," Connie muttered. "He's the only organic who can fuse. Shouldn't he… fuse?"
"Look, fusion is what you make of it. It's an experience. If he wants to keep that experience limited that's his business. You shouldn't be worried you're holding him back."
Connie laughed. "You sound like, Juhreul."
"Pssh, I'm not surprised. I learned from her." Bismuth fully raised her head. "You think… they're happy here?"
Shocked, Connie kept her face carefully neutral. She'd never considered whether Rayne and Juhreul and the others were happy. It was enough for Connie that Rose had been trying and had mostly succeed to do the right thing. Earth had not been destroyed. Organics were not in a zoo. Colonization was not as destructive as it had once been. Fusion was no longer outlawed, and those who would be off-colors could always flee to the Pink Court. Things had changed little between the Eras before Rose's rule and after, but she had worked within the system to do a great deal of reform. And yet, had it been enough? Had her revolution failed? Were her people, the gems, happy?
"I think you'd have to ask Rayne and the others about that. I only know what I've lived," Connie advised.
"Are you happy, Pearl?"
Connie smiled. It was a loaded question. Still, Connie was relived to answer something simple.
"Yes," she said. "I'm happy. And my name is Connie."
"We could think about flowers. We could think about cake! We think about wonderful promises we have the power to make."
When Connie entered their bedroom Steven was half-hidden behind a screen fussing with a bunch a fabric. His singing perked her up from her talk with Bismuth.
"There's an awful lot of—"
"Awful things," Connie picked up, " we could be thinking of."
"But for just one day, let's only think about love!" they finished together.
"What are you working on other there?" Connie asked, shirking off her clothes in favor of her leotard and her cloth harness.
"It's a secret!" Steven sang. "So stay away from over here, okay?"
"Yes," Connie said and flopped down on their bed. "Ugh. Bismuth was less exhausting when she was furious at me."
"Are you okay?" Steven asked as he approached.
"Yea," Connie muttered. "But she's putting my knowledge to the test."
"Of what?"
"Everything!" Connie pushed herself up onto her stomach. "She wants to know about everything! What does every gem do, natural and organic? What do baby gems do? What do elderly gems do? How do they feed us? How do we bathe? How do we sleep? Where do we sleep? What do naturals do when we sleep? Do naturals eat now? How often are new naturals made? How big is the Empire? How do the Diamonds rule now? How to agates keep gems in line? Why aren't we terraforming? What do lapis lazulis do now? How can there be organic lapis lazulis? Do organic have gem powers? Do organics shape shift? How long do organics live? Endless questions!"
Connie collapsed back on the bed with a groan. She was content to lie there and let herself fall asleep until she felt the bed dip and Steven's warmth close to her.
"You know," Steven said, "you're just about the best pearl in the whole Empire for this. I mean who knows the Empire better than you do?"
"Maybe Rayne," Connie muttered, rolling her closed eyes.
"Yea…" Steven said. "But Rayne isn't going to go near Bismuth as it is. Not until we sort this whole, Mom was a rebel leader, thing out."
Connie opened her eyes to see Steven leaning over her, grinning. She relented and smiled.
"Yea, I guess," she said. "I'm pretty good." Connie sat up. "Do you think they were happy back then, being rebels?"
"You bet!" Steven said. "I've been talking to Bobbi while you've been getting us ready for the Choosening. It was all wild and free. Mom was amazing. No wonder she was such a great Diamond. She didn't need to be one to get people to follow her. She had—" Steven got off the bed and struck a pose, "charisma! Mom gave speeches on cliff sides. She healed the wounded with her tears. She fought in battles on the front lines! Mom was amazing! She was… everything I wanted to be when I was a kid. I always thought Mom was this perfect being, like a painting that never moved and never messed up. But she was… a wildfire! She was star fire! She lived and breathed and screamed, just like…"
"You?" Connie guessed.
Steven chuckled. "Yea. Like me." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm glad you told me about Mom."
"You deserved to know," Connie said. "She's your Mom. They can't keep lying to you about her."
"Yea. I mean, they were only being loyal to her but, she's gone now. They should be loyal to me."
"I'm loyal to you," Connie assured Steven."
Smiling, Steven nodded. "Thanks. Anyway. I'm feeling better about Mom. I mean, sometimes. Sometimes, I'm thrilled about her. Then sometimes, I want to never think about her again. Like when I think about how she could have stood up to my aunts without starting a rebellion."
"Well, she was pretty much a child then," Connie said with a shrug. "She didn't even have the responsibilities you have. She just threw parties and played around. Ellie and Lacey talk about that sometimes."
"Right," Steven said. "Mom only got New Homeworld after she got Rayne. But that still doesn't explain why she didn't use her muscle to force the changes she wanted the first time around! Why even become Rose Quartz?"
"Because Iris, Daisy and White wouldn't listen to her the first time around. She was scared of them and they took her for granted."
Steven was turning pink. "But all that death! What was it all for? What did it change in anyone?!"
Connie looked at him calmly. "It changed everything," she said. "Your mother was a leader, a real leader. She didn't call down ships from the safety of her base. She led troops into battle, healed the wounded, and saw the shattered. Your Mom had to see her own choices lead to gems to victory or to defeat. How else would she gain so much empathy, so much insight, as to cry to healing tears when before she would scream and shatter gems?"
Steven stood still, listening, a frown on his face. "I… guess," he said.
"She left a child," Connie said. "And came back a leader." Connie chuckled. "Sort of like you did. As for your aunts, they thought she'd died. I don't know for sure but… if you lost someone you loved, only to get them back from the dead, wouldn't you do anything to keep them from leaving again?"
The last of the pink drained out of Steven's colors and he sighed. "You're saying, my aunts were hurt when Mom disappeared and when she came back, they treated her better to make up for ignoring her before?"
"Why wouldn't they?" Connie shrugged. "At least, that's how I took it. Your aunts gush about your Mom. They seemed to have loved her. Yet, she never trusted them. So, why could that be? Maybe their change of heart came only after she had written them off, only after she'd found a new family to love her."
Wandering back to the bed, Steven slumped next to Connie. "I guess I still don't know how to feel about her."
"It's complicated?" Connie asked.
"Yea. I want to love her," Steven said. "She's my mom. She was so much like me. But I guess, I'm mad at her, too. Mad at her for leaving me with this mess. With all these secrets and stuff. She could have cleaned it up before having me and disappearing."
"She thought burying it would be the best thing for you," Connie reminded him.
"I know. But maybe my mom was wrong. If she was so perfect, she would have had me without disappearing and leaving me with this burden."
Connie laughed. "I didn't think we were supposed to say that, My Diamond."
"Well, too bad," Steven said with a smile. Then he sighed and sang, "We could all rethink how we feel about Rose when it comes to Pink and things that she did in the past, I suppose." With a deep breath, Steven pushed himself up and floated right up to ceiling and stretched. As he floated back down, he sang some more. "Or we could all feel better because we could think about how we could think about us and we could think about now!"
"That's the spirit," Connie said.
"We have to talk to my aunts," Steven said. "They deserve to know what Mom was up to. And… I want to know what they did to her. Why didn't trust them? Why were the Pink Stars supposed to protect me from them? And why was New Homeworld even established? Was it to get away from them?" Steven frowned. "I have to know what happened."
"Lacey might know," Connie suggested.
"But what to ask her?" Steven asked. "And when?"
"After the Choosening." Connie said.
Steven yawned. "Yea. We've got so much going on around here. They Jade System, Bismuth, untangling Mom's mess, figuring out what my aunts did to her. No sense in tackling it all at once."
Connie lay down and put her head on Steven's shoulder. "Yep. Might as well pace ourselves."
"We could think about war," Steven sang into her hair. "We could think about fighting. We could think about long-lost friends we wish were inviting."
"We could think about the broken family suffering at the Empire's core," Connie added. "Or we could think about healing we'll do so that they can't be hurt any—"
"—they can't be hurt any more!" Steven finished.
"We can think about joy!" Steven sang. A wave a pink bliss washed over the crowd sending the listening gems into an uproar of cheering and adoration. "We can think about pain."
It was the day of the Choosening and Steven was putting on his first show since the Sadie Killer concert. He wore black and pink again but this time he was no anonymous gem; he was Pink Lotus Diamond. Steven and the Pink Stars were on a newly built stage outside the gem temple where Steven was giving his first official performance as a Diamond. He was singing his newly composed song for the opening of the Choosening. It had been heavily edited to remove any references to the things he knew now knew about his mother but it was still a moving tribute to trials the Empire was facing in the Jade System and how they would stay strong in the face of them.
"We can think about sun shine. We can think about rain."
The inner circle of the Pink Stars were on stage with him, accompanying Steven on instruments.
"There's an awful lot of awful things we could be thinking of! But… for just one day let's only think about—"
"Just one day let's only think about—" the entire group sang together. "Just one day let's only think about—"
"Love!" Steven finished long and low, sending out another wave of pink bliss.
The crowd roared, clapped, and stomped. Steven basked in the crowd's glow before raising his hands for silence.
"My subjects," he said lovingly, sounding similar to Lily, "thank you for coming out to my first Choosening. As you know the Pink Court will take part in this season's festivities, celebrating unity and the dawning of the Era 4!"
More cheering erupted from the crowd. Chants of "My Diamond" started. Steven smiled and let them die down naturally before continuing.
"That is why I will preside over the unions of members of the Pink Stars," Steven announced with an accompaniment of fanfare.
The crowd gasped. Choosenings, until that point, had been strictly for organic-gems. Natural-gems attended so they could party and to show unity with their organic counterparts, but they were never matched. Steven had made sure the matching would be kept an absolute secret for that very reason. He clapped his hands.
"Clear the floor," Steven ordered. "Let the matching begin!"
Coming back into themselves, gems hurried off the beach in front of the gem temple. A huge piece of flooring was brought in by bismuths and rolled out. The organic-gems gathered on the edges of it, all eyeing the stage. Bess, one of the bismuths, appeared out of nowhere and handed Steven a crystal.
"You need any help to work that, My Diamond?" Bess asked.
"I've got it, Bess, thanks," Steven said. "So um, next season I'm going to ask naturals about doing the Choosening. You maybe wanna think about asking Bao?"
Bess turned purple-red and froze for a moment.
"I… I don't know," she said, then smiled. "You think she'd say yes?"
Steven leaned down. "We'll talk later, Bess, okay? I'll call you."
They both nodded, and Bess walked away back to her group. Steven straightened up.
"You guys ready?" he asked over his shoulder.
Rayne and Lacey glanced at each other. Rayne looked slightly more nervous, but smiled giddily. Ellie was vibrating with excitement next to Axelle who was feigning being too cool to care but biting her lower lip. Innae was actually too cool, freezing into place in her shoes and having to pick up her feet or shuffle closer to Gyeogno to stay thawed. Gyeogno looked like Ellie, vibrating with excitement, only when she did it, flames appeared.
"We should start this before things get damaged, My Diamond," Connie whispered.
Steven chuckled. "Agreed."
He turned to crowd. "And now, the first annual matching of the Pink Stars."
Steven tapped the crystal, and the flooring lit up. As a group Steven and the Pink Stars walked down off the stage, through the crowd and onto the floor. Connie noticed that natural gem crowded around the edges of the Choosening floor, peeking around bodies, and over shoulders, whispering to each other and their organic counterparts. She glanced at Steven who was smiling contently, a pink glow on his face.
For once, Steven looked happy. His face was wide with a smile that reached his eyes. He looked positively soft with feeling. Connie wanted to reach out and squish his cheeks. To distinguish himself from his mother, Steven wore his hair down. He looked more like Greg than Rose and that was what he was going for. Well, he looked like Rose when she was rebelling, but Connie wasn't going to tell him that and ruin his glow.
"I think we're ready," Innae whispered to Steven after a moment.
Steven nodded and raised the gem to his mouth.
"Amethyst-Axelle," Steven said, and as he did, the floor projected the voice.
Axelle shot the crowd a pose and strolled to the center of the floor. There were cheers and applause from the crowd, especially from the quartzes. Steven let the crowd have it's fun before taking a deep breath and sighing. Then he spoke.
"Spinel-Ellie."
Ellie screamed, coiled, and bounced into the air. The crowd gasped, some in joy, others in terror. Ellie rose into the air above them, peaked, then fell in an arc straight into Axelle.
They collided in a flash of light and a blast of air. If Connie knew anything about fusion, it was that it was joyous. When she'd watched Rayne and Axelle fuse, there had been laughter. She and Steven had been laughing when they first fused. Ellie and Axelle's fusion came into being laughing as well. It was a manic, bouncing laugh that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Then there she was. She looked almost like a springy Garnet. Long-limbed, wide-hipped, and long-haired, she was less purple than Axelle, less pink than Ellie but purple and pink evenly. Her hair was in two long curly pigtails, with cut-off shorts from Axelle, half a skirt from Ellie and a half-sleeved, half-tank top shirt. Her feet seemed bare at first but on closer inspection slim dancer's foot-thongs covered them.
"A-hahaha!" the fusion cackled. She twisted in on herself, then released and bounced into the air and up onto the temple.
Connie gasped along with the crowd. The fusion was fast. Faster than Opal, much faster than Ellie or Axelle.
"Wow!" Connie said.
"She'll come back," Steven said. He put the gem to his mouth. "My subjects. Kunzite-Quicksprig!"
"Yaaaah-hoooo!" Quicksprig shouted as she flung herself from one of the temples' stone hands and plummeted back to the floor. She landed softer than she should have, spreading out like a puddle then reforming back into herself. "Hello, everybody!" she said and waved. "It's great to be here!"
"Quicksprig!" Steven called and waved her over.
She turned and grinned at him before bounding over to the group and landing next to Rayne. Quicksprig looked down at Rayne and gave her wide grin and hip check. Rayne caught herself before she fell into Lacey and gave Quicksprig a strained smile.
Steven smiled and shrugged before making the next announcement.
"Pink Pearl-Lacey."
Lacey smiled and walked to the center of the Choosening floor to applause and cheers. She bowed and waited politely for her match.
"Rainbow Pearl-Rayne."
The crowd erupted into wild cheering. Rayne blushed blue and looked around.
"Oh!" she said, then hurried to meet Lacey on the floor.
"Rayne," Lacey said. "All my life I was Rose Diamond's Pearl. That was my purpose; it was chosen for me and I loved it. But today, I choose you."
Rayne gasped and teared up before throwing her arms around Lacey. She whispered something in her that couldn't be heard above the cheering. Lacey's face melted into a content smile before both their bodies glowed and expanded.
Rayne and Lacey's fusion was huge, pink and lovely. The high-pitched squeal of joy that Quicksprig made when she saw her emerge from the light of fusion for the first time summed up the crowd's reaction.
The pearls' fusion looked something like a Diamond, regal in flowing clothes and circlet, and poised and dignified. She came into being with her eyes closed but soon opened them to reveal a left blue eye and a right pink eye.
"The cracks," Connie whispered to Steven.
"I know!" Steven whispered back excitedly. "I wonder if Rayne…" He paused. "Ehem. And who are you?" he said into the crystal.
"I," the fusion said calmly. "Am Pearl-Dahlia."
"Dahlia?" Steven said.
Dahlia was mostly pink with edges of yellow, blue, and white, especially yellow in her golden circlet and heavy golden chain holding their cape on.
"Welcome to the world, Dahlia!" Steven said gleefully.
Dahlia kneeled and put one hand over where her heart would be.
"How do you do, My Lotus Diamond? Thank you for bringing me into the world. I am at your eternal service. Welcome to your new pearl."
The crowd once again erupted into cheers, this time taking pictures and pushing to get close to Dahlia for a better shot of her.
Connie pressed her back teeth together to keep herself grounded. She felt she was going to start crying at any second. As she glanced at Steven, she saw he was already crying.
"Thank you, Dahlia!" he shouted. "Please come and stand with me!"
Dahlia got up and strolled over to the group. Quicksprig wrapped an arm around one of Dahlia's with a smile as they got close together.
Wiping the tears from his eyes, Steven spoke into the crystal again. "Sapphire-Innae!"
Innae held her head up, brushed the hair from her face and walked to the center to the of the floor. This time there was no cheering. People waited, hushed for the next name. Most were recording at this point. Steven wasted no time.
"Ruby-Gyeogno!"
Gyeogno fast walked to the floor, leaving a trail of flames behind her. As gasps of horror began, water rained down to douse the flames, followed by a whistle. Connie followed the sound with the rest of the crowd.
Bobbi and Terri were floating above the stage, watching with a ball of water behind them.
"Just in case!" Bobbi shouted.
"Thanks Bobbi!" Steven called, then turned back to the floor. "Guys?" he said into the crystal.
Innae cleared her throat. "Gyeogno, before you my life was always a straight line, stretching out into infinity. But you changed that. You opened a set of infinite possibilities because when I'm with you, anything can happen and I can be anything and anyone I want to be."
The crowd clapped. Some were crying.
Gyeogno smiled and said. "I love you, and I will always you, My Sapphire, my everything."
They kissed. Connie lost her composure then. She started crying along with Steven, Quicksprig, Dahlia, and most of the crowd. Innae picked Gyeogno up and dipped her and Connie wondered how it would feel to be that happy for that long. She wondered if Steven would even remember her when as much time had passed for him as had passed for Innae and Gyeogno.
The light of fusion engulfed them and their gems spun around one another, faster and faster, as if happy to see each other again. Then, Juhreul was back.
"Garnet-Juhreul, everybody!" Steven announced. "The first, the best, the one and only premafusion of the Pink Stars!"
The crowd went into a tizzy, pushing onto the floor to crowd around Juhreul who laughed and greeted them as she elbowed her way back to the group. She casually saluted Steven before holding out her hand.
Steven took a breath and handed over the crystal.
Juhreul faced the crowd who looked at her in confusion. "Pink Lotus Diamond," she said into the crystal.
A gasp tore through the crowd and they scrambled off the floor to form a neat circle around it, everyone saluting.
Steven marched to the center of the floor and turned to face the stage.
"This is my first Choosening," he said. "So I… wrote this song. I hope she likes it."
He cleared his throat and the mouth of the temple a guitar started playing. When Connie looked for the source of the sound, it was Greg. Then Steven's voice called her attention.
"I'd rather be tall. I'd rather be smart. I'd rather be sure you know I care. Wherever you go and whatever you start. I'd rather be sure you know I'm there. I'd rather I always be a part of whatever you do. I'd rather be me, with you.
"Wherever we go, I already trust I'd know what to do if it were us. I'd know what to say; I'd know how to be, I'd know your entire itinerary. I can't think of any other thing in the world I would rather do. If I could be, I'd rather be me, with you."
A mist of pink bliss hovered near Steven's form. It was less powerful than his usual waves of it, more like a fog of happiness hanging over him.
Juhreul raised the crystal to her mouth and was cut off by an explosion.
"What was that?" Steven shouted, the pink mist gone.
"It was at the Tower!" Terri called. "A ship just shot at it!"
"The Jade System!" Connie called. "They must be here again!"
Steven put two fingers to his lips and whistled. Wolf howled from inside the gem temple and came running out, leaping down the steep ledges of the temple's base and landing on the Choosening floor next to Steven. "Connie, with me! Pink Stars, to the Tower!"