Chapter Three
We Can Be Friends
(Several years ago)
Crying was heard throughout the interior of the temple. No matter what, Steven would always cry when he was in his mother's room.
Rose had no idea what was causing Steven to cry. Even when she left her room, Steven continued to cry. The house was still unfinished, and was not fit for Steven to live in.
The Crystal Gems have been working as fast as they could to finish the house, all of them taking turns taking care of Steven and building the house.
It was Rose's turn to be with Steven, so she was outside trying to stop the crying.
Nothing that she tried had worked. She had tried feeding him, changing his diaper, and even checked to see if he was sick. The crying just continued.
Pearl was walking towards Rose and said, "Rose, Garnet says that two Corrupted Gems were spotted in the Southern Hemisphere and she needs your help."
"I would like to help, but Steven needs me," Rose said, trying to rock the crying Steven to sleep.
"I can take care of him," Pearl said with no hesitation.
"I can't ask you to do that. Tomorrow is your day and it wouldn't be fair," Rose said.
"It isn't a problem," Pearl replied.
"Are you sure?" Rose said. Pearl nodded with a smile. Rose gently handed Steven to Pearl and jumped to the temple, leaving Pearl and Steven alone, with Steven still crying.
Pearl held Steven, trying to rock him to sleep, still to no avail. She began to walk towards the temple, Steven crying even louder as they made their approach.
"There has to be something to help you settle down," Pearl said to herself. She looked at the chest that was filled with the toys that the Crystal Gems had bought for Steven. Pearl sighed as she began to look through the toy chest.
Pearl didn't really get along with Greg, but she did admire the sacrifice he made. She, along with the other Gems, received a letter from Greg. It was an unspoken rule that the Gems would never read the other letters out of a respect for Greg.
Pearl would read her letter every so often, mostly because deep down she did miss Greg. There was a small part of the letter that would make her realize something very important about Greg.
'Dear Pearl, I know that we never really got along, but the truth is that I'll miss you. Out of everyone, you were the only one who was as close to Rose as I was, probably even more. Rose will probably need some help taking care of Steven, and I can't think of anyone better to help than you. I'm sure that you can handle anything that Steven can throw at you, and I've even left you a little something in the temple to help out if you need it. I will miss you all. From Greg.'
When Pearl had checked the temple there was indeed a large box that had read "For Pearl", but she didn't open it.
Whether out of respect or uncertainty, Pearl hadn't opened the box and quite frankly she had been curious about what was inside it.
That thought left her mind when she realized something.
Steven wasn't crying anymore. In fact he was fast asleep in her arms. Pearl thought that he had tired himself out from crying too much. She glanced at the temple once more, then slowly began to put the toys back in the chest.
...
"Hughuigvabwesifhbv!" Steven said, bathed in pink light trying to summon his shield once again.
Rose had kept to her promise and had begun to train Steven. It had been two weeks since they started and Steven had only managed to summon his shield twice.
After summoning his shield, Steven would be so surprised that he did summon it, that it would disappear as soon as he had noticed it.
"GAH!" Steven exclaimed, gasping for air and losing the pink glow.
"I think that's enough for today," Rose said.
"Aww man, I almost had it that time!" Steven replied, but he kept his end of the promise as well. Whenever Rose said that training was done for the day, Steven would stop training. He had thought about trying to summon the shield when his mother wasn't around, but he figured that the other Gems would tell Rose if he was practicing without her supervision.
"You are getting better at it, you just need some more time," Rose said, trying to encourage her son not to give up.
Steven smiled, and noticed that Pearl was walking out of the house holding a glass of lemonade and a large book.
"Hi Pearl!" Steven exclaimed, running to get the glass and book.
Steven began to read at an early age and often read books over watching TV. He would go through books so fast that he could finish a long novel in less than two days. He would really watch TV if he didn't have a new book to read, which did happen every so often but Pearl would usually give him a new book to read.
Steven gulped down the lemonade and took his book and ran off. Once Pearl was out of earshot Pearl asked, "How is he doing?"
"Much better than I expected, but…" Rose said hesitantly.
"But what?" Pearl asked.
"The times he has summoned the shield, it seems as if his body is expending every ounce of energy to produce the shield. If he were to keep the shield up, he would be in extreme pain and possibly…" Rose said, stopping before she choked on her words.
"Do you think he should stop?" Pearl said with concern.
"I want to with every fiber of my being…but Steven is so determined to be an asset to the team that telling him he can't train anymore would crush him," Rose said, tears slowly forming in her eyes.
"But why risk his life if we can stop it now?" Pearl asked.
"I know…when he comes back, I'll tell him," Rose replied, wiping the tears from her eyes.
…
Steven walked to the usual spot where he read books. A secluded place nearby on the beach that was right by a cliff. He would usually read until the sun came down or until one of the Gems called him home.
Steven sat down and began to read the book. It was the final part to a series that he had fallen in love with. It was about a girl named Lisa, who was a witch, and her falcon familiar Archimicarus, both of whom are looking for Lisa's father, who went missing one day.
He had just started reading the book when he heard footsteps approaching and then coming to a sudden stop. Steven looked up from his book and saw a girl who seemed to be about his age. She had long black hair that seemed to compliment her dark skin. Her eyes were hidden away behind a large pair of glasses and she was holding a book, clutching it close to her chest.
"Uh, hi," Steven said first.
The girl didn't say anything, instead looking down with a slightly red tint on her face. Steven asked, "Did you want to sit here?"
She slowly nodded her head. Steven replied with, "Well you can sit here if you want."
She murmured a quiet thanks and sat a few feet next to Steven. She opened her book and began to read. Steven didn't think much of it and continued to read as well.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and Steven began to feel slightly uncomfortable. He had rarely been around kids his age. The only other kid around his age that he knew was Peedee, the son of Mr. Fryman, and he was always busy working so the two never hung around often. There was also Onion, but he didn't talk and was always doing something weird.
A small cough was heard, bringing Steven back to reality. The girl was looking at Steven and asked, "Is everything ok?"
"Yeah, why would you ask?" Steven replied.
"You just seemed pretty out of it," the girl explained.
"Oh, I guess I was. Sorry about that, I don't really see a lot of people my age around here," Steven said, feeling more comfortable as he continued to talk to the girl.
"You don't go to school?" the girl asked.
"What's school?" Steven asked earnestly, bringing a look of surprise on the girl's face.
"Oh, it's a place where kids go to learn about math, reading, and all kinds of other stuff," the girl said, also seeming to be more comfortable with being with Steven.
"Well, I guess the Gems do that at home," Steven replied.
"The Gems?" the girl asked.
"Yeah, the Crystal Gems. They protect the world from monsters and stuff," Steven said earnestly, "There's Amethyst who teaches me about fun stuff like eating a whole bunch of food, Pearl who teaches me reading and math stuff, Garnet who teaches me about life stuff, and my mom who's teaching me about magic stuff."
"Wow! That sounds really cool," the girl replied.
"Well, I bet school is pretty cool. You probably have a bunch of friends there," Steven said, looking confused when the girl looked away.
"Is something wrong?" Steven asked. The girl looked back at him and said, "I don't have any friends."
"What?" Steven asked, "But, you're so nice!"
"Not many people seem to think like you," the girl said somberly, putting her book down.
"Well I don't have many friends either," Steven said.
"Really?" the girl asked.
"Yeah. The only people that really talk to me are the Gems and the people who work at the Big Donut. The only other kids in town are Peedee, who's always busy and Onion, who's pretty weird."
"Well I guess we have one thing in common," the girl said.
Before Steven could reply he saw the cover of the book and audibly gasped.
"You like The Spirit Morph Saga too?!" Steven exclaimed, showing the girl his book. She gasped as well and said, "Yeah, it's my favorite series!"
"Mine too!" Steven said with enthusiasm. The girl smiled a wide smile and the two began to talk about the series.
The two continued to talk until the sky was red in color. The girl realized the time and said, "It's getting pretty late, I should go home."
"Oh, I didn't get your name," Steven said, just realizing this fact.
The girl smiled and said, "Connie, and you?"
Steven smiled back and said, "Mine's Steven."
Connie was about to leave when the ground began to shake.
"What was that?" Connie asked.
Before Steven could answer a large green centipede monster came out of the ground, roaring. Connie screamed and without thinking Steven grabbed her hand and began running for the temple.
The two were running as fast as they could, but the monster was quickly catching up. It began to spit green goo which hit near the kids and when it hit the sand there was an audible crackling sound.
Steven knew that the Gems would be able to take care of it, so he began to lead Connie to the temple.
In what seemed like a split second Connie fell the ground, Steven running a few feet ahead. The monster was standing above Connie, getting ready to strike.
As if by instinct Steven jumped in front of Connie and held out his arms, trying to protect Connie.
Steven closed his eyes, ready to get hit, only to hear a loud thump. Steven opened his eyes to see a pink shield had formed between him and the monster. It was large enough to keep the monster from swallowing the two, so the monster backed away.
Steven put all of his concentration in keeping the shield up, when he looked at Connie and said, "Run to the temple and get the Gems!"
Connie got up as quickly as she could and began running to the house. The monster saw her running and was ready to chase after her when Steven shouted, "Hey ugly!"
The insult grabbed the attention of the monster and it swiped at Steven with its tail. Steven held his shield up, only moving backwards a few inches upon impact.
Sweat began to form on his forehead, concerned only about keeping the monster away from Connie. He heard a voice yell "STEVEN!" and the next thing he knew, he was seeing black.
It only seemed like a moment when Steven opened his eyes again, except he wasn't at the beach anymore. He was in his bed. He looked around and saw Pearl and Connie sitting nearby, both noticing that Steven was awake.
"Steven! How are you feeling?! Are you ok?! Are you hurt!?" Pearl asked in a single breath. Steven replied, "I'm ok, my head just hurts."
He placed his hand on his head. Pearl quickly went downstairs and began to look for some sort of medicine that could help, leaving Connie and Steven alone.
The two sat in silence when Connie said, "Hey Steven…"
"Yeah?" Steven replied.
"You know how you said that you don't have many friends?" Connie said. Steven nodded and Connie said, "Well…can we be friends?"
Steven was stunned, "But you almost got eaten by a big monster thing!"
"And you saved me!" Connie replied, "You are the nicest person I have ever met. You're the only one to talk to me without looking at me like I'm some sort of freak! You risked your life to make sure I was ok…the least we can do is be friends, right?"
A small blush crept onto Steven's face, which disappeared when he smiled and nodded. Connie returned the smile and before either could say anything, the door opened.
Garnet, Amethyst and Rose walked in, Rose looking for Steven. After spotting him, she quickly ran to him and began to inspect his body.
"Mom, I'm ok, honest," Steven said.
"What were you thinking going after that monster alone!?" Rose said, almost yelling.
Before Steven could answer Connie said, "He was protecting me!"
Rose looked at Connie, a shocked look on her face.
"I mean, we were both running from the monster. I tripped and Steven made a shield to protect us!" Connie explained.
"You made your shield?" Amethyst asked.
"Y-yeah. I held up the shield until I heard someone call my name and then all I remember after that was waking up here," Steven said.
"When we saw you, you were on the ground getting ready to get eaten," Amethyst replied. She looked at Garnet, who was looking at Steven. She placed her hand on his head and after a moment she said, "He has traces of magical energy. He summoned his shield and managed to hold it for a good long while."
Pearl came back up with a glass of water and two pills. Steven drank the pills down and a buzzing noise was heard. Connie reached in her pocket and pulled out a phone. She answered it and said, "Hello? Oh, hi mom. Yes, I am ok. I am at a friend's house. Yes. Yes. His name is Steven Universe. Yes that is his name. You want to speak with one of his parents?"
Rose held out her hand and Connie gave Rose the phone, to which Rose answered, "Hello? Yes this is Rose Universe. Yes, she is at our house. Yes, she is fine. We can keep her here until you come by. In Beach City, yes. We live on the beach house near the cliff with a lighthouse on it, you can't miss it. Yes, it will be nice to meet you as well. One moment please."
Rose handed the phone back to Connie who went back to talking with her mother. It didn't last long when Connie said good bye and closed her phone.
"My parents should be here in about thirty minutes," Connie said.
"Well what do you want to do to pass the time?" Steven asked. Connie placed a finger on her lips when her stomach rumbled, giving Connie a slight look of embarrassment.
"I'll make you two something to eat," Rose said, both Connie and Steven nodding. Rose took the kids to the kitchen and began making them something to eat.
Rose made some simple sandwiches, ham and cheese with the crusts cut, and some carrots on the side. It wasn't much, but that was all they had. Normally Steven and the Gems would go shopping at the end of the week, but Steven has been eating a lot more since he had begun his training so they would run out of food quicker than usual.
Steven was eating his sandwich relatively quickly when he noticed something odd. His mother wouldn't eat at all, Gems didn't need to, but she made herself a plate as well. Steven wanted to bring this up, but he didn't want to make things awkward for Connie.
Once the three were done eating a knock on the door was heard.
"That must be your parents," Rose said, walking up to the door. When she opened the door, she didn't see anyone outside. She looked down and saw a package on the ground and said, "Steven, could you come over here please."
Steven walked to the front door and noticed the package as well.
"Did you order something?" Rose asked.
"Not that I can remember," Steven replied, picking up the package. It was a plain brown box, but it looked like it had been sitting around for a long time. Water had stained the box, but it looked like whatever was inside was protected.
He opened the box and audibly gasped.
(Several years ago)
It was Pearl's day to watch over Steven. He wasn't crying as much as yesterday, but he still did cry a bit
The box that Greg gave to her was still on her mind, so before she took Steven she managed to hide the box on the beach. She knew that if she took Steven to the temple that he would begin crying again, and it would take a long time for him to settle down.
So when she knew that the other Gems would not be around, she walked to where she had hidden the box on the beach, carrying Steven.
She placed Steven on the ground near the box as gently as she could and opened the box. Steven was also curious about the box and began to try and crawl inside it.
Books.
There were stacks and stacks of books. The books ranged from technical manuals to children's books. She picked up one called "The Lost Island" and leafed through it. It seemed to be pretty standard human fantasy about an island that may or may not exist.
She was about to put it back when she noticed that Steven was entranced by the cover.
It was a picture of a boat that was riding through some rough water and what appeared to be a tentacle rising from the water, ready to strike.
Pearl then said, "Do you want me to read you the story?"
Steven didn't understand what she said, but he smiled nonetheless. Pearl gave a small smile in return and opened the book to the first page.
"It was a dark night. A cold night. A night that even the toughest of sailors would avoid. Not me. I knew that tonight would be the only time that the docks would be clear enough for me to sail. It wasn't a big boat, but it could get the job done. There were tales of an island that had silver sands and trees with golden leaves that held a treasure even more valuable than the sand and the leaves. I didn't know what kind of treasure it was, but I intend to find it." Pearl read out loud, raising her voice in a dramatic tone when appropriate.
Steven was enthralled with Pearl reading. Not so much for the story itself, but the way that Pearl read the story. She was doing her best to act dramatic when the story called for it, sad when it needed to be sad, and glorious when the hero triumphed.
Pearl continued to read the story for well over three hours, becoming engrossed with the story herself, when she had heard her name being called. She looked around and say Rose approaching the two. Pearl looked at Steven, who was fast asleep at this point, and placed a finger on her lips.
Rose slowed her pace and when she was upon the two, she whispered, "Garnet needs your help."
Pearl nodded, marking her spot in the book by bending the corner of the page. She was going to set the book back in the box when Rose motioned for Pearl to give her the book. Pearl handed Rose the book and Rose opened it to where she had left off.
Rose smiled and began to read the book, and while it was not as grandiose as Pearl read, it was enough to keep Steven asleep while Pearl left to help Garnet.
(Present Day)
"BOOOKSS!" Steven exclaimed.
The box was filled with about a dozen hard cover novels, the smallest one being the size of Steven's largest book.
"Who sent you books?" Connie asked, looking through some of the books as well.
Steven looked around the box and said, "It doesn't have a return address."
"Any letters?" Pearl asked, also looking at the books.
Steven took each one of the books out and looked for a letter, a note, anything that could give him a clue on who sent him the books. Before he could continue his search, another knock on the door was heard.
Rose went to the door again and this time someone was standing at the door. A woman who looked like a much older Connie was standing with her arms crossed.
"Hello, I am Doctor Maheswaren, Connie's mother," she said holding out her right hand. Rose grasped Connie's mother's hand in a firm handshake and replied, "Hello, my name is Rose Universe, Steven's mother. Please come in."
"Thank you, but it's late and I need to take Connie home," Dr. Maheswaren said, looking at her daughter sternly.
"Well maybe another time then," Rose said.
Connie turned to Steven and said, "Well I guess this is good-bye."
"Can you come by tomorrow?" Steven said. Connie turned to her mother and after a moment of thinking, Dr. Maheswaren nodded.
Both Connie and Steven smiled widely.
Connie walked to her mother and gave one last wave before the two walked to their car. Steven walked outside and waved at the two as they drove away.
Once the car was gone, Steven let a loud yawn escape his mouth. Rose said, "I think it's time for someone to get ready for bed."
Steven nodded and went to change into his pajamas. Normally it would take some time for Steven to fall asleep, but as soon as Steven set his head on the pillow he was fast asleep.
Rose turned off the lights and whispered, "Good night, Steven."
A quiet mumble was heard in response.
Rose looked to the other Gems and motioned for them to follow her to her room. The other Gems followed her and went inside the room, and once the door behind them closed Rose immediately began to speak.
"I don't understand. Steven showed some progress with his abilities, but he was never able to manifest a shield for longer than a few seconds!"
"Well maybe he finally figured out how it works?" Amethyst replied.
"In the span of an hour? Doubtful." Pearl said, placing a finger to her mouth, trying to figure out the mystery.
"Garnet, any ideas?" Amethyst asked.
Garnet adjusted her visor and said, "Several, all as improbable as the last."
"Do you think it has something to do with Connie?" Pearl asked.
"It's possible that Steven created his shield without meaning to do it as a way to protect Connie, but the required concentration to maintain it would have been broken once he realized he had created his shield," Garnet said.
"So he made the shield without meaning to? So did he think he was going to-"Amethyst said, stopping before she could finish the thought. They all looked to Rose, who had realized what Steven was doing. She looked down, a tear in her eye, and whispered.
"Just like his father…"
The Crystal Gems looked to their leader, worried. Rose realized this and quickly composed herself and said, "Ok. Now that we know that Steven can maintain his shield for a certain period of time. What we need to do now is see if he is capable of going on a mission. Garnet any ideas?"
Garnet knew that Rose was deflecting, but knew that it was Rose's way of coping with losing Greg. Garnet adjusted her visor and said, "There is a Gem artifact in the desert that will be causing some issues. If Steven were to stay close then he will see what exactly a mission could entail. No monsters and no mentions of the war."
"Good, then tomorrow afternoon we take him on the mission and see if he could handle something small. We slowly bring him to more and more missions, starting with the easier ones, and progress as we see fit," Rose said assuredly. She then paused for a moment and said, "It is getting late, we should all get some rest."
They all knew that this was Rose's way of saying that wanted to be alone, so they all began walking to the door. Rose then said, "Pearl can I speak with you for a moment?"
Pearl turned to face Rose as Garnet and Amethyst left the room. Once the door shut Pearl asked, "Yes, Rose?"
Silence.
Rose didn't say anything for some time.
After what felt like an eternity Rose said, "Steven said he heard his name being called before he fainted right?"
Pearl nodded, not quite understanding where Rose was going. Rose continued, "When we saw him he had already fainted."
Pearl began, "Rose, I don't…"
"None of us called his name until we saw him," Rose interrupted, "Connie was in the house and there was no one else around."
Pearl began to understand what Rose was talking about. From what Pearl had remembered Rose called out to Steven while he was unconscious on the ground with the Centipeetle mother ready to eat him.
"Then who called his name?" Pearl asked.
"I don't know," Rose said.
The two didn't speak for a while, until Rose said, "I found this with the books."
She held a piece of paper and gave it to Pearl. She took the paper and looked at it. The handwriting was legible, but it wasn't from anyone that she had recognized. It had a simple message, but no name.
"From an old friend."
…
And there be the end of the chapter. Sorry that it took so long. College has started and I was really busy with that. Along with Windows 10 not recognizing that I had a legitimate version of Office and brief spell of writer's block, I had some issues with getting this chapter done.
But I did get it done, and while it may not be my best work, I do think that this chapter came out well. I felt that this was the right time to introduce Connie, and since in the series Steven meeting Connie was reliant on Steven seeing her at a parade with his dad, kind of made it a little more difficult to bring Connie into the story. So why not introduce bring them together by the power of The Spirit Morph Saga?
So with that being said, now comes the issue of when the next chapter will be out. I will do my best to have it out by the eighteenth of this month by the latest. It may be out earlier, but it should be out by then. This is to account for any technical delays and any other issues that occur, so be on the lookout for the next chapter.
So keep in mind a couple of questions. It should be pretty obvious on who called Steven's name, but who delivered the books? It may or may not be who you think, and I do like a little mystery. Also, as you may have noticed, last chapter had flashbacks focused on Amethyst while this one's flashbacks focused on Pearl, so whose flashbacks will be focused on next chapter?
Not related to the story proper, but I did want to ask you guys a question. I want to incorporate a song into the story, because I think it would be fun to do so. What I wanted to ask is if that is something you guys wanted to see? I have an idea of what the first song will be, so if you want to see my impeccable songwriting skills (sarcasm is difficult to convey through text) then please leave a comment about it.
Anyways, thanks for reading, review if you like it!
Peace.
