FrostyChops: Thank you!

Josh Spicer: *Smash announcer voice* EVERYONE IS HERE! Honestly the little "Son...!" was just to be funny, not too literal. We will find out more about Star...! But...! Next fic...!

fatwhiteguy: I just ugly snorted at "WHITE DIAMOND LOOKING ASS!" Thanks a bunch!

Kraven the Hunter: I feel bad because we won't be learning much more about Star until the next fic...and even then...but thank you so much!

ObsidianPheonix26: The fusions are probably going to be on hold, at least for a little while. This chapter and the next are going to be a little more chill...but not entirely ;)

So this is the second-to-last chapter of T&T, and you might notice that it's not quite as long as the other ones. Here's the thing: the chapters of this fic have all been ranging between 16,000-20,000 words, and you guys have probably noticed how long it takes for each new chapter to come out. Unfortunately, though I do like having a one-episode-a-chapter format, words have to be written. I wanted to have a chapter out every week, but there was just no human way I was going to manage 2,500 a day, especially not with other things in my life like school, work, etc.

So, from here on out, the chapters are going to be around half the length of what they were - but most importantly, they're going to be coming at a regular rate! If all goes well, new chapters will be getting posted every two weeks. This fic will end on October 11th (or maybe even sooner, if I get lucky!) and the next installment will debut October 25th! Thanks for all your patience when this fic was going at a one-chapter-a-month pace at best.

Anywhoodle, here's the second-to-last chapter of Twists & Turns. It's been a ride!

It took Steven a second to figure out why he had woken up. The inside of It's a Wash was still dark—the only lights came from the humming red EXIT sign hanging over the door and the faint streams of moonlight through the windows. There was no telling what time it was, but it had been long enough for him to get the blankets of the cot in a twisted mess. Also, he was drooling. Gross.

The voices outside were muffled through the wall; it took a minute to get out of his sleep-induced haze to listen.

"We thought he'd need it," said Sapphire's voice. "So we came to bring it over."

"We told him to call if he needed anything," added Ruby's voice. "He won't be able to if his phone is dead! What if he gets his hand stuck in the cash register again?"

Greg's voice sighed. "Ruby, please, that was just a four-time thing. Not going to happen again."

"Still, we just thought he'd want it." There was a shuffle of movement. "Also, I brought his cheeseburger backpack. And some more socks, because he always forgets to pack those."

"And I brought him his game system. And his video games. And some books. And his succulent. And his Guy card collection, and that cool seashell he found on the beach yesterday."

"Okay, wait, you were not holding all this when you walked here—"

"Anyway, if you can just give him all this, we'd appreciate it."

Steven closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and willed them to please just go. When he'd told them he just wanted to stay with Greg for a little while, they'd all nodded and smiled, "Of course! Go ahead!" He'd known it was an act from the beginning, but he didn't think it was going to be this bad. He'd never been this angry at them, and certainly not for this long, and they just did not know how to function.

Greg sighed again, but tried to keep his voice even. "Guys, don't you think it's a little late for this?"

A pause. Ruby asked, "I thought one in the morning was early?"

"Okay, well technically—"

"Perhaps we should have waited until the sun came up. Maybe four in the morning would have been better."

"No, that is also too early—"

"Also? I thought one in the morning was late?"

"It is—"

"Why would it be called 'one in the morning' anyway? Isn't morning when the sun is out?"

"Well, Nanafua said 'A.M.' stands for 'ante meridiem'…whatever that means."

"Guys, it doesn't matter if one is too early or too late, it's just—too. We're trying to sleep…you know that…"

Steven could feel the sheepishness all the way inside the building. He was grateful he had the cot set up right beneath the window, out of sight. He might have just lost it if he felt their eyes on him.

"Yeah," Ruby mumbled at last. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Listen…" There was another, much longer shuffle—readjusting the mountain of items Ruby handed to him. "I don't know what happened with you guys, but…I think Schtuball's being pretty loud and clear he wants to be left alone right now. And I'm just letting you know, if you keep pushing like this, he's just going to get more upset."

This time they did not respond. Steven wondered if this was even a human thing for them. How much of this was them trying to put a Band-Aid on what they'd done, and how much was genuinely not knowing what to do?

"I'm sure Steven will come talk to you guys when he's ready. But you have to wait for him to make that call."

"Okay…" Sapphire cleared her throat, sniffed a little. "Goodnight, Greg."

"'Night." Ruby said.

Their footsteps started to fade away…then stopped. Then one pair came scuffling back as Ruby rushed out, "Also I brought his nightlight." Then the footsteps left for good.

Steven kept his eyes closed as the door quietly opened once more. Greg moved so slowly to try not to "wake" his son, but he dropped something or another that clattered to the floor. Still Steven did not respond. Thankfully Greg did not stare at him as he put all the stuff down in a pile. He hadn't realized until he came out to the It's A Wash how much he felt eyes on him every day.

It was only when Greg left again that Steven opened his eyes. Sleep was starting to work its way back into his body, leaving his arms limp and his eyelids heavy, but he looked around the dark interior of the carwash. Between the linoleum floors and no decoration but a few magazines (that were several years old, something Greg didn't seem to realize), it was so unlike his Room. He didn't like it here; it didn't feel like home…but home wasn't the place he wanted to be in this moment.

He'd told himself that they were going to solve this huge, looming problem hanging over them when the Cluster was taken care of, but it had been five days now, and Steven couldn't stomach it. He didn't even get the time to celebrate. Knowing that the planet was safe from the Cluster's emergence took a huge weight off his shoulders, but it had left him with pins and needles inside and out.

It wasn't fair that this had to happen now. Steven was so looking forward to all of them taking a deep breath and basking in victory, but instead, saving the world was just…intermission.

And maybe this might've been easier to get through if the Crystal Gems tried something else. It's not that Steven wanted them to force him into the conversation if he already told them no, and yeah, maybe he'd have turned them down anyway. But their only method of trying to get through at all had just been smiles and kindness, and yes, staring. Ruby kept showering him with things, Sapphire was so talkative she was no longer Sapphire, and anything deeper than "Good morning!" had Opal clamming shut.

Steven didn't think they were trying to put it on him to make the first move towards fixing everything, but it was like he had to be happy again before they did. Again, they were not used to an angry Steven. They were probably so scared of causing any further damage that instead of walking on eggshells, they avoided the eggshells entirely. Sapphire especially must have been running in circles trying to find a future where everything went well.

Steven couldn't think of one himself. In all the fake conversations he'd run through his head, he never smiled in any of them.

He didn't hate them. No, no, he loved them, he loved them with all of his heart.

It just wasn't fair. They wouldn't have to do all this eggshell-avoiding and upset staring if they had just really, truly trusted him and not lied to his face time and again. Steven felt like he was being punished for something he didn't even do.

Being at the It's A Wash with Greg helped, though. Given, it'd help a lot more if they'd done as Greg said and left him be, but it still helped. In It's A Wash, the only problem of the day is a large vehicle to clean, no world-threatening forces or long-building betrayal to be seen. Heck, the only Gem-ish thing in the whole place was Steven himself.

Funny…once upon a time he was buzzing with excitement to go on the unseen adventures the Crystal Gems whisked away to every day. Now he found peace in linoleum floors and years-old magazines.

In the teeny-tiny little defense of the Crystal Gems, they weren't the only thing that's been weighing on his head and shoulders. He wondered after the Cluster. Now that it was free, out in the endlessness of space, he only hoped that it was doing better. He hoped that all the little pieces that made it up had each other for company.

Then there was Star, who he had not seen since they helped the Cluster.

Somehow, he knew that Star was okay. He felt a comfort deep in his belly that they were unhurt and still around, but just not reachable at the moment. Maybe they didn't want to be; he could more than understand needing space after…that.

Now, though, he had a million and one questions for what Star is. Were they a Gem, too? They looked so similar to the floating lights of the Cluster…But the Cluster's Gems had memories. Star had nothing. So maybe they weren't a Gem after all.

Steven would try to reach out to them if he knew how, but all he could do was wait.

Sometimes waiting was just taking it one day at a time, though. Sleep came to him easily after that: knowing that he'll only be in the dark interior of the It's A Wash for so much longer. Then the sun would rise again and he'd have another twenty-four hours of weight to carry around.

Human that he was, it took Steven just a second to remember why he was in It's A Wash and not his bed. It was very early in the morning, more orange than yellow. It was actually pretty homey, somehow. He could see the specks of dust drifting in the air.

I should probably get up and get started on the day, Steven thought to himself, and then he didn't.

Staying on the cot in a motionless heap felt so nice he only found himself willing to reach over and grab his phone. He, of course, felt his eyeballs hiding to the back of his skull before he turned the brightness down.

He didn't open his messaging app, but oh, yeah, that was another thing weighing him down. Connie hadn't responded to any of his text messages. He'd told her that the Cluster was gone and they were safe now. Connie hadn't said a word in response. She could be so busy studying and reading and practicing the violin she didn't have time to look at his texts, he thought…Maybe it was better to wait until they were in the same place, anyway.

Steven spent a while just doing nothing on his phone, mindlessly scrolling through stuff like the official Crying Breakfast Friends website and his eternally-empty emails. Then he popped over to Ronaldo's side of the internet. He'd put most of his time and care into the bizarre sightings and conspiracy theories of Keep Beach City Weird, but he'd also started a blog about internet-born stories called Keep the World Wide Web Weird, a blog reviewing sci-fi and horror films called Keep Cinema Weird, and a freelance writing blog called Ronaldo's Writing Portfolio. Steven was actually very impressed at his writing skills.

Keep Beach City Weird updated on the daily, so Steven was unsurprised to see another post ready. Once he saw it, however, he paused.

MYSTERIOUS ORANGE CREATURE NESTING IN BAY CAVE?

The photo was taken probably all the way from the Beach City water tower, northward to Rehoboth Bay. The Bay Cave was hardly bigger than the end of Steven's thumb even with the camera zoomed in. It was fuzzy all over, with only a vague orange shape poking out from the mouth of Bay Cave.

Ronaldo described a mysterious, hulking orange feature spotted lurking in Bay Cave. Thus far Ronaldo was the only witness of the creature, and he had drawn up his best recreation of what it looked like. The image showed a box-shaped figure with an insane white mane and tusks.

But why would she…?

There was only one way to find out. Steven tossed back the blankets of the cot and threw on his clothes as fast as he could. He almost stumbled over the pile Ruby left on his way out.

It wasn't until Steven had trekked all the way across town to the old destroyed docks that he realized he hadn't made a plan to actually get to the Cave across Rehoboth. Even now that he was there, with the wind whipping his hair and the sun warm on his neck, it was still just a small dark spot in the distance.

"I could try to swim," Steven considered aloud. "But I also really, really like not drowning..."

While he kept thinking hard about it, he walked closer to it along the shore. He lost his sight on it as he passed by Funland, not that he missed any clues to another way around. Unless he was planning to go all the way to the cliffside above the cave and dive down to the water below and not be turned into a Steven Slushie, he was out of luck.

The boardwalk ended at the Crab Shack, and the shore tapered off to the cliffs not long after. Even standing at the end of the pier, the stretch all the way to the Cave was so great he was starting to have some second thoughts. Given, he had zero idea just what WOULD feasibly be in the Cave, but all the proof there was of it being Jasper was a blurry photograph and an artist's rendition that was...well, much better than Steven's own art, but still.

Plus, of all the places for Jasper to take some time off and be by herself, why would she set her sights on a place so close to him and the Crystal Gems?

Steven was just about to turn on his heel when a distant chugging sound began to grow from his right. He hadn't even noticed the boat pulling up to the pier until it was passing right in front of him. It was a small boat, not nearly the size of Yellowtail's, but it was absolutely better than the smog-spitting beasts the Crab Shack used to have on the water.

A boat had occurred to Steven, of course, but he'd seriously doubted he'd be able to get his hands on one for this. Now that the opportunity had presented itself, though, he had to try and seize it.

Steven hurried back down the pier as the boat pulled up to a stop and the captain tied it safely to the dock. An employee from within the restaurant came out to help bring in the haul of crabs the captain had ensnared in his nets.

"Excuse me!" Steven called as he approached. "Excuse me, Crab Shackers!"

The two employees blinked as he approached at first, but then one sighed and let go of the net to put his hands on his hips. "Listen, I told your quiet friend with the vegetable name we don't catch swordfish, and even if we did, we wouldn't sell them as weapons! We were serious about getting that cease and desist—"

"No, no, no! I'm not here for fish weapons." Steven pointed towards the little boat that lightly swayed in the waves that lapped at the dock. "I was wondering if I could get a ride?"

The other employee also sighed. "We also told your buddy we don't know where the Bermuda Triangle is, we don't want to go looking for it, and you can't have one of our boats! This is breaking a cease and desist, so why don't you get out of here before we call the police again—"

"I'm not here for Bermuda Triangles or fish weapons. I just need a ride out to the cave!"

The two Crab Shackers took a confused look out to the distant Cave, like they'd forgotten such a thing ever existed. Still their first responses were deep frowns. "Is that your secret hideout, or something?"

"Has Onion hurt you guys?"

"So you do know him!" The other employee threw the net down, never minding how the crabs inside immediately began to scuttle their way to the edge of the dock. "Are you guys in some kind of gang? Huh? What's your name? Huh?!"

"He's not going to tell us his real name, wise guy!" The other snapped. "They're probably using vegetable code names, like Carrot or String Bean or Pomegranate!"

Steven sighed and clasped his hands together sincerely at his chest. "I cross my heart I am not involved in any organization that is trying to hurt you guys or find dangerous entities in the ocean. I just need to get to that cave, pure and simple."

The two employees paused for a moment, looking him up and down. Finally the taller one sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I dunno, Chet. He's pretty friend-shaped."

"Chet" readjusted the ballcap atop his head and let out a sigh of his own, his tone apologetic. "I'm sorry, man, but even if you're not up to any trouble, we're not supposed to goof around on the boats."

"Oh, I'm not a goofy boy, I promise!" A lightbulb popped over Steven's head as he reasoned, "You guys can just drop me off while you're getting more crabs!"

"We've already done all our crab-catching...today..."

Chet trailed off as he and the other employee looked down and found the space between their feet remarkably free of any crabs ensnared in a net. A small trail of water went to the edge of the dock, and though there were no more crustaceans to be seen, they just managed to see the tattered strings of the net float up to the surface.

The taller employee let out a loud, enraged groan and threw his ballcap on the dock to stomp on it with all his rage. "Gosh dang it, Bret, you done did it again!"

Not that Steven meant to mock them, but he couldn't help but ask, "So...Good deal?"

Chet and Bret exchanged a wary look with one another. While Bret scooped up his stomped hat, Chet asked, "I dunno...You got anything for us so we know you're not going to cause us any trouble?"

Steven nibbled on the inside of his cheek, humming in thought. He didn't physically have anything on him, and even in his personal belongings he couldn't think of anything two Crab Shackers would want. Then the obvious solution popped up into his mind. "Oh! I can talk to Onion about leaving you guys alone!"

Thankfully, despite its small size, the boat held up very well against the waves of Rehoboth Bay. It was actually sort of fun to lightly bounce along the crests with the mist spraying up in his face, though Steven had to admit the inside was pretty slippery with water and...crab juice?

The Cave was even bigger than Steven had given it credit for. The mouth was easily wide enough for five Crab Shack boats to fit through, and the jagged top of the cave stretched high up the cliff before tapering off.

Chet and Bret pulled in just a little past the mouth until Steven could step off the boat into a flat bed of stone.

"Make sure you keep up your end of the deal," Chet reminded him as Bret carefully maneuvered the boat back around. "Mental health is important and your Onion buddy is harming mine."

"I will, I promise. Thank you, Bret. Thank you, Chet."

"We'll be back in an hour," Bret reminded him. "Don't get eaten by any cave monsters or anything."

The boat sputtered away, the engine's quiet grumble fading away until Steven was alone once again.

He should have figured with the cave being wider and taller than he'd assumed that it was going to be deeper, too, but still. Steven was surprised when the engine faded away and the sounds of waterdrops echoed along the cave walls.

It wasn't going to be an easy journey further in, either. The bed he stood on was the only flat rock within the cave, everything else being the teeth in the cave's mouth.

What followed was a good fifteen minutes of him hopping, slipping, and swinging from rock to rock. It was hard to find footholds, but not impossible. He had to admit he wasn't a graceful swan, however, and he didn't come out of it dry.

Finally, deeper into the cave, the rock clustered together more and more that he had a lot less flipping-and-flopping to worry about. But this also meant the sunlight that shone in from the opening thinned, and Steven thought it good to pull his phone out and shine the flashlight.

And oh, boy, was he wrong to think the Cave was a little bigger. He thought for a moment that as he squeezed through a place where the stone pinched together that he was about to come to a dead end, he instead found another length of tight space.

"Hello?" Steven called out. He thought his voice might echo, but it instead just sounded close and tinny. The only response he got was more echoing waterdrops. "Jasper?"

More walking, more squeezing, more time. And it wasn't until Steven finally thought to himself, 'Hm. Wonder how deep I am now?' that it occurred to him that this was probably a bad idea. The Bay Cave wasn't...off-limits, per se, but it wasn't exactly on the Beach City map, either. Maybe if it was more accessible it would be, because a cave of this size would surely bring in visitors.

That reminded him, however, that the grandiose caverns with wondrous rock formations and sparkling surfaces that tourists could ooh and ahh at...were always evaluated by professionals to ensure it was actually safe to go inside.

Now that he was so deep in that his flashlight was the only source of light keeping him from pure, utter darkness, Steven swallowed down his fear and gripped his phone tighter. He wasn't usually afraid of the dark, but this was different.

"Okay, Steven," he breathed aloud. "You can probably retrace your steps, but if not...it's okay! Just don't lose your phone and you won't be in complete, nightmare-darkness. Also, maybe don't say these things aloud, because Cosmic Rules say you would immediately lose your phone now."

Steven stopped. Waited.

His phone and flashlight remained.

"Okay. Cool. Now, how much further—?"

One step further, and Steven was tumbling.

He let out what was probably a ridiculous, strangled yell as the ground beneath him let go and he fell victim to gravity. His feet went over his head, his arms windmilled, and overall he probably looked not unlike a tumbleweed. The only saving grace was that he didn't feel any cuts or bruising stabs of pain, at the expense of everything else, including the consuming darkness.

When he finally stopped, he was on his back and surrounded by nothing but black. He couldn't even see his own fingers in front of his face. So now it wasn't just dark, it was so dark he had no earthly hope of getting back through the cave to see the sunlight, or eat food, or, y'know, live.

Steven sighed, long and heavy. "Well, this is every one of my nightmares realized."

Then, there was light again. Right in front of his face.

Though his first instinct was to squeeze his eyes and twist his head way, he realized as he did so that it was just a small light shining right in front of him. And then he realized it was the light of his phone. And then he realized it was being offered to him.

10% curious and 90% freaking out at the prospect of his doom, Steven took the phone and hurriedly flipped it around.

Only then did he let out a sigh of relief so deep it almost lulled him to sleep. "Thank you for not being a cave monster."

Jasper's face squeezed together in confusion. "You're welcome?"

The large orange Gem guided him up to his feet. Once he was right-side up again, Steven waved his flashlight around to try and get a better look at the place, but the light was small and the place was large and he was hardly putting the puzzle together.

"Hold on," Jasper scoffed after he unintentionally flashed the light past her face for the nth time. "Just give me a second."

Steven kept the light on her as she walked away (something she didn't seem to appreciate) to a wall of dewy rock. A length of what seemed to be woven grass was wrapped around a protruding piece of stone, and Jasper gave it a hard, unceremonious yank.

Steven jumped back as something came crashing down between them. It looked like a vaguely round cluster of rock, dirt, and grass that would probably blend right into the Earth. He made it out not by the light of his phone, but from the bright sunlight that spilled down from the open hole in the ceiling.

The area he and Jasper stood in was not particularly huge, but it was definitely huge for a cave, and would definitely be a goldmine for tourists. The walls of the cave were smoothly rounded out, but further up towards the sunlight it was untouched, and the stalactites almost looked decorative. The stone sparkled beautifully. A puddle of crystalline water was in one corner of the area. If it'd been bigger, Steven would've called the place a grotto, but this looked more like a den.

In...more ways than one. Not only were the walls and floor worn down, but there were also stones in the middle of the "room" shaped like a sofa, an armchair, and a coffee table (complete with a coffee mug.) There was even a lamp with a string made of beaded pebbles. It was rather impressive.

Confused though he was, Steven commended, "The place looks great!"

"It wasn't hard," Jasper said with a shrug. "The bed was kind of a hassle, though."

Steven looked into a further corner of the room, and sure enough, there was a bed made of stone. And Steven didn't think it was possible, but somehow, Jasper had made pillows and blankets look soft despite being made of cold, hard rock.

Part of Steven protested what could have been hundreds, if not thousands of years of rock formation being worn down and destroyed, but Jasper was technically also a rock, so he guessed it was alright.

He didn't want to be distracted. He wasn't sure whether he was confused or relieved when he asked, "Jasper, what are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?!" Jasper snapped back. She didn't seem angry, though—she seemed more baffled than him. "And why are you crawling everywhere? Why didn't you just take the front door?"

"Front door?"

Jasper pointed. In the far wall was a very long, broad opening that Steven saw, if he turned his head just so, led all the way back out to the ocean. It was the exact size and shape of Jasper's silhouette. "Oh."

"How did you get all the way out here?" asked Jasper. As soon as she asked, a look of dread came upon her, and she visibly braced herself. "Please tell me the others aren't here, too."

"No, I'm by myself!"

Jasper blinked. "Is there a Warp nearby? Do you have a boat? Did you swim?"

"Uh...No? It's not that far, y'know."

"Not that far?"

This led to Steven and Jasper both walking through Jasper's self-made, self-shaped tunnel to where the ocean stretched out before them and Beach City set not horribly far to the right. Funland was clear as day, but if that didn't do it, the print of BEACH CITY WATERTOWER high in the sky did.

Jasper sucked in such a deep breath of air that Steven's lungs hurt with sympathy. "Of all the caves in all the planets in all the universe...I just had to pick the one that was RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO YOU GUYS?!"

She turned back into her new apartment with a huff. With no words, she climbed up the incline Steven had stumbled down, went to where the rock was still untouched, and tore off a huge chunk with her bare hands. Then she just sat down on her stone couch and started chipping off bits and pieces as nonchalantly as an old woman knitting a scarf.

At least a little relived she was not enraged with his presence, Steven took a very uncomfortable seat beside her. "So...What exactly are you doing here, Jasper? I mean, this place is great, but why the location?"

"Well," Jasper snipped out, "After a few days and nights just wandering the ocean floor, trying to think of any place I'd even remotely want to go on this miserable heap of rock, I got tired of all the fish and kelp and decided to come topside for a while. I thought I could relax for just a while in a completely random cave, but nope. Just my luck. I'm your next-door neighbor."

"Oh, um...Sorry."

"Why? You didn't do anything." Jasper dusted off flakes of chipped stone from her work-in-progress. "What about you? Still going to sleep for no reason?"

"No, I've been doing great! I mean, not great, but I'm only sleeping when I'm supposed to be sleeping now. I thought maybe I did it the other day but then turns out I was just really comfortable on the sofa and got all cat-nappy."

Jasper sent a brief glance at him away from her work. "So how's it going with the You-Know-Who's?"

Steven paused. He almost wished she wouldn't ask about it, but it's not like he blamed her for it, either.

It was a very natural question. "Um...It's going."

Jasper sniffed. "That's the vaguest answer I've ever been given to anything. I'm impressed."

"Uh...I'm staying with Dad right now." Steven kicked his dangling feet, and was thankful that Jasper, too, was not searing her gaze into his skull. "I...I don't know if I'm as mad as I was, but I needed space to breathe and I...wasn't really getting it with them."

"Did they try to stuff you with flapcakes again?"

"It's 'flapjacks' or 'pancakes'...But yeah. Also, waffles." Steven let out a queasy groan. Two mornings ago he'd chewed down at least six whole waffles just because Opal had made enough to cover the entire kitchen island. Either he'd have to throw them away and waste waffle goodness or he'd have to eat them all at the expense of his poor, syrup-filled stomach. "I just wish this wasn't happening at all."

"Yeah, well." Jasper clicked her tongue before blowing off a cloud of dust from her work. Steven still had no idea what she was trying to make. "Not to sound like that 'Inspiration a Day' book you had set up next to your bed, but life is full of things you wish wasn't happening and you just gotta deal with it."

"You don't sound like an 'Inspiration a Day' book." He coughed. "That wasn't inspirational at all..."

"Why are you here, anyway? I wouldn't think I'm good company for your 'breathing space.'"

"Someone said they thought they saw you out here. I was worried about you." When the realization hit him, he groaned his horror. "When was the last time you ate? Oh, I should've gone by the Big Donut first..."

"I do not intend to put any more of the disgusting sludge you call food back into my mouth now that I know of the frankly nightmarish process it takes to get it out again."

"But donuts!"

"No." Jasper flicked at the boulder the way someone would playfully flick someone on the nose, except this flick resulted in a chip of rock bulleting through the air. "I don't get what you're worried about. I told you, I just wanted to be alone for a while."

"Yeah, but I was just..."

Steven pursed his lips. He didn't even know what he was going to say, and he had to stop himself from coming up with something on the spot. At this point he didn't know what was and wasn't going to be a topic that set Jasper on fire. She spoke of the Crystal Gems with thick disgust, but not brewing rage, so maybe she was in a calmer state of mind now? But then again, their encounter with the Cluster—which had been set in stone to be the deadline for any and all civil contact between Jasper and the Crystal Gems—had just happened. It was still fresh.

Jasper let him stew in his thoughts for a minute before urging, "You were just...?"

He swallowed and figured...whatever. Even if Jasper didn't agree, he considered them to be friends now. Like, Level One Friends. "We can't do anything together without it being heavy" friends. Still, he'd take it. "I was just wondering what you think you're going to do now?"

What followed was a long stretch of silence as Jasper chipped and scuffed away bit by bit of the boulder in her lap. Her movements were smooth and concentrated, no longer hacking at the thing to vent out her frustrations.

"I thought I'd just figure it out when I figure it out," Jasper said, ironically a very vague answer as well. "My absence is going to be noticed at some point. I don't know what's going to happen—hopefully they'll just figure we got compromised and let that be that. But still, the Diamonds will probably do something else. Send another ship. Form another plan."

"So you're for sure not going to call them?"

"No," groaned Jasper. She clearly wasn't clicking her heels with her own decision. "I'm not going to call them."

"Cool. Cool, cool, cool." Steven kicked his legs again. He wondered if he could get Jasper to get a clock working with the rocks in here. At least then there would be ticking and tocking to fill the silence. "Sooooooo can I ask why?"

The fingers on the stone paused. "You can." She swept off a handful of dust. "But I don't want to answer."

Troubled though he was, Steven nodded and accepted. Forget asking Jasper to go full gung-ho Crystal Gem, it was laughable to get her to bare her heart and soul to him. She'd peeled off a few hardened layers when they sat on the beach at his birthday party, sparklers in hand and the bubble of laughter distant behind them, but that was then and this was now. Now they both looked at the Crystal Gems in a different way and now Jasper's affiliation with Homeworld was questionable at best.

Even so, Steven took a minute to just look around the cave and its quietness. It was quaint and homey here, but fleetingly...he was already starting to feel lonely. There was no telling how much longer Jasper planned to stay here, and no telling if she was just going to keep doing this, hopping from place to place to hole up in solitude with nothing but her own thoughts to keep her company. And Steven knew better than anyone that without anyone to tell them to, there were some thoughts that would swell and swell until they cracked your skull.

"What about you, though?" Steven tipped his head to the side. "What are you going to do...for...you?"

This time, Jasper's hesitation seemed almost uncomfortable. The averted gaze, doing something with her hands, it all screamed of someone being the target of arrowheaded questions. She was like this before, too, but not with this demureness.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll just walk every inch of this planet until I can find some kind of place that doesn't bore me to death within two minutes." Finally, Jasper set down her creation: a bowl full of "apples" that she put on the table as a centerpiece. They looked so delicious Steven's teeth hurt. "Maybe I can find a place to lay low when Homeworld comes to finish things. Maybe if I just stand in one place for thousands and thousands of years, I'll just forget that there ever was a Homeworld and I can just spend the rest of eternity simply existing." Jasper paused. "Maybe I'll try to be a professional wrestler. That looks fun."

Steven shifted in his seat so he could face her. "You know I don't know everything that's happened with Homeworld and the Crystal Gems—"

"You don't know anything."

"Uncalled for."

"Sorry."

"—so I don't know everything that's happened to you. I'm not saying you have to tell me, either, but I'm pretty sure something happened besides the War. And I'm pretty sure there was a...person?"

Immediately Jasper's outline went rigid. The muscle in her jaw pulled taught, the arms folded across her chest gripped tighter. Steven couldn't even imagine the mental misery she was in right now. He swore he could almost hear the sound of her own mind churning and spitting between her ears.

"You said something about someone who cared about you while we were on the beach."

"Why are you asking?"

Steven chewed on his lip, thinking. "I guess because I want to know if just..." He waved around every direction. "...the entire planet Earth makes you angry. I mean...you did want to destroy it before. Was it just to get back at Mom, or...?"

As he spoke, Jasper's hand lifted up to cover her eyes and squeeze her temples at the same time. Steven's hands twitched in worry—her fingers were so tense she was likely to crush her own face in her hand.

Instead, she just stayed like that for a long, long minute, just breathing and thinking. When she finally spoke, she still hadn't uncovered her eyes, and her voice was low. "I don't know who this place belongs to anymore." Her fingers spread apart just enough for him to see the yellows of her eyes, exhausted and dim. "Sometimes I think it's Rose Quartz's and I want it all to just be gone, just so I can say she didn't win. Sometimes I think it's..." She swallowed. "Sometimes I just want Homeworld to leave this place alone."

Steven hummed. She was still dodging the question of the elusive 'someone', but he wasn't about to push her and push her until she confessed. "I guess I get that...but...I mean, all the people who live on Beach City and everywhere else didn't do anything. Earth kind of...belongs to them...?"

"Yeah. Yeah." Jasper let out another deflating gush of air. "Believe me, if I could get my mind to pick and choose a train of thought, I'd do it."

"I don't think you hate the Earth. Or humans. I think this place just has a lot of bad memories for you." Steven drummed his fingers on his leg. "So I don't know if there's a place you can go here that will be good for you."

"Steven, you impress me again." Jasper gave him a pat on the back that was just a little bit too hard. "That wasn't disgustingly optimistic."

"Jasper..." Steven placed his hand on her arm. It sounded to him like she was coming closer and closer to just giving up to an eternity of misery, which was distressing to him to no end. "Come on. Don't you want to find a solution?"

"Here's another 'Inspiration a Day' for you, Steven: you can want all you want, that doesn't mean you'll get it."

"I don't think you know what an inspiration is."

"This whole mess doesn't have any clean edges to it. There's nothing I, you, or anyone else can do to make everything absolutely, one-hundred-percent perfect because that's not the reality we live in." Jasper tapped the tip of his nose in sarcastic affection. "And let me tell you, I have been feeling much, much better since I have accepted the fact."

"Okay. Hear me out. Let's just take baby steps." Steven held his hands up, begging her to let him continue. "Just because there's no perfect solution doesn't mean you have to give up, so...Let's just take the first step forward."

Jasper pulled her hand back and turned her eyes up to the sunlight that spilled in from the hole in the ceiling. Steven wondered, for a moment, if she was actually using that stone bed in the corner. She looked worn to the bone. "And how do you suppose we do that?"

"Well, first I think you should go to a place that you actually want to go to." He didn't want to divert the conversation back to himself, but for an example: "Being around the others right now just makes things worse, but being with Dad at It's A Wash makes me feel better."

"I told you: I don't have an 'It's A Wash' here. I don't have a place that fills me with warm, fuzzy feelings."

"Okay...Well...Anything else, then? Any place you wanted to go back to for literally any reason at all?"

He was not discouraged when she did not immediately reply. In fact, Steven felt a bubble of excitement in his chest when he saw an idea spark up in Jasper's eye...even though it wasn't a particularly happy spark.

"You do," he urged.

Jasper's jaw gritted from side-to-side. "Yeah. I guess."

"Okay...Do you want to go?"

She blinked. "What, both of us?"

"Do you want to go by yourself?" Jasper just blinked at him again, so he went on, "Only you know what's going to make you feel better. Soooo if me being there will, or being alone will, you choose."

Jasper took her eyes off him, but not to look at anything in particular. Of course, Steven had no idea what place she had in mind, but wherever it was, he could tell it wasn't going to be the kind of place that gives one the "warm and fuzzy" feelings.

But it wasn't up to him to decide what Jasper needed to feel just a little less aggrieved at having to have her feet on this planet.

Also...he didn't voice it, because it was a selfish thing at the back of his brain he didn't want to acknowledge, but he knew that wherever Jasper had in mind, it was going to be far away, and if he asked Greg to give a little white lie about him "going on a hike" or something, he might actually succeed in time away from the Crystal Gems. Uninterrupted time away.

Jasper stood up to her feet and dusted off the last bit of dust that clung to her lap. With a short flash of light, her cobalt cloak appeared around her shoulders. She tweaked the collar as she told him, "Let's go. I think you should come, too."

"Great!" Steven hopped up to his feet and patted her leg. "It's no problem to me!"

The corner of Jasper's mouth creased. "Not for me. We'll...talk when we get there."

Steven blinked. He'd already dismissed the idea of getting more information about the past out of Jasper at this state, let alone the idea that Jasper herself would take the first motion to do so. He didn't even know if he was excited. There was no bubble in his chest this time. "Oh...Okay. Well. Let's go, then!"

They were about halfway down the Jasper-shaped tunnel before he asked, "You should really be walking in front of me, because I have no idea where we're going."

Jasper—who fit so tightly through the tunnel the sides scraped around her shoulders—sighed. "We're going to have to get to a Warp Pad."

"Oh, okay!" Then Steven realized that meant they were going to have to get back to his Room. "Oh...okay."

The sight of Funland once again made Jasper's lip curl, so Steven didn't know how she was going to react when they actually had to go to the Temple and really acknowledge how close she was to being...discovered(?) this whole time. He just hoped that it was going to be the hardest leg of this journey.

"I have a ride coming," he told her, pointing out to the great length of ocean that separated them from Beach City. "It shouldn't take too long."

"No need." Suddenly Jasper plucked him off his feet. "Grab onto my back."

Steven had never been on a jet-ski before. He supposed he always wanted to, but he didn't know if there were any jet ski instructors even living in the Beach City area, and Greg of course had the parental concern of letting his child operate a fast-moving vehicle unsupervised.

Riding on Jasper's back was probably pretty close, though. How she did it, he wasn't sure, but Jasper was somehow kicking her legs with such speed and ferocity that they were zipping their way through the ocean with a steady spray behind them. She even sounded like a motorboat engine, and someone on the shore—was it the Cool Kids? It was a little far away to tell—waved and cheered for him.

He also had no clue how Jasper was managing to see with her head spearheading the waves, but when they came to the Temple's side, she brought the speed down and eventually got back to her feet. Steven was left clinging to her long mane of hair for a second, but she didn't seem to mind. Actually, it seemed she forgot about him, because she let out a small "oh" and went to disentangle him.

The good news was that there was only one Crystal Gem they could see as they expertly poked their heads around the corner. Ruby was in the sand in front of his Room and was...

Steven chewed on the inside of his cheek again. If the sight made him feel a little sad, he forced himself not to be. Ruby had hauled several large stones along the sand and compiled herself a squad of enemies. They looked like snowmen made of rocks, as always. While they were watching, Ruby dragged her foot along the sand to make an arena. But then she stopped, and sighed.

Steven was not there to relay the match into the microphone, to hype up Ruby to the crowd and announce her enemies as they entered the ring. It was just Ruby. Even as she swung the first punch, and sent one of the rockmen's heads flying in a spray of dust, it was lackluster. Unenthusiastic. She somehow made crushing rocks to dust with her bare hands look lazy.

The bad news was that, with only Ruby in sight, there was no telling where the other two were. There was no point trying to get past Ruby when they had no eyes on their other obstacles.

Jasper wasn't exactly on the same train of thought as Steven. "What is she doing?"

"What? Oh, she's training." Suddenly Ruby went to the base of one of the rockmen, a boulder twice as big as she was, and cracked in split down the middle with one hard, reluctant punch. Steven couldn't stop his eyebrows from going up. "Ooh! New record."

"Breaking tiny rocks is a challenge for her? This is why Rubies are supposed to come in teams, so they—" Jasper cut herself off with a pursed mouth, but not because of a disapproving look from Steven. He hadn't even had time to give her one. "Alright. Where're the other two?"

"No idea," sighed Steven. "Sapphire's probably in her Room, but she might come out. I...don't know what Opal does in her free time anymore."

"Normally I'd say we just charge in there and take no prisoners. But now I'm just going to ask, you have any idea how to get them out of the way? I could come up with a distraction, but there's going to be a lot of screaming involved."

All the first ideas that came into Steven's head were, admittedly, from a lot of spy movies he'd seen. Unfortunately they didn't have that much time for him to come up with their amazing codenames, let alone get a helicopter to ride into the sunset. At least they weren't dealing with a bunch of black-masked ninjas or leather-jacket-wearing henchmen; they knew who they were dealing with.

An idea came to Steven soon enough, but as simple as it was, he had to fight back a sigh of dread. "Hold on just a second."

Jasper crouched down beside him as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and tapped through his contacts.

Greg picked up on the second ring. "Steven?"

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey, where'd you go? I was going to make Dad's Breakfast Surprise."

To anyone else, "Dad's Breakfast Surprise" was just grilled cheese sandwiches with a sprinkle of sugar on top and a glass of strawberry milk. In Steven's eyes, it was the creme de la creme of breakfast cuisine. It was a meal fit for a king, and he hated that he had to miss out on it.

There was a mission at hand, though, and Steven kept a careful eye on Ruby as he whispered into the phone, "Dad, can you do me a favor?"

"I can save you some DBS for later, but you now it's bestest when it's freshest."

"You're not wrong, but...um..."

What would be a good little white lie to get his father to play along? Any little thing could do, really, he just had to say that he wasn't closeby but he needed something from the Temple.

On second thought...Maybe Steven doesn't have to lie too much after all. Greg has seen firsthand a pretty good reason for why Steven could use some help.

"I forgot something in my Room," Steven whispers, because now that they're officially in Strategy Mode, he has to be all whispery and incognito...y? "I was just going to go and get it, but the Crystal Gems are inside and...I just don't really want to run into them, you know? I'm in town right now...Do you think you could call them and ask them to bring it over?"

There is a pause on the other line, and Jasper raises a brow at him—which does nothing to calm Steven's nerves. That was a good lie, wasn't it? Except Steven doesn't like lying, he never has, even before he found out that he was being lied to for forever. (Though that certainly didn't help.)

But the pause is not nearly as long as it feels. Greg's voice goes soft but a little tight—like he does truly want to help his son, but he's just getting more and more clues that whatever happened between Steven and the Crystal Gems he loves so much, it is much worse than he could have imagined. "Sure. What do you need?"

"My sketchbook. The red one with the Crying Breakfast Friends pictures inside." Relieved though he was, Steven couldn't help but beg in his mind, Please don't find my Crying Breakfast Friendsona, please don't find my Crying Breakfast Friendsona...

"Alright. I'll call them now. See you when I see you."

"See you when I see you. Also please save me Dad's Breakfast Surprise. Bye!"

Steven tucked his phone back into his pocket as he very carefully inched his head back out to watch the results. Jasper leaned over him to do the same—the long strands of her hair fluttering down into his face in the process—and said, "Not bad."

He groaned. "Please don't compliment me."

Steven pulled apart Jasper's hair like curtains. He didn't think they were on a time limit or anything, but when Ruby obliterated one last stone with a double-handed swing, he realized that was her last one. Sure enough, Ruby turned in their direction with her eyes downcast to the sand, feet dragging their way to a hunt for more.

Panic spiked up again, and Steven snatched up Jasper's hand for them to run and hide, but then Sapphire came flying out of the Room with such speed and such ferocity that she left a small crater in the sand before Ruby. Even Jasper jumped.

Sapphire held up the phone in her hand. The house phone, not her phone. As in, the phone that was connected by a wire to the receiver. Thus, the wire was now broken and—Okay, now that Steven thought about it, how much property damage have they done to their own home over the years?

"Steven wants us to bring him something," Sapphire gushed out. "Greg just called!"

"What does he want?!" Ruby took Sapphire by the shoulders and gave her a tight little shake. "Did he want the ice cream cone nightlight instead of the star one?!"

"No, his sketchbook!"

It was unreal how quickly Ruby dashed up the stairs. Steven didn't even hear her footsteps, she moved so quickly, and from inside she called out, "Which one?!"

"The red one with the Crying Breakfast Friends in it!"

To her credit, Ruby at least didn't break anything as she came back out...though she certainly would've broken a couple bones, because she tripped as she descended the stairs and came tumbling down to the sand as the world's fastest tumbleweed. Not that she even cared, she somehow still landed on her feet.

"Okay," Ruby breathed as she came back to Sapphire. "Should we both bring it?"

Sapphire tightened her grip on the phone. "Greg said he wanted 'you guys' to bring it."

"But did he mean it literally, you think? Sometimes 'you guys' is just really general, you know." Ruby pulled her headband taut in her worrying. "Like if I walk into a room and say, 'Hey, do you guys know what I did with my bear trap?' that just means anyone can tell me where my bear trap is, not that literally everyone in the room needs to tell me where the bear trap is if they know—"

"I don't know if he's being general or not!" Sapphire muttered under her breath, "Why do we even call each other 'you guys'? None of us are guys..."

"Okay, just...Okay." Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose and breathed in deep. Steven hadn't noticed any heat waves coming off of her, but he only hoped that his sketchbook got out un-singed in her hands. "We can't keep...freaking out over every little thing. Greg was right, we look terrible!"

"I know we do." Only then did Sapphire realize what she'd done to their phone, and even from where he and Jasper stood hiding, Steven saw her lip curl back at her own actions. "I just worry that anything we do is going to be the wrong thing now."

"Don't I know it." With another, calmer breath, Ruby steeled her shoulders back and placed her hand on Sapphire's shoulder. "Look, let's just both bring it to him. Even if he just wanted one of us, we're just going to go over there, drop it off, and leave. No talking. No pushing."

Sapphire nodded. "No talking. No pushing." The hand not holding the destroyed phone went under her bangs, rubbing at her eye as she groaned. "I can't keep doing this to myself."

"We just have to—calm down." Ruby moved her hand down to Sapphire's back, gently guiding her to walk with her. "Like Greg said. With everything he's going through right now, freaking out all the time is just going to put more pressure on him..."

The two of them went walking down the opposite length of the beach side-by-side. It was only when they disappeared behind the bend of the cliff that Steven dared to start tip-toeing out of their place.

The click of Jasper's tongue almost made him jump. "Wow. They literally cannot function without you."

Steven groaned again, even though he was almost inclined to agree. It was still so strange to prefer Jasper at his side over the Crystal Gems, as grateful as he was for her. "At least they're gone now...Please don't find my Crying Breakfast Friendsona..."

"Aren't we one Crystal Gem short?" asked Jasper.

The two of them approached the stairs carefully, just in case, even though Steven told her, "I don't think she's here. Wouldn't they have said something to her?"

Sure enough, his wary look through the screen door shows the Room empty and quiet. No one sitting at the kitchen island waiting for breakfast or lunch, no one sitting at the coffee table over any board games or puzzles. His loft somehow feels emptier than the rest of the space. Even from the first floor he can see the empty places on his shelves where he or Ruby plucked things off for his...vacation.

The creak of the door as it opens still puts him on edge even without Opal there. "Let's go quick in case she comes—"

And just as he says those words, the white and purple gemstones on the Temple Door begin to glow. In one second flat, Steven spits out, "Hurry, hurry!"

Everything seems to move in slow-motion, a race against time itself.

Jasper's boots thunder on the floorboards as she dashes with him to the Warp Pad. The Temple Door splits into four pieces that pull away from each other. Steven's feet slam onto the surface. The lights flare up at once.

The Temple Door opens and does...not show the running water and sparkling stones. They show endless pink clouds. They show Opal.

Does Opal even see Jasper? It all happens in just a split second; he can't even tell. Whatever else she does or doesn't notice, Opal notices him, and in the few tiniest milliseconds before the lights consume he and Jasper both, her vibrant blue eyes go wide.

Then they go dimmer. They go heartbroken.

The curtains of light whisk Steven and Jasper away, and Opal doesn't follow.