A/N: I've been thinking about this for a while, and yesterday's episode gave me just enough context to turn it into a bona fide monologue!
Apparently seven days is a long time, because a lot has happened since the last update! More on that at the end of the chapter :)
Steven is the exception.
The word defines everything about him, it seems. Everyone makes exceptions for Steven. Rose gives up everything to be him. Amethyst shows him where she was made. Pearl learns that humans aren't so bad after all. Garnet shares her future vision with him.
Lapis Lazuli traps herself on a planet she detests, with a gem she detests. Voluntarily.
Peridot tells him what she knows about The Cluster.
Being the exception is not something Steven actively aspires to do; this is not a technique he practices. He simply just has to be. Steven is the exception because of everything he is (thoughtful, charming, half-magic on his mother's side) and everything he isn't (dangerous, mean, hard to be around). It's easy to trust him, or to see him as less of a threat than he really is.
Did the Crystal gems leave Steven alone with Peridot so that he could inadvertently soften her into giving them the information they need? Well, the thought certainly crossed Garnet's mind as they were warping out. She doesn't bank on it, but she can admit that it would certainly be nicer than trying to get at the information in the roundabout way the Crystal Gems usually have to do things.
Besides, she trusts Steven. He is intuitive and compassionate, and he knows as much as they do about the gravity of the situation. He will make the right decision.
Somehow, though, she just doesn't expect to See a potential future in which Steven and Peridot are attacked and ultimately hurt by rogue fusion experiments. Steven is a smart kid, but what in the world was he thinking? If she and Pearl and Amethyst hadn't gotten there when they did…
He's become so much bolder these days. When he first came to live with them, Steven never would have argued with Pearl about the warp stream, or outright defied the Crystal Gems by waltzing into the burning room and releasing Peridot from the bubble Garnet put her in. And now he's making executive decisions about field trips to the Kindergarten with a gem that literally kidnapped and held him hostage just the other day—a gem that, up until recently, would have killed him without a second thought.
Everyone makes exceptions for Steven, and Garnet knows she should trust his intuition—it hasn't failed him yet, and considering all they've been through this last year that's really saying something. He's growing older and more mature all the time, it's true, but Garnet still can't quite unsee the child with the missing tooth and the band-aid on his pudgy little cheek, singing to the Crystal Gems for the first time from the back of his father's van.
She knows all of this, but Steven doesn't seem to know how dangerous his increasingly long leaps of faith are becoming. He doesn't look, doesn't weigh his options, he just does it, and he doesn't seem to have much regard for how all of this will affect him in the end. Sometimes, protecting those who are important to you involves protecting them from themselves. When Garnet looks at Steven, she can know intellectually that he's so much stronger now than before and still be unable to quell the urge to defend and shelter him. It all happens in the same unnecessary breath.
Garnet doesn't lose. She doesn't lose games, or wars, or family members. Not anymore. Not again. She swore she would protect this child, but Steven is making it very hard to protect him when he does things like take Peridot to her base at the Kindergarten. That level of insubordination is—
No.
This isn't the rebellion. Steven isn't a subordinate, he is her son. He is a Crystal Gem. Garnet has no doubts that he understands how serious their situation is. She knows that he is trying to help—and also, that they wouldn't have ever figured out the true nature of the Cluster on their own. That Steven was able to befriend Peridot and access this information so quickly might actually be what saves them all. Giving him the space to do that was why they left him alone with Peridot to begin with, so why is she so conflicted about this? She gave him a task, however inadvertently, and he accomplished it—it was unorthodox, but it worked. That should all that matters.
Except it isn't, because what if Garnet and Amethyst and Pearl hadn't gotten there in time to poof the fusion experiments attacking him? What if Peridot had turned on him as soon as she had access to the control room in the Kindergarten? What if…
Garnet is proud of everything Steven is and everything he will become. She has faith in his intuition. She knows he's strong and capable. He is a Crystal Gem. But he's still her little boy, and it's scary when he acts like he doesn't realize anyone would grieve if something were to happen to him. Is wanting him to make choices that keep him safe so bad?
A/N: YOU MUST LOOK AT THE NEW ART RIGHT NOW GOGOGOGOGO! theladyforester [period] tumblr [DOTCOM] /search/united+I+stand+fanart (as always, replace the brackets with actual punctuation and take out the spaces first)
A huge, so-excited-I've-partially-electrocuted-myself-from-too-many-firing-neurons-that-doesn't-make-sense-but-let's-roll-with-it-anyway thank you to Rhinocio, Jen-iii, Spatial, and artemisraven/Entbala's Sole Confidant for the art! I can only bow down to the art prowess that each of you possess.
Announcement #2: the Unit 6 storyline has been fully transferred over to AO3 under the title Containment Unit 6, so for those of you who feel like rereading it without rereading ALL of UIS, you can now do that thing. :D Additionally, Tales From Unit 6 is also on AO3 now. :)
Announcement #3: Remember my continuity error with Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz? I know I never explicitly stated that Pink Diamond = Rose Quartz in the world of United I Stand because Garnet apparently meets Rose for the first time after escaping the cargo ship from Unit 6 in Chapter 10 (and how could she not recognize Pink Diamond if Sapphire already knows what all of them look like), but I think it's pretty obvious that I believe in the connection. Which means I have a huge screaming continuity error, no matter how much I try to deny it. Well, just between the 273 of us, fulgurite has actually come up with an entire rebellion-era Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz backstory that turns my continuity error into something that actually makes sense. So like... fanfiction for fanfiction? Either way, that's going to be coming out here in the next couple of weeks and I am MEGA STOKED to see how this turns out OH MY GOD WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING HOW ARE YOU PEOPLE SO NICE?!
Announcement #4: I am accepting Garnet-centric prompts for this story at the moment, so feel free to drop me a line either in the reviews or in a PM! :D