He opened his bleary eyes as the ground swayed underneath him rousing him from his peaceful slumber. He shivered, the floor was hard and frigid, nothing like the warm and comfy bed back at his home. Upon realizing he was no longer in his room he launched himself into a sitting position.
"Huh?" he rubbed at his tired eyes "Where am I?" he mumbled, suppressing a yawn.
The only thing he could make out as he squinted at his surroundings was how dark it was. The ground shook. He whipped his head toward the direction of the noise and saw a large set of marble doors burst open. He pressed his body close to the cold wall, making himself smaller as the tallest woman he had ever seen sauntered into the room.
"Giant woman." he whispered as he inspected her strange appearance. Apart from being enormous the woman was also a striking shade of Blue. Her skin, her eyes, and even her clothes were all different shades of Blue. The large Diamond shaped gemstone that rested atop her chest told him that she wasn't human. He recalled his conversation with Twoie where he told him that Diamonds were some sort of leaders. Who was she in charge of? The strange Amethyst he saw or maybe other gems?
The light from the open doors poured into the gloomy room revealing another person that he instantly recognized as Twoie. He was seated with his back against the wall, in clear view of the furious gem. His muscles tensed as he watched the scene unfold.
"I cannot believe you! Making a scene like that!" the blue gem shouted.
There was no fear on Twoie's face as he stood up, "We weren't trying to make a scene! We were just dancing!" he snapped.
His eyebrows furrowed. Did this gem really hate dancing that much?
"Connie!" Twoie peered into the darkness of the empty room. He huddled close to a dark corner and slowed his breathing as Twoie turned his frantic gaze in his direction. He let out a small sigh when he remained undetected. "What have you done with Connie?!"
Her eyes hardened as she continued to scold Twoie like a mother would a toddler, "What have I done?! What have you done!? Fusion! And with a human no less!"
They must have been talking about Stevonnie. Twoie must have fused with Connie at some point while they were dancing. What he couldn't figure out was why she would punish them for fusing. When he was Stevonnie he was filled with nothing but love and he couldn't imagine why someone would be so opposed to that.
"Blue, where is Connie?!" Twoie asked his voice cracking, his eyes once again darted around the room.
"She was sent to your zoo."
His eyes widened at the revelation that his best friend was being kept in a zoo. Was she being forced to do tricks?
"The zoo! Why?!"
"Yellow was furious. She thought it would be best to keep you two separated for the time being."
Was everyone in this strange place named after colors? First Blue and now there was someone named Yellow. If Yellow was anything like Blue he knew he wouldn't like her. How could somebody get so angry over fusion. It made no sense.
"You have to take me to her! We didn't do anything wrong! You have to let her out!"
"We will return her to you when you learn how to properly conduct yourself during a ball. Until then she will remain in your zoo."
His nose scrunched up at the way the gem, Blue, talked about Connie like if she were a toy to be taken away.
Blue turned and walked off toward the exit not bothering to say goodbye.
"Blue!" Twoie roared while charging at the rapidly closing door.
The slamming of the doors signaled that they were once again left alone in the miserable, dark room. He waited a moment, nervously staring at the closed door before stumbling toward the direction where he had last seen Twoie. He squinted when he saw the outline of Twoie's body. Now that they were closer he could make out Twoie's outfit. It was the same pink one he had been wearing when he first arrived and the same one he had been wearing in the last dream. Was that his favorite outfit or something?
"Stupid Diamonds and their stupid rules" Twoie grumbled. He flinched at the sound of flesh hitting marble.
He extended his arm out; his hand hovered uncertainly over Twoie's shoulder. A hoarse shout made him pull his arm back in fear, "I hate it here!" he heard the marble wall crack.
The room became illuminated by a dim pink light that came from Twoie's body. He was leaned against the wall. His breathes came out in short uneven puffs, "Twoie?" he murmured when Twoie began to sniffle. Was he crying?
Twoie's back went stiff, "Steven?" he asked, sounding tired.
"I… a-are you ok?"
"You shouldn't be here."
"What is this place? Why are you here?"
"You need to leave." was the only answer he received.
He gnawed at his bottom lip. "M-maybe I can help." he placed a hand on Twoie's shoulder. "Just tell me what's wrong." he pleaded.
"Please." Twoie turned to face him and for the first time since he woke up he got a clear view of his face. His eyes were puffy and red with dark circles underneath them, "Just leave."
His mouth opened to protest, but his voice caught in his throat when his head started to spin. He cradled his head in his hands as his vision went dark. It returned a few moments later and he was left staring at the ceiling of his bedroom. He glanced at the temple door and waited for Twoie to come out like he had last time, but as the seconds ticked on into minutes he was forced to accept that he would not be coming.
Steven absentmindedly picked at the omelette Twoie had made him. He couldn't get the image of Twoie's sad face out of his head. Twoie had decided he had to take care of some 'important business' that morning. He used the warp pad and took off somewhere immediately after making breakfast so he couldn't ask him anything. He let out another sigh as he took a halfhearted bite of his now cold breakfast.
"You seem upset." Garnet said as she took a seat next to him.
He was silent as he debated whether he should ask her for advice. Twoie had been upset in the dream and he wanted to help, but he didn't know how. He also wasn't sure how to explain his new dreaming powers and he didn't want Garnet to become upset with Twoie. He knew that the gems didn't like Twoie for some reason. They had apologized for yelling at him, but they continued to ignore him for the most part.
"Garnet, you know about fusion right?" he decided to ask her instead as he recalled the gem from his dream.
Her lips upturned into a small smile, "Yeah, I guess you could say that."
He began to pick at his food again unsure of how to phrase his next question. Garnet patiently waited for him as he collected his thoughts, "Is fusion bad?" he bluntly asked her.
He placed his fork down and turned to look at Garnet when he didn't receive an answer. He had known Garnet his whole life and had learned pretty early on that she was not an expressive person. That's not to say that she wasn't affectionate, but she wasn't really known for her facial expressions. It was clear to him that his question had shocked her because her eyebrows were raised. On anyone else he wouldn't think much of it, but on Garnet it was practically a shout of surprise.
"Fusion," she began slowly. "Requires trust and understanding to be accomplished. It's not something that is bad."
He nodded his head at her explanation. He already knew all of that which was why he had been so confused at Blue's obvious hatred for fusion, "Why do think someone would hate fusion?"
Garnet hummed in thought before answering, "Well, maybe they're jealous."
"Jealous?"
"Maybe they don't have anybody that wants to fuse with them."
He rubbed his chin as he considered her answer. Was that woman from Twoie's dream just jealous of Stevonnie? It seemed like there was more to it than that. She sounded disgusted when she talked about fusion, not jealous.
"Twoie has been telling you things." she accused.
"No!" he answered a bit too quickly.
He plastered on what he hoped was a reassuring smile, but he was never good at keeping secrets and Garnet always managed to tell when he was hiding something, "He told you that fusion was bad."
"It wasn't Twoie." he responded before Garnet jumped to conclusions. It was the truth. The angry gem was the one who had a problem with fusion not Twoie, "I had a weird dream." he explained.
He remained silent in hopes that she would lose interest and leave. He promised Twoie not to tell the gems about the dreams, but he also wanted to learn more so that he could help him, "Steven." Garnet said sternly.
"There was a gem." He blurted out, no longer able to stand her intense stare, "She was big, really big and blue. She told me that fusion was bad. It was a dumb dream. I don't even know why I still remember it." he let out a small anxious laugh as he guaged her reaction to his explanation.
Her body went rigid, "...Describe her gem."
He tilted his head, "What?"
"Describe her gem." she repeated.
"Oh, umm…" he rubbed the back of his neck as he attempted to recall the gemstone. "Well, it was blue and it was right on her chest." he pointed to a spot on his own chest. "It was shaped kind of weird." he traced the shape of the gemstone in the air using his fingers. "It almost looked like a Diamond."
"..."
Garnet's lack of response was unsettling. He continued talking to fill the void of silence, "Her name was Blue and she also had long hair if that helps..." he shifted in his seat at her continued silence. "Garnet?" he asked, uncertain of what he should do.
She stood without warning. The sounds of her chair scraping against the wood floor hurt his ears, "... I see." she said as she turned and started walking toward the direction of her room.
Concern welled up in his chest when he noticed her trembling, "Is something wro-" he attempted to ask, but the door to the temple had already sealed shut.
He sighed, turning back to his breakfast and took another bite. Why didn't the gems ever tell him anything? He knew he could help if they just let him. He chewed his food and his eyes wandered to the white and purple gemstones that decorated the temple door, "I wonder what Pearl and Amethyst are up to."
"Amethyst." Pearl hissed as another wet glob of red mush hit the back of her head. Her nose scrunched up in disgust as she wiped away the remains of a strawberry from her hair. "Be serious."
Amethyst let out an exaggerated sigh as she plopped down on the ground next to her, "Fiiine." she whined, not bothering to lower her voice.
"Your volume." she whispered. "You're going to get us caught."
The purple gem rolled her eyes in annoyance, but did begin to talk in a softer tone, "He's not even doing anything." she gestured toward a figure a few feet away from them.
Pearl and Amethyst had decided to follow Twoie around that day. They had hoped that he would meet up with another Homeworld gem thus confirming their suspicions about him being a spy, but so far he had just been lying on the grass and staring at the clouds.
"We just have to be patient." she reassured a restless Amethyst as she shifted to a more comfortable position behind the large strawberry.
She had been on guard ever since she realized that they were in the strawberry battle fields; there was an abundance of weapons located there. Her eyes never wavered as she waited for Twoie to make his next move.
"I can't believe this!" Amethyst exclaimed out of the blue. Pearl turned to her agitated teammate and put a finger over her mouth in a shushing motion. She did not want to give away their position, but Amethyst ignored her, "He's sleeping!"
"What?" she whipped her head back towards the location where Twoie rested. She strained her ears and after a few moments she was able to make out the sounds of light snoring. She leapt up from the spot she had been crouched in for the past couple hours, "Has he been asleep this whole time?!"
She slapped her hands over her mouth when she realized how loud she had been. She stood still, her body stiff and eyes wide as Twoie began to stir from his position on the ground. Were it not for Amethyst yanking her back down behind the large red fruit she probably would have remained there and been caught, "Way to go, P." Amethyst snickered.
A faint blush spread across her face but she otherwise ignored her comment and focused on listening for any movements. A loud yawn informed her that Twoie was awake. She took a peak around the edge of their cover and was able to see him stand and stretch his limbs, "I needed that." he said out loud as he let out a content sigh.
She darted back into their hiding place as he approached their direction. The sounds of fruit being squished under sandals increased in volume as he came closer. Just as she thought the noises couldn't get any louder they stopped. It was silent for a moment before the footsteps started up again as he passed the strawberry they were hiding behind.
"Did he see us?" She asked as she turned to look at Amethyst who simply shrugged at her.
A brilliant white light pulled her attention to the warp pad. Twoie was leaving and they needed to chase after him. They both sprung into action and managed to get into the stream before it disappeared.
Garnet did her best to ignore the sound of her own frantic pacing. She hugged herself tight and attempted to calm the swirling storm of emotions raging inside her.
"Calm dow-"
"I don't want to calm down." She interrupted herself; one of her hands were shaking.
Her body glowed white and trembled for a moment before she hugged herself even tighter and stabilized once more.
She clenched her hand into a fist, "We have to bubble him!"
Her other hand grabbed onto her wrist, "We need to think this through. We don't have enough evide-"
Her head began to throb, "Evidence! Steven was talking about Blue Diamond!"
Her body shook, "We can't afford to be rash."
She stabilized for a moment, "If you're not going to take this seriously then you can just leave!" her body split apart and she came undone.
Large rock walls loomed over them, blocking out the warm rays of the sun. The sweet smell of the strawberries were gone. The lush and vibrant green of the grass that once surrounded them was replaced by dull and lifeless rocks. Pearl felt Amethyst stiffen beside her.
Twoie had gone to the Kindergarten.
Her eyes locked onto his form which continued to shrink in size as he strolled deeper and deeper into the kindergarten.
Amethyst crossed her arms over her chest, "Why'd he come here?"
Pearl eyed the kindergarten with caution, "Maybe he wanted to see where you were made." she replied as her anxiety of the situation grew.
"Maybe he should mind his own business."
She placed a comforting hand on Amethyst's shoulder. The kindergarten was still a sore subject with her and Pearl wanted to reassure Amethyst that she did not think less of her.
Amethyst gave her a small smile before tugging her along in the direction where Twoie went, "C'mon let's go follow this creep."
Trailing him in the kindergarten proved much more difficult than she expected it to be. Unlike the strawberry battlefields which had an abundance of things that could be used as cover the kindergarten was empty and flat. Many times they had to resort to hiding in the holes that the soldiers left when they emerged all those years ago.
"This sucks." a bird shaped Amethyst commented as she perched atop her shoulder. She had to shapeshift into a bird so that they could hide in one of the smaller gem shaped spaces.
She waited until Twoie had completely passed their hiding spot before answering, "I thought you enjoyed spending time here."
"Yeah, but that was my hole." She eyed their location in disgust. "I don't like being in these other holes. It feels weird"
She nodded, "I agree thi-"
"Woah, check it out." Amethyst interrupted as she gestured with her wings to where Twoie was standing.
She stuck her head out of the hole to get a better view. Twoie had leapt on top of one of the many injectors still lodged into the walls of the kindergarten. His face was pensive as he tapped it with his foot.
Her eyes flitted to the other injectors around them, "What is he doing?" she turned to look at Amethyst. "Do you think he is trying to reactivate the injectors?"
Amethyst opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the sound of a loud crack. The noise pulled her attention back to the empty spot where the injector once was. Twoie had kicked the injector, yanking it out of the wall and sent it crashing down. A smoke of dirt and pebbles was thrown up in the air where the injector made contact with the ground obscuring Twoie from view.
"He's totally wrecking the place." Amethyst said, displeasure apparent in her tone.
Pearl wrung her hands together, "This site has been damaged enough by the Gems that were incubated here 6,000 years ago! That's it! It's confirmed. He is up to no good!" she summoned her spear and began to exit their hiding spot with the intent of charging toward him.
A firm hand gripped her shoulder preventing her from pursuing the culprit, "Woah, slow down there P." A normal looking Amethyst told her.
"But Amethys-" She protested as she was dragged into a different, larger hole.
"I want to bust this dude as much as you do, but don't you want to figure out what he's after."
"Huh?"
Amethyst looked pensive, "I've been thinking and none of this makes any sense." She said.
She furrowed her brow in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"I mean why go through all the trouble of pretending to be Steven if he just wanted to go to kindergarten. Couldn't he have done that without lying to us? There's gotta be more to it than just that. Maybe something only we can help him with. I don't know..." she trailed off.
Her eyes widened when she realized that her teammate had a point, "Wow, Amethyst! That was surprisingly insightful." She complimented.
A faint blush spread across her cheeks, "Yeah, well I can do that when I want to."
A shrill, ear-splitting noise invaded her ears. She gripped her head in discomfort.
Amethyst shielded her ears with her hands. "What is that noise?!"
"Twoie." she answered, pointing at him. He had somehow managed to rip off the drill tip of the injector and was now dragging it away. The metal scraped against the floor. Just how strong was he?
The unpleasant noise faded away as he put distance between them, "Ok, this is getting really weird." Amethyst commented.
Pearl nodded and slunk out of the hiding spot, with Amethyst in tow and trailed after him.
"Why the heck would he want that? I don't even want that and I have a room full of actual garbage."
"I'm not sure…" she gnawed on her lip. "The drill tip is useless without the rest of the injector."
Her eyes scanned the area, searching for the answer to his strange behavior. If he wasn't here to reactivate the injectors then what was his plan?
"He's headed for the warp pad." Amethyst said as she pointed at a distant Twoie. "C'mon, P!" her body lurched forward as she was dragged to the direction of the warp pad.
Steven mashed the buttons on his control and stuck his tongue out in concentration. His character skillfully avoided the dragon's fire attack. He flicked his joystick to the right then to the left just narrowly avoiding being crushed by the dragon's tail. He smirked as he glanced at the dragon's dwindling health bar.
"-find him and bubble him!" A furious shout made him drop his control.
He rushed to pause his game before turning his gaze toward the location of the noise. He blinked at the sight before him. Two small children? (at least he thought they were children) were having a heated argument in his living room.
One of them was a pale shade of blue. She was wearing an elegant dress, her hair was draped over her face, "You're letting your emotions control you. You need to calm down." She said in a monotone voice as she trailed behind the other child.
The second child was fuming with rage and was a bright shade of red. She was dressed in a simple shirt and shorts and had a large poofy head of hair that resembled a cube, "Argh!" She pulled at her hair. "Stop saying that! I'm perfectly calm!"
Steven opened his mouth before closing it again uncertain of what to do in this situation. On the one hand he was always happy to meet new people, but on the other hand he wasn't sure if these people were dangerous. Heck, he wasn't even sure how they got into his living room without him noticing. He stole a glance at his front door which was still securely closed, "Uh… Hello?" He sent them two intruders an awkward wave, but they didn't even glance up in his direction.
"We should go back inside and talk about this before we decide on a course of action." The blue one said.
Steven hopped off his bed and started to walk toward his uninvited guests.
The red one stomped her foot on the ground impatiently,"What is there to talk about Sapphire! She's a shatterer! And he's working for her!"
He was standing right next to them, but they hadn't acknowledged him yet.
"We don't know that."
"... Excuse me?" He asked as he stepped in between the feuding duo. Their eyes both snapped onto him. At least he assumed they did since it was hard to tell exactly what the blue girl, Sapphire, was looking at. "Hello." He waved and sent them a hesitant but friendly smile, "How did you get into my house?" He asked.
The poofy haired girl's mouth opened and closed in rapid succession as she sputtered to find the right words to say, "Great!" She shouted, throwing her hands in the arm, "This is just perfect." She grumbled as she turned away from him.
"Hello, Steven." Sapphire greeted him unfazed by her companions rage.
Pearl blinked as the light from the warp pad dissipated around them. As silly as it sounded she had been expecting Twoie to go to some sort of secret lair or at the very least a base of operations instead they were in the middle of nowhere.
She took hesitant steps after him but was in constant fear that they would be discovered. The only thing around them was trees and the open field so if he decided to look over his shoulder then they would be caught for sure. The dirt in the area was much softer than the hard and dry floor of the kindergarten so Twoie was able to move at a faster pace. They went down a couple of hills and just as she was about to decide to head back before they were caught she saw it.
The destination where Twoie was headed. From the distance it appeared to be a small wooden shack, but as they came closer she realized that it was a barn. A place where humans typically raised animals and grew crops. What reason could he have for coming here?
She glanced at Amethyst whose face was pensive as she took in the sight of the barn. Twoie's steady pace halted as he reached the large wooden doors of the barn. She pulled Amethyst back into the neglected field of overgrown crops and crouched in order to make herself harder to detect.
She was still as she watched Twoie place the injector on the ground next to him before turning to open the door. The door opened to reveal junk. Her frustration grew at the lack of anything incriminating. Did he simply enjoy collecting useless garbage? She stopped herself from pulling her hair out in frustration. Amethyst was right none of this made any sense.
"I don't understand. Why is he collecting garbage?" she mumbled as she peered inside the barn for anything significant.
She could make out piles of scrap metal, old bikes, mounds of clothing, and even some faded portraits. It was a strange collection of items that was made stranger by the addition of a drill head from the kindergarten.
"He has a phone? Do you think he's trying to contact his leaders or something?" Amethyst asked.
She turned to look at where Amethyst was pointing, "Maybe…" Twoie held a rectangular shaped object that she recognized as a phone in his hand. He was muttering under his breath as he walked around the barn. He glanced at his phone every so often as he inspected the piles of junk around him.
A few minutes passed before he put his phone away in his pocket and nodded to himself seemingly satisfied with his collection. He exited the barn and closed the door and secured it with a lock that she had not seen before.
They could probably break into the barn and get a better look at what he was storing, but they couldn't do so without being caught. If the lock were broken or if there was a big whole in one of the walls then he would know that someone had been following him and they might never find out what his plans are.
Twoie began to stroll back to the direction of the warp pad that brought them there, but she found that she was too tired to follow after him. Amethyst appeared to be feeling the same way because she let out a frustrated sigh the second that Twoie was out of hearing range.
"Is he messing with us or something?' she asked as she splayed out her body on a patch of grass. "He didn't even have anything cool in there."
She groaned in defeat as she plopped down next to her teammate, "I really thought that we could catch him doing something."
Amethyst shot up into a sitting position, "No!," she said as she pounded her fist into her open hand, "we're going to get this guy!"
"But how? We followed him around for hours an-"
"Maybe we don't have to follow him around." Amethyst grinned as her eyes lit up in realization. "He had a phone right?"
Her eyes widened as she realized where Amethyst was going, "If we can get his phone…"
"Then we'll be able to find out what he's after! He's gotta have information about his mission or maybe even his exact orders, right?"
She smiled, "Amethyst, you're a genius!"
