An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
CHAPTER 1: The Return
Steven’s whole world was spinning.
The sky had run green, the lighting reflected off of the massive ship in the sky. It looked like the upper torso of a person, but why it was green was a mystery. The ship itself looked white, actually. But, when it showed up, the gems freaked out anyway.
Lapis had sent them a message. In it, she was really freaked out, bringing the premonition that the Diamonds were leaving the planet and heading to Earth. Steven didn’t know who they were, but the gems had really... changed over the past two days or so they had to prepare. Whoever these “Diamonds” were, they sounded important.
When he saw the gems with his luggage, ready to help him evacuate with Dad, that was when he knew that things were serious. They had finally started letting him come on missions. He was becoming useful, and that meant being out on the field! But, if they thought he couldn’t handle this, then...
He shook his head. No. He was able to do this. He had to help them, protect them. Just like Mom.
Dad had told him that story in the car, about the gem war. The fact that they saved the world, but the punishment for it was, well, the corrupted gems. “If it wasn’t for her shield, man, I don’t know.” Those words bounced around in Steven’s head. Mom was the only reason Garnet and Pearl were okay. She saved them. And now, she wasn’t here. She was gone, and it was now his duty to save them.
He’d left a message to Connie letting her know what was going on. He hoped she stayed safe, too.
Lion opened a warp, and the two leaped in.
It only took a moment to warp to the beach house again. Lion landed hand on his paws, skidding a bit as he slowed. Steven leaped off his back as fast as he could, giving the furry animal a pat on the shoulder.
“Stay here, Lion,” he commanded his friend. “If something happens, Dad’ll need a new son.”
Lion chuffed at him as he turned and ran away. Steven hoped that was an “okay.” Dad had told him that if something happened, he’d “run fresh outta family.” Well, he and Lion got along well, so the replacement seemed good!
Not the time. Steven shook his head. Nothing was going to happen. He had Mom’s shield! He could do this!
The scene was tense. Amethyst and Pearl had fused into Opal, who now had her bow at the ready. Garnet stood nearby, adjusting her glasses every couple of seconds. Then, at Garnet’s command, Opal’s arrow let loose, shooting into the sky towards the ship. There was a flash of light as impact happened, and a few seconds later, a loud boom followed, but the ship looked completely unharmed.
“Hey guys!” Steven ran up to them, waving. If they were struggling, he could help them! Should be easy!
Opal and Garnet spun around, and at the sight of him, the former split apart. Pearl and Amethyst tumbled away from each other.
“You came back!” Amethyst cried in delight.
“What are you doing?!” Pearl’s expression was far more stricken.
Steven opened his mouth to answer, but a bright flash of light in the sky cut him off. The Crystal Gems all whipped around to look at the ship. It was still super far away, and the brightness was making it incredibly difficult to see. It looked like the light was starting at the chest of the ship, getting brighter and brighter.
“What is that?” Steven cocked his head to the side.
Garnet gasped. She turned around, ripping her visor off. “STEVEN! RUN!”
“Wha- WHY?” Steven yelled back. “I wanna help you guys! I have Mom’s-”
“You don’t understand!” Garnet’s head whipped back around to face the flash, which was growing in intensity. “Steven, don’t argue, just GO!”
“No!” Steven ran towards her, towards the oddly beautiful light. You could no longer see the ship behind it. He ran in front of the gems, standing defensively. “I have Mom’s shield! I can DO this!”
He concentrated. His gem didn’t feel any different, no warmth coming from it like what usually happened when his powers began to work. It was silent.
The light grew brighter, starting to pulse a bit. Flashes of yellow and blue traced the edges of the glow, rotating around like a hurricane.
“STEVEN!” Garnet jumped in front of him, meeting his two eyes with her three. She looked panicked, far more so than he’d ever seen her before. “Steven, PLEASE!”
Pearl and Amethyst ran up behind him. “We all have to get out of here!” Pearl yelled. “Garnet, it looks like-”
A loud whirring noise cut her off. Everyone turned to the light, assuming defensive positions. Steven’s eyes widened. It was suddenly coming closer, and FAST.
Please work, he begged with himself. He strained, standing up taller, trying to focus on getting his gem to work. He didn’t know what this attack was, or what it would do, but he didn’t wanna find out. Please work, please work, please work, please work.
“It’s too late to run,” Pearl murmured from his left. “We’re out of time.”
Suddenly, Steven felt hands around his torso. Garnet lifted him into the air, spinning around and crouching down so she was facing away from the beam, with her back exposed.
“Wait, Garnet! I can do it!” Steven struggled in her arms. “I can do it!”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered back, hushed. Steven almost didn’t hear her. He stopped trying to get away, instead trying to turn to look at her. Her three eyes were blown wide, tears starting to come down her cheek. “We failed.”
“Wh-”
Everything went bright.
Garnet vanished from behind Steven, seemingly into thin air. The only thing that marked her disappearance was a short scream, cut off prematurely. Pearl and Amethyst were the same, yelling out in shock and pain for only a second before their voices cut out completely.
With Garnet out of the way, Steven could see why. It BURNED. The light closed around him so brightly, he almost couldn’t see his own hands. It wrapped around him, closing in on his gem. It began to flare up in response, sending fire up his nerves. He was so focused on how much it hurt, that his own voice disappeared around him.
It lasted probably only a few seconds, but it was enough. His gem felt like it was an ignited coal, he had a massive headache, and his body was trembling too much for him to even think about moving anywhere.
He fell on his hands and knees, then collapsed onto his side. His world went from burning white to pitch black in an instant. He heard nothing, not even the waves hitting the shore. His head hurt, so badly, but after a moment, everything... stopped.
- - - - - -
“Hey Connie, it’s Steven.”
Connie Sat on the edge of the counter, nervously watching for her mom to round the corner. If she got caught, she’d probably get yelled at. Her attention was more focused on the recording of her best friend’s voice, though.
“Just seeing what you were up to,” he continued. “Uh, dunno if you knew, but there’s some crazy stuff going on with a giant woman in the sky and we all might die, so um, I guess just give me a call back when you get this, and see you soon!”
What.
Connie leaped off the counter and reached for the phone as fast as she could. She dialed his number, forcing herself to slow down so she didn’t mistype it, and held her breath as his phone rang.
One ring, no answer. Then two. Then three. After the sixth, the call went to voicemail.
Connie shook her head. “No no no,” she said out loud. “No, that can’t be right. H-he’s gotta be exaggerating, right?”
“Who are you talking to, Connie?” Dr. Maheswaran was standing at the bottom of the stairs, eyebrow raised in confusion.
She was very tempted to playback the recording Steven had left for her, but she knew if her mom heard it, she’d stop letting her see Steven altogether. So instead, she swallowed. “Steven,” she replied.
Dr. Maheswaran hummed. “Alright. Is... something going on? You sounded stressed out for a second.”
Shoot! Connie hesitated, wondering what she should do. “Um,” she started shakily, “...yeah. He wants me to go over there so I can help him out. Is, is that okay?”
Mom sighed, her dislike of the boy no secret, but after a moment of thought, she nodded. “Okay. Do you want us to drive you there, or are you going to take a bus?”
“I’ll take the bus,” she answered a little too quickly. “Thank you though!”
Before her mom could get in another word, Connie had slipped into her red boots and vanished out the door, bus card in hand.
The ride itself was an excruciatingly long twenty minutes, but for different reasons that usual. On the way, she pulled out her flip phone and tried again.
Six rings, then voicemail.
She tried two more times; the same results.
When they FINALLY pulled up in Beach City, Connie was the first off of the bus. She ran as fast as she could, hoping to the sun and back that Steven was okay. He had to be. She couldn’t imagine a world without him in it.
The bus dropped her off near the center of town- not the best, but it wasn’t too far away from Steven’s house. Heat be damned, she was not stopping until he was embraced in a hug.
When she rounded the corner of the cliff, she froze, the previous vow undermined immediately.
The sand was stirred up, the water coming further up the beach than normal. It coated the bottom of the house, hiding the bushes beneath waves of yellow. The water splashed violently as well, as if tremoring from an earthquake. The Temple looked mostly unharmed at first, but upon further inspection, the statue of Obsidian looked far more rounded than it should. Far more smooth, like it’d been polished or sandpaper-ed (there had to be a word for that).
Connie saw none of it.
Her eyes were drawn to the little lump on the ground. The lump was half covered in sand, but she would recognize that brown hair anywhere, even if his red shirt was a lighter pink for some reason. Steven was lying on his side, facing away from her. He wasn’t moving.
“STEVEN!” Connie burst into a sprint, nearly tripping over her own feet as she ran up to her friend. She fell on her knees next to him, rapidly swiping sand off of him and uncovering the rest of him slowly. His jeans were now also a shade of sky blue, but only on the behind, she noted. The shirt was red as ever in front, the yellow star completely untouched.
She reached forward, turning his head so that he was facing her. His expression was pinched, twitching ever so slightly as he rested. Thank GOODNESS he was alive. Connie felt tears coming to her eyes as she took him in, both relieved he was breathing, but terrified of what must have happened.
How long had he been laying there? Surely the sun couldn’t bleach his clothing that quickly, right? And he was on his side, not face-down. And besides, it was only just after 8:00, early enough for the sun to be up, but not long enough to bleach his clothes like that. The message had come in late at night.
She moved her hands down to his torso. Grunting, she was able to shift his weight, moving him onto her lap. His face pinched even more with the movement, and he hissed in air between his teeth. She cringed, deciding against moving him more and leaving him positioned above her knees.
His breathing was more audible now, at least, for all that was worth.
“St... Steven?” Connie moved the hand that had been holding his chest and moved it up to his face. “Steven, y-you gotta wake up now, okay? It’s morning. Why...” she huffed a laugh that was more akin to letting air out of your lungs than anything humorous. “Why are you sleeping outside? The sun baked your clothes, silly.”
He wasn’t responding, though at least his breathing was evening out. She felt a tenseness leave his shoulders she hadn’t realized was there.
“No, no no no don’t go back to sleep,” she scolded. She moved her hand again, opting to now shake him. He made a small wounded noise at the action, but she couldn’t wait anymore. “Steven, wake up. Wake up!”
“Hhhhrngggghh...” Steven’s eyes finally opened. “Hurts...”
Connie froze. “Sorry,” she said quickly, “but you’re awake now, so...”
“Wh...” Whatever he was trying to say trailed off as he took in his surroundings. His eyes travelled up to Connie’s face, then along the edge of the beach. Only then did Connie start to notice the damage herself. “...th’ gems,” Steven whispered. “Where are the gems?”
“I...” That was a good question. Connie frowned, looking along the beach on instinct. She couldn’t see them anywhere. Were they in the house?
A glint of sunlight caught her eye. Turning to it, she saw that the beach was littered with gemstones. Or, at the very least, the beach directly surrounding the two of them.
The glinting one had been Amethyst, her purple, six-faceted gem catching the light much better than the others. Pearl was next to her, her light, round shape almost disappearing into the sand. On his other side were two gems she didn’t recognize, a three-faceted blue gem, and a four-faceted red one.
She frowned. “I don’t know where Garnet is, but... Amethyst and Pearl are right next to you.”
Steven strained, trying to turn his head in their direction.
“They got poofed.”
He froze. He let his head fall slack again, and it rolled back to the position Connie had been holding it before. His eyes were blown wide. “Wh... what?”
Connie nodded. “There’s two other gems here I don’t recognize, too.”
Steven shook his head lightly. “But that... we were all just...” His breathing began to quicken again, the tenseness returning to his shoulders. “The light, they were right there, but- no, they all... th-they all-!” He struggled out of Connie’s grasp, trying to fight his way to his feet again, only to cry out in pain. He curled in on himself, one arm holding his stomach, the other supporting him on the sand.
“Steven!” Connie stood up and crouched next to him. “Steven, what’s wrong? What hurt you?”
“The light!” he yelled out. He was looking down, eyes unfocused. “Th-the light was- it came from the ship, and, and then we- but I wanted to help! I have Mom’s shield!” He suddenly turned to look at Connie, and she noted with horror that he was crying. “I had Mom’s shield! I-I shoulda been able to block it, I could have! But I... but I-!” He cut himself off, gasping. He brought a hand up to his mouth, sobbing.
“Steven, stop,” Connie put a hand on his shoulder, not entirely sure how else to react. “You’re not making any sense. Let’s get you inside, we should-”
“I failed.”
Connie froze. Steven’s voice had been near inaudible, painted in shades of anguish. She blinked, trying to get in his line of sight again. “What do you mean?”
“I couldn’t do it.” He hiccuped. “They coulda been fighting back, but I wouldn’t listen. They kept telling me to run. If I did, they would have had a better chance.”
“Wh-what?” Connie shook her head. “Steven, please, let’s call your dad. I think you’re in shock. You’re not making any sense. We can talk about this later.”
“Dad...” Steven nodded slowly, his body starting to tremble again. “Yeah, I want my dad. I... I...” He buried his face in his hands, not trying to hold it back anymore.
Connie took the opportunity. She pulled out her phone and gave Greg a call. Unlike Steven, he picked up on the second ring.
“Hello? This is Greg Universe.”
“Mr. Universe?”
“Connie?” The voice over the receiver softened. “What’s up?”
“Um...” Connie ran a hand through Steven’s curls, letting him lay back down for now. He was still crying openly now and getting louder.
Greg seemed to put two and two together. “Is that Steven?! What happened, is he okay?!”
“I...” Connie looked at Steven again, who’d darted his eyes up to her the second he heard the waver in her voice. The motion made him hiss again, and his expression crunched a bit. “I don’t know!” She grabbed the phone with both hands. “I don’t know! He’s alive, but he’s not making any sense. He’s really freaked out, and in pain, and I can’t figure out what’s wrong, and-”
“Woah woah woah, slow down!” Greg’s voice was barely masking his own panic. “He’s alive?”
Connie nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see her. “Yes, he is.”
“Where is he?”
“On the beach. I found him just... j-just laying in the sand.”
“...And the gems?”
“Poofed.”
Greg sighed. “Alright. Okay. I’m coming up on Beach City right now. I’ll be able to take a look at him in a minute. Can you just stay with him until I get there?”
“I promise.” She looked at Steven again, who had zoned out once again, staring at something only he could see. He looked small in her arms, smaller than normal. It hurt.
Greg hung up first without saying goodbye, so Connie simply put the phone in her pocket. She wrapped both arms around him and hugged him as best as she could from this angle, while minding the pain he was in, too. Steven made a small noise, but she couldn’t figure out what it could mean.
What happened?