[WARNING]
First, this is a completely separate story from the original Steven Universe. The main character here is entirely different from anything presented in the original story.
Second, this story will have more direct themes, including 'complicated' and not-so-subtle topics.
Third: This whole thing draws heavily from Steven AUniverse: Ask WhitePearl and Steven by Chekhov in Tapas, so go check it, their comic is waaaayyy better than this.
With that said: Enjoy (or probably hate) it!
In the state of Nevaska, it's a cold, and silent night.
The only audible sounds are the footsteps of a short girl with short blonde hair and glasses, wearing a baggy hoodie.
She walks nervously, holding some books. Suddenly, she's stopped by a group of thugs.
The leader of them whistles and says in a rough voice: "Hey, pretty. What would a pretty girl like you be doing in here?"
She takes a step back, evidently intimidated: "I-I was just heading back to my dorm. I went to the library to get some books and—"
The leader interrupts: "Well, that's interesting, but how about a little fun?"
She freezes at the man's words and stutters: "I-I'm not interested, thank you."
She tries to leave, but the group pulls her into an alley, making her drop her books.
The leader laughs. "Lemme break it down for you: Just give in, or it'll be worse for ya."
Terrified, the girl tries to call for help, but the group prevents her from doing it.
They smirk among themselves, but before they could proceed, they hear a rough, heavy voice from the end of the alley.
"Oi."
They look toward the source of the voice and see a tall figure staring at them. Only their dark eyes are visible, glowing with a white diamond-shaped outline. "I see you're busy. I'm not in the mood to talk today, so just let the girl go."
The leader glares at the figure, annoyed for being interrupted. "This ain't your business, punk. Get lost."
The figure rolls their eyes and passes a hand over their face. "... look, I've got a goddamn hangover today, so let's make this quick."
The figure suddenly rushed to the leader, punching his face hard enough to knock the leader out.
The rest of the group look at the figure with surprise and fear as they knock the leader out. The group draw their knives and prepare to stab him.
The figure shakes their head and let a low laugh. "Goddamn damn…" They creak their fingers and lunge towards the thugs. One of them tries to stab the figure, but they dodge and grab the thug's arm before punching and breaking it.
The thug screams in pain and another one lunges to stab the figure, but they dodge and punch the other one on the face.
The thugs back down a little, their knives still raised. The figure creaked his neck and shoulders before pulling two large axes from their forehead.
The group looks astonished at the figure. They hesitantly take their leader and run away from the place.
The figure sighs: "Cowards..." They drop the axes, which disappear in thin air. They walk towards the girl and crouches in front of her, getting on her eye level, their diamond eyes glancing into hers. The dim light made him unable to see his appearance. "Yo, you ok?"
She looks at the figure in shock before nodding: "Y-Yeah… thank you…"
They nod: "Cool…"
Silence falls between them for a few moments until the girl asks: "... who are you?"
The figure shrugs. "Call me Steven."
She nods, slowly calming down and getting up. "... Thank you… thank you so much…" She picks up the books from the ground and looks at him curiously. "I'm Fionna."
He looks at her and adopts with a softer tone. "Nice to meet ya."
They look at each other for a moment, the cold breeze of the night hitting them. After a few moments, Steven stretches and assumes in a nonchalant tone: "Eh, I guess that's it. See ya sometime, I guess."
Fionna widens her eyes, she can't believe this guy is just going to go away like nothing happened after everything. She just looks at him surprised. "... Okay… bye."
He nods and walks away. As he tries to leave the alley, he's stopped by a cop pointing a gun at his face. "Freeze! I saw everything that happened, and you're under arrest for assaulting and threatening a group! You're coming with me!"
Steven looks at the officer in silence. He simply huffs and raises his hands. "And there it goes my game night."
Fionna takes a few seconds to process the situation. As she realizes what's happening, she quickly steps forward, saying nervously: "W-What?! S-Sir, he didn't mean any harm. He did it because they were trying to hurt me."
The officer glances at Fionna with an angry look. "Girl, don't try to help this punk. If what you're telling is true, then he's not only going to be arrested for assault, but also for vigilantism."
Fionna gets even more shocked, but Steven shrugs and simply puts his hands behind his back, allowing himself to be handcuffed.
He looks at Fionna, his face still shrouded in the darkness of the night: "Don't worry, I'm more used to this. It won't take one day before I break free."
She tries to say something, but the officer drags Steven to the car aggressively and drives him to the station.
She stands in the alley, surprised and shocked by everything that had just happened.
After regaining her senses, she gathers her books and runs back to her dorm.
As she goes back to her dorm a ton of questions invade her mind, "Who was that guy? Why did that guy save me? Where did he take those axes?" And the more she thinks about it, the more she feels guilty for not doing anything against his arrest.
She lies on her bed and covers her face with a pillow, the guilt taking over her.
She keeps thinking on what to do, and she lets a sigh, determined to help.
[THE NEXT DAY]
Fionna went to the jail as a visitor. A guard is guiding her through the cells.
The guard looks at her with a raised brow: "I don't understand. Why would a girl like you want to see a prisoner?"
She quickly speaks up. "He's not a bad person. He saved me and was arrested for it, the least I can do is try to get him out."
The guard shrugs. "Suit yourself then…"
As they approach the cell, they feel a strong scent of weed and beer. They get in front of the cell and see Steven lying on the bed, smoking a joint, drinking beer, and reading a magazine.
The guard quickly bangs the bars of the cell with a baton and speaks in an aggressive tone. "Wimbleton! Where do you keep getting that?!"
Steven laughs and stretches. "Like I was going to tell you."
The guard goes to enter the cell, getting the baton to hit him, but Fionna intervenes. She gulps and steps closer to the bars: "... Hi… D-do you remember me?"
He stops and looks at her: "Oh… it's you… the girl from the last night. Fionna I guess?"
Fionna nods: "Yes, that's me… I came here because I want to get you out."
He glances at her in silence and simply raises an eyebrow: "... why?"
She takes a deep breath and approaches, nervously gripping the bars: "... Because you saved me. This is the least I can do… You… you were my hero, my savior, and I think that I should make it up to you… do something that shows how grateful I am for your… generosity…"
At the end of her speech, a comfortable silence settles down between them… before Steven bursts in laughing.
Fionna steps back. She was expecting anything, any word, but definitely she was not expecting… this.
He slowly stops laughing and shakes his head, taking a drag of the joint. "God fucking dammit… I've never heard such a load of bullshit before…" He gets out of the bed and approaches the bars, revealing his appearance: A tall and muscular guy with dark skin, messy black hair covering his forehead and sharp teeth.
His dark-gray eyes has diamond-shaped irises. He's using a black T-shirt with a white pentagram, a black jacket with white details, gray ripped jeans and black sneakers.
He glances at her with a smirk while gripping the bars: "Do I look like a hero to you?"
She backs down, intimidated by the real appearance of her 'savior'. "... It doesn't matter your look, you saved me, and that's that. You're a good person."
"Ha! Sure! 'A good person'." He shakes his head. "I'd say more… an asshole scoundrel." He nods, his smile widening. "Yeah, that's more like me."
Fionna looks at him with disappointment, her determination to help him slowly fading.
Steven smirked at Fionna through the bars, his sharp teeth visible as he continued to mock her. "So what's the plan, doll? You gonna break me out? Or maybe talk to the big boys and convince them I'm a misunderstood saint?"
Fionna was unsure of how to respond to his sarcasm. Seeing him up close, hearing the way he dismissed her gratitude like it was a joke, she started to wonder if she had made a mistake coming there.
But she couldn't give up now. Not after what happened the night before.
"I don't know what you've been through, but you didn't have to save me, and yet you did... Maybe you don't see yourself as a hero, but that's what you were to me last night. You stopped them when no one else would. I don't care how you act or what you call yourself, I know there's something good in you."
Steven's smirk faltered for a second, but he quickly masked it with a shrug. "You're wasting your time."
"I don't think so. You were arrested for defending me, so even if you're not a good person, I need to find a way to get you free."
Steven raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. "Heh, 'arrested for defending you'? Girl, lemme break it down for you: I was arrested because that area was guarded by police. Thugs paying cops for protection so they could do whatever they wanted." He takes another drag and flicks the joint to the ground, stepping on it. "I didn't save you because I'm a hero or something, I did it because I'd feel bad to ignore a rape."
Fionna clenched her fists, taking a deep breath to steady herself. "Maybe that's true. Maybe you're not a hero. Maybe you don't even care what happens to people like me. But even if you did it just because you 'felt bad,' it doesn't change the fact that you did something no one else was willing to do."
Steven tilted his head, watching her with mild curiosity. "You're persistent, I'll give you that. Most people would've run away or written me off as a lost cause by now."
The guard interrupted with an annoyed grunt. "Alright, sweetheart, your time's about up. And trust me, this guy isn't worth your energy. He's been in and out of this cell more times than I can count. Just another lowlife who thinks the rules don't apply to him."
Steven shot the guard a wicked grin, his sharp teeth glinting. "Aw, Officer Grumpy, you wound me. I thought we had something special."
The guard scowled but didn't take the bait.
Fionna ignored the exchange, her focus unwavering. "There has to be a way to prove what happened. Maybe I can talk to the police chief, or the mayor, or someone who can—"
Steven chuckled darkly, cutting her off. "Girl, if I wanted to leave this place, I'd have already done." He stretches and goes back to the bed. "Now go away."
Fionna looks at him in disappointment, but she stomps the ground and crosses her arms. "I'm not going away until you leave this cell."
Steven pause. He looks at the ceiling and huffs. "... You're really not going away, huh?" He sighs deeply and turns to stare at her. "Fine. You want me to get out, huh? Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you." He approaches the bars and grips them. He starts forcing the bars in order to break free.
Fionna gasped as she watched Steven grip the metal bars of his cell with both hands. His muscles flexed, and for a moment, she thought it was a joke. But then the metal started to groan, and to her shock, the bars bent outward under the pressure of his hands.
The guard, who had been standing nearby, whipped around at the sound. "Hey! Stop that!" He raised his baton, ready to strike Steven.
Before the guard could swing, Steven punched him in the face, knocking him out.
Steven let out a low chuckle, stretches, passing through the bars. He looks at her and raises his hands. "I'm out. Happy?"
Fionna stood there incredulous. She definitely hadn't expected he would do… that.
"You… you just bent metal bars with your hands..."
Steven shrugs, as if it was just a regular part of his day. "Yeah, I did that. Well, I get to go to a bar to drink something... and you, doll, go live your life."
Fionna blinked, still processing what had just happened. "You're just… leaving? After all?"
Steven shrugged, walking toward the exit like nothing had happened. "Yup. I'm not sticking around here. You wanna help? Just stay out of trouble."
Fionna stood frozen for a moment, her mind racing. She knew she was being reckless, but something in her refused to let this go.
"Wait!" She called, taking a few hurried steps after him. "I'm coming with you."
Steven stops in his track and turned to face her. "Coming with me? You wanna tag along with a guy who just broke out of jail?"
Fionna nodded, swallowing her nerves. "I told you, I want to help you. And… I want answers. You're not a normal person, that's obvious, but I want to know more of you."
Steven stared at her for a long moment. Then, with a deep sigh, he rubbed the back of his neck. "You really don't know when to quit, do you? Fine, if you wanna follow me, don't say I didn't warn you."
Fionna's heart raced. She knew this was dangerous, everything about him screamed trouble, but she felt like this was her only shot to understand who he really was.
Steven started walking again, and Fionna quickly caught up to him.
"Where are we going?" Fionna asked nervously, trying to keep up with his long strides.
"There's a bar a few blocks down," Steven said casually. "I need a drink. After that, I don't know. Guess you'll have to find out."
Fionna wasn't sure if she should feel relieved or more nervous. She had no idea what she was getting herself into, but there was no turning back now. As they stepped out into the cold Nevaska night, she glanced at Steven, trying to figure out what made him so different. His strength, his eyes, the way he carried himself, it all felt unnatural
And as much as she was afraid of what she might uncover, Fionna couldn't shake the feeling that she was about to learn something far bigger than she ever imagined.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
{Well, I hope someone enjoyed this. If you're reading this part, please review, it would be awesome}