Steven always liked sleeping, he liked how it could take him away from one world, and into the next with what seemed like no effort. He liked dreams, and how they could go from the most random mess of things ever, to a serious on-going plot that you never wanted to wake up from so you didn't miss a thing. Steven loved those kind of dreams, even if some of them never made sense, he always felt that they told at least some kind of story, even if he couldn't ever figure out what it was. He especially liked ones that depicted him and the crystal gems, as what he thought was a "normal" family. It was like he had two different families! That thought always comforted him, for if the dream turned out bad, he would always wake up and the crystal gems would always be right there to greet him.
Of course, there are the nightmares too. Nightmares that depicted his friends and family getting hurt right in front of him and Steven not being able to save them. Malachite, rising from the ocean in a raging frenzy, destroying everything in her path. Lapis, chained to someone she hated, because she cared for Steven and didn't want him to get hurt. Peridot, escaping earth and telling homeworld about the crystal gems and homeworld coming and destroying all of the people that he loved, then destroying the earth too.
Oh man, he hated those, all of them they plagued his mind like a disease, never going away. Sometimes his nightmares would just be flashbacks of when something happened and one of the gems got hurt. Pearl, trying to teach him the importance of actual sword fighting, then getting stabbed in the chest while she wasn't looking. Amethyst, getting poofed so many times and regenerating but not finding the right form for herself because she desperately wanted garnet to approve of her. Garnet, trying to fight off an enemy with tech they knew nothing about, but getting unfused and poofed all the same. All he ever wanted to do was protect them, but he always had the nagging thought in the back of his mind, that all of those had been his fault. He knew they weren't though, well he did cause pearl to get distracted when teaching him actual sword techniques, but he knew that it was the holo pearl who actually stabbed her. He still thinks about that day sometimes, when he thought pearl had actually died.
That was the first time steven learned about gem regeneration, and he was relieved when he found out pearl was coming back. The wait was painful, each day dragging on for what seemed like forever. What also bugged Steven was the fact that he had almost died, too. He realized that he had also almost died so many times on previous missions.
Steven pushed these thoughts away deep into the back of his mind, trying to focus on getting actual sleep. It felt like almost an hour before he fell into what felt like the soft embrace of sleep. Thankful, Steven let it take him to another world of adventure.
Stevens consciousness was plunged into a black abyss, and he felt like he was falling through space, never reaching a bottom. Soon the feeling of falling vanished, and was replaced with the sensation of floating. Steven twisted and tried to look at his surroundings, trying to take anything and everything in. Of course we would try to that if there was something to look at or find, but there was nothing. Only darkness. A darkness that weighed down on him like ocean waves. He wasn't actually pulled down but he could sense that feeling around him, as if the atmosphere was being sucked down around him, and trying to pull him along with it.
Steven tried to find flat footing, for he wanted to explore this place and find something. He tried to will himself down, and found that this worked, his sandaled feet found flat ground and he started to walk. Not in any particular direction, for he was just trying to find something, no someone. Any one at all. Anyone.
"Garnet? Amethyst? Pearl?" Steven called cupping his hands around his mouth. His words seemed to echo, even though there was nothing for it to echo off of.
"Hellooo?" He called again, hoping for some sort of answer.
"Where am I," Steven thought to himself as he continued forward silently. His sandals being the only thing making noise as he walked.
The longer he walked, the less enthusiastic he was getting of ever finding anything in this endless void. He started to lose hope almost completely when he thought he felt... Grass? Steven looked down, he couldn't see anything but he was pretty sure he could feel grass around his feet and underneath his sandals. This sparked a light of hope within him, and he started to walk faster in the same direction.
"I wonder what I'm gonna find" Steven thought anxiously to himself. He was excited though, for he was tired of walking through nothing for what felt like an eternity.
As he was walking, the grass felt like it was getting taller. Steven took this as sign that he was getting closer to his unknown destination and started to jog. This was a bit difficult to do for the grass around him had turned into what seemed like a field of corn, towering high above him. Steven pushed his way through this, unaware that the environment itself was changing around him.
When he finally emerged from the cornfield, he found himself at the entrance of the... Kindergarten?
" what..., " he muttered to himself. Taking in his surroundings, it was night outside and stars were strewn across the sky as if hastily scattered there in a hurry. He took the scene before him in a bit more before moving forward. Everything looked the same, but how did he get here? And where were the gems?
He wandered forward into the kindergarten looking for an answer or any type of clue to help him out. As he investigated, he noticed that everything was the same as when he and the gems were here before. Steven felt a chill run down his spine, this place was even more menacing than before.
"Must be because I'm here alone at night without a flashlight or anything at all." Steven thought matter-of-factly.
Steven tried checking out the part of the kindergarten where he and garnet found the entrance to peridots lab. He was trying to decide if he should investigate down there, but hesitated. "What if something happens? What if there's another forced fusion down there?" Steven visibly shivered as he recalled the memory that still burned fresh in his mind.
Garnet, not being able to move or protect herself from this monster. Garnet starting to unfuse. Steven desperately trying to talk her out of it, not truly knowing what was wrong.
Ruby and Sapphire fighting about homeworld and the sick experiments they were doing with the fallen comrades of the crystal gems. Garnet telling Steven how she wished he hadn't seen that, and how what homeworld was doing was absolutely horrible. How it wasn't proper fusion, and how those gems weren't given the choice.
These memories continued to flood back through Steven's mind, and when they stopped, he realized his eyes were shut tightly, and that his hands were clenched together into fists. When he opened his eyes again, everything looked blurry, but he felt a wetness to his cheeks and realized that he had started crying.
Hastily, he wiped his eyes and cheeks with the palm of his hand and decided he would go down there anyways.
"Whatever it is, I can take it." Steven thought to himself, determination settling in his mind.
He then continued to slide down the ramp to peridots lab, trying to keep balance by putting his hand against the the sloped wall as he slid down. His feet settled on the ground with a solid thud.
Nothing looked off at first but when he went to go investigate the platform where the cluster fusions were held, there was nothing there.
"Where did they go?" He asked himself, as if some part of himself already knew. Steven turned to leave then but as soon as he turned around, he heard a laugh echo throughout the chamber.
"Wow you really are as dull as dirt aren't you?" A familiar voice sneered.
"Peridot?" Steven called out, looking around but not seeing anything at all.
"I can't wait to finally get rid of you clods, get back to home world, and never have to worry about you breaking my stuff ever again." Peridot said, as if savoring the idea of destroying Steven and his friends.
"As if! It's four against one, peridot! You're clod if you think you can't beat all four of us! Besides-" Stevens tone grew softer. "why would you want to go back to homeworld? Have you even tried to enjoy earth at least a tiny bit? I think you could actually like it if you atleast tried."
There was silence for a few seconds, then a fit of laughter from peridot that sent chills down Stevens spine.
Steven heard what sounded like the rumbling of an earthquake, he looked around himself and saw cracks running up and down the walls.
"I need to get out of here. Now." Steven thought quickly.
He started to run back to the entrance as fast as he could, peridots laughs still echoing off the walls.
When he got back to the slope, he found himself slipping each time he tried to climb back up. He fell backwards each time, with each failure sparked more fear in his heart.
" I could use my bubble but id end up trapped down here and no matter what I do I'm going to end up crushed." He thought to himself with despair. After a few more attempts and rocks started to fall around him. He gave up his fruitless attempts at trying to escape. He sat down in a fit of defeat, walls crumbling around him, a giant boulder that fell from the ceiling missed him by a mere few inches. He jumped at that and yelped when he placed his hand behind him for support and cutting it on a sharp edge of a rock.
It was now that Steven started to sob, not because he cut his hand, but because he was going to die down here, and the gems would never know where he was.
The walls started caving in completely, and Steven knew that this would be the end.
Until he felt something grasp the back of his shirt, and was lifted into the air and out of the collapsing cavern, right as it caved in on itself and left a large sinkhole in the ground.
Steven was dropped on the ground and expected to see one of the gems there when he turned around onto his back to see who his saviour was.
Peridot stood there looking down at Steven expectantly.
Shock. Was all he felt. Well, shock and confusion.
"Well? No thank you? Well good because I can't have you dead yet! I still want to have some fun with this." She turned around, an evil grin forming on her face.
"What?" Steven asked. "What are you talking about? Why did you save me?"
"Oh,You'll find out in a moment." Peridot said.
Fear leached into Stevens stomach. Something wasn't right about this.
That was when he heard it. He could hear the sound of gems regenerating, yet he couldn't see any of them. He looked around himself, confused. He looked back towards the pile of debris.
He wished he hadn't.
He could make out the forcibly fused gem a mile away, a strangled mass of colors that was huge in size. He guessed at least twenty gems forced together into one horrible monster.
Peridot laughed.
"Now we're gonna have some fun!" She yelled over the screams of agony from the cluster that could be heard throughout the entire kindergarten.
The monsters mass glitched and tried to take form, growing bigger and bigger as the gems inside so desperately tried to break free from each other. Steven shut his eyes he didn't want to see this... Horrible thing. Tears welled up in his eyes and sweat beaded from his forehead.
"Nononononono please no." He thought to himself. "This can't be happening."
Steven could hear the monster shambling towards them, each step causing the ground to shake and crack under its weight.
Peridot continued to laugh
"With you gone, the gems will be useless! It will be easier take them out now!" She said, still laughing maniacally.
Steven could feel the giant mess of a monster about to crush him when...
Steven opened his eyes, sweating and breathing hard.
"It was only a dream.." He reassured himself "more like a nightmare." He mentally corrected himself.
Steven looked around at the house, empty. He then turned to the window and realized the sun was just now started to peek over the horizon. It was a stunning view, the soft orange light from the rising sun glittered over the ocean and gave his room an orange hue. This calmed steven down a bit.
"At least it wasn't about malachite" he thought in an attempt to make himself feel better.
Steven sat in bed and decided to watch the rest of the sun rise over the horizon so that he had time to think about the dream he had just experienced.
