The Truth

After finding a mysterious ship in the forest, and finding out that the owner of it came here because he was paid to bring a Pearl to man who was known as The Collector, Spinel went  to Beach City as fast as she could, where she came across Steven, who seemed to be happy that she was in a much better state than she was the last time he saw her.

But before he could ask her why she came here, she asked him if he saw a ship, and he told her that he did, and even met the person that came here a few hours ago. She then took him to Azurite's ship and showed him everything she saw in there, and the real reason why Azurite came here in the first place.

As for now, Steven and Spinel sprinted through the streets of Little Homeworld as fast as they could. They had to find Azurite, and ask him if bringing a Pearl to this mysterious man known as The Collector was his true intention.

They finally saw him, with other gems. They were chatting with each other, but he didn't hear about what.

"Yondu!" He called for him, earning their attention.

"Hello, again, St... Who's that?" Azurite asked, eyeing the new gem.

"Spinel?" Amethyst said, looking at the gem that came here with Stevem.

"Who?" Azurite asked.

"What is she doing here?" Lapis added.

"I'll explain that later, but now I have a question to Yondu." Steven said, having his attention on Azurite.

"What is it?" Azurite wanted to know what was he going to ask him.

"Who's The Collector?" Steven asked, crossing his arms, his normally friendly expression turning into a small glare.

"...Oh, they know." Azurite thought to himself, in realization. This new gem must've somehow find I way inside his ship, where she found all the information about the contract he received from The Collector.

"I guess, there's no point in being discrete anymore, if you already know." Azurite said, standing up from his seat, "This man paid me to bring me a one of the Pearls to him."

"What? Why would you agree to do that?" Pearl asked, taking a few steps away from, and taking her spear out, in case if Azurite was going to attack them. Two Pearls who just heard the real reason why Azurite came here, hid themselves in the houses.

"I'm a mercenary, people pay me to do something for them." Azurite said, his voice was still calm, even though he became a little nervous, because his true intentions were now revealed, "And this collector wanted me to bring him a servant that doesn't age."

"Why would you take this contract?" Steven wanted to know.

"Because I have nothing to lose. There are very few people in the universe that would actually miss me." Azurite explained, his mind flew to Shi'ra and Quill's crew, or even to the bartender on Knowhere.

"It seems like you're going to disappoint him, then." Garnet said, as her gauntlets appeared on her fists.

"If you say so." Azurite just stretched his arms in both ways, before taking his machete off his back, and gently laying it down on the ground, to make sure nothing would happen to it.

"What? You're surrending because you're outnumbered?" Peridot asked, saying what was on some of their minds.

"No. I'm just distracting you." Azurite told them, as he pressed a button on his glove. The gems held their weapons in ready for battle, but much to their confusion, a myst formed around them, out of nowhere.

The gems prepared themselves for fight, as the myst slowly disappeared. They looked around themselves, trying to see where Azurite was, but suddenly they heard that something was failing from the sky. They looked up as Azurite dropped from the sky, aiming for Pearl, but Steven pushed him out of the way and blocked his boots with his shield. Peridot used her power to pick up a  few small metal objects, causing them to levitate above her, before pushing them towards Azurite, who was able to outrun each shot.

"He's good..." Amethyst stated.

"Who taught him that?" Peridot wondered.

Azurite reached them, and kicked away Amethyst's whip, as she tried to wrap it around him while dodging Garnet's and Bismuth's attacks, then delivering double blow, one to Garnet, one to Bismuth. He landed on the barrel, and kicked Amethyst in the face, leaping over another attacks of another gems, only to let himself be hit by Bismuth, so he can get behind Pearl, forcing her to press her spear up to Garnet.

She looked behind herself to see Azurite's stoic face looking at, thinking what was she going to do. Before she could do anything, he was lifted up by Spinel's hand, but he quickly freed himself from her grasp, before pulling his hooks off his back and wrapping it around Garnet and Bismuth.

"Garnet/Bismuth!" The gems cried after them, as Garnet and Bismuth were threw into one of the building by Azurite's hooks, destroying the front part of it. 

A moment after they cried their names, they turned around to face Azurite again, and a look of suprise and confusion grew on their faces, when they saw him doing handstand-spinning, which lasted a few more seconds, before he launched himself in the air, landing between Amethyst and Peridot. He grabbed the two short gems by their arms and delivers and flurry kicks that eventually knocked down, as Garnet and Bismuth rushed back into the fight from the destroyed front of the house they were threw into.

Once he was certain that he wouldn't have to deal with Amethyst and Peridot, at least for now,  Azurite charged towards Pearl, who had to endure a blow from him, before he was grabbed by Lapis, who lifted him in the air, holding one of his hands in the water bubble, before she could do more, he pressed the button on his glove, activating another myst, only this time, it formed only around her, and when she was trying her best to keep him in her grasp, he freed himself, and once the myst was gone, he dropped from the sky at her, kicking her in the head.

"Lapis!" The gems cried her name as they both fell on the ground, with Lapis' face facing the ground, and Azurite standing above her. He had a perfect opportunity to kick her in her gem, and probably damage it, but he was not going to do that. He killed people before, but he was doing it because they made him do it, or he had a contract which required of him to do it, or when someone angered him because they were calling him names like defect.

Instead, he just kicked her in the back, causing her to stay on the ground, then he looked around himself to see Steven, Spinel, Garnet, Bismuth, and Pearl surrouding him, He rubbed his chin, turning glances between him and his opponents, before saying what was on his mind since the moment he arrived on this planet.

"You know something all of you. There was one time when I was truly happy in my life, but it was short lived, compared to how long I live, which is much longer than a few hundred years. While I still may have friends like Quill and his crew, I never was truly happy again, after they were taken from me and there was nothing I could do to stop it.  And the same will happen to you, sooner or later." He spoke up.

Garnet, not really listening to what Azurite was saying, went forward in order to punch Azurite, but he ducked her attacks as Spinel and Steven seemed to curious about what he just said. Who was taken away from him? Was he talking about the people from his "Memorial Wall"? If this theory was correct, then about who was he talking about? 

''I may have not been here for a long period of time, but there was one thing that suprised me. I'm suprised. I'm suprised by how happy you all are. You think that you are all safe, because the Diamonds are no longer a threat to you."

Azurite, turned to Steven, now fully focusing his attention on him, as two bubbles formed on Steven's hands.

"You really think that the universe suddenly became a safe place because you made the Diamonds stop what they were doing? The universe is a dangerous place, and it always will be a dangerous place!"

The disguised gem swung his fists at Steven, who blocked his every attack.

"No matter how many threats you will stop. More will appear! There are some threats that we don't even know about, yet!''

He jumped up, and tried to land a kick on Steven who once again, blocked his attack, but this time he used his shield, which appeared in his hand the moment Azurite jumped up.

"But none of that will matter, because when The Mad Titan will finally know the localization of all of the Infinity Stones we'll all fucked!" 

"Wait?... The Mad Titan? Infinity Stones?" Steven asked, looking and sounding completely confused by what Azurite just said. Azurite turned around himself, to see everyone looking as much confused at he was.

"...What. You've never heard about..." Azurite's anger suddenly turned into confusion. The Diamonds never told this kid about the guy who wants to wipe up half of all life in the universe? 

The revelation that they never heard about the Mad Titan, took Azurite completely off the guard, because he was sure the Diamonds at least mentioned him to him. He should've know about things like that!

But, before he could say something more, he suddenly felt that something was wrapped around him. He looked down at his body to see Spinel was wrapping her hands around him, along with Amethyst who was wrapping her whip around him. As he tried to free himself from their grasp, Bismuth took his hooks off his back, and Pearl took his glove off his hand, and handed it to Lapis who had gotten herself back on her feet, who put it into a water bubble to make sure that if Azurite wouldn't get them back if he somehow freed himself.

"Let go off me!" Azurite demanded, even though he knew it was pointless.

"Hold him tight. Do not let me free himself." Garnet told Amethyst and Spinel who nodded their heads in understanding. It caused Azurite to panic. He didn't want them to find out about his true identify, even though he knew that it was just a matter of seconds now.

"Now, let's see what you're hiding under it." Peridot said as her hand reached for Azurite's headscarf and took it off his forehead.

The answer they got shocked all of them. It made Lapis drop his things on the ground in shock.

They all saw a gem on his forehead.

"...What?" Amethyst asked after a moment of silence.

"You're a gem..." Steven stated with wide eyes.

The gems from Little Homeworld who stayed behind for most of the fight, seemed to be as shocked as the rest of them.

"I am, but you have no idea how much I wish I wasn't." Azurite told him, not seeing the point in lying anymore.

"Why couldn't you tell us? You didn't had to lie about yourself." Steven wanted to know.

Azurite opened his mouth to reply, but Pearl cut him off, "Now I understand why I had the feeling that I met you already. Your name is Azurite."

"I'm glad that you finally recognized me. I actually wondered if you're going to recognize me and how long it would take you." Azurite said with a roll of his eyes.

"Wait. You know him, Pearl?" Steven asked what was on everyone's mind.

"She does. She was there when they banished me from Homeworld." Azurite replied, before Pearl could answer. 

"You were banished? Why?" Steven asked, turning his glances between Azurite and Pearl, excepting an answer from any of them.

"I was different from the others. When I was made I was so innocent, friendly towards everyone, and naive, oh how naive I was back then. Before my banishment I was already treated like a scum by many gems. The ones who didn't, were avoiding me like I was some sort of plague. One day, I was told to come to the Diamonds, If if wasn't for Pink, I would probably get shattered by them." Azurite explained.

Steven sighed at his response, he actually could believe that diamonds would do something like that in the past, "Why couldn't..."

"Why couldn't I come here after seeing your message? Are you even listening to me? Everyone were okay with me wasting myself in some small ship, crying to myself because I was treated like a scum because I was different from the others. You were treating me well, only because  I was pretending to be someone else." Azurite interrupted him.

"That's no..." Steven said, trying to reason with Azurite. Was he really thinking like that? Every gem was welcomed in Little Homeworld. No matter what kind of the gem they were. But also he couldn't blame him for thinking like that. 

"Yeah, sure. You'd despise me and see me a monster the moment you'd set your eyes on me. Just like on Homeworld before my banishment." Azurite interrupted him again, the tone of his voice was saying them that he was on the verge of breaking down. He tried to hid it from them, but he was not doing a job at doing it.

Steven looked at Spinel and Amethyst, "Let him go."

"Are you sure?" Amethyst wanted to be sure.

"Yes." Steven replied with a nod of his head.

Spinel and Amethyst did as they were told to. They let Azurite go off their grasp, before he stood up from the ground, and looked at Steven, wondering what was he going to say to him.

"Azurite. We can forget that this thing ever happened. You can start a new life here. Things have changed. I promise to you that It won't be like the last time. Just give it a chance, and I'll show that you don't have live alone in your ship anymore." Steven assured him as he extended his hand towards Azurite, even he attacked him and his friends, Steven could say that Azurite wasn't a bad gem.

Azurite took his hand, but instead of shaking it, he pushed it away, "It may be true, I've been called and felt like an outcast of the gems for my entire life. Things may have changed but I think that living among gems wouldn't just feel right to me after all this time.." He gave him a small smile, doing his best to not make it look forced, "Besides, I got used to being alone a long time ago."

After Azurite collected his things from the ground, and put them back on their places, he turned to leave and began to walk towards the exit from Little Homeworld, Steven asked him, "Where are you going to go, then?"

"I don't think you even care about it, but I heard that Saakar has a new champion. I've been wanting to see him for a while, now. I think I'll go there." Azurite answered, as he continued to walk away from them, wrapping his headscarf around his gem to cover it again, "I'm sorry that I took your time."

"Who's The Mad Titan?" Peridot asked about the person who was on her mind since Azurite mentioned him.

"You should ask the Diamonds. I'm suprised they haven't told you about him." Azurite said.

As Azurite disappeared from their view, Steven took a step forward, and looked at the gems, "I'll go talk with him."

The gems said nothing in response, they just nodded their heads to that, because they were excepting Steven to do something like that the moment Azurite declined his offer to stay in Little Homeworld.

"I'll go with you." Spinel spoke up, causing everyone to look at her, Steven just nodded his head at her. Azurite may have been acting like everything was okay, but he was hurting inside, and she knew how that felt. She knew how it is to be alone.

And with that, the both of them sprinted forward, they both had to be fast. They had to reach Azurite before he'd leave, and probably never look back.

----

Azurite sighed as his ship came into his view, he was about to walk inside of it, and leave this planet, and most likely never return to it, otherwise a situation would require of him to return there.

"Oh no..." He said to himself, bringing his hand upon his face, when he heard the sound of someone running towards him, which was getting louder with each second. When it finally stopped he said, knowing exactly who it was, "What do you want? I thought I said that I decline your offer!?" 

"Azurite, we just want to talk with you." Steven answered, knowing that he had pick the words very carefully in this situation. Depise, what Azurite did in the past hour, he wanted to help him.

"If you're going to break into a song, don't even try. This doesn't work on me." Azurite told him.

"We're not going to do it. As I said, we just want to talk with you." Steven assured him.

"About what?" Azurite asked.

Now it was Spinel's time to talk, "When I was in your ship, I saw the pictures on the wall..."

"Of course you saw them. They're pretty hard to miss." Azurite pointed out, crossing his arms. If he was honest with himself, he was kind of suprised that Spinel came here with Steven. The first moment they met each other, he attacked her and the others? Why would she come here with him?, "Besides, as I said, I've gotten used used to being alone. I've been alone in a small ship which as given to me by Pink Diamond for a few thousand years, before I finally decided to try have a normal life, and you know what? I've been at many planets in my life, on one of them I came across Rin, Karolyn and Aleena."

"You mean your family?" Spinel asked, as Azurite suddenly paused as she mentioned them.

"Why aren't you with them? Did something happened to them?" Steven asked him. What happened between Azurite and the people who he come to see as his family?

"... You really want to know what happened to them?" Azurite asked them after a moment of thinking what to say.

Spinel and Steven nodded their heads, knowing from Azurite's tone that it was not going to be a story with a happy ending.

Azurite sighed, before saying after a moment of silence that fell between them, "It seems like I'm not going to convice you to leave me alone without answering them, so If I answer these questions. Will you leave me alone?" He asked them, wanting to leave this place as fast as he could as Steven and Spinel nodded their heads in response, but it doesn't change the fact that they were going try to convice him to not leave, "Fine."

He gestured to them to follow him into his ship, and they did as they were told to. The three of them made their way into his ship, and Steven and Spinel followed Azurite to the three seats, which was were placed not too far from his "Memorial Wall".

"So, what do you want to know about me?" He asked, hoping to get through with this as soon as it was possible, so he could leave.

"This ship." Spinel started, as Steven and Azurite looked at her, "It looks awfully familiar to the one I was in one of the pictures. Is it the same?"

"It is the same. My friend Dragan gave it to me, oh how much I owe this guy." Azurite began, a small smile formed on his face as the thought of how much Dragan has done to him. He didn't if he would ever repay that debt, "I met him 5 years after Darnel passed out of the old age in his own bed, and offered me to take from Darnel's planet, and I accepted his offer, because after Darnel's death, there was nothing holding me back there. He's the one who taught me how to fight, and this ship was his final gift to me from him. He said to me that it was a gift of his gratefulness for helping him.''

"Helping him in what?" Steven wondered out loud.

"In getting his revenge on Gregor. A man that took everything from him. When they to take care of him finally came, I have to admit, it wasn a very hard night. I had to kill some of his people, but it wasn't much of problem to me, because I already killed people, before meeting him." Azurite answered.

"Why?" Steven asked with Spinel nodding her head, wanting to know why as well.

"Because on Darnel's and Freddy's planet. It's about survival, at any cost. When I landed there, I found out that it's filled with undead creatures, I thought that they were going to be my main worries, but I was wrong. They were the least of my worries. Sometimes the other people were much worse than them, but none of them could match him..." He stopped what his explanation when he mentioned someone who Steven and Spinel assumed to be The Mad Titan Azurite mentioned earlier.

"The Mad Titan?" Steven assumed, as Azurite's tone changed into more of darker one.

"Thanos. His real name is Thanos, and this guy... " Azurite paused for a moment, thinking of a way how to describe Thanos to them, "...He's like a plague. He invades planets, he takes what he wants and wipes out half of the population." 

His gaze went over to Steve and Spinel, both of them looking at him in silence at the either the revealtion of who the Mad Titan was, or the tone of his voice.

"Why..." Steve ntried to say, trying to figure out why Thanos would want to commit these things, "Why is he doing that?" 

"Because he is insane." Azurite's answer was quick, "He actually thinks that he is saving the universe by doing it. Dragan once said that every villain is a hero in his own mind, and this guy is a perfect example of it." 

"...What are the Infinity Stones? Why is he needing them so much?" Steven asked him another question, remembering that Azurite mentioned them when he mentioned The Mad Titan to him during their fight.

"The Collector. The guy who ordered to bring him a Pearl, a few years ago offered me a contract to find and bring him all of the Infinity Stones. It was when he explained to me what they were." Azurite began explaining, taking a small break between the sentences, "He said to me as I quote "Before the creation itself, there were six singularities. Then the universe exploded into existance, boom! And the remnants of these systems were forged into concetrated ingots. Each one of these Infinity Stone each control an essential aspect of existence. Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind, and Time."

"Did you accepted it? His contract about these stones?" Spinel asked what was on her and Steven's mind.

"No. There are some contracts that even I wouldn't take." Azurite replied with a shook of his head, still wondering who was that stupid to give the Collector one of the Infinity Stones.

"You said that Thanos needs those stones. He needs them for what?" Steven asked, knowing that he was not going to like the answer.

Azurite's expression hardened, as he sighed, "If gets all of them, he'll be able to erase half of the universe with a snap of his fingers." He explained, snapping his fingers to clarify his point, "Just like that. Half of all living all will disappear."

This was when his entire ship was overcame with completely silence. If Steve and Spinel weren't already shaken by who Thanos was and the atrocities he was committed, thinking that it was for the greater good made them just stare at the male gem as if something had frozen them into one place.

The silence lasted a few more moments before it was broken by Steven, "You seem to know about him."

"Gamora and Nebula are his adopted daughters. He took them in after cleansing their planets. He tried to pull them into his cult, but thankfully he failed. They told me everything I wanted to know about him." Azurite explained. He sighed, before he continued. Nebula and Gamora weren't the only Guardians who's planets were cleansed by the Mad Titan, "The same thing happened to Drax, but unlike them, he didn't lost his parents. He lost his wife and daughter." He added, remembering how Drax wasn't much fond of the idea of talking to a prisoner, but when he saw Azurite looking at the picture of the people who were close to him, he asked him who they were, and they ended up bonding over the people they lost, because of the same person.

"How is he doing now?" Steven wanted to know, knowing that losing family must've been hard for Drax.

"He's alright, now. He found a new family within Quill's crew." Azurite gave her a small smile in response. He was happy for Drax. The poor guy deserved it, but then some painful memories went through his head.

Azurite suddenly shook his head, rapidly. Noticing that something was suddenly off about Azurite, Steven put his hand on his, and asked him, "What's wrong? You know you can tell me."

"Konoritos was one of the planets that were a victim of the cleansing." Azurite answered, as some painful memories continued to fly through his head.

"Konoritos?" Steven asked.

Azurite clenched his fists, as he finally brought himself to say it, "A planet I used to live on. They people of this planet, treated me as one of their own, even though I wasn't a Zaran. I was actually something more than just the guy who now takes care of the people who pissed out wrong people for money. I had everything I wanted for my entire existance. Family, friends, acceptation for what I was. I had friends before I came there, but before that, I felt like something was missing. A single piece..." He stopped for a moment, wiping a single tear that fell down his right cheek. Steven and Spinel listened carefully to him.

Assuming, that Azurite wasn't going to say more of his story, Steven opened his mouth to speak, but Azurite continued, "This place was when I felt when I found this piece. I felt complete. I felt accepted for being what I am." He stood up from his seat and made his way over to his memorial wall, and took down one of the photos, "Let me show you this."

He made his way back to Steven and Spinel and showed them a photo of the people he used to call his family. Spinel eyed this picture carefully to everything he was saying, even though she already it, "I know that you saw it already, but let me show it to you, anyway. This is Rin, Karolyn and Aleena, and they were like a family to me. They took me in and treated me as if I was a member of their family." He explained, before adding with a chuckle, but it was more of bittersweet one, "She kept calling me uncle Az since I found her walking through the forest after I landed on this planet."

"What happened to them?" Steven asked, already knowing that he wasn't going to like this story. Something terrible must've happened to them that it made Azurite feel so much fear and hatred towards Thanos. He already had an idea of what happened to them, and he didn't like that.

Azurite opened his mouth to reply, but closed it a moment after, debating if he should have tell them this story or not. He suddenly felt someone put his hand on his. He looked down on his it and saw that it was Steven.

"It's okay. As I said, you can tell us. Take all time you need." He said, he and Spinel giving Azurite an encouraging nods.

"If you really want to know what happened, then let me tell you that story." Azurite began to tell them the story where he lost almost everything he cared about.

----

I'm sorry if the fight scene is not the best, I'm still trying to improve that part in my writing, and I'm sorry if I got something wrong when it came to the gems fighting you. This was my first time writing them fight, and I know it was really short, the next ones are going to be longer.

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