A/N: Hey guys! I really hope you like this chapter! I worked pretty hard on this one. But enough talking already. Chapter 12!


"Okay, Lion let's try this one more time!" Lapis held a picture of Steven in front of Lion. It was a picture taken of him in front of their house, smiling wide. Lapis decided not to give up on Steven's pet just yet, so she wanted to try some other tactics today. Sitting on the beach, the ocean gem sat a good distance away from the Lion as to not provoke him. Lapis pointed at Steven's photo. "Steven." She threw the picture behind her. "Gone." She pointed to where she threw the photo. "Go find."

Lion looked blankly at the picture, then back at Lapis. Then he started licking his paw. Lapis groaned. "You know, it's because you lick yourself that you get so many hairballs." Lion huffed at her, and continued his bath.

"Any luck?" called Pearl from the house balcony.

"No." Lapis called back. Standing up, and brushing sand off her dress, she decided to give up and go back inside. Pearl met her at the top of the house stairs. "Well, don't be discouraged. None of us can handle Lion. Steven has trouble with him sometimes too!" Pearl laughed at all the times Lion has disobeyed an order.

"You'd think he'd at least know what to do in a life or death situation." Lapis joked, half-heartedly.

When they went back inside, they saw Amethyst and Garnet studying a map on the coffee table. Amethyst sat on the couch, hand on her cheek, as Garnet sat in a chair across from her, massaging her temple.

"We've tried all these caves on the north side of this hemisphere, now we have to try heading west." Garnet thought out loud.

"Ugh, this is going to take forever!" Amethyst complained. "Why do we have to look in every. single. gem location? Can't we just look in the places where they could be?"

"No. That's not an option. Jasper and Peridot are hiding somewhere we'd never expect them to be. We have to look very carefully."

"Fine, then let's just look in all the unusual places! Problem solved!"

"They've been going at it for a while now." Pearl sighed. Lapis knew how much they all stressed themselves out. Today marked the 5th day, but everyone felt as if it had been much longer.

"Any new ideas?" Lapis asked, sitting in a chair next to Garnet.

"No." Amethyst replied grimly, reclining back on the couch.

"It's kind of strange. Not having Steven around here." Pearl admitted after a short silence.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Without that little goofball I always feel like something's missing. We haven't been on our own like this since Steven was little and still living with Greg." Amethyst reminisced on the day Steven first moved in.

"What was Steven like? When he was younger?" Lapis asked, curious.

Pearl laughed, thinking back. "He was definitely a hand-full!"

"But he was a good kid." Garnet added.

"Remember the time he broke the TV with his shield?" Amethyst asked.

"Yes! He thought he could summon his weapon with ice cream!" Pearl smiled at the memory. "I can't believe he actually knew the cookie cat rap!"

"I think what I miss most about him is his songs." The purple gem said. Everyone laughed a little. Steven did love making up songs.

"I just miss… him." Pearl said sadly.

Lapis looked down at her lap. She thought about the last time she saw Steven. He tearfully gave her a hug, and wished her luck on her journey. Lapis thought she could handle Jasper and Peridot. That she could find them in one day and take them down. Even though she didn't know all the gem locations on Earth. She knew close to nothing in fact. She realized how foolish she was at the time. She needed to apologize.

Lapis sighed. "It's all my fault."

"Huh?" Pearl was pulled from her own thoughts at Lapis' confession. Amethyst and Garnet sat up, curious to what she had to say.

"I made Steven promise not to tell you this… but on the night of the slumber party, we both had a dream. But it was more of a vision. It was Jasper and Peridot. They were talking, and they were planning on stealing the corrupted gems from you guys."

"So, wait- You knew they were coming after our gems before and you didn't tell us!?" Amethyst cried.

"That's why I went to the Kindergarten! I was trying to find them to prevent that from happening! I didn't mean for any of this to happen! I'm sorry..."

"I don't believe this! We could've protected Steven and the gems if only you had told us!" Pearl stood up, angrily pointing a finger at Lapis.

"You think I don't realize that? I've been blaming myself from the beginning! I feel awful!" Lapis yelled, tears pricking her eyes. "You have no idea how much I wish I never did what I did…"

"There's nothing you can do about it now. Steven's gone." Garnet stated. Lapis couldn't tell if the stoic gem was blaming her or not.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group. Amethyst kept giving Lapis a side glare, and Pearl just looked so disappointed. The blue gem knew she had to try to clear things up. "I'm sorry. Really. And not just sorry about Steven's kidnapping… but everything. I tried to kill you guys twice, I caused the invasion of your planet, I couldn't keep Malachite trapped, and now this. Sometimes I wish Steven had never let me out of the mirror. Things would've been better off that way…" By the end of her speech, she was crying.

All the other gems were secretly shocked by her confession. They were still mad, but hearing someone wish they were still trapped just for their happiness? It made their hearts soften a bit. Not to mention they felt bad about seeing her cry. However, they remained silent. Lapis wiped her eyes and decided she needed to leave the house for a while. Where else did she have to go? "I'm sorry I can't help with finding Steven either." She started heading for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Amethyst.

"No where." Lapis replied. As she was about to grab the door handle, an intense pain overcame her. She took a step back, and it got worse. Crying in pain, she crumbled to the ground.

"Lapis?" Pearl called, worried by this new behavior.

Lapis didn't reply. Her head hurt. She felt as if she was burned on differet parts of her body. She even felt her gem starting to crack again.

"What's wrong with her?!" Amethyst asked, panicking a little.

"I-It hurts!" Lapis struggled to say, clenching her eyes shut. That's when the visions acted up. She saw some of the same things she had seen before in dreams. Rippling moonlight in water, a mask fish, a gem machine. Then she saw different things clearly. Steven was in a cage, Jasper standing outside. "Tomorrow evening, you will give us an answer. And if you don't, you can kiss your powers goodbye!" Steven looked scared, and quite frankly, horrible. Bruises covered his face, as well as a split lip. She only could guess how beat up the rest of his body was. More images flashed in front of her eyes. A blue temple, a cracked gem, and Steven's cage once more.

That was it. The vision was over and her pain subsided. Pearl was kneeling next to her, hand on her shoulder as support. Garnet and Amethyst stood in front of her, unsure of what to do to help. Lapis tried sitting up, shaking from fear.

"Are you okay?" Pearl asked.

"What the heck was that?" Amethyst asked.

"I-I think it was another vision…" Lapis said.

Amethyst and Pearl's eyes widened, and they looked at each other, shocked. "Well what did you see?!" The purple gem asked.

"I didn't see much. But I was just… in so much pain. Like my gem was cracked again, a-and I felt like a was burned."

"And this was only a vision? How is that even possible?!" Pearl asked, completely shocked. Lapis shook her head. "I don't know. I've never experienced anything like that before…"

Garnet kneeled down in front of the ocean gem. "Are you sure you didn't see anything important?"

Lapis tried re-gathering her thoughts. "I saw Steven, and he was locked up. Jasper was saying something about taking away his powers."

"Taking away gem powers?! That's impractical! No one can even achieve something like that!… Right?" Pearl wondered, worriedly.

"Did you at least see where he is?" Amethyst asked hopefully.

"Maybe. All I saw was a blue temple, Steven, and Jasper… and a mask fish? They might've been underwater." Lapis said, trying to connect the meaning of everything.

"Garnet, you don't think…?" Pearl didn't need to finish her question. Garnet already went back to the map on the coffee table and picked it up. Looking closely, she adjusted her shades. "There's an underwater temple a few miles south of Mask Island." she stated.

"Is that where Steven is?" Amethyst asked.

"Possibly. Only one way to find out." Garnet said as she headed for the warp pad. "Let's go." Amethyst and Pearl nodded, determined.

"Wait, I can help!" Lapis said getting up off the floor.

"No!" Pearl objected, "I mean- uh, are you sure that's a good idea? You did just have a painful… vision just now. Maybe it's better if you just stay here and rest?"

Lapis shook her head. "I'm fine! I think what I felt is what Steven was feeling… If Jasper and Peridot have the capability to inflict that much pain on him, and are able to take away his powers then you guys are going to need my help!"

"We're only going there to get Steven. Nothing else. We'll be fine." Garnet said, ready to leave.

"Please. I'm an ocean gem. I know more about the ocean than anyone. I have the ability to control water! I could come in handy! Look, Steven's my friend too… I want to be there to make sure he gets home safely, rather than sit here and worry. I know I've been screwing up lately, but let me try to help fix my mistakes." The blue gem pleaded.

The three Crystal Gems looked at each other, a silent debate between them going on. "I guess it's okay with me…" Pearl admitted. Garnet nodded, also approving.

"Well we're not going to save Steven any faster if you just stand there! C'mon! We gotta go!" Amethyst ushered. Lapis gave a thankful smile and joined them on the warp pad. They were going to get their Steven back.


It was getting darker. At least darker than it already was in the room. Night was approaching, and it would soon be 24 hours. It was almost time…

Steven did his best to do everything he could with a cracked gem. Maybe if he could pull out a shield or a bubble, he could protect himself. He focused really hard, and tried to summon his bubble first. His pink safeguard did show up, but wavered and disappeared again after a few seconds. He took a deep breath tried his shield instead. However, nothing happened at all. "No!" Steven groaned, frustrated. He was doomed.

It didn't seem like his friends were going to save him anytime soon. He was losing the hope that they ever would. Were they even looking for him? If they were, they would've found him by now, right? Well it didn't matter now. It was too late. He was beaten, bruised, and burned. And soon, he could add powerless to the list.

Maybe there was a chance the machine won't even work. Taking away a gem's powers is close to impossible! No one should even have that kind of power! But Jasper and Peridot don't play by the rules… which is probably why they always win. With gem-tech as advanced as they have it on Home World, anything is possible.

Steven tensed when he heard a set of footsteps approaching. This is the moment. Time to say goodbye to everything he knew about being a Crystal Gem. He wouldn't need it after today.

Jasper approached the cage. "Alright Quartz boy. This is the last time we're asking you for an answer, and you know the consequences if you don't. Don't be stupid and just tell us the Crystal Gem's secrets!"

Steven took in a deep breath and remained silent, which took everything he had. After a moment Jasper laughed. "You must be a complete moron! You are really willing to give up everything for a bunch of weak rebels! It's pathetic." Jasper was about to open the cage, ready to get him over to the Spinel. Steven kept his head down, avoiding eye-contact.

"What would your friends think? What would Rose Quartz think? You're choosing to have your powers taken away. You should've realized by now that love is weakness. Answering one simple question would've saved you all the trouble. But I guess the weak just get weaker, and the dumb just get dumber."

"Hate to burst your bubble Jasper-" came a familiar voice. Was that Pearl? "-but 'dumber' isn't a word!"

Steven looked up and smiled when he saw Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl standing there with their weapons out. "Guys?"


A/N: I hate to end it like this, but I gotta leave something to write about for the next chapter!... Please don't kill me. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you have any questions/comments/suggestions/ideas/jokes then don't be afraid to click that review button! And with that, I'll see you in the next chapter! BYE!