Chapter 19
"You…" Pearl's words came out as a venomous hiss, "what did you do to him?!"
Pink Tourmaline held their stance and narrowed their eyes as they replied, "You don't understand, this… situation is complicated, but Steven's not here against his will anymore. They know about what you did to Pink all those years ago, Pearl. They aren't exactly happy with you right now."
"I don't know what you're talking about. Let me see Steven, this instant!" She yelled across the space, stepping closer to them.
"He doesn't want to see you right now, Pearl. You need to leave."
Wait, why should Pearl leave? Now was the perfect chance to talk to her alone and get her to change her mind. They could do it if they just calmed the situation down.
She isn't going to calm down, look at her denying everything she did to us! She's not even trying to listen to us. She only wants us to unfuse so she can hurt Spinel. We have to get her first!
A streak of light broke out along their ribs as they argued with themselves.
Steven found himself separate in their mind again, and he fought against her reasoning. They wouldn't let her hurt anyone, and that line of thinking tipped dangerously in favor of a fight instead of a calm resolution. If they wanted this all to end, hurting Pearl was not the way to go about it.
Although, it did seem like Pearl was preparing herself to attack. Surely, they'd at least defend themself? It was starting to look like they would have no choice.
"He doesn't want to be with you, look at how you're falling apart! Let him GO!" Pearl lunged at them, brandishing her weapon.
Pink Tourmaline caught the spear between her fingers and snapped it in an instant. Another hand swiped out and grabbed Pearl's wrist, lifting her high off of the ground. Spinel's voice once again bled through the mask of the fusion, shaking with fury as they held her up to meet their eyes. "Steven is trying to keep me from killing you right now, so you might wanna shut your trap."
Pearl flushed angrily for a moment before Spinel took over and threw her clear across the garden, where she landed face-first in the dust.
They turned back inwards to their mental argument, holding a hand against the split widening on their side. Steven seethed at her carelessness in throwing his guardian; what if she had cracked her gem? They didn't have to throw her that hard.
They had bought themselves time to talk things over, and she didn't crack her gem. If she hadn't thrown her, they might've just shattered her then and there. After everything she did to them, she deserved it six thousand times over.
Steven was positively certain that no one deserved to be shattered, and he wouldn't back down on that. His resolve clashed painfully against Spinel's murderous rage, driving them further apart.
They fell to their knees, gasping for air through the arching gash that had them split from armpit to navel. Their hands clamped uselessly at the edges of the rift, holding them together.
The light spread further, and they could feel themselves almost completely separate. Panic overtook them; they didn't want to be apart. Steven knew that the best way for him to protect Spinel was to stay with her, and Spinel knew that Pearl would take any chance she got to snatch Steven away. Besides that, neither of them were ready to give up the feeling of being together again after so long. They had just gotten Pink Tourmaline back, and the idea of losing her again was unbearable. If they could just agree on a course of action, they wouldn't have to separate.
Steven fought with everything he had to pull himself back in, but he could feel his power rapidly draining away. He hadn't fully recovered from the rejuvenation yet, and he wasn't strong enough to keep going. The fact that he had lasted so long already in a fusion confounded him.
Faintly, he felt a wave of dread crash over Spinel as she heard his thoughts. Every inch of their body trembled as the rift slashed suddenly down their thigh, driving them to the ground.
Through their struggle they didn't hear Pearl approach. She looked down her nose at them, smudging the dust off of her cheek.
"This is really pathetic. I should've shattered you when I had the chance, Spinel." She summoned her spear again and held it up to their chest. "Let. Him. Go."
Their body froze at the sensation of the spear-tip scraping at the surface of Spinel's gem.
There were no thoughts. Their mind was a flurried landscape of shock and indignation, and without a moment's hesitation their fist connected with the underside of Pearl's chin. She flew back, hitting the ground hard enough to send up a cloud of dust.
'I didn't do that!' came Spinel's panicked voice in his head, though he already knew. The fissure along their side stitched closed, and then his fury was theirs. Pearl shrunk back from them on the ground as they stood, skin glowing, pupils split. Raw power rolled off of them in waves, warming the air as they glared down at her.
How dare she? She didn't show an ounce of remorse for what she did to them, and she even dared to threaten Spinel's life?
Their inner dialogue was an incomprehensible rush of snarled threats and curses, and for a moment Spinel was shocked. She could feel Steven with her, but something had changed in him. Their weapon was summoned, a brilliant magenta kite shield with a sharpened edge, and their reflection stared back at them through its surface.
For the first time, Pink Tourmaline got a good look at themself. What caught their attention first were the split-diamond pupils that they knew had only just appeared moments ago, somehow triggered by their rage. Bright pink glowed from each one, a star brightening up even the darkness of their left eye. Tears of the purest black swelled furiously at the edges of those eyes, running down over the smaller, woeful ones underneath. Their rounded face was framed haphazardly by a wild tangle of reddish-pink hair, blotted with coils of black. All four of their arms were tensed and ready for battle, curled in behind their shield or clenched into fists at their side.
Through the semi-transparent shield, they watched Pearl stand on shaky legs. Her weapon lay some ten steps away from her, just out of reach. She seemed to falter under their eyes, realizing that she was both overpowered and unwelcome. Her eyes flicked between their snarling face and her spear, and in a blink, she switched tactics.
"Steven… I know you can hear me in there. You need to unfuse and come home. Everyone's worried sick, they're all waiting for you. Connie is waiting for you."
At her name, their expression softened a little. Pearl caught the change, and she clung on to it.
"She's been trying so hard this entire time to get you back, and she's at home right now waiting for me to bring you back. She… blames herself for what happened to you, and I'm sure she's dying to see you again. Please, Steven, come home. For Connie. You… both could come."
Their eyes had gone back to normal, and the heat radiating from their skin had cooled. They felt wary, but how could they just let Connie torture herself? They could go back and show everyone that they were fine, that Steven was okay, and then they could explain what had happened. It was what Steven had planned out before they had fused, so why shouldn't they take the opportunity? As long as Spinel was safe to go…
It occurred to them then that Pearl had taken a few steps to the side while they were distracted. She noticed their scrutiny, and then rushed to explain herself.
"I'm sorry Steven, but you're clearly not in control of yourself right now. Spinel did something to you, she's c-corrupted you. I don't want to hurt anyone, so just unfuse and we can go home. Please," she begged.
The truth felt like a slap in the face; there was no opportunity. Pearl only wanted them to unfuse so that she could dispose of Spinel, they had no doubt. Their fury ignited once again, stronger than before on account of both of them. In one bound, they leapt across the path, swinging their shield out ahead of them.
Pearl moved like the wind, swiftly cutting through the air to snatch up her defense. In a mere split-second, they met in the center with a reverberating clash that shook the foundations of the island.
They were evenly matched, strength and rage against wit and speed. They lashed out at the deft figure that danced around them, slashing at their hands with a surprisingly sharp spear that neither Spinel nor Steven had ever been on the receiving end of.
Pink Tourmaline hadn't been built for battle when Pink Diamond and Spinel had formed her, but now they felt all of the power of retribution near at hand, driving them to violence. It wasn't what they were made for, but it felt good. Each wild swing they took at their attacker felt like triumph igniting their veins from the inside, and each lighting-slash of their weapon against hers felt like rebirth.
Their fight carried them deeper into the garden, kicking up dust and trampling weeds the whole way. As they passed by the still water of the fountain, they realized it was always going to come to this. They were always going to have to confront Pearl, and it only made sense that it would happen in their garden, where the story of pink Tourmaline began and was brought to a violent end. The only difference this time was that they knew exactly what kind of a gem they were faced with, and they had the advantage.
Before they realized it, a gleeful smile stretched across their face. They reveled in the fantastically dangerous dance they found themselves excelling at, almost laughing when Pearl cried out in frustration. She seemed to be growing warier by the second as her movements became labored and weak.
"Is this really what you choose, Steven?" she panted out, tiredly dodging the blows aimed at her. "Are you going to choose her over your family? Over Connie?"
They fought on, attempting to pin her down. "No one has to choose anybody; we can all go back!" The fight had gone on long enough, and they decided it was time to end it. They kicked, and their foot came down on Pearl's chest, sending her weapon skidding across the pavement. They stomped the breath from her lungs, pushing down just enough so that she couldn't slip away. Her fingers gripped uselessly at their sole, twisting and clawing to break free.
"Listen to me, Pearl. We'll go back with you, but you're not going to hurt Spinel." They pressed down harder, earning a squeak from the lithe gem's lungs. "Got it?"
Pearl deliberated for a moment, nodded, then relaxed. She released her grip on their foot, and they lifted it from her chest. She stood, brushing the dust from her jacket.
She pierced them with a stern look. "I won't hurt her, so you can unfuse now."
They still felt wary, but they needed to take the leap of faith or else they'd be fighting forever. Steven's optimism infected them, drawing them to believe in the good side of the gem in front of them. First, though, they had to be sure. "Do you promise not to hurt her? You know you can't break a promise."
It was Steven speaking, and Pearl knew it. Even with all that he had been through, he held onto that childlike trust of his parents. She nodded solemnly, holding her empty hand out to them. "I promise," she stated as they shook hands.
With that settled, and with Spinel's internal promise not to start a fight, they separated.
Steven fell to the ground, suddenly deafened by the ringing in his ears. He knew he had overexerted himself; he lay in a bedraggled heap on the cold pavement, gasping for air.
He couldn't lift a finger as he watched Pearl instantly lunge at Spinel. He was saddened by it, but not entirely surprised. Either way, he knew that Spinel could hold her own until he was strong enough to step in.
Perhaps she had expected an easier victory. Perhaps she had expected to throw Spinel around like a ragdoll, like she did last time. Needless to say, that wasn't what happened. She seemed shocked as her opponent rose to the occasion, alight with glee at her chance for a fair fight. Steven had just barely reigned her in enough to be civil for the time being, but she really couldn't pass up such a reasonable excuse to get some hits in. After all, Pearl attacked first. Their weapons were each drawn in the blink of an eye, and they each lashed out in mirrored intent.
"Guys, stop it!" He screamed uselessly at them as they attempted to tear each other apart. Their surroundings faded away, and in that moment, nothing but vengeance existed. They couldn't even hear Steven's plea.
He pulled himself up and stumbled towards them, drawing his flickering shield. He had to get them to stop; they were aiming to kill, and he couldn't bear to lose either one of them. Before he got close, Spinel's hand stretched out behind her and pushed him back, away from the danger. She knew how vulnerable he was, and any other time he would've appreciated her consideration. As it was, it only served to exasperate him further.
Pearl gave a wild scream as she watched the gesture and doubled her efforts. Her spear moved faster than ever, twisting and slashing through the air with deadly precision. Spinel stretched around each blow, dodging with unnatural success while landing underhanded strikes every chance she got.
Spinel was winning. Steven knew that she wasn't thinking clearly; if she beat Pearl in that moment, she wouldn't stop. He had seen her resolve to shatter his caregiver as a solid, immovable presence in her heart, not to be swayed. The thought of her shattering anyone sent a chill down his spine.
He prepared himself to begin his march towards them again just as Pearl's arm reared back and shot forward, loosing her weapon from her fingers mid-air. Spinel dodged it, twisting her abdomen around the space that the weapon cut through.
Steven felt a dull thud against his core, like the sound an arrow makes as it lands deep in the bark of a tree, and his lungs refused to draw breath. The fight ceased as both parties turned, stark with horror.
He couldn't understand why they looked so concerned; he wasn't hurt. The only thing he felt was a comfortable warmth spreading across his body, and a strange numbness in his fingertips.
Spinel screamed, and her scythe clattered to the ground; her eyes swam with tears as her hands clapped over her mouth. Pearl stood behind her, somehow paler than before. Steven remarked on that oddity as his vision blurred.
He looked down almost drunkenly and was surprised to find a swirled scepter jutting out from his gut, twisting against gravity as he forced himself to remain upright. Without thinking, his hands found their grip, and he pulled.
A river of heat spilled down his front, rushing over the gem on his navel and blossoming into the fabric of his jeans and his shirt. The sound of the weapon falling against the stone pavement was muted, as if he were hearing it from a great distance. Distantly, he recalled something Connie had told him ages ago, back when they used to watch Under the Knife together.
"Nooooo!" She cried as they watched a man on the TV pull a metal pipe out of a wound on his leg. Steven chuckled, nudging her with his shoulder as they lay on his bed side by side.
"What? Was he supposed to leave that thing in there? I bet they couldn't even fit him in the ambulance with that pole sticking out of him."
Connie ran her hands down her cheeks, venting her exasperation. "That pole was the only thing keeping him from bleeding out! I guarantee by the end of the episode he's suffering from severe blood loss, or worse."
Well, it was too late. He'd pulled the spear out, and he began to back away as Pearl and Spinel crept closer to him. He didn't want them to worry, and he even tried to say so; his lungs seized up as solid as rock, and he managed a few strangled gasps before his heel caught stone. Before he knew what was happening, he was falling.
He saw Pearl's gaze shift from him to Spinel's turned back, and he was lost to cold, stagnant water.
The shallow pond felt serene, just deep enough to put a foot between him and the rippling surface. He watched with stinging eyes as the stars above twisted and distorted in the waves, dyed pink by his blood. Silence and stillness pressed in on him from all sides, and as his lungs seared, he was filled with a calm sense of weightlessness. His sight became darker and darker, murkier along with the water.
A slimy lily pad drifted by overhead, and he slipped into unconsciousness.
…
"Connie Maheswaran, you are going to wear a hole into the floor. Come sit down." Her mom waved her over to the couch, patting the cushion next to her. On the ground by her feet was a hastily assembled bag of medical supplies, everything she could think of to grab when Connie called her over.
Her daughter ignored the invitation and continued her frantic pacing around Steven's living room.
"It's been almost an hour since Pearl left, where is she? What if something happened to her?" Her panic really set in, then. If Pearl had been beaten, then there was no one else who knew where they'd be. She was their last and only hope.
"Hey, it's okay, C. Pearl can handle herself, especially when someone she loves is in danger. She'll be back in no time," Amethyst assured from over the counter, where Bismuth's gem sat motionless.
Lapis and Peridot gave hums of agreement from the staircase. They had all come over the instant she had called, and now they waited. The seconds ticked by painfully slow, grating away at her sanity. The only sounds in the house were her own footsteps relentlessly marching from the warp pad to the door, back and forth, more and more frantic as the time slipped by.
She rounded the warp again, twisting her fingers. What if that gem had poofed Pearl already? What if she got there too late, and Steven was already dead? She bit back a sob at the horrible thought, and her pace increased.
She didn't have long to worry herself; as she passed by the bar once more, the room was washed in a familiar light, and a familiar figure stood on the warp pad. Connie and the others gave sighs of relief which died in their throats.
Her stomach dropped to her feet when she saw who Pearl was carrying.
Steven's body was limp in her arms, dripping water and blood across the surface of the warp pad. He was deathly pale, and there were dark circles under his eyes. His clothing was soaking wet, ripped and torn all over, and covered entirely in weeks' worth of blood and grime; but that wasn't her main concern.
Fresh scarlet trailed in ribbons from an open wound in the center of his stomach, just a few inches above his gem. It was deep; Connie nearly gagged when she got close enough to look at it. She felt the room spin as her mom pushed past her, reaching for the injured boy.
He was so much worse off than she could've imagined.
Pearl helped Dr. Maheswaran lay him across the coffee table, where she had set up a makeshift cot. Her hand dived into her duffel bag, pulling up antiseptics, bandages, and various tools for diagnosis and treatment. Faster than she had ever seen her move before, she cut away the shredded t-shirt and tossed it aside.
"Pearl, can you tell me what happened here?" She pointed to his stomach, where she began swabbing on copious amounts of a strong-smelling brown liquid.
"He was stabbed. He'll be okay, he has healing powers." She sounded so casual, so distracted as she said it.
Connie balked, but her mom took it in stride. With a stiff nod, she poured the brown antiseptic over her own hands, rubbing it in before she began to work. She pressed a sanitized cloth against the wound and held it there as Steven began to tremble.
"Connie, Amethyst, come hold him still! Pearl, does he have any other serious injuries that I should know about?"
Pearl shook her head, then turned to the warp pad again. "No, I don't think so. He wasn't able to say much before he…got hurt, though, so there might be something I don't know about." She went quiet as they worked.
Connie stared down in horror at Steven's half-lidded eyes as they rolled back in his head. Her fingers dug into his arm as she tried to hold him down, but his unnaturally powerful convulsions nearly threw her and Amethyst off. She was afraid to hurt him, but he was hurting himself by stalling her mom's work.
Her mom reached back into her bag and pulled out a thin, capped syringe. She snapped the top off in a quick, practiced move, and directed Amethyst to turn the arm she held over.
"Morphine," she explained as she placed the needle's tip at the crease of his inner elbow.
Connie bit her lip and turned away as her mom administered the shot. It was over shortly, and a few moments later Steven's erratic breathing evened and he visibly relaxed. With his body still, Connie was free to tend to his other wounds, and her mom resumed working on his lacerated stomach.
First, she checked his vitals, then moved on to the rest.
Just like her mom had taught her, she rubbed the antiseptic into her hands before she began. She started on his head, where the skin had split across his left temple. She swept back the wet hair that stuck in thick strands across his skin, revealing the damage beneath. By the purple bruises that blossomed across the entire side of his face, she could tell he had been hit by something, hard. With gentle fingers, she cleaned the wound and applied antibiotic ointment and a bandage.
Next, his bottom lip was split and swollen, and she immediately got to work cleaning it up. She couldn't put any ointments or bandages over his mouth, so she moved down.
Her already adrenaline-shot heart stuttered. There, just at the junction of his neck and his shoulder, there were the undeniable markings of teeth. He had been bitten hard enough to break through his skin, and the wound looked fresh. She stared at it for a long, anxious moment as she wondered what the hell Steven had been forced to suffer at the hands of that insane, sadistic gem.
Her fingers wandered down to his chest, where it looked like he'd been viciously scratched by a wild animal. She gasped out a sob as reality hit her full force; he'd been through so much, there was no way he wasn't traumatized. He'd forever be changed, and she hated herself for allowing that to happen. All that she'd ever wanted was to protect him, and she failed. He would forever be scarred by what had happened, both mentally and physically. She blinked away her tears, clearing the blur from her vision so that she could see the wounds covering his chest. You let this happen. She wondered faintly if he'd ever forgive her for her inaction.
She snapped out of it when she noticed the dirt that also covered his torso; she needed to clean all of his wounds quickly or else he'd get an infection. Her hands moved quickly over him, wiping and medicating and wrapping until she had dealt with all of the major injuries that she could see.
Her mom still worked on cleaning and stitching his stomach, although his body seemed to be helping her out. All that she had to do was guide the torn sections of his skin back where they needed to be, and they seemed to fuse together on their own.
"Whatever did this missed all of his major organs, or at the very least they healed themselves; either way he's very lucky."
With all of the pressing injuries tended to, she rechecked his vitals; blood pressure, blood oxygen level, heart rate. His breathing was jarringly shallow, but he was finally stable.
Connie rested her hands against his chest, feeling the slow rise and fall of his lungs. It felt surreal to her that he was home, and right next to her again. His face was calm and restful, though she knew he'd be a mess whenever he woke up. For now, she'd let him sleep.
She got up and stepped into the kitchen to wash her hands. The hot water burned her, but she was too lost in her thoughts to notice anything but the boy lying unconscious on the table. That was, until Amethyst spoke next to her.
"Did anyone see where Pearl went?"
…
She felt cold, tired…and trapped.
A familiar not-quite pressure held her inside of her gem, and she knew she'd lost.
Pearl had beaten her; she had stabbed her in the back as she watched the surface of the fountain's water ripple to stillness. Moments passed like pounding heartbeats, and then…
She had formed a pearlescent bubble around her gem before running off to save Steven. That was the only consolation; at least Steven was safe.
Steven was safe, and he knew everything. Eventually, after he'd healed from Pearl's recklessness, he'd come back for her. She rested in the comfort of that truth and prepared herself to wait.
After the most eventful few weeks of her life, it was jarring to suddenly return to stillness and…waiting. Again, waiting for Pink, in whatever form. Again, in their garden. Again, because of Pearl.
The name scorched her, a burning ember of hate that was fanned over and over at the gem's actions. She didn't believe even for a second that Pearl had hit Steven by accident; but then again, she herself had done the same thing.
Her thoughts flashed back to their first meeting, back when she was so entirely full of rage and injustice that she would have burned the galaxy up a thousand times over just to make Pink a fraction as broken as she felt.
She massacred his family in front of his eyes, tearing away their memories and their physical forms. She felt elated to see him cry, and to see the terror in his eyes as he beheld her for the first time.
If she'd known the truth back then… none of this would have happened. When she fought Pearl on the shores of Earth, she won. She had exploited the gem's obsession with the human Pink, Steven Universe, and when her back was turned, she attacked.
She could still remember with perfect, horrific clarity the feeling of Steven's neck snapping under her grip. The wet crunch would've sent a shiver down her spine if she had one, but as it was, her gem sat still in its prison. Suddenly, she was overtaken with a crushing sense of guilt. While there were plenty of things she didn't know at the time that now changed how she saw Steven, her actions were beyond inexcusable. Far, far beyond forgiving.
It wasn't like that had been the only time she hurt him… Memories trickled through her mind's eye, each one a violent twist of shame which threatened to tear her apart.
Steven, writhing in pain the first time she had rejuvenated him. Steven, crying tears of blood after she'd launched a rock into his eye, crippling him permanently. Countless times, she had thrown punches into the softness of his cheek or had knocked him unconscious with the hard stone of the ground. His involuntary flinches at the sight of her that once filled her with glee now sickened her to her core.
Even today she had attacked him. In a fit of confusion, she had thrown him away from her, and she hurt him. He was being so sweet, so gentle with her, and she responded with violence. After everything she did to him, after all of the times she nearly killed him, she couldn't understand why he wanted to be close to her, why he would willingly lean into her, why he would kiss her so tenderly with lips that she herself had maimed…
She pushed those thoughts away with fierce shame. She didn't deserve one second of his love, and she felt ashamed to even consider it.
The damage she had done to his body was tangible and permanent; he would forever be marked by her cruel mistakes. She didn't deserve him, and she suddenly wondered why she was so sure he'd come back. She was a monster to him, and he was afraid of her. Her cruelty ran in scars deep under his skin, and they both knew it.
He'd be at home with his family and friends, with Connie, whom he loved so dearly. Surely, surrounded by the people who cared for him his entire life, he'd realize that a monster like her deserved to stay in a bubble for the rest of eternity, or worse.
Worse came for her sooner than expected. The thin but sturdy walls of the bubble shimmered away, and her gem fell into thin hands.
There was nothing she could do; she wasn't strong enough to come back yet. Even if she could, she didn't think she wanted to. All that she caused was pain, and Steven didn't deserve any more of that.
She didn't put up a fight. Her gem didn't even sparkle as Pearl set her down on the hard pavement. Her feet stepped away, searching, and Spinel waited.
She felt calm, now.
She felt lighter knowing that Steven wouldn't have to fight with himself over how he felt about her. He wouldn't have to make any choices on the matter at all, because she and Pearl were deciding for him.
The vibrations of footsteps echoed through the pavement and against her gem, and she knew Pearl had returned.
Her senses sharpened, feeling out into the air around her blindly, searching for her own destruction.
It came swiftly in the form of a brick racing through the air, and she broke. Pearl's rage was relentless as she brought it down over and over, shattering her into oblivion.
The nightmare they'd lived, that she had caused, was finally brought to an end.
In her last embers of singular consciousness, for the first and inevitably the last time, Spinel felt grateful for Pearl.
…
Tears leaked steadily from the corners of Steven's eyes and into his hairline. Connie rested her knees on the ground next to the table, running a comforting hand through his curls and shushing. "I think he's having a nightmare," she stated aloud for the room of onlookers.
She started as Steven's body suddenly tensed up, and she heard his breath hitch. His chest lifted from the table as his head snapped back, and Connie shouted for her mom.
Dr. Maheswaran flew from the bathroom, drying her freshly washed hands against a clean cotton towel. She leapt to Steven's side, scanning over his shaking form.
Nearly silent whimpers were trapped in his constricted throat, a faint squeaking that only the two humans could hear, while his face was twisted into a pained grimace.
"D-did the morphine wear off or something?" Connie asked across the table to her mom, who looked just as consternated.
"No, that's impossible. He should be completely unconscious right now." They fought against his immeasurable strength to get him flat on the table once again, and they lost. All they could do was watch as his shoulders shook him down to his fingertips. The moment only lasted for a minute or so, but to Connie it felt like an eternity.
Finally, with a rush of breath, he eased back down and was still again.
No one's eyes left his prone form while they waited for any other sign of movement. None ever came; his head lolled lazily to the side and from then on, he slept as calmly as ever.
Everyone's eyes were still locked on the center of the room as Pearl warped in. She wiped her hands down the front of her pants as she approached them.
Connie spoke up first, asking Pearl where she had been the whole time. Somehow, no one had noticed her leave in the first place, and they were all perplexed.
"I had something to take care of, that's all," was her short response.
Connie frowned at the vague answer, and her curiosity got the better of her. After all, what could've been more important than seeing if Steven was alright? She looked down at Steven's calm, scarred face, and asked, "Can you tell us what happened? Who…who did this to him, and why?"
Pearl's gaze darkened, and she sat down on the couch just behind them.
"Her name…was Spinel. She was made for Pink Diamond thousands of years ago, but she was unstable. She became obsessed with her, and eventually, Pink had enough. She couldn't stand Spinel's dependence on her, or the dangerous games Spinel liked to play."
"One day she decided that she needed to leave her. Pink knew it was for the best, but convincing Spinel was another thing entirely. She wouldn't listen to reason. So," she heaved a breath, looking down at her hands folded neatly in her lap, "she came up with a plan. She had a garden built, and she…persuaded Spinel to stay there without her. I'm not really clear on all of the details here, but I think she somehow found out that Pink's gone. She probably blamed Steven for it, and she took it out on him. She brought him back to the garden."
Connie's eyes found Amethyst's over the counter, both wide in shock. They had been there, just days after Steven was taken. How had they missed him?
"Anyways, when I got there, she tried to kill him. She saw me and knew that I'd take him away from her, and she just went insane. He already looked so weak, and I tried so hard to get her to stop, but in the end I was forced to fight her. I didn't want to, but I'm thankful it's all over now."
Connie nodded to herself, trying not to imagine a crazed gem trying to murder her best friend. The evidence of it was plain, though. She could see the claw marks, the bruises, and the stab wound clear as day. Not all of his wounds were fresh, though. She had been torturing him the entire time. Her breath rushed away from her in a sob as her hands found one of his, squeezing. Even there, she turned his palm over to find a jagged, deformed scar straight across the cup of his hand.
"Pearl…" Amethyst's voice floated up from across the room as she approached, holding something against her chest. "Can you explain what happened to her?" She lifted her arm to reveal Bismuth's still lifeless gem.
Everyone's eyes flashed back to Pearl, who seemed quite uncomfortable.