Robert woke up with a stiff back again, but that didn't matter in the slightest to him anymore. In fact, nothing seemed to matter to him.

"Hey, I know we couldn't do Smash Saturday, but you think we can do Smash Sunday?" asked Steven.

Robert just shook his head. "Gotta talk to Smiley," Robert responded as if he didn't care. He left without eating breakfast. Steven wanted to see what was wrong with Robert, but couldn't because he walked out too quickly.

Meanwhile, Robert went to Smiley at Funland, which was closed on Sundays and Holidays, although Smiley was still there to throw out kids who thought they could operate the rides on their own. Robert approached Smiley with his uniform in his arms.

"Robert, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'd like to resign," Robert responded. Smiley was taken by surprise by this news.

"Alright, it's your decision, and you can resume working here any time," Smiley responded, putting a hand on Robert's shoulder. Robert brushed it off and left.

When Robert returned home, Steven and Michael were playing Super Smash bros on Steven's Switch, although Steven was playing noticeably worse than he normally does, and wasn't putting up much of a fight. Steven noticed that Robert walked in, still looking as salty as he did when he woke up.

"What's wrong, Rob?" Steven asked.

Robert took a deep breath. "Nothing, I'm fine," he said. Steven and Michael knew he was lying. Steven was about to walk to Robert as he went back to his sleeping bag, but Michael stopped him.

"He won't tell you how he feels, no matter how much poking and prodding you do." Michael explained.

Steven raised an eyebrow. "He's your brother and my friend, why wouldn't he tell us what's troubling him? He's our friend." he asked.

"That's all the more reason to hide them, and we were taught at a young age to hide them, because we were told to 'man up' and 'boys don't cry'. We don't show our emotions because if we do, it is seen as a sign of weakness. To put it simply, we are programmed to believe our feelings don't matter, so we hide them and lie about them. We are raised to expect that if we tell you our feelings, you will shoot them down and tell us we are wrong for feeling the way we do, especially by those we trust most," Michael explained.

"The Gems aren't like that at all." Steven explained.

"Yes, but Lardna, Aloysius, and pretty much every figure we met before you was." Michael added.

Just then, Peridot appeared on the warp pad alongside Amethyst and Ivy. "Come with me! I have to show you something amazing!" Peridot yelled excitedly. "I made quite the marvelous contraption, but I can't bring it through the Warp pad because it's too big, so you'll have to come to the barn." explained Peridot.

Michael and Steven ran to the warp pad. "Robert, you coming?" Amethyst asked.

Robert rised out of the bag and walked to the warp pad, not changing his emotionless expression.

When they got there, they stood in front of a large capsule with some sort of computer standing next to it. "I call it the 'Doppelganger Device', a machine that can make a perfect clone of any human with just a bit of DNA." Peridot explained.

"That's so cool!" said Steven "Can I try it?"

"Unfortunately, so far, we've only been able to make clones of beings that are 100% humanoid. If we could make a clone of you, we would, Steven." Peridot continued.

"Alright, but what is two types of DNA get in the machine?" Ivy asked.

"I...Don't know, but I am not willing to test it until I make a second prototype" said Peridot.

"What happens if it's a mistake? As in you don't want it?" Robert asked, still in monotone.

"Well, we can destroy the clone and use the energy from it to power the machine, which is a good thing, because it takes a lot of power to make and maintain a full clone." answered Peridot.

"How long does it take for the clone to develop?" asked Michael.

"For a normal human female, approximately nine months. For this machine, it takes half that time." answered Peridot.

"How much power does it need?" asked Amethyst.

"About enough to power this entertainment location humans call 'Las Vegas'." answered Peridot.

"That all?" Robert asked, in an almost impatient tone. Peridot nodded and Robert turned around and left.

"What's with him? He's not been acting like himself ever since that dream he had." said Amethyst.

"I don't think it's that, I think it's something else." Michael explained. "Although, he's not fond of change, so that would somewhat explain it. Just don't ask him about it, he won't tell you."

Michael then proceeded to tell Amethyst exactly what he told Steven.

Meanwhile, Robert laid on his sleeping bag, pondering what he should do now. He never had this much free time on his hands. Robert looked at the book where the melody locations are, but one was in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, and the other was in Egypt. He then just took a nap, because he hasn't done that in a long time.

"Your journey is in vain" a voice coming from seemingly nowhere taunted.

"Your allies are only using you" it said again. Robert rolled his eyes and fell asleep.

"You'll regret doubting me." it said.

The voice tormented Robert in his dream relentlessly, as it took on the forms of both his friends and enemies. Robert's abilities wouldn't work in his subconscious mind, nor would any sword strikes or bullet wounds.

"Bullets don't work, Jon!" it taunted.

Robert ran away into a great labyrinth that seemed to be infinite in all directions. "I can smell you!" it taunted as it kept chasing Robert, taking on a more grotesque form with every sight of it.

Robert later found a door that led to a foggy pink room, similar to the dream he had with Pink Diamond, with the now arachnid-like beast following close behind him.

"Your demise is imminent!" it taunted as Robert woke up from the nightmare to see that Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Steven, Peridot, and Michael were all gathered around him. Robert looked out the window. It was sunset. "What's wrong? It looked like you were having a nightmare." Pearl asked.

"He's not going to tell you, I told you this." Michael groaned.

"We aren't going to judge you for how you feel. Like it or not, we care about you." Garnet explained. "We can't show you how to fix the problem if you don't tell us the problem."

Robert took another breath. "Lapis thinks I value my job over her. I wanted to tell her that I was working at Funland to get enough money to take her and a couple of her choice on a date. I wanted to surprise her." he explained. "I should've been there for her..."

"Actually, who did you imagine coming with you?" Michael asked.

"Either Steven and Connie or Amethyst and Peridot." Robert answered.

"Do you want me to tell her?" asked Peridot.

"No, I need to fight my own battles. A knight in shining armor has never had his metal truly tested." Robert explained. As he left for the barn.

To be continued...

QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Do you think Lapis should forgive Robert?