Steven materialized on the garden warp pad, and scanned the decrepit place for any sign of Spinel.

"Spinel? Are you here? I came to say I'm sorry!" He called, stepping off the pad and searching the garden for the pink gem. She was nowhere to be seen in the small space. Steven sighed, and returned to the warp to search another location.

He warped to new home world, Spinel wasn't there.
Then watermelon island, not here either.
He warped and warped and warped and had gone nearly everywhere except the one place he knew she wouldn't be.
She couldn't be back at homeworld, not with the diamonds. And if she wasn't anywhere else, she had to be somewhere relatively nearby.

Steven exited the warp pad to go into his room, feeling defeated in his efforts. All this searching for a gem he was certain wanted nothing to do with him. He couldn't let it go though. He couldn't become his mother. He had to rectify things.

Steven stepped out onto his balcony, staring at the slowly setting sun when he overheard a familiar voice, it was faint but the accent and graininess was definitely there. The boy looked up the cliffside and noticed the noise was coming from the lighthouse on the cliffside.
He lept as high as he could and projected himself in the air, lightly landing his feet on the cliffside. He silently moved toward the base of the lighthouse, listening intently to Spinel ramble to herself.

"Stupid, stupid stupid! You're so stupid! Oh God what do I do, I'm all alone. And no one cares- no one wants me, and if they do they just want to play stupid games and hurt me!" The gem grabbed her pigtails and yanked on them hard, before continuing her rant to herself.

"You are the worst, the worst of the worst. A mistake! A-a-a problem! Steven was right. But I am so angry and I want to hurt him so much! I can't. That's bad, wrong. I can't hurt people I care about." She whipped around, pacing a top the lighthouse.

"He doesn't even like you! He doesn't care about me! He said so. Why do I care? Why does it hurt so much? Why can't I just go?! I don't have anywhere to go- I can't go back to homeworld, the...they will hurt me. Reset me, again and again and again. If-if I go to the garden I'll be alone..and, and if I stay here I have to hide. Just go. Just go!"

Steven saw a glimpse of the gem crouch over the edge of the lighthouse and quickly sucked himself to the side of the building to remain out of sight before the gem could notice him.
She spun back around continuing to pace, getting quieter and quieter as she did so.

Steven took this opportunity to make himself known. He quietly stepped away from the lighthouse, staring up to make sure the gem hadn't seen him come near and pretended to nonchalantly walk around the lighthouse, every so often glancing up to make sure he was within her sights.
He sat down in the shadow of the lighthouse, Spinel squeaked, startled that he had appeared just below her, did he hear her?

"Spinel, I..I came to apologize." He said loud enough for her to hear. She crouched low, staying out of sight, but his words piqued her interest.

"I was a bad friend to you. And I know that now. I didn't think about you as a person. I let you go with the diamonds without telling you the truth. And I dismissed you when you needed real help." He paused, trying to think of what to say, something that wouldn't upset her.

"I made a mistake." He said, softer this time, not sure if she had heard him.

Spinel leaned over the edge of the roof and glared down at the child, before piping up.

"Oh that's real genuine! You gotta lotta nerve coming to find me with that sorry excuse of an apology!" Spinel leapt from the roof of the lighthouse, forcing Steven to back against the wall. She lurched toward him, clenching her fists.

"You made a mistake alright." She growled.

"Spinel, I really am sorry!" Steven gasped, lifting his hand and pulling out his shield instinctively. Spinel halted herself, caught off guard by the shield. Her brow furrowed as she glared at him, stretching herself to be taller than him.

"Pulling out your shield already?" She scoffed, continuing to stomp toward him.

"I wasn't gonna fight you, but if you insist!" The gem raised her fist blowing it up to three times its size, hurdling it down on top of Steven who protected himself with his shield, the blow pushed Spinel backward a few paces and she groaned to herself in anger.

"You said we could be friends!" She hollard, making a break for him and coiling herself into a screw to drill on Steven's shield.

"I want to be friends Spinel! I hurt you and I'm sorry!" Steven pushed against the shield thrusting Spinel off and sending her back again.
Her hurt and rage began to envelop her as she heard his words. Spinel reached out from where she stood, plucking the shield from Steven's hands and throwing it into the distance.

"That's rich! You're sorry? Hah!! You don't know what it is to be sorry!" She screamed, lunging toward the boy. Steven wrapped himself in a protective bubble before she could reach him, forcing her outstretched arms to collide on it's hard surface. Spinel withdrew her fists and screwed herself up to become a spinning top, hurling toward Steven and punching the bubble in succession.
Steven quickly exploded the bubble, forcing Spinel away and redrew his shield.

"I am. I was selfish and I'm sorry!"

"You want to be friends but you don't know what a friend even is! I was made to be a friend!" Spinel shrieked, balling her fist to throw another blow, only to be stopped by Steven's shield.

"Friends care about you!" She continued, raising her other fist for another downward blow.

"Friends enjoy you!" The gem threw her fist, trying to catch Steven's side before landing another blow on his shield.

"Friends don't let you live with people who hurt you!" She grabbed the shield again, launching Steven into the air, and leaping after him.
The gem grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him as hard as she could towards the surface of the earth but Steven slowed his decent and floated downwards softly. Spinel began to seethe at the sight of him easily evading the attack and plummeted toward him, but instead reaching out to grab the roof of the lighthouse, swinging past him and landing on top of it.

"You discarded me like a broken toy!" She screamed, her voice cracking with the sorrow that lay underneath her spite.

Steven stared up at the hurt gem, lowering his shield for a moment. Feeling a sudden pang of empathy for all of Spinel's pain.

"It's fine! Toys always come with accessories!" Spinel laughed, reaching into her gem and pulling out her rejuvenator. Steven's eyes widened at the sight, suddenly terrified of the thought of losing his powers again.

The gem vaulted over the edge of the roof landing in front of Steven, swiping at him dramatically as he evaded her attacks.

"A toy you break and fix, and break again, and again and again and AGAIN!" She screamed, her swipes becoming less and less coordinated as she began to break down. She flailed the Scythe, barely catching Steven at all, as if she was purposefully pulling her attacks.

"I'm nothing!" She shrieked, "I'm nothing to you, nothing to Pink and I'm nothing to-" Spinel's eyes veered upward and she suddenly stopped in her tracks, she pulled back her potential attack and held the shaft of the scythe close to her.
Now fully focused on what floated in the sky above her.
Steven paused, staring at her, startled by her quick switch in demeanor.
Fear streaked across her face and she began trembling underneath the torso of White Diamonds ship. Her grip loosened on the rejuvenator and it clattered to the ground.
Steven jumped away from it as it fell, not allowing it to strike him again.

The gem that stood before him stood entirely still, terrified. Fear disallowing her to move a single centimeter. She let out a small whimper, her eyes not moving from the thing she stared at.

Steven followed her gaze to the ship and suddenly realized the fear that had possessed Spinel. He watched as a white orb floated from the forehead of the ship, landing delicately on the ground. White Diamond stood towering over the two of them, causing Steven to instinctively step in front of the frozen Spinel.

White crouched down, her face in a pout.

"Steven! It's so good to see you! Oh and you found Spinel! I had a feeling Pink's little friend had ran off here." The diamond gave a convincing gentle smile before lowering her hand. Spinel jumped in terror but hung her head and began stepping toward her.

Steven's head followed his friend as she reluctantly shuffled toward the giantess.
Steven quickly grabbed her hand, closing his fingers tightly around it.

"Don't go." He said sternly. Spinel turned toward him, confused but entirely relieved. She took a step backward, hesitant to look at White's reaction.

"How many times?" He glowered at the giant, "How many times have you hurt her?"

White diamond looked confused, then surprised, then irritated. She cocked her head.

"Steven I don't know what you're talking about."

Her words boiled his blood, she had the gall to lie to him about something he had witnessed himself. He picked up the rejuvenator in his other hand, causing Spinel to pull away from him for a moment.

"She has this for a reason. How many times did you reset Spinel!" He threw the scythe away from himself, looking back at the diamond.
"You hurt her, over and over again and used this to make her forget! How many times!"

"Five hundred and seventy-two." Spinel said softly, her words were almost a whisper. Steven jerked back, staring at the gem whose eyes were clenched shut, trying not to cry. He turned his attention toward White Diamond.

"She was being a nuisance! Having explosive tantrums! Asking questions, accusing us of causing Pink to leave her! It was the only way to make her stop, everything else we did didn't work. She needed to be punished!" White bellowed, the sound of her voice causing a rush of air to ruffle through the trees and grass, birds scattering into the sky.
Spinel suddenly dropped to the ground, her free arm wrapping itself around her to comfort herself from the sound of White's anger.

"Look at her!" Steven screamed at the diamond, catching her off guard. "She's terrified! You think that's okay?! You think I would want this? Pink would want this?!"

The diamond lurched forward and fell to her knees, the impact causing the ground to shake beneath them. Spinel recoiled into herself. Steven held her hand firmly, despite her entire arm being limp.

"Steven you don't understand!" White cried, "you don't know how hard it is for me-"

"I DON'T CARE!!" he screamed, cutting the diamond off. "I don't care how hard it is, you DON'T hurt people who depend on you! You don't SHATTER them for needing love and attention!"

The diamond shed a tear at his words.

"I can be better, we can be better Steven, we won't hurt her-"

"I said no." He belted. "You've hurt her enough."

White lowered her head In resignation, before eyeing the huddled and panicked gem. Her lips pursed in thought before a small smile appeared.

"Spinel," the gem's head shot up. "As your diamond,"

"No." Spinel breathed.

"I order you to reset Steven."

Spinel's hand ripped out of Steven's and flung itself toward the rejuvenator, grabbing it and quickly retracting. Spinel held it in her fingers, her hands wrapped tightly around it.
The gem looked up at Steven, fear and guilt riddled on her face. She lunged toward him, forcing Steven to pull out his shield, the shield cut in half, dissapating from the impact, but Steven jumped and tumbled out of the reach of the scythe.
Spinel stood, her head hung low, trying so very hard to not move an inch. But the diamond's command hadn't been fulfilled.
She lunged again, spinning the scythe around her body and charging at him, swinging it in on his right.
He caught the shaft of the scythe and struggled to keep it from hitting its target.
Spinel raised her head, a pleading look in her eyes. She began to mouth silent words.
Steven's eyes widened as he began to read her silent lips, he twisted the scythe from her grasp and spun it around his head, pulling it up through Spinel's left hip.
The gem froze, and looked into his teary eyes, a small warm smile on her face before her body exploded into a puff of pink smoke. Her bright pink gem falling to the ground with a tiny clink.

Steven turned, rejuvenator in hand, tears beginning to well in his eyes.

He met eyes with White Diamond, whose hand covered her ajar mouth.

"Go."

White lowered her hand to speak, 
"I just-"

"GO!"

The diamond nodded, her eyes trembling at the sight of his unequivocal rage.
She stood, her head bowed in submission, bubbling herself in her white orb before floating off to her ship.

Steven picked up the heart shaped gem and turned it over in his hands. He retracted the rejuvenator and shoved it in his pocket before making his way down the cliff.