Yet another magical friend Steven can be-friend! Also I added more dialogue to this than was originally in the episode just because I thought it fit, no real reason other than that. And I saved this document I swear, but apparently FANFICTON WANTS TO DELETE IT ANYWAY.
EDIT: Happy early chapter because...Uh...I honestly have no idea why!
"It's so hot..." Steven groaned as the sun beat down on his skin. He drank some water he had remembered to get this time around. He looked around, they needed to find the desert thingy right? It was a pillow with a gem in the center if he remembered right. He walked in the desert collapsing under the heat.
"Steven its not that hot." Pearl said. Steven groaned.
"You don't..understand." He said trying to sound tired. "This is how you're supposed to act...In the desert..." He gasped as he took a mouthful of water. Pearl rolled her eyes.
"Come on get off the ground your gonna get your shirt messed up." She said, wiping dust off of his shirt as he got up.
"Oh c'mon P. it's just a little sand~!" She said as she pushed her down a sand dune, Amethyst grinned as she slid down it next to her, kicking up another dust cloud around them both.
Garnet picked them both up and stood them up. "Now is not the time to be playing." She said as she walked further into the desert.
"Steven you stay here where it seems to be safe." Pearl said as she walked.
"But I wanna help!" He cried, but instantly he realized he'd meet Lion here and hoped they'd say no.
"Not yet Steven you've only pulled your weapon...er...Shield out once you still need to learn to use it." Pearl said finally turning around with a hand on her hip. She drew her weapon and cut down a sand pillar that stood behind her that had just formed. "We still don't even know if you have all the powers normal gems do in your gem." Pearl said gesturing to his gem, she withdrew her spear as it turned into sparkly dust and faded. Garnet put a hand on Pearls shoulder.
"Come on, we shouldn't waste time." Garnet stated as she nudged Pearl forward, Pearl nodded and turned back to the desert.
"Don't move from that spot!" Pearl called, Steven heard Pearl and Amethyst have a short argument a ways away. Steven sighed.
'But, I know how to summon my weapon...I summoned it three times in one day just before I went back in time...' He thought as he wiped sweat off his face with his shirt. Steven slumped down on the pillar feeling unreasonably tired. He closed his eyes as he felt himself drift into sleep...Well before he heard a low growl.
His eyes snapped open and he sat up, the crystal gems weren't around so he could say just about anything about anything, even call for Lion that they didn't know about yet.
"Lion?" He called. The low growl stopped. Steven looked around for a tuft of pink fur anywhere, or a big pink paw. He saw the glow of Lions eyes and grinned running over to it, he felt like crying he hadn't seen Lion in forever. "Lion!" He called he buried his face in the pink fur, nearly slipping through his mane and laughing. "Oh..That's right you don't remember me do you?" He asked, still smiling, he patted the lion on its nose. It lied on the ground, not even stopping to make a spot for himself or just to lie down without potentially messing up his mane, he just plopped on the ground. He ruffled its fur. He wondered if anything he'd left in its mane was still there, it was its own pocket dimension so maybe it wasn't affected by the time change. He slowly lifted his hand and placed it on the lion's mane giving it a second to glow and sink into the mane. He slowly began to step forward, stars grew in his eyes as the light danced against the shadows on his skin making the scene look truly mystical he took another step-
"Oh my gosh- STEVEN!" He heard Pearls voice calling, he snapped his head sideways and saw Pearl there, her weapon drawn, the rest of the gems came running in as well, drawing their weapons, Pearl was the first to strike, blasting a bolt of energy at Lion, making it skid back, it growled, getting in defense/offence position.
"WAIT~!" Steven cried, but his yells were on deaf ears as they attacked Lion, the Lion shot sound beams and roars at them that rippled space. Steven jumped on top of lion, sitting on him and drawing his shield ready to defend the Lion, he had a defensive look on his face similar to the one Pearl always gave him if she saw Lars picking on him.
"Steven what are you doing?!" Pearl cried, Steven yelled back,
"Protecting Lion! He didn't even try to hurt me hes just a lovable creature like...Like centipeedle!" It was true the centipeedle had helped them on missions tons of times, but how could Steven be so sure the lion wasn't dangerous?
"Steven..You don't know that!" Pearl cried.
'I know a lot more than you think I know...' He thought, temped to scream that back at her. Steven jumped off Lion and received a gasp of relief from Pearl, he kept his head down, then threw his shield on the ground which soon disintegrated.
Now, completely harmless and defenseless he threw his arms out and spread his legs, attempting to guard the Lion, he sent a glare straight at Pearl and looked her straight in the eyes.
"If you want to hurt Lion you'll have to hurt me to!" He cried, not moving from his position, neither bringing out any sort of weapon. He knew they wouldn't hurt him.
Instantly he wavered, suddenly having doubts as Garnet stepped forward, brushing away Pearl she drew her gauntlets, staring him down, she kept her hands down at her sides.
"Steven." She said, sending chills down the young boys spine. She put her gauntlets on his shoulders staring him in the eyes. "I don't want to hurt you." She said, this made Steven shiver, but he stood his ground, sweat dripping down his face as his glare began to soften. He glanced back at Lion and stepped back form Garnet, setting his back against the lion's fur.
"Why do you want to hurt him so bad?" He cried. Garnet had to ponder this for a moment, of course they wanted to protect him, but were they willing to hurt an innocent creature just on paranoia? Garnet withdrew her weapons and sighed.
"Fine. But keep a close eye on him." She gave in.
"B-but Garnet-" Pearl whined.
"No arguing besides Steven can take care of a pet." Garnet finally said, she knew it was no use arguing with the boy in a time like this. Since when did he get so confident?
Steven sighed in relief, hugging the adorable pink creature. It yawned as it nearly fell on top of him, the lion quickly fell asleep as Steven saw his foot was underneath the lion. He tugged it out not even stirring the lion at all. "I'll name him Lion." He said confidently. Steven noticed Amethyst was holding the desert thing.
"Hey what's that?" Steven asked, pointing to it. Amethyst looked down.
"Ask Pearl I'm sure she can tell you a lot about the desert thingy." Amethyst tossed it to Pearl, Pearl just barely caught it.
"Amethyst you nearly got it on the sand!" Pearl shouted, "If you had it would have built all over again!" Pearl cried. Amethyst rolled her eyes. (Since I don't know the actual term for it and I've looked everywhere I can I'll just call it the desert fortress)
Steven sat in the house next to Centipeedle and Lion, he grinned, he was so happy to finally be able to have them as part of the crystal gems, Lion always was, but he was glad Centipeedle could this time to. He knew he wouldn't be able to train Lion like a dog like he had tried to previously, but it couldn't hurt to try again right? And maybe Centipeedle could help!
After thinking about this subject for a bit a thought crossed Stevens mind...What if he could heal Centipeedles corrupted gem? Steven looked at the Centipeedle for a moment, wondering what would happen if he tried healing it, it was similar to a cracked gem right? Did he still have healing spit or is it still gone since he traveled back in time...Steven tried it, making sure no one else was around, he licked his hand and touched Centipeedles pincer's it was sleeping, but becoming in contact with something woke it up, Steven saw something flicker inside the corrupted gems mouth, he peered in seeing its gem was flickering and glowing rapidly, Steven gasped, was he gonna be able to heal Centipeedle. His hoped soon fell when the glowing faded and Centipeedle still stood there, drooling acid all over the carpet. Steven sighed, maybe another time.
Steven rolled a ball over in his hands he wished Connie was here, then she could play catch with Lion too. He guessed she might be a Tennis practice today or tomorrow. (I'm guessing I honestly have no idea when Connie does Tennis, I have no idea what that girl does all day.) Steven sighed he looked over at the ocean wondering if Lapis had unfused yet. Connie should be heading home now the sun was just setting, Steven thought for a moment, so if there was another Lapis then was there a whole new set of Crystal gems too? Obviously that wasn't the Lapis from this timeline and if hes back in the past...Ugh this started to hurt his head...The only conclusion he came up with was he crossed over dimensions rather than simply transporting in time. That mean the time thingy wouldn't work (From Steven and the Steven's) unless it also warped to different dimensions...Warped...Wait..Could the warp pad work? It was a long shot, but... If he could then he could go back home!
Steven hopped onto the warp pad, Lion nudged his head on Steven's arm, Centipeedle did a little dance, it was obvious they both were curious as to what he was planning. He frowned, if he went back then he'd be leaving Centipeedle behind...The gems might even bubble it because no one could care for it...Steven patted it and looked down at the warp pad, he concentrated, now wasn't the time to think about that. He concentrated on warping and he felt the warp stream activate he smiled, hope filled his chest was he really going back?!
I know I'm evil for ending it off here, but you'll juts have to wait till next chapter to find out! Who knows I might be nice and send Steven back early...Or not...