Aslan intensely disliked being touched by Connie's mother. Her fingers were cold and clinical, and he sensed danger at every rise and fall of her chest.

"The last time I tried this was almost a problem. Try not to nearly cut off my hand this time." Priyanka tapped his knee and his leg flew up so fast he sent his shoe flying. "Reflexes are... good..." She pressed her lips together and frowned at the results. "Aslan, was it? Would you mind changing into this robe for me so we can get an x-ray visual of your gem?"

"No one is going to touch our gem." Aslan leered at them and wrapped a hand over his stomach. "No one."

"No touching. We won't touch, we promise." Dr. Maheswaren looked troubled for a moment before it smoothed into a professional blankness. "You're safe here, Aslan. And Connie can be there waiting right outside the door."

He glanced over to the girl who had suddenly switched from being by her mother's side to his. It bothered him that she seemed to be unaffected by the day so far. He squinted his eyes shut and tried to tap into that aura seeing power. His gem flickered briefly but nothing came of it except them crying out his name in alarm. "What?"

"You started glowing brighter and you looked like you were in pain." Priyanka put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We're going to get to the bottom of this, Aslan. I know you have no reason to, but you have to trust me."

He shrugged her hand off of him and could almost feel a single strand of hair turning snow white with stress. "I trust me to not let you hurt me. That has to be good enough. Let's go."

His girlfriend–

His girlfriend?–

–the Connie girl nodded curtly and crossed her arms. "Let's."

Now he could see it as he walked behind them. Pulsing cool blue waves of her spirits mood around her. Annoyed? No, sad. No... colder than sad. Lighter than sad. Up. "Nothing. She's not letting herself feel anything."

They both turned to him quizzically bit didn't ask any further questions.

"Connie you can wait out here," Dr. Maheswaren said as she swiped her card against the sensor.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I should be in there in case something goes wrong." She stepped closer to him and he felt it against himself now. Nothing. Well, fine. If she wanted to feel nothing she would get nothing.

He shook his head and stepped away from her. "I can protect myself. I don't need your pity."

"It sounds like you need to be smacked across the face, mister!" Connie snapped. "I am not going anywhere!"

This was new. Aslan raised an eyebrow, a tiny smirk overcoming him for just a second. "Try it and see what happens."

"Connie!" Her mother cried.

"Whatever. I'll wait out here then." She plopped onto the floor and ignored both of them as they went inside.

The entire task was tedious, but necessary nonetheless. And when there was necessary, well, that's what he preferred. He preferred to spend time doing his important tasks over the menial things.

And lately, everything was menial.

The world had been amiss in Stevens head and it was no wonder when he was barely interested in any of this anyways. To protect wasn't to care. Sometimes you have to not care to get your needs met, and he would do anything to meet them.

He winced as the lights came on with no warning and Dr. Maheswaren approached him. "Y-you need to change and then we'll go back to report the findings."

What was that tremor in her voice? Where was the clean tone he'd heard not minutes ago? Thick inky blackness was pooling from her, dark tendrils of dread curled around her fingertips and over her curves. But he couldn't tell people he was seeing things, that would cause more threats and the last thing he needed right now was more on his already heaping tray. He heard it tucked back deep into his brain that they couldn't tell anyone and that they were alone. "Shit. I'm tapping out."

His head throbbed violently and his knees buckled as his gem activated so hard it nearly knocked the wind out of him.

When he blinked again she had left and he was putting his clothes back on. He slowed down as he realized he was at Connie's mom's hospital.

It tugged at the back of his mind and he finished the tasks as he yanked and twisted every way he knew out to get the memory out. Something had happened earlier, he lost his temper and then–

"Are you ready to come out? We have results to go over," Dr. Maheswaren voice called from the door.

"Uhhhh yeahhhh... ok-okay..." He tried to act as normal as possible. He must have been zoning out all day again, that happened sometimes.

His companion raised an eyebrow at him. "Hm." She ushered him in to sit. "Connie's in the bathroom, she'll be here in a minute."

Instantly the two feelings of impassioned love and bitter sweetness filled him. He wished she were here to hold his hand going through all of this. He was so tired it ached through him.

"Eyes are brown. Skin... is tanned. Seems fairly aware..." She murmured to herself but Steven yapped over her excitedly.

"That's great. I miss her." The doctors face went slack for a second but bounced back up into a thin smile.

"She'll be happy you're here." Dr. Maheswaren pulled out a reflex tester and braced his leg. "Don't kick it out of my hand this time."

Steven giggled and nodded. "Okay, but it was a bubble and it didn't hurt."

His leg responded less dramatically than that even, a slightly above average kick that fell back again with no resistance. "Interesting."

"You finally ready to have me around?" Connie walked in and gave them a reserved smile, but when she saw him she froze and looked to her mother.

"I'm always ready to have you around." She accepted his wiggling fingers requesting an embrace and kissed the top of her head. "I missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, Steven."

Her mother gave her a hard look but Connie ignored it.

He liked hearing her say his name. He lived for it. Her sweet lips were playing a sweet smile when she said it and it always made him feel like floating. "So what are the results for?"

Connie pulled away a bit to hold him at shoulders length. "We gave you an X-ray for your bones and gem. Just as data for your chart."

Steven moved her hands so they were on his cheeks and sighed. "At this point I'm going to have my own room here." He dropped them and leaned back. "Lay it on me, I guess."

To his utter shock, Connie's mom moved her chair away while Connie crawled up onto his lap sideways.

"Connie–," Steven squeaked in surprise and Priyanka in warning.

"Mom, I don't care," She whispered and hugged him tight. "Steven it's okay. I'm here."

His face was blazing, he had no idea where to touch and where not to. The obvious things were obvious, but with her mom watching him with murder eyes under her medical professional ones, he just couldn't afford to have to be corrected. So, he did what felt right. His left arm crossed over the side of her face to hold her head into his heartbeat a bit tighter, and his other safely placed on her shoulder.

According to the doctors barely there grin, he'd chosen correctly. Mission complete; and a dangerous one at that.

"Steven, lately your gem has seen a lot of stress and strain from the cortisol equivalent of gem magic. Do you remember anything from today?"

His brows furrowed hard as he was both miffed and befuddled. "The Crystal Gems were arguing with me, I asked them for time alone and they said no and then–," He realized that's where the memory abruptly got hazy and then different, but unreachable. He tried harder, but it was like watching a tv from two miles away. "Nothing." It was both the smallest twinge of memory, and a horrified whisper.

Someone had seen Connie felt nothing. About what, he hoped he didn't know, but nothing was not a good thing.

"Steven this is your gem 8 weeks ago. Front. Side. Middle." She flipped through them and paused. "And... and here's your gem now."

There was no sound anywhere in the world at that moment while he frantically searched over it for something wrong. He almost slumped in relief until she zoomed in closely to the very bottom.

There, at the very tip of his diamond and so small no one but a dedicated doctor or gemologist would have found, the tiniest of shattering cracked down so little he almost had to squint.

But it was a shatter, regardless.

Suddenly it was too hot, too hot, way too hot and the room started shrinking around him as he hyperventilated. He couldn't even grow, he was so paralyzed with terror he couldn't do anything but tremble and shake.

"Steven? Steven! Steven it's not the end of the world I have more news, okay?"

Hands pressed against his face and he basked in the minor safety he felt there. Slowly, slowly, he reached up to grab them and squeezed their agreed upon three squeezes. 'I'm O-Kay,' He told her.

"He's okay mom." Connie tapped his hand thrice and that sign made him smile a bit before the gloom set back in.

"What's – what's wrong with me, Dr. Maheswaren?" He croaked weakly, resting his head on Connie's again. Everything hurt. He ached deep within his body.

"Today, we have seen multiple major personality shifts to the point of physical appearance and behavior." Priyankas worry lines deepened and she gave him a motherly pat. "I think you got pushed so hard that when your gem activated, the energy was too strong for your body to handle. Your bones x-ray is... worse."

Steven cringed away in horror and dry heaved. "Every–,"

"Not every!" She corrected hastily. "90% of them got shattered along with your gem and mindscape. I'm willing to guess you feel helpless and exhausted and done. Looking back, once you hit 13 things started to be happening with that identity crisis... Dissociative Identity Disorder can be a really loaded diagnosis, so it's not the one I'm going to give you now."

Connie clutched at his chest and bit back a sob. "Is he gonna be okay, Mom?"

"I think so, Connie. I just think that everything the Crystal Gems were avoiding are about to give them a very rude wake up call. Individually."