You know what, screw it. I was told by another author that the whole review not showing up thing has happened before and should be fixed soon enough. With that, I've decided to forget my own paranoia and just give you guys this. Review it or not that's your guys decision and I won't stop you. For now, enjoy the read.

Hours. It's been hours since Lapis and I left Beach City and we've traveled in relative silence. Night has already descended and the only sound we hear is the waves crashing against the water barrier she erected and the grinding of my tires on the ocean floor. There hasn't been anything to talk about really and since we don't have to worry about fighting. Mostly I've been thinking about Steven calling me family.

'Family… Thank you Steven.' I smile at the thought. It's been awhile since I've considered people family and the idea of some reciprocating that is nice. It's pretty evident at this point that my actual blood family is non-existent. In the time I've been alive, blood means nothing to me. Your actions mean everything to me. The gems have been good to me, don't get me wrong, but things are still pretty complicated at this point. 'I hope things get resolved soon enough.' Besides my apparent betrayal to the Crystal Gems, things have been quiet for Lapis and I. Just a silent drive across the sea bed for us heading to who knows were.

"You don't look like a gem."

At least it was silent.

"Hm?" I look at her.

"You and Steven… you said you're Crystal Gems but you don't look like gems. I haven't even seen either of your gems." She tells me.

Looking back to front, I reach to my sleeve and slide it up, revealing my gem on my right shoulder.

"You're a Jade?" She questions.

"Not… entirely." I try to say. "I have a human father but a gem mother. She sacrificed herself to give me life and I inherited her gems. This is only half. I have two gems. The other is on my opposite shoulder." I inform her.

"Two? You're a fusion?" She takes a second to look me over, "You don't look like one, although it does explain your strength when you fought that Crystal Gem." She slightly spats out 'Crystal Gem.'

"No. I'm not a fusion." I casually answer her.

"Then what aare-"

"I'm actually the son of a powerful gem. An… experimental gem of sorts. She was supposed to be this new soldier breed or something like that but-"

"You're her?!" She almost screams at me, making me flinch.

"What?!" I ask in surprise as I look at her.

"I-I-I heard about her but I didn't- Look out!" She begins to say but immediately points forward. Looking to the front, I see us coming up fast on a giant coral reef.

"Shit!" I curse loudly and twist the wheel to the side. My trucks momentum was too much and I collide with the back half of my truck against the coral, a loud scratching noise emanating from the hit and shaking the entire vehicle. Unfortunately, the cruise control is still on and we continue driving towards more hard coral. I begin twisting the wheel left and right to avoid the many pieces of coral and avoid catastrophic damage.

*Bang*

Unfortunately, just as we make it out of plain of sharp coral, tiny pieces on the ground manage to pierce one of my tires. Quickly I turn off the cruise control and hit the brakes hard, twisting my vehicle to the right to add to the stopping power. My truck skids along the sand before coming to a jostling stop.

We stay still for a tense dozen seconds, both of us gripping our respective pieces tightly.

"You alright?" I ask my passenger.

"Ye-Yes." She manages to say.

"Phew!... Good." I sigh in relief and finally let go of the steering wheel, little impressions lining the part where I was holding on. Taking a deep breath, I unhook y seatbelt and get out.

"Where are you going?!" I hear Lapis ask me but I'm worried at this point about my ride. I look to where the coral brushed against my truck and it is not a pretty sight. I crouch down next to it and see the frame where the back left half of my truck is is shredded badly with deep grooves of the metal being pierced through and torn along. Scratches adorn it as well and there is a massive gash torn straight through the side of the tire.

"Okay, the frame can be replaced or possibly repaired. Gonna take a lot of welding and buffing to fix it though. Good thing I have a-"

"Uhhh, Marcus? Is this right?" I hear Lapis call out. Getting up, I walk around my truck and see her standing next to my front right tire. To add to my depression, the tire is completely flat. Wondering what happened to it, I crouch next to the tire and examine it to see what the damage is. To piss me off even more, I find a large sharp piece of hard coral lodged in my tire. Gripping it tightly, I wedge the offending piece out and examine it a little before tossing it away.

"So much for my spare." I sadly say and sit down against my truck.

"What's wrong?" I look up as Lapis asks me the question.

"Shhhhh, my tires are popped. We can't move anywhere. Not on that terrain." I say while pointing to the sand around us. Thankfully my truck stopped on a large flat slab of stone but I'm still not going anywhere.

"Can't you fix them?"

I shake my head, "No. I don't have the necessary tools. I do have a spare tire but I have two popped tires. Even if I change one, I'm still not moving." I tell her. I lean back and let my head lay against my truck.

"Oh." She says sadly. There is a moment of silence for us because of the weight of the situation. She then sits down next to me and curls her legs against her chest.

We just sit there in silence for less than a minute, not sure what to say next.

"Hey." I get her attention.

"Yes?"

"Was there a specific destination you wanted to go to or did you just want to get away from the Crystal Gems?" I ask her. I know she wanted to get as far away from the others as she can but besides that I wasn't sure the destination she wanted to go to.

"Nowhere specific. I just wanted to get away from them mostly." She answers.

"Hm," I think for a bit and look around for a second at our surroundings. "Is this good?"

She looks at me for a second before looking at her surroundings as well. "Yeah… yeah this is good." She accepts our predicament. I nod and stand up, offering a hand to help her stand up as well.

"Good. Can you close off the path we took? I don't want anyone following us or the coast guard investigating." I ask of her. She waves her hand to the path and lets the water fall back to where it once was, except this time she keeps a large circle of the ocean free for us to be in. "Can you encase us in a dome sphere with a small hole in the top?" I ask her again. Without a word, she lets the water flow over us with only a small hole at the top the size of a manhole being the only thing spottable from the outside. She clenches her fists and the dome around us begins to harden up and turn to ice. "Nice job Lapis."

"Th… thanks." I turn to her weak voice to see her starting to sway.

"Lapis?" She begins to topple forward. "Lapis!" I shout and slide to her to catch her before he hits the ground. She falls limply into my arms. "Lapis! Lapis! Are you alright?!" I try to ask her but she remains unresponsive. Gently, I lay her down on a clean flat piece of the ground, mindful of her gem and see how she is. Nothing speaks out loud about her being injured but from what I can tell, she just seems to be unconscious. 'Probably from over extending her powers. She did part the ocean for us for hours in a row and I can't imagine the carefulness she had to exhibit in making this dome shape around us. Not to mention hardening it.' I deduce in my mind and sit back. Letting out a low breath of air, I look around for anything for me to use in my situation. "Let's see…"


"There." I voice my success. After Lapis fell unconscious, I decided to try and make a camp of sorts with what I have around me. When she pushed the water out from all around us, she pushed nearly all of it out; meaning that a few pieces of driftwood were left bone dry for me to make a fire with. I decided to make the fire not right next to Lapis for fear of drying her up since her affiliation is using hydrokinesis. Once the fire was made, I went around and gathered a couple pieces of fish that were left here as well. They weren't completely dried up but they were definitely passed on. It was simple enough to prepare them with my katana's to being cooked and now they lay suspended over the fire. "Now that that's done, what now?" I ask out loud. My only other form conversation with is Lapis and she's still unconscious after half-an-hour. With a dejected sigh, I stab my swords into the ground and sit down next to the fire between it and Lapis to warm myself up. I stare into the fire in captivated silence, watching as the flames lick at the wood and the air around it to keep itself alive and growing.

A minute passes and my eyes begin to burn from constantly watching the flames. I shake my head and rub eyes before sighing. Carefully, I pull out my revolver and examine the weapon. The hammer is still cocked to my surprise. I stare at the weapon for a few seconds before I set the hammer to its resting place before I open the cylinder and let the rounds fall from it.

*Cling*Cling*Cling*Cling*Cling*

In the quietness of our little hovel, five shells falling onto the rock are very evident around us and almost echoing. I leave one round in the cylinder and close it. Slowly, I bring my left hand up and slide it along the cylinder, making it cycle all around a few times before coming to a stop. Slowly, I pull the hammer back and lift the gun to the side of my head.

I keep it placed there for a few seconds before taking a deep breath.

'1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8… 9… 10.'

*Click*

Letting out the breath I was holding, I carefully take the gun away from my head and sigh. "Hm." I place the weapon next to me on my right. I take off the AK from my back and place it on the ground to my left. I stare into the fire some more, taking in the silence.

I grab my revolver again and look at it again before opening up the cylinder to see just how close I was.

"What's that?" I look behind me to see Lapis staring at me but still lying down. Closing the cylinder without seeing where the round is, I scoop the other rounds up and pat the spot next to me. She slowly gets up and proceeds to sit down next to me.

"This… is a weapon. A powerful weapon used by the human race." I rotate the cylinder before opening it up and taking the round out. "It fires these things called bullets. Very small rounds but when used in tandem with special powders and chemical compositions, turns this small almost harmless object into one of the deadliest fastest moving projectile you have ever seen." I explain. I hold the round out so she cups her hands to catch it. I simply drop the round into her hand and let her look at it.

"It doesn't look like much." She informs me.

I smirk at her deduction, "That's the idea. First glance it doesn't look like much but when combined with something like this," I grab my revolver and hold it up, "It can be a very dangerous weapon for anyone on the end of this." I point to the end of the barrel. I hold the handle out for her to take it. "Here."

"A-are you sure?" she asks me.

"Yeah, its fine. It's not loaded so you won't be accidentally shooting me or yourself." I tell her. She looks hesitantly at first at the offered weapon but slowly takes the handle in hand. The second I let go of the barrel, she feels the full force of its weight.

"Oh!" She almost drops it as her hand goes to the ground but she rights herself before it actually impacts it. She bounces the weapon a few times in her hands to truly gauge the weight of the weapon. "It's… heavier than I expected."

"Usually is." I simply say and return to staring at the fire. I hear her gently place my gun down on the ground between us.

"What about that one?" her finger accompanies her words in my vision as she points to the other side of me. Looking, I see she meant my AK. Releasing a heavy sigh, I pull the gun onto my lap.

"This… one… is a special gun. This is the AK and there are thousands like it and it's renowned for its reliability, power and accuracy." I inform her with a slight smile. I pause in my explanation as I spot the slit hole in the side of the receiver. "But this one's useless. Gone. No longer operable. I can strip out the parts and use them elsewhere but the heart of the weapon, the receiver, I can't use it anymore." I say depressingly with my head low.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." She apologizes to me.

"It's fine. Not your fault." I tell her it's alright. Silence reigns its head around again as I continue to look over the weapon, trying to come up with some way to hopefully repair it.

"What's special about it?"

"I'm sorry?" I look at her.

"You say there are thousands like it, what makes this one special?" She asks me curiously. For several quiet seconds, I continue to stare at her, making her cringe and shrink a little at my never changing face before I look at the fire.

"This belonged to a friend of mine." I tell her. She goes to say something, "He's dead now." I interrupt her. 'Can't believe I'm going to tell her… but I don't care anymore.' "I'm 18 years old. 3 years ago, when I was 15, I knew a guy for awhile. I was alone and scared, didn't trust anyone." Then this guy found me.


I'm alone. I have bruises all over my body and a big guy standing over me with pipe in hand.

"I told you just to give up your money man. Just had to go and make it painful for yourself." The man says in a deep voice. By this point, I didn't care whether I lived or die. I had left my home away from my father and I just walked and walked to god knows where. Eventually, I was cornered and my assailant tried to mug me but he took my silence as defiance and beat me. I remember he got ready to bash my skull in.

"Get away from him!" I didn't bother to look up as I heard the sounds of struggles and clanging metal for half a minute.

"Get out of here!"

"You're gonna pay for that you little bitch! I swear it!" Retreating footsteps and deep breathing are the only other things I hear after the scuffle.

"You alright?" I slowly look up and see another person standing over me, smaller and sporting a few bruises with his hand extended to me. Slowly but carefully, I reach out with my right hand… and he grabbed it.


"From then on, we became the best of friends for months. His name was jack and I never told him I was alone so for a few months we mostly hung out at his place. I lied about my age so it would make sense I lived on my own but in reality, he was a year older than me. His parents were incredibly nice and offered to make me food to eat whenever I would come over. He was a gun nut and wanted to buy all sorts of firearms for his collection. From old to new, if it was effective and awesome, he wanted it." I hold up the AK in my hand and smile. "This… was his first and most prized purchase. He took me to a secluded place where we would practice shooting. He taught me how to shoot, clean, and fix these weapons like it was nothing. We had each other's back and had a lot of fun." My smile turns to a frown. Tears begin to well up in the sides of my eyes. "For a few months at least."

"What happened?" Lapis asks me, leaning in a bit more, clearly wondering what happened.

I stare into the fire, seeing the whole thing play before me in the depts of the flames.


One night, I was heading to his house just to see if he wanted to hang out. I was walking down the road to his place when I noticed a truck parked in front of his place. Before I could question the whole thing, I saw four guys run out his front door frantically, a couple of them griping parts of their body in pain. The guys jumped in the passenger seats of the truck and the back of it before the drive peeled out. One of the guys in the back looked and for a second, our eyes met and I froze as I recognized it as the man who beat me and Jack saved me from. He gave me a sadistic smile while their vehicle drove away. Shaking myself from seeing the man, my heart started to beat faster and faster as I stared at the open door to his house. I bolted to the door and threw it open to see a gruesome sight. I covered my mouth to keep myself from screaming as I saw the dead corpses of my best friend's mother, father and sister in the living area.

The mother and daughter were shot dead clutching each other. The father was riddled with bullets and was next to another body with a broken champagne glass stem stuck through the assailant's neck. I almost threw up right then and there but I looked around to find my friends body when it wasn't. I got out of there and looked to his room to see another guy dead with bullet holes adorning both the door and the attacker. Stepping over the body, I carefully push open his door.

"Hey Marcus."

"Jack!" I yell out and crouch next to my friend. His chest has a round in it and his stomach has a few as well. In his right hand is his AK with half the magazine spent. "Oh my god! Jack! Jack, please stay with me! I'll call help and-" He grabs my hand.

"We… we both know I'm not going to make it." He weakly says. I tried to deny it but I knew he wasn't going to make it. I didn't know the extent to where he got it or what punctured what but I knew it.

"I-I-I… I'm sorry. It was him. The guy you saved me from." I try to tell him through tears and a choked voice. "It was him. He did this."

"Hehe, I should have known. Guess he… Ngh…. Lived up to what he said." He groans out.

"I'm sorry, Jack. If you had never… If you hadn't… Then he wouldn't have…" I try to say but my voice keeps breaking.

"Sh. It's fine man. I don't regret it… I got a great friend…" I smiled at his compliment, "And… I get to be with my family." He says through tears. I squeeze his hand harder as I remember his family.

"Jack…" I cry out.

"Hey… Take care man." He says with a smile. I nod.

*Thud*

His hand falls limply from mine and impacts the floor.

I don't scream. I don't yell. I just… cry. I cry for the loss of a great life and others as well. Tears fall like rivers down my face and hit his limp hand. For a few minutes I stay like that, weeping until my eyes run dry. Slowly, I reach to my friends face and close his eyes. I reach down and grab his AK. Going to his closet, I grab the extra magazines he has and make my way to the back door as the police arrive. As I walk down the alleyway, my movements are slow.

The killers face flashes before me.

I turn into a jog.

The license plate flashes before me.

I run.

My friends body.

I start sprinting with my objective in mind.


"After that night, I spent the next several days searching high and low for him that bastard. I kept to the shadows, rooftops and non-public areas so I could search for him. A few days after, I snuck into a police station and hacked into one of their computers, accessing their criminal database and facial recognition software to find mention of the guy I saw. He had a record and others he hung out with. Using that and the license plate, I found the one area where all that was most frequently spotted in."


I walk up to the door of the abandoned warehouse and listen for the voices. I hear them laughing and having a good time inside. Talking about miscellaneous things but when I heard the guy speak, I acted.

Racking the bolt carrier back, I kick open the door.

"What the-?!" One of them didn't have time to do anything before I opened fire. I kept the assault rifle level along my side with my face keeping its impassive look as I took one life after another. When I exhausted the ammo in the magazine, I switched it out and looked at the five corpses. I recognized the guys from the house as well as some of the injuries they sustained thanks to my friend.

"Ng." I hear a grunt and look to see one of them crawling towards a gun.

*Bang*

"Argh!" The man groans out as I shoot the hand that was outstretched to grab the M1911. I kick him in the stomach, making him choke and curl up before he looks up to see my face. "You?! You son of a-"

*Chi-chick*

I pull the bolt back, loading the round in and aim at his face with one hand. The guy that survived is my assailant.

My friends killer.

"You can't do it. Not when I'm down like this. You don't have the guts to-"

*BANG!*


"From that point on, I didn't want to die anymore. I didn't want to just give up and lie down like that. From that point, I became a vigilante. I traveled a lot, went to different cities and did what I could to help. Save people from being mugged, killed rapists and murders, provided info to the police anonymously on criminal activities, anything I could do to help innocent people. It wasn't a pretty life but… one I was willing to partake in. There are… still moments where I… see faces but… I still test myself to see if I'm still able to live." I finish my story. For the few years I've been alone, this was the biggest I was holding in for so long. Now that its out…

I put the weapon down and immediately embrace Lapis in a hug, much to her surprise. She hesitates for a second before holding me back.

"He didn't deserve to die! His family didn't deserve to die!" I almost yell out.

"I-I-I know Marcus."

"They didn't… they didn't…"

I break down.

Any emotional barriers I could have possible had come crumbling down as I bawl into Lapis's shoulder. You may think that while we've only known each other for barely a day, I feel like there is something about her that I can trust with this. Maybe it's because she's alone and she can't tell anyone else. Maybe it's because she was trapped. Maybe it's because of the secrets that the gems have kept that have me indifferent about them.

I don't know. All I know it is that I spent the next hour crying to Lapis.


The time passes and I gently release her with my eyes red from the crying.

"Thank you." I thank her with my voice a little hoarse.

"You're welcome." She replies.

My eyes fall back to the fire. It's starting to go low and the fish have already burned off. I'm not too beat up over it so I simply grab the sticks and toss them away.

"I came to this planet thousands of years ago." I look at Lapis as she begins to talk while staring into the fires with her legs curled against her. "The rebellion had already started and I was only meant to visit for a short time but… I got caught in the middle of the war. It was awful! So much fighting and destruction… I tried to run but…" She pauses and looks like she's having a little trouble.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I grasp her shoulder.

"No. No, I want to just...*Sigh*… I was destroyed by a Homeworld soldier and forced to retreat into my gem. I was later picked up by another Homeworld soldier and confused for a Crystal Gem and used as a tool. They placed me inside that… damn mirror and wanted me to talk. They'd asked me, "Show us your base!", "Where is your leader?" I didn't know anything. I couldn't say I'm not one of them. After awhile, the war escalated and it became clear that there was no hope in stopping the rebellion. All of the Homeworld Gems fled, retreating home and in all the panic of escaping Earth, I was left behind." Even though her eyes stay the same glassy look, I can tell she's probably reminiscing about the whole thing. "And there I stayed. Laying there. Freedom in my sight, but out of reach for years."

'Oh god. I can't imagine that amount of torture. Stuck in a prison for thousands of years with someone else controlling your eyes.'

"It seemed hopeless for so long, just watching the vastness of space pass for years until I was found by that… Pearl." She groans out Pearls name.

"Really?" I ask.

"Really." She confirms.

"Hm, sounds like to me that it's Homeworld you should have a beef with. Not the Crystal Gems." I inform her. If it's the Homeworld soldiers that hurt and captured her, maybe she needs to be mad at them.

"Maybe… but if it wasn't for the Crystal Gems and their Rebellion, I wouldn't have been imprisoned for thousands of years." She tells me bitterly. I don't expect her to suddenly start loving the Crystal Gems but I don't want her to be openly hostile against them either.

The fire finally dies out. Standing up, I kick the sand over the fire and stomp on it to ensure it stays out. Once its dead, I stand there for a few seconds before I pick up my stuff and head to my truck. "I'm going to get some sleep."

"You sleep?" she asks me. I open the door and place my AK on the passenger seat and my revolver and its speedloaders in the glove compartment.

"Yeah, yeah I do. I may be a gem but I'm also human. I still need to rest and eat." I close the passenger door and open back door. "I'll see you in the morning Lapis. From then, we'll work out a plan to get you home." I inform her.

"Okay. Goodnight." She wishes me goodnight.

"Night." I climb into the back seat to lay on it but I stop just from closing the door. I lean out, "Hey Lapis?" She turns back to me, "The Crystal Gems aren't all bad. I know they were indifferent and ignorant of your imprisonment and I don't blame you for your anger. I'm not asking you to instantly like them, but… I hope eventually… you can at least tolerate their presence so you don't attack them on sight." I tell her. True the gems didn't exactly help but they are still good people from what I can tell and I hope Lapis is the only skeleton in their closet, so to speak, I found.

Without another word, I move back in and slam the door shut. Finding myself as comfortable as I can get, I prepare to go to sleep but my mind leaves me with one final thought.

'Whelp, let's see what tomorrow brings.' My body settles in and I drift to sleep.

Needless to say, tomorrow get's very interesting.

This chapter was originally planned to be a part of the next chapter but I decided to go ahead and split it. I felt like it would have been pretty cool to have a chapter dedicated to the two alone. While I felt comfortable with Marcus's past to write, I felt a little miffed at the lack of Lapis's past like before she came to Earth. I did what I could to stretch it out at least but it still kinda sucks.

Anyhow, it seems the two have bonded and you guys got a nice chunk of Marcus's past for you all to pick at. To be honest, the past was also an on the spot write as well. It's a little annoying to suddenly come up with new things that seem like they are a good thing to put in. So far I've done a few of those on the spot put ins and I was hoping if you guys could tell me if they are good or not because I know of other writers who spend weeks, months and possibly years developing stories to write. I've had this idea for quite awhile but its only when I actually start writing that these new ideas start to pop up. I hope their alright for you guys what with Marcus leaving with Lapis and this part of his past coming up.

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