The Soul Gem

Progress

Steven had taken Ermac back to Little Homeworld. He had noticed a shift in Ermac's mood as soon as his gem was given a name. While his movements were still robotic and efficient, his voice had a twinge of emotion in it now. While it was slight, now people could tell if Ermac was distinctly happy or sad or anything else now. The Crystal Gems sans Peridot, Jasper and Connie were helping to repair the damage to Little Homeworld and Little Homeschool that Ermac's rage had caused. Peridot was doing a head count, making sure every Gem was accounted for and that none were caught in the rubble. Ermac's repulsion blast hadn't just stopped at the gems who were fighting. It had expanded to Little Homeworld at large and pushed everything in a chaotic surge of what could only be described as sideways gravity. Ermac's stoic expression seemed to waver and recoil a bit once he saw the destruction.

"Did we....do this?" Ermac asked Steven.

"You did. Don't worry though. I'm at least 80 percent sure that you were corrupted. You had no control of yourself. It's okay," Steven replied, patting Ermac on the back in encouragement. Ermac gave a solitary nod as he tried to aid the rebuilding.

"Yo, 'Mac! Nice new form! Looks uh...significantly less intimidating," Amethyst complimented with an awkward thumbs up.

"Thank you," Ermac said politely with a happy tone. That took Amethyst back a bit, because at the time she was used to Ermac's voice being devoid of emotion.

"Whoa. You....expressed!" Amethyst joked with a surprised look.

"How may we be of assistance?" Ermac asked.

"You can try using your powers to help Peridot find anyone swept under debris," Garnet instructed. Ermac nodded and went off to look for Peridot. Steven walked up to the gems, his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Well? Was he corrupted?" Pearl asked Steven.

"Uh...not sure actually," Steven shrugged.

"What?!" The gems asked in collective shock.

"I mean, I dunked him into a diamond bath. I was trying to rule corruption out, so...I wasn't able to see if he actually was corrupted or not," Steven clarified. The gems let out a sigh kf relief.

"How did he handle the truth of Pink Diamond?" Garnet asked. Steven remembered the conversation he had with one of Ermac's sapphires and filled the gems in about that. Pearl and Amethyst were stunned at the revelation. Garnet was curious more than anything else.

"A part of the fusion took control and spoke to you?" Garnet asked.

"Yep. Although it looked less like that Sapphire took control, and more like Ermac ducked out and one of them picked up the controller so to speak," Steven clarified.

"If the collective personality is able to duck out and let his fusioned parts take control, then that means when he was listing off different gems...that wasn't just Ermac listing off different gems off of instinct. Those were different parts of Ermac taking control because he was having a panic attack," Pearl muttered, piecing together the disjointed answers Ermac gave when Peridot asked him what gem he was.

"So...there are some Famethyst in there? I just need to...what? Coax them out or something?" Amethyst asked in confusion. Steven shrugged in uncertainty, not sure about how Ermac's mental control issue works.

"Yes? No? I'm not sure honestly. Just be careful for if Ermac seems like he spaces out and his gem suddenly color shifts," Steven said as he walked over to Connie, who was instructing Ermac on where to put a roof that he was currently levitating with his powers.

"Ready to go?" Steven asked Connie.

"Can I just give him a last bit of instructions before we head off?" Connie asked, pointing to Ermac.

"I'm pretty sure he functions off of being instructed," Steven joked. Connie giggled before telling Ermac where to put the roof back down onto. Ermac nodded and gently placed the roof back onto the building it had been ripped from.

"Alright. Just help the rest of them with anything else they need you to lift with. Okay?" Connie instructed.

"Affirmative," Ermac confirmed with a thumbs up. Connie went back to Steven, who whistled to signal for Lion. Lion got up from his nap, going over to the couple.

"Sorry we couldn't catch up more, guys. Connie and I need to get going. By all means though, call me if anything happens," Steven said with a wave. The other gems waved to Steven and Connie as Lion started to pick up speed. Lion raced out across the water, running along the surface and roaring a portal into existence as they all disappeared into it. The portal closed behind them, and Ermac walked back up to the gems.

"How may we be of assistance?" Ermac repeated.

"Just keep lifting the heavier debris of people with your powers. You're doing great," Garnet told Ermac with a thumbs up. Ermac did a nod before walking back.

"How are we going to handle this?" Pearl asked, looking at Ermac aid with his powers.

"Well...we have a lot more insight into how he functions. We potentially have a way to literally talk to the parts of him. I guess we just leave him well enough alone and let him discover himself fully," Garnet said, letting Sapphire's wisdom take hold and let it go wild.

Ermac was listening to what Peridot told him to do, using his energy projecting abilities to levitate big chunks of debris to see if any gems had been crushed under them. He was pushing walls back up into place, roofs back onto houses. He was making himself useful and making himself helpful. Before long, they had effectively repaired Little Homeworld and Little Homeschool. Bismuth just needed to actually fasten everything back into place, and everything was fixed. Ermac was content that he had put himself and his abilities to use. He was ready to try and-

"THAT'S FOR MY DIAMOND!" Jasper yelled as she slammed her fist into Ermac's cheek. Ermac wasn't expecting anyone to attack him, so he was toppled over and fell onto his side. Jasper didn't have a full grasp as to what corruption was, so she didn't recognize that Ermac's giant form was not a reflection of what his thoughts were. As far as she knew, Ermac was a traitor because he tried to crush Little Homeworld with his bizarre gigantic form.

"Why did you do that?!" Ermac asked, holding his face where Jasper's fist impacted.