Dragontitan: I've got a couple of things planned for Lapis. I don't know how everything with her will pan out yet, but we'll just see how things go for right now.

"Please, Mr. Postman, bring me a post. Bring me the post I love the most," Steven sang as he sat on the stairs of his porch, swinging his legs, waiting expectantly for his new package to arrive. He'd been waiting for it ever since he ordered it online a week ago. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jamie the mailman carrying a sizeable cardboard box over to the beach house.

"Jamie!" Steven jumped down from the porch and ran over excitedly to the older man. "You got my package for me?"

"I sure do!" Jamie replied. "Just sign here and we'll be all set." He handed Steven a clipboard and a pen. Steven wrote his signature on the bottom line of the paper and handed the clipboard and pen back to him. "Thank you, Steven Universe. Always a pleasure doing business with you."

"Any time, my good mailman." Steven took the package and headed back inside his beach house. That was when he saw the Gems warping back. "You're back! Lemme show you guys what I got in the mail today."

"We'd love to see whatever you got, Steven, but we can't stay for too long," Pearl said. Steven noticed that she was holding a golden-yellow, heart-shaped crystal that was roughly the size of a grapefruit.

"Why not?" Steven asked. "Does it have something to do with that crystal heart thingy you're holding?"

"Yes, it does, as a matter of fact!" Pearl answered excitedly. "This crystal heart thingy is called a Suspension Core. This one was keeping the Solar Spire aloft, and we need to put it back in its proper spot as soon as possible or else the entire place will collapse."

"What's the Solar Spire?"

"It was once a hub for elite Gems and their associates to get together and socialize on Earth." Pearl projected a hologram of the place from her stone. It was a tall, winding, conical structure surrounded by floating masses of land in various sizes. "It was quite beautiful in its hayday: marble pillars that reached towards the sun, vast fields of wild flowers on the surrounding islands, I can only imagine what you would think of it."

"We're only coming back here to gather emergency supplies," Sapphire said.

"Well, maybe I can carry everything for you in what I got in the mail!" Steven suggested happily.

Ruby scratched at her headband in curiosity. "What'd you get anyway?"

"Only the most amazing thing ever." Steven set the package down on the floor and got to work ripping off the tape. He opened the box and pulled out a novelty backpack shaped like a cheeseburger. It was almost as large as his torso and had two arm straps on the bottom "bun." "Da dada da! Presenting my new cheeseburger backpack!"

"Can I eat it?" Amethyst asked.

"No, you can't eat it!" Steven clutched the backpack to his chest protectively. "I got it to help you guys on missions!"

"Chillax, dude, I was only joking," Amethyst reassured him.

"Steven, it's nice that you want to help us on missions, but it's still too dangerous for you," Pearl said, getting down on one knee and putting a hand on Steven's shoulder. "You're still very young and inexperienced in the ways of being a Crystal Gem. You barely even know how to activate your Gem powers."

"But with this, I'll be able to carry all sorts of stuff we need." Steven unzipped all of the pockets of his new backpack to show them off. "Everything here is a pocket: the buns, the tomato, the lettuce, the patty, even the cheese is a pocket. You could fit a bazillion things in here!"

"A bazillion does sound like a high number," Ruby mused as she rubbed her chin in contemplation.

"I say we let him come," Amethyst said. "I mean, if we wanna teach him the ways of being a Crystal Gem, then what better way than to bring him on a mission with us?"

"You've got a point there, Amethyst." Ruby turned to Sapphire. "Sapphire, what do you say?"

Sapphire hummed in thought. "I say we let Steven come with us. It isn't likely that he'll be hurt as long as he stays close."

Pearl sighed in defeat upon learning that letting Steven come with them was the majority vote. "Alright. You can come, Steven, but just remember to stay close-" She was interrupted by Steven's happy cheers.

"Yes! I'll start packing!" Steven ran up the stairs to his bedroom loft and immediately began stuffing things in his backpack; an umbrella in case it rained, some snacks, a life raft, some crossword puzzles, just a few essential items. Steven wondered what else he should pack when he heard an inpatient Ruby yell, "Steven! C'mon! We don't have all day, y'know!"

"Coming!" Steven made his way down to the Warp Pad when he heard a high-pitched squeaking noise. He looked down to see that he stepped on a rubber T-bone steak. He picked it up and squeaked it again, giving an amused chuckle. "A squeaky steak? You should come in handy." He tossed out the first-aid kit he packed and replaced it with the steak.

"What's taking so long?!"

"I'm coming!" Steven hastily zipped up his backpack and ran down the stairs to get on the Warp Pad with the rest of the Gems.

"Did you pack everything we might need?" Pearl asked.

"Mm-hm!" Steven replied.

"Alright, let's go."


The Warp Pad lit up underneath them, and the Crystal Gems were all surrounded by a shroud of cyan light as they warped to their destination. Steven was still not used to warping. While the rest of the Gems managed to land perfectly on their feet, Steven landed on his face again. Pearl helped him up as he dusted himself off.

"Here it is," Sapphire said. "The Solar Spire." Steven looked around to take in everything. It looked a lot like the hologram Pearl showed him, only it looked more decrepit; most of the pillars looked like they were falling apart and had kudzu vines wrapped around them. The plants on the surrounding islands and the island they were currently standing on were overgrown. All around, there was a vast sea of white clouds stretching as far as the eye could see. It was also quite windy.

Pearl frowned as she looked at the state of the place. "This place has been abandoned for thousands of years. Without the Suspension Core in place, everything has fallen into ruin."

"And it's also falling out of the sky as we speak, which is why we gotta get the Suspension Core back in place pronto! C'mon!" Ruby said as she ran forward.

"Ruby, wait!" Sapphire cried out to her. The red Gem just kept running towards a stone bridge, which she didn't notice was collapsed until she nearly fell off the edge before she caught herself. The other end of the bridge was over a mile away, and where there should have been more of the bridge, there was nothing but cloudy skies for miles down.

"The bridge is in disrepair, and the gap is too wide to jump over. I can glide over it, but the rest of you will need to find some other way to get across."

"How?" Pearl asked.

Steven took notice of how strong the wind was blowing where they were, and remembered that he had packed an umbrella. Something clicked in his head as he got an idea. "I packed an umbrella!"

"Yeah?" Ruby replied. "What are you suggesting?"

"We can use my umbrella to fly across!"

"I dunno. Will that work?" Ruby turned to Sapphire.

Sapphire hummed in thought. "I can see a 93 percent chance of success."

"And what about the other 7 percent?" Pearl asked anxiously, fiddling with her tie.

"You plummet to certain doom."

There was a beat of silence before Amethyst shrugged and said "Eh, it's better than nothing."

"You go ahead, Sapphire," Steven said as he took his umbrella out of his backpack. "The rest of us will meet you on the other side."

"C'mon, Sapph, let's ride!" Ruby climbed onto Sapphire's back, and the blue Gem flew over the huge gap at near supersonic speed. A second later, the two were on the other side of the bridge, waving to Steven.

"Okay, everyone, grab onto me!" The Gems all took hold of Steven, with Pearl's arms tightly wrapped around Steven's shoulders and Amethyst grabbing both Pearl and Steven's waists. "You guys ready?"

"No!" Pearl said.

"Let 'er rip, Ste-man!" Amethyst said.

"Okay, here we go!" Steven opened his umbrella and the next thing anyone knew, the group suddenly flew forwards at incredible speed as the wind carried them over to their next stop. Steven laughed with glee as Amethyst whooped and hollered. Meanwhile, Pearl was clinging onto Steven for dear life, squealing in fear with her eyes shut as tightly as she could manage.


When he saw Ruby and Sapphire underneath them, Steven closed his umbrella and the three tumbled onto the soft, overgrown grass below.

Pearl opened her eyes and looked around. "I... I don't believe it. It actually worked!"

"Never underestimate the wonders of human technology," Steven said as he put his closed umbrella back in his backpack.

"Let's keep going," Sapphire said as she and the rest of the Crystal Gems continued on their mission. They passed by dozens of tall marble pillars and statues in various stages of disrepair. The stone path they were walking on was also cracked with a few potholes here and there.

"Just look at all of this damage," Pearl complained as she observed their surroundings. "To think all of these pillars once stood so tall and proud." She went over to a statue that had most of its head missing. "Most of the statues here used to be of whole Gems. This one used to have a head. Hopefully, once we get the Suspension Core back into place, we'll be able to fix this place up as good as new."

The group froze at the entrance of the Solar Spire, which was guarded by a large, yellow beast with a long, thick mane of white hair. Its mouth was wide with large, sharp teeth protruding from its lower jaw, and it had two long, slightly curved horns where its eyes should have been. Its front legs were very thick, and its huge front paws looked more like clawed hands. Its back legs were thinner, and its back feet resembled hooves. It was lying down in such a way as to indicate that it was sleeping.

"What is it?" Steven asked, to which Pearl hastily shushed him, putting a hand over his mouth.

"It's a Rough Citrine," she whispered, being careful not to wake the beast up. "This one once guarded the Solar Spire from any low-ranking Gems trying to get in without permission. Thankfully, it's asleep, so we'll be able to sneak past it without being detected as long as we don't make any-"

Steven sneezed loudly, and the Rough Citrine picked up its head, having been woken from its slumber. It rose to its feet and roared loudly, startling the Crystal Gems. Ruby, Amethyst, and Pearl summoned their weapons as the Citrine charged forward. Amethyst tried to use her whip on it, only for the beast to catch it in its jaws and fling her into a nearby pillar. Pearl then tried to use her spear to subdue the Rough Citrine, jumping and dodging each time it swiped at her with its paws or tried to gore her with its horns. "Settle down, won't you?! We need to get in there! We're on a mission!" As this was happening, Sapphire was holding back a furious Ruby, who was practically trembling in her grasp as she fought the urge to pound the Rough Citrine to pieces.

Meanwhile, Steven was digging in his backpack for something that might help with the situation. He took out the squeaky steak he packed, and suddenly got an idea. He made a ring with his thumb and index finger and blew, whistling to get everyone's attention, including the Rough Citrine's.

"You want the steak, boy? Do ya?" Steven asked playfully while squeaking the steak a couple of times. The Citrine assumed a playful bowing position like that of a dog. "Go fetch!" Steven threw it as far away from the Solar Spire's entrance as he could, and the Citrine bounded over to it and began playing with it like a big puppy dog before rolling off the edge of the island.

The Crystal Gems all ran over to the edge and watched as the Rough Citrine fell for miles, still playing with the rubber steak.

"Well, that got it outta the way," Amethyst said.

"Alright, we're almost there," Pearl said. "Let's go save this once-magnificent piece of Gem history!" The group all ran inside the Spire and up the long spiral staircase to get where they needed to go. They stopped at the topmost level, which contained a heart-shaped pedestal.


"This is it, Gems," Ruby said triumphantly as they all walked over to it. "The moment of truth!"

"All that needs to be done now is put the Suspension Core on its pedestal, and the Solar Spire will be saved," Sapphire said.

Pearl put a hand to her glowing gemstone as she took the Suspension Core out. She handed it to Steven. "Steven, would you like to do the honors?"

"Me?" Steven asked incredulously. "You mean it?"

"Mm-hmm." Pearl nodded her head yes. "You've already helped us twice today, so I figured it would only be fair if you helped us again a third time."

Steven took the Suspension Core from her. "Okay. I have to be very careful with it." Steven slowly put the Suspension Core up to the pedestal before everything suddenly started shaking. Steven and the Gems floated upwards as the Solar Spire started falling faster.

"What's happening?!" Steven cried as he clutched the Suspension Core to his chest.

"We're falling right out of the sky!" Pearl cried. "We need to get the Suspension Core on its pedestal quickly before we fall into the ocean!"

Steven tried to swim to the pedestal as everything around him became a panicked haze. The Suspension Core flew out of his grasp inches away from the top of the pedestal before hovering over it, and everyone fell to the floor as gravity returned. The Solar Spire was suspended in the air once again.

"Steven, you did it!" Amethyst said as everyone stood back up.

"Did I?" he asked.

"You sure did, kiddo!" Ruby gave him a congratulatory slap on the back. "You were a big help today!"

"Oh, I'm so proud of you!" Pearl ran up to him and locked him in a tight hug. "You handled everything so well!"

"Thanks, guys." Steven took off his backpack and proudly held it up above his head. "I wouldn't have gotten it done without my totally awesome cheeseburger backpack!"

"Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack!" The Gems, starting with Amethyst, who lifted Steven over her head, cheered as they made it back outside the Solar Spire. The place and all of its surrounding islands were now hovering roughly two feet over the ocean.

"So, uh, how are we gonna get home?" Amethyst asked as he put Steven back on his feet. The Gems all looked at him.

"What? Oh, right." Steven took out the life raft he packed. "I packed a raft!" He inflated the raft and threw it onto the water below before he promptly jumped on. "Come on!" The rest of the Crystal Gems followed suit, first Amethyst, then Pearl, followed by Ruby and Sapphire, with Sapphire in Ruby's arms.

"It's going to take approximately 6 hours to paddle home," Sapphire said, followed by a stunned silence.

"Anyone wanna do a crossword puzzle to pass the time?" Steven asked, taking out the puzzle books he packed.