They walked through the grassy field that outstretched for miles on end, putting a hand on his forehead to keep the sun out of his eyes, he tried to see far into the distance of any sign of life. There wasn't anything, but the green grass of the field, he was getting tired of this. "Garnet," he whined and grabbed her wrist like a toddler would trying to get their mother's attention. She pulled him along not fazed at all, to the point of where he slipped and was getting dragged by his knees. The fabric on his jeans that covered his knees ripped, but honestly at that moment he didn't care. He just wanted to go home, when they said they had a mission and wanted him to go along with them, he wasn't expecting to be walking such a distance. "How much longer …? I want to go home," Garnet stopped dead in her tracks and looked down at him as the others kept trudging on.
He got back on his feet and wiped the dirt off of his jeans as best as he can. The much larger gem pushed her visor's up as they started to slip showing off her third eye on her forehead. "Soon …" she was soft-spoken before she kept walking. If he had known that they were gonna walk such a long time, he would have brought better shoes than his flip flops or at least Lion. They didn't even tell him where they were, or where they were heading towards.
He kicked some rocks under his feet, falling behind the others as he wasn't even trying to match their pace anymore. "Pearl!" He had heard Garnet's voice clear as day yelling, the sound of her voice was urgent making him look up. He couldn't see anything, all that surrounded him was grass everywhere. He was too short to look over the grass that towered him. He started to run towards their voices, maybe they needed his help in some way.
"Steven! Stay back," cried Pearl as she slid in front of him shielding the boy away from the threat. He was able to make out the violet color whip that Amethyst uses in difficult situations. There were only two tails coming from the whip, he watched as the third on grew as the corrupted gem got wrapped around the three. Pearl threw her spear towards the creature, but had missed which startled the corrupted Gem more than it was. It broke out of Amethyst's grip and flung her far to the left of them, Pearl where towards Amethyst, but she was along flung to the side by the giants sharp wing.
Summoning his shield, he started to run towards Pearls and Amethyst before the bird decided to come back towards them. He made it halfway there, when the bird started to shoot gem shards at him, he manage to block some of them off with his shield while another grazed his shoulder. He hissed as the wound started to bleed, but he kept running towards the two other gems when Garnet had stopped him dead in his tracks. "I want to help them," his voice was tight. Why did they invite him along if they were not going to let him help? He dissipated his shield, "Why can't I help?"
Garnet summoned her gauntlets, "It's too dangerous, Steven." She pushed him behind her as more gem shards came their way. They were being shot out of the bird's mouth, if somehow the gems were able to secure the corrupt's mouth then they might have a better chance. A gem shard embedded itself inches away from my foot, "Go Steven, get to better ground, and stay hidden. Do you understand me?" He nodded, and turned around running away from the scene that was taking place behind him. He could hear the squawking of the bird getting nearer to him.
"Watch out, Steven!" It was Amethyst's voice this time, she seemed so far away as he turned and stopped to see what she was yelling at. That instant he froze, a thought ran through his head that he should summon his shield, should get out of the way, do something. The gems were too far away from him as he watched more shards fly their way towards him. First it was a gem shard that pierced his right arm, then it was another one that pierced his left thigh. It was the shard that pierced his chest and stuck out through his back that he broke out of the trance he was in.
He looked down at the shard as immense pain ran through his whole body, he didn't scream out, just looked as he felt and saw the blood soaking through his shirt. The blood started running down his legs meeting with the blood flow from the other shard. He fell down on his knees, the shard in his leg embedding itself deeper. He had laid his hands around the shard on his chest, it wasn't long after that his hands were covered in blood within seconds. His heart beat seemed to slow, as he coughed up some metallic tasting liquid, it had dripped out the corner of his mouth.
Everything was in slow motion as black dots filled the corner of his eyes, and the world spun around him. He heard faint callings of his name, but he couldn't tell how far or how close they were. What was happening to him? Why was he feeling cold? Was he dying? This was how dying felt like? He felt hands grab him as he fell on his side once again. One was icy cold, while the other hand was burning his skin. It was Garnet who had caught him mid fall, "Garnet," he coughed out, spitting blood in the process. He knew there was already a puddle of blood surrounding his body, and he was starting to feel lightheaded. "Am …" His voice was low and throaty, and he made gurgling sounds. "I …" He coughed up blood again, "Dying?" He sounded cared as tears ran down his face, not wanting to die just yet.
"N-No … Steven …" Her voice was wobbly, it wasn't like Garnet to sound like that. She always had confidence in her voice, she needed to, being the leader of the Crystal Gems. "You're not going to die." His vision was fading and fading fast, he felt the presence of two other figures, kneeling beside him in the puddle of blood. "W-we're going to get you help. I-I promise." He had wondered what she could see in the future. Was it him dying?
He could faintly feel the soft hands of Peal move his hair out of his eyes, he looked at her as his breaths became more shallow, and his body freezing. Her eyes were like waterfalls as her tears ran down her face, her words came out horse. "Everything is going to be okay, Steven." She had choked on his name. He knew he wasn't going to be okay, the shard in his chest was already numb, and he was losing feeling everything. He was dying.
He wanted to tell them that he loved them all, but everytime he opened his mouth only blood and a gurgling sound came out. He was then picked up, no pain just a tingle went through his body. He was so numb and cold, his vision was fading faster, once again he tried to form words but nothing came out. Last thing he remembered was the wind blowing in his face before he lost consciousness.
He woke up screaming, he was soaked in sweat as he sat up in his bed. His head was spinning, and he felt sick to his stomach as his hands went to his head and held it there. When the feeling had passed, he looked around. He was in his bedroom. Alive. Unbuttoning his shirt, there was no scar or bandages from where the shard had struck him in the chest. Could it have been all a nightmare? He must have been too stressed lately and his subconscious mind was taking advantage of that. Suddenly there was footsteps coming up the stairs to his loft, and Pearl sat down roughly on the bed. Her forearm went to his forehead checking for a temperature.
"Baby, are you okay? You're all hot. Are you running a fever?" She asked him as she removed her forearm and grabbed a thermometer out of her gem. He had no time to react when it was shoved into his mouth and under his tongue. He wanted to ask her why she had called him a nickname, it was unlike her to do so. She had found them distasteful. The thermometer had beeped and his temperature was normal.
"Can you please lower your voice, Pearl. My head is pounding." He groaned and laid back down on his pillow closing his eyes. Why was he alive? He was for sure that wasn't a dream that he had. He opened his eyes back up to see her narrowing her own.
"Do not lie to me, Steven Quartz, have you been drinking last night again? Is that why you came in so late?" he narrowed his eyes back at her, how could she even think he has been drinking? He was only fifteen years old, there was no damn way he was even able to get his hands on anything like that. He shook his head just slightly, which only made the pounding worse.
He answered Pearl after staring at her for a couple of minutes. "Pearl … I don't drink. You know this, I'm only fifteen …" He mumbled and swung his legs over the bedside edge, and went to get up. His legs were wobbly, so he slammed back down on the bed. "Also, how am I still alive? I know I was struck by a gem shard … I could feel the blood soaking into my shirt, and the feel of my body turning cold …"
"Sweetie …" She paused thinking about the words she was going to say next. "... This next question I am gonna ask you, I need you to answer honestly. Do you understand?" He nodded his head slightly, wondering what she could possibly be asking. At least she was much calmer than usual, by now she would have been freaking out, wondering about his health. "Did you relapse?"
He didn't understand what she meant by relapse. Why was she acting like this towards him? He didn't remember anything after the attack, now Pearl was acting weird and asking him questions he didn't understand. "W-what do you mean by relapse?" She clicked her tongue, obviously thinking he was playing with her.
"Please, Steven, do not play with me here. You have been sober for little over a year. If you didn't relapse then you did something last night because you didn't get struck by a gem shard and you're not fifteen. We haven't had any threat in over a year and you're seventeen." He was taken back at what she said, how long was he out? How could two years passed since then? Has he been in coma? Was this all a dream still? She shook her head and got up. "I'll get you a glass of water and some aspirin, stay right there."
She came back a few minutes later and watched him take the pills. She shook her head as she grabbed the glass that had the water back from him. "I know I tell you this a lot, but I hope you learned your lesson from underage drinking and doing drugs." He nodded not wanting to argue because he knew it would do him no good. He got up and noticed that he was wearing his pants, converse, not his flip flops, and his pajama shirt. His shirt was open exposing his chest from when he freaked out looking for the evidence of being stabbed.
He heard Pearl make a huffing sound, turning his head he looked down to his bed and there was mud under the covers. There was also some dried blood, looking down at hi shoes, he saw there was mud and blood on there as well. What was he doing last night? Pearl mumbled something under her breath about how this was disgusting, and he needed to go clean up. Yeah, he felt disgusting. Walking down the steps of his loft, he went to the bathroom, and stood in front of the mirror. He stepped back just a bit and stared at his reflection.
His hair was longer than he kept it, and was pulled back into a very messy ponytail. When he took it out, his hair fell down in a mass of beautiful curls that reminded him of his mothers, but much more messier. His face was thinner with a stubble beard, not much of facial hair, but enough to know that it was there. He took off his shirt, a lot of his baby fat was gone replaced with muscle, looking down at his stomach, he was expecting the bugling stomach. It wasn't there, he still saw some bugling, but he had also some tightening with muscles. There was also patches of hair around his chest around and gem. His gem was shining brightly as ever, he touched it with his hand and closed his eyes taking a deep breath.
He took off his shoes and pants, leaving him in his pink boxer briefs. Noticing his body made him feel uncomfortable, he wasn't the same before the accident, he apparently was seventeen, and he is looking like it too. He flexed his biceps and was surprised at the muscle that he had in them, he was still confused about all this. He also noticed that his height was different, last time he had measured himself he was around 4'9" and now by the looks of it he had grown around a foot and four inches taller. That was just an estimate, he could have been taller, he needed to compare himself to the others to know for sure.
Walking back over to the mirror, he examined his body more. He noticed there was scars here and there. The most noticeable scar he saw was the one on his side, it looked deep, like some had shanked him. Shaking his head, he turned on the water to the shower, stripping the rest of the way, he got it. During the whole time, he struggled with how thick his hair was. He knew it was going to be wet for the rest of the day because of the thickness. Once he was done, he dried off, and wrapped a towel around his waist when he realized that he had forgotten his clothes up in the loft.
He walked out of the bathroom, just in time to see Amethyst walk out of her room. She wasn't paying any attention to him as she was looking down at her phone. "There you are, Amethyst!" He heard Pearl's orotund voice coming down from his loft. "I have been looking all over you." She had jumped off the loft and landed perfectly in front of Amethyst. Amethyst didn't even flinch or look up from her phone until Pearl took it out of her hand. "You and Greg left a mess in the temple, I need you to clean it up, before She finds it. It's disgusting and I am not cleaning it up anymore."
"Hey! What the flying fuck, P?" Amethyst yelled and tried to jump up, and tried to grab the phone, but Pearl's arm was too high in the air for her. Walking over there, he stood in between Pearl and Amethyst, one hand was tightly holding on to his towel while the other was pushing Amethyst back. "Move, Steven, this is none of your business."
"It kind of is, this is my house too. What's going on?" He asked with his head cocked to the side looking down at Amethyst. It was kind of a nice feeling for once instead of looking up at her, he was looking down at her. He looked at Pearl, so his estimate was right, he was 6"0 while Pearl was 6"4. It was weird, but a nice feeling knowing that he wasn't the shortest anymore in the house. "Well?"
"I don't know what's going on in fucking Pearl's mind." Why was Amethyst cursing so much? He had never heard anyone cuss so much in his life, other than Lars sometimes. Amethyst moved away from him and was quickly seized up by Pearl who wouldn't even look at him. She did hand him Amethyst's phone as she pulled Amethyst away from him and into the Gem's cave. He couldn't even understand the conversation they had, all he knew it was about his dad and Amethyst and a mess that they had. Maybe they were just watching Lil Butler again and made a huge mess of junk food. He threw the phone on the couch and walked up to the loft.
None of his original clothes were in his dresser, he found his favourite shirt, but when he tried it on it was too small on him. He guessed he outgrew it and needed to ask his dad to get him a larger size. He grabbed a loose fitting grey shirt, some purple boxer briefs, and some beige jogger pants. He looked around seeing no one and he dropped his towel getting dressed quickly. It was weird having different clothing than what he normally wears everyday.
Once he was dressed, he looked everywhere for his flip flops but all he found was a pair of working boots and the converse. The converse was cleaned, there wasn't any blood or dirt on them anymore. Pearl must have cleaned them when he was in the shower. He put them on and walked down to the living room, and over to the couch where Amethyst's phone wouldn't stop going off.
Amethyst didn't have a lock on her phone, looking around once more, he swiped it open and it instantly went to the conversation she was on previous. He immediately dropped the phone back on the couch and tried to not be sick. His dad had sent a picture to Amethyst wearing leather chaps with nothing underneath showing off his dong like it was nothing. He was also wearing a leather vest showing off his hairy chest and his hair was in a ponytail. He didn't understand why his dad would send Amethyst something like that. The phone buzzed once more, and he forced himself to check what it was. He was thankful it was an actual message. 'Are you ready for some of this?'
Was his dad and Amethyst having a affair? That was beyond disgusting to him, and he never thought Amethyst would like a guy like him. He shook his head, it was just too disturbing for him to even think about about it. He removed the phone from the couch and put it on the coffee table before sitting down. How long was he even out? Was this all a dream? Maybe if he found Garnet she would know what was going on. All of a sudden the warp pad lit up, maybe that was Garnet coming back from a mission. He almost fell off the couch when he saw the most impossible thing he could think of.
Ruby, Sapphire and Garnet were on the warp pad together. Ruby was obviously really upset pacing back and forth, while Sapphire was cool as ice. Garnet was just standing there still looking like her normal self with no change at all. Well, expect the fact that she was there without Ruby and Sapphire fused that is. "So, glad you are here, Steven." Called Ruby angrily, stomping over to him. He stood up and towered the poor gem like she was a child. She climbed up on the coffee table, but it still didn't give her much leverage. "What have we told you and Garnet about sneaking off to party all night long?" She was so pissed that the magazines underneath her feet started to smoke. "She was never like this before you showed her the night life with Amethyst. And oh don't worry I am going to have a talk with her too."
He opened his mouth to speak when Ruby threw up her hands in frustration, "I do not want to hear it. You have been given this talk to over a thousand times." Sapphire walked over and gave him a look over once before putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. She whispered something in her ear, and Ruby calmed down instantly. "I'm sorry, I am just upset that we had to find Garnet somewhere far away from here with a hangover." He just stared at them, his heart racing, and his head swimming trying to understand everything that was happening right now.
When he was finally able to speak, his voice was low, "I have a question … so can you tell me how it's possible for you two to be standing here in front of me, when Garnet is still on the warp pad?" They looked at him with a weird look, almost like the one Pearl gave him a hour ago. Of course it was Sapphire who answered him first as she was staring at him the entire time.
"Well, Steven, I am pretty sure, your parents have talked to you about reproduction. However, we can explain it to you, if you want. See, when two gems love each other very much they have this thing called –" He held his hands up with his cheeks bright red with embarrassment.
"I understand that much … but it still doesn't explain how Garnet is here. Let's think logical the two of you are females, you cannot reproduce. And you two are usually fused as Garnet." He watched as Garnet walked over and sat down on the couch next to him. She took off her visors and stared at him with all three of her eyes.
"Look, I know you are not that stupid, Steven." Garnet said before getting slapped upside the head by Ruby who was in return slapped upside the head by Sapphire. "Don't touch me," she growled out and stood up. "I am going to the barn away from you guys. You're making my head hurt worse."
"You are not going anywhere, Garnet, you are going to go straight to your room this instance. You are grounded from going on missions, and visiting the barn mates." Sapphire said calmly. Garnet snickered at her mom, shaking her head. Steven at the moment was trying to figure things out little by little. It was still all confusing, but at least he was understanding a bit. Garnet rolled her eyes, before putting back on her visors walking over to the warp pad, ignoring her moms protest. She waved goodbye, and warped off.
"Oh, that girl, is going to get punished severely." Snapped Ruby, running over to the warp pad, going after Garnet leaving only Sapphire and him in the living room. It was pretty uncomfortable, usually when they were around there was another person. He was never left alone with only one of them, except that time at Keystone Motel, and even then that was pretty uncomfortable. He looked down at his hands, he could feel her big eye staring at him. Finally, she had sat down next to him on the couch, looking up from his hands when she grabbed one of his, he stared at her.
"I know who you are … and I want to give you a warning. Be careful out there, you are not adapted to these conditions yet. I see to many futures ahead where you are in danger. I don't know why you are here, but I am not going to stop you." She stood up, and left through the temple door without another word. What was she talking about? And she wasn't going to answer any of his questions or even give him a chance to ask anyway.
He just needed some fresh air and time to think about this. Maybe if he goes visits Connie then she can help him figure everything out. Getting up off the couch, he went towards the front door when Pearl comes out of the temple. They had locked eyes as Pearl put her hands on her hips, "Where do you think you are going young man? You're not out loud outside, you're grounded. You disobeyed my rules, and you used up all of your warnings. I want you to go back up to your room and work on the homework I made you." Pearl was strict, but she was never strict like this with him. It upsetted him to the point of where he snapped at her.
"What is wrong with you today, Pearl? You're acting like you're my parent. Just because you're mad with Amethyst, doesn't mean you have the right to take it out on me. So, stop acting like my mother because you're not." Pearl looked hurt at what he said, and he started to feel bad. He wanted to tell her sorry for being so rude, but he saw tears start welling up in her eyes. He opened his mouth to say sorry, but she ran back into the temple before he had the chance.
He shook his head and walked out of the house, Pearl will get over it soon enough. Or if she doesn't and he sees her again, he will apologize to her. He leaned against the railing of his balcony, it was a beautiful day outside. The waves were glistening from the sunlight and he heard children's laughter in the distance. That was a bit strange to him though, no one ever comes on this side of the beach. That's when he saw the kids running, hand in hand. They were screaming, he couldn't tell if it was bad screams or good jolly screams.
A giant lady was following them, a camera in her hand. She had tangerine skin with reddish-orange markings on her face and arms. The woman also had thick beige - white colored, flowing hair, he had to look closer to see who it was, when he realized his heart started to sped up and his eyes widened in horror. It was Jasper in the flesh. He didn't understand how she could be right in front of him uncorrupted. He watched her as she walked after the kids. Was she going to hurt them? Is that why they were screaming? He didn't want them to get hurt, but he didn't want to go over there and it wasn't actually Jasper. He watched as she kneeled down in the sand when the kids stopped to play in the water. What if she was about to use her spin dash on them? Where were their parents and the other gems. They must know that they were here. Right?
He jumped down over the railing and landed in the sand, he jumped up onto his feet and ran over to the figure. "Stop!" He cried out as he formed his shield, Jasper just had enough time to look up from what she was going to do when he threw the shield and hit her square in the chest. The shield disappeared as he ran over to the figure who was groaning. He jumped in the air forming another shield and threw it again hitting her in the face. He landed next to her in the sand looming over her with a glare on his face. "What the hell do you think you are doing? I saw your intentions, you thought you were gonna get away with attacking the kids?"
He could see that he had cracked her gem a bit, she was going in and out like the static of a broken tv. "What are you talking about, Steven? I wasn't attacking kids, you know this already. I was trying to get a photo for my gallery." She growled as she stood up, her camera had flung off her neck and landed in the sand near them. "I'm going to punch you scare in the jaw if my camera is broken. Your mother is going to pay for this because I know damn well Pearl won't." She walked over to the camera and picked it up, "You're glad it didn't break, dip shit."
"My mom?..." Was all he asked, "What do you mean my mom is going to pay for it? She's dead …" He trailed off when he saw the look on Jasper's face. Was there grief on her face? Disbelief?
"Rose … is dead? How's your ma? Is she holding up? When did it happen? Why didn't I hear about this sooner?" She started to walk away from him towards the temple when she dropped dead in her tracks before turning on her hell and grabbing him by the front of his shirt bring him to face her in the face. Their noses were inches apart from each other, "You told me that Rose was dead, you little shit. What the hell are you on? Did you take something last night?" She snapped, and he spit in her face making her let go of him. "Oh I am going to get you."
"You two stop it …" He stood frozen in his spot when he heard the voice. The voice was sweet to his ears and familiar sounding. How could this be though? How could she be alive when she gave up her physical form to give birth to him? He turned around and a few feet away from him stood the one person he always wanted to see. His mother.
Rose Quartz.