"This is it."
Steven looked around the area. Today was a bit gray, the sky a blank slate with no shining sun to see. The area they were in was around the base of one of the cliffs overlooking Beach City from the west. Stones and boulders dotted the area, covered in ages of soft green moss. That was hardly the most prominent thing, however - that went to the bushes. Everywhere, in between boulders and up the walls of stones, they ranged from the size of Steven's hand to his height. They held small black buds in their teardrop-shaped leaves. The ground was black, too, dark, soft dirt that shifted underneath his feet like mulch.
Behind him, Ruby sighed as she looked around. "These flowers were planted by Rose Quartz. This is the one place of hers that she always wanted humans to stay away from."
Opal grimaced as she plucked a bud from a bush and held it in her palm. "They're a mess without her."
"Well then," sniffled Steven. "We'll just have to - to - " He sneezed suddenly, and sniffled again. When he spoke, his voice was comig more out of his nose than his mouth. "We'll jus haf ta take care ah dem."
Opal sighed and put a hand to his clammy forehead. Steven pulled away, but not fast enough to escape Opal's verdict. "I knew your fever hadn't broken yet. You should go home."
"Absoluthely nah!" Steven took a deep breath - Opal flinched as the flatulent sound his nose made - and said, "Ah am going ta halp you guyth to-ay."
Ahead, Sapphire droned, "We have a lot of work to do."
A tall chain-link fence was guarding the small garden from intruders. In the middle of the fence was a small wooden sign. It was cracked and faded with age, and the words "Please Stay Out" were hardly distinguishable. In some parts of the fence, holes had been cut out to make entry inside, and some had been dug into the ground underneath.
Steven made a sort of 'harumph' sound and crossed his arms over his chest. He sniffled again. "Well tha's rood."
"And stupid." Ruby gestured around them, and in a genuinely confused voice, continued, "I mean, it's just a bunch of flowers. There's nothing here. Did they seriously just tear up the fence because they could? Why would you ruin a perfectly good fence?"
"We're here to take care of that." Opal turned around and lifted up a sizable boulder into her arms. With only a small amount of effort, she planted it atop one of the holes under the fence. "Rose wanted this place secluded, and so help me, this place will be secluded! More rocks!"
The four of them spent around an hour carrying and dragging rocks to block the fence. Opal took care of the particularly large boulders that took up large chunks of the fence. Ruby took care of the smaller ones, while Sapphire went to blocking every open crevice with small stones. Steven...TRIED to help. Really, he did. He took a few stones and stuck them into open spaces, but other than that, he was clearly having a hard time. His movements were sluggish, his eyes drooping, and every now and then he'd stop "to recharge his energy", IE because his headache was becoming worse. The Gems at first insisted that he just sit this one out, but nothing they said could hinder him, so they stopped after the tenth time.
"Alright!" Opal rolled back her shoulders when the work was finally done. "This will keep humans out for sure!"
The wall of rocks and stones now towered a good three feet over the fence and about four feet out from it. It would be impossible for someone to come in through, under, or over the fence.
Steven pumped a fist into the air. Well, he more or less just pumped it up an inch before exhaustively letting it swing back down. "Woo! We...We did eh! Wooooooo..." Steven reached out a hand to lean against a rock. He pulled back in shock a moment later - he had put his hand right on a thorny stem wrapped around the surface. He groaned.
"Alright, mister." Hands were then lifting him into the air, and he was soon cradled in soft arms. "You're going home."
"Opaaaal," whined Steven. He tried squirming, but it was a feeble attempt. "I don' need ta be caheed!"
"Too bad - you're being carried." Opal turned back to Sapphire and Ruby and waved them forward. "Come on, let's get him home so we can doctor him."
The pillow in front of Steven's face pulled away, and he squinted in the invading light. He could see Sapphire's face through the little window now made. Steven was swaddled in three wool blankets, stuffed under a mountain of pillows and cushions, and had a steamer directed at him. The only part of his body visible to the outside was his nose and eyes. It was all in the attempt to finally get his fever to break.
"Alright, let me see."
Sapphire stepped out of sight and was replaced by Opal. She reached a hand out and touched Steven's slick forehead. She pursed her full lips. "Hm...still a bit warm. Let's keep you in there for a little longer."
Steven tried to speak, but it was only a muffled rumble. Opal pulled the pillow over his mouth away. "What?"
"I said can you keep the pillow off of my eyes?"
"Oh, yeah, sure." Opal reached around Steven and lifted up a pillow on the mound next to him. Underneath was a familiar red face that blinked up at her. "How you doing, Ruby?"
"Toasty," was her only reply. In her personal cocoon of pillows and blankets, she shuffled closer to Steven. She was trying to lend a helping hand in heating him up enough, as was the normal procedure.
"How much longer do I have to stay in here?" sighed Steven. "Don't we have work to do?"
"We always have work to do," said Opal. She pressed a finger onto his exposed nose. "But we're putting it aside until you feel better. Okay..." Opal picked up her book titled 'WHAT TO DO WHEN YA BABY IS SICK' and flipped it open to the fever section. "Alright, we've got you swaddled..." She tapped a hand on the frog-shaped steamer. "We've got the steamer..." She looked up at Steven. "Do you want any more soup?"
Steven groaned and furrowed deeper into his blankets. "Nooooo!"
"Seriously, Opal," Ruby spoke up. "We gave him so much it started coming out of his nose."
"Right." Opal hummed thoughtfully. "Well, it looks like we did all of the steps except for this one: 'When the other steps are completed, make ya baby feel good. Give 'em some motherly affection!' Okay." Opal put the book down and reached out of sight. Not a second later, Sapphire's face had pulled up in front of Steven. "Sapphire, give him a kiss. That calmed him down when he was younger."
Sapphire's face came closer, her lips pursed out to press against his forehead, but Steven pulled back out of reach. "Nooooo! Don't kiss me!"
Opal frowned and sternly told him, "This is for your health, Steven. Be still."
She pushed Sapphire closer, but Steven ducked down and out of sight. "It's not that! If you kiss me, you'll get sick, too!"
"No, I won't," said Sapphire. She was still dangling in Opal's grasp.
"You're just saying that!"
While Steven was still deep inside his warm cocoon, the pillows around him shifted with movement. A moment later, in the darkness, Ruby's face appeared through one of the walls. Gently, she told him, "Steven, really. We can't get sick."
Steven's eyes shot up in surprise. He sat upright so that he was looking at Sapphire and Opal through his window once again. "Really?"
Sapphire took advantage of his reappearance to quickly peck his forehead. She moved out of Opal's hold back onto the floor.
Opal sighed and said, "Really. We aren't bothered by germs and viruses and whatnot."
"So, like...You guys are immune to everything?"
"Everything," Ruby confirmed from somewhere out of his sight. Then, something poked him in the side, causing Steven to squeak. "We're not fragile and squishy like humans. We did survive through the plague, you know."
Steven was about to ask another question ("Does that mean you guys don't get food poisoning?"). But then he realized what Ruby had said. "The plague? Wasn't that, like, a gazillion years ago?"
It was Sapphire who broke the ensuing silence. She turned her head to Opal and instructed, "Top shelf."
Opal nodded and stood to her toes. She walked to a pair of cabinets on the wall beside the couch and pulled them open. After a moment of investigating, she took out a thick black scrapbook, blew the dust off of it, and returned to kneeling before Steven. She flipped the book so that it faced him and opened the glossy pages.
Inside were pages upon pages of photographs of the Crystal Gems - color, black and white, beige, clear, blurry. There was black-and-white Sapphire, wearing a feathery cap and sparkling dress, leaning against a brick wall with a furry white shawl draped over her elbows. There was beige Ruby in a military officer's uniform, holding ten injured soldiers above her head, her mouth open in a war cry. There was faded-color Opal in a long, flowery dress, twirling in the middle of an open field with her long white hair flying around in the breeze. There was Rose Quartz, standing atop a giant brick wall with dozens of other humans, their hands raised in fists and their mouth open in shouts.
Steven ooh'd and ah'd at every image. "I didn't know you guys were that old! You must be, like..." He tried to come up with a number, but eventually just cried, "SOOOOO old!"
Ruby snorted when Opal turned the page and pointed down at one image. It was all four of the Crystal Gems in 19th century clothing, throwing boxes into the ocean from the side of a wooden ship. "Remember the Coffee Revolt of '93? That was GREAT."
Sapphire reached over to point at another photo. It was once again all the Crystal Gems. They were hovering a few feet above the ground in a hot air balloon basket. A rope tied the basket to a single pole. "The world's first air balloon."
Opal chuckled and pointed at the image directly underneath. They were all still in the air balloon basket, except it was now almost sideways. The rope was missing and the trees in the background were bent. You could hardly see the blurry faces of horror they wore. "The world's first MISSING air balloon. Oh!"
Opal tapped on an aged piece of parchment. Graphite silhouettes of the Gems could be seen, stretching, posing, and jumping. "Remember when that artist wanted to draw us? What was his name, Leonard Vicky?"
Opal went to turn another page. Steven had just hardly caught a glimpse of purple and white when Opal suddenly snapped the book close and quickly said, "So yeah, we've been around quite a while!"
Steven hummed thoughtfully. "So...Gems don't get sick? Or age?"
"Nope!" Opal put a hand to his forehead once more. "You're feeling cooler. How do you feel?"
Steven paused. He still had a bit of a headache, albeit a small one, and his throat had a burning tickle to it. His body still felt sorely tired, too, like he had just crawled out of bed. More than anything, he wanted to take a long, quiet nap.
"I feel great!" he proclaimed.
He started squirming so that the pillows encasing him fell away. Ruby stepped out of the nest while Opal waved her hands at Steven. "Hey, hey, hey! Take it easy."
"Really!" Steven shed the last wool blankets and held his arms out victoriously. Luckily, he nose was no longer stocked up, so he was speaking normally. "I'm fine."
"Mm-hm..." Opal hummed. Her gaze was scrutinizing.
"You're still out of commission for now," stated Ruby. "We want to be absolutely sure."
Steven's smile dropped. "But - "
"No 'but's unless you're sitting on them!"
Ruby, Sapphire, and Opal turned away from him and headed to the Warp Pad. On the way, Opal placed the scrapbook back into the cabinet. Once they were all standing on it, Opal told Steven, "We'll be back at around sunset! If you start feeling bad again, you take a nap, you hear me?"
"Okay," Steven replied.
The Crystal Gems bid him farewell and disappeared into the light a moment later. Steven sighed and looked around the mess of pillows and blankets. He turned off the steamer and bent down to start cleaning up. As he did so, he glanced down at his hand and paused. He stood back upright and turned his hand so that his palm faced upwards.
In the middle of his hand was a single black dot, almost like a spot of ink. That's what he thought it was. He licked his thumb and went to rub away at it, but paused when he saw that it wasn't going to come off of his skin...because it WAS his skin. It must have been a mole, right? There was no way it was anything else...Then he thought back to the garden. He had meant to lean against a rock and accidentally put his palm on a thorn. A thorn belonging to the black flowers.
Steven paused as he kept looking at his hand. He quickly walked over to the kitchen and pulled open one of the drawers for a band-aid. He peeled off the papers and stuck it over the black dot.
"Gems don't get sick," he told himself. As if to prove himself wrong, a sudden sneeze wracked through his body. He groaned at the pound of his headache. "This is going to be hard...and gross."
The bell above the door of the Big Donut rang as Steven pushed the door open. From behind the counter, Sadie smiled at him in greeting while Lars kept bobbing his head to the music blasting from his headphones.
"Hello, Sad-EEE!" Another sneeze shot through Steven, and Sadie jumped in surprise. He rolled his shoulders back and said again, "Ha-ho, Sa-ee."
"Um...Hi." Sadie paused as she looked Steven up and down. "Are you okay, Steven?"
He was notably paler than usual, and his eyes were clearly bloodshot. His entire body seemed to be sagging to the floor. He was blinking a bit too slowly.
"Ah'm fine." Steven sniffled, and his voice was clearer when he spoke again. "I'd like a donut, please."
"Riiiiight. Well, you're going to have to wait just a second." Sadie pointed down at the glass cases on either side of the cash register. "The fryer's been on the fritz all morning. We're only making a batch now." She turned to Lars. "Lars, go check on the donuts."
Lars continued to just bob his head to the music. Sadie sighed and leaned forward. She grabbed both sides of the headphones and pulled them from his ears before letting them go so that they smacked against his head. Lars yelped and scowled at her. Sadie just smiled sweetly and gestured to the back of the store. Lars grumbled, but nevertheless stood from his seat and stormed to the back.
"Anyway!" Sadie reached underneath the counter for a water bottle and took a gulp. "I've been meaning to tell you. This year at the Beachapalooza there were a lot of people signed up but then that storm came through and the list..."
Her voice faded from Steven's ears. He was looking at his palm once again. From either side of the band-aid, black was branching out like frost. He also noticed that, rather than feeling better due to exposure to fresh air, he was feeling progressively WORSE. His headache was pounding harder, and he was both very warm and fighting down a shiver.
"...Steven?"
Steven looked back up at Sadie, who was looking at him with confused eyes. "Are you SURE you're okay?"
He never got the chance to answer, because the door opened again, and in stepped Ronaldo and Peedee Fryman. Peedee was notably sullen, while Ronaldo was chipper as ever.
"Hello, donut employee," Ronaldo greeted safely. He held up a slip of paper and handed it to her. "Dad has sent us here to pick up his order."
Peedee mumbled something under his breath. It sounded a bit like 'don't see why we can't fry our OWN donuts'.
Sadie nodded and called to the back, "Lars, come on! This is the first order we've gotten all year!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Lars emerged from the back a moment later with two trays of freshly-fried donuts in hand. He rolled his eyes and scoffed, "They're not even glazed yet. Don't get what the rush is." Lars's eyes glanced over at Ronaldo and glared for just a second before he turned away.
Sadie sighed and smiled apologetically at Ronaldo. "Sorry. This is going to take a minute." She turned to Steven. "Same goes for you. Unless you just want yours plain."
Steven, who had once again glanced down at his hand, instinctively replied "Sure!" without really hearing what she said.
"Oh. Um...okay. C'mon, Lars."
Lars picked up one of the donuts with some tongs and placed them inside a paper bag. He rolled the top down and held it out for Steven. However, when Steven reached out to take it, he dropped the bag and reeled backwards. "Eugh!"
Steven looked down at his extended hand, and his eyes bulged. The black color had seeped far past his band-aid. Now it was creeping up his fingers and towards his wrist. He wiggled his fingers, and it tickled painfully, like his hand was falling asleep the more he moved it.
He heard a gasp, and a moment later, there was a light flashing in his face. He winced, and he heard Ronaldo's voice shouting, "Freaky! Hold still!"
He must have been taking photographs for his blog (Keep Beach City Weird). Usually, when he did, Steven happily posed, but he wasn't feeling particularly up to it right now. He dashed for the door, leaving his donut bag behind, even as Sadie cried out, "Steven?!"
Steven ran until it hurt too much for him to continue. He stopped at the edge of the boardwalk and took a minute to catch his breath. He looked back down at his arm and ripped off the band-aid. He could actually see the black color spreading now, slowly inching past his wrist down his forearm. The place where the thorn had stabbed him was a small black bulge jutting from his skin.
"This is weird! And gross!" Steven pulled himself upright and shook his head, despite the protesting that his headache gave him. "But I'm not sick! Gems don't get sick! Besides!" He put on a confident smile. "There are a ton of people in Beach City - at least twenty! One of them is bound to know what to do!" He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "But I'm going to need a ride."
"Hey, Steven!"
Steven turned when he heard his name. Jenny was standing on the curb of the street. Lion stood beside her, licking his paw. "I caught your pink pet rummaging through our garbage again!"
Steven grinned. "A ride."
No one knew what to do.
He figured that he should seek out someone older and inexperienced, so he went to the Fish Pizzeria to speak to Nanafua. She tried some remedies - including but not limited to smearing his arm in fish oil, rolling it in uncooked dough and massaging it, and having him hold a flower - until she eventually threw her arms into the air and told him she honestly had no idea what she was doing.
He eventually asked Lion to take him to Connie's. Unfortunately, Dr. Maheswaran was not home, and all Connie could think to do was call the police. Steven refused, but when Connie insisted, he crept out and rode Lion back into Beach City.
He eventually resorted to just walking around town and asking for help at random. This person said that he should put it on some ice. This person said that it was probably an allergic reaction that should be catered to. He asked Onion for help, too, but quickly ran away when Onion simply held up a saw for him.
As time went on, he only became worse. His headache was pounding. It was a pain to blink. The blackness crept past his elbow and crept to his shoulder.
It eventually got to the point where, as he rode Lion back to his Room, he lost his grip and tumbled into the sand. He yelped on impact and groaned in pain afterwards. Lion trotted back and nudged Steven's head with his nose. He chuffed in Steven's face, warm breath ghosting over his cheeks.
"Gems...don't get...ugh..." Steven raised his head up to Lion. "Do you have any idea what I'm supposed to do?"
The lights of the Warp Pad faded away as the Crystal Gems returned to Steven's Room. Sapphire was covered in soft white feathers. Opal had a giant egg tucked underneath her arm. Ruby was dressed up like a small bird, with feathers on her arms like wings and more stuck into her headband.
Opal sent the Bubbled Gem in her hands away to Ruby's Room. "That was fun, wasn't it?"
"Yeah." Ruby scowled, and the feathers all over her body burned away to black dust. "Super comical." She cupped a hand around her mouth. "Steven?"
As they stepped off of the Warp Pad, Opal called, "I can make you some giant egg soup if you're still feeling bad."
She frowned when she saw that he was not in his bed in his loft. She peeked her head down the small hallway to the bathroom, but the light was off. "Huh." She did one last look around. "Where'd he go?"
From the kitchen, Sapphire's voice rose a single octave to call, "He left a note."
Ruby and Opal joined her in front of the refrigerator. A single piece of paper was held by a magnet to the front, and on it was a single black eighth note. Ruby hummed. "He did."
Opal reached out and plucked it off of the fridge. (In the process, she forgot about the egg underneath her arm and let it drop to the floor and shatter.) She flipped it over. There was handwriting on the back, but it was messy and lopsided, as if Steven had written with his left hand instead of his right. Opal managed to read, " 'Gone to the garden with Lion. Don't worry about me.' "
She looked up at the Gems in surprise. Not a moment later, Ruby groaned, "I'm worried."
They took the Warp Pad nearest to the garden. The sky had become cloudy instead of blank, and although the setting sun was filtering through the dark masses, it was still largely concealed. The garden was eerily quiet - not a single bug was chirping.
Ruby cupped a hand around her mouth and called, "Steven? Hello?"
"Steven?" Opal bent down to a bush and pulled the leaves apart. "I thought we told you to stay home."
Something suddenly emerged from behind a boulder. Opal jumped in surprise and Ruby instinctively summoned her weapon. Sapphire simply turned to see what it was.
It was Lion, his pink color looking bizarre and out-of-place in the bleakness of the garden. He blinked at them, then lifted a paw to rub at his nose.
Ruby sighed and let her gauntlets disappear. She walked up to Lion and cupped his muzzle, causing him to stop rubbing his nose to look at her. "Alright, Fluffy. Where's Steven? We know he's here."
Lion blinked at her again, and pulled away. He trotted away and out of sight, further into the garden.
Ruby gestured for the others to follow. As they continued through the garden, pushing past bushes and squeezing between boulders, they continued to call. "Steven?" "Come out, Steven." "Are you mad at us or something?"
Lion eventually brought them to two boulders so close together that they almost touched. He jumped over them and landed on the other side. Ruby and Sapphire both bent down to squeeze through the tiny gap, while Opal leaped over like Lion. Once on the other side, they looked around to see where the pink feline had taken them.
Their reaction were unanimous and immediate.
"STEVEN!"
In the middle of a small clearing was Steven, laying halfway on his belly, one arm tucked underneath his head while the other was stretched limply outwards. His entire right arm was black, and more was partially peeking out of the collar of his T-shirt. The rest of his skin was almost stark white and slick with sweat. He was breathing heavily through his mouth.
The Gems were standing over him immediately. Lion circled around them to Steven's other side.
Ruby tucked her hands underneath Steven's armpits and pulled him so that he was sitting upright. His head lolled on his shoulders, eyelids lazily opening to reveal bloodshot and tired eyes.
"Steven, what's wrong?" Ruby demanded in a high-pitched panic. "What happened to you?"
Lion laid down behind Steven, and Ruby propped him up against Lion's soft side. Steven flexed the fingers on his right hand, and Opal reached out to take it. The small black bulge was still there.
"Got...pricked..." Steven wheezed out. "Thorn..."
It took a moment for all of the Gems to realize what he meant. The realization was almost sickening to feel - No wonder Rose had put up the fence...
Steven swallowed loudly. "Lion...took me here to - "
He didn't get to finish. He suddenly broke down into a fit of wet coughing, almost doubling over. Sapphire reached out and put one hand on his back and the other over his mouth because he was too weak to cover it himself. Finally, he stopped, and leaned back against Lion.
Sapphire looked down at her palm. Gray spittle lay on the surface of her black glove.
Steven swallowed again. "I don't know...don't know..."
He said no more, remaining immobile on Lion's side.
There was a single moment in which all of the Gems were still with shock, staring at the sickening sight before them.
It was only a moment. Ruby rounded to Opal and Sapphire and demanded in a low voice, "We need to treat him." In a rumbling growl, as her form wavered with heat, she added, "NOW."
Opal raised her hands to the Gem on her forehead. It shined brightly, and a moment later, she pulled something out of it. It was a small blanket, which she quickly swaddled Steven in. His body was limp as she wrapped the blanket around it, and he just lazily blinked at her once she was done. She held him in outstretched arms, waiting, as her blue eyes brimmed with tears.
"Give him here!"
Opal obediently handed him down to Ruby. The shorter red Gem kept Steven's feet on the ground while she held him up with her arms. Heat continued to spill off of her, and she gripped Steven tightly to get him to catch as much of it as possible.
"C'mon, Steven." When Steven did not move or say anything, Ruby grit her teeth and held him tighter. The few blades of grass around her feet began to smolder. "COME ON!"
Steven finally moved, but it was just squirming. He whined as he tried to pull away from Ruby. His white skin closest to her was turning pinkish red from heat. It was starting to make his eyes water.
"Stop!" Sapphire reached out and tugged Steven away from Ruby. "You're burning him!"
"Well, what are we supposed to do?!" demanded Ruby. Steam was beginning to rise from her dark eyes.
Sapphire looked down at Steven silently. She pulled him closer, her arms embracing him securely, and bent her head down to him. She pressed her lips to his brown curls without a word.
They stayed like that for a long moment, until Ruby finally threw her hands into the air and cried, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Sapphire pulled away from Steven to cry back, "I'm trying to make him feel good!" More to herself than to Ruby, she whispered under her breath, "I don't know what else to do!"
Ruby made a sound between a groan and a whine and dug her fingers underneath her head band into her downy hair. The waves of heat coming off of her were sporadic now, rising and falling with no rhythm. Finally, she pulled her fingers into fists in an attempt to look determined. It failed - the look of frustrated panic on her face was still present.
"We have other things we can do," she declared. "We can take him back to the Temple and make him soup, right?! O-or we can get him some medicine! Y-Yeah! We have to do that! Opal, pick up Steven! Let's go!"
She did a dash for the exit of the clearing, but abruptly skidded to a stop when she saw that Opal was not moving. To say that Ruby was not in the mood to argue with her leader was an understatement. She growled and shouted, "OPAL! COME ON!"
When Opal still did not answer, Ruby stormed back to her. She was about to tell Opal that there was nothing else to do, they needed to go NOW, but stopped when she saw the tall Gem's face.
Opal's stark blue eyes were wide and unblinking as they stared down at Steven. Her lips were parted, but no sound came out. Her arms hung loosely at her sides. The only part of her that was moving were the tears falling down her cheeks. Other than those, she was as still and as silent as a statue.
"No." Ruby shook her head, slowly at first, then vehemently. "No, no, no!" She reached out for Opal's arm and pulled on it as hard as she could. "NO, Opal! Not now! Get it together!" When she still received no response of any kind, her nails dug into Opal's arm as she screeched, "OPAL!"
"Stop it!" Sapphire pushed Ruby with just enough force for her to release Opal's arm. With her gloves fists clenched together, Sapphire told her, "Stop yelling at her! You're not helping anything!"
"Well, what are we supposed to do?!" It was probably meant as a taunting demand, but it came out more like a desperate plea.
"I...I..." Sapphire grit her teeth and raised a hand to her cheek. "I don't know! I don't..." A single tear ran down the middle of her face and over her lips. "I don't know!"
"We have to do SOMETHING!" cried Ruby. The heat waves were dying down, and her anger was subsiding to desperation. The tears that had vanished into steam before were now falling down her cheeks and off of her jaw. "We can't just...I can't just let him..."
She took a glance at Steven, and that was the last straw. Seeing him weak and immobile, Ruby quickly turned away and brought her fingers back to her hair. She slowly sank down to a crouch, trembling. Angry gibberish turned into frustrated whimpers.
So that was all they could do. Opal was frozen. Sapphire was lost. Ruby was broken.
In the haze of dizzying confusion, Steven was just able to make out what was happening. He wanted to say something. He wanted to tell them that everything was going to be fine, but they had to pull it together. But he was too weak now - even breathing was a labor.
In the midst of the scene, the clouds blocking the sun subsided just enough for a single weak ray of light to come down to the garden. It ran across the ground, as as it did, it passed over Steven's limp black hand. In its wake, the color faded away, revealing his usual tan skin, and faded back. Another ray passed over him and had the same effect.
Sapphire was the only one able to notice this. The tears falling over her lips stopped as she gave a soft gasp. To be sure, she looked into the future to see if it was true. It was.
She turned to Opal and Ruby and cried, "Sunlight! We have to get him into sunlight!"
Ruby, with her hands still on her head, turned to Sapphire with confusion written over her frustrated face. Opal's immobility stopped just enough for her to look down at Sapphire with furrowed brows.
"The sunlight will heal him! I just saw it!"
Ruby blinked at her once, then twice, then turned to Lion, who still had Steven propped against him. "Why did you bring him here?"
Lion, of course, said nothing, but he raised his head upwards. The Gems followed the direction. Up the cliff-side, above the garden, was the top peak. Sunlight was fading in and out there.
Before Sapphire and Ruby could so much as move, hands were lifting them up by their backs. With her eyes narrowed up at the cliff, Opal demanded in a low voice, "Get on the lion."
She dropped them on Lion's back and picked up Steven as she sat down as well. Lion stood to his feet - shaking for a moment under the sudden weight - and everyone took a hold.
With two arms securely cradling Steven, the other two holding onto Lion's side, Opal said, "Everyone hold on. Lion, go!"
She had thought that Lion was going to take them up the cliff-side, leaping and running up the steep slope, wind whipping around them, as they held on as tight as they could to the top.
Instead, Lion roared up a portal (Opal had forgotten he could do that) and leaped inside.
Opal made a sound similar to "WHOAOK" at the sudden jump. Ruby kept a grip on Lion's mane while Sapphire kept a grip on Ruby. The whipping wind and speeding colors of the portal were soon gone, and they were slamming back onto the ground not a moment later. Everyone sighed shakily.
They each climbed off of Lion and jogged up to the edge of the cliff they now stood on. Opal held Steven upwards to catch the rays of sun. She also dangled him over the cliff, and stepped back when Ruby and Sapphire tugged on her leggings.
And, just their luck, the dark clouds had once again obscured the sun's light. And judging by their thickness, they weren't moving anytime soon.
Sapphire gripped the strip of cloth going down her dress. Ruby cried, "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Her anger was replaced with surprise when Steven was suddenly right in front of her.
She took him from Opal as the four-armed giant woman glared venomously at the clouds. She brought her hands to both of her Gems and summoned her bow into her arms. "Give me just a second."
She pulled back the tight bowstring, and an arrow slowly materialized, bright blue and burning hot. She directed it at the clouds, aiming, and let it go.
It shot through the air in a blue blur. It disappeared into the dark mass of clouds, and a moment later, there was a sudden burst of light. A large chunk of clouds were blasted away to nothing. Sunlight poured through the opening, and Ruby quickly held Steven up to catch it.
The black color that had crept up to his neck almost drained back into his hand. Past his shoulder, then his elbow, then his forearm, all heading back to the small black bulge in his palm. Then, suddenly, it grew, spreading outwards and unfolding into a blossom. The petals of the resulting flower seemed to change color with every movement and glistened brightly. The wind picked up, and it was plucked away from Steven's palm and taken away in the breeze.
Soon after, Steven's tan skin came back in, his bloodshot eyes went white again, and he took in a deep breath of fresh air. He took a few more breaths, then looked down at the Gems.
He smiled sheepishly. "Hi."
Ruby dropped him from the air so that she could pull him into a bone-crushing hug. Sapphire hugged him from his other side, and Opal wrapped her arms around all three of them and lifted them into the air. To be honest, Steven once again couldn't breath, but didn't want to ruin the moment.
So instead, he chuckled and teased in a singsong voice, "You guys were worried about me~!"
Ruby pulled back just enough to glare at him. She raised a finger to point it at his face. "Boy, do NOT tease me right now."
Opal's relieved smile was replaced by an almost angry frown. She narrowed her eyes at Steven and sternly demanded, "I KNEW you weren't feeling better! Why did you keep this from us?"
Steven tried to think of a way to get out of it. His first idea was "I was GOING to tell you, but you guys had left!" Then he thought that maybe he would tell them that he wanted to go back to the garden and THEN he was pricked by a thorn. Then he remembered his father's saying of "Liars never get hired" and eventually just decided to tell the truth.
"Gems aren't supposed to get sick," he reminded them. "I thought I would tell myself not to."
Sapphire sighed. She pulled her arms away from his torso to put them on his cheeks. "Steven, you're still half-human. This is not going to be the last time that you get sick."
Ruby sternly added, "And do NOT hide it from us again!"
Steven was about to sheepishly promise not to, when Opal suddenly turned them. "Look! The flowers!"
The sunlight now free from the clouds had fallen to the garden below. Slowly, the dark color drained from the mulch-like soil to the bushes all around the boulders. Black buds bloomed, and soon, they were overlooking an expanse of multi-color blossoms. Each breeze was like a kaleidoscope effect, changing the colors and making them shimmer.
The Gems sighed contently at the beautiful sight before them. In a calm, serene voice, Opal stated, "Let's never come back here again."
The others calmly sighed back, "Agreed."
