I've kinda been raking my head around a bit at how Jenny gave me her number. I've never been a social guy so the idea of a girl giving me her number is… well, weird to me. I don't know if she actually… expected me to be a suave guy to call her up and go out on a date, which actually freaks me out quite a bit, or just a friends to hang out.

I'm gonna go with the friend part because of things do happen, they grow from being friends. If I come out as wanting a date, that could screw things up.

Don't judge me, I'm a very paranoid person and I look at 'all' the possibilities of a situation. I tend to over think things but I prefer to be prepared than not at all.

"And he's done it!" Steven yells as he twirls himself around on his seat. "He's eaten five cans of creamed corn!"

"Herr." I say with mouthful of creamed corn.

"We have eaten four cans of creamed corn." He corrects himself.

I swallow my bite. "Thank you." However despite my tension with the number and all, I was still somehow roped into eating creamed corn for some reason.

The warp pad whirls to life and to Steven's elation the Crystal Gems walk out of it.

"Good afternoon, Steven. Marcus." Pearl greets us, giving a nod in my direction as well

"Guys, check this out!" Steven grabs the four empty corn cans to show to the gems.

"Stoo-man in the house! Whatcha got? Whatcha got?" Amethyst does this weird… cool guy type of speaking.

"I got four empty cans of Colonel Kernel's Classic Creamed Corn and an empty 5th one on the way!" he points to me. Immediately feeling nervous at having a spoonful of corn in my mouth, I give a small wave and turn away from them.

"Cool." Garnet in her ever neutral tone replies.

"Yeah, and on the back are five dollar coupons for mini-golf. We ate five cans, so we all can go together." Steven says.

"Wait, that's what we were doing?" I ask out load. Turning the can in my hand around, I see the $5 off coupon right there. 'Why didn't I ask him? Why didn't I question him? Oh right, its Steven and he has done no wrong to me.'

"That's so thoughtful, Steven. Unfortunately though, uhh..." Pearl begins to say but then turns a bit nervously as she looks to Amethyst.

"We gotta go on a mission..." Amethyst says with a shrug.

"Right now? But you just got back?" I ask.

"Not again!" Steven cries out as he drops his cans. "But you guys promised we'd hang out!"

"A dangerous artifact has appeared in the Northern Hemisphere, we need to go retrieve it." Garnet informs us as she walks back to the warp pad.

"But mini-golf is so much fun! There's castles, and windmills, and I like it, and- oh look, look what I brought!" Steven cuts himself off and heads over the table and picks up something next to the golf clubs he brought. '… You know, that should have been my first indicator as to what Steven wanted to do.' At first when he brought that over, I thought it was a massive blanket. Now, it's a massive pair of golf pants.

"I pulled out my dad's old clubs and also found a pair of his old golf pants." I shrug of his explanation and take another bite of corn. "They're a little big on me, but you can wear them, Garnet!"

"Grk!" I almost burst out laughing at the fat comment Steven just inadvertently called Garnet but the corn in my mouth gets lodge in my throat. I drop the spoon and can and grab my throat as the choking begins.

"Marcus!" Pearl exclaims loudly and moves over to me as I fall out of my chair. My vision begins to go blurry as the pieces of corn go down the wrong tube in my throat as Pearl grabs me from behind. In my panic, I wonder what she's doing but the sudden squeeze of my body means she's performing the Heimlich maneuver. She does it a couple times before a large chunk of corn flies out my mouth and lands in the sink. I breathe deeply for a few seconds, trying to get my bearings from the near death experience I probably could have had. Suddenly I grab Pearl by the shoulders and look into her eyes.

"Oh my god Pearl! Thank you! I thought I was a goner. My whole life flashed before my eyes!" I frantically exclaim. I look to the side, "It sucked."

Steven and Amethyst lightly chuckle, Garnet remains where she stands and Pearl checks me for anything that looks like I might be hurt. "You alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good." I reassure her. I stand up and walk over to the sink. Filling a glass of water, and letting it run a little so the corn will go down the drain, I take a large swig of water to ease myself. "Ah! Anyway, now that that's over, you guys get going. I think I'm gonna chill here for a bit. Maybe continue to check my guns." I haven't fully gone through my check up of my arsenal of weaponry yet. I have to get on that in case I do need something for an important mission.

"You sure you're okay?" Pearl asks again slightly worried.

"Yes Pearl. I'm fine. Thanks for saving me but you still need to go and save others." I wave to the warp pad where Amethyst and Garnet await.

"Alright then." She says and walks to her companions.

"See ya, you two!" Amethyst bids us farewell.

"We'll bring you something back, Steven!" Pearl calls out before they disappear.

"Whelp, I don't know about you Steven, but I'm done with corn and golf. I'm gonna check my Double barrel for dirt." I calmly say and go to grab the case for my weapon.

With a heavy sigh Steven falls back, most likely disappointed that none of his friends are going to play with him. "Well, you're not the only ones with a dangerous adventure to tackle." I faintly hear Steven say before I get started in dismantling my weapons.


Soon, yesterday came and gone and I can't help but take note that the gems aren't back yet as I stretch myself off the couch. 'Seriously. There not back yet. Hope the mission is going well.'

"I can't lose! I am the greatest golfer in the Universssse!" At the very loud and enthusiastic voice, I look to the top to see Steven playing his game as he makes explosion sounds and laughing. "Alright! Secret ending!"

"Hey Steven." I say cooly. He looks to me and my eyes widen to see heavy bags forming under his eyes. "Dude, did you play all night to morning?" I ask him.

"It's morning?" he asks genuinely confused and looks out his window. I smile and shake my head, fondly remembering how I was just like that.

"Yes it is. Now I'm going to get changed and continue cleaning my stuff." I say and head to the restroom.

"Okay." I hear him reply while still looking back to his game.

A short while later, I emerge from the restroom fit, ready to work and I proceed to work on my AK47 this time. I got the classic styled AK for my arsenal. The classic one with the wood handles and such. The one I have also comes with a 75 round drum magazine, which I need to check as well to make sure the feed system isn't clogged. I just place my gun and tools on the counter when the warp pad activates.

"Hey, Steven! Marcus! We're baaaack!" I look up to see the gems are back with Pearl announcing their presence.

"Hey." Steven nonchalantly calls from his game place.

"Welcome back. I assume everything went well?" I ask.

"It did." Garnet says as she hefts a massive brown and gold colored object.

"What's that?"

"The wailing stone!" Amethyst says happily and runs up to where is still playing his game. "HEY STEVEN. Wanna hear about where we've been?" she asks him really closely.

'They'll tell me later.' I think and look at my AK from all sides to see if there's anything obvious from the outside.

"So what's this one?" I turn to Pearl who takes a seat next to me to see my weapon as well. I haven't shown all of my weapons to the gems so occasionally when I pull out something new, Pearl, and sometimes the others, are interested to hear it.

"This…" I say as I stand my gun up on the butt, "Is the Kalashnikov. Also known as Kalash in Russian slang terms, but most of all and the most widely known as the AK-47. A selective-fire, gas-operated assault rifle originally made in the Soviet Union in 1949 by a Russian man named Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov." I rack the bolt back, sending the round it had chambered flying out towards my audience, which I quickly catch before it hits her and show the round to her. "Unlike most of my firearms, this weapon is chambered with a slightly bigger round than the 5.56 by 45mm NATO rounds I use in most of my long arm weapons. This round is a 7.62 by 39mm round, made in 1944 and still used to this day, and it ensures that this weapon deals massive damage despite being widely known as a cheap cost-effective weapon." I place the round down and hold the gun out so she can examine it more. "This weapon is what most people would typically associate it with terrorist factions across the world because of its cheap cost to make and how it's famous for being a very reliable weapon to this day. You could use this thing in the harshest of conditions and still be able to use it to an effective degree. Rain, sleet, snow, mud, desert, this thing is so good it can go through nearly any type of environment and hazard you could think of and still work. There have even been cases where versions of this gun that was originally made in the 1950's that could still be used to this day. It is a very reliable, very powerful, modifiable and beautiful gun to have in ones arsenal." I finish my long explanation of the weapon and place it down on the table.

Pearl stares at me for a long while at how much information I just dropped on her. "Uhhhh…?"

"I used to know a guy who was a massive fanatic with guns. His personal favorite was the AK." I calmly explain to her with a straight face.

"Riiiiight." She says a little uneasily, more than likely not expecting such a long and extensive explanation about this gun right off the bat.

"Yep." I say and continue to look at it for wear. "Right now I'm checking it for any debris to make sure that it works in tip top shape the next time I use it. Even though it has the reputation for being a very reliable gun, I don't want to take any chances in this thing jamming even for a second when I need it most." I explain to her. 'So far I've checked the majority of the weapon, nothing along the barrel looks broke or cracked, the bolt receiver looks good, the gas system doesn't look to have any holes…'

"What about there?"

I look to where Pearl points at to see just a small clump of dust forming where the trigger meets the receiver. "Oh god. Thanks." I thank her and grab a screwdriver to scrap the stuff off.

"Your welcome." She says with a smile.

"Now I carefully just…" I trail off as I carefully bring screwdriver close to the offending piece of debris.

*RREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*

*BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!*

You know when you work on dangerous equipment; you make sure it doesn't go off when you're working on it. Naturally, either I got too comfortable with how peaceful things tend to be when inside the house, or I'm getting rusty, but I should have set the safety, disassembled the gun, or for god's sake TAKE OUT THE FUCKING AMMO… but I didn't and whatever infernal device was making that awful noise, I jerked and my screwdriver got lodged into the triggers hole, setting it to fire… on automatic… with a 75-round drum magazine.

The weapon flies off the table from the force of the first shot and the following shots after because without a body to hold the weapon, it fly's to the floor but continues to shoot. Immediately diving off my stool, I land on the gun and proceed to wrestle with it to get it under control. I manage to get a hold of the weapon but the screwdriver handle broke off, keeping the metal part lodged against the trigger and forcing it to keep firing, preventing me from pulling it out.

When you fire a weapon on full auto, unless you have a really good grip on it, you're strong, the control is manageable, and you really know what you're doing, then you can keep the trigger held to really make use of full auto. Unfortunately, in the panic you're in like me right now, and that I'm still trying to get my physique up, I don't have control. I hold the weapon as hard as I can against me to control this beast but it's completely all over the place. Fortunately I have the decency and sense to keep it aimed at the ceiling to absolutely avoid the others from getting hit. After I'm pretty sure 40-rounds are gone, I force my hand against the bolt carrier to force the weapon to stop firing. It works but I strain to hold the weapon firm and prevent the thing from tearing off my hand to continue firing. Quickly looking around for something to work, I hit the mag release and tear off the magazine with my foot. Without its supply of ammo, I let go.

*BANG*

Unfortunately, I forgot a round was still chambered in it. With the loud noises gone, I lay on the ground exhausted from the exertion of preventing my rogue gun from killing anyone. After a quick look around, I see no one has gotten hit and Pearl is standing next to the Wailing Stone. If I had to guess that was what caused the screeching noise that startled the hell out of me. "Everyone okay?" I ask from my position on the ground.

"I'm fine." Garnet reassures me.

"I'm good here." Amethyst says.

"So am I." Pearl says as well, although she's giving a slight glare in Amethysts direction. 'Looks like I know who activated that thing.' My train of thought starts to turn really worrisome when I don't hear a fourth voice acknowledge he's alright.

"Steven?" I throw my gun to the side and move over to him. "You alright?" To my assurance, he looks fine, just frozen in place staring at his TV… with a hole in the center of the screen. "Oh."

"THAT WAS THE SECRET ENDING!" He yells and flops onto his back against his chair. "Now I have to replay the final dungeon all over again! It's not fair! I can't go mini-golfing, I can't play my game, I can't stop going into the bathroom because I ate all that Creamed Corn, so much Corn..." He rants. His mention of the corn made me wince a little. He ate the majority of the corn in the cans and all so I can only imagine just how much that corn messed him up. I was probably either really engrossed in tinkering with my weapons or asleep when Steven went to the restrooms because I don't remember seeing him go. "*sigh* I just wish I had a place for myself." I start to feel bad that I basically destroyed his TV and ruined his chance at seeing that secret ending. I can understand with him when it comes to playing games and finding secret cut scenes that you can only see if you do something specific, most often it's a time consuming specific thing. My attention however is diverted to Steven's gem as it starts glowing. "Huh? My gem!" He exclaims in surprise as he lifts his shirt to reveal it to us.

Pearl and Amethyst start to move towards Steven while Garnet and I look up from the level below. A whirring noise behind us shifts our attention to the temple door, where the gem symbol for Steven's mother, Rose, starts glowing.

"Rose's door. Steven, your gem is opening your mother's room...!" Pearl trails off as the door to the temple begins to open.

"Woah... !" Steven says in awe and proceed to walk to the door.

"Steven, wait!"

"Steven, wait!"

"Steven, don't go in there!" The gems all warn Steven about going into the room while I remain indifferent. I'm not sure what this situation means and all but I tense myself, widening my stance a little so I can be ready to help if something suddenly requires my intervention.

"It's never about what I wanna do, is it?" Steven yells to the gems as he turns to them. "Well now we have a place where I'm going and YOU CAN'T COME!" He finishes and runs to the door.

"STEVEN!" All three of them call out to him.

"Wait!" I yell and sprint after him to the door.

"YES!" I hear him yell just as the door closes and I slam into it. I quickly search the door for any means for me to open it, hell even a crack so I can wedge the door open with my knife, but there's nothing.

"Damnit!" I curse and slam both my hands onto the door now that it returned to normal. "How do we open?" I ask the gems.

"We can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" I turn back to Garnet for explanation.

"The temple is comprised of several separate rooms, each one only allowing access to a specific gem. We all have our own rooms that will only open if we want them to. Rose has one to but since Steven inherited her gem…" Garnet's explanation trails off but by this point I get what she means.

With a heavy sigh, I place my hands back on the door. "Just one problem after another." I grumble.

A bright light begins to shine on my face. I look up to hopefully see if Rose's symbol is glowing but to my disappointment, is not. To my surprise, an entirely new symbol appears right in the middle of all the other gem symbols.

A green gem symbol.

Looking to my shoulder, my heart starts to beat a bit more rapidly as I find the symbol is an exact match to mine. I also find that the symbol is getting brighter and brighter on the door and I can't move my hands.

"Uhhhh, guys?" I call out uneasily to them, not sure what's going on myself. Through my peripheral, they are just as surprised as I am. The glowing starts to encompass my arms and work up to my shoulders. Before I can call out for help, the entire door explodes into a clear white light, blinding me before I'm suddenly sucked it. "Whoa!"

"MARCUS!" I hear three voices call out to me before I lose consciousness.


"GAH!" I yelp as I wake up. I quickly take out one of my Beretta's and do an immediate scan of my surrounding. I find nothing around me.

Absolutely nothing.

The entire area is completely covered in pure whiteness from the ground, the distance to the ceiling. I start to feel a little woozy at seeing the complete sea of white blanket my entire vision before I bring my hands close to my face, bringing in more color to field of view. Attentively, I take a few steps to make sure everything seems stable and it does. I have to constantly reassure myself though that I'm not gonna fall because that's what it feels like to me. 'Feels like I'm walking on clouds.'

"Hello?" I call out. To my dismay, I get a fairly big echo in return. "Guys?" I call out; just hoping the others can somehow hear me. Unfortunately I'm still met with echoing silence as I remember what Garnet said.

"The temple is comprised of several separate rooms, each one only allowing access to a specific gem."

"Fuck. Then that means I somehow activated this room." I scratch my head as I begin to think of ways on how to get out. "Alright alright, if I somehow got in, then maybe I can-"

"Marcus."

I immediately train my gun on the person's voice. My sights fall onto a woman.

A green… gem woman.

My gun falls to my side as I take in the woman's features. Off the bat, she has a beautiful but fierce looking face. She has green eyes, long dark green hair that go down to the base of her spine, a sleeveless viridian colored tunic similar to pearls but without a sash, has a cross of swords overlapping a shield logo that's colored a darker shade of green than her shirt, tight forest green pants that go down past her knees, deep dark green combat boots, a very light green skin complexion, a few inches taller than me and her physique puts mine to shame. The tight pants and sleeveless clothing outline her slightly muscled structured. Not body-builder type but enough to make me not want to get into any fights with her at first glance.

I have sneaking suspicion who this is but-

"My son." She calmly says.

My breath catches in my throat as I take in the ramifications of what I'm seeing. Who I'm meeting. If the gems on her shoulders were one thing, what she said sealed it.

"M-mm-mom?" I ask, my voice breaking a little as my gun clatters to the floor.

"Marcus," she says again, this time a little more sadly. "My son. Oh how I wish I could see you now." My face takes the look of one of confusion at her words. "I imagine you're confused as to what I mean. As much as I would have loved to meet you, that… wasn't possible. So… I decided to make this, a recording basically I left with Rose and the temple so you could get some direct answers should you need them." My spirits drain a bit as I am not talking to actually my mother, but just a recording. "I had this set up so that the second you touch the temple's doors, you would be forced into the room so I could speak to you. Sorry about the… knocking out thing but I couldn't turn that off. Sorry. Hehehe." She lightly chuckles. I can't help but smiles as well at the light heartedness she's trying to bring to the situation. 'Even when you're gone, you make me smile… like mother should.'

"In any case, there are some things I didn't… talk about with your father." I wince at the mention of him but continue to listen. "About what I did in the Gem war basically. I told him what I was, who I am and showed him some of my powers but I never really showed him, everything." She throws her hands out to the side and the entire white landscape shifts into multiple images and scenarios, more than I can possibly count or barely comprehend. "But here… I can show you." She drops her arms and everything stops in some sort of darkened hallway. "I was a… special operative for Rose Quartz." She says as she walks down the dark hallway where I have to catch up.

"Spec Ops?" I ask out loud. I know she won't answer but the idea that my mom was some secret special operative for the rebel army… damn that's actually pretty cool. I know my dad was military but never found out which branch. "I was well versed in many different means to… cripple our enemies." She pauses to come up with the word. We come upon a large door with a couple of figures guarding it. Their forms were blurry so I could make out exactly what they were but they were massive, twice my mother's height easy.

"No matter the size of my enemies…" she begins to say before the figures look in one direction. Before I or they could see anything, something darts past them, crouched low to the ground. A second later, the figures 'poof' into dust, their gems falling to the ground. The figure stands up and to my surprise, it's my mother, albeit a bit… younger and clutching her my swo- her swords and holding a satchel. She looks left and right before typing in a key code lock on the door. "How secure…" she types in a few more numbers in a language I don't understand before she pumps her fist in victory and the door open. We walk in after her younger self to see some kind of generator like device inside with supports keeping it in place from the walls beside it.

"Or massive my target is…" Young mom gives a smirk before taking off towards the machine, easily running up along it a fair bit before kicking off before she loses momentum and grabs onto a bar. To my udder and complete amazement, and a bit jealousy, she starts to swing herself back and forth before sending herself high into the air with a twirl and hooking the next bar… with her feet?! This doesn't stop her momentum as she continues swinging, twirling, spinning her way up along the generator by the bars with movement I have never seen before. The only people I can hope to compare at the level of acrobatics and gymnastics my mother is implementing are Olympic level athletes. She finally lands on a bar on her two feet and walks like its nothing towards a particularly bright spot on the generator. She crouches down, opens her satchel and takes out a device before planting it on the spot. She presses the button and I hear the unmistakable tell-tale sounds of a countdown timer. I expect her to start swinging her way down but she simply walks off the pole, immediately beginning her descent to the ground at a very uncomfortable speed and height. My breath hitches and the different scenarios begin to play at what happens when she hits the ground. None of them happen however as she lands hard on the ground, crouched on one knee and hand placed to the ground. A small crater cracks the floor she's on and I feel a little worried she broke her legs before she simply stands, brushes her shirt and calmly walks to the door.

"I always complete my objective." My present mother says. Suddenly the door opens and more figures begin to walk in. Young mom rolls into a shadowy corner and stays in it for a few seconds before she disappears before my very eyes. I look around to see if I can find her but I can't. The figures can't find her either, it looks like their more preoccupied with the machine itself. When all of them walk over to the tampered machine, my mother darts out of the shadows against the wall behind them and out the door just as it closes.

"Always." She says again and we are thrust outside into some snowy area. After a quick look around, I find a very tall and big structure nearby. Before I can think of anything else, it explodes in a massive explosion.

I bring my arms up to protect myself from the explosion but I don't feel anything against me. Come to think of it, I don't feel the snow on me either. I look back up to the blown up structure and see if I can find my mom. All I see is fire lapping up the entire place with no sign of anyone. However when I turn to my mom, she's staring at the ground. Following her gaze, I see a noticeable bulge of snow begin to move past us and away from the burning structure. A few seconds later, my young mom bursts out of the snow and shakes herself free of snow. Pulling herself out of it, she gives off a low whistle at her handiwork and proceeds to walk off into the snow.

"I wasn't born a… normal gem." My present mom says a little sadly. The landscape around us turns darker and more somber. "I assume you, or hope at this point, you know about fusions." I nod, despite knowing she can't see me. "Some gems from homeworld thought it would make better shock troopers if they started making soldiers as powerful without the aid of fusion. I was that prototype." She says and I can feel the mood begin to deepen. "I don't know if I was made from two gems and their existence was simply wiped, or if I'm a forced fusion stuck permanently. That's why I… we, have two gems."

'So that's how it is, my mother was no normal gem. She was a prototype for a new breed of troopers for homeworld to use in combat.'

"For awhile, I just did my job. Following orders…" Images pop up of her taking orders from more blurred figures, some small, some big, some massive. "Disciplined when I failed…" The next images make my eyes narrow, my fists clench as she gets punched and kicked a couple times. "Ignored when I succeeded." This time the images look to be giving her 'thanks' or a 'good job' but wave her off. She looks down in sadness as her superiors turn away. "That all changed however when I met Rose Quartz." She says with more happiness in her voice. The next scene is her beaten on the ground, green blood running down the corner of her mouth, bruises lining her body, her swords smashed and a tall pink figure standing over her. From the pictures I've seen, the large figure is Rose Quartz, Steven Universes mother. Rose extends a hand to my mom with a smile, while she only recoils in fear, thinking she's going to be smashed. "I had failed to protect a key figure to Blue Diamonds army, a gem by the name of Sapphire, and I was thrown away because of my failure." My mom says somberly. Rose looks confused for a second before she kneels close to my young mom. "They decided to leave me to planets wildlife, or worse, the rebels. They figured that they would take the chance capture me, torture me for info, or smash me to make a statement. The diamonds, homeworlds leaders, decided that since I was such a failure, they worked to try and create even better soldiers than I was." I see a smile begin to form on my mom's face as the young version of her realizes that she's not being attacked. She looks to the smiling face of Rose before carefully extending a hand to Roses offered one. The scene freezes as both their hands firmly grasp each other. "What the homeworld gems didn't realize, was that some among the rebels… actually cared for others."

Everything glows white again before the scene begins to change again. "When I was first created, I always thought I was just a weapon, an expendable soldier used in the army to fight. Rose… saw more than that in me." Several more still images appear of my mom and Rose talking, laughing… learning. "However even though I was accepted by her, we both knew the others of her army wouldn't have. I… hurt… too many to even be considered to be accepted by them. For awhile, I just lived in isolation, only known my Rose that I was alive, until I decided enough was enough and wanted to help." She says trying to get the words out. It's obvious that all this is still a little trying for her, having to relive all the pain she caused to others and what was caused to her. The next scene shows my mother talking to Rose firmly with tears forming in her eyes while Rose looks on impassively. "I was thrown away like nothing by the diamonds and it was Rose who comforted me when I was at my lowest. Her kindness gave me a reason to live and I wanted to make sure that all that she worked for was not going to be in vain. I may have been born to fight but at that point, I wanted to fight for someone I 'wanted' to fight for."

"Thought you'd never ask." The new voice cuts through us and it takes me a moment to realize it was Rose with a smile on her face. My young mom looks ecstatic that she's going to help before Rose places a hand on her shoulder. "But first, let's teach you some new tricks."

"From that point on, all I was at first was just a hardened fighter, that's it. Just to fight, hit, get hit and destroy my target. Rose however… taught me to be even more." More images appear of my mom being more graceful with her swords skills, going through unarmed training, acrobatics and athletics training, being fluent with projectile weapons such as bows and crossbows, heck she even uses some slings a couple times. The next images that appear however are of my mom putting those skills to use in her objectives. "Rose is a very resourceful woman when it came to planning, from teaching me to fight properly, to thinking outside the box, and subterfuge." The images next show my mom leading her enemies into traps, using their own skills, equipment and sometimes size against them, as well as using specific points on their body's against them like going for the knees or disabling their arms. Scenes float by as my mom hacks advanced computer terminals, blows up key infrastructures, fights relentlessly against countless enemies that outnumber her 10 to 1 but all the while… she's smiling. Remembering back to the time when she was a homeworld soldier, she just had a somber neutral look to her. 'Just a tool. That's all she was to them… that's what she thought too.' Now looking at the images, she's more carefree and outgoing in her missions, taking pleasure in fighting for a worthy cause for worthy people.

"Rose Quartz saw me as more than just a tool, more than just a weapon. She saw me as… a friend." A picture comes up of them hugging. "She wanted to finally introduce me to the others, especially to a certain Pearl she cared deeply about, but I told her no. The reason I was so good at my job was because I was shrouded in mystery by everyone but her. I know she meant well but I wanted to make sure we won before I would even hope to relax." She begins to chuckle and lets out a happy sigh, "Naturally, she agreed but made it so for quite a while that would never hear the end of it. Social life and mingling, or working with others, was never my strong suit."

"Huh, guess that's something I picked up." I say.

"Make no mistake Marcus, I was a powerful warrior and because of what I was, information retention, as well as adaptability, were my strong points. Knowing who I was facing, what their weaknesses were, where I was going all contributed to my success and near perfect record with the Crystal gems. Adapting to a situation made me unpredictable to my enemies and when it came to how something worked, it clicked into my head, *Snap* just like that. Interpreting how some objects were was a gift I had as well and I was able to take apart things and put them together with ease, even turning them into things no one thought of before." "After the war ended, I wanted to do things myself for once and opted to travel alone. Rose was disappointed but supported me none the less." She smiles. "I was… lost for awhile, but with a great friend like Rose, I found myself." Everything turns white.

"Marcus." I move in front of her so it looks like she's talking to me. "I don't know how life will treat you considering who you are, but if you're my and your fathers son, then you'll do great, I'm sure of it." My head lowers at the mention of my father again. "I still wish I could meet you but, having you… knowing I'll be bringing this life into this beautiful world…" she says as she rubs her stomach. Not gonna lie, feels a little freaky at seeing the prospect that I'm in there. "It feels good son. And seeing as how you're here listening to my tale, it wasn't in vain." She takes a moment to compose herself after the emotional roller coaster she just went through. "Anyhow, there really isn't anything else I can come up with right now. All I can say now is… I love you."

Emotions start to well up inside me. The idea that my mom… loves me, is here and… it's hard to put into words.

"Honestly I never thought to even want kids but, it just felt… right after all that fighting. Whoever you are, however you are… I'm sure its someone I would be proud of."

My elated emotions take a down turn as I remember everything I did before I met the gems. All the deceitful and messed up things I did. 'I'm sure you wouldn't be proud of what I did if you were her. However if you were here, maybe dad wouldn't-' My thoughts don't dare finish.

"I think I've given you enough information Marcus. I hope you met Rose and the rest of the Crystal gems. Rose is a great person to meet, the others… well I don't know. I never met them. The door is open." She waves a hand to the side and a bright glowing door appears. "While you were living, I'm sure at some point you noticed some things about yourself, maybe a power here and there or knowing stuff you didn't know before. Well, when you leave here, all the info I learned about homeworld, about technology, how to adapt, how to properly fight, will be unlocked within you. That is to say you won't get everything right off the bat. It just means you'll be able to learn things a lot quicker, some things may click when you find them, and be able to understand how they work a bit better. Your powers may also manifest better so get ready to practice." She informs me. With the knowledge of so much stuff suddenly flooding me, hopefully I can handle it all. "Good luck out there my son. Say hi to your dad for me."

Tears begin to well up on my eyes as I clench both my eye lids shut and my fists tightly. 'She wants me to… but I can't… I…' I can barely form coherent thoughts as all the memories begin to flood me. How my mom is now, how she seemed, what she went through… I want to meet her. I really do.

"M-mom… I know you can't hear me. I know you aren't listening… I know this I just a... stupid recording but… you just… relieved my mind of so… so… so much!" I start to crack, tears starting to stream down my face as my emotions starting to pierce through my wall I've built up for so long. "Dad… dad never told me anything! He loved you. Loved you so much that… he… hated that you gave yourself up… for me. I can't say hi to him. We… we just… oh god!" I break and softly sniffle, tears running down harder as I try to get myself under control enough to speak. "I… I did… bad things while I was alone. Things you… most likely wouldn't be proud of. I just… I wish you were here… I was lost for so long… I didn't know who you were for… for the longest time. You… may have wanted to be here but… this," I gesture to all around me as her figure just continues to stand there. "This… gave me so much closure." I say in exasperation. "I don't know… what the future will hold for me… for the Crystal Gems… but, if when I leave here… I gain and understanding of my powers… that will help… more than you'll know." I rub my eyes clear of my tears and face her with a clear look of determination, "I won't let my past determine my future. Hell followed me and I followed it because I was alone. Now…" I trail off as a smile forms on my lips at my most recent memories: The Crystal Gems. Finding out I wasn't alone was a massive shock to say the least but after talking to them, understanding them, getting to know them so much, things just opened up and calmed me down. "I met the gems… their awesome to say the least. Helpful to me in so many ways. Sorry to say but… Rose isn't around anymore. She's in the same boat as you now. She has a kid. His name is Steven… good kid. Lots of potential… a lot more than I could of used. I'm going to make sure he doesn't end up like me. I won't let anything bad happen to him… I swear it mom." I say finally.

I stand there for a few more seconds, unsure of what to do next. Without thinking, I hit her with a tight hug. She remains rooted to her spot and doesn't return the hug… but it's as close as I can get at this point so I'll take it. After hugging for a few more second, I let go. "Thank you mom… for your sacrifice. I won't let you down." I grab my gun I dropped on the ground earlier, holster it and walk over to the door and stand in front of it, preparing myself to move on. "Goodbye mom. Wherever you've gone… good luck." I say as I turn back to her. With a deep breath, I step through the bright light.

"Good luck my son."


"Oof!" Steven lands hard against the red gem Garnet. He lets out a loud gasp at seeing a familiar face that wasn't controlled by a crazy. "GARNET!" Steven yells loudly. He proceeds to bite Garnet's arm as a means to know if whether or not the gems around him are real or not.

"Ow." Garnet simply says, not at all overly perturbed at being bitten by the kid.

Steven gasps in slight happiness, realizing that the figures around him aren't fake. "You're not clouds!"

"Alright, Steven!" Amethyst however takes Steven's example a little too far and bites Pearl's arm for only one reason: Because someone else was doing it.

"AGHUUHH!" Pearl lets out a cry of anguish at being bitten so suddenly.

"Guys, it was awful! I was trapped in a messed up version of Beach City. Everyone was acting super weird and..." Steven recounts his tale and experience of being inside his mother's room.

"Rose's room built the whole town?!" Amethyst exclaims loudly.

"IT CAN'T HANDLE A TASK LIKE THAT!" Pearl exclaims even louder, although in her panic, she hits Amethyst in the face with her elbow. "Thank goodness you're okay!"

"I'm sorry I got mad, guys. I get it now. Things can't always go exactly how I want." Steven concedes.

"Oh Steven, we're sorry, too." Pearl apologizes to the kid for their earlier actions.

"Mm-hmm." Amethyst agrees as well.

"But now's still not the time for that I'm afraid." Garnet says as she stands up, heading for the door.

"What do you mean?" He asks the tall gem. HE looks around as he notices someone else isn't there ot greet him. "Where's Marcus?"

"Well, that's the thing Steven. After you went into your mother's room, Marcus tried to go in after you but the door closed before he could. However…" Pearl trails off in her explanation as she tries to make sense of what happened.

"The temple door started to do some weird light show thing. Something we've never seen before." Amethyst says.

"We were hoping he somehow went with you… but since he's not here with you. I'm afraid that's out of the equation." Garnet says.

"Well what are we supposed to do? You guys live in the temple right? Can't you just, look for him in there?" He proposes.

"It's not that simple Steven. We tried looking while you were gone but nothing came up. We have no idea if… he…" Pearls explanation trails off as the temple door lights up again. Everyone stares in at the massive bright light that emanates from the door. At first its blinding but soon darkness starts to form in the middle of it. The darkness grows more and more until a body takes shape. Happiness starts to form on all their faces at seeing their friend safe and sound but upon close inspection, Marcus's face doesn't look as good. As soon as he steps out of the door and the light fades, he collapses onto his knees and grabs his head.

"Marcus!"


Equations. Images. Numbers. Biology. Symbols. Schematics.

All these things are forced into my mind. Equations to some of the most complex math problems, images of fights, scenarios and situations show me what can or can't happen in some areas, what I should or shouldn't do; coding and algorithms flow easily through my mind to easily crack some of the most hardened security firewalls, to make something massive happen from something so simple and easy to use; how the body works, the nerves, veins, artery's, when a body expires, how long it takes; symbols of something I've never seen before in a language I've never heard of; and schematics of weapons, vehicles, terminals, buildings and power from small to very large, useful but possibly destructive as well.

'So much info… so much… it hurts…I can't-'

"Marcus?"

All my thoughts stop as the voice speaks. Letting go of my head, I look up to see Pearl looking at me worriedly, as does Steven, Garnet and Amethyst. 'My friends…'

"Are you alright?" she asks me.

Slowly, I stand up and walk past them towards the kitchen with a straight face, where my gun lies. Finding it on the floor, I pick it up and the magazine, placing them both on the counter. Without a word, I pull out the jammed screwdriver easily and make sure nothing is broken.

Nothing is so I set the weapons safety. Grabbing the drum magazine, I pull out the remaining rounds left in it. All 17 rounds left.

As I slowly take the bullets, I feel the others stare at me as wetness begins to form under my eyes again as I remember everything that happened in the last hour. The revelation, my family's history, the powers I could have… everything. Interesting enough though, some info feels… gone. Like I know it's there and it's something I went through but I just can't remember it. Maybe some of it got pushed to make room for the new info but it's hard to tell.

As I place the last bullet in a neat line, standing up, on the table, I place the magazine down as well. With nothing else in my hands, I slowly get off the stool I'm sitting on and aim myself towards them. Their gasps of surprise are not lost to me at how I look. It's not often I've shown a lot of emotion and now…

"Guys…" My words make them hang onto what I have to say, no doubt wondering what it is I went through.

"I met my mom."

Wow. This went a lot quicker then I had anticipated. Not the length of the plotline I mean. What I meant is just how quickly I got this chapter out. Maybe it's because I didn't follow as much of the dialogue of the story as before.

Either way, this was something I was definitely looking forward to writing. Hopefully the shrouded mystery behind Marcus's mother has satisfied you all and shown just the potential he could have in the future.

I hope the story isn't going too fast for everyone. As I've said before, I really want to get to the later parts of the show so if it does, apologies but I just do. Some of you even mentioned how they wonder how things will get when Marcus meets other gems like Jasper and Bismuth. I can't wait for it too.

Also I've been throwing ideas around for another story for me to write eventually. Maybe a 'My Life as a Teenage Robot' OC fic. That show hasn't gotten as much love as I would have liked and I hadn't found a decent OC story to go along that series. I figured… if I could make this and get so much popularity for it compared to what I thought I could get, maybe I can make something half-decent for that. It's another idea I've had for almost as long as this story as well, you know. And when I mean the popularity, I meant it. Like seriously, a few dozen of you guys have already faved, followed, and reviewed this story, not to mention that by the time I post this, this story garnered over 4,600 views.

That's the most I've ever gotten in any story guys, thank you again. With that said, I get ready for a psychology test and an essay due in a couple days, at the same time, so I'll bid you guys farewell.

Until next time and have fun reading.