Real quick announcement for the canon of this fanfic. Spoilers for the show ahead, you have been warned: with the most recent reveal of Rose actually being Pink Diamond in the show I will not doing that for this fan-fic. It messes with a lot of things I have in the works and for me personally the reveal seemed… cheap isn't the right word but the closest. Anyhow enough of that, on to chapter 20.

Chapter Twenty

The Things They Carried

Burning

Steven opened his eyes to see that everything was burning. The long tongues of flame reached up the walls around him, consuming everything in their path. He rolled to the side to avoid a falling ceiling tile. It hit the carpet next him him with a loud Wooph, extinguishing the flames that had covered it's underside. Looking away from the tile of drywall that had nearly hit him, he say rows of cubicles, some nearly ash. There was a pop, followed by another, and another. Steven looked up to see the florescent lights bursting under the heat. Scrambling backwards he felt his hand hit something. Looking down he saw another hand, lying fingers splayed outwards, as though reaching for something. The arm came from behind the wall of a cubicle and was dressed in a tan camouflage. Steven looked in the direction the hand pointed towards and saw a door.

"Why…wh-" a voice came weakly from behind the wall followed by a series of rough coughs. Steven pushed himself to his feet and ran to the persons aid. A desk a pinned them, it's metal legs having sunk into the floor. Pieces of burning tile and shards of glass covered his back. Steven quickly brushed the debris off the man and ran to unpin his feet. His face was covered in bandages and when Steven got to the back of the desk he saw only one leg was pinned, the other ending just below the knee. It too was bandaged. Steven lifted the desk, and pushed the man out from under. He then lifted him onto his shoulders, or tired to. The man's body seem to weigh a ton, and Steven was forced to drag him. The section of the floor where the man had just been suddenly fell through. Steven heard a loud crash and a scream. More flames shot up the new hole, hungrily devouring everything they touched.

"Why did you leave us?" The man spoke, his voice ragged and harsh. Steven ignored him and continued to pull his body towards the door. He forced it open, having to use both hands to pull the door free. The handle was burning, and he could feel the blisters forming on his palms and fingers. A cloud of smoke come billowing out, causing his eyes and throat to burn. Taking a few seconds to cough and let the smoke clear he looked to see a concrete stairwell, each step coated in flames that smelled like car exhaust. Looking around frantically for another way out he spotted a large window. He reached for the man, only to grasp nothing but air. Looking down he saw the body was gone. Shaking his head Steven sprinted to the window. He bashed it a few times before it shattered. Looking down he saw he was only two stories up, the ground below being hard asphalt.

Steven took a deep breath and jumped, forming a bubble around himself as he fell. Or so he tried. Instead of a protective barrier forming around him and absorbing the shock, his body did. The wind was knocked out of him, and although covered in burns and scrapes he was shocked that nothing felt broken. Pushing himself up he looked around. He was in the parking lot of an office building, surrounded on all sides by a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. Just outside the fence was a swarming mob of people and beyond them a city bathed in fire. The smoke rose into the sky, blotting out the light and turning the horizon into an apocalyptic red. Many of the people had faces covered with masks or wrapped cloth, but those who did not simply had shifting shadows in place of features. Some pushed against the fence, but most moved to the right. Many of them carried sticks, or chains, or other blunt objects. Steven ran around the side of the building to see the parking lot open up. At its center was a mass of people, surrounding something. Steven could hear yelling coming from the middle. He moved closer to investigate.

"Is that all you got! Is that the best you can fucking do!" someone screamed from the mob. The people jeered back, or Steven thought they did. They spoke a language Steven had never heard before, but all of them sounded angry. Some threw things into the middle, well others simply shouted and raised their fists. Steven began to pull the people away from whoever was in the middle, trying to reach them. The bodies were packed together like sardines, and each one almost seemed rooted to the ground. Try as he might Steven couldn't pull them away, so he did the next best thing and pushed himself in. This however proved just as hard. Some would push him back, others simply packed themselves together like a human wall. Steven was about to form his shield and try bashing his way through when suddenly the crowd changed. They quited themselves, lowering their voices. They now spoke in low, hushed tones and Steven couldn't hear the person in the center. The people began to move back, and Steven managed to see they were making a opening for someone coming out of the building.

It was a man, tall, with olive skin and a clean shave face. Several small scars lined his left cheek and lower jaw. He wore a dark green uniform and a red beret. A cigar stuck out of the corner of his mouth and he removed it to let out a cloud of smoke. A smile spread across his face, and although it seemed genuine Steven had never felt more uneasy. The man dropped the cigar and sniffed it out under his boot. He then strode forward with a confidence akin to a predator in their environment. A tiger in thier jungle. His eyes were cold, calculating, and they had a sadism about them Steven had only seen once before. They reminded him all to much of Jasper. He could feel the hair that remained begin to rise. Despite the constant crackle of the fire the clack of the hard rubber soles on the black top split through any other sound like an axe. Although it had to have been less than thirty seconds for the man to walk from the building to the crowd's center it seemed to stretch into erity, each step being punctuated by the hard click-clack.

Finally the man was swallowed by the crowd. Steven pushed his way out and tired to run to the clearing that had been formed for him. The mob had closed back around, but there was now enough of a gap that Steven could push his way through. He saw the man squatting in front of someone. He could hear him speaking, but was still to far off to make out the words. In front of him was another man, his clothing in tatters and his arms and legs covered in bruises and cuts. Steven could see that he was being held down on either side by two of the faceless people. His arms were slack, only to suddenly go taught as he began to struggle against those who held him.

"You fucking bastard! You took everything from me!" He screamed. Steven pushed closer, trying to see his face, trying to help him. He finally got close enough to hear what the man in dark green was saying. He spoke with an slight accent that Steven couldn't place, but beyond that his english was perfect. His voice was soft and deep, like the purr of a small cat.

"Oh Captain you still lie to yourself. I never ordered you here. I never told your Marines you would be staying. I never asked you for anything but simple information," The man in green said. Suddenly the world began to shift. The city faded, the sky turned to the roof of a magnificent house. The man in green was now on his side, appearing to cower, now dressed in some sort of nightgown, "And I begged you to stop,"

The man whose clothes had been ragged and torn were now replaces with black cargo pants, a t-shirt, and a vest holding various magazines and other equipment was on his chest. A ski mask covered his face. In his right hand was a large knife, it's point dripping blood. His breathing was slow, but each breath was deep, the vest rising and falling noticeably. Steven saw his jaw harden and he began to kick the man, his boot slamming into his ribs, "I lie to myself! You beat me, denied me food and water, turned my skin into a cutting board! You! Got! Everything! Coming! Too! You!

"Stop!" Steven shouted, reaching out to the masked person.

His foot stopped mid swing and the masked man looked up. His eyes locked with Steven's and he felt his blood freeze. For a second there was nothing in them but a pure, rage fueled, hatred, the light in the room reflecting off the ice blue irises. They reflected like polished steel and seemed as though they were trying to dissect the boy down to the atom. They then softened and took on a confused look, "Steven?"

Steven shot up in his bed. He sucked in air like he had been holding his head under water for hours. His body was cold and when his hand went to his chest his heart was almost unnaturally slow. He took a few seconds to look himself over, let his breathing clam, and his heart rate get back to normal before he looked around at his surroundings. His was in the house, in his bed. It was morning, but late. Looking at his alarm clock it read 11:34. He blinked a few times trying to make sense of what had happened. He couldn't. Steven had never had a dream like that. Nightmares sure, but that...that wasn't his dream.

Steven didn't know whose it was, but it wasn't his. He pulled himself out of bed and grabbed a towel. He made his way to the bathroom, used the toilet, and then hopped in the shower. It was definitely someone else's dream and the more he thought about it the more he felt whoever it was this wasn't the first time they had it. It felt too rehearsed, to one thing after another. Even under the warm water he couldn't help but shiver, remembering the look in the masked man's eyes. They lacked the burning anger that Steven would expected, given how he had spoken to and acted towards the olive skinned man. No that was what disturbed Steven most out of all of it. Where in Jasper's eyes, the only others he had to compare to, there had been a smoderning, burning, lustful hatred the masked man's eyes seem hard and flat. Devoid of the anger that was so often associated with such strong emotions of contempt. Rather they seemed to posses a hollow, saddened, but ever real hatred of the olive skinned man. As though taking out whatever anger on the olive skinned man hurt him just as much.

The water had begun to turn cold, so Steven shut it off and wrapped himself in the towel. Stepping out he grabbed a change of clothes and got dressed, throwing on his same red shirt and blue jeans. Taking a second to yawn and stretch he went to the kitchen and readied breakfast. As he was pouring a bowl of cereal he heard the temple open and Amethyst step out, "Morning Ste-man, you slept late,"

Yeah, I guess I kinda did," Steven said, putting the milk back in the fridge and grabbing two eggs. He grabbed a pan and placed it on the burner.

"Hey thanks for grabbing me a bag of bits yesterday man. They really hit the spot," She said, taking a seat at the counter, "Whatcha cookin?"

"Something with eggs, I dunno maybe scrambled?" Steven said, shrugging and reopening the fridge to grab a half an onion and a bag of shredded cheddar, "You want some?"

"Naw, I just finished half a tire. Although if you want a recommendation I'd throw some hot sauce in there," Amethyst replied, tracing her finger across the counter.

"Yeah maybe, I'm not feeling anything to spicy though," Steven said, having finished his cereal. He placed the bowl in the sink and went over to the counter. He turned the stove on allowing the pan to heat up well he grabbed a knife from the cutting block and began to dice the onion into bits. Taking the knife he then cut off a thick slice of butter and dropped it into the pan. The pan was now scalding hot and once he dropped a piece of butter into it he flinched a little as is sizzled and popped due to the heat. Cracking open both eggs he dropped them in to the pan and grabbed a whisk. He began to beat the egg whites and yoke together until he got a nice even consistency. He then reach over to the bag of cheese and cut up onion, dropping heavy amounts of both into the eggs. He then opened the cupboard above him and grabbed some thyme, rosemary, season salt, and black pepper. After adding a far amount of each to the eggs he grabbed a plate and slide the lump of buttery, cheesy goodness onto it. He turned and placed it in the counter.

"Are you sure you don't want any? I can make more well the pan is still hot," Steven said, noticing Amethyst eyeing the eggs hungrily.

"Well if you insist," Amethyst said, sliding the plate over to her with her finger. Before Steven could protest the whole plate had already disappeared and Amethyst let out a loud burp. Seven let out a small sigh and went about making another batch. Well he watched the eggs sizzle and crackle under the heat he couldn't help but think back to the burning building. Back to the injured man who'd been inside, "Why did you leave us?"

He shuddered remembering the lack of hope in his voice. Turning the burner off and setting the eggs onto his plate again he suddenly didn't have an appetite. But Pearl had always taught him the breakfast was the most important meal and the eggs did smell good, "Amethyst?"

"Yeah?"

"I had this dream last night," Steven went through what had happened between bites of egg, describing everything as best he could, although some things were now fuzzy in his mind. When he was done he saw Amethyst's expression was a mix of fascination and, to his dismay, horror, "So what do you think it means?"

"I don't know man, but whatever it was it's certainly several words I can't say around you," She said, looking again at the counter. Tracing the lines in the imitation granite the two sat across for each other in silence for a few seconds before the purple gem spoke, "Look, Steven, I'm not really good with these things. I can only really tell you that… I don't really know what to tell you. I wish Pearl was here, she was always good with stuff like this with Rose,"

"Wait mom had dreams like this?" Steven asked shocked.

"I don't know, I just know that some days she'd say she hadn't slept well. Her usually happy go lucky sorta self was replaced by this real downer, just like air, ya know. Like you'd be around her and you could feel she'd dreamt something that upset her," Amethyst explained. The two sat again in silence before she spoke up, "Hey if you want I got some cash left over from our last match. We could go to Funland and get your mind off it,"

Steven smiled, it'd been a while scine he'd been to Funland and he was sure that he could convince Mr. Slimely to let him in just for the day, "Yeah, that'd be great. Just let me clean up from breakfast,"

"Pffbt," Amethyst said, waving her hand, "Just leave it till later, I've been waiting all day for you to wake up so we could do something fun,"

Steven looked at his plate and then at the stove. The mess wasn't to bad, and if he left the pan in the sink to soak he would at least be kind of cleaning. With a shrug he threw the stuff in, ran some water and walked outside with Amethyst to find something fun to do.

John awoke with a start. He had to blink a few times before his eyes adjusted to the light. It took a few seconds for his brain to pull itself back into the real world, but it came back to him. His dream still lingered in his mind, the familiar night terror still causing his hairs to rise. He knew something had been off about it, but for some reason it escaped him. Someone had been there, or maybe something was different. The more he tired to concentrate on it the more the dream faded into blurry memory.

Rising up he placed his hands on either side of his back and pushed, feeling a satisfying series of cracks go up his spine. Reaching down he moved Cpl. Lennard's legs aside to grab his M4. Slinging the carbine over his shoulder he looked around and took note of who was where and doing what. Clp. Folly and the GGRCA operatives were eating their MREs on the hood of one of the humvees, well SSgt. Wright and Sgt. Reves were cleaning their respective weapons. The gems were conversing with Pfc. Davids and Clp. Braswell. The Corporal seemed to be explaining the workings of the M2 heavy machine gun mounted to the humvee whose side faced the direction they were heading. Everyone else was asleep, or conversing in their fighting holes.

John felt his stomach rumble and figured now would be a good time to get breakfast sorted. Hefting himself out of the fighting hole John walked over to the humvee were Clp. Folly and the GGRCA operatives were eating.

"Afternoon Captain, come to have a bite?" Folly asked, taking another bite of her beef ravioli.

"Yes actually," John said, opening the door and grabbing an MRE from his rucksack. The package read: MENU 9 HASHBROWN WITH BACON. John shrugged, well certainly not the chilly mac, the hashbrowns weren't the worst thing to get. They were certainly better than most of the vegetarian offerings.

Ripping open the bag John pulled out the knock off brown sugar poptart, sack bread, peanut butter, and cocoa powder. Opening the poptart first he took a bite of the processed wheat flour and imitation brown sugar. It was about as devoid of moisture as the desert around him. Taking a drink from his canteen to wash down the poptart, John looked at the cocoa powder and grimaced.

"Hey I'll trade a hot cocoa packet for some coffee," John said, holding up the packet. One of the GGRCA operatives slid over a packet of instant coffee crystals. John thanked him and slid over the cocoa powder. Reaching back into his rucksack he grabbed a small water bottle and poured in the crystals. Taking a minute to shake them up John reopened the bottle and took two large gulps, "Ahhhh,"

"I will never know how you manage to stomach that stuff cold or without sweetener," Folly said with a look of disdain.

"It doesn't need to taste good, just needs to wake me up," John said, washing down more poptart with the cold coffee. He opened up the hashbrowns and took a bite. The dried potatoes, peppers, onions, and bacon were little more than a mix of greasy starch paste that almost required tobasco to stomach. Luckily the MRE did come with a small bottle, which John used to excess. He was positive he'd regret it later.

"So Captain," The GGRCA operative to Folly's left spoke. His name patch read SGM Buckley and his uniform was a mix of light and dark grays and black. His hair was a fiery orange-red, with mutton chops to complete the look, "What exactly is the game plan once we get back to Beach City?"

"First and foremost is an inventory on all of our comms equipment and then a briefing to bring us up to speed on the happenings well we've been gone," John said, taking another bite.

"Alright, we'll be sure to catch Townsen on what all will have occurred during our recce. Be aware he will want to talk to you about the method in which the hub was disabled,"John's plastic fork stopped halfway to his mouth. He closed it and looked up to meet the Sergeant Major's eyes. His whole face bled smug prick.

"I'm sure he'll be very interested to hear what all has happened," John said, placing the bite of food in his mouth.

"You know this proves it right," The other operative said. His name patch said Clp. Blank. He was shorter than the other operative, his hair a dark brown and face clean shaven.

"Proves what exactly?" Folly said, setting down her MRE.

"Oh, you know, just that this job is clearly way out of the league of some backcountry spec ops wanna be's," He said, with a smug satisfaction, "I mean it was a good try and all, but if this doesn't prove you don't have control of the gems I don't know what does,"

"Look around," John said, causing the Clp's eyebrow to raise, "Well go on, look around. Tell me wait you see."

"Sand and rocks, what's your point?" He asked, somewhat wary.

"That's right, rocks… and sand," John said, taking a deep breath and letting out a long, satisfying sigh, "Nothing but rocks, and sand for miles. Hell hundreds, or maybe even thousands of miles. It sure would be a shame to wake up one morning and find that we'd forgotten you,"

The Corporal's smug demeanor quickly vanished once he caught on John was only half joking. They could pull up and leave these two to walk to the next camp, location. They'd have enough water on them to last the day.

"Sorry for my college, I'm certain that you are quite capable individuals, but this incident is going to make it easier for General Malcolm to get the board to make this a GGRCA only operation," Buckley said, trying to defuse the situation. John kept his gaze locked with the Corporal's for a few seconds more before shrugging his shoulders and peering off into the distance well he finished his late breakfast. The sun would be down soon and it wouldn't be a bad idea to start packing things up to move.

He looked over at the gems. Pearl now sat in the gunners cupal, the M2 having been unloaded and Clp. Braswell was pointing into the now open loading port. Garnet and Pfc. Davids were talking back and forth on the humvee's hood. The Private then doubled over laughing at something the fusion said and John saw a small smile turn into a giggle from the gem. The GGRCA guys did have a point, this was far from the Marines normal operating standards. But they were MARSOC Raiders, they were supposed to adapt and so far it looked like his Marines had. He wasn't about to let all that work integrating the gems with his Marines go to waste and certainly not so some hush-hush shadow operation could get thier hands on them. And well still not complete trusting them, the gems and Steven had grown on the Captain, and he realized for the first time his reasons for not wanting to lose them went beyond strategy and vengeance.

His eyes narrowed thinking back to the beach. Six more Marines careers and lives cut short by a force that had no business on this Earth. Six more families, broken and mourning the loss of their son or daughter. Six more bodies laid to rest because he couldn't. Couldn't be fast enough, couldn't plan well, enough, couldn't be there to take the hit instead. Once again one person solely responsible for thier deaths. One person he was not going to let get away.

A dull, far off, voice and several shakes to her shoulder roused Dr. Keter. She looked up to see Lucas standing over her holding a plate, "Rise and shine sleepy head. I grabbed some french fries and a beef patty from the mess hall, oh and a cup of black tea,"

Lisa smiled, Lucas was one of the few people to remember that well she drank coffee, she did not actually enjoy it. Without cream and sugar it was so bitter and acidic that she could barely stomach it, and with it she almost felt she was destroying the flavor of the beans. Tea on the other hand could be drunk straight and enjoyed. She placed the plate on the fold up plastic table next to her cot.

"Thank you Lucas," She said, taking to long slips from the tea. It was just hot enough to wake her up, but not scorch her mouth, "Have there been any new developments well we were sleeping?"

"Yes and no, the deciphering software did manage to put out something in english, but only a few short sentences and some numbers. Then it crashed. The team's trying to reboot it but, I think you should look at what it managed to pull first," Lucas said, pulling a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. Lisa placed on her reading glasses, funnily enough having been far sighted despite he line of work. The sentences were clearly pulled from several different documents, the most cohesive reading; "Once a landing zone is found and made sure that no threats are in the nearby Error the group is to make its way to the prime growth center. Once having arrived the group will find station Error and check progress of-"

It was not these words that interested the Luxocreologist. Rather it was the series of numbers that were below them. They were definitely incomplete, but without a doubt they were a series of coordinates for something well outside of the U.S. Lisa could feel the hair on her body rising as she looked the numbers over and over again. She'd have to reboot the software to get the whole string and be doubly sure, but the only gem location she could think of that fit these coordinates was in what was once the siberian tundra. Roughly 5,000 years ago the tundra had been cleared to burny something in the Earth. The size of whatever it was it was massive, given that 78% of the siberian forests and plains ceased existing.

"Lucas who do we talk to?" Lisa said, trying to keep a calm composer, but the excitement was already beginning to boil over.

"I'm sorry Doctor I don't-"

"THE PERSON WE TELL STUFF! WHO IS IT?" Lisa almost shouted, her excitement boiling over. So long had she and so many others wondered what was under the hole in the Russian landscape and now she had the ability to find out.

"Uh, a Col. Davis I believe," Lucas said, somewhat uncertain.

"Then get him on the phone, or email him, or just find him and tell him we've got something!" Lisa said, jumping up in her t-shirt and shorts. The doctor pushed past Lucas and ran down to the makeshift lab, desperately wanting to get the deciphering software up and running so they could be sutre of their discovery. Lucas ran behind her, plate of food in hand. The drowsiness of the past few days was now replaced with an new, eager vigor.

Connie ran inside and threw her backpack into her room. She then opened her dresser and got changed, replacing her skirt and leggings with blue jeans and her shirt for a more beat up yellow t-shirt. She then opened her sock drawer and pulled out the books Sargent King had given her. She took a quick moment to look over them. The sides were overflowing with sticking notes, marking where she'd made annotations. Her heart beat hard against her rib cage in anticipation of the coming training match. The collection of training manuals, memoirs, and historical analysis of fighting styles had given her a lot to consider when trying to figure what today's match would be. Taking a second to trade her nice red shoes for a pair of tennis shoes, she closed and locked the front door behind her, texting her mom to tell her that she was going to hang out with Steven.

Connie didn't like lying to her mother, but she knew there was no possible way that her mother would let her do this. She'd tried broaching the subject covertly with her, bringing up various fake articles about martial arts classes doing things similar to what she did or anecdotes from the Marines around town. Everytime they would be met with hundreds of reasons why such things were dangerous, idiotic, or how there were other things that a bright young lady like herself could focus on. To say the lack of support for an endeavour she was ready to throw herself into fully hurt would be an understatement, but she could atleast see that her mother wasn't entirely unreasonable.

Connie's hand drifted to her shoulder where the holo-pearl's sword had cut weeks before. A chill went up her spine at the memory of the event, "It'd been so very close to-"

Connie shook the thought from her head. John and Pearl had both taught her that one of the most detrimental things to do before combat was to work yourself up over things you had no control over. It took the mind off of your opponent, and even if it was only being done by your sub-conscience. She took a deep breath and began to cycle through the various fighting stances until the beach came into view, and with it the familiar and welcome sight of a certain curly haired boy and his purple friend.

"Steven!" Connie called out excitedly, breaking into a jog to catch up with the pair. There arms were laiden with all sorts of prizes and food from Funland. Steven nearly dropped an oversized green and blue stuffed dragon as he turned around to greet his friend.

"Connie, hey!" He said, setting the dragon down to give her a hug. Amethyst gave her a two finger salute, her mouth being full of popcorn and several somethings, "Did you just get out of school?"

"Yeah, I'm heading to the company command tent to talk to John's first sergeant about my first day of training without John or Pearl around," Connie said, showing Steven the books in her hand.

"Oh, that's cool. Amethyst and I were just going back to the house to drop this stuff off and then hangout, but I can come watch if you want," Steven said, hefting the dragon up again.

"Okay, I'll ask Sargent King if that's alright," Connie said, turning to make her way towards the command tent. She got a little lost in the rows of humvees and other armoured vehicles that lined that section of the beach and eventually had to ask for directions from a very tired and confused looking Marine. Finally having made it to the command tent her heart rate picked up again. Connie had gotten the feeling that King was doing this because he was John's friend and subordinate, and not because he actually had a vested interest in her training. Taking a deep breath and a few moments to go over the proper greetings she pushed aside the flap and entered.

Immediately several sets of eyes were upon her, and Connie began to feel a sense of uneasy that hadn't surfaced since Stevonnie had danced. It was a few seconds before anyone said anything, but finally one of the Marines sitting in front of a computer asked, "You Connie?"

He was wearing a plain black t-shirt with the Marine Corps logo on it and there were no rank markings on the rest of him so Connie was unsure with what marker she should respond. After a few seconds of awkward silence she simply responded, "Yes, t-that's me,"

"First Sergeant is in the back, on the other side of the cork board wall," He said and then turned to a Marine next to him, "Alright Chuck, you own me 20 bucks. I told you the kid was gonna show up,"

"Oh bite me," The other said, fishing his wallet out of his pocket. Connie gave the Marine who'd given her the directions a nod of thanks, and made her way to the back. She found the corkboard wall and behind it was First Sergeant King, surrounded on both sides by several other Marines. Connie quickly identified the lieutenant's bars on three of their shoulders and that a group of three wore different uniforms to the other Marines. It was the officer in between them that looked up and saw Connie first.

"It appears the Captains side project has arrived First Sergeant," He said, bumping King's shoulder. The Sargent looked up at Connie, his face a mix of confusion and minor annoyance. He let out a small sigh and made his way over to the girl.

"I thought I said not to bother me until you'd finished those books," He said, in a tone very similar to the one her father used when she'd gotten in trouble.

"I did Gunnery Sergeant. I've read through One Mind, Any Weapon twice and am one my third reread of the Marine Corps Close Combat Guide. I've also completely memorized The Do's and Don'ts of Basic to front, but I'm still working on the back," Connie said, handing the man her annotated books, "That last one was a joke Sargent,"

"I figured," He said, flipping through the books to look at her annotations. He would move a few pages, read what was written on the sticky note and then move onto another section, "Your still in school right?"

"Yes, but we get out for fall break next week and then Thanksgiving in another month or so," She said, looking around the room. The walls were lined with maps from all over the globe, the one that everyone seemed most focused on being a map of Libya laid out on the table they all stood around. There was a line of green string and several lines of red string held into the map by thumb tacks. She guessed the green string was John's current route and the red was Peridot's estimated routes.

"Alright," King said, snapping her attention back to the large man. He'd walked to the back of the section of the tent and grabbed a pile of stuff. Handing it to her he said,"I'll be out in ten-fifteen minutes tops. Have yourself suited up and ready to demonstrate what you've learned so far when I get there,"

"Yes Sargent," Connie said, trying to hold the stuff and render a salute at the same time.

"Don't bother with the formalities kid, just go get suited up," King said, turning back to the table of Marines and other operatives, "Alright gentlemen let's wrap this up,"

"Oh Sargent, before I forget is it alright if Steven watches our training session?" Connie asked, about to leave.

"Uh, what, Oh yeeeah...yeah that's fine," King said, taking a few second to think.

Connie left the tent and went outside to inspect the stuff she'd been given. There was the normal protective shoulder, chests and head pads that she'd worn before well bayonet training with John and a dummy M4. These weren't what interested. Now it was the set of dummy pistols and 4 different knives that she'd been handed. The knife's ranged from the standard issue M9 bayonet, to what could easily be considered a machete with a curve to the blade, a punch dagger, and a small boot knife. Today's train session and the ones to come ere going to be fun.

And 20, wow I knew this day would come, but.. I just don't know. It's kinda cool to have done t20 chapters of what was basically a cool headcanon sorta thing. Any how hope you liked it, I certainly did. The last scene with Connie was… I dunno. I can't place it but something about that bit just doesn't fit with me. As for the beginning bit were I announced I wouldn't be doing the whole PD=Rose thing I hope that doesn't upset anybody to much, but yeah that just messes with a lot of stuff in how I've wanted to take this story. Alnd man I really did shove my foot in my mouth saying Rose totally shattered PD. But yeah not only does it present problems to the story, but I have a host of personal problems with it. SO to be clear for the canon of this story Rose shatters Pink Diamond. We clear on that? Good!

Next thing, I've recently been considering going back a rewriting a few of the beginning chapters. Not changing anything in broad strokes, but adding more detail and better character development. Like I'm pretty sure the fight between Jasper and John was less than a page. This would also allow me to fix the host of grammatical errors that are just everywhere. Like there's soooooo many words spelled wrong and run on sentences and other thing that my english teacher of a mother would wring my neck for.

Another chang coming, I'm almost certain I'm going to have to change the rating of this story. The beginning of this chapter is probably the darkest and most vulgar I've gone so far and it's only going to go deeper. I really would like to keep this teen as to not restrict my audience, but I also don't want to risk getting taken down. Oh, and speaking of that beginning since, I'm sure a few of you noticed it was a dream sequence lacking the italic font. That's because from here on out I won't be using it for dream sequences. First person thoughts yes, but dream and other similar things no. The reason is that later on there will be moments where characters won't know what is and is not real and I would kinda like to keep the audience in the same boat.

Lastly I didn't get much of anything one way or the other on the other fanfics I purposed (although a guest account commented "Yes, Yes, Yes!" I think an exclamation mark was there) so I'll put them out there again. Seriously input is greatly valued: A fanfic that would be a series of one shots and short stories in the SU universe during the gem war, in RWBY during their great war, and in Star Wars probably during the Old Republic days or the Clone Wars. These stories would feature mostly OCs and very little of the main character of these respective works of fiction. I would like to do any or all of them, but not without there being a real calling for them. The next one would be a prequel esque fanfic to this one, basically what the condition of the human world was before homeworld got there, how they reacted, and how it is now. It would also be mostly a series of oneshots and short stories and honestly mostly written for my sanity. If any or all of these sound like something you'd read PLEASE SAY SO!

Like I can't make this any more clear, please voice your opinions about my writing. I don't care if your mean, just give me something to work with. Seriously say my writing is terrible if you think so, but say why. I cannot improve without criticism. Those of you who review regularly, Vendicor, nyanyanya22, OMAC001, TheVeryCritic, linusatari, xXBlackBurnXx, and anyone else I forgot (Really sorry, if I did) thank you, really. Like I know this it the thing that everyone says, but it means A LOT. So please leave any comments, question, critiques, or otherwise in the reviews. See you guys soon.