The sound of a warp could be heard, if one was close by in the beach house. Steven had been visiting the Diamonds that morning by chance --- partially out of curiosity and concern, having not seen or spoken to White Diamond’s Pearl since he’d freed her from her control --- when they’d dropped the biggest bombshell on his heart: Spinel had been missing since the start of the week. And they chose to not tell him once it had happened?! He assumed they had their reasons for not wanting to worry him (he greatly hoped it meant they were trying to solve this without his help), but it was Friday now. That’s about five days of no contact from Spinel. Steven had every right to be in hysterics.
And he was, sprinting to his room to gather any necessities he may need to go searching for her. What did he need? His phone, for sure, but maybe his wallet? Some water? Goodness, this backpack was going to be mad heavy.
Think, Steven. Think... Where could she have gone? He didn’t even get the chance to talk to the Pearl in question, but Blue Diamond’s Pearl had briefly mentioned that there was talk between the two pink Gems about remnants of Pink. He was already heading to Lion down by the sand with the intent to travel across countries, but there were loads of places he could be checking for her. “Can you help me sniff out Spinel, buddy?!” he asked his fluffy companion, an obvious strain in his voice as he held back the anxiety this all brought on. Sure, he definitely should be getting more help with this than just himself and Lion, but grabbing the rest of the Crystal Gems was far from the front of his mind. He had to find Spinel, and he had to find her now.
The second Lion nodded in approval, the worried teen hopped on the back of his friend. With a shaky ruffle of his mane, Lion roared open a portal, hopping through shortly after.
It didn’t take long to lose track of how long they’d been searching; the constant change in time zones as they zoomed through familiar continents quickly became a blur into one consecutive passage of time. It was still kind of morning, right? Or was it the evening by now? Whichever it was, he was mentally exhausted. The Diamonds, even, couldn’t keep watch over Spinel as she healed herself. It was really up to him to fix this, huh? He thought everything was under control! Everything was on the path to healing now!
“--- SPINEL !!”
But it wasn’t. Even after everything that happened between the two of them, she still couldn’t trust him. She still couldn’t lean on him for support. She still would rather opt to suffer in silence. And Steven wasn’t going to let her torture herself like this.
@spliteden
