Chapter thirteen is appearently almost four thousand words, so don't worry about this chapter being short because I already have that one written up and completed, I just need to upload it.

Also, we survived the hiatus! And I was completely wrong in my theory, but whatever!

I'm actually glad Peridot's okay. I really like her.

Chapter 12: Tem

"I hope Steven's alright with Connie." Pearl said as she and the others walked through Waterfall. "In fact, I'm just still trying to figure out how we got separated in the first place. How did that even happen?"

"They're going to be fine." Garnet replied. "I think we're close to Hotland by now." She touched a small mushroom on the ground, lighting up the path in front of them. "We should just keep moving, anyways. The more monsters we can help escape, the better."

"If there are any to fight at all..." Pearl said. She stopped. "What's this thing?"

In front of the Gems was a small monster, unable to sit still. It appeared to be a strange combination of a dog, a cat, and something else? It was a very interesting monster.

And it had every intention of destroying them with cuteness.

"hOI!" The monster said happily. "I'm Temmie!"

"Uh...hoi?" Amethyst said hesitantly. "Am I saying that right?"

"hOI!" Temmie replied. "You say hOI! Not hoi!"

"I don't get it. Isn't that what I just said? It's hoi?"

"No, hOI!"

Hoi?"

"hOI!"

"I don't get you." Amethyst finally said, giving up. "Pearl, can I just kill it?"

"Amethyst, don't you dare!" Pearl snapped. "Although I would very much like to."

"Hey, Temmie." Amethyst said. "How well do you fight?" She lifted up an arm and began to flex it proudly.

"No!" Temmie recoiled in horror. "Muscles...NOT CUTE! NOT CUTE!" Temmie ran away shrieking this until falling on its face, its eyes turning into little X's.

"How you like these muscles ; )?" Aaron asked, flexing in.

"Urgh, I'd rather be arguing about how pronounce hOI again!" Amethyst yelled. "Pearl, can I kill this one?"

"Amethyst!"

"Hey, Sapphire, you've been quiet lately. Are you seeing something?"

"Yes. It's...troubling, to say the least."

"Do we need to go back and find Steven and Connie? Can we do that?"

"A little backtracking won't hurt anything, Ruby. But, it's not likely to happen...I think."

"So, everything's still moving around, then?"

"Just what are they doing? It doesn't make any sense to bend everything to this path."

"We have to go back, don't we?"

"I'll go back. You stay here and stall for time. Trust me on this, one Gem is better than all of us in this situation."

"...You're blocking me out."

"Huh?"

"Your Future Vision. Sometimes, I can see it, too. But, now, I can't. You're blocking me out of it. You're kind of distracted, too. It's that bad, huh?"

"I suppose it is."

"So, how bad are talking?"

"There's a chance for another reset, though they'd never allow that to happen."

"You go and try to resolve it, then. I'll make sure to cause a big enough diversion."

"Heh. Good luck."

"Same to you."

"Do you think...never mind. You probably wouldn't understand."

"No, no, tell me. Even if I don't understand, it's weighing on your mind, so just tell me."

"Do you think that we'll ever be to escape them? Connie's Determination...it can only take us so far, after all."

"You're right, I don't really understand what you're talking about, but I do know one thing. You're thinking too far ahead again."

"You know that's kind of my job, right?"

"Yeah, I guess it was, on Homeworld. But, this is Earth, remember?"

"I suppose it is..."

"There's a village of them?!"

This is what Pearl attempted not to scream as they walked into Temmie Village. The crudely drawn sign reading "WelCom to...Tem Villag!" was all that gave it away.

"Well, there used to be." Amethyst said. "Looks like they're all gone, except for this one in the wall."

" 'Check out...da TeM Shop'?" Pearl read, shuddering slightly. " 'YaYa, check out TeM Shop!' Can we...not? This grammar is giving me a headache."

"Oh, come on, Pearl, it can't hurt to check it out." Amethyst said, laughing. As the two of them disappeared into the small shop, Sapphire ran off, Ruby standing next to the nearby box.

"Let's hope this works..." Ruby said quietly.

Subject 007- [REDACTED]- Status change to: Active

Transmission: Start...

Lapis Lazuli sat in one of the windows of the house in front of the Temple. The ocean called out to her, but she still ignored it.

"They still aren't back?" Jasper asked, walking in, a bag of groceries in her hand. She put her hair up in a ponytail as she got out a few pots and pans.

"I don't get this. It's been five days now." Lapis said, getting off the window sill. "Connie's parents came back again, too. They said that they were planning on calling the police if we wouldn't say where they're at." She joined Jasper in the kitchen and began cutting up a couple of carrots.

"Yeah, this isn't making sense." Jasper replied, getting the package of steaks out of one of the bags. "They would've have said something to us, at least." She began pressing into the steaks to tenderize them. "Not just completely leave us in the dark like this." She went from using her palm to just her whole fist. "They wouldn't leave a human's parents to worry like this." She was, at this point, just pounding the already gone life from the meat. "I don't care what they do at this point, they just need to contact us, somehow! I don't care anymore!"

She finally stopped, blood from the steaks covering her hands. "This isn't like them..."

Lapis put down the knife, now no longer being used for carrot cutting. She had just watched Jasper through her rant, nothing else. "That's it. We need to take matters into our own hands." She held her own hand. "We're looking for them."

"It's a good idea." Jasper said, then stopped. "Lazuli, no. You know the rules, no Malachite."

"We can cover more ground if we fly." Lapis protested. "Besides, what are supposed to do, just randomly warp around until we find them? We don't even know where they went!"

"You take the air, and I'll watch the Temple. It's that simple." Jasper suggested, running water to wash the meat and blood off her hands. She flinched as the water became incredibly hot.

"You don't get it, do you?" Lapis yelled. "This is serious, Jasper. We need to leave now to find them. We should've started looking for them two days ago, actually! Look, I don't know if they're hiding, and if they are, why, but...we just need to find them."

"I get it, you're worried." Jasper said after a while. "But, you're going about it the wrong way. Look, let's not exactly panic just yet, okay? I'll invite Connie's parents over, and we can talk. See if we can work this out somehow. But for right now, let's not get too ahead of ourselves. We've had enough of that, already..."

"Yes, I suppose we have." Lapis replied. "Well, better get this all this cooking done soon, huh?"

Jasper nodded. "I'll deal with that. You get the Maheswarans over here. Deal?"

Lapis nodded back and walked over to the door. "Deal. I'll be back in a bit."

"Oh, wait." Jasper said. She pointed to the still flowing faucet, billows of steam emitting from the scalding water. "The water?"

End Transmission

Subject 007- Lapis Lazuli- Status change to: Inactive

My headcanon for how Jasper and Lapis interact is kind of complicated. Basically, there's good days, which are in a nutshell what this transmission just showed, and then there's days where Garnet has to watch them or else they'll both end up trying to gouge out the other's throat. Surprisingly enough, both of them have been on good behavior while the Gems are gone.

Also, Jasper's a lot like Undyne, in which she's still really hot tempered, and often just tries to punch and fight her ways out of situations instead of this whole "civil talking" thing the Gems keep trying to get her to do. She often uses cooking as a distraction and as a way to calm down, but just ends up giving up or getting even madder in the end. Lapis helps with the cooking because she enjoys the process.

And sometimes she just plays around with the water because she feels like it.