Several days had passed, and I had been watching the ocean basin slowly fill back up. I think it took about five days for that colossal column of water to completely vanish; honestly, the thing was absolutely massive. Even so, I muttered a quick thank you to whatever god brought me into this world, because frankly, I couldn't remember if that water tower had caused some massive collateral disaster in the original show. Like, were there ships involved, or a high body count, or did the federal government try to intervene? Though, let's be real—since this is a cartoon universe, everyone probably just chalked it up to some biblical event and moved on with their day.
But anyway, back to the present... the last few days have been pretty weird. Though, obviously, "weird" is a highly relative concept for me. I am a gorgeous being, and naturally, someone this beautiful deserves a personal bodyguard. That was a literal thought I had in a dream, and trust me, I never imagined it would actually manifest in reality. Connie, my great friend, had been acting completely different ever since the day we went out to see the water column. She seemed to feel entirely useless. And yeah, sure, all the voices in my head unanimously agreed that she was useless, but to me—the original me—she wasn't. To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't have had the guts to talk to Lapis if she hadn't been standing there. Her presence put a weird pressure on me; that distinct feeling that if someone tried to hurt her, I had to keep my cool and act with pure logic.
But do you want to know what she did? She went straight to the person who, at first glance, seemed like the most level-headed, calm, and capable member of the group. Yeah, I'm talking about Pearl. And she did it completely behind my back. To this day, I still don't know exactly what they were plotting. I ended up finding out one morning—one of those typical mornings where everything felt perfectly normal.
I had just finished a highly satisfying training session, or at least that's what I kept repeating to convince myself. Afterward, I headed into the bathroom, because well, Fabricio needed to handle nature's call, and who am I to deny the body its simple pleasures? While I was washing my hands, I heard quiet footsteps echoing inside the house.
And that's where the mystery began.
I froze, completely baffled, listening to footsteps that definitely weren't coming from the doors where the girls usually slept. What's going on? I thought. A burglar? Alright, it was officially time to put all those tactical tutorials I watched on my phone into practice. I was gonna summon my shield, making it a bit smaller this time; I have to admit, controlling that power was way harder than it looked. My schizophrenia mixed with way too much free time from skipping my studies had pushed my imagination to a whole new tier, but setting that aside, I locked in and listened closely.
The temple door clicked open in absolute silence. Connie whispered a quiet greeting to Pearl, and Pearl responded in the exact same muted tone. That completely threw me off; for a split second, I thought they had invented a brand-new religion based entirely on whispering.
From where I was standing, I could overhear the conversation. Pearl asked if Connie was absolutely sure about keeping Steven in the dark about what she was hiding. Connie responded that she was positive; she had started wearing much longer clothes to cover up her bruises, and she had told someone that she looked way better that way. Connie's voice sounded significantly more nervous than usual, and I suddenly remembered that over the last few days, I had seen her wearing long sleeves and much longer skirts. Pearl insisted that she really didn't want Steven finding out, and Connie, with a wave of suppressed emotion, confessed that she was only doing it because she wanted to impress him. Then, both of them headed straight for the warp pad.
I stepped out of the bathroom and paused for a moment just outside the frame, feeling a bit detached from reality. The sheer thought of someone actively trying to impress me made a thoroughly absurd smile creep onto my face. Leaning against the doorframe with a single finger resting against my lips, I muttered to myself under my breath, hoping she wouldn't end up breaking herself over it.
After that, I marched straight toward the door leading to Connie's mom's room, feeling like the gesture carried the weight of some ancient rivalry. I squared my shoulders with a defiant edge; of course I was planning on breaking into that room. I planted myself right in front of the door, slapped on the absolute most serious expression I could muster, and prepared to scold her using that incredibly dumb, overly theatrical voice I liked to deploy when I wanted to drag out a dramatic scene for hours.
I discovered the whole operation that way, but setting aside what I actually did... should I be worried? The answer flared clear as day in my chest: absolutely. I could feel that Pearl desperately wanted Connie to become her mirror image, complete with all her lingering trauma dragged along for the ride. The very thought of it completely turned my stomach. With my sharp wit and my totally real 180 IQ, I reached a highly logical conclusion: they were probably training up at the Sky Arena, or whatever that mythical floating place was called. So, true to my calling as a deeply concerned busybody, I walked over to the warp pad and, with a single thought, teleported myself straight up there.
When I materialized, I found them actively sparring with swords, and the whole scene carried way more theatricality than I had the stomach for. Pearl was motivating Connie, telling her that she was doing all of this for me, and Connie was responding with a level of intensity that struck me as entirely excessive; she declared that she would literally die for me. That exact statement stopped me dead in my tracks right on the stairs. What the hell is actually happening here? I glared at Pearl with a heavy scowl, looking at her like she was a Gem capable of resurrecting corpses or just blowing everything way out of proportion.
Pearl caught my glare and went completely rigid, and Connie, who had been totally oblivious up until that exact second, froze solid too. A thick, agonizing silence stretched across the arena. I approached them without losing my composure. I was in absolutely no mood to listen to grand promises of martyrdom. I knew exactly what it was like to die, and I didn't want anyone suffering on my account; the very concept completely revolted my morals.
Pearl took a sharp breath and spoke with a wave of conviction that made her internal playbook crystal clear: she wanted Connie to be my shield, my right hand, the person who would absorb my damage and protect me at all costs. Her voice trembled with raw emotion; it was that volatile mix of pride and pure fanatical devotion that only zealous mentors can truly display.
I looked at both of them with absolute calm. I asked them if they honestly thought it was acceptable for someone to lose their life for me. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't out of vanity; I simply couldn't stomach the idea of a life being completely wasted in my name. I asked Pearl if that was exactly what she had done back then—if she was just repeating the exact same toxic pattern with my mother. The words seemed to hang in the air like daggers. Pearl tensed up all the way to her fingertips. My mother. That specific word instantly charged the entire atmosphere with a highly uncomfortable electricity.
I explained flatly that I didn't want a shield, nor did I want a replica of past traumas floating around me. I fixed my eyes onto Connie with absolute firmness and ordered her to go back to the house. I made it clear that we would be having a talk there, with zero excuses and zero pushback. I warned her—more as a joke than a threat, but with every intention of being taken completely seriously—that if she locked herself in her room, I would break the door down and drag her out myself. The heavy silence returned, suffocating the air, until Pearl timidly floated the idea of calling Garnet to intervene instead.
The mere mention of Garnet made Pearl turn pale, if that was even physically possible for her. That was all it took. With a wave of contained panic, Pearl sprinted onto the warp pad, and Connie followed her without a second thought. I stood there for a moment, watching them vanish in the blinding flash of the dimensional warp, thinking to myself that everything in this world was taken way too seriously—even the heroic drama—and that I might have to start taking much more drastic measures to prevent my life from turning into a full-blown tragic opera. As the echo of the warp pad died down, I turned on my heel and headed back to the house, completely convinced that good old-fashioned nosiness and a paternal intervention were the only real medicine for this over-the-top sword therapy.
I froze right in my tracks when I got back; I had explicitly told her to stay put, and she had run off anyway. I walked fast, my heart racing, muttering under my breath that she was acting like a four-and-a-half-year-old child. Eventually, the three of us packed back into the house.
Connie was already packing her bags, frantically rushing toward the front door, when I decided to intervene with something way more theatrical than a verbal command: I conjured a bubble. Incredible, right? A custom Bluetooth bubble materialized right in front of her, freezing her completely in her tracks, as if she suddenly remembered that I had casually mentioned in a past conversation that I would make bubbles for my enemies or other Gems.
She turned around incredibly slowly, awkwardly raising her hand, and just stood there striking a highly uncomfortable greeting pose. She shuffled closer, desperately trying to sound natural, simultaneously offering me food and an apology. She stammered, offering to go buy whatever ingredients were needed and cook for me, as if domestic labor was the magic antidote to cosmic drama.
I just stared at her, completely weirded out. Wait, does she think I'm gonna hit her? I thought, because seriously, who does she take me for? I could see a flash of a memory run right through her eyes: vivid images of past punishments, a dark shadow of trauma that locked into her gaze. She was saying everything with her eyes, not her words.
She finally broke the guilty silence, asking out loud if she had accidentally said all of that out loud. With a heavy drop of sweat sliding down my temple and absolutely no clue why she had just brought up Vietnam, I dismissed the bubble with a casual gesture. I caught her gently by the arm, guided her over to the couch, and took a deep breath, thinking to myself that sometimes life in this place was way less heroic and much more like a comedy of errors that was desperately trying to manifest as a tragedy.
"You know, Connie," I said, looking at her calmly while she sat on the cushion looking like a kid who had just been severely grounded, "I'm not mad at you. I just don't want anybody dying, you know? Especially not you. You're one of the very few actual friends I have, and that already means the world to me."
Connie didn't say a word. She just looked up at me with the ultimate sad-puppy-dog face, looking so thoroughly miserable it actually hurt to watch. In her head, there was probably some highly melancholy track playing—something dramatic like "that's why I waited with a soaked face"—and I had to aggressively suppress a smirk just to avoid ruining the emotional weight of the moment.
I took her hand. She didn't offer a shred of resistance, letting her arm go limp as if the literal weight of the world had completely drained her of all physical strength. I looked at her with a deep serenity, trying my absolute best to pass that calm over to her, and when she finally lifted her gaze, I noticed her eyes were completely watery and her cheeks were burning bright red.
Huh, I thought, thoroughly bewildered. Why are you blushing right now?
I violently shook my head to keep myself from getting sidetracked. I flashed her a reassuring smile. "Look, Connie, I don't want you throwing your life away for me. I don't want a right hand, and I don't want a shadow fighting my battles for me. Well... okay, maybe a right hand, but definitely not that kind," I added, unable to stop a mischievous smirk from breaking through.
Her face flared an even deeper shade of crimson, as if my words had actively tripped some kind of internal alarm system. Before she could even process a response, she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around me in a tight, desperate hug. I felt her warmth completely surround me, and by pure reflex, my power did what it does best: a brilliant, blinding light enveloped the entire living room, and suddenly, we weren't two separate people anymore.
Stevonnie blinked, looking around in total confusion. They inspected their hands, their hair, and their entire body, desperately trying to process this brand-new, shared existence.
"Uh..." they muttered, still trying to figure out how the physics had skipped a beat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that."
"Don't worry about it," they responded to themselves in a soft, comforting voice. "We can just stay like this for a little while. I really don't want to be alone right now."
"Okay," they whispered, completely accepting the peaceful calm of the moment. "I'll talk to Pearl later."
And so, in the most literal sense possible, we hung out. We spent a few hours playing around, talking, testing out new things, and completely rediscovering what it felt like to be a single person operating with two distinct souls.
By the time the fusion finally snapped back apart, the sun was already dipping below the horizon. Connie walked out the door still looking pretty blushed, while her mother sat waiting in the car outside with an expression of intense control expertly disguised as maternal worry. Ever since that one night Connie had gotten home late, her mom had completely stopped trusting the group—especially Garnet, who had been acting as the official representative of the house that evening.
I watched her climb into the car and slam the door shut, her smile slowly fading away as the vehicle drove off into the distance. Afterward, I was left completely alone, staring up at the vibrant orange sky from the temple doorway, thinking about how incredibly bizarre love could be when you mixed cosmic magic, alien fusions, and a heavy dose of awkward teenage clumsiness.
"Connie... man," I said, shaking my head over and over. There was absolutely no point in dwelling on it anymore. "Time to go talk to Pearl."
I walked slowly down the hallway, each of my footsteps echoing with a soft, hollow thud, until I finally planted myself right in front of her door. I knocked three times, slowly, making sure each knock sounded like an ultimatum wrapped in absolute calm.
"Pearl," I said, my voice sounding so incredibly tranquil it felt like an angel tapping on a door. "Open up. I want to talk to you. Alone."
Absolute silence answered first. Several minutes ticked by, and the door didn't budge an inch. I let out a heavy sigh that was an equal mix of patience and mounting annoyance. Alright, so you want me to actually follow through on my promise. "I'm counting to three," I warned, my tone shifting into a dry, flat edge that contrasted heavily with my previous serenity.
"One."
Nothing.
"Two."
The exact same stubborn, obstinate silence.
And right as I was about to open my mouth to say "three," my gemstone began to flare with a powerful, vibrating radiance, almost as if it were actively reacting to my climbing impatience. Right at that highly cinematic moment, the door to my mother's room smoothly clicked open.
I stood on the threshold, narrowing my eyes. "Oh, so now you open up," I muttered, almost amused by the timing. "You didn't want me breaking the door down, did you?" My gem flashed one more time, as if giving me a silent nod of agreement.
I'm just gonna walk right in, I thought, crossing the frame with the absolute determination of someone who had zero time left for high-stakes hide-and-seek.
My mother's room was an entire world composed of soft, warm, pink clouds—a place where my mind could get entirely lost. Out here, my schizophrenia found its absolute peak aesthetic, so I decided to make sure this little corner of madness and memories didn't go to waste.
"Come out, Pink."
A heavy silence reigned over the clouds for several minutes, until a brilliant silhouette slowly began to materialize right in front of me. Rose Quartz appeared, looking absolutely radiant, carrying a maternal smile that struck me straight in the chest.
"I said Pink, not Rose."
The figure hesitated for a fraction of a second, but gave an obedient nod. Her body began to warp, the light intensifying violently as her gemstone rotated smoothly on her abdomen. In a brilliant pink flash, a brand-new figure emerged: the majestic, glittering Pink Diamond. Her sheer presence entirely filled the room, her eyes locking onto me with the deep tenderness and absolute firmness of a mother.
"Since you're technically a construct of my own mind, take me to where I can access the girls' actual rooms."
She nodded and extended her hand, guiding me through the shifting landscape.
I always wanted to know what Pink Diamond actually looked like in person. Thanks to this place, now I know. Though her current aesthetic was a bit different from what I remembered from the lore: her skin was a pale, pastel pink, her eyes sparkled like perfectly cut diamonds, and her hair—as white as the morning dawn—fell in gorgeous, soft waves. She wore an outfit that looked like a perfect hybrid between a royal gown and high-tier military armor. Hey, maybe that's just how my mind perceives her.
She looked down at me with a soft smile, stepping up right beside me.
"Hello, my son. Have you been doing well all these years?"
I stared at her for a few seconds and responded with a slightly mischievous smirk. "Well, if your definition of 'doing well' means being dropped smack in the middle of cosmic wars and constant problems... then yeah, I've been fantastic."
Pink Diamond dropped her gaze.
"You know, I never wanted to leave you with all of this," she said in a quiet, muted voice. "Back then, I didn't really think through the consequences of my choices, and now that I don't technically exist... only fragments of memories remain inside your gemstone. It's thanks to those echoes that I can talk to you like this."
"I never wanted you to fight my battles, which it looks like you're being forced to face now anyway. I can only wish you the best of luck, because I no longer have the strength to do it for you."
We arrived at a glowing light tube that served as a junction to the other rooms. She looked back at me, a profound maternal warmth glittering in her eyes.
"I love you so much, son. I know you haven't watched the tape hidden inside Lion's mane yet, but please watch it when you can. I wasn't the perfect mother, but you need to know this... I love you, and don't you ever forget it. Now please, go talk to Pearl."
Her smile slowly dissolved into the air as her body faded away into sparkling pink droplets. I felt a massive lump form in my throat, and a few rogue tears actively spilled out of my eyes.
"Huh?" I muttered, rapidly wiping my face. Wow, looks like you're actually crying, Steven, I thought to myself, desperately trying to pull it together. I hadn't cried like this since that one time the Gems almost accidentally killed me.
I turned toward the drop-hole connecting to the rest of the temple rooms. "Alright, let's do this," I said, and jumped right in.
As I free-fell through the shaft, a few more treacherous tears slid down my face, but they vanished entirely into the wind before hitting the bottom.
I should honestly break into this room way more often, I thought with a wave of nostalgic amusement.
I blasted right past Amethyst's room. She looked up at me completely baffled, but managed to flash me a quick wave and a grin. I returned the gesture before continuing down the drop.
Finally, I hit Pearl's room. I slid out of the tube and took a good look around the environment: an endless, etheareal surface of perfectly still, calm water. There she was, sitting cross-legged, her gaze completely lost in the reflection, carrying a profound, crushing sadness in her eyes.
I approached her slowly, and after a few seconds of quiet, I muttered, "Hey, Pearl."
She didn't respond, but her entire body went rigid. The heavy silence stretched out until she finally spoke, her voice sounding thoroughly broken.
"I failed you, didn't I? I failed you all over again, Rose. God, I just can't get over her, you know? It doesn't matter how much time passes, I always see you the exact same way. I can't see you for who you are—for your true self."
I stayed completely quiet.
"You're disappointed, aren't you? I tried so hard to forget her, but I can't. I look at you and all I see is Rose," she sighed, the tears streaming freely down her cheeks.
"You know," I told her calmly, "you can't just undo six thousand years of programming in a matter of five days. Nobody moves on that fast. The fact that you're actively trying is more than enough."
Pearl snapped her head up, her watery eyes wide with shock at my words.
"But there is one thing," I added flatly. "I really don't appreciate you projecting your issues onto Connie. I know you're not doing it out of malice, but... 'dying for me'? Have you actually paused to think about how insane that sounds?"
I sat down right beside her on the water floor.
"I don't want anybody dying for me, Pearl. I don't want anybody carrying a burden that doesn't belong to them."
Her head dropped, her shoulders trembling violently. I stood back up and extended my hand out to her. "Come on, get up."
She stood up mechanically, and without overthinking it, I pulled her into a tight embrace.
"You know, I don't think she ever wanted you to be entirely dependent on her memory anyway. According to her philosophy, you were supposed to be free. But looking at how things turned out... I think she was entirely wrong. I just want you to be happy, Pearl. That's what makes us equal—you, her, and me. We're a team."
Pearl completely broke down, wrapping her arms around me with desperate force. For a split second, our forms began to glow as if we were about to accidentally fuse, but Steven locked it down, masterfully maintaining his baseline equilibrium.
And just like that, Steven spoke with Pearl heart-to-heart. As for Connie, from that day forward, she fully understood that he was willing to go to absolute hell and back for a friend.
End of Chapter 19.
Author's Note: Thanks for all the massive support you guys are giving to this series! <3 Leave some stars to let me know you're enjoying the updates. If we hit 18 stars, I'll try to drop the next chapter as soon as humanly possible!