Chapter 2 – Silence

It had been three weeks since the incident with Pearl. Steven had slowly been getting used to having two extra arms, and could now, somewhat, control them independently from his actual arms. Which was…strange for everyone. But most of the time the arms just mimicked his actual arms. Pearl had also over those few weeks taken it upon herself to cut and line some holes into some of Steven's shirts to accommodate the additional arms. Other than that, nothing else had happened, thankfully. Well…there was one thing.

It was Garnet's turn to stay with Steven. He hadn't left his room for two full days except to get something to eat and/or drink or to use the bathroom. He's said as many words to Garnet as she had fingers. The silence was deafening. He didn't even want to go outside anymore. Typically, she'd take him with her down to the beach at least once during her shift, as he no longer liked going into town.

She couldn't stand it any longer. The next time Steven came out of his room she'd say something.

Several hours she sat on the couch by herself, waiting for Steven to show himself. Her arms were crossed and she was tapping her fingers impatiently, stressed beyond belief. Cat Steven was sitting in her lap, purring up a storm, which at least helped a little. And she didn't seem fazed by Steven's transformation, which certainly helped him too. Even Lion had distanced himself from Steven, so the little cat still cuddling up to the boy calmed his nerves a bit.

Garnet heard footsteps coming from Steven's room and looked over toward the stairs. She waited to see where he was going before standing up. He went to the fridge to grab something, and when he turned around he saw Garnet had blocked the stairs back to his room. She looked very determined to not let him through.

Steven glared at her for a few seconds before sitting at the counter to eat.

"Don't give me that look, Steven."

He scowled and looked down at his food.

"Steven. You need to get out of your room."

He said nothing.

"How about we go out? We don't have to go down to the beach this time. We could take the warp somewhere."

Steven put his food down, thinking. That was probably a good sign. After a few minutes however, he went back to eating. Garnet sighed.

"Stev-"

"Fine."

"…Where would you like to go?" Garnet asked next, deciding to leave the stairs and join Steven at the counter. He glanced up at her. He looked down. Garnet put her arms on the counter, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Please, Steven. I need you to talk to me."

"I don't want to talk," he stated, leaving the counter to put his plate in the sink. He looked to the stairs for a moment before returning to his stool.

"At least tell me where you want to go."

"I…I don't know. The…" Where did he want to go?

Nowhere. But Garnet wouldn't accept that answer.

"The flower field."

"You're allergic to the flowers there, Steven."

He groaned quietly. "Okay. How about we go to mom's fountain? The garden."

"That sounds like a nice place to visit."

Steven let out a long sigh.

Garnet reached across the counter and took Steven's hands in her own. Her gems felt cold on the back of his hands but at the same the sensation was oddly comforting. This was the first time she was able to touch him since she had taken her shift. He felt…guilty.

"Let's go, Steven."

"…Okay."

Garnet was following Steven around the garden as he silently inspected the roses. At least he's outside, Garnet thought. But I wish he'd talk.

The roses were beautiful, as always. Most of them were the standard red, while new colors had started to crop up around the garden: yellow and white roses had bloomed in several clumps, as well as orange-y roses mixed with the red. All the flowers were lovely.

As they walked Steven had started picking roses, grouping them together and handing them off to his waiting purple fingers. The imagery almost made Garnet laugh. The corruption's hands were larger than Steven's, and therefore could hold quite a few roses, and the thorns didn't seem to bother him as long as the corruption held them.

After a while of this Steven stopped walking and looked back at Garnet. For the first time in a while Garnet saw a spark of happiness in his eyes.

"The roses are so pretty," Steven remarked, picking another from a bush. He pinched the thorns off before holding the flower out to Garnet, who accepted it with a smile. "They were a good choice for mom."

"That they were," Garnet agreed, and they continued walking.

Eventually they circled back to the fountain, where the two sat beside the water. Steven had started gently tossing the roses he'd collected into the water and watched them float peacefully over the ripples. He still wasn't talking much, but he did talk more in the last few hours than he had in two days, which lifted some weight off Garnet's shoulders. And yet, something bothered her about all this.

"Steven, why don't we try a conversation again?" Garnet asked.

Steven paused mid throw, and then after a moment finished the toss. "I don't really want to talk."

"Please, Steven. Talking is good. It helps. Just try."

"I don't want to," he grumbled, his calmness fading fast. "All I ever do is talk! I've got thousands of years worth of talking to deal with already, and even more problems. I don't…I don't hate mom. But it's so hard dealing with everything she left. How many times have I almost died in the last four years? How many Gems that I've never even heard of have showed up to try and kill me, or kidnap me, or put me on trial? I had nothing to do with any of this!"

The roses were having their petals plucked from the stems.

"I've had to deal with all of this being put on my shoulders. All of this stuff I had nothing to do with. All these Gems. All this talking. All of you. Just, constantly piling things on me! All because I have my mom's stupid gem!"

The last of the flowers were thrown to the ground as Steven grabbed his head. Garnet watched in silence, her hands shaking.

She finally realized what was going on. All of this, it was all…their fault.

"S-Steven…we, we didn't…why didn't you say anything?" came her quiet voice as she reached out to place a hand on him.

He swatted it away.

"Don't touch me!" he growled and Garnet's whole body stiffened as pitch black eyes turned to glare at her. He then growled again, this time in pain, and fell to the ground. Garnet forced herself to reach out her hand again but before she even got close to Steven his foot collided with her.

The kick was harder than she ever could have expected. The force threw her into the water, and after the shock faded she pushed herself above the surface and frantically grabbed at the edge of the fountain. She coughed a few times and shakily pulled herself out, collapsing on the grass.

Steven was gone. She saw a path of ruined rose bushes where he'd ran off.

Garnet was on her hands and knees.

"I-it's all our fault," she said under her breath. "All of this. We, we never stopped to consider what our actions were doing to Steven. All of us just…poured everything out on him. We never listened to him in return. We all failed to protect him so many times—"

She curled her fingers around the grass as tears started to fall from her eyes.

"It's my-our-fault. We, I couldn't have, you-ahhh! It's our fault!"

Garnet's body came undone in an instant and down tumbled Ruby and Sapphire.

Ruby started pounding the ground. "He's been bottling up everything for years! We should have noticed! We should have done something!" she cried as Sapphire slowly got to her feet.

Sapphire was an absolute mess. She could barely move as she processed everything. He never said a single word. Everything, bottled up inside, the emotions, they were breaking through. It's why Steven's corruption was so unique. That's why they couldn't stop it.

"It's all finally manifesting. Steven's losing himself to his emotions…his body can't take it," Sapphire whispered, arms wrapped around herself.

Ruby looked up at her partner, hot tears falling from her face and burning the grass.

They heard a pained cry in the distance.

Steven didn't know why he was running or where he was running to. His legs had just acted on their own. His head was throbbing and pain rushed over him in waves. How long had he been running already?

He pushed through the rose bushes almost like they weren't even there. The thorns stuck and scratched and tore his skin and clothes, but he didn't even notice. Flowers were crushed beneath his feet, petals, leaves, and thorns littered his body. He kept running.

He ran until he couldn't run anymore, and yet his feet kept going.

Everything looked different. The things were back, but no longer did they hide in the shadows. They were right in front of him, beside him, reaching out to touch him. He had just been with Garnet. Everything was fine, it was fine, why wasn't it fine, it wasn't fine, it wasn't, it was bad, bad, bad. The shadows kept trying to grab him. There were so many shadows.

Steven's foot caught a root and he hit the ground hard. He was scrambling to get up but he couldn't, his arms and legs were too weak. The shadows were encircling him, coming closer and closer. Their limbs reached out, but never touched. Steven screamed and curled up, covering his head, folding his body into his knees, hiding, making himself as small as possible. He wanted it to stop. Everything needed to stop. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts—

Ruby and Sapphire had tried re-fusing at least five times but it wasn't working. They couldn't stay stable. There was just too much, too many wild emotions. So they were running, hand in hand, following the path of crushed roses Steven had created. Tears still flowed from their eyes as they followed his sounds. This was their fault, it was all their fault. Why did they push, they shouldn't have pushed him. They should have just left him alone. Why didn't they see this? Why didn't Garnet see this?

Garnet couldn't see anything. And now she can't see at all. She couldn't come back, not now. The fear, the panic, the chaotic thoughts were all too much for Ruby and Sapphire to handle.

Follow his sounds. All they had to do was follow his sounds, and his path, and they would find him. They would find Steven and take him home to the others. He could stay in his room for as long as he wanted then.

Sapphire came to an abrupt stop and Ruby was almost yanked back off her feet.

There they stood, on the edge of a flattened circle of rose bushes, and there was Steven, his forehead pressed against the ground, his hands clutching the back of his head.

Sapphire started whimpering and Ruby pulled her close. Both fell to the ground in sorrow. Steven was worse. They'd made it worse. He was starting to look more monster than human as his corruption grew.

Thorny spikes broke through the back of Steven's jacket and traveled down around his spine, where they continued to line the top of a thick, dark purple tail.

Steven sat huddled in the corner of the couch. Ruby and Sapphire embraced a few feet away. Tears were falling. There were no words spoken. The house was quiet.

The warp pad activated.

Pearl and Amethyst walked into the main room, talking quietly to each other in a desperate tone. They hadn't noticed the others at first, but when they did they stopped dead in their tracks. The two small Gems lifted their heads.

"R-Ruby…Sapphire," Pearl said, moving her trembling hands closer to her chest. "No, no, no…Steven…"

Pearl and Amethyst both looked toward the boy, who didn't look back. He didn't even acknowledge their presence. He was barely even moving.

All were silent.

The silence was roaring in their ears.