Of all the issues currently on his plate, the Diamonds were one Twoie didn't expect to have to deal with so soon. Of course he was aware of the huge threat they posed to the planet, but at this point in time they shouldn't have been overly interested in the earth as they were still mourning the supposed shattering of Pink Diamond.
Ideally, Twoie had hoped to keep Yellow Diamond in the dark about the deactivation of the cluster by sending her fake status reports via Peridot. If all went well, the earth would have been saved long before Yellow suspected something was amiss. Frustratingly, his plan had essentially been thrown in the trash and lit on fire with the revelation that Yellow Diamond had been contacted.
"Why would you contact Yellow Diamond?" Twoie asked through gritted teeth as he struggled to keep his voice down. The group consisting of the three Crystal Gems and Jasper had moved to the kitchen, but could still easily be overhead by Steven and Spinel if they were not quiet. "I specifically asked you to not contact Homeworld while aboard the ship."
The Crystal Gems shared confused looks at his statement.
"Hold up," Amethyst said. "You actually sent Jasper to the ship on purpose?"
"That's not important right now," he answered, sounding crankier than he would have liked. Coupled with his aching body, the revelation that Yellow Diamond had been contacted was not helping his mood in the slightest. "You were just supposed to give them a tour." he told Jasper, who avoided his gaze.
Ordinarily, he would have been overjoyed at the thought of Jasper making her own decisions independent of whatever he wanted, but contacting the Diamonds was a serious mistake.
"I'm sorry, my Diamond," Jasper said, bowing low.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "How long was the call? And what did you tell her?" he asked.
Depending on how the call went, Yellow might be inclined to send more gems to earth in order to check up on the cluster. Even worse, she might decide to personally show up and investigate, something which he couldn't imagine ending well.
It was Pearl who answered, "We were successfully able to end the call before Yellow Diamond made an appearance."
"Her Pearl saw us," Garnet said, crossing her arms. "Steven was in view during the call."
"Yeah, but it was only for a second," Amethyst hastened to add. "She didn't even get to say anything before the call ended."
At her words, the tightness in his shoulders loosened somewhat. Still, Yellow Pearl should have reported the strange incident to her Diamond. A direct call to a Diamond communication line was something that was taken very seriously and an investigation was most certainly already underway to find out who exactly had been calling.
Twoie rubbed at his face, suppressing a sigh. Terrible couldn't even begin to describe their situation. They were one mistake away from having a fleet of Homeworld ships arriving at their doorstep.
"We need to deactivate the communication devices on the handship," he said.
"We already sent Peridot to do just that," Pearl said. "And Bismuth is watching her to make sure she doesn't try and escape."
Twoie nodded. Good, the sooner they cut ties with Homeworld the better. The only question now was, why Jasper had decided to call Yellow Diamond in the first place. It wasn't like her to just randomly go against what he asked of her. There must have been some reason for her impromptu call.
"Jasper," he called, catching the gem's attention and forcing her to straighten up. "Why did you contact Yellow Diamond?"
She shifted in place and silently pondered something, her face scrunching up in concentration.
He raised a brow at her hesitant behavior. "Jasper?"
"My Diamond wanted to speak with Yellow Diamond," she finally said.
He frowned. "What?"
That made no sense. Twoie didn't remember asking her to contact Yellow unless… he shifted his gaze over to the living room where Steven was excitedly showing Spinel how to play a board game.
"Steven…"
As Steven quickly found out, Spinel was insanely good at board games. While she had no real experience with them before coming to earth, she was a fast learner and was now absolutely dominating in their latest game of Citchen Calamity.
Despite not doing as well as he would have like, Steven was still enjoying himself. It wasn't often that someone was willing to play Citchen Calamity with him since they either found it confusing or boring, but Spinel was having the time of her life. Board games in general fascinated her especially since (to Steven's surprise) Homeworld didn't have any. What kind of planet didn't have any games?
Spinel grinned as she read her card, "Yay!" she cheered, turning the card around so he could see it. "I got the golden can opener."
"Oh no," Steven gasped. "That means…"
Her grin only widened. "I can check my soups for the alphabet bonus and I'm one step closer to victory," she said, happily pumping her fist in the air.
Steven sent her a confident smile, still hopeful he could turn the match around.
"Don't count me out yet." He picked up a card and began to read it, "The sponge in your sink is covered in mold." he said, frowning. He just lost two whole turns while Spinel still had a substantial lead. There was no way he was going to catch up to her now. "Aww, man."
Before he could dwell on his inevitable loss any longer, the sound of harsh whispers pulled his attention over to the kitchen area where Twoie and the other gems stood discussing something he struggled to hear. Whatever it was, it wasn't pleasant. The group radiated a tension that Steven could feel all the way from the living room.
Twoie was especially on edge, his gaze flitting across the room and never settling on anything for long as if he were searching for someone determined to ambush him. Pearl placed a hand on his shoulder only for Twoie to jerk away from her touch, bumping into a counter and knocking a stray mug onto the floor.
The sound of shattered glass reverberated throughout the house.
Steven quickly turned away from the scene and pretended to be focused on Spinel's next move while he strained to hear their conversation.
"... be fine… we're safe."
"... calm down… deep breaths."
"... already grounded Steven."
Steven winced, deducing that the topic of their discussion was his failed call to Homeworld. With the earlier scoldings still fresh in his mind Steven really, really hoped Twoie didn't react negatively. A 2,000 year ban from television was bad enough, the last thing he needed was more punishments.
"... shouldn't have called Yellow Diamond!"
Sadly, it seemed that luck just wasn't on his side that day, because a moment later Twoie was stomping over towards him with an uncertain group of gems trailing nervously behind him. Spinel stopped what she was doing to stare up at an irritated Twoie who now loomed over them with crossed arms and narrowed eyes
Steven plastered on a nervous smile and hoped for the best.
"Hey, Twoi—"
"Why would you contact the Diamonds?" Twoie asked.
"Lapis was feeling really homesick and I thought if—"
"No, no," Twoie said, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. "What made you think that contacting Yellow Diamond was a good idea?"
"I—"
"She's dangerous, Steven!" Twoie continued, stomping his foot against the floor. His harsh features softened slightly when he glanced over at Spinel's worried face. He took a deep breath before continuing, "All of the Diamonds are dangerous and we shouldn't even be trying to contact them," he said.
Steven looked to the gems for support, but they were still upset with him and only gave disapproving frowns in response. While he understood the potential danger that the Diamonds posed, Steven didn't understand their negative reactions to the call. Even if the call went badly, the Diamonds were still millions of lightyears away on some far off planet.
"I just wanted to talk to—"
"You can't just talk to a Diamond, Steven," Twoie said. "The second they realize you have Pink Diamonds gemstone they'll…" he shook his head. "You're not ready to talk to them, you shouldn't have to talk to them. It's too dangerous."
Steven frowned, somewhat offended at his statement. Sure, he wasn't the strongest Crystal Gem, but he was confident in his ability to defend himself. Summoning his shield was almost second nature to him now, and he could even float somewhat consistently.
"I can protect myself," he said, briefly summoning his shield as proof. Twoie opened his mouth to argue, but Steven continued before he could interrupt, "And we have so many new gems on our side now. I know that the Diamonds might not want to talk to us, but shouldn't we at least try?"
Twoie stared at him for a full second before letting out a long-suffering sigh and muttering something under his breath.
"I…" Twoie ran a frustrated hand through his hair before continuing, "I actually talked to the Diamonds in my time..." he admitted, voice timid.
Steven blinked, taken aback by the statement. It wasn't often Twoie brought up the subject of his time or the Diamonds. Because of the pictures on Twoie's phone and the strange dreams he would occasionally enter, Steven figured his older self frequently interacted with the Diamonds. That should have meant that Twoie was at least somewhat friendly with them, but he always steered clear of that topic for reasons he never fully explained.
Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl each leaned forward slightly in an attempt to better hear Twoie. Their stern faces softened as curiosity shone in their eyes.
"They're… difficult to work with and getting them to listen is almost impossible," Twoie said. "I really, really tried to change their mind and after years on Homeworld I eventually did, but…"
He stared off into space, eyes slowly glazing over as he lost himself in his thoughts. Like a statue, he was rooted to his spot with his already pale face turning ashen.
Without warning, the screen of his phone that rested atop the table flickered to life, leaving Steven staring at a grainy screen of flashing colors. Despite the poor quality of the video, the audio was perfectly clear as it echoed in the, now, almost oppressive silence of the living room. No one dared move as the video played.
Twoie sat on a pink throne that was much too big for him. He was smiling, but it didn't reach his eyes. He let out a tired chuckle.
"...Thank you, Yellow," Twoie's said. "I'll be sure to keep your advice in mind for next time."
One of the gems gasped, but Steven was too busy trying to figure out who the blurry yellow blob on the screen was to pay much attention to it. The strange video stabilized enough to where he could make out the face of a disappointed gem which he instantly identified as one of the Diamonds from Twoie's dreams.
"Be sure to work on your posture as well, Pink," she said, her focus mainly on a yellow screen floating in front of her. "It's unbecoming for a Diamond to slouch." She frowned and swiped at her screen a few times before continuing, "Your tendency to hum during a ball must also come to an end. If you really wish to be taken seriously then you must conduct yourself in a manner befitting a Diamond."
Twoie's eyes were still unfocused, but he was now rapidly blinking as bright spots of pink appeared on his pallid cheeks.
The focus of the video shifted to another gem. She was blue, her tired eyes carrying a deep sadness. She must have been Blue Diamond. There were some more gasps from the gems at her appearance followed by some frantic whispers, but it didn't last long as everyone hurried to quiet down and listen.
"Don't be too harsh on her, Yellow," she said. "She's still recovering from what was done to her on earth."
Yellow Diamond paused her methodical tapping of the screen to give the blue gem an annoyed look, "You can't keep coddling her forever, Blue," she said. "She's had plenty of time to adjust and shouldn't be making such simple mistakes."
The screen flashed and the scene shifted. Yellow wisps of crackling energy filled the screen.
Someone was crying.
"You always manage to disappoint me, Pink." Yellow Diamond's voice was dripping with annoyance. "Stop crying, you're a Diamond. You can't keep acting out if you want White to—
Twoie was glowing, literally. His face was an unnatural pink color and it was only spreading farther down his neck and arms.
Steven gasped, eyes widening at the sight of a completely pink Twoie—a familiar sight. One of Amethyst's first arguments with Twoie ended in a flash of pink and a permanently dented Sky arena. At the time Steven had been too shaken to question it, but now…
"They're coming to earth," Twoie said, the fog in his eyes finally lifting and giving way to fear. "I can't… not again."
Flash. Blue Diamond was frowning.
"You're not leaving this tower until you apologize!" Her tired eyes hardened as she glared at the screen.
"I'm not apologizing!" Twoie shouted back. His voice was high-pitched. He must have been younger. "I'm not Pink Diamond! My name is Steven Uni—"
"Enough, Pink!"
Twoie lunged for the phone only to trip and crash into the coffee table, sending the boardgame flying across the living room and the phone crashing to the ground. His erratic behavior caught the attention of the gems who rushed over to him with wrinkled brows and frantic questions. Even Spinel joined in, but Twoie ignored everybody in favor of staring at the phone that was still rapidly displaying disjointed memories. Color and sound both blurred into each other, creating an unintelligible mess that only agitated Twoie more.
Flash. The screen was engulfed in white. Everything went silent, only for a calm voice to speak a moment later.
"Surely, you can understand why I can't let you leave. Look what you did to yourself last time."
Manic eyes and black lips filled the screen. Sharp black nails glistened in the blinding light slowly getting close and closer. The erratic pounding of a terrified heart muffled the eerie voice.
"It's time to come out, Pink…"
Engulfed in a Pink hue, Twoie tugged at his hair as if he intended to rip it out.
Steven rushed to turn the screen off, but his phone didn't respond to any buttons he pressed. In the end, he just shoved it under a couch cushion and hoped it was enough to muffle the sounds.
With the phone gone, Twoie snapped out of whatever trance he'd been under and now paced the living room as he muttered to himself about the Diamonds. He waved off any attempts the gems made to comfort him, and remained a bright pink even as Steven moved to join the group.
"You should be resting," Pearl said, hands clasped together. "We already took care of the situation. Any further communication with Homeworld should be impossible."
"It doesn't matter," Twoie said, gripping his hair. "It's too late. They're probably on their way to earth now!"
Garnet placed a steadying hand on his shoulder, "You need to try and calm down," she said. "The Diamonds are still on Homeworld, the earth is safe."
"There's nothing to worry about," Amethyst agreed, her voice soothing. "Just try and relax, dude. All this freaking out can't be healthy."
"I don't have time to waste relaxing!" Twoie said, voice rising. He ran a jerky hand through his messy hair. "The Diamonds are going to be here any second!"
Twoie hugged himself as his eyes darted toward all the possible exits.
"The Diamonds aren't here," Steven said. "Everybody is saf—"
"You don't know that!" His pink skin grew brighter. "And now because of your call, Yellow Diamond is headed straight to earth."
Steven flinched, wilting at the accusation. He didn't mean to put the planet in danger. He just wanted to help Lapis and didn't see the harm in making a simple call, but now as Twoie stared down at him with wide and frenzied eyes that caused chills to run down his spine Steven finally grasped the severity of the situation.
"I d-didn't mean—" he stammered, at a loss for words. He wanted to apologize, explain himself, take back his actions. "I thought the Diamon—"
"You don't know anything about the Diamonds!" Twoie shouted, the air around him vibrating with wild energy. "You're just a kid!"
The ground rumbled and the furniture shook as a blast of power sent Steven stumbling. He struggled to regain his footing as shards of the glass window flung themselves around the room, a few of them coming dangerously close to pelting him.
A deafening silence descended upon the group. Twoie stared at his bright pink hands, then at the damage surrounding him.
"I…" he took a step back. "I'm going to my room," he said, bolting toward the temple door. It glowed in response to his gemstone and Twoie disappeared a moment later.
"Steven, stay here," Garnet said, her voice firm and leaving no room for argument.
Without waiting for a response, Garnet used her own gemstones to enter the temple—Pearl and Amethyst following closely behind her.
Steven stared at the closing door and didn't make an attempt to follow.
Figuring out where Twoie had run off to was easy. The temple only had a limited amount of rooms and Amethyst was pretty sure that he'd retreated into his own. The three gems did split up for a moment to do a brief search of the other rooms just to make sure Twoie wasn't hiding there. After they failed to find him anywhere, they regrouped near Twoie's room and entered together.
The room which had been an empty pink void filled with clouds since Rose's death was now completely changed. The pink clouds were replaced by wooden floors, and the empty space was filled with various pieces of furniture.
Amethyst was taken aback with how familiar the room was. It was almost an exact replica of the beach house where she had been moments ago. There were some small changes to the kitchen and there was a new upstairs addition, but other than that the two places were identical.
And there, curled up on the white couch with his back towards them, was Twoie.
The three gems shared a look, uncertain with how to proceed
"Hey there, buddy," Amethyst eventually said, breaking the silence. She slowly approached and took a seat at the free end of the couch while Pearl and Garnet stood on either side of the couch, their worried gazes never leaving Twoie.
Twoie curled into himself and remained silent
She cleared her throat. "So, you wanna talk about what happened back there?" she asked. "Last time I checked humans don't just randomly start changing colors unless something is seriously wrong."
No response.
"We're worried about you," Garnet said. "But we can't help if you don't tell us what's wrong."
Twoie finally turned to look at them. The pink that once engulfed his body was now mostly contained to his cheeks. In his hands was a small object with different colored faces. One side was blue, another was yellow, and the last two were pink and white. He worlessly fiddled with the object, a deep frown on his face.
"They were memories," Pearl suddenly said.
Amethyst raised a brow.
"The videos on the phone," she explained. "They were memories, Twoie's memories… about the Diamonds."
Twoie sighed and looked away, confirming Pearl's suspicions.
Amethyst frowned. As far as she could tell the Diamonds were uptight and just plain terrible to be around. No wonder Twoie had reacted so negatively to the news of Yellow Diamond being called. She wouldn't want to be around someone like that either. Still, something that wasn't the garbage attitudes of the Diamonds bothered her on a much deeper level.
Of all of the memories shown, not one of them featured a happy Twoie. Sure, he smiled in one of them, but it wasn't a real smile. It was a strained and tired grin, painfully painted on for the sake of pleasing the Diamonds. The defeat residing in Twoie's dull eyes made her shudder and dread of a day where the wonder from Steven's eyes disappeared.
"What happened with you and the Diamonds?" Amethyst asked. "You said you changed their minds, but you didn't look too happy about it…"
Twoie stiffened and didn't respond.
Her frown deepened. "I know you don't wanna talk about that junk, but—"
"I'll tell you," Twoie said.
She blinked. "What?"
"My time, future events, the… Diamonds. Everything," he said, "I tell you everything."
Huh, she hadn't actually been expecting him to agree that quickly—not that she was complaining.
Twoie shifted from his spot on the couch and straightened up, his hands still idly tinkering with the mysterious colorful object. For a while he was silent, quietly collecting his thoughts before taking a deep breath and beginning his explanation.
"I guess it all started when Jasper came to earth," Twoie said. "Except back then, I could barely even summon my shield and we didn't have Bismuth on our side either. Garnet was destabilized right in front of me and—" he rubbed a spot on his head. "—the next thing I remember, I was on a spaceship headed for Homeworld. Things only got worse from there..."
She listened carefully as Twoie described future events. And boy, did the future sound bleak. From floating endlessly in the cold void of space, to crashing a spaceship, and fighting a fusion made of hatred—Twoie had plenty of brushes with death.
Discovering that Bismuth was the cause of one of those near death experiences shocked both Garnet and Pearl who thought the world of their old friend.
"That doesn't make any sense," Pearl said. "Why would Bismuth attack you?"
"She thought I was Rose Quartz," Twoie answered, not bothering to explain any further.
"She felt betrayed by Rose," Garnet surmised, frowning. "And she took it out on you... "
Twoie gave a small nod and quickly moved on from that topic.
Sometimes he would interrupt himself or pause at certain points of his story, giving Amethyst the impression that he was glossing over certain events. She didn't call him out on it, assuming the memories were unpleasant and trusting him to cover the most important events. Eventually, he got to the part about the Diamonds which began with strange dreams about Blue Diamond and resulted in Greg being kidnapped and taken to some creepy human zoo.
After their successful rescue mission, Beach City became the site of several disappearances. When he was unable to defeat the two powerful gems behind the kidnappings, Twoie gave himself up as Rose Quartz in order to save some humans. Thankfully, he managed to escape Homeworld and make his way back to earth. It wasn't until after Garnet's wedding celebration that the Diamonds realized Twoie had Pink Diamond's gemstone.
"The Diamonds must have been furious," Garnet said. "Finding out that Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond…"
"Actually," Twoie said. "The Diamonds were really happy to see me, Blue wouldn't stop crying."
"Happy?" Pearl asked. "But the Diamonds hated Rose Quartz! The Crystal Gem rebellion stood against everything they believed in."
Twoie shrugged. "I guess, The Diamonds were just relieved that Pink Diamond wasn't actually shattered that they forgot to be mad."
"So, what?" Amethyst said. "The Diamonds just started being buddy-buddy with you?"
Twoie grimaced. "Not exactly… Turns out the Diamonds were so happy that Pink Diamond was still alive that they didn't even believe me when I told them I wasn't her. They thought I was just 'doing a voice' and 'fooling around'." he sighed. "They wanted me to go back to Homeworld with them… "
"And you did," Garnet said. "They forced you."
"Yeesh," Amethyst said. "Everything I learn about the Diamonds just makes me hate them more."
"They didn't force me," Twoie said. Everybody gave him incredulous looks. "I mean, they probably would have, but at the time I actually wanted to go to Homeworld."
"I don't understand," Pearl said, a deep frown on her face. "Why would you willingly go with the Diamonds?"
"Because," Twoie said. "They had the cure for corruption."
Pearl gasped, Amethyst's eyes widened, and even Garnet stiffened.
"What?!" Pearl exclaimed. "How? Even Rose never found a way to cure corruption and she spent centuries researching possible methods."
"All four Diamonds needed to be together for it to work," Twoie explained. "I hoped that if I went to Homeworld, I could convince White Diamond to help. I just never expected that trying to talk to her would be so difficult… "
Apparently, It took several years for Twoie to get a meeting with White Diamond and during all those years he had lived on Homeworld. What's worse, Blue and Yellow Diamond still believed Twoie was Pink Diamond and treated him accordingly. He was expected to take on all sorts of obligations from filing reports, restoring his court, and learning the basics of planet colonization. It sounded horrible.
And when he finally did get to speak with White Diamond, the meeting quickly took a turn for the worse. Twoie glossed over most of the details, only briefly mentioning a fight which resulted in White Diamond changing her mind. After that, healing the corrupted gems was easy.
It was quiet for a moment as everybody digested his story and its implications. Corruption could be cured and that was great news, but it would require the Diamonds. And the only one capable of getting them to agree was…
"We failed," Garnet said, her gaze glued to the gemstones on her hands. "We shouldn't have let any of that happen to you. We should have protected you more…"
Pearl reached out to place a hand on Twoie's shoulder, but pulled back at the last moment.
"Oh, Twoie…" she said. "I'm so sorry. I never wanted you to have to deal with any of this. Your experiences with the Diamonds must have been awful."
"It doesn't matter," Twoie said, the last remnants of pink fading from his face. "We're not going to let any of that happen to Steven, we're going to change the future."
"The timeline is extremely fragile," Garnet said. "Changing too much, too soon could be dangerous and your… condition."
"Garnet's right, dude." Amethyst said. "As much as we want to change the future for the better it's not worth it if it ends up hurting you."
Pearl nodded. "We should focus on trying to get you back to your time. If we send you back now then maybe…"
"It doesn't matter," Twoie said. "I don't ma—"
"Steven," Garnet said, her voice clear and firm. The use of his real name completely silenced Twoie. "Changing the timeline is out of the question. We're not going to let anything happen to either of you."
The two of them stared intensely at each other, neither of them budging. Just when it looked like no one would win, Twoie abruptly sighed and dropped his gaze.
"Okay," he mumbled, staring at the multi colored object in his hands.
After Twoie's outburst, Steven distracted himself by helping clean up the shards of glass that dangerously lay on the floor. Well, at least he tried to help. It was hard to do anything when Jasper insisted on cleaning the mess up herself. She treated it like some sort of apology for getting him in trouble with Twoie even though Steven had assured her that he didn't blame her for that. Still, she insisted on doing the task alone and Steven ended up having to show her how to use a broom.
For a while Steven waited by the temple door for one of the gems or Twoie to come out, but once it became clear that they would be in there a while he invited Spinel to play games with him in an attempt to pass the time. While they played, Steven couldn't help but rehearse apologies in his head. Twoie's earlier accusation echoed in his head and caused a wave of guilt to wash over him, making it almost impossible for him to think about anything else.
Twoie had called him a kid, an insult which cut deep since Steven had worked his absolute hardest to be seen as mature by the gems. Part of the reason why Pearl and Garnet refused to let him go on missions in the past was because they only saw him as a child. Having Twoie yell at him like that reminded him that despite his newfound control over his powers, the gems still only thought of him as an irresponsible kid.
"You're turn," Spinel gently reminded him, pulling him out of his thoughts.
He glanced at their ongoing game of tic tac toe and half-heartedly scribbled a large X in one of the empty spaces, not caring if it wasn't the best move.
"Spinel, do you think I'm irresponsible?" he asked.
Spinel drew an O that prevented him from winning as she pondered the question. He had only known Spinel for a few hours now, but he was genuinely curious as to what her response would be. Was there something about him that made people think he wasn't mature? Sure, sometimes he could be impulsive and he had made some mistakes in the past (the incident at the sea spire came to mind), but he had grown a lot since then.
"You seem pretty responsible to me, Stevie," Spinel finally said, pushing the sheet of paper towards him.
He glanced at their current game which would undoubtedly end in a draw and jotted down another X, blocking Spinel from victory.
"Is this because of earlier?" she asked, frowning slightly as she recalled the incident.
He nodded. "I don't think Twoie and the gems trust me very much," he said. "They never tell me what's going on unless they have to and now they're all mad at me for trying to talk to Yellow Diamond."
Spinel gave him a sympathetic look and hesitated for a moment before quietly adding, "Pink used to worry 'bout that too."
His eyes subconsciously darted over to the framed painting of his mom that hung over the living room. It was hard imagining someone not taking her seriously. She was the leader of the Crystal gems, everybody respected her.
"She did?"
Spinel nodded as she flipped the paper over and began to set up another game of tic tac toe. She paused for a moment as she decided where to place her first O down, pushing the paper toward him when she was done.
"The other Diamonds never listened to her," she said. "She tried everything to make the Diamonds respect her, but nothing ever seemed to work."
"Oh," he said, deflating a bit. He drew an X in one of the empty spaces.
"But," Spinel continued, gently taking the paper away from him and placing another O down. "Eventually, Pink convinced the other Diamonds that she was responsible enough to have her own planet."
Her expression soured for a moment, but she quickly recovered and handed him the paper.
He placed down another X.
"What convinced the Diamonds of that?" he asked. Maybe he could do the same thing and make Twoie and the gems trust him more. It was worth a try at least, even if it didn't work.
Spinel placed down her next O before shrugging. "Don't know," she admitted. "One day they just changed their minds. Pink was so happy…"
Steven frowned, disappointed that he had no idea how to prove himself to the others. He absentmindedly drew an X as he wracked his brain for ideas.
"Don't be sad," Spinel said, offering him an encouraging smile. "And don't give up. 'Cause if I can see how responsible you are then it's only a matter of time 'till everybody else sees it too."
"You really think so?"
"I know so," Spinel said confidently as she stared at their game.
He glanced down at the paper, noticing the row of three Xs neatly stacked ontop of each other. He had won.
The temple door opened.
