Work Text:
It was so hard to breathe.
Steven clenched at his chest, tears burning at the corners of his eyes.
It hurt to even let out the sob that was stuck at the back of his throat.
He had let everything go, letting go of all inhibitions - pain, sorrow, happiness – everything that he had ever felt was just a barrier between him and the world. In a mere stroke of a translucent wall, it had been gone in an instance.
Rage. Power. It had coursed through him until there was nothing but pink.
Now, there was nothing but gray.
Rain had begun to fall. Had the clouds themselves responded to the emotions that resonated from within? Steven couldn’t think, his mind hyper focused on the shards of crystal underneath his fist.
Trembling, he slowly removed his hand, his gasp cut short by his stuttering lungs.
There she was, Jasper, the strongest gem around, in mere fragments.
Steven let out a wail, gingerly picking at the pieces before they could get lost in the fast-forming mud. He stared into his palms, realizing with dread what he had done. He had shattered another Gem.
He had always feared the action – at first, because his mother wouldn’t do it, and he wanted to uphold her ideals of ‘peace’ and ‘acceptance’ of all Gem kind. Then, it was because he knew deep inside that it wasn’t right to destroy another person, no matter the circumstances. Yet here, in his moment of blind brute strength, he had done the one thing he never thought he’d do.
He hadn’t noticed his body deflate to its ‘normal’ form, bulging muscles forgotten in the moment. Steven’s mind was in panic – how was he going to fix this? He had to fix this, he refused to let this be the end of Jasper!
Tears flowing, he let out another cry as he rushed to where he had stashed his pink jacket, fist closed true around Jasper’s gem fragments. He quickly put it on, putting his fist in his pocket.
No one could know – but who could help? No one really cared what happened to Jasper, as long as she hadn’t been disturbing anyone. To who-where could he go for this?
As lightning struck, his hairs standing on end, an idea flashing to mind just as fast.
The Diamonds’ essence.
His feet hit the ground running, going as fast as he could in the rain-cladded world.
Steven’s flip-flops stuck to the mud, muddy grass, but he didn’t care, he had to get there fast.
He had to fix this.
He had to fix this.