The crystal gems, temps and otherwise, walked through the dingy cave slowly. Their weapons at the ready, eyes and ears alert for any surprise attacks that may be flung their way.

The cave trickled with water from the roof, hitting each of the gems, and humans, on their head, while light was being illuminated from both Pearl's and Peridot's gems. It was very quiet, almost too quiet.

Then Steven sneezed.

Immediately all weapons and eyes were on the fourteen-year-old, and he smiled sheepishly while rubbing his nose. "Sorry," He said, "I didn't think it would be so loud."

The gems and human sighed, lowering their weapons. Pearl raised an eyebrow at Steven, before walking over to the short boy, and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Steven," She began, "We have to be quiet. We don't know where the corrupted gem is."

"I know, Pearl, it was an accident!"

"Accident or not," Garnet walked over to the two, her voice low and quiet, "You must make sure to be silent. Vampire sneeze next time." Steven let out a little 'hm' in acknowledgment, before marching forward.

The seven crystal gems walked forward silently, the only sound being their footsteps,the two humans breathing, and the nearly silent 'drip' of water. They continued on like this for a few minutes, going deeper into the cave, until they heard a deafening roar. The crystal gems got their weapons ready, each going into a fighting stance.

They heard scratches and closer roars, and the thud of footsteps.

"It's coming, get ready." Garnet commanded, making everyone nod in agreement. Connie immediately walked over to Steven, and squeezed his hand, whether to reassure herself or Steven, the boy could not tell. Finally the monster appeared.

It was big and gray with long hair covering the top of it's head down to it's stomach- or where the stomach would be. It had no eyes, and it walked on all fours, it's front legs bigger and thicker than the behind. It had a large maw , with fangs pointing out, and rather large ears pointing out from it's hair. The tail was shaped like an axe, with blades coming from the end.

It pawed at the ground twice, before charging at the gems, immediately, everyone jumped- or flew in Lapis' case, out of the way.

The creature skid to a stop a few feet away from the gems, and it stood still ears twitching. That gave the gems enough time to charge, but the corrupted gem heard the footsteps, and immediately turned and roared.

Pearl jumped and threw her spear, and it landed where the eye would be, but it didn't seem to faze the corrupted gem. Seeing this, Amethyst quickly used her spin attack, whip ready, and rolled quickly around the creature's feet, tying it together. The creature stumbled and fell, squirming. But that didn't seem to be enough, as the gem tore through the whip rather quickly, making it disintegrate into light, and standing up once again. The corrupted gem charged towards Steven and Connie, and Steven quickly got his shield ready, while Connie brandished Rose's sword.

The creature was only a foot away, before it was dragged back by someone, leaving marking in the cave floors. Garnet was holding onto the gem's tail, and lifted the corrupted beast above her head, before slamming it on the ground. The beast let out a confused roar, before flipping itself upright once more.

Steven looked to Connie, and the full human nodded. Holding hands, the two rushed to the creature, with a fierce battle cry. In a glow of light, the two fused into Stevonnie, and they quickly ducked under the corrupted gems fist, going under the gems stomach. On the other side, they jumped to a wall and used the force to propel themselves forward, sword in front of them. They sliced the gem on their chest, and the corrupted gem let out another roar.

Stevonnie landed on the other side of the corrupted gem, and Lapis, using what water was dripping in the cave and filling little puddles on the ground, quickly made a lasso, which she used to tie the gem by the neck, holding it back from a rampage against Stevonnie. Garnet jumped up, and gauntlets ready, she slammed down as hard as she could on the corrupted gems head. With so much force, the corrupted gem was slammed to the floor, and poofed into nothing.

There, lying within all the smoke, laid a gem, an Onyx to be specific.

"Good work, team." Garnet complimented, as she walked over to the gem and quickly bubbled it. She tapped the top of the bubble, and sent it back to the temple. Putting her hands on her hips, Garnet turned, and smiled at the rest of the crystal gems.

"We took that sucka' down!" Amethyst boasted, smiling widely.

"It was kinda scary…" Stevonnie muttered, placing a finger to her mouth, before unfusing into Connie and Steven.

"You both did good!" Peridot complemented, walking over and patting Connie harshly on the back. Said human flinched, before smiling sheepishly.

"Thanks, Peridot!" Steven chirped happily.

"We should probably make sure there's no more, though." Pearl said, walking forward, deeper into the cave. She was stopped by Amethyst, who pushed her back just a few inches.

"Chill P, we got the gem, what more could there be?" Amethyst elbowed Pearl in the stomach, before smirking at the tall gem.

"Amethyst, one could never be too careful." The tall gem chided. Amethyst simply rolled her eyes.

"Pearl's right, we need to make sure there's no more." Garnet said, stoic as ever. The fusion walked past the other crystal gems, and deeper into the cave. Pearl turned to look at Amethyst, and gave the purple gem a smug look. Once Pearl turned around to follow Garnet, Amethyst stuck out her tongue.

Lapis grew her water wings, and flew behind Amethyst, while the last three followed on foot. They continued to walk in silence deeper and deeper into the cave. Peridot walked cautiously to Steven and Connie.

"What else do you think is in here?" Peridot whispered, her voice barely echoing in the cave.

"What if it's a monster, like Slenderman or something?" Steven suggested, much to the amusement of Connie, but to the confusion of Peridot.

"What's a slenderman?"

"I really doubt it'll be Slenderman, Steven," Connie said, ignoring Peridot for a second. "And Peridot, it's basically a tall person with no face."

"That sounds like the legend of Aragonite, back on homeworld." Hearing this, Lapis slowed her flight down, and landed beside the three. She began to walk slowly, hands behind back, and bent over slightly.

"You guys still talk about Aragonite?" Lapis asked, and Peridot nodded.

"Yeah, it's still pretty famous."

"Guys," Steven interrupted, "What is the legend of Aragonite?" Peridot scoffed lightly, while Lapis gave a side glance to Peridot.

"I can't believe you've never heard of Aragonite! Surely the crystal gems would have told you at one point?" Steven shook his head, and even Connie looked interested.

"Well, basically, Aragonite was one of the first gems ever made, right after the diamonds. But when the gem popped out of her hole, she was...deformed. Tall and lanky, with no face. Tendrils came out of her back, and when she left the hole, she immediately attacked the diamonds. There used to be five diamonds, the legend says, Green diamond was the one who was attacked. She didn't make it." Peridot explained quickly. Steven let out a little 'woah' and Connie glanced at the boy.

"Thats sounds just like Slenderman!" Steven exclaimed, smiling. Peridot furred an eyebrow

Up ahead, they heard Pearl scoff, and all attention turned to her.

"Aragonite is just a myth, a folklore, if you will. Shes not real, and the same goes for Slenderman." Pearl said factorially. Peridot glared lightly, while Lapis rolled her eyes.

"And how would you know?" Peridot asked, while the other three looked towards Pearl for her answer.

"It's-"

Garnet held out her arm, and stopped the other gems from walking. Pearl nearly fell over the outstretched arm, seeing as she was looking back towards the crystal temps and Steven. Huffing, Pearl quickly regained her composure, and turned to look at Garnet, who was now crouching. Quietly, the fusion began to sneak deeper into the cave, and gestured the rest of the Crystal Gems to do the same.

They snuck deeper into the cave for about five feet. Garnet then signaled them to stop, which they did. The fusion then slowly walked forward without the others, and gasped.

"You guys can come out." She called after she got over her shock. The other crystal gems exchanged glances before following the fusions orders. Once they saw what was on the other side, they gasped as well.

To Steven, Amethyst, and Connie, it looked like a giant warp pad, with large crystals coming from four points and creating a roof on top of it. To the side, was a small control panel raised up from the ground and slanted. To the rest of the crystal gems, they were aware of what it was.

"No way." Lapis breathed, staring wide eyed and shocked at the pad. Peridot was shaking with excitement, and she quickly dropped on all fours to run quicker to the panel.

"Oh, ho, ho! Yes way! Do you understand what this is!?" Peridot was prodding at the panel, attempting to make it work.

"Uh? A big warp pad?" Amethyst asked, walking over to Peridot.

"A big- are you kidding?!" Peridot was gesturing wildly with her hands. "It's an Interdimensional warp pad! They were working on something like this centuries ago, even before I was created!"

"Wait, you're only a few centuries old?"

"Nevermind that! " Peridot exclaimed, rubbing her hands over the panel. "Do you know how much opportunities we have ?! Think about it! Different dimensions!"

Garnet walked behind Peridot and placed a hand on the much shorter gems shoulder. Peridot glanced up starry eyed, and full of smiles. Garnet slightly winced under her shades. She didn't want to ruin Peridot's dream but…

"It's dangerous, Peridot," Garnet said, making Peridot's smile falter slightly. "It's better to destroy it, and hope no other gems discover it."

"What?!" Peridot exclaimed, arms outstretched. "This is a breakthrough! Infinite dimensions mean infinite possibilities! We could gather other crystal gems from different dimensions and fight against homeworld! We would win!"

"It's still a no, Peridot. Now move."

"No!"

While Peridot and Garnet started arguing, Steven walked over to the warp pad, and stepped on it. He walked on top of the warp pad, and crouched down, feeling the surface. It felt just like the one they had at home. It looked the same aswell, except for the roof and the control panel. Steven gets that it's interdimensional, but wouldn't they have designed it differently?

"Steven," Connie whispered, not wanting to interrupt the argument, that now all gems have joined in. "What are you doing?"

"Hm? Oh, hey. Just trying to figure out the differences between this warp panel and the one back home." Steven answered back. He tapped his foot against the cool surface, and shrugged. "It doesn't look like much though."

"Maybe they were trying to be discrete?" Connie suggested, also shrugging. "I don't know, just get down from there."

"NO WAY!"

A loud shout interrupted Steven and Connie's conversation. They both exchanged glances, before turning to look at the gems. Apparently Lapis, Pearl, and Garnet had sided together, while Amethyst and Peridot had. Peridot was the one who shouted, and while her back was turned, her tone suggested she was angry.

"We could win this, and I'm not letting any of you mess this up!" Peridot exclaimed. Amethyst leaned over and whispered something too low for the rest to hear. "I know! And thats why I'm going to activate it!"

Without even looking back, Peridot slammed a hand on the panel, and the warp pad glowed. Connie stared wide eyed at what Peridot did, before she turned back to look at Steven. Steven had a look of panic on his features, and he attempted to get off the warp pad. But it was too late.

In a flash of blinding light, Steven was lifted into the air, much like a regular warp pad, but slowly his body began to disintegrate one piece at a time. The gems and human looked on in horror, before the light stopped, and Steven was gone.

"STEVEN!"

Holy cow, over 2000 words. I think this is my longest chapter I've ever written on here. Well, thanks for reading!