Garnet

Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven sat on the couch in the temple. "All right Gems," Garnet said, "Lapis and Jasper are still fused somewhere under the ocean, and we haven't been getting any signs of either of them. Steven, have you had any dreams about Lapis lately?" Steven snapped out the little daze he was in and looked at Garnet.

"Uh, what? Oh, Lapis. No, I haven't... Do you think she's okay?" Steven's expression changed quickly.

"I'm not sure. Jasper is very powerful; she almost beat me and I'm a fusion. Who knows what she could do to Lapis."

"But if we do find them, what will we do with Jasper?" Steven asked with a little worry in his voice. "We can't poof her just like that can we? She's super strong!"

"Steven, It'll be okay. Just try and contact Lapis whenever you sleep." said Garnet.

"It wouldn't be that easy, would it? I mean, Lapis did tell Steven to leave her alone and Jasper tried to kill him in his dream..." Pearl said.

"Hey Pearl, remember when that one time you had a dream when you were riding the pizza and holding Rose?" Amethyst cackled. Pearl blushed and said,

"Amethyst, that was uncalled for." She made a puzzled face. "Wait- how did you know I had that dream?!"

"Your gem showed your dream!" Amethyst laughed again.

"Focus, Gems. Steven, go outside. We need to talk privately." Garnet said. Steven frowned.

"I'm a Gem, too! Please Garnet-"

"Steven," Garnet said a little angrily. "Outside. Now." Steven mumbled something under his breath and walked out the temple door.

Steven

Steven was sitting on the porch of the temple, when suddenly Connie came running up the stairs.

"Hey Steven!" Connie said.

"Hey." Steven said sadly.

"What's the matter?"

"The Gems won't let me inside until they're done talking. I don't see why, though!"

"You're a Gem, so they should let you no matter what. You're a team!"

"Exactly!"

"What were they talking about while you were in there?"

"They were talking about Lapis and Jasper..." Steven said.

"Oh..." Connie's voice faltered. There were a few seconds of silence. "She'll be okay, Steven, I promise." Steven looked at Connie and gave her a weak smile, but then a thought struck him. He almost felt as if he were blind that he hasn't noticed it before.

"Wait a second-" the Gems interrupted him by opening the door and Pearl said,

"Steven, we're going out to look for Malachite, we'll be back later. There are snacks for you in the fridge. Oh, hello Connie."

"Hi, Pearl." Connie said. The Gems walked down the steps and into the ocean like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"So, what were you going to say Steven?"

"Oh... Um, I was just going to say we should go sit at the shore." Steven said a little nervously.

"Yeah, good idea!" Connie answered. They ran down to the shore and talked.

"So, what would you do if Malachite just popped up out of the ocean right now?" Connie asked.

"I would probably be scared, seeing how big she is and all. But I don't think Jasper could overpower Lapis- after all, she can control water."

"That is true, but imagine how tiring that would be."

"Yeah..." Steven said. Connie picked up a sea shell and held it up to her ear. She handed the sea shell to Steven and said,

"You can hear the ocean! Try it." Connie said. Steven lifted the shell to his ear and heard the words,

"We're Malachite now."

Connie

Connie looked at Steven's face and it looked a little pale. "Steven, are you feeling okay?" She asked. He stared at the sand for a minute and looked at her.

"Um, yeah. I'm... fine," he said shakily. "I just have a little stomach ache, that's all." Connie looked into Steven's wide eyes, and she had a feeling he was lying.

"Are you not telling me something?" she asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean are you hiding something from me? You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Yeah..." There were a few seconds of silence and finally Connie said,

"So, are you going to tell me?"

"Ehhhhh..."

"Steven." Connie said with a disappointed look on her face.

"Eh..."

"Steven!"

"Okay! When I held that shell up to my ear I heard Lapis saying, 'we're Malachite now,' and it scared me a little."

"And what about on the porch?"

"I really don't want-"

"C'mon." Connie interrupted.

"Fine! Well, you know how Lapis was trapped in that mirror?"

"Yes."

"Well, when me and the Gems first found Lion, we found a pillow with a gem in it. Do you think there could be an actual gem like Lapis in there, too?"

"Oh, gosh! Did you ever think of this before?"

"No. Should we... maybe pull it out?" Steven asked nervously.

"But what if it's evil? What if it tries to kill us? What if-"

"What if it's like Lapis...?" Steven said.

"Are you going to do it? I hope-" Connie's phone rang and she answered it. "Hello mother, this is Connie." Silence. "Yes." Longer silence. "Okay, I love you. Bye." She hung up the phone and said, "Sorry Steven, I have to go. I'll come over tomorrow if that's okay." she stood up.

"Aw, okay. Bye."

"Bye!" She ran down the steps, off the beach until she reached town.

Steven

Steven walked inside and sat down on his bed with some of the snacks Pearl left in the fridge. He shoved donuts and cold pizza in his mouth while he turned on Crying Breakfast Friends. "Oh, yes! A new episode!" he yelled. Pear and Spilled Milk cried about a dropped cookie, while Spoon tried to cheer them up- but he ended up crying too. He sort of zoned off and thought about the desert glass. How was he supposed to get in Garnet's room?

Then a thought clicked in his head. There was another way in- Amethyst's room. That puddle he stuck his head in when he and Amethyst were jumping off big piles of junk. And if he did get in there, what would he do with the pillow? What if it does try to kill him? It was always what if, what if, what if. He had so many questions yet no one to ask. He looked at his clock and it was 9:34pm. The Gems should be back soon...

Suddenly, Amethyst burst through the door and said, "Hey Steven!" then Pearl walked in and said,

"Hello, Steven."

"Hey guys. Where's Garnet?" Steven asked.

"She stayed behind to look for Malachite." Amethyst said as she opened the fridge.

"Oh. Well, can I hang out with you, Amethyst?"

"Uh, I guess," she slammed the fridge door closed with her foot. "I'm probably going to go take a nap though." Steven smiled and jumped off his bed.

"Thanks! I'll just explore your room. I'll try not to wake you up."

"Okay, whateves." She opened up her door and her and Steven walked inside.

There was junk piled on top of junk, piled on top of that junk, and piled on top of that junk was more junk. How did she even get it to balance like that? That didn't matter right now, he just needed to find that puddle.

"Alright, I'm going to sleep now. Have fun." Amethyst plopped down on a dirty mattress and started snoring.

"Thanks...?" he said awkwardly. "Now, time to find that puddle." Steven looked all around the room dunking his head in puddles left and right, until he finally found the right one. "Okay... I don't really want to jump, but here it goes!" He leapt down the puddle and landed flat on his back. "Owwww..." he said as he gasped for air. He finally caught his breath, stood up, and looked around. "Woah!" There were so many more bubbles than the last time he'd been in there. Had the Gems been going on missions without him?

He didn't have any time to think about that, he just needed to find the desert glass. He searched the room, but didn't see it. "Where are you?" he asked. He looked a little harder and finally he saw the plump, maroon pillow in a pink bubble near the ceiling. "How am I supposed to get it if it's up there?" Steven growled. Then he had a thought. He could throw his shield at it! Genius. He summoned his shield and held it in his hand. "Alright. This has to be exact..." he threw it up in the air, and he popped four other bubbles. "That's so exact, Steven! good job." The pillow floated down and Steven caught it in his hand then tucked it under his arm. The gems glowed bright and they turned into small monsters. A small puffer fish, the gem cave monster, the ice cavern monster, and the Slinker ran around the room franticly, shooting things at Steven while he was summoning shield after shield poofing the monsters. The last one was the Slinker, the most annoying and most powerful one, and he couldn't get ahold of it. "Dang it, just sit still!" he yelled. He summoned another shield and threw it at the smaller-version of the Slinker, and it bonked it in the head so hard that he stumbled backwards into the lava. It poofed, and its gem sailed across the room. It landed on the floor with a clink and Steven ran over to retrieve it. "Finally!" he yelled. He put it in the pile with the other gems, and counted. "One, two, three, four, and counting the pillow, five. Alright!" he huffed. "That was exhausting."

It was time for him to make his escape before Garnet got back. He climbed on the glass veins of the heart and out through the puddle. He hid the pillow under his shirt but you could see the outline of the gem. He walked around Amethyst's room, an he saw her throwing junk into larger piles. She heard Steven's footsteps and turned her head.
"Oh, hey Steven! I was wondering where you were. What's that under your shirt?" she asked. He broke into a cold sweat.

"Uh, this? It's just, um... baby fat? Yeah, us humans here on Earth gain a little baby fat when they get older..." Steven stuttered. Amethyst squinted at him.

"Hm... Okay, whatever." she said.

"Can you let me out? I really gotta go to the bathroom." He lied. She shuffled her feet and threw in some more junk before answering.

"Sure." They walked to her door and she let Steven out of the room.

"Thanks Amethyst!" The door shut before he could say anything else, and ran out of the temple door. He ran behind the same rock that he released Lapis. He was wondering if he should do it or not, but he already went through all the trouble getting it so he might as well.

"Okay... Here we go." he said. Steven put his hand on the gem and pulled. It wouldn't come out and he gave another hard tug, and it popped out. It glowed, and something started coming out of the water- Garnet. "Uh oh-"

"STEVEN! What have you done?!" she yelled. "That Gem is-" The sand swirled around Steven and the gem until he couldn't see anything.

The sand cleared, and there were walls and stairs like there were in the desert. It almost looked like a giant, firm sandcastle.

"Woah..." Steven said.

Sorry I had to stop so soon, my computer messed up ONCE AGAIN and it deleted all I've written. Please leave reviews/favs! Hope you loves keep reading.