Honestly guys, I'm trying to keep these chapters short but it is just so hard!
I think I can't write more than 1000 words, then suddenly I have to stop myself from writing 5000. I just can't seem to understand how my brain works with these fingers like this. It's like I honestly have no control.
Anyway, here you guys go. Chapter one! You and Fanfic readers are grilling at me to make more. Get Set To Get Decked!
Yup, it was definitely weird to see this all replay again for the hybrid. Though he did remember at around this part he would be screaming at the top of his lungs in horror of all things, but this time he just looked on with a blank stare. The Cookie Cat Company has been shut down, making this the last day he would ever see the treat again at the Big Donut. Steven just shrugged as he looked at the empty freezer, not all too upset about them being gone. Don't get him wrong, the boy loved the frozen treat a long time ago, but no use crying over spilled milk. This seemed to have the opposite effect though when he turned to see Sadie looking at him with some concerned and Lars not really caring since he was stocking.
"Steven…" Sadie called to the boy with a concern look on her face. "Are you okay?"
"Uh, oh I'm fine Sadie," The hybrid turned to the blonde and rubbed his head.
Seeing the two like this again, it was upsetting. Steven had tried hard to hide his deep frown seeing Lars sulk as he stock the shelves and Sadie just smile softly like she use to behind the counter. It was a bit nice to see them back in the shop, but really just painful to see them back like they used to be. The hybrid was pretty sure now that was sent back to the past, remembering everything as he replayed his life back when he was only twelve. Thinking back now, he knew he was a naive and kind of a whiny brat to everyone in town for sure, most likely why Lars always looked annoyed with him than anything else. He wondered a bit on what he was suppose to be doing though. Should he go back to acting like everything in the future never happened? What he suppose to child something? Has he already done this before? Their were just too many questions to go off on.
Plus there was the fact that he has changed since he grew up a bit. One of those changes being his taste for Cookie Cats of all things. He grew out of the sweet treat and surprisingly went to liking the bitterness of Lion Lickers, and he kind of thanks yet annoyed Lion for it. Those were just one of the many changes as well to himself. It was terrifying to him to know their futures, but also not knowing why he was back in the first place.
"Steven… Steven?" Sadie tried reaching the boy again more loudly, but was quite shocked that he was so deep in thought he couldn't hear her. Lars grew upset and smacked the boy upside the head, ignoring her yell of protest.
He sneered harshly. "Snap out of it you little twit."
"Hey!" Steven turned harshly over to Lars, his glare so hard and cold that it brought even Sadie to flinch back. It only lasted for a split second though as the hybrid realized his mistake. "I… I-I mean... What Lars?"
Sadie frowned in deep confusion but soon just sighed and let that feeling pass a bit. She smirked and leaned over the counter. "Were you that upset about the Cookie Cats being gone that you grew silent Steven?"
The young boy just shrugged and shook his head. "Actually, I grew pretty tired of the ice cream sandwich. I was wondering if I could have a Lion Licker."
"W-What?" The blonde shop clerk just shook her head at this sudden change, remembering just yesterday that the upbeat kid was begging for two in the back. "Steven, that's a sudden change. I remembered you telling us that they were disgusting."
"Just had a change in taste," Steven then opened the freezer to get two Lion Lickers, pulling out his change he knew he had in his little bank. "$4.50 right?"
"Um… sure yeah. Are you sure you're alright Steven? You seem a bit different today."
Before Steven could even say anything, Lars just picked up another box and smirked. "Maybe his magic belly button finally changed his whiny attitude," He said jokingly.
"That's not how my powers work Lars," Steven rolled his eyes, almost forgetting how cruel his friend could be back in then. He turned back to Sadie and just sighed, rubbing her head. "Sorry Sadie. I just had a pretty bad dream last night. Thanks for the Lion Lickers though."
Sadie smiled, leaning against the counter. "No problem Steven. Hope you feel better though."
Steven smiled and was about to leave till he turned to look at the now empty Cookie Cat freezer, his head tipping a bit in deep thought again. It was still so surreal to be repeating all of this again, but already it was changing as he had done it before. The hybrid bit his lip and crused to himself how stupid he was being. If there was anything Connie showed him in all of those fantasy books, is that messing with time is a bad thing. Already he was going out of script. He couldn't help it though, acting like his old whiny self was hard to do and the teen didn't want to step down that low again.
Still, some things he just couldn't help but change. He didn't like Cookie Cats anymore, so he wasn't going to lie about that. Steven wondered how much he could really change about his past in order to make his future better. He knew things now, things he shouldn't know, but maybe that was a good thing. Maybe he had a chance to make things better. He could save Lapis sooner, he could get the galaxy wrap fixed and make it to Homeworld, he could telling everyone the truth, and he can save Spinel from the garden. He could fix everything and not lose this time. He couldn't help but smile at that though. The hybrid turned back to the two teens by the counter and poked at the freezer, ignoring their looks of confusion.
"Mind if I take this?"
Sadie and Lars took a glance at each other, wondering what was going on in the kid's head. It took another second or so, but they nodded to the request. Steven, smiling brightly, unplugged the freezer before wrapping it to his back. With nothing but a wave back, the boy ate his second Lion Licker and walked back to the temple with the freezer on his back. He was thought more on what was happening as he carefully enjoyed his bitter and sweet treat; about all he had to do.
Oddly enough, it came back to Spinel of all things. It felt he was forgetting something when he thought about her. Something really important and that he shouldn't be forgetting. Steven couldn't help but look up into the clear blue sky and feel his stomach drop completely. He couldn't even finish his ice cream as he just continued to look up into the sky. Thinking back now, all that time he was playing and goofing off, the poor gem was just standing there waiting for his mother to see her again. She still was standing there, he knew she was standing in that ruined garden for Pink Diamond. It brought rage to his heart. He wished he knew sooner to help her, to save her from herself before it was all too late. Maybe now, as he is now, he could save her.
Steven sighed, quickly finishing his ice cream as he raced back to the temple. He could save Spinel, but right he had to plan out what to do with all that has happened. He has memories of the future now, he couldn't control his powers completely anymore, and no one knows his son of a Diamond. He knows of a cluster growing in the earth, he knows of the Zoo, of the kindergartens, of every little dark secret the gems ever kept from him. It was odd and kind of exciting, but how was he going to tell the gems. Should he even tell them? Maybe it was best to keep it all a secret and do things in the background. It felt right to do it like that, but he wondered if it was right. For now it was the only best course of action for now, he can plan everything else later.
With that thought in mind, Steven opened the door to his house to greet the gems, only to quickly remember what happened last time. Before the gems could stop him, before the massive centipede could jump on him, all of the hybrid's diamond training kicked into high gear. He grabbed the massive black and green bug by the neck and spun before quickly pinned it down, the pressure of his body snapping it in two and causing it to poof. It took only five seconds to realize what the hybrid just did, but already Amethyst and Pearl had noticed.
"Whoa Steve-man," Amethyst lowered her whip as she looked at the small boy in slight shock, causing him to blush. She smiled and whipped another centi monster. "That was cool! Where did you learn that?"
Pearl, slicing and kicking a few of the centi monsters back, turned over to the two with confusions of her own. "Where did you learn that move Steven? That was too quick for you to even notice the creature."
Steven wanted to punch himself in the face at this point, just like his taste in food his reflexes are just as different. Thinking of a quick lie, the hybrid just rubbed the back of his head. "I huh… saw it in a movie." He quickly answered before looking at all of the tiny centi monsters. "What are these things?"
"Sorry Steven, but we'll get them out of your room," Pearl grabbed the one from under the table as it tried to escape. "They're trying to get into the Temple."
The hybrid just frowned as the creature spat out some of it's acid out onto the floor, causing a hole in the ground. Steven knew these things were made by Centi, she was making clone monsters to try and find her comrades, believing they were in the Temple. He knew that much, but he couldn't say anything. Only now did he realize that keeping quiet was indeed the best option for him at this moment. If he said anything out of the ordinary or even act differently, he knew that Pearl and Garnet would be on him with questions. Telling them that he came from the future didn't really make much sense and might cause problems. For now, he just had to play naive as best as he can.
"Uh guys," Everyone turned to Amethyst who had thrown a centi monster against the wall, watching it poof but no gem come from the creature. "These things don't have gems."
"That just means there's a mother somewhere," Garnet stated bluntly, punching another centipede.
Steven frowned, turning over to Pearl. "Can I come Pearl? I want to help too." He put on his whiny voice, which made him so badly want to flinch at how cringe he was being. He already knew her answer though.
"Steven, until you learn to control your gem powers. Let us do the saving okay?" Pearl said in a know it all but happy tone, snapping the monster's neck on her hands.
It took even more of his will power not to comment on how he does know how to control his powers, but his bite his tongue. Steven almost completely forgot how annoying Pearl can be about these things. Didn't he save them from Centi from what can remember, and they don't want him helping at all. For some reason, this did bug the hybrid a bit. Thinking on it now, it took them two years to even start training and that was only cause of Connie. The rest of his training was because of the Diamonds on Homeworld and surprisingly Jasper. This time though, he wasn't going to stay as the weak freak boy of Beach City. They won't let him save the day anyway, why not train his old body to get use to his fighting style.
With that in mind, the hybrid turned over to find one of the Centi's in the fridge as they knocked down the milk. "Hey!" Steven rushed over and kicked the monster out of the way, letting Garnet finish it as he turned to the fridge to shut it close. Glaring, he turned over to see the last of the centipedes . "They ate all of the food."
As they finished the rest of the monsters, Amethyst walked over and pulled something out of the freezer before eating it with wrapper and all. Steven was quick to realize that they were the Cookie Cats from before. The purple gem smirked and pulled out another one for the hybrid. "Not everything."
"Amethyst," Pearl came over with a disapproving look on her face at the short quartz. "Those were a surprise for Steven!"
"No, no. It's alright. Go ahead and enjoy them Amethyst. I'm not in the mood for a Cookie Cat." Steven did though plug up the small freezer on the counter and stuff all of the ice cream treats inside. He knew why he needed it, but it was good just to use it normally now.
He hardly noticed the shocked look on Amethyst face at this that she spilled out the ice cream in her mouth to the ground. Even and Pearl and Garnet looked slightly shocked by this, knowing ever since he was two how obsessed he was of these favorite treats. Just yesterday Steven had ate about four of them, not he was acting like he didn't care for them anymore. The boy just shrugged and walked over to the sink and grabbed a rag to clean the milk off the floor. It finally took about four seconds until Pearl looked at the boy with such worry and concern.
"S-Steven," She rubbed her hands together. "Are you sure you are okay? Since you woke up you have been different."
Steven rolled his eyes and just shrugged. "I'm fine Pearl. Just… bummed out that i can't even control my gem powers yet."
"Would it be best if we explain how to do it," Garnet asked, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder to show her concern as well.
"Maybe later." He sighed, turning back to the gems as he gave his best smile. "Thanks for the Cookie Cats guys, really, but I kind of want to be on my own for a bit. Why not your guys start looking for that mother monster."
Garnet hummed, frowning at the hybrid before stating bluntly. "I still think we should teach you."
"Guys pleas-"
"I'll be happy to help you Steven!"
Of course Steven was about two seconds away from face palming himself at Pearl excitement to pointlessly train him on how to summon his weapon. The hybrid already knew how to do it, finding out more on his own then them ever helping, but he couldn't now simply cause his body wasn't ready for the power. He did hate saying it but even he knew how overweight he was as a twelve year old. His body is just too weak to handle the stress of summoning his weapon. It was like working an extra limp he had inside of his body and mind, over stress himself causes damages he learned with the Diamonds he did not want again. Though it was good now, knowing how to summon his gem is the easy part. The boy could do some body workouts and get fit a lot earlier than before, but trying to listen to these three teach him horribly how to summon his gem weapon is a no go.
Pearl however wasn't hearing nothing of it, already pulling the boy to go with her in the woods for some relaxation and peace. He honestly didn't really hear much as the white gem explained the purposes to summoning her weapon. Instead, Steven began to think on what the do next with everything.
The concept of time and what to do with this new reset time was honestly too confusing. Even though Steven had said different dialogue and even denied the training of summoning his weapon, he still was getting the same results as before. Does anything that he does not affect what has already happened? No, that couldn't be right. He made Sadie and Lars full of shock at his new like for Lion Lickers, and he asked for the freezer instead of being given it. Maybe only a few things change with his different actions which was good in a sense. As much as he wanted to change everything by just opening his mouth and telling Pearl everything, it was better to start small.
As Pearl dragged on just a bit longer about the stupid petals on the tree, Steven started to plan what he would be doing for the time being. First he needed to do was to retrain his body and handle most of his gems powers, then see if he could get Connie again and save her from having an accident on the beach like last time. Honestly, the boy needed a planner to write all of this time. If only he had Peridot to help him with that, and Pink Pearl.
"Steven?" Pearl pulled the boy out of his deep thinking, looking a little bit annoyed that her speech brought up no reaction. "Are you even paying attention?"
"With hard work I can summon my weapon. Got it."
Pearl jumped slightly by the hybrid's quick answer, watching him silently stand up and walk back to the temple. She went to stop him, calling out, "Wait Steven-"
He cut her off and sighed. "Can't I just go home Pearl. I'm not in the mood to learn anything right now."
This is when the white gem looked like she was just punched in the gut, making Steven bit his lip. He didn't look back as he walked back to the Temple, knowing that she was picking another wrap pad to get home. He felt his stomach hit rock bottom a bit. Has he been rude to the other gems? Self centered even? It caused a shiver to go down his spine again at the thought, making him want to cover his mouth in shock. He was doing it again, acting like when he hurt Spinel. Oh stars, has he really been so self absorbed to fix everything that he is being cold to others? Thinking on making himself and his life prefect that he is just making things worse?
It was just like with Spinel! He's being too self centered about fixing his future that he is not ignoring everyone else. Didn't he just try and change for Spinel, realizing his first power was to change. He can't forget now.
"I just can't," Steven grabbed his hair and shook his head. "I need to remember that not everything has a happily ever after. There will always be something to do and fix. I have to change and be open again. For the gems, for Spinel, and everyone else."
"Steven! Get out of here!"
The shout from Garnet made the hybrid snapped his head and backed up in time just to dodge a spit of acid, yelping as it almost touched his skin. Steven gasped, turning to where a long and massive green and black centi corrupted gem was attacking the gems on top of the temple. Garnet was trying to lure it away from the house while Pearl and Amethyst attacked from behind. The hybrid gasped, rushing to hide behind a boulder as the gems kept attacking the monster. He frowned deeply, knowing full well that it was Nephrite in her corrupted form. He wanted to help her, to stop the gems from attacking her and fix her even if only temporarily, but he couldn't. His healing powers haven't come in yet, and even if he did fix her shortly her mind was so damaged that she would just turn right back. He was no help the way he was now. He felt truly like a little kid again, and it made him sick to his stomach.
"Steven!" He turned to see Centi looking down at her, only to growl and try to snap at his body. Screaming, "Whoa! Centi stop!" but nothing worked as he rushed back to the temple.
Steven was panting, trying to figure out a way to help. He knew by now that Centi was melting the stone protecting the gems, and then she would attack again. The hybrid looked at the counter near the fridge, seeing the old Cookie Cat freezer filled with treats the gems got him. Honestly, he still felt bad about destroying the ice cream when the gems went through so much to get it again, but that didn't stop him from grabbing the thing and rushing back outside. If he had to repeat history again at some points, this moment covered it.
As he rushed back out to see Centi too focused on melting the gems alive, Steven frowned and shook. He didn't want to hurt Nephrite again, but right now this was his best shot. With a deep and determined look, the hybrid shouted, "Hey you! Take this!"
Before the corrupted gem could even turn around, Steven had grabbed the freezer by the cord and swung it right on the gem's back. He flinched and stepped back as bright flashes of white and yellow covered the shrieking corrupt like fireworks. He wanted to close his eyes to the sight, trying to block out the tortured screams his friend was making, but he couldn't. That flash of light, the screaming and fireworks brought a sharp pain to his head. It was a good thing that the much louder shrieks blocked out the hybrid's own shout of pain as he gripped his head. Something was flashing behind his brown eyes, voices and whispers, getting louder and louder to the point where the bright white quickly turned black.
"Spinel!?"
The light was white now, the rumbling stopped, he made it to grab her arm. She looks at him in shock and realization, completely covered in fear.
"Steven!"
He clung to her. The injector exploded. The world went black.
"No… your time isn't done yet~"
Black, it was so cold and black where he was. All he saw was Spinel, curled up and in pain. No… he had to save her, he couldn't let her feel pain anymore. He had to save her! He had to bring her home.
A flash of silver flames. Pain and heat on his neck, choking him as he knelled in front of Spinel. He couldn't move, he didn't wanted to look away from her.
"I'll remember that promise…"
"...You have my word."
The image fades and the headache calms down to a numbing throb, the hybrid finally opened his eyes as he found himself panting. He didn't even knew he was kneeling at this point, looking up to see the Gems poofing Centi just in time. What just happened right now? A vision, a dream? Why did it seem so real and yet like it was meant to be a nightmare all at once? Steven's head was too dizzy to fully figure out what he just say, but he knew enough to know it was before he woke up here. He was still panting, trying to calm down his rapid heartbeat as the gems rushed over to him in worry.
"Steven! Dude are you okay," Amethyst knelled down and looked at the boy in worry, making him smile a bit at the sliver of his sister caring for him.
Pearl came over and checked him over for any marks or injuries. "It didn't get you did it!?"
"No. No Pearl… I'm just fine I promise." Steven rubbed his head, looking down to see the burned out and destroyed Cookie Cat freezer about 5 meters from him. "Looks like that's ruined."
Garnet nodded. "We're sorry Steven."
Steven frowned, placing his hand over his gem as he looked at the ice cream not melting black out of the ruined freezer. "Don't be Garnet. There are more important things than candy."
Much more important, like what was the images he just say and why his neck suddenly hurts all of the sudden. This wasn't right, and sadly the hybrid knew that he had to figure out and soon.