"And that's what happened," Steven said, glancing to the side where his best friend Connie was standing. "So, you had a dream where a Gem was shattered, and you felt the pain as if someone were being killed right in front of you." Steven remained silent, staring into space.
"I really... I really don't know," he murmured, clasping his hands to his knees. Several days had passed since that dream with Yellow, and something inside him had changed. He no longer had the same energy as before, and that didn't make things any easier. He wondered if he was suffering from the same problems as the original Steven. Maybe that was why that trip to the Cluster had affected him so much. That feeling of shattered Gems was horrible, as if he could feel their sorrows, their sins, their problems, their joys—everything a Gem had ever been. He felt it in his own flesh, and that thought tormented him as Connie looked at him with concern.
"Come on, Steven," she whispered, pulling him back onto her lap as she gently stroked his hair. He stared at the sky, lost in thought. Connie could only offer him comfort in that way. What else could she do? She wasn't a Gem, she wasn't Steven in that sense, and she couldn't feel what he felt. She could try through Stevonnie, but she didn't want to force him to relive those emotions.
After several seconds of silence, Steven offered a slightly forced smile, though not as much as the previous days. Connie noticed. "Come on," he said, getting up and stretching, "we should work out. Maybe it'll clear my head a bit, don't you think?" Connie looked at him with a serious expression.
"Okay," she replied simply. They both got up and walked toward the house.
"I'm going to make some food, do you want some?" Steven asked as he headed to the kitchen. "Sure," Connie replied. She liked the food Steven made; it always had a special touch.
Steven put on an apron and started cooking. The sound of oil filling the house with a warm aroma just as the door opened and the Gems entered, each one more tired than the last.
"Oh, come on," Amethyst complained. "That's the ninth time this week and it's only Tuesday," she said, plopping down on the sofa and waving to Connie.
"Homeworld is determined to fix the main portal," Pearl commented as she sat down next to Connie, who returned a small wave.
Garnet, who had just entered the kitchen, said nothing. She sat at the breakfast bar and, with a slight wave, indicated Steven. He looked at her, confused, but understood immediately. She poured him a glass of juice, and Garnet drank it as if her life depended on it.
Steven asked in a motherly tone how their day had been, like a curious mother wondering about her children's progress. "More or less," replied Amethyst, who had already settled down next to Garnet, waiting for her share of food. "Those green balls are still annoying, but oh well... food!" she exclaimed instantly, pounced on the pieces of bacon Steven had prepared.
While she devoured them mercilessly, Steven looked at Garnet, searching with his eyes to see if she wanted some too. She simply nodded silently, and he placed her bowl of juice beside her. Then he approached Pearl, who seemed more absorbed in her own world, and gave her a pleading look. Pearl, unable to resist that hungry puppy expression, ended up eating with a little less stiffness. Connie, for her part, ate with the concentration of someone who hadn't eaten a thing in hours.
"What a great mom I am," Steven thought with a smile, though it vanished when he remembered the panicked expression on that ruby's face. He shook his head, trying to push the memory away, and the air was once again filled with a comfortable silence.
Interesting, he muttered, frowning as he stared at his phone. The screen displayed a list of integral formulas, at least a hundred of them, and he was trying to decipher them, his mind still half-asleep.
A loud sound echoed from the roof.
Everyone looked up, alert, and suddenly a crash shook the entire wooden house.
Thump.
The floor shook, plates clattered, and before them appeared an enormous green sphere that filled almost the entire room.
"Another one," Amethyst grumbled, frustrated.
"We'll just destroy it," Garnet said calmly, while Pearl nodded. The three of them stood in front of the ball, ready to act, though it showed no sign of moving.
"Wait," Steven said dryly. The gems stopped reflexively, looking at him in confusion.
"I'm so fed up with this stuff," he muttered, feigning annoyance as he approached. The sphere was gigantic, almost as if it had taken steroids. Steven sat on top of it with all the calm in the world.
"Now let's see where this leads. If this thing is bigger, I suppose—thanks to my great intellect—that it will serve another purpose. So, as far as I'm concerned, don't break it," he commented with mock seriousness.
The gems remained silent. Garnet adjusted her glasses and, barely three seconds later, a grin spread across her face. "Let's listen to Steven," she said cheerfully.
Pearl and Amethyst exchanged a confused glance, not understanding where all the enthusiasm was coming from. Garnet didn't reply. Instead, she grabbed Connie—who was still finishing her meal—and, without giving her time to react, lifted her up like a sack of potatoes.
"Huh?" Connie managed to say, somewhat bewildered, though she didn't seem upset. "Less walking," she thought to herself with a triumphant smile. Garnet sat down next to Steven and placed Connie right between them, ready for whatever might happen.
Garnet, with a smile that radiated confidence, asked what they were waiting for, inviting everyone to climb aboard. Amethyst and Pearl shook their heads at the same time, but they ended up doing as she said, climbing onto the enormous green sphere that vibrated with energy.
As if an invisible switch had been flipped, the strange, round robot began to slowly rise. No one could say for sure how many legs it had; sometimes it seemed to have four, other times six, and from certain angles, even eight. The design was so bizarre it was almost hypnotic.
The machine stabilized with a metallic squeak and, without warning, moved forward with a smooth but powerful motion toward the portal. Everyone was dizzy from the sudden surge; the air distorted around them, and colors swirled in a shimmering vortex. Connie, barely able to keep her balance, clung tightly to Steven. It wasn't out of fear of the portal, of course. She just... happened to want to be closer to him.
Not at all, she thought with a nervous smile.
A deep drone echoed in the distance, and in the blink of an eye, the group was flung into a completely different place. The air smelled of old metal and dust, and the light barely reached the ruins of what had once been a bustling hub.
"Wow," Steven murmured, looking around in genuine surprise.
"Incredible," Connie said, her tone a mix of amazement and wonder, though upon closer inspection, she noticed how gray and empty everything was. Shadows danced among the crumbling structures, and the echo of their footsteps was the only sound breaking the silence.
The mechanical figure moved forward without pause, leading them through crumbling corridors and across rusted platforms. The whole place seemed... dead.
"What's this place called?" Steven asked, raising an eyebrow, trying to sound professional while hiding his childish curiosity.
"Uh-huh," Pearl replied, clearing her throat before beginning her explanation.
"Here we go," Amethyst murmured, leaning lazily against Pearl's back, already used to the lengthy explanations.
"This place," Pearl began, a glint of nostalgia in her eyes, "is the Kindergarten. This is where Gems are born, where the planet's nutrients are extracted to give them form."
Steven followed her gaze to the walls, where large, ancient machines spread like metallic roots, connected to shattered crystals and petrified energy conduits.
"I can tell," he said quietly, impressed by the scale of the place.
"Me too," Connie murmured, resting her head gently on his shoulder, though without taking her eyes off the remnants of technology.
"Well," Pearl continued, adjusting a pair of glasses that no one remembered seeing her wear, though Steven swore he wasn't imagining them.
"These projectors you see on the sides," she continued with an air of expertise, "aren't just placed anywhere. No, no, no. They're chosen with precision."
She shook her head as she spoke, as if the very idea of installing them incorrectly were heresy.
Garnet watched everything in silence. She knew this place; she had seen it millennia ago, when it was still alive and teeming with forming gems. Though the nostalgia stung, it was a pain she could bear.
Pearl crossed her arms, resuming her explanation with the patience of a teacher who knows her students are easily distracted. As she was saying, those projectors you see there are essential in the creation of gems. If you look closely, some have small holes.
Steven and Connie nodded with feigned attention, though Connie seemed more interested in touching one of the projectors than listening.
"Well," Pearl continued, pointing to one of the walls, "do you see the drill bit?" They both nodded again. "That drill absorbs and expels the liquid you see inside."
"They look like organs," Steven commented, a bead of sweat trickling down his cheek.
"Yes," Pearl replied, three red lines of frustration etched on her forehead. "They're not exactly organs, but they function similarly." That liquid acts as a kind of base code, a creation language... something like a programming language, that's what they call it, right, Steven?
"Simon, colonels," he replied, nodding with complete seriousness as he held Connie, who, out of curiosity, had reached for a projector and almost fell.
Pearl sighed, used to these kinds of interruptions. "As I was saying, that liquid allows you to configure the components of a gem. When injected, it leaves a bubble in the ground where the planet's nutrients are extracted. That's where the information is introduced, the source code that defines what the gem will be. Got it?"
Connie frowned, annoyed that Steven hadn't let her touch anything, but before she could say anything, he gently took her head and turned it toward Pearl, forcing a mocking smile.
"Yes, we both understand," Steven said, nodding Connie's head in agreement.
"Yes, we both understand." Good heavens... Pearl murmured with a long sigh, wondering why this always had to happen to her.
Then Steven, looking around, noticed the heavy silence of the place. "So that's why these areas are so lifeless... They can't be restored, can they?"
"I guess not," Pearl replied.
Steven spat on the ground instinctively, as if his healing saliva could undo the damage, but he only heard the dry echo of a drop on the stone.
In the midst of it all, something changed. Steven frowned. He felt a vibration in the air, an imperceptible tremor. He slowly turned his head to his right.
Uh… he murmured, his voice cracking.
A red figure appeared in the background, blurry and unsteady. Ruby.
His breath caught in his throat. The air grew thick, sound vanished, and in the blink of an eye, everything went black.
Steven couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He was suspended in an absolute void. No sound, no light. Only his own heart pounding.
He lifted his head with what felt like a superhuman effort… and saw her.
Ruby.
But not as before. Not alive. Not whole.
Why?
The voice echoed, weak at first, but repeating itself over and over, each time louder, more desperate.
Tell me... why?
The words multiplied, crashing against him, reverberating in his mind.
Why? Why? WHY? WHY?
Each scream was a lash. Each echo, a wound. Steven tried to cover his ears, but he couldn't. His hands wouldn't respond.
His heart pounded so fast it hurt. He knew what he was seeing. He knew what he remembered. He knew what he felt.
Guilt.
That corrosive feeling that consumed him from within. The image of the crushed ruby, the stifled screams, Yellow's indifferent gaze, and Blue's distant silence. Neither of them did anything.
He saw them again and again. Every fragment, every spark that escaped from her shattered gem.
Steven trembled. He wept. He couldn't tell if it was fear, rage, or despair. The Ruby's voices kept screaming in his head, tearing him apart inside. They were everywhere. In front of him. Behind him. Inside him.
Until only that remained.
Guilt. Pain. And the endless echo of a scream that never ended.
Steven heard a voice that seemed to come from a distant corner of hell, a warm voice that pulled him from the darkness. Suddenly, he felt a tug, as if a cosmic force had brought him back to reality. He looked around, breathing heavily, not fully understanding what had just happened. Connie was watching him with concern and softly called his name.
He blinked in confusion, trying to get his bearings, and when he saw her, he gasped. Connie touched his forehead, checking for a fever. Steven brushed her hand away with a small smile as he tried to appear calm. The other Gems, thankfully, hadn't noticed his brief meltdown.
Connie looked at him with a hint of suspicion, sensing that something wasn't quite right. Steven simply sighed and tried to change the subject. He said it had just been a long thought, a strange one, but nothing more. Connie frowned, still not entirely convinced.
Tired of imagining things, the boy took a deep breath and looked at her resolutely. He told her he didn't want her to get hurt, that she wasn't ready for what might come, and suggested they fuse. Connie understood, though she snorted softly before agreeing. They held hands, and a glow enveloped the area, drawing the Gems' attention.
Garnet smiled contentedly, as if she had waited for this moment for hours. Amethyst crossed her arms indifferently, and Pearl remained in a thoughtful pose, so lost in her own world that she didn't even notice the light.
Stevonnie slowly opened her eyes. The expression on her face was serious, calm, though somewhat amused when she looked at Garnet and asked her firmly why she was staring at her so intently. Garnet remained silent, confused by the reaction.
Before she could reply, the robot braked sharply, causing everyone to stagger. Amethyst was the first to break the silence, announcing in a carefree voice that they had arrived.
End of Chapter 28.