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Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe.

"I miss D- Yellow Tail."

Vidalia's heart clenched as she heard her Sour Cream's quiet sigh. Greg patted her on the back, but did not say anything. Sour Cream and Onion had been moping around the house ever since Beach City had evacuated, and she couldn't bring herself to kick them outside for fresh air. Vidalia didn't know when she had last gone outside was, since she was always in the kitchen. Sleeping at the table, cooking meals in-between, all while waiting for the phone to ring or someone to appear at the front door.

The only person who had arrived was Greg. He showed up once a day, occasionally bringing some food so she didn't have to cook. It helped, since she and the boys were all worried about Yellow Tail. He had not returned home like he usually did during the week. He hadn't called either. At first she hoped there was a problem with the phone line. The town had been in complete chaos after all. But the line was working now, and there was still no news. He could be lost somewhere far out in the ocean, or worse, and they had no idea where.

Waiting for any kind of information was agonizing. Greg had really been great for support during this time though. Amethyst was too busy with her magical rock stuff and her job to stay at the house. She didn't have the time to sit down and mope with her. At least Steven was out of the house most of the day. She didn't want him to endure their sadness as well. The little guy had enough of his own problems without getting involved in her families. He usually did gem things with the others. She didn't feel quite comfortable leaving him alone with the other gems, but he said that Amethyst was usually around when they were together. That thought at least made her feel a little better.

There was just so much going on now what with her husband missing and Greg having a crisis of his own. That being Steven. Who was his son but did not know it. Greg had been quiet about it for the most part, but she knew it was troubling the man. He would have to be heartless for it not to, and Greg was quite the opposite.

The doorbell rang.

Everyone immediately jumped to their feet. Vidalia pushed her boys out of the way so she could answer the door. All of their hearts sank when they realized it wasn't Yellow Tail. It was one of the magical ladies that Amethyst had a falling out with. She was the shorter of the two, and always seemed very emotional. Today's emotion seemed to be slight nervousness. Greg visibly tensed when he saw the magical woman. Vidalia remembered how Greg admitted to losing his temper at them before he had taken away Steven. Seeing as Steven was around the gems more often, but wasn't here now, she took that as a bad sign.

"Hello."

"Yes, uh, hello."

"What do you want, Pearl?" Asked Greg.

"Well there's no easy way to put this, not that I would want to sugar-coat something as important as the safety of Steven, but-"

"What is it?"

"One of the gems who tried to return Steven to the gem Homeworld before tried to kidnap him again today."

"What do you mean tried to?!" Greg yelled. "Where is he now? What have you done to him?!"

"He's in the temple." She replied. "Voluntarily I can assure you. We've all agreed that it's best for his safety if he remains with a gem at all times in case Peridot tries again."

"Best for his safety?" He slowly echoed.

Vidalia backed away from Greg, sensing that his temper was about to snap again. She thought about telling Greg to calm down, because she knew he would regret getting so worked up later. If someone else had told her they were keeping her boys because it was in their best interests, without asking what she thought first, then she would be very mad too. The other woman seemed oblivious to his growing fury though. She nodded, and said;

"Quite right."

"Best for his safety?!"

"Yes, that's what I said."

"Was it best for his safety when you forced him to confront that water-witch who nearly downed him?! Was it best for his safety when you kept him locked away?! Or when you told him he would become a murderer?! What about hunting him down like an animal?! Was that in the name of my son's safety as well?! Because in that case I can assure you that I'd rather take my chances with this Peri-Whatever than you!"

Greg was shaking from head-to-toe as he finished, his hands clenched into fists. His sunburned face seemed impossibly red. He looked like someone had painted over his face with crimson paint. For a moment, the only sound was that of his angry, shuddering breaths. Then, she asked;

"Your... Son?"

"Yes my son!"

"You mean, you actually went out and verified that-"

"YES! But that's not important now!"

"Right, of course." She seemed to visibly get over her surprise. "Like I was saying, I sincerely doubt that either of you could deal with Peridot if she did show up on your doorstep. Her technology is far more advanced than anything on this planet. However, Garnet, Amethyst, and I would better-equipped-"

"Didn't you listen to anything I said?! I don't care if you're better-equipped! You can't just waltz up here and tell me that you're holding on to my son because you're better-equipped to protect him!"

"Well why on Earth not?"

"Because it's not right! I'm his dad! Not you! He's my responsibility! His safety is my job now!"

She still seemed confused with what had Greg so angry.

"Then if you care about his safety so much, you shouldn't care that he's staying with us from now on."

He growled in frustration and tugged at his hair.

"No! You're missing the point! It's the fact that you didn't ask me before that's wrong!"

"Then why didn't you just say so?" She laughed. "You humans are so confusing some of the time! Any who, feel free to visit Steven between the hours of seven in the morning and eight in the evening? Goodbye!"

"No! Wait I-"

The gem had leapt into the air and soared off before he could finish. She jumped from roof-to-roof on the houses until she reached the beach. Greg sighed, and he rubbed his forehead. He had tried to keep the situation positive for her, so she would do the same with him. Forcing a laugh, she smile and said;

"I can see why you lost your temper at her before."

"You have no idea."

"Isn't it obvious? You were made for the specific purpose of-"

Was it really that obvious?

... Then how come he didn't know for sure? He knew that being a warrior had always been a part of purpose, but that didn't clear anything up. If he was supposed to be a fighter, then why was he so weak? Why was he, human? Gems were the definition of strong, powerful. Why would they make a fighter out of the wrong, organic, material? He couldn't serve any useful purpose to the Homeworld as a fighter, at least as far as he knew. Maybe there was something special that humans could do? He had more questions than ever. And for a moment, he thought one of them might have been answered.

"Isn't it obvious? You were made for the specific purpose of-"

The fake Peridot froze mid-sentence again. Every detail on her was taken exactly from memory. The dented limb enhancers, the split ends appearing in her hair, and the smug, knowing smile she had on her face. As much as he wished he could get the answer from her, there was none to be given. Peridot opened her mouth to repeat the phrase again. He waved a hand through her before she could stop. The illusion of a solid body vanished, as she turned into nothing more than the pink clouds of the room.

He sighed, and attempted to distract himself from the curiosity he was experiencing. Peridot wanted to take him back to Homeworld. He couldn't talk to her without leaving the Earth behind in the process. And he was not going back. Never. But she knew so much about him, why he had been made. Cloud-Peridot reformed, and she spoke once again.

"Isn't it obvious? You were made for the specific purpose of-"

"I want you to go away!" He commanded aloud.

He waved his hands in a shooing motion. The fake version of Peridot left again, sinking back into the layer of clouds. He was beginning to hate this room. Hate it more than being inside of his gem. There were no cryptic voices here, but the room's weird choices creeped him out. The last time he had asked for a mirror, it gave him the one Lapis had been trapped in. When he asked for a bed, he got the chair he had slept on while in the gem warship. All it did was bring things from bad memories to life. He wondered if this was how it acted for the original owner, or it was doing this because the room knew he was not really authorized to be in the space.

"Isn't it obvious? You were made for the specific purpose of-"

With another flick of his wrist, the fake Peridot left him alone.

"Rrr! Why won't you go away?!"

Suddenly, six more Peridots rose from the floor. They joined hands, and started to dance around him in a circle. One Peridot started the broken phrase, and the next joined in after she spoke the second word. The one after did the same, repeating the phrase one word behind the second Peridot. The rest joined in, following the pattern until the sentence stopped sounding like words in his ears. They began to chant new phrases, mindlessly mimicking the things she had said to him before. From when they had been on the ship and yesterday.

"You're just a-"

"-Steven. You're just the-"

"-Steven that belongs to Yellow Diamond! Of course a-"

"-Steven wouldn't understand something so complex!"

The Peridots cackled in simultaneous, sinister amusement. They all fell down, giggling, snorting, and out of breath. They kicked their feet, and seemed incapable of stopping. They were hysterical, insane, and he didn't understand why they were laughing at him, why it was so funny. His own name stopped sounding like a real word, the longer her listened to them laugh.

"A Steven!"

"The Steven!"

"Her Steven!"

"STEVEN!"

The seventh voice broke through the rest. As he and the others heard it, they froze. One-by-one, the Peridots turned into clouds. Harmless, pink clouds that could do nothing to hurt him... From the left, there came a loud banging sound, and he heard his name being called again. It was the fusion, Garnet. Steven assumed that was where the entrance to the room was. He removed his hands from his ears, and stood. He had never even realized he had fallen down until he had to walk towards the entrance. He calmed himself down, and then stretched out his arms.

"Room... I, I want a door."

He clapped, and the entrance appeared. The door opened, revealing Garnet. She dropped her fist and dismissed her gauntlet when the door opened. Outside of the temple, it was morning. A fresh new day had started, and it seemed like the typical, sunny morning in Beach City. A few clouds dotted the sky, small waves crashed upon the beach, and there was an inviting warm outside.

"Did you catch Peridot?" He hopefully asked.

"No, not yet. We just need to buy food."

"Buy, food?"

"For you to eat."

It occurred to him that he had no idea where the Crystal Gems had gotten food for him before. He doubted any of them could actually cook. There was no reason for the temple to have a kitchen. However, he had gotten cooked meals. Ruby had burned his hotdog one time, Pearl had tried to give him incredibly bland mixed vegetables and water... How did any of them know anything about human diets, and safe food preparation?

"Oh. Ok then."

Garnet turned around and left. After getting over his small moment of surprise, he followed her to the sunny day outside. It felt good to be out in the sun and away from the temple. Here he felt that he could finally relax. Not like the inside of the temple. He was also glad that doing as he was told, and not fighting back, got him away from the room sooner. It had been weak, pathetic of himself to not say or do anything about his sudden new living arrangements. But at least he was being treated like less of a prisoner now. He was actually outside! He was free as he could be! Despite everything, he felt himself starting to smile.

They walked to the local grocery store. Garnet stopped just outside of the doors, staring at them.

"What do we do from here?" She asked.

"Wait, you're asking me how to buy food? How did you get it before?"

"Normally Amethyst or Pearl would get it. But they're both busy today."

"Oh. Well uh, I guess we go inside first."

The doors automatically opened as he stepped forwards. Garnet tensed, and pulled out her weapons.

"Who opened that door? Show yourselves!"

"That's just a normal door. Humans have the technology to make them open automatically now."

She lowered her arms, and nodded. However, she did not get rid of her gauntlets. He took the first few leading steps into the grocery store. Garnet followed by his side, staring around the inside and looking out for potential threats. There were only a few people browsing the short aisles, and none of them looked very threatening. This did nothing to lower her guard. Steven realized that Garnet was going to be more of a bodyguard for him than an adult. He was used to having one when Yellow Diamond wasn't around on Homeworld. So it wasn't hard for him to adjust to her always tense, always threatening demeanor. He just went about his business.

First, he grabbed a basket from the front of the store. Near the back row was where all of the baked goods were kept, and he started there. First, he grabbed a box of cookies. He found muffins too, and grabbed bread, for sandwiches. He figured that he could always get the room to make a fridge and freezer for him, so he wound up picking some cold foods as well. A variety pack of different sliced meats, cheese, and a box of his latest favourite food, Cookie Cats: They were only the best combination of neapolitan-flavoured ice-cream, stuffed between two perfect cat-shaped cookies. It was almost like having two deserts in one, but better!

His basket was starting to get full, and the weight was heavy on his arms. The only row they had yet to pass through was the fruits and vegetables section. He was not too keen on getting any of those. They were ok some of the time, but he didn't really eat them unless he was given them. But since Garnet was so preoccupied with guarding him, maybe she would have no idea that he should really be eating fruits and vegetables...

Just before they could reach the end of the aisle, she tapped on his shoulder.

"You didn't get anything from this row."

"Well-"

"Something tells me you probably should."

Defeated, he returned back to the rows of fruits and vegetables. Apples weren't too bad, he would get a few of those first. However, both his hands were full, supporting the weight of the ever-filling basket.

"Uh, could you hold this for me?"

Garnet nodded. She grabbed the entire basket and tucked it underneath her arm. To her it seemed to weigh nothing at all. Steven was still glad that the enormous weight had been taken off his hands. He felt oddly light now that he had been freed from holding it. He began sorting through the apples, picking out four, unbruised ones. He grabbed a plastic bag from the roll of them, and put the apples inside. He handed the bag back to Garnet.

"Could you put those on the scale?"

Stretching out her arm, she dropped the bag on the scale. The little needle spun around, reaching a certain number on the scale. He was still learning how to read and write the English human language. But if he was reading correctly, all four apples weighed around two units of measurement. And that meant they would cost... He did the mental math in his head, and tried converting it back from Homeworld currency. It was hard to understand if it was a reasonable price or not otherwise...

Garnet dropped the rest of the basket on top of the scale. The tiny thing could not take the weight of the basket. The needle on the indicator did a full loop, and then the chain holding up the scale broke. The few people in the store looked at them as they heard the crash. Steven blushed, and quickly started to pick up the fallen items.

"Garnet!"

"I thought we were measuring things." She said in a slightly strangled voice.

She bent over to help him grab all of the food. They piled it back inside the shopping basket. None of the food would have to be replaced because it was all in bags and different packaging.

"We are. But you can't drop everything on the scale at once."

"I... See."

She picked up the scale by the chains. Then, she grabbed on to the severed links. She clenched her fists, and a small jolt of electricity ran through the scale. When she let go, the metal chains had welded back together. The scale was slightly lopsided now, but it looked like it was in working order again. Garnet proceeded to drop the box of Cookie Cats on the scale.

"Uh, those don't have to be-" He stopped, and shook his head. "Let's just go to the checkout."

Placing his box of Cookie Cats back in the basket, he led Garnet towards the check-out. The teenager working the register was engrossed with his cellphone. Garnet flipped the basket upside-down, spilling its contents on to the counter. Steven caught the loaf of bread before it could roll away, and saved the apples before they could bruise or dent. This grabbed the teen's attention. He pulled his attention away from his phone, and then looked at them.

"Nice shades." He said, pointing to Garnet's glasses.

The fusion smirked. Steven realized that they were both wearing similar-looking glasses. They were reflective, hiding their eyes, and they did not seem to have any visible frames. Just lenses.

"Yours aren't half bad either."

"We would like to purchase this food." Steven said, gesturing to the food.

"Cash or credit?"

It suddenly occurred to Steven he should have asked Garnet if she had any human money before he went and grabbed everything he wanted off the shelves. But before he could answer the worker's question, Garnet did it for him. She raised her hands into the air, and showed the employee the glowing gemstones in her palms.

"Money is a human social construct that holds no place in the hearts of gems! We earn our keep through hard labour and honest actions!"

Garnet struck an impressive pose, raising her arms to the sky and majestically shaking her hair. Steven wondered who exactly she was posing for, and why there was suddenly a wind blowing through her hair. Steven assumed that this was Garnet's way for admitting that she did not have any human money on her. Gems actually did have their own version of money, one that was a lot harder for him to understand than human money. But it did not make sense for her to have either version of currency when she was living away from most humans on Earth.

"Right on. I totally feel you. But my manager probably doesn't." He slid the items across the scanner and pushed them into plastic bags. "That'll be sixty-one eighty."

Garnet nodded. Then, she waved her hands in a quick, figure-eight pattern. A roll of cash appeared in her hands. She sorted through the bills until she found the right ones needed to pay for the food. The teen handed her back the change. In the meantime, Steven picked up as many bags as he could carry. Garnet grabbed the rest, fitting them all on one arm without any trouble. As they exited the store, he waved at the employee. The teen waved back, and pumped one of his fists.

"Keep trying to fight the system yo'!" He said. "I'm on your side!"

One of the store patrons dropped the kiwis that he had been inspecting. He ran over to the employee and grabbed him by the shoulders. The teen calmly stood there as the customer shook him back and forth.

"BUCK! YOU KNOW ABOUT THE SNEOPLE ON THE MONEY AS WELL?!"

Steven shuddered. He remembered the blond. He was the same guy that had insisted that he was related to Mr. Universe at the pizza place. He was really loud, and Steven didn't understand where he got all of his strange ideas from. As the automatic doors swung shut behind them, they could hear the rest of the teen's strange words.

"WE CAN FIGHT THE OPRESSORS TOGETHER BUCK! SPREAD THE AWARENESS TO ALL! FIGHT THE POWER!"

Buck thoughtfully rubbed his chin and nodded.

"I like the way you think."

That was just plain strange. But the thoughts of the teenagers quickly left his mind, because they were returning to the temple yet again. More than anything he did not want to return back to the room. He couldn't help but feel like every time he went back, there was a greater chance of him getting locked in forever. It wasn't true, but a part of him still felt like it was the truth. Things were different this time, the gems had proved that they were not trying to keep him prisoner in the temple...

"Are you alright?"

"What? O-of course! Everything's perfectly fine!"

"Mhm."

She did not sound very convinced, but did not try to push the subject any farther. He was grateful for that, because he wouldn't know how to explain what he was feeling even if he did want to talk with the fusion. So they returned to the temple in silence. He opened the door to her room (He refused to think of it as his own, because it really did belong to the other gem in his eyes.) and stepped inside. Garnet placed the grocery bags on the floor, and eased her arm out of the handles.

"If you need any of us, just give a shout." She tapped on her glasses with a slight smile. "I'll know."

"R-right." He looked down, not sure what to respond with. "Er, thank-you."

"No problem."

The door closed, and he was lost within the world of the clouds once again. He asked for a kitchen, and got an exact replica of the one in Connie's house. It was neat, orderly, and there was a place for everything he had brought in with him. Plus, he was really starting to miss his friend. He had gotten a few more calls from her, but she was still too busy to come over. He didn't really know if that was a human expression for something else or not, but he certainly hoped that it wasn't. He wished that people would explain these things better to him. Not all of their behaviour was that obvious...

"Isn't it obvious? You were made for the specific purpose of-"

Steven groaned and covered his ears. Maybe he should tell someone how he was feeling.