A/N: I got kinda lazy yesterday, SOOOO here's Chapter, uhhh... Chapter Thirty-Five, right now! when you finish this chapter, I'm going to bring up something else I want you all to do, if you're able. But here's Chapter THIRTY-FIVE, HERE TO TAKE THE SHOW AWAY FROM ME!

WARNING: More tissues will probably be needed.

A Triangle in the Stars
Chapter Thirty-Five: A Mere Fragment

Steven found himself reliving something—he was in front of the Gems, feeling incredibly angry and frowning. He shouted at them, "It's never about what I want! now I have a place where I can go, and you can't follow me!"

He remembered entering his mother's room for the first time. It horrified him. But now he knew how it worked, so it was fine. He raced into the room. The pink clouds everywhere welcomed him. He grinned, and ran off them.

"Parachute!" he called, and one formed, making his descent slower. But there were no clouds beneath him. Only an endless darkness. He looked up, and found it was the same. Just darkness forever. And his parachute was gone.

He could hear something. A voice...?

"You belong to me now..." it whispered, and he knew it was the Void. He knew because he had been here before. He knew because this was his memory now. Even if he ignored it. That energy had to go somewhere...

And then he woke again for real, shaking all over, whimpering. Bill's eye was wide. He was watching Steven the whole time, currently huddled with the stuffed animal he previously didn't want to be seen with—or any stuffed animal, for that matter. He'd watched the boy get increasingly distressed. If only he could still see dreams. So he asked, "What's wrong, kid? what happened?"

"N-nothing... hold on. I have to check something..." he stood and went to the Temple Gate. It opened, revealing that pink glow. He glanced at Bill, just once, before going in. After a minute, he came back out. He looked relieved as he climbed the stairs again, and announced, "E-everything's fine."

Except it wasn't. The Gems weren't here, and now he was becoming someone he wasn't. He couldn't talk to anybody about it, and he couldn't sleep, with all the nightmares he'd been having, yet he hated every waking moment, with some new stuff going on. He almost wished Bill had never shown up. And then he erased that almost after realizing Bill was the source of all his newfound problems, if indirectly. All their newfound problems, too.

Bill felt these thoughts, and his eye widened. He was close to tears again. He tightened his hold on the sad bunny. He hated this, being so sensitive. But the boy's thoughts were right. None of this would have happened if he never washed up on Beach City, and just overall stayed a statue. Everything in the world would be right if he just didn't exist. He was reminded of his parents just then, what they often implied. And it killed him even more. He whispered weakly, "I'm sorry..."

He almost didn't catch Steven's addendum. But by that point it was already too late. Steven heard and noticed this and hugged the triangle, saying nothing. Sometimes it was better just not to say anything. He couldn't talk about any of this. And he didn't want to. He felt that would only make the problem worse. Bill couldn't even hug the boy back. He felt cold. Like ice had frozen his veins. Like he couldn't even feel anything anymore. That and he was still holding the bunny. He kept crying, silently. The clouds had finally rolled in at this point, and it was only a matter of time before it started pouring down.

Pyronica sighed really loudly, out of nowhere, and stood. She walked up the stairs. She announced, "Are you two alright? you sound like you're dying or something."

Not only that, she could read both of their minds, and dreams, in Steven's case. Bill suddenly recomposed himself, drying the tears, making Steven let him go and dropping the stuffed animal. But he knew he couldn't lie. So he said, crossing his arms and trying to look tough again, "No, we're... not alright."

"Well, it's always good to be honest about that sort of thing. Just explain what's wrong." That spell of feeling horrible seemed to have evaporated. Pyronica was smiling, just a little. Not a smirk, but a helpful, gentle smile. She wanted to help.

"Don't you already know...?" the demon asked, confused. He saw that smile, and grew even more confused. That time in the Void must have really changed her. He glanced at Steven, wanting him to explain this time. But the boy remained awfully quiet, and awfully somewhat still.

"Yeah, but talking it out will help. Trust me..." she frowned a little.

He sighed, "Okay... well, I'm overwhelmed. Steven's overwhelmed. He's dealing with.. whatever it is he's dealing with, and I..." he stopped all of a sudden. He felt himself get smaller, not literally of course. The demon finally spoke again, "I'm dealing with these godforsaken childhood memories... this empathy thing... and other crap."

Talking it out barely helped, he found. But he supposed it was better than keeping it inside. However, talking it out also made him think about it. Which was something he didn't want to do.

"It's okay. There's no due date for understanding all this stuff. Empathy is something you get over time, Bill. It's not going to take just a few days, or even a week. It's a lifelong thing," Pyronica smiled again.

He nodded, "I.. I get that much... I guess... but it literally feels like a tree is growing inside me... and trains going a hundred miles per hour in my head. It.." he squeezed his arms, "it doesn't feel good... I'm trying, but it... it's tough..."

The triangle glanced at the boy again, wondering why he was so quiet.

"True. But you have to admit it's better than not caring at all, right?"

Steven was staring at the floor. He was... well, he was looking at all these new memories he had. Memories of the Void. Memories of Bill. Young Bill. A Bill he had never met. Yet he had. It was so strange... the way he could be someone he was and wasn't at the same time.

Bill stared at the floor too, "I .. I guess so. My mind seems open to other possibilities I would have never considered otherwise..."

He looked up at Pyronica and smiled a little, and then touched Steven's hand, trying to keep the boy grounded in reality, trying to comfort him. This seemed like the right thing to do. His newfound conscience wasn't chewing him out, at least. But it would take a while for him to really feel it. For right now, he was just emulating what the boy had done for him.

"It's weird for all of us, being like this. You and me and... him," for all of Pyronica's mind reading, she didn't know Steven's name, it seemed. Or, more accurately, she forgot. Which was understandable.

Steven saw something. Bill complaining about something. Gabriel getting what he wanted. The pleasure of seeing his brother suffer like that. Because he was a lowly triangle, and he was a mighty star. Steven broke himself out of that, and stood up again. He ran to the bathroom and locked the door behind him. Now it wasn't safe to even think anymore.

"Steven?" he blinked, unknowingly answering Pyronica's mental question, as he watched him leave. The triangle got up and levitated after him, growing concerned. Pyronica watched in silence, sadly. She was like Sapphire—she knew, already, what was going to occur here.

Steven did not respond, just sat there, shivering, thinking of all the horrible thoughts that were suddenly his. Lowly triangle. Mighty star.

He didn't get it, but at the same time, it made so much sense. He was a star, of course. That was the Crystal Gem symbol, the star. And he had one on his shirt, too. On all his shirts.

"Kid..?" Bill rattled the doorknob. He knew he could mess with and break the locking mechanism, just like he had done with the school, but he didn't want to do that now. So he simply stayed right there outside the door, and said, "Wanna talk this out..? it might help..."

"I... I don't have anything to say to you!" he shouted. He had been looking in the mirror when he said that. He wished he hadn't been. He wished he didn't sound like that... even if it was only for a sentence. He hated that voice.

The demon froze. He immediately pulled away from the doorknob. He gave up, "Um... okay, kid..."

Something was wrong here. Incredibly wrong. He couldn't put a finger on it yet, because he again still felt like a, thankfully slower at the moment, train station, but he was close. Steven couldn't look away from his reflection. He had seen those eyes before. But that time, he hadn't been in his body.

"An exorcism. We're going to have to perform an exorcism," said Pyronica, suddenly behind Bill. "Kinda ironic, isn't it?"

And with this Bill finally realized exactly what was going on. The triangle suddenly chuckled, but it was mirthless. He saw it too, and said, "Yeah, very."

Only, how do we go about doing this? I don't think Steven's gonna come willingly at this point... he set the psychic link to only be between the two of them.

I don't know. You might talk some sense to him, she shrugged, and sighed a little. Do you have any idea how this happened? that might also be the key to fixing it, without anything as drastic as exorcism.

Steven frowned a little. Now only one eye was like that. One eye was normal, and one wasn't. But that was okay. That's how he felt right now anyway. Bill nodded, frowning, Yes... Gabriel had absorbed Steven's powers. And when defeated those powers were returned. The boy must have also absorbed some of the star's essence...

This explanation left a sour taste behind. But, at least, according to Pyronica, it could be reversed. And he probably could talk to Steven. But he was afraid he'd make it worse. Like he did for almost everything else. He sighed.

If we could take that essence out and put it in something else... a simple exorcism won't work for this. It's not like Steven is being possessed by Gabriel—he's dead and gone. Only his personality and memories are left. If we exorcised Gabriel out, we'd also have to put him somewhere. Even then, he'd only be fragments of who he was. And it might be too late for that anyway... oh, this is so complicated... Pyronica was getting stressed out just thinking it out like this.

And apparently so was Bill by simply listening.

Ugh... he groaned, I'll try and talk to him then... in the meantime, find something in which we can contain the essence.

I'll figure something out, she then began to look around.

Bill nodded, and then turned back to the door, and knocked this time, "Hey, kid? you there, buddy?"

"Buddy"... did he really just call him that? man, had he changed...

"Y-yeah?" Steven called, though he also didn't want to. He wanted to shout at Bill again, too.

"Oh, good," the demon sighed of relief. "Can I come in?"

Steven came over and unlocked the door. "Yeah, go ahead," but walked back over to the mirror. He didn't want Bill to see, so he didn't face the door.

The triangle opened the door and floated in, closing it magically behind him. Regardless of Steven's attempt to hide this from him, he knew anyway. He sighed, "Thanks, kid... you're gonna be alright, you know?"

"Yeah," the boy replied. He felt if he said too much more, something bad would happen. He hated this. Hated how he felt like an unstable time bomb.

"Good.." Bill felt somewhat awkward. They were pretty much cooped up in the bathroom. He gave the boy a quick pat on the shoulder, but that was pretty much it. He kept trying to think up something to say, but kept tearing down everything he thought of down.

Steven felt the same way. Everything he thought of was wrong. Lowly triangle. He still couldn't get that thought out of his head. He hummed quietly, Maybe I should show him...

Bill rubbed at his top point, glancing about the room now. He couldn't say a thing still, and he felt the train station speed up. The triangle groaned inwardly. And then Steven turned around and looked at Bill with those mismatched eyes.

"You're... you're going to have to do better than that to get rid of me!" he grinned, eye twitching, and tossed some shields at Bill. The demon yelped, somewhat caught off guard, and barely managed to put up his own shield to deflect each one, though again the barrier wobbled with every impact. He really didn't want the room to get destroyed. He also didn't want to hurt Steven. And some growing part of him, deep down, actually wanted to get hit...

Oh my gosh! Pyronica! he pushed this aside and opened the link again. Have you found anything yet?!

Yes, I have. Want me to come in?

Steven stopped himself, stepping back. "Stop doing this to me!" he began to cry.

Now would be nice, thank you! and then he dropped the barrier and hugged Steven, whispering, "It's gonna be okay. We're gonna help you..."

"No! stay back! I don't want to hurt you!" a bubble formed, expanding from Steven, pushing Bill away. The demon frowned at this, steadying himself in the air. The boy curled up inside of it, shuddering.

Pyronica soon entered the room, with nothing in her hands, and closed the door. But she looked confident, You know how to do an exorcism? we're going to base it loosely off a normal one, but, of course, trapping what's left of your brother somewhere else.

Bill turned to Pyronica. He raised an eyebrow when he saw she wasn't carrying anything, but decided to just roll with it, Yeah... I do... surprisingly.. but I doknow many things.

Steven's bubble became smaller. He glanced at Pyronica. She stared at him in pity. Alright. Do we have everything we need? or can you just magic it all up? or maybe you could tell me and I could do it.

Oh, yeah. I kinda forgot I had magic... the demon frowned, and then summoned a tempered glass container. The exorcism ritual is in some warped form of Latin. I'm hoping it doesn't do anything to us, but we should be safe since we aren't inhabiting a body at the moment...

She nodded, "Right."

The bubble popped. Steven looked up at them, "You can't take me out of here! I belong here, this is my body!"

"Oh no..." Pyronica gasped, "they're getting even more intertwined inside of him. We could just let this settle, and see how it goes... but that's as risky as this exorcism. There's a big possibility he could end up insane because of this. We need to do this now—or never."

"I'm not willing to let even a fragment of Gabriel survive within my friend any longer than he has," Bill's frown deepened, and he clenched the enclosed vase-like container more tightly, but was careful not to break it. "We'll have to risk it... hopefully it'll turn out alright..."

"Alright," she nodded. "And if you intend to trap Gabriel in there, it's not going to work. What's left of Gabriel is not physical, but mental. Thus we need a vessel to trap him in. Ideally something like a baby, but we don't have time for that. So..." she took a deep breath," I'm going to make sure Gabriel stays trapped in the Void for good this time," she finished, releasing the breath she was holding. She was ready.

The demon then grinned, and let vanish the container he had. He had no idea why he didn't think of the Void. But he soon realized the implications, and his eye widened, "Wait.. what do you have planned..?"

"I'm going to seal him inside my own mind, and go into the Void while I still have control. Now, come on. We have to do this before it gets any worse," she went up to Steven, who had been alternating his gaze between Bill and Pyronica, eye twitching every now and then.

Bill took a deep breath, and sighed, rubbing at his eye, "Alright then... I suppose there's no other way. Let's do it then."

He knew Pyronica would have had to leave some way or another. He just didn't think this would be the way she left, and he didn't want this either... but all for his friend. Hehe, "friend"...

"But Bill... you have to promise me... that you won't ever open the Void again. You have to blast it away. Destroy it. Make it so no one can ever escape again," she stared into his eye, with her own, waiting for confirmation before she continued.

Bill's eye was wide again. He wondered if he had enough power to do that. He also didn't want to let go. But he nodded anyway, "Of course, Pyronica... I'll do that. And, by the way, I forgive you... and thank you..."

She hugged him,—just a quick, short hug—before she turned to Steven, who had still been watching them in silence. A bubble formed around him just then. He then gloated, "You can't do anything to me when I'm like this! ha! ha!"

The demon then frowned at half-Geven, and then all of a sudden grinned, changing his form to Sapphire again, with the black tuxedo, "Of course we can, Gabe! I suggest you take it like the 'mighty star' you are."

Those were fighting words. He glared at Bill, for a second, and his normal eye seemed to flash between starry and normal, just for a second. He was getting even worse... he scoffed then, "You think I'm stupid enough to fall for that? wow, William, I really thought a 'lowly triangle' like you would know better!"

And then Bipphire did the unexpected. Instead of getting sad or angry like he had done previously, he laughed. And then he said, "You wanna know something, brother? a little bird taught me that I'm not a problem child to anyone anymore. He taught me that I'm great, even though I was supposedly low on the hierarchy. It's a shame you ended up believing differently. We could have stayed good friends."

He chuckled, "You know that little bird is as good as dead, right?"

"I don't think he is," the demon frowned now. "In fact, I know he isn't."

He glanced at Pyronica, but Geven wouldn't be able to tell. Neither would the flame lady, actually. Geven crossed his arms, "Oh yeah? what makes you so sure? wouldn't he be back by now? wouldn't he pop this bubble?" but his eye was still switching back and forth, in an extremely odd fashion.

Bipphire smirked, "Oh, yeah, he would. I have faith in the boy. He's pretty insidious in his own way. He's looking for a way to strike right now, I bet."

And then he laughed in that chaotic way of his, but it sounded prouder than necessarily evil.

"Nah. He's not. I'm not... boy, is it strange being two entities at once!"

The demon furrowed his brow, crossing his own arms now, "I can imagine..." and then started appealing to Steven, "hey, kid. I know you can hear me in there. You're not some meat puppet, are ya? you're human, with feelings. Are you really just going to let my brother step all over them?"

"You know that won't—" and then the bubble suddenly fizzled out. Geven was extremely caught off guard by this. Pyronica took her chance. She jumped at him, pinning him down to the ground and digging her fingers into the sides of his head. She closed her eyes and began the process, murmuring the incantation, Geven yelling all the while.

Bipphire grinned, and it was a proud one. He opened the bathroom door and started jogging to the Warp Pad so he'd get a head start on this. Something had told him Steven would be too tired to activate it himself. Hence the return of Sapphire.

Pyronica had some major steps to accomplish. First, she had to detach Gabriel from Steven. And then she had to transfer him to herself. Which proved to be even more challenging than she thought. To do this, she had to leap into Steven's mind and disconnect them that way. She slashed through their connections, one by one, as fast as she could. She had to be fast. And then she arrived at the last one—the last string connecting Gabriel and Steven.

Steven was waiting there, floating, for her. He spoke, "You don't have to do this, Pyronica. I can change him... I can control him!" the boy smiled a little, but it was slightly sad. "I mean, I did it with Bill... besides, you wouldn't have to go away or do this. Everything could be great..."

Pyronica considered this. Only for a few seconds. "No. It's too dangerous."

"It's my mind, isn't it? shouldn't I get to decide?" he asked, putting his hands on his hips. She paused again, thinking. Bipphire was waiting for them, or at least Pyronica, at the Warp Pad at this point, fidgeting with his hands and feeling somewhat anxious. He looked towards the bathroom every now and then, every few seconds, biting his lip.

"No," Pyronica finally said. "This is not your business. This should have never happened to you to begin with, and it's my fault, anyway, so I'm going to fix it," she vowed, and cut the last strand.

The floating Steven's eyes widened, and he flickered forms—between his and Gabriel's. She knew what she had to do...

She launched herself at him, hugging him tight, and exited Steven's mind. She blinked twice just then, in real life letting go of Steven, who had gone unconscious during the process. She had done it. Now she just had to get to the Warp Pad...

A/N: This was quite the lengthy chapter, wasn't it? I hope it was worth it! I couldn't split it at all! so, yeah. WOOOOOOOOO WHAT A SHOW, RIGHT?! such wham, much wow. I hope you enjoyed this! so... Ace was Steven, Gabriel, and Pyronica. I took Bill. XD One is the loneliest nu - heh, no. I actually don't mind. XD So yeah. Leave your thoughts, lengthy preferably. X3
So.. here's what I want you to do..

Remember that song Steven (Ace) sang to Bill in Chapter Thirty-Two? well, it's gonna be about that. I thought up the lyrics myself. It's called Don't You See Now?.
Here's the link to the song once more: picosong com zgNH
If it doesn't appear properly, picosong zgNH. Add the slashes and periods and stuffz.
However, it's acapella at the moment. It's the best I can do, but I know some people will be able to modify it and stuff, add music to it. In fact, I'm counting on that. :3 So I want you all to try and turn this acapella into a song. Digital instruments would be appreciated, because I'm looking for a Steven Universe feel to the song, similar to Here Comes a Thought and Tower of Mistakes, but kind of upbeat, with the main instrument, of course, being a ukulele.
Good luck, you all! and I'll see you next Thursday!