Chapter 2

Steven's POV

I'm not a fan of the dark. It's cold and barren, kind of like the Kindergarten. It's not a thing I can explain either, also kind of like the Kindergarten. The silence of this blackness I could see is the hardest part of being in this dark place.

I hate silence. It's unnatural.

I sat mentally for a moment to think about what had happened to me for me to end up in this dark place. I know it was because I saved Connie. But, was I inside of my gem? Is this what it feels like to get poofed? Why is it so quiet and dark though? I'd always imagined that being inside of your gem was like being thrown into a world inside of your gem where your get to pick your new form. The silence in here made me keep questioning this. I know I'm not dead. But this couldn't' be my gem. This didn't make sense. Where was I?

But fortunately for me, the quietness of this place wasn't for long. After a while, I could hear muffled sounds. Voices. Each of them sounded very familiar. Eventually they became louder, becoming lesser muffled every time I heard someone speak. I couldn't understand a thing they were saying of course. I could barely think. But after a while of listening to voices, something else started to come to me.

I felt, achy. Maybe I was regenerating?

At first it felt like I'd over stretched a muscle, but soon it started to feel more and more painful. It went from feeling like butterflies were flying in my eyes to it feeling like how I felt when I tried exercising with Sadie and Lars on the beach when I first met Sugilite. Then my eyes started to feel like it did when Jasper gave me a black eye back when the Homeworld Gems tried to capture us and take us to Yellow Diamond. Shortly after that, I felt like I was getting trampled. The pain was getting worse, the voices of the people outside of this darkness were getting louder. I wanted to yell, but I couldn't.

I felt too weak.

Soon the aching became more unbearable. Each time I felt my muscles throb, the voices were becoming more clear. Suddenly I could hear the sounds of Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst talking. The voice I could hear the clearest out of everyone however, was my dad's, which gave me a sense of calmness, but it didn't help my aches and pains at all.

My back really hurt.

It was at this point where I realized two things. This couldn't be me regenerating. If it was, then I would be feeling better, not worse. I also realized that my eyes were closed. Was I just sleeping then? I remember the fight with Jasper, and what happened with me and Connie. I even could remember the days leading up to our battle. If I knew what was going to happen, I would have never let Connie come with us to the battlefield. Sometimes I wish I had future vision like Garnet.

Especially when it comes to things like this.

Three Days Earlier…

"Connie and Steven, you two need to focus!" Pearl told us sternly as me and Connie giggled. We couldn't focus on our training because we were both thinking of an inside joke. Connie made a face at me during battle from the joke, and our focus just fell apart. Even though what we were training for was important, neither of us could think straight.

"Sorry Pearl, we can't help it!" I snorted, leaving her to roll her eyes at us. Pearl did not look impressed with how we were acting, but we really couldn't help it. Kids laugh, it's what we do.

"You two have the attention span of a human infant…" Pearl muttered, shaking her head. "If Garnet's future vision is correct, we only have three days to train before Lapis, Jasper and Peridot meet each other in the Kindergarten so that they can awaken their biggest fusion experiment. We have them cornered after all of these months of worrying and searching. And all you two can do is laugh like a couple of school girls over the simplest thing as an inside joke? Seriously?"

Our focus quickly came back after getting scolded again by our strict fighting instructor.

"Sorry Pearl, we'll try our best to keep ourselves from getting distracted." Connie apologized, bowing her head. "Come on Steven, let's get back into our stance."

I smiled and nodded at her as my giggles went away. The two of us ran back to the other side of the sky arena and waited for Pearl's next cue.

"Okay you two, listen up!" Pearl called out. "When the ambush happens, Jasper is going to come rushing towards you two at full speed. She thinks you're Rose, and she's not going to hold back. You two will need to distract her while Amethyst, Garnet and I attack her from all available angles and take her out. After me and Amethyst capture Peridot and Lapis, we'll be joining you guys and Garnet to finish off Jasper. So we can't afford any room for mistake."

"Pardon me for asking Pearl," Connie said uneasily. "But why can't me and Steven attack Jasper? If she has a destabilizer, Steven and I can have a better advantage!" I nodded.

"Pearl, she's got a point. If me and Connie are immune to the destablilzer, we have a better chance of dealing damage!" Pearl understood, but shook her head unhappily.

"You two can't afford to be injured by Jasper."

"And neither can we."

Out of the doorway to the arena, Garnet walked in and interrupted us all. Pearl looked at her questionably for stopping our training.

"None of us can afford to be poofed during this battle, Pearl." Garnet sighed. "Without us, this battle plan will fall apart. We cannot think of older strategy in the face of newer enemies. We need to think about this more…logically."

Pearl's face changed from questioning to understanding. She called us back to where she was talking to Garnet so that we could better hear the conversation. When Garnet says something, everyone jumps. It's the reason why she's our leader.

"So, what do you propose we do?" Pearl asked. Garnet looked at me and Connie uneasily, causing Connie to blush nervously.

"How have these two been training so far? Fused or unfused?"

Pearl sighed. "I wanted to train them fused, but I wasn't sure whether or not these two kids would be able to concentrate properly fused together. They can barely concentrate separated."

"They should be training as Stevonnie. That way, they can wield both Rose's sword and shield efficiently. My plan for attack is a little bit more complex for these two than what you've been training them for."

Connie and I looked at one another nervously, both blushing with smiles on our faces at the thought of fusion. Garnet smiled down at us and continued.

"You two will not be distractions. What I want the two of you to do during this battle is defend me, Amethyst and Pearl from getting hit by Jasper's Gem Destabilizer. When we go after Jasper, I want the two of you to run right alongside us to protect us. You have her shield, you have her sword. Together, you two are an unstoppable force of nature. Jasper won't stand a chance." Me and Connie suddenly squealed happily. I can't believe it that Garnet wanted to give us this much responsibility on our first major battle against Homeworld! Pearl didn't look too fond of Garnet's decision.

"Are you sure having them fight as a fusion is going to help?"

Garnet adjusted her visor. "They'll be faster and stronger as Stevonnie than they would be separated. Plus, we could definitely use the defense."

"Yes, but now we have no distractions to help draw Jasper away from us in crisis." Pearl said shaking her head. "If Jasper gets the chance to corner all of us, our plan is going to go under. " Garnet looks at her hands.

"Well none of us are going to be able to draw her away. It's too risky for us to draw ourselves from offense to defense. Stevonnie will be all of the defense we're going to need. Amethyst, you and I need to do nothing but fight. Something that I can agree may be incredibly difficult to do without the aid of someone to draw Jasper's attention from point A to point B."

The four of us looked at each other lost in thought. Both Garnet and Pearl were right. Without the help of somebody to distract Jasper and annoy her out of concentration so that we could have the upper hand, this fight was going to be a lot more difficult. Garnet quickly changed the subject.

"We can think about that later. For now, we need to start training Stevonnie to fight for us. Pearl, would you like me to help you train them as a fusion?" Pearl gave Garnet a small, trusting smile.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Please, stay."

Connie suddenly broke their conversation by looking down at the wrist watch she was wearing on her right wrist.

"Looks like we're going to have to pick up our lesson tomorrow, you guys." She sighed. "Looks like I've stayed a little bit passed my curfew. My parents are going to kill me!"

Garnet suddenly cracked her knuckles. "No they're not.."

I grabbed Connie's hand defensively, even though I knew Garnet was only kidding around.

"Garnet, Connie needs to go back to home to sleep." I smirked. "She's human and needs rest." I bowed down in front of Connie, still holding her hand, causing her to giggle. "Would you like me to escort you back to the house and ask my dad to drive you home, Miss Knight?"

"I'd be honoured, my liege!" Connie said with a laugh, pulling me towards the warp pad. We ran from the arena and teleported back, leaving Garnet and Pearl in our dust. When we got back to the house, Connie picked up her cell phone, only to find 16 missed calls from her folks. This was not going to look good on my dad for bringing Connie home so late. But saving the world training was just too important to just stop for a curfew. She looked down at her phone unhappily.

"Well, I know who's in trouble when she gets home." She said defeated. I gave her a pat on the shoulder

"Don't worry about it. Just tell your mom and dad that my Dad's van was having some engine troubles and I'm sure they'll let you off the hook."

She sighed. "I wish. But then how would I explain the missed calls?"

"Bad reception?"

"I guess."

I grabbed Connies hand and walked her towards the front door. "Come on, we'd better get to my Dad's place before you get into any more trouble!" She nodded and we ran down the steps, across the Beach and met up with my dad. As usual, he drove Connie back to her house outside of town, me in the front seat while Connie sat in the back, talking all the way from Beach City back to the Mahashwaran household.

Neither of us could have known what was about to happen in these next few days. Everything seemed as it always was, for my life's standards anyway. Our lives were about to come in contact with the most dangerous mission of our lives. And yet, we kinda just ignored the real danger behind it, treating this mission like we had so many others. Just another day, another adventure, another battle.

Except this time, it wasn't going to end for us as smoothly as we'd hoped.