Chapter Four
We Already Love You
(Several Years Ago)
It had only been a week after Steven's birth, and all of the Crystal Gems had no idea what to do now.
With Greg around, Rose was always radiating with joy. She would always start the day with a song, and if Greg was around he would play his guitar along with her.
Now, Rose would barely leave her room, only coming out when she needed to get food for Steven. The sounds of a crying Steven would fill the temple, with the only reprieve being when he had tired himself out or Rose had managed to calm him down.
Pearl had been reading up on how to take care of human babies, and would often be with Rose. Amethyst would run errands in town if Steven was being especially difficult.
Garnet would pop in now and again to help with Steven, but more often than not she would be the only one doing missions.
She was accustomed with doing missions by herself, but she had felt that she wasn't doing enough. She had wanted to help Rose and Steven, but this was the only way that she could do so.
The day started out like the others, Garnet being out of the temple before sunrise and look into the future, looking for something to do. Pearl was pacing the temple, a baby book in hand, and Amethyst nowhere in sight.
Pearl noticed Garnet and gave a small greeting before going back to the book. Pearl didn't need to tell Garnet where Amethyst was, doing so would be redundant since Garnet would already know where she was.
"Pearl," Garnet said, breaking the silence.
"Yes, Garnet?" Pearl said, looking up from her book once more.
"Tell Rose I am going to the battlefield to take care of something, I could be a while," Garnet said, in her usual commanding tone.
Pearl said, "I'll tell her right now…just as soon as Amethyst comes back with the groceries."
Garnet nodded and stood on the warp pad. She saw Amethyst coming towards the temple, bags in her hands, before she was transported to the battlefield.
There was nothing wrong with the battlefield, Garnet just liked being here when she wanted to think.
She wasn't the only one who liked to be here to think.
Sapphire enjoyed the calm atmosphere that the battlefield had, but Ruby often felt uneasy being in the battlefield. Memories of the war would often creep in her mind and Ruby would often feel like she heard the voices of her shattered comrades.
Once Garnet was far enough away from the warp pad, she took another look around to make sure that there wasn't another living soul around. Once she was positive that nothing would sneak up on her, a bright light shone, and where Garnet was standing were the two Gems that composed Garnet, Ruby and Sapphire.
Sapphire sat down, while Ruby began pacing.
"Ruby," Sapphire began, but was interrupted by Ruby.
"How are we going to deal with Steven?! We aren't capable of dealing with a kid!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Everything will be fine Ruby," Sapphire said calmly.
"That's easy for you to say! I mean, Rose has become so depressed that she barely leaves the temple, Pearl has attached herself to Rose's hip so she's not going anywhere, and Amethyst is all over the place!" Ruby said, "And we're the only ones who are doing missions, sooner or later we'll face something we can't handle and then what!?"
"Ruby, Rose needs to be with her son," Sapphire replied.
"I know…I know…" Ruby said, now sitting next to Sapphire.
The two sat in silence as they watched the sun rise.
"Remember the first day after we won?" Ruby said, breaking the silence.
"Of course. The two of us sat here and reveled in the fact that Homeworld was gone. There weren't any missions that needed to be done and we sat here until the sun set over the horizon," Sapphire said, almost instantly. Ruby expected a quick response, since Sapphire carried the future vision ability.
"You told Greg that Steven would be amazing. How he'll defy expectations. I saw it too, and it's hard to see something so small do what we saw," Ruby said, head lying in the palm of her right hand.
"Well sometimes good things come in small packages," Sapphire said, leaning her head onto Ruby's shoulder.
Ruby gave a small chuckle and the two watched the sun rise.
Another silence.
"Hey Sapphire?" Ruby said.
"Hmm?" Sapphire replied.
"We need to be there for him," Ruby said, "We all need to be there for him."
Sapphire nodded while Ruby continued, "We could ask Rose if we could all take turns watching over Steven. It'll lighten the load for everyone."
"True," Sapphire replied.
"Did you know that I was going to suggest it?" Ruby asked, genuinely curious.
"It was a possibility," Sapphire said with small smile.
"Well did you see this?" Ruby said, guiding her face to Sapphire's. The two's lips met and held for quite a while.
When they broke apart Sapphire said, "I like to be surprised sometimes."
The two began to laugh as they stood up. They clasped each other's hands and began to dance. Another bright flash of light, and Garnet stood in place of Ruby and Sapphire.
A smile crept onto her face as she looked around again. Not a soul in sight.
(Present Day)
Connie did indeed come over the next day. She wasn't sure if Steven would remember that she was coming. In fact she thought that it was an elaborate prank that would culminate in Steven telling her that she was just a weirdo.
Luckily for Connie, Steven was waiting in front of his house. When he saw her, Steven quickly ran towards her.
Unknown to Connie, Steven woke up early and cleaned up the house, making sure that everything was ready for Connie to come over.
"Hi Connie!" Steven exclaimed, waving wildly.
Connie waved in return and said, "Hi Steven!"
When the two met in the middle, they stood around, unsure of what to do next.
"So, um…" Steven began awkwardly.
"What do you want to do first?" Connie said, her hand rubbing the back of her head nervously.
Steven was about to say something when the front door of the house opened. It was Amethyst holding a small box. She noticed the two and said, "Yo Steven, Connie!"
"Oh, hey Amethyst," Steven said, almost glad that Amethyst broke the awkward moment.
"Hey, could you two do a favor for me?" Amethyst asked.
Steven looked at Connie to see if it was ok with her, and she nodded. Steven said, "Sure, what do you need?"
"Well if you can take this box to V, that would make my life way easier," Amethyst said, holding the box in her hand.
"That's easy enough," Steven replied, taking the box in her hand.
"V?" Connie asked.
"Oh she's one of Amethyst's friends, Vidalia," Steven said.
"Yep. Now get going you two, I've got Gem stuff to do. Oh and Steven," Amethyst said.
"Yeah?" Steven replied.
"We've got a mission for you later today, so get ready for that, 'kay?" Amethyst said nonchalantly.
"I get to go on a mission with you guys!?" Steven exclaimed excitedly.
"Yeah, but that's way later kiddo," Amethyst said, "So you can hang out with Connie for a while and we'll call you when we are ready to go."
Steven smiled and nodded excitedly. He then realized that Connie was next to him, who was looking away with a slight look of embarrassment. Before Steven could say anything to Amethyst, she was already closing the front door.
Steven and Connie were alone again, and an awkward silence fell over them again.
"So I guess we should deliver this box then…" Steven said, trailing off.
Connie nodded and the two began to walk into town. It was still relatively early, so some of the stores were still opening up.
The two didn't say anything to each other until they arrived at a house that had two large curtains instead of a garage door.
The two walked through the curtains and were greeted with over a dozen paintings of Amethyst in various poses and shapes. Connie visibly stiffened, but Steven called out, "Hey Vidalia? It's me Steven. I brought a package from Amethyst!"
The door leading into the house and from it emerged a tall woman with a lot of blond hair. She looked at Steven and smiled, "Hey Steven, how's it going?"
"Pretty good. Oh this is my friend Connie," Steven said, introducing Connie, who held her hands together as she nervously looked at Vidalia.
"Well aren't you a pretty one? Don't you think so Steven?" Vidalia said with a smirk. Both Steven and Connie began turning red until Vidalia laughed and said, "I'm kidding!"
The two breathed a sigh of relief.
Connie looked around the garage and asked, "Did you paint all of these?"
"Yep. Amethyst and I go way back. She and I used to hang around Steven's dad," Vidalia said.
"Your dad?" Connie asked.
Steven didn't say anything else.
Vidalia felt the awkwardness set in and quickly changed the subject, "Hey Steven, you said you had a package for me?"
Steven felt relieved that Vidalia drove the conversation away from his father and handed her the box.
Vidalia opened it and began chuckling. It was a stack of photographs, all of them of Amethyst in various shapes and sizes.
"These will do great for the gallery!" Vidalia said.
"Gallery?" Steven asked.
"Yeah. Beach City is throwing some fancy schmancy art fest next month and they asked me to make a sort of mini gallery. I asked Amethyst if she could send me some pictures and well here they are," Vidalia replied.
Vidalia sighed as she looked at some old pictures hanging on the wall, "Man, time flies when you have kids."
Steven and Connie didn't know what to do and were about to leave when the mail truck had arrived. It was another blonde woman, shorter than Vidalia and holding a small stack of letters.
"Hey Barbara!" Vidalia greeted.
"Hey there Vidalia! Oh hello Steven!" the mail woman replied. She noticed Connie and asked, "My who's your friend Steven?"
"This is Connie," Steven said, Connie again looking nervous.
"Aren't they just the cutest?" Vidalia asked in a teasing tone.
"Oh they sure are," Barbara replied, again making Steven and Connie blush.
"I'll tell ya what isn't cute though, alimony checks," Barbara said, handing the letters to Vidalia, who immediately gave a look of disgust.
"Tell me about it," Vidalia responded.
The two continued to talk, which gave Steven and Connie the opportunity to leave. They said their good-byes and quickly left.
"So what do you want to do now?" Steven asked.
Connie shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know the town very well, so maybe we can take a look around?"
Steven nodded and led Connie to the boardwalk. The first stop was Beach Citywalk Fries, who at the moment was being tended by a young boy with curly blonde hair. He noticed the two coming up to the shop and said, "Hey Steven, who's your friend?"
"This is Connie. Connie, this is Peedee, his dad owns the place," Steven introduced.
"Wow, your father must really trust you with the shop," Connie said.
"Eh, it's not as great as you would think. My brother would be up here in front, but right now he's at some weird convention about plants or something," Peedee said, rolling his eyes at the mention of his brother. Peedee then said, "So how can I help you two?"
"Well, I'm showing Connie around town. Do you know any good places to show her?" Steven asked.
"Well there's the arcade, the Big Donut, the warehouse, and well…the car wash," Peedee said, pausing before he said the last suggestion.
"The car wash?" Connie asked.
"Yeah. Supposedly the car wash was abandoned because the owner died in a mysterious accident. Some say that his spirit haunts the place to this very day," Peedee said.
"That could be interesting. What do you say Steven?" Connie asked.
Steven replied, "If you want, sure."
The two waved good-bye to Peedee and began walking toward the car wash. As they approached the car wash, Steven took a look at the building.
It comprised of two buildings, one long one that was sealed by an aluminum garage door and a smaller one that had what looked like an office. The sign that used to be on the building was long gone, only to have long metal struts where it should have been.
The two stood some ways away and looked at the building. The air around them was cold and the wind came at the right time to give the kids chills.
"So, uh, were here," Steven said.
"Yeah," Connie replied, very anxious of being near the building.
The two stood there for a few minutes until Connie said, "I think we should go."
Steven nodded and the two turned around to walk back into town when a loud crash was heard. The two turned to the car wash and saw a broken window. In front of the shattered window was a dark lump that was shaking.
"Steven…" Connie whispered, frightened. The lump slowly began to sprout limbs, first one arm, then two legs and finally one long arm. The lump began standing up and Steven knew that had to get Connie out of there quickly.
"Connie, when I say run, we go for the temple, ok?" Steven whispered. Connie nodded and the two began to back away. The lump was now standing on its legs and began to lumber around, and when it left the shadows the two managed to get a better look at it.
It was almost completely dark blue in color, with the only exception being the creature's long arm. It was a pale yellow, which made the creature look unnerving. The creature wasn't approaching the two kids, but they figured that if they ran now, the creature shouldn't be able to catch up to them.
The two turned to run, but before Steven could yell "Run!" the creature was screeched and loud footsteps were heard.
Steven exclaimed, "CONNIE RUN!" and the two began running at a full sprint. The creature was faster than they thought and was quickly approaching the kids.
"What do we do?!" Connie screamed.
Steven looked around. The only place that was close by was the car wash, and while Steven knew that it wasn't the safest place, but it was the only place the two could hide.
Steven grabbed Connie's hand and led her to the car wash, and tried to open the door of the smaller building. It wouldn't budge.
Connie tried the door of the larger building, and to her surprise it opened easily. Connie pulled Steven inside and shut the door, locking it in the process.
The two gasped for breath, while the creature was trying to get in, to no avail.
"We're safe for now," Connie said, a hint of relief in her voice.
She looked at Steven, who was looking at the ground. Connie became concerned and asked, "Steven…?"
"I can't do anything right," Steven said. Connie replied, "Steven, it's not your fault. I wanted to come here and…"
"No it's just…I thought I could go through today without being near a monster. I wanted to spend the day with you. No monsters, no training, and no missions, but...I guess things didn't work out that way," Steven said.
Connie looked away for a moment, collected her thoughts and said, "Well, we can still hang out here."
Steven looked at Connie with a confused look. Connie continued, "I mean, we can make the best out of what we have right now."
Steven looked away again, and then he said, "Well, what do we do?"
Connie thought for a moment and said, "We can talk. You know, learn more about each other."
Steven gave a small smile and sat down, his back to the wall opposite of the door. Connie sat right next to him and said, "I'll go first. I don't actually live in Beach City."
"You don't?" Steven asked, shocked.
"Yeah. I live in a town a bus ride away," Connie replied.
"Well why do you come to Beach City?" Steven asked.
"It's pretty peaceful being near the beach. I can read there without being interrupted, I can look at the boats as they leave the harbor, and I can meet new people," Connie said, looking at Steven as she said the last statement.
Steven smiled wider and said, "Wow. Ok my turn, ummm…"
He thought for a while and the said, "Oh, I know how to play the ukulele."
"That's really cool! How did you learn how to play?" Connie replied.
"Well my mom said that when I was younger that I saw the ukulele and started messing around with it. It didn't take long until I taught myself how to play," Steven said, sighing as he remembered his first song.
"I know how to play the violin, but I had to take a class to learn. You didn't have a teacher?" Connie asked.
"Nope. My mom thinks that comes from my dad's side. He was a musician…" Steven said, trailing off.
"Oh…" Connie said, remembering that Steven's dad was a sore subject.
"I didn't even get a chance to meet him, but from what my mom and the Crystal Gems tell me, he was a great guy," Steven continued, "I just wish, I'd have met him."
Connie had no idea how to continue. She then realized something, "Steven?"
"Hmm?" Steven replied.
"The banging stopped," Connie said. At some point when the two were talking the monster stopped trying to get through the door.
The kids stood up and slowly approached the door, when they heard a loud creaking sound. They looked to the aluminum garage doors and saw them vibrating. The bottom of the door was slowly being lifted and the kids could see a blue hand and a pale yellow hand on the underside of the door.
"Steven, what do we do?!" Connie exclaimed.
Steven looked around, looking for something that could help. The only thing that he saw was an old garbage can. It wasn't big enough to fit both of them, but it could fit one of them.
"Connie, get in the can!" Steven whispered loudly. Connie was about to protest, but the garage door was now a foot from the ground, so she ran to the can. She crawled inside and Steven placed the lid on top of it.
'It doesn't matter what happens to me, just keep her safe!' Steven thought to himself. He stood in the middle of the garage and waited for the creature to open the door.
Slowly, but surely the door came open. The creature, now in full view, stood, holding the door up and began scanning the room. It looked directly at Steven and cocked its head.
Steven stared at the creature, waiting for it to attack. The creature slammed the door up until it locked open. The creature took a step towards Steven, who flinched but held his ground.
The creature slowly walked towards Steven and began to inspect him closely. It placed its hand on his head and began to screech.
Steven held still, ready to run, but then he heard a voice.
"Raawwwzz hrreeellltt mmrreeee" the creature screeched.
Steven was confused. Was this monster talking?
Before he could think more of it he heard a familiar voice yell "STEVEN!" and this caught the creature's attention. It was Garnet, gauntlets at the ready.
"Rawwwry. Raaaaafffffrree. Hreeeeellltt mrrreeeeee" the creature exclaimed as it charged at Garnet. She immediately punched the creature, and it poofed in a cloud of smoke almost instantly. The Gem that dropped was blue with a yellow streak in the middle, and Garnet instantly bubbled the Gem and sent it away.
Connie peeped out of the trash can and when she saw that the monster was gone, she started to get out. Steven went to help her get out, and after a few moments of struggling Connie was out of the can.
"Thanks Garnet," Connie said.
"Steven didn't show up for the mission, so we were all worried," Garnet replied in her monotone.
Steven gasped and said, "Oh man, I totally forgot! Sorry Garnet."
Garnet gave a small smile and said, "Don't worry Steven, you have an opportunity to come on a mission soon enough."
Steven gave a small smile and looked at Connie, "Sorry that today ended up like this. I guess it would be better if we didn't go too far from the temple."
"Yeah," Connie said with a small chuckle, "I still had a great time though, save for being in an old garbage can."
The two slowly began to laugh, and the three began walking to the temple. Steven was smiling on the outside, but on the inside he was puzzled.
The creatures shouldn't be able to talk. They are monsters after all. Yet he remembered the monster saying something. He didn't know what it was saying, but Steven knew that it was trying to say something.
It sounded like it was asking for help.
Steven's thoughts were interrupted when they reached the temple, Rose standing outside.
Steven waved and Rose said, "Steven! Is everything alright? We were all worried sick, we-"
"Steven was wandering town with Connie. They lost track of time," Garnet said.
"Ye…Yeah. Sorry Mom!" Steven replied. Connie looked confused, but she went along with it, "Sorry for keeping him from doing a mission."
Rose looked at Connie and replied, "Oh, you don't need to apologize. I'm just being a worried mom is all."
Rose ended her statement with a smile and a chuckle. The sound of a honking horn interrupted the moment. It was Connie's mother.
"I guess I have to go," Connie said, in a disappointed tone.
"Can you come back sometime soon?" Steven asked.
"I'll try," Connie said.
The two stood around, when suddenly Connie hugged Steven. Steven was shocked, but he returned the hug. Connie whispered, "Thanks for saving me again," before she broke the hug.
Connie ran to her mother, and Steven could barely hear Dr. Maheswaren ask why Connie smelled like decade old garbage. Rose stood next to Steven and said, "She is a really nice girl."
"Yeah. Yeah she is," Steven replied.
"Well, come on inside. You must be hungry after running around town. Garnet, are you coming inside?" Rose said.
"In a moment. I need to take care of some…personal business," Garnet said. Rose knew what this meant and led Steven back to the house.
Nearby the temple was a small alcove. No one would come here, so it was an ideal place for Garnet. She made sure that no one was around and in a flash of light, Ruby and Sapphire stood, looking at each other.
"We shouldn't have done that," Ruby said.
"We had no other choice. If Rose found out that Steven saw one of…them, she wouldn't know what to do," Sapphire replied. Ruby looked at Sapphire sternly and said, "So lying will make things better?"
"No. But it will be easier for Steven to learn about the war as slow as possible. If we inundate him with information, we can expect Steven to have a breakdown," Sapphire said, retaining a monotone.
"I hate that we have to lie to him," Ruby said, "He deserves to know!"
"We aren't the ones to make that call. In the end it's Rose's decision to tell Steven," Sapphire replied.
Ruby gave an exasperated sigh and looked outside. The sun was setting and the horizon became a darker orange.
(Several years ago)
Garnet had returned to the temple sometime later. As she had expected, the others were not around. She heard Steven crying, so she knew that Rose was around.
Garnet walked inside Rose's room. The Crystal Gems would normally not be able to enter, but because of their current situation, it became a necessity for the other Crystal Gems to enter one another's rooms.
Garnet walked around, looking for Rose, when she saw her holding the crying baby.
"Garnet," Rose said, in a very tired tone, "How did the mission go?"
"It went well. A minor disturbance that took longer than expected," Garnet replied.
"That's good. Pearl and Amethyst went to get food for Steven, so it's just me and Steven," Rose said, looking at her son.
"Rose…you need rest," Garnet said softly.
"I'm fine Garnet. Really I am," Rose said, slightly annoyed now.
"You haven't left your room in days, Pearl has been paranoid, and Amethyst has been running wild. I've been on multiple missions, and while not all of them have proven to be difficult, I know that there will come a Gem that I cannot handle alone," Garnet explained.
"I can't leave Steven alone. What kind of mother would I be if I did that?" Rose replied in an exasperated tone.
"Rose," Garnet said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "All of us are here to help you. We can take turns watching Steven. That way we all have a chance to do a mission and take care of Steven."
"I-I-I…" Rose stammered. She finally sighed and said, "I think your right."
She took a breath and said, "I can't raise him alone. I thought I could do it."
"Rose. We've stood by your side for centuries. We've fought against our own kind and more. It's the least we could do," Garnet said. She continued, "Steven won't be like us. There is a large possibility that he won't have any powers, so we all need to be there for him. To protect him from everything that may come our way."
"Garnet," Rose began, "I don't want him to fight. We can't tell him anything about the war. If he's anything like his father he'll…"
She trailed off, but Garnet knew what she meant.
"We won't tell him about the war. You have the responsibility to tell him when you see appropriate. Hopefully he won't need to know," Garnet said, holding her arms out.
Rose was apprehensive at first, but slowly handed Steven to Garnet. Steven became much quieter when he felt the sensation of being held in new arms.
"Get your rest Rose. I'll take first watch," Garnet said, slowly turning to leave.
"Garnet," Rose said.
"Hmm," Garnet replied.
"How are Ruby and Sapphire handling it?" Rose asked.
Garnet chuckled as she took off her visor, revealing her three eyes, glassy with tears "Don't worry Rose. We already love him."
...
And that ends this chapter. Sorry that this one is a bit late, but going to school, trying to have a social life, and trying to do a video series have taken up a lot of my time. I'm still going to write, but setting hard deadlines probably isn't a good idea for me. So instead I'll say a new chapter will be out within two or three weeks.
So yeah, still no reveal on who gave Steven the books, but I did leave a couple of clues in this chapter. I also kinda wrote myself into a corner last chapter by saying that Steven and Connie would hang out and Steven would be going on a mission at the same time, so I had to find a way to make some compromise. That's why the ending was a bit more open ended as to how it's going to go next chapter.
I have also noticed that I have made a lot of dark or semi-dark chapters, so the next one will be a lighter one. Plus I still want to put a song in at some point, and I couldn't find a way to do it this chapter. What I did find a way to do is introduce Ruby and Sapphire. Didn't see that one coming did you? I'll admit that it may be a bit spoiler-y if you haven't seen the series, but it's far enough into the series that if you don't know about Ruby and Sapphire already, then you are reading the wrong story.
I also introduced some odd monster. Could it be because I was inspired to do so because of Nightmare Hospital? Yes I was. I also think that you guys are smart enough to figure out what the monster was trying to say to Steven. How could he understand it though? Any ideas? Theories?
This still isn't my best work, but I could just be overly judgmental on my own work.
Thank you for reading, review if you like it!
Peace.
