Hey folks. Here i'm again wth another chapter... Sort of.

Originally, this was part of the previous chapter, but it turned out to be too long so i broke the chapter into two.

I hope you guys like it.


Once, at his dad's insistence, Steven had given it a try to black and white movies. Specially the funny ones, with Chaplin; the ones where sometimes they speeded things up and the characters would walk and talk super fast. It was funny. Steven had ended up binge watching three hours of comedy silent films.

Steven felt like he was in those movies, with everything that happened. Rain and Peeps in a screaming match with Lowe. The Sheriff's rifle loud boom as it was fired up. The bullet landing at Steven's feet. Steven's body reacting to the sudden stress, turning him pink. He, yelling at the finally, Soledad letting go of him and running to Rain's side. It was so fast and loud he could hardly process it. It wasn't funny at all.

Now everything was quiet. The rational corner of Steven's mental ring couldn't decide if it was anger or fear he was feeling. Meanwhile, the irrational corner was shrugging and saying… 'Does it really matter?' Because as long as his primal-self was concerned, all that mattered was self-preservation.

"Steven?" Soledad asked, breaking the silence. She peeked her head from behind Rain's shoulder —even thought she was taller than the other woman. Soledad's aura was a whirlwind of emotions; curiosity, confusion, alienation, fear. Fear of him. Soledad was scared of him. They all where.

Soledad softly pushed Rain aside and made a move towards him. Steven reacted. "Stay back!" He shoved a hand in Soledad direction, sending a psychic push that threw the girl 6 feet back and right into the river.

"Oh shit! Sol!" Rain shouted. She and Peeps rushed to pull the Soledad out of the water.

Hearing the girl's name was a bucket of ice water to Steven, calming him enough to realize what he'd done. He hasn't meant to, but they couldn't get closer. He had to keep them safe! Steven hasn't begun to mouth an apology when Lowe came out of his daze too:

"Don't move!" he ordered. The Sheriff's voice was wobbly, but his hand was steady as he pointed his rifle at Steven.

Don't move he'd said, but Steven couldn't do that. Soledad's aura was small and feeble, like a candle about to be blown out. She was alive but hurt. He saw the Sheriff made the slightest move towards the other three people and he lost it.

"Stay away from THEM!"

Steven's shriek was so loud it was physical; the shockwave grow around him and stirred the air, giving birth to a whirlwind of dust and rocks. There was screaming and confusion. Lowe lost his hat in the pink tornado. Unlike his pathetic attempt at giving orders, Steven's command was dutifully obeyed, and the sheriff fall back to take refugee behind his car door.

"Don't do that again! Don't you even move!" yelled Lowe, full of bravado. But when Steven glared at him, the Sheriff began to tremble. "D-don't make any move," he lifted his rifle. "I'll do it, I swear. Just… don't move or… or…"

His talking turned into hysteric babbling. Even then, he held the gun in place; pointing straight at Steven's head.

"Steven please, whatever you're doing just stop!" pleaded Rain, as she pulled Soledad away from the cold water.

Steven was running short of breath and ideas. Peeps and Rain were trying to wake Soledad up. Lowe was loudly babbling insults and orders with dubious authority, as his aura grew more unstable each second. It was getting hard for Steven to think. It was hard not to act, but every action could cause even MORE harm. The world was moving fast; too fast for him. He needed to slow down and think. He needed some TIME!

Steven lifted a hand at the same time he heard the rifle shoot again, and the world stood still.

Or something like that… Technically, 'stopping time' was a power beyond even him. What did happened, however, was Steven —by the mean of the pink diamond in his belly— ordered the light coursing through his body to vibrate at such a high speed it forced every single cell to move, act, and behave at a faster pace. The result? Steven was moving fast. Even standing still, he was living in a faster reality. His mind processed information and his body realized all life functions at a way faster pace.

These were the cold facts. But through Steven's eyes, it merely looked like the world had stopped moving. Like he was in one of those old comedy films, and Steven was the only who was speeding. Except instead of black and white, everything was various shades of pink.

Peeps and Rain were flinching, holding the barely conscious Soledad close; their mouths open in an endless, silent scream. Lowe had finally stopped shaking and talking —he looked almost nice when he was silent. And finally, no more than a few inches away from Steven's face, the bullet was stuck in mid flight to Steven's forehead. One more second and it would've been a hit.

Steven breathed out as this conclusion sank in. "Stars, what did I do…" he said, voice distorted by his body's vibrations. "What the fuck did I do?"

One glance at the scene he'd caused and his legs gave up. He felt to the hard soil, claws grabbing uselessly at the sand; his feral, sharp teeth poking out of his mouth. In an flash of blinding rage, Steven finally let go and screamed; the shockwave created was strong enough to leave him in a small crater. Not that it actually mattered. Nobody noticed. Everyone present was still 'paralyzed', totally unaware of how much of a mess Steven had caused. How much of a mess he was.

Steven stood up with wobbly legs, still mad, stressed and pink; but in a slightly clearer mind state. The bullet was still in stuck in mid air, like a steel hummingbird. Steven smiled dryly; he'd to give it to Sheriff Lowe: he might be a massive jerk, but his marksmanship was on point. The bullet would've go straight through Steven's head. He went quiet as he'd the filthy thought that if he hasn't stopped time, he had no idea what would've happened. Would the bullet have exploded into a million pieces as it hit his head, like it had hit a steel wall? Or would it have broke Steven's skull, painfully but uselessly, as Steven's bones and skin healed themselves, leaving Steven with just a massive headache, a bullet-shaped crack in his skull, and a new topic for his next therapy season?

Or maybe… just maybe… the bullet would do what it was designed to do. The idea was so violent Steven had to escape before dwelling on it.

He walked aimlessly before heading for Lowe's car. Stars, I really trashed it, didn't I? He sat on the hood and let seconds tick by as he thought. This, by the way, was very difficult. His pink-mode was not made for everyday life. It was Steven's fight response. It was perfect for moments of physical danger that required you to be fast and strong; but complex problems like this one were difficult to figure out while in pink-mode.

How am I going to fix this? That was the general thought around which all others spun. He could take away the Sheriff's rifle and… and then…

"And then what?!" Steven shouted to the air, the sky, and the Universe in general. "I could bubble the Sheriff and that wouldn't fix anything. He knows that they know me," he said and looked at Rain and Peeps, stuck in silent screaming, with Soledad lying unconscious in wet clothes. "Why did you have to come here?" he shouted at the immobile Rain. "You should have let me take care of it, let me take the blame. I could have handled it! I'm used to it."

He jumped away from the car and stood in front of Lowe. "And you," said Steven to the Sheriff's frozen face. "You couldn't let it go, did you? Couldn't just gave me a speeding ticket? A warning? I had a fake ID. So what!" he shouted, making a few of the Sheriff's hair change direction. "There had to be worse crimes out there that need you. I'm sorry for your car but…"

The trail of thought banished. He'd to remind himself the Sheriff was just doing his job, that there was no ill-will to it. Steven didn't have to take it personal…

"Fuck that," Steven growled. "I'm tired of not taking things personal. He gave me chase. He tried to get me out of the road! And now he is going to do Light-knows-what to Rain, Peeps and Soledad!"

No. Steven won't let that happen. He didn't know these people. Not much anyway. And they didn't know him; and after tonight, they might not want anything to do with him anymore. But they were nice to him tonight, and for tonight, Steven thought of them as his friends and he'll protect them.

But how in the Stars could he do that? He looked at Lowe again, looking for an answer. His aura was as paralyzed as he was; a fireball of anger, eternally burning. He won't change his mind, Steven told himself. There was nothing he could say to convince Lowe to drop this; there was no way to leave this without a victim. Not unless Lowe's disappeared.

Steven shook that thought away. As tempting as the idea of punching Lowe face was, the image of said face breaking into thousand pieces by the way of Steven's superhuman strength chased the thought away. That was this mode was for; to destroy. And in this semi-primal, gem-induced state, Steven was reduced to his most basic thinking. He had to fight it with rational thoughts.

I don't want to hurt him, he thought as if trying to convince himself. I don't want to hurt him; I don't want to make him disappear. I just… I just want him to let this go. To forget all of this ever happened. But I can't do that.

Or could he?

He searched for Soledad. His Pink-mode hasn't dulled his link with her or his aura reading. In fact, it has increased it. The essence of other people, their auras, were no longer just shifting lights; there were islands that hid private worlds, separated by an endless ocean. And Steven could sail that ocean.

"That's it!" he shouted in victory. "That's the answer! I don't have to convince Lowe of anything… I just have to make him forget me!"

It was simple, in theory. Like reading a book, looking for a specific sentence and then… slice it with some scissors. It was barely one step further than what he'd done with Soledad; sure, that had been an accident, but if he really put his mind to it…

Yes, the more he thought about it, the more convinced Steven was he could put it off. He was a Diamond. There was no limit to his power. Jasper taught him that...

But he also knew he could control that power; she taught him that too.

I guess I don't have a choice, he thought, pushing the last bit of remorse away. He'll have time to feel bad when everyone was safe and he wasn't pink and furious.

With his mind set, he dashed towards his old spot, but stopped. Right, priorities. He walked back to Lowe and crushed the rifle's cannon into a smudge with his bare hands, closing the hole for good. Try to shoot anyone with that. Then, just in case, he took the pistol from Lowe's belt. After several failed attempts to disarm the gun, Steven gave up and bubbled the whole weapon. He thought of the furthest place possible and tapped it. The bubble banished from sight. Hopefully, no-one would find it in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, except for a passing school of tunas.

With all the dangers taken care of, Steven resumed his old position. The bullet was still there, waiting for him. What had made Steven so gloomy a minute ago, now it made him mad. He slapped it with the back of his hand and the bullet flew till it crashed against the rocks.

All things settled, Steven took a few concentrated breaths and stopped speeding.


The world moved too fast all at once. Rain screamed as the boom from Lowe's rifle was heard. The Sheriff, seeing his mortal enemy was still standing, got ready to shoot at Steven's face again.

"What the-" Lowe shouted and brought the rifle to his face to inspect the smudge that used to be the weapons' neck.

In a fit of anger, the Sheriff threw the rifle away and searched for his gun, getting paler once he found out he didn't had it with him. He looked at Steven like he was the source of all his suffering (and well… he kind of was). A torrent of curses and insults came from his mouth, all directed at Steven but not reaching him. He was deep in concentration and the whole world felt irrelevant.

"Shut up Lowe," Steven commanded. Lowe obeyed, and it was clear even he didn't know why he had complied.

Steven could feel that; he could feel everything around him. He even felt Soledad coming to her senses before he heard her scared voice:

"Uh, Steven? Dude, you are pink," she said, kind of like a question. "Youknowyouarepink, right? What are you-"

Steven lifted his hand towards her, shutting her for good.

"It's alright," he said in his usual voice. "I know what I'm doing."

"Steven…" Rain began, but even she didn't know what to say. She was too scared of him.

With no more protests from nobody, Steven stepped forward. Lowe, feeling the storm coming towards him, gave one step back. Stop, shouted Steven and Lowe froze up.

Steven closed his eyes, going back to Jasper's teachings and Dr. A. words…

"I killed her. I shattered Jasper" Steven moaned, tears rolling down his eyes. "Sure, s-she is alright now, but that doesn't chance what I did. H-how can I live knowing I can hurt someone like that?"

That day, for the first time —but not the last—, Dr. A. took her gaze out of her notebook and took Steven's hands on her own.

"Just like everyone else," she said.

With one final breath, Steven let the barrier blocking his gem, letting the light overflow his body. A powerful gust sent waves of dust flying around, with him as the source and epicenter. The other people were hit by it, but they didn't move. In fact, it somehow felt like they were stiffer than before. That made sense; an expanding aura of pink light must have been quite a shock if you haven't seen it before.

It was strange for Steven too. Getting into other folks minds was usual for him, and reading auras was his everyday now. Even when he'd gotten inside Soledad's head it felt natural; like peeking through a window into someone else's' house. But this? It felt like he'd bashed the house door, and make himself at home. And everything inside the house was dark and there were a thousand doors Steven had the keys to.

Lowe, feeling the sudden mental intrusion and being scared by it, tried to run away but stumbled on a rock and felt with a curse.

Oh no, you won´t. Steven lifted a hand and concentrated his light on Lowe, making it course through the Sheriff's body.

"Up," Steven commanded, but Lowe kept crawling away.

Stars, he was resisting! He couldn't be that strong. It was Steven's fault; he had trouble focusing on the moment. There were too many thoughts and contradictory feelings. It was like trying to drive a car with two steering wheels.

But Steven wasn't ready to give up yet. "UP!" he repeated, louder this time.

Lowe stood up with robotic motions and went rigid. To Steven's left, he caught Soledad, Peeps and Rain standing up too. Their faces were a blank mask, except for the pink glow in their irises. Ah, that explained it. When Steven expanded his mind, he got inside the heads of all of the presents, not just Lowe's. The torrent of thoughts and feelings invading Steven's mind became clear. Feeling and thoughts turned into words, and words turned into images. Everyone's own personal Mind-Worlds.

Sheriff Lowe was boundless woods, the smell of motor oil, the sound of gnawing teeth by the trees. Flock of birds fleeing at the sound of a rifle.

Peeps was a massive gravity-defying city. Streets full of art and music. Artist going up and down the skyscrapers, dancing and singing. The buildings themselves shook and dance with freedom as if it was alive and free.

Rain was a fireplace in a wooden house. Warmness and light. The sweet smell of food coming from a pot. Words of power spoken with motherly care. Eyes; too many eyes. And too much fire.

And Soledad was… weird. She was thunder and lightning. A teal-lighted landscape floored with wires, beaming warm and static, illuminated by neon-framed lights framing endless doors spread around the landscape. Above himself, a giant television screen with one eye in its screen watched everything with electrical humming.

So many ideas! Too many thoughts and memories! Steven had to close his eyes lest he would pass out from the overload.

That was too dangerous. Looking into everyone's head at the same time is too much. Steven felt his body getting tense, and it was clear why. He had swollen up again, becoming his buff, 8 feet tall self. That was expected; he's been abusing his Pink-Form. I should end this now.

Steven went back inside Lowe's forest. It was amazing; rows of trees as tall as the sky with doors carved in their bark. Hidden voices spoke secret feelings in the wind. In a regular situation, Steven could've traveled these woods for hours, searching every door and listening to every whisper, in search of Lowe's memories. But he didn't have any time to spare, nor the patience to spare it.

I need to reach the Sheriff's memories; he thought and gathered his focus. I need this, all of this, to go away!

The forest began to disappear; the trees unraveled and banished and the fog was lifted. All the voices went quiet. In the real world, Sheriff Lowe tensed unnaturally.

Clear images appeared in front of Steven. Lowe pointing a rifle at him; Lowe driving the car into the river by a hill near an old bridge; Lowe sitting on his car a few minutes ago, waiting to punch the clock. More distant memories keep coming at him, but Steven didn't need to go any further. He focused on the memories of that night; specifically those centered around Steven himself. He saw them clearly in front of him, like wooden signs with pictures in it. Then he imagined them burn.

And that was it… Steven watched in awe as the memories of him in Lowe's mind were bleached, leaving only a blank spot. An ERROR message that will never be fixed. He'd done it… Lowe had forgotten it all!

Steven was content, but he didn't let the Sheriff go, nor the other people under his influence. Rain, Peeps and Soledad were frozen now, but Steven will have to let them go eventually. They'll have questions. And Steven would have to tell the truth; about the accident, his powers, and what the hell he did to the Sheriff so he wouldn't remember anything. He could picture Rain shaking her head in disproval. Peeps and Soledad looking at him like a freak. He wasn't in the mood for going through that.

And he won't.

It's not that bad. Just a teensy-bit of memories gone, Steven reasoned with himself. They don't have to forget as much as the Sheriff. I mean I turned Pink, what, five minutes ago?

Yeah, something like that. Five minutes. It was not much to ask. Five minutes of their lives and Steven got to keep his secret. He got to keep his friends. It wasn't too much to ask.

Finally made up his mind, Steven extended an arm towards them, pushing through their mental worlds. They all tensed, as did Steven; three minds were too much to peep into, and he still had to keep the Sheriff under control. The gem in Steven's belly contracted painfully, trying to hold the excess of energy inside. That won't do, Steven realized. If he wanted to pull this up, he'll have to use the full extent of his powers. He'll have to go big or go home.

Once again, the mental barrier on his gem was lifted, and the energy flowed to every inch of him. His invigorated muscles strengthened and he could hear his clothes being tore apart by the sudden growth spurt.

However, it worked well. The mental worlds of the trio were under his complete control. Satisfied, Steven repeated the process he used with Lowe; pushing aside all their mental barriers and superficial thoughts, exposing the recent memories. Bleaching them was almost too easy now with his full power. And yet, the trio resisted.

Peeps tensed up and moaned occasionally; Soledad shook her head side to side, like trying to wake up from a nightmare. The only one completely quiet was Rain… weird, because she was the one posing the more resistance. Her memories healed after being burnt and Steven felt himself being pushed out of her head. Unacceptable. She'll do what He says.

"STOP RESISTING", Steven commanded and He didn't recognized his voice.

What came after, Steven wasn't sure about. Even in the coming days, he couldn't explain why the thing happened. Maybe he concentrated too much on Rain and neglected the other people; maybe Soledad was mentally stronger than what she looked like at first glance. Or maybe it had just been a case of the old Steven Universe's bad luck.

The fact is, the worst thing that could have happened, happened.

Soledad opened her eyes. And when Steven stared at her, he unleashed all the might of his mental power on the girl. Primal fear took over her, but she didn't scream or shout. She simply passed out cold. In a flash of panic, Steven released the psychic hold on everyone.

He felt to his knees. Rational thoughts slowly came back to him. He was big. Way bigger than his usual Buff-self, and the clothes were retraining and hurting him.

The first coherent, Steven-like thought he had was 'What have I done?'

Without his psychic hold keeping them up, everyone had fallen limbless to the ground. Steven panicked until he peeped into their auras. They were alive! In fact, Rain was awake and getting on her knees.

"My head… shit…" she muttered, holding her head in her hands. She was in the middle of asking what had happened when she laid her eyes on Steven.

She muttered his name. He nodded; he must've looked unrecognizable.

Rain was about to ask something when she noticed the other bodies around. Her aura spiked with horror.

"Shit! You guys are ok? Peeps? Soledad? Speak up girl, come on!" Rain paid attention to both of them equally, shaking their bodies and checking their vitals, but without a success in waking them up.

The rational, logical part of Steven wrestled with his primal self, embodied by this new… buffed up-Pink form. This Diamond-form. Pain and guilt grew inside him as the true meaning of what he had done hit him. Their memories… they were gone. He had done that. He had taken control of them and erase their memories to save his butt . And Soledad? Steven didn't even knew what he'd done to her, but it was bad. This was his doing, all of it.

He'd to make amends. Help Rain; let her know he wasn't dangerous. Fix it all!

Steven made a slow crawl towards the woman. It was difficult in his new giant form; everything was so small and fragile and yet so big and in the way.

"RAIN," Steven cleared his throat. "Rain, I'm sorry-"

Rain turned towards him and a stinging pain hit Steven. He felt back. Fire! There was fire eating the chest of his shirt and spreading fast around his body. Steven extinguished it with two flaps of his giant hands. He heard Rain shouting:

"Don't step any closer!"

She was sitting between her two friends, keeping them protectively close. Her aura had grown twice its size; her eyes—the ones on her head and the ones on her arms too— shined with white light. Her right hand was stretched towards Steven. The ball of fire she was holding smoked violently.

"Just stay where you are, Steven."


TA DAH! ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER! HAHA!

Anyway, this chapter was a tough one, since its Steven by himself 90% of the time, and most of it happening in the mental word.

I want to know if everything thats happening is clear, if the descriptions are clear, if the prose is too long, and etc...

Dont forget to comment if you liked it! See ya guys later!