Cruise Control

The Zone- The weeknd

Shadow started to blush from all the attention. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were on him like the last twinkie on earth. They really didn't believe what he said till they went to the temple to see the newly bubbled ruby. Now for five minutes they just stared at him.

He grew tired of this silent examination. "Okay weirdos. You're staring at me like the next best thing since sliced bread."

Pearl leaned in closer to him. The stars in her eyes were more apparent than ever. "I fail to see why that is the next-best-thing compared to you! Shadow do you realize what this means?"

"Means I need to seriously start thinking of a superhero name." He glared his eyes at Amethyst. "No, and it's not going to be Shackster."

You could feel the sadness ebb from Amethysts face..

"I don't understand. Steven is a hybrid, so why am I the weird one?"

Garnet uncrossed her arms. "Shadow you're the first human to not have been conceived by a gem. We know your powers came from Jasper when she saved your life at Rose's fountain. If you are a gem then you should show some sort of physical signs, like a gem perhaps."

Shadow laughed at her. "You mean shooting lightning from my hands wasn't a big enough clue." He gave her a shit eating grin that pissed the ruby inside of her off. She knew he was right though.

"I've been able to do some crazy things since I was saved. Rapid healing, increased durability, I can even do a handstand longer than thirty seconds now."

Amethyst nodded her head in agreement. "True true. I seen you try once before; you destroyed Pearls plant vase."

Pearl turned to Shadow. "That was you?!"

Shadow tisked with his tongue with a wave of us index finger. "Please please Pearl. I believe we were talking about me being awesome."

"Shadow I don't think you realize it yet. You're one of us. A gem." Garnet couldn't say it without a smile.

Shadow on the other hand was the opposite. "No I'm human-"

"Also a gem!" Amethyst chimed in.

He gave her a angry glare. "Yes… a gem. Look I mean no offense but as far as I can tell being a gem isn't always the shiznit."

Now it was Garnets turn to tisk. "Shadow what you fail to realize is that you're already apart of our world. For almost two years now. From the moment Jasper saved you to the moment she abandoned you, you are apart of something bigger than just a human."

This was beginning to become a headache. Shadow knew that know matter how many times he denied it that she was right, he was in this till he died.

The gems knew he was done fighting when he crossed his arms with a humph.

Pearl managed to slip her hands in his. He looked to her, a warm smile on her face that eased the raging ocean of emotions within himself.

"Shadow we've done this before with Steven. We guided him throughout his entire life. We can help you too with this, just like we've been doing. So trust us like we do you."

Shadow couldn't help but blush. Her determination to help him was so crazy. In a good way. Shadow wouldn't have asked for anyone else's help though. Shadow wanted to give her a kiss on the cheek, a way to say thank you, but it seemed inappropriate considering their other company.

"Thank you." Was all he said.

A few hours later ad everything seemed to go back to normal. The events of yesterday just gone cause it was in the past. Everything felt like it was on cruise control though. Maybe it was just him. Dwelling on things as he's always done.

Shadow leaned back in his chair outside. His feet kicked up, the sun in the air warming his body and the salty sweet smell of the ocean lulled him into a nervana nap. The problems of yesterday disappeared with the leaves that fell from a tree when he took a deep breath. In his ear his ear buds brought something to his ears. The traditional three stringed instrument from Japan, the shamisen.

Two claps echoed in his ears. When he opened his eyes to see what it was he was no longer in Beach city. Shadow laid on a field of burning red wheat. The shamisen began to pick up rapidly, exploding sounds filled the smoked filled air. Above him the sky turned red from the damage this war had brought to it. Shadow rose to his feet. No longer was he dressed in simple jeans and a long shirt. Shadow wore mighty samurai armor from head to toe. The menpo he wore on his face resembled the teeth of some demon to strike fear in his enemies hearts, or maybe it was to symbolize his own inner beast. In the distance a castle burned behind the setting sun. MIllions of arrows rained down on it snuffing the lives of his allies. The strings from the shamisen exploded in a flurry through the air commencing the fight. Hidden in the fields rose two gem warriors. Both dressed in blood red armor. Another two claps and it was on. Shadows grip tightened around the handle of his katana. In his stomach he knew this could be the end of his life yet he was not afraid. If this was to be his final fight he would gladly go down in a blaze of glory. This field would be his final resting place. Raising his sword he was strong in his convictions.

"Look P the weirdo is sleeping in public."

Shadow opened his eyes. Amethyst and Pearl were walking towards him. Amethyst had her hands behind her head and Pearl giving her a stern looking about her comment.

As they approached Shadow gave Amethyst a fist bump, with a slight grin he nodded to Pearl. "What are you to lovely ladies doing this fine afternoon?"

"Just doing about to head over to Greg's car wash. He offered us his vehicle for a party a couple towns over." Amethyst replied.

Now Shadow was really interested, he looked to Pearl amused at the thought of her partying. "Pearl you? For some reason I'm finding it really hard to think of you getting down."

The poor gems cheeks went blue in embarrassment. "O-oh well you know. There's a first for everything." The gem put in her hands together with a smile. "Why don't' you join us Shadow? Unless you have something better to do."

Shadow tried quickly to think of something the pressure from the sudden question. "Ummm I gotta do some laundry sooooo?"

"No you don't you're lying." Amethyst called him on his bluff.

Now it was Shadows turn to be flustered. "W-what? I will not stand here and take these accusations. I am a busy man."

Amethyst crossed her arms over her chest, a dark sidious look took over. "Really? So you don't want to see Pearl and me all dressed up?"

As much as Shadow tried to resist the thought of it he couldn't. His imagination ran wild with the thought of what they would be wearing to a party. Curse his vile mind.

Just to show he was putting any resistance he groaned in fake aggravation. "Fine fine I'll go."

It was getting late now. Pearl was driving and Amethyst was in the passenger seat rocking out to some rock over the radio. Shadow settled in the backseat. His face against the window watching everything pass by. For some reason he had the need to look up to the stars. His thoughts instantly went to Jasper. He couldn't help it, at this point there was no denying it. He missed her. Times like these when he thought he secretly was a masochist. Still he thought of her. Shadow missed her attempts at cooking or the way she looked when she was asleep. What if she was still here? If she was he thought they would build their own home on the beach. Shadow would have tried to get a job teaching martial arts or a relationship counselor. He would have done anything to be to just see her smile.

His train of thought was disturbed when the car stopped. Shadow looked up. They weren't at a house they were at a field, a crop. Lights in the middle of the crop lit up the sky like an SOS.

"Amethyst I thought you said it was at a house." Pearl gave her a stern look.

Amethyst was halfway out of the car when she turned back around. "Baby I say a lot of things. Now come on! We got a house party awaiting."

Pearl grumbled under her breath. "It's not even a house."

Shadow just chuckled at the gem. He was getting out of the car with Pearl as well. "Hey come on girl it'll be fun. It's only a creepy really creepy field with a bunch of teenagers probably."

Pearl gave him a smile but she didn't say anything.

They walked through the crop. You could tell when they got closer when the rock music grew louder. A few more steps and they broke through to the party. A DJ on a stage worked his magic on the turntables. Everyone was pumped and dancing to their hearts content. You could just feel the electricity in the air with how the people moved. Shadow who didn't want to even come felt it.

Amethyst came from the crowd towards them. A huge smile plastered on her face showed that she was definitely feeling it to. "Hey come on this party is poppin." Amethyst moved closer to Pearl and grabbed her hands. "Someone out their really wants to meet you Pearl. They saw you at the last party and want to meet you."

Now this was shocking. "I don't know Amethyst I'm not really well when it comes to conversation." You could tell she was feeling uncomfortable.

A man came over. He looked like he was in his mid twenties. A grin was on his light skinned face. The man was handsome there was no denying that, even his blond hair was handsome. "Hi nice to meet you all." His light hearted voice calmed Pearls nerves.

Shadow on the other hand was not so convinced. Shadow didn't say anything in return one thing his mother loathed. If she could see him now she would kick his butt sideways.

"My name is Chad. What's yours?"

Pearl held her hand out to shake his. "My name is Pearl. It's nice to meet you too."

Shadow didn't do much. He didn't really care for him. In fact he was going to say something when Amethyst started yanking on his arm.

"Come on Shadow let's leave these two alone." Amethyst gave him a wink that he did not return.

Shadow tried to fight her but the gem was a lot stronger than he thought. "Amethyst come on I don't think Pearl wants to be left alone with him."

Pearl looked to him with confusion. "Why not Shadow? He just wants to talk, there's nothing wrong with that."

Now things were getting awkward. Even the man was looking at im like he was hurt.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut in between your date-"

Pearl cut him off abruptly. "We are not dating."

"Come on Pearl do you really-"

Now it was Pearls turn to cut him off. "No Shadow there is nothing wrong. This man was nice enough to speak with me so I will give him the courtesy to return a healthy conversion."

Shadow wanted to say something else. He fought the urge to and just turned around to walk away. Before he did he grabbed Amethyst by her wrist. "Let's get drunk Amethyst."

Before the gem could retaliate he practically dragged her off her feet into the crowd.

At a table to the right of the DJ was a table covered with drinks. Shadow wasn't much of a drinker so he really didn't know what to grab. Amethyst on the other hand went straight for a red bottle with some fire spitting monster on it. The gem didn't even bother to grab one of those red plastic cups that were only ever used for liquor or if you were poor. She just popped the top and went to town.

Shadow watched in horror as she downed its contents faster than a priest daughter. Amethyst was a bad bad girl. When she was done with the bottle you could practically see the fire in her eyes.

Slowly Shadow stepped back. "Hey girly… you're not about to attack me are you?'

"Relax Shackster it takes more than that to get me drunk."

Now this was something new.

Shadow crossed his arms with a slight grin. "You know I didn't think gems were able to get drunk. Kind of doesn't make sense considering your regeneration."

Amethyst grabbed another bottle from the table. "Well it normally takes a lot of alcohol to feel anything."

"How can you tell when you are?"

The gem didn't even say anything. Her raised eyebrow and grin was all he needed for an answer. The gem was already half way through the bottle by the time he blinked.

"You're friend really knows how to put it down."

Shadow turned to see a woman standing next to him. He was surprised to see a beautiful, the ideal woman to him. Beautiful red hair, a chest bigger than his wallet and a body thicker than a snicker. Shadow was caught when he saw the red hair.

He tried to laugh off his nervousness. "Haha uhhh yeah she's an expert I guess. Don't really know since I don't drink."

The woman looked at him sideways. "You a virgin or something?"

Shadow turned his body completely towards her. Something inside of him could feel the challenge. She was playing with him like he was some nerdy kid who didn't know what a pussy was. "Maybe when it comes to drinking. My lower parts however are my own business."

The woman walked closer to him. Her hungry gaze looked him up and down, body moving closer to him. Shadow thought she was about to kiss him. Instead she slipped something into his hands then moved close to his ears. "Well if you want to get more acquainted then take my hand." She outstretched her hand to him.

"You not going to kill me in amongst the corn are you?"

Now she laughed. The way she bit her lip smiling added on to her sexyness. Without even bothering to answer she grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into the crowed. Right off the bat she started to dance to the crazy beats the DJ was whipping up. Swaying her hips back and forth, brushing up against him and dropping low to the ground like a bomb. Shadow on the other hand wasn't really a dancer. Not wanting to be weird he just shook his upper body back and forth, did some weird shaking with his hands and bobbed his head.

The woman caught his weird dance moves. "Jeez for someone that looks as good as you you're a lousy dancer."

Shadow chuckled mildly. "Hey I can dance… or at least shake what my momma gave me but hey I'm trying."

"Well try this."

She grabbed his hands and pulled him closer to her so that he brushed up against her backside. He was so close he could smell the sweat on her neck. He could feel her body moving against him like they were becoming one. This was all so exhilarating he didn't even noticed Amethyst. The gem was in the crowd too. Dancing with other females with a bottle of something in her hand. You could tell she was drunk because the way she fell on her face and started to dance or snake or something.

"Fuckkkkk." Shadow screamed in his head.

She even noticed it too. "Umm I think you're friend needs some help."

Shadow pulled away from her worse than a bandaid. "Hey I'm sorry but I need to get my child."

"No it's fine go get her."

Shadow could only smile as he made his way away from her. As much as he didn't want to his friend needed him. Shadow turned around to ask another question first.

"What is your name?"

It was too late she was already gone much to his disappointment. No use in dwelling on it now cause he needed to save his friend from herself.

Halfway to the car Shadow couldn't help but laugh at Amethyst. Every three seconds the gem would hang wait to give up walking. The crazy gem wanted to continue dancing and drinking. She was only doing one of those things.

It was a struggle to open the door with only one arm. The other one was being used to hold her arm over his head.

"You kn-ow wha? I'm glad you hebe toad nih." Amethyst broken english did little to help him.

Finally after he got it opened he set her in the car. "Yeah I'm glad to be here too bud."

Amethyst turned to him, she was obviously half asleep because a snore started to escape her mouth. Then with what little consciousness she spoke.

"Where is… Pearl?"

It was at that moment Shadow knew he had adopted two children.

Shadow fit the rest of Amethyst into the car and slammed the door. Pointing at her through the window he yelled. "Stay in the Car! Don't you move a muscle."

Amethyst in childish retaliation started to flail around in the car as if she was being electrocuted. If he could he would have grounded her.

Shadow walked around looking for his friend in the crowd. Even with all these people he should have been able to find her she a pale girl with a damn rock on her forehead. To the right of him something rustled in the field. Shadow then realized the parted plants. His heart took a sudden dive. No way she was in their.

"Motherfucker" Shadow cursed in his head. Just the thought of her with that guy made him mad. Pearl wasn't like that though she wouldn't just be with another human, right? Then he remembered their night a week ago. What he had told her and the intimacy they shared. Even if he did tell her how he really felt he could not stop a nasty burning feeling in his chest. A feeling of jealousy. Shadow wanted to walk away. To leave her to her own and just forget it. By the time he worked up the balls to do just that he was already walking through the creepy fields to find her.

Another few feet and he could hear crunching from someone else's footsteps. A man's cursed followed by a groan.

Shadow didn't even bother to be stealthy at this point he bursted through an opening.

That guy chad turned around to look at him. His eyes wide open like a criminal that just got caught, and in his arms was her limp body.

Shadow didn't even say anything. Everything around him was drowned out including Chad's angry yelling. Shadow pushed his face out of the way and at the same time grabbed his friend. He set the gem on the ground to inspect her. Her breath smelled of alcohol she was obviously drunk or something worse.

"Pearl? Pearl can you hear me?" Shadow slapped her face slightly to get a response.

When he tried again Pearl moved grabbed his hand tightly. Her eyes opened in shock then started to dart back and forth rapidly. "Shadow he slipped- I can't move." Pearl started to cry and shake in his arms. "Please help me."

In that moment another feeling filled his entire being.

Shadow moved closer to Pearls ear. In a gentle whisper he whispered in her ear. "Close your eyes baby girl. I'll fix this." Shadow took his coat off to rest her head on it. "I'll fix this." He reassured her one more time.

Shadow looked up to look at the man who was about to hurt her. Chad knew what was about to happen and decided to strike first. Just before Shadow could even get to his knees Chad had a rock in hand. Shadow had no time to restep act the rock smashed against the side of his head making him sprawl on the ground. Chad was already on top of him before he could move. With his fists he smashed beat him like a step child.

With each blow he could feel his powers dance in his fingers. Electricity pulsated more and more with every hit. The blows stopped coming and he wrapped his hands around Shadow's throat.

"I was going to rape her! I was going to do it right in these woods till you came along! But you know what?" Chad pressed down harder on his throat. "Once I kill you there's nothing stopping me."

That was the climax of the assault upon Shadow. Everything just went red. Their was Chad choking him, the star lit sky behind him, then his world turned red. He didn't know how long it had been or how he had gotten back to beach city. His eyes were open to the darkness around him. The silhouettes of arcades and a roller coaster in the distance. An empty space in his mind indicated that something was wrong. On his hands something was wet, warm and metallic smelling. With his right hand Shadow snapped his finger. A spark of electricity lit up his surrounding momentarily. It was blood on his hands and shirt that was so wet. Then the memory of what happened hit him.

Tears started to roll down his cheeks. His hands went to his face as if they would block the memory if he covered his eyes. Now the blood was on his face and it drove him even more crazy. Shadow didn't know how long he just sat there clutching his knees to his chest. Time had went on and on. He was so out of it he even thought he heard Connie and Steven.

Another hour passed in the night. A flutter like the beatings of wings filled the air. Heavy footsteps mixed in with the sound. Shadow didn't care for it he stayed laying down. Then when the sounds grew closer and suddenly stopped he looked up. A tall woman and little girl stood in front of him. Something seemed familiar about them. Shadow didn't immediately realize it at first, the tall orange one had an orange visor over her face, the little one a teardrop like the one on Lapis's back under her left eye.

The little one moved closer to him. Four simple words that made a question was what she spoke to him in her accented voice. The last words before once again his life was thrown into dismay.

"Are you my dad?"

Author's notes:

Yo its November people, the month of the Scorpio and the best time to get my writing electrolytes flowing. I'm back from my home ready to type and continue this amazing story. I do apologize for the long wait though I've been meaning to finish this one up for a while now. Alas I did and am leaving our hero to yet another new chapter in his life. Please stay tuned for more chapters to come.

A little change will be happening though due to another story I will be typing and posting tomorrow. Since I really don't know what to categorize it under It will be under SAO since it has some similar concepts. Please if you like my work go ahead and check it out. I will be posting to chapters to get the ball moving with that story. As always thank you everyone for reading this story. I love seeing the reviews I get from readers, the most recent one from Linusatari asking when the next chapter was coming out that made me laugh. Since I'll be bouncing back and forth between this and my other story I'll be a little bit busier so will see. For the reader who tried to send a picture or image to the review I don't know if it worked because I am not seeing anything. If you have an account and want to PM me I would like to see what you made. With that I hope everyone has a goodnight, stay classy.

Shadow...