Her hand tensed for a moment at his touch; half-way balling into a fist, before slowly relaxing again. Honestly, Connie really hadn’t been sure what to expect from his touch. Sure, the Steven she knew would never hurt her, so she’d had nothing to fear; but then again, she’d thought the Steven she knew wouldn’t have given himself up to Homeworld, either.
His touch, though… it was familiar. More than that, it was real. This really was her Steven, no matter what had happened; the tenderness of his grasp was all the convincing she needed.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t still in an emotional mess at him.
He sounded so pained. She could hear it in his voice, as he spoke… he probably shouldn’t have been speaking at all. What had even happened to him? It had to have been that Aquamarine and Topaz, they had to have hurt him…
She was angry at them, and still so angry at him, and confused and relieved and hurt…
Her own voice trembled with emotion.
And then, she just couldn’t keep in in any longer. She just felt so much right then, all of it conflicting, but the one thing above it all was her concern for Steven. She had no idea what he’d been through, or how much he must have been hurt, and suddenly she just…
Didn’t want to ever let him go again.
She couldn’t bear the thought.
And then she was hugging him - clinging to him was more accurate - though she couldn’t remember any conscious decision on her part. Thin arms were wrapped around his shoulders, her hands gripping onto his shirt for dear life, as if afraid that loosening her grip would result in him vanishing all over again. Her face buried in his shoulder, her form shaking, she clung to him for all she was worth.
She didn’t have any more words right then. Just emotions all over the place.
Steven wasn’t sure how to feel in that moment. Sadness, exhaustion, regret, even lost... it honestly hit him all at once. The way she clung to him, the sounds of her crying into his shoulder, the way her body shook against his own, it was almost too much. It hurt, it hurt him so much... physically and emotionally. He was too weak for all of this commotion, but he had to tough through it. This was their reunion, he didn’t want to somehow make her worry more than she already had.
All this emotion she had built up made him regret leaving them behind like that, but he couldn’t regret the reason behind it. He did this for them, for her, for everyone in Beach City, and possibly even the world. Confronting the Diamonds was something he had to do. Nothing was going to change his mind about that.
Slowly, he returned the embrace, closing his eyes as he desperately held onto her. It was almost surreal. During his time on Homeworld, he was tortured countless times, and in many ways. The poor boy was also deprived of most human needs such as light, food, water, even sleep. It was always so dark, and even cold. It came as a surprise to him that he even survived. Because of all this, he would hallucinate and see them there. At first, he really believed it, but grew to accept the fact that they were getting to him. They were overpowering him, they were winning.
Being able to hold her, to actually feel someone after being gone for such a long time, it made this dream real. He was really home.
“I’m sorry...” he mumbled a few times, wanting to apologize for hurting her and making her cry. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how this affected her for the time he was gone.
Nothing could have made up for the time lost, and all the pain he caused everyone. He could try his best to mend their hearts, but it wasn’t going to be enough.
“I care, I really do care...” he croaked out, his voice getting worse. “I-I just wanted to protect everyone. Though... Connie? I promise that you won’t lose me anytime soon.” Steven was sure he wasn’t going to break his promise. He was going to live on and continue the fight. Nothing was going to take him down.
After a few minutes had passed, he couldn’t hold back his own emotions. There was so much on his mind, and all the worry and concern he had for her... it continued to snowball until it was just too much. His fingernails dug into her shirt as tears began to fall from his own eyes. Despite all the tears, he was so happy to be there. A smile cracked at the corners of his lips for a brief moment, and then, it vanished.
