I know, I know, I haven't updated in over a year. So much has happened in my life and in SU that it's crazy, but I can't tell you why I was absent for so long, so I'll just say...GENERIC EXCUSE! My house flooded, my head exploded, I had to hav a dinner-date with Rebecca Sugar that lasted for over a year. No but seriously, I'm back, and I'll be updating between 1-2 weeks from now on, and just as a refresher, since SU has changed so much, here's a note: this story directly takes place after "That will be all", and "Monster Buddies" never happened. So this happens in a completely different continuity than the show. Just to let you know. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this latest chapter, and just so you all know; I missed you all. Very dearly. Okay, enough sentiment, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!
Greg Universe just wanted to stop by, give the kids a pizza like the cool parent he is and then head back over to the Car Wash in hopes of asleep after that. Not too much to ask for.
Instead he was called over to the dining room by the Crystal Gems and was told some of the scariest things that he had ever heard. Like the whole world ending for instance.
The first had told him everything; about Garnet's belief that there were attempts of reactivating the Kindergarten, how the Gems were afraid of a possible invasion from Homeworld and how they were certain that if Homeworld were to invade, it would mean the extinction of all organic life on Earth, an undeniable truth the Gems had kept from the children as to not scare them anymore than they already were. They had also kept the kids from knowing about the Communication Hub attempting to come back online because there was no easy way to get there in case one or any of the Gems were to travel there since Sugilite had accidentally destroyed the Warp Pad there.
Garnet also went into full detail about how hopeless the whole situation was and that if the worst case did of invasion did occur, there would be nothing to stop the invasion from succeeding and that they would all be killed upon Homeworld's arrival. There was nothing they could do about it.
During the entire conversation it was Garnet who did most of the talking, with Pearl occasionally adding her own input or thoughts on everything, but Amethyst remained silent the whole time, as did Greg while he was processing all of it. Eventually once the conversation concluded Greg had mentally summed up the worst news he has ever received.
Homeworld could invade the Earth. If they did, it would mean certain doom for all of Mankind.
Greg couldn't do a thing about it. Everything he cared about would cease to exist.
Everyone he knew. Dead.
His family. Dead.
He would die.
And so would his son…
He had to pinch his arm to convince himself that he was in fact completely wide awake and that he wasn't dreaming. It wasn't a dream. This was real.
And be didn't know what to do.
"Greg," Garnet said softly, trying to bring him back to reality. He had been overwhelmed with so many different emotions and thoughts that eventually he had spaced out for a bit, a blank look on his face. Soon he started breathing heavily and he began to breathe faster. He gripped his chest and a great look of fear formed on his face. Greg was hyperventilating.
"Greg," Pearl said softly, reaching over and taking his hand in an attempt to calm him down. "It's okay, breathe. Nothing's happened yet and who knows? Maybe Homeworld isn't invading after all."
"Oh my god..." Greg said between breaths. "We're all going to die. We're all going to die!"
"Calm down Greg," said Garnet. "I understand how hard this is for you to hard right now, but-"
"Hold up a second," Greg interrupted. "You understand how I feel? You don't know what it's like to be human, so how on Earth can you say something like that?"
"Greg no, you misunderstand," Pearl said, trying to reason with him. "Garnet simply means-"
"No!" Greg snapped back, getting angry all of a sudden, much to the shock of the Gems. "You listen to me. Us humans don't live for thousands of years at a time. We only get 5 or 6 decades usually, so we have to live as much as possible before we die, which is something you Gems wouldn't understand. You think you can understand what this feels like to me? Say those same words back to me when you know what it's like to have a clock counting down the number of days you have left for all your life, or when you find out that your lives are coming to an unexpected end and so will everyone else you know. Tell me how that feels, but I doubt you can since you guys are basically immortal. Don't ever tell me you understand how I feel, especially when it's about something this huge!"
The dining room fell silent following Greg's sudden outburst, both Pearl and Amethyst looking quite hurt from his words and starting to form tears in their eyes while Garnet stayed silent and gave him an expressionless look.
Feeling instant regret for everything he had just said, Greg's angry demeanor quickly softened and he wished he could take it all back. "Look I'm sorry I lashed out like that, I'm just-"
"No," Garnet cut off. Then she did something that took Greg by surprise. She reached up to her face and removed her shades, revealing all 3 of her eyes full of tears and a deep, hollow look that both deeply scared Greg and made him feel even more regret than he already did.
"You really think you're the only one who's got something to lose?" She asked in an exceedingly sad tone, her voice occasionally breaking. "Have you any idea what I've been through? What we've been through, and what we're going through now?" When Greg didn't answer, she continued. "Let me put it to you like this. Imagine people looking at you and just believing everything about you is wrong just because you're different, okay? Then someone comes along the road and provides you with all the love, friendship and support you always wanted, someone who inspires you and makes you strive to be a better person every day, then imagine that person just...gone. Now you have to try to go one without that person anymore and raise their son as a promise that you made, but also know in your heart that despite everything you do, you will never be able to live up to those expectations. You think we like not being able to die on our owns like humans do? I beg for death to find me most nights. I want to be able to die of natural causes or peacefully in my sleep instead of being immortal and living with the belief that nothing about me is great or perfect like Rose was, knowing that my old friends from the Gem War are all either dead or Corrupted and that I'll never see any of them again. You think death is such a horrible thing that's always hanging over your head? I will never know what that's like unless I am shattered, so until that happens I'm stuck with some of the heaviest burdens you've ever seen. I can't die, but you can, so don't you ever tell me I don't understand humans...when you don't understand us Gems."
Greg could not believe everything he had just heard. Garnet felt like that? The same Garnet that was completely fearless and rarely felt anything other than happiness and anger? How could he have lashed out at her? His concerns and worries seemed like nothing in comparison to what Garnet had kept buried this whole time. He just couldn't wrap his head around all that, and that made him feel even more guilty because it meant that he had been misunderstanding her for all these years and he had always believed he was the one who was misunderstood. Talk about hypocritical.
"Garnet...I'm so sorry. I had no idea, I-"
"Stop right there," Garnet said in her normal tone of seriousness, wiping away the tears from all of her eyes and putting her shades back on. "I didn't bring you here just so we can have another pointless conversation about feelings and all that, we're discussing a very important situation, and nothing more. Understood?"
"Y-yes Garnet," Greg replied with shame, giving in to her attempt at walking off her emotions as to stay in topic.
"Now that you know everything about what's going on, here's what we plan to do," Garnet continued. "Pearl, Amethyst and I will be leaving shortly to go check up on the Kindergarten to see if there's a Homeworld presence there and if there is we're going to see if we can do anything to stop them from restarting the Kindergarten. We've talked to the kids already about all this and we've decided that they won't be coming with us on this mission due to its high level of danger in case Homeworld has actually made it to Earth already."
"You told them about all this?" Greg asked in surprise. Surely the entirety of the situation was a bit much for the kids to be concerned with.
"Yes but they don't know how serious it is, but they know enough for now. Steven wasn't too thrilled with sitting this mission out, not one bit."
"Really? I thought he would understand why he wasn't going."
"Yes indeed, he was rather agitated about the whole thing," Pearl added. "In fact I haven't seen him with that much anger since...well, ever actually. He just really wants to help, and he's not happy about being benched while we do all the work. He gets it from his mother, so it's understandable."
"Yep, that sounds like Steven alright," Greg said in agreement. He hesitated before asking his question but he had to ask. "When are you guys heading out?"
"Right after you leave," Pearl answered, folding her arms across her chest.
It got quiet again as the Gems stared intently at Greg. It took him a minute for him to realize that they were expecting him to leave so they could go about their business.
"Oh, my bad," Greg said after finally getting the message. He stood up from his chair and quickly made his way to the door without saying a word and he had opened the screen door already when Garnet spoke again.
"Greg," she called out.
Greg halfway around with the door wide open and faced the Gems at the table once more.
"Make peace with the situation and enjoy yourself as much as you can. We don't know how much time we have left before the day comes when we..." she trailed off, Greg still perfectly understanding what she was saying. He nodded solemnly and left the house without saying goodbye, the door closing shut behind him.
Well, Greg thought to himself. So much for sleeping tonight.
A few hours later…
The kids were sad that Greg had left without saying goodbye but they both understood that the conversation they had must've been important, so they didn't complain. Instead they tried to take their mind off of their conversation with the Gems earlier and focused on watching TV and eating their pizza. They went back to peacefully enjoying themselves for another few hours, the sun finally going down and it became nighttime as the pair of friends lied next to each other in their awesome pillow fort when Garnet came walking up the steps up into Steven's room.
"Kids," she said firmly, getting both of their attention. They turned their heads and faced her while they were lying there.
"We're going to the Kindergarten for a little while. The both of you need to stay here, and under no circumstances should you leave this house. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Garnet," they said in dull unison.
"Good. We'll be back in a couple of hours. There's snacks in the cabinets and drinks in the fridge, so you two should be fine on your own." And she went back down the stairs to join Pearl and Amethyst. They said something to each other but it was too quiet for either teens to hear and with that they walked out the door. Little did they know how things would later turn out that night…
After 10 minutes into another episode of "Under the Knife", Steven nudged Connie's shoulder. The girl turned to Steven, wondering was he wanted, then became confused when she saw a huge grin plastered on his face.
"Um, what is it Steven?" She asked.
"It's time to go," he replied with that same smile.
"Are you sure you want to do this? I'm okay with disobeying the Gems for the greater good, but what happens to you if we get caught?"
"I don't know, but I guess we probably shouldn't get caught." He stood up from the blanketed floor and went over to his closet where he grabbed a black hoodie from one of the hangers and put it on. "Did you bring something warm?"
"Y-yeah." Connie got up from the floor as well and went over to her bag. She then ruffled through its contents before finally pulling out a hoodie of her own that was a very dark brown and she put it on. She turned to Steven and asked, "Ready?"
"Hold on," he said, looking around the room for a minute before grabbing something black that fit in both his hands. He then showed her what it was and she became confused once more.
"Steven, why do we need a camera?"
"You never know if you'll see something worth taking a picture of," he said, the smile on his face growling bigger by the minute. "It's just in case we find something important." He put the camera in his cheeseburger backpack that was nearby and looped one strap around his shoulder.
"Now here comes the fun. Follow me."
A few minutes later they were inside the Burning Room, a place that Connie had never seen before. She marveled at the countless bubbled gems in both awe and wonder.
"Steven..." she said. "It's beautiful here!"
"I agree, it's a very pretty place here in the temple. I can't believe I've never showed you before."
"Well I'm glad you did, don't get me wrong," she continued. "But why exactly did you bring me here?"
"Because this is where we store all the monsters we capture." She reached out to a nearby bubble that contained a weird gem that looked like a multicolored hodgepodge of other gem shards that were just crudely fused together. At first Connie didn't understand what is was while she was staring at it, and then it hit her.
"That's one of the Gem monsters that attacked us at my mom's hospital!" She exclaimed, pointing at the now recognizable gem.
"That's right!" Steven said, letting go of the bubble and letting it fly off somewhere within the room before grabbing another bubble, this one holding some kind of green and black gem.
"Every Gem mutant we come across," Steven explained. "We bring here after we've poofed it and contained it in a bubble."
"Well what do you do with them after that?" She asked while observing the bubble he was currently holding.
"We...just keep them here for now," he said sadly. "No one knows how to help the Gems here, Corruption is a very hard thing to deal with. We just keep them here so they can't hurt anyone and they can't hurt themselves until we figure out how to help them. The bubbles keep them safe and they can't reform as long as they stay inside, but if the bubble gets popped the Gem mutant can reform and cause some serious damage, so we take extra care in making sure nothing happens to the bubble." After he finished explaining everything he stuck out his pointer finger and pointed up into the air. Connie gave him a weird look, wondering what he was doing. Then with a very happy and nonchalant smile on his face while maintaining direct eye contact with her, he suddenly reached down and poked the side of the bubble. The pink barrier immediately popped and the Gem fell to the ground with a small clink!
"Steven!" Connie screamed, giving him a look of pure terror and backing away a few steps from the Gem. She became even more horrified when she saw that he still had that smile on his face, except this time it seemed more excited and happy.
"Steven, what are you doing? Don't you realize what you've done!?"
"I do," he replied casually like nothing was wrong. "That's why I'm so happy."
Connie's confusion only grew and before she could say anything else she noticed something. She looked at the gemstone sitting on the ground and saw that it had began to let off a dim but noticeable light green glow. Within a few seconds the glow grew brighter and brighter to the point that it lit up the entire room and it was too bright to look at. Before Connie could avert her eyes she saw that the light was starting to die down and a form was taking shape. Then she let out a gasp of disbelief.
It was a humanoid shape.
A few moments later the humanoid shape fully formed and the glow died down, leaving just the figure standing in its place.
Connie couldn't believe it. It wasn't a monster, it was a gem!
Connie observed the Gem like she'd never seen one before. She had light green skin, thick, white flowing hair reaching down to her ankles and stunningly beautiful and piercing jade-colored eyes. Her outfit consisted of a tight-fitting sleeveless black shirt with matching black shorts, tactical pads on both her elbows and knees, dark leather bracers on each of her wrists and laceless black combat boots. Her gemstone was located on her left shoulder.
Before anything else happened Steven cried out "Hugs!" Before running up to the Gem and practically tackled her in a big hug. The Gem let out a surprised yelp before happily laughing at the boy's excitement from seeing her and returned his hug with one of her own, wrapping her arms around the boy and giving him a good squeeze.
"Jade! It's so good to see you again!" Steven exclaimed with stars in his eyes.
The Gem chuckled a bit before saying "It's good to see you too Steven!" while returning his enthusiasm.
As Connie got a good look at her, the gem released Steven from the hug and stared back at Connie as well, a look of confusion present on her face. After a few minutes of silent observing from both females the Gem finally spoke.
"Steven," she said, standing up and looking at the boy. "Who is this?"
"Well Jade, this is my very good friend Connie," Steven introduced.
"Oh so this is the person named Connie you spoke of," Jade said with a surprised smile on her face. Jade approached Connie and held out her hand. Connie instinctively flinched away with a little from Jade's actions, causing the Gem to lose her smile and had it replaced with a look of worry and concern.
"Did-did I do something wrong?" She asked.
Connie hadn't thought much of what she did until she saw the effect it had on Jade. "No it's not that, you're fine. It's just...every time I meet a new Gem, they always try to kill me..."
Jade's eyes widened at that revelation. "Oh my stars, I'm so sorry. Am I making you feel uncomfortable?"
"No it's cool, I'm...actually quite happy to meet you." Connie held out her hand. "I'm Connie."
Jade reached out with her own hand and they shook on it. "I'm Jade, nice to meet you."
"So anyway..." Steven began once the two had become acquainted with one another. "Jade, I came for you today because Connie and I need your help with something."
"We do? Connie said in confusion, looking at him with a look that conveyed how lost she was at the moment.
"Well whatever it is, I'm sure I can do it," Jade said with a smile of determination and giving Steven a thumbs up.
"That's great to hear," he said. "So here's what's going on..."
So for the next 10 minutes or so Steven told Jade about the Crystal Gems that were living in Beach City including Peridot and Lapis, and how Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet were concerned that there was a new Homeworld presence on Earth. He told her about how they left to go see if they could find any evidence of Homeworld coming to Earth and how Steven and Connie wanted to follow them and see if they could do some investigating themselves. Steven and Connie knew it was risky and they might get in trouble but they weren't about to just idly stand by in case the Gems actually did find something.
"And I'm telling you all this because I want your help," Steven said once he finished his explanation. "It would be very helpful if you came along with us."
Jade seemed to ponder on his request for a moment in her head, falling silent as she processed everything he had just said. Then she finally did speak.
"Steven, I...I don't know, honestly. I haven't been myself for so long and I need some time to adjust to this planet still and...It just seems like you're asking a lot from me so soon after first meeting me, you know? I still don't know how to even feel about these Crystal Gems yet because I've been on Homeworld's side for all my life, and..."
Steven's expression immediately changed from one filled with happiness to one filled with sadness. "Oh...Well okay then. I kind of wanted you to see the Earth since you've been...bubbled for so long and I...actually never mind, you're right."
"Yeah, I'm just not ready for all that just yet. Sorry..." Jade continued.
"Well, I guess you could explore the house while we're gone, " Connie suggested. "The world has changed a lot since the last time you've been here, so getting used to the change in environmental would be good for you."
"Well that's definitely a start," Jade said in agreement.
"Yeah that's a great idea Connie," Steven also agreed. "Follow us, we're in the temple right now, but our house is just outside. Come on we'll show you!"
"Thanks Steven," Jade said. Then she frowned in confusion."Wait, What's a house?"
A few minutes later the trio of friends were standing in the middle of the beach house, where the living and dining rooms met in the center. Jade looked at the places both in curiosity and wonder, never before seeing a man-made structure built in such a sophisticated manner. The various electronic devices and pieces of furniture also sparked her interest, especially since the last time she saw humans and their homes they were mostly huts and primitive structures made of mud and stone. Evidently humans advanced by a huge margin when it came to housing.
"So you...live inside this place?" Jade asked while intently observing every inch of the place.
"Yeah, most humans live in house like this one too," Steven answered. "Well, houses are everywhere but not one house is the same as another, they're all different."
"Wow...it's amazing, much bigger and prettier than the ones I'm used to seeing." She pointed to one of the many strange and unfamiliar contraptions that sat around the house. "What's that?"
"That's a refrigerator," Connie explained. "It keeps all of our stored food cold so we can eat it later."
"Storing food away for later? That was a new concept when I was last here, but I guess it's still effective. Before humans would eat whatever food they had and if there were leftovers they would feed them to their dogs. And that?"
"That's our microwave," Steven explained this time. "Some foods can be heated up inside that so it's nice and hot for when we eat it. It only works on some foods though, and for bigger things we use that." He pointed at the stove.
"Fire was used when I was here last time," Jade said in nostalgia as she gazed at the strange and intriguing appliances around the room. "I've got to hand it to you, mankind has made many wondrous and creative innovations since the time I was here. And here we thought you were too primitive to form a conscious thought, no wonder you were such a formidable foe during the war."
"Humans were actually that difficult for Homeworld to fight?" Connie asked with a little shock. "I thought the real issue was fighting against the rebels during the war, especially since they knew things about Homeworld that the humans didn't."
"Yeah, the humans at the time were a pretty solid species when it came to organized fighting," Jade continued. "You know, the war didn't start with the rebels leading the fight. The human civilizations we encountered across the Earth were each capable of fending us off in their own unique ways. We had the numbers and the better technology, but they knew the land better and they had the willpower to fight."
"Yeah that sounds like us," Steven replied. "We're stubborn when we want to be."
"So...I guess now you guys are leaving to go on a mission or something?" Jade asked.
"Oh yeah!" Steven answered upon remembering. "We're going to the Kindergarten to go scope the scene without the Gems knowing." He turned to Connie. "I guess we should get going then."
"Wait, let me get some things out of my bag real quick," Connie said before running over back to Steven's room and disappearing upstairs.
"So…" Jade trailed off once they were alone. "What should I do while you two are gone?"
"Oh." Steven hadn't thought of that. He was so certain that Jade would come along with them that he didn't really have anything for her to do while he and Connie were gone. "Well...maybe you could kind of explore the house for a little bit? I honestly have no idea what you should do. I don't want you exploring the city just yet because it's a lot different from what you're used to, and-"
"I can just retreat back into my gem if you'd like," she offered. "I get that the world that you live in is...not what I'm used to, and I don't want to be alone when I see all of it for the first time. And when you get back, maybe you can give me a tour of the city yourself. It would be nice to better know the planet I'm stranded on." Then she smiled, and a second later she disappeared back into her gem with a bright green flash. Steven quickly reached out and caught the gemstone in his hands before bubbling it again and releasing it back into the air with the countless other bubbled stones.
He turned to Connie. "So yeah, that's Jade."
"Steven…" Connie said with awe, staring at him with diamonds shining in her eyes. "Do you realize how incredible this is? I don't believe this!"
Steven rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, I'm just happy that I finally did something helpful for once."
"Steven, I don't think you realize how important this is, this changes everything that we know about gems!" Connie said excitedly. "Wait until we tell the gems! They'd be so proud-"
"No, no no no!" Steven quickly interjected, waving his hands in protest. "We can't tell them about any of this, I'm not ready to tell them yet."
"But…" Connie's excitement left her in an instant at his words. "Why wouldn't we tell them? This is a game-changer in every way, essential knowledge that they need to know as soon as possible! Why are you holding back?"
"Because...they just don't need to know right now," he explained, trying to not reveal his real reason for not going to the gems about this. Steven felt justified by his reasoning, and no one, not even Connie, is going to convince him otherwise. He couldn't do it, not until he was ready. "I'll tell them eventually, but not now. The time isn't right."
Connie couldn't believe what Steven was telling her, and it agitated her. "Steven, the time is now, the time is perfect, to tell the gems about this. Think about it, what if Homeworld really is planning to invade? Us two children and the Crystal Gems aren't going to stand a chance by ourselves. We need an army, and we have one right here." She gestured towards the numerous bubbles floating around the room. "We know have the answer to all of our problems, and we can't win without them, you know that already." She softened up a bit. "You have to know that already, don't you?"
"Connie, I'm not ready," Steven replied patiently, her persistence bothering him further. "That's final."
"Final? Final!? Who do you think you're talking to!?" Connie shouted angrily, balling her hands into fists. "I'm not some little girl who needs a stern talking to, I'm twelve, almost thirteen, and I know what I'm talking about! Why can't you see that we need the rest of these gems healed so we can actually have a chance against our enemies? You wanna know what I think?" she smiled deviously, which Steven had never seen on her before, and he didn't like that he was the reason she was doing it.
"I think you're just too prideful! You think just because you're the only gem-human hybrid in the universe that you're the savior of it all! You're too busy thinking you're some kind of Jesus figure that you won't actually do what is right or the most effective when a crisis arise!"
Steven, in a tone of both warning and brewing rage, said, "Connie, watch very carefully what you say to me next. There are things at play that you don't know, and it's the same for me, so just watch what you say."
She snorted sarcastically. "Typical. Always talking about being a crystal gem, but never wanting to do anything when something happens. Frankly, Steven, I don't think you should even be a crystal gem, you clearly won't sacrifice or give anything for the cause you claim to have."
That was the last straw for Steven. He had been patient and understanding this whole time, but the anger had been too much for him and he was about to explode, but he stopped himself. He knew that just having a shouting match would get them nowhere, and despite his anger at Connie, he couldn't bring himself to shout at her anymore. So he did something else.
"Lift my shirt up," he said calmly.
Connie's anger dispersed and was replaced with genuine confusion and annoyance. "What?"
"Come over here and lift my shirt up," he repeatedly patiently, gesturing her to come over to him. "I've got something to show you."
Connie sighed. "Steven-" she started, but jumped from being startled by his next words.
"Just do it!" he snapped, the feeling of anger still partly in him.
Steven saw, if only for a second, fear flash across the younger girl's face. It disappeared as Connie walked over to him and stood about four inches from his body. He also noticed that she was starting to turn red in the face. He soon followed suit, realizing how awkward this would be for a few good minutes.
There they stood, staring into each other's eyes, and for a few fleeting seconds, they weren't mad at each other. They were friends, best friends, both of which just wanted the other to be happy and be safe in the crazy world that they lived in. They were the true reasons they got up in the morning, the reasons they fought so hard to protect their home, because despite the Earth being their home and the home of billions of other people, they were each other's rocks. They loved each other dearly, more than anything in the universe, and they loved each other more than best friends. They just didn't know it yet. They had no idea how far they would go for each other.
Or how far their love would take them in life.
"Lift up my shirt," Steven ordered.
Connie slowly reached down and took the bottom of his shirt in her hands. She hesitated a second, looking very nervous and searching his face for confirmation to continue with her actions. Steven nodded, and so she lifted the shirt up to his neck, revealing his body to her, and Connie gasped at what she saw.
Now everyone knows that Steven was a little chubbier than your average fourteen year old, but everything about what Connie was seeing was something completely different from being average. Steven's body was toned, more muscular than most would think. Now usually Connie would be monumentally embarrassed in her current predicament, looking at her friend's body like this, but instead she was horrified by everything else she saw.
Cuts. Bruises, gashes, and scratches all over Steven's chest and stomach. They were all in the process of healing, but the sheer amount of the injuries he had sustained had absolutely horrified Connie to her core. He had been hiding his injuries from everyone; his friends, his family, until now. And seeing the look of horror on her face felt worse than he could have ever imagined; the pain and shame of keeping his battered and beaten body from the greatest person in his life overcame all anger and frustration he previously had.
Eventually Connie spoke, and her voice was soft when she did, "Steven…"
"For months," Steven explained. "I've been coming to this room, every night, to try to help these gems get better, and I haven't told anyone. I know the gems, and they would go ballistic if they found out I've been doing this behind their backs. You know that's how it would go if I told them, am I right?"
"But Steven, look at what you've done," Connie said. "You've done what was thought to be impossible! This changes literally everything we know about gems, I'm sure they'd see through the deceitfulness this time, it was for the greater good. And..." She put her hand on one of Steven's sides, where there was a particularly nasty gash, and Steven flinced slightly under her soft touch. Her voice was low, and she looked at him with a sad but understanding expression.
"And I'm sure the gems wouldn't want you to keep this up if it meant hurting you."
Steven pondered on it for a while. She was right about many things; he knew that the gens would not only be proud of him and they would want him to stop to preserve his health, but they needed an army if they expected to defend the Earth from Homeworld. The Crystal Gems, Connie and himself wouldn't be enough, Steven knew that, he wasn't stupid. He wanted to tell the gems for so long, but then there were his reasons for not doing so; the fact that the gems were always hiding things from him, the possibility that he wasn't able to succeed in curing the corrupted gems of their ailment, and the fact that he had no idea what would happen if he actually was able to succeed. There were too manh things that could go wrong with this, and so he made the decision.
"I just can't right now, Connie. There's just so much going on right now, telling the gems about all of this would cause more problems than solutions."
Connie tried to hide her disappointment, but Steven could read it all over her face. She frowned sadly and looked like she had been stabbed in the back by a closd family member. She turned away from him, not being able to compute his decision to withhold such valuable information.
"But hey," Steven continued. "The very second something happens that makes us need to heal the rest of these gems, I'll tell them. I promise."
Connie did not turn around. Instead she proceeded to cross her arms over her chest and stayed silent.
"Connie? Connie look at me..." he pleaded. He help his hand out for a hi-five from his friend. "Jam buds?"
Connie did look back this time, but only slightlg turned her body around to do so. She looked from him, to his outstretched hand, and back to him before mumbling, "Jam buds," underneath her breath and walking away towards the temple door.
Steven's heart sank in his chest. Je had never really made Connie mad before. Heck, they had never even had a fight before, until now, and it definitely did not feel good. He never wanted to make her upset, but they just had a difference of opinion. This wasn't some earth-shattering argument that would create a rift between their friendship; they would be back to laughing and beinf friends again in no time. Until then, he'd just have to make sure he didn't escalate the conflict.
He sighed as he followed Connie over to the door, where she was standing quietly with her arms still folded over her chest, looking very pissed off and upset. In awkward and tension-filled silence, Steven went through the process of opening the door back into the living room with his gem, and the two children stepped inside. Connie wordlessly passed through, and as he passed through, Steven glanced back one more time at the green gemstone suspended in the air in a pink bubble and smiled.
"Bye Jade, I'll see you later. And I promise I'll take you out for a tour of Beach City when I get back." And with that, he closed the door.
Once inside the house again, Steven and Connie each packed sachels full of supplies they'd need for their stealth mission; bandages, bottled waters, granola bars, a set of binoculars, Steven's camera, Connie's sword (which she evidently packed with her overnight duffel bag for the week), and each had a walkie-talkie, in case they were separated for whatever reason. Still wearing their dark-colored hoodies, they grabbed their bags and exited the beach house. As they were walking down the stairs, they saw Lion curled up on the sandy beach in a deep sleep, snoring pretty loudly as he did when he took naps.
"Hey buddy," Steven said casually as him and Connie approached the slumbering feline.
Lion's ears immediately perked up and his snoring ceased as well. He popped open one eye and stared in annoyance at the young boy.
"So Lion, Connie and I have to go to the Kindergarten, and we were hoping that you could-"
Lion let out a low, gutteral roar and closed his eye again.
"Awww, come on, Lion! Pleeeeeease?" Steven pleaded, dropping to his knees and clasping his hands together dramatically. Connie couldn't help but giggle at the spectical before her, but Steven had an idea.
"Lion," he said, returning to to his feet. "If you take us to the Kindergarten, I'll buy you all the Lion Lickers the Big Donut has. Deal?"
That got his attention. Lion immediately sprang to his four feet and looked wide awake at the two of them. Lion gently nuzzeled his muzzle into Steven's chest, triggering a fit of childish laughter to be elicited from the young boy.
"Thanks, buddy," he whispered as he lovingly stroked Lion's mane.
Steven proceeded to mount Lion, sachel strapped over his chest, and held out his hand to Connie on the ground. Now Connie was still upset with Steven, but she couldn't help but feel a wave of warm feelings surge through her and smile as she saw Steven perched up on his stead, reaching out to her. Like her knight in shining armor.
"You coming?" he asked.
Connie quickly pushed all those pleasent feelings out of her mind as she took his hand and climbed up behind him on Lion. She wrapped her arms around his waist, feeling her face grow hot and hoping he didn't notice. Fortunately for Connie, Steven was too preoccupied with blushing madly himself to notice.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
Lion let out a mighty roar, creating a white portal hovering over the sandy shore, and without a moment's hesitation, leapt through it, before it disappeared just as quickly as it came.
And all was still.
Holy shit on a shingle, a lot has happened in this chapter. Greg learns the truth about Homeworld's possible invasion, Garnet opens up a bit, Connie meets Jade, and Connie and Steven have their first fight. That's a lot to digest at once, so I'd go back to catch up on the rest of the story to refresh yourselves. Also, after I finish this story, I have plans for another one. Its a sequel to this story and another prequel to "Separate Ways", bu it'll be very different than most other SU fanfics. I'll gice you a hint; who here knows anything about "Battlefield 1"?
Anyway, I'm getting out of here. It feels so good to be back, and I'll see you in the next one. Peace.
