And, here we go! (This was pretty hard to write...) AND YES CONNIE AND STEVEN WILL BE FRIENDS LATER ON EVEN THOUGH THIS IS GOING A BIT SLOWER.
EDIT: Woop! Longest chapter I've made on this story with 3,649 words! (Not counting the authors note)
Connie sat up form the couch, she needed to get back home. Steven knew this and said,
"You can go." He regretted not making much progress with her as friends and half wished he could just do the same thing he did back then. Connie nodded, sitting up and opening the door.
"Oh right, my name is Connie." She said.
"Steven." He responded with a grin. As she left out the door Steven sat down, sighing, maybe he could hang out with Connie some other time, he could invite her to watch dog copter coming out in a few months.. He didn't want to wait that long though...He could just call her up like last time and hang out with her, but she hardly knows him, she'd think he was weird for calling her just based off some random greeting.
He glanced over to the far wall, seeing the robonoid there brought back bad memories, if only he'd been able to catch Peridot that one time...Then maybe...Just maybe things could have turned out different, I mean, how else could he have transported back in time? It must have been Peridot...Right? If not then...Who else knew about him and the crystal gems? Maybe homeworld kept a document on them or something and rumors went around..But still...Could they really transport him back in time from that far away? And why not the others? It was pretty obvious they weren't transported, as they still acted the same as a few years ago. So why him? Did it have something to do with..His mother perhaps?
But still..If they were aiming for Rose why then? Why not a thousand years ago at the war? Or sooner than that? Why now? And why him? It all didn't add up, there weren't enough facts, and he didn't have the Crystal gems to help him through it...Unless...
No, he shook the thought from his mind, he couldn't risk telling them and getting them in danger before the actual danger arrives once again. He didn't even know if the foe behind this was even aiming for him in the first place, it could have been a mistake, but even then there were so many different things this time around, so many different occurrences, like Centipeedle in his backpack, that weird gem on the end of the string, that place under the Sea spire, although many of the same things happened to, but, they shouldn't have...So...Why? Steven shook the thoughts from his head, laughing when Centipeedle rolled over.
It was too bad Centipeedle couldn't be friends with him back then...Or..I guess you could say in the future, just not this one. And now that he thought about it, most of the friends, or at least allies he made never worked out in the end, Centipeedle, Lapis, heck, even the Crystal gems he could never seem to please, Pearl always missed Rose, and Steven was getting the suspicion that she wanted Rose over him, Amethyst he could never seem to be a real friend with because she acted like she was his sister, and could never take the responsibility of being real friends with him, she never goes into detail about herself, and when she does she has a breakdown over why she couldn't be different, and while he appreciated her and they were good "friends" Amethyst could just never compare to a real friend, but to be honest, what actual friend did Steven even have? He guessed it was only Connie. Was that what he was comparing Amethyst to, just Connie? And Amethyst was really a very good friend and he just didn't see it cause she was his "guardian?" Garnet was completely out of the question, she was more of a mom than anything, but Steven never had exposure to a real mom, so he couldn't say much about Garnet himself, especially since she kept herself and life so secretive, just like his real mom. Or at least, Pearl and the others had said when they found her scabbard and Lion.
Actually, the Crystal gems themselves didn't have any friends either. Well unless you count Amethyst and Vidalia. Pearl and Amethyst were always at each others throats. Pearl and Garnet were only friends because they had to be to keep the team together, Amethyst and Garnet never really got along for their own reasons, the team was never really personally close, they just had to be for Steven. Ruby and Sapphire were the only close ones in the group, the only ones willing to be in a romantic relationship, and even then they still fought almost 24/7.
"Steven." Garnet called as she warped in the home, Steven was busy reading a new comic he'd seen in the stores, he'd already read it five times over, but that didn't stop him. Steven was clueless why she was calling him, what was it this time again? After he met Connie last time what was he supposed to do...? He couldn't remember so he gestured for Garnet to continue as he continued reading his wide eyes told her he was only slightly listening, but went on anyway.
"This is going to be one of your first serious missions." Garnet said, oh...That's what this was about. Of course this time it wasn't his first, he had changed the timeline, now he had been on a few more serious missions than before, he had gone to the island this time around so that was his first real serious mission, unless you counted the Frybo incident. Stevens eyes went starry as he no longer paid attention to his comic. He rushed over to the warp pad as the other two gems came out of their rooms. He had a huge grin on his face as Garnet warped them to their specific destination. He giggled as he felt gravity release its grip in the warp stream, he hadn't used it in so long it was refreshing to finally be able to use it once again. He realized he had forgotten his ukulele! The ghost of a frown appeared on his face, before replaced by another playful grin as he cheered, doing back flips in the warp.
"Steven your gonna-" Pearls voice was cut off as the warp ended and they appeared at the strawberry battlefield. Steven gaped for just a second before gravity set in again, he got a face full of strawberry goo. He tried to stifle a laugh to avoid getting a mouth full of strawberry but couldn't help it. Pearl went over to him and narrowed her eyes at him. "Steven you need to be more careful you could've been hurt!" Pearl said, scolding him. Steven knew better than anyone about that, especially after accidentally sticking his head out of the warp and seeing the warp pad go off somewhere else, but at least he had been warned about Peridot that time. He realized he'd been thinking a lot about Peridot these past few days and was pretty thankful none of the gems could read minds, or at least, he was pretty sure, but he could never be sure with Garnet.
"I know I know." He said waving it off, but felt something hit his hand when he did, "Ah!" He cried when the butterflies started getting in his eyes and around his face, being attracted by the sent of strawberry jam, "Ah their in my eyes~!" He cried, running straight into Garnet who simply waved her hand and they flew off.
"Their just butterflies Steven." She said. Steven laughed nervously at that. Garnet gave him a small smile he sworn was from Sapphire. It had that kind of feel to it. Garnet shook the rest of the jam off as she took Stevens hand protectively. Pearl and Amethyst followed them, Amethyst wasn't paying attention to it though she was busy scanning the strawberries and wondering if they'd be safe to eat, she reached over at one by Pearls foot and she gave her a glare.
"Amethyst don't even think about it." Pearl said.
"Aw c'mon their right there!" Amethyst whined. She reached for it again only to have her hand slapped away by Pearl.
"Amethyst this is serious try to be a little more mature." Pearl scolded. Amethyst sighed
"Ugh your no fun anymore." She murmured glumly. They continued their trek through the strawberry field.
"So many strawberries..They just go on as far as the eye can see! Oh that's what I love about the Earth!" Pearl said, gaping at the pink and read colored fields, Pearl was right though, it was beautiful...
"Oh, but Pearl we need to be more mature ~!" Amethyst mocked. "This is serious Pearl! We can't gape at the delicious beautiful strawberries cause we can't have fun!" She continued, Pearl rolled her eyes.
"It's different! Rose fought for the beauty of the Earth! Not to eat over half of what she fought for!" Pearl said.
"Oh Rose Rose Rose!" Amethyst said, rolling her eyes. "You know your not the only one who misses her! Your just blinded by your love for Rose I bet you wouldn't even care if I ate out the Earth if it wasn't for her!" Amethyst said, Pearl felt her temper rise.
"STOP" Garnet yelled. "We're on a serious mission if you two don't shut up I'm sending you both home and I'll do this mission alone!" Garnet said, then frowned and looked at Steven, "And with Steven of course."
"Absolutely not!" Pearl cried, but shrunk at the fact that Garnet was still their leader. "Steven can't go in with only you watching him, Garnet let's be sensible with this." She said.
"Steven will be fine with me, the only thing I'm worried about is if YOU are ready for this mission." She pointed to Pearl and Amethyst who looked away from each other and blushed.
"Fine. Let's just finish the mission and bring Steven back safe." Pearl and Amethyst nodded at each other, making a temporary truce. Garnet walked on with or without them, not even turning around to see if they were following. Pearl and Amethyst ran to catch up to her, Steven stayed quiet.
The rest of the trek was silent, until they saw the large diamond shaped thing. There was no clear way to describe it, but it gave off a mysterious vibe.
"This is it." Garnet said. Steven nodded. He looked around as Garnet pulled him inside, Steven glanced at the inscriptions on the wall.
"Stevens the best~!" Steven yelled as his screams echoed through the structure. "Stevens the best..The best...Best..." Steven grinned. "Why thank you temple." He said, doing a silly stance acting flattered.
"Woo go Steven! My turn!" Amethyst cried, hearing her own echos, "Pearl sucks!" Amethyst cried, hearing it echo. "The temple speaks the truth P." Amethyst grinned as Pearl rolled her eyes.
Steven glanced over the hieroglyphics, he saw a very familiar figure. It was Rose battling a huge gem about her size. "Who..." Steven trailed off, his eyes glassy and expectant.
"Good question Steven!" Pearl began. "This very spot was once a battlefield where the first battles for Earth took place, but even now we don't know what this structure is doing here, we're here to retrieve the gem that powers it and learn more about this structure and where it came from!" Pearl said in her know-it-all voice.
"Yeah, what Pearl said." Amethyst said in her I-know-just-as-much-as-Pearl voice. "Except..." Amethyst trailed off, she was never really in the war, sure she fought in it, but around that time she never really killed many gems, and she never had a true goal or side she wanted to win, she always felt sick when one of her own kind died and couldn't handle fighting against the side that made her. She wouldn't be ALIVE if it weren't for homeworld and she knew it. If only she could've stopped the war then none of this would've happened, there wouldn't be swords and weapons all engulfed in the ground, there wouldn't be broken gems and shards all strewn along the Earth.
None of the gems realized until too late that Amethyst had bumped straight into the small triangle on the platform in the center of the structure, gravity suddenly collapsed in and everything went black for a second. Steven felt a hand pull him up and realized it was Garnet, who was holding the wall and created a large indent where gravity had taken hold, her gauntlets slid down the wall, making the indent longer as large chunks of rock fell down, Steven grabbed Pearls shirt as Pearl got out her spear, Amethyst took out her whip and tied it around Pearls spear, gravity began the pull harder as they began lifting up with Pearl and Amethyst about to be sucked it, Steven held his grip as gravity began to pull harder, Garnet pulled herself down to the floor, clamping her gauntlets on the floor tightly as Steven held onto her shoulders, Pearl help on to Stevens legs and kept her spear out, she felt Amethysts whip loosen on it and she was slowly pulled away from them.
"Amethyst! Hold on!" Pearl screamed, looking from the purple gem to Steven, she let go of Stevens legs as she reached for Amethyst to try and pull her down.
They fell through the hole in the ceiling as gravity turned and twisted until they were right side up again, Pearl landed gracefully on the floor, with her toes on the ground ballet style. She opened her eyes to see Amethyst face first on the ground and twitching. She gasped as she sat up.
"Ow." She said, "Why did you-"
"That doesn't matter we need to get back up there." Pearl said dodging the question, Amethyst was her teammate and that was priority she had to no matter what, if she'd left Amethyst to die down there she would have failed the team, that was all. Nothing more than because Amethyst was a team member and Pearl was almost sure Amethyst would have done the same...Almost.
"Hey Pearl..." Amethyst began, she couldn't take it anymore she had been playing it off like everything was okay but Steven was just acting too weird. "Have you noticed anything weird with Steven..?" Pearl was shocked by this.
"W-what?!" She cried, getting nervous. Of course she had! But mostly she'd tried to ignore it. "W-well..." She trailed off, biting her lip. "O-of course. He just isn't the same you know." Pearl didn't even realize they'd begun walking. "Every move we make, it's always already expected of him! He's no longer his old self it's like he grew up in a second and we didn't even realize he was already an adult, it's scary." Pearl admitted. Amethyst nodded.
"It's obvious Garnet notices too...But I wonder.." Amethyst trailed off. Pearl glanced over at her.
"Wonder what?" She asked, but she was cut off when suddenly a loud sound was heard, they turned around, noticing they had walked into one of the doorways and it had shut on them. Pearl and Amethyst drew their weapons. Torches were lit along the hallway revealing a blank hallway, Pearl stepped forward cautiously and the tile underneath her began to lower, she withdrew her foot and it remained to its previous spot, a rumbling was heard and the roof began to cave in. Pearl chopped a boulder in half that was about to hit Amethyst, Amethyst threw her whip around Pearls waist, grabbing the end and tugging her forward, Amethyst looked behind her to see the tile she had been standing on had fell down into an inky black abyss.
"Thanks." They both said simultaneously as they ran into the next hallway. Amethysts whip disintegrated as she pulled another one out, giving Pearl some more breathing space (Even though she technically didn't need to breathe, but you get the point)
"Amethyst..."
"Run."
They saw the large boulder sliding down the ramp at the same time, Amethyst was nearly crushed, but barely dodged, Pearl took the chance to take out her spear and cut at the round boulder, all it did was leave a scratch and a newly broken spear stuck in the large indent. Even though she didn't need to Amethyst gave herself a break gasping as adrenaline rushed through her veins. She felt so hungry, she guessed it was true what Pearl had said,
"If you eat to much you'll start to feel the need for it." Amethyst was starting to see the truth in that. She slumped down the wall, maybe it was true for sleeping too. Pearl rolled her eyes.
"Amethyst.." She began, but realized Amethyst had already gotten up and was heading through to next doorway, admittedly her posture was a little- No this isn't the time for that, Pearl scolded herself.
"Amethyst wait!" Pearl cried trying to catch up to her and realized she had stopped in the next doorway, almost, shaking? Amethyst turned to Pearl, her eyes wide, she pointed at the next room. It was the one they had just come from, the big main room they had fallen in!
"We're...We're back here..." Pearl whispered falling on her knees. "Oh come on!" She cried.
"Oh come on!" Steven cried as he pounded on the walls. "How are we gonna-' He was cut off as Garnet pounded her head on the walls, gritting her teeth. Inside Ruby and Sapphire were in turmoil, arguing on what to do next. She felt like screaming, her head was pounding, she drew her gauntlets punching the wall.
"G-Garnet?" Steven cried, backing up, fear built up in his eyes, swimming around flushing out every other emotion. Garnet turned around her teeth still gritting, but she relaxed noticeably when she saw Steven
"I-It's alright." She said stuttering, Steven had hardly ever heard Garnet stuttering, he hugged her leg.
"Don't worry everything's fine, everything's alright." Steven said, burying his face in her leg.
"Alright first we need to find Amethyst and Pearl- No we need to wait...Wait..But..What if they're.." Garnet kept changing plans, Ruby wanted to take action in case they were in trouble, Sapphire wanted to wait it out to avoid getting Steven hurt in unknown territory.
"It's okay! We can go in after them! I-I'll be fine!" Steven said, Garnet was tempted to argue, but the pounding in her head said otherwise.
Garnet touched the triangle just as Amethyst had, once again gravity failed and they were sucked in.
Pearl was just about to go into another doorway when they heard a soft, "Ow."
"Amethyst-" She was cut off when she saw Garnet and Steven, Steven rested in Garnets lap as she fell down, catching him swiftly.
"Steven!" Amethyst and Pearl cried.
"And Garnet." Garnet said stoically, but Amethyst and Pearl were already helping them up.
"Right Garnet, why are you here?" Pearl asked.
"Because I wasn't just going to leave you here alone." Garnet half lied, Sapphire would, but Ruby was the one refusing to sit and do nothing when half of the team was in danger.
"Yeah we're a team!" He said, grinning. He felt sick again, just like before, he felt sweat appear on his face. "I fell like the room is spinning.." He said, feeling nauseous, the flashback of the ride at fun land appeared in his head.
When Steven woke up Garnet Amethyst and Pearl were all outside the structure, Garnet held him in her hands, and bubbled the gem artifact.
"H-how.." He trailed off.
"When you said you felt the room spinning I punched the floor, it really was spinning and I grabbed the artifact from within the structure." Garnet ruffled his hair. "Good job Steven." She congratulated. Steven grinned.
"Woo!" He cried, "Uh could you put me down?" He asked, Garnet set the boy down and he did a little dance ending in a heroic position. "I saved the day!" He grinned. The group smiled.
Of course though. This wouldn't be the last time he saved the day...
Yay for super long chapter! I had to cut some stuff down just because this ended up being super long, and I didn't feel like creating a two parter that was only like 500 words long, it wasn't worth it. But yeah a little spoiler Connie may or may not come back in the "Beach Party" episode so look forward to that! At least I plan that, I also plan a new arc that I came up with in my head while eating soup! It's gonna be a gem arc, but I plan on it being mostly backstory. So I hope you look forward to that! And if you have any suggestions or ideas now's about the time to put them in cause I'm running out of time to plan in any special arcs or events before the big climax change! (Which may or may not be coming in a huge episode I'm sure a lot of you love.)