Chapter 16: Bringing Steven Back
After hearing that Steven could potentially be brought back, Connie felt tears in her eyes as her lips curled into a small smile. He wasn't gone forever. "How do we bring him back?" Connie heard herself asking, as she quickly ran and grabbed the bubble holding Steven's gem shards, hugging them tightly to her chest as she ran back over to the couch where Peridot was.
"Well, according to my scanner, we need about 24 ounces of Oganesson, as well as a small handful of the pink material inside of an injector, some healing water from Rose's fountain, and, of course, the gem shards." Peridot replied, reading off of the scanner. "We only have about 26 ounces of Oganesson though, so we won't be able to do it a second time."
...
"Hi, my name is Steven!" Connie looks over to see a panicked Steven running towards her, then trips and falls on top of her. His gem then begins to glow, and the two are suddenly surrounded by a pink colored bubble. The large rock that was falling from the tremor being caused by an unseen gem monster strikes the top of the bubble, immediately shattering upon impact. "Whoa! How did I do that?" Steven wonders aloud, then turns to look back at Connie. "Hi. My name is Steven."
"Connie." She replies back, readjusting her glasses. The remains of the rock that was about the size of a refrigerator lie around the bubble. The two had only just met, and Steven had already managed to save Connie's life before they even knew each other's names.
...
The warp pad at the Prime Kindergarten lit up as Connie and the gems all arrived there. "Okay, now we need some of the insides of an injector for our first ingredient." Peridot stated. Amethyst used her whip to slice open the nearest injector, causing some pinkish substance to spill out. Garnet summoned her gauntlets and collected a handful of it, then encompassing a bubble around it to hold it.
"Alright; what's next?" Connie asked.
"Now, we need some of the healing water; about 16 fluid ounces of it." Peridot replied.
...
"So… Lapis and Jasper are somewhere underwater." Connie says, to make sure she heard right.
"Yeah; and Peridot escaped while the ship was coming down. She could be anywhere." Steven clarified.
"That is a lot to take in…" Connie says, understanding now why Steven was trying to keep his most recent harrowing adventure to himself. He had been knocked unconscious, kidnapped, and almost was taken into space never to return.
"Are you okay?" Steven asks, worried that he told her too much.
"Are you okay?" Connie asks back. Even after all he has been through, Steven was still genuinely worried about her. "You're the one that's been through everything. The least I could do is just listen."
"I can't ask you to do that."
"I want to, Steven." Connie reassures him. "I want to be a part of your universe."
...
The gems had now arrived at Rose's healing fountain, Connie holding a plastic water bottle to hold the healing water in. "Now, we need about 16 fluid ounces of this water." Peridot says. "Then, that should be everything."
"I'm on it." Lapis replies. Lapis then uses her water powers to levitate a small bubble of the water and makes it hover to Connie, where she drops the water in as Connie screws the lid on.
"Alright. That should be everything. Now let's head back and bring Steven back." Connie says.
...
"We're falling! Steven, let's fuse! We can hover. We'll be okay!… Steven?" Connie says. Stevonnie was training in the ancient sky arena, but after seeing guilt-induced hallucinations from Steven's half of the fusion, they fell off and split up into Steven and Connie.
"I didn't want to hurt anyone!" Steven says, tears flowing, as Connie makes her way through free-fall to grab hold of Steven. "I'm sorry! None of them would let me help them. I had no choice!"
"It's okay!" Connie tells him.
"No, it's not!"
"But it's okay to think about it!" Connie reassures him.
"It feels so bad." Steven says back.
"That's okay too! There was nothing else you could've done." Connie tells him.
"I don't want to feel this way." Steven says, still crying.
"You have to. You have to be honest about how bad it feels so you can move on." Connie reassures again. "That's how it was for me."
"Okay."
Steven and Connie promptly fuse again into Stevonnie. Stevonnie then uses their floating powers to land safely on the ground. "Ah. I'm here."
...
"Okay. Now… we just need to follow these instructions." Peridot said. Connie was holding Steven's shards and the healing water, and Garnet was holding the injector insides and the Oganesson. "First, get the healing water and the Oganesson and pour them into a bowl." She read, the others doing so. "Now, mix the injector insides in the bowl." Garnet popped the bubble holding the inside and Pearl summoned her spear and mixed it up. "Finally, piece together the shards and place them into the bowl." Connie did so and the bowl started to glow.
"I-it's working!" Connie said.
The others all watched in amazement as the shards absorbed everything there as it slowly fixed itself. Suddenly, the gem began to glow very brightly as it rose into the air and Steven appeared to be regenerating, albeit slightly slower. Finally, his form materialized as he fell to the ground as everyone watched with wonder.
"STEVEN! YOU'RE BACK!" Connie yelled, embracing him in a tight hug. However, what nobody was anticipating was what he said right afterwards.
"Who's… Steven?"