Steven Universe Future: A Corrupted Identity

Chapter Five: A Different Shade of Pink

He woke up and felt the warm glow of the sun on his face. The seabirds harmonized with the ocean's waves. Steven opened his eyes and stretched. He was sitting up when he remembered what happened the night before.

The rage coursing through him, burning as if his skin was engulfed in flames. The pounding and high-pitched ring in his ears that stopped him from comprehending the Diamonds words. The urge to force them to listen by any means necessary, even if it meant hurting them.

In their own way, they were right. Steven rubbed his hand over his arm as he stared, unseeing, at the ocean view. He needed to see what he was capable of. He needed to feel that way so he could never feel that way again. He could have hurt someone, or worse, without feeling any remorse for it.

Spinel has a point too. It was his problem.

"Steven? Are you up yet?"

Pearl.

"Yeah," he called down the stairs. "I'll be down in a minute." He quickly pulled on fresh clothes before walking barefoot down the stairs to meet his friends.

"Oh Steven, thank goodness!" Pearl said, clearly holding back the urge to hug him. "When you went to Homeworld, Garnet said the planet could have exploded!"

"What?" Steven said, looking at her and taking a step back out of shock. Explode? How? From him?

Pearl shook it off, noticing Steven's distress. "Oh, but it's fine! You're safe and Homeworld is still there. So," she cleared her throat, "How did it go?"

"Fine," Steven said, not meeting Pearl's eyes. "You know how the Diamonds get."

Pearl nodded. "That I do," she said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Steven shook his head. "Nah, I'm okay. Just more stories about mom."

"Steven, your mother was complicated," Pearl began but Steven cut her off.

"I don't want to hear about her," he said stiffly. He felt the familiar warmth growing, but he suppressed it. "Not right now," he tried to redeem himself with a softer tone.

"Well, alright," Pearl said. "If you need me, I'll be with Greg learning the bass."

He didn't bother correcting her pronunciation before she left and just gave her a halfhearted wave.

"Oh and Connie is looking for you!" Pearl called over her shoulder before closing the door.

Steven perked up at hearing this. It had been a while since he'd last hung out with Connie. She was so busy preparing for college and he was hard at work with Little Home-School.

He rushed to get himself in decent shape and ran to the bathroom before heading out the door. Sure enough, Connie was sitting on the beach, waiting.

"Connie!" He called, flinging himself over the banister and down to his friend.

"Steven! Good morning, sleepyhead," she teased, a smile on her face and a slight blush in her cheeks. She leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek. Steven felt his face grow warm and a large smile form on his face.

"Uh anyway," Connie said, clearly embarrassed. "I thought you and I could hang out for the day. Catch up on everything."

"I'd love that," Steven said without hesitation. "So what did you have in mind?"

Connie smiled and took Steven's arm, leading him up the mountain to the lighthouse. They sat together, enjoying the cool breeze.

"Remember when you discovered your healing powers?" Connie said. "You literally jumped up and left me here to tell the other gems." She laughed. "I was panicking about how to tell my parents and hoping they wouldn't notice my glasses."