Steven kicked his front door open in frustration, his plan failed, again. Aquamarine had obtained one of Obsidian's weapons, and he had no clue if the gem could recreate it.
The only positive outcome was Spinel inadvertently destroying the whole factory.
The crystal gems had always been underdogs, but this was a failure that had far more consequences that Steven would have liked.

"How are we supposed to stop them?!" Steven exclaimed, crossing his arms in discontent. Garnet stepped behind him, looking down at the flustered child.

"Spinel still believes in you, if she can hold out, we can get the upper hand." The gem replied, walking past him and leaning against the table.

"Yeah, but whatever Obsidian did to that scythe made it wicked hard to fight." Amethyst retorted, recalling the trouble she had simply blocking the weapon. "I think it makes whoever has it stronger."

"That doesn't make sense, Bismuth said the modifications on the rejuvenator involved sound, and some kind of safe drive?" Steven sighed, slumping on the couch trying to wrap his mind around the type of weapon they were up against. It wasn't normal, and that's about all he knew of it.

"I wish Pink Pearl would contact us…" he breathed, concern growing in his mind at the undercover ally, could she have been caught? He almost didn't want to know. Steven sat up, his thoughts around the whole conundrum swirling like a storm as he tried to piece together some kind of solution.
He didn't know where the Diamonds went, and lost contact with Pink Pearl. He knew Aquamarine had her weapon, and that Spinel might not be upset with him.
Lars was off in space doing only God knows what.
His only option was to try and find the Diamonds before Aquamarine and intercept them.
That, or hold out in case Spinel decided to leave them and bring the weapon with her. But that option seemed incredibly unlikely, given her tendencies to let her emotions consume her.

"We need to find the Diamonds before Aquamarine does, and we need to stop both of them from destroying each other." Steven mumbled, not sure if he could make the extremely vague goal come to fruition.

The boy sat up from the couch, glancing at garnet to see if she objected.

"I don't have the answers Steven, there are too many plausible outcomes." She said, shrugging her shoulders. Steven hung his head in desperation, he didn't like that answer. If Garnet didn't know how things were going to end up, it was nearly impossible to find out where the diamonds were, what they intended. Aside from Spinel's vague distress, there were no prior indications of unrest.

Steven stepped outside, staring off into the sinking sun. Earth was beautiful, serene. It existed nearly outside of all of this, Steven wanted to do the same. To be away from all the stress and duress of the diamonds, he wasn't prepared for royalty, or prepared to govern. He was a child, a teenager, and he wanted to be one.

When he was young, he was proud to be different. To fight monsters with his friends and protect the earth, but now all he wanted was some semblance of normalcy.
No diplomatic meetings, no wars, no rebellions against dictators, or repressed familial trauma. He wanted to be like a regular kid. For once.

Maybe, that's what rose intended for him to be. If she didn't think that the calm quiet after the rebellion wouldn't last, she would have stayed, never had him.
But she didn't. And she unknowingly left him an empire to rebuild.

Steven sighed, lowering his head at the thought before a familiar face caught his eye, Connie was strolling along the beach, heading his way.

"What?" Connie gasped, holding her hand to her mouth in astonishment. Steven nodded solemnly, he felt his friend deserved to know the situation in the stars.

"And, I don't know how to stop it, Aquamarine has the weapon, and the Diamonds are hiding- somewhere." He replied, his friend sat back on the couch,  processing the information as she was given it.

"Is Spinel on our side still?" Her question caused the boy to pause, he wanted to believe so, but he had no real way of knowing. Their last meeting didn't exactly save time for conversation.

"I don't know," he answered, looking away from Connie and grabbing her hand to comfort himself. "She tried to talk to me, but I told her to leave- the ceiling would have shattered her."

Steven thought about the few seconds in the factory, Spinel didn't seem in the least upset with him, she was more protective of the Crystal Gems than anything else, and when she tried to talk, the water gem had prevented her from nearing.
She seemed worried about them out of anything. Perhaps, she did trust Steven.
His thoughts turned dark as guilt began to bubble inside him.
I told her to leave, and she did, and she still trusts me? She protected us from Obsidian, and took the scythe, did she do that so we wouldn't get hurt? Or was it all a part of Aquamarine's plan?

"I guess she really did get better." He mumbled, feeling sorry for himself, and disappointed in himself for being so quick to judge her.
Connie leaned toward her boyfriend and let out a content sigh.

"Then I don't think we need to worry about it." She said with a small smile on her face. "We'll find a way to fix this, and I'll be here to help."

Steven met the girl's eyes, and he planted a small kiss on her cheek, causing the two of them to blush and snuggle closer to eachother.

Connie was like a rock for him. She always knew how to make him feel better, even when everything seemed like it was falling apart. She managed to keep his worries away.