Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The air was thick and heavy, the ground below his feet cracked and rotting already. A strange odor was heavy in the air, and despite the day still being early, he and the offending gem were draped in the shadow of a large, glowing injector. Steven had just watched three of his closest family members be poofed by an unknown gem trying to kill him. What else was new.. Serves him right for getting so optimistic he supposed.

“That’s enough!”

He summoned his shield, glaring at the pink, springy attacker. He just wanted to get this over with, then he and the gems could bubble and send her off and get back to not being threatened 24/7.

“Awww, what’s the matter Steven. Miss your friends already? Well, don’t worry, you’re right behind ‘em!”

His usually strong shield was effortlessly cut through by the glowing scythe-like weapon, and at first it felt like being hit with a destabilizer. The static-like feeling was quickly fading before a faint burning set in. He shook it off, it was a bit surprising to feel that again. Kinda hurt more than he remembered, and it took a moment longer for the pink veins to fully degrade.

“That was nothing!”

“Then I guess you wouldn't mind if I do it again!”

He did in fact mind, and with each time he was hit, it hurt more and more. The pink circuitry wasn't fading, instead seeming to spread further and further. Then, he felt the light blade connect with his gem for a moment before phasing through it like it had phased through the rest of him, and that hurt. He let out a yelp before latching onto the handle of the weapon, struggling to yank it out of the gem’s hands, clenching his teeth so hard his jaw was beginning to ache after a few seconds. He noticed black spots in his vision as adrenaline was coursing through him. Whatever just happened wasn't going away like it had before.

“You don’t poof, do you? Hmm, figured as much…”

She jumped towards him, eyes bouncing like they were left loose in her sockets. Her sneer only grew wider, and Steven didn’t know how much longer he could take this tug-o-war with the device, arms already growing weak.

“Just wait. Your human half won’t stand a chance against my injector! Not after what I just did to your gem!”

No response. He wanted to retort, he really did, but right now he was more focused on trying to keep himself conscious than making conversation. Every second felt like an eternity, and his legs were trying to give out too now. His thoughts were going faster than he could process.

“Hm, for all you said in your little message, I was expecting you to be chattier. Maybe all that powerful hero stuff really was all talk after all.”

Finally her grip loosened just enough he could take it out of her hands and aimlessly swing it at her. He saw it cut through her, her body glitching as she had one last laugh before poofing. Her heart-shaped gem landed unceremoniously on the grass, and Steven fell to his knees right after. He pulled up his shirt to inspect his gem, fear still fresh in him even if everything was going hazy. Was he cracked? It flickered and was a dull mauve rather than its usual vibrant pink, but otherwise unharmed. He finally lost the fight to stay awake, and with one last shuddering breath, fell forward.

_______________________________________________________________

“Seein’ anything?”

Peridot looked to Bismuth after her long stare. The tower they were on was the closest building that looked over the valley in Little Homeworld. Peridot had been inspecting the strange injector-like ship ever since they’d noticed it while Bismuth and Lapis had been silently waiting for Peridot to say anything promising.

“No movement detected. The injector appears to still be running.”

Bismuth’s eyebrows furrowed, concern was pooling into her gem more with every passing second.

“Hm…”

Bismuth bit her bottom lip for a moment, before looking at a lanky blue gem not too far from her. Her usually less than expressive face had a hint of something unreadable.

“Lapis, can you fly over there and tell us if you spot anything?”

“Sure, I can try.”

Her water wings appeared and she jumped up quickly soaring above and over the side, her blue form getting smaller as she got closer to the injector. Bismuth was nervous sending Lapis out, but Peridot wasn’t seeing anything. No movement at all. According to her, everything was still. Bismuth almost wasn’t sure whether that was more or less concerning. After a few minutes of waiting, Peridot jumped up.

“Lapis is back!”

Bismuth yanked herself out of her thoughts, watching the blue dot quickly become a defined figure. She flew below the slow spinning object atop the tower, but didn’t immediately land.

“I think I saw gems. I-I turned around as soon as I saw, but I think everyone got poofed!”

“What about Steven?”

“I didn’t see him.”

Bismuth and peridot looked at each other. That could either be a good thing, or a really, really bad thing.

“Well whoever thinks they can just come here and mess with the Crystal Gems has got another thing comin’”

“Wait, we can’t just waltz over there!”

Bismuth turned to the smaller, green gem.

“Why not? You got a better idea?”

Peridot floundered a little before running after the two taller gems as they jumped and strode to the warp pad in the center of Little Homeworld. Before warping them off, Bismuth took a deep breath that, while gems didn’t need oxygen, helped at least ease her nerves just a tad.

“Alright you two, be ready for anything.”

Lapis gave a nod. They were going to be next to the beach, so Lapis definitely had plenty of ammo. She saw Peridot use her metal ability to take a garbage can lid and jump on top of it. Finally, after one glance, they were warping through the light stream. It was instant, but extremely slow at the same time, and as they landed, Bismuth shapeshifted her hangs into her signature hammers.

They cautiously walked out of the eerily quiet house, reaching the outside porch. Peridot flew up to the hillside with her trash can lid while Lapis grabbed bismuth under her arms and followed suit. Bismuth’s eyes were drawn to the temple’s Obsidian statue for a moment. Whoever had poofed them was strong, and they no doubt were in for a real nasty fight. Once sat down, she took an aggressive stance. When no one launched at them, she decided to try to antagonize them.

“Alright ya coward! Come out and show yourself!”

Nothing came. Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth stood next to the lighthouse. Eventually, they all quietly headed forward. Lapis stayed in the back, her water wings still out as she looked all around. Peridot tentatively picked up some of the gemstones when Bismuth noticed something else. A boy face-planted in the grass, quiet and still. His rising and falling chest was the only indication he was alive, but it was slow and spaced out. Not too far in front of him was a pink heart shaped gem and the handle of a deactivated weapon.

_______________________________________________________________

The dark clouds overhead had set everything into a dreary, unsaturated color palette. Peridot followed Bismuth’s gaze and froze, fear crawling inside her. That wasn't good. Humans were much more prone to injury than gems, and even if he was part gem, his body was almost entirely organic.

“Oh my stars! Steven!”

Peridot almost dropped Amethyst as she ran over to him, trash lid discarded. She no longer cared for stealth.

“Steven, wake up! Did your organic half get damaged!?”

She held the other gems tight in one arm while using her free hand to move his head towards her.

“”Peridot, calm down! See? He’s breathing. He’s gonna be alright.”

Peridot watched his excruciatingly slow breaths as Bismuth walked over carefully, her hands shifted back to normal. She watched the purple gem pick him up, inspecting his gem then him.

“He’s just scuffed up a little is all.”

Her reassurance was appreciated but obviously forced. Peridot didn’t like the nervous look forming on the gem’s face.

“What’s this?”

Lapis picked up the magenta weapon handle. Peridot traded the gemstones for the strange piece of technology.

“Is this a weapon? Is it some sort of laser or-”

Peridot pointed it at her face as she inspected it before it was violently taken away by a now visibly panicked Bismuth, who was now teetering to avoid dropping the teen in her arms after flying forward with such force.

“Be careful with that!”

Bismuth looked at it with wide eyes. A realization dawned upon her no doubt as her eyes suddenly became sorrowful.

“It’s a rejuvenator. Homeworld used to use these things on Gems that started steppin' out of line. One hit with this... ”

She carefully glossed over a button, but didn’t press it.

“And you're back to how they made you.”

Peridot recoiled and felt panic settle heavily in her gem.

“Oh my stars… I touched it! I could’ve lost all my character development!”

“So, if everyone was hit with that then…”

Lapis looked to the gems nestled in her arms then to the unconscious Steven.

“Bismuth, what are we gonna do?”

Bismuth looked to the blue gem, then to Peridot. Her eyes finally settled on the large injector beside them.

“I don’t know.”

_______________________________________________________________

“What do you mean Steven’s unconscious!? Is he hurt?”

Greg’s panicked voice over the phone filled the empty house as they sat crowded on the couch. The poofed gems were on the coffee table in front of them and Steven was laid on the side of the couch that turned outward.

“We don’t know Greg. He’s still out cold.”

“While it’s possible he was unaffected, it’s also possible he was affected in some form. Physically, he appears fine, but there is no way to be sure. In other words, we’ll have to wait.”

The phone, which was on speaker, went silent before they heard panicked scrambling and the starting of an engine.

“I’ll be right there! Hang on-”

He had hung up on himself it seemed. Lapis remembered their first encounter briefly before waving the thought away. She hoped Steven would wake up alright, then they could deal with this situation with his help at least. He still wasn’t awake though, and that worried her.

“Is there really a way to fix them?”

“It’s possible. Rejuvenation could be reversed, which is why Homeworld stopped using it in favor of other… more permanent solutions. It usually took thousands of years though, and we don’t have that kind of time.”

Bismuth looked in the direction of the hillside. Right, the injector. As if the rejuvenator wasn’t enough of an issue they had to deal with, they also had a large drill filled with an unknown pink liquid sitting right outside.They awkwardly sat in silence after that.

A van suddenly was heard driving and hastily parking outside before the panicked steps of Greg could be heard as he ran up and through the door. Lapis silently wondered how many driving laws Greg had to break to get here in under five minutes.

“I came as fast as I could!”

His panicked gaze landed on Steven still unconsciously lying on the couch before glossing over the other gems.

“Holy- She really got everybody!”

He looked at the pink gem on the table.

“Is that her?”

“Yep.”

Lapis popped the p at the end and stared at the offending gemstone, contempt growing for her.

“Who?”

“We don’t know.”

“Why?”

“We have yet to determine a motivation.”

“How”

Lapis quietly pointed at the handle in Bismuth’s grasp, who activated it and let them all get a good look at it. It was mainly magenta, and looked like a scythe with a gem between its blades. Greg flinched as it hummed to life before Bismuth deactivated it and placed it on the couch cushion next to her.

“Well, soon the gems are going to reform, right? We can get more info. maybe.”

Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot looked at each other before Peridot started speaking.

“About that…”

As if on command, Pearl’s gem floated up, a holographic clam encasing it.

“Please Identify yourself.”

The voice was Pearl’s, but more robotic and lacking inflection. Greg looked a bit confused for a moment.

“Um, Greg Universe?”

“Wait-”

Bismuth flinched and facepalmed, Greg looked at her confused. Lapis curiously watched the Pearl.

“Greetings, Um Greg Universe. Please state preferred customization options.”

“Huh?”

“Default setting selected. Please stand by.”

The pearl descended to the ground, clam opening as she reformed. Her hair was similar, but that was it. Her outfit was a poofy dress-like leotard with a pink diamond insignia on it. She opened her eyes, spotting Greg and walking over to him, smiling like he was the best thing she’d ever seen. His eyes drifted to the trio of now silent gems on the couch. Lapis lightly shrugged. Pearl finally spoke up, her voice light and melodic.

“How do you do, my Um Greg Universe?
Thank you for bringing me into the world!
I am at your eternal service. Welcome to your new Pearl!”

His face had completely lost color.

“Pearl!? Uh, guys, what’s going on?”

“She was Rejuvenated... They all were.”

Bismuth’s voice was low, but stern as she vaguely motioned in front of her. Lapis didn’t think Greg knew what that meant.

“They’ve been reset.”

Greg mouthed an ‘oh’ before looking at Steven nervously.

“Does that mean…”

“Until he wakes up, we won’t know.”

A red glow surfaced on the table as Ruby’s gem floated up, reforming. She landed on the table, dazed for a moment before looking at the gems surrounding her.

“Let me further illuminate my Um Greg Universe!”

Pearl began explaining Ruby, Sapphire, and Amethyst’s purposes as they reformed; she was practically singing every word, her explanations were quick and concise. Ruby was a guard for Sapphire, Amethyst was a soldier, who she called wrong in the most off putting chiper tone Lapis had ever heard. Ruby suddenly rushed on and shooed them off the couch due to Sapphire’s desire to sit there. Sapphire said something to Ruby, stopping her from usurping Steven as well at least.

“This is bad! Amethyst hasn’t made a single sarcastic remark since she reformed!”

“I know, but we gotta put our heads together and figure out a plan,”

Bismuth looked at Greg, Peridot, and Lapis before continuing, a small smirk appearing on her face.

“And y’know what? I think I just got an idea.”

Before she could elaborate, a light emanated through the house, bright but flickering slightly. After a moment, the pinkish glow faded. Everyone had stopped their squabbling and turned their attention to the now upright sitting teen on the couch. He rubbed his head as he slowly stood up. He looked around before turning towards the onlookers, no doubt taking in the chaos of rejuvenated gems running around like maniacs. Lapis felt relief for a moment. He was alive, and moving, and ok! Greg pushed past Bismuth and her, his eyes were suddenly red and looked on the verge of spilling tears.

"Thank goodness you're ok! We were beginning to worry! Look, I know things are bad bud, but we’ve got a plan! Right Bismuth?"

However, any joy was quickly stomped out when the boy stared at the three huddled figures behind Greg, then to Greg himself, looking in thought for a moment.

"Huh?”

His eyes glossed over them again, probably noticing their faces falling. He quickly extended his hand, attempting to do damage control. While confused, his face fell into a warm, open mouthed smile.

“I‘m Steven! It’s nice to meet you!"

To say an uproar followed would be a gross understatement.

Chapter Text

“Steven, it’s me.”

Greg looked on the verge of fainting right then and there, and honestly, even if Bismuth had been expecting this, she felt like she was going to as well.

“Haha, Steven. Always the jokester. You’ve got to recognize me! I’m The great and lovable Peridot!”

Steven was suddenly pushed away from the couch by a very displeased Ruby. When he had gotten within sufficient distance, he made an almost comically exaggerated thinking face, before shaking his head with a shrug. Everyone started talking over each other, the initial silencing shock wearing off, and frantically trying to pry anything out of Steven’s memory, but to no avail. Greg was practically having a heart attack in the corner, Pearl trying to comfort him in her sickly sweet tone and surreal mannerisms while also completely missing the point of his break down, Bismuth was trying to get Peridot to stop yelling at Steven while also fending off the pursuing Ruby who she had got too close to, Sapphire sitting watching the ensuing madness quietly, Lapis was silent, looking like she was eavesdropping on Greg and Steven’s conversation, not evening noticing the purple Doppelganger mimicking her. Bismuth had tried to prepare herself for the worst, warn everyone before, but she still felt like she had been hit by a freight train. Sure she had hoped for the best, still telling herself to not get her hopes up and be ready for anything, but it still hurt to see it actually come to fruition. The plan she had quickly died out. Fizzling out in her mind as quickly as it came. She had a plan for if he remembered, if he knew who everyone was. A diamond could undo it, right? She kicked herself. She knew he would probably wake up not knowing, and she still believed anyway. The thought of getting the other three almost nauseated her. She didn’t care how many gems they fixed or set free. It would be a last resort. Greg was the closest to Steven, bits of the conversation filtering through the noise.

“-this is your house! You’ve lived here for years!”

Steven looked around for a moment.

“Well I don’t remember it.”

“Uh guys…”

They turned to Peridot, then to the last gem, pink and heart shaped, as it lifted off the coffee table. The now reforming gem laughed as rubbery arms wrapped around a fascinated Steven and threw herself into a hug.

“I’m so excited to meet you!”

Bismuth really took in this gem’s appearance for a moment. She looked so… Harmless. They didn’t bubble her before, waiting to see if they could gather any information from her, but looking at her, Bismuth reeled a little. Steven looked like he was collecting himself for a moment before looking at her with wide, curious eyes.

“Get off of him!”

Lapis finally spoke up after having remained silent since Steven had woken up. She looked about ready to attack when Bismuth intervened.

“Lapis, wait! I think she was rejuvenated too.”

Lapis looked at Bismuth like she had just suggested shattering but got out of her fighting stance all the same.

“So? She attacked Steven!”

“I agree with Lapis on that sentiment. She could still be a threat.”

Lapis nodded while sternly looking at Bismuth, then to the gem behind her who had now taken to clinging to Steven’s arm like a lost puppy. He was asking her about the “floating gem thing” like he’d never seen a gem reform before, completely oblivious to the whispering trio’s suspicions

“Well she ain’t hurting nobody now, and she’s the only one who knows how to stop that thing.”

Bismuth pointed in the direction of the injector.

“So as much as I’d like to put her in a bubble, we gotta wait first.”

Lapis glared at the wall and crossed her arms for a moment, no longer arguing, but looking like she definitely wanted too. Bismuth saw Pearl explain the new gem, who was apparently a Spinel, to a very uneasy Greg. Bismuth had to admit, in all her years on homeworld before, she hadn’t heard of those before. The explanation didn’t mention anything about rejuvenation though. In fact, she sounded more like a jester than anything. This gem wasn’t made for rejuvenation, meaning she had actively gone out of her way to do this. Seeing her so jolly, acting as if nothing had ever happened, made Bismuth’s gem heat up and seethe. Bismuth shook her head. Once that gem had deactivated the injector, she was gonna wish she was never made.

_______________________________________________________________

Steven knew three things right now. One, his name was Steven. Just Steven, not the multitude of other names one of the older looking figures had called him (Steven Quartz Demayo Diamond Universe? He was pretty sure he’d remember that name!). Two, he had a gem in his naval that was to be protected at all costs. Why, he didn’t know. Three, he was not at all the person these people seemed to think he was. The green one (What’d she call herself? Peridot was it?) was very adamant he knew her, the blue one looked a million miles away, the older one looked like he’d just demolished his world and then some, and the rainbow haired one… Was unreadable. He was relieved when the tension was taken by the heart-shaped gem, whose name was apparently Spinel. Finally, someone who wasn’t drowning him in questions meant for someone he didn’t even know! After he heard the pale and thin one explain to the older one (Um Greg Universe? That was certainly… A name.) what a Spinel was, he got an idea. One out of both curiosity, and also to diffuse these people’s opinions of him. He didn’t want to make them upset, but they weren't exactly listening to what he was saying either.

“Wait! Do you know what I am?”

He lifted his shirt, revealing a circular pink gem. She looked at it, narrowing her eyes and making an audible hum. She was muttering to herself, looking in thought for a moment. In fact, he noticed that even the three others huddled together had gone quiet, watching the pale one carefully.

“Well, you could also be a Quartz I suppose, though you do not fit the minimum height requirements.”

Her eyes darted to a smaller purple gem who kept shapeshifting into different people and mimicking poses.

“Cosmetically however…”

She studied him up to his eyes, thoroughly looking at them. Her eyes conveyed some unsaid emotion before she gave a quick nod, seeming satisfied by whatever conclusion she had. Quickly, her eyes brightened, voice quickly switching to the singing informational song from earlier

“A Rose Quartz
a personalized one too!
She must be the top of her class if you can’t tell.
She protects Pink Diamond
representative of her court as well!”

Steven was pretty sure he preferred he/him for pronouns, but he was more preoccupied with being fascinated by the information to correct her.

“Woah! You can tell that just from my gem?”

“Well, yes, but also your form’s physical features are clearly based upon the Radiant Diamond herself, even your vision spheres certainly reflects such.”

He stifled a laugh. Vision spheres? Did she mean his eyes?? She gave a quick farewell before going back to doting on ‘Um Greg Universe’ (That seriously couldn’t be his real name), who had resigned himself to the staircase by the door. Steven looked at them and then to the others. There was a small amount of an alarm in the rainbow haired one, searching his face intently, with the blue and green ones almost looking like they found that description humorous as well, though there was still nervous tension under it. He couldn’t help but feel a little bit of pride for also being “top of his class”, whatever that meant and representative of whoever Pink Diamond was. See? Not Steven Universe! Just Steven. He noticed the short, purple one shapeshifting into a semi unknown figure from the corner of his eye. Wait, no, was that supposed to be him? She had the same shirt, jacket, and jean design as he did, but her face had shifted to a round face shape with dark, curly hair on her head. Why didn’t he even know what he looked like? Well, he knew he was apparently short, making him an off color, but not really his own face. Weird… He was jostled out of his realization by a pink gloved hand poking the top of his head.

“Well aren’t you important!”

He laughed at her, waving her hand off his head. Spinel’s smile grew wider at his amusement. He turned fully to the purple gem.

“Hey, you shapeshifted into me!”

He pointed at her, and the purple gem repeated the phrase and movement.

He continued laughing, Spinel joining in.

“Do me next!”

She obliged, turning her head as if to silently ask if that was right, and Spinel squealed happily. The small purple gem began following him after that.
_______________________________________________________________

“My Um Greg Universe! You still appear distressed! Would you like me to request the Rose Quartz and her Spinel to leave?”

She was confused. She had done all he had requested, but his face still was marked with displeasure. She also felt a slight frustration trying to brew in her, but she pushed it down. Her feelings were irrelevant, all that mattered was that her Um Greg Universe was happy! Which, the flinch when she said ‘Rose Quartz’ and the wide eyes he suddenly got let her know that she may have just made it worse.

“No, Pearl! You don’t need to ask anyone to leave!”

Oh stars, she needed to be replaced immediately, or at least rejuvenated! How was she so incompetent? Ever since she had formed, her Um Greg Universe had been displeased, and everything she tried led nowhere.

“My apologies, my Um Greg Universe!”

“Whew boy.”

His exasperated sigh made Pearl recoil into herself. He rubbed the top of his head.

“I just… Don’t know what to do! No one remembers anything, and Usually, ”

He paused, looking at her.

“Well, the person who usually knows what to do isn’t here right now.”

She pondered for a moment, before getting an idea on something.

“Would you like me to formulate a plan for you, my Um Greg Universe?”

He looked at her, and finally his features portrayed something else that wasn’t discontent. She was getting somewhere! Taking the look as an affirmative, she began.

“Well, if they don’t remember who they are…”

She tapped her finger against her chin, then it hit her.

“Then we could simulate the experiences that made them!”

She created a hologram from her pearl next to her Um Greg Universe on the staircase landing. In it, a quartz soldier appeared along a kindergarten background.

“If we pinpoint important aspects of their life,”

The quartz interacted with a much thinner figure, laughing. The background changed to a field for a moment before she realized she was veering off of the intended objective. Scrambling, she continued.

“Then we can recreate them.”

The soldier was in a different background, and a figure modeled after her Um Greg Universe appeared, and the quartz soldier laughed all the same before having a light bulb appear above their head to signify them remembering. Something boiled at that, but she pushed it down. She looked up to him, his eyebrows furrowed before he shook his head and his expression settled to excitement.

“Pearl you're a genius! I gotta tell Bismuth about this!”

He hightailed it off the staircase to the rainbow-haired gem who was conversing with a Peridot and a Lapis Lazuli. Clasping her hands together, she hummed quietly to herself, finally content that she did something right, but something about the hologram bothered her, something… familiar.

Chapter Text

Peridot watched Bismuth’s face fall into contemplation as Greg finished the explanation. She had to admit, the plan could work if they had infinite time and resources. Time however, was not on their side. Bismuth said it herself earlier, this process usually took thousands of years on its own, and Peridot was sure neither Greg or Steven would survive that long. She glanced outside at the still early day before shifting her focus back. Bismuth looked at the two before making her choice.

“It’s worth a shot.”

Peridot felt her jaw slack.

“Are you serious?”

“That’ll take forever!”

Bismuth looked between the two gems again.

"Then we gotta start now."

“Well, who’s first?”

Bismuth turned towards the crowd behind them then to Greg.

“I’ve known Garnet for thousands of years, what makes her tick. As much as I’d love Pearl back, Ruby and Sapphire are our best bet right now.”

“Are you out of your mind? We can not possibly hope to recreate their entire life in such a limited time! Every minute we stand here speculating, we get closer and closer to finding out what that injector’s intended function is!”

“What other choice do we got? Either way we’re gonna need back up. Besides,”

She lowered her head to Peridot’s eye level, letting a small smile creep onto her face.

“We got an amazing engineer to help us out.”
_______________________________________________________________

Her life looked like a straight path ahead, every little thing she saw would play out before her, and she let it with no opposition. She was a Sapphire, that was her function. She foresaw the curly haired one (who was both referred to as a ‘Steven’ and a Rose Quartz) make a joke, and he would say it soon after. She foresaw the Spinel would laugh, and she would laugh after. Ruby would yell at the mimicking Amethyst in her vision, and the present would conform to it. That’s how she knew with utmost certainty that the Bismuth was about to lure her outside in a moment, a simple plan to get back someone who was not.

“My Sapphire is not going with you.”

“I do foresee us following her.”

“Nevermind! We’re going.”

She lifted herself off the couch and onto the floor, gracefully following her Ruby guard, a crowd of gems following behind her, minus the human, his Pearl, and the Peridot who had run off a few minutes before. The staircase eventually landed on a warm sandy beach, waves rushing peacefully against the shore. She heard flying creatures caw and crow above, saw the scuttling of smaller creatures that were shelled and in much more vibrant colors, her Ruby trying to intimidate one on the ground who had gotten too close. It was truly a pity what would become of such a lovely place. Such was the way of fate.

“Permission to dispatch the snappy one, my Sapphire?”

“There is no need, the Spinel will take it into her own hands.”

The pink Spinel ran over, picking the little creature in her hands.

“Woah! Hey Steven look what I found!”

She ran off to him as they both stared at it like it was an amazing discovery. The curly-haired one had stars in his eyes, cupping it enthusiastically in his hands and cooing at it. It ended up pinching his finger, making him jerk back with a small yelp as it scurried away again. For a moment, she felt her lips curl into a small smile. She looked into the future and frowned to herself. She felt a twist in her gem for him. She shouldn’t get attached. She had to stay objective, remind herself. Such was the way of fate…

“Wow, what happens next?”

Her Ruby shocked her out of her musing.

“The Lapis will call us over near the water.”

“Oh Ruby, Sapphire, could you please come over here for a moment? I have a super awesome trick to show you.”

Her voice was monotone, each syllable recited and annunciated, giving it a robotic delivery.

“We will follow.”

She went over to the Lapis Lazuli, her Ruby walking in exaggerated strides to keep up and keep watch. As she walked, she continued her curious questions.

“What happens next?”

“The Lapis will show us a trick as promised.”

She would also be deliberate with her mess up, but Sapphire didn’t want to mess with the future. It was already set in stone. The lapis summoned water wings from her gem before shifting them into hands that mirrored her form’s. She robotically moved them around in stiff tricks and ‘risky’ movements.

“Woah! You’re amazing!”

Sapphire blushed and giggled to herself. Lapis's nose scrunched a little as she began taking water from the ocean, forming an amorphous blob.

“Now you will see a real show of strength.”

“It will get out of control.”

“Huh?”

The form wiggled, the Lapis’s lack of concern showed its forcedness. The lapis let it drop as it got high enough to send a shadow over the three onlookers.

“Oops.”

The Bismuth called from the side once Sapphire didn't move.

“Ruby! You gotta save Sapphire before it's too late!”

“The Lapis will stop the water before any harm will be caused.”

As promised, the blue gem stopped the water, a genuine look of confusion crossing her features.

“Woah.”

Ruby’s eyes lit up more, and the Lapis returned the blob to the body of water it belonged to.

“Well, I tried.”

She walked off, whispering to the Bismuth. Sapphire smiled at Ruby before returning to a neutral expression, fear of the next event settling in her gem.

"The Spinel will fling herself into the hill."

"Bet ya can't get me from up here!"

The Spinel taunted from her standing to the curly haired one below. She began swinging around on it, no regard for the deteriorating state of the structure.

"Hey! No fair!"

Sapphire's frown deepened.

"The Spinel's antics will harm the stone."

She paused for a moment, dreading the words to be uttered next, anxiety creeping in for an event she could not stop.

“A part of the statue will fall, you will be cracked by the force.”

“What?”

Ruby’s amazement was ripped away with a loud crack that was heard throughout the hill behind them, both turned and looked up. Ruby’s expression shifted in an instant, seeing a piece of it begin to crumble before it descended down. Genuine cries of fear could be heard from the group of gems not too far from them.

“Sapphire!”

Sapphire couldn't stop the panic rising in herself.

“Ruby! I'm sorry! I told you you wouldn't last the day!”

The shadow grew closer over head, she hated this is how it played out, but she couldn't mess with the future. Ruby looked at her with wide eyes, opening her mouth as if to say something before a figure dashed in, his movements quicker than what you would think. He threw his hands up, a pink shield suddenly forming over all three of them. It had twisting thorned vines, a stylistic rose centered in its middle. It glitched and trembled, but he held it stable enough as the Bismuth rushed in, taking them both by the arm in one hand and the curly-haired one by the fabric of his pink jacket in the other, pulling them out just in time as soon as the shield shattered.

“Woah…”

“Way to go Steven!”

A playful jab was thrown at his arm as his face brightened, though he still looked tired for a moment.

“I-I didn’t know I could do that!”

The Lapis came over and gave him a small smile, the Spinel sprang next the group. A small apologetic shrug was all she offered.

“Steven!”

The human ran through the group, the Pearl following closely behind, grabbing the curly haired one by the shoulders.

“I saw everything! Don’t throw yourself under rocks like that ever again kid, you’re killin me!”

“Really?”

The shorter one’s face paled for a moment before getting the hyperbole. Sapphire wasn’t paying attention anymore though. She hadn't seen this, hadn’t predicted this, this wasn’t supposed to be happening! She was wrong. Such is the way of Fate.

Chapter Text

The stone had fallen, he was near, and he panicked. Spinel had been playing around on the statue carved into the hill. It looked stable enough. It wasn’t. He heard the crack, saw it fall, and he, for a reason even he couldn’t figure out, ran under the falling debris. It was rash, it was idiotic, it was… Straight up awesome! He just threw his hands up, adrenaline and some protective instinct consuming him, and BAM! A shield summoned over them. He felt proud, surprised even. He only let the fear of what just happened settle in after the rainbow-haired one pulled him out from under the shield. Fatigue too, that really tired him out. The encouragement he received only further boosted his mood. He looked over to the two gems he saved, but neither were smiling. The short blue one (No wait, Sapphire, right?) looked troubled. Her hands gripped at her skirt, and the red one (Ruby, that’s what Sapphire had called her he was pretty sure) looked almost apologetic, like she was trying to comfort her. Had he done something wrong? Did he make them upset somehow? The rainbow-haired one, Peridot, the older man, and the taller blue one were huddled, discussing more amongst themselves, taking glances at either him or Sapphire and Ruby. Maybe he should apologize to them…

“Woah, what’s that?”

“What’s what?”

He followed where Spinel was pointing, and saw it. Geez, whatever it was, it was humongous! It had a sickly looking pink liquid inside, and a gem-like tip. He couldn’t see anything below a certain point. Looking at even just the little bit he could see though, it made his insides twist, like he was going to lose his lunch or something. He wasn’t exactly sure why.

“Hmm, Excellent question.”

He put his hand under his chin, faking a serious tone. He tried joking for a moment before looking over to the still distraught looking duo and the group of huddled strangers again.

“Spinel, I think I messed something up.”

“Pshh, I mess things up all the time, no big deal!”

She vaguely waved at the heap of rocks still on the beach.

“But I’m not even sure what I did! I thought they would be happy I guess.”

He looked around for the purple girl who had been following them around, seeing if maybe she’d say anything about it, but he didn’t see her.

“Spinel, you know where the purple girl went?”

He then felt a little guilty that he hadn't asked her for her name yet. He’d given up on the others after their freakout when he first asked.

“Who, Amethyst?”

“Uh, yes?”

Spinel knew her name before him? Well that was embarrassing.

“Haven’t seen her. Ya think she’s hiding somewhere? Ooh! Ooh! Are we gonna play hide and go seek!”

“Yeah, maybe she hid somewhere out here!”

The purple girl (Amethyst his brain chastised) had a habit of wandering off, and even though she seemed to be clinging to him a little bit, he would still see her go off and venture into the house. Maybe she was trying to get them to find her.

“Ok, so we want to cover more ground right? How about I search the house and you search out here-”

“No!”

He jumped back.

“O-or we can search together!”

Spinel instantly perked up and wore her signature exaggerated smile.

“Yay!”

Steven hadn’t seen that side of her before, and that scared him. He shook his head to himself. What kind of person was scared of their best friend? Not him, that’s who! They searched on the beach first. As he sorta expected, she wasn’t on the beach. They then tried the house, which he still stood by the notion that it was very nice! Whoever slept in that room looked cool too! Probably Peridot, it had a lot of posters for things she’d mentioned earlier. It didn’t contain Amethyst though. He did notice a few pictures of someone else though, maybe it was a shared room, or just a close friend? They almost looked like what Amethyst had shifted into earlier. He could ask about it later. They searched in a greenhouse-like dome thing that didn’t actually contain any plants, the downstairs living room and bathroom too. Amethyst still wasn't in those places either. He did get a good look at his reflection in the bathroom though. He wasn’t really sure what he expected. Round face, dark brown curly hair. Though his eyes were a bit strange, his irises, more specifically. They started a dark brown, almost black, but once they reached the middle, it became a much more vibrant pink. He shrugged it off, must’ve been what the lanky one meant about the “vision spheres” thing. He started seeing an almost uncanny resemblance to that strange person in the pictures the more he looked. Was that who they thought he was? He also found some stranger’s phone that he left alone on the coffee table. He didn’t dare touch it. Finally there was a weird door with gems on it he couldn’t figure out how to open, so they figured she wasn’t in there anyway.

“Maybe she wandered off the beach? I did see some pretty cool things over there!”

He’d seen the silhouettes of what he presumed to be amusement parks earlier, so that was a pretty good guess, and Spinel didn’t give him any better ideas. Plus, he’d be lying if he hadn’t thought of going over there anyway. They walked out of the beach house, the huddled group were now turned to a green figure discussing something on a tablet screen. Peridot wore a concerned expression while looking up towards the towering device on the hill above. He shouldn’t interrupt, he can compliment her on her room later. They had an Amethyst to find!
_______________________________________________________________

They’d been looking for about an hour now, the day was growing warm and people were beginning to file out and gawk at the giant object on the hill. After the first bunch of people recognizing him, he decided to stick outside the crowded areas. He just didn’t get it, who did these people think he was? It just made him feel bad. They were pretty excited to see him, so he just hoped they found the real person soon so they could clear up the confusion. He thought to the person he’d seen in those photos in the bedroom. It was then he suddenly realized as he walked through a neighborhood he had no idea where he was going, at all.

“Uh, Spinel? Where are we?”

“Hmm, good question.”

Her hand stretched and scratched the top of her head. Aw geez, he’d done it now!

“Amethyst!”

He called out to the streets, maybe she would hear them? Cars started filing out of their driveways and garages en masse, some grabbing small suitcases as they left.

“Where’s everyone going?”

A car started slowing down before rolling down their window, they stopped in front of where he was standing on the sidewalk.

“There you are Steven! Your dad’s been looking for you!”

Shoot! Someone else who thought they recognized him! A girl peeked her head out, scar grazing her cheek with shoulder length blond hair that faded into green.

“Uhhh!”

He grabbed Spinel by the arm as he ran along the sidewalk. Usually he’d love talking to people, but he couldn’t disappoint someone else. He heard her yell something he couldn’t hear.

“Nice meeting you!”

They stopped a few blocks away when Spinel’s momentum caused her to crash into him. He had to catch both himself and his breath for a moment when he heard the sounds of things being knocked around. A paint bucket rolled out of a garage that had a blanket hung over the opening.

“Amethyst?”

He waited for a moment, hoping it wasn’t some random person. He also kept checking behind them to make sure they weren’t being followed. He started inching towards it after a moment when a small purple figure popped her head out. Her dark purple eyes looked at him before darting back inside the room.

“Aha! Found you!”

Spinel ran after her, Steven following. He didn’t want to just break in, but it looked like Amethyst had already done that. Once he ducked under the curtain he halted.

“What the…”

Paintings of a purple, long haired girl littered the room. Sometimes her hair looked strangely similar to Amethyst’s. He looked around more, taking in the weird pictures. He wasn’t seeing anything else here, it was… a little odd. He hoped they got permission from her first.

“What is this place?”

Spinel went around, getting closer to look at some of them.

“I dunno.”

His eyes landed on a blocky painting, it was a little creeping looking, especially since it was looking directly at him. He walked closer to it, it’s eyes following him ever so slightly. Wait a minute.

“Gee, I wonder where she could’ve went. How about we ask…”

He turned towards the exit, back towards the ‘painting’. He wore a poorly concealed grin before he whipped around, pointing at her.

“This painting!”

“Aah!”

She shifted back. Her face shocked as she fell backwards.

“Were you hiding here the entire time?”

He chuckled a little, amused. She looked at him, then parroted back the phrase. He quietly wondered if she knew how to say anything more than repeated phrases. He hadn’t heard her say much else really.

“We should probably head back now. The others are probably pretty worried by now.”

He stopped before walking out. Were they still mad at him? Did they even want him back? He’d never formally apologized before. They were also pretty lost right now. Maybe he should’ve taken that phone with him just in case.
_______________________________________________________________

They were a little less lost now They had found their way over to an amusement park (Funland, according to a sign) but it was closed up, gates and all. The sun was starting to make its descent as well. He had taken off his jacket and tied it around his waist after remembering that it wasn’t required to be worn, and also because it was seriously getting warm outside. At first it had been a bearable beach warmth, but now it was straight up hot. Gray clouds were getting darker and darker, the air was also getting noticeably thicker, and they could actually see the mountain and towering objects from the pier they were on. Was it some sort of drill? He shook his head. The path back to the beach house was a bit clearer from here, but he still felt nervous about returning. He didn’t know any of these people! They thought he was someone else! He wasn’t them though. If he was a protector of Pink Diamond, shouldn’t he be with them? Where were they anyway? Maybe he should go back and ask. He wasn’t exactly being a very good guard right now.

“Oh my stars Steven! Look at that!”

Spinel hooked herself around his neck, pointing at something. He looked at where she was pointing. It was some sort of pink creature. At first Steven squinted and turned his head, trying to discern anything. It looked big whatever it was. Was that a lion? Did lions even live around here? Were they even supposed to be pink? Wait, why was it running at them? Was it going to eat them!? The creature came to a full stop a few feet ahead of him, looking him up and down, letting out a huff. He backed up, bumping Spinel and Amethyst with two outstretched arms.
The lion slowly followed before leaning down so his head was accessible.

“Uuh, is that normal?”

“No…?”

It glared up at him. Steven tentatively touched the top of its head, flinching back when its ear twitched.

“Don’t hurt us!”

He threw himself back again, but the lion didn’t even move. He reached out again, petting it, slightly less afraid than before. The lion at first seemed apprehensive, but leaned a bit into the pets.

“G-guys! I think he’s friendly! He just wanted attention!”

Spinel went to pet him too, but received a low growl in response. His face turned impatient as he turned his head expectantly. Steven finally got the memo.

“Do you want us to… ride you?”

The lion simply nodded. Ok, he could understand what they were saying, was pink, and wanted them to ride him. Normal lion things. Steven pulled himself on his back, helping Spinel and Amethyst up as well. He was relieved when the lion didn’t have a negative reaction to Spinel this time.

“Alright! Where are you taking us, mystery lion?”

The lion roared in response, loud and shaking the pier below. A portal appeared before them, colors swirling every which way in a flurry. Steven couldn’t help the yelp as spinel lassoed her arms around his torso while the lion ran into the swirling colors. It was like they were in midair for a moment, watching with awe.

“Magic Mystery Lion”

He whispered to himself. They suddenly landed in a living room, the lion gracefully sliding and barely missing a coffee table. Once out of his daze, Steven instantly fell over sideways, pulling Spinel down with him. Amethyst jumped off before looking at him expectantly.

“I’m ok!”

He untangled himself from Spinel, looking around to this majestic room to see-!
Oh wait, it was just that beach house’s living room. He felt his excitement deflate a little.

“Oh my Stars Steven! You’re ok!”

A small green figure crushed him in her grip.

“I was afraid the bio poison had hurt your feeble organic half!”

The rainbow-haired one was on a phone but came over and muttered a thank you to the pink beast while patting him on the head.

“Yes we found him. We know Sadie said he’d be there, but that was 2 hours ago Greg! No he wasn’t harmed. What do you-”

The blue figure glared at Spinel.

“I knew she couldn’t be trusted. I say we poof her already!”

“Lapis, we don’t know if she kidnapped him! What? No Greg I wasn’t… Calm down Greg! Now is not the time for another heart attack!”

Sapphire and Ruby stood near the weird gem door.

“See! Your prediction was right Sapphire!”

“...”

Sapphire barely did anything for a reaction. This felt like waking up all over again! Everyone was yelling, he was really confused, Spinel clung to his arm. Peridot grabbed his face and pulled it violently forward, staring dead into his eyes, that was new.

“He shows signs of possible illness. Redness to skin and eyes, extreme body temperature, are partially pink irises a symptom of any organic Earth illness?”

“What does that- Greg what are you doing? Why do I hear sirens!? GREG!”

Steven couldn’t take this anymore!

“I’m sorry I stopped the rocks!”

Everyone fell silent, turning towards him.

“I just didn’t want anyone to get hurt b-but everyone was upset so I was going to apologize! But then we lost Amethyst so Spinel and I had to go find her but we got really lost too and people kept thinking they knew me, but I didn’t know any of them! Then we got even more lost, and found Amethyst, but we couldn’t find a way back, and I figured you didn’t want to see me anyway! Then this lion found us? I don’t even know what that was!”

He saw a purple blur mimicking his extreme movements as he explained, but was too wrapped up in his rant to look. Everyone stared at him, then at each other.

“Steven…”

Peridot had let go of his head, being the first to speak.

“We didn’t mean to make you feel that way.”

The rainbow-haired one pulled her phone down as she spoke, looking slightly guilty. She walked over to him, gently placing her hand on his shoulder.

“Listen. We’re all under a lot of pressure right now, we’re… We’re sorry, but we’d never give up on a fellow Crystal Gem, ok?”

She pointed to the blue shirt he was wearing, a yellow star on its front.

“You and the others have been through worse and come back stronger because of it.”

She seemed to realize he had no idea what she was talking about, who the Crystal Gems were, or what the ominous ‘worse’ could be since she backed off a little, but he nodded anyway.

“Ok, rainbow haired lady!”

She smiled at him, something else lingering in her expression, before turning to the others in the room.

“Alright Crystal Gems! Let’s get to work! Our plan with Ruby and Sapphire didn’t work, but we can’t give up. So what next?”

“I may not know her best, but I know more than either of you. I say Amethyst. My portable communicator can help me keep track with the injector for a while as long as no one tampers with it. I may also see if I can stir anything with Steven as they share a close bond.”

Peridot picked up the device in question, tapping around on it. The rainbow haired lady nodded in agreement to the plan. Steven stood there, looking at the purple girl in question before remembering something from earlier.

“Oh Peridot! I liked your room up there!”

He pointed upstairs. Peridot stopped her tapping and looked up.

“My Room!?”

Chapter Text

The injector so far was proving difficult. Peridot had acquired a way to monitor it, but so far no other progress had been made. They had about 44 hours left until all life on Earth had been impacted and killed. She’d much rather be up there, studying it, but they were getting nowhere as things were, plus her robonoids could take it from here. She looked up uneasily at her new assignment. Steven had found the chip compartment in the cabinets it seemed, as he was loudly opening some as she planned her course of action. Amethyst stared at him until he gave her one. She mirrored his movements before letting the chip fall to the floor, causing him to give her a confused look. He made a much more obvious swallow attempt the second time, and she followed. Based on her next expression, she really liked them.

“Alright you two,”

The pink Spinel creeped closer to Amethyst and Steven.

“Ugh, three.”

She hated the fact they had to drag her along.

“We need to get Amethyst’s memories back, so, firstly, we’ll start with the arcade. That was one -... Yes Steven?”

Steven raised his hand as he slipped his pink varsity jacket back on.

“We tried the arcade earlier, but it was closed.”

Oh yeah, the evacuation. She forgot about that.

“Right, well there are always other arcades in the area. Anyway, as I was saying. We will go around to familiar locations for Amethyst, simulating experiences that I have knowledge on. While it may prove difficult, THE ENTIRE WORLD DEPENDS ON IT! ”

Spinel blinked before yelling back.

“ARE WE YELLING NOW?”

“...No.”

Peridot knew this was going to be a long trip.
_______________________________________________________________

“The arcade rules require you to throw these. We, however, do not care about rules. Observe.”

She climbed on top of the target when she thought none of the employees were watching and began throwing balls into the target slot with the most points. Amethyst was on the machine beside her, mechanically following her movements. They had to find an Arcade in the nearby city; Lion had thankfully been their transportation. Greg wasn’t available due to “Traffic issues”, though Peridot was pretty sure he really meant “Paying fines for broken Traffic laws”.

“Peridot! You just said that’s against the rules!”

Steven tugged at her arm, staring at her desperately.

“Steven, we have more important things to deal with than worrying about rules.”

His eyes trailed over to something across the room.

“Like security?”

A man with a ‘manager’ badge was angrily staring at them, Spinel had an armful of tokens from their little breach of arcade rules. She looked very confused as the manager took them forcefully and headed their way.

“Run!”

Peridot grabbed Amethyst and pushed Steven as they headed for the door. Spinel was the last to make it there, but not before hearing someone angrily shouting their now-banned statuses.
_______________________________________________________________

“This train leads right by the Prime Kindergarten. A.K.A, the objective best Kindergarten on this side of the galaxy. Other quartzes were made there thousands of years ago, you included.”

She spoke as she checked her tablet screen and vaguely waved at Amethyst, reading that 42 hours were left. She felt… Nervous.

“Wait? Quartzes? Like… Rose Quartzes?”

She felt herself freeze a little. Dang it Pearl, you rejuvenated Clod!

“No. They were made by-”

She glanced up and saw his curious stare before going back to the tablet screen, not knowing what to really answer.

“They were made somewhere else.”

“Oh…”

She continued reviewing new information her robonoids would send her, feeling extreme uneasiness attempt to settle in her gem. This situation was so abnormal. In a way, this shouldn’t have even happened! Steven’s human half should have prevented any adverse effects! But here they were. She looked up to make a comment but stopped. Amethyst and Steven were now happily enjoying the low still-setting sun, he said something and Amethyst almost… Responded. Not with words, but she nodded, but Steven hadn’t nodded at all in that conversation! She suddenly wasn’t so nervous anymore. Then Spinel broke the peaceful moment with her chaos and Peridot growled to herself.
_______________________________________________________________

“Welcome to The One and Only Prime Kindergarten! Lucky you were made here and not in the Beta kindergarten, amiright?”

None of the other three got the clearly genius joke. She then realized they probably didn’t remember that anyway and set out to find what she was looking for.

“See this exit hole? Notice it’s relatively short stature? That’s right, you emerged here!”

She pointed to it excitedly, Amethyst curiously walking forward and going inside. She poked her head out after feeling along its walls. She had some sort of new expression. Peridot couldn’t quite decipher it, but it was different. It was something new.
_______________________________________________________________

The train ride back was tranquil. Peridot sat in the train car, but Steven, Amethyst, and regrettably, Spinel, had found their way to sitting on top. Peridot had one more place in her mind. It was a last ditch effort, but she had the idea it just might work.
_______________________________________________________________

The only reason Peridot knew of this place was because Steven had mentioned a few times. It was scenic, but near enough to Beach City. It was where Greg went to practice music on occasion. She knew Greg and Amethyst had been friends before, so it just made sense.

“Welcome to… This hill.”

Ok, she didn’t remember what it was called, but that was besides the point. Amethyst didn’t look amused, or all that interested. Steven pulling her by the wrist was eventually what compelled her to move though. Peridot realized something however. On their little adventure, Steven had been paying more attention to Amethyst than Spinel. Before, the attention was more skewed in the latter, but now? It was the opposite. Spinel hadn’t seemed to notice, but Peridot noticed, and she thought that had to mean something. Her eyes trailed to the injector. She hoped it meant something, otherwise every organic thing would soon be eradicated. She rubbed her head slightly. Please… Let it mean something! A glow ripped her out of her thoughts.
_______________________________________________________________

It was strange. Everything was blank, then nothing was. A memory, a feeling, a kid who stood before her, eyes wide with awe. Her handshake with him was one sided, but he followed best he could.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

“Hup!”

She pulled him into a tight hug, his ‘hup’ being more of an ‘Oof”, confused as he was. Familiar experiences, him sticking by her even when she was lost, following her and talking with her, being her friend! Everything just… clicked. She remembered everything. Who she was, her friends, her life!

She fell ungracefully right after regenerating.

“Wow…”

“Amethyst! Thank goodness your normal! I couldn't bear seeing you bereft of personality for any longer! You’re just in time for the possible end of the world!”

A green figure ran at her, pulling Steven, herself, and Amethyst in about the tightest thing Amethyst had ever felt. Why were they hugging her like they thought she’d died?

“What happened?”

“That was awesome! Did you see that Peridot? We just did this handshake thing then she floated up and glowed! I'm loving the new look, Amethyst! I didn’t even know you knew how to do that! Where’d you learn it from?”

“Learn what from, ya dork?”

She chuckled at his excitement. He stared at her eagerly, smile wide and eyes starred. It reminded her more of 12 year old Steven than 16. Speaking of which, didn’t Steven have brown eyes? The addition of a fourth hugger that was late to the already separating party pushed her out of her confusion for a moment.

“You! What’re you doing here!?”

She looked different, but there was no doubt it was her. That gem had attacked and poofed her, and now stood with a weirdly cute persona like nothing had happened. When she pushed herself out of the hug, the pink gem clung to Stevens' arm.

“Amethyst?”

Peridot had come next to her.

“Wait Amethyst, let me explain-”

She panicked, pulling her whip out and roping Steven and pulling him behind her, forcing the pink gem to let go. He let out a startled yelp and fell after it unroped itself around him.

“Stay away from them you monster!”

The pink gem wasn’t there anymore though.

“Huh?”

“Monster? Where is it?”

Amethyst sped around, looking at the pink offender who now stood confidently behind her, Steven, and Peridot. She was about to retaliate before Steven spoke up.

“Yeah, are you referring to… Spinel?”

Amethyst stared at the teen, mouth agape.

“Uh, yeah! She attacked us dude!”

He looked at her blankly, confusion steadily warping his features.

“What’re you talking about?”

Then he perked up as if he’d figured something out.

“Amethyst, I’m pretty sure that was a hug.”

She stared at him for a moment, processing his weird reaction. Ok she’d heard enough.

“Peridot, what’s going on here?”

Peridot fidgeted with her tablet, before answering.

“They were rejuvenated. You were as well, until now.”

“And that’s…?”

She gestured openly. She knew what rejuvenation meant on Earth, but judging by Peridot’s reaction, it was likely another gem thing she didn’t know about.

“Bad! Very Bad! Their memories and personalities are erased and locked away in their gem’s files!”

Amethyst stood there and soaked in the information just given to her. Wait, Peridot said she’d been rejuvenated too, so she had been that little mimic in front of EVERYONE!? She looked at Steven.

“Uh Steven. Do you..?”

She gestured to herself. He looked at her before getting the question.

“Of course I know you! You’re Amethyst!”

“But like, do you remember anything? Like that time we looked for the slinker together, or the Purple Puma hehe, “

She shifted into the large persona, doing an exaggerated muscle flex. She glared at the pink gem as she returned to her normal form.

“Do you even remember when she attacked us all?!””

She received a thinking look before his eyebrows knitted together.

“Ah, not you too! Is it the shirt?”

He grabbed and held the bottom of the shirt in question, staring at the yellow star in the middle.

“But I like this shirt...”

She felt shocked, hurt a little bit. Not at him of course! Him not remembering did bring about a twist in her gem though. Well, Peridot said they fixed her and she wasn’t about to give up on Steven! Something the green gem had said earlier hit her though.

“Wait, did you say END OF THE WORLD?”

“Er, right.”

Peridot picked up her tablet, walking over to Amethyst, explaining the gnarly bio-poison-filled injector stuck in Lighthouse Hill, how the only one who knew how to deactivate it was rejuvenated and they had less than 2 days to fix it, and how apparently Pearl and Garnet were janked too. Sounded like things were pretty stacked against them.

“Biz has a plan though, right?”

Peridot finally looked up from her screen.

“Affirmative.”

Chapter Text

Amethyst knew the injector would be big, but being right next to it really let her know that it was gonna be impossible to just move it. The ground around it was black with neon pink rot and was progressing quickly. Flowers would stand upright before swiftly dying within the minute. So yeah, this was definitely bad.

“Now what? We can’t do anything right now, can we?”

She looked over to Bismuth expectantly, then to Lapis and Peridot. They had filled her in on the nitty gritty, and now they had to plan their next move. Steven, Spinel (Apparently their attacker’s name), Sapphire, and Ruby weren’t allowed near the drill in their current states, with Greg and still-rejuvenated Pearl playing babysitter.

“We’re still working on it. Our plan for Garnet failed pretty miserably.”

Lapis squinted up at the injector, her face was worried even with her voice remaining low but flat.

“What y'all do? Push them under falling rocks and expect them to fuse or somethin’?”

It was supposed to be a joke, but everyone instead tensed and Amethyst stopped smirking to herself.

“It wasn’t on purpose per say… B-but no gems were harmed!”

“Aw geez.”

No wonder Sapphire seemed so shaken up when Amethyst briskly met with her! She’d almost been shattered by some weird fusion plan gone wrong. Something came to her for a moment though, something Pearl had said.

“Hold on, Pearl had said she’d known that gem before she got us with her scythe thing. Ya’ll know anything about that?”

The three other gems looked at each other.

“It coulda been from her days serving Pink Diamond, Deep cut. We don’t know how much she actually knew her.”

“Nah, she knew her alright. She was all “But it can’t be her!” and junk. Springy also seemed familiar with her, something was definitely up.”

Bismuth thought for a second.

“Change of plans. We were gonna try to jog Spinel’s memory and get her to shut off the injector, but we know nothin about her. But if Amethyst is right, then we got someone we know a lot more who does.”

“Fine. I’ll watch the Injector’s process. I’ve had enough distractions for today.”

Lapis nodded with a hum. Amethyst knew about the evacuation to the shelters. If everyone had been there, then they may have the perfect opportunity on their hands. Some people she knew who were all about rebellion, and even better, had songs about rebellion.

“So, Sadie Killer and the Suspects…”
_______________________________________________________________

The perimeter was a small fort made of wood (who’s dumb idea was that?). The only danger could be that older one, the Pearl, and that Spinel. Ruby had accepted the Curly haired one as a non-threat, both due to his supposed status and from saving both herself and her Sapphire earlier. Her Sapphire still wasn’t happy though, she was tense, quieter than before. Ruby didn’t know what to do to make her happy. She would ask, but she was a Ruby guard, not some nit picking Pearl. Maybe she foresaw something?

“My Sapphire. D-Do you foresee any threats? Is that why you’re so nervous?”

“No, Ruby. I can’t see much of anything anymore. My vision is clearly flawed.”

She had been saying things like that since… The rock incident. Ruby felt like more had to be bothering her, but it wasn’t her place to pry. They stood in silence for a moment. The older one was doing something on a primitive device at a table, his Pearl standing pointedly nearby. The curly haired one was in some sort of stasis on the couch, the Spinel watching him, asking if this was a silent contest. That rock must’ve been pretty heavy from how it had affected him.

“My sapphire?”

“Yes, Ruby?”

Ruby liked the polite calmness her Sapphire radiated, even in her clearly unhappy state, her voice was soft and almost friendly. She referred to her as just “Ruby” as if it were a personal identifier and not as if she were just a disposable guard.

“Even if you can’t see into the future, I… I’m glad I was assigned to you, my Sapphire.”

She immediately realized that might be inappropriate interaction with her Sapphire and closed her mouth. Her Sapphire wasn’t angry though, she wasn’t even annoyed. Her voice finally found some levity to it, it was sweet and a smile finally crept onto her face.

“Thank you, Ruby.”

Ruby felt her face light up with a small smile of her own.

“My Um Greg Universe has requested that you leave the Rose Quartz alone.”

Ruby turned towards the Pearl and Spinel. Ruby heard the older one mumble something about name preferences before speaking louder.

“Pearl you don’t have to-”

“Aww, nah, we’re just playing the silent game right now. “

“You are causing my Um Greg Universe extreme discontent, I am going to have to ask you to stop. “

The Spinel didn’t seem phased.

“Discon-what now?”

“Discontent.”

“Does that mean he wants to join as well? Well why didn’t he just say somethin!”

The Spinel turned towards the curly haired one.

“Hey Steven! The other guy’s joinin too!”

She shouted and finally jolted him out of the still state. He ungracefully fell off the couch. The Pearl had a very thinly veiled aura of annoyance now.

“Huh whasa goin’ on?”

The curly-haired one (“Steven”, Rose Quartz, geez he had a lot of titles!) stood up while rubbing at his eyes, which were droopy. It was clear whatever stasis he had been in wasn’t enough to bring him a lot of energy, maybe his abrupt distraction had something to do with it.

“Aw geez, Pearl it’s fine! He’s awake anyway.”

The older one sounded and looked almost even more exhausted than the curly haired one.

“Yes, my Um Greg Universe.”

“Did you guys forget how the silent game works?”

The Pearl hung her head, and the Um Greg Universe tried saying he didn’t blame her. The Pearl did not look convinced. Ruby noticed the curly haired one start heading their way and she straightened up immediately. Best be respectful to not only the gem who saved her life, but also was apparently the radiant Pink Diamond’s personal guard! She was slightly confused as to why he wasn’t with their Diamond right now, but maybe she was busy with her own affairs and had no need for him. She wouldn’t question her Diamond nor her guard.

“My Rose Quartz! My Sapphire is safe and unharmed.”

He looked slightly bewildered, his eyes a little hazy as he shook the tiredness away.

“Uh, just Steven is fine.”

“Are you sure My Rose Quartz, er, Steven.”

It seemed he finally got out of the tired daze as he looked slightly less shattered-on-his-feet. He confirmed with a small nod and hum.

“Hello Steven.”

The calm voice of her Sapphire spoke out, no hint of disdain for him even if he may have been the catalyst of her drop in mood.

“Hey Sapphire. So uh, I was coming over here for something earlier…. I know the others said it was fine but-”

“No need to apologize, Steven. I have simply realized that my future vision is not as precise as desired.”

He simply blinked at that.

“Well, you were able to tell what I was going to say! That’s gotta mean something.”

Her Sapphire hummed a quiet response, but not much else. He sat down next to the warp pad they stood in front of. For being such a high ranking gem, he sure was informal. He rubbed at his arms before putting a hand near her Sapphire and pulling it away.

“Sapphire, you’re freezing!”

He grabbed his pink appearance modifier, pulling it off and giving it to her.

“Here! It’s a jacket. It’ll help keep you warm.”

Her sapphire looked at the oversized jacket now draped on her shoulders. It was clearly too big for her, but her Sapphire looked flattered all the same. Ruby hadn’t even realized the drop in temperature, but she was suddenly aware of the frost below her Sapphire’s feet.

“Thank you Steven.”

Her voice contained a similar levity as before, but she said no more.

“So, you guys wanna play a board game or something?”

“A ‘bored’ game?”

“Yeah, well, I don’t know what they have here, or even if I’d know how to play any, but I’m sure we could learn along the way!”

She looked at her Sapphire.

“I don’t believe anything will harm us, Ruby.”

“Alright, let’s try out this ‘bored game’.”
_______________________________________________________________

“The sponge in your sink is covered in mold. You lose TWO TURNS? Agh! Stupid sponge mold!”

Ruby threw down her card. She didn’t know what a sponge was, but she hated it.

“Aw man, is that freezer burn!? Wait, or is that-”

Steven looked up from the long pamphlet again at the card in his hand, then back at the long pamphlet. Ruby was almost enjoying herself, but this game kept taking her turns away. She’d barely moved all game!

“… these are some complicated rules.”

“Oh! Oh! I gotta… Bo-log-na card? What’s that mean?”

The pink Spinel showed her card facing out.

“Wait, you got a bologna card? You getta- Wait no that’s the move for the rotten ham card. I remember seeing a bologna card somewhere in here…”

“It wasn’t your turn yet anyway! You skipped over Sapphire.”

She realized her mistake and opened her mouth to correct it.

“It’s fine Ruby. Just Sapphire will do. Besides, I am still trapped in the dish rack for another turn.”

Sapphire's delicate gloved hands held up a card that said “Dishwrecked!” with a full dish rack decal in the background and its description below the picture. The pink ‘jacket’ sleeve was pulled up so her hand was actually free.

“Automatic win!? That’s baloney!”

He looked up for a moment.

“Is that why it’s called that?”

He squinted at it as he pulled the pamphlet ever closer to his face.

“Yay! I win!”

The Spinel jumped up and down and celebrated by the side of the table by the couch. Ok, Ruby hated this ‘Citchen Calamity’, and based on Steven’s face, she wasn’t the only one.

“Uh, I’m gonna find something else.”

He leaned to the pile of bored games (actually board games apparently, but Ruby liked her version better) and began picking some up.

“Ok, so I got Polly Polly, Not sure what that is, Toppler…hmm, Good candidate.”

He put the game on the table before leaning down in a way Ruby could only see his arched back.

“Uhh, that one looks complicated, ‘Not that sorry’? Sounds mean…”

He continued his rambling as the shuffling of boxes were heard. Ruby began picking up the cards along with Sapphire.

“I’ll get it my-ehm, Sapphire.”

“I don’t mind.”

Sapphire handed Ruby her card pile as Spinel still whooped and hollered off to the side, lending no assistance.

“Attention everyone!”

Steven must've tried sitting up as he hit the table with a small 'ow' before sitting all the way up. His blow had thrown the pieces into an even bigger mess. A calamity if you will. The lithe Pearl took no notice.

“My Um Greg Universe has an announcement.”

She bowed and stepped to the side. Said Um Greg Universe stepped forward, embarrassed.

“Amethyst and the others are having a show while peridot and Lapis deal with the gem drill thing and we gotta be there. We can clean this up later Pearl.”

He added that last part when the Pearl had started walking toward the mess of a table.

“Are we going my- uh, Sapphire?”

It felt weird talking to everyone so informally, especially a superior and a Sapphire. It definitely felt wrong, but also nice to not be so uptight all the time.

“I see no reason not to.”

Her calm voice assured her as she floated off the couch and onto the floor, the pink appearance modifier and her dress flowing gently with her. The Spinel finally stopped her chaos as they all followed outside. Steven walked right behind Um Greg Universe and his Pearl, and the Spinel was following Steven closely. Ruby and Sapphire were side by side. Not as an assignment and guard, but almost as if they were equals. Yeah, Ruby was definitely glad Sapphire was her assignment.

Chapter Text

Greg craned his neck up to the stage before him, looking to Amethyst who was currently at the band’s drumkit as Sadie hyped up the crowd. He wasn’t so sure about this plan, though Bismuth seemed pretty adamant about it. It could work, but could a few songs really undo this? Could the simple idea of rebellion really undo the damage? Was he thinking too hard about this? Was his amnesiac son determined to make him lose his remaining hair before this day even ended?

“Steven!”

He quickly noticed the teen as he began mindlessly wandering off towards the just as clueless Ruby, Sapphire, and Spinel. (Which that gem really made him uncomfortable, memories or not) He gently guided him back over to where he and Pearl were standing.

“How’s about we stay over here bud?”

“Aww, why can’t I hang out with them?”

“Uh, I’ll explain later.”

“I’ll explain later.” meant “I don’t know what excuse to tell you right now that won’t make me sound like a nut case.“ In truth, he didn’t feel like losing Steven all over again, even if it would only be amidst the crowd at the evacuation warehouse instead of the entire town. The teen only exchanged a slightly bewildered look before following, not prodding any further. Greg glanced at the rainbow haired gem next to them whose expression had its own uncertainty.

“Are you sure this’ll work?”

She looked to the older man with a shrug.

“We gotta try.”

Finally the song began, cutting through the tension that had built between the group. It was one of their newer songs, Disobedient. Which, sure, it was all about rebellion, but he didn’t really know how much faith he had in it. He tried engaging Pearl a few times in the dance, only for her to gracefully move and miss the point entirely before fixing her stare back onto him. Steven, however, began dancing almost immediately. He looked like he was having the time of his life, not really caring how boisterous he was.

“Wow! This music’s great!”

Steven looked at Greg, smile wide and starry eyed. Greg simply smiled back at him, albeit nervously, before stealing a glance at Pearl. She still had her static expression and posture, never even glancing at the stage. Greg looked over to Bismuth, panic likely written all over his face. Pearl didn’t seem to even notice there was music, she was too preoccupied with simply waiting on Greg.

“Maybe she just needs to hear the whole song?”

Bismuth looked at him again, her hope clearly waning.

“Greg, if it were the song, it would’ve worked earlier.”

He looked up at the stage, dreading both being proven correct as the song was nearing the end. Amethyst and him made eye contact before motioning for them to meet her at the stage when a quieter part of the song hit. He asked Pearl to watch Steven as both him and Bismuth headed off, feeling bad he had actually asked her to do something.

“It’s not working…”

Amethyst’s voice was quiet but he could hear the fear it carried.

“We tried Deep cut, but maybe we need a new strategy! I don’t think it’s gonna work. .”

“I know. I don’t think I’ve seen Steven dance like that for years!”

They looked at the still wild, though slightly toned down, dancing Steven. He stopped after seeing Pearl’s fixated dance and asked her something, the answer making him give a heavily confused frown before glancing to Greg. They all turned away quickly after that.

“Well, we ain’t doin this for Steven anyway. Our focus is on Pearl.”

It was funny in a sense. Sure this thing had been for Pearl, but both of them had unanimously seen if it would help Steven as well. Amethyst got a disgruntled look for a moment before pressing on.

“What if we gotta hit them-, er, her where it hurts?”

“What are ya thinking?”

“I mean her original boss, love of her life, the reason she rebelled in the first place! She’s gotta remember her!”

His eyes widened as he realized what she meant. Amethyst seemed to flounder at that.

“Only if you’re, like, cool with it though.”

He looked back to the duo, Steven had taken to excitedly chatting with Sapphire, Ruby, and Spinel as the group had moved towards him. Pearl stayed as attentive as ever, only occasionally shooting looks towards the pink gem that got too close. It wasn’t a hard decision.

“If that’s what it takes…”

Amethyst nodded and picked up a nearby microphone, indicating to Sadie her intentions. Sadie had been filled in on the situation shortly before they had fully set up, so she probably figured it had something to do with it. Amethyst’s usual smooth shape shifting was slower and more hesitant than usual, making Greg wonder if this made her just as uncomfortable as him. The figure that stood in her place was undeniably Rose, long curly hair that framed her face with a light colored, long layered dress. To complete it, there was even a fake gemstone in her navel. Greg and Bismuth backed up to their group. Despite the different circumstances, he couldn’t help feeling knotted up inside as he remembered their fights that turned ugly. Her voice sang out the lyrics of the quiet portion of the song on stage. After a moment, Amethyst walked off stage and in front of Pearl, moving her hand gently under her chin to face Amethyst, but the gem would simply turn back to Greg with little reaction, no longer looking at Steven or Amethyst since she had seemed to have deemed her mission complete with his return. Amethyst’s voice only drained more and more, before quietly fading out on the last verse. He sighed as the crowd clapped at the performance. He noted the dejected look Bismuth had as well. He looked to Steven, more just making sure the teen hadn’t wandered off. He was surprised to see Steven’s initial awestruck and excited demeanor had died in an instant as he stared fixated at Amethyst. Greg felt hope cut through his disappointment as he turned to the seemingly upset teen. It was weird he almost found relief in his son’s despair, something he’d never known would be a plausible situation.

“S-Steven?”

This broke the teen out of his stare, the literal lively pink glow in his eyes reigniting as he looked at Greg expectantly.

“Hm?”

It was then he’d realized that Steven’s eyes had been normal for a moment.
_______________________________________________________________

Oh stars above, his eyes burned for a moment. He would’ve blinked, or flinched, or done anything. For that moment though, he just felt frozen. What was she doing? Why did all these horrible feelings just rear their way into him? He didn’t understand!

“S-Steven?”

His mind had been snapped out of its little mess as he looked to Um Greg Universe, a little glad for the distraction.

“Hm?”

Um Greg Universe had seemed to have some sort of look that both looked concerned and surprised. However, upon his response, Greg deflated a little. It was then Steven realized his eyes had stopped burning so much, much to his relief, the pain being replaced by a phantom buzzing instead.

“Are… you alright?”

“O-oh yeah! I’m-”

Pearl cut in at Greg’s lack of clapping.

“Don’t worry my Um Greg Universe! I can clap for you!”

The clapping she did was much too rapid and grating, making Steven look at her concerned, briefly forgetting his and Um Greg’s short conversation. Um Greg looked somehow even more stressed than before, whipping around suddenly to the tall figure.

“Ah! What will make you stop serving me?”

“As long as you exist, I will serve you!”

Steven watched Um Greg and the taller, rainbow haired lady exchange a look. (He should probably learn her name, even if he had to ask second hand since her reaction initially had been less than pleasant… )

“That’s it!”

“Huh?”

They whispered something to him. The older man jumped back and looked at them with a crazed expression.

“But how would that even work?”

“We got that covered. Amethyst, do ya think you could-”

“Already on, Biz.”

Steven watched the trio walk off (not before Um Greg, once again, asked Pearl to keep an eye on him.). The band with the green haired lady from earlier walked off as most of the lights on stage turned off. There was a beat of silence, Steven wondering what “it” was. Whatever it was they seemed pretty excited about.

“Aw, I liked that other band.”

“What do you think they’re gonna do?”

He hadn’t directed it towards anyone in particular. Ruby was the first to answer though, seeing as she had been the one to voice her opinion first.

“I dunno, it better be good though.”

He watched Ruby tell off someone who stepped within her and Sapphire’s boundaries again. Sapphire still had his jacket on with not much of a reaction, taking on the strange indifference she had earlier. Anytime Ruby said something to her though, her more open side would show through.

“Maybe it’ll be a super cool sing-along!”

“Yeah!”

He and Spinel suddenly became much more animated, knowing if the band’s previous song was anything to go by, he wouldn’t mind the chance to sing with them.

“Oh! I see someone coming on stage!”

Spinel ran forward a little more and as Steven went to follow, the lithe figure of Pearl stepped in front of him.

“Now, my Um Greg Universe told me to watch you and make sure you don’t go anywhere Rose Quartz, and I intend to do so.”

Steven stopped and couldn’t help wondering why Um Greg cared all the sudden. Before he had seemed to make contact, while not mean or cold, but still… Minimal? Ever since they had gone to find Amethyst though, he had suddenly decided that Steven was at least some priority. Was it because he thought he was the Steven everyone else had for some reason? He frowned upon realizing that and stepping back. What were they going to do with him once they realized he wasn’t them? Probably be really upset. The sound of stage lights turning on turned his attention to the stage, even Pearl snapped up to look. An announcer introduced two guest stars as they stepped onto the stage; all the stage lights had been turned to shades of purple as the two figures started their show.

“Um Greg?”

At the Drumkit sat what looked to be him, though from what he assumed the lighting color, he looked slightly off. The rainbow haired lady (They called her something along the lines of Bismuth.) was awkwardly doing something with what looked to be a guitar. It didn’t sound the best was all Steven could say. Um Greg got up from the drum kit and in front of them, Bismuth(?) was looking at Pearl, but Um Greg was oddly enough more focused on… him? His eyes would glance over to Pearl too, but she didn’t seem to be his target of interest. They exchanged quiet words with each other, Bismuth giving Um Greg a nod. They quickly did something as they almost to glow before fog covered the stage. Steven felt his curiosity peak, leaning forward with Pearl doing the same.

“Who’s ready for a REAL show?”

The fog cleared and revealed someone who was absolutely not Um Greg or Bismuth. They had grayish-purple skin, messy dreadlocks that were pulled into a pseudo ponytail, a tank top that had a torn-out star to reveal two gems and jeans whose suspenders were hanging off their sides rather than on their actual shoulders. Most odd of all, they had two sets of arms, one from their sides and the other where arms usually were. Pearl must’ve gotten out of her shock at the same time as they shouted in near unison.

“Um Greg!”

“Um Greg?”

Pearl looked around and so did Steven, fear settling in him. Where’d Um Greg go? Who was that?

“Wha- Wh-where-”

“Who are you!?”

The strange figure looked down at him, making him realize just how tall they were.

“Aw calm down you two. Your Greg Universe is just fine.”

They did a thumbs up to someone off stage.

“It’s Titanium by the way. It sure is a real pleasure to meet you.”

Her gaze was solely on the pale figure beside Steven now, whose head was still trying to get around what on Earth just happened. He watched as the figure sang with their low, slightly raspy voice to Pearl. Alarm bells started blaring in his mind. They didn’t seem malicious, singing and dancing with the still confused Pearl, but where’d Um Greg go? They had to have done something with him! Kidnapped maybe! Wait, DID THEY KILL HIM!?

“Steven, it will be alright.”

Sapphire placed a gloved hand on his arm as he nervously watched the two, Pearl’s sputtering fading into the background as Steven turned to the blue figure.

“B-but-”

“Trust me…”

He realized his knuckles had turned white from how hard his hands had been clenched, and his chest felt tight with every breath he took. He gradualing unclenched his slightly sore hands, trying to calm himself with Sapphire’s vague assurance. Why did he care so much about someone he knew next to nothing about? Sure, he had empathy for everyone, but this was stronger than that. He listened to the actual song, its lyrics all about independence before they paused for a moment. The taller, four armed figure’s rough voice was surprisingly nice when it sang. His thoughts were interrupted by a rough hand ruffling his hair from above.

“Huh?”

Titanium still hummed their song in the brief pause, Pearl suddenly looking less worried and like she was thinking about something, before standing up and finishing their song when it turned more into a duet as Pearl climbed onto the stage. Pearl’s mechanical singing from before was replaced with a much more genuine voice as something clicked. Just like with Amethyst earlier that day, Pearl glowed and floated up, cycling through forms in a bright light. Steven backed up as she finally settled on something and landed much more gracefully on the stage. Her hair was slightly shorter with a cropped jacket, shirt and high waisted jeans. The serenade finally ended, Titanium looking the bewildered Pearl over before excitement crossed their face.

“Pearl! We almost thought you’d never show up!”

Titanium hugged the much smaller figure who could only let out a small “Huh?”. The figure finally separated in a flash of light, Amethyst and Bismuth standing in their place. Um Greg rushed from the side, confusing Steven as he wondered how he’d gotten over there.

“It-It worked!”

Pearl finally looked around in a frenzy before catching Steven’s stare, following along the gems beside him.

“Steven! Oh thank the stars you're ok!”

She ran off the stage as people still cheered for the slow duet, catching him in a bone crushing hug.

“Hooray for Steven!”

As if on cue and not learning from the last time she’d done that, Spinel joined in the hug much more swiftly than before, coiling her arms around him as Pearl’s sudden change in behavior heavily confused him.

“Agh! What do you think you’re doing?”

Here we go again...

Chapter Text

Amethyst was feeling many things right now, and to say tired would be an understatement. Pearl was squawking while Steven had placed himself between the two in light of Pearl’s sudden manic reaction, clearly panicking in his own right.

“Oh my goodness! Your eyes! Steven are you alright? A-are you hurt? Did she do this to you? Why when I get my hands on her-”

“What? No! What’s with you guys and attacking Spinel?”

“That gem is dangerous!”

“‘She didn’t even do anything this time!”

“Alright, settle down now.”

Bismuth stopped up and pushed them to the side, her expression was a weird mix of annoyance and understanding, maybe some concern in there for good measure. Amethyst jumped off the stage after some stage person shooed her off for the next performance. She made her way next to Pearl, who looked like she was about to dissipate her own form. The crowd wasn’t paying them any attention anymore.

“Ya P! Only one doin the attacking is you right now.”

Pearl looked like she was going to argue back, but opted to instead slowly stand all the way up, still not fully getting out of her defensive stance while still eyeing the pink gem suspiciously.

“B-but…”

Pearl finally looked at their environment, then to Steven and Spinel. Pearl finally calmed a bit, stopping her previous sentence in its tracks.

“I would appreciate an explanation right now.”

The teen looked at Pearl with a thinking look. Amethyst elbowed him to let him know Pearl was talking to him directly.

“Me? Oh, uh, Explanation for what?”

Pearl’s incredulous look only deepened.

“All… this.”

She vaguely waved her hand at the warehouse, finally done with glaring at Spinel. Bismuth cleared her throat from behind before explaining.

“Well Pearl, you see-”

“Everyone’s brains are screwed up and the Earth might die or something ‘cause there's a giant injector over there. Y’know, normal stuff.”

Bismuth looked at Amethyst, her face clearly displaying her annoyance for the smaller quartz’s tactlessness.

“What?!”

“Thank you, Amethyst.”

Pearl’s face was going through a thousand expressions a second, shock, fear, disgust, anger, and of course her trademark reaction, panic.

“The scythe…”

Pearl must’ve figured it out on her own, likely using context to figure out what that weapon had been for, as she shook her head. Amethyst noticed her hands still clasping the air, but her expression calmed again.

“Well, l-let’s see it. The Injector I mean.”
_______________________________________________________________

Pearl was well over 6,000 years old, had fought in a brutal war, watched her friends be corrupted or shattered, dealt with all of Earth’s, and furthermore Steven’s, strangeness, and seen a few simple speeches change the opinion of three intergalactic dictators. She thought nothing would be able to surprise her anymore.

She was very wrong.

“Ta dah!”

“I must say this is… worse than I expected.”

The horrid injector was just as intimidating as she had remembered from that morning, only more of the Earth below it had rotted away since then. Its pink bio poison and gem top only strengthened the theory that this was, indeed, a very archaic piece of Pink Diamond’s force likely left near the garden.

“Oh Pearl, lovely of you to finally join us!”

Peridot was messing with a control center-like area, robonoids running around with Lapis making out observations by flying above. A yell suddenly startled Pearl, only for her to realize Ruby was gawking at the injector.

“What in the name of Homeworld is that?”

“I dunno, can we touch it?

“Uh Spinel, I’m not sure that’s a great idea.”

Steven looked up at it as well, his irises still throwing Pearl for a loop. They were so unnatural compared to his usual, mostly organic appearance. They literally glowed in the low lighting, his face was crunched into concern. Pearl felt her own unease. They were all too close to that wretched drill for comfort, especially in their current states, and stars forbid if someone got hurt!

“Um, Bismuth? Why did we bring them again?”

“Chillax, we’ll only be a minute Pearl. sheesh.”

“I wasn’t talking to you Amethyst.”

Pearl looked at Amethyst, not missing her sudden rude behavior. Bismuth also gave the purple gem a look, but didn’t say anything to the gem herself.

“We’re just checking in the injector’s progress, we won’t take long.”

Bismuth walked off after that and exchanged a few words with Peridot, Pearl still nearby. They had largely filled her in on most of the situation on their way over, and Pearl couldn’t help but feel slightly overwhelmed. She looked at Spinel, who was messing with something much to Ruby, Sapphire, and Steven’s amusement. She couldn’t help but feel guilty. She knew of Spinel, of course, even back when Steven’s true heritage came out, but had assumed the other diamonds had taken care of her, but judging by what she’d said earlier, she realized with horror that likely hadn’t been the case. Had she really just been left for all those years? She had momentary sympathy before glancing back at the ragtag group of rejuvenated gems, more specifically Steven, and felt her sympathy quickly melt away for dread, knowing that they were about to destroy the gem all over again. Then what? Would they just bubble her away? She would at least like to have Steven around, even if it was just for her own sanity, but also due to his innate ability to make friends with enemies.

“Amethyst?”

Pearl tentatively spoke, knowing her next question would lead to something preposterous and that the purple gem was a bit tense, and thus short fused. Amethyst simply looked up with a hum of acknowledgment.

“How long did it take for our memories to be fully restored?”

“I dunno, a few hours maybe?”

Amethyst spoke in a rather unworried manner, but Pearl knew better. Pearl was also briefly reminded of their time restraints, but reasoned quietly with herself.

“Perhaps we can see if we can, oh I don’t know, jog Steven’s memory? If it takes too long we can always bail of course, but…”

She caught the smaller gem’s surprised expression.

“Really?”

“Well, we need a plan first but-”

Amethyst playfully hit Pearl before going and grabbing Steven and hauling him over, completely disregarding the rest of what she had to say.

“Where are we going?”

“To get yo memories back, Ste-man!”

“But I don’t…?”

The weirdly indignant expression he suddenly wore told them both how he felt about that, but he didn’t argue, instead posing his own question after what looked to be a moment of thought.

“Pearl, can I ask you guys something?”

“Of course Steven!”

“I know you said earlier I was the top of their class and everything but…”

He paused, seeming to think about how he was going to pose his question. Pearl remembered she didn’t remember anything from the time she was rejuvenated and suddenly dreaded whatever brainwashed, frilly bile he was talking about.

“Who’s Pink Diamond? I know I’m supposed to protect them and stuff but I don’t think I’ve seen them all day!”

Pearl simply froze in a moment of silent shock. Amethyst was rather quiet as well. Only the sound of Lapis’ amused chuckle from behind broke the awkward beat.

Oh Stars above.
_______________________________________________________________

“Steven, do you remember what this is?”

He looked up at the drill she pointed to, Pearl looking for any hints of familiarity in his expression. She briefly made sure Spinel was still distracted by messing with Ruby and Sapphire.

“Uh, no? Oh wait! It looks like one of those things from the kindergarten.”

He looked over to the two gems with a satisfied smile.

“Kindergarten?”

“Yeah, he and P-dot went there to get my memories back.”

The purple gem’s outwardly nonchalant attitude was beginning to annoy Pearl, but they had different things to worry about than arguments. Of course, it wasn’t an actual recall, that wasn’t exactly how hers went, and it didn’t seem like it was any different for him.

“I see… Well Steven, this is an Injector! A piece of gem technology! Even if it is rather old.”

She side-eyed it for a moment.

“Do you have any opinions on it?”

“Well, it’s apparently bad.”

“Well yes, but even before the others told you what it does, did you feel anything?”

He seemed to think on it for a moment, but came to his own conclusion.

“Well, everytime I look at it, I feel all twisted up inside. Though it does look pretty dangerous.”

Pearl tapped her chin for a moment, silently wondering if that was promising, or another dead end. Her thoughts were interrupted as he posed another question.

“What was He like?”

He suddenly had turned his head way up, observing the drill again, but he emphasized the word “he” in particular. Amethyst and Pearl looked at each other, Pearl knew almost immediately who he was referring to but pressed on anyway.

“W-who?”

“The other Steven. Everyone seems to think I’m him and are really excited when they see me. Even you guys.”

He eyed Pearl and Amethyst for a moment, his eyes suddenly widening, slight panic consuming his features.

“Did he do this?”

Both Pearl and Amethyst froze, stunned.

“Of course not! Oh Steven, you didn’t cause this!”

“Yeah dude, this was all by HER.”

“You were simply trying to stop this!”

“Then I guess she hit ya with this gnarly thing called a rejuvenator and WHAM. Memories gone! That’s what our deal was too.”

Amethyst did an explosion sound effect with her explanation. Steven simply watched, clearly lost. Pearl realized they hadn’t even answered his first question, filling in the gaps for him.

“As for ‘the other Steven’,”

“He made friends with, like, everyone he met. It was wild, I’m pretty sure he could get a rock to be friends with him! Not to mention he talked down some pretty bad guys into this whole friendship biz.”

Amethyst nodded to Lapis, Bismuth, and Peridot, who were focused on their check up with the drill.

“He also always looked into the bright side of things, filling us with hope and inspiration in our darkest moments!”

“Yeah man. Don’t worry, he got nothing to do with our little injector problem.”

Pearl knew they were talking him up quite a bit, but the last thing they needed was for Steven to have a wrongfully bad connotation of himself.

“How about we show you something else?”
_______________________________________________________________

“A-alright Steven welcome to your room!”

Pearl nervously had motioned to the secluded room, though the teen himself hardly looked amused. She and Amethyst exchanged yet another worried glance. He had definitely seemed a bit stand-offish since earlier, and it didn’t seem like he was following their efforts entirely at first. He did pick up one of the photos near his bed however, and his strangely cross manner faded back for his more upbeat attitude.

“Oh yeah! I remember this room!”

They both perked up before he unknowingly shot down their hopes by continuing his sentence.

“Me and Spinel looked for Amethyst in here, though I thought this was Peridot’s room… Are you guys sure Spinel couldn’t come?”

“Er, yes Steven, we’re sure.”

He looked at one of the band posters for Saide Killer and the Suspects and set the photo down.

“Hey, that’s the band from earlier!”

“Yep. They’re pretty rad, right?”

“Yeah!”

He picked up a group photo of the gems, albeit in older outfits, from when he’d first moved into the temple.

“Hey, you guys are in here!”

He pointed to Amethyst and Pearl, all the previous animosity seemingly forgotten. Despite the little moment, they weren’t up here for just photos, they were up here for a reason! She motioned for Amethyst to get the respective tape out, which was laying carefully in a pile beside the TV, its recipient’s name in permanent marker along the side.

“What if this doesn’t work, Pearl?”

“Well, we have plenty of other material to pull from! From what I heard, neither of our reformations had happened immediately either! Though I must say, I’m surprised Bismuth allowed this little side project in the first place seeing as how her focus was more on Spinel…”

Amethyst suddenly got a look.

“You did ask her first, right?”

The purple gem simply shrugged for her answer.

“Amethyst!”

“What!? Bismuth would've said no anyway!”

Pearl gave Amethyst a disapproving glare before taking the tape, ready to go ahead and get this over with now that she knew they had effectively snuck off.

“Oh Steven! Here’s that thing we wanted to show you!”

The teen looked over curiously after he’d gone to inspect the Moon Goddess statue before looking at the tape Pearl held up. He headed over as Amethyst turned out the lights and sat on the edge of his bed, Pearl following suit behind her after inserting the tape. The teen himself sitting on the floor in front of them.

The television set lit up with a view of the temple before switching to a scenic view of the beach below.
_______________________________________________________________

The tense static that filled the room was cut off as the tape ejected itself from the player. No one dare move lest they shatter the moment. Pearl eventually broke out of her silent emotional state to see if Steven even had a reaction. He was just still, no sudden movements. She finally saw him gently take the tape out after a second, not facing the two gems as he stood and placed it atop the TV. Amethyst eventually broke their collective stunned silence.

“Woah man…”

The gems knew of the tape, they’d been told about it and seen bits and pieces, but never the whole thing. She couldn’t believe this was the same gem who had left Spinel behind for who knows how long. It just reminded her how much she’d matured, but as was glaringly obvious from the still looming threat, her mistakes still hurt others. Pearl simply shook her head to herself before remembering the very reason they had pulled it out in the first place.

“Steven?”

The teen finally looked up from his spot, his eyes glossy with what almost looked like either oncoming or already shed tears. His eyes otherwise were still the same, letting the disappointed duo know it hadn’t of worked.

“Heh w-well, guess that didn’t work!”

He sounded like he was trying to play it off with levity, but his wavering tone and face betrayed that sentiment. Pearl sighed, knowing that meant they had to continue on later on. She figured that alone probably wouldn’t have worked anyway. So, silently accepting they didn’t have time to press on for now, she got up.

“Well, it was worth a try.”

“Yeah.”
_______________________________________________________________

Steven soaked in the information just given to him. His eyes were briefly burning, though the feeling it carried was slightly different, more complicated than before. He didn’t get to think too hard on them as the tape had ended, instead having the overwhelming feeling he had just seen something incredibly personal and he had just seriously impeded on this person’s personal business. He thought about the pictures and what the others had said about the other Steven earlier. He looked so confident and happy. Man, he really was a disappointment then, wasn’t he? How could a simple Rose Quartz guard like him even begin to compare to someone like that? No matter how “top of the class'' he was, he certainly didn’t feel that great. Besides, they went from “you” to “him” real quick. He just didn’t get it! Was he supposed to be this guy or not? Everyone was just so hopeful he was this person, heck, even he acknowledged he had an uncanny resemblance to him! But he just… Wasn’t.

“Well, it was worth a try.”

“Yeah.”

He saw how heartbroken the two looked, Amethyst had an almost angry look while Pearl simply looked disappointed. Was this person missing? Was that why they were just so hopeful he was him? He felt guilty and remorseful. He’d never meant to make anyone upset! He thought of something they’d said earlier, silently clicking something together. Was he this person? He sure didn’t feel like them, but the other’s personalities had shifted in an instant as well. What was this rejuvenation they’d mentioned? Could it really be true?

Was he actually Steven Universe?

Pearl got up, about to walk down the stairs when she turned to him, finally her expression shifting. She signaled for them to follow her outside, but before she could say anything, the sound of someone running up the porch stairs interrupted her. The front door was loudly pushed open with a pink gem running past the trio, a devastated expression upon her face as she made her way to the warp pad. She looked at Steven, her distraught expression not wavering as they made brief eye contact. His previous crisis was suddenly forgotten as his best friend ran out the glass doors of the room, and he had every intention of following her.

Chapter Text

Hey ya'll! Not an actual chapter, just a small update to apologize/explain for my absence ^^' Really sorry for the wait! I had some English essays that really drained my motivation, then afterward I still wasn't really feeling like writing and since this was only for fun, I didn't push myself that hard on trying to get back to writing it. However, I'm getting my creative spark back! Yay! But, I'm working on something else right now because I bounce from fandom to fandom like an annoying flea. Sooo, yeah, it's on a bit of a hiatus right now, but it is NOT abandoned. I still have the layout for everything with the next chapter having been partially written from before, so as soon as I hop back on the good ol' Steven Universe train, I'll be back no doubt. Once that happens, this info chapter will be deleted with the real chapter 9 taking its place!

Also, thank you so much for the comments and Kudos! I love all the support, even if I'm not currently working on it ;w;

Lastly, as a treat for being patient, I bear a small bit of info on the next chapter. Things between Spinel and Steven go relatively the same in the garden, so it'll be more focused on Amethyst and Pearl finding them to keep it interesting!

Thank you for sticking with me, and I hope to see ya'll soon! <3