Templeschool

43. Secrets Unveiled

AN: Sorry, I meant to post these sooner, but I got caught up in school stuff. I've got fanart of Chapter 42, though, if anyone wants to see it! :D https://hugthesquids.tumblr.com/post/619666980256038912/first-one-is-some-fanart-based-on-the-fic

Silence reigned throughout the room. Steven finally turned away from the door to look at Twoie. The young man was sitting up, tired eyes staring at his folded hands on his lap. Steven quietly walked up to him. He didn't know what to say to Twoie. He was hurt. After everything, they'd seen... Knowing that Bismuth had hurt Twoie in the past, his older brother still snuck out of bed to confront her. And Steven never noticed. He had slept peacefully, unaware of the suffering his brother was experiencing. "Why..." He clenched his fists tightly. Twoie didn't look up at him. Instead, he curled in further on himself. Amethyst's eyes widened as Steven's eyes narrowed in anger. "Why did you do that?! Why did you go after Bismuth instead of letting Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst handle it?!"

Pearl raised her hand out towards her ward. "Steven..." But the youngest stomped his foot on the ground.

"Do you know how scared I was?" Steven's voice cracked with unshed tears. "I was terrified when Amethyst woke me up! I thought you were asleep, but she ran into the house screaming that you were cracked, and Bismuth did it, and I needed to come heal you because you were bleeding!" He lunged forward, wrapping his arms around his older brother. "Ow!" The young kid flinched and jumped back. Something had jabbed into his hands when he hugged him.

Pearl rushed over to Steven, and they checked his arms over. He was fine, just had a couple of small indents on his skin. When Steven looked up, his brother's eyes were wide with horror. Amethyst patted Twoie's shoulder. "Yeah, that's something we gotta talk about."

Steven rubbed his arms to make the pain fade away, then tilted his head questioningly at her. "What do you mean? What was that?" Amethyst sighed and stood. She brushed Twoie's hair aside, so the two horns were visible. "Twoie? Are those... horns?" The purple gem lifted Twoie's hand up. She had checked him over earlier, and Amethyst was pretty sure the time traveler's hands were not claw-like then. But they were now.

"Not just horns. Yo, Twoie. How long have you been hiding this? I know that I didn't see this earlier." She waved his clawed hand around by the wrist. "And none of us saw the horns or your back spines. Just the spots." Garnet gently pushed Twoie's shirt back up, so his gem was fully visible. It was glowing faintly but didn't look out of the ordinary.

She hummed and walked towards the gem she had bubbled minutes earlier. "Garnet? Where are you going?" Pearl called out for her. Her brows furrowed in worry as Garnet walked back with a corrupted gem in hand. She brought it close to Twoie's stomach.

"I'm not sure what's going on with Twoie. I thought maybe it was related to his gem, but it looks healthy." Everyone stared wide-eyed at Garnet. Pearl tugged at her hair with her hands.

"Wait, you thought Twoie was corrupting?" Garnet pushed the bubble into the air, and it floated up a couple of inches. She turned back to Pearl.

"You and I fought the corrupted gem that Bismuth unbubbled." Everyone winced when Twoie flinched at Bismuth's name. "The gem she freed was one of the corrupted quartzes. Do you recall the horns on her head and the claws? She even had discolorations all over her body."

Steven stepped up to Twoie again as Pearl continued to argue with Garnet. "But those were quartzes! Twoie is a diamond! Besides, we all saw that his gem is fine!" Twoie met his gaze and then looked away shamefully. "We would've seen corruption marks on his gem if he was corrupting. It's probably something else! I haven't finished going through all of the books detailing human illnesses. Maybe it's something like that affecting his powers accidentally?" Steven could see the spines growing out from his brother's back now.