Progress is coming along great with the drill. Time has progressed since Steven's birthday and so has progress on the drill. Already we've got the entire structure of the drill completed and almost ready to go. All that's needed now is to finalize some pieces, some circuits, controls here and there, make sure everything is connected since we no longer need to making anything from scratch, and there would be without a doubt that the drill to the center of the earth would be up and ready to get going on its trip to the center of the earth.

'The center of the earth … wow.' I can't help but think at the idea of a super powerful gem fusion monster capable of destroying the planet right beneath my feet. The idea alone is jaw dropping and I'm sort of glad that it's not common knowledge to the general public. The amount of panic and how scared everyone would be would be immense.

After Steven's birthday, we've been working on the drill almost non-stop after Connie and Greg left so now we're taking a bit of a break from the work. Instead, we decide to just take a moment to relax and enjoy a moment of peace. No going anywhere, no doing anything, just sitting down… staring at the sunset and relax.

While Steven is lying down with Lion, strumming his ukulele as the others are further down the hill admiring the sunset, I decide to have my view of everything be on top of the silo, giving me a much wider and further view of everything around us. 'So close… we are so close now to the end of this. Just a bit more time, a bit more work and we got this.' Looking down to the ground, I see Peridot walking over to Steven with a drill in hand. Shifting my attention to the others, I tighten my hands as I stare into the ocean. 'For now. Your still out there Jasper… with Lapis.' I grit my teeth at my enemy and friend captive in the ocean. 'Hold out for a bit longer Lapis. Steven and I will come and get you soon.' Not wanting to wait anymore and feeling anxious to get started again, I slide down the ladder and walk behind the silo. 'I swear it.'

[Steven] "Life and death and love and birth,
And peace and war on the planet Earth.
Is there anything that's worth more
Than peace and love on the planet Earth"

Stopping in my tracks, I hear what sounds like Steven singing. Huddling behind the silo I look back to them.

"Oh - Whooah, come on and sing it with me...
[Peridot] Sing?
[Steven] The words relate to the key...
[Peridot] Key?"

Peridot joins in.

[Steven]" If it's a pattern,
If it's a pattern,
Then just repeat after me...
Life and death and love and birth-

[Peridot] "Life and death and love and birth-
[Steven] Now you sing mi-fa-mi-mi-fa-mi-ti-la!
[Both] And peace and war on the planet Earth!
[Steven] Yes, yes! That's it!

[Peridot] That's so easy.
[Steven] Yeah, but that's what's fun about it.
You should write something, you should write a song!
[Peridot] About what?

[Steven] Whatever you're thinking!
[Peridot] I guess we're already here,
I guess we already know.
We've all got something to fear,

We've all got nowhere to go.
I think you're all INSANE!
But I guess I am too...
Anybody would be

If they were stuck on Earth with you.
[Steven] Hahaha yes!
Life and death and love and birth and-
[Amethyst] Life and death and love and birth and-"

Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst join in singing with the two of them.

[Pearl] Life and death and love and birth and
Peace and war on the planet Earth.
[Garnet] Is there anything that's worth more?
[Steven] Is there anything that's worth more?

[Peridot] Is there anything that's worth more
Than peace and love on the planet Earth..."

With the final key given to Peridot, she finishes their impromptu sing group beautifully. They all share a laugh at the moment and I smile at them, for a moment. It turns into a frown as I make sense of their lyrics. "Peace, love… war…" I grimly state. Walking away with my hands in my pocket, I smirk. "Peace for who… doubt it. War…" I chuckle darkly as I recall the wars that this planet has been through. "Definitely… for gems, and humans."

I want that cluster gone already.


A few more days pass as we continue to work on the drill, finalizing the last of it in preparation for the trip. A problem I've sort of come across with the cockpit for the machine, which we decided to use Peridot's old escape pod for, is the small space it seems to be limited to. At best, those that are small, Peridot and Steven, maybe Amethyst, would be able to fit in and pilot the machine but taller gems, such as Pearl, Garnet and I would be a bit cramped in piloting the machine. Unfortunately, it's not like we have any other machines or seats that are able to be properly connected to the giant drill we have, so unless we have an exact timeline as to when the cluster would form, which we don't, we can't afford to reevaluate our plans.

Guess we'll cross that bridge when get to it.

We now stare at the completed form of the drill in front of us, ready to start drilling and find the cluster.

"Nice work." Garnet compliments Peridot and pats her on the back, but she jumps in fear. The gems laugh at her skittish attitude, I smirk, and Steven gives her a hug.

"We really did it, huh?"

Steven gasps at Peridot's words, "We?" He asks in awe. I guess what that means is how she's starting to be more a team player for us and not completely against us.

"Oh wait. I need to check something!" She suddenly says and runs to the drill in a haste.

"Huh, wonder what we missed?" I ask out loud. The others shrug but Steven has a wistful expression on his face.

"She's come so far. It feels like yesterday she was trying to kill us." He comments with a far off look.

"No no, that was several weeks ago." Pearl points out. I nod with her as well. Although for me it was a lot longer than that considering I was… indisposed by a vengeful family member. Just thinking about what he did, what he planned to do…

My fingers tighten up considerably and my bones pop as I remember the memories of what he did. "Coordinates!" Peridot's voice break me from my thoughts. "We still need the Cluster's exact coordinates in order to drill!" she informs us.

"Ughhhhh, great." I groan at yet more work we need to do. 'This better be the last of what we need. I wanna get back to my home already.' Since I've been back, I've barely stepped into my house and I'm getting antsy to get back into my bed and work on my stuff. I still have to make my rebreather, examine the bipedal combat robonoids and try to turn them, and so on.

"There's a Diamond base that may hold that information, but getting there is going to be difficult." Pearl informs us.

"Pearl," I call her name, "I can guarantee you that nowhere on earth will that base be able to keep itself from me. Just tell us where it is and we'll get it." I tell her with a firm confident smile. After all the crap I've been through with the Iron Kings, dealing with Peridot's indecisiveness and bigheadedness, getting all the materials needed to make the damn drill in the first place, nothing is going to keep me from those coordinates.

Pearl looks at me for a few seconds before she looks up. Following her gaze, my smile, my confidence, and my shoulders, all drop. "The mooooooon!"

"Yes, Steven, the moon."

"… I… may be wrong." I can't help but comment after Steven's gasp and amazement at the idea of going to the moon and Pearls confirmation of our destination. "Geez, how are we supposed to get to the where is he going?" I start to ask but Steven running right past me shifts my focus. We stare as he goes over to where Lion is resting.

"Lion! Can you make us a special super warp to the moon?" Steven asks the pink animal. He grunts and stretches his limbs but overall ignores Steven's request. "Come on, Lion, we gotta do this to stop the Cluster!" He pleads. "If we don't there's gonna be no more Earth! No more fun times with your pals, no more Lion Lickers… no more naps?"

He says the magic word because Lion gets up and lets out a mighty roar before opening his eyes. Pretty much when Lion's eyes turn glowing white, you know he's serious. "Wow, okay then." I comment on the animal's commitment to help us.

"Guess it was naps."


"Gaaaah!" I breathe in a burst of air as I am pulled out of Lion's mane. Almost immediately the room I now find myself in is black, dark and the air is stuffy but breathable compared to inside of Lion. Since not everyone could ride on the back of Lion, I was forced to be inside of his portal dimension while the gems rode on the back and Steven and Peridot ride in the entrance with me holding onto the both of them. Now as I am out, I see Peridot lying on the ground upside down, Steven consoling the now exhausted lion and the others starting to stand.

"You aright Marcus?" Garnet asks.

"Yeah… eh, I'm good." I reassure as I fully pull myself out of the dimension and stand on solid ground.

"Oh, Lion. You've earned your naps for the week." Steven tells the animal and hugs him.

"Yeah, nice one." I add as I pat his head. The pink animal breathes steadily from the amount of effort he seems to have exhibited. I standing straight, I pull out my flashlight and turn it on while Pearl, Garnet and Peridot do the same with their gems, adding even more illumination to our surroundings.

"We made it." Pearl confirms we are here.

"It doesn't... look like the moon." Steven points out.

"Must be in the base then. Good thing too. I don't think you and I would do so well out on its surface." Of that I am kind of grateful for us coming out inside the base. Another thing I am curious though is where exactly on the moon the base is. Underground? Surface? 'Nah, not the surface. It would have been spotted by humans looking to travel here.'

"Hey, look over here! I think it's a door." Amethyst shouts and runs over to it. Before anyone else can say anything, she places her hand on a wall and two panels open to reveal the surface of the moon. Air sucks out of the base through the open door… including me.

"WHAAAAAOOOO!" I yell as I fly past Amethyst and out the door. A second passes before I start to climb my way back in with my swords stabbed into the ground. "Whoa!" I yelp again as I slide back with my swords tearing through the dirt before stopping and I strain to pull myself back in.

She takes her hand away and it closes. "Uhhh, yup! We on the moon!"

"Marcus!" Pearl and Garnet shout my name in worry but it's hard to hear. "Are you okay?" They ask.

Meanwhile I am lying on my side on the ground, shivering, legs tucked in with my teeth chattering repeatedly. "Cold… so cold…" In my cold state, I realize my flashlight is now floating through space.

*Zzzzztt*

"OW!" I yelp as a shock of electricity goes through me. Looking at Garnet, who has smile on her face, the action causes my blood to flow more as well as warm me up a little. "Thank you."

"You welcome."

"Amethyst, please! Don't blow us into space!" Pearl scolds her for opening the door, evidence of that is apparent on how everyone's hair is messed up and ragged from the sudden wind shift, including mine. I'm still shivering but not as much as I fix myself.

"Please." I beg a little after almost getting sucked into the void of space.

"Hahahaha." Steven's chuckling gets our attention and we see him floating around in the air. "Whoa, haha, look at me! I'm a… moon boy!" He happily shouts as he jumps through the air.

"Wha?" I say in confusion as I wonder how he's floating around, but then I remember where we are exactly. Testing the waters, I too jump into the air and find myself launched high into the air before floating back down. "Wow, cool." I can't help but share in Steven's excitement at the sudden weightless feeling we both share.

"Haha, alright moon boy!" Amethyst shouts as she sees the fun we both are having. She jumps in the air in an attempt to float around like us but instead falls to the floor with a grunt.

"Moon boy quadruple back flip!" Steven does said move with a care. I don't resort to anything flashy or dizzy inducing, focusing more on just going up and down all over the place.

"Hey! Why can't I be a moon boy?" Amethyst complains at her taking a face full of floor and Steven and I having fun bouncing around. I am curious though as to why she's unaffected by the gravity.

"We're gems, we're a space-faring race designed to conquer other worlds. Our physical forms adjust automatically to the gravity of any planetoid." Peridot explains. 'Huh, so that's what it is. Useful.'

"Ahhh, lame." Amethyst complains.

"I was bouncing on the moon one day- Umph!" Steven starts singing but suddenly crashes against one of the walls.

"Steven!" I call out his name in worry at the smack he took before I land next to him. "You okay bro?" I ask while crouching next to him.

"Uh, yeah." He groans a bit before looking up. "Huh?" He looks past me in confusion. "Hey Peridot, who is this supposed to be?" He calls her. Looking back at the wall, I see what looks like a very large mural of someone that spans to the roof.

Peridot lets out a gasp at the picture we find. "It's Blue Diamond." She gasps in what I can tell is in awe. "Wait! Are they all here? Ahh yes! There she is!" She looks around before getting extremely excited at another mural and scampers off.

"Who?" Steven asks following after her.

While they go, I can't help but stare back at the mural of Blue Diamond. 'A diamond… wow. They look… big.' Judging from the almost angelic and mighty look that the Diamonds must be "Hm?" I say in confusion as I notice a wetness on my face. Touching my face I feel a tear go down one of my eyes. 'Weird. Must be the stuffy air.' True, since gems don't need air, it's not like this place has any filtering system for the air here. At this point I can practically see the dust and dirt in the air.

"Behold! Yellow Diamond!" Peridot's reverence at the other mural shifts my focus. Looking back at Blue Diamond, I rub the tears in my eye away before going over to the others. "Isn't she magnificent?!"

"Wow… so who are the Diamonds anyway? They seem like a big deal." Steven asks innocently but the look Peridot gives him is almost like he just slapped her.

"Are you joking me?! The Diamonds are the Gem matriarchs! Together they make up the Great Diamond Authority that governs Homeworld and all the outlying colonies! We live to serve them!" Peridot explains to the both of us with a lot of awe and excitement in her voice. 'Wow, she's really into these Diamonds.' I can't help but think at her attitude. I also can't help but grin at seeing Garnet walk behind the green gem, clear her throat loudly, and look down at her with an annoyed expression.

The nervous laughing and sweat drop she sports is satisfying. "I mean, we were all made to serve them, even though some of us… don't anymore…" Their is a noticeable awkward pause. "Hey, I think that's a control service over there! Let's take a look." She 'skillfully' shifts our attention to the other side of the room and heads over.

"Yeah!" Steven follows her.

Garnet and I look at each other. I give her a thumbs up. She nods and we both walk over to where Peridot is inspecting a panel on the floor. Amethyst joins us too while Pearl examines the walls for a way out. Preferably not outside. "Whatcha' got?" I ask.

"I think this is right. The material is different from the surrounding stone. I think if I just do this…" She slides her hands across the panel, making it light up before it rises up, as does the rest of the panels around the room to create a set of stairs. Unfortunately Lions was laying on some of them so when they go up, he's knocked over in the process before staring around confused. At the discovery, Peridot giggles excitedly before we all start heading up the stairs. While they all simply walk up like regular stairs, Steven and I take to jumping up several steps at once. "This is so incredible. Only the most elite of the elite can enter these sanctums. We are literally walking in the very footsteps of the diamonds!"

"They must really like stairs." Steven comments. Pretty much the whole set of stairs runs up and along the circular walls to the top and this place is really big. As we are going up, I notice another mural of a diamond we pass. While the others continue on, I stare at the gem pictured on the wall. 'She's… different. Her color looks to be—'

Flashes of White Diamond appear in my mind, several images, orders, voices—


"Give… to… -ond!"

"YOU. HAVE. FAILED!"


"Marcus?"

My eye shoot open and I realize my hand is pressing to my head. Looking left and right, I notice Pearl looking back at me. "Coming!" I shake my head and continue on with the others.

"Are you okay?" Pearl asks.

"Hm? Oh yeah. I'm cool. Let's keep going." Not wanting to dwell on it, I focus our attention forward as I pass her. 'What the hell was that?' I ask myself as I catch up to the others. Looking back I see Pearl come back from a glance to the mural but she doesn't see me looking at her. 'Focus on the cluster.' I concede to myself.

Before long we come upon the next floor of this place, and it isn't much. At first glance the room is completely bare except for a mysterious ball like object suspended in the middle of the room. "Hey, what's this room?" Steven asks.

"It's not what we came here for." Garnet states after glancing at the object and continuing on.

"Can we hurry it up? This place gives me the creeps." Amethyst adds as she and the rest go up to the next floor. Steven and I continue to stare at the object before we both glance at each other with curious looks. With not much else this room is giving us, and the fact we are already on a mission, we forget about it and head up. As soon as we all reach the top of the stairs, there is without a doubt in anyone's mind as to where we are.

"We really are on the moon." Steven says and I can't help but agree. The clear glass walls make this entire place breathless to us as we see outside into the void of space perfectly.

"Wait." A thought pops into my head and I go over to one of the windows. When I don't see what I want as I scan the moons surface, I go around the entirety of the room as I stare out.

"What are you doing?" Peridot asks me but I ignore in favor of hoping to find what I'm looking for.

"I wonder if I can find… Ah ha!" I triumphantly shout as I spot the flag. "There it is! Ha! Eat your heart Armstrong!" I can't help but yell in giddiness and arm pump as I spot the flag off in the distance.

"Eh-hem." Freezing, I look over to see the others giving me curious and confused looks. The person who cleared her throat was Garnet and she's giving me a stare. "You done?" She asks.

A blush forms on my face as I just realize what I did. "Ehhehehe. Uhhhh sorry." I embarrassingly rub the back of my head before walking back to them.

"Well, now that he's done. Let's get back to the mission at hand. There should be a- Ah! Oh my goodness!" Peridot interrupts herself before jogging over to some sort of terminal with a giant chair in front of it up a flight of stairs. Naturally, we follow. "This looks like it could be brand new! I mean it's a relic by today's standards, but, golly! It's so elegant, so simple, so perfect!" She ogles the plainish looking white rectangle terminal in front of us.

"So how do you turn it on?" Amethyst asks. Looking at the machine, there's nothing on it that gives any sort of indication to what might activate it.

"… I have no idea." And Peridot just signs are cluelessness on how to get it working.

"Too old for your tastes?" I ask her with a cheeky smile. She opens her mouth to retort but the terminal suddenly lights up. "Huh?"

"Hey, it's got one of those glowy hand dealies." Steven pipes up from behind us. Turning around we see he's on the chair with the same hand activator as back in his moms armory on the right armrest.

"You can't sit there!" Peridot suddenly yells at him. I look at her confused at what's got her so critical all of a sudden.

"Why not? It's really cool." Steven says as he gets himself a bit comfier.

"That chair is only for the most elite Gems!" She explains. "You can't go around sitting where an Elite would sit."

"Well they aren't here now," Steven scoots over and pats the spot next to him, "right?" He asks her.

Seeing the indecisiveness in her, I decide to egg her on a bit. "Yeah Peridot." I say as I walk around the chair and sit on the left armrest before gesturing to the whole thing. "Just think about it: At what point in your near infinite ageless life will you be able to sit in the exact spot that the legendary diamonds sat." I teasingly say as I run my right hand over the side of the chair, both to entice her and to steady myself as I sit. Frankly it doesn't matter to me that I'm sitting here but to Peridot, as devoted as she seems to the diamonds, I bet this is her freaking lottery.

She stares at us on the chair with an unsure look, then glances left. Finally she concedes and sits down on the chair next to Steven on his right. "Nehehehehe." She giggles excitedly and giddily. I smile at just how she's acting right now. Compared to the serious and stoic version when we first met, its kind of cool seeing her act like this.

"Hey, what's this doodad for?" Steven picks up a diamond looking device in front of me on the armrest. Actually it looks like a white octahedral crystal but from the front it looks like a diamond.

"Put that back!" The green gem scolds him and he reluctantly puts back in place. I look at the device and go to pick it up so I can look at it. "Hm, okay, let's see here…" She flicks a switch.

"Oh god!" Before I can look at said device, I suddenly find myself falling onto the ground after the chair suddenly moved forward. Obviously sitting on the armrest isn't a good idea when that happens because I suddenly find myself on my ass on the cold floor. Grabbing the chair with one hand, I hoist myself up and promptly straighten my clothes with a straight face. "Shut up." I quickly interrupt Amethyst before she can say anything if the grin she's sporting has anything to say.

"Anyway, here we go." Peridot gets our attention, thankfully, and starts manipulating the terminal. "This is a really old system." She comments on the tech as more screens start to shift around.

'Old for you maybe. This puts anything developed by humans to shame.' I think. "Can you find the info?" I ask her.

"Just gotta find the right file… aha! Cluster, Cluster where are you, Cluster? Aha!" She switches through different files from what I can tell until she comes across the right file we need. A location of where the Cluster was embedded into the planet pops up. "There's the insertion point. Looks like the Beta Kindergarten in Facet Nine. It's the smaller of the two, not nearly as impressive as yours, Amethyst." She sucks up to the purple gem but its what she said before that gets my attention.

"Beta? There's a second kindergarten?" I ask her in surprise.

"Uhh… thanks?" Amethyst awkwardly thanks her.

"But where is the cluster now?" Pearl asks, leaving my question largely to go unanswered.

"Hang on…" I growl in annoyance at the ignorance of my question. 'I'll find out later, hopefully.' "There it is!" A new image appears on screen of the inside of the earth. It's embedded deep into the mantle, relative to the barn its roughly two thousand five hundred units down. All we need to do is feed this data to the drill and we should be all set." 'Okay not exactly the center of the planet but close enough.'

"Finally." I sigh in relief at getting this info.

"That's it then, mission accomplished!" Pearl declares ecstatic.

"Yeah team!" So does Steven.

"Great, let's get the heck out of here." Amethyst grumbles as she Pearl and Garnet proceed to walk away.

"Wait! Hold on, does this thing have any games on it?" Steven asks curiously towards the green gem.

"No no no no, this wasn't used for games."

"Aw."

"It was used for planning a colony. Here, look." What makes us all pause is the new images on the screen that Peridot pulls up. I move over to the chairs right as the others come back to see. "So here is a map of all structures that were originally built on Earth. All told, this probably only accounts for maybe, five percent of what was originally planned." She informs us as more images of gem structures appear. Some of them I recognize others I don't. 'All I've seen was only five percent? Wow.'

"What was the plan?"

"Well, let's take a look." She hits a few more buttons and what looks like a sped up version of the earth's colonization takes place. The new hologram projected is what appears to be a hollow Earth, with rings around it, several buildings and structures that span what could possibly be miles high into space.

"Woah." I breathe in awe at the image.

"Ta-da! A finished Earth colony. Wow, look at this! Eighty-nine kindergartens, sixty-seven spires, a Galaxy Warp in each facet, efficient use of all available materials. What were you thinking, shutting this operation down? It could've been great!"

"No! You're wrong!" Garnet angrily states at Peridot's happiness towards what would have happened to the planet.

"What do you mean? It's perfect, look at it." Peridot says, oblivious to the growing anger on the war veterans.

"We are looking at it."

"Yeah, this plan stinks!"

"Completing this colony would have meant the extinction of all life on Earth!" Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet each say their piece on the image angrily.

"But think of the good it would have done. The Gems that would have been made, our Empire expanded." Peridot tries to reason but the others aren't budging.

"Rose Quartz believed all life was precious, and worth protecting." Pearl firmly states and stares at Peridot.

"Well if she wanted to protect it she did a lousy job! There'd be no cluster if the Earth had stayed a colony. Now there's no colony, and there's gonna be no Earth, so thank you, Rose Quartz! You doomed the planet!"

That last statement was the final nail in Peridot's coffin so to say as each of the veterans of the gem war give death stares at the green gem. I meanwhile don't care and just continue to admire the work on the planet.

"Whooohehehe." Steven laughs nervously at the glares Peridot is getting. "Is there anything that's worth more th-?" He begins to sing a lyric from the song the others have sung before but stops as Garnet picks up Peridot by the front of her tunic and glares at her.

"You, listen to me, now. You are talking about things that you do not understand…"

"Wow… amazing." At my comment, I can feel everyone's stares boring into me from the side.

No one says anything as I no doubt surprised them. "Whaaa? Oof!" Peridot questions in confusion before being dropped by Garnet.

"Look at this." I say as I point to the really tall structure on the hologram. "Those structures span miles into the air. The amount of construction and work that they would have put into this is phenomenal. How would they be able to hollow out the very molten core of the planet and still keep surface and crust of the planet intact without it breaking apart?" I question.

"What?!" I look back to see the gems very very confused at my comments on the terraformed earth. "Are you crazy?!" Pearl asks.

I stare at them for a second as I recall a lot of what I've done in the past. "Maybe a little."

"You mean to tell me you actually LIKE this?!" Garnet asks loudly and angrily as she comes right up to me.

I don't back down from her intimidating stature as I shrug. "Not really like, but I do admire the construction at the very least. Something of this scale definitely can't be eas—" I'm interrupted as my view of the hologram switches to Garnet grabbing me by the front of my shirt with both hands and pulling me right up to her.

"Did you not hear what I said? If this colony was completed then all organic life on earth would be extinguished! Don't you care about your own kind?!" She yells at me.

I go to retort, to tell her yes I do, but the thoughts of what happened my entire life flow forth.


My father.

"Don't you even talk about her! You don't deserve to even have her gems!"


My uncle.

"Get some guys to the town. We're grabbing the kid. That'll make him talk."

"You just didn't cooperate now could you?!"


The Mugger.

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

*BANG!*


And the Iron Kings especially. Those bastards have come after me under the order from my uncle and I killed them for it. So many times in my life have I been burned constantly by the scrutiny of my own kind. Even more so than what Homeworld and the corrupted have ever done. And that's only what they've done to me. The atrocities my kind have committed against themselves and the planet are staggering as well.

I realize now I care more about gems rather than humanity as a whole.

"… No." Some pairs of eyes widen at my answer. "As it turns out, I don't really care about my own kind. Only Steven and the people of Beach City but that's about it." I answer simply.

Garnet looks at me in utter bafflement, Pearl has a look of shock and Amethysts mouth is open in shock. Garnet shakes her head, looking to the sides before fixing her gaze right back at me even closer. "Wha- But… are you crazy?! Mad?!" She asks me loudly with a hint of anger in her voice.

'Mad… she doesn't know mad.' "Mad… you think I'm mad crazy to go against my own kind?" I ask her in low tone before I thrust my arms forward and push her off me. She lands on her back with a grunt before propping herself up with her arms and stares at me, now surprised at my action and the look of anger on my face. "You… have NO IDEA WHAT I'VE GONE THROUGH BECAUSE OF THEM!" I yell at her.

"Marcus—"

"No Pearl!" I whirl around on her, making her stop and take a step back in fear. "You have no idea what my own kind have done to me my entire life! My father never loved me, not at all! The beatings he gave me and how much he resented me because my mom gave her life for me! The times I've been hunted by the Iron Kings. Killing them. Fighting and worried all the time if whether or not they'll suddenly appear on my doorstep. You know my uncle sent them against me?" I tell and ask them, eliciting a surprised look from them about how my own family member has sent armed thugs to kill or capture me. "That's right. My own uncle sent armed men to capture me. When he captured me, you know what he did? He beat me relentlessly to get me to tell him where my father is. I didn't know then but I know now. They're both DEAD!" I yell furiously at them. The gems have sacrificed a lot to save humans on earth, but they don't know what the humans have done to me. "What's worse?! I KILLED THEM!"

Looks of shock grace each and everyone of their features, except Peridot who doesn't know the concept of family, fathers and uncles but its everyone else that looks on in complete shock.

"I killed my father and my uncle. Why? Because. I. Had. No. CHOICE!" I yell and grip my from head from all the yelling. My heart is beating a million time a minute, my vision becomes blurry from the tears and my breathing is strained. I close my eyes as everything starts to flow forth. "They tried to kill me… my own… human… family tried to kill me. The Iron Kings have sent armed men… to kill me so many times. My best friend… years ago… killed by a mugger and his friends, his family too." I turn away and start pacing. "And that was all just to me. So many times I've watched… the horrors that human greed and selfishness can wrought!" I grip my hair tightly in my hands as reports of what humans have done to the planet and others flash through my mind. "The amount of polluting and angst that have been done to the planet just to suit their own greed. The amount of atrocities my kind have done to themselves." The single greatest war in human history comes forth into my mind. My back is to the others as I let go of my head and slowly stare at the stars in space. "Over forty… million causalities because of The Great War. From 1914 to 1918 did the war last. Four years of people killing, dying, stabbing and blowing each other up." I calmly state. I slowly turn towards them and they recoil as I bare my teeth at them. "Can you tell me out of ALL that I told you, all the stuff that I went through, the horrors my kind have committed that we even deserve… deserve…" My rant trails off as the blurriness of my vision becomes too much. A headache becomes too much as well and I stumble. I start to feel dizzy as I place both my hands on my head. 'I'm angry… so angry… why?' I question in my head as I stumble back against the glass windows. Placing my hands on them as I breathe raggedly, I look up.

Red eyes stare back at me.

*Thump-Thump*

"Nooo." I breathe in horror as I realize what this means with my heart throbbing loudly to my head. "Argh!" I grunt as pain shoots through my left arm. Gripping it with my right arm, I stare with wide eyes as I watch my nails start to lengthen and sharpen, then my arm grows longer and strands of fur just starts to grow. "No… Nononono."

"Marcus?"

"NOOO! NOT NOW!" I move away from whoever was coming up behind me and move to the terminal before bringing my arm up and slamming it into the computer. I repeat the action a few times before it starts to crack and splinter. Despite the pain in my arm, the transformation continues. "Noooo! I won't let you go free!" I yell and punch my transforming left arm with my right. The pain gets bad and it slows a little but it's still going. I can feel it trying to get free and I can't let it. "You were a mistake! I should never have let you loose on them!" I shout defiantly at the limb. It starts twitching but not from my own actions. Growling in anger, my sword appears in my right hand and I bring it over my head. "I WON'T LET YOU OUT!"

"Stop!"

"What are you doing?!"

"Steven stay back!"

Garnet and Amethyst jump onto me and stop my arm from doing the deed. Pearl holds Steven back from getting too close. "No stop! Get off!" I yell for them to do but they both hold on tightly.

"No way man!"

"We don't know what's going on but we aren't going to let you mutilate yourself!"

"You don't understand! I have to—"

"You don't have to do anything!" Garnet interrupts me as I close my eyes and struggle. "We're your friends! Your family! Tell us what's wrong and we'll help you!"

"You can't—"

"Marcus please don't do it!"

"Stop it!"

"You can't do this!"

'So many voices… so many people yelling… I can't… I can't I can't let—' My eyes shoot open. "Hraaa!" With a twist of my body, I throw them off me.

"Ah!"

"Oof!" They grunt as they fall away but I go back to what I was doing.

Sword in my right hand, the twitching arm on the terminal, I wield my sword in its reverse grip and bring high into the air. "Brother! Please stop!" Steven's words break my heart.

My hand starts shaking uncontrollably I prepare myself. "… I'M SORRY!"

"NOOO!"

*SHINK*


A deafening silence follows the stab. Everyone stares in shock at the back of the hybrid. His breathing comes in long ragged breaths as he stands in front of the terminal. The hologram on top disappears from the abuse it took but everyone's focus is on the hybrid as he falls to his knees. Steven eases himself out of the slackened grip of Pearls and slowly moves over to his brothers left side. He expects to see a lot of blood as he sees his face, but that's not what he finds.

His hand is normal and his sword is stabbed all the way to the hilt through the terminal… to his hands right. Steven looks up at Marcus's face to see his lips pursed closed and his eyes closed tightly, however that doesn't stop the tears from flowing down his face. "Marcus…" Slowly, he opens his eyes and turns to Steven, who has a worried look on him. "Are you… okay?"

Marcus blinks a couple times before staring at the damage he caused. His left arm is bruised but not broken and his green katana is stabbed completely through the fractured, broken and splintered terminal. He finally let's go of the blade and turns himself around before sitting down. His legs curl up and his hands cover his face as the tears continue to pour and he sniffles. "I'm not. It hurts Steven… it hurts so much. I don't… I can't…"

Steven lays his hand on his brothers arm. This makes him bring one of his hands down to look at his brother. He gives Marcus a comforting smile. "Whatever it is, we can help. I promise."

They stare at each other for a few more seconds before Marcus nods. He wipes his tears and slowly stands with Steven's help. His body is fatigued from the inner emotional and psychological battle he just went through. He can't even look at the others in the eyes as Steven leads him to the stairs. "Let's… can we go home please? I… I have to tell you all something." He stops to tell them before going.

The rest of the gems look at each other, unsure of what it was they just saw but nod and follow after him with Peridot lagging behind.

As soon as everyone leaves, the sword in the terminal disappears and the machine crumples apart finally.


Well, this went off the rails of what I originally had planned. If I had to guess why earth hasn't seen the tall structure on the moon, I'm gonna go with the idea that reflective material on the outside of the structure makes it seem like it's not there to naked eye. That's my interpretation anyway. For all I know in the Steven Universe version that humans never did travel to the moon. The wiki also says that on their earth, World War 2 never happened. However there's nothing really saying that World War 1 never happened. Thereby why I had it called The Great War. I don't really know about the other somewhat smaller wars on the planet so I'll leave that up to the imagination. If anyone has any hard evidence, texts and dialogues from the show, quotes and statements from the creators, as to the history of humanity in Steven Universe, besides the wiki that is, then I'd appreciate some info to make things accurate in a way.

The whole confrontation that the gems had with Marcus is mostly revolving around the fact that they spent thousands of years defending earth from the tyranny of the diamonds and lost a great many friends and allies in their war so to someone contradicting their sacrifices in said war, no doubt they'll be a little angry. Thing is, since they saved humanity and isolated themselves from the rest of the world as best they can, they don't have as much information on the affairs the rest of the world faces. This leading to Marcus's anger from both the beast wanting out inside him, and his dislike for his human half considering it's humans that have caused the greatest damage and scarring to him in his entire life.

Suffice to say, he's got some explaining to do to the Crystal gems when they return to earth.

Anyway, with that done, I'd like to say that there's a chance I'm going to do another run through of chapters for this story because I'm excited for the next set of events I have but I'm not a hundred percent sure. Regardless I'm sure things will go alright and I hope I can get at least another chapter out before classes start again.

Now onto my gaming life. For Honor Season 3. I've tried out the new Highlander hero and he is amazing. I love the moves he has and uses and I'm excited to see what his equipment looks in the later stages. I at first thought he was going to be a heavy but that's not the case. He's a hybrid and not surprising his difficulty is hard. What is surprising is that the Gladiator's difficulty is easy and he's classified as an assassin. Go figure.

Oh also before I forget, there is another bit of information that has come to my attention that I want to say to you all:

Happy 1 Year Anniversary everyone! (Thank you seruis for the reminder)

Well technically it was a couple days ago that it would an exact year to when I first uploaded 'A Tale of a Jade' but it's still awesome nonetheless. I'm still blown away at how many of you have read, viewed, favorited, followed and reviewed this story of mine and it feels great. I couldn't have done it without you all and thank you.

Nothing else to say so I'll bid you all bye for now. Thank you all for your continued support, have a great day, and as always have fun reading.