Jet looked around confused, observing the Crystal Gems that surrounded her. Upon seeing the small back creature back, Pearl reached up to her gem but was stopped by Garnet whole calmly placed her hand on Perl's. The bird beak nosed gem looked toward Garnet for an explanation but the fusion simply shook her head. Amethyst, on the other hand, didn't try to take out her weapon, instead taking a step back and turning to Steven to see what he would do.

Upon seeing Jet again, the holograms and the story he just witnessed became quite vivid in his mind. According to Garnet and Pearl, Jet had done unspeakable things during the war, things that not even his all-loving mother could forgive. It felt odd to think that the small creature he had recently met and had protected him on multiple occasions was considered a true monster by others.

Perhaps feeling Steven's split second of hesitation, Jet turned to one of the windows and made a mad dash for it. Steven held out his hand but Jet didn't stop, instead crashing through the window and dropping to the sand bellow. The crystal gems rushed after it, but as they reached the window, all four of them noticed something odd. Standing before Jet was Connie, with her back straight and eyes open wide from the surprise. Connie didn't move, instead remaining in place and looking down at the creature. Jet, in turn, cocked her head and held out her hand.

"Connie!" Steven shouted as he tried to climb out of the window but was stopped by Garnet.

"Hmm…Steven? What's going on?" Connie asked, her eyes not leaving Jet but still leaning back to avoid being touched by the unknown being.

"Connie, she won't hurt you!" Steven called out before opting to take another route out of the house, one Garnet would not oppose.

Jet's hand finally reached Connie while Steven used the long way down. The black gem's touch on Connie's arm felt incredibly cold and odd. Before her was a strange being made of darkness and a chilling touch, yet she didn't feel afraid and instead reached out with her own hand. The gems looked on as Connie's hand gently patted Jet's head. Steven rushed out of the house and down the stairs, only to find Connie carefully caressing Jet's head. When the young girl noticed his arrival, she stopped…only to feel Jet's cold grip on her head, keeping it on her head as if saying not to stop.

"She likes you!" Steven said excitedly.

"Yea…I…Steven what is this." Connie asked, returning to patting Jet's head.

"That's…a long story." the young boy slowly approached Jet and was met with a blank stare, causing him to tense up for a moment. Steven looked into Jet's expressionless eyes and then let out a sigh "I'm sorry."

Jet's hands pulled Connie's own away and released it. Slowly the small black creature approached Steven and stared at him intently. After a few seconds, that felt like an eternity to Steven, she bowed her head, remaining in that position until Steven realized what she wanted. He moved his forehead down to meet Jet's and when it touched her gem, he felt the warmth that was not present anywhere else on her body. Steven smiled and Connie blushed slightly.

"We'll keep an eye on Jet. If she steps out of line, we poof and bubble her for good." Garnet told the others as they watched the seen bellow "But for now, we do this…Steven's way." the fusion moved away from the window along with Amethyst, yet Pearl remained, watching Jet and Steven with a frown.

oOoOoOoOo

"Cool, I wish I could have seen it." Connie commented with an excited grin.

Steven sat on the sand next to Connie, just about done with telling her what had happened after her last visit, though keeping some of the details about Jet's past aside for the time being. While they sat, Jet had moved into Steven's shadow once again, apparently feeling far more comfortable in her own little dark world than outside it.

"I want to see Super Steven! It sounds awesome!" Connie cheered with an expectant look in her eyes.

"Hmm…you ok with that Jet?" Steven asked the gem in his shadow and instead of a direct response, his body progressively became covered in the dark layer.

"Wow…" Connie stared dumbfounded at him.

Steven slowly bent his knees and then jumped high in the air, sand flying all around from the force of the leap alone. He laughed as his body began descending toward the ground, however instead of aiming to land on his feet, he rapidly approached the ground head-first. Connie gasped and Steven smiled, taking air into his lungs and holding his breathe. The boy quickly sunk into his own shadow and popped out of the shadow cast by the cliff. Connie was more than impressed.

"Cool huh?" Steven asked her, happy that he could entertain Connie "I'm…We're super strong like this too!" he said, looking around for something heavy that he could lift.

At that very moment, Steven noticed Lion starting to walk up the stairs to the house. An idea formed in his head and his body sunk back into the shadows. Connie watched as Steven popped out underneath Lion, right from the pink feline's own shadow and lifted him off the ground effortlessly. Lion seemed less than pleased, actually downright annoyed with being picked up without permission and immediately began to squirm in order to get free. Instead, Steven jumped into the air and landed on the sand next to Connie. He placed Lion down and Jet's darkness began leaving his body.

"Steven that was very cool, but is that like…fusion?" Connie asked slightly nervously, giving a side-glance toward Jet.

Steven sat down cross-legged on the sand next to her and lifted his hand to his chin "I don't know, but don't think so." he mumbled "Garnet said that Jet had the power to control others with this. I guess she's just letting me do what I want."

The answer didn't seem to please Connie, who looked from Steven to Jet and back at him, worry written on her face "Are you sure that's safe?"

"Oh don't worry, Jet and I are buddies! We fought together!" he assured her while raising his fist triumphantly.

He looked back toward Jet, to see if she was mimicking his actions like before, but instead he was surprised to find that Jet was uncharacteristically staring Lion in the eye. The black gem stared blankly at the pink lion, who in turn glared back at her.

"Hmm…guys?" Steven called worried, but was ignored.

Jet's hand reached out to Lion's mane and the feline took a step back. The black gem didn't give up and took a step toward him. Lion let out a low growl, making Steven worry for what he would do if she continued. However, eventually Lion stopped growling and her black hands touched his pink mane. She began to move her hands around the mane, burying her face into it. In turn, Steven let out a loud laugh.

"Look Connie, their friends already." he commented and gave Steven an awkward smile.

"Hey Steven…does that work on humans too?" Connie asked while looking at the black gem cuddling up to Lion's mane.

"I don't know, it might just be a gem thing. But we can try!" he turned to Jet as she buried her face into the mane again "Jet, can you make Connie stronger?" he asked but was seemingly ignored "Hey?" his hand touched Jet's back and she turned to look at him, hands still holding on to Lion "Can you try it with Connie?" he tried once again.

This time Jet seemed to hear him and released Lion. The small black gem moved to Connie and touched the young girl's bare elbow with her small hands. Nothing seemed to happen, thus she tried again but obtained the same result.

"Guess it doesn't work on humans." Connie looked disheartened.

Seeing the look in Connie's eyes, Steven felt like a large needle was piercing his heart. He opened his mouth to try and comfort her but before he could, Jet jumped into Connie's shadow. A small black hand rose from the shadow and seemed to somehow grab the edge. Connie looked down in confusion, which only grew when Jet's hand moved Connie's shadow on its own. Not just her shadow moved, but Connie's body slid across the sand as well, her feet seemingly hovering just above the grains. It was then that suddenly, Jet began to move Connie's shadow around rapidly, causing the young girl to skate across the beach at high speeds.

At first, Connie sounded scared but soon after she began to happily cheer. Jet quickly stopped and grabbed Connie's legs, pulling her into the shadows for only a second, since the next she shot out of the shadow, gasping for air but flying up a few feet from the ground.

"Steven!" Connie called out worried but noticed, as she fell, that Steven was too far to reach her in time. The young lady closed her eyes, but felt no impact with the ground, instead she could feel hair in her face…or rather fur. She opened her eyes and saw that Lion had caught her and landed safely.

"Jet! No! Connie could have gotten hurt!" Steven shouted as he rushed toward Connie "Are you alright?" he asked with worry in his eyes.

Jet moved out of the shadows and simply stared back at Steven with her blank eyes that showed no emotion.

"Am I!? That was awesome!" Connie let out a loud laugh, throwing her arms in the air "Jet! Lion! Let's do it again!" she shouted but then her phone began to ring.

Connie knew exactly who it was because there were only a handful of people that would be calling her and one of them was standing right next to her. She excused herself and answered the call. Moments later she returned with a solemn expression.

"I have to go, my mom's picking me up. Says she wants me to help her with something." she informed him, looking disappointed "I'll see you later ok?"

Steven nodded.

"You too." she said to Lion and Jet, both of which seemed to ignore her for Jet was back to playing with Lion's mane.

Steven watched as Connie walked away. He loved the time he could spend together with her, it was a shame that she couldn't stay any longer, especially because he was starting to consider talking about Jet's past not that Connie had seemed to like the shadow gem. Still, he knew that he would have other opportunities to talk to her about it, later.

Steven turned to Jet and let out his trademark laugh "You really like Lion huh?" he said as he approached them "Oh yea, look at this!" his hand moved to Lion's mane right above Jet's head and it entered it. Steven's hand was in his the pocket dimension for a couple of seconds before he took it out, along with a can of juice.

Jet stared at his arm go into Lion's mane and back out. If she could show any expressions, Steven knew she'd likely be staring in awe. But then he felt Jet's cold hands around his wrist. The black gem forcefully pulled Steven's hand toward Lion's mane in what seemed more like desperation that pure curiosity.

"Hey Jet, wait a second." Steven tried to saw but her grip was strong enough to pull him.

The moment his hand entered the pocket dimension, Jet's body melted and surrounded Steven's arm. Before the boy could react, Jet rushed into Lion's mane, entering it through the opening created by his own touch.

"Jet!"