Everything was dark. He couldn't see a thing, he could barely think, and he didn't know where he was. He wasn't sure whether he was awake, or even alive, at all. He only felt trapped.

He could clearly remember everything that happened before this. But he had been in this void of unconsciousness— or whatever it was— for however long, he didn't know.

Suddenly a bright white light started to glow around him, before the glow turned the pink color of his gem, and he felt ready to escape from whatever he was stuck in. Soon the pink glow dissipated, and his surroundings began to clear. He could feel the cold floor beneath his feet— so he was standing. Then he could clearly see that he was standing in a perfectly square, white room, with plastic chairs a cobalt blue color lining the walls. The door on one end of the room led to a larger room filled with chairs, one buzzing with people and conversation, and the door on the opposite end was closed.

Little things like posters and magazines stacked on small side tables told him exactly where he was. An empty hospital waiting room.

He frowned. But... wasn't he... why was he here? Shouldn't he be in his own hospital room in a bed with IVs dripping stuff into his veins? Shouldn't he still be unconscious after that?

Then he looked down, and quickly realized he wasn't Steven.

His skin— or just an illusion of human skin— was bright pink. So were his clothes, so was his hair. He didn't feel like Steven. His gem was in its usual spot on his stomach, but he wasn't Steven.

He was his Gem half. Or just the gem. Or Steven's source of energy, or Pink Steven... anything but what he wanted to be.

"But you had to have seen something as important as this!" a voice stammered behind the closed door on his right. "This isn't something you ignore. He could have died, Garnet!"

He stood up straight and listened. That sounded like Pearl.

"It was a very unlikely possibility," Garnet replied evenly, her voice slightly muffled behind the door. "I saw an encounter. I saw this, but there was a single future where Steven wouldn't see her coming. I didn't ignore it. I did warn him."

Pearl sounded choked up. She had obviously been crying. "You should have gone with him. I can hardly look at him like... this."

Pink Steven clenched his fists the slightest bit, but his eyes remained still and emotionless. He hadn't heard them fight like this— or at all— since the Sardonyx incident.

Another voice piped in. "I'm... going to check on his gem." So, Amethyst was in there, too.

The door creaked open— and his eyes snapped to the boy lying on the hospital bed with his eyes closed, mouth drawn, and his skin pale. This Steven was hooked up to several life-support machines, including one connected to a blood transfusion bag.

So it was serious.

He finally turned to the wide-eyed face of Amethyst staring at him. After a while, she shakily raised her hand and did a little half-wave, and managed a "hey."

He blinked. Then nodded. Should he act friendly like Steven always did? No, because he wasn't Steven. If anything, it would be disrespectful.

"Guys," she spoke up. "He's back."

Pearl peeked her head around the corner, her jaw dropping at the sight of him. Garnet showed up behind her. They all looked awestruck, but there was still a flicker of concern on all of their faces.

"You reformed," Garnet commented, taking away her visor and revealing all three of her eyes. That usually meant she was either emotional, or curious. In this situation it might as well have been both.

He nodded again.

Amethyst smirked and, forgetting about the injured human side of their companion for a moment, walked right up to the Gem and examined him from head to toe. Probably due to his holographic-looking pink image unique to only him, she poked him once in the shoulder to make sure he was solid. He was.

"Man, show some emotion already," she said. She took his face in her lilac hands to look at him, played with his hair, fingered his clothes— acting just like the usual clingy Amethyst, probably hoping to calm him down. He couldn't exactly say he was anxious, though. She was, most likely, more stressed than he was, so he managed a small smile to make her feel better.

But, then he gently pried her hands off him. "How is he?" he finally asked. He saw Pearl and Amethyst flinch at the odd echoey edge to his voice that Steven never had, but he chose to ignore it.

"He... he's not... great," Pearl settled on saying. "We should probably get a doctor to tell you this; I didn't really understand all of it."

Apparently the ambulance had taken Steven's human half to the hospital where Mrs. Maheswaran worked. Connie's mother had come as soon as the Gems called for her. Her dark eyes widened at the sight of him, a pink projection of the person lying unconscious in her hospital, but she shook her head and went along with it.

"Whatever punctured him, we're assuming some sort of knife—"

"It was a dagger," he interrupted, that same inhuman edge to his voice echoing through the room. He flinched this time, immediately regretting the correction.

Mrs. Maheswaran cleared her throat. She was beginning to look uncomfortable. "Yes, well... whatever it was, it missed the major organs— like the lungs, the kidneys. Our biggest concern was blood loss, but we've got that taken care of. I think it'll be best for him to stay here a couple more days, and when he does get taken home he'll still be ordered strict bed rest."

He nodded. Hopefully he'd be Steven again as soon as his human side was awake, and not stuck as this ripped-apart Gem half for long. He wanted to thank her, but he didn't want to make her, or anyone else, any more uncomfortable.

After Mrs. Maheswaran left, the Gems stared at him a little longer before returning to the hospital room. He moved to follow them, but Amethyst paused in the doorway in front of him, blocking his path.

"You sure?" she asked.

He nodded firmly. She shrugged, and let him in.

This Steven hadn't moved since the Gem had first glanced his way. His eyes were still shut, his body still stiff, but now he could clearly see just how pale his skin was, and how dark his eyes were. He looked almost exactly the same as he did the last time they were... torn apart... but, this time he didn't have Connie here to hold him up.

He wore the clothes that Steven had been wearing before, since his gem could only sport a holographic image of them. Through the tear where Eyeball's dagger had cut through he could clearly see a glaringly white layer of gauze, that most likely covered his stitches.

Without knowing it, Pink Steven had tightened his fists and bit his lip to the point where Steven would have drawn blood— but he was a Gem, he didn't have quirks or habits like Steven did.

He relaxed, but when he opened his eyes, they quite obviously held back a lot of rage.

"I'm going to shatter them," he muttered, turning to the door...

...but Garnet stepped in front of him, placing her two gem-embedded hands on his shoulders to stop him. He turned his furious eyes to Garnet's visor, so she could see them. His irises were no longer a soft brown like Steven's, they were pink, with diamond-shaped pupils.

"We don't shatter Gems," she told him.

He gritted his teeth. "They deserve it."

Garnet's frown deepened, and he could see his rosy reflection in her visor. The Visor of Shame, he used to call it as a kid.

"Steven wouldn't shatter anyone," Garnet replied.

He went still. No, Steven... Steven wouldn't do that. He looked away, giving in. She relaxed, and after giving his shoulder an affectionate squeeze, walked back over to Pearl and Amethyst. He could still spot some turmoil between Pearl and Garnet, but there was nothing he could do to help.

He'd be a bigger help if he were Steven.

Replies to guest reviews:

Guest #1– Yes, agreed!

Guest #2– Here it is! :D