Connie resolves to set Steven free.
It should have been simple. They should have gone in, find Milky and get out. Not...this mess that they've all somehow created.
Connie couldn't stop staring at Pink Steven, even as the Slates burst apart, revealing an onyx door that had a design similar to the Temple Door, except the star only had three stones in it. They were horizontal to each other. The right most stone was light blue and had Connie's Diamond, the left most had Pink Diamonds and the middle had Black Diamonds.
The fact that they had Steven's humans side disturbed her the most. Pink Steven said nothing, as per the norm. Her imagination was filled with Steven being tortured constantly, causing her to cry. How could they let this happen? Why did they let this happen? The only answer lied behind that very door.
Even as the storm raged on, Connie had to gather the courage to make a single decision. This was the very entrance to his psyche and that only she could make the choice to stand up to the darkness that overwhelmed him; to make the daring fight to free him from the chaos, holding the power of a Diamond within her. The others may think otherwise, but the way that she understood matters was that it was that through the power that their gems gave, it would allow them to stand a chance against the forces unseen and unheard.
She felt absolutely horrible and anxiety clogged her throat. Feelings she had to cast aside for his sake because what he was experiencing had to be a million times worse. She helped free the other gems, even as distraught as they were, this was going to be Connie's mission alone. Looking at Pink Steven who stood beside her, there was a sense of his own desire or what warranted for desire in his alien trace of thought as desire, to re-fuse with his human counterpart. She helped him before, so she'll do it again.
"Don't worry Steven, I'm here." Connie called out in confidence as she wiped her tears away.
She took Pink Steven's hand as his and her gems on the door lit up. There was something significant about this experience that traversed Connie's mind. The atmosphere was tense yet calm as stood inches from the entrance. She had her left hand firmly grasped in Pink Stevens right hand of warmth and light, reminding her of what they had to fight for. She made the first and most important step inside, taking herself and Pink Steven into the stormy abyss.
Her feet hit the floorboards on first entry with the slight groans in response to her weight on the ground. Looking up, she could see the layout of Steven's home under a hue of faint red. It was unusually quiet; you couldn't even hear the subtle sounds of the waves outside. All Connie could hear was the uncanny sounds of her heartbeat. She took Pink Steven around to see if they could find himself, but noting the strange whispers in the process. Whispers of old arguments and disputes from ages past. Voices of Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl...the louder voices of Rose/Pink and Steven were above them, trying to calm them down. It became a cacophony of nonsense Connie couldn't decipher.
It is when they cannot balance themselves, standing at the foot of their being. They cannot reach safety and seclusion, even in a place of their own. The root of their soul is powerless.
Deep, sultry and firm. Venom. Lilith.
This was his home. No...this was nothing but a mockery of the home she made for him. How dare she persuade him like this? A dredge of a dull emptiness that even made Connie herself feel hollow.
You can feel safe here too...like him. He's always welcome here. Where no one else can reach.
Connie could see a single red dahlia flower on the bench nearby. She walked over to it, not recalling they had flowers like these. She then jumped at the sound of glass breaking behind, although when she turned, she could see Steven standing there as he looked down at broken shards at the ground. His entire body and clothes had lost colour with the chill in the air being more apparent. She could see his black diamond eyes in the reflection in the shards as they glared at her. Connie couldn't feel more nervous about this as she gripped Pink Steven's hand all the harder. If this meant, what she thought it meant.
The discoloured Steven then slowly walked onto the shards themselves, cutting his feet as blood spread from beneath them. Connie didn't know what to think as he remained silent and his head remained down. Fearful, she tried to get away from the black blood as it crept closer to her.
"I...I...tr-tried to help them." He said, his voice interchanging with Rose's.
"How can...I-I be safe...they...he...she...won't let me be at home-home."
This definitely was what Greg was warning them about. The figure that tried to be Steven or anyone that had been a part of the gem at some point. Otherwise known as Black Diamond.
"I need you to help me find Steven." Connie asked, despite how futile the request was.
It was then he looked up at Connie with the most depressed look on his face. Much like the time they were in the tower, almost surrendering himself to the disillusionment.
"Steven...Steven...that's who I am-who he is...who we are." He replied.
"Who we're, we're supposed to be."
It was nothing more than confused carbon copy...or a light copy. The emptiness was filled with a singed rage.
The blood stopped spreading before Connie's feet, as she stood at the front of the house and he was closer to the temple entrance. She continued to look down, seeing the reflection in the blood a series of stars, but his reflection was coupled with Steven being chained down by his neck and wrists. She gasped.
"We're...we're home...but he isn't." He said, as he started to melt.
Connie covered her mouth as the horrific scene unfolded before her.
"I'm not here. I'm not safe."
The blood spread out further as it went up Connie's body. She looked at Pink Steven who tried to keep it off himself. She shook her head and ran down past Black Diamond and into the Temple Doors.
Connie looked down at her stomach to see the muck had disappeared. When she looked up, she could see the sand and the adjacent ocean during an orange sunset. The sound of the waves were all she heard. Odd feelings trickled through her nerves as oddly enough, Pink Steven was the one to squeeze her hand. To feel that from his response to seeing this was a contrast.
Giggling echoed in the distance. Her giggling and Steven's laughing. It sounded so nice...but it gauged the more negative response from her core. Memories of them dancing and fusing into Stevonnie the first time came to mind. Orange tulips grew around them in quick haste, bursting open as decent sized white silhouettes of them danced around in sync with one another, as the petals fell down like time slowed rain.
Her feelings went haywire but she kept in control through holding onto Pink Steven's stable grip. Though she then saw her mother and father sit on plastic chairs nearby, playing checkers, for what ever reason.
"Mom?" Connie voiced.
"Dad? What are both of you doing here?"
They ignored her...they didn't even acknowledge she was there.
"I talked with Connie about...her adventures..." Said Priyanka.
Oh no...Connie stumbled into this conversation one night. She'd gone down to get a drink, then hid around the corner to eavesdrop as soon as her mother began to talk about what happened at the hospital.
"Oh? What of them?" Doug asked.
They did make it incredible awkward from what she could recall. Why here? Why now though?
"I'll continue to worry about her hanging with that Steven boy. Magical journeys turn into teenager antics...I got her to promise me to tell us everything that goes on." Priyanka replied
"Actual magical journeys? I got that vibe from his guardians. Makes me wish I had magicians for parents." Said Doug.
He wasn't serious, but it didn't stop her mother from glaring at him. They made everything about this, so sacred.
"I hate to admit that she was right. She is a growing girl. I just can't stop thinking the point where she'll have...needs." She said.
The odd book or two explained that to her already.
"And he'll have...his desires..."
Connie blushed the same way she did back then. Being beat red. Giant orange tulips burst around them, as more cut out forms of their dancing emerged from the waves, their forms spreading across in a straight line across the shore.
"So she's gonna tell you about that?" Doug asked, his eyes widened.
"Honey, our Connie is a smart girl. I have full confidence that she'll work through this carefully as we have taught her to. We just need to continue to support her."
Connie always suspected her dad would understand. He'd normally relax when her mother wasn't around.
"I know." Priyanka sighed. "I know Steven isn't a bad kid. I fear he'd be a bad influence that's all. All I can really say is that he does care about Connie a great deal...and I can respect on the smallest margin that at least she's at least learning how to defend herself."
That much Connie was extremely thankful for. Multiple versions of her sword popped out of the ground, forming a circle around her parents like a fence.
"It's a scary world out there." Doug commented. "I can acknowledge there will be things out there we can't protect her from that she needs to learn herself. You and I both know this very well. It is only fair.."
She'd been trying to get that point across for years.
"Of...of course." Her mother stated. "I know...it makes her happy...I need to see her healthy...but I only really want to see her smile."
Those who wish to pervade our lives with what THEY think is in your best interest...they just don't know any better...
The ocean turned dark quickly as chains popped out of the ground and clung them over her parents wrists and ankles. They cried Connie's name to help them as they were dragged in. Connie herself swallowed as she went to charge after them, only to be pulled back by Pink Steven. She could only watch until they kept crying out to her, only for their voices to be silenced as they were forced under. Tears ran down her face as she whimpered. It took her a moment of reflection to try and get the idea that it wasn't real... it felt real, however. Painfully real.
"No they don't." Connie said as she looked at the waves.
"But...they try anyway. Because they love you."
Pink Steven's grip tightened even more. Causing some concern on Connie's end.
"Everything alright?" She asked.
Urges are a combination of reactive stimuli and a natural occurrence. It's when you don't know what to do with these urges that it becomes problematic. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to control them?
Connie clasped her stomach, feeling as if knives were digging into her gut. Glancing downwards, she didn't realize her clothes changed into her blue dress and that black blood was running down her legs as a quickened pace. The pain of that outweighed the terrifying experience of seeing herself bleed like that. The high pitched giggles didn't help either. She didn't want this. She didn't need this. Not now, not yet...not in the face of a thousand mocking eyes and devilish laughs.
A time in a womans life, once dictated by the societal norms...still subjected to the woes of growing up. A step in the direction of the harsh realities that would come to pass.
This wasn't real. This definitely wasn't real. The desire to see through the lies was not strong enough to curb the illusion.
It distracted her from the realization that a shadow covered them both, as she looked up to see a huge tidal wave above her. Her next action was to embrace Pink Steven, to force the thoughts away.
Swallowed by the oceans, it became quiet again until the noises faded into the vibrating hums of high tech machinery. She opened her eyes, to see that she'd fallen into what appeared to be the interior of White Diamonds ship. Looking up, Connie gasped as she could see Steven chained to two poles that stretched out his hands and feet. The discolouration indicated that again, it had to be Black Diamond, though it looked like a statue of Yellow Diamond that stood above him, with her yellow gem the only thing in colour to make note of. Connie moved forward and with each step she took, yellow daisys magically appeared on both sides of her. They spread across the whole room, giving it a near shining yellow hue. It confused Connie as to why Yellow was here, instead of White...
Pink Steven stared at him, though from his manner, Connie sensed the gems ire against him. Black Diamond constantly fizzled between Pink Diamond and Rose Quartzes forms alongside Steven's.
"Control...need control." They said.
Connie wasn't sure what to think, hearing the whispers again, though she could hear the voices of the other Diamonds as they argued. Pink Steven wrapped an arm around her waist, much to Connie's dismay. Black Diamond struggled against the chains, desperate to break out. Arms of different sizes and colour shot out from the statue's torso and began to wrap themselves around his body.
"They...want to control me, me...ME."
Whispers called out the names of Steven, Rose and Pink repeatedly as Pink Steven tightened his grip.
Steven, Steven, Steven, Steven Universe! Steven Quartz Universe, SteVAN, Schtu-ball, Rose! Rose Quartz! Pink! Pink Diamond! My Diamond! Starlight...
Words and names that kept repeating themselves often talked over each other. It almost drove Connie mad. It would drive Steven mad for sure.
"FREE ME, ME, ME." Black Diamond cried out.
The Yellow Diamond gem charged up with energy, sending bolts of electricity to Black Diamond, forcing him to give off that visceral scream again as Pink Steven covered her ears with both his hands.
"You are not me." Pink Steven said out of the blue, shocking Connie. His voice was incredibly serene, deadpan and intense. And those tones were in an entire conflict of their own.
The two glared at one another. Despite cycling through the differing forms, each angered expression Black Diamond gave was exactly the same.
The cluster of hands tightened their grip on it, causing it to screech and attempt to bust out of its confines. Connie could only feel sorry for it...she could not understand but she could feel its pain. Pink Steven was just outright antagonist. Knowing what his raw power could do, Connie had to ensure that his restraint too and wrapped her arm around his body too.
"No I am not you. I am you. I am not. I am Steven. I am Black Diamond. I am Rose Quartz. I am Pink Diamond, I am Steven, I am Black Diamond, I am Rose Quartz, I am Pink Diamond..."
They transformed into other, unusual forms too.
"I am Greg Universe, I am Stevonnie, I am Smoky Quartz, I am Rainbow Quartz, I am Sunstone..."
Everything that was a part of Steven, including his own father.
"I AM OBSIDIAN" He roared, becoming a monochrome version of the giant, multiarmed fusion.
Connie felt the terror run down her throat to her chest. Pink Steven raised his hand and beamed a flash of magenta light that blinded the monstrosity, who continued to scream in agony. It rocked the room as it rattled about.
"IT HURTS, IT HURTS, IT HURTS PLEASE STOP."
The Yellow Diamond statue behind him broke apart, revealing an opening. Pink Steven grabbed Connie as Black Diamond flashed rampantly between forms. Connie herself felt the lunge as Pink Steven tried to dodge Black Diamonds flurry of arms, as they then jumped through the opening.
It started off dark and enclosed within the walls of grey. It reminded Connie of the prison Steven and herself were stuck in on Homeworld. She rested her hand on her chest, trying to oust the pain of knowing how hard that was for him experience. She felt Pink Steven grasp her hand, willingly, much to her surprise. Though it shouldn't surprise her. If anything else, Pink Steven's actions were becoming considerably unpredictable at an increasing rate.
She found herself shaking still as she looked at her hand. She didn't understand much of what was going on but what ever it was, it was hammering down on her mental state hard. How much further to go and were they getting any closer to Steven?
Pink Steven made it clear (or as clear as it could be in accordance to his alien logic) that Black Diamond wasn't him. No matter how much he insisted it was. How regular Steven coped with these strange mental trips was beyond her. She couldn't imagine the nightmares he'd suffer in response to the amount of trauma that would inflict on him to be soft on him either, other than seeing what he buried within his pile of hidden guilt come back to haunt them as Stevonnie...stuff he'd only shake off on first glance and continue to keep it within himself, pretending like it wasn't an issue. Connie scrunched her fist and looked up.
The door was closed behind them, but Connie could still sit the light from the opening above them. Though the noises that came from there sounded like the outside, complete with bird chirping and other natural sounds. This was not Homeworld. Pink Steven jumped up again, causing Connie to yelp at the sudden movement as she was taken along for the ride, to the opening in the wall. Connie could see forests, with willows and all sort of trees. At least there wasn't any terrible sights to see. Yet.
They managed to fit through the opening and landed onto solid ground. Connie felt the cool blades of grass between her toes and saw white and green butterflies fluttering about, sparkling under the rays of sunshine that spilled through the leaves. A sense of calm washed over her, though she wanted to be prepared for any horrible nonsense that would come their way.
Pink roses dotted the thick, lush bushes, as Connie took Pink Steven through the forests. She felt her chest tighten as they approached the willow tree and listened to the branches in the soft, subtle breeze. The sound of chimes jingling alongside unusually gold bells that hung off the tree. She took Pink Steven beyond the foliage of the willow and was perplexed on the gigantic trunk of it. She noted the image of Steven's gem etched into the base that was at chest level. She put up her hand and pressed her hand against it. It lit up with growing lines of blue, pink and green that made root like patterns everywhere. A cluster of butterflies surrounded them both, causing them to elevate. Connie remained still as they took the two into the tree tops, then on to what must have been a base of the beach house, though it would be more appropriate to be called a tree house, if Connie could be honest.
It looked like the bottom half and with the lack of a roof and large walls left it fair game for the great willows branches to fall inside. Above the door however, the painting of Rose was replaced by a painting of Steven instead. She turned to see a single green table in the middle of the room with a pink book on top of it. Curious, she picked it up and looked into its contents. Each page had a different person in it. Humans, Gems, Steven himself.
"How I feel about others." Pink Steven mentioned.
"We should be close."
Connie blinked twice as she tried to get a grip of what he just said.
"If we're here, then we're not far from where we need to be."
She shook her head, realizing what he actually meant. She wanted to read the book, but instantly closed it and put it back on the table.
"You don't want to read it?" He asked; sounding more like a statement than a question.
It was unusual for him to be this talkative too, to what she found was the strangest by this stage.
"I think it's rude for me to find out how you really feel about others. That's not my business." She told him.
"I see." He replied in tandem.
The problem was where his thought trail was heading. Did he want her to find out? Or was he simply just probing her own line of thought? She couldn't figure it out. He rested his hand on her chest without warning as the looked into each others eyes. A swirl of emotions curled up within her, trying to understand what exactly she trying to feel about all this. This place of absolute resonance, a paragon of purity and...love.
"This is...is your Heart...isn't it?" Connie questioned.
Pink Steven gave a subtle nod.
"It hasn't been infected. This place has been left untouched. Black Diamond cannot reach my Heart. I won't let him." He explained.
Connie had no real expectations of what she would find or see in this place. Pink Steven's affirmations that his human self continued to fight on were encouraging however. It did give Connie a small amount of comfort in knowing such a fact. Could he hold on for a while longer, however.
"Do you know how much further we need to go?" She questioned.
"I can't say." Pink Steven replied. His fingers on his right hand, one after the other, curled and uncurled for a moment.
"I am here as part of your Aura and my Aura. My Aura is strongest when is connected your Aura. It is the strongest to those I am connected to. Your power is your connection to me. My power is my connection to you. As this is my Heart, your Aura, your Heart connects with me."
Her gem...or just her in general? It was hard to fathom, to grasp a phenomena and experience like this. No gem or human could ever properly explain it.
"And Stevonnie?" Connie croaked, unsure of where the line should be drawn.
"Stevonnie is the intertwined link and balance that our Hearts and Auras create."
He moved to pick up the book to find the page of Stevonnie. It had a picture of their profile on the left page and walls of text on the right.
"We share this. This is yours and this is mine."
Was he trying to get her to read it? She wanted to, as she bit her lip.
"This book wouldn't be here. If you or I didn't want it to be. I had opened this book to you before. I told you about Jasper. I told you about how she fused with Lapis..."
A book of periwinkle and book of teal, pixelated into existence onto the table. Pink Steven put the pink book back. Connie looked over the books, labelled Connie on the teal and Stevonnie on the periwinkle books. Her heart began to race greatly.
"You have to tell me something." Pink Steven told her.
"I will read the book if you are presenting it to me."
Connie shook her head. It was going to explode if she wasn't careful. All this talk of Hearts and Auras like she was supposed to understand it all clearly like he did.
"No...no...I don't want this to be about me. This is about you. My heart is irrelevant." She told him.
A gust of wind played with her hair as she grabbed her book and held it close to her chest.
"Your Heart is relevant." Pink Steven claimed.
"Both of your Aura and Heart are what I require. I do not fuse with you because your Heart and your Aura don't want me to. Your Aura is what's holding me back. Your Heart is..."
He stopped as he looked at his own book, then at the periwinkle book.
"We move on. There is no voice here to speak any further."
A warp pad formed nearby. Connie promptly put the book back with the others, as they fizzled away. Connie couldn't help but wonder what Pink Steven really meant as she fell into his gaze again. So much to consider and break down that she really wondered if that really was Steven. He gave her his hand. It amazed her to no end on all this from only half of who he was supposed to be. Her Heart...her Aura. His Aura...his..Heart. It didn't make any special logic to her on where he was trying to lead them. She didn't even have an Aura to speak of when Stevonnie first appeared. Who knew...who really knew the logic of all of this? What was logic? What was this place? Who was Connie Maheswaran really? Born human that mutated into some kind of gem experiment that had been planned her whole life. She didn't want it to get this far. Not at all.
"Connie." Pink Steven spoke in the moment of reflection.
Even as lifeless as he seemed, Pink Steven did serve as Stevens power and lifeforce. Seeing him almost die almost broke her, but she had to push on. It wasn't about her then and it wasn't about her now. It was trying to fathom the boy she loved saying sentences he'd never hear him speak. So there was something deep in his subconscious construct that was growing more and more each day. About reality and about life. Whether his gem was helping or hindering. It remained to be seen.
She took his hand. His face didn't change, as expected. She pressed her chest again her with her spare hand, feeling the strain being here brought. The atmosphere, the serenity...all beautiful.
"I'm ready." She said. She breathed in deep.
"Let's go."