Hi. Here's a new chapter, I hope your week is swell! Enjoy. :D

Steven woke up abruptly, torn from his unconsciousness by a sudden forceful thrust on his torso. He coughed up liquid, feeling large hands help him onto his side from his back. He pulled in air, sucking in oxygen in long gasps while coughing. He felt like he hadn't breathed in years, it burned but it gave relief at the same time.

He heard a deep, woman's voice beside him, the one who was helping him sit up somewhat. She said, "Breathe, take deep breaths, Steven." He was somewhat conscious of the fact she said his name, but he was too distracted with gulping air to be able to respond to this. His arms trembled against the sandy ground as he tried to keep himself upright on his side.

He tried to blink open his eyes but the bright blurry blotches on his eyes made him keep them shut. His head ached, his chest hurt, everything felt awful. His strange jewel felt like it was hurting too, but maybe that was just his imagination.

"Just keep breathing, you'll be alright," said the woman calmly again. Her words were somewhat reassuring, but not knowing who was speaking to him made him nervous. He suddenly felt too tired to wonder who she was though. He could only collapse back onto his back, breathing exhaustedly as he struggled to get back the air he'd lost.

He felt cold, his body shivered subconsciously. He felt the woman touch his forehead and he winced at the sudden pain it caused.

"She did a number on your head, didn't she?" the woman mumbled in concern. "I'm sorry I didn't get to you sooner. I—" her voice broke a moment before she regained herself, "I couldn't find you anywhere. I was swimming all over the place for ages. I kept trying to swim where we last saw you fall, and you weren't there… And then I found you floating, unconscious, not breathing." She sighed, brushed the wet hair from his forehead and making him shiver again. "I thought it was too late— but you— you were alive and… I'm so relieved that you're okay, Steven."

He attempted to open his eyes again, squinting at the blurry colors trying to come into focus, and the sun shining at his right eye. He wasn't sure what he was looking at when his vision finally began to form. A woman? A purple person? Three eyes? An alien?! He began to back up in horror, hands scrambling and slipping on the sand as he tried to back away from the tall creature in front of him.

She appeared alarmed at his reaction, looking behind herself a moment before looking back at him. "Steven, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

He shook his head, breath coming in frightened gasps as he struggled to form words.

"Steven, it's me, it's Garnet, you know me," her words sounded so convincing, but Steven couldn't understand. What is she? Why does she look like that?! He coughed a few times, still weak from his earlier drowning. He only got a few feet away from her, considering he was slipping on the sand as he backed up, but it was enough for him to feel a bit safer.

She didn't approach him, she stayed kneeling where she was. She looked so confused, so troubled. "Steven," she tried again, "what is it, don't you remember me?"

Despite how afraid he felt, he still managed to shake his head slightly. He didn't know who she was, or what she was, and it terrified him. The movement caused him to feel worse and he fell back a bit on his rump. Something in his body felt off…

She furrowed her brows further, looking down at her hands for a moment. "I didn't— see this as a possibility… I—" She clutched the sides of her head in clear remorse. "I'm so sorry, Steven. Your head— I saw you getting hit but I—" She shook her head to herself. "I didn't know this was going to happen, I saw you'd be okay. I tried to help, I…"

Steven stared in confusion, still unsure whether to run or stay where he was; if he even could run that is. She appeared to have known him, but he wasn't just going to approach her based on that alone. She could be pretending, right? But… she did save him. He wasn't completely avoiding her; he just was being cautious.

He didn't even know where he was either, some sort of beach with rock formations. There was also a kind of cliff behind him, and a house leading up to a hill that he couldn't get a good view of. Large, burned sand marks were scattered around them as well, as if someone was using explosives or weaponry.

The sky looked orange and pink, the sun was going down, and dawn was settling in. But what happened before he was stuck in the bubble?

He remembered the year; he remembered the day and month. He even remembered the most basic things, like certain education and gem facts, which he still wasn't sure what gem entirely meant. A lot of the gem facts didn't make sense. Fusion? What's a fusion? A person who wasn't entirely human? Or was that a different fact? His head was still fuzzy; not all memories were completely in order and made sense.

He looked back at the woman staring at him. Do all people look like this? He then noticed the two glimmering gems on her palms as she looked down at them. He was reminded of his own. Was she one of these gems? Was he an alien, or monster too?

He quickly reached to his face with his sandy hands to check how many eyes he had. Just two, that's normal, right? Sand stuck to his wet face, water dripping down his forehead. He dug his fingers back into the sand, trying to wrap his tired brain around all this. Another pang to his stomach made him wince. He suddenly felt like he was going to pass out. What's wrong with me?

"Steven, I—" the purple woman began before another female voice yelled his name. He flinched in surprise, turning and looking at two figures running down the hill from the house towards them. He weakly began to shuffle back at the appearance of two more strange-looking women.

One with white skin, a white gem on her head, pointy blonde hair, and a spear in her hand. And the other woman was smaller, and had purple hair and skin, a gem on her chest, including some sort of spiked rope in both her hands. They were calling his name, looking worried and relieved.

But all he could feel was the panic shooting through his body at strangers running towards him with weapons. He struggled to get to his feet, trying to scramble away on his knees from the approaching women.

"Steven! Oh my gosh, you're—you're okay—!" the blonde woman began before she was suddenly stopped by the purple woman stepping in front of her.

The smaller alien stopped in her tracks beside the other, confused. "Yo, Garnet, what gives?" she said, more worried than irritated.

"Wait— you're going to scare him," the purple woman assumingly known as Garnet, began to say.

The shorter woman was baffled. "Scare him? What are you talking about? Garnet, we've been worried sick about him. Please let me at least make sure he's alright!"

"Yeah," the blonde woman agreed, looking exasperated and teary eyed, "That horrid gem launched him into the ocean for Pete's sake, none of us have been able to find him for days, and Greg has been crying his heart out searching for him— and—"

"Pearl," Garnet interrupted, more seriously.

The blonde woman, Pearl, stopped, letting Garnet finish what she had to say.

"Steven doesn't… appear to remember us…"

The duo widened their eyes, not speaking for a moment.

"What?" Pearl mumbled, clearly not understanding, "what— how? What are you saying? Are you saying he doesn't remember anything? He doesn't remember his name; he doesn't remember his father—?" Her voice began to get higher and panicked.

"I don't— I don't know," Garnet unsurely sighed, "I think he had a concussion, where he got hit in the head. I don't know how much he's lost though, I just know he didn't recognize me, or you two. And I don't want to frighten him further by trying to get to close to him." The last sentence was said in a sort of whisper, so he couldn't hear her.

"We… we just got him back, he can't lose everything that he knows— he can't…" the shorter woman tried, blinking in disbelief.

The three looked in the direction of the young man sitting on the sand. He shrunk back reflexively, wide eyes looking between the trio.

The shorter woman took a few steps past Garnet, kneeling a few feet away from him. She had tears in her eyes, and her voice sounded strained. "H-hey… Steven? You… you remember me, right? Amethyst? I'm Amethyst? And that's Pearl, and Garnet, we're the crystal gems, remember? Don't you remember your mom? And there's Greg? And Bizmuth and Peridot— and—" Tears began to trickle down her cheeks as her voice broke, and she fell to her palms. "You—you've gotta remember," she cried.

He felt horrible. He wanted to remember, he didn't mean to forget, why was she crying? "Don't… don't cry," he mumbled, unsure what to do. I don't want her to cry… I just don't know her—I don't know who to trust. "I'm sorry…"

"It's okay, Steven. You didn't do anything wrong," Garnet said to him softly. She came and kneeled beside Amethyst, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, Amethyst. Steven's memories aren't lost forever. I'm sure we can get them back, don't worry."

Amethyst sniffled, looking over at Garnet. "We… we don't know that."

Garnet frowned. "We can try, he's not lost forever; I know he's not… Don't give up so easily, we're the crystal gems, remember? We can get his memories back; nothing is impossible for us. It may even be like the rejuvenator incident. We could try to trigger those memories again." She sounded sure of herself and unwilling to lose hope in her words.

Pearl came beside Garnet, her hands clasping her spear to her chest. She had tears rolling down her face. "How do you know that can work? What if he never remembers anything again? How would that affect his life— how would that affect everything?" she spoke her thoughts aloud, the dread lacing her words.

"I don't know if it'll work, but all we can do is try," she replied.

They looked at him again, but he only stared in uncertainty. Who are they? They obviously know me. They have to. And who's Greg and I have a mom and friends? Are they my friends? Are we all friends? And I've been stuck in that bubble for days? What… His mind was reeling, he felt so sick, and so tired. He wanted to just sleep and forget about all his current worries.

He didn't want to think about what he was missing, it hurt his head too much. And why did his stomach hurt so bad too, was it his gem? He looked down at his gem, pulling up his shirt. He was surprised to see that it now had some sort of crevasse through it, like a crack. Was… was that always there?

The trio gasped in shock, causing him to pull his shirt down.

"Oh no…" Garnet mumbled, taking a few steps forward hesitantly.

Pearl tried to get past Garnet, but she stopped her. "Wait, Pearl, you'll scare him."

"I need to make sure he's okay, Garnet! Please—" Pearl cried, trying to squirm from her grip.

"You could worsen his condition by making him run or fall. Be careful about this, please," Garnet reasoned. "I don't think he'll understand."

Pearl stopped struggling, looking up at her. "We have to try. His gem is badly cracked, even if he doesn't know what's wrong, I have to try to get through to him."

Garnet hesitated before nodding once, letting go of Pearl and standing near Amethyst.

Pearl paused a moment before slowly approaching the frightened young man. "Steven," she said softly, concern edging at her tone.

He began to back up from where he sat, eyes widened and darting in fear as his body instinctively tried to bring him to safety; away from the possible danger before him.

She paused for a second, reconsidering her approach. The spear in her hand disappeared into bright, blue pixels as he clasped her hands at her chest. "Steven, please listen to me. I know you don't remember me, but…"

His back hit a boulder and his breath hitched. He kept backing against it even though he knew it wouldn't help. He was too weak to go around it, moving back was all he could accomplish. His sandals and feet dug into the sand as he kept pushing his feet forward slowly. She's getting closer, what do I do? Do I run? Do I trust her? His mind was conflicted on which option to side with. She put away her weapon, did that mean she wished to help?

She was only a few feet away now. "Steven… your gem… it's cracked, we—we need to help you fix it—"

He shook his head rapidly, eyes darting to look for any possible escape routes around her. He held up a hand over his gem to protect it, he felt like it was in danger. And he knew it was hurting a lot, he hated this feeling. Something was broken; not just his lost memories but the gem in which they spoke of. He realized they were right, but he wouldn't let them touch it though—he couldn't. "Don't… don't hurt me, please—" he croaked affrightedly.

She stopped in her tracks, tears forming at the edges of her eyes. She blinked them away. "Steven, I just want to help, I'm not going to hurt you."

He studied her face in silence.

She bit her lip, crouching down to his eye level and looking down at her feet. She then looked back at him. "Do you remember anything? Anything at all?"

He paused, unsure if this was okay to tell them. Maybe they really could help me remember again… He looked at his legs in front of him. "I remember waking up in a big bubble, I—I don't know how long I was there. All I can remember besides that is my name and that I'm a gem. I'm not sure… what a gem really is though—my head is just," he gripped his forehead in discomfort, "foggy."

Amethyst muttered a few infuriated words about someone called 'Jasper'.

Garnet glanced at her unreadably, then began to come beside Pearl. She came a bit closer than Pearl was, holding out her right hand to him. "Steven, please listen. You may not remember us, but we're your friends and we just want to help. Your gem, the stone on your stomach, is badly damaged, and if we don't fix it soon, it could… crack in half."

"Please trust us," Amethyst said, joining them. "This is serious, man, I know you probably don't understand, but…"

Steven took a moment to think, trying to process all they said. He placed his left palm on his gem, wincing at the pain it caused. He felt so broken, so lost; he wished he could understand why this was happening. He wanted to trust them, he really wanted to remember everything. But should he trust them? Did he really have a choice?

Finally, he inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to calm his trembling down a bit. "O-okay. I… I'll let you help me."

They looked somewhat relieved, and Garnet slowly came over carefully and gently picked him up. The movement made his stomach lurch and his panic grow, but he did his best to remain calm. His gem felt like it was vibrating, it was screaming for help internally. He wished the strange pain would go away as he lied his forehead against the woman's chest. They're really going to help me…?

"Alright, we need to take Steven to Rose's fountain," Garnet told the others.

Pearl nodded frantically, following after her and Amethyst. "Please tell me he'll be alright… He's never had his gem cracked this bad, has he?"

Amethyst frowned, running through the sand. "I don't think he's ever cracked it before…"

Garnet didn't answer, approaching the top of the hill. "Just hang in there, Steven. You'll be alright, everything will be okay."

Steven looked up at her. He didn't know her, he didn't understand a lot of what was happening, but for the moment, he felt like he could trust her. He thought he could maybe trust them. Even with the pain and confusion, he was able to hold onto a tinge of hope that everything was going to be okay.