Early second chapter! Next one may be as late as Friday, hopefully Wednesday. Enjoy!
The strange being who had recently fallen unconscious in front of the Gems was now resting on their couch. Pearl and Garnet were trying to figure out what to do to treat the internal injuries mentioned, but were having trouble because he was not human, and while he had come with the other Gems from homeworld, he never said that he himself had a gem, and none were readily visible on him, so deciding even where to start was difficult as they had no idea what he was. After debating for a while, they decided that Steven may as well attempt to use his healing powers on him. So, Steven licked his hand and gave it a light slap to the stranger's chest, not knowing exactly where the injuries were.
Oh, man, what was that? I feel… wait… I feel something! It must be time to wake up. The stranger opened his eyes slightly and took in the scenery before him. He was lying on a couch in what appeared to be the shack near the crashed ship. The Pearl, the Ruby, and the Sapphire were standing in front of him staring at him, and he could see the… other one… from the corner of his eyes off to his right. Wait, no, that's just a Garnet. I need to stop seeing these fused beings separately, he thought.
"Healed me so soon?" he asked. "I don't know how that is even possible; it usually takes… oowwwww…. Ok, not healed, just forced awake… what do you want from me? I really can't stay conscious much longer in my condition."
"But, my healing powers should have fixed you if they could make you wake up." said Steven. "Maybe you're just sore."
"Listen, kid, I know what sore is, and what I am is not that. Besides, healing powers are only going to crack my Gem worse if anything. I can't even fix it myself, so what makes you… think you have… a… chance….." he said, getting more tired with each word he said.
And so with these words, the stranger fell back into his sleep. Although all the Gems tried their best to wake him up or find his gem, none of them were very successful. A few hours after he last fell unconscious, what little color he'd had in him had left, leaving him even paler than Pearl. Knowing that he was a Gem, or at least claimed to be, eventually they decided to wait for him to retreat to his gem to heal. As night fell, the Crystal gems each went off to their separate rooms, except for Amethyst who was given the first shift in watching the prisoner.
The stars slowly turned their way across the night sky as Amethyst sat and watched to stranger. Silence descended as any other living creature fell asleep. Bored, Amethyst decided to get a quick snack form the fridge. After grabbing a few things, she turned around and found that the stranger's right arm, which had before been resting next to him on the couch, was now hanging off the edge with his hand on the ground. She slowly came back to her spot on the floor a few feet away and began eating her snack, keeping a careful eye on the arm as she did so. Around 4:30 or so, a very sleepy Steven came downstairs to get a drink, having woken up from his not-so-restful sleep.
"Hey Steven, what woke you?" she asked as he walked over to look at the stranger after getting his drink.
"Just some strange dreams about Lion. Why is our guest's arm off the couch? Did you move him?" he said.
"No, it just was like that after I got my snack. I don't know what happened."
"Maybe we should just put it back up?" Steven suggested while picking up the arm. Unfortunately, after setting the stranger's arm back on the couch, he found himself incapable of letting go. Why he couldn't he didn't know, but it was starting to scare him. But right as he was about to ask Amethyst to help him, an absolutely massive wave of drowsiness washed over him, sending him back to sleep instantly.
"Steven. Steven! Bring the thing the stranger wanted from the crashed ship. Maybe it can separate you from his arm." said a familiar voice, although not one that Steven could remember at the moment. "Steven! Steven, please, wake up!" said another voice from somewhere in the dull grey void Steven was floating in. But this one he remembered. It was Pearl. Which meant… "I'm asleep?" Steven thought.
Pearl continued to beg Steven's sleeping form to wake up as Amethyst shook him and Garnet tried to separate his grip on the stranger's arm. To the relief of them all, Steven finally began to open his eyes. Garnet smiled as she was afraid he wouldn't wake up as long as he was connected to the stranger on the couch, although she still was unsure as to why and how he was holding on so tight that even she couldn't separate them.
"Pearl, Garnet? How did you get out here so fast, I only just fell asleep a few seconds ago."
"Uh, you've been asleep for a few hours dude." said Amethyst as she released her hold on him. "We've been trying to wake you up since really soon after you fell asleep, but you only just started responding a couple minutes ago."
"But… it seems like only a few seconds…" Steven mused. Slight tinglings in his fingers where he was touching the stranger suddenly began and quickly worked their way up his arm, getting more intense as they climbed, only to stop advancing as they reached his shoulder. "Hey! That hurts! Now it's shocking me! Someone help get me off this thing!"
"I didn't want to have to do this, but Steven, hold still." Garnet commanded. She had him move away enough that both his and the stranger's arms were stretched as far as they could without hurting them, then summoned her gauntlets. Folding her fingers together, she brought them bother down on the arm or the stranger slightly above where Steven was holding on. She had been hoping that if she broke the arm off the strange man would be forced back into his gem and Steven would be free. But unfortunately for her, the only thing shattering was her gauntlets.
"Bring the thing the stranger wanted from the crashed ship, maybe it can separate you from his arm." Steven remembered this line from his 'dream' as soon as Garnet's gauntlets made contact with the stranger's arm. Seeing now that even Garnet couldn't separate them, Steven decided to make this thought known. "Um, guys? Do you think that thing from the ship this guy wanted could split us apart? For some reason I keep thinking of it."
At first none of the Gems seemed too enthusiastic about his idea, but after several minutes of arguing, they finally reached a new decision. Bring on the de-stabilizer.
Hope you like this chapter, I tried to be more descriptive and use less talking, although I'm not very good at it so I only kind-of was able to accomplish that. Either way, please review to let me know how you like it, and I'll see you all later!
