The Light of Beach City

As the residents of Beach City began to wake up, they each proceeded to continue working on getting the town up and running again. Since the road was once again navigable, several individuals decided to go grab supplies and materials. An hour after sunrise, the beach was already largely deserted. As a result, no one noticed when a sudden, bright flash of light came from the back of Greg's van, save the gem who caused it.

Amethyst stretched and yawned for a few seconds before looking at her surroundings. It only took her a few seconds to realize that she was in Greg's van. It was the messiest place she knew besides her own room; she really liked the setup. After a few seconds of getting acquainted with the waking world, recent events began to come back to her. She remembered that Garnet and Pearl had both been wrecked by the evil gem, and spent a few seconds frantically looking around for their gemstones before locating them on the floor beside her foot. She counted to make sure everyone was there. Pearl, Ruby, Sapphire…no Steven. Suddenly remembering that he had been left to combat the gem alone, Amethyst became worried. She decided that her first priority was to find Steven and make sure he was alright. After briefly considering whether or not to take the gemstones with her, Amethyst resolved that it would be better to leave her comrades somewhere safe. She moved to the back of the van and opened the doors.

As Amethyst stepped out onto the sand, she brought up her hand to keep the glaring sun out of her eyes. How long had she been out? It felt like it had been days, though Amethyst wasn't quite certain. That gem had certainly done a number on her. Nothing had ever forced her to retreat into her gem for that long. She looked around for any sign of Steven or the other residents, but found that the beach seemed deserted. Where could that enthusiastic kid be? If he and Greg were alright, they were probably at the car wash. Her mind abuzz with unanswered questions, Amethyst turned and began to jog towards the ruined city.

At the car wash, Greg was busy sweeping away rubble and making sure that the machinery was in order. Though he had been able to clear away some of the larger debris earlier, he hadn't had the time to clean up the wash or check the machinery. He had just completed his sweep of the wash. As far as Greg could tell, almost all of the car wash had been damaged beyond his limited ability to repair it. He would have to replace most of the equipment, which could take weeks. His train of thought was suddenly interrupted when someone called his name.

"Yo! Greg!"

The unexpected voice made Greg jump. He whirled around to see Amethyst walking towards him, looking around at the surrounding buildings. Amethyst stopped a few feet from Greg and looked him over.

"Geez, this place got really wrecked."

Greg wasn't quite sure whether she was talking about the town or his car wash, but was somewhat relieved to see one of the gems awake.

"Hey Amethyst," Greg replied, looking back at his ruined business. "Yeah, that gem thing really did a number on the town."

Amethyst shifted slightly before responding. "Hey, I'm sure you'll fix things up in no time. By the way, where's Steven."

Greg realized that Amethyst probably came to the car wash looking for his son. He set down his tools and walked over to the purple gem.

"He, Connie, and Lion are sleeping on the beach. C'mon, I'll take you there. With that, the pair began to make their way towards Greg's tent.

Back at the tent, Lion decided that he wanted to get up and leave, waking both Steven and Connie in the process. Connie realized that she had her arm around Steven, and quickly drew it back, blushing. The pair sat up and acquainted themselves with their surroundings. Steven let out a loud yawn before looking over at Connie, who was rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning," Steven said. Connie looked at him, smiled, and returned his greeting.

"What's our plan for today?" Connie asked, unsure of how Steven was feeling or what he was capable of doing.

Much to Connie's surprise, Steven slowly tried to stand up, using the side of the tent to keep his balance. After getting on his feet, he let go of the wall to see if he could stand up. Steven stumbled for a second before regaining his balance, and smiled. He looked at Connie, who was staring at him with a surprised look on her face.

"I (cough) really want to walk around town and see how everyone is."

"Are you sure you're up for it?" Connie asked, still concerned about his condition.

"Yeah!" Steven replied, excited about the prospect of finally leaving the tent and seeing his friends. As he and Connie were about to leave the tent, they ran into Greg and Amethyst. Steven realized who was standing before him, and stars appeared in his eyes.

"Amethyst!" Steven said enthusiastically, "you're back!"

Amethyst looked over the injured boy for a second before giving him a nervous smile.

"Heyyyy…buddy. How're ya feeling?" Amethyst asked, looking down at Steven's bandaged arm.

"Better," Steven replied. He followed Amethyst's gaze to his arm. "It hurts less than (cough) it did earlier."

At this, Greg decided to chime in. "Hey, shtoo-ball." He walked over to his son and put a hand on his forehead. "Hey, dad!" Steven replied as Greg checked his temperature. After a few seconds, Greg took his hand away. His temperature had gone down, and he looked much better than he had the day before. Greg briefly wondered if Steven's gem was making him heal faster. Greg looked over at Amethyst and Connie, who were busy discussing the events of the last few days. Greg looked back down at Steven, who was looking up at him with a bright smile. Greg couldn't help but smile as well. Steven's optimism never ceased to inspire him.

After a minute, Connie finished detailing the events of the past few days to Amethyst, who turned to Steven.

"We should probably go check out the temple. I want to make sure that jerk didn't break any of my junk."

"Can I come too?" Connie asked. She always enjoyed seeing magical things with Steven, even if they were somewhat dangerous.

"Sure," Steven replied. He turned to his dad. "You should come. We could use your help."

Greg rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the trio. "I think I better stay and clean up the car wash. Besides, I don't know much about gem stuff. I'd probably get in the way." Steven gave his dad a nod before turning and walking out of the tent. Amethyst and Connie looked at one another before following Steven, leaving Greg alone in the makeshift dwelling.

Outside the tent, Steven was waiting for Connie and Amethyst. When they exited the tent, Steven smiled at them, and the three began walking side-by-side towards the ruins of Steven's house.

As they walked, Steven turned his attention to Amethyst, who was preoccupied by the state of the temple. "Amethyst?" Steven began. The purple gem looked at him, noticing the look of concern on his face.

"Do you think (cough) the gem is gone? What did it want with us?"

Amethyst sighed. She had been wondering the same thing. "I don't know." she answered. "But I have a feeling that we haven't seen the last of it."

The trio stopped in front of the remains of the beach house, which had been crushed by the temple's head.

"Uh, how are we going to get to the temple with that in the way?" Steven asked. He and Connie moved towards the rubble and began to look for a way inside. Amethyst stayed where she was, looking at the massive pile of wood and rock. Once again, she did not have a good answer for his question. Amethyst really wished that Garnet was here. Sugilite would be able to move the rubble without breaking a sweat. Alone, Amethyst didn't think she could move this much rock, even if she shape-shifted.

At that moment, someone behind her let out an exasperated sigh.

"Oooh, look at this mess! The face of the temple fell off! And Steven's room got crushed. I hope that the warp pad is still operational."

Amethyst whirled around to see Pearl standing behind her, looking up at the faceless temple.

"Yo, P!" Amethyst exclaimed.

Pearl looked down and saw Amethyst was right in front of her. She had been so preoccupied with the damage to the temple that she hadn't noticed the purple gem.

"Amethyst, there you are. Have you seen Steven? I can't find him anywhere."

"He and Connie are looking to see if they can get into the temple. We can't get past this hunk of rock." As if on cue, the pair in question appeared from behind the massive pile of debris.

"There's no way to get inside," Connie stated as she and Steven walked towards Amethyst. Steven, who had been focused on what Connie had to say, gasped when he say the white gem beside Amethyst. He broke out into a wide smile.

"Pearl!"

Pearl turned towards her wounded charge, and gasped. "Steven!" She rushed over and picked him up. "Oh no! Are you okay! Oh, we should have never let you stay and fight. That gem was way too dangerous! You should have left with the other humans. And look at you now! Does anything hurt? Can you see clearly? We need to get you to a doctor! I swear if that..."

"Pearl!" Steven cut her off before giving her warm smile. "I'm fine. Really. Connie's mom already patched me up. I'll be okay (cough)." Pearl gave him a concerned look before putting him down. She looked at the pile of rubble in front of her.

"Alright," she began, "we need to find a way inside the temple."

"Okay," Steven responded. "How about Connie and I keep looking around the left side of the rubble…while you and (cough) Amethyst go around the other side, so we can cover more ground. Pearl and Amethyst nodded and started walking towards the other side of the temple. Steven looked at Connie, who gave him a nod, and the pair resumed their search.

Pearl and Amethyst walked around the temple for a few minutes before Pearl stopped and examined a certain spot in the rubble.

"If we exert enough force to this exact point," Pearl stated, motioning to a small indentation in the rock, "we might be able to create an opening." Both gems summoned their weapons and, at Pearl's signal, stuck the spot with remarkable force. However, the combined might of the two gem warriors did little more than chip the rock face.

"Nice try, P," Amethyst said sarcastically. Pearl shot her a dirty look before continuing her search.

An hour later, Connie and Steven still hadn't found a way inside. The gems had given up their search as hopeless a while earlier, and decided to head back to the tent in order to discuss their current situation. Connie and Steven continued to scour the side of the temple, looking high and low for any sign of a weak point in the rock. Connie had even climbed on top of some of the wreckage to search for openings; this also proved to be futile. Steven wanted to conduct a more thorough search of the rubble, but Connie dissuaded him. She doubted that they would find anything, and didn't want to risk Steven injuring himself further. Instead, the pair decided to go find the gems and report their lack of progress.

The two walked leisurely down the beach, Connie a few paces ahead of Steven, talking and joking about various shows and books.

"Yeah!" Steven said. "I've watched a few episodes of Canine Court, but not many (cough). Sadie really loves the show, though."

"I watch the new episodes when they air," Connie continued. "Still, it's not nearly as good as Under the Knife. I can't wait for the season premiere next week! Can I come over and watch it?" Steven didn't respond.

"Steven?"

Connie turned around to find Steven collapsed in the sand.