Steven had been in his fair share of fights (with monsters of course) and he had to say, this was shaping up to be one of the worst yet.
The day had started as most days did, Steven woke up around 8, as he had never been very good at sleeping in, to an empty house. He rolled out of bed and went to make breakfast just as he did every morning- but something was off.
Steven looked to the warp pad and peered past to find what was wrong. The door was open to Garnets room. Steven's jaw nearly hit the floor at this sight. Garnet never wanted anyone in her room... Steven didn't even know these doors could stay open until this very moment!
It was with a mix of wonderment and confusion that Steven found himself walking towards the door. Why was it open? Was he supposed to go inside? Where were the gems? Suddenly he was in the room and the door disappeared behind him.
"Great...now you close!" Steven whispered into his vast surroundings.
Steven began to walk again, making it his mission to find out what was going on. A few minutes after following the red glass pipes, he found himself looking into the heart of the temple, where he spotted the gems.
Steven quickly dove behind a pipe and peered around it to see what was going on. It felt wrong, like he wasn't supposed to be there watching whatever the gems were doing. But if he wasn't supposed to be there then why was the door wide open for him?
His train of thought was disturbed by a low, loud grumbling noise, Steven smacked his forehead, it was his stomach. This is what he got for skipping breakfast to go on an early morning adventure.
All three gems spun around to see Steven, still peering from behind the pipe, his face covered with shame.
"Steven!" Pearl wailed, "You shouldn't be here right now!"
Steven was barely listening as he gaped at the giant monster behind them. How had he not seen that until now?
"Uhh guys, shouldn't we be dealing with that?" Steven said pointing at the monster, which took the gesture as its cue to growl as loud as it could.
The gems jumped back around and almost seemed…shocked. Had they not seen it either? There was no way, they were all much more observant than him, he thought, especially Garnet.
They were also much more quick on their feet, Steven noted as he watched them launch into battle. He stood a bit back still, not having yet joined them to help. Steven shook his head a bit, clearing his thoughts as he jumped in front of Amethyst, shield out, blocking an attack from the monster.
"Nice one, dude!" Amethyst praised as she took out one of the monster's six legs with her whip.
Steven took this opportunity, while it was distracted, to really study to monster. He took in its large frame and its 5 bulging eyes. He noticed its back was curved like a lizard would be, to allow for the multitude of legs. As its legs were being constantly attacked, Steven noticed that its tail was doing most of the defense. It swung violently around, batting the gems down again and again, giving it the small opportunity to go in for the bite, with its razor sharp teeth. But to no avail. The gems always got back up and the monster seemed to be getting tired.
Garnet saw the monster weaken and called the gems to do one attack together. A whirlwind of weapons appeared in front of Steven as the gems attacked the monster from all sides. He was so sure that this would stop the monster that he couldn't seem to contain his shock when the monster's body began to glow, but not poof.
Steven's hair stood up on his arms and before he could realize why, electric currents shot out of the monster's tail and through all of the gems. It felt like slow motion as he watched them fall, watched them hit the ground and then, to Steven's dismay, watched them poof.
He felt himself moving forward, reaching, trying to grab the gems before the monster did anymore damage, but his legs felt like led and he couldn't get there fast enough. It was circling the gemstones, almost as if to taunt Steven. He couldn't take it anymore, he had to stop it, he had to…
He could feel himself getting overwhelmed with emotion, at the thought that maybe there was nothing he could do. He didn't notice his gem start to glow when he clenched his fists, nor when he clenched his eyes shut, trying to slow the tears that were steadily streaming down his cheeks. He felt like he was about to burst with emotion.
"ENOUGH!" Steven yelled so loud, it scared even him. It was then that Steven opened his eyes, and it was then that he saw something that he didn't quite understand. The monster stood, frozen in front of him, and he watched as the light around it dimmed, the electrical current seemed to fizz out, before the monster poofed.
Steven couldn't help but stare in shock for a few seconds before remembering that he needed to bubble it immediately. His brain was racing a mile a minute as he went to collect the gems. He picked up Amethyst first. What just happened? He grabbed Pearl next. How did I do that? He picked up Ruby and Sapphire together. Did I even do that? He didn't even notice he was crying again until he saw the now moist gems that he cradled in his arms as he shakily walked back to his room.