After an hour or so, the gems left . It looked like some corrupted gems had been spotted somewhere . As soon as they disappeared in a wave of light, a particular thought hit Steven's mind monopolizing it : Centipeetle .
" What if she already woke up and is all alone ... with Lion ? Oh no , she must be soo scared ..."
He hadn't thought about this particular inconvenient . Imagining all the unfortunate scenario the lost gems could have been going through wasn't exactly helpful , so without hesitation the child ran away , mentally listing the things that could have been useful , especially stuff that could have helped his friends to remember . In few minutes everything had been stored into his beloved cheeseburger backpack and soon , Steven appeared on the front door carrying a confident look in his face and already planning his conversation with Centipeetle .
Hum, how could he start ? A part of him wanted to directly hug his friend and tell her how much he had missed her but ... Wouldn't that have scared her ? Well, he could always have a good idea during the way ...
The last consideration awoke in him awareness for a small detail ...
Lion wasn't there .
The child gasped , when the truth hit him with all his strength .
" What I'll do now ? I don't even know where the cave is ! It was too dark! " Steven almost screamed in frustration . "Why didn't I ask to Lion to come back in the morning ?"
,,,,,,
To Steven's luck Lion was a smart animal .
When he saw that the fragile gems had opened the eyes , the feline growled and a portal appeared in front of him, with a jump he was on the other side .
His small owner fell on the ground taken by surprise . The kid looked up at the pink creature as a giant smile slowly appeared on his face. " Lion , I 'm so happy to see you! Can you bring be there again ?" Steven asked petting the feline's back. Lion blinked and turned toward the still opened portal .
" Is she on the other side ?"
A deep look was his only answer . The child shrugged and crossed it. He immediately recognized the cave . If in is imagination he had ran without hesitation to embrace his old friend, now Steven couldn't help but stand still , too tense too move. " What if she don't remember anything ?"
As a rushing river all the memories of Lapis reached him. He remembered how the Crystal Gems had attacked her , and of the blue gem, that had always considered a friend , had ended up stealing the entire ocean and had almost drowned the all .
" This time nothing bad will happen." Steven told to himself as he started walking .
The child saw someone standing on the background .
" Centipeetle ? "
"""""""
She closed her eyes trying to recall something, but everything was gone.
Who was her ? why was she there ? Why was everything gone ?
Nothing, her memory was just an obscure hole, filled with darkness and new questions ,But no answers .
A sudden sound distracted her from her sorrow . Even if her eyes were tired and her sight hadn't totally cleared yet , the forgotten gem could see a silhouette in distance .
She didn't move , not having the strength or the will to do so . Slowly the incoming stranger gained a clear shape : Dark hair, rather short , chubby and a reassuring smile, no weapons . Maybe they were there to help ... A faint hope filled her .
" Centipeetle ?"
The meaning of the word was obscure to her, so why did it sound so familiar ? Was it the name of someone she knew?
The gem looked up, meeting the other gaze .
" Who ... Who are you ?"
The words came out in a whisper and for some reason, this awoke a curious reaction to the stranger . A shadow of sadness crossed his eyes for a moment , but it soon disappeared as he tried to smile again.
" I'm ... I'm Steven. Do you .."
He stopped in the middle of the sentence and looked down , the shadow reappearing . Why did he sound so sad ? A sudden worry crossed her still confused mind: did something of bad happen ? The echo of crush , coming from the darkest deep of her memory ,reached her along with a scream. The gem tried to recall the exact sound of the scream but failed.
" What happened ?Why ..I'm here ?"
She feared the answer, and it looked like he felt the same way.
" We were friend." The small one said , before quickly adding " ... But you weren't exactly like this ."
The gem opened more her eyes, that were of a wonderful shade of green and sent a rather confused look to het interlocutor .
" You were .. How can I explain ? A monster ? But you weren't evil you were just ... a bit weird looking? Yes, you had many legs, and were smaller and ..."
He sounded very confused, but she understood what it meant . A monster? Her gem must have cracked !
" Was I corrupted ?" She spelled out quickly.
" yes..." Steven looked to the ground .
" Why did that happened were we attacked ? Who are we ?"
This time he hesitated . " I don't know , when I found you, you were already that way... But we became friends ! And then You got hit, by a rock ... so I had to bring you back..."
Tears were crossing the gem's cheeks.
" So you saved me ..."
Her name was still a mystery but she had found something of more relevant. The accident was still shady but it was starting to clear up .
" ...Steven ?"
The name he had called it was starting to make sense ...
" Centipeetle was my name , isn't it?"
Author's note : I'd like to thank everyone who faved this story or posted a review , I can't explain how happy I'm seeing you're enjoying my story .
Update might get slower thanks to some incoming exams but I should be able to find some time to continue . My only worry for now is to find a new Beta reader, usually I have a friend who read my story before I publicize them, but she isn't very practical with English , so she can't help me with my non –Italian works .
If you're interested let me know, I'd appreciate this a lot