AN: This is just my own take on the Steven Corruption Theory, something to help tire you over till the hiatus is over. Hope you enjoy.
"Steven!"
A knock at the door.
"Steven, open up right now!"
He could barely hear them, Garnet yelling with the faint murmur of Pearl and Amethyst in the background. His ears were ringing, and vision blurred, what was he doing again? He felt cold and wet, his head ached like nothing he's ever felt before.
"STEVEN!"
He snapped out of it, looking around he remembered. Sitting curled up in the bath of his house, the Diamond bottles lay on the floor beside him, empty. He glanced down at the reflection in the water…. Monster!
"Steven, you've been in there for three days what's going on?!" Called Garnet from the other side of the door, still pounding her fist.
"If there is something wrong, Steven, you have to let us help you!" Pearl spoke up, Steven could hear the worry in her voice. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't face them, not like this.
It started a little while ago, he didn't think much of it at first and chose to ignore it. Weird colouration on his skin began to appear and it only got worse. A few days later, parts of his body started to ache with no real reason to. Around his face, his fingertips, down his back and through to his tail bone. He also felt like his teeth were getting sharper as were some of his core senses. Then without warning, he began sprouting horns and spikes, four around his face and more trailing down the back of his spine.
Steven rushed to the bathroom before anyone could see and stared at himself in the mirror. Is this, corruption? He thought, but how? He shook his head, no time to question it, only time to fix it. He ran a bath and opened the cabinet to grab the bottles of the DCC (Diamond Corruption Cure) and added just a drop of each before adding his own power. Chucking on the swim shorts left in in the room he gets into the bath with the magic cure. It's ineffective.
He thought that perhaps it takes longer because he's not fully corrupted or because he is half-human, so he waited.
Hours passed, still nothing. The corruption only grew but he stayed where he was, too scared to even move. By the end of the next day, he grew frantic and used up all the DCC, throwing them to the ground in frustration.
The Gems were worried, but they didn't push too hard to get Steven to come out on the first two days. He seemed to be having a hard time lately and figured maybe he needed some isolated time to himself. But by the middle of the third day they couldn't wait any longer, something was wrong.
"STEVEN WE'RE COMING IN!" Garnet started banging on the door harder now, this time she intended to break it down.
"NO, DON'T!" Steven yelled back, desperate to keep himself hidden but there was nothing he could do. His head was throbbing so loud that it was almost overpowering the sound of the door being knocked down.
1, 2, 3, BANG! The door fell and the three Gems burst through the room. For a moment it was as if the world had stopped, Steven and the Gems staring at each other both in utter shock. Then, realisation hit.
"NO, STAY AWAY! DON'T LOOK AT ME!" Steven flashed pink before rolling over in the bath with his hands gripping tightly to his head, the boy's back facing the Gems.
Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl gasped in unison then rushed over to the side of the bath.
"S-steven?" Garnet kneeled and peered over the boy, cautiously reaching out a hand to touch him.
Steven's head felt as though tap dancers with the weight of elephants were dancing in his head, he lacked sleep, food and the stress was getting to him. His body gave out, and he fainted.
Garnet seeing this outcome at the last second quickly grabbed him before he completely slipped into the water. Still keeping him above the surface she glanced over to Amethyst and Pearl who were looking pale if that was even possible.
"I don't understand, h-how is this happening? It is corruption, isn't it?" Pearl spoke up, nervously twiddling with her jacket.
"I-I mean it sure looks like it." Answered back Amethyst, leaning down to get a better look with her fear stained face.
Garnet stayed silent, worry pushing out any other thoughts that crossed her mind. She got back her senses when she felt the shake under her fingertips. She refocused and realised that Steven was trembling. She brushed her hand across the water, he'd been in cold water for three days straight, and the lack of food and sleep wasn't doing him any favours. She needed to get him out.
"Pearl let the Diamonds know, Amethyst go get Greg and Connie, I'll stay with Steven." They paused for a moment, looked to each other then nodded and rushed out the room.
Garnet slowly picked Steven up out the water, being careful to place her Antecubital Fossas between the spikes on his back. She looked down at him, around his face were blotchy purple marks that from further inspection, covered his back, wrapped around his sides and appeared to stem from his Gem. Besides the ones down his back, 2 horn-like spikes were coming out of the sides of his head and another two just under his jaw.
Grabbing Stevens clothes and a towel she walked out to the main room. She sat down and wrapped up the boy in the towel to dry him off and warm him up.
She stayed there for a while just staring up at the ceiling, still holding the boy tightly in her arms. After a few minutes, she got Steven out of the towel and put on his shirt and jacket.
Garnet zoned out after that and snapped out of it when she heard the screen door open. Pearl and Amethyst walked in and approached them on the couch before speaking.
"The Diamonds will be on their way soon."
"Greg's heading over to get Connie, he'll be straight over after that."
Garnet nodded in acknowledgement then glanced down at Steven, how could she let this happen? It's clear he has been struggling, that something has been wrong for a while now and has only gotten worse. They should have pushed harder; she should have pushed harder. She was supposed to be able to protect him and she failed, again. She couldn't take it, as she gently lay Steven on the couch she walked a few steps away before her fusion collapsed.
"Aughhhhhh!" In a split-second, Ruby and Sapphire were spat out of the fusions light. Their combined worry and stress put an immense amount of pressure on their fusion causing it to fall apart.
"Ruby! Sapphire! Are you alright?" Pearl asked desperately, kneeling with the two Gems who had keeled over on the floor.
The Corundum's sat up, wiping the tears that began to form under their eyes. Ruby shook her head before standing up to go over to Sapphire.
"Y-yeah, we're fine," Sapphire spoke softly as Ruby helped her up. They were in distress as were the rest of the Gems, fear taking hold ready to pull them in and drown them.
"Uh, guys?" Amethyst spoke up, bringing the others attention back over to Steven who began to stir. He rolled over, propping himself up with his right hand while gripping his head tightly in pain with the other. The boy grunted harshly before opening his eyes, startled to find the Gems practically standing on him.
Steven swiftly got up and barged through the Gems in front of him, running then pouncing to the ground next to the kitchen bench. Shock filled the room as Steven's features had become more animalistic. The purple markings had spread further, the Sclera of his eyes had gone dark and his Irises had turned a glowing pink. He was spread out on the floor like a feral animal, standing on all fours. The spikes on his body had grown in both length and sharpness and now extended past his tail bone in which a real tail had sprouted from.
"Please just stay calm Steven; you need to let us help you." Said Sapphire softly, slowly approaching the young Gem carefully. He bared his teeth and let out a small growl.
"NO!" Steven yelled, a powerful wave emanated from him that shattered parts of the windows and cracked the floor beneath him. The Gems took a step back, almost being thrown off their feet. Steven's anger-filled face suddenly soften as he realised what he had just done.
"Steven, I know you're scared but we will figure this out, together." Pearl took a few steps towards him and crouched down to offer her hand. His dark yet glowing eyes looked at her then glanced down at her hand. He began to growl again.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" And just like that he bolted out the door and jumped into the distance in the direction of the town.
"STEVEEEEEN!" Called out Amethyst, but it was too late. He was long gone.
"Oh no… What do we do now?" Muddled Ruby with a hand over her mouth.
Before anyone could answer, the sound of a van began to close in.