Steven's eyes fluttered open, blinking the world into focus. The gentle swaying of the pink grass soothed him awake as he started to sit up. That's when he noticed the pain and where he was.

"How did I get into Lion's mane? How am I even still alive?" He asked himself. "Why don't I need air?"

The grass rustled behind him.

"Who's there?" He asked, painfully bracing himself in case someone happened to get into Lion's mane after him.

A small, ginger tabby cat bounded out of the grass. It mewed and stared at him. Steven held his hand out to pet it.

"Where did you come from little fella?" he asked.

The cat purred and nuzzled his hand with its heart-shaped nose before walking towards Roses's tree. Steven felt compelled to follow the small cat. He watched as it ran up the hill and sat down in front of the tree and stared at him, knowingly. Everything that Steven had accumulated was still there alongside many of his mother's items. He struggled to rise and then staggered to the top of the hill and collapsed next to the cat.

"Why did you bring me here? What's going on?"

The cat nuzzled him and then rubbed up against the treasure chest that had been long forgotten. When Steven was younger, he often fantasized about opening it, but he never did get around to opening it. Instead, he had set a picture of himself and Connie from her high school prom. She had asked him to come along after getting permission from the principal at her school. He, of course, said yes, and the two had a wonderful time. Granted, Stevonnie almost made an appearance, but Steven had gained more control over fusing by that time.

He held the picture close. He wasn't sure if Connie was still OK on the outside. He was going to tell her everything, but now he wasn't sure if he would ever get the chance.

He then touched the top of the treasure chest. The cat yowled and leaped up to one of the branches of the tree. It scooted its way over to a bubble that floated nearby. Steven watched as the cat pawed at the bubble.

"How did I never notice this?" he asked himself, reaching for the bubble. "I wonder ..."

He grabbed the bubble and popped it, releasing the hopper crystal inside. Steven shielded his eyes as a bright glow enveloped him and the cat. He blinked his eyes into focus. The light began to fade to pink and he could see a translucent form take shape in front of him.

"Mom?" He asked.

"Steven, if you are watching this, then you have discovered how to regenerate. I was not sure if this would be able to happen to you or not and I am sorry for any injury that may have forced this to happen. My hope is that I can help you through this process so that you can continue to experience the wonder of life as a human. My pet should have shown you the way this far and most likely has saved your life. He was a treasured creature who was nearly killed in an accident not long after Greg and I decided to have you. I was able to save him by attempting a sort of fusion on him. I hope you know about fusion by now. I learned a lot during my projects in the Kindergarten, but I finally found a way for it to do some good. He gained some sentience from the gem I fused with him so that he knew what I needed him to do.

"I hope he has guided you and protected you well. You will need to use some of the power I left with him in this gem to heal yourself, but he and I can show you how ..."

He could feel his mother's presence even more now and soon felt himself taken into memories, thoughts, and instincts. While his thoughts tried to stay on what he needed to do, they consistently returned to thoughts of the outside.

It had been a week of the gems trying to comfort Connie as she lay on Steven's bed before Connie truly slept. They had not wanted her to help them clean up the battlefield because they did not know what else they might find that would traumatize the human even more. For the first three days, she almost seemed comatose so it had been much easier. She was completely dead to the world with grief, constantly replaying the battle and everything that went wrong. She had not moved from being curled into a tight ball since that night. Occasionally, Peridot would approach her with a cup of water and a straw to try and at least get her to drink. All of the gems took shifts cleaning her and tending to their comatose friend.

After three days, Connie finally rolled over into another position, her head pressed against Lion's mane, as if she could try to follow Steven in there. The gems had begun taking shifts with Connie while the others worked. Garnet had seen it once before during the war. A human ally who had lost a partner in the war and grieved himself to death. She had watched as he stopped eating, stopped drinking and finally, after a week of this, found a gem weapon and …

Garnet was absent for most shifts, trying not to think about it.

The gems all had wondered what was going on in Connie's head as she stared ahead into Lion's mane. Amethyst had noticed that Lion hadn't moved at all either, but he was an enigma anyway. No one really knew what he was or why he did what he did.

On the seventh day, Connie actually slept.

She tossed and turned most of the night after the initial attempt at sleep. She had been awakened by a horrible dream of Steven's gem being crushed, losing him forever. After that, it was a few moments of her eyes being shut and then startling awake at the twitching of the lion next to her. She finally rolled over onto her stomach and looked up at Steven's headboard.

Not much had changed over the years, other than a few more books that Connie had given him. The rock that he had said Garnet got for him on a mission was still there, as well as a toy dinosaur. Between them was a photo that Steven had taken of Connie when they were much younger as well as a couple other photos of Connie. She looked over at Lion who still slept next to her.

"I wish I had said something," she whispered to herself. "I don't know if I'm ever going to see you again … I failed as your knight and your friend ..."

She buried her face in the Lion's mane and cried. If she had been more aware, she may have finally noticed Lion's unresponsiveness and questioned it. She may have wondered what was going on in his mane. As it was, all she could do was think of Steven and the uncertainty of ever seeing him again.

"Connie?"

Her head jerked up and she looked to see Peridot standing at the threshold of Steven's bedroom. She had once been Connie's height, but now Connie towered over the green gem who was trying not to look at her. Normally, seeing Peridot would send joy through Connie as they had become much closer through the years, but right now ...

"Sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here -" Connie started.

"No, no. I was just sent in to check and see if you were doing OK. Garnet sent me in. We've all been taking turns this past … Um … Half of the shards outside have been bubbled and I think that the humans might be returning sooner than we thought," Peridot murmured. "Basically, we still think you should stay in here for a while longer. Just away from the battlefield. Maybe watch something and take your mind off of things now that you're finally … Amethyst said there's stuff in the fridge that she bought. She said she used your ID and had bought some beer in case we won and … She said you should have it … I still don't understand some of these human customs but ..."

Connie nodded and curled in on herself once more. Normally she would protest and demand to be allowed to help. She was too tired now. She didn't care anymore.

She wasn't sure when Peridot left, but she eventually looked up to see that she was alone in the house again. The sun had started peeking in through the windows. There would be no sleeping tonight. She sighed and turned on the TV, hoping it would distract her. The TV faded in from static to a news report.

"Reports of explosions in Beach City, Delmarva earlier this week had led many to believe that a return of the creatures that left earth thousands of years ago had finally happened. This amateur footage was received from an anonymous source of a craft touching down seems to confirm what many groups throughout the country are now believing ..."

Connie absentmindedly stroked Lion's mane, watching as the reporter was given news of the danger being over and the evacuation order being lifted. Soon, the beach would be flooded with news crews and the rest of the country would know everything about the impending war with the Homeworld Gems. Jasper had gotten away and there was going to be little anyone could do to stop Homeworld.

If only humans knew more about modern gem tech …

The thought occurred to Connie just then – the first coherent thought in a week. She had to go out and tell the gems. They could still save the earth, even if Steven was not going to return. She may yet be able to carry on his legacy.

She bolted down the stairs, leaving the sleeping Lion behind. She had not noticed a change in the lion's form. Faint, ginger stripes had begun to appear in his fur.