He was fighting Lapis Lazuli this entire time? He would have never guessed that it was her this entire time. He stared at the blue gem in front of him before Amethyst tapped his shoulder, turning around he stared at her questioningly. "It's time to go, bud. We have twenty minutes until we have to be at the house. We don't want Rose and Pearl freaking out if you're late." He nodded then looked at Lapis who was quiet, he hasn't heard her speak since fight.
"Do you still live at the barn?" He asked her and she nodded, "I'mma come by tomorrow then. I haven't been there in awhile." It seems like she doesn't talk much in this world, she nodded once again. Steven watched as she took off the gray hoodie to reveal herself in only a light blue sports bra, his cheeks turned red and quickly turned away. When he looked back, Lapis was in the hair with her water wings extended. She flew off after a minute he looked back down at Amethyst, "How are we supposed to get back?"
Amethyst got a mischievous look on her face, he watched as she looked over at Greg's van. "That's how. Come on, Steven." She grabbed his hand and pulled in towards the van. Amethyst got into the driver's seat while he sat in the passenger's seat, her feet couldn't even touch the pedals. "Oh, shit." She shrugged and a bright light formed, when it dimmed she had shape shifted. She was now taller than she was before so she was able to reach the pedals. "Now it's just managing to learn how to drive this thing." This wasn't going to end well for us. Steven thought as he made sure his seat belt was tight around him.
Another few minutes went by the clock was ticking down. He didn't know how much time he had left until he had to be home. He didn't want to get into any more trouble than he already was when they see how badly bruised he was. He gripped the edges of the seat trying to hold on his for his dear life when Amethyst finally figured out how to drive the van. "A-Amethyst … slow down!" The van was going past its limits of speed and she was serving everywhere. He closed his eyes as the motion sickness was fighting for control. When they finally had stopped, he got out of the van and heaved out whatever he had in his stomach. "N-no more … never again." He leaned against the van with his hand on his forehead.
"Ew! Gross, man!" Amethyst kicked stand over the vomit. "Anyway, we're home. Just in time too." She gave him her signature smile before her face fell. "Dude … we forgot your clothes at the rink. You can't hide those bruises." He looked down and groaned. She was right, they were going to kill him. Especially when they see his face. Scooting closer to the front of the van, he sat down in the sand, his head was spinning and his whole body throbbed with pain. His hands were pretty bruised and bloody as well. Amethyst sat down next to him with her legs folded to her chest and her face rested on her knees as she stared at him. "You should go inside before you get yelled at." She was right, but he turned and looked at her instead of going inside.
"Were you okay? Back at the warehouse I mean. You broke down crying … and I didn't want to ask you in front of Lapis. We're alone now … so you can tell me." His voice was full of kindness which made Amethyst wonder what type of drug his has been on for the last few days. He was just so different in such a short period of time. Any other day, Steven wouldn't even care what she was going through or feeling. It was always about himself now he was always about others around him. They just looked at each other as Amethyst tried to find the right words to describe what happened back there.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and let it out. "I should have seen that he was using me." She took in another shay breath as her hands started to shake. "He was using me like so many other people. I should have known he was like the others, but only worse." Steven put a swollen hand on her shoulder, she takes a hand of her own and wipes away the tears that were starting to slip out. "I thought he loved me, Steven, honest to God I thought he did. He only wanted me for sex, drugs, and to get closer to you."
Steven watched her for a little before he spoke up, "He's a douchebag, Ame, it's alright you made a mistake. We all make mistakes every once in awhile." He wrapped an arm around her giving her a half hug, she returned it when she gently wrapped an arm around him. "You can do so much better than him. I know you can. Let's get back inside before the others think we're lost." She chuckled as they both got up, she guess Steven wasn't such a dick after all. He actually had some good in him, maybe someday she tell him what happened to her back in the warehouse when he was fighting. Someday. Supporting on and another with their arms wrapped around each other they walked up the steps to the beach house. Just in time too, Jasper was walking out the front door when they took the last step up the stairs.
Jasper looked at them both before opening the door, "Pearl! Rose! He's back. And he doesn't look so good either." She stepped aside to let them in through the door, Rose and Pearl were in the living room. Pearl looked distressed and Rose looked pissed to all ends. The door closed behind them and Jasper went and sat down on the couch with one leg crossed over the other, a smirk was plastered on her face.
"What happened to you?!" Pearl ran over to Steven looking him up and down, Amethyst moved to the side to get away from Pearl. She walked over to Jasper and joined her on the couch, they exchanged a few words before watching Steven and Pearl. "Steven, answer me now."
"Greg, took Steven to The Diamond Fighting Rink. He went up against Air Raid aka Lapis who beat the living shit out of him." Amethyst told them. "Matthias tried to stop him from going, but you know how stubborn that boy can be." Was she talking about Matt? Was that his real name? Steven thought, just as the front door opened once again. Steven turned around with the protest of Pearl to watch as Matt walked through the door and closing it behind him. He was wearing a army green tank top and black basketball shorts, he had a gym bag slung across his shoulder. His left eye was swollen shut, and his lip was swollen as well, his nose was also broken. Matt set down his bag down near the closet and walked over to Jasper who stood up to greet him.
"Babe, your face looks like crap." She mumbled and lightly touched his face, he flinched at the touch. "Sorry …" She mumbled and walked around him to the bathroom where she got the medical kit from. "Sit down and let me work on you. Please." Jasper was so kind and it weirded Steven out so bad. This wasn't the Jasper he knew at all. He watched at Matthias struggled while getting worked on, once Jasper moved away he noticed that his eye was bandaged up. Steven wondered why Matt didn't just have Rose heal him.
"Matthias Tourmaline." Pearl called with her hands on her hips and her foot tapping. "Why didn't you try harder to stop Steven from fighting?" Matthias shrugged. "Boy, do not shrug at me." Steven giggled a bit before Pearl shot him a look.
"I'm sorry, Mama. I didn't mean to go into the rink, I should have listened to Matthias better." He looked down at his hands which were black and blue. He winced and looked away from them as Jasper walked over and gave Pearl the medical kit. "I promise I won't go back there ever again. I hurt to badly and I learned my lesson." Pearl sighed and started to clean him up, he winced as she cleaned his face and wrapped his eye like Jasper did for Matt. She then wrapped both of his hands up, when she was done she kissed his forehead. "It's alright, just don't do it again."
"I am going to change and then find food. I'm starving." He said and made his way up stairs to find some pajama pants. He quickly pulled them on as he was making his way over to the stairs he somehow managed to trip over one of his toys and fell over the edge of the loft. Before he had the chance to make impact or anyone to catch him, he started to float. His heart was beating fast as everyone stared at him. He was thankful that the powers had kicked in when it needed too.
"Why didn't you tell us you had this power, Steven?" Rose asked softly walking towards him as he righted himself on his feet.
"I-I didn't know that I had them until now …" He lied and smiled wide hoping they fall for it. Out of the corner of his mind, he saw Matthias narrow his eyes and shook his head. No one else seemed to see it and the others seemed to believe me. Rose nodded and walked with him to the kitchen making him something to eat. After everything, they all said goodnight to each other and Steven went to bed with his whole body throbbing. He had the same weird dreams as he did the night before.
He woke up the next morning breathing heavily, he check his chest to see if there was a gem shard embedded in it. There was none and he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. It was just a dream, Steven. He told himself and swung his legs over to the bed, he sat there in pain for a few minutes. Then an idea clicked. He wondered if his spit could heal his injuries like in his world, taking a lick of his palm making sure there was plenty of saliva on his palm and he stuck it to the bruise on his stomach. Nothing happened. What a bust. He guess this Steven doesn't have that power or it didn't come in.
It was pretty quiet in the house as he stood up and went over to his dresser grabbing some clothes. He made his way down to the living to find no one in there, that was unusual as usually Pearl or Rose would be making some type of breakfast for him or for the others. Shrugging, he went into the bathroom and did what he needed, he also changed the bandages that covered his still swollen eye. Once he was done in the bathroom, there were actual gems in the temple. Ruby and Sapphire was sitting on the couch playing with a tablet. "Hey Ruby! Hey Sapphire." He waved at them as they looked up from what they were doing.
"Hey Steven!" They both said in usion as he walked over to the fridge and grabbed an apple and water.
"How did you sleep last night?" Asked Sapphire scooting over for him to sit down next to her. He shrugged and bit into his apple. "You look pretty beat up, Amethyst told us what happened."
"Did she now?"
"Yeah, she said you kicked Lapis' ass like a champ." Ruby popped up and jumped onto the coffee table. She mimicked some punches as Sapphire and him giggled. "Yeah, I wish I was there to witness it. It must have been so cool!"
"What was that, Ruby?" Pearl asked as she walked out of the temple door with Rose right behind her. "Did I just hear you encourage my son to fight?" Ruby's cheeks turned lighter than normal as she got off the table and sat down next to Sapphire shaking her head. "That's what I thought. Good Morning, Steven."
"Good Morning, Mama. How are you doing this morning?" He asked finishing his apple.
"I am doing just fine thank you."
Steven stood up from the couch, water bottle in hand as he walked over to the bar and sat down. He watched as both of his moms started to take things out of the fridge to cook with. "Hey … um I was wondering if I could go to the barn today. I wanted to talk to Lapis about last night." Both of his moms stopped what they were doing and looked at him before looking at each other. Pearl bit her lip.
"I don't think that's a very good idea, Steven." Rose said. "I don't like how you and Peridot treat each other. And you are already so beat up from last night, I don't want you getting hurt anymore." Rose started to cut up some bell pepper after she was done speaking. Steven wondered what him and Peridot had a beef for.
"Please mom? I really want to go over there. What if I bought somebody else a long? Like Ruby and Sapphire. They'll go with me! Won't you guys?" He turned around in his seat to look at the two smaller gems on the couch. They looked up dumbfounded before nodding quickly. He was pretty sure they didn't know what they signed up for, but it was better than nothing. "See…" Rose and Pearl looked at each other again and they both sighed in unison.
"Fine …" Pearl mumbled and Steven jumped off his seat and gave them both a hug. They returned them gratefully both with a smile on their faces.
"But before I go … I want to visit the big donut." He walked over to Ruby and Sapphire who stood up and put the tablet on the stand. They both looked at each other than at Rose and Pearl, they were all uncertain about what he said, but his moms let him go anyway. The two gems that were trailing behind him was giggling and pointing at different stuff almost like they were on a date. It was cute to Steven as they made their way to the donut shop. They finally made it as the bell above their head rung as they walked into the shop. He was happy to see Lars behind the counter, except he looked a bit different than normal. His face was a bit more "feminine" than usual and something about him was off as well, but Steven couldn't explain what it was.
"Oh it's you." Lars said, Steven noticed the voice was of higher pitch than normal as well. "Are you here to tell me more transphobic insults? If you are then you can get out, Steven." Steven stood there trying to make sense of what Lars just told him, he looked over at Ruby and Sapphire when they shrugged he looked back at Lars.
"What is transphobic?" He asked confused at the word. Lars looked like he was getting frustrated on why Steven would as him such a question. He really didn't know what Lars was talking about. He never heard of the word before.
"Don't play stupid with me, Steven. You know I am transgender and you go off and make those stupid remarks with your group of friends every time you come in here. I don't think I can handle you calling me names today alright. Sadie got bad news about her mom and it's pulling on me too. Are you going to order or not?" Steven just stood there dumbfounded trying to comprehend what just happened. He didn't understand what the hell Lars was talking about. "So, do you want your usual plain donut and cookie cat?"
Steven just nodded his head, his thoughts were somewhere else. Sapphire and Ruby ordered their donuts, when Lars was filling the bag, Sadie came in through the front door. "Hey Sadie," Steven greeted her and she gave him a dirty look as she jumped onto the counter. She kissed Lars when he walked over to her with the bag for Steven. Guess they were dating in this universe. He thought. He didn't understand why she glared at him though. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Yeah, you never showed up last night after your fight. You and Greg were supposed to pick up your candy. I really need the money, Steven." He looked at her confused. "But good job on the fight, heard you won. So, where's Greg, dude?"
"The last time I saw him was last night, Amethyst and I took his van so he probably had no way to get to you. If I see him next time, I'll tell him about his candy. Also, I don't want any candy … so you can just sell that to Greg as well." He handed Lars the money for the food. "Keep the change. And I am sorry for being whatever you told me I was being. Whatever I did, I didn't mean to hurt you, Lars." He walked out of the shop with Sapphire and Ruby right behind him. When they were far away from the shop he handed them their donuts. "I'm sorry, but can anyone tell me what she meant by Candy? And what's wrong with Sadie's mom?"
"Sadie's mother is in the hospital with cancer, she has been selling drugs on the street to try to pay for her hospital bills. What she meant by candy was drugs, Steven. I am proud of you for declining on buying them." Ruby said as they walked back towards the beach house to take the warp pad to the barn.
"Also … do you know what he meant by transgender?"
Sapphire was the one who spoke up first, "Transgender is a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex. So for example, Lars is Female to Male. He mentally doesn't feel like his was born in the right body. And you already knew this that's why he was commenting on the fact that you were being really harsh to him the other day." Oh. Thanks other, Steven. For making me feel like crap today. The walk from the warp pad to the barn wasn't that bad, but he was still out of breath when they finally made it. He fell on his back in the soft plush green grass, the two smaller gems looked down upon him. "Are you okay, Steven? Ruby get the water hose. I think, Steven needs a spray down." He quickly got up and shook his head, but it was too late by the time he managed to turn around Ruby was already drenching him. "Okay, I think that's enough." Sapphire said giggling the whole time.
He took off his shirt before taking his hair out of the bun he had put it in this morning. It was hard to squeeze the water out of his hair with his hands being bruised and all, but he somehow managed to do so. "Thanks you two. I appreciate the bath." He walked over to where they were and laid out his shirt on the clothing wire that was hanging up. It would be dry by the time he was done here. Speaking of here, he took a step back to look at the barn. It was quite different compared to the one at home. There wasn't things sticking out on top of the barn, it was a lot cleaner too. It was still kind of cluttered though. There were car parts, and a truck in front, he could tell that there was somebody underneath it.
"Baby, I need the wrench. Can you stop training for a second and hand it to me?" It was a male's voice, but it sure wasn't Matt's. Who did it belong to? A blue skin gem walked out of the barn, her hands were covered in bandages and she was in a sports bra and loose sports shorts. Lapis Lazuli. She looked better than yesterday, so she must have reformed to get rid of her injuries. She handed the wrench to a green hand. "Thanks, love." Lapis replied with something to low for him to hear. She finally looked over at them.
"Steven! You look like shit!" She said running over to them. "And why don't you have a shirt on?" She looked him up and down making him feel a little self-conscience, but he was glad that she was talking more than last night. "Doesn't matter, did everything go well with Rose and Pearl last night?" He shrugged, before pointing to the guy under the truck.
"Who's that?" He asked her, she looked where his finger was pointing and giggled. He turned to look back at her smiling face and her eyes shining brightly. Like she was in love. Also it was really weird seeing her so giggly and happy like this. Back in his universe, Lapis was all depressed and sad.
"That's Peridot. He has been working on his truck all night, he almost has it running. Don't you, baby?" Steven heard a grunt and somebody rolled out from under the truck. The gem was wearing a dark green flannel with his sleeves rolled up to the elbow, his pants were blue jeans with grease stains on them. His hair was short, but messy. It sure looked like Peridot, but this Peridot had a wider build, and looked much taller than his Peridot. Also the huge difference in gender. The gem got up and stretched lifting his arms above his head to show off some of his flat stomach.
Peridot walked over to Lapis and wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed down her neck, then cheek. Steven looked to his side to see Ruby and Sapphire sneaking off. Rolling his eyes, he looked back at the other two gems in front of him. "That's right. Almost got it running. I just need a few more parts that Matt is supposed to bring around in an hour." As he talked he had noticed that Peridot was wearing braces. Did gems need braces? He guess he thought it looked good on him or something. "What exactly are you doing here anyway, Steven? What happened to never coming back here or did you change your mind on hating me?"
Steven stood there there trying to come up with an excuse to tell him, "Nah, I never hated you. I was just flustered back then, man. I'm okay now." Peridot seemed to buy as he just shrugged and reached into his pocket grabbing a pack of cigarettes. He stepped back just a bit as the gem lit the and took a drag, Steven guess because gems don't actually get health problems like humans it was okay for them to smoke. He didn't like it himself though as he shook his head when Peridot offered him to take a drag. "No thank you. I am trying to quiet." He laughed nervously before Peridot shrugged and rolled his eyes. He handed the cigarette to Lapis who took it from him taking a drag off of it as well.
His ears twitched as he heard a twig snap behind him, turning he saw Matthias walking up to them holding a box of what seemed like car parts that Peridot was just talking about. He let go of Lapis and ran over to Matt. "Sweet, you got it! And you came early." He said excitedly as he grabbed the box and ran over to the truck with it. Steven looked at Matt and nodded at him, he nodded back. He then looked at Lapis and smiled softly at her, she returned it. Steven walked over to the truck, Peridot was already under it as he sat down next to him.
"So what kind of truck is this?" Steven asked lightly touching the smooth surface. The exterior color was a very beautiful blue color that shone when the sun hit its.
"Well, technically Steven, it's not a truck. It's a coupé utility vehicle, but that's beside the point." Peridot rolled out from underneath the car and sat there as he looked at Steven. "It's a 1967 Chevrolet El Camino. It has a 350 V8 Goodwrench Targetmaster crate engine headers, aluminum intake, A/C with Sanden style compressor, Edelbrock carb, electronic ignition. Automatic with floor mounted shifter, aluminum wheels, 12 bolt rear end and a Wood wheel." Steven didn't understand a word Peridot just told him, but he nodded anyway. "With the parts that Matthias brought me, I should be done in about three days if I continuously work on it."
"Oh that's cool," Steven mumbled and stood up. "Well, good luck with that." He went to walk away when Peridot grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back down again. The smell of cigarettes was filling Steven's nostrils as he tried to get out of the tight grip of Peridot's hand. "What are you doing, man? Let go of me." He snapped and tried to pull harder, but Peridot wouldn't budge.
"I am not as stupid as the others around here, Steven." Peridot's voice was low so the others couldn't listen to them. "I see the subtle things you do and I see how Sapphire looks at you as well." Steven's heart started to race as he waited for Peridot to finish what was going to be said. Did he know about him not being the Steven in this universe? Peridot eased his hand a bit, but didn't let go as he leaned closer to his ear. "Honestly, do not care who the hell you are or how the hell you even get here… but so help me, by the diamonds, I will kill you if you lay a hand on any of my family. Do you understand me?" Steven took a huge gulp of air, his hands were becoming more sweaty under the bandages. "You don't seem like a bad guy, not at all. I'm still going to warn you, though."
Steven nodded his head, "I-I understand you. Loud and clear." Peridot finally let go of his wrist and gave him a smile like nothing happened. Matthias watched their interaction from the distance trying to tune in on what they were discussing, but Peridot's voice was too low for him to hear. He clenched his fists and slammed it into the side of the barn breaking right through it. There was something suspicious about Steven in the past few days and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. When he pulled his hand back from the hole, Lapis was staring right at him through it.
"How about next time, you punch the punching bag and not the barn." She insisted, "You want to come in here and talk to me about what's bothering you?" Tourmaline sighed and shrugged, it was better than nothing and Lapis would actually listen to him. He tried to talk about it was Jasper, but her mind seemed to be off somewhere. He couldn't tell if it was her career or if it was something else. He walked around the barn before walking inside of it. Lapis led if up to the loft where the TV and couch was, they both sat down. "Now tell me, what's on your mind?"
Matthias laughed, "What is this, Lapis? A therapy meeting?"
Lapis shrugged, "It could be. If you want it to be, Tourmaline." He sighed shaking his head, he didn't need a therapy session he just needed to see if anyone else noticed Steven's changes. "Now, why did you punch a hole in my barn's wall? You know you're gonna have to fix that right?" Tourmaline gave her a side look before nodding.
"Do you see the way … Steven has been acting recently? Please tell me you noticed the differences as well." Matthias said after a few minutes of trying to gather his thoughts. "Like … last night for an instance… He seemed way more spaced out during the fight than he normally is. He also refused to do anything with Greg… I mean yeah he has been sober from drugs for a year now … but the way he handled the situation. And just today, I watched when I was coming up with the parts he refused to take a cigarette from Peridot."
Lapis sat there trying to gather up all the information that Matt just told her, but she couldn't see what he was seeing. She shook her head, "No, I'm sorry. All I have been noticing was Steven growing up and maturing. I think he is trying to prove to his moms that he isn't such a bad kid after all, Matt." Matthias stood up, he knew he shouldn't have told her anything. They were too oblivious to realize what he was seeing. "Now go fix that wall, please." He sighed and clenched his fists again holding back the anger he felt, he went back down to the base level of the barn just as Steven walked in. They gave each other a look, before he quickly looked away and started to look for a board to fix the hole with.
A few hours later all the gems seemed to be just hanging out in the barn, it was mid afternoon, therefore Steven's shirt was dry and bac onto his body. Just how he likes it. Peridot and him were playing darts when Rose, Pearl, Amethyst, and Jasper all walked into the barn together. Steven threw the last dart before looking over at the gems that walked in. He wondered why they were all here, and also he wondered why Garnet could possibly be. It was like all the others were here, but her. "Hey guys, what's up?" He asked walking over to them. Jasper seemed to depart the group walking away from the others and into the back room. She didn't seem like she was in a very good mood, he wondered what was up.
"Hey Steven!" Amethyst greeted him before walking away to wear Peridot was. He watched them for a minute, then looked away to look at his two moms. Pearl was wearing mom jeans rolled up and striped tank top, while Rose was wearing her normal dress. Pearl looked around the barn in disgust and mumbled something under her breath that he was unable to tell what it was.
"Hello, Steven. You haven't checked in with us so we decided to come by. Amethyst and Jasper only came to hang out with the others. What have you been doing here?" Pearl asked walking over to Steven, she checked him head to toe. "Looks like your bandages needs to be changed soon." Steven rubbed the back of his head and chuckled.
"I'm sorry, I should have checked in sooner. And nothing really. Been playing darts with Peridot, and working on the truck with him. I learn a lot about cars that I didn't even know existed. So, it's been a lot of fun so far." Rose looked a bit surprised when she heard that Steven and Peridot was hanging out again. She wondered about the safety of her child at the barn all day, but to only find out that he was having fun and that Peridot and him were best friends once again. She was happy to hear that, but her happiness was soon destroyed when a familiar sound pierced all their ears once again. All the gems that were in the barn came running towards the entrance and stared at the sky. Dread filled their hearts when they saw what was coming towards them.
A menacing, modern floating pod burst out of the clouds above and beams of yellow ray of light shined down on top of them. "It's the Roaming Eye! The rubies are back." Peridot said and groaned. So the rubies have already showed themselves here in this universe. Steven bit his lip as he watched the pod land gracefully onto the ground, "It's been a year since the last time they were here. What are they doing back?"
Steven wondered the exact same thing. He stood his ground ready to draw his shield if there was going to be a fight. The rubies stumbled out before lining up, Doc, was the first to step out and point at the group of gems. "You! Jasper!" Steven looked over to see Jasper with a dull look on her face, she stepped forward and pointed at herself. "Yes you!" Matthias moved passed all the others and stood near Jasper, he stood tall.
"What do you want with Jasper?!" He snapped. "I asked you a damn question. What do you want with Jasper?" His voice was raising, and his hand went to the spot where his gem was. Steven couldn't exactly see Matt's gem, he noticed as he was wearing a purple sweater. Jasper stuck her hand up and stopped Matthias from whatever he was about to do, his hand went back and moved to his side as he watched Jasper curiously.
Doc stepped forward some more and growled, it wasn't very intimidating as she was just a little thing compared to Matthias. "Yellow Diamond wants her. We need to bring her back as soon as possible." She snapped, Matt's arm shot out again to stop Jasper from stepping forward, but she just pushed him away shaking her head.
"Why do you want me?" She asked, the other Rubies suddenly surrounded her. "Hurry up and fucking explain!" She snapped at the them. Tourmaline looked hurt and confused as he watched his girlfriend betray him and the Crystal Gems altogether.
"We need to take you back to Homeworld, where you can tell Yellow Diamond what happened on your mission." Doc said.
"I will come with you. Just stop acting like an idiot." Jasper told them before turning around and facing Matthias. Her face was not forgiving.
"What?! Babe!" Matt said and pushed the Rubies out of his way, he stood as tall as Jasper, but with a smaller build. "You can't do this. Are you really betraying the Crystal Gems?" He asked sounding hurt. Jasper had a sneer smile on her face before pushing him aside like he was nothing. "Baby! Don't ignore me! What the hell are you doing? Are you really going to leave everything you worked hard on? Are you going to leave me?"
Jasper turned around, the same look on her face as before. "Sorry. Not Sorry." All she said as she piled into the pod with the rubies. The red pod was soon off the ground and zoomed into the sky, disappearing. Matthias stood there looking up at the sky, his fists clenched. Steven walked over to him and grabbed his arm, he pushed him away and stormed off. How could Jasper do something like this to him? After everything they been through, he knew he should have never gotten close to her again. He should have realized that her views were always going to be the same, just like thousands of years ago during the rebellion. Now he was just left hurt and broken, he clenched his chest where he gem was and his teeth gritted together. Pain shot through his body, but he tried his best to ignore it as he sped up his walk to a run.
"Give him some time." Rose had a hand on Steven's shoulder as they all watched Matt stormed off. What the hell happened? Did Jasper just betrayed them? He asked himself. Rose turned around and faced the other gems. "Do you realize what this means, don't you?" Rose's heart felt like it was going to collapse after so many years, Homeworld wanted to go to war with them one more. She just hoped that they would actually win the fight with as little deaths as possible. Deep down she knew it wasn't going to happen like that. Looking at Pearl, the look in her eyes gave her everything she needed to know. They were all scared. They didn't have the resources like they did before. She looked over at her only son, the look masked on his face was heartbreaking. She knew the war was going to be hard for him. It was going to be hard for everyone.
It was later that day, the sun was setting, it was only Ruby, Sapphire, Peridot, Lapis and Amethyst along with Steven left at the barn. He had found out earlier that Garnet was out on a date with Jamie again, but she was supposed to be back over here shortly. Rose and Pearl went back to the temple to try and think about what was going to happen now that there was going to be a war. Matthias still hasn't come back from what happened earlier, and Sapphire kept telling Steven that everything was going to be okay and not to worry. It was hard for Steven not to worry, even if he didn't trust Matthias that much, he was still a Crystal Gem. And the Crystal Gems always stuck together. Just as Steven finished his what seemed like 100th pace, Matthias walked into the barn.
"I'm sorry … for the outburst earlier." He looked like shit with his hair in a mess and his clothes looked like they wanted to be ripped off of him. Matthias went over to the chair that was leaning against a wall and sat down. His hands were holding up his head as he leaned forward.
Steven walked over to him and laid his hand on his shoulder, "Matt, are you okay? You were gone for a pretty long time. So, I was getting worried about you." All of sudden Matthias' hand shot out and grabbed Steven's wrist. Electricity pulsed through his skin, it burned and tingled to the point of tears in his eyes. "Matt, let go you are hurting me."
"Good because you're not our Steven. So, who the living hell are you then?" His stomach churned and he felt like he was going to puke. How was he going to explain this to him? Or the others at that. When Sapphire and Peridot found out they didn't ask any questions or made a scene in front of the other gems. Tourmaline, however, did make a big deal out of it. He stared at Matt with his eyes wide, while the gem's eyes were narrowed. Electricity sparked from the grip on his wrist, he could feel his skin burning slowly. He was glad in this moment that he was part gem, if he was fully human then his skin would have been charred already. "Are you going to explain or not?!"