3Steven coughed as the cloud of sand veiled the beach. "Two-cough, hack. Twoie! Answer me!" He strained against the arms holding him. He hadn't even noticed the cliff breaking apart. But Twoie had. And he'd thrown him out of the way.
The dust was finally settling. There was a sound of twinkling before the rocks shifted and sunk in further. Garnet's hold slackened enough for him to wriggle out of her grip. The young boy darted across the sand to the pile of rocks. "Twoie, please!" He analyzed the pile and picked up a boulder that wouldn't shift it. He tossed it aside.
Steven threw another rock out of the way, revealing part of his brother's jacket. "Don't just stand there, help me!" Steven panicked. Garnet snapped out of her shock and rushed over to pick up a large chunk that Steven couldn't reach. Pearl and Amethyst made their way over as well. With the other three helping him, Twoie was uncovered in seconds.
Steven rolled him over. His brother's eyes were closed. He was bleeding from the back of his head and from several scratches where the rocks had torn through his clothing. Steven licked his hand and gently touched his older brother's face. The healing spit worked its magic, erasing any trace of his injuries. But Twoie still didn't wake up.
"He should only be sleeping now. Probably due to how much energy he expended. We should get him into the house." Garnet leaned forward to pick him up, but Steven scooped him up before she could. He carried his brother up the stairs without waiting for the gems.
"Man, he's really mad at us." Amethyst murmured. She nervously rubbed her arm as she contemplated what to do next.
Garnet sighed. "He has every right to be. We were so blinded by our fear and hatred of Homeworld, that we injured someone he cared immensely about."
Amethyst scoffed at her. "You mean, someone we should've cared about. I told you guys from the beginning that Twoie is still Steven." Her voice became meek as she muttered, "I just can't believe I hurt him, anyway."
Garnet brushed a hand through her hair. "You're right. I kept seeing him as someone else, unrelated to our Steven and our timeline, but he is Steven."
Pearl shakily wiped tears from her face."T-this is all m-my fault. I'm the one who freaked out over his knowledge of Homeworld and the corrupted gems. I came up with the thought of him working with Homeworld. I was so obsessed w-with finding Peridot that I kept pushing him to tell us about the future."
Garnet placed a hand on Pearl's shoulder. "It's also my fault. I'm the one who kept pressuring him to tell us the future. I kept making meetings so I could demand answers from him."
Amethyst rubbed her arm in discomfort. "We should've listened when they tried to explain earlier. What do we do now?"
Garnet made her way towards the house. "We listen to Steven, we apologize to Twoie when he wakes up, we let them explain, and we give Peridot a chance."
When the gems re-entered the house, they found Steven sitting upstairs with Twoie lying in his bed. The young boy scowled as he turned his back to them. He didn't even want to look at them right now. He was so tired of the gems never listening to him. After the robinoids, he'd really thought they would take him more seriously, but this stupid fight proved him wrong.
Amethyst quietly walked up the stairs. "Hey, Steven. I brought you a glass of water." Steven took the glass from her without looking at her.
"Thanks."
Okay, she deserved that. She awkwardly stood there for a moment, trying to see if she could get Steven to talk to her. "Do you need anything?"
Steven scowled, but kept his gaze on his brother. "I need you to leave us alone right now."
She winced. "Alright." She headed downstairs, where Garnet and Pearl were somberly waiting by the temple's warp pad. "I'm going to go regret everything in my room. Come get me if you need me."
Pearl nodded. "I think I'll head to my room too since Steven wants some time to himself."
Garnet gestured to the home phone in the living room. "I'm going to inform Greg of what happened before I do. Twoie is his son. He's not going to be happy when he hears about this." The other gems agreed and left for their rooms. Garnet walked back into the living room and dialed Greg's number. She could feel the guilt churning in her stomach as the phone rang.
The shrill noise of his ringtone woke Greg from his slumber. "Huh, what? What is it?" He blearily rubbed his eyes with one hand while trying to find his phone with the other. Once it was in his hand, he hit the answer button.
"Hello, this is Greg speaking." His eyes started adjusting to the dim light inside the van. What time was it?
Garnet's voice ran out from the phone. "Greg, you need to come to the temple." That startled him to alertness. The older man rigidly sat up as he tried to clamp down on his rising panic.
"What's wrong? Oh, no. Did something happen to Steven or Twoie?" He searched his pockets for his keys to the van. Found them! He clambered into the front seat and started the van.
"Twoie and Steven are fine now, but we had an… incident earlier. We misjudged Twoie, and I'm ashamed to say we fought."
Greg tore out of the driveway. "Garnet, I swear if you mean fought as in physically, I'll poof you with my bare hands." The voice on the other side was quiet. "Darn it! I can't believe you guys!"
Garnet sighed into the phone's speaker. "I know. We're sorry. We've already been lectured by Steven about this as well." The van flew across the boardwalk and onto the beach.
"I'm almost to the house. You better be gone before I come in. I don't even want to see you guys while I'm there." There was a noise of acknowledgment before Garnet hung up. It took him several minutes before he arrived at the temple.
Greg parked out front and gaped at the destruction in front of him. There was a crater by his van, and part of the edge of the cliffside had broken apart. "Twoie! Steven!" He called out as he ran up the steps into the house. His eyes scanned the interior the moment he burst into through the front door. The living room was mostly dark, illuminated slightly by Steven's bedroom lights shining from the second floor. Only one person on the bed responded to his call. "Dad?"
Steven turned to face the doorway. Greg could see the dried tear tracks on his son's cheeks. "Oh, no. What happened?" The kid broke into sobs. Their father quickly made his way up the stairs. "Shh, it's okay, Steven. I'm here. Everything will be okay." Steven hugged him tightly as Greg sat next to him on the bed. The father held his youngest son while he inspected his oldest.
The young man didn't look injured, but exhaustion probably couldn't begin to describe him. He had dark bags under his eyes and looked sickly pale. There wasn't even a response to all of the noise they were currently making. "Oh, Twoie. What did they do to you?" His youngest son furrowed his brows into a glare and pulled away from his dad.
"The gems were upset that Twoie didn't want to say much about the future, and then I got kidnapped by Peridot, so they thought he wanted that to happen. And then, Twoie and I released Peridot from her bubble because she has important information for us and she never intended to hurt me in the first place, but the gems were really angry at him for doing that. Since Twoie told me to let her out, the gems thought he was a traitor and fought him." He wiped at his eyes again as he looked at his older brother. "He saved me from getting hurt but he got hurt instead."
Greg brushed his hand through Steven's hair. "How's he doing now? He doesn't look injured." Steven shook his head.
"I healed him with my healing spit, but he was still exhausted from everything that happened. Garnet said he's just sleeping now." That was relieving to hear. Steven jolted as he remembered that Peridot was still waiting in Rose's room. "Dad! Watch over Twoie for a second! I have to tell Peridot it's okay to come out now!" He didn't give his dad a chance to respond as he jumped down to the 1st floor and ran over to the temple.
The door opened up, revealing Peridot pacing back in forth with her foot enhancer in her hands. "Oh, thank stars, you're back! I was worried you two had tricked me, and I'd be stuck in this room." She noticed it was just him. "What happened to the taller one?" Steven gestured for her to follow him out.
When they walked into the living room, Peridot could see Twoie asleep in bed. She set the enhancer down on the living room table. "Twoie got hurt defending you. He's okay now, but he's sleeping so don't wake him."
Peridot walked up the steps in confusion. "What's 'sleeping'?"
Greg chuckled. "Sleeping is when humans and animals close their eyes and rest for a couple of hours. We do this mainly to conserve and regain energy. We're not responsive during this time, but you can get our attention if you're really loud." Peridot studied Twoie's slumbering form.
"Interesting. I'm going to have to perform more research on the behavioral mechanisms of earth creatures in the future." Steven brightened up at her words.
"You should join me in homeschool!" She raised a brow at him. "Homeschool?" Steven nodded and sat down next to Twoie. "Yeah! Twoie teaches me about stuff like earth's history and how living things work. You could ask him about joining us once he's awake if you want to know more about earth stuff." Peridot walked around the foot of the bed and sat down. She stared at Twoie intently.
"You okay, Peridot?" She didn't look at the kid as she replied. "If he was damaged, then that means he fought those clods. He really fought them… for me?" Greg exchanged a look with Steven.
Steven smiled sadly at her. "Yeah. Twoie fought the others to keep you safe. He really cares about you." Peridot growled, tugging at her hair in a mix of annoyance and confusion.
"But why! I don't understand. There was no benefit in aiding my escape from the Crystal Clods." Steven put a hand on her arm to get her to stop.
"Earth is different from Homeworld. It's a place where you can be you. Helping others is pretty common here." The room was silent. Peridot was contemplating the new information she received from the humans.
"I will have to reflect on your reasoning further. Is there a room that I can stay in for now? I'm not comfortable knowing that those clods can enter at any moment." She made a face as she added, "And please don't put me back in the pink room. I don't want to rely on you every time I want to leave."
Steven hummed. As he looked around the house, his eyes landed on the bathroom. "You can stay in the bathroom? Dad, can you grab me a spare blanket?" He led Peridot to the bathroom and flicked the light switch.
"Huh, some kind of archaic think-chamber. Very nice. It even has a fresh scent of earth citrus." Steven chuckled lightly. Peridot started exploring every nook-and-cranny of the bathroom. Greg walked in and handed the blanket over to Steven, who laid it out in the bathtub.
"Peridot don't touch these knobs, okay? It turns the water on in the tub, and you'll get yourself and the blanket wet. If you want to relax, you can lay down or sit on the blanket." She hummed and went back to examining herself in the mirror. Steven yawned and headed out of the bathroom. "I'm going to bed. If you need me, I'll be upstairs. Turn the metal piece on the doorknob to lock the door. The gems won't be able to enter if you do that." He heard the lock click in place after he walked out.
Greg placed a hand on Steven's shoulder. "Do you want me to spend the night? I could close up the wash tomorrow."
His son shook his head. "We'll be fine, Dad. The gems know what they did was wrong, Twoie should wake up in the morning, and Peridot isn't a threat anymore. You can head back to the shop now. I'm going to bed." He hugged his dad. "Thank you for coming to check on us."
Greg held him close. "Of course, Schtu-ball. I'll always be here when you need me. Make sure you let Twoie know that as well when he wakes up! If you guys ever need to get away, we can stay in the van like old times. Night, I love you.""
Steven laughed as his father gave him a gentle noogie. "Love you too."
Steven waved at his dad as he walked out of the house. Once he could no longer see the van, the kid made his way back to bed and crawled in. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop the gems." He whispered as he nestled against his brother's side. Twoie shifted in his sleep to curl his arm around him. A tear slipped down Steven's face. Even in his sleep, Twoie was always protecting him. "Love you, bro." He whispered. Hopefully, tomorrow would be better.
