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Grounded. He knew he would be after defying Garnet's orders, but at least she hadn't banned him from tv again. Of course, even Crying Breakfast Friends got boring after you were onto the second hour of it. He wanted to go outside, and he wanted to see Connie. Both were forbidden for about three days though. He wasn't even allowed to go grocery shopping with Pearl and Amethyst. It was a task that Pearl detested, but for Steven (and Amethyst) it was essential.

"I just want you to know that even though I'm really sorry that I disobeyed you, I'm not sorry for doing it. If that...makes any sense." He was in the living room with Garnet, dusting as she mopped. He shuffled back and forth awkwardly. "I don't apologize for going after Jasper."

He expected the woman to get angry at him. Instead she smiled and ruffled his hair. "I had a feeling you wouldn't."

"Do you think...she'll be okay?" Steven asked hesitantly. Garnet didn't say anything. "Do you feel bad for her?"

"Yes," the leader agreed. Steven couldn't tell, but from behind her visor she looked sad. "No matter who they are and what they've done, nobody deserves such a fate. Even someone as terrible as Jasper. When it comes down to it, the gems from Homeworld are only doing what they're dictated to do by Yellow Diamond."

"So she isn't really bad?"

Garnet shook her head. "She is. We may not have a choice bred on that planet, but she did have a choice when the rebellion started. She could have chosen our side. Instead she chose Homeworld's, even knowing that everything Homeworld did was evil. Some of us had the courage to break away. Others were too far gone... Jasper was one of them."

The boy's face fell a little. "Oh. Do you think...she has any chance now?"

"I don't know." Garnet shook her head. "I know you're worried about her..." She smiled. "You have a large, and wonderful heart. But Jasper's chance at redemption is the least of my concerns right now."

"Garnet...why do they do all of this?" He looked up sadly. "Why do they cause so much pain?"

She thread her fingers through his hair. "Oh Steven... If only the rest of the world was as pure hearted as you. Sometimes there is no good in things. Sometimes there are simply bad people that want to destroy. The world isn't all one color. There's black, there's white...and in the middle, there's gray."

"Homeworld is black?" Steven asked. Garnet's lips curled down.

"The blackest that there is. At least, parts of it are. The part that forced Jasper and probably countless more together."

"Where's the white?" Steven asked. "Us right?"

"Not even us. Even as Crystal Gems we did too much to this planet beforehand for us to be entirely blameless." She ruffled his hair. "Now it's just about making up for it, which we can at least start to do by protecting the planet your mother loved so much."

Steven was quiet for a moment. He played with his sandals. "What are we going to do about Jasper?" He looked up at Garnet with fear in his eyes. "We-we aren't gonna hurt her, right?"

"I hope not," Garnet said grimly. "But she's a threat Steven. No matter what's happened today, that hasn't changed. If she gives us reason to we'll have to incapacitate her some way." She put a calming hand on his head. "But we won't kill her."

"Maybe she'll change her mind and realize that Homeworld is a really bad place..." The child gave a yawn, his plump cheek resting against her leg. "And she'll fight with us."

Garnet shook her head and picked up the boy. "If she wouldn't back when the rebellion began I don't think she will now." She gave a serene smile as the boy's head fell against her chest. "Right now you need to sleep. You've had quite a day."

"I'm not tired," the boy mumbled petulantly into her shirt and Garnet chuckled softly as she plopped the youngster onto his bed. Steven scrambled for Lapis's gem the moment he saw it. He covered himself with the blanket and clutched the gem to him like a teddy bear.

"When Lapis wakes up I'm going to take her to The Big Donut," he yawned. "And buy her ocean scented candles so she feels more at home." He turned onto his side and his eyes shut.

--

He was pressing away at his gamecube controller at the start of the dream, playing as a small avatar on one of his favorite areas of "Animal Trails", surrounded by bunny and bear villagers.

"Beartrice!" he chirped at the screen as a maple colored bear showed up. "You're looking mighty fine today! I love your new stripe top! And are those new glasses?"

The bear turned to him with a happy chirp. "Yes they are Steven! Thank you for noticing!" The bear suddenly climbed out of the screen with the bunnies and into the room. Steven giggled excitedly. "We've come to play!"

"Okay great! Um we can go get pizza, or go to the arcade!" He giggled at the thought since these were game characters themselves.

"We want to do anything you do!"

The mingle of dancing characters suddenly transformed and the bedroom disappeared. Steven yelped as his surroundings were suddenly filled with water. The child gave a gasp and held his breath. It felt like his lungs were going to burst until a bubble suddenly appeared around him. "Huh?" His eyes adjusted and the first thing he saw was the blue hair.

"Lapis!" The squeak that leaped from his lungs was the happiest sound he had ever made. "Lapis!" He put his hands up against the bubble excitedly. "Lapis, it's you!" The figure on the other side smiled and touched where his hands were on the bubble.

"Steven! What are you doing here?" Lapis grinned, just as excited and confused to see him. She looked healthier. Her dress was no longer torn and her blue skin was no longer marred with cuts. She was the same Lapis he freed from the mirror, only happier.

"I don't know!" Steven laughed. "I just went to sleep and next thing I knew, I was in the water! Is this the inside of your gem?"

"Yes. " She floated there in the water, and Steven marvelled at just how free and happy she looked. For the first time in eons, she was no longer bound by chains. She took a deep breath of the water. The dew shaped gem on her back sparkled at the movement and her tidal wings flapped gently like a butterfly's.

"When are you going to come out?" He didn't want to rush her—he knew this sort of thing took time, but he was so eager to actually spend time with his friend. "Soon, right? Like, really soon?" So much for not rushing her.

Lapis chuckled. "I think so. I'm almost done regenerating." She shuddered. "Washed off the final remains of imprisonment. You'll see me soon."

The boy nodded, bobbed up and down in the bubble as an impish grin crossed his face. "So wanna play?"

Lapis blinked in confusion. "Play what? You're inside a bubble," she smirked. "I don't think there's much you can do from inside there." She straightened haughtily. "And I'm in my element right now. You have no hope of beating me in anything here." She was cut off as the bubble suddenly bumped into her side and she gaped at the cheeky boy.

"Oh, you asked for it, little boy!" She lunged up in the water and Steven shrieked and giggled, pushing up on the bubble so it glided through the water.

"Yay! Bubble tag!" He squealed and giggled as the gem reached for him with her finger tips, missing by an inch. The bubble was surprisingly more mobile then he thought it would be, rolling about like a soapy hamster ball. "Eat my bubbles, Lapis!"

"I'm going to when I catch you!" The pair laughed and played like Steven always dreamed they would one day. It was a wish come true. It was just him and Lapis, in the peacefulness of the water.

"St-Steven!" Lapis's blue eyes suddenly became wide as dinner plates as she stared at something behind the child, and started to back away. She looked like she had seen a ghost, and Steven did not want to turn his head. "Steven look out!"

Before he even whirled around he could feel a tremendous force sucking him backwards. He heard it too; it roared and slurped like an industrial drain and dragged him further and further away from Lapis. "What's happening?!" he cried, screaming at the sight of a giant gaping whirlpool. It was a black vortex that seemed to flood away into the unknown. That was even scarier. "Lapis!"

The bubble he was in suddenly popped and he was tossed mercilessly into the swirling water, flushed away like someone pulled a handle on a toilet. The terrified gem above him screamed for him, but all he heard was the roaring water, until finally, Lapis and the water disappeared from view.

Steven held his breath in the water and shut his eyes. He didn't know where he was going to end up. He prayed it was his bed and that he'd wake up safe and warm with Lapis's gem next to him. With the rate his dreams went there was no telling where he was.

Water droplets echoed through his surroundings and even the atmosphere changed. It was not the cool, but safe sanctuary of Lapis's gem. Where ever he was...it felt ominous. He fell with a water drop and hit cold pavement below. It was pitch black; the only light that flooded in was a small barred window above.

"Lapis?" Steven called out. His voice echoed. Muted sounds of crying and screams echoed from the distance and Steven trembled. He looked around. "Lapis?" From in the darkness, Steven heard a shift on the gravel. There was a small, hunched form against the wall. "...Lapis?"

Golden eyes met his, and the cracked, orange jasper on her face glinted in the light.

"...Jasper?"

The small gem, around Amethyst's size scrambled back against the wall. Her tiny fangs bared in uncertainty and fright. "Who are you?" she growled, face blazing. "Speak up!"

"I-I'm Steven," the boy stammered. He held up his shirt and the rose quartz shone. "I'm a gem just like you." It was then he noticed the heavy chains on her wrists. "Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"How did you get in here?" Jasper demanded. She suddenly cried out in pain, her body and her fragmented gem flickering like a bad tv signal. "Argh!" She screeched in agony and flickered into a white light. The cracked gem began to slowly mend and Jasper's face contorted in pain.

"What's going on?" Steven cried, watching as she spasmed against the ground in pain.

"The fusion..." Jasper grit her teeth and gripped her head, back arching in agony. "It's almost done. AUGH!" Her form glitched again. Red stripes began to form up her arm.

"Fusion..." Steven gasped. The cracked gems... "They fused you?" Jasper stared at him as if he had three heads.

"Of course they did, you idiot!" she snapped. "You're in the fusion chamber!"

"The..." A feeling of utter horror crept up Steven's spine. "The fusion chamber?" He listened closer to the screams. They were more close-by then he thought. Screams, young screams of agony rippled through the air. He could hear the frantic pulling of chains and the way they dragged on the ground. "NO!" Tears filled the boy's eyes and he trembled. "Why are they doing this?!"

"You really don't know anything," Jasper scoffed. "You must be a newborn. They fuse together weaker gems sometimes instead of recyling them. If they think they have the potential to be good weapons they'll do it. Either that or they'll break down the gems to use them for recycling."

"Recycled...? That's so horrible! Don't they realize the pain they're causing other gems?!"

Jasper gave a bark of laughter. "And you think that matters to them? They want their warriors and their war machines and they'll do whatever it takes to get them."

"Why are you in a cage and ch-chained?"

"They keep you in a cage until you're stabilized," Jasper muttered. "Some gems go berserk during this process and just attack anything. Others just scream so much from the pain and hurt themselves trying to get out. Not many survive the fusion process. The ones that do are removed from the cages and put into training when they're ready."

Steven whimpered and let out a sob. "Not many survive?" He clawed at his ears at the sounds of crying and screaming all around him. He reached for the chains, yanked at them desperately. They rattled and clanged, but stayed stubbornly cemented to the wall. He had to do something. He had to get her out!

Jasper laughed sarcastically. "You think I haven't tried that? I've tried everything I can. Biting them, yanking at them. It's no use. They're proofed for gems. We aren't able to break them. I'm stuck in here, and it looks like you are too."

"No, I can break this!" Hope fluttered in his chest. "I'm a half gem! Gem-proof stuff doesn't work on me because I'm part human!" He twisted at the chains, and to his relief, he saw they were starting to glow and crack.

Suddenly, Jasper reached out and yanked him forward."Stay in the dark!" she hissed and pushed the boy up against the wall as two pairs of footsteps drew near. Two gems. One had shoulder length black hair, a black gemstone glinting on her shoulder. Her eyes were as friendly as a hungry wolf. The other gem reminded him of a porcupine. A yellow one. Her hair was jagged in all different angles, like a lethal star. The symbol on her chest...was a yellow diamond. Steven felt his knees go weak.

"How are the fusions doing, Onyx?" Yellow Diamond's voice chilled him almost as much as the cold cell.

"So far seven out of twenty have survived," Onyx responded, looking down at a chart in her hand. "This one..." She gestured towards Jasper. "This one seems to show the most promise."

Yellow Diamond was just inches away from the bars now and Steven whimpered until Jasper painfully jammed her elbow into his ribs. The leader's eyes burned into the boy's soul with more evil then he had ever seen. A cold smirk snaked across her lips. "Excellent. Yes, I had high hopes for that one. Enroll her into training tomorrow." Jagged claws reached out and caressed the heavy chains. "You're going to be a powerful warrior..."

"NO!" Steven cried out suddenly in a panic, wrenching away from the orange gem and stumbling against the wall. It suddenly gave way to total darkness and the boy just kept running. He ran and ran and ran until he slammed into what felt like a large tree trunk. He slammed back onto the ground, face throbbing. The tree trunk moved, and it was orange.

"The hell are you doing back here?" Jasper barked down at him, annoyed and confused. He was back in Kindergarden again, in Peridot's control panel. All the terrified boy could see was Yellow Diamond's cold grin beating at his memory.

Where is she?!" He stumbled against the panel like a spooked raccoon, knocking over Peridot's papers and reports. "Where am I?!"

Jasper stared at the boy and snarled. "What do you mean where are you? The same place you intruded your bratty self earlier! I gave you a free pass last time, but I might not be so nice this time!"

The child was paper white and shook like a leaf. Tears fell from his trembling cheeks, overwhelming anguish taking over. "I'm sorry!" he sobbed. "I—I couldn't stop it! I-I tried! B-but there were so much chains, and then she came-! If I just had more t-time-!"

The annoyance on the other gem's face turned to confusion. Her brows furrowed, almost looking concerned. "Stop what? What are you talking about?" A flash in his mind: the shrieking, and Yellow Diamond's cold, cruel smile."Keep her away from me!" he cried, dashing over to the large gem and hiding behind her legs.

"Keep what away from you? What's the matter with you, brat?"

The child stared at the red stripes on her arm and the one adorning her face. All he could think about was the screaming. He practically hugged Jasper's leg. "I don't like this! I want to wake up! Please just let me wake up!"

--

He jolted upright in his bed with a strangled cry, drenched in sweat and tears. He kicked the blankets off him desperately. Anything right now felt like Yellow Diamond reaching for him, constricting him. Terrified, he reached under the covers for Lapis and clutched her gem tightly to his chest.