A New Era Three

Chapter 10: A Shattered Identity

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"I told you, I'm FINE," Steven slapped away Amethyst's hand. She recoiled, hurt flashing across her face as she nursed her hand close to her chest.

"Dude," Amethyst said, her eyes soft. "You've been through a lot. It's okay to talk about it."

"Why would I talk to you about it?" Steven lashed out, venom dripping from White's moth, directly out of his. "You'd never understand. You've never even seen Homeworld!"

Amethyst pursed her lips and took a breath to calm herself, but her body language was tense; her fists were tightly curled and shook slightly.

"You're right!" she shouted, her arms going above her head. "I don't know! But I am trying! Why are you acting like this, Steven?"

"Because my mom is a liar!" Steven yelled. His eyes started to burn with tears of frustration and regret. He didn't want to hurt Amethyst. He didn't want to say these terrible things. But White's own twisted emotions were stronger than his.

"Yeah, but so what?" Amethyst pushed back, though understanding flashed across her face. "So you have a diamond instead of a quartz gem. That doesn't change anything, bud. We're still your family."

Steven scoffed as White's annoyance at her words bubbled over. "It changes everything," he hissed. "But I don't expect an overcooked gem to understand."

Amethyst took a step back as if Steven had just slapped her in the face.

"Dude," she whispered. "What's your problem?!"

"My PROBLEM is that no one understands what's going on!" Steven yelled out, not sure if White had used his own words or if these were strictly hers. He felt heat rise from his naval and he had the urge to lash out, but not at Amethyst. No, directly at himself. He needed her to see what was going on; to get worried about the pink glow that encased his skin.

But White wouldn't allow it. Her cold hand smothered his gem tightly, until it felt numb against his stomach.

"So tell us what is," Garnet's sudden voice caused both Amethyst and Steven to jump. She walked through her temple door and regarded both of them with her arms crossed. Amethyst scoffed and looked pointedly at Steven, who dropped his gaze and toed the wooden floor of his living room.

"It's nothing," Steven said after a moment. White was still apprehensive about Garnet; she didn't trust that Garnet's future vision was too clouded by Steven's humanity for her to find out what was going on. "I just...," White had him pause for a second to simulate the very real ache in his chest. "I don't know."

"Steven," Garnet dropped to her knee and Steven turned. The moment he looked at her, he wished he hadn't. His own face was reflected in her visor. He looked pale, scared, with dark circles under his eyes. And his eyes. He barely recognized them. They were so clouded with emotions that were both his and weren't his, that he felt like he was looking at a stranger.

"You've been through so much and we couldn't be prouder of you," Garnet said, her voice soft, but stern. "But you need to let us help you. What's going on?"

Steven looked away, unable to hold his own gaze.

"You should already know," Steven muttered, just loud enough for Garnet to hear. The fusion stiffened as she processed this. "I sacrificed myself to Homeworld. My gem was removed. I found out mom was Pink Diamond."

With each statement, Steven's voice steadily grew louder and more unstable. His vision blurred as more tears pooled out of his eyes and his hand went to his forehead as bursts of pain shot behind his eyes. His tongue felt like lead and his thoughts were starting to stall, but White couldn't contain it all.