//------------------------------//
// "I'm A Friend" PT1 
// Story: My Little Universe: Season 6 
// by EquestrianKirin 
//------------------------------//

"AAHH!" 

In a jolt, Lars woke up back in his bed, freaked out and his heart still racing from what he thought would be his last moment on Earth. However, he felt alive still, or at least, he didn't feel hurt from anything. Such an explosion would've left him with who knows how many injuries, but all he felt hurt right now was a headache for the sudden wake up call.  After what felt like a bit, Lars did eventually calm down, and checked around his room, just to be sure that it was his room and not just a pile of wood.
Lars's room was actually up in the attic of his house: multiple windows from the sky light filling in his humble abode. His room wasn't the most well-kept room ever: number of clothes on the floor in several places in spite of a clothes rack to his right, along with a cabinet with a torso-length mirror, his rug by his cabinet slightly bent, his covers tossed about onto the floor, and to his left being his flat screen TV with his Xbox tilted from some socks under it, boxes to his right up on a self above his clothing, and a couch to his left. Not really the best room ever, but Lars breathed a sigh of relief saying that his room was still there at all, and not blown to smithereens.

"What kind of dream was that?" Lars asked himself, wiping some sweat off of his forehead. It sure felt like a real dream in some way. however, eventually, Lars shook it off and got up to his feet, stretching and going along his morning. At least, it felt like morning to some capacity. No way was he going to regain his sleep after a dream like that.

It took him a few minutes, but after sprucing himself up, and going through his own version of a morning routine, he got downstairs and tried to act like nothing was wrong as he went right to the kitchen. His house downstairs was pretty modern, if not a bit standard for a house like his, and Lars began to help himself to what was available in the kitchen before realizing that his mom was already cooking something for him.
There stood a middle-aged woman with light-brown skin and long red hair, similar to Lars. Her outfit consisted of yellow tinted circular glasses with a brown rim, a cyan sleeveless ankle length dress with a fish-like pattern, and purple shoes with magenta flowers on it with a gray band on them.

"Oh, morning sweetie. I-I didn't realize you were up already," she said.

"It's ok, really. Just had a hard time sleeping last night. so what's for breakfast?" Lars asked, looking to the eggs and bacon being cooked on the same pan. As he was, another person came into the room, and sat down at the kitchen table. He's a middle-aged man with light-brown skin and short dark-brown hair with a large bald spot on the top of his head. His outfit consisted of a white polo shirt underneath a gray jacket, a pair of beige pants, brown loafers, and gold-rimmed glasses. Easily confirmed to be Lars's dad, no doubt, just as breakfast was ready for the family to eat. Lars was still a little off in the head, but both his parents had other things in mind.

"It's so good to see you this morning, Laramie - er I mean ... Lars," the women said. Laramie was his true name, but obviously Lars had a preference for that here, but Lars didn't care for the moment, starting to eat his eggs.

"Now, Lars, we know school is a touchy subject, but we need to talk about this," the father suddenly said. Lars paused himself on that, as the father went on to show him something: a report card. Unfortunately, the main letter on said report card from school showed F after F after F, with the soul exception of a B and a D, but that was about it. Lars groaned, and then his mom spoke again.

"Please, Lars. We let you move into the attic, and your grades are still below average. All we're asking from you is..."

"A little effort!" both parents concluded, smiling and one hand holding eachother, hoping it would be good for him. Lars could feel a curse almost escape him in this noise. first the odd dream, and now this nonsense? Seriously, he wasn't in the mood that morning for that. course, he wasn't in the mood to continue it any harsher either, so he simply finished breakfast and got up.

"Eh, yeah, fine. I'll keep that in mind at work. See you later," Lars said, before stretching his arms, and starting to head out the door. not the best results they got.

"... Well, he said he'll try," sighed the mother.

"And he didn't even swear this time," added the dad.

Both of which Lars heard. He simply began to head off to the door, about ready to head off on his way, though he took the time to glance off to the side wall, and noticed a number of things on it that his parents had hung up, mainly a few drawings Lars made as a kid, and a portrait of him and his parents when he was younger. Failing grades, a weird dream, and his parents getting on him about that, he sure needed some bit to figure things out. He promised he'll think about it, but thinking about it was all he planned to do. It's the easiest thing to do after all, as he took a step outside and started to head off on his way. He didn't hate his parents at all, far from it, like any kid, but their intentions just flew passed his head and it simply came off as annoying to him.

Pretty soon after getting on his shoes and work shirt, he was out on the street, and strolling off to the Big Donut, like any other day. Lars stayed "cool" with his hands in his pockets, and going along on his way. Although he won't admit it to anyone in particular, he just didn't feel up to snuff this morning. Guess he really did had a bad night. He saw a few other people go by him, including Jamie on his daily route of newspapers and mail, and Lars caught sight of the Onion Gang too, which at this point was going about in Garbonzo's makeshift boxcar. It really was nothing too special or important, a typical day in the summer in Beach city. Lars didn't really bother much with them really, as he went down the boardwalk and off to the workshop. Lucky for him, by the time he arrived - it was ten minutes late - no one was there at the moment so he was let of easy, but he did see Sadie go around and set things up for the day, nothing too weird going on. Yet.

"Morning, Lars," Sadie said, as he came in.

"Yeah, hey. Slow morning?" Lars replied, heading right to the front counter, and chilling out on a stool at the front counter.

"Yeah no customers yet. Try to keep them in line when they do come here, ok?" Sadie asked, but Lars paid her no mind here.

"So glad I don't have to deal with this tomorrow," Lars sighed. That seemed to remind Sadie of something.

"Oh, yeah, they're closing shop to get those gulls out of the vents. Any plans?" Sadie asked. Lars got out a magazine from the counter, and gave it a look over.

"Nah," he simply said. Sadie stayed quiet for a little bit more, and then she got an idea. It wasn't the best idea ever, but an idea nonetheless, though she was a bit quiet about it.

"Would you... want to come by my place? I know it's kind of been awhile, but we could get some food, watch some movies."

"Nah. Sounds boring. I'll see if Buck wants to do stuff," Lars commented, not really noticing how bummed out Sadie was on that answer. Sadie sighed, and looked away.

"Well, I hope you guys have fun together," Sadie said. Again, Lars didn't pay Sadie too much mind, and simply turned the pages of his magazine.

"Yeah. We will," Lars sighed. Eh, if he was going to make plans for himself, he might as well do it on his own terms, even if it wasn't well-planned. Still, Sadie did have something else she wanted to say to him, and she had to get herself together. She might as well try.

"Hey, can I ask you a favor?"

"Now what?"

"Well ... There's tests coming up next week, and I might have to leave work early on Monday to catch up. you wouldn't mind filling in for me would you?" Sadie asked. OH boy, first the dream, then the grades, and now the extra work. Lars wasn't too up for it himself, but he had some days to chill out before the day would come around.

"K, fine, but if Steven or Amethyst come in here, I'm leaving," Lars stated. Normally he expected Sadie to say some sort of joke, or at least chuckle or something like that. But Sadie instead gave Lars a sort of perplexed kind of look.

"Ok ... well, sounds like they really like their donuts," Sadie said. A odd statement to say, but Lars rolled with it, not paying much attention anyway.

"You're telling me. It's a pain just to get all their orders in every week. surprised they hadn't run us out of business yet," Lars joked.

"Uh, yeah sure. Thanks for filling me in," Sadie replied, before going back into the storage to get some more donuts set up. Lars simply moved his legs, not even moving himself off of the chair, as Sadie went by. Lars watched her go, but the donut girl stopped and looked to him for a moment, before she went off to the back. Lars didn't had much mind on her, the boy more focused on what the next issue was about over taking her words in.

"She's messing with me," he thought.
for the next hour, the place was pretty quiet throughout the day, not many people coming by for any donuts or whatever. Lars didn't mind it much, and allowed him to simply chill out here for minimum wage. On a typical day, Steven would come by and get his fix of donuts, or Amethyst would binge up on them, but neither of them were there to do so. It wouldn't be the first time, of course, so Lars didn't bother too much with it. One thing that he couldn't ignore though was the phone suddenly ringing.

"Sadie, phone!" Lars called. Sadie came out and got to the phone, talking to whoever it was on the other end for a minute, before confirming a order. Which caught Lars off guard.

"Since when do we deliver?" Lars asked.

"We started last week, remember? Here, try to get this over to the Maheswarans, please?"

"Fine," he groaned. He forgot they had a new system to their own little place, and now Sadie had her own box of donuts ready for said delivery. Lars wasn't too thrilled about it, but it will get him some more fresh air.


~~~~~~


Soon, Lars was off on his way again, this time on a job delivery with box of donuts in one hand, and the address in the other. He at least had a bike for the ride up, and this was going to be a long one out of town to get to Connie's place. No, not thrilled at all.

"Seriously? since when did that family order donuts? Steven went on about how vegan they were, didn't he?" Lars told himself. But business is business. And boy, what a business. However, his route went on through town, and at first it was about as mundane as a bike ride would be. As he went along though, he looked up, and suddenly saw the boxcar from Onion's gang zoom by him, making Lars skid to a stop.

"Watch where you're going!" he yelled. However, when he looked on closer to town, he found that something was a little bit different this time, as there was quite a commotion. Plenty of people were over near the boardwalk, and seemingly worried and curious over whatever the heck's going on. Be it mundane luck or flat boredom, Lars shrugged and decided to check out what's what here.
A good amount of people were there, most of the residents of Beach City to be exact, and to such an amount that he couldn't see passed many of them. until he pushed passed a few of em, but then when he looked in, he saw a ... questionable situation.

There were two creatures that cowered off a bit, stuck together and not having a clue where to go. They tried their hardest to talk to these people, but none of them really had much idea on what they were, or what they were talking about. A mixture of "keep away from me" and "get out of our sight" was tossed around everywhere, but it was who he saw that made Lars confused. There, over just off the road and by a streetlight was the Rutile Twins! Lars looked a bit spooked, but that was quickly subsided when he saw a baby dragon Spike over at her feet, and in a mixture of luck and unlucky circumstances, the Maheswaran family was there too, and by the looks on their faces, seemed that Connie was in their midst, and they didn't want that at all.

"Wait a minute. Hey, what's going on?" Lars asked to the closest person there. In this case, it was actually the Cool Kids Jenny, Sour Cream, and Buck.

"Those three freak shows tried to take that girl away, that's what! That's so wrong," Jenny said. Two freaks? Well, they weren't all wrong about that when he saw the twins there, but calling Spike a freak wasn't exactly correct. 

"Two freaks? Ok, the conjoined twins, I get -"

"And it was joined by that ... that purple lizard," cut in Sour Cream.

"You mean Spike?"

All three of the kids paused and looked to Lars, very confused.

"You know that thing?" Sour Cream asked.

"Eh, yeah, he's not exactly a stranger. why're so freaked out over something like him anyway?" Lars questioned. Before any of them could answer, chat from the family against the "freaks" got their attention again.

"For the final time, she doesn't know you!" yelled Priyanka.

"We're telling the truth: she saved us from Homeworld!" said right Rutile, almost pleading with them.

"And now we got to go save our friends! Connie, tell them!" the left Rutile replied, equally pleading. However, Lars could see that Connie looked ... freaked out more than usual.

"Still saying that? Keep away from our daughter, or I'll have you arrested!" warned Doug, even threatening to hit them with a police stick! Lars may not have met the Rutile Twins personally, but even he knew something was wrong here. Didn't this family just seen at least Spike not too long ago? If so, why were they freaking out so much like this?

"What?" Lars simply said. Suddenly a rock was thrown out of the crowd, turning out to be from Onion himself, who was well armed with the rest of his little group. That was enough to make him cringe at the direct hit, and the follow-up hit on Spike. Spike tried to get them to stop, stumbling in his steps, until he ended up at Lars's feet. Spike looked right up to him.

"Lars! Err, wait, you do know me, do you?" Spike asked, hoping for a good answer with his claws together.

"Eh ... sort of."

"Oh, COME ON!" Spike yelled in frustration.

"Hey, I only met you one day when you jumped in my arms, I'm not gonna know you that quick," Lars snapped. It may be a dream, but that was the only memory he really had of Spike. Still, that was good enough for him, and the dragon jumped to his feet, feeling much better.

"You do know me! and about time - OW!" only to be cut off with another rock thrown at him. Lars didn't want to get involved, but looked like he had no choice.

"Is that thing yours?" asked Doug, angrily.

"Well, I kinda know him, but -"

"Well keep him away! that thing and those twins had assaulted my daughter, and if he does belong to you, I will charge you!"

"Me? What'd I do?!"

"Ownership over a dangerous animal."

OK, Lars have had about enough.

"OK, OK, is this some weird play you're all pulling off or something?" Lars asked.

"Does it look like I'm playing?" Doug growled. Lars actually walked by them, and went straight to Connie.

"Ok, Connie, look, I don't know what game you and Steven are trying to pull here, but keep me out of it, alright?" Lars asked angrily, but that made Connie freak out. Then came the next question as Connie backed up.

"W-Who's Steven?"

"... What? Steven, you know! Steven Universe, that kid with all the magic powers with those Crystal Gems, don't you hang out with him all the time?" Lars asked, annoyed as ever. But Connie didn't had a clue on what he was even talking about, and she even whacked him away, making him tumble back into the Rutile Twins.

"Hey!"

"This is your final warning, you meddlers: we don't know Steven, we don't know the Crystal Gems, and we don't want you messing with Connie, you got it?!"

Lars ... didn't know what to say, but not because a police officer was yelling at him in the face, but more over what they were saying. Don't know Steven? Don't know the Crystal Gems? How the hay can that be, they've been friends for years now according to Steven's stories he would chat on about when he visited the Big Donut.

"... Spike? Is all this some sick joke?" Lars asked.

"Finally, someone believes me. No, we've been telling everyone this all morning!" Spike answered. Lars was starting to get a little scared now, and very confused. Lars quietly looked around to everyone in town for a brief moment. If it is what he thought it was, then he was in far more trouble than he'd realize.

"Does anyone know what we're talking about? ANYONE?!"

... Silence. Pure silence, and none of them stepped forward to who could easily be the only person standing there who actually knew what the twins and Spike were talking about without a long lecture about it. Lars felt a extremely strong reality strike him, and his supposed "dream" turned out to be a lot more real than he would know. Now he also got an idea on what that strange object did, and it wasn't just some explosion.

"... Oh boy. None of you are lying, huh?" Lars would never realize that he would be the only one with a memory in tact. That Diamond object erased them of any Gem or pony memory. This was a problem. A really big problem. And if Lars's so-called "dream" was anything to go off of, there was no Gem or Pony to try and fix this. For the first time ever, Lars felt like the smart one here, but now there was not only lack of any special team to save anyone ... but he made a complete idiot of himself because of it. He felt himself fluster up over what just happened, but before he could continue, he saw Soup readying her slingshot again, but this time Lars got in the way.

"Will you cut it out already?!" Lars finally snapped. The gang didn't appreciate that, and started to aim their rocks at him instead. Several of them got their mark before Lars started to run for it, but not before his getaway made a clear path for the Rutile Twins and Spike to bolt off as well, finally getting out of the situation they all were in. The four freaks were now out of the way, leaving much of the town a bit confused as ever.

.......

Next thing they knew, Lars, Spike, and the Rutile Twins were now off in a far more secluded area in a alleyway, plenty of extra accessories in terms of cans and a large garbage bin to keep them some cover for the time being. Spike and the twins were semi-happy for that, but their focus was actually over to Lars, who at the moment was just trying to work out what in the stars was going on. He was practically hiding out with two refugees for the moment, and his frustration knew no loyalty aside from himself.

"Ok, before we could go any further, can one of you tell me what's going on here?"

"We're really sorry," the left Rutile started.

"We're not trying to cause any trouble," added right Rutile.

"Well you did a good job for not trying," Lars stated, making both twins a bit humbled. He wasn't wrong, of course, especially after just how much of a racket they've brought up back there.

"Well, at least we're trying to fix things," Spike said.

"You mean with that giant white lady? What was she even trying to do anyway?" Lars asked. Normally it was nothing for him, but some information would be nice, considering that this giant white lady nearly killed some of the residents and they're going on like nothing happened! Sure this town had plenty of people who just allowed this stuff to slide at this point, but this was overdoing it.

"That was White Diamond; the ruler of Homeworld and leader of the Diamond Authority. She's been after the Crystal Gems for months now," the left Rutile explained.

"And now that she's captured them all and those ponies, there's no one here to truly protect the planet anymore from any of her threats," right Rutile added.

"But why does everyone not remember you guys? I'm pretty sure they would remember at least one of you," Spike asked. Both twins had little idea, not even being there when White Diamond was, but they could get a good idea of it.

"White Diamond must've brainwashed them."

"Mind-wiped."

"Altered their memories."

"W-Well, she's done messing with the planet now ... right?" Lars asked, but unfortunately the twins weren't so enthused about that answer.

"If she's doing what we think she is ... then the world will be turned into just another colony. ..."

"And all life will be ... shattered here."

Well, Lars was freaking out now. Just that bit of information made this even more horrific than it needed to be, and with all of the Crystal Gems now gone, not to mention the Mane Six as well, then there really was no one to truly stop and opposed White Diamond from doing just that, or simply get rid of the planet altogether! Lars and Spike both looked to eachother, both completely horrified at what they just said. It wasn't "everything will die" in terms of words, but they're smart enough to get the hint.

"Oh boy. ... This is a bit uh ... bad."

"Terrible," agreed left Rutile.

"Horrid," agreed right Rutile. But then another question came up in his mind on this revelation, once he took a look at the gemstone the twins had.

"Wait a minute. If you're a Crystal Gem, why didn't she take you?" Lars asked, a little confused. Both twins looked to eachother.

"She said we were ... a mistake. We weren't interesting to her, for our stone was ... flawed."

"She thought we would shatter ourselves before she would shatter us. ... So she took everyone else instead and left us here. ... Just like back home."

"Wait, back home?" Spike asked.

"... White Diamond didn't want anymore Rutile to panic because of us like we were before. They were all ... scared of us."

"Afraid. We were defective, and we had to ... well, hide. That was until we arrived here."

"But now, if they're just going to make another colony, it's going to be that all over again. ..."
All of this took Lars by surprise. Ok, sure, Lars can see why anyone would freak out over seeing these conjoined Gem twins, no doubt about that, but hearing all of this and how bad it was for them, well, Lars began to feel sorry for them. He rubbed his arm for a second.

"Wow. And I thought being embarrassed at school was bad," he said. Though both Rutile twins didn't feel too much better about that statement.

"So, you two have been hiding your whole lives? ... What'll happen if they find you?"

"... We ... We'll be ....... shattered. ..."

Lars couldn't believe his ears. These two were far more than some refugees, they were targets. Targets for a bunch of hunters willing to wipe her off the face of this crummy planet. And she had to do this for her whole life? For so long, Lars had his own problems feel like the worst thing in the world, but now he met someone in a far deadlier, and far worse situation than him. And by the sound of it, she had already given up, now with all of her friends taken away from her.
So that was it: White Diamond took everyone away, and everyone's memories had been wiped clean of their existence so no one would bother her, somehow sparring him, and the only ones who don't have that problem can't even go through town without panicking everyone. Not only did this explain how lax everyone was after that event, but also what exactly that Diamond object did. that was no explosive, that was a mind-eraser! And now this same person will kill these two just for how defective they were? That ... that was just sick. Far as he was concerned, they were her children, and she was more than willing to kill her own daughters just because they didn't come out right. ...

"... I don't see anything wrong with you."

"You don't?" both twins asked. Lars shook his head.

"Whoever this White Diamond is, is simply messed up. I don't have the slightest clue what's going on, but ... I wanna help."

This was a surprising revelation by Lars, of all people, but with just how bad everything was sounding, and how he was the only one with a working memory for now, he was the only one who had the right track in his mind. Both the twins could actually feel some tears come down, and hugged him tight.

"Eh. You're welcome ... you can let go now," Lars said, and both twins did. Spike and Rutile were glad at least one person in town remembered them, and was willing to actually help them. Not like Lars really had a choice anyway - he didn't want to get killed for the sake of a Earth Gem colony. Though why did he have a feeling he was going to regret this?

"Well, I guess the first thing we should do is try to fix this mind erasing game," Lars said. First thing's first, and all this confusion was more than enough for him to take.

"Eh, how're are we doing that?" Spike asked.

"I don't know, what'd she even use?" Lars said. But Spike was just in the dark about it as he was, so that wasn't going to help, and since the Rutile Twins weren't even there, asking them was out of the question, for sure. Lars really had to think hard about it, but there was one particular idea that could at least get them in the right direction. ...

Though he was not thrilled about it.


~~~~~~


"Do we have to see him? Last time I saw him, and he was thinking on putting me in a pickle jar or something," Spike said shivering a little as they stood over in front of the lighthouse.

"Just be quiet and we'll get through this with our reputation ... somewhat in tact," Lars said. Lars looked on back and made sure that no one else was not seeing them up there, but lucky for them no one else was up behind them, so Lars went on to knock on the door. At first, not much of anything happened. Lars tried over and over again, but eventually a voice did end up coming through.
And what looked like a slingshot aimed right at them. Lars quickly backed up, covering for yet another rock from Onion's gang, but lucky for them, the person ceased fire.

"Wait. ... Lars? What're you doing here?"

"Yeah, hey Ronaldo," Lars said. Boy this was a bit of an awkward moment, but the Rutile Twins were quick to catch Ronaldo's attention first, as the Gem twins went on over to him, shaking his hand.

"So you're Ronaldo Fryman? It's a pleasure to see you," said right Rutile.

"Lars told us a bit about you, and how you're so knowledgeable about Gem kind, it's such a honor," added left Rutile. Well, not exactly how Lars said it, but it was better than his interpretation as a conspiracy egghead. Spike stayed well back just in case his memory was somehow in tact of him. Ronaldo stayed quiet seeing such a strange creature standing in front of him.

"W-whoa ..." at first, the Rutile twins were worried that he would freak out, and he did ... only in a different way, seeing some familiar starry eyes and a big smile. "A polymorphic sentient rock! I knew it!" Well, not the exact word, but hey, Ronaldo at least wasn't gonna tear into them. It was then he went straight up to Ronaldo.

"You've had a Polymorphic sentient rock with you this whole time?! Why didn't you tell me?! Here I thought you gave up on all of the great conspiracies!"

"Don't get your hopes up," Lars stated, making Ronaldo let go, and snap him out of his psyched state. There was some more important things to get to other than to deal with someone's spas behavior. The Rutile Twins went over to him again.

"Lars said you have a lot of stuff that could help us?" asked left Rutile. Ronaldo went on over to the door, and opened it up for them.

"Come on in," Ronaldo said. both twins, Spike, and Lars went on inside, Lars trailing them off behind, as Ronaldo stayed up in front with the Rutile twins.

"You're friends with Lars?" Ronaldo asked, quizzically.

"Isn't everybody?" asked the twins. Ronaldo could feel a breath go through him, and he knew he was in for a bit of a rough time. Lars could hear this conversation, but tried to act like it didn't bother him.
Their walk up the lighthouse went on calmly and quietly without trouble until they got up to Ronaldo's little base of operations right at the top. It was their first time visiting here (Spike and the Rutile Twins that is), and Lars took a moment to look around the place, and stood over by the door. All the papers and doohickeys scattered everywhere was easily all of Ronaldo's conspiracy work.

"Well, at least this is still here," Lars sighed, having mixed feelings about it. So this was just how much Ronaldo had been up to? The Rutile Twins took the time to check out the many different, odd conspiracies being dotted up everywhere.

"Wow."

"Accurate."

"There's always facts willing to hide for all normal eyes to see, and it's the job for people like me to spread the truth to the world," Ronaldo stated, sounding ... oddly cool for the moment, even adjusting his glasses, which gave off a cool shimmer to them like Garnet would. Weird. But if anyone was gonna listen to them it would be Ronaldo, even if his mind wasn't in the right place.

"Well, maybe you can "spread" some information to us about something else?" Spike asked.

"You have even more?! This will be perfect for my blog! What is it?" Ronaldo asked, eagerly. They had little idea about his blog, but Lars wanted to cut right to the quick so they could be on their way.

"Here, I'll show you. You got a some, or maybe a -" Lars stopped when he looked to the chalkboard off nearby, some spare chalk on it to use. Heck, it'll work, but Lars got a little bit of trouble when seeing all the papers pinned up.

"Ok, let's just get this out of the way," Lars said, before knocking some papers aside to get some space, much to Ronaldo's displeasure as he quickly picked them off of the ground before Lars could step on them.

"What're you doing?! I put them in that order for a reason!" Ronaldo yelled.

"Yeah, yeah," Lars sighed. From there, he began to draw something out on the chalkboard, good enough for them all to see, though art design wasn't exactly the best. Lars drew up a diamond up in the sky, with a number of stick figures just underneath it, with some lines to show the flash of light. It honestly wasn't the best performance of arts and crafts, which promptly earned him his D on his report card. The group then just looked at what he had made.

"K, you got any "conspiracy" ideas about this?" Lars asked, not sounding too enthused about it, but Ronaldo went right up to it and studied up on what Lars had drawn out. Lars went on back with the Rutile Twins and Spike as he was studying it and working what memory he probably had remaining on him. Eventually, something did finally struck him, as Ronaldo was looking at a dollar bill amongst the items he picked up.

"I know what the Diamond means ..."

"And ... what is it?" Spike asked.

"This is an act of mind manipulation!" Ronaldo said. That surely was confusing to hear, but Ronaldo was more than eager to get the idea down pact.

"The Diamond Authority wants our planet, and to get our kind wiped off the face of Earth, so to keep us from interfering in their plans, they decided to use the Diamond technology in order to erase our memories of their existence so they can take over the world with little intervention!"

"That's what I said!" left Rutile gasped.

"I said the same thing!" right Rutile added in surprise. And White Diamond thought they were simply stupid, this human's got the whole plan down pact after looking at one picture!

"Yeah, glad you're happy. Now how about a way to reverse this," Lars said, wanting to get to the point already. Not really the kindest way of putting it, but Ronaldo was too psyched at the moment to point that out. Ronaldo had to get his thinking cap on for a possible method, but he began to find his answer when looking over at the dollar sign again.

"... The mind's eye. The cure is the eye of our minds."

"... Eh. Yeah." Before his sanity could be questioned any further, Lars began to hear his own phone going off in his pocket. It was a simple text off of it, but it did remind him of a particular job he had to at least try to get to.

"What's wrong?" right Rutile asked.

"Stupid job. I gotta go ... Uh, hey, Rutile, Spike, maybe you two should stay here," Lars suggested.

"In here? With him?" Spike asked.

"You wanna deal with him or the mob outside?" Lars bluntly asked.

... Needless to say, Spike was right next to Ronaldo, and keeping as close to him as he could. Well, they're staying here. Lars at least can say, until this is all sorted out, that they wouldn't get beaten and pelted by rocks some more again.


~~~~~~


Well, it was back to the Big Donut again, and for Lars, it was right back to work. The distraction surely made the day fly by a bit quicker than he realized. Perhaps it was with how less of people came by for their donuts, but that could just be irrelevant. However, for Lars, the work day was nothing more than a distraction, as he had a little bit more on his mind now than he would usually do, and it wasn't just about "more effort" either. All that stuff really did happen, and he's going to have to try and work out what the heck to do about it. Should he leave it to Ronaldo, Rutile, and Spike, or should he actually go in a bit deeper? He did say he'll help them out.
Well, for the moment, Lars was simply chilling out over in the back, as Sadie took the next shift for him at the front counter. Normally, he'd be checking out a magazine or listening to music, but with what just happened his mind was a bit too wrapped up in things, Lars just staring off to the ceiling as if it was something that could give him a proper answer, as he sat on a chair with his feet kicked up onto the staff coffee table.

"So, how'd the delivery go?" Sadie asked at one point.

"Eh, it went," Lars said.

"So ... did you hear about that incident in town?" Sadie then asked. Well, Sadie wasn't there, but that surely got around very fast.

"Yup," Lars sighed. Eventually, with their lunch break, Sadie ended up to the back, and tried to get herself some donuts for the lunch. Lars simply ignored her and tried to comprehend things. Sadie stayed a bit quiet at first and took a bite of her donut. Sadie can tell that Lars was thinking about something, but didn't try to bring it up straight away.

"So ... how're things going on at school?"

"Fine," Lars simply said.

"Oh. Well, good ..."

And yet, another small conversation happened once again. Lars didn't want to keep getting bothered, so he went on and got up.

"I'm getting some soda. Want anything?"

"Eh, no, I'm good, thanks," Sadie replied. Lars simply walked on out, and went right over to the vending machine for some juice. Well if he can't figure it out on his own from just staring off into space, maybe he can figure it out over a cold beverage. After opening it up with the machine key, he pulled out a soda pop, and just as he closed it up and readied to get his drink on, his eyes took a glance off outside of the donut shop. Outside looked typical enough, but as he looked, someone was actually going by that caught him in some surprise.
This was someone he didn't really recognize, naturally, although the true appearance was vaguely familiar to some others he had seen time to time again before. There was only two of them, large, muscular, and looking like some soldiers to some extent really. It wouldn't be that bad of an issue for him to get involved with, but then he took a closer look and saw something with their outfit. Greys, black, and whites. With a Diamond symbol just visible to him.
White Diamond soldiers?!
The sight of them almost made Lars upchuck his juice, seeing this as way to familiar to the brute White Diamond was, and the fact that they were still here was way more than a basic shock to them either way. What on earth were they doing here still? Lars, be it from curiosity, or intrigue, finished up his juice, placed it on the front counter, and began to head on to the door.

"Where're you going?" Sadie asked, seeing him from the back.

"I'm uh ... I'm going for a walk, I'll be right back," Lars said, starting to head off out of the donut shop, and off down the beach. Sadie was really beginning to wonder what was wrong with Lars today, looking on through the front door in concern.

.......

Meanwhile, Lars was running on down the beach, going in the same direction here he saw the soldiers come down. If memory served, this would be the direction to where Steven's house would be, though it was a bit iffy as he only been there once before as a favor to Buck a while back, in particular when two snakes and a voodoo anaconda were still a problem and he had to check in. The soldiers he had seen were way far ahead, and well out of his sight as he went on along down the coast. Her didn't rush it completely, not wanting to get even more attention to himself to anymore Gems, wherever they were going, and if this could help Rutile out then maybe he should do this for them. No way they could do it without getting shattered to pieces, anyway. It took him a good ten minutes to be sure, but when he got there, he was left ... well, speechless.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Well, ok, the Temple was still there, and the front cave sure, but every bit of evidence that Steven Quartz Universe had lived there had been completely removed, down to the last floorboard! No front deck, no stairs, no house! All that was left was the cave itself, and the smaller Warp Pad and door inside as Lars went close to see this for himself.

"Wait the. ... Where is everything? Didn't Steven have a -" Lars was quickly cut short when he heard the door to the Temple open up. not wanting to get caught, Lars quickly dove out of sight just out of the way of the cave, peeking in. As it turned out, and with some difficulty on their part, the two Gem soldiers turned out to be a pair of Jasmiths, and they both were carrying out a lot of what appeared to be gemstones, all in some large container. They didn't look to be the Crystal Gems (far too many to be the group originally). The two that had arrived were also joined by a few other Gems, pure white Pearls as it turned out, seemingly in charge of this group, and had been there before the two showed up. The Jasmiths got out the multitude of Gemstones.

"Is that all of them?" one of the Pearls asked the Jasmiths.

"It should be. To think those traitors had been going back and forth all those thousands of years with these," commented the Jasmith, looking to just how many gemstones they had in that container.

"They had been here for over five thousand years, they needed something to do."

"Yeah, I'd bet. Get these sent off," the Jasmith said, a number of the Pearls taking the stones and rushing out of sight, Lars just out of sight enough to not be noticed.

"Ok, that's got to be enough."

"Be sure nothing's left," one of the remaining Pearls reminded.

"We've removed every dust of this place already. Besides, didn't our Diamond already removed their memories of all of this, there's nothing left that will remind them of anything," the Jasmith asked, getting a little bit annoyed with how much detail they had to get. The Pearl shook her head.

"The humans may not be able to do a thing about us, but White Diamond will not tolerate poor performance. She instructed that every single bit of evidence in this cave is to be confiscated and removed, and that's how it has to be. Now, destroy that Warp Pad, and then we can head off on our way," the Pearl said, pointing to the Warp Pad there in the cave. Both Jasmiths smiled on this instruction, and went straight up to it, and with their combined strength, slammed four fists right into the top! The Warp Pad cracked under the pressure, and such made it inactive, and destroyed. Lars felt himself shiver on seeing that, imagining himself or someone else in the grip of those space amazons, turning the Warp Pad into nothing but rubble once they were done with it. A fine Warp Pad turned into just some pile of rock. As some Pearls were getting the pieces, one Jasmith looked to the door.

"Should we destroy that too?"

"We've tried ten times already. There's no Gem left that can make it work anyway, so just leave it alone," the Pearl said. Well, if you can't beat it up, leave it. Lars scurried off more out of sight as the Gem group walked out with what they got in hand, as another thought struck them.

"How long you wanna bet until they're harvested?" one Jasmith asked.

"Oh, they'll be way more than Harvested when they're through. This is White Diamond we're talking about. Hope she puts them for practice dummies," the other Jasmith replied, getting a chuckle out of them as the group left. Lars could feel a gulp come up, and with the coast clear, he went on out of hiding and looked into the cave. Nothing left except for smooth floors, and the Gem door. If the Crystal Gems were coming back, they're gonna be ticked off to oblivion and back when they see what happened. Lars looked around a bit at the cave, standing over where the Warp Pad used to be for just a bit, as his eyes drifted over to the Gem door. The only thing that remained of the Crystal Gems left in here. 
Lars went on over to it, trying to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He couldn't even find a opening for that matter, his hands now finding a corner or some sort of grip on said door. He knew something was back there, he saw the Gems walk out of that room, but he just couldn't get it open at all.

"Come on, open up!" Lars groaned, trying his hardest. Nothing. Maybe he should get the others on board with this, but for now, he needed to get back to the donut shop first. That door wasn't going to go anywhere anytime soon, but there was only one Gem with him that could do the job.


~~~~~~


Well, after that it was right off from the cave, and right back to the shop. He would have to pass there in order to get to the lighthouse anyway, so there was still that. As he was heading off towards the donut shop and around the back, he could see Sadie there and actually waiting for him, which was a little bit weird to find, but Lars had some more important things to worry about.

"Lars, there you are!"

"Not now, Sadie," Lars groaned. However, Sadie had about enough of this herself, and went right over to him.

"Wait a minute, what's going on? You've been acting ... weird," Sadie said.

"I've been acting weird?" Lars snapped. This was no time for some simple chit-chat, and he had WAY too much dumped on him, being the only one who actually knew what was up right now. The planet was on the line here!

"Eh ... yeah."

"W-Well, maybe I am, maybe I'm not, I don't have time for this. Go and handle the store, or whatever," Lars said, before readying to go passed her.

"Ok, what's wrong? You're acting paranoid, you've been running off, I even heard you got involved with a bunch of freaks at -"

"Rutile's not a freak, now get off my back!" Lars suddenly yelled, making Sadie jump and almost tumble off her own feet. Lars got himself snapped out of it, but Sadie looked rather angry at him.

"... Fine," Sadie suggested, though she actually sounding a bit more upset with him more than anything, starting from his demand moments earlier. Lars had enough trouble with all of this, and he felt himself jump when he heard the backdoor slam shut. Lars felt a bit guilty all of a sudden, and he didn't want to add yet ANOTHER issue to think about, so he had to get this one out of the way.

"Now, Sadie, wait a minute -"

"No! You go on ahead and do whatever the heck you wanna do! I'll stay here and handle the store like I always do!" Sadie replied from the other side of the door.

"Sadie, just listen, there's a lot more going on here!"

"Ok, fine, name one!"

"Alright, let me think. Oh, wait, how's this: there's aliens running around Beach City, and they've already brainwashed everyone except me into forgetting all about those 'freaks' everyone saw in town today, and they're going to wreck the planet unless this is fixed!"

"... WHAT?!"

Lars just sighed. How was he going to do this if she can't remember?

"Oh forget it. You won't believe me anyway. ... I'm sorry. ..."

Lars was just about to go off on his way, a lot quieter now, but before he could finally go, he heard the door open up again, this time with Sadie standing there with a small tear down her face, which she wiped off. Guess she was feeling bad about yelling at him too.

"... Well. Maybe you're not lying. You don't ever really apologize to me," Sadie stated, feeling a bit puzzled with  it on how to feel. Lars felt a little mixed with the insult, but at least Sadie was more willing to listen and hear him out.

"Yeah, sorry for that too. ... Look, I got a whole lot on my mind right now, so -"

"Wait a minute. You said Rutile was one of those  ... Gems, right?"

"Yeah, but apparently most of them were taken away already," Lars replied. Sadie thought it over a little bit, but then realized something.

"Hold on. If they're looking for these Crystal Gems, wouldn't Rutile be in danger too?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?!" Sadie gasped. Oh dear.

"... Maybe we should check?" Lars asked, getting worried.

"Ya think?!"

.......

Next thing they knew, Sadie and Lars were going off up the hill right to the light house. It was the last place where Lars had left the Rutile Twins and Spike to Ronaldo's care. This was something he really didn't consider much about, and with the group still going about, it was a high chance that a light house would be a place for to even look. Lars and Sadie both didn't stop running until they caught better sight of the light house, and they both were off and straight at the door.

"Ok, now you didn't see her, she's not a monster, don't freak out," Lars warned.

"Um, ok," Sadie replied. They had little time to explain, and Lars readied to open up the door ... just for it to open for him.

A White Diamond Jasmith soldier prime. Right in front of him. And this one was just managed to get through the door after bending down, her sheer size making Lars and Sadie back in sight of her. Didn't help much that this one had her gemstone over her eye either, as if she lost it in combat. This was the worst case scenario he didn't want to happen, and now he was found by the large Gem.

"Uh ... uh ... Hi? How ya doing? Havin a good day?" Lars asked meekly, the expression unchanged as a few more started to come out.

"What're you doing here?" the Jasmith asked.

"Oh, us? Uh, w-well we're here to uh ... maintain the Lighthouse, yes! So, I-if you could just let us go in, we can start up," Sadie said, hoping it'll work. Unfortunately, the Jasmith wasn't buying it, turning to one of the other Jasmiths coming out.

"We have a few intruders. Any ideas?"

"Throw them over the cliff."

That escalated quickly! The Jasmith grabbed them both by the collar, and like two pieces of trash, carried them right to the cliff in question! It was a long drop down, and no way can they survive such a fall, which was the general idea. Sadie and Lars freaked out, but Lars reacted first, and as the Jasmith released them, he quickly got a death grip on her arm, Sadie grabbing Lars by the waist. The Jasmith tried her best to shake them off, both flailing around like crazy, but both humans were not going to fall to their death like that! Eventually, the Jasmith swung them over her head, and towards the lighthouse, making them both let go and crash land onto the ground. Lars and Sadie shook themselves off, looking to the other soldiers just in time to see -

"LARS! HELP!"

The twins! they and Spike were captured, stuck inside a Gem bubble as they were pulled out. Both Rutiles were terrified about their capture, and Lars knew exactly what was going to happen to them if he'd let this go. However, this got the attention of the other Jasmiths to Lars, Sadie being thrown into a nearby bush and out of sight. but her fall, may be a lucky break, as the Jasmiths left her alone, and aimed right to Lars. Lars tried to get to the Rutile Twins and Spike, but unfortunately, one particular Jasmith grabbed a hold of him by the head, and all she had to do was throw him high in the air, aiming off away from the lighthouse, and down the hill! Lars landed hard, rolling and tumbling down the hillside for a bit before he could stop himself, only to look and see a Jasmith leap down at him with a fist right to the face.


~~~~~~


"... Laramie! Laramie, wake up, please! Can you hear me?!"

"Give him space, he's coming to."

Well, mission failed. Rutile and spike were taken now, and when Lars woke up, he found himself all the way down the hill, and leaning on the side of a building, possibly where the Jasmiths left him after beating him senseless. Or at least, he could barely comprehend it enough to get it right. However, the people around him was far less recognizable in his state, and he quickly thrashed out at them, thinking they were the Jasmiths again. It took him a bit to realize that it was just the other residents around him instead, which included his parents, who looked completely horrified to find him this way.

"Laramie? Oh, thank the lord," his mom said, hugging him tightly with tears in her eyes. Lars got to his senses fully at this stage, and felt a headache come around to him. He still had his memories, thank god.

"Wait. What happened? Where's -"

"Right here, Lars," Sadie said, standing not too far away. Lars took a moment to try and regain his memory on what the heck happened, and the only thing he can't recall was the initial hit. Lars took the time to look around, and saw a number of other familiar faces: Onion's gang, and the Maheswarans to name two. however, as he kept thinking, one question just came out.

"Rutile. Rutile, where are they? Are they still here?" Lars asked, but he forgot for a short moment that none of them even knew what he was talking about, and even if they've regained their memories, none of them really had met the Rutile twins before so that barely helped. The only one who actually had a proper answer for him was Ronaldo, who came out of the crowd with a bandaged head.

"Well, Ronaldo, where are they?" Lars asked, getting out of the hug and heading to the only person knowing her by name. Ronaldo needed a minute, his head still pounding.

"They got them. The White Diamond authority took them away. My armor proved inefficient," Ronaldo said, trying to control his headache. Lars couldn't believe it. After hearing what Rutile had went through, hearing her being taken made him think of what death sentence Homeworld would have for her. No. No, this won't do. There was only one thing left to get now.

"E-Excuse me!" Suddenly, Lars went off running.

.......

Despite his injuries, and his fall, Lars made record time in running straight back to the Gem cave, some of the other people following him, though Lars failed to recognize that. He didn't stop for any moment, almost slipping on the smooth floor, before heading over to the door in the back almost immediately. But with his attempts, Lars just couldn't get it open at all, no matter how many times he tried to get it busted open. As they said, only a Gem could open it, and their only Gem had been taken away. ...

"Garbonzo?"

Lars flinched and spun around, but lucky for him (maybe), it wasn't any of the Gems coming back, but instead Onion's little gang of kids: Soup, Squash, Pinto, Garbonzo, and Onion himself. His feelings were kinda mixed, but he did have a sigh of relief knowing none of Homeworld found him snooping around.

"Oh, it's only you. ... Wait. how long were you standing there?" Lars questioned, but none of them answered, and instead were checking out the cave that had just been cleared up. Squash, Garbonzo and Pinto were seeing the very smooth, almost reflective floor, as Onion and Soup went over towards Lars to check out the door. Curious themselves, they tried to open it, but with no luck about it. Soup tried to whack it open with a wooden spoon as hard as she could, but that didn't really do much either.

"Stop that, only a Gem can get in there," Lars sighed, though he was just as curious about this door as they were, and wanted in himself. However, the gang actually had a solution on them, be that as it may, and Soup snapped her finger with a smile in realization, and pulled the pot off her head to show  that she actually had a gemstone in it! Grant it, it still had what looked like a price tag on it, but that's another story. If they can beat the system, then alright. Soup gave it to Onion, and he proceeded to place it up to the door. However, at first, nothing seemed to happen, as he kept hitting it onto it. Lars found this kinda stupid.

"Come on, we know that's not gonna -" before he could finish, the world and its logic decided to prove Lars wrong, and the Sapphire part of the Gemstone door actually began to glow! And sure enough, the door was open! "... help."

Well, guess they found the cheat code to this scenario, regardless of just how off it was. Squash, Pinto, and Garbonzo soon noticed the door open, and the gang, with little hesitation, decided to go in and investigate. Lars kinda did the same thing, and had a look inside.
Well, the good news was that they found a way in, but the bad news was that there was little to show for it. The whole room was the basement of the Temple, where many of the Gemstones once were, but unfortunately the only thing left was a very dark room, much of the light from the bubbles no longer illuminating the place. It looked as ancient as it looks now, and looked as if no one had been in there for centuries, despite the group just being in there a short time ago. much of the basement in structure still looked the same, but only with all the lights off and completely dark. The gang tried to find something out of it, but they really weren't having much luck in it, Lars checking it out himself.

"Well, this is the Temple Steven kept talking about. Sure looks empty in here," Lars commented, though the gang weren't sure who he was talking about if it all was meaning much of anything. Lars went on around for a bit more, eyes up to the now silent heart of the temple, looking right up to it for a bit. Was this what the Crystal Gems lived in? Well, Lars was a bit more distracted than he realized, and his foot ended up nudging something, enough to make him lose his footing for a brief moment, and falling over.

"Garbonzo!" the others went over to see what happened, as Lars got himself up and looked back. Turned out, his foot had got caught on what looked like smoother ground, and this wasn't just dirt either. The gang found this very interesting, and actually began to dig up whatever Lars had found, Lars turning around and actually doing the same, albeit a bit slower. Eventually, something did end up being dug up, and BOY was it a score! At the beginning of this charade, this object was only the size of a dinner plate. But now, it was about as big as a beach ball, and heavier than any brick as the gang tried to get it out themselves! The colors swirling inside this glass egg was becoming a bit more vibrant now, and a lot more active, but the gang saw what they thought was a mighty score of jewels, as the whole gang picked it up and began to head out with it.

"Hey, give that back!" Lars shouted, heading out himself. It was surely an odd thing to see, but he didn't know what it was or what it was going to do, as the gang rushed off outside of the room, and heading towards the beach. Lars was quick to follow them behind, and actually managed to get it out of their hands, holding it above his head, but what happened next was a bit more shocking than the realization.

And it happened the second they got the egg outside.

Feeling the warm sunshine up outside for the first time in a while, the egg started to become a lot more active now, the colors inside starting to swirl and spin inside as if the egg had a hurricane in it. Lars stopped and felt the egg move about, making  him freak out and actually drop it. He didn't have a clue what was going on, and the egg began to lift up off the ground, shaking violently as it began to glow. The egg, in fact, began to crack open, light beginning to shoot out, one of which aimed right to Onion's gang! Lars tried getting to them, but the light was too fast, and shot them all down! One hit on each one of the gang members, and knocked them out on the spot much to Lars's shock. Lars looked to the egg, and even more light shot out as it continued to crack. Suddenly, the egg burst open, sending a huge light into the air, and straight to Beach City in an explosion!

"Crud, crud, crud, crud!" Lars gasped, freaked out as he ran blindly right over to the city. What did they just do now?

.......

Well, if Lars wasn't freaked out before, he sure was now. With all this stuff going on, he didn't want to see anyone else disappear from the premise by some weird Gem object. Lars raced off right back to where it started, and soon he was met with a rather scary sight: a ton of people down on the ground! They were groaning a bit, and by the time Lars had actually arrived, they were beginning to come around a bit. The first person Lars raced over to was Sadie, who tried to come back to.

"Sadie! Sadie, you ok? Say something!" Lars said, Sadie just getting herself back around.

"Lars? Whoa ... wait ... wait, what's going on?" Sadie asked. she didn't look too hurt, thank goodness, as the others began to get up themselves. Lars tried to figure out if anyone else was hurt, but none of them seemed anymore hurt than they were already.

"Anyone hurt?" Lars asked, Sadie up on her feet now.

"I ... I don't think so. Wait, what am I saying?!" Connie suddenly gasped.

"What, you feel bad?!" Lars asked.

"Nevermind me, the Crystal Gems, the Mane Six, where're they?! Where'd they go? White Diamond didn't leave yet, did she?"

... And just like that, everything explained what that egg did. It didn't hurt anyone, it got them their memories back. Well, up to a point, anyway.

"Look, everyone chill, I'll explain the whole thing to you."