Chapter 9: Cracked

"And just where do you think you're going?" White Diamond questioned.

After having found and rescued Connie, everyone was heading back to the Roaming Eye to return to Earth, but White Diamond had caught them before they could leave.

"We're just heading back to Earth after having rescued Connie from being kidnapped by your army!" Steven replied coldly.

"Yeah! Why would you even want to capture Connie in the first place? What could you possibly have to gain from such a sick stunt anyway?!" Amethyst added. "You should know that we would come here to rescue her!"

"That's exactly what I was counting on." White Diamond said. Then, she grabbed a nearby blaster that happened to be on the ground. The blaster looked like a gem destabilizer, but with four prongs around a ball of white energy instead of two prongs around a ball of yellow energy. White Diamond proceeded to charge up the blaster and aimed for Connie. The blast of pure energy struck Connie in the chest, but thankfully, it missed her gem. The blast of energy sent Connie into the wall with great force. Steven watched terrified as she slid down into a sitting position, moaning in pain. Concerned, Steven ran over to make sure that Connie was alright.

"Connie! Connie, are you okay?" Steven asked, worry etched in his voice.

"Y-yeah, Steven… I'm… fine…" Connie said weakly, though it was clear that she was far from it.

Meanwhile, as the gems were hurrying towards the ship, they failed to notice that White Diamond charged up the blaster again, once again aiming for Connie, though it was clear that this shot would be much more powerful than the last one. Steven, however, saw this as he turned around to face White Diamond, his expression bold and challenging with some anger in it. Steven proceeded to pull out his shield as White Diamond fired again, catching the attention of the gems as the blast of pure energy struck the shield.

"Steven!" Connie watched, terrified, as the blast of energy wore down Steven's shield, quickly causing it to dissipate as the blast struck Steven squarely in his gem, creating a sizable crack. Garnet also saw this and ran out picking up both Steven and Connie, carrying them back to the ship, which quickly took off before White Diamond even had a chance to stop them. The ship took off towards Earth with the gems, Connie, and the injured Steven in tow.

...

Back at the temple, Steven and Connie were waiting for the gems to return with some of the water from Rose's healing fountain since it turned out that none of Steven's powers — including his healing spit — would work when his gem was cracked. It had been something that they had already tried, since Steven's healing spit had fixed the cracked gemstones of other gems. However, it was made apparent that his powers didn't work with a cracked gem.

Right now, Steven was laying down on the couch as Connie watched to make sure that nothing bad would happen. So far, everything was going alright, as Steven's crack hadn't grown any larger.

"Steven, I'm so sorry." Connie said, looking at Steven's cracked gem. "I can't believe this happened to you…."

"It's okay, Connie. It's not your fault." Steven replied. "Besides, once the gems get back with some of the healing water from my mom's fountain, I'll be back to normal." Connie smiled a little upon hearing this.

As Steven said this, however, the crack in his gem got slightly bigger, causing his body to glitch out, much to Connie's horror, especially as she realized that the crack in his gem wouldn't need to get much bigger before Steven's gem would get shattered completely.

"Ah! Steven!" Connie shrieked. "Your gem! It got even more cracked!"

"Oh no…" Steven muttered.

"I sure hope that the others are hurrying up with getting that healing water…" Connie said as tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. She was scared that the gems might be too late to save Steven. Even just the thought of losing Steven was just too much for Connie to handle. She wouldn't know what to do without him. After all, they meant the world to each other.

"Yeah. Me too…." Steven replied. Likewise, Steven was also scared. Since he could retreat into his gem, it was certain that if his gem got shattered, it would ultimately be the death of him. Steven knew that everyone he knew would be devastated. His dad would never be able to get over it. Connie would likely go into a depression from losing him. The gems, especially Pearl, would never be able to forgive themselves for failing to protect him. Nobody would ever be the same if Steven was shattered.

Thankfully, the warp pad lit up, signifying that the gems were back. Noticing how much bigger the crack in Steven's gem had gotten, Garnet quickly hurried over and poured the healing water onto Steven's cracked gem. Everybody watched as Steven's gem glowed in response as the crack slowly closed itself.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Connie said. "I'm so glad you're okay Steven. I was so scared." She said, giving Steven a hug, which he gladly returned. The gems were also glad to see Steven back to normal, all of them showing their shared relief in their own ways. Needless to say, though, they all were very relieved that Steven was okay.

...

Back on White Diamond's ship, however, White Diamond was frustrated over her most recent failed plan. Sitting at her throne, White Diamond proceeded to lay out her next plan of attack. "Those darn Crystal Gems…." She muttered. "They're going down once and for all!" She said, as she laughed maniacally. "As soon as I figure out how…."