Steven's Tale

A/N: Hey there! If you're reading this then welcome aboard. I'm going to do an experiment. I'm going to be writing a Steven Universe/Undertale crossover fanfic… for Nanowrimo! Which means at the end of each day I'll be updating this bad boy with as much progress as I can manage. Any day that I miss will be probably made up on the next day. By the way Author notes don't count into the grand tally.

As another note. This fic is SPOILER-TASTIC! Reading this will most definitely spoil the life out of Steven Universe and Undertale. I will be referencing events from all over Steven Universe and following Undertale's main story. You have officially been warned. The only bits of original stuff are the character interactions and some of the lore is going to be tweaked to reconcile the crossover.

50K words and a story to write. Let's start this bad boy off...


It had been an awesome mission! Steven and the Crystal gems saving the day and making the Earth safe! Another corrupted gem bubbled and sent back to the temple. The Gems were all chattering about some mishap that had occurred during said mission. Amethyst was ribbing Pearl about splitting the monster. She adamantly insisted that she only wished to divide and conquer. Garnet for her part listened in bemusement as she looked back towards Steven. A silly grin was stuck on the little boys face as he walked behind the gems to the warp pad. He had done his shield and bubble a grand total of ten times! Sure he was red in the face and shaking a bit but it was totally worth it.

"Steven," Garnet called as her shorter compatriots got up onto the warp pad, "Why don't we have some ice cream when we get back. We couldn't have gotten that gem without your help."

"Really!" Steven exclaimed. Garnet never said anything she didn't mean outright. Steven had been pleased but now he was over the moon! He couldn't wait to tell Connie!

"Yes, if you hadn't used your shield on that monster it'd never have poofed and we'd still be chasing!" Pearl noted. Steven's silly grin widened at the thought of being the one who saved the day.

"Ch'yeah, that thing wouldn't stop moving." Amethyst punctuated her statement with a firm thumbs up and winning smile. Steven's little heart near exploded right then and there.

"Okay!" He cried whilst bounding up to the warp pad. Today had been the best! he thought as the Gems signaled for him to start the warp. A deft wave of his hands and they were off in a blaze of light.

...until the speeding form of a gem monster crashed into the warp stream! It shrieked as it snatched Steven from the stream. Pearl's face stretched into a visage of maternal fear as Garnet moved to grab Steven. Amethyst had just formed her weapon when Steven and the gem monster careened out of the stream and into the void! The last thing Steven saw as he looked back at them were the gems desperately reaching for him, each face a mixture of horror, outrage and determination before they vanished behind a veil of flowing energy.

Steven watched as they plummeted through warp space. Streams were streaking their ways all around him and he hoped dearly that he'd land somewhere he knew. He looked down at his kidnapper in rage. Pearl had called it a Nurse Gem one that would've welcomed newly emerged gems into the world at a kindergarten and would brief them on their place in gem society. It was a blob with it's gemstone as an eye within it with a toothy mouth. A large protrusion at it's behind seemed to allow it to propel itself like a rocket.

"Where are you taking me?!" Steven called out. The monster took no notice of his words...

"Please let go!" Steven wailed, "Please! I know where I'm supposed to be! So could you please let me go?"

The monster murmured something to itself but seemingly obliged. Vertigo and disorientation greeted Steven as he began to fall. The monster rocketed off into warp space as he found himself starring at a stream headed right for him. He closed his eyes and braced himself as the current of the stream took him...

...into darkness. That was the first thing to greet him when he opened his eyes. He swallowed hard and thought back to the temple. I'm still on the pad. All I need to do is will myself home. Just gotta focus-

"Howdy!" Steven took off running at the sound of the voice behind him. The sound of his sandals floppy slaps on the ground echoed strangely as he ran. He wished that the gems were there. They'd know what to do. But they weren't there. They were back at the temple without a clue of where he was. If he was going to get out of this... he was going to have to do it himself.

He skidded to a halt and steeled himself. He called forth thoughts of his adoptive mommies and how they'd always protected him and helped him out. That feeling of security and warmth finally blossomed in his mind as he willed power into them. A crimson glow lit the chamber and a rose pink shield formed at his side. His brow knitted in a frown of determined defiance Steven studied the darkness sternly,

"Show yourself!" He demanded as he lowered himself into a battle stance like Pearl had taught him. Then he waited.

"Wow... You must be new to the underground!" called a voice from the dark, "You must be so confused, someone ought to help you out!"

The saccharine nature of the voice unnerved Steven. The way it came from all around him just made him shiver. He knew he could just pull out his bubble but his strength was waning. A bubble would wipe him out completely and he'd be slumped on the ground exhausted without any way to escape!

Just then his enemy came into view... or more precisely sprang from the ground. It was a... flower. A daisy. Steven stared quizzically at the common plant but kept his shield up. He'd faced enough chlorofiends to be taken in by such an innocuous appearance.

Well he was until the little flower sprouted a face and talked! "My names Flowey, Flowey the Flower!"

"Aww, Well aren't you just the cutest wittle flower ever!" He beamed at it, "What's a little guy like you doing in a dark place like this?"

"Greeting newcomers to the underground!" it chirped at him. "I couldn't help noticing that you're a human!"

"Hm? Oh yeah, But I'm also a gem, See" Steven lifted his shirt to display the glowing red gemstone where his navel would've been. The flower's face brightened both literally and emotionally at it.

"Wow, That's really something." "I know right!"

"but you know what's more awesome, Gaining Levels!" The flower remarked,

"Levels? like in a game?" Steven replied,

"Oh Sure, exactly like a game!" THe flower grinned up at him, "But to do that you need yourself some Experience Pellets!"

"Oh like XP in a real game!" Steven cried ecstatically, "Where can I get some of those? Do I gotta beat up some monsters or save some princesses?"

"Oh I'll give you some. Just a friendly way to welcome newbies into the underground." On cue five blazing white spheres manifested around the flower in a sort of halo. Steven stared starstruck at the mystical spheres as Flowey sent them at him. He spread his arms out to absorb them...

And was blown back to the ground with pain lancing through him. His concentration absolutely broken, the shield left him and his gem flickered off as the darkness took him and Flowey.

"Hahaha, You stupid rube." THe flower sneered from the dark, "The first rule of the underground is simple, KILL OR BE KILLED!"

Spheres like the ones before coalesced around Steven in a ring of blazing white light. The boy blanched when he saw this. He closed his eyes and desperately called up the same comforting memories as before. This time of Garnet protecting him and Connie from that snowstorm, Amethyst saving him from the plant monsters at his mother's spring, and Pearl defeating a berserk fusion away from him. He willed what little power he had left into those memories and feelings their brought. He prayed that would be enough,

"Did you think I would pass up the opurtunity to kill you because you were nice?! HAH! DIE!" Steven opened his eyes and his features sagged. There was no bubble. He hadn't had enough left in him! He was definitely going to die out here. To a flower!

"Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, I'm sorry..." He closed his eyes and waited. Hot tears welled up in his eyes as he felt the bullets approach him. They hummed as they orbited him in a slowly constricting circle of doom. Tee sound only intensified as they became one solid ring of death rising in pitch.

And then the hum stopped. THe air was quiet. Steven ventured a peek as he opened his eyes. He saw a silvery white ball of flame barrel towards the flower. The loathsome plant yelped as it burrowed into the ground, the fireball crackled as it passed over it.

Oh no, what if it's something bigger! A dragon or maybe another gem monster! Oh man, I wish the gems were here!

"What a terrible trick! Attacking a sweet little boy like that!" The voice was lower pitched but Steven could tell it was a lady speaking. It reminded him of how the gems sounded, especially Garnet. From the dark with a small flame levitating near her came a large imposing figure... in a dress.

"Are you hurt, my child?" The matron made to approach him. Steven tensed but figured that if she wanted to she could nail him with that fireball whenever. Besides he couldn't actually move, he hurt too much for that.

"Ow..." Steven croaked from his prone position as the matron bent over his person.

"Oh good, you're body hasn't been damaged too..." She gasped, "You're... A gem!"

"Yup, I'm a gem, oof..." His effort at conversation awarded him a spike of pain as his chest struggled to draw breath.

"But you're... Oh nevermind. Let me take you to my home. It's not safe here." before he could protest the figure gently lifted him up into her arms. The alien yet familiar sensation of being cradled silenced him as the figure moved,

"My name is Toriel. I watch over the ruins for any who've fallen. I'm sorry I did not find you sooner."

"That's okay. At least you found me." Steven replied with a smile, "It's nice to meet you Toriel, My name's Steven."

"It's nice to meet you too." she replied warmly.


The duo passed through several rooms and passages after that. To Steven most of these places looked strangely similar to the Lunar Sea Spire, albeit without the deadly snails. Iconography similar to gem writing appeared on the walls and even the masonwork had something of gem culture in it. It was all very eerie to him. Thankfully Toriel ferried him through the more desolate regions of the ruins. Once they'd come to a long hallway, the motherly monster set him down.

"I think this is far enough." She remarked as Steven got his legs under him. She rose with a furrow in her brow, "We should be safer now that we're in 'Home.'"

"Home? You live here?" Steven spread his arms out around him, "This doesn't seem too inviting."

Toriel chuckled before shaking her head, "No no, the city we're in is called Home. My house is a bit farther in. How are you feeling?"

Steven touched his chest. The whole front of his shirt had been destroyed and the remaining bits of fabric hung like a unbuttoned shirt. His chest was still red and angry looking but all in all, Steven concluded he'd been subjected to worse. Thankfully his gem had been mostly spared aside from a single scuff mark which Steven blotted at with his spit. It didn't heal but it made him feel better.

"I'm alright." Steven replied as he looked up from himself. Toriel nodded in agreement as her face smoothed in relief,

"Good good, I was hoping to have you rest for a bit in the park while attend to some errands." She grinned warmly at him. Steven knew that grin all too well. It was the sort of clever smile the gems would have if they'd thought of something fun or nice to do with him. Not wanting to ruin the surprise young Steven opted to keep his thoughts off of his face,

"An underground park?" Steven remarked curiously. That was the sort of weird little quirk of some kind of charming science fiction or fantasy novel. Lord knows he'd read his fill of those with Connie when he'd been grounded from TV. Toriel chuckled to herself as she held out a hand to lead him. He took it,

"Yes, it suppose it's sort of weird to have a park underground. We call it the park down here but in all honesty it's simply a place where the forest above is visible through holes in the rock layer. There are some plants and such down here but it's nothing like the surface world." Toriel explained as the park itself came into view from beyond a chain link gate.

It was an odd sort of park. For one thing there were piles of leaves everywhere in varying stages of what Steven figured were decay. In places where there weren't leaves were small patches of dirt, lichens and exposed rock. The dirt had been collected into little flower beds with a few beds being filled with plants that had yet to bloom. The lichens were fuzzy and reminded Steven too much of dust bunnies which in turn reminded him of Pearl's predilection for cleanliness and tidiness. That is to say there weren't many dust bunnies to be found in his domicile.

Apart from the lichens and moss were a number of luminous mushrooms. Toriel was quick to explain that they were a common occurrence down in the underground and many areas were lit almost exclusively with them. She did note however that they would be needing to grind them up soon to be scattered over the compost. The Boss Monster did encourage the young gem to get a good look at them while they could because it'd be a while before he'd see them again. That last bit confused Steven but he figured it was a slip of the tongue or something. The blue light they did give off wasn't all that bright but it did help make the place slightly less dark. They didn't however help with the subtle ominous feeling he kept feeling.

There were a few monsters wandering the park. Some were tending to the plants with tool which Toriel explained were municipal workers employed by the city and crown to maintain civic beauty. Others were simple park goers. To Steven they looked strangely familiar and sinister.

Mind you most of them had the sort of appearance Steven was used to seeing on Gem monsters. Here they were however being amicable and sociable like he was used to with the Crystal Gems. Somewhere in him his heart ached for a small green monster he'd been forced to deem a lost cause… He cast that thought away quickly,

"I bet this must all look rather strange to you." Toriel noted as she blushed beneath her fur, "But this is the best Home can offer."

"I think it's pretty cool. It's like something out of a book." Toriel beamed at the comment.

"Well I'm glad that it suits you." She rummaged in a pouch that hung from her side, "Now I'm going to be giving you a cell phone so we can stay in contact."

"Uh…" Steven proceeded to pull out his own, "I already have a cell phone."

Toriel held up another. It was an older model that still flipped open and didn't have a touchscreen.

"Surface phones don't get very good signal down here. This one might be a bit old but it should still work." Steven reluctantly took it from her. The plastic felt strange and scuffed to him after he'd gotten so used to his own phone. He pocketed both phones. He did wonder why Toriel was giving the phone and why she was acting like she was.

"Now I'll be back in a few minutes. Then I'll take you home and we'll go from there. Is that okay?" Steven nodded but he could feel something was wrong with all this. He appreciated that she was helping him out but she was starting to act a bit too much like the Gems, like a mother. It felt nice but only Gems were allowed to be that way with him.

Before he could really voice any objection to her she'd vanished down a long passage way. He considered following but figured that if she'd just be coming back then there wasn't much point in doing so.

Steven resigned himself to exploring the park and talking to some of the monsters there.


"Ribbit Ribbit (Oh, a human)" cried an oddly large frog with two faces. Steven tried his best not to think of Gem mutants as he choose to look at the frog's real face, the top one. "Ribbit Ribbit (You're not here to beat us up are you?)"

"beat you up?" Steven was somewhat confused as to why the frog was coherent to him but he brushed it off as yet another gem quirk. When you live in a household with three aliens, a warping device, a quantum space capable door and hundreds of encapsulated dormant aliens you tend to get used to the weird being strangely normal. That and the frog clearly looked more scared of him which was rather telling given that it's lower face was having a little panic attack.

"Ribbit ribbit (Yes… the last time a human came through here he beat lots of monsters up! My brother was one of them that got the worst of it.)" Steven grimaced as he got down to face level with the frog. The lower face froze in alarm as the top face blinked impassively at him,

"I'm not going to hurt anybody." He replied, "My name's Steven, what's yours?"

"Ribbit Ribbit (My name is Froggit. It's very nice to meet you.)" The frog said and this time both of it's faces were hopeful in expression. Steven smiled warmly at this as his gem stone sparkled. The frog picked up on this with its lower face,

"Ribbit Ribbit (You're?! A gem?!)" This time both faces erupted into hysterical panic. The frog bounded over Steven, who ducked with a yelp, and ran off. This did not go unnoticed but by the time others had looked at Steven's gem had gone dark and all they saw was a human who'd scared off a frog. A few nasty looks came his way but most returned to their work or park going.

"Hey, what are you doing messing with Froggit!" Growled what looked like an eyeball with legs. Froggit, the large frog from before was cowering behind this monster. Steven was in a similar state but only from the memories of an eye that size. It looked to him like the Cluster Mutant Garnet and him had fought in the Kindergarten! Sure it was smaller but the terror of that moment crept into him once more.

"Stay back, I-I…" in a flash of rose colored light Steven called up his bubble. The spheres appearance served to halt the duo and alarm all those within the park. Municipal workers looked up from their work in a mix from surprise, interest and utter terror. The park goers were stunned until one of them let out a howling scream which set the whole park into an uproar.

Steven watched from the safety of his bubble as monsters ran around him. They were roaring, screeching and clawing at the bubble in their haste. THe unearthly ruckus only served to remind him further of the strange beings he'd encountered in the hospital with Connie and her mom. He wished she were here, she would've loved being on an adventure with him. And she'd have his mother's sword to help him out.

When the air was still again he let the bubble and his breath go. He shivered as he looked around him. There were a few monsters hiding from him in various bits of the park. There were leaves everywhere now as some monsters had crashed into the piles, scattering them. The flower beds had been pounded into compost and the light giving mushrooms had several caps torn if they stood at all.

He paled at the damage done around him. Sure he hadn't exactly been the one doing it but he'd frightened all those people! They'd done so much damage to the park! That wasn't right.

"Ring ring!" Steven Flinched at the sound of Toriel's phone going off. He uneasily answered it,

"Steven, are you alright?!" Her concerned voice came alongside a rush of wind and breath. "I heard that something's happened in the park! I'll be right there!"

"Toriel, I-I" Steven started, "I-"The call ended there however as silence answered him. He slapped the phone shut as he surveyed the scene around him. There was a small monster that looked like a cross between a ghost from pacman and a fairy. It was sobbing behind what looked like an overturned candy table with a small banner reading "Whimsalot's candy company! Be nice to my 'Sun."

Steven slowly approached the little monster and bent down. He knew he'd spooked it but he wanted to know why. Why did everything run screaming the moment they saw his bubble. Why did creatures here recognize him as a gem on sight?! And why was that important enough to make him freak out so hard!

"Hey there little guy," he tried. The whimsun looked up to see him. The moment it realized what it was looking at it started shaking so bad that Steven thought he'd given the poor thing a seizure. But given the lack of frothing at the mouth or dying Steven figured it was mostly okay… but he was sure that most creatures, gem or not, couldn't survive being that scared for long.

He backed off. His questions would have to wait because trying to get answers out of a creature about to go into cardiac arrest isn't such an effective strategy. It ends with something dying and you not getting your answer because your interrogatee had died on you.

It was at that moment that one of the plants in the undamaged flowerbeds uprooted itself. Steven stared in surprise as it yawned at him. It was a giant carrot or turnip, Steven wasn't particularly sure to be honest. The vegetable caught sight of him and hurried over by way of hopping,

"Hello there!" Steven started. The veggie blinked at him as he continued, "I was wondering if you could answer a few things for me since you live here and all."

The veggie cackled softly at Steven before exuding a strange glow not unlike Steven's gem. A line of blazing white carrots appeared before it. Steven's face paled at this as one of the carrots pointed at him before flying right at him! He dove to the side and the carrot whizzed by before dispersing into nothing.

He looked back up at the veggie to see more healthfood being launched at him. He hurriedly picked himself off the ground before running. The veggie frowned at him in what looked like confusion as it continued it's assault. Steven prayed that Toriel would hurry all the while wondering why a veggie was shooting magic death foods at him.

"STEVEN!" Came the blissful sound of the cavalry. A bolt of silvery white fire incinerated the remaining carrots as Toriel interjected herself between Steven and the veggie. When the veggie caught sight of her it stopped glowing. Like Steven's gem powers had done to the other monsters the veggie blanched before hopping away as it's tuberous body could carry it.

Toriel watched this with a hint of satisfaction in her. Steven breathed a very heavy sigh of relief and a vow to eat all of his veggies with a vengeance when he got home. Only when the veggie had disappeared did Toriel check on Steven. Her words had came out at a frantic pace with worry lacing them

"Are you hurt? I'm sorry I shouldn't have tried to leave you here. I knew I should've" She stopped herself as her thoughts apparently overwhelmed her. She shook herself with her ears flopping somewhat when she did that. "It's going to be alright now Steven. I'll take care not to do that again."

"Toriel, It's okay" he assured as he felt his heart rate slowing, "It's okay really!"

The boss monster studied him and slowly she calmed down. Steven could see her larger shoulders coming down from the cringe they'd been in before. Her whole face righted itself from the pained scrunch they'd been in before. It was a familiar sight to Steven as Pearl could and did get into fits every so often. The only real way to calm Pearl was to show her that he was alright.

Steven was glad that worked with Toriel, but then again she'd acted like a mother and he was used to dealing with three rather than one. This was easy compared to when he'd have to deal with the Gems after that incident with Sardonyx.

"Thank you Steven. I guess I lost my head pretty badly there." She joked as she started to take in her surroundings a bit more closely. The worry that had been there before came back in force but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been. A paw went to her mouth as the damage that had been wrecked on the part really sunk in. She'd turned her back on him for less than an hour!

"Goodness gracious, what happened here?" Steven's lips thinned and he frowned as he looked to the ground for answers. The scattered compost and brutalized plants held no response for him…

"Toriel, why did you look so surprised when you saw my gem?" Steven broached. The larger monster snapped up from the park before peering down at Steven.

"I um…" She looked around for an answer, "I read it in a book. We have lots here and some of them talk about the Gems that came to this world."

"But why did everyone in the park flip out when they saw my powers? Everyone was yelling and running away like I was some kind of monster! I-I-I-I didn't mean to scare anybody but that just happened!" Steven fumed suddenly at Toriel's attempt to withhold information from him. The Gem's had done something similar to preserve his own confidence and that had been alright because they'd been under so much stress. Toriel was trying to hide something to cover her own self and Steven wasn't having it.

Toriel took a step back. Steven hadn't really known it but his outburst had caused his gem to flare up. The glow was unnerving the larger monster. Toriel swallowed hard as she considered just how to deal with this,

"Steven, We know about Gems because a long time ago we were attacked by them." Steven stopped when he heard that but Toriel kept going, "It's been several thousand years since they did. At the time we had had strained relations with humans on the surface that didn't trust us. When war broke out against us we turned to the Gems for help."

A dark look came over Toriel's features, "But they simply set about helping the humans and we were pushed back."

"To escape all of that we constructed the underground and sealed ourselves in. The gems from what I understand later sealed us down here as well from their side. I know it's been a very long time since the war but we still teach that Gems are dangerous and that they waged war on us." Toriel paused there.

It was a lot to swallow for little Steven. He'd wanted answers but he hadn't been suspecting that their entire culture hated gems on a fundamental level! The idea that he was a symbol of death to these people filled him with dread. How was he going to make it home! He truly wished the Gems were here with him now. Garnet would take charge and have Pearl handle diplomacy, Amethyst would show them that they meant no harm by doing something cool and fun that'd get them to calm down.

But they weren't here. They were probably worried out of their stones looking for him.

"Steven, oh dear," Called Toriel, "I'm sorry you had to find out like that but we really must be going." She took him by the hand and began to walk. Steven followed, his head swimming from the ramifications of what Toriel had told him.


End of day 1

Word Count: 4750

Not bad for Day 1. It'll definitely give me enough time to write with a bit more consideration going forward. Hope you all stay tuned and hopefully leave something of a review. See you tomorrow!