Burning Conscious

Chapter 9 - Midnight robbery

The night was still as he parked the car by the Big Doughnut. As he silently turned the cars engine off he went over the list of items he'd need.

A change of clothes, a charged portable charger, fresh socks, some bullets, and a shower. He knew he would have a limited amount of time, and hoped it would only take about half an hour to get his list done. If he had time left over he'd go and check on the garden too.

And maybe wash his jacket and grab a pillow.

Gathering up his courage, he opened the car door, stepping out before closing and locking it as quietly as possible.

He walked down the beach, the sand in his sandals bringing back playful memories that made a smile appear on his face. He remembers trying his hardest to teach Pearl vollyball, how he and Amethyst had built a huge sand castle that stayed there for nearly a week, and all the times he burried Garnet in the sand and fed her sand food. He wondered how and why she actually ate the sand.

And now here he was, in the middle of the night, sneaking up the beach to basically break in.

Did it count as breaking in if it was his house and he had the key?

He walked up the stairs of the temple, jumping over the three steps that made the awful creaking sound. He walked up to the door, taking out his keychain and carefully pulling out the houses key, trying his hardest to not make the key to the car and Jasper and Blues apartments bump into each other.

He opened the door slowly, walking on the tips of his toes after he removed his sandals. He took off his jacket as he walked, avoiding being near the fridge. 

He walked next to the couch, quietly squatting down as he plugged in his phone and portable charger. His phone made a small bling sound, letting him know it was charging. Luckily it wasn't loud enough to wake anyone up. And it reminded him to turn off his phone.

He walked up the stairs as quietly as he could, making his way to his room. As he opened the door he thought he heard a noise downstairs. After a few seconds of standing still amd waiting to hear it again to no avail, he went into his room.

He went into his closet, grabbing his black star shirt to change into and a fresh pair of jeans. And his pajamas since he really didn't like sleeping in his jeans. 

Grabbing the hotdog duffle bag that hid under his bed, he put the clothes into the bag along with a few bottles of aspirin and a dozen or so of loose bullets, most of them being blanks. He grabbed his yellow shirt and a different pair of jeans for now, folding them in his arms neatly.

Tossing the bag over his shoulder, nearly falling over due to the sudden weight and his clumsiness, he walked back downstairs, placing the bag on the couch before quietly opening the bathrooms door.

Locking the door behind him, he got undressed and into the shower.

The warm water felt nice compared to the frozen water the ocean had provided him durning the past few days, since he was trying to get better at holding his breath under water. His longest time so far was a minute thirty. And the soap trickling down his back felt overly nice.

The water helped him think as time slowly passed. He missed Lars, and Saddle and the band. It felt like the world around him knew its future, while he was stuck not knowing anything, being forced to go with the flow and pretend to be a good as the worry of his future clouded his mind. 

In a way he was afraid of the path ahead of him. He didn't want to be stuck doing one thing. Helping people was nice, being a gangster was nice, but he knew doing one thing for too long wouldn't feel right. And he knew he couldn't please everybody. It hurt in a way.

And he knew he couldn't avoid his mom forever. He just really didn't want to be around her right now. Besides, she was the one who faked he own death..... Twice.

He felt like she owed him, owed him the truth of her past, of why she left while he was a kid, why she didn't even care to come back to him and the gems and the diamonds.....

She owed him the time they didn't get together.

He realized he was stairing at the wall for too long, his vision literally flooded by the water in his eyes. He couldn't tell if they were tears or the showers water, why he would be crying was really the question worth answering.

Turning off the shower, getting into his change of clothes, brushing his teeth and hair amd shaving the small stubble that grew on his face. It felt like a normal morning, so much so that he almost expected to walk out to see the sun shining as Pearl finished breakfast and Amethyst and Ruby demanded food, Sapphire joining them at the end as a growl left her stomach, Garnet helping Pearl serve.

He smiled sadly at the memory as the towel on his head dripped on the floor. He missed those days, when things were so simple and fun.

God what was he thinking.

As the memory of his mission entered his head he felt this want to stop it and apologize and make things right.

But then he remembered Rose, and he grabbed his bag and jacket and phone and portable charger, and he put on his sandals.

And with a sigh, he turned to walk out the door.

Only be be stopped by the large and for whatever reason pink Lion.

Well he knew the reason, the diamonds did make resurrection drugs. Just.... It turned whatever it ressurected pink....?

The feline stared at him before letting a yawn escape his lips. Steven lets out an annoyed growl. "Lion you need to move!" He whispers as the lion makes himself comfortable. 

Steven sighed, deciding to try to move the Lion by force. He pushed him, he pulled his tail, and in the end he gave up, leaning on Lions side as he fell slowly to the floor. So much for clean clothes, he was covered in pink fur....

He was ready to give up before he remembered the balcony that was outside his bedroom, and with a sly grin he tipped upstairs, and went onto the ledge.

Before realizing this wasn't going to work.

He staired down at the houses porch below,  knowing if he jumped down he risked making noise. He knew the porch wouldn't break, Bizmuth did rebuild it after all. But the last thing he wanted to do was make any type of noise.

He turned to see the lion walk into his room, closing the door behind him. What was the cat even doing? Hunting him?

The only quiet way down would be jumping into the sand, and Steven was willing to take the risk of breaking one of his bones just to spite the Lion.

He flipped the Lion off before taking the jump.

The landing was surprisingly soft, despite the fact that he might have sprained his foot. He stood up, barely able to stand the pain of standing on his right foot, looking up at the cat as he limped. 

A large cocky grin stretched across his face as he flipped the cat off, limping backwards to the car.

So much for clean, now he was covered in fur and sand.....

The cat watched as Steven limped back towards the car, sitting there as he did.  When Steven finally made it around the rock the cat was growing tired....