Steven Universe fic

pt3 Chapter Three: All or Nothing

Steven sat on the couch, staring at the pink gem, worry pricking his mind like pins and needles, he nervously glanced at the other gems, who patiently waited for Spinel to reform.
He had so many questions for the gem that he could barely contain himself, who was that black gem? Why did they want the rejuvenator? How could they reach into another's gem? What exactly was going on? He knew Spinel could answer at least a few of them.
She had been on homeworld for a year, she was bound to see what was going on behind the scenes.
Maybe there was more to her returning than just a desperate plea for help. His thoughts raced, he could barely contain them at all. He felt as much out of the loop as he did when every gem previously had confused him with Pink, or with Rose.
The gem began to rise from the table, forcing Steven out of his wild thoughts. Spinel's new form began to glow before the light faded and she landed on the floor, looking rather embarrassed of herself.

"Spinel!" Steven gasped, taking in the gem's new form. She looked almost the same, aside from a lighter hue and new star shaped suspenders. The gem glanced at Steven, rubbing her neck tentatively before being tackled by the boy in a tight hug.

"Who was that? Why did they want your rejuvenator? How did they do that!?" He blurted before the gem could even speak. Spinel stretched out of his arms and stared at his frantic flailing.

"Glad to know you didn't miss me." She muttered under her breath, quickly turning face and smiling disingenuously at the boy. She didn't exactly want to tell him, but she knew that refusing would probably cause more trouble in the end. The pink gem let out a reluctant sigh.

"It was Obsidian." She mumbled, blinking and guiltily looking down at her feet. Steven nodded, repeating the name to himself so he could remember it later on.

"Why did she want your weapon?" He repeated, his question causing Spinel to sink further toward the ground. She scratched her head, not sure how to say it.

"Well, I kind of..stole it from her?" She answered hesitantly, glancing up at her friend who blinked at her, astonished.

"You stole it?!" His words were mostly yelled out of shock, rather than anger, but they still dug into Spinel's skin. A switch seemed to flip in her head and she stood straight again, now upset at his accusatory behavior.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? If I had it, the diamonds couldn't-" a terrible look of fear and realization flickered across her face and she fell quiet, turning away from Steven and losing all her anger.

"It doesn't matter anyways. They have it now." She mumbled softly, retreating into herself at the thought of the dictators pursuing their plans.

Steven calmed himself, noticing the gem's reluctance to explain, knowing that it must be incredibly hard for her to talk about at all.

"Steven, things haven't been that peaceful." Spinel's words were quiet, as though she didn't want to actually tell him. But the boy leaned closer, trying to gather what she meant.

"What do you mean?" He questioned, leaning over her despite her looking away, reluctant to crush everything he had worked towards.

"Some gems..don't like the way things have changed.." her voice faltered as she heard her friend step back in confusion, disagreement and shock.

"What do you mean? That doesn't make sense, e-everyone is free!" He stammered, trying to wrap his mind around what the gem was telling him. None of this made sense, why would any gem not like the way things are now? They don't have to be afraid of the diamonds, or destroy planets, they were free, they could do what they liked, fuse, everything should be fine, shouldn't it?
Spinel turned to face her confused and worried friend, reaching out a hand to comfort him.

"Not everyone likes..freedom." she said gently, trying to lessen the impact of her words. Steven couldn't believe them, he sat himself on the couch, staring into space, trying to mull over the thought of gem's not wanting to be free. Pearl sat next to him, motherly resting a hand on his lap.

"When you've lived a certain way for so long...change can be hard." She reassured him, the boy nodded absently, not actually taking in her words. He was still in shock. Everything. Everything he had tried to fix, tried to change, had failed.
He couldn't stop the diamonds from hurting his friend, he couldn't change the way homeworld worked, all he did, all his mother did.

Was for nothing.