Chapter 3

Steven did not go to see the magician like his Dad had told him to.

He didn't even go to the boardwalk. Instead, once he was outside he made his way to the area tucked underneath the front deck, where they now permanently kept the laser light canons (just in case). Steven had only really been down there once, back when the centipeedle's attack had damaged the house, requiring Pearl to make some repairs. After a little bit of begging, she'd allowed Steven to tag along when she'd gone underneath to the building's supports. She'd carried with her a heavy tool-kit and long planks of wood, while he'd got to hold the flashlight for her while she'd worked away. They'd discovered then that from beneath the floorboards you could hear everything that was going on in the house above perfectly; he and Amethyst had ever started having a conversation (which had eventually devolved into a fight, after Pearl had complained that Amethyst was distracting her when she accidentally hit one of her own fingers with a hammer)

The sun was starting to set, so it was already dark underneath the house. Steven didn't have a flash-light with him this time, so instead he pulled his cell-phone out of his pocket and switched it on. By it's dim light he was just able to make out enough of the rocks and wooden beams to find holds for his hands and feet.

Steven figured it would be a tricky climb; he'd had enough trouble with it the last time, and that had been with both of his hands available. To his surprise, however, he navigated the narrow, rocky path pretty easily, even with one hand busy holding his phone up the entire time. He guessed all those missions really had been paying off, after all.

It didn't take him long to reach the top- in fact, he reached it so quickly that he misjudged the distance, and nearly managed to bang his head against the floorboards above him. He stopped himself just in time to avoid what could have caused a nasty bruise- then hesitated for a different reason.

Should he really do this? Steven didn't really like to eavesdrop on conversations, not if he could help it, and he knew Dad didn't want him listening on this one.

But sometimes you had to, right? This was a Serious Situation, and he needed to know what was going on. It was like Mayor Dewey had said; sometimes people kept you in the dark, because they wanted to protect you...but sometimes, you had to help protect them, too.

So Steven stuffed his phone back into his pocket, twisted into a proper position, and pressed his ear against the wood above.

The sound was muffled, and it took a moment for the boy to make out what was being said. He just managed to catch the tail of his Dad saying, "- she'd become part of him."

So he'd missed most of the explanation. That was kind of annoying, because Steven really didn't understand what it all meant, but it didn't really matter- he could ask later. The important thing was hearing how the Gems reacted.

They reacted, as they turned out, badly.

"And you let her?" screeched Amethyst, loud enough that it was perfectly clear, even through the floor.

"I did not let her. I begged her to reconsider. Told her she didn't have to go through with the pregnancy..." Steven bit his lip as he listened to his to his Dad explain. He didn't blame them; he couldn't. If he'd been in their position, and it was Amethyst, or Garnet, or Pearl who was going to...go away...he wouldn't have wanted them to leave either, even for an adorable baby...

Still, he couldn't help but flinch when Pearl started screaming. "Because that is what Greg is telling us!" she cried at Amethyst. "That Rose died."

Did she? Steven wondered, thinking of his Mom's video, and Jasper, and the pink gem where his belly button should be. He wasn't sure. Was it dying, if you got a new body, and a new personality, and lost all your memories? Maybe at that point, it might as well be the same thing.

No wonder Amethyst started crying.

This was a bad idea, thought Steven as he lay in the cool darkness, Dad was right, I shouldn't have listened...

The boy pulled himself back from the floorboards, sliding down the rocky slope, not even bothering to take out his phone again to light the way, just letting gravity do the work. He occasionally slipped or knocked himself into something hard and painful, but he'd taken worst damage before, and ignored it. Eventually he came to the bottom, and crawled up from underneath the porch. He tried to ignore the glittering pink of his Mom's laser light canons as he pulled himself to his feet, and made his way to the beach below.

He let himself flop down on the sand, trying to let the crashing of the waves drown out the sound of Amethyst's crying that was echoing through his head...

It didn't really work.

He knew that everyone was sad about his Mom. He'd known for ages, long before he'd chased Pearl across that strawberry strewn battlefield and found her sobbing, afraid to even look at him. And he could feel their frustration, whenever he messed up, or couldn't do something that was important or magical, something that his Mom could have done, no problem...

...and it was hard, knowing that. But it was okay, because no matter how much the Gems missed Rose Quartz, no matter how much they nlamed him that she was gone...they still loved him. They would protect him, and hug him, and tell them that he'd done a good job, don't worry.

But not today. 'Cause when he'd walked into the house that afternoon- there had been nothing. No recognition at all.

When he had realized what was wrong, it had been hard to remain calm. Really hard. But he had taken a deep breath, and explained, as well as he could. It had been clear that the Gems hadn't believed him, not at all- but still, he hadn't expected Pearl to grab his gem, to try and pull it out like that...and it had been kinda, kinda scary, how she wouldn't stop, even when he had asked her to, or how Amethyst hadn't done anything, or how...unaffected, Garnet had been about it all...

In his panic, all he had been able to think was, Dad, Dad will be able to fix this, they'll have to believe Dad.

And they had to, right? They had to believe that he really was Rose's kid, and that she had wanted him to have her gem...

But...even if they did believe Dad, that wouldn't fix everything, would it? Dad was human; he couldn't bring back memories.

But the memories had to come back...right? Like, maybe after Dad explained everything, things would just snap into place! Or maybe it would just wear off naturally! Or the Gems, they'd know all about this, and know exactly how to fix it, no problem! Then, then, they wouldn't be so sad, and they'd know who he was, and everything would be fine and normal again.

Right?

Steven couldn't quite convince himself of his own words. He wished desperately that there was somebody else that could. Or just, somebody to talk to about this.

Connie.

The thought of his friend came to him suddenly, with a sharp pang of longing. He quickly dug his phone out of his pocket, his fingers automatically tapping against the touch-screen in the familiar pattern that lead to his contact list, only for them to pause before hitting the 'call' button.

Connie was at this big family thing, not just with her parents, but her grandparents and cousins and stuff. It was supposed to be this super big and important thing, one of the only times when the whole Maheswaran family could get together. It's why she hadn't been able to come to the parade with him that day, even though she'd been really excited for it, and Steven knew that she'd probably be too busy to even talk to him. Her parents might not have even let her take her phone with her.

But he still wanted to at least try and talk to her. So instead, he went to send a text, only to find his fingers hesitating again when he went to actually type.

It wasn't that he didn't want to tell her what was going on. He did. And he knew Connie would want to know. But how did you even send that kind of thing in a text?

'The gems don't know who I am and they all seem to hate me and I'm really freaking out. P.S. Are you having fun?'

No, that didn't seem right. This was the type of thing you told someone in person.

He still wanted to talk to someone, though. Ultimately, he did end up typing something to his friend; 'Wish you were here'.

It didn't help much. Steven flopped down onto his back, staring up at the sky; mostly reds and oranges right then, but if you looked straight up, it was a deep purple, with the first few stars beginning to appear in the night sky. He wondered idly if any of them were Homeworld's.

He wanted someone to come close and hug him, tell him everything would be okay, but right then, that wasn't an option. He considered calling for Lion. Steven had no idea where the big, pink cat was, but that didn't to matter- Lion always seemed to show up when he needed him, no matter what. Steven figured it was some sort of magical connection thingy. It would be nice to bury his face in the cat's thick fur, or just to sit down in that strange, otherworldly place kept inside Lion's mane, at least until he ran out of air and had to leave...

But maybe that was a bad idea. Pearl hadn't reacted well the first time she'd found about Lion- he didn't want her to see him and react like that again, not when she was already...

Instead of finishing the thought he sighed, and continued looking up at the sky, which was growing steadily darker.

There was a sharp buzzing in his hand as his phone received a text. He sat up quickly, and found that it was from Connie.

'Me too,' the girl had written in response. 'The reunion is kind of boring. Had to sneak to the bathroom to type this. How was the parade?'

Steven's throat felt tight as he replied, 'It was pretty fun'.

When he went to press send, the screen looked blurry. He blinked in confusion, then realized there was nothing wrong with the phone's screen; he'd started crying without realizing it.

He shook his head, and pressed send. Then he dropped his phone onto the sand and got up, walking towards the ocean. The cool waves lapped over his sandals as he bent down to splash water over his face. He didn't want to cry, he couldn't let himself; he needed to be strong, he needed to find a way to fix this, but instead he just had tears running down his face...

Tears.

Tears!

An idea struck him like a bolt of lightning.

He washed his face quickly- the salt water stung his eyes, but it felt good somehow, refreshing. Once he was sure he was all cleaned up, Steven ran off, swooping down to pick his phone off the ground before charging back up towards the Temple.

He paused when he arrived on the porch, however. Would it be a good idea to go in? He had to, though. Besides, he couldn't hear any crying, or screaming or anything, so this was about as good a time as ever.

Still, Steven opened the door tentatively, first peeking in through the slit. The Gems and his Dad were standing between the kitchen and the warp pad, all four of them apparently in deep discussion, though the human stood a little to the side, his hands buried deep in his pockets. All four of them looked up when they saw him enter- none of them looking particularly pleased to see him, though his Dad at least gave an attempt at a smile.

"Guys!" Steven said, putting on a smile of his own, this one more genuine. "I think I know a way to get your memories back! We could go to my Mom's fountain, I bet-"

"-You know about Rose's fountain?" asked Pearl.

"Er, yeah," Steven said, a little put off by the interruption, and the cold way the Gem was staring at him. "Amethyst cracked her Gem a while back, so you guys took me there..."

"Eh, that sounds likely," Amethyst said with a shrug, earning a small nod of agreement from Garnet. Then the purple Gem cocked her head at the boy. "Hey, wait. If you really have Rose's gem, shouldn't you have healing tears too?"

"Uh...well, I do have healing powers, but they... haven't been working very well, so I thought it might be better if..." He looked down at the floor, embarrassed, only briefly catching a glimpse of his father doing the same. He heard Amethyst make a small 'humph' noise.

"We came to the same conclusion about the fountain," Garnet told him, ignoring the other Gems' comments. "We were just about to leave when you arrived."

"Really?" Steven said, not at all irritated that the Gems had apparently had the same idea as him. He didn't care who's plan it was, as long as it got his family's memories back. "Then let's go!"

Within a couple seconds he had run across the room and was standing expectantly on the warp pad, waiting for the others to join him.

Instead, however, the Gems just seemed to stare at him, uncertain expressions on their face. Pearl was grimacing, holding her hands to her chest; Amethyst opened her mouth, then closed it again. The two smaller Gems exchanged glances, then looked at Garnet; after a moment, she merely shrugged, and stepped forward onto the crystal platform herself. After another moment of hesitation, her team-mates followed her.

"Er..." said Greg, "I'll just wait for you guys to return then."

"Yes," Pearl agreed, her voice cool. "That would be for the best."

Steven grinned at him. "See you soon, Dad!"

He just caught the man giving him a hopeful smiling and raising his hand goodbye as the warp pad activated, and the world dissolved into bright light around them. As always, Steven felt the odd, floating sensation as gravity disappeared; as always, he felt himself begin to float slightly upward. He stamped down against it, trying to keep himself in position through sheer force of will. Steven had gotten pretty good at warping recently- he could activate the pads all by himself, and he hadn't fallen down in months- but for some reason, he found himself struggling this time. He kept wondering what the Gems would do if he started to float away...

His face was screwed up in an expression of intense concentration by the time the light vanished and the warp stream dropped the four of them in Rose Quartz's garden. He had floated up a bit in the warp stream, and so fell about a foot or so, but still managed to land on his feet.

It was alright night at the garden. True night, not just dusk, like it had been back in Beach City. Yet Steven had no difficulty seeing. In part this was due to the clear skies above; there were no clouds at all to block to block the stars and the near-full moon. That was not the only light, however.

Throughout the garden the stones, the walls, the statues, the very fountain itself, were all glowing, filling the air with a very slight, pale pink luminescence.

It was beautiful.

All four of them took a moment to savour that beauty, just taking a moment to appreciate the shimmering scene before them. Then the three Gems strode off quickly towards the fountain, Steven running in their wake. As he did so, he cast a nervous eye on the plants that ringed the area, remembering how violently they had reacted last time. Thankfully, however, it seemed that the most ominous thing about them just then was the long shadows they cast in dim light. It had been less than a year since he and the Gems had last visited, and the plants hadn't had the chance to become nearly so wild and unmanageable.

They were all silent as they approached- at least, until Pearl said, "Why is there a giant rock just sitting here?"

Steven pressed his lips together. He knew, of course, remembering how Garnet had punched the boulder with enough force to cut through the mass of brambles which had once blocked the path- but judging from the look on Pearl's face, he wasn't sure like it would be a good idea to say.

"I can carry it away," offered Garnet, a gauntlet forming around her left hand.

"No, not now," Pearl said, waving a hand, and Garnet's gauntlet vanished. "Let's get this sorted out first..."

The air was thick with the smell of roses, Steven realized, once they were nearer the fountain which flowed freely with his mother's tears. He hadn't noticed last time- or if he had, he couldn't remember noticing. He guessed he'd been pretty distracted at the time. It smelled really, really nice. The Gems must have agreed, because despite the fact they didn't need to breathe they were taking long, deep breaths, as though they were savouring the familiar scent.

The three aliens exchanged glances, stepped forward, and then...

Garnet merely stepped forward, and lowered her hands into the pale-pink water. Amethyst jumped in, propelling herself high into the air before making a canon-ball. Pearl smirked at her friend's antics, but then her face smoothed out as she dipped in a refined curtsy- a deep one too, far deeper than any Steven had seen on TV, so deep that it allowed the shining white gem-stone on her forehead to become fully submerged in the fountain's healing water.

Steven held his breath. Time seemed to stretch.

Finally, Garnet removed her hands; Amethyst's head popped up from under the surface; Pearl straightened out from her curtsy.

"...so?" asked Steven.

"I don't know about you two," Amethyst said. "But I ain't remembering anything."

"Me neither," Pearl admitted, running a hand through her short wet hair. "But how...? Rose's tears..."

"...could never heal everything," Garnet said. "We were aware that the technology from the Dome of Knowledge was invented with her powers in mind. We all knew this was a long-shot."

Steven hadn't, and they hadn't bothered to tell him. He wasn't even sure what this 'Dome of Knowledge' was.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Amethyst, clambering out of the fountain. She grabbed a fistful of her shirt, and started to wring the tears out, being surprisingly careful to make sure all of it dripped back into the fountain's basin.

"We go back to the Temple, and we come up with another plan," said Garnet, already turning back towards the warp pad.

Pearl sprinted to her side, with Amethyst not far behind. "That's easier said than done..."

None of them looked back to see if Steven was following.

He did follow, of course. But not before pausing to look back at his mother's fountain. Her statue at the center looked so calm and peaceful, it's pink glow radiant in the darkness. Steven remembered the video-tape she'd left, tucked away in Lion's mane, meant just for him. And the last words she'd said, before the tape had run out; "Take care of them, Steven."

He wished he knew how.

Author's Note: Aww, Steven, I'm afraid that things can never be that easy.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure how happy I am with this chapter, but I couldn't think of anyway to make it seem to flow more naturally, so I figured I might as well post it anyway. Hope you all are still enjoying the story! All your comments and support have been really wonderful.