(Steven's prospective)

Steven focused on Beach City and reaching Connie as he tried to fall asleep that night. Finding sleep was difficult in a strange place with strange people, so Steven counted his breathing. Inhale. 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold. 1, 2, 3, 4. Exhale. 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold. 1, 2, 3, 4.

This helped, and soon Steven was sleeping, but he wasn't in Beach City. He was back at the lake he had dreamt up once before. He wandered along the shore before sitting down. Steven felt a chill run down his spine, like someone was scratching their nails on a chalkboard.

"Hey kid!" A strangely familiar voice rang out. Before his eyes Bill appeared, fixing his bowtie casually. Steven formed his shield and stared at the triangle figure before him.

"I'd like to apologise." Bill cleared his throat, "I acted rashly last time I saw you."

"Just a little." Steven's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Look, Universe" Bill waved his hand casually, "I had just woken up after I thought I was dead. You know the feeling I'm sure." Steven flinched but felt pity for the triangle.

"Yeah. I understand…"

"Great! I hope we can talk again soon, but I should let you sleep." Bill started to turn.

"Wait!" Steven was filled with curiosity "What do you know about gems?"

"I know a lot of things, like I said before. However, I'm not going to hand out my knowledge without a price."

"Alright, nevermind then." Steven said as Bill turned away and disappeared. Strange. I wonder if he was talking about charging money? It's nice that he apologized. Steven closed his eyes and tried to reach Beach City again. It felt like he was on a roller coaster going straight down and he clenched his fists. When Steven opened his eyes he glanced around. He was outside the beach house. He walked up the familiar worn steps. It was late, but he could hear voices inside. Steven walked through the door into the living room. His dad and the gems were standing around, worried looks on all of their faces.

"Where's Garnet tonight?" Greg asked wearily. His eyes were red with dark circles underneath. It looked like he hadn't slept in days.

"Garnet is upset that she can't see Steven, so she's trying to meditate and see if that will help." Pearl paced the floor. Amethyst was sitting on the couch, her legs drawn close to her chest. Her hair covered her face.

"Why don't we just go to Oregon to see if he's ok?" Amethyst mumbled.

"We went over this!" Pearl huffed, "Oregon is a big state, and there's no use causing a scene."

"And Connie said that he's safe." Greg added. Steven stepped towards Amethyst. He felt guilty for making them so miserable. He reached out and placed his hand on Amethyst's knuckles. Amethyst raised her head and looked down at her hand, she held it out, her palm facing up. Steven held her hand and Amethyst's eyes filled with wonder.

Steven walked towards his dad and placed his hand on his dad's shoulder. Greg jumped, startled and looked around. Lasty, Steven stood by Pearl who was still frantically pacing. He quickly grabbed both of her hands. Pearl let out a sharp gasp and looked at the others in the room. They all shared the same shocked expression. Steven wanted to stay, but he wanted to see Connie even more.

Steven closed his eyes and made his way to Connie's house. He walked through the front door. Dr and Mr Maheswaran were talking to each other in hushed voices.

"I'm worried about that Universe boy. No one has heard from him in almost a week." Dr Maheswaran took a sip of her tea.

"I don't know how Connie is handling it though." Mr Maheswaran added "She's been acting strange… Perhaps we should try to help his family figure this out."

"If we get more involved…" Dr Maheswaran's voice trembled slightly "We must stay hopeful, but we might not be thrilled with the outcome of the search…" Steven had heard enough and went upstairs. Connie must not have told them I talked to her. When he got to Connie's door he reached a problem. He didn't want to barge, but he wasn't sure if he could knock on the door.

He concentrated on his knuckles and softly knocked on the door. It took a lot of power and he wasn't sure if it worked. He opened one eye and heard footsteps approaching the door. The door swung open.

"Yes?" Connie looked around, confused. Steven reached out and touched her hand resting on the doorknob. She flinched and drew in a quick breath.

"Steven?" He gently reached out and squeezed her left hand. Yes! A smile spread across her face. "Come in, if I talk to you in the hall my parents will think I'm crazy." Connie shut the door behind herself. She sat down on the fluffy carpet and held her hands out again.

"Are you still safe?" Yes. Steven hesitated and thought to himself, I think so… I wish I could tell her about Bill. Why can't I just talk to her? Oh! Maybe I could write! Steven squeezed both of her hands and helped her stand up. He held her hand and walked over to the desk by the window.

"Are you trying to write? Can you do that?" Connie asked hopefully. Yes. She took out a pencil and a blank piece of paper. Steven thought hard about lifting the pencil. He triumphed and began to write. "Can't hold long, ask questions." Steven set down the pencil. It felt incredibly heavy.

"Ok, are you still hurt?" Her voice was edged with worry.

"No, powers are working." Steven wrote. His letters were wonky from holding the Pencil that was so heavy.

"Have you found a phone to use yet?"

"Yes, but all I get is static." The pencil was getting too heavy. He felt himself slipping into a deeper sleep because he was exhausted. "I have to go, tired. Love you." Steven could barely form the last words on the paper before he plunged into a deep sleep. A sleep that he could truly rest in.

When he woke up the sky was a bright pink color and the sun was barely rising. Steven put on a clean question mark t-shirt and stepped out of the room. He didn't hear any noise so he assumed that he was the first to awake. He was proven wrong when he walked into the gift shop and Ford seemingly walked in from nowhere.

"Ah! Universe!" Ford's voice was chipper and very much awake, "Would you mind if I asked you a few questions about yesterday?"

"Sure, Mr. Pines." Steven said awkwardly. He felt more comfortable around Stan, Ford was too… He didn't know why. Ford turned to the vending machine and typed in a code. Why would he get food there? He lives here. To Steven's surprise, the machine opened like a door and Ford walked in calmly.
"Come along." Steven followed Ford into some sort of creepy lab. It made his stomach churn and he felt sick. "I want to monitor your heart rate. You've been in two very stressful situations in the last week. With the car wreck and the Gremloblin, so I want to make sure your heart is steady."

"Thanks?" Steven was confused, but let Ford put a heart rate monitor on his car that hooked up to a very old computer.

"Now, you didn't run when the others did yesterday. Correct?"

"Yessir."

"Do you know why that is?"

"Most creatures won't attack unless provoked."

"Interesting." Ford was watching Steven's heart rate "Your heart rate was steady for the most part. No dramatic changes." Ford tightened the bracelet on Steven's wrist. "Now, you almost hit a Gremloblin. Correct?"

"I think that must be what that thing was." Steven responded.

"Did you crash when you looked into its eyes?" Ford turned his head towards the screen as Steven's heart rate jumped. "So did you see something you are afraid of happening to you or a loved one?"

"No sir. Just a bad memory." Steven replied and his voice quieted.