"Steven!" Amethyst put down the things she was carrying to catch the hybrid at once as Steven rocked forward into her arms, throwing his arms around her and holding on for all he was worth.
The relief that flushed through his system was unparalleled. She was okay. For a moment, Steven thought he might break down at once, sinking forward into her arms and burying his face into her shoulder, breath shuddering as he inhaled through his teeth. Then the fact that she was there registered, and a few warning bells went off in his head, sirens and flashes and flickers of wait, no, stop, hold on a second as he jerked back, detangling himself from the smaller Quartz and looking down at her in stunned silence for a few seconds. She looked different; she was wearing a plain back tank top that covered her gem up completely, and what looked like jean shorts with black stars on them. Her hair was a little shorter, tied back into a ponytail, but that was mostly the same regardless - what stunned him the most was that her gem was hidden.
A flicker of fear burst to life in his chest, a burning, stifling feeling. Amethyst didn't seem to notice that he had frozen - at least, she seemed more occupied in checking him over right then. "Are you okay? Did she hurt you? I-" He watched her freeze, eyes landing on his gem for a second. Then she looked up at him, nothing but shock in her eyes, and then looked past him.
Steven sucked in a breath and shook his head, forcing himself to focus. "Uh… Amethyst, this…"
His voice died a little. Aster picked up, somewhat, where he left off, taking a few cautious steps forward. "I- I'm, um… I'm Aster." Amethyst opened her mouth, stunned into silence, and glanced down at his half of the gem, pupils shrinking a little as he stared. "It's nice to… ah… meet you."
"What," Amethyst breathed, clenching her teeth hard and swallowing. "How…"
"Garnet was right," Steven managed to force himself to speak again, forcing in another breath to try and get some air into his lungs. It didn't quite work out, but he continued, pressing forward anyway. "Uh, I- we were a fusion. Kind of. It's a little difficult to explain, especially since neither of us actually… know the specifics of… how it worked, but… um…" He trailed off, glancing back at Aster briefly, as the pink gem finally braved himself enough to come forward beside him. His hand found Steven's arm, wrapping around it tightly as he peered out at Amethyst. "He's my brother," the hybrid finally clarified. "Uh, twins, I guess. Like the Rutiles. Except a little different."
Amethyst shook her head a little, her stunned expression slowly fading into confusion, and then realization, and then concern. "But your gem… s… are you… are you okay? I mean, does it-"
"We're not hurt," Aster assured, shifting his grip on Steven's arm to wrap both of his own around it. Steven couldn't bite back a fond smile in time, looking over at him, and Amethyst had softened a little by the time Steven looked back over at her, her gaze fixed solely on the pink gem. "It feels kind of… normal. Like it was meant to be like this! At least, that's how it is for me." He glanced at Steven from the corner of his eye, a concerned look flitting across his face.
Steven let out a quiet hum of agreement. He hadn't thought of it before, but… all things considered, he did feel pretty normal right then. He definitely felt a lot better than he had without his gem, for starters - and despite only having half of it, it didn't feel too different from before.
"Well…" Amethyst trailed off, shaking her head again. "As long as you're… okay, I guess." She looked at Aster again, a more curious look in her eyes now than anything. Steven briefly let his gaze trail down to the things she had set down beside them. Another basket full of fruits, and another pile of fabric beneath it. Then he focused on the things that had appeared behind her, that had fallen from the same bubble she'd arrived in. The beds, he recognized instantly. Despite himself, he couldn't help but stare; they looked like the one back at the beach house, down to the blanket. Steven didn't know how to react to that at first. "Oh! Ah, right, this stuff…" Amethyst turned her head, looking back at the beds. "Okay, so White sent me with the beds an-"
The way she spoke White Diamond's name so casually already set off another warning bell in the hybrid's head, a sudden rush of fear twisting at his gut again. "White Diamond sent you?"
"She wanted me to come instead of that other Amethyst," Amethyst explained.
"Chevron," Aster muttered, a dark look flitting across his face for a second.
Amethyst glanced at him, furrowing her eyebrows briefly, then looked back up at Steven. "She said she made you guys uncomfortable or something, so she let me come drop the stuff off instead. I, uh…" She glanced back toward the things Chevron had brought, abandoned and untouched on the other side of the room since Steven had moved them, and offered a smile. "Figured you'd appreciate that a little more. I got the fruits and stuff directly from the Famethyst, so it's not like, poisoned or anything. Actually, I don't even know if the gems here know what poison is," she commented, rolling her eyes. Steven stayed silent, eyebrows pinching together.
Aster glanced down at the basket she had brought, tilting his head a little. His grip on Steven's warm loosened slightly, then pulled away completely to step forward, crouching down to pick the basket up and look through the fruits and other things that were inside. "So this is… okay, then."
"It looked fine to me," Amethyst replied with a shrug. "Pearl got the Pebble guys to make blankets and pillows for you too. Now I understand why White said she needed two beds…"
Steven had so many questions at that point, but he settled for the more pressing one. "Mom… is she okay? Is everyone okay? I…" He trailed off, looking toward Aster for a second. The pink gem looked up briefly, catching his gaze, but he turned back to his task of sifting through the fruits and stuff in the basket after a few seconds. Amethyst had gone silent then, hesitating for a moment as she glanced between them, before she huffed out a sigh and rubbed her face.
"I mean, everyone's… fine, yeah." She hesitated. "We've all been super worried about you."
Steven gazed at her for a moment, then shook his head. "What're you not telling me?"
Amethyst bit her lip and sighed, offering a one-shouldered shrug and curling the corners of her lips up into a dry smile. "Garnet unfused." Steven faltered a little, but he couldn't quite say he was surprised, given how unstable she'd seemed before. "Sapphire's taking the whole… look, it's fine, buddy. Nothing you need to worry about, alright? Pearl and I are handling all of that. Everyone else is okay. I've been helping the Famethyst with cleanup duty and…" She shrugged again at the weird look Aster shot her over the basket, and Steven raised his eyebrows slightly. "It's something to do, keeping busy. Yellow's trying to get White to let you guys out of here, and we're just trying to figure out how the hell we're gonna get back to Earth when you do get out."
Steven grimaced, lifting a hand and running his fingers through his hair, then dropping it again to fuss with one of his earrings. "That's not gonna be easy," he mumbled. "Especially not now."
"We're working on it," Amethyst assured gently. "Right now we're just… playing along."
Steven managed a tired, knowing smile in response - because, stars, did he understand that - but he didn't miss the way Aster suddenly raised his head, eyes widening and pupils shifting into exclamation points at once. He spared a glance at his brother, furrowing his eyebrows slightly, but he looked back down at Amethyst when the Quartz shrugged and spoke again. "Anyway, look, I know you probably don't want to, but you should eat something. And drink something. And get some sleep. Maybe use some of that water to wash yourselves off, you've both got bloodstains on your clothes and…" She glanced at Aster, managing a small, amused smile. "You definitely need to change, that shirt's way too small for you, little dude."
Aster grinned at her, a huge, toothy smile, pupils shifting into diamonds, and giggled. "Maybe."
"Hey…" Steven trailed off, looking down at Amethyst for a moment, and frowned. "What about you? You look different." The purple Quartz paused at that, looking down at herself, and sighed. "You poofed, didn't you?" Amethyst shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck. "What happened?"
"Eh… Blue Diamond, kinda," Amethyst added quickly, when both Steven and Aster stiffened, pupils shrinking as they stared at her. "She didn't do anything personally. I poofed myself."
"You p-" Steven shook his head, startled. "Why-"
Aster, however, looked more than understanding. "Because of her powers," he said quietly, and Amethyst managed a dry smile in his direction, nodding slightly as he spoke. "They hurt."
"Oh…" Steven trailed off, silent for a moment. He remembered how it had been before, the pain and grief and guilt and sadness that exploded in his chest whenever Blue Diamond used her powers on him. At the trial… stars, that had been horrible. There was just so much pain, so much he couldn't stand it. This time had been different; he hadn't felt anything in response to her tears, not even when everyone else had. But he didn't understand - it was horrible, yes, but… horrible enough that Amethyst would need to poof herself because of it? He wasn't sure.
"Yeah, well…" Amethyst flashed them a faint smile. "I'm okay now. But I gotta get back and…"
"Yeah," Steven sighed, grimacing a little. He was surprised White Diamond had even let her come in here at all, but then, she had a habit of surprising him recently, now didn't she? The hybrid shook his head and moved forward to hug the small Quartz, and Amethyst wrapped her arms around him tightly in response, offering a light squeeze. "Be careful, okay? Tell the others that I'm okay. That we're okay," he added, sparing a quick glance toward Aster, who smiled.
"I'll tell 'em," Amethyst murmured, pulling back. "Take care of yourselves, okay? Seriously, I mean it. Eat, drink, sleep, all that stuff. I'll see if I can convince White to let me come back."
Steven frowned a little at that. "I don't think you should get close to her, Amethyst…"
Amethyst hesitated. "... that's… a little easier said than done."
The hybrid blinked, opening his mouth to ask what she meant by that, but he didn't have the chance. A bubble circled around the Quartz before Steven could speak, and the words died on his tongue at once, sinking back sharply, as the bubble sank through the floor and disappeared.
Aster stared at the floor for a moment, then looked over at Steven. The hybrid stayed silent for a few seconds, rubbing his hand over his face furiously and rolling his shoulders back to rid himself of some of the tension that had built up, before he turned back to his brother again. "Well, at least we know they're okay," he mumbled, and Aster let out a quiet hum of agreement. Steven glanced down at the fruit he was holding - it looked like an apple, but… purple? - then back down to the basket, raising his eyebrows slightly. "And… as for these… I guess if…"
"Amethyst brought them. I think they're okay," Aster murmured. He stared at the apple in his hand for a moment, looking curious, then brought it up to take a tentative bite out of it.
"I-" Steven raised his eyebrows and sighed, but he couldn't bite back a smile. "How's it taste?"
"It's…" Aster chewed silently for a few moments, then swallowed. "... good." He put the basket down to pull another one of the fruits out, holding it out to Steven, and the hybrid shuffled forward after a moment to take it, turning it over in his hands a few times before taking a bite. He remembered trying them before at the human zoo, although those had tasted… different. Actually, these didn't have much of a taste. They didn't have the same kind of tang as fruits were from Earth. There was some kind of flavor, but Steven couldn't quite place what it was.
But it was good, that was the thing. Not overwhelming, not strong enough to make his taste buds burn. It was… just right. The hybrid fell silent, taking another bite, and then another. Aster had finished off his own by that point, almost starry-eyed then - not literally, though Steven didn't doubt that stars were one of the many shapes Aster could manipulate his pupils into.
Aster gasped suddenly, pupils shifting into exclamation points. "Oh! Oh! I had an idea!"
Steven blinked, peering up at him through his lashes. "Yeah?"
"I-" Aster stopped, eyes darting around, and looked toward the window. When he spoke again, it was much quieter, barely above a whisper. "... we might need to fuse again for this, actually…"
