His Mother's Son

Forgiveness Builds a Better Life

Steven's P.O.V

To say I'm scared would be a severe understatement. Right now, I'm terrified. I've heard that even a tiny change in the past can have an enormous impact on the present/future. What if I never see Lapis again? What if I'm left all alone but without the Gem's this time? And, worst of all, what if I die because something happened to Pink or Dad? These questions flood my head like a tsunami, making it hard to breathe and think straight. However, I try and succeed at slowing my breathing down, keeping near and dear to my heart the fact that I did what I could to ensure my own existence and that all that's left to do is dive into what I come across.

My feet make contact with slanted metal, putting me off-balance for a second before I catch myself. Once I'm sure I won't fall and face plant the ground below, I take a nervous and critical look around me. Temple? Check. Beach City? Check. The Gems? No check, but there is something out of the ordinary down below on the space in front of the Temple. What appears to be a low-budget wedding reception is set up, chairs lined up in rows with a central platform that has an arch overhead, decorated by different kinds of flowers but the most common being roses. Roses, huh? I'm starting to get a sneaky suspicion of what's already different.

As for the Gems, they'll more than likely be inside the Temple. Caring not to put the time orb away, I gently hop off the lip of the roof and float my way down onto the porch. After touching down, I open the front and walk in with restrained hesitation. Almost immediately, I'm met with some peculiar changes. For one, the living room's bigger, having more couches and furniture for an apparently larger crowd. Weird. Another thing is the Temple Door. At first, I didn't know if I was imagining it or not, but there are significantly more gemstones embedded on the outside. Luckily, Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst's are still there, but there's also a yellow-green triangle gem, a medium blue teardrop gem, an orange rhombus gem, an upside down heart gem, and an upside down pink diamond that is just like mine.

I do a quick double take on all this. So, I recognize the first three gemstones to be from Peridot, Lapis, and Jasper, meaning that they're clearly alive, but what I can't guess is the heart-shaped gem. Could this be a new gem that I haven't heard of before? It very well could be. However, the last gemstone surprises me the most. It's a pink diamond. And I know where mine came from, so that can only mean one thing....

I knock loudly on the door, hoping that the person I'm thinking of will answer. A second later, one of the gemstones lights up. Sadly, it's not the one that I wanted, but what I get instead is the next best thing. The teardrop gemstone glows radiant blue and the door splits apart at an angle. Then, stepping out of her room, comes the water-bending beauty herself, Lapis. She doesn't see me at first but after a polite cough on my behalf, Lapis looks down and goes instantly wide-eyed. She gasps and develops tears in her eyes.

"Babe, you came back!" Lapis cries, rushing over and getting on her knees to hug me.

At least, a hug is what I anticipated. What I really received though was her holding the sides of my head in her hands and her kissing me repeatedly all over my face and neck. I blush from all the affection.

"Peridot and I were so worried about you. After you ran off and didn't come back, Pink urged her to find you with that tracker Peridot injected you with when you were five. It didn't work though and everyone left, except us, to search the city for you. They're still out there as we speak, even Ruby and Sapphire. Both were in hysterics and vowed to find you before they made their vows to each other" Lapis rambles, worry crystal clear in her tone.

Though I'm still not clear on the background of the situation here, I feel bad that I made Lapis worry.

"I'm sorry, Lapis" I say, looking down at the floor, "I just....had to do something. Something only I could do".