CHAPTER 1: RAGE NEVER DIES

It had been a month since Steven and the gems managed to defeat Peridot and Jasper, but even if they had won this battle, they knew that the homeworld gems were aware of their presence on Earth, that they would have soon become aware of Peridot and Jasper's failure and that, soon or later, they would have returned, but they also knew that as long as they would have stayed together, caring and protecting each other, no enemy could have ever defeat them. After the crash of Peridot's ship, Steven had been sitting on the beach for most of the time, looking at the sea. Pearl had become increasingly concerned about him, even if Amethyst and Garnet tried to calm her down, explaining that Steven was behaving like that because he had passed through something he had never faced before. One day, she decided to talk with him, not being able to see him like that anymore. With her arms crossed, she began to approach him, smiling sadly, 'Oh Steven, I never wanted any of this for you…', Pearl thought.

"H…hello Steven…" Pearl said, standing behind him.

"Hi Pearl…" Steven replied, without turning around.

"Are… are you ok?" Pearl asked.

"Yes Pearl…" Steven answered. Pearl couldn't take it anymore, she knew that something was wrong with him, and seeing him in this state really hurt her.

"Steven… I know there's something wrong…" Pearl said as she kneeled down.

"N…no, no there's nothing wrong Pearl, don't worry…" Steven tried to smile as he turned around.

"Steven…" Pearl smiled as she caressed Steven's cheek.

"Listen, I know you are worried about our safety, I know you want to protect us but you don't have to spend all of your time here, if other gems from homeworld will come, we will be ready, and they won't ever take you away from m… from us…" Pearl said as she hugged him.

"Thank you Pearl, but, it's not that… no wait, I mean, I love you all and I want to protect you, but I'm not here because of that… I'm here because of… ehm…Lapis" Steven became a little bit uneasy as he looked away from Pearl.

"Oh…oh I…I…" Pearl began to understand what was bothering Steven.

"Steven… Lapis… well… she made the right choice… she sacrificed herself in order to save you… what she had made had been… really noble…" Pearl said with an uncertain tone.

"Thank you, Pearl, I…I hope she's ok…" Steven said as he began to look towards the ocean again.

Pearl smiled as she remembered how much Rose cared about people she loved, and how much it hurt her to watch them suffer, 'You are so much like her, Steven, I couldn't be prouder of you…' Pearl thought as she ran her fingers through Steven's hair, and even if she didn't believe what she had said next, she said it anyway, because she loved him.

"Steven… I… I think she's ok… like us… she will never let anything bad happen to the person she loves most…" Pearl said in a soft tone.

Steven looked at her, smiling, they hugged each other, then, they got up and, slowly, they began to walk towards the house. 'I hope that one day, I'll see you again Lapis…' Steven thought as he turned around one last time towards the ocean before entering the house.

Meanwhile at the bottom of the ocean:

"You know you won't last much longer… you can't even talk… you are almost powerless… if you give up now… I might go easy on you… filthy traitor…"

"I… prefer… to be… a traitor… rather… than help… parasites… like you…"

"You… you will pay for what you did… you and those weak, dirty gems you saved… I'll make you grovel at my feet and I'll make you beg for mercy"

"I… won't…let… you… go… I won't… let you… hurt…"

"Why are you protecting them?! They kept you trapped in that damn mirror for ages!"

"I'm… not… protecting… them… I'm protecting…"

"Oh I see… then… it will be my pleasure to make Rose suffer in front of you…"

"N…no…"

"Shut up! You are losing control on me! Let me go now! It's only a matter of time! How much are you going to resist?!"

"N…"

"LET… ME… GO!"

The next day:

Steven got up from his bed as usually, he went to the kitchen and began to make breakfast. Suddenly, the temple's door began to open and Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet came out.

"Good morning Steven." Pearl said smiling to him.

"Yo, buddy are you ok now?" Amethyst asked as they reached the counter.

"Oh, yes, thank you Amethyst." Steven said smiling.

"What are you going to do today?" He asked, finishing his cereals.

"We are going to continue our research of Peridot." Garnet replied.

"Can I come?" Steven asked jumping off the chair.

"I'm sorry Steven, but we don't know exactly where Peridot is, or what she is planning to do, it might be very dangerous…" Pearl said as she put her hands on his shoulders.

"Oh… ok… I guess I'll just stay here and wait for you guys…" Steven said in a sad tone of voice.

Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet went to the warp pad and as they waved goodbye they disappeared into the beam of light. Steven got up and went to the couch. As he sat down, his phone began to ring.

"Hi Steven!" Connie said as he answered the call.

"Oh, Hi Connie, how are you?" Steven asked.

"Fine thank you, hey, do you want to hang out today, or you have something to do with the gems?" Connie asked him.

"No, they went out, I'd like to meet you!" Steven seemed cheered up by the prospective of spending some time with Connie.

"Ok, I'll be there in an hour, see you later!" Connie said happily.

While waiting, Steven began to read one of the books Connie had suggested him to read. But after some minutes, Steven heard a knock on the door. 'Connie is here already, oh well, guess I really got sucked into the book' Steven thought as he got up and began to walk towards the door. He began to think about what he and Connie could have done… but when he got in front of the door, his train of thoughts stopped, as his eyes widened and his jaw dropped off. Outside the door was standing a huge figure, with long white hair, and a wicked grin on its face.

"Hello Rose, nice to see you again…"

Hello guys, I hope you have liked the first chapter of my new story, "Come Back", so this is what had popped out in my mind lately, I don't know if I should continue this story, let me know in the reviews if you had liked it so far and if you want me to continue. Well, see you (eventually) in the next chapter!