Chapter 3

Steven was gone. The sky grew an inky black as Amethyst stared at the empty crater. The smoke had cleared, revealing a basin of ash, as black as obsidian.

She was rooted to the ground. Her head reeled as she realized that not even half an hour ago, they all sat on this beach together. They all relaxed, bathed in the sunset, and talked together to the sound of gentle waves and sea breeze. Now? All around her was devastation and destruction. The sea had stilled, no breeze stirred, and darkened silence pressed in on her. To her it seemed like the world was holding its breath in shock.

She was the only one left, because of Steven. He had saved her. Even after he… fell, and he had no strength, he had reached out to save her. She had to get him back. She needed to get the others back.

Through her mind flashed the image of Garnet's face, so scared, with a glowing scythe planted firmly through her nose. Amethyst turned and ran towards the temple's hand that Garnet had ducked behind with Steven, the face of which was covered with globs of burned glass. She peered around its side to find two gems laid out, about three feet apart. Right above and between them, a dark hole was burned into the statue's palm. Gathering the red and blue gems in her arms, she turned and scanned through the dark, searching for a white pearl, which she knew had fallen nearby. She stood over an ominous dark spot in the sand where Steven had fallen, and she knew she was close.

She remembered running faster than she ever had in her life, after falling from the face of the temple. Pearl is fighting by herself, she recalled urging herself on. This crazy gem came out of nowhere and poofed Garnet, and now pearl is fighting her alone. A loud cry of horror had skidded her to a halt. Pearl had fallen to her knees, staring up at…

Steven's limp and lifeless body hung in the air, the pink gem's arm snaked across the beach and coiled around his neck, holding him aloft. His reddened face was slack, and blood pooled and dripped from his lips. Three slashes of pink, and Pearl was gone. Amethyst saw red, and shot herself like an arrow at the murderer of her family. Steven's body fell in a heap behind her as she fought with every ounce of strength she had.

Even in that state; blood gushing from his nose and tears streaming from his eyes, he had saved her. Tears burned in Amethyst's eyes as she turned from the blood-soaked sand and stepped closer to where her body had collided with the enemy's. Pearl's shining gem winked up at her in the sparse moonlight. She scooped up the pinkish sphere and ran up to the temple, hopping on the warp pad without wasting a second.

She shakily jumped from the pad before it had powered down, and she rushed to the nearest building. Bursting through the door, holding the remaining crystal gems in her arms, she shouted at the lone Nephrite who sat at a desk writing up blueprints.

"Please, get me Bismuth! Hurry!"

The black and green gem gasped at the bodiless jewels in her arms, and brushed past her out of the door. Amethyst walked over and gently set them down on top of the layer of blue papers. She shakily wiped a tear from her cheek and watched her family, waiting for them to glow and come back. She needed them to come back.

The image of pink lightning cutting apart Garnet and Pearl played over and over in her mind. What was that? What was that weapon that pink gem had used? Why weren't Garnet and Pearl coming back?

Her thoughts were interrupted when Bismuth stormed into the room, panting. Behind her, Peridot and Lapis looked just as worried as Amethyst felt. They filed into the room around her.

Bismuth boomed out, "What happened? We saw some kind of meteorite, and Nephrite said that- where are they? Did they really get poofed?"

Amethyst stepped to the side to reveal the three gems twinkling up from atop stacks of worksheets. "Some crazy gem came and poofed them! A-and Steven! She hurt Steven, and took him! Guys, he's gone! She took him into space, we have to find him!"

Lapis and Peridot shared a wide-eyed look. Peridot piped up, holding onto a swaying Lapis's hand. "Who was she? Why on earth would she want to hurt Steven?"

Amethyst explained everything she could remember, every morbid detail. The ordeal had only lasted about twenty minutes, but so much had happened. Garnet and Pearl poofed. Steven killed, then alive again, then kidnapped. Her family, destroyed.

Lapis's hand shakily raised up to cover her mouth as her brows furrowed in pain. She whispered in a quiet, haunted voice. "He's a prisoner…we need to find him. He's probably so scared." She bowed her head as tears slipped down her cheeks, and she knelt to press her face into Peridot's shoulder.

Peridot placed a reassuring hand on Lapis's head and stated, matter-of-factly; "We'll find him. Little Homeworld will have to wait. I'm sure if everyone here fans out, we'll get him back in no time." She cast an apprehensive look at Bismuth, who was frowning in thought.

"You said this gem was pink? And she came down in a pink robonoid?" She looked nervously at Amethyst. "Do you think, I mean, do you think this has anything to do with Pink Diamond?"

Amethyst thought back on Pearl's reaction to the attacker. She gasped, "Pearl recognized her! Pearl was asking why she looked different, right before…Bismuth I think you're right. We need Pearl."

They all looked over expectantly at the desk, where the three gems still sat motionless. None of them even sparkled.

Bismuth placed a heavy hand on Amethyst's small shoulder, and looked down into her teary face. "We'll stay here and wait for them to come out. I'll go ask for volunteers to go through warps and find him. Hang in there." She marched out of the office, her jaw set and her eyes burning.

Amethyst, Lapis, and Peridot pulled up chairs next to the desk and sat in tense silence for what felt like ages. Amethyst finally decided to break the silence.

"I've never been that scared. You guys, she… she wiped everyone out like it was nothing. I don't know who she is, or why she wants to hurt us, but she's terrifying."

Lapis looked gravely at the other crystal gems before replying. "Whoever she is, she picked the wrong person to take prisoner. She's going to have the entire galaxy to answer to when we find her. And we will find her." She picked up Pearl's gem as she continued, turning her over in her palm. "She knows who this person is, she can tell us where she might've taken Steven."

The gem in her hand began to emit a bright light and float above her blue fingertips. Amethyst's breath caught in her throat as Pearl's bright form grew and warped, contorting into a completely different shape than she had ever seen. Her eyebrows creased in confusion as a glowing clamshell floated in front of Lapis, casting a pale glow onto her shocked face.

A voice emanated from within the closed shell, sounding strangely mechanical, even for Pearl. "Please, state your name."

Lapis looked around at Peridot and Amethyst, who both looked as confused as she was. She chose to reply. "Lapis Lazuli?"

The shell brightly replied, "Hello, Lapis Lazuli. Please state your preferred customization setting." At this, all three of the gems exchanged a panicked and confused glance, not knowing what Pearl meant by that. At the extended silence, Pearl stated "Default setting selected, please stand by."

The glowing shell slowly rotated in the air before opening wide to reveal Pearl's gem nestled on a shining silk pillow inside. They all stepped back as the shell slowly lowered to the floor, Pearl's body growing out from inside of it like a balloon being blown up. The shell touched the ground, then faded away as Pearl deftly stepped off.

She clasped her hands in front of her chest, looked up adoringly at Lapis, and exclaimed, "Greetings, my Lapis Lazuli! Thank you for bringing me into the world!" She beamed with excitement and finished with a flourishing bow. "I am at your eternal service."

Lapis was completely bewildered, staring down at Pearl, who was still bent low in front of her. She glanced to her side at Amethyst and mouthed what the heck?

Amethyst only shrugged in reply.

….

Steven blinked up at the only source of light that illuminated his prison, laying flat on his back on the floor. The circular window appeared to be about twenty feet above him, a cut of thick glass through the stone ceiling. Roots of all shapes and sizes hung all around it from the ceiling and weaved down through the grayed walls all around him. He cast an apprehensive look into the dark corners of the room, on high alert. He didn't find anyone lurking in the shadows, granting him a sigh of relief.

He rolled onto his side, hissing in pain as the roots cut into the tender skin on his ankles. He remembered the pink gem grabbing him, lifting him higher and higher until the rough wood scraped away his skin. His gem had healed him while he was out, but the new skin was sensitive. All over his body were sore spots where he had healed from injuries that would've killed anyone else.

Was it not worse, he thought, to die over and over, and still feel the pain, but be healed? He looked around at where that gift had gotten him. Locked away in some hole heaven knows where, the prisoner of a gem he didn't know or understand. How long had he been here? How long would it be before someone found him? Pearl seemed to recognize her, but Steven could only hope she didn't take three weeks to regenerate this time. She would be able to help him. She always helped him.

He ached for his family. Amethyst was okay, he assured himself, but Pearl and Garnet weren't spared.

Garnet. She had tried to warn him to run, but he was so scared. Watching her get split in two right in front of him had shocked him to his core. Garnet was the strongest of all of them.

Steven should've listened to her, but he couldn't. Even if he did run, he wouldn't have gotten far. It was obvious to him at this point that his captor paid no heed to logic, or physics. Her body stretched and slithered whichever way she wanted it to. It was unnerving to behold. He recalled her thin, pink arm coiled around his throat, squeezing.

Snap.

Steven shot up into a sitting position and grabbed a twisting root with both hands. He needed to get out of here before she came back to torment him again. He grunted with effort as he pulled the root with all of his might. He pulled and pulled, his fingers blistering and splitting from his harsh grip on the root's rough skin. The constraint gave an almost inaudible whine, like the sound of bending wood. He fell onto his back, heaving for breath. The root hadn't even shifted an inch from the gray floor.

Steven frowned up at the tendrils reaching down at him from the ceiling. He should've been able to snap a root three times as thick as that, easily. Either his shackles were somehow unbreakable, or his strength was diminished. He reached to his side, grabbing for a small gray rock he had seen earlier. Placing it between both of his flat palms, he pushed in as hard as he could. Nothing. His pulse quickened as he realized that it wasn't just the constraints he couldn't break; his strength was gone. He steadied his breathing, trying to assure himself that he was only weak because he was healing.

The window above him suddenly lit up so brightly that Steven had to raise his hand to shield his eyes from the flash. The brightness dispersed and Steven lowered his hand to see two black spots on the window, with a lighter shadow around them. When they moved and disappeared, he realized they were feet; someone had been standing on the outside of the window. No, it wasn't a window. Steven realized with horror that he was held captive underneath a warp pad.

He cast a wary glance around him at the dirty stone walls and the roots careening through them. A wave of dread washed over him as he realized that he was underground. He was underground, he had no idea where, and someone had just warped in above his head.

He held the stone tighter in his palm as he heard footsteps falling above him, and a thump from the corner. A glowing pink rectangle cut through the wall, and the stone shifted to the side. Pointed shoes carried the wild-haired gem into the room. The pink gem twirled a dark flower in her hands, smiling at herself. She stopped when she spotted him, and chirped "You're awake, finally! You're no fun when you're sleeping."

Steven felt incredulous at her mocking tone, and bit out, "I wouldn't be 'asleep' so much if you stopped knocking me out!" They were brave words, but he shook as he said them. If he was being honest with himself, he was desperate.

She squinted at him, shooting back. "If you weren't so mouthy, I wouldn't have to hit ya!" She grinned wildly. "I don't mind, though. You're fun to knock around." She stepped closer to him, dropping the flower to the floor behind her.

Steven tried to drag himself away from her approach and plead, "What do you want from me?"

When she didn't answer him and continued to walk towards him, he held the stone in his hand up threateningly. "Stay back! Just tell me why I'm here. Why did you hurt my family?" The question that was really burning in his mind was 'who are you?', but that line of asking had only ended in pain for him.

She laughed at him, spluttering over his chosen 'weapon'. Wiping a tear from her eye, she sighed. "Wow, you really are funny. You can't hurt me with that!" She stretched her arm across the room and snatched the rock from him. Bringing it back to her, she tossed it into the air and caught it in her opposite hand. She grinned gleefully as an idea struck her. "You, on the other hand, can get hurt with this." Her arm reared back and flung the rock straight at his face.

Instinctively, Steven's arms shot out in front of him, summoning his defense. To his shock, the swirled pink shield appeared for just a second, then flickered out into nothing just as the stone smashed into his eye. The force of the hit snapped his head back.

The gem fell to the floor laughing, holding her stomach and kicking her legs in the air wildly. Her cackles echoed and bounced all around the room, disorienting Steven in his pain. He held his bleeding, swollen eye and stared at the gem rolling on the floor. In his mind, he was reeling. Why hadn't his shield worked? Why didn't he have his strength? What on earth had she done to him?!

The pink gem rolled over onto her elbows, banging her fist on the ground and wheezing. Between peals of laughter, she choked out, "You idiot! You really thought that would work, didn't ya? Shows how smart you are." She sat up, still giggling uncontrollably.

"What did you do to me?" Steven's voice sounded pathetic and broken, perfectly conveying his state of mind. He hadn't felt this powerless since he was a kid, but even then his situation was never this dire. Even when Jasper had taken him hostage, he still was able to fight back and escape. Now, he had ascertained that he had no powers, and despite not knowing why that was, he figured this hysterical gem in front of him held the key. She didn't seem to want to talk, she just wanted to hurt him as much as possible. Steven couldn't wrap his mind around it. What had Pink Diamond done that was bad enough to warrant this? Steven whispered, almost scared of how the gem might react to his next question.

"What...did I do to you?"

The pink gem froze, her laughter dying in her throat. Her arms dropped to her sides and she stared at Steven with wide eyes. Her pupils dilated as she seemed to stare straight through him, lost in her own head. Even her hair seemed to wilt as she stared blankly into the air for what felt like hours, her face growing more and more haunted, before she finally swallowed and looked down at the roots at Steven's feet. Without another word, the gem stood and marched back through the door, her hands balled into fists at her sides. Her pointed boots crushed the dark petals of the flower on her way out.