The giant hand-shaped space ship crashed into the sanctuary of the Crystal Gems. The reverberating shockwaves could probably be felt the next state over. In the midst of the destruction, a lone pink lion ran across the sand, trying to find his young companion. Sensing his energy underneath a pile of the broken alien craft, Lion unleashed a mighty, supersonic roar that blew away the debris.

A large pink bubble was revealed, and it contained the four escapees of the home world gems' clutches. The bubble shield disappeared and allowed the gems to stretch out their limbs.

"Nice one" fondly remarked Garnet.

Steven reveled in the praise until he remembered, "Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're a fusion all the time!"

"You met Ruby and Sapphire?!" asked a very surprised Amethyst.

"Oh no! We were going to introduce you! Garnet, your plan…" replied a disappointed Pearl.

Garnet simply shrugged and said "We were waiting for your birthday."

Being the little fun ball that he is, Steven exclaimed "We can still do it! I'll just pretend that I didn't know!"

That earned a couple of chuckles from Amethyst and it seemed as though the gems could relax after all the madness they went through.

But that tension-free atmosphere soon dissipated when a battle weary, orange striped warrior emerged from the wreckage. Collapsing to her knees the defeated gem spat out, "Don't think…you've won! You only beat me…because you're a fusion! If I had someone to fuse with I… huh?"

Her train of useless threats came to a halt when the other occupant of the ship's jail cell rustled from underneath a large chunk of debris. Lapis Lazuli yelped in exhaustion when she moved the large ship fragment off of her. She was about to fly off using her water wings, but was painfully grabbed by the ankle by Jasper. "C'mere brat!" Holding her like a rag doll by her wrist she sneered, "Oh, don't fly off so soon."

"Lapis!" shouted Steven. He made a move to go to her but Amethyst and Pearl held him back.

"Lapis listen, fuse with me!" demanded Jasper.

"W-what?" replied the confused gem.

Forcibly grabbing her cheeks Jasper asked, "How long did they keep you trapped here on this miserable hunk of rock?!" before dropping her down onto the grainy ground.

"Like you're one to talk you big meanie! You locked her up in prison!" shouted Steven.

"Shut up Rose!" retorted Jasper. "You're the one who went against home world and your actions caused her to be trapped here in the first place!"

The air hung heavy around Steven's mind at this realization. He couldn't even hear whatever the crystal gems were shouting back at Jasper. All he heard in his mind were his father's words just hours prior to this dangerous confrontation, "No such thing as a good war kiddo. Gems were destroyed…and people too."

He snapped out of his daze when he heard Lapis yelp in pain again. Jasper had her by the straps of her dress and concluded, "This is your chance to take revenge!"

"Lapis" Steven's voice was soft but it carried an immeasurable amount of weight to it that it caused everyone to look at him.

"I'm sorry"

The air was still; even the waves receded as if to give the boy room to speak.

"I don't know what happened at that war you guys keeping talking about, but I'm sorry you got hurt. Let me make up for then and for not being able to get back to you when the ship crashed."

He pushed Pearl's and Amethyst's arms away from his body and took a step forward. "Jasper! I trade myself for Lapis!" announced Steven.

Of course his overprotective family was having none of it!

"Steven! Are you insane?!" shouted Amethyst.

"You can't be serious! You can't go with her! This is out of the question and your declaration is refuted!" rambled a panic-stricken Pearl.

But Steven turned his head to look at the three of them and stared them down, just like he did to that rigged rock sphere. "Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl. As the son of Rose Quartz, your former leader, I order you to let me do this…please…"

They were stunned. They didn't know what to do. It was surprising to say the least that Steven could even utilize his birthright like that. He turned back to Jasper and asked, "So, do we have a deal? If you want me, you have to leave Lapis, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and my planet alone."

Jasper scoffed at the young hybrid, "Are you serious?! You would trade your life for this weak spit gem and your ragtag bunch of inferior nobody's? Do you have any idea what Yellow Diamond will do to you?"

"I have an idea, but I don't care. This is my home, they're my family and she's my friend. And I'll do anything to protect them. So, what's it gonna be? I know you have some way of calling another ship or something" he said.

Jasper revealed the most wicked smile and said, "I accept" as she threw Lapis toward the temple.

When he saw her land on top of some of the ships part with her body now covered with fresh bruises, he was filled with rage. But he remained calm.

He walked over to Jasper's awaiting vice-like grip, but before that he said, "Lion, you're dismissed from that spot" His furry confidant understood and took off into one of his self-made warp holes.

"Where'd your beast disappear too?" Jasper suspiciously asked.

"Beats me, he does his own thing most of the time" shrugged Steven as he got closer to her.

Once he was within her grasp, she hoisted him up in the air with a proud grin etched into her face. But unlike the first time she grabbed him, Steven didn't struggle. In fact he did a complete one eighty, he showed no fear and just stared down at her. Needless to say this agitated her.

She brought him down so he was level with her eyes. "You've got some nerve, Rose. Look at the predicament you're in. But I guess that's another thing I respect about you, you never give up. But mark my words" she lowered hers voice to a harsh whisper, "I'm going to pulverize you until the shards of your gem are like this sand."

Steven didn't even bat an eyelash as Jasper threatened him. This time was different than the previous time he was held in her iron grip. This time, his love for his friends and family outweighed his fear of her. Unfortunately, that didn't sit well with Jasper - literally an alien to the concepts of compassion and friendship. Unable to stand his silent defiance any longer she released him and punched in the chest. The impact created a small crater in the sand.

"STEVEN!" Pearl and Amethyst tried to rush to him but Jasper jumped out of the crater and held the moaning hybrid. "Take one more step and Rose dies."

It was déjà vu. She was serious the first time and she was now. But this time they didn't care. If they were going to perish trying to save the one person that gave their lives new meaning, they'd gladly do it. The duo were about to charge again, but were swiftly held back by Garnet.

"Garnet?! What're you doing?!" Pearl screamed as Amethyst thrashed about trying to get out of her gauntlet hold. But she remained quiet.

Jasper smiled at this and said, "Good. Don't worry…she'll still live. After I'm done beating her into the ground!" With that she continued to mercilessly bombard him with punches that would kill any normal human.

Pearl was stentorian! "Garnet! I swear if you don't let me go I'll cut your arm off!" she screamed.

But she still remained stoic. Amethyst tried to reach Jasper with her whip, but Garnet moved her so the strikes hit the sand. Off to the side, Lapis finally gathered her bearings only to witness and hear the chocked cries of her only friend and possibly soon, her martyr.

"AAAAAAAAAH!"

His body mustered once last ear piercing scream as Jasper kneed his arm just above the elbow ligament, breaking the bone like a dried twig. The scene unfolding before them was nothing less than extreme child abuse, and Steven's mutilated body lying on the ground…how could Jasper even smile after what she's done? It was a miracle that he was still breathing.

"Why doesn't he retreat to his gem? What if he can't?! Steven! Please…no more…no more!"

Those thoughts were filtering through all of the shock stricken gems. If that wasn't enough, Jasper put one foot on Steven's gem as an act of providence. That was straw that broke the camel's back.

"YOU MONSTER!" shouted Lapis and Pearl. Amethyst chose a few grungier words to express her hatred towards Jasper.

She blocked out their insults and continued to apply pressure to Steven's belly. She looked down at the little gem with contempt as well as confusion. "Why…"

Before she could finish her thought, Lion came up behind her via his warp hole and slashed her back. She immediately got off of Steven and shouted in pain. "Why you little-!"

Lion got away before she could make a move toward the giant cat.

Suddenly she found herself surround by Steven's bubble. She looked down and saw that his gem was glowing. His good arm was extended out to cast the shield. But the thing was, he was outside the bubble. He opened his good eye and saw Jasper pounding on the shield. Once the realization hit her she roared, "You baited me! You played me from the start! When I get out of here I'm gonna-!"

Once again she was interrupted, this time by the intensity of the light emanating from his gem. When the glow subsided, everyone was shocked to see pink vines surrounding the bubble. Everyone could still see an irate Jasper pounding away at the shield, but in her blind fury she couldn't see that with every punch that connected to the wall of the shield, thorns would emerge from the vines.

He created an iron rose maiden.

Jasper finally realized what was going on when her fist made contact with one of the long, sharp thorns.

"GAH!" she recoiled.

If gems could bleed, there would've been a lot of blood gushing out of the circular wound in between her knuckles. Her rising frustration and desperation just caused her to punch harder. Steven was struggling to keep the rose maiden intact, and it didn't go unnoticed by the gems.

Garnet released Amethyst and Pearl and they all ran to his location to help him. But they stopped in their tracks when a giant water hand rose out of the ocean. They looked over and saw Lapis use her hydrokinesis to surround the rose maiden in a sphere of water. Jasper took notice of this and looked over at Lapis' direction.

"YOU TRAITOR! Why are you siding with these miscreants?!" she demanded.

Lapis took a moment to put her newfound confidence and resolve into words. "…I never believed in this place and I'm not siding with them. But I don't believe in our new home world either. I'm done being everyone's prisoner, now you're MY prisoner! And I'm going to make sure you never see the light of day ever again! Because you hurt the one person I believe in!"

The water sphere began to fall back into the ocean. Jasper continued to punch in her violent tantrum, trying desperately to escape the double-layered prison. But the spikes kept growing, making contact with her flesh on all sides. She attempted to make one last threat, but was cut off when the rose maiden was fully submerged underwater.

After a few moments a couple of bubbles floated to the surface, as if something popped. Lapis used her power again to bring up the source of the air bubbles. When the water sphere emerged, all that remained of the violent gem was her gem.

Lapis looked over at the crystal gems, silently asking whether or not to destroy it. You'd think it be an easy call considering what she did, but Garnet merely shook her head. Rose and Steven had compassion for everything, even if they didn't deserve it. Lapis dropped the gem onto the beach and Pearl ran over to retrieve it. She grasped it in her shaky hand and gave it a very hard squeeze before sending it to the temple. …It was over. The threat was gone for good…for now.

Grooowlll Lion's growling snapped the Gems out of their stupor when they saw him over by the near lifeless body.

"STEVEN!" they all shouted as they ran back over to him. How could they have forgotten about him, even for the precious seconds they were dealing with Jasper?

Lion was lying next to him, just like he did when he almost aged to death. They looked down and were mortified. Seeing the damage from afar is nothing like seeing up close. His body was all shades of black, purple and blue. The lower half of his right arm looked like it could detach any second. A sharp intake of air snapped all of them to full attention.

"P…pearl…G-garnet…Aaamethyst…L-lapis..." How he could even have the strength to say their names was beyond all comprehension.

Garnet knelt down, stroked his forehead and choked out, "Shhhh, save your strength. You're going to be alright." He reopened his good eye and observed all the tear stained faces around him. He showed a small smile of relief as he closed his eyes and relaxed into the soft sand.

"STEVEN!" shouted Pearl.

Garnet put her ear to his chest. After a few tense moments she said, "…He's alive, but he doesn't have much time…"

"What're we going to do?! We can't lose him!" cried Pearl.

"Well freaking out isn't going help anything!" shouted a very frustrated Amethyst.

"Not now you two!" shouted Garnet. Tensions were high. They couldn't waste any time bickering or worry whether or not he'll make it.

Lapis just stared at the boy trying to make sense of all of it. Even though Jasper hurt him, she realized the contradiction of her statement towards her. She nearly ended his life when all he was trying to do was save his home from her. And he still gave her what she thought she wanted. How could someone care so much about her? All she knew was solitude. A prisoner in the physical sense and in her own mind, believing deep in her heart that she was nothing.

"Steven…" she softly said as she touched his battered body. "I wish I could heal you…like you did for me."

All three of the gems looked at her. Then a light bulb immediately went off.

"Rose's spring!" exclaimed Garnet.

"But…his gem isn't broken, and he's organic…will it still work?" asked Pearl.

"We have to try!" replied Amethyst.

Lion took the initiative and opened another portal. He was about to grab Steven in his jaws until Pearl stopped him.

"Lion no! He can't be carried carelessly!" Lion growled at her almost as if he was saying "No duh genius!"

"I'll carry him" spoke Lapis. Everyone, especially Pearl, was uneasy about her declaration. But she didn't wait around for their permission. She gingerly picked him up and followed Lion through the warp hole with the rest of his family close behind.

"Steven…just hold on" she whispered as she floated though the ray of diamond light.

Steven Universe belongs to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network, the only thing I own are my imaginative capabilities.