Welcome back guys! Hope you like this chapter. Keep in mind that you are allowed to say bad things about this, k? I won't grow as a writer if you don't. So I challenge you, if you are going to write something good, you have to write something bad underneath. Say something you didn't like about it. If you were going to write something bad anyways, yay. Review!
Connie was walking up the steps of the gem's home, each step creaking under her feet. She reached the door and gave it a knock. Pearl came to the door and welcomed her with a smile.
"Hello Connie, are you here for Steven?" Pearl asked.
"Yeah, is he here?" She asked. Pearl stepped aside for her to enter. As Connie passed the threshold, she felt something get into her eye. She quickly rubbed it and saw "Steven" running down to her.
"Hey Connie!" He said with a giant grin. She smiled back, she noticed that Pearl had left.
"Hey Steven." She said. "Did you finish your mission?" She asked. She felt the same thing in her eye again and rubbed it once more.
"Sure did." He answered. "I need to tell you all about it." As he was speaking, the hallucination gas was fabricating a story as to go along with Connie's question. "You shoulda seen it! There I was, facing this weird dog-like thing, right?" It unraveled its false story to the gullible girl.
Meanwhile, Steven was about to start his training.
"Now steven, do you know what endurance is?" Onyx-Agate asked.
"It's like, strength, isn't it?" Steven guessed.
"Close. By earthly definition, endurance is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from and have immunity to trauma, wounds, and fatigue." She explained. "The way we are going to increase your endurance is by toughening up your body and your mind."
"How're we gonna do that?" Steven asked.
"We are going to train vigorously and diligently. Each morning, we will train our upper body. In the afternoon we will train our legs and lower body. At night, we will rest with meditation. The next day we will repeat the process, and so on." She explained. "Any questions?" She asked.
"How long are we going to train for?" He asked.
"However long it takes to get you to where you can kill the gems." She said. Steven was taken aback.
"K-Kill... the gems?" He said, unsure of what he heard.
"Yes have to kill the gems." She said.
"You're serious? No! I'm not gonna kill them." Steven said.
"Steven, think about it. Did they try to help you when they found out something was off? No, they did quite the opposite actually. The second you were asleep they started plotting your death. If they aren't eradicated soon, they could kill both of us." Onyx-Agate said. Steven looked down at his feet.
"But... they're my-" Steven was interrupted.
"Friends? Steven, if you hadn't woken up that night they would've killed you. If you left me and went to your home they would end your life the second your big toe was through the threshold. Are you going to stand idly by as they plot your downfall? Paranoid, that any day now they might find you?" She could see that her words were getting to Steven. He had an expression on his face that showed anger, sadness, and a little bit of disappointment.
"But... I can't." Steven said quietly, it was almost a whisper.
"This is what will be the end of you. You can't harm them, but they won't think twice about slaughtering you like a sheep. If you had any sense at all, you'd trust me about this. Killing them is the only way to ensure your safety." She said. Steven looked at her, then down at his feet for a couple of seconds. He was twiddling his thumbs, showing signs of nervousness. Finally, he looked up.
"Okay." He said. Onyx-Agate got a smile on her face. On the surface it was warm, showing pity and understanding for the young boy. On the inside, however, it was an evil grimace. Another part of her plan had fallen into place.
"Let's get started then, shall we?" Onyx-Agate said. Steven nodded. Although he hated the thought, he would have to kill the people he trusted the most(aside from Connie and his dad). Onyx-Agate was right, that was the only way he'd be safe. "First things first, i need you to help me."
"With what?" Steven asked. Onyx-Agate lowered her head to him and showed the gem on top. It was severely cracked. "Will you heal me?" She asked.
"What happened?" Steven asked.
"Remember? I used the touch of death and it cracked." She said. Steven nodded. He licked his hand and placed it on the gem. The cracks started to retreat to his palm, healing and reforming. Within seconds, it was done. Onyx-Agate stood up straight, feeling the top of her head. She touched her gem and felt no cracks or blemishes. She smiled and excitedly turned to Steven. "Thank you so much Steven!" There was a definite change in Onyx-Agate's personality. She seemed happier, more lively, and energetic. It was a totally different Onyx-Agate than before. She collected herself, putting on her serious look again. "*ahem* Let's get training."
*meanwhile with Connie and "Steven"*
"Really? So you just kicked it in the snout?" Connie said. "Steven" had told her the tale of his fight with a dog monster.
"That's not even the coolest part! After I kicked it, it exploded and turned into a pile of puppies! After half an hour of petting them, I walked through a door on the other side of the room and I found the "Sacred Sandwich Scroll". I used it to make the most perfect sandwich in the world, and it just blew itself up after." "Steven" said. Connie was eating up every word, she had no reason(or proof) to believe that he was lying.
"Woooooow! That's so cool!" Connie said. "Do you have the sandwich?" She asked.
"Well... that's the sad part. The scroll was too close to the sandwich when it exploded, and it blew up the sandwich. I wanted to make it again, but there were too many instructions to remember." "Steven said. "I'll be right back. I have to use the bathroom." It said. It got up and walked to the bathroom. Connie was left alone. She got up to get herself a snack from the fridge. She grabbed an apple and was walking back when she noticed something odd. She heard a flush and a few seconds later, "Steven" was walking back from the bathroom.
"Hey Steven. You said the scroll exploded, right?" Connie asked. "Steven" nodded. "Well, wouldn't it have left a mark on the counter? Like taken a chip out of it or left some ash marks?" Connie asked. She saw "Steven" get a nervous expression on his face. "And in your story, you said you were gone for at least a week. You told me a couple of days ago that you started your mission. And come to think of it, didn't you head off east? You said just now that you went north..." Connie said. She looked up at Steven who had disappeared. She looked around her, but couldn't see him.
"Why must you question everything?" She heard a voice from right behind her. She jumped and turned fast, seeing "Steven". "I really was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this Connie, I really liked you. And so does Steven. Now, I'm going to have to erase you from the picture." It wasn't Steven's voice, it was a woman's. Black smoke poured down from Steven's fingers. It went to Connie and wrapped around her, replacing air with thick, suffocating smoke. It hurt to breathe, her eyes watered from lack of oxygen. She blacked out, her last memory was the smoke that surrounded her, and the evil laughter of Steven.
... Wo... Hope you liked it! remember that if you plan to review good write something bad about the chapter also.
Another thing, I got a review from a guest asking if there will be a chapter soon about the gems reacting to Steven's disappearance. The answer is: Not any time soon. Where the story is, the gems don't know that Steven is gone because of the hallucination gas. I plan to keep this story going for a while, so the gems won't find out till way later.
Another thing, someone asked me(through PM) "can't Garnet use her future vision to see that Steven was taken or that Onyx is nearby" The answer simply being: Hallucination gas goes deeper than what people think. It changes the gems' outlook on the world and the stuff they see, thus effecting garnet's future vision. By guys, see ya.