The majority of Beach City avoided the mysterious temple on the other side of the beach. Not out of some superstition, but because that was where most of the monster attacks they experienced usually originated from.

That was also where he lived, rumor had it. The son of the prior carwash owner, but everyone had seen the happy-go-lucky, small Steven Universe and he had been nothing like the quiet, pink protector of Beach City.

Sadie looked up as the bell rang to see the pink teen walk in.

"Hi, Sadie," he greeted.

"The same?" She asked. He nodded, walking over to the fridges, opening one, grabbing a bottle of juice, and walking over to the register to where Sadie had his bag sitting.

"Hey, Sadie, I'm awake…" Lars trailed off after seeing him standing at the register.

"Oh, hey, man," he muttered awkwardly.

The pink teen pulled out his wallet and handed Sadie a five dollar bill, taking his change, and turned to walk out.

Lars sighed, "Man, he's intense,"

"He seems lonely." Sadie said, watching him walk away.

"Lonely? I've seen the guy lift cars, why wouldn't he have friends?"

Steven walked down the boardwalk, eating his donut, and listening to the ocean and the sounds of the boardwalk, when he heard a horn. He turned in time to see an oncoming car slam right into him, bending around him and busting his drink all over his clothes.

"Oh, God!" Kiki yelled as the airbag slammed into her. As the car settled, the bag deflating, she cried out, "Please, don't be dead!"

She got out to see Steven bending the metal and walking out of the wreckage.

"Are you okay?!" She asked, blood running from her now split lip.

"I'm sticky," he noted. "And my clothes are ripped, but I'm otherwise unharmed."

She let out a relieved breath. "Good, that's good. You're Steven, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Steven," he looked at the totaled car. "Do you have insurance?"

"Yes, but, we'll need to pay to have it towed." Kiki then stumbled and Steven caught her, helping her over to a bench.

"You took a bad hit, Kiki, you should take it easy." He sighed, seeing traffic already backing up. He walked over to the car, bending down to get his hands on the frame, and lifted it over his head. He carried it towards a parking lot, set it down in a spot, and walked back over to the shocked Kiki.

"You're really strong." She noted as he sat beside her.

"Do you have a phone?" Steven asked and she nodded. "Call your dad and tell him what happened."

"That's a good idea." She said, pulling it out and calling him.

"Hey, dad…. No, I didn't deliver the pizza… No, I'm not running away with a boy! I crashed the car," She held the phone away from her ear for a minute before putting it back.

"No, dad, I didn't kill anyone...No, I won't be able to deliver the pizza…. I'm down the boardwalk… I hit Steven, dad…Yes, the pink boy...No, he isn't coming towards the shop, are you scared of him?" Steven chuckled beside her and she blushed.

"Pink boy?" he asked and she looked over at him.

"Most people don't know your name," She said truthfully. He didn't reply.

"Kiki!" He looked up to see Jenny running towards them and he started to stand up.

"Don't you dare walk away!" Jenny yelled and Steven's pink, diamond eyes snapped towards her as she ran up to him.

"Did you hurt my sister, Steven?!"

"I ran into him with the car." Kiki added from behind him.

"Wow, sis, and I'm supposed to be the evil twin."

Steven groaned, "Can I leave now?"

"No, you need to tell my dad that Kiki ran you down in the street, to show him that I'm not the only bad twin."

"I can't, I have to go back to the temple," he told her, turning away.

"Don't walk away from me! Just because you're one of those magical temple ladies doesn't mean you can take this from me," she yelled.

"Not magical ladies, we were the Crystal Gems," he told her sternly.

"Were? Did you guys break up?"

"Look, this is personal, and I don't want to discuss it. Unless you're hiding a very large truck, then you can't stop me from leaving." He jumped into the sky, leaving Jenny and Kiki to stare up at his retreating form.

"Oh, the guys are gonna love to hear this." Jenny said, staring up at the now empty sky, her hand on her forehead.

Steven landed softly on the beach in front of the temple, the cave visible once more, with its wooden support beams being the only pieces of the home that once stood there. He walked towards the cave, his form growing until he stood at his full height of 18 feet. He felt there was no reason to shapeshift in his own home.

Steven walked inside and opened up Rose's room, or, rather, his room now. A shower appeared over his head, rinsing him off before it disappeared. Steven's eyes widened when he heard the warp, quickly putting on his clothes, he turned and left the temple to see a massive centipede creature outside.

"A corrupted gem," he muttered. The creature's jaw dropped, and its eyes widened as he formed his shield and threw it, splitting it in two and embedding itself in the wall.

"Diamond?" The creature asked scratchily before disappearing, leaving no gem behind.

"Where's the mother?" The teen asked, scanning the beach. He walked onto the sand and jumped up to the temple's palm to look around.

"She must have warped," he guessed, stepping back onto the warp and activating it. He entered into the warp stream, sticking his head out into the cold, scanning the other warps, and seeing a dark mass moving through another warp stream. Steven willed the stream to cross into the other one, following after what seemed to be a giant, green centipede-like corrupted gem, and willed himself to go even faster.

The gem looked down, its jaw dropping again. As she left the warp stream, she landed in front of a large gem ship. Steven came out of the stream, tackling her roughly through the side of the warship, only to see other centipede gems staring down from the roof. Their jaws also dropped when they saw Steven standing in front of them. He quickly let go of the gem in shock. They climbed down from the ceiling to stand in front of Steven, behind the original centipede monster, who he called Centi in his head.

"Nod if you can understand me," he said. Centi, the commander, nodded and squawked at him.

"Look, I'm going to try something. Bite me or burn me, and you're going in a bubble," he warned.

He walked forward and licked his palm, pressing it against her gem, and watched as her body was engulfed in a bright light. Her form shifted until it stopped somewhere between her corrupted form and her original form.

"Are you, you?" he asked and she opened her mouth, squeaks coming out.

"Dammit," he muttered in disappointment, walking forward and putting his palms on the side of her head to try and force his way into her mind.

"Don't you dare fight me." He said in a commanding tone, and her entire body went rigid, her mind opening up to him. She was at the command of Steven; at the command of her Diamond.

Steven found himself in the center of a sphere made of what seemed like memories, but, unlike how they should be, they were jumbled, ripped apart, and smashed together, leaving them unrecognizable.

He looked around to see pink energy trying to sort through the corrupted memories, pushing them together.

"Is this her actual mindscape, or is this my mind trying to process this?" He wondered.

"P.i.n.k," a scratchy voice called out as a memory appeared in front of Steven, still intact, of a gem that looked like him- the same pink skin, the same eyes, and she even had his gemstone… but this wasn't Rose.

"That's not Rose Quartz," he muttered in confusion.

"ROSE!" The mind snarled, and the memories distorted, the scene turning red. Steven found himself forced out from the corrupted mind, panting as he was pushed back by the centipeedle corrupting again and Steven stared at it pityingly.

"I'm going to bubble you," he said as pink energy formed in his hand. He threw a beam of energy at the centipede mother as she tried to escape, quickly firing at the scattering gems. Pink lines formed on their bodies, splitting them apart, and Steven bubbled them. He sent them to the temple, and ran a hand through his curly hair.

"Another failure," he sighed.

"But there was something different this time." He said, looking around the ship and jumping up and floating near what was left of an engine.

"And... who was that gem, and why do I look like her and not Rose Quartz?"

"I need to find an uncorrupted gem, that could be the missing piece." He remarked to himself while pulling open a panel to see useless wires. He sighed, floating down to the ground, and walking to the console. The teen placed his hand onto it, funneling power into it, and the console flickered slightly. Before the ship started to smoke, Steven sighed, pulling his hand away, turning, and walked out towards the warp.

'Today was a failure too.' He thought to himself as he warped home.