That familiar sensation of drifting in.
Coming down gently like a feather.
All senses slowly coalescing.
Until that all too familiar feel of a cot finally met his back.
…
Um, had his cot always been this soft?
Akira Kurusu jolted his eyes open with a light gasp.
His jail cell looked…different. No, not just different, it didn't even look like a cell anymore.
And there's definitely no way his cot ever felt this soft before.
In fact, as he sat up, the young man found himself laying on the middle one of five long blue lounge couches, their semi-circular shapes lending well to layout as they were all spaced out enough to nearly form a circle while providing just enough space in between for walking room.
The differences did not cease when he tilted his gaze up and panned his eyes around either for gone was the tight cramped prism of living space surrounded by stone, along with the circular room lined by identical cells.
Rather Akira found himself in a huge hotel lobby, its floor decked in a pattern of checkered blue and white tiles. Towering arched windows stood at attention along the right wall of the room, rimmed with gold, their sides draped by elegantly tied and silky-looking curtains of deepest sapphire, left drawn open to reveal a cloudy and starry nighttime sky, a huge sterling-white moon hanging above as the celestial centerpiece. A high flat ceiling painted (surprise, surprise) a deep blue tiled by gold reams, supported by hexagonal-prismatic pillars that shimmered in the ethereal light streaming from outside, the pillars scattered in a hexagonal formation around the room.
In short, damn. As much as Akira had come to appreciate the 'rustic' charm of his usual accommodations, he couldn't deny the sheer swank of this place.
"Welcome, our dear Trickster," suddenly spoke a calm yet eerie voice, "I trust you find these trimmings more to your liking?"
Right away, Akira turned to face the source and discovered three more details to the room: a small fancy black table standing on round curly legs, situated in the between-in space directly across from where the teen sat; two, a large curved chair behind said table sporting the same material and color as the couches, it's top edge fanned out; and three, the balding, long-nosed, and sharply dressed old gentleman seated in that chair, staring back with wide unyielding eyes and an unsettling grin.
Akira didn't bat a single lash as he took a more comfortable seating position. "Fits me well," he supplied with a half-smile.
"As it should," replied an airy feminine voice from behind. When Akira turned his head, he discovered a huge and black grand piano in the left corner beside an ornate door sided by white blooming roses set in tall intricately designed white vases. Before the piano stood a rather short, girl with long platinum hair and in a formal blue uniform carrying a comically huge book beneath her left arm, her quietly intense golden eyes unflinching in their stare. "Gone are your days as prisoner, your freedom yours alone to command, even at the risk of running ashore against future trials…"
The way the girl's voice trailed off as she approached him at a steady pace, let alone how her eyes flickered downward for a moment. Akira draped his arm along the back of the couch. He had a feeling he'd best get comfortable for this visit.
"Long time, no see, Lavenza."
As he hoped, the casual greeting scored a light smile and giggle from the much shorter girl. "Yes, it has been some time since your last visit." Unfortunately, that downward gaze became realized soon after, her voice adopting a saddened tone. "If only the circumstances behind your return were as pleasant. It would seem another threat to humanity looms."
Again? Akira had to hold back a tired sigh. What, did humanity whip up another false god bent on global enslavement?
Curiously, Lavenza pulled a pensive face as she put a finger to her chin. "Although, it may appear humanity does not stand alone in this upcoming crisis."
Wait, what? Akira narrowed his eyes at the Velvet Room Attendant in confusion.
Another chuckle from Igor drew the attention of both visitor and assistant to him. The old master cocked his head. "Quite the mystery you have on your hands. Not only a new calamity, but one that seeks to seize and uproot other worlds besides this one."
Akira hummed in thought. Even considering the period of time Yaldaboath posed as him, Igor always seemed like someone who knew more than he let on. Something told Akira, though, he'd best not waste his breath hounding the man for answers about the nature of this threat.
Instead, the messy-haired teen cocked his head and asked, "Other worlds?"
"Admittedly," Igor continued, "even I am not wholly certain as to the meaning of this. What say you, esteemed guest? Are you prepared to start a new journey, one full of both familiar and unfamiliar trappings?"
Did thieves lurk in darkness? Akira smirked and nodded at such an obvious question.
A relived sigh left Lavenza who stepped around Akira's couch to join her master's side. "Your strength of resolve remains unmistakable, Trickster. Only you and the bonds you continue to forge can hope to avert this catastrophe."
Oh right, Akira realized with a blush, the other Phantom Thieves. He didn't exactly have the strongest case for a call to arms besides this out-of-body experience and that ominous dream from the other day.
Like a mind-reader, Igor waved an assuring hand. "Do not stress yourself over the means to explain the situation to your allies. Fate will hand you the necessary push soon enough. Perhaps even sooner than you expect."
Before the young man could ask, a gentle melody of beeps echoed from above, reminiscent of the sound one might hear before a school announcement.
"Ah, it would seem our appointment draws to close," Igor continued. "Best of luck to you, our dear guest."
And with those final words echoing in his ears, Akira woke up.
XXX
The next day, somewhere on the eastern coast of the United States…
Ugh.
Yeah, that thought encapsulated this morning rather perfectly.
A young late teen with curly black hair returns the bedraggled look given by his reflection in the bedroom mirror, underscored only by the faint bags under his eyes.
Yesterday had not been kind to Steven Universe at all.
First, a petty fusion called Bluebird Azurite popped up to interrupt an entire morning class just to challenge Steven to yet another 'battle to the death'. Next, the greenhouse winds up needing renovation and the agriculture class a temporary new location because Steven, due to a lack of sleep, accidentally animated a few vegetables into an army of rambunctious sapient vegetables. After that, Onion (who else?) somehow found his way into Peridot's house and got a hold of a Replicator Wand she'd been working on and carried out a Take 2 of the same incident from years ago, only this time with Lapis' art supplies, resulting in a complete and literally colorful mess.
To say the least, the poor boy had been ready for a centuries-long nap by the end.
And he just knew today would not only provide similar headaches but have an additional one on top: tourists.
Tourists, tourists, tourists.
Look, between his extroverted nature and his faith in people's better nature, Steven would always be a people's person. He'd gladly take any opportunity to get to know somebody new and even make new friends.
That said, even he had his limits. Tourists tended to be like the worst case of a box of chocolates, and if he remembered what Connie messaged him the other day, now would be the unofficial start of spring break. Steven was not looking forward to dealing with one too many run-ins with rude folks, not when he already felt lousy enough as is.
He finished washing up and returned to his upstairs loft to retrieve his cellphone and check his schedule. That's when he noticed a recent message from his father, Greg.
GU: Morning, Schtu-Ball! Some family trouble cropped up on Shep's end, so we had to postpone the road trip. If you ever wanna hang out today, I'll be at the car wash.
At first, Steven smiled at the prospect of the chance to freely hang out with his dad…but then that smile plummeted alongside his spirits. After quitting his teaching job at Little Homeschool, the teen had found himself drifting about out of aimlessness which in turn fed into his feeling of uselessness.
Did he even deserve time to relax with his dad? With anybody for that matter?
With a forlorn sigh, Steven set the phone on his nightstand before going towards his closet to change clothes. Maybe if he got into town early enough, he could ask Peridot if he could borrow some seeds for his greenhouse. That incident from Cactus Steven had dissuaded him from gardening for some time, leaving a good chunk of the plants either wilted or dead last he checked, causing him no small amount of guilt (and frustration that nobody bothered tending to them in his absence).
After the near disaster at the skating rink the other day, the hybrid had found himself slowly drifting back to his plants. He made a point to bring thick gloves this time, though, having learned from last time…er, the last few times. Sadly, catching up on watering could only do so much to salvage the aftereffects of his neglect.
In short, he had to start over from scratch. Oh well, at least fixing this would give him something to do (for the time being at least).
Once he'd gotten changed and gathered his messenger bag full of essentials, Steven promptly trekked to the Warp Pad at the back of the house and activated it to take him to the corresponding Pad in Little Homeworld.
In no time flat, he materialized at the edge of town on the gold-lined podium bearing the star logo designating the Crystal Gems and, without missing a beat, took off in the direction of Peridot's greenhouse.
So far, so good, Steven mused as he took note of the sparse passersby. Hmm, not many Gems were out and about this time of day, odd. A special event perhaps? Either way, Steven knew better than to look such a rare opportunity for peace and quiet in the mouth.
Actually, this wasn't so bad. Yeah, walking down the roads of the Gem settlement with so little activity felt unusual, but it came with a soft pace that Steven couldn't remember having since a long time. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to slow down a little and take his…
BOOM!
…time. Darn it.
Steven slapped both hands to his face to stifle a groan. He swore if this was Bluebird trying to get his attention again…
"There you are!"
Oh, Peridot was getting his attention. Never mind, this he could live with.
Despite his internal relief, Steven frowned in worry at the rapidly approaching Gem and her flummoxed face. "Peridot, what happened? Is anyone hurt?"
The green rock skids to a stop and bends over to catch a breath. "Oh, that. Not to worry, one of the Quartzes at Pearl's baseball class simply struck too hard and sent their designated projectile straight back instead of up. Unfortunately, it happened to leave a crater in the gardens nearby – we really need to consider repositioning the classes – and that's going to take some time to fix."
Steven winced. "Oof. Need any help? I've got some gardening experience under my belt."
"Tempting offer, but I've got enough hands-on deck to assist with repairs." She noted how the boy's face went crestfallen and hastily added, "BUUUTT there is another matter you could help with! You might have noticed the distinct drop of Gem activity in this area."
Kind of hard to miss, Steven mused as he gave a dry grin in turn.
"Well, most of the Gems residing here got curious when they found out new humans would be visiting Beach City around this time of year, so to keep them from swarming our visitors with an exodus, Pearl and Garnet set up a sort of buddy-system where the Gems more acclimated to living among humans can accompany their 'juniors' so to speak around here and Beach City."
Peridot paused upon noticing the blank look Steven was giving her. "None of the others notified you of this yesterday…did they?"
The speed at which the boy's face blanched affirmed a definite no. Steven tried hard not to flinch at Peridot's disappointed sigh, despite knowing she didn't intend it for him.
The green Gem, noticing his reaction, gave what she hoped to be an assuring smile. "That's fine! After the sheer nonsense of yesterday, I suppose it simply slipped their minds. Anyway, there's this human family visiting from out of town and the daughter is really interested in seeing Little Homeworld, first contact with aliens and all that. Considering my schedule had been originally free during this time, I had eagerly volunteered to serve as her tour guide…well at least until…"
At this point, Steven held up a hand. He could already see where Peridot was going with this, and quite frankly he couldn't be happier. "Say no more. I'd be happy to take over for you! Anything to be of help!"
For a moment, there's a flash of guilt in Peridot's eyes before she masks it with a business-like clear of the throat. "Y-Yes, thank you, Steven! This way please." With that the pair took off, Peridot leading the way. "Come to think of it, you might be a more apt choice. She seems about your age after all."
His age? An initial spike of anxiety goes up Steven's spine at the thought of hanging out with another peer, particularly a complete stranger. Already memories of his social blundering at the rink in front of Connie and her friends (her fully human friends) pelted his mind, causing the anxiety to worsen.
But then a thought occurred to him: this person likely didn't have ties to anybody he knew. Yeah, tourists came and went and nothing Peridot had said suggested this girl would be any different. Steven could handle being someone's guide for a day. Besides, it'd be nice to hang out with someone who had no preconceived notions of him...assuming they'd heard none of the talk and rumors about him. Hopefully.
Steven placed both hands into his pockets and shrugged. "That's fine. I'm a little overdue to meet someone who doesn't wanna cause me trouble anyway."
"Well, that won't be a problem then," Peridot assured with a chuckle as she and Steven neared the prismatic building serving as Little Homeworld's main office. "From all our interactions so far, she seems like a very pleasant and lively individual, not to mention a solid conversationalist. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, I think you two would hit it off rather well."
Was that a fact? If so, Steven was starting to look forward to meeting this person. One detail occurred to him though. "You've mostly been mentioning only her so far. Is her family not coming with?"
A flash of realization came over Peridot. "Ah, right. It turns out her maternal unit knew someone in Beach City in her younger years, so she dropped by with the family to visit. Now all of them are seeing the sights together, but since this friend has no child her age, Ann figured she'd get some time to see the sights herself."
Ah, so Ann was her name then. Well, if she wanted to see what Beach City and Little Homeworld had to offer, Steven would more than happily oblige. Best keep her away from the temple just to be safe, though.
At this point, the pair entered the building to discover the Nephrite serving as receptionist at the front desk chatting up with a teenage girl sporting blonde hair in twin pigtails, dressed in a sleeveless white shirt and short blue jeans as well as red sandals, a pink and red handbag hanging from her left shoulder. A pink cellphone could be seen in the girl's hand, open to what appeared to be text messages.
When the taller verdant Gem noticed Steven and Peridot and cheerily waved hello in response, the girl turned her head.
"Hey Centi!" Steven greeted back before rubbing his nape in embarrassment as he regarded the visitor next. "Sorry if this feels last minute. Things can get a little hectic around here." He only hoped the incident earlier didn't spook her and her family too badly.
"Aw, it's cool!" the girl assured him with a cheery smile as she put away her cell and then stuck her arm out for a handshake which Steven gladly accepted, "Ann Takamaki! Me and my parents came here on vacation, and I've been itching to see more of this place ever our driver here told us about the aliens living here!" Then she blinked and withdrew her hand to scratch the side of her head in a bashful manner. "Although…he never really called the people here aliens until after we got here. Just stuff like 'super-out-of-towners'."
Despite the goofy-sounding alias, Steven had to bite back a smile of relief. Good to know that their way of keeping the Gems' true existence hush-hush from the human public had been effective thus far.
All the same, Steven chuckled in a half-joking manner. "Yeah, it's a definite bomb to drop on somebody. I just hope your driver didn't go too hard on you and your folks about keeping this place on the downlow. Ronaldo can be a bit…much."
Ann waved off his concern. "It's cool. I mean, living space rocks in their own cozy little town on the East Coast? Yeah, I wouldn't exactly be jumping to expose that on the evening news either." Especially considering the types of people willing to take advantage of such information. "Besides, everyone seems so happy and peaceful here. It'd be wrong to ruin all that."
Right then something in Steven felt lighter, like part of a burden had lifted from his shoulders, and he smiled in turn. He could get to like this girl.
XXX
"So, your mom used to live here?"
Steven and Ann were currently seated at one of the tables inside Cone and Son, munching on strawberry crepes alongside some ice-cold sodas.
The blonde made a noncommittal hum at Steven's question and paused after another bite of her food. "Well, not quite here-here, but close enough that she had friends she'd visit all the time. Both my parents are fashion designers, so their jobs tend to take them from place to place." Ann's smile started to wane as her eyes went downcast. "It also means I often don't get to see them."
Ouch. That hit a little close to home for Steven judging by his empathic wince.
Ann noticed and hastily added with a plastered smile, "But it's fine! My family's got plenty of caretakers who keep me company! Besides, I've got plenty of friends around the world I can call up anytime!" A pause went by as she sweat-dropped. "As long as I don't wake 'em up too late."
Friends around the world? Steven perked a brow, curious, as he set one hand along the table and set the other beneath his chin. "Really? What places have you been to?"
Before Ann could answer, shouting drifted in from outside – and as he listened, Steven discovered it was coming from very familiar voices.
"All they were doing was moving supplies. I highly doubt they meant to hit you when they could barely see past the stuff in their arms."
Connie? Steven stood up from his seat, surprised she'd come today.
Wait…a quick check of his phone confirmed, yes, she had indeed sent him a message saying she'd be coming today. Crap.
The next voice he heard did not help.
"Tch, typical. Nothing but excuses around here. How about the fools in charge of this place put more effort into teaching the rejects here how to do something right for once?"
Steven stiffened even more at the other voice, face going pale, before he bolted out of the diner and out onto the main road. He barely registered Ann following with a concerned expression.
Speaking of whom, the blonde did not take long to discover not far to the left a dark-skinned girl with short black hair having a stare-down with, hands akimbo, quite possibly the biggest woman Ann had ever seen. The red stripes marking orange skin and bulging muscles combined with the long leonine mane of white and odd splotches of green on said skin made for quite a striking and intimidating figure.
Ann had to give the other girl props for not backing down.
"How about you put more effort into being friendly whenever you come here?" the girl continued with crossed arms, "Steven didn't spend his time trying to get you to open up just so you could push everyone around."
The lion lady threw her head back in laughter, a booming raucous sound. "Please. Is that what he told you? Oh, that's right, he's got that precious image of his to keep up around you pebbles. Trust me, if you saw what's he really capable of, you'd think twice before defending him."
You could practically hear Connie roll her eyes. "Yeah, news flash: I don't trust you. In fact, I find it a little bit sus that you just happened to change your mind about coming to Little Homeworld when I distinctly remember Steven going out of his way after we cured Corruption to spend time with you, only to either get yelled at or have stuff thrown at him. Any reason for the change of heart?"
Jasper merely sneered, revealing her gums for added effect as she leaned imperiously over the human girl. "That is none of your business, human. Now why don't you—?"
"Then how about I make it my business?"
Both girl and space rock shifted their gazes to the young man marching their way, his eyes full of 'already done with this crap'.
"Hmph, there you are," Jasper griped as she crossed her arms in bored annoyance. "You shirked out on our training session yesterday."
In other words, yet another arrangement Steven failed to fulfill. Another promise that he failed to keep.
He pinched his brow in dismay, sighing in guilt even while his annoyance remained visible. "Y-Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. I swear I was going to see you yesterday, but things got…insane."
Jasper arched a skeptical brow. "I thought you said the other day you quit teaching at this dump."
Connie shot a look of surprise at her friend. Since when did Steven quit Little Homeschool?
Steven blushed at being put on the spot, let alone in front of Connie. What's worse, he swore he could feel the beginnings of his Pink Mode starting to kick in. With great willpower, he schooled a more authoritative face. "F-For…PERSONAL reasons! Anyway, if you are planning on hanging around here, can you please try to behave yourself?"
To his further dismay, Jasper rolled her eyes with a scoff. "Like I told your little accessory here, put more effort into teaching these Off-Colors how to do something right. Then maybe I'll consider them worth my respect."
OK, wow.
Yep, prime-A jackass material, Ann decided with an unamused glare as she crossed her arms. Time for a little humbling. "That's pretty big talk for someone who doesn't seem to spend her time in this town much. If you don't like dealing with people here, you can always just ask someone to pass your message to Steven."
Right away, the orange rock sneered down at the blonde. "As if anyone asked your opinion."
"And nobody asked yours," Ann coolly returned, "although that's obviously not stopping you."
Jasper scoffed haughtily. "Oh, what? Do you intend to stop me?"
Ann gave a smug and unbothered smile. "See, I don't have to. You act all tough and scary, but even I can tell there's nothing you can do to anybody here. After all, you wouldn't want to give Steven a reason to stop hanging around you, right?"
Whatever response Jasper had been expecting, it clearly hadn't been that. The orange rock gaped at the human, taken aback.
Steven and Connie likewise stared at Ann in shock, amazed at the girl's gumption as well as her use of mental warfare.
For a moment, Jasper seemed keen on continuing this argument, but she thought better of it and waved off a dismissive hand. "Forget this. Next time, give a heads up when your busy schedule won't allow it."
Steven tried hard not to flinch at the snide emphasis as he and the girls watched the glamazon stalk off.
"Huh," Connie marveled as she turned to Ann as soon as Jasper disappeared from view, "not bad."
Ann merely shrugged. "Eh, she's not the first bully I've had to deal with." Hell, she wasn't even the biggest the blonde ever faced. "Name's Ann, by the way. Ann Takamaki" – she stuck out a hand for a handshake – "Steven's been giving me a tour of the town, although we didn't get to see much before…well, all that."
"Connie Maheswaran," the darker girl returned with a smile as she accepted the gesture, "and don't sweat it. I'm surprised she even popped up at all."
I'll say, Steven mused as he cast his eyes downward in thought. Jasper used to avoid Little Homeworld like the plague, even with her daily training sessions with Steven, but now a week couldn't go by without her being sighted either near or in the town.
At first, Steven had been ecstatic at this development, thinking the Quartz had finally come around to attending classes at Little Homeschool. Nope, said development only paved the way for more headaches as Jasper couldn't walk around this place without causing a scene, an occurrence Steven was often called upon to break up. Fortunately, she didn't come by every day, only when she needed to notify Steven of a change in their training schedule.
Which…seemed to be happening a lot more lately. Weird.
Just then, Steven remembered Connie standing right there, looking directly at him, and blanched. "I'm really sorry for missing your message," he hastily cut in. "I-I swear I wasn't trying to—"
Connie held up both her hands in an assuring manner. "Hey, it's fine! I'm just happy to see you again! I know it hasn't been that long since the rink, but since school's out for the next two weeks, today seemed like the perfect chance!"
As hoped, her words inspired a relieved smile on Steven's face.
However, it also brought up an awkward frown on Ann, who felt like a third wheel now. Call her nosy but she couldn't help but detect a little more than friendship going on here judging by the looks on the pair's faces. "If you guys need to catch up, I can head back to the center and ask someone else to show me around," she spoke while rubbing her nape, "I don't wanna take up your guys' time."
And like that, Steven's mood plummeted once again as he swiveled back with a panicked expression to Ann, who in turn flinched, feeling like she might have put her foot in her mouth on this one.
Once again, here came Connie to the rescue. "I wouldn't mind," she assured before an argument could spring up. "Anybody who can stand their ground against Jasper is already cool in my book."
Her words did the trick. Ann relaxed immediately (albeit with lingering trepidation) while Steven sighed but pulled off a semi-believable smile.
Guess I'll have to do some social damage control, Connie decided as she ushered the others back into the ice cream shop. "Hey, c'mon! It's spring break right now! We can't spend it standing around looking all down, can we?"
Ann giggled at the other girl's vigor and nodded in agreement. Couldn't argue with such sound logic after all.
Steven, however, bit his lip in hesitation as he trailed behind the girls. In fact, when he looked up, Ann and Connie were already reaching the table from his and Ann's previous chat, deep in conversation about something. Hadn't known each other for a few minutes and already they were getting along well.
The sight alone nearly invoked a smile from him…until memories of his disastrous socializing at the skate rink came to mind.
He shook his head to wave them off right away. Befriending Ann had been a piece of cake, plus she and Connie were already getting along. If anything, he only had to worry about being his usual friendly self.
The thought brought up a more genuine smile. Yeah, yeah, he could totally handle this. No problem!
Emboldened, he took a step forward.
And then the world went white.