Chapter one – Night terrors in the Sea

Waves crashed ashore, buffeting the rockside of the cliff face as the dreary night lingered. Steven felt the blanket closer to him and then pushed it away. It was night, but it was hot. The kind of passing of time that was humid and suffocating. However, it wasn't this which kept him awake.

There was one thing that was currently truly crystal clear. He sincerely missed Lapis. He missed her a lot.

He turned to his side, looking for the cold patch on his pillow. The gems seemed to not be here. Perhaps they had gone off on a mission while he had been trying to sleep. The loud woosh of the warp pad didn't really awaken him after years of desensitisation to it. He yawned, rubbing his dark eyes.

Lion was snoozing at the bottom of the stairwell, pink fur illuminated by moonlight to the point it appeared near luminescent. At least there was another presence in the house to keep his spirits company. He smiled, deciding to catch a snack before a second attempt at sleep. Gently, he padded down the steps that connected his makeshift room to the rest of the house, tiptoeing ungracefully past his furry companion as if to not awaken him. Lion's ear twitched, but his eyes remained closed. Taking this as a small victory, the boy padded to his fridge and opened it, still turning back to make sure he hadn't awakened the other.

Yes. He was still asleep. Steven didn't want to be rude to the pink creature's sleeping patterns.

After all, it was indeed very important to have some rest.

However, as he was doing a small jig to celebrate both this small conquest being a success and the fact that there were some really good looking leftovers within the fridge (albeit his fancy currently being for cereal. Yes, the goodness of frosted flakes would be his tonight!), his mission was abruptly a failure as the warp pad activated.

He groaned, frowning, but this momentary sadness didn't last long as he saw Pearl skulking out of the shadows. He glanced back to Lion, who had indeed awoken, and ran over to her with a carton of milk in his hands. "Pearl! You're back!" A grin, eyes bright at her return.

She blinked in surprise, turning to him. "Steven? I thought you'd be asleep at this hour. What's wrong?"

"Oh, don't worry. It was just a little too hot to go to bed and I got hungry. And then you came! Did you guys have a mission?"

"Fair enough, and yes. Don't worry, we just decided to do a little more scouting about for Peridot's tracks." She gave him a gentle smile. "But, you know, it's kind of hard when she's most likely airborne."

"And she's smart, too!" He pulled over a box of cereal and filled it eagerly. "She's probably gonna make sure to hide well if she knows you guys are out are looking for her."

"A sound point, Steven." She nodded, sitting by him. Her face turned a little grim. "And a scary one, too. We don't know where she could be. And as for the other two… Forgive me for asking, but have you by any chance…?"

"No." He replied, quickly. "I haven't had another dream with Lapis or anyone else."

She stroked at his hair endearingly. "Yes. I thought that would be the case. Sorry for asking about it."

"It's okay! I just wanna see if she's doing alright!" He replied, pouring in the milk. The carton had several of the crying breakfast friends printed onto its side. "I just get worried about her a lot, you know. It's kind of about what Garnet said, she can't be feeling too good if she's in a fusion she doesn't like."

Pearl didn't exactly know how to reply. She nodded solemnly, cursing inwardly for allowing Steven to fret over this. It really was beyond his age to be so deeply concerned, especially with issues that even she didn't know how to approach. She sighed. "I'm sure things will be just fine. I just hope that there hasn't been a way for Peridot to communicate back with the Homeworld. I mean, I'm sure that they're going to notice that they're gone and…" She stopped and bit her lip as she noticed Steven's eating had slowed down.

"They're gonna send more gems to earth. I know. I kinda guessed."

"Steven." She sighed, again. Her pale skin had grown even more light. True, this was all making her uncomfortable, but talking about issues with such gravity with the youngster was… Difficult. "I… We don't want you to spend your time worrying about all this. It's going to make you scared and worried, and you shouldn't be feeling that way, alright?"

He hid his frown. Interesting that she was saying that after she'd been so direct about it with Connie. "I'm a crystal gem, too."

"I know you are, but you're still-"

"You're too scared to let me worry even when the planet is in danger." He concluded, going back to the cereal. It had gotten mushy and soggy. The sugar saturating with the liquid.

"Well, to be honest. The planet has always been in danger." She gave a nervous laugh. "We've just been doing a pretty good job of protecting it."

"And we're going to continue that, right?" He attempted a smile. As did Pearl. It was difficult and made his jaw ache, but… He had to. He had to keep happy.

"Right. Now, you should try sleeping again. You don't want to be all grumpy tomorrow in case we find something and take you with us." She remarked, her tone more motherly. More authoratitive. Steven gave a small beam at this. Pearl was back to her usual self. Or trying, anyway. "Come on, go upstairs and I'll clear up these for you."

"Alrighty! Just don't watch me sleep again!"

"Hey!" She shot back, flustered. "I've been clean for a month! Well… A week, but I'm getting better at not… Watching you. Good heavens, it is awkward now that I say it like that." She cleared her throat. "Regardless. Go to bed. I'm sure you'll find it easier to drift off with some food in you." She shot a glare to the breakfast bowl with distaste.

Humans were still so strange sometimes.

...

A struggle. A constant, anxious struggle. A never ending push and pull; two forces at one another's throats with constant friction. Constant outpour of energy and screams.

It was deafening. Drowning.

It was chaos and havoc and fury. A human man would have fallen at the sheer strife. The azure rays shot through the luminescence in beams as the tide crashed against itself, like a million mustangs crashing into eachother, the winds howling like cries of battling hawks.

It was hell.

Lapis grunted, pulling her chains as if reigns. Yes. She was in control. She would tame the other. Break Jasper. No matter how long it would take. Oh, the only thing that kept her going was sheer hatred. And her promise to Steven. She knew what Jasper really was. She'd felt the other gem's torment, her desecration. Lapis knew exactly what she would and could do to those whom opposed her, and she couldn't let Steven be the next victim.

Not Steven. Anyone, anything but Steven. It was the boy who'd shown her kindness when he had no actual need. Nothing to gain from her but her friendship. The boy was pure. Innocent. She could feel some of Jasper's emotions, drives and desires and knew one thing for certain.

Jasper wanted the boy. Jasper needed the boy. That child was at the forefront of the hulking gem's mind. Ever since they'd sunk. She knew Jasper had seen through her through the fusion and reciprocated such intimate feelings from her.

The orange stone knew Lapis was vulnerable when it came to the crystal gem. This was no longer about Rose Quartz, no longer about the war. No, they'd left the borders of mission control long, long ago. Yes, there was still a part in Jasper that had originally drawn her to punch that boy, but those feelings had been replaced by a new kind of feeling, an original kind of desire.

The worst thing about fusion was the shared imagination. The shared feelings and experience. Jasper knew these were her weak elements now. That was how she manipulated her small grasps of control. By broadcasting thoughts of how she'd torture the boy. How she'd laugh as he screamed. How she promised to make Lapis be the audience.

It was enough to bring the royal gem to her knees. Even beyond Lapis' low esteem and how Jasper screamed how useless, weak and disgusting she was. Nothing could hurt her more than those glimpses into the shared consciousness.

But it was because of those thoughts she held her hands to the chains. She couldn't let Jasper go.

She had to do this for him. Even if she'd sink into the monster that was Malachite along the way.

A/N: I'm writing a thing. I fucking love this show.

There's going to be a lot more... Feelsy stuff after this chapter. Hop onto the ride, kids.