So good. It's so good to be back home. Well not my home exactly but being around the area is nice. Now that everything is done, we warp back into the beach house in front of the temple door. 'Wow. It feels like so long since we've been back here.'

"We're finally home!" Steven happily shouts as he spreads his hands in excitement.

"Oh god so good to be home!" I too am enthusiastic to be back.

"Oh hello house!" Steven shouts as he runs up to his bed while Garnet turns on the light. "Hello, bed!" He says as he flops onto his bed. He then gets up in front of his TV. "Hello, TV! We've got some catching up to do." He greets the inanimate object. He runs by us as he moves to the kitchen. "Hello, kitchen, hello, food- ohhhh!" He begins to greet the food as he opens the fridge but collapses back as he grabs his nose in disgust.

"Uh oh. That cake go bad?" Amethyst asks as she pokes her head to see the spoiled food.

"That was a cake!?" I look skeptically at Steven as he asks Amethyst surprised.

"Oh come on Steven." I begin to say as I walk up to him and look in. "It can't be that—"

*SLAM*

I close the door so hard and fast the metal warps where it closes as well as my handprint on the door.

*SSSSSSSSTTT*

I weld the door closed all the way around until I'm sure nothing short of an explosive or heavy-duty machinery can force the thing open.

*CRASH*

And out the window and into the ocean the fridge goes.

"Haaaa… haaa… haaaaa…" I breathe heavily at the exertion I just exhibited. The others all stare at the broken window before looking back at me. It's now I realize just what I did and blush in embarrassment. "I… may have overreacted a bit." I look at Steven. "I'll buy you a new fridge."


'Oh good god. What the hell was that!? I swear it reminded of that fungal monsters birth place in that Cowboy Bebop episode.' I shudder at the thought of what I had saw in the fridge. Whether my reaction was too much or not, and even if we dipped the entire thing into acid to sterilize it, I don't think I would like to eat anything out of it anytime soon. In any case, the cursed fridge that was forced to house a cake for a long time without our supervision now lies at the bottom of the ocean and I am driving home in my Ford truck with Steven's new fridge strapped to the back. I don't know the exact type of fridge I got, all I know its big, its shiny, its got a screen on it so you can link your phone to the to-do list you write on it and stuff. A bit of an upgrade to the old one he had but it's not hurting my wallet whatsoever.

I still get that stipend from the Iron Kings every so often as per our arrangement. 'It's a good thing I made it. Otherwise I can't imagine the hell of having to deal with them during the whole Cluster phase, the robot fights, Rubies… me.' I sigh and shake my head at the thought before focusing on driving. Anyway, Peridot and Lapis are still back at the barn where they've decided to make it their home of sorts. I even offered to have them room at my house, I have plenty of room, but they didn't want to impose and wanted a true place they could call their own.

I can respect that and after saying goodbye to the two, Lapis especially and making absolutely sure if they needed anything, they could ask me without hesitation. Now that the OG Crystal Gems are back home, and as much as the hassle it is in getting the new fridge, I do kind of miss these moments we had back before all the death-defying craziness transpired. "Now I wonder just what else is going to happen now that we're back home." I mutter to myself as I drive onto the beach and look at the night sky. 'This is just what was needed. We need this time to relax after everything. I always did like the night more. The atmosphere it gives off, the moon light, Steven's floating in the air, the moon Is nice and bright. Awesome.' I sigh and lean back in my seat as I causally drift towards home.

"…" I turn the corner where the statue is revealed. "… STEVENS FLOATING IN THE AIR?!"

*CRASH*

At the sudden revelation I figured out, I slammed on the brakes in surprise and the fridge crashes into the back of my truck, breaking my rear clear window area and showering me in glass. "Oh come!" I complain as I look at the damage before I remember we have a bigger problem. "STEVEN!" I unhook my seatbelt, turn off my truck and go outside before I start running.


"Hmmm…"

"Well, Garnet?"

"Hmmmmmm…"

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING!?" Pearl yells loudly at the lack of actions or movements every is doing. "Steven is falling; he needs our help. I'll catch you, Steven!" She yells to the very slowly falling child as she begins to run around the beach with her arms out in an effort to try to catch Steven for when he hits the ground… eventually. Meanwhile Garnet is still humming and thinking, Amethyst looks at the flailing pearl as she runs all over, and Marcus continues to stare at his brother in surprise with his mouth hanging open.

"I think it's gonna be a while." Amethyst begins to point the obvious to the hysterical Gem but for some reason without a word, Garnet suddenly jumps out the picture. Everyone stares at the departing Gem in curiosity as she lands all the way back to town.

Glass and windows break, a car alarm goes off and she goes through several trashcans. "I've found a phone." Garnet returns with a phone in hand and puts in Steven's number.

"Whose is it?" Amethyst asks.

"That's not important." Garnet replies as she waits for the call to go through. Meanwhile Marcus angles his head to look at the screen of whose it was.

"Kofi?! You stole Kofi's phone?! You know how much that guy hates us!" He complains and points out to her but she continues to wait. He sighs and shakes his head. "Garnet, you could have just asked. I have Steven on speed dial on my pho—" He begins to say and reach into his pocket but finds nothing. "Where's my phone?" He begins patting himself down until he remembers why he doesn't have it anymore. "Oh, right. Crap." He mutters sadly at the memory of when he was captured by the Iron Kings and how they took him by surprise.

Meanwhile, Steven pulls out his phone when it starts ringing. He doesn't bat an eye at the caller name before answering. "Hello?"

"Ground control to Steven Universe."

"Bro. Are you alright?"

"Steven! Are you okay?" Multiple people begin to say over the phone in worry, some more than others.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Steven replies to them all, alleviating their worries that he's in trouble or anything like that.

"See, he's got this." Amethyst says but its not as cut and dry as he said.

"He's still floating, Amethyst. He's not fine." Marcus tells her bluntly.

"Yeah, he's right. At least not exactly." Steven says over the phone still. "I think this is some kind of new power." He informs everyone of what may be going on.

"Rose could regulate the speed of her descent." Garnet explains out loud that little fact that Rose was able to do back when she was alive.

"Control how fast she fell? Wow, pretty cool." Marcus comments impressed but as he stares back at Steven, his impressed face turns sour. "Although, not right now it is."

"Steven, try falling a little faster." Pearl says to the floating child over the phone but as always, its never that simple.

"I can't figure out how, and it's taking forever to reach the ground. Can you guys just keep me company until I land?" He asks of them to do. The Gems, and hybrid, on the ground look at each other before they smile and nod.

"I think we can do that." Marcus tell him.

And what happens next is several hours of the Crystal Gems having to keep the kid safe and comfortable while he slowly descends back to the earth. Amethyst and Marcus make sure the kids fed and alright as they throw him food. While Marcus's throws are pin-point accurate for Steven to catch without problem, Amethyst wasn't as good, if her nailing the passing seagull was anything to go by with the chips bag. They would have had a problem if it was a soda can. Garnet decides to play with Steven in a game of checkers to keep him occupied, although it wasn't much fun for him considering his opponent had future vision so more often than not, he lost to her because she either figured out a pattern on the board, or had it planned our from the very beginning. Pearl meanwhile makes sure theirs nothing on the ground that'll hurt Steven when he lands as well as coming up with ideas to try to get him down to the ground quicker, but mostly safely.

Already its getting to the crack of dawn as the sun is barely coming in over the horizon, signaling morning, as Steven tries to guess the picture drawn in the sand. "Is it aaaa… gun? Wait, isn't it an AK?" Pearl gives Steven a thumbs up while Marcus hugs Garnet and sniffles, muttering how proud he is of Steven. He gets over it soon enough as the Gems all hear the sound of an alarm going off in the beach house.

"Hey, Steven, why is your alarm going off?" Amethyst asks the kid from down below. While its weird for the gems, for Steven, it's a crisis.

"Oh, nuts, my donuts!" He cries out to himself before he pulls up hi phone again. "Guys, I need to get down right now!" He loudly demands.

"What's the hurry, dude? You got nowhere to be." Amethyst says while Garnet is behind them fiddling with Steven's Cookie Cat alarm clock.

"He's clearly very tired from being up all night, and he's eager to get some sleep." Pearl assumes but Marcus shakes his head.

"No Pearl. That's not it either."

"He's right! Please, there's no time to explain, just help me down!" He shouts through the phone's speaker.

"How're we supposed to do that?" Amethyst asks.

"Maybe we can weigh him down?" Pearl proposes.

Without any other ideas on what to do, they all get on board to trying to figure out how to get Steven back on the ground. Pearl grabs a heavy leather jacket and jumps up to put it on Steven. "It's not enough, keep it coming!" Steven says. Amethyst is next as she gives him a bowling ball. "More more." He demands and more he will get. Garnet is next with the granddaddy of them all as she gives Steven a giant boat as she jumps up and drops it on him. "Nnnnnn, I don't think this is working." He struggles from the weight of the giant ship on him, on top of the bowling ball and jacket on him. Despite all that, he still falls to the ground at the exact same pace without any added speed. The rest of their group decides to add their own weight too it as the Crystal Gems all jump into the air, with Garnet carrying Marcus, as they land on the deck of the boat. Marcus decided to take it one step ahead with the weight as he carry's a LAW rocket launcher on his back, his KIVARRI crossed over it, a bandolier of grenades, his Berretta's holstered and his swords in hands. Marcus, Garnet and Pearl stomp and jump on the deck of the boat to try to get the speed pushed while Amethyst hangs on the edge as her wrestler persona Purple Puma. All in all, its for naught as he's still not moving. "Nothing's working, is there anything else you could put on me?" He asks hopefully.

"Just this alarm clock." Garnet replies as she shows Steven the front of the clock, the res letters showing it's 7:26am. In reality, the alarms weight should already be added to the overall weight since its in her possession.

"It's past 7:00." He sighs in disappointment as he stares at the almost half hour past time he was supposed to have already gone to the Big Donut. "Thanks for trying guys, but there's no point any more." He says depressed. He was really hoping to get that fresh donut after so long of not having any. A mission to save the planet kind of got in the way of that.

"Sorry, Steven." Amethyst apologizes to the kid and drops.

"Sorry, Steven." Pearl apologizes too and jumps off.

"Sorry, brother." Marcus too jumps off. Unlike the others graceful landings, Marcus's is still loud and noticeable.

"It wasn't meant to be." Garnet says to the kid before she follows everyone else down.

"Huhhh…" Steven sighs sadly as he turns over and drops his entire payload to the ground… including the boat.

*… Crash*

"Ahhhhh! Did you just drop a boat on me?!" Marcus screams out after almost getting crushed by the boat his brother let go.

"It was 'too' meant to be." While Steven sulks in how he's not going to get his donut, the others get to work brainstorming how to get him down.

Marcus climbs out from his spot on the sand, dusts himself off and stands next to the others. "Okay. How do we get him down?"

"We tried weighing him down and that didn't work." Pearl muses as she tries to think of more options.

"Maybe we try to do some way to propel him instead to the ground. Instead of using increased gravity pressure to bring him down, maybe we can use a different type of means to push him to the ground." Marcus proposes they do.

"Yeah! Like a jetpack!" Amethyst enthusiastically says with a grin.

The other three stare at her confused by the idea and the item she wants to use. "Amethyst, jetpacks go up. Not down." Garnet tells her.

"Yeah, but if he did have a jetpack, he could just put it on upside down." She clarifies what they need to do.

"We don't have jetpack to give him. Although, I can kind of give him something somewhat with the same propulsion." At this, Marcus pulls the LAW rocket launcher from his back and holds it out. "These things give off a lot of force when someone fires them. If Steven aims this thing upwards and fires, the force of shooting it just may push him towards the ground." While it sounds like a good idea, the critical look that Pearl gives him is less than good.

"You want to give Steven an explosive ordinance rocket and fire it blindly into the air!?" She loudly asks, as well as possibly angry at the idea.

"I'm gonna disarm the warhead so all that's going to land on the ground is a hunk of metal." He tells her what he's going to do. It's one thing for someone to shoot a bullet into the air but its an entirely different matter for a rocket to go up and come back down while its armed.

"Guhhhh!" Pearl growls still at the idea of him using any sort of firearm as it is, she brings up another matter that they need to work on. "Even if we can get him down today, what's to stop this from repeating at some other point in the future?" Marcus and Amethyst get thoughtful looks like Garnet smirks. "If he can't control his power—"

"It's alright."

"HOW is it alright!?" Pearl asks incredulously to the fusion at the interruption.

"By now, Steven has realized that his powers are tied to his emotions, just like I knew would happen. He's used the memories of happy and sad things to land safely behind us, ready to give us a hug." She calmly explains to everyone with a smile on her face the whole time.

Next, they wait for her vision to come true.

"Pahhh!"

"Poooh!" Somewhat. Both Steven and Marcus faceplant into the ground with Steven on top of his brother.

"Close enough."

"Ow." Marcus groans, slightly muffled from having his face in the sand.

"Guys!" Steven gets and goes to run and give the gems a hug.

"Wait! You have somewhere else to be." Garnet quickly stops the kid in place.

"What?" Steven asks confused but he doesn't get definite answer.

"There's no time, run to the Big Donut. Run!" She shouts and points in the direction of the establishment.

"Uhh, okay!" He replies hastily and breaks into a run towards the donut shop.

Almost all of them watch as the kid is a speck as he runs to his destination. "… I would've liked a hug." Pearl comments.

"Awww, Pearl." Marcus says from his spot on the ground as his head rolls to the side, freeing his face from the confines of the sand. "I'd be happy to give you a hug except…" The tone in his voice gives off the idea that he's being sarcastic. However, their is the slightest bit of concentration on his face, as well as the barest of twitches on his arms but no movement. "… I can't move."

"Whaaaaaat? C'mon man, quit joking." Amethyst says as she nudges his side.

"No seriously. Nnnn! I can't move." He repeats what he said. A bit of concern starting to edge into his voice.

"Come on, man. Quit joking."

*Kick*

*Crack*

"!" Garnet and Pearl flinch from the sudden loud crack that can be heard by everyone as Amethyst freezes in place after kicking him in the shoulder.

"I swear I didn't kick him that hard!" She quickly and hysterically denies.

"Wait, you kicked me?"

The Gems all have looks of confusion at the question Marcus asks them all. They look at each other and back at him a couple times before Pearl crouches next to him. "Here. Let me check something." She grabs his head and moves it around a couple times, 'hmm'ing every so often as she checks him. It's when she hears more cracking and popping that she finds out what happened. "Yes. Just as I feared. It would seem when Steven landed on you, he broke your spine."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so." She confirms it again to the injured hybrid.

"Wow… crap… this sucks."

"Soooo, what now?" Amethyst asks as she too crouches down next to him, same with Garnet.

"Well, I'm going to give fix myself using my regeneration ability. You three are going to carry me to my house and leave me there until I wake up while at the same time make sure Steven doesn't find out he made me a vegetable. Sound good?"

The Gems nod even though Marcus can't see them too good. "I think we can manage that." Garnet says.

"Good. Give me a second." He closes his eyes and concentrates for a second to activate his ability. Some jerky movement with his back, along with his neck, and in no time he's back to normal. "Ahhhh. Okay, that's better." He says as he rolls himself onto his back and rolls his neck a few times. "Now, I am going to lose consciousness soon so please leave me on my bed for the time being."

"Yeah yeah, we got you." Amethyst waves him off but as he looks at the others, they smile encouragingly.

"Good good." He collapses onto his back as his body begins to shutdown. "Oh and remember. Don't tell Steven." And his head collapses back and his eyes close. One last thought goes through his head before he goes unconscious. 'And so, this is the third time Steven has inadvertently caused me pain.'


"Well," Garnet grunts as he picks up the almost lifeless but not really body of their friend and begins their treck to his house. "This was quite an interesting development on our first day back."

"Sure was." Amethyst comments as she walks behind with her arms clasped behind her head.

"Indeed." Pearl follows.


I… Am… BACK EVERYONE!

Well I never left but I'm back to this story at least. Sorry again for the long as hell delay but I'm back to giving regular updates one after another for all my stories. Hope you all like how this chapter played out. At some points, like the fridge and when Marcus was fake crying, I wanted to be a little… different as opposed to the serious logical attitude I had most often when writing this story. Don't expect it to happen more often later on but we'll see how things play out. Anyway, I don't know everything there is to know when people break their spines and gain paralysis at what vertebrates to what portions of their bodies so if for whatever reason it seems off, sorry.

In any case, besides some new games that have come out that have gotten my attention heavily, along with a couple assignments and projects for my classes that'll keep my attention, things should be relatively tame for me in terms of getting more of my chapters out.

Also, just to let you all know I was able to watch the newest episodes and their were interesting. One thing I want to point out is if the creators don't devote an episode to the colony Lars and the Off Colors are planning to go to for parts, chances are I may fill in that part. Depending on how things continue to fair in the show, I may take advantage of that point if I can.

Here are the reviews:

MADMatt6: Haha. Yeah I figured as much. Usually what I try to go for in the reactions to some of my work.

seruis: Glad you think so. Some parts of the fight in his head I was a little iffy on but nonetheless I'm glad it was still enjoyable. Thank you again for the review.

Guest (Ch.50): … Uhhh… okay.

xXSpades231Xx: Yeah. That whole issue has been off and on lately and I'm still worried things aren't gonna go the way in terms of a free internet way for the general population. In any case, just try to keep up to date on how the fight is going for Net Neutrality and you can judge for yourself when to be happy, sad, ecstatic or worried about the whole thing. I also didn't know you could use Google Docs offline and its something I'll give a look see to hopefully make sure I don't have a repeat of losing my stuff again.

I have heard about the Berserk anime but it never got my attention as much. Plus a ton of sites and other people have kind of spoiled much of the major of the show so its still not in my interest. Thanks anyway.

Guest (Ch.64): Not really sure on that part. It would be an interesting development but I never gave it much thought. I'll keep it in mind though.

zcdragon64: It was all good to write. Lapis has had her moments in the show so far but I would to give her more when I can. In any case, Peridot does care about Marcus a lot considering he's been the most supportive of her and even though she was given the job to stop him, actually going through with it can be more difficult than just saying, hence the hesitation after the first time she stopped him. Even so, it just gave Lapis the opportunity to really step up and show how powerful she can be. Progress on the standing between Marcus and Lapis is making headway and what'll mean in the future is slowly getting there. Thank you for the review and I'll keep it up.

Ultimate Spider Girl: That would be something. However depending on how the show progresses will we see that save come to fruition. Still, I'm glad you like my story and I hope I continue to make it as enjoyable as I can from here on out.

Cf96: Thank you very much and a Merry Christmas, Happy New years and any other holidays that may pass to you too as well.

RogueMuttley: I've never actually seen the full Bleach series myself but from what I can guess of how the show goes, I can see that happening. Anyway, I'm glad you liked it and thank you for the review.

RookieSiegeMaster: Marcus? No not yet. Me in interpreting them into the story? Yes.

Miss Tri (Ch.63): I wasn't too sure on devoting the chapters perspectives solely to Lapis but when it came down to the finished products and how people were fond of the in-depth thought processes that came from this character, I'm glad I was able to nail it pretty well. I do what I can to make things flow and tie together when it comes to my OC Marcus and the rest of the characters in the show. Just to make him feel a part of them and I'm glad things are coming together nicely still.

Miss Tri (Ch.64): I didn't want to give the monster as completely full mindless and driven only by instinct, ergo the ability to talk and express its feelings, even though they are pretty messed. Marcus in of himself is pretty OP as he is which is why I wanted to give him something of an enemy that can almost go on par with him in his struggles. And what's worse for him is the fact the creature is stuck in his own mind. What most people tend to forget is that mental problems and injuries can be just as hurtful to a person than any physical wound. And from what Marcus has had to deal with, he's had plenty of inner battles and injuries. I wanted to give the Crystal Gems a chance to fight the thing but of course not too much that they'd be able to take it down easily. I'm glad I was able to choreograph the fights as well as I did and add my own little things here and there.

It does feel good to show the changes my OC has to the main group and I am glad it's all working out. The ghost entity's in his mind will be touched up on later on, don't worry. Until then, I hope you continue to look forward and love my work as I get it out there for you and everyone else.

IDarkSoukI: Thank you very much. Unfortunately my Spanish isn't good so even though I had to have another translate what you said, I appreciate the words nonetheless.

Fanfiction Scrutinizer: I appreciate what you said. Unfortunately that's not how I do things with my stories. If there's one thing I always look for and prefer in fanfiction stories is whether or not they stick to the main plot of the series they are based off of. What I like most is the changes the author makes to the already developed storyline to see what they would do differently. It's something I always try to take note of and that is something I'll do with my own stories. At times, yes I will diverge from the main plot and do my own moments here and there but until I see the actual ending to the show, I'll pretty much always return to the plot where Marcus will do his own things to help and protect the Crystal Gems.

As much as I would like to stop and brainstorm, I know the benefits to doing so, but I continue to worry that I'll have a repeat of my failed story projects in my past. Not just on this site, I had some other stories I worked on and I did stop every so often to think on things but eventually it got to the point that I just kept making excuses to not write or lost the motivation entirely to write anymore. I will not let that happen again and if in the future I have to rewrite some stuff, then so be it. Thank you for the advice and I'm sorry my way of writing isn't up to your preferences. Unfortunately, I can't please everyone.

NJ: So are you talking about adding those types elements and people to the story to either try to deal with Marcus or the Iron Kings? If so, I think I was thinking up something like that before but I'm not a hundred percent sure. Still have to flesh out some parts of my story in the future but I think what I have planned, you and everyone else will be plenty surprised and possibly excited.

Sorry again everyone for the delay in this chapter and hopefully I won't wait hold off as long as before. In any case everyone, go ahead and fave, follow, review, don't, whatever it is you want to do, and as always but most of all to everyone of you, have a great day and have fun reading.