Steven Universe belongs to its creators.

Any other references are just references, I can't claim them either.

Knowledge of Steven Universe is Recommended

I am a shitty and a very lazy writer, but I still proofread and execute grammar checks. Not well, but it's more effort than some people around here.


Peach POV:

Living with the human for the past year has been interesting. While my current situation is a matter of circumstances along with a desire for survival, I have found that this isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Of course, Alexander being different from typical humans helped a lot. Most humans barely have a formed language, often mimicking us gem on our form of speech. According to some information I had gotten back when I was the Authority's Quartz Soldier, the rebels have been teaching the humans in hopes to use them for the war. Though that seems to be an inefficient effort.

Yet 'Alex' not only had mastered our language somehow but also has miraculously obtained the ability to manipulate light. A power that seems to be highly effective against us gem-based life forms.

Is this the power of evolution? Has a new species of humanity risen from the ashes of their fallen designed by nature to take revenge against their aggressors?

Apparently not, he seems to be the only special one so far.

It is also true that I didn't miss much after leaving the Diamond Authority. Being a part of that never made me feel at home, as I was often verbally harassed. The only time I felt at ease was when I was with the other Rose Quartzes.

Now I have taken a liking to several new activities, such as fishing and sparing.

I like fishing because of the peace that it provides, it gives me time to relax. Another positive is the fact that I always catch fish larger than the ones Alex catches.

Yet I like sparing because it allows me to release a lot of my pent-up frustration and energy. The complete opposite reason. Due to my softer disposition, I often let everything bottle up. Then combating against Alex, though more of a non-lethal train session, often became a great release of all that pressure. It also gives me a goal to work towards, I have yet to even touch Alex, much less hit him with my sword. His laser beams are very difficult to deal with.

Recently after a spar, Alex had asked me why I have a broadsword as my gem weapon as it is well known that Rose Quartzes are defensive-focused soldiers. If I had been asked this question five months ago, I would have responded by saying "I don't know."

Now, however; with my enjoyment of combat realized, I understand it's because I just don't want to defend but attack as well. Henceforth why I wish to now call my blade a shieldsword instead of a broadsword. It just felt right.

Though life was not always peaceful. We are still on the run from the Diamond Authority, as they would often send their tracking squadrons after us. Calling us the Rogues as they have noticed that we are yet to be affiliated with the Rebels.

Which apparently are a strangely elusive group of gems, as we still have yet to make contact with them. Though I don't know if I want to make contact with them.


Alex POV:

It has been almost three years since I was dropped into this world. Or roughly two years and nine months since I started hanging out with the 8ft tall, sentient supercomputing, feminine rock known as Peach.

No, I'm not jealous of her height. I'm perfectly happy with my 5ft 6in stature. I totally don't want a couple of extra inches in my height.

Bringing my attention back to the battle at hand, I focus all my attention on Peach. Who, due to poofing every now and then during our spars, had some minor changes to her form. Her hair is now in a very floofly and curly ponytail and while she kept her crop and long pants with boots, her newest form now repped some slick fingerless gloves.

Nioum! A laser flew from my hand towards Peach, who responded by deflecting the beam using her broadsword. Not letting the laser stand in the way of her blitzing stride toward Alex.

I summon my smaller replica of Peach's sword, and the two of us clash against each other. Which only results in me being blown away by the force of her swing.

Peach is stronger and faster than me, and though I am superhuman, I'm yet to be on the same level as a Quartz soldier. Even during the day, when I am at my strongest, this holds true. So, the fact that I'm still capable enough to fight back when the sun is setting says a lot about how overpowered light manipulation is in this universe.

Speaking of light, I charge up several balls of it in a dome-like area around her. Each one pulsing a beam of light at her, though slowly. The pulses were timed to be barely with in her reaction speed, pushing just slightly beyond her limits.

This is a training session after all.

Peach immediately begins deflecting the beams right back at an orb of light, blowing it up. She just barely manages to do so, as I tune the fire rate to match her level of expertise. After she deals with all the balls of light, she grins an evil grin that could give Jasper a run for her money.

"You know, I always tell you how much I hate you doing your laser dome, Alex. It's always a pain to deal with. It's the sole reason I needed to reform so many times." Peach speaks as she takes a javelin-like throwing stance with her broadsword.

She then does something she only recently discovered she could do with her new ability. An ability that allows her to amplify or muffle the motion of an object. With this she can float by muffling her downward descent, glide by amplifying the directional motion while floating, and run at super speeds. Though she is not quite used to doing that last one. Peach is not yet capable of mentally processing at that speed. Currently, she is about to throw her sword at speeds that rival a sniper. Sadly, she can only use this power on herself or her sword.

"Well, it's cool now, since I can reciprocate the annoyance!" Peach then chucked her sword at supersonic speeds, I had plenty of time to prepare my actions due to her wind up, but I knew I wouldn't be able to dodge. So, I made several light barriers all tilted at an angle and used my broadsword as a shield to hopefully deflect the massive projectile coming at me at around Mach 2.2.

What that all I could have done? Was this the best possible option? No, but I wanted to see if I was able to block the hit. Gems are powerful, and I needed to know how defensively capable I was.

This decision would turn out to be a mistake, at least with my current capabilities in such a scenario.

The sword, as big as the gem who threw it at me, tore through all my shields and shattered my own broadsword before ripping off my right arm. It then proceeded to fly past me, and tear through some trees. Huh, light manipulation is not as good defensively as it is offensively. Good to know.

Peach and I stared at each other; her eyes widening in shock. This was the first time she had ever been able to hurt me, and I can see it. This had traumatized her. The pain was nothing to me, I was hyper tolerant thanks to the trial for my cheat ability.

Yet all the blood spilling out, my bone sticking out of my flesh, and my torn-off arm dangling in a tree behind me told a different story. I could see it all being etched into her mind through her eyes. For she had just been forced to remember that I was made of flesh and blood.

"Alex!" Peach rushed towards me, fear filling her mind. Thanks to our fishing and hunting sessions, she knows what happens to a gravelly injured animal when it gets no assistance, it dies... Nope, too much drama, I'm going to try and put an end to this.

"Peach! Stop!" I yell out, and she fearfully complies, "calm the fuck down! It's ok! This is cool!"

"But your arm!-"

"Hush, just watch." I walk up to my torn-off arm and place it, much like a puzzle piece, back on my shoulder. I then control the light around me and feed on it. Thanking God there was still a significant amount of sunlight still available. My arm immediately begins to heal up, until there wasn't even a scar left. Mind you, internally it was still very much damaged, but I healed more of the outside first so I could ease Peach's mind faster. This kind of wound should take around 10 minutes to completely heal when eating light.

"See, Peach. It's ok, it's not your fault. I shouldn't have tested my luck and you just need more practice with your new power." I can see relief visibly ripple throughout her body, as she wakes up to me and gives me a hug.

"Peaff, whaf arf you foing?" I struggle to speak as she smothers my smaller frame.

"I don't know, but I really feel like I need this."

Ah fuck, gems and their emotional intolerance/immaturity due to their lack of expressive freedom.

This is obviously an uncommon and awkward experience for me. In fact, I have understandably never been hugged by her before (not that I have been hugged much in my first life either). While we have been living with each other for some time now, the only time Peach has ever been this expressive is during sparing or fishing. Basically, whenever she is having fun. Well, who could have guessed, it's the quiet one that turned out to be a battle maniac. Not that there is anything better to do for people who spend most of their time camping and running from the Diamond Authority.

Yet why is she all of a sudden being like this? As I looked through my own memories for answers in my head while still being hugged, it finally clicked.

She didn't want to be left alone, while we have yet to find any of the Crystal Gems, and Peach can't go back to the Diamond Authority. If I were to croak, she would be stuck by herself out in the wilds with nowhere to go, and nothing to do. I'm her only friend and based on her previous knowledge, I basically almost just died. I'm an idiot, I had lived for so long with the minimal amounts of social interactions in the past life that I now failed to grasp something so self-evident.

"Hey Peaf?"

"Yes?" She finally let me go.

"Sorry about letting this happen."

"What are you apologizing for? I should be saying sorry for getting so ahead of myself."

"Nah, it's my fault for doing things the dumb way. Got it?" I create an invisible staircase with my power to ruffle her hair with my still healing hand, in hopes to reinforce my statement.

"Ok..." I still see a nervous look on her face.

"Also, don't use this as an excuse to not enjoy sparing, ok. Plus, I'm still pretty tough and getting stronger. No need to worry so much again, I didn't even feel anything back there." While she nods along, her face clearly shows that she doesn't believe me. Also, why do I feel a bit colder? This thought made me look down at my torn-up and bloodied shirt. "Oh crud, I need to make a new shirt. Mind helping me with-"

"I just found the two gem rogues over here!" I hear a Ruby yell out.

"Never mind that idea then," oh yeah, the Diamond Authority believes me to be some weird gem that mimics the form of humans. I fire a couple of laser beams to poof the closer gems. All while Peach hoists me over her shoulders and begins running. The sun is almost gone and the moon is coming out. As I am much slower during the night, we have an unspoken rule to run away whenever we are discovered at such a time.

Yes, that does result in me being princess carried sometimes but we don't talk about that.

Sadly, that spar had left Peach clingier and more protective of me. While she still enjoys training with me, she no longer tries to get into close range, nor is she as aggressive. This has also increased her emotional reliance on me. Maybe, because it's related to Stockholm Syndrome, but she is oddly attached. First things first, I need to find the Crystal Gems. Peach needs social relationships besides just me, as I might not live as long as a gem after all. My chances of being ageless are still just a toss-up right now.


Alex POV still:

Five years after I was summoned onto this planet, I finally encountered some of the Crystal Gems. The legendary Sapphire X Ruby perma-fusion Garnet herself was here, leading a small platoon of gems.

Peach and I just happened to come across them in the middle of some swampy area we were crossing. While we were all wary of each other at first, the star symbol on their bodies was a clear sign of their Rebel status. On the other hand, Garnet herself looked at me with confusion and a bit of fear, yet she told her troops to be at ease as she approached Peach and I.

"A Rose Quartz, one that looks very similar to our leader, and a human. You two seem to be looking for us."

Yeah, we seem to be randomly searching around the whole planet for no reason whatsoever. No shit we were looking for you guys. Doesn't Garnet have future vision? She did help find a lot of their recruits unless... She doesn't want to find us?

"I guess we have been, the names Alexander Sunshine. My pal over here goes by-"

"Rose Quartz."

I quirk an eye at Rose, she doesn't want her nickname to be known? Sure, whatever she wants, "Yeah, she goes by that."

"That's going to be an issue, as our leader goes by the same moniker being a Rose Quartz herself."

Hah, that's some funny shit right there. A Rose Quartz can't call herself Rose because Pink Diamond calls herself Rose.

"Then call me Rogue Rose or Rogue for now."

Ooh, that sounds a bit too edgy for me Peach. Gonna be struggling with that one personally.

"Huh, so you two are the Rogues that the Diamond Authority has been chasing after all this time. Besides, they think you are a gem, Alexander?"

"Yeap."

"How did they reach such an odd conclusion-," Garnet had been interrupted there.

"Um Captain Garnet, the mission?" One of the gems in the back of their lineup calls out. Didn't notice which one.

"Right, this will have to wait. Unless you Rogues wish to help us out. From what I have heard, you guys can put up a fight."

I look at Peach and she shrugs. Well, I gotta help these guys out if I wish to live on an earth filled with life. Plus, they have high-level technology. Something I have been missing a lot.

"Sure, we are down to clown around." Everyone gives me a weird look.

"What's a human going to do? It would only be deadweight Captain Garnet!" I see, what I assume to be a Cherry Quartz, announce. While being similar to pink quartz in coloration, they have some minor geometric and aesthetic differences that you can pick out. Channeling my inner Frieza, I fire a finger beam of light at her, poofing her. Everyone looked at me again, as I held a ball of light in my hand.

Peach facepalms. Too much Deja Vu there, ay?

Garnet must have foreseen this, as she was the only one not surprised. In fact, I had expected her to block my attack. Interesting... Ah crap, the punch line!

"Ooops, I swear I didn't do that on purpose. In fact, I didn't know I could do that at all. Because I'm just a simple human. La de da de da." Some of Garnet's squad were angry, others mostly cautious with a bit fear in their eyes.

"I let that one slide; Cherry Pop is pretty fast at reforming thanks to being a Quartz Soldier. I would still appreciate it if such an incident were not repeated. This goes out to everyone, but especially to you if you wish to aid us, Alex." Garnet gives me a stern look.

"Crystal." Pun intended, but she is right. I need to chill. It's been so long since I have had intelligent contact outside of Peach, I got a little giddy. While Peach is oddly wary of these gems. Though, looking back, her caution makes sense. Ever since she left the Diamond Authority, her interactions with gems have been all negative.

Man, I'm a bit depressed now. I kinda wished I had just left Peach's gem and ran. While she would have been asleep in a bubble for a bunch of years, she would probably have experienced a lot less stress in her life being with the other Rose Quartzes.

I did her real dirty, didn't I?


Narrator:

Garnet had a total of 5 gems with her originally. With the addition of Alex, Peach, and herself, they are now officially a squad of 7 gems and a human. A rather small group for the grand task at hand.

You see, there is a Diamond Authority base that held several of their comrades as prisoners for information. Garnet had no idea how Rose Quartz had obtained such information, but she trusted Rose and knew it must have been difficult info to obtain.

So, while Rose and Pearl held the fort and grabbed the Diamond Authority's attention at another location, Garnet with the help of her future vision would infiltrate the base and rescue their friends.

A task that would be very difficult to accomplish without the help of Pearl, their infiltration expert. Yet that was a part of the point, as with Pearl on the field, their commanders would not expect such an elaborate break-in.

Plus Zirple, a purple Zircon in this squad, is almost as much of a technological wizard as Pearl.

This will do, for Garnet, this had to do, and she will make it work. Well, she would try, but her future vision had shown her only failure.

Yet, in spite of that, she pushed forwards, believing that love and grit would prove her visions a lie. Just like it had countless times before, but then she had come across a peculiar human. One who clouded the future. While it is possible to peer into his immediate actions, whenever she tried to look even one weak into any future involving him, the visions grew a bit hazy and warped. The further she went the worse it got.

He was a dangerous anomaly, but possibly their key to success. Now, after a couple of weeks of stealthy travel, as they approach the base that held the captive Crystal Gems, Garnet can only hope her gamble will pay off.

"Alex will infiltrate with Zirple and I into the base. We will enter from this side entrance that Rose had mentioned during our briefing prior to our departure from HQ. Rogue, Cherry Pop, Milk, Snowflake, and Biggs you guys need to make a distraction. While originally it would have been Zirple and I who would infiltrate the base but Alex's ability to control light will be quite useful against their barriers," Garnet pauses and looks around. No one had questions, though Peach looked excited and worried.

She then continues, "Once we set everyone free, depending on the situation, we will join you guys and either launch an offensive or retreat. Biggs and Cherry Pop, you guys can fuse if need be."

"Heck yeah! Let's rock this place with Carnelian Quartz! Up high!" Biggs, a Jasper Quartz shouts in glee. Cherry responds with a grin as they smack their hands together.

Garnet smiled as well as at the display of camaraderie, "Quiet down you two and make sure Carnelian doesn't become too unhinged. Biggs's natural desire to uplift and motivate everyone with Cherry Pop's feverish enthusiasm can be a bit uncontrollable when put together."

"Roger!"

Peach, for this whole moment look, unnerved as she had never heard of cross-gem fusion. Hell, she has yet to even experience same-gem fusion. Banned from ever doing such a thing by the Diamond Authority. Yet, she was also very curious to witness the result of such a thing. She was, after all, a rogue gem now. So as Alex would say, "Fuck the D.A. and their rules!" After having such a thought, and then while thinking that Alex had ruined her language, Peach had her shoulders tapped on by the very man in question.

"Good luck, Pe-Rose."

"Yes, take care, Alex." After their temporary goodbyes, the two split up for their respective tasks.

"So, what's the story behind you two? Was Rogue Rose a runaway gem that you happen to rescue?" Zirple had asked as the three infiltrators made their way over to the side entrance. Garnet's own interest peaked so she listened in as well.

"Naw, our introduction to each other was more along the lines of her trying to kill me, and then me threatening her for information," Alex replied truthfully. He didn't really see the need to lie there.

"Yikes, but you guys are friends now. Right?"

"Probably, she has yet to chop off my head whenever I occasionally sleep."

"You have an odd sense of humor sir," Zirple's finished right as the group arrived at their destination. A door meant to be used as an emergency exit.

"Zirp, enough chit-chatting, the others will start their offensive in around 15 seconds. I need you to crack open this door and hide as many traces of your break-in as you can within the next two minutes."

"On it, I'll try and be done in one!" Zirple answered as she placed a hand on a panel near the door. While she got close, it still took her about 15 seconds longer than a minute. Either way, it was still more than enough for Garnet.

"Good work, now let us grab our friends." Garnet led the way as they all entered the enemy base, alarms already blaring. Yelling to confront the intruders at the front of their base. Alex got a good look and was reminded of how alien these gem-based life forms were. While there was a bit of a clear obsession with the color white, the color blue, yellow, and pink were almost as prevalent. Everything was symmetrical and methodical, from the occasional murals to the space between every new hallway.

The geometry and architecture, to even their choice of decorations (the few that were there), all of it was so different from the way humans tend to make. It was honestly fascinating. For the first time in a while, Alex was inspired to learn. Especially on how the gems made all of this, so he can make his own home. Though he had gotten used to living in nature, Alex was not much of a tree hugger. Garnet then starts to run, which was emulated by Zirple and Alex. Only for them all to eventually stop in infront of a group of holding cells. The entrance of these cells are blocked off by powerful looking beams of clear light, only three of which are occupied.

"Garnet, you're here! Told ya, Rose will send someone for us soon Prasio! Now Onyx and I can rub it in your face for the next couple of years, right Onyx?" Spoke a short grey flint-based gem. While odd-looking, flint is a type of quartz stone.

"Ha, count me in Sparks, though you didn't even need to have asked!" The 6ft tall Onyx replies, her glossy black hair shaking with her laughter. Her tall and slim frame spoke of grace and elegance. Yet her actions and voice were bold and joyful.

"Shut it Sparks! I knew they would come, but I just thought it would take more time! Please get me out Garnet, I've been stuck dealing with these two long enough!" Begged the pale green gem quartz, a prasiolite. Often called the lime green amethyst as they are very similar gems.

"Good to know you all are still ok. Alex, please get them out. While I could get them out, these Barrier Beams are quite the hassle."

"Barrier Beams?" Alex goes up to the closest cell, which holds the Onyx. Said Onyx gives Alex an odd look, which shifts to a look of shock when she see's Alex control all the straight, parallel, and perpendicular beams of light to curve and move towards the top right of the cell entrance. This left enough room for the gem to walk through the bottom right corner of the cell entrance.

"Yes, hard beams of thin light which have an extremely high amount of durability, also capable of reflecting 80% of any physical force applied to it that is underneath a certain thresh hold."

"What? That sounds amazing!" Alex collects as much of the hard light beams he can into a ball as he releases the other two. "How can you even go through this?"

"While very durable, it still takes some small amount of damage even when it reflects an attack, which can build up. Also, it can be harmed by very rapid changes in temperature, which it can't reflect. Plus, if the trio had their shape-shifting up to snuff, then they could have shrunk down to the point where they could have just crawled through one of the gaps."

"Huh, neat." Alex then took a large bit of the ball of light that he had just made. This light was much harder to chew through for Alex, as though it was a piece of hard candy. The taste was like a mild vanilla flavor. To Alex, Peach's shieldsword had tasted better. Though when eating his replicated version of the sword, it felt and tasted like nothing. Was it because it was a weapon he created? His powers were just a bit weird sometimes.

"You can eat that stuff? What a weird human. Pearls definitely going to want to know how you work, and Rose would flip," mumbled the now free Sparks. Sparks is actually the first gem Alex has met that is shorter than him, as she stood at a height of 5ft.

"If this "Pearl" ever comes near me with some wacky test out of nowhere. I'm going to blast her to next week. Which can happen knowing how long it can take some of you reform." Alex spoke out, he did not appreciate the idea of being a non-consensual scientific test subject. Despite loving science in the past, and being a part of experiments before (for cash), he cared a lo about the choice of involvement only after knowing the risks.

"Ha, I would like to see you try that flesh bag!" Sparks snarked in the defense of one of her leaders.

"What did you call me, shorty?!"

"Oh, look at you barely taller than me. Woopty doo. Still shorter than every other gem in this room."

"Still taller than you, and that's all that matters."

"You crusty piece of coa-,"

"We need to leave now!" Garnet cut in, "the others are in trouble!" After which she bolted. Everyone's focus spiked through the roof as they all followed after. When they reached the battle area, they could see Biggs and Cherry Pop on the ground separated and heavenly damaged, nearly to the point of poofing. While Snowflake's obsidian gemstone could be seen on the ground farther away. Milk, a white calcite gem with orange hair, wielded daggers like pistols and shot orange lasers at the enemy in support of Peach. The pink quartz in question was using her barely superior speed to dodge and weave while keeping the enemy occupied.

Now, what is the enemy that has left the battlefield devastated? A same-gem fusion of four Jaspers. The fusion's weapon being a full set of armor that covered it's body.

"So, how does it feel to have your very trump card used against you. Let's see how long you can run around for Rebels!" The massive 40ft tall Jasper yells out while having a very familiar grin as it tears up the ground by smashing down. "While you may not be the Rose Quartz, let's see if you are any good as a practice dummy for the real thing!"

Peach this whole time only reciprocates the grin, as she throws her sword at full force. Sending it out at Mach 3, only for it to shatter against the armor of the fusion, "bring it on!"


A/N:

This chapter was going to be longer, but I really wanted to post and show that I am working on it. In fact, even after the split, this chapter probably is one of the longest I have ever posted. I typically post 2K to 3K chaps. Yet I am so invested in this S.U. story that the first two chapters posted already reach 9k plus in word count.

Heads up, I do plan to get to the main timeline of the series at some point, so I'm going to skim large bits of time. Especially going to try and speed through the 5000 years between the end of the first war and Steven's birth. Also, Alex used to be a massive fan of the show when he was younger but lost interest as he grew up, so you won't really see him fangirling as they say.

So, how were the POV bits? I liked writing them, but they might not be liked by you readers. I'm still messing around with how I'm going to tell this story, but I'm thinking that a mix of POV and a Third-Person Narration works well for now.