As Steven continues to find nothing but nightmares in his attempts to rest, the Gems try to find a solution.

...

As the days progressed and went by, Steven found that each night he would be plagued with moments from his past. The events themselves had no real purpose from what he could tell aside from revisiting whichever event his mind decided to play. There was no specific order and the memory would cut off after a specific point had played. With each new dream, he would see the events as if he were reliving them all over again. Wanting the cycle of things to end so that he could rest, he attempted to find any fix that he could. Steven attempted one idea a few nights after the memories began showing up, with hopes that it would help, even if only a little bit.

He was being shown Lars death, something that he didn't want to see anymore than the other memories. Unlike the others, instead of viewing it, he instead decided to begin wondering the kindergarten where the event had occurred, only to find that he always ended up back at the location where the memory was playing. After sometime of trying to find another way out of the area, only to find that he always returned to the memory, he decided to face the music and watch the death of his friend so that the dream would end. As he awoke, still as groggy as he was the last few nights, he found that the gems had been attempting to wake him up for sometime. Apparently his wondering of the dreamscape caused him to stay 'asleep' in a comatose like state, one that he couldn't escape from until the memory had fulfilled it's purpose. Although he found that he was out for nearly two days and had not gained anymore rest than he had previously, the silver lining he found was that he didn't relive another memory during that extra night he spent in the kindergarten dream.

Since then, he chose to try and stay awake, though he quickly found even this was only a temporary option as he would often drift off even when he would be doing any range of tasks. Alongside that, he weakened state brought forth several changes in his mood as his organic half couldn't keep up with the increasing lack of rest. Now unable to do even the simplest of tasks as his state of mind had continued weakening from the lack of sleep, he began to shut himself off from the rest of the world, only moving around the house to get food/water, or to use the restroom. Seeing the state Steven was in caused the gems even more worry on their end then before. They had already showed concern since his release from Black Diamond's control, but this was making their concern grow even more. They had attempted to try and help him in various ways, such as trying to get him to talk about the dreams, something he stopped doing after the first three days as he didn't want them to continue growing worried. Every attempt the gems made at trying this however only ended in disaster as at least one of three things usually happened: Steven either dozed in and out of reality too much to be able to give any real details, he would snap at the gems in a fit of anger, or he would avoid the topic altogether by making up some excuse. Seeing the boy's inability to give them anything to work with, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

One day, near nighttime, Steven had gone to try and sleep again, hoping that this night would be different. As he went and laid down, the gems asked Greg to watch over the boy while the trio held a meeting to brainstorm any new ideas or theories about what may be ailing the child. With the father's agreement, the group moved to the burning room to discuss their thoughts.

"I don't understand. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to these nightmares he's having, nor do I believe that there is an external factor...so what could be causing this?" questioned Pearl.

"Beats me, but we need to figure out something to help him. He's getting worse and I'm not sure how many days of this he's got left in him."

"I saw him yelling at the toaster yesterday. The bread was overdone and he wanted the machine to untoast it." said Garnet as if to confirm the boy's current state.

"Riiiight, well what exactly can we do then?" said Amethyst as she was struck with a mixture of worry, confusion, and curiosity.

"I'm not sure...but I have had a theory, though I'd hardly call it comforting." said Pearl. Seeing the look of curiosity on the other two, she continued. "We know that for the first couple days after he was freed, he was experiencing some...side effects from Black Diamond. What if this is one of them?"

"Even if it is though P, how can we even be sure? The only gem who might even be able to tell us yes or no is currently bubbled away on Homeworld."

"Why don't we just go ask him then?" said Garnet.

"I had thought of that, but I believed it to be too risky. What if he were to get free or stars forsake take control of another gem? We can't handle that along with the problems here." noted Pearl

"I don't believe we'd need to worry about that. After all, all the known gems that were loyal to him have either been freed or bubbled away. Plus, we'll have the diamonds to back us up should anything go wrong." explained the fusion.

"I don't know. After everything that's happened, I think I'm with Pearl on this one. Seems like it's a lot of hassle for a bit of info."

"That might be, but that bit of info could be just what we need to help or even cure Steven of his ailment. You said it yourself, we're not sure how long he can handle this anymore. That, and we don't really have another option."

Seeing that the two couldn't argue with the fusion's point, the trio came begrudgingly agreed that Black Diamond may be their best bet at helping Steven. As the three moved back into the home, they saw Greg who was positioned on the couch as if he were going to pass out. Once he saw the gems, he sat up.

"Hey guys...any luck figuring this out?"

"Maybe. We need to make a trip to Homeworld to check something though. Can you keep an eye on things here?" asked Pearl

"Yeah, no problem. He's already gone up for the night. Hopefully he can get some kind of rest tonight. I don't want to think of how worse things can get. Last time I saw him anywhere close to being out of it this much was when Spinel came here and reset you guys...and that was mild compared to this."

"We know. Hopefully we'll return with a solution. We shouldn't be long, though it might be dawn before we return." said Garnet.

"Well, I'll make myself comfy here then. See you guys soon."

With this, the trio warped away to Homeworld. After sometime, they arrived on the main warp outside the palace. Seeing that no one was coming to greet them this time, they began moving into the throne room. In the room, they found that White and Blue Diamond were present, with Yellow and Spinel missing."

"Hello everyone. This is a surprise. I assume this isn't a social call." said White.

"Hello White. No, I'm afraid not."

"Is this about Steven? How is he doing?" asked Blue.

"Not good. He's being plagued by moments from his past and hasn't been able to function since. It's getting worse even now." explained Pearl

"Oh dear. Have you found a cure for this ailment?"

"No, we haven't. But a solution may lie here in the palace." said Garnet.

"Are you sure about that? We all would do just about anything for Steven, but we're not exactly well versed on the workings of the human biology, let alone how they function with and without their resting periods." said Blue.

"We know, but there might be someone here who can help us still. We just need your help to make sure nothing goes wrong when we ask him." said Amethyst.

As the two diamonds let the info settle, it was White who broke the extended silence. "You wish to talk with my brother?" she said with a surprised tone.

"We believe that whatever is happening with Steven may be a side effect from being under Black Diamond's control for so long, but we can't confirm this unless we speak with him." explained Garnet.

"I...don't have any issue with you speaking with him. But I must ask if you are sure about this? There is a potential risk involved and he may not even possess the answers you all seek."

"We're aware of the risk and accept the possibility of it. We don't have many other options and we aren't sure how much longer Steven can continue to function on his own without any assistance." said Pearl.

"Very well then. I shall go retrieve the bubble." said Blue.

As the group waited for her to return, the two missing figures were brought up.

"Hey White, where exactly are Yellow and Spinel at? It's weird not seeing them with you or Blue." asked Amethyst.

"Since my brother's capture, things have been getting back to normal and since we're almost back to full functionality, I instructed Yellow to begin a new chapter in Homeworld text and history while we have the moment. After everything that's happened...I wanted to include my sibling into our history. Yellow has begun adding in both our recent encounter and my first war with Black from eons ago into our texts. After all, his being erased was part of the cause of everything that happened to our starlight and all the others. That and since everyone now knows of my brother, I figured it only made sense to update our history. Spinel went along with her to ensure she doesn't get lonely or bored. You all know how she can get if I told her no after all."

Feeling a shiver come on to her as she remembered the attack on beach city a couple years back, Amethyst had to agree with the elder diamond.

Shortly there after, Blue returned. As she approached the group, she presented a bleached bubble. Within it was a large black diamond, the very same gem that had terrorized the group and nearly taken over Homeworld just a couple weeks prior.

"Are we ready then?" asked Blue.

"Yes. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get back to helping Steven." said Garnet.

"Very well then." Blue said as she brought a small thing of force onto the bubble. With a slight pop, the gem was freed from it's containment.

As the blue giant set the gemstone on the ground, the group watched as it began to glow not too long after. As time passed, the gem rose into the air. With it gaining more height, it began to show a familiar form. Soon enough, the gem had finished reforming as it brought Black Diamond back into reality.

...

And Black Diamond is back. We got here a lot sooner then I thought we would NGL. Regardless though, hopefully he can shed some light on what's happening to our friendly neighborhood hybrid...or at the very least, let's hope he's actually cooperative.

Thanks for stopping out once more everyone. Always glad to see support in whatever form they may come in for these chapters. Happy Saturday all. Hope it's going well. Hope to see everyone once more in chapter 4, where we revisit Black Diamond.

Full Circle by Five Finger Death Punch