Steven Universe © Rebecca Sugar

A/N: I know Joe Johnston debunked this theory on Tumblr earlier but I wrote this before that and wanted to post it anyway. It's a mix between the "Pink is gone/dead" canon theory and "Pink!Steven was Pink" theory because Steven really needed to know it was just him but I also wanted him to have a moment with his mom darn it! ;~;

It takes her exactly three, four seconds to realize what's happening and do what needs to be done.

This form is not Pink Diamond nor is it Rose Quartz. It's his, yet at the same time it's also her's while also not her's, and it doesn't make sense but that's okay because it knows who it is now. And he is incomplete; half devoid of life and needing the other to make him whole.

But for this moment alone, she is there. Not quite there to be here, but she is there like she hasn't been before. He turns his head. She sees her son for the first time through his eyes. He is not his mother, he is him, and he is beautiful.

Then he falls and it shocks him, and her, from the spell of being separated. He is dying and he needs her, he needs to be himself.

"She's gone."

Pink Diamond is gone. Rose Quartz is gone. She knows this; he knows this, and she can feel his building frustration finally explode into one, terrifying scream.

"She's gone!"

She has been gone for a long time. She is still gone; not quite dead but something that can no longer be defined. Only he is here now and he will never let anyone force him to be someone he isn't ever again, and the half of her that is there will not let anyone hurt her son this way either.

And when all is said and done, she is with him like she hasn't been before. Holding him, dancing with him, and laughing with him as he finally embraces who he is once and for all.

He is not her and she is not him. She is gone and the she that is left exists within him, and each time he loves himself that's her loving him too, loving him be who he is because that's who he has always been.

Steven Universe.

A/N: I've read this a few times to make sure it makes sense but it kinda seems like it doesn't? Idk, could be just because I wrote this while sleep deprived (and read while still sleep deprived, lol.) Let me know if you understand it.