"My future vision warned me that you two would be arguing about something. Amethyst." Amethyst raised a brow at her leader, though she was still glaring. Garnet walked up to them, forming a triangle between herself, Amethyst, and Twoie. "I don't know what you two are arguing about, but it needs to stop. Twoie is not capable of dealing with such stress right now. He needs a calming environment to prevent his condition from worsening." Amethyst sagged in shame at the implication, all of her anger draining out of her in an instant. She never meant to make it worse. She just wished Twoie wouldn't shoulder everything. But he had frustrated her, and she lost control. Amethyst guiltily lowered her head, mentally berating herself for failing to protect Twoie again.
Twoie, however, glared at Garnet. He was trying to get Amethyst to recognize that she was important. That trying to be strong wasn't the same as pushing yourself to the brink of exhaustion. That she was hurting herself by giving up who she was and focusing on being someone she wasn't. But like usual, Garnet came in without knowing the full situation and made assumptions on everyone's behalf. And he was sick of it! "You know what, Garnet? You're the one who's stressing me out!" Everyone turned to him in surprise. "I'm the only one who noticed that Amethyst was acting weird. I'm the only one who noticed that she's been pushing herself too hard, and when I finally get the chance to talk to her, to try to help her, you come in and ruin it all!" His cheeks lit up pink. Garnet and Amethyst gasped as the horns on his head sparkled and grew another couple of centimeters. They became more pointed and angled. Twoie let out a strangled gasp and doubled over.
"Twoie!" Amethyst and Garnet tried to check on him, but the young man pushed their hands away. As he straightened up, they could see two light purple spikes had grown out near the edges of his mouth. Small rivulets of blood dripped down his chin, dotting the floorboards and the coffee table. Twoie winced as he stood back up with his hands lightly touching his aching cheeks.
Amethyst and Garnet turned to each other, realizing that it was Twoie's negative emotions that were contributing to his state. Garnet held her hands out, gesturing for him to settle down. "Twoie, wait! You need to calm down an-!"
"No!" They flinched at Twoie's shout. The pain was still there, but Twoie lowered his hands back to his sides. "I'm sick and tired of letting you guys tell me how I should feel! When I told you guys the truth about Pink Diamond, Sapphire insulted me, and none of you stood up for me!" Garnet's and Amethyst's eyes widened as they realized it was true. "Sapphire apologized to Ruby for yelling at her, and the rest of us for accidentally using her ice." Twoie's new horns grew another couple of centimeters. "But she never apologized for yelling at me, and you all acted like it never happened, so I didn't say anything!" The time traveler angrily brushed his hands through his hair.
The two gems felt their guilt increase the more Twoie yelled at them. Because he was right. No one had stuck up for him then, and they brushed it off once Garnet was together again. Garnet and Amethyst shared a look, vowing to address any other issues when Greg, Pearl, and Steven returned from their trip. For now, they needed to focus on Twoie's emotional state. Neither understood what was happening with the horns and claws, just that Twoie's emotions were worsening the effects. Garnet held her hand out to Twoie, intent on comforting him, but Twoie growled at her. "Every time you guys do something that hurts me, I stay quiet, but I'm done! My feelings matter! I can't stand this stupid house arrest you've put me on! I can't do anything without one of you guys guarding me like I can't be trusted to take care of myself! And I can't go anywhere or do anything without you guys berating me for it!" He let out a pained groan and quickly covered his right eye with one hand.
"Twoie!" They shouted in fear. Twoie's eye had suddenly started burning and itching, but when the pain subsided, seconds later, Twoie uncovered it. The white part of his eye was now black, and his pupil was now pink. Garnet felt panic shoot through her. She needed to get Twoie to calm down, or else he'd continue to get worse. "This has to stop now. Whatever it is that you're going through, we'll fix it together, us and you. Just like we've always done."
But Twoie glared at her. He knew the only reason she was even trying to fix this now was that he called her out. She still hadn't apologized, and yet she was trying to get him to stop? "No, this has to stop now. This thing where you think that you've been my friend and don't even hear how you condescend, the way you've always done!"
Amethyst held her hand out to Twoie. "No, Twoie, listen." He glared at her, waiting for her to plead her case. "I swear that isn't true."
He scoffed and looked away from her. "Isn't it?"
Amethyst winced at his bitter tone. She understood that it felt that way to Twoie, but none of the gems ever meant to hurt him or make him feel like they didn't care. She took a step closer, only for Twoie to back away from her. She realized he probably felt cornered since he was stuck between herself, Garnet, and the coffee table. Amethyst motioned for Garnet to back up a little, and then the purple gem also backed up a couple of steps. "Just look into my eyes now. I know you feel it, too."
Twoie watched her try to make him feel more at ease. Maybe they really did care but just showed it the wrong way. They hurt him so much. It didn't excuse what they did, but if they were willing to make up for it… "Perhaps I do."
"Please, Twoie, listen." Amethyst brought her hands to her chest. "I swear it's not too late." They could fix this. She could fix this, but she needed to convince Twoie that they could make things better. Or else he would continue to get worse. "So before another line gets crossed, and everything we've had is lost, just wait."
"Wait?" Twoie shifted his gaze from Amethyst to Garnet. Both looked at him pleadingly. He could tell that they wanted him to listen to their apologies and take them back with open arms. But he narrowed his brows. "You want me to wait?" He clenched his fists tightly. "Well, I did wait. I waited thirteen years for you all to spend time with me. I waited thirteen years for you all to acknowledge me as a Crystal Gem. After you guys attacked me, I waited weeks for you to apologize! I waited for you to show me you cared." Twoie mentally yelled at himself as he started to tear up. He was so angry, but hearing himself admit his desperation for the gems to care about him felt like a stab in the chest. "No, I won't wait! I shouldn't have had to wait! I should've drawn the line a long time ago!" Twoie couldn't bring himself to trust them anymore. He didn't want to keep living like this, waiting for the next shoe to drop. Waiting for some event to happen, just to be blamed for it. But he wasn't going to wait for the gems to fix it this time. He was going to take matters into his own hands.
The young man stormed past Garnet and headed upstairs. Amethyst and Garnet only followed him to the base of the stairs. They didn't understand what he was doing, but they didn't want to upset him further by asking. Grabbing his briefcase from its spot by the bedside drawer, Twoie threw it onto the bed. "There's a line between the winners and the losers." The time traveler grabbed several things like his laptop, a blanket, and a couple of pictures and stuffed them into his bag. He had his back to the gems as he packed up his things. "There's a line between the leaders and the rest. And I've done the best I could, but I've always known just where we stood." He turned slightly to glare down at them. "You with the protectors. Me with the suspect." The gems shared a look of worry while Twoie turned back to his bag. He made sure to take out everything regarding his lesson plans and school work for Steven. No point in bringing them along when Steven could still benefit from it.
"And that line between the beggars and the choosers is a line you never let me quite ignore." Twoie remembered how his feelings were often ignored, even before his incident with the mother centipeedle. It was why he had that talk with Steven. "How I've tried to jump that great divide, but you never even noticed how you hurt me." He sighed and pulled the bag onto his shoulder. He didn't acknowledge the gems as he walked downstairs and into the kitchen. "You don't know how much I took in stride. Well, I'm not staying quiet anymore."
Twoie dumped his bag onto the counter and grabbed several snacks and water bottles from the cupboards. "I'm drawing the line! And I'm done being hurt! Feeling lower than dirt, just for you!" He glared at them for a second before he packed everything into his bag, barely managing to fit it all. He slung the bag onto his shoulder again. Amethyst and Garnet were still watching him, but it looked like Garnet had finally caught on to his plan as she was standing between the front door and the kitchen. Twoie walked the long way around the counter, so he was in front of her. "I'm drawing the line. So get out of my way. There's no way I will stay 'cause I'm through." Amethyst's eyes widened. Twoie was leaving the beach house. She made to block the entrance as well, but she gasped when several pink fractals formed a wall out of nowhere beside Garnet. "Yes, I'm drawing the line." The wall pushed against Garnet until she was standing beside Amethyst at the base of the stairs. Both gems pounded on the wall, but it didn't let up. Tears welled in Twoie's eyes as he saw them try to break through his barrier. But he couldn't stay here any longer. He couldn't continue to let them hurt him, even if it hurt him to leave them. Maybe one day, he'd feel okay enough to return.
"And for now, if we're over, that's fine." Twoie opened the front door and took one last look back. More fractals had formed along the wall until there were no openings for the gems to get through. Garnet and Amethyst had given up on trying to get through the wall. They were shouting at him to reconsider, that they could fix things, make everything better, but Twoie knew the truth. It'd be better for a little bit, and then everything would go back to normal. And he couldn't handle getting his hopes up again. He had to leave, to figure himself out. To figure out why his powers were acting up. And to get away from the gems that made him feel tense and stressed every day. "I'm drawing the line." Twoie's pink powers activated, and, seconds later, he was gone.