Stevonnie tossed and turned in their sleep, unable to find a restful position before being forced awake. The darkness of the ground surrounded them, and they slowly emerged from it, stepping into the light, new to their surroundings. They looked around, three giant Diamonds crouched in front of them, their eyes shining as they marveled at them.

"Welcome!" White Diamond smiled, lowering her hand as the fusion glanced from diamond to diamond.

"Where am I?" They asked, staring off behind the giant White Diamond at the enormous holes in the ground that they seemed to emerge from as well, a large palace sat atop a cliff, overlooking the ravine where the four of them stood.

"The Diamond Kindergarten." White replied. Stevonnie's eyes widened as the realization overtook them, forcing the two awake.

Steven gasped, nearly unfusing with Connie at the discovery.

"There's a kindergarten for the diamonds?!" The fusion shrieked, jumping from the floor and running toward the doors of the palace. They were still shut.
Stevonnie searched the room for a window, none. The fusion sprinted down a hallway toward what seemed to be Blue's room, and caught sight of a large bay window at least forty feet in the air.
Stevonnie vaulted into the air, grappling the edge of the window sill and crawled up on top of it, searching the wreckage below for their ship. The red ship sat at the edge of the steps, untouched.
Stevonnie leapt down landing gently on the ground before sprinting into the ship and promptly starting it up.

"If those coordinates are what I think they are, then the Diamonds must have fled to their own kindergarten!" They said to eachother as the ship lurched forward, gliding gently on the ground. She ship shot up into the air sending the fusion flying to the back wall with its velocity.

The ship stopped and landed gently on the sands of Beach City. Stevonnie stumbled out looking frazzled but ultimately excited at the discovery.
Pearl, Amethyst and Spinel greeted them from the balcony as they neared.

"Yo, you find out where they went?" Amethust called, jumping over the balcony and meeting up with them. Steven and Connie unfused.
Spinel's jaw dropped in confusion.

"Did you just-" she pointed at the two of them, her mind entirely boggled by the occurrence, mild jealousy pricked her, but she shook it off.

"The Diamonds have their own kindergarten, I think that's where they went!" Steven said, excitedly throwing his hands in the air and grabbing Amethyst in a hug.

"They what?" Pearl gasped, she mulled over the idea, it didn't occur to her that the diamonds were, in fact, made the same way as every other gem.

"We have the coordinates to the planet too!" Connie grinned, her memorization skills finally coming in handy outside of schoolwork.

"So when are we gonna go?" Spinel questioned, seeming slightly perturbed by the idea of facing them once more. She didn't want Steven to face them without her though, she didn't want him to be hurt.
Steven glanced at his friend his smile slowly fading as he thought about facing them.
He would have to leave soon, to prevent the diamonds from enacting further genocide on their own people.
But, Spinel was corrupted. She shouldn't join them.
What if she gets lost again? And if he isn't there or isn't able to heal her, she could do serious damage.

"Spinel-" he paused, searching for words to say, the gem patiently waited for him. "Can I talk to you?"

Steven stepped away from Connie and gently grabbed the gem's hand, leading her off so that the rest of them wouldn't hear his words.

"What is it?" Spinel asked, staring at his hand in hers. The boy stopped, the two of them stood in the shadow of the temple's hand. He looked up at her finally, and let out a discontent sigh.

"You can't come with us." He said, he watched as the gem's small smile faded and her face dropped its joy. Spinel turned her head, looking down at her feet.

"It's because I'm corrupted..." she whispered softly, shame panging her heart. Steven put on a false smile, tilting his head so he could meet her eyes once again.

"Don't worry, when this is over, we'll fix you." He lied gently. He had no way of knowing if he could fix her, if the diamonds would help him fix her. He dreaded the thought of being forced to bubble her, knowing there would be no solution.
She would become dangerous, even in beach city, she could accidentally corrupt other gems, or hurt people without even knowing it.
And if she were to come with them, she could inadvertently foil their plans to stop the Diamonds. She couldn't go. And she couldn't stay either.

Steven's thoughts turned dark, he glanced upward at the greenhouse, then looked back at his friend. Spinel was kicking the sand up, solemnly chiding herself for being broken.

Steven rested his hand on her shoulder and provided her a soft smile.

"You're going to be okay."

His words caused Spinel to glance at him, slowly looking up, the small nervous smile reappearing on her face. It nearly broke his heart.