"Garnet! Amethyst! Pearl! Please, you need to snap out of it! You're not like this!"

The gems he thought he knew kept advancing, their eyes pitch black and cold as ice. They stepped closer and closer, weapons at the ready.

Steven backed up even more, away from the Puppetmaster monster as it continued to control his friends. They were going to kill him, and he couldn't save them from its grip.

This mission was too dangerous- even for the Gems. Steven felt like a total failure. And now? He was going to be beaten to death by his own friends.

"Please! Don't hurt me!"

He ultimately backed into a wall, and then the Gems attacked.

"Ah!" Steven cried, pulling up a bubble in fear.

Puppet Garnet destroyed his bubble with one strong punch, her gauntlets collecting small pieces of it before they disappeared. Her lips were draw back in a beast-like snarl, as were Amethyst's and Pearl's.

Steven cowered under their cold, black stares as they began to truly hurt him, the puppet master monster too strong for them to overcome.

Amethyst whipped him twice, once in the face and the other aimed at his body. Pearl almost stabbed him through his chest, but he moved just in time. Instead, however, he felt her spear cut into his side, his shirt slowly turning a darker red.

Steven, in pain from the wounds and a haunting sense of betrayal, made a run for the warp pad. The puppet Gems gave chase.

"No! Please let me be!" He shouted, starting to activate the warp pad to go home and away from that awful place.

But before he could fully activate the pad, Garnet hit him square in the nose. He stumbled back, almost falling out of the pad. Luckily, it activated.

Then the Gems jumped into the warp, and for a moment, Steven thought he was truly going to die.

But as soon as they did, they fell limp, floating unconsciously in the stream.

Steven was breathing heavily and shaking badly, now afraid of his best friends and what they might do to him when they woke up again.

Finally, the warp pad deactivated. He was home. The Gems fell to the ground, groaning and hauling themselves up.

Steven gasped fearfully, backing up to the front door. His nose felt hot, and he realized fresh blood was leaking from there too, and not just the cut on his left side. There was a whip mark on the right side of his face and his left side, overlapping Pearl's slice.

Garnet was the first to fully come to, looking up at Steven and immediately her face turned to one of overwhelming worry.

"Steven!" She called sharply, getting up and advancing towards him. Her gauntlets were stained with some blood from his nose.

Steven screamed, backing up from his friend in terror. In his eyes shone fear, hurt, and betrayal.

"Stay away from me! You.. you've all hurt me enough!" He cried, tears leaking from his eyes.

Garnet stop her advance, looking at him, confused. "Steven, what...?"

She looked at him, and then followed his gaze towards her gauntlets. She then noticed, with absolute horror, that they were stained with blood. HIS blood.

Amethyst and Pearl began to awake as well, weapons still in hand.

Steven yelped and bolted out the door, crying and fearful.

"Wait! Steven!" Garnet shouted, but it was too late. A small trail of blood drops showed his path out the door.

Amethyst and Pearl looked up at Garnet, confused.

"Garnet... why did Steven run away...?"

Garnet stood very still and very silent, staring down at her weapons.

It was then when Pearl noticed the blood on her own weapon, and she now wore a face to match Garnet's.

"Garnet... w-what did we do back there...?" She asked shakily, hoping it wasn't what she feared.

"Something terrible. Something so very terrible..." She choked out, turning to her fellow gems.

They gasped. Under Garnet's shades peeked two streams of glistening tears.

Amethyst grimaced, holding back tears herself. They all knew what they had done, but didn't want it to be true.

"We..." Pearl gulped, tears flowing freely down her own face. "The puppetmaster monster... it made us... h-hurt him?"

Garnet nodded shakily, dismissing her weapons in shame. "What we did back there is unforgivable. Steven is hurt and we were the ones that hurt him..." She muffled a sob with her hand. "There is nothing we can do for Steven that would make him forgive us... he felt so fearful... so betrayed..."

Pearl broke down in wracking sobs, Amethyst hugging her tightly while silent tears slid down her cheeks.

Garnet drew a shuddering breath, wiping away the tears that had found their way past her emotional wall.

"We have to go find him. Steven is hurt and we have to fix this. We made this mess, we have to clean it up." She said determinedly.

Amethyst and Pearl looked at each other.

"But... he's terrified of us now... he'll keep running away..." Pearl shuddered quietly.

"I don't care. I don't care if we have to chase him forever. If we don't try, it just shows that we never even loved him." Garnet replied firmly.

The two gems nodded, drying their tears for the time being and following Garnet as she followed the small blood trail.

The Gems followed the trail into Beach City. For a moment, they feared that Steven had gone running to his father. What would they say to Greg?

But the trail never led to the car wash, instead it lead to the other side of the city, farthest away from the temple. Farthest away from them.

"There he is!" Amethyst shouted, pointing to him. He stood leaning on a sign, the exit from Beach City.

Unfortunately, Steven heard Amethyst's loud voice. He turned around and yelped, bolting off in another direction. Back towards Beach City.

"Steven!" The Gems shouted, and they started after him frantically.

He kept running, looking back for only a second. He whimpered in fear, increasing his speed to as fast as his legs could go.

The Gems chased him for awhile, before they finally saw him go into a space in between two buildings. Garnet hurriedly jumped to the other side, blocking his escape. Amethyst and Pearl stood at the other side.

Steven, still running, slammed right into Garnet and shouted in fear and pain. But before he could back away, she bent down and gathered the boy up in her arms, hugging him firmly but not tight enough to hurt his wounds.

Steven whimpered, shaking in her embrace. He wore the eyes of a scared wild animal and once again the Gems felt tears wanting to break through.

Amethyst and Pearl rushed over and joined Garnet, hugging Steven with her.

Steven shuddered in their grips, fresh tears flowing down his face.

"Steven..." Garnet whispered to the boy gently, "there are no grand gestures we can give to you that would make you forgive us, and we accept our punishments. But we are so sorry for the hurt we've caused you." She began to tear up again, thinking about the face she'd seen back at the warp pad.

"We know we can't regain your trust... what we did back there is unforgivable, even without our right minds. It's our fault... S-steven..." Pearl sobbed, closing her eyes.

The three all had their eyes closed, heads hung in shame, tears freely flowing, burning them with the knowledge of their sins.

Steven started to stop his frantic fear. He realized that they were beating themselves down too hard, he felt their heart-wrenching anguish. His tears changed from fear to emotional pain, and he returned their hugs desperately.

"Guys... please don't cry... It hurts me too much to see you all in such pain... I know it wasn't you in control, I know you would never hurt me on purpose... I'm sorry for running. I just... I didn't know for sure if the monster's grip was still influencing you."

The Gems opened their eyes and were met with a bright smile from the boy. They blinked away their tears and smiled back, but inside they still hurt over what they did.

Steven coughed, some blood from his nose had gotten in his mouth. This snapped the Gems back to reality.

"You need medical attention, now. Gems, back to the temple, quick!" Garnet ordered, scooping up Steven.

The team headed back to the temple together, the fractured trust mended, but their hearts still haunted by the effects of the puppet master monster.