The garden. . . Steven thought as he traveled through the warp, clutching the note (Y/n) had left for him in his hand tightly.

Think Steven, think! Inhaling deeply, Steven slowly closed his eyes. If he could access his mother's memories while he slept all of those other times over the years, then it should certainly work now.

It's quiet. . . Steven yawned and his vision began to grow blurry.

I haven't slept in so long. . . Steven thought to himself as everything began to grow dark.

It grew darker,

And darker,

And darker,

Until finally. . .

His mind went off, and sleep consumed him. Leaving him in the world of dreams; of nightmares.

.

.

.

A world of memories.

*****

"PINK~!" Steven's eyes immediately shot open at the sound of the familiar voice of the pink gem. Gasping, the diamond-human hybrid pushed himself up and placed a hand over his quick beating heart as he took in his surroundings with blurry vision.

"W. . . What?" Steven whispered, just when a pair of long, rubber arms suddenly wrapped around him and pulled him into a hug.

"Hey! You're awake!" Another voice said excitedly, making Steven turn his attention to the source.

And once again, his eyes went wide, and his face began to heat up.

Standing in front of him, was (Y/n). Though, she looked different. Instead of the dark shade of (F/c) hair he had grown accustomed to, her hair was a light shade of (H/c), and a flower crown sat atop her head. She didn't have any black tear marks streaming down her face, either. He also noticed that her (S/t) skin seemed lighter, and less dull, and that her (E/c) seemed to have a light to them, too, and weren't blank and emotionless.

What made Steven's blush worsen, though, was what she was wearing: a long, silky, (2F/c) dress that went all the way down to your feet and even dragged on the ground a bit. The dress had a slit that started from her lower thigh, and it was a sleeveless that showed some of. . . her. . . um. . . Ahem. Cleavage. She also seemed to be wearing a pair of white slippers and a black choker around her neck.

Needless to say, she looked beautiful, and Steven was too awe-struck to say so outloud.

Wow. . . Steven's mouth gaped slightly as he stared at the (F/c) gem before him, unaware of the fact that (Y/n) and Spinel were staring right back at him with confused looks on their faces.

"Pink?" Spinel tapped Steven's shoulder, snapping him out of his daze. The teenage hybrid blinked a few times before looking over to Spinel.

"What?" He asked quickly, a bit embarrassed.

Spinel giggled and stretched one leg out over to (Y/n) before jumping up in the air and landing right next to her.

"We were just asking you if you wanted to play, silly!" (Y/n) said as she ran over to Steven and took both of his hands in hers, intertwining their fingers as she gave him an adorable closed-eyed smile.

Steven's face felt like fire at this point. God, she were so beautiful. No, wait. 'Beautiful' wasn't enough to describe her; not in Steven's eyes, at least. (Y/n) was. . .

Steven lifted his hands up to (Y/n)'s face and gently cupped her cheeks in his palms as he smiled dreamily at the (F/c) gem. "Gorgeous. . ." He whispered.

(Y/n) blinked, blushing a bit at Pink's sudden compliment. She then shook her head, causing Steven to release her face as she giggled and hugged him.

"You're so silly, Pink!" (Y/n) said as Spinel laughed and joined in on the hug.

Steven frowned slightly and held in a disappointed sigh. Right, he looked around, taking in his surroundings. This is only a dream. . . and she. . . Steven grabbed (Y/n)'s chin and lifted her face up to meet his eyes, but she continued to smile innocently the whole time.

She's the enemy. . .

And yet, despite that thought, Steven wrapped his arms around the Marriposa gem. If he could never feel (Y/n)'s embrace in reality, then this was as good as he was gonne get.

But when he felt her tighten her hold on him and snuggle her face into his shoulder, he couldn't help but long for more.

And he couldn't help but wish that this was the (Y/n) from reality, either.

*****

Steven blinked his eyes open and groaned as he slowly sat up. Yawning, he rubbed his now-sore neck and looked around with blurry vision, confused.

"Where am I?" Steven muttered as he stood up.

"The place that I had never left. . ." Steven's eyes widened and he immediately snapped his attention towards the stairs; more specifically, the gem standing at the bottom of them.

". . . Spinel. . ." Steven walked down the steps and quickly joined the gem, who was looking out to the area with a sad, wistful smile.

"This. . ." Spinel began to walk forwards, with Steven following after her in toe. "This was our garden. . ." She whispered happily as she clasped her hands together. "A special world just for me, Pink and (Y/n). . ." Spinel looked over to the ruined and torn down garden with a sad smile as memories began to flood back to her.

*****

"On Homeworld, Pink was so lonely and sad, but not here!"

Pink Diamond laughed as she ran down the stone pathway of the garden, looking around for two certain gems that had hidden themselves from her. Soon, the Diamond stopped next to three floating pillars and began to look around, unaware of the playful cartoony and (E/c) watching her from behind one of the pillars.

Spinel giggled and glanced at (Y/n), who giggled along with her. When they noticed Pink beginning to turn her attention to their hiding spot, the two quickly hid again. Pink blinked and tapped her chin in thought, wondering where the two could be, when she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder; making her turn around to see who or what it could be.

"We would play for hours!"

Once Pink had turned around, Spinel jumped up in front of the Diamond and began to do some silly dance as (Y/n) opened her wings and began to fly around in midair, dancing happily as Pink turned around to see the two.

Finding Spinel's dance funny, the Diamond laughed and clutched her stomach, making Spinel and (Y/n) smile at their little achievement to get their friend to laugh.

"Every day was so much fun!"

(Y/n) sat on the edge of the fountain in the center of the garden as Spinel began to juggle in front of Pink to entertain her. Pink, who was crouching down in front of Spinel, smiled and clapped at the pink gem before looking away from her and sighing.

(Y/n), who had noticed Pink's sort of. . . bored look, blinked and tilted her head to the side in confusion. Why did she look so sad? Well, surely the Marriposa gem had to fix that!

(Y/n) stood up and began to dance over to Pink, who turned her attention to watch the (F/c) gem as she took a katana out from her gem and began to perform a sword dance, smiling at her Diamond the whole time.

Pink only sighed.

"That's what we thought. . ."

"Did something happen?"

.

.

.

"Pink wanted a colony, more than anything."

Pink stood in front of the transmitter with an excited grin on her face and with her hands clasped together as she stood on her tippy-toes in anticipation. Spinel and (Y/n), who were standing on the opposite side of the transmitter, watched curiously as Blue and Yellow Diamond spoke to Pink about some planet called 'Earth' and how it belonged to her now.

"One day, her wish came true! Blue and Yellow gave Pink her very own planet!"

Blue was about to say something else to Pink, to tell her of when she could begin to colonize 'Earth' and everything else that she would have to do, when Spinel suddenly began to jump in front of the screen, smiling at Pink with a mixture of happines and excitement as the pink-colored Diamond frowned, cringing slightly.

"We were so excited!"

Soon, Spinel began to jump around Pink as (Y/n) began to spin and twirl around the Diamond, whilst humming a sweet tune happily.

"A brand new place to play!"

*****

Steven looked over to Spinel, feeling a bit confused yet curious at the same time. "So. . . why didn't you go with her. . .?"

Spinel only frowned and closed her eyes, rolling her hands into tight fists at her sides.

*****

(Y/n) and Spinel giggled as they followed after Pink. Spinel skipped, while (Y/n) just twirled around and laughed; a few of the flowers in her hair falling out and onto the beige stone pathway.

Pink stayed silent the whole time. Spinel and (Y/n) glanced at eachother, wonder why she wasn't laughing and playing with the two of them, when Spinel suddenly snapped her fingers; an idea coming to her head. She grinned at (Y/n) and winked, and the Marriposa gem covered her mouth to muffle her laughter once she saw Spinel stretch her leg out and stand in front of Pink, doing silly faces in an attempt to make her laugh.

Pink, again, remained silent. She walked past Spinel, and her two 'playmates' watched her continue to make her way to the warp pad in confusion. What was that reaction? Was something wrong? Did the other Diamonds make her upset again?

With that last thought, (Y/n) became determined to make Pink happy again. The Marriposa gem skipped over to Pink, and grabbed her hand, causing her to turn her attention to her. Once her eyes met (Y/n)'s, the (F/c) gem smiled happily and began to play with her fingers.

That didn't get Pink to smile, either.

When (Y/n) saw that her little trick to get Pink to smile didn't work, like it usually did, the gem began to grow worried. (Y/n) then shook her head, shrugging Pink's behavior off with the excuse that she was probably just tired.

. . . Right?

Spinel walked up to (Y/n) and took Pink's hand as well. Sending a smile to eachother, the two gems giggled and began to pull on Pink's hand, trying to get their bestfriend to follow them so that they could continue their game of hide and seek.

Pink stared down at the two of them with an unreadable expression, before pulling her hand away from theirs. The two gems looked down, noticing Pink's hand out of their grasp, and then looked back up at her with confused expressions.

(Y/n) then tilted her head to the side, and Spinel copied her action.

Pink inhaled deeply before smiling down at the two.

"Here in the garden, let's play a game," She began, causing both Spinel and (Y/n) to perk up. (Y/n) and Spinel soon began to jump in their places as they took a step towards Pink, their hands clasped together in excitement as they awaited her to tell them what the game was.

"I'll show you how it's done," Pink Diamond continued, giving (Y/n) and Spinel a closed-eyed smile, causing their excitement to grow.

Pink then kneeled down in front of the two, and booped their noses. "Here in the garden, stand very still."

(Y/n) and Spinel clapped their hands together happily. "This'll be so much fun!" The two said simultaneously, happy and excited smiles on their faces.

*****

Spinel took a shaky breath and hugged herself slightly, a sad smile making its way onto her features.

And then she smiled,

That's what we're after,

The smile in her eyes,

The sound of her laughter. . .

Spinel took another deep breath and turned to Steven, whose eyes were wide.

Spinel quickly turned away from him and looked towards the warp pad with a look of hurt and betrayal flashing through her eyes.

Happy to listen,

Happy to play,

Happily watching her drift away. . .

*****

Both Spinel and (Y/n) watched as Pink walked up the stairs and stepped onto the warp pad, smiles still on their faces as they watched a beam of light engulf their friend before taking her away.

It saddened them a little, seeing her leave, but they knew that she would be back.

She promised, didn't she?

Suddenly, an orange and yellow butterfly came out of nowhere and landed on Spinel's head, causing her and (Y/n) to break out into a feat of giggles.

Happily waiting,

All on our own,

Under the endless sky. . .

Soon, the butterfly flew away from Spinel's head and over to the bushes. Spinel pouted for a bit, feeling disappointed, but (Y/n) managed to bring a smile back to her face by doing a few silly faces for her.

Counting the seconds,

Standing alone,

As thousands of years go by. . .

Pink flower petals then blew past Spinel and (Y/n), but once they were gone, it showed that the once beautiful and cared for garden was now dark and in ruins. Spinel's hair was now messed up, as well as (Y/n)'s. Not only that, but their features now looked duller, darker, and they looked so. . . tired. . . so sad. . .

Spinel sighed and looked down in thought as (Y/n) did her best not to cry in front of the pink gem, for the Marriposa gem seemed to have finally figured something out that Spinel had not.

Happily wondering,

Night after night,

'Is this how it works? Are we doing it right?'

Happy to listen,

Happy to stay,

Happily watching her drift away. . .

*****

A frown soon found its way onto Spinel's face and she began to walk away, surprising Steven, but he soon began to follow after her.

You keep on turning pages,

Spinel, now walking next to a small pool of water filled with dead lily pads, opened her arms out to her sides and spun around before stopping in front of a dead bush, which had decaying, light pink flowers hanging off of its dying branches.

For people who don't care. . .

People who don't care. . .

About you. . .

Spinel picked a flower from the dead bush and handed it to Steven, who watched with wide eyes as a sudden breeze came and blew the petals of the flowers away and around Spinel.

And still it takes you ages,

To see that no one's there. . .

See that no one's there. . .

See that no one's there. . .

Everyone's gone on without you. . .

Spinel stopped in front of the transmitter and sniffled, trying to hold in a sob. Steven gave her a sympathetic look and lifted his hand up to comfort her, when a new voice suddenly made him freeze in his spot.

Finally something,

Finally news,

About how the story ends,

Steven immediately whipped his head around at the voice, and his eyes went even wider once he saw who it was.

(Y/n).

The Marriposa gem stepped out of the shadows and walked over to Spinel's side, glancing over to Steven for a split second before continuing as the silhouette of a figure — her figure — ran past the three of them and fell to her knees in front of the glitching transmitter; which showed Steven, who was giving his speech.

She doesn't exist now,

Survived by her son,

And all of her brand new friends,

(Y/n) chuckled dryly as her silhouette punched the floor and cried. Spinel then took the (F/c) gems hand in hers and tears began to stream down her face, more painful memories flooding back to her.

Isn't that lovely?

Isn't that cool?

And isn't it cruel?

And weren't we fools to have. . .

Happily listened,

Happily stayed,

Happily watching her drift. . .

Suddenly, the silhouette of (Y/n) began to glow and shift. Steven's eyes widened and he took a step forwards, looking as if he wanted to run to her; to comfort her. But he couldn't, because the damage. . . it had already been done. . .

Drift. . .

Both Spinel and (Y/n) suddenly fell to their knees and hugged eachother, sobbing as Steven turned his attention to them and gave them sympathetic looks.

While the two gems before Steven sobbed, the hybrid frowned and looked over to the transmitter; specifically, the diamond that floated atop the pillar of the machine.

And then, the diamond-hybrid thought:

Drift. . .

Mom, what have you done?

Away.