Steven awoke, sniffing the air, eyes closed. He clambered down his ladder and into the kitchen, stumbling along the way, until he felt a large tongue caress his face. Letting his eyes open he yelled: "LION!" Allowing the entirety of his body to fall over into Lion's thick fur. Lion replied with a grumble but kept his eyes locked.
"What is it?" Steven asked following his gaze.
"PANCAKES!." Yelled Steven. They sat there on a plate, butter and syrup waiting to be applied, a note lay beside it in Pearl's handwriting:: 'We figured it out.'
Steven grabbed the plate off the table and with his mouth half open stopped himself. "I can't eat such a rare delicacy without sharing it, everyone should know it's awesomeness!" Steven looked at the pancakes frowning, "but there aren't enough for everyone."
"Well at least you can have one" he said as he fed Lion one of the pancakes, "we'll save the rest for later." With that he pushed the plate into Lion's head.
"Let's visit Connie," Lion let out a rumble of appreciation allowing a portal to open. Waiting for Steven to get on they jumped through. Sliding to a halt as they landed on the beach.
"HEY GUYS!" Steven yelled as he ran towards the gems.
"I thought I told you to take me to Connie" he asked Lion, but Lion just lay down.
"Steven shush we're concentrating" yelled Amethyst.
"On what?" Steven asked, as he jogged over, exhaling loudly. He found them all to be clambered around a crab. "What's wrong with it?"
"Steven don't!" Amethyst yelled again.
"But why it's just a little crab" he said as he picked it up, letting it run up his arm and up onto his head.
Pearl walked over and held the crab, bubbling it and sending back to the gem fortress.
"we'll inspect it later."
"You two are always making the decisions, why can't I? First the pancakes, that we didn't even get to eat, then the crab, what's next you'll tell me my rooms too red!" Garnet belted at Pearl and Amethyst.
"You're the one always acting like they want to be separate from everyone!" yelled Amethyst.
"STOP, STOP WHAT'S GOING ON!" yelled Steven, waving his arms in the air.
"Steven's right we need to be calm" said pearl
"CALM? You're just so perfect aren't you pearl, so independent and special just because you thought you were so important to Rose" yelled Garnet
"I think we just need some of those pancakes from before right?" amethyst said with a quivering voice, looking to Steven.
"YEAH!" Steven said with exuberance
"SHUTUP" Garnet and Pearl yelled at the same time.
Steven stared at them, as his brow slowly turned downwards, forming a scowl on his face. "Fine if you don't want me here I'll just go" He jumped on Lion's back and with a roar was through another portal.
There sat Connie at a picnic table, the wind blew at her hair. "Connnnnieeee!" Steven said suddenly bubbly with joy. She didn't move.
"I have pancakeessss" he said earnestly above the strong wind. The world seemed to slow down as he watched one tear strike the table.
He rushed to her side. "What's wrong?"
"Oh hi Steven" Connie seemed to say through her tears. Streams running down her face, dripping off the rims of her glasses. Her eyes were so wet they looked like the glass that once stood within her frames.
"Steven you should go" she whispered, lion grumbled pawing the ground.
"What? Whyy? What's wrong Connie!?" (Steven)
"The…the…they to..to…took them Steven" She said stuttering
"Took who?" (Steven)
"My parents, they took my parents" Connie said whipping around staring Steven dead in the eyes, letting her tears fall onto his resting hand on the picnic bench.
"We were supposed to have breakfast here today, but they never showed up. Steven, my mom told me that she wanted to do more research on the gem experiments. The one's we saw her testing on at the hospital."
"She can't!? They're mutants!" (Steven)
"They said that I wasn't safe, that they didn't care if I could use a sword, that they had to protect me, as my parents it was there job, they said we'd have breakfast today." (Connie)
"We have to go to the hospital, we have to save them" Steven said in earnest
"I checked they're not there" (Connie)
"Why would you go without me?" (Steven)
"Steven, go" (Connie)
"But, but, bu…" (Steven)
Connie shoved a finger into Steven's chest and said: "no buts! My parents are gone because of you, none of this stuff would've happened if it wasn't for you, my life has been too much of a mess, everything was so much simpler just reading it from books"
The finger pushed him off the bench as he fell to floor under Connie. "I just wanted to help" he said as he started to run away, stumbling and falling on his stomach, letting out a low grunt as the wind was knocked out of him.
"Steven! I'm so sorry are you okay?" Connie yelled after him, rushing to his side. He opened his eyes as the tears welled up in him, he felt weak.
Standing up he yelled, "WHAT'S GOING ON!" His gem began to glow.
"First the gems act all backwards, then you yelling at me, Lion doesn't listen, I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO EAT MY PANCAKES!" He grabbed his hair and pulled yelling at the top of longs, "I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND" A shield burst out of him, much like his bubble surrounding him shivering, then a flash of light occurred.
Connie shielded her eyes and upon looking back saw that there were two bubbles. "Steven? I'm sorry for saying what I did, it isn't your fault, I chose to intertwine my life with yours, you're the best thing that ever happened to me!" The shields dropped.
Two voices replied replied in unison "I am?"
The bodies of the voices looked at each other, "woahhhh, what? I don't understand, are you…. Me?" they said together.
"Steven! There are two of you! Except you seem different" Connie said in confusion. There stood two Steven's of equal size and measure, yet one seemed taught, strong, determination shined from his eyes. The other bubbly and big eyed. A warmth lay behind his cheeks and happiness glimmered in his upturned smile.
"We need to get to the gems, this isn't right!" said the Steven's. Lion growled and nudged himself up against the boys. All three hopped on his back, his growls ripping open another portal so that they found themselves at the steps of the gem fortress, by the beach.
Running up the stairs, the Steven's playing around with each other along the way, they reached the top. There were whispers inside: "We have to tell Steven we're sorry for the way we acted" said Garnet
With that Connie burst through the screen door. "Help! It's Steven he umm, he is, well they are… ummmm"
The Steven's stumbled into the room both falling on their stomachs as they try to push in through the door, at the same time, into the room.
"Oh my GOODNES!" exclaimed Pearl.
"woooahhhh coooooool," said Amethyst.
"Steven we're really…" *she stopped as she saw the boys* "what happened?" said Garnet
Steven's voice boomed around the room as it was twice as strong "I was running when I fell down on my stomach my shield covered me and then…."
"it's my fault!" Connie yelled interrupting Steven. "I said that it was Steven's fault that my parents went missing."
"What do you mean went missing?" said Pearl.
"My mom has been treating mutants at the hospital and the other day Steven and I visited and fought off two, but my parents still think it too dangerous for me to deal with them, so they went to try and fix the problem." (Connie)
"no, no, no, no, no, they shouldn't be in human care we need to handle them!"(Pearl)
"My parents don't understand that."(Connie)
"We're going after them" (Garnet)
"What are we waiting for then!" (Steven's)
"You're not coming" Pearl said sternly.
"Why nottttt? I'm a gem too" He said lifting up both of his shirts, yet underneath on each stomach lay solely half a gem on each Steven.
"I, I, I don't understand" said Pearl, blatantly appalled, stepping backward.
"He must have changed his physical appearance, because his gem underwent too much stress, just like we do when we're hurt too much. Except Steven is half human so he formed two different versions of himself, maybe because he didn't know what side of his personality was needed." (Garnet)
"So, so you're saying, I'm stuck like this?" (Steven)
"it's okay, Steven" (Connie)
"No it's not okay! I changed my self so I'll change myself back!"
The Steven's ran to opposite sides of the room, sprinting at each other until they collided. "Owwww, ugh, why didn't it work!?"
"We, we don't know but we have to go save Connie's parents." (Pearl)
"Fine but I'm coming too!" the Steven's said as they rubbed their sore heads.
"I don't know; I think…" (Pearl)
Garnet cut her off, "okay, let's go then."
They ran to the hospital, Steven and Connie on Lion's back leading the way.
It's dark by the time they reach the hospital. Much like that of the last time they visited the hospital lights were dimmed, except this time no-one is inside, save the lone person at the front security box, with their headphones in. They walk down the corridor.
"Something's different" the Steven's say both staring at Connie, her eyes wide open clutching Rose Quartz's sword.
They hear loud squealing noises, from down the corridor. And they rush forward, sprinting after the sound. "This way" orders Garnet, leading them right down a dimly lit passage. Then they hear it, the simultaneous call "HELP!"
"Those were my Parent's voices" said Connie.
They turned the corner and the room shone, all along the walls were gem shards, encrusted everywhere. Mixed forms of hands, legs, feet and torsos thrown together stumbled around walking from room to room where doctors stood locked inside shivering behind windows.
"This isn't right, gems aren't meant to be fused like this, this isn't right! THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" yelled Garnet. She ran forward smashing into the first mutant, and bubbling its gems, crying with each punch.
Pearl and Amethyst activated their weapons as well rushing behind Garnet but soon they were surrounded. Steven and Connie faced off with a mutant. It lunged forward striking at Connie, The Steven's jumped in front but only smashed into each other letting her get hit. She lay unconscious on the floor. The Steven's looked over to where the gems were , cornered as the mutants began grabbing them, Garnet had split into Ruby and Sapphire. Lion had disappeared, the Steven's were alone.
They looked at one another, both stepping back in front of Connie as the mutant went to strike another blow, yelling together "NO." Both halves of the shield sprang up separately and the mutants hand sprung backwards in pain.
"You can't hurt my friends, my family, everything I care about, you should understand, you're lost, but I get it, what it's like to split apart" The Steven's yelled in unison as they spun around the room connected, they're shield growing bigger and bigger pushing the mutants onto the back wall at the end of the corridor.
Sapphire's, Ruby's, Pearl's and Amethyst's gems lay on the ground. "Sometimes things are rough, sometimes you have to save your pancakes, sometimes you just need a moment to yourself, you against the world, because you're not always needed, but when you are you should always be there for the people you care about" With that he shoved the shield against the wall and the last of the mutant's gems toppled to the floor under the pressure. Steven's shield grew to full size and again engulfed him, there was a flash of light and once again there stood a new Steven, only this time singular. Against the wall lay a device, green like that of Peridot but pulsing and covered with that of other gem shards.
"This must've been why all the mutants were coming here" Steven said looking back at Connie. She was starting to wake up. The doctors had begun leaving the rooms, her parents were by her side, her glasses askew. Steven picked up the gems and walked towards the device, the gems started to spin, mashing up against each other. No wonder they had been so aggravated this morning, the device must've been causing some sort of disturbance that was impure.
Steven staggered outside dragging the device with him and sat down on the curb. Lion appeared and licked his face, bowing his head down. "At least your still here" Steven said as he pulled the plate of pancakes out from Lion's head. "here they're cold now, but I'm sure they're still good" he gave a pancake to Lion and ate one himself. Lion gobbled the pancake and gnawed at the machine, cracking it's top and causing it's pulsation to stop. Then Lion grabbed hold of Steven's shirt in his mouth growled and jumped through a portal. Steven found himself back at the fortress. There and then he fell over onto the floor from the fatigue, the gems on his stomach encircling his quartz.