Chapter 9

"Zircon…Zircon…" A voice continued to repeat itself as Zircon's eyes slowly opened. All he could see was black and no one that the voice came from. When he tried to get up from the ground, he could feel the ground was slightly liquidated.

"What the…where am I?" Zircon hesitated as he continued looking around, trying to find a shred of life, of anything in this void.

"Zircon…Zircon…"

"SHUT UP!" Zircon clutched his head as the black void around him aggressively dissipated to show a war-torn field with dozens of shattered gems and scattered weapons all around. Right in front of him, he could see one Gem figure mercilessly cutting down other Gems with a massive, butcher blade as well as visibly ripping them apart with her own hands. "M-…Mom?" Zircon called out only for the figure to look at him with pure, red eyes and a sudden feeling of weight hitting Zircon as he could see himself falling back into the black void.

Still falling, the void surreptitiously disappeared once more, Zircon falling hard onto a rain stained road in a town he was all too familiar with. Pushing past the pain from the fall, Zircon got up as he looked at the small, rural town, breathing heavily as certain memories were flooding through his mind.

"FREAK!" A voice boomed out as Zircon's eyes shot open to see a young, hooded kid running away from a bunch of other children. "Come back here!" The kid at the head of the group shouted out as he pulled on the hood of the fleeing kid, not only pulling him back, but also removing the hood for the kids to start laughing at a younger version of Zircon, still pale-green skinned with dark-green veins protruding from his face. "He looks like he's got the plague! Ew!" A female child laughed in disgust as the leading kid grabbed Zircon's one bang of healthy-green hair, "Look, even his hair has all fallen out, except this patch. I have a feeling we should change that."

"N-No! I'm not sick! I-I don't have an illness!" Young Zircon called out as he tried to push the bully away, who only continued to roughly tug on young Zircon's hair, making him cry out more in pain. "I SAID STOP!" Young Zircon shouted out as his hands glowed with a green aura as when the next time he pushed out, a massive skeleton hand rammed into the bully as the scene flashed white from Zircon's perspective. When the flash faded, he saw the young version of himself crying into his hands, "No…no…I didn't mean to…it was an accident…" Only for Zircon to look out and see the other kids running away in the fear as the bully who was pulling young Zircon's hair was on the ground, motionless.

"No…no no no, not this again." Zircon himself was now starting to panic in heavy guilt as now adult voices echoed into his head.

"Monster!"

"Murderer!"

"I have no son…"

That last one stuck on Zircon's mind as he could feel someone behind him. Slowly turning his head, he could see a thinning, dark-brown haired male sitting on a stool at some kind of counter, drinking from a short glass. "D-…Dad…?" Zircon reached out only for the figure to boom out, "Get away from me!" Zircon backed away when the vision of his father yelled as Zircon looked like he was a kid again, "B-But, I didn't mean for what happened to mom…h-happen." Zircon was tearing up.

"Just go…" Zircon's father groaned out, "Just leave me alone to forget…" The vision then slowly faded away, Zircon being left alone, still looking like a kid as he fell down and began crying.

"A monster…I've always been a monster…" Zircon cried out in his hands.

"…Not true…" Zircon's head shot up from the new, familiar voice. Floating over to him was a white orb, "You're a technical artist, Zircon. The way how you made cared for Reaper in its whole splendor showed me you were someone with a mind for science." Soon, a purple orb floated up behind Zircon, "You're cool, Zircon! I've never seen anyone perform a dual, arm-leg-lock on two different opponents!" Zircon tried to look away, being in denial of what these orbs were saying, only to look at a red-orange orb now, "You're brave, Zircon…even before you met me, you've lived on your own, fighting the darkness of the world. You may have tried to put on a strong persona, but it never changed the real you…the you that you allowed yourself to be with me," The red-orange orb then split into a red orb and blue orb, "And the others." Both orbs said with a cheery tone.

"…You know love, Zircon." A fourth and final voice spoke out as Zircon turned to see a pink orb floating on over, "You have been given love and what's more important, you gave love too."

Zircon's image returned back to his normal state, but he was still in tears as he slowly held all of the orbs close to him in an embrace, "Even after I left them…even after everything…they still care about me…Pearl…Amethyst…Garnet…Steven…" Unknowing to Zircon, up above him, a green orb with red specks on it floated as it slowly whispered, "I am proud of you, my son…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Back on top of the Imperial Monument Building, Zircon ran out of Steven's embrace, sickle formed in Zircon's hand, and in the next second, the only sound that could be heard was Zircon stabbing his sickle right through the Carnelia's Gem on her chest, both Carnelia's and Zircon's face wrought in disbelief.

"I-…Impossible…" Carnelia whined out as her gem slowly cracked from Zircon's sickle. "Y-You had so much Negativity in your life…how could you get through it? Your abandonment…your social outcast from society…" She slowly fell back as Zircon, surprisingly, caught her and held her, "H-How…? How could your small positivity break through…?"

"…I honestly never knew for the longest time." Zircon started as he held someone he once wanted dead for so long in his arms. But it wasn't satisfaction he had when he looked at her, it was pity. "I thought that because of all the hate and hurt I've experienced, no amount of kindness would ever deter me from what I thought of myself…nothing more than a freak who didn't deserve life. But, what I've learned is that even the littlest of kindness can go a long way."

"Kindness…"Carnelia repeated as her face slowly relaxed and went somber, "Never in my life have I heard that word before coming to this planet. I thought it was a weakness…a sickness amongst you filthy humans. There's no such thing back on Homeworld…"

"Well, that's where you're wrong." Zircon slowly smiled. "My mother, known as one of the most ruthless and brutal warriors back on your home planet…well, she had me, even though she knew what would happen, same with Steven's mother, and the other Crystal Gems. They knew what Kindness was and they're all Gems. I'm sure it exists back on Homeworld. Unfortunately, I think you were unlucky…"

"…Pity…" Carnelia slowly smiled herself before her body disintegrated and her gem shattered into tiny pieces.

Back on the streets, the remaining Chromites that didn't disperse the Nega-Dust all shrieked out as they slowly melted away, leaving Nega-Dust behind, while the people who were affected by Carnelia's magic slowly returned back to normal. "A-Amethyst?" Garnet looked down as she had Amethyst in a headlock, ready to snap her neck.

"Pearl!" Labra hugged Pearl tightly, being already on top of her from just moments away of choking her out while being controlled.

Zircon slowly sighed out as he fell back on his rear and hands and to be soon hugged tightly from behind by Steven, "Zircon!" Zircon could hear Steven sniffling, obviously still choked up about Zircon being alright. Slowly, Zircon patted Steven's fluffy hair as he looked up towards the black, night sky.

Beach City, Crystal Temple;

"Welcome home, Zircon and Labra!" The Crystal Gems shouted out with bright faces as both Zircon and Labra walked in through the front door, Zircon with his travel bag, looking around at the place he calls home. He let out a content sigh, "It's good to be back…"

"Are you sure you feel alright, Zircon?" Labra asked, leaning forward a bit to look at her friend.

"Yeah. When Carnelia disappeared, I felt lighter." Zircon admitted.

"Because the Nega-Dust disappeared?" Labra continued.

"Well…I believe so. But, I think it's another thing too." Zircon slowly smiled once more.

"Well? What was it?" Labra nudged Zircon, chuckling a bit.

"Tch…it's a secret~." Zircon teased back, making Labra giggle slightly, "Jerk~." She nudged him more just as Zircon started to head up the wooden stairs to the second floor and Steven's room.

"Uuuum, actually, you won't be sleeping there anymore, Zircon." Steven stated, but with a rather proud tone.

"W-Wait, what?" Zircon leaned back a bit, slightly shocked, that he almost fell back down the stairs.

"Well, we were hoping you would return one day." Pearl started, "So, me and Garnet made something for you when you eventually did come home." Pearl walked on back to the Temple Door as it seemed like there was an extra slot on it. Holding her hand on the door, Pearl had that new slot light up a green color as the door phased away, showing a room that was painted in a spectrum of green and purple with different kinds of posters of anime and wrestling as well as a desk with several figurines and box-sets, but the icing on the cake was what was in the center of the room, "REAPER!" Zircon shouted out in happiness as he ran over to the newly built motorcycle, obviously custom made by Pearl. As Zircon fell to his knees, and his eyes watered up again, he would turn to his family before running over to them and holding all of them in a tight, embrace, "Thank you…thank you for never giving up on me…"