Okay, so I wanted to give you guys some updates on this. I have not had anyone beta read my story and I am currently working on that so do expect changes from the previous chapters. It will be the same plot, but I just need help working with my skills in writing. Until that is done, I'm gonna probably hold off on putting out any work so I can finish more chapters and be more ahead. I am still working on chapter 4, but that won't be out for a while. I apologize for the long wait. All I wish for is to produce decent content for you guys to enjoy as well as me to write! I have a lot of plans for this story!

Enjoy and be sure to leave a review or fav! I am always down for criticism so I can improve!

Not a peep was sounded. Spinel followed along as Steven led the way to their "exit". But if he was honest with himself, he wasn't sure where to start with this exit. The scene felt uncomfortable for him to fully grasp, as he retracted his previous steps. The atmosphere was confined from the jagged floors to the darkness. Not to mention he was still in pain from his tumble down.

'No wonder things were tense earlier...'

Just as the two had gotten closer to the walls of the crater, Steven suddenly stopped in his tracks as he looked up at the top of the cliff. This caused Spinel from behind to bump right into him, and he nearly lost his balance.

"Oh sorry!" both had said almost simultaneously.

Steven quickly adjusted himself and turned over to check on Spinel. At the same time though, she had put her hands up in panic mode nearly backing away from him, inch by inch.

"Don't worry, Spinel, I'm not gonna hurt you." He said in defense of the sudden action, giving her a reassuring smile.

She just stared back at him. After a few seconds though, she stopped in her tracks and lowered her arms. Steven took that as not a bad thing. At least for now. Right now, they needed to get out of here. He turned back around and looked up at the rim. Only one thing he could do; jump his way out. That wasn't hard at all. Just one problem though..Spinel.

How was she going to get out? Surely she could just bounce her way on up? He turned his head just enough to peak at Spinel on the left corner of his eye. She didn't pay him any mind this time. Instead, she was twirling her gloved thumbs while still looking at the same part of the ground. No.. He couldn't just expect her to do that while she was in this state. She was in a very dark spot, literally.

'But who'd expect you to?' he felt his internal self-question himself.

He wasn't a selfish person, but he had to draw the line between being too selfless as well. Just right now didn't seem like the appropriate train of thought for him to debate that either. Instead, he went with his instinct and what he knew by nature.

Steven then turned completely around to face. Spinel didn't take notice at first until she felt his presence getting closer. She looked up to see that their bodies were close while their faces were nearly inches away from each other. His face began turning red from this sudden closeness while she only appeared speechless. This wasn't the first time he had seen her this close, but this time was different. Her eyes were fully opened and completely aware, not filled with homicidal rage from before. Plus they weren't falling from the sky. No. Truth be told, this was much more awkward.

"H-hold on," He quickly said as he proceeded to lightly wrap one arm around the gems' midsection, ensuring her security.

This took Spinel completely by surprise. But she was not quick enough to respond before Steven completely swapped her off her feet, turned around to face the walls of the crater, and leaped off the floor, forcing her body upward.

"Eeep-!" she yelped.

The two were just high enough to reach themselves out of the crater onto the grassy hilltop. As they landed on the ground, Spinel quickly released herself from Stevens' light grasp, leaping back.

"Ya-ya mind warnin' me next time when ya gonna do 'that' !?" she complained as she turned her back from him, clinging onto herself while slightly shaking.

She didn't like being touched.

And it's silly to say so, as she felt completely embarrassed for never admitting to it. After all, she was meant to be a best friend. Someone who'd show affection to their friends through physical contact such as hugging. It was simple even. But things were different now...

It didn't bother her when he touched her hand, but even that was hard from the beginning. A false sense of comfort was all that she felt. It felt overwhelming. It didn't feel right. Not even from Steven. Especially not Steven. He wasn't her after all...

Then, Spinel noticed he hadn't responded yet. He usually did.

"Steven?"

She turned around to see that he was now bending over his torso slightly from the heavy pain in his chest.

"Ugh.." he groaned out loud.

"A-are you okay?" Spinel asked with a sense of worry in her voice.

Oh geez, what had she done this time? She stepped a little closer to him, with her arms reaching out. But she didn't touch him. Instead, her hands hovered over him, shaking almost. She didn't want to do any more harm if she touched him.

Steven took notice of this and slowly picked himself up.

"I'm fine, just a couple of bruises ( more like several) nothing to worry about! heh.." He gave another smile.

His smile began faltering and he looked as if he had almost twitched. Spinel didn't understand what was going on until she peeked over at where the two were at. Then it made sense. Spinel looked almost saddened by something that suddenly came to mind.

'It's my fault...I knew I shouldn't have come here..'

She felt like crying. She didn't want to be here anymore. She would only mess things up further. She just wanted to tell Steven to take her home. And she wouldn't deny it if he agreed. Oh, who was she kidding, like he would take her home. She would need to find her way back. This was all too much as-

Spinel nearly jumped as she felt Steven grab hold of her hand. The sudden movement wasn't a surprise. But, she just wasn't sure how to react. All she could do was stare, as she was pulled along by Steven.

"Let's go." He said.

Spinel grew paranoid as he began leading the two up the hill. Just where was he taking her? She had to learn to trust him completely, but that would only slowly grow if things didn't go wrong. She would try to be better..

Steven continued to lead Spinel closer to the top of the hill. She wanted to stop at first. They were getting pretty close to the edge. Would he ever? She wondered deep into her thoughts if he would purposely look for an opening to catch her off guard, push her off the ledge, and making her fall to crack her gem. Almost like payback from his incident earlier. Surely he wouldn't. The gem almost felt ashamed to think of such an awful thing. She was becoming too paranoid. If only things at Homeworld weren't so difficult, otherwise she wouldn't be here…

'Well bad news pal, she's gone! Donezo! Not here anymore! Why doesn't your simple headed mind understand that by now!?'

Spinel planted her hand on her gem. She could feel herself trembling from the memory suddenly coming to the surface. Her voice being repeated back to her made it almost traumatizing. Another awful memory of yet another one of her breaking point, leading to absolutely nothing but loneliness-

"Ahh~"

Steven lets out a soft sigh interrupting Spinel's thoughts. His hand, still attached, gave her a slight squeeze, as if it were a sign. She looked up to see he was stopped in his tracks. Now completely aware, she stopped alongside. They were now near a white barrier. He looked up at the sky as he closed his eyes. Spinel only stared up at Steven as he did so. He looked so happy. And she felt so bad for being here. She didn't want to ruin anything more, especially from how she reacted earlier. Why was he so nice, and to her of all gems!? She didn't deserve standing before him and annoying him with her problems. Truly, she didn't. She just felt no right to do so.

Steven opened his eyes once more while still looking up. The stars were still apparent with the moon at the center of the sky just like he had seen before.

"This is a much better atmosphere, don't you think...?." Steven stopped himself from finishing his sentence as he looked over at Spinel. To his dismay, her facial expression was full of sorrow and discomposure, with her eyes looking anywhere but on his own or at the night sky. Steven's smile disappeared and stayed quiet, trying to come up with another thing to do to break the ice at least.

"Come on, let's sit riiight-" Steven looked ahead of him.

The head of Obsidian made the Hilltop stand out as the edge. He wasn't sure if he wanted them to get any closer, recalling the accident with Amethyst breaking her gem from the fall from almost that exact spot.

"There!" He pointed just ahead of him.

Spinel looked at the area his finger was pointing at. It was right between the stoned part and the grassy remains of the hilltop. It wasn't too close to the edge, and it seemed promising for a great view. He almost clutched onto her hand, as if telling Spinel they were now moving. She followed along as the two only walked a few feet ahead of them just to stop.

He suddenly lets go of her hand and Spinel almost felt both relief and anguish hitting her at once. But she looked over to see he was still beside her. He wasn't running off. Instead, he just sat himself down on the ground and lets out a breath of air. She only just stood there, wondering what to do next.

"Spinel you can sit down if you want.," he said.

The teen patted his hand on the ground. She was hesitant to accept the offer. Instead, she just sat a few more inches away from the spot he had offered. Then after that, it was silent. Nothing but silence.

Steven reached in his pocket to grab his phone out. At first, Spinel noticed this from the corner of her eye, still cautious even now, but she didn't take any further action when she realizes the device was no threat.

Meanwhile, Steven briefly checked his phone to see the time.

12:47 A.M

This was one of the longest nights he had ever willingly stayed up. But he could tell it was hitting him slowly. With all the fiasco that happened earlier, he had more energy to spare and forced himself to stay awake and aware. He puts it up quickly and resembles his stargazing. He glimpsed over to Spinel. She was huddling herself again. He could now see her face in a brighter light. From the side, the black lines on her face curved down to the end of her cheeks. Her eyes still a vibrant magenta... But they were now dull from the first time he had noticed them. She never ceased a smile and her pigtails were now down.

Steven still couldn't help but admire her. Even if she wasn't in her best state of mind, something about her spoke out to him. She was truly extraordinary, not in a good or bad way, it was hard for the young adolescent to explain how he felt. He had seen many gems, from rare ones to known ones. She, on the other hand, was completely different from any gem or person he had ever met. Lapis was close enough to someone he couldn't understand, but he eventually got to her, and the two eventually became friends and allies.

Spinel, on the other hand, was a tougher gem to crack. Her gem was heart-shaped, which represented love in human language, and maybe in gem language as well. She was just..hard to read, difficult to talk to at times, and even resented him in helping her. He barely knew her, and yet he felt a need to seek out her problems.

Steven sighed inwardly and looked back up at the sky. Clearly in deep contemplation of his next choice of words to say. Then he saw it. Above all of the stars, there shimmered one so bright, it was just too noticeable for him not to acknowledge. Steven smiled.

"It's amazing how you can see Homeworld from this distance..."

This sort of caught her attention, as she slowly raised her head, looking up at the sky.

For a second he might've heard her respond with a "Yea…"

That was a start.

"I ...used ya warp pad to get here…" Spinel admitted to Steven, who only stared at her in response.

"B-but it was on accident I swear! I..I.." Spinel continued as she paused for a second trying to come up with the next line of words. Her voice was softened and almost hitched as guilt began to rise from her shame of ruining Steven's day...or was it a night...who cares!?

"Go on..its okay Spinel.." Steven reassured her to keep talking. Spinel looked at Steven, her inner self-loathing interrupted by his subtle voice. It felt so calming and...safe. She then looked ahead of her.

"..I made a horrible mistake..back on Homeworld that is..." She continued but she had paused for another minute or two. She just stared up at the sky, trying her best to not break into tears. Being here on Earth and with Steven, everything was beginning to feel overwhelming.

"Oh geez! I shouldn't have come hear.." Spinel spurred out before rapidly grabbing onto her pigtails.

"Spinel, it's fine really! I am okay with this... I simply want to know why you came down here. " Steven said to her promptly, trying to keep his voice down and calm as not to sound too demanding with the onslaught of questions.

"Now...you said you made a mistake..would you mind telling me what you did? Because if it has anything to do with the Diamonds, I can talk to them if you ne-" Steven was then interrupted by Spinel.

"No!..well...yea… but it's not about them... its.."

She stopped in mid-sentence. She debated to herself if it was really good to mention one of her many errors to someone who's already been through enough of her? He tells her it's fine, yet she still feels bad for bringing her problems to him. But she couldn't keep lying to him. She already trespassed on his planet. So what more of an inconvenience would she be if she didn't say anything at all? That's all he wanted. For her to be honest with him. After all, he told her they were.. friends.. .and being a friend means being truthful with each other...

"It's about Pearl.." She admits.

Pretty vague indeed. Steven knew he couldn't keep giving her question among questions. One at a time. Right now he had to think of which Pearl she might've been referring to. Steven thought for a while. Surely it wasn't their Pearl, was it? She did seem like the type to visit Homeworld from time to time, but did she legitimately visit Spinel? That just seemed too hard to believe. Steven reflected on the other Pearls he knew of. Yellow or Blue Pearl were possible victims, but wouldn't Blue or Yellow Diamond have told him by now? Unless they didn't care about them, which wasn't a stretch to imagine being a possibility. After all, they weren't enslaved by force..well not anymore. Steven shakes his head and pays his focus back on the subject at hand.

Or perhaps it was..

Steven twitched his eye. Of course, she would have talked to her. Why hadn't he thought about this after all this time? It was obvious that Spinel would've met her by now. He couldn't believe that he tried patching up spots in his memories to forget certain things, and she was one of them. It was such a horrible sin.

"Pink Pearl…?" Steven said out loud. Spinel looked over to him. He had looked as if he was bewildered from the name itself. She hadn't seen him like that, which was surprising to her.

"Yea..Y-you knew her right..?" Spinel asked out of curiosity.

'Of course, he knew her! why would I ask such a stu-'

"Of course! Yeah, it's been a while since I've last seen..her." He tried to cover up the shakiness in his voice. It was very hard to talk about her. But Spinel caught onto his voice going all wobbly and strange from Pink Pearl being brought up.

"A-anyways.. What happened with P-Pearl?" He wanted to further investigate the details of what happened between the two, his insecurities and voice cracks not helping.

Spinel didn't respond right away. She only stared at Steven before she looked back down at the ground.

"It's silly…" she admitted.

"Silly enough for you to come down here?" Steven said in an almost joking tone.

"Yea…" she admitted. He didn't expect that answer.

"Spinel...just talk to me...I'm can help you..."

"Heh. How can you 'help me'..?" she asked sarcastically as if he were bluffing in his statement.

"I don't know.. But if you told me, I can at least try to figure it out... Just what happened between you two?"

Spinel didn't respond. She kept quiet, wondering if she should tell him anything more. She felt like it wasn't important. And he would probably tell her that too.

"I...I said awful things to her." Spinel said, placing blame on herself.

Steven listened as Spinel admitted to saying some harsh things to Pink Pearl, including what she had said about his mom.

"I...just went off...I yelled at her.. Threw things around… But... I didn't hurt her.. I would never hurt her... I was just so angry... and I took it out on her…" she answered.

"What brought that out of you...your anger that is?" Steven asked. Spinel looked at Steven and frowned, visibly tensing up a bit.

"She'd talk about...Pink Diamond...it was within reason though..and...I was fine with it at first..."

Spinel began shaking a bit as she was already tense. She even pulled at her pigtails as she continued with stuttering.

"E-every chance I got to be around Pearl. I thought that's what a friend would do...to be there for them...To listen to them and I did just that for her..and for a while I was happy in doing so.."

Spinel smiled, only brief, but it was there.

She could remember the first time she arrived Homeworld with the Diamonds. From the beginning of her new journey, it was challenging. Surely she had the Diamonds to give her the support and comfort she needed, and she gave back in return. She knew how to be a friend after all. But the only problem was that she didn't know how to make meaningful friendships. And many gems only saw her as a jokester, never anyone else. Even the Diamond's couldn't help her in that.

Then Pink Pearl came to view. They didn't meet immediately, but she was almost always around the palace. When they finally met, it was awkward. But eventually, they came to an understanding of their similarities. She thought they had some sort of connection based on the person that betrayed him. She had learned about Pearls' origin, and how everything came to be. It tarnished her gem to the core, and Spinel promised herself to help support Pearl. She thought that meant something at least. Pearl would talk to her, and Spinel would listen to any and everything she had to say. And for a while, she was okay with that. From juggling and telling jokes...Well, Spinel did those things anyway, and Pink Pearl usually sat and watched, which was more than alright with her.

Spinel's smile soon disappeared, coming back to realization.

"but.. even after everything I did..all she saw was...Pink Diamond." Spinel sulked at the last word.

"She never saw me for me.." She felt her voice change from earlier. " no one did…"

The silence was now marked until Spinel felt herself burst out.

"But why would they!? hehehe.."

She felt herself beginning to giggle all of a sudden.

"hehehe..after all..hehe I'm jus' some random gem that came out of nowhere, now taking over Pink Diamonds stuff..hehe..I just sorta replaced her..."

Spinel's gestured her hands as she spoke in a non-serious manner with her eyes twitching. Then she realized what she had just pointed out.

"I-I mean I was never meant to be taken seriously anyway...I'm just some type of replacement of hers..." Spinel's voice lowered from her sudden outburst.

Steven almost felt guilty for not thinking too deep into this. He thought The Diamonds could give Spinel exactly what she needed. But, he never had the courage to at least check up on her during the past year since she's been up there.

"Even after Pink's gone.." Spinel continued. "she's still left as a reminder for those who she's left behind..."

Steven almost felt that. He felt himself grip onto his gem while facing the ground from the sudden change of mood. He was taking all of this in, including things he did not expect. His mom was gone, yet her past remained…

Spinel huddled her legs close to her as she looked off into the sky.

"I..I don't think I've changed...I couldn't help it..going off on her..on you.. After all, she's told me I only thought of myself…so selfish.."

Steven looked over to see that tears were falling down her eyes.

"I came here all this way for Star's sake! hoping you'd to help me with this..silly, stupid situation!" She bewailed, with her arms out spiraling in her action of words.

Then her arms suddenly fell on the grassy ground. The cold breeze a soft shutter from Steven as he palmed his hands close to him.

"Can I be honest with you...Steven?" Spinel asked. "...I miss her.. Pink..." she confessed.

Steven looked over to see tears running down her face as she stares at the sky, never taking a peek over at him.

"I think about her a lot...I mean I'm around her things..and she's all everyone would talk about..."

Spinel's voice was shaking. The sorrowful form of whimpers came from her high-pitched voice.

"I wish she was still here..." She almost whispered, as if it was a confession to not admit up to.

"I was never made to change Steven...I'm just...stuck in the past.." Spinel admitted. She began weeping silently for a while, bringing her limbs closer to herself.

Steven's face had a weary look as he stared at the pink gem, breaking down. He bit his lip trying to figure out what to say next. It was a lot to take in. She was hurt still, she was pouring out self-hate in herself again she felt as if she hadn't changed, and she has no idea what to do next. Pink Pearl is back in the picture...And he was her last resort? And most importantly, his mom takes part in this, even if she wasn't here. Steven sighed. Right now it was best for her sprew out her feelings. Crying was essential.

Then it was quiet, and her whimpering and weeps were now soundless. Steven knew it was now or never. And he could not mess it up this time.

"Spinel…..you're not a replacement...nor are you selfish." He stated.

Spinel didn't respond to this. Instead, she buried her head in her arms further. Steven began scooting himself over close enough to her. He was hesitant but puts his hand on her padded shoulder. This sudden touch made her flinch slightly. Spinel picks her head up to look over at Steven. He was smiling, and it almost felt enduring. She didn't move from her spot either.

"You may not see it.. but you've changed." Steven continued.

"How do you know..?" She asked, suddenly, in a breathless tone.

"Well first and foremost.. You are allowing me to listen to you and your problems...no fighting's involved...We're just talking like regular gems! And for me, that is phase one of many more to come. This is a good way to start Spinel." Steven said.

He stared deep into her eyes while his smile diminished into a more serious look.

"No matter how small it is..." he almost whispered.

Spinel grew flustered from this, but soon after her eyes diminished in a narrow stare, moving his arm away from her shoulder. She moved a few inches away from him.

"How can you even say that? I still left a bad note on my part... Even if I didn't use hurt anyone.." she protested against herself. It was true on her part., at least she thought so.

"it wasn't your fault entirely to feel the way you did.." Steven countered back as if defending her from herself. Spinel opened her mouth once again, but nothing came out. She couldn't say anything this time. Instead, she only listened.

"As I've said before, I've met Pink Pearl.."

Steven paused and bit down on his lip, thinking of what to say. He had to be honest with her. She was spouting out everything on the table. Now he somewhat understood everything.

"I'm sure she's told you about me attempting to...um…" he swallowed heavily.

This was hard for him too, and Spinel was probably catching on.

"Heal her..?" Spinel finished his sentence.

Steven felt his stomach almost from her answer. Of course, she would've known about that. Pink Pearl might have told her everything, alright...Now he felt part of this. Steven began scratching the back of his head. He couldn't bring himself to stare at Spinel at the moment.

"Y-yea..that," he admitted. "And things didn't turn out the way I had hoped…"

Spinel knew what he meant. She looked down at the ground from the sudden memory of their talk. Steven looked up to see Spinel almost trembling. But it was more of a reaction from what he said.

Both of them felt that.

"I have my guilt for not being able to do something for someone..or realizing I had no other choice…" Steven shuttered in the last part.

He could think of the many mistakes he's made that almost sabotaged everything and the source of all this pain and misery in his life was, of course, his mother. But there were many errors he made from his gullibleness and naivety. Steven let out a small sigh, things were so much simpler to his younger self than they were now...but he wouldn't turn his back on his friends...even if they did try to kill him at first.

"Spinel.. you may not know it.. but my mom..Pink Diamond..I never had a chance to even meet her, yet I've been told to be like her almost all my life.." he said. "and I thought that was my purpose, to fulfill my mother's legacy."

"Heh, I even thought of dying my hair pink." Steven countered in a small confession putting his arm behind his head out of an embarrassing truth..

Spinel didn't react though. She only sat there, looking at Steven and taking everything he was saying. Now wasn't the time for jokes. He should've known better.

"but...I didn't know everything obviously...my dreams of thinking my mom was this super cool good-hearted hero...that was all shattered, only 4 years ago." Steven frowned from the sudden memories hitting him.

"Which sounds small to you I know... and I know I could never atone for 6000 years.. but you need to understand almost all my life I was told a lie.." He spewed out the last bit of words with a slight whimper.

It was still too hard to take in. Even from the ones he thought he trusted the most, he had never given him any truth until it was almost too late. On too many occasions.

"So in a way." He said.

The adolescent teen reached for her unopened hand. "I understand you.." Spinel was surprised by that. He understood her..?

Steven then proceeded, "Listen... I wanted to tell you this much for a while..but I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you that day..." He continued.

"You were in grief from what my mom did... and I just didn't pay full attention..until it was almost too late...I've should've known better..." Steven's face grew saddened as he stared at the pink gem. He almost visioned the look just from looking at her.

Spinel only stared at him, bewildered by his sudden, unexpected statement. What was he talking about!? And why was he apologizing to her? She was the one who invaded the Earth, trying to pump it full of poison and kill everyone on it. It was her fault..so why...why was he still being so sincere?

"B-b-but I.. I don't deserve an apology..." she stuttered through her words while she looked away from Steven's eyes. But the palm of her hand still clung onto his hand.

"I trespassed hear to talk to you about this stupid situation..it's not even worth talking about-"

"Spinel, please stop calling your situation 'stupid' because it's not!" Steven felt himself yell.

Spinel was caught off guard from Steven's sudden outburst. She turned her head back to him. He didn't sound angry but his voice held more sternness to it.

"I get it if you don't see it that way, but I see someone who needs support in making friends..and I was wrong in thinking all you needed were the Diamonds..I should've thought of the other possible outcomes..but I don't have a future vision like Garnet.," he stated.

He clearly holding back his mounting frustration and was just tired of seeing her trying to find another reason for him to not help her. This was denial at its finest and Spinel did not deserve to be the way she was currently. Steven sighed, repressing his voice and frustrations.

"And you do deserve an apology, Spinel."

Steven moved in front of her, still at eye level. He brings one of his hands and infused it with hers', close between the two of them. He then took her pinky gloved finger onto his own. Spinel was taken aback by this strange action from him as he moved her fingers around so calmly. She glanced over at his hand in action..what was he planning?

"How about this... let's make a pinky promise." He said as he stared back at her.

"Pinky promise…?" Spinel asked, clearly confused by the words. Earth and their many strange customs were still foreign to her language.

Steven wondered why she stared at him like that. Oh, of course, she didn't understand what a pinky promise meant or even was. It was pretty obvious by the fact she only showed up to Earth a year ago..and she doesn't remember those moments during which she was reset. Steven sighed, pushing himself out of his thoughts.

"Well um, it's basically like some sort of pledge you make with someone.." He explained to her.

Spinel thought about it for a while trying to reminisce it in her gem language, something he had had to learn about gems. They couldn't comprehend Earth Lingo exactly well. But even from someone like her, he was still surprised she wouldn't understand fully.

"Like an order…?"

"Yea like-N-no! Nothing like that!" He caught himself quickly, not realizing what she had just said, but comprehending at the last second.

"It's like a promise between two friends only. A word of honor that you can never break." Steven described it more literally.

Spinel only stared, not even a peep coming out of her mouth. She seemed to somewhat understand what he meant.

"And my promise to you, is from now on, I'll support you in whatever decision you make...as long as it is for the better." he continued.

"You can talk to me whenever you are feeling down. I will always be willing to be there for you, listen to whatever you have to say, talk to you, show you places. Anything it takes to make you feel better...That's my word of honor." He said vibrantly as he clutched hard onto her thumb.

Steven knew Spinel seemed to understand him better as her face began turning a dark shade of red out of embarrassment, while her face grew from sadness. He was almost repeating the same words she had said earlier.

"But.. in return…" Steven stared into her eyes.

His tone of voice had noticeably changed. Spinel could have sworn his eyes were no longer black. They looked almost pink from her point of view. And his pupils were..Diamond-shaped... She was almost transfixed by this sudden change of look in his eyes.

"I want you to promise me that you will find yourself." He said in almost a quiet manner. Spinel's eyes looked confused from his sudden request.

"Find myself..?" She retorted his statement.

"Yea.. you know, like understanding-"

"Yea I know what you mean...But…" Spinel's face fell down to the ground "I'm already off to a bad start..."

"Well, that's where I come into play...I told you I'll support you.." Steven answered her.

Spinel looked up at Steven and wondered to herself. Could she do it? Steven was willing to help her in hopes to find herself..that wouldn't be too hard, right?

"But how would I even know where to start? I don't know even know what else I'm good at other than what I'm made for..." she wondered.

"Spinel.. It takes time and right now, we can start by you reopening your friendship with Pearl. I know she must mean a lot to you for you to come down all the way down here to earth..and I'll help you with that... But that is entirely up to you.." Steven said in that same assertive tone.

Spinel was quiet as her pupils wondered elsewhere, thinking of everything he said to her. She had no idea just how far this would've gone and she wouldn't complain in the slightest. Steven was willing to help her. He was willing to be her friend again. And most of all, he and she now had something personal to hold onto.

"I..promise.." She finally said. Steven smiled, as the two parted fingers. Steven picked himself off the ground as he patted himself.

"Good! Well now that we got that-"

"Steven..?" Steven hushed up and looked back at Spinel in front of him. She was still laying on the ground with her head down still.

"What's up?" Steven asked.

"Could I.. request something on our pinky promise...?" Spinels' voice was low, but Steven could still hear it.

"What is it?" Steven asked nervously.

Spinel doesn't respond as she continued staring down.

"Can I...call you..my Diamond..?"

…...WHAT THE-

"...WHAT?" Steven suddenly spewed out loud. What indeed. Spinel looked up at Steven and grew more nervous from his reaction alone. He looked perplexed from her sudden request.

"Spin-Spinel I don't think that's a good idea.." it wasn't at all. He was Steven. Not his mom. Didn't they just go over that? But his gem belonged to his mother at one point. So it was technically his name in a gem status. But he did not identify as that.

"I get it...Just thought I'd ask still.." she muttered. She had her head down in embarrassment. She knew it was a bad call to even consider that idea to him. There she went, being selfish again...

Steven noticed the way she had so quickly given up, and deep down he felt bad. It wasn't that huge of a request anyway. He couldn't deny to sometimes liking the idea of being called a Diamond, it's just he wasn't too influenced by power. Just by him being true to himself.

Just as Spinel began to pick herself up, Steven halted her.

"Fine..." he finally said. Spinel looked up at Steven standing before her. His face was now calm like before, as he had his eyes closed, before opening them back up.

"BUT! Only if it helps you..so not all the time... And.." Steven's cheeks flushed from the thought of even playing along with this. "We can't say it in front of others…just between the two of us...deal?" He crouched down at her level once again, and he put out his pinky finger in front of her. Spinel was almost taken aback but knew what to do now. She put her previous finger back onto his.

"Deal..." She answered. After their thumb tug, Steven proceeded to move the rest of his free fingers on to Spinels gloved hand, helping her off the ground. She took the offer with no complaints. This was getting to a better start already...

"Now...let's get you home, I'm sure the Diamonds are probably worried sick about your whereabouts.."

"You're taking me back..?" She asked.

"Well, yea..." Steven responded.

"Oh.."

Steven sighed. He really just needed to sleep so he could focus because he was starting to decline slowly but surely.

"Spinel..as much as I would love to let you spend the night here, I can't do that at the moment...it'll be too much to explain to the other gems, who practically barge into my room without permission. Plus word gets out pretty fast." Steven jokes but even now he was still serious. He had to ease Spinel onto everyone else. Things would be more awkward than their previous reunion.

Spinel nodded in response, understanding Steven's seasoning, even she wasn't sure of meeting the other gems this soon...it still felt like they viewed her as a threat.

"I understand...I get it.." She reassured him. Steven looked at Spinel. She really needed support as soon as possible. Then something came to his mind.

"Tell you what... tomorrow, I'll come to Homeworld and visit you!" he said in an excited tone. Spinel stared up at Steven, who was full of sudden bursts of energy.

"Yea! We'll start right away and get things going. Summer is around the corner so there will be plenty of things we can do here as well. I can sorta reintroduce you to Earth, like a tour maybe. "

Spinel took notice of his eyes, glimmering. He looked so genuinely happy.

"Yea…I'd like that." She agreed to whatever he was spouting about. Steven's smile grew wider from her agreement. Spinel nearly felt her face warming up.