We Aren't the Crystal Gems Without You

By the Way, We Need Two Doughnuts

     Throughout the next day, Garnet's fusion was very unstable. Despite her efforts, Ruby and Sapphire split apart a few times, which made Pearl and Amethyst wince. It was so uncommon for Garnet to even come unfused at all. But they couldn't blame her for the unstable fusion. Garnet blamed herself for what happened to Steven. And it would be easy to blame yourself if you're two different people, because technically, not only was she blaming herself, but her other self. That made Ruby and Sapphire very angry. If it weren't for Lapis flooding the house in the end, Ruby might've succeeded in burning it all down.
     That led Pearl into doing her favorite hobby: cleaning. It took her mind off of her sadness. And though it took hours to clear the house of water, even with Lapis's help, no one seemed to mind. Or perhaps they were just too depressed. Especially Connie, who had been laying in Steven's bed all night and day. She had convinced her parents to let her stay at the house for the night. She told them that Steven wasn't doing well and she wanted to keep him company. Her parents wouldn't understand if she told them what had really happened.
     And Connie wasn't the only one who had slept that night. As soon as the gems came back through the warp pad, Peridot and Lapis silently left the house and went to the barn. Garnet, her fusion stable at the time had retreated to her room to sleep, though gems don't need rest.
     Pearl even took the opportunity. She silently cried herself to sleep at the foot of Steven's bed. Connie was already asleep at the time. Amethyst watched Pearl in the corner of the room. She watched Pearl's dreams through Pearl's holograms. The dreams consisted of Steven and Rose Quartz. Amethyst used to laugh at some of the ridiculous things that Pearl dreamed, but these dreams were melancholy and brought Amethyst to tears. She spent the whole night awake and watching with droopy eyes of her own. A few hours later, Pearl woke up sobbing, and Amethyst put her arms around her. They held on to each other, not sharing a word. No words had to be spoken. Even though Ruby and Sapphire were drawing apart because of Steven's disappearance, Pearl and Amethyst grew closer, something that hadn't happened in a long time.
     Later that day, Amethyst opened the fridge to find it empty. "Pearl!" she shouted. "We're out of food!"
     "That doesn't matter, Amethyst!" Pearl snapped. "You don't need food! We don't need to buy any now that..." She didn't have to finish her sentence, Amethyst knew what she meant. Suddenly, realization dawned on Pearl. "... but Connie does. Connie, come down!" Pearl shouted up the stairs. Connie quietly stepped down the stairs, her head turned away. "Connie, we need to get you home. When was the last time you ate?" Pearl said worriedly.
     "No! You can't take me home! Not until... Not until he comes back." Amethyst and Pearl both knew that Connie was talking about Steven and that there was no point to try to talk her out of leaving.
     "Fine," replied Pearl. "Amethyst, would you take Connie to that doughnut place that Steven always went- I mean goes to?"
     "K," Amethyst said as she grabbed Connie's wrist and pulled her out the door.
     When they were out, Connie exclaimed, "Hey! Let go, that hurts!"
     "Sorry," Amethyst mumbled. "I just thought that with no persuasion, you might never leave." The rest of their walk to the Big Doughnut was spent in silence.
     "Oh, hi Connie, Amethyst," Sadie said as the two stepped in to the Big Doughnut. "Hey, why the long faces?"
     Lars asked, "Shouldn't Steven be with you? I have a little comeback I'd like to share with him." He cracked his knuckles and chuckled, probably thinking what the look on Steven's face would be when Lars gave him the comeback of all comebacks.
     "He missed his 7:00 doughnut this morning. Is he okay?" Sadie could tell that something was wrong by the looks on their faces.
     "W-we were fighting with the gems the other day," Connie started.
     "And, well, Steven... Steven-" Amethyst didn't know what to say. She stared at her feet, hoping that neither Sadie or Lars would notice her glassy eyes.
     Sadie's eyes got huge. "He didn't... die... d-did he?"
     "We're not sure," Connie said.
     "He was hurt... really bad. When humans are hurt like that... Yeah, they die. And when gems are hurt like that, we'll retreat into our gems to regenerate our physical forms. Steven disappeared like that. Only his gem was left behind. But he's not fully gem... he's half human. We don't know if he'll come back." Amethyst told them, still looking at the floor.
     "Oh my gosh," Sadie whispered, covering her mouth. "I- I'm so sorry." Tears streaked her face.
     "Me too," Lars said. And he looked genuinely sorry. "I didn't mean what I said earlier..."
     "Thanks," Amethyst mumbled. She thrust out a few bills. "By the way, we need two doughnuts." Her voice was low.
     "No. No, it's on us," Sadie murmured. She handed them a bag. As Connie and Amethyst walked out, Sadie called, "And let us know if... if anything changes." Connie turned back and nodded. Then they left the shop.
     They sat on the bench outside eating their chocolate iced doughnuts, though they didn't seem to have the same taste that they did when Steven was with them.
     "I'm sorry Connie," said Amethyst. "If I had seen soon enough, I might have been able to save him."
     Connie sighed. "It's not your fault. It's not yours, or Garnet's, or Ruby's, Sapphire's, Pearl's, Peridot's, Lapis's, or mine, either. It wasn't Steven's fault. I don't even think it was the corrupted gem's fault."
     "You're right! It's the Diamond's fault!" Amethyst stood and shouted angrily.
     "What?" Connie asked, confused.
     "Pearl told me that near the end of The Rebellion, the Diamond Authorities sent out a corrupting light, that would corrupt the remaining gems on the earth. They corrupted the gems! And they hurt Steven!" Amethyst growled deep in her throat. She couldn't remember the last time she had been that angry. "We can always trace everything back to them! It's always the diamonds! ARGH!" She yanked out her whip and struck the nearest dumpster, splitting it in two.
     "It's going to be alright," Connie tried to calm her down. "Let's just go back to the house, now." Amethyst nodded, still fuming. They walked back to the house.
     As soon as Amethyst swung open the screen door, Pearl shouted, "Greg! I completely forgot!"
     "Huh?" Amethyst asked.
     "We- we have to tell Greg," Pearl stumbled over her words. They could tell that she didn't want to go.
     "I'll go with you, P," Amethyst said.
     "So will I," Connie piped up.
     "I'll go, too." It was Garnet, emerging from her room.
     "Garnet!" Pearl and Amethyst shouted, relieved that she was able to fuse again. "What are we waiting for?" asked Garnet. She and the other two gems left the house.
     But before Connie left, she took Steven's gem off of the kitchen counter, where Pearl had been watching it.
     Because they couldn't do anything without Steven.