"It's Twoie." she confessed abruptly surprising Pearl. "Something… weird happened."
"Twoie?" she quietly repeated, hoping that Amethyst had misspoke. That maybe someone or something else had upset her.
Pearl had suspected that something had happened between the two, but felt no joy as her suspicions were confirmed. Had she been informed earlier she would have immediately become suspicious of Twoie, but after their sparring session she found herself hoping that Amethyst was wrong. She had enjoyed their time together and was finding it difficult to dislike Twoie.
"It was after the training session with Stev-"
"Training session?! What training session?"
"It was at the sky arena. He wanted to help Steven summon his shield and I was bored so I decided to tag along. Everything was fine at first, but Steven wasn't able to summon his shield and I started teasing him a bit. I didn't mean anything by it, y'know?" Amethyst began to rub her arm, she looked away. She quickly continued, "But Twoie got really upset. He started lecturing me. Told me I needed to treat Steven better. I got mad. We started shouting at each other." she paused in her explanation and her next words came out hesitantly, "I don't know what happened, but he started turning… pink."
"Turning pink?"
"I thought it was just because he was angry, but he was almost… glowing?" Amethyst uncertainly looked at her as if pleading for an explanation.
Pearl felt her eyes widen at the revelation. She had known Rose for thousands of years and she had never once seen her do anything even remotely resembling glowing before. If Twoie really was Steven then he should not have been able to glow. Humans simply did not glow and change colors.
"His whole body was pink and when he shouted… the floor cracked." she paused seemingly debating something before continuing, "Pearl, I don't know if this guy is really Steven."
"What?!" she frantically began to shake her head. "How can you say that? He has Rose's shield." she defended Twoie, but even she could not ignore the growing feelings of suspicion that had taken root in her mind.
"I know," Amethyst tiredly conceded. "but he just seems… off. Steven would never act the way that Twoie did."
"That makes no sense! If Twoie is not Steven then who…" she trailed off as she recalled how both Garnet and herself had initially been wary of him because he was dressed as Pink.
Twoie possessed a Rose Quartz gem, but that did not necessarily mean that he was Steven. There were many Rose Quartz gems made on earth in its early stages of colonization. According to Rose, the remaining Diamonds had bubbled them away when news of Pink's shattering reached them. Had homeworld sent a Rose Quartz to earth to spy on them? But how did they even know there were still gems on earth? They had destroyed the Red Eye.
She was snapped out of her thoughts by Amethysts voice, "That night when Twoie first showed up, you and Garnet were acting really weird. It was almost like you were afraid of him, why?"
Pearl felt her voice catch in her throat as she attempted to explain, "Amethyst, I-" was all that she managed to get out before her hands locked her mouth in place, preventing anything but strained muffles from escaping.
Pearl flinched as if struck when she saw the hurt flash across Amethysts eyes. She silently cursed herself for being a Pearl. Perhaps if she were a Ruby, or a Topaz, or any other gem she would be strong enough to tell Amethysts the truth, but she was just a Pearl.
Amethysts roughly stomped her foot down on the dirt, "Why can't you just tell me?! You and Garnet always do this!" she harshly gripped at her hair. "And then you guys act like I'm not smart enough to realize that you're hiding something from me."
She managed to pry her hands off of her mouth, "I want to tell you, but I-" her hands once again moved on their own and prevented her from speaking.
"But what?! You don't think I'm responsible enough?" Pearl frantically shook her head as she attempted to think up a way to tell Amethyst the truth. "Or are you scared I'll mess everything up?"
She would not let the conversation end this way not when their relationship had just started getting better. She tore her hands away from her mouth with as much strength as she could muster, "Homeworld!" she blurted out louder than what was probably necessary. At Amethysts confused look she continued, "He was dressed like-" she clenched her hands into fists to prevent them from trembling. "-a homeworld gem. Garnet and I questioned him about it later that night, but he claimed he was only dressed that way because of a play." Pearl let out a sigh of relief as her hands stopped shaking. As long as she avoided bringing up Pink she should be fine. "I trust you Amethyst." Pearl sincerely added while looking Amethyst directly in the eyes.
Amethyst's face softened, "Homeworld?" she questioned softly. "Those are the bad guys that you fought against with Rose. Do you think Twoie is a Homeworld spy or something?"
Pearl opened and closed her mouth several times before uncertainty answering, "... I'm not sure. Twoie looks like Steven and he has Rose's shield, but the timing of his arrival is suspicious at best. Not to mention the outfit he arrived in. Our best course of action right now would be to keep a close eye on Twoie and see if he says or does anything out of the ordinary."
Amethyst nodded, "I'm on it, if that creep tries anything-" she cracked her knuckles. "-he'll have to go through me first."
The garden was filled with vibrant flowers as far as the eye could see. Many of the flowers were not native to earth; they had a strange and almost mystical feel to them, almost like they had been plucked straight out of a fairytale. He wondered if the planets were these flowers had come from had been colonized. Were they the last remnants of their respective worlds? He frowned before pushing those negative thoughts away. It wouldn't do him any good to get upset.
"It's beautiful." He told her as he took in the scenery around him.
He took a deep breath and inhaled the sweet aroma of the flowers that surrounded him. He let out a content sigh as he sat down on the grass next to a patch of pink flowers. It had been such a long time since he had gone outside and while he was technically still on homeworld he could at least pretend that he was back on earth. He ran his fingers through the grass savoring the sensation.
He looked up at Blue Diamond who had been watching his reaction to the gardens and sent her a small smile which she happily returned. She had been the one who suggested they visit Pink's gardens in the first place; she had hoped the trip would jog his memory.
According to Blue, his mom had a tendency to collect 'organics' from other planets. If an animal caught her attention she would beg Blue to let her keep it. Unsurprisingly, his mom was very irresponsible and would often let the animals roam free which would always result in disaster. Luckily, the plants and flowers that she had collected were easily maintained. Being allowed to enter Pink's Garden was considered somewhat of an honor since Blue had not allowed anyone to enter since Pink Diamond faked her shattering.
"You used to love strolling through the gardens. We used to all come together." she told him wistfully as she gazed at one of the many fountains located in the gardens.
"Even White?" he asked her a bit taken aback by her statement. He had barely spoken to White Diamond, something which he wanted to change, but from what little he had heard of her he assumed that she hated organic life. He found it very difficult and somewhat comical to imagine her frolicing in the flowers and enjoying herself.
"Yes, even White." She let out a small chuckle as she reminisced. "She claimed that she hated it here, but you always managed to convince her to come." She turned to face him. "Do you remember that, Pink?" she asked.
"No, but I wish I did." he told her sincerely. If he could just remember how to get all the Diamonds together for a conversation then hopefully he could convince them to heal the corrupted gems back on earth.
"Yellow wanted to destroy this place after…." she hesitated as a pained expression briefly overtook her face, no doubt recalling Pink Diamond's supposed shattering. "But I wouldn't let her."
"Thank you for not letting her destroy the gardens." he admired some of the flowers near him. It really was a beautiful garden; they had only just arrived and it had already become his favorite place on Homeworld.
"Your gardens, Pink." Blue Diamond gently corrected him.
"Yeah…" his smile faltered. "my gardens," he repeated.
Being treated like royalty was still something he had still not gotten used to and he doubted that he ever would. He was constantly being showered in compliments and praise. The gems in his 'court' adored him and they worshipped the very ground he walked on which made him extremely uncomfortable. He was just glad that Connie and the gems were with him or he probably would have gone insane by now. They were the only people who still called him Steven, everybody else insisted on calling him 'Pink Diamond' or 'my Diamond'.
"Have you been able to remember anything?" Blue asked.
"No, not really." he quickly replied.
He suppressed a grimace as he saw Blue frown. The truth was that he had been regaining memories or at least that's what he feared was happening. Everyone had always wanted him to be like his mom and now the Diamonds were telling him that he was his mom. He would often have strange dreams in which he was his Pink Diamond and try as he might he couldn't quite shake off the feeling of deja vu; everything on homeworld had felt familiar even now as he was seated in the gardens he couldn't help but feel like he had been here before. He was afraid of what that meant, he was afraid that the Diamonds were right.
"... Sometimes though, I have dreams about being Pink Diamond." he hesitated before telling her the truth; lying to the Diamonds would probably not end well for him he decided.
"Dreams?" She inquired as tilted her head slightly in confusion
"Oh! That right you guys don't need to sleep." he rubbed his chin as he attempted to explain the human concept of dreaming in terms she could understand. "Well, dreams are kinda like movies. Oh, but you probably don't know what movies are…" Blue's face had twisted into a look of confusion. "Sometimes when I'm… resting-" he knew that even though the gems didn't need to sleep they still had to rest. "I see… visions and in those visions I'm Pink Diamond."
"That's wonderful, Pink!" Blue happily exclaimed as she clasped her hand together excitedly, seeming to understand his explanation. "It may take a while, but I'm certain that your memories will return."
"What happens if they don't?" he impulsively asked her before he realized that was probably the wrong thing to say.
"They will." she swiftly replied as her tone hardened and her smile faltered.
He felt his body tense up and he gripped the grass next to him a bit too roughly. He didn't want to upset her, but he was genuinely curious as to what would happen when the Diamonds realized that he might never regain Pink Diamond's memories.
She must have sensed his discomfort as her face softened once more as she sent him a small smile. "I'm glad you're home, Pink."
He hesitantly smiled back at her.
"Home… " he quietly repeated.
He wanted to go home.
Twoie happily hummed to himself as he prepared Steven's breakfast; he was making pancakes. He briefly paused in his cooking and took a sip of his coffee as he pondered his dream. He wondered how the Diamonds were reacting to his absence, he wondered how his family was reacting to his absence. Did they even know he was gone? Or when he finally went back to his time would he return to the moment he left? All this time travel stuff was confusing to him and it made him wish he could talk to Connie. She would probably know the answers. Twoie pushed those complicated thoughts away and tried to focus on more positive things like how for the first time since he arrived in the past he did not feel tired. He had slept on a soft bed in his temple room last night and as a result he felt amazing.
"Yo, Twoie."
Twoie turned toward the sound of the voice and was surprised to see Amethyst. She seemed oddly cheerful as she exited her room and took confident strides toward the kitchen.
"Oh, Amethyst." he said surprised that she was talking to him. "Good morning."
"How have you been dude?" she casually asked as she plopped down in a seat at the kitchen island.
Twoie was starting to feel weirded out. Just the other day Amethyst had refused to even look at him and now she was acting like nothing had ever happened.
Twoie turned off the stove as he began to plate the pancakes. "I…" he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, unsure of how to breach the topic. "Amethyst about what happened after traini-"
"Don't worry about it dude." She abruptly cut him off before he could apologize.
Twoie frowned, "I just wanted to say that I'm sor-"
"Let's just forget about it." she said harshly.
Twoie flinched at her tone. Amethyst must have realized how she sounded because she quickly changed the subject, "So, you must be pretty strong in the future? You probably have a bunch of cool new powers, right?"
Twoie wanted to press the issue, but didn't want to risk upsetting Amethyst. "Yeah, I guess so." he awkwardly answered as he set a bottle of syrup next to Steven's pancakes.
"How did your talk with Pearl go?" he asked after a pause of silence.
"It went really well." she said with a surprising amount of warmth. "Pearl and I talked about… a lot of things and I realized that's she's actually kinda cool."
Twoie let out a chuckle, "Kinda cool, huh? Didn't you say she was the fun police?"
Amethyst blushed, "Well, she still is the fun police, but she's a cooler fun police." she said.
Twoie smiled glad that their relationship had improved and Steven didn't have to get involved.
"So, how many new powers do you have in the future?" Amethyst once again began to ask about his powers.
"I'm not sure. I haven't really been counting. Why the sudden interest in my powers anyways?"
"No reason." she said a little too quickly. Twoie narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Amethyst was acting strange. "I just thought it would be cool to know about that kinda stuff."
"Right." Twoie nodded unconvinced. "I should probably go wake Steven for breakfast." he informed her as he gestured toward the direction of Steven's room.
"I'll go do it!" Amethyst loudly announced as she rushed over to Steven before Twoie could protest.
"Thanks… I guess." he let out a sigh and took a long sip of his coffee, savoring the flavor. Something told him it was going to be a long morning.
For the rest of the morning and a large part of the day Amethyst continued to ask him strange questions about himself. She asked him questions about the future, many of which he refused to answer. She also began to quiz him on Steven's interests. She asked him questions like what Steven's favorite ice cream was; cookie cats were the obvious answer. Steven seemed to think the questions were some sort of strange game and he happily added to the growing list of questions he had to answer.
Twoie had hoped Amethyst would retreat to her room at some point during the day, but she surprised him by staying. In fact, she seemed hesitant to leave Steven alone with him for any extended period of time. He only realized this when Steven hugged him and Amethyst had tensed up and looked nervous. She also constantly put herself in between Steven and himself as if she was afraid that he would hurt Steven.
"Are you feeling ok?" Twoie asked Amethyst when Steven excused himself to use the restroom.
Twoie paused the game that they were playing. He set the controller down and turned to face Amethysts.
"Yeah, I feel great." she replied as she refused to meet his gaze.
"Are you sure? Because I'm going to be honest you've been acting really… weird today."
"Geez, I said I was fine dude." she replied defensively. "I gotta go take care of some stuff in my room." she abruptly announced as she stood up and began to walk over to the temple door. She hesitated in front of the door, glancing back and forth between the bathroom and himself. "Take care of Steven." was the last thing she said before she disappeared into her room.
Twoie winced as the door slammed shut. He had not wanted Amethysts to leave. He contemplated following after her but ultimately decided against it. He unpaused the video game and busied himself with trying to beat a particularly difficult boss.
"Where did Amethyst go?" Steven asked when he returned from the bathroom.
"She went to her room. She had to take care of some stuff."
Steven looked like he was going to ask more questions, but his phone suddenly buzzed in his pants. "Oh! I almost forgot Ronaldo's hosting a movie night. You should come." he told him as he read a text. "I need to pick up Sadie too. Her shift is almost over."
"Sure, sounds fun." he accepted the invitation. "Steven, can I borrow your phone charger?" he asked as he remembered his own cell phone currently dead in his pocket.
"Yeah, of course. It's by my bed." he said as he pointed toward where the charger was still plugged into the wall. "What for?"
"I've been meaning to charge my phone ever since I got here, but I didn't bring my charger with me."
Steven's eyes widened and began to sparkle, "Future phone!" he exclaimed.
"What?" he asked as he walked over to the charger and plugged his phone in. A logo flashed on his screen as his phone booted up.
"You have a future phone!" he rushed over and attempted to peer over Twoie's shoulder in order to catch a glimpse of the phone. "I bet it's really cool and super advanced. Oh! Do you have pictures of the future?" he excitedly asked.
"Yeah, I do but I don't know if I should show them to you."
"Aww c'mon please." he begged and Twoie felt his resolve begin to crumble.
"I don't know…" he said, but as Steven unleashed his puppy dog eyes he knew that he could not refuse.
Twoie let out a defeated sigh, "Alright." he reluctantly agreed as Steven's eyes lit up in excitement. "I can show you some later, but we better get going if we want to pick Sadie up on time."
Steven happily cheered as he got ready to leave, "This is going to be the best spooky-movie party ever!" he declared.
Twoie absentmindedly rubbed small comforting circles on Steven's back. He had been so excited to take him to a spooky-movie party, but now that they were here Steven was fearfully clinging onto his shirt. Twoie frowned as he felt Steven tremble in his lap; he had forgotten how easily scared he was when he was younger.
"You don't have to keep watching if it's too scary for you." he gently told Steven.
"No! I can handle it!" Steven reassured him as he shakily turned to face the TV.
"Alright, if you say so…" Twoie said unconvinced as he refocused his attention onto the movie. He remembered being so terrified the first time he saw it that he sat behind the couch, but now he was unfazed by it. He thought the movie was cheesy, over the top, and not really all that scary.
The music in the movie suddenly became ominous. A large shadow loomed over the Hermit Man. The Evil Bear had found him.
"You're... eating my... leg!" shrieked the Hermit Man, followed by the sound of evil cackles.
Steven yelped in fright as he burrowed his face into Twoie's chest in order to avoid looking at the gruesome scene. Twoie once again rubbed Steven's back until his shaking slowly subsided. Just as he began to wonder if he should have allowed Steven to watch this movie the power suddenly went out.
"Hey! It was just getting good!" Lars complained as the light house became engulfed in darkness.
"What's going on?" Sadie looked around in alarm.
Twoie felt his eyebrows scrunch up in confusion. It felt like he was forgetting something important.
"Probably just a fuse." Lars explained.
"Or maybe it's a ghost?" Ronaldo said dramatically as he illuminated his face with a flashlight.
Sadie let out a nervous chuckle, "Good one."
"No, really. What if it's a gho-o-o-o-st? As a skeptic of mortality, I've long suspected that this place might be haunted." he swiftly walked over to a filing cabinet and began to rummage through some folders until he found what he was looking for. "Aha!" he lifted up a pendulum in triumph. "Spirit, I beseech you!"
"Dude, cut it out. You're being super-weird." Lars said.
"We wish to make contact. Please, spirit, send us a sign." Ronaldo addressed the lighthouse.
Twoie's eyes widened in realization. He mentally berated himself. How could he have forgotten that there was a gem stuck in the light house.
"Guys ther-'' he was cut off by the sound of the pendulum roughly smacking Lars in the face.
"Ow!" Lars yelped in pain and rubbed the spot where he had been hit.
"Spirit, that was a good sign." Ronaldo said looking genuinely shocked that anything had happened at all. "But could you send a couple more like that just to be sure?"
Suddenly all hell broke loose as papers flew out of the filing cabinet at an alarming speed. They violently began to swirl around the lighthouse. Strange whispers could be heard throughout the room.
"That's okay, spirit. You can rein it in a little!" Ronaldo shouted, but the gem who was causing all the chaos refused to listen. A cup of coffee was flung in their direction narrowly missing everybody.
"How is this happening?!" Sadie asked fearfully.
"It's a gem." Twoie announced as everyone turned to look at him. "There's a gem trapped in the light house."
Steven's eyes widened in realization, "What?! How did a ge-" his question was cut off as a barrel was violently thrown in his direction.
Twoie quickly summoned his shield and jumped in front of Steven. The barrel broke when it made contact with his shield.
"Are you ok?" he asked a startled looking Steven who merely nodded in response.
Another coffee cup was hurled at Lars. "Look out!" warned Sadie as she tackled Lars onto the floor. "Let's get out of here!"
Sadie rushed over to the exit and everyone soon followed her lead. Twoie made sure that Steven's hand was securely held in his own. Just as they reached the exit the door slammed in front of their faces.
Ronaldo desperately fiddled with the door knob, "It won't open!" he fearfully announced.
Twoie felt Steven's grip increase as the door stubbornly refused to budge. He gave Steven's hand a reassuring squeeze, "Step aside Ronaldo." he ordered.
Ronaldo nodded and moved away from the door.
Twoie released Steven's hand before approaching the door. He summoned a small spiked bubble around his fist before punching the door. The wood that made up the door splintered and cracked under the pressure before breaking completely. Where the door once stood was now a gaping whole with some pieces of wood clinging to the doorframe. Upon seeing that the door was no longer blocking their escape everybody rushed to exit the room. The pieces of the broken door rushed to meet each other as the door once again sealed itself closed.
"What the heck, man! You didn't have to break down the door." Lars angrily complained, but it was obvious that he was relieved to be out of that room.
Twoie merely rolled his eyes at Lars before turning away. It was moments like these where he really missed the Lars of his time.
"I'm so sorry! I had no idea there was this violent of a presence here." Ronaldo apologized to the group.
Steven grabbed onto his hand again, "It's not a ghost, it's a gem." he informed the group.
A look of relief flashed on Lars' face at the news that there was no ghost, "Of course." he declared bitterly. "I should've known all this weird stuff is because of you Steven." he sent an annoyed look Steven's way. "You and you weird family always bring nothing but trouble"
Hurt flashed across Steven's now shiny eyes, "I'm sorry guys. I didn't mean for a gem to ruin our movie night."
Twoie felt his anger bubble up when he saw Steven's distraught expression. He sent Lars a menacing glare, "Man, I forgot how much of a jerk you were when you were still alive." he said quietly but harshly.
Lars skin paled and his eyes widened in surprise, "... w-what?" he let out a nervous chuckle.
Twoie glared at him for a moment longer, "We should probably get out of here." he loudly announced.
"Good idea Twoie. Let's go." Sadie began to hurriedly walk down the stairs with Lars and Ronaldo following closely behind her.
Twoie walked hand in hand with Steven behind the bickering group. It appeared that Ronaldo still believed that there was a ghost and Lars was arguing with him. He felt bad for Sadie who was currently sandwiched in between the two. He cleared his thoughts as he attempted to recall the location of the gem. If Twoie remembered correctly the gem should be trapped in the walls of the basement. He opened his mouth to inform Steven of this fact but was cut off by Steven's concerns.
"Is Lars going to die?! Is the ghost going to kill him?!" he glanced over at Lars' direction as if he was afraid that Lars would disappear.
Twoie grimaced, he had hoped that Steven had not heard his previous statement. "Steven, there is no ghost and Lars isn't going to die tonight."
"Tonight?!" his eyes widened in fear. "Does that mean he's going to die later?"
Twoie stayed quiet as he pondered how much of the future he could safely reveal to Steven, "C'mon we need to find the gem before anything else happens. It should be in the basem-"
Ominous laughter echoed throughout the building as they finally reached the door that lead outside. Everyone went silent as the laughter continued. Twoie pulled Steven closer to his own body.
"What is that?" Sadie flashed her light around in an attempt to find the source of the laughter.
"Oh, it's nothing!" Lars desperately tried to reassure himself. "We're all just hearing things and seeing things and feeling things that aren't real." he took off into a sprint and headed for the direction of the door.
Just as he managed to touch the doorknob the door to the lighthouse roughly slammed itself into his face. He was knocked backwards a few feet and harshly landed on his back. Steven rushed over to help Lars up as a group of violent scarecrow attempted to enter the lighthouse. Ronaldo and Sadie began to sweat as they struggled to keep the door closed.
"Steven, stay with Lars!" he shouted over his shoulder as he rushed over to assist Ronaldo and Sadie.
He surprised both Ronaldo and Sadie by opening the door and allowing the scarecrows to enter.
"Twoie! What are y-" Sadie began to ask him, but stopped when she saw what he did next.
Twoie had summoned his shield and protectively stood in front of them. He let the scarecrows take a few clumsy steps into the lighthouse before throwing his shield at them. It cut through their bodies like butter and the pieces of their bodies fell into a pile on the floor. They twitched for a moment before going still.
"Woah." Ronaldo said in amazement as he watched Twoie's shield shimmer before disappearing.
Sadie looked equally impressed before shaking her head and refocusing on the situation, "Let's get out of here before anything else decides to show up." she hesitantly stepped over the lifeless husks that were blocking the exit.
The floor underneath her suddenly opened revealing a glowing red void. Her screams echoed in their ears as she fell and disappeared. The floor quickly closed behind her preventing them from following.
It was silent for a moment as everyone was still reeling from shock at what they just witnessed.
It was Twoie who broke the silence, "She's in the basement." he said calmly.
Ronaldo and Lars snapped out of their shock induced stupor and proceeded to run towards the basement in search of Sadie. Twoie turned to follow after them.
"Is Sadie going to be ok?" a sniffling Steven asked him.
"Sadie is going to be just fine Steven." he reassured him.
"Lars is right. This is all my fault. All this gem stuff is because of me isn't it?"
"No," he replied instantly. "Don't listen to Lars Steven. He was just scared and being a… jerk."
"But if it weren't for me the gem would-"
"Would still be trapped here. This gem has been trapped here for years. Probably before you were even born." he leaned down and gave Steven a hug. "It's not your fault Steven." Steven hugged him back fiercely as his sniffles died down.
Steven pulled away from the hug, "Let's go save Sadie." he said with renewed confidence as he headed toward the basement.
Twoie followed Steven and began to hear voices the closer they got to their destination. When they arrived they were greeted with the sight of an angry mouth on the wall.
"Spirit, I deliver the package of darkness! Return to us the innocent Sadie!" Shouted Ronaldo as he lifted a frightened Lars off the ground.
"Ronaldo, don't do it!" pleaded Steven when he realized that Ronaldo was attempting to sacrifice Lars. He ran in front of Ronaldo to try and prevent the sacrifice from happening, but Ronaldo ignored him.
"C-come on, man. We used to be friends." Lars said as he struggled to break free.
"And you threw me away!" Ronaldo retorted as he prepared to fling Lars into the gaping mouth in the wall.
Twoie sighed in exasperation and quickly summoned his shield before softly throwing it at the back of Ronaldo's head. Ronaldo yelped in pain and dropped Lars on the floor to rub the back of his head. Once freed Lars began to yell at Ronaldo for nearly killing him. Steven got in between the two and attempted to stop the growing argument.
Twoie ignored their bickering and instead focused his attention toward the angry mouth that still held Sadie prisoner. He once again summoned a spiked bubble around his hand and punched the part of the wall above the mouth with the name 'LARS' crudely engraved on it. The wood easily broke under the force of his punch and the gem along with Sadie tumbled safely out of the wall.
At the sound of the wood breaking everyone turned their attention towards where the mouth used to be, "Sadie!" everyone shouted in shock and relief.
Twoie picked up the gem as it began to glow. Everyone looked on in amazement as it projected a flashback of Ronaldo and Lars back when they were still friends. Ronaldo sadly looked on as the flashback played while Lars blushed and walked off. When the flashback ended Steven ran up to Twoie to retrieve the gem.
Twoie handed Steven the gem, "Okay, shh. I've got you." Steven comforted the gem. "When you were stuck in the wall, was the house like your body? You must have felt like you were under attack back when Lars carved his name in you."
"Can I see that?" Ronaldo asked as he reached over to touch the gem.
"Uh, sorry." Steven said as he moved the gem away from him. "We should let it rest." He said as he bubbled and sent it away.
"So, all that lashing out was just from feeling hurt and trapped for so long…" Sadie said as she dusted pieces of wood off her shirt.
"I didn't mean to rip it up, okay?" Lars said as he rejoined the group. "You can stop talking about me now."
"Wait! Oh, Sadie, are you okay?" Ronaldo asked ignoring Lars.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine."
"Oh, yeah. We were both worried about— I mean, I ran down here faster." Lars hurriedly added.
Saide sent him a small smile, "Can we get out of here?" she asked as she glanced back at the wooden rubble.
"Sadie, you can come with us." Steven offered as he glanced at Ronaldo and Lars. "I think these two have a lot to talk about."
She grinned, "I bet."
