Chapter One
The Ultimate Sacrifice
Time was ticking and Rose Quartz knew it.
Her belly was becoming larger and larger as the months went by.
She wanted to tell Greg.
She needed to tell Greg.
But she couldn't.
He wouldn't be able to handle it. He's just a hu-
No, he isn't just a human.
He is Greg Universe, the most amazing man that Rose had ever met.
He was the first human she felt truly in love with. If it wasn't for Greg, than who knows what she would be doing for the rest of her existence on Earth.
She had to tell the Crystal Gems too. They needed to hear that their leader, the one that they stood behind for millennia, the one told them to rebel against their home planet, the one who had led armies of other Gems to their demise, was no longer going to exist as she was.
She was going to become part of something new.
Something amazing.
Something that no one thought would be possible.
She was going to give birth to a human child.
She felt the child, her child, forming within her body. She needed to tell everyone she had cared about.
She needed to tell Greg. It is also his child, so he needs to know.
Greg would often come by the temple at night. He was trying to find a way to make money to provide for himself, as well as his future child. He had bought books upon books on how to raise a child properly, everyday becoming more and more excited in becoming a father.
Rose stood outside the temple doors, as she usually did, waiting for Greg. The others were in the temple, ordered by Rose to stay there until she finished talking with Greg. There was no audible complaints from any of the other Crystal Gems, but there was a sense of tension in the air that all of them could feel.
Rose saw the familiar van come into view and waved as she saw Greg come out of the van. He waved back as he grabbed some papers and some books, taking them over to Rose.
"So how was your day, Greg?" Rose asked, starting the conversation off as normal as she could.
"Great!" Greg began excitedly, "I found an old car wash for sale, I found ideas for a house, and I even picked up a book of baby names that we could use!"
"You couldn't think of a name for our child on your own?" Rose asked jokingly.
"Well no it's not that, it's just…" Greg stammered, until Rose laughed. She always loved how bashful he became when she asked questions about their child.
"Oh ha ha, very funny Rose," Greg said, trying to keep a serious face, but failing horribly.
"So what names are you thinking about?" Rose asked, still trying to find a way to tell Greg about her fate.
"Well if the baby's a girl than I'm thinking Rose or Marie or if it's a boy than Greg Jr. or Otis," Greg said as Rose looked through the book of baby names. One stood out to her clearly.
"I like Steven," Rose said as she looked at the name in the book.
"Steven?" Greg asked, finger on his chin, "Steven Universe…I like the way that soun-"
Greg stopped, leaving Rose to look at him with concern.
"I-I-It's a boy?" Greg asked nervously.
Rose smiled and nodded. She didn't know for sure, but she felt that their baby would be a boy.
"WOOOOOOO I'M GOING TO HAVE A BOY!" Greg shouted as he ran around the temple, arms in the air. Rose giggled at the sight, until she remembered what she had to tell Greg.
The thought of this brought tears to Rose's eyes, which was immediately noticed by Greg, who stopped cheering and ran to check on her.
"Is something wrong?" Greg asked softly.
Rose took a deep breath and looked at Greg. The concern in his eyes only made Rose feel even guiltier for keeping this from him for so long.
"Greg…" Rose began, "I'm…I'm…I'm not going to be able to…to be able to…"
She couldn't continue. Greg placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, "You can tell me, Rose."
Another deep breath.
"I'm not going to be able to raise our child with you," Rose said quickly.
Greg was shocked, "W-w-wait what?!"
Rose continued, "In order for our son…our Steven…to exist, I need to sacrifice my physical form to provide the energy he needs to exist."
"I-I-I don't understand," Greg stammered, tears in his eyes.
"I cannot exist with our son," Rose said, tears freely flowing as well, "In order for him to live, I must give him my life."
Silence followed the temple. Neither Greg nor Rose knew what to say next.
"How long…?" Greg asked, in a whisper so quiet that Rose couldn't hear.
"How long?" Rose replied.
"How long until Steven is born?" Greg asked, a bit louder this time.
Rose looked at her belly and said, "I would say two weeks."
"Plenty of time," Greg said, now smirking.
"Plenty of time for what?" Rose asked, now concerned.
"Rose, I have an idea, but I need some time to set everything up," Greg said, gathering his papers.
"What are you doing?" Rose replied, worried.
"Rose…" Greg said as he looked at the tall woman, "If Steven needs a physical body to be able to be born, I want it to be mine."
Rose was shocked, "What?! No, that's not possible!"
"It isn't supposed to be possible for us to even have a kid, but look!" Greg said as he pointed to Rose's belly, "I would give anything to make sure Steven is born, even my own body if that's what it takes!"
"I can't ask you to do that!" Rose said, tears now falling to the ground.
"ROSE!" Greg yelled, silencing Rose.
He took a deep breath and said, "A child needs a mother. Someone he can go to when he has a nightmare, someone who can tell him that everything is going to be alright, someone who can make sure he stays safe."
Greg's tears were falling to the floor, "He isn't going to be like the other kids. He's going to be someone amazing! You would know what's best for him, not some shmuck like me."
"You don't have to do this…" Rose said trailing off.
Greg grabbed her hands and said, "I want to do this. Let me do this for you and Steven."
Greg pulled her down for a kiss. It was a long one, one that Rose didn't want to stop.
Greg stopped the kiss and began to walk to his van, "I need to take care of some things. You tell the Gems everything."
Rose simply nodded as she watched the man that she loved get into the van. She waited until the van was out of sight when she sat down, hands in face, tears in her eyes.
The sound of the temple door opening had Rose, quickly wiping her eyes and stood up.
"Rose?" a familiar voice asked with concern.
"Yes, Pearl?" Rose replied.
"Is everything alright?" Pearl asked, noticing the van tracks leaving the temple.
"Pearl," Rose said, grabbing Pearl's attention, "I need you to grab the others, I have something to tell you all."
…
Greg knew what he was going to do was probably the dumbest idea he ever had.
He knew that he was essentially giving his life to make sure his son could exist.
Could he go through with it? Did he have the courage to do it?
He looked at the payphone he was standing by and sighed. He fished around in his pocket for some loose change, and slowly placed the quarters in.
He dialed the number from a scrap paper he had lying in his van and heard the phone ring. He hoped that it wasn't too late.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
"Thank you for calling Empire City Insurance, this is Tim, how may I assist you?" the voice on the other end of the line said.
"Yes I would like to make a life insurance policy?" Greg said.
"Of course sir, we have several plans available…" the agent Tim began.
"What's the biggest plan you got?" Greg interrupted.
"Well that would be our $250,000 plan with a starting monthly payment of…" Tim began again.
"I'll take that one," Greg interrupted again.
There was a moment of silence when Tim responded, "Sir are you under duress?"
"What, no I'm not!" Greg exclaimed.
"Don't worry sir, this is a safe place. If you have a weapon to your body or are being threatened I can call the police and…" Tim said, in a worried tone.
"I am not being held hostage!" Greg yelled.
"Ok sir, ok. Please calm down. I need your name." Tim responded, still unsure if Greg was telling the truth.
"Greg Universe," Greg said in an annoyed tone.
Another silence, "Sir, I need your real name for this policy."
"THAT IS MY REAL NAME!" Greg screamed.
"Alright sir, alright. And the name of your next of kin?" Tim said, sounding scared.
"Rose Quartz Universe," Greg said, trying to calm himself down.
"Ok, sir we will need you to come into our offices to provide more information, as well as to make the first payment within one week of this call. The policy will then take up to three days to take effect," Tim said.
'Plenty of time' Greg thought.
…
The two weeks seemed to pass by like a flash. Amethyst was outside waiting in the early morning sun for Greg to show up.
The Crystal Gems haven't seen him at all in the entire two weeks, and they were all worried.
When they heard the news about what Greg was planning to do, they were all shocked by it. Pearl naturally thought it wasn't possible, but Garnet interjected with bringing up the fact that Gem and humans shouldn't have been able to create a child at all.
Garnet thought that there was a possibility of it having some success, but Garnet also knew that there was a larger chance of Greg not being able to do what he had wanted to do.
Amethyst wasn't sure how to deal with the situation. The idea of losing one of her best friends was hurting her, and the idea of having him replaced by some kid didn't help at all.
Amethyst heard a familiar noise. She turned her head to see the van approaching the temple. She ran towards the van, and as Greg was leaving the van, she grabbed him in a big hug, tears down her eyes.
"Hey Amethyst," Greg said softly.
"Please don't go," Amethyst muffled through his shirt.
"Don't worry about me Amethyst, you need to worry about Steven," Greg replied.
"But –"Amethyst began, but was quickly cut off by Greg, "I know you don't want me to go, but I need you to be strong."
Greg gently pushed Amethyst away and walked to the back of his van, with Amethyst following closely. He tossed her a set of keys. She looked at these keys with confusion. It was a set of two keys and a large plastic yellow tag that had "A1" emblazoned in black.
"Those are keys to the storage shed. I have money coming in for you guys so you can either keep it or bring all the stuff here," Greg said as he pulled three large boxes out. One of the open boxes revealed a bunch of red shirts with yellow stars on them.
"I have a bunch of these in all sizes, so Steven at least has some clothes to wear," Greg continued. The sound of footsteps brought the two to see who was coming down. It was Pearl, looking sad, a look that Greg didn't like to see.
"Amethyst, can I speak with Greg for a moment?" Pearl said. She rarely used Greg's first name, so Amethyst knew it was important. She took one last look at Greg and walked back to the temple. When Amethyst was out of earshot Pearl began to speak.
"This is a bad idea and you know it," Pearl began.
"Yeah, I know," Greg said dryly.
"You know that this will hurt Rose more than anything she has ever experienced," Pearl continued.
"Yeah, I know," Greg repeated, annoyed at being berated.
Pearl sighed, "I will never understand you Mr. Universe. You are willing to risk your life for something that might not even work."
"Yeah, and?" Greg said, now frustrated.
A short silence.
"You have my utmost respect Greg Universe," Pearl said.
This gave Greg mental whiplash, "Wait what?"
"You heard what I said," Pearl replied, her face looking down, "You are willing to risk life and limb for someone that you truly love. You know that it may not work, but you will take that risk nonetheless to show you really love Rose and your son. If I were in your situation I would do the same thing."
"Really?" Greg asked, touched by Pearl's comments.
"Yes, I would," Pearl said, a blue tint on her cheeks.
Greg smiled and grabbed two small boxes from his van, one labelled "For Rose" and the other labelled "For Steven".
"Give these to Rose when I…you know," Greg said, handing the boxes to Pearl. She held onto them and nodded.
"Watch out for him ok?" Greg asked. Pearl nodded again, a small smile on her face and tears forming in her eyes.
Once Greg moved several boxes to the temple's entrance, the warp pad beamed. Out from it came Garnet, holding a bubbled Gem. Pearl went to Garnet, whispered in her ear, and walked back into the temple.
Garnet walked to Greg who said, "Hi Garnet,"
"Hello Greg," Garnet replied in her usual soft monotone.
The two stood in silence for a moment until Greg asked, "Hey Garnet, can I ask you something?"
"Of course," Garnet replied.
"Can you see what Steven will be like?" Greg said, his voice cracking as he said it.
Garnet adjusted her visor and placed her hand on Greg's shoulder, "He will be a wonderful child, one who will defy expectations. He will be strong, kind, and will love the whole world no matter what obstacles he faces."
Tears formed in his eyes, which for Greg seemed to be a routine at this point. Garnet removed her visor, revealing her three eyes, and looked at Greg.
"We will look after him Greg. He will not come under harm as long as we're around," Garnet continued. Greg looked into her eyes and saw all three welling up with tears.
"Thank you Garnet, I needed to hear that," Greg said, wiping the tears on his shirt. Before either of them could say anything a scream of pain was heard throughout the temple. The two ran to the door as quickly as they could.
The two entered the temple and saw Rose lying on a bed made from clouds. Pearl was holding one Rose's hands and Amethyst was holding the other. Greg ran to Rose and asked, "Is it time?"
Rose nodded, screaming in pain again.
"What do I do, what do I do, what do I do!?" Greg asked frantically. Garnet grabbed one of Greg's hands and placed on Rose's gem. Greg nodded and placed his other hand onto the gem.
"Concentrate on the gem Greg!" Garnet exclaimed.
Greg put all of his focus onto the gem.
He looked at Rose. She looked at him.
"I love you!"
"I love you tooOOOOOO!"
A bright light blinded the other gems. They all covered their eyes, waiting for the light to stop.
A loud crying was heard.
A baby cry.
Pearl was the first one to look. Her vision was blurred for only a moment when she saw something unbelievable.
Rose was panting on the bed she laid on, holding a small bundle of blankets.
Greg however was nowhere to be seen.
He had done it.
He had done the impossible.
Amethyst and Garnet opened their eyes as well as they saw that Greg had succeeded in his mission.
The three Crystal Gems looked to their leader, tears in all of their eyes, to see that Rose Quartz, leader of the rebellion against Homeworld, holding a baby in her arms.
A beautiful, crying baby.
Rose looked at the black haired baby, who looked back at her and immediately stopped his crying.
Rose felt true happiness and true sorrow all at once.
Her tears began to fall instead of the baby's, as she embraced him as tightly as she was physically able.
"Steven…my beautiful Steven."
…
And that will end it guys. This was a request by user 93MANIAC, who wanted a story about what if Greg gave his life for Steven instead of Rose. I thought it was a neat idea so I took the request. Hopefully this story is a great one.
This will be a long one, as we follow Steven and his adventures if they were to happen if this particular scenario played out in the series.
As always, thanks for reading, review if you liked it!
Peace.