Sadie was the first one to snap out of the shock.

"Okay, um—" she said, panic edging her voice while her face seemed calm. "Okay! Guys, we can manage this! We can—we can find a way to save them, okay? Um—Garnet, you're like the leader here, right?"

Garnet was still for a second. Then she lifted her chin.

"Right!" she declared. "Humans, get home and dry off. Make sure your families know you're safe."

"Yes, ma'am." Sadie nodded and took the hands of the two children beside her, tugging them toward the beach. "I-I'll make sure that Greg and Lars's parents know what's going on, too."

"Good. Amethyst, Pearl, tell Peridot and Lapis to get to work. We're going to save Steven."

Pearl didn't move. Amethyst grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the water.

"Wait, I'm going with them!" Connie insisted, yanking away from Sadie.

"Hey, wait, I think you still count as a human!" Sadie tried to pull her back.

"But I'm a Crystal Gem, too!" Connie cried. "Aren't I, Garnet?"

"It's too dangerous," Garnet said.

"I don't care! I have to help Steven!"

"Your parents are terrified as it is."

Connie gritted her teeth, glare hard, but then stepped back to run after Sadie. "I'll meet you at the barn after I tell them what's going on!"

She wouldn't. Her parents wouldn't let her. She'd try to convince them, sure, she'd even lie and try to make them think the situation would be less dire than it was. It wouldn't work.

So the humans were safe. Good. Garnet waded to the edge of the water. She'd warp straight to the barn and take charge of their new project. A spaceship would be a lot more difficult to build than a drill, but none of them were going to give up until—

"Um, Garnet?"

Garnet turned. Jamie the mailman was left in the water, chuckling sheepishly.

"I, um—this is awkward," he admitted. "I-I seem to still be paralyzed."

Wordlessly, Garnet walked back over to Jamie and picked him up, one arm across his back and the other under his knees.

"Oh, um—" Jamie blushed. "Thanks, I, uh—"

"You've moved on."

"I know, I have, it's just—sorry. I'm fine, I just—" He trailed off. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Garnet answered automatically.

"I mean, Steven's like—he's kinda like your son. And he just got abducted by aliens."

"We're going to rescue him."

"Heh." Jamie smiled. "Hard work and determination. Erm—you can put me down now."

Garnet dropped Jamie onto the beach. He landed with a flump and an "oof", then quickly jumped up and brushed sand off his clothes.

"Is there—" He cleared his throat. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You can finish your duty to the town," Garnet replied. "The first thing Steven'll want to do when he gets home—"

If he gets home.

"—is try on his new khakis."

Jamie brightened. "That's right, he's got a package from Distinguished Boy!" He struck a pose, one hand on his hip and the other pointing dramatically skyward. "As our hero adventures in the distant cosmos, his indebted citizens and fashionable trousers will wait faithfully behind, anticipating his triumphant return!"

His pose faltered a little as he realized, "Man, we are indebted. Steven just gave himself up for us." He looked at Garnet. "He saved all of us."

It wasn't a new statement. Garnet recalled a falling ocean, a daring jailbreak, a trusting Peridot, a bubbled Cluster.

"He's saved the whole planet more than once," Garnet said.

"I'm honestly not surprised. He's an impressive kid. I know I wasn't saving the world when I was fourteen." He shrugged. "Heck, I'm not even saving the world at twenty-seven."

Garnet rested her hands on her hips. "We can't all fight monsters. Someone's got to deliver the mail and star in the shows."

"That is true." Jamie grinned, but remaining shyness kept the smile from filling his whole face. "Thanks, Garnet. I guess I'll just...walk home now. Finish delivering the mail in the morning."

He turned, but hesitated. Garnet watched. She didn't need to use her future vision to see that he was nervous. He had just been kidnapped and almost killed by a huge and terrifying force far beyond his understanding, after all, and now he'd be walking alone to an empty home. If she did use her future vision, she could see him shaking the whole way and jumping at every shadow. But she could also see him being a little braver if she offers:

"I can go with you if you like."

"Oh, w-what? No, no, that's okay," Jamie excused hurriedly, waving his hands. "I'll be fine, I'll—you don't even know where I live, so—"

"Lead the way."

"Um." Jamie wrapped his arms around himself, his mouth reluctantly tilting up. "Thanks."

They talked as they walked. Well, Jamie talked. Not a continuous, coherent conversation, just on-and-off small talk between stretches of silence. The sort of packages he had to deliver tomorrow, the hope that his cat (who was named Antigone, after that very famous very important classical Greek tragedy, he was careful to inform her) hadn't gotten into any trouble while he was gone, the wonder if his landlord would accept rent late on the excuse of an alien abduction.

"Though they probably wouldn't believe me," he confessed. "I might have used that story last time." He turned to Garnet. "Those were aliens, right? Not...cyborgs or hyperintelligent humanoid monsters or something?"

"Yep," Garnet said.

They took a few more steps down the sidewalk, his eyes still on her.

"Are you an alien?"

"Yep."

"Oh." He dropped his gaze. "You were right. I really don't know who you are."

Garnet didn't respond, except by stopping and saying, "We're here."

Jamie looked up at his apartment building. "Ah. So we are."

"You'll be safe for the rest of the night," Garnet said.

"Thanks," Jamie replied. "I, um—thanks. Thank you." He glanced at the door and shrugged. "Do you want—do you want to come in and have a snack or something? Some...some tea?"

"I don't eat."

"Right, alien. Um…" He bit his lip, searching for something more to say. "Good luck saving Steven. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help."

Garnet nodded. "Thank you."

"Goodnight, then."

She raised one hand in acknowledgement of the farewell, and waited to let him be the first to turn away. She kept waiting until she saw his bedroom light turn on before she pivoted and started back toward the beach.

She passed by a half-collapsed mound of sand in front of the temple. The remains of the sand castle she and Pearl had built that morning, now washed away by tide and time. It felt like that morning was thousands of years ago, now…

We should have seen this coming.

Garnet frowned.

We did see this coming, we should have done something, we should have done more—

Nothing we can do will help this, nothing we can do will change this—

We failed him! We put him in danger!

We won't be able to save him, we won't ever see him again, they'll hurt him they'll kill him they'll torture him they'll harvest him they'll shatter him and WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO—

"Stop it," she said aloud.

A wave crashed on the beach a little harder than the ones before it. The sand castle was almost gone now.

Garnet clenched her fists. "We are going to save him."