I'm uploading two in one day! Yay! Say yay. Do it now. Now. Did you do it? Okay, good. Now then, I do not own Steven Universe or its characters, ideas, ect. Please leave a piece of criticism down below, saying what I can improve on. It won't bother me, I have thick skin. And now, read my friends.

God bless, JPLegends

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Heart-to-Heart

Everyone was resting at the armory. Everyone had their own quarters to sleep, the survivors were being trained by the gems and the dead had been laid to rest, being cremated by Soren. But Steven, although back to his perky attitude, was being serious right now. The reason: there are three injured soldiers that his healing spit could only mend. Connie was helping him, as two of the three injured are her parents. Steven is currently filling small flasks with his spit. Connie told him to rest for now, and he responded to the statement by being useful even more. The day they have the death toll up to ten once again is the day they run out of these flasks. And then, Connie approached him. "Hey," She said. "Dad wants to talk with you."

"Is something wrong?" Steven asks looking at her. Her cheeks were stained with tears.

"No, no," She says. "He just wants to talk. I'm going to go help Garnet." She walks off into a tunnel. Steven gets up and walks over to the three bodies on the floor. The first, Lars was sleeping. As was Dr. Maheswaran. Mr. Maheswaran however was laying down, his hands on his chest, awake. Steven sits down and looks at him. The father looks at him and quietly says something in response to his nervous eyes.

"I guess my family would be dead right now if you hadn't met Connie," He says. "I want to thank you. You've helped us a lot. What were you doing over there?"

"I was filing flasks with my…" Steven said. He stopped at the last word. It felt awkward talking about his spit with another man. Other than his father at least.

"Healing spit," Mr. Maheswaran asks, of which Steven replies with a nod. "You've healed more than my daughter's eyes. Me and her mother are so protective over her. We sealed her way from the world, thinking all she needed was safety and protection. What she really needed is a friend. You became that friend that she desperately needed. Broke her out of her shell, gave her your social grace. I was so worried about her safety, but this war has shown us nobody is safe. So, I'm glad you were there to protect her in all the right ways."

"She's helped me a lot, too," Steven said. "I'll be honest, I had the social grace of a potato when I met her. But she's saved my skin and was there through thick and thin when the gems weren't. I saved the Earth's ocean, but she saved me from plummeting to my doom. I broke the gems out of the warship, and she was there to break the social trauma. I'm trying to save the Earth, and she's taking a lot of hits. Physically and mentally."

"I'm proud of her," Mr. Maheswaran says. "I'm proud of you, too." Steven wiped some tears away from his eyes. This was him not quite at his most emotional, but still pretty strong. "I've got something for you," He says all of the sudden. "Here." He holds out his hand and Steven grabs it. A package of mints? Whatever. He nods and walks away. He goes into the tunnels and into Soren's room. Once again, he's scanning the maps, looking for a plan.

"Are we in condition to attack the Skywatcher?" Steven asks. Soren shakes his head grimly.

"The defenses around the ship are way too strong," The gem says. "We wouldn't be able to punch even a hole in the defenses."

"Can't you just make it explode, like last time?" Steven asks.

Soren shakes his head and says "I didn't make it explode, I made it implode. It's weakest on the inside, and we'll never get inside with any of our might. We need to lure it out."

"Connie told me the biggest city in the word by population is Tokyo," Steven said. "They had fish in a barrel to attack them, and with so many people means so many prisoners. We take that city back, it'll have to draw the gems out." Soren looks at the area on the map.

"I'll devise a plan to attack the Gem Comm Hub in Asia," Soren says. "Best everyone get ready." Steven nods as Soren switches maps to a scale of Asia and scans somewhere in the Himalayas. The boy leaves and walks through the tunnels some more until he reaches the high point. He climbs out of the tunnel opening and looks at the meadow below. And the smoke in the air. But most of all, Connie sitting on the ledge looking at something. Steven sits down beside her, and looks at a picture of her and her parents.

"All they wanted was to keep me safe," She said. "And they ended up getting hurt."

"It's my fault," Steven said. "I couldn't keep my shield up long enough for you guys, and then I just collapsed. And then ten people died. And all I can think about now is that failure."

"When we fused, I saw your thoughts," Connie said. "You saw a lot. Your home town burned to the ground, prisoners executed on the ground, the deaths of the militia in our latest mission. That caused tons of trauma. And so, you put all that on you. Because everyone wants you to live up to your mother's name. But this…"

She pauses and then says "You can't save your mother's memory. And you can't live up to her. Because you're not her. You're strong. There are so many ways I want to be like you."

"There are times where I want to be you," Steven says. "You've experienced a mother's love. You're so calm and collected and smart. You saw your parents get hit and you live with that. Like it isn't there."

"Yeah," Connie says. "We never stop and look at the little things. Like, say, Amethyst swooning over Soren?" Steven looks at her with wide eyes.

"Really?" He asks.

"Yeah, she'll head over heels," Connie says. "I don't understand it. None of us really trust Soren anyway."

"He's making up for it." Steven says. They sit, looking at the meadow. Connie most probably thinking about her parents. Steven, meanwhile, thinking about why Mr. Maheswaran gave him a pack of mints.

I'm tired. All I have to say. I'll be out with another Mass Effect tomorrow. Same with Steven Universe. Are you hyped for Destiny? I know I am! See you soon.

God bless, JPLegends