Boiling Gems (The Owl House x Steven Universe)

Summary:

Very rough indeed.

Chapter Text

Connie was really happy for Vee. She got her secret out, and a group of people willing to accept her as she was. Yes, two of the gems ditching her was bad and they would work on that, but small steps.

Connie herself had to admit that it was also a great chance for herself to make new friends, and get involved with a new magical adventure..even if she had to spend time with Luz, but not everything had to be perfect.

Plus, Vee helped her be sociable, so it shouldn't be too hard to interact with the group. Gus was more than willing to talk to her, though she had trouble keeping up with all the questions he had for her.

Hunter was always polite, although a little socially awkward. But given how Connie and Vee were both queens in that regard, that wasn't an issue in the slightest.

Willow seemed definitely a great friend. She was strong, reliable, nice, and Connie now had someone who shared the pain of wearing glasses. The only issue was that she seemed to have a lot of repressed anger that slipped out from time to time.

Boscha … was prickly, sure. But Connie had faith she'd open up after a few moments … or at least Vee had the faith after losing the fear of witches. Personally she seemed like the typical mean girl like Amber, but Lucci seemed to speak only nice things about her.

Speaking of..that led into the last two that felt like the biggest walls to overcome socially. Lucci, for as loyal as he seemed to his friends, was a bad influence, at least on Vee. Violent, sarcastic, and usually stealing people's wallets whenever no one was looking. He rightfully unloaded that violent nature on Greg Universe, but Connie knew that was very much an exception.

Then there was Amity. She seemed loyal, accepting, somewhat sane compared to a majority of the group. However she was always clinging to Luz, and had this look whenever Connie got near that reminded her of a protective dog. She had a feeling that Luz talked about her a lot, and probably not in a favorable light.

So it was far from an ideal situation, but it was a livable one she would deal with. This was the start of a brand new adventure with Vee, so Connie would take it on with open arms. "And this my friends, is the most powerful object humans have to offer." Vee explained dramatically. "We call it … television!"

"A square crystal ball...how is this possible!?" Gus exclaimed.

"It must have taken serious dedication and time … maybe they worked on a higher signal with the metal parts?" Hunter stated with confusion.

"And it's not just any crystal ball." Vee grinned further. "Thanks to humanity finally losing a good chunk of their violence compared to the Boiling Isles, most people put their books in illusion form. You can watch stories!"

"Ooh, it's just Luz's phoon but bigger with fewer options." Lucci concluded for himself. "I thought it was strange that so many little people lived in one box."

"It confused me too at first. But I learned the hard way that little people don't live inside of earth things …" They chuckled. "Amethyst once pulled me out of a movie theater cover."

"Once or twice at the movies I had to stop her from running at the screen." Connie spoke from her own experiences. "Anyways, there's no shortage of programs you can find, news, documentary, drama, animation, though note that Hollywood has run out of ideas, so don't be surprised if you see the same story over and over again."

"Makes sense, I've seen that stuff in Blight Industries." Amity accepted. "Hey, if these are stories in illusion form, does that mean they have the Good Witch Azura?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't watch those." Vee said. "Connie said that most shows tend to be worse than their book counterparts, and that the series in question was just a rip off of another series we read called Unfamiliar Familiar."

"…Did you just call Azura a rip-off?" Amity looked like she wanted to set fire to the both of them.

"Hey, don't get into a fandom war, not until we go to our first comic con at least." Luz held the girl back. "It's a long and unforgiving road that few people survive and come out unscathed." Definitely … also Connie really doubted her chances against a legitimate witch.

"So what would you start us off with?" Willow asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

"The best series of all time. One that speaks of passion for life, the joys of family, and issues that plague every aspect of society …" Vee said dramatically. "The Crying Breakfast Friends!"

"…So there's no sports channel on or something?" Boscha asked, both disbelieving and uninterested in Vee's claim.

"There is. Soccer, Tennis, Volleyball, Football, Cross Country.." Vee listed off without any offense … something Connie really admired and envied at the moment.

"You seem pretty knowledgeable with the human realm." Willow stated.

"Of course. Back when I first moved here, everything was new to me. I was both in awe of everything and needed to learn fast. I mostly figured out the social stuff by going off by myself, but Pearl taught me so many facts about the Gems, Amethyst taught me everything about how to have fun as a human with junk food and games, and Garnet just …" The basilisk trailed off. "Was there for me …"

Connie frowned. They were lucky that Amethyst held no ill will against Vee. Pearl was just outright horrible to the girl, something she needed to correct the next time they had sword lessons. Garnet…Garnet completely ghosted Vee. Moving and acting like she didn't exist, somehow saying even less than she usually did. She'd call her out more…but there wasn't much one could do against a woman that could smash boulders into pebbles in seconds.

"I have to say this is actually a pretty nice place…the only downside is that it's right to a beach." Willow groaned

"What's wrong with the beach?" Connie asked.

"Sand getting everywhere." Amity spoke up.

"Annoying people randomly showing up." Boscha rolled her eyes.

"Sunburn," Gus added.

"Lack of plants and vegetation." Willow brought up.

"Monsters popping up when you least expect it." Lucci moaned.

"Just being completely overrated." Luz summed up.

"Wow, the beach sounds like a horrible place." Hunter stated. "Why would anyone live near one?"

"I'll show you all why then, with a beach day!" Vee shouted, shoving off her sweater to reveal a … tight fitting bathing suit.

"… Were you wearing that all day?" Connie said with a blush.

"Nah, Basilisks can grow clothes by shedding their skin." She explained.

"So you're naked." Luz said bluntly. 

"Hey, it saves money on clothes."…Oh great, now she couldn't get that out of her head! "So let's go!"

"Vee, no offense, but the moment we step on that beach, a monster is going to show up and attack us." Lucci said. "That's just how the universe works.

"I'll bet you fifty Cookie cats that you're wrong."

"Deal, but I prefer lion lickers."

Connie and Vee began to gag. "Please do not tell me you eat those. The only ones that eat those are wild animals from the people that throw them away."

"I've tried to sway him girls, but Lucci has a taste for bitter." Luz winced.

"Oh, so is that why he's dating Boscha and not you?" Vee asked innocently.

"..." The three eyed witch cracked her neck. "Time to make a species extinct again."

"And to the beach we go!" Connie instantly grabbed her girlfriend and ran.

========================================================================

Amethyst rolled her eyes as she raided the fridge, turning out Pearl's rant. Normally this would've been easy, but ever since the Lucci-Vee thing, the girl's had a bigger stick up her butt than usual and up her squawking levels to a full eleven.

"..Can you believe it!? Our Steven, Rose's pride and joy, is a common criminal! Raised by horrible people to do horrible things!" Pearl's rant reigned on.

"He's not exactly our Steven anymore. Probably never was." Amethyst pointed out, knowing she'd just be ignored. "Vee's the one we raised."

"There has to be something we can do to fix this. Put him on the right path! Maybe enroll him in school … no, he wouldn't shift his ears easily enough to blend in."

"Not to mention he doesn't even seem to like earth." Amethyst brought up with an eye roll. She didn't blame him, it wasn't his home, just like how homeworld wasn't her home, yet pearl expected her to care about it whenever she brought it up.

"Maybe I could show him a dangerous scenario and play the hero?" Yeah, it was better to just tune this out if the tall lady was gonna do the same.

Garnet wasn't helping matters either, just staring off in silence and walking around without much attention to those around her. There were days where she thought the woman was frozen from Sapphire's ice. "I didn't think this group could be more dysfunctional, but here we are." Lapis commented, munching on popcorn.

"Meh, immortals, every tv show says they're bound to snap eventually." Amethyst said, munching on a burger. "So, how are the others?"

"Vee's blending in well actually. Connie's got some friction, but compared to me and the gems it's much lighter this time around." The watery gem answered. "There's also the weird thing they stall about."

"You mean where Vee doesn't make a move because she wants Connie to go at her own pace?"

"That, and she blushes whenever they think about their friend Masha." Lapis shrugged.

"Oooh, sounds Spicy. Never took them for a playa~." Amethyst laughed.

"They're not, so it's actually moving at a slow enough pace that I can treat it as an extended episode of Camp Pining Hearts." Lapis clarified. "So… she hasn't said a single word since the reveal?"

"Silent as a statue." Amethyst responded. "Honestly, I don't see the big deal. Steven, Lucci, whatever he's called, he's clearly happy with his life. That's like the one thing Rose wanted."

"We can't just leave him there!" Pearl shouted. "We need to do something, we need to-"

"We … will do nothing … to him." Everyone turned to Garnet's first words in days.

"What?" Pearl sputtered. "Garnet, you can't be serious-"

"We … lost Steven in the snow, that was on us … we do not involve him unless he shows interest …" She turned to Pearl. "We don't have the right when we already failed."

"But we haven't..we have.." Pearl sputtered. "We can fix this! He came back, that has to mean something!"

The entire room became electrified, as Amethyst felt cold, heat, and static inside her being. "Are … we … clear ?"

"...Yes Garnet." Pearl finally relented. "We have to at least ease him into knowing the bases of his gem heritage. If he truly has been living on the Boling Isles this entire time, then he's woefully unprepared, especially if a corrupted gem comes around."

"WHY IS THERE A CRYSTAL DEVIL HERE!?"Said boy shouted.

"You guys call them what?!" Connie called out. "Why is that so cool yet insensitive!?"

"I think that's them being woefully unprepared right now." Lapis snorted.

"I'm on it." Amethyst jumped out. "Don't worry guys I'm …." She trailed off, watching what could only be described as insanity.

"WHY! DID! YOU! RUIN! MY! DAY?!" That purple haired girl wailed on what looked like a giant glow worm with mucky looking gauntlets, hitting it directly in the face, actually making it wince.

"Because clearly these creatures have never done anyone good!" The blond boy called out, moving fast around the field as he threw sand spikes at it.

"I know that was a jab at me, and I will hit you for it!" Lucci said as he pink disks with spikes on them into the worm's chest

"This is why I hate the beach! It takes forever to get plants this big!" The glasses girl shouted as she threw a tree at the worm.

"… Clearly not needed." The purple gem finished as the others came out.

"Just go back to whatever hole you came out of!" The three eyed girl shouted as she hit the thing with fire over and over.

Meanwhile the only two humans sat back with Vee, Luz looking like she was twitching in place. "So…is it like this all the time?" Connie asked.

"Sorta of…I usually joined in by using glyphs to help….but there's no magic on earth…so…no glyphs." Luz explained, sounding broken by said fact. "Not to mention I'm not … particularly keen on fighting these guys …"

"What did I say!?" They heard Lucci yelled as he smacked the giant worm with a pink hammer. "Giant monster! Beach! You know what that means!?"

"That I owe you fifty Lion Lickers?" Vee's pouty voice asked.

"Yep!" Lucci responded as he knocked it into the side of the wall. "Willow, spear it now!"

"With pleasure!" The plant girl yelled as the tree she had grown earlier was sent staring through the worm. "By the power of nature, I send you back to the depths of hell!"

Poof

The gem fell to the ground, as the kid walked forward and bubbled it. "That takes care of that." He laughed, chucking it in the air like a ball.

"Careful! Those are very delicate!" Pearl panicked, grabbing the bubble.

"Not really. My bubbles can go through solid rock if I focus on it hard enough." Lucci stated.

Pearl blinked at that. "Rose's powers are not meant for …"

"Do not care about my womb donor, they're my powers now." He rolled his eyes. "And I don't want to hear whatever mumbo stuff you have to say about her or your kind, not interested."

"But, but you need to learn how to properly handle corrupted gems…"

"Please, that's not even the toughest crystal devil we've fought, not even close." Stev-Lucci waved off. "Heck, there was one time we had to deal with a coordinated invasion of them trying to specifically kill all witches."

"….What sort of hell have you been living this entire time?" Pearl asked in complete terror.

"The Boiling Isles, my home. And I'd never ask to live anywhere else." The kid smirked. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to leave now with my friends and find an activity that isn't cursed."

"It was just one bad beach trip!" Vee complained.

"There there Vee, I still like the beach." Connie assured with a pat on the back.

"But, But -"

"Girl, let it go." Amethyst turned to Pearl. "If he's not interested, he's not interested. I'm not interested in anything homeworld related, and I turned out just fine."

"You did not-" Pearl was cut short with a pink bubble, stuck around her head.

"Just gonna keep that till the day ends."

"Nice. Mind teaching me that trick. I can name a couple times in the last nine hundred years that would've been useful to have." Amethyst smirked.

"Sure, just start with making the shield and we'll work from there." He said.

"Can't really do that, but I got this." She reached into her own gem and pulled out her sick whip.

Lucci looked at her with sparkly eyes. "Cool … how do I get a whip!?"

"Mmmamamama…" Pearl said, though her words were incoherent through the bubble.

"I think what P's trying to say is that each gem has their own weapon or something." Amethyst explained. "I've got a whip, Rose had a shield, Garnet has gauntlets, and she's got a spear."

"What about Lapis?" Goops asked.

"I control all water on a global radius."

The witches paused at that. "When you say global…" Amity started.

"She wasn't the nicest when we met …" Connie winced. "She took the whole ocean…the ENTIRE earth's water supply…and turned it into a tower that reached into space to head back home."

"....Lucci, I know you don't want to learn about your Womb Donor…But PLEASE tell me stuff like this is an exception?!" Luz exclaimed. "Seriously…seventy percent of the planet….and she controls ALL OF IT! If she was on the Boling Isles, she'd be Empress!"

"Hmm …. Fine, a few questions. But only if you're with me for the boring stuff, and if someone other then pointy nose talks." 

"MMMAMAMAMGMGMS.."

"I think that can be arranged." Amethyst smirked.

"Alright, but later…like, way later. I gotta lot of Lion Licker's to collect." Lucci waved off.

"I'm gonna have to pay you one at a time…I honestly thought I was going to win." Vee pouted

"Don't worry about it Ste-vee, I think I got a few loose hundreds here and there in my junk pile." Amethyst turned to them. "Heh, Ste-Vee."

"I went with SteVeen personally." They chuckled.

"Nice. Anyways, quick question. Is that your real voice, or do you just copy mine in private?"

"I actually have no idea. It's been fourteen years acting as Steven, so I kinda forgot what my own voice sounded like naturally." They shrugged. "I can pretty much sound like anyone though if it's weird."

"Nah, It's fine. If anything I prefer it." She noogied the girl. "Always wondered what it would be like to have a little sister." The girl preened at that with the familiar adorable grin Amethyst loved to see.

========================================================================

Garnet had a lot on her mind. So, so much on it … but she had to push it away for now. "Lucifer." She spoke. "Where would you like to begin?" They had to explain gems to the boy they lost in the snow. He would have died if anyone else found him . We're lucky it was a nice witch.

"Nothing too detailed I guess. I never tried to think too much about the origins of crystal devils, but since everyone I meet like me is crazy in some way, it wouldn't hurt to learn a little more about the physical aspect."

She would save the politics for later then. "Gems are a silicone form of life." She explained, showing her right palm. "The gem is the core, it holds everything that makes us, well us. Our memories, our personality, our emotions, and how our body is shaped from the light it stores."

"So just living rocks." He summed up. 

"More or less." She nodded. "Every gem is unique, they never do the same thing as one another." She turned to the bubbled Pearl. "Pearl here can create a spear, shoot out light into a compressed beam, and store any number of objects inside of her gem."

"She sounds like a living backpack." He said.

"Hey, don't make fun of a person for their powers." Luz said. "That's like saying Gus took a useless track."

"Track..?" Garnet asked. "I'm sorry, It's been quite a while since any of us have seen the Boiling Isles. I'm not familiar with how you're using the word.

"People tried to lock up magic into covens, it's a long story involving a jerk." Lucci sighed. "So, what could Rose do that no one else could?"

"MMGHGMMGMGMGMG.." Pearl really looked like she wanted to answer this one, raising her hand and desperately getting on her knees.

"I'm still not letting her out."

"She was actually Rose's oldest confidant, so she would know the most, but I'll explain the best I can." Garnet explained. "All gems at their core have the ability to shapeshift, summon weapons, enhanced strength, speed, durability, and the ability to reform. Your mother's specific powers included her ability to decrease the acceleration of her falling…"

"You mean floating?" He asked.

"Yes. Along with her ability to heal with her tears."

"I have healing spit." He interrupted again.

"… Along with-"

Pop

Pearl took in a gasp of air. "May I speak, please!?"

"Uggggggh." Lucci groaned. "Fine, but make it quick."

"Thank you." The gem coughed. "Rose also has the ability to flawlessly control plants, to the point her creations obeyed any order."

"...Wait, plants coming to life is SUPPOSED to happen?" Luz's eyes widened. "But every plant he grows is out of control and vicious."

Garnet raised an eye under her glasses. "Did you happen to have any subconscious desires at the time?"

"If by subconscious desire you mean the little voice in my head that says the world is constantly trying to kill my family and I need to do everything I can to protect them…then yes." The boy nodded.

"… I suppose that could be something …" Pearl shook her head. "She also had the ability to form a shield."

"This thing?" Lucifer immediately made the thing. "It's durable, but not versatile, so I upgraded it."

"Up…graded it?" Pearl questioned.

"Gotta be ahead of the curb and cut off enemy heads before they cut off yours. Check it out." The shield shifted. "Drill. Razor disk. Bubble shield, and finally, Hexagons I can stack for power."

"Hsssh." A snake popped out of the boy's head.

"Don't worry, Sugar, I didn't forget about you." He smirked as the snake formed into a staff. "I can channel my power into Sugar to make more weapons. Hammer. Lance. Axe. Lightbulb. Bubble wand."

"That's … new." She nodded.

"Then there's the magical stuff I do like dream walking and soul jumping, but those are terrible so I ignore them." He rolled his eyes. "The only other power I think I own is fusion."

That got her attention. "You've fused with other gems?"

"Mm? No, with witches and Luz."

"You fuse with organics!?" Pearl shouted. "But that should be impossible … or at least very inappropriate."

"There's nothing inappropriate about two friends hanging out." The child rolled their eyes. "And I've done it with all of them. With Luz I get Glyphon, Amity I get Pudding, Gus I get Rubix, Willow I get Orchid, Boscha I get Cherry, and Amity andLuz together gives me Amuck."

"Wait, is fusion just a common gem power?" Luz asked.

"Yes…but it's not as common as you think." Garnet explained. "It's actually one of the most difficult powers a gem can master. So difficult that some spend their entire lives never doing it."

"So … what you're saying is that … I'm advanced." Lucci smiled.

"Yes." Damn it, we missed out on seeing his first fusion! That was the one thing I was hoping to help them with. Well it wasn't like Vee would fuse … damn it, why can't we help her!?

"Please tell me you guys name your fusions after mashing your names together." The human begged. "Like Garrl, or Peamathesyst."

"What? No, that would be incredibly ridiculous, and just completely uncreative." Pearl pointed out. "When two or more gems fuse together, they become a new gem. Me and Garnet together would form Sardonyx, or me and Amethyst would make Opal."

"Told you." The boy rolled his eyes. "Any other powers I should be on the lookout for?"

"I believe that covers just about everything." Garnet nodded. "Though I should note that Rose was an empath. She could easily read and feel the emotions of others, sometimes even recalling entire memories of places she hasn't even been to before."

"I'll figure out that power on my own then." He said. "I'm out then, direct all further information to Luz, she knows what I do and don't want to know about."

"I'm half best friend and half secretary." Luz smirked. 

"Wait..". Pearl, you needed to know when to stay quiet. "But you should at least know the bases of gem culture.."

"Yeah no." The boy rolled his eyes. "I know all I need to know about gems. They're megalomaniac demon rocks from space that want to take over the world and eradicate all organic life, and when they got into a civil war over something their brains got scrambled and turned into Crystal Devils. And my womb donner was a tyrant with anger issues."

"...Tyrant?" Garnet asked slowly, not sure what he was getting.

"Well yeah. Weren't the Diamonds super evil or something?"

Does he think…? Nah, it can't be, he's…he's just confused. "Steven, your mom is Rose Quartz, not Pink Diamond."

 "Three things." He stated with a hand raised. "First off, name is Lucci. If people keep telling me I'm Steven I'm going to start following in my mom's footsteps and throwing someone over a cliff." He told her clearly. "Second, my mom is Eda Clawthorne, the woman who raised me, not whoever gave birth to me." The child added on. "And thirdly … yeah, that bit kinda got confusing. My mom said anyone who studied rocks and jewels could tell this was a diamond, but people called me Rose when I showed off my shield." He lifted his shield. "Bismuth heard that and just thought she was a double crossing maniac or something."

"Wait, you've met Bismuth!?" Pearl exclaimed, shifting the subject to something that was relatively small compared to the bombshell going off in her head right now!

"Rainbow dreadlock gem who tried to kill me on multiple occasions? Hammer fists, good with building things?" He questioned. "Yeah, we know her."

"She's dead with Belos, where she belongs." Luz spoke with a glare. "A crazy maniac that shattered gems."

"No…" Pearl reeled back. "She could be overzealous at times, but she would never resort to shattering.."

"So I just imagined a giant castle crushing fortress completely destroying my house and I just imagined my gem getting cracked?" He glared.

"And I just imagined her shattering a corrupted gem I bonded with and imagined her saying that if they weren't a crystal gem, they were an enemy." Luz continued. "The lady was crazy, and now she's dead." She turned away. "Great, now my mood is sour."

"This is why I avoid learning about the past." Lucci walked out the door. "Let's just meet back up with the gang."

There was a long period of silence that followed. "That…could've gone better." Pearl groaned. "Looks like he already had a bad experience with gems…and bismuth's….I don't even know how to properly process that.."

"Pearl….tell me the truth…" Garnet growled once the two left. " Was Rose actually Pink Diamond?"

There was another moment of silence. "…Her last orders were-"

Garnet stood up, marching back and opening the gem vault, locking herself inside. Keep it together, keep it … Lies from Vee, lies from Rose, everyone just keeps LYING. Is it us? Does no one trust us? Is it funny to mess with gems in general?Keep it together …Keep it together, you can't break down now…you can't you can'tyou can't you can't YOU CAN'T….

========================================================================

Greg tossed the last of his bottles. "Alright, all cleaned up for when he visits." The man smiled. Finally, he could have a proper father son relationship! No wonder everything went to shit before, the reason why Steven changed since that day…he was never Steven to begin with! The gems with all their magic space bullshit lost him. That's why that doppelganger never liked him or never got interested in music, it wasn't his son.

Now he finally had a chance to start fresh. He just needed to keep thing's stable with Camila and connect with his REAL son, and he might actually have an actual family again. And to start, he'd go up to the boy and have a conversation … wherever he was.

There weren't too many places in Gravesfield … maybe he should start at Camila's place just to be safe.….although even that had a bit of a problem. He still wasn't sure where he stood when it came to Camila, not to mention the last time he went there, the house was crowded by pointy eared kids with powers that were more than willing to rip his head apart.

Not like he could ask the police for help either on that front, since his son in all likelihood counted as an illegal immigrant and would be arrested for that alone. So for the moment, he had to keep his distance and not make a big scene. "So, how was talking with those Crystal Devils?." He heard that three eyed girl say as his son and Camilia's daughter walked up to the front door.

"Nothing I didn't already know, just really annoying stuff in the end." His son spoke. "I seriously don't want to deal with those maniacs…at least not that Pearl lady, she was soooooo exhausting to listen to." Already a good sign!

"They also apparently didn't know about the Pink Diamond thing, so it was more like we taught them something today instead of the other way around." Camila's kid added on. "The one thing we did learn was that Lucci apparently is supposed to have more control over his plants than he shows."

"… I'm going to triple your training mr." The girl simply stated.

"Wouldn't Willow be better suited for…"

The girl grabbed Steven's face. "If you think for a second I'm going to leave you alone for extended periods of time with Half a witch when you could be spending that time with your girlfriend, then you have another thing coming mister." Wait..that was his girlfriend? "You're literally the only good thing on this planet for me, I'm not losing you by any means necessary."

"I don't like Earth anymore than you Angel, I'm not going to stop spending time with you." He answered. "Between the cold weather and the terrible taste in music, just … bleh."

"I told you that if you wanted to start listening to musicals here, you shouldn't have started with the soundtrack to Cats ." Camila's kid spoke out.

"You know I'm a cat person. I thought it was a simple slice of life story about house pets….what the heck does Jellical even mean?"

"I think it was a name … and yeah, I understand. We'll get you off of earth soon enough man." Camila's kid patted him on the back, heading inside. "I swear, I will not get a moment of sleep until I get you all home!"

The two kid's still outside watched the door close on them. "She is going to break from the stress, isn't she?" Steven asked.

"You say that like we all aren't breaking a little on the inside." The three eyed girl responded. "One person is bound to snap before we get back home. Better her than me."

"Boscha…" His son shook his head, sitting down on the curb, pulling out…an instrument from his hair. "At the very least I can keep myself busy with my own music. Stole this from the mall the other day…" …Stole? That was a massive concern. "They called it a Uk-a-la-le."

"Isn't that just a lute?"

"Yeah, except it's smaller, has four strings, and the pitches are higher." He began strumming it. "Pretty easy to learn actually. Only took me ten minutes to learn all the chords." Glad to see his musical love and talent went to the kid.

"… So we don't get to watch people die while you sing anymore?" She asked in a disappointed tone.

"I know, the chaos was the best part about it, but that won't stop me from playing." He strummed the instrument. "Stuck in a new world, full of the unknown. Believe me it sucks, with everything I've been shown."

"The sky's far too blue, the grass has no shade of red." The three eyed girl leaned down next to him. " And the longer I'm around humans, the more I want them dead."

"I don't know what I'm doing. Barely know where I am. My entire life exploded in front of me, but I'm trying the best I can." Steven went on, resting his head on hers. "Life just gets more painful, life just gets more rough, and no matter how hard I try I'm never up to stuff."

"I try to fight it, try to block it, try to get out on top. But each day that passes by, I know im gonna pop!"

" Someday we'll get out of this, that's at least what I'll say!" Definitely inherited the love of music … man, he was good. " And I swear to those that crossed me, they're all going to pay…!"

"Greg?" He almost yelped as he heard Camila come up behind him. "Why are you spying on the kids? If you had been anyone else, I'd would've called the police."

"Just …" He looked back. "It's my son … my real one." Greg explained. "Right there, hating the world …" He sighed. "I just need five minutes to talk to him.."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Camila stopped him. "I don't know the full details, but the kids told me about your last visit…and how… brutal… shall we say…it was." That was putting it lightly.

"I still can hear ringing." He admitted. "Maybe you could … talk about a visit with them, please?"

"Greg.." She sighed. "The kids just lost their whole home, I'm in no position to suggest anything to them. Right now I'm making sure they're comfortable while I find them a trustworthy therapist."

He sighed, sitting back against the tree. "You're right …" He should probably give them a while … After that, it was bonding. "So, no night out?"

"Not for a few weeks anyhow. I don't trust them around anything flammable as of yet." That was worrying. "After that..I'll let you know where we stand."

Oh no..those weren't good words for a relationship. "I-" She was already walking away. "... Dang it." Once more, his life was falling apart … but this time, he wouldn't stand by while it happened.

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Luz panted as she pushed up. "Twenty … twenty one … twenty two …" Without the glyphs, all she had was the sword, and without a strong body, having a weapon didn't matter. Not when the next Bismuth came along to kill her friends, not when the next Belos came along and ruined another world.

As it stood, she was the weakest member of the group. She created this mess, she separated them from their home and loved ones, but they still had to carry the weight. Against that crystal de…against that corrupted gem, she was dead weight who froze and was filled with thoughts about Centi. She swore; that was nevergoing to happen again.

 So she would train when she wasn't busy focusing on the portal to get them home, while she still had time before School came around to mess everything up again. If she didn't have a mom she didn't want to disappoint anymore, she wouldn't have bothered. Luz had no future in the human world … although, given all the trouble she caused, she had no future in the demon one either …

Thoughts for later. Everyone's suffering and they need your help Luz. Just suck it up and develop some decent muscles. "Tweenty five….tweenty six….twenty seven.."

"While developing proper muscle mass is integral, it's inconsequential if you don't know how to wield the blade." A voice took her out of her thoughts, making her fall mid push up.

"Gah, I just …" She turned, seeing a familiar tall gem. "Ah, Pearl … for the record, Lucci isn't here. You can talk to Vee though if you wanna make up, she's teaching them proper camping tricks."

"I don't have any interest in speaking to that imposter." Pearl grimaced, before shaking her head. "I was actually hoping to speak to you for a moment."

"Me?" That didn't make sense at all. "Why me? I'm the least notable out of all my friends."

"You have Rose's sword…and whether I like it or not, Ste-Lucifer prefers it to be in your hands." Pearl looked like that was hard for her to admit.

"It is the only defense I have at the moment." Luz admitted. "But don't you use a spear?"

"In my many years of serving Rose, I've become, as you humans prefer, an ace of spades in multiple forms of combat. Spears, bow staffs, axes, war hammers, guitars, frying pans, and most importantly, swords." Pearl listed off. "It was due to our use of these physical weapons that we held an advantage over Homeworld during the war."

"I see …" Luz looked down at her hands.

"If you need a reference, Connie's been learning from me as it is."

"Yeah, I recall her saying something like that." Luz remembered the brief skill she had seen during her time in the in-between realm. "... I guess I could learn a thing or two."

"Then it's settled. Tomorrow afternoon, you start. We'll work out a schedule for you to follow once your school semester begins." Pearl began walking away.

"Wait, you're just offering lessons to me just like that?" Luz questioned. "Is there some kind of catch to this?"

The pale gem sighed. "I know that I've failed to make a good impression on Ste-on Lucifer, and actively pursuing to make it better will only strain that relationship even further. I helped his mother, and I want to provide that same help to him…even if it's indirectly by helping you hone your swordsmanship."

"Ah, I'm your key to Lucci." Did Boscha ever try that with Luz … nope, she just tried to obliterate her to get to Lucci. "I'll accept, but just know Lucci's pretty stubborn with these things. He once held a grudge for ten years over a misunderstanding, and don't even get me started with how he pursued his girlfriend."

"Trust me, I know there are plenty of bad habits we need to work out of the boy." Pearl rolled her eyes. "I'll be satisfied once we kick his larceny habit."

"Good luck. That's basically the first thing Eda taught him to do." Luz still had to triple check her pocket for her wallet. Now that her human money had value, he was more likely to steal it. "I look forward to your lessons, sensei." She would finally be able to pull her weight with this.