Steven opened his eyes groggily, just waking up from his sleep.

Last night was incredible. He finally saw his dad go up onstage and actually perform. They went home and Onyx prepared Universe soup for them. It was one of the best nights he have had.

He looked around him to see no signs of Peridot, nor Lapis. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes, stretched, and yawned.

He climbed down from his bed, and into the bathroom. Doing his morning routine. He remembered what his father told him last night. That he was leaving the plumbing job, going back to the car wash and being the best dad ever.

Steven washed his face, then picked up his toothbrush, put some toothpaste on it, and then he brushed.

Noticing that he hadn't felt a prescene since he woke up. Which was pretty weird. "What day is it again?" He asked himself quietly.

After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he got out of the bathroom then looked at the calendar. Surprisingly, the calendar wasn't there. "That's weird, I remember it being next to Pearl's planner."

Opening the fridge to make some breakfast, he saw that there was nothing in it. "What? I thought we just bought food last week?" He closed the fridge and searched through the cupboards. There was nothing in them too. "What's going?"

Steven suddenly got a familiar scent coming from the warp pad.

He walked to the warp pad to see the infamous 'Universe Soup', and there was a note beside it. He picked it up and read it.

Dear, Steven:

I made you this so you can have something to eat while we're gone...

Just make sure to not go too far from the house.

We'll be back in a few hours.

-Sincerely, Onyx.

Steven got a little bit curious about something.

Peridot would never go with the gems without Steven, or if they made her, or forced her too. Or maybe it was something important.

He walked back to the kitchenette to get a spoon so he could eat his soup. Then he sat on the living room couch and began chowing down.

While he was eating, he decided to give Connie a call. He searched his pockets, but his phone wasn't on him. He check his room, still nowhere. "Where is it?" He flipped his room upside down looking for it. But to no avail, he could find it.

Deciding to give up on it for now, he continued to eat his soup. While eating his soup, he began to think about the Crystal gem's adventures when Rose was still here, thinking of the creation of the Universe Soup.

He puts down his bowl of soup and laid back on the couch. He sighs and closes his eyes to relax.

An hour later, Steven was woken up by car noises. Getting a little curious about the commotion, he opened his eyes to see what was happening outside.

But to his surprise, he wasn't in the house. He was laying on a bench on the boardwalk. Getting confused, he sat up and looked around.

He saw that everything was different. The stores weren't the same, the people were strangers to him, but he saw that the temple didn't look different...from afar. "What's going on?" He asks himself.

He then started walking towards the temple, noticing that every single thing he knew about beach city has changed. He felt lost.

Finally making it to the temple, he was shocked to see the beach house wasn't there. He panicked. "W-where's my house?!" He ran to the giant hole, entering the temple.

The only things that were there were the warp pad and the temple door. The furniture, the memories, the house, it was all wiped away. "How long did I sleep?!" He held his head, not knowing what is happening to him.

The temple door started to open. He quickly ran in front of it. But he noticed that the door that was opening was his, his mother's. And this made no sense to him.

Seeing who had emerged from the room completely made his skin cold and his hair stand up.

It was his one and only mother. Rose quartz.

"M-mom?" He nervously stuttered as he reached for her.

She wasn't looking at him, as if she didn't even hear him. "Mom..." He whispers.

Rose slowly took a step forward. Steven fell on his back and started to crawl away so he would get stepped on. But Rose just unexpectedly phased right through him.

This made Steven scared. He looked at his hands and touched them together. He felt himself. He then walked over to his mother, who was standing in front of the temple, staring at the beach. He slowly reached for her, and then finally reached her, but he just phased right through.

"What's happening?!" Steven panicked.

After awhile, he calmed down a bit and looked at Rose. He noticed that she was looking at something.

Steven followed her eyes and saw that she was looking at someone, not one, but two.

The two seemed...very familiar. They looked similar to Onyx, and Pearl. But younger.

They looked like they were verbally fighting. His curioisity got the best of him and walked closer to hear their conversation.

"You know that I'm the only one who really cared about you, right?" A young Onyx said, pain in his voice. He was holding his arm, probably injured from a fight.

"No, Rose cares about me, she cares about every gem!" Pearl argued.

Onyx sighed. "If she does care about every gem, would she hurt the gem you love?"

Pearl fell silent. Onyx stepped up to Pearl, he held her hand firmly. Pearl looked at him with teary eyes.

"Who do you love more?"

This question made Pearl's heart skip a beat. This question made Steven wait in anticipation, but it also scared him.

"I-...I-"

Onyx held her arms, making her look into his eyes. His eyes looked dead serious, and full of pain and sadness. "Who, Pearl?" He asks once more.

"R-Rose..."

Steven's eyes dilated in surprise. "Pearl..." Steven muttered under his breath in disbelief.

Onyx let her go, then he looked down on the sand.

He gave a slight chuckle. "Thanks for being honest, Pearl." He said without emotion.

"Onyx..." Pearl stepped forward to hold him, but Onyx raised his hand as a sign for her to stop.

"No more, Pearl. I've done enough damage to our supposed family. I gotta go."

Pearl held her chest tight, tears falling to her cheeks. "Where will you go? Just stay!"

"Pearl, I'm not wanted here. So I'm going back to Homeworld."

Pearl pulled his robe. "No! They'll know that you were with us. They won't forgive you!"

"At least I've got a purpose there. Even if that's execution." He held her hands and removed them from his robe. "Remember, Pearl. You have to make sure to live the life so you can have a great one. This war isn't gonna make it easy for you."

"I still love you..." Pearl was desparate. She wanted him to stay.

"You love me? To which extent?" This made Pearl stop.

Onyx gave her one fake smile and walked away from the beach.

Pearl ran to Rose, crying in her arms. Rose never knew that it would end up like this. But if she really knew Onyx, he would never sell them out...hopefully.

Steven stood there. Completely frozen after what he just witnessed.

He shook his head and decided to follow Onyx.

Onyx stopped by at Greg's van. Steven watched what he was gonna do.

Onyx knocks on the van's back door. But it seemed like Greg wasn't in the van. Onyx sighs. He opens the van door and got a piece of paper and a pencil from his junk behind the van.

After writing, walked away, deciding to leave earth. Forever.

Steven looked at the piece of paper he wrote, it read;

Greg,

I'm sorry to say this, but I'm going to leave earth, forever.

So you might as well forget about me and get new friends.

Maybe you'll get to meet that big, curly haired woman you kept talking about.

I wish all the luck for you. You're the best friend I've ever had.

-Onyx

Steven felt his heart sink on how hard it was all in the past. He couldn't believe on how much pain Onyx was, or still is.

He tried to touch the piece of paper, it somehow worked.

He flipped it around and saw that it had writings behind it. It was ingredients, and steps...for the Universe Soup.

Wanting to to take it, he pondered if he should, but he didn't bother. He left it there and just remembered the writings. He sighs and walked back to the bench he woke up on earlier.

After walking, Steven sits down on the bench, laying down on it uncomfortably.

He remembered what Onyx said. "You have to make sure to live the life so you can have a great one." He repeated.

This made Steven smile. Then he started to laugh lightly. "I want to get out of here..."

Suddenly, every single thing around him poofed into pink clouds.

He opened his eyes to see that he was in his room. His mother's room. "I've been here the whole time?"

Looking at the door, he knew he wanted to know more. So he decided to see what Lapis' past was like. He hesitated, but he did it anyways. "Room, let me see the last time my mom saw Lapis."

The whole room suddenly became the galaxy warp. Steven saw that Rose was about to have a fight with, who seemed like Lapis. But Steven felt something was wrong. There seemed like a third party somewhere.

"Lapis, you don't want this." Rise says with a caring voice.

"You don't know what I want. You don't even know who I am anymore!" Lapis uses her hydrokinesis to form a giant sea serpent.

Rose grabs her sword and summons her shield. "I know you, and you know that they are using you for power!"

"This planet is not worth fighting for!" Lapis replies, totally ignoring Rose's words.

Steven wanted to do something, but if he did, he'd just phase into them or poof them away, knowing that he was in his room.

After the battle, Lapis was defeated, making her retreat into her gem.

Rose quickly got her gem and stuck it onto a mirror. "I can't let you be a target to homeworld anymore. You're safer in here." She said as she hugged the mirror.

Rose suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind her.

She turned around to see a big surprise. "O-Onyx?"

Steven looked surprised too. He never knew Onyx saw Rose for the second time after he left earth.

"Sorry, Rose. You have a bounty on your head by Yellow diamond. I need to turned you in alive..." He summons his sword from his hand. "Or dead."

Rose just shook her head. "Don't do this Onyx. You can still turn from your occupation."

"I'm a bounty hunter now, Rose. And you should've changed your decision of letting me go too." Onyx walked closer to the quartz.

Steven didn't know what was gonna happen next. But him seeing Rose and Onyx at each others throats made him heartbroken.

"I know I should've changed my decision Onyx. But you've got to let go of the past!" Rose tried to reason out of the oncoming fight.

"Letting go is hard for me since you took everything I cared about. The Gems I loved. And still do." Onyx whispered the last part. He started walking closer to Rose.

"You're being manipulated, Onyx! You need to fight it!" Rose pleaded. Onyx just continued walking.

"Have you heard what had happened to the other Onyx gems?" The dark gem stops walking. Staring dead into her eyes.

Rose looked down and shook her head. Onyx chuckled. He brought up his sword, getting ready to strike her down once and for all.

Rose closed her eyes in defeat, just hugged the mirror to her chest tighter, making the blue gem crack.

After waiting for a few seconds, Rose heard a sword fall to the ground. She opened her eyes to see Onyx walking away from her. He turned around, giving her a cold stare. "Get out before I take you in."

Rose quickly got to her feet and ran to the warp pad, dropping the mirror on the floor.

Onyx looked at the mirror, then walked back to his ship.

Steven just watched him fly away from the galaxy warp. He felt so confused.

He understood why Rose shoved him away from them. It was for their safety, Onyx too.

Rose knew that homeworld would hunt them down, but when Onyx went back to homeworld, they didn't think of earth as a threat, and they would never visit there.

But it doesn't mean what Rose did was right.

The reason why Onyx gave her a chance is because he saw that Rose's stomach was larger than before.

If he learned anything from Greg. He would know what it meant.

But Steven still disagreed on being pushed away from your loved ones. It was highly unnecessary.

And now that Onyx was back here with them, he felt complete. Steven knew that.

He stood up slowly, "room, open the door to the real temple."

The door appears a few feet away from him, he slowly walks over to it and opens the door.

He takes one step forward, seeing that it was already night time. He got quite curious. "How long have I been here? And where are the Gems?" He asks himself, looking around for at least any one of the Gems.

He swallows a small lump in his throat, he started to get paranoid that something might jump him. He slowly creeped away from the doorway, making sure he didn't make a sound.

But what happened next almost gave him a heart attack.

The Gems, Greg, and Connie, jumped out of their hiding spots yelling, "Happy birthday, Steven!"

Steven jumped inches away from the surprise. But he immediately calmed down knowing that it his birthday. He couldn't believe he forgot his own birthday. Well yes, they had pretty busy days, but they didn't. Steven felt his eyes getting stingy and wet.

Onyx and Connie walked up to him and gave him a smile. "Happy birthday, Steven!" Connie's greeted him happily.

"Yeah, sorry I had to put you in your room without telling you. But we were kind of late for preparations..." Onyx got closer to Steven's ear to whisper to him. "and that's because the Crystal Gems didn't really think of throwing a celebration of Rose's death..." He said awkwardly.

Pulling his head away from his ear, he kept his warm smile. "But we don't want to think about that now. We have you, and that's all that matters, is you!" The dark gem touched his shoulder. Connie agreed with Onyx's explanation.

Steven closed his eyes tightly, making some of his tears come out, and he hugged Onyx warmly.

Flinching in surprise, Onyx didn't really expect a hug from him. He expected more of an energetic yell of excitement and enthusiasm. But he sensed something very gloomy about the boy. This got him worried.

"Are you okay pal?" Onyx asks.

"Yeah, you look really down in the dumps Ste-man." Amethyst added in.

"I guess he was a little bit shaken by our surprise." Garnet theorized.

Steven relaxed his body a bit, letting Onyx pull from the hug and face him. "What's wrong?"

The boy sniffled and gave him a question instead of an answer. "Onyx, are you still sad?"

Onyx was a bit taken aback by this. He chuckled in reply. "Steven, yes, I was sad. But now I've got you guys. I've got my family. I am where I belong." He twitched his eye. "You can't hold on to your past forever. Especially of it's a bad one. Or else it might cause some problems, and it may affect your loved ones."

Steven thought about what he just said. He's right. Holding things that hurt you from the pst can be used against you as well.

The hybrid revealed his usual smile, and wiped away his tears from his eyes. "Alright. Thank you guys for the surprise, you're all the family I've ever had. And I won't change any one of you for anything or anyone else." Steven said as he walked towards the other Gems, and his father.

This made Pearl blush. "Aw...Steven, you are the best thing that ever happened to any of us in this family."

"Yes. You are what made this family." said Garnet.

Greg ruffled his son's hair gently. "And you are what keeps us like that." He added.

"I love you guys..." Steven said softly, slightly blushing from the love he was receiving.

Lapis knelt down beside him and touched his face, with a tender smile on her face. "We do too, right Peridot?" Lapis looked at the small gem beside them. This made the others look at her as well.

Peridot felt pressure on her. "W-well...I guess if that's the positive way of saying, then yes..." She said with her usual plain voice.

Steven made a cute face, curling his mouth, and putting his hands on his cheeks. "Aw...Peridot loves me!"

Peridot felt her cheeks heat up hotter than ever. "W-what?! That's ridiculous!"

Amethyst scoffed. "There's no way of getting out of this one, Peridot. You kind of said it yourself."

Garnet nodded in agreement. "It did sound very convincing."

Peridot gritted her teeth as she growled in annoyance. "I said nothing!" She yelled. The others just laughed.

Steven gave Peridot a warm embrace, making her heart beat faster. "Even if you keep saying you don't, you know that you do." Steven said to with a sweet tone.

Peridot scoffed, but she hugged back hesitantly.

Connie looked at her phone and sighed. "Well, Steven, is it okay if we have fun tomorrow? My parents want me home now, it's already eight thirty pm."

Steven nodded. "Yeah, sorry I didn't come out early, I didn't know what was happening."

Connie gave him a small box, guessing that it was a present. "Happy birthday Steven."

"Thank you, Connie." Steven replied.

Connie walked towards Greg and nodded. Greg smiled at her, then looked at the Gems. "Well, we gotta go. I'll try and come back later after dropping Connie off at her place. If I don't come back, don't wait for me, cause I might head straight back to the car wash, since I'm pretty tired."

Steven got up and walked to his father. "Don't worry, Dad. We can have fun together tomorrow."

Greg gave his son a smile. "Sure buddy. I'll see you later!"

"Bye!" Steven waved goodbye to his father and his best friend.

Steven looked back to the Gems and sighed. "So. What do you guys have planned."

Onyx's face scrunched up at this question. "Well, we kinda' thought that you would be the one who gets to decided what we would do."

Out of nowhere, Steven yawned unintentionally. He rubbed his eyes and closed his mouth. "Well, I'm kind of sleepy right now. You guys don't mind me sleeping, right?"

Garnet smirked. "Then we should have a slumber party."

Steven thought of it for awhile. "I guess that's an activity, right?" The hybrid quickly ran to his bed and laid down on it. "I call dibs." He said with a tired voice. Amethyst and Peridot ran to his side, laying down on the comfortable bed.

Garnet pulled a comforter from the shelves right beside the couch, and put them down next to it.

She laid down straight, seemingly tired as well.

Since Amethyst took her spot, Lapis had no clue where to sleep. So did Pearl.

Onyx saw that they looked confused, they had nowhere to sleep. He simply puled two comforters that were left in the shelves, and he climbed up to Steven's room. He put them down just beside Stevens bed, so the two can sleep.

He looked down to the two and whistled. "Hey, you two gonna sleep or what?"

Lapis and Pearl climbed up quietly, not to disturb the sleeping Gems. Onyx sat there waiting for them to lay down quietly.

But just by the looks of their faces, they didn't really agree with his idea. "What's wrong?"

Pearl rubbed her arm. "Well, no...we're just wondering where you're gonna sleep?" The pale gem asks.

Onyx shook his head. "Sadly, I won't be sleeping. I need to get Steven's birthday present tonight."

Pearl looked annoyed. "Ugh...why do you keep leaving the house?"

Onyx pushed both of them down the comforters and kissed both of their foreheads. "Don't mind me. You two just rest, I put you enough hard work for today. I love you guys." With that, he quickly jumped and got out of the house, sprinting towards town.

Pearl had her eyes open. She was tired, but she couldn't sleep from the uncomfortable atmosphere. And she knew Lapis was still awake too.

"...Lapis."

Lapis turned her face to her. "Yes?"

Pearl took it in and sighed. "Don't you think something is bothering, Onyx?"

Lapis hated to say it, but she knew it was true.

The dark gem had been acting strangely after his quest on the mountains.

"Do you think we should talk to him?" Lapis asks.

Pearl closed her eyes. It hurt her to see Onyx so unnaturaly.

"I think we should."

With that, Lapis turned her back to her and closed her eyes tightly.

She remembered catching a glimpse of a pretty shady looking black case whenever Onyx came to the basement. She followed him quietly since he acted like...it wasn't really him.

But this day was normal. He was normal, and he planned Stevens birthday. Not until just a few minutes earlier. He said he was gonna get Steven's presents, but something was way off.

The two just slept it off, hoping that he would be back to normal. Because for now, they didn't know what was wrong with him.

Outside the barn, Onyx walked directly inside, seeing that the drill was there, he touched it and sighed.

He walked towards an empty wooden table on the wall and put down some stuff he picked up after he left the house.

They were a bunch of chemicals, a pocket watch, pieces of a warp pad, a supply of glass balls, the black case, and a box with a bow on it, which was Steven's present.

He lifted his hat from his head and scratched himself. "Oh boy, here we go."

He grabbed a chair, a torch, and goggles. Turning on the blowtorch, he then started working.

Onyx wanted to keep this a secret, since he wouldn't want to risk messing up. He knew something was coming. And being the risky type of gem, he'd do anything to stop whatever comes, whether it'd be yellow diamond and her army, or something worse.

The Cluster.

Okay, this chapter is only a placeholder, its a cover for a plot hole honestly.

Sorry if it's not as long as it should be like the last two chapters. But I ran out of time since it has already been five days since the last chapter. Sorry :P.

Anyways, this chapter MIGHT be the last one before my short little hiatus. It won't be long, but no one really cares about that. Only 20 people read this.

You guys are the best. Sorry for this crap chapter though.

Luv u peeps

-Onyx