3:00 p.m.

July 22

Crystal Temple

Ronnie Anne awoke fifteen minutes later to the smell of warm oolong tea filling her nose. She opened her eyes to find herself laid out on the couch in the den, with an ivory blanket laid over her, and a tea-filled mug resting upon the coffee table beside her. Gathered around the table were Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven, all of whom had been watching her expectantly.

"Um, hey, Ronnie Anne," said Amethyst. The pudgy girl crept towards the couch with her hands folded in front of her and her head bowed. "Sorry for freaking you out back there."

Ronnie Anne shrunk away from her; the image of Amethyst's elongated leg trick was still fresh in her mind.

"I-it's okay. But how did you even do that, anyway?"

"It's pretty easy," said Amethyst. "First you..."

She stopped herself cold once she noticed Pearl giving her a pointed look.

"...never mind," she said, backing away from Ronnie Anne. "I'll explain later."

Ronnie Anne jolted herself up, causing all of the hosts aside from Garnet to flinch in surprise. That volatile cocktail of confusion and frustration she felt just before she fainted had just re-entered her body.

"No, I want you to explain now!" cried Ronnie Anne. "How did you do that?! Why are you purple?! Where did you get a teleporter?! What's a gem?! Which one of you is Steven's mom?! Where's his-"

"Ronnie Anne," interjected Garnet, her voice gentle yet authoritative. "We realize that this is a lot for you to take in, but if you give us some time, we'll gladly explain everything. In the meantime, just sit back and relax. Have some tea."

Ronnie Anne, not wanting to invoke Garnet's ire, complied. She took a few deep breaths, let herself sink into the couch and picked up her mug with both hands, sipping it.

"Allow us to re-introduce ourselves, Ronnie Anne," said Pearl. "We..."

She planted herself in the middle of the room and performed a rapid pirouette, capping the motion off with a bow. "...are the Crystal Gems. Sworn defenders of the planet Earth, and allies to the late, legendary Rose Quartz."

"We look out for bad guys and monsters and we kick their butts!" said Amethyst, throwing a few punches and kicks.

Ronnie Anne felt a churning sensation emanating from the deepest regions of her gut. She was already grappling with the notion that magical shapeshifting warriors exist, though at this point it was virtually undeniable. No special effects or prosthetics could replicate that stunt she saw Amethyst pull before she passed out.

But now the Crystal Gems were nonchalantly letting her know that, oh yeah, monsters exist too. Ronnie Anne had to send another gulp of oolong down her throat just to keep herself from getting nauseous from anxiety.

"And I'm their youngest member!" Steven proudly proclaimed, wearing that same happy-go-lucky smile he had on when she first saw him on the beach. "They're training me and taking me on missions so I can be a Crystal Gem like them!"

Steven's overly chipper disposition only made Ronnie Anne more confused. Either the monsters they just brought up weren't all that threatening, or Steven was just that unflappable. On top of that, none of the questions she blurted out had been answered so far. She knew that all of them would be addressed in due time, but she wasn't so sure she was willing to wait that long.

"Pearl?" she called, instinctually raising her hand. Six years of public school had hard-wired that gesture into her muscle memory, to the point that it was automatic; if she had a question to ask, she raised her hand.

"Yes, Ronnie Anne?" answered Pearl.

Ronnie Anne gestured towards Amethyst. "How did Amethyst do that leg thing?"

Amethyst had to clasp a hand over her mouth to muffle her giggles, which Pearl just ignored. "All gems are capable of shapeshifting," she said. "Even Steven here."

Steven's smile shrunk a little, his cheerfulness tempered with a twinge of sheepishness. "I'm still learning, though. Last time I tried shapeshifting I accidentally turned all my fingers into cats."

Two questions came to Ronnie Anne's mind, the first being, "Why did you just say that like it was a completely normal sentence?" and the second being, "What's a gem?" In the interest of remaining tactful, Ronnie Anne decided to ask the latter.

"Yeah, about that. What are gems, exactly?"

"Ah, excellent question," said Pearl. "Gems are projections of hard light. Our bodies are just tangible holograms, generated by our gemstones." She gestured towards the bulbous stone embedded in her forehead. "That's why we can shapeshift."

At this point, Ronnie Anne was beginning to feel the onsets of shock fatigue, as that revelation should have surprised her a lot more than it did. But if she could accept that three shapeshifting monster hunting warriors were standing right in front of her, she could accept that they weren't human (or even organic). It did explain why Pearl's skin felt so glassy and smooth, and how she kept her pale complexion.

If anything, she was more surprised by the implication that Steven wasn't human, which was the next thing she decided to ask about.

"Wait, Steven's a gem, too?" she asked.

"Yep!" said Steven. "Well, half-gem, anyway. On my mom's side."

Ronnie Anne felt like she was fighting an expository hydra; every time a question was answered, several more questions would spawn in its place. Gems can reproduce with humans? How? Are there any other half-gems, or is Steven the only one? And where are Steven's parents?

In the interest of keeping their session succinct, she opted to ask the question with the simplest answer. While making eye contact with Steven, she held out three fingers, each one pointed at one of the Crystal Gems. "So which one of them is your mom?"

That one question seemed to puncture Steven's heart. As soon as the words left her lips, the jolly young boy deflated, letting his head, shoulders and eyelids succumb to gravity. "None of them," he said. "My mom isn't with us anymore."

Ronnie Anne gasped, feeling a pang of guilt that only got stronger the longer she looked at his now-sullen face. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she squeaked out. "Were you close?"

Steven shook his heavy head. "I never knew her."

Ronnie Anne gasped again, this time opting to clam up completely, lest she dig herself deeper.

Fortunately, Pearl decided to chime in before the silence went on for too long. With a solemn look in her eyes and her hands clasped in front of her, she took a step closer to Ronnie Anne and began to speak.

"Rose Quartz was an extraordinary gem," she said, every syllable imbued with as much gravitas as she could muster. "A revolutionary, a fearless warrior, a master tactician..."

Pearl turned her eyes away from Ronnie Anne and started staring pensively into the distance. "...and a good friend."

Ronnie Anne had to squeeze her eyes shut to block the incoming flow of tears. One thing she had neglected to mention to Steven on the way over was the fact that she, too, had only one parent. Her father was taken from her at a young age due to complications from a strangulated hernia. Pearl's words evoked memories of all the stories her mom would tell her about the late Mr. Santiago, each one ending with at least one of them getting choked up.

It only got harder to keep the tears back once she saw Garnet and Amethyst approach Pearl, each of them resting their hands atop her petite shoulders. Desperate not to let anyone see her cry, she changed the subject.

"What about your dad? Is he still around?"

Steven perked up a bit. "Yeah, dad's around!" he said. "Well, kind of."

As soon as she spied the befuddled look in Ronnie Anne's eyes, Garnet stepped in to clarify.

"We let Steven's father raise him for a few years after he was born," she explained. "After that, he had to begin his Crystal Gem training, so he moved in with us."

"Yeah, but dad and I are still super close!" said Steven, who was beginning to reassume his cheery disposition. "One of these days I'll take you to meet him!"

Ronnie Anne took a long, deep swig of her tea before responding. "What's he like?" she asked, forming a hint of a smile.

"He's pretty laid back and friendly," said Steven. "Loves to goof around, knows how to have fun, and he doesn't let anything bring him down. And he plays guitar!"

Ronnie Anne couldn't help but chuckle. It sounded like Steven's dad was just as much of a dork as Steven was. Now, at least, she knew where Steven got all his mannerisms from.

"Oh, you laugh now, but wait 'til you hear him shred," Steven said with a wag of his finger. "Anyway, that's my life in a nutshell. Any more questions?"

Yes, several, thought Ronnie Anne. But I don't want to be here all night, so I'll just ask the essential ones.

"Tell me a little more about those 'missions' you go on," she said. "Is it all just fighting monsters?"

"No, not always," said Steven. "Sometimes we'll go to some ancient gem ruins to look for an artifact."

"But you do fight monsters."

"Yeah. Every now and then something'll show up on the beach and we'll have to take it down."

Ronnie Anne's stomach lurched, prompting her to quell the pain with another sip of oolong. It was the uncertainty of the situation that bothered her the most. If Steven said that they fought criminals, or roaming gangs of cats, then at least she'd know what to look out for. But a monster could be anything. An eight-foot-tall yeti, a three-headed cobra with acidic saliva, an overgrown rat with razor-like fangs and iron-piercing claws...

Point was, if she didn't see one of these "monsters" soon, she was going to drive herself crazy imagining what they might be. She sat up, set her mug down on the coffee table, and looked Steven straight in the eye.

"I want to go on one of your missions," she said, taking on a defiant tone.

All of the gems except for Garnet blinked in confusion.

"Come again?" asked Pearl.

"I said I want to go on one of your-"

"No, no, no, I heard you, but..."

Pearl started wringing her hands together. "...we just don't know, Ronnie Anne. We've just met you. More importantly, the missions we go on are quite dangerous, especially for a human. We're not sure if you'd be able to handle it."

On instinct, Ronnie Anne's hands balled into fists. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was being talked down to. And she found Pearl's comment to be downright condescending, not least of all because of the implication that Steven was more capable than she was.

Still, she managed to repress her urge to lash out, and recited her following request in a sharp, but measured, tone.

"Let me armwrestle Steven."

Pearl raised an eyebrow at her. "What exactly would that prove?"

Ronnie Anne's lips started to curl up into a mischievous smile. "Weeellll," she sneered, "it seems to me that if Steven's strong enough to go on missions, and I'm stronger than Steven, then I should be allowed to go on missions."

"Makes sense to me!" said Steven. "What do you think, Garnet?"

Garnet looked aside and started tapping herself on the chin, giving her brain a moment to process and evaluate the argument.

"I cannot argue with that logic," said Garnet.

Pearl shot Garnet a look of pure incredulity, bordering on panic. "Garnet! You're not seriously considering this, are you?! We've no knowledge of this human's training or experience, nor do we-"

Garnet shoved her hand in front of Pearl's face, holding up a single finger. The gesture silenced the pale gem in an instant.

"Let them armwrestle."

Amethyst doubled over in laughter, slapping herself on the knee. "Ha-HA! Pearl just got shut down by the G-Squad!"

Steven chuckled a bit at the Gems' bickering before walking over to the coffee table to challenge Ronnie Anne. As he approached, Ronnie Anne stared him down and gave her thick, bulbous arm muscles a couple of flexes. She'd beaten plenty of boys in armwrestling before - including a few who were one or two years older than her- and she loved the feeling of power it gave her.

By her expectation, Steven would be no different. His arms were pretty thick, but they had virtually no muscle tone. She vaguely remembered him catching and holding her when she tripped down the stairs, but she was pretty sure her feet were touching the floor at the time. There was no way he was strong enough to hold her off the ground that effortlessly.

Steven, unfazed by her attempts to psych him out, placed his elbow on the coffee table and held out his hand towards hers. "Ready whenever you are!"

Ronnie Anne smirked, slammed her elbow down and locked hands with the boy. As she did, she couldn't help but notice how rough and calloused his fingers felt - probably from all that ukulele playing, she reasoned. She planted her elbow, dug her fingers deep into his hand and started to push.

And nothing happened.

Steven, seemingly content with letting Ronnie Anne make the first move, just kept his arm firm without trying to push her back. Ronnie Anne, meanwhile, liked to start armwrestling matches by using only some of her strength, to lure her opponent into a false sense of security before bringing down the iron hand. However, much to her surprise, her initial efforts couldn't make Steven's arm budge even a millimeter.

"I said I'm ready whenever you are," he said, eyeing her confusedly. "You can start."

Ronnie Anne couldn't tell if he was mocking her or if he genuinely couldn't tell that she was trying. Given the impression she got from him so far, she wasn't inclined to believe the former, but the latter seemed just as inconceivable. Whatever the case was, she'd have to try harder.

But even as she steadily increased the power of her push, Steven's arm continued to remain stationary. With every passing second, Ronnie Anne strained herself more and more, until a low, guttural string of grunts emanated through her clenched-shut teeth, and her bicep was swelling so large and shaking so violently that it looked ready to explode. Still, no progress was made.

Steven's forehead wrinkled with worry, once he finally noticed how hard his opponent was trying. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy, Ronnie Anne. Don't blow a gasket."

With a humiliating lack of effort, he pushed her hand back until it made contact with the table. After he released her hand and withdrew his own, her defeated arm slumped off the table and hung limp by her side.

Ronnie Anne could do little but stare dumbly at her limp arm, baffled by what just transpired. This wasn't the first armwrestling match she ever lost, but as far as she could remember, she'd never been trounced like this. She could even give Bobby a run for his money, and he was six years older than her. How could this sweet little ball of chub be so overwhelmingly strong?

"Aw, don't feel bad, Ronnie Anne," said Steven. "Even if we can't take you on missions, there's other fun stuff that we can do together!"

Ronnie Anne hastily remade eye contact with him. "Oh! Yeah, I know. I just..."

Ronnie Anne's eyes drifted back towards her still-aching arm. "...how'd you get so strong?"

Steven giggled and gave his jewfro a light scratching. "I dunno. I think it's 'cause I'm a gem."

Ah, that makes sense, she thought. He's not human.

Steven donned a lighter, more sympathetic smile as he climbed up onto the couch and took a seat next to her. Stealing a glance at his arm, Ronnie Anne could've sworn it looked firmer and more muscular than it did before, unless her eyes were just playing tricks on her.

"By the way, don't worry about the monsters," he said. "You probably won't see too many unless you go looking for them."

Ronnie Anne's eyebrows jumped and her facial muscles tensed up, pulling her skin taut. How did he know that she was concerned about the monsters?

"And if you do see one, you can just give me a call," he added, taking out his phone and offering it to her. "I won't let them hurt you."

Steven's remark, intended to be reassuring, left Ronnie Anne a gibbering mess. Blood gushed into her cheeks, leaving crimson splotches all over her face, while butterflies started swarming, nay, attacking, the inside of her stomach. Steven - happy-go-lucky, cutie pie Steven - just offered to be her knight in shining armor.

In both manner and appearance, Steven was the kind of boy Ronnie Anne lorded over in elementary school. She'd had dorks like him offer to "protect" her before, and every time she'd just laugh in their faces, shove them over, and tell them that she could take care of herself, thank you very much. But now the offer was whipping her heart into a frenzy, and it took every ounce of her willpower not to start swooning.

"Y-yeah!" she blurted out. "Let's exchange numbers. You know, so we can- we can hang out. And stuff."

She grabbed Steven's phone out of his hand and started hammering in her name and number. Steven gave her a bemused look, a little unnerved by the sound of her thumb thwacking against the touch screen.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yeah. Peachy. A-OK. Here's my phone," she spat out in a single breath, before ripping her own phone out of her pocket and shoving it into Steven's hand.

"Oooookay..." muttered Steven, casting Ronnie Anne a wary glance before adding himself as a contact. The whole time, it seemed like the air in the temple was getting thinner, causing her breathing to become more labored. In the background, she could hear Garnet restraining Amethyst and quietly reprimanding her. Most of what Garnet said was inaudible, but Ronnie Anne could vaguely make out something about "messing up Steven's funky flow," which she didn't really know how to interpret.

"All done!" he chirped, handing her back her phone and taking back his own.

"T-t-thanks. I'll see you later."

Unable to endure the strain on her heart for a moment longer, Ronnie Anne gave Steven a half-hearted pat on the shoulder before taking off for the front door.

"Leaving so soon?" asked Pearl.

Ronnie Anne looked back over her shoulder and forced herself into a stiff, artificial smile. "Yeah, sorry, but I promised my mom I'd help out with some chores. But today was fun! It was nice meeting you all!"

Garnet returned the smile, though hers actually looked authentic. "It was nice meeting you too, Ronnie Anne. I hope to see you again soon."

"Yeah, hit us up, homegirl!" Amethyst chimed in.

"Will do," said Ronnie Anne, giving the Crystal Gems one last wave goodbye before rushing out the door and down the stairs. Once she reached the last step, she made a mad dash across the beach, pumping her legs as hard as she could and sending blasts of sand bursting up from the dune every time her feet touched down. The whole time, her thought process was a discombobulated, incomprehensible mess of gibberish.

It didn't take long for her stamina to give out, probably because her heart was already working double time before she started running. Her pace slowed to a speed-walk, then a regular walk, and then a limp, before her legs finally gave up and she collapsed onto the beach. She used her remaining energy to roll onto her back, and let herself sink deep into the soft sandbar.

A mild, comforting chill enveloped her skin, and she broke into an open-mouthed grin, through which a contented sigh escaped.


Ronnie Anne, having reached a satisfying conclusion, took off the goggles and placed them back on her nightstand. She took moment to survey the world around her, let her eyes get reaccustomed to the non-virtual world, and catch her breath. After letting herself fall backwards onto the bed with a whump, she gazed down at her navel, watching the rising and falling action of her diaphragm.

Wait. Why am I out of breath?

She tentatively lay her hand across her chest, and felt her heart thumping against the inside of her ribcage.

Huh. That's odd...


A/N: I realize that there are a lot of details about the Crystal Gems that they neglected to mention in their explanation to Ronnie Anne, but keep in mind that right now we're at a point that coincides with early-to-mid Season 1. Steven doesn't know how gem production works because "On the Run" hasn't happened yet, and he doesn't know about Homeworld because "Ocean Gem" hasn't happened yet, and it'd be kind of awkward if the CGs tried to explain those things to Ronnie Anne before they explained them to Steven.