"Spinel...?" Steven whispered.
He peeked over the edge, while now laying flat on his stomach. The moon brightened half of the hollowed-out area, while a shadow overcame the other half. The gem appeared to be near the central peak of the bottom floor, making her body almost silhouette to the darkness of the shadows. Had he not been lucky enough to catch her from the corner of his eye, Steven would've never seen her there. He came to a recognition of her apparent soft voice, but something was bugging him now. That burning sensation he felt just recently had just, as he puts it, vanished into thin air. It was weird for it to come and go in the first place, as he had never felt such...weird emotions, not even when around or near Connie...But that didn't bother him much at the moment. As what bothered him was the gem sitting in the crater. Spinel.
How did she get here? That was the question that came to mind. And he wasn't just talking about down here in particular but on Earth. There were no obvious signs of any type of spaceship (or Injector, thank goodness) at the view. Even if there was one, someone would've alerted him by then. So that crossed out of his mental list of scenarios. There was a slight chance she could have warped here. It was the only logical answer that made actual sense. Perhaps she's done this before and he's only now found her in the act. He barely went for evening walks, especially ones so late at night. Still, nothing about this made any sense. She couldn't just have warped here without anyone taking notice of the obvious light beaming from the sky. Even so, which one did she come from? And not only that..
Why is she even here? This was the next of many questions that popped up. He had just thought of this particular gem not too long ago, only for her to suddenly appear right in front of him. Just when he was trying to walk off the situation in the first place. It was just too coincidental. Spinel should be light-years away from the Earth. She should be on Homeworld, at the palace with the Diamonds. Not here.
Surely this was just some sort of dream or nightmare. That, he wanted to believe more than ever. It wasn't an ideal answer, and he knew that. Even so, there had to be something he was missing. All night, he's been fighting this strange feeling, yet here he was. Steven's mind went back and forth on whether he should confront the gem to get any answers, that thought held merit. After all, she did come here unexpectedly without any type of warning.
At the same time though, being too upfront wasn't the best choice either. The young adolescent didn't want to easily scare her off or worse, set her off. The last time he talked to Spinel, was when she told him how she wanted a fresh start elsewhere. Along with the Diamonds' surrounding her, supposedly he presumed the pink gem was learning for the better. Yellow and Blue were more considerable emotional factors for her, but White Diamond was.. something else. Not sure if she played anything into this, but the teen definitely wasn't in the mood for another altercation. It wouldn't take a year to change oneself entirely, but progress was what mattered to Steven the most for those who wanted to change. If the Diamonds could somehow change their ways, so could she. The pink gem should have a good reason to be here then, she wouldn't just come out of nowhere randomly. Up until tonight at least.
Steven puts his attention back to Spinel. Her viewpoint was a little more clear as the moon's reflected light from the sun shifted drastically, allowing more of its light to peak over to the shadowed area. From what he could see, she had the same clothing outline and her hair was still in two ponytails. But it wasn't puffed up as he had seen them before. Nor were they in heart-shaped buns. They looked as if they were laid flat on her back. Although the gem was turned away, he could tell something was wrong. She seemed to be huddling onto herself. He remembered that same type of posture from her "not-so-violent" moments. It was that same night when she had ran off from the "Sadie and the Killers" concert. He had found her at his warp pad while her memories were slowly coming back to the surface, her eyes displayed a sadness Steven still has dreams about or maybe it would be more accurate to call them nightmares. That was right before they went to where it all started. The Garden.
Right now at this moment, she hadn't moved from her spot since he got here. Instead, her voice peaked through. It wasn't clear on what the gem was saying, considering he was a bit of a distance away from her. She was mumbling to herself. Her voice went through his earlobes, but the jumble words remained slightly fuzzy. If he could focus his concentration on the traces of words she spoke, maybe he could figure out what was going on. Steven closed his eyes and listened. It took a few seconds before something came to him.
"...stupid...stupid..stupid.." That was the first line of words that became clear, which was all he needed to hear to know that he was right; something was clearly wrong. The word looped over and over. She was continuously insulting herself. Steven opened his eyes and, to his shock, he could see that she was noticeably yanking onto her pigtails, stretching them to look jagged and razor-like. The single repeated word continued to play along the lines as she continued to put harm onto herself. But why? What could she have done to beat and verbally abuse herself this much over? Surely this couldn't pertain to the Diamonds, could it? Steven reached in his jean pocket to grab a cellular device. He opened his screen, and to his luck, the screen brightness was automatically adjusted. The time had read 12:25 A.M. Wow. He didn't realize how fast time had flown by but more importantly, he checked to see if there were any unread intergalactic messages or missed calls. Nope. Thanks to Peridot, he's able to communicate all the way from Homeworld even when he wasn't around the giant screen in his temple room. Though he had no reason to use either of them lately. Or ever honestly.
Then another noise comes from the gem, catching the young hybrid's attention. It almost sounded like she was laughing...or crying. Was she crying?
Suddenly Steven felt his body tighten. All at once a feeling of warmth hit his skin, causing the teen boys' eyelids to almost shut from the sudden change of body temperature. He placed his hand near his abdomen, which was the main root of it. His half-closed eyes moved down at his stomach. His gem glowed through his shirt once more. That strange feeling was coming back. Not. Again . It was coming right back. Though it wasn't as bad as it was before. It just felt like his gem was reacting from...something or someone...
Hold on. Just hold on...
"Is my gem...reacting to..." It came to him. Surely that was...possible. He heard her voice from miles away and it led him here at this moment. Only when he spotted her shadow from the corner of his eye. It was by luck, he thought. Still, just how lucky could that really be? And not only that, his gem has been having an ongoing linger ever since he went for his walk. He even felt peculiar from the time Connie had left. Just something felt out of place. It was not coincidentally. It was gem related. But just... what did it mean?
The teen put his attention back down to...Spinel? The same spot she was just at is now empty. Where could she have gone?
"Did she see me?" he whispered out loud.
The young hybrid felt stable to move now that the pain wasn't as bad as it was earlier, how convenient. He was able to crawl a little closer to the rim of the crater. At this point, his head was just over while his body still flat on the hill. Pushing the palm of his hands just right on the edge, Steven lifted himself slightly to get a better view of the giant hollowed-out space. He remained obscure, at least he had hoped so. The noticeable lighted areas were what his eyes first fell on to continue his observation around the lower ground. She wasn't seen in any area of light, leading him to believe she might be in the darkness somewhere. Or she might've just runoff.
"Dammit..." he pouted, lowering his arms back where they were previously.
He never really liked swearing, but times such as this made it slip out every now and then. Only during his own frustrations and at this point, he was right up there. The last time he had an outburst was his last fight with Kevin, which was a completely different story altogether. That stubborn prick - how'd that slip out- was really starting to get under his skin, allowing him to show a side he never intended to have. As he grew older and matured, the teen learned to not allow others to get to him, allowing his hate to slowly subside. Probably why he forgave Spinel when she came here to purposely hurt his family and friends and tarnish everything he proudly built up to. And she did so as if it was some sort of game when it came to the lives of others.
Mom started this mess. His self-conscience overlapped in his mind. It was true that his mom started this. Still, he had to remind himself that she couldn't be held responsible for Spinel's actions alone. Well, maybe some of it but not the entire way she acted and choose to lash out.
Steven touches his gem once more. It was still warm. Was his gem telling him something?
He had never felt this way from anyone except with his fusion experiences. And it was more than just dancing or feeling. It was a tandem between two consenting beings if done right. Garnet had stated before that fusion was meant to be taken very seriously. But he wasn't even in the mood to fuse, and definitely not with Spinel, it would feel wrong.
He knew Spinel was made to be Pink Diamond's playmate, someone she had a "friendship" with if you call it that; And that her gem belonged in his court if he wanted to go that far. This made him wonder if it had anything to do with his gem reacting to her in general or just his own still lingering feelings from her trying to kill him...or could it be...nope. Not even gonna entertain those thoughts. He had never really actively interacted with any pink gems before...well except one. Steven twitched slightly, he definitely had to stop that. Maybe it was pink gems in general who made him feel...these emotions.
Then out of nowhere, the teen felt one of his hands lose balance as the edge was crumbling from the tightening grip his palms placed on the soil, in mere seconds. His eyes widened from the unexpected moment.
"Woa-" Before Steven could hold on to anything in site to stabilize himself, it was too late as the force of gravity pushed him right off the rest of the way. He slopped over the edge having given gravity the forward momentum it needed to cause him to fall. He landed hard on the steeply inclined walls. Luckily for him, his shoulder broke most of his fall from any further damage to his body, or worse, his gem. It didn't stop there, however, as his body also began to leave a huge trail of flowers and grass it, unfortunately, being pushed or flattened while he rolled the rest of the way to the bottom of the crater. Once he officially landed on his side, the teen just laid there.
"Ughh.." he let out a soft groan. His body felt like everything was rupturing itself from the many tumbles that led him down here. After sitting there for what felt like minutes, Steven pushes his arms off the ground, aching as he does so. His left shoulder felt bruised. It took a few more seconds then normal for him to now be in a sitting position with only his legs laying down. He tried not to get any angrier than he was at his own dumb mistake. He was just glad it wasn't any worse, and he had the advantage of his powers.
"Healing powers sure come in hand for clumsiness heh..." Steven remarks in an attempt to joke to himself about his carelessness but aches in pain as he took hold of his nearly broken shoulder. The teen licks his lips, allowing enough saliva to cover his mouth for a simple injury, bringing his shoulder close to his lips. He chuckles a bit to himself as he knew it wouldn't be a simple injury for a human to sustain. With the connection of his lips to his shoulder, a shine of glimmer appeared and magically brought his arm back to brand new. The main part of his pain went away instantly. But his body was still aching, pain was one thing, his shoulder bone might be fractured or worse. It was probably better to rest than to keep moving, oh wait! His phone. Steven quickly pads himself with his good arm. The rapid searching is causing him massive aching and discomfort as he finally yanked out his phone, luckily only a cracked screen was visible as he sighs in relief.
"..Steven..?" This caught the boys' attention. He looked in front of him to see the figure before him. It was her. He almost forgot about the situation at hand.
Now he was able to get a closer view of the gem before him. She looked...the same. Not surprising though considering that it had only been a year. From her rabbit-like ears as her two ponytails to those dark lines on her face. For some reason, he thought they would've gone away by now. The teen boy laid there for a second looking up at the gem standing a few feet away from him. Her eyes were widened from the pure shock of this sudden unexpected reunion.
"Spinel…" he finally spoke her name in a whisper. It was as if saying the name brought an almost bittersweet taste in his mouth.
He had seen that same look from her but rarely paid much attention in the past. He had never given much more thought into it. But now, everything came to view at such a fast pace. Her skin was an obvious pink, while her hair was almost a dark crimson color. As he had witnessed before, they were still hanging low. He tried to ignore the black lines, but the way they had fit on her lower eyelids made her eyes stand out. It was weird. But he could truly see the color of her eyes. Deep Magenta . They glimmered from the bright moon in the sky. There was an almost dark and mysterious lure to them...Steven scratched that out immediately.
As soon as Steven finally came back to reality, he began to pick himself up. This movement alone gave the gem a reaction to take a huge leap back, stretching her legs away from where she was just at.
"Wait, Spinel!" Steven protested as he tried to catch up with the gem, who was now yards away from him. He had forgotten how fast she was. She wasn't built like other gems.
"I-It's really me!" Steven yelled out just loud enough for anyone nearby to hear. The gem probably didn't hear him though, or didn't care to listen but she kept stepping backward. Then the gem lost her balance. She yelped from suddenly falling backwards onto the ground.
"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" He asked. Spinel still didn't respond and just stared at him from the distance they were at. He tried a second time to get closer and she began behaving the same way she did at first. Instead, she was crawling back this time. It's like he's playing a game of cat and mouse at this point, except he wasn't trying to be a cat.
"Spinel..just talk to me...please?" His voice was now calmer than the first time. Spinel did respond to that. She slowly stopped herself. Good . She wasn't trying to run off now. Steven walked over to the gem, who was lying before him. Once he was close to her, he held out his hand to her and offer a smile along with it, reassuring her there was no bad blood. She didn't seem fazed by it and continued to gawk at Steven.
"W-Why ar' you h-hea'..?" she finally responded with another question. Steven paused for a sec. Of all things, she asked him that? He should be the one to interrogate here, not her! Then it hit him. He couldn't get mad at her. Not right now. Steven sighed and smiled slightly.
"Well... I could be asking you the same thing.." he said in an almost sly tone.
Spinel stares at him for a few more seconds before simply looking down. She attempted to look anywhere else but in Steven's view. The wind softly ble through the teen's hair, giving him a slight chill from the touch. This soft whisper broke down into an awkward silence for the two.
Then, suddenly, she took notice of Steven's hand right in front of her face. He was attempting to offer his hand to her again. At first, Spinel hesitates, but takes it eventually. Then when they first touch hands, Steven felt a spark surge through his body, from head to toe. His gem wailed slightly at the touch, as if it had a mind of its own. Once she was off the ground, Steven immediately broke contact with her, and with that, the shere spark feeling had instantly vanished once more. He was hesitant and wondered if she felt that too. Spinel was looking at him dazed and all. But she had that same look on her face since he first saw her.
"Spinel... what are you doing down here?" This was the same question from his smart remark towards her, but he figured asking the gem wouldn't be too hard. He hoped. But instead, she looked down once more as she hesitates with her words.
"I..uh..I.." the sound of her voice was full of nerves and circuits loosely going out of whack.
"W-well I-I just..umm so happened to come by an-and thought.." she pauses for a moment and Steven could see her twiddling her gloved thumbs, while she now stood in a crossed legged position. She looked almost like a kid getting in trouble for something she did wrong. He was probably getting something out of her, too. Maybe this could be the break for him. What was she here for and why? Obviously it couldn't be him right? Well, that was a high chance. Who else would she be here for? Unless something was wrong at Homeworld…
"I just dropped by to say hi is all..." Steven heard her suddenly respond. He was looking at her face, with her eyes closed, and a sleek smile coming from her white teeth.
"You came down here all the way from Homeworld...Just to say hi..?" He recounts her very words. She was basically trying to convince him that?
"Sure did! Hehehe..heh.." she said in an excited yet noticeable frightened tone. She was lying obviously, and he could tell each sign she was giving. But why was she lying? Steven then raised one of his eyebrows at the gem. Her body language seemed shaky but she held the resistance of a more active posture, while she continued to smile relentlessly. Although he could tell it was obviously fake, he was slightly smiling to himself over it. She was desperately trying to play the part.
"Well, I should be on my way! Nice saying hi to ya, Steven!" she says in an excited tone, while simply walking past the hybrid. Steven stood still at his spot, almost shocked by her simply trying to "walk" off from the situation. He didn't respond at first. In fact, he was trying to figure out the next line of words to say. She definitely wasn't telling the truth for sure. But he had to get something out from her.
"Friends don't lie Spinel…" Steven said out loud, stopping the gem. This definitely got her attention. She was only a few feet away from him.
"Me… yoa' friend?" She asked in a low tone as she turned to look back at Steven. He hesitated slightly as he noticed the surprised look on her face. Surely he thought of Spinel as a friend. Even though their first hit off was more forced since she was made to be a friend. Even so, he got through to her and offered her the relentless care from the Diamonds as well as Pink Diamond's belongings on Homeworld. That meant something right?
"Yeah! Of course, we are, I thought since me and yo-" He was briefly interrupted by Spinel.
"Wha-what ar' you even saying!?" Spinel yelled in response. He was taken by her sudden burst out. He wasn't surprised though, as he was waiting for it to happen. But she didn't stop there.
"Callin' me a friend..l just like that?" Her face was full of anger as she continued to lash out.
"I-I almost ruined everything! The earth, ya actual friends and everyone else!" She protested, her arms were trembling and wailing as she points at herself. She was definitely spiraling hard and the change and tone of her voice was almost in a pain of agony. It was heartbreaking.
" I took away ya happily ever after.. I-I-" her voice was becoming slightly calmer as her words stumbled. She was trying to get her sentence across.
"I..nea'ly.. killed you.." Steven suddenly witnessed her unhinged limbs wrapping around her lower torso area, clinging onto herself tightly. It looked as if she was trying to spill her guts out from just how tight she clung onto herself. But she didn't have those obviously. Then the gem fell onto her knees once more. Her eyes closed shut as if she was trying to hold back tears.
"What kinda friend does that...?" She was becoming a mess and Steven had to do something. She was surely reacting to something more than just his words of kindness. First, he needed to give her reassurance. Then something came to mind.
"What makes you think you're the only one?" He asked as if she would answer the question. The gem doesn't look at him at first, but opened her eyes, solely looking at the ground below her.
Steven gulped up a huge lump in his throat. He continued on as he thought, " Trust me Spinel, you haven't been the worst thing I've experienced-." Spinel peaks up at him, giving him a look of shock. It was almost as if she was taken aback from his words. Good maybe? Or bad.. No just a poor choice of words.
"I-I mean not like you were any bad as others who've tried to kill me anyway.. Hehe.. At least you weren't like White Diamond who literally took my gem off my-" as he retorts his statement, he takes notice of the no flustered gem. He knew he wasn't getting anywhere and was probably making things worse. He can't pull that again. Not after last time. Steven sighed and continued to speak in an even calmer tone.
"Look…" He says in a more serious tone.
"This place isn't doing us any good... Let's get out of here first and then we can talk..if you want to at least." His voice was almost deep, showing a more assertive side with a hint of his old rhetorical self. He sticks out his welcoming hand to the gem. Spinel almost blushes at his sudden posture. This was the third time now. How nice of him.. Her body retracts back to her normal height and now articulated shape. Her head points back down at the ground nervously.
Should she follow him? the last time she did, things didn't turn out pretty. And it wasn't any different from now...was it?. Something was telling her she could trust Steven this time. After everything they've been through, he was kind enough to show her another light to him and even convincing her to get through her hatred. And she did.. sorta...Her gloved hand reaches up at his hand... And she takes it. He picks her up from the ground and the two began heading out.