"Mmmmm."

"C'mon Steven. It'll be alright."

"Mmmmm."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure Marcus will have some idea as to where it is. And if not I'm sure he'll have some way to help you find it."

"Mmm."

"Well Steven, he does have his new canine companion with him. And it's because of that animal that we were able to find him when he was unconscious. A little help from Ace I believe it was, we can find it no problem." Pearl points out.

This gets a positive reaction out of Steven as his dower demeanor turns upbeat and he smiles. "Oh yeah! Your right. I'm sure we'll find him definitely."

"There we go." Greg smiles as he pats his sons head. For a bit there Steven was saddened at one of his losses but now is in a more upbeat mood at the high chances of help he'll receive in finding them. Pearl goes to knock on the door belonging to the abode of their hybrid companion and stand there waiting. "You know, I hope the guys doing okay considering what happened yesterday."

"Oh yeah." Steven comments wistfully. "That was… crazy." Steven says, unsure of exactly what to say or how to describe what had happened to them on their fishing boat.

"I still can't believe it. Jasper? I know she wasn't shattered when she fell into that chasm, but I still had doubts she would have survived the shifting tectonic plates and all." Pearl muses before turning to them. "And Marcus had transformed again?" She asks the last part a little fearfully and worriedly. Since the last time they had faced his other half they were nearly destroyed by it. The idea of him transforming again is something that they need everyone for and ready to fight at a moments notice.

"Mmmmmm sort of." Steven answers unsure. "He… halfway transformed, I think. Right?" He asks his dad, who shrugs.

"IIII don't know what he was supposed to look like, but he still looked kind of human… if you can see past the clawed fingernails, furry arms, really long hair, those red eyes… and those teeth. *Shudder*" Greg lets out a shudder at the memory. Seeing him like that reminded him something out of a horror movie.

"Just those parts? His clothes were still intact? Legs, chest and his head were the same human shapes? Not attacking you?" Pearl asks them, which they nod.

"Yeah. He was only like halfway than what we saw before and look like he wanted to hurt us." Steven answers.

"Hmmmm." Pearl hums in thought as she places her hand under her chin. "Only halfway… so maybe he was able to have more control this time around than the times before. That's good to know." She sighs in relief. The fight she and the others had with the monster really pushed them to their limit and if Marcus can make sure they don't fight it again, that's a headache they can do without. Before she can question them some more they hear footsteps coming to them from the other side of the door. "At least you all were able to come back unscathed."

"I don't know. Lapis and Marcus have a lot of… issues when it comes to Jasper, and a lot of them were a bit…" Steven thinks of what word to describe the emotional turmoil they went through.

"Conflicted."

"There we go!" Steven agrees with his dad.

"I hoping they at least got some comfort from each other when they left." Greg hopes as they turn to the door. The footsteps get closer until finally the door opens.

Greg and Pearls eyes open wide while Steven continues to smile. "Hey Lapis."

"Oh, hey Steven." Lapis returns the smile to Steven, any form of complication or sad emotions she had before completely gone as she stands in front of them, in the doorway of Marcus's home… wearing his shirt, which is a little too big for her as it hangs past her hips.

"…Maaaaaaybe a little too much." Greg whispers to Pearl, referencing the 'comfort' he mentioned.

"What are you guys doing here?" Lapis asks nonchalantly as she stretches her right arm to the left.

"One of my bears, Sir Bearington, has gone missing and I've been looking everywhere for him. We came over here to ask Marcus to see if he has someway to help find him." He asks normally. Soon he looks left and right past Lapis to notice no one else is there. "What are you doing here so early?" Currently it isn't past noon so the idea of Lapis being here by this point isn't normal.

"Ohh, I just slept over." She answers, stretching her left arm the other way. "I caught up the Marcus and we were able to patch things up between us." She then begins to bring her arms up and stretch them over her head.

*Pat*

"Really? Again?" Steven grumbles loudly in frustration as both Greg and Pearl cover Stevens eyes. He doesn't even bother trying to look as he got tired of his family constantly stopping him from seeing cool stuff. Greg and Pearl meanwhile both blush as they see Lapis in a shirt.

Just a shirt… that's it.

Lapis finishes stretching and lets her arms fall. "Anyway, you want Marcus to help you find your bear?" She asks.

"Yes please." Steven asks, pulling the hands covering his eyes down when its clear.

"Alright. When he's up I'll go ahead and tell him."

"Thanks Lapis!" He happily thanks her and turns around to head back home. The other two not wanting to stay here anymore awkwardly go ahead and begin to follow after the kid as well.

"Pearl." The gem in question stops at the mention of her name and turns around. Lapis stares at her with neutral look before waving her to come closer. Confused at what the blue gem wants, she complies and walks back over.

"Yes?" She asks. Lapis continues to stare at her for a few seconds in silence, even turning her head back as she hears some noise inside the house before turning back to Pearl.

"… Thanks."

This makes Pearl really confused as to what she could be thanking her for. Afterall Lapis always did have some sort of animosity towards the Crystal Gems for their accidental imprisoning of her. "Th-thanks? For… for what?" She asks genuinely confused.

Lapis looks at her in silence for a few seconds before glancing back to the inside of the house. "… For him."

"Him?" Pearl looks at her before glancing at the house they are at and who owns it. She looks at Lapis surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Because he has been one of the best things to have ever happened to me. If you hadn't found me, then maybe… maybe I would never have found him." She says quietly, with a smile on her face before turning back to Pearl.

"Even though we never… helped?" Pearl asks awkwardly, remembering how she and the others had first assumed the mirror she was trapped in was just an information device, not an actual gem themselves. They just left here there in storage for years without any effort of helping at all and that's what's made angry with the Crystal gems for so long.

Lapis dips her head down as she crosses her arms, chuckling softly as she does before letting out a sigh. "Well, being stuck for so long in mirror without being able to do anything sucked on so many levels… but I think I'm starting to like him even more than my hate for being trapped."

"Oh, well, that's good to hear." Pearl answers with relieved smile. "I'm also glad he has someone he can go to on a more personal level to help. He's been through so much." She quietly says as she stares at the house where Marcus lives. Lapis also turns back to look as well. Soon Pearl's. eyes trail over to Lapis "You both have."

"That's true." Lapis turns back and smirks at her. "I think… we'll be alright for now, you know?" Pearl nods at that. "Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. While I hated being stuck in the mirror, if you hadn't found me… I'd still be stuck in it. Steven and Marcus wouldn't have…" Lapis doesn't even have to finish the sentence as they both already know it was by Marcus and Steven's insistence and actions that allowed her to be free after so long, and eventually heal her cracked gem. "Like I said, thanks… for finding me."

"Your welcome Lapis." Pearl replies and gives a small bow to her. "I'm sorry we couldn't do more to help. I'm glad things are starting to look up for you." While Lapis wasn't originally a crystal gem and hasn't exactly been what you would call a friend to her and the others, Pearl wouldn't wish any ill-will on her.

"You and me both." Lapis states with a smile. She turns back as she hears some noises inside, indicating that Marcus is indeed awake. "I better get back inside. He might be wondering where I am. See you later." Lapis gives her a small wave as she steps inside and goes to close the door.

"Take care." Pearl bids her farewell with her own wave just before the door closes. As she turns around goesto head back down to where Steven and Greg is, she can't help but have a smile on her face despite the awkwardness at first. While she certainly wasn't expecting this type of conversation, she can definitely say that she feels a bit more at ease now.

Lapis meanwhile steps back inside and walks to the kitchen where the source of the noise has been. She also takes note of new smell as she walks deeper into the abode.

When she steps into the hallway she looks and sees Marcus standing at the stove, having already cooked up a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon with orange juice. When he finishes preparing the plate, he turns and notices Lapis standing there. "Oh hey." He greets her with a smile at seeing her. "I just finished making something to eat." He says as he walks over to the table and sets down the plate. When he does, she also notices that theirs already another plate of food there as well.

"Why two?" She asks.

Marcus looks at her for a second before looking at the table to see that he had indeed put down two plates. He groans and shakes his head at his mistake. "Oh, right. Gem." He sighs and looks at her. "Usually, for humans whenever they do what we did last night," They both smile, "And sleep, sometimes they'll have breakfast together in the morning. I don't know I guess I wanted to make sure I didn't screw anything up being it first- You know I'll just put it in the fridge for later and—" He goes to grab the plate and put it in the fridge, wanting to get the awkward conversation over with, but a hand stops him. He follows the hand up and looks at Lapis confused, who has an unsure look about her.

He continues to stare at her as she slowly pushes his hand away. Once he hasn't gone to grab the plate, she then goes to sit down in the chair. For awhile they are just silent with each other as Marcus stares at her and she stares at the plate. Soon though she grabs a fork then grabs a small amount of the scrambled eggs. When the yellowish food item is on her fork, ever so slowly she brings it closer and places the organic food item into her mouth. Marcus looks at her stunned and surprised that a gem other than Amethyst is actually eating human food. He watches with abated breath as she slowly chews the food with a concentrated look about her. Her chews are slow and methodical until finally she swallows. The silence of the entire allows for even Marcus to hear the audible sound of her swallowing the food. Again, they both have silence as he waits to hear what she says and she processing what she just ate for the first time. She blinks her eyes a couple times before looking at Marcus, who is looking at her expectantly. She blushes as she looks away from him, even straightening her hair behind her ear. "… I like it." She quietly says.

Marcus soon sports a look of joy on his face at the compliment. He quickly hugs her one final time before going to the other plate on the table sitting down to eat. The two of them delve into a small silence as they enjoy a homecooked breakfast meal.

"Oh, also Steven, Pearl and Greg came by to ask you to help Steven find his bear Sir Bearington." She quickly tells him before going back to eating.

"Ah, alright then. I'm sure Ace can help find him later." He answers and eats. Silence befalls them again until midway through a bite Marcus looks at Lapis confused. He places the fork back on the plate before looking under the table then back at Lapis confused, who is still eating like everything is okay. "Wait, did you talk to them wearing ONLY my shirt?"


"So, how was it?"

"It was… weird, but I didn't hate it. It was… nice and interesting in all honesty."

"I'm glad to hear that. If you ever want some more just go ahead and ask."

"Okay. Thanks."

"…"

"…"

"We're talking about the food right?" I ask her to make sure.

"We are?" She asks confused. We continue to stare at each other until we turn back to the TV and continue to watch whatever on. "… I liked both."

"… Thanks." Again, we delve into silence as we just sit there and watch TV. Soon though, I can't help but reach over and lay my arm around her shoulders. We smile as she scoots closer and lays her head on my shoulder.

That's how things were pretty much most of the morning. After so much that had happened to us, it was nice and refreshing for us to simply sit down quietly and relax. She liked the TV and what was shown, as well as the variety of shows there were. Mostly though she mentioned how Peridot would get a little too into a show called 'Camp Pining Hearts' and she liked it as well, but watching something else was refreshing change of pace. Anyway last night was a first experience for the both of us. While technically gems are genderless, their predominant appearances have always been female so it didn't really take much for Lapis to shapeshift the proper… parts. It was… an interesting experience, but not a hated one.

Now, after we properly dressed ourselves, since its afternoon we went ahead and decided to go for a walk on the beach. Actually, I thought of the idea and immediately retracted it as I know how much angst she has had with the ocean and so I wanted to go with something else, but she caught and said she was okay with it. I was adamant at first on going but if she was okay with it, I figured why not. Starting from one end of Beach City we begin a slow treck along the sandy beach on the edge of the town. We decided to go from a more secluded section of the beach instead of in town for a bit of alone time. We are the ones hanging out with each other and frankly I just want to be with her rather than getting interrupted by anyone else.

"So… you okay?" I ask with some hesitance.

"… Yeah." She replies with some hesitance as well. We walk side-by-side as step through the sands of the beach yet there is a small tenseness about us as I see she has her attention pretty much focused on the ocean itself. Instead of admiration at the beauty of the body of water and the surrounding landscape, I can almost feel the restrained frustration she seems to hold onto as she looks at the place she has a lot of regret over.

From the time she stole the ocean, to the months to practically a year long imprisonment and mental battle she had with Jasper with absolutely no rest during it. The ocean hasn't exactly been kind to her and the boat trip before was meant to help her.

We know how bad that turned out.

"Lapis, what's wrong?" I ask her sincerely.

"What makes you think somethings wrong?"

"… Well, theirs the fact that you haven't looked at me, or even looked anywhere else besides the ocean."

"Sorry." She apologizes and looks at me with a smile… a forced smile. "Everything's okay."

I can straight up tell she's lying. "Lapis, c'mon, can you just tell me what's wrong you?"

"Why are you going on about this?" She frowns and I can tell her hands are tightening up in anger. "I thought we were just here to relax and have some fun?"

"It's not really fun when one of us is angry and its not fun for the other when they can tell and not be able to do anything." I state a little bit forcefully. "So please, just tell me what's bugging you so I can help?" I ask, almost demanding an answer at this point.

"Would you just—!" She begins to say in anger, fists clenched and all, but she cuts herself off and relaxes. She breathes in deeply, closing her eyes before she lets it out and sighs. This time she seems almost… sad. "Yesterday, when you and Steven took me on that boat to kind of… curb my fear, it didn't help as you imagine. And no it wasn't because of Jasper." She quickly adds as I almost mention Jasper. I shut up and let her finish. "The ocean… I was stuck in it for so long. It was a never-ending time of constant struggle for me. Being fused with Jasper… doing everything I could to keep her shackled from hurting you and Steven… it was horrible." She slowly curls her arms and hugs herself as she stares at the ocean, a dark and somber mood starting to make its way to her. "The cold, darkness that surrounded me while I was down there at the bottom of the ocean. The pressure this planet the deeper and down you go. Suffocating you as try to make it down there but the constant struggle of fighting someone, fighting the ocean at the same time was just—!" Her voice begins to take on a tone of hysterical fear. Scared, wavering fear as she begins to shake.

It's only when I grasp her shoulders and force her to look at me does she stop. She is almost in tears from her words and looking at something not the ocean right now is calming her down. Her shaking ceases and the water welling up on the corners of her eyes disappear. Her arms fall to their sides as she gives me a genuine smile. I return the smile to her, happy that she's calmed down now. But I know its only a temporary solution. I turn to the ocean and stare at it. 'She still hates. Her memories of the whole incident still haunt her and makes her wary of it constantly. She can't live like that.' I turn to her to her again, the smiles are gone and my lips are pursed in thought before I speak.

"You know, it wasn't the water itself that had hurt you. It was Jasper and her obsession that had you trapped underwater. The ocean," I begin to say with a hand wave to the ocean. "Was simply the location of your entrapment. Come here." I grab her hand and bring her closer to the water. She feels a little reluctant at first but as she sees me stepping into it she starts to relax a little, just a little, but its something. I took off my shoes before we went onto the beach and rolled up pants so I don't get them wet. Our feet soon become submerged into the water a little over ankle deep. "Any location has its obstacles and difficulties when your there. For humans, when your in space, you can die quite easily without something to protect you. A sealed suit, a ship, air, lack of any of those and we die. As you said, the ocean can just as easily hurt you as any other time, but so can a mountain with falling rocks and falling from it and its high heights, blizzards and snow storms that will freeze you solid, rainstorms that cause floods and people to drown and lose their homes, deserts that will either freeze you at night or dry you up to shriveled nothing in the day, volcanoes and magma that will burn you alive reduce you to nothing. Even some places and towns on this planet will have you possibly be killed by either animals or humans in general." She starts to gain a look of interest at my words so I press on. "Person or Gem, depending on the individual will they use the environment to their advantage. When Peridot's ship crashed, what did you do to Jasper?" I ask her but she looks away, hurt at the memory of what she did but I cup her face and turn her to me. "No no no, none of that."

Both my hands gently caress her face as I sincerely look at her. "You fused with Jasper… and you trapped her. It wasn't the ocean itself that forced you down there, nor was it Jasper, it was you." I draw out the last word to make it so she knows it was her who did it. Both my hands fall away from her as I extend my arms outwards, gesturing to encompass the ocean around us. "You used the ocean to trap her because it was YOUR domain. The ocean is YOUR element, not hers, yours!" I point to her, making the message clear as day on who the ocean works best with. "No one else can do what you do when it comes to water. Sure maybe some other type of gem similar to you could control water… I can tell you for a fact, that I have never, EVER, seen anyone control water like you have. Lapis…" I grab her shoulders, looking directly into her eyes as I remember the first real extent of her powers. "You took control of the ocean. You took control of the ENTIRE planets ocean. I know you probably don't want to relive that memory, but I don't think you understand on just how… powerful that is compared to humans. Your gem was cracked, limiting your powers, and yet you took the entirety of the ocean to build a tower." I finish saying as I wave my hand in the general direction of where she built the tower. I quickly turn back to her before she starts to feel bad about the whole thing.

"I don't care anymore about why you took the water and your reasons. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about your power and just how powerful you are. No one can do what you do Lapis and because of what happened before, its limiting your powers and hurting you… and I don't wan to see that." I say the last part in a sad tone. I don't want to see Lapis constantly fidget whenever she sees the ocean or just have even an ounce of regret when she sees it. "The ocean can't hurt you… because you control it. It was because of you needing to keep Jasper contained that it hurt you, it damaged the both of you because you were fused. But now that your just one gem, without needing to worry about anyone else…" I reach down and cup a handful of water before bringing it to her face. She has a look of surprise on her as she stares at me before looking at the water in front of her. "The ocean… is your domain… the water… is yours." I whisper and let go.

Her hands fly forward and catches the spilled water perfectly. All drops that broke away immediately return into the small amount she has. She stares at the pool of water in her hands, before slowly letting go however the bit of water continues to stay suspended in the air, in the same form as if she were still cupping her hands to hold it up. She continues to stare at it for some time before letting it flow back into the water in a slow never breaking trickle. When that finishes she remains staring at it before looking up past me. As she steps forward I decide to step out of the way and allow her to go forward past me a bit deeper into the water. When the water is up to her thighs, she stops and just stands there for a while. When she's done staring, slowly she brings both her arms up in front of her, palms forward and out towards the water.

*FWOOOSH*

In a massive crashing of water, just like on the night I first met her, she throws her arms out to her sides, splitting the entire ocean with ease until we see all the way to the bottom of the ocean floor. She keeps her arms outstretch like that for a few seconds before bringing hers hands forward again before bringing them upwards. Both sides of the water returns to each other, crashing together and sending a massive crashing wave of water sailing high into the air right where both sides met. As she lets her arms down, the water begins to calm down and settle to what it was before.

That doesn't last long as further into the water I notice two spots in the water begin to bubble. At first subtly and small, but soon they get bigger and more violent until two massive spouts of water fly up from the surface of the ocean. At first their just two massive columns of water less than a hundred meters out from us, a little less than the length of a football field. Both columns of water soon begin to curl inwards towards each other, pointing to each other… and attacks. In a small shower of water, the two heads of the columns of water crash into each other, sending droplets of water raining everywhere, even close to us. All the while Lapis has her arms laying against her sides, not doing any hand movements whatsoever, just standing there in front of me and staring at the fight like me.

When they pull back however, the columns of water begin to take on different shapes than just spouts of water. Now I begin to see them take on the forms of what looks like some kind of water dragon serpents, the water molding tightly so the ripples resemble scales and the heads split open horizontally, revealing mouths filled with icicles resembling razor sharp teeth and letting out hisses to each other. I stare in amazement at the serpents before they begin gliding around the surface of the ocean, sliding around in circle as they size each other up. They even begin to get a little closer to us as they do but their focus is staying right on each other.

They bring themselves low to the water, poising themselves ready to strike. They bare their teeth to each other, then strike. With quickness rivaling a viper, they fly towards each other but it's the right serpent that makes it first. It's teeth grabs just under the head of its opponent and catches it before it can strike it. With its opponent in its jaws, the right serpent curls inwards and twists downwards before forcing the body in its jaws straight into the water. A massive splash of water erupts as a result of it and sends a ripple of waves in all directions. I brace myself as the wave lessens when it gets to us but it only goes up to our waists. My lower body is soaked and I'm almost knocked off my feet but I stay standing. Amazingly, Lapis stays rooted to her spot the whole time.

The giant water serpent dragon reels itself back and lets out victorious hiss as its opponent sinks into the ocean, the water-made body melting away and disappearing to the murky water. The remaining serpent however begins to stare in all directions before its eyes land on us. It lets out another threatening hiss and comes towards us, teeth bared and ready to strike us. All my instincts to move or fight back are overridden by my confidence in the girl right in front of me. The water it is made of makes it sound like an actual dragon roar as it comes towards us. I continue to stand behind Lapis as she stares impassively at the water constructed beast with her hands at her sides as it flies to us unimpeded. It gets closer and closer until finally when its only a several feet from us…

*Fwish*

In a hand wave, the water dragon breaks apart into millions upon millions of water droplets scattering about in every single direction without any harm coming to us at all. As what remains of it gently showers us in a small misty drizzle of water, I can't help but continue to stare at Lapis and her outstretched hand. We become damp from the water as she brings her hand back down, then after a few seconds she turns around.

She turns back to me, this time with a smile as tears run down her eyes. Only they're not sad tears but more… happy? Relief? I'm not sure but the smile is a happy one I know that. "Lapis?" I ask in concern still and reach out to her. She doesn't reply and instead walks up to me. Before I can react she steps forward and immediately kisses me. I'm taken back and surprised by the sudden embrace but soon I return the kiss as well. It doesn't last as long as our first one but when she breaks it she follows up with hugging me tightly.

"Thank you." She mutters to me.

I can't help but smile and hug her tightly back. "Your welcome. I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Me too." She releases us and stands beside me as we stare into the ocean. Our hands are held tightly by each other as we watch the now calming water before us. "I'm not… a hundred percent okay with the ocean…" She leans over and pecks me on the cheek. "But it's a start thanks to you."

"Glad to hear that. You wanna continue walking or go do something else?" I ask her.

"Let's continue walking for a bit and see where that takes us." Not seeing anything wrong with that, I nod and we resume our walk along the beach.

Even so, without much more for the ocean and beach to offer us, we soon decided to go ahead and go elsewhere. Also to leave on the precaution that someone might have seen what happened and I don't want anyone to interrupt us. I decided and proposed we could go for a simple drive around town. Not to Empire City or any other town like before, but elsewhere in town and around the outskirts. That's what we mostly do for a good bit of time, just a smooth slow drive around town, admiring the sights since neither of us did anything like this before. Awhile back when I went around hiding guns all over the place, I was mostly in the mindset of just hiding my weapons. Didn't really take the time to admire the landscape. Most the hiding places were in town anyway so going around the hills and trees is still a somewhat new experience for the both of us. After a bit of driving we decide to go a bit off the road and head over to hill that overlooks beach city. I think I remember Steven mentioning its called Brooding hill so this'll be something nice to see on our day together.

Soon, we turn onto the grassy and dirt landscape and before stopping at the foot of the hill and parking. By the time we're there and walking up the hill, the sun is getting close to the ground, bathing the sky and area in a soft light orange glow.

"Wow." Lapis's reaction is the same as I as we stare at the whole town of Beach City from atop the hill. We can see everything from the homes, funland, the lighthouse, my home and a bit of the temple too. We don't really have an angle to see the barn as much but the whole view itself is just beautiful to see. "This is amazing." She says in awe.

"Yeah, it sure is. Never seen anything like it before." I say in agreement with her. As we stand there staring at the view together, I can't help but turn and stare at Lapis. With the way the sun is the light radiating off of her as the wind gently blows around us just makes her look… breathtaking. "Well… kind of." I mutter with a smile. She returns the smile to me as we both admire each other and the landscape. I decide to try to make this moment more special for us. I look around at the ground around us until I spot a pink flower next to a rock nearby. I go and grab the flower, finding it in fairly good condition, and noting the pink gem in the middle of it. 'Oh, so this must be that flower Steven helped grow awhile back.' When I grab it in my hands, I hold carefully as I step back closer to Lapis. "Lapis? Could you tilt your head to the right a little?" When I call her name I ask of her. She looks at me confused but complies nonetheless and turns her head to the right. I then gently proceed to bring the flower close and place it in her hair, top left of her hair next to her ear. When its set and I'm sure its not going to fall off, I smile. "Perfect." I whisper. Instead of my hands falling away from her, both of my hands slowly move to both sides of her face, straightening her head so we look straight at each other. I just hold her and stare into her eyes. The eyes I've fallen in love with. "Lapis… I love you. You know that right?"

"Of course."

"Good… its just…" I begin to say but I pause in my words. As I do, Lapis begins to look worried at me at my hesitance. I look down for a second before back up at her. "It's just that I… when it comes to love I… I'm not exactly… experienced the feeling. I've had plenty of experience when dealing with other types of feelings, but love? That's one that I'm not… good with. It's such a…foreign feeling to me that I'm not really sure how to go about it." I let out a frustrated sigh as I remember some people in my life who I was supposed to love. "My parents? I could never have loved my parents. Not with one of them having never to have been there and the other… well the other was far from being a loving parent. Parents… family and all that, I know its foreign concept to gems, but just know they are people we are supposed to care very very deeply about. However, I see it as there being two different types of love: Familial love, where you form a bond of love reserved for familys; and… true love, love that makes you… want to do… anything for the person you love. Not family love as a mother, father, brother or sister… but the love I have for you that I can say with absolute certainty." I stare long and hard at her, my eyes meeting hers and staying locked. "I love you… Lapis Lazuli. I love you to the point… that no matter what happens, no matter what we face, no matter the obstacles that we may face… I will be by your side, I will stand by you…" My face leans in close until our foreheads touch, "I am your shield, and I will protect you and help you… no matter what." I sincerely finish saying.

I've considered Steven a brother, as close as a brother if by blood, and Greg, Connie, the Crystal Gems, all of them as my closest family. Peridot… an alright but sometimes annoying friend.

Lapis though… Realizing that I love Lapis… has been a massive relief to me. I love her… and I think I in fact really do love her.

She smiles and hugs me tightly. "I wouldn't expect anything less." She whispers into my ear. I let out a sigh of relief. Getting all of this off my chest feels amazing at this point and the fact that I can actually talk to someone about this has me having just a bit more in clarity. I couldn't talk to the others about my feelings or what I've done and how I feel about certain things. With Pearl, I think at some point I had feelings for her but I don't know if they were right to be honest so telling her about my issues didn't feel like I had and option to do, especially with how much crap I've done since the first day I got here.

Amethyst… yeah I don't really see her giving me some advice or know the proper way on how to tell me on how to process all this.

Garnet, her monotonous tone and rare times I've seen her express any sort of emotion makes me think that I don't think she would be the right person to give me advice or even relate to.

Peridot, she's more technical and technological than feelings most of the time so she's out.

Greg, he's got his hands and mind full of the stuff that goes on with his son and potential dangers he and his family will possibly face in the future. I know how angry he was at me on how I usually kept guns around his son, and the other times how Steven almost got captured and killed as a result of either me or the gem related stuff.

Steven, 'Uh uh, hell no. No way ever. I've already nearly gotten a target placed on his back because of what I've done with the damn Iron Kings. On top of the stuff with Homeworld and the gems I refuse to make a part of anymore problems I have. There is no way in hell I am going to drop my emotional baggage on him.' My thoughts make it pretty clear on why Steven is out of the question. Even though I know he'd help me regardless, I don't want him to waste time on me.

Lapis though… We've both been in pain. The amount of trauma and problems we've both faced over our lifetimes would have broken and destroyed most people.

… Or maybe we are broken. Maybe that's why we love each other. Maybe because we understand pain no one else can relate to. Maybe… we can try to fix each other. Pick up the pieces and become whole again, whether whole together or separately, I don't know but I like the idea of help.

We spend the majority of our time now just taking in the sunset on Brooding Hill. Enjoying the peace and quiet we have and savoring it with each other's company. When the sun dips past the horizon and the light is almost completely gone is when we decide to call it and head on home, but not before sharing another kiss with each other. When the outer glow of the sun has passed and the night sky has come out, I don't make an effort to go home any time soon. Just a smooth car ride back home in the cover of night. We look up and enjoy night sky as the stars come out, although Lapis is free to look up and stare at them but I have to keep my eyes on the on the road so my vision shifts from admiring the stars and my girlfriend to the road so we don't crash. I've had too many of those, some not of my own volition, to begin with.

Still, while the ride is slow and calm, we managed to make it back to my house. I park right in front of my house and shut the engine off. "Well, we're here."

"We are." Lapis agrees with a smile. "I had a great time today. Thanks for taking me out for this drive."

"No problem. I had a great time too." I return the smile and we exit my ride. As I walk up to my front door, I spot Ace sitting down on the front of my door. When I step up to him, he immediately perks and pads over to me. Lapis and I pet him and I open the door, letting him in. "Good to be home."

"Yeah it is. Thanks for this day. It was… fun and enlightening." I smile at the words she says. "But I should probably get back to the barn."

"What?!" I ask a bit too loudly for my liking. I recompose myself and continue in a steadier tone. "I mean, your going back to the barn? I thought you were going to stay…?" I don't finish saying the sentence as I feel I don't need to.

"Last night? Yeah, I loved staying here and being with you, but I don't… really feel like home here. This is a place I've never been to before and it was because of last night… us together…" They both blush as they smile and look away from each other at the memory of their night of passion. "That I actually stayed here. The barn? That's my home. That was the place I knew I could call my own out of all the places here on earth. This place?" She says as she lays her hand on the frame of the door. "This place is yours. It's always going to be yours and I want to think about it more before I fully commit to staying here. Plus I also have to tell Peridot where I've been."

I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed at hearing this but I can't say I don't understand. I shouldn't expect her to drop everything from her life at the barn to stay here with me. At least until we're more comfortable and at ease with our new arrangement. I nod a little sadly. "Yeah, I understand. I can see that and I understand." I look back up at her but I'm blindsided.

She kisses me. She closes the distance and immediately embraces me in a kiss. Not the simple emotional ones we've had before. This one is a bit more… rough. By the time she lets me go, I'm staring at her with wide eyes and taking in lungful's of air. "But you are still mine. No matter the distance, no matter where we are or how far away we are, okay?" I don't know how she read my mind but she took a big step in alleviating any worries I had that this was going to be a one off thing. No I think we're good. We just have our own comfort zones for now.

"Yes, okay. We're good. We are very good… although I think I need some more convincing."

*Smack*

"Owwwww." I whine as she punches my shoulder. But we still laugh and chuckle so we're still good. "Alright alright. It's all good. C'mon. I'll drive you home."

"Thanks but you don't have to worry. I think I'll go ahead and walk home."

"All the way from here?" I ask confused as to why she would when I can take her.

"Well, maybe not walk. I can also fly home." She accentuates that bit of information by forming her wings out from behind her.

"Oh yeah. You can do that."

"I can just fly home back to the barn… or walk… I don't know. Depends on how I feel. The night looks good so I might take my time." She says nonchalantly.

"Alright then. Sounds like your all set."

"I am." She agrees and turns around, walking out the door. I follow and stop at the doorway. "I'll see you later. Good luck in finding Steven's bear."

"Yeah I have to do that don't I? I'll see you soon Lapis!" I wave to her as she continues to walk away. She waves back and focuses back to walking.

I go ahead and close the door before locking it. I find myself standing there for a few seconds before turning around and staring into my home and Ace who is laying on the couch. The smile doesn't leave my face as I go about getting ready to make myself something to eat.


Lapis herself is also in jovial mood as she walks back to the barn in a silent stroll. Having been alone for so long, she wasn't sure how to feel a lot of times, even when Marcus, Steven and Greg went to try to cheer her up but it was all just awkward for her most of the time.

Seeing what Marcus has been through, what he's done plenty of times over to help both her and everyone else has made her realize that if theirs anyone she can go to for help and comfort, it would be him as they both have felt absolutely the worst off most of their lives.

Having made their feelings for each other known, Lapis too feels a sense of relief and happiness. She walks slowly back to the barn in the dead of night but the darkness does nothing to darken her mood, even as she lightly skips a few times in glee. Her movements simple but graceful in nights air, her form silhouetted perfectly in the moons glow. When she finds herself in the long grassy plains surrounding the barn, she stops for a moment brings her hand to the side of her head, where she grabs the flower Marcus had placed in her hair.

"Mmmmm." She lets out a content moan as she smells the flower. Even though it doesn't look like the native rose plant to earth, and the odd gem it has in the middle, Lapis does smell it to be of the rose variety and smiles at the pleasant scent. She lets out a happy twirl without breaking her moving strides across the grassy landscape. She only does this for a short while before she resumes walking regularly. She also takes great care in holding the plant in her hands while she returns home. Thankfully she doesn't have to travel too much further as she begins to see her own home whom she shares with her former enemy.

She stops for a second and looks ahead where she spots the barn in the distance. She sighs as she smiles and takes one step forward… then she turns to the left and her eyes widen.


It was surprisingly hard to find Steven's bear. I spent an entire day, the next day after Lapis and I had our own personal day, looking for the toy but even with Ace's help we just couldn't find it. I gave him clothes and other toys Steven used to try to have him track using Steven's scent on the bear but we just couldn't make any progress. We turn the beach house upside down, my own him, even took Ace into town to see if the toy was dropped but still nothing. Gregs car wash was a bust too by the time the day ended.

*BARK*BARK*BARK*

Now it's the next day and I find myself waking up to the loud angry barking of my dog. Which I immediately find odd because this is the first time I've heard him sound like this. I'm up from my bed, not as fast as I would have liked in all honesty. I was groggy as I was woken up so suddenly and loudly and I quickly throw on some clothes before heading down the stairs. By the time I make it down after several minutes Ace has quieted down. "Ace?" I call out to him as I round the corner to the living room. When I do I find Ace standing on all fours staring straight at my front door. "Ace?" I ask again as I step closer to him. As I get closer I actually hear him let out a continuous low growl towards. "Hey boy, what's wrong?" I kneel down close and give him a few scratches behind the ears. This snaps out of it and he's panting and happy to see me. I smile at his change in attitude but I look back at the door in confusion. 'Huh, what's got him so wired up?' I walk up to my door and open it.

There's nothing there.

"Hello?" I ask confusion as I peak out and look left and right. Not on the sides of my house nor do I see anyone down the hill. "Huh?" I question and I'm about to go back inside until I look down. "What the—?" I mutter incredibly confused at the items at my front door.

A laptop, and a toy bear.

As I lean down to look at the items, I focus on the bear first. It's a light brown bear with a fake monocle sewed onto his left eye, a black and white suit and giant red bow tie on his neck.

'Sir Bearington.' I know the bear right off the bat. The one toy that I and everyone else have been looking all over for, from all over Beach City… and its right here on my doorstep. "How is…?" I question quietly to myself as I stare at the toy for a good long while. When I finally stop, I quickly look around for anyone else who may be nearby before I quickly go down and grab the laptop before backing inside and slamming the door closed. I waste no time in locking fully and stepping back deeper into my house. "Good boy." I quickly pat and thank Ace, who wags and pants happily at the compliment, before I head over to my table. I place the bear on the table before putting the computer down in front of me and letting out a long drawn out sigh.

I grab the laptop and open it.

…!

My eyes widen. My breath hitches. My hands begin to shake in fear.

The flower. The flower I gave to Lapis the night before is here. Tucked into the Laptop, crumpled and crushed, not just flattened from the computers closing but I can see the tears and wrinkles it has… like someone didn't care about it at all.

Even though I don't want to, I really really don't want to, I hesitantly grab the flower and put it to the side before hesitantly turning on the computer. It's not even a high end fancy laptop. Just some standard hardware anyone can get. When I turn it on, they did some changes to it because it doesn't go through a start up or anything, it just goes straight to a video. I have no control over it whatsoever so all I'm forced to do is just sit here and watch it.

Soon, the picture becomes clear and I am staring at a persons torso covered in a black shirt. He's typing on the computer, until he steps back and leans into the camera. A guy, brown hair, brown eyes, somewhere in the age of 30's but he's got a clean smooth face that I just don't like, especially the smile he has as he stares at the camera. "Well, this was a long time coming huh? Did you really think we would go so easy?" He sneers.

'The Iron Kings.' I can't help but think grimly as my hands tighten considerably. Thing is, I have an odd feeling as I look at this guy and don't know what it is.

"It's the Iron Kings asshole." He jeers. "And you are looking at its leader!"

"Wha-… what?" I voice my incredible confusion at his declaration. 'This… this isn't… this can't…' My mind is jumbled in confusion as I try to make sense of why. This person doesn't sound or seem like the person I talked to before when I made the deal with the Iron Kings leader.

"Now you have been fucking with us for far too long and its time we really settled this!" He angrily states. "You honestly think we're stupid? You honestly think we believe that you got rid all of the evidence you have on us? Well I don't believe jack shit from you. But now… we have someone that you'll think twice before doing anything against us." My heart drops as turns the computer and aims it elsewhere.

'Lapis…' My heart starts beating faster and faster as I spot Lapis, the person I love, being held captive. She's being held above the ground by her arms, hoisted by her arms chained together over a wooden bucket of water with her head aimed down.

"As you can see, we have someone you like very much and I don't think you'll do anything to mess with us. Or else things willlll…" He draws out the word and steps over to the side wall where he grabs a lever on the wall. He lets out a sadistic smile, and pulls it.

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTT*

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" She screams. Lapis screams. Metal prongs stay placed into the water with jumper cables attached to the metal.

He shuts the electricity off, making her fall still and remain hanging by her metal chain restraints. "And now you know not to fuck with us." The guy comes back to the computer and leans down, keeping Lapis in the frame but him on the edge of the screen. "Like I said before, it's time you pay for fucking with us!" He yell in anger. Suddenly a set of numbers appear on the left side of the screen.

They are latitude and longitude coordinates.

"Right now you should be seeing the coordinates to our main base. You come here, alone, and we'll settle this. Do anything stupid… and she gets shocked again until she dies." He accentuates this by grabbing the lever and pulling it quickly, making her scream, then shutting it off soon after. "You have one week. And every day I will shock her at least once for a good long while. Better hurry." He tells me in an incredibly confident and high and mighty tone.

Just before he shuts it off, I look at Lapis. My focus set on her entirely. She looks up, where I can barely see her mouth.

She smiles.

The video shuts off and so does the computer.


"…"

He sits there. Marcus just sits there staring at the computer for what feels like hours. His face retains and stays in a neutral pose. No manner of anger or rage present on his face… on the outside.

Even Ace whines worriedly at the still motionless state his master is in for a long time.

Ever so slowly, he pushes out his chair and stands up. Ace pants and wags his tail happily at seeing movement before Marcus slowly grabs the bear. "Come with me." He says in a monotone voice. Ace falls in behind him as he steps outside. He doesn't even bother to close the door. He walks down the hill before looping around the beach towards the temple. He doesn't even bother as well with the warp. Just… walking.

'… I tried. I tried to make this simple… and it didn't work.' His thoughts are angry and dark.

The passage of time doesn't really register to him as he slowly trudges his way up the steps. He doesn't knock, just walks straight on in. The discussions with everyone inside pauses for a moment as the Crystal Gems greet Marcus. They almost go back to talking but notice his dour low demeanor, especially with his emotionless face and head turned towards the ground.

He doesn't even register as Steven walks up to him and asks him what's wrong. Steven's worried states turns into happiness for a moment as Marcus hands Steven his bear, in which he grips it happily and hugs him tightly. He tells Steven to get Connie and Greg and take them to his base. Steven looks confused as Marcus walks to the others, instructing Garnet and Amethyst to do the same. Now everyone is full on worried as they don't hear a single shred of emotion in his voice, just complete monotone nothingness. It's when he walk up to Pearl does his face morph into something else, more in determination… and stares directly into her eyes. He utters one sentence, resulting in Pearl's eyes widening and her mouth opening in a surprise.

"… I need the Armor of the Fallen."


'… We were supposed to be done. No more fighting. Done with each other…'

After talking to the others, Marcus left without a word, his face retuning to its emotionless state, even when the others try to ask what's wrong but he doesn't explain. Only told them to get to his base.

The footsteps are slow, time slows for him as he walks to the barn. Forgoing the use of the warp pad again to just walk to the barn. He footsteps are slow and sluggish but he continues on all the way to the barn, across the grassy plains and over the hills before the barn comes into view. As he walks up to the barn, he keeps his eyes focused and looks around for who he's looking for. It doesn't take him long to find the green short gem as she's standing in front of the barn and staring intently at the barn.

He steps up to her. Peridot completely disregards his state but at least notices him and just goes about mentioning some things, improvements to the barn, meep morps she's making, what she wants to make with Lapis. She goes about asking him where Lapis is and hasn't seen her in some time. When she finally notices the look on Marcus's face, her playful demeanor changes to seriousness.

He simply tells her to grab her weapon and go to his base. Tells her where to go, and how to access his underground bunker. Without another word, he walks away, his guard dog keeping in step with him while Peridot quickly grabs her revolver and any other items she thinks they'll need. He takes bit of a longer route, focusing on just walking for as long as he can back home, as well as giving the others time to get to his home.

'… I gave you the out, I gave you the chance…'

For what feels like hours he eventually makes it back to his home. He trudges into his house before walking to the elevator in the back of his home. As he goes he finds the door open and the elevator in clear view of him. While Ace goes to lay on the couch, Marcus steps onto the elevator and goes down.

When he makes it to the bottom, everyone is already there and the lights are on. Barely any of them have seen his base and the majority of them are busy fawning over and staring at the underground base in amazement. He walks over to the side wall, putting his hand on the palm reader he first used to shut his base down. When it confirms his identity, the lever comes out. Without hesitating, he grabs the lever and pulls it down. Almost everyone jerks as the entire base whirs to life, first a low hum before it suddenly jerks to life. The rest of the lights in the base turn on, all the machinery turns on and comes online, his droids get up and begin patrolling the base, repairing and refitting anything out of place.

'… And you threw it right back in my face.'

He steps away from the wall and walks deeper into the base. The others voice their amazement at the machinery and technology the place poses as everything turns on one after another. But none more so is Peridot ecstatic as she looks at all Homeworld tech stowed away. She fawns over the little droids walking along the floor, holding one as she kisses it and hugs it tightly. Not enough to pop it but still happy none the less.

He moves past her, much to her and the others confusion. He steps past a few storage rooms, the first one contains a large majority of all the firearms he has collected in his time living and fighting. The second, contains the deactivated remains of the bipedal robonoids still shut down and ready to be worked on. The third one is a much larger room, the garage that contains all his vehicles, from his Suzuki motorcycle, his Falcon, truck, the remains of the Vindicator and his helicopter. Walking past them, he stops at the one room he was looking for, a type of vault he has meant for the most important items he has.

One item in particular is what he's looking for. Stepping up to the door, he inputs a set of numbers in the keypad, allowing the stainless metal doors to unlock and slide open. Before they fully open, he heads straight to a safe embedded in the wall and unlocks it. When he opens it, he sighs as he stares at the contents.

'Well… you want a war…' Marcus thinks as he reaches in and pulls out the device. 'I'll give you hell.' He thinks darkly as he clenches the Replicator in his hand. He steps outside of the vault and stares ahead.

He looks at the others, his friends, his family as they stare at him… minus one.

He looks at his weapons.

He looks at the Robonoids.

He looks at his vehicles.

He aims the replicator… and fires.


Well, everyone, I think we all knew that the Iron Kings were gonna come back eventually, but man did they pick wrong way on how to get back at Marcus. Of course things are a bit different with them seeing as how the leader did a couple of stupid moves compared to Marcus's previous dealings with them.

Now, he is gearing up for the battle of all battles when it comes to taking down the Iron Kings once and for all.

Also another note, this story is now over 3 years old. Kind of missed the birthday less than a month ago but with the movie so close and not wanting to split the chapter, I decided to just hold off on finishing it up until the movie came out so I can also give my review of the movie. Not yet, further down. It'll be the very last thing here so I don't give anyone spoilers for those who haven't seen it yet. Just stop reading before the next line and you should be good. I will say though, I've got A LOT of ideas ready to put into the story when the movie comes into play. It was awesome.

For now I'm going to give some clarifications on some things and soon get to the reviews. As you all may have noticed, Marcus has asked Pearl for the Armor of the Fallen. Several suits of armor that belonged to the fallen warriors from the Crystal Gem war. He is going to use a lot of stuff at his disposal and the armor is going to be one such set of equipment he is going to use to his advantage.

I want your help everyone. Before I've had my reservations when it comes to putting other peoples OC's in my story as I never feel like I could capture what they had originally intended for their character. With the armor though that Marcus is going to bring to life using technology, I think its safe to say that I can safely ask you all for some tips and ideas for what I am to do with the different armor suits. Here's the thing, the show and a picture of the armors shows that there are 16 armor suits, but at least 7 of them are unique while the rest are just duplicates, so here is what I am asking everyone: I want your ideas for what these armors are going to do in the upcoming battle. I want a bare minimum of 7 different armors that will be used. Here's what I want from you all:

Name: (What will it be called?)

Appearance: (What the armor bot will look like?)

Abilities: (What can it do? Ex. Shields, speed boost, cloaking, superhuman strength, target acquisition etc.)

Weapons: (From melee weapons to gunpowder weapons and even some blaster/laser weapons, nothing from like star wars though.)

(Optional) Role: (What would they be doing in the battle? Ex. Scouting, demolition, flanking, etc.)

They won't be doing any talking, so no one has to bother with their personalities, what they sound like or anything, just focus on what they look like and what they can do, or maybe you can have them give some audio ques to demoralize the enemy if you want. Thank you everyone for reading and I hope plenty of you come up with some great ideas.

Here are the review replies:

ChimaTigon: Probably not.

Nitro zeus: I'm not really sure. Something that they won't really do seeing as they've never attacked him in his home or in the town he lives. The Iron Kings have always attacked him whenever he was outside so attacking him on his own turf is not a good idea.

MADMatt6: I have something planned for that particular fusion but its kind of a long way off. Still, I'm glad you liked the conclusion nonetheless.

Berserk117: Glad you liked it. I do what I can to please. As for their reaction to Marcus and Lapis's new relationship, I can see Jenny being a little surprised but maybe a little disappointed too. Pearl though, very surprised, as you may have already seen.

DatXeno91: Ha. Yeah it's good to finally confirm the ship into words. I am happy to hear how excited you were on reading the ending. It's still surprises me how much people like and love certain scenes I make in this story and hearing you describe how happy you were is just awesome to hear. Thank you and I hope you continue to love the story.

Rex559: Not really. While yes I understand the rating, I've mostly placed that there for the more violent fighting and language that happens. Plus I don't really feel all that confident in myself in order to write a lemon scene and such. While it is implied, a legit fleshed out and described scene isn't something I don't think I can do myself.

Kyrogue23: Yeah I wasn't sure if whether I should have made the dream episode into a chapter all on its own or made it a flashback. Since the dream fighting was pretty much the main interesting part of the episode that would have worked better for Marcus to be a part of, felt more sense for it just be in a flashback and focus on the sea episode after. Yeah the sea ride would have felt like a more relaxing time and moment for them until everything went to hell pretty quickly. With those new mental guardians he has now, the other side of him can now be subdued and better manage the out of control power that the monster possesses. He can still be pretty angry when it comes down to it but he's somewhat better in control now. And all that emotion with Jasper and all just came to broil of Marcus finally admitting his feelings. A good end I'd say.

Donovan77: While that is true, the Iron Kings have proved multiple times that they themselves don't care for the number of lives either, as well as the fact that Marcus was put in a position where he very well could have lost his life. While yes Rose did ask Pearl to not harm humans, I don't think she could have forseen humans actively coming to the Kindergarten and intended harm for someone Pearl cared about. Still, I plan to have a bit of a moment for Pearl to address that.

Rocky12: Well if I straight up told you what he was going to do then that would be spoilers right there. No offense but I don't really wish to give anyone spoilers so the best thing you can do is give your best assumption as to who Marcus will side with when the time comes.

Deacon27: I'm sure their will still be tense issues to deal with concerning the shattering of any other future gems considering Marcus's past with doing so. If he does do so, Pearl will no doubt be angry at him again, but that's a possible discussion for the future.

Guest: Sorry about that. I do what I can to get work done to what stories I can get to. Depending on my mood at the time and the flow in which I write my stories will some get updated faster than others. It also helps when I get to certain points that I feel like I don't need to rush to get to the next chapter or not.

J4im3kill: Thanks. I did what I could to make the fight epic but also eerie what with the added storm and all that. And yes I did enjoy Sekiro. A pretty awesome game what with the way you can fight and how you can adapt to the different fight scenarios and bosses. Feels somewhat like Dark souls but makes it a lot more intense and awesome in my opinion. I like XCOM as well but haven't played in quite awhile. Originally when I got XCOM 2 I got it for the PC, which I also had to ask my uncles if they had any old spare PC's I could use to play the game. They're tech guys so they did have an old one I can use that barely ran the game but after awhile when they announced the game was coming to consoles, when I specifically remember they said they were NOT due to encouraging people to make mods for the game, I was pretty ticked off at that info as I'm a console player primarily all the way through so I just stopped playing the game after I beat it once. It's a nice game but I was still angry at that news.

Miss Tri: I'm glad you liked it all. No Marcus is not a god. He just used the convenience of the lightning strikes and his near instantaneous speed abilities fueled and increased by his anger to get an edge over Jasper. His dialogue to Jasper definitely accentuated his darker ways of doing things, as opposed to Stevens more lighter way of doing things and there is the chance that this opposition of each other can create tension between the two. Glad you liked the brother thing they have.

I am very glad you liked how the romance was set up. I'm not much of a romance making type of person and I wasn't sure exactly how I should have gone about it. Obviously, Marcus hasn't had much luck in his life when it comes to dealing with love so the whole time I kind of wanted him to be a bit… oblivious to his growing feelings with Lapis since it's a feeling he's never really had much experience with. Its when someone else has come by and wanted to take her from him that he's finally realized his true feelings for Lapis and finds out he does in fact love her. I'm honestly surprised you say I did a good job with it but I'm thankful I did the whole romance justice. Sorry I didn't make any scenes with just Marcus and Lapis. Honestly after having written the whole flashback scene earlier in the episode, I kind of just wanted to push through the rest of the episode and just get to the moment where Marcus just goes off on Jasper. Just really let loose on her after everything she's done.

Anyway, thank you for the lengthy review and I hope the next chapter is up to your expectations.

Guest but shuner (Ch. 9): Glad to hear that. Hope you like the rest of my story then.

Thank you all for support and your patience. I can tell you all without a doubt that I am going to be working on the next chapter for this story as after the months long time its been since I last updated, I think its time I get the confrontation with the Iron Kings out of the way you know. Thank you all, fave, follow, review, whatever you wish, but most of all, have fun reading and have a great day.


STEVEN UNIVERSE MOVIE REVIEW! SPOILERS AHEAD!

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Just the movie, nothing else to mention.

That movie… holy crap. Wow, just wow the movie was something else entirely. It was awesome and was a bit fun to watch the whole way entirely. Like as we saw from the trailers that everything was good hearted and peaceful at first but then soon after we saw things go from good to worst in no time at all. Spinel came in, sang, started attacking, pulled a wicked freaky energy bladed scythe and completely demolished half the Crystal gems in pretty much one swipe. Although I have to admit when Steven straight up took the scythe and poofed Spinel I was a bit surprised but happy nonetheless from him doing so.

Then afterwards when we saw his gem acting up I knew things were not right at all, especially with how easy she was taken down. I was completely floored when the gems reformed and they all had reverted back to their original selves. Seeing Pearl back in her state when she was blindly following Pink Diamonds commands, now following Greg around unconditionally, was just plain freaky to me. Ruby and Sapphire I wasn't really surprised by them. But Amethyst… tiny Amethyst was cute and awesome, especially when she was just copying everyone, even Pearls expressions. Then when Spinel formed, that threw me for a loop as well. Seeing her happy bubbly state and just being a fun loving character completely made my feelings do a 180 and start liking her, then feeling sorry for her and so on.

The new gem city everyone's been building was also pretty good to see as well. Then everyones antics in trying to get the gems memories back was fun to watch as well. But most of all what really hit me was the new fusion… Steg… STEG! I swear people I was freaking the absolute hell out when Steven and Greg just… fused like that. It surprised me so much and I loved it. The song was nice, Pearl had some questionable reactions to the song, but overall it was a nice song, everyone flying, Opal playing an instrument as well and Pearl finally getting her memories back was good roundabout way finishing it off. But seeing just how drained and weak Steven was when he unfused was bad but good to see he was still determined to help.

Then we find out just what happened to Spinel to make her so crazy and holy crap that was heartbreaking. Which I'm pretty sure is what happened to her. Yet again, Pink Diamond did something to completely screw someone up. Seriously her actions in the past have completely messed some people and gems up and left her son to pick up the pieces.

But the fight, the Steven and Spinel fight was amazing to watch. The revelations from the both of them, the fighting, the moves was just a pleasure to watch. But, the punch though, Spinels punch to Steven was… surprising. Like very surprising. We've seen a lot of punches and fights happen in the show as it is but that punch after Steven said it wasn't a game… that hit felt even more brutal than others, and I'm not saying that because Steven actually started bleeding from it, well maybe a little, but the punch being Spinels reply to what Steven said was… wow. My breath stopped as I could almost feel it and it was crazy.

Then the Diamonds came down and said they were moving in was… awkward. Like lots of levels of awkward I was feeling from what they were saying, wanted and all that. Still, it was nice to see that Spinel found a new place to be happy and bring joy to others.

But Spinel, man, I gotta admit… when I first saw her in the trailers and commercials I was pretty sure I wanted her gone and shattered the whole way through. By the end of it I just couldn't help but feel bad for her. Seriously, Pink Diamond is coming off more and more as an asshole of the highest level with how she did… EVERYTHING! From having completely abandoned her duties without thinking of the consequences, tricked everyone into the whole Rose Quartz persona, forced Pearl into a vow of silence about her identity even though her SON deserved the truth, lots of questionable actions from what I can tell.

I'm not saying I absolutely abhor her. I DON'T straight up hate her and despise her. It's just that at this point she's not as good a person as we had originally thought. She's not coming off as a good person anymore is she?

My one gripe is that I feel like they went a bit too hard on the songs. Like maybe they did too many songs in the movie, but that's just me and overall I think they did pretty good with the movie as whole. Loved it the whole way through and I am glad I watched it. Ideas area already forming on what to do and the few I have I surprised the hell out of myself in terms of what I came up with. I won't say exactly what I've come up with, but just know it'll be quite a surprise.