Steven was always on his best behavior for his two mothers. Whatever warning Garnet or Pearl gave him he listened. He loved the dearly as well as his Aunt Amethyst. He was over joyed that when they told him that she was going to be staying with them over them summer. She wasn't going to get to see him as much as he liked anymore. Like when they lived in the apartment. Steven father had given them his old country childhood house back in May. It was out to far out from the city and their nearest neighbor was almost thirty minutes away. Steven was really happy that Pearl had given him one month off from home schooling. He usually worked through it but after his best friend Connie had told him she got almost three months off. He begged for it and Garnet had backed him after Steven had brought the puppy dog eyes. Pearl had broken easily. She was no match against the pouting faces of them both.
That however that didn't mean they could stop working and play with him. Pearl even took up more hours with her online job. They didn't really need extra money but it was still a pretty good idea to spoil her wife and their kid while she could. So that left the little man to entertain himself. It was wasn't so bad the first two days as he and Amethyst played in the land surrounding the house. She quickly grew tire of that after the first week. So he was once again on his own. By the second week the forest at the back of their house had caught his eye.
Steven packed his bag after he had gotten permission his mother’s but he couldn't go too far. He proclaimed himself King Universe and he ruled over everything in the forest. It was a King's duty to know about everything in his land, so he took out his phone and set out to explore. He paused though mid step into the forest and took off his cheeseburger backpack. He pulled out his crying breakfast friends stickers and stuck one on the tree closet to him so he wouldn't get lost. Then at last the boy was off. He took a picture of everything he didn't recognize so he could show to Pearl when summer break was over. He remembered Garnet's warning to not get so close. He shuddered remembering the teacup poodle incident. All he wanted to do was pet it but he got bit instead. He shook his head putting another sticker on a tree as he kept walking. King's should always be in a good mood.
It was a while later when Steven started wondering if she should head back when he came across a fence. This was unlike any other fence he had seen though. It stretched on forever or as far as his eyes could see on either side. The fence was also extremely tall. Taller than Garnet and his mother was over six feet tall. Another strange thing was that it seemed to curve inward on the top and had spikes. When he looked beyond the fence there was another and that one had signs on it. Saying keep out and caution. He doesn't remember his dad mentioning anything dangerous to worry about while they were out here. He looked at the signs and thought they looked a little old so he guessed right. But when the boy stopped focusing on the fence and instead on what it was housing he gasped. It was a tall light pink pampas grass field. When the wind blew the grass followed almost like it was waving and Steven giggled as he took pictures. He walked up and down the fence taking more pictures.
He stopped soon and looked at the time. Before he ran off he promised he would be back he took off following his trail of tree stickers. When he returned home he didn't tell them about his encounter with fence choosing to leave it out. When he went up to his room he looked through his pictures. When the fence came up he discovered something weird about the pictures. There was this of grass in all his pictures however it wasn't like the rest. No it was a little taller and smaller and didn't flow like the over grass. There was no way this piece of grass could of been in all his pictures because he took pictures of didn't areas. Which meant it was following him. The next day he returned to fence and waited. He didn't see what he came for. After a while he gave up and started to climb a tree. He didn't need to worry about being too loud and waking the neighbors so he was as loud as he wanted to be. He laughed tumbling to the ground. He quickly sat up when he saw the strange blade of grass was back again. He called out but didn't get an answer. He tried walking to the right instead and it followed. He turned and ran back to where he came the other way and it still followed.
Steven eventually turned it into a game to see if it would follow and always did. Day after day their game kept up. It had started to make little noises as well like grunts, huffs, and maybe quiet little growls. At least that's what they sounded like to Steven. He was happy he had made another friend even if he was yet to see it. He talked to it on every trip and even sung to it. And it always answered him with whines and huffs as if it was singing back to him. The day before his best friend Connie was supposed to come he found a way into the first fence. There was a spot that a tree and grew through the fence so he easily climbed it and landed on the other side. He got a hold of the other fence and made as much nose as he could but his little friend did not show. He waited a little more before giving up and going back over the fence. He made sure to mark his way to find it again as he left.
The next night he and Connie waited until all three adults were asleep to sneak out of the house. Steven couldn't wait anymore to show Connie his secret friend. He had made sure that they stayed and close to the house all day so his family could keep an eye on Connie's safety for her parents. They laughed as they ran through the forest. The moon offered enough light for them to see where they were going. The quickly got over the first fence and the second one proved to be no problem with the sheets that they had tied together to use as rope.
"Steven what's its name?" Connie asked as they walked through the tall grass.
Steven shrugged. "I've named it Gem."
Connie gave her friend a weird look as they walked out of the pampas field. "Why Gem?"
"It was the first name I could come up with." Steven said as they looked around.
"Did you know this was here?" Connie asked.
They could see a house well into the distance. The field had opened into a huge open area but pampas was still on the outskirts of what they could see. There was some kind of waterhole and a huge ball floating in it.
Steven shook his head. "No I never made it this far."
"So where is Gem?" Connie asked getting anxious at not having seen Steven's friend yet.
"I'm not sure. Maybe Gem was sleeping." Steven said worried that his friend might not come. Suddenly there was a huff off to Steven's right and he saw the different kind of grass blade very well in the moonlight. "Gem!" Steven cried happily causing Connie to look. There was another huff and he giggled. "I've brought my best friend to play with you this time too. So follow us!"
The children took off running squealing with laughter and never looking back.
"Amethyst would you mind going to go get the two of them up?" Pearl asked as she started walked into the kitchen where her wife and their friend were already seated drinking coffee.
"I want waffles." Amethyst grumbled as she went back up the stairs. "Alright." Pearl said kissing Garnet on the head.
Amethyst was soon back downstairs with a worried look. "Uh guys they're not up there." She said instantly gaining Pearls attention.
"Check the rest of the house to see if they're hiding." Garnet said as she got up to help the other two.
When they came up empty handed that's when they all started to panic. "Hold on guys calm down." Amethyst said stepping between her friends. "You guys put up cameras right?"
Pearl nodded. "Y-Yeah we did."
Garnet ran over to the table and got her tablet. She quickly pulled up their cameras. "Do the front door camera they're too small to go down the window just yet." Amethyst said and Garnet did as she was told.
They watched in horror as the kids snuck out the front door. Garnet switched cameras without being told following them. She dropped it and ran out the door already knowing they were headed into the forest. The other two were hot on her heels as they called out for the kids.
"Garnet!" Pearl called pointing towards a tree with a crying breakfast friend’s sticker on it. She looked around and found another tree in the same state.
"He marked his trail!" Garnet yelled as Pearl lead the way. She gasped as they came up on a huge fence.
"Greg never said anything about fences." Pearl said looking around.
"I think it's what’s beyond the fences we need to worry about." Garnet said to her wife as she picked up a fallen warn out sign.
"Guys! The stickers lead this way!" Amethyst shouted to their left.
"Please stars no." Pearl whispered as they ran after their friend.
They soon came up on the tree in the first fence Steven had found. "I think it's safe to say that they're on the other side." Amethyst said grimly as she looked at the sheets hanging off the second fence. They quickly climbed the fence followed by her wife. Amethyst hit a special button on her phone as she climbed up next. "Wait!" She shouted stopping Garnet from climbing the next one. "This is obviously an enclosure so when we get on the other side stay behind me." She glared at Pearl who was about to interrupt her. "I want to find him to but we can't find anything dead! And I'm the only one with a gun right now!"
Garnet placed a hand on Pearl's shoulder who nodded. They stayed close to Amethyst as they walked through the grass. "This place is huge." Amethyst said quietly as they stepped out of the grass field.
They see something in the distance and as much as they wanted to run off and see if it was Steven. They stayed together but walked faster. NOTHING. Nothing could have prepared them for what they walked up on. Connie was laying on the ground gasping and gagging as a lion eat on her intestines. The lion growled at them but did not stop eating. Connie let out a sharp gasp as she saw them. The lion turned and swiftly ripped into her stomach ripping her flesh apart with a shake of its head. They didn't scream or move, and barely breath as they watched and heard the lion chop down on her spin. All the life drained out of Connie's eyes. Amethyst finally raised her pistol and the lion jumped to its feet. Blood dripping from its powerful jaws. She fired three shots before it could move. Pearl and Garnet fell to their knees after the lion feel over.
"My Baby!" Pearl screamed.
Behind the fallen lions body was the half eaten face of Steven Universe. Amethyst was so proud of herself for pressing the emergence button on her phone earlier because right now as she listened to the screams and cries of her friends behind her. She didn't think she was capable of doing anything. Later when the police arrived and the bodies had been cleaned up a police officer approached them.
"Why is there a got damn lion out here in the middle of nowhere!?" Pearl shouted at the cop.
The cop looked frozen as she glanced at Amethyst. "Go ahead and tell us what you wanted to Opal."
"Yes Chief." Opal said pulling out a tablet. "Alright I know this will be hard to hear but the lion had every right to be here." Amethyst silenced her friends with a look before they said a word. "Rose had all the necessary paper work on her animal. She had the mandatory signs ad cameras with sound up. She even lives in a secluded area. There is no way you can press charges."
"Want to bet?" Garnet growled at her.
Opal sighed sadly. "I am sure because there are two reason. The first reason is that Rose slipped in her kitchen three weeks ago and hit her head. She died instantly. We just found her body. Second reason is Steven put himself in danger. These are clips from the footage of Steven going up to the fence."
The three friends watched in horror as Steven approached the fence day and day. How he read the signs and didn't care. They listened to him play with the lion for days and not even know it. Then they watched him climb the fence and then again with Connie. It cut off not showing them how he was hunted down and killed. Opal waited for one of the women to say something.
"Why didn't he know it was a lion?" Garnet mumbled.
"That's because it has a shock collar that only lets it get so close to the fence." Opal supplied looking down at the ground.
When the three arrived back to the house they collapsed onto the floor and cried.
"Dammit!" Garnet yelled as she cried. "Why didn't you listen Steven!?"
"Alright I think she gets it." Lapis said putting an end to the story. "No going towards the fence."
Jasper grinned as she looked down at the little girl in her lap who was holding her alien stuffy. "Awe I didn't mean to scare you." She cooed down at the frightened little girl.
The girl puffed out her cheeks blushing in embarrassment. "I'm not scared you clod!" She yelled as Lapis picked her up.
"Peridot." She lightly scolded her daughter.
Peridot huffed playing with her stuffy. "I'm sorry for yelling and thank you for telling me a story."
Jasper chuckled shaking her head. "Don't sweat it little genius." The little girl smiled at her. "But your mom's right I shouldn't have told you something scary."
Lapis smiled at her before looking down at her daughter. "How about you go inside and head to bed. It's pretty late and you know smart kids need their rest." Peridot huffed grumbling as she nodded her head. Lapis smiled and kissed her head. "I love you sweetie. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." Jasper, Malachite, and Alexandrite said together.
"Sorry she wanted me to tell her and I just want her to like me." Jasper said as Lapis sat down in her lap.
"She already adores you." Lapis said kissing her softly.
"Um!" They all turned to see Peridot standing there looking at the ground.
"What is it Peri?" Jasper worried that something might be wrong.
"I..." Peridot trailed off as she started to fidget.
"I'll take her in mom." Malachite said getting up and scoping her step sister into her arms. Peridot giggled as Malachite peppered kisses over her face. Alexandrite smiled at her girlfriend and her little sister as she walked beside them.
"I'm still surprised your daughter took to Peridot so well." Lapis said watching them go.
Jasper shrugged kissing her neck as she pulled Lapis into her more. "What can I say we love cute things?"
Lapis giggled as turning so she could kiss her. "I love you."
"I love you to." Jasper whisper against her lips.