Things have been kinda awkward to say the least. Ever since I said Pearl was beautiful at the fountain she hasn't looked me the same since and I the same to her. I just don't know what the hell it is exactly and it's frustrating not knowing what the hell's going on. I don't do well with lack of information. I prefer to be in the need to know department.

"Here."

However despite my inner torment I was still roped into helping gather stuff for Steven. Still not sure what it is but I feel like its school related with all the junk Pearl and I got.

"Yep, it's all coming together." Steven says as he stares intently at the pile.

"So, how do we begin our "school"?" Pearl asks him.

"Wait, that's what we're dealing with here?" I ask in confusion. 'Seriously, school? Ugh. I had enough it back home. No thank you.'

"Yeah and… Ugh... I... I don't know!" He begins to freak out a little at the prospect of not knowing what to do. "This is everything Connie told me. Why do I never ask follow-up questions?! Who will teach little Stevie now!?" He cries in almost complete hopelessness.

"Teach you?!" Pearl lets out a happy gasp at the idea. "Steven! If only I had known that's what you really wanted!"

*Clap* "Aaannnd with that I'm out." I proclaim and head to the door. "You two have fun… schooling."

"Wha-?! You don't want to learn school with me?" Steven asks me as I walk out the door.

I lean back in and give him a deadpan stare, "Steven, I had enough of school when I went through it with the public. I sure as hell don't want to deal with homeschooling. You have fun while I get as far away from here as possible." With my thoughts voiced, I close the door.


"Not as far as one would think." I mutter to myself as I sit in the driver seat of my truck. Pretty much when I went to school, it was almost social nightmare for me what with my reserved and silent demeanor, not to mention my gems, and people just loved to pick on me. After some complications, I finally left school. I know its important and all but I never found much interest in it. I guess it's because of my gem physiology that I was able to retain information more.

Now with how awkward things have been, I went ahead and decided to just sit in my truck and organize my thoughts. 'Why the hell did I say she was beautiful? I mean, I know she is- I mean-' "Fuck." I groan and smack my head on the rim of my steering wheel. "She is beautiful but why the hell did I say it out loud?" I say with my eyes closed. 'She's not human. She may have been here far longer than I have but she still doesn't have a full grasp of much of human culture… or does she? Is that why she won't look at me? Is that…' I think as my thoughts trail off. "God damnit!" I yell and slam my fists into the dashboard. "Why is this so fucking hard?!" I yell and slam my palms into the dashboard before sitting back in a huff. 'Peal and I used to just talk and it would be easy. Nothing awkward as much, just learning and teaching each other about what we know. Now… why the hell did I have to fuck things up?' I think with my eyes closed. 'Oh but I do know. Despite my experience, despite what I've been through, I'm still a teenager. A stupid hormonal teenager who couldn't keep his big mouth shut.' Releasing a dejected sigh, I decide to get my mind off the situation. "Wonder if my stuffs still here." I reach over to the glove compartment. "Better be or there'll be hell to pay." Opening the door, I pull out the revolver I have in there. "There you are." I say as I examine the weapon. The weapon I have holding in my hands right now is none other than a revolver but to be more specific, I have with me is a Colt Anaconda, chambered in .44 magnum rounds along with a 8 inch barrel to go along with it. A pretty good revolver to have that I'm happy to keep in my glove compartment should I need it in a pinch. Not as powerful as the Smith & Wesson Model 500 but this one was a bit easier to obtain myself. "Good your still here." I say to the gun before placing it back in the glove compartment along with the holster and speedloader rounds to go along with it. "Now let's see if your still here." I move to the backseat and unhook some latches to the bottom of the massive seat. Once the latches are off, I pull up the seat to reveal my next item. "Ah, good. Your still he-"

"School's out!" I look up at the sudden voice and Steven plants himself along the back side window. "Happy summer vacation, Marcus! Happy summer vacation, Beach City!" He yells through the window and takes off while holding something in his hand. "Yeah!"

"Wait, what?! Steven!" I yell after the kid and slam the seat down. Putting the latches back on, I jump out of my truck and take off after the hyper active kid. For a small one, he's surprisingly fast and I watch as he accidentally barrels into Sadie and Lars, causing them to accidentally knock over some tables and chairs.

"Er, watch where you're going, you little f..." Lars begins to say but he glances to Sadie for a second and when he sees me walking behind Steven, I give him a look that says 'care to finish that statement?' "Ssssteven!" he resigns himself to saying instead.

"Sorry! I'm just so excited for summer. Are you excited for summer? I'm so excited for summer!" He exclaims happily, despite the fact that he doesn't go to school at all and is always on vacation from school.

Sadie laughs a little at the enthusiasm that the kid possesses. "Uh, I think I'm as excited as I can get about setting up extra seating for the summer rush." She gestures to the extra tables and seats placed all around us in front of the store. "But Lars has big plans." She says to her coworker.

"You bet I do!" He says with a smile, "All those out-of-town summer babes traveling away from home without their boyfriends, if you know what I mean."

"Nope." Steven says innocently.

"And I don't want to." I mutter and pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Maybe I'll get a few numbers. Maybe I'll even... call one." He says but also a little awkwardly at the end.

"Ha! Well, yeah, maybe I'll meet a new friend." Sadie says with almost as much awkwardness to go along with it.

"That's a great idea - A special new friend to have fun on the beach with in the summer. Maybe if I keep using the mirror to guide me, I'll walk backwards into my own beach-summer-fun buddy!" He says and starts to walk backwards. "C'mon Marcus!" He waves me to go with him.

I smile at his actions and look to other two, "Well, I better go make sure he doesn't get into trouble. Sadie, see you later. Lars, good luck getting women." I say and start to walk away as he gets a small smile at my apparent compliment. "You're gonna need it!" I yell without looking back.

"Grrr! You'll see. Next time you see me, I'll be on the arm of a hot woman!" He growls to me as I continue to walk away.

"You can stop talking about it now." I faintly hear Sadie tell Lars.

Once I'm out of sight of them, I can't help but look back and raise an eyebrow at Sadie's words. 'Is there something going on there or-'

"Nooooo!"

"Steven!" I turn back around and take off towards the boardwalk in the direction of my friends cry. My heart skips a beat as I hear tires screeching. 'No…' In an instant, I pass a couple buildings and round a corner to see a van with a persons head on it stopped in front of Steven. "Steven!" I yell and move over to him to make sure he's okay. "Are you alright?! Are you injured?' I quickly ask him.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine Marcus. Just… startled is all." He reassures me and pushes my arms off him.

"Good… good." I let out a relieved sigh.

"Car wash kid, what are you doing?!" I stand back up and look angrily at the van and the person leaning out of it.

"What the hell is your problem buddy?!" I yell and slam my hand on top of his hood. "You almost hit him!... And why are you driving on the boardwalk?! This isn't a sanctioned driving road!" I glare at the guy.

"I'm the mayor— I'm not going to walk anywhere." He says like it's obvious.

'Mayor? This guy?!' I think and take note of the man's face and the face of the head on the van to see they are the same person. 'Wow, talk about pompous and a big ego.'

"Now, go get run over somewhere else. I'm late for a speech." He says and backs up, causing me to stumble before he begins to drive again around us, all the while his van chants his name, adding even more of my chagrin to this guy.

"May-or Dew-ey. May-or Dew-ey." It repeats over and over again.

"Big ego, self-absorbed, in politics… yep, not surprised I don't like him." I comment as I cross my arms.

"Hahahahaha." I hear Steven laugh.

"Thanks man." I reply.

"That wasn't me."

"Wait what?" I ask confused as I look at him.

The laugh happens again and it sounds like him but… it's not him. 'Wha…?' I look around for the source since it sounds very close.

"Huh? Oh! Marcus look!" Steven catches my attention and shows me the mirror he's been carrying. Looking in close, I only see my reflection for a second before it starts to whir a bit.

"Yep, not surprised I don't like him." I jump back a bit as the mirror replays my earlier comment on the mayor.

"Whoooaaaa." I'm in awe at the sort of recording device in front of me.

"You work! This is so cool!" He voices his happiness of the device. "What's it like being a mirror?" He asks it.

The mirror whirs a bit before replaying Steven's words. "You work!"

"So you can repeat stuff?"

Mirror Steven chuckles. "Yeah!"

"Wow, that's cool." I say. "Like some sort of self-conscious recording device. Nice." I say with a nod.

"Thanks man." The mirror repeats me.

"Hello, Beach City, my friends!" Steven and I shift our attention from the mirror to the beach to see the mayor has set himself up for his speech. Steven gets a wide grin on his face and runs over to the crowd with the mirror. Sighing, I move to catch up to him. "It's great to be here to celebrate the coming season. A warm summer breeze wafts through the air."

"PBHT!" Steven proceeds to make a fart noise as I stand next to him. His action causes the crowd to snicker quietly.

"We all look forward to the sounds of the summer season..." Mayor Dewey continues with his speech unperturbed by the action.

"PBHT!" Looking to Steven, I see it's the mirror that's making the noise.

"... the smells of the busy boardwalk..."

"PBHT!"

"... the hot, wet ocean wind..."

"PBHT!"

"... the time to take that pressure that's built up all year and just let it out." By this point I am really close to losing my shit at how perfect the mayor's speech is in tandem with the mirrors actions.

"PBHT!"

The crowd and I completely lose it and laugh out loud of the whole situation, annoying the mayor at how his speech has been interrupted.

"Wow, you picked that up fast." I barely hear Steven say to the mirror through all my laughing. I quickly usher him away so we don't get blamed for the whole thing.


"PBHT!"

"Hahahahahaha ha haha haaa! Oh god! Please stop, that was too good." I cry out as the mirror does it again. A few hours later, its night, and the whole thing back at the speech was pure gold. I'm pretty sure you couldn't plan something like that if you wanted to. Thankfully the mirror ceases and I manage to calm down. "Haha, ha, ha. Oh man. That was good. You guys did awesome. And you…" I point to the mirror with a grin, "You my friend; you did good. Nice one back there." I compliment it.

"Thanks man." The mirror repeats what I said before. I smile and flop on my back in the sand.

Steven lets out a short laugh at the whole situation before looking at the mirror. "You got a lot of mileage out of that joke. You're pretty funny for a mirror."

"You're pretty funny for a mirror." Mirror repeats him.

"Hahaha. I'm not a mirror."

"You're pretty funny for a- Steven!" To our surprise, the mirror first uses what Steven just said earlier but cuts off before it could say 'mirror' and uses my earlier yell for 'Steven' when I thought he got hit by a car.

"Whoa."

Steven gasps loudly, "You made something new! Say something else!"

"Steven- is- a new friend." The mirror impresses me even more by using cut pieces from earlier conversations such as me and Sadie.

"Really?" Steven asks with a small blush on his face.

"Hahaha. Yeah!" The mirror replies.

"You're my friend, too!" He proclaims to mirror. I smile and pat his back.

"Dang Steven, you continue to impress me. You made friends with a mirror." I say to him.

"Marcus- is- a new friend." The mirror says to me now.

"Oh, well, nice. Thank you. I appreciate you telling me that." I say to the mirror.

"You're- Awesome." The mirror says.

"Aw, thanks."

"We got to go tell the Gems." Steven says and stands up to his feet.

"Oh yeah!" I agree and roll onto my back before jumping onto my feet. "I'm sure they'll get a kick out of this." I start to walk with him.

"Noooo!"

I almost trip over myself from the sudden screaming. I recognize the voice as Steven's but he looks just as surprised as me. 'The hell?' I think as I look at the mirror in my friends hand.

"Don't be shy, they'll love you." He tries to settle the mirrors worries about meeting the others.

"Noooo!" The mirror screams again only this time it echoes the no to emphasize it.

"Don't worry, they're a good audience." Steven remains oblivious to the mirrors worries and continues on. I stand there staring at the mirror as it gets farther from me, trying to come up with a reason for its panic.

'What the hell? You do not want to meet the others?' My mind trails off as I decide to go after them, hopefully to make sure everything goes alright. 'I got a bad feeling about this.'


"Man, for a small one… he sure can gain distance." I say as I trudge up the stairs and open the door.

"I-" Steven begins to say but he notices me walk in behind him. "Hey Marcus! We fixed the mirror!" He informs the gems.

"Excellent work, Steven!... Marcus." She says my name a little more quietly as she looks away.

My shoulders slumps as I rub my temple. 'God damnit.' Releasing a sigh at the still awkwardness, I look to see what happened here while Steven and I were gone. Looking at the tall pile of stuff Pearl and I gathered earlier, I notice a small pile of stabbed things near the base of it. The most notable is a bear and- "IS THAT MY AK?!" I ask loudly. In my haste, I brush past Steven and slide on the ground to pick up my weapon. To my utter horror, the weapon is completely useless, with a long thin slit stabbed right through the receiver. The weapon was on its last legs and with a bit of maintenance I could have made it work but now… "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?!" I scream at them with anger.

They are all silent for a second as two of the three are stunned at my outburst. Garnet simply turns to her compatriots. "I told you he would get mad."

"Well… Marcus… you see-" Pearl begins to say but I hold my hand up to stop her. The room is met with silence as I steady myself through deep breathing.

"No. You know what. I don't care for your excuses. It's not going to fix it." I say depressingly and walk over to the couch near the door.

"I thought you would mind. You said it yourself that that weapon was close to breaking anyway." Amethyst says.

"That doesn't mean I wanted it to be destroyed this way!" I yell at her, causing her to flinch. Sitting down on the couch in a huff, I take off my jacket and sling my gun on my back. I run my hands through my hair before placing them on my face. "Just… continue what you were saying before I got here. Let me… stew." I say.

"Oh right. You didn't tell me it's like a person." Steven informs the gems.

"Wait. What?" Even though I am utterly pissed right now, I can't help but notice the confusion in Pearls voice. Looking between my fingers, to my confusion all the gems are shocked at the news.

"Say 'hey.'" Steven says to mirror and points it at the gems. The mirror remains silent. "... Lil' buddy... Uh... excuse us." He says to the gems and turns around. I sit up straight and lean over to listen in. "Come on. You want to come out, don't you? You have so much to say and funny noises to share from across the ages. Are we not beach-summer-fun buddies?" Steven tries to coax the mirror to reveal itself to the gem. My instincts are still blaring to me about how this won't go well.

"PBHT!" Despite the tenseness, the mirror still manages to get a laugh out of the both of us.

"Just couldn't help yourself, huh?" He asks it.

"Just for - you - Steven! And - Marcus!" The mirror says to us and repeatedly laughs, shifting from both Steven's and mine.

"It's talking to him? It shouldn't be able to do that." I have a frown on my face as I look at the gems in my peripheral. "I-it should just be following orders..." Pearl says.

"Garnet, do something." I hear Amethyst whisper to the red gem, even through the mirrors repeated laughing.

"Steven." I slowly get up and look as Garnet walks toward us, Steven more.

" Hahaha. Noooo!" The mirrors laughing suddenly changes as it spots Garnet walking behind Steven.

"You should just give us back the mirror. It will be safer where we can watch it." Garnet practically orders Steven.

"Yeah, let's bubble it!" Amethyst proclaims loudly for all of us to hear.

"Noooo! Noooo!" The mirror continues to voice its displeasure and reluctance to go.

"Wha..."

'What the hell is going on? Why are you so afraid of-'

"Steven. Don't make me have to take it from you." She sternly tells him.

"Garnet, what's going on?" I ask her sternly too, slightly stepping in front of her.

"Don't worry about it Marcus." She roughly pushes me away, making me almost trip on the couch but I grab the door frame to steady myself.

I narrow my eyes at her. 'My ass I'll worry about it.'

"Ah! It doesn't want to go with you. Don't you hear it screaming?" Steven gasps out as Garnet leans in more.

"Steven, it's just a mirror, a tool. It can't want anything." She says and reaches her hand towards the mirror, preparing to take it.

"Noooo! Noooo! Noooo! Noooo!" The mirror is freaking out at this point as it echoes 'no' over and over again, overlapping it as multiple Stevens appear on the face of the mirror. Steve finally snaps.

He lets out a growl at her intrusiveness. "It wants to be with us!" To my surpise, and everyone else's, he slaps Garnet's hand away, which hits her in the face and knocks her glasses off. Amethyst gasps loudly, extremely surprised. I flinch a little as Steven gasps when Garnet stares at him very, very angrily with her three eyes.

"Aah-aah!" He bolts out the front door. "I'm sorry!" He cries back as he goes down the stairs.

"Steven!" I call out to him in worry.

'Seriously! What's going on?' I think loudly. Turning back to Garnet, I watch as she puts her glasses back on and clenches her fists. "That little boy is in big trouble." She takes a step forward but I step in, blocking her path to the door. "Move, Marcus." She says through gritted teeth.

"Not until you tell me what's going. Why don't you want Steven talking to that mirror?" I ask while pointing to where Steven left. "What. Is. It?" I growl out.

"I said, Move!" she grabs my shoulder and attempts to push me out of the way.

Good thing I anticipated that.

The second her hand touch my shoulder, I quickly grab it and twist her around, twisting her arm tightly against her back till I have a firm hold on her. "Not until you tell me!"

"Marcus!" Pearl gasps out.

"What are you doing?!" Amethyst asks me.

"Answers!" I loudly answer them. "I want to know why you guys are freaking out so much about-!"

"Let goooo!"

"Oof!" Garnet brings her leg forward and back, planting it firmly against my stomach, sending me flying out the door and slamming into the railing.

"Marcus!" I hear Pearl call out to me in concern.

The wind gets knocked hard out of me as I struggle to stand and regain my breathing. Grasping the cracked part of the wooden railing, I steady myself as I see Garnet walk out the door with a surprised Amethyst and a concerned Pearl. Garnet and I stare at each other for a few tense seconds. Taking the initiative, I lean back over the railing and fall off.

The wind immediately rushes by my ears as I faintly hear the others call out to me. Righting myself up, I land firmly on the ground on one hand and feet. Not wanting to stay here, I spot Steven's tracks in the sand and take off in a burst of speed, already out of sight before the gems could see me. I quickly manage to stop myself near my truck and take a second to collect myself. "Alright, their hiding something… but what?" I say and go to grab my- "Shit!" I curse and realize I left my jacket inside with my Beretta's. My AK is useless right now and I want something else besides my swords. "Oh!" I exclaim and throw open the passenger door to my truck. Reaching into the glove compartment, I begin to strap up with my revolver, holster and ammo. 'Geez, what am I doing? Am I really going to shoot them?' I think as I clip the holster to my right hip and close the passenger door.

"Fan out."

"Fuck." I quietly curse and drop to the ground, carefully rolling under my truck just as I spot Pearl's ballet shows run past where I was standing. When she's out of ear-shot, I get out from under. "Maybe not shoot… but a little intimidation can't hurt." I say and look around for Steven's tracks. While the others are around me as well, Steven's are more noticeable because of how erratic they are. Moving around carefully and quietly so I don't attract the others, hear something behind a large rock

"Are you trying to say something?" I recognize Steven's voice. Dashing forward, I vault over the rock and land next to him, surprising him. "A-Mmm!" He begins to scream but I quickly cover his mouth with my hand. Slowly, I mime for him to be quiet as Garnet runs past us. I let his mouth go when we're clear.

"It's cool man. I'm here to help." I quickly reassure him and look at the mirror. "What's going on?" I whisper to him.

"I don't know! I'm trying to-" He loudly whispers to me before the mirror begins to whir a bit as the image begins to distort.

"Away from home - Let - Me - Out!" The mirror manages to say.

"Huh?"

"We don't understand!"

"Steven! Marcus!"

"Crap." I quickly pull Steven against the rock as I hear Pearls voice far from us.

"Come on! We want to help you! What can we do?" Steven pleads to the mirror.

"C'mon. You have to give us something here." I ask of it.

The mirror whirs again and distorts before it shows an image of Steven pulling the gem from the back of the mirror. Steven turns the mirror around and we see the gem. Finally getting what we have to do, Steven and I look at each other before we nod. I move to stand in front of him and grasp both sides of the mirror firmly. He then grabs the gem and pulls on it with effort as I pull back as well. "Ah!" Steven grunts out as we both pull hard on our respective grabs. As we struggle to pull the items apart, I can't help but notice a wetness forming under me. Looking down, I see some type of circle begin to form under us from the water from the ocean.

"Uhhh, Steven?" I say to the kid uneasily at the situation. "Maybe you should- Woah!" I yelp as the opposite force against me is suddenly gone, making me fall back into the water. "Gah! Pah! Oh!" I groan as I stand up and shake some water off me. A glowing light stops me from shaking myself free of water as I see the gem Steven pulled from the mirror float in front of me. It glows for a second before it starts to take a much more larger shape. I distinctly see a humanoid form start to take place before it solidify's.

"Wha..." Steven says in awe from behind the gem creature. Whatever it is, its aiming right at me. Not wanting to take a chance, I widen my stance and-

"Thank you..." I freeze at the female voice. The gem that stands before me is an actually humanoid gem, like me and the others. My breath hitches as I stare at the all white eyes adorning her face and her entirely blue form. "You didn't-" She begins to say but loses her balance and falls forward.

"Hey!" I exclaim and quickly catch her before she hits the ground. She feels cold as I grab her but I manage to steady her. She gives me a smile in return for my action. I hear footsteps and see Steven walk next to me. "You actually talked to me. You helped me!" She voices her disbelief on our actions but seems no less than grateful. "It's Steven, right?" She asks him.

He breathes deeply before letting out a confirmed 'Mm.'

"And… Marcus, correct?" She then asks me.

"Oh! Uuuhh, yes. That's correct." I confirm after I stumble on my words.

"I'm Lapis. Lapis Lazuli." She gives us her name with a smile.

I return her smile. "Lapis huh? That's a pretty name."

'WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?! Why did I just do that?!... Oh right, she was imprisoned and I'm trying to comfort her and I'm still bad with girls apparently.' I freak out in my mind for a second but manage to calm myself. Thankfully, she simply giggles at my compliment.

"Thanks. Oh. Here." She waves her hand in front of me and instantly I begin to feel dryer. Looking to her hand, a large ball of water is in her hand and I feel totally dry.

"Huh. Nice."

"Your welcome." She drops the water. "Are you really a Crystal Gem?" She asks us.

"Yeah!"

"Mm-hm." We confirm her question.

"But… you set me free." She says in disbelief, much both of our confusions, Steven's more so.

"But- Wha..."

"Lapis, what do you mean?" I ask warily to her.

"Steven! Marcus!" We flinch at the loud voice and I look past Lapis to see the others have spotted us. They immediately summon their weapons when they see Lapis.

I quickly move past Lapis and pull out my Anaconda. "Back up!" I order the gems as I aim at them. They stop in their tracks, surprised at my action.

"Marcus… we just want-"

*Click*

She stops advancing as I pull the hammer back. "Don't... move." I sternly order her as I keep my face stone-face firm, making it clear I'm not backing down.

"Wait!" I hear Steven yell out as he runs in front of us, extending his arms to both me and the gems.

"You..." I hear Lapis say behind me. I don't turn back but the sound of crashing waves and water-rushing makes me. Steven gasps as I stare in awe as Lapis raises a huge water-arm out of the ocean.

"You three knew I was in there, and you didn't do anything." Lapis begins to menacingly say as the water-arm goes higher and higher into the air. "Did you even wonder who I used to be?!" She brings the arm down onto the ground. I quickly grab Steven and pull him back just as the arm hits the gems. Amethyst and Pearl are thrown in opposite directions but Garnet is left trapped underneath the water construct.

"Steven, Marcus, run!" Pearl warns us but instead I drop Steven and turn to Lapis.

"What are you doing?" He asks the water affiliated gem.

"I'm Lapis Lazuli, and you can't keep me trapped here anymore!" She yells out her name in defiance to her status as a prisoner.

"Huh?" Steven gasps as he looks over to the gems. Pearl and Amethyst get back up but Garnet is still trapped.

"They're not going to let us leave."

"Leave?"

"What do you mean?" We ask her. Instead of instantly answering, she simply parts the ocean in half to make a path for us. "Holy…"

"Please, come with me."

"Huh?" I question.

"Where?"

"Home." She says but a little sadly.

"Home?" I mutter to myself as I try to think on what she means.

"B-b-but... B-but I... Uh..." Steven stumbles over his words and I'm not surprised. Lapis is bsacially asking him to leave the Crystal Gems, besides Greg, his only other family members.

Her hopeful demeanor changes to one of sadness at the idea of Steven not joining her. "Fine." She says crossly before letting the water path she made close. She goes to head to the water but stops when she sees me. "Marcus?" she says my name in a questioning manner, really hopeful that I'll go with her.

"You… want me… too-"

"Haaaaa!" In hour moments of contemplation, Garnet was able to bash the water-arm off her and send the remains flying towards us. She closes the distance and prepares to destroy Lapis's form with a single punch.

Everything slows down.

I watch with brutal slowness as Lapis stands there in shock at the gauntlet heading straight for her face.

Steven tries to stop her but it's obvious he can't or won't be able to.

Garnets face is morphed into a fierce determination of gritted anger as she prepares to stop this thing once and for all… Unless I intervene.

I have choice: Help Lapis, or Let Garnet bubble her.

I holster my revolver and close my eyes to gain clarity to on my choice.

I don't wait long.


"Haaaaaa-Oof!" Much too Garnets surprise, a blur moves in front of her opponent and suddenly she is sent flying back. She grunts as she hits the sand and skids along it for a second before stopping and standing up. She thinks it was Lapis that attacked but to her surprise and everyone else's, including Lapis, Marcus Stands in front of her with his left leg raised into the air. Slowly, he lowers his leg and walks a few steps away from Lapis. "Raaaah!"

"Garnet wait!" Pearl tries to stop her comrade but her warning falls on deaf ears.

Garnet runs straight at Marcus, angry at his intervention and prepared to knock some sense into him. She brings her right gauntlet up and prepares to strike him in the face but she misses. She brings her left arm up and try's to hit him but misses again. She gets angry and proceeds to let out a multitude of punches straight at the hybrid faster than the normal eye can see.

To everyone's awe, in rapid flashes of shadow movements, Marcus deftly dodges each one of Garnet's attack, his form leaving a small transparent shadow construct behind that showed his position before he moved. The useless attack pattern goes on for a few seconds before Garnet tries to punch with both arms, sealing her mistake. Marcus jumps off the ground, dodging the attack and leaving the gem open to an attack. Marcus brings both his legs close to his chest before pushing them both out, executing a double axe kick to her face.

Garnet grunts as she gets sent flying back to the others. She rolls on the ground a few times before gripping the sand tightly to stop her from moving. She stops herself in front of the others and slowly stands up, revealing her slightly cracked visor.

Marcus gets into a ready stance but Lapis places a hand on his shoulder, "We should go."

He looks back to the gems, giving each one a critical eye before he sighs. "Right." They both turn around and begin to head to the water but Marcus stops. "Hold on a second."

"What?" Lapis turns to question him but momentarily freaks out to see he's not next to her. She looks at her captors for decades to see if they got him but they are looking to the side. She looks in the direction they are looking at and sees a fresh foot trail heading around the mountain. Lapis tenses up as she sees everyone look at her. She clenches her fist, the water behind her boiling and ready to attack should they retaliate against her.

*Honk*Honk*

Everyone turns back to where Marcus left and sees him drifting around the corner and head straight for the water's edge next to Lapis. He pulls up next to her in and leans out the window.


"Get in."

"Bu- wha?" Lapis stumbles a bit on her words, no doubt surprised at seeing my truck.

"C'mon, we can gain more distance in this." I inform her and nod my head to the other side of my vehicle. She hesitantly moves at first before moving more comfortably to the passenger side door.

"Marcus!" I look back to the sand and see Steven standing next to my truck. "W-w-Where are you going?"

I purse my lips as I hit the unlock button on my truck. "I don't know man. But what I do know is that I can probably get some answers if one of us goes with her." I send a sideways glance to the others who are all tense at seeing Steven so close to us. "I don't want you to choose against your family, Steven. So I'll go and find out what she knows. You don't have to choose."

"But you-"

"Relax man, just go back to your family." I try to reassure him and go to shift gears.

"But your family!"

My hand freezes on the gear shifter. 'F-family?' Slowly I look to Steven with surprise plastered clear across my face.

"I think your family Marcus. Almost like a brother." He says with a smile.

I look forward, staring out into the ocean as I process what he said. 'I said I considered them family but… for him to say it back I…' My train of thought stops as I feel moistness run down my face. Feeling my face, I realize that I'm crying. I close my eyes and smile as I try to reign in my emotions. I let out a small chuckle at the info and seeing Lapis struggle a little to get up into the passenger seat. I look back at him and smile. "Thanks man I… I appreciate it." Wiping my eyes, I look back to the gems and I give Steven a determined look. "I promise you, I will return. But for now, I think we both need some clarity. Find out what you can here, and I'll find out what I can 'here.'" I gesture to Lapis subtly so she doesn't catch on. "Deal?"

"Deal." He agrees with a head nod.

"Nice." I say with a smile and extend my left fist to him. "Gimme' one for the road."

With a grin, he fists bump me hard.

I playfully feign getting hurt. "Ow. Man you're getting stronger." I say while shaking my hand. We have a small laugh about it. "Take care."

"You too." He says and runs back to the gems.

"Buckle up." I say to Lapis. She looks confused for a second but when I click on my seatbelt, she gets it.

"Marcus!" I hear Garnet call out to me.

"Where are you going?!" Pearl asks me loudly.

"Answers guys!" I reply and shift gears. "Clear us a path?" I ask her with a hand wave to the front of us. She nods and with a simple hand wave, the ocean parts again. With a smile, I look back to the others. "I'm getting answers" I simply say and hit the gas.

"Marcus!" I hear all but Lapis and Steven call out to me as my tires peel out in the sand for a bit. They finally gain traction and we rocket into the sea bed.

"Eep!" Lapis yelps at the sudden force of my vehicle moving and I can't help but chuckle at her he fearful gripping of the door and chair she's on. I feel the vertigo of going downhill at high speeds and smile at the feeling. The terrain flattens out for a small bit but climbs up again to a flat rock that looks like a ramp.

"Hang on." I warn her. She quickly looks to me before gripping tighter on the things around her. The ramps comes up and to her surprise and my excitement, we launch into the air.

I don't let out a 'whoop.' I don't yell, unlike Lapis. I just let the feeling take me, the weightless feeling through the air and it is awesome.

My truck lands roughly on the ground, bouncing a little on its shocks before straightening out along the now flat land. I release my left hand on the wheel and simply set the cruise control. Looking over to Lapis, she's still clutching her seat. "Relax. No more jumps or spontaneous stunts." I reassure her.

"You sure?" She questions me.

"Positive."

"O-okay." She says and relaxes a bit. To my amazement, Lapis was able to keep the ocean path clear for us despite her earlier fears. She's still a little tense at being in my truck, considering this probably has been her first time out in years.

'Years? God damn what did the Crystal Gems do?' I glance at Lapis. 'What kind of demons do they have to imprison a girl like you Lapis? Maybe you can give me some answers. Maybe the gems can give Steven some answers. They trust him far more than me.' I let out a sigh and run my left hand along my face, a little frustrated at the whole situation and the lack of info I have but hopefully I can get some soon. 'What a right mess I got myself in. Who knows how dangerous it'll be allying myself with her.' I think and slightly look to Lapis who leans out the window to see the ground pass beneath us. Smirking, I shift gears and my truck lurches forward with increased speed.

'Then again, since when did I live a 'safe' life?'

What's this? Some conflict on the home-front? I amaze myself. But seriously folks, Marcus was originally supposed to stay with the gems but then I thought 'Hmmmm, that could be interesting.' I was debating on it but it's not just me that's affected by this. Tell me what you guys think?

Is this the potential for something else big to happen? Who knows, even I don't.

Anyway, felt just as excited to make this chapter and I can't wait to get started on the next chapter and I'm sure you guys can't wait either.

Also, if you want an idea at how Marcus looks when he does that fast movement speed ability, think of Wesker from Resident Evil. Most prominently from Resident Evil 5.

Some of you mentioned before that while the potential for Marcus to fall in love with Pearl is there, there is also the prospect that Pearl is kind of considered a lesbian at this point in the series and that means she may not reciprocate those feelings for him. Whether they fall in love or not is still for me to decide. That's not to say I won't outright deny her apparent sexuality. Maybe I can come up with a valid reason for her being in love with Rose or not. The future is still slightly blank to me you know. Maybe he can fall in love with someone else. There are still other players in the field, remember that. I do hope in the future that 'if' I choose someone, I make the transition to it fair and somewhat sensible that no flames are thrown at me.

In any case, with that done, see you later and have fun reading.