When Steven awoke, he was in a purple place.
The ground was purple as a plum.
The sky was purple like a filed violet, or a particularly nice sunset.
And as for the moment, that was all he saw. The ground and the sky, stretching over the horizon. The "ground" was soft like grass, even though no such thing was present. He could feel it through his sandals, and it almost felt like he was walking on a very thick type of jello. As for the sky, it was, again, a deep purple, but it had no clouds. No stars. No sun. No nothing. The only light was from...well, he wasn't sure what it was from, just that it was there. It wasn't like the light of the sun. More like…faint moonlight. Shining throughout the area.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?
The last thing Steven felt before he collapsed was the tiny bit of hope he had clasped onto, and the will to go into another body, some last-ditch effort to save himself.
And then there was darkness, and he felt nothing. No heat. No warmth. No sense of being cold. He saw nothing but the color black, so dark that even if there was light in this place, it would have swallowed it up and left nothing. He wasn't sure if he was breathing or not-he couldn't exactly feel his chest moving up and down, or the breath leaving his mouth, so there was no way to tell. And then for a moment, he saw something.
A face? A light in the distance? He couldn't quite make it out. Whatever it was, he willed his body, if it was even there, to reach out for it, but something...happened.
It was the oddest sensation he had ever felt. A burning feeling like he had been doused in boiling water, but was unable to feel pain. Just the heat. Just the steam brushing against his skin, like he was inside a cloud that was on fire. Like he had eaten a piece of hot food, but was unable to actually taste it, only feel it.
And that's when his sense of feeling returned and he started falling. He heard himself let out a yelp of surprise as every sensation was slammed into him at the same time. He still saw and heard nothing, but he could feel that it was back. It was like taking a gulp of air after staying underwater for too long. It was so soothing and satisfying...only not as familiar.
And he fell for what felt like forever. He started counting the seconds in this infinite void, falling through nothing with no bottom in sight. Seconds turned into minutes which turned into hours, then days, then weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, and eventually it felt like he had been counting for millennia.
But he never grew bored. Never grew tired. It was like he had the ability to do this forever without ever stopping, as if all his emotions had switched into a mode that allowed him to carry on this meaningless task for all eternity.
But it was not to be.
After he finished counting what felt like his fifteenth millennium or so, Steven saw something below him. The color purple. The first color he had seen in a hundred lifetimes. It was getting closer and closer, and soon he crossed his arms over his face to protect himself…
...and then he hit something solid. But like before, he felt no pain. No, he just hit something and that was that. There was no physical injury done to him. It was like he had been placed in a video game, and the "fall damage" option had been switched off.
He lay there for a second, feeling the spongy ground beneath him, before slowly lifting his head and looking around at the purple landscape, his pupils turning vaguely diamond-esque as he took note of his surroundings. It wasn't long before he elected to get up entirely, and although the ground was difficult to walk on at first, eventually he got the hang of it, steadily balancing himself as he moved forward, one step at a time.
"HELLO?" He called out, his voice producing no echo. "IS ANYONE THERE?"
He waited a full five minutes for a response, and then Steven sat back down, vividly recalling everything that had happened to bring him to this point.
'I...I was fighting Charoite…' He thought. 'I was in my pink speed mode, she was just making extremely fast. We were dodging each other's attacks, but eventually, I got the drop on her, she poofed...and I realized she got the drop on me.' He then gulped, recalling the pain of his Gem being splintered and cracked like a piece of glass. Instinctively, he looked down and lifted up his shirt, a sigh of relief escaping his mouth when he saw his undamaged Gem. However, a moment later this relief quickly turned into unease, because if his Gem was undamaged, did that mean-
'Am I dead?' He thought. 'Did I die? Is this...is this the afterlife? Just some big endless area with nothing to do? This...this can't be it, right? There has to be more! I've brought people back to life before! Lars said he didn't remember anything when I asked him about it, so...is this where he ended up? And he lost his memory for whatever reason?'
As more of these thoughts flowed through Steven's mind, the nauseating feeling in his gut grew, as he expected himself to be pulled back to the world of the loving at any moment. He had left emergency instructions to the Gems in his bedside drawer after all. Telling them where he stored his supply of healing tears and spit. If they found him, they should have found him, Yellow should have by now, then they also should have resurrected him!
Unless…
'My saliva.' Steven thought. 'It didn't work. I tried to use it to heal my Gem, but it didn't...it didn't do anything. It was like I was powerless again. Was...was it because my Gem was shattered? Was I unable to do anything because of that? But does this mean that nothing related to me will work now? Is it like some kind of weird hive mind, where even the saliva and tears I have stored lose their abilities all because…'
'...'
'Shhhh. Shhh.' He told himself. 'Be calm. Be quiet, Universe. Don't get too worried. There are only one of two options now, after all. Either I'm dead and there's nothing I can do about it, or I'm still alive and the Diamonds or the Gems are going to find me and hopefully bring me back. As long as…' He gulped and shuddered. '...They do that before Charoite reforms. But if she comes back first and they still haven't found me...well, I guess I wouldn't even know.'
Steven then looked around again after having these rather unpleasant thoughts, trying to see if there was anything he missed the first time. But no. There was nothing. No people. No changes in the landscape. Nothing except that weird lump over there, but he hardly considered that-
"Wait, what?" Steven said aloud, doing a double-take. He turned back to the area he was just looking at, and saw that there was indeed something new. There, in the distance, was a small shape of something. He couldn't quite make out what it was, but it was there.
And right now, that was good enough for him. He didn't waste any time in moving towards it as fast as he could go, the adrenaline from his earlier thoughts of death now spiking through his limbs. Once he got closer, he could somewhat make it out. It was purple like everything else, and had odd triangle-shaped hair with a bun, and...was wearing a coat? And for some reason, he thought he saw high-heels attached to-
"Oh god no." He said, stopping right where he was, only a few feet away from the shape. "Charoite."
Yes, it was Charoite. Scrunched up in a ball, looking like she had been knocked unconscious. Steven immediately felt the urge to throw up, but this was overpowered by his insane level of dumbfoundment as he wondered how she could be here. If this was some sort of afterlife, did that mean she died too? And how?! He only poofed her! Did that Topaz not pay attention to where it was going and step on her or something-
"Ughhhh…". A faint voice rang out, producing the most annoyed groan Steven even had the displeasure of hearing. It was coming from none other than the only other person there, and even through that groan, they sounded pissed. Steven backed away from Charoite as she started to stir, not sure if she could actually hurt him in here. She untangled herself from the ball shape and splayed her limbs across the ground, before lifting her head and catching an eyeful of the hybrid. The two stared each other down for a second, not moving, before Charoite screeched like a wild banshee and launched herself at Steven.
"DIE!" She yelled, and before Steven even knew it, he was on his back, with Charoite on top of him, her face twisted so that it actually looked like a banshees. Her arms whipped into her coat as she reached for her knives, and she pulled them out only to reveal...nothing.
Charoite looked at her hands in confusion for a moment, clearly trying to figure out where her knives went, and Steven took the opportunity to draw his arm back as far as he could and strike her in the face. Charoite howled with pain as he nailed her directly in the nose, twisting it to the side and causing her to get off him, allowing him to get back on his feet.
"GAH! You little…" She started, and she rammed her nose back in place with a crack. She then turned back towards Steven, her eyes boiling with rage. Her knees, and he could tell that she was about to lunge at him again, before-
"WAIT!" Steven said, putting both his arms out in front of him. Surprisingly, this seemed to stop Charoite. She stood there, frowning, still ready to jump him at any moment. Steven knew he had to say something fast or else she would, because frankly, he was not in the mood for another fight. "Let's just...wait for a moment. Let's try to talk this out."
"Talk it out? Talk it out?!" Charoite said incredulously. "Give me one good reason why I should "talk it out" instead of leaping at you and choking you to death!"
"Because look around you," Steven said. "Look where we are. Ever since you woke up, you had your eyes on me. Maybe you should divert them to the environment, and then I think you'll understand why fighting is pointless right now."
Charoite gave him an odd look after this, and then reluctantly, with slow deliberation, she took a gander at the purple landscape, her expression changing from rage to bewilderment as she realized where she was.
"What...what is this place?" She asked him. "Where are we? What did you do?!"
"I didn't do anything! Calm down!" Steven exclaimed. "As for your first two questions, the answer is, "I don't know". I'm just as lost as you are. I woke up in this place, started looking around, I found you, and you know the rest. I have no idea how I got here...or why you're here as well."
"I remember…" Charoite growled, clutching her head. "I remember you destabilizing my form. I remember a cloud of smoke and then darkness. And I also remember...stabbing you in your Gem! Did you heal yourself? You should be dead!"
"I may well be," Steven mumbled. "And no. I didn't heal myself. I tried, but my powers didn't work. You damaging my Gem made my abilities...malfunction, I guess, and so I wasn't able to fix it before I passed out. Then, again, I woke up here. After...falling through the darkness for a couple thousand years or something."
"What?"
"Nothing," Steven said. "But I don't have anything to do with this. And if I do, then I didn't mean to. So either it's your fault and you don't know, my fault and I don't know, or someone else's fault and they decided to place us both here for whatever reason."
"I think I'm still going to blame you," Charoite said. "You said you had all sorts of weird mind powers! That you could go inside people's heads and screw around with things! Did you place us inside this...weird mind realm?! Just before you "passed out", as you called it?!"
"I...I don't know. Give me a second." Steven said, before lowering his head and thinking to himself. 'Is...is she correct? Did I do that? Did I really use my mind powers to place us both inside the mindscape before...wait!' His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as he remembered what he tried to do in his last moments, using his astral projection to try and get to another body. 'It's...it's that! That must have worked, somehow! I managed to plant myself in another person's mind with that last act! But who…?' He then turned towards Charoite, who was now glaring at the sky like it had insulted her.
'Oh no. Please no.' He begged, as the pieces began to put themselves together. 'I tried to reach out for anyone, no matter who they were, and this place is purple just like her, and she was the closest person next to me, and I know that Gems are still conscious even when poofed, so does this mean...I'm inside Charoite's mind?!'
'...'
No answer came to Steven, expectantly, and he sighed before shivering and turning away from the Gem. 'This is bad.' He thought. 'This is really bad. If that's true, then this...this could get messy. No matter what, I can't let Charoite know that we're inside her head. I may have powerful mental abilities...I think, but I'm still in her territory. If she realizes that, then she may be able to overpower me with whatever she can think up...probably, and...AGH! This is all so confusing!' He growled, scrunching up his forehead.
'Okay. Okay. Calm down. Just calm down, Steven. Maybe you can still try to talk this out with her. She doesn't have her knives, and while I don't know if she can summon her weapon in her or not…' Steven's expression then twisted into a curious one, and after making sure that she wasn't paying full attention to him, he summoned a tiny shield on his hand, no bigger than a coaster. He winced and de-summoned it, his mind coming to an unfortunate conclusion.
'Alright. If I can summon my weapon, then she most certainly can.' He thought. 'Guess I'll have to try and keep that information away from her as well. Hopefully, she won't figure it on her own...annnnd she figured it out.'
Was what Steven thought, as he turned back to Charoite and saw her holding her chain in her hands, gleefully staring at it like she was in love. She then looked back at Steven, who gulped and summoned his shield again before speaking, hoping that he wouldn't have to get stabbed in the Gem twice.
"Are we really going to do this again?" He asked. "It didn't work out so well for either of us last time. And you know I'm going to win. You only got that last hit in me because of a cheap shot. When it comes to actually fighting ability, I-"
"And you only won because of that super-fast pink mode you went into," Charoite said, twirling her chain around again. "And yet, I don't see you going into it right now. I guess you just lost your spark."
"I wouldn't say that," Steven said. "I'm sure I can go into it anytime I want. I just don't want to fight! It's going to get us nowhere! Look around you! We have no idea where we are or why we're here! What do you think killing me will accomplish?"
"It'll provide me with a sense of satisfaction before I find my own way out!" Charoite said, and with that she leaped in the air, spinning around like a crazed ballerina before launching the spiked end of her chain at Steven.
'And here we go again.' He thought/sighed, as he raised his shield to deflect the attack, recalling too late that last time the chain went straight through his shield. He was about to move again, but the chain struck just in time and planted itself right in the middle, slashing his arm and leaving a long cut in his jacket. Steven let out a cry of pain and let go of his weapon just as Charoite yanked it back, hoping to nail her in the nose again.
"Not this time!" She yelled, simultaneously dislodging her blade and swatting it away right before it reached her. Steven grit his teeth and pulled out another shield on his opposite arm, taking his eyes off Charoite for a second to see how severe his wound was-
-only to see that it wasn't severe at all. Or at least, not as severe as he was expecting. The cut was there, yes, a long and deep red mark, but there was no blood. It wasn't bleeding at all. It was like someone had taken a red sharpie and drawn down his arm, leaving it there for all the world to see.
"What the…" He started, before he caught movement in his peripheral vision and realized Charoite was about to attack again. This time she aimed for his left knee, seemingly planning on disabling his ability to dodge any further attacks. Steven thrust his shield downward, keeping his eye on the chain the entire time. And then, at the exact right moment, he tilted it downwards and deflected the attack, causing it to strike the ground instead. He was about to throw his shield at Charoite, not sure exactly what he was hoping it would do, when a scream that sounded like someone being ax murdered made him freeze in place.
This scream came from none other than Charoite herself, who began convulsing and then fell to the ground, shaking like she was having a seizure. Her face showed that she was in definite extreme pain, and for a moment Steven didn't even know what to do, left awestruck and wondering about what could have possibly caused this.
"H-hey." He muttered. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
Charoite's reaction was to let out another wild shriek and shake around some more, scratching at every inch of her body like she was being devoured by a swarm of ants. Steven wasn't sure if he could approach or not, as this could very easily be a trick to get him to come close. But on the other hand, this didn't seem fake. The screeches she was letting out were some of the most blood-curdling he had ever heard in his life, and he wasn't sure that those could be faked, even by the best actor in the world. He was about to approach, before he felt his foot ram into something and nearly trip over it.
"What the-," He said, looking down and realizing that it was Charoite's chain weapon, the blade still stuck in the ground like a knife in a cutting board. "Hold on...if this is your mind...and you can damage it...then does that mean-!"
Steven gasped again as he came to a realization, finally understanding why Charoite was suddenly put in so much pain. Without thinking twice, he grabbed the chain and began tugging on it, the soft purple substance clearly resisting his pull. Although it took quite a bit of elbow grease, Steven finally succeeded in yanking it free, the small slit it had made sealing up right afterward. The chain vanished into sparkles in his hands, and Charoite's screams transitioned into heavy breathing, what looked like beads of sweat dripping from her brow.
"You…" She growled, lifting her pained, tired eyes. "What did you just do to me? You...you...you monster!" She then scooted away from him like he was a demon, and Steven flinched at the insult. He tried to approach her again like a person approaching a scared dog, doing his best to show that he didn't mean her any ill intent.
"Hey, it's okay, I didn't do any of that!" He claimed. "I didn't hurt you! That wasn't my fault...okay, I guess it kinda was, I deflected it into the ground…" He mumbled. "But I didn't mean to do it! Just calm down so I can explain!"
"What, so you can attack me again?!" Charoite shouted. "No thank you! Get away from me! I'm not going to let you-"
"It was you!" Steven yelled, knowing that if he didn't say it outright, this conversation would go nowhere. "You did that to yourself! You caused that explosion of pain! And if you settle down then I can explain. Even...if it means I have to tell you a secret that I literally just promised myself to never tell you."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Okay?" Steven asked. "Are you going to try and hear me out?"
"...Fine," Charoite growled. "But if you come any closer to me, then I swear I will rip your head off with my bare hands."
"Sounds good," Steven said. "Now...I was lying earlier. And by earlier, I mean, "just a few minutes ago". I do know where we are. We're...we're inside your mind."
"We...we're what?" Charoite spat. "What do you mean we're inside my mind? What's any of that supposed to mean?"
"It means we're inside your mind!" Steven repeated. "Just before I passed out, I tried to use my mental powers to reach out for someone, anyone. I found out a few years ago that I had the ability to go into other people's minds. And I thought that if I went into somebody else's, say the Diamonds or my friends, I might be able to call for help and tell them where I was. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned, and I couldn't find anyone in time. So I guess my astral form or whatever just went for the closest person it could sense...which was you. And now I suppose that with my powers, I pulled you into this place as well, which I'm guessing is preventing you from reforming."
"..."
"..."
"...Hold on," Charoite said, only gaining one thing from this explanation. "Does this mean that you're holding me captive here?! That I'm your prisoner now?!"
"What? No!" Steven said. "I didn't mean to bring you here! And if I did, then it was subconsciously! Trust me, you were the last person I wanted to meet at the moment. I would never have brought you here, even if there was no other option."
"Doesn't matter. It's still your fault, based on your claim." Charoite said. "But if we're inside my head, inside my mind, doesn't that mean that I should be able to do anything I want?"
"No," Steven said, thinking quickly. "That's not how it works. It may be your mind, but I'm the dominant mental power here. If you try anything, I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to cast you aside."
"Really? Speaking of which…" Charoite said, before frowning even deeper. "You never explained what that pain was."
"Oh, that?" Steven replied. "When your chain hit my shield, I deflected the blade into the ground. And since this is your mind, that basically damaged it, which caused all that pain. Meaning that if this place gets damaged, I'm sure you will be too."
"How can I take your word for that?" Charoite asked. "I don't see any hole that my blade supposedly made!"
"It sealed itself up directly afterwa-!" Steven started, before sighing and giving up. "You know what, nevermind. I'm not going to stay here another second if I don't have to. You just stand there. I'm going to see if I can project myself to go somewhere else. Maybe I can get in a watermelon Steven again...somehow tell the others where I am if they don't already know. Of course, I'm going to have to make another raft, unless they're already there searching for me in the first place..."
"Hey!"
"But that's just wishful thinking. Okay." Steven said, before sitting down. "This better work. And even if I can't get to Earth, I should at least be able to get to Yellow. Or heck, any Gem in Homeworld would do, as long as I get them to tell the Diamonds what happened."
"Hey!"
"Now then…" Steven said, rubbing his hands together. "You've practiced this a million times. Just have to concentrate...fall asleep...imagine yourself-"
"HEY!" Charoite shouted for the final time, and Steven felt a hand on his shoulder. He whipped around to face her, only to be greeted with a fist landing directly on his left cheek. He was sent flying on his back, an indent now on his face that was so bruised one could literally make out the individual finger marks.
"OW!" He said, rubbing the now black and red skin. "What the heck was that for? I was leaving! It seems like you don't want me here, and that I was exactly what I was doing! Leaving you alone!"
"I may not want you here, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to let you run off like that!" Charoite shouted. "Your body...the way you talked about it, it sounded like it was dead. And now you're here. I think that you are dead, but you just planted your consciousness into my mind in a last-ditch effort to save yourself!"
'I mean...duh.' Steven thought, shakily getting back to his feet. 'I hope I'm not dead, but other than that, that's exactly what happened.'
"Which means…" Charoite said, before grinning. "If I can kill you here, kill this astral projection thing that you are now, that means you're dead for good! Both in mind and body! I won't have to worry about anything when I wake up! I can take your corpse back with me and prove to them all that I killed you! And Topaz...wait. Wait a minute. Where is Topaz? What happened to her?!"
"Oh, I...I don't know." Steven said. "A few of our attacks from earlier hit her, particularly my shield stabbing her in the chest, but I don't know if she was poofed or not. Or even affected to begin with."
"If she wasn't…" Charoite said. "Then that means this is even better news for me! She's probably picked up my Gem and your body and taken them back to our base! I told her that if anything went wrong, she was to finish the job herself! She was to kill you! Your body...hah! Forget taking it back! I'm sure there's not even much left of it right now! I ordered her to stomp it into nothing if she felt it was necessary! I'm sure the only thing that remains is a red stain on the-"
"Fascinating," Steven said, secretly praying to whoever was listening that this wasn't true. "But that won't matter. As long as all the pieces are still there, my friends can just scoop them up and take them to my mom's fountain. They can heal them there by putting it all back together, I can re-enter the body, and that'll be the end of that."
"...Now it just sounds like you're making stuff up," Charoite stated. "I researched the human body before this, you know. To learn where to hit you so that it would kill you the quickest. And I must say that it is very complex. How long is it going to take your friends to put that all back together? And I'm sure there's going to be at least some parts missing. Plus, I know that human blood dries up after a while. An hour or two, at least. How long has it been? How long will it be? Will the fountain water revert it back to liquid? What about your brain? I heard that the things called "cells" in them don't grow back! Once they're gone, they're gone! Can the water heal that as well?!"
'Dang, she actually knows her stuff.' Steven thought. "Yeah, I'm sure it can. It hasn't shown any real limitations before now, and that's what I'm basing this on. Topaz may stomp my body to a pulp, but as long as it's all still there, it can be put back together just fine. And I'm guessing you didn't tell her to take the remains back with her if she felt that crushing it beyond repair was necessary, did you?"
"..."
"Yeah. You didn't." Steven said. "Now I'm going to go. Just-"
"No!" Charoite yelled. "I told you I'm not going to let you leave, so I'm not going to let you leave! Your claim about your body still means nothing, as long as I can destroy your consciousness here!"
"...And how exactly do you plan to do that?" Steven asked. "Last time you attacked me, you only hurt yourself!"
"Then I'll be more careful this time!" Charoite said, summoning her chain. "I won't fail. Not again."
'Oh, that is it.' Steven thought, before pulling out his shield. However, this time it had a thin line of spines around the edges of it like a makeshift saw, and he frowned at her and took a step back. "Okay, Charoite. I'm going to give you to the count of three to get rid of that chain, or I'm going to do something that I really don't want to do, but know that I have to. What's it going to be?"
"What, are you threatening me now?" Charoite asked. "You think I care if you make a few empty-"
"One," Steven said dryly.
"Oh, give me a break!" Charoite shouted, twirling her chain around again. "Enough of this! Just-"
"Two." Steven said, raising his spiked shield in the air with an expression that read, "please don't make me do this".
"Okay, that is it," Charoite said, holding her chain back and preparing to throw it at him. "This is it, Universe. No holding back. Final fight to the finish. Either you die, or I-"
"Fine. Three." Steven growled, and with a deep breath, he raised his arms higher and then slammed his shield into the ground, where it sunk into it like soft cheese, eventually coming to a rest when it was halfway in there.
For a moment, no one moved.
And then…
"Ah...ah….AGAHAGAGAGGHGHGH!" Charoite squealed, clutching her head and falling to the ground, writhing around desperately like she had been dunked into a tub of oil that had been set on fire. Her screams were so loud that Steven covered his ears reflexively, while tears formed in his eyes from the knowledge that she was in this much pain solely because of him. Even if he saw her as nothing but an enemy as of this moment, he couldn't help but hate himself for what he was doing. He felt an urge to just yank the shield out right now and end it, before a small sort of him told him to just leave it in there a little while longer. This kind of language seemed to be the only kind Charoite spoke, and he had to make sure she got the message.
"YOU...YOU…" She tried to say, before attempting to crawl over to him. Every part of her body was shaking uncontrollably, and her only method of transportation seemed to be rolling over, so she did just that, doing her best to make her way over to Steven, almost clawing at her eyes as she did so.
Once she reached him after about ten seconds, she grabbed onto his leg, her grip so tight that she almost broke his ankle right then and there. She looked up at him with desperate, pleading eyes, a look that he had never expected to see out of her after all the grandstanding she did earlier.
"PLEASE! STOP IT! MAKE IT STOP!" She begged. "I WON'T...I WON'T…"
"Okay, okay!" Steven said, unable to take a single second more himself. He carefully grabbed onto his shield and pulled it out of the ground, Charoite's face morphing from one expression to the next as he did so. He finally managed to get it free and wiggling it from side to side, and the second he did so the hole sealed up again, and Charoite stopped screaming at the top of her lungs.
"..."
"..."
"I…" Steven started, backing away from her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...I just wanted you to-"
"Some Savior of the Universe you are, huh?" Charoite spat, slowly getting to her knees."So is this what you really do when no one is looking, then? Torture Gems that don't do what you want? I suppose you're not better than any of the other Diamonds were way back when…" She chuckled weakly and stared deeply at him, wiping some tears out of her eyes. "At least that feels familiar."
"I...I didn't mean to!" Steven claimed shakily. "I just...I wanted you to stop. You wouldn't listen, and you were about to attack me again and I was worried that you would kill me and that...that…"
"Don't bother with the explanation. It already happened. There's nothing you can do to change that now." Charoite said. "And nothing is stopping me from telling everyone in the galaxy what you just did once we get out of here."
"Wha-what?"
"You heard me," Charoite said. "When I reform and leave this place, I'm telling everyone that I possibly can about what I just went through, and how it was your fault. Your cruel countdown. The lifeless way you spoke like you didn't care if I was about to suffer or not. And the way you thrust your shield into the ground without hesitation." She stood up and approached him, taking a step forward while Steven took one back. "And it doesn't matter if you're dead or not. If you're alive, your reputation will be ruined and no one will trust you ever again. If you're dead, your memory will be bastardized and you will be forever remembered as the Diamond whose last act was to torture a Gem. A Gem that only wanted what was best for her race. Either way, I win, and you lose."
"What was best for her race? Are you kidding me?" Steven asked. "At what cost? You tried to kill me multiple times! If you had just talked to me and requested that I try to change a few things up with the system, maybe make you more comfortable, I would have gladly done it! That's what I've been trying to do! Make everyone happy!"
"And now look at you," Charoite said. "You didn't seem quite that happy. I listened to what you were saying back at the archives. Every word of it. Topaz and I were stalking you for much longer than you think. Talking to yourself, getting angry over small things, constantly frowning...for all your talk of happiness, you don't seem to have a shred of it in you!"
"That's not my fault!" Steven said. "I was placed into a life I didn't ask for! Filled with monsters and aliens and Diamonds and endless responsibilities and...and...and things like you!"
"Oh, so this is my fault now?"
"What? No!" Steven said. "I'm just trying to make a point on how-"
"No matter," Charoite said. "Frankly, I don't care how you ended up like this. I never did. As long as you died in the end, I would be satisfied. And now...it looks like I'm coming out on top. Face it. I have you in a corner. Once I figure out how to leave this place, it's over for you."
"..."
"..."
"...NO," Steven said, finally taking a step toward her. "No. That is not happening. None of what you just said is true. I didn't mean to torture you, I just-"
"Didn't mean to?!" Charoite said. "You gave me a three-second countdown, purposefully embedded your shield with spikes, and stuck it into the ground knowing just how painful it would be for me! You saw me thrashing around earlier! From that one knife! Do you have any idea how much it hurt when you stuck that entire shield in the ground?! Oh, wait, of course you don't, because you don't care. You just knew it would cause me pain, and that was good enough for you, wasn't it?"
"I'm sorry!" Steven yelled at her. "Is that what you want me to say?! I'm sorry! I'm sorry that I did that! But I told you earlier, you just wouldn't listen! You were about to attack me again, and then I would dodge or block it again, then we would talk about nothing for a while, and then the entire cycle would complete! I did something that I thought would break that cycle! I didn't want to hurt you, just...stop you from wasting more time!"
"Regardless, you hurt me anyway," Charoite said. "Nothing you do now will change that fact. Even if you got your hands in a time glass or something, you'd just be changing an alternate timeline, not this one."
"Please do not mention the time glasses. You're bringing up some weird memories that I've been trying to forget for a good deal of my life." Steven mumbled. "But whatever. The point is...you're not telling people about this. Not your twisted version. I'm going to do that. I'm going to tell my friends and the Diamonds what I did. Not you."
"Sure you are," Charoite said sarcastically. "But I'd like to see you try and stop me. Because what can you do? You gonna stab the ground again? Torture me a bit more? Erase my consciousness? Maybe trap it in here so-"
"Yes."
"...What?"
"Yes," Steven repeated. "To trapping your consciousness. Mirror said that he trapped Pink Steven inside my Gem. Prevented him from talking to me. If he can do it, I'm sure I can do it to you. This won't be hurting you. It won't be putting you through any more pain. It'll just be...making sure I have enough time to do what I have to do. Then I'll go back in here and release you when the time is right. Problem solved."
"Wha...what...are you insane?!" Charoite screeched. "What are you even saying? You're not seriously going to trap me in here? With nothing to do for who knows how long? Just how cruel can you be?!"
"This is hardly cruel," Steven said. "You're a Gem. You're immortal. I've heard that time feels different to you guys. That a year for you feels like a day for humans. You won't even notice it. Just a few days...a week at most…" He said, taking a few more steps forward, and now it was Charoite's turn to back away from him. "It won't be long. Just enough time for me to fix everything up, maybe try to find those Gems who will help Connie, take down Mirror...okay, maybe it will be a while, but as I said, you're a Gem! You should hardly notice it!"
"Time moves differently?! What are you even talking about?!" Charoite said. "Time does not move differently for Gems! We still experience seconds and minutes and hours all the same way, at the same pace! We're just better equipped to deal with long periods of nothing going on! We were made that way! But you can't trap me in my Gem with nothing to do, making me a prisoner of my own form! What sort of monster are you?!"
"Are you seriously calling me a monster?!" Steven said. "You tried to kill me, and I'm sure you would have gladly killed any other Gem that got in your way, as long as it moved you towards your goal! Before you start calling me anything, why don't you remember what you've done and contemplate if those acts are really any better!"
"I was going it for the good of Gemkind as a whole!" Charoite said. "You're doing this for the good of yourself and no one else!"
"That...that's not true. I...no. It doesn't matter." He said, before raising his arm. "I suppose I should have tried this earlier, but I guess it slipped my mind. Just don't move. This isn't that bad. The Diamonds imprisoned Gems for thousands of years! I'm not imprisoning you for even one! And Spinel...she stood in that garden for six thousand years, keeping the exact same stance for the entire time! So I've had ENOUGH!" He shouted, an outburst of anger exploding from within him. "This is happening. For Connie. For my family. For every one that I've hurt. I'm trapping you in here and that is the end of it! I'm not going to let anyone else ruin my attempts to help! And then...and then… I'm going to go after Mirror. I'm going to pick through those cubes that I found. And I am going to figure out what happened to the original Traitor and use that to bring them down!"
"...What are you?" Charoite asked, looking at him with pure fear in her eyes.
"I'm Steven Universe," Steven said. "And just like Pink Steven said, I can decide whatever that name means."
"..."
"..."
"You think this is over?" Charoite asked, summoning another chain. "You think I'm just going to let this happen? That I'm going to allow you to imprison me? This is my mind. You are not taking it over. I have worked too long and too hard to have you screw it up! One last fight, Universe. One last fight and then that will be the end of it! And don't stick that shield in the ground again! Don't be a coward! Face me and finish this! If you win, I-"
"Alright, I get it," Steven said. "If I win, I put you in your Gem, if you win, I die, yadda yadda yadda, whatever!" He pulled out another shield. "Just get it over with."
"Fine," Charoite said, before pulling out another chain and spinning them both around. "Prepare yourself, Steven. The first blow will be the finishing one! This is my mind! My body! My world! In here...I can't possibly lose!"
And with that, Charoite shot forward, sending both chains flying for Steven's eyes. She smiled as she saw them soar closer and closer to her target. This was it. This was her moment. After so long, after so many arguments and fights, this would be it. The end of Era 4. And once Steven was dead, she'd work on taking down the Diamonds, and once they were gone, a new Era would rise, the Era of-
Unfortunately for Charoite's dreams, however, she was interrupted by a powerful wave of pink energy that sent her flying backward through the air, her chains following her soon afterward. She saw the sky, then the ground, and the sky again as she did a dozen inadvertent backflips, which ended with her landing flat on her face, her two chains coming down right next to her. She groaned and weakly looked up, where she saw Steven standing there.
Well, standing wasn't a good word for it, considering that he was actually floating in the air, glowing bright pink, with his pupils in the shape of diamonds. The look on his face was a mixture of fury and exhaustion, but not physical exhaustion. More like, "I just want this to end" Exhaustion. And it was at this moment that Charoite knew she was screwed.
"ENOUGH!" Steven said, sending another wave of energy at her. Charoite stood up and tried to protect herself, but this failed completely as the immense force of the attack blew her two weapons out of her hands and forced her off her feet again, sending her fifty feet away. The ground softened her landing, thankfully, but she still felt so weak that she could barely stand. She looked back at Steven again, who was only a bright pink light in the distance. However, the second after she blinked, he was right in front of her like he had just teleported. Charoite shrieked and tried to scramble away, but she wasn't fast enough as Steven grabbed her collar and yanked her up, their faces only a few inches apart. Charoite was too terrified to look directly at him, so instead, she turned her head to the left, shutting her eyes as tightly as she could.
"That's enough," Steven repeated, not even seeming to care that she wasn't looking at him. "What would that fight have been? Fourth? Fifth! Third? I'm not even counting anymore! I just know that it's too high! I'm not dealing with this any longer. I said it once...multiple times, and I'll say it again. Enough. Just...enough."
"H-how are you doing this?" Charoite asked shakily. "This is my mind! I should be able to do whatever I want!"
"Where did you get that idea from?" Steven asked. "You haven't done a single thing that you couldn't do in the real world. Heck, you don't even have your knives! Just your chain weapon! If anything, you're weaker here!"
"But...but how?!" She asked. "Why?"
"...Emerald told me that she spent a lot of time practicing in the mind-realm, learning how to manipulate it," Steven explained. "If my assumptions are correct, you need practice in order to be able to control this place for your own ends. And while I don't have much practice…" He glowed even brighter and grit his teeth at her. "...I think doing this works just fine."
"You don't have much practice?" Charoite asked. "Then how do you know how to seal me away?!"
"I don't," Steven said. "But I'm going to do what I can and hope for the best."
"Hope for the best?!" Charoite gasped. "You mean you don't know what you're doing? What if something goes wrong? What if you erase me instead of imprisoning me? What If you erase memories? What if you screw up how I function and leave me unable to perform even the simplest of tasks?! You don't know what's going to happen!"
"Too bad," Steven said. "You had your chance."
"No! Nononono! Just wait! Wait for one minute!" Charoite pleaded, causing Steven to stop where he was and slowly float back down to the ground. "Just hear me out. I think I have a way to solve this. One that might work out for both of us."
"...Explain," Steven demanded.
"Okay," Charoite said. "Now, you want to seal me away so I don't go telling the universe what you did to me so your reputation and everyone's trust in you won't be ruined. And now I...am just content with staying who I am and frankly just remaining alive. So how about this. You let me go, and I promise to never tell anyone what you did. And if I do, then you can just find me and shatter me with your mind powers. You talked to yourself earlier about placing yourself in something called a "watermelon Steven", right? I don't know what a watermelon is, but I'm going to assume it's a plant that grows on Earth! So if your mind powers are strong enough that they allow you to go all the way to Earth and take something over, then you should have no problem finding me no matter where I am!" She gulped and looked him in the eye for the first time. "Sounds pretty good, right?"
"..."
"..."
"No thanks," Steven said, making Charoite's face freeze into a mask of horror. "I'm sorry. I can't take any risks."
"...Fine. Then just do it." Charoite spat. "But I want you to remember what you did to me. Don't tell anyone a twisted version where it makes me look like a total villain, and you an amazing hero. Tell them the full truth. About how you tortured me. About how you knew how much pain it would bring me. Don't leave out a single detail. Not. A. One."
"...Okay. I promise I'll do that." Steven said, before raising his arms. "Goodbye, Charoite. I...I...what is this?"
"What is what?" Charoite asked.
"This!" Steven said, pointing to his arm. Charoite looked and gasped upon seeing what he was referring to. For some reason, Steven's arm was transparent. Almost see-through, in a way. Like glass. It was like he was turning into a ghost, and he turned his arm every which way, inspecting and wincing anytime he realized he could see things on the other side of it.
"What are you doing?" He asked. "What is this?"
"I'm not doing anything!" Charoite said defensively. "Whatever's happening, this is your fault and yours alone."
"It can't be, I don't want anything like this to happen, unless…" Steven started, before his eyes went wide again. "Unless I'm actually dying! Or am I waking up? Which one is it? I...I don't want to risk either of those!"
"Uhhh…" Charoite said, unsure of what she should do until she noticed what was happening to Steven's legs. "Umm...your legs."
"What?"
"Your legs. Look down."
Steven did so and shrieked upon seeing what Charoite was pointing out. Just like his arm, his legs now had the same transparent effect, which seemed to be growing "stronger" by the second. His feet were practically nonexistent, and it was slowly spreading to his waist, and he began clawing at his skin as his lower torso began vanishing, desperate to stop whatever was happening.
"Nonononono!" He said, before glazing at Charoite. "Do something! Help me! Just...do something!"
"...Why should I?" Charoite asked, a small smile on her face. "If you're vanishing, then that's good news for me. I won't have to deal with you anymore, and I can work on finding a way out of this place! It's a total win for me! And even better, I might be able to tell my side of the story before you do! How does that sound?"
"No...no, I'll stop you! I'll...oof!" He exclaimed, as he suddenly fell to the ground. Steven looked at his legs again to find out why, only to see that he didn't have legs anymore. They were gone entirely, along with his waist and some of his torso. And again the effect was only spreading upwards. His heart rate spiked and he began crawling towards Charoite, a desperate, begging look on his face.
"Help me!" He repeated, desperation to stay alive taking over pure logic at this point. "I'll do anything you want, okay?! I'll let you say your side of the story first! Anything! Anything at all! Just don't let me-"
"Don't let you what?" Charoite asked. "For all you know, whatever's coming next with this whole fade thing is better than what's happening here! It doesn't mean you're going to die."
"It could! And that's why-" Steven started, pointing a finger at her until he realized that he didn't have any fingers. Or arms. In fact, he was now just a head, comically staring up at Charoite with wide, panicked eyes. "Oh my god…please! Just help me!"
"I wouldn't even know what to do," Charoite said, before placing her foot on the top of his head, which was still glowing a bright pink. "But I think that all in all...after that you did...you deserve his. As convenient as this is, and as much of a deus ex machina this is, I'm going to list this as...universal justice."
"Universal justice? That's not-" Steven said, before his mouth faded, and all he had left to express himself was his eyes. He glanced at her one last time, the look in them saying the same thing he had been shaking for the past minute. Begging for help. But again, she just chuckled and smiled wide, before waving a hand at him.
"Goodbye, Steven." She said. "This may not be your death, but I'm honestly hoping it isn't. Because if it is...then I won't get to come back and kill you again. If you survive, just know I'm still out there. Waiting. Waiting for-"
Charoite's foot then slammed against the ground, and she paused and then poured upon realizing that he had faded entirely before he got to hear the end of her speech. But...she put herself in a better mood immediately afterward. Because he was gone now. At least from this place. No more promises of imprisonment. No more torture. No more fights and arguments that added nothing to the overall narrative.
It was just her now.
But there was still just one tiny problem left to solve.
"Now...how do I get out of here?"