Steven wanted to close his eyes, hoping maybe he could pretend this was all a really bad dream. But even he had to admit that didn't seem very practical. Instead, he could only watch in horror as the ruby Gem remained suspended in mid-air, glowing brightly as a mass of solid light came seeping out from within the Gem, forming into the shape of a body.
Steven briefly thought about running or trying to hide somewhere before the Gem finished forming, but there was no time and he was already paralyzed by shock. How could this have happened? This wasn't the future he had seen when Sapphire temporally transferred her power to him. In his vision, Steven had seen himself taking the bubbled Gem, sneaking out from the Temple before the Crystal gems would notice and bringing it back to Sapphire. But now everything had been thrown in disarray. Now he had no idea what was going to happen. How could one little slip of his foot have caused everything to go so horribly wrong?
But in another moment or so, those thoughts would no longer matter. Steven braced himself, expecting to come face to face with huge, terrifying Gem monstrosity. In one final pulse of light, the ruby Gem had finalized its true form and landed on the floor of the Burning Room, throwing back its head and letting out a mighty roar.
"ARRHHHH!"
Steven's eyes needed a second to adjust probably after the light has dissipated, but once he finally laid eyes on the Gem, he briefly thought there was something wrong with his vision.
Rather than transforming into some kind of giant, fearsome and ferocious beast, the ruby Gem had formed into the body of a diminutive little figure, just slightly taller than Steven himself. The Gem's skin was bright red and spotted a large bushel of reddish-brown hair on its head, in the shape of a square, with a red bandana tied around the top of it. Its clothing was nothing but a black pair of shorts, boots and maroon-tank top. And despite its small stature, the Gem's body appeared to be surprisingly bulky, almost beefy looking, particularly around the arms and legs.
When the ruby Gem appeared in the room, the first thing it did was throw it's fists up into the air, as if ready for a fight, but its intense and angry expression quickly turned to confusion. The Gem had seemed to realise something was not right with its present situation and was fidgetily glancing around the Burning Room, looking much like an animal thrown into some unknown environment, snorting and grunting incomprehensibly in every direction.
"What the heck is this?!" the Gem finally cried out, with a gruff sounding voice, yet underneath it there seemed to be slight feminine quality to it.
The Gem then took notice of Steven, who still sitting on his knees and staring back at the little Gem, with wide eyes; he couldn't help but think she was a little bit adorable. He knew to refer to the Gem as a she, remembering Peridot once saying something about how all Gems use female pronouns as a default.
Steven was on the verge of speaking when the red Gem fired a barrage of questions at him, becoming increasingly flustered with each one.
"Where am I? Who are you? What is this place? What's your name? Why aren't you answering my questions?!"
"Um, hi" Steven said, nervous, yet surprisingly, he still felt as though he should make a good first impression. "You're inside the Temple. I'm Steven. This is the Temple. And my name's Steven".
"But why am I here?" the Gem growled, stomping her foot on the floor in frustration. "I have to get back to Galaxy Warp!"
"The Galaxy Warp?" Steven repeated, with some surprise, consciously pulling at the collar of his shirt. Maybe it was just the sudden excitement in the air, but Steven now felt that the room had become much warmer for some reason. "Um, sorry, but it's kinda broken"
"B-b-b-broken?" the Gem spluttered incredulously; for a moment, Steven swore he could see a faint trace of stream erupting from top of her head. "What the heck is it doing broken?"
"Well, uh you see-"
But the Gem was no longer listening to Steven, having already lost interest in him. She was now back to surveying the Burning Room, perhaps looking for a way out, when she glanced up toward the celling and froze once she had spotted bubbled Gems floating above their heads, her eyes going wide with terror.
"I've been captured!" she said, with a gasp. She then turned back to Steven, throwing an angry finger at him. "Release me now!"
"But you're already free" Steven said, feebly.
"Don't confuse me!" the Gem replied, spluttering again, her face crunching up in rage as though she was on the verge of losing whatever sense of control she had. Beside them, the pool of lava began to bubble violently, with droplets of red-hot liquid starting to spray onto the floor. Steven only narrowly avoided getting struck by some of the spray as it sizzled on the stone floor, scrambling back to his feet again.
"Ah, ok, ok, ok!" he said, quickly. "Look, let's just take a second to calm down and we can work this whole thing out in a nice, calm manner". Steven raised his hands in a peaceful gesture as he slowly began to approach the little red Gem, who was eyeing him warily.
"How about we introduce ourselves? What's your name?" Steven extended his hand out. The red Gem, hesitantly lifted up her left hand, revealing to the Steven her gemstone in the center of her palm, before clasping her hand tightly around Steven's with a very firm grip,
"Ruby" the Gem replied in a low grunt
"Hi, Ruby" Steven replied, cordially. "My name is Steven Universe and I'm one of the Crystal Gems and we-"
Without warning, the pool of lava suddenly erupted again, this time with the force of a geyser, releasing a fiery column of molten liquid up toward the celling, that just barely missed hitting any of the other bubbled Gems. Steven immediately backed away from Ruby as he felt an intense wave of heat radiating from around her body.
"The Crystal GEMS!?" Ruby bellowed, her eyes going mad with an unyielding fury. Raising her left arm in the air, Ruby clenched her fist and in another flash of light, a crimson gauntlet materialised around her fist and wrist. With another yell, she pulled her gauntlet back and swung it down hard at Steven, with the intent to knock his head off.
Steven let out a terrified scream, barely ducking out of the way of Ruby's wild haymaker attack. He instinctively turned on his heel and tried to run away, but Ruby soon chased after him, the two of them quickly doing at least half a dozen laps around the pool of lava which was still simmering with an intense heat.
"Ok, shield, shield, shield!" Steven said, pulling up his shirt to expose his gemstone, hoping that might make the process easier. "Gotta make a shield!"
Steven shut his eyes and concentrated with all his might, trying to summon his mother's signature weapon, but he had never really gotten the hang of it after the first time. He was so preoccupied with trying to draw out his shield, that he failed to keep track of where he was going and ran face first into the nearest wall. By the time Steven got his bearings again, Ruby had already caught up to him.
"Aha!" she said triumphantly. "Cornered!
Ruby pulled back her gauntlet, ready to strike Steven down. Despite how small she was, Steven knew for certain that he that Gems were naturally stronger than most humans, and it's unlikely he would be able to withstand a single punch from her. He couldn't dodge it either. Somehow or another, he had to block the attack. Block it, block it and-
In another flash of light, a circular pink shield with a rose symbol projected itself out from Steven's belly button and attached itself to Steven's arm at the perfect second to absorb Ruby's gauntlet, both weapons colliding in a dazzling clash of red and pink.
Steven's face lit once she saw his mother's around his arm, protecting him from harm, feeling both grateful and pleased with himself that he was able to summon it.
Ruby's arm bounced off the shield, its strength having trumped her attack. But that didn't deter her in the slightest. With another battle cry, Ruby began to repeatedly smash her gauntlet against Steven's shield, like a mad wood cutter chopping their way through a thick a tree trunk.
"Wait, please, just stop for a second!" Steven cried desperately, trying to raise his voice over the sound of her banging, already beginning to feel his arm stain under the endless blows. "I want to help you! I was sent here to get you. I was sent by Sapphire!"
The instant that final word came out of Steven's mouth, Ruby froze on the spot, her gauntlet still poised in mid-strike. Every trace of her anger and aggression had vanished. The pool of lava was no longer bubbling violently. Instead it appeared as flat and calm as a lake of fresh spring water.
"Sapphire?" Ruby whispered softly, as though no other word in existence was as precious to her.
"I'm a friend of Sapphire" Steven continued. "She sent me to get you"
"Liar!" Ruby screamed, suddenly snarling again, pulling her gauntlet back for another strike.
"No, no, wait, I have proof!" Steven said, quickly reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. "Here, see!"
Steven opened his phone and navigated through his folder inventory until he found the picture he had taken earlier of Sapphire and himself, holding it up for Ruby to view through the transparent surface of Steven's shield.
Ruby went completely slacked jawed, her eyes focused on nothing but the small electronic photo in front of her. She lowered her left arm just as her gauntlet vanished into a light; violence now appeared to be the absolute last thing on her mind.
Seeing that Ruby was now in a relatively calm state, Steven deactivated his shield, although he wasn't sure if he had done it consciously or not.
"See, this is me and Sapphire" he said gently, careful not to try and trigger another reaction out of Ruby. "We're friends". Steven handed Ruby the phone, allowing her to get a better look at the picture.
"Sapphire?" Ruby whispered, running her fingers across the screen, over Sapphire's face. "It's really her…"
"She and I just met today, but she told me-"
"Sapphire!" Ruby screamed into the phone. "How'd you get in there?! Don't worry, I'll get you out!" Ruby gripped the edges of the phone, trying to pry open and free what she believed to be the trapped Sapphire.
"No, wait, stop!" Steven said, pulling the phone out of Ruby's hands before she could damage it. "This isn't really her, it's just a picture I took"
"Then where is the real Sapphire?!" Ruby demanded impatiently, throwing her arms up at Steven, standing almost nose to nose with him.
"Please, calm down" Steven said, already beginning to lose his nerve again. "I can take you to Sapphire. She's just outside"
"Outside? Outside where? Where? Where!?" Ruby roughly seized Steven by the arms and furiously began to shake him. Beside them, the pool of lava was once again rippling with energy.
"She's waiting for me to bring you to her" Steven stuttered, struggling to speak as his head was bobbing back and forth helplessly. "That's why I'm here".
Ruby didn't appear to have heard Steven, as she continued to throttle him, too caught up in her own impatience to think rationally.
At the rate she was going, it was only a matter of time before she did something to alert the Crystal Gems to her presence in the Temple. Steven realised he would have to do something to get Ruby under control, otherwise everything would be ruined.
Deciding it was time to put his foot down, Steven reached up and grabbed a hold of Ruby's forearms, forcing her to stop shaking him. Pulling himself free of her grip, Steven cleared his throat, giving Ruby a sharp and stern look, trying his best to appear authoritative.
"Now I need you listen to me very carefully, ok?" he said, very serious.
Ruby held Steven's gaze for a moment. Perhaps she was little taken back by his sudden display of confidence, but she slowly lowered her hands to her sides and after another pause, she nodded at Steven in confirmation.
"I'll take you to meet Sapphire, but no matter what happens, we can't be seen" Steven said, putting emphasis on the last part. "If we are, then we're both going to be a lot of trouble. Understand?"
"Yes" Ruby said, nodding again, perfectly calm and serious.
Steven let out a sigh of relief, releasing the tension he felt in his stomach, grateful that he they were finally making some progress, already beginning to relax himself again.
"Good." Allowing himself a smile, Steven calmly took hold of Ruby's left hand. "Now all you have to do is follow me and keep quiet, and you'll see Sapphire in no-"
"SAPPHIRE! I'm coming for ya!"
Charing ahead like a mad bull, Ruby rushed past Steven in the blink of eye, pulling her hand free from his own with such force that Steven's arm was almost yanked from its socket as he tried to hold on to her, his body pulled down to the ground.
"Wait, come back!" Steven called out as Ruby disappeared down into an open passageway. Beginning to panic again, Steven quickly sprang to his feet and chased after Ruby, hoping to catch to her before she ran into one of the Crystal Gems. He didn't know what would be worse; the fact he would let Sapphire down or how mad the Crystal Gems were going to be with him.
Steven sped down the dark passageway, which soon diverged into a number of separate tunnels that went off it at least a dozen directions. Ruby could have gone down any one of them and left no trail of any kind that Steven could see. But then Steven had another idea.
He approached one of the tunnels and raised his hand up in the air, holding his palm out in front of the entrance, feeling a faint draft passing through his fingers. Steven then moved slowly up along the wall of tunnels, stopping at each one while keeping his open palm raised up, until he found one tunnel where the air felt slightly warmer than it been for all the others. Deciding that the was the best bet, Steven entered into his chosen tunnel, running as fast as he could.
The further in he went down into this particular tunnel, the more Steven felt sure this was the direction Ruby had gone, given the still lingering residual heat she had left behind in her wake. As he neared the end of the tunnel, Steven started to hear something; heavy, booming, drum music echoing off the walls. Exiting from the tunnel, Steven found himself standing at the edge of a high cliff, overlooking what appeared to be a huge red, rocky valley, which he soon recognised as Jasper's room.
And sure enough, he spotted Jasper herself down at the base of the cliff, standing in the middle of a small ring. In front her was rectangular slab of stone, etched with unreadable runes and suspended a few feet off the ground by a thick metal chain that stretched all the way up to the ceiling of the room. Her fists raised in a fighting stance, Jasper was punching away at the slab with a series of quick jabs, each one strong enough to knock the slab several feet back, the runes on the side of the stone glowing brightly up with each blow.
On a small, rocky perch next to the ring was a large boombox, blasting out what sounded like every heavy metal fan's dream composition piece multiplied by a thousand. After hitting the slab with a swift uppercut, Jasper moved away from it and walked over to her boombox, swapping out the CD for another.
For a moment Steven was relieved, as it looked like Jasper hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. But that relief soon disappeared, when he saw Ruby sneaking out from behind some rocks and walking into the ring while Jasper's back was still turned. Ruby jumped on top of the slab and then latched onto the metal chain holding it place, beginning to shimmy her way toward the ceiling of the room. Steven had no idea how she got down there or what she was trying to do, but it looked as though Ruby must have thought there was a way out near the roof of the Jasper's room.
After adjusting her music, Jasper returned to the slab and resumed her punching, too engrossed with what she with the intensity of her training to notice Ruby climbing up the chain over her head, although Ruby now appeared to be having more difficulty holding on as the chain swung and back forth with Jasper's punches. Knowing that he to get to Ruby out of here before Jasper saw, Steven waited until the chain swung close enough to the cliff he was standing on and then leapt off the edge, wrapping his arms and legs around the chain right above Ruby, effectively blocking her path, much to her surprise and chagrin.
Steven quickly put his finger to his lips, beckoning her to be quiet. Now all he had to was get her off the chain and out of Jasper's room. Steven took one look around him and he very soon realised that he may not have thought this part through very well, seeing as there was no where from them to go, up or down. Before Steven could figure something out, Ruby was already starting to pull at his ankle in an attempt to throw him off the chain, but Steven manged to hold, despite the nausea he was beginning to feel due to the constant swinging of the chain.
Ruby growled, quickly becoming frustrated yet again. As her anger began to rise, the metal chain she was holding onto was turning bright red, a brilliant streak of crimson heat that slowly travelled up and down the length of the chain. Steven soon felt his own hands start to blister with the abrupt heat and was forced to release them, tucking them both into his mouth in an effort to cool them. With his grip now lost, Steven felt his legs as they slipped off the chain and he fell backwards. Fortunately, he landed on top of Ruby who still directly below him, while managing wrap his arms around her neck, holding on as tightly as he could to keep himself from falling further. Practically fuming, Ruby began to thrash around, trying throw Steven off her body, the metal chain becoming hotter and redder by the second. Suddenly, they both simultaneously stopped their bickering when they noticed something strange; the chain had stopped swinging.
Surprised, they looked downwards and saw Jasper taking up a stance in front of the now stationary slab, her crash helmet visible on her brow. In one smooth motion, tucked her head under her legs, her white hair transforming her entire body into a spinning buzz saw. Steven tightened his hold on Ruby and braced himself, knowing exactly what was coming next.
Launching herself like a cannon, Jasper smashed into the slab with a thunderous impact, knocking it clean upwards like a wrecking ball, so far and so high that the chain went taunt, the still glowing red section of metal that Ruby had inadvertently heated stretching itself like an elastic until it snapped clean in half. Without its anchor, the slab went flying into the air, with Ruby and Steven trailing behind it, holding onto the remaining part of the chain for dear life. The sound of Jasper's boombox soon faded out as they flew out from rocky valley that was her room and deeper into the Temple, the wind whipping past them until finally they came to a stop when the slab crashed into a solid rock formation, leaving Steven and Ruby to tangle underneath it, still holding onto the chain.
For a moment, the Gem and Gem-human each breathed sigh of relief, until they heard another loud snap as the rest of the chain that they were holding onto broke off the slab. They fell downwards with a scream, but not for very long
Only a few feet below them, they landed on a solid, green coloured barrier, made of some kind of glass.
With his face mushed into the transparent surface, Steven could make out what appeared to be diamond shaped room, with many strange, polygonal shaped devices and instruments standing perched on numerous hexadecimal shaped pedestals; translucent computer monitors were hovering up around the walls and close to the celling, suspended by absolutely nothing; metal cylinders were shooting up out of the floor and embedded into the walls like roots of a tree.
Moving his eyes up to the topmost corner of the room, Steven could make out the distinctive shape of Peridot, diligently working away at an oval shaped computer terminal, numerous flask robonoids scurrying about at her feet.
Pulling his face up from the glass, Steven soon realised where they had landed; right on top of Peridot's room and observatory. It looked as though she had noticed Steven or Ruby presence just yet.
"Phew, that was close" Steven said casually to Ruby, needing the moment to let his heart rate return to normal. "Okay, now we just need to keep calm and think of a plan to-no, no wait!"
But it was too late. In the time that Steven had begun talking, Ruby had already summoned her gauntlet once again and without a moment's pause to listen to Steven's warning, she punched the glass barrier that was in her way, shattering it to pieces and dropping the two of them into Peridot's observatory.
Steven's body hit the lime green floor with a solid thud. Ruby landed next to him, though a little less gracefully; upside down and directly on top of her own head.
Fortunately for Steven, the drop hadn't been that high. Even more so was the fact that they he had managed to avoid landing on any of the broken glass, but their noisy entrance did not go unnoticed.
"Huh? What was that?"
Steven heard the clanking of Peridot's feet leaving her computer terminal from the other side of the room and coming towards them.
Before she could do any more damaged, Steven hurriedly slapped his hand over Ruby's mouth just as she was about to shout again and dragged her around behind one of the nearest pedestals. Keeping a firm hold on Ruby, her angry shouts muffled by his hand, Steven peered around the pedestal, watching as Peridot came into his line of sight. She stopped at the area when they had landed, picking one of the broken pieces of glass shards to examine it.
Peridot then turned her head up toward and spotted the gaping hole in her observatory ceiling and beyond that, she could see the rectangular slab sticking out from the roof of the cavern surrounding her room.
"Jasper!" she growled angrily, narrowing her eyes. Incensed at the sudden disruption, Peridot marched over to a circular platform etched into the floor, which lit up the moment she stepped foot on it. The platform sunk into the floor, lowering Peridot out of the observatory and into the Temple, no doubt to find and reprimand Jasper.
Seeing that they were in the clear yet again, Steven released Ruby and slumped back against the computer console. He wasn't sure how many more close calls he could take.
The moment Steven let go of her, Ruby rushed over to the elevator platform as it returned to the floor and frantically began to jump up and down on its surface, trying to get it to move again, but the platform remained stationary.
"Come on! Move already" Ruby said impatiently, no idea what she could possibly be doing wrong.
Groaning with some impatient, Steven was about to stand up, but then glanced down and noticed one of Peridot's robonoids crawling over his legs. Getting another idea, Steven picked up the spider-like robot and brought it over to the elevator platform next to Ruby. He placed the robonoid down on the surface of the platform; it activated at once, just as it had done for Peridot, lowering Steven and Ruby out of floating observatory and down into the open cave.
As he and Ruby descended into the cave surrounding Peridot's room, Steven could see the Temple doorway from where he had entered just ahead of them.
"This way" Steven said to Ruby, hopping off the platform once it hit the ground. "This the door that will take us out"
Keeping a very firm grip on Ruby's hand this time, Steven lead her to the doorway, which opened at Steven's presence. Thinking that they were safe, Steven was about to step across the threshold of the doorway and into his house, but then caught a flash of something blue on the other side of the door and instantly pushed Ruby back into the Temple, the doorway closing again.
"What the heck are you doing?" Ruby snapped impatiently. "You said that was the way out!"
"Lapis is out there. I don't think she saw us, but there's no way we can sneak past her" Steven explained, keeping his eyes on the door, thinking that Lapis could come through any second. "She was supposed to be gone when I came back out, but we must have wasted too much time"
"I don't care who is out there!" Ruby said. "Unless it's Sapphire, then I'm gonna punch my way straight through it". She about to charge at the door, but Steven stepped in front of her, throwing his arms out wide to block her path.
"Stop! Can you please just stop moving for even one second!?" Steven exclaimed, briefly releasing some of his pent-up frustration. He groaned heavily. "What is the matter with you? Can't you sit still long enough for me to come up with a plan? You can't keep rushing into things without thinking"
"The only thing I'm thinking about is Sapphire!" Ruby snapped. "And I don't care how it happens, so long as I see her again! I can't be worrying about plans. When you want something, you just go and make it happen! Just-just-just, like, like bam! And-and then pow! Then it's like baboom and, and…."
Ruby trailed off as she began to pace back and forth, randomly punching and kicking the air while making odd, incomprehensible exclamations to emphases her point, whatever that happened to be.
Steven felt sudden urge to rip his own hair out, which he quickly had to suppress. He had never met anyone who that was so rash and impulsive all the time. Ruby was much like a rocket; point her in any direction and she would go flying with no sign of stopping or altering course. Not that Steven would ever criticize her over her own personality, but at the present moment, she was being extremely inconvenient.
"We have to think of some way of getting past Lapis" Steven said, trying to focus his thoughts on a practical solution. Something then came to his mind.
"Hey, you shapeshift right?" he asked, looking at Ruby
"Yeah" Ruby replied offhandedly. "So?"
"So, all you have to do is shapeshift into something that won't attract too much attention" Steven said, smiling eagerly. "Like a hat!"
"What's a hat?" Ruby said, looking utterly confused.
Steven's smile faded very quickly. "Or how about a tennis racket? Or, maybe, you know, an umbrella? Or a flashlight? A skateboard? A backpack?" His sense of hope was getting weaker with each suggestion.
Ruby blinked once, still drawing a total blank. Steven groaned again, until another idea popped into his head.
"Wait, I got it. If you turned back into a gem, I could hide you in my pocket and Lapis won't see you"
"But then I'll be stuck as a gem!" Ruby growled incredulously. "Last time that happened, I got stuck in a bubble!"
"That won't happen this time, I promise" Steven said, putting his hands up in a reassuring gesture. "You gotta trust me on this, ok?
"Trust you!?" Ruby spat furiously. She drew closer to Steven and jabbed her index finger into his chest, somewhat painfully. "If you're really a Crystal Gem, then the absolute last thing I should do is trust you! Now get out of my way!"
Ruby once again tried to force her way past Steven and take another run at the door, but this time, Steven would not allow her to go, firmly standing his ground, his arms spread out wide, refusing to budge. Ruby face contorted in an expression of inexpressible anger, steam raising up from her back as she appeared ready to explode. Down at her side, her red gauntlet materialised on her wrist, as though she was preparing to knock Steven out of her way if she had to.
"I promised Sapphire I'd bring you to her" Steven said, unintimated by Ruby's show of hostility. "And that's what fate is, isn't it? A promise that you always keep!"
Ruby suddenly balked, her anger abruptly subsiding, much like it had done back in the Burning Room. She stared hard at Steven, as if taking the chance to truly look him over for the first time. She looked down to the floor, grimacing with a reluctance; it appeared as though she was trying to make up her mind about something.
Eventually, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, fully composing herself, displaying the greatest sense of self-control she had since she was freed from her bubble.
"You really promise?" she said, quietly. She glanced up from the floor, waiting to see Steven's reaction.
"I do" Steven replied without a moment of hesitation or doubt. "I promise I'll keep you safe until you get to Sapphire"
That was all Ruby needed to hear. She closed her eyes again and lowered her head in a kind of respectful nod.
"Ok" she said, accepting her fate, for better or worse. "Then I'll see her on the other side"
Steven smiled, feeling grateful that Ruby decided to trust him. "Thank you. Now we just have to think of making you-"
"ARGH!" Without any hesitation and with unflinching accuracy, Ruby punched herself right in the face with her own gauntlet as hard she possibly could and then disappeared in a puff of red smoke, reverting back to nothing but her red gem, which dropped down to the ground.
Surprised, but nonetheless relieved, Steven picked up the now conveniently sized Ruby and carefully placed her into his pocket. That was one problem solved. Now all he needed was to make it another ten yards and he would be home free. With a nervous gulp, Steven turned back to the Temple door and composed himself as best could.
Steven walked as fast as could, short of breaking into a run, keeping his eyes firmly on the door and nothing else. He was so close, he could almost taste the ocean air. He was just about to make past Lapis, when she finally turned around and took notice of him for the first time.
"Hi, Steven" she said, happily. Steven slammed on his breaks so hard he might have had whiplash, stopping in the middle of the living area, halfway to the front door. He slowly turned his head to face Lapis, who smiling back at him.
"I haven't seen you all day. Where have you been?" she asked amicably.
"Some….where" Steven answered, trying with all his might to keep his voice from cracking, without much success. He cleared his throat and quickly tried to change the topic, afraid that his silence would make him look less conspicuously.
"What have you been doing?" he asked, hoping he could come off sounding like his typical, non-suspicious self.
"I was trying to read my new volume of Pretty Hair Stylist, but then Lion got a hold of it". Lapis cast a dark glance over to Lion, who was sleeping blissfully in the corner. "I was pretty mad at him. But then I decided I could just another book. So, I flew halfway around the world to the main distributor and got new a brand new one."
Lapis held up the colourful comic, which was written in distinctively non-English kanji. Steven stared at the comic, unsure of what to say, but Lapis merely shrugged.
"I know I can't read it, but I still don't want Lion to have it" she said, dryly.
"Oh, that Lion of mine!" Steven said, chuckling a bit too loudly. "Whoo, I'm just soooo shocked, I think I'll go out and get some fresh head to clear my air".
Lapis eyed Steven curiously, noting the unusual tension around him, as opposed to his normal, more relaxed state. Steven smiled back at her with a wide grin, slowly side stepping around her and moving closer towards the door.
"Your silence only further compounds your guilt, Jasper!"
Steven froze up again, his eyes focusing back on the Temple door as it opened up again, with Jasper striding out of it, followed closely behind by Peridot, who was pointing an accusing finger at her fellow Crystal Gem.
"For the last time, I didn't break your stuff" Jasper said, sounding somewhere between irritated and uninterested, without even turning around to acknowledge Peridot.
"Oh, please!" Peridot said, rolling her head sarcastically. "Let's review the evidence. There I was, skilfully monitoring sensitive data in my secure observatory when I interrupted by an abrupt disturbance. Upon my investigation into said disturbance, I discovered a hole in the celling of observatory and directly above this hole, embedded into the celling of my room was one of your ostentation kinetic energy absorbing blocks. An obviously far too coincidental sequences of events to be anything other than a discernible pattern perpetrated by your relenting and childish desire to aggravate me!"
Jasper remained silent while Peridot ranted, making her way over to the fridge and pulling out a carton of juice. Jasper proceeded to lug down the entire carton in one impressive gulp. Once she had finished, she stuffed the rest of the plastic carton into her mouth and swallowed it whole.
"And if one of my slabs was stuck in the celling, then how did it make a hole in your observatory?" Jasper asked, still not turning around.
Peridot opened her mouth, but paused, with no sound coming out whatsoever, until finally, she said; "It couldn't! Obviously" she added bitterly, turning away from Jasper for the sake of maintaining her pride. From the other side of the room, Lapis glanced between Peridot and Jasper; her expression was blank, but she had already deduced enough to realise what was really going around. She turned back to Steven, just in time to catch him tip toe his way over to the door.
"Steven" she said sharply, making him stop at once. He slowly turned around to face Lapis with a nervous expression. Peridot and Jasper likewise turned their attention to Lapis, surprised by her tone.
"What were you doing in the Temple?" Lapis asked, arms now crossed, looking down at him sternly.
Steven gulped, sweat rolling down his forehead as he dithered on the edge of a response, but his mind was a complete blank.
"I, uh…I was just…."
"Steven was in the Temple?" Peridot said in surprise. She frowned and marched forward, standing beside Lapis, giving Steven a disapproving look. "Now Steven, you know the rules. You can't be in the Temple unsupervised."
"I-I know that!" he replied quickly. "I'm sorry. I really just needed to go inside for a little bit, that's all"
"Did you break my things?" Peridot asked.
Steven averted his eyes up the ceiling, trying to keep his thoughts together. "That was me. I'm really, really sorry".
Peridot groaned in annoyance. "It's so much more convenient when I can blame Jasper for these things".
"Steven, you shouldn't be sneaking around in the Temple like that without telling us" Lapis said, sounding disappointed but no less firm. "You could have gotten hurt"
"I didn't get hurt" Steven said quickly, raising his arms. "Not one bit, see? Nothing to worry about at all". Without saying a word, Jasper marched forward and brushed past Peridot and Lapis, to stand directly in front of Steven, who seemed to shrivel up under her towering figure.
"And why exactly you did go into Temple in the first place?" Jasper asked, sounding suspiciously interested. Her voice was perfectly calm, but there was no mistaking that she meant that as a serious question.
"No reason in particular" Steven said, trying to brush things off a cheery smile. "Anyway, I was just about to go out for a night time walk and-"
"Why were you in the Temple?" Jasper asked once again, as if she hadn't heard Steven's first response, glaring down at him.
"I was, um…"
Without taking her eyes off Steven, Jasper took a single step forward, causing Steven to immediately back away from her in response. Jasper took another deliberate step. Steven backed away yet again, his confidence faltering every second under Jasper's unwavering gaze. Then for a brief moment, he broke eye contact with her to cast a nervous glance back at the door out of the corner of his eye. By now, he had already told Jasper more than enough.
"Why were you in the Temple?" she asked, crossing her arms firmly, making it clear she wanted nothing short of a straight answer this time.
Trickles of sweat accumulating down his back, Steven closed his eyes and tried to put as much confidence as he could into his voice, while at the same time, not being wholly dishonest. "I needed to go in, to do something…in private".
"And what exactly was this private thing?" Jasper asked, one eyebrow raised, noting Steven's deflection.
"I-I-I…uh…" Steven gulped, having suddenly lost his ability to speak altogether, Jasper's piercing stare bearing down upon him.
Suddenly, a loud buzzing noise erupted right beside Steven, making him jump in fright. He whipped his head around to from side to side until he realised the buzzing noise was coming from his phone, which was ringing from inside his pocket.
Steven turned back to Jasper with a nervous smile, but Jasper still appeared just as unamused as ever, with the same cold, intimidating look in her eyes. With a slightly shaking hand, Steven slowly reached into his pocket and grabbed hold of his vibrating phone, hoping to quickly mute the call, but when he tried to pull it out, he felt that the phone was stuck on something.
His heartbeat began to quicken at an abnormal pace; between the sound of the ringing phone and Jasper's cold stare boring into him, Steven could feel himself give way to his growing panic until he literally had to yanked the phone out of his pocket, with more force than he intended. But that was not the only came out of Steven's pocket, as he had forgotten what else he had stuffed in there. Realising all too late, Steven watched in a kind of strange slow motion, as Ruby's gem dropped out of his pocket and clattered down to the floor.
Steven's phone finally stopped ringing. He didn't check who it was.
The entire room was deathly silence. All three Crystal Gems were now all looking at the red gem sitting in the middle of their home, in the same manner as though a severed head had just rolled onto the floor.
Lapis stood motionless, her face frozen in an expression of shock, as a horrible fear began to arise from somewhere deep within her soul; a part of herself she longed to keep buried.
Jasper inhaled sharply through her nostrils, gritting her teeth and clenching her knuckles tightly, her entire body readying itself for an imminent battle every instinct she had screaming danger.
Peridot appeared too stunned to even react, although she was quite certain that something must have gone wrong with her vision spheres. Eventually she recovered and was the first of the Crystal Gems to finally speak up.
"Please lie to me and tell me that's not what I know it is" she said, somehow sounding both hopeful and pessimistic at the same time.
"That's a Gem" Lapis whispered, as though she could hardly believe it herself. Before anyone else could make a move to take it, Steven quickly grabbed the gem up off the floor, tossing his phone away.
"Steven, what are you doing with that?" Jasper shouted, sounding furious. "You took that out of the Temple, didn't you? What the heck were you thinking? That is not a toy!"
"No, it's fine, this Gem isn't a monster or anything" Steven said, trying to placate the situation, but his response only made things worse.
"How do you know that!?" Jasper snapped at once, her voice practically rattling the interior of the house. Her eyes widened, as she advanced on him, looking livid. "Are you saying you spoke to it!?"
"I-I-I-I'm really sorry" Steven said fearfully, retreating back from Jasper. "I just need to take it outside for a while. That's all"
"Steven, that Gem is dangerous!" Peridot said, holding her hands up cautiously, as if trying to persuade a dangerous criminal to drop a lethal weapon. "We can't risk taking it out of the Temple. Why in the world would you even think of taking something like out!?"
"Hand over it, now!" Jasper said, thrusting her open palm in front of Steven.
"No, I can't" Steven said, shaking his head, holding onto the gem protectively, keeping it as far out of Jasper's reach as he could.
"That wasn't a request!" Jasper said, narrowing her eyes dangerously. "That's an order!" Without warning, Jasper's massive orange hand reached out and wrapped around Steven's tiny wrist like iron clad vice, pulling him towards her body, as she bent down her knee to Steven's level.
"No, stop! I made a promise!" Steven pleaded, as he felt feet drag helplessly across the wooden boards, unable to do anything against Jasper's monstrous strength.
"Steven, please, just give us that Gem before something terrible happens!" Lapis implored, now sounding afraid.
"You don't understand what you're doing!" Peridot cried, looking equally as scared as Lapis, neither of them making any attempt to get in between Steven and Jasper.
Steven tried with all his might to pull himself free from Jasper's grasp, but her hold on him was so strong he might as well have been trying to move a boulder. He struggled to keep his fist clenched around Ruby's gem, the pressure Jasper was applying around his wrist making him want to let go; he couldn't tell if she was deliberately trying to hurt him or not.
Using her right hand, Jasper dug her fingers into Steven's fist and began to pry his fingers open. Despite his best efforts to his hand closed, Jasper pulled his fingers apart, revealing the exposed gem.
Steven gasped in horror. He couldn't let Ruby be taken away, not after she had trusted him. "Please, let go!"
But Jasper wasn't listening to him; her eyes were focused her target with ruthless determination. The tips of her two fingers brushed against the surface of the gem, seconds away from lifting it out of Steven's hand. In that instant, Steven knew that he had to stop Jasper from taking the helpless gem. He had to protect Ruby, he had to keep his promise. Nothing else mattered.
With that singular resolve in his mind, Steven felt a burst of frustration and anger begin to swell up in the pit of belly, bubbling upwards through his body, feeling a sudden rush of energy that he had to release.
"I said LET GO!"
Shutting his eyes closed, Steven pulled his right hand back and without even thinking about the undoubtedly adverse consequences that would follow afterwards, he punched Jasper right across her face in one, single, yet impressively strong swing of his fist.
Jasper's head rolled back from the strike, as she staggered backwards to the floor, landing down her elbow; maybe it was the unprecedented shock of had just happened or the suspiring force of Steven's punch. In either case it was enough to make her release her hold on him.
From the other side of the room, Lapis gasped in horror, clasping her hands over her mouth. Beside her, Peridot's jaw dropped so low it might have detached.
Steven opened his eyes again, his arm still outstretched in the air, Ruby's gem safely secured in his other hand. All the energy he felt a moment ago was now gone, and very quickly replaced itself with total disbelief at his own actions.
Jasper soon recovered from Steven's punch, slowly turning her head back around, glaring at him through the folds of her white hair, with a single furious, orange coloured eye.
Feeling terror like never before in his entire life, Steven let out a petrified scream and immediately bolted out the front door, running as fast as he possible could. He wasn't sure if he was ever coming back again.
The house was then silent again as Jasper remained crouched down on the floor, not so much as moving a muscle. Behind her, Lapis rooted on the spot, standing perfectly still in total contrast to Peridot, whose body was shaking uncontrollably, her metal knees clanking loudly against each other. The two of them were staring intently at Jasper's back, waiting any second now for the colossal explosion. But to their great surprise, instead of getting angry, Jasper calmly stood back up and merely rubbed her check, as she turned back to face them, looking far more bemused than enraged.
"He actually hit me" she whispered, with a strange kind of surprise and maybe even respect. "Didn't think the kid had it him." Her eyes focused back on Lapis and Peridot, looking at the two of them with a somewhat awkward expression. "Would it be a weird for me to say that I'm a kinda proud of him right now?"
"YES!" Peridot snapped in a sudden burst of outrage, forgetting her earlier terror, throwing her hands up in the air. "It would be exceptional weird and inappropriate to say that!"
Lapis threw her head back and yelled in pure frustration, stunned beyond words that that Jasper and Peridot could still find an excuse to argue even at a time like this. Lapis immediately rushed past Jasper and ran out the door, hoping to catch Steven before he got too far.
"Steven?" she called out, her voice ringing across the beach. "Steven, come back here!" Growing more worried with each passing second, Lapis sprouted her water wings and took off to the sky.
Jasper and Peridot quickly followed out the door after Lapis; Jasper vaulted over the balcony and landed down on the beach with a heavy thud, while Peridot carefully descended down using her finger-copter. They each took off in opposite directions, calling out for Steven, while Lapis circled the skies above.
Unbeknownst to any of them, Steven was crouching in the shadows, hidden behind the rafters underneath the Beach House, Ruby's gem still clasped safely in his hands.
After making sure that the Crystal Gems were far enough away, Steven slowly creeped out from his hiding spot, shaking uncontrolledly and panting rapidly. He winced slightly and glanced down at his hand. He's knuckles were already starting to bruise.
What in the world had made him do that? He felt absolutely terrible for hitting Jasper like that and for going against her wishes. He couldn't even imagine how upset he must have made Peridot and Lapis. But worst of all, he was afraid of what Jasper was going to do to him once when she caught him again.
So much had happened in the past few hours, Steven had no idea what to think anymore. It was all so insane, from meeting Sapphire, to meeting Ruby and now this whole fight with Jasper and the others. Steven knew for certain they would be displeased with him for going behind their backs, but he hadn't been expecting them to so…intense about. He couldn't be sure, but there was something off about their reaction. It was like they were afraid of something, something other than the Gem monsters or artefacts. That thought alone was making Steven feel even more troubled. What else was he going to have to deal with next?
There was now only one thought in Steven's mind that gave him any sense of ease; his mission, his quest, his so-called fate. He had to bring Ruby back to Sapphire. He had promised them both. After all of this hardship he had been forced to endured, he simply had to.
Looking down at Ruby's gem, Steven tightened his hands around it. With a determined expression, he set off from the Beach House and headed for the place where Sapphire had told him to meet, hoping she was still there.
Okay, that turned out to be a long one. So, this was supposed to be wrapped up in this chapter, but problem is, it was getting too long. In fact, if hadn't split this chapter up, it would have been almost twice as long as this one and longer than the last one. But I think splitting this chapter up ultimately improves on the pacing.
Big reason for the extra length was because I added all the extra scenes of Steven chasing Ruby throughout the Temple, since I wanted to give them more character interaction. Plus it allowed me to give us a look into Peridot's room, which I thought to model a little bit after her original ship.
Anyone, no surprise who is showing up next chapter. But since said character is one of my favourites, I do want to do the next chapter as much justice as I can. I already have a large chunk of it done, so hopefully I can add whatever else is needed soon enough.
So as always, hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you like, tell what you thought in a review
Peace out.