Darkness blanketed the sky like snow, pierced only by the shining light of the moon which bounced off Amethyst's gem as she tried in desperation to open the door with the handle. As expected, it would not budge, causing Amethyst to let out a growl of frustration. She balled her fist, packed it with her emotions and drove it into the door; before being stopped by a familiar voice yelling out behind her, a weak grip on her hair pulling her attention towards her friend.
"S-Steven?" questioned Amethyst, her visible eye wide as a saucer. As she turned around towards him, her eyes instinctively began scanning the vicinity like cornered prey. "Pearl... Garnet...are they here?" she asked carefully, eyes drifting across Steven's small body.
"Amethyst, what are you doing?" Steven asked, gesturing towards the door she had almost punched open.
"Nothing! What are you even doing here? Pearl and Garnet will realize your missing, come get you, find me, and then I'll get in trouble!" she yelled in response, her indigo eyes sparkling in the pale light of the moon.
"Amethyst... why are you here?" Repeated Steven, his voice weak; as if he was scared of the reply. "This is the art gallery... you don't even care about art!"
Amethyst's eyes lit up in fury, but it quickly calmed as she remembered who it was. "Yes I do! Remember those paintings I posed for?" She said unconvincingly, her form shrinking as she hastily avoided eye contact; Steven was glaring at her with a soft defiance, the kind he always used when he knew Amethyst was up to something; and now that she was lying, it wasn't helping. "You know me! I love me some fine art, ha ha ha! Now, Steven, I have some grown up Gem things to do, so, why don't you hurry home before Pearl comes to find you? You don't want to make her angry!"
Steven lifted an eyebrow in disbelief, but stopped himself from saying anything more. He put on a gentle smile, nodding to the purple Gem. "Alright, Amethyst. I'll leave you be for now." He started to turn around, and was beginning to fade out of view before Amethyst cracked. Her voice cracked through the night like her whip, yelling for him to come back. She could hardly believe she was doing it.
"Alright, fine, I'll tell you what's up. Only because you'd come back with Pearl and Garnet." Amethyst said in a snarky tone, as Steven's face lit up with joy and excitement.
"So, what are we doing? A super secret Crystal Gem mission?!" Steven exclaimed, practically bouncing around the empty street with excitement.
"Something even funner!" Amethyst yelled back, showing her teeth in a cheesy smile. "We're st..." Amethyst trailed off.
"...Amethyst?" Steven asked, his face darkening with worry.
A million thoughts raced in Amethyst's head, the most prevalent: Steven would not be okay with what she was doing. He was too 'good' for it, and wouldn't want to steal something. She quickly crafted a not very convincing plan, but hoped Steven would be too blindsided by excitement to notice.
"Actually, you got it!" She said, letting loose a fake boisterous laugh. "We're doing a super secret mission to locate an ancient painting, significant to our Gem culture! We need to get it back, Steven. I've spent years on this!"
Amethyst certainly felt terrible using Steven, but pushed it aside. This was good for him, right? He would get a chance to practice, as if this was a real mission. He wouldn't even know that Amethyst was lying! But was she using him for her own benefit? It wasn't as if Steven was providing much for her mission; Steven didn't have the same abilities she did. She was more... keeping him busy so he didn't tell Garnet and Pearl, getting her into huge trouble! She reassured herself, taking a deep breath she didn't need and turned back to the door.
"...Steven, how are you out this late anyway?" As the thought crept into her mind, the worlds spilled out.
"I saw you leaving somewhere when I was trying to get to sleep. I thought maybe you were going back to being the Purple Puma again." Steven explained, his eyes never leaving Amethyst as he talked.
"Ha! Steven, you know I left that behind when we 'saved wrestling'. Everybody moved on to real wrestling. Nobody goes there anymore, apart from a few weirdo's with a Saturday night to waste."
"I still went there!" Steven said, a look of hurt in his eyes.
"Point proven!" Cackled Amethyst, punching Steven gently in the arm as she wiped a tear from her eye. "What about Pearl? She wasn't watching you sleep?"
"No! And you would have saw her, she'd have stopped you!" Steven replied defiantly, a playful grin seeping out onto his face.
"Nobody can stop me, Steven!" Amethyst boasted, and in a brilliant flash of purple tinted light her form changed into a formless white, rippling with nothing there. It grew, expanded and a traceable form began to show through. Rippling muscles with a large, hairy form but with the same deep purple colour of Amethyst, and her wild white hair in excessive quantity. All in in instant she transformed, pouncing on to Steven in a weak wrestling hold to prove her point as they both collapsed into a fit of laughter, easily losing a few minutes. The faint beam of a flashlight began to appear around the corner, along with the rhythmic tapping of footsteps on pavement. Amethyst noticed in a second, and in the next had quickly transformed into the first thing she thought of that could get the job done; Dogcopter.
It was as Steven gasped in awe that she - not very gracefully - threw him onto her back, careful to avoid the propeller as it began to rapidly spin, rising them quickly into the air as fast as Amethyst could manage. They rose up into the air, the wind whistling past them and brushing against their skin as they landed on a part of the roof of the building, a few seconds before a figure passed around the corner, patrolling the perimeter while muttering that he was sure he had heard voices. It was a lucky break for them, but Amethyst didn't rest. She got out of the form of Dogcopter, and ignored Steven's ramblings about how cool it had been. She was going to have to keep him out of trouble, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. She had to find that painting for Vidalia. Turning around, she gestured to Steven, motioning him over.
"C'mon, Moon Boy." She said, grinning in fond memories.
"I wish I was still a Moon Boy." Steven replied wistfully, looking back up at the moon partially hidden by dark clouds before it was fully enveloped by darkness, its luminescent light faintly shining through.
"So do I." Amethyst replied, putting a hand on Steven's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Now c'mon! We gotta go get that painting! But be quiet!"
"Super secret Gem culture painting team, go!" Steven whispered, throwing up a hand in triumph.