Steven patted Spinel's back, who was sitting on a mossy log in the middle of that forest where the trio was resting, Peridot looked at them suspiciously, surprised by the friendly behavior of both "Do you want to see a trick?" Steven asked trying to encourage Spinel, to the surprise of the green gem, the human began to create small bubbles to juggle them, surprisingly better than the last times he tried.

"You're learning fast, we could soon do a show when we get to Beach City," Spinel offers with a crooked smile, ruffling Steven's hair with his hand, who smiles only momentarily, but he realizes that her friend was not well.

Given this, Steven gives a determined breath and swings forward on purpose, falling facing the floor while all his bubbles fell on him, in an attempt to make the jester laugh, but for her part before falling to the ground Spinel holds him and prevents him from falling, although the gem does not prevent the bubbles from exploding against the ground. Spinel just left the human gently on the floor, avoiding Steven's attempts to talk to her or tell jokes.

Peridot felt very out of place between the two of them, but she didn't want to get lost, so she kept very close to the duo. The group tried, on Steven's initiative, to start a kind of campfire to avoid freezing (or at least Steven did not), the efforts were nonetheless unsuccessful, the human ended up using sheets like a kind of mattress and sheets to cover himself, Peridot who did not know what it was to sleep stood guard over a tree, while Spinel sat next to the human, who fell asleep easily after his many attempts to interact with Spinel, the pink gem observed the small expression of anger that Steven kept, apparently in a dream.

"Peridot, keep an eye on Steven, I have to go for a little walk," Spinel says with annoyance getting up, the green gem does not take long to look at her suspiciously.

"Why should I, listen to your orders?" Peridot exclaims with annoyance, but suddenly Spinel was in front of her, stretched like a snake, and her fingers transformed into spears, pointing directly at the gem of Peridot.

"Why? Because it's the only way you can make sure I don't end up breaking you in tiny bits because of the rage it gives me when I see you," Spinel said, descending just as quickly from the tree with which she climbed, the pink gem moved away at a rapid pace from the place, perhaps she could not find her way back, and that is what Peridot expected, since he was scared after hearing Spinel's threat.

******

The next morning, Steven woke up without finding Spinel, only Peridot, looking at him from above "Where is Spinel?" The human immediately asked with concern, to which Peridot raised her shoulders.

"I don't know" The green gem exclaims simply.

"How you do not know?!" Steven questions almost offended by Peridot's response, to which the gem goes down using her fingers as propellers, to face the human, although a little taller, to avoid receiving a blow from it.

"She left at night, she told me that I had to watch, so I don't know where she is" Peridot says with annoyance, she remembered Spinel's gaze watching her, the pink gem more than grace was very scary, and maybe even shame, counting the longing for Pink Diamond, Peridot looked at it as a feature shared by many of the ancient diamond gems, like Jasper.

"... Where did she go?" Steven questioned quickly, to which Peridot pointed in the right direction of Spinel, the human did not take long to run in that direction.

"Hey, wait for me!" Peridot shouted when the human seemed to abandon her for searching for the pink gem. The new duo of Peridot and Steven were looking for Spinel for every hidden place in the forest they explored, under the stones, around the trees and above them, unfortunately Steven knew that Spinel was very good at hiding.

"Let me try something," the human exclaimed, taking a breath. "Spinel, you can go out! You won! Stop playing!" Steven implored hard, but that forest remained silent, Peridot was running out of patience, so she took Steven's shoulder tightly before the human would continue.

"Steven, if she wants to stay or stop traveling with you ... well, with us. Let her go, we don't have time to go after her, The Cluster has a time limit before opening and devouring the earth in search of nutrients to complete himself "Peridot declares logically, but Steven refuses extremely quickly.

"I will not leave Spinel, not now. She promised to take me with the Crystal Gems," Steven exclaims, beginning to continue his search for the pink gem, even if it will take days, Steven would, he was not the type of person who abandon a friend, to the regret of Peridot.

After a few minutes, the midday sun burned more than normal that day, so Steven was resting frustrated under a tree, while Peridot sat indifferently beside him "Steven, what is that?" Peridot asked curiously observing what the arch of a gigantic door looked like, but without walls or stairs, a simple stone frame consumed by nature.

"I think it's what remains of a construction, most of the world is full of humans, but some no longer live in the same places," Steven explains without really paying much attention.

"Why? There seems to be a lot of resources here yet. Or is it a resource farm? If so, then it is very inefficient." Peridot said curiously, for her it was clear that the Earth was rare, even since the first time she saw that place.

"A farm resources? Gems also grow things?" Steven asked somewhat surprised by what Peridot said, to which, to his greatest surprise, she nodded.

"In a sense, because our empire has not yet been able to expand further than it is in the natal planetary system, different projects are used to revitalize resources, we use biomass to restore the minerals of the Kindergarten and continue to produce gems when necessary, although part of problems with the local fauna and flora, there is not much to fight against, so our numbers have not dropped extraordinarily in millennia, not at least since the Rose Quartz rebellion "Peridot explains, but Steven had a flushed face of the explanation and what it cost to process it for him, Peridot for her part did not realize this and continued to explain difficult concepts.

"We'd better keep looking for Spinel"

******

In the end, another day had passed without the Peridot and Steven duo finding Spinel, the worst part of their search was that they had gone deeper and deeper into the forest, luckily Steven had found a small stream from which to drink water without worrying too much , his mouth had dried too much for screaming in search of Spinel, meanwhile Peridot kept a few meters away, watching the human but looking for her own place.

Steven after drinking decided to descend the creek, finding at the end of this a small pond, surrounded by bluish flowers and brambles "Spinel!" Steven called jumping on the pink gem, which turned its back on the flowers, on which they fell.

"Pink had given flowers like this, she placed them in ... our garden," Spinel said from the ground, Steven stood beside her, watching Spinel gently touch the forget-me-nots "Steven. Do humans have a purpose?" Suddenly Spinel questioned.

"Eh? No, I don't think so," Steven said in dismay "Why?"

"Don't you feel emptied Steven? The gems were created with purposes, my purpose was to be friends with Pink, she does not exist ... More and more I discover of this world, and it seems more cursed" Exclaims Spinel with surprising tranquility, a strange smile poking down her face

"I ... I don't feel empty, I only have my mother's gem, the rest is for my dad. So, I'm ... happy" Steven points out simply, grabbing his gem with a small glow in it " I don't think much about those things, my dad thinks that the meaning of life is to enjoy it, and Pearl thinks that human lives are too short and small to make sense, "Steven explains, surprised, but then Spinel's hands squeeze his cheeks, raising him a little on the ground.

"Sometimes I'd like to crush you Steven, you're too happy for your own good. Those Crystal Gems ... what they did to Pink, I promised to hold back but every part of my body's light vibrates with anger, Steven," Spinel points out quickly, her tongue hisses like that of a snake, Steven sweats.

"Won't you do anything to the Crystal Gems? No ?! If you don't ... I'll be your best friend, Spinel." The human hurried with concern, trying to attract the gem's attention.

"Steven, you can't be my best friend," Spinel said, approaching her eyes to the human's face, literally, with a superb smile.

"... Super best friends?" Steven asks hopefully, a little laugh escapes Spinel.

"That's not why, I don't want you to replace Pink, no one can. You are you ..." Spinel statement, lowering the human "But for your bad luck, that means the more I know you, the more I hate you and your friends "Spinel sentence smiling, to which Steven's heart almost breaks, if not because Spinel makes a movement with his hands, similar to jazz hands "You fell"

"It wasn't funny," Steven said grumbling.

"Oh, you hurt my poor heart" Spinel said, pointing to his gem, which beats like a real heart "Don't be offended, I just played a heavy joke, a game you didn't even know I was playing with you. I played a game, it turns out that I played alone "Mention the pink gem.

"I'm sorry," Steven mentioned, holding Spinel's hand, who reciprocated the gesture.

"It's not your fault" Spinel Judgment "Wait, where is Peridot? I watch over you, right?" Spinel assured herself worriedly asking the hybrid, but before he answered, she saw Peridot appear.

"Of course!" She hurried to say, it was the green gem "But going on ... Moving on to another topic! I found more train tracks outside the forest when I flew over it, we could use it to go east" Peridot pointed out with confidence , to which Steven nodded cheerfully of the discovery of the green gem.