"Where am I?" That's what I kept asking myself as I looked around. It was strange; I felt absolutely nothing. All the mental and physical exhaustion had simply vanished, as if it had never existed.
*Sigh*
"It doesn't matter," I said, looking in every direction, though it was impossible to get my bearings because there was no up or down, only a silent void that seemed to swallow time.
According to Steven, I was walking, or was I not? It was hard to tell. My steps left no sound, no shadow, no indication that I was actually moving forward, but I kept going anyway because I had absolutely nothing to lose.
After several minutes of walking, minutes that felt like hours in my mind, Steven saw a distant light.
"Something alive," he told himself as he started running toward that light that shone like the only real thing in that emptiness. With a final burst of speed, before reaching it, he plunged right into it.
A light enveloped Steven. "Oh, come on, it's white now?" he said to no one in particular as he felt everything around him distort.
A voice spoke.
"Pearl, shouldn't we continue with Rose Quartz? Don't you think?"
Steven froze, paralyzed by surprise. He would recognize that voice anywhere.
"Of course, my Diamond," replied another, even more familiar voice, one that stirred something between nostalgia and fear within him.
"This is new," Steven told himself as the atmosphere shifted from absolute white to something entirely different. The place resembled a museum, but one filled with gleaming technology, polished geometric shapes, and a perfection impossible to describe.
Steven looked around the entire place and noticed even gigantic windows that offered colossal and impossible views.
"Steve: Earth," he murmured as he gazed at the planet in disbelief. His gaze dropped to a kind of small tower, clearly designed to hold an important seat.
Steven walked slowly toward the tower, feeling each step resonate more in his emotions than on the nonexistent ground. Upon arriving, he noticed the presence of a gem.
"My Diamond," said Pearl, who was standing beside a seat. Her dress was completely different; she looked even more refined and elegant than Steven remembered, with an imposing presence that commanded respect without her even moving. This change left Steven speechless, surprised by how different she was from her current version.
"The show doesn't give her the beauty she deserves," Steven said as he observed her with a certain admiration and walked beside her as if he were truly there.
For obvious reasons, Pearl didn't notice. She kept her gaze fixed on her Diamond, focused on every movement as if each gesture were a silent command. But Steven wasn't interested in Pearl this time; he looked up, feeling a slight tremor in his chest as he recognized a gigantic figure before him.
"Pink Diamond," Steven said, giving a greeting that, at least to him, seemed appropriate, though he had no idea if he was doing it right.
Several minutes passed as Pink Diamond sat with a huge tablet in her hands, engrossed in tasks Steven couldn't decipher. He didn't care much, but he watched them anyway, trying to find something interesting in those glittering lines. However, Pink Diamond's tired expression said it all: this wasn't fun for anyone.
Pink Diamond: Pearl, should we continue or should I just give up? I've been trying to get the Diamonds to leave this planet, but they just ignore me. It's like I'm not a Diamond, like my rank doesn't matter.
Pearl: My Diamond, she said, striking the formal Diamond pose and trying to find a way to help her, though her own nervousness was almost evident in her eyes.
Steven watched for a few seconds before giving in to a strange impulse. Without thinking too much, he leaped toward Pink Diamond's head, guided by the feeling that told him he should touch her, listen to her, understand her. As he brushed against her luminous surface, a mental echo struck him immediately.
Pink Diamond's thoughts: Should I go along with Bismuth's plan? Yes... Bismuth had a point. I'll pretend to shatter, and that way, even if they don't listen to Pink Diamond, they'll have to listen to Rose Quartz.
With a sudden movement, and without any warning, Pink Diamond transformed. Her body glowed intensely, and Steven fell face-first to the ground, unable to stop himself, as the enormous figure shrank and molded itself in a smooth yet powerful transformation.
Pink Diamond was now Rose Quartz.
"Pearl, follow me. It's time to make my sisters listen to me," she said, advancing with a firm step toward the nearest portal, her presence warmer but just as determined.
Pearl remained silent for a moment, taking deep breaths as if she needed to gather courage. Then she sighed and walked behind her diamond, holding her hands together with an almost ritualistic reverence.
Steven watched as the seat became completely empty and, out of curiosity, tried to touch it. His hand passed through the object without resistance.
"I figured as much," Steven said with a resigned sigh. And with nothing left to lose, he walked behind Rose Quartz, feeling each step take him deeper into a memory that wasn't his, but that now completely enveloped him.
A Change of Perspective
Upon arriving, the girls immediately noticed the place they were in. The atmosphere seemed to hold a familiar silence, as if the air itself remembered everything that had happened there.
"Rose's tears were here, weren't they?" Amethyst said, looking around and noticing how some vines still climbed the walls, though not as many as the last time they had visited. It was as if the place had changed over time, retaining its essence but breathing a more subdued tone.
"You might be wondering why they went here before and I didn't mention it in the series," Garnet said. "Well, it's simple. From the first episode where Steven went on a mission, they considered that if Steven got hurt, they would need this place, and well, they were right, in a way. Although this also serves its purpose."
Garnet quickly climbed down from Lion along with the others. Gently but urgently, she would scoop Steven into her arms, as if he were too precious to handle carelessly, and carry him to a specific spot within the Shrine of Tears.
Pearl would walk behind Garnet, her eyes etched with worry. Her hands trembled slightly, as if she wanted to do something more, something immediate, but didn't yet know how.
Only Amethyst and Lapis remained behind, along with Lion, though he would soon open a shimmering portal and vanish into some unknown place without explanation.
Amethyst would glance at Lapis, who kept her gaze lowered, almost hidden, as if guilt were a weight she didn't know where to place.
"Come on, girl," Amethyst said after a few seconds. She would pat Lapis on the shoulder, a simple action that would nonetheless make Lapis tense up first and then slowly relax.
We should help Steven. You don't want him looking at you like that, do you?
As if that sentence flipped a switch inside her, Lapis immediately looked up, with unexpected determination. Amethyst barely had time to react before feeling effortlessly lifted into Lapis's arms, as if she were as light as a pillow. Lapis moved forward with a firm step, taking Amethyst directly to where the other girls had gone.
"Steven can't see me like that," she said in a tone that mixed anxiety and urgency, while Amethyst just sighed, resigned.
"She's crazy. Don't you have any normal friends, Steven?" Amethyst thought to herself, but she let herself be led anyway. After all, knowing Lapis, resisting would have been pointless. And besides, one less walk was always a plus.
A Change of Perspective
Steven was about to experience a tremendous change of perspective. They had traveled through too many places, too many memories, so many that they were beginning to blend together, giving him a different understanding of his mother, one that didn't quite resemble either the series or the reality he knew.
"Who would have thought my mother liked the color cinnamon instead of pink?" Steven said to himself as he watched the scene before him, the one where Pearl stabbed Pink Diamond.
This was the final stage of Pink Diamond's story, the moment she was "shattered by Rose Quartz." Steven could only watch as the surroundings blurred and became pure white.
"I guess since her physical form is gone, there are no memories now," he murmured to himself as he wandered aimlessly in that empty space. It was then that he spotted a familiar figure in the distance, a motionless silhouette in the light. Without thinking, he headed toward it.
Steven positioned himself beside the figure, which continued gazing into the luminous depths as if something important awaited it there.
"You know, I left a mini-hologram for you," said Rose Quartz, the figure that remained standing, serene, bathed in that light that seemed to come from nowhere.
Steven simply nodded. It wasn't surprise. It was more of a silent acknowledgment of something he always knew he would have to face.
"You don't seem surprised, my son," said the Rose Quartz hologram.
"No, I'm not. It was obvious, you know," Steven said with a soft chuckle, though his voice cracked slightly. "But still, I don't think you kept me here just for the pleasure of talking to you when you could go back in time."
The Rose Quartz hologram was silent for a moment. Then, with a gentle gesture, she extended her hand toward him.
Steven raised an eyebrow in doubt. He looked at his stepmother, trying to decipher her intentions. She just smiled at him, with a sweetness that hurt a little.
"I thought you might need a talk or something, but it seems you don't need me."
Steven looked into her eyes and noticed something that threw him off: she was tired. Not physically, but emotionally. Tired like someone who finally dares to admit everything they've kept silent.
Rose continued, "You know, Steven, I didn't think you'd take on my problems, so let me help you. I know I don't exist in the physical world anymore, but at least I know my holographic feelings for you are real. You are and always will be my son, and I'll always take care of you, even though I'm no longer with you." Rose shed a tear but continued, "If you give me your hand now, your Diamond powers can be unlocked. I know what comes next won't be easy, and I know explaining your powers to the girls will be even harder. I don't want you to hide what I did. I don't want you to hurt the people who love you, the way I hurt mine."
"My son, don't follow in my footsteps. I know you aren't, but I feel you could. Just—" she sighed deeply, "Just be yourself," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I love you, my son."
At that moment, an intense light enveloped them both, a warm glow that seemed more like an emotional fusion than a physical one. The light slowly consumed them until only Steven remained, kneeling in the infinite white, tears falling uncontrollably.
"What's wrong?" he said to himself as he tried unsuccessfully to dry his eyes. "I know I miss her, but yes, I do miss her," he admitted softly, finally letting his emotions overwhelm him.
"I always thought I wouldn't have the same feelings as the original Steven, but it seems this is because of the gem."
He sighed as tears hit the white ground, disappearing upon contact.
"I should see what else I can find. I guess if I'm still here it's because my body isn't healed, or my mind, so I'd better keep walking," he said as, his eyes still wet but a little calmer now, he began to move toward any point in the void, hoping to find the exit... or the next memory.
Perspective change
Lapis was right next to Steven, who remained submerged in the water, floating with a deceptive tranquility. Lapis maintained precise control of the water, leaving only his head above water so he wouldn't drown. She watched him with such intense guilt that it seemed to weigh heavily on her chest, yet she repeated to herself over and over:
"I will give everything so that what you gave is returned."
Amethyst watched from a distance. She looked at Lapis with a mixture of discomfort and bewilderment, thinking that the blue gem's vacant expression seemed even more schizophrenic than the one Steven had worn on his worst days.
With a bead of sweat trickling down her temple, Amethyst turned to Garnet. Garnet simply nodded, firm and confident, enough to calm Amethyst, if only a little.
Meanwhile, Pearl paced nervously, her hands clasped together, her heart racing. Greg lay on the floor, obviously unconscious, barely breathing. The atmosphere was tense, silent... until a sound broke the silence.
A phone began to ring.
The girls immediately looked towards Greg, whose cell phone was vibrating in his pocket.
Pearl ran quickly, grabbed the phone, and saw who was calling.
"Oh, it's Connie," she said with a simplicity completely out of place in the moment, and answered immediately.
"It's Connie?!" Amethyst screamed in a panic, trying to snatch the phone from Pearl, but it was too late.
"Hello? Mr. Greg? Is this you?" Connie's voice came from the receiver.
Pearl cleared her throat to stifle the sobs she'd been holding back for a while and answered.
Pearl: "Hi Connie, um, Greg's feeling unwell right now," she said, turning to look at Greg, who seemed even more defeated than Steven, almost decorative in his position.
"Well, 'a little unwell' is an understatement," Garnet commented as she adjusted Greg more carefully, leaving him in such a comfortable position that her expression changed to one of instant relief.
Connie: Is Garnet there? she asked doubtfully.
Pearl: Uh, yeah? Pearl replied, confused.
Connie: Put her on, she said with a firmness that made Pearl straighten up as if she were facing a Diamond.
Pearl handed the phone to Garnet, who took it with absolute composure.
Garnet: Yes? she said, calmly adjusting her glasses. Oh, yeah, Steven, she added in the same relaxed tone.
Amethyst tensed up instantly. Pearl did too. They both knew that Garnet explaining things never meant good news.
Garnet: Of course, she's in a tower being healed after facing Homeworld.
Amethyst and Pearl almost fainted.
Garnet: Right, she almost died, she said while adjusting her glasses in such an epic way that it would have been perfect for a dramatic trailer.
Sure, I'll tell you if she's alive. Sure, hang up epically.
When Garnet looked up, she saw Pearl and Amethyst completely pale.
Garnet: I gave it my all, girls, she said with proud emotion.
Pearl and Amethyst were stunned by what they had just witnessed, but something even more shocking snapped them out of their reverie.
Lapis: Hey gems, is it normal for humans to cry? she asked as she watched Steven begin to sob uncontrollably, even in his sleep.
Amethyst: No! That's not normal! she screamed in panic, running to Steven.
Pearl: My baby! That's not normal, Lapis! Get him out, or leave him, I don't know, AYYYYY! she said as she opened her gem and pulled out random things, searching for something that might help, throwing useless objects everywhere.
Garnet walked toward Steven with her usual calm demeanor, while Amethyst took his temperature, trying to maintain control of the chaos.
Garnet took off her glasses and looked directly at Steven with her three eyes, and for the first time in a long time, her expression became genuinely worried.
I don't know what's going on, she murmured to herself.
Lapis felt a chill run down her spine. Her mind was racing.
Did I use too much water control on her? Did my water get inside her organic form? What if I accidentally hurt her? Similar thoughts raced through her mind. It was almost ironic how nervous the gem was... redundancy intended.
Author's note: Hello, I'm back. I just wanted to know if you're enjoying this writing style, which is why this chapter is a bit short. I wanted to gauge your opinion and see if you find this style comfortable and entertaining. It's a pleasure for me to continue writing for you, and I deeply appreciate all the support you've given me over these past two months as we've built this story together. If you continue to support me with the same enthusiasm, I'll keep bringing you more chapters, and I'll do it with even more passion, wink wink.
End of Chapter 33.