"Have you ever felt so sick, that you really needed to get away from it all?"

"Onyx, we're Gems. We can't get sick."

Onyx chuckles. "I meant mentally, Garnet. Have you ever felt that way?"

"Ruby has." Garnet answered as they continued their trek back to Beach City, having just finished their mission for the day.

"Speaking of which; being a fusion, do you have separate feelings, or just one while...you. Because I never really knew the explanation of fusion back then." Onyx asked her.

Garnet thought about it for a second. "Well, it's just one me. Ruby, and Sapphire are the ones who make me. But whenever the two have major differences at one time, they get pulled apart from the unbalanced feelings." The fusion explained to her friend.

"Oh...that makes...no sense to me at all." Onyx said with a confused tone in his voice.

Garnet gave him a slight chortle. "You'll understand whenever you fuse."

They continued walking beside the road. Walking along grassy field made them feel like they'd been walking for weeks.

Then a question popped in Onyx's head. As much as he wanted to not ask it, he did anyways.

"Why do we follow orders?"

Garnet looked at him without stopping moving forward. "What was that?"

"I mean, why do we need to follow orders?" Onyx asked again.

"Obviously, in Rose's case, she wants us to follow her because that's what keeps us safe."

"Safe? Safe?! What if she ordered you to, oh I don't know, buy me some time, and then you end up being shattered.? Is that what you call "Safe" these days?" Onyx retorted.

But Garent just stayed calm. "Rose wouldn't do that..." She said bluntly.

Onyx wanted to poke his own eyes out. "Would she? I mean, come on, Rose clearly doesn't trust me, just because I came from homeworld!"

"I was from homeworld too, Onyx. And so was Pearl. And Rose doesn't seem to hate us."

"But she met you two IN homeworld. She never met me there. That's why she doesn't trust my answers. She only wanted me to stay for Amethyst's sake."

"Onyx..."

"Only if Amethyst hated me, Rose would've totally disposed of me or even shatter me."

"Onyx!"

"I know you would follow her orders to shatter me!"

Both fell silent. Onyx felt his breathing go faster. But he cooled down after a few seconds.

The two just stood there in silence, in the middle of nowhere.

"Yes, I would shatter you if I was ordered to."

Onyx looked at her, with a hurt look on his face, he then looked at the grass swaying along his feet.

"But that would only happen if you were an enemy."

Onyx gave her a half eye closed look. "Who's to say I'm not?"

Garnet put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him. "Me."

"Onyx, you're not an enemy. I know what a friend looks like with these eyes."

Onyx kept his stubborn face while looking down. But smiled anyways. "I hate to say it, but you're right."

The fusion huffed with pride, then continued walking. "Come on. The others must probably think we've been killed already."

Onyx followed with a grin on his face.

"Hey, are you still with us?"

Onyx opened his eyes, seeing Amethyst sitting down right next to him. He smiles. "Yeah, just thinking."

"Man, you gotta stop thinking so deeply into everything. Loosen up a bit, save everything for tomorrow." Amethyst told him as she relaxed on the couch, hands on the back of her head, fett on the coffee table.

"I don't know, Amethyst. There's no day without me thinking." Onyx said.

Amethyst scoffed. "That's called being tense."

Onyx rolled back his eyes. "I think it's called over thinking."

"Well, that may be the cause of your sickness. You need to chill for atleast a few hours."

Onyx put his hands on his face. "How can I do that when we are about to get rid of the cluster? Won't that stress you out?"

Amethyst opened her eyes, she then realized how much work they were gonna put into that thing. "Ugh, you're right. I guess we can't chill today." She said, carefree in her voice.

Pearl walked to them and saw Amethyst's position. "Amethyst, keep your feet off of the table please."

Amethyst scoffed, rolling her eyes back. "Whatever." The purple gem walked away from the two, going in her room.

Pearl shook her head. "So unpleasant." She muttered. She then looked at Onyx, who seemed very unfocused.

"Is there something wrong, Onyx?"

Said gem sighs in frustration. "Well, I gotta confess. There is something wrong."

Pearl sits down next to him. "What is it?"

Onyx was about to say it. But he felt himself pulling his words back. "I-..." He just couldn't do it.

If he told them his plan, they would probably not let him in the fight anymore. And if he were to tell them what he has been doing secretly... Something worse would happen. Alot worse.

"Nevermind..." Onyx sighed. Pulling back the urge to tell her his intentions.

Pearl gave him a confused look. "O-okay?..."

Onyx stood up without a word, then walked towards the door. "Where are you going?" Pearl asked as she stood up.

"Pearl, I need air. Can you give me some time to be alone for awhile?" Onyx told her with no emotion in his voice. Which surprised Pearl.

"A-Alright...make sure to come back early. You know that you're still not feeling well." She reminded him, he smiled in reply, then walked out of the house.

Pearl couldn't stop thinking of following him, but she respected him and his time alone.

"Ehem."

Pearl looked back to see Garnet, Amethyst, Steven, Lapis, and Peridot.

"I know you want to follow him, Pearl." Garnet said knowing what Pearl was thinking.

Pearl sighed in defeat. "I know, its just that-" she was cut off by Garnet.

"Let's follow him then."

Pearl had a shocked expression in her face. "What?!" Pearl then noticed that, Steven, Amethyst, and Lapis had regret on their faces. Even though they didn't want to, Garnet was right. There was something wrong with Onyx that they don't know about.

Peridot seemed irritated about the fusions decision as well.

"Come on, Garnet. Let Onyx have his space." Steven told the fusion.

Garnet shook her head. "As much as I want to, he just seemed really suspicious. We just go and see him and check if he's alright."

Amethyst scoffed. "When you put it that way, it sounds really great. But that's not what we're doing huh?" She didn't even dare to give Garnet a look.

"Gem, as much as you have the idea, we have to do it. And I'm pretty sure Onyx won't be doing anything we don't like." Garnet grew a smile on her face.

This gave it a little more spirit. "You're right. He wouldn't turn on us right? If there would be anyone who would, it would be Peridot or Lapis." Amethyst laughed.

Peridot growled. "Hey!"

Lapis knew this wasn't a good idea. But she knew that Onyx wouldn't do anything like that...would he?

"Alright Gems, let's move." Garnet said as she led them towards the barn.

Onyx sat on a stool, working on his arm.

"You know that they'll learn sooner or later."

"I know, Nyx. You don't need to tell me twice."

"I'm just saying. It's better to tell them personally than them finding out and getting the wrong idea."

"Knowing them, they'd never forgive me for keeping this from them."

"Except for, Peridot. She knows what you're up to. She just looks scared to say it...or she has something-..."

Onyx's eyes widened. "Planned..." Peridot was planning something. He knew what she was gonna do, but he would be there to stop it.

He then heard the barn door open. He felt his spine go cold. "What?! They shouldn't be here!" He said to himself silently.

The Crystal Gems opened the barn door and saw that Onyx was casually fixing his metal arm.

He looked at them. "Hey, what're you guys doing here?" The dark gem asks.

Amethyst and Steven sighed as they saw that he wasn't doing anything suspicious enough to be called a plan of betrayal.

Garnet looked at his eyes, then fixed her glasses. "Nothing, just gonna check the drill if everything is in order." The fusion walked toward the drill.

Onyx felt his insides constrict. "O-Okay?"

Steven walked towards Onyx and looked at his arm. "I never bothered to ask on how does it feel to have an arm like that?"

Onyx couldn't stop thinking if he wanted to look at what Garnet was checking, because he knew that she was suspicious of him. "W-Well, you see, Steven. Having this kind of arm is pretty hard to live with." He caught a glimpse of Garnet sit on a small turbine. Because if that, he felt really nervous.

He had most of his stuff hidden inside that turbine, and she was sitting on it.

"So, if I had an arm like yours, would it hurt since I'm human?" Steven asked.

Amethyst, Pearl, Lapis, and Peridot just stood still, watching Garnet's actions.

"Uhm...I guess?"

Garnet continued to look at Onyx's back. She then felt a small lump under her foot. Looking down, she saw a white fabric, but it didn't look like normal fabric. She pulled it away from under the turbine, ripping it off.

Pearl walked towards Garnet, she looked at the strange but very familiar fabric. "This looks like...neoprene-coated nylon..." Pearl muttered.

Garnet looked at her friend. "Didn't you use every single one you got from Amethyst's room?"

"I did, since none of the stores had them..." Pearl figured it out. "If they're here..."

Garnet continued. "And the store owners said that they were out of stock because of a person with a robe."

The two looked at Onyx.

Onyx felt their gazes on his back. "You've been caught." Onyx heard Nyx inside his head. Onyx bit his tongue.

Garnet kicked the turbine away as it showed a bunch of stuff under it. Steven looked at the items. "What are those?"

Pearl had her hands on her mouth while Garnet had a face of anger. "Onyx, what are these?!"

Steven looked at Onyx, fear written all over his face. "Onyx...are you-...?"

"Garnet, its not what it looks like!" Onyx tried to explain. But being the rough tmgen she was, Garnet cut him off.

"I don't want to hear anymore lies. I didn't want to believe it, but it looks like you are doing something else for another superior."

"What?! I wouldn't work for Yellow diamond, Garnet, are you crazy?! I destroyed their ships for a reason!"

"I didn't say that it was Yellow diamond. How do we know if you work for White diamond or Blue Diamond?!' Garnet argued. She seemed like she was about to explode and give Onyx a gift on his face.

"Blue diamond has been missing for a long time now, Garnet!"

"Then what about White diamond?" Pearl asked. This shook Onyx's world. It was a little bit okay when it was only Garnet, but Pearl too?

"Well-...I..." Onyx was left speechless. He couldn't really disagree with that. Because part of him was, White Diamond.

Garnet then summoned her gauntlets. "If you won't confess, then this won't matter." She raised her fists and was about to crush his creations, but Onyx was quick enough to snatch them away from where her fists ended.

The three outside came in and held Garnet down to calm her. "Garnet, calm down!" Amethyst said as she held her arm.

Garnet growled and walked towards a downwd Onyx. Onyx kept his stuff inside a small satchel he found. He then looked at Garnet. "Garnet, you don't understand!"

"What don't I understand?! You lying about everything you've said?!" Garnet knew that something was wrong with her as well. Ruby was completely in control.

That was it. Onyx knitted his eyebrows in anger. "I didn't lie about anything! I never lied about what I felt towards you guys." He said to Garnet. Then he dropped the bomb. "I was right, you three never changed. You still don't care whether Rose is here or not, you still praise her as if she's still here!"

Pearl felt tears come out of her eyes. She hasn't heard Onyx's venomous voice since the time he fought Rose, and left them.

"Why don't you just accept that she's gone?! Steven is here! He's supposed to be your top priority!"

Onyx was then met by a stinging slap across his face.

Steven, Amethyst, Peridot, and Lapis got really shocked.

For it wasn't Garnet, but it was Pearl who did it. And she quickly regretted it.

Onyx felt his heart sink. He felt his breathing stop, his throat close up like he wasn't in need of air anymore.

"Y-You hit me..."

Pearl couldn't say anything. She felt words were nothing to him anymore because of her action.

Onyx removed his hand from his face and looked at them with cold eyes. "I get it."

Steven never heard his voice so cold. It was like talking to a soulless person. "You all think that I never cared huh?"

Onyx exhaled sharply. "Hmph, can't blame you there. I'm not really the one who can be trusted, because I'm from homeworld right?" He said as he walked away from them, going outside the barn. He stopped for a second, but continued to walk away from the barn, going wherever his feet take him.

Steven had just experienced something he never thought would've happened. He just witnessed his family fall out.

It was already sun-set.

Greg was just laying down in the back of his van, just outside the Cars Wash, as usual.

He was in deep thought about his son digging under the earth to stop an enormous, and dangerous creature. But he knew the Gems had him in great hands.

He then received a knock on the backdoor of his van. He sat up to see Onyx's face on the window.

Opening the door, he saw that his face had a mark on it, and he was holding a satchel.

"Woah, what happened to your face? Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for tomorrow?" Greg asked.

Onyx sighed. "May I?" Onyx motioned for him to sit down with him.

Greg moved away from the entrance and sat down inside. Onyx sat on the edge of the van.

"Man, you look like you got hit by a train. Why are you so down all of a sudden?"

"It finally happened, Greg." Onyx answered him, looking down.

Greg got a little confused. "What happened?"

Onyx rested his head on the van wall and closed his eyes. "The Gems hate me now. They discovered that I was working in something else behind their backs."

Greg felt a little nervous after he said that. "W-What?!"

Onyx saw thebpanick in his face. "N-No! I'm not an enemy, okay?"

Greg relaxed. "Oh, good. I thought that you'd turn on your best friend."

Onyx chuckled. "Never..."

"So, what else happened?"

Sighing once more, Onyx continues, "well, let's just say that I've been working in something that might make them really mad at me. But that's the only reason why I'm doing it."

Greg just remembered. "Huh...well, Onyx. This may or may not be fixed, but in all honesty, Steven will do something about it."

Onyx grinned. "Yeah, he always does. I've noticed that he got taller."

"I know right? He's growing so fast."

Silence came to the two. Noticing that it was getting dark, Greg stood up and got out of the van to turn on the Car Wash lights on. He then came back with two guitars.

He handed Onyx one. "Still remember how to use one?"

Onyx smiled and grabbed it. "Of course I do."

Greg went in the van and sat down. "The last time I remember us doing this is after we spoke drinks out of three vending machines."

"It was our celebration of not getting caught." Onyx added.

"Yeah. But now, we gotta do one more just before you go to defeat that cluster thing." Greg said as he pulled a keyboard over to him and pressed buttons to make a beat.

Onyx looked down. "Yeah...tomorrow."

After a few seconds. Greg finally made one. "Alright, I'm not really in the mood of singing right now, but you can handle that."

Onyx nodded, then started strumming, syncing with the beat.

Watching what he was doing, Greg finally followed how Onyx played so he played with.

All of my life I built this armor
And every disguise I ever wore
Ashes and dust
I made an island
Facing the end
I said, "What for?"

Sometimes it's a battle
At times it's a war
But you're never defenseless

Sometimes we all lose strength
Please don't lose your faith

After my time has passed
I'm like light through stained glass
I go on and on and on
In the end I will be gone

Greg looked at Onyx. He took every single word to note in his mind. It sounded...sad.

Out of the skies I shaped the silence
And from the earth I carved these walls
A piece of the world was only mine
And then they said they wanted war

At the edge of the blackness
When you're stretched to the core
Catch hold of the madness

Sometimes we all lose strength
Please don't lose your faith in me

After my time has passed
I'm like light through stained glass
I go on and on and on
In the end I will be gone
I will be yours to trust
This is not the last of us
I go on and on and on
In the end I will be gone
Or erased

Please don't lose your faith
Please don't lose your faith
In me
In me

After the song ended, Onyx put down the guitar and sighed. Greg looked at him sadly.

He couldn't think of how much trouble he was going through right now.

Unbeknownst to them, there was another gem who had been listening to them since Onyx got there.

It was Peridot.

She held her chest tightly, hearing how much pain there was in Onyx's voice.

She sighs and walks away from the van, and headed back to the temple.

Morning came around, and the Crystal Gems were all suited up for their battle. But Onyx wasn't seen anywhere.

Steven began to worry that the fight they had yesterday got to his head and decided...

"No, he wouldn't just ditch us...would he?" Steven thought to himself.

Pearl and Garnet worked some extra adjustments to the drill, making sure everything was in order. Sure enough, they come back to the others and sighed. Pearl was the first one to speak. "Well, now that we have everything ready, we just need everyone to be ready as well."

Pearl then noticed the absence of a certain dark gem. "Um, has anyone seen Onyx this morning?"

"I haven't, since we drove him away." Amethyst said bitterly.

Garnet cleared her throat. "We just need to leave without him."

"What?" Steven gasped at the fusions decision. "But we need him."

"We don't. The faster we do this, the better." Garnet shit back, turning her back on the hybrid.

Then Peridot fired back. "We wouldn't last a couple of minutes in there without Onyx!"

Garnet looked at the small gem and gave her a straight, dull answer. "Yes we would."

"No we wouldn't! He is the strongest out of all of us! He was made to destroy!" Peridot replied.

"And that's why we don't need him, because he might destroy us as well."

"Are you crazy?! I did not build this drill, just to die! I built it because I knew that there was someone who could handle the job for us!" Peridot started to pick her voice up.

"We can fight!" Garnet started to loss her temper.

Peridot grinded her teeth together and growled. "Fine! Then you'll be short of a pilot!" She said as she walked away from them.

Garnet quickly grabbed Peridot by her torso and walked towards the drill. "Hey! Get your touch-stumps off of me you war machine!" She yelled but to little avail.

The others watched as the two basically go at each others throats and see who had the louder voice.

Steven spoke up. "Maybe, Peridot is right. Don't we need Onyx?" Steven asked Pearl who was right beside him, watching Garnet and Peridot.

"I don't know, Steven. All that matters is, we need to follow Garnet." Pearl said sadly.

But to Steven, it sounded like she had given up on Onyx. He then looked at Lapis, who looked really depressed. And Amethyst looked irritated.

After Garnet finally got Peridot to her seat, she sits on her seat and calls for the others. "All of you, let's get to work!"

The Crystal Gems, and homeworld Gems began the position their selves inside the drill. It was a pretty small drill for them, but it had enough space for all of them, since Onyx wasn't there.

"Alright Gems. Let's go and defeat this cluster."

The Gems began digging, towards to their victory...or demise.

After a few minutes in. Steven felt hot inside his suit. He fanned himself with his hand, even though it wasn't working. "Hey, guys? Is it me, or is it getting really hot in here?"

"Steven, don't move too much inside the drill. You'll end up using what's left of the oxygen inside your suit and the drill. Which you need to breath." Pearl examined to him, making him nervous.

"What?!" Steven sat still on his chair, not making any movements and breathed fairly.

"Yeah dude. Try and chill." Amethyst told him like everything was okay.

Steven then looked at Lapis. She kept looking at her feet, and she never spoke since the feud.

The hybrid didn't really want to talk that much, hearing that he may use up his oxygen and...die.

The violent vibrating of the drill stopped as they came to their destination.

"We're here." Peridot announced as they looked out the window to see their worst nightmare.

"W-What is that?" Pearl asked the obvious, but she really couldn't believe it.

"That's the cluster." Peridot said with a bit of fear in her voice. The cluster was a massive gem fusion that consisted thousands of gem shards. It had arms, eyes, and mouths, which made the Gems shiver.

Garnet nodded. "Okay Gems. If we're planning to take this thing out. We need to plant those bombs silently, or else we might wake it up and attack us."

Steven swallowed a huge lump. "Where do we get the bombs?" He asks.

"Pearl and Peridot made some and they have a timed detonator. So when we have the chance to leave, we should do it fast." Garnet explained. "So, let's split up into groups to plant every single one of them."

Pearl and Peridot began to distribute the bombs and got into groups. Amethyst was with Steven, Pearl was with Peridot,, and Garnet was with Lapis.

Peridot went in the drill to get the detonator, and a remote control. She sighed and kept the controller to herself, small enough to be kept in her hair. She then came back to Garnet and gave her the detonator.

"Okay gems, make sure you do it quietly." Garnet reminded them as they dispersed.

Garnet had no trouble, she had Lapis with her and they stuck some bombs on the massive cluster, clearly looking undisturbed.

Lapis just did what she could, since there was no water, she was trying to be very light on her feet. But she still couldn't stop thinking about Onyx. He never left her mind after that fight.

Was he really siding with Homeworld all along? Siding with the notorious, and anonymous White Diamond?

She laughed inside her head. She would be crazy to think of him that way...was it?

She then felt a tap on the shoulder, she looked behind her to see Garnet motioning for her to follow her, knowing that they did their part.

On with another team. Pearl and Peridot did their best to do it quickly and quietly. Peridot had no problem since she was very light in her feet herself.

And neither did Pearl. She knew how to balance on her toes like it was no ones business.

Peridot couldn't help but look at Pearl's expression. She had a blank one at the time. But she knew that she was thinking of him. Peridot was thinking of the same gem.

Was he really bad?

Finishing up, the two came back to the drill, seeing two other gems standing there.

Last ones were Amethyst, and Steven.

Amethyst just wanted everything done with. Knowing that when they come back home, everyone would still be on Onyx's throat.

Steven had the same thought, but his was a little too deep. So deep he didn't even know what he was doing.

"Pst...Steven, come on!" Amethyst whispered to him.

Steven snapped out of his own thoughts and stuck his last bomb onto the cluster.

A loud growl boomed, followed by an earthquake. Steven looked back at the place he put the bomb on.

He was met by a big eyeball staring back at him.

The clusters arms wavered around, trying to hit Steven.

Steven, who was completely fearing for his own life, covered his eyes, just to get dragged out of there by Amethyst.

The others just started to panic, waiting for the last two.

Finally seeing them, Garnet extended her arms to grab them, she successfully did, just in time as the ground crumbled away, showing magma below.

"Everyone in, now!" Garnet said, shoving Amethyst and Steven inside the drill.

Lapis, Pearl, and Garnet entered as well, preparing for their way back.

But they noticed Peridot just standing outside the drill, the ground crumbling down closer to where she was standing.

"Peridot, what are you doing, come on!" Steven yelled at her friend, tearing up for what she was doing.

Peridot shook her head. "No, Steven."

This shocked all of them. Including Garnet. "I've had my fair share of life with you...Crystal Gems. It was an experience, I'll never forget." The ground crumbled below her, making her fall to her doom.

"NO!" They all screamed simultaneously. They then caught a glimpse of a figure jump down into the magma.

Peridot had her eyes closed, she felt rocks falling on her face, the intense heat the was coming from the magma...and a hand in her leg.

She opened her eyes back to see that she wasn't falling anymore. She looked up at who was holding her. It was Onyx.

He had his sword in the rocky wall while holding her. And he still wore that smile on his face, after all that happened.

"Peridot, I have to say, you are improving your family skills." Onyx commented.

"Onyx?! You're not supposed to be here!" Peridot yelled.

"Well, I am, so deal with it." He said, throwing Peridot up into the drill. Steven grabbed her and hugged her. "What were you thinking?!"

Onyx got up from the hole and looked at the others. "Oh don't look at me like that, you knew it was coming."

Garnet's eyes widened. "Watch out!"

Onyx looked back to see a giant hand a mere inches away from him.

The hand grabbed him, trying to bring him down with the cluster into the magma.

"Gah, didn't see that coming!" Onyx joked as he managed to get something out of his satchel. It was a crystal ball. He threw it into the drill, making it explode inside, warping the Gems back on the surface while he got dragged down with the cluster into the magma.

The Gems warp back into the temple, their faces full of dread.

They then felt an earthquake, they knew what caused it. The gems all looked at each other, knowing what had happened to the cluster, and their friend.

That's it for this one.

Thus chapter took me awhile to think off, because killing off ones OC is a bit hard to interpret.

Anyways, hope you all liked it, and leave a review to show me your love :3 (You don't need to. If you don't want to.)

Again, my update schedule will be a bit screwed over since a new year means there are alot of things to take care of.

Sorry for my delay.

Luv u peeps. :V