Steven Universe fic

Pt2 Chapter Three: Bad Thing

The three of them trekked up the hill toward the lighthouse as the sun shone bright in the sky, Spinel beaming as her arm wrapped around Steven's while the three walked together. Connie leaned close to her friend, whispering so the gem couldn't hear, "How did she get reset? I thought you broke the scythe thing?"

Steven sighed reluctantly, pulling the spare rejuvenator from his pocket, "She had another one, and," he paused, "She told me to hit her."

Connie nodded, looking down at the green grass that had finally began to grow after Steven spent several days kissing the dirt. They stopped at the center of the large crater in the side of the hill, and Spinel finally unlatched from Steven's side, pulling out the picnic blanket and setting it on the ground, then patting out the wrinkles. Connie sat, and began pulling out their pbj sandwiches.

"Do you think Spinel would eat peanut butter?" She asked, holding out one of her four sandwiches. Steven laughed,

"I don't know, Spinel, you want a sandwich?"

The gem looked up and stepped in between the two, reaching for the sandwich and plucking it from Connie's grasp.

"What's a sandwich?" She asked, flipping the food upside down. Steven chuckled,

"Its food, like cereal."

"It's not in a bowl." She retorded, now pulling the two pieces of bread apart and watching the mixture of peanut butter and jelly slowly separate from each other.

"It's not supposed to be, look." Connie answered, holding up her own sandwich and taking an exaggerated bite. Spinel watched the girl munch on her meal and opened her mouth to take a large bite from her own sandwich. The gem dropped into a crisscross and chewed her bite slowly, making various confused and delighted faces as she reacted to the odd texture of peanut butter and jelly mixed together on a piece of bread.

"So, what happened?" Connie asked, her voice low. Steven looked at her solemnly, then down at his sandwich, losing his appetite at the thought.

"I went to say sorry, and she was really upset, we were fighting and then White diamond showed up." He looked forlorn.

Spinel was too distracted tearing her sandwich apart and shoving it back together to hear their conversation.

"She just started freaking out, she looked really scared, then I yelled at White, and then she ordered Spinel to hit me with this." Steven pulled the rejuvenator out of his pocket again and set it on the picnic blanket between he and Connie.
She looked down at her sandwich and took a small bite, chewing on his words.

"Spinel didn't want to hurt me, I don't think..she told me to poof her." He glanced back at his gem friend, who was now licking each individual slice of bread one at a time.

"What are you going to do about her?" Connie mumbled softly, following his gaze toward the gem. He turned back, shrugging discontentedly.

"I don't know, we tried to bring her memories back by showing her the rejuvenator, but she didn't know what it was."

Spinel, now bored with her sandwich noticed the rod Steven had shown her last night, she stretched her arm out and silently pulled the thing back to her so she could inspect it once again.

"What about the diamonds?" Connie questioned. Steven began to sink into the ground, letting out and exasperated sigh.

"I don't know...they can't be trusted to take care of her, and if they lied about that, then they could have lied about other things..." he rolled over to face Connie who looked up into the sky, thinking about how the diamonds could easily attack earth, would they? If they were upset with Steven?

Spinel noticed a small switch on the rod, and pressed her thumb into it, causing the rejuvenator to expand into it's full form, she stared at the weapon, sudden and inescapable fear rising inside her.
She dragged in a ragged breath and dropped the weapon immediately.

"That's bad! That's a bad thing!" She gasped, the stress ringing in her voice, forcing Connie and Steven to turn around to see what had happened.
The rejuvenator clacked to the ground, inches from Steven. He and Connie bolted upright. Steven grabbed the weapon, taking a hesitant step toward the terrified Spinel.

"Spinel! I told you not to-"

The gem stared at Steven, her eyes flickering to Connie and back to the wielder of the thing that scared her. Flashes of images began to pervade her mind.
The gem grabbed her head and shook it ferociously, trying to remove the things she was seeing.
Steven took another step closer and she stepped back.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, I'm sorry!" Spinel's voice cracked as she cried, she held her hands up defensively continuing to back away.

"Spinel, it's okay-"

"Don't hurt me-" the gem faltered, "don't reset me!" She screamed, dropping into a huddled mess on the ground. Steven halted, lowering the scythe.

"Spinel it's okay, look," he retracted the weapon and dropped it to the ground, "see? It's gone now, see?" He took another step toward Spinel who hadn't moved, or even looked up. She trembled before him.

He slowly rested his hand on her back, the gem flinched, but finally raised her head. Her eyes drifting to where the disabled rejuvenator lay on the ground.

"Spinel, do you remember being reset?" He whispered gently, rubbing the terrified gem's back. She slowly looked up, tears beginning to well in her eyes.

"I don't like that thing. It hurts." She mumbled shakily. Steven glanced back at Connie who stood startled by the gem's outburst, her eyes swiped toward the rejuvenator and she quickly darted to pick it up, shoving it into her picnic basket so it was out of sight. Steven turned his eyes back to Spinel as he held out his hand in reassurance.

"It's okay, we won't hurt you."

The gem hesitantly rested her hand on his as he helped her stand, she swiveled her head, reassuring herself that the weapon had been removed.

"I wanna go home." She muttered softly, her hand tightening around Steven's, his eyes drifted toward Connie who nodded affirmatively at the request.

"Okay, we can go home."