Fanart of Previous Chapter! post/619666980256038912/first-one-is-some-fanart-based-on-the-fic TW: Blood and Injury on the art
Silence reigned throughout the room. Steven finally turned away from the door to look at Twoie. The young man was sitting up, tired eyes staring at his folded hands on his lap. Steven quietly walked up to him. He didn't know what to say to Twoie. He was hurt. After everything, they'd seen... Knowing that Bismuth had hurt Twoie in the past, his older brother still snuck out of bed to confront her. And Steven never noticed. He had slept peacefully, unaware of the suffering his brother was experiencing. "Why…" He clenched his fists tightly. Twoie didn't look up at him. Instead, he curled in further on himself. Amethyst's eyes widened as Steven's eyes narrowed in anger. "Why did you do that?! Why did you go after Bismuth instead of letting Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst handle it?!"
Pearl raised her hand out towards her ward. "Steven…" But the youngest stomped his foot on the ground.
"Do you know how scared I was?" Steven's voice cracked with unshed tears. "I was terrified when Amethyst woke me up! I thought you were asleep, but she ran into the house screaming that you were cracked, and Bismuth did it, and I needed to come heal you because you were bleeding!" He lunged forward, wrapping his arms around his older brother. "Ow!" The young kid flinched and jumped back. Something had jabbed into his hands when he hugged him.
Pearl rushed over to Steven, and they checked his arms over. He was fine, just had a couple of small indents on his skin. When Steven looked up, his brother's eyes were wide with horror. Amethyst patted Twoie's shoulder. "Yeah, that's something we gotta talk about."
Steven rubbed his arms to make the pain fade away, then tilted his head questioningly at her. "What do you mean? What was that?" Amethyst sighed and stood. She brushed Twoie's hair aside, so the two horns were visible. "Twoie? Are those… horns?" The purple gem lifted Twoie's hand up. She had checked him over earlier, and Amethyst was pretty sure the time traveler's hands were not claw-like then. But they were now.
"Not just horns. Yo, Twoie. How long have you been hiding this? I know that I didn't see this earlier." She waved his clawed hand around by the wrist. "And none of us saw the horns or your back spines. Just the spots." Garnet gently pushed Twoie's shirt back up, so his gem was fully visible. It was glowing faintly but didn't look out of the ordinary.
She hummed and walked towards the gem she had bubbled minutes earlier. "Garnet? Where are you going?" Pearl called out for her. Her brows furrowed in worry as Garnet walked back with a corrupted gem in hand. She brought it close to Twoie's stomach.
"I'm not sure what's going on with Twoie. I thought maybe it was related to his gem, but it looks healthy." Everyone stared wide-eyed at Garnet. Pearl tugged at her hair with her hands.
"Wait, you thought Twoie was corrupting?" Garnet pushed the bubble into the air, and it floated up a couple of inches. She turned back to Pearl.
"You and I fought the corrupted gem that Bismuth unbubbled." Everyone winced when Twoie flinched at Bismuth's name. "The gem she freed was one of the corrupted quartzes. Do you recall the horns on her head and the claws? She even had discolorations all over her body."
Steven stepped up to Twoie again as Pearl continued to argue with Garnet. "But those were quartzes! Twoie is a diamond! Besides, we all saw that his gem is fine!" Twoie met his gaze and then looked away shamefully. "We would've seen corruption marks on his gem if he was corrupting. It's probably something else! I haven't finished going through all of the books detailing human illnesses. Maybe it's something like that affecting his powers accidentally?" Steven could see the spines growing out from his brother's back now.
He clenched his fists in anger. "How long have you been hiding this?"
Twoie grunted slightly as he pushed himself to his feet. "I'm fine, Steven. Don't worry about me. You healed me, so you know that I'm fine now." Pearl and Garnet stopped to watch Twoie in surprise as he started walking towards the door.
Steven narrowed his eyes and ran forward, cutting him off. "No! I'm not letting you brush it off again. You did that with Bismuth, and the van, and Yellow Diamond! You keep telling me that I should talk about my feelings, but you're a hypocrite!" Pearl covered her mouth in shock. Amethyst kept looking between Steven, Twoie, and Garnet, as though trying to figure out whether someone should intervene.
The young man opened his mouth to argue but sighed. He was tired; he was stressed, and he didn't want to talk about it anymore. But he knew Steven wouldn't drop it until he told the truth. "Since Malachite…" The Crystal Gems strode forward, so they all stood beside Steven.
Pearl wrung her ribbon in frustration. "But Twoie, that was several weeks ago! You've been keeping this from us for that long?" Garnet sighed. It was evident that she wouldn't be able to trust Twoie by himself. Not when he'd gone to such great lengths to hide this from them.
"You are grounded, Twoie." Several heads whipped around to face Garnet. Twoie especially looked surprised at her decision. "Until we know what's going on and how to fix you, you will remain in the beach house. You can only leave to go into town if one of us accompanies you." She stepped forward and removed her glasses. All three eyes were narrowed in disappointment. "You will also let one of us know if something changes. I don't care if something goes away, or you get another feature. You will inform one of us." Twoie glared at her, but she wouldn't drop the staring match. He finally looked away and curtly nodded.
"But Garnet-!" Steven was interrupted by Pearl.
"I'm sorry, Steven, but I agree with Garnet. We need to keep an eye on Twoie. We also need to figure out why his form is changing like this. Until then, it's best to make sure he doesn't use his powers. For all we know, they could advance his current condition." Steven frowned and looked at Twoie. His older brother looked tired and miserable. The young man was scowling at the ground, just waiting for the discussion to end so he could leave. Eventually, he was tired of waiting.
"I'm going to bed now." Twoie walked around them and out of the temple. Garnet and Pearl exchanged a look. With a sigh, Pearl muttered something about taking the first watch and walked out of the temple as well. Steven worriedly watched them go. He didn't look away when he felt Garnet place a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Steven, but it's for the best. I'm relying on you as well." Steven looked up at her with downcast eyes. "Twoie talks to you and trusts you the most out of everyone, besides your father and Dr. Maheswaran. If he tells you about any new changes, or if he has an idea of what's causing this, then you need to tell one of us."
Steven's eyes widened. "Wait, so if he tells me something in private, you want me to tell you anyway? But that's wrong!" Garnet sighed. She knew he would react badly, but with no knowledge of what was causing Twoie's condition…
"I know it is wrong, Steven. I don't like it any more than you do. But Twoie has already shown his capability in keeping things from us. This might hurt him now, but it will help him in the long run." Garnet gently pushed Steven forward. "It's late. You should go to bed as well." Steven frowned, but nodded. Once he left, Garnet turned to Amethyst. The small gem had been silent for most of their discussion. Arms crossed around each other, eyes burning holes into the floor; it was apparent the gem was caught up in her thoughts. "What about you, Amethyst?" The gem in question jumped slightly.
She looked behind her, eyes locking in on the drying puddle of blood on the ground. Her teeth clenched. "I'm going to my room." Amethyst strode through the temple door and into her room. She walked past piles and piles of junk until she reached the heart of her sanctuary.
Now in private, she vented her torrent of thoughts. "I had her." She summoned her whip from her gem. "I had her, and yet I let her get the best of me!" She cracked her whip fiercely against a nearby junk pile. Items went soaring through the air, clanking loudly against the floor or other junk piles when they landed. "It's my fault Twoie was cracked!" Another pile fell apart as her whip tore through it. "I was weak! I couldn't hold her back! I couldn't stop her!" She wrapped her whip around a washing machine and hurled it into the ground. It smashed apart, raining shrapnel throughout her room.
As she went to throw something else, she noticed a puddle next to her. Amethyst glared at her reflection. Dropping her whip, she tied back her hair into a ponytail, then picked her whip back up. Gone were the warm eyes of the fun-loving quartz, replaced with icy eyes filled with rage. "This is the last time I fail to protect someone I care about. Watch out Homeworld. This half-cooked gem is going to pound you."