I saw Change Your Mind and I have to admit, this was my favourite scene (although the white diamond blushing and Steven fusing with... pink Steven? was awesome too). Anyway, I just had to write this one shot of the scene from Sadie's perspective. Enjoy!
disclaimer: Steven Universe belongs to Rebecca Sugar, not me.
The ship crashed down a minute or so after the first one. It was completely different, Sadie noted, thinking suddenly about the number of weird things happening in beach city today (and also the giant women who had ruined her concert).
The ship was yellow and vaguely rectangular. Its jets were beaten up and it looked like it had travelled a long way.
The door slid slowly upwards and the first thing that Sadie noticed was the vast array of colours. There were reds, pinks, oranges, greens, purples and blues. So many different colours for only a few what Sadie assumed were gems.
There was a red gem with two heads who were glancing happily at each other. There was a gem with four arms and a pinky red colour scheme who was peering up at the giant women with huge amounts of fear in all Four of her eyes. Another tiny gem was orange and was saying something that Sadie could have sworn happened a couple of minutes ago – strange. It was quite difficult to take her eyes off the fourth gem because she was, to put it lightly, huge. Like a giant multi-coloured caterpillar, she spoke slowly and quite honestly looked terrifying to Sadie.
Then her eyes drifted to the fifth in the group.
With his pink skin, Sadie had at first mistaken him for another gem but now, looking at him more closely, Sadie realised she knew that tuft of hair, knew that smirk. She watched as he petted Steven's pink lion that had the exact same colour palate as him. There was no doubt about it.
Lars was back.
Sadie couldn't quite believe her eyes. Of course, Steven had told her about him being lost in space. He told her that Lars was now a space pirate and, along with a group of outcast gems, stolen a ship to try and get back to earth. Sadie didn't really believe Steven. The boy was known for being fantastical and his account sounded nothing like the Lars Sadie knew.
Yet here he was – cape and all.
With bright pink skin.
And a group of gems.
As she stared at him in disbelief, his eyes het hers and she noticed a scar running like a train track down his face that definitely wasn't there before.
He looked at her for a second and she stared back.
He let go of the lion, slowly and cautiously – a thing that Lars had never been. Sadie wasn't even sure if this was Lars. Maybe it was some gem impersonating him?
"Lars?" she said, her voice quiet and unsure. "Is it really you?"
He walked towards her. Every step seemed to add miles to the distance between them despite him getting closer in reality. Sadie didn't know what reality was anymore.
He stopped awkwardly in front of her and Sadie heard some of the gems behind him muttering things that sounded like words of encouragement. The tiny orange one exclaimed loudly that they were 'about to see Sadie – in person!' although Sadie felt sure that this gem had seen her at least two minutes before.
"Hey." Lars said. His voice was much more gentle than Sadie remembered it and he looked so different. He sounded different. He was so different. Nothing about him was the same and to be honest, Sadie wasn't sure that she liked this new Lars. Not that she particularly liked arrogant, slacker lars either.
"Look at you!" she said, awkwardly pulling on her jacket – perhaps for comfort or perhaps for a sense of familiarity. "You're…"
What exactly was he? He certainly wasn't human anymore. No human looked like that. He wasn't a gem either. Sadie knew that for sure. "You're a space pirate!" she finally settled on and even in her own mouth it sounded lame and cringy – like something Ronaldo would say. She braced herself for the stern chiding and 'uncoolness' lecture that was sure to come from Lars' mouth.
Surprisingly, it didn't come.
"Well… look at you!" he said back. "You're a rock star!"
Sadie blanched back in shock. Was that a compliment, from Lars Barriga?
She suddenly burst into laughter. She couldn't help it and there wasn't anything really funny. It was more like laughter to hide her overwhelming awkwardness around him that there had never really been before – maybe because their relationship had been so focused around work and Sadie felt like she could snark around with him as much as she liked.
"Well…" she said and stopped because she just couldn't say anymore. Words couldn't form themselves around her tongue and her mouth was as dry as the ocean when that blue friend of Steven's stole it.
Then Lars started laughing too and Sadie stopped and stared because as long as she had known him, he had never laughed. Not in earnest. There had been plenty of sarcastic laughter and plenty of fake giggles around Buck Dewey and the cool kid, but never a real peal of laughter.
Sadie giggled again from the sheer craziness of it and soon the two were in stitches and neither of them knew why.
"I – I think it suits us." Lars wheezed and Sadie giggled once more.
"Yeah." She said thoughtfully. "Me too."
They were silent for a few seconds, neither of them knowing at all what to say. Then the sounds of an excited crowd broke the silence and Sadie turned, knowing she would have to go back.
"I guess I better go back on stage then." She said to Lars who nodded and looked slightly apologetic.
"Sorry, I totally crashed your show!"
Sadie chuckled lightly. "You wish. That honour actually goes to Steven."
The boy in question looked up from petting the lion and grimaced. "Sorry Sadie, I'll make it up to you!"
Bringing her hand to her chin in mock thought, Sadie grinned. "Hey, that's not a bad idea."
Waving to Lars, she strode up onto the stage and took the microphone from jenny. "Hey beach city! We're not done yet!" she paused, looking out at all the old familiar faces and all the new ones (like the three giant women standing in the back, not knowing what to do or how to act. Then Sadie saw a head of pale pink hair which had made its way into the audience along with its new gem friends and she smiled. "I'd like to welcome my friend and yours to the stage… Steven Universe!"
Shocked, Steven walked up the stairs and took the microphone from Sadie who nodded to the rest of the band.
She hopped down the stairs and watched Steven take over the stage. At the bottom, she was met by a red gem with two heads who looked stern.
"Hello, Sadie." She said.
"Um… do I know you?" Sadie asked.
"We're the rutile twins. She – they – answered. "We're Lars' friend."
"Oh." Sadie said. "Nice to meet you."
"We've seen how Lars looks at you." The gem said. "And how you look at Lars. We don't really know how these things work, but if you two do get into a relationship or if you fuse even, we want you to promise us something."
Sadie didn't quite understand what fusing meant, but got the general gist of the talk. "I wont hurt him. I promise."
Another gem – larger than the first but still red - came up. "If – if you do, you'll have us to answer to. We love our captain, and we don't want him getting hurt."
Another - this one significantly larger than the others and, Sadie realised, the caterpillar from earlier – shuffled over. "pleeeaassse doonn't huuurtt Laaaarrs. Heeee's ouuuuur friieeeend."
"Human Sadie is going to fuse with captain Lars!" the orange one exclaimed suddenly.
"Padparadscha, they're not going to fuse." The rutile twins explained gently. "At least, not yet. They don't have what Steven and Connie do."
"Just… don't hurt him." the larger red one said.
"Don't worry." Sadie replied. "I swear I won't"
Before Lars turned pink, I never really shipped larsadie. now, I love it and the off colours are so freaking adorable! just letting you know, I probably wont be continuing this.