𝗜 𝗗𝗢 𝗔𝗗𝗢𝗥𝗘, steven universe

005, an untold story

Steg was getting tired, and Steven was getting weaker. It was fun at first: to forget that his home might come to an end in just a few hours time, but when he saw it — the injector, sitting atop the temple in all of its glory, the poison sitting inside of it illuminating a glow — the sweat that had already been trailing down the side of Steg's face from exhaustion grew due to stress, and before Steven knew it, he was on the ground and coughing harshly; his skin paler than before and bags under his eyes, very visible.

There was a ringing in his ears, and there was bile building up in the back of his throat, which he was quick to swallow with a grimace before looking out to the crowd.

Among everyone else, a pink gem stared at him with wide, tear-filled eyes, before whimpering quietly to herself and running away.

"Wait . . .!" God, Steven's voice had never sounded so weak. "Spinel . . .!"

Landing next to the boy and his father on the stage, Opal unfused, and Amethyst and Pearl were left in her place, who both immediately gasped once they saw the current state of the hybrid before them.

"Steven!" Pearl cried out worriedly, taking a step towards the said boy. "Are you okay?!" she asked.

Steven grunted, attempting to push himself up off of the ground. "Don't worry about me," he said, wincing at the pain that shot through his left arm as he stood up. "It's Spinel. We need to get her memories back to see if she knows how to stop that other gem's injector."

Noticing how his son's legs trembled, Greg quickly held his arms out, ready to catch Steven if he were to fall.

"Pearl, what do you know about her?" Steven desperately asked, nearly staggering forwards in anticipation.

"Spinel?" Pearl blinked. "She was one of Pink Diamond's little playmates! They used to spend ages together in Pink's garden—"

Steven's brows furrowed. "Garden?" he repeated.

Pearl nodded. "That's where they all used to play!" she told.

"Wait, what?" Amethyst gave Pearl a confused look. "Are you saying that whoever that psychopath that attacked us ealier knew Pink Diamond in the past, too?" the gem questioned.

Once again, Pearl nodded. "Yes! That gem — she goes by (Y/n)! She's a rare gem known as a mariposa, whose original purpose was to care and watch over younger gems until they were mature enough to take care of themselves," she explained.

Amethyst's eyes widened in shock. "What? Really? Then what's her problem with us?" she asked, sounding somewhat frustrated.

"I don't know, I haven't seen either of them in 6,000 years!" the pale gem exclaimed. "Something must have happened to them since then!"

Steven took a sharp breath and clenched his fists, looking ahead beyond the crowd with determination. "That's what I need to find out," he declared, readying himself to head off once again as Garnet and Lion finally landed back down onto the stage.

"Whoa, kiddo!" Greg started, grabbing his son's shoulder carefully as Steven turned to face him. "Are you sure you don't need a break?" the man asked, obviously concerned.

Amethyst and Pearl nodded in agreement. "It looks like that fusion took everything out of you!" Amethyst added.

Steven swallowed, sweat still trailing down his face as he took a shaky breath. "I've gotta do what I can with what little I have left," he uttered, climbing onto Lion's back.

"I'm going after Spinel." There wasn't much room left for argument, because the boy was already gone before anyone could say anything else.

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