Hey there, and welcome back to Into Oblivion.

Before we begin, I have to point something out: This chapter is short. Only a little more than 2,000 words. Normally, I like to have a chapter be between 3.5-5k words (or more, if necessary), but this one's a little unusual because I really don't want to add anything further to it. You'll see why soon enough... *insert maniacal laugh*

Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe. Steven Universe is owned by Rebecca Sugar.

Present

"Thoughts"

Author's Note

Amethyst rooted through the pile again. She shoved away axes and swords, cereal boxes and furniture, all the junk she'd accumulated over the years, until she had a decently sized opening. She looked inside the pile for a moment, searching.

She just didn't know what for.

After a moment or two, Amethyst rolled her eyes. As usual, nothing was new. Just the same old pile of junk, though this one was only stacked fifty or so years ago. The other was more than a hundred. Did it even make a difference?

"... Nah."

Amethyst glanced around her room. She noticed a beat-up looking couch a little ways away, and she made her way to it. She plopped down and crossed her legs.

"Look in our rooms..."

The more she thought about it, the more Amethyst realized she didn't even know what they were doing. The idea was ridiculous. Looking in their rooms for Steven? What good would that do? He was gone.

And their still searching here reeked of denial.

Amethyst glanced around the room again. Her eyes caught a puddle embedded in the ground, and she lingered for a moment. It probably led to Pearl's room.

"I know Peridot told me not to bother them... come on, she won't mind for just a minute. I'll ask her."

Peridot turned Jasper's gem over in her hand. She held it out arms fully outstretched, and she waited for the flash. Now that the bubble was popped, she'd regenerate. Any second now...

"... Jasper?"

The gem did nothing. Peridot sighed. "Maybe she doesn't even know how... should I—"

And then the gem in Peridot's hands started to glow. It jumped out of her palms and hovered in place, and then started to spin. Peridot took a step back and smiled.

After a moment or two in suspension, Jasper began to emerge. Her arms and legs poked out and grew to normal size, and then the rest of her body took shape. Peridot heard a deep grunt from the gem, and it send a shiver down her spine.

And then the light broke off. Jasper tumbled to the ground in a heap, and she made no effort to move. Peridot ran to her side and knelt.

"Jasper!"

Now Jasper flattened her arm on the ground. She craned her neck as far as she could, and she caught Peridot out of the corner of her eye. "You... what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help you... we need to get your gem healed, now."

Jasper's eyes widened. She reached up to her face; she winced as prickles of pain shot through her, but she rubbed her gem anyway. It was indeed cracked, just as she suspected. At least it didn't hurt as badly as last time...

"H-how did you even get in my gem? Why are you here?"

Peridot slightly cocked her head. "Your gem? We're not in your gem. You regenerated."

"But... but how? I never—" Jasper grunted through clenched teeth, and tightly closed her eyes; the strength in her arm was failing, and she couldn't hold herself up much longer. "I... never tried to regenerate! What did... you do?!"

Peridot's lips went dry. She took a step back from Jasper, and her other foot prepared for another. "I... I popped the bubble so I can fix your gem! Isn't that what you want?"

Jasper opened her mouth. But before she could speak, her trembling arm finally gave way, and she fell back to the floor stomach-first. Her eyes caught the wall of the burning room, and she didn't recognize it.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she gasped. "You can't... fix a broken gem. You're not a Rose Quartz..."

Peridot grinned. "No, I'm not. But there's somewhere we can go."

"Lapis, it's been more than an hour. Talk to me."

Lapis didn't open her eyes, nor did she speak. Instead, she shook her head, and turned her shoulder away from Steven. He sighed.

"Look, I get you don't want to talk about whatever's bothering you, but—"

"Steven, I told you, leave me alone. Drop it."

"Drop it? What, like it's nothing?" Steven jumped to his feet, and this finally got Lapis to turn around. "Lapis, in case you forgot, your gem is cracked. Badly. You can't even summon your wings. And behind me," he exclaimed, as he pointed in the distance to the fountain, "is my mom's fountain, which'll heal you in two seconds! Why do you need to be so stubborn?"

Lapis peered over his shoulder. The pink tears were still flowing from the statue's eyes, and the pool had long overflowed. Pink stains bleached the stone all around, and mixed with the rose petals that fell from the sky long ago.

"Steven, I won't use a sanctuary of Rose Quartz's. I'm sorry."

Steven bit his lower lip. His hand flexed to his stomach, and rubbed over his gem. He buried his chin in his collarbone.

"... Fine."

Steven picked up his feet and stormed past Lapis. He didn't bother to look over his shoulder, and he assumed she did the same. He shook his head.

"LION!"

Lion jumped out from around the corner of the cliff, with Connie on her back. She wore a bright smile on her face, but it quickly faded as she caught a look at him. She hopped off Lion's back and ran to Steven.

"Steven, what happened? Did she use the fountain?" He shook his head.

"No dice. We'll have to try plan B."

Connie nodded. She gestured for him to follow, and then walked to Lion. "Leave and come back in a few minutes?"

"Yep, and make it really obvious. Lion, do you think you can roar extra loud when you make the portal this time?" The big cat nodded, and Steven grinned. "All right then, let's—"

"Do you think he's been here?"

Garnet glanced around the canyon. She didn't see any sign of Steven or Lapis, but she perked her ears; even from as far away as the warp pad, she could pick up the faint sound of the fountain, gushing with Rose's tears.

"Yes, he's definitely been here already. Whether he's still around, however..."

Garnet and Pearl stepped off the warp pad. The fused gem gestured in the fountain's direction with her thumb, and Pearl nodded; they both began to walk along the wall of the canyon, but as quietly as possible. They strained to listen for anything more.

"... use the fountain?"

Pearl stopped on the spot, and flattened herself against the cliffside to hide. Garnet quickly did the same. "That sounds like Connie," she whispered to Garnet. She nodded, and then signaled with her hand to hush.

"No dice. We'll have to try plan B."

Garnet frowned. That was him, all right.

"Leave and come back in a few minutes?"

"Yep, and make it really obvious. Lion, do you think you can roar extra loud when you make the portal this time?" A period of silence followed, but Garnet and Pearl had a vague idea what was happening. And they knew the time to act was now. "All right then, let's—"

Garnet stepped out from the cliffside, with Pearl right beside her. All the blood drained from Steven's face.

"P? Yo, Pearl, anybody home?"

Amethyst squinted and cupped her hands over her eyes. For miles and miles, the waterfalls ran across Pearl's room, but she couldn't see her friend on any of them. "Hm... is she in another room?"

Amethyst turned around on the spot. Her gem glowed for the briefest moment, and then the temple door swung open. She stepped through and into the living room, and it slammed shut behind her. "Pearl?" she called from the house's warp pad; the sun had risen and brought light to the foyer, but once again, nothing but silence.

"Ugh... where is everyone? It's like they disa..."

Amethyst's voice tapered off. Her mouth hung limply open, and her face was frozen. "Disappeared..." she thought. Gone without a trace. Like they were never even there.

"Peridot!"

Amethyst stormed to the temple door. The green gem embedded in the star flashed its hue, and then the whole design began to spin; the stone cracked open not long after. She stomped into Peridot's room, fists clenched and eyes wide. "Peridot? Come out!"

Amethyst didn't wait for an answer. She went to the side of Peridot's room, and looked under her workbench; she half expected to find her trembling and curled in a ball, but instead met nothing but scattered bits & pieces and cobwebs.

"Darn it! Where is she?" grunted Amethyst. She poked her head up from under the workbench, and stole a glimpse of the room: It was fairly new, and not a whole lot of furniture had been moved in, save for Peridot's bench, bolted against the wall, and a few scattered chairs.

Amethyst shook her head. Peridot almost never spent time in her room in any event, but if they were "checking them" like she said, then she should've been in it. Checking her room. Like she said.

"Then why did she LIE to me?!"

Amethyst stared at the door for a moment. She thought about where to go next; maybe Pearl's room again, though she probably wasn't back... and Ruby and Garnet's rooms were inaccessible to anyone but them. They made sure of that themselves.

"... Maybe the burning room? We had the meeting there, after all... maybe Garnet's in there with Peridot."

Amethyst shrugged her shoulders. Her gem started to glow again.

"... Oh, jeez."

Steven's eyes shot to their corners. He vaguely caught sight of Connie, and he could see her expression mirrored his: Eyes wide, face pale, and demeanor frozen in fear. He switched back to Garnet and Pearl.

"Uh... hi guys?"

"STEVEN!"

Pearl stomped the few extra feet to Steven. The child shut his eyes and braced for the worst, but rather than a punishment, she swooped down, plucked him in her arms, and squeezed him tight. A faint "oh" escaped his lips, and his eyes blinked open again.

"Steven, what were you thinking?!" exclaimed Pearl. "Running off and fighting Malachite WITHOUT US?! And you even brought Connie into it!"

"H-hey, I know, I know!" Steven's voice was muffled in Pearl's shirt. She stretched her arms, and brought him face-to-face with her. "Look, I know what we did was dangerous, but—"

"Steven, listen to me. What you did wasn't dangerous. It was suicidal." Garnet slowly made her way to Pearl's side, and behind her steely shades, her three eyes bored in Steven's two. "Malachite was an unstable, dangerous gem more powerful than any of us. I told you all this just last night. Why would you try to challenge her by yourself?"

Steven tensed the muscles in his neck. It took every fiber of his being to not turn around, at the fountain. At Lapis.

"Hey, wait a second! You need to hear our part in this!"

All three gems turned to Connie. She forced herself to swallow the lump in her throat.

"Listen... I don't think you're being fair here. Steven had a good reason for not telling you guys! Isn't that right, Steven?"

"Uh... yeah, we had a reason. That's right. It, um... well, you see, I had another dream. You know, that whole "mind sharing" thing, heh heh..."

Pearl raised an eyebrow. Still, she gently set Steven down at last, and he quickly scurried to Connie and Lion. "A dream? You mean the mind connection, like the first time."

"Yeah," Steven nodded. "That's how I learned where she was. And..."

"... And?"

Steven paused for a moment. He looked over the expressions of Pearl and Garnet; both were perfectly stoic, and set in stone. A light frown shaped his lips.

"And that's why I chose not to tell you. Lapis told me she wanted to break the fusion, but I thought if you were there, then she might get really upset and stay as Malachite. She doesn't exactly like you guys..."

"Steven, I understand that, but that still doesn't make it right," said Garnet. "Even though your plan worked, the margin for error was zero. You could've been killed."

"I get that! You think I didn't know that when I made my choice? Garnet, this wasn't easy, it never was... but I had to do it! Can't you see it my way?"

Garnet said nothing. Neither did Pearl, nor Connie, or even Lion. The canyon fell quiet, save for a few blasts of wind, and the ever flowing fountain. Steven stared right ahead, and kept focused on a tree in the distance. Anything to prevent him from looking behind, and giving away Lapis. They didn't know she was still here, so maybe—

And then he heard her voice. It echoed off the canyon walls and hit him like a bullet:

"Steven? Are... are you still there?"

See what I mean? I love cliffhangers. I really do.

Have a nice day.