A/N: hey everyone! Sorry that this chapter is so late! I found out about the new SUF episodes and got excited and was and still am preparing for the upcoming episodes! I hope you guys enjoyed last night's episodes and hope to see how the story ends. Yes I made that reference. Anyway, since there are still no reviews to go over, let's get on with the story!

I own nothing of SU

*few hours ago*

I stared intensely at the silhouette of whatever is over there, debating if I should walk over there. It's very hard to see, but my only conclusion is that it's Spinel. This town looks long abandoned so I doubt anyone still lives here. It isn't Lion because he wouldn't try sneaking up on me. That and the fact that I doubt it's been an hour since he left.

Not knowing what to say, I took a breath and then a step towards the silhouette. My heart starts beating a little faster. If it really is Spinel, what do I say to her? What will she say to me? Will she try to attack me. Ok Steven...just calm down. It'll be fine. As I started to get closer, I finally found my voice.

"S-Spinel?"

There was no reaction or movement from her. I took another shaky breath as I walked closer.

"Spinel?"

I received the same reaction as I got even closer.

"Spinel, come on we-."

I stopped when I was close enough to see the actual shape. It wasn't Spinel; it was garbage that was shaped like Spinel. Wait a minute, why is there...oh no. I started looking around frequently for Spinel. If this garbage statue is here, surely Spinel isn't too far away.

"Spinel!" I called out. "I know you're here! Please come out! We can talk this out!"

I was only greeted by silence. I stood still for a few minutes before deciding to keep moving. That doesn't mean I'll let my guard down. As I continued my walk, I quickly felt like something was watching me. I constantly looked over my shoulder for anything, but there was nothing. I guess I was so lost in thought because the sudden portal opening made me jump at least 5 feet. I looked over to see Lion exit the portal. Has it been an hour already?

"Hey buddy. Any sign on Spinel?"

He roars as he slightly shakes his head.

"Yea, I thought not. No luck here either. Ready to head over to the next town?"

Lion kneels down in front of me as an answer. I once again crawled on his back.

"Alright, let's get going."

He roars as a portal appears and we both go through it. The next town was a little better than the last one. It's a pretty small town with very few people. It doesn't look like this town has been touched, but that can possibly change. Everyone is going about their business so I doubt they even know. Unless Spinel does attack them, it isn't worth having them get scared over something that might not happen.

"Let's head further away from the town. It won't do us any good if we draw any attention to ourselves."

Lion seemed to understand when he started running further towards a meadow. We went through the same process again. Lion leaves for another hour while I walked around trying to find any traces of Spinel. I occasionally walked back towards the town to see if Spinel touched it, but there was nothing different. The same thing happened. After an hour, Lion came back to pick me up. No luck.

We kept this up for several more hours. Go to a town, look separately, and then not find luck and repeat. I once again couldn't find Spinel in a town that looked just as abandoned as the first town we visited, only it didn't look as destroyed. Lion came through his portal and looked at me. Judging by the look on his face, I'm assuming he didn't find her.

"Nothing?" I sigh. "Alright, let's-.

I was suddenly cut off by my own stomach growling. I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. 12:05pm. Oh geez, where did the time go?

"Ok buddy, how about we head back home for a quick lunch break. We can continue to look for her afterwards, alright?"

Lion looks at me before he starts kneeling down for me to crawl on, when we suddenly heard a voice.

"Well, well, well. Giving up so soon are we?"

I froze and turned my head to see her walking up to us.

"Spinel…" I muttered

Lion growled as he started to walk in front of me, but I stopped him.

"Easy boy. Can you leave us alone for a few minutes?" When Lion gave me a certain look, I sighed. "I'll be fine."

He rolls his eyes as he stepped away. As soon he was out of sight, I took a deep breath and faced Spinel.

"Spinel...it's been a while since we've last seen each other."

"Well maybe for you perhaps. I've been keeping my eye on you for quite a while, Steven Universe."

I looked at her in shock. "What?"

"I've seen you around for quite a while. I even saw when you discovered that trash statue of me. I was waiting to see if you would find me."

"Wait so...you've seen me several times before? How come you've never shown yourself?"

"I simply wanted to play hide and seek. You know, you're not very good at this. It got boring after a while."

I stared at her, not really knowing what to say. She then slowly walked towards me and stopped within a few feet away from me.

"So what is it that you want from me, Mr. Universe? Are you gonna try to use me again to try and get me to stop this? That's all you've ever done Universe!"

"I just want to talk. We can just talk this out. We don't have to fight."

She stares at me before sighing. "Talk."

"Spinel, I understand that you're hurting. After what mom did to you and a lot of other people...I understand that you're mad with her. But please, don't take it out on other people. They haven't done anything wrong. You can start over with us. I can talk to the gems again and tell them everything is chill."

"Heh. You say that like it'll be so easy."

"Huh?"

"You really expect me to believe you that easily?! Well think again, Universe! I know you're only here to clean up the mess so you can live a good old happily ever after right?! Do you really expect to believe everything you say?! The moment everything is fixed, you're just going to abandon me, isn't that right?!"

She stepped closer and I can sense the anger radiating off of her. I took a step back as she stepped closer.

"Spinel, it may seem like that, but trust me it isn't. Yes I do want you to fix everything and we'll help, but trust me when I say I do want you to stay around with us. We can stop this now and start over."

She looks at me, and I'm hoping and praying that she'll believe me. I'm telling her the truth, and I fear that the longer she waits, the harder it'll be for everyone to forgive her. If I bring her now, I can try to talk to the others and we can end all this. I just need her to agree and believe me so we can head back together.

Spinel starts laughing. "You really expect me to believe your lies, Universe?! You're just going to bring me back and then stab me in the back like last time!"

"What? N-no! That's not what I-!"

"I'm done with your lies!"

She took a few more steps towards me, before stopping with her eyes widen. She stared at me for a few seconds before her glare returned.

"You're afraid of me! I knew you were lying!"

"What?"

I looked around before my right arm caught my eye. My eyes grew wide with shock as I noticed that my shield had been summoned. When did I summon it? Was it out of instinct? I quickly made it disappear before looking back up at Spinel.

"Spinel, I swear, I didn't even notice I had it out!"

"Yea sure!" she stretches her arm out, grabbed my shirt, and yanked me towards her. "I saw the way you drew out your shield! You almost looked ready to defend yourself! I mean look at you! You look scared of me right now!"

"Spinel, you have to believe me! I really do want to help you! I don't want you to be down this math anymore! Spinel, please!"

She glares at me, but I can feel her hand trembling as she clutched my shirt. I was about to continue, when I suddenly saw Lion jump in and managed to get Spinel to let go of my shirt. The both of us stumbled back and I looked up to see Lion protectively standing in front of me.

"Lion, I told you to-!

"Oh ho ho so that's how it's gonna be, Universe?! Fine then!" she starts to back up. "Next time I won't go so easy on you!"

"S-Spinel, wait!" I shouted after her, but she was already gone.

I sigh as I looked back to Lion.

"I appreciate you trying to hell Lion, but maybe don't be so sudden next time, ok?"

Lion roared slightly as I looked back at the way Spinel left. I sighed as my stomach growled again.

"We can try to find her again after lunch. Let's head back."

I climbed on Lion as he roared and we went through the portal. We exited the portal just right outside the house. I slipped off Lion and started to head towards the house.

"Hey guys," I say as I walked in. "How are-?"

"Steven!"

I looked over to see Connie looking at me wide eyed. Wait...what is she doing here?

A/N: annnnnd that's it! I was gonna go longer but I figured I keep the theme for this one so yea. I promise you guys if you think the story is boring now, it will pick up soon hopefully. Anyway guys, if you have any comments and/or constructive criticism, please let me know and I will see you guys in the next chapter! Buh bye!:)