Well, it took a few days but we were able to scour the entire beach area for all the bullet and shell casings Pearl and I expended. We got the ones on the surface pretty easy enough but Steven had the brilliant idea to use a metal detector to grab any other ones that got buried in the battle. Normally I would leave them but considering the sheer amount of them that were left behind, I don't want to leave them lying around so if people start finding them by the handful, I don't want people to get suspicious of what went on around there and possibly call the cops. I'm glad that the police haven't come by after the stint with that purse snatcher but I still have to be careful in the future. Of course I'm also gonna have to clean a majority of the guns because in the moment I was forced to drop them in the sand and god knows just how much that'll screw with the internal components of the weapons themselves. I do not want a malfunction to happen next time I use one of them. My M240L also took a massive blow what with it being chopped in half so now it's going to be placed in a sort of mock broken pile I have set up for whatever it is that was broken at least until I find the proper supplies to fix this stuff, right next to my AK47 and my Ballistic Shield.

"Parry, parry, thrust!"

Now though, Pearl proved herself capable of using human firearms so now it was about time for us to get started on something that we were putting off for too long.

"Keep your legs bent, Marcus."

"Got it."

We'll still do firearms training when more opportunities arise but for now, she agreed to teach and refine my skills with a blade. She's already given me some pointers and necessary moves needed for me to use when I use a sword and now she gave me one of her straight swords to use in the art of fencing.

"Alright, that's enough. Disengage."

"Disengaging combat training." The holo-Pearl says and soon dissipates into a cloud of particles.

"Now that you've got most of the basics down, let's do a battle of our own." She says as she bends down to pick up the sword left behind by the hologram. She extends her hand to me, signaling me to hand her her sword back. I toss it to her and she swipes the both of them into a ready stance. "Your Katana's are your personal weapons and you can rely on them in a moment's notice. I need to see how well you can perform against another weapon wielding combatant before we can move onto the more advanced portions."

I nod and pull out both of my swords and level them in a similar stance to her. "Well, technically they're my mom's but you are right about relying on them. I can pull them out in a moment's notice." I explain to her casually with a smile.

"Maybe so, let's get started." She tells me and slides her feet into a fighting ready stance.

"3…" She begins counting down.

"2…" I say next and mirror her feet.

"1…" She tightens the grip on her swords.

"Haaa!" We both yell out and attack each other.

The fight wasn't anything too spectacular to brag about. We mostly tested our reflexes and speed capabilities when fighting against another sword combatant. None of our attacks were ever meant to actually hit us or go to the point where we knew the other would not be able to dodge the hit. I got her into some moments where I deliberately had to slow my strikes to allow her to dodge them but that's not to say that I didn't get into the same moments as well. She doubled her pulling attacks on me which goes to show that even though I am good, I'm not near as good as a person like is Pearl in a standard sword fight.

"Very good. You're definitely more skilled than I first thought and I believe it won't take much for you to master the art of sword combat." She praises me as we start to walk out of the coliseum training ground. We've been training for a few hours now, as evident by the night time sky around us.

"Thanks Pearl, although I'm still a little annoyed at my slow reaction times to most of your attacks."

"Yes, I noticed that. I'm sure you'll gain faster reaction times as we train some more but I am curious about those fast movements you exhibited when you first fought Garnet." She reminds me of when I protected Lapis from Garnet's potential onslaught.

'Hm, wonder how Lapis is doing anyway? She hasn't sent some kind of message back since she left. I hope she's alright.' I think for a bit but I shake my head and continue with Pearl. "Yeah, that move… I'm still not sure. My powers, like Steven's, are still a little raw and at this point I have no idea what triggers exactly most of them. I got the kinetic strike ability's down pretty good, as well as preventing fall damage from affecting me, but that shadow speed and some others are still kind of unknowns."

"Well, hopefully you can figure those powers out soon. You have other powers you're working on as well?" She asks me curiously when we stop in front of the teleporter pad.

My mind flashes to the stormy night, the night I caused the wreck and when I had to do… less than savory methods to free myself from said wreck. I definitely followed through with the Latin saying I said, 'Extremis Malis Extrema Remedia', meaning 'Desperate times call for desperate measures.' It wasn't pretty but at least it showed me that I have a backup should something that serious happen to me again, although I wasn't too privy to being knocked out for a full day but it could have been worse. "Yeah, I do. Nothing concrete and… nothing I can fully work with but I'll figure it out." I don't want to tell them the regenerating power yet until I got that thing locked down.

"I hope you do." She says and steps onto the pad. "I will admit that to go one-on-one with Garnet like that night… It's not an easy feat." She tells me.

"I imagine so." I reply and step onto the pad as well, where she activates it and sends us back home. The same usual 'whirring' noise accompanies us as we make it back to the temple and we step off the pad. "Well, it's getting late and I'll-"

"Hey! That's mine too!" We stop our conversation to the voice and see Steven on his bed with Lion sitting in front of him with his bear in his mouth. "And Sir Bearington." He demands of the animal, who obeys and opens his mouth, dropping the stuffed bear into the kids hand. "Hup! Ughh." He lands onto his bed and curls up into his blanket before yawning. "'Night lion!" He wishes to the animal before going to sleep. Lion curls up on a makeshift bed that Steven apparently made and catches some Zzz's too.

We stare at the scene for a few moments before I lean in to Pearl, "I'll see you tomorrow." I whisper to her so as not to arouse the sleeping occupants of the house.

"Good night." She whispers back and I go to sleep on the other couch since Lion is sleeping right in front of the other one and while I like the animal, I can still be wary at times for it. I flop on the couch and curl up to go to sleep, not really bothering to properly change out since I'm pretty beat. Strange thing is I feel like I'm being watched like on some previous nights but I pay it no mind since I've kind of got that feeling too many times when I was sleeping in my truck before I met the Crystal Gems.

"Steven! Steven!" I jerk awake as I hear the name being called out over and over again loudly and in panic. I grab my FNX-45 Tactical hidden underneath the cushion and search around for any hostiles. "Steven! Steven!" My eyes fall on a hysterical Pearl near Steven's bed. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Hang on! I got you!"

"Pearl? What's going-?" I try to ask her as she grabs Steven's legs.

Pearl struggles to move Lion off of Steven. "Marcus! Please help me with Steven!" She cries out to me as she struggles with something.

"What are you…? Oh fuck! I got you!" I curse in surprise as I finally notice the wiggling legs under the beast known as Lion. I drop my gun on the couch and jump onto the second floor before I grab one leg and she grabs the other and we heave to try to free him.

"Ugh, Lion! Let him go!" Pearl demands of the lion to do so. I never really took into account of how big or heavy the animal really was but considering how hard it is for us to pull him out, he's very heavy.

At least until he moves.

"Whoa!" I cry out as Steven goes flying out from under the animals stomach, sending Pearl and I rolling back. Well, she and Steven go rolling back against the TV and I, "Arhh!" Get tripped off the second floor and smack onto the hardwood floor with my back, causing me to lightly groan out.

"What happened?" Steven asks in general with light panting.

"That's what I want to know." I manage to strain out.

"Steven, are you all right? Why was Lion sleeping on top of you?" Pearl asks the kid.

"I don't know. He's being a little clingy today." He says as he walks up to the animal and pets him, prompting Lion to nuzzle back. "But that's cause I'm his favorite! Oh!" His boasting is cut off as Lion pulls Steven's face into his mane. "See?" He says through a muffled voice. "Wait..." He frees himself from the mane. "Why are you here, Pearl?"

"Ugh." I groan out as I manage to pull myself up.

"And you too, Marcus?" He adds me to his question.

"Well, 'I' was here because someone was calling out your name rather loudly, so I woke up and went into tactical mode to find the immediate danger. Ah!" I explain and groan out as I pop my back standing to my full height.

"Oh, Me? Nothing." She says but Steven and I don't buy it. "I was just uh... well, you know how I always say... um, I just uh... I like to watch you sleep sometimes." She blurts out the answer, much to our confusion. "And by sometimes I mean often." She says simply, not really all that there with what she does. 'She watches him sleep? Creepy. Wait, I sleep close to him…'

My eyes widen as I come to a realization. "You're the eyes I've been feeling on me since I've started living here?!" I almost yell out in surprise.

"Is-is that bad?" She asks hesitantly.

I groan and flop onto the couch I was previously sleeping in, making sure to grab my gun and place it back in its hiding spot. "Very." I groan out and slightly annoyed. 'Well, that's one paranoia I've relieved of, now I've gotta deal with about a dozen more.'

"Okie-dokie, it's time for everyone to leave Steven alone. I'm a growing boy and I needs my rest." I turn my head to watch as he flops onto his bed and tries to go to sleep. Lion's staring however dissuades him of proper rest. "Lion, that means you too." He closes his eyes for a second but opens them to see Pearl has joined in as well on the staring. "Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah!" He shoos them off with a pillow and goes back to sleep. "'Night Marcus." He wishes me goodnight and I reciprocate it.

"'Night Steven." I reply and turn over to go to sleep, feeling slightly better at not having eyes on me.

*Slam*

"Seriously?" I groan out in annoyance at being woken up, again. I look up to see Steven climbing up his stairs. I hear a sad yowling sound, prompting me to lean against the window to see Lion outside. "What happened?" I ask out loud.

"He wouldn't stop so I put him outside as punishment." Steven explains and walks away with his head tilted up in the stuck up way like how parents discipline their kids or you're not listening to someone. Lions yowls out loud again. "Hmph!" Steven scoffs and goes up again, ignoring the animals cries. He yowls again and this time Steven stares at the animal with stars littering his eyes in an almost awe expression.

I stare between the two, watching Steven's in awe look at the beast outside and the simple almost pleading look on Lion's face through the window. 'What's going on?' I think as shift my look between the two.

Steven gasps out at something before running to the door, "He loves me! Aww, I just can't stay mad at you!" He says as he goes out on the porch to let Lion back inside. "You're a wonderful pink human being. Except you're not. 'Cause you're a lion." I lightly chuckle at his words as he hugs Lion.

I'm about to go to sleep but see something glowing on his face. "Huh?" I question at the glow but my confusion turns to panic as I see him slowly getting sucked in. "Steven!" I call out in a panic and jump off the couch before dashing out the door. I grab the kids shoulders and quickly pull him back with ease. He gasps out and inhales deeply, almost like he couldn't breathe. "Steven! Steven! You alright man?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." He reassures me but he seems to be confused as well like me. Slowly, he places his hand on Lion's mane while I ready myself in case anything else happens. To both of our surprises, it glows pink. "I'm going in." He says determinately.

"…Be careful." Usually I don't want him going into unknown territory by himself, but Lion hasn't really done anything to makes us skeptic oh him so I'll allow it. He inhales deeply and goes inside again, this time only his head. I hover my hands over his shoulders in case he gets sucked in. There is an air of awkwardness between Lion and I as he looks at me with a critical stare, like he doesn't want me to interfere. "Shut up." Steven pulls his head out and breathes in more air. "Wait, Steven what did you-?" He doesn't answer me and instead goes right back in. Much to my annoyance, and Lion's especially, he goes in and out of Lion's mane multiple times quickly.

"Hahaha." He lightly laughs at the motion.

"Mmmmm." Lions growls out at his action.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." He apologizes to the animal before looking at me. "You gotta see this." He tells me with a smile and grabs my hand.

"Wait, Steven I-!"

"Deep breath." He warns me before inhaling deeply and climbs into Lion's mane, not at all acknowledging my question or my panic, I just inhale.

I'm almost blinded as I suddenly find myself in a furry mess. Steven has let go of my hand so I continue to climb my way up, getting out of the mess of fur and finding myself in awe, except without the wide mouth since I'm holding my breath. I am now standing tall in a large wide open field, the only thing I really see is a small hill with a tree on it some distance away from me and no wind. Oddly enough, the field I am standing in is bristling like a breeze is going through it but I don't feel any wind whatsoever. 'Weird.'

*Tap*Tap*

Looking down, I see Steven standing next to me and pointing to the hill. Knowing what he's implying, I nod and we start walking towards the hill and tree. Steven leads the way as I follow behind him, admiring the landscape. 'This place is beautiful. It's so… big… expansive and looks to have no limit. I don't see any mountains and its bright like the suns out. Seriously Lion. I know your no normal lion but… what are you?'

Steven suddenly stops, like he's struggling with something. I'm about to go and see what's wrong but I find out as he plunges his head through the grass and I see the glow. 'Needs air. Understandable.' I keep myself calm and steady my breathing as much as I can to hold as much as I could. 'If Steven or I plan to come in here again, I definitely need to work on that rebreather to make coming and going easy. Speaking of…' Curiously, I crouch down and place my hand on the ground, trying somehow to activate the way back but I got nothing. Steven brings himself back up and looks at me, pointing down. 'Looks like it only activates with him. That could be a problem in the future.' I get what he means and I shake my head no. I ration my air supply quite well and I still feel alright. He nods and we continue to the hill.

As we get closer I notice a bunch of objects in and around the tree, as well as seeing the pink grass has started to rescind and disappear. Trudging up the hill, we look around at all of the things under and around the tree. From what I can tell, I instantly spot a battered and slightly torn flag of some kind with Rose's symbol on it. 'This must be the flag she used for the rebellion.' I muse. Next I see a bubbled object of some kind. It looks like a gem but it's one that I've never seen before. The sword Steven and Connie used against that machine that attacked us during our trip to the movie theater is here as well. 'Huh, so that's where that went.' With a shrug I continue inspecting the items. Another is a T-shirt with the words 'Mr. Universe' on it and the size indicates XXL, a chest, a picture of Rose and Greg together, and finally I spot a VHS tape. 'Huh, curious.' I walk over to it with Steven and I see cursive writing on it that reads 'For Steven.' 'Hmmm,' I think as I grab the tape and flip it over a bit, seeing if I can find anything else of note about it but nothing. 'Interesting.' I look over to Steven next to me and hand him the tape. He looks at it expectantly and seems to be deep in thought. 'Not surprised. It's not every day that you go into a pocket dimension inside of your pet lion and find a tape with your name written on it. I wonder what's-' My thoughts are cut off as I spot Steven's face starting to redden and he scrambles on the floor. My eyes widen. 'Crap, he can't get out on the hill, only in the field!' He begins pointing at his mouth but I don't need any more clarification as I grab the kid and leap off the hill.

I land on the grassy field roughly, slightly pushing out what little air I have left. I place Steven on the ground and the floor glows.

"Pah!" I blow what air I have left out of my lungs as Steven and I go tumbling out of Lion's mane. We both breathe in deeply for a second as we try to reorient ourselves and catch our breath's. "… You good?"

"Yeah." He replies with a slightly strained voice and gets off me. He stands up and holds up the tape he managed to hold onto.

I sit up. "What do you thinks on it?"

"I don't-"

He's interrupted as the sound of the temple's door opening goes off. I quickly scoot out of the line of sight of the screen door and move next to the wall. "...and he keeps sleeping on Steven's face!" Peaking out, I see Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst walking out of the temple. "But Steven, and Marcus, don't want me watching them anymore. So one of you two has to do it." She tells them.

I look down at Steven as he stares at the tape. I tap his head, making him shift his attention to me. "Find out what's on that tape. I'll cover for you."

"Thanks Marcus." He whispers to me and climbs onto Lions back. "Let's go Lion." He tells the animal, who without a sound turns tail and bounds down the stairs.

"Where are they?" I hear Garnet ask.

"I don't know. They were sleeping before I left." Pearl says.

"Maybe they got kidnapped." Amethyst proposes to them.

"What?!"

'Okay, better make sure Pearl doesn't freak out too much.' "C'mon Amethyst." I call out as I walk through the screen door, getting their attention. "You think so little of me. I was kidnapped once before. Did you really think I would have let myself get captured so easily? Or the very least left this place completely intact like so." I emphasize with a hand wave to our surroundings.

"Eh, I guess not." She resigns with a shoulder shrug.

"Thank you." I go to the fridge and pull out an apple before biting into it.

"Marcus, where is Steven?" Pearl asks me.

"Ehhh, Lion wouldn't stop so Steven went ahead and took him out for a walk. To see if he was just antsy about being inside or whatever." I lie with a dismissive hand wave. It's not a massive lie and hopefully they buy it.

"I guess that's an option." Pearl says with a hand under her chin.

"Still, one of us should go to make sure Lion doesn't suffocate Steven on the beach." Garnet says in her usual monotone voice.

"I got it." I quickly volunteer calmly before anyone else can. The tape seemed personal so I kind of don't want them to start demanding answers about it, or the pocket dimension in Lion. I bite the last of my apple whole before walking to the door. "Besides, I know which general direction he went in so it's better I go."

"Oh, alright then." Pearl says a little disheartened but agrees.

"See ya later." Amethyst says as she starts rummaging through the fridge. I reply with a dismissive hand wave back.

"We'll get breakfast started before you two get back." Garnet tells me as I open the screen door.

"Thanks."

"Be careful." Pearl says to me as I go out the door.

"Aren't I always?" I reply with a smile and continue down the stairs. 'Alright, Steven needed to go somewhere where there is a VCR. Now which places could more than likely-'

"Actually, you aren't." Pearls declaration of my well-being shifts me from my thoughts, making me stop and look at Pearl while I'm at the bottom of the stairs. I turn back and look up to see her leaning over the wooden rails. She's holding her head up with her hand and arm on the rail with cheeky smile on her face.

"…" I think for a second with a neutral look at her short description of my life. "… Touché." I say with a slight head nod. She's not wrong. Since I can remember, more often than not the things I've done were good for either me or someone else but always required me to risk some form of bodily or mental injury. She smiles a little wider and stands to her full height. "I'll be going now." I tell her while pointing down the beach.

"See you in bit." She tells me with a slight hand wave and goes back inside, prompting me to continue my exploration but my thoughts aren't peaceful.

You know, after the training Pearl and I have been doing, I can't help but remember the conversation we were supposed to have before I was taken away from them while we were parachuting down. Seeing as how we are on good terms and not really at each other's throats or in awkward feelings anymore, I might as well not bring it up. It's nothing that's really serious per say and I don't want to make things awkward again.

After all, I don't want to open old wounds.

I walk out from past the rocks and spot the city before me. "Now where did he go? Their tracks are gone so either the wind picked up or Lion teleported. Either way, he went to find a VCR so he could have gone to his dads place or maybe- Oh… that was easy." I start to think but when my eyes land on the giant pink lion lying down in front of the 'Big Donut' store that Sadie and Lars work at, I got my answer. "Sadie's the reasonable kind sort. Lars… I'm not going to bother. I'm sure they have a VCR in the back." I say as I climb up the sea wall and over to Lion. "Let's see if he's found-" My talking stops as Steven walks out of the store. "Hey Steven! What did you…" I trail off as he hugs Lion lovingly. I move up next to him and see that he has slight tears in his eyes with a somber look about him. My face turns to confusion at the idea of what happened but looking in through the window of the store, I also spot Sadie talking on the phone with tears in her eyes as well. 'What did they watch?...' "Oh." I lightly gasp out as I feel contact along my waist. Looking down, I see its Steven giving me a hug. "Uhh, Steven?"

"Our moms were the best Marcus." He says, slightly muffled through my shirt.

"What?" I ask confused.

"They knew we would be born… but also knew… they would be gone as well." He grips me tighter.

'Did… did his mom leave a message for him?... Like mine did.'

"Don't… *Sniff* Don't forget about our moms… okay, Marcus?" He tells me sadly.

"S-Steven?" I stutter as I start to remember the same situation that I was when I found out about my mom.

"Please…" He hugs me tighter.

"Oh, Steven." I say somberly as I crouch down to his level and return the hug. "I won't my friend. I got your back." I tell him as I pat his back in reassurance.

He sniffs a little and pulls back. "Thanks Marcus." He thanks me and climbs onto Lion's back. "C'mon, let's go home."

"Right behind you." I tell him as Lion casually walks away with his passenger. As I walk after him, I look back to Sadie to see her looking at me with a smile. She gives me a slight head nod and I return it with a smile as well.

'Thank you Sadie.' I think as I go back to keeping up with the duo. 'I hope this is closure for you Steven. We both needed some what with our… unique situations… and parents.'

Alright, well I think this was a bit tame when compared to the last chapter. I apologize if the previous fight was too long and drawn out, or if it wasn't long enough. There's no pleasing some of you but I guess that's what makes things interesting for us all. Either way it felt awesome writing that fight. I couldn't help but imagine the shooting all going in slow motion and what not throughout the firearms going off.

Now onto my personal life, tests are back so I might be slightly delayed next but at this point, I'm not so sure. I only go to two class days out of the week so the rest of the time is free for me to do as I please. I usually try to devote at least an hour or write a minimum of 500 words for the next chapter but more often than not, I tend to double or triple either of those amounts quite easily since I get carried away.

Still, I hope things are alright with you all and have fun reading.