Future Vision

Steven looked around at the other three gems standing on the warp pad before letting out a yawn. Despite having been asleep for the better part of the last week, the young gem felt weary from the events of the past few hours. Running from deadly magical plants was incredibly strenuous. Still, he was glad that his gem was repaired, and that he and the gems had managed to escape the aggressive vines. The young gem couldn't help but be upset at the destruction of his mom's fountain. Though he had never met her, Steven had felt her presence at the fountain, as if she had been watching over him.

Steven turned his attention back to Garnet, whose shoulder he was currently sitting on. The red gem seemed distant, as if something was on her mind.

"Hey Garnet. What'cha thinking about?" The tall gem looked over at the boy sitting on her shoulder, and smiled. Being careful not to touch his injured arm, Garnet picked Steven up and gently set him down on the warp pad before answering his question.

"What lies ahead of us, Steven."

Stars shone in Steven's eyes. "Are you using future vision?" the young gem inquired excitedly. "What do you see? What's the future look like?"

"Yes, Steven, I am. And I see many potential futures."

"Do you see any good futures?" Steven asked. "Will everything turn out okay?"

Garnet paused for a moment and adjusted her shades, carefully considering how to answer Steven's question. After a few seconds, the red gem responded.

"Everything will be fine as long as you're here." Garnet gave the young gem another grin. "Now, you should go find Greg and your friends."

"Okay," Steven replied before turning and taking off down the beach. Garnet watched as the young boy made his way to the group of tents in the sand.

The three remaining gems didn't move for another minute. Finally Pearl turned and looked up at her stoic leader.

"Did you really mean what you told Steven? Is everything really going to be okay?"

Garnet continued to look out over the beach and the group of tents.

"I don't know, Pearl."

Further down the beach, Steven was slowly making his way through the group of tents. As he strolled through the sand, Steven hummed the Cookie Cat jingle to himself. He was excited to see his dad again. The young boy hated making his friends worry, and was eager to let everyone know that he was better now. Or, at least, his gem was better. Overall, Steven's day had been fairly hectic.

"Man," Steven thought to himself, "I'd really like to take a nap right now. If only my room hadn't been destroyed. I wonder what happened to Sir Bearrington. Still, I should go find my friends first."

When Steven finally reached his tent, he stopped to catch his breathe. Excited to see his dad and Connie again, Steven smiled broadly and made his way into the makeshift structure, only to find it deserted. Steven looked around the empty dwelling, wondering where everyone had gone. After a minute, Steven realized that his dad was probably at the car wash. Looking around one more time to make sure he didn't leave anything he needed, the young gem turned to leave. As he exited the tent, he ran headlong into Lars, causing the two to fall into the sand. Landing on his injured arm, Steven sat up and rubbed it in an attempt to alleviate the pain.

"Hey watch where you're walking, you…" Lars began before realizing who he was talking to. Steven looked up at the frustrated teen, and stars appeared in his eyes.

"Lars! Hey!" Steven said exuberantly.

The teen looked over at the injured boy, and winced. Quickly, Lars got up and helped Steven to his feet.

"Hey, Steven, how's it hanging?"

"It's going well. We fixed my gem." Steven looked over at the boardwalk. "And it looks like you guys are fixing up the town."

Lars followed Steven's gaze, watching the residents work to repair the destroyed city.

"Yeah, we've been working on it. I've got nothing better to do, since I'm out of a job."

A sad expression came to Steven's face. "I'm sorry the Big Donut was destroyed. Maybe if I had done a better job protecting the town, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"It's no big deal," Lars replied, looking down at the sad boy. He couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Steven. The kid had been through a lot in the past week. "We can fix the town. Everyone's just glad that you're not…ya know"

The pair stood in silence for a minute until Steven spoke up.

"So…how's Sadie?"

"She's doing okay," Lars replied, shifting his position. "She's been really worried about you." You should go find her and let her know you're cool."

Steven nodded in understanding.

"Okay, I will. Bye!"

At that, Steven turned and began walking briskly towards the boardwalk. Now he had another person to find. Not wanting to keep anyone worrying, Steven quickened his pace up the beach. Though he was shaken from his earlier near-death experiences with the magic vines and the crack in his gem, Steven still managed to reach the boardwalk in good time. Quickly shaking the sand out of his flip-flops, Steven looked around for any sign of his dad.

The town was in much better shape than it had been a few days ago. Many of the buildings had been mostly rebuilt. The rubble on the road had been fully cleared, and cars were driving through the town, carrying supplies and tools to the busy residents, who were working diligently to fix up their ruined city.

"Hey!" a voice called out. Steven turned to find Peedee behind the counter at Beach Citywalk Fries. Steven smiled at the sight of his friend, and he walked over to the window.

"Hey Peedee!"

"Hey Steven!" the blonde boy replied. "It's good to see you out and about. Wait here for a sec, okay?" At that Peedee disappeared into the shop. A minute later, he returned to the counter carrying a brown paper bag and handed it to Steven. The young gem looked inside the bag, and his smile widened.

"Fry bits? Thanks!" Steven grabbed a handful and shoved them in his mouth. It had been way too long since he had eaten fry bits. He could always count on Peedee.

"How's Ronaldo?" Steven asked. "I bet he was excited by all this weird stuff." Peedee turned around and looked into the back of the shop, where Ronaldo was busy typing away at his computer.

"Actually, he was pretty freaked out at first. He got over it though, and he's been working on his blog since we fixed up the shop."

Steven smiled again before turning and looking down the street.

"Well, I should get going. I need to go find dad and Connie and Sadie. See ya, Peedee!" Steven turned and began walking towards the car wash.

"Bye, Steven," Peedee replied, waving to the young gem.

As Steven made his way towards the car wash, he happily munched on the bag of fry bits and looked around at the residents, who were working to make repairs. It was heartening to see everyone working together to rebuild the city. Watching Beach City being restored gave Steven the feeling that everything was going to be okay. Of course, Steven knew that it was going to turn out alright. After all, that was what Garnet had told him.

Finally, Steven reached the driveway leading up to the car wash. Closing the bag of fry bits, Steven quickly jogged to the car wash. As he approached the structure, Steven could hear voices emanating from inside the carwash tunnel.

"…Yeah, violin has been going pretty well. Overall, my summer hadn't been very interesting up until this last week. All this magic stuff has been crazy. I hope Steven's alright."

"Yeah, me too. It's been pretty rough the last few days. No one had any idea that the gem was coming. I don't even think Garnet, Amethyst, or Pearl knew. Hey, could you hold this for a second? Thanks."

When Steven entered the tunnel, he found Connie helping his dad repair some of the equipment. The two were thoroughly focused on the task at hand; as a result, they failed to notice the young gem approaching them.

"Dad! Connie!"

The two turned to find Steven standing at the entrance to the carwash tunnel with a bright smile on his face, waving to them as he approached. Greg and Connie both immediately dropped what they were doing and ran over to the injured boy. Being careful not to hurt his arm, Connie pulled Steven into a big hug, which he returned to the best of his ability. Greg joined the group hug, and for a minute no one moved. Finally, Greg and Connie let go of Steven and backed up, looking him over. Connie looked Steven over. He seemed to be in much better health than he had been earlier that morning.

"You're back!" Connie exclaimed. "Did everything go well?"

"Yeah!" Steven responded. "I'm better now, I think," Steven said, looking down at his injured arm. "Well, at least my gem is."

"That's great, kiddo," Greg chimed in. "You had me worried."

"Sorry, dad," Steven replied.

"It's okay. I'm just glad you're safe." Greg turned and looked out of the carwash tunnel before returning his gaze to his son. "We were going to finish these repairs, and then go help the other take down some of the tents on the beach. Do you feel up to lending a hand?"

"Yeah!" Steven replied enthusiastically. Greg and Connie returned to fixing the wash, now joined by Steven. As the trio worked, they talked about the state of the town, Steven's recent harrowing adventure, and the new Dogcopter movie that was coming out. After half an hour, Greg closed the panel he was working on and put away his tools.

"That should do it," he said. "We'll have to test it when we get back."

"Let's go then," Connie chimed in. With that, the three began walking towards the beach.

As the trio strolled down the boardwalk, Connie and Greg detailed the events that had transpired while Steven was unconscious. Occasionally, Steven would interject or ask them to clarify something. The group stopped briefly at the Big Donut to see if Sadie was there, but she was nowhere to be found. After their detour, the group continued their trek towards the beach.

When they finally arrived at the edge of the beach, the trio was greeted by Kofi and Mr. Smiley, who were working to take down some of the tents. Some of the residents had managed to fix up their homes, and had moved away from the beach. Since the makeshift structures had been deserted, the residents had decided to deconstruct them and salvage the materials for use in restoring the town. After initial greetings were exchanged, the group got to working breaking down some of the structures.

After working for a few minutes, Steven was startled by a voice behind him.

"Yo, Stee-man! What's up?"

The young gem turned to find Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl watching the group as they worked.

"Hey, guys!" Steven said. "You wanna help us take these down? We could use the extra hands." Steven held up his injured arm. "I only have one to lend."

"No," Garnet responded. "Actually, we have something important we need to take care of. Do you know where the laser light cannons are?"

Steven stopped and thought about Garnet's question for a minute before shaking his head. "Nope. Do you think they were buried in the rubble?" the young gem asked.

"Actually," Greg started, getting up and wiping his hands off on his shirt, "I know where they are. After the last invasion, I moved them back into the storage shed. I didn't think we'd need them so soon. Steven and I will go get the van and grab them. We'll be back soon." Motioning for Steven to follow him, Greg began walking up the beach towards the car wash, closely followed by his injured son.

As the pair walked through the sand, Steven looked over at his dad. The young gem could tell that his dad was concerned by the gems' cryptic request.

"Are you okay, dad?" Steven inquired, a look of concern on his face.

"Yeah," Greg replied. "I'm just concerned about the gems needing the cannons. Why do you think they need them? Is the Homeworld gem coming back? Are we safe?"

Steven looked down at his sandals; he was wondering the same thing.

"I don't know, dad."