Yay, I'm back! Sorry about the time it took. But here we go, sixth chapter! It's happening at the same time as the events of the episode Mindful Education. I hope you'll enjoy it!
Suddenly, they heard a faint rumble. Around them the ground started to shake, slightly at first, then harder and harder. Boulders tumbled down the steep slopes, ripping out the few, desiccated plants that had managed to grow on this hostile land. Soon large fissures spread out on the mountain's sides, producing a loud, terrifying cracking noise.
"The volcano! It's awakening!" Archimicarus yelled.
Lisa raised her eyes towards the peak in panic. Her companion was right: at the top, the dark clouds rising and the golden glow from the pouring lava were announcing the imminent eruption. The constant shaking made her lose her balance and she fell on her knees, wounding her hands on the rough rocks.
But the young girl wasn't discouraged. She hardly got up then kept climbing, her eyes still focused on the summit, her hand gripping her sword tightly, as if she thought she could just hold on to it if she was to trip once more.
"Lisa, it's too dangerous!" Archimicarus screamed "We have to leave now!"
The falcon described a large arc in the air to get in front of his friend, blocking her path. Lisa could read the concern in his golden eyes. Sometimes, she could see something vaguely human in the way he was looking at her.
"I can't go back, Archimicarus." she said in a determined tone "If I let that dragon escape, we'll lose the Sighing Stone forever! It cannot fall into the wrong hands!"
She went around the bird of prey and climbed again, even though her aching lungs, filled with volcanic ashes, were begging her to stop.
At last, she reached the top of the mountain. In the bubbling crater, bathing in lava like it was just a pleasant, warm bath, the dragon was there...
Steven stopped reading. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked up from the book, his hand clenching his stomach in an attempt to contain the nausea he was feeling.
"Why did you stop?" Amethyst asked, shoving an index into her right nostril "Just as the epic fight was coming!"
"It's... it's the smell of your food. It's making me sick!"
The Gem stared at the boy: his face was slightly green. She then lowered her eyes at the bowl of spaghetti and meatballs she was holding.
"Oh, should've said so!" she exclaimed nonchalantly "I'm on it."
She threw her head back, opened her mouth wider than it was humanly possible, then emptied the bowl in it.
"Ish that better?" she articulated, her cheeks full of food.
"Yeah, thanks. Sorry about that. I don't really love the smell of marinara in the morning."
"That'sh becaushe your shtomach ish empty! I didn't shee you eat breakfasht, thish morning!"
She finished masticating her spaghetti and swallowed everything at once.
"You're right, I didn't have one." Steven responded, lowering his head "I wasn't hungry."
"You don't usually skip breakfast." she remarked, putting the greasy bowl alongside her, in the sand "Something wrong?"
"No, no, I'm fine."
Amethyst scratched her head. Even if she didn't look the part, she was clairvoyant enough to see when Steven wasn't doing well. And since they fused into Smoky Quartz together and shared their mutual insecurities, she was a bit more comfortable than before when it came to talk about sensitive subjects with him.
"You know you can tell me, right?" she asked "I won't laugh at you."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." the boy assured "But I'm fine, I promise."
"'Kay then."
Reassured, Amethyst wiped her mouth stained with tomato sauce and lied down on the warm sand, her hands crossed behind her neck, her long hair spread around her head.
Steven wasn't totally honest: without showing it, he was thinking about numerous things. His father's situation, obviously, was worrying him a little, but now that he had decided to take care of the problem and knew everything would get better (how could it go differently, after all?) it wasn't his major concern anymore; other thoughts, more harmful, more upsetting were plaguing his mind. Despite his attempts to ignore them, they were still there, in the form of faces with accusing eyes, always the same faces, always asking the same questions.
Amethyst had good intentions but would probably never understand. That's why Steven hid his reflections behind a smile and turned a page on his book.
"Let's go back to our fascinating read." he said in a perfectly convincing joyful tone "We have to finish our W.G.B.C. session!"
"Our what session?"
"Worst Gems Book Club!" the boy proudly announced.
The Gem chuckled.
"Ha! I can't believe you gave a name to, uh... that thing we do!"
Through hearing Connie and Steven talk about their favorite book saga, Unfamiliar Familiar, Amethyst grew curious about fantasy stories. But liking stories doesn't mean liking books and, indeed, she found the mere thought of opening a book to be incredibly boring. So, to allow his friend to discover any story she wanted without having to turn pages, Steven offered to read to her, and after a while, it became their very own moment (though Connie was sometimes participating when she was there). During the winter, when the wrestling tournaments were less frequent, Steven and Amethyst were often found sitting in the living room, inside a pillow fort built by the fireplace and with a large stock of marshmallows, reading together. Most of the time, after a chapter, they would talk about the story and make predictions about what would happen next (Steven, who had already read the whole saga, always made sure not to reveal anything) but sometimes they would also both fall asleep into each other's arms, and neither Pearl nor Garnet would dare to wake them up. Now that spring was around the corner they could do the same activity outside and it turned out that reading on the beach, with the ocean's noise in the background, was just as enjoyable as pillow forts.
"Hey, looks like it's the end of the chapter!" Steven commented after taking a peek at the book.
"Already?" Amethyst complained, sitting up all of the sudden "Well read the next one then, I wanna know how she's going to wreck that dragon!"
"I can't start a new chapter, Connie will be here very soon. We're having our first training session with Stevonnie today!"
"Oh, that sucks... not your training." she quickly added to the boy's offended look "Us having to stop."
"Don't worry, we can keep reading right after that. For now we have just the time to talk about the chapter before she arrives... so, what did you think of it? Is there something you want to say?"
Amethyst eyes became strangely shifty: she pouted and let out an exasperated grumble.
"You know you can tell me, right? I won't laugh at you!" Steven said mischievously, repeating his friend's exact same words.
"Don't disrespect me, you little brat!" the Gem answered in a fake menacing voice.
She sighed, then mumbled inaudible words.
"Err, what?" Steven asked, putting his hand behind his ear in an attempt to hear her better.
"I said" she said again louder "that there's something I didn't understand."
Steven burst into laughter. Amethyst's face became contorted with indignation and she scowled at him.
"Hey! You said you wouldn't laugh at me!"
"I'm... I'm not laughing at you, I swear!" the boy exclaimed, giggling "It's just... it's okay to not understand! You don't have to be ashamed!"
"Yeah, right..." she muttered, burying her finger into the sand, looking away.
"There's millions of things I don't understand, all the time! Don't be afraid to ask questions! What did you not understand in this chapter?"
Amethyst hesitated for a few seconds, but seeing Steven encouraging look, she started:
"It's... that weird lake thing where Lisa sees stuff. I don't get how it works."
"Ah, you mean the Pond of Shiwes? Yeah, it took me a little while too."
Steven closed the book and put it beside him.
"At first I thought it was showing the future" he explained, sitting more comfortably on the beach "Because when she was looking in it, she was seeing herself as an elite sorceress holding the Sighing Stone. But it wasn't making sense, since the reflection was also showing her father beside her, despite him dying in the previous book... but then I understood: the pond shows what the person looking at their reflection wants the most. Lisa wanted to become a great sorceress, take back the Sighing Stone, and be reunited with her father. By the way, the name of the pond is actually a hint: Shiwes is an anagram for wishes! She was just seeing what she was wishing for!"
Amethyst stared at him with widened eyes, her mouth slightly gaping. The boy interpreted it as a confused look.
"An anagram" he thus added "is when you mix all the letters of one word to form another word."
"I know that!" she exclaimed, on the defensive.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't know at first, Connie explained it to me."
The gem frowned a bit, but the words from Steven were actually effective in driving her shame away. It was a remarkable talent he had, being able to find the right words to appease others. And he was capable of doing that with each of the Crystal Gems, even though their personalities were very different.
"There's something else I'd like to say" Amethyst said after a moment "Sort of a... theory."
"Ooooo, I love making theories!" Steven answered "Once I posted one on the Internet about Crying Breakfast Friends... But Ronaldo told me it was impossible that Weeping Eggcup and Tearful Spoon would come from the same dish set. Go ahead, tell me about your theory!"
"Well," she continued with a smirk "is that me or...don'tcha think... that bird, like... has a total crush on Lisa?"
Steven contained an urge to giggle as much as he could: he couldn't possibly reveal the end of the story before Amethyst could discover it, but the fact she was emitting the same hypothesis he had had when he was at the same moment in the books was amusing.
"What makes you say that?" he asked, making his tone as neutral as possible.
"Tons of things! He's always worrying about her, he's sad when he has to go on missions without her... Also if you're right about that pond thingy, when he was looking inside he was seeing himself as a human beside her! That's kinda obvious, don't you think?"
"Uuuuuuuh maaaaaaaaybe?" the boy said slowly, acting skeptical.
"Whatever, I'll find out by myself anyway. No spoilers!"
"Not even on my deathbed! Come on, we should go back inside now. Connie will be there soon."
Steven and Amethyst got up, picked up the book and the empty bowl respectively, and headed towards the house.
"Hey Steven, I just got an idea, Amethyst declared with a mischievous smile. Remember that hat we bought at the prank store last week?"
"You mean the bald cap?"
"Right, forgot the name of that thing. You should try it out with her when she arrives!"
Greg was used to artist's block: it could always happen, even without any reason, and usually he just had to wait a few days for the magic (as he liked to call it) to reappear. But never before he moved in with the Crystal Gems he had been this uninspired: he could spend a couple hours sitting on the couch, his guitar on his knees, without being able to produce a single appealing melody. To his ears every single note sounded discordant, and each time his son was asking for a song, he would just play old compositions, for lack of anything better. Steven never expressed his disappointment about it, but it was clearly visible in his eyes whenever he heard these far too familiar songs. Unfortunately, that wasn't helping Greg's inspiration at all: on the contrary, he was more and more discouraged.
Sighing, the man crossed out his fifth attempt at a beginning of a score on a notebook when he heard the house's door opening: Steven and Amethyst entered chuckling to themselves, then after their eyes crossed his Greg saw his son give the Gem a slight nudge before rushing upstairs to search something inside his room's drawers.
"Hey G-man, what's cooking?" Amethyst asked sitting on the couch's edge.
"A whole lot of nothing." Greg answered with a joyless laugh before setting his guitar aside. "Can't get the smallest ballad out of this."
He stared sadly at the instrument for a brief moment, but quickly hid his bitterness and, when he turned to the Gem, his expression was a lot more neutral, with a genuine interested look.
"So, I've been told Pearl and Garnet were going to train Stevonnie today." he said.
He had seen the fusion between Connie and his son only once, for a few seconds. Once the initial shock had worn off, he had realized that the mere idea of Stevonnie's existence was filling him up with content, without knowing exactly why.
"Yup." Amethyst confirmed.
She raised her eyes towards Steven, who was still rummaging through his drawers, then continued:
"But I... don't have the time... to watch their training. I've got an important thing to do... And speaking of which, I was wondering if you could give me a hand."
Greg would probably have jumped in surprise if the heavy sweater he was always wearing wasn't weighing him down.
"Me?" he asked, uncertain of what he heard "Why?"
"I need to reorganize my room" she replied "Kind of a spring cleaning... without the cleaning part."
"And, uh, can't you ask Pearl for help?"
Greg realized immediately how stupid his question was. Amethyst just groaned in disdain.
"Pearl doesn't just reorganize, she put things in order." she explained, shivering in disgust as if the last word she pronounced was forbidden. "And also I'm asking you because if you remember well, your junk's still in my room!"
The man indeed remembered the last time he had to tidy up his storage unit that, at the time, was full to bursting: with only a few exceptions, all of his belongings (which he would never part with despite their obvious uselessness) ended up in Amethyst's room.
"Wait a sec." he suddenly said with concern "Your room... you mean your room in the Temple? The Sacred Temple of the Crystal Gems where a human being is guaranteed to die in horrible pain?"
"Yeah, that's the one!" The Gem confirmed with a grin.
"Oh, jeez Louise..."
Greg gulped nervously. He had never been in the Gem Temple before, except for a few visits in Rose's room years ago: Rose had told him over and over again how dangerous the place was for humans, and that even in her room he'd better stay close to her, without touching anything, and preferably without saying a word either.
"Don't sweat it, nothing can happen to you in my room!" Amethyst assured, giving him a vigorous slap in the back "Well, actually you'll have to be careful of all those giant axes we brought back from the Gem battlefield. Oh, and also there's the Slinker, a huge murdery monster that lurks in the Temple that we didn't catch yet. But hopefully we won't run into it!"
Greg wondered if she was just messing with him, but his thoughts were interrupted by a triumphant exclamation from Steven.
"Found it!"
Sitting on his bed, he was proudly holding a flesh-colored plastic hat that he put on his head before carefully hiding all his hair inside.
"He's gonna pull a prank on Connie, I gave him the idea." Amethyst explained with pride "So, you're in? Maybe there's some stuff you'd like to have back."
Despite some suspicions he promised himself to sort out later, the man figured it was still better than being alone again.
"Okay." he finally said "As long as it's not too hard..."
"Awesome!"
She grabbed him by a wrist and pulled firmly to help him get on his feet. Greg couldn't help but be surprised by her strength, even though he knew he didn't have to be.
"Yo Steven!" The Gem exclaimed raising her head to the bedroom "I'm borrowing your dad for a while! You'll tell me how Connie reacted, allright?"
"Okay!" The boy answered with enthusiasm.
The purple gemstone on Amethyst's chest lighted up and the Temple door opened in a strange way, like it was alive.
"Wait, Amethyst!" Steven called out, a slightly upset look on his face "You're not wishing me good luck for my training?"
The Gem turned towards him and looked at him with a smile.
"Nah..." she replied.
The boy was looking even more upset, but then she winked at him.
"...because a champ like you don't need any luck! I know you're gonna kill it!"
His cheeks slightly pink, Steven waved at her as she was disappearing through the door, pulling his father behind her by the wrist.
Greg had never seen anything like this before. In awe, he looked at the immense purple cavern with high ceiling that contained what looked like a massive junkyard: there were huge piles of all kinds of objects as far as the eye can see. The sight was almost identical to the picture he had seen in his dream, except there wasn't that dark, unsettling atmosphere and the few lakes, waterfalls and blue crystal pillars here and there were making the place strangely warm and welcoming. After contemplating this incredible scenery, he hurried to follow Amethyst who seemed to know perfectly where to go in this labyrinth. The Gem quickly noticed how hard it was for the man to keep up.
"You can remove that." she said nonchalantly, pointing at the red sweater he was wearing. I won't tell Garnet."
She didn't have to tell him twice: Greg took off the heavy sweater and, for a few seconds, thought it would be easy to pretend he lost it in such a place. But being dishonest wasn't in his nature, and he was almost sure Garnet would just make him another one, an even heavier one at that ; thus he put it in a clear space, where he was sure to find it on his way back. As he was straightening up, enjoying his recovered liberty of movement, he suddenly realized something: that was the first act of compassion Amethyst ever showed to him since he lived here. This thought was even greater than the sensation of the removed weight.
"Thanks." he said hoarsely.
"No problem." Amethyst replied without looking at him, which was a good thing because she probably would've made fun of him if she noticed his eyes were slightly moist.
"So, what's so important to do here that you can't be at Steven's training session?" he asked.
The Gem stopped, and let out a sigh.
"Nothing." she admitted, kicking away an empty can with an embarrassed look on her face. "It was an excuse... I don't like to watch Steven train. It's just boring. But I didn't want to make him feel bad, you see? I know it's lame..."
"Caring about how Steven feels isn't lame at all." Greg contested with a smile.
"Yeah, but I don't want to lie to him. I know it's important to him and all but I can't help it, to see him kick Holo-Pearl butts for hours bores me to death! I guess it could be fun if it was the real Pearl instead..."
She looked around then, after choosing a new direction, kept walking with Greg still following her.
"But I can't tell him the truth either" she continued "he'd be sad, you know how sensitive he can be... kinda like you, actually. Ah, there we are! Check this out!"
Greg peered in the direction she was indicating and saw a pile a lot smaller than the others, that was still quite impressive in size. As he was getting closer, he recognized the objects in it.
"That's my stuff!" he exclaimed in an enthusiastic tone.
"Yeah, I put everything together. And see? I added a little something to remind myself it's yours."
The man realized she was pointing at... himself. Or rather at the big cardboard effigy he had had printed more than a year ago as an advertisement for his car-wash's summer wax. With nostalgia he examined the cardboard Greg, who was dressed in summer clothes and displaying a wide grin, when he noticed the black marker scribbling on the face: he was now wearing a pirate eye-patch over his sunglasses, and one of his teeth was entirely colored in black, looking like it was missing.
"You couldn't help, huh?" he asked, snickering.
"First I wanted to draw a twirly mustache, cartoon villain style." Amethyst explained mockingly "But you already have a mustache. A rad one at that!"
"Haha, thanks, I try!" he replied "I'm glad to see all of this again. Maybe I can pick up a few useful things!"
"Knock yourself out! If you need me I'll be taking care of my own junk."
The Gem turned around and headed towards one of the piles before "reorganizing" it... even though Greg wasn't sure the term was adequate: all she was doing was grab each object, inspect it for a few seconds then, following her own logic, toss it in various ways, sometimes simply over her shoulder, sometimes to the other side of the room by making shot put Olympic champion-like gestures or kicking it in a spectacular way. Every time she was done with a pile, Amethyst would curl up in a purple ball and dash towards the next before resuming her loud and strange labor. The man though noticed she was handling a few items with way more care: he saw her gently grab a small safe at the top of one of the piles and carry it cautiously at the bottom. She then set it aside, gave it an affectionate pat, and went back to her work.
After watching her for a few minutes, a both amused and astonished look on his face, Greg turned to his own belongings: they looked intact, and he was relieved to find out Amethyst didn't toss them everywhere like her own stuff. Actually, the thin layer of dust that was covering all the objects was leading him to the belief that the Gem didn't touch them at all since they were here, for which he was very grateful.
The first thing that caught the man's attention was a red, dented toy wagon with a buckled wheel. Tender memories came to his mind: he remembered how many times Steven sat inside that wagon when he was little, begging his father to pull him up Beach City's lighthouse's hill one more time. At the time, the boy couldn't get enough of riding down the hill at full speed again and again, and Greg just couldn't say no when asked to pull the cart back up, even if he knew the repeated climbs would get him horrible stiffness the day after.
The little wagon was terrible-looking: the last time Steven used it was to transport Rose's cannon to the beach to destroy a giant eyeball that was about to crush the city. The weapon was so heavy that the cart fell into pieces, and even though Greg had tried to patch it up a bit since then, it was still in a miserable state, and was barely running. Still, it would probably be good enough to carry the few things he intended to bring back from the room.
He started with what seemed the most obvious: books. There was many books and comics of all kinds in the pile, and now that he wasn't working anymore, was spending a lot of time alone and had trouble getting inspired for musical creation, reading had become his main occupation. He selected the books that interested him the most and piled them up in the cart, until he came upon a cover representing a female alien creature holding a man in a lascivious embrace. He looked around him quickly then, after making sure Amethyst was far enough, he hid Passion of Xanxor below all the other books he already had in the wagon, blushing a bit.
Then, he grabbed a few clothes that were not too out of fashion and smaller that the ones he already had, which would be useful if he were to actually lose weight. He also added in the cart old dumb-bells he never used before ("It'd be a great occasion to start." he thought), guitar tabs from musicians he used to admire a lot in his youth ("Maybe those will inspire me."), golf clubs ("I should ask Steven to play with me sometime."), and a Polaroid camera ("Just in case.").
He took a few seconds to look at everything he had gathered, then his eyes turned to the rest of the pile. Everything that was in it constituted memories of the numerous activities he tried before, first with Rose, then alone. Tennis rackets with holes in it, board games missing half their pieces, silverfish-eaten ornithology books, paint cans that were so dry that the covers were totally stuck... none of these objects turned out to be useful more than a few months, because Rose would quickly go from one hobby to another, as if she was eager to discover everything. Greg had always wondered why: after all, unlike any human being, she had all the time in the world... As for himself, he couldn't bring himself to throw away anything, even if he wasn't doing the activities in question. "One day I might want to start again." he was saying as an excuse. But these objects were also the only link to the past he was allowing himself to have, as he would normally never bring it up, except when Steven was expressing the need to.
Suddenly, a light-colored spot at the bottom of the messy pile caught his eye. Feverishly he knelt on the ground and removed a box of miniature cars and an autographed wrestling suit to reveal a big, pale pink seashell adorned with an elegant spiral of horns. He recognized it easily: it was the queen conch Rose and him had found on the beach many years ago, the same one that he saw in his dream with Steven. He blew away the dust covering it and stared at it for a while, his hands trembling, his heart beating heavily.
The logic of the dreams he shared with Steven was totally escaping Greg. He didn't understand the why or the how of the existence of these strange globes bearer of pictures and memories, nor did he understand what he was supposed to do with the disjointed information they were bringing him. He didn't know if Rose was behind all this and a part of him didn't want to know, although something was telling him that it would be wise not to ignore the signs those dreams were showing him. Coming across this seashell after having a dream about it the night before didn't seem like a coincidence, which to him was as intriguing as it was scary. With this thought in mind and also the joy to have found a souvenir from a nice moment he had spent with the love of his life, he placed the conch in the wagon with the rest.
"howzit going? Oooo, pretty!"
Greg turned around: Amethyst was standing a few steps from the wagon, looking at the seashell with interest.
"Oh, I didn't hear you arrive." he said with a smile.
"Yeah, I can be pretty sneaky." the Gem replied "Let's see what you got!"
She walked up to the cart and, all of the sudden, shoved her arms inside it. The man's eyes widened: that behavior was a little abrupt and invasive, even coming from Amethyst. Nonetheless he chose not to say anything, but stared at her in unease as she was foraging through the objects he had gathered. She snorted when she discovered Passion of Xanxor, to which Greg just looked away.
"Ah, that's interesting!" She exclaimed after a moment.
She was holding the Polaroid camera and inspected it thoroughly.
"I really like these babies." she stated, sticking her eye on the wrong side of the device "The most fun is shaking the picture and watching the colors appear. I had one of these before, but it's totally wrecked now - prolly shouldn't have put it under my collection of bowling balls. So hey, I'm gonna borrow yours, okay?"
Greg wasn't exactly okay with this, and the unexpectedness of this demand was surprising him a little. Despite that, he mentally shrugged: the camera was not the most precious item he had, and if letting Amethyst have it could make her appreciate him a bit more, it was always something.
"Well, if you want it so badly..." he muttered, not convinced.
But suddenly, the Gem threw her head back and burst into a laughter so loud that it made the already shaky wagon shake even more. Startled by this reaction, the man watched her laugh wondering what was so funny in what he just said.
"You... you were really... you were really gonna let me take that?!" Amethyst articulated, wiping her eyes. Eh, I shouldn't be surprised, you did let me put my hands in your stuff after all!"
Still giggling, she put the camera back into the wagon.
"I... I don't get it." Greg said, scratching his head.
"I was testing you!" the Gem explained, crossing her hands behind her head in a relaxed manner "And sorry to tell you that, but you failed! I wanted to see if you could tell me to get lost if I ever cross your boundaries, but I didn't know it would be that bad! You're one heck of a pushover, dude!"
Greg felt even uneasier: he wasn't sure if Amethyst was fully aware of that fact, but she did put her finger on a problem that was bothering him since he was living with his son and the Crystal Gems. The impossibility to make himself heard led him to many frustrations accumulating day after day and to which he hadn't found a solution yet, aside from writing them down in his diary.
"You're probably right." he admitted, lowering his head.
"See? You're doing it again! I mean, I just insulted you! You really need to assert yourself, man!"
She looked around her, rushed towards one of the huge mountains of objects and brought back an old, damaged armchair she put next to him before gesturing him to sit down.
"Steven told you about this, didn't he?" Greg asked, taking a seat. "He asked you to spend time with me, right?"
"He told me you needed company and said it would be great for the two of us to hang out." the Gem recognized "But the part about you not being able to say no, eh, found out by myself."
She tapped her temple with her index to illustrate.
"First I just thought it was funny," she continued "but I'm getting tired of upset people now! First Steven, now you..."
"Steven is upset?" he cut abruptly.
Amethyst didn't answer and, for a brief moment, her face displayed a concerned look, reflecting the worries she had been trying to hide lately ; Steven could say everything was okay as much as he wanted, she still knew that wasn't true. And even if she didn't insist back then, she had a pretty good idea of what was troubling him: she remembered the boy's distress when he had to watch Jasper helplessly as the corruption was ravaging her body, as well as she saw the guilt in his eyes the night he came to Garnet, Pearl and herself holding Bismuth's Gem in his clenched hand. She also was the only Gem to whom he revealed he was constantly afraid not to be worthy of his mother and, to top it all off, his adventure in space with the Ruby probably left him more vulnerable than he appeared to be, even though he never really told about what happened. Contrary to what the others might think, Amethyst was perfectly able to see all of this, but clueless about how to react, she was just acting like nothing was wrong, waiting for Steven to confide in her if he needed it - while hoping he actually would not, because she hated facing overwhelming feelings and problems.
"Gem stuff," she finally replied after regaining composure "not much you can do about it. But don't change the subject! If you have something to say to any of us, you have to speak up! And if something bothers you, you have the right to yell it out!"
"Uh, I ain't the yelling kind." Greg answered cautiously.
"Oh come on, I know you haven't always been a doormat! There's a least one time in your life when you went berserk, right?"
She couldn't help but think about that time when she persuaded him to watch their favorite TV series, Lil' Butler, for an entire day, making them skip the New Year firework show Steven wanted them so badly to attend with him. Amethyst kept unpleasant memories of that night when she pushed the man to his limit by turning into Rose Quartz. Luckily, Greg picked another event from the past.
"I think I've never been angrier than the day Marty wanted to stop me from seeing Rose again." he said "If he hadn't got out of my van by himself, I'm pretty sure I would've thrown him on the road!"
"Well that's it! Next time we piss you off, just pretend we're Marty!"
"But it was like, twenty years ago Amethyst! I'm not as... passionate as I used to be! And it's not the same. I didn't care about what Marty would think. I didn't care if he was going to hate me after that. All I wanted at that time was..."
He lowered his head a bit, and a glint of tenderness appeared in his eyes.
"So you think we'll like you less if you tell us off when we go too far?" the Gem asked, losing her patience more and more "Dude, it's the opposite! People will never respect you if you let them treat you like garbage! You gotta tell Garnet that sweater is too heavy! You gotta tell Pearl that you want your van back! And if you want to hang out with any of us, you just have to ask!"
"I already tried to ask." the man objected in a feeble voice "None of you wanted to spend time with me."
"Are you kidding me? You asked us only once! And we all had a reason to say no!"
"No matter your excuses, I know you weren't interested. I know you guys don't like having me around, you're just waiting for the day you can send me packing back to the car-wash. You would never have asked to spend time with me if Steven didn't request you to."
A silence grew into the huge room, only broken by the ripple of a nearby waterfall. Amethyst let out a deep sigh.
"Okay, okay, maybe you're right." she mumbled "Since that night with Lil' Butler and all, I didn't want to be alone with you again."
"And Garnet and Pearl never really saw me as a friend." he added with a hint of sadness in his voice.
The Gem walked up to him, climbed on one of the armrests, and put a hand on his shoulder.
"But hey, that doesn't mean that can't change!" she said in a tone way calmer than before. "You should've told us this a long time ago! I mean, without that accident of yours you probably would never have!"
"I've said to myself a few times now how what happened to me may actually be a good thing." Greg admitted, smiling.
"Heh, I guess so! Still, you scared the living shards out of us that day!"
"Oh, yeah." the man said with a now totally different, playful smirk "Speaking of which, I heard you've been crying for me as I was in the hospital..."
"WHAT?! Who told you that?! They're lyin'!" Amethyst shouted jumping from the armchair, blushing.
"I'm just teasing you." he assured, winking at her "I'm sorry I scared you."
"And I'm sorry I ate all this food in front of you to taunt you... it was funny, though." she added in a lower voice.
Greg smiled again, then held his fist in front of him.
"So... we're cool?" he asked.
The Gem hesitated, then closed her own fist and gave a slight bump.
"We're cool. Welp, we gotta take care of your assertiveness problem now! And what better to do that than field training? Come with me, and don't forget your sweater ; you don't wanna see what Garnet does to those who disobey her!"
She gestured him to get up then walked away in a slow pace. Greg stood up, grabbed the handle of the red wagon and followed her, reluctantly picking up and putting on the heavy sweater on his way. Both of them headed towards the room's entrance and the door opened in the same organic, strange way.
Time had gone by fairly quickly to the man's point of view: through the windows, the setting sun was already casting a crimson light. Stevonnie's training must have been over since a long time, but there was no sign of the two children, nor Garnet: all by herself, Pearl was standing in the kitchen, staring intently at the oven's door. After a few seconds, Greg saw her put on a pair of kitchen gloves, open the oven and pull out a large pie: the delicious smell that filled the room reminded him painfully of his hunger.
Busy with her task, Pearl didn't seem to have noticed their presence. Amethyst gave Greg a nudge and placed an index on her lips to indicate not to make any noise, then tip toed around the warp pad towards the kitchen. The man had a bad feeling about what was going to happen, but kept quiet.
After sneaking up along the counter behind Pearl's back, who was inspecting her pie with a critical eye, Amethyst jumped in the air and, in the middle of her jump, shapeshifted into a huge purple bear. At the exact same time that the large paws of the beast slammed onto the wooden floor with a loud thud, a perfectly convincing, savage roar filled the whole house.
The reaction turned out to be quite spectacular: Pearl let out a high pitched scream similarly to a parrot getting plucked and pounced against the kitchen wall, opening a few of the cupboards' doors and making several pans fall on the floor in a clanking noise that added up to the tumult. In her fright, she also let go of the pie, which flipped in the air before crashing on the floor on the wrong side, spilling crumbs and cherry jam everywhere.
"AMETHYST!" she yelled, her whole body tensed up, her eyes whose pupils were contracted with rage riveted on her fellow Gem who, after turning back to her original self, was rolling on the floor laughing. Even Greg, who was still by the warp pad, couldn't help but chuckle a bit.
"You should've seen the look on your face!" Amethyst exclaimed, trying hard to catch her breath "Too bad I didn't keep that camera, I could've shown you!"
"Look what you did!" Pearl shrieked, gesturing at the smashed pie and the scarlet trails on the floor, making the kitchen look like a crime scene.
"Uh, I didn't do that. You did."
"By your fault!"
"Oh, cut me some slack P, I thought you liked to clean things! And it was a little funny, right Greg?"
Greg would have preferred being let out of this, and felt especially bad when he saw Pearl's ice-cold eyes turn to him.
"You saw her, and you didn't say anything?" she asked in a dangerously calm voice.
"Well, I, um... I didn't mean to... I wasn't expecting the..." he stammered.
"Whatever! You two will be the ones telling Steven and Connie that it's your fault if they can't have their comfort pie!"
The term 'comfort pie' and her sudden change in tone intrigued the man, and he stepped forward a little. Anger aside, the Gem was looking slightly concerned.
"Did Stevonnie's training session not go well?" he asked.
"The fusion encountered difficulties. I don't know exactly what they are, though. Garnet is trying to help them, she's on the beach with them for now."
Greg walked up to the house's entrance and peered out the window. He saw the silhouettes of Garnet and Stevonnie sat cross-legged facing each other, and wondered what the two fusion might be talking about, when once again he felt an elbow in his flank. He turned around: Amethyst was staring at him with a smile both mocking and encouraging as she was making insisting head gestures towards the kitchen, where Pearl was cleaning up the mess. The man remembered the "field training" he was supposed to do, and that thought gave him a knot in his stomach ; he hardly gulped and approached the kitchen. Without knowing the exact reason, each step was taking more and more effort.
Pearl had picked up what was left of her pie and was staring at it with a sad look on her face. Greg didn't know much about baking but he was almost sure it took her the entire afternoon to make that pie, and he suddenly felt guilty to have laughed to Amethyst's prank, and to have deprived his son and Connie of their comfort snack.
"Do... Do you want me to help you clean up?" he asked in a kind tone.
"No."
The answer was curt. He couldn't blame her for that.
"I'm sorry."
Pearl froze for a few seconds, but then, without giving him a single look, just grabbed a mop and vigorously cleaned the floor, mumbling unintelligible words. Greg felt something tug at the fabric of his sweater and let Amethyst drag him to the other side of the house, near the bathroom door.
"Don't be sorry! Be assertive!" she reprimanded with a low voice.
"Amethyst, now is not the right moment." he whispered sheepishly.
"You're chickenin' out!"
"I'm not!" he protested, blushing slightly (because it was actually kind of true). But I think we better not bother her for now."
The Gem looked into his eyes intently, as if she was trying to find something. Then, she let out a noise that sounded like a sigh mixed with the grunt of an animal.
"What I think is maybe you're not ready for field training yet." she said pointing an index to his chest "But in that case brace yourself, cause from now on, I'll be training your wimpy butt every single day until you get some guts! And when I'm done with you, there won't be anyone on this planet you won't be able to shut up!"
It took Greg a few seconds to fully realize the meaning of what she just said. The promise to spend more time with her in the future warmed his heart beyond everything else ; Amethyst had understood his message.
"Is that a promise?" he asked, knowing the answer.
"You bet your beard it is!" she responded in an aggressively joyful tone, with a big grin on her face.
The man felt the corners of his mouth rise uncontrollably and, to his satisfaction, he noticed he wasn't as hungry as he usually was anymore.
The conversation got interrupted by the front door opening: everyone, including Pearl, turned their head towards Garnet who stepped in without saying a word. Right behind her, Stevonnie appeared in the door frame. They had a weird look on their face, as if the fusion was only half relieved from an unknown pain. Without thinking much about it, Greg went up to them.
"Hey, I think we never got introduced properly!" he remarked, holding out his hand.
"That's true," Stevonnie approved, shaking the hand gently "the first time we met I was only there for a few seconds. It's nice to meet you, uh... Mister Universe? Dad?"
"You can call me Greg. How are you feeling?"
"Oh, well... I would say... I'm here!"
Greg was starting to understand why he was fond of Stevonnie. The fusion represented what he wanted to accomplish himself with Rose, which he only partly obtained. Knowing that his son could live such an experience and get enriched by it was making him happier than ever.
"Yeah." he approved with a smile "We're all here."
Just a little note: yup, the Pond of Shiwes is an intentional reference to the mirror of Erised in Harry Potter. I wanted to keep the references from the fantasy novels that Unfamiliar Familiar is all about. It will also serve my story later ;)
KimDWil71: As always, thanks a lot! I hope you like this one as well.