"Hyah!" With a mighty swing of his sword a green clad warrior swept away a wave of enemies. Bright and shiny coins rained down as his spoils and he moved onto a new section of the volcanic cave he was set to protect.
The shing of metal and several unintelligible grunts sounded from the tv screen in Steven Universe's room, the young Gem sitting a few inches from it rapidly tapping a series of buttons on his game controller. So involved was he that he didn't hear the sound of the warp pad activating downstairs and Pearl calling to him that she and Garnet had returned from their mission.
"Steven?" She called, climbing up the stairs to find him. She stopped short when she caught sight of his video game. "What on earth are you playing?"
"Stormshire Soldiers- yeah! Finish him off!" Steven stuck his tongue out as he sliced through a boss. "It's a cool new war game that's super fun."
Pearl however was less amused. "A game of war? How is that fun?"
"It just is. Look, you get coins for beating up the bad guys that you can use to buy cool stuff." Steven pointed to the screen.
Amethyst poked her head up from the first floor. "I wish that's how it worked in real life."
Steven paused his game and looked at her. "But we get gems from monsters."
"Yeah, but you can't buy stuff with them."
Pearl sighed and shook her head. "War is not meant to be fun. It's dangerous and can lead to countless, unnecessary deaths."
"It's only a video game. Besides, it's not like wars happen in Beach City." Steven looked up at her.
"Yeah, anymore." Amethyst snorted.
Steven frowned and put down his controller. He paused and suddenly got a smile. "Oh yeah, how did your mission go?"
Pearl brightened up in an instant. "Wonderfully! It turns out that the outpost is still in perfect condition."
"Really?" Steven gushed, stars in his eyes. "Can we visit it? I wanna go."
"Are you sure you're not too busy with your 'war game'?" Pearl questioned, a sly little smile on her face.
"No way, this is way cooler!" Steven hopped up and started down the stairs. "Oh, hold on." He jogged back up to save his game and turn it off before racing downstairs to the warp pad.
"You can't say he has no enthusiasm." Pearl mused with a smile.
"Come on guys!" Steven yelled from the pad, bouncing up and down where he stood.
Amethyst was the first to join him. "Should we bring Garnet along?"
"I think we'll be okay. We did a thorough check while we were out." Pearl assured her as she stepped onto the warp pad. Bright light briefly engulfed them as they were transported.
"Whoa!" Steven gasped when they arrived. They had appeared in a great hall of polished stone, marble columns lined all in a row and at its end a statue of a hooded woman stood with a staff in her hands. He stepped off the pad and turned to look all around. "It's amazing!" He jumped when he heard his voice echoing through the hall.
Steven grinned. "It's just like part of Stormshire Soldiers."
Pearl's proud smile faltered slightly at his comment. "Perhaps, but these halls have seen real war. And this is only the entrance hall." She started leading their little tour group deeper into the outpost past vast stairways that led endlessly upwards and large bunker like areas, all decorated with crystal spikes that emitted their own light. The whole networking system glowed a warm and inviting shade of green that Steven had never seen with his own eyes.
"What is this place?" Steven breathed, not knowing he'd spoken aloud.
"Rose called it the Infirmary. She and other gems with healing abilities created it after seeing human hospitals." Pearl explained, her eyes misting with memories from years past. She shook her head to keep from reminiscing and gasped. "Amethyst! Leave that statue alone!"
Amethyst groaned from where she had been climbing on a statue of a Gem with her hands outstretched. She had been pretending that the statue was strangling her and dropped back to the ground. "You never let me have any fun."
Steven was laughing but Pearl frowned at her. "It's not 'fun' to disrespect your fellow Gems. Chrysoprase was a hero to more Crystal Gems than you could count."
"Yeah, well then where is she now?" Amethyst countered, placing her hands on her hips.
Pearl was taken aback and looked away. "I… I don't want to talk about it."
An awkward silence ensued and Steven looked between them. "Hey, let's keep looking around." He said to try and cheer them up. "I bet you there's cool stuff in the other rooms."
"Alright." Pearl conceded.
They set off once more into the outpost. Meanwhile Pearl set it upon herself to give a brief history lesson on the ancient grounds. It had been carved into a mountain in the Andes mountain range during a war with what she only described as "a group of bad gems" to give shelter to any wounded Crystal Gem, and she talked about how Rose and Chrysoprase had formed it there together in the hopes that it would be a safe haven deep within the rock at a time when the "bad gems" had managed to seal off Rose's healing fountain. As interesting as it was (and Steven had to admit it was pretty cool to know his mom had helped to make such a grand and wonderful place) he found himself spacing out during her explanation. He still heard her voice but it drowned into a dull buzzing. Steven kept glancing around at the many statues that appeared in each hall, wanting to memorize every detail. Even if the gem carved out of stone had gone, he wanted know what they had been like.
While Amethyst joked about something Pearl had said involving another gem they'd known, something caught Steven's eye. He glanced at the pair who paid no attention to him as they bickered and slipped down a side hall to investigate it. Despite Pearl's report it looked like part of the hall had collapsed in on itself, crushing a statue until he could no longer recognize a face on it. He took a few steps closer to inspect it when a rumble shook the mountain post, sending dust and pebbles from the ceiling.
"Steven!" Came Pearl's cry from far off. The young gem panicked and looked back the way he came. Another quake rocked the hall and rock exploded from above, the hall he'd come in through caving in.
Steven cried out and ducked behind the crumbled statue, and just in time. A shrill whirring sound like a dentist's drill broke through the sound of debris settling. Emerging from the wreckage was a great beast that stood as tall as the ceiling several yards above him. When Steven peeked out to get a look at it he could only describe it as a giant badger with metallic claws. On its head instead of a set of eyes was one giant faceted stone with stripes like a tiger. It gleamed in the crystal lighting and lit up with a bright orange light as the creature swung its head around. It lumbered a few feet away from where it had emerged, keeping its snout low and moving his head here and there.
"Wait a minute," Steven whispered to himself. "It can't see me…"
But he spoke too soon. The badger turned towards where he was hiding and screeched, scaring Steven out of his skin. It dove in his direction and spun in the air, bringing its claws together to form a drill. He leaped out of the way just as it crashed into the caved in wall behind him and tunneled its way through the rock.
"Pearl!" Steven shouted as he ran down another hall.
"Steven!" Pearl's voice was far off, almost an echo of her reply.
Steven kept running, turning here, climbing a staircase there. At one point he hit a dead end and scrambled to go back the way he'd come. "Oh, why are there so many tunnels!"
He turned a tight corner and ran right into Amethyst, falling onto his back. He shook his head and looked up. "Ame- Hey!" He squirmed when Amethyst hoisted him over her shoulder.
"No time, big monster, gotta go!" She shouted at him, taking off down the hall.
Steven lifted his head to see Pearl facing the badger creature the way Amethyst had come. "Pearl! Amethyst we have to go back and help her!"
"Nuh uh, she can handle it! We've gotta get Garnet!"
"If she needs Garnet's help then she needs our help!" Steven struggled and slipped out of Amethyst's grip, running back towards Pearl.
"Steven!" Amethyst shouted but he didn't stop.
Pearl leaped up when the badger brought his claws down on where she was standing, using her spear to stab the top of its head and vault over to land behind it. But just as she'd landed it spun around and swatted her into one of the columns with enough force to break it. She collected herself in time to see the metal claws speeding towards her, but before they connected a flash of red appeared and Steven stood over her with his bubble wrapped around the two.
"Steven! You're supposed to be going back with Amethyst!" Pearl cried, hysterical. If he got hurt she'd never forgive herself.
"You can't fight it alone." Steven said with a serious face. "But I'll try to stay out of the way."
Pearl hesitantly gave a nod. "Alright."
Their moment was cut short by the monster striking their protective bubble, eliciting a loud twang. Pearl looked up at Steven. "On my count let go of your bubble and run down to the end of the hall. Be ready to use your shield."
Steven nodded and crouched down to run. "Ready?" Pearl asked, glancing between Steven and the badger, waiting for the perfect moment. To her time slowed until she saw it begin to raise its claw back from one of its strikes. "NOW!"
Steven let his bubble disappear and made a break for it, pushing himself to run as fast as he could while Pearl jumped up onto the badger's arm. She ran up the length of the appendage and jabbed at the badger's head. It roared and clawed at its own head to grab her but she had already leaped out of its reach. Pearl dashed to the side before it could sense her presence on the ground and dove between its feet to attack it from behind. She kept it busy for as long as she could. Usually fatal strikes became less and less powerful. She moved gracefully about to confuse the beast, always just in sight of its tiger-like gem.
But alas, hesitance made way for vulnerability. And repetition made her predictable. Just as she was ready to drive it towards Steven to give the final blow it landed a hit dead on, knocking her aside.
"Pearl!" She could hear Steven call her name from down the hall. Steven started to run towards her but a hand pushed him back. "Garnet?" He looked up but the woman he saw was not his familiar friend. Hair the color of ash, skin a pale green. But she did seem a bit familiar to him…
The stranger raised her hand to her chest and drew out a staff, though the image of it fizzled and broke as he tried to focus on it. She took a stance and pointed it at the beast, and suddenly he knew – one of those statues had been of her! "Hey Tiger's Eye!"
The badger froze mid swing and turned its head to look at her. It roared and raced towards her. She raised the staff and a brilliant blast of green light fired from the crystal on its head to crash straight into the beast's skull. The force of the blast sent it flying back into the wall at the end of the corridor, and it exploded in a spray of orange sparks, leaving only its gem behind.
Steven's jaw was on the floor. He turned to the stranger to ask who she was but his voice died when he saw she'd dropped to the floor. "Oh no!" He knelt down beside her and turned her over onto her stomach. "Are you alright?"
The woman groaned and grabbed at her chest. Now that she was lying still he could see that she really was a gem, with a bright emerald over her heart. It was riddled with cracks even worse than Lapis' had been when they'd met.
"Steven, get back." Pearl said as she limped over, leaning on her spear. She stopped to look at the newcomer and dropped her spear. "O-Oh my goodness… Emerald!" She ran the rest of the way over and gently picked the woman up in her arms. Emerald's body was starting to melt slowly. "No, please, stay with me!"
"Pearly?" She whispered.
"Y-Yeah, it's me." Pearl smiled painfully, looking around and then at Steven. Her eyes widened. "Steven! Steven you need to fix her gem!"
"Wha? But I can't!" He said in a panic. "It's gone, remember!"
"You've got to try!"
"Hey, what's going on?" Amethyst called as she and Garnet ran up. They stopped short with shock on their faces.
Pearl ignored them, looking to Steven with a plea in her eyes. "You have to try…"
Steven looked down at Emerald and forced back a whimper. He had to try, because otherwise she might die! He squatted down beside her and worked up enough spit to put on his hand. He took a deep breath and pressed it against her cracked gem, waiting. And waiting. Seconds ticked by and he grew anxious.
Then all at once a warm light shone and flashed so bright that he had to look away. When he could see again Emerald's eyes were bright and the cracks in her gem had sealed. She sat up on her own and looked down at her newly reformed gem.
"It's… It's whole again…" Emerald whispered. Tears sprung up in her eyes and she looked to Steven. "Who are you?"
Steven was grinning from ear to ear. He had his magic back! "My name's Steven."
"Steven?" She echoed. "But… you're a gem?"
Pearl laid her hand on Emerald's shoulder. "There's so much to explain. We all thought you were dead, or worse." Her voice was wavering and she cleared her throat. "But you're safe now."
Garnet spoke up. "Let's get you home."
Pearl helped Emerald to stand and began to lead her to the warp pad, Amethyst and Steven walking behind her. Garnet collected the tiger's eye gem before following them there.
When they'd returned to the beach house Pearl took Emerald to her room so they could catch up and Garnet went to her respective room. Amethyst bugged Steven to start playing Stormshire Soldiers again – or in her own words, "Dumbshire Losers" – to entertain her.
Steven looked down at the remote for the game, thinking back to how they'd fought the Tiger Badger in the Infirmary. Pearl had said real war had real losses, and they'd almost lost his new friend. "I think I've had enough fighting for a long time."
I'll keep this note short and sweet if I can. This is the first installment of what I imagine will become a series of one shots around OCs I've created for Steven Universe. The cover is my own art of Emerald and I tried to stay true to the SU art style. I may link a small gallery of art featuring my OCs as the story progresses to help the readers visualize them better. The best way to read this story is to picture each chapter as an actual episode of the show, which should hopefully explain why they're all short. Along with animated tidbits that wouldn't translate well to words, it's only supposed to last about fifteen minutes since each SU episode is only fifteen minutes long. And starting from here the story will follow the canon storyline up until On the Run since that is as far as I've gotten in the series, occasionally adding in crucial information that might fit into the canon I will set in the story.
Although I have most of the story already planned, I'd certainly love to hear any and all ideas you as the readers/viewers might want to see, and by all means I would love ideas for OCs to add in as the story progresses. All I ask is that, should I decide to use your idea, you allow me to manipulate and write them however I feel works best for the story and that you limit OC submissions to my PM inbox (which will always be open). I love hearing feedback and ideas from other equally creative people.
Oh, and let me know if you understand what Stormshire Soldiers is referencing. I couldn't help but add it in there.