Things have gotten pretty normal considering the whole fiasco with Lapis and the ocean. I'm still a little surprised at the kiss that Lapis gave me before she left and it was hard not to think about it. She kissed me! Technically, that was the first kiss I ever had. To say that the whole situation wasn't in the least bit jarring would be an understatement. Regardless, there isn't a whole a whole lot I can do about it because of Lapis's departure so for now. I'm busying myself right now with something a bit more important.

"Wow. Those water constructs really did a number on your truck Marcus. Hmm..." Pearl points out as she examines my engine a little closer.

"Yeah, no kidding. Man it's amazing at the amount of power she has. And it was when her gem was cracked too! Can't imagine what she would be capable of now." I say while looking at where my tires are supposed to go. Just from looking at my vehicle it's going to take a bit of work to get it running again.

"Ah, give it a rest, you guys. That thing will be busted forever." Amethyst meanwhile can't help but voice her useless thoughts on the matter while sitting down and leaning beside the car wash while crossing her arms behind her head.

"And would you please shut up." I sternly tell her before going back to my examination. "I don't tell you on whether or not your stuff is broken forever or not. Wait, isn't your room full of decade old garbage?!"

"Hey, that stuff-!"

"I for one completely disagree on the matter." Pearl quickly interrupts our argument before it starts. "It's just a simple human machine. I'm sure that I can figure this whole thing out before you know it!" She happily says.

"It's not so much figuring out what's wrong at this point Pearl." I say as I push myself onto my feet and shine a flashlight into my engine. "I know this things insides fairly well so mostly we just need to get the parts and materials to fix it. Then it's just a matter of time once we get everything." I explain while shining the light deep into the engine, noticing more than a few tubes that are either torn or ripped entirely.

"Well that's good. At least we won't have to spend as much time figuring out what's wrong." She replies. I nod.

"Hey guys!" We stop our inspection of my vehicle to see Steven and Greg coming over to us.

"Zoop!" Greg says as he boosts himself along on a chair using a hockey stick. "I got something that will patch that truck up real good!" He says with confidence as he rummages through a toolbox.

Pearl can't help but gasp and cup her hands at the idea of what could be in the toolbox. "Is it some kind of complex human tool?" I quietly snigger at her enthusiasm.

'Yeah, highly doubt that Pearl.' I think as I go back to trying to examine the bottom of my engine.

"Yup, high-quality duct tape!" I look up as Greg holds of said item. "Some well placed duct tape can patch anything up in a pinch, see?" He points to his broken leg that's fitted with a ruler and a stick duct-taped to it.

'Huh, well he's not useless that's for sure. On top of his quick thinking at running over that water clone, at least he knows how to support a broken bone.'

"I'm sure that we can fix this without your tape." She bluntly declines him, obviously a little peeved at not seeing a complex human tool. You'd think she be at least impressed with the plasma torches I've used to make my bombs.

"Aw c'mon! It's the least I can do for wreaking his ride. Sorry again for that." He apologizes to me.

"Ehhhh, its fine. It wasn't really your fault that my truck got wrecked like this." I reassure him. "However I will take your tape." I quickly swipe the tape from his outstretched hand. "I'm sure I can find a use for it." I place it on the roof of my truck and go back to my engine.

"Well, gee, at least let me give you a hand." Greg tries to stand up to help us by trying to stand using his hockey stick. He fails however as he falls back down in his chair, due to his weak leg. Steven runs over to him to help him.

"I'm sorry that you hurt your leg and that your van got smashed up because of me." Steven apologizes to him.

He smiles as he pats Steven's head. "You apologize too much. Maybe I shouldn't have tagged along in that crazy adventure. But at least I got to spend some time with my fave guy! Besides it's not that smashed up." We all glance at his van nearby. It's true, the only thing really broken is a few miscellaneous items inside and an indentation in the side of it the shape of my body. "I'm still surprised you were able to get up after that Marcus. Let alone hold up that giant shield. You sure your alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine Greg. Trust me, I've faced much worse injuries." I glance at both Amethyst and Garnet, getting an embarrassed look from the both of them. "Much… much worse." I go back to my engine.

"What if you stayed with us until you got better?" Steven proposes.

"Hey, that's a great idea! But, won't I get in the way of your training?" He asks.

"Yes!" Pearl quickly says without any hesitation.

"Pearl! Rude." I scold her.

"Wait, Steven." Amethyst gets the kids attention as she sits up. "Don't you have healing powers now?"

"Oh yeah, he does." I say, remembering the kids talent.

"Oh, right, yes!" Pearl smiles nervously. "You fix Greg, I'll fix the van, and we can fix the truck! And nobody has to live with us." She murmurs the last part to herself.

"Eh-hem." I catch her attention.

"Oh, but of course I could never forget you Marcus!" She says with an almost cringe-worthy nervousness about her.

"Mh-hm." I moan out a confirmation as I start to tear out the pieces that aren't working anymore 'Wow, she must really not like Greg.'

"Yeah! Mm-hmm! Here goes something new and exciting." Steven says and licks his hand, covering it in his healing saliva. "And... go!" He slaps his hand onto Greg's leg. He tenses up at the contact but calms down soon after. "Okay, you should be better now."

"Okay, if you say so." Greg tries to stand up with some difficulty but he falls back in his chair.

"Why didn't it work?" Steven asks in a disappointed tone.

"Hey, sorry, buddy. Maybe you just need a little more practice." Greg tries to reassure his son of his apparent failure.

"But... I was doing so well before!" Steven instead cries out.

"Steven, don't worry about it. Your powers are a bit fickle, after all." Pearl deduces.

"Just give it a bit more time." Garnet chimes in.

"Besides," I speak up, pulling out a broken sparkplug from inside the engine. "From what I can remember, your powers mostly worked on gem injuries. If it didn't help your dads leg, maybe it's because he's fully human." I throw in my two cents on the matter. True the healing stuff worked on me when my body was severely beat up at the fountain but I'm also a gem. That could account for it.

"That is a possibility." Pearl says with a hand to her chin.

"But wait, what about Connie? I healed her eyes remember?"

'Damn, there goes that idea.' I think, remembering Connie's little freak out at not needing glasses anymore. "Well… her injury wasn't so much an injury. More like… a genetic defect I guess you could say." I try to reason. At this point I'm trying to bullshit a good enough excuse so Steven won't feel as bad.

"Oh who cares!" Greg pipes up and grabs his son in a cheerful headlock. "Cheer up, Steven! At least now we get to spend some more time together, right?" He tries to cheer his son up.

"Yeah, right." He succeeds.

"Anything you can find?" Pearl asks me. I look a bit more I can swear I see some more broken parts but there at the very bottom and I can't fully see or reach them.

"Yeeeaaaaah, sort of. Can't reach it though." I click off the flashlight and motion for Pearl to stand back. "Garnet, can you give me a lift please?" Without a word, she reaches forward, grips the bumper of my truck and picks it up effortlessly. "Thank you. Now let me see if I can-"

*Crash*

"HOO-AH!" Steven yelps. We all stare at the engine that completely fell out.

"Marcus, why is your eye twitching?" I hear Pearl's voice but right now I'm doing everything in my power to keep from raging.

"I'm done." I bluntly say as I drop the flashlight. Without another word, I turn right around and start heading back to the house.

"But-"

"Nope." With my final say, I continue on.


Guns were always my strong suit as well as most other items but cars, I know how my ride works but the amount of damage… I'm too tired to deal with this. So instead I chose to chill out at the temple.

Or I did.

Steven and his dad came soon after and spent the entire day playing around, having fun, being… happy.

It was nice watching Steven and his dad have some quality time with each other but I also felt angry. Angry at my own father. Needless to say I vacated the house before I did something I would regret. It didn't help much though since they came out a little while after I did and Steven started hosing his dad down of soda. They were still laughing at the whole thing, having utter joy in each other's company.

"Raaargh!"

*Boom*

Which is why I waited until they went back inside before I let out a cry of rage and punch the rock face on the side of the mountain, sending a crack straight to the top, thankfully missing the temple itself and the statue.

I breathe in and out harshly for a few seconds before I calm myself down. I turn to head back to the car wash but I stop at seeing Pearl right behind me holding a box of parts, surprise etched on her face. 'Shit.'

"What was that?" she asks.

"Nothing." I say as I walk past her.

"That…" She drops the box of parts and roughly grabs my shoulder. "Wasn't nothing." She points to the crack. "What's going on?" She asks me.

I clench my fists tightly before I let them relax. I slowly turn my head to the side and look at her before nodding to the top of the cliff. I walk out of her grip and proceed to walk to the top of the mountain near the lighthouse. For a second my footsteps are all I hear but Pearl follows me.

I make it to the top of the cliff and stop at the edge where the crack appeared. "Okay, we're here. Talk." She orders me.

I take a moment to compose myself so I don't fly off the deep end. "You've seen the relationship that Steven has with his dad… right?" She nods in my peripheral. "Good. The happiness… the good… the fun…" I slightly spat out the words.

"I don't get it. You've been really supportive of Steven and helped him as much as you can since you've been here. Why is his relationship with Greg making you hate it so?" She asks confused.

"He he he, you think I'm mad at him? No, I'm not. I'm happy. I'm elated that he has a father as good as Greg. He gives him love, support, safety, the embodiment that a father needs to give their son."

"Then why are you-"

"I'm not angry at their father-son relationship!" I interrupt her, my voice pitching slightly higher and higher with each word. "I'm angry at mine!" I tell her finally.

She remains silent at my words. "What?" She asks confused.

"Huuuuu." I let out a sigh and sit down on the edge of cliff. She joins me soon after. "Pearl, while Greg handled it alright when Rose… left, right?" I ask her. She looks down solemnly at the reminder of her friend's departure, but she nods nonetheless to my question. "While Greg was a father to Steven… mine wasn't."

"What do you mean?" She asks quietly.

I stay silent for a second before taking a deep breath. "When my mom left, and made me… my dad, Michael, wasn't supportive. Oh no, he hated me. I don't know what relationship they had for when she would have me but it obviously failed. When she left me with him, that's when my entire life went to hell. He didn't care about me. He only cared about her. He took care of me enough to live but every day I was a reminder, a mistake to him." I spat out, my emotions riling of as I remember what he used to do. "He would beat me, most of the time randomly. Put me down, tell me I was nothing. Told me that my mother a thousand times better than me, said she should never have had me because I took her away from him." I tell her. I continue to stare out into the ocean's surface but I can still feel Pearls eyes on me. "Some days he'd just beat me, others he'd whip me, step on me… days when he would be drinking or smoking… throwing a bottle at me or… using me as an ashtray."

"Oh, Marcus." I hear her.

"You can't see the scars anymore. They disappeared when Rose's fountain washed over me. For years, I endured his bullshit treatment, constantly getting hurt for no reason and never getting any answers for what I am or who my mom was. He felt I never deserved the answers. Well, one day, 5 years ago, I talked back, fed up with his treatment of me." I touch the side of my head. "He didn't take it well."


*Crash*

"Aaah!" I yell as the bottle impacts the side of my head, breaking on impact and showering me with its content and glass. I fall to the ground from the hit and feel the alcohol wash over me.

"HOW DRE YOU TALK BACK TO ME?!" I hear my father's voice scream at me. "I AM YOUR FATHER AND YOU'LL SHOW ME SOME RESPECT!"

"Respect? RESPECT?!" I scream at him while holding the side of my head, stopping the cut from getting any worse. "How can I show you respect when you've never shown me anything?! Nothing! You've never helped me whatsoever! All you do is beat and hurt me! You haven't even told me about these!" I yell as I stand and point to the gems on my shoulders. He scowls as I point to them. "You've never even told me about mo-!"

*SLAP*

I fall as he back hands me. "You insolent runt! Don't you even talk about her! You don't deserve to even have her gems!" I hear him grip something but I'm too dazed to see. "You were a mistake… one that I mean to fix." I hear him lowly say.

"Arrrrrghhh!" I yell in pain as he roughly turns me around and stabs me with the broken bottle in my shoulder. He twists it a little, digging more into me.

"You. Are. Nothing." He hisses at me, the scent of alcohol on his breathe evident even through the haze of pain. "You aren't her and you'll never be her!" He yells in my face. He tears the bottle up and brings it over his head. "NOW DIE!"

"NOOO!" I yell as I grab a broken shard of glass and swing it at me.

"Gah!" He chokes as my attack slices his hand. Taking the opportunity, I jump to my feet and head for the front door. "You're nothing! You little shit!" I hear his voice faintly as I run away.


"After that, I ran. I just… ran and ran for I don't know how long until my legs gave out from exhaustion. The good thing was that none of my wounds got infected because of the alcohol he splashed on me. It was just a matter of closing them up but I wasn't too destroyed after that." I finish tell her.

"Wow, I never realized that humans could be so… cruel. Especially to their offspring." She says a little sadly.

"Yeah." I say in the same tone. "Some have good reasons for their actions, others don't. Most of the time it's a matter of perspective and their mental state of mind. Guess I drew the short end of straw on my dad."

"I'm so sorry Marcus. You didn't deserve that kind of life." She tries to comfort me.

"Hm, thanks Pearl." I thank her and stand up. I extend a hand to help her up. She takes it and I easily pull her onto her feet. "It's not your fault, you had no power over it so I don't accept your apology…" I place a hand on her shoulder and smile. "But I appreciate it nonetheless." She smiles at my new attitude compared to before. "I don't hate Steven, or Greg, whatsoever so if you think I'm going to do something rash to them, don't worry, I'm not that far gone." I reassure her.

"That's good to hear."

"Yep." I look around the landscape for a bit, noticing how low the sun is on the horizon, before my eyes stop on the car wash. "Look, Pearl. I don't think I'm going to work on my truck anymore. I think I'm just going to relax for a bit, you know?" I tell her.

"That's fine. I think I'll go head and check on Greg's van to make sure everything is in working order. We'll work on yours later."

"Thank you, Pearl." I thank her and proceed to head down the cliff. "Hey, Pearl?" She turns to look at me. "Please don't tell the others, okay? I only told you because you asked. If they ask you, point them to me."

"Of course, Marcus." She agrees with a slight bow.

"Thanks. You're the best." I compliment her and continue heading home. "Night."

"Goodnight!"


Soon, Marcus walks into the house and prepares himself for bed. Unbeknownst to him, Pearl watched him walk from the beach with a sad look about her at the knowledge of her friend.

"Oh Marcus. I'm so sorry you had to deal with such a cruel man." She says quietly to herself. Truly, she knew some humans can be cruel people but she never heard of firsthand accounts of abuse on that scale. Thinking about the similarity between him and Steven, she's thankful that Steven never had to deal with anything like that. Looking down, she grabs the box of parts she had earlier and heads over to the car wash, her goal firmly set in mind.


"Bombs away!" I watch as Amethyst throws her paper airplane in the air. It twirls a bit before turning right and hits Greg in the head. Him, Steven and Amethyst start to laugh at the whole thing. I lightly chuckle as I polish one of my Beretta's.

It's the next day and I feel a bit better after my talk with Pearl. My feelings for her are still… complicated, but I can safely say things seem to be in the norm. We agreed that anything from our pasts that come back to haunt us are to be told to us, but as long as my dad doesn't come by looking for me, I can safely say it's nothing to worry about. The whole thing still sucks but I can't deny that my friends and new family are a way step up from what I had before.

*Creak*

The door opens, causing us all to look up… and my jaw drops.

Pearl walks in, covered in oil, no doubt from looking through Greg's engine. What does make my mind start to go… different, is she starts to clean herself up with a towel as she drops the toolbox she has. 'Oh my god… why do I find this so hot?' I question myself.

*Click*

The magazine in my pistol unceremoniously falls from the gun, snapping me from my thoughts. With a quick head shake, I quickly grab the magazine and go back to cleaning furiously without them noticing.

"You're back. The Geode is cracked, we must leave immediately." I hear Garnet say in her usual monotone voice.

"What?"

"Oh, no!"

"Steven, Marcus, you too."

"Awesome!" I say at Garnets order and jump off my chair before jogging to the warp pad.

"Yeah!" Steven stands up excitedly.

"Aw, really?" Greg asks.

"Oh, oh, yeah." Steven realizes that he's been taking care of his father this whole time.

"It's okay, Steven, I'll be fine. You go on your mission." Greg encourages his son.

"Are you sure?" Steven makes sure his dad is okay with it.

"Of course."

"Thanks Dad! We'll be back before you know it!" Steven says loudly and I join him in heading to the warp pad with the others.

"Don't worry about your old man... My leg's not getting any more broken. If I need something, I'll just... crawl." Greg attempts in a poor way to garner sympathy from us. I however can't help but roll my eyes. He starts to look teary eyed as he finishes up. "My arms are still not... broken."

"Oh, brother." Amethyst mutters as she and the others begin to walk off the warp pad except me.

"Marcus could you…?"

"On it." I quickly catch on to what Garnet is saying and activate the warp pad.


The dizzy-esque feeling I have disappears as I appear in front of my destination. From the look of the place, I'm in the right spot. The dark clouds and thunder strikes above me strike loudly and with massive force, sending tremors all along my body. I shake myself from the vibrations and examine the ground before me.

There is a large metallic sphere in a massive crater just in front of the warp pad. Without hesitation, I step off the pad and proceed to slide down the craters edges. I slow myself down when I go to stable ground in front of the massive crack adorning the structure. The thing has a dark black color to it while the crack is emanating a bright light to it. I place a tentative hand on the structure and get a feel for its composition. "Hm, a slight metal feel to it. The crack isn't any larger than my forearm. Maybe I can-" My contemplation of what to do is interrupted as I hear the warp pad activate.

Turning back, I spot Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven standing on the warp pad. "Man, this place is janked up." Amethyst comments.

"You're telling me!" I wave to them.

"Wow. Was there an explosion or something?" I hear Steven say barely through the storm. Judging from the massive crater I'm standing in, I can pretty much guess that this was a meteor at one point.

"Almost." Garnet walks forward off the pad.

"What you're looking at is a synthetic storm that was caused and contained in-" Pearls explanation gets interrupted as we hear a distinct whistling noise pierce the air waves, coming from the warp pad.

"Is that the Warp Whistle?"

"Warp what?" I ask in general to Amethyst's question.

"Ah! Dad needs me, I'll be right back!" Without missing a beat, Steven warps back to the Beach house.

"What's going on?" I ask Pearl as I walk up to her.

"We gave Greg the Warp Whistle to call us should he ever have an emergency."

"Ah. Okay." I nod to her explanation.

"Did you have any ideas for that crack?" Garnet asks me as she points to it.

"I have one. I was thinking-"

Steven warps back. "Sorry for the holdup!" He says loudly.

"Is everything okay?" Pearl asks the kid.

Amethyst sits down. "Hey, did Greg fall down and break his butt? Ha ha!" She laughs at her own question.

"That's not funny." Garnet says in an almost deathly serious tone.

'Woah. Haven't heard of anyone else as serious about a broken butt than that one SpongeBob episode.' I think.

"I know." Apparently Amethyst knows the gravity of that situation because she looks down sadly.

"Like I was saying, this is a synthetic-"

And there goes the warp whistle again, interrupting Pearl yet again. "I'm sure it's very important." Steven predicts and warps back to the house.

"It's a what?" I turn to ask Pearl.

"*Sigh* This structure houses within it a synthetic storm so powerful that if it were to completely break open instead of just that crack, the storm would be unleashed at vaporize nearly anything within a 5 mile radius."

"Wooooooow." I voice my awe of the structure next to us. A structure able to create a synthetic storm… that's a lot of power for it have. "Hold it." I start to think of the possibilities it could be used for. "This synthetic storm, if contained enough, could it act just like a normal storm would? You know, thunder, lightning, dark clouds, massive rain fall?" I ask her.

"In a way, yes. The storm would mostly be used for it's powerful vaporizing potential thunder strikes but rain would accompany it." She explains while looking at the object. "Why?" She asks me.

"Hmmm." I think on the possibilities. 'I can see this both as a weapon and an agricultural boon. In war, it would be easy to place this in an enemy's supply route or troop movement and effectively cut them off if its strikes are as powerful as Pearl says. For a boon instead of weapon, if one were to… control just how much of the storm is let out, a synthetic storm anywhere, especially in water-starved parts of the world, would be perfect in preventing droughts. Especially in growing crops.' My mind goes through different scenarios and potentials this thing could go for. For good… or bad. "Hmmm."

The warp pad activated yet again, revealing Steven. "It was very important."

"Okay, so if the Geode breaks, then the storm will be unleashed and our bodies will be vaporized." Pearl quickly explains to the kid before anymore interruptions happen.

"Then... we'd be dead." He manages to deduce, thankfully without interruption.

"Pretty much." I agree with him.

"That's where you come in." Garnet speaks up and proceeds to direct Steven toward the crack.

"Say what?" He questions.

"You should try and seal that crack with your healing powers." Garnet proposes.

"But... what if I can't do it?" He asks dejectedly.

"It won't hurt to try." Garnet encourages him.

"Yeah, c'mon man." I clap his shoulder and proceed to lift his spirits. "There's no shame in trying."

"Okay." He agrees walks toward the Geode. Licking his hand, he slaps it onto the Geode… and nothing happens. "Mmmmm!" He tries to force it. "It's not working! Ugh." He sighs in defeat and let's go of the Geode. "I knew this would happen. Just when I thought I was getting better." He says sadly.

"Don't beat yourself up, Steven."

"Yeah, don't worry about it!"

"We'll find another way!" The gems all try to reassure the kid of his apparent failure but he has none of it.

"Eh. You don't understand. How am I supposed to call myself a Crystal Gem, if I can't even-" His self put-down is interrupted as the Warp Whistle goes off again. With nothing else to do, we all decide to warp back and see what's going on "Dad! Daaad! Are you okay?" Steven cries out at seeing his father slumped against the bed and runs up to him. I reach for my pistols, ready to act in case whoever attacked Greg is still here. "Answer me!"

"Steven!" He jerks awake and looks at his son. "You just missed... the funniest commercial."

"God damnit." I curse under my breath as I let go of my guns.

"What?"

"Haha, it was that one for the dog treats where the dog's dressed up like a doctor. If I ever get heartworms, I'm eating those dog treats." I barely listen to Greg's explanation as I head to the fridge and pull out a soda.

"Dad, you're only supposed to use the Warp Whistle for emergencies. Like if you fell down and broke your butt!" Steven scolds his dad at his blatant use of the Warp Whistle as I take a sip of my drink.

"Yeah, sorry about that." He apologizes to his son.

"*sigh* It's okay."

"Since you're here, mind grabbing me a snack from the Big Donut?" I roll my eyes at Greg's request before I down the last of the drink and toss the can in the trash.

"Yeah, sure thing." Steven concedes to the request and starts walking down the stairs. "I'll be right back guys." He tells us and moves to the door.

"Hang on Steven." I call out and head to him. "I need to get some stuff from my truck."

"Alright."

"We'll be in the temple." Garnet tells us as the three gems open the door to the temple.

"We have to come up with another plan, quick." I hear Pearl tell Garnet. From the urgency in her voice, chances are we need to find a solution to the Geode crack soon or risk a rupture and completely releasing the storm.

"Yo, dude, no worries about earlier. You'll get ahold of your powers before ya know it!" Amethyst yells out to Steven to try to lift his spirits.

"Thanks, Amethyst!" He replies.

"Get me a croissant." She manages to say before the temple doors close.

'Man this sucks. Everyone else has their own room and I don't. The one my mom showed me was only just a message. Purely designed to show me what she wanted to show me. I've tried to access it before with no luck. Hopefully soon I can get enough funds together to get a house built for my own purposes.' I think as we go out the door and head down the steps.

"Ah, I forgot to ask Dad what kind of donuts he wants. Ugh..." He sulks at forgetting that tidbit of info.

"That sucks. I'm gonna head on to… wait, I forgot. I moved everything here. I'm sure my welding equipment is somewhere in the pile."

We both turn back and walk inside to a surprising sight. "Hey, Dad, I-" He stops in an alarmed state, just like me, when we see his father at the fridge, dancing on his "broken" leg, carrying out food.

"Steven! Marcus!" He calls out our names and drops all the food he's carrying at the same time. "Ha, you had me scared there, you two. Didn't see you... standing in the doorway. Your old man's still got it son!" Steven however is having none of it and is staring at him angrily while I have my arms crossed and tapping my foot. "What, this? I guess I couldn't wait for those donuts." He motions to the food on the ground but then notices that that is not what Steven is referring to. It's his 'broken' leg that he's looking at. "Ugh... ouch... ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!" I slap my face at the poor cover-up that Greg is trying to accomplish… right in front of us. He rolls on the ground pretending to be hurt.

"Greg… please man… just, just… stop… please… you're embarrassing yourself." I say through my hand, trying to come up with a good enough sentence to get him to stop.

" Yeah dad, just stop. I get what's going on. Your leg isn't broken at all, is it?" Steven asks his old man.

"It was broken, but you healed it back at the car wash." He answers truthfully.

"You lied to me! Now I can't do it anymore!" Steven cries out sadly at the loss of his powers.

"What?" His father asks confused.

"The Gems needed me to fix the broken rock, but my healing powers aren't working. It-it's because of you, you messed with my head!" He accuses his father in a slightly angry but also fearful manner.

"No! I didn't mean to... I just wanted to live with my son again!" He tries to make the excuse for his son but Steven has none of it.

"I really thought I was getting better, I finally felt like a Crystal Gem. Now, what if I can't do anything?" I can't help but feel bad at the sad state Steven is in.

"Steven, don't beat yourself up! This is my fault!" He tries to reassure his son of his main part in the disappearance of Steven's powers but it does little.

"Yeah! Yeah it is!" He agrees with his dad at whose fault it is and runs outside.

"Damnit. I curse under my breath. 'Classical psychological move. Sometimes, things happen or don't happen based solely on a person's psychological state or whether or not they 'think' it will or will not work. By lying to Steven about his power not working, even though it did work, then when he 'thinks' his powers aren't working, his mind processes it to make it so his powers won't work. Tell a person something enough times… they'll believe it.' I think on the crappiness that Greg put his son in. "Greg, that wasn't cool what you did man. You really shouldn't have- What are you doing?" I go to give him a piece of my mind but I see him standing on the warp pad with the warp whistle in one hand and the toolbox in the other.

"Dad, I'm sorry, I... Dad!" Before he could answer me, Steven walks in to see his dad on the warp pad.

"It's time for me to fix the trouble I've caused." He says before he blows into the Warp Whistle, activating the warp pad. Before I can react, Steven jumps past me into the warp pad.

"Guys!" I cry out and try to grab them but I miss. The warp pad sends them off just as I move to grab them. "Crap!" I quickly move onto the warp pad and activate it, sending me to the Geode.


The warp tunnel disappears around me and I'm met with the still dark storm clouds overhead.

"It's still not working!" I hear Steven call out. Looking to the Geode, I see Steven next to the crack with Greg with him as well.

"Ah, forget it! I've got another idea!" I slide down as Greg says that and pulls out some duct tape. As I walk up to them, he pulls one long strip of tape along the crack and just like that, the storm ends. "There, see, as good as new!" He proclaims happily.

"Seriously?!" I ask incredulously. The both of them turn to me. "That's all that was needed?! Wow, man. I planning to weld that crack shut. Didn't think all it took was just some tape." I say while scratching my head.

"Like I said before, some tape can patch up anything in a pinch." He tosses the tape into the air before catching it again. I smile and pat the crack on the Geode, finding it is stable.

"It sure did. C'mon, lets go home. Despite what you did, Greg, why don't you and your son have a proper day to hang out you know?" I propose.

"Yeah!" They both agree and head to the warp pad with me trailing behind.


It's later in the day and right now Marcus's mind is reeling from the pristine looking truck in front of him. Like literally it's shining like new and he can't even see the damage from Lapis's assault at all.

"How…" He questions but is hard to find the proper words.

"So, I've replaced the tires..." Pearl begins to list off some of the things she did.

"But I…"

"… Realigned the axles..."

"Wha…"

"... Replaced the spark plugs..."

"How did you…"

"... Sealed the leaks in the intake manifold gaskets, buffed out the scratches, replaced the doors and recalibrated the timing belt. The gears are still sensitive so as long as you don't go shifting in an instant, your transmission should be fine." She finishes the list as all the others stood off to the side watching.

"…"

"Marcus?" Pearl asks her friend at his silent treatment.

"Pearl!" He yells her name and instantly grabs her in a hug, twirling her around in an excited manner. "I can't believe… how did you… I don't even know what to say?!" He says in surprise. After seeing the state of how his truck was in, plus the engine falling out, and the emotions he kind of went through, it's hard for him to process how his truck is in perfectly good condition now.

"There's no need to say anything. It wasn't a problem." She says sweetly. Truthfully, she wanted especially get his truck fixed because of the sensitive information he gave her and wanted to do something nice for him.

"Not a problem?!" He yells out as he grips her shoulders, staring into her eyes. "Pearl! I could kiss you!"

"We-well there's no need for-!"

You know how some people say they could kiss them and don't do it?

Yeah Marcus isn't one of those people.

Pearl's eyes widen from the kiss Marcus plants on her lips, the warm sensation completely foreign to her on that part of her body. Amethyst drops a bag of popcorn she was eating and the pieces in her mouth fall out as well with the jaw dropping event happening in front of her. Steven and Greg are just as shocked as well; even Garnet can't help but let her jaw drop in surprise at scene in front of her.

After a few seconds, Marcus lets her go. He has a smile on his face for a second after he let go but it quickly turns to horror at what he did. He steps back at seeing the wide-eye look and slightly agape mouth adoring Pearls features. He stammers a little, trying to form a proper sentence. "Uhhh… I… uh… I don't… I'm… I don't…" He quickly looks around for something to get him out of the situation he's in. His eyes land on Greg. "Uhhhh, what's that Greg? You need a ride to your van? Suuurrrree!" He fast walks over to the portly human.

"What?! I didn't say- Whoa!"

"No need man! I got you!" Marcus picks up Greg easily and opens the backseat door. He tosses the human in and shuts the door before quickly going to the driver seat and immediately turning the truck on before shifting into drive and peeling out on the sand, leaving the still stunned individuals right where they are. As he drives on the sand, the sea wall and boardwalk starts to come closer and closer. Greg tries to warn the driver but instead ducks into the backseat and prepares for the crash.

Marcus however hits it an angle and jumps up the angled wall, sending him into the air for a second before crashing onto the boardwalk and driving straight to the car wash. He is silent the whole drive there, focused entirely on the driving while Greg hangs on for dear life at his friends insane driving. They soon make it to car wash where Marcus slams on the brakes, stopping his struck with slight tire screeches.

"Woah!" And sending Greg rolling out of the backseat and falling into the passenger seat upside down. Marcus carefully turns off the truck and returns to roughly grabbing the steering wheel.

Silence reigns in for the duo, Marcus trying to come to terms with his action and Greg trying to not throw-up.

"Dude," Marcus glances to the upside down human. "You've got guts kissing Pearl like that."

"Urhhhhh." The hybrid groans at the reminder of the event and slams his head against the steering. Through his mind, things were just getting normal after the events of the last couple weeks.

Now, only one thing leaves his mouth.

"Whhhhyyyyyyyyyyyy?"

He asks no one in particular. Probably fate.

Well, considering my last few chapters, I say this was a nice change of pace. Similar to "Beach Party" this one followed the episode quite closely… except the end there. I felt giddy in writing that part and I would be lying if I said I can't wait to hear your guy's response to that. Speaking of potential shipping, when I started this story, I had one person in mind and several others for potential candidates but now as some of them start to flesh out and other options that could appear in the future, I have to ask: Who do you want?

Like seriously I get a bunch of different responses when it comes to the options for a ship for Marcus; Jenny, Pearl, Lapis, are prime candidates at the moment but that's mostly because their already in the story and I have other options in the future. Some of you initially thought Lapis wouldn't work but the way how I presented to her changed some minds. I want to know what you guys think. Which person now or in the future do you guys look more forward to Marcus being with. I still have the original person in mind but to be honest I want to hear from you guys on your opinions. Whether your choices influence my decision or not are another matter entirely but who knows, some of you may convince me.

In any case, have fun reading.