Anomalies

Ruined Anomaly: Present

Jasper growled as she kicked a rock away from her, anger welling within her. It's an odd and disturbing feeling to have everyone in an entire universe at arms length away. To know that, beyond the circle of four there, it is empty, completely empty. Not the kind of empty people normally know of, but a lifeless void where death reeks around you.

"Damn it!" The Jasper shouted. "We missed it…even with the message we couldn't save this one."

A pat on her shoulder turned her attention to a Peridot, the one reason she still fought, Green.

They had met each other after being saved from different timelines, Peridot being from one where her limb enhancers were actually a part of her and Jasper being the sole survivor of one where she, Lapis, and Peridot had been Steven's caretakers. Jasper and Peridot had joined the cause to destroy the beast that had caused so much pain.

Initially, they were only there for vengeance, as were many in the squad. Families, loved ones, children, friends, lovers, all wiped out by a single creature who wanted to bring the multiverse to a singularity. Who wouldn't want to see the beast die? Yet, as time went on, as the years passed and they fought and fought the same thing over and over again just hoping that one day they would win and end this nightmare, friendships grew, bonds came about. No longer had the hardhearted warriors come to fight to end a common enemy, they now fought for the preservation of those to their left and to their right. There was a deeper bond than hate that was made, love.

"It's okay Jazz." Green said. "There was nothing more we could've done. We got here as fast as we could after we received the signals, but even then we can't save them all."

"Still doesn't mean I didn't fail." Jazz said.

Green went silent for a moment. She was used to this now, her companion's moments of stress and depression. It was hard not to. The best they could do was let her go through the motions before picking up and going back to their base.

"Alright team, listen up!" A Bismuth called as she approached the couple, next to her a Steven with an expectant expression on his face. "We're going to head out soon. We need to make sure that the timelines in this sector haven't been attacked as well." She took a glance around her, immediately realizing something was . "Water Wings…Water Wings!" She called, looking around. She groaned. "I'm gonna kill him. Alright team, looks like we have to search the perimeter for our missing comrade…again" She said, aggravated. "Jazz, you and Green head into town." She said to the Peridot and Jasper. "Rose Wings," She said to the Steven. "you'll take to the skies. And I," She began, poking her thumb into her chest. "will head to the temple. We'll meet up here at six, understood?"

The Steven saluted. "Yes General Bismuth!"

"Then let's get a move on." Bismuth said before walking away.

"See you later guys." Rose Wing said before two large, rose petal wings sprouted from the gem on his back, the boy flying away.

Green, acting on instinct, began to walk in the direction she had been told. It was in her nature to follow orders. Upon taking a few steps, she turned back to her partner, finding the orange gem still sitting.

"Hey, you coming?" Green asked.

Jazz was silent for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Sure." She said, standing up. "I might as well help you all look for the missing brat."

Apocalypse Anomaly: Time Unknown

Steven lied outside, looking at the starry sky. It had become a pastime of his ever since the incident with Malachite. Lapis had been freed and had left the planet still on good terms with her only friend, but he still wondered about her.

"Is this seat taken?"

Steven turned, a small smile stretching across his face as his eyes fell on Garnet. "Nope." He answered, looking back to the stars.

"I've noticed you've been quieter since we beat Malachite." Garnet began, sitting down next to the hybrid. "I'm not going to lie. I thought you'd be thrilled."

Steven's smile dropped, his eyes falling to the sea before him, the very waters that had been Malachite's chains. Steven was thrilled initially, but when he found that after everything she had done to protect him, she still didn't want to stay because of her hatred towards the Earth and its inhabitants, he felt a little dejected. Did she really hate his home more than she cared about the person she was willing to spend months as a prisoner for? Sure he knew she was safe and happily free now, but he couldn't help but feel concern for her.

"Garnet…" Steven began, unable to force himself to speak his mind.

Garnet simply offered him a sympathetic smile, something about it telling Steven she already knew what was on his mind.

Steven sighed. "I guess I shouldn't have thought me alone would make her want to stay…but I'd really thought that, after all that, she would have wanted to, that she would still want to be my friend." He looked back to the sky. "Do you think that she'll forget about me?" He eventually asked.

"…Steven, she won't forget about you. She loves you. You'll always be her friend."

"But, what about-"

"Steven," Garnet cut him off. "it doesn't matter how she feels about the earth, you're still important to her. It won't matter how long she's gone, you'll still be the first and only person who gave her any worth, you're still the same boy she was willing to betray her entire home and everything she knew for. She would never forget about you." Garnet assured.

Steven smiled. "Thanks Garnet." He said.

"You're welcome." Garnet said. "Now go on up to the barn, Peridot says she needs your help on something."

"Okay." Steven chirped, running off. "See you, Garnet!" He called with a wave.

Garnet smiled after him for awhile, waiting until he was out of sight. When he was gone, her smiled dropped into a sober one. "Never."

Apocalypse Anomaly: Present

Steven groaned as he got out of bed, setting his feet on the cold, metallic floor. It sent a chill up his spine, but he wasn't shocked, just like he wasn't shocked the other countless times it happened before. He walked out of his room, trudging through the large hallways of his home, or what was his home after the attack.

He took a look out the window, not really certain what he was expecting other than the usual stars and burning, magma covered ball that used to be Earth. It had been a long time since Homeworld came to Earth and took it all away. To add insult to injury, the cluster's bubble popped during the assault and the creature ended up destroying the fleet…along with destroying the slim chance Earth had. To Steven's knowledge, the cluster had left after destroying everything to seek revenge on its creators.

Slowly and surely, he made it to the "kitchen". The moment he walked in, a blur tackled him, spinning him in the air, Steven yelping.

The moment heard a familiar joyful laughter, Steven growled. "Lapis, what did I tell you about doing that?!" He snapped to his only companion in the base, pushing himself out of her grasp.

Lapis gave an innocent smile. "Ah, come on Steven, if I get too predictable, you won't be interested in me anymore."

Lapis Lazuli, the only reason Steven had survived the apocalypse and now the only thing Steven had left. She had saved him before the fleet had come, taking her unwilling prisoner into the ship they were in now.

Before the chubby eighteen year old looking boy could further reprimand his all too cheerful friend, Lapis quickly snatched his hand in hers, tugging him into a room with a bar and two stools before it. Then, before Steven could refuse, she lifted him above her, placing him onto the stool.

Steven let out a sigh, smiling. This was the normal routine. "Alright, what is it this time?" He asked.

Lapis sat next to him, scooting a plate of cooked dark green leaves to him, a fork on the plate as well. At least now she realized that the fork wasn't supposed to be made into the food. "So, I made you this and I want you to tell me what you think."

Steven stared at it for a moment before picking up his fork and trying some. He slowly chewed and nodded his head. "Hm, almost edible this time." He said in mild surprise.

Lapis waited patiently as he continued on, grin ever present. "So, Steven…I was thinking last night…and I wondering if maybe…tonight we could…maybe…you know…fuse."

Steven groaned. This had become a normal topic of choice for her. Whether it was some convoluted plan to make him have fun or because she enjoyed every moment of it, he didn't know or care. "Lapis, not now."

"Please." Lapis begged.

"I said not now." Steven answered a little more sternly.

"But why not?" Lapis asked, giving him puppy dog eyes.

"You know why."

"Oh come on, it's been so long since I've gotten to fuse with you. Besides at least I'm not asking you to do that human ritual with me yet."

Steven's eyes widened, the hybrid choking on his food. "Lapis!" He exclaimed when he finally cleared his throat. "Geez, at least don't say things like that when I look like this! It's weird!"

"Whose going to be weirded out?" Lapis asked, eyes narrowed, grin growing into one of mischief.

"Me." Steven answered.

"But you always look like that." Lapis said, arms crossed childishly. "Seriously, you should grow up a bit."

"Grow up?" Steven said, a mock glare crossing his face. "I'm five thousand years old; I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I'm the most 'grown up' human whose ever existed."

"Whatever you say, little man." Lapis said to the hybrid that was a head smaller than her.

Steven playfully rolled his eyes, going back to eating "breakfast". This was also normal. Sure their conversation varied, but there was always playful banter.

As Steven continued, Lapis stared at him for a moment, observing her friend carefully. Soon, her jolly expression changed to a more somber one. "It happened again, didn't it?"

Steven froze. "…Yea…" He admitted. "It was one of them where you never left, where you had decided never to leave after I freed you…you didn't even leave when I was killed, like always."

A tear fell from his eye, followed by another. No matter how long he's been forced to watch it, it's the one thing he would never get used to.

"I…I better go send out the signals; they'll need to know what's happened." Steven said, standing up, only for Lapis to gently pull him back down.

"Why don't you rest for a little bit?" Lapis offered. "We could do some of the stuff we did before you stumbled onto this. We could play, talk…fuse."

Steven's expression didn't change at all.

"Come on. We don't even know if what you're doing is working."

Still no change.

"You're just driving yourself crazy-"

"You're right." Steven said, cutting her off. "I don't know if what I'm doing is working, but I can't just sit around and have fun when there's a monster out there killing entire universes." Steven offered a small empty smile. "I appreciate what you do for me. You've been my only and best friend for as long as I can remember, but this time you just can't help me."

Lapis looked hurt, but when she looked into the eyes that she had seen so many times she could recreate them from memory, she knew what he was saying was true. She didn't know the pain he felt, she would never know; all she loved was here, him. He loved everyone though.

Steven saw his friend's expression and worked up a small smile. "I do get lonely down there when I'm working… Would you mind if you could-"

"Okay!" Lapis chirped, taking Steven by his arm, leading him away to the room she had watched him depart to for years, eager to finally spend some time with her friend.

Steven sighed. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything until after he had finished his food.

Author's note:If you're confused, then I'm doing my job. You're not supposed to get a perfect grasp on this chapter's "Apocalypse" Steven and Lapis yet.

So, this is going to get pretty long, but I felt like I owed you all some details.

First, I was wondering if you all could please tell me about any orphaned Steven Universe works. I would really like to show that other stories are part of this multiverse.

Second, an anomaly is just what I'm going to call AUs. While most timelines are like canon with a few minor differences, some have major differences (Momswap, Yellow Steven, Homeworld Steven, Gem Twins, most Malachite stories) and have been dubbed "anomalies" by those who know about timelines.

Next, some characters have been given names to help distinguish them from the rest of the same characters in different timelines based on what they do, their native timeline, or just cute nicknames given to them by their friends (Mirror Steven: Rose Wings; Captain Bismuth: Captain). Their logic was that calling them by their actual names was sort of like calling a rat "Rat". Seriously though, I'm going to have to come up with more creative names than Jazz and Green.

Also, the mirror Steven is from a Mirror!Steven timeline which was made by, I believe, Mushroom Cookie Bear on devianart. Jazz is a mom swap Jasper, which was made by…um…not me. Check this stuff out, it's pretty cool.

And finally, Lapis, learn some personal space!

Please tell me how I can improve or what I can change (I will try to make these chapters longer).