CHAPTER 1
The woman with the red tiara
'Okay, calm down Steven. You heard what she said. She's fine. She's totally fine. There's no need to butt in and play gem therapist again…'
'But what if she isn't? Well…then that makes it her luggage to deal with. Not yours. Not your problem anymore. Remember? If it's too much luggage…you can't handle that much luggage. Not again.'
'But does one more bag hurt? what if that bag is heavy?'
'STEVEN GET A GRIP OF YOURSELF! THE LADY SAYS SHE'S FINE AND FROM THE LOOKS OF IT SHE CAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF!'
'Okay, fine! No more Steven the therapist. If she says she's fine, then she's FINE!'
Steven sighs.
What was the point of arguing with himself not to do it when he would still betray his thoughts.
He brings his hand to palm his face in frustration. What would Connie say? His therapist? It was only three days ago that he and Connie were together at lunch, alone in a peaceful forest he found during his stop. There was a perfect spot for a picnic, he thought. Connie arrived with Lion after getting his text and they spent time talking, laughing and talking some more. She asked how he was, how he was feeling. Of course, he doesn't lie to her.
Steven would never lie to her, she was one of the only few people he could talk honestly about his feelings.
He hopes his Connie would approve of him helping someone again. Besides, he was better at taking care of himself for sure this time.
So he turns around and faces the lady.
"No…I don't need your help," She says, in her stiff and strange accent. Her back was to him, so it was hard to tell what her expressions were. Despite the rubble surrounding her, her voice came out strong, yet the tone behind it was weak, as if she was exhausted from everything.
Steven feels a pang in his chest. He knows what that feels like. He thought about squeezing through the small opening of rubble surrounding the woman. It was odd, as he tries to get in, he feels this opposing force that keeps him at bay. As if an invisible wall was between him and the woman.
That was another thing, why was she surrounded in rubble? And in the middle of nowhere nonetheless? She must be the 'crazy-witch-lady' some people from the gas station he stopped by to refuel were referring to.
"I'm telling you, man! Someone's out there shooting red fireworks and blowing stuff up!"
A man working at the station had told him. Steven couldn't help but notice the dark bags under the man's eyes, as if he wasn't sleeping well a couple of nights prior. He didn't want to pry, the man was already troubled as he is. So he took it himself to look around, maybe a missing gem monster from the war was running around, still corrupted. What he didn't expect was a person, huddled around rubble and sobbing.
"Please…" The woman begs, this time turning a bit to peek at him. "Just leave me alone."
There was an echo to her voice that sent chills down to Steven's spine.
"It's not safe here," Steven tries, subtly measuring the opening for him to enter. There was still that invisible force that was keeping him out. Was it…coming from the woman? "Look, I…may not exactly know what you're going through, but I'm willing to listen."
He studies her for a moment, still hunched deep around rubble. She doesn't want to get out, and he can't get in, for some reason. He has to convince her to get out, literally and figuratively, of depression lair. Well, he guesses it's time for classic Steven.
"A couple of months ago…I uh, was going through some things," He starts, having given up on entering, for the time being. "I…was in a dark place at that time. But I couldn't really show what was getting to me. It was more important that my friends and family feel better. That…they'd feel better. If they do then I feel better too." He scratches the back of his head sheepishly. "All I thought about was them. It didn't matter if…I wasn't really okay. So, it kinda became a responsibility, you know? I helped them fix their problems, and it felt good. I was doing good. And…part of why I did it is because, well, I thought it would make my mom proud of me…"
Nervously, he bit his lip, thinking for a bit. He had moved on from his Mother. Whether it was Rose Quartz or Pink Diamond or the gem now embedded in his belly. It was always a complicated topic to venture, and it was weird enough to talk about her to a complete stranger-
"What…do you think your mother would think of you now?"
Steven was so startled by her voice he yelped in surprise. She wasn't on her back this time. This time, Steven could see the red glow of her eyes so clearly in the dark. She turns to him, creeping closer to the entrance.
"Do you…really hate your mother?" She asks him.
"W-What?"
"Do you really see her as a monster?"
"I…"
'I'm afraid that I'm like her. So afraid…that I really did become a monster.'
Steven blinked, a weird sensation was poking through his mind and the next thing he knows, he's crying.
"I'm sorry," The woman tells him, now looking more sympathetically. "I shouldn't have intruded your mind like that. I didn't know it was…that complicated with your mother."
It took a while for him to process what had happened. It was the same as Blue Diamond making him cry and feel her grief. Steven tries to blink back his tears, bringing his jacket's sleeve to wipe his eyes so he could see clearly.
"W-What…What did you just do?!" He snaps, feeling manipulated for trying to help. He didn't want anyone inside his mind or controlling him to cry for his Mother.
"I'm sorry," The woman says again, and Steven knows she means it better this time. "I'm really sorry. I…your mother, she's…you said she's a monster." She brings her quivering hand to her mouth in shame. "It's just that…what you think of her and I-"
Steven watches her face fall. He immediately feels bad for snapping so easily, but a part of him, the part that was tired of Rose, felt completely invaded by what the woman did.
"I'm a mother," She says, and his stomach sinks. "I have twins. I love my boys so much." Her lips were trembling as she spoke, the red glow of her eyes were no longer present. "It hurts me to see them so afraid of me. To think that I'm…a monster."
He doesn't know what to say to that. His own feelings over his Mother was the last thing he expected to feel or talk about when trying to help a stranger.
"...Why would they think you're a monster?" Steven asks her, slowly calming down from having a mini meltdown.
The woman shrugs carelessly, her face heavy with regret. "I did…horrible things. I thought I was doing it for them, but I was doing it for me." Steven decided to sit down before the opening, crossing his legs and wiping his tears by the back of his hand.
"Yeah? My mom did horrible things too. I had to fix some of them while growing up."
The woman's face changes. "She made you fix her mistakes?"
Steven almost laughed from seeing her incredulous expression. "Well, I'm guessing not by choice. She died having me."
The woman was silent, in the meantime he tried to get comfortable sitting in the dirt with rocks. "It's really complicated. I don't know if I really do hate her. I'm just not comfortable talking about her right now."
"I would never let my boys handle my mess." She tells him quickly, and more seriously. "Never in a million years."
There was this intense reaction as she was saying this to him, and Steven is tempted to believe her. He props his knee up to rest his chin, letting a little silence take over for a while.
"My boys are all I have," The woman chokes up, and Steven watches her intently. "I want to be with them so badly, but the universe always seems to find a way to take them away from me."
"What do you mean?"
The woman opens her mouth to say something but immediately closes it, shaking her head. "I have to own up for my mistakes. I…made a promise to myself, that I will fix everything before looking for them again. Looking for them the right way."
He doesn't exactly know how she will do it right, but if she's willing to make everything for her children correctly, then who is he to stop her? At least she has a chance to earn their trust back. Something his own mom doesn't have.
"That sounds like a good start." He tells her kindly. "We've been talking about some really heavy stuff, yet we still haven't introduced ourselves." He chuckled, and the woman smiled a bit.
"No, we haven't."
"I can't imagine being that comfortable in there," Steven eyes the rubble surrounding her, he extends his hand in the opening, hoping the woman would get the memo. "I'm Steven, by the way."
She hesitates, looking away from his hand. He sees her playing with her fingers nervously.
"I didn't want anyone coming here. I made sure my presence wasn't…welcome."
"You…don't want them near you?" Steven frowns at her questiongly, there's something else she's hiding from him, or not telling him directly.
"No, I wasn't really planning on socializing." She quietly responded. "And I didn't come here intentionally. But now that I'm here, I figured…it's best if I took a trip just by myself. Figuring things out as I go…"
'That was probably for the better, right? She said it herself, she can handle it. She's not your luggage, Steven. She's carrying her OWN luggage!'
But he hesitated, there was a look in her eyes that was so…broken. It wasn't anything new. Steven saw that in Spinel, oftentimes in the earlier days, with Pearl, everytime someone mentions his Mom. Lapis and Blue Diamond had despaired over their grief too many times, but something in this woman was beyond that and he had a crazy suspicion that unlike people he's fixed, she had very little support to back her up.
'Come on, Steven. It's not your problem to fix anymore.'
No, it certainly wasn't.
"Well, I'm currently traveling too! What are the odds? Maybe I could drop you off somewhere if you'd like! " He adds hesitantly, still extending his hand in the opening.
Curses. The Classis-Steven in him was begging to be let out. He decided to just drive her somewhere she can easily catch a bus or to somewhere beautiful like nature, and a nearby town so she can have access to people and any necessity. Considering, if she has her own money that is. He wasn't sure if she was carrying anything, like a bag or a literal luggage. He has to ask her later before she decides to go on her own.
"That's very kind of you," The woman replied. "And very insistent."
Steven chuckles a bit, "Maybe you could tell me more about your kids on the way before I drop you off?"
The rubble around her glitched, red energy swirling around them as it dissolved back to soil. Steven recoiled slightly, taken aback by the sudden phenomenon.
'Whoa. This is new..'
The woman now stood, and for the first time since their conversation, Steven can see her clearly. She was wearing a crimson dress, with long red sleeves and some charred markings on her chest, as if her dress was being corrupted by something darker. He noticed the horned, red headpiece framing her face, which he formerly mistook as a tiara. She looked perfectly clean, despite being surrounded by rubble a few seconds ago, with bright auburn hair and green eyes.
Steven feels the buzz of unknown energy around them, and chooses to dismiss it for now. He can worry about it later, he was already used to such strange phenomenons in his life. While the woman towered over him in height, she moved towards him carefully and delicately, as if she was afraid she'd hurt him.
"I'm not here to stay, Steven." She tells him in her stiff accent.
"Well, good thing I have a car with me!" He jokes, pointing to his back where his car was located down the gas station. The woman simply shakes her head.
"I meant, I'm not here to stay in your universe. I didn't mean to come here." Her gaze fell down to her fingers, and Steven noticed how the edges were coated black. He felt his hair rising from his skin. There was something particularly off and malicious about it, yet he felt bad basing this on mere assumptions. "I…didn't think I'd make it either."
"What?" He half whispered, knowing what she actually meant. "Wait, you mentioned 'your universe.' Are you saying…you're from another universe?"
Steven's eyes bulged as the woman simply nodded in return.
"I could tell you about the multiverse, if you want. It's how I found my children."
"Whaaaaaaaaat-"
Steven held his head for a moment, processing it in. This wasn't exactly what he expected. He could understand if this was about some gem business, but the multiverse? "Okay, okay. Uh, why don't you explain to me more about it on the road? I feel like we're gonna be stuck here all day talking about…different universes?"
The woman only shrugs.
She follows him back to the gas station, where he had left his car. In a split second, Steven sees a shimmer of red traveling from the woman's head to her feet, changing her clothes in an instant. Gone were her red tiara and outfit, and was replaced with a red cardigan jacket and some tight black pants.
"Oh, you changed," He blurted out awkwardly. "That was…fast."
"Magic helps me a lot these days." She tells him calmly, putting her hands in her pocket. "And I don't want to attract too much attention. I want to fit in."
"Y-Yeah…that makes sense." Steven replies. "Magic helps me too sometimes. I'm…half magic. My mom's side. I think."
The woman nodded, looking around the area with no particular reason. He has a feeling she wasn't really curious, and it's not that he doesn not mind the silence, not anymore at least, after the info bomb about the multiverse existing. His fingers itched to grab his phone and call the gems or immediately text Connie. Connie would love to hear about the multiverse, and before she can disapprove of it, he has evidence. The woman has magic, so clearly she's not lying or is some sort of special con artist. If he has to be honest, Steven was worried about her in a way he worries about someone he thinks he needs to fix.
"I'd just like to remind you that I can carry my own," The woman startles him again. Steven turns to see her already staring back at him. "I'm not anyone's problem to fix, Steven. I want you to know that."
"Okay, fine." He sighs, then straightens himself, now looking more serious. "It's an old habit, but I won't treat you the way you think I'm treating you as only something to be fixed. By that I mean, I'd really appreciate it if you don't go around reading my mind every chance you get."
"It's an old habit, but I'll hold you to that." She repeats his words as she approaches him, now holding out her hand for a shake.
"You can call me Wanda."
