Steven Universe Fanfiction
My Pearl
Chapter 16: A Plan
"I honestly don't know what I was expecting but it was definitely something…more, I guess?" Edward wonders as he surveys the beach.
"Don't wish for something you might regret later," Patricia chides lightly, kneeling on the sand as she rubs the shining viscous goopy remains between her fingers.
"So?"
"So?"
"What was it?"
"I honestly couldn't tell you. It certainly seems like technology from Homeworld but it's nothing I've ever seen before," Patricia admits, huffing through her nose.
"Then we have a problem," Edward grumbles.
"Everyone alright?" Garnet's voice comes from somewhere above.
The couple turn to see the Crystal Gems just landing nearby with weapons at the ready. However, one look at the pieces of the orb construct and the gooey substance that was formerly inside now strewn about the beach deems them unnecessary and they phase their weapons away; Amethyst whistles at the remains.
"Dang, what happened here?"
"Hey, wait for us!" Steven calls out, huffing as he reaches everyone else with Connie right by his side.
"Hello, Mr. Feng. Hello, Mrs. Feng," Connie greets them with a bow.
"And hello to you too," Patricia curtsies back, "Not that it isn't nice to see you again but what are you doing here?"
"I was just showing Steven a new book series when we heard the crash, are you two alright?" Connie asks as she eyes the wreckage herself with some concern.
"Fine fine, everything's fine. Well, except for our sitting log," Edward says as he waves nonchalantly at a few bits of wood, "Going to miss that thing; anyways, it was just some weird…I don't know, I want to say robot but I don't see any wires or electricity of any kind but it was some sort of floating orb with stumpy feet."
"Peridot's machines," Pearl fills in.
"Who and what?" He deadpans.
"Some time ago, Steven saw something travelling between warp pads. At the time, we…regrettably…waved it off as part of Steven's sickly hallucinations…"
"It was allergies," Steven chimes in.
"…and because no one was able to use the warp pads but us. However, it turned out to be one of many going around and fixing any and all broken warp pads on Earth. That's when Peridot warped in to the Galaxy Warp from Homeworld…"
"From Homeworld!? You mean they…!?" Patricia panics.
"Don't worry, we destroyed it again," Garnet says in a placating tone.
"That doesn't mean a damn thing if they can just send a drone to fix it and warp back in!" Edward snaps, "Why is this Peridot even here anyway!? I thought the rebellion was won and all that!?"
"We did win, thank you very much!" Pearl retorts, her eyes flickering toward Steven very briefly, "But as to why Peridot is here, we…we don't know…"
"Hey, relax," Amethyst interrupts, idly kicking a shard down the beach, "You and P-Squared destroyed it pretty easily so it can't be that bad. 'Sides, how many of these can she send?"
As the days went by, it turned out that Peridot could send plenty and as a daily occurrence, much to everyone's growing aggravation and exasperation. One landed on the beach near the temple, one on Mask Island, one in the desert that had the Desert Glass, anywhere that had a warp pad nearby was a target it seemed. The latest orb had landed once more on the beach near the tea shop but…
"This is getting out of hand. We'll be at this forever unless we can stop Peridot somehow," Patricia comments tiredly, half of her skirt covered in goop, "I know we discussed this but what are these machines trying to do?"
"Still no idea," Garnet answers as she and the rest of the goop-covered group trundle into the teashop as well.
"This is going to be terrible for business…hold on one second," Edward grumbles as he disappears into the kitchen temporarily. He is quick to return with table cloths which he lays over the chairs.
"Oh, sorry," Steven apologizes as he eyes the footprints of goo leading into the teashop.
"Don't worry about it. Only one who should be worrying is Amethyst and uh…," Edward starts to say, eyeing the completely goo-covered gem as she drips and mushes about.
"What? I thought it would be fun and I was curious. Besides, goop hug!" the purple gem exclaims as she splats herself against Pearl, much to her chagrin.
"…eh, never mind, I'll just get some towels for everyone," Edward finishes as he disappears into the kitchen, leaving the gems and half-gem in the room.
"Honestly, I'm surprised yet relieved that Peridot hasn't come down to Earth herself after all the machines we've destroyed," Pearl sighs.
"Whatever she's trying to do here must not be important enough to do it herself. She didn't think much of the Earth if her brief time at the Galaxy Warp was any indicator," Garnet muses as she leans back in her chair, arms crossed, "Even if she does eventually suspect something enough to come down herself, we'll just have to act accordingly."
"Hey, you're getting pretty deep over there, P-Squared. Any ideas?" Amethyst asks.
"There is one…but I'm not sure," Patricia says, her brows furrowing.
"Anything could help at this point," Garnet points out.
"Back during the rebellion, I remember meeting a Peridot at the Prime Kindergarten. During an attack where we bunkered ourselves in the control room, she mentioned in one of her reports something about experiments and a weapon," Patricia recalls, "She said that they would take thousands of years to reach maturity and the timing of her return is perfect, if anything. Wait, where was her gem located?"
"Her forehead."
"Oh, a different Peridot then…"
"Which isn't necessarily a bad thing," Pearl interjects, "I mean, if it were the same Peridot from all those years ago, she would've just gone straight to the Kindergarten herself, gotten everything she wanted and/or needed and then got out. This Peridot doesn't have that same knowledge and has to resort to randomly shooting them at Earth and hoping they reach their destination."
The door to the kitchen opens with Edward walking in with a stack of damp, steaming towels. Kindly, he hands one to each of them gems and Steven whom take it gratefully as they vigorously scrub away at the goo, turning pristine white to sparkling cyan. Amethyst is the only exception as she lays the towel on the ground before morphing into a ball spinning rapidly in place.
"Ahhh, nice and clean," Amethyst sighs as she lays on the ground next to the towel.
"Lying on the ground kind of defeats the purpose of toweling off, don't it?" Edward quips as he sits next to his wife.
"Clean on clean so it should be no problem, right?" Amethyst answers back with a grin.
"I suppose not," Edward chuckles, "So, what did I miss?"
"Got a possible place for Peridot's little guys coming down but no idea why," the purple gem shrugs, "I mean, it's not like they can tell us, right?"
"Can't they?" Steven asks, "I mean, maybe not tell us but couldn't they lead us to where they were going so we would know?"
A pause.
"Steven, I don't think that's such a good idea. Who knows what would happen once they reach wherever it is they are going. We can't risk it," Pearl cautions.
"So what? We're all just going to chase after every robot, destroying them whenever they come to Earth forever?" Edward rebukes, "Well, in your cases, forever. I've got a good forty, maybe fifty years before I bite the dust."
"Well…we could…," Garnet begins, "…But I don't want to. And it's seventy."
"Future vision?"
"Yup."
"…Nice."
"I don't know," Pearl laments.
"Aw, come on!" Steven cheers as he stands up and begins waving his arms, "Let's follow the funky flow~!"
"Funky flow?" Patricia asks.
"Must be some new wave zen thing," Edward comments as he takes another sip.
"It's a Steven thing," Amethyst shrugs.
"We're really going through with this?" Pearl asks.
"Only plan we got," Garnet answers.
"I suppose…," Pearl worries.
"Can Mr. and Mrs. Feng come on this mission too?!" Steven gasps out, stars shining in his eyes.
"Only if they want to," Garnet chuckles.
"I feel like we're some sort of pet being asked to be presented at Show and Tell or something," Edward says, lazily sulking into the crook of Patricia's neck.
"Well, we don't regularly participate in their missions," Patricia chuckles as she lightly strokes Edward's cheek, "Besides, we do have our own obligations after all. Speaking of, I'm sorry, Steven but I think I'll have to stay behind on this one. We can't afford to leave the shop unattended too many times after all."
"Awww," Steven deflates.
"Bu~t…I'm sure Edward wouldn't mind spending more time with you and getting to know how these missions are done while I mind the shop."
"Wait what?" Edward snaps up.
"Really?!" Steven cheers, "Yes! Two out of three!"
"Huh?"
"I'll explain later," Patricia answers.
"Wait no…well, yes, I'd like an explanation about what Steven meant about whatever he meant but I'd like one now about you being alone in the shop while I do whatever it is they do on these things," Edward says as his arms gesture wildly, "I know you're capable of a lot more than I am but I don't think you can be taking orders and making tea at the same time, especially when the rush comes in and…"
"Relax, honey," Patricia gently interrupts with a single pale finger on Edward's lips.
Once she is sure that he is relaxed, she stands and takes a few steps away. She closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath in, holding it, and then letting it out slowly. Her gem starts to glow as it builds in intensity. Eventually a large beam projects out of her gem, forming three near-perfect copies of Patricia. A soft chop of her hand separates the projection from her gem, leaving the holo-Patricia's standing on their own.
"WELCOME TO TEA DREAMS. HOW MAY WE SERVE YOU?" the ersatz Patricia's jarringly ask in unison, jerking into a bow at a perfect ninety-degree angle with an arm held out in a frozen welcoming gesture. Their heads tilted straight up to look at an imaginary customer with blank eyes and grim lines of a mouth.
"Oh my, I was hoping they wouldn't sound so…stilted," Patricia laments, "But it's just a stopgap for now. I'll refine it at a later point so it's more natural. Steven, is something wrong?"
"Huh?" Steve starts, just now realizing that he has surrounded himself within his signature bubble, "Oh, sorry sorry, just…reflex."
With a wave of his hand, the bubble dissipates but he is still apprehensive, staring into blank hologram eyes. Noticing his discomfort, Patricia dispels them into glittering dust as she sits back down next to her equally disturbed husband.
"I know, I know, that was horribly terrifying and the customers will most likely be very wary but at least trust me in that they will have minimal contact with the customers as they work in the kitchen," she sighs as she takes a small sip of her tea.
"What? No no, it's fine. I didn't mean…what I meant to say…," he fumbles as he takes up his wife's hands in his own, "…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to belittle your efforts. I imagine it takes a lot of work to just be able to make one of those and have them act independently. I just…I don't know, I just don't feel it's right for me to leave you alone with our work."
"That's very sweet of you but I assure you that everything will be fine," Patricia replies, gently gripping back as their eyes meet.
A considerably not subtle whoop breaks the moment, the couple remembering that they had an audience whom are either grinning madly or smugly at them. Their embarrassment reaches their peak when they notice that over grinning Steven's eyes Pearl's fingers are protectively folded over them; her disapproving frown the exception.
"Right…" Edward coughs, "The uh, Peridot situation?"
That night, Edward stares at the ceiling. His eyes move along the grain as if they hold some profound answer to a mystery of life that he really doesn't care about but searches for anyway because it's something to do, something to distract him. He should be asleep. He's lying down comfortably, Patricia half on and off him with his arm wrapped around her waist as her rhythmic breathing ghosts over his chest.
Grilling the Crystal Gems and even Patricia doesn't yield much results to who or what Peridot is doing here. If anything, just the bare basics on what the Homeworld gem looks like and possible motives. Supposing that she was indeed a researched checking up on something, would the gem simply leave it at that or would there be more? Would they really allow the gem to leave with a weapon for Homeworld? Is she really just a researcher or is there perhaps more to the gem? And just what are these experiments?
Edward feels Patricia sleepily shift, feeling the soft pleasure of her lips that start from his chest and languidly kiss their way to the crook of his neck. He hugs her just a bit tighter, focusing on her everything. With a kiss to her forehead, he eventually falls asleep himself. But the worry is still there.
Author's Note:
If I'm reading that update notice correctly, it's been not quite but almost a year since I updated. Not going to lie, I was surprised when I was seeing favorites and follows in my fiction/writing email. Then again, maybe they've moved on because these sort of hiatuses can be deal breakers and frankly, I wouldn't blame anyone and I completely understand. That being said, I apologize for the sudden hiatus. The only thing I can offer as an excuse is my madness I call depression. I've been slowly getting back into writing to the point that I write normally, even if I do tend to zone out after staring at the same sentence for next to half an hour and then wake up an hour later wondering where I am. It is my hope that I can update on the regular, at least once or twice a month, and that this won't happen again. Still, I sincerely apologize.
As for future plans, I've received reviews and PM'ed with some of you about my concerns about the filler/background chapters and thought I should at least state there is at least 2 more planned (at most possibly 3 or 4 and that should be it, this I swear). For sure, I can state that another one is in the works and it is not the next chapter but the one after. I have gotten responses saying they don't mind and they enjoy them so I hope I can continue that trend at least.
Finally, thank you for taking the time to read this story, your reviews, your favorites, and your follows. It really does me good to know that you all enjoy it and hopefully, I can repay that by continuing and eventually finishing this story. See you all next chapter and be well.
