It's Time To Go (Fanfiction) - Chapter 1: The Enemy of my Enemy...

“Just.. A bit… To the right and… YES!” Peridot’s voice rang out through the barn, waking poor Steven up from the 2nd floor couch.

It appears Steven was not the only one woken up. Even Lion jumped, with the Crystal Gems running inside.

“What happened?!” Pearl asked, with her spear in her hands.

Peridot, incredibly proud of herself, moved out of the way to show her gem pod, which she had successfully got back in near-perfect working condition.

“You did this… All by yourself while we were sleeping?” Steven asked.

“Pfft, you’re wording it as if it was a challenge. The only major issue I had was finding the right parts.” Peridot said, almost trying to flaunt her achievement in everyone’s faces.

“Well, that brings us all a step closer to finishing the drill.” Garnet said.

“All we need now is to mount the pod on the drill, and we’re ready!” Pearl continues, as everyone’s faces fill with glee.

Steven looks outside, at the night sky.

“Well… Can’t we do it tomorrow, when it’s light out?” he asks.

“I agree with Steven.” Amethyst says, falling on a pile of hay and instantly starting to snore.

“Fine. But first thing in the morning, we get the drill set up.” Garnet says, before waving to Pearl and Peridot to leave so that Steven can rest.

Steven falls back on the couch and pulls the blanket over him, closing his eyes and drifting away to sleep. …He starts to dream. This one’s odd. He’s surrounded by a wet floor, but he can clearly hear voices.

“Let me out, you little-- Gah!!” Jasper’s voice rings out, with the sounds of chains being pulled and tugged accompanying her.

“Just.. Stop! Why must you keep resisting this so… Much!!” Steven hears Lapis grunt, possibly trying to pull back the chains Jasper was tugging, and apparently failing.

“Let me go, you blue jilt! I won’t let you stand in my way to get revenge on those… ''Crystal.. GEMS!!”'' Jasper screams, as the sounds of chains finally getting broken fill the room.

“Stop this! I don’t want you to hurt him!” Lapis says, with more and more desperation in her voice, struggling to keep Jasper at bay.

“Hurt who…? That human? Cut me some slack…” Jasper grits her teeth. “It’s the others I want to pound into the dirt.”

The remaining chains get a bit looser.

“Wh-What..? So.. You won’t hurt him?” Lapis says, slowly sounding ever so less frightened.

“That’s not what I want. What I want is to get revenge against that cheating fusion!” Jasper says confidently. The chains drop.

“...”

"...” Not another word is said. ...This is not good. “Steven?” “Steven!” “Steven!!”

Steven bursts awake, flailing his arms around and knocking Pearl over.

“Whoa, take it easy, guy.” Amethyst says.

“You’ve been moving and mumbling in your sleep… Are you okay, Steven?” Pearl struggles to get up.

…

“Yeah.. I’m fine and-- Wait, Pearl, were you watching me sleep again!?” Steven looks at Pearl angrily.

“ ...No. ” Pearl lies badly.

“You don’t look fine.” Garnet says, looking at Steven.

He was sweating, panting for air, shivering.

“Did you catch a cold?” Pearl asks, very worried, covering her mouth and jumping at Steven to see if he has a fever.

“No, Pearl. I just.. I had a terrible nightmare.” Steven rolls his eyes.

“You okay now?” Amethyst asks, leaning onto Pearl.

“Yes.” Steven says, getting visibly annoyed.

“Are you sure?” Pearl insists.

“YES.” Steven raises his voice.

At this point, Pearl and Amethyst realize that now it may not be the best time to bother Steven about this, so they silently nod and go back to their business. Yet Garnet stays, looking at Steven.

“What do you want?” Steven asks.

“I know you’re not “fine”, Steven.” Garnet says.

“What do you mean?” Steven is again, getting annoyed.

“This isn’t how you normally act.” Garnet backs him into a corner.

…

“Listen, I don’t want to talk about it right now.” Steven rolls his eyes.

“It’s okay.” Garnet smiles.

“Wh-What?” he was caught a little off guard by Garnet so quickly accepting his behaviour.

“Yeah. People are really stingy about their dreams, so I understand. I’ll wait here until you want to talk about it.” Garnet says.

“Okay-- Wait what? Wait here?” Steven’s eyes widen.

“Yeah.” Garnet kneels down and sits at the foot of Steven’s couch. “Tell me when you want to talk about it.”

Steven drops back down on his sofa, before struggling to drift back to sleep… ...It’s eerily quiet.