When the gems got home, they found Peridot in the center of the floor, with bits of metal and non definable chunks of junk surrounding her. An obscure item was in her hands, as well as a screwdriver. "Peridot!" Garnet yelled, furious that she had left the bathroom without their permission. Lion was supposed to be watching her, but instead, was lying on Steven's bed, snoring.
"What are you doing, anyway?" Pearl stuck her nose up, crossing her arms. "I was trying to build something to stop the Cluster while you clods were stalking the Steven." She crossed her arms back, sassing Pearl. While the gems interrogated Peridot, Stephen began to quickly lose interest in the whole thing. He remembered the doughnut he stole, and checked his pocket for it. To his horror, all he found was the remnants of the smeared icing and no doughnut. His fists were clenched in rage, causing heat to rise out of his skin. Deciding he wasn't getting the doughnut back, he walked over the microwave to grab a snack. Or, where the microwave used to be, because now all that remained was detached electrical wiring jutting out of the wall. He looked over to the scattered junk on the floor, now realizing its origin. The microwave had been used to build Peridot's stupid thing for the clusterfuck. Anger boiled in his veins, unable to control his rage any longer. Stephen's eyes began to glow red once more, raising his clenched hands into the air.
"YOU!" he pointed towards Peridot, vibrating so intensely that his fat jiggled like jelly and the ground began to shake beneath him. The gems looked over, confused on what he meant, and even more baffled at the ground shaking. "It's the Cluster!" Peridot screamed, trying to run for cover into the bathroom. However, she was immediately cut off from the room's entrance, Stephen blocking her way. He used his super speed to get in front of the door before she could enter. "It's not the Cluster," Garnet responded, "it's just Steven."
"Steven?" Peridot looked at him, wondering why he would cause a false alarm like that, knowing that the Cluster could be emerging any day now. "You caused this?" Stephen, however, paid no mind to the Cluster ordeal, still furious at her for destroying his microwave. Suddenly, his arms and legs grew several feet in length, making him significantly taller than before. Veins were visible, pulsing through his meaty limbs. A large frown appeared over his face, froth pouring out of his mouth. He lurched his back, bending down to face her. Peridot's eyes widened, confused and afraid of what was happening.
"S-Steven?" "YOU BROKE THE MICROWAVE!" He shouted at her, slowly moving forward with the ground shaking after every step. Peridot pressed herself against the corner of the living room, trembling. "HOW I AM SUPPOSED TO EAT MY HOT POCKETS NOW?!" "I don't know what you're talking about!" Peridot responded, now curled into a fetal position, tears falling down her face. "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Stephen gestured to the dismembered microwave, "MY MICROWAVE IS GONE!" "I don't even know what a microwave is! " she screamed back at him as he approached her slowly, her hands wrapped tightly around her shaking legs. "I was just trying to be helpful." she sniffled.
Steven watched his horrible twin torture Peridot, feeling an ironic sense of empathy for her. It was true that Steven had only met her just recently, but he couldn't help but feel bad. It felt like both of them were prisoners in the house, tormented by the evil that was Stephen. Surely after this, one of the gems would notice his irregular behavior. Then they'd realize Stephen was a fake, and would come looking for him. Then everything would be okay.
"Steven!" Stephen turned to face an infuriated Garnet, who quickly picked him up underneath his armpits. Instantly, he returned to normal, his body going limp as she grabbed him. Peridot ran from the corner and away from Stephen as fast as she could, hiding behind Pearl whilst loudly sobbing and gripping to Pearl's leg. Pearl gasped at Stephen's behavior; this was too absurd to be normal. She looked down, even more surprised at Peridot's reaction to the situation. Out of everyone in the room, Pearl thought she'd be the last one Peridot would run to for protection. Stephen was clearly out of control.
"Calm down, Steven!" Garnet told Stephen, placing him on the ground. "It was just a microwave." Still filled with rage, he realized he wouldn't be able to take his anger out on Peridot anymore. Calming down enough to think, he began to wonder how she even got out in the first place. Then he remembered: Lion was supposed to keep watch on her. He glared angrily up at the sleeping lion, hate surging within his very being. It was the lion's fault that he can't make hot pockets anymore!
"Lion! Come down here." he whistled to him, the massive pink beast jumping down from the bed. He yawned tiredly, stretching his massive paws at his believed owner. "Bad Lion!" Using his transfiguration powers, he transformed Lion into a pink Lion Licker popsicle. Before Lion even knew it, he had become the very treat he used to cherish. Stephen approached the popsicle, taking a small lick of it. The taste was still as atrocious as other Lion Lickers, causing him to gag and chuck the frozen treat outside onto the beach. Such garbage wouldn't be consumed by him.
"No, no, not Lion!" This was all too much for Steven to handle. Bullying his friends was one thing, but outright murdering Lion? That was evil, even for Stephen. It seemed Steven would never see his best friend again; never to snuggle beside him in his soft pink fur, listening to his deep snores. Never again to see what new surprises Lion always seemed to have in store for him. Everything he loved about his lion: his magical mane, pink fur, his little heart-shaped nose... all of it was lost forever. The frozen boy mourned in silence for the loss of his friend, cursing the evil that was his brother.
The gems gasped, horrified to see one of the last living memories of Rose Quartz be destroyed. Not only that, everything inside of Lion's mane was gone too; even Rose's sword and scabbard had been destroyed as well.
Realizing this, Pearl screamed in grief, rushing outside to the Lion Licker in hopes of retrieving Rose's sword; she could care less about the lion. Unfortunately for Lion, the sun was scalding hot that day, being over 100 degrees. The sand was burning hot, and the popsicle only took moments to melt. Pearl ran outside to the now destroyed popsicle, discovering that only the stick of it remained. The stick was actually Rose's sword now miniaturized. Pearl picked it up, tears in her eyes. This was the only thing she had left from Rose Quartz, and now, it was basically destroyed. Taking it to her room, she tried to hide her obvious tears from the other shocked gems.
"Dude, what the heck was that?" Amethyst gestured to where he threw the remnants of Lion. Before Stephen could lash out in rage to Amethyst, Garnet spoke:
"Steven, that was unacceptable! Your actions today have been horrific, to say the least." Stephen rolled his eyes, thinking she was just being overdramatic. "You need to be punished. You will be grounded for eleven minutes." She placed her hands on her hips to show that she was serious. Upon realizing that his actions actually had consequences, Stephen's blood began to boil. "What?" he retorted, assuming she was pulling a prank on him. "You heard me."
After being sassed, Stephen could no longer control himself Air quickly filled his lungs as much as they possibly could within his ribcage. He neck craned back, mouth agape as wide as a grapefruit. Letting out an unearthly sonic scream, the air was expelled rapidly from his body. It was so loud that all of the lights in Beach City went out and every window within a five mile radius was shattered, causing a disturbance among its residents. Any human within a few meters' distance of the sound's source would be destroyed.
Such is the fate of the poor mailman, who was only trying to deliver Steven's mail for the day. Jamie was innocently trying to deliver more Sea Pals to Steven's address, unaware of his gruesome fate. Upon reaching the door, the scream was starting. Before he knew it, his head spontaneously exploded, causing a graphic splash of mush and organs all over the front porch. The sound was too much for the mailman's pathetic human ears.
The gems looked out at the sight of what used to be Jamie. "Ew, I'm not going near that." Amethyst gagged, "Hey, Pearl! Get out here and clean this up!" She pointed to the red slime outside of the front door. Quietly, Pearl came out of the room, her eyes puffy from her previous crying. She grabbed a broom and walked outside, sniffling slightly as she cleaned up Jamie's remains.
Amid all of the disturbance, the phone began to ring. Stephen, trying to act casual after what just happened, walked over and picked it up. It was Mayor Dewey asking about the cause of the broken glass and destroyed lights. He wanted to know if the gems had a way of fixing things. Stephen, taking it upon himself to kindly explain to the mayor what happened, repeated his scream into the phone. A soft splat could be heard on the other end, the line promptly dropping silent.
"STEVEN!" Garnet had clearly had enough of this. "How many times have I told you? This is enough!" She growled at him, showing actual anger for once. Amethyst whistled, knowing Stephen was about to get creamed. Garnet stooped over the child, grabbing him more violently than she had before and raising him up to meet her face. "You. Are going. To bed." She launched Stephen into his bed on the second floor, him landing without ever moving. He fell asleep immediately, being exhausted from using his powers all day. Shortly after, Pearl came back inside, having finished cleaning up the mess.
"Aw man, what's up with Steven today?" Amethyst groaned, sitting on the kitchen counter. "I was gonna see if he wanted to watch Little Butler with me, but uh, the TV's kinda... gone. And judging by today, I'm scared he'd like erase the atmosphere or something if he found out." She looked up to the second floor where Stephen lay in a dead sleep, some of the TV's remnants still by his bedside. Everyone already knew where the TV had disappeared to, turning to face Peridot and the junk she'd scattered on the floor. "Wait, is that what this was?" she spoke breathlessly, pointing to the junk and then to where the TV used to be, her hand wavering slightly. The thought of Steven attacking her again for her accidental gaslighting was terrifying.
"Uh, don't worry," Pearl chimed in, not wanting Stephen to cause any more issues for the night, "I'll just... go get a new one. And a new microwave as well!" A faulty smile was plastered on her face as she tried to reassure herself that things would be okay. Sweat poured down her face. Pearl walked out the front door again hurriedly, hoping to return before Stephen would wake.
Despite being frozen solid, Steven wanted to burst into tears. Nononono, this has all gone way too far! Three of his friends and his beloved Lion were all gone, all murdered by the horrendous monster that was Stephen. Steven knew his brother had always suffered from anger issues, but he never thought it would get this bad.
Most of all, Steven felt hurt. Even after all that, the gems still don't seem to understand. Did they even really know him that well, to not suspect this as unusual behavior? Did they even care about him before? Although hope for poor Steven was dimming, he still kept faith to his friends that they wouldn't let him down. Everything would be okay soon enough.