'The Rose Queen said that she'd break the spell keeping them here. The problem is, she's missing a few components.'

The words echo loudly in his mind as Strange speaks, connecting past events with the current one. Nightshade is back, his mom might be back, and still... Strange is trying to convince him to go to her. Just like he did before. Why is he always doing this to him?

It will be fine, he said. It would fix everything. All Steven had to do was put himself at risk, to face his fears, to do what no one else wanted to.

"STOP IT!" Steven yells, tears coming to his eyes as it all sinks in - the sickening reality of it thick in his gut. He can't believe this. This is why the Void was right, this is why he started this in the first place. "Why do you keep doing this to me?" he pleads, his voice cracking as he finds himself completely unable to hold his emotions inside.

A wave of helpless desperation and betrayal radiates throughout the area, empathically projected from Steven. He wants to be angry, he wants to be vengeful, but instead he just hurts.

"You told me you were different here."