4. Hide

A thud and a swoosh jolted Steven from sleep, and he sat up from his bed in a daze. There was a glow coming from the beach, basking the sand and water in a soft, blue light. It oddly reminded Steven of those scripted investigation TV shows, when the detectives use a black light to see traces of evidence hiding in plain sight. Rubbing his eyes at the sudden brightness and dispelling that obscure train of thought, Steven grumbled for his caretakers.

"Pearl? Garnet? What's going on? Amethyst?" Steven reached for his phone to check the time. It was just past 11 PM.

Wow, I slept longer than I meant. Where is everyone? What's happening?

Steven was about to yell louder for the Gems, but stopped short. The color drained from his face in realization – the last time the beach was coated in a light like this, a familiar stillness saturated the air. It was the Hand Ship, and the light was green…

He resorted to a whisper instead. "Garnet? Pearl? Please… are any of you there?"

It was terrifying, he realized. All he could see from his side window was the blue beach, the blue side of the statue, the cliff face that supported his home, coated in the same eerie blue… He could tell the general direction from which the light came, but the source was beyond his vision. To be honest, he wasn't sure he wanted to see where the light was coming from.

Homeworld.

Oh no, oh no oh no oh no. It's them. It's Homeworld. They're here, already. Where is everyone? How can there be no one here? Now of all times?

Groggy from sleep, Steven's mind wasn't moving fast enough to come up with any sort of plan. Practically on auto-piolet, he frantically began to call Connie. She would be asleep by now, and maybe annoyed with him for not returning her call and texts after dinner, so she might not even answer. He tried to dial her anyways, hoping beyond hopes…

But her phone did not even ring – straight to voicemail. It was either dead (which was unlikely – Connie never let her phone battery below 20%) or the Maheswaran's confiscated her phone and turned the power off (which, Steven reasoned, was more likely. He had probably gotten her in trouble earlier). Stifling a groan, Steven was about to type a message when he stopped dead.

"Look at this, Apatite. How disgraceful." A haughty voice, not unlike Holly Blue Agate's sounded throughout the night. Steven froze and listened hard. Apatite?

"Cross-gem fusion, certainly. So tasteless these rebels..." The voice was growing louder, obviously approaching the beach house. Steven was in a total panic now, trying to remember to breath, to calm down, to exhale…inhale…

But it was no use. He needed to get up, to run, to warp… something, anything. All Steven could muster was to look down at his phone, frozen with fear, and called the first number that his finger landed on.

A ring passed, and two… Steven thought about getting up and hiding, but where? The steady ringing of the phone was actually providing some comfort, some steady footing to lean on in his panic. Looking around, trying to figure out a plan, Steven felt hiding wasn't exactly a great option; the open floorplan of his room that led into the rest of its home would be a hinderance.

Beep. This is Lars, missed your call. Leave a message, or don't.

Steven was ready to throw his phone in frustration, but decided now might not be the best time for a tantrum. Looking around wildly for a place to hide, a small voice in the back of Steven's mind instructed him to hide under the covers. Shaking his head at his own childlike instincts, he acted quickly and hide in the most viable area – above. Silently, Steven stood from his bed and leapt upwards, gripping his phone for dear life, and managed to land softly on one of the highest beams in the house, praying that the Gems would warp in and intercept this mad situation, or the strangers wouldn't come inside, or they at least wouldn't look up…

As if in response to Steven's fears, the door burst. The poor, flimsy front entranceway to Steven's home had seen its fair share of abuse with all the Gem activity he was involved in (and his generally enthusiastic nature), but this time the door was completely smashed. Flying from its hinges, the tattered piece of wood and screen launched straight forward into the house. It skidded across the floor and stopped when it hit the edge of the warp pad.

If his heart could beat any faster, Steven was certain it would send him into cardiac arrest. He could feel the blood pumping in his brain, in his hands, his ears. His face felt hot while his body went numb. He laid down on the beams, trying to use the intersections in the supporting structures of the house to block as much of his body from sight. For once, Steven thanked his lucky stars that he had the body of a ten year old.

Please…please don't look up. Don't look up. Don't look up… was all Steven could think. This was… really, really bad.

"Where are they? They are supposed to behere." The same voice said flatly as they entered the home. Steven didn't dare steal a glance at the gem that spoke in spite of his curiosity. Now that they were only a few meters away, Steven was certain the voice did not belong to Holly Blue Agate, but there was a familiar sneer that emphasized each word that reminded him of the commanding blue gem. This voice, however, was a bit more feminine and authoritative.

"Apatite, the signals. To sooner get off this sad excuse of a colony." The same gem commanded coldly to her partner. The other – Apatite, apparently – said nothing.

The way the more talkative gem spoke, her intonation emanating disapproval and dislike for this planet, only added to the growing pit in the young hybrid's stomach. Why did Homeworld Gems hate the Earth so much? What was it about this place that turned everyone into enemies?

Steven knew the longer he was here, the more danger he was in. Hiding while stranger gems ransacked his home, with no plan and no allies, would not last for much longer. He needed to come up with some sort of strategy, some way out. Did he dare trying to call or text someone from his phone, or would the light of the screen give him away?

After debating with himself for several minutes, Steven settled on trying to text someone. As long as the duo below didn't look up, they shouldn't notice any activity. Very, very carefully, Steven lifted his phone to face him. His hands were clammy and his mind was racing.

Now just got to unlock it…carefully, now, and I can text Pearl. What do I say? "911" would probably be fastest and to the point, but would she know what to do? Maybe Connie would be better?

"Look at this. The nerve of these Crystal Gems... They sicken me." The same gem that spoke earlier broke his reprieve, her words coated in layers of distaste when she spoke the group's name. Although the tone of the voice did not surprise him, Steven was unsure of what exactly they were speaking about. What could they be looking at?

After several long moments of silence, Steven was about to return to his phone, but was surprised when he heard a new voice enter the conversation below. The voice was very quiet, so quiet Steven could barely hear it at first. It almost didn't sound like a voice at all, more of a crackly whisper that oddly reminded Steven of poor quality TubeTube videos.

"Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG." After many moments, the voice kept growing louder, stronger and with a weight that reverberated deep in the ear drum. It was soon matched by a thumping that synchronized with each computerized syllable, growing in magnitude until the very foundation of the house began to shake. It was as if a thunderstorm had begun to rage within the very walls themselves, smashing atoms together in a hopes to bring the entire structure down, releasing a new wave of unbridled fury with each reverberation.

Then, as suddenly as it began, the pounding stopped. The voice stopped. It felt like the very Earth stopped in its rotation. The beach house became completely still and quiet again, to which Steven was relieved – if the foundation continued to shake like that he was confident the beams would break and send him tumbling down with them.

The voice, which could only belong to Apatite, Steven reasoned, returned to its original, robotic pitch. "Rose Quartz…"

The words took roots in the silence, rising with pain and blossoming into a maelstrom of emotions that saturated the very air. Steven didn't need to see the gems below him to know that something had changed – was it sadness he sensed? No, it was worse than that – more like agony. A particular sort of pain – loss, that was it – pierced the near-darkness that surrounding the two gems and the half-gem, turning the air into a poisonous gas of grief. The very presence of oxygen felt to Steven like an ever-suffocating purgatory, constricting with each breath that passed through his half-human lungs.

It was unclear to him exactly if this was his own emotions or if was a product to his empathetic connection to others, but the tears were manifest all the same.

There was a silence that stretched on below for several minutes. Steven had no idea what the gems were doing – were they staring at the portrait of Rose Quartz, much like he did just hours ago? Were they moving around, silently? Had they left already, and through his ragged emotional state he had somehow failed to notice?

Gingerly picking his phone up off his chest once again, hands shaking worse than ever, Steven did his best to hide his screen within his shirt while fumbling through his messenger app.

Just one message… to anyone… doesn't matter. Steven finally managed to type out "SOS HOME" and sent it to who he was pretty sure was Connie. Then, immediately after, he turned his phone off completely, in case anyone tried to contact him and caused his phone to vibrate.

Steven sat for another few minutes before he risked any form of movement. He still heard nothing from below and had no way to tell if they had left his home. He even strained his ears, hoping one of them would let out even a small breath, only to remember that gems do not need air.

If only I didn't need air. Steven thought miserably. I could have gone on that mission earlier. Everything would be different. I would be with the Gems, I wouldn't be alone, Garnet would have a plan and we would work together…

Steven broke from his inner monologue when he heard a beeping. It was soft, similar to the pulsation of the radars that were used by official military people in all of those movies his Dad liked. It didn't seem to be coming from anywhere in particular, but the sound filled home.

Listening hard, Steven tried to locate the source of the sound. Perhaps it was just the way the beach house was shaped, but the way the sound bounced from wall to wall made it nigh impossible to trace. The sound just existed and it rang softly like a sonar.

After maybe a minute passed, a voice finally spoke and the beeping subsided.

"They were certainly here, it seems." It was the more talkative gem; apparently they had not left. There was some shuffling below and Steven heard the tearing of fabric. Absently, he made a note to apologize to Pearl for letting the house become a mess.

"Well go on, then. Search the perimeter. They're human. Find them." The unnamed Gem said. There was no exchange of words between the two as one pair of lithe footsteps moved out to the porch and down the stairs.

There was silence for what felt like a long time. Steven had no idea what time it was, but it felt like it has been hours since he woke from his bed, and he noticed he was starting to grow hungry.

Ugh, not now. I can't seriously give my hiding spot away because my stomach growled, right? Just think of the news headlines, 'Local Boy's Stomach Growls, then Brutally Murdered by Aliens." Just got to wait a little longer…

After several more minutes, the commanding Gem spoke into the oppressive silence that has ensconced them for what felt like ages. To Steven's surprise, her voice was much gentler this time.

"Why, Rose Quartz? Why didn't it matter to you? Why didn't she matter to you?" No one needed to explain who "she" was.

Steven heard a slight nudging sound against the wall near the portrait but wasn't able to tell what had caused it. Perhaps it was coming from outside, where he guessed Apatite's must have gone to "search the perimeter?"

That thought made Steven's heart sink. What am I doing? Realization crashed down on him so violently he would have smacked his own forehead, if not for his current situation. There's a Gem – a Homeworld Gem – out there, roaming Beach City, and I'm just sitting here, doing nothing. What sort of Crystal Gem am I? I'm supposed to protect them, and I can't even do that…

As Steven's thoughts began to spiral in another panic and his pulse began to quicken to alarming levels, there was an insidious crack followed by the sudden splintering of wood. Startled, and reflexes shot from stress, all Steven's brain could manage as far as a reaction was move. Unfortunately, given that he had been lying on a beam suspended in midair, there was nowhere to go but down.

Steven fell unceremoniously from the beam with a gentle plop onto the ground. He might have been able to land softer had he been better prepared to use his floating powers, but he was thankfully unscathed from the fall. He brushed his hands onto the sides of his jeans out of instincts, wiping away some of the sweat that had made his hands sticky and uncomfortable. Then, he froze.

He made eye contact with a tall, orange Gem. Her height was comparable to that of Jasper, but her frame was much closer to Pearl's. She was wiry and had a long face, dark eyes and an orange gem on her torso, a little lower than Amethysts and a bit higher than Steven's own gem. She wore an intricate geometric dress that went down to the floor and crossed at her shoulders, forming the diamond symbol on her back. Her hair was very short, practically a buzz cut, in a shade that Steven thought was a lighter shade of orange than her own skin. The whole situation had a mystical, surreal element to it as the entire house was still bathed in the glowing blue light from outside, so he couldn't be sure.

The gem standing counter to the young boy stared back, face betraying no trace of emotion. She studied him intently, eyes unmoving as they appraised him. Gems did not need to blink, which made the entire stare that much more uncomfortable, her eyes scavenging his small frame, taking in every detail. Without any idea what to do and having so totally failed in his attempt to hide, Steven just looked back at the gem without a word.

One set of eyes gazed, another feared, each wondering the intent of the other. They stood there locked in a wordless, motionless dance for several minutes, before finally, the gem knelt down. She didn't kneel down in front of Steven, however, but knelt down and placed a small device on the ground. It wasn't much larger than a toaster and was equipped with a simple dial and one large yellow button. The Gem adjusted the dial and pressed the button, causing the device to beep in a regular pattern for several seconds. After perhaps ten seconds of beeping, a yellow light burst from the device and swept over the house like a laser. The line of light moved over anything and everything visible, descending the walls in a soundless display. It itched over Steven's skin without hesitation, stopping finally when the light reached the warp pad behind him. Flashing suddenly, the light disappeared and the warp pad began to glow – not the familiar glow that indicated that someone was traveling, but the very stone itself began to shine. If Steven hadn't been so terrified, he might have thought it was beautiful.

Then, the light gently faded into nothingness, followed by a sickening crack. The elegantly carved stone that had been central to the Temple – and indeed Steven's home – was broken into three slabs of rock that each jutted awkwardly in opposite directions. Vaguely, Steven remembered some image of tectonic plates that Connie had shown him in a book once, but he didn't think this looked the same.

The light display and consequent crack had interrupted the staring for a short time, but Steven found his eyes returning to the threatening presence that stood in his home. On the ground at her feet, Steven saw the portrait of his mother and couldn't help but gasp. The portrait, frame and all, had been crushed into a small heap of wood and canvas.

The reaction from the fragile boy was met with movement from his opposite; the unnamed gem began to slowly prowl towards him. His instincts told him to back away, further and further into the Temple and away from this unknown figure. In his feeble retreat, he backed into one of the dislodged slabs of the warp pad and stopped moving. His mind screamed at his legs to get up, to move, to fight, to do something, to do anything, but he found he could do nothing but sit there and stare as the gem approached.

She was just in front of him now. She stood so tall above him that she cast a long shadow over the scene, the floor littered with broken pieces of wood, stone, debris from the door… All Steven could do was return her piercing gaze in muted terror.

She lowered her body gracefully, her movements reminding Steven so much of Pearl, resting on her feet while she bent her knees into a squat, almost to his eye-level. Leaning threateningly over Steven, her face looked down from only about a foot away. Her mouth opened naturally, revealing sharpened teeth in a wicked grin.

"Tell me, human. What makes you so special?"