Steven Universe Movie Novel

Pink Diamond's Garden

Pink Diamond, we all hate you. Admit your awfulness fair and square!!

"Spinel?! Where are we going?" Steven cried, trying to get closer to her in the warp's stream.

"Back," she said quietly, "to where I never left." One of her tears fell from her face and touched Steven, who was still behind her.

When the warp had finished, Steven found himself dizzily looking into space. A protective shield seemed to be covering a thorny, dark island on an asteroid. The pillars in it were cracked and twined with brambles, and the fountain in the middle didn't have any water in it. She looked around the garden and gasped, running towards something in it. "Spinel!" Steven called after her, desperately trying to catch up with her.

When he did catch up to her, she was standing in an open space, looking up into the starry sky. "This was our garden," she gushed, smiling. "A special world, built just for Pink and I."

Steven envisaged the garden with pink flowers, marble-white pillars and lush green grass, with a crystal warp pad at the par end. The murky, blackened pond was filled with blue water that glistened and beautiful plant life was entwined around the marble pillars.

She seemed to drift off into her own world. "I remember when Pink was so lonely and sad, but not here. We would play for hours." She smiled more widely. "Every day was so much fun." Suddenly she looked sad again. "At least... that's what I thought."

"Did something happen?"

Spinel grimaced. "Pink wanted a colony. More than... anything. One day, her wish came true! Pink had won her very own planet! Earth! I was so excited! A brand new place to play!"

Steven didn't understand. "So... why didn't you go with her?" he asked.

She sighed and shut her eyes, looking upset. "Well... she said..." She ran to the other side of the garden hurriedly.

"Wait up!" Steven shouted after her, feeling a little agitated that she kept running off without him.

"She told me that we were going to play a game. All I had to do was stay here and stand, very, very still. I took it really seriously. I just stood there for ages. It was nuts. But she was my friend, and I wouldn't disobey her. At least, I thought she was," she added sourly.

"What happened next?" he asked, trying to hide the eager note in his voice.

"She left!" she yelled, stamping her foot on the cracked pavement. "She just - left! Right in front of my eyes, she used the warp pad. She said she would come to get me when she moved herself, she said she was also going to play on Earth. That day never came. I remember feeling all the years go by, I counted the seconds, even. And every single night I would wonder, 'is this how it works? Am I doing it right?' And yeah, I was doing it right... standing there as Pink left the garden forever..."

Steven gasped. He finally understood. His mum had basically tricked Spinel into staying in the garden, and she would have stayed there forever if his message hadn't come through. That was why she had erased the memories; to rid him of friends. That was why she had brought the Injector; it reminded her of where Pink left. That was why she had yelled when Steven said he would find Amethyst without her; she didn't want to be abandoned again.

"I'm... so sorry..." he said quietly. He held her hand, hoping to make her feel better.

"Y-you - d-don't - mean-n - that..." she stammered. She started trembling. She started to glow white-hot like the other Gems had been doing when their memories were coming back, and her gemstone rotated slowly inside her chest. Steven gulped as she started to change in appearance, from her upside-down gemstone to her longer, spiky hair.