Steven Universe fic

pt 8 Chapter Six: One Diamond

"What?" He stumbled backward, hitting Spinel who had been unusually quiet. He turned to apologize.

"Sorry-" Steven's voice caught in his throat as he stared at the gem. She stared, her eyes entirely unfocused before attempting to hold back what looked like a cough. The gem's mouth dropped open and disgusting black bile spattered from her lips, dripping down her chest and onto the floor.

Steven jumped backward, causing Peridot to squeal and hide behind him. Pearl's face was contorted in a look of horror. She glanced at Steven her face stolen with worry.

"What's wrong with her?!" Peridot yelped, ducking behind the two of them.

"Sh-she's sick." Steven's voice cracked, and he put his finger on his tongue, and quickly shoved it into Spinel's agape mouth. The black bile quickly dissapated and Spinel's eyes refocused. She stared at Steven who had yet to remove his finger.

"What are you doing?!" She spat, shambling backwards. She was flush in the face glaring at the concerned boy as he wiped his finger on his pants.
Her glare softened as she noticed his fearful eyes. "What happened?"

The confused gem glanced at each of her friends who seemed horrified by her, the look on their faces made her feel small and scared, she retreated into herself, averting her eyes from their mortified faces.
Steven looked down at his feet, the feeling of failure pervading his thoughts. He looked up, putting on a false smile and laughing disingenuously.

"You were really spaced out, so I played a prank on you." He laughed, trying to hide the concern in his voice.
This was bad. Even the couple days of normalcy were crushed away by the growing danger.
He didn't want to think about the horrendous weapon the Diamonds had successfully created, and now Spinel was being corrupted again.
He thought, he hoped that healing her before she was too far gone would work, but the reality of his late reprieve was settling in as he pretended that she was okay.
And now, the save drive; or whatever it is, proved to be far more dangerous than the corruption.
He opened his eyes, wiping a tear away, sure it would convince his friend that he had simply pranked her.

Spinel was still blushing rather brightly,  her lips twitched and she awkwardly looked away, embarrassed that she let herself get punked in such a way.
Surely she recognized the slow descent into madness? How could she not?
Steven had no idea what it was like to be corrupted, and even less of how slow moving it was.
He never asked Spinel, and many of the healed gems had no recollection of actually being corrupted.

"Hello?! Are you not freaking out about this weapon?!" Peridot squeaked impatiently, pulling the boy from his thoughts.

"It's going to destroy everyone! And if they made more- which they probably have, it will be genocide for anyone who comes in contact!" She cried, pressing her finger into the screen at the unintelligible coding.

Steven glanced at the screen, then back at Spinel, he looked at Pearl who wore fear and concern on her face.

"This is bad." He mumbled, pressing his head into his palms, he began to break. The weight of the situation bearing down on him like the force of an entire galaxy. It was an entire galaxy.
An entire race of gems, people who were his friends, who were innocent.
Bearing down on him. And all their lives were in danger.
Steven crumbled, crouching on the floor, prompting Spinel and Pearl to reach toward him.

"I don't know what to do- I don't know how to fix this!" He cried, tears forming in his eyes as his thoughts began to consume him.

Pearl knelt down wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a gentle embrace.

"It's going to be okay Steven," the gem whispered, causing him to dig deeper into his arms, his jacket was soaked from his tears. "You don't have to do it alone, we'll figure it out."

Spinel inched closer, confused by her friends sudden breakdown. He was happy a moment ago, did she miss something important? She looked to the floor, ashamed of her inability to comfort him, ashamed that she didn't know what he needed comforting from.

Peridot's fear drifted into concern as she awkwardly patted Steven's shoulder.

"Hey, they still haven't come to earth- we're still safe." She attempted to bring up his Hope's, but Steven was lost in his downward spiral, imagining the slaughter of so many gems, all in the name of reclaiming what he had changed. He didn't want to move, he didn't want to breathe, the thought of being there, fighting the Diamonds, fighting their armies, with weapons like these, all while his friend is slowly being corrupted with now real hope of healing her.
How could he convince the Diamonds to heal Spinel, and stop their plans?
Could he even convince them to change in the first place?
Should he even try?
He didn't have a choice. He had to stop them.
They may not have come to earth yet, but they eventually would, and the would impart a permanent change to everything he had ever stood for.
This wasn't the cluster, this wasn't corruption, or a coup.
This was death.