Spirits of the Past

Chapter 2

The next morning Steven headed downstairs, not feeling much better. He still felt very emotionally exhausted after last night. He was caught by Pearl who was doing some chores. "Morning Steven. Hungry? I'll make you anything you want."

"Eh no thanks." The thought of eating food right now made him feel a bit nauseous. Steven sat on the couch and kept his head down. That is until Garnet came up on his left

"Steven, tell us what happened." Anxiety came rising up inside him. His first instinct was to run as far away as possible. He couldn't face them. Steven thought for sure they would hate him. However he wasn't given much of a choice as Pearl sat on the other side of him. Now he was sandwiched between his 2 parental figures. Then he realized someone was missing 

"Wait where's Amethyst? I want everyone to be here for this."

Garnet volunteered. "She's in her room somewhere. I'll get her." Steven and Pearl were now left alone. Steven refused to make any eye contact and they sat there in silence 

Pearl then tried to reach out. She gently rubbed his back and gave him a reassuring smile. Steven couldn't hold it in anymore. His eyes filled with tears. He leaned back and rested his head on Pearl's shoulder. Pearl put an arm around him and continued to rub

It felt like hours had passed. Steven let out a few good cries and eventually relaxed. Almost too relaxed. A half hour later, Steven had nodded off while still leaning against Pearl. She didn't want to disturb him considering he's gone through so much already 

Just then, Garnet came back with Amethyst. Amethyst was about to announce her presence when Pearl shut her down. She carefully shushed her and whispered. "Keep your voice down. I know you came here to talk but he looked so tired. I want him to rest for a little while."

Amethyst gave a thumbs up and decided to hang out in the kitchen. Garnet sat down in the same spot on the couch and crossed her legs

Another hour passed. Steven started to shift and softly moaned a few times. He seemed to be in distress so Pearl tried shaking him a little bit. A moment later he jolted awake and began panting

Amethyst walked in and sat on the coffee table. "Sup sleeping beauty hahahaha!" Steven groaned as he held his head

"I'm sorry guys. I'll explain now." Garnet and Pearl turned to face him. All eyes are now on Steven

"I may have had a fight with dad so I thought the only person I could turn to was Jasper. I wanted to learn how to control my powers. I was afraid of hurting someone. She began training me to channel my emotions. At first it was working.....but then I lost control. I-I don't know what happened. It felt so good to get all that anger out. I guess I enjoyed it a little too much."

Pearl began pushing a little. "What are you talking about? What happened?"

Steven hesitated a bit. He became nauseous the more he thought about it. He took a deep breath and came out with it. "I um-well I...I.........I shattered Jasper!"

All three gems simultaneously gasped at the news. Now they realized Steven was worse than they thought. The gems were about to comfort him when he interrupted 

"I'm so sorry. I'm just a stupid fraud. I-I'm a monster!" He started visibly shaking 

Garnet placed a hand on his shoulder. "Steven, you're not a monster. No matter what happens we will always love you."

Steven started to sob into his hands from both sadness and relief. Pearl proceeded to lean over and pull Steven into a tight embrace. He finally gave in and leaned further into her. Steven wrapped his arms around her waist, not wanting to let go

Amethyst and Garnet later joined in and hugged him from opposite sides. For this one moment, Steven felt a little better. Unfortunately, the worst has yet to come