He hadn't been to the Sky Spire in years.

The last time he was there, it was with Amethyst and Pearl. This time, he was standing near another corrupted gem. The gem, which was similar in shape to the gems Jasper had imprisoned, didn't try attacking. Instead, the deep yellow gem started to walk near the entrance of the Spire, as if there was something inside that she was looking for.

"I wonder what she's doing." Steven whispered to himself, deciding to follow her inside. However, before he made it inside, he heard a loud squawk of a bird nearby.

He turned his head, only to see a bird with peach pink feathers, spread across its body, which was pure white with small areas of blue towards the bottom. She had a long beak with two small, but bright blue eyes. The sun caused her forehead to shine due to a white pearl being directly above her beak; Steven had seen her before.

"Pearl?!' He exclaimed, beginning to walk away from the entrance of the Spire. However, he blinked once and his surroundings were gone, becoming black. For a moment, Steven thought that his eyes were still closed before sighing sadly.

He closed his eyes again, expecting to wake up soon. However, a painful scream shattered the silence in the darkness.

"STEVEN!"

The boy's eyes shot open, his body jerking upward as he began to look around the area around him. All of his surroundings were now a deep reddish-purple. A color that seemed eerily familiar to the young boy. He began to stand up again as another figure appears only a few feet in front of him, practically out of thin air. He jerked backwards and looked at them, shock was written on his face. They had their left arm right in front of their face, covering two of their eyes from view. Their arms had lines developing, rapidly beginning to spread to other parts of their body. Their only visible eye had tear stains underneath as they clench their teeth, fighting back pain. He recognized her automatically.

"Garnet?!" Steven yelled, taking on step back away from her.

"Why didn't you come back Steven?!" She yelled back, tears developing again as the lines started to slowly spread beyond her arms. As the lines spread, they seemed to turn Garnet's arms into rocks. "I thought you would be quick! You knew that we had to find those gems, but you couldn't even come back?!" She takes one forceful step towards the trembling boy. Her foot hit the ground hard enough to sound like a stomp. The force was strong enough to knock Steven off of his feet, landing on his back.

He stared wide eyed at his guardian, her body swiftly becoming more rocky in formation. His fear paralyzed him, unable to move as she took another step closer. Steven closed his eyes, not wanting to look at his friend in pain anymore. However, he was able to hear a sharp screech from Garnet as she succumbed to the Diamonds' song; she wasn't fully herself anymore. He heard her take one more step toward him and he screamed.

"I'M SORRY!"

Then he didn't hear anything else.

Steven could feel his heart beating furiously as he became aware of his surroundings again. He didn't automatically open his eyes, realizing that he wasn't dreaming anymore. His right hand was clutching his gem, his left hand was gripping onto the wooden floor, ripping the wood from the ground. His entire body felt sweaty and the heat from the sun beat down on him without mercy.

Wait a minute, Steven thought. Why am I on the floor?

He opened his eyes a small amount, squinting due to the sudden light, only to see Amethyst standing near Peridot as she tried moving broken meep morps together with her paws and nose. Oh, right; we stayed at the barn for the night.

With a sigh, he got up from the ground, trying to avoid getting a splinter from the wood he lied on.

"Yo, Ste-man!" Amethyst yelled excitedly to him, watching him get up from the ground. He looked at her as she swung her right arm around Peridot, who didn't hiss at the rapid gesture. "P-dot remembers me!"

"She does?" Steven asked, a smile forming on his face as he ran toward them.

"Yep!" She turned her focus to Peridot, pointing her who almost looked like she was smiling. "Yo, Peri. Guess what?"

Peridot turned to look Amethyst in the eye as Steven stood only a few feet away, grinning ear to ear with stars in his eyes.

"You're a nerd."

Amethyst laughed happily, releasing Peridot from her right arm and allowing her to move; she still stayed next to Amethyst and Steven and begun to emit a sound that almost sounded like a confused cackle. Steven laughed awkwardly, fiddling with his fingers while keeping his hands folded.

The laughter died down after a few moments and Steven looked at Peridot as she sat down; he hasn't seen her this relaxed since before she corrupted. This is great. She's improving so quickly! Maybe this won't be as hard as I-

"Hey Steve-O," Amethyst begun to speak, pointing to his shirt as she sits down next to Peridot. "Did ya' take a dip in the lake during the night? You look drenched."

Steven looked at her confused before looking down at his shirt. There were sweat stains underneath his arms and on the star in the middle of his shirt; somehow he didn't see them until now. Whoops.

He didn't immediately reply, continuously fidgeting his fingers and focusing on his breathing, becoming quicker with each passing moment. The wind had started to pick up in speed, the sun being covered by the clouds.

"Steven, ya' zoning out?" Amethyst asked, her expression and voice becoming stern. "What did ya' do that got you wet?"

With a defeated sigh, he sat down as Peridot rose her head to look at him, distressed. He smiled briefly at her before looking down at the ground. "This isn't water - it's sweat; I had a dream last night, and..."

Moments from both parts of the dream resurfaced. Pearl flying toward the Sky Spire, possibly attacking other corrupted gems that were there. Garnet -

No, I can't tell them about that.

"...I think I know where Pearl is."

Steven clenched his hands together, looking up to Amethyst and Peridot, the former of them wide-eyed. She didn't automatically respond, trying to allow the news to sink in. Peridot, on the other hand, seemed ecstatic. She grinned and almost seemed to have stars in her eyes. Steven smiled at her again and was about to speak, but Amethyst cut him off as she got up from the ground.

"What?!" She yelled, her hands slammed against the sides of her head in shock. "Well, where is she, Steven?!"

"Well, I think I was able to enter the mind of a corrupted gem. She seemed to be standing with another corrupted gem at the Sky Spire, but then Pearl started to fly toward us."

Amethyst processed this as Steven stood up, the old wood creaking. He could see Peridot start to walk to the other side of the barn as Amethyst grabbed his hand, beginning to pull him in the direction of the warp pad. "We gotta go."

"What about Peridot?!" He exclaimed, turning around to see Peridot sitting on the other side of the barn, fiddling with the materials close to her. She had always called the barn her home, but seeing her staying calm and more like her old self allowed Steven to calm down. This is her home. Why would she leave?

He smiled briefly before turning back to Amethyst, nodding at her as they both ran to the warp pad.

The long walk up the mountains to the Sky Spire was silent, Steven lost in thought and coming up with every single possible scenario that could occur - even the ones that made no sense.

Pearl probably won't remember us. He thought to himself. Will she attack? Will we be able to calm her down if she does attack?

He sighed to himself somberly and looked at Amethyst, who was staring at the ground as they walked. The wind was starting to pick up as they reached one of the mountains leading to the floating islands; their destination was close.

Suddenly, the wind started to pick up, as Steven looked up, seeing the Sky Spire for the first time in his own body in years; it's platform looked mostly destroyed. Its roof had caved in and the steps leading to it were destroyed. He gasped audibly once he saw something that was standing on the platform, guarding the destroyed structure. Pearl.

"Oh no." Amethyst mumbled, analyzing the damage to the building. "It looks like those gems did more damage than you saw in- wait a minute, is that Pearl?!"

Her voice rose in volume as she saw Pearl, loud enough to allow her to hear. She turned her head and squawked loudly, rising from the platform and flying swiftly toward the floating island. "Oh, crud."

As Pearl reached Steven and Amethyst and attempted to strike, Steven summoned a shield large enough to block the oncoming attack. The moment the shield appeared, she stopped flying. She stared at it, examining it and almost looked like she recognized it. Steven didn't move a muscle, keeping his shield active even as it became more painful to hold. After a few moments, Pearl quietly shrieked, getting off of the shield and flew to the other side of the island and sitting down at the edge.

"What was that all about?" Amethyst mumbled as Steven dissipated his shield and looked to where Pearl was sitting. She was making an odd sounding noise multiple times; it seemed like she was weeping. Without thinking, Steven ran quickly toward her, even though Amethyst didn't immediately follow.

He was right - Pearl was crying. She allowed the tears to fall and either get on her feathers or fall onto the ground. Her beak was directed toward the ground, refusing to look up even as Steven reached her side.

"Pearl?" He asked quietly, looking up at her. "It's okay, I'm here. We're here - Amethyst and I." He turned toward Amethyst, who slowly walked toward Steven and Pearl.

"Yeah, P." She mumbled, scratching her neck while shuffling her feet in the grass. "We got your back."

Pearl stopped crying for a moment, turning to look at Steven and Amethyst. Her head was at least ten feet above them, but they could tell that she was looking at them. Suddenly, she lowered her head toward them - low enough for them to see her eyes with tear stains underneath them. Steven felt his heart sink - she remembered them, but she must've remembered her past with his mother as well. He attempted to reach up and wipe her tear as an act of comfort, but Amethyst tapped him on the shoulder, pointing at something in the sky.

"Steven, look!" She exclaimed, starting to wave her finger that pointed outward. He turned to attention to where she was pointing. There was something falling toward the ground. From a distance, it looked like a shooting star, but that couldn't be the case. It was only around noon, after all.

"I think it going to crash near the warp pad." Steven said.

"Great." Amethyst said sarcastically, throwing her hands up into the air. "This is just perfect! We have no simple way to get home, much less see what that thing is!"

He sighed, watching the unknown object fall toward the main mountain where the warp pad was before Pearl squawked loudly. He watched as she stood up and spread her wings before lowering one of them to the ground, her beak pointing down toward them. Steven stepped forward and gently touched her wing before jumping high into the air, allowing himself to land on her back. Amethyst jumped on only a few moments later, grinning wide before Pearl rose her wing off the ground and begun to fly to the mountain.

I apologize for my second unannounced/unplanned hiatus. I've been rather busy lately, but I do intend on finishing this fanfic.

Nonetheless, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Constructive criticism appreciated, and thanks for reading. :)

(I also feel that this is a good time to mention that I'm working on a playlist for the fanfic : playmoss com/en/singingnonstop/playlist/-be-eaae-seaa)