Steven smiled as he pulled in front of and parked at Le Hotel: The main hotel of Empire City.

Steven walked in, remembering his first time here with Greg and Pearl.

He walked up to the front desk.

"Hello, sir."

"Yeah, uh, hi, my dad should already be here. The name is under Universe?"

"Ah, yes. He has already arrived. Allow me to carry your bags to the room and I will escort you there."

Steven was quiet as he went up the elevator with the bellboy. He had Bluebird on his mind. Could she really be building an army of gems that hate him?

He brushed these thoughts away as he arrived on the floor and was escorted to his room.

As he arrived at the room, Steven stopped and turned to the bellboy. "Hey, I can take my bags from here."

"Very well, sir." The bellboy dropped Steven's bags at his feet and turned and headed towards the elevator.

Steven knocked on the door.

"Steven!" Greg exclaimed, excited to see his son and giving him a hug.

"Hey, Dad! How's managing been? I bet it's been nice to get out of the house." Steven asked, putting his bag on his bed.

"Oh, yeah. It's been pretty great for you're old dad. Between managing Sadie and Shep and staying at the house with the Gems, it's been pretty nice."

"That's great, Dad. Speaking of, any reason Sadie wanted to have me and you play tonight? It's been a few months since she she did a full band." Steven asked.

"Yeah, uh, between you and me, I think she misses being part of the Suspects. She just can't figure out what she wants for the future of her music career. You can really tell tonight. She's playing at Sunshine's venue and we're doing The Working Dead and Let Me Ska My Van Into Your Heart tonight. But, never mind that, we gotta go meet them there right now." Greg said, pulling on a black jacket that had two of the letter S written on it.

"Steven! It's been a while! How are you?" Shep greeted Steven as he and Greg arrived.

"I'm good, Shep!" Steven said, giving Shep a friendly hug. "Where's Sadie?"

"Oh, uh, she's in her room. But, do you think you could talk to her? Something's been bothering her lately and for some reason she won't talk to me about it. You've known her a lot longer, so, uh, could you talk to her about it?" Shep asked, scratching their head awkwardly.

"Well, I can try. She's in her dressing room, right?"

"Yep. Second door on the right."

Greg greeted Shep as Steven went to Sadie's dressing room and knocked on her door. "Oh, Sadie? It's your favorite Steven!"

The door quickly opened and Sadie appeared, giving Steven a big hug. "Steven, it's been a few months since I've seen you. How, um, how have you, uh, been."

As Steven and Sadie broke their hug, Steven noticed that Sadie's eyes looked like she'd been crying about something.

"Sadie, do you wanna talk about something? Maybe from in your dressing room?" Steven asked, with a caring smile.

Sadie nodded as she and Steven entered.

"Sadie, are you ok?"

Sadie turned to Steven, holding back her tears. "I...I think I still have feelings for Lars."

"Wait, what?!"

"I, know. I'm gonna give it a bit more time to decide if I'm gonna break up with them. Shep is really great. But, then Lars is still in space with the Off-Colors. I just need time to figure it out."

"And that's okay, Sadie. I mean, you and Lars were cute together, but, I think you and Shep are great together too. Whatever you decide to do with your relationship is your decision. But, I'll be here to support you no matter what you decide." Steven said, laying a hand on her shoulder.

Sadie quickly pulled Steven into a hug. "Thanks, Steven. Do you think you'd be willing to play at my shows more often? Maybe you could even open for me next week?"

"I'd love to open for you Sadie. That sounds awesome! Well, we should probably go practice for the show tonight." Steven suggested and the two headed to meet with Greg and Shep.

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It was ten minutes until it was time for the band to go on. Sadie's previous mood had turned cheerful once she'd seen the crowd. "Hey, Steven. Check this out!"

Steven walked over with a smile.

"Doesn't the crowd just make you so excited to perform?!"

Steven looked at the crowd, seeing all the people, along with a few gems scattered in.

"Yeah, it's great!" Steven said, glancing slightly nervously at the crowd.

"Well, let's get out there!" Sadie shouted and ran out to the microphone, Shep, Steven and Greg in tow.

Steven picked up his guitar, his eyes shifting around the room as Sadie started singing and he subconsciously started playing the beat to The Working Dead. Suddenly, a Lapis shot water at Sadie's microphone, frying it.

"What the..." Sadie muttered.

"Oh, geez, it's her." Greg said.

"Dad, you know this Lapis?" Steven asked, in awe.

"Yeah, that Lapis is always trying to mess with me and the gems. She thinks we brainwashed her other Lapis friend." Greg explained.

Steven quickly recognized who the Lapis was as she flew closer to Steven, an evil smirk on her face.

"Shoulder...Lapis!" Steven exclaimed as his mind flashed back to their first encounter.

You really expect us to dance and sing like Pearls? Forget it, Steven Universe. You've already got a Lapis doing what you want, and look how dull it's made her. Or was she always this pitiful?

Steven found himself in the present once again as he saw Shoulder Lapis attempting to drown the crowd as they fled the venue.

"Shep, Sadie, Dad! Get out of here! I'll take care of this." Steven ordered the group.

Sadie and Shep fled backstage, however, Greg stayed.

"I'm not leaving, Steven. Since I've started teaching gems music part-time at Little Homeschool, I'm determined even more to be involved in gem stuff. Especially when it involves my son. Let's do this together." Greg said, reaching his hand out towards Steven.

Steven, proud of his Dad and realizing what he meant by the outstretched hand, grabbed his hand and Steven and Greg vanished into a burst of light.

"Well, well, well. Lapis, is it?" Steg asked, throwing his jacket backstage.

"Really? A fusion? You think a fusion can just easily take me down? Me? Lapis Lazuli?" Shoulder Lapis said as she threw a large ball of water at Steg who narrowly dodged it.

"I'm testing the waters here. A part of me has had to fight a Lapis before, you know?" Steg retorted, as he grabbed his guitar and shield and combining them into a half-guitar, half-axe hybrid. "This might make it a little easier." He said as he prepared for Lapis' attack.

Before Steg could even dodge anything, his limbs were each tied down by chains of water, pulling him down and causing him to drop his axe.

"Hey, let's talk about thi-" Steg was quickly interrupted by being bound by a water rope.

"You're mine now, Universe. And I plan on making your death LONG and PAINFUL!" Lapis shouted at Steg.

Sadie and Shep were watching from backstage.

"Sadie, we should get out of here."

"No, Shep. I'm taking this bat and I'm gonna stop her." Sadie said, before Shep could do anything to stop her, she was off running towards the Lapis.

Lapis, who was distracted taunting Steg, Suddenly, felt a large pain as a metal bat struck her gem, causing her control of water to vanish as her gem cracked, and Steg was quickly freed as the water fell to the floor.

"Thanks for the save, Sadie." Steg Multiverse smiled at the girl, then turned towards Lapis.

"Great! Now, I have to fly back to Little Homeworld to get healed." Lapis shouted.

"Listen, Lapis. You and Bluebird aren't gonna take me down so easy!" Steg shouted as his skin color turned pink.

"Bluebird? What? Huh...Whatever...see ya, Universe!" Shoulder Lapis said, as she fled to Little Homeworld to heal her cracked gem.

Steg unfused as his skin color returned to normal at the last second.

"Steven, are you ok?" Greg asked.

"Yeah, can we talk at the hotel room? I'm gonna go ahead and head over there." Steven said and before Greg could reply ran towards to hotel

"Schtuball! What was that back there?" Greg asked, finding Steven practicing guitar in the bedroom.

"Sorry, Dad. I told you I'd be more open. I'm just tired of gems always trying to kill me. I thought city life might be for me, but, this might not be the city for me. I still wanna open for Sadie next week...but I don't know. What if we get attacked again?" Steven told his dad.

"Aw, Steven. Don't worry about that. I'll have Garnet make sure nobody will attack us the night you perform. You'll be great! Why don't you take your guitar and try and make a new song?" Greg said, pulling Steven out of bed.

"Yeah, maybe music will help. I'm gonna head to my car and try and come up with a few lyrics. Maybe see you later, dad? I might not be back. I think I'm gonna visit Connie tomorrow since it's the weekend." Steven said as he opened his arms for a hug.

"Whatever you wanna do, Steven. You're a free man now." Greg said as he hugged his son back and Steven left for the car.

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"Dear, Diary. Never share these lyrics."

If I could be me

I'd know how to see

See why you'd choose a pain like me...

Steven's singing was suddenly interrupted by a strange noise from on top of his car.

"This better not be Lapis..." Steven said, clenching his teeth. Steven got out to find Lion who pounced onto Steven.

"Lion! It's really great to see you actually. I don't expect Connie to have sent you. Why are you here?" Steven asked his pink cat and heard his phone buzz from inside his car. He reached inside and grabbed his phone to see a text from Connie. He unlocked his phone and read it.

Hey, Jam Bud. My roommates gonna be gone for the weekend so I thought we can just spend the entire weekend together if you don't have anything planned. I sent Lion a little early hope you don't mind!!! I'm just excited to see you after a month of not being able to. I love you See you Tomorrow, Steven. Gn!

"She's the best girlfriend ever." Steven said, turning to Lion as he wrote a text back.

"Well, Lion. I was gonna stay up writing songs. But, forget that. Let's head back up to the hotel room with dad. Mind warping us?" Steven asked and Lion put his head down as Steven climbed onto his back. Lion roared as the portal opened and they warped to the bedroom.

A blue form flew past Steven's car as Lion warped Steven away.