Still don't own.
Steven hadn't really understood how far everyone had come until now, but looking back - or forwards - on his Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, it was difficult to compare them to the Gems of one-and-a-half years ago.
"Y'know, it's really odd," Amethyst cut him out of his thoughts. Steven turned to her in question, absently chucking some fry bits into his mouth. "You just seem... I don't know, different?"
"Different from what?" he asked warily. Amethyst shrugged, grabbing her own handful of bits.
"Different from a few days ago. I mean, you even look a little different! Have you been working out, or-" she froze suddenly, face fixed in a grin that grew steadily more forced.
Steven looked on uneasily. "What? What is it?"
"You weren't poofed, were you?"
"W-what?"
"Y'know, poofed! Like, you get stabbed or crushed, and your body can't handle it anymore, so you go back into your gem and make a knew one?" She grinned. "That usually happens to me, but I can make a body in no time at all, so it's fine!"
"Um, no I wasn't poofed," Steven denied, shaking his head. "I'm half human. Could I even do that?"
Amethyst looked thoughtful for a second, then shook her own head. "Dunno, dude. You probably shouldn't try it though. Just a thought."
She walked off, heads behind her head, and Steven trailed behind, brow creased.
He'd been the one to coin 'poofing', hadn't he?
"Garnet! Pearl!"
"We saw," Pearl told Amethyst, annoyed. "Some of us are trying to protect humanity! Where were you?"
Amethyst dropped Steven. "Eating fry-bits," she said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, they're really good!" Steven held out the packet of bits, which he'd managed to hold onto this time. "You should try them!"
Amethyst snickered as Pearl gave an involuntary shudder, but Garnet interrupted them. "No time for that right now, Steven, we need to destroy the red eye."
"Okay, but can I do something?"
There was a slight pause, and like always, Steven had to wonder if that was because of Garnet's future vision saying she needed to pause for the best outcome. "The only thing that's ever destroyed a red eye is the laser light cannon that belonged to Rose Quartz."
"W-well if it belonged to my mom, wouldn't my dad know where it is?"
He could tell that Garnet wasn't actually considering that, and it really hurt that even with future vision, Garnet didn't take him seriously.
Instead of Garnet though, Pearl answered him. "Steven, your father is... nice, but I doubt that Rose would entrust a weapon of such destructive power to... someone like him."
"Yeah, your dad's kind of a mess," Amethyst translated, earning a reprimand from Pearl. "What? I'm just saying! Even if she did give it to him, he probably lost it, or broke it, or dropped it in the ocean by now."
"True," Garnet muttered. Even though she could probably see that he hadn't. Steven really needed to learn how much she could see.
"Aw, c'mon guys! Where else could it be? It can't hurt to look, right?"
"We can handle this, Steven," Garnet lied through her teeth. Steven wondered if the others could tell, because they both shifted nervously at that declaration.
Then there was the sound of Amethyst's scream, and a dull tunk as her face collided with the eye.
Steven winced in empathy, rubbing his nose at the phantom pain. "I'm just gonna go now," he told Pearl.
"Okay, have fun," she said distractedly, and Garnet didn't reply, still posed in a comical three-point landing.
"Who's there? I have a waffle iron!"
Steven laughed from on top of the van's roof as his dad blinked slowly. He wasn't a morning person.
"...Steven?" He asked once he could finally see through the sleep. "What're you doing up so late? I almost waffled your face!"
"Well, there may or may not be a gigantic death eyeball-" he faultered at the image of Eyeball that his mind supplied, "-about to crash into Beach City and crush us all, so I need to know if you have mom's laser light cannon so we can destroy it!"
"Woah woah woah, hold on there Schtu-ball! Is this a magical thing? The Gems told me not to get involved in that stuff if I valued my life and hair. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if they were threatening me or not..."
"Dad," Steven interrupted his rambling, "I really need the laser light cannon, or you might not have a life or hair to value! And neither will the rest of Beach City!"
Greg hummed. "Well, when you put it like that, I do know one place it could be. Come on, get in the van!"
After a minute of searching, Steven finally found what he was looking for: the gigantic pink cannon that belonged to his mother. For a second, he hesitated.
"Here comes a thought," he whispered to himself. How had his mother shattered Pink Diamond, anyway? Bismuth had said that her sword would never shatter a gem, and Steven didn't know any way that his shield could, either. Besides, Pink Diamond was supposed to be one of the most powerful gems in existence...
Did Rose use the cannon?
"Dad, I found it! Get the van!"
He couldn't waste any time right now. Last time, it had almost been too late, and while he'd found the cannon quicker this time, he didn't want to risk it.
Within minutes, they were dragging the cannon towards the beach.
"AAAARRRRGGHHH!"
Tunk.
A few quiet seconds passed before Amethyst was washed up onto the shore. "Throw me again, I think I'm cracking it!"
"Ahem." Everyone turned to Steven, who was leaning casually on the cannon. "Anyone order a giant destructo-beam?"
Amethyst gasped. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Rose's cannon," Pearl breathed, "Greg really had it!"
"Plausible," Garnet supplied, turning away, "But we need to activate it."
"Oh yeah," Steven remembered. It was difficult to forget the password, but he couldn't just say it outright, right? "Um, activate! Start! Begin?"
"Crystal Gems," was Garnet's contribution. She waited a moment, during which absolutely nothing happened. "I give up."
"U-uh, laser light!"
"Rose Quartz?"
"Rebellion!"
"Sea Spire!"
Amethyst and Pearl's impromptu debate went on for another few seconds before Steven turned to his dad. He really should have prepared the conversation beforehand. "S-sorry dad, I think you might lose your hair after all," he said, stalling for an opportunity.
"It's fine kiddo," Greg smiled, clapping him on the back. "You found this cannon all by yourself, and it's not your fault if we can't get it to fire. If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn't have hot dogs!"
Steven opened his mouth to respond, but as he registered what his dad had said, he turned to the now glowing cannon. "Dad, I think that was it!"
"Really?"
In lieu of an answer, Steven ran to the cannon and the barrel fell onto his back, aiming directly at the eye. The rest of the Gems and his dad were there in a moment, and it was only when they pulled that Steven realised how much the weight was hurting his back.
"Brace yourselves!" Garnet cried, and they did.
The rose-shaped beam of light abruptly brought Steven back to his thought, even as it blasted the red eye to smithereens.
Had the cannon shattered Pink Diamond?
In the end it didn't matter.
There's chapter/episode 2 done, and I have to say that it was very difficult to write it without it seeming exactly like the original episode.
It's also become my headcanon that Rose did use the cannon to shatter Pink Diamond, which I only thought of while I was writing this chapter. It does make sense, because as powerful as Rose was, she was also a Quartz up against a no doubt heavily guarded and extremely powerful Diamond, and her sword wasn't one that could shatter gems according to its creator, Bismuth.
Next time, episode 3. Cheeseburger Backpack! Except Steven may have forgotten something this time, and maybe even remembered something else...
