Hey, guys! Sorry I've been so inactive lately. I've been settling into a the new year and have been focusing on other things. But now that I'm done, I finally made some time to write. So, enjoy!

"Overhead attack!", I exclaimed as my flail struck against Steven's pink shield. From behind it, Steven cracked a smile as he began to imitate a horrible medieval accent, "Interesting techniques-ethhh. But, underestimating my power shall be thy biggest downfall-ethhh!".

He shoved the shield against me, causing me to slightly stumble back against the sofa for support. Perhaps fighting inside Steven's house wasn't the best idea, but with Pearl out there looking for Peridot, we had to make do with what we had. I wasn't supposed to be with Steven at all for that matter. I snuck out as soon as my mum left for work when Steven convinced me to come over. I had to admit, it was really odd to hear Steven trying to persuade me to disobey my mum instead of the opposite. I clutched the handle of my weapon, swinging it over my head. I leapt onto the coffee table with a grin on my face, getting a little too into the pretend fight. Even though stepping on someone else's table was seen as being very disrespectful, Steven didn't seem to mind.

"Don't think you've won yet-ethhh!", I too began to mimic the same voice as Steven. I pushed my foot against Steven's shield, making it difficult to stay in a proper posture. "Prepare-ethhh for my secret move-ethh. You'll--".

"(Y/N)! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING?!".

The room fell into silence when my mother stood in front of the door with the most terror-stricken expression I've ever seen her have. Her eyes continuously kept shifting from me, to Steven to the pink flail in my grasp. I immediately released my grip, letting it fall to the floor.

"Mum!", I blurted, mainly to break the ice as I promptly hopped off the coffee table. I didn't really have an explanation for being there. "Wh-What are you doing here?".

"What am I doing here?! What is this?!", she exclaimed, walking up to me and picking up the handle of my weapon, eyeing up and down, with panic written on her face. The last time I saw her this wound up was when I accidentally used all her work files to make a paper hat for my stuffed animal, Boris-Bear. "I come home and find out you snuck out to meet this boy and then I see you messing around with weapons?! You could've been hurt! Your fingers could've been cut off! You could've dropped this on your foot and crushed it!!".

My mum then glared at Steven, "You want to know why I'm against him? This is why! Because he encourages you to engage in such dangerous activities!", she gritted her teeth, "Have you been behind all of (Y/N)'s injuries?! Do you want to see her in the hospital?! Do you?!".

Being weighed down by the pressure of having an adult yell at him, he shifted the tip of his foot on the ground, unable to look up at my mother properly. "N-No, ma'am. I...".

I promptly stepped in front of him, seeing how he was unable to speak for himself. "Stop yelling at him! It's not his fault!", I defended him.

Mum immediately gripped onto my arm, pulling me away from him so she was standing between us as some sort of impenetrable force field. She hated the fact that I was standing up for him. With one more huff, she pointed a sharp finger at Steven, "I better not see you around my daughter again!".

With that, she was furiously dragging me out the door, muttering disgusting words under her breath with the handle of my flail gripped tightly in her fist. Steven and I exchanged a quick weary glance at each other before he was out of sight.

~

"Can I at least give it back to Steven? It technically belongs to him".

My mother whipped her head around to face me, her face boiling with rage. No, rage would be an understatement. I've actually never seen her this infuriated before. What happened must have really snapped something in her. "No! This weapon is dangerous and after what I've witnessed I don't want you carrying this or seeing that boy ever again!", she barked, brusquely. Before I could snap back, an annoying buzzing sound came from my mum's jacket pocket. She swiftly answered it, wanting to avoid any further conflict with me. I could do no more than fold my arms over my chest and watch my mum take her phone call.

"Hello?...Calm down, Mae! What's wrong?". She turned her back to me as I let out a snobby huff and whispered audibly, "Are you going to give that back?".

She shot me an agile scowl then returned to her conversation, "Not this again. I'm sure whatever you saw was just some wild critter....Don't go using the word 'Monster', there's no such thing". I had to bite down my tongue at what she said. Especially with all this Space Gem business that's been going on, it's hard to know what does and doesn't exist in this world anymore.

"...Very well, I'll come and finish the work for you", and with that, mum hung up and zipped up her jacket while putting her phone in the pocket. "I have to go to the site", she said to me, keeping the flail on her, "Stay here, don't you dare leave the house. When I get rid of this thing, we're both going to have a serious talk".

She took her car keys, her grip on it being a little too tight, and with that, she left. For a brief moment, I began analysing what I should do as I heard her footsteps leave the house. I couldn't let her destroy my weapon, but how was I going to get it back? She's stubborn, once her head is set on something, it'll be a miracle if she even considers listening to me. As I began rubbing my chin in thought, I heard a gentle knock from my window. I recognised the shadow instantly as I pulled open my curtains. "Steven! What are you doing here?", I asked, putting my head through the window.

Steven peaked in, with cautiousness in his eyes, "Is your mum gone?".

I nodded, glancing back at my door, just in case she was about to make another unexpected entrance, "Yeah, she just left actually".

Steven sat of my window frame to get closer to me, "Did she give it back?".

"No, of course not!", I huffed, folding my arms over my chest sharply once again. "I'll be lucky enough if she lets me even make eye contact with you when she gets back. If I don't get the flail now it's gone forever".

Steven's eyes shifted downwards, meaning he too had no clue what we should do. An idea then struck my mind. Perhaps an idea that was just formed in the moment of desperation. "We're going to have to steal it back", I stated, hopping off my bed. Steven mouth slightly gaped, "Steal it? Are you sure?".

I slipped on my sneakers that were at the foot of my bed, "It's our only option. There's no way my mum would listen to us. Is Lion still with you?".

Steven nodded, hesitantly, but was rather submissive to my idea. I had to admit, stealing from my mum was probably the riskiest thing I've done, which is saying something. But I'd rather take my chances with mum than take the chance of telling Pearl about what we did.

~

"W-Woah!", Steven exclaimed as one of his foot went straight through the wooden floorboard. He just managed to recompose himself before he could fall straight through the new hole in the ground. I rolled my eyes, "I said take gentle steps", I hissed, softly.

"You didn't tell me your mum worked at a construction site", Steven dusted himself off, scanning the palm of his hands for any splinters.

I responded, "You never asked".

We continued forward across the fragile wooden boards, although, we could only rely on the moonlight and tower lights to see where we were going. Luckily, we didn't have to worry about running into any workers. Since it was night, barley anyone was here.

Steven's eyes darted to each corner of the unfinished floor, "What are they building?".

"I think some sort of apartment", I shrug my shoulders, "I'm not really sure".

A sudden eerie moan was heard from the floor above us, making both Steven and I pause in fear. It was a horrible groan, a terrifying one. Almost like it was in pain, but I wasn't able to make out what was making that noise. It could be a creaking floorboard or an unbalanced scaffold tower, but it still left me feeling uneasy.

"What was that?", Steven murmured to me, intuitively shifting closer. I narrowed my brows.

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's just the wind", I reassured him before we continued walking. We gradually proceeded to the next level as we approached an unfinished staircase that had no rails to support us if we were unlucky and fell. Whilst walking upstairs I caught Steven's petrified glance. "(Y/N), can I hold your hand? This place makes me feel unsettled", he asked, peering over his shoulder, tentatively.

I exchanged him a pinched expression, my lips pursed, "What are you, seven? There's nothing here, stop being such a baby", I sharply responded, with an icy cold aura.

Steven frowned, his hands slightly trembling as we reached the top floor. "Please! Just for a minute! This place is scary!", he begged, his eyes trapping me in a cage of guilt. I let out an exaggerated sigh, before wrapping my pinky finger around his. Of course, I wasn't actually going to hold his hand like a paranoid mother, but I also didn't want to deal with him repeatedly asking me. His dreadful frown turned into a relieved and comfortable smile.

We proceeded to walk through the building, being wary not to step anywhere that couldn't support our weight. Maybe it was for the best that I held Steven's pinky. It made it easier to yank him back to reality when he was encapsulated by the view of the city from the top floor. I finally noticed my mother. She was on the phone, using her shoulder to hold it against her ear. She had a toolbox in one hand and my flail in the other.

"Well, I'm here and everything looks normal...Are you sure you saw something? Julie just left and said nothing was out of the ordinary....I'll do another check before I leave, if that'll make you feel better", due to the darkness and her concentration in her discussion, mum didn't seem to notice us. She put the flail down on one of the workbenches and disappeared. We used this chance to quickly sneak up to the bench and silently take the flail back.

I held it tightly in my hands with triumph, "Finally! Now, let's get out of here before--".

"(Y/N)?!", my mum suddenly came back in the room and ultimately dropped her toolbox when she caught a glance of Steven and I standing guilty with the weapon in my possession. Hammers and wrenches scattered all over the floor.

"What are you doing?!!", she snatched the flail back before I could make up an excuse. Honestly, I could've sworn she had some sort of secret power that can detect when I'm doing something wrong. "Did you follow me here to sneak this back? Let me guess, this was your doing, wasn't it?! I thought I told you to leave my daughter alone!", my mum's eyes flashed rage at Steven.

Before any of us could speak, a noise that was heard caught our attention. It was the same uncanny groan we had heard earlier, only this time, it sounded louder. All our eyes shifted to see a dark figure limping in the corner of the building. I squinted my eyes, unable to tell who it was. Maybe another co-worker? "Mae? Is that you?", my mum called out. "I thought you were too scared to come in tonight?".

Mum dug into her pocket, pulling out a mini penlight and turned it on to get a better look at whatever was there. "A raccoon must have found its way in here", she muttered to herself, tilting her light to flash on the figure. I wasn't even sure how to describe what we saw. It had body parts and limbs everywhere and was all different colours. It looked like some sort of mutant or abnormality.

"A-Argh!!", my mum exclaimed, with a hint of revulsion and horror. "What is that creature?!".

Steven's eyes widened at the sight, instinctively backing away.

"Guys, RUN!", was all he said before the mutant began charging at us. Wasting no time, we all immediately dashed for the staircase and made our way down to the second floor before locking ourselves in the one the room that had a door built-in. It was almost pitch black, but we managed to see with mum's penlight. She sharply pointed to Steven, "I-I don't know what's going on here, but if you somehow have something to do with this--!".

Steven ignored her and turned to me," (Y/N), I think that's a Gem mutant!".

I blinked, "A Gem what?".

"Those Cluster Gems that were forced into fusion, they must've found their way here. I told you about them the other day", Steven pouted.

"Oh, I guess I wasn't listening to you".

I glanced up at mum, who was gawking at the door with widened eyes and a timid expression. If that thing found us again, I had to be armed. "Mum! Give the flail!", I told her, reaching out for it. She immediately held her bag out of reach before I could even touch it, "(Y/N), now is not the time to be fooling around!", she gritted her teeth.

I glared at her and snapped, "Just give it to me! It's no use in your hands".

Suddenly another mutant erupted out of the darkness, wrapping a limb around my neck and pulling me with it before I could do anything. Its arm tightened around me as I began gasping for air and reaching my hand out for help.

"(Y/N)!", my mum and Steven exclaimed in unison as Steven summoned his shield instantly. I thrashed and struggled against its grip, using my nails to claw at it, hoping it would let go. Steven came running at us as he rammed into the mutant, which made it release me as I fell to the ground with a thud. The second time I've almost been strangled to death. Steven trapped it by pushing it against the wall with his shield.

"Keep your hands off my (Y/N)!!".

Mum raised a brow, still looking terrified but also a bit bitter. She took my hand and threw the door open, trying to run out with me, but I fought against her, not wanting to leave Steven to struggle alone.

"Steven! Come on!", I called out to him. He let the mutant go, following us out of the room as the mutant began chasing us down. We went for the stairs but saw the other mutant limping down it, blocking our only escape. We were trapped. As the two mutants began slowly approaching us, Steven summoned his bubble shield just in time, encasing all of us as the two Mutants began crashing against Steven's bubble.

"Mum, just give me the flail. Steven and I can do this!", I attempted to convince her.

She persistently shook her head, gripping the flail tighter, "No, you can't! You don't know what you're talking about!".

Finally, having enough, Steven hollered back, "Yes, she does! She's been training! We weren't playing around with the flail (Yes, you were)! She's been taking classes learning how to use it right! That's why she's been coming home with all those scratches because she's been fighting!".

My mother was slightly taken aback by what she heard, but even though she did hear it, she refused to believe it was true as she began shaking her head in scepticism. "No. No, no, no! Don't you be filling my head with such outrageous lies! You are the one who's hurting her! You are the one who made her play with such dangerous weapons and you are the reason we're in this mess!", she exclaimed indignantly, with such repented anger. "I know that this friendship is only built on the fact that you want something from her! I know for a fact that my daughter is definitely not some fighting hooligan!".

I gripped my hands into a tight fist and lashed at her, "Then clearly, you don't know me at all! Steven isn't lying! I've been practising using that!".

"Why on earth would you do something like that?".

I continued, "To prove that I'm not a horrible friend! You think Steven's a bad person because you believe nobody would ever be this happy spending time with someone like me! I've been dealing with magic and monsters and things like these since I met Steven! And maybe I can never learn to be compassionate like he is, but I still care about him and I want to help him and make sure he doesn't get himself killed! Steven's my friend--my best friend, who would never hurt me!".

I was slightly panting by the time I finished letting it all out. Mum was baffled by everything I had said and this time had no reason to suspect Steven was the bad guy in this scenario. Steven teared up with a bittersweet smile, rubbing his eyes before any of the tears could spill down. Of course, this was the first time I had called him my "best friend", I should've expected he would start crying.

While my mum was still puzzled, I took the liberty of taking the flail out her grasp, preparing myself in the stance Pearl told me to. "Drop the bubble", I told Steven. He nodded towards me as his bubble popped, pushing back the mutants, giving us some space to charge at them. I swung the flail at it, as it poofed immediately on contact. Steven shoved the mutant he was fighting backwards, giving me an entrance to finish it off with an overhead attack. Two gems lied innocently on the ground as Steven picked them up, bubbled them and sent them away. We both exchanged a smile of relief, before noticing my mum was completely paralysed in fear.

~

"So, Mae was right. She did see a monster", mum began contemplating the situation as we left the site. She turned to face me, "This is what you've been doing? Training to fight these... things--GAH!", mum stopped dead in her tracks as she almost ran straight into Lion.

"Sorry, that's my lion", Steven replied sheepishly.

"(Y/N)...everything you said in there, was true?", mum asked me. I shifted my gaze to the ground and let out a sigh.

"Mum, don't blame Steven if you think I'm too terrible to make any real friends. I know you wish I grew up differently and think all my friends are using me because I'm too horrible to be cared about...".

"Wh-What? No, that's not--!", she paused, frowning down at me. She put her hand on my shoulder, comfortingly. "(Y/N), I didn't mean to make you feel like that. I just....didn't want you to have to go through the pain of having toxic friends. I didn't know how you kept getting hurt cause you kept lying to me. I also didn't realise how much you grew up since we moved here".

She let out a deep exhale from her mouth, "I don't want you feeling that I don't like anything about you, cause that's not true. I love and care about you and that will never change. Perhaps...", my mother eyes shifting towards the night sky, "Perhaps I was just projecting my own past errors onto you. I didn't want you making the same mistakes I did. Steven is obviously this happy because he enjoys spending with you. I'll...I'll try to keep an open mind about this", she pointed down at the weapon in my hand.

"And that", she pointed towards Lion

"And... him", she narrowed her eyes at Steven, who shifted around awkwardly. "But, I need to know what's happening in your life and step in when you're in over your head. You're can be a good person when you want to be, (Y/N). I shouldn't have doubted you'd make such loyal friends".

I finally glanced up at her. "I...honestly didn't expect you to be so understanding", I chuckled lightly.

Without uttering another word, my mother wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pulled me into a gentle embrace, giving each other a bit of space as she knows I wasn't the biggest fan of hugs. But in the