part 5: that's who we are

                                    

                                          
"she rode in on that?!" small gem peridot exclaimed, after catching a glimpse of the deadly ship in a distance. "yeah," steven affirmed. "she said my human half wouldn't stand a chance against her injector." lapis looked at him, puzzled. "what does that mean?" peridot raised a brow. "why don't we just ask her?" steven perks up a bit at this. "well... here's the thing..." he turns and puts his hand upto his mouth "hey, uh.. guys?" you both look up from your cuddling, your "ear" perking up instinctively while spinel looks over to him with a wide smile. "Could you both... come over here for a sec?"
                          
You nodded and offer an arm to the pink gem to which she swoons cartoonishly and happily accepts and you both walk over to him arm in arm. once you were near him, he gestures to you both with an almost irritated sigh. "here she is... my new best friend spinel... and her.. (color) spinel.. partner." you tip your hat to the B-team politely bowing slightly along with spinel who bows her head more theatrically, speaking in a posh voice. "A pleasure to meet you all..." bismuth raises her eye brow in bewilderment. "I thought you said she was just trying to kill you?" You shrugged in an awkward manner, while spinel suddenly wrapped her arms around yours, squishing her cheek against your shoulder, humming contently, while you smiled and pressed your cheek into the top of her head. steven facepalms at this in frustration. "and somehow they've grown really attached to one another..." Steven pauses for a moment, before turning to you sharply, looking rather annoyed. "how could you have fallen for someone who's trying to kill me so fast!?" you again shrugged, but this time with a "I don't hecking know!" scowl, in which he growls softly, pinching the bridge between his eyes in frustration. "a-anyways, the (color) spinel here agreed into helping us with this." bismuth tilted her head in interest. "oh yeah?" you nodded, taking off your hat and reaching in, pulling out an object out of it, and switching it on, revealing it to be the pink scythe from before, giving it a careful twirl before gesturing to it with a dry "here it is" gesture and turning it off and offering it to bismuth. "oh... it's a rejuvenator." she stated, turning it back on as if to confirm her suspicions. "homeworld used to used these things on gems that started stepping out of line." she explained, turning it off. "one hit with this... and you're back to how they made you."  you look over to sapphire and ruby, the latter glaring at you in return as she took a protective stance. "what are you looking at?" you narrowed your eyes at her and roll them, shaking your head. "oh my stars, what if I touched it!?" screeched peridot, stepping back from bismuth. "I could have lost my character development!" 
                          
of course, you lose track of Steven's conversation with the other gems, as spinel pressed herself into you, nuzzling her cheek into yours, humming happily to herself. It's a moment like this, which makes you wonder what could have happened to her to make her so scornful... you tear your attention away from spinel to check on steven, frowning as you saw tears form in his eyes. You walk over to him, and place a hand on his shoulder, looking up at him with apologetic eyes. he looks down at you briefly, before brushing your hand off, lamenting the fact the happily ever he worked so hard for after is broken. and with no healing powers, he won't be able to fix it easily. 
                          
In fact, he looks about ready to give up.
                          
You crook an eyebrow and put your hand back oh his shoulder, forcibly turning him to face you. He looks at you, his face mixed with despair of the situation and annoyed at your persistence. you hold your arm out and point down, as if you were saying "watch this." and you stretch your arm over to a nearby mixer, pulling a lever and dumping its molten contents into a star shape surrounding the warp pad, much to steven's amazement, to which bismuth smiles at. "yeah, that's the spirit, little gem!" she pats your head roughly, before speaking up again.. "we are the crystal gems! and we never give up! no. we never give up on our friends!" she gestures to the mold proudly. "as long as we brandish this star,"
                          
"we'll find a way, to save the day, because that's who we are!"
                          
this manages to raise the boy's spirit, reminding him just how strong he was after all this time. After a bit of coaxing, his spirit finally reignites in full glory. Steven offers a bright smile to you before huddling with the others. "okay, let's put our heads together." he starts, glancing back at the red and blue duo. "there's gotta be some way to make them remember." 
                          
"...I reckon it works like a puzzle."
                          
 "huh?" steven turns to you, startled by finally hearing your voice. it was substantially (deep/high) and had a thick, almost exaggerated southern draw, befitting that of an old cartoon's. "if we give them all the pieces..." spinel starts up, placing her hands together. "eventually, they'll get the picture!" you both finish, resting your heads against one another, forming your hands into a heart.
                          
"Spinel! You guys might be on to something!" he exclaims happily. "if the experience they lost are a piece of who they are, we just have to give them back all the experience! one piece at a time!" again, they break into a short musical number; 
                          
"we'll find a way, to save the day, because that's who we are!"
                          
that was when spinel broke in, unaware of her lateness. "here we are in the future! Yeah! and it's WROOOOONG!" You snicker softly, placing a finger to her lips. "Hold it there, lil lady. We done now." she giggles and blushes softly, shying away sheepishly. steven then walks upto you and places a hand on your head. "Thanks again, (color) spinel." you chuckled lightly, looking up at him while taking his hand into yours.
                          
"Y'all can call me (name), (hun/pal)."
~~~~~~~~~
                          
Yes, I had to make you southern.