It was a bright, and breezy day.
The Gems had their beautiful rests, even if they didn't need it. But they did it anyways.
Steven had been getting a lot of greetings from the people on Beach City. They knew that it was his birthday yesterday. And knowing that they couldn't just walk around his house, since it was still a mystery for them on where or who he lives with. Some knew it was the Gems, some don't, some didn't care.
After all the greetings and happy glances, Steven decided to check out the drill for himself. He brought Pearl, Garnet, Peridot, and Lapis with him.
But this morning was not Onyx's morning. He groggily opened his eyes, lifting his head from the wooden table.
Hearing the company he was never expecting, he quickly stood up, picked up the things he was working with, then hid beside some unused plane junk.
He quickly laid on his back, looking through a tiny little space to see the what they were gonna do.
And being the forgettable gem he is, he saw his present for Steven on the wooden table, sitting there, untouched.
"Ugh...nice one Onyx." He cursed himself quietly.
The other gems come in the barn, slightly opening the doors so the light could come in.
Onyx just looked through the small space, seeing Steven, Pearl, Garnet, Peridot, and Lapis. He started to get nervous that Garnet might find him.
Finally seeing the drill himself, his eyes widened with amazement, stars were in them.
"This is so cool!" Steven said in delight. "I knew you two could do it!" He told Pearl and Peridot.
Peridot snorted a laugh. "Well, of course, it was mostly me."
"Hey, we put the same amount of work into it!" Pearl recoiled.
Peridot shook her head. "You must've miscalculated. I mostly did the work here while you were too preoccupied thinking about Onyx!" Peridot argued back.
Pearl felt heat rise up to her face. "T-This is not the time for an argument." She excused herself away from the escalating argument.
Garnet was about to say something, but she sensed something weird. She sensed that there were more than five of them in the barn.
She caught a glimpse of something moving in a bunch of rubble.
Onyx saw Garnet look at his direction, making him nervous. As if it wasn't bad enough, the fusion walked towards the rubble.
This made Onyx hide his stuff in a box that was behind him, then he shrunk...literally.
Garnet kicked the rubble as it fell apart. She saw that a rat is what cause the movements.
This made her chuckle lowly. "Silly rat." She says, walking back to the other Gems.
The rat stands up on two feet and looks at the fusion walking away. The rat had a black gem on its chest, and a smile on its face. It trickled back to the rubble, hiding from the Gems.
"So, when are we gonna defeat the cluster?" Steven asks with a big smile on his face.
Pearl sighs. "Well, the suit isn't finished. Every single store I went to had no neoprene-coated nylon."
Garnet laid a hand on Pearl's shoulder. "It's okay, Pearl. We can think of another plan." The fusion reassured her pale friend.
Pearl just shook her head. "No, Garnet. It's weird, because every single one of the owners keep saying that a robed person came in and just bought every single one of their nylons."
"But the only robed person we know is Onyx. But he doesn't need that." Garnet figured, putting her hand on her hips.
Pearl looked at Lapis, she looked back. Lapis nodded slowly, Pearl bit her lip. "Garnet." Said gem looked at Pearl. "Lapis and I have been...noticing that Onyx has been acting out of the ordinary ever since he came back from his last mission."
Garnet looked at the two, which made her laugh inside her mind. "You two?"
Pearl and Lapis looked down.
"You know that he loves you two, right? If he knows that you two are suspecting him of something bad, you're pretty much betraying his love." Garnet explained stoicly.
Pearl quickly waved her arms in defense. "N-no! We're not thinking of him like that! We're worried about him, and we don't know what to do."
"Yes. That one time after the big performance on the beach, I saw him with a weird looking black case." Lapis added.
Garnet cleared her throat, this made them stop talking.
"We'll have this conversation somewhere else." Garnet said straightforwardly, taking Steven and Peridot's arms, dragging them towards the beach house.
Pearl and Lapis, who were very displeased with themselves, lagged behind the fusion.
After awhile, Onyx watched the Gems walk back to the house. He heard every single word.
His face turned into a hurt look. Knowing that the two Gems he loved are thinking something else of him.
"Am I really that bad?"
Onyx started dragging his feet inside the barn.
"Should I continue this without hiding it?"
"You can't be asking me about this."
"I know, but you gotta help me. I know that something is coming. They're gonna be stopping us from getting the cluster."
"But they can't come to earth. They don't have their ships, right?"
"Knowing Yellow diamond, she probably forced the Peridots to build atleast a hundred of 'em. Or she made the ships out of Peridots."
"Ngh...Yellow diamond never gives up. She never cares, she just wants us gone. You know that right? She wants you gone. You destroyed their stuff, and bubbled Jasper."
"And they don't even know that I am with White diamond."
"The Crystal Gems don't as well."
Onyx fell silent. Lying for a long time made him sick. Emotionally sick. "Bit if I tell them, then they won't let you stay, which can destroy me. Achoo!"
Nyx suddenly jumps out of Onyx's body and pats his shoulder. "Are you alright?"
Onyx holds his head as his vision started to get blurry. "I-I don't know..." He weakly spoke. He then fell to the ground, making a loud thud.
"Onyx?!" Kneeling down to his friend, he noticed that he looked like he had died internally.
Nyx quickly got him up off the ground, and dragged him to the beach house.
Steven, Greg, and Connie were outside the house, just enjoying the nice breeze.
Steven received three presents from Connie, and two from his dad. He hadn't opened them since he wanted to open them before bed time. He wanted it to be more exciting.
"You guys are the best. How come you have two gifts for me, Dad?" The hybrid said.
Greg felt heat on his face. "Well, since you're my only son. I want to make your birthdays very special. Two gifts are better than one."
"Your dad's right, Steven. My parents get me four presents for my birthdays." Connie added.
Steven faced Greg with a smile. He gave him a warm loving hug. "Thanks dad."
Greg scratched his head. "Aw...It's no problem son."
The three shared laughs for quite a few minutes, but they stopped as soon as Steven saw something in the distance.
"Huh, is that Onyx, carrying...Onyx?" Steven asked confusedly.
Greg looked over to where Steven was looking at, his eyes grew wide. "Oh no." Greg quickly stood up from the sand and ran to help his friend.
Greg put Onyx's arm on his back to help Nyx drag him into the house.
"What happened?" The human asks.
Nyx shrugged. "I don't know. He passed out for some reason." Nyx answered. He knew why he passed out, but didn't want to tell him why. Because if he did, everything Onyx worked on secretly would be for nothing.
But Greg remembered something. The last time he saw Onyx like this was when he felt so guilty about...something.
Greg laid in his van, holding a guitar while a notebook was on his face. It was already dark out, and he was just about to fall asleep.
Until there was a knock on his van-door.
Making him jump, he groaned in laziness. "Who is it? Marty?" There was no answer.
He groaned once more, but in annoyance. "Marty, I told you if you come back, you better not bring a lady friend again."
Opening the door, he sees Onyx laying on the ground.
"Onyx?!" Greg panicked, picking up his friend from the ground.
He slowly puts Onyx in the back of the van, sitting him down. "Onyx, what happened?"
Onyx groggily opened his eyes with an innocent smile. "I-...I think I o-over did it." He said weakly.
"Over did what?"
Onyx coughed while he chuckled. "I think I hid too much, and now I feel guilty about hiding too much from my family..."
Greg looked confused. "W-wait. So you're saying that you're hiding secrets and you feel sick?"
Onyx nodded.
"Like...'nausea' sick?"
Onyx nodded once more.
Greg felt weirded out. He knew that Onyx was weird since he first saw him, but not THIS kind of weird.
Sure sometimes when Greg feels guilty, or nervous, his feet would go cold. But Onyx was having a huge migraine because he was feeling guilty.
"Wow, you must've kept it all in huh?" Greg chuckled slightly.
Onyx just smiled back at him. Greg lost his smile.
Hearing from Onyx, he had a very...interesting family. Nothing he had heard of before.
Greg sat across from the gem, then took a can of soda. "I guess you need to tell them what you've been hiding. That's not healthy for anyone."
Onyx sighed. "I don't know, Greg. It just seems...too early."
Inside the house. There was Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Lapis, and Peridot.
They were all just having a slight argument about when and how they are gonna beat the cluster.
Mostly Pearl and Peridot.
"I told you that we can't do it until we have the suit for Steven!" Pearl yelled.
"We don't need him! He'll just get hurt with us!" Peridot shot back.
Pearl massaged her gem in frustration. "I'm telling you, that Steven will come even if we don't want to!"
"Yes, Peridot. Making Steven stay would be bad in two ways. Us making him stay but he'll come unannounced, or gem mutants attack him while we're out defeating the cluster." Garnet joined in.
Peridot was about to argue once more, but was stopped by the door opening with a loud slam.
Greg, Nyx, and Onyx entered. The gem's eyes widened to see Onyx out cold.
Amethyst, Pearl, and Lapis ran to him. "What happened?" Amethyst asks in worry.
Nyx and Greg looked at each other, then to Onyx. "Well, he sorta just passed out..." Nyx said with a his usual cold voice.
"Well he wouldn't have just passed out for no reason, is he sick?" Pearl puts a hand on Onyx's head, trying to see if he was sick.
Greg chuckled nervously. "Pearl, gems can't get sick..."
Garnet had her hand on her chin. "That's weird. But the last time I remember the one who acted like this was, Ruby."
Amethyst and Pearl looked at their leader. "This happened to Ruby? But she's a strong gem." Pearl said in confusion.
"And so is Onyx..." Lapis muttered.
"The only reason Ruby felt that way was because she was feeling emotionally unstable. She felt like she wasn't enough for Sapphire. So she started to have more temper tantrums, crying, and she started to lie to herself." The fusion explained while looking at her right hand.
"Lie to herself? How can you lie to yourself?" Peridot snorted in a laugh.
Garnet gave her a stone cold gaze. "Lying to yourself is like lying to someone. It some time means that you are being someone you are not."
Peridot raised an eyebrow. "Wha?"
Garnet shook her head. She then put a hand on the small gem's shoulder. "We're gonna have a talk later."
"Ladies!" Yelled Greg.
The Gems looked at the human, they remembered what they were mainly talking about.
"So, you're saying that Onyx is feeling...something negative?" Pearl asked the fusion.
Garnet just shrugged. "I don't know yet. It may be the only reason."
Amethyst scoffed. "What...Onyx can't be feeling negative, right Pearl?"
Pearl felt so heavy. She didn't want to say the sketchy little things Onyx has done in the past two days.
"I don't know, Amethyst. Onyx has been...acting out."
Amethyst gave her a questioning look. "What do you mean?"
Pearl bit her lip. Not wanting to worry Amethyst about Onyx's odd behavior. Yet again, she had no choice.
"Amethyst, we've been noticing Onyx acting so unusual." Pearl confessed.
Amethyst just rolled her eyes back. "You know that he is unusual everyday right?"
Pearl grumbled. "I know, it's just that he's avoiding us lately, which isn't normal."
"Is this why you came to this conclusion? It's because he isn't giving you enough attention?!" Amethyst yelled. Pearl furrowed her eyebrows.
"That's not what I was going to say, Amethyst!" She tried to reason, but Amethyst just continued her rant.
"Enough of this!"
The Gems looked at an angry looking Nyx. Well, since he always looked angry, they could tell he was very angry because of the heat emitting from his body.
"You all need to calm down, okay?! He isn't doing this for no reason!" Nyx wasn't supposed to say the last part, but it already went.
Garnet caught it first. "He's doing what? What is he doing for us?"
Nyx felt his anger steam down a little bit, knowing that the fusion was catching up, he just shut his mouth, not returning any answers.
The next few minutes were just silence. The Crystal Gems just waited for Onyx's answer, but somehow they knew they weren't getting anything.
The silence was then broken by coughing. It came from a sickly Onyx, that was laying down on Lapis' lap.
The ocean gem put her hand on his cheek, this made him smile weakly and held her hand softly, then slowly let it go.
Onyx looked at Nyx, he noticed that he looked aggravated. "Nyx, do you mind giving me energy?"
Nyx shook his head, then came back into Onyx. This made Onyx feel a little stronger than he was.
Garnet walked over to him and asked, "Are you hiding something from us, Onyx?"
Onyx bit his tongue for a millisecond, but answered nonetheless. "No, why?" He hated lying, but this was an exception.
Garnet grew more and more suspicious. She didn't want to think it, but maybe Pearl and Lapis had a point.
Onyx had been acting rarely strange. But what confused her was why did he need to act like this? What made him do these unnatural actions?
Questions began running into her mind. But being the chill and straightforward gem she is, she just pushed it aside and decided to think about it when she was alone. "Nothing. Nyx just said something that made me...question." The fusion walked to the temple door without anymore words to say.
Onyx felt his body relax from the close call. They haven't found him out yet. He looked up at Lapis and said, "Hey, can you guys help me up? I can't really feel my legs."
Lapis nodded, moving his head from her lap slowly and carefully, putting a pillow for replacement.
Greg and Pearl came closer to help Onyx get to his feet. After that, they hear screaming coming from outside.
"What was that?" Peridot asked as she ran to the window with Amethyst to see what was happening.
Amethyst's eyes widened to see Steven and Connie trying to fend off a large corrupted gem which took form of a bat, with fur on its neck and a tail.
"Guys, Steven's in trouble!" Amethyst warned the others as she ran outside.
Pearl, Greg, and Lapis ran outside as well, forgetting about the ill gem.
Onyx tried to stand up, wincing in pain as he felt his head pound like a drum. He struggled to get up, but he slowly did.
Limping towards the door, he saw that Lapis was controlling a sea-serpent coming from, well, the sea. (Sea what I did there? :D)
The sea-serpent kept trying to reach the corrupted gem in the air. Lapis tried her best to not overwork herself.
Pearl and Amethyst fused into Opal, trying to shoot the airborne enemy, but it was too fast for them.
Greg had Steven and Connie in the van, knowing that they couldn't do anything in this situation.
Onyx leaned on the door frame, watching the giant bat fly freely. His mind was set on the corrupted gem, noticing how it didn't have any eyes. It looked like it was...scared.
Onyx hypothesised that the creature was flying in circles just because it could hear fighting around it...
Or something was wrong.
Onyx learned from Greg's VHS tapes that bats used echolocation, which is using noises to know what was around you. He remembered that they called it Sonar.
But what was wrong with this creature?
His train of thought was cut off by Peridot. "What are you about to do, Onyx?" She asked with slight worry in her voice.
Deciding on what to do, Onyx forced his body to move normally, and jumped as high as he could, reaching the corrupted gem.
Peridot's eyes widened in surprise. "H-hey! You're not supposed to be out in combat in your current state!?"
Greg, Steven, Connie, Lapis, and Opal saw this. Greg, Lapis, and Opal yelled for him to come back down. This almost made Opal unfuse.
Onyx grabbed on the fur of its neck, making the creature shake in panic. But Onyx held on tight even if the gem tried to shake him off.
He summoned his sword, then sighed. "I'm sorry." With that, he dug his sword deep into the corrupted gem's back, making it shriek, and poofed away, retreating to its gem.
Onyx, who was falling, tried to grab the gem in the air, making sure that it won't crack in the landing. He successfully grabs it, hugged it, then waited for the impact.
"Please let me land in the water." Onyx hopes as he clenched his eyes.
Unfortunately, he met with the surface, a real hard one too. He landed into the barn, breaking into the roof. He broke the wooden table he was using for his work.
His vision suddenly got dark, passing out with wood piercing his arms, legs, and his back.
"Onyx, wake up before Yellow diamond sees you being unpresentable."
Onyx groans in annoyance. "Who cares what she says? She's already killed me once, nothing she says can make me follow her orders."
"You are pathetic. Obsidian killed you, not superior Yellow diamond."
"Oh hush up Topaz. You don't know what I feel." Onyx walked to the controls of the ship.
Topaz chuckled. "Yeah, I don't know what you feel." He puts a hand on Onyx's shoulder, making him look back at him. "But if you keep being so uncooperative, we would ALL feel what you felt."
Onyx thought about that for a minute. His eyes fell in pity. He slowly shrugged Topaz's hand off his shoulder. "Then why don't you just shatter me now so you can have no more problems."
Topaz shrugged. "Hey, the only job I was assigned to is be the leader of this group, and to make sure that everyone stays alive."
"I work alone." Onyx slightly raised his voice.
"You WORKED alone." Topaz replied with the same tone.
Onyx completely turned around. "Well I didn't even want to join your team!"
"Well you should tell Obsidian that! Tell the guy who stole YOUR position!" Topaz yelled in anger.
Onyx's eye twitched, hearing the gem called Obsidian.
After Obsidian striked his gem in half, everything went nuts in his mind. Which made him despise Obsidian. He wanted to crush him.
Topaz sighed deeply, knowing that he took it too far. "I apologize for my unnecessary outburst. You just really get on my nerves sometimes."
Onyx crossed his arms as he looked down to his feet, not wanting to hear him out.
"Come on, Onyx. We're still acquaintances right?" Topaz held his hand out to him, waiting for Onyx to shake it.
Onyx stared at his hand. He sighs. He closes his hand to a fist which Topaz returned.
Topaz grew a smile on his face. "That's more like it."
Onyx just scoffed lightly, walking back to the controls.
Sitting down on the chair, he looked at his fist and smirked.
"Acquaintances..."
"Onyx!?" a panicked Pearl yelled for Onyx's name. Worry written all over her face.
Onyx groggily opened his eyes, feeling pain all over his body.
He sees Lapis, Steven, Amethyst, Connie, and Greg above him, looking down to him with relieved expressions.
"What happened?" Onyx groans as he sits up slowly.
"You went berserk on that thing man, full mental jacket." Amethyst chuckled.
Onyx remembered that he landed with the corrupted gem on the barn. He looked down to see a black pyramid gem on the ground.
He picked it up to analyze it. "Hm..."
Remembering the creature he had just fought moments ago really got to him. Being a corrupted gem must've been hard.
He knew that they lost their original forms, but their abilities as well? This got his mind overloaded which gave him a huge migraine.
Onyx exhaled sharply as he massaged his temple. "Ugh..." After a few seconds of silence, his head got back to normal, atleast for now. He looked at the others and just gave them a polite smile. "Thank you guys for worrying about me, but you can all get to your own businesses. Don't let me waste it."
Steven walked closer to him. "Are you sure you don't need our help?"
Onyx nodded. "Nah..." then something crossed his mind. He pulled a gift box from under a rubble of wood and hid it behind him. "Steven, guess what?"
Steven looked up at him with a curious face. "W-what is it?"
Onyx pulled the box from behind him and showed it to the boy. "Happy birthday."
Steven grew a huge smile on his face. "Aw I knew you wouldn't forget!" Steven took it from his hands but not too quickly, just to make sure that he wasn't looking like a total child.
Steven looked back at his father. Greg knew what that look was, he grinned and chuckled. "Go for it kiddo."
The hybrid tore the wrapping paper off the box to see it have a pink, brown, and white striped theme on it. Opening the box, he noticed that there was a piece of paper in it.
Flipping the paper on the other side, he read it out loud. "Dear Steven, I'm not gonna make this longer than it needs to be, but whenever I asked your dad what kind of snack you liked, and he said it didn't exist anymore, I knew that I had to get it. It wasn't easy, but here it is. A few packs of Cookie Cats, and the ingredients you need to make them. Happy Birthday Steven!"
By the end of the letter, Steven felt tears on the edges of his eyes. "C-Cookie cats!?" The hybrid looked at Onyx, then gave him a thankful hug. "Thanks Onyx, you're the best!"
Onyx felt flattered, he just ignored his big headache. "Don't mention it, Steven. It's your birthday after all."
Steven let go of Onyx and chuckled in delight. Onyx chuckled in response. "You can go have fun again." Onyx said to the birthday boy, then looked at Amethyst. "Amethyst, can you come with them just so nothing else bad happens?"
Amethyst nodded. "Sure, why not. Let's go guys!" Amethyst marches off outside the barn, Steven, Greg, and Connie followed.
Onyx sighs and slowly stands up. Pearl and Lapis just looked at him intently. Onyx looked back, noticing the attention he had. He gave them a tender smile. "Are you two doing okay?"
Pearl nodded while Lapis just kept on staring. "How did you get yourself to do that when you are feeling ill?" Pearl asks as she went to his side for support.
Onyx shrugs. "I couldn't keep watching you all have a hard time. It makes me feel even worse."
Pearl hid her blushing face, and so did Lapis. "Oh...you know that we can take care of ourselves. But you, you need your rest." The pale gem lead him outside, Lapis helped as she went to his other side.
Onyx just closed his eyes while they helped him get back to the house.
Garnet walked around the Galaxy warp. She was feeling that something was out of place on it.
She had been looking around for a few minutes, making sure that she hadn't miss a thing.
Then something caught her eye. Turning around, she walked towards a mysterious looking ball.
"Oh no..."
Garnet picked up the ball, knowing what it was, she threw it on the ground as it spilled out it juices.
"Peridots..."
Coming back to the house, Onyx, Pearl, and Lapis, settle down for a moment.
Peridot comes out of the bathroom with a furious face. "What was that?!"
Onyx looked at her, realizing that she was talking to him. "What was what?"
"You know that you weren't in shape for any kind of field work, but you left anyways? Why?!" Peridot asked, she sounded more worried than angry at this point.
Onyx slowly stood up and limped towards the green gem. Peridot felt her hands begin to sweat up a bit, and her heart race faster than before.
Onyx knelt down slowly, wincing a little as he felt his abdomen crunch up. "Peridot. Whenever you see your friends or family in trouble, and you know that they can't do anymore than defend themselves. You need to step in, and help them. They need you. Even though they don't say it, or they say that they don't need help, you still have to."
He puts a hand on her head and smiles at her. Peridot felt her face warm up. "Whatever the cost..." Onyx looked back at Pearl and Lapis.
They both stared at him. Eventually looking away in embarrassment.
Onyx chuckled, looked back at Peridot, then gave her a warm hug.
Peridot's eyes dilated in surprise by his actions. She squirmed around for awhile. But she finally gave in, standing still, she kind of liked the feeling of being hugged. And yet, she hated to admit it.
Onyx suddenly felt his head spin. What was making this worse? He kept asking himself, what was wrong with him.
He knew that part of him was getting broken down because of his pent up feelings. But not like this. Not as painful as it was now.
Peridot felt Onyx's heart beat faster, thinking nothing of it, she just continued to look down. She felt Onyx shift, then let go of her.
Pearl, Lapis, and Peridot watched Onyx limp towards the door.
But what they weren't expecting was him falling down.
As soon as Onyx hit the floor, the three ran to his aid, calling out his name to make sure he was alright.
Being a bounty hunter was a hard job for anyone. But with experience, you can probably be a pro at it.
And Onyx was one of them. The pros. The one who can get the job done.
And he knew that Yellow Diamond was just using him. She thought that she had already brainwashed him. But Onyx just acted through it.
Bounty hunting was more of a job to him. It was his ticket way out of Homeworld.
If Yellow Diamond ever sent him to another planet, far away from homeworld, he would take that chance to get off the grid for good.
But being a smart leader, Yellow Diamond didn't allow any Gems to access warp-pads except for high ranking Peridots. Which means most of the Peridots.
Just thinking about freedom made his hands go cold.
Walking into Yellow Diamond's room, he pulled out a box with a code in it. "Mission accomplished." Onyx muttered as he held out the box to his supposed superior.
Yellow Diamond looked back at her minion and smirked. "Job well done. Yet, I have another job for you."
Onyx set the box down on the floor and just listened.
Yellow Diamond commanded a Peridot to give him a hint on what his job was.
A hologram went up to show another superior he knew well. Blue Diamond.
"She's been hiding for a millennium. We theorized that she hid somewhere, on this planet." Yellow diamond pointed at a planet, just next to homeworld. It made Onyx's muscles tense up. This wasn't the time to run.
Not now.
Onyx slowly opened his eyes, trying not to overwork himself.
But the first person he saw made him feel better.
It was Lapis. She had her lap as his pillow. Looking down at him with a heart warming smile.
Onyx gave her a sweet smile, making her blush. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay I guess." He answered as he sat up slowly, just to be safe.
Lapis watched him sit up. She felt really bad for him. He was feeling really sick, and she didn't know what to do.
Onyx saw her face, knwoing what she was thinking. He gave her a light kiss on the lips, slightly surprising her.
Onyx pulled back and spoke, "Remember, you don't need to think about my sickness. I don't even know what is causing this. And I don't know how to fix it. So don't feel bad about not knowing on what to do to help me."
Lapis knew that her blush was getting darker and was spreading almost all over her face. She just gave him a shy smile, then gave him a quick kiss, so quick that Onyx missed it with a blink of an eye.
He loved seeing her like this. But at the same time, he felt really bad about making her so shy.
He made her look at him by her chin and sighed softly. "Don't do that."
Lapis felt a wave of nervousness in her body. "D-Do what?"
"Don't be so timid around us. I mean, it does make you look cuter than you already are. But we want to see your smile every time you're with us."
Lapis bit her tongue, trying not to scream happily. But she was squealing on the inside with happiness.
"I-I'll remember that..." She managed to mutter while looking at him with her head down.
Onyx gave her a warm hug that she gradually returned. "So, where are the others?" Onyx asks, still embracing the ocean gem.
"Garnet took Pearl and Amethyst with her to a mission. Even though Pearl wanted to watch you, she was forced to come with since Garnet said that it was urgent." Lapis answered his question. "So, Garnet assigned me, and Peridot to watch you instead."
Onyx lifts his head and faces her. "Then where is Peridot?"
"She went with Steven. They said that they were still celebrating his birthday. They wanted me to come, but..." She paused looking away from his eyes.
"But you didn't want to leave me alone while I'm sick?" Onyx answered for her.
Lapis quickly looked back into his eyes. She slightly nods her head, knowing that he was right.
"That's sweet of you, Lapis. But you should've just went with them. Steven would've probably been grateful for it." said Onyx.
Lapis felt her world crumble down. She completely forgot about Steven. She was thinking too much of Onyx that she forgot about the birthday boy. "I-I..." She felt her eyes start to get wet from embarrassment.
Onyx lost his smile when he saw this. He quickly held her hands, regretting what he just said. "I-I mean, I didn't mean it like that! I was saying that...um..." He stuttered as got tongue tied as he looked at the weeping gem.
Finally, he sighed. "Look, Lapis. What I meant was, you don't need to be here for me. I'm saying that I'm not gonna think less of you, even though you have fun with the others. Because that's what I want you to do right now, is to have fun!" He gave her a small smile. She kept staring at him for a few seconds, but then finally wiped her tears away and smiled.
"Okay..." The Ocean gem stood up from the couch, ran towards the door and opened it. She looked back at Onyx. He just laid there, giving her a smile.
Lapis walked back to him, lowered her head to kiss his forehead, then ran back outside, summoning her wings, then flying off.
Onyx limped towards the doorway, watching her fly away towards town.
He sighs, then walks out of the house, heading back to the barn.
Peridot sat in the corner of the bathroom. Where she usually sits whenever she mopes, and gets mad.
But this time, it was different. She couldn't forget what Onyx said to him.
She didn't know why whenever he says something to her, she can almost never forget. Was it some kind of message?
She snorted in a laugh. "No, that can't be right. I'm thinking into it too much."
Then she remembered the hug. The reason why she didn't say anything after the hug, was how it felt.
It wasn't like the first time he did it back in the motel. Back then, he was hurt, he was confused and sad. But now...she kind of felt like he was planning something. Something she didn't know. And she was guessing that no one knew but him.
But that was only her. Criticism was one of Peridot's problems.
She sighs and stands up. She walks to the door, opens it, then notices that no one was there. Not even Onyx, nor Lapis. Who were supposed to stay there.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Her face turned into annoyance as she pinched the sides of her nose.
Seeing that the front door was open, she walked towards it. She then saw Onyx limping away from the house.
She was about to call out his name, but she urged herself not to.
She felt suspicious.
Where was Lapis?
What is so important to him that can make him ignore that he was ill?
She needed answers. And she was gonna get them.
Peridot followed Onyx towards to where be was going. But she had a good idea on where he was going, just by the direction he was heading in.
After a few miles away from home. Peridot knew that he was heading for the barn. But why?
Onyx just kept walking, but stopped for a moment. Peridot felt her heart race. She knew that he was gonna turn around, so she hid behind a tree right next to her.
She held her breathe as she knew that she was breathing louder and rapidly. After a few seconds, she didn't feel his gaze anymore.
So she poked her head out to see that if he was still there. To her surprise, he wasn't. Making her feel scared of what was about to happen.
She walked away from the tree and went closer to the barn doors. She saw Onyx looking at the drill.
He checked every single things there was to it. The wheels, nuts and bolts, the way it was shaped, and he knocked on it making sure it was capable of digging.
Peridot felt stupid. Onyx was just checking the drill out to make sure it was safe.
But he did something out of the ordinary.
Onyx pulled something out of his pocket then stuck it somewhere inside the drill. He then got off of it and made sure everything was still good.
Peridot didn't believe what she was seeing. She took a few steps back, then tried to run away from the barn. But she was blocked by someone.
She looked up to see Nyx. Peridot never felt so afraid.
Nyx picked her up from her suit and brought her inside the barn.
"Hey, let me go!" Peridot yelled as she tried to squirm out of his grip.
"Hey, Onyx. Peridot finally caught on to us." Nyx said as he dropped Peridot on the ground.
Peridot felt slight pain from the fall, making her mad. She raised her fist at Nyx and yelled at him. "You could've held me in a much more careful way you clod!"
Nyx just looked at her, then snubbed her, walking away from the small gem, he was very uninterested in her complaints.
Onyx jumped down from the drill and walked towards Peridot. Peridot gulped in nervousness. She crawled a few inches away from him, but stopped when he saw his face.
His face was a bit serious. It was the face of a person who was looking at another who had betrayed him.
"What?!" Peridot let out feeling intimidated by his glare.
"I never expected that you'd be the first one to find out." Onyx said as he gave her his hand to let her stand.
Peridot went to grab his hand, but hesitated for a second. Then she finally decided to grab it. She then stood up, wiped dirt off of her suit, then crossed her arms and gave Onyx a look that clearly read 'I-need-answers'. "So, what is this all about?" She asks.
Onyx gave her the smallest smile she had ever seen, then walked back to the drill. "Peridot. Remember what I told you last time?"
"What? The one about helping your family?" Peridot replies.
Onyx nodded. "Yes. That's what I'm pretty much doing."
"But why not just tell them? They are your family right?" said Peridot.
Onyx grew his smile wider. "What? I'm pretty sure I'm hearing that wrong."
"What do you mean?"
Onyx turned to face her. "Peridot, you said 'they' and not 'we'. Aren't you a part of this family too?"
Peridot felt her cheeks heat up, she then looked away from him trying to hide it.
Onyx sighed heavily. "Peridot. You can't keep acting like you don't want to be a part of our family."
Peridot growled inward. "You're right..."
Onyx's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow, I didn't expect you to give in so easily. Oh, wow. This is...very unexpected of you, Peridot."
Nyx suddenly comes back in the barn. "Not sure if you know, but the others are back." He then shifts back into Onyx.
Onyx felt his body go cold. If they saw him in there while he was sick, they would really act suspicious. But he had nowhere to go but shapeshift, but they would hear it and Peridot was with him.
"Onyx?"
Onyx snapped out of his own thoughts by the voice of Pearl. She was with Garnet, and Amethyst.
"H-Hi..." Onyx awkwardly replied, raising his hand.
Pearl quickly ran to his side. "What're you two doing in here?" Pearl asked Peridot and Onyx, with a slight panicked tone.
"I-I...W-We were just-..." Onyx felt really tongue tied. He didn't know what excuse he was gonna use this time. He was doomed.
"Onyx asked me if he could see what the drill's conditions were, so I took him here to show him." Peridot said with her eyes closed and her arms still closed. She looked up Onyx, he looked back at her giving her a thankful smile.
Peridot felt her mouth tug into a smile.
"Well, alright. But you all need to come back. Steven and the others are waiting for us back in the house." Pearl said as she grabbed Onyx's arm, pulling him out of the barn.
"Woah, what's up with the atmosphere here? You all seem like you are getting ready for something big." Onyx said.
Amethyst sighed. "Cause we are..."
Onyx looked at her with confusion. This got Peridot's attention as well. "W-what?"
Garnet stepped up to them. She fixed her glasses, and gave them a straight answer.
"Tomorrow, we're gonna get rid of, The Cluster."
Hey, everyone!
I'm back! This is me talking to the 20 people who actually read this. :D
It's really hard to get someone's attention. But I really don't mind that.
And I just wanna say that I thank fellow author, Frostylicious, for being there when I was on my 'break'. Everyone needs someone to talk to sometimes, or every time. I don't know. :P
So yeah, if no one knew, I'm a fan of Jamzuli, as said by Frosty. So you'll be seeing me doing some of those stories as well!
That's about it I guess.
You all have a great night/day!
And, yes, I have changed some of the Chapters titles, and plots.