Connie decides to make a choice that would change everything.

Stevonnie gasped as their eyes opened up in great haste. When their vision stopped being blurring, they could first see the bright lights on the dark blue roof above them, then Peridot's head came in from the right, looking pedantic.

"Oh...I thought we lost you for a minute there." Peridot called out. It must have been a reaction meant for Steven more than for Connie.

The power was switched back on for the room as they sat up. While the air was still a little heavy to breath, there was still oxygen at least and the temperature had become moderate, despite how far down they were. They ran fingers over their head and absentmindedly pulled their scrunchy out which let their hair fall to just above their shoulders. They retied it back up again, then leaned over to bury their head in their arched up knees.

They were meant to come here. All this time they were be meant to be here. It had been set up for her. From going from someone with no magical destiny to THIS? It was like inheriting a crown from a coronation. Who would have believed that such a simple task to find one person ended up dealing with this hidden mess, locked away down here, all this time. Like it knew that Snow would come back to this place and to bring all the Crystal Gems together. Dori rubbed her head against Stevonnie, who then looked up to pat her in return. They could see Jasper and Lapis sitting by them as well, a bit dismayed themselves.

"Are you in any pain?" Jasper asked. An odd, out of nature question for someone like her.

Other than an emotional gut punch, no.

"I'll be fine." They replied. How true that was overall was going to depend on the outcome of all of this. Fate, interwoven with coincidence.

Peridot nodded and donned a serious expression on her face. They must have found out what this was all for, as her face turned back to that of concern.

"Good..good...but I don't know if you'll like what I'm going to tell you."

Yup.

"The Data concludes that this is...a Diamond in incubation. Explains the materia and the timeframe that it's spent in there. But it's due to emerge any moment now. But the production is much to be desired."

They got up and followed Peridot to look back at the blueprints of the Diamonds design. A Diamond designed for Connie. Who would have believed such a thing to be possible?

"They had a scheduled scrubbing of data within the gem every so often. Like they wanted to stop a part of it from forming. They utilized a special non-intrusive way to do so, so instead of them having to dig it, therefore interrupting the incubation, they use tremendous strong pulses or wireless nodes to purge it."

Like a personality purge perhaps. From the vision, it appeared to be like where they had meant for Connie told wield the gem the same way that Steven holds his. The Heart to the Aura.

"The most unusual aspect is an unusual amount of organic matter that was put into it. By organic I mean actually cellular matter...from a human."

Stevonnie zoned out as Peridot went through the logistics and detail from the blueprints themselves until they became nothing but white noise. They stood beside the window, with their eyes looking out across the balcony. If this was what destiny had in store for Connie, why would they be a fool to deny it? She had read so much about heroes and magic and all that glory that came with it. A tune had rewritten, for her to be been hesitant to accept it.

What would Steven think? Connie muttered at the back of their mind.

Stevonnie closed their eyes, imagining the realm of blue like the ocean that Garnet once took them to. Pink Steven was there, who remained silent and had his usual blank glance into the horizon, as both him and Connie stood behind Stevonnie with the absolute conflict baring in her heart. Within the darkness, held the shades of vulnerability unavailable anywhere else.

"I-I mean, they created this. This is for me, how am I supposed to be react? Excited? Terrified? Why is it that I've wanted something like this for ages yet so suddenly..." Said Connie as she pressed her heart with her right hand.

"It's because of how you saw it through my/our eyes." Said Pink Steven in his usual monotone factor, syncing it in with Stevonnie's voice who spoke in front of them.

Connie was surprised by that despite blank manner on his face, his statue like demeanor, he was willing to converse as he did. Gem magic and fusion were weird like that and it always surprised her.

"I uhh...well, I guess if you put it that way, He's been a part of the politics no kid his age should have to be dealing with. Humans have their own expectations and boundaries." Connie continued, with the use human analogies.

Just as human life had been. A reality forged for themselves after thousands of years of self-discovery, research and education spread through hundreds of generations.

"Being human and gem is not an easy life. A doorway to each other requires a lot of effort." He said.

"There was no choice. But you do. You who would choose stand with me/us as a human equal. Now you/we can both hold the Arch together. As truer equals."

He did have to cop a great deal of things no one from either side knew. Being the only one like himself must have been hard. Stevonnie hurled over in pain as they held their eyes and fell onto their knees. Connie went to reach for them until she heard them choking, holding their throat too, with the realm echoing her coughs and making them seem worse than they really were. Connie stepped back as Stevonnie hurled out hundreds of white butterflies from both their mouth and their eyes. She watched them spiral upwards to form screens around them from above that went in circles slowly. Going from Steven's cases of aging, fusing, shape-shifting, to being yelled at by the Diamonds, to crying at Lar's death. Then being yelled at Connie herself when Steven didn't take his capture seriously...and the bind he had himself afterwards, worried that Connie hated him. She imagined the painted on White Diamond eye drawings, staring down at them in judgement. Connie suspected, but she had failed to realize how deep, dark and unforgiving his own reality had been to him that Connie felt guilt.

"He's kept so much inside." Connie murmured.

"Why doesn't he trust people with how he really feels? To protect them?"

After the mishap with Jasper and Malachite, Steven took to trying to push her away from him for that reason. That no one, absolutely no one, would understand.

"Because there is no one like me/us." Pink Steven told her.

The term they used...Homo Magia...it was like they were an entirely new species altogether. It was the known drama in many stories of half breeds not completely fitting in with anyone else, even the parts that made them whole. Stevonnie stood up normally again.

"But Stevonnie is ours." Connie said firmly as she scrunched her fingers into a fist, as Stevonnie spoke alongside her and mimicked her movements.

"Our discovery...ours and ours alone. Does that not amount a greater level of trust? With me?"

It had been the most strength they had together. Fighting off foes that would be considered more challenging than it would be on their own. Stevonnie was their blessing in disguise. Pink Steven rose his hand and spread it out, as all the white, glowing butterflies that floated above them flew towards it, spiraling towards his palm an into a shining, pink sphere.

"Connie." Spoke Pink Steven. His saying her name in a deep and uncanny way sent shivers down her spine. It sounded...mature.

"The amount of trust given to you is bigger than you think. I/we cannot forgive you for something that does not need to be forgiven for. If you don't truly know me. If you don't truly know us, then you need to look back on the all the times we spent together. I/we know you. It would not matter on how I/we feel. Because to me/us, what you feel is bound to be much more important/interesting."

He had a point. Steven always cared about what other people felt instead of himself. He'd have to understand. He'd let her explain without interruption and with that...they could move on and discuss matters further. Together.

Together as people like no one else in the world or in the whole galaxy.

"I'll decree I'm being selfish in not doing this just for him. But for me." Connie said.

"But that's okay. That's my choice alone. I will do this...whether or not I was made for it."

"Yes." Pink Steven replied.

"Steven will be and will remain as Steven. Just as Connie will be and will remain as Connie."

Stevonnie opened their eyes just as Peridot finished her rambling. It was a lot to take on, but Connie would not have to endure it on her own.

"It's meant for Connie." Stevonnie blurted out, revealing the truth to them, with their expectations for the other gems to react in a puzzled way completed in perfect sync.

"Well, it'd explain the organic component." Peridot noted, albeit finding the scenario a bit jarring.

"Why a human? Why this one?" Jasper wondered.

Stevonnie looked at Peridot as she examined them with a series of squints, hums and chin scratching. The pose of a scientist. Jasper had raised a good point, however. One that Stevonnie wrestled over constantly. The reason...it had to be her.

"I'm not sure." Stevonnie answered, unclear as to what it needed from her. Her own internal conflicts did nothing to Pink Steven's stable behavior. One way or another, they needed to do it. Whether or not they liked it, if it had some of the most powerful beings in the universe needing Connie, then she would be a fool to ignore it. If it'd help save Steven's human as well, then so be it.

"Peridot." They spoke with confidence.

"How do we get that out and how do we get Connie attached to it?"

The process was a lot more complicated that they anticipated. According to Peridot, the procedure required them to insert the gem into Connie, just unsure of how they would go about the insertion process. The files indicated they needed more organic data from her as well as scans. The scans tracked her magical resonance so it would sync in with the gem and would allow it to, in a way, fuse with her the same way that Steven fused with his gem. Or at least that's what they were getting. However, this required Stevonnie to split. Which be easy..if Pink Steven was helpful enough to action it. But he refused. Great. Nothing in the notes mentioned something like this was going to be a problem. Some prediction that was.

They surmised to manually pull out the gem which could be painful. Stevonnie noted that they had no other way as they laid down with each of the gems having a go at pulling it out. Jasper tried it first, then Lapis, then Peridot...then all three. Stevonnie screamed out in pain each time and was left trying to breath again in response.

"Oh come on..how do they expect us to do this if one of the components doesn't want to leave?" Peridot whined.

Stevonnie then noticed Lapis rubbing their arm as they looked away. She must have been thinking about her fusion with Jasper that triggered it. Oh no.

"I...have an idea." Lapis said, nervous. She then looked at Dori.

That was not what Stevonnie expected. They sat up and began to listen.

"This is going to be a bit strange and the only thing that just came to me but...a while ago before the war. I had been terraforming one of the up and coming Kindergartens when I was approached by a Snow Quartz, one that I had mentioned previously. She seemed to be fascinated by the whole process, like she'd never met a Lapis Lazuli before. We talked about my powers and her powers and we had a chat about her Labradorite. Labradorites have a range of abilities including destabilizing fusions in case things went too far. Why she told me this...I don't know. But it could be our only chance."

She was right. It was odd. An ordinary Snow Quartz just happening to tell her what Labradorites can do. It was too good to be true...unless it was Milky who told her, going from the evidence Snow had given them prior. They turned to Dori, who had been sitting there and silently observing. Peridot complained on why Lapis thought it was a good time to reveal that after they tried that the first time.

"Do you think you can do that?" Stevonnie asked.

"Use your power to make us unfuse?"

Dori whined, feeling uncomfortable about it.

"Please." Stevonnie pleaded.

Labradorites were natural shape-shifters, partners and trackers. They also served as guards and suppressors from the sounds of it. They wondered if Snow Quartz could command it.

Peridot suddenly started shaking as her eyes changed purple once again. Apophyllite was in charge.

"Labradorite 1G5L-6XS Secondary Command Set disabled." They said.

Secondary Command Set?

"What is that?" Stevonnie asked.

"Gems have Command Sets where they have abilities that be activated or turned off by the Diamonds or any one of the higher gem castes." Apophyllite revealed.

"First sets are Primary Combat powers and standard gem powers as part of the Gem Criteria Protocols covering Era 1 and Era 2. Second sets can range from different powers or weapons or minor commands limited to the gem type. Only Diamonds can give gems entirely new abilities or erase them."

Jasper and Lapis seemed surprised. This is the first time they'd heard about this.

"So should I somehow enable it?" Stevonnie questioned as they looked at their gem.

It was then Dori shook her head frantically and stood back, as if afraid of what could happen. Then...something weird occurred. Her gem started to glow as she howled into the air, her form doing the same. Stevonnie could barely move as they had no idea what was going on. A shapeshift perhaps? No. Stevonnie detected a surge of energy that engulfed the other gem. She grew taller as her tail expanded and the white silhouette stood on its hind legs, becoming digitigrade. A long snout formed as bushy hair sprung out from behind the head. Hands popped out from the sides, demonstrating sharp claws.

Once the light faded, you could see the the white torso that must have been the body suit with an open diamond shape on the collar where Dori's tear dropped gem was, but instead it was white. The shoulders were covered with faded light blue pauldrons. The arms, legs and face were of grey fur and the wild hair was mostly grey too, with streams of white that reached to their waist. like a long mane. Their forehead held a triangular, familiar looking gem too. Stevonnie couldn't help but look at the brushy tail, but then looked back to its face, where four eyes opened. The bottom two were purple and the top two were teal.

It looked at the group with sheer confusion as to what had just occurred. It reminded Stevonnie of Werewolves, in a way. It then looked at Stevonnie with an uncertain stare.

"I...don't know what just happened." It said. It had a slight growl to a feminine voice. It put its hand to its head, feeling Snow's gem there and then to its collar, where Dori's gem was.

Stevonnie was left wide eyed.

"You fused." They muttered.

Did...Dori just fuse with Snow?

It then looked at Peridot and growled, then grabbed her by the the throat and held her up in the air.

"I've been reading your messages Apophyllite." They roared in their sudden bout of aggression.

"Dori wasn't appreciating the fact you kept hiding facts from them. Especially the Diamond."

The others grew worried about this new fusions temper, Lapis more so, who was ready attack them with her water made fists.

Apophyllite didn't seem fazed.

"Apophyllite: Blackbox GIS. Facility Program. Requires platform to engage with users." She said.

The fusion tossed Peridot aside like she was nothing, then turned to Stevonnie, who gasped at the act.

"Hey, there's no reason to be violent like that." Stevonnie said, nervous.

The fusion shook their head.

"I am Howlite. There's a lot about this mess you don't even know."

Stevonnie urged everyone to calm down as Jasper looked like she was sick and tired of having to deal with fusion after fusion. So much had to be taken in as is, noting in the realizations of what must be done in order to proceed. Howlite eventually apologized to Peridot for being aggressive, but she was just aggravated from all the nonsense that had occurred up until this point. She seemed amicable shortly after. Stevonnie was willing to let her explain.

"Black Star Sapphires prophecy." She started.

"I found out it was all part of something not even to do with us. They had Snow Quartz's memories readjusted to only know certain things. Until I realised she was part of a larger whole that's lasted for much longer than we realized. It's when Dori began reading into what your visions saw."

Labradorites were powerful enough to sense auras and read them, but also they could see into other peoples minds but never say a word about what they had witnessed.

"Diga. Petra...even Zinnia. They're hunting down the being known as Lilith...the Queen of the Lillim."

The ones that Stevonnie witnessed, although they didn't see this Zinnia. But this...leader sounded more troublesome.

"Did the Snow Quartz fight her in the wars?" Jasper questioned, bringing up the original conflict.

"Yes ." Howlite said.

"Snow and Milky were fellow soldiers in the war. They were the only two who had met up with these...so called Crusaders. A discussion between them had them realize they were after the same goal and had them become allies. Diga gifted them with the Sealed Cores that could trap the Lillim. But the topic would come up about the Queen. No one could find her. When it was clear that the world had been purged of this blight, they believed she may have left before the war ended. Snow Quartz and Dori were not convinced. Their search lead them into patch, that... please we need to tell them...ugh..."

The Snow part of the fusion obviously did not want to talk about the matter, being painful as it already was.

"Okay...okay...say it. They came across a lab owned by a Pyrope Garnet. Someone who was supposed to help them during the War. She helped with the study of the infections. Instead, Snow found out she was feeding our gems to the Lillim and was declared a traitor. Snow and Pyrope fought as Dori was locked outside who then went to get help...then..."

They slammed a fist into the floor in frustration and sorrow, going from the tears coming from her eyes.

"Snow was infected. Dori returned back with Milky, Luna and Black Star Sapphire and they were forced to shatter her gem."

But Snow was alive...unless.

"Then who's the Snow Quartz we met?" Lapis wondered.

The two defused shortly after, leaving Dori and Snow herself left on the ground. She looked different. Where she had her black waist belt, shoulder pads and cloak had changed to blue and her eyes were green, with grey shorts and white and blue gradient socks that reached her thighs with green shoes with the White Diamond insignia on top. She stood up as Dori went up to her and sat by her side. Stevonnie could see the amount of distress she was in, going from her watery vision spheres.

"I am the Snow Quartz. I also go by Medusa Quartz." She said as she rested her hand on her chest, then patted Dori with her other hand.

Peridot then approached her, as Snow stood back in fear of her. Then Snow's face shifted as her eyes lit up, turning a teal colour as she froze Peridot in her place.

The Sight of Stone... Stevonnie though to themselves.

"What did you do to her?" Lapis roared.

Snow gasped, putting her hands to her mouth as she took in the realization of what she had done.

"I...I don't know. This...this..." Snow muttered as she cried.

Now wasn't the time for panic. Stevonnie wanted to let Snow explain it for herself. They approached her without being a threat.

"Snow..it's okay. Tell us what you can. You know, information for information?" Stevonnie offered.

She didn't have a threatening air, she looked at Peridot again with great sorrow, then her eyes lit up again and let Peridot be functional again. Apophyllite retreated, as Lapis updated her on the current situation.

"Dori noted my scenario was a case of memory manipulation...there's only so much I can recall thanks to her." Snow said.

Partially not her fault of course.

But they exchanged details as Stevonnie promised, as they updated her on what had happened so far and what they found out through old records and a few Thought Markers, as well as what happened to the other Crystal Gems including Steven's human half. Snow was surprised at hearing on how Stevonnie reformed, which made her more concerned in regards to its effects on Connie on the whole. But she didn't want to go into great detail of her own...story of how she was shattered and rebuilt as Medusa Quartz, only, that she knew the procedure of how they could help Connie integrate with the Diamond. Stevonnie didn't want to pressure her any further.

"Oh my. Well, Black Star did say it would happen." Snow iterated.

"But yes, our priority should be saving the others, alongside this. For that I will not stress further. The project was seeded to near completion as was required and Connie's needed due to the resonance scanning process requiring details of her Diamond Aura. Right now it's set for Steven's Aura. Mapping it as Stevonnie would complicate the process further. Think of it as a blood transfusion. You have to know what blood type you are before you can transfer it."

That made sense. Stevonnie still wanted to know how much human knowledge Snow had to begin with.

"I learned a lot of the details from Diga and Petra about human biology and more from books in various libraries. I guess they wanted me to know for this purpose. To help Connie through it."

Those two were honestly vague with their intentions.

"Is it true that Labradorite can help unfuse gems?" Lapis questioned.

Snow rubbed Dori's head.

"Yes." Snow replied.

"There had been cases with some Snow Quartzes who had rebelled to the point where they fused with one another and simply did not want to tear themselves apart. Labradorites were reprogrammed to send a psychic jammer to them that forced them to break, like a disruption tool except it only splits the the forms without poofing them."

Handy.

"So how do we do this?" Stevonnie questioned.

They weren't certain of what was going to happen next, but Stevonnie let Snow take the reigns. The room was apparently equipped for this situation as Snow ordered the others to find specialized equipment that were locked away. They needed Apophyllite for this as well. Snow tapped her lip as she contemplated, then ran over to the main console and removed a panel, revealing a special slot of sorts. She returned to Peridot and ordered Apophyllite's Blackbox to be removed. They obliged as Peridot shook while pulling it out. She seemed exhausted by the ordeal as Snow thanked her. She looked at the Blackbox for the moment, as of thinking of something, before she removed herself out of her trance and ran over to the slot and popped the Blackbox inside it.

A digitized sphere popped out from the console as a hologram.

"Apophyllite synced in with Delta Kindergarten mainframe. Scanning current status. Diamond-Class gem ninety five percent to completion. Incubation process on hold. Custom Aura Remap required. Biological data update recommended."

They needed to do this. Stevonnie was prepared to do what was necessary to help save everyone.

"Once the gem is out, we'll need to bubble it." Snow mentioned.

"No doubt the pure gem form will want to pop out and attempt to refuse again like it did before."

Stevonnie hovered their hand over it again for the millionth time. Poor Steven. They did not want to subject him to being encased like that, but they had no choice. Sorry Steven.

"Apophyllite, we need to initiate scanning protocols."

It was time.

"Affirmative Medusa Quartz. Warning. Please standby for Procedure Room alterations."

The room rattled as they stood near the door as the room moved around with panels from below and above sliding around. From beneath them a shiny white machine slowly rose up into place, rotating to have the big bulky rounded part towards the left side, then the gurney towards the right. It was not too dissimilar to an MRI that hospitals used. Once everything was set in place, Snow requested that Stevonnie lie down on the stretcher and to lie completely still. First part of the procedure. Remove Steven's gem. Stevonnie wasn't sure on how badly this was going to hurt, but surely it couldn't be worse than pulling it out. Right?

Snow and Dori wandered around to the left side of the gurney, while Jasper, Peridot and Lapis were on their right, puzzled as to the machines purpose. Peridot more so as she couldn't help but take a glance at every part of it.

"Has Dori ever had to do this?" Lapis wondered.

Snow shook her head, then rubbed Dori's head and smiled.

"No. I'd never even fused before." Snow replied.

"But to have the first fusion with her is...kind of nice. Unexpected but not unwelcome."

Stevonnie held warm memories of their first time as a fusion. How Steven took Connie's hand and allowed her to have fun without of risk of ridicule. Fuzzy feelings flowed through them as they too were surprised, left stammering and clammering for the right words to say. It was like that their hands were constantly holding on to one another and giving that little squeeze to one another to remind themselves that they were still there.

Pink Steven did none of that.

He was there, but it was all Connie who did the heavy lifting. Emotionally. No voice to call to when doubt became apparent. Connie held on for what was required and had to make the decisions thus far. She just wished she heard a response every so often. It was only through deep introspection that could pertain to any kind of voice. Even then, he hardly sounded like Steven.

"Okay, so...Dori is prepared." Snow said.

"Just try and hold still. Sorry for any pain involved."

Stevonnie took a deep breath as they looked to the roof and waited in anticipation.

"Okay Dori, use your power!"

Dori growled as her gem started to glow. Waves of light brown washed over Stevonnie who felt the instant pain in their gut as they winced and yelped, then hissed through their teeth. It was like electricity that went through and fried their nerves. They looked down to see that the gem didn't even budge. Snow tried to remain neutral but Stevonnie could tell she didn't like doing it.

"Again." Snow said firmly.

Another pulse. Another shot of pain through Stevonnie's body. They reacted through instinct as they curled up.

"Jasper I need your help. Hold them down. Steven's just being incredibly stubborn."

The larger gem complied as they wandered over and pushed Stevonnie down. She looked like her default angry self, but going from her eyes, she didn't like seeing this either. Stevonnie smiled through painful tears in assurance. Both Snow and Jasper held Stevonnie against the gurney on both sides of their torso, as they unintentionally rebelled against the two.

"Peridot, Lapis I need you two at the legs."

The other two gems wandered over, with Lapis on the left and Peri on the right. Their concerned expression dug deep. Stevonnie...Connie was just sorry that they had to witness this.

"Again."

Another pulse stronger this time as Stevonnie's screams shook the whole room as they flailed underneath the shock. Snow was right. Steven was indeed stubborn.

"Again!"

Stevonnie fell into the hallucination stage as the roof was the first to disappear as white, green and blue dots fell against a dark void. They could still see the others as they looked at them.

"It's working/NO I NEED TO STAY" Stevonnie breathed, then roared.

Oh no. Pink Steven was having none of this, putting in his two cents worth on the matter.

"Keep going. Again."

Another pulse sent the hallucination a little further in. This time the others disappeared and were replaced with a glaring Connie and Pink Steven, who replaced Snow on their left and Jasper on their right. Arms pushing down and all.

"Again!"

Pink Steven was pushed back, but he clung on tightly as Snow's words became mere, muffled echoes in this realm. A place where hidden voices could be heard.

"We need to do this Steven." Said Connie.

The void enveloped them both as they stood in front of one another, while Stevonnie laid on the ground before them with their eyes closed. Steven was insistent as he tried to lurch closer to Connie, who stepped back every time he stepped forward.

"I am not...I am not Steven."

He didn't even blink at all. He wasn't dismayed as the pulses kept washing over them. Connie felt more of it than he did.

"I need you." He said, his voice low and emotionless and yet, it still sent ripples through Connie herself who started to cry. Hearing that soft, innocent set of words from him was not foreseen.

"I know you do." She pleaded.

"But...I know we'll only be apart for a little while. We can be Stevonnie again soon. I promise."

It was then she noticed a tear falling down one of his eyes. He really did not want to let go. Realization struck hard, as it then reminded her of the last time he was pulled out of himself. White Diamond's attempt nearly killed him so of course he'd feel pain from it. He did not want to feel that pain again.

Another step forward and another step back. Connie made sure she held eyes with him, not matter uncomfortable it made her. Another pulse, another shiver, another tear.

"They depend on you Steven. I know it's going to be hard but letting me go right now is going to be incredibly important." Connie continued.

"I'll get you back together again. I swear. You'll be where you need to be."

Brown chains popped out of the ground and clasped themselves around Steven's wrists. Dori's pulses were beginning to work. Steven nudged them without much force, then he stared at Connie again with the hint of betrayal that poured through his magenta eyes. She put her hand to her chest as she walked back more.

"Just...relax. Don't fight it."

She could see Stevonnie starting to fizzle out of existence, but then Steven started to aggressively pull on the chains and broke them with ease. He then jumped into the air and on pounced on Connie, pushing her to the ground. She couldn't move as she wiggled as hard as she could as he had pinned her down. She then starred into his big blank, magenta eyes, forcing her poor, vulnerable nerves to go haywire. Impossible to counter, Connie couldn't pull herself away as he put all of his weight on her, like a tonne of bricks. She could have yelled and told him off for being this creepy and it was what it was. Creepy. But she had to understand this was only a part of Steven. A part that had no restraint or understanding of his actions or consequences. She had to talk of the holes she could not fill for him and how he needed his human self to be that way.

"You're not gonna feel yourself as me." Connie said softly, fighting through her own tears.

"You're never gonna feel whole and you're never gonna feel that you're Steven with me. We are only Stevonnie if both of ourselves are complete. Stevonnie can feel it too."

His stare was static. Stagnated. It was hard to say if he even got the idea or concept of individuality. His reality unhinged, in his eyes, but it was clear his concept of reality was warped and his way of thinking was alien.

"How do you feel about...Connie?"

It was an odd question to ask, but it was an idea nonetheless to see how much this part of Steven knew and understood.

"Connie is my friend." He said bluntly.

She smiled. He got that down pat.

"Good. Do you want to hurt Connie?" She asked.

Another odd question.

"I do not want to hurt her." He replied.

Good. He got that much.

"How would you feel if I said that you were hurting her right now?" She put forth to him.

He appeared to mull over the words for that brief moment.

"I would...feel...but I need to be whole. You make me feel...whole." He said.

Connie blushed furiously at that statement, then had to remind herself that this had been in a completely separate context.

"Connie is in pain right now. If the only way to stop that pain was to get off of me. Would you do it?" She questioned. Alien logic unto itself could work.

"I do not want to hurt her. She is in pain. I need to..."

Steven's statement was cut off as the chains jumped out from before them as they came in the hundreds to drag Steven away from her, wrapping themselves around him. He did not voice his displeasure, only to try and drag himself back towards Connie who stood up and started to move backwards again. She could only watch as he reached his arm out to her as the formation of Dori appeared out of the ground with her great, big violet eyes and towered over them with her massive size. For every chain Steven broke, ten more would appear in their place. Connie would find herself reaching for him out of her subconscious desire to comfort him. Eventually, he was buried in chains as Stevonnie faded completely. A bright light then encompassed her vision completely.