Steven launched himself on the round droid, yelling for the gems to come see. He wants them to see he was right. He knew that he had seen something and now he had proof. In his sleep deprived state, he simply couldn't imagine that it would hurt him. He was correct in this circumstance but considering what most crystalline organisms' behaviours are towards him he was lucky.

The warp activated and he found himself tumbling with the round smooth object in his arms, which was squirming and scratching his arms slightly but otherwise harmless. Steven felt dizzy, his motion sickness mingling with his severe lack of sleep but he waited it out. Other droids entered the stream but didn't seem to view him as a threat. Or perhaps they weren't aware of him at all.

Steven grew nervous as the number and volume of objects became thick and he was stuck in the middle of it all. Thank whatever god he was supposed to worship that he reached the destination before he was a Steven-pancake. All the droids poured out of their cylinder shape they had taken and scuttled away, even the cracked one he had been clutching. Groaning, the half human blinked sluggishly and raised his head to survey his surroundings.

Steven allowed his confusion to show on his pink-tinted face. He recognised this place, it was the galaxy warps. He was here earlier today and Pearl had given him a lecture on how he hadn't seen anything in the warp stream. He had yelled, it was uncharacteristically bad behaviour on his part. He felt slight guilt at talking back to her even though he was right. He was just tired.

He brushed his hand across the smooth structure of the warp pad, gripping and pulling himself upright on his unsteady feet. Several warp pads lay broken before his eyes, a breakfast friend labelling each one as a reminder to his guardians that they could never leave earth again.

A faint sound of… was that spitting? Steven furrowed his eyeballs and slowly turned to gaze upon the largest warp pad where approximately 100 of the droids were crowding around. Steven thought back to how one of them had healed the crack in the warp in his room. Was that what they were doing? Would Pearl be able to go home?

Pearl had been so determined to show space to Steven. She even almost killed him which when Steven thought about it, didn't concern him much. He had accepted his life isn't in a sturdy grasp, he had known before he began missions.

Sure enough, the triangle filled gelatine substance melded with the pre-existing substance, the crack mending itself flawlessly. The round spider gems crawled away and formed a tight crowd at the base like they were waiting. Steven watched in awe as the warp activated and a green gem came through. She looked really official and Steven would've blushed with how beautiful she was if he wasn't frozen in place with shock and a little bit of fear.

Is this a gem my family knows? He wasn't exactly sure how many gems there were but if simply felt incredible to see another gem that came from anywhere but earth. He stepped forward towards the gem that hadn't taken note of him yet, too absorbed in a holographic screen. She didn't seem much of a warrior, Steven noticed, her whole demeanour was someone who was if anything nerdy. Pearl was like that too however, despite being a warrior that had defeated hundreds of stereotypes. Steven recalled a discussion he had with Pearl about stereotypes; actually it was a motherly rant.

The gem had heard his steps, looking up and immediately hissed at the droids to be on guard. That sentence on first blush suggests that Peridot was completely calm, that was incorrect. She had hissed that as she fell to the ground in shock. How did this human child get there? Was this place compromised? The military technician scrambled back with her arms, her fingers crawling back as disembodied worms. Her mind already imagining armies of humans lurking in the corners. Humans were harmless animals at the best of times but when they band together they would easily be able to overcome her. At least that is what she had been told in her briefing.

The thick child came over, holding out a hand to help her up. "Hi," He introduced himself "My name is Steven.".

Faced with the warm introduction intermingled with her completely rational fear, even though by this point it was fairly safe to assume he was alone, she panicked. She grabbed his hand and yanked it hard, sending Steven toppling rather ungracefully onto the crystalline ground. His gem made a slight bang as it bounced harmlessly off the surface. The hammy boy clutched his stomach at the sharp but fleeting pain.

At the soft sound the green gem froze in her hasty getaway "You're a gem?" She asked as her voice overloaded with shock. Gem kind had abandoned this planet as a place they didn't wish to remember and many gems had indeed forgotten. It was sacred and forbidden, not by rule but by personal morality.

Steven grinned, lifting his shirt to reveal his pink life force. "Yeah, I'm part of the crystal gems and we protect humanity and stuff." The name was unfamiliar to her, who was in general confused about this whole planet, the mystery that surrounds it. History did often have spots missing. Even with the older gems to remember, no one would tell. Personal turmoil or Gem law could be the reason.

She couldn't let Steven go. There was possibly a whole army of Gems with an agenda she doesn't know about. It wasn't safe to let him return to them, for the safety of her and her home. The only choice was to take him, leave them with no leads. She set the device on a timer.

"Steven, come with me to the home world for a while." The younger gem was confused. Steven assumed she would want to meet Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. Why else was she here? He also knew he wasn't supposed to go anywhere with strangers. He crossed his short arms and shook his head.

"Why should I go? Besides I can't without permission." Peridot puffed out a sigh followed by a nervous laugh as she picked the pink gem up and warped.

In the warp stream Steven scratched and screamed "Let me go! Let me go!" he bit the older gem's arm. Peridot screeched and released him but Steven realised that midstream, he could only attempt to go into another stream. He wasn't exactly eager to taste the vacuum anytime soon. Crying at his capture and defeat, he sat cross-legged in mid-air. The green gem grabbed his unresisting arm as the warp stream ended.

Steven looked up in awe at the round room with smooth walls. It was bare, with only the warp pad and a hollow doorway covered by a fancy metal gate with a diamond pattern. Which appeared to be locked but the harsh grip on his forearm restricted him from going to check. He rubbed the area above where the five fingers made a cuff around his upper arm in the hopes to relieve the pressure.

The green gem had once again created a screen and was talking to it. "This is Peridot on mission 4X517, returning from the planet Earth. I have a passenger with me. I require assistance."

The gate slammed open and many guards came through. Steven was grabbed and hauled roughly away, screaming in pain when his shoulder was dislocated. They were altogether too rough, causing bruises all over his fragile half-breed body while performing the fearful protocols derived from the harsh memories of defeat.

Peridot was suitably shocked, protocol was for only two guards to report on this form of emergency, yet there had been dozens. What exactly happened on this planet? Her gem pulsed as she searched her programming for anything about it, which only gave her a surprisingly painful headache.

She shook herself, standing straight and upright in stance she hoped looked strong and unbothered. It wasn't her problem; she would attend her debriefing and not let this strange incident cross her mind again. It wasn't the gems way to get hung up on the past; after all they have millennia to live.

Still, she couldn't get the sharp cry when he hit his gem or his later cries of agony out of her head. This gem may have had feelings too, he wasn't corrupted and probably shouldn't be treated the way he was. Peridot pushed down the internal debate and headed to the decontamination showers.

Steven kept his eyelids half open in his drowsy, pain riddled state. Two guards were pulling him by his arms. His shoulder was jolting horribly and his lower arm was numb. It was all he could do to stop himself from yelling out in pain, the guards either didn't know or didn't care about the boy's plight. After all, they assumed him to be a gem. He was shoved in a room, hissing when they threw him on his shoulder and then allowing himself to sleep. He was scared and hurt but was also exhausted so he had no qualms about the cold hard ground when the lack of bed became apparent.

-/-/-/-/-

-/-/-/-/-

The throne room of the palace was grand, made of marble and studded with the shards of long lost heroes like a mosaic that would've seemed cruel to humans but was a high honour to Gem kind. Other than an iron throne at the edge of the room it was mostly bare. The authority didn't use precious metals or crystals for decoration much, they were materials for manufacture and creating life. The throne room was a rare exception.

The blue gem burst into the throne room, two guards at her sides. She appeared concerned and a little frightful like a parent that had been called for a meeting. She came to the edge of the throne platform and kneeled before the other gem, Diamond in a heavily submissive way.

The name Diamond is rare, because having a diamond gem is rare. Everyone knew of this diamond though; she was the ruler of our empire. Little gemlings learnt her name before they learnt to walk. Lapis kept her head down, her defined blue pupils giving away her sense of awe.

The long, slender, light skinned gem appeared regal but bored at the site of another bowing. "You may rise, Lapis Lazuli and state your issue." Her soft voice sounded almost loud and harsh in the silent room. "Also can you lose your wings; the floor is getting wet."

Her wings were indeed covering the smooth concrete floor with sparkling blue drops of dissolved Lapis Lazuli. She blushed, the darker colour highlighting the sparse gold imperfections tarnishing her light that she could never quite quell.

Allowing her extra appendages to retreat to her gem, she stood and took a shaky breath. "I have heard whispers among the castle staff." Lapis was occupying the castle while waiting for a dwelling to be assigned to her. Being lost for thousands of years put her at the end of the priority lists and the few people she knew and had seen felt like strangers, mere fractured reflections of who she knew. She was foreign, exotic particles from another reality now, or at least she felt like it. They didn't care to reconnect with her or hear about earth. She felt great displeasure and alienation but she couldn't place blame. They had lost her and had recovered, got on without her. She knew them from thousands of years ago and they didn't want to be reminded of the carnage of their pasts.

"A passenger from earth. May I request her name?" The gem upon the throne seemed confused by this, and then smiled. "You are the one who came back the last cycle of the second moon from earth. He is still asleep but we don't expect him to reveal his name, or how he got to the earth galaxy warp. Perhaps you can talk to him? Interrogate him perhaps."

Lapis couldn't believe what her gem was processing. Him? Steven? Bewildered she nodded her head. She had come for curiosity and admittedly revenge. She was expecting a crystal gem, not the young gemling that healed her. The guards and maids had spun tales of a dangerous killer gem, not the truth of a harmless Rose Quartz gemling. She processed this new information as she was dismissed and led back down the hall. Her wings reformed as she grew further from Diamond much to the obvious distaste of her escort but she didn't care. They were a symbol of freedom for her, a memory of excitedly crossing space in the harsh and bitter silence. To reunite and cast off the memories plaguing her every movement. Her past she had wished to escape but is now the only thing that defines her. She had lost all status, a foreigner in her own country.

Steven opened his eyes suddenly as his shoulder was set, releasing a yelp of pain.

No healer here was very experienced, only needed when a gem was having trouble healing. So she made it a bit more painful than it needed to be. She wasn't expecting that scream though; a gem's pain tolerance was really high, due to their mind being separate from their body. The young boy's screams were like his gem had been chipped.

The healer gave him a sling, left and Steven, no longer distracted by people or unbearable pain (even though they had given him no painkillers) took a look at his surroundings. He was in a rectangle room, probably steel with curved corners. A panel was on one wall, so he assumed that was the door. He had no idea where the light was coming from but he had learned that he shouldn't question things like that, it would only confuse him.

Suddenly the door opened and for the first time in several hours he saw a familiar face. "Lapis?" He had never expected to see her again. The gem was unchanged, with those dark blue pupils he was still trying to adjust to and her wings were folded by her back. She seemed unbothered by the fact her wings were dripping, forming puddles at her feet. Steven stepped forward to greet her.

"What are you doing here Steven?" She snapped. Steven jumped back in surprise and bewilderment at the familiar but shocking words. Lapis had left him on good terms and even if they weren't exactly friends (although he likes to think so), they are at least friendly. Maybe it was related to his assumption he was locked in this room and how the guards had treated him. Something wasn't right about this place, even he could see it. "You can't be here! You shouldn't be here!"

"Why?" Steven asked. Lapis raised her eyebrow; as if it was ludicrous he didn't know. Then again he was only a young gemling, they were often shielded. Lapis didn't understand keeping things from children, they would always find out eventually.

"You don't understand, you're one of them, one of the crystal gems" She explained "It is dangerous to be here" Steven knew his family were part of a community but why would it be dangerous for him to be part of it?

Lapis peered over her shoulder when there was a knock on the metal door. "My time's up, I'll speak to you later." She started walking away when she was halted by a hand on her arm.

"Um, can you tell them to bring some food and water?" His tone suddenly went from his normal self to reveal a small child who hadn't been given sustenance or pain killers. Lapis gaze softened "Do you need it? Gems don't need food. You're a prisoner, therefore not exactly in a position to demand these things Steven"

"I'm half human," Lapis was suitably shocked, he had never mentioned it to her but in hindsight it made sense. She smiled with tight lips and told him "I'll see what I can do."

She knew she would regret it but she needed to tell Diamond and the guards the new information. Under the assumption he is a full gemling he would die. His organic body had needs they would never understand fully but there are animals on this planet, therefore food. Most gems didn't eat, the ones who did doing it rarely or moving to another planet where food was more readily available. Lapis doubted moving him was an option at this point though, he still needed to be questioned.

Lapis was scared for Steven but with the eyes on her she was unsure if she could help. The best she could hope for is his citizenship and acceptance. She recalled when she recently returned, scruff and fatigued, despite the fact that gems don't require sleep. She had travelled to the Sperar system and had warped from there. When she had arrived the gems were cautious and mistrusting, even those who she knew. It was taking a lot to get her trusted and accepted.

After explaining Steven's problem to the guards, she reached her quarters and having nothing better to do, she brought her body down on the wood, which was common for these luxurious living quarters and slept.

,,,

Steven meanwhile waited patiently in his room. It was bare and cold metal was uncomfortable to lie on. His throat was parched and he was sore. He stared at the door, willing it to open. Suddenly it did and he was passed… water! He slowly sipped it gratefully.

"Hi, thank you." He said moments later to the guard standing at the door. The reddish gem handed over a bowl of mushy stuff and abruptly turned, muttering what could only obscenities under her breath that Steven didn't understand.

Steven decided the mush tastes like bread already chewed, it could've been worse but he was craving donuts already. He briefly wondered if Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl had noticed he was missing yet. After the fiasco last month, when he stranded Sadie and Lars (it was actually Sadie's partial fault) on a desert island and his…concern of the thing in the warp pads, they will see the galaxy warp functioning and they would come. They no longer left him alone for days at a time which made him feel safer.

Back on earth, Connie who had no tennis practise today wandered up the beach. The temple was breathtaking but she was always wary of it now, after she was almost crushed. She let herself in at the house; she knew Steven changed in the bathroom. So there was no chance of that sort of awkwardness. She found it strange how everyone in this town only had one outfit aside from her.

Connie didn't think Steven had much privacy in his life aside from that. She chuckled at the memory of him being confused at school. He was such a small town kid. At the same time though, he had seen more than she could imagine.

She was hoping for a game, or a TV show. Steven usually picked the activity, unless there is another dog copter out, then Lion's in charge. They should get a lift with Steven's dad next time, although it may not be that much of an improvement considering Steven's insistence on replaying the same song respectively in the van.

She had never seen the mid-season pre-finale of Under the Knife and she had heard it was amazing. She had seen the beginning at her house, she got in trouble when her parents came home but it was worth seeing the sweet satire even for only a few minutes.

Pearl and Garnet, while sounding harsh on the threat of no TV for a thousand years let up on Steven's punishment quicker than expected, only 3 weeks. Every time Steven saw her he would jokingly act like it was torture, when in reality she felt he was quite lucky. He never experienced the harsh lessons of lying to his guardians to follow another path.

She saw something different though, when she pushed open the door. Garnet, in her stoic way, was picking up cushions and calmly looking underneath them. Pearl was running around frantically and Amethyst was continually showing up and disappearing in the warp pad. Once she appeared almost hypothermic and the other time hyper thermic. There was also a strange abundance of sandwiches.

"Connie, have you seen Steven? He's missing!" Pearl asked, finally noticing Connie, her cheeks flushed green with the rush to no set destination.

With that, her hopes for the day shattered, leaving a deep hole of fear and confusion in its place. Her stomach dropped, her hands went cold and all she could do was shake her head numbly.