Although it was a bit of a slog, Steven managed to make it back to the seashore where his house was located. Well, what was left of his house after Lapis ravaged it, anyway. Everything was exactly the same way Steven left it, except for one thing: Lapis wasn't up in the sky anymore. Steven ran up the stairs to his house and looked around the ruins of his house, but saw no sign of Lapis at all. He checked every room, turned every piece rubble over, but the Gem was gone without a single trace. Steven clutched his bandaged hand, the pain of the broken bones within it causing him great grief. The young boy had no idea what to do; he had no idea where the Gems were, and even if he did, he couldn't reach them because Lapis destroyed the temple's warp pad. He punched Connie, one of his best friends, right in the face out of anger, and knew for a fact that a simple "I'm sorry" wasn't going to fix something so horrible. And the worst of all was Lapis herself, for Steen had no idea what was going on with her. The blood of her shirt, her glassy, dead eyes, and whatever the Gem Homeworld had done to her to make her so… deadly.
The young Steven Universe couldn't make heads of tails out of any of it. Something like this to happen all it one night was far too much for the little boy to handle. He started to hyperventilate, the thoughts of Lapis speaking to him in that deep, gravelly voice and attempting to drown him, and the image of Connie with tears streaming from her eyes, and blood running from her broken nose were burned into his mind. He has reached his limit. Steven ran out his house and hurried down the stairs, but tripped and tumbled down all the way to the sands of the beach below. He didn't bother getting up this time. He just… curled up in a ball, contemplating what he should do. He didn't want to fight Lapis… Despite what the Gem did, he didn't want to injure her. And what about the Gems? What will they think when they eventually find their way back? And Connie? How will he make amends with her after such an atrocious action? Steven's breathing got heavier and heavier, his thoughts got foggier and foggier, he trembled more and more until…
Everything stopped. No more tears flowed from his eyes, he no longer trembled, and he even stopped hyperventilating. And not just that, Steven also did something that he thought he could never do: He stopped caring. He remained curled up in a ball, gently closed his eyes… and stayed there. Not moving, not shaking… only breathing, and emptying his mind of everything… He didn't want to think about what happened anymore. He didn't want to think about anything anymore. He just wanted everything to end. He just wanted… to die.
Far away from Beach City and in the middle of the ocean, the Crystal Gems were completely stranded at the Galaxy Warp. Pearl incessantly paced back and forth, wondering what they should do, Amethyst was lying down on the floor, playing around with her whip. Ruby was angrily stamping around in circles, every step she took leaving a hot, ashy footprint on the ground. And Sapphire was atop the huge warp pad in the middle of the structure, wondering why her comrades and she couldn't use it to return home.
"I don't know if I've missed something, but why don't we use one of the other warp pads if the one to the temple's broken?" Amethyst asked.
"Because their drop-off points are situated all around the world," Sapphire said. "For all we know we could end up in a completely different country."
"Ugh, then what do you suggest we do?" Amethyst asked. "We can't just sit here and do nothing, you know."
"You think I don't know that?" Sapphire said sternly. "Unlike you, I'm trying to come up with a plan."
"If by 'coming up with a plan' you mean, 'using your future vision to find an easy way out of this,' then fine, I believe you," Amethyst said, shrugging her shoulders.
Sapphire brushed her bangs away from her single eye, and gave the diminutive purple Gem a long, hard glance. Noticing this, Amethyst got up from the floor and walked up to Sapphire, gripping the handle of her whip as tight as she could.
"What?" Amethyst asked Sapphire. "It's the truth, isn't it?"
"Even if it is, what's it to you?" Sapphire said. "I've gotten us out of countless tight spots."
"No, it's your future vision that's gotten us out of 'countless tight spots.' You, one the other hand, haven't done squat!"
"…Now isn't the time for this."
"Why not? The warp pad's broken. We've got all the time in the world."
"No, we don't – in case you've forgotten, Amethyst, there is a monster out there!"
"So what? We've been fighting monsters forever! What makes this one any different!?"
Ruby jumped in front of Amethyst and gave her knuckles a loud crack, then grabbed Amethyst by her hair and went up to her face as close as she could.
"Knock it off," Ruby said deeply.
The fiery red Gem released her grip on Amethyst's hair and jumped down from the huge warp pad, and immediately went back to stomping around in circles, as if nothing ever happened. Sapphire recovered her eye with her bangs and went back to thinking of a solution to the problem her comrades and her were in, and Amethyst put away her whip and walked down from the huge warp pad and towards Pearl, who was too preoccupied with making her own mountain out of a molehill to notice the spat her friends just had.
"You got any idea what this monster is?" Amethyst asked.
"No clue," Pearl said with a hint of fear in her voice. "I've been up against countless Gem monsters and Homeworld soldiers of practically every shape and cut…"
Pearl sat down and started to tear up.
"But whatever this is… it's something completely different," Pearl whimpered. "For it to be able to evade Garnet's future vision and forcibly un-fuse Ruby and Sapphire… No opponent I've ever encountered has been able to do something like that."
"Then what are we supposed to do about it?" Amethyst asked. "We can't just stay here and think up of some crazy extensive plan while this thing's out there!"
"If you that concerned, then tell me," Pearl said as she got up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "What do you suggest we do?"
"Well… I can morph into a huge bird and fly us back to the city!"
"We're miles away from the city, Amethyst… The amount of time you'll be in such a form will destroy your body."
"Then can't we just swim back?"
"Ugh, once again, we're miles away! There's no way we can get back to the city in time!"
"Then what!?"
Amethyst took out her whip once more. Pearl proceeded to shield herself with her spear, which she took out as well.
"I don't see you coming up with a plan, either!" Amethyst exclaimed. "All you're doing's whining and bawling about how hopeless everything is… Like you ALWAYS do."
"Take that back…" Pearl said, gripping her Pearl even tighter.
"Why? It's not like it was a lie," Amethyst said, smirking. "Everybody knows it; all you do is cry about everything, even if it's something good! Heck, even Steven knows it!"
Pearl's eyes widened and she lunged at Amethyst with her spear. The thin, tall Gem brandished her weapon, nearly striking Amethyst right in the center of the gem on her chest. Luckily, she dodged out of the way, the spear lodging into a nearby pillar instead, and dissipated into light shortly after. Pearl walked towards Amethyst, her usually gentle gaze contorted into a look of pure anger, and much like Ruby earlier, grabbed Amethyst by her hair and picked her up from the ground.
"Stop it," Pearl said deeply.
Amethyst spat in her face.
"You stop pretending you're tough," Amethyst remarked. "You're not fooling anyone here; I know you haven't been thinking about the monster or getting us out of here. Let me guess: You're thinking about—"
Pearl threw Amethyst onto the floor, then pulled out another spear from her forehead gem and pointed it straight at the gem on Amethyst's chest. Ruby and Sapphire went towards them to break them up, but Pearl signaled to them to stay out of it.
"Do NOT say her name…," Pearl demanded.
"Or what?" Amethyst snickered. "You'll crack me? Shatter me? You know, if she were here, I really don't think she's appreciate something like that…"
Pearl clenched her teeth and raised her spear, Amethyst smiling widely all the while. But before Pearl could strike her comrade down, Ruby leaped at her kicked the weapon out her hands, then seized it with both her hands and snapped it in two. Pearl fell to the floor and broke down in tears, unable to handle what she was just about to do.
"I… I-I'm…," Pearl quivered.
"It's okay," Sapphire said, floating down from the huge warp pad. "Besides…"
Ruby grabbed Amethyst and put her in a choke hold.
"The real Amethyst, as uncouth as she is, would never say things like that," Sapphire said.
"W-What?" Pearl said.
"Future vision…," Sapphire said brushing her bangs away from her eye. "I foresaw your struggle with her, Pearl, and I highly doubt Amethyst would ever go that far in her taunts… Unless she's being forced to do so…"
Amethyst gave Sapphire a long, hard stare, then proceeded to cackle like a witch. She shrugged Ruby off her back, let out her whip, and swatted the red Gem with a single swipe, sending Ruby right into a nearby pillar. Amethyst grinned wildly from ear to ear, but immediately fell to the floor afterwards.
"U-Uh… What happened?" Amethyst said.
"You… You don't remember?" Pearl asked.
"N-No… Last thing I remember is Garnet screaming… And then there was this light…" Amethyst said, rubbing the back of her head.
"UP THERE!" Sapphire yelled, pointing at the sky. "THERE IT IS!"
Everybody looked up and saw the perpetrator, and were taken aback by what they saw: A blue creature wearing a dress dripping in blood, floating in the sky with two giant wings made of water, large, glassy eyes, a large crooked grin… It was Lapis Lazuli.
"Y-You!?" Peal exclaimed.
"You came back…," Sapphire said. "But… different. And that difference is the reason for all this! The warp pad not working, Ruby and I suddenly un-fusing and unable to fuse back, Amethyst provoking Pearl… My future vision unable to detect you… Something's happened to you… Something… terrible."
Lapis dropped down from the sky.
"No… It's WONDERFUL," Lapis said in a gravelly voice. "Now… Time to crush the last of Rose Quartz's rebellion…"
