AN:

A short chapter content wise. Mostly just some conversation and my fist writen sex scene.
Not going to lie. I stuggled with that.
Anyway. Enjoy.

Also, don't forget to check out my Pat-ron if you would like to donate to the cause. /locknkey

Chapter 9

Lapis had not been back at the temple for more than a few minutes and had only had time to launch a Spectre so that she could watch Alex fight Yellow Diamond when Alyn walked through a burning hole in the air while holding an exhausted Stevonnie.

"We have to go back." Stevonnie wheezed.

The portal closed and the monitor in front of Lapis lit up with light until the entire holo-projection was whited out seconds later.

"I don't think that's possible right now." Alyn said as she placed Stevonnie down onto a crystal bench that grew from the floor to receive her. She then grew a second bench with a low table between them.

"But she'll hurt people!" Stevonnie objected and tried to stand only to fall to the ground. The fall proved too much for the kids and Stevonnie's form become one of light which separated into to two tired children.

"Owie." Steven grumbled.

"Aghh" Connie groaned.

Alyn was about to say something when she was interrupted by a bubbled Peridot Gem teleporting in followed quickly by another containing her limb-enhancers.

"That's the Gem from the green one." Steven exclaimed.

Another bubble teleported into the room, this one holding the damaged Diamond encased in dirty glass.

"And that's Yellow Diamond!"

"What happened?" asked Connie. "How were they defeated?"

Alyn reached out and took ahold of the Yellow Diamond bubble. Even bubbled, encased in glass and damaged he could feel the energies of the Gem struggling to reform. She shook her head; Diamonds were just too powerful. She was so glad she was one.

It would be safest to just shatter it. Yellow was an unapologetic, world destroying tyrant after all. And unlike in the cartoon there was no guarantee she could be talk-no-jutsu'd into changing her entire world view; at least while Alex was within the Jump. But it took the combined efforts of all the Diamonds to heal the corrupted Gems on earth and that's not to mention the cluster-fuck that was the Cluster.

"What are you going to do?" Steven timidly asked.

Alyn looked down at the lad. She'd put off the decision for now.

Steven scooted back on his rear as Alyn's eyes glowed an eerie purple. Connie grabbed his hand and he clasped hers back as Alyn directed purple sparks into the air which then resolved themselves into an ornate picture frame. Alyn then casually tossed the Yellow Diamond Bubble into the swirling vortex that was the canvas. With a flash of light, the painting resolved itself into an abstract minimalist image of a yellow diamond inside a brown square imposed on a silver circle.

"How did you do that?" Steven asked in wonder.

"Magic."

"Gem magic?"

"No, just magic magic."

Further discussion was paused as the warp pad activated and the duplicate Alyn appeared.

"What? But? How?" Connie stammered.

"THERE'S TWO OF YOU! HOW IS THERE TWO OF YOU?" Steven yelled.

Both Alyn and her duplicate flinched at the volume.

"Mission accomplished." Duplicate Alyn saluted the original.

Alyn rolled her eyes. "Just get over here."

The duplicated flew into Alyn and they became one again. Alyn rolled her shoulders appreciating the return of half of her energy and the memories of the duplicate.

"Woah! You're both the same Gem type! Are you both Opals or Labradorites or rainbow hematite, no that's not it umm," Steven knuckled his head in thought, "I know! You're Ammolite!"

Connie looked impressed. "Wow Steven, you really know your iridescent gemstones."

Steven blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, well… you know, I pick things up with the Gems."

Connie looked around at the round cave and the circle of standing stones illuminated by various Gem-tech equipment along the walls. "What is this place?"

"Steven has his Crystal Gem temple and this one is ours!" Alyn's Lyn-aspect proclaimed with hands on her hips.

"You two kind of suck at secrets." Lapis commented from the side.

"Don't think I won't spank you." Alyn told Lapis.

"What did I do?" Lapis asked.

Alyn ignored her and turned her attention to the two who were only now picking themselves off the ground. She shrugged to herself. They were in this far and most of their plans were already in action so it really didn't matter how much they revealed. Her purpose of keeping the Crystal Gems off balance and at arm's length was accomplished when they didn't interfere with her preparations against the Diamonds. Her form blurred into light as Alex and Lyn serrated.

"Ammolite?" Lyn asked with distain once she was separated. "I'll have you know that I carry the lovely Angel Aura Quartz, thank you very much."

Alex facepalmed.

"You're like us!" Steven exclaimed.

"Oops." Lyn shrugged apologetically at Alex.

"Was your mother a Gem? Was she also part of the rebellion? Did she sacrifice her physical form because she loved you so much that she wanted to bring you into the world even though she was leaving behind friends and family and a purpose and you're starting to think that maybe there's more to what everyone is telling you because everyone keeps saying how great she was but then they have hidden conversations that they think you can't hear, because they think you're asleep but you're not, about how the Diamonds are going to come and destroy everything because of something she did and that we're doomed because she isn't with us anymore but now it feels like they're all looking at you to do something and somehow be as strong as your mother but you're not even sure who or what you are?"

Everyone just stared Steven as the boy tried to catch his breath after that long rant.

"And I thought I had problems." Lapis mumbled.

"Ah, no." Lyn awkwardly started. "I got my Gem through different means."

"Oh." Steven muttered awkwardly as Connie gave the boy a hug he desperately needed.

Alex sighed. "You know sometimes I forget that you're just a thirteen-year-old kid who've been thrown into all this."

Connie looked surprised. "You're older than me?"

"Mm-hmm." Steven nodded.

"Gems, even hybrids, don't age the same as humans do." Alex interjected.

"Wait, So I'm stuck like this forever?" Lyn asked while cupping her small developing breasts.

Alex hand chopped her on the head. "Behave in front of the kids."

"Pfft, like you cared when they were Stevonnie."

"We've already threatened Lapis with a spanking, don't think you're immune."

"Promise?"

"Ah, not that I mean to interrupt but who are you people?" Connie awkwardly said.

Lyn spun around the two kids on rainbow wings. "I'm Lyn. The tall drink of water of there is Lapis and the grump is Alex."

Steven frowned. "Wait a minute. Alex… Alexa… Gems… Diamonds. YOU'RE ALEXA'S BROTHER! Aren't you?"

Alex facepalmed again while Lyn just giggled.

"Steven, they've already displayed some strange abilities. What if he is Alexa?"

Lapis pointed to Connie. "I like the smart one."

"Connie, Gems are female… or at least they physically manifest in a feminine form." Steven reminded his friend.

Alex shifted to his Alexa form. "Or… things are beyond your usually understanding."

"But… I… How?"

"I think you broke him." Lyn said as she poked Steven as he rebooted.

Steven shook his head. "Can all Diamonds turn into humans?"

"You know, that's not a bad guess." Alexa admitted. "Outside of the common Gem powerset, only Diamonds have multiple unrelated abilities, it wouldn't be unexpected that they could be hiding an organic transformation."

Steven frowned. "That's not right, my Mum had multiple abilities and so do I."

"Oh no." Connie gasped.

Lyn glanced at Alexa. "She is fast."

Steven looked between everyone feeling like he was missing something. "What?"

"We'll come back to that later," Alexa said, "the point is that no, Diamonds can't become humans; I'm just special."

"Is this why the yellow Diamond was trying to find you?"

"Not quite. The Diamonds have their own reasons for wanting me out of the picture."

"Then why don't you ask the Crystal Gems for help?" Steven Suggested. "I'm sure if we all just sat down and spoke to each other then we could all be friends, even the Diamonds!"

Lyn just rolled her eyes at Steven's naivety.

"Because they can't be trusted." Lapis spat.

"What?! How could you say that?"

"Steven." Alexa stopped him. "This is more than just a children's disagreement."

"What do you mean?"

"The Gems invaded this planet and tried to destroy all life on it thousands of years ago."

"What? Why would they do that?"

"You should talk to Amethyst about visiting her Kindergarten but the short version is that their empire needed more resources."

"Couldn't we just share?"

Alexa shook her head. "No, the process they needed the planet for would have ruined it for any other life."

"How were they stopped?" asked a quiet Connie.

"Rose Quartz didn't want to see the world destroyed so she raised a rebellion to stop the invading Gems and remove them from earth."

"So, the Crystal Gems are the good guys." Steven said hopefully.

"They are." Alexa agreed. "But it was still a civil war. There were loses on both sides and eventually it became a pyrrhic victory."

"What's a Peerick Victory?" Steven asked

"It means they won but that the cost was so great that it may have meant they really lost." Connie answered Steven.

Alexa nodded. "The Diamonds ordered a full retreat and then hit the earth with a combined power that corrupted every gem not shielded or contained: turning them into monsters."

"All the Gem monsters…"

"Were once either members of Roses rebellion or Homeworld soldiers left behind."

"But that's awful! Why would the Diamonds do such a thing."

"It's possible that they didn't know exactly what their attack would do but they thought it was justified since they believed that Rose Quartz had shattered their youngest sister, Pink Diamond."

Everyone was quite while Steven took a few minutes to absorb the new information.

"Mum shattered a Gem?" He said softly.

The silence was broken by Lyn's stomach rumbling.

"What? I haven't eaten since lunch."

"Get Alice to help you get us all some burgers." Alexa gestured and opened a portal to the Warehouse on the closest menhir, through which Lyn quickly skipped.

"I didn't think you could eat food from a Gem Room." Steven said.

"This is different than the rooms the Crystal Gems have." Alexa explained.

"Oh…" Steven just looked down at his hands or maybe the Gem in his middle — it was hard to tell.

"So, if the Homeworld Gems wanted to invade the earth and the Crystal Gems wanted to defend it; where do you guys fall in on all this?" Steven asked.

"Technically, Lyn and myself are just passing through. We don't have anything to do with Homeworld or the Earth except that the Diamonds want to kill me. Morrigan, who you haven't met, is the same. Only Lapis here was a Homeworld Gem originally." Alexa gestured at Lapis who was leaning against one of the standing stones watching them.

"Yo." She nodded.

"You're a Homeworld Gem?"

Lapis just shrugged. "It's… complicated."

"But you don't want to destroy the earth, right?"

"I never cared one way or another about this planet." Lapis admitted. "Both Homeworld and the Crystal Gems are welcome to fight over it. Both of them abandoned me, I've found a home now and it isn't a place." She said the last bit quietly.

Alexa stood up and shifted to Alex then went and gave Lapis a hug. The blue Gem had become a happy, sarcastic part of their lives too. Lapis simply stood awkwardly in the hug, embarrassed but also a little happy.

"How can you say that?" Steven accused. "The Gems would never abandon someone."

"They left me. Trapped in that mirror for hundreds of years!" Lapis growled.

Alex tightened his hold around the trembling Gem.

"Steven." He said sternly. "The Gems were either ignorant, stupid or malicious when they didn't inspect the Mirror that Lapis was trapped in. Rose certainly should have known better."

"But wouldn't they just think that it was just a normal Gem magic mirror?"

Alex sighed and rocked the Lapis in his arms back and forth to calm her. "Gem's use gemstones in their technology but they're supposed to be unenlightened Gems and unless the item they're in remains in contact with the ground for hundreds of years, they remain unenlightened."

Steven just looked at him confused.

"As in those Gems don't have a consciousness. They wouldn't be able to respond like Lapis could when trapped in the mirror."

"But that's not how the Frybo costume worked."

"Fry… Bo?" Lapis just looked confused.

"A French Fries costume that became sentient after Steven animated it with Homeworld's Living Armour Gem-Shards." Alex answered, then returned to Steven. "The Frybo costume was part of an unethical Homeworld experiment to use the remains of shattered Gems in place of unenlightened Gems in their tech to conserve resources being used in the war. Given that it takes years to traditionally grow most advanced Gem-tech, it would have saved Homeworld a significant amount of resources if it had worked"

Lapis Shivered. "I hated those things."

Lyn stepped back into the room with bags of food. She held up a carton of fries. "The necromantic Gem armour or French fries?"

"Both." Lapis said with conviction.

"You'll get over your dislike of food when you get a human body next jump." Alex said as he picked Lapis up — which was somewhat awkward as she was taller than him — and sat down on the bench across from the kids with Lapis now in his lap. He took a bag of food from Lyn who also passed some to Steven and Connie.

"Thanks" Steven said as he looked into the bag.

"Thank you." Connie said politely as she took hers. She looked at the branding on the side. "Umm 'Nasty Burger?'"

"It's only one letter away from 'Tasty.'" Alex sniggered.

"Right." Connie chose not to ask about it.

Alice followed through behind Lyn with a tray of drinks in her hands.

"A Gem-Monster!" Steven cried knocking over his fries as he leapt to his feet and summoned his shield.

"Not a monster!" Alex tried to placate him. He really should have known not to show Alice to them. His repeated attempts to improve her had not gone as he had thought they would. Alice was still a black skeleton but she was now encased in clear crystal flesh that dimly glowed with veins of light from a large pearl at her sternum.

Steven calmed down when Alice didn't even react to him and his shield.

"What is she?" Connie cautiously asked as she took a Pepsi that Alice was offering.

"She's actually close to what Steven was talking about." Alex explained. "I was trying to give a skeleton golem consciousness with an unenlightened Gem I made. She's more aware than before but it'll take time for it to grow."

"You made a slave?" Connie frowned.

"That's pretty much what Pearls are made for." Lapis commented.

"WHAT!?" Steven shouted causing everyone to wince.

"You are very loud sometimes, kid." Alex reprimanded.

"Sorry. But Pearl isn't a slave."

"Lapis didn't say your Pearl is a slave; only that she, like all other Pearls before her, were made with the purpose of serving others. That's how Homeworld works: every Gem is made to fulfil a purpose, anything that goes against that purpose is to be destroyed. Anything and everything are theirs to use to expand their empire." Alex took a bite out of his burger. Mhmm meaty.

"Homeworld doesn't sound like a very fun place." Connie frowned

Alex swallowed. "It's not. It's a totalitarian dictatorship with a strict caste system, a heavily expansionist ideology and a superiority complex against other forms of life."

Lyn sat next to Alex and pulled Lapis' feet onto her lap. "Yep. Genocidal Space Nazis."

Connie and Steven both look confused at that.

"What's a Nazi?" Connie asked.

Lyn was just about to take a bite of her own burger but had to stop to look over it at the kids. "You're joking, right?"

They shook their heads, no.

Alex nudged Lyn. "It's a different place with a different history. It's possible World War Two never happened here."

"The Gems invaded the earth twice?" Steven asked.

"No. Just…" Lyn sighed. "Never mind."

"You guys are from a different world. Aren't you?" Connie asked.

Lyn turned her head to Alex. "Can we keep her?"

"No."

"Pleeeease?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"Alright."

"Really?"

"No."

Steven wasn't sure if they were serious but he hugged on tight to Connie just in case. Connie just blushed at the two's antics and Steven's possessiveness.

"If you're from another world; why are you here?"

"Like I said earlier. We're just passing through."

"What's your own world like?" Steven asked.

Alex shrugged. "Much the same though there are no Gems and no Corrupted Gem-monsters around." He thought for a moment. "There's also no known alien life yet and interstellar travel isn't a thing, oh and it's less sparkly."

"Sparkly?" said Steven as he finished off his burger.

"Yeah, this world just kinda… glitters. It took me a while to get used to it."

The group spent another hour talking about their worlds. Lyn's was much the same as Alex's even if most of her stories had a weird sexual undertone to them. Lapis occasionally piped in with a dry and slightly depressing comparison with Homeworld.

At some point the nights adventures and full bellies had taken their toll on the kids and Steven and Connie were both falling asleep against each other.

"It's a bit late to send them on their way." Alex told Lyn. "Let's just tuck them into one of the spare rooms and call it a night."

They poked the sleepy kids to their feet and wrangled them into one of the bedrooms Alex and Morrigan had carved into the temple stone.

"But I don' wanna go to bed." A sleepy Steven mumbled.

"Go on in you get." Alex herded them into a bed.

They left the room and retuned to Lapis is the main complex area.

"So how do you think they're going to react when they realise they never contacted the Gems to tell them that they're alright?" Lyn sniggered.

"I don't know, but I bet it's going to be funny."

"You guys are awful." Lapis said but there was curl to her lip.

"Speaking of awful." Lyn said as she jumped on Alex and initiated fusion.

The two glowed and reformed into Alyn who looked down at her hands confused.

"I thought we had to dance." Alyn questioned herself but decided it really didn't matter.

Alyn smiled at Lapis. "I promised myself a Lapis for dessert."

"Oh dear." Lapis squeaked.

⦖⋄⦕

NSFW content can be found on AO3, QQ and Pat-ron

⦖⋄⦕

Connie woke in a strange bed to a foot in her face.

"ehwah." She flinched back and sat up.

She looked around the room. It was hard to tell the time as there were no windows only some simple crystals on the walls that glowed dimly, just enough to move around by. The bed was large and formed from a dull crystal though the mattress and sheets seemed normal. She blushed a little when she realised that she was in bed with Steven, even if they were arranged top to tail and that they both still had their clothes on except for their footwear which now that she thought about it had been left at the beach when they first fused. She was still tired but a full bladder had woken her up. Too much of that strange yet addictive soda. Pepsi? What even was a Pepsi and why was it maxed?

"Steven. Steven, wake up."

"Go away Lion, I don't want your pizza." Steven mumbled

"Steven." Connie shook the boy.

"Wha- what? I'm awake!" Steven blinked blearily at Connie. "Connie? What are you doing in my room?"

"We're still at the… well I don't know if they have a name. We're still at Alex's place."

"Oh…" Steven looked around the room. "Then why did you wake me?"

Connie squirmed. "I need to pee."

Steven just stared at her. "Umm, I'm not sure how I can help with that."

Connie rolled her eyes. "Of course not. I just didn't want to go alone." She mumbled.

Steven got it then. It was scary trying to find your way around in the dark in a new place.

"Alright. I'm sure we can find a bathroom somewhere."

They both slipped out of bed and padded from the room in search of a bathroom. The room exited to a stone hallway lit by a line of clear crystal in the wall. To the right the hallway opened to a large room which they recognised as the room they had warped into. She was about to go that way in the hopes of asking someone where the bathroom was when Steven heard voices from his left.

"Connie, I think they're this way." He started left thinking that someone was there that they could ask directions.

They passed a few empty rooms with empty beds or storage shelves inside, the sound of others getting louder as they went, until the hallway turned the corner and opened into a large open bathroom with a large open air hot spring.

Connie and Steven came to an abrupt stop at the sight before them.

Alyn and Lapis were both naked and enjoying the hot spring and clearly not expecting company. Alyn was in a large Diamond enhanced form and at thirty-five feet tall she took up most of the hot spring. The displaced water wasn't overflowing because it was already in the form of large tendrils of water that were wrapped around her breasts and stimulating the large Gem's privates. The much smaller Lapis was writhing in the giant's cupped palms as Alyn used her large tongue on the blue gem causing her to moan in pleasure until she let out a loud cry of release as she came heavily and lost control of her animated water at the same time. Alyn let up her ministrations and slowly shrunk down until she was holding a happy panting lapis in her lap.

"Ah… hah.. ah… give me a minute and then it's my turn." Lapis panted.

Alyn held her gently and kissed along her neck. "Take your time. We have all night."

A red-faced Steven grabbed Connie's hand and they backed out of the room without being seen. They didn't say a word until they were back to their room.

"That was, that… was," Steven started but was unsure what to say.

"Hot?" Connie mumbled with her face flaming.

"What?" Steven asked unsure if she really said what he thought she had.

"Nothing!" Connie squeaked. "I was just saying that I still need to pee."

"Oh, right. Good." Steven sighed and leant back against the wall, which abruptly split open revealing an attached ensuite and causing Steven to land on his ass.

"Found the bathroom." He gave a thumbs up from the floor.

"Oh, thank God!" Connie said and rushed through, she turned and pushed Steven out as he was still getting to his feet, the door closed automatically behind him.

Steven was left to process what he had just seen. He knew adults did adult things to each other but that was intense, wasn't it? Did Connie expect him to turn into a giant woman and umm lick her in that place? Wait? Why would I think about Connie? He thought to himself. Does that mean, her and me and she but we're just-

His tumbled thoughts were distracted by the sound of water tinkling into a pool. Steven's head felt like it could pop from the amount of blood that rushed to his face when he realised he could hear Connie peeing. Oh gosh, I shouldn't be hearing this, Should I?

Suffice to say that Steven was very confused about the whole situation. He honestly didn't know how he felt or how he was supposed to feel as no one had ever actually explained such things to him.

Connie wasn't doing much better. Mixed in with the relief that she hadn't embarrassed herself in front of her friend by wetting herself was a strange feeling of nervous excitement over what she had just witnessed. She had a little more experience and understanding than the half-Gem boy; not through practical experience of course but because her mother had given her the talk and she had read some of the more… inappropriate young adult fiction in the library. Could Steven do that? Because that would be amazing. She blushed at where her thoughts were taking her.

She finished up and washed her hands. The bathroom door whooshed open with a touch. She found Steven standing awkwardly by the bed, his face still red.

"We umm, we should get some sleep." Connie said.

"Right! Sleep. In the bed. With you. Sleep, that is! Because that's what beds are for." He rambled.

They both got back under the covers while trying not to think about what they had seen or of each other.

Suffice to say it was a few more hours before either of them was able to get back to sleep.

⦖⋄⦕

AN:

I'm going to pre-emptively answer a question that is going to come up.

At this time I'm not planning on writing about anything Steven or Connie might get up to.

While steven is approaching the age at which i personally dont care if people write smut about, both characters come accross as too "young:" emotionally for me to write that myself.

I was trying for that awkwardness of young sexuality in the last scene.
They're curious, they're interested and they have no idea what to do or how to do it but they'll work it out themselves in their own time.

Since it'll likely come up I'll explain now that Steven does not have a pee fetish.

That's actually a call out to my own youth when i was of a simular age and starting to get interested in girls. I had to wait on a female friend going to the bathroom and we were in a shady city mall place so i was "guarding" right outside and could hear her peeing. I remember being really embarrassed about it because it was something i "shouldn't" be hearing and was involved with "private parts" of her body. I'm not going to lie and say i wasn't curious about the mechanics behind it all but it didn't spark some great facination with urination.

Now the time a friend asked me to give her a foot massage... that did spark a life long appreciation of the female thighs, calfs and feet.

Leg man all the way.