Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Twelve hours ago, a mysterious villain had shown up in Beach City. At first, Steven had thought that he was just some tourist, as it was the summertime, and tourism was quite common in the seaside town. He figured out the hard way that the man was not just some tourist, he was a power hungry man with strange magical powers that he had called a quirk. He had tried to kidnap Steven for his own sick needs. 

Luckily, Amethyst and Pearl were aiding him in the battle, as Garnet was off on some mission. Though it was hard, the Crystal Gems once again won the fight. 

Steven sat in his father’s old van, head resting boredly on his palm as minutes flew by. Right after the incident, he had visited his dear old dad to tell him everything about what just happened. He found it hard to admit, but he was having some trouble processing what had happened only half a day ago. To try and entertain himself, he was mentally asking questions about the villain. “ How did the man have powers? Was he a half gem like me?” 

A little bit ago, his father went outside, telling the hybrid to stay put until he came back. He only wondered why as he squirmed around in the limited space he was given.

Restlessly, the brunette reposed himself on the metal floor, now lying on his side. It was deafeningly quiet inside the vehicle, the only sounds being the irregular shuffling of Steven Universe, and a barely audible conversation between two people outside. 

Steven turned towards the sound, a small speck of moonlight catching his dark brown eyes. He began scooting closer to the metal door, trying to dampen the noise of his movements as much as possible. A couple seconds more, and his ear was pressed firmly against the door to the outside. 

“But he doesn’t have a quirk,” a firm statement that Steven could tell belonged to his father. He couldn’t imagine what his father was so upset about, as he almost never spoke like that, even towards someone he was disagreeing with. 

“Well, people don’t know that!” It took a moment, but Steven soon recognised that his fellow gem, Pearl, was speaking. 

Steven concentrated on listening in hearing every detail of the heated discussion to the best of his ability. Fruits of his labor included more bickering: “So, what are we going to do? Tape a sign to his back reading ‘I don’t have a quirk, I’m a half alien!’ No! That would put even more of a target on his back, because people would want to sell him, experiment on him, and do other horrible things to him!” Steven’s mouth was closed tightly. “ It’s not like that hasn’t happened without the public service announcement,” he thought back on not only the morning time, but a couple of weeks ago during the Homeworld invasion.

Still pressed against the door, Steven found it hard to hear anything more. He was about to turn away to ceiling gaze, or whatever else a bored person does, when he heard Pearl shout “None of this would’ve happened if Rose was still here!” 

The silence in the room was a lot more noticeable than before. Steven felt his eyes ready to burst with tears. Time seemed to not exist as he slipped back into the corner where he once sat happily, talking with the Gems, his dad, Connie, or just enjoying himself. This was no longer the case, though, as he found himself holding everything in to avoid being caught, and the bottle was almost full. To distract his mind once again, he tried thinking back on the last month or so and how everything that happened affected the team. Jasper, Lapis, Peridot, Homeworld…  His mind wandered back to the last week or so, with the situation where Pearl lied to Garnet to form Sardonyx. He thought of how Garnet reacted, and how badly he felt to blame. After all, he had told Garnet about Pearl rebuilding the communications hub. It was his fault that she knew, and it was his fault that Garnet was more closed off than usual.

At first, he figured that he could just forget that this entire thing had happened, and try to live a normal, peaceful life, like he did before his gem glowed for the first time on that April afternoon. There were some problems with this thought, though. If Pearl really felt that way, and if she would rather have his mother around than him, he couldn’t be at peace. With what happened not thirteen hours ago, neither could the Gems. He was the source of the problems and the misery enveloping the team. He was the weeds in the glorious Crystal Gem garden, eating away at what they had left until they were nothing. Steven didn’t quite know what he would do, but he just knew that he needed out. 

After a little bit of overly emotional brainstorming, Steven knew exactly what he would do about all of this. He turned to the door where he was previously snooping on his father’s conversation with Pearl. The young teen took a good look at it, as tomorrow morning would be his last time seeing it. His eyes made laps around the moonlight dusted van, many memories, both good and unpleasant coming to mind. He wasn’t going to end his life, or at least, he wasn’t planning on doing so, but instead, he had something less painful and more exciting ahead. 

But for now, the hybrid needed sleep. He closed his eyes and rolled up into a tight ball. Though he didn’t have Garnet’s future vision, he knew that the following day would be quite eventful.

Steven’s round brown eyes flickered open like damaged light bulbs. The pre-teenager immediately turned to the van door, light peeking in through a small crack underneath. It was slightly hard to tell, but the time of day seemed to be barely sunrise. Maybe around six or seven in the morning? Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his father, Greg, fast asleep near a bunch of old rock CDs. 

As quietly as possible, Steven made his not so merry way to the metal door, pausing to look behind him. His father was still sleeping, and Steven took this as a sign to continue. He grasped the handle with both hands and pulled up. An annoyingly loud metallic screech caused Steven to flinch, accidentally letting go and making another comically loud bang. The teen only truly realized the consequences of his mistake when his dad started to sit up. 

Quickly Steven lifted the door up again and ducked. Like a professional he slid under the door and jumped down from the small platform right outside. His feet made contact with the asphalt and he began running in the direction of the beach that gave his hometown its name.

 Honestly, he didn’t know why he was running so quickly. He wasn’t afraid of his father, and he knew that his father wouldn’t intentionally harm him, but something about getting caught…

Steven didn’t slow his running until he reached a wooden beach house being watched over by a hulking lava goddess, who seemed to be peering down at the short teen in concern. He paid no mind to this, enthusiastically walking up the steps and swinging open the door. Steven stilled. He hadn’t visited since yesterday, before the attack.

The house seemed normal at first glance, with no one home, and with a lovely warm home scent in the air. There was still something off, though, like he was being judged for what he was about to do. “ It’s the responsible thing to do.” With this thought in mind, Steven set off on his journey across the house to gather travel supplies; shirts, pants, food, water, and whatever else could fit inside his cheeseburger backpack. All of this had to be done before the Gems got home. If he was caught packing his things, they would get suspicious, and eventually find out what was going on. After that, he would have to spill the beans on what he heard last night. He knew what happened the last time he did something like that, and he didn’t want another fractured relationship to be his fault.

Steven went up the stairs leading to his small bedroom. From here he could see almost everything happening on the beach, because of a large window, reminiscent of a boat, right above the bed that he slept on almost nightly. Because of the important things going on in his life, he hadn’t gotten proper sleep here in at least three weeks. Most of his sleep was cut short by some important mission, or he didn’t get sleep at all because he was kidnapped and being held hostage on an alien spaceship, had a water gem to soothe before she stole the entire ocean, or some other situation that would be bizarre to an outsider, but was completely normal to Steven Universe.

Taking note of how things normally looked in his room, Steven began carefully choosing clothing from his closet, making sure there were no suspicious changes to the room’s normal layout. He didn’t want the Gems to think he was actually running away. That would make them worried and stressed, and they already had enough on their plate with Malachite, Peridot, Homeworld, taking care of him and the Earth, and now, some quirk villains, too. He didn’t want to cause too much drama, just a quick slip under the door and everything would be okay. With the others not having to worry so much about him, they could relax for once, or focus on more important issues than some kid who’s just weighing down on the team. “ It will be better this way. For all of us.”

Steven had quite a bit of his bag filled with clothing now, and thought to move on to the food aspect of things. Before he went to sleep the day before, he had thought hard about this. If he was going to make it very long in the real world, he would need something that had a good shelf life. Unfortunately, he had very little of that in the house. He didn’t know any local stores that sold anything but food that would go bad quickly, and so he had to stick to snack foods, which he had plenty of. 

Down in the kitchen Steven went to retrieve some chips and candy bars. Since he was so short, he had to climb on the counter to reach the cabinets that might hold some food, of course, if Amethyst hadn’t already taken everything. He swung open the cabinets, a random assortment of treats greeting him. It was almost comforting, having something be this easy for once. The hybrid greedily scooped a handful of junk food, placing it below him on the counter. Later, he would make sure it would all fit, but what was important right now was actually getting the needed things.

Along with food, he was still half human, and humans needed water to survive. Steven could bet that there was some water in the house somewhere. Steven’s problem was whether or not there was enough water available. He didn’t feel like lugging around the entire ocean like Lapis Lazuli once did, and he didn’t feel like dying of dehydration either. There needed to be an in between, like a water bottle! Steven’s face lit up suddenly, but just as it came, it went. “I don’t have one of those,” he said, a slightly crestfallen look on his round pink face. His eyes widened at a small drawer near the end of the kitchen space. Inside, he knew, were plastic bags. 

An idea started to grow on Steven as he made his way to the small drawer, looking lonely and dusted over due to years of neglect. The hybrid gem opened the drawer with difficulty, seeing as this entire house was not professionally made, and this drawer likely hadn’t been opened in several long and eventful years. To Steven’s excitement, a small box of plastic bags sat untouched, unaffected by time. He removed a few of the bags from the green box, leaving the drawer wide open as his thoughts carried his actions.

On his tippy toes, Steven stood at the metal sink and turned it on. He opened one of the three bags he had in his arms and held it under the water. In a few seconds, the clear bag was filled up with tap water. The cycle was repeated twice more, and Steven was sure to lock the bags tightly afterwards. For just a moment, he stood back and admired his work. He giggled at the use of his creative thinking, and continued packing his things once again. An afterthought he had was filling cups with water and taping them shut, but he decided that those would take up too much space.  

Steven put the makeshift water bottles in his vintage backpack that he had ordered online in early May. It had only been a month and a half since then, and he had already been through so much with this bag. And goodness, he knew that he would be through so much more in the future. 

After the water bottles were done and in the right place, Steven headed back to the kitchen counter that held the many snacks that would accompany him on his trip. He stuffed as many candy bars as he could into his backpack without filling the entire thing, as he still needed room for his phone. Seeing as he had plenty of snacks packed already, he put the rest of them back in the cabinet, again, leaving it open. 

Now, all Steven needed was his phone, which was upstairs in his room. After that, he would need to make sure he had been careful not to make any unnecessary changes like leaving clothes lying across the floor, or something along those lines. He marched up the stairs with a look of pride on his chubby face. Tripping over his own feet, he reached his room. He spotted his phone on the headboard right above his bed and grew an even bigger look of accomplishment, as everything was falling into place. 

Steven advanced in the direction of his phone and its charger, knowing that afterwards, he would be able to leave. He jumped up on his bed, sitting on his knees and doing nothing. 

A while passed before he had enough energy to move. “Goodbye, old friends,” he said to his many stuffed toys sitting in a line on the wall. He felt bad for having to leave them all behind, even though there wasn’t any more room for them. 

Finally, Steven laid his hands on his phone. He yanked on the charger gently, just enough to detach it from the wall. The phone lit up, reading 6:34 on a Saturday morning. Said information was helpful to him as he knew that most people wouldn’t be awake at six on a Saturday. This would make it the perfect time for sneaking away.  Where will I go, the thought came to mind, but evaporated soon after. It was something to think about, as it would be too risky to make it up as he went. 

Feeling ready to get up and leave, Steven did just that, grabbing the charger and phone, putting them safely in a separate pouch from the food and clothing. I guess there’s enough room for some toys, this thought left his face looking a little looser, and his eyes glimmering. He wasn’t too aware of his otherwise glaring flaws, though, as he tried packing the entire room inside a twenty four inch backpack that was barely able to hold food, water, and clothes. At times, his childish naivety was shown to be blinding. 

“Aww, I guess I can’t,” Steven whined, rearranging his toys on the wall from memory, as he hadn’t yet forgotten the “keep low suspicion” rule that he set for himself. It wouldn’t be too suspicious to take one toy, though. Steven took this into consideration. The Gems wouldn’t notice one thing missing from his plethora of toys, would they? No, they likely would not, unless they were specifically looking for it. Any more than say, two, would be overkill. There wouldn’t be enough space in the bag, and the Gems would notice something up if all of his favorite toys were missing. 

Steven held two of his favorite toys in either hand. He had a decision to make. One of the toys was a worn down teddy bear striped with now faded neon colors. He had grown an emotional attachment to the bear after his father bought it with his hard earned money as a gift. The other toy was something he bought for himself, and it was a stuffed toy of his favorite character ever; Cookie Cat. Cookie Cat was the thing that started it all. When the ice cream brand he represented was canceled, he ate the last of them that he had available, the emotional impact activating his gem powers for the first time. Now, he held the tricolor cat close to his heart because it helped him realize that he had gem powers, and was capable of using them. 

Steven was stuck. He kept looking back and forth between the two stuffies, trying to discern whether or not one was better than the other. A guilt and tightness in his chest elevated at the thought that he would never see one again if he took the other. Now, he was shaking uncomfortably on something that he had psyched himself out to be a big deal. After a moment of shaking, seemingly in a trance, he tried to pull himself away by saying that time was a valuable thing, and he wasn’t necessarily wealthy. This didn’t stop it, though. If anything, it made his dreadful feeling worse. His breathing was heavy and shaky, and he couldn’t trust his decisions. He felt guilty either way. 

“I,” Steven spoke, still holding his two prized possessions, “I’ll take both of them!” To him, that seemed like a pretty solid decision. Why have only the best of one world when you could have the best of both?

The brown haired boy carefully stuffed the two toys into his multicolored backpack and zipped it shut. He sighed, feeling ready to move on, to get going on this adventure that he had hyped up so much. 

“Are you forgetting something?” Steven didn’t think he was forgetting anything, but since it would be his last time stopping by the house, it wouldn’t hurt to double check.

Steven started to file through his bag, trying to make a mental checklist of the things he already had. Noticing that he didn’t have a jacket, he swiftly made his way to his roomy closet again, picking out not quite a jacket, but a black sweater. It would take up less space and would be a lot more comfortable to wear. He grabbed his bag again and put the sweater inside. There was little room left, but Steven knew that there was one last thing he might need. Money.

In the world he lived in, money was a very important thing, being the baseline of a comfortable lifestyle. If he ran out of food, water, needed more clothes, or basically anything, he would need money. Luckily, he knew where he stored his money. It was in a picture frame on his shelf, which was something recommended by his father, who always had the best hiding places. 

He grabbed the glass picture frame, holding the memory of his first year living with the Gems. A look of deep nostalgia formed in his dark brown eyes as the joyous sounds of laughter were recalled. It had only been around eight years since then, but he felt like everything was better back then. Even though he didn’t have his powers, everyone was happier. Everything was safer, and crime rates in his state were at an all time low. He peered intensely at his younger self, and how happy that boy was, sitting on his father’s van while singing a song he had just written for the team.

 A small smile played on Steven's lips as he removed the glass cover on the photo. Out fell some loose one dollar bills, all he had collected over the years. The bright and courageous face of Cathleen Bate stared up at him. She seemed to be encouraging the boy’s behavior with a mischievous grin. Though Steven knew little of her, he knew just how much impact she had on the country, being the apparent #1 hero in the US, according to one of his friends. The hero depicted on the bill reminded Steven somewhat of his mother, who he would rather not think about at the moment. 

Steven picked up the many bills from the ground, counting them up to be about twenty-four dollars. This will be helpful, he thought while tucking the money into his lettuce themed pouch. “ The lettuce is the same color as the money,” Steven slung the bag over his shoulder while thinking. “ That way, I will remember where it is!”

In a minute’s time, the picture was back where it belonged, Steven had his shoes on with everything packed in his handy dandy backpack, and he was ready to hit the road. Currently, he was standing enthusiastically at the front door, waving goodbye to everything he had ever known. The teenage boy looked up at a painting of Rose Quartz, who was eyeing him proudly, as if this was something she once did. It was truly funny to think about; someone who Steven had looked up to so much for being untouchable and glorious, was so much like him. Mother, like son, some would say. 

“Bye, mom,” Steven waved to the painting, though he knew it couldn’t hear him. He pushed open the door, almost knocking it off of its hinges. 

The sunrise greeted Steven as soon as he stepped outside. It was like someone who he knew, but couldn’t quite reach. (Which was practically everyone, seeing as he was just breaking 3 '3.) 

The temple lady was there as well, but not quite as pleased as the sunrise seemed to be. Her eyes seemed more hollow than before, and she had a stern, defined scowl on. She was reaching out further, as if trying to prevent Steven from leaving. Steven, of course, under the impression that this was a responsible thing to do, ignored her. He instead stepped down the wooden stairs and set foot on the grainy sand.

“Goodbye, temple lady,” Steven said, almost happily. “But this has to be done,” he turned away and continued walking while unregretfully whispering his goodbyes. 

“Goodbye, Connie,” he reflected on the many fun memories he and his friend had experienced together. Steven was proud of her for being able to reach out and make more friends. 

“Bye, Dad,” while whispering, Steven remembered the many times they sat on the beach, writing some new song without a care in the world.  

“See you never, Gems,” he was less upset with them now, becoming increasingly unhappy with himself for letting the team fall apart. 

“Steven, be sure to keep the harmony.” Garnet commanded, standing in front of the warp pad. 

“No problem!” Steven replied. “Today’s going to be all about HAR-MON-NY!” The warp lit up, taking off in the middle of Steven’s sentence. 

The town was in full view now, proving itself a beautiful sight with the newborn sunlight bouncing off every surface. Steven knew that the civilians would start waking up about now, and they would spot him running away. If they spotted him, they would report him to the Gems, and he would be caught. 

Steven carefully slipped into the alleyway next to the Big Donut, the store where he used to buy his beloved Cookie Cats. He was horrible at lying and sneaking about, so this was all a learning experience. What helped him was thinking of it as a game of hide and seek. 

“Yeah, like a big ol’ game of hide and seek!” A hushed whisper escaped Steven’s mouth. “Except this time,” he paused to catch his runaway breath. Another thing he felt like he should work on was his stamina. It was never anywhere near the Gems’ level. He was never anywhere near the Gems’ level. 

“I’ll never be caught.” 

Steven was lying face up on the floor of a freight train, staring at the ceiling. It seemed to be a common habit of his to act this way in a vehicle, except, this time, he wasn’t anxiously waiting for someone to take back their harsh words, he was completely unruffled and undisturbed. The half gem seemed to be thinking nothing at all as he gazed into nothingness. He had spoken nothing after getting on the train, and was too busy mentally to focus on physical activity. 

It's not like he could do anything, anyway. He was in a moving train, and there was very little space for goofing about. One wrong move could cause him to be harmed. After all, he was only half gem, and he wasn’t invincible. Steven chose to relax, which was something that he hadn’t done in a long time. He didn’t feel like thinking about the villain who had wanted his power… quirk? 

“What is a quirk?” Steven recalled how the villain acted when he asked this question yesterday.

“Don’t act stupid! You know full well what I’m talking about.” The blue haired man groaned, clenching his fists. 

“I don’t know what a quirk is, honest!” Steven said, before receiving a hard smack to the jaw. Some tears dripped from his eyes down his cheek due to the impact.

Steven didn’t know, and the others never discussed this topic with him, so he was just confused. Perhaps he could use his phone to look it up after he got settled in the Kindergarten. It would be a little while until then, so he returned to his previous task of blankly staring at wood.

An inkling over two hours later, the train was approaching Steven’s destination. Since Amethyst wasn’t present for this runaway attempt, Steven found it incredibly hard to get onto the moving train. He couldn’t imagine jumping off of a train and the horror that would occur if he misstepped. Still, the teen had courage in himself and would take extra caution not to get run over.

Steven pulled his luggage close and sat up. He became more attentive of his surroundings and much more appreciative of the sights he was seeing. Gorgeous greens paired with yellows and glimmering gold. They were the colors of July which was setting in just like the train to Steven’s goal. 

The train was now where Steven needed it to be. It was go time. Trying his best to dismiss his fears, Steven took a leap towards the ground below the still moving train. His feet made light contact with the solid rock floor, which was a shock to Steven. “ The cause,” Steven thought, “ is probably something I ate.” He forgot about it, now being served with a view of the dreaded Kindergarten.

There were no longer any feelings of safety or warmth in Steven’s mind. The air was still, cold, and empty. Limited amounts of sunlight allowed sharp rocks to be seen all around the entryway to the Kindergarten. Steven honestly didn’t remember his trip with Amethyst being so unsettling. 

Hesitantly, Steven took a step forward. “ Was this how mom and the Gems felt when they first came here?” Walking didn’t seem to have any consequences, so Steven just went for it, in the name of keeping his friends and family safe.

It was hard to see anything but dark lavender once he reached a certain point. The farther he walked, the more grays and purples he could see. Heck, even the sky seemed to turn a miserable shade of lilac. Steven turned back for one second, and was hit with nothing but endless purple. Every step forward revealed more rocks on the floor. Ones that perhaps, Amethyst might have played with when she was young. For Steven, it was still hard to believe that she grew up here. 

Along the canyon walls sat many holes- people sized holes. This did not surprise Steven in the slightest, as he knew that they were just the marks of other quartzes that erupted from the walls many hundreds of years before Amethyst did.

“This isn’t so bad,” Steven thought, sighing.

 Steven spotted some familiar sights in the distance, including Amethyst’s hole, and the injector that was knocked over during the big fight that went down here. “ Amethyst, she was upset with the others.” He clearly recalled her being unhappy during their travels, while he saw it as a joke. Now, though, it was anything but a silly joke. 

Another thought came to mind as his eyes explored the world around him. “ If Amethyst’s hole is right here, that means that Peridot’s little hideout thing is close by,” there was a small twist in his stomach now, and he wasn’t sure what would’ve caused it. Maybe it was the thought of a Gem who had been looking to possibly kill him for the past couple of months, or maybe it was the fact that he hadn’t yet eaten breakfast. Being Steven, the former would be much more serious. 

Peridot… 

The name remained in his head as he continued marching along, not sure where his end destination would be. Because he was so hungry, Steven decided to sit down and have a granola bar for breakfast. There was a rock sitting alone on the barren Kindergarten floor, so he decided to follow in Amethyst’s footsteps and rest on it. Surprisingly, sitting on a rock wasn’t too uncomfortable. It all depended on how you sat. 

Steven unwrapped his chocolate chip granola bar that he had taken from the many in his bag. He bit into it again and again until the entire thing was gone, leaving just the bright orange wrapper. 

After eating, Steven felt like exploring his possible new home. Because, after all, he didn’t know exactly how long he would be staying, and just to be safe, he needed to know his way around the canyons. 

The hybrid jumped off of the rather comfortable rock, carefully avoiding the other rock that Amethyst had apparently split when she lived here. Part of Steven wondered what other interesting things she might have done in her younger years. Well, he should’ve asked those follow up questions before he left. There was nothing he could do about it now. 

Steven kept his eyes alert for any sudden movements as he placed the trash in his tomato pouch. He didn’t feel like getting kidnapped today, especially because of the Gems not being around to protect him.

The pit in his stomach returned, making the sides of his head feel unusually warm. “ Is that what’s up?” He questioned his own anxiety while placing his hand on the back of his neck. “ Am I worried about the Gems?” It wasn’t likely, as the same feeling didn’t arise when he last thought about his former team. 

To get rid of the unpleasant feeling of doom boiling in his chest, Steven decided to distract himself with his phone and a nice walk around the forever winding Kindergarten. “ Maybe I can search up quirks on my walk,” thought the teen. “ I’ll finally know what that man was on about.”

Steven began walking in the direction of the many other gem injectors littered across the horizon, being the only pop of color in the area. They were ominous and slightly unsettling, but still one of his greatest curiosities. It was a wonder to him how gems like Amethyst were made from these. Sometimes, he wondered if his mother was one of those gems. 

For fun, Steven clicked open his camera app and switched the setting to record. On one of his gem missions, he walked in on Peridot logging her progress on the Earth. This intrigued Steven, and he felt like doing his own log as a pastime. First, though, Steven had to know the date, because Peridot seemed to always start her logs with the date. He turned his phone off and on again, now being able to read the time and date. Saturday, July 5, 2014.

“Okay, here it goes,” Steven went back onto his camera app, holding it ready to his face. “Log date, five,” he mentally counted the months of the year before continuing, “seven, fourteen.” 

“Today’s the first day that I’m on my own. Here I am at the Kindergarten,” Steven moved the camera towards some of the holes, barely visible because of how closely he had zoomed in. “It’s a preeeetty neat place if I do say so myself,” he giggled, turning the camera back to its original position. “I’m still getting used to the kind of weird things that go on around here,” Steven’s eyes unconsciously flickered to the towering metal injectors, unstable, and ready to collapse at any moment. He shuddered, and turned his attention back to his vlogging. 

Steven thought he should mention what he’s planning on doing, like researching quirks or something. “I am going to search up these things called quirks. I- really don’t know what they are, and that’s why I’m going to look up what they are! That one guy,” Steven thought of what else to call him while beginning to scratch at his neck. “The villain that attacked Beach City, he kinda freaked out when I told him that I didn’t know what a quirk was,” the intensity of his scratching increased as he spoke. “He accused me of lying and trying to act dumb.” Steven’s neck was turning red, unbeknownst to him. “I wasn’t lying, I swear! But, he didn’t listen! And, he tried to kidnap me with his weird explosives!” 

“And I,” Steven was on the verge of crying as he continued his much needed rant.”I feel so bad for getting the Gems involved. I was wasting their time,” as he spoke, Steven began staring at nothing again. He was still occasionally scratching his neck, but with much less intensity. 

Steven sighed, walking to one of the large boulders on the Kindergarten wall. He leaned against it, still gripping his phone. It felt nice, actually, to get the words out. Still, Steven didn’t feel like crying right now, as he was on camera, and still had things to talk about. 

Sniffling, Steven tried to collect himself, preparing for the next things that he was going to say. “I- I’m sorry, I got a little bit carried away, there. Anyway…”

For a few more minutes, Steven rambled on about the stuff he was planning on doing, and the people he was trying to avoid. The storage on his phone was withering away like any plant on the Kindergarten floor. Obviously, he noticed this, quickly closing up his log.

Now, what?

Chapter Text

Peridot was not quite cozy inside of her tight workspace. Though she may have gotten used to the stench of oil, mold, and grease, the headaches caused by god knows what kept her from feeling genuine comfort. She blamed it all on the Earth, the new environment, and her struggles to adapt to her surroundings. It was stressful to be stranded on a foreign planet with no way to contact home, after all. 

She would rather not go outside, though. If those Crystal Clods found her, she probably wouldn’t be able to fight them off again. Lucky for her, there had not been a sign of the rebel gems in quite a while. This gave Peridot quite a bit of free time, as she was not constantly being chased by a bunch of war obsessed delinquents. 

In her free time, Peridot tried finding ways to contact her homeworld. No progress had been made in the two weeks she’d been cooped up in the underground chamber, and she was starting to lose her patience. She was bored, upset, restless, and scared, even. 

The past two hours had been spent boredly scrolling through the files on her finger screen. Part of the period was spent wishing that she had something better, more productive to do, while the rest was just mindless scrolling. 

Peridot was fed up with having to spend her time on nothing. At this point, she would rather be chased by the Crystal Gems. At least that would burn some energy.

Peridot ran to her elevator, the only way out of the crowded workspace. She stood on it before giving it a hard stomp, prompting it to accelerate upwards. To an outsider, it may look like an unusable rickety Barbie dollhouse elevator, but it was surprisingly stable.

The outside air was not fresh, but relieving, and leagues above the gross underground smell. Peridot stepped off her elevator, taking in the sight of many rocks piled up on the floor, as usual. Still, something felt slightly off, like there was someone, something there that shouldn’t be. 

Her mind instantly jumped to the thought that the dreaded Crystal Gems were here, staying hidden while waiting for the perfect moment to strike. It was terrifying to think about.

“It doesn’t feel like the Crystal Clods, though.” 

Footsteps could be heard in the distance, stopped. The warp pad never once went off today, and yet, there was someone there. “ How?” Peridot mentally questioned. 

She carefully crept forward, eyes darting anxiously across the barren lands to try and answer her question. Nothing came of it after a few seconds, and Peridot’s frustration was quite apparent. Her brow was furrowed, and her jaw was clenched tightly.

Without thinking, she yelled, “if that’s you, Crystal Clods, you’d better show yourself!” A second later and she realized her mistake. The footsteps had less time in between each, as if someone was in a hurry…? 

Peridot stepped backwards, nearly tripping over some loose pebbles on the Kindergarten floor. She didn’t seem so confident anymore . The thought never crossed her mind that if you asked for someone to take their chance, they would. 

The lime green gem held her robotic arm in front of her, beginning to charge the small laser on the end of one of her fingers. Though having metal limb enhancements was quite bothersome, sometimes, good things would arise. You could compare it to a knife; deadly when used improperly, but when used the correct way, could make some yummy food. 

A few sparks shot from the now ready to use laser, and Peridot carried herself forward, crouching, trying to see what could possibly be making those loud noises. 

It didn’t take very long. 

A short pink boy, dark curls hugging his face that held wide, horrified eyes and slightly parted lips. 

Steven held his hand out defensively in front of his face, a sudden light forming a pink shield in front of him. It was very obvious by his shaky posture and defensive attitude that he was on the same page as Peridot. 

Steven felt that awful worry again. By now, he had a hunch of what was going on. He didn’t want to not be able to defend himself, not after the Gems made his unstable power flow out to be a bad thing (perhaps inadvertently). Since he was all alone with powers he still didn’t know how to take care of, he wouldn’t be able to stop anything from going wrong, and there would be nobody to cover for him in the instance that his powers stopped working. It was one of the downsides of running away that he didn’t ever consider. 

Peridot was about to fire her beam onto the boy’s shield before asking, “where are the others?” It wasn’t spoken aggressively, nor was it spoken in a soft tone either. She was asking a question to get an answer, not a dead end. 

Steven instantly knew who the “others” were. The Crystal Gems.

Cautiously, Steven lowered his shield before it vanished into flecks of light, those too soon retreating into the caves of imagination. His main goal was making himself seem friendly and harmless. He couldn’t expect the Homeworld soldier to do the same, though. 

“I don’t know.” 

Peridot was no longer fearful, her confusion being predominant suddenly. Her posture softened slightly and her eyebrows raised. It was strange to say the least, seeing The Steven without his three (four?) protectors. The fact that he didn’t know where they might be surprised her. “ He might be lying, she thought, he’s going to lead them to me,” but no, the look in his watery brown eyes showed no sign of lying. Though Peridot was no lie detector, she swore to the Diamonds that this was the truth. 

His eyes showed more pain than anything, mirroring hers whenever Jasper was present. Fearful, and silently begging not to be harmed. Peridot acknowledged this and almost sympathized with the quartz gem. 

She took a step backward, now seeing that The Steven wouldn’t pose a threat. Peridot slowly lowered her weapon, still eyeing the gem carefully. As far as she knew, this innocent pacifist behavior could be just a clever ruse. 

“Are you here to spy on me?” That would be the only other reason for his appearance in Peridot’s mind. 

The Steven slowly shook his head, holding up his hands in defeat. His eyes were shut tightly, and a soft frown replaced his usual giddy smile. 

Peridot couldn’t help but notice how the gem’s posture was different from usual. He was much more reserved, gloomy and perturbed rather than bubbly, kind, and gentle. The stars on his cheeks were much more dim, only flickering sporadically every now and then. 

“Is something wrong with him?” 

It wasn’t her problem. But, Peridot couldn’t help but feel like it was starting to become one. She was considering shooing him away, but her conscience was telling her otherwise. Peridot went back and forth with herself, still cautiously staring at the short quartz. 

By now, the fuse in her weapon had completely worn out, leaving her arm slightly colder than before.

“Then why in the world are you here, in the first place?” 

Steven stopped. There was a lot of explaining that had to be done. So, he figured that he would just start from the beginning, as to not confuse the green gem. 

He sighed, relaxing slightly. 

The hybrid took a few gentle steps forward, and began to speak, “it started about two months ago,”

“So you ran away from your base,” Peridot and Steven were sitting on some of the surprisingly stable Kindergarten boulders. “Because you caused too much trouble for them?” 

Steven nodded in reply and began, “and, Pearl would rather have Rose than me,” he looked out into the distance, the overwhelming amount of purple being just a little bit more bearable. “She said it herself.”

Peridot didn’t understand. Why would the pearl say something so awful, so harmful, and make The Steven run away? She had never met Rose Quartz herself, but she had heard the stories that made her wonder, “Why would you want a war criminal over a kind, loving soul?” 

Earlier, she had expressed this confusion, and Steven had told her humbly, “ You don’t know why she would do it because you’re not the kind of person to do it yourself!” It still didn’t make much sense to her.

Still, Peridot hated to say it, but she truly was looking forward to spending more time with The Steven, and felt at ease talking to him. The two had formed a fast friendship, and related to each other on the fact that they shared glaring insecurities and feelings of worthlessness in comparison to their peers.  

When the time came, and the sun started to slowly decline under the horizon, Peridot couldn’t help but feel just slightly upset about having to leave her new… acquaintance… to his own mind. 

To make her feel just a twinge better, The Steven attempted to reassure her, saying that he’d “sleep in one of the gem holes,” and that “it would be just fine.” 

Peridot’s stomach tightened at the thought of the Crystal Clods getting to her newfound friend, and hurting him once again. Her anxiety was bugging her, yes, but she convinced herself that his whereabouts were none of her business, and that she shouldn’t feel such a level of distress over some runt quartz. 

So, she let him head off to “ bed” or whatever he called it, and tried not to think of the possible outcomes as she slipped back onto her elevator and quietly descended down the hole to her underground chamber. 

The night went as quickly as it came. Now, it was early morning in the Kindergarten, and sleep was harder to achieve than Steven would’ve ever thought. He was awake, and not well rested at all. 

Steven sluggishly exited the hole he was previously asleep in, nearly falling on his face as he jumped off the edge. Though he may have been absolutely miserable yesterday, he found himself looking forward to the day's events, almost like he did way back when …

This instance, though, wasn't because of the Crystal Gems, but because of his new unlikely pal, Peridot. 

Steven had so much fun talking with her, a feeling she seemed to reciprocate, that he almost forgot to eat breakfast. 

His stomach let out an annoyed growl, reminding him that he had to eat to maintain energy.

Happily, Steven skipped, bag in hand, to a large boulder sitting right next to Peridot's elevator. Hopefully she doesn't mind. He sat on the boulder, shivering because of the cold stone on his bare legs. 

Steven opened his bag, seeing that most of his makeshift water bottles had exploded during his slumber. Maybe it would’ve been better to use the plastic cups with the tape, he thought.

It wasn’t a huge deal, was it? He still had some bags of water left, and he could drink those! If he ever ran out, he could go into a nearby town and get more! 

The hybrid unwrapped one of his candy bars, and ate it very quickly. He just couldn’t wait for the day’s coming events. All that was on his schedule was hanging with…

“Peridot!”

The metal elevator stopped and a tall green gem set foot on the Kindergarten canyon floor. She gave Steven an I tolerate you look and began to inch closer. Steven encouraged this with a pat on the empty space beside him.

“Greetings, The Steven,” 

“No, silly! Not The Steven! Just call me Steven!” 

Peridot cocked her neck to the side, slowing her pace until she completely stopped walking. “What do you mean? ”  

“Oh!” The hybrid gem chirped, stuffing his empty strawberry granola bar wrapper into his cheeseburger backpack. More specifically, the tomato pouch, where it would meet his discarded wrapper from yesterday. 

“You said ‘The Steven,’ and that would mean that there’s only one of me.” Steven explained. “That isn’t true. There are probably tons of kids named Steven in the world.” 

Peridot’s face stiffened as Steven went on. 

“So it’s just Steven, okay?” 

Nodding, Peridot looked away for a moment. She mumbled something incoherent and looked back at the hybrid. “That doesn’t make much sense,” she commented. “But, since we’re…” the green gem hesitated, thinking back on what he had said earlier about the Crystal Gems not caring about him anymore, “friends now…” 

Steven’s curiosity began to bloom like one of his mother’s own.

“I guess I’ll try.” 

A soft smile appeared on Steven’s face as he hopped off the rock, hitting the floor rather gently like a slip of printer paper. 

Peridot, feeling at ease that the gem wasn’t kidnapped in his slumber, pointed one of her yellow robotic fingers towards whatever mass of rocks in the distance. “Okay, T- Steven. Ya’ ready to go?” 

“Peridot, what do you do on Homeworld?” 

The duo was currently taking a relaxing stroll through the bends of the Kindergarten. Their conversations had revolved around whatever came to mind, the Earth, other gems, Cookie Cat, what Homeworld authorities would do upon finding out about the two of them; just whatever. 

“Not really anything you’d be interested in.” 

Steven, enthusiastically skipping along, stopped flat to look the taller gem in the eyes. “I’m asking, am I not?”

Peridot sighed, rolling her dark olive eyes. She shook her head, looking down at Steven, “I didn’t really get to do much myself, being a peridot.” 

Their tread across the Kindergarten had taken a full stop by now, leaving the two of them surrounded by a thick, eerie silence, similar to that of the van after Pearl had yelled at Greg. 

“All I got to do in my days of working was look over other gems’ works. Had to make sure they weren’t fooling around on the job.” 

Steven’s mouth made an understanding “o” shape and he nodded, bearing some questions and no fear to ask them. “If you weren’t happy doing your job, why didn’t you just do something else?” 

Peridot’s face grew dark. It was a look Steven didn’t expect to see on his friend, and one he honestly didn’t like very much. 

“You can’t do that,” Peridot simply answered, hands falling to her sides. “It’s not how it works.”

Still not satisfied with the answer he was given, Steven raised his eyebrow and asked, “why?”

“All gems are made for carrying out certain tasks, and I was made to oversee other gems’ work. It’s an important job, I know, but not what I wanted to do. But, if I were to go against what I was made for, there would be serious repercussions. I would be seen as rebellious and would be replaced, or worse…

The green gem’s breath stiffened, her eyes wide with utmost terror and her teeth snapped together door hinge style. She was looking up at something that Steven couldn’t see. Every once in a while, she let out a small twitch, then another, and so on.

It took a bit of time, but Peridot slowly regained composure and glanced down at Steven, who bore an uneasy look, holding his own hands together near his chest.

“Can we talk about something else, now?” Peridot’s words were unusually soft and delicate like a baby chick, and the way she spoke it was absurdly calm for the shock she was previously in. 

Steven couldn’t believe it had already been almost two days since he ran away from home. He couldn’t believe that the Gems hadn’t found him already, and he couldn’t believe that he had befriended a Homeworld gem. There was a whole lot that he couldn’t believe, and a whole lot that, if he was to tell his younger self, would never believe for a second. Like the fact that he was laying in one of the floor level gem holes, eating a protein bar for dinner with a sandwich bag of water on the side. 

He had to say, it wasn’t the greatest meal he had ever eaten, but it wasn’t the worst. Does it even count as a meal? Steven thought, tucking yet another wrapper into his bag. 

A noise from outside swept away Steven’s thoughts. On instinct, he poked his head out and was greeted with the face of his former enemy. 

“Oh, hi, Peridot!” 

The green gem wore an (almost) smile as she stood, rocking side to side as if she couldn’t wait to say something. 

“Wh-what’s up?” 

Peridot took a step back. She didn’t want to be too pushy with her friend, resulting in him getting hurt, or scaring him off. “Steven, I don’t mean to be pushy,” she started, “but I don’t think that it’s very safe for you to sleep out here.” 

“Huh?” 

Steven raised his eyebrows at Peridot’s words.

“Where will I sleep, then?” 

Peridot’s eyes flicked to her metal elevator, sitting cold, and ready to use. “In my hideout!” She waved her robotic arm in its direction, jumping away from the hole’s entrance to allow Steven to pass through. 

Steven, more than confused and suspicious at this point, crawled out of the gem hole with a sunken in and concerned and uneasy facial gesture, his mouth twitching. 

What’s going on? Steven tried to keep himself from panicking while he approached the elevator, Peridot on his tail. What does she know? Why is she being so fidgety? 

STOMP 

Peridot stepped down hard on the platform. That was Steven’s sign to move with haste, lest he be left with whatever danger his friend was concerned with.

He dashed forward, unintentionally letting out a soft grunt as his knees gave in and he lay crumpled on the metal ground. 

“Oh my STARS! Steven, are you okay?” 

Hovering fingers attached themselves to the hybrid, attempting to repose him upright. It became uncomfortable when they started tugging at him, resulting in a floating Steven Universe. 

Shaking his friend’s fingers away, Steven began a hysterical giggling fit. “Peridot, I’m fine! I’m alright, I swear!” The yellow limb enhancements were still latched onto the teen with seemingly no intention of letting go. They were tight, but not uncomfortably so. It could be compared to a seatbelt more than anything. 

The elevator slowed to a stop. Very little early morning light could reach the underground chamber, leaving darkness to blanket over the limited space and its round corners. Surprisingly, Steven felt safe and at home underground. 

Slowly, he was lowered to the ground, and the sound of his feet hitting the dry floor made a really cool echoing sound. He waited for Peridot to enter the space while he stamped the dirt with his feet. 

Soon, his friend did enter, and she made sure that the elevator door was closed behind her. The moment Steven saw Peridot, he blurted out on instinct, and out of fear for his friend, “what happened?” 

Peridot honestly didn’t know what pushed her to do it. She slowly approached the hybrid, still filling through her thoughts on how to reply to him. Her hand fell down on his wild mane of fluffy brown hair. In reply, his eyes shut and formed a wholesome, jovial, and quite chubby leer. The Homeworld soldier found her face beginning to mirror his before she caught herself, forcefully morphing her own face back into a sour, still glower. 

“It was just a hunch, the- I mean, Steven.”  

She removed her hand from his scalp and began walking up the platform in the middle of the room, where her old gem technology stood. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Steven cheerfully following her, an eagerness in his eyes that she had only seen when they had first met about two months ago, in this exact spot.

Two months ago, she was still on her Homeworld, working for the empire. Peridot couldn’t help but wonder what they would think of her now, a peridot mingling with a HYBRID? She too found it hard to believe that Steven was a gem and a human at the same time. All her life, she had only heard about it being unheard of! 

Peridot looked down peacefully at her “ best friend,” as Steven called it. 

True friends weren’t supposed to let others hurt each other. And Peridot swore that she wouldn’t let the Crystal Clods hurt him anymore. For they were friends, and friends were supposed to stand together through anything, right? 

Steven was sitting next to Peridot as she searched through her files and gem-emails (he truly didn’t understand why they weren’t just called emails, ) for anything she could nitpick, because that is what bored people do. The hybrid wasn’t focused on anything his friend was doing, though, as he was occupied with his own screen, and something he had been meaning to do for a while. 

“ What are quirks,” he mouthed the words while typing with unexpected dexterity. 

What came up was quite a wonder to Steven, seeing as he thought that he was the only human with powers on the Earth. 

A Quirk is a superhuman ability that a person can possess. 

Steven’s breath slowed for a moment, seeing as he had never heard any mentions of a quirk before the villain’s attack on Beach City, who had said that he possessed an alarmingly powerful quirk, and needed to be kept away from the world. Then, he proceeded to have a go at kidnapping Steven. Though the blue villain had stated otherwise, Steven was fairly certain that his powers did not stem from some quirk, but from his alien heritage. 

Still, the idea of superpowered humans intrigued Steven, and he was set on learning more. He deleted the text in the search bar and began to type again. 

What cool quirks exist? He accidentally misspelled the words a few times with his skittish hands, and needed to retype it a few times to get a hang of it.

The results were many articles littered with what Steven assumed to be celebrities, and many creative names for superpowers. In Steven’s humble opinion, naming the superpowers was the best part of even having any; besides, of course, getting to use the powers.

Steven clicked onto the first article on the page, titled “ Top Ten Pro Hero Quirks.” Number ten was a rabbit woman who was bulky and tall, comparable to Garnet. Apparently, her name was Mirko. Her quirk seemed to have something to do with rabbits, which Steven found really cute. He smiled while scrolling through the information on the woman, and stopped when he saw the words pro hero. 

“Professional hero?” Steven thought, raising his eyebrow. “ You can be a hero professionally?” 

He bookmarked the tab for later, closing out of his browser and readying himself to learn more.

The browser took some time to show results, the internet connection being rather spotty, as he was stationed underground in an abandoned gem site, and Steven was surprised that his page even loaded, and didn’t drag him towards jumping dinosaurs. 

Pro heroes are people who take heroics as their profession, using their quirks to protect civilization from villains. This art, like many, requires a license.

Steven looked up for a moment at Peridot, who was soundly exploring her files. For a moment, he contemplated asking her about pro heroes, before concluding that she was an out of planet rock-demon-lady, and would have very limited knowledge (if any,) on the matter. His eyes returned to the screen. 

He swiped back on his browser until the site from earlier began to load. It was taking a long while, and so he had a moment to think. 

“People who are licensed for hero work?” It certainly didn’t make much sense. “ Why would you need a license to be a good person?” There were several reasons that he did not consider, and not out of close-mindedness, but purely of ignorance. 

The page he was itching to read was fully loaded, and ready to use. This was quite a joy to him, as he hadn’t learned very much about the pro hero called Mirko, and was very eager to learn more. 

The article began to talk about Mirko's quirk, and how she has saved civilians with its power. Apparently, her quirk was called "Rabbit," and it gave her the ability of a rabbit, along with standard human abilities. Below, the article linked another older article, titled in a very eye-catching and flashy manner. Steven figured that he would check it out after he finished reading the article he was preoccupied with.  

In what felt like no time at all, Steven had completely finished the section on Mirko. He felt ready to read whatever else was left of the article before calling it a night. But, his body was saying otherwise. His eyelids were fighting to stay open at this point. 

After realizing that it was well after eleven, Steven agreed with himself, turning to Peridot, who was still unconcernedly scrolling along, just as he had been a moment before. He tapped her shoulder, and she flinched, her blonde hair poofing up in a cartoonish manner. 

She noticed him, and a look of pure relief followed. "Steven." 

"Yes, that's my name," Steven's voice was muffled by his own yawning. He wiped a spare tear from his cheek with a very obviously tired pout.

"Goodnight, Peridot," Steven tried to weave his words into a kinder sounding coo, but it just resulted in more yawning. Peridot nodded in approval, prompting Steven to curl up beside her, mirroring a kitten near its mother. It didn’t take very long for him to succumb to his need for sleep. 

Chapter Text

About a day and a half earlier,

Patience was something Amethyst wasn't skilled at, even if she didn't want to admit it. Currently, she was having trouble sitting still on the couch, glaring intensely at the front door. “Now, I know how Steven feels when he’s waiting for us to come home- on a smaller scale.” 

A bright glow erupts from the warp in front of the door to her room. Amethyst now had something else to think about, other than Steven’s sudden absence.

There stood Pearl, who wore a distinct look of fatigue and slight emotional distress. Usually, she was standing tall and sharp, with either a dangerous weapon needing to be locked away, or an accomplished grin accompanied by some excited compliments towards herself and the team. Amethyst grew used to this over many long, boresome weeks. After the incident with Sardonyx, the lives of the entire Crystal Gem team had become the same thing stuck on repeat- nobody bothering to say hello to each other, everyone becoming closed off, and not any progress being made on finding Malachite or Peridot. 

Amethyst reposed herself on the couch once again, groaning lightly and peering at her visitor. “Hey, P!” 

Pearl simply nodded and glanced around the room. “Is Steven off with his dad?” She certainly hoped so. 

“I dunno,” Amethyst grunted, rolling her eyes and shuffling once again, "I haven't seen him since yesterday."

Try as she might, Pearl's mind wandered in the wrong direction almost instantly. "Well, why don't you go look instead of sitting there all day? " 

Though she had no faith in it working, she didn't want to further stress Pearl, so Amethyst just agreed. 

Amethyst got up, walking to the door while moving her long lavender hair out of her eyes. She was oddly compliant, usually barking at her teammate whenever asked to carry out some mildly inconvenient task. Pearl didn't question this, seeing it as an attempt at avoiding any further conflict. 

The door slammed behind Amethyst, leaving just Pearl in the dulled house, who figured that she would do something with her time, rather than just laying around like a doll when the kids aren't home.

She made her way up the stairs to Steven's room, already sensing that something was amiss. Still, she carried on, picking some loose toys from the ground beside where she was standing. "Oh, Steven," it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise to her, as the teenager often made an unruly mess with his stuffed animals, but Pearl couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong. 

It was mostly due to the fact that his two favorite stuffed animals were missing, and, "oh my stars, Steven," the picture of himself, the team, and his father was left fragmented on the floor. Sure, the picture itself only held sentimental value, but what was stored behind the image was arguably more. It was money. 

Pearl's heart skipped a beat as she recalled the horrific events of yesterday's villain attack. She couldn't imagine how traumatized Steven must've been after the villain nearly killed him, trying to kidnap him and drain his "quirk," which was apparently the human term for superpowers.

She couldn't ignore the possibility of another villain attack, as they had become quite frequent in the past three months. Pearl wasn't completely certain that was the case, but her suspicions would lock in more thoroughly if Amethyst came back with negative results.

The light blue gem felt her breath being stolen from her, replaced with panicked thoughts and the need to just burst into sobs.  

Noise from downstairs was a temporary distraction from her onset despair, and Pearl was very grateful, as she regained composure almost instantly for the sake of not stressing out her teammate. She began down the wooden stairs, trying to convince herself that Steven was safe behind Amethyst, and that he had just gotten carried away in his human activities, therefore forgetting to check with his team. 

Not very often does fortune come to a seeker, though, as Amethyst came through the door shaking her head empty handed, and Pearl could feel the panicked tears rushing down her rock face. Through sobs, she cried, “his money, all gone! A few valuables too!” 

Amethyst felt sick.

Upon further inspection of the house, there were some signs of roughhousing, including cabinets being randomly open, the cupboards being completely barren, “like the Kindergarten,” Steven’s bedsheets being ruffled about, (it could’ve just been like that before, Amethyst couldn’t tell,) and, like Pearl had earlier mentioned, the shattered glass of Steven’s photo. She didn’t know why she hadn’t realized earlier. 

After sickness, she felt pure, unbridled rage. She stepped outside, feeling the all too familiar fire pushing up her throat, leaving an unwanted aftertaste. Amethyst was expecting a pained, affronted scream to accompany a vicious blazing gale of purple, but what came out was much more undesirable. Playful flickering flames that were merely teasing the gem poured from her mouth and back again. Sparks littered the brittle wood and caused warning burns on the creases. 

The front door swung roughly open, bouncing on its hinges slightly as Pearl stepped into the outside. She surveyed the area before laying eyes on the utter chaos that Amethyst had unleashed. Amethyst, unnaturally calm, looked up from her position on the balcony. “Eh, it was just baggage,” she sneered. The earthborn gem used one of her white boots to stomp out the remaining embers. “And, just a preview of what I’ll do when we find the villain that took our Steven.” Her tone wasn’t as playful as she was known to be. 

“ If we find the villain.” 

“We will, if we get started right now!”

Nothing more had to be said, the two of them walking hastily back into the house, making sure to close the door behind them. They didn’t want any more villains trespassing. (Like a closed door would stop any serious crook.) The two of them tried to gather any more evidence in the vicinity before setting off on their trek, but little could be found. It was as if whatever villain that Steven had unfortunately encountered was purposefully hiding away the evidence, but was also in a hurry.

“Should we go get Garnet before we leave?” Amethyst cautiously asked, approaching the warp pad in the corner of the main room. 

Pearl shook her head, motioning towards the front door. “No, that will take too much time! For all we know, the villain could be right in Beach City right now, and we could be missing them!” In reality, the two of them both knew why Pearl didn’t want to go retrieve the stoic Garnet. 

Pearl was right, though, with the fact that there wasn’t time for messing around. If they wanted to find Steven, they had to get going right away. After all, he was a vulnerable and valuable child, more so than your average twelve year old; time was money, and they were in poverty. 

Chapter Text

“... Steven? Are you done with your human recharge cycle yet?”

Steven Universe stirred, yawning and tightly shutting his eyes due to the otherwise obsolete light coming from his companion’s finger screen. He groaned, instinctively putting his hands to his face. 

“...Steven?” 

“Whaaaat,” he whined, rolling once again.

 “ Waking up usually isn’t this hard,” Steven noted. “ Maybe it’s because I’m sleeping on a slate shaft?” It was much more comfortable than a stone hole, barely big enough to fit himself in. That didn’t say very much about his current living situation, though. 

“Come on, Steven, you can’t just stay here all day!” 

He agreed, remembering what exactly he was planning on doing. In just a short few seconds, he sat up, eyes slowly adjusting to the beaming sunlight that was playfully peeking through the door crack. “Right, I’ve got some pro heroes to learn about!” Images formed of Mirko and her bunny glory as he spoke. 

Now that Steven’s eyes were adjusted, he could clearly see Peridot’s confused pout. “ Of course,” Steven remembered thinking that Peridot wouldn’t know about the quirky humans, and he hadn’t even told her about the villain from, " when was it again? Three, four days ago? It doesn't matter." 

Steven didn't wish to leave his friend hanging, so he started to explain, "oh! Pro heroes are apparently peop- humans with these things called quirks! They use these things to help other people from villains, like the one that attacked m-" 

The boy could see a distinct change in Peridot's face as soon as he uttered those cheery words. “What?” 

He gulped, sweat-dropping and trying to think of a proper response as Peridot stared intensely into his eyes. “My friend! Yeah, my friend was attacked by a villain in another city last week, and a pro hero showed up. The villain got beaten up and taken to jail!” Steven was still working on his lying. 

Peridot visibly relaxed, obviously relieved that her friend wasn’t hurt, and gestured for Steven to continue. 

“Yesterday I learned about this pro named Mirko. Her quirk is called Rabbit. It lets her jump really high and kick the bad guys!” Steven pumped his fists in the air for emphasis. 

“I want to learn more about the pros,” Steven sincerely said, gazing up at the metal ceiling, the only thing keeping them from being trapped in a cave-in. “They’re really cool!” 

“Humans with powers, how strange,” softly remarked Peridot, watching Steven unlock his phone and continue scrolling through an article about superpowered humans. “They’re catching up.” 

The next pro hero on the list was Mt. Lady, a woman with the ability to turn herself into a giant. A photo of her standing in her hometown, and gosh she was huge. “A giant woman!” He compared her gigantic height to that of Alexandrite, possibly even larger. Steven scrolled farther, eyes widening at the fact that she had just made her debut not too long ago, and had already saved a multitude of people. Apparently, her quirk was best for taking out small bad guys and crooks on the street, (as long as the street wasn’t too narrow, of course.)

Next up on the list was Hawks, another young hero. His quirk was called Fierce Wings, and it allowed him to not only fly, but manipulate the feathers, and make them go in any direction he chose. A few pictures of him fighting villains were provided. 

Steven kept scrolling, and scrolling, occasionally stopping to take in all of his observations about the listed heroes, even learning about the woman on his dollar bills, who was named Star and Stripe. Before he knew it, he was at the very last addition to the list; a comically buff looking man apparently named All Might, who had saved millions of lives in his many decades of hero work.

Little was known about the global Number One Hero, not even the name of his quirk was public. The article theorized that his quirk had something to do with enhanced stamina, super speed, and superhuman strength; a rarity in the world he lived in. 

“ For someone so famous,” Steven thought, “ there’s really not much about him here.” 

“ It’s probably for a good reason.” Steven continued reading about the very mysterious pro hero, “ there’s people out there who will take advantage of anything they can get to.” He stopped to look at a photo of All Might saving children from a burning building. 

He couldn’t help but stare in awe while watching one of the linked TubeTube videos of All Might making his debut, saving many hundreds of civilians from a villain attack. The video was in low quality, likely being recorded from a news report on TV, but Steven could care less about the quality. All he could focus on was the muscled hero smiling widely while lifting people from the rubble and ash on the floor. 

Steven’s face began to mirror this brave smile as the video came to a close, except his rendition was much more cheeky. He very obviously still had some baby fat to grow out of. 

“ He was so brave for jumping into that attack and saving those people! I wish I could do that all the time too,” Steven thought, starting to recall the Homeworld invasion from three weeks ago, where he jumped in front of the beam that would’ve definitely killed him if his shield hadn’t formed. 

“I-” 

Steven held his hand up, jumping in front of the beam.

 “I’m a Crystal Gem too!”

The laser made hard contact with a rose colored shield that had instantaneously formed on the beach.

"Peridot! Check this ouuut!" Steven chirped, waving his phone above his head wildly. Once his friend turned her head to look, Steven restarted the video, giggling wildly. "He's so cooool!" The boy raved.

Peridot watched intensely as the human carried several others on his back, leaping surprisingly gracefully into the air while keeping a serene, decisive smile.

" If I didn't know better, I would've reported this guy to the Homeworld authorities already."

Steven began skipping around the room, trying to replicate the hero's moves. His experimentation was not going as planned, but Peridot had to admit, it was an adorable sight; him punching invisible villains, jumping energetically around. Even him tripping over some loose rubble and landing on his face was rather cute.

"Be careful, Steven!” Peridot called out, continuing to type her reports while still keeping her eyes on the energetic teenager. 

Not caring to heed her warning, Steven carried on with roleplaying as his new favorite hero. He nearly fell again, but paid no mind to it as he had the time of his life. A few more minutes of sprinting, jumping, protecting fake civilians, and even his half-gem endurance was running thin. He collapsed near another pile of rubble off in the corner of the room, still giggling under heavy breathing. 

“Steven!”

“I’m okay, just tired,” he quickly replied, catching his breath. He got back up slowly, a sincere smile still glued to his face. 

“Can we go outside, though, Peridot?”

_______

“...he’s awesome! He’s always putting others before himself and saving people from bad guys!”

“Whoa, chill, relax, Steven! You haven’t even known about this guy for a day, and yet you’re already obsessed with him!” Peridot tried to calm the boy, but failed miserably. 

“I can’t help it! He’s the best hero ever! When we were walking outside, I read another article about how he saved a kitten from a burning building!” Steven cheered. 

For the past twenty minutes, Steven had been ranting about his new idol, All Might. Peridot wouldn’t say that she was tired of it, but she was tired of it. 

“He saves people with a big smile on his face, and he always says ‘I am here’ whenever he magically shows up at a villain attack,” Steven put on a bigger smile, (if that was even possible at this point) and started jumping up and down. 

Peridot put on a sour glower that her colleagues on Homeworld were quite familiar with. “Is that how he crushes his enemies?” 

Steven shook his head. “He doesn’t crush them, Peri! That’s really mean!” 

He turned back to his friend, who still bore an acerbic look as the two of them walked. “But if you’re asking what his quirk is, I don’t know the name,” Steven paused, “but it does make him super strong!” He pumped his fists into the air for emphasis. “And I’m going to be just like him when I grow up!”

Peridot’s face grew into an amused smirk. “Oh really?” 

“Heck yeah!” 

Steven wasn’t really sure how, because the only one he had around to protect was Peridot, but perhaps they could move somewhere else. “Maybe somewhere close to All Might!” There were a few problems with that idea, though. “ Wait, where does he live, anyway?” It would be rude to try and search his exact address, but if Steven knew the general area, like the state…

Where does All Might live? He typed into his phone, not paying attention to his surroundings. 

All Might lives in Tokyo, Japan. His exact address is unknown. Don’t go looking for it, you fanboy!

Steven giggled at the last sentence, another one of his rambunctious ideas beginning to form in his head. “ Could we live there? Or, at least, somewhere close?” He thought, almost tripping on a small cavity in the ground. “Where would we live? In a house? On the streets? Eh, we’ll find out later.” 

“Peri, can I ask you something?” 

Peridot stopped walking again with a rather exhausted mug. Her lips were pressed together tightly, and her eyebrows were dipped down. “If you’re going to ask if you look like that hero of yours,” she paused, “no, you look nothing like him.”

“I- yes I do!” Putting on a squished grin, Steven pushed his smile upwards as far as it could go. Though his cheeks hurt, he kept this up for several seconds before it fell, drooped, and his face returned to normal with the exception of bright redness in his cheeks.

“That wasn’t even what I was going to say, anyway! I was going to ask if we could go live in another country, like Japan? It doesn’t have to be permanently, it can be for just a little while, and we can take a warp back here! It can be like a-” he gasped, shaking his fists back and forth. “It can be a road trip! And we can meet All Might! It’ll be so much fun!” 

“I don’t know, Steven, this doesn’t seem like a very good idea.”

Steven’s eyes grew wide with dubiety. Possibly meeting many pro heroes didn’t seem like a bad idea, did it? He could help many people on the streets, and he and Peridot would be much farther away from the Gems. The two of them could become heroes on the street, saving people from dangerous villains and corrupted gems. They could start a new rebel gem team named- he wasn’t quite sure of that part yet. 

“But, we could meet the pro heroes, and, uh, we would be farther away from the gems in a place that they wouldn’t expect, and we could form a new team, separate from the Crystal Gems. We could save people from dangerous villains!” 

“I don’t think you should go. It could backfire really badly,” Peridot argued.

Steven shook his head. “We have my shield, and we can be really careful! If anything does happen, we can use our gem powers to fight the threat off,” he pleaded. “Please. I won’t go if you aren’t coming with me!”

Though Steven may not have seen any harm in a little vacation, Peridot’s mind kept wandering back to what could go wrong. She knew something that he didn’t. She knew what awful things Homeworld had in store, and she didn’t want anything to go off while they were off relaxing. She had no time for relaxation, as she hadn’t earned it. Peridot wanted to protect Steven, and if the two of them were on some vacation on the other side of the god forsaken planet, it could make protecting the hybrid more difficult than it should be. If anything happened to her only friend, she wouldn’t forgive herself. 

“I think you might need to take a little bit of time to decide whether or not you actually want to go.” Honestly, Peridot needed to take a little bit of time to decide as well. She disliked not being prepared for everything, and Steven’s constant spontaneousness was the only consistent thing about him. 

“Alright…” 

“I guess that’s fair. She’s just trying to make sure I know what I’m doing. She’s trying to keep me safe.”

_________

The sunsets in the Kindergarten were surprisingly beautiful, painted with the vibrant colors of the many gems that used to live there. Steven was standing next to Peridot, hand in her metal ones, staring peacefully at the forever winding horizon, twisted with the palette of a rainbow quartz’s wide eyes. At this time of day, the clouds and the mist that usually coated the Kindergarten’s every nook and cranny had dissipated. 

“It is really pretty,” Steven commented, glancing up at Peridot. She nodded in agreement, giving a small leer, light and airy like whipped cream. 

“I have to admit,” Peridot started, flicking her head in the direction of the clear sky. “The earth is quite a wonder. I can somewhat see why those clods like it here.” 

Steven beamed, the light constellations on his cheeks brightening by just a smidgen. They flickered moderately, returning to their previous state of being barely noticeable as his smile softened. “ I guess it is pretty great here,” he began to look back on his disagreement from earlier in the day. “Peri was right, too. If we were to leave back then, we would’ve missed out on this pretty sunset.”

A sharp noise cut off Steven’s positive thoughts. His neck snapped in the direction of Peridot, who shared the same dreadful look of trepidation and terror, mouth hanging open like a schoolbag. “Wha- what was that?” Steven, suddenly chary, breathed. 

The stone cold thunderstruck look on Peridot’s face said it all. “Let’s go!” She hissed, grabbing Steven by the wrist and taking a sharp route in the direction of the gem holes. “We need to get up high!” 

She used her detachable fingers to levitate Steven into the air so that he was within an arm’s length of the highest hole in the area. He quickly scampered inside, packing himself tightly to the hard back wall. Just a second later came Peridot, who huddled closely to the hybrid. Steven clung to his friend’s arm protectively as she blocked off the entrance using her own body.

“But seriously, what was that?” Steven softly whispered, hoping for the opposite of a dead end answer.

Peridot put one of her floating fingers to his mouth before saying, “a warp pad. Probably those Crystal Clods. ”

She honestly wished that she had listened to Steven’s recommendation earlier today. If the two of them had left for that human hideout, they wouldn’t be in this uncomfortable situation. Peridot felt like it was her fault for not taking one of Steven’s ideas into consideration. Now, the Crystal Gems would steal her only friend. They would hurt him. The Crystal Gems would hurt him for leaving until he couldn’t take it anymore. A true friend wouldn’t let anyone do such a thing. She wouldn’t let anyone, especially the Crystal Clods do such a thing. 

“They won’t hurt you.” 

“I won’t let them hurt you.”

Chapter Text

Amethyst sincerely hoped that this entire thing was just a sick joke. Sure, she, Pearl and Garnet would be upset at Steven, but he would be safe, and that would be the only thing that mattered. The trail of cookie crumbs was leading in an unwanted direction, though, and Amethyst wasn’t sure anymore if she could consider it a joke. Because it wasn’t funny. He had been missing for upwards of three days by now, and there were no leads except for his tattered bedroom. Even then, it was usually messy, but even more so now, as the entire team had been preoccupied with looking for him, and hadn’t been able to take the time to clean his room. The team hadn’t had time for much of anything as they scoured the land for any sign of Steven.

His disappearance was a serious threat to the well being of the Crystal Gem team, and Amethyst was well aware of this. During the past month, Steven had served as a sort of duct tape, preventing everyone from snapping and falling apart more than they already had. Some of the stick had resonated with the team, but it was quickly fading in its source’s absence. Chaos would ensue if Steven did not return home quickly. 

She trudged through the halls of her previous home, making sure to look closely at every little detail. Though it seemed unlikely that Steven was here, Amethyst had to be absolutely sure that he wasn’t before she left. Amethyst didn’t feel like accidentally leaving him with a horrible villain in a barren land, far away from any civilization. She knew he wouldn’t last. 

“Steven!” She called out, hearing her raspy voice echo through the nothingness that was her childhood home. There was no reply, and yet, she felt the need to try again. He could be here, after all. 

“Steven, buddy! I’m here to get you out of here, away from the villains!” Amethyst shouted. She hated the idea of it, but there was a possibility of Peridot, or maybe one of the other Homeworld gems, holding him hostage. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of what could be. 

“A gem could be holding him here, trying to reactivate this place.” 

Steven did have healing powers, after all, and very high-scale ones, at that. They were inconsistent, but they seemed to work best when he was emotionally disturbed in some way.

Amethyst shuddered, pacing around and stopping every few seconds to listen for any outside noises. Soon enough, she spotted the elevator that led down to Peridot’s base. Not sure if it was still usable or not, she cautiously approached the metal shaft, putting her foot down firmly on it. The construction did anything but move, and it seemed to be locked tightly into place. She listened intently for a moment, but there was nothing to be heard except for the Kindergarten’s usual: some ambient noise, and perhaps the wind blowing on special occasions. Nobody seemed to be here. The place was long abandoned. 

She began to walk back to her starting point, kicking a stone as she passed it by. “If this is a joke, Steven,” Amethyst began, hissing softly, “I’ll kick your butt.”

The gem made her way to the warp pad, where she stood before a bright light enveloped her. She was gone, and the air stilled again.

_______

Out came Peridot through the hole; then came Steven, whose face nearly collided with the floor as he landed. 

“I’m pretty sure she’s gone,” remarked Steven, a stack of relief piling in his stomach. 

“I should’ve listened,” Peridot admitted, shamefully looking down at the ground below. “I should’ve listened to your recommendation earlier. She wouldn’t have been on to us if I did.” 

“No, it’s not your fault! It was on me, it was all me,” Steven stopped for a second, dazing off into nowhere. “It’s always me.” It wasn’t, but his mind was warped from years of hapless happenings. 

“This isn’t getting us anywhere. Steven, go get your stuff and get to the warp.”

Steven’s face lit up and the constellations on his cheeks bursted with a small pink light. He began filing through his bag, making sure that everything was in its place. It was confirmed after a moment, and Steven looked up with a bright beaming grin. 

“Got it, let’s go to Japan, Peridot!” 

The two approached the warp pad slowly, Peridot holding her robotic arm in one hand. She charged the laser, readying it to fire. In her mind, you could never be too careful, especially after an incident. A rock nearby fell from its previously stationary position on one of the holes, causing Peridot to flinch, setting off the laser in a hazy burst of green shockwaves. 

“Peri, relax! It’s just a silly rock that fell,” Steven reassured his friend, holding up said rock and examining it closely. It didn’t seem to be a gemstone, just a normal rock that you could find almost anywhere. The rock wasn’t dangerous, it was just a rock.

Peridot turned back to Steven with an unreadable expression before just forgetting it and jumping onto the rocky platform the warp pad was located on. With a struggle, seeing as he didn’t have the enhanced jumping ability that full gems possessed, Steven followed clumsily, and accidentally knocked into his friend.

“Sorry! And, before we go, do you know if there’s any warp pads in that area so that we can actually get to Japan?”

Peridot thought for a moment, opening one of her finger screens and letting it merrily hover as she stared. She looked up, raising one of her eyebrows. “What region in Japan?”

Steven struggled to form the words, but eventually formed what he thought of as proper, “the region that is where I want to go is called Tokyo.”

The green gem began typing, before pausing to look at more information that was displayed. She took a second to soak it in before turning back to the still panting, tired Steven. 

“In a nearby forest, yes. But, not in the human city itself. It would be a few hours away, actually.”

Steven nodded. “That’s good enough, as long as it’s nearby!” He in all honesty couldn’t wait.

“There’s a problem with that, though. Actually, there are several issues.”

Blinking curiously, Steven cocked his head to the side like a puppy. He had already reassured her that if they were to go, the pro heroes wouldn’t let any villains get them, but maybe the coaxing didn’t work? Maybe she was scared that the crusty Crystal Gems or some villains would hurt the two of them. But, the heroes would be there to put a stop to it, Steven knew, because they went through all the effort to get a license just for this work! They had to care at least a little bit, right?

He sat next to the crystally warp pad, waiting for an explanation and a chance to speak his mind about the situation.

“Excuse my anxiety,” thought Peridot as she gathered her words, trying to find the best possible word for everything that she was trying to convey.

 “First off, what if we need to get to the warp in a hurry? According to my research, the forest is approximately twenty-five walking minutes on average away from the closest human town. If there ever was an emergency, which I highly suspect will be often, considering the crime rates in the area, we would need to hurry back!

“Second, where would we live? In the forest with the Earth trees and the green things on the ground… Not saying that these living conditions are any better,” she held up her hand to the forever stretching canyon that was the Kindergarten. “But, onto my third point: we could be hunted by humans! This area that you are recommending is a highly populated area, and is ridden with crime! A human could steal you away and use you as a test subject for an experiment!”

Steven was about to argue before Peridot began speaking again, “I’m sorry, Steven, but absolutely not. This is not happening.”

An unreadable expression fell across Steven’s face before he stood and stepped firmly on the warp pad in one swift motion. He felt the warm light overtake him, and the warp stream’s sharp noise drowned out Peridot’s concerned screams. 

__________

A few stray tears fell down Steven’s face as he landed in what seemed to be an empty forest. It looked relatively cozy, and Steven didn’t think that he would have any problems adjusting. The forest would probably be more easy to adjust to than stone. 

He began to run farther into the brush. His emotions wouldn’t let the sun shine, being the dark, thick and murky clouds that they were. 

Finding a small amount of solace beside a large and round tree, he sat under its outstretched limbs, accepting the hug gratefully. Peridot was another person he had caused trouble for. Now, she probably hated him, and wanted nothing to do with him. Just like how the Gems felt, and just like how everyone felt about him. All he ever did was cause trouble.

He couldn’t cry. 

He didn’t have the right to be upset. It wasn’t his place, it was the place of the people whom he had harmed. Steven didn’t deserve the Gems’ friendship. He didn’t deserve Peridot or Connie or Lion or his dad… He was undeserving of the title he held; son of Rose Quartz and (former) peacekeeper of the Crystal Gems. Steven was the annoying problem on a math quiz that nobody could ever seem to solve. 

In the distance, the sound of a warp pad going off was audible. Steven mentally cursed himself for not taking into account that Peridot knew his plans and his location. There was no use in running, as he was not too far from the warp.

“Steven!” Peridot cried out, a very shrill edge to her voice.

Steven was much too tired to run. 

He felt himself being pulled into a tight hug. This did not bother him, though, as he was quite affection-starved when he lived with the Gems. 

“I’m so so sorry. I don’t deserve you, Peri,” Steven apologized, allowing the embrace to last a little bit longer.

“Ugh, Steven, you clod!”

He was squished even harder until his tears of stress and frustration became tears of joy. The two of them began giggling brightly, the cluster of stars on their cheeks glowing slightly. Steven fell to the dirt floor, still hysterically laughing as he desperately tried to regain composure. 

“Don’t be like that!”

“Okay, okay, Peri!” 

Steven sat himself up, nearly falling again as he received a small rustle to his hair. His giggling stopped soon after. He sighed, remnants of a smile still plastered on his tanned pink face. 

Peridot didn’t seem to be mad at him, unlike what he expected. It was a surprise to him, honestly, that she wasn’t scolding him already. “She’s everything like Pearl, and nothing like her at the same time!” 

“I’m really, really sorry. I-” Steven’s mouth was covered by a metal hand, and his eyes shot open.

Peridot shook her head and spoke, “don’t be, you pebble.” 

Steven assumed that the nicknames were randomized, and out of playfulness and not meant to be taken to heart. Peridot did not see him as a pebble. At least, he hoped that he wasn’t a pebble in her eyes. 

“Are we going back?” 

“The goods outweigh the bads in this situation,” thought Peridot. “ If Steven knows what he’s talking about with these pro heroes, and they really are what they say they are,” they were professional heroes, dedicating their lives to saving people. “ Then I guess I can say that we are safe… for now. As long as we can hide in the crowds and the Gems don’t get a hold of him.”

“Actually,” Peridot started, looking down at him with a more peaceful look than before. “I’ve thought about it for a moment.” She could see the pure joy and excitement bubble over in Steven’s face at what could be. “As long as you tell me where you’re going, and you promise to stay safe with and without me,” a smile rivaling that of All Might himself began to take form like a gem who had just been released from the ground, “we can reside in one of your human towns.” 

A childish squeal of joy burst from Steven as he tightly hugged his best friend, who was practically a sister at this point in time. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou-” his words were a blur of gratitude and hyperactive hopping. 

He ran out of breath after a few moments of thanking, returning to his previous calm, yet friendly state. “Can we go into town noooow? Please?” Steven applied his dangerous trick of puppy dog eyes, the unbeatable weapon that he stored in his face. 

Peridot nodded, looking around for any sign of human civilization. Steven interrupted her with a tug on her minimalist, and somehow fancy Homeworld uniform. “Hey, I can just use my phone, I think it still has enough battery,” he whispered, swinging his backpack to his front and unzipping one of the pouches. His phone lit up, showing a new notification that left Steven frozen in his tracks. 

1 new message from Connie: Where are you? (6:57PM, unread)

Steven tried to ignore his own shaking as he distracted himself with the battery and directions to the nearest town. He swiped left on the notification while noticing that his battery was at a depressing sixteen percent. It was surprising that his phone even lasted half a week without charging, as it usually would’ve been dead by now.

Opening his phone’s home screen, Steven clicked on his web browser, many tabs filled with information about pro heroes that he hadn’t gotten to finish reading earlier in the day. He quickly bookmarked all of them and closed the tabs. His phone was running out of battery, and it tended to do so quickly. 

Not wanting to leave his dear friend hanging, he hastily typed, “ where is the nearest town?” Into the search bar. 

(location is now on): The nearest city in relation to your current location is Hosu City.

A map was shown, pinpointing the location that the two were currently standing, and showing a bright red arrow pointed towards the nearest city. Steven turned his phone screen so that Peridot could see properly. “We just have to follow the arrows, and we’ll be in the city, surrounded by humans!” 

Peridot’s face scrunched just a little bit, barely noticeable. 

“ Is she alright,” thought Steven, “ because she seems off.” 

It was a possibility that Peridot still did not trust humans or their technology, being new to the world. Steven knew that eventually, though, she’d turn around. After that, she would be perfectly fine with hanging around humans. “ Just a little time.”

“Peri?” He called out gently. In response, he received a tired and gentle gaze on his forehead. “Are you nervous about meeting new people? It’ll be fine, I swear on my mom!” 

Peridot smiled at his sudden confidence. Steven seemed to know what he was talking about, and she had to take his words into account, unlike what she used to do. He was human, and sure, was raised by gems, but grew up in a community filled with humans. The boy knew what he was talking about, and Peridot wasn’t about to risk his life again by not listening to his seemingly well-educated recommendations. He was her only friend, and she was not about to let him go because of some easily avoidable mistake.

“It’s nothing, let’s go, Pebble.” 

With that, Steven began looking down at his phone, using the many landmarks on his digital map to navigate as he walked, Peridot following close behind. The program estimated that it would take around twenty minutes to get to Hosu. This was not at all a problem for the two, as they were not in a rush and had nothing to do but get there. On the inside, Steven wondered if his battery would last long enough to reach the unfamiliar town. Hopefully it would.

________

“Peri! We’re going to be here in like a minute or so! Aren’t you excited?” Steven squealed, now seeing many vibrant towers and buildings in the distance. 

The green gem was on edge, but less so than usual. Steven was safe, she was safe, and they were far away from the Crystal Gems… at the moment. They had a tendency to sneak around, it was their forte; it was what they were known for on Homeworld. For all she knew, they could be following their every move, tracing every footstep with their own snoopy entitled feet. She cringed at the thought. The thought of those horrid Crystal Gems abducting poor Steven again- the thought of them hurting him and grinding away at him until he was nothing. He was a wreck when she found him, and she couldn’t bear the thought of his suffering days being elongated again and again until finally, it was his entire existence. 

“H-yeah, Steven.”

She had a lot on her mind, and Steven could tell, being the empath that he was. “Hey, don’t be scared! The humans aren’t going to hurt you! If they do, though, me and the pros ‘ll save ya!”

“Would a human want to hurt me?” Just like gems, humans were horribly afraid of things that they didn’t understand. “Would those heroes that Steven loves so much even want to protect me? I’m not human, after all.”

  They had no reason to want to protect her. She wasn’t human- she was an invader! Sent to the earth to rip it open from the inside! And now, with the Cluster hatching, it was very likely that (if they survived in the first place,) they would want to purge their planet of gems of any sort. Steven would be taken away to a dark place, scared, and alone. She would never see him again, and with the new upgrades that humans had received a few hundred years back, they would be able to shatter her. The humans would shatter her and punish Steven for her mistakes. 

Peridot continued walking while thinking of what could be, and what she didn’t want fate to throw in her path. Stuck in a misty daze, she almost couldn’t hear Steven yelling, “we’re heeeere, Peri!” 

“Oh great.”

“Steven, stay by my side,” she commanded gently, holding her hand out. The boy ran to her left side, hugging her arm defensively. “I’m not letting anything get you, Pebble.” She placed her floating fingers on his hair and ruffled it in a very sisterly fashion. That’s what she was, of course; Steven’s new sister and best friend.

Peridot could see the look of utter shock and awe plastered on the young teen’s face, very similar to the look that he wore the first time they had met. Stars gleamed in his eyes as more of the towering city came into view. 

“Peri! Peri! Peri!” Steven exclaimed, suddenly jumping around like the absolute jumping bean he was. “Look at all of this stuff! I’ve never seen a city so big!” He tugged on her arm, dragging her along with him. 

A few bystanders gave the two of them concerned looks as they continued on their daily tasks. Peridot was sure that it wasn’t because of her green chromatic palette, but because of Steven’s extremely sheltered behavior.

More and more people came into view until it actually looked like the two were standing in a city. Steven didn’t seem even slightly bothered by this, even though he had never faced a crowd this large, and Peridot was sure of it. “ How is he okay with this?” Steven was always full of surprises, and she found that out the day they met. “ Boy wonder,” she thought, gripping his forearm so that he wouldn’t wander off and get himself hurt.

Steven noticed this change along with Peridot’s sudden anxiety, and he returned to his previous calm state instantaneously, looking up at her jovially. “Is this better? Should we try to blend in so that we don’t get caught?” He whispered.

Peridot nodded, soon looking ahead at the seemingly endless city beyond them. The forest trail had cut off just a few feet behind them, where houses and businesses seemed to become more commonplace. Steven and Peridot were now in Hosu City.

Chapter Text

“Whoa! This place is so huge!” Steven chirped, trying not to speak very loudly.

True city life was something that Steven had admittedly not experienced before. Seeing as he grew up in a nearly abandoned shoreside town, his curious and more careful approach to his new surroundings was expected. 

He was glued to Peridot as the two walked, not wanting to get lost in the crowds of many hundreds of humans. Despite this, Peridot could see the awestruck look on Steven’s face as he took in the sight of humans with horns, humans with wings, and humans with feline-esque tails. 

“I wonder what those people’s quirks are!” 

Stars formed in Steven’s eyes as he and Peridot trekked past many shops and stores littered with brightly colored lights and flowers on windowsills. It was morning time, and early morning dew cast a warm glow over what could be seen of the city. 

“We seem to fit in here pretty well,” Steven remarked, looking up at his companion. It was somewhat true, besides the fact that humans generally only had one power (if any at all,) and humans weren’t immortal, and couldn’t retreat into gemstones. Humans and gems… really weren’t the same, were they? Sure, they had some similarities; their forms and posture, but that wasn’t much, was it? Humans were made for- whatever they wanted, and gems were for whatever the Diamonds wanted from them. Human beings could choose what they wanted to be, while gems who went against the Diamonds’ orders… didn’t exist for the most part. Most of them had been purged from the galaxy over the last five thousand years.

Steven was lucky enough to be raised by not Homeworld, and he had what he saw as a relatively normal childhood, with the idea that he could be himself, but he had to beware the consequences of his actions. Every action had consequences. And he knew this.

From what Peridot told him about her home world, it was a cruel place for lower class gems, cross-fusion gems, off color gems, and rebellious gems. Peridot had told him that he was very lucky to not have grown up on Homeworld. “They would not like me there,” he thought, still sticking close by as he and Peridot crossed a few more interesting shops. “Just like the villain guy.” 

The villain from last week did not seem to dislike Steven, but didn’t show any sign of particular respect towards him. Steven wished that he would’ve gotten to know the man before he went away. They could’ve been good friends, and the man could’ve possibly shown Steven around the world of quirks, since he was having bad trouble doing so herself. Some would say that he was being too pacifist, and that he should hate the man. Steven didn’t. He was much like his mother in this way; he had not a hateful bone in his body. 

“...Steven?”

“Whaaa?”

Steven looked up suddenly, meeting the eyes of Peridot, who had been shaking him furiously with her floating fingers as she spoke. 

“You looked a little- out back there.”

Raising an eyebrow, Steven very obviously couldn’t wrap his head around what his friend was saying. Of course he didn’t understand. He never understood. 

“Are you alright?” 

Steven nodded. He was alright. Just caught up in his thoughts, that was all.

“I wonder if there’s any pro heroes around here,” thought Steven out loud, a bright smile bouncing onto his face. “That would be so cool.” His talkative self was returning. It would be a long walk through the city, but they weren’t in a rush to get anywhere, and they had nowhere to be. It was just a chill walk through a large city, exactly what the two of them needed.

Sunsets were beautiful, even if they were being blocked by towering buildings and clouded over with white. Steven and Peridot were standing in a cozy alleyway, tucked away from civilization. It was in between a couple of old shops that were closed for the night, and the two saw no problem in taking refuge until morning. 

“Aww, I haven’t used my phone all day, and the battery is almost dead,” whined Steven, looking at the measly nine percent that was brightly displayed on his lock screen. “I have my charger, but no outlet.”

He was sitting pockets down on the concrete, shaking his legs every few seconds like a small child. Peridot was sitting beside him, boredly messing with her robotic limb enhancements.

Steven childishly gasped, another dangerously wide smile finding its way to his face. “Maybe if one of the pro heroes finds us here, they can let me use their electrical outlet! We can be friends, and they can let us stay in their house, and we can have parties every day after fighting crime-”

Peridot shook her head. She highly doubted that any of her brot- friend’s human heroes would be willing to let them stay. “Unlikely, Steven, but keep dreaming.” 

After finishing his little tangent, Steven turned back to his sist- best friend, with his eyes guilty and squinting. “I need to go back into the forest for a moment.”

“What?”

“It’s a human thing. And, can we hurry?”

The night was fully set in by the time they returned back to their spot in the alleyway. Clouds prevented the moon’s light from hitting their little hideout, making the eerie feeling of being watched more intense. Nobody seemed to be there but Steven and Peridot, though.

Said child was asleep on the uncomfortable concrete, to Peridot’s surprise. She had never thought that someone like him would even want to rest on such a cold, unforgiving surface. He was so malleable and soft in contrast to the concrete.

She turned her attention away from the sleeping teen, instead staring at the calm, yet intimidating darkness in front of her. Peridot couldn’t tell if she was just being irrational or… there really was something out there. If there was anything, she wasn’t going to let it hurt Steven, and that was final. 

Steven was all she had left.

Both of her informants were missing, submerged in the bottom of the Earth’s infinite ocean, trapped in a monster known as Malachite. Without them, she was lost. She was nothing without someone beside her. That was what peridots were made for; being someone’s assistant, an afterthought. “I guess I really am what I was made for,” she thought, pausing for a mere second before telling herself to get it together. A slow inch forward ensued.

Suddenly, Peridot snapped to attention, now facing the opposite direction. She came face to face with the attentive and smiling Steven Universe. Peridot let out a muffled squeak of shock, her light blonde hair poofing up in an exaggerated, cartoonish manner. It was a wonder how the teen was able to evade her senses so quickly and accurately. 

“What are you doing?”

Steven blinked before answering, a guilt free look of joy and tiredness on his face, “talking to you,” putting it bluntly. 

“Ugh, no,” Peridot rolled her eyes, “well, I mean, technically it’s true, but,” she put her floating hands to her face, turning her nose up for just a second. “I want to know what you are doing awake at such an hour! Aren’t you supposed to be performing your human recharge session at about this time?”

“Huh? What? No, I’m half gem, I can take it!” Steven said with a bite-sized yawn. 

“You’re half human as well.”

“I know! That doesn’t matter, though! I can function without seven hours of sleep!”

A small moment of silence. Not even the city was breathing, it seemed.

“Can you please just go back to sleep?” Steven shook his head. He was fully awake, and it would take an abhorrent amount of time to fall back asleep.

“I want to go with you. You’re going somewhere, aren’t you?” Asked Steven.

“I’m not going anywhere I just- ugh,” Peridot pointed to the alleyway, “thought I saw something.”

“Really?” Steven became slightly more pale. “If there is anyone here, the heroes will stop ‘em!”

The sound of footsteps and an empty, hollow chuckle echoed through the alley. 

“Right,” came the voice. Peridot held up her arm laser, beginning to charge it up and prepare it for firing. With the new added light came a better view of the man. He was covered in flowing fabric of some sort, adorned with several bandages along his arms. His eyes looked dead inside from a few feet away, like a tumblr child that hasn’t seen the light of day in ages. Maybe the man hadn’t seen the light of day in ages. 

“Stay back,” commanded Peridot, boldly standing in front of Steven. Her voice was much more fear dipped than she would’ve liked, but it did not matter, as long as Peridot made her point, and did everything in her power to protect Steven.

“ Relax! I’m not going to hurt you or your little brother there,” acidly, the man replied. “I just wanted to tell you something preeetty darn valuable! I recommend you listen.”

Steven stuck trembling to Peridot’s side, holding on to her tighter as he took in the image of a five-foot machete splattered with rust hanging on the man’s back. Peridot, in return, carried on, still staring intensely at the towering man dressed in crimson and black from head to toe. She kept her weapon on and hot, still not trusting him.

“ What do you want from us?”

The tall man did not answer; instead, he tilted his chin upwards, still coldly glaring at the shaking duo. “Half of the ‘ heroes’ in this world aren’t any good.” 

He turned and left as quickly as he arrived, leaving Peridot and Steven utterly stunned. They both shared a collective look of distraught and confusion, before loosening just slightly.

Steven let go, running to his bag of items and swiftly collecting them. He returned to his companion’s side, removing a teddy bear from his novelty backpack and tightly holding it.

“What just happened?” The thought was mutual.

Peridot, with the intent to keep her “brother” safe, grabbed his arm and began walking forward. This particular alleyway was no longer a safe and cozy hiding spot, but a hotspot for- whatever- whoever that human was.

“We can’t stay here,” she yanked on his arm. “Come on, before the human returns!” 

It happened too quickly for Steven to comprehend. He was whisked off to another alley far from the last, and the moon was peeking through a couple of muddy clouds. He and Peridot were tensely conversing, as they both knew Steven wouldn’t go back to sleep.

“Who was that? Was that, I don’t know, one of your ‘pro heroes?”’ Peridot exasperatedly asked.

Steven shook his head, not quite sure what to say. “I don’t think so, no. I’ve never heard of him. If he is one, he’s probably underground.”

The man’s looks were not what set Steven off. It was the fact that he felt- off- in a way that was too complicated for Steven to understand. What the man had said about heroes was confusing- unsettling, even. An actual pro hero wouldn’t say something like that… Right? Steven didn’t know, he was just some wannabe pro with no hopes of getting anywhere. The hero was probably trying to warn him. He shouldn’t have reacted like that, because, as he said, he had no intention of hurting him or Peridot. It was very rude of him to act in such a way towards someone who saves civilians, shuts down drug empires, and is overall a good person. The next time he saw the hero, Steven had to apologize for the inconvenience.

“He might be, actually,” muttered Steven as he stressfully squished his stuffed bear Smile HD style. He watched as Peridot eyed him with concern on how quickly he changed his mind. “He was probably just trying to look out for us. Somehow, he knew we didn’t know our way around. I think he was just trying to help us.”

Peridot seemed to stop and think for a second before getting back to him. “Did you see how he was talking to us? How he was looking at you?” she almost yelled. “He looked like he was going to eat you!” 

Because of all of the day’s madness, Steven had forgotten about one of his essentials. Peridot’s unintentional reminder set off a bomb in his head as he felt his stomach twisting around and coiling like a snake. He snatched his bag from behind him and hastily unzipped it. Out came about a handful of granola bars and one half full plastic bag of water. Steven grabbed a strawberry flavored bar and ripped it open, nearly shoving the entire thing down his throat. He sipped a few drops of water, intending to save the remaining water for later. 

Peridot sat in front of the absolute mess, almost feeling bad about staring so intensely. She reached out to touch him, but her hand refused to budge, resulting in her laying it down again. “ I have to get used to humans and their habits if I want to stay,” she reminded herself.

Steven finished his food quickly and turned back to his friend apologetically. “Sorry for freakin’ you out there, Peri,” he began scratching at the back of his neck again. An awkward giggle and he turned away.

The gem scooted forward and put her robotic hand on Steven’s head. “No, it’s fine! You shouldn’t be blaming yourself!” she said.

“I’m just not used to human habits,” explained Peridot. “It’s not you. ”

It was Steven, though. It was always him. With the villain attack, with Lapis, Jasper, Malachite, corrupted gems, the Crystal Gems themselves, even. The list went on. Another thing was added the moment he freaked out about the pro who was just trying to help him.

He needed to stop. 

He needed to hold it together for Peridot, for Lapis, for Lion (wherever he may be), for his future friends, the pro heroes he would meet in the near future, the civilians he would save, and for his mother. What would Rose Quartz think if she saw how Steven was acting now? She would be horribly disappointed in her son. Because all her son ever did was get in the way. The Gems made this very clear.

Maybe it was him being selfish. Thinking that the world revolved around him. He didn’t have any right to be as upset as he was right now. 

Steven didn’t have a right to be upset at all.

All he was doing by being upset was stressing everyone out. He needed to be quiet for once and stop making everything about him. That was the only way to make everyone happy again. If he wasn’t happy, the least he could do was keep everyone else sane. 

After all, he was the peacekeeper. It was a peacekeeper’s job to keep everything in order. If he couldn’t do that, what was he? That’s right. Nothing. Nobody. The Beach City Villain was right.

Nobody doesn’t deserve a friend.

The morning came quickly. Sunshine illuminated the tops of buildings and roads, the noise of people doing their morning routines became audible. The stars receded behind the horizon like Uncle John’s hairline, and everything seemed perfectly fine. 

Steven was in a better mood than the night before, curled up on the concrete beside Peridot, who felt it was the appropriate time to let Steven rest. He was a growing half-human child, after all, and he needed his space every once in a while. When he was ready, he would wake up. 

Readiness came quickly. 

Steven began to sit up, yawning softly despite the fact that he had just woken up. Sleep didn’t guarantee being well rested, even in a more normal circumstance. The sleep, even when not resulting in well-restedness, was a good thing though. It dampened the gross feelings from yesterday, and that was a wish come true.

Steven’s phone had died, and he was left with a cold, near useless device. When it shut down finally, he had been researching who the hero from the night before could’ve been. It was slightly terrifying when the sun refused to rise and his source of light cut off, but there was an upside to the scare; learning that Peridot had the ability to use her gemstone as a flashlight. Apparently, most gems could do so. “You learn something new each and every day,” he thought, looking up at Peridot, who stared softly back, and was obviously trying to hold back her smile. 

“Goooooood morning!” Steven chirped. His mood had improved more than even he would’ve expected. Honestly, he was happy that he wasn’t as miserable as yesterday. Puddles of shame and misery were not good to soak in for very long. Physically, everything may seem fine, but a lot more can be lurking under the surface, waiting for a small cavity, or even something as seemingly insignificant and miniscule as a crack to seep through like a disgusting acid, wearing away at the holder. 

“Steven! You’re awake!” 

“Yup!”

Peridot stood up energetically and her smile began to show, try as she might to hide it behind a cold look, it would happen, and there was nothing she could do. “Great!” she cheered, soon after covering her mouth out of embarrassment and letting the color of an unripe tomato overtake her.

“I mean,” she took just a second to collect her thoughts. “Cool,” in a much lighter and more approachable tone. 

Steven stood still, confused for a certain amount of time before returning to his previous jovial state. Deep inside though, he was trying to process why his [ sister] had tried to push back her emotions so harshly. Though he had become rusty with his time away from the Gems, he figured that he would ask her about it, as his curiosity was eating away at him. 

“Peridot,” he cautiously stuttered, unsure of how she would react. “What’s wrong?”

Peridot shook her head and smiled. “Nothing!” She very obviously didn’t want to scare Steven. She patted the teen on his head, prompting him to grin just slightly. “I’m perfectly fine.”

Steven decided to just drop it for the moment, not wanting to push her two far and ruin another perfectly stable relationship. The situation with the Gems was bad enough, but it would be harder to get away from Peridot. Steven had told her almost everything he planned on doing, and she was smart. If there was missing information in his story, she would find it. There would be no safe escape. 

Anyway, Steven had no intention of running from his best friend. Though Peridot was a gem, she was nothing like the Crystal Gems. She had never intentionally harmed him, even in her few interactions with the Gems, Peridot would always restrain herself around him. The one exception being the gem warship situation, when she tried to subdue Steven with a special gem destabilizer, similar to the one that split Garnet in two.

Steven shuddered, forcing himself back into reality.

“So, what are we up to today?” Steven asked.

 Peridot shrugged and replied in a growl, very normal for her, “I dunno, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know!”

“Same here!” 

“How about we just,” Steven paused, “walk around the town a little while, get more used to our surroundings!” 

And it was settled. 

Steven and Peridot began walking out of the alley, sunlight finally being able to grace them with their presence. They both looked a significantly lighter shade, like when a picrew artist tries to be inclusive, or draws Nessa from Pokemon.

The sun shone down on the two, now seeing what Steven had been up to in his low profile week trekking the Kindergarten. She was fully in support of his errands, gratefully welcoming their presence with open arms. She was motioning them forward.

Steven smiled back. After a second, though, he realized that he was many short-winded steps behind his companion, and he took the opportunity to begin sprinting forward in the hopes that he might catch up and come side to side with Peridot again.

“W-wait!”

“ This town has many alleyways,” thought Steven, “I wonder how they all fit!” It was probably magic or something. Unusual was usual and vice versa for Steven Universe. There was nothing he felt he couldn’t expect, especially in this whole new world full of quirks and equally quirky people. Steven couldn’t wait for the adventures to start. He couldn’t wait to explore the world he missed out on for the first thirteen years of his life. His fourteenth would be amazing because of his sudden freedom, he knew.

Forever stretching and bending this town seemed to be. It was an infinite maze full of awe-inducing people and sights to see. Steven didn’t know how anyone could ever tire of the glorious, striking beauty that was Hosu City. In all honesty, the fact that the duo didn’t quite know their direction didn’t bother him.

 At least he wasn't a prisoner to a warship full of space demons. Or being swallowed by a giant worm, being stomped half to death by some corrupted gems, or the many other magic related situations he had gotten himself wrapped up in. Being nearly drowned by Lapis wasn’t high on his list of favorite activities either. Neither was being degraded for something he couldn’t control. 

“Can’t I stop?” he asked himself silently, almost tripping over his own salmon pink sandals. “Can’t I stop being so sad all the time?”

This time, Steven succeeded in falling flat on the ground, letting out a barely audible yelp as he helped himself up, dusting off his jeans and bare knees that were dusty and ashy. 

As he looked up again, he noticed instantly something missing. Peridot. 

“Peri?” 

It was as if nobody could hear him. He was a drop in the rushing waterfall pouring down into a lake of dark, dreary water.

Steven began clumsily running, trying to avoid hitting any townspeople as he did. He wove in and out of many crowds and lines. His heart rate began picking up the pace, even though he knew for a fact that he wasn’t running quickly. The crowd began sucking him in. It was a whirlpool of cheering, laughter, chatter, and other noises. Suddenly, the town was no longer appealing. It became a murky pool of light and noise. 

To his annoyance, Steven fell flat on his face once again and repeated the process of getting up again. In front of him sat a shadier alley than ever before, visibly dusted and coated in the most unfriendly shadows, but without a second thought Steven charged forward. He figured that staying out of the way would be beneficial to both of them.

“That’s the problem with big towns,” he spoke out loud in a rather disgruntled tone, “too many people, not enough room.” He could still see people shoving and pushing each other out of the way. Such actions made him somewhat miss the calm, solitary nature of Beach City. It was too late to go back now, though. 

Steven turned to face the inside of the alleyway, feeling slightly odd, unsettled, even. He ignored this feeling, playing it off as the same thing he felt while entering the Kindergarten for the first time; purely anxiety. He carried on walking down the path.

It wasn’t even a minute later that he came to a bend in the path, where somehow less light could reach the alley than before. Steven started to have second thoughts about not just waiting it out. “ I just have to be impatient, don’t I?”

“Hey, kid!” 

Flinching, Steven faced forward sharply and looked up at someone he felt he recognised… for a second, he stared, soon registering the person as the pro hero from the night before. His heart skipped a beat. “It’s him! I can now take this chance to apologize for yesterday!” 

“Uh, hi?” Steven internally cringed at his words and how- lowercase -and unconfident they sounded. 

He couldn’t help it. Somehow, the man looked much more threatening in the light than otherwise. The rust on his machete was visibly brighter and a deeper red than rust should be. Loose fabric whipped in all directions, though the force of wind wasn’t present. His black hair was messy and seemed to stand on its own. He definitely spent most of his profit on hair gel. Along with this, he was over six and a half feet tall, completely towering over Steven and casting him in more shadow- if that was even possible at this point. Dark gray eyes pierced through Steven’s soul.

“Where’s that sister of yours?”

It took a moment for Steven to understand that the hero was talking about Peridot. “My sister? Ah, she’s out there,” Steven pointed behind himself, “I think,” he continued. 

Suspiciously, the hero glanced from the wall and back to Steven. 

“I mean, she was there,” a pause to look the fashionably challenged hero in the eyes, “a little bit ago,” much softer and more reserved. 

“But, you’re a hero! I bet you guys are trained for this kind of stuff!” 

It was as if a lightswitch had been turned off. The second Steven called the man a hero, his face snapped into an aggressive glare, reminiscent of both a belligerent hunting dog and Jasper. 

“ What did you just call me?” 

Steven tried desperately to fix his mistake, but fixing things is difficult when you don’t know exactly what went wrong in the first place. 

He figured that apologizing profusely would help. “I’m sorry! I really am,” Steven whimpered, lifting his arm, while waiting for the familiar warm sensation in his gemstone and a shield on his wrist. “Just please don’t be mad!” He shut his eyes and locked them tight, expecting the feel of a blade across his skin. 

Steven should’ve known better than to cross this man. Now, he was going to jail, most likely. Tucked away in a cell, inmates with serial murderers and arsonists, robbers and scammers. All because he didn’t know when to shut up. In all honesty, Steven didn’t quite know what he did, or for that matter, what he could’ve done to upset the hero so intensely. It didn’t matter now. This was his fate. 

Okay, maybe he was exaggerating slightly on that point. 

But still. 

Through his squinting eyes, Steven could make out the dark form of the hero backing up. Perhaps he wasn’t aiming to throw Steven into a dark cell after all. Slowly, Steven came back to his senses. 

“Throwing a kid into a cell for no reason isn’t just,” he opened his eyes. “It’s not nice.” Pro heroes are all about justice, right? Justice couldn’t be served by nonsense like false accusations and random imprisonment. That wasn’t good. Plus, innocent kids don’t belong in jail. That’s something. 

“Wha? Kid, you think I’m going to kill you or something?”

Steven stopped for a moment to think. If the hero wasn’t going to hurt him or throw him in jail, what was he going to do? 

“I’m quite a fighter, but that doesn’t mean that I’d squash a little kid for nothing.” Steven could almost see fragments of a smile on the man’s face. “It’s unnecessary bloodshed. And it’s gross.”

Wait… This man seemed… kind? Sort of? Maybe his hero name was “Cutthroat.” It just seemed right. With the knives on his back and his stone cold attitude, it was a possibility.

“That’s-” Steven smiled up at the cutthroat hero, stars twinkling suddenly in his eyes. “So heroic of you!” The glare on his face flared up again. 

Steven made a run for it back down the alleyway, not looking back to see if the short-tempered hero was behind him. Crowded places were quite uncomfortable to Steven, but they were better than being a sheep alone with a wolf. 

The exact moment he exited the tight alley, he was greeted with not only the sound of a bustling crowd, but the midsection of a panicking lime green gem. “Peri!” 

Peridot nearly squeezed the life out of Steven. Though he had only been absent for a tablespoon over five minutes, his status with Homeworld and his habit of getting wrapped up in funny business was a serious concern. Peridot didn’t want to be at fault for any possible injuries he could’ve obtained. Upon further inspection, though, Steven was physically fine, aside from the minuscule scrapes on his knees that could be blamed on his sporadic clumsiness. 

“Steven! You’re- alright,” she spoke, patting him on the head and beginning to walk out of the way of many townspeople huddled in groups and catching bite-sized glimpses of their personal lives. “Right? You’re okay, right?”

Steven guessed that he was technically okay. He nodded.

A place to charge his phone was all that Steven needed at the moment. He and Peridot were desperately trifling through the alleyway, trying to find a charging hole that properly fit. Very little luck had shown itself. 

“What if there’s a charging plug over here?” questioned Steven, nearly falling again as he tried peeking at the brick wall. For someone with little experience, an attempt to stand upside-down on concrete was a risky deal. 

Peridot, who was standing on the far end of the same alley, called back to him, “I seriously don’t understand why you humans feel the need to go through all of this,” she gestured to the open air around her, “to charge a device.” 

“Yeah, I know, right?” One of the more lighthearted moments of the day.

He turned around, coming face to– metal… with a trash can. It was an instant lightbulb moment. People would always hide things behind trash cans in movies, right? Why wouldn’t the same logic apply in real life? 

“Hey, what if we move this thing?” Steven greatly emphasized the word “we,” meaning to display the fact that a growth-stunted halfblood teen wouldn’t be able to move a large metal box filled with nonsense on his own. He was sure that a Homeworld-born gem would do a more accurate job. Actually, on second thought, he meant “we” as in Peridot.

Peridot shrugged and, with a relatively simple movement, pointed her detachable fingers in the direction of the can, moving her arm to the right. A lime-green glow highlighted the metal. In seconds, the large green trash can scooted effortlessly to the side. 

Steven began to giggle, more cartoony stars forming in his eyes. Maybe there was a reason he was named Steven Universe.  

“That was awesome! How’d you do it?” His jovial tone reminded him of every time the Gems would come home with some ancient artifact, show him a new power, or introduce him to a new fusion. 

Rolling her eyes, Peridot grumbled with a slight blush on her face, seeing as this was the exact way Steven talked about his idols, the professionally trained and licensed heroes. “Hngg, it was nothing.” But she had actually tried. 

“Oh! I see something there, let me just,” Steven dashed over to the now vacant spot where the can used to be. “Nice!” 

Funny enough, an electrical hole was neatly placed in the center of the alley. Hopefully the manager of the store that it connected to wasn’t bothered too much. “Eeh, it’s a chain restaurant,” it wouldn’t be too big’ a deal. 

Steven unzipped his bag and grabbed his charging cord, which was slightly damaged from a week and a half of being sat all over. It would still work, though. He shoved the charger into the slot and grabbed his cold, weightless phone, quickly plugging it in. Laying it on the concrete, Steven waited for a moment before the screen began to open.

“It worked! Thanks, Peridot!”

After he could safely take his phone off the charger without it straight dying, Steven began his research on heroes again. He searched far and wide for a hero that matched the man’s description, but nothing came of it. His conclusions were that he was either an underground hero, or not a hero at all. The former would make sense because of his reaction, but the latter was a possibility as well. Steven didn’t quite know, but that didn’t matter too much right now, did it? It was none of his business. He had a life to live.

He had a life to live. 

“Hey Peridot,” Steven started, “I was thinking,” he took a deep breath and smiled, catching his words, “if you could let me go out for a little bit?” Peridot glanced towards him attentively. “Don’t worry, I’ll have my phone on and I know this place’s address,” he trailed off. 

Peridot thought for a moment before replying, “hmm, sure,” she seemed to be thinking even harder now. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Steven started on his way, trotting with excitement and anticipation. Behind him, he heard a quick call, “be careful, though!” The warning wasn’t on his mind as he picked up the pace, starting to gallop through the sea of people. He seriously couldn’t wait to meet them all.

His phone began to ring annoyingly as he casually walked down the streets that were emptier than what seemed to be normal. At first, Steven thought nothing of it, after all, spam callers were bound to show up every once in a while. Until he looked at his screen.

Call from Connie

Swipe up to accept

Steven felt his heart tear in separate directions. His breakfast, consisting of half a blueberry granola bar, didn’t sit quite right in his stomach anymore. Connie was probably worried sick, wondering why her friend suddenly disappeared. Knowing her, she’d assume the worst and freak out, thinking that he’d been kidnapped or killed. It was a very Connie thing to do, and she would start a search party. She’d get the Gems involved. They’d find him if they hadn’t already. And they wouldn’t be happy.

Trying to forcefully stabilize his breathing pattern, Steven waited for the ringing to stop, before he quickly blocked Connie’s number and once again turned off his phone. 

“ You’re better off not knowing the trouble I’m in.” 

“You don’t need this.”

He began walking again, trying desperately to distract himself and find more peace in the day. “And you don’t need me.”

Chapter Text

Connie stood in front of her home phone, completely bewildered. Her best friend, Steven Universe, hadn’t picked up the phone in two weeks. She tried to stop herself from freaking out, but it was getting harder and more agonizing as time went on. 

At first, she assumed that he was just busy with- whatever Steven thing he was doing at the moment- but it didn’t seem quite right because of the fact that this had been going on for half a month. “Maybe he just changed his number?” 

Yeah. That was it. 

She could just go up to his front door and ask him for his new number. There was nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. 

___________

Twilight was starting to set in, and Steven still hadn’t made his way back to the shop corner to meet with Peridot again, to his dismay. It seemed that he lost track of time, exploring the town as vigilantly as he was. 

“I bet I can head back real quick before it gets dark!” 

He began marching backward, trying to trace back his steps and magically end up in the run-down, improvised hideout the two had made. The task was getting harder, though, partially because of the crowded sidewalks and busy streets. Steven reached for his bag, hoping to quickly find his phone and book it back home, where at least, he’d feel a bit safer. 

A woman not too far away nearly tripped, leaving her many plastic grocery bags to fall across the concrete, spilling some of its contents on the sidewalk.

Without a second thought, Steven dashed forward and began scooping up the grocery foods from the floor. He placed them all in their respective bags as the young woman herself bent down to assist him. Steven patiently handed the bags to her, smiling up at her brightly with stars in his eyes. The woman grinned back at him. Someone in the distance called out to her and she turned away for a split second. When she turned her gaze back to the space in front of her, the little one was gone, leaving but a rose petal in his wake.

_______

Out of breath, Steven slumped against the brick wall of his alley home. He nearly collapsed on the unforgiving concrete as he attempted to pick himself up and march forward. His efforts became strained stumbles and he finally tripped, landing next to Peridot, who displayed great concern, (somehow, also, relief,) in her expression.

“Steven!” She smiled while lightly cheering. Peridot didn’t want to scare anyone- especially Steven.

“Yup, that’s me!” 

“You made it back-?” Words of both pride and disbelief. 

The grin on Steven’s face turned to a sassy, rather childish look of playfulness. “No, well, duh. I’m right here, am I not?” 

A thought crossed Steven’s mind, leaving him stone still as he awaited a reply. “She doesn’t trust me.” Steven wasn’t the best at picking up on things, but- something about her tone… 

“Or, do you not trust in my skills?” Steven’s voice was much more brash and bold than he would’ve intended. He flinched back, becoming a smashed potato in his rather dirty star shirt. “I mean- I bet you do, you were just worried! You don’t not trust me!” The boy forced out, “I’m sorry. Please don’t feel bad.” 

Another occasion where he felt the need to apologize unnecessarily.

Peridot snapped up, feeling just the slightest bit irritated that Steven would continually and profusely throw out apologies for no surfacing reason. “What? I trust you,” she gathered her thoughts, “I trust you enough to tell you something-” 

This caught Steven’s attention. He stared desperately at his dear friend, silently requesting that she finish her sentence and not leave him hanging.

“Something world changing.” Peridot stated, looking up at the twilight sky. 

The sun had just a few fleeting moments left before it went to greet another side of the planet. “Which will soon be destroyed,” Peridot looked back down at Steven, “if I don’t get this out here.” 

“We have to head back to the Kindergarten first, though,” it would be risky if any random civilians caught wind of this. They would be chasing their lives, holding on by a thread. “You got your stuff?” Steven nodded. 

________

It took a good twenty-so minutes to reach the entrance of the Kindergarten. And it would take plenty more to get used to the stench and air quality again. 

“Steven, come on, back to my hideout.” Peridot hastily commanded, the young Steven trailing behind her. 

The two hopped down from the high rocks surrounding the warp pad, safely landing on the unforgiving floor. They dashed immediately to the elevator, which sat waiting for them, seeming to light up as the two approached. Peridot stomped her metal shoe down on the elevator itself while turning around and ensuring that Steven was still present. He was.

As the elevator descended into the mess that was Peridot’s former workplace, dim green lights blinked on, making her remember what a- fun- experience taking refuge in this place was. She ran towards one of her old devices and forcefully slammed it on. A hard light green toned screen snapped on, showing scrollable ancient text. This wasn’t a bother; Peridot could read and speak Gem Glyph. 

“Okay, okay!” After a minute of thorough searching Peridot mumbled, gesturing for Steven’s attention and pulling him closer. “I think I’ve got it.”

Peridot clicked and the screen expanded widely, wider than Steven’s eyes and his starstruck, beaming face. “So,” she hoped that her lack of recent experience wouldn’t prove a nuisance. Unfortunately, it was showing so.

“Right here!” 

The screen continued to contort and expand fruitfully until it stopped, sending an avalanche of diagrams and text in all directions. Steven stared up in awe, but also pure bamboozlement, seeing as he couldn’t read or write proper English, let alone- whatever space language was being displayed. Actually, he couldn’t read or write properly at all. Thirteen. Fourteen in a month. It went to show just how neglectful the Gems proved to be. Or perhaps it was a him thing- as was usually the case.

“What is all of this?” Carefully, Steven asked, visually examining the images of what seemed to be deformed rocks of many different sizes. 

Taking a deep breath and preparing herself mentally for Steven’s “likely abhorrently negative,” reaction, she spoke, “these are prototypes for a massive geo weapon that Homeworld officials placed near the core of this planet over four thousand years ago. Called The Cluster. Each one of these are made of… shattered… gemstones.” Peridot could see the young one’s eyes fill with either dust or pure dread. Honestly, she couldn’t tell the difference anymore.

“The actual cluster is, as I earlier stated, under the earth’s crust as we speak. It isn’t yet formed, but if it does,” Peridot shakily peered down at Steven, whose overly expressive eyes were shot upwards at her. “The entire earth will be destroyed.”

“And judging from these reports, said chaos won’t be too many moon-cycles from now.”

_____

“What are we gonna do about this?” Hysterically, Steven whined, sweat dripping down his tan-brown complexion as the two of them made a round across the Kindergarten, earlier agreeing that discussing a massive geo-weapon in front of civilians would be no good. 

Peridot, trying to keep a semblance of normalcy, attempted to reassure the boy. The roles had now reversed. “Well, we can make something to counter The Cluster’s formation, something large and strong enough to break its stone and force it back,” her mind wandered, as did her eyes, leading her to spot the many lined up metallic injectors across the canyon walls. Naturally, Steven began to stare in that same direction, a smile breaking his face open.

“Are you thinking-” Steven pointed at one of said machines, “one of those?” Coaxed a slow nod from Peridot. 

“But how?” He asked, staring questionably up at her. 

“A drill. We can use these to make a drill.” Stated Peridot. Stars formed in Steven’s ever-changing eyes.

___________

Connie skipped eagerly up to the beach house’s front door, and stopped when she reached the wooden entrance. She peeked into the oversized window, soon coming to the realization that no one was there. 

Swiftly, she began to desperately knock on the door. Several seconds passed and nobody replied to her ecstatic rapping on the wood, resulting in her slowly losing energy and hope. “I guess he’s not home? ” 

She needed to be home soon, so she just decided to give up for the day and try again later. Maybe on the way back, she could pick up some donuts for her, her parents, and her tennis club! Even though she was slightly disappointed that Steven wasn’t home, something good came of it. “I’ll get his new number tomorrow. He’s probably on an important gem mission right now.”

Walking down the steps, she awaited the next day. 

___________

“Well, we can’t just build it here,” Steven argued in a soft chirp, his normal anti-conflict tone, “the Gems will probably be back to check for you.” 

Before they built the drill, Peridot and Steven had to know some crucial information. Part of it had to do with where The Cluster was actually positioned, and the rest of it was getting caught by a certain pesky group.

“Hm,” Peridot grumbled. “I guess it’s only logical that we begin the process of building the machine by finding a proper place to assemble it.” 

She began in the direction of the warp pad, expecting that Steven do the same, which was exactly what he did, as he didn’t feel like being abandoned. 

As they honed in on the teleporter itself, Steven decided that sharing his input before it was too late would be a good idea, “before we go, let me just say, I have an idea of a place we could build it,” Peridot turned her head around, waiting for him to continue, with, “I know of a barn near a warp pad. It’s out in the country, and it would be the last place the Gems would check.” He paused, filing through his memory, “I bet there’s a lot of stuff we could use to stop The Cluster there!”

Such words piqued Peridot’s interest, and she took a sharp breath, not used to the responsibility of being a leader. “Okay, how about we check that out?” She had no better ideas anyway. 

Steven cheered and stepped firmly on the warp pad, Peridot doing the same. The warp lit up with glittering blue light and sucked the two in. 

_______

When they landed, the two were greeted with a mid-June breeze and the tacky, familiar scent of freshly cut grass. A few stray clouds wafted through the sky above, casting comforting shadows over their heads. 

Steven looked off into the distance, spotting a dull red barn, constructed with old wood and painted over with chipping rosate (at one point) paint. Around the aged structure were heaps of overgrown vegetation and dead grass. Weeds poked out of the ground here and there, bringing a slight dot of color in the monotone sea. 

“Yep, this is it.” 

Peridot and Steven marched forward, stepping on crunchy, pointy weeds and overgrowth. Plants pricked at the sides of Steven’s feet, making him regret not bringing proper footwear. “But I didn’t have enough room in my bag!” He thought, continuing to trudge forward, trying hard to ignore the stinging pain starting on his feet and brushing past his ankles.

By the time Steven reached the entrance, Peridot was standing at the barn door, boredly waiting for his arrival. “Took you long enough,” she thought, curiously eyeing him as he steadily approached. He began to stare back, prompting dear Peridot to look away once again. She just despised direct eye contact.

Steven skipped up to the barn’s front door and heaved, mentally begging the rusty metal hinges to let a kind soul in. The door obliged, swinging open and letting out a small squeak of frustration. Peridot followed him closely behind, readying herself for any potential threats lurking in the darkness, planning to ambush whatever was deemed necessary in said situation. 

Light flitted in through small cracks in the wood, along with the wide open door letting in its own barrage of vision, giving the two sight of almost everything in the room. Steven could now see where his father got his hoarding habit from. Boxes filled with- stars know what completely covered the interior of the barn. It was a wonder how so much absolute nonsense could fit in such a limited space. Deep inside, Steven knew that it would take an incredible amount of time to clear through this all. And they only had a few months. 

“Do you think we should start looking through all of this?” Steven turned around and questioned. Peridot nodded. 

___________

The day was coming to a close, sunlight brimming the sky and pouring down onto the other side of the world. By now, half of the barn was cleaned out, to the duo’s relief. 

Steven was sitting in the grass, with Peridot’s permission, of course, and eating one of the few remaining granola bars in his bag. Due to him skipping breakfast, he figured that downing an entire bar would make up for the loss. Logically, it was just going to hinder him by keeping him up late, but what was logical anymore?

He finished the last of the bar, tucking yet another empty wrapper into his bag. It was time to get going again! Steven skipped back to the barn, an at peace twinge to his award winning smile. Passing the door, he greeted Peridot and sat beside her, pockets flat on the floor. “Hey, Peridot, what’s up?”

“The roof,” was the reply Steven received. He giggled and shook his head, looking up afterwards for reference. 

“No, silly,” Chuckled Steven. Peridot stared back at him, an eyebrow raised and mouth slightly opened. “It’s a figure of speech! It’s just an expression made to ask you how you’re doing!”

“Fine.” She grumbled, still and focused on sifting through her surroundings. She lifted a few family photos from their spot and moved them aside. They likely wouldn’t serve a meaningful purpose in the project; but it was still a good idea to keep them around just in case. Steven looked down at them, observing common traits and only one familiar face. “Dad?” He wondered who the rest of the people were. It probably wouldn’t matter, though; Steven was almost certain that he would never meet them at this point. 

“Uh,” Steven saw how frustrated and fed up Peridot was with all of the work. “You can take a break, you know.” Peridot shook her head. 

“There’s no time for wasting time.” 

“Huh?” Steven’s eyes squinted, as if he was trying to see something distant, like the meaning to someone’s soft, cryptic remarks that were ripped straight from a 2010’s indie-rock song. “But, if you stress yourself out too much, you’ll end up being too stressed to do anything. We’ve got time. It hasn’t started to form yet.”

Steven took a breath. “Working hard is important, but feeling good is important too.” She turned to face him. 

“Yeah, I guess, but only for a little bit,” Peridot agreed, standing up sharply.

___________

The little bit turned into two hours of talking and playfully sorting objects, so something did come of the break.

“I guess this wasn’t much of a break,” Steven joked, scanning his now neat surroundings with everything put into piles based on how much they might need it to stop the cluster. Most of it ended up in the not needed pile, to the duo’s dismay.

Looking down at the rubbish, Peridot began to say, “this isn’t enough.” It was just a few loose scraps and old containers. “We can’t make anything impactful with this.” She waved at the small pile. 

“But, we can’t make anything without a plan,” she mumbled, eyeing the room for something to write on. 

In one of the far corners sat a medium sized chalkboard, shoved aside to make room for cleaning and organizing. “Well, I just solved a problem!” 

“Steven, can you get me that board?” 

Steven scurried into the corner, going behind the chalkboard and pushing on one side. Coming to his senses and realizing that pushing would do nothing, he grabbed onto the metal and began to pull, eventually resulting in the board following behind him as he plodded. “ Here it is!” 

For an object that was stuffed in a barn for who knows how long, it was in near mint condition, barely a few scratches resting on its surface. 

“Good.”

A single pale piece of chalk sat on the metal container of the chalkboard, worn and scraped into dust, some of which was scattered along the cold metal. She picked it up, observing it, before testing the waters with a swift motion across the chalkboard. It worked just fine, to the relief of Peridot and her anxiety. 

“Steven, go get to bed,” she had earlier noticed the absence of light, and, understanding now that humans needed proper rest to function, didn’t want to withhold a basic need from him.

Steven nodded, taking off to the barn’s outside, where he planned to sleep. At least grass wasn’t hay, right? (Hay is for horses, and Steven didn’t have a grip on his shapeshifting powers quite yet.)

Back in the barn, Peridot looked at the available resources, sighing, “now, it’s time for us to begin.”

Chapter Text

Night in the city. 

Freshly fifteen-year-old Izuku Midoriya collapsed onto his bed, letting the comforter drown him. 

Another day of training with his idol, All Might, had gone by, and he didn’t feel like doing anything but sleeping. Food didn’t even sound great, and he loved his mother’s cooking. 

Now, he was trying to convince himself that it was okay to give himself some rest time, though All Might didn’t seem to agree. 

Whenever he had brought it up, All Might replied with anything along the lines of, “a real hero never takes rest days. Hero work is all the time, not just whenever you want to!” It was true, of course, when talking about professional heroes. Deku was solely a child, and though he was training to become a pro hero, he shouldn’t be held to the same standards as an adult. He was still growing, and it would be incredibly harmful to try and step in the way of his growth. Dear Deku wasn’t quite sure if All Might didn’t know, didn’t care, or was doing this for a reason. 

But he had to be doing this for a reason, he was All Might for goodness sake. The number one pro hero in the world. He was the symbol of peace with decades of experience in the field. Since Deku had never received any prior training, All Might was likely just conditioning him. 

“Of course! He’s just conditioning me for the real hard stuff that’ll come along once I get into UA High!” Deku thought, sinking deeper into his silk comforters that he had never seen the appeal of before now. “He’s not a bad mentor. He knows a hell of a lot more than I do,” Izuku didn’t want to see All Might as an unhelpful- even harmful mentor. Because All Might was seriously awesome, how dare a little teenage deku like him see All Might in a bad light. 

Perhaps that was what Katsuki Bakugou saw in him the day he first called him “ Deku.” He knew that Midoriya would take everything the wrong way and mess everything up.

And he did. 

He made his mother severely depressed by not manifesting a quirk, and training with All Might was the only way to fix this!

Midoriya just wanted his mother to be happy, and for his family to be normal again. 

You could call him selfish, and he would reply with “don’t you dare,” because he was doing this for the good of his entire family.

Receiving All Might’s mysterious One For All powers was the first step to regaining normalcy. 

Actually, on second thought, sleep may have been the first step, then training vigorously for another- what- nine, ten months? After that would be the powers. 

Izuku couldn’t care less right now; the poor boy was sleep deprived and about to get his fix! Before he could stop himself, his eyelids began to droop downwards, his entire demeanor switching and setting off on the train called the Sleep Express. 

Consciousness, of course, was the train’s final destination, and at four in the morning, Deku woke to the blaring sound of his battery-powered alarm clock. He shot up, green bushy hair looking more unkempt than usual- if possible. Flicking on the lights, he got ready in a rush, occasionally crashing into a stack of hero information notebooks, chock-full of vivid illustrations and (somewhat invasive) descriptions and catalogs for each.

They fell across the floor, yes, but Deku didn’t care at the moment, for he had a daily training session to attend to. He could clean them up when he got home for dinner. 

Skidding out the bedroom door, Izuku looked down and was greeted with the sight of khaki socks. “Good, I didn’t forget them this time.” He nearly slipped and fell on his face as he sprinted to the kitchen. Maybe it wasn’t a great thing that he put his socks on before anything. Deku slammed the refrigerator door, turning around and being hit with a sharp wham from the table. On the receiving end: his right foot. 

Actually, he was severely regretting his blank-minded decision.

Trying not to scream or drop his strawberry flavored energy drink for the sanity of his mother, Izuku grabbed his coat, slipped on his black tennis shoes and hurried out the door, ready to catch the bus to the beach.

Deku put his empty energy drink container in the trash bag he held in his hands while staring out into the distance at the heaps of garbage strewn across the beach. With how much rubbish and scraps along the sand, it looked more like a trash dump than a public beach. Perhaps that was what the citizens of Mufastu saw- a trash dump.

He sighed, walking forward and beginning to pick up litter, waiting for All Might to arrive. 

There was a small explosion nearby, sending Deku staggering back out of fear, until he realized exactly who was the cause. 

“True heroes are always on time,” stated All Might, pointing at his wrist, though there was a striking absence of a watch. 

All Might looked down at Izuku, who was shuffling trash into his bag as he was instructed to. His naturally large smile somehow became wider. “And, it looks like you’ve started early! Great job, young Midoriya!” 

Izuku nervously smiled at this, bending down to pick up some tattered newspaper and neglected cups of long expired box food. Internally, however, he was arguing with himself. “See, he’s not all that bad! It’s just you, ya silly dumb deku.”

“But, he never did tell me anything about this power I’m supposed to receive. How am I supposed to know how to use something I know nothing about?” Old fabric and mangled running shoes joined the trash bag.

 Periodically Izuku would suspiciously glance up at his mentor, internally wondering if All Might could sense his dismay. 

“What if I get hurt using this power because he didn’t tell me anything about it?” He restlessly removed old wrappers from the sand, shaking them off before shoving them in the bag. “What if someone else gets hurt?” It would be the ultimate bad in this situation- innocent civilians getting absolutely crushed just because little Izuku’s mentor didn’t bother to make an effort so he could learn to use his powers in a responsible manner. 

“I don’t want that.” Midoriya made a decision. “I can ask him for the details before I head home for dinner.” He felt the shadow of his mentor looming (admittedly eerily) over him. “But for now,” he lifted some paper- whatever it used to be. It was so horribly detached from itself that only traces of what used to be were left. Izuku held back a gag at the foul, rotting stench. “The trash needs to be taken out.”

Yet another day of training with his idol had passed, and though Midoriya had been meaning to say this for a while, doubting did nothing but hold him back. If he was going to hero school in nine months, he had to stop doubting himself- and just speak his mind.

“Hey, All Might?” He called out shyly, hoping that he didn’t sound as unconfident and unsure as he was certain he did. 

All Might looked his way, still wearing his forever smile, however it was much more approachable and down to Izuku’s level. 

“Go with the flow,” he told himself, making sure that he could form proper words before dry sticks and leaves would fly from his mouth. “You can do it. Just talk to him. Take it easy.”

“I-” some of his dark green hair fell into his eyes. That’s what he got for letting his mom cut his hair main protagonist style, though. “Was wondering if you would ever-” his face became hot and he could sense an unnerved blush fly through his face. “Tell me about the power you’re trying to give me? Y’know, because I need to be able to use it properly,” he trailed off. 

All Might seemed to daze off for a moment, and though Izuku couldn’t see his shadowed-over eyes, he could tell that he was considering something.

Straight forward, All Might replied hesitantly, “maybe later.” He made a shoo motion at Izuku, serving as a sign for him to book it back home. Midoriya didn’t mind too much- his mother’s homemade soup sounded delicious. 

He skipped over the sand before glancing back for a mere second. A second was all it took to see how much the beach had changed in only fourteen and a half hours. Though it wasn’t entirely clean, progress had been made, and that’s all that mattered, right? It was one step closer to what he wanted to be; one step closer to the world he wanted to see. 

With this thought filling his otherwise empty mind with cheer, Midoriya started toward his hometown. 

Training would start again tomorrow.

And it did, like any other day. 

After getting home from school, he changed his clothes and set off for the beach. Though he wasn’t necessarily excited for today’s training, he would rather get it over with than sit around and do nothing. It was a way to make his mom proud.

Deku couldn’t say that his mind wasn’t entirely on a selfless path. He would never admit it, but he partially wanted to train under All Might to prove himself to Kacchan. He figured that if he was to earn All Might’s quirk, he would be closer to Kacchan’s level, in turn making them close friends again. “Like we used to be, way back when…” 

So he set off cleaning again, reminding himself of what he was fighting for in the first place. Deku seemed to always work harder when he had something he was reaching for.

He shuffled along under All Might’s watch, picking up litter and- things that really shouldn’t be anywhere near the beach- Deku grimaced at the foul-scented bag full of hopefully not literal crap. Litter really shouldn’t be on a public beach in the first place; why this portion of training was dedicated to picking up after others. To show that a hero doesn’t just go around kicking villains’ butts, but they also perform public service. 

And that’s what he did for the next couple of hours. Public service and cleaning up other people’s messes. Izuku really, truly wished that it didn’t have to be this way, but alas, people were lazy.

“Come back again tomorrow, young Midoriya!” All Might waved his apprentice off as the sunset closed in on the two, cloaking them in a slightly breezy, and freeing, for the former, early night sky. 

Izuku’s feet carried themselves up and away from the beach, leaving the teen to sigh and murmur incoherently, “I guess so,” before crossing, exhausted, into city lines. 

Would All Might actually follow through with telling him about his future quirk? In all honesty, Midoriya couldn’t tell anymore.

Chapter Text

“We do not have enough,” matter of factly, Peridot stated. She stared down at Steven, who was eagerly waiting for something exciting- anything- to drag him away from the awkward silence.

“What do you mean?”

She shook her head. “We can’t build a drill large and powerful enough to take out the Cluster with this,” Peridot gestured toward the small pile of scrap the two had configured. “It’s simply not enough.”

Steven’s quality of hearing began to tune in and out, buzzing slightly as he attempted to focus again. He was fighting against himself, trying to pull his eyes away from the wooden wall of the barn, but at the same time, forcing himself to stay put. His companion seemed to take notice of this, placing her robotic hand on his shoulder, to which he flinched just enough to notice.

“I know,” she sighed.

If there was one thing Peridot had learned from her three weeks living with Steven, it was that he was pushy, and would never give up if it meant saving himself. He wasn’t opposed to self-sacrifice, either.

A crystallized memory that she had desperately pushed into the back of her head resurfaced.
____

The fizzing sound of the warship’s lazer readying itself for fire blocked out almost everything else on the beach. Well, what was there to hear, anyway? Almost everyone had been evacuated hours earlier.

She looked down at her simple gem screen displaying a neon green circle. Pressing and holding on it resulted in the stored charge being released. “Firing.”

Distantly, the green gem could see a small figure leaping into the beam, a pink neon glow erupting from his arm.

“I-” in a split second, the Rose Quartz themed shield, iconic with its engraved thorns and cerise tint, was summoned. “I’m a Crystal Gem too!” Steven’s strained voice cracked.

The lazer hit smack dab in the middle of the large shield, dissipating almost instantly with a small hiss, an electric wave hitting the sand sharply.

_____

Peridot stared at Steven for a little while, thinking. About what, you ask? Nothing in particular; just plain thoughts. She seemed to be drowning in her own mind as well.

She felt a small hand take hers.

Blinking herself awake, the green gem came to her senses, now noticing just how much time the two had spent zoning out- to which she felt a rush of adrenaline spread through her light based body.

“We’ll find a way.”

Just then, a burst of bright teal light spiraled along in the grass. Small flakes of glitter coated the portal’s surroundings before changing forms, becoming bright butterflies of hope and pure emotion.

Peridot took a defensive stance in front of Steven, holding up her special limb enhancement, readying to possibly have a grueling three-to-one fight with those wretched gems.

To her surprise, a cotton-candy colored lion stepped out, shaking his impressive white mane off before steadily and cautiously trotting forward. Steven let go of Peridot’s hand before turning back and giving her a reassuring grin and setting off. She made no attempt to follow him, having faith that he’d be fine.

“Lion!” He cried out, beginning to skip with his arms pointing at the feline. Lion dashed forward at the vocal cue, trampling grass and weeds carelessly (somehow, still gracefully,) as he went.

Quickly and quietly, the lion cleared the entire distance to the barn, becoming quite the blur, having crossed near half a mile in just three seconds. He avoided a clumsy Steven, who he caught with his fuzzy pink tail right before his face met up for its daily session with the floor.

Forget not having friends, Steven and the floor were lifelong best buddies.

Lion let out a warning grumble while setting Steven back on his feet.

Steven carefully peeked behind onto the lion’s back, watching closely for any movement of possible unwanted visitors.

“Hi, buddy!” He cheered, receiving clarification from the absence of other figures that the Crystal Gems were, in fact, not present. Steven sighed inaudibly. “What’s up?” He questioned his old, wise by appearance, brother.

The feline, of course, did not reply, instead looking at him with a tired and quite melancholy air.

“Did you miss me?” Steven squealed in question, eyes traveling to the area where the (now dissipated) portal once lay. Suddenly, his little half human heart gave a squeak and he felt his breathing grow unnaturally shaky and hesitant.

“Are you here- because of the Gems?” With these words, Lion seemed to slump just slightly, while still keeping his strict and secure form in check.

Steven’s now sweaty hand made its way to the back of his neck, where he felt a sudden unnerving itch that couldn’t possibly be satisfied by pretending that it didn’t exist. Just like petty things, Steven’s little rivalry with his mom’s alien rebel group. It couldn’t be solved by ignoring it- that would be the equivalent to sitting and not doing anything when an uncontrolled fire’s just minding its business, burning everything in the area.

But, Steven couldn’t necessarily say that he wanted this problem to be solved. Perhaps he just wished eternal moping and misery on himself? Absolutely not. Once he met up with some pro heroes in Japan, he would have a whole new life. New friends, new job, new surroundings, and wait- he did already have a new family, yes? If he was to consider Peridot his family.

“I’m already happy where I am,” he thought for a moment, staring aimlessly at the hulking, yet, somehow soft, figure of Lion. “Well, not exactly,” the memory of the bustling, uncontrollable city and Cutthroat came to mind, “but I’m on my way.”

The itchy feeling became more sharp and chaotic as he spoke again, “please, don’t tell them I’m here. Don’t give them any clues,” Steven pleaded, but loosened up at the sight of Lion, and his still, silent nod.

A small gust of wind blew over the brothers, furthering this calm state. He put his hand down.

“Like you’d do that!”

No reply, as was expected.

“Steven!” A shout from behind, easily recognisable as Peridot. He and Lion turned around to face the source of the sudden silence break.

Lion’s round, fluffy ears flattened, and a low growl could be heard if you were in just the right position. The scruff on his back began to fuzz up even more than what was considered normal. An electric spark started from Lion’s eyes down to his paws, slightly pricking the already dead grass that had no need for being double killed.

“Chill out, Lion!” He hissed at the obscure feline. “Yeah?” Steven called back with his hand on Lion’s forehead.

“Who’s that?” Peridot slowly asked, prudently pacing forward, again trampling more grass and weeds, who couldn’t feel anything anyway.

Steven simply replied, “Lion.” He decided that some elaboration would be helpful, “one of the Crystal- not quite Gems.”

The look on Peridot’s face said more than enough to send Steven’s heart into a pro gymnastics competition. “Gah! He can’t tell them anything! He can’t speak!” Panic stricken, Steven leaped in front of Lion, summoning a shield on instinct, which lay still on his forearm.

Peridot paused for a moment. “Oh,” she looked back and forth from Steven to Lion questioningly. Slowly, she hiked towards the young Steven, placing her hand carefully on his curly, tight hair.

“But how do you know he can’t talk to them?” She asked.

Steven giggled, shaking his head off. With a bright grin, he chirped, “because he’s a kitty!” Nearly unnoticeable was Lion rolling his eyes.

“Hey, anything can happen,” Sarcastically, Peridot mumbled. She turned around to face the barn again. “Anyway, do you think we should get back to work?” Steven simply nodded, the stretched smile still remaining on his face.

His face fell the moment he remembered the conversation from earlier. “We don’t have enough stuff!”

Peridot smiled up at the big cat. “Well, your feline can make portals, correct?” Another nod. “Can we not use those to get places?”

“Instead of the warp pads?” Queried Steven, pointing at the referenced warp. He answered his own question after realizing that Lion could make portals in places that warps weren’t present. “I forgot about Lion’s portals. Sorry.” Shakily, he smiled. Peridot shook her head.

“We can go around the world and collect items for the drill,” Peridot recommended.

“Lion gets super tired when making big portals for too long,” Steven replied, thinking of the many times that Lion had to take a nap break in the middle of long missions where he made high-class portals, but he never once slept during the chase of Lapis Lazuli. “Huh, then it must just be the portals,” it felt rather nice to validate his own claim.

“And we’ll take a break in between each.”

“Right, but where will we go?” Steven asked, and he could swear that he saw just a hint of a “proud sister” smile on Peridot’s face.

“I’ve heard of a few abandoned sites that once belonged to Homeworld.” Steven thought that Peridot was going somewhere with this, “since their warps are most likely inactive, we can use Lion’s portals as a means of transportation.”

“Well, what if we get…” It pained Steven to think of what could take place. “Caught?” It hurt even more to remember being stolen away into space.

“That’s very unlikely,” the green gem addressed, staring to the side for the sole purpose of avoiding a certain feline’s blizzard gaze, “as I earlier said, Homeworld has no use for any of these old sites. They’re completely deserted.”

“I-” Steven looked around for a second, honestly considering every option.
If he didn’t take the chance, the two wouldn’t have enough resources to actually build an effective drill, and the earth would be destroyed. If they took the chance, Lion would be horribly fatigued and there was a danger of being caught by Homeworld gems. And though Peridot did try to convince him otherwise, Steven wasn’t as easily swayed as he might lead on. A stain of anxiety couldn’t easily be fixed with some soap.

But, this was another situation where the positive outweighed the negative, so Steven assumed that it would be just fine to express this, “alright, then. Why don’t we get started?”

He looked to the side at Lion, who wore a look of “I know what’s going on, don’t try anything, Universe,” but had a small glint of understanding. It was good, really.

“Lion, you up for it?” Said cat nodded begrudgingly.

“Alright!” Steven, with some complication, seeing as he was so petite compared to the feline, sat on Lion’s back and gestured for Peridot to do the same. Hesitantly, she jumped onto the cat’s back, stone heart skipping a beat when Lion suddenly took off into the air, roaring, pastel rainbow swirls taking over what used to be the countryside.

“To the sites, Lion!” Steven cheered, making sure not to end up in another dimension as he held on taught to a furry cloud colored mane.

Reality stretched and Lion let out a few more quick-fire howls which resulted in a bright, untrustworthy shockwave pirouetting and ricocheting off of the invisible walls of the hall. Steven could feel metallic fingers latching onto his shoulders for dear life. He couldn’t relate to Peridot’s fear; this was the most fun he’d experienced in a while, aside from, of course, roleplaying as All Might.

“All Might.”

Steven couldn’t help but wonder what the man was up to nowadays… Perhaps he was saving people at that very moment, or rescuing a kitten from a tree… It all would be blown to smithereens if Steven and Peridot (of course, Lion as well) could not handle the Cluster.

Well, they couldn’t do anything about the Cluster if they didn’t have a drill.

Their destination soon came into view, but not worth jumping for joy over. It was very atmospheric, miniature flakes of dust dancing morosely in the light breeze. Much more overgrowth was present than before, the entire scene covered in dead bushes, derelict vines of incredible size, and posts with long gone foliage. In the middle of the ethereal mess was a short child shaped bunch of greenery. Some statues were posted here and there, but were completely mummified by vegetation that completely strangled the life out of what used to be lively stone. It wasn’t a far reach to assume that this place was long abandoned.

Lion collapsed firmly on the cold tile, sitting there for a moment until Peridot and Steven slowly stepped off.

Doubtfully, Steven looked around before wearily looking up at Peridot, “where should we start?” He softly whispered.

“What-?” A Pinkie Pie-esque hoarse voice questioned, forcing a small jump from the entire party collectively.

Steven turned his head around sharply, clenching his jaw and mindlessly summoning a shield. He waded forward, eyes fixed strictly on the small figure, who shifted just slightly. “Hello?” The closer he got, the more desaturated and worn shades of pink could be seen.

Finally, Steven ended up face to face with a young girl, not too much taller than he stood. She had faded raspberry pink hair, near black eyes, midtone pink complexion, and a dusty gray (possibly white at one point) Homeworld uniform. In the middle of this was a large heart shaped pink gemstone. Upon seeing vines tangling her feet and arms, rendering her incapable of moving, Steven unsummoned his shield.

She did not look okay. Her eyes were baggy and red, and her freaky state of being one with nature proved evident that she hadn’t been sitting there for just an eye blink. “Are you alright?” He queried without hesitation.

The girl easily pulled free of her entrapment on one arm, letting it become dust on the tile floor. She reached forward to take Steven’s hand. Still no verbal reply, but she didn’t look much in the mood for it.

“W-who are you?” Quietly, the strange gem asked, “where’s Pink?” She quickly became hysterical, glancing around anxiously with a clenched jaw. Her little voice didn’t seem like it had been used in a long while, but it was settling back into the groove.

Peridot, who was slowly approaching, spoke, “Pink Diamond?” With an absolutely horrified stare. If this gem didn’t know what had happened to Pink- who knows how long she’d been here.

A pitiful nod.

Steven, with an eyebrow raised, looked up at his companion for some assistance, still holding on to the dear girl’s hand.

“You- don’t know what happened-?” Carefully, Peridot asked, gently placing her hand on Steven’s shoulder. The pink gem shook her head, wide eyes begging for Peridot to elaborate, “how do I put this,” unconfident in tone, “a few thousand years ago,” Peridot looked back and forth from Steven to the unfamiliar gem.

“She was shattered. Shattered by Rose Quartz.”

Steven felt his heart shatter.

“Wha-?”

He looked forward at the pigtailed pink gem to see her eyes watering just slightly. She was trying to hold it in, to pretend that it never existed.

The gem fell onto her knees, nearly bringing Steven down with her. It’s not like he would’ve cared, though- his disassociating stare was stuck on one of the walls, still, silent, and unblinking.

A twisted smile burst onto the pink gem’s face, tears racing down from her eyes and onto the floor below her. Twisted, depressing laughter echoed onto metal and mixed with the bleak silence of space. It was honestly what Steven wanted to do in the moment.

Someone who all his life he had been told to be the most pure, kind, and forgiving soul… Had shattered a gem… Destroyed a life.

“Ah?! How? Why? When?” Desperate questions that almost anyone in the situation would ask.

The Diamonds were bad people, as far as he had heard, but they didn’t deserve to be shattered. Shattering Pink Diamond meant that his mother was on the same level as the other Diamonds. The same level as Homeworld. “How did I not know about this before?”

A familiar teal light accompanied fine magenta glitter and the whoosh sound of a ruined vacuum cleaner. The gem’s gemstone began to painfully twist upside down, turning a slightly darker fuchsia hue. Though the two couldn’t hear her, they could clearly see her form altering itself, becoming more spiky and on guard, the length of her pigtails became much longer and more messy.

The light faded, leaving a bubbly salt taste in the otherwise stale air, and leaving a disheveled not-so-young gem lying slump and morosely on the tile floor.

With the new form came a much darker uniform, neat lines of dripping mascara down her now bright cerise eyes, bigger and fancier shoulder pads and spiked shoes. More new additions were the darker hair color; a deep and fluorescent magenta, and a new lavender complexion. The gloves on her hands were inflated now, and slightly spiked at the knuckles.

“Whoah,” she stared in disgust at her new identifiers, still sitting on the floor.

Sluggishly, she bounced up, dusting off her tights and eyeing the newcomers with a nervous people-pleasing smile. How very obvious it was that she hadn’t performed this action in forever!

Steven, in a rush, carefully leaped in front of Peridot, full well knowing that she could defend herself anyway. “There’s no such thing as being too careful.” Perhaps Peridot had influenced his ways of thinking. He held up his arm, breath shaking a bit as the Rose Quartz shield appeared once again.

The gem gave a quizzical look before shaking her head and holding her hand out. “Do ya’-” she started, “think I’m gonna hurt you? Well, you aren’t the,” her face dropped and she clenched her jaw, “Rose Quartz.” She stayed in her bubble of squished face and grumpy look for a moment. “Well, my old best friend is gone now. I don’t have a reason to be here!” But she full well knew that acceptance wasn’t the first step.

Stretching her arm to an unnatural length, the mysterious gem avoided the barrier in front of her and held her hand in Steven’s face. “Can I stay with you guys, wherever you’re staying?” Steven stared at her sympathetically for a second before lowering the shield. In his peripheral vision, he could spot Peridot giving him a warning glare, but this was little bother to him. A quick nod.

“Good!!” An almost screech from the magenta gem, resulting in Peridot taking Steven’s hand protectively again. “My name’s Spinel!” The most rubber grin formed on Spinel’s face.

She pointed at Steven, who without hesitation, replied with his own introduction. “I’m Steven, and that’s Peridot!” He glanced backward at neigh unconscious Lion. “Oh-” he pointed with his thumb at the feline, “and that’s Lion.”

Obviously, this gem knew not of boundaries, as she instantly scooped up Steven and used her strange, unfamiliar ability of stretching and performing- rather odd- shape shifting shows to envelop the young hybrid into a crushing embrace. Peridot, yet again, held up her weapon instinctively, but slowly put it down as she heard the sugary sound of Steven tittering around.

After just a little while of getting his lungs crushed in play, Steven choked out, “Hey, can you let me down, Spinel?” She didn’t hear, obviously, continuing to playfully bug around with him, “please?” A full stop, and Spinel set him down on the cracked floor.

Steven quietly turned back around to face Peridot, nudging towards the many unused appliances lying around, run over with magical flora, because there was no logical way that they could grow that large.

A moment of realization and a silent “oh” from Peridot. “Alright, yes! Collect what we were meaning to collect in the first place. Great idea, Pebble!” She cheered awkwardly, still avoiding the eyes of the new gem.

“Wha’da ya’ say, Spinel? Do ya’ wanna-”

“Help you!? Heck yes!” Spinel interrupted deliberately, still keeping a cheerful pep in her step.

Giggling awkwardly, Steven took the new gem’s hand with one of his, and took Peridot’s in the other. “So, what is this that we need?” The magenta gem questioned.

Peridot rolled her visor covered green eyes before bluntly remarking, “you would’a heard if you weren’t being so obnoxious,” it was under her breath, but still quite obvious and noticeable. Spinel’s pigtails seemed to twitch just slightly, reminiscent of a rabbit’s ears.

“Some of the metal,” simply stated Peridot, looking down at Steven. Immediately, Steven charged into the many scrap walls, pausing for a moment.

“Does anyone need these anymore? Do you know?” He asked Spinel, who shook her head softly.

“Nobody’s really been here since-” she looked up at nothing in particular, “what year is it?”

“Aah,” Steven thought back on his time with his phone, trying to remember the current date. “Some time in late July,” he thought, “July 2014.” He took a deep breath, still trying to get used to the horrid rust scent and feel of ancient dust on the sides of his feet, along with the persistent vines and overgrowth that didn’t feel like leaving him alone just yet. “Two thousand fourteen.”

Peridot clarified, “Era two, in by nigh three thousand sun cycles.” She could see the change in Spinel’s face, slight, but still noticeable. A drop and an abundance of saggy eyes. She seemed to be calculating something.

“Nigh three thousand?” Spinel looked to the side, colors deepening and fading. “So around six thousand years,” under her breath. The watery feeling in her eyes returned for another delivery of tears. The gem squeezed tightly a small hand she held. She really hoped it didn’t hurt on the other end. It would be a tragedy for yet another person to abandon her. Though she had just met this trio, she had not a single thought of letting them go. Luckily, the young (presumably human) boy returned the hand squeeze, peacefully looking up at her.

Steven swiftly let go of Peridot’s hand and pointed up at the walls. “Maybe those?” He internally knew that he wouldn’t be able to lift them with his current strength.

“That isn’t metal.” Simply stated Peridot.

“Oops, sorry.” Steven’s hair got ruffled once again.

“Come here, I think I know of some scraps that-” a very cheerful remark turned dark, “Pink Diamond left in her old storage unit!” It still hurt to say. Excitement and cheer would cover it up, no?

Spinel began to drag little Steven along, and the latter snatched Peridot’s robotic hand, ensuring she didn’t get stranded in this space garden.

“Space garden,” wistfully, Steven looked up, greeted with the very salubrious image of distant stars, each painting their own color in the faded black void. It was really quite pretty, and if the circumstances were any different, Steven would be perfectly content staying here. He wasn’t quite sure about the rampant, wild vines, though. That was a downside.

On an elevated platform sat a dusty warp pad, aged with eons of nothingness. It was a depressing sight, almost. They approached said transportation device, Spinel stepping firmly on the strange rainbow crystal, very obviously not used to the feel of it. Steven could tell by the way she strangled his hand with her own respective glove. Spinel shivered just slightly, focusing on her desired destination- something that she never thought she would have to explore without her.

Gems didn’t just die of old age like organic beings did- something else, other than their nature, had to step in. Spinel could bet her own gemstone that the Rose Quartz was the only reason that Pink Diamond never came back for her. If not for that barbaric beast, she would’ve been at peace, dear mother beside her. “If I find you,” it would put them on the same level, but Spinel’s bloodlust was justified. But, she couldn’t help but wonder what drove the quartz mad enough to shatter her own Diamond. “Jealousy? Lust for fame and attention?”

“Did Pink do something wrong?” That didn’t seem quite right. With her ball of fluff soul? How would she do something deserving of the death penalty- let alone by a gem in her own entourage? It didn’t make sense.

Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about the past, she had two new best friends, (or three, if you counted the fuzzy pink cotton ball that was Lion,) to help! She could mope around later, now was the time to get going.

The warp’s twisting light flowed into every surface of the garden, startling a certain feline into full consciousness. He shuffled, standing up in a daze.

Multicolored opal light belonging to the warp stream carried the trio through space swiftly, Steven giggling as he flew, the sensation of light assisting his flight still being rather trippy, despite the fact that he had taken the warp many times before.

Landing took a lot longer than expected. It was quite a relief when the three safely set foot on the tile floor somewhere. “Wow, Homeworld must really like tile,” Steven thought, bouncing slightly as he looked down at the dusty and well made floor. Surprise would arrive when the young hybrid glanced around, spotting fancily manufactured statues, equipment, and other weird shapes that he didn’t have a word for. He recognised a couple of the structures as large injectors, similar to the ones that sat in the Kindergarten, the only difference being their superior size and the more vibrant and lush magenta hearts that lay on their tops. “And injectors!”

The entire room looked like a vintage abandoned dollhouse, the weary trio being long lost dolls in some kid’s bedroom. Dust piled in most corners, being a clear sign that the dollhouse simile was accurate, and a bit of hope sparked that the team would be undisturbed throughout their journey.

“Alrighty!” Spinel chirped, standing on one foot and grinning. “There’s a whole lot of durable stuff in here!”

“Perfect,” Peridot simply stated, shuffling forward confidently to take a better look at Pink Diamond’s old inventory. “She kept a whole lot of good stuff in here.” Steven nodded in agreement.

“Would we be able to use the injector thingies?” He pointed at them, stars in the sides of his eyes.

“No, they have stuff in them,” yet another mentally exhausted statement. “It’d be much too risky to disassemble them. From their looks, they’re bio-poison injectors, and we absolutely cannot risk you making direct contact with them!”

The group started strolling along, understanding that the injectors were not their needed resource.

“What w’d happen-” Steven cut off, “if I was to touch the pink slop stuff?”

Peridot sighed, pacing forward just slightly faster, “your arm would melt off. It’d turn to ash most likely.”

Instead of pure horror, a look of contentment- and maybe even- awe struck Steven’s face. “Whoaa! That’d make a really cool quirk!” He cheered, looking up at Spinel, noticing her slight confusion covered in remnants of a smile.

“Right! She doesn’t know what quirks are,” he was quick to clarify as the group continued their journey. “Quirks are abilities that humans have on Earth,” Steven looked up to see if she was even listening. Listening was her job, and it was exactly what Spinel was doing. “They’re basically superpowers, and people use them to fight off crime! I was saying that being able to disintegrate things could be really helpful against the bad guys.”

“That explains his shield,” thought Spinel, calmly taking hold of Steven’s little hand again.

“So, what’s your quirk, making a shield?” A question, whose origin was Spinel.

Steven stopped in his tracks, resulting in the other two doing the same out of concern. “I-” that would be incredibly difficult to explain. He was lucky that she took learning about quirks so kindly. “Don’t exactly have one.” An eyebrow was raised.

“Let me explain,” he started. “I’m not entirely human, eh,” it had really been a while since he was actually able to fully explain himself. He had rarely been given the chance, especially in the past few months. “My mom was a gem. The- uh,” Peridot snatched Steven’s hand and shot him an encouraging look, “same gem that shattered Pink Diamond.” He finally forced out.

Of all the ways Spinel would’ve reacted, Steven didn’t expect her complete interest!

“Huh? That’s actually cool,” Steven could tell that her mood had dampened just slightly, becoming straight faced while her posture loosened. “You’re a little bit of everything,” she sighed.

“Excuse me for interrupting, but don’t we have a job to get to?”

“Right-” Steven ended the conversation, “saving the Earth.” He agreed to this, after all. Now, the fate of the entire planet was in his hands. If the three couldn’t find a way to put a stop to the Cluster, everything on the earth would be destroyed. “Let’s get to it.”

Chapter Text

The cell was cold, dark, and miserable.

Vaia had been here for- however long it took for someone to start questioning their life choices. 

He shifted his leg, sore because of poor circulation, and sighed. All because of one kid. He was here in some stone prison because of some kid’s bad behavior and refusal to comply. It would be a long while until he saw the light of day again. 

“I should’ve just grabbed him and gone,” talking about the kid, “the heroes wouldn’t have shown up if I had just ran. We wouldn’t have fought, and I wouldn’t be in jail.” 

The best way to take something is to take it and run, after all. 

Vaia felt not a single drop of remorse for the child that foiled his plans and practically ruined his life. Actually, he felt more pure hatred and annoyance than anything else. 

“All that the child was,” he began, picking at his skin and looking around at the boring stone sight. There were no others here, him being “high risk” and having his own solitary cell as a result. Vaia would not have been an issue if he had successfully reached his goal. Unfortunately for him, this was not the case. “Was a piece to a bigger picture.” 

“His quirk and its abilities-” he felt the urge to hit something as he reminisced, so he took this urge out on the floor beneath him. It didn’t matter how much it stung. At the very least, it made him feel slightly more aloof, as usual. “Would have meant everything to this project.”

He beat down on the floor just a couple more times, feeling drops of crimson slip down his knuckles and onto his forearm. Breaking his hand wasn’t too far away if Vaia kept this up, and that was not what he needed. Especially right now. 

“But now,” his entire face scrunched into a little ball of paper that used to hold so much life, so much livelihood, and used to be someone’s work of art. Work of art he was no more, being a justified criminal and, according to the local news, a total lunatic. “It’s all gone,” he chuckled, but a pleased grin was not present. 

A thought, “all of that hard work for nothing!” He needed a way to bounce back.

Prison break… really wasn’t a prominent option. With the drugs that the prison ward put him on to neutralize his quirk, it wouldn’t be able to aid him in his escape. Trying to shatter the walls all by himself was a death wish for his hands. He would have to find another way.

“But wait…” Vaia thought out loud. 

The kid had healing powers, didn’t he? If he did manage to decimate his hands, he would still be able to get to the kid, seeing as his quirk wasn’t exclusive to his hands. Vaia would have the kid heal him. After that, he could show his colleague, Chisaki, and get all the praise in the world. With the kid’s quirk, he could make a fortune and donate a portion of it to his studies. The rest of the money would go to making the world a better place. Though the media made him out to be a selfish bastard who would dare attempt to kidnap a child, he was incredibly selfless and kind. 

Couldn’t they see that Vaia was only doing this for the benefit of everyone?

Vaia made a big mistake, but he could learn, change, and grow from his faults. 

He took a sharp breath, thinking deeply.

“I get my drug again tomorrow. They don’t supervise me taking it,” the Delmarva prison had astonishingly poor security, which was not a big surprise, considering how small of a state it was and, as a result, how little resources they had access to. “They just blindly assume I did.”

“When the time comes,” he sat, calculating his future actions, “I simply won’t do it.” 

He would be able to leave then, using his quirk and his brains to assist him. He would get. That. Child. Rain hell on him for assisting in his capture, and complete the goal.

Honestly, he had to thank whoever put up that indie blog about life in Beach City. It gave him all the right directions and all the right ideas. What a wonder it was how someone so distant to this child would be able to dig up so much information on him. If he ever did meet this “Ronaldo Fryman,” he would have to give him much gratitude for his help. 

For now, however, there was not much Vaia Ruzuhunta could do but wait. Waiting meant boredom, and boredom meant planning things out. Now, Vaia knew the exact minute to strike, or at least, that’s what he told himself.

It truly excited him, the thought that in just a couple of days, the entirety of Delmarva would know his name, if they didn’t already have it written down somewhere in their heads.

Vaia calmly wiped off a portion of the remaining blood from his knuckles, flicking it off his fingers and onto the floor. The big night was coming soon, and he couldn’t have anything getting in his way again.

Eighteen and a half days. Nearly three weeks of no Steven, and Amethyst was starting to fear the worst. By now, the team had searched almost everywhere they could think of. She hated the thought of it, but hope was waning, and the lack of further evidence wouldn’t get them anywhere. 

His birthday was almost here, and she couldn’t stand the idea of him still being missing by then. This confirmed her concerns- this was not at all a joke. Steven never took it this far. It just wasn’t him. 

“Just over three weeks until then,” it would be the best birthday present on the entire team’s side for him to be home safe on his birthday. That moment marked the point where she made it even more of a personal goal to bring him home as soon as possible. She imagined the grateful look on his face when he was finally safe. She knew that she’d never let him go again out of fear that he’d be abducted again. 

Amethyst was currently on another Kindergarten patrol, and she had to admit that she wasn’t as focused as she could’ve been. 

“Focus,” she grumbled to herself. Though, she had a hunch that Steven hadn’t recently been here. The place felt emptier, and the air felt much more dense than before. 

“He isn’t here!” Some mysterious force in her mind pleaded, “he isn’t here- just go so you can find him!” As it became more hysterical, Amethyst sharply headed in the direction of the warp pad. “Go! Go before it’s too late!” 

The screaming faded as the warp lit up. Something about it seemed genuine… she wasn’t sure, though. Maybe it was a sort of sisterly instinct.

She entered the house slowly, her moves sluggish and unconfident, laced with insecurity and in general- anxiety. Though she couldn’t physically tire, the mental exhaustion was abundant. 

This didn’t stop her from pushing herself, though. At this point, little could. 

The entire team’s dynamic seemed to have flipped. What used to be hopeful and strong Garnet and Pearl were replaced by depressed husks of their former selves. Amethyst couldn’t say she blamed them; that amount of stress in a minimal amount of time was bound to do some serious damage.

Amethyst pushed open the front door, nearly shattering the frames and throwing it off its hinges. After this, she began to sprint, focused on the path to Beach City, only slowing down at the sight of a young girl.

“Oh- hi, Connie!” She nervously chirped, forcing herself to smile widely. She didn’t want Connie getting involved and getting hurt as a result. 

“Hello Amethyst,” politely, Connie greeted, flashing her a bright grin as well. It seemed much more genuine than Amethyst’s own, however. “I wanted to ask where Steven is, and if he has a new phone number. He hasn’t been replying to any of my messages, and I’m starting to get a bit worried.” 

“Crap.”

“Aah, uhm-” she had to think quickly, so as not to scare Connie more than she already was. “His phone’s permanently dead and we have to get him a new one. He’s off on a gem mission right now, so you won’t find him here,” she fibbed guiltlessly. This was what she had to do to keep her friend safe. 

It was rather suspicious that both Steven and the Gems hadn’t been home for an extended period of time. “I came around a couple of days ago, and the day before that,” Connie stated softly, just loud enough for Amethyst to hear.

To which she nervously smiled, a toothy grin of sharpness and jaws made of crystal. Amethyst replied, now on edge, “We’ve been super busy these past few weeks. The entire team has had to go out on search missions.”

She started to get the hang of it, trying to ease her way into normalcy, “To try’n find big baddies like Malachite and Peridot.” Amethyst felt an unusual edge and drop of hatred in those words, though she tried to cover it up by fiddling around with her long lavender mane. She had thought about cutting it all off in those past weeks. Right about now, the thought was incredibly tempting.

“Oh. Do you know when he’ll be back?” 

“Shit.” 

Amethyst felt a few tears teasing her eyes, and before she knew it, “ No! I don’t know-” a few of them spilled, and more, and more still, “He’s been missing for,” it took a bit. “I dunno, like, just short of three weeks now!” Her dark blue eyes were locked shut, and yet, some loose tears insisted on falling into the sand.

When she finally opened them, she was greeted with Connie’s horrified stare of shock and morose disbelief. Connie’s mouth was wide open, and her usually neat black hair was disheveled, mirroring her current emotions.

“ What? What happened? Do you know?”

Amethyst shook her head vigorously. “A villain tried to get him about a day before, but he got taken away, I don’t think he could be responsible.”

Connie, being the responsible and confident preteen she was, swiftly grabbed her phone from her side pocket. She knew exactly who to call. 

With immense speed, she clicked on the phone icon and typed in her father’s phone number. Before Amethyst could introject, Connie looked up with an assuring grin laced with just the slightest insecurities, “My dad’s a police officer. If anyone can help, it’s him.”

The phone rang for a second, before someone, (presumably Connie’s dad) picked up on the other side. 

“Hey, Dad…”

“So, he’s been missing for just short of three weeks,” Doug, Connie’s father, started, “And you never told anyone?”

“Yeah, uh,” Amethyst was still rather distraught, “We didn’t want any humans accidentally getting hurt trying to find him,” she explained. 

“Do you know what could’ve happened?” Doug asked.

Amethyst shook her head.

Suddenly, Doug’s walkie talkie started playing a message. He paused, holding it to his ear. His face went pale. 

“I’ll be back later, hopefully. A dangerous villain has just escaped prison!” He sprinted back to his car, and after a moment, it started up, quickly rushing back into town until it was out of sight.

As soon as her father’s car disappeared, Connie turned back to Amethyst, eyes watering slightly, but a look of determination was still present. “I want to help search for him. Can I?” 

“There’s no going back now,” Amethyst thought, considering her options, “She already knows about his disappearance, and she’s smart. She’d be a good help. If I tell her ‘no’, she’ll just do it anyway.” 

“Yeah, I guess,” Amethyst said, moving some hair out of her face. “Don’t do anything too risky, though,” she continued.

“Would printing out missing posters be considered risky?”

“No.” 

“I’m going to go do that, then!” 

“Uh- ohkay…”

“Will this be enough?” Queried Steven, pointing at the scrapped metal lain out on the grass. The trio had spent an hour and a half breaking up Pink Diamond’s old inventory and lugging it into the fields.

Peridot glanced at her design of the drill, soon turning her view back to the scrapyard. “I suppose.”

Spinel sat beside them, curiously pawing at the grass below her. It really had been a while. She looked up at the two without turning her head at all. Lion slept behind her on a particularly dry patch of grass, occasionally shifting around and bumping her back. 

“We need to start putting it together as soon as possible,” Complained Peridot, marching forward and beginning to sort the many objects into neat groups based on their role.

“Can I, by chance,” Steven began, following Peridot right behind her. She turned around to face him, waiting for a reply. “Uh,” he found it hard to speak words at this particular moment. 

“Spit it out,” she sighed, continuing to pick up small metal shafts from the grass, placing them beside the many bolts and such on the floor. 

“Go into town and get some food? I don’t have any left…” 

Peridot’s eyes shot open, and concerned, she spoke, “How long have you gone without eating?” 

Steven hesitated for a moment, counting, before he diffidently replied, “About a day. I ran out of granola bars.” 

Peridot rolled her eyes before a very shaky, “Go into town. Do you have your phone?” Steven nodded, and she said, “Be back by eight thirty.”

Not wanting to be a big disappointment, Steven set off in the direction of the nearest warp pad. Backpack in hand, and money in a pocket, he was ready to eat. Where- was the only problem. 

“I don’t think they take States money in Japan,” Steven argued to himself, “And I absolutely cannot go back to Beach City.” He didn’t know what to do now, other than find some other faraway town in the States to get his food from. Travel would not be an issue because of the warp pads, but finding an adequate landing spot would be. He figured that he’d just wing it, though, to save time.

Quickly, he searched up candy stores in the US, and the results just made him hungry, giving him all the more motivation to get there fast. In the piles of search results sat a hidden gem, specifically branded with a town that he knew for a fact had a warp nearby. It was just too easy, as if the author wanted to write something light for once.

Peacefully, he hopped onto the warp pad, landing with a little huff, and put his phone in his pocket. Then, all it took was the thought of arriving in the candy shop that made the warp begin to glow with a mesmerizing, familiar tint of pastel cyan. He was off. It was only a matter of time before he got his fix of candy. 

While flying through- he didn’t quite know where, Steven began to think of what types of sweets he could pick up with twenty dollars. If the store wasn’t unethically overpriced in nature, he was sure that the next month or so’s candy supply would have no issue. Chocolate bars and muffin bites came to mind. Most definitely, he was going to get some water if they had any; he only had half a bag left, and his stock was running short quickly. 

The warp slowly came to a stop, and it was one of those odd occasions where the warp disliked Steven, making him jolt forwards, almost falling on his face.

“Alright, I’m here!” He cheered, regaining his balance, but nearly losing a sandal in the process. 

Clumsily, Steven ran towards the faraway, relatively small town in the distance. The only sounds were sandals crushing poor little daisies, and Steven’s childish giggling. He wondered if his mother ever had this much fun running through a field. 

“Focus,” he reminded himself, and with that, he forced himself to sprint the rest of the way. 

In a short few minutes, he was sitting at the very edge of town. “Pretty neat,” a mental remark, “I’ve never been this close to the town before.” 

His stomach couldn’t wait. It didn’t speak- anything- but he could feel it twisting and becoming less patient. Was very uncomfortable. Truly. And so he knew that reaching the store would be his first priority.

“But where is it,” he mumbled, trudging along the road and nearly getting himself hit by a car. Steven sharply leaped out of the way, and for the umpteenth time, nearly became a splatter of rose quartz shards and cookie cat sauce on the concrete. The store had to be somewhere. He blamed it on his blatant incompetence and inability to properly search for needed things. Why he wasn’t a big help searching for materials in the storage unit. 

Many people passed him by as he just sat there in the middle of the sidewalk. It was a bit strange, poor thing not being used to the average city size and the sometimes odd situations that come with it. He backed himself against a brick wall. 

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” Steven pleaded with himself to find a way, slowly slinking across the brick wall. It would be him stomping on trust if he was to mess up on this little mission he was on. It was very simple, why wasn’t he getting it? 

Or maybe it was an overreaction.

Slowly, he began to ease himself into walking the path of the sidewalk, in a similar manner to the others performing their daily activities alongside him. This was just an everyday activity! And he knew that. He was just too stubborn to directly address it! 

“Alright,” he began to himself. Steven held his breath as he walked along the path that others were. “Just treat it like Beach City! Getting food for the Gems…” Well, that was a mistake. “Don’t think about them,” it wasn’t about them at the moment. It was all him. He didn’t have to worry about Garnet, Amethyst or Pearl judging him for his decisions. The only ones to possibly judge him would be Peridot and Spinel, but they meant no harm. At least they weren’t war criminals.

Following people on the street may seem creepy in some situations (well, most situations, actually,) but in this specific circumstance, it paid off well. A small group of teenage girls were making their way through the town, bickering and babbling, gossiping and such. Luck, or perhaps a sweet tooth, brought their conversation somewhere interesting, and Steven had the fortune of being in earshot. 

“Hey, wanna go to that cool candy store downtown? I heard that it has the best fudge,” a taller young lady with cracked cell phone in hand. 

Another young lady, much shorter this time, happily replied, skipping, “I know! My brother went there with his friends and brought some of it home! It tastes great!” 

“What? I’ven’t been,” the third, middle sized young lady with two horns on her head. “Do you know if they have any bubble water?”

“I hope you don’t mean diet water, Makaiya.” The three girls shared a rather wholesome laugh as they continued down the street. 

Steven knew in his heart that following three girls to a store would be unethical- creepy. So, he wouldn’t, not wanting to cause any unnecessary quarrel. Instead, he would hopefully remember what the tallest young lady had said about it being downtown. Hopefully. 

He charged ahead of them, hopping onto the street and, seeing as no cars were present, had no trouble using it as a means of walking like he usually did. Steven, not knowing where exactly downtown was, just stuck with the crowd- something that he had just learned. Looks like he wasn’t so hopeless after all. 

Soon, however, a little crowd of cars started to form, and, fearing ambush yet again, Steven threw himself onto the sidewalk, this time landing perfectly on both feet. Cookie Cat- he was!

Sometime later and a small, again, homey store was clearly visible, and he had little to no problem skipping over to the front door. He pushed it open, sensing the smell of many joyous things, which was quite a delight to him. And he couldn’t quite describe it- other than the overwhelming glee that surrounded the store. It had a very euphoric air, you could say. 

He entered the little candy shop, neatly shutting the door and breathing in to get another shot of the scent. Very sweet and sharp, overwhelming.

He surveyed his surroundings, spotting two employees and a handful of civilians, along with many racks of pure sugar. Candies, cakes in boxes, donuts, fudge, ice creams in tubs, and many others. Heaven, but nigh hell at the same time. Steven hoped that nothing was too expensive. 

“Hi, there,” an employee chimed from behind the neat, fancy looking counter. Someone obviously spent a long while putting it together. 

Steven beamed brightly. “Hey,” began to sift through his memory of where exactly he put his money. “Green pocket.” He unzipped the little pouch in his bag, instantly seeing the twenty dollar bill. It was hastily removed before he lightly sat it on the pristine counter. “What can I get with this?” 

The sociable employee of the batch gave the other a look, and she jolted up from her position, rushing to go fulfill a new order. She scampered along the well decorated store, picking up little things from a few baskets, mostly small items, but the occasional large thing. The employee, dressed in a more unkempt version of the front counter sitter, shoved the items in a double toned bag, and slid it right in front of the other. 

“Alright, I’ll just take the twenty. It’s actually nineteen dollars, but tax needs to be accounted for,” the more sociable, neat employee. Steven nodded, a silent thanks, and took the bag from the counter. He didn’t know what tax meant, but he figured it was a thing that grownups did. Out the door he went, unzipping one of the other pouches in his bag and soon coming to the realization that it was rim filled with wrappers.

“Ooh darn,” there was a bin nearby, he hoped, as Steven wouldn’t be able to fit the bag of food in his bag. “Come on. Hurry up!” He desperately searched around the area for a bin, but nothing came of it, until he spotted someone’s driveway, where a bright blue trash bin sat. It was all going to the same place, so it didn’t matter if he put his granola bar wrappers in there, right? 

Steven marched up to the bin confidently, opening up the lid and scooping all of the old wrappers up, placing them on top of bags of household garbage. Quietly, he closed the lid and put the dual-colored bag where the wrappers once sat. He zipped the bag up and, yep, he was ready to be on his way. Ready to head back home before- “What time did she say again?” He sincerely hoped he wasn’t late for curfew.

And now, all he had to do was find the warp pad again. 

The sun’s light was waning by the time Steven got back to the warp pad. He stepped on it as gently as possible and sucked in his breath, awaiting the sound of windchimes and the feel of pure light’s soft touch. And it did follow through, lifting him into the air as if he weighed a pebble. His breathing returned to its easygoing, normal state.

The warp sat him down gently about ten seconds later. It really was the most advanced means of transportation, though the warps he himself used were many thousands of years old. He started in the direction of the barn, spotting his three companions working hard on their project. 

“Hey guuuuyyys!” A charming, yet childish exclamation, and he began trotting along the grass, no longer caring about the sting and hiss of grass underneath his feet. Frolicking really had done something great to the young teen’s attitude. Steven skidded to a halt beside Spinel, who was assembling a small- Steven didn’t know what.

She turned to face him, grinning wildly. The gem sprung up, discarding her former fixation to greet a young soul. “You came back!”  Noodle arms enclosed Steven into a dough of jam and pop rocks. He mentally questioned why she thought he’d leave forever, and played it off to be just her own personal trauma response.

“I did,” Steven trailed off.

“Steven, what time is it?” Peridot suddenly questioned, and Steven felt his sandals embrace the comfortable grass once again. 

Steven unzipped the tomato patch in his backpack, pulling out his phone. It lit up with a dim light, being the first indicator of the nighttimes’ new arrival. He read the number displayed in a somewhat confident tone, “Eight-ten.”

Peridot softly smiled, lifting her levitating fingers and placing them on Steven’s forehead. She ruffled Steven’s hair, obviously intriguing Spinel, who curiously watched. “Proud of you. Good job,” Peridot congratulated. Steven reached forward and embraced his dear friend, soon feeling a pair of robotic arms do the same. The moment was interrupted by yet another pair of arms nearly strangling the duo. Peridot let out a grunt of frustration, while Steven sat confused in place.

“I’m proud of you too!” 

Steven broadly grinned and the pressure was removed from his sides. “Thanks, you guys.”

The moon was proud of him, too. He knew this because of the sure glow it set off, almost completely visible in the night sky. A guilty fragment of himself wondered if the Gems would be proud of him as well, though the whole ordeal was quite miniscule in comparison to other things he’d been through. Well, for now, Spinel and Peridot (the moon, too,) played that role. And that was more than good enough for him.

Chapter Text

          Wind crashed into Vaia’s face as he diligently slinked along the streets, occasionally pausing to glance around and brace his surroundings. He was now a wanted criminal, which he knew, and being caught was not on his tight schedule.

            Skittishly, he skimmed the concrete and weaved his way through the dull alleyways. From a very recent news report, Vaia had retained the information that the star-wearing child had gone missing the day after his own attempt to capture him. “He can’t be too far away,” he thought. How convenient and ironic the timing happened to be. Many possibilities filled his mind, though one stuck out like the first star in the night sky.

“Hnng… Overhaul.”

Since Kai Chisaki had the overabundance of equipment he did, it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to say that he could’ve done it. Though, in such a limited amount of time…

Maybe it wasn’t possible, after all. He had a feeling that he was nearby still, and his gut was something Vaia had grown to trust in the past month or so. It was part of the reason he found the star boy in the first place. Trusting his own intuition and ability to time things perfectly.

If he could, he would claim intuition as his second quirk.

It wouldn’t hurt to test it.

           He slid onto the wall of some random building, taking a breath and closing his eyes. “A little boy like him all alone wouldn’t make it too far. Not in this world.” Perhaps such a fact was due to him, or like minded people, the first thought being Overhaul. Vaia couldn’t care less.

A thought came screaming at him. Alarmed, he forced himself to focus. It worked for him, “Somewhere out in the fields! Two hours out west. That’s a good place for a kiddo like him to hide.”

How oddly specific!

             Vaia chuckled, standing up. Maybe he actually did have a second quirk. He would have to get that tested sometime in the future. But for now, getting ahold of the kid was his top priority. And he had to get going, for he knew that upon feeling unwell, the child would drift farther away from his grasp until, stars forbid, he was unobtainable.

He began to walk again, this time in the west direction as his mind instructed him to. This would be all too easy.

Steven sat on the grass next to Spinel, who was fiddling around with some metal scraps.

“Spinel, can you hand me that?” Peridot requested. Spinel stretched her rubber arm out across the pile, placing the scraps in her companion’s floating fingers. The green gem began piecing together the objects, adding them to her quickly growing project.

             Steven, eating a singular gummy worm, watched in awe as Peridot continued to work, taking into account the many years’ experience she would possess to be capable of creating something so intricate in such a diminutive period of time. He completely finished the worm, putting the bag away into his bag to conserve food. “That’s enough for today. I don’t want to run completely out again,” he thought.

              Now that he had no money left, Steven had to be more careful with his eating habits. If he was to eat everything in a rush, there wouldn’t be a way for him to get more food without going… Not home. He forgot for a moment that the beach house was no longer his place of residence. “Would there even be any food left there?” None of the Gems had a need to eat, so it was a strong probability that this was the case.

                Sure, there were some downsides to not eating enough, but since he was half human, Steven was fairly certain that he could handle it because of the aforementioned lack of demand for food that was ingrained into his blood from his mother’s side. On that point, he couldn’t say that it wouldn’t affect him in any way, since he was half human as well. There was a lot of nuance to these arguments, and little to no research due to the fact that he so happened to be the only gem-human hybrid ever recorded- and even then, he had no legal documents or anything of the sort for reasons unknown to him. It was beginning to hurt Steven’s head, and he distracted himself by returning to his Peri-watching.

“Whoa, you zoned out, there, Steven,” Spinel remarked, handing Peridot another object from her side of the pile. Steven simply nodded, turning his gaze to the half dead, yellowed over grass where Lion sat, visibly agitated while a bug teased at his face.

Peridot paused her work and began to stare at the rather droopy manner of Steven, before assuring, “You should get to bed or whatever you call it.” And Steven stood, with the motivation of Peridot’s words, and began toward the dusty, old barn.

Though sleeping in a crowded, musty barn was somewhat uncomfortable, at least here, he and his efforts were appreciated. Unlike a certain somewhere…

Vaia crept through the scratchy, tall, and not visitor friendly grass. A couple walking minutes more and his goal would be right in front of him. There was nothing the kid could do now, with his “alien” friends long behind him in Beach City.

                He began to pick up the pace, now realizing that there was nobody stopping him. Until there was. Three figures stood around the barn, shuffling around with metal and other miscellaneous objects that he couldn’t quite make out from such a distance away. Vaia cautiously took a step to the side, attempting to remain as close to the barn as possible. Since none of the figures looked like the little star boy, it was safe to assume that he was in the barn somewhere. He was very lucky, not being spotted with how much noise he just made.

                 And then, he heard low growling, presumably belonging to a feline of sorts. Before he could move out of the way or- do anything, a large pink-tinted lion appeared a few feet in front of him, carrying a spark on his tail. Vaia himself readied his quirk, holding up his hand as a shock ran through his vane and into his palm. Blue light spread onto his fingertips. With hostility, it sparked up and nearly shot Vaia in the face. This was of no concern to him, being a clear sign that his goal was nearby.

The other two figures in the distance trampled grass to reach their cotton-candy companion, “This will be all too easy,” this thought resided in his mind until he saw the strikingly bright gemstone on one’s forehead, the other having a heart shaped stone on her chest respectively. “Crap.”

“Who are you?” The demanding tone of the green one shook him, and he protectively put his hands up.

              “That holds little import at the moment. I need to get the boy,” he simply replied, and the green one instantly understood. She held up a floating hand of her own, energy fuzzling about and fiercely pointed at him.

With her quick thinking, Peridot began to play dumb. “What boy?” She let go of the laser’s fuse and set her arm back at her side.

Spinel looked like she was about to speak, before Peridot sneakily put one of her fingers to the magenta gem’s mouth.

“Short, round, curly hair, dark eyes, a real chatterbox,” the mysterious human explained with a skeptical look. What knowing eyes he had, staring directly at the barn as he spoke.

“I have never seen a human like that in my entire existence. I apologize for the inconvenience,” she simply stated.

             The human didn’t seem to believe her, however, and began taking a few shy steps toward the barn’s entrance. Lion stood in front of the door, patiently guarding it like any good feline would, with his head down, glaring at the human.

“That’s just his little home. He doesn’t like visitors.” As Peridot spoke, Lion aggressively growled and flicked his tail to the side.

            The human gave Peridot a dirty look before glumly mumbling, “I guess I don’t have much of a second quirk.” He began to walk in the direction he came from, and the three watched as he ran off to wherever his new destination happened to be. It didn’t matter much to her.

             He was out of sight within a couple of minutes, and the group dispersed, all walking back to their separate workplaces, ready to continue building the machine that all on earth depended on.

            As she walked, Peridot couldn’t help but think of how easily the human got up and left. “He’s gone now,” but her mind still lingered on the thought. Something- though she didn’t know what, was wrong.

Chapter Text

Vaia carefully made his way back into Beach City, watching every step he took. From his last time being in the town, he knew exactly where the Crystal Gem base was stationed, and was making his way there for plan b of his original scheme. But, it would only go down smoothly if one- preferably all three of them were present to hear what he had to say.

Slowly, he skipped up to the front door, kicking up about a bucket of sand, half of it sticking to the new clothes that he had just changed into. He knocked sharply on the door’s wood with strict urgency. Within a few seconds, the door swung open, revealing an exhausted purple gem with disheveled lavender hair covering one of her dark blue eyes. Vaia had to admit, she looked like a mess. He almost felt bad.

The moment she recognised him, she jumped back and summoned a rock covered whip, holding it defensively in front of her. 

“Relax,” Vaia chuckled, “I’m not here to hurt you.”

She raised her only visible eyebrow, cautiously setting down her weapon. 

“Actually, I’m here to help.” 

Vaia could tell that the gem was willing to hear him out, so he continued, “I’ve got some very useful information for you and your team.” 

“What… is it?” A little spark of hope lit up in her eye. 

“If I’m not mistaken, you have been looking for a troublesome green gem for the past little while, yes?” The violet gem nodded. “Well, currently, she is located at the little barn right outside town, with some other dark magenta gem.”

“Wh- how do you know this?”

“Exploring the area in the last twelve hours,” Vaia simply stated, staring down at the gem. As much as she tried to hide it, a loose smile formed on her face.

She never thought she would say this, “Thank you.” The door slammed shut, and Vaia took off into the distance.

Amethyst sat on the raggedy couch, losing her patience as she waited for the other two Crystal Gems to arrive. Though finding Peridot wasn’t finding Steven, it would take a task off of the group’s overall list, and would make it somewhat easier to find him.

She filed through her memories to pass the time, and remembered the not quite villain man mentioning a magenta gem alongside Peridot. A magenta gem? Who was that? Amethyst didn’t specifically recall any magenta gem on the earth- well, not any non-corrupted gem. Maybe it was some new Homeworld gem that snuck onto the planet? “Eh, we can talk about it later.”

The warp pad activated, and Amethyst instantly turned in its direction, almost smiling at the sight of two tall and distinct silhouettes. She stood up to greet them.

Garnet was the first one to notice Amethyst’s overwhelming joy. Through her visor, she gave a questioning look, prompting Amethyst to blurt, “I have some good news!”

The hopeful gleam in Pearl’s eyes spoke for her, but unfortunately, the news wasn’t what she was longing for. “It’s not about Steven…” Amethyst confirmed, and the light in her teammate’s eyes fizzled out real’ slow until it didn’t exist anymore.

“But, I know where Peridot is! A traveler told me,” for the sake of him, Amethyst concealed the man’s identity as best she could. “He also told me that there was another gem with her…” She continued, glancing at the floor. The team as a whole wished the gem was Steven- but the description didn’t match up whatsoever. 

“Was the gem Jasper, Lapis or Malachite?” Garnet asked, and Amethyst simply shook her head. 

“Just some random gem,” She clarified.

“Alright. Where are they?” Questioned Pearl.

“The barn right outside town in the fields!” 

Nothing more had to be said. The Crystal Gems all made their way to the warp, firmly stepping on it. They were carried into the air, pure light magic upholding them and transporting them to their goal.

In the distance, Steven saw the warp light up. He jumped, and he felt as if his chest was about to fly out of his mouth. He sprinted up the hill and approached Spinel, who was closest. Steven began to hyperventilate, and the world spun around him. At the same time, however, it felt as if he was incapable of sneaking a breath in, even for a second or two. 

Peridot took notice of his disarray and shuffled up to the duo. “Steven?” 

Before she could ask what was going on, Steven cried, “The Gems. They’re here.” There was no other explanation for what he saw.

Peridot thought back on the night before and instantly came to a realization. She now knew what the human’s purpose for showing up was.

“Grab your stuff and run to the Kindergarten.” Peridot placed her robotic fingers on Steven’s shoulder. “If I don’t meet you there by tomorrow,” the sorrowful look in her eyes told the entire story, but she felt the need to continue, “Goodbye, Steven.” They embraced, and this time, when Spinel made the ordeal into a group hug, no party complained. 

“Now go.” 

His cheeseburger backpack was right at the barn’s entrance, so Steven hurriedly snatched it, running back behind the barn. From there, he could see them– something that he never thought he would have to do again.

Anxiously, Steven ducked down as the Gems came closer. As soon as they were a safe distance from the warp, Steven ran into the fields with his eyes still on them. It would be an instant game over if they saw him. He swerved and into a forest of green he descended. It wouldn't be too long until he could sit with his own decrepit imagination, he knew. Perhaps it was Peridot’s influence kicking in, or his own reality, but he had a striking feeling that nothing would go as planned.

The Kindergarten was cold and dry as usual, except a new tinge of morosity sat within the air, making the overall atmosphere much more heavy and unbearable. Steven nearly threw up in his mouth as he jumped down onto the cold rock.

He simply ran and hid in Amethyst’s gem hole. Steven curled up and felt the day’s worries getting to him. Instead of sobbing like he had the biting urge to, he saw himself to sleep as his eyelids closed and his breathing softened. Hopefully, Peridot and Spinel would be alright. There was no way to know right now. He would just have to wait until tomorrow.

He waited.

He continued waiting.

And he waited some more. Nothing came of it, though, and as the sun of a new day rose, Steven wondered if his acquaintances would ever return to him.

Steven got out of the hole, dusting himself off and feeling slightly sore due to being crammed in a hole for those hours. He approached the warp pad, feeling slightly glum and somewhat nauseous still. Stepping on it, he felt his gut become a pro gymnast, which, good for it, but thoroughly unfortunate for Steven. “Please let them just have forgotten,” he begged anything that would listen, which was nothing, seeing as he was warping through whatever warp streams are made of. “Please let them be okay.”

He stepped off the teleportation device, ignoring the breeze and pushing forward. Steven galloped up the hill, getting his hopes up for a moment before, “Wh-”

Nobody was there. 

Nothing but a wreck sat in the middle of the field, and a couple of left over limb enhancer pieces confirmed his suspicions. Peridot had said that if she or Spinel didn’t return, the Gems had got to them. It was just… difficult to process. He knew full well the possibility of it happening, mostly because of the two being outnumbered and the like, but it still hurt. 

A tear or two slipped from his eyes, coaxing another group to do the same. Still, he made no sound, instead dropping to his knees and silently sobbing. 

Thoughts hit him rapidly, among the group being a small warning.

He couldn’t stay here.

No. He had to leave now. The Gems could still be in the area. 

Steven rushed himself up, sprinting back to the warp in a hurry, and quickly activating it. His initial thought was to return to the Kindergarten, but after a moment of consideration, he realized that he should head into town and stick to the crowd. That way, it would be harder for the Gems to catch him alone.

The warp set him down in the forest again. It felt slightly odd coming here alone, but he carried on still. He rushed through the brush, avoiding random not visitor friendly branches which reached for his face. Steven soon reached the town border, easily crossing and breathing in the refreshing city scent, feeling comforted by the crowd unlike his younger self, who would usually be overstimulated and anxiety-ridden.

 He skipped further into town, trying to force his mind onto the bright side. Steven found himself outside of his own body, observing his own actions from a distance. After a while, Steven numbly crossed the entire city, watching as the busy streets winded down, leaving him in a near empty block of town. 

Steven himself slowed his pace, softly trudging along and feeling no hurry to get anywhere specifically. He didn’t have anyone waiting for him anymore, after all.

A little girl sprinted from the alley beside him, and the two collided, collapsing to the concrete, where they both stared at the other’s direction in shock. The little one skittered to the side, practically vibrating with how much she was shaking. 

“Are you alright, there?”

The little girl opened her mouth to speak, tears in her eyes. Steven assumed that this was his doing, and stood, holding out his hand to help her up. She meekly accepted, glaring at Steven with her cherry red eyes. “Please, help me…” 

“What?” 

“Overhaul’s gonna get me…” She pointed to the alleyway where she originated, but nothing was there. “He’s gonna hurt me.”

Steven was slightly confused, but was still determined to assist the child. “Overhaul has to be the name of a villain or something.”  He took notice of the fact that the girl was wearing tattered robes and had white bandages across her arms and legs. “Well, he’s not going to hurt her.”

“I’m not going to let him hurt you.”

The girl nodded, glancing back into the alley. “We’ve gotta hurry! He’s coming here!” 

Steven wasn’t used to the responsibility that this task came with, but he took charge anyway.

“This is gonna sound really weird, but, trust me.” He had to fuse with the child to get her out. “We’re going to fuse into one person for a little bit, but that’s so that Overhaul doesn’t recognize us.” Steven waited for the girl’s nod, and closed his eyes, focusing on bending his light form for the purpose of saving the child. All Might would have done the same if he was in this situation. 

Light encapsulated the two, and with no time at all, the brightness settled, and a new pair of eyes opened for the first time. 

“Whoa.”

A feeling of urgency settled in the fusion’s mind, reminding them that if they didn’t hurry along, their entire plan and possibly life could be demolished. They swiftly took off back into town, not looking behind them out of fear that a certain someone would be right behind them. They didn’t know it yet, but they were unconsciously dragging themself to the forest’s warp.

Mixing themself into the crowd, the fusion shuffled along and, hoping that the situation wouldn’t turn out all wrong and disfigured and whatever other descriptive word that fits , they didn’t stop, even when it felt as if their lungs would blow, until the forest was in sight. Then, they fell to their knees. Fortunately for them, the bandages along their legs softened the impact somewhat.

Their arms brightened, soon after came their eyes and the rest of their body. Two figures sat in their place. For some reason, this attracted little attention from the other citizens. They all were much too busy for spending time staring at runaways all day.

“That wasn’t too bad…” the little one squeaked.

Steven relaxed slightly at her statement, contently staring down at her. 

“What are we gonna do now? Are we gonna keep running?” She asked, the same terror flashing into her eyes from before, “If Overhaul runs far enough into the town he’ll catch us.”

The girl was right. 

“There’s something in the forest that can get us far away from Overhaul. He can’t activate it by himself, so he won’t be behind us.” Steven stood, and the girl mirrored his actions closely. He took note of how her off white-periwinkle toned hair bounced as she moved. Despite her energetic and skittish movements, a smile never appeared on the youth’s face, even after good news was presented. Steven couldn’t put his finger on what exactly, but something was clearly wrong.

“Okay…”

With this, Steven and the girl began into the forest, and that was when Steven noticed the girl’s lack of footwear. 

“Hey, uhh… I know this is weird but, what’s your name?”

“I’m Eri. Who are you?”

“I’m Steven. And, you don’t have any shoes on. You can use mine!” He slipped off his sandals, noticing Eri nod as he did. “So your feet don’t get all scraped up when we go in the forest.” Eri grabbed the sandals, hastily slipping them on. 

“I did it… Can we go now?”

“Yeah, come on,” Steven muttered, strolling along again. He looked behind himself to ensure that Eri was a safe distance behind him. As soon as he did, he increased his trotting speed just slightly, so that Eri didn’t get lost somewhere. With a couple more minutes of trotting along, the warp pad was seated in front of the two. 

“This is it!” Steven pointed at the flat crystal warp touched with opal-y hues reflecting what Steven himself imagined to be Homeworld’s greatest work. Still facing Eri, he walked backward until he bumped into the structure. He watched her eyes light up with curiosity, a flame he recognized and held dear to his heart. 

“What is it?” Eri chimed. She trampled grass to reach it, and her unkempt loose curls flew out of her face, revealing a small horn on the left side of her head. Stopping beside Steven, Eri stared up fantastically at him, waiting for his answer.

“It’s a warp pad! It can take you places if you have a gem like mine!” He pulled up his shirt just enough to show his dark rose quartz gem. Quickly, he put his shirt down and continued his explanation. “But it can only work if there’s another warp where you want to go.” Steven stood on the device, gesturing for Eri to do the same. She did, and Steven gently warned, “Once it activates, you shouldn’t try to stick your hands out of the stream. It’s really dangerous out there. Also, be ready for it to drop you at any moment. It does that sometimes.” Eri nodded in understanding. She flinched as the warp activated, seeing as a young human girl like her wouldn’t have ever experienced gem-travel before this. 

Steven understood. The ways of his gem half took a lot of getting used to. He thought back on Peridot, and by extension, Spinel. “I guess my human half is the same story.” 

To his surprise, Eri seemed just fine being carried by the warp, arguably more well-behaved than he was on his first time. She just patiently stood, an alert appearance on her face, carefully glancing around. Though her eyes were wide with controlled excitement, not even the smallest grin appeared on Eri’s face. 

The warp landed in the Kindergarten suddenly, and Eri almost lost her balance. Luckily, she caught herself, standing up straight again. “That was fun…” She remarked blankly with her soft voice reminiscent of both Mikan Tsumiki and Fluttershy.

“That’s good!” Steven awkwardly chimed, and he hopped off the rock that the warp was seated on.

“But I can’t get down from here.”

Chapter Text

“So what’s this place called again? The Kindy-garden?”

Steven chuckled lightheartedly, taking out his phone from his backpack, “I guess you can call it that.” He stared at the date, feeling his mind fuzzle in and out. July 28, 2014, 7:23 AM.

          “Twenty three days.” It was amazing to him how he’d survived over three weeks without being caught by the Crystal Gems. Of course, he had help from Peridot and Spinel, but that made a full stop yesterday. Now, he was in charge of assisting Eri, who was in a similar situation to his own. He now had to play the role of big brother– for her sake.

“What are you looking at?” Eri queried, hobbling over to where Steven was seated on a small boulder. She sat patiently awaiting an answer, staring up at him with big, cherry eyes.

“Just the time.”

“Do you gots’ any food?”

“I have some in my bag, but it’s not really food…”

Eri squinted. “What is it?”

         Now that he thought about it, this wasn’t really the best example that he was setting– buying only candy and other random junk. Steven awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, digging his nails into his skin. It wasn’t that big a deal! He could just tell her. Eri didn’t seem like much of a judgmental character. “It’s candy.”

Her eyes returned to their casual, wide state. Simply, Eri replied, “I want some…”

“Ah, sure! Just,” Steven unzipped another pouch of the backpack. He picked out the brown bag filled with sugary junk. “Don’t eat too much. I don’t have any more money to buy more, and I need to eat too.”

        Eri gratefully accepted the bag into her hands, opening it and searching through it for whatever she happened to crave at the moment. She discovered a bunch of pink and white animal crackers covered in rainbow ball sprinkles. This captured her attention. She opened the bag, taking out a handful of the bite sized cookies. Cautiously, she shoved one in her mouth. Then, another, until the handful was no more.

“Steven! Do you want some of these?” She held up the bag, shaking it just enough to get Steven’s focus on her.

“No, I’ll wait to eat!”

“Ohkay…”

Eri simply stuffed the cookies back in the bag where they came. She handed the bag back to him. Steven grabbed it, carefully putting it back in his backpack.

            Steven returned to staring at his phone again, and instead of focusing on the lousy lock screen, he fell back into his old habit of researching pro heroes on his downtime. He typed something into his browser, and came upon a website filled with more pros and their quirks. The title was unreadable due to popups, so Steven just carried on with reading through it. He skipped past the heroes that he had already read about, landing on number four of the list. It didn’t take long for him to have completed the entire article.

            Now, he was sitting, bored but unwilling to work against it. He found odd comfort in repeatedly closing out of tabs and swiping along the home screen. Soon enough, this became agonizing as well, and he closed his phone entirely. Into the bag it went.

“Is there any other place that we can go? Away from here?”

           “I guess there is,” Steven considered, “The barn would count. But aside from there, probably not.” Now he had a stable answer to little Eri’s question. He had to really think things through. He was now responsible for not only his life, but for the life of a child, (though he was a child himself.)

“Yeah, there are other places, but I’m not sure if they’re safe. We should stay here until tomorrow and then we can check them out.”

            After a nod of understanding, Eri returned to her game of playing with stones and whatever else was on the Kindergarten floor. It seemed to be entertaining her just fine, so Steven let her be. Except, he saw something in his bag. Or, perhaps the more accurate phrase would be two items.

            Steven glanced between the bag and Eri, calculating his next move carefully. Sure, she was just fine playing with the stones, but wouldn’t it be quite nice to give her a welcome gift to make her feel more comfortable living in the ruin that was the Kindergarten? This was a scary, stressful new place and it would help to have a stuffed friend by your side for support. Maybe it would even make her smile.

He grabbed the bag once again, unzipping it and carefully grabbing out both of the animals. Steven assumed that it would be a good move to let her choose which one she wanted.    

            “Hey Eri,” he called out. The child in question sharply turned around, alert, setting down some cobbles that she was previously playing with. “Come here real quick.” She cautiously walked forward, cowering. “I’m not gonna hurt you, I just wanted to ask if you wanted one of these stuffed toys?”

Her eyes lit up just slightly more than usual. Silently, she pointed at the bear. Steven nodded, and put it in her arms. Eri patted the bear on the head, and walked off again.

            Steven stared down at Cookie Cat, who excitedly beamed back up at him– because, of course, that was all he ever did. He wished to be like Cookie Cat, who held anything but worry and stress. Alas, things didn’t work that way. The only things that the two really shared was the fact that they were from out there, a glance up to the evening sky, and,

He left his family behind.

He left his “family” behind.

________

The morning came swift as any other day’s start.

           Eri was the first to wake, making it her goal to cause as much a ruckus as she could. Or at least, that’s how it seemed. Steven sat up sharply and alert, he gave a questioning look to Eri, who held an excited, jumpy air along with her stuffed bear. As usual, however, not even fragments of a smile were present.

“Can we go see that different place now?”

Another moment of consideration. Steven imagined what Eri thought of him, taking so many pauses in between his statements. He would bet money (if he had any) that she saw him as amateurish.

          “Sure, after we eat,” he decided, grabbing the food bag from his backpack. Steven handed it to Eri, who rustled through it, grabbing out the animal cookies. She reopened the bag and took out some of the cookies. She shoveled them down and put the bag where it belonged.

With this, the quirked child and the half-human made their way to the warp once again, as Steven refused to eat.

“Can I make the thingy go whoosh?” Eri asked, climbing up onto the little edge that the warp was located on.

“Oh, no… It won’t work if you don’t have a gem like mine…” a simple reply. Eri didn’t seem all too off put by this, just looking down while scrambling up onto the warp pad itself.

“But if we become that other kid, will I be able to?”

“If we fuse, our fusion will be the one to activate the warp.”

“Oh. Can we do that?”

“Sure! It’ll be safer that way, too! So that nobody recognizes us!”

          Eri nodded in agreement. She held her hand out, and Steven grabbed it gently, of course not aiming to harm the little one who, from his observation, had already been through a lot. Steven’s gem exploded with off white light, and the two’s forms wavered.

“Oh! Here I am again,” the short fusion loosely thought. They calmly took a few breaths, staring off into nowhere. Maybe it was Eri’s influence.

They looked down at the warp, and with a teaspoon of effort, it lit up and carried them off to their desired location.

          Within seconds, the new fusion appeared on the warp of the barn, which answered one of their components’ silent, unimportant uncertainties. Timidly, the fusion began in the direction of the barn, curious as to what they would find if they got any closer. Deep inside, they knew exactly what was there, due to their Steven side, but the fusion wanted to see for themselves.

“The drill thing wasn’t finished… What a shame.” Though they had never met Peridot or Spinel themselves, they distantly remembered the amount of work said gems had put into… what remained of it. Now, they would have to finish it without them, for the two knew not of anyone who could be of any help in the endeavor.

              For just a moment, their mind escaped tangible reality, landing someplace else as they wondered how exactly they would go about it. “Stop it,” they couldn’t tell who the words belonged to, but they obliged, forcing their mind out of space. Instead, they figured that learning about themselves would come first. Their name– what was it? Because, it would be a bit challenging to run around places while nameless. Really, the easiest way to go about it was by combining their components’ names.

               An outsider would’ve thought them odd for standing blankly in a field, muttering random name combinations and trying to choose the best fit. It turns out that, in a sea of possibilities, picking only one drop was quite the sticky trial. “Eriven… Seri… Este…” None of them really sat well with the fusion, so they continued, “Veeri, Vene…” Each one was worse than the last. “Ereven, Steri…”

They stopped.

Out of every option they had tried, the very last one was a star in the daylight.

“Su-teri-!” A smile almost grew on them, but there seemed to be a bit of emotional blockage in the way, preventing them from completely expressing their contentment, so flushed cheeks and slightly wider eyes was the only detectable result.

This activity proved itself to be an adequate distraction from nocliping reality through the mind. Suteri, completely satisfied, decided that unfusing would be their next step. Eri would be happy to see a whole new place, even further from Overhaul and his associates than the Kindergarten was.

Light ripped through Suteri’s form, turning them back into their young components, who flew in opposing directions in the dry grass. Luckily, Eri was perfectly fine, unlike some other unfusings Steven had witnessed before in his time with the Crystal Gems. He cringed slightly at the thought.

“Your quirk is really fun, Steven,” Eri stated, pulling at the dead grass beside her.

“Oh… I… Don’t actually have one…” Steven clarified awkwardly, staring to the side with shame.

“What-?” The warranted response from any person who didn’t know about Steven’s history.

“Eri isn’t a judgmental person,” Steven reminded himself, looking back at the child in question. “Let me tell you a story, Eri.”

           The entire gem situation was a bit challenging to explain to a toddler, but Eri seemed to be understanding just fine from what Steven could tell. He was rather impressed. There were adults in Beach City that still didn’t understand– or accept, on that note, his half gem status.

“That’s very sad… But also it’s very cool that you’re a halfsies… Like your cat doll,” Eri stated, pointing at the Cookie Cat stuffy. Steven momentarily turned his attention to the slightly worn toy.

His eyes flicked back to Eri.

“Yeah… we are pretty similar, aren’t we…?”

“Except you’re not a kitty,” Eri continued. “And you don’t smile that much.”

Steven giggled in return.

“Can I see your gem powers? I’ll tell you my quirk so you don’t feel lonely…”

“Oh, ah– sure… What’s your quirk?”

           Eri’s eyes went slightly darker– if that was even possible. “It’s called rewind,” she started. Very obvious was the shaking in her voice and the increase in her breathing speed. “Uh… I can rewind living things… as long as my horn is here,” she placed her hand on her horn. “It’s really dangerous. Even Overhaul said…”

“Wow…” Steven breathed, “So you can make someone younger?” Eri slowly nodded. “That’s so cool!” Stars formed in his eyes, “That sounds really powerful!”

“I guess… Can I see your gem powers now?” Eri tried desperately to change the subject.

          “Yeah, sure!” Steven said. He summoned a bubble around himself swiftly, and Eri stumbled back in surprise. Steven popped the bubble with his mind and promptly summoned his mother’s classic Rose Quartz shield. The shield vanished soon after. “I have a few more, but I don’t know how to control them very well.”

Eri’s eyes filled with interest. “You’re strong, I think.”

Steven giggled. “Thank you!” A genuine smile lit up on his face.

“Also, what are those scraps?”

Steven turned toward the pieces of the drill. “Oh, that was a machine my friends and I were building…” He sighed morosely, “Before the Crystal Gems got them.” Eri frowned in understanding.

“Hopefully they don’t come back, but there’s a high likelihood they will…” Steven gave Eri a concerned look. “So I don’t think we should stay here much longer.”

“Yeah…” Eri agreed, moving some of her long off-white hair out of her face.

The two began back to the warp pad, talking as they slowly walked through the grass. “We can come back later, because we have to finish that drill. Do you remember that cluster gem I told you about?”

“The mashed together gem pieces?”

“Yep. The drill is so that the Cluster doesn’t form and blow up the planet,” he said. “Peridot, my old friend, said that it’s due to blow up in a few months… We don’t have very much time in the grand scheme of things.”

“That’s scary.”

Steven nodded. “It’s why finishing the drill is so important.”

The warp pad was now in full view, and the two children stepped on the device. It set off. In a few seconds, Steven and Eri were in the Kindergarten once again.

“I like this place,” Stated Eri.

“Yeah,” Steven started, “It’s pretty great.”

Eri hopped off of the platform after Steven before asking, “Is there anyone else that lives here?”

          “No.” Steven anxiously glanced around, ensuring that his statement was true. “Amethyst, one of the Crystal Gems, used to, but that was like— I dunno, a few thousand years ago.” He skipped up to a rock nearby and sat on it. “Since Amethyst knows about this place, it’s probably on the Gems’ watch list, making it not the safest place to stay, but it’s safer than living on city streets.”

“Yeah. Do you have any water, Steven?”

Steven stopped. “Do we have water?” He unzipped his backpack and searched through it vigilantly.

“Uhm, no, we don’t…” He cringed. “We should go back into town to get some. The warp is closest to there.”

Eri grew a look of distress. “What if Overhaul finds us? He’ll hurt you…”

“If we fuse, we’ll most likely be safe. Maybe we can shapeshift a little to help our odds,” Encouraged Steven, secretly doubting his own words. If Overhaul was as strong as Eri had mentioned, they both were in trouble.

No.

It didn’t matter how powerful Overhaul was. The villain had very obviously hurt this little girl, and Steven wouldn’t let him get to her again.

            “I guess we can try,” said Eri. They grabbed each other's hands, instantly fusing into Suteri, who hastily made their way to the warp pad. Suteri didn’t really have a solid plan, instead deciding to roll with it and ditch all order.

             Already knowing where to go, Suteri stepped on the warp with force, thus causing it to activate, lifting the young child into the air. In their chest sat an odd, off putting feeling. They ignored this, carrying on with their travel.

             After landing in the forest’s warp, Suteri silently dashed into town with their eyes on their goal. All that they needed was a few clean water bottles, and then they could leave. The uncertainty still bubbled in Suteri’s insides, getting so overwhelming that they eventually slowed their sprint into a soft trot. And then they saw him.

“Overhaul.”

Right about now, he was interrogating a young man, who was very obviously uncomfortable due to all of the cowering he was doing.

Stars knew what Overhaul was doing here.

Actually, Suteri had a very good idea of what he was doing walking around town like that.

             With some trouble, seeing as this was Suteri’s first try, they shapeshifted into something they considered manageable: the removal of their horn, making them resemble Eri just slightly less. Even with the adjustment to their form, Suteri was internally begging for Overhaul not to bring any attention to them. They still held an uncanny resemblance to the young girl, and from Eri’s memory, Overhaul wasn’t born yesterday.

             Right as Suteri was about to switch to the alphabet’s second letter and find another way to get a drink, the distinct sound of metal-soled shoes smacking the concrete ran through their senses. Suteri snapped their head around, noticing how unusually empty the streets were. Dust tumbled out of Overhaul’s way, creating a slightly eerie atmosphere as the villain strutted forward. There was nothing they could do now.

“May I speak to you for a moment, young one?”

“Yes… sir…”

             “Have you seen a little girl around your age with long light blue hair–” Overhaul’s eyes flicked to Suteri’s ashy blonde mane, “Bright red eyes–” he continued, suspiciously glaring down at Suteri’s dark crimson eyes. “And a horn on her head?” It was the only thing missing from Suteri’s traits that would relate them directly to Eri.

“No, sir.”

Overhaul let out a distressed groan– very obviously not out of concern, instead filled with annoyance and a drop of malice. He muttered something under his breath.

              Suteri took this opportunity to sprint with everything they had into town, leaving the dangerous situation. Being part gem did have its perks, as when Suteri glanced behind themselves, no towering villain raced to catch up with them. Did they normally run that fast?

Oh, it didn’t matter right now.

What mattered now was getting their water. Maybe they could find a stand of free water bottles for those who couldn’t afford it? Was there anything remotely like that in the area?

              They saw someone approach them from behind. Flinching, they turned around and held their fist in front of them. Suteri paused, noticing the horrified and exhausted glint in the person’s eyes. They understood this all too well. Was something wrong? Suteri stared up at the young man’s gray blue eyes and unkempt indigo hair. They wondered what exactly he needed.

“Hello… Sorry for startling you,” They apologized.

The young nervously half-smiled. His tired eyes flicked rampantly, as if someone with bad intentions was watching.

“Are you alright?”

He shook his head, his glare burning into Suteri’s very soul. They noticed how he had a bag visibly filled with clothes and food. Another disturbingly similar situation. “You’re a runaway? So am I,” Suteri bluntly stated. “I have a safe place for us, away from anyone that you might be running from.”

The teenage boy cautiously put a thumb up.

“We’ll have to be really careful, though. There’s someone looking for me over in that direction.” They pointed at the direction they came. An image of Overhaul momentarily snapped into their mind. Suteri understood how lucky they were, escaping that man.

Suteri waited patiently for the boy’s nod. After this, they took his shaking hand and began sprinting in the forest’s direction. Quite honestly, Suteri didn’t want to stay there any longer.

             They felt the indigo boy struggle to keep up with their running speed, being practically dragged along the street. Perhaps it was a feature of being part-gem that they’d never before noticed? When they glanced back at him, he seemed more surprised than anything. So they continued on, clearing the path from there to their new… home? Was that the proper word? Eh– it didn’t matter very much.

After around ten minutes, Suteri and the unnamed boy had finally made it past the city, touching base with the forest. “We’re almost here,” They spoke. Almost there for them actually meant upwards of ten minutes for the average person, as obvious by the blue boy's panting and silent heaving whilst pacing behind Suteri.

Suteri tried to slow down, still being conscious of the fact that they needed to leave as soon as possible. Being repeatedly spotted in public could cause Overhaul to become suspicious.

Looking behind themself, Suteri felt relieved at the fact that the blue-hair-no-sleep boy was finally catching up. They blinked encouragingly back at him.

Just in time, Suteri snapped their head forward, greeted with the sight of the ancient and ethereal warp pad. As the two adolescents began to walk at the same speed, Suteri was easily able to fish out the awe in his static eyes.

Suteri stomped over some lively grass and climbed confidently onto the warp pad. The Steven side of them felt like making an effort– being an inspiration to this misguided and relatable figure. "Would Mom be proud?" They thought. A ping of… anxiety…? Warbled through their chest.

Shaking their thoughts off, Suteri began to speak, "Step on… it's a strange experience at first but you'll be fine with it soon…"

            Cautiously, the older adolescent tried to soothe his fears by listening to Suteri's affirmations. Suddenly, however, the apprehension returned as the crystal warp lit up with energy, taking both children and lifting them into the air.

The blue boy held on to his bag with a death grip, glaring intensely at Suteri, who seemed ever so slightly off put, but not nearly in the headspace as he was. Blue light stretched for seemingly forever, and as the indigo-blue fatigued boy stared up, he grabbed onto his bag straps even tighter. He bit down on his tongue.

            As quickly as it appeared, it went. While Suteri's trajectory was decently balanced, the other runaway's knees buckled and he landed, exhausted, on the overgrown grass. Hastily, Suteri bent down and held their hand out. Blue haired boy hesitantly took the offer, standing up with the help of young Suteri.

Now, the two were neighboring the barn. Blue haired boy took a moment to survey his surroundings. Very quiet and uncertain came his voice, "Where are we…? Who are you? What is going on?"

Turning toward him, Suteri let go of their shapeshift, letting off a slight glow from their forehead as they exhaled. A horn stood in the light's place.

"To start, we're at a barn in the middle of nowhere… I'm Suteri. And I don't really know what's going on." They paused for a second, "Oh and I'm a fusion, by the way."

The blue boy had donned one of the most confused stares anyone had ever given Suteri. "Huh."

Very suddenly, Suteri started to lose their form, splitting off into two slightly smaller figures, who almost equally resembled the "fusion."

Steven and Eri exchanged glances and faced the blue boy again.

"What's your name?" Asked Eri, avoiding direct eye contact with the older boy.

"I… am Shinsou. Hitoshi Shinsou." He held out his hand for a handshake, Steven and Eri both reaching for it. So, Shinsou held both of his hands out.

"I'm Steven Universe! You can call me Steven, though." Steven shook Shinsou's hand jovially, with a slightly playful air.

"I'm Eri…" the young girl hesitated. Did it matter if she introduced herself using her last name? She certainly did not want to associate with Overhaul and his allies. She did not think it held any weight. Carefully, Eri grabbed onto Shinsou's hand, referencing Steven's actions.

"Good to meet you Shinsou!" Steven had learned from his research that it was more acceptable to call people by their last names in Japan.

"So… is that your quirk that allows you to fuse with Eri?" Shinsou questioned.

Steven stopped for a second. "No, I don't have a quirk. I'm half alien though. That's why I can activate the warp pad." He had gotten kind of used to telling his allies about his hybrid situation.

"Half alien?" More questions were appearing in Shinsou's mind. "And is Eri?"

"No."

Shinsou sat down on the grass, intrigued by the new information. The previously silent young man was now very talkative and attentive. "Why are you two here? Don't you have a place to go?"

Eri cowered lightly, ducking down into the pile of dead grass she'd made for herself. "Only the places we warp to are 'ours.' It's not safe for us anywhere else…"

Steven sat peacefully next to Eri, not being bothered by the prickles of the dry July grass on his ankles. He nodded in reply to Eri's comment, trying to be as supportive as possible in the situation.

In an instant, Shinsou understood. "How long have you guys been out here?" He asked, trying to get a more firm grasp on the situation. Shinsou fiddled with his sleeves while awaiting a response.

"I've been here for a few weeks at this point… Maybe even a month. Eri's been here for a little over a week. I think? Time doesn't really make sense anymore." Steven explained haphazardly. In his heart, he knew that not checking the time on his phone in a while was not the best choice. What's the best choice when everything's a threat?

Shinsou at least seemed genuine. He blinked in understanding while continuing to anxiously mess with his bag. While this was occuring, Steven began to calculate the approximate time that had elapsed from the point where he'd ran away from home.

"Oh, I know now. I left on July 5th. It's the 29th today, right? It's been a little under a month." It was pretty spot on, and Shinsou himself seemed impressed, though his eyes often carried a sense of light superiority.

Shinsou nodded in understanding. "Wow." He stopped for a moment before, "Why'd you leave?"

Steven had to resist a sigh. "It's a long story."

Chapter Text

"That's a lot…" Shinsou emoted, shrugging his broad, yet unconfident shoulders up.

"I know." Said Steven, watching the noon sky as a few clouds hovered above. A cool shadow took away a few seconds of the burning late July weather. "That's why I couldn't do it anymore."

"I left because Overhaul was hurting me," started Eri with unusual confidence. She was obviously becoming comfortable by her new friends' presence. "He would use my for my quirk and make quirk destroying bullets." Eri's eyes became listless as she took a retrospect at the weeks before.

Shinsou's facial expression deepened, and a bit of his teeth were showing. "That's foul. Most villains I've seen on the news wouldn't go anywhere close to that level." He growled. "But I've been doing my research on villains. He's one of the Shie Hassaikai, right?"

Eri nodded.

"If you're wondering why I know so much, I've developed an interest in villains. Not for anything bad, I've just found it necessary to know everything I can because, well… you never know." Shinsou had a look of solace, like a lost dream was hidden deep in his solid gray eyes. "I've wanted to become a hero for my entire life. Because of the nature of my quirk though, it's almost impossible in a world like this." His eyes began to gloss over and he hugged onto his bag.

"Nobody ever believed in me. I'm seen as a villian just because my quirk is unconventional," Shinsou started. "Not even my own parents think I can be a hero." His voice cracked in pain and misery.

Eri's eyes widened in understanding and sympathy. "I know that feeling really well."

"Me too," chimed Steven, voice holding a tinge of compassion.

"So we all have reasons for being here," Said Steven. "We're like the… New Crystal Gems!" An awkward chuckle escaped Steven. "Eh, but not really. We're not to that level yet," he reminded himself.

“We’re all fighting for our dreams! To help people and save the Earth!” Chimed Eri, with an almost… happy tone. She blinked in contentment while waiting for her new friends to reply. Steven simply smiled down at her. Until, his facial expression snapped into seriousness. Instantly, Eri knew what Steven was concerned about. 

“We didn’t tell him about the Cluster, did we…” Eri deadpanned with much less energy.

“The Cluster?” Was Shinsou’s next question. 

“A gem geo weapon made by the Diamonds to destroy the Earth,” Steven started. He turned around to face the drill, or the pieces that would soon become the drill. “That’s what Peridot, Spinel and I were making to counter it.” He stopped for a second, reflecting on what Peridot had told him before. “If we don’t stop the Cluster, it’s going to take out the entire planet. Peridot said that we only have a few months left before it forms.”

“Do you think we should get started, then?”

“Of course!” 

“One problem, though,” Shinsou began, “How are we going to manage this?”

_______________

In Beach City.

Amethyst, Garnet, and Pearl sat on the sofa in the Crystal Gem base. Well, were they really the Crystal Gems without Steven present? It had been four weeks, and the Gems were being driven mad without him.

Now, their conversation was toned with small hints of Steven, but he was not the main focus.

“We’ve finally got Peridot,” Garnet noted. “That other gem too.” The magenta gem turned her focus to Pearl. “She seemed to know you. I could tell by how you interacted with her that you recognized her too.” 

Pearl frowned deeply. She glanced around with uncertainty before beginning, “Yes. I knew her when I was still on Homeworld. She was one of Pink Diamond’s closest friends. That was before Rose shattered her all those years ago, of course. Goodness knows how she might have taken it.” The pale gem sighed. 

Staring up at the ceiling, she reminisced on the old days, when Rose was still a member of the Crystal Gems. She thought back on Bismuth, and how close the team was back in the day. Everyone in the room were the only remaining members of the team currently, since Steven was–

“Her name is Spinel. We didn’t know each other very well,” said Pearl in an attempt to distract herself from her previous thoughts. “She didn’t look like that before.” 

“Do you think that Spinel and Peridot could have been working with Malachite?” Queried Amethyst, snarling at her own mention of the abrasive fusion. “Do you think that Malachite has Steven?” She desperately considered the situation.

“Neither of them said anything about Malachite while we were fighting,” Pearl rebutled swiftly, giving Amethyst a glare due to her attitude.

“Don’t you think that’s because we never asked?”

“Don’t you think that’s because it’s a ridiculous hypothetical?”

“Ridiculous? Peri-snot herself is ridiculous.” Amethyst snapped, “I wouldn’t hold something like that above her. Plus, aren’t she and Jasper friends?” 

“Amethyst, please take this seriously. Everyone’s safety is on the line. Steven’s safety is on the–”

“Pearl, Amethyst. Please. No more fighting,” Garnet demanded, placing her arms in between the arguing teammates.

“We should focus on looking for Malachite, of course. But, we should still focus on finding Steven. He’s still a priority.”

All three could agree on that.

__________

At the Barn.

Eri, Shinsou, and Steven stood around Peridot's complicated drill plans. Out of the group, the only one seeming to understand even a fraction of the planning was Shinsou, who was still visibly perplexed.

"This is the work of at least ten people," began Shinsou, "Not a group of three kids…" He stood for a moment, grazing his eyes over the blackboard. 

"I think we can do it," stated Eri. "It might take a little while, but we can do it." She stood to the left of Shinsou, beside Steven, who was smiling encouragingly. 

Shinsou paused, surveying the situation, and raising his own confidence all the while. "I'm sure we could."

Well, Steven's mind was currently in another place. " Lapis, " he thought, "Where are you Lapis?" Of course, he knew that said gem was not currently in the form of Lapis Lazuli, instead having fused with Jasper to create Malachite. Steven could not imagine the pain Lapis held at the moment, even with the last few weeks.

He needed to find Malachite and apprehend the Cluster at the same time! What a hefty, loaded situation. Well, his situation was already hefty and loaded to begin with. It was just adding more onto the complex equation. 

"If only Peridot and Spinel were still here. Lion too. But he hasn't been captured, I don't think."

Shinsou and Eri were completely focused on the drill plans, so Steven decided to think up a plan of his own.

________

The night had fallen rather quickly over the fields. Eri became very quickly enamored with sleep rather than the project she had been so involved with a few hours before. Well, that behavior was expected for a child her age. Steven began to settle down as well, tired from not only an eventful day, but downright stress.

Shinsou, however, was still stationed in front of the whiteboard, continually looking back and forth between the drawings on the board and the parts that were currently available. " This isn't going to work," he thought. "We can't make a proper drill from this."

"There isn't enough time," Shinsou muttered. He wondered exactly how much faster the process would be if Steven's gem friends were present. There were a lot of things he wondered about. A lot of things he'd never know the answer to. 

There was lots to get done. 

That could wait for the morning, though. Shinsou admittedly had not slept in around two days, and he missed the relief of rest.

________

In the morning, the sun rose early, painting the country's sky dark orange with serenity. 

"Today, I'm going to be productive," Shinsou convinced himself. Or, at least tried to, as he was much too stubborn, even for himself.

Eri and Steven were still asleep, but Shinsou had always built a habit of rising before others. Even if he wasn't always given the same opportunities as them.

Shinsou began to alter the ruined sorting from before the Crystal Gems had invaded. There wasn't too much damage to the organization, but some minor changes needed to be made. 

Five minutes, and Shinsou was completely satisfied with the work he had done. He stared down at his newly completed project, though it was only the start of a much longer process.

From behind, Shinsou had a strong feeling of being watched. Assuming that either Steven or Eri had been shaken from their slumber, Shinsou turned around. "What?!" The shout he released certainly would shake both younger children from their sleep.

And so it did. Eri, being overly jumpy, shot up instantly, shaking her head off and glaring in awe… fear…? Of what she saw.

Giant was the shadow casted by a bright pink lion, soft mane glittering and reflecting the light of a diamond.

"This must be the lion Steven told me about," Concluded Shinsou, trying to ease his worries. 

Steven was the last to actually stand up, and his mind instantly wandered to " The Gems are here…" He was very pleasantly surprised when no unwanted visitors were present.

"Hey, Lion!" He instead greeted the pink feline, who almost… smiled? Odd, in Shinsou's opinion. What wasn't odd in a world like this?

Instantly Eri's anxiety dissolved. If Steven could trust this feline, she felt assured that she could as well. She was still cautious, but she was very relieved that this wasn't some villain chase she was experiencing.

Steven turned to Shinsou, and then to the work he had done. "If there aren't enough parts, I think I might be able to find something in Lion's mane!"

"It would be worth a shot…" finding more pieces would be beneficial to the drill's creation.

To everyone's surprise, (with the exception of Lion,) Steven stuck his hand on Lion's mane, summoning a lively white glow. He soon submerged his entire body inside the feline's mane.

______

In Lion's realm was the familiar pink tree, accented by miscellaneous objects Steven had never really paid attention to before. Most appealing to him was not the treasure chest, nor the shirt; instead the source of his interest was a multicolored gem trapped inside a Rose Quartz bubble.

"Grab it," he told himself. He was running out of time with Oxygen present, and did not feel like dying in Lion's mane. But he would feel awful subjecting Eri and Shinsou to a corrupted gem, if it happened to be one. " Why would a corrupted gem be stored here?" 

Feeling himself losing reality's hold, Steven ducked his head into the pink grass, taking a gulp of air before continuing again. "If it's something bad, I can just leave it in here. If not, I can bring it out." Steven dashed toward the tree, leaping into the air and making a sad collapse onto the floor. He missed his target by only a few inches. 

“Yikes.”

Quickly, he stood up. Steven hopped up again, grabbing ahold of the bubble. Hastily, he popped it, watching the surprisingly orderly gem take form. Feeling his time quickly declining, Steven silently begged for the gem to hurry up. He didn’t really want to be rude, however, so he stayed still to wait for the new gem.

“Well hello there, little guy,” the new gem greeted. She very heavily resembled her gemstone, her hair being a whole spectrum of bright colors. Steven stared up at her in awe. What was a friendly gem like her doing locked away in Lion’s mane? Could corruption be naturally healed after a certain amount of time? Could he help corrupted gems by locking them away in here?

“I’m a little lost here. Don’t be scared. I just need a little help.” The muscled, gray gem held her hand out kindly. Steven accepted with curiosity, running off of the solid pink island and into the milky sea of grass. He pulled her down through Lion’s mane, feeling the relief of breathable air. Finally…

Eri, Shinsou, and Lion himself all held blank stares on their faces, completely entranced by the stranger’s presence.

“Where… am I?” The gem asked herself. She let go of Steven’s hand and flipped her hands back and forth. Her dark eyes carefully but confidently watched over every detail of the nearby land.

“You’re at the barn… right outside of Beach City,” Started Steven, noticing the star detail on the gem’s outfit. “Are you a Crystal Gem?” As Steven spoke, he noticed from the corner of his eyes Eri’s shrinking figure. She began to slink behind Shinsou’s much taller frame, seeing as he was more than double her age. 

“Yeah!” Said the gem with pride, grinning gleefully. She put a hand to the blazing star embroidered into her silver uniform, likely designed for metal or wood working of some sort.

Steven had a lot of inner conversations going on. If he didn’t tell the new gem about his heritage, he likely wouldn’t gain her trust. But, since she was in Lion’s mane in the first place, Rose was possibly the one to capture her in the first place. The Pink Diamond shattering situation was complete proof that Steven couldn’t entirely trust what the Gems had told him before.

She could become hostile, and Steven didn’t want to risk harming Shinsou or Eri. But her acceptance of Steven could mean a new ally, and someone else to help construct the drill.

“Did you by chance know Rose Quartz?” Steven carefully forced out, eyes dragging down onto the floor. But with the silence, he noticed that the gem’s interest was piqued, her dark eyes lighting up. “Because she’s my mom…”

As Steven spoke, the silver gem raised a speculatory eyebrow. “What do you mean?” She was quick to ask, though she wasn’t accusatory in tone like Steven’s past experiences with gems. Maybe it had to do with the open-minded nature of the Crystal Gems.

“I’m half human, half gem. If you don’t believe me, here’s my gem,” Said Steven, before following up with a guilty, rather matter of fact, “Or, her gem really.” He pulled his shirt slightly up. The tall gem ducked down and soon wore an expression of surprise, tinted with a slight hint of understanding.

A chuckle escaped the gem. “There she is: The mighty Rose Quartz!” She held her hand out to Steven, who instantly shook it. “I’m Bismuth. What’s your name, little guy?”

“I’m Steven! That’s Eri, and that’s Shinsou! Oh, and the lion behind you is named Lion.” Steven pointed to the respective individuals.

“Nice to meet you all,” Bismuth said with a jovial grin. Suddenly, however, her smile began to fade, leaving her face serious and stone-like. She took a deep breath before, “Where are the others?

Steven flinched at the mention of his former teammates. It took him a few seconds of considering before he forced a reply out. “I don’t actually know.” Quite honestly, Steven was exhausted from repeating the last few months’ events repeatedly in the last 48 hours. It was nothing against anyone. He’d just come to live with the story more freely, and had lost the words in doing so.

Didn’t mean he forgave the Gems, however. Peridot and Spinel’s capture were both not so living proof of their inability to hear others out.

From Bismuth’s statement, Steven did begin to wonder what his former “ team” was spending their time on nowadays. He wondered if they even cared about his disappearance. They probably would have discovered him by now. “Well they were pretty darn close.” The Gems were more likely concerned with other things; The whereabouts of the Diamonds and other Homeworld Gems, the occasional corrupted gem lurking around Beach City… Malachite.

Lapis.

A sickly feeling brewed in Steven’s throat. “Please be okay,” his thought was directed to Lapis.

He tried to pull himself from his thoughts by staring up at Bismuth again. She softly smiled in concern. “So is this all who’s left?”

“I guess so.”

Steven and his new friends weren’t exactly the Crystal Gems, were they? No. They were something entirely new. Just a little group originating from the infamous rebellion. He was connected with the Gems, but not as much as before.

“Aww. That’s unfortunate.” Bismuth had a raw expression of sympathy, while the concerned glint in her eyes remained. Steven nodded slowly in agreement. Because it certainly was unfortunate that everything spiraled out like this.

Bismuth sighed, staring to the side like her mind wasn’t present anymore. A shadow fell over her face as another cloud appeared. After a moment, Bismuth turned back to Steven and his group of misfit friends, a new gleam of hope in the air around her.

“So, what are you up to nowadays?”

“Eh, right now we’re working on tracking down a dangerous fusion somewhere in the ocean. We’re also trying to stop a dangerous geo-weapon that the Diamonds placed inside the Earth. Both are really important.”

A glow of determination began to form in Bismuth’s soul. “Sure sounds like it.” She placed her hands on her hips and gave another bright grin to the group. Bismuth turned around to face the organized bits of what would hopefully become a world saving drill.

“Those are the parts we’re using to create a counter-weapon for the geo-weapon, called the Cluster,” Explained Shinsou. He was being surprisingly verbal compared to the first few hours of his residency in the barn. “It’s not much right now but we’re making progress.”

“Well, do you think we should start putting this together?” Bismuth challenged, raising her eyebrow in excitement.

“Of course! We’re saving the world!” Steven replied, holding his fist above his head. He grinned widely. Eri and Shinsou then stood, pumped to work for another day. “Let’s get to it.”

The entire group proceeded to make their way towards the blackboard once again. Within minutes, Bismuth got the gist of Peridot’s plans for the drill, rushing along to begin assembling said machinery. While Bismuth was doing this, Steven offered Eri and Shinsou some food from his bag. Eri accepted, while Shinsou denied the request due to the fact that he was already fully prepared with food and water of his own.

“You have actual water bottles?” Steven laughed, staring at his lackluster empty water bags.

“I came prepared with almost anything I could need. Water, food, money, clothes… whole bunch of other stuff,” Shinsou matter-of-factly replied. “You don’t? I think I might have overpacked a bit. I have enough to share.” 

Eri stared up with interest, holding a half-eaten candy bar in her hand. “That would be really great… Thank you…” In response, Shinsou unzipped his large backpack and took out two water bottles, handing them to both Steven and Eri.

Quickly, Steven chugged half of the bottle and placed it in his cheeseburger backpack. He felt bad for making Bismuth wait for assistance, and felt obliged to finish breakfast quickly and help her out as soon as possible. Because of this, Steven dashed to Bismuth’s location and asked, “Do you need any help with anything?”

“Can you go get that metal part over there?” Bismuth asked. Steven nodded, skipping off to go retrieve the requested part. He snatched it from the grass and hastily ran up to Bismuth again, holding it up to her. “You can just set it on the floor there. Can you also find some medium bolts?” Yet again, Steven fetched the parts within a few seconds.

By now, Eri was finished with her breakfast and approached Steven with a few more pieces in her hands. “I thought we might need these. Is that okay?”

She placed several parts originating from Pink Diamond’s garden on the floor in front of her. Bismuth smiled down at the young girl. “You really paid attention to the designs, didn’t you?” Eri slowly nodded. “I can tell.” A proud sheen formed in the disillusioned Eri’s eyes.

“I think I know what parts would be good to grab next, so I’ll go and get those…” While shuffling away, Eri seemed to have a slightly more confident way of carrying herself. She nearly disappeared while going to retrieve the pieces she desired.

As soon as Eri was out of earshot, Bismuth began to speak, “Both of them are humans, right?”

“Exactly,” Said Steven.

“They’re a really bright bunch.”

Steven softly smiled. “I know.”

“I think you make a good leader.” And yet Bismuth barely knew him. Perhaps it was because she knew Rose many thousands of years ago? Steven’s mind still couldn’t break away from the fact that he found Bismuth in Lion’s mane. With Mom- Rose’s stuff. Bubbled away in a place where the other Crystal Gems couldn’t access her. As if the Gems tried to hurt Bismuth and Rose needed to lock her up for her own safety. Maybe she said something that made the Gems mad? It wouldn’t surprise him. 

He thought back on Lapis while staring up at the bright July sky. She was trapped in a mirror and hidden away. Just like Spinel. Just like Bismuth.

“Yeah…” Steven muttered, staring off at nothing in particular.