" I have to be as quite as a shadow " Steven told to himself. " Like the Ninjas of the movies Connie showed me."

The child nodded , approving his own idea . For a moment he pictured himself imitating the hero's stealthy movements .

He had seen the movies at least five times, and had had also several occasion to see the Gems tactics to approach dangerous enemies without being noticed, at least at the beginning : Amethyst was a bit to impulsive to listen to Pearl's " boring planes ".

Though , It didn't matter for Steven . He was sure to have channeled enough experience to actually plan something by himself without having to seek for help.

The place that would have been the theater of his venture was a quite unusual place for a secret mission: his own home. And ironically that was what made things difficult. The gems never slept , and a wrong move could have called their attention.

Steven loved the gems, and they loved him. But that time, he wanted, needed to act alone. They, especially Pearl wouldn't have approved his plan.

Quietly ,Steven descended the stairs that connect his bed to the floor and looked around , ears ready to catch any sounds. He didn't saw or heard anything , so he decided to move on, towards his destination : the temple.

Tap. Tap.

The kid turned around struggling to block a surprised gasp. For a moment his mind ran across a series of excuses to use in order to prevent his capturer from discovering the truth. Luckily for him, as soon as he turned back, the view was covered just by a fluffy , pink wall .

" Lion?"

The big feline looked into Steven eyes for moment, then he rubbed his nose on his shirt in an affectionate manner .

" Do you want to come with me Lion ? This is a serious rescue mission. We have to save a friend. "

The animal did not answer but advanced of few steps surpassing his small human.

" Hey , wait! I'm the one who indicate the way !"

He said trying to maintain a low tone.

After a bit, the child and his pet finally reached the destination. Steven looked around feeling pretty confident and proud. He turned toward his pet and hugged him with pure joy.

" We made it ! I'm finally going to save him."

For a moment it almost looked like Lion wanted to make a question to Steven. " Who is he ?"

The sale was filled with bubbled gems . Everyone would have described it as a beautiful view, but for Steven it was a sad scenario. He knew the truth about those gems, about how they had lost their forms and became corrupted …

The child tried to push away that thought, it wasn't the right moment to be sad. He was about to save a friend after all . After few minute , he finally found it: Centipeetle's gem.

Memories flashed through his mind, The kid remembered how he had befriended the small monster that in the end had died to save him. At the time, he wasn't able to do anything and had been forced to bubble it away, but now… now he had his saliva.

As strange as it sounded , it was the key to bring him back.

Hit healing powers.

Steven smiled again, already imaging the moment of their reunion.

The child looked up, the bubble was positioned in an high part of the room. He tried to climb , grabbing others bubbles .

" uff, it's more tiring than I thought … but I 'm almost there !"

Centipede's bubble was a few inches from him now. Steven was unstably holding himself on a big bubble that held a blue object. He stretched an hand trying to reach it. His fingers grasped the air , and for a moment managed to brush it. This gave him the courage to risk more, leaning closer to hit.

Steven breathed heavily , and concentrated himself .

When he felt the cold surface of the bubble on his palm an happy " yes" left him. Sadly the child had no time to be relieved, in matter of a second the world went upside down as he fell .

Steven gasped loudly , almost screaming . His free hand desperately searching something to grab .

He hit something. But it wasn't the floor. It was a soft, pink fur.

" Lion, you saved me !"

He said tears in his eyes.

Few seconds after that he had already recovered.

Steven unmade the bubble and for a moment stopped to contemplate the gem that had been his monstrous friend. Without waiting any more seconds , he licked it palm and slammed it on the gem's surface. Immediately something started to happen.

The rocks was covered with light and Steven lost his grasp in surprise.

But it didn't fall to the ground. Instead it started to float, a silhouette beginning to take form inside. But something was wrong.

It wasn't the monster's form Steven remembered .

At first, it resembled a manikin . " Exactly like happened to Pearl and Lapis .." Thought the kid.

Then, in started to gain more human-like features . long hair, a dress , some kind of gem just under the neck, just a bit more higher than Amethyst's.

Steven was stoned, his eyes wide open.

Then in stopped, and the newborn creature fell on the ground unconscious .

For a seconds the child stood there, not knowing what to do. Centipeetle was a gem? It made sense, Pearl and the other had explained how these monsters were corrupted gems. But he never thought of his monster buddy like that , after he had met him before he had discovered that truth.

It didn't matter now.

The child ran toward what had once been Centipeetle .

" I'll take care of you. " Steven said, tears running though his face .

" I'm scared . "He admitted looking at Lion. " What do you think the gems would do to my friend ? Do we have to hide him…. Or her ?" Insecurity filled him, he didn't know how to refer to his friends. In truth he knew nothing. Did she or he , remembered about him?

"Lion, I need your help. We have to take Centipeetle to a safe place. "