"Do you want to stay here with us until you go? We could go to the Arcade, the Big Donut, Beach City Funland, and we could-"
"Steven, calm down." I said, interrupting him as he kept on rambling, and placed my hands on his shoulders, kneeling down to his level.
"So, what do you say?" He asked, and I smiled sweetly at him.
"Seeing as I really don't have anywhere else to go, and it seems that the Gems are okay with it, then yes. I'd love to stay here with you all."
"And there we go." I told myself as I placed my now ripped skinny-jeans in the bag, together with my other dirty clothes, before slinging the bag back onto my shoulder, and putting the communicator on my wrist again.
The Gems had requested that I use the shower to clean myself of all the dust and blood, and I had gladly accepted, wanting nothing more than for my wounds to stop stinging due to being dirty. And after that was done, I'd quickly pulled out some clean clothes from my bag and put them on, before looking myself in the mirror.
My new outfit consisted of a pale-yellow T-shirt, a pair of loose black shorts that ended right under my knees, one pink sock with yellow stripes and a red one with black dots, and my converse. I smiled to myself in the mirror, being happy with the outfit I'd chosen, and turned to exit the familiar yet unfamiliar bathroom.
Of course I'd seen it on the show, so I knew exactly how it would look, but just like with the TARDIS, it's just sort of overwhelming to actually see it in real life and not in 2D on a computer screen. Even if it was just a bathroom.
Once I stepped outside the door I almost had a heart attack when I saw Steven standing right beside it, and I had to place a hand over my chest just to calm myself down. This got a small smile and an apologetic look from Steven, and a loud chuckle from Amethyst, who I realized was sitting on the counter of the kitchen, eating what looked like a sauce-dipped chicken leg.
"Heh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Steven said, but I only smiled at him. Gosh he's so adorable.
"Don't worry, you didn't scare me as much as you surprised me." I said, and hearing that, he gave me a small smile. That's when I noticed that he was holding something in his hands.
"So, watcha got there?" I asked, and he made a small O-shape with his mouth before glancing down at his hands for a second and then back up at me, his smile having faltered ever so slightly.
"Right! Pearl wanted me to give these to you, to help you patch up your… wounds." He said, and I couldn't help but notice the slight... well, not disgust, but something simillar when he said the last word. I guess I understood why he didn't like that word, seeing as I know how much he cared about those around him, and how he'd never want to see anyone hurt.
But my smile never faltered as I took the objects from him and looked them over, seeing him smile a bit wider out of the corner of my eye. The objects were just two simple boxes of colorful plasters, and… eight rolls of bandages? I snorted a little, earning a small chuckle from Steven, and I saw his cheeks redden a little.
"Yeah, I tried to tell Pearl that one roll would be enough, but I guess she felt bad about whatever happened back in Kindergarten." He said, and I laughed before shaking my head a bit.
"It's okay, I get it. It must've looked much worse when I was dirty than it actually was." I said, and glanced down at my legs.
Once all the blood had been washed away, the cuts didn't look too bad. The ones on my lower legs, which there were about twenty of, whereas only seven of them had been deep enough to actually draw blood, only looked like small scratches. My knees, however, didn't exactly have the same luck. My left knee looked fine, although a bit red, and had only had a few layers of skin scratched off. But my right one had been bleeding a lot, and there were still a few small drops of blood forming on it even now.
My palms on the other hand, pun definitely intended, were looking a lot worse. They stung whenever I tried to hold something or close my hands, and were both completely red and swollen. And the palm on my left hand was all scratched up and still bleeding a bit, but none of these wounds compared to the gash under my shoulder. It was constantly burning, and felt like it was getting bigger every time I tried to move my arm. But I wouldn't let my pain show in front of Steven or the Gems, since I knew how bad they already felt about all of this.
"You sure? Because, they looked pretty bad before, and-"
"Hey, don't worry about it! I'll just make sure to patch them up real tight and then there won't be any more reason to worry about them. I'll be fine, Steven." I said, interrupting the young boy when I saw him looking like he was about to cry, and put my not-as-damaged hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me, and a smile was forced onto his face when he saw me struggling to hold all the bandages with only one hand, and soon we were both laughing at it.
Without really saying anything, we walked back into the bathroom and placed the medical equipment on the sink. I sat down on the side of the bathtub while Steven placed himself on the floor in front of me, for whatever reason, and I started to wrap one of the bandages around my right knee. When I'd fastened it I reached for another one and wrapped it tightly around my arm, having to ask Steven for help to make sure it was tied hard enough to knot undo itself, before taking a third roll and beginning to wrap it around my hand.
"So… how exactly did you end up here?" Steven asked all of a sudden, and I looked up at him, giving him a confused look.
"Huh?" I asked, and he lowered his head into his shoulders, like he thought he'd said something wrong, but he continued anyways.
"Well, I kinda got the whole coming from another universe part, but how did that happen in the first place?" He said, and I fastened the bandage on my hand before I pushed up my glasses and placed it over my mouth to think. What would be the easiest way to explain this to him without making it too complicated?
"Hm. Well, it started when the Doctor, the man I was talking with before, crashed his time-space-machine-ship in my home. He'd been chasing a creature with no name through something called a Time vortex, a sort of tunnel that can send you through time and space. You understand?" I said, while grabbing one of the plaster-boxes and pulling one out, and he nodded his head slowly.
"Yeah, I think so." He said, and I smiled, placing the plaster on my leg, and continued.
"This creature, let's just call it DEX in the future, made a hole in the Time vortex and pushed the Doctor's spaceship through it. That's how he landed in my world." I grabbed another plaster and looked at Steven to make sure he wasn't confused. "When it did, the spaceship lost almost all of its power and wasn't able to work anymore. So the Doctor needed to stay in it to make sure its remaining power wouldn't go away, and that's why he sent me here. I was the only one who could help him, since he wasn't in his own world anymore. To do that, he used something called a warp star, a small object that was filled with the spaceship's energy, to open up a sort of portal that led to this world. And that's how I got here." I said, and placed a fourth plaster on my leg.
Steven looked a little confused, and took a minute to go over what I'd said, furrowing his brows as he did. In that time I patched up a few more of the scratches, including my left knee, and placed one last plaster on a small scratch on the bridge of my nose. My lower legs were now covered in seven colorful plasters, two green, two blue, one red, one yellow and one pink, and I had three more purple ones on my knee and a small red one on my nose.
"So, if you got here because of a portal that could've sent you anywhere, why did you end up in Kindergarten?" He suddenly asked, and I placed my hand on my face again. That was a good question. Why did I land in Kindergarten if I could've ended up literally anywhere else in this dimension?
"I guess that was just a coincident. Maybe it's because the portal knew that's where the Gems were, I don't really know. But honestly, I'm glad that's where I landed. Who knows what would've happened if the Gems hadn't found me." I said, and smiled brightly at the young boy. He looked worried for a short second, before returning the smile and pushing himself up from his sitting position. I stood up as well and grabbed the remaining medical supplies from the sink, before we exited the bathroom again and walked the short way over to the living room.
I saw Amethyst still sitting in the kitchen, but now she was done eating the chicken and was trying to eat a box of tea-bags, which looked absolutely ridiculous, and the sight caused me to snort. She seemed to notice, and turned to look at me, a wide grin plastered on her face. I didn't have the time to say anything to her before I heard the door to the temple open beside me, and when I turned to look, I saw Pearl and Garnet leave the Burning room. When Pearl looked up at me she immediately hurried over and grabbed the items from my hands.
"Oh my. Haha, you were right Steven. Eight rolls of bandages might have been a little too much." She said, and both Steven and I laughed, causing her to blush a light blue.
"Like I said before, it's okay. I get that it must've looked a lot worse, but I'm fine. No need to worry." I said and gave her a warm smile. "But, thank you for your concern. I really appreciate it."
The blue on her cheeks turned a few shades darker as she let out a nervous laugh, before turning her head away to avoid my gaze, which only caused me to laugh again. This even got a small chuckle out of Garnet, before she turned to Steven, a sideways smile on her face.
"So, Steven. Have you thought of where to take Felix to start his tour around the city?" She asked, but before he could answer, a loud rumbling noise sounded through the room, and the Gems all turned their gaze towards me. I could feel my cheeks heating up, and I started scratching my neck.
"Dude, was that your stomach?" Amethyst asked while trying the best she could to not laugh out loud, and I let out a chuckle, nodding my head. I hadn't realized until now how hungry I actually was, and that my stomach was aching for something to eat.
"Yeah, I forgot I hadn't eaten anything all day." I said, before looking at Steven, who was standing behind me, trying to hold back his laughter as well. By now my cheeks were burning a bright red, and the skin on my neck was hurting a little from scratching my nails against it. "You said something about a, big donut, before. That doesn't sound too bad right now."
When I said that, Steven's eyes lit up again, and he nodded his head vigorously.
"That's the best place to start! I'll just grab my phone and then we can go!" he said before he hurried up the small staircase to his 'room'. The Gems and I all let out a chuckle, before I turned to look at them, and that's when I realized something.
I don't understand how I hadn't seen until now, how realistic they actually looked. I know it sounds weird, but right now, when I see them with my own two eyes, they look just like real people. I could clearly see the curls in Garnet's cube-shaped afro, the seams on her jumpsuit, how well built her body was, and how her shades shifted between light pink and blue. I saw how Pearl's hair was twisted to hold its usual fashion, how the ribbon around her waist was kept in one large bow instead of two, and how her usually beak-like nose was more rounded than pointy. I could see the faded freckles on Amethyst's cheeks, the small tears on her clothes, and how her long lavender hair was in no way taken care of and full of small knots and tangles.
I managed to see all of this in only a few seconds, before the Gems in front of me turned their attention back to me, and my smile widened ever so slightly.
"Thank you so much for letting me stay here, even though we practically just met less than half an hour ago." I said, and Pearl let out a small laugh.
"Well, it would be uncivilized to do otherwise. Besides, we do owe you at least this much for the, ehm… inconvenience, from before." She said, and I couldn't help but sigh a little. Pearl wouldn't let that go, huh?
"Yeah! We couldn't just leave you out there to fight for yourself, so what else were we supposed to do?!" Amethyst said, and I tried to hold back a snort at the look Pearl was giving her.
"Although, there are still a few things you have yet to explain about all this." Garnet said, and I could see the slightly sceptic look in her eyes behind the shades. I chuckled.
"Yeah, I know, and I promise I'll tell you everything as soon as I can." I said, and suddenly Steven ran back down the stairs and grabbed my arm, and before I had any time to react, he started dragging me out the house.
Once I stepped outside the door of the beach house, I was met with a warm gentle breeze and the strong smell of sea salt, and was forced to shield my eyes from the bright light of the sun. I heard the sound of creaking wood under my soles when we started going down the stairs, and soon we were jogging through the sand of the beach. I turned my head back to the house and saw the Gems standing in the doorway, big smiles on their faces.
"Make sure to be back before it gets too dark! And promise to call if anything happens!" Pearl said, and Steven looked back at her and gave her a bright smile.
"Promise!" He said, and I saw Amethyst jump up on the railing of the terrace, leaning a good half a meter over the side of it.
"And bring back something for me, won't ya?! I'm starving over here!" She said, and I could see the irritation and disgust on Pearl's face when she did, which caused me to laugh.
"Will do!" I answered, and saw Garnet walking over to the top of the stairs before grinning hugely.
"And make sure to have fun!" She said, giving two thumbs up, and Steven and I gave each other a smile before laughingly answering in unison.
"We will!"
Finally after a few minutes of jogging we'd arrived in front of the Big Donut, and even through the closed doors of the blue and pink roofed building, I could smell the sweet scent of the pastries inside. Steven finally let go of my arm when he opened the bakery's glass door, and I started rubbing the reddening area he'd been holding. For being so small, he sure had a strong grip. But, then again, he is half Gem, so that's only to be expected.
I entered the building a few seconds after him, and I was hit in the face with the warm smell of the baked goods, and I felt my mouth watering as I breathed in deeply.
I looked around the small shop to try and take my thoughts away from the goods in front of me, and saw a few small tables placed near the windows, a bunch of vending machines, coolers and product posters of different kinds lining the walls enough to completely cover them, and tons of baked goods being placed within glass doors behind the counter. Also standing behind the counter was a short blonde woman wearing a purple T-shirt with a donut on the front, whom I immediately recognized as Sadie, and looking closely at her, I saw a small scar on her right cheek. That just further confirmed that whenever I am in this world, it's at least after Jail Break in the show, since Garnet had her new form.
All of a sudden, Sadie turned her head up towards Steven, and gave him a bright smile.
"Hi Steven! I haven't seen you here in a while." She said, before she glanced up at me, and I saw her cheeks being dusted with a light shade of pink, her smile quivering ever so slightly. "Who's your new friend?"
I gave her a warm smile and walked over to the counter, before holding out my hand for her to shake.
"I'm Felix. It's nice to meet you…?" I said, and Sadie shook her head a little before grabbing my hand and shaking it, the pink on her cheeks fading.
"Sadie! Sadie Miller. So, how long have you been in Beach City? I don't think I've seen you around before." She said, and I laughed a little, trying to buy myself a few seconds to make up an explanation. Though to my surprise, Steven was actually the one who answered her question.
"That's because he just got here a few hours ago! He's my cousin, and he'll be staying with me and the Gems until he goes back home in a few days!" He said, and looked up at me with a wide toothy smile. I was a little taken aback by his answer, and the fact that he had pretty much lied Sadie right in the face, but I quickly laughed it off and ruffled his curly hair, making it look even messier. I quickly mouthed a small thank you, and he responded with a wink.
"I didn't know you had any cousins, Steven. I thought you only had the Gems and your dad taking care of you." Sadie said, and this time I looked up at her and made sure to be the one answering.
"Well, it's understandable if he's never told anyone about me. Last time I saw him he was just a baby, so it's not so surprising that he didn't even know about me until earlier today. And the trip down here isn't exactly one you'd make every weekend, so this is the first time we've seen each other in years." I said, and glanced down at Steven, seeing him nod his head.
"Well then, welcome to Beach City, Felix! So, would you two like to buy something?" She asked, and I looked back up at the stored pastries behind the counter.
There were so many kinds of donuts, croissants, cupcakes and buns that I could barely count them all. There were glazed donuts, chocolate donuts, pink frosted sprinkled donuts, crullers, French crullers, long johns, donuts with different fillings, cinnamon rolls, chocolate rolls, plain croissants, croissants with chocolate on them, croissants with nuts on them, and cupcakes with so many different shades of icing and toppings that I couldn't name them all. I could feel myself drooling at the sight of the pastries, and I could almost taste the smell that was coming from them.
"Felix?"
I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Steven say my name, and I shook my head before looking down at him, placing a hand on my neck.
"Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention. What was it?" I said, and I saw both Steven and Sadie trying, and mostly failing, to hold back their laughter.
"He asked you what you'd like to order." Sadie answered, holding a paper bag with the store's logo on it, and he nodded his head.
"Oh, no, I couldn't ask you to pay for me." I said, and the young boy frowned a little.
"But you don't have any money of your own, and I don't want to buy anything if you can't have something too. Besides, you should really eat something! Back home your stomach sounded like a crumbling mountain!" He said, pouting. I sighed, chuckled a little, and admitted defeat since I knew this wouldn't be a fight I'd be able to win.
"Fine. In that case, I think I'll go for a chocolate donut." I said, and Sadie swiftly grabbed two of said pastries with a tong before putting them in the paper bag and rolling it up, placing it on the counter.
"That will be 6.49." She said, and Steven reached in his pocket before pulling out the right amount of money and handing it to her. In return she handed the bag to Steven, and with smiles on our faces, we turned to exit the Big Donut, waving at Sadie before closing the glass door behind us.
After we'd made a good amount of distance between us and the shop, I looked down at Steven, a smirk on my face.
"Why did you tell her that I was your cousin? I don't know why, but you don't seem like someone who'd lie to people." I said, and he laughed nervously, rubbing his arm a little.
"I just thought that it would be easier than trying to explain that you're from another world. I didn't really think of it as lying, just… not telling the whole truth." He said, and I could help but laugh at the innocence of his answer. He looked a little confused for a second, but soon he started laughing with me, and we kept on laughing for a good minute.
Once we'd finally calmed down enough from our small laughing-fit, I felt Steven taking my hand and pulling me towards a bench a few feet in front of us on the other side of the wooden sidewalk, before plopping down on it and leaning back on the backrest. I did the same only seconds later, and relaxed into the surprisingly not-too-uncomfortable wooden bench, while sucking in a deep breath, tasting the salty and sweet summer air.
I looked around us, and took in the scenery, smiling brightly as I did. Behind us was the beach, its soft white sand shimmering in the sunlight, while being washed over by the clear blue water of the ocean, and I spotted a few green bushes of some kind growing close to where we sat. When I turned my gaze to what was in front of us, I found myself looking through the windows of Funland Arcade, seeing the many machines and games lighting up the interior of the building, and all the people playing them.
I looked to the right of the arcade, and saw Beach City-walk Fries, Fish Stew Pizza, some sort of fish store and the T-shirt Shop all lined up along the sidewalk, with many customers walking in and out of said stores. Turning to the left, I only saw a small ice cream shop named Cone 'n' Son, and a building that for some reason reminded me of a sort of Visitor Center, both of which had people crowding outside the doors.
"So, what do you think of the city?" Steven suddenly asked, his voice having a happy and curious tone to it, and I looked down at him, my smile still as bright as before.
"This place is amazing. It's just so warm, and friendly, and… I don't know how to describe it." I answered, and it was true. For some reason this place, this city, this world, just filled my chest with the feeling of warmth, and it was almost impossible for me to not smile when I looked at all the happy people around me.
He laughed a little before opening up the paper bag and taking out one of the chocolate donuts he'd bought, before handing it to me and grabbing one for himself, taking a huge bite of it and smiling widely as he chewed. I looked down at the donut, seeing the chocolate already starting to melt against my fingertips due to the heat outside, and brought it up to my mouth, before taking a large bite.
I could feel Steven's gaze on me as my eyes widened, and I quickly brought a hand up to cover my mouth as I chewed the sweet treat, the dough falling apart between my teeth and the chocolate melting on my tongue. I swallowed, and looked down at the almost worried expression of the boy next to me, before smiling wider than I think I had all day, and laughed.
"That was the most delicious sweet I've ever had." I said, and the smile he'd previously worn quickly returned as we both continued to snack on the amazing tasting treats in our hands.
Once I'd finished mine, I licked the remaining chocolate off my fingertips, savoring the taste of it, before seeing Steven reach back into the bag between us and taking out two more doughnuts, these two being covered with pink frosting and sprinkles. He reached out and gave one to me, before biting down on his own and leaning back on the backrest again, and I raised an eyebrow at him.
"I thought you only bought those two chocolate ones?" I said, smirking a bit. He looked back at me, shaking his head a little before sitting back up, swallowing the piece he was currently chewing.
"Amethyst said she wanted something too, right? So I thought I'd buy the Break-up combo, and that'd give us eight donuts to split between us! Besides, if I'd only bought two of them, and you'd still feel hungry after only one, you wouldn't be able to have more!" he answered, a bright smile on his face.
I could do nothing else but smile warmly at him, ruffling his hair a little as he giggled, before I looked back down at my second treat and took a bite of it. I smirked to myself and enjoyed the feeling of the sugar-filled capsules that covered the donut crunching between my teeth, making satisfying sounds in my head.
Once I'd swallowed the last piece of the baked good, I leaned back and let out a heavy sigh, taking in the sunlight that washed over the small city. I closed my eyes and relaxed, resting my arms over the backrest, and basked in the warm light that shone upon me.
I soon felt something lean against the left side of my chest, pulling at the strap of the bag resting on my shoulder, and when I cracked an eye open to see what it was, I saw Steven resting his head on me. I smiled gently and let my arm fall down over his shoulder, pulling him ever so slightly closer to me, before I closed my eye again.
"Felix, is it okay if I ask you something?" He piped up a minute or so later, and I felt his head shift, and when I looked again I saw him looking up at me. I chuckled a little, sitting up a bit, still resting my arm on his shoulder.
"Go right ahead, ask me anything you wish to know." I said, a smirk playing on my lips. He smiled a bit, laughing a little, and nodded his head, making his curly hair bounce up and down. But when he stopped, he almost looked like he regretted asking, and averted eye contact when he finally spoke.
"Where… h-how did you get those scars?" He asked, still not daring to look me in the eye. I was so genuinely surprised by his question that I physically leaned back, causing Steven's shoulders to drop when I did so.
Out of everything that I had expected him to ask, this had been nowhere near one of those questions. I thought he'd ask me what my world was like, if it was different from his, or maybe even if I had a family, but not this. Although, I honestly understood why he'd ask about them, since they were so clearly visible and outstanding.
I reached up and touched my right cheek, feeling the fairly deep, thin and jagged gash that dug into my skin, and traced my finger along it down to my chin and side of my throat. I let my hand rest there, even if the scar continued down the right side of my collarbone before ending, and continuing in another scar an inch to the left, running down to the front of my waist. There was another similar scar along the outside of my right arm, beginning right under my shoulder and ending in the middle of my forearm, but that one was almost always covered by whatever shirts I wore.
When I didn't answer Steven's question, I felt his shoulders drop even further, before he started to shake my hand off his arm and try to scoot away from me.
"I-I'm sorry I asked… I understand if you don't want to-"
"When I was younger, around seven I think, if my memory doesn't fail me…" I said, cutting him off and steadying my grip on his arm, without pulling him back towards me. When I finally spoke, I could feel his eyes back on me, and I continued with a sad smile on my lips.
"I was in an accident. From what I can remember, I'd been watching TV, and it suddenly started malfunctioning and turned itself off. Not knowing what else I was supposed to do, since my parents wouldn't come home for another hour, I went to bed. But not too long after I'd fallen asleep, I woke up to the smell of smoke, and saw that my room was completely filled with it, making breathing pretty much impossible. I hurried to the door, trying to escape the smoke and thinking thatmaybe it would stay in there, but as soon as I opened it I saw that the whole livingroom was on fire."
I stopped talking for a moment, unsure of how or if I wanted to continue the story. Was I going to tell it like it was, or is this not the time for it? I could just as well stop here, and let that be it. I sucked in a deep breath, calming my racing heart, and shakily let it out again.
"In my scared and panicked state, I somehow managed to get out of my bedroom, and did the best I could to not set myself on fire as I tried to get to the staircase across from me. But before I even got halfway there, part of the ceiling gave in and fell on top of me."
I felt Steven's arm tense up, and my stomach turning at the memory, and I pulled him closer to me when I remembered what happened next. I felt my cheeks heating up, my eyes beginning to water, and I had to choke back tears as I continued.
"The people at the hospital then told me that thanks to the parts that trapped me, I was unharmed by the flames, but I had lost consciousness due to the lack of oxygen. I didn't wake up for another two days, but when I did, bandages were covering the cuts I got when the firefighters tried to pull me out of the rubble, and I had no memory of what had happened after I blacked out." I finished, my voice quivering ever so slightly, and quickly wiped my tears before they had the chance to fall. I hated that I chose to lie to Steven, it left a bad taste in my mouth to do so, but I don't think he'd be able to handle the truth if I told him what really happened. I don't think I'd be able to handle talking about it, either.
Suddenly, I felt his arms wrap around my torso, and his face pressing into my side, wetting my shirt a bit. I looked down at him, once again placing my arm around his shoulder before pulling him into a hug, resting my head atop of his and letting out a shaky sigh.
After what felt like a minute, I gently rubbed his arm, before pulling away and giving him a warm smile, wiping away the small tear that rolled down his cheek with my thumb.
"Hey, don't cry. I'm fine now, aren't I? There's no reason for you to be sad, so you better cheer up before I make you!" I said, a smirk forming on my lips as I started poking his sides, forcing him to smile and let out a loud series of laughters. I'm sure that if he'd kept being sad, I would definitely have started crying as well, but I was not about to let that happen.
"Okay, okay! Not sad, really laghy, pl-please, I-I can't-" He mangaed to get out between his laughs, tears now streaming down his face for another reason than before, and I quickly stopped poking him, giving him enough time to calm himself down, before pulling him into a hug which he seemed more than happy to return.
I smiled into his hair, closing my eyes before letting out a soft sigh.
I think I might really like staying in this dimension.