A/N: Happy Valentine's Day

Chapter 4: Entrance

What follows after Amethyst is able to climb back to the hall is a period of dumbstruck silence among every sentient being in the tower. All the unfamiliarity, and all the disturbed revulsion, drains them of any capability to form coherent thoughts. They can no longer tell the time, they can no longer read or write, they can no longer think rationally and patiently, they can no longer even feel. What remains of their humanity is locked away in their unconscious, and they can only stand blankly, catatonic. They stare with seemingly normal eyes at what they find familiar, reveling their static consciousness in what they already know, not daring to look away into the unknown.

In their catatonic state, it is decided that the Crystal Gems have the most authority among all of them, by being the most powerful. Classic act of nature. None of them spoke, they simply turned to the Gems for some kind of guidance, hesitatingly averting their gaze from their familiar friends. The Gems turn back at them, and change expression for the first time, with that of far greater uncertainty than when Rose Quartz gave her life for her son.

Steven is the first to regain his consciousness and looks to the Gems with a disquieting understanding of what he believes they must do. The other Gems silently agree, despite not knowing what Steven has in mind. They begin to walk down the hall, their footsteps being the only sound, and the other creatures begin to trail behind them, still in their trance. Like shepherds, the Gems lead everyone else down the tower.

They silently head to the lobby, no longer heeding their portals nor their home universes. Even in their hollowed state, they simply want explanations. Steven, understanding this, studies the map further, and pets Lion's mane as he walks next to him. They exit the halls, and head down the lobby, past the hotel rooms, and walk downstairs to the first floor. Steven looks around the tattered lobby and the map, and points to the back of the building. The ballroom is where Steven decides that they need to go. They follow Steven and head their way towards the back of the tower. They look back to see the still disturbed faces from the other groups, mindlessly following them in search for answers.

Steven then opens the sturdy double doors with a loud creak and he allows everyone to step inside. The ballroom is the room that is the least ravaged of the entire tower. Though the checkerboard carpet is covered with dust, the red curtains are torn, and the wallpaper is slightly ripped, the fancy round tables are still intact, along with its silverware. A podium stands in the other side, the stereo system and microphones steadily prepared and intact. All the groups proceed to sit down on the tables closest to the podium, each table corresponding to their familiar groups.

Once they settle on their own table, all the Gems whisper to each other, listening to Steven's ideas. Lion lays down in the corner of the podium, waiting patiently for Steven. The others soon begin to wake up. The first thing some of them do after regaining consciousness is to create background noise, to ease any further tension. Mordecai taps the table with his feathered fingers, Rigby taps his own fingers with the wine glass. Anais inspects the contents of a glass, and Darwin looks curiously at the room while swinging his legs.

Gumball kneads his trousers until his claws pull the cloth. Penny looks at him and lets out a forlorn sigh. She reaches towards his shaky hand, and strokes his finger with her own. Warmed by her caring touch, he ever so slightly lifts his hand from his thigh, allowing more of Penny's fingers to intertwine with his. From there, their hands grasp tightly, ensuring protection and care. With no desires to let go, they embraced their small moment of peace.

Moments still pass as the groups wait to be told what to do about their situation. The Gems then finally whisper to each other, "alright" and they stand up from their table. They head towards the podium, and as everything had already been prepared, they don't need to do much. They stand in a horizontal line, with Lion in the corner, and with Steven up front and facing the microphone stand. The stand is too tall for him, so he gets on his tiptoes and removes the microphone from it, emitting a loud feedback that seemed to echo throughout the entire room. This catches the audience's attention, and they immediately face the podium. Steven clears his throat nervously as some stage fright kicks in.

"Uh…" Steven speaks over the microphone pressed too close to his face and its cable slightly bent. The loud feedback still lingers in a lower pitch, and the groups cringe. "…I just wanna let you guys know that…um…"

Pearl takes a moment to whisper to Steven to hold the microphone correctly and remind him of his own lines, slightly tugging the cable to straighten it, reducing the feedback.

"Oh! Thank you, Pearl," Steven quips to her. He turns back at the audience, trying to put on a happy voice. "Ah, as I was saying… I want all of us to understand each other better. What better way for us to get along than by introducing ourselves? We'll say our names and we'll tell a little about ourselves so everybody can know who you are! What do you say?"

Nobody responds. They look at each other, still lost and unsure. Gumball sighs, and looks at Steven in disbelief, embarrassed by his overly happy tone. "Dude, what is this? Kindergarten?"

Pearl suddenly recoils in horror. "WHAT?!" Amethyst lets out a very befuddled "Uh?!"

"NO!" Steven yells in assurance. "No, no it's not!" he laughs nervously. "I-i-i-it's… nothing like that…"

He stares awkwardly at Gumball, who proceeds to sink under the table in embarrassment and confusion, his siblings and girlfriend stare at him in second-hand embarrassment.

In spite of everything, Amethyst can't help but chortle. "Ha, ha, haw, jeeeez!"

Steven clears his throat. "Moving on… We'll start by introducing ourselves!" he says in confidence as he hands the microphone to Garnet.

"We are the Crystal Gems," she states clearly. "We dedicate ourselves to defend our planet from otherworldy threats." She prepares a roll-call.

"Garnet." She tosses the microphone to Amethyst, who proceeds to grin boastfully.

"Amethyst." She tosses the microphone to Pearl, who barely catches it, leaving her to quickly compose herself.

"Pearl." Steven quickly grabs the microphone.

"And STEVEN!"

Again, nobody responds, or seems to know how to respond. Their expressions change from that of silent confusion to that of curiosity and slight amazement. They admired the Crystal Gems in a natural manner, subconsciously feeling safe in their presence, understanding why they chose them as leaders in their blank states. Pops begins to clap. "Good show, jolly good show!" The Gems pay little mind to it.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to us!" Steven affirms. "Alright, now I want everybody to introduce themselves. Step up here and tell us a little bit about yourself! You can choose someone to represent your group, you can go up one by one, or you can all step up here together! You can even get a chance to get up close to the Crystal Gems!"

The Crystal Gems reel back in bewilderment. "He must be copying some kind of advertisement…" Pearl whispers.

"Pffft," Amethyst responds. "Probably."

"Let's see…" Steven says. "Who wants to go first? C'mon, don't be shy!"

Penny smiles, and ushers Gumball from under the table. "C'mon, Gumball, go ahead! It's going to be alright." she encourages him.

Gumball lets out an exasperated sigh. "Fine…" He probably wasn't going home anytime soon, so he might as well go ahead. He crawls away from the table and walks up to the podium, dusting himself off. Lion's ears twitch and he stands up. He walks over to Gumball and starts sniffing him. Gumball flinches.

"Don't worry! He won't bite!" Steven assures, then points to the other Crystal Gems. "They won't bite either."

On cue, Amethyst bares her teeth and snaps her mouth shut, growling as she does. Gumball doesn't find that very funny, but Amethyst continues to smirk teasingly. As Gumball walks towards Steven to grab the microphone, Pearl attempts to study his strange form, periodically looking at him and Garnet. Garnet shrugs at her, not being able to provide an explanation as to what she's looking at.

Gumball attempts to wipe the microphone's head with his sweater, recalling how close Steven's mouth was pressed into it before. "Alright, man," Gumball speaks over the microphone. "My name's Gumball. I… don't really have any extraordinary qualities, let alone have superpowers, but most of the time I just try to do my own thing." He points to his table and raises his tone. "That beautiful fish over there with the honor of being my best friend and brother, is Darwin!"

"YAY!" Darwin accepts the compliment with absolute glee and stands from his seat. Gumball laughs happily, and Steven can't help but smile compassionately. Despite being a huge fish with legs, almost everybody in the room find themselves captivated by Darwin's charm, and the Gems, especially Pearl, observe with interest rather than bewilderment.

"Next up is," Gumball continues. "Anais, my sister. She's the smartest one, and we… butt heads sometimes, but she's pretty cool."

Anais gives everyone a look of pride. Unsure what to think of her, however, the others start to give her a thumbs-up with small smiles. Pearl begins to wonder about Anais's claimed title as the smartest. Perhaps she could try to talk to her afterwards.

Gumball then puts on a romantic expression. "And that's my girlfriend," Gumball makes sure to accentuate the word. "Penny. Now SHE'S extraordinary!"

Penny blushes at his compliment, then sees what the others think of her. Everyone stares astonishingly at her bright form, amazed at her radiance and shine. Penny is left feeling extremely bashful, and shape-shifts into a small, red-pink chipmunk covering her eyes with her paws. Everyone stares in awe at her powers, and the Crystal Gems feel as if they are looking at something conspicuously Gem-like, much to their fascination.

Gumball looks at Penny lovingly for a few seconds. "Well," he says. "Guess that's everyone there. So now you know, and you're happy! Now you don't have to get weirded out by us, but then you'll find out even weirder things about us! I could tell you where Darwin came from, but that's another story."

He laughs at his audience, who chuckle back at him. Then Gumball swiftly turns around to the Crystal Gems scornfully. Pearl stares at him disconcertingly, while Steven's eyes open wide. Amethyst puffs in amusement, knowing fully what Gumball means.

"Any other words I should be watching out for?" He demands rudely. None of the Gems answer. Gumball rolls his eyes and starts walking off the podium, giving the microphone to Steven, then pats him in his shoulder before leaving to his table, letting Steven know he's still on good terms with the half-Gem.

"Alright, thanks for stepping up!" Steven tells him, but Gumball doesn't change his expression as he sits down again. Penny, shifted back to her fairy form, holds his hand affectionately again, Darwin congratulates him and thanks him for the compliments, and Anais gives him a thumbs up. Gumball then smiles again.

Steven speaks through the microphone again. "Who else wants to go?" He points towards Mordecai's table. "How 'bout you guys? You're next!"

Mordecai and the others start muttering to each other quickly. Mordecai stands from his seat. "Alright, we're going up," he says. As he begins to exit his table to walk to the podium, he is soon followed by Rigby and Pops, then Skips, deciding to be introduced all at once. Lion gets up again and begins to approach them to sniff them, seizing the opportunity to properly "greet" them.

"How majestic!" Pops praises.

"And tame." Skips comments intriguingly.

Mordecai and Rigby, based on their experiences with bizzare beasts, are incredibly nervous. When Lion approaches to sniff them, they tense up, and remain stiff. Lion sniffs Mordecai, who begins to shudder and sweat, no longer being as "cool" with Lion as he was when Lion wasn't so close. Then Lion sees Rigby, and assumes a pouncing position. Rigby gulps loudly.

Steven immediately notices this. "Lion!" he calls frantically and runs to his pet. Lion looks at Steven and sits calmly as Steven starts to pet his mane. Steven turns to the nervous, shuddering Rigby. "Huh, huh! Sorry! He… probably saw you as a toy."

Rigby goes from nervous to irrationally furious. "A toy?" he shrieks accusingly.

Mordecai puts a hand on his buddy's shoulder, addressing Steven. "Let's not set him off," Mordecai warns gently, with a hint of playfulness in his tone. He grabs the microphone that Steven hands to him and walks over to put it back on the stand, the others moving into position.

Steven looks to the Gems and silently asks for their opinion of these creatures. Pearl has a somewhat disgusted yet confused feelings of them, questioning herself how a bird is able to use its wings like that and the anatomical repercussions of an over-sized head, but Amethyst is signaling something to him. She points to Pearl and Mordecai, then her own face, draws a big triangle over her nose with her finger, and emits a small squawking sound. Steven giggles under his breath while Pearl looks at a grinning Amethyst suspiciously.

Mordecai clears his throat. "Hey, there… kids." Mordecai suddenly loses some confidence, noticing there is no longer a single adult in the audience. He finds himself wondering why. He also finds himself wondering if he has to take up babysitting.

"Uh…" he continues. "Okay, so I'm Mordecai. I work at a city park. But I like to uh…" he gestures towards Gumball. "What he said, I like to do my own thing too. But I like really old stuff that maybe only your parents know about, so I don't really know how to…" he makes circling gestures with his wings. "…relate, I guess."

The kids stare blankly at him, unsure what to say. The Gems are clueless.

"Gimme that!" Rigby shouts as he jumps up to retrieve the microphone from Mordecai's hands. "Yeah, don't listen to him, he's too boring for you. Come hang out with me instead, Rigby! The coolest dude eva!"

Now the kids cringe and turn away, whispering some opinions of disdain and indifference. Pearl also cringes. Skips notices this and casually takes the microphone from Rigby and gives it to Pops.

"Now, now, children," Pops chirps. "I understand that some of us are not very good role models, but I would also like to get along with everybody! I am Pops, and would love to play games with you all."

Now the kids are just embarrassed, and look at the whole group with irritated boredom, though they didn't want to look rude. Skips turns around to look at the similarly unimpressed Crystal Gems, and Amethyst quickly gives him a troubled throat slashing gesture.

He promptly takes the microphone. "Given the circumstances, I suppose I'll be the one doing the introductions," Skips explains. "I'm Skips, and I'm in charge of fixing problems most of the time. This is Pops, and he's the one who brings some morality to our group." Pops giggles. Skips takes a long breath before pointing to Mordecai and Rigby. "These are Mordecai and Rigby. They're best friends, and they don't really like to work a lot. They mostly do a lot of goofing off."

"Oh, yeah." Mordecai remembers, taking the microphone. He announces into the microphone with more confidence. "We just like to party and have fun. You can joins us in our jams if you like."

The kids become calmer and more casual. Maybe it won't be so awkward later. "Okay," Gumball says.

Mordecai sighs in relief, and silently thanks Skips as he gives the microphone back to Steven. As the group exits the podium, Mordecai and Rigby argue with each other in whispers, exchanging insults somewhere along the lines of a alien kitten being a better stand-up comedian than the other. Steven is hopeful that he'll get along better with them, but Pearl remains displeased of the two animal creatures. Amethyst is intrigued and interested. "Yeah…" she says. "I think these guys know what I'm talking about!"

Pearl scoffs. She looks to the audience and she finds them with all eyes on the Gems, expecting something else. She bends down next to Steven. "Alright, Steven what's next?" she asks him kindly, intending for him to answer to the audience.

"Now," Steven says through the microphone. "We just gotta find something that we can all agree on, so we can get along better! I'll start with a question: what does everybody think of this place?"

On cue, a chorus of disgusted complains fill the room. Some comments consist of how much the place stinks, how disorganized and chaotic it is, and how just plain creepy its state of disrepair is. Some of them feel angry, others annoyed, and others are simply disconcerted and uncomfortable.

"They don't like it," Garnet says.

"Well, then. That's something…" Steven remarks. "ATTENTION!" He shouts into the microphone. The room is quiet once more.

"Since we all agree that this place isn't exactly… pleasant, at the moment," he announces. "I propose that we all work together to restore this building! We wouldn't want to stay at a place like this, we have to make it better, right?"

Everyone looks at Steven doubtfully, before turning to each other and whispering sternly. The Crystal Gems stare at each other in slight concern. After a minute, Skips directs turns away from his group and addresses Steven.

"Do you want us to stay here?" he asks.

"Well, kind of…" Steven confesses and lowers his head. He knows nobody likes this place, especially not Gumball, who's been wanting to get out for a long time now. He remains silent, until an idea pops in his mind. "I mean…" he lifts his head, his eyes go bright, and asks solemnly. "How did we come here in the first place?"

No answer. They stare at Steven. Then they turn to each other in thought. They turn their heads and move their eyes to look at the ballroom, at the curtains, at the checkerboard carpet. At the cloudy sky outside. Steven watches the Crystal Gems follow suit.

"We came here because we were curious about this place," Steven answers himself. "We've all been wondering what was in the other side of the portal. We all wanted to see what was going on here. We got scared, we got confused, but really, once you take your time to get to know things… it becomes that more fascinating, right?"

As he spoke, the others stare somberly. They know they are curious, and they know that they want to find out more. Though they were scared before, and are still nervous or uncertain, they know that deep down, they wanted to see more.

"What do you say?" Steven turns to the Gems, then back at the audience. Though he addresses the audience, he looks at Gumball's direction. "Do you want to stay, for a while?"

Gumball ponders hesitantly. He knows Steven's statement isn't just directed at the audience in general. They've hung out long enough for him to know what Steven wants since the beginning, despite being against it. True, he was curious of the tower at first, but after staying at a desolate place all alone for a long period of time without any other means to get back home, he began to get stressed. The solitude and the sheer unfamiliarity almost drove him mad, and he remembers having a desperate breakdown shortly before Steven entered.

But Darwin, Anais, and Penny are with him now. Maybe this won't be so bad now. Maybe, with them around, he can give the place and all the other creatures another chance. He looks at them, and they all look at him. Gumball shifts his gaze back to Steven once more, in an expression of certainty.

"We're in," Gumball says with confidence. Steven's pupils begin to shine stars.

"Oh, then, we're in, too," Mordecai says casually. "We wanna see what's up with this crazy place."

"We'll stand by your side, Steven," Garnet states, rubbing his head, and the other Crystal Gems give him an approving glance. The stars in his eyes grow bigger. The audience awaits eagerly.

Steven shouts his loudest into the microphone. "Here's the plan, everyone. We're gonna explore this tower, and we're gonna fix this tower with whatever we can find! Then we can go explore some more! YEAH! LET'S GO HAVE FUN!"

Whoops and cheers erupt in that corner of the ballroom. High fives are shared between friends and hugs between loved ones. Gumball and Darwin deliver a whoop toward Steven, and Steven whoops back. They all happily get off their tables and begin to exit the ballroom with excitement in their minds, to carry out their plan. All the numb and catatonic fear that was felt before they entered the ballroom doors fade away when they exit, and now curiosity reigns in their collective consciousness, ready to combat their uncertainty.

The Crystal Gems and the employees walk fast towards the hall next to the ballroom in search for tools, while Steven, Lion, and the other the kids dart forward to the entrance of the lobby, to take a look at the strange world below. They will not venture outside the tower, but they decide that they want to catch a small glimpse of the world they're residing in. They run, they scamper, and one of them flies. They don't care about the tower's damage, knowing well that it will not stay damaged for long. Some playful giggles are shared between them.

They stop in front of the shattered entrance, staring at the green field beneath the gray skies.