Movement of a body emulating music or other sounds. Dance. It is more than that. It's a physical expression of yourself. And you don't even need music. Or at least Pearl and Steven didn't need any.

They twirled and spun around the Burning Room in energic and fluent motion, cycling the bowl of liquid fire. Like Earth and Moon orbiting Sun. They were laughing from the bottoms of their hearts.

Then, tranquility.

The world around suddenly didn't matter. It was just the two of them. Or rather one, as Rainbow Quartz finished the last pirouette with a flourish of his parasol.

"What do I spy with my little eye? Oh, my! Not only do I have to tidy up Onion's room, now your heads need cleaning too? Alright. Let's see - what lil ol'me - can do about it." And with only a thought, Rainbow pushed fear and anxiety away. He left only sadness but turned it down, "Even the negative thoughts have their place in your life. Like tiny puppies. They are very important. But leave them unchecked for more than fifteen minutes and say goodbye to your shoes."Steven sometimes wondered how Rainbow managed emotions so well. But then again if you could handle Onion, you could probably handle about anything. "Now let's venture forth, because it's not just Steven and Pearl who need some sense talked into them." But as he wanted to "venture forth" something forced him to stop and do one thing he almost never did: to frown. And what was the cause of this frowning?

"What do YOU think you're doing here?"

"Browsing local inventory," Replied Abraham nonchalantly, "I'm looking for something." He was looking up at the bubbled artifacts similar to how Onion looks at a candy. All you need to do is to pick a flavor. That is if the flavors include "endless-armies-summoning candy", "planet-destroying candy" and "space-time-continuum-warping candy" or any other that could be classified as "ancient doomsday-device candy" and the temple had no problem with it whatsoever. It should have been on lockdown by now, all flashing red, sirens screaming and automatic turrets firing, but nothing was happening. On the contrary, the temple seemed quite relaxed. So right now it was just Rainbow standing between immensely powerful, presumably evil, being and an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction - with only a parasol.

What.

Smoky uses YOYOs and that doesn't stop her from kicking some butt. And besides, Rainbow's main weapon wasn't his colorful collection of powers. Or the parasol. It was his sharp tongue and wit. "A certain small item," Rainbow repeated, "and what would that be?"

Abraham's head turned, "Ah, now this is what I call an attitude. No needles shouting or a stone gauntlet to the jaw, but a well-constructed question that opens further options of resolution. I'm searching for my glasses."

Now Rainbow noticed. Abraham's face seemed somehow empty right from the start. He quickly scoped the room and it didn't take much effort to find a pair of wire-rim glasses bubbled in Bismuth's bubble. One finger snap and the glasses teleported from the confusing array of bubbles into Rainbow's palm behind his back, "Oh, you mean these?" and with a cheeky smirk he showed them to Abraham.

"Yes, these are mine. Much appreciated."

But Rainbow withdrew his hand, "Ah ah ah. Not so fast. I haven't decided yet." He started turning the glasses in his hand looking at colorful reflections. "What do you need them for?"

Abraham replied with a stone cold face, "I don't feel obliged to give you that information."

Glasses suddenly found themselves hanging above the lava pit.

"Stop!"

"I'm listening."

"Very well. These glasses are my only possession."

"So, it is sentimental?"

"Correct. May I?"

"Not yet." Rainbow didn't want to be cruel, but this was an opportunity that should be exploited. The more you know about your enemy the better. "You mentioned something about two weeks. What did you mean by that?"

Abraham let out a frustrated sigh. "More time. I decided to give you more time."

Rainbow arched an eyebrow. "For what?"

"To," he inhaled.

"Go on."

"There are some things that are better left unspoken. Do you really wish to know?"

"Do you wish to have your glasses back?"

Abraham gave Rainbow a dark look, "Very well then," and took a step closer. "your existence..."

"Oh?"

And another step, "...of all gem kind..."

"Well"

And another step, "...in two weeks..."

Rainbow bumped his back into the wall.

"...will end. Now give me back my glasses. Please." He extended his hand.

"B-but why?"

"That is none of your business."

"Ehm. T-then maybe i-i-I should just smash them-,"

"Don't. You. Dare."

"u-unless you tell me?"

"Give them back. NOW!" Abraham's voice echoed.

It took all his courage but Rainbow clenched his teeth. "No. I don't think so. You came to our planet, uninvited. Then you broke into our house. And now you're trying to scare me? Well, you know what? I can play this game too." He snapped his fingers again and the glasses came to life. They jumped from Rainbow's hand and on the floor. Abraham tried to catch them but they slipped between his fingers and ran towards the lava pool. They danced and spun around the fringe and occasionally skipped over the pit while Abraham desperately chased after them, teleporting around, trying to grab them with telekinesis and his hands. Nothing worked.

Rainbow had to grin. But from Abraham's perspective, there was nothing funny about it. He jumped and fell on the floor as he failed to capture the glasses yet again and watched in horror as they bounced off his fingertips, from the edge of the well and into the lava they went.

Hsssst.

Abraham just kept staring for a while into the place that bubbled and hissed. A stench filled the air. He rose from the ground. Or rather something which resembled him at first. It started growing. The whole room dimmed as shadows crept from the corners and wrapped around light sources. That thing that called itself Abraham was now everywhere. Rainbow could hear it whispering. Thousand voices, voicing their opinions at once. This thing. It wanted to hurt, it wanted to tear, and destroy. Its talons cut deep. Not physically but rather psychically. Rainbow suddenly found himself in the middle of nowhere. Nothing up, nothing down, nothing everywhere. The only source of light for miles away was him. Nothing else.

Where am I?

Am I dead?

No, I don't think so.

But this place is so creepy.

I have to find a way out of here.

I'm scared.

There is no time for that. I must get out and warn the others.

I'm scared!

I can get through this.

But suddenly something shifted. As if somebody took something from within and pulled it out. A set of thoughts.

I, we, I, we…

They unfused. Not of their own will but rather because they couldn't hold it together no more.

Then it stopped. Darkness slowly corrugated and collapsed back into a human. A human who was sitting on the stair leading to the lava pool and... weeping? No, he just had his face covered with his hands. He looked up. He sighed. Stood up. Stepped into the lava pool and submerged his hands in it, then he pulled out a lump of melted... something.

"I had about enough of you. Both of you. I knew gems are cruel. But this. This exceeded my wildest expectations."

"I-I didn't mean to." Steven stuttered.

"I thought at least you could be reasoned with. But you proved me wrong."

"Wait! It was an accident!"

No response. Abraham was gone.

They both sat in silence. Pearl and Steven. Just looking at each other. Steven blinked. Pearl blinked.

"We messed up huh?"

Steven shrugged and kept staring.

"Steven?"

"Yeah?"

"I know this may sound odd but. Didn't you shrink?"

"Me? Pfft no." He looked down. "I did? OH MY gosh, I DID!"

Pearl came over to him and put a calming hand on his shoulder. "We can't be prepared for everything. We will find a way to help you. Don't worry."

Steven looked into her eyes. "Worry? I'm not worried about anything. Well, least not anymore."

"Huh?"

"Well, I don't know why. But… I suddenly feel… good. Great even. I. Feel. AWESOME! WOHOOO!" He jumped doing a triple somersault before landing on his hands and spinning. "See?"

"Umm." This was odd. He had emotional baggage that weighed like a ton not even a ten minutes ago and now he seemed like he had the greatest day of his life? Even as Rainbow Quartz 2.0 they didn't feel that good. Steven was still thinking about death and whatnot, but after they split he suddenly seemed like a new man. Kid. Man-kid. Whatever.

Maybe it was some defense mechanism that got triggered. It wouldn't be the first time something like this happened. It usually involved a lot of emotional pressure for Steven and his surroundings, but now he was almost glowing with positive energy. Like when he was little.

"Now let's go!" He grabbed Pearl and lifted her up and above his head.

"Wow, what are you doing?"

"Acting randomly but consciously at the same time. I got an idea."

"What idea?" Pearl had to duck not to hit the top of the temple door as they ran through them and the house. They whized around Greg who dropped his morning coffee on the floor. Pearl waved as they ran around but Greg was probably so shocked he didn't even notice.

"I don't know yet but it involves the glasses. There was something written on them." They ran down the stairs and he jumped up and into the clouds above Beach City looking around.

"Well… yes, but we didn't have the time to read it."

"But do you know who maybe had enough time?"

"Nope."

"Bismuth!"

"Bismuth? Well, It would make sense, the glasses were bubbled in her bubble."

"Precisely! Now hold tight!"

"Huh? WHAAAA!" Steven dived right down towards the library.

Abraham took something from him. He didn't know what but when he was fused with Pearl and Abraham decided to do - that darkness thing - it took something away which resulted in their unfusing. Whatever it was Steven now felt much better. Younger. Even though twenty years old isn't the age when you have to watch your every step due to back pains and spend most of the time in front of the TV.

Either way, he felt carefree. And deep down in his mind he maybe knew why. Fusion worked like a magnet. Positives and negatives attract each other. When one gem lacked something and the other one had it, it created stable fusion. Ruby and Sapphire were literally the walking definitions of this. Ruby: hot-headed, impulsive, emotional, fire. Sapphire: stoic, emotionaly cold (most of the time), ice.

Rainbow Quartz 2.0 wasn't stable like Garnet, but much more than Sugilite for example and today it was more than ever. Pearl had her emotions in check, she was calm and understanding, and Steven was on an emotional roller coaster right from the morning. Abraham couldn't tear them apart by fear, so he just took away what held them together: Steven's anxiety. Did he really want to get rid of the Rainbow so much he would do something so bizarre? Well at that moment it would make sense. He was furious. And when you are angry you do a lot of crazy stuff. But this all just for the pair of glasses?

There was no doubt, these glasses were the key to understanding him. When you care about something THAT much it must be important. Oh and Steven also read some mystery novels. The devil was always in the details. Was there a piece of red thread lying around? That was "the clue"! In this case, the glasses were "the clue". Or he at least thought so.

There was something written on them. Something they did not manage to read. And he was sure it was important. Bismuth sent the glasses to the temple and that surely meant she held them and had a good look before she decided to bubble them. She probably thought they were dangerous and she might be right. These glasses weren't part of Abraham's body. Trousers, jacket, boots, these were part of him, similar to clothes worn by gems, but these glasses were their own thing. But that writing on them must have been something that could send them on the right track. There was a name and a year. Eighteen hundred... something something. Abraham probably visited the Earth before and it was around the time Buddy Budvick was running around with his notebook.

They needed more details. That was where Bismuth came into play and if there was someplace where you could find the information, it would be the library named after a previously named human. Or the much more awailable internet of course. But there was just something in Steven's subconscious. He was sure he saw Abraham's face somewhere. And it was in the library.

And he could use the computer there when they were at it.