Lars lit one of the matches, and then threw it, igniting a box of dough.
"Lars! What are you doing?" Sadie shouted, running up to him, trying to wrestle the box of matches out of his hand. As if she was a fly, Lars pushed her away, with force that he shouldn't have. Steven looked at Lars, with confusion in his eyes. Why was he doing this? Trying to burn down his work, his home... the one that he loves even though he won't itt it? Maybe it was mind control. Every gem, corrupt or not, needs a power, right? Fire wouldn't be this one's power; that's more of a weapon.
However, Lars has been acting strangely. Maybe this gem' s power WAS mind control? It was then that he felt it. A sharp pang in the back of his mind, becoming greater and greater. It then stopped, but brought on a new terror. A numbness. An overwhelming numb sensation, taking over his mind. His vision went blurry, and he could slightly see his arm raising, and beckoning for... the matches.
"Oh no." He whispered, as his hands lit one, and as if with a mind of their own, threw it onto a box of napkins. They set ablaze instantly. "No!" He screamed, in his head, and then realised that the numbness, the mind control, was only on half his body, but progressing. He willed his legs to move, and luckily, they did. Before his hands could light another match, he was running out the room, out the building, back to the temple. As soon as he got to the door, his arms were controllable again, and his vision was less blurry. He ran inside, and at first glance, was disappointed. No one was there. He looked back outside, and could see a plum of smoke rising into the cloudy sky. It was raining now. He looked back inside, and could see Lapis walking off the warp pad.
"Hello Steven." She looked at the matches."What are you doing with matches?"
"There's no time! Just follow me!" Steven shouted, running through the door. He ran across the beach, wet from rain. He looked up and saw Lapis above him, flying. He held up his arms and she picked him up. He told her to go to the plume of smoke. She obliged, not without a frown on her face. When they got there, Sadie was outside, on her phone. She looked up at Steven, and frowned at him. Steven quickly explained to Lapis what was happening inside, but didn't say about the mind control. He had a sneaking suspicion that whoever knew about it was affected by it. How did Lars find out though? Lapis ran in, and Steven went in with her. When Steven saw what had happened while he was gone, his reaction was almost worse than Lapis' s.
The backroom was still ablaze, and the front room not much better. He could feel the numbness seep into his mind. He ran out, Lapis not far behind him. He looked at her, and saw how grim her face was, but she was also a bit... gleeful?
"Steven, there's only one way out of this." Steven realized what she was saying, and his eyes widened. "Steven," She looked at him hopefully. "Let's fuse."
Inside, when the sprinklers suddenly turned off. The door opened, and-
"All I wanna do, is see you turn into... a giant woman" sang a velvety voice, full of comion and love. The was a tall, blue haired woman stood in the doorway, her hair like Lapis's, but a bit more curly. She was wearing a red dress with a star in the middle of it. "Well, well, well what do we have here then?" She asked, looking round the shop. She gestured to the gem on her stomach, which produced two water bombs, which looked like Steven's shield, but they were spherical. "Let's extinguish this fire, once and for all!" She shouted. "Oh, first, where are my manners? Pleased to meet you. I'm Shine Quartz."
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