"Chapter One: Betrayal at Heart"

It was early in the morning, and Steven had just awoken. His eyes were still groggy, and just as a zombie rises from its grave, Steven slowly rose from his bed. He looked around the room to find that everything appeared to be dim. He stared out the window and saw that the sky was filled with dark gray clouds. Almost always, Steven would just jump out of bed; feeling excited for what the day would have to offer. Today, however, he wasn't really feeling like… himself. He let out a long sigh and dragged himself out of bed. Walking down the stairs, he noticed that none of the Crystal Gems were there.

"Probably off on another mission," Steven muttered under his breath.

He walked over to the fridge, and pulled out the milk. He headed to the cabinet and got out a box of cereal, and bowl for the combination of the two. As he let the cereal sit in the milk, allowing it to get soft and mushy, he was still not feeling like himself. He held the spoon up, but just stared into the bowl of cereal. The wind outside began to pick up pace, slamming hard against screen door. The first slam of the wind on the door startled Steven, who just returned to staring sadly down into his bowl of cereals. Suddenly, he began to remember every exact detail that had happened when he discovered Peridot's escape pod. He remembered how the Gems violently attacked the pod. How they had an expression of terror and anger in their eyes. How ruthless they were, even after Buck, Sour Cream, and Jenny told them to stop. And even after they discovered that Steven was in the pod, they didn't even apologize to him. They just scolded him. The Crystal Gems were supposed to be guardians, protecting and caring for everything on Earth.

"Yet when they attacked me, they did not care for any of us," Steven said, "Hell, Garnet nearly punched Jenny in the face. Garnet could've killed her!"

Steven started to clench his fists out of anger and frustration.

"I know that they did it to protect us, but are they willing to hurt us as well?"

Steven began to grind his teeth, clutch onto his head. He grew angry at the Gems. These thoughts made him think that maybe the Gems weren't as they appear to be. Amidst his thinking, a bright light beamed from the portal. There stood the three gems with a corrupted gem bubbled. Garnet sent to the gem to where the other corrupted gems were held.

"That one was a slippery little one, am I right," Amethyst asked.

"We would've been able to catch it sooner if you hadn't goofed around," Pearl said.

"Hey, not my fault I wanted to do some sightseeing."

"You nearly collapsed the cave around us! What if Steven had-"

Pearl felt a sudden nudge from Garnet on her back. Garnet's finger pointed to the sadden Steven, who did not even bother looking up. He didn't even say, 'Hello! What was today's mission?' He was just staring into his bowl of cereal. The Gems knew that something was wrong, but they didn't know what to do. They all just nervously rubbed the back of their necks. Before any of them could say anything, Steven got up and walked to the door.

"I'm gonna go for a walk," Steven said.

"Oh, okay," Pearl responded, "Have you eaten, yet?"

"I'm not hungry. I'm going for a walk. Alone."

The Gems felt hurt and felt responsible for Steven being like this. They just couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Pearl headed after Steven, reaching out to him.

"Steven, please talk to us. What is wrong?"

"I said, I'm going for a walk," Steven shouted, smacking Pearl's hand away from him.

The expression on Pearl's face was that of hurt. Garnet and Amethyst looked surprised at Steven's actions. Steven, himself, looked up at them all with anger in his eyes. He didn't apologize to any of them. He didn't care that they felt hurt. He just didn't care. Steven opened the door, and headed down the stairs.

"P," Amethyst questioned.

Pearl didn't even respond. She just turned, and ran into her room, leaving a trail of tears in her path.

"Pearl," Amethyst shouted.

"Go find out what is wrong with Pearl," Garnet ordered, "I'll go see what is wrong with Steven."

Amethyst ran towards the temple door, and Garnet ran after Steven. She was able to see his steps in the sand, but they were quickly fading from the wind. Soon, the steps disappeared, Garnet just looked around worriedly. Soon, she heard tiny whimpers from behind a boulder. She slowly approached it, turning the corner, to see a crying Steven, his face buried into his knees.

"I'm sorry," Steven repeated, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

He just repeated these words over and over again, hoping that someone could hear them. That someone being Pearl. He did not notice Garnet, and Garnet was hesitant to approach him. However, when Garnet tried to approach him silently, her hand had slipped from the rock it was placed on, and she tumbled to the ground. Steven looked at Garnet on the ground, and stood up. Before Garnet could say anything, Steven turned and ran away from the Gem.

"Steven," Garnet shouted.

But he did not hear her cries. He could only hear hatred and anger and rage to him. Garnet got up and ran after him. Whatever it was that was bothering him, it took away the joyous, loveable boy from them. Garnet was certain to find out what was wrong with the child.