Dragon Titan 1: All in the name of protecting the ones you love.

foxchick1: As am I.

coronadomontes: thanks

"Can't catch me!~"

Amethyst and Steven were running around on the beach in a game of tag. Steven, who was currently "it", was trying and failing to catch up to Amethyst, who was curled in a ball and rolling at high speeds.

"Amethyst, slow down!" Steven propped a hand against the side of the cliff, panting hard to catch his breath. "How am I supposed to tag you when you're going so fast?"

Amethyst just continued rolling. "Well, I mean, if you wanna win, you're not supposed to let it tag you, right?"

Steven continued running after her. "Tag isn't about winning. It's about having fun."

"Winning is fun! And I'm havin' a blast right now!" Amethyst took a sharp turn to the left.

"Amethyst, watch out, you're gonna hit the-!" CRACK!

Amethyst, not having looked where she was going, slammed face-forward into the side of the cliff. She stumbled backwards holding her head. "Ah, I'm okay!"

"Are you sure?" Steven walked over to her to get a closer look at her. "You don't have any cracks or anything?"

"I'm fine. I smash into walls and rocks and stuff all the time."

Just then, the rest of the Gems came out onto the beach. "What's going on out here?" Ruby asked.

"We were playing tag and then Amethyst slammed really hard into the cliff," Steven explained.

"Did not!" Amethyst retorted.

Pearl clutched her stone and sighed. "Amethyst, we've talked about you being more careful! We all know you have a habit of accidentally damaging yourself."

"I'm fine this time, aren't I?"

"Just because you seem fine from what can be seen right now doesn't mean that you are fine." Sapphire said. "Come inside so that we can get a better look at you."

Amethyst crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you guys have to check out my whole body? It's embarrassing."

Ruby summoned her gauntlet. "Don't make me have to chase you, Amethyst."

"Alright, fine!"


Amethyst stood in Pearl's room in nothing but her underclothes, cheeks flushing a darker shade of purple as the three other Gems examined her body for any cracks or fissures.

"Are you almost done?" the purple Gem asked impatiently.

Ruby was inspecting Amethyst's right leg. "Well, there doesn't look to be anything we should worry about down here."

"Cool. I already told you guys, I'm fine."

"We still need to be absolutely thorough," Pearl said. "Any small crack can be exacerbated if you're not careful." It was then that the tall Gem noticed some small cracks around Amethyst's gemstone, the gem itself having a large, lightning-shaped crack in its hexagonal face. She let out a gasp. "Amethyst! Your gemstone is cracked."

"So? I feel fine. It's not like it's the end of the world or nothin'."

"A cracked gem is no laughing matter, Amethyst," Ruby said. "Cracking your gem messes up your state of mind and makes you see and feel things that aren't really there. Trust me, I know this from experience."

"We'll need to take a trip to Rose's healing spring so we can heal it," Sapphire said. "We don't have a second to lose before the effects kick in."

"Can I at least put my clothes back on first?"

"You may."


Meanwhile, Steven was standing right outside the Temple Door, putting an ear up to it to hear the Gems' dialogue. He jumped backwards as the Door opened to reveal the Gems on the other side. "I wasn't eavesdropping!" he lied.

Sapphire chose to ignore this little white lie of his and told him "Steven... we have some good news and some bad news in regards to Amethyst's condition."

"Okay, what's the good news?"

"The good news is that she's mostly unscathed aside from a few small cracks in the chest area."

"Oh, okay. Those should heal up fine, right?"

"The bad news is that she's got a crack on her gemstone," Ruby said.

Amethyst pulled down the neckline of her sweater to show him. "Pretty gnarly, huh?"

"Oh no! It can be fixed, right? Right?"

"It can, with the water from Rose Diamond's healing spring," Sapphire answered.

"Mom had a healing spring?"

"Well, before she... left us, she would heal us using her lacrimal essence whenever we got badly injured," Pearl said.

"What's lacrimal essence?"

"Tears," Ruby answered.

"Your mother Rose felt real compassion for those around her, and real pain when they got hurt." Sapphire put her hands on Steven's shoulders. "You have her gem now, Steven, therefore, the power to heal resides within you too. I know it."

"The power to heal... Amethyst, let me see your gem!"

"Fine." Amethyst pulled her neckline down again, and Steven leaned over to try and cry on it. He jabbed himself in the eye with his finger and let the resulting tear fall on the purple stone and run down into the crack. He stepped back to see if the crack was healed. No avail. It was still there, clear as day.

"It didn't work."

"Don't worry, Steven. You'll figure it out eventually."

"But we don't have time for that right now!" Ruby exclaimed. "We need to get to Rose's spring yesterday before Amethyst's condition gets any worse."

"C'mon, you guys, relax. I'm not gonna get any woah-ho..."


Amethyst's mind suddenly became a blur as everything around her shifted and turned into food.

"Where'd all this food come from?"

"What?" Steven asked.

"There's food, like, everywhere, dude! Don't you see it?"

"No."

"It just got worse," Ruby lamented.

"Whatever. I call dibs on the Italian sub!" Amethyst ran over to the giant Italian sub where the couch used to be before Pearl grabbed her by the back of her sweater.

"No, Amethyst! We're going to Rose's spring and we're going to get your gem healed." And the Warp Pad activated under their feet.


Steven and the Gems had warped to a large canyon with a giant mass of thorny vines which wrapped around each other tightly. Steven looked around and saw no signs of a healing spring; there weren't any fountains or pools of water, only sharp, possibly deadly thorns. He noticed that the Gems were all staring at the mass of vines with varying degrees of worry etched in their faces.

"So, where's the spring?" he asked them.

"Oh, this isn't good," Pearl said, not answering his question. "This is not good at all."

"Just look at all those vines," Ruby said. Then she turned to Steven. "This is supposed to be the entrance to Rose's healing spring, but it's apparently blocked by these overgrown brambles."

"After centuries of neglect, they've become directionless, clinging things," Pearl sighed, hugging herself. "I'm sure it'll be okay. Right, Sapphire?"

Sapphire hummed in thought for a moment before replying "I suppose."

"Only suppose?"

"What we need is to make a path through all that bramble!" Ruby piped up, summoning her gauntlet.

Suddenly, Amethyst ran forward, shouting "Spaghetti!"

"No! Amethyst, that's not spaghetti!" Steven tried to hold Amethyst back, but she was too strong for him.

"AH'M HUNGRAYYY!" The purple Gem bolted towards the mass of bramble, sinking her teeth into it, only to step back holding her mouth in pain. "Yeowtch! What is with this pasta?! Whatever. I've eaten less than al dente before." And she opened her mouth to bite down again before some of the vines came to life and started slowly creeping towards her.

"Amethyst, look out!" Steven ran out to push her out of the way, the boy sitting on top of her as she lay on her back.

"What are you doing, Steven?"

"Those spikey vines were coming straight towards you!"

Amethyst sat up and pushed him off of her. "Dude, I don't care how weird that spaghetti looks! I'm gonna eat it!" And she ran back to the bramble.

"Amethyst, no!"

Amethyst took a big bite out of the bramble and chewed. "Sure, it's a bit on the crunchy side, but it's really not that bad. Could use some parmesan though."

The vines inched towards the Gem ever so slowly before Pearl summoned her spear and sliced the vines before they could touch her. The taller Gem grabbed hold of Amethyst and pulled her far enough away so the vines couldn't grab her.

"What gives, Pearl?"

"Has that crack affected your common sense, Amethyst?! You should know better than to try and eat something covered in thorns, especially when it tries to grab you!"

"Lemme handle this." Ruby's gauntlet swelled, and flew off her fist as she punched forward with as much force as she could. There was a great flash of light as the gauntlet exploded, charred bits of bramble flying everywhere. When it died down, a clear path appeared for the Crystal Gems to take.

"There probably could have been an easier way to get in without firing your gauntlet into the bramble and potentially damaging Rose's most precious sanctuary, Ruby," Pearl sighed while bringing a hand to her face. "But I suppose that works too."

"You stick to your way of making a clear path and I'll stick to mine." Ruby stepped of the Warp Pad and into the newly-made tunnel. "Come on, everyone!"

The rest of the Gems made their way after her, Amethyst struggling to get out of Pearl's grasp. "Let go! I wanna grab some food!"

"No, Amethyst! I'm not letting you do anything that might exacerbate your crack."

"I'm fine! How many times do I have to say it?!"

"You're not fine as long as your gemstone is still cracked!"

Amethyst then bit down on Pearl's arm, causing her to cry out in pain and release the purple Gem from her grip. She then grabbed some of the charred bramble bits before Pearl grabbed her again, telling her "I'm not letting you get away this time."

"It's cool, I got what I wanted." Amethyst took a bite out of one of the pieces of bramble she collected. "These pork rinds are crunchy."

"Let's just keep going, alright?"

Soon enough, the Gems had arrived at a dimly-lit clearing in the great cocoon of brambles. In the middle of it sat a great, white basin which was surrounded by stone statues of a very tall woman in a flowing dress that reached her knees with a poofy mop of curls on her head. Steven knew exactly who they portrayed; it was Rose Diamond, his mother and the former leader of the Crystal Gems.

"Something's not right here," Ruby said as she put her hands on her hips and scanned her eyes around the spring.

"There's no water!" Pearl exclaimed. "The water of Rose's healing spring should be flowing from the various statues of her, but it's as dry as a bone! Alright, not to worry. We can figure out what's wrong." She turned to Sapphire. "Sapphire, do you have any clue why the water isn't running?"

"The waterway is most likely blocked by something."

"Then we just need to unblock it, and then everything will be right as rain!"

"Or magic healing tears!" Steven remarked. He looked around at the Rose Diamond statues. "Speaking of tears, I think seeing all these statues of Mom is making me emotional. I think this is it! Amethyst, let me see your gem!"

"Huh? Why?"

"So I can cry on it and heal your crack!"

"Oh, okay." Amethyst pulled down the neckline of her sweater, and Steven leaned in to try and cry on it. He tried to feel sad about how he never knew Rose Diamond, about how he might not be able to live up to whatever expectations the other Crystal Gems might have of him. He tried to cry.

But he couldn't.

"It's not working. Maybe if I actually knew my mom at some point, then this place might make me feel sad enough to cry."

"It's alright, Steven," Pearl assured him while putting a hand on his shoulder. "We'll go and unplug the waterway while you stay right here and watch Amethyst."

"Okay."

And with that, the rest of the Gems went to fix whatever was wrong with the fountain.

"Hey. Do you know what sounds good right about now? A big bucket of onion rings drenched in chocolate sauce!"

"You're not making any sense, Amethyst."

"Sure I am! I'm saying we need some waffles right here right now!" Amethyst grabbed Steven by the shoulders and shook him. "You loooooove waffles, don'tcha?!"

"I love a lot of things in this world, but what I'm worried about is how I'm supposed to heal you if I can't cry healing tears like Mom could. What if Sapphire was wrong? What if I never get real magic powers and I can't go on missions and stuff with you guys?"

"I understand, Steven." Amethyst put her hands on Steven's shoulders. "You just need a pick me up! C'mon! Last one to that big ice cream sundae is a lump of coal!" And she ran off towards a large, moss-covered boulder.

"Amethyst, wait!" Steven chased after her.

Amethyst kept running until she bumped right into the boulder, creating an uncomfortable clacking sound as her gemstone made contact with the rock. She fell on her back, dazed from the impact.

"Are you okay, Amethyst?" Steven ran over to her. "How's your gem?" He pulled down Amethyst's sweater to see that the crack had gotten bigger. "Oh no!"


Amethyst blinked as she saw a giant slice of pepperoni pizza staring down at her.


Steven noticed that Amethyst was staring at him while licking her lips. "Uh, Amethyst?"

"Pizza!" The damaged Gem jumped up at him before he ran away from her screaming.

"Amethyst, no! I'm not pizza!"

"Get in mah belleh!"

Amethyst chased Steven around for a little while before the brambles came to life again and tried to ensnare the two of them.

"Oh no! Run faster!"

Steven grabbed Amethyst's hand and ran as fast as he could away from the vines, only for another pair of vines to grab hold of them. The thorns scratched at Steven's skin, creating little, stinging lines of red from which they drew small trickles of blood. He struggled to break free from the vines' vice-like grip, though that only caused the vines to wrap around them tighter. It was then, Steven realized, that they were pulling them towards the ceiling. "Amethyst, how are you holding up?"

Steven looked next to him and saw that Amethyst was lulled into unconsciousness. He was close enough to her that he could see that the crack in her gemstone got worse, little branches spreading out from it like frost. He could also see that her neck had little cracks in it as well.

"Oh no! Amethyst! I'm so sorry. I can't heal you. I don't have my mom's healing tears. I'd give anything in the world to see you all healed again." Tears began running down Steven's cheeks. "If I had my mom's healing tears, I'd make sure you're never this badly hurt again. I just wish I could do that for you... I wish I could be a magical healer... like Mom..."

Suddenly, Steven heard the sounds of water rushing. He opened his eyes and saw that the vines had disappeared, and in their place were soft, pink rose blossoms. He didn't really have time to admire their beauty as he soon started falling. With a splash, he fell into a deep pool of cool water. He swam upwards and gasped for air. He then looked over at the biggest statue of Rose Diamond and saw that streams of water were cascading down from its closed eyes. The area was much brighter now that all those thorny brambles had disappeared. Instead, hundreds of pink rose petals were fluttering down like snowflakes. Had his tears brought the water back to the spring somehow?

Amethyst rose up from the water, spitting out a stream. "Amethyst!" Steven swam over to her. "Is your gem healed?"

She pulled down the neckline of her sweater, showing that the crack had completely disappeared. "You can't even tell it was there in the first place."

"Alright, Amethyst!" Steven gave her a hug, tears of joy welling in his eyes.

"Hey, don't get too gushy with me now!" Amethyst laughed as she playfully dunked Steven's head in the water.

Just then, Pearl, Ruby, and Sapphire walked over to the edge of the spring to greet them.

"So, it looks like we got the spring working again," Pearl said.

Steven frowned at her in confusion. "I thought it was my crying that got the spring to work again."

"No, Steven. What made you think that?"

"Well, I mean, Sapphire said that the power to heal was in me like it was with Mom."

Ruby smirked as she crossed her arms. "Kiddo, I don't mean to burst your bubble, but it was us that unblocked the waterway and activated the spring."

"So, I don't have healing powers?"

"Steven, I said that the power to heal lies within you," Sapphire said. "I never said that you would be able to activate that power straight away."

"But..."

"I'm sure that you'll be able to activate your power some way or another. I've never been wrong before, have I?"

"Well, there was that time we were looking for the Wailing Stone in that labyrinth in the strawberry field."

"Aside from that? No, I don't think I have ever been wrong before."

Amethyst and Steven pulled themselves back up onto dry land. "Man, you guys remember when I hallucinated that everything was food?" Amethyst chuckled. "Fun times, I tell ya."

"Let's all go home, shall we?" Pearl suggested as the Crystal Gems walked back to the Warp Pad.

"You know what I'm in the mood for?" Amethyst asked as they stepped onto the Warp Pad. "Ice cream with pickles and hot sauce!"

Steven laughed. "That sounds gross!"

"Hey, don't knock it 'til you try it!" And they all warped back home.