Thanks go to Randal435 for his review and to AnddrosvanDraco, BacknTater, BloodAllegiance, Darkliner1231, Darktyler27, Happyfish, MizoreShirayukiFan, QChronicles, The Imprisoned of Hell, Sanity07, Glitter Spires, The Rouge Slytherin, and Winter-Freak for their favorites and/or follows.

Anywho, my disappearance's explanation is at the bottom of the chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe


What is that..?

"He's hurt!"

"Hey! Wait! I think that's one of those Gem-things!"

"Who cares?!"

"It's dangerous!"

"It could be a good Gem!"

"The only good Gem is a dead Gem!"

"You're wrong, Dad!"

Who is that..?

"Hey, I think he's waking up."

It must be one of those Crystal Gems...

"Thea! Get away from that monster!"

Monster..? Am... Am I a monster..?"

"He's not a monster!"

Not... Not a monster..? But the Everyone thinks that I'm a... All of the Kindergarteners are monsters...

"Hey, don't mind my Father." Thea smiled, and his eyes opened. "He's just a little judgmental."

Is that... A human? But what human would protect me..? Does she not know who I am?

"Are you okay?" The blonde haired woman over Matrix looked worried. "Can you talk?"

"W... Why..?" Was all that Matrix could manage to stutter. "Why help me..?"

The woman only smiled. "Good, you're alive."


Peridot had managed to calm down, the shaking of re-entering the atmosphere over. She took a deep breath, knowing they would hit the ground soon.

Suddenly the an orange light illuminated the ship, and she looked with wide eyes at Matrix's glowing gem.

"... No." She told the gem, a white light coming from it. "No no!" It began growing, pushing on the walls of the pod.

"No no no no no!" The pod began to crack as Peridot was pushed against the wall, of the pod.

"Damn it Matrix!" The pod broke in two ten feet from the ground, and Peridot looked over to see Matrix reforming in his body just in time to see that he was about to hit the ground.

They both slammed into the ground, flipping and bouncing as they skidded across the grass.

"Ow." Peridot said, clearly irritated as she climbed to her feet, dusting herself off.

"Really? You really couldn't wait five more seconds?" Peridot glared at Matrix, who was sitting up, rubbing his head.

"Hey, for all I knew I was about to take a sledge hammer to the gem! I didn't know we were in an escape pod!" Matrix said, clearly just as annoyed.

"You should have guessed, idiot! We were right under one, and you were right next to me!"

"Maybe I just didn't think you were smart enough to think of that!"

"WHAT?!"

"I SAID THAT YOU'RE DUMB!"

Peridot looked as if she were about to explode, before she took a deep breath. "... Calm down, Calm down. You still need this idiot..."

Matrix sighed, sitting down. "So... Where are we?"

"Somewhere close to that 'Beach City', I can guess." Peridot said, sitting on a rock as well.

Matrix sighed, running a hand through his hair, his hood now down. "So we're stranded?"

"Yeah. Maybe if you weren't such an idiot, you would've just fused with me and beaten those two. Then we wouldn't be in this mess." Peridot said, rolling her eyes.

"I don't do fusion. And I really don't wanna see you try to dance." Matrix crossed his arms, smirking.

Peridot growled, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I can't believe I'm stuck with you until I get someone to pick us up."

"..." Matrix stood, turning and walking away from Peridot.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Peridot jumped up after Matrix, jogging to catch up with him.

"If you think I'm going to sit her with you, you're wrong." Matrix said, flipping his hood up.

"Where are you gonna go?" Peridot stopped. "There's no where for you to go! I don't know what you had here so long ago, but that's gone now!"

"..." Matrix remained silent for a moment, not turning around. "Peridot..."

"What?"

"You're a bitch."

And with that, Matrix was off, walking away into the field.


"Steven..?"

Steven clicked the 'hang up' button, dropping his phone onto the sand.

"Well... That could have gone... A lot worse." Pearl said.

"Could have gone a lot better too." Garnet said, looking just as exhausted as the other gems. "Which reminds me, what happened to Matrix?"

It was then that it hit the gems. "... With Peridot." Pearl winced.

"Where's Peridot?"

"Somewhere loose on the planet..." Amethyst winced as well.

"... Well then." Garnet turned, walking towards the temple.

"She's... Not mad?" Pearl said, arching a brow at Garnet as she left.

"I think she's just too drained to be mad." Steven shrugged.

"Speaking of drained..." Amethyst proceeded to fall face first into the sand, passing out.

Steven laughed lightly, falling into the sand.

Pearl sighed, her shoulders lowering. "Come on you two, out of the sand. You don't know what's been in there."

She got no response.

Pearl groaned, shrugging before falling into the sand as well.


Matrix walked by a few trees, reaching a large hill over looking Beach city. He sat down, on it, sighing.

He leaned back, placing his hands behind his head and staring at the sky. Night was falling back into place, and the sun was setting in the distance.

Matrix's eyes closed slowly.

"It's beautiful up here, isn't it?"


"So... Lapis and Jasper are somewhere at the bottom of the ocean." Connie said, looking out at the water.

"Yeah... And Peridot escaped in some kind of pod along with Matrix's gem when the ship was coming down. They could be anywhere." Steven sighed, skipping a rock over the water.

"That... Is a lot to take in..." Connie stared at the ground, thinking.

"Are... You gonna be okay?" Steven looked slightly worried.

"Are you gonna be okay? You're the one that's been through everything. The least that I can do is listen." Connie looked just as worried.

"I can't ask you to do that..." Steven looked down.

"I want to, Steven." Connie smiled. "I want to be part of your universe."

Steven returned the smile. "Thanks, Connie..."

"But there's just one thing that's bothering me." Connie looked back out to the ocean.

"What's that?"

"The way that you talked about Matrix." Connie looked as if she was thinking. "You talked about him like he wasn't a bad guy."

"He wasn't." Steven said confidently.

"But didn't he-"

"Destroy Pearl and Amethyst's bodies mercilessly? Yeah, he did do that." Steven nodded. "But something about him just seemed... Broken."

"Like... His gem was cracked?"

"What? No, no. Not that. He talked to the Gems like he knew them. And he said that he owed Sapphire a solid. The gems just kept telling him to let something go and to stop letting his hatred control him..."

"But why would he hate the gems if he was a good guy?"

"I have no idea. I asked Pearl, but she wouldn't tell me. All she said was 'I'll tell you about it another time.'" Steven sighed. "I feel like all the Gems ever do is keep secrets from me."

"Well, I'm sure they have a good reason." Connie attempted to defend the Gems.

"Yeah..." Steven sighed throwing another rock across the water.

They heard a car, and turned to see Greg's van pull up, And Greg opened the door. "Kiddo! There you are!"


Peridot grumbled to herself as she walked through the field, looking around for any signs of Matrix. "If he thinks I'm going to the Kindergarten without him he's dead wrong."

"Maybe I won't even tell the others that he's here with me. Maybe when I get picked up I'll just leave him here." Peridot shrugged, following the foot prints to a hill over looking Beach City.

"He wouldn't have went to..." Peridot groaned in frustration, looking out over the city. Matrix was no where to be seen, but judging from the indent spear in the ground with his cloak hanging in it, he'd been here.

"Oh good god he's gone AWOL again..." Peridot sighed in frustration before her eyes widened as she heard voices. She quickly jumped down, her boots sticking to the cliff-face.

"See? Wouldn't this be a great place for a rave?" Sour Cream asked, glancing at the others.

"This place is pretty cool." Buck said, staring seriously off into the distance.

"Well yeah, but how are you gonna set up your equipment out here?" Jenny crossed her arms, looking at Sour Cream with an arched brow.

"Well... You have a car, so all we need to do is use that to take all the equipment up here, and then we need a generator." Sour Cream said, nodding.

"And where are we gonna get a generator?" Jenny said, looking rather condescending.

"We could ask Guitar Dad. He's basically a hoarder." Buck said, pushing up his shades.

"And why would he let us borrow one?"

"Buck is his favorite student."

"He's his only student!"

"Exactly, win by default."

"Just because he's his only student doesn't mean that-"

"Hey guys, look at this." They all turned to see Buck looking at the spear in the ground with a cloak hanging on it.

"What's that?" Jenny wondered aloud, walking up to the cloak as it flapped in the wind.

Matrix you idiot... Why would you leave that here?! Peridot thought, keeping as quiet as possible as she waited for the humans to leave.

"I think that's from the guy I met here earlier." Sour Cream said, nodding as he stroked his imaginary beard.

"What guy?" Jenny arched a brow at Sour Cream, turning around to look at him.

"I came up here earlier to scope the scene. I found this guy wearing a cloak sleeping up here. I woke him up, and he was really chill." Sour Cream nodded.

Matrix you are KILLING ME! Peridot screamed internally.

"He was weird though. He spoke like he wasn't really here. I'd never seen him around before."

"Sounds like a drifter." Buck said, his hands in his pockets. "Cool guy."

"Yeah. I invited him to the rave, and he got really weird. He asked me if the gems were gonna be there." Sour Cream scratched his head. "I told him I didn't think so, and he took the flyer."

"Sounds like a druggy to me." Jenny rolled her eyes. "And what do you mean that he spoke like he wasn't really here?"

"He wasn't a druggy." Sour Cream shook his head. "And he just seemed really distant. Almost like Buck."

"Hm. I hope that guy shows up. We've gotta meet him now." Buck nodded.

"Wait, Sour Cream, you're already given out flyers?!" Jenny asked suddenly, looking back to Sour Cream, who nodded sheepishly.

"We don't even have the place ready yet!" Jenny groaned, running a hand through her hair. "... What's the date on the flyer?"

"Uh..."

"Sour Cream, what's the date?"

"Uuhh..."

"Sour Cream!"

"Tomorrow..."

"Oh my Gosh!" Jenny slammed her face into her hands.

"If it's tomorrow, we'd better get everything ready now." Buck said, turning to walk from the cliff.

Jenny sighed. "Yeah, I guess..."

"Thanks, guys." Sour Cream said as they left.

Peridot waited a moment for them to leave before sighing in relief. "Took them long enough."

She looked to the spear that the cloak hung from. "But I have to wonder... Why would Matrix leave this here?"


Matrix watched as the white haired human spoke to the half gem, a grin slowly forming on his face.

"I"m not sure I know what place you're talking about, Sour Cream..." Steven said, trying to think.

"I know you've been there before, Steven. You took us there after that crazy moss attacked us." Sour Cream explained.

"Hm... I don't know. You'll have to take me there again." Steven said, and Sour Cream thought for a moment.

"Alright, but you have to spread the rave flyers and help us set up." Sour Cream said.

"Sure!" Steven smiled, and they began walking towards the cliff over looking the city.

"All according to plan." He looked over towards the hill, his eyes narrowing as he saw a green figure standing on the hill.

"Unless of course Peridot shows up and ruins the whole thing."


"Well I might as well get rid of this before those Crystal Gems see it." Peridot reached for the spear, before suddenly feeling something collide with her, making her fall off the edge!

Peridot looked up to see Matrix over her, holding her by the wrist with one hand as he held his spear that was planted in the cliff-face with his other hand.

She looked as if she were about to really lay into him, when she heard two voices above him.

"Oh, yeah. I remember this place." Steven nodded. "Good place for a rave, but we should probably put some kind of fenc-" Steven stopped mid sentence, his eyes laying on the cloak.

"Sour Cream... Was that here last time you were here..?" Steven said, his eyes remaining on the cloak.

"That? Yeah, some guy I met here this morning left it, I think." Sour Cream nodded. "Why?"

"Did this guy have a gem eye, by any chance?!" Steven turned, invading Sour Cream's personal space.

"Well... Now that you mention it, I never saw his eyes. That cloak covered them." Sour Cream stroked his imaginary beard. "Why? You know him?"

"YES!" Steven turned, running away from the edge. "I've gotta tell the gems!" Steven turned, waving as he ran. "See you later, Sour Cream!"

"Hey! Steven! Wait!" Sour Cream chased after him.

After a moment of silence, Matrix threw Peridot over the side, jumping up after her. "What are you doing?!" He asked.

"What am I doing?! What the hell are you doing?! Are you trying to get us found by those Crystal Clods?!" Peridot exploded.

Matrix placed his spear back in his eye before rolling them. "No, I'm distracting them."

"Distracting them for what? Our escape?" Peridot arched a brow at Matrix.

"You can do what you want, I've got something to retrieve." Matrix said, beginning to walk away.

"What could possibly be worth it?" Peridot asked.

"... It's not important." Matrix continued to walk away.

"You're getting all weird and distant again, so I'm just going to guess that it has something to do with your past and drop it." Peridot rolled her eyes. "Just meet me outside the city when you're done."

Matrix turned, looking at the temple at the beach.

"Thanks, Peridot."


Okay, so I know it took me a lot longer than all the other chapters took, but in my defense, I had only thoroughly thought up to Matrix esclaping from Peridot's ship with Peridot. But now that I've had some time to think, I've got the next couple chapters, or at least the next chapter's main idea thought up.

So please review, favorite, or follow, and I hope to see you all in the feedback and the next chapter.

XWolf26, out