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Chapter Text

Connie gasped as she came to and looked around in a cold sweat. She was still in White Diamond's vessel. As she took in her surroundings, she saw White Diamond on the ground. Beside her where and unconscious Yellow and Blue Diamond returned to their original colors. White's pearl was no longer a pale gray anymore, but a rosy pink instead. She looked up, rubbed her shattered eye, and spoke, "What… what happened? Where am I?"

The thirteen-year-old girl looked back to where the Crystal Gems were. She saw that the equally unconscious Garnet's, Amethyst's and Pearl's original colors had fully returned as well. The latter Gem had her spear clutched in her right hand, but the spiral head-blade was dark red. In addition, there was no sign of the Pink Steven anywhere in the room. Connie's expression brightened that they put a stop to White Diamond, rescued their friends, and reunited Steven with his gem. However, a black cloud was then cast over her mood as she found her Jam Bud still on the ground and a deathly pale.

"Steven!" Connie cried out as she forced herself on to her feet. She wobbled for a moment and experienced a sharp ache in her abdomen that threatened to drop her to her knees. However, she ignored the pain long enough to get to her friend. "Steven!" She turned her dying friend over and was shocked to see his gemstone wasn't where it should be.

Steven's lips struggled to move, and his eyes could barely stay open. However, he was able to grunt out, "C… Connie…"

"Steven. Where's your gem?" Connie asked as emotional tears welled in her eyes.

"You… you're okay…"

"I don't care about me! Where's your gem?

Steven's breathing became heavier as he coerced his hand onto the girl's stomach. Connie laid her hand there and felt something unnatural. It was doused. She instinctively removed her hand only to find her palm was painted a deep crimson. Then arrived at the horrifying realization that it was blood. Her blood.

"Steven! Connie!" Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl all cried out as they scrambled over to him.

"What happened to him?" Amethyst asked as she looked at the frail-looking boy she always saw as a little brother.

"Is he okay?" An equally distraught Pearl asked her pupil. The pale Gem looked over at the devastated Connie and gasped as soon as she noticed the red on her shirt. "What happened to you?" Pearl then noticed she unwittingly brought her spear with her, and her whole form trembled as soon as she saw the same shade of red on her weapon. "N… no…" Pearl flung her spear across the room with tears in her eyes. "What… what did I do? What have I done?"

"It… it was White…" Steven spoke up. His tone was even hollower than before. "She… she… ma… made you…"

"Where is his gem?" Garnet questioned Connie. "His gem will heal him. Where is it?"

"I don't know!" Connie cried out in emotional frustration. "I don't know…" The girl then clutched her abdomen as she felt the pain return. As her palms moved up and down her stomach to ease her discomfort, she felt something. It wasn't flesh. It had to smooth a surface. She carefully lifted her shirt just enough to bare her stomach. And right there, implanted into her navel, was Rose Quartz's… Pink Diamond's gemstone.

"He… could on… only save… one…" Steven confessed to his dearest friend and his family. "I… I… couldn't… imagine my… my life… with… without you… Connie."

"Take it back, Steven!" Connie pleaded as tears welled up in hers, Garnet's, Amethyst's and Pearl's sorrowful eyes. "Please, take it back!"

"I… can't…"

"Steven, you have to!" Garnet cried.

"But… Connie…"

"She doesn't want to lose you, too." Amethyst tearfully said.

"She'll…"

"She knows what will happen," Pearl stated.

"But I'll do it anyway!" Connie added in.

"No…"

"You have to." "Please, Steven." "It can't end like this." "Let me do this for you." The four of them all pleaded at once.

As they all begged for Steven to take his gem back, the young Half-Gem mustered all the strength he could to scream one final, "No!" Connie and the Crystal Gems were taken aback by that. Steven looked over at Connie. "We… both can't exist, Connie. But… I'm not going… going to be gone. You told me once that… that I made your life be… better. But you also… made mine… better t… too. My mom told me… that every moment I loved being me, it… it was her loving being me."

"I don't understand," Connie voiced.

"Every moment you… you live. Every moment you… you love yourself." Steven gently gripped Connie's hand. "A part of me… will… will be with you. Lo… loving you b… back. I… love you… Connie Maheswaran."

Connie choked as she tried to muster the words she's always wanted to say, "I love you too, Steven."

Steven looked back to the Crystal Gems. His family. His time was almost up, as he told the three who raised him, "We had a good run, huh?"

"Yes… we did." Garnet quietly spoke as the young Half-Gem flashed them all a smile before his eyes shut for the last time.

Blue and Yellow, and White Diamond regained consciousness. With the first thing, they come to perceive is the Crystal Gems gathered around Steven's body. "Steven!" Yellow and Blue cried out as they crawled on their hands and knees over to their fellow Diamond. The pink pearl also rushed over to him as well.

"What's… what's…" Blue stuttered.

"He's gone." Connie somberly told the monarchs as she stood up and brushed the tears from her sorrowful eyes.

"No." Yellow sobbed with the others. "No. Not again."

Cynical laughter was then heard as Connie, the Crystal Gems, Pink Pearl, and the Diamonds turned to the source: White Diamond. Her amusement dimmed as she stated, "My point, proven."

"What did you say?" An infuriated Yellow asked.

"Even in death, she brings out the worst in others. And continues to encourage your deficiencies. Always hindering my white light from sparkling through. She really is… was the best of the worst."

Lightning proceeded to envelop Yellow Diamond's entire body. With a mighty cry, she launched both of her hands forward and discharged it at the leader of the Great Diamond Authority. White Diamond screamed in agony as the electricity surged throughout her physical form. Emphasized by the yellow veins of energy. Yellow's shriek grew louder as she poured more of her energy into her attack. With one last roar and aggressive push of raw power, the electricity enveloped White Diamond's being and concluded with a poof as potent as a near-unstoppable gale that almost blew away all non-Diamonds. All that was left of White was nothing but her gemstone, as it hit the ground with a harsh thud. Yellow walked over to and collected the gem up from the ground, then bubbled it.

Chapter Text

"Every moment you… you live. Every moment you… you love yourself. A part of me… will… will be with you. Lo… loving you b… back. I… love you… Connie Maheswaran." Those were the last words Steven said to her.

A nineteen-year-old Connie Maheswaran felt her seat bounce as the bus drove over the gravelly road outside Beach City to the newest town that neighbors it. She's changed a lot and wondered if anyone would even recognize her. She wore a white t-shirt with a pair of blue jeans and sneakers. About a year ago, she decided to have her entire left arm tattooed with many flowers of various designs and colors and a star near her wrist. She had no idea what compelled her to make such a decision, but she eventually grew comfortable with it. Her hair remained the same but was covered by a military cap she bought at a rest stop.

Several years have gone by since Steven's death. While life in Beach City resumed, the townies all still felt the loss of the boy who helped bring so much joy to the community. Everyone was heartbroken to learn about Steven's sacrifice. A great person who saw the best in everybody was gone. Never there to show off his optimism, or give support to those who needed it, again.

She saw the bus pass by a sign that read, "Now Entering Little Homeworld, a community for Humans and Gems. Constructed in loving memory of Steven Universe." Steven went to Homeworld to convince White Diamond to help cure the Corrupted Gems. So, that's what they were going to do. Connie wasn't about to let her best friends mission end there. Not after everything he gave to get as far as he did.

After they returned from Homeworld, Connie, her parents, the Crystal Gems Greg, Lion, Cat Steven, Pumpkin, Lars and the Off Colors, Sadie and the Cool Kids, Blue and Yellow Diamond with their pearls, Pink Pearl and all of Beach City's citizens had gathered around Rose's Fountain. Yellow and Blue used the power of White's poofed gemstone with their own powers, the powers of Steven's gem, and the healing abilities of the Fountain to undo the damage caused by the Diamonds.

With the Corrupted Gems healed, Yellow and Blue Diamond took White's bubbled Gem and left Earth. But not to return to Homeworld. They've felt they lost a purpose within this universe, and that the Authority is no longer the galactic power it once was and should be dissolved. No one has seen or heard from them since. Steven was later given a more proper memorial service and was buried at the top of the hill that overlooked Beach City. Connie placed her hand on her… Steven's gem. It still didn't feel right to have it or call it her own. She didn't want it, and yet she was stuck with it.

The bus then came to an abrupt stop, and the door swung as the driver asked, "Anyone getting off?"

Connie stood up and walked off, but not before she told the driver, "Thank you." She looked at the town meters away from her and took a deep breath in, then out. After Steven died, she couldn't stay in Beach City anymore, all it did was remind her of him. All of them needed to grieve in their own way, and that was hers. Her dad got a new job out of town, and the Maheswaran's moved. Connie went to a new school, met new people and graduated high school the year prior. It helped some, but not much.

Connie took a few steps toward the community but stopped as soon as she saw something approach her from a distance. As it drew closer, the young woman was able to identify the recognizable pink mane of, "Lion?" The giant feline stopped with his nose just a few inches short of her own. He then proceeded to give her a big, sloppy lick across her face. "It is you!" Connie hugged the pink beast. "I missed you too." Lion backed up a bit and lowered his body to offer her a ride. "Thanks, but I don't mind walking." Lion then gave the young woman a purr and big eyes to guilt her, like he used to do. "Oh, alright." Connie hopped on Lion back, and he dashed her to Little Homeworld as fast as he could.

Connie's jaw dropped, and her eyes widened as soon as she arrived in the community. It was small, but it was slowly becoming something beautiful. Little Homeworld had small buildings that were brightly-colored. In the middle of it, stood a still-under-construction central tower with two semi-circles on top, which rotated like helicopter blades. She saw many of the formerly Corrupted Gems aid in the construction and even caught sight of Jasper alongside the nephrite, Centi.

"Connie?!" The young woman looked to where the familiar voice came from. She spotted Amethyst with Lapis, Peridot, with Pumpkin in her arms, and Bismuth on top of one of the structures. "Connie!" The purple Gem spin-dashed down the building and tackled her friend off Lion with a big hug. "You're back!"

"Hey, Amethyst." Connie hugged the Gem back.

Amethyst got off the ground and helped the young woman to her feet. "We haven't heard from you in like forever, and here you are."

"She was gone for some time, yes," Peridot stated as she and Pumpkin levitated down on a trashcan lid, and Lapis flew Bismuth down. "But it was hardly forever. Though her physical appearance has changed very much, I might add." Pumpkin barked in agreement.

"We noticed you got some ink." Lapis pointed out.

"I missed you guys, too. I actually wasn't expecting to be greeted like this." Connie looked to the ground. "Since…"

"Hey, it's okay." Bismuth assured her friend. "We all get why you needed to leave. But we're glad to have you back, kid. Ha, probably shouldn't be callin' you that anymore."

"So, what do you think of Little Homeworld?" Lapis chimed in. "Coming along nicely, eh?"

"Yeah, it is." Connie looked down and privately wished Steven was here to see this. "So, where's Garnet and Pearl?"

"Oh, they're in Beach City with Greg." Bismuth explained. "The three of them are helping Mayor Nanefua with getting the concert set up."

"With help from Human Lars, the Off Colors, Pearl, Pearl, and Pearl," Peridot added.

"A concert?"

"Yeah! To help lift everyone's spirits. Considering what today is…" Amethyst's tone lowered for a moment, then turned back to the young woman with a casual smile. "I hope you can stay long enough for that. Sadie Killer and the Suspects are playing. And I'm the drummer and backup vocals."

"Sure, I think I can make it," Connie said.

"Well, we need to get back to work, so we won't take up any more of your time." Bismuth said and was about to return to her work but stopped and turned back around. "I almost forgot. I still have your sword in storage. If you want it back, that is."

"Thank you, but… I think it'll be better if I keep that part of my life separate for now."

"We understand. It's good to see you again."

"You too. Come on, Lion." Connie re-mounted Lion. "Let's go see Garnet and Pearl."

Lion let out a roar that created a portal and ran through it.

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Lion and Connie emerged from the portal onto the beach, just outside the Crystal Temple. The beach house looked the same as Connie remembered. From what she could see, it appeared completely undisturbed. The sight of it made her remember back to when she'd always come over to either see Steven or to train with Pearl. Connie even recalled the time she temporarily lived there with Lapis, Peridot, and Pumpkin as the Crystal Temps.

The young woman turned away from the structure and rode into Beach City. She and Lion passed by Beach Citywalk Fries, the Hot 2 Tot food truck, and Fish Stew Pizza. She saw Ronaldo and Mr. Fryman work from their restaurant's window, while Peedee managed the food truck. Meanwhile, Jenny and Kiki could be seen inside their establishment with their father. The sight of the older Pizza sister made Connie smile slightly as it brought back memories of when she and Stevonnie went to prom. This made the young woman realize just how much she really missed being Stevonnie. Both the good and bad of the experience.

Connie eventually passed by Funland, as Mr. Smiley opened the park up for both Human and Gem citizens. Followed by the Big Donut, where she saw Mr. Dewey hand over a baker's dozen to some quartzes. The young woman rode Lion up until she finally spotted the recognizable white mid-1970's Dodge Tradesman with an elaborate custom paint job, and the purple and white "Mr. Universe" logo just outside It's a Wash. Like Bismuth and Peridot told her, she found Garnet, who held a bigger Cat Steven in her arms, and Pearl with Greg, and Lars, the Off Colors and the three pearls that used to belong to White, Yellow and Blue Diamond.

"And she's here like I said she would be." Garnet immediately said as she placed her cat on to the ground and pointed at Connie as Lion came to a stop, and she dismounted.

Pearl followed Garnet's finger, and she looked in surprise, which then turned to one of joy. "Connie!" She cried as she ran over and hugged the young woman and was joined by Garnet and Greg shortly after.

"Hey, Pearl. Hey, Garnet. Hello, Mr. Universe." Connie said as she hugged the Gems back and gave Mr. Universe a firm handshake.

"When Garnet said she saw you returning, I didn't believe it," Pearl admitted. "But here you are and…" The pale Gem then noticed what was on her former apprentice's left arm. "What did you do?!"

"I kinda figured you freak out over these." Connie showed off her tattoos with a nervous chuckle.

"I can't imagine what your parents thought," Greg said.

"When my parents found out about this, I thought my mom was going to have me strapped onto an operating table and surgically remove them. But they let me keep them for some reason."

"I like them," Garnet told her.

"Everyone, I've been graced with a wonderful vision!" The cheerful sapphire, Padparadscha, exclaimed as she walked up to the reunited friends. "Human Connie shall reunite with her closest friends. Hooray!"

"Thanks, Padparadscha," Lars said as he and Rhodonite walked over to them. The ruby and pearl Fusion gently scooped up the sapphire like a mother would a child and brought her back to the Rutile Twins and Fluorite. "Well, you look like a completely different person."

"And you still look the same." Connie complimented with a warm smile, which shrunk a bit as her mind dwelled back to a conversation that she had with the former space pirate.

After the Corrupted Gems were turned back to normal, Connie was tempted to use Rose's fountain to bring Steven back. But couldn't go through with it after Lars explained to her in detail of what would happen if she did, based on his own experiences. Steven would be alive, but not only would he be pink forever, but he'd also be stuck the way he is forever. He'd never age and would miss out on all the joys of growing into a young man. Lars still is, grateful that Steven was able to give him a second chance at life, to be a better person. But an unintentional side effect of it is that he was no longer Human, in both a metaphorical and literal sense.

Connie took a deep breath in and out to regain her composure and asked Lars, "So, what have you been up to? Since we last saw each other, I mean?"

"Well, Sadie and I are together."

"Finally."

"I've been helping the Off Colors adapt to life on Earth, and we opened up our own bakery."

"Seriously? That's amazing."

"Yeah, everyone in town and Little Homeworld seems to like my ube rolls the most."

"Good for you, Lars. I'll need to order one of them."

"Lars, we could use your advice here!" One of the Rutile Twins called out.

"We were searching through some decorations for the show but can't decide which ones to use," Rhodonite stated.

"I… rather… like… these… green… ones." Fluorite said as she held up the decorations.

"Sorry, I need to…" Lars began to apologize.

"It's okay, go," Connie assured.

"Thanks." Lars turned around and rejoined the other Gems.

"While we're on the topic, what have you been up to since we last saw each other?" Pearl asked Connie.

"Well, I finished up high school and thinking about going to college." The young woman answered. "Just haven't figured out when and where."

"I see there being no reason to rush into it," Greg advised. "You're a smart person, Connie. You'll find the right one."

"Ugh! Your harmony is off again!" The snooty voice of Yellow Diamond's former pearl nagged. "It needs to be perfect!"

The others turned to the commotion and saw her yell at Pink Pearl, who seemed to recoil back. "I thought it was all right." The calm tone of Blue Diamond's former pearl spoke up in defense.

"It's not supposed to be "all right," it needs to be perfect! Or how else is the Greg going to win the concert? Take it from the top!"

"Have the pearls been a problem?" Connie asked the others.

"Oh, it's nothing. She's just being a little bit of a prima donna. Nothing too, bad." Greg assured. "But I'll just go check on them to be safe. It was great to see you again, Connie."

"You too."

Greg rushed back to the three pearls and asked them, "Okay, what's the matter?"

"I thought that they'd be hanging out with Vidalia."

"Normally, they would," Garnet answered.

"But they've also been spending time with Greg, lately," Pearl stated. "They asked to be his backup singers to help him win the concert. Even though he has explained that winning isn't the point."

Connie couldn't help but chuckle. Even though she only met the pearls one time at the Era 3 ball, she figured that Yellow Pearl would love for a chance to be in the limelight. Even if it was for a few seconds. It also wouldn't surprise her that the reason Blue Pearl and Pink Pearl are involved is that they were dragged along into it.

"So, what have you two been up to?" Connie asked the Gems.

"Nothing much," Garnet replied. "My future vision hasn't seen any threats from Homeworld ever since the Authority was dissolved. And there are no more corrupted Gems to worry about. Things have been rather… pacific."

"We've been helping Bismuth and the others with building Little Homeworld," Pearl added. "And I've grown to be more sociable with other people. I've even picked up where I last left off with Sabina."

"That's great to hear, Pearl," Connie said, but the young woman's gaze suddenly became fixated on the hill where the Crystal Temple was built into. She looked at the top it, and her smile began to fade. "I hate to leave like this, since we just met up again and all, but…"

Garnet placed a hand on Connie's shoulder, and with a sympathetic smile, told her, "It's okay. All of us stopped their earlier today. And I'm sure, without doubt, he would appreciate you being there, too."

Connie felt Lion nudge her with his nose. The young woman's smile returned as she mounted him again. Connie waved goodbye as the pink beast sprinted across the road, back onto the sandy beach, and began to hike up the grassy hill.

Chapter Text

Lion reached the top of the hill, and Connie hopped off and petted him as she said, "Thanks, buddy." Lion laid on the grass and purred. Connie took a deep breath in, then out, and repeated the process for a little while longer. Once she was ready, the young woman walked away from the giant feline and stopped at a memorial stone near the edge. It was garlanded with gifts from everyone in Beach City and Little Homeworld.

A bag of chaaaaps. Plastic bags of fry bits, pizza slices, an ube roll, and two doughnuts. A vial of fire salt. A blue, hand-held mirror. A Camp Pining Hearts DVD. Rose Quartz's scabbard, battle flag, and videotape. Steven's ukulele. Sour Cream's headphones. One of Onion's toys. A copy of Golf Quest Mini Remastered. A copy of the Unfamiliar Familiar. And Connie's glow bracelet, which she gave before she left town, among all the other gifts. As well as bouquets of roses.

Connie sat down in front of it and removed and set aside her cap. "Hey, Steven. I know that I haven't come to see you since… since then. I thought that I'd know what I want to say when I got here, but I don't. I left Beach City and the Crystal Gems to try and find a way to move on. It's been tough, but… well, I've been doing well for myself. So, that must be a sign of progress. Little Homeworld is looking great, I believe you would love it." A moment of silence followed by as Connie looked down at the pink diamond gemstone. "I think you already know this, but everyone really misses you. I miss you. I miss you more than anything. I became the best version of myself because of you, and I'll never forget it… But I do wish that you were here to see that version in person. I wish that you were here with all of us."

"We all do." Connie looked behind her and saw Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl.

The young woman stood up. "How long where you guys standing there."

"Not long," Garnet replied.

"We just wanted to check on you again," Amethyst explained.

"We know that it's been a long time since you were last here," Pearl added in as she walked up to Connie. "If you need any one of us to talk to, or a shoulder to cry on, we're here for you."

Connie hugged Pearl and told her, "Thank you." Garnet and Amethyst decided to join in as well.

But the Fusion suddenly jumped back, and shouted, "No!" as she looked up to the sky.

"What's going on, G?" Amethyst asked as she, Pearl and Connie broke from the embrace.

"No! No! No! No! Not now! Not today!"

A strong wind suddenly blew in with enough force that threated to knock all four of them down. Lion hopped onto his feet and snarled as he stood ready for battle. A massive shadow proceeded to cover the entire hill. The clouded sky opened like an ominous gate as a black-accented, hourglass-shaped ship with a magenta liquid inside descended.

"What. Is. That?" Connie asked as she and the others stepped back.

The ship tilted itself and pointed directly at the hill. On the top of the vessel, a silhouette of a figure with spiky pigtails, pointy shoulders, and a noodle-like body could be seen. The individual transformed their hand into a giant horn and blew into it. The sound was deep and boomed like thunder. Loud enough to cause Connie and the Gems to cover their ears. Then, a pop-out drill with three foldout spider-like legs emerged from its base.

"Move!" Garnet ordered as she picked up Amethyst and ran with the others as the ship's legs attached to the sides of the hill, and the drill stabbed itself into the surface, which caused the liquid within the vessel to gurgle.

The figure on top of the ship jumped down to its bottom, while she cackled all the way. The Gems all got a better look at the invader. She was a Gem with a pink complexion, magenta eyes, and hair. Three black lines ran underneath both of her eyes, reminiscent of running mascara. The Gem's attire consisted of a dark magenta top, puffy shorts, hot pink wrist-length gloves, white stockings and a pair of knee-high boots. Her gemstone was hot pink, shaped like an upside-down heart, and located in the center of her chest.

She looked at Connie, Lion and the Crystal Gems with a maniacal smile as she repeated the phrase, "Pink Diamond, come out to pla-aaay!" And grew louder each time. "Pink Diamond, come out to pla-aaay‼ Pink Diamond, come out to pla-aaay‼! Pink Diamond, come out to pla-aaay‼‼ Pink Diamond, come out to pla-aaay‼‼!"

An infuriated Amethyst broke free from Garnet's arms and shouted at the Gem, "Hey! Who the heck do you think you are?!"

"Well, well, well, well! Lemme get a look at this little menagerie!" The Gem shapeshifted her hand and eye to act as a telescope. "You must be Amethyst, right small fry? You must be the "legendary" Fusion, Garnet. The meat-bag over there must be none other than Pinky's little pet, the Connie. And last but not least, the terrifying renegade herself, Pearl. So, Pink Diamond took you with her, isn't that just… swell!" The Gem added enough venom to last part that the others could feel it.

"It can't be…" Pearl gasped.

"Oh, but it can be, Pearly. And it is!" The harlequin Gem chuckled. "I got myself a new style, and a couple new toys that are gonna put an end to Pink's "happily ever after" once and for all! Now, where is she?! Or maybe she'll prefer that I use her new name, Steven Universe."

"He's gone!" Connie shouted.

"What was that?!" The Gem replied.

"He's Gone! Dead!" Connie repeated as tears streamed down her cheek. "Steven, Rose Quartz, Pink Diamond, whatever name you have for him, is gone!"

"Are… you… kidding me‼!" The Gem used her arms as spring and bounced down to the ground. "I spent all this time preparing my little surprise for her, and this nowhere planet she chose the spend the rest of her days on with a bunch of nobodies, and she goes off and bites it before I…" The Gem paused and held up her index fingers. She turned to the Crystal Gems and said, "You know what? I'm not even mad. Well, I am mad. Furious even! But I guess I'll just have to take all those issues out on her other friends."

"This won't go any further!" Garnet said as she summoned her gauntlets, and Amethyst summoned her whip.

Pearl went to summon her spear, but suddenly stopped and fell to her knees as her hands shook. "Pearl!" Connie kneeled to her former teacher. "Pearl."

"Not now. Why now?" Pearl whispered.

"Connie, you and Lion stay back with her," Garnet ordered. "Amethyst and I will take care of this."

"Oh, you're not gonna like how this'll end." The mysterious Gem said as she leaped into battle with movements like that of a cartoon character from the 1920s - 1930s.

Garnet charged at her and threw a right hook, which was dodged with ease. The rubbery Gem wrapped her hands around Garnet's legs and flung her aside. Amethyst cracked her whip, but the Gem slithered past each strike and kicked the purple Gem in the face. Garnet ambushed her opponent from behind, but she squatted and sprung back up to headbutt the Fusion square in her jaw. She then proceeded to juggle Garnet in the air with her feet as she cackled. Amethyst spin-dashed toward the Gem, but she kicked Garnet right into her, which caused Amethyst to tumble over before she receives a hard uppercut that flung her right into the Fusion.

"Gee, you guys suck." The rubbery Gem taunted.

"She's running circles around us!" Garnet groaned.

"I'm rusty. Give me a break." Amethyst grumbled.

The mysterious Gem just yawned and told them, "Well, this is getting boring. So, I'm gonna wrap this up, okay." She materialized a magenta grip with a pink switch approximately two inches below its hilt from her Gem. "But it was swell to finally beat Pink's other friends."

"We're not done yet!" Amethyst shouted as she and Garnet charged into battle again.

"You're right." The Gem said as she jumped away from their double team. She pressed a button on her device, which caused a long, dark magenta pole to extend, and from there, a pink energy scythe manifested. "But you are now!" The Gem swung the weapon down so fast that Garnet and Amethyst couldn't react in time and were sliced in half.

"No!" Both Pearl and Connie shouted as they witnessed their friends disappear before their eyes in a cloud of smoke.

Their gemstones landed on the ground at the same time as the enemy Gem landed on her feet. "Three down." She cheered, then looked over at Pearl with a sinister gaze. "One to go."

Chapter Text

"Ready or not, here I come!" The mysterious Gem charged at Connie and Pearl with a twisted grin and swung her scythe. The two of them leaped out of the way, but the Gem literally sprung backward and spun like a wheel towards Pearl. She rolled away just as her opponent landed and twirled her scythe in several more attempts to slice the Crystal Gem in half.

"Come on, I thought you were supposed to be the pearl that made quartzes quake in their boots." The Gem taunted. "So why aren't you fighting back?!" Pearl dodged several more slices but was then kicked in the gut with enough force to bring her to her knees. "This was disappointing. Oh well," The Gem tightly gripped her scythe and twirled her body around. "Time to poof!"

The Gem swung her scythe at the same time as her body rotated back into place "That's enough!" Connie screamed as she jumped between Pearl and the Gem and grabbed ahold of the pole. She stopped the attack with the energy blade just mere centimeters from her face.

"Connie!" Pearl loudly gasped as the young woman wrestled with the rubbery Gem for control.

The Gem whistled out of impress and said, "You're pretty strong for a meat-bag, aren't ya?" Before she chuckled.

"Who are you?" Connie grunted as she started to gain the upper hand.

The Gem's demeanor changed to one of psychotic joy into umbrage. She leaned uncomfortably close to the young woman as she told her, "Who am I? Who am I? I'm the loser of the game you didn't know you were playing! But this time I'm going to win!" The Gem began to retake her dominance, but Connie still held onto the weapon, even as the blade started to get closer to her face. "In case you were wonderin', unlike your friends, this little baby has no effect on Humans. But that's the least of your concerns."

"What are… grr… are you talking about?"

"For all your strength, it ain't gonna serve you forty-eight hours from now. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock."

"Well, that's rather ominous."

"That's the idea!" The Gem cackled again as Connie managed to wrestle the scythe out of the Gem's grip and cleaved her in half with it. But Gem continued to laugh even as she poofed into a cloud of smoke and her gemstone hit the ground. The young woman breathed heavily as she dropped the scythe, which instantly reverted to its original form.

"Connie!" Pearl shouted as she stood to check on her friend. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Pearl." Connie turned to back the Crystal Gem. "But are you okay?"

"Of course. Thanks to you."

"That's not what I mean. You didn't summon your spear. When you tried, it looked like you were having a panic attack or something."

"Gem's don't get panic attacks, Connie."

"Then why is your hand still shaking?"

Pearl looked down and saw her right hand continued to tremble but held it steady with her left. "Let's… let's just get Spinel bubbled."

"Spinel?"

"That's her name." Pearl walked over to the heart-shaped gemstone and bubbled it, and whispered to herself, "I can't believe it really is her," before she sent it to the temple.

"If you know her, can you tell me who she is? And what she's doing here?"

"I don't know. She was Pink's playmate long before the Diamonds attempted colonization of Earth. I haven't got the faintest idea as to what she's doing here, and what she's planning with…" Pearl and Connie turned to the injector, as its liquid continued to gurgle. "… with that thing." The Crystal Gem looked over at Connie and instructed her to, "Gather Ruby, Sapphire, and Amethyst, and take them to the house. As soon as they reform, we'll question Spinel. I'm going to get Bismuth, Peridot, and Lapis. And Greg, for moral support. He is good at that."

"All right," Connie said as she picked up the red, blue and purple gemstones and put them in her pockets. As well as the deactivated Gem weapon. She whistled, and Lion strolled over to her. The young woman hopped onto him, and before she rode off, she told the Gem, "After this is over, I want to know what's going on with you."

"One problem at a time, Connie." The Crystal Gem simply replied. "One problem at a time." Pearl made her way towards Little Homeworld, while Lion sprinted down the hill and stopped right in front of the beach house.

Connie strolled up the wooden steps and was hit with a wave of childhood nostalgia as she ascended. Not only did it all look identical to what she remembered, but it sounded and felt the same, too. Connie stood before the screened door and reached for the knob. She discovered that the door was unlocked and continued to open it all the way until she stood in the modest-sized living room. Like the house's exterior, the interior appeared undisturbed, as well. Connie looked to the upper level and saw Steven's bedroom. His bed, TV set, gaming console, nightstand, dresser, rug, and other furniture were still in their exact same places.

The young woman walked over to the coffee table, and carefully placed the poofed Crystal Gems onto it. Then sat down on the couch that faced the fireplace and bar-like kitchen. Her attention was drawn back to the door she came in and looked up to see the painting of Rose Quartz was still there as well. The sight of the portrait made her instinctively clench her stomach. Connie's focus then returned to the dormant gemstones as she looked at them pensively and couldn't help but think about Spinel's threat.

"Connie!" Pearl shouted as she burst into the house with Bismuth, Peridot, Lapis, and Greg.

"We came as fast as we could!" Bismuth stated. "Are you okay?"

The others noticed their poofed friends on the table and gasped. "Holy shhhhe really got them!" Greg said.

"Yeah, I'm fine. And the others are okay, too." Connie assured them.

"We tried getting here sooner," Peridot explained. "As soon as we saw that injector crash into the hill, we leaped into action. But we were too late."

"Do you have any idea of what this Spinel is doing here, or what her plan is?" Lapis asked the young woman

"No idea." She answered. "But she mentioned something was going to happen in forty-eight hours."

"Well, why don't we go ask her ourselves?" Peridot suggested.

"I think we should wait for the others to recover," Greg stated. "Watch, any moment now, Ruby, Sapphire and Amethyst are gonna do that thing where they glow and float in the air and reappear better than ever." As if it was right on cue, Ruby's gemstone began to glow and take shape. "Look at that, we'll be having Garnet back in no time."

The glow faded, and on the coffee-table stood a reformed Ruby. However, she was garbed in the uniform of a Homeworld soldier. The red Gem turned and noticed the others, and immediately entered combative stance as she asked, "Who are you? You're not my assignment!"

"Ruby, it's me. Connie."

"I've never heard of a connie, are you one of Blue Diamond's Gems? If so, you must be high-ranking. Considering you own a bismuth, peridot, lapis lazuli and pearl."

"What? No, I don't…"

"While I address your status within my Diamond's Court, I've been assigned to protect a very important sapphire. Have you seen her?"

The sight of her friend like this made a worried Bismuth ask, "What's going on?"

Just then, Sapphire's physical form regenerated as well, and into a Homeworld uniform, like Ruby. The red Gem turned to her wife and saluted with, "My sapphire! As my sworn duty and sole purpose, I will protect you with my life!"

To which Sapphire apathetically replied, "I know you will. Even though neither of us will continue to exist beyond this day."

Ruby paused at the dark prediction, before she responded with, "Then I will continue my duty until then."

Immediately afterward, Amethyst regenerated into an almost mannequin-like appearance, with clear joint-lines at her elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles. Her feet were bare and featureless, and she wore a standard two-piece bodysuit with short, kid-like hair.

"Amethyst!" Peridot ran over to her friend. "Amethyst, please tell me you're all right."

"Amethyst, please tell me you're all right." The purple Gem repeated

"What?! No, you're Amethyst!"

"What?! No, you're Amethyst!"

"What's going on with them?" Greg asked. "Could they be cracked?"

Just then, a realization struck Peridot as she asked, "Pearl, you told us that they were hit with some kind of weapon."

"I did." The pale Gem answered.

"May we see it?"

"I have it right here," Connie said as she pulled the inactive device from her pocket and gave it to the green Gem, who proceeded to examine it in the least safe ways possible.

"Is this a kind of laser, or…"

Bismuth's eyes widened as she told Peridot, "Be careful with that!" Then quickly snatched the device from her. "It's a rejuvenator." She reluctantly activated the weapon.

"Whaaaaa?!" Greg flinched as everyone backed up from the scythe.

"You should be scared. Homeworld used to use these things on Gems that started steppin' out of line. One hit with this, and your back to how they made you." The metallic Crystal Gem deactivated the despised weapon, as she looked at Ruby, Sapphire, and Amethyst with a broken heart.

"What're you looking at?" Ruby asked in a defensive matter, as she stood between the Crystal Gems and Sapphire.

"Oh my stars! I touched it!" Peridot panicked. "I could've lost all my character development!"

"Uh-oh," Connie spoke up.

"What's "uh-oh"?" Lapis asked.

"I poofed Spinel by hitting her with that rejuvenator. That means she's been reset, too. Pearl, you knew her before any of us. What was she like?"

"Oh, well…" The pale Gem began, as she nervously rubbed her palms. "I think it would be easier to show you. Don't worry, she's harmless… hopefully. But you better brace yourself, she could… can... be a handful."

Connie nodded and replied, "Things can't possibly get any worse from here."

Chapter Text

The Crystal Gems entered the temple's Burning Room, where all the Corrupted Gems used to be held. Now, there was only the bubbled Spinel, which floated near lava the pit in the center. Pearl carefully grabbed the bubble and told the others, "You might want to stand back."

Greg, Ruby, Sapphire, and Amethyst took two steps back. But Connie, Peridot, Lapis, and Bismuth just took one and entered a defensive stance. Pearl popped the bubble, and Spinel's gemstone began to regenerate. It floated into the air as its pink glow engulfed the entire room. The gem rotated upright into a proper heart shape as Spinel started to take shape and laughed. But it wasn't a sinister laugh like Connie expected it to be, but more playful… almost childish.

"Yippee!" The luminescent mass cheered as she roped her rubber-like arms around Connie and launched herself toward the young woman for a hug that knocked her to the ground. "I'm so excited to meet you!" Spinel exuberantly exclaimed as her reformation finished and looked at Connie with an innocent smile and entirely different form from before. Her new overall look was more rounded in contrast to her previously edgy, psychopathic persona. She had black cartoonish looking eyes, and her hair was styled into a pair of heart-shaped buns. Her top was white with more rounded pink sleeves, and her boots become a pair of big magenta shoes.

"What the…"

"Aren't you a lucky one," Sapphire told Connie as she cut-off Bismuth's baffled curse. "Her cut is perfect. And she's pink, too. I foresee endless entertainment from this spinel. Your new best friend."

Spinel bowed dramatically and spoke in a faux-posh accent, "A pleasure to meet you all."

"A pleasure to meet you all." The amnesiac Amethyst mimicked.

"Ooo! let's play a game!" Spinel continued to laugh as she booped Connie on her nose and wrapped her arms around the young woman and playfully shook her in midair.

"Woooould youuuu cut that outttt?!" Connie demanded. Spinel did as she asked and dropped her. "Thank you."

"I warned you that she was a handful." Pearl reminded.

"A handful? She's practically a little kid."

"How did she go from that to a homicidal maniac?" Lapis asked.

"Pink must've dropped the ball really hard with her." Peridot joked.

"A ball?!" Spinel giggled as she popped up from behind the green Gem, which startled her. "Where?!"

"So, um… what comes next?" Greg asked from the back.

To which Pearl explained, "Well, as much as we'd like to keep her nice and harmless…"

"And fun!" Spinel exclaimed as she played with Amethyst.

"… we need to get her memory back to stop that injector."

"There has to be something that'll trigger her memories," Connie stated. "So, let's take her on a trip down memory lane."

"What about Ruby, Sapphire, and Amethyst?" Peridot asked.

"We'll help them along the way. But if we don't "fix" Spinel within forty-eight hours, we may be unable to help them at all." The group exited the Burning Room, and then the house onto the beach. They were all eclipsed by the monolithic injector that resided on the hill.

"Wooow-wee! That thing sure is big!" Spinel exclaimed, and hopped up and down as she asked Connie, "You wanna climb it or somethin'?" Amethyst jumped alongside the rubbery Gem.

Connie grabbed the Gem's shoulders to hold her still and said, "Spinel, focus. I need you to tell me if you remember riding in on that."

Spinel stroked her chin and hummed for a moment before she answered, "Nope."

"Do you remember fighting us?"

"Nope."

"Do you remember telling me that something's going to happen forty-eight hours from now?"

"I said what now?" The oblivious Spinel contorted her stretchy arm into a loop as she scratched her head with her finger.

Connie sighed. "Maybe we should try a different approach?"

Suddenly, the group jumped as they heard a car horn go off from behind and saw Greg's van approach them. Amethyst hid behind Pearl, while Ruby raised her fists to protect Sapphire. The vehicle turned off, and Lars stepped out from the driver's seat and explained, "Sorry, Mr. Universe. But they were insistent on seeing you."

The pearls all emerged from the back of the van, led by Yellow Pearl who grumbled to Greg, "There you are, we need your help."

"Can it wait, now's not a really good time," Greg explained.

"Then make time, we've been working on a few opening presentations for the show. But we can't agree on which one to…"

Pink Pearl peaked out from behind the others, and her eye widened as soon as she saw, "Spinel?"

"Huh?" Spinel looked at the pearl.

"Spinel!" Pink Pearl ran past her fellow pearls and hugged the rubbery Gem. "I never thought I'd see you again. Where have you been?"

"I just got here, silly." Spinel joked as she booped the pearl on the nose, and they both laughed. Pink Pearl was so overjoyed to see Gem that she didn't care that her question wasn't answered.

Lars walked over to Connie and asked her, "Um, would you mind telling me what's going on here?" He pointed up at the injector. "Everyone in town saw that thing crash into the hill and are all freaking out."

"It's a long story… which involves my "new best friend," Spinel..." The young woman explained with a groan. "We're working to stop it, but Lars, get back into town and tell Mayor Nanefua to open up the shelters. Worst case scenario, we evacuate Beach City."

"But what about the concert?" Yellow Pearl whined.

"We could move the concert to the shelters." Blue Pearl suggested.

"Let's go then," Lars said as he hopped back into the van with Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl behind him.

"I'll go help them out," Greg added. "I don't think there's much I can do here anyway."

Lars scooted over into the passenger's seat as the van's owner to the driver's seat. He noticed that Pink Pearl didn't follow and asked her, "You comin'?"

Connie looked back at the two Gems and saw how they played with each other, and told Lars and Greg, "Actually. I think she might be able to help us."

"All right. Good luck to you, then." Greg wished them all as the van backed up, turned and drove back into town.

"Unless anyone has any objections, I suggest we discuss our next move at Little Homeworld," Peridot suggested. "We should get my equipment to study the injector. And whatever it is it's injecting."

As if he knew he was about to be called, Lion walked over to Connie and allowed her to mount him. "Don't forget about me!" Spinel shouted as she hopped on the pink beast, too. Followed by both pearls. Amethyst just shapeshifted into Lion.

"We'll meet you there," Lapis said as she manifested her wings, picked up Bismuth, and took flight. Meanwhile, Peridot summoned a trashcan lid from somewhere and levitated on it.

Before she joined the other airborne Gems, Peridot turned to Ruby and Sapphire and asked, "Are you two coming?"

"She's not goin' anywhere with you!" Ruby said.

"I do see us following her to the countryside," Sapphire stated.

"Never mind! We're goin'!" Ruby and Sapphire took their leave in the direction of Little Homeworld. With Peridot not too far behind them.

"Let's go, Lion," Connie told the giant feline. The lion did not open a portal this time, and instead made a break for the community. This allowed Lion-Amethyst to keep up with them.

Spinel waved her arms and shouted with glee as if she were on a fast rollercoaster. Pink Pearl even joined in on the excitement, as well. Connie looked back at the childish Gem. She was so full of innocence and wonder and just pure happiness. So much so, that it reminded her… reminded her of… him.

Chapter Text

"There are so many Gems here!" Spinel exclaimed as the group entered Little Homeworld. "Let's see if they wanna play, too!" The excitable Gem literally jumped of Lion ahead of the others.

"Spinel, wait!" Connie called out.

"I'll go get her." Pink Pearl assured as she got off Lion and ran after the Gem.

Connie hopped off Lion with Pearl, and the pink beast plopped onto the grass and napped. Amethyst just mimicked what he did. The young woman and pale Gem met up with Bismuth and Lapis as soon as they landed. The latter was instantly greeted by the cheerful barks of Pumpkin. "Hey, girl." Lapis patted her head. Peridot flew past them to get her equipment.

Meanwhile, Ruby continued to guard Sapphire and march around as she repeated, "Hup, hup, hup, hup! Hup, hup, hup, hup! Hup, hup, hup, hup!" Two nephrites were in the middle of a stroll when they accidentally walked to close to Sapphire, which triggered a growl from Ruby that made them back away.

Connie looked over at the two Gems and admitted, "I wish we had Garnet here, she would know how to deal with this mess."

Connie then felt a poke on her shoulder, then noticed Spinel creep up from behind before she appeared next to her. "Hey! Don't look so glum, chum." She said as she began to dance around the young woman and sing, "Your new best friend! Your new best friend! Your new best friend! Your new best friend, Spinel, is here!" She laughed as she coiled around Connie.

"There you are!" Pink Pearl said as she ran over to join the others. "I forgot how fast you could be."

"Garnet would know the answer." Bismuth stated. "But we have to work with what we have. After all, when has it ever been easy?" She looked over at Pearl and told her, "You know what I'm talkin' about, P. When ya go against the grain, hasn't it always been hard just to be us?"

Pearl nodded and said, "That's why we've got to have each other's backs."

"Which is why we'll figure this out. Because we are the Crystal Gems, and never giving up is pretty much our motto, especially for our friends. So long as one of us is standing to brandish the star."

"They may not know who they are, but we all do," Lapis stated, which Pumpkin barked in agreement to.

Bismuth turned to Connie, "And believe me…" She slung her arm over Pearl's shoulder. "Pearl and I have known them longer. The good, the bad, and the ugly. We've been through it all, and we've always come back stronger."

"You're right." A reignited Connie told the metallic Gem. "We'll find a way to save the day. Because that's who we are!"

"Your dang right that's who we are. Even if it takes us a thousand years to get them back, we will."

"Let's put our heads together. There's got to be some way to make them remember." Connie, Pearl, Bismuth, Lapis, Spinel, and Pink Pearl stood in silence as they tried to come up with their next move.

"What if it's like a puzzle?" Spinel suggested.

"Huh?"

"If we give 'em all the pieces, they'll eventually get the picture!" Spinel shapeshifted her hands into puzzle pieces to highlight her point.

"Spinel... you might be onto something! If every experience they lost is a piece of who they are, we just have to do what we were trying to do with you and give them back all the pieces. One experience at a time!"

"It's an interesting proposal," Pearl stated. "But not all experiences can, or should, be replicated."

"But it's the best idea we have." Bismuth stated. "I say we go for it."

Pearl looked at the muscular Gem, then back to the young woman and nodded, "All right."

"Hooray, for friendship!" Spinel gave everyone a group hug.

Connie turned to Pink Pearl and asked her, "Would you mind babysitting Spinel until we're done here?"

"Of course." The pearl nodded and turned to the rubbery Gem. "C'mon Spinel, let's play a game."

"A game?! Hooray!" Spinel leaped away as the pearl followed from behind.

Peridot then returned to the others with her equipment and asked them, "What did I miss? I feel like I missed something important."

"We just figured out that we need to make Ruby, Sapphire, and Amethyst relive their entire lives to get them back to normal." Lapis bluntly stated.

"Well, good luck with that. I'm going to find out what's up with that injector." The green Gem floated over to petted Pumpkin on her trash can lid and patted her before she levitated straight to the hill.

The group turned their attention back to Ruby and Sapphire. The red Gem continued to guard the blue Gem while she still marched and repeated, "Hup, hup, hup, hup! Hup, hup, hup, hup! Hup, hup, hup, hup!"

"Steven told me that when Ruby and Sapphire first became Garnet, Ruby rushed in to save Sapphire from danger," Connie stated. "So maybe we've got to create some sort of dangerous situation."

Lapis then said, "Well, what do we have that's deadly and dangerous laying around?"

"I think we could dig something up!" Bismuth said as she ran over to a nearby dumpster. As she dug through hit, she tossed away random items. "Nope. Not this. I don't think this will work. Hmm. Aha!" Bismuth pulled out a large, circular buzz-saw. "Let's try threatening them with this."

"Where did you even get that?" Pearl asked, to which Lapis answered with a shrug.

Bismuth turned on the device and pointed the gyratory blade at Ruby and Sapphire as she slowly walked over.

"Hup, hup, hup, hup! Hup, hup, hup, hup! Hup, hup, hup, hup!" Ruby stopped as soon as she noticed Bismuth. "Halt! I cannot allow you to approach my sapphire with such a threatening device."

"Sorry, but this is for your own good." Bismuth held the saw up higher as she got closer.

"Permission to dispatch the bismuth, my sapphire?"

"No need," Sapphire replied. "I predict she won't be able to follow through."

Bismuth got closer then stopped as she let out a sigh and turned off the saw. "She's right… Even if we are just pretending, I can't bring myself to hurt either of you." She dropped the device and returned to the others. "We'll need to think of something else."

"My sapphire, you were right!" An astonished Ruby said. "What do you predict will happen next?"

Sapphire paused for a moment and answered, "Well, the spinel will pick up that device out of curiosity and…"

Connie looked over and saw Spinel notice the saw and curiously go, "Ooo."

"… Hijinks will ensue."

"Wait, Spinel, don't touch that!" Connie called out just as the rubbery Gem pressed the button on the handle and began to shake.

"Whoaooa!" Spinel stumped forward as she attempted to hold it down.

"Spinel! Let go of the saw!" Pink Pearl called out as she rushed to the Gem. Spinel loses control of the buzz-saw, and it drags her in the direction of the pearl. Pink Pearl leaped out of the way. But the saw crashed into one of the buildings.

"Hey, we just got that built!" Bismuth shouted. Spinel screamed in a mixture of fear and joy as she held onto the saw. It moved around the ground and crashed into another object. "We just built that, too!"

"Here she comes!" Lapis shouted as she picked up Pumpkin and took flight, while Pearl, Bismuth, and Connie leaped out of the way.

"Spinel!" Connie shouted as she tackled the Gem off the buzz-saw just as it sliced the dumpster in half. The saw started to move up a building and cut through wooden planks and scaffolding.

"My scaffolding! My precious scaffolding!" Bismuth cried in horror.

"Wow! What happens next?" Ruby asked.

"The scaffolding will start to fall around us," Sapphire replied.

"What?" Ruby looked up and saw the debris about to crush them. So, she leaped towards and swept Sapphire off her feet to carry her to safety. She put Sapphire down as she told her, "Wow, you're amazing!"

"Next, the pearls will dodge some of the falling debris."

Pearl grabbed Pink Pearl and pulled out of the way.

"Three large barrels will fall, and the bismuth will catch two of them."

"I got 'em! I got 'em! I got 'em!" Bismuth repeated as she caught the two barrels, but the third one rolled away right in the direction of "The Heaven and Earth Beetles!"

"The lapis lazuli will rush in and save them at the last second."

Lapis quickly dived and grabbed the two tiny Gems who were out for a walk just as the barrel was about to crush them, and asked, "Whew. You two, okay?" The two Gem replied in a high-pitched chatter that Lapis was able to make out, "That's good."

"Is it over?" Spinel asked.

"The saw will continue to cut. And reach the building we are standing by." Sapphire predicted, just as the event played out. "And we will be shattered."

"What?!" Ruby screamed as she looked up and noticed the buzz-saw cut a massive potion of the structure off. One large enough to crush them both. "We need to…"

"No, I foresaw that neither of us will continue to exist beyond this day. This cannot be prevented."

"What are you doing? Move!" Bismuth screamed at the two Gems.

"Well, I'm glad fate allowed me to meet you," Ruby said lastly as both Gems accepted their end.

"No!" Connie screamed as she dashed over to the two Gems as fast as she could and extended her left hand out. Then, there was a pink flash so bright it forced Connie's eyes shut. It was all quiet. The young woman opened her eyes and saw she stood in-between Ruby and Sapphire, who stared up with surprised looks. Connie cocked her head upwards, and she had the same look on her face as the two Gems. Manifested from the young woman's fingers, between the massive debris and the three of them was… Steven's shield.

Chapter Text

Connie couldn't believe her eyes, but there it was. The spiraled pink shield decorated with thorns and the rose in the center of it all. She never thought she would see it again. Then, cracks began to spread across it, and the young woman gasped as she began to struggle with the weight of the debris. Suddenly, Spinel's arm wrapped around her, Ruby and Sapphire and quickly pulled them away just as the shield was about the shatter.

Spinel whistled cheerfully as she reeled the three of them in as if she were fishing and said, "Well, look at what I caught?" She giggled again as she let them go.

"Are the three of you okay?!" Pearl called out as the Crystal Gems rushed over to them.

"I… I don't understand…" Sapphire said. "M-my prediction was wrong."

"Hey, hey, hey," Ruby repeated as she crawled over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It was just one mistake. It happens."

"How do you know?" Sapphire put both of her hands on her head. "How can this be? What else have I gotten wrong? Are all my other visions false, too? Am I defective?"

"What, no!" Ruby told her. "You're not defective."

"How can you be sure of that?"

"I… I can't. I just know. For some strange reason, I just know. You're the smartest, coolest and most beautiful sapphire I've ever met." She clasped the blue Gem's hands. "And if your prediction being wrong means I can spend another moment with you. Then I'm glad it was."

Sapphire blushed deeply and stuttered out, "Th-th-thank you."

Bismuth sniffled a little bit with some tears in her eyes. "These two sure know how to tug on the heartstrings." She stated as Spinel shapeshifted her hand into a hanky and offered it to the Gem. She accepted and used it to wipe her eyes.

"It didn't bring back Garnet, but I think they're starting to remember." Connie guessed as she hopped to her feet "We could be on the right track."

"Um, can we take a moment to talk about what just happened?" Lapis asked the group.

"Talk about what?"

"I dunno? Maybe the fact you were able to summon Steven's shield!"

"That's actually the first time that ever happened."

"So, you've never tried that before?" Bismuth asked the young woman.

"No, never."

"But it would make sense." Pearl chimed in. "There was nothing that said Connie couldn't inherit Steven's abilities."

"We can talk about this later. We have a lead with getting Garnet back." Connie looked down at her tattooed arm, all the way to her hand, and clutched it. "We should…"

"Uh, Bis…" Another voice interjected as a tall, bulky Gem with a spikey with mane and a brown-orange, tri-horned quartz approached the group.

"Oh, Snowflake. Biggs." Bismuth addressed. "Sorry about all that, we…"

"There's no need to explain," Biggs spoke. "We just wanted to let you know that the purple lion that came in with you ran away."

"What?!" The Crystal Gems all screamed as they turned to where they last left Amethyst, only to see that she wasn't where she should be.

"All the commotion must've scared her." Pink Pearl guessed.

"She shouldn't be wandering on her own." Pearl panicked. "She could get herself, or someone else hurt. Or worse."

"Lion!" Connie called out and whistled. The pink beast let out a huff as he slogged on over to the young woman. "I know I'm asking a lot from you today. But I'll pay you back with some treats later." She turned her attention back to the Gems. "I'll go find Amethyst, can you guys look after Ruby and Sapphire."

"Can do." Bismuth replied. She looked over at the two Gems and saw Ruby act less defensive, and Sapphire become more curious about their environment. "But it looks like their doin' a pretty good job of watching themselves."

"Thanks." Connie was about to climb on top of Lion when Spinel suddenly grabbed her hand.

"Don't forget your best friend, Spinel!" The Gem cheerfully said.

"Oh, right. Spinel, you stay here with the others, and I'll be right back."

Connie pulled her hand away, which caused Spinel to ferociously shout, "No!"

Connie gasped at the sudden mood swing and quickly replied, "O-Okay. Let's go together?"

Spinel's demeanor returned to normal with a "Yay!" She laughed as she and Connie hopped on to Lion. The giant feline created a portal with his roar, ran through it, and emerged at Beach Citywalk Fries.

"Amethyst?!" Connie called out loud as Lion ran across the boardwalk. "Amethyst?! Amethyst?! Amethyst?!" They eventually made it over to Beach City Funland. "Amethyst?! Amethyst?! Amethyst?!" Then arrived at the Big Donut. "Amethyst?!" Connie got an idea and ran into the store, which luckily had no line at the moment.

"Sorry, I'm closing up for today to get to the shelters." Mr. Dewy explained.

"I won't take up any of your time. I just need a half dozen doughnuts please." Connie handed him a ten-dollar bill. "Keep the change." Mr. Dewey quickly picked out the small box of doughnuts for the young woman and gave them to her. "Thank you."

Connie, Spinel, and Lion resumed their search while the former held a doughnut in the air and called out, "Amethyst! I've got some tasty doughnuts! Come and get them!" as they strolled down a neighborhood. Spinel ate one out of curiosity and found that she enjoyed it and took another. "Amethyst?! Where can she be?" There was a sudden crash that made Connie and Spinel jump. The young woman and Gem turned to see it come from the curtained garage of Vidalia's house. "Amethyst?" Connie and Spinel hopped off Lion and walked over to the garage and peeked through the curtains. "Amethyst? Vidalia?"

"What is this place?" Spinel asked as she ogled all the paintings and sculptures.

"It's an art studio. Amethyst used to come here all the time." The young woman walked over to a portrait she didn't recognize and leaned in on it. "Huh, I don't remember this one?" The painting then blinked and caused the young woman and Gem to jump back with a brief scream.

The portrait screamed as well as it shapeshifted back into Amethyst.

"Amethyst!" Connie ran over to the purple Gem. "Thank goodness you're okay."

"Thank goodness you're okay," Amethyst repeated.

Connie sighed with a smile and admitted, "I'm very not okay, but I've got a plan. I'm gonna get you, Ruby, Sapphire, and Spinel all back, piece by piece. I just have to figure out the pieces. These paintings. Do you remember being painted?"

"Being painted?"

Connie let out a sigh and had to admit that she didn't know what to do. She did have a close relationship with Amethyst, but she never shared anything personal with her. She always kept all her problems to herself and would only confide in… one… person. "Wait, a minute."

"Wait a minute."

"I have an idea."

"I have an idea."

"Come with me, Amethyst." Connie picked up the purple Gem.

"Come with me, Amethyst."

The young woman put Amethyst on top of Lion then remounted him, along with Spinel. "Spinel, could you make sure Amethyst doesn't fall off?"

"Spinel, could you make sure Amethyst doesn't fall off?"

"Okey-Dokey." Spinel replied as she wrapped her arms around Amethyst's and Lion's bodies.

"Okay, boy. Take us back to the temple." Connie requested.

The pink beat created a portal with his roar, ran through it and emerged at inside the beach house, where they slide across the living room. Connie looked over and saw that Pearl, Ruby, and Sapphire all sat on the couch with cups of tea. "Hello again." Sapphire greeted as she sipped her tea. "I foresaw that you would come here with the amethyst."

"Is she back to normal?" Pearl asked. "Or did you figure out how to get her back to normal, at least?"

"I have an idea that could work." The young woman stated. "There was one person who knew Amethyst better than any of us did. Steven."

Pearl looked down and said, "That… is true."

"He may not be with us here." Connie pointed at that ground. "But he's with us here." She pointed to her head. "And here." Then to her heart. "If I could summon Steven's shield, I could have access to his other abilities. Like how he was able to go into other people's minds." Connie looked over at Amethyst, who was still tied up by Spinel, who waved at them goofily. "Her memories of Steven are in their somewhere. If I can bring them out, the rest of her should return."

"If you think you can do it. Then do it." Pearl encouraged, as she quickly grabbed a blanket from another room. She asked Ruby and Sapphire, "Could you move, please?" The two Gems did, and she draped the cover over the sofa. "This should be comfortable enough."

Connie walked over and laid down on the couch, her hands rested on her stomach. "I got this from here." Spinel released Amethyst and let the purple Gem copy the young woman.

"All right. I'll go help the others with the injector, then."

"No." Sapphire spoke up and told Pearl, "You must stay."

"I don't think I'll be of any help here."

"It is true that you will not be needed in the now. But you will be needed in the after. You must stay."

Pearl nodded and said, "All right." She turned to Connie. "I'll be here for you."

"Okay, down the rabbit hole I go," Connie said as she closed her eyes, steadied her breath, and allowed her mind to wander. The young woman then woke up and saw that all that surrounded was different. She stood up and turned to see that her body still asleep on the couch. "This is freaky." She looked over at the purple Gem, walked over to her and said, "I'm going to bring you back, Amethyst. No matter what." Connie placed her hands on the Gem's head and began her downward spiral into Amethyst's mind.

Chapter Text

Connie looked around. She was no longer in the beach house. In fact, she was no longer anywhere she knew. This whole world had a purplish tint to it. Not to even mention the fact that she was floating. The young woman continued to look around until she finally caught something out of the ordinary. Below her, she saw Amethyst sit on the head of a giant statue of herself.

Connie remembered that Steven told her about this experience. It was after they got Yellow and Blue Diamond to stop their attack, but before they traveled to Homeworld. "I'm in Amethyst's mind." The young woman walked over to the statue and felt herself descend faster than she would have liked. "Woah! Woah! Woah!" She stopped herself. "Okay, let's just take it nice and easy." Connie just took one step at a time and paced herself.

Connie eventually reached the head of the statue and walked over to Gem. "Amethyst!" She called out as she got closer. As she did, she saw that there were mist-like screens around the purple Gem. On the screens were footage of Amethyst with Garnet, Pearl, Vidalia, Peridot, Greg, Steven, and many others. "These must be her memories." Amethyst shapeshifted into a duplicate of Pearl, then into Garnet, then into Peridot, and into Greg, and so on. "She's mimicking the memories. But she's not really experiencing them." The young woman walked closer and shouted, "Hey, Amethyst!"

This got the purple Gem's attention, as she turned, reverted to her normal form and shouted back, "Hey, Amethyst!"

Connie offered her hand out to the Gem. "It's okay. I'm here to help." Amethyst looked at the young woman in a confused manner at first but eventually took her hand. "Now, where should we start?" Connie looked at all the memories on display and saw one of a newly-born Amethyst emerging from the Prime Kindergarten. "The beginning it is." Connie walked over to the memory with Amethyst and touched it. There was a flash of light, and the next thing she knew, they were right in the middle of the Prime Kindergarten. There was another Amethyst exploring the Kindergarten. Connie instantly realized that they were inside the memory as it unfolded.

"I heard it come from over there!" Pearl's voice shouted as Connie, and the Amethysts turned. Pearl was garbed in a translucent pink-teal top with pink leggings and orange boots. Alongside her was Garnet, who's attire looked like the first form Connie saw her in as a kid. Lastly, there was Rose Quartz, who led them.

The memory Amethyst fled back into her hole, as Rose approached it. "Hello there, little one." The pink Gem said in a calm, motherly tone. "There's no need to be afraid. I'm Rose Quartz."

"Rose Quartz?" Both the memory Amethyst and the Amethyst by Connie's side said at the same time. But unlike her previous mimics, this one sounded genuine.

"Come on out, let me get a better look." Rose stuck her hand into the hole, memory Amethyst took it and climbed out. "Well, aren't you the cutest amethyst I've ever seen."

"Amethyst? Is that who I am?"

"If you want it to be."

"I don't understand."

"This beautiful world you were born into. It changes so much that no one must fit a pre-destined mold. They fit their own mold. They do what they want. And you can too."

"I can too?"

"Tell me little amethyst, what do you want?"

"I… I want to know more… I want to belong…"

"If that is what you want. Then I can give it to you." Rose looked to Garnet and Pearl. "We can give it to you." Amethyst nodded and let Rose pick her up like a baby. "Garnet. Pearl. I want you to meet the newest member of the Crystal Gems, Amethyst."

"Garnet… Pearl…" The Amethyst by Connie's side said with tears in her eyes. Then, her body glowed and changed as the world around her, and Connie began to speed up.

"Woah! Woah! Woah!" Connie was caught off guard by the sudden rush and nearly fell over. All kinds of memories breezed past them. One of Amethyst bonding with Pearl and Garnet. Another showed the day Amethyst learned how to eat and enjoy it. There was one of Rose being a mother to the purple Gem. A shot of the Crystal Gems in colonial attire. A memory of when the Gems met a young Greg. The first time Amethyst met Vidalia. A memory of when Rose told the Gems she was pregnant, and none of them took it well. As it all started to slow down, they passed by a shot of the Gems, and older Greg and baby Steven.

As soon as they stopped, Amethyst's glow faded. Her hair returned to its iconic mess that went down to her ankles, with the bang that obscured her left eye. The rest of her appearance included an oversized, off-shoulder tank top with a black bra underneath. She also wore black leggings with star-shaped cutouts on the knees, and small, pointed, white boots. Her appearance from when Connie first met her.

"Where the heck am I?" Amethyst asked as she looked around and noticed Connie. "Who the heck are you?" The purple Gem jumped away. "Wait a minute…" Amethyst squinted and looked the young woman up and down before her eyes widened with realization. "You're not that girl Steven likes, are you?"

"Yes, yes! It's me, Connie."

"But aren't you supposed to be shorter and have glasses? And I'm pretty sure you don't have tats."

"I'm just going to make a long story short since we're on the clock. You and Garnet were attacked by another Gem, and she poofed you with a weapon that gave you amnesia. I'm here to restore your memories so that we can stop her."

"And why should I trust you?" Amethyst's gemstone glowed as if she was ready to summon her whip. "How do I know this isn't a trick from this Gem?"

"I…" Connie let out a sigh. "I can't make you trust me. But…" Connie knew there was a way to make Amethyst go along with her, but she didn't like it. The fact that she even thought-it-up made her feel sick. "But the Earth is in danger. We need to get your memories back or else, Pearl, Vidalia, Greg… and Steven are going to die. You told Steven that you'd always be there for him. Well, he needs you… your family needs you."

Amethyst still had an unsure look on her face, but there was one thing Connie knew about the Gem. Deep down, whether it's a trick or not, she'll always be there for Steven. "All right, for Steven!" The purple Gem relaxed as she took the young woman's hand, and they dived deeper into the memories.

Connie didn't like that she had to lie about Steven to convince Amethyst, but she did promise to get the Gem back no matter what. The two of them journeyed through the different memories where Steven was most prevalent. Their wrestling days as Purple Puma and Tiger Millionaire. The day they first met Lion. As well as when she and Pearl merged into Opal for him. They spent extra time on a memory from when Amethyst had her Gem cracked.

"Amethyst, I'm sorry! I can't do anything right." The memory Steven cried. "Now I'm going to lose you, and it's all my fault."

"Hahaha, you care about me." Both Amethysts teased as Steven hugged the memory Amethyst.

Connie and Amethyst delved deeper into Gem's mind. They relived the first encounter with Lapis Lazuli. When she, Pearl and Steven formed a secret team. That time Steven, Greg, and Alexandrite had dinner with Connie and her parents. They stopped at another memory in the Prime Kindergarten. It was between Amethyst and Pearl.

"I... I just never thought of this as you." The memory Pearl told the upset memory Amethyst. "None of this is your fault. You didn't build this place. I-I'm sorry, Amethyst. I hope you can forgive me. You're the one good thing that came out of this mess. I always thought you were proud of that." She extended her hand to her, and the purple Gem looked at it hesitantly, before she enveloped the pale Gem in a hug.

Connie and Amethyst continued onward as they went through the first time the Crystal Gems encountered Jasper. All the way to that incident with the Corrupted Gem dubbed the Slinker, and when Amethyst got a new form.

Amethyst's body glowed and changed again. This time, her tank top was entirely black, and the shoulder strap was fixed. Her leggings were mauve in color but still looked the same. Along with her boots. Amethyst stretched her arms and legs as she said, "This is more comfortable."

"It's perfect." The memory Garnet told the memory Amethyst.

"Eh, whateves." Both Amethysts stated. "It's just what feels right."

"That's why it's perfect."

"It is a marked improvement!" The memory Pearl added. "You finally fixed that shoulder strap that's always bugged me! Well done, Amethyst!" She gave the memory Amethyst a hug.

"Welcome back!" Memory Steven said as he joined in.

"Knock it off!" Both Amethysts blushed just as Garnet joined in, too. "We gotta go find the Slinker!"

"No, it's hug time."

Both Amethysts cutely smiled with satisfaction and said, "Ugh, this is so dumb." But the purple Gem then noticed Connie had tears in her eyes as she sniffled. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." Connie lied. "Let's just keep going."

Connie and Amethyst were about to continue when the young woman heard a voice from behind. It was a little girl who said, "It's all your fault."

Connie looked behind her and saw there was no one. But the voice continued to repeat, "It's all your fault."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Amethyst asked with concern.

Connie looked at the Gem and told her, "I'm fine." She was far from it, but she couldn't let herself be bothered by it now. They both still have a long way to go.

Chapter Text

"I don't think she's coming." Both Amethysts said as the memory Gem turned to the memory Steven, who stared at his fingers, and asked, "Uh, what are you doing?"

"If you make your eyes blurry, it looks like there's a little magic sausage between your fingers."

Memory Amethyst tried to replicate it but frowned instead. "This is stupid. It doesn't even work."

"Try this." Memory Steven moved the bang in front of memory Amethyst's eye.

"Hey, don't mess with my- Ooohh… now I see it."

"Well, even if we didn't catch Peridot, at least I taught you a great way to pass the time!"

Amethyst couldn't help but laugh at the memory, and said, "Oh, he's such a goofball."

"Yeah, such a goofball," Connie said with a small smile.

"It's all your fault." The voice repeated. But Connie continued to pay it no attention.

The pair resumed their journey. Across the memories of when the Crystal Gems finally captured Peridot and worked with her to stop the Cluster. Amethyst and Steven were at the barn during a sunset, and the Gems were cleaning up a mess caused by a drill that malfunctioned. "Hey, are you alright?" Memory Steven asked her. "That was a close one. It's a good thing Peridot was there to save you."

The memory Amethyst rolled her eyes and crossed her arms just as Peridot walked in on them. "Yes, it is a good thing." The memory Peridot stated before she paused and stared for a while. "Listen, I..."

"Just spit it out." The Amethysts said.

"Ughh! Why are you Earthlings so difficult!?" Memory Peridot slammed her thumb on the recorder, which declared, "Log date 7-11-2. This entire planet is backwards. There hasn't been one instance of correct behavior exhibited by any one of these "Crystal Gems." I have concluded that they are all defective. But I am no better. I failed my mission, and now I'm working with the enemy. And I can't even get that right. I have apparently "hurt" Amethyst's "feelings," which was not my intent. If I've damaged my standing with the best Gem here, then I've made a serious mistake. I'm still learning. I hope you understand. I want to understand. I'm sorry. Peridot. Facet 5. End log."

"Oh, Peridot." An emotional memory Steven began.

"Hey, Peridot… thanks." The Amethysts said, which made the green Gem blush and smile awkwardly. Then walked off with one last tease, "But you're still a nerd."

Connie and Amethyst continued through all the shenanigans Peridot and Amethyst got up to together. Even being there to welcome her to the Crystal Gems. They saw the battle against Malachite as Alexandrite, the baseball game with the Ruby Squad, and helping Peridot unlock her powers. But then, they arrived at a memory Connie remembered. When Jasper arrived at the beach.

A badly beaten memory Amethyst struggled to stand as she told the memory Jasper, "Rose said… I'm perfect... the way I am!"

"Then she had low standards." Memory Jasper replied. The enraged memory Amethyst charged at Jasper with a spin-dash, only to be kicked into the air and slam into the ground before the large quartz as she continued to taunt, "You could've been me! And what are you instead? Just a joke." Memory Jasper then headbutted memory Amethyst with enough force to poof her physical form.

Amethyst glowed once more as her form began to change again. Her tank top became white with a jagged hem, black leggings with dark mauve stars, and boots became the same dark mauve hue.

The memories changed over to the sky arena where Steven and Amethyst had their duel to see who the best was at being worst. "If I can't beat you, I'm never gonna beat Jasper!" The memory Amethyst shouted.

"You can totally beat me! You're not even trying!" Memory Steven replied.

"I am too!" Memory Amethyst strained as she tossed a boulder at memory Steven.

But he absorbed the attack with his shield and said, "I think we're both too good to be bad fighters."

"That's what you think."

"What does that even mean?"

"I don't even know." The two of them ran at each other to deliver their final punches but missed as they collapsed from exhaustion. They both began to chuckle as memory Steven asked, "What's wrong with us?"

"Hah...I know what's wrong with me. I'm not supposed to be small. And everyone's always acting like there's no problem. You can be anything you want to be. But I can't. I can't even be the one thing I'm supposed to be, you know?"

"Of course I do. I'm not Rose Quartz. Why do you think I've been working so hard?"

"Well… it's paying off."

"I sure hope so."

Memory Steven stood up first and offered a hand to memory Amethyst, and took it with a, "Thank you."

Connie and Amethyst ventured forth as they experienced the purple Gem's first-ever, though brief, encounter with Bismuth. Then eventually found themselves in the deserted canyons of the Beta Kindergarten where Steven and Amethyst had their rematch against Jasper.

The memory Steven ran over to the memory Amethyst who appeared to be on the verge of tears and told him, "Steven… I can't win. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I work, she came out right, and I came out... wrong..."

"That's just what Jasper thinks." Memory Steven replied. "She's the only one who thinks you should be like her! Stop trying to be like Jasper. You're nothing like Jasper! You're like me! Because we're both not like anybody. And yeah, it sucks... But at least I've got you. And you've got me!" He began to tear up. "So, stop leaving me out of this."

Memory Amethyst sniffled. "Us worse Gems stick together, right?"

Memory Steven offered her his hand. "That's why we're the best."

Memory Amethyst chuckled as she took it and gave Steven hug that resulted in an explosion of smoke and light. Followed by a, "What a beautiful day!" from Smoky Quartz's recognizable voice as she emerged.

The memories began to speed up once more as Connie and Amethyst passed by more memories. One of when she and the Gems met Steven's uncle, Andy DeMayo. Their mission to space to save Greg from the Zoo. Their encounter with Aquamarine and Topaz. Steven turning himself in to Homeworld, and subsequent return. Steven and Amethyst helping Peridot overcome her grief from when Lapis stole the barn and left.

The memories came to a halt as the two of them found themselves on the beach where Steven sat on the sand as the memory Amethyst got up from a face-first crash and started with, "You wanna know how I feel, Steven?

"I thought I was pretty clear about that?" Memory Steven replied.

"I thought I was pretty clear, too! I feel like I don't wanna say, "What about me?" Okay!? And I don't want to be bent out of shape! I don't wanna be stuck in the past, and I'm not responsible for what Rose did! None of us are! Not you... Not Pearl... And not Garnet! But I am responsible for me! And right now, I am NOT gonna dump another thousand-year-old complex on you or anybody else! I'm ending it right here! I am the ding-dong sunshine future, your friend forever! And I'm not gonna fall apart on you."

"Amethyst…"

"So, Steven… How do you feel?"

"Pretty good."

"Good." The purple Gem sat next to the young Half-Gem.

"Have you been trying to cheer me up this whole time?"

"Yes... Geez...Ugh... Don't you know you deserve it? You... great... person..."

"Uh... Hey, Amethyst?"

"What?"

"I can't believe I'm going to say this... But... I think you're officially the most mature Crystal Gem."

"Oh... Oh no... Oh no! Nyooooooh!" Memory Amethyst playfully pounded the sand in defeat. "Gross! That's what this is, isn't it?"

"Yeah… pretty much." Memory Steven and the Amethysts laughed uncontrollably as she and Connie continued.

They passed by interactions with Ruby, and Bismuth's return. The Diamonds crashing Garnet's wedding. The Crystal Gems mission to Homeworld. The Crystal Gems being poofed, and their reformation. Amethyst glowed as her form began to change again for the final time back into her present-day attire. Connie wanted to stop here. She knew what was next and didn't want to subject herself or Amethyst to it. But she also knew that it too is a moment that helped shaped her into the person she is. "We're almost there," Connie told the purple Gem.

"About time." She joked. "I like me, and all that. But I've spent enough time in my head for one day."

The next part of Amethyst's memories were just giant, grey blurs. Around the same time, White Diamond had her and the others under her control. Then… they arrived…

"Steven! Connie!" The memory Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl all cried out as they scrambled over to the memory Steven.

"What happened to him?" The Amethysts asked as she looked at the frail-looking boy.

Connie began to choke up as she saw the most dreaded moment of her life replay through the perspective of someone else. Word for word, scene for scene. She couldn't handle it. She turned away, covered her ears, and shut her eyes. But could still hear and see everything, despite it all.

"Where is his Gem?" The memory Garnet questioned Connie. "His Gem will heal him. Where is it?"

"I don't know!" The memory Connie cried out in emotional frustration. "I don't know…"

"He… could on… only save… one…" The memory Steven confessed. "I… I… couldn't… imagine my… my life… with… without you… Connie."

"Take it back, Steven! Please, take it back!"

"We… both can't exist, Connie. But… I'm not going… going to be gone. You told me once that… that I made your life be… better. But you also… made mine… better t… too. My mom told me… that every moment I loved being me, it… it was her loving being me."

"I don't understand."

"Every moment you… you live. Every moment you… you love yourself. A part of me… will… will be with you. Lo… loving you b… back. I… love you… Connie Maheswaran."

"I love you too, Steven."

"Connie," Amethyst spoke up. The young woman looked to the fully restored, yet tearful, Gem who stood by her side and hugged her. "It's over." The young woman finally gave in and let it all out as she embraced the purple Gem. They just sat there and cried as the last several years breezed by, and they finally reached the end. Connie wiped away her tears and stood. "Thank you for not letting me relive it on my own. Now, let's get out of here, and stop that crazy rubber Gem."

Connie nodded and closed her eyes as she tried to force herself out of Amethyst's mind and back into her own body. But that's when she heard it again. The voice that said, "It's all your fault."

"Connie!" A scared Amethyst shouted.

The young woman's eyes opened and gasped as she and Amethyst saw the same thing. Before them stood… Connie. But it was her thirteen-year-old self. The abdomen of her shirt was a dark red and blood dripped and stain her jeans. Her eyes were full of emotion, with hate and sorrow as the most prominent. She held her sword in her hand as she kept a particular focus on the older Connie and spoke, "You should be dead. Not him!" Then charged at her with a blood-curdling shriek.

Chapter Text

Connie couldn't move. Every instinct screamed at her to roll out of the way but couldn't. It was like she was paralyzed by what she saw and heard. The younger Connie continued to scream in rage as she thrust her blade forward. But her hand was then ensnared by Amethyst's whip. The purple Gem heaved as she tossed the attacker away, then asked the older Connie, "Why are you just standin' around?!"

"Because she knows she deserves it." The hostile Connie snarled as she got up. "She deserves all of it and more!" She made another charge at Connie, and Amethyst cracked her whip again. But the adversary this time grabbed the lash and had enough strength to yank Amethyst towards her. She grabbed the purple Gem by the neck and told her, "Stay out of this!" before she flung her aside. The younger Connie returned her attention to her older self and strode forward.

The young woman still couldn't move, no matter what she did. Her younger self was already in front of her now. What came next was the excruciating pain of her stomach being impaled by a sword. The blade angled a little bit above Steven's gemstone and continued to drive itself deeper. The agony was enough to bring the young woman to tears. She gasped for air but just coughed up blood. "You let him die!" The girl cried. "Why didn't you save him?!" The blade went deeper, and more blood leaked until her shirt, pants, and the ground below was soaked. "You were supposed to protect him! He gave you everything, and you let him down! And even with his Gem, you continue to let them down! Garnet hates you! Amethyst hates you! Pearl hates you! They all hate you!" Connie continued to cough more blood, and her breaths became fainter. "You know I am right. Why else are you letting me end this?!" Connie's sight and hearing started to fade. Her body was slowly becoming cold. Blood and tears continue to drip from her face as she loosened herself and accepted her fate.

"Connie!" Amethyst screamed as her whip wrapped around the girl's neck and was thrown away once more. The Crystal Gem ran over to the young woman and pulled the sword out of her gut. "Connie! You need to wake up!" The young woman remained unresponsive. Amethyst clutched her fist and told her to "Wake up!" as she punched her in the face.

Connie jolted awake and breathed heavily as tears streamed down her cheeks and pain in her jaw. "Connie, are you all right?" Pearl asked the young woman. There was a bright light as the pale Gem turned to where the amnesiac Amethyst was and saw her revert to her normal self. "Amethyst!" Pearl ran over and gave the purple Gem a big hug. "It worked. You're back."

"Connie?" Amethyst called out to the young woman. Connie hiccupped and sniffled as she got off the couch and ran out of the house. "Connie!"

She ran down to the beach, dropped to her knees and wailed. Her tears fell onto the sand as she continued to weep.

"Connie!" Pearl called out as she and Amethyst ran up to her.

"Leave me alone."

"Amethyst told me what happened…"

"Please, leave me alone."

"Not after what happened in there!" Amethyst replied. "You were just goin' to let… whatever that was kill you!"

"Connie, please tell us the truth," Pearl begged.

Connie began to choke as tears rolled down her cheeks and told the Crystal Gems, "He told me that every moment that I lived. Every moment that I loved myself. A part of him would be with me. Loving me back. But I don't feel it, Pearl! I don't feel it at all!"

"But why?" Pearl asked as she and Amethyst kneeled next to the young woman.

"Because I… I… Because I hate myself!"

Pearl and Amethyst were agape at Connie's words. "W… what?"

"I came back to Beach City to gain some closure. To try and feel better. But all this had done is just remind me that Steven's gone and it's all my fault. He should've been the one to live! Not me!"

Connie was then embraced by the Gems, and Pearl told her, "Don't ever say that."

"But it's the truth. Steven and I were supposed to protect each other. I failed him."

"Connie, if there is anyone you should hate, it's me."

The young woman looked at her former mentor. "What?"

"I was the one who stabbed you." Tears began to swell in her eyes. "My apprentice… I hurt you…"

"But White made you do it."

"But it was my spear. With your blood on it."

"Is that why you couldn't summon it before?"

The pale Gem nodded. "Every time I try, all I see is red. I love you, Connie, like a mother, would a daughter."

"Why didn't you tell Garnet or me?" Amethyst asked as she broke the hug. "Have you really been letting this eat you up this entire time?"

"I'm ashamed of all it." Tears began to stream down Pearl's eyes.

"But it wasn't your fault, Pearl." Amethyst looked over to Connie. "And it's not your fault either. The only one to blame is White Diamond. And she's gone. Steven wouldn't want either of you to blame yourselves." She placed a hand on the young woman's shoulder and looked her in the eye. "He did it for you because he loved you. And blaming and hating yourself for it is insulting that sacrifice. I know that's not what you want."

"No, it's not," Connie replied.

"I know how hard it is to lose people you love. But it'll get better. If you let it get better." Connie, Amethyst, and Pearl hugged each other again. Then were happily joined by Spinel, who Amethyst quickly noticed. "You!" She jumped away. "What- W-What are you doing here?!"

Connie tried to say, "Amethyst, let us explain…"

But she and Pearl are grabbed by her whip and pulled over to safety, as she told Spinel, "Get away from them, you monster!"

"A monster?" Spinel looked around. "Where is it? I don't see it?"

"You're it!"

Spinel's smile grew wider. "Oh!" She jumped over and tapped Amethyst on her head. "Boop!" She giggled as she ran away from the three of them. But stopped once she realized they didn't follow. "Oh, I forgot to say that you're it!" She stretched her hand over to and touched Amethyst's shoulder. "Okay, tag! You're it!" She giggled again and ran farther away.

Amethyst looked over at Connie and Pearl, and asked, "What in the heck is this about?"

"We'll fill you in as we head to the injector," Pearl said as she and Connie looked over at it. There was a pinkish smog that surrounded it now. "I hope Peridot found a solution. Because it looks worse than before."

Then, Spinel appeared behind the trio and asked, "Hm? You guys don't know how to play tag?"

Chapter Text

"Lapis! Bismuth! Peridot!" An out-of-breath Connie shouted as she, Amethyst, Pearl, and Spinel, at last, met up with them. When the four of them ran up the hill, they passed by slowly dying plant life, and saw it spread.

"They've arrived as I said they would," Sapphire said as Ruby, who appeared visibly worried about the injector, guarded her, as she held her hand and watched after an equally concerned Pink Pearl.

"Connie! Pearl!" Peridot greeted and looked over to see with them, "Amethyst! Are you back to normal?"

"Who is Amethyst?" The purple quartz responded in a robotic tone.

"Oh, no. She's even worse." She waved her hands at her and looked away. "Get away from me. I can't stand to see you all vacant and bereft of personality."

"Yo, I'm just goofin', ya dip. I'm back, baby!"

The green Gem let out an exasperated sigh. "Too soon, Amethyst. Too soon."

"So, what's the damage?"

"Oh, well, you're all just in time for the end of the world!"

"What?!" Amethyst, Connie, and Pearl shouted.

"It's a little too soon to make that kind of claim." Bismuth said as she and Lapis walked over with a bubbled soil sample. "But this is no ordinary injector.

"And whatever it's leaking into to ground, it's toxic," Lapis added.

Peridot took the bubbled sample from Bismuth and put it into a microwave refitted into a new device. She says to herself, "Let's get a scan going to see what we're dealing with," and pressed a button. A few seconds went by, and all the information was uploaded to her tablet with a ding. "Just as I thought. Bio-poison. Pure and uncut. As of this moment, the ampoule has drained fifteen percent of its contents, meaning the poison is releasing at a destruction rate of five cubic meters per hour, giving us about…. forty… forty-one hours until the destruction of all organic life on Earth."

"All organic life?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, like all the animals, the plants, the insects. You know. People."

Spinel's words replayed in the young woman's mind, 'For all your strength, it ain't gonna serve you forty-eight hours from now. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.' "This is what she meant. Whatever Pink did to her, to get even, it wouldn't be enough to just to take away her friends and family… but everything else she valued. Bismuth, Lapis, can't you lift that thing? Peridot, what about your metal powers?"

"You think we didn't try that?" Lapis replied.

"Disturbing the injector accelerated the poison's rate of release," Peridot stated. "Also, it might explode. We have to find a way to move it without that happening, or at the very least, neutralize the poison, before it's too late."

"Then, we gotta change Spinel back," Connie stated. "She activated this thing. So, she must know how to deactivate it."

"As cute and harmless the spinel is now if she's returned to how she was before, I foresee her killing us all." Sapphire grimly stated. "However, all of us will die anyway if we do not deactivate the injector."

"She's right, Connie," Amethyst told the young woman. "You got me back. You can get her back too."

"That's different, I know you," Connie replied. "I don't know anything about Spinel. The only ones who do are Pearl," she looked over at her Pink Pearl, "and Pearl." Connie ran over to Pink Pearl, as Spinel followed from behind. "Pearl. We need your help to stop this."

"I'm not sure how much help I could possibly be." Pink Pearl responded.

"You just need to tell us what you know about Spinel."

"Well, she is… or was, my… Pink Diamond's best friend. They used to spend ages together in the Garden."

"The Garden?"

"That's where they used to play. But I haven't seen her in six-thousand-years. Ever since…" The pearl placed a hand over her cracked eye and took a moment to regain her composure. "Something must have happened to her since then."

"Then that's what we need to find out." Connie turned to the others. "Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot, you three continue to work on neutralizing the poison. Amethyst, Pearl and I will take Spinel to the Garden and get her memories back."

"I've been to the Garden before," Pearl stated. "I know where it is."

"But isn't it in space? How are we gonna get there?" Amethyst asked. "The Galaxy Warp's busted."

"I know how we can fix it fast. But we need to go now, time is of the essence."

"Road trip!" Spinel happily cheered as she bounced around.

Connie looked over at Sapphire and had to ask, "Will this work?"

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you."

"Why not?"

"The future is determined by a set of probabilities. Some countable, others uncountable. If I reveal a future, I am manipulating its set of probabilities. This could drastically change that future. But there is one thing I can say. Not long from now, you will be given a choice that'll take the pain you feel away forever."

"And you can't tell me about that one either?"

"I cannot. I just pray you make the right one."

On that mysterious note, Connie turned back to the others. "Let's go to the Garden."

Pearl's plan to fix the Galaxy Warp involved the use of Rose Quartz's healing tears from her fountain. After Connie, Amethyst, and Pearl gathered a bottleful each, they warped over to the Galaxy Warp hub.

The Crystal Gems and Spinel instantly caught sight of the destroyed warp pad that was larger in comparison to the others. "Dang," Amethyst said. "Forgot how much of a number Garnet did on that one."

"We'll tell her to smash it again after we prevent the end of the world. We wouldn't want any more uninvited guests." Pearl said as they all walked over to it. "Now, help me get the pieces together."

Connie, Amethyst, and Pearl gathered up all the broken pieces of the Galaxy Warp together, then poured the bottles of tears on it at the same time. It took a moment, but the pad began to glow and remold itself back into a recognizable shape. "I hope this works." Connie prayed. She took Spinel's hand, and they walked onto the pad with two Crystal Gems.

The Galaxy Warp flickered as it powered up, then they were all enveloped in a bright, cylindrical light that lifted them off the ground. They zoomed past stars and planets at what could be considered lightspeed, then finally reemerged at their new location.

As soon as they landed, Connie fell to her knees and grabbed her throat. "Connie!" Pearl and Amethyst screamed.

The young woman couldn't breathe. There was no oxygen here. She vainly gasped for air and felt like she was about to pass out. But Pearl quickly materialized an air bubble around her head. Connie took in a deep breath of air and steadied herself. She looked at the pale Gem and said, "Thank you."

Now that she could breathe again, Connie got a good look at where they were all at. They were in a dome-like greenhouse that sat on a giant, dilapidated asteroid. The roof of the dome was broken as if something crashed inside of it. There were many withered flowers and pillars that have crumbled and or fell apart long ago.

"Well, this ain't creepy at all," Amethyst remarked.

Connie then heard sobs and turned to see that they came from "Spinel? What's wrong?"

"I… I don't know." The child-like Gem sniffled. "I just... started getting these feelings... flooding back to me..."

"That's... that's good. We need you to remember. Do you remember this place? Is anything coming back to you?" Spinel looked at the Garden and briefly held a nostalgic smile. But it began to degrade into a destroyed frown as she clenched her fists and ran ahead of them. "Spinel!"

Connie, Amethyst, and Pearl followed the distraught Gem off the warp pad but kept a reasonable distance. She finally stopped, and they stopped too. In the corner of her eye, Connie saw a pillar with deep marks engrained into it. Like it was repeatedly hit by something hard. "I'm back. Back… to where I never left…"

"Spinel."

"This was our garden. A special world built just for Pink and I. On Homeworld, Pink was so lonely and sad, but not here. Here, we would play for hours. Every day was so much fun. At least… that's what I thought."

"Did something happen?"

The pink Gem turned around to look at Connie and wiped her tears away. "Pink wanted a colony more than anything. And One day, her wish came true. Blue and Yellow gave Pink her very own planet… Earth. I was so excited. A brand-new place to play!"

From her tone, Connie knew that this was a tragic story. But for the sake of her family… her home… her planet… she needed to hear it. "So, why didn't you go with her?"

Chapter Text

Spinel tried to contain her giggles from behind the pillar as she heard Pink Diamond call out, "Spinel! Where are you?!" The voice got closer. "Spinel? Where can she be." The rubber Gem stretched her arm around just enough to tap her Diamond's shoulder. Then quickly pulled it back. "Spinel?"

Spinel leaped out from the other side of the pillar and hollered while she made funny face, "I win!

The young Diamond was startled at first, but then busted out with laughter. "Yes, you win. You win."

The way her Diamond smiled, that's what she's always after. The joy in her eyes, and the sounds of her laughter. Spinel bounced up and down. "Wanna play again? Wanna play again? Wanna play again?"

"Oh, well… I was wondering if we could do something else. I mean, all we play hide and seek all the time here."

"Something else?" Spinel rubbed her index finger and thumb against her chin. She snapped her fingers. "Wanna see a new trick I learned?"

"A new trick?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I came up with it myself." Spinel manifested three bubbles at once and proceeded to juggle them in a circle.

Pink was entranced by the act. Her eyes followed each bubble in a circular motion. "Bravo! Bravo!" The Diamond cheered with a laugh and clap.

"If you think that's cool. Just watch." Spinel manifested another bubble to juggle. Then another. And another. And another. Soon, she had well over a dozen to juggle, as well as a bigger bubble to balance on while she did it.

While she was impressed, Pink had a bit of worry accompany it. "Spinel, I think you're…" The rubbery Gem raised the bubbles to two dozen, then three dozen. But just as she was about to reach four dozen, she lost her balance and fell face first onto the ground. "Spinel!"

Spinel picked herself up off the ground. Her face was squished as flat as a table. "Gimme a sec." She grabbed her nose with her index and middle fingers, and thumb, and pulled her face forward. She let go, and her head snapped back to its normal shape. "Ta-da!" Pink laughed and clapped again. Spinel, happy to appease her Diamond, bowed. But as soon as her hysterics ceased, Pink let out a small sigh. Spinel walked up to Pink. "Is something wrong, my Diamond?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Spinel."

"But you look sad. Did I make you sad?"

"Oh, stars no. I enjoyed every moment of today. I was just thinking, is all…"

"About what?"

"About my first colony. I keep asking Yellow and Blue to give me one, but they always say no. It's not fair."

"Well, who needs a stinkin' colony when you can have fun here in the garden." Spinel extended her neck to a ridiculous length and shapeshifted her face to look like Yellow Diamonds, along with her best impression. "And don't let a sourpuss like me get you down."

Pink busted out with laughter once more. But stopped as soon as she heard a ding from the Garden's communicator. Spinel shapeshifted back to normal as she and her Diamond walked over to see what Yellow and Blue wanted.

Pink accepted the call, and a rose-tinted holo-screen of the two monarchs appeared. "Pink." Yellow greeted.

"Yellow. Blue. Is there something I can do for you?"

"No, it's something we can do for you." Blue spoke up. "Yellow and I were discussing it with each other, and we came to an agreement."

"Agreement?"

"We found a small colony out in the farther reaches of space, called Earth," Yellow explained. "We want you to have it?"

Pink blinked and surprise. "W-what?"

"We're giving you your own colony."

The young Diamond was lost for words and looked like she was about to cry. "You… you really mean it…"

"Well, it's about dang time!" Spinel told the two of them.

"Spinel!" Pink scolded.

"What?"

Yellow ignored the rubbery Gem and resumed the conversation. "We're having our best bismuths forge you a new ship for you to control personally. It'll be ready within one month."

"We wish for you to return to Homeworld to set a congratulatory ball, for your achievement," Blue added in.

"I'll head over right now! Thank you so much!" Pink ended the call.

"A new colony means a new place to play!" Spinel happily bounced around an equally, if not more, excited Pink Diamond, then landed on the taller Gems shoulder with a big smile.

Pink picked up and put Spinel back the ground. "I got to go immediately. I got to tell Pearl the news, say goodbye to the pebbles… I need to go. Bye, Spinel."

"Bye?" Spinel followed her Diamond as she walked over to the Galaxy Warp.

Pink noticed, stopped, and turned around. "I'm sorry, Spinel. But Yellow and Blue told me you're not allowed to attend balls because of what happened last time."

"But that was an accident."

"I know. But you can't come with me. So, please stay here."

Pink resumed her way to the warp and noticed Spinel continue to follow. "Spinel." Pink held out her hand to make the Gem stop. Spinel looked at her Diamond with big eyes and a frown. Pink let out a sigh and told the friendly Gem, "Here, let's play a new game."

Spinel's frown morphed into a grin. "A new game! How do we play?! How do we play?! How do we play?!"

"I'll show you how it's done. Just stand very still, here in the Garden. Trust me, it'll be so much fun. And if you move, you lose." Spinel nodded and planted her feet onto the ground and clasped her hands together. "Perfect." Pink gave Spinel a thumbs up and walked over to the Galaxy Warp and vanished in a stream of bright light. There, Spinel stood by patiently, happy to listen, and happy to play.

All on her own, she happily waited. Under an endless sky, she counted the seconds as she stood alone. As thousands of years went by, and night after night, she happily wondered, if this's how it works, was she even doing it right. The scenery around her drastically changed. Flowers and other plants began to overgrow around her, and some withered away entirely. She began to grow fatigued after so much time, but Spinel chose to remain on the ground she stood.

A light caught Spinel's eyes and forced her to blink. She looked up and saw that it came from above. It appeared to be a blue comet. But as the pink Gem continued to look, it eventually dawned on her that it was on a collision course with the Garden. Spinel screamed as she and dived behind a pillar mere moments before it crashed right through the dome.

Spinel peaked over to get a look at the comet. But it was no comet at all. It was a Homeworld ship. It was more advanced than what she's ever seen, and it appeared to be damaged. The hatch its side opened, and an aquamarine flew out. "Well, that's just perfect!" She shouted. "The whole bleedin' thing is beat-up! Right, Topaz, get out 'ere!" Two topazes emerged from the ship to observe the damage, too.

Spinel looked at the new Gem with some nervousness but still decided to reveal herself. "Hello!"

The three Gems turned and went on the defensive. The aquamarine pulled at the bow in her hair, which straightened out into a wand. She pointed it at Spinel and asked, "Who are you?!"

"M-my name is Spinel. I'm one of Pink Diamond's Gems."

"Pink Diamond?" The aquamarine appeared surprised, then scowled. "Are you one o' Rose Quartz's lackeys, then?"

"Who?"

"A Crystal Gem? Are you a Crystal Gem?"

"I don't know what that is."

"Well, if you're not a Crystal Gem, then wotcher doin' 'ere, then, eh?"

"I was playing a game with my Diamond. I had to stay completely still to win." Spinel chuckled lowly. "I guess I lost."

"When was this?" One of the topazes spoke up, only to receive a sharp glare from the little blue Gem.

"When Yellow and Blue Diamond called and told her she was getting her first colony. I'm just waiting for her to come back."

Aquamarine lowered her wand. "She's not comin' back."

"What? Don't be silly, she wouldn't forget her best friend."

"But that's exactly wot she did. She left you, and she's never comin' back. All because o' that stupid planet, and its stupid organic lifeforms." Aquamarine went on to further explain all that she knew.

Pink became Rose Quartz and rebelled against the Authority with a pearl and defective amethyst and fusion between a ruby and a sapphire. She figured out how to become a human and started to call herself "Steven." She eventually returned to Homeworld with the other Crystal Gems and a human known as a "connie." Pink somehow convinced Yellow and Blue to betray White, and so, they poofed her, then abandoned Homeworld and all their Gems. Now, there's a civil war between different Gem factions to fill the void the Diamonds left.

"No… no… you're lying!" Spinel shouted with tears in her eyes. "I'm… I'm her best friend. Sh-she wouldn't… She wouldn't!"

"I've no reason to lie. You stayed and waited for someone who didn't care about you. Everyone you've ever known's gone on without you."

Spinel took a couple steps back. "No… no…" She clutched the sides of her head. "No…" Every emotion bottled inside of her finally poured out. Sorrow… Betrayal… Rage… "No!" Spinel spun around and punched the pillar behind her and continued to throw one after the other as she wailed. "No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!" The pillar was on the verge of collapse when she finally dropped to her knees and sobbed, "Why? Why didn't she want me?" She finally had something... finally had news about how her story ended and all the people who became her new best friends.

Aquamarine let out a sigh. "Look, if you want, when the ship is up and runnin', there's a nearby colony we can drop you off. It used to be a place where weapons and other technologies were developed. It's not much, but it's better than 'ere, I s'pose."

Spinel didn't answer and just looked at the small, blue Gem. But it was enough to tell that she didn't want to be here anymore. She couldn't believe herself, for how much of a fool she was to happily listen. To happily stay. To happily watch her… the best friend she loved… to watch all that she held dear… drift away.

Chapter Text

As Spinel finished her tragic tale, she began to glow and reform back into her harlequin appearance. Connie wiped her eyes and slowly approached the Gem. "S-Spinel." She began. "I'm so sorry that happened to you."

"Yeah, I bet you are!" Spinel grabbed the collar of Connie's shirt and extended her arm to slam the young woman against the dome.

"Connie!" Pearl and Amethyst cried as they rushed over to aid her.

"Stay out of this!" Spinel shapeshifted her hand to be big enough to grab and hold both the Crystal Gems like they were dolls. Spinel turned her attention back to Connie walked over to her. "Well, it looks like you got what you wanted. I've got my memories back. All of them."

"Spinel, what Pink did to you was horrible," Connie said. "You deserve better. Come back and save the Earth with us. You can start over there, make new friends."

"Like you? I don't want anything to do with you! The meat-bag Pink, Rose, Steven, or whatever she wanted to call herself, loved enough to give her Gem to."

Connie's eyes widened. "How do you…"

Spinel laughed manically. "I told you I have all of my memories back, especially from the innocent, loving… stupid version of me. You never wanted to be my friend. You just wanted me to turn off my injector. Well, that ain't happening!"

"Spinel, I…"

"Don't even try to lie!" In her rage, Spinel tightened her grip of Pearl and Amethyst. The two Gems yelped in pain.

"No, you're hurting them!"

"Oh, you're so protective of your real friends. Yet, so careless with your fake ones!" She tightened her grip again.

"Stop it!"

"Then why don't you just stop me?! You have the power of a Diamond! And maybe if you were that strong, to begin with, Steven wouldn't have died!"

As soon as she heard those words, a wave of emotions engulfed the young woman as she let out a scream and manifested a pink bubble around that knocked Spinel away and freed Pearl and Amethyst. "Guys!" Connie ran over to the two Crystal Gems. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine," Pearl assured.

Spinel let out another psychopathic holler as she picked herself up off the ground like a possessed doll, she rotated her head with a sick smile. "Well, that happened." She said.

"I wish I had brought my sword," Connie admitted.

"Good thing you've got a shield," Amethyst said as she summoned her whip, and Pearl took a martial-arts stance. Connie took a deep breath and focused until she successfully manifested a somewhat stable shield.

"I may not have my rejuvenator. But I won't need it to beat you losers." Spinel taunted as she lunged toward the group.

Connie got in front of Amethyst and Pearl with her shield up. But with one punch, Spinel broke it and sent the young woman far back. Like a coil, Spinel bounced towards Connie with her hands shapeshifted into hammers. But was hit by pillar tossed at her by Amethyst's whip. While she was disoriented, Pearl took the opportunity to hit her with a hard roundhouse kick. But the rubbery Gem recovered and grabbed Pearl's ankle and tossed her away and slammed onto the dome. Amethyst charged at Spinel with a spin-dash that set herself, and the ground on fire. The pink Gem shapeshifted her hands into a wall to stop the attack but couldn't prevent herself from being pushed back. Eventually, Spinel just extended her legs and allowed Amethyst to zoom under her. Then stomped the purple Gem into a corner with a ridiculously large foot.

Connie got back onto her feet and summoned a new shield. "Spinel, please listen." She begged. "I don't want to fight."

"You may not want to. But I do!" Spinel threw a punch. But Connie manifested another shield. It protected her, and her air bubble, but shattered. Spinel delivered another blow, and Connie summoned another shield. The same result occurred again, and again, and again. "I bet if it weren't for that gem, you'd be on the ground already."

"Spinel, we can just talk this out."

"Why? I'm having so much fun. I don't wanna stop playin'!" Spinel clasped her head as she continued to laugh and dragged her fingers across her face. "Y'know, I came to Earth to take my anger out on a bunch of strangers, but now that I know you, I wanna kill you even more!"

"Just come back with us and stop the injector. Make Earth your new home, and we can put all of this behind."

"And how do you think you're gonna do that with me around, huh? I'm the source of all your problems. So, don't pretend you want me! Oh, what would your plan for me be, huh? You gonna put me somewhere? You gonna leave me somewhere? You gonna leave me all alone?! Or maybe you've gotta plan with my rejuvenator? Because what a plan that would be! I turn off the injector, and then the moment my back is turned, bam! Presto! Change-o! Problem solved!"

"I'd never…"

"Well, think again! You're not gettin' rid of me that easily!" Spinel leaped over Connie, then sprung backward with her arms and legs stretched out like a spider.

Connie summoned another shield and with all her strength, struck her opponent with it. The hit was enough to slam Spinel right into pillar she punched all those centuries ago, and finally caused it to collapse. "Spinel!" Connie ran over to the rubble and saw Gem lay in the center. Spinel picked herself up, but at a slower pace than before. Her whole body glitched. As soon as her gemstone was visible, it was revealed that there was a crack in the middle. "Oh, no." Connie ran over to the Gem. "Spinel, I…" Before she could even finish, Spinel punched Connie in the gut with enough force to knock her away, and out of breath.

"As much f-fun as it would be to ki-i-i-i-ill-l you mys-self. I think I'd rather let yo-o-u spe-end a d-day in my shoes. Or more app-p-ropria-a-ately, centuries." Spinel struggled to extend her arms over to the Galaxy Warp, but finally managed, and pulled herself to it. "So-orry, you won't ge-e-et to see what I do to yo-o-ur planet!"

"Spi… Spi…" Connie struggled for air. "Spinel!" She dashed to over to the warp pad as fast as she could, but wasn't fast enough, as she saw the pink vanish in the stream of light.

"Connie!" Pearl called out as she and Amethyst met up with the young woman. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Connie assured as she huffed and puffed. "Spinel's gone back to Earth, and her Gem is cracked."

"If she shatters, we'll never stop the injector."

"Then what are we waitin' for?!" Amethyst stepped onto the Galaxy Warp, but it did not activate. "Why isn't it working? It should be working!"

"She must have deactivated the pad back on Earth." Pearl looked at Connie and Amethyst. "We're stuck here in the Garden."

Chapter Text

"There has to be something we can do!" Connie shouted as she paced around the warp pad. "Why wouldn't Spinel just listen to us?"

"Because she's hurt," Pearl spoke up. "Not just from her crack. What happened to her was… it was unforgivable. I can't believe Rose could do something like that." Then her tone changed. "No wait, she would do something like that."

"And here I thought her lying about who she was, was the most messed up thing she's ever done," Amethyst added in.

"She'd probably listen if it were Steven talking to her," Connie said in a low tone. "I wanted to help Spinel the same way he would. Yet, I managed to screw that up."

"Hey, I thought you were done with blaming yourself?" Amethyst sternly asked. "And maybe… Spinel's just beyond help."

"Steven believed that people deserve second chances."

"But not everyone," Pearl said.

Connie knew who the pale Gem meant. "But Spinel's not White Diamond. She's… She's like Steven." Pearl and Amethyst looked at the young woman. "All she wanted to do was bring happiness to others. To find the good in a bad situation. She thinks we're just gonna hurt her the same way Pink did. If we give up on her, we're proving her right."

"And how exactly are we gonna prove her wrong if we can't get back to Earth?" Amethyst asked.

"Spinel was able to get her rejuvenator and injector from another planet. If she was able to find those lying, then maybe we could find something to get us home. Like a ship."

"But even if we did find a ship, we don't know how long it would take to get home." Pearl pointed out. "I mean, Lars stole one of Homeworld's fastest ships, and it took him months to get back to Earth."

"Well, Lars probably didn't know where he was going half of the time. But it's better than standing around and doing nothing."

"Can't argue with that," Amethyst said as she hopped onto the Galaxy Warp. "We just need to find a place to start."

Pearl let out a breath, stepped onto the warp, and got on her knees. "Then, let's find one." She said as she placed her palms onto it. Then her gemstone radiated. Out of it, a hologram of a star map popped out. Connie and Amethyst examined the projection and noticed some blips on the screen. "I'm projecting the coordinates of all Homeworld Galaxy Warps that are still active. There's one that will take us to a planet with one of Yellow Diamond's old bases. It's a solar system away from Earth, but if I were a gambler, some of her ships should still be there. It's not the most solid start, but it'll have to do."

"Then, let's warp over," Connie stated.

The crystalline pad glowed and hummed as it engulfed the trio and flung them out of the Garden, across the stars, and onto the new planet. Connie looked around and saw that they were in an environment with grass and trees. She removed the bubble around her head and took a breath, lucky for her, there was a breathable atmosphere.

"I think I see the base." Amethyst pointed out as she led Pearl and Connie to a bright yellow structure. Parked in front of it was a green ship that looked oddly familiar to Connie. "Alright, let's grab it and go home!" The three of them made a bolt for the space ship.

"Stop right there!" A gruff voice demanded as Connie and the Crystal Gems stopped in their tracks. "Turn around, slowly." The three of them did exactly as the voice said and found themselves face to face with two amethysts, they had surprised looks on their faces. "8XM?"

"Wait a sec," Amethyst said as she looked at the two quartzes. "G? J?"

The eyes of the two amethysts widened as smiles formed and ran towards to the purple Crystal Gem with their arms out. "It is you." They gave Amethyst the biggest hug as all three chuckled. "We'd thought we'd ever see ya again."

"I thought that, too."

"Um, what's going on?" Connie asked.

"Right, explanation." G and J let Amethyst go. "These are my sisters from the Prime Kindergarten. 8XG and 8XJ. There my family. My Famethyst."

"Hey, uh, we know this is late." G began. "But we... all of us, heard what happened to Steven."

"We're so sorry," J added. "We didn't know him like you, but he was a good person."

"Thank you," Amethyst told them. "But what are you two doing here? I'd thought you'd still be at the Zoo."

"Oh, we're not a part of Holly's faction anymore. We all left as soon as we could. Skinny, Carnelian, L, H, K. All of us."

"If I may interject." Connie stepped in. "Amethyst. I'm happy you're seeing your family again, but we need to go now."

"What's the rush?" J asked.

Amethyst explained, "To make a long story short, a Gem's gonna destroy Earth if we don't get back there. So, can we please take that ship over there. We'll give it back."

"Sorry, sis, but we can't let you take that ship. Not without our captain's permission."

"Then, let us talk to her!" Connie shouted. "Maybe we can make a deal."

"We can take you to go see her." G said. "But unless you offer her something that she really wants, we doubt she'll help."

"Please, just take us to her."

G let out a sigh, "Come with us. And don't say we didn't warn you." She and J led the way with Amethyst behind them and Connie and Pearl behind her.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Pearl told the young woman.

Connie swallowed and replied, "I hope I do, too."

The trio followed the quartzes into the ship. There were many amethysts and jaspers among the other Gems inside. Most of them recognized Amethyst right away and called out and waved at her. G and J led Connie and the Crystal Gems down a hall and stopped before a door. The quartzes opened the door, and the group entered the command bridge, with a large chair in the middle. "Captain." The quartzes simultaneously addressed.

The chair swirled around, and Connie immediately recognized the spiky-haired, one-eyed, green Gem that she and Steven encountered when they went to see Lars in space. She whispered under breath, "Emerald."

She looked at Pearl, then Connie, then Amethyst, and gave them a daggered glare. She growled, "Crystal Gems." She stood from her chair. "What are you doing here? It was bad enough that you had to ruin everything on Homeworld, now you apparently can't stay put on that precious, little planet of yours." Emerald glared at J and G. "Did you spot any of the others with them? Like the Fusion?"

"It's just these three, Ma'am," J answered. "They just want to talk with you?"

"Talk to me? I have nothing to say to traitors like them."

"Please, just hear us out," Connie begged. "We were stranded and used a Galaxy Warp to come here since it was nearest to Earth. We just need a ship to take us back, then we'll be out of your hair."

Emerald's stern demeanor changed as she busted out with laughter. "And you think I'm going to give you one of my ships?" After a few more laughs, she became serious again. "I don't know if you are aware of this, but all of Gemkind is in the middle of a civil war. One that started because of all of you. And one I intend on winning. So, I'm not gonna do something to put my army at a disadvantage." She looked back at her soldiers. "Get 'em out of my sight."

J and G reached over to the trio. "Wait, I think I have somethin' you might want!"

"You have nothing I'd want."

Two quartzes grab Connie and the Crystal Gems. "Sorry, sis." G said to Amethyst.

"I can get your Sun Incinerator back!" Connie quickly shouted as the three of them were about to be pulled out.

Emerald looked at the young woman and raised her hand. G and J let them go. "What do you know about that ship?" She asked.

"I know the person who stole it from you."

"You know Captain Lars?" If her tone was any indication, she had more scorn for him than for the Crystal Gems.

"Yes. He's a friend of the Crystal Gems. Help us get back to Earth, and I can convince him to give you your ship back. I mean, it's one of the fastest ships Homeworld ever constructed. And I'm sure it would give you an edge in any battle."

Emerald stood in silence for a moment and sat back in her chair. She pressed a button on the armrest. "This is your captain speaking!" Her voice echoed inside and outside the ship. "All available soldiers get to your stations within the Destiny Destroyer. We're going on a mission." She pressed another button. "My ship better be there, human."

"Don't worry, it will." J and G escorted Connie and the others off the bridge, then left to take their stations. Groups of Gems all did the same thing. Connie looked at her friends. "Please tell me Lars kept his ship."

"Well, technically, he did," Pearl answered.

"Technically?"

"It… would probably be easier to show you." The ship began to rumble. "Looks like we're taking off."

"Earth, here we come!" Amethyst shouted.

Connie noticed a nearby window and walked over to it. She looked outside as she saw the ship ascend pass the structure, the clouds, and stopped at the stars. She prayed that they'd make it time not only to save Earth but Spinel too, as the stars flew past her like a stream of light.

Chapter Text

Connie, Pearl, and Amethyst anxiously looked from the window of the Destiny Destroyer as it reached Earth's orbit. The three of them became worried as they saw how far the bio-poison had spread throughout the planet since the hours they've been gone. Earth's time is almost up.

Before they arrived, Pearl had given Emerald the coordinates to make sure that they land near Beach City and Little Homeworld. The Gem spacecraft entered the planet's atmosphere and flew straight over to the community. The Crystal Gems were more horrified by what they saw on the ground.

While Little Homeworld was not destroyed, all the hard work Amethyst and Pearl had put in with Garnet, Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot made it difficult for them to bear. Beach City did not fare any better. The ground's cracked asunder, and most of the establishments have collapsed in on themselves. Fortunately, the other Gems like Jasper, Biggs, the pearls, Snowflake, and Centi, all led by Lapis and Lion, Lars, Mayor Nanefua, Sadie, and Greg, helped with the evacuation of the town.

The Destiny Destroyer eventually found somewhere to land, but the whole ship rumbled as soon as they did. The ground violently shifted and began to split down the middle, right in the ship's direction. "Everyone out!" Connie screamed as she, Pearl, Amethyst, the Famethyst, and Emerald all made a break for the exit.

The crew all barely escaped as the Destiny Destroyer was swallowed up by the ground. "No! My ship!" Emerald cried out.

Connie walked over to the edge of the fissure and looked down. The bio-poison seemed to have mixed with the Earth's magma and began to eat away at that Gem ship. "Guys!" Lapis called out as the Crystal Gems turned and saw her fly over to the group, as Lion ran alongside her. "You're back." She looked at the other Gems. "With others."

"It's a long story." Amethyst quickly stated.

"What happened here?" Pearl asked.

"Spinel showed up here and stole back her rejuvenator. Then she went over to the injector and did something to speed all of this up."

"Is Spinel still there?" Connie asked.

Lapis nodded. "Bismuth, Peridot, Ruby, and Sapphire are trying to stop her. But they can't land a hit. All the Gems from Little Homeworld, and I have been trying to evacuate Beach City."

"We saw from the ship we came in." The young woman hopped onto Lion's back. "We'll stop Spinel, just make sure everyone stays safe."

"We'll help out!" J announced.

"Excuse me, but I'm the one who gives orders here." Emerald intervened. "Why should we help them."

"You don't have to," Connie said. "You got us here, which is enough."

"But those who wanna help, come with me," Lapis told the quartzes. "Those who don't stay out of the way."

"Let's get goin'!" Amethyst said as she and Pearl hopped onto Lion.

"Connie, wait!" The young woman turned to the blue Gem, who fished out a long box from some rubble and flew over to her. "You're gonna need this."

Connie took the box and opened it. Inside was her sword. It was still in excellent condition and looked as polished as it was when she first received it. She looked at Lapis and told her, "Thank you." The blue Gem nodded and flew back to Beach City, with J, K, Skinny, Carnelian, and some of the Famethyst behind her. Connie turned her attention to the injector in the distance. "Let's go, Lion!"

Lion ran forward, roared open a portal, and leaped through it. Connie, Amethyst, and Pearl emerged on the other side, near the injector. It was already half-empty.

The young woman looked around until she finally spotted the other Crystal Gems. Spinel twirled her scythe with a malicious grin and charged at Bismuth. Even with her cracked gemstone, she was still fast and flexible.

Peridot, on her trashcan lid, used her magnetism the pull Bismuth, garbed in her armor, out of the way. Ruby decided to go in for an attack as soon as she saw an opportunity. But Spinel struck the little red Gem with the back of her scythe and knocked her away. The rubbery Gem's form glitched but quickly stabilized.

Connie and the others hopped off the pink beast and told him, "Go help Lapis and the others." Lion huffed and ran off to Beach City. With her sword in hand, Connie ran to the others with Pearl and Amethyst behind her. "Spinel!"

The pink Gem turned to the young woman and scowled as she shouted, "You-u-u!"

Ruby, Bismuth, Peridot, and Sapphire turned to see their friends join in, as the latter stated, "They've arrived as I said."

"Well, now that you're al-l-ll ba-a-ack together, you c-a-an all die tog-e-ethe-r-r-r!" Spinel shouted as she leaped at them again. Connie charged forward with her sword and blocked the scythe. She locked blades with the pink Gem. "Hm, I wonder w-w-what's gon-n-na happen if I hit-t you with th-his."

"Spinel, please stop this!" Connie begged as she stayed strong. "It's not too late to talk!"

The ground around them started to rumble again, as cracks began to make their way toward all of them. "Run for it!" Peridot shouted. Spinel leaped onto one of the legs of her injector while Connie sprinted as fast as she could to the others. The Crystal Gems tried to put distance between them and cracks, but they were too fast. Ruby then tripped, with the sundered ground about to reach her.

"No!" Sapphire shouted as she turned around and dashed over to the red Gem. She grabbed her as they both fell in.

"Sapphire! Ruby!" Pearl cried out.

But Sapphire managed to grab hold of the ledge. "I got her!

Connie, Pearl, and Bismuth ran toward the Gems in distress, but Spinel leaped in front of them as she waved her index finger while she spun the scythe around, and told them, "Thin-g-gs are no-w-w get-tin' inter-e-e-estin'."

"Sapphire, let go!" Ruby told the Gem. "Save yourself!"

"I won't!" Sapphire told her.

"You can't hold on forever!"

"I'm not letting you go!"

"Why? I'm just a ruby, there are thousands like me! So, why me?"

"Because… Because… while we've only known each other for a short while, I feel like it's been longer! As a sapphire, I face hardships and confusion every moment of my life. Even if I don't show it. But when I'm with you, I feel like I can live through it all. I feel like I can face the truth."

Ruby looked at the blue Gem with a small smile. "We can face the truth… together." The bodies of the two Gems began to radiate, but the ground Sapphire held onto finally gave.

"No!" Connie screamed at the top of her lungs as she saw the two Gems disappear from her sight. Spinel smacked the distracted young woman with the back of her scythe and stomped on her chest.

"En-d-d of th-he line!" Spinel raised her scythe, ready to slash at Connie.

The next thing the young woman knew, Spinel was kicked off her by an unprecedented force. Connie looked up at her savior and saw that it was "Garnet!" But this wasn't the form Connie expected her to take. The Fusion had curly hair that was a mix of blue and hot pink, like cotton candy. Her bodysuit was a messy amalgamation of both Ruby's and Sapphire's clothes.

As soon as Spinel saw the Fusion, she stomped her feet on the ground, and pulled her hair, as she shouted, "No! No! N-n-no! No! N-no! No-o!" Her physical form glitched.

"Sometimes, difficult days go by." Garnet began. "And keeping it together may be hard, but that's why I've got to try." Her physical form glowed again and changed into the appearance from when Connie first met her. Her memories had started to flood back. "When I feel a thundering storm outside, a part of me may huddle underneath the covers and hide. But I choose to open my eyes." Her body glowed again and took on the appearance she held for as long as Connie could remember.

"L-l-looks like I'l-l just ne-e-e-eed to spl-lit you agai-n-n-n!" Spinel leaped into battle to slash Garnet, but her leg was ensnared by Amethyst's whip and pulled right in the direction of Bismuth's fist. Spinel slammed against her injector but was unfazed. She sneered as her body glitched again.

"Sometimes, I felt stuck in the middle of fear and shame. A part of me looking for something to blame, like it was a game." Garnet's body was engulfed in a bright white light one more time. "But now I am better than "win-or-lose." I've found a new direction, a new choice. It's called the truth!" The light faded, and Garnet returned to her normal self.

"Garnet!" Connie and the Crystal Gems cried out and ran over to hug their friend.

"We missed you so much," Amethyst said and looked at the Fusion. "You are back, right?"

"Yes, Amethyst," Garnet said in a gentle tone. "I'm back."

"You ma-a-ay hav-v-e all yo-o-ur fri-i-i-ends bac-k-k!" Spinel shouted. "But-t-t I'm no-t-t gon-n-na-a let-t a-a-ny of you ge-t-t one ov-ve-ve-er me!" Spinel shapeshifted her hand into a horn and blew into it. The deep noise caused the injector to smash into the Earth's crust even harder and splash out more of its contents at a faster rate, followed by more tremors that knocked Crystal Gem down. It was now one-tenth empty. Spinel deviously smirked and taunted them with, "Tic-k-k-tock. T-t-ti-ick-to-ock. Tick-tock."

Chapter Text

"We need to neutralize the poison before it empties!" Bismuth told the others as they got to their feet.

"Luckily, I was able to concoct the counteragent," Peridot said as her gemstone glowed, and from it, a vial with a blue liquid materialized. "We just need to introduce it into the injector." She leaned her head back. "At the top."

"Then get up there," Garnet told the green Gem as she summoned her gauntlets. The Fusion looked over at Connie. "And you should go with her. The rest of us will hold off Spinel."

"Shouldn't I be here to help?" The young woman questioned.

"You will by making sure Peridot stays safe and gets done what needs to be done. If we can't stop Spinel, you have too."

Connie nodded. "Understood, ma'am."

Peridot levitated her trashcan over Connie's head and told her to "Grab on!" The young woman did, and the two of them flew up.

"Yo-u-u-u're not get-t-in' away t-h-hat easil-l-ly!" Spinel took elongated steps over to the Crystal Gems as she gripped her scythe.

Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Bismuth charged at the rubbery Gem. Spinel swung her blade at the Fusion, but she leaped out of the way and punched Spinel's knee with enough force to make her tumble over. But she cartwheeled herself back up.

Bismuth shapeshifted her hands into hammers and tried to smash the Gem, but she managed to slither around the metallic Gem. However, this took her focus away from Amethyst, who swung in and kicked the back of her head. This allowed Bismuth to punch Spinel in the face.

The pink Gem stretched her body out and wrapped around one of the injector's legs, then flung herself right at Connie and Peridot as she chuckled. "Here I come!" She prepared to bring her scythe down on the two of them and end it there. But her attack, much to her surprise, was blocked. Connie's eyes widened as she saw Pearl block the scythe, with her spear. The pale Gem turned her head to the green Gem and young woman and told them to "Go! We got this!"

They both nodded as Peridot levitated themselves further up. Connie looked down and watched as the Crystal Gems fought against their slippery opponent for Earth's fate. They eventually disappeared from their sight as Connie and Peridot reached the top of the injector. "Let's get to work," Peridot said as the two of them landed.

"What do we need to do?" The young woman asked.

"All injectors have an access point on the top, where whatever liquid wants to be placed in can be stored." Peridot rubbed her hands around the surface. "There should be a panel somewhere to open up the access point. Help me find it."

Connie got on her hands and knees. "How will I know what it is?"

"You'll know if when you feel it. After that, we just drop in the vial, and it's all over."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Connie and Peridot continued to search the panel and felt everywhere that they could reach. Connie's hands then felt a bump. She searched for it again and found what looked like a grip. "I think I found it!" Connie pulled at the grip and flipped open what looked like a control panel.

Peridot arrived next to Connie and told her, "That's it." She pushed Connie out of the way and typed away. "And…" She entered the last digit. "Here we go." About a meter away from the two of them, another hatch opened, and they quickly made their way to it. The hatch was roughly the size of a manhole and went all the way down to the injector's container. All that was left of the poison continue to bubble below.

"Now what?" Connie asked.

"Now…" Peridot opened the vial. "We pray this works." She dumped the contents into the hole, which was followed by a brief splash. The counteragent worked immediately and turned the pink bio-poison into a grey sludge. The sludge left the injector and began to slowly neutralize the already released toxins. "I knew that it'd work. It'll take a while before it's all neutralized, but we're good for…" Before she even knew what happened, Peridot was grabbed by a giant hand and thrown off the injector with a scream.

"Peridot!"

"I w-w-woul-l-ldn't wo-r-rry about h-her!" Spinel said as she pulled herself up. Her body glitched. "I'd wor-r-r-ry a-b-b-bou-t-t-t yo-ou."

Connie held her sword up. "The others…"

"Oh, th-h-ey aren-n't res-s-set. As mu-u-uch as I wi-i-sh they we-r-re." Spinel twirled her scythe. "I j-just ha-v-ve the-m-m indis-p-posed with help-ping the oth-h-her meat-b-bags. An-d-d th-e-ere li-i-tt-tle gre-e-e-en fri-i-e-n-nd. "

"It's over Spinel, the poison's neutralized. Just stop this. And we can talk."

"Yo-u-u m-a-ay ha-v-ve sto-o-pp-p-p-ped the poison, but-t tha-t-t doe-esn't mean I st-t-til won't ki-i-i-il-ll you!" Spinel leaped at Connie and swung her scythe down.

The young woman leaped out of the way. She tightly clasped her sword and charged at the rubbery Gem. She swung her blade, but Spinel managed to evade the attack. The pink Gem twirled her scythe and slashed at her opponent again, but Connie blocked it with her weapon.

Though it took effort, Connie began to overpower Spinel. But it didn't last long as the rubbery Gem punched the young woman in the face with enough force to make her drop her sword. Then, Spinel threw a stronger punch that knocked Connie near the edge. Her nose was broken and bled. The young woman forced herself back to her feet and tried to manifest a shield, but Spinel extended her hand out, grabbed her by the throat, and raised her into the air. Ready to drop her off the injector.

Connie struggled to free herself, but it just made Spinel tighten her grip. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she choked out, "Spinel… please…"

Spinel glared at the young woman. Her physical form glitched. Then told her, "I'm do-one li-i-sten-ning to y-your voi-ice." Spinel released her grip, and Connie saw her life flash before her eyes as she fell, then there was silence.

But that silence was followed by a white light. When the light faded, the sky was blue and full of clouds and seagulls. The young woman moved her body and felt grass rub up against her arms and legs. She sat up and saw that the grass was green and healthy. She was on the hill where the injector had planted itself, but it wasn't there. She looked over to the direction where Beach City was and saw it intact. No visible damage from bio-poison to be seen. "What's going on?" She asked. Connie heard what sounded like a strum and looked up the hill. There was someone up there with a ukulele. "Hey!" Connie ran over to the figure as fast as she could. When she arrived at the top, she got a better look at the person. He looked to be in his early twenties, with a blue t-shirt, and… curly hair. The figure turned his head back, which revealed a thin goatee on a face Connie immediately recognized and was left speechless, except for one word, "Steven?"

The young man smiled and replied with, "Hey, Connie."

Connie's eyes swelled, and tears poured out as she quickly hugged him and cried, "Steven!"

Steven hugged her back. "Hey, I'm here. I'm here."

Connie pulled back and wiped her eyes. "What is all of this? Am…"

"No, you're not dead." The young man hopped to his feet. "Well, not yet anyway."

"What's that mean?"

"You're still falling, but your consciousness went to your gemstone."

"My gemstone? You mean yours?"

"No, I don't. Your gemstone created a world for you to retreat to when things become scary, or don't make sense. Everything here is in your head, except for me."

"But if you've been here this entire time, why haven't you reached out to me?"

Steven placed his hands on her shoulders and sighed. "I have tried to. Every time you hit a low point, I've tried to reach out. But you won't let me."

Connie looked at him. "I won't let you?"

"I know you blame yourself for what happened to me on Homeworld, and still do."

Tears ran down her cheek again. "I'm so sorry, Steven. I wasn't strong enough. I'm still not strong enough."

"I know that feeling." Steven took Connie's hand. "There were moments in my life where I felt it would be easy to give up and let Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl solve the problem. It would probably be easy for you to stay here, too. You and me living here, in a perfect world, where all the pain in our lives is gone. But deep down, we know that neither of us wants that. We have to find a way to keep moving forward."

Connie's face changed to one of realization when Steven said, 'where all the pain in our lives is gone.' It brought her mind back to Sapphire's words, 'Not long from now, you will be given a choice that'll take the pain you feel away forever.' "That's what she meant. I can give up and get rid of this pain here. But if I do, I'll be letting everyone else down."

"That is true. But there is another way to get rid of the pain. Forgive yourself. It won't be easy, but you're the only one with the power to do so."

Connie looked into Steven's eyes. "I have to go back and finish this."

"Yes. And if you let me, you won't have to do it alone." Connie and Steven gazed at each other with sentimental smiles. They closed their eyes and locked lips for the first time.

When Connie's eyes opened again, she was back by the injector. She had expected to have splatted on the ground by now. But she looked down and gasped at the fact that "I'm floating." Her gemstone radiated a bright pink as Connie summoned multiple shields, and bubble, a spiked bubble, and many other Gem-related powers. The young woman returned her attention to the top of the injector and floated up there.

She gently landed before a flabbergasted and infuriated Spinel. "H-h-h-h-ho-o-o-ow a-r-r-r-re y-y-yo-ou-u sti-ill al-l-live!"

"Because I'm not taking the easy way out, Spinel!" Connie entered a combative stance. "And I'm not giving up on you!"

Spinel's body glitched. "Y-y-ou thin-n-nk you c-can tak-k-ke me o-n-n you-ur own? A-l-l-ll alo-one?"

"No, Spinel." Connie summoned a shield and felt an energy surge throughout her body. One that reminded her of Stevonnie. She locked eyes with the rubbery Gem. "I'm not alone."

Chapter Text

Connie wiped the blood from her nose, then dashed for her sword as Spinel scowled and charged at her while she twirled her rejuvenator. Connie slid over to her weapon and grabbed it before she raised her shield up. The scythe's blade came down on the shield. But unlike the other times the young woman used it to defend herself, the shield did not break. But the rejuvenator snapped in two. Spinel leaped back, and her body glitched as she threw a tantrum.

"Listen to me Spinel, I know what you're going through." Connie stood up with her sword and shield in hand. "You're in pain, after everything you've been through. But it's not too late to change."

"N-n-no! N-n-no!" Spinel's glitched more violently as the crack on her gemstone grew. "Yo-o-ou do-o-on't un-nder-r-r-rsta-and!" Spinel enlarged her fists and rotated her body like a top, then charged at Connie. "Yo-u-u can-n-n't ch-h-h-a-a-an-nge the way-y I fe-e-el!"

The young woman leaped into the air and floated long enough to avoid the attack before she landed back on the ground. As she continued to spin, Spinel changed her direction to try and hit Connie again. But she held her shield up and blocked all the attacks. She then tripped the rubbery Gem with the flat of her sword.

"You're right, there's only one person that can take away your pain. You."

"Jus-s-st can i-it, wo-o-on't ya?!" Spinel extended her hands out and grabbed Connie by her legs. She spun the young woman around and around, then tossed her into the air.

"Woah! Woah!" The action made Connie incredibly dizzy, but once she regained her focus, she began to float at a speed she could control.

Spinel gritted her teeth and launched herself into the air, higher than Connie. The wayward Gem stretched her arm out and enlarged her hand into a giant, spring-mounted fist. Connie gulped. "Y-y-you ca-a-an't jus-st make ever-r-r-ryt-h-hing bet-t-ter with so-m-m-me stu-u-upid-d spe-e-ech-h!"

Connie raised her shield just as Spinel punched down. As she careened down, Connie quickly manifested a bubble before she crashed into the injector. The impact was enough to shake the planet and damage the machine. The young woman was shaken but physically unharmed from the blow.

Spinel landed on the ground. Tears rolled her cheeks. "All tha-a-at-t stuf-f-f is easy f-for you t-to say. Whe-e-e-n-n you ch-h-hange, you ch-h-hange for the bet-t-t-t-ter. When I chan-n-nge, I change for the w-w-wor-rse-e!" The rubber Gem lunged at Connie, but she summoned another shield to block it. "I us-s-sed to b-b-be just n-n-not go-o-od eno-o-oug-gh f-for Pink! Bu-t-t-t no-ow, I'm no-t-t go-o-o-o-od at al-l-l-l!" Connie held her ground as Spinel continued to slam her fist at the shield. Cracks further manifested on the injector, and her gemstone. The pink Gem then fell to her knees in a hysterical fit of tears. "It's fu-u-unny, isn't it-t. You fou-u-und-d me enter-r-rtai-i-ining-g. You li-ike me, don't yo-u-u?

Connie dematerialized her shield and put her sword down. "Spinel…"

"Wh-a-at am I doin-ng? Why do I wa-a-a-ant to hur-r-r-t yo-u-u? I'm sup-p-pos-sed to b-e-e a fri-i-i-iend-d…" Spinel looked at Connie as she continued to sob. "I ju-u-st wanna b-be a frie-e-nd…"

Much to the rubbery Gem's surprise, Connie wrapped her arms around her body in a big hugged. "It's okay. It's gonna be okay."

Just then, the injector began to rumble from the damage it had sustained. Connie instinctively manifested a bubble around her and Spinel just as the injector exploded with enough force to leave a crater in the ground. The yield was enough to send the bubble, and other debris, into the air. Where it crashed right in the middle of the ocean. The two of them sunk right to the bottom of the seafloor. Connie's ears rang from the explosion and shook her head to get her senses back. When she did, her eyes widened. Not only was she and Spinel at the bottom of the ocean, but they were also in the exact spot where Connie and Steven first became friends.

Connie then heard sobs from Spinel. She was down on her side as her body glitched worse than ever. "Wh-h-h-at-y di-id I d-do?! I've wr-r-r-r-rec-k-ked-d ever-r-rythi-i-ing!" She cried. "I'm s-s-s-s-sor-r-r-ry."

"Spinel…" Connie said as she crawled over to the Gem. The crack was almost ready to split her gemstone.

"I'm s-s-s-s-car-r-r-red. I do-o-n't wa-nn-nna die!"

Tears started to pour from the young woman's eyes. She felt like she was back in this same, powerless situation on Homeworld years prior. "I'm sorry, Spinel. You didn't deserve any of this. I'm so sorry." One of those tears dripped off her chin and landed right on the upside-down heart gemstone. Then, there was a bright glow. The predominant crack began to slowly seal up, and Spinel's glitches ceased entirely.

The pink Gem sat up and felt the surface of her gemstone. "I'm… I'm okay."

A relieved Connie wiped the tears from her eyes. She stared at the drops on her fingers and realized what happened. She looked Spinel over. "Are you okay?

Spinel looked at the young woman. "Why did you want to save me? After everything I did to you, your friends, your planet."

"Because I know someone who would've done the same thing." Connie gently rubbed her gemstone. "Someone who always saw the best in people, no matter who they were, or what they've done."

"So, what's gonna happen with me now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I messed up badly with you and this planet. I've got work to do to make new friends. But I need to start from scratch. Someday, somewhere, somehow, I'll learn to love again."

Connie smiled and placed a hand on the Gem's shoulder. "I'd like to be your friend." The pink Gem looked at her in stunned silence. "I'll treat you better than Pink, and I would like to have you around." The young woman stood up and offered Spinel her hand.

"But won't your friends all be...not exactly incredibly thrilled to see me?"

"Just let me talk to them. Trust me."

Spinel looked at Connie, took her hand, and whispered, "Today, right here, right now, I already feel found." She hugged the young woman and cried as Connie hugged her back. The bubble they were in slowly began to rise.

Connie and Spinel returned to the surface, on the beach. "Connie!" Greg's voice shouted as the young woman spotted him, the Crystal Gems and Lion in the distance. Spinel hid behind a large piece of debris.

"Guys! Right here!" Connie shouted.

The group turned, and they all shouted, "Connie!" With Pearl's as the loudest one.

Lion ran ahead of them and nuzzled his nose in the young woman's face. "Hey, Lion, were you worried about me?" Connie asked. The pink beast huffed, and she giggled.

"Connie!" The Crystal Gems all shouted as the group rejoiced with a hug.

"Is everyone okay?"

"Everyone is safe and accounted for," Garnet assured as Pearl gave her a thumbs up, while Amethyst and Peridot showed peace signs.

The young woman noticed Greg's arm was blackened. "Oh my gosh! Mr. Universe, what happened?"

"Oh, I just got a little careless, is all," Greg admitted.

"He just got hit with some of the poison," Peridot explained. "Nothing some more counteragent can't fix. Just need to make a quick stop at Rose's fountain for more tears."

"Wait," Connie spoke up. "I wanna try something." She licked her index and middle finger and placed it on the arm. It glowed a bright pink and returned to its natural color.

"No way!" Amethyst's jaw dropped. "You have Steven's healing powers."

"That, and more," Connie told her. "I'll explain the rest later. But there is something I wanna talk with you guys about." She turned to the spot Spinel hid. "You can come out now!"

Spinel nervously walked out from behind the debris, and sheepishly said, "Hi."

"W-W-W-W-What?!" Pearl shouted as she and the rest of the Crystal Gems manifested their weapons.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Connie got in-between Spinel and the Crystal Gems. "She's not gonna hurt us! Don't fight! Everything's chill!"

"Connie, she nearly killed all of us?" Lapis protested.

"And she threw me off the injector!" Peridot added.

"I know. And I don't expect any of you to forgive her. But she's done with fighting. She just wants somewhere to belong, and a friend."

"Are you saying you're will to be friends with here?" A confused Pearl asked. "After all of this?"

Connie nodded. "Everyone deserves a second chance. I want to give Spinel hers."

The Crystal Gems all looked at each other, then Garnet dematerialized her gauntlets and whispered, "Just like Steven." The others followed her lead and put their weapons away. "It won't be easy. But if you're willing to give her a chance, then we will too." The group turned their attention to all the devastation of Little Homeworld and Beach City.

Connie rubbed her index finger and thumb against her chin as she looked over at a patch of land. She walked over to it, got on her hands and knees, and kissed the soil. From it, flowers and grass grew anew on the barren dirt. "Oh my gosh, that actually worked!" She exclaimed.

"Peridot and Pearl, you two go get some more of those healing tears. Connie, you keep on kissing. The rest of us will gather some construction supplies." Garnet ordered. She turned her attention to Spinel. "Even you."

"Me?" A surprised Spinel asked.

Garnet nodded. "If you're serious about making Earth your home, help us fix it then. We all have a lot of work to do."

Connie looked on as she watched Spinel leave with Garnet, Amethyst, Bismuth and Lapis. The pink Gem gave the young woman a peace sign, and she gave her one back. Connie looked down at her gemstone, and gently placed her hand on its surface. She may not know what the future will hold, but she's grateful for the life she has. With a hopeful smile, she whispered to herself, "Thank you, Steven."