Love.
“I was supposed to change everything after I talked to White.” Steven stared up at his ceiling, Connie next to him. “It’s okay, Steven... we’ll find a way to fix everything. I’m sure once we get back up to Homeworld, we can get Blue and Yellow’s help again and get back to White... It’s not impossible.” Connie put on a smile of sympathy. The kind of smile that would bring one warmth. Steven sat up to return the smile with a hug, tightly embracing the latter. “Thanks Connie. You were a big part of this... I don’t think we would have gotten this far without you.” Connie provided both emotional relief and help in persuading the Diamonds. “And now, I’ll provide you with as much support as I can to help you get back on your feet. I just feel as if there’s something that we’re missing here... Garnet said that your powers are outside of its gem... Something about it just doesn’t make sense. Did the same thing happen to Amethyst when she was cracked?”
“Amethyst never had a random sphere of light pop out of her gem. It could have been different for her because she isn’t a diamond, but at the same time it does feel fishy.” Connie and Steven looked at each other. They both knew it had to have been something more serious than that. The only problem was that Steven’s energy was low and he couldn’t go on those types of missions to figure out what was causing the issue. “How would we be able to investigate? I’m too much of a liability to do anything...” he frowned, staring down at himself before Connie took Steven’s hand and flashed a genuine, reassuring smile. “You’re not a liability at all, Steven... Don’t forget, we still have Stevonnie.” Steven smiled as his gem glowed, they both morphed together into light to reform as Stevonnie. “I’m sure the gems won’t worry much- I’m surprised us fusing is this stable...”
A few hours later, the gems returned from a mission to collect a group full of rampant corruptions from terrorizing an island. Pearl carried a few of the corrupted gems as she entered the temple with Garnet and Amethyst by her side. “Steve-o! We’re hooomeee!” Garnet looked up at Steven’s bed – it was empty. Neither Connie nor Steven was in the temple. “They’re not here.” Pearl felt a shock of fear run over her. “What?! Where could they be? And Steven isn’t even in the right shape to go out... What’ll we do?” Amethyst went over to the phone and started dialing Greg. “Chill-ax, P, maybe they’re just with Greg. We shouldn’t worry- at least not yet anyway.” Greg was playing his guitar before his phone rang. Confused, considering that it was a bit too late at night for him to be receiving phone calls, he answered the phone. “Hello?” Amethyst was curling her fingers around the phone line as she started looking through the fridge. “Yeah, are Connie and Steven with you? We just came back from whooping some corruptions... They’re gone.” At this point, Greg knew he had to start panicking. Especially with how Steven’s energy had been the past few weeks. “What!? Their missing? They aren’t with me- I’ll get the cops on the phone...” The purple gem immediately hung up the phone and turned to the pale and maroon gems. “Okay, its time to panic.”
The whole of beach city had gotten together to search for the missing kids. The police officers interrogated the gems and Greg, seeking out the useful data from them. “This is a nightmare...” Greg put his head down and sighed. Amethyst had shapeshifted into a helicopter so they could cover more ground. “I think I shouldn’t have ridiculed you, Greg... I didn’t even mean any harm at you being concerned- its just that I thought we could have taken care of him better... So, things like this won’t happen. I... I was wrong.” Garnet adjusted her glasses, putting a hand on both Greg and Pearl’s shoulder. “This is a conversation to have after we find them. But I’m glad you’re both working it out.”
— |•| —
Stevonnie had warped to the crystal warps, hoping to find one that could lead them to a Homeworld warp. “Alright... focus.” The area had seemed to be suspiciously quiet. “I have a bad feeling about this...” A large growl could be heard from the distance. “Here we go.”
— |•| —
Blue walked down the bright yellow hallways, her pearl beside her. In order for Rose’s plan to work, she would have to see what was going on with Yellow. “Pearl, wait here. I need to have a talk with Yellow.” The blue pearl nodded, standing outside of the doors. Blue let herself into Yellows extraction chamber, where she sat. Yellow had been on break from managing her colonies and such. She looked up at the blue gem, wiping off sweat. “Blue. What requires you to be here?” The diamond stared Yellow straight in the eyes. “You aren’t acting like you were when Steven came. You’re acting like- well... you! But... it’s not the good you. And I know it wasn’t an act, Yellow. You may be able to fool White…” She moved closer to Yellow, narrowing her eyes at the latter. “You can’t fool me.” Yellow stared at Blue. Unsure of what to say, the only thing she did was tilt her head. “Because White- “Before the yellow gem could even finish her sentence, Blue stopped her. “Yellow… you can’t keep giving into what White wants! - what about what you want? White isn’t in control of you- well... she could be if she wanted to- But the point is... you have your own emotions. You can feel any way you want to feel. What White wants... what she wants you to feel... she only sought out the worse version of yourself. This isn’t the Yellow I love.”
All Yellow could do was stare at the long-haired gem. And she knew Blue was right. She was speechless, the only thing she could do was get up and look at the latter. Words. She was desperately looking for words to say to her. The only words that fell out of her mouth were “You... you love me?” A tear fell from Blue’s eye. She nodded, taking Yellow’s hand in hers. “Pink- no... Rose taught me how to love. She made me realize how much I loved you, Yellow.” With Yellow’s free hand, she cupped Blue’s cheek and kissed her.
“I think I love you too, Blue.”