Steven sat on a rock, staring at the Peridots, who were running one last check on the Cluster drill. The tip of the drill was pressing into the dirt as it sat suspended on a frame.
"Peridot, Skinny, Squaridot, and me." Steven repeated to Jasper again.
"Why not me?!" She demanded, her anger getting the better of her.
"Because, you likely shattered many of the gems in the cluster. I've heard of how brutal
you were during the war."
"They were traitors, it's what they deserve."
"That right there is exactly why you're not coming down with us. This thing is going to be larger than the planet if it forms, we do not need you pissing it off." He explained to her, making her throw her head back and groan.
"You're staying here, Jasper. This isn't one of the things you get to argue with me on." Steven continued.
Jasper huffed, "Fine, but I don't like it."
"That's fine, you don't need to," he said, watching as the Peridots finished their last checks.
"It's ready." One of them informed him, and he stood up.
"Then let's go." The Diamond directed, and the trio he had chosen to accompany him moved towards the drill. The Peridots took the front seats at the controls, Steven and with Skinny climbing into the back seats. The Peridots started it up and the drill began to spin, digging into the stone floor of the canyon, the supports falling away the more it progressed. Steven pulled out the book from his dad's garage and finally started to read it.
Steven shut his book as soon as the view outside the drill's window transitioned from stone to molten peridotite.
"That's superheated peridotite, it's what we're made of." Peridot told him, sticking her chest out proudly.
"I've been wanting to ask, do you remember being made?"
"I don't have memories of it, just feelings." She answered, shrugging. He heard banging and a hand appeared from the molten stone.
"The reports mentioned that they buried some prototypes." Peridot said, moving forward to press the button for the turrets. Steven's hand caught her wrist before she could press it.
"Don't, if they get lost in this stuff we'll never find them." He let her wrist go and handed the book to Skinny.
"Read this, it should give you some context to the anatomy book." Steven shoved open the hatch, slamming it shut behind him as he stood on the drill. He grabbed a leg fusion that had appeared, ripping its form in two and catching its gem before bubbling and sending it away. The arm from before wrapped around his neck, the duo arm latched onto its hand and elbow. Steven let pink energy encompass him for a moment, the energy exploding outwards after, poofing them. He caught their gems and bubbled them, sending them to the others as well. He reached over the side of the drill, grabbing the flowerheaded gem he had spied and ripped the gem from its form as it struggled. He pulled the gem free, the body poofed, and he sent it away; he stumbled as the massive drill hit hard stone.
"This is it!" The hybrid heard Peridot's voice exclaim from the speaker. They made their way through, revealing a massive cavern. Spider-like phantom arms shot out to anchor the drill to the roof, making Steven collapse to his knees atop the drill. He held his head in his hands as he heard millions of voices screaming out, his body giving out soon after as he fell sideways off of the drill.
Steven found himself floating in an endless black void, millions of individual lights surrounding his floating pink form.
"Am I in your head... heads?"
"Help us!" The voices echoed around him, the void shaking violently.
"Whole."
"You won't ever be whole, if you form the planet dies." Steven said, telling them the hard truth.
"Form, want form." They seemed to decide.
"No!" He yelled at them, the void shaking. "If you try to form, we'll have to destroy you," he warned them.
"Need form!" They all yelled, and he felt the vibration in his mind. He had connected with the Cluster.
"QUIET!" Steven commanded, and they shut up, the world going dark.
"What happened to you is horrible, but you can't kill the Earth. There are billions of lives at risk if you form," he told them, forcing himself into an upright position floating in the void.
"The best you can have is each other, we can keep you from forming and let you spend eternity with the millions of consciousnesses you're made up of." He offered, and watched as they started to talk to each other. He found himself back in the cavern, where the Peridots were panicking and scanning his body. The two yelped as he suddenly sat up.
"Get back into the ship," he said to them.
"Are you okay, Steven?" Skinny asked him.
"I spoke with the Cluster, we've reached an agreement. Get on the ship, and catch me when it happens."
"When what happens?"
"Just watch," the pink teenager replied. They climbed back into the ship that was resting on the Cluster and reattached to the roof, hanging. Steven crouched down, pressing his hands against the cluster.
"Help me." He asked them, starting to form a bubble. The gems helped him as it spread out, forming a massive multicolored bubble around the Cluster. His eyes took on a pink glow as he brought his hands up, slamming them back down onto the bubble and sending it away. Briefly disoriented, he suddenly found himself falling until mechanical tendrils wrapped around him, pulling him back towards the ship.
"Good catch." Their leader praised them, laying down over the two seats in the back. Steven was exhausted, sending the Cluster away was a feat, even for a Diamond.
"I have so many questions." The Peridots said in unison, crowding into the back of the drill.
"Ask away." He responded, sighing.
"How did you bubble it?!"
"I asked the gems inside for their help."
"Where is it?!" Squaridot asked.
"If I aimed it right, it should be in orbit around Homeworld." He told her with a grin.
"Wow." Peridot said in awe..
"Are you okay?" Skinny finally asked.
"Yeah, I just wish I could punch Pink Diamond in her stupid face." His pocket started to glow and he reached into it, pulling out the Hourglass.
"Shit." Is the last thing he can get out before him and Skinny are violently pulled through time, leaving the two Peridots alone in their drill.
"We're going to be shattered for this!" Peridot screeched, panicked.
"Yep." Squaridot agreed.
Steven popped into existence in the sky, where he unceremoniously slammed into the side of a mountain. Taking most of the blow, he curled around Skinny, protecting her as he barreled through the mountain. They finally stopped as he came out the other side, slamming into the ground.
"You good?" He asked her, still embedded in the bottom of the crater.
"Nope." She groaned, rolling away from him to lay on solid ground.
"That's fine, where the hell are we?"
"Why was the Hourglass in your pocket?"
"Hubris, mostly," Steven sat up from the crater, looking around curiously.
"Past or future?" He asked Skinny for her opinion.
"Past, probably." She muttered, still laying on the ground.
"So, the next question is how close we are to the War." He pressed a glowing finger to Skinny's forehead, healing whatever effect time travel had had on her, and pulled her to her feet before looking to the sky and using the stars to try and find the nearest warp pad.
"Alright, we're jumping." He told her, holding out his hand for her to climb into before jumping into the sky.
Steven appeared on the warp pad in the moonbase, knowing it would be the best place to see exactly when he was. He froze when he heard voices talking upstairs.
"Be prepared for a fight," he said to Skinny, who looked haunted at the voices they were hearing.
"Skinny?"
"That laughter..." she trailed off as it stopped.
"Is someone there?" A very familiar voice called down.
"Pearl?" Steven asked and he saw her start to walk down the stairs. She was in an outfit he hadn't seen before, her hair framing her face in a longer style.
"What-! My Diamond!" She yelled, looking panicked at the sight of two strange gems. Steven went to correct her when he heard it.
"What is it, Pearl?" A feminine voice called out in concern. It was then that he saw her, his mother, who for the first time in his life was standing in front of him in her Pink Diamond form.
He saw red, the floor exploding as he threw himself at her, causing Skinny and Pearl to jump away. Steven tackled Pink through the wall and onto the lunar surface, white dust flying as they left a gash that would never disappear. Two feet planted themselves on his chest, throwing him away as Pink rolled over, staring at him with wide, pink eyes. She summoned her iconic shield and backed away from him.
"Who are you?"
"I'm your son, Rose," he spat, watching her flinch. So she's already started her charade, he thought to himself.
"My so-?" Steven threw his arm out, a beam of pink energy hitting Rose's shield, flying and cutting lines into the Moon and wiping through the Moonbase, collapsing it.
"Pearl!" She yelled, turning towards the destroyed base. Steven rushed forward to her shield, cracks forming on it as he punched it over and over again. Pink planted her feet, dropping her shield and ducking his next punch. She punched him in the face, pushing him off balance and bringing her foot up into his chin, knocking him on his ass.
"I'm not human, I can't procreate." She said down to the glaring young man.
"You're a Diamond, your shapeshifting is stronger than you'd think." He replied, pulling up his shirt so she could see her gem, gleaming from where his belly button was supposed to be. Pink gasped, looking horrified.
"Why are you so angry at me?!" She asked him, her lip quivering.
"Because you ruined so many lives and decided that, rather than dealing with it, you'd have me. And now I have to fix your fuck ups!" He grit out, forming a shield and throwing it at her. He sprung up and moved closer, ducking beneath her shield and slamming a glowing fist into her stomach. He brought his elbow down on top of her head and his knee up into her chin as she doubled over.
"Did you know that there's only two Crystal Gems left where I'm from?!" Steven yelled, his anger exploding out.
He grabbed her, throwing her and forming a massive pink wall for her to bounce off of. He moved toward her so fast that he left a trail of white dust behind him. He grabbed her and channeled as much pink energy into her body as he could. She screamed in pain, a massive pink explosion shaking the lunar surface.
Steven groaned, his lip split and his clothing torn. He wasn't sure which of them had caused that explosion but he knew that he was the one standing now. Sitting up, he saw her pink gem resting in white powder. The hybrid scooped up her gem, turning to see Skinny restraining Pearl outside of the Moonbase. He walked over, leaving footprints that would never disappear.
"Skinny, let Pearl go."
"Are you sure?" She asked, and he can see the marks from a fight on her. Good job, Pearl.
"Sure enough." He replied. She vanished her spear and Steven tossed Pink's gem to her casually, watching her scramble to catch it.
"I'm Pink's son from the future, where are the Crystal Gems right now?"
"What." Pearl said, thinking she must have misheard what he said.
"I'm Steven, tell me where the Crystal gems are." He ordered and she listed off coordinates, unable to resist.
"Alright, let's go tell the truth for once." Steven said, walking towards the warp pad. Skinny followed and Pearl stared for a moment before following after too.
