3 Years Later
Two large shadows cast on the trees of the forest as something flies overhead. The whisper of wind through feathers near silent as the figures glide above, searching for something. A rustling in the trees catches the attention of one of the figures; a deer runs from it's cover, attempting to escape by deftly running deeper into the thicker parts of the forest. The figure, silver feathers smoothing out, folds its wings and begins a rapid dive. Catching the motion, the second figure loops around behind the first, pink feathers smoothing, and joins in the dive.
They dive sharply into the canopy of pine needles, small branches snapping at the impact. Silver shifts humanoid as she lands just ahead of the deer. She holds a hand back, and catches Steven as he shifts behind her into a similar humanoid form, and throws him forward onto the deer before it makes it into thicker parts of the forest, where they'd lose it. The impact of Steven onto the back of the deer makes it stumble, and he takes the moment to wrap his arms around it's neck and hold on tight. He reaches up to its head and yanks back, making the deer rear up onto it's hind legs and stumble. Before he can be crushed under its weight he leaps off catching himself on the bark of a large nearby tree.
Silver leaps from the branch she was perched on, onto the deer as it lands on its back, quickly diving between the thrashing legs, dodging sharp hooves. She makes quick work of finishing off the animal, attacking it's vulnerable underside and neck with her teeth and claws. She makes sure to finish the job quickly and efficiently, minimizing any suffering the deer may experience.
Over the years she's learned that, though Steven is willing to hunt and eat animals to survive, he cannot stomach the thought of them suffering. So the two developed their own hunting method that allows for quick capture and finishing off the animal. Hunting with Steven is one of Silver's favorite escapades they've taken to doing in the forest together. Their coordination and teamwork is unmatched. Plus with the two of them working together they can hunt down larger prey, which means larger meals, keeping them full longer, and not needing to hunt quite so often.
Steven smiles proudly at Silver as he walks over to help her carry the deer back to the lake clearing. She and his other found family have gone out of their way to make him comfortable and welcome as one of their own. Their relationship is the family he'd always wanted. The gems were like moms to him, though the people of Beach City frequently referred to them as his sisters, but at the same time he was sharply aware of the differences between his relationship with them and his dad, and other kids with their parents. Here now, he's got the mom he never had(while also being so similar to how the gems are like moms to him, that she's unintentionally made him homesick on more than one occasion), and FIVE siblings!
Like siblings they've spent time together, played together, and picked on each other. He smiles in remembrance of the time he woke up covered in a pitch like substance and some very itchy pine needles, a prank thought up by Purple and Orange. It took hours of scrubbing to get it all out of his hair and clothes. He quickly learned how to shapeshift into a humanoid form like them after that. Not having pants can get really cold on a breezy day! Now he can just cover himself with feathers under his clothes and stay perfectly warm. Teal is the baby sister he'd always wanted, growing in him a protective instinct he's never felt before. The one time he actually fought with one of the others was over a mean prank they'd played on her. She'd been crying and he was about ready to pluck every one of Orange's feathers for being mean. Gold usually leaves him alone, unless it was bedtime. Then they're the first to snuggle with him, keeping him warm and comfortable. Orange is mischievous, either playing pranks or flying around everywhere he can. Purple likes to go on walks through the forest more than anything, and loves when Steven comes with her so she can show him every kind of moss and plant hidden amongst the trees. Silver and him have become practically inseparable, learning to fly and hunt together, talking about Earth and Steven's favorite adventures.
Arriving back at the lake Steven looks around. Momma's not there, so she must be in the In Between hunting again. She's been doing that a lot more lately, he's noticed. Over the last couple years she's started taking Steven and Silver into the In Between with her, at first having him bubble them so she can carry them and show them what it is. His first impression of the In Between being nothing more than a black abyss, while not inaccurate, wasn't right. The In Between looks the same as being in the dark underwater, but it sounds and feels completely different. Instead of the whooshing of water currents and bubbles in water, it sounds more like a massive creature snoring in its sleep, rhythmic rumbling sounds prevailing over any other noise. The water is, thick in a way; still water, but harder to move through, kind like how he'd imagine it'd feel trying to swim through lava. By now he and Silver have been in the In Between with Momma on several occasions, and have learned being in a scaled dragon form, designed best for swimming, allows them to move the best. Though neither of them are particularly "designed" for travel in the In Between like Momma, who moves through and hunts Shadow Beasts as easily as she flies through the air. Even then, Steven needs to keep a bubble around his head, to maximize his air supply. He hasn't been able to shapeshift gills like Silver and Momma do instinctively.
Despite their travels with Momma, they still haven't found a portal back to Earth. Twice in the last three years, Silver has felt, what she described to Steven as a tingle in her nose, pointing her in a specific direction, while in the In Between. It never lasts long enough for them to find the source, sadly. Momma hasn't said anything about the strange sensation, but Steven is sure it's got to be connected to Earth somehow…
Silver sighs as they place the deer on the ground, This place is so beautiful, but also so quiet now…
Steven nods in agreement. Starting about a year ago, things began to change, the other siblings grew alongside them, but one by one they each felt a pull, an instinct, and began to leave. Momma said it was a natural part of their life cycle, and that they'll be okay, but when the first left, he was so distraught he cried for nearly the entire day. Worried for his sibling who left without so much as a goodbye.
Gold was the first to leave. One morning they'd done nothing but stare at the sky. Barely even touching their meal for the day, they were heavily focused on something no one else could sense. By now they'd grown to nearly the same size as Momma, having practically tripled in size in the couple years they've known each other. After an entire day of staring into the sky, slowly tracking something only they could see, they crouched, and with a single massive flap of their wings they took off into the sky. The ground shook as they launched theirself upward, flew straight up into the sky, and disappeared. They never came back again, however the next day, something strange appeared. The morning came with the arrival of something that looked an awful lot like the sun from Earth, the sight of which seemed to relieve Momma, tension he'd hardly noticed in his own distraught worry, slowly leaving her form. Every day since has been started by this "sun" and it's tracked across the sky, until setting in the evening, very similar to Earth.
The next to leave was Orange, who left in a similar fashion to Gold. Spending several days staring up at the sky, eating sparingly, and seemingly focused on something only he could see. Instead of tracking something slowly across the sky, he instead appeared to be trying to focus on several things at once, eyes tracking all over the sky. Sometimes his focus would lower to the ground, or the lake, then return to the sky. Sometimes he'd make a low rumbling sound deep in his chest. Then, to Steven's dismay, and the obvious concern of the other siblings and Momma, he leapt into the sky. He flew up until he was a mere speck in the sky, circled the area a few times, then he too disappeared. After that, intermittently and seemingly at random times, fluffy "clouds" would appear in the sky. Sometimes they'd be massive storm clouds, with rumbling thunder, sometimes they'd be low hanging fog, but more often than not they'd be fluffy clouds floating around, highlighted by the beautiful colors of the sky. Silver held Steven as he cried again, knowing now that they'd never see him again, and that they'd all likely do the same eventually, leaving him alone.
He'd been concerned most for Momma, who spent so much time raising them, only for them to leave without even a goodbye, but she never once seemed upset. She said once that she was sad that their time with her was done, but proud that they're following their destinies. He chose to try to take her statement to heart, choosing to be proud of his siblings for growing up and doing what they've always wanted to do, wherever they are.
Several weeks later Purple was the one to leave. She didn't stare at the sky for days, or refuse to eat. Instead she paced around the area a few times, before stopping at each of them. Unlike Gold and Orange, she seemed reluctant to leave, as though seeing the grief, worry, and tension in Momma and her siblings, made her afraid to do so, despite her instincts demanding she follow her destiny. Making her decision, she uses her wings to hug each of them in turn. It may just have been Steven's imagination, but he could swear she hugged him a little longer, and a little tighter, than the others. She then simply walked off into the forest, weaving her large form through the trees like a serpent, barely disturbing a single leaf. That evening Silver woke Steven in the middle of the night, excited to show him something. As he'd rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he was shocked by what he saw. Dark Purple flowers, everywhere in the forest around them were blooming the glow of the lake stones. In the morning, the flowers remained, though the blossoms closed until the night. As soon as the stones began glowing, the flowers would open and bloom once again.
Teal, Silver, and Steven stayed together with Momma for another year after that. Growing and practicing their skills together. In humanoid form they each appeared to have grown by several inches; Steven's fairly certain he's much taller than Amethyst now. He looks forward to the day he can rest his arm on Amethyst's head, or lift her off the ground in a hug. In dragon form is when their growth really shines through. When Steven first arrived Silver was only a little bigger than his human form, while Teal was a little smaller. Now however all three of them are almost the same size as Momma, easily large enough to carry an adult human or two on their backs. The thought makes Steven laugh to himself, imagining reenacting a fantasy novel about dragonriders with Connie. Maybe Bismuth would make a saddle!
Eventually, though, it happened. Teal seemed distracted during one of their hunting trips together, and throughout the rest of the day. She appeared anxious, unable to sit still and clearly focused on something they couldn't sense. By now Steven understood what this meant, and though it still made him sad, he smiled at her, happy that she's grown enough now to move on with her life. Happy that he got to see her grow up and go from the shy youngest sibling, into a confident and powerful dragon like the rest of the family. Similar to Purple and Orange, she gave them each a hug with her wings, then flew off into the sky. Throughout the night and well into the next day the clouds thickened similar to when Orange left, until suddenly water began to fall from the sky. It started with a slight drizzle, then gradually became a steady rain. Since then, whenever the clouds that had first appeared when Orange left would make the sky darken and block out the sun, rain would fall from the sky, making the plants grow and flowers bloom that hadn't been seen before.
As each of them left, something new appeared in their place. Whether that something was created by his siblings, or they became them somehow Steven's unsure. He's not particularly willing to ask Momma either, and Silver doesn't seem to be able to articulate what's happening. As though it's on a purely instinctive level that they know what it is, as though it's simply built into them, and there are no words to explain it. He has noticed, however, that as each has left Momma has changed. She seemed to become more easily tired, sleeping a little more often, and leaving hunting anything other than Shadow Beasts up to the two of them. Her once beautiful luminescent feathers seem to dull to a plain white color with an almost yellowed tinge. Still she continues to take Steven and Silver hunting with her periodically, and never wavers in her promise to get him home.
Steven can't help but wonder, if and when he gets home, what'll happen to her, and what'll happen to Silver…