Healing Hearts//Steven Universe

t h r e e : t h e t r u t h

Steven wasn't exactly sure what he was doing, inviting a strange girl who had just crash-landed on earth into his house. Yet it seemed to be the right thing to do.

Connie reluctantly followed him inside from the temple, mainly because of her stomach's rumbling.
(Another thing that struck the other Homeworld gems as odd; Connie's need for food.)

"You like mac and cheese?" Steven asked.

Connie didn't reply. Well, she didn't know how to reply. What could this "mac and cheese" substance possibly be? The name seemed familiar from her past research on Earth's occupants, though her personal interests never really laid within what humans ate.

"It's food. You're hungry, right?" Steven asked again.

These words made sense. Connie nodded in response. She stood in the center of the room while Steven headed to the center of the kitchen. He began to produce objects that struck Connie as odd. They were very loud too. She jumped backward and fell on the floor when she saw that one cube-shaped object produced flames when activated.

Connie remained on the floor, suddenly and once again overwhelmed by fear. Though she was desperate to satisfy her hunger, she knew this couldn't lead to anything good. It could be a trap.
Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt when she glanced out the window. The sky was a strange color. . . it was grey mixed with purple, and something was falling from it. Connie gasped loudly when a bright light flashed out of the window.

Steven turned to see what was wrong. He laughed.
"That's just rain. It won't hurt you."

Connie slowly crawled closer to the window. She curiously pressed her palm against the glass of the window.

"Rain," she repeated. It was strange to read about something your whole life without actually experiencing it. And now that Connie was seeing it, for the first time, it no longer seemed like fiction. She drew her hand back when her nerves finally responded; cold. The glass was freezing. She rubbed her hands together in order to regain heat in both appendages.

Steven handed her a bowl full of food. Connie paused before accepting it. She carefully watched him eat his mac and cheese before she began to eat her portion. It was. . . weird, but good. They sat in silence, sitting still and watching the rain. After they both had finished, Connie decided to attempt to communicate in the way that she had learned after a lifetime of study.

"Thank you."

Steven looked surprised, then he laughed. Connie winced. Had she said it wrong?

"No problem," Steven replied. He took her empty bowl and returned both dishes to the kitchen.

Connie turned back to the window. What now? She wasn't sure what to do. She could try finding an exit or a communication device to contact Homeworld, but that would be venturing outside to find the ruins of the ship, which she didn't even know the location of in the first place. She considered asking Steven for help. He didn't seem like he wanted to hurt her. He had helped her. Did that mean that he was now an ally?

"Steven," Connie said quietly. "What happened to the ship?"

Steven suddenly looked solemn after she had asked this. "I almost forgot that you weren't awake when it happened. . ."

Connie sat up. "What happened?" she repeated urgently.

"Your ship crashed. That's how you landed on the beach, your escape pod malfunctioned."

Connie's heart raced and she felt the floor swaying beneath her feet. "Peridot. . . Jasper- did they make it?"

Steven looked away from her, suddenly appearing bitter. "Yeah. They're fine. . . well, sorta." He sighed. "Peridot escaped before the ship crashed, and Jasper. . ." He fell silent. He couldn't bring himself to tell her.

"Please, Steven. I need to know."

Steven looked back up at her. "Jasper was desperate to win the fight. . . so desperate that she turned to fusing with Lapis Lazuli. Lapis didn't want Jasper to win, so she took over the fusion and dragged them both down to the bottom of the ocean."

Connie suddenly felt like she was the one trapped at the bottom of the sea. She began hyperventilating. "This can't be happening. Not right now. . ." 

She sat back down by the window, letting the mesmerizing rhythm of the downpour calm her nerves.

"I- I need to contact Homeworld. Someone needs to fix this."

"No, you can't!"

Connie glared at Steven. "It's not like this concerns you anyways. You're obviously not a gem."

"Neither are you."

Connie recoiled. She felt a pang in her chest, the familiar feeling of being an outcast. Steven's face softened when he realized what he had said.

"How did you end up at Homeworld anyways?" he asked in an attempt to move the conversation in a different direction.

Out of desperation, Connie snapped. She did something that she had never done before; she let her emotions get ahead of her. She explained everything to him. She told Steven about the paradise that Pink Diamond had created and that she used to live among many other humans, until she was the only one left.

"When Pink Diamond was shattered, there was no one else left to take care of the paradise, so Yellow and Blue Diamond sort of took me in."

Steven sat in shocked silence, his mouth dropped open in surprise. He looked sympathetic.

"I know what that feels like," he said.

"What what feels like?"

"To feel like you're alone. Like you don't really belong anywhere," Steven said with a small smile.

Connie laughed mockingly. "Says the human who lives happily amongst the millions of other humans."

Steven touched a hand to his stomach. "That's the thing. . ." He smiled nervously. "I'm not exactly a human."

"Huh?"

Steven lifted his shirt to reveal a bright, gleaming pink gem. "I'm part gem."

Connie gasped, covering her mouth with her hands Her eyes widened. "You're Rose Quartz."

Steven looked excited. "You know her?"

Connie away from Steven, her blood turning cold Her expression turned dark. "She's the gem who shattered Pink Diamond."

Steven frowned. "What? But that can't be-"

"I've heard all the stories. I know a Rose Quartz gem when I see one. . . I can't believe I was actually starting to think I could trust you!" she exclaimed.

Steven sat up. "But you don't understand-"

"- oh, I understand perfectly. You're Rose Quartz, the leader of the Crystal Gems, trying to remain hidden from the Diamonds by shapeshifting yourself into a human!"

"That's not true!" Steven jumped forward and reached to grab Connie's arm.

"Stay away from me!" Connie screamed. She unlocked the door and ran out into the rain. The gravity of the planet made her stumble across the ground as she searched her surroundings for the remains of the ship.

"Connie!"

She didn't look back. Finally, she knew what she was doing. Connie was going to contact Homeworld.