Thank you for reading! This will be shorter than I had planned but I had to separate it from a former chapter for the sake of building the story.
Fantasia
Sadie Miller usually didn't remember her dreams.
She was scrubbing the floor of the Big Doughnut, only now the floor seemed miles longer than it normally was. In fact, she was already out of breath by the time she made her way from the counter to the door.
"Cinderella!" barked one of her stepsisters, strutting across the floor, her mud and sand caked high-tops leaving a trail, smudging footprints across the tiles.
She cringed, scrambling to her feet, her scrubbing brush still tight in her grasp.
"Yes? What is it?"
"Have you pressed my dress for the ball tonight?"
Sadie honestly couldn't remember having even been asked to do that and as she racked her brain for the answer to this question, she noticed that her stepsister looked an awful lot more like a stepbrother.
From her spiked, reddish, brown hairstyle to her perfectly gapped ears, it wasn't that her attributes were particularly masculine- she just really reminded Sadie of someone whom she knew.
Before she had a chance to answer her first stepsister, her second stepsister stormed into the dining area, her spectacles sliding down her nose with each step.
"What have I told you about borrowing my games?! Or my mascara?!" she shrieked, also possessing quite a familiar countenance. "You need to stay out of my private quarters!"
"I haven't been in your "private quarters"," stepsister number one sneered. "And do you have to stand so close to me! You clearly haven't showered today and I don't want to smell like sneeple during the ball tonight!"
With that sudden reminder, Sadie instantly found herself asking: "Can I go to the ball tonight too? King Dewey said that anyone in the kingdom is eligible to go."
Her two stepsisters paused in their bickering for a moment, looked down at their dishevelled dishmaid, (who felt a lot smaller than usual), and in perfect unison, burst out into peals of cruel laughter.
"Oh, Cinderella. Somehow I don't think his royal highness would want anyone like you present at the ball."
"Yeah, no servants covered in grease and chocolate stains! Heh, heh, heh…and what'll the royals think if he gets a load'a her? What's she gonna wear? A coffee filter?!"
"I doubt she can even dance!"
"She'd need someone to hold her mop for her…"
Sadie blinked embarrassed, angry tears from her eyes as she watched her two sisters put on their best gowns, (something about that image was reticently hilarious but at the time, she had no idea why), and head off to the ball.
She sighed, sitting up on the counter and staring out at the beachfront as night started to fall. "Well, it is just a royal ball. Maybe it'll be really boring. And stupid." She looked down at her hands, slumping her shoulders. "And awesome…"
Suddenly a bright, pink light engulfed the room and in an inexplicable shower of rose-petals, a small figure appeared in the room.
A small familiar figure.
"Steven?!"
Steven Universe emerged from the vortex of peony and powder-pink, clad in what appeared to be a white, frilly dress.
If anything, Sadie was more shocked by his magical entrance, rather than his appearance- because as always, Steven looked far more elegant in such a gown than most people she knew.
Looking up at her with glowing eyes, dream-Steven's voice made her just as happy as real-Steven's voice.
"Hey Sadie! Why're you here all alone? You deserve to go to the ball just as much as anyone else!"
She couldn't quite hear her own voice as she spoke, but all the same, she knew what she was saying. "I can't go. I don't have anything to wear."
"Sure you do!" Steven said with a grin, gesturing to Sadie's grubby, Big Doughnut uniform.
"You can wear this!" When the young woman looked down, she was highly confused to behold the fact that her purple polo and grey trousers had turned to something entirely different. Specifically, the sparkling teal number that her mother and the, (rather glittery), boy in front of her had tried to get her to wear during her debut performance at the Beach City talent show.
For some reason, despite her past misgivings, this idea instantly enthralled Sadie and all she could find herself doing was twirling around and admiring the aqua tinted sequins as they sparkled.
"Thank you, Steven!"
"No prob, Bob! You can go to the ball now…but remember, you've gotta be home before midnight!"
"Midnight? What?"
But when Sadie looked up, Steven was gone.
The entire Big Doughnut was gone.
Now she was walking outside- walking to the beach, along the boardwalk.
"You excited for the big ball, Sadie? I'm glad you decided to show up!"
The blonde woman jumped in surprise, noticing that Jenny Pizza was now walking at her right side, dressed in very elegant, silky, red ball-gown.
"Uh…yeah. I'm glad I could go too."
"Nice outfit! The colour really suits you!"
Kiki Pizza was now at her left hand side, similarly decked out to the absolute nines in a shimmering dress of golden lace.
Both looked almost absurdly glamorous for a beach-side barbecue with some music.
"Thanks Kiki. Wow, you both look great. I didn't think so many people would take the whole "ball" thing so seriously."
In fact, all of the Beach City residents that they passed seemed to have decided to swap their usual aprons and jeans for the most embellished of formal attire.
Most seemed to sporting some form of large piece of sumptuous costume jewellery, gleaming beneath the moon's resplendent glow.
"Well, we all want to look our best," Jenny reminded her. "After all, this is the night we might get to meet King Diamond."
"King Diamond?" Sadie repeated, a second wave of confusion washing over her. "I thought our King's name was King Dewey?"
"That's what she said," Kiki said with a slight laugh. "King Blue Diamond. I'd love to meet her, wouldn't you?"
"I wonder if she'll dance," the first of the Pizza twins commented wistfully. "Maybe she'll ask someone to dance with her! That would be so cool!"
Sadie couldn't help but notice that Jenny was starting to look a little purple.
At first she thought it might just be her excitement but as they neared the beach, it became increasingly clear that Jenny Pizza's skin had actually turned to a rich shade of lavender.
"Queen Blue Diamond would never do something so frivolous! We'll be lucky to simply have her watch us dance!"
Kiki's voice sounded a little odd, all of a sudden.
Her skin suddenly looked very green and her hair looked very yellow.
Both of the Pizza twins also seemed to have lost about a foot and a half of height.
Not that this appeared odd when they reached the actual beach itself, (which looked far fancier than she would have expected for a standard Valentine's dance), considering that most of Beach City's residents seemed to have swapped out their original skin tone for a more vibrant hue and gained/lost at least a quarter of their original height.
In fact, after just a few moments of wandering across the strand-turned-dancefloor, Sadie could no longer recognise anyone who looked as if they came from Beach City.
"Uh, Kiki? Jenny?"
She looked around but her two walking companions appeared to have vanished completely. Try as she might, Sadie could not pick their faces out in the gathering crowds.
They had left her, standing solitary and sentinel, in the middle of the beach's makeshift ballroom.
In fact, with everyone standing around in little brightly-coloured, gaudy, gilded clusters, whispering and laughing, Sadie suddenly felt terribly lonely.
Not to mention self-conscious, considering that her own little aqua two-piece felt awfully understated in comparison to the eleganza that surrounded her.
Out of nowhere, a swell of classical music permeated the night air and couples began to take their places for the first waltz.
It was a little formal for Sour Cream's usual sets but maybe this was some kind of weird new trend?
"You know what? To heck with this dumb ball," Sadie told herself, starting to feel more uncomfortable than ever. "I'll have more fun sitting at home and watching movies. Plus, I'd better get back before my stepsisters catch me…"
She turned to walk away for the glittering hoardes, only to feel a hand suddenly take hers.
"No. Please. Do not go."
"Hey! Who do you th-?"
Sadie was just about to yank her hand from the stranger's grip but when she whipped her head around to confront them, her entire body seemed to turn to stone.
Standing behind her, having gently released her hand was a mesmerising stranger, dressed in a suit of silvery hues and emblazoned with an intricate green pattern.
Long argent hair and a high collar served to partially conceal the stranger's face.
"I am truly sorry to startle you but I have been trying to work up the courage to speak to you since you arrived."
A mounting chorus of whispers echoed around them, conversations starting to still beneath the music.
"Uh-huh…? Do I know you from somewhere?"
The stranger smiled, shaking her head. "I am certain that if we had met before, I would certainly remember your face. What is your name?"
"Sadie. Sadie Miller."
Long, ardent hair parted like a veil to reveal a delicately hooked nose and as the stranger bent forward in a formal bow. She took Sadie's hand and lips softly brushed over her knuckles.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Will you do me the honour of joining me for a dance?"
The whispers around them became louder, a low hum of interest and confusion starting to run around the room.
Sadie couldn't remember explicitly agreeing to the stranger's request but the next thing she knew, she and the stranger were in the centre of the dancefloor, gliding in circles in time with the music.
Normally, she would have felt intensely paranoid dancing in front of so many people but the stranger's smile put her at her ease. It wasn't long before it felt like she and the stranger were the only two people on the beach despite the glittering crowds that surrounded them.
The feeling that ran through her was warm and soothing.
Yet oddly familiar.
"Are you sure we've never met?" Sadie asked her dance partner.
"I don't really get to leave the palace very much," the stranger told her.
"The palace? Oh, you work for Queen Blue Diamond?"
"You could say that."
"That must be kinda cool, though I can relate…I don't really get out much either."
The stranger gingerly guided her into a careful spin, drawing her back into the dance with ease. "It is nice to meet a kindred spirit."
"Wow, you must be a really big deal. Everyone here is staring at you," Sadie noted, a slight tremble entering her voice as her eyes travelled around the crowded strand.
Fingers delicately took her chin, very softly coercing her to look back to the stranger's face.
"I am inclined to believe that they are all looking at you."
Sadie felt an immediate warmth rising inside of her, her trembling ceasing as her face tilted upward to further study the handsome stranger's face.
Before she could say another word, she heard a clock in the distance chiming, heralding midnight's imminent approach.
Clang.
"I…I have to go now…"
Clang.
"So soon? I am sorry if I have offended you," the stranger said bashfully, immediately taking a step back.
Clang.
"No, no! Not at all! I just…need to get home…"
The distant clock sounded different now.
Buzz.
"…see, I need sleep…"
The clock almost sounded like her phone.
Buzz.
"And my shift starts in like, one hour."
Or more specifically, her morning alarm.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
Normally, Sadie didn't remember her dreams.
This one, however, lingered vividly in the corners of her mind, long after the monotonous of her phone's alarm woke her from her slumber.
Her eyes opened, blinking groggily with surprise when the blurry image of Kimberlite's smiling face shifted into view.
"G-Good morning," she stammered, swallowing back a rather shy yawn at the realisation that she had drifted off to sleep beside the gem and most definitely slept beside her for the entire night.
"Good morning," Kimberlite echoed, sitting up with noteworthy excitement and reaching over to Sadie's bedside table.
The gem handed her an ordinary drinking glass that appeared to be filled with some kind of murky, brown liquid. "Here. I pardon my imposition but I took the liberty of making you this for when you regained consciousness."
The scent of the liquid hit Sadie like a freight train but it took her a few minutes to realise that she was holding a glass of coffee.
Kimberlite had clearly tried to make her the drink, having poured far too much of the instant stuff into a glass and filled the remainder with tap-water.
And if Sadie's eyes weren't fooling her, a few spoonfuls of poorly mixed-in sugar for good measure.
"I couldn't make it hot," Kimberlite told her quite balefully, lowering her gaze. "I tried everything but it just wouldn't work. I'm sorry if your coffee is subsequently substandard."
The barest hint of forest green appeared across the mottled grey surface of her house guest's cheeks, chin and forehead and a ripple of joy through Sadie's stomach when she realised that Kimberlite was blushing.
A slow smile spread across Sadie's lips and, (bracing her taste buds), she took a gulp of the mixture. She bit back a shudder as she put the glass aside. "Th-thanks, Kim! It tastes great!"
The following look of pure glee that burst across Kimberlite's face made the unpleasant taste incredibly bearable.
And also confirmed the identity of the prince(ss?) in her dream.
Sadie might have taken a little more time to think about the implications of this, had she not immediately realised that her mother was standing at the top of the stairs to her room.
Staring down at them.
Both of them.
Her daughter and the other occupant of her bed.
Thank you again for reading!