~Steven Universe~ Return From Corruption

Chapter 2 "In the Back of my Mind"

~A couple days had passed since Steven had the strange dream, it still bothered him and he barely got any sleep because of how much he thought about it. Steven yawned and went to complete his before bed-time routine. He came back out and was greeted with Peridot, Amethyst and Pumpkin, he spoke "G'night guys, I'm going to bed." Amethyst looked over and smiled "Goodnight Ste-man." Peridot spoke after her "Yes, goodnight Steven." Steven asked "So what are you guys going to do?" Peridot spoke "Amethyst wants me to watch this show with her, she says it'll make me feel better." Steven smiled "Lil' Butler?" Peridot nodded, Steven snickered "Good for you then, welp, I'm going to bed. Good luck with that." Steven yawned again and clumsily trudged up the stairs. He crawled in bed and closed his eyes. Steven heard Amethyst and Peridot talking and then he heard the temple door open. Steven sighed and tried to fall asleep. In a few minutes he had successfully done so.

Steven awoke to find himself in a dream where him and Connie where going camping. After a few minutes of being in that dream, Steven heard a distant growl, dream Connie didn't seem to notice, Steven nervously shifted and tried to forget it, but he heard it again. He grabbed a hammer they had used to pin the tent down and edged towards the growling. The scenery changed into the familiar sandy canyon that was the Beta. Steven let out a small shriek as he heard the growling again, he edged closer. There she was, clawing at the walls while sneering and growling irritatingly, Steven held the hammer closer. The corrupted gem peered towards where Steven was and let out a snarl before walking closer. Steven hid behind a rock and held his mouth with his other hand to muffle his breathing. The corrupt sniffed around, Steven closed his eyes as sweat dribbled down his forehead. The corrupt sniffed the rock, it let out a terrifying roar and slashed the rock, Steven managed to move out of the way as half the rock fell where he was hiding. The corrupt growled and turned to face him, Steven stood up and huffed, he began speaking "W-What do you want?" The corrupted Jasper hissed and pawed the ground with one of her clawed paws. Steven spoke "I-I don't understand- I- Do-Do you want help?" just then a voice echoed through the dream "Steven!"

Steven squinted his eyes, it sounded like Pearl. "Steven!" Steven looked around and noticed the corruption was gone and soon he was snapped back into reality, he rubbed his eyes and looked up to see Pearl "Pearl?" Pearl smiled nervously "Er... Good morning Steven.." Steven looked outside, it was still dark outside "Pearl, what time is it?" Pearl responded "5:08 in the morning." Steven shrugged "Well, that's a little early but.. Thanks for waking me up." Pearl looked at Steven with a concerning expression "Steven, you where tossing and turning in your bed more then usual, is something up?" Steven nervously scratched the back of his head "Um.. Well... You see, I was just having a nightmare.." Pearl nodded "Oh, I see..." Pearl stood up and walked down the stairs, she seemed to be thinking about something as she walked towards the temple door. Steven huffed and stood up, he headed into the bathroom.

Steven managed to open his room later that day, he snuck into the Bubbling Room and found Jasper's gem, he sat and stared at it, thinking. Steven got an idea, it would be risky but maybe it could work. he stood up and managed to climb up into one of the holes that led to Amethyst's room. Steven climbed out of the pool and looked up at a surprised Peridot and Amethyst, they where in the middle of making some sort of statue, with objects they had found around the room. Amethyst helped Steven up and asked "Yo Ste-man, why ya sneakin into my room like that?" Steven spoke "Amethyst, I need to speak to you, mind if I borrow her Peridot?" Peridot shrugged "That's Amethyst's choice, technically." Steven nodded, Amethyst spoke "Uh, sure buddy." Steven lead Amethyst behind a trash pile and told her about the dreams and his plan "I.. I want to bring Jasper somewhere and try to heal her.." Amethyst replied "It didn't work with Centipeedle." Steven spoke again "Yeah, but Jasper's different, she's been corrupted for way less time then the others and she didn't gain corruption from the Diamonds, maybe it'll work because of that." Amethyst brushed a hand through her hair "I don't know, man..." Steven grabbed her hand and gave her the puppy eyes "Pleeeeaaaaase?" Amethyst snorted "Okay, Okay, fine, but don't say I didn't tell you."

After an hour or two, Amethyst and Steven snuck into the bubbling room and stole Jasper's bubble before warping to the Strawberry Battle field, they figured the nice scenery would calm the corrupt down. Steven inhaled and exhaled, Amethyst summoned her weapon just in case. Steven popped the bubble and stepped back, the corrupted Jasper reformed, she stumbled around looking confused before she noticed Steven and Amethyst, she sneered and tried to attack them, Steven summoned a bubble and yelped as the bubble was thrown a few feet, the two tumbled around in the bubble clumsily, Jasper pawed at the bubble, grunting in annoyance.

Steven gulped and looked at Amethyst "I need you to restrain Jasper so she doesn't run off or attack." Amethyst nodded and grabbed her whip. Steven lowered the bubble and Amethyst quickly threw her whip around Jasper's back leg, she pulled Jasper's leg from under her, causing her to fall on her belly, Amethyst managed to tie Jasper up to where she would be refrained from any attacking or running away, Steven edged close to Jasper's face, he licked his hand and attempted to touch Jasper's gemstone, the corrupt sneered and whipped her head away, the sudden movement caused Amethyst to stumble backwards, Amethyst fell backwards and let go of the whip, Jasper stood up within seconds and managed to untangle herself and bound away. Amethyst shrugged "Well, what now?" Steven shrugged "It's a little late, we should head back to the temple for now." Amethyst nodded and the two headed home.