United I Stand

Today they’re not likely to run into any corrupted gems. They aren’t likely to catch Peridot or receive contact from Homeworld. Malachite is likely to stay at the bottom of the ocean. There will not likely be a better day for something like this.

“Are you sure?” asks Pearl anyway. She’s a little more apprehensive than she should be, but perhaps that’s understandable, given the givens.

“Pearl. Garnet says everything’s gonna be fine, and Steven’s going to love it. Why are you trying to knock this?” says Amethyst. She doesn’t bother to keep her voice down. They’re in the temple, and Steven isn’t awake yet, so even if the temple weren’t sound-proofed he would still snooze right through this conversation, sound sleeper that he is.

“I’m not! It’s just…” Pearl wrings her long, delicate hands together like she doesn’t think this is her place, but she still believes it needs to be said. “Are you two sure you’ll be okay for a whole day?”

Well, admittedly, that part is going to be interesting. It’s been a long, long time since they were separated for an entire day (formal introductions don’t generally take that long, after all). Are they a little apprehensive about it? Yes. Still, Garnet insists that it be the whole day, and they have both agreed, so it’s going to happen, come what may. Actually, if they’re receptive to it this could actually be beneficial for Garnet and themselves in the end.

Ruby scoffs in agreement and crosses her arms in front of her chest. “I’ve been myself for thousands of years. One more day isn’t going to kill me.”

“We’ll be fine,” Sapphire translates.

“Isn’t that what I just said?”

“They needed to hear it in those words.”

“Oh. Okay, then.” Ruby shrugs and allows her arms to fall to her sides, clearly assuming that this insistence has something to do with Sapphire’s prescience.

“Ruby and Sapphire are both, like, way older than us, P,” Amethyst says. “I think they have a good idea of what they can handle.”

Pearl holds up her hands. She’s still clearly awkward about bringing this up after the Sardonyx incident, but she’s more or less placated. “Alright, if you’re both sure.”

“Actually, he’ll be up in fifteen minutes,” says Sapphire.

“Sapph,” Ruby tells her. “Nobody’s said anything about Steven yet.”

Amethyst and Pearl exchange looks of amusement and befuddlement, respectively. They would not have pieced together the contextual clues that Sapphire had been referring to Steven, let alone a segment of a conversation that had not (and now, will not) happen, even half as quickly. It’s really no wonder that Ruby can, though; she is an old hand at conversations with Sapphire, and she also has intimate firsthand experience with how future vision works.

“Oh.” Sapphire’s blue cheeks darken slightly under her bangs, but her voice continues to be cool and collected, as if the embarrassment is not there. “So we haven’t. Well, Pearl, Steven will be awake in a quarter of an hour, not just any minute. Now you know.”

“Err, thanks Sapphire,” says Pearl. She clears her throat. Both Ruby and Amethyst laugh a little at her expression.

“You’re welcome.” Sapphire’s flush has also officially receded.

Amethyst cackles in delight before pouncing forward and slinging around Sapphire and Ruby’s shoulders. They’re both shorter than her (though in Sapphire’s case, not by much), so she has the leverage to really lock her hold on them. “Aw man, having you guys around all day is gonna be great!” she exclaims.

Ruby grins, and even Sapphire cracks a smile.

“You’ve obviously got to surprise him!” says Amethyst enthusiastically. “Have you thought about that? Let’s plan it out!”

“Oh, now you like plans,” Pearl grumbles. Nevertheless, when she activates the temple door they all follow her out into Steven’s room.

So it was that when Steven awoke some fifteen minutes later, one of the first things he saw was Ruby and Sapphire sitting on the edge of his bed, smiling and waving at him (“Say something funny!” calls Amethyst from the kitchen). According to Sapphire, this greeting will be received best out of all of them, because Steven is less likely to startle and either A) roll off the loft in his bubble, or B) smack someone in the nose with his shield.

“Wha—?” The boy blinks and rubs at his eyes, disbelieving. Then he takes a second look at them.

Ruby’s smile freezes in place when she sees Steven starts to smile, and then falters. A heavy air settles about him as he looks around for any sign of danger or instability amongst the Crystal Gems. Upon finding nothing out of the ordinary except for the two individuals on his bed, he rubs at his neck in confusion. It’s obvious that he wants to be happy, but also that he knows happiness isn’t the appropriate response to this situation.

“Ruby, Sapphire, I…” Steven’s hand drops to his lap. Finally, he looks up, and the primary emotion in his face is concern. “What happened this time?”

Something drops in Ruby’s gut. She can’t believe it. How has she missed seeing this before? No wonder Garnet pushed so hard for this. What had they done to him?

Sapphire is the first to recover. “Nothing happened, Steven,” she says with a reassuring smile. “We just thought that, if you were okay with it, we could spend today with you.”

Steven blinks. Hope and excitement begin tugging at the edges of his demeanor. “Really? Y-you just want to have fun?”

“Yeah, unless you don’t think you can deliver,” Ruby says with a mild gesture. She’s goading him, but she’s grinning through her own guilt in the hopes that he won’t have to be upset by their presence for much longer.

Steven’s melancholy expression cracks as his jaw drops in surprise. Then he scrambles to his feet and stands on the mattress in front of them, his arms spread wide. “I am the warp master and a funk master in training!” he declares, jabbing his thumb at himself. “If anyone can deliver on fun, it’s Steven Quartz Universe!”

“I don’t know about this guy,” Ruby hums. “What do you think, Sapphire?”

Steven’s sound of faux-indignation is utterly priceless, and it only grows when Sapphire makes a noise of consideration pretends to use her future vision. “Well, the path of fate—”

“No, don’t tell me! I want our awesome day to happen naturally, Sapphire!”

“It will happen naturally regardless.”

“Sapphire,” he whines. “I don’t want spoilers!”

“He has the right to be surprised,” Ruby says, in the interest of fairness. Then she realizes, “Actually, so do I! Don’t tell me, either! I’m gonna be surprised, for once!”

Steven, opportunistic young lad that he is, seizes the moment to hold up his palm. “Surprise buddies!”

Ruby gives Steven the high five, though inwardly she vows to work on their team name later. ‘Surprise buddies’ just doesn’t meet its jazzy potential.

Sapphire lets out a breath of either defeat or resignation. Same difference. “It would have turned out the same either way.”

“Says you.”

“Does that count as a spoiler?” asks Steven.

“No,” Sapphire says at the same moment that Ruby says “Yes.” They exchange a look, at once somewhat disgruntled and also on the cusp of laughter. How often does that happen anymore?

“Well, whatever that counts as, the deed is done,” Steven says as he hops off the bed and onto the wooden floor. “And now Steven needs breakfast.” That’s when he notices that the three of them aren’t the only ones in his room right now.

“Pearl, Amethyst! Ruby and Sapphire are spending the day with us!” he says as he races down the stairs and comes to an ecstatic, bouncing halt in front of Pearl, who is inadvertently guarding the fridge.

Pearl smiles. “So we’ve heard.”

“It’s so great! We’re gonna—oh, wait.” He suddenly stops, and a look of horror crosses his face. “I have no idea what we’re gonna do! Amethyst—you’re always fun! Help me brainstorm over breakfast!” Steven whirls around and points at Sapphire and Ruby, still up in the loft. “You guys stay there while I figure this out!”

Amethyst, who is sitting on the kitchen counter, stretches her arms above her head and pretends to yawn. “Come into my office when you’re ready, little dude,” she says amiably.

Steven is quick to get himself a bowl of cereal and plunk down at the breakfast bar. “Okay, Amethyst,” he says, trying to sound business like through a mouthful of cereal. “Let’s do this.”

“Does he realize we can hear everything?” Ruby asks as she and Sapphire continue to sit at the foot of Steven’s bed. She’s not looking for any particular sort of response; she’s just thinking aloud

“No, he doesn’t,” Sapphire replies anyway.

“There’s really no point in staying up here.”

“No, there isn’t.”

“Remember, Amethyst, we have to warp out soon,” says Pearl.

“What, you’re leaving?” It’s hard to say whether or not Steven is jealous of their mission or aghast that Amethyst and Pearl will not be joining them on their Most Fun Day Ever.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Amethyst says just before she eats the empty milk carton. “Just give us a few more minutes of brainstorming, P. We’re really getting somewhere with this.”

So far their ideas included Freeze Steven tag (in which Sapphire would also be able to freeze someone on the spot, and this allegedly made the game more enjoyable); sneaking into Funland Arcade and/or Amusement Part to spite the fact that Steven is banned from both; and going on their own three-person mission—but only a little one! It just had to dangerous enough for Steven to see how Sapphire and Ruby fought on their own.

“Yes, Steven,” Pearl says, ignoring Amethyst. “Garnet gave us a mission to do while she, uh, takes the day off.”

“That’s a fun way to phrase it,” Sapphire says, and her tone is just so dry that Ruby can’t help laughing.

“We can hear everything you’re saying, you know!” calls Ruby—because hey, isn’t it obvious at this point?

Pearl flushes light blue, which only makes her laugh harder.

“Aw, really?” says Steven. He waves his spoon-free hand to illustrate his disappointment.

“Sorry, buddy.” Still, now that the unfortunate truth is out there’s no reason for them to stay up in the loft. Ruby jumps to the lower level with a loud thud, while Sapphire levitates off the edge and lands daintily on her toes.

“Ruby, this is Steven’s room, not a playground!” says Pearl in exasperation.

Ruby glances down, just to make sure, before crossing her arms and retorting, “I didn’t dent or burn anything—what more do you want from me?”

“I thought it looked cool.”

“Thank you, Amethyst.”

Steven has stars in his eyes. “Ruby, can you teach me to jump like that, so I don’t have to use the stairs anymore?”

“Huh?” That’s when Ruby takes in his expression and really understands what she’s just inspired. Steven hardly weighs anything, though, so even if he does figure out how to leaping around Ruby doubts this will end badly. She grins. “Yeah, sure, why not?”

“Ruby, Steven’s not…” It’s no particular reason that Ruby can see that stops Pearl from talking, she just trails off and lets out a breath. “We should really get going, Amethyst. It’s going to take all day to find and bubble that gem.”

She’s not wrong.

Amethyst hops off the counter. “Yeah, probably.”

“Aw, you’re leaving already?” says Steven.

“It’s cool, guy. We’ll be back by bedtime—save dinner for me!”

“We’ll bring you back something,” Pearl promises as she and Amethyst go to the warp pad. “Have fun, you three! Try not to get into too much trouble.”

Sapphire waves, but they’re gone before anyone can verbally reply.

“An all day mission sounds so tough and cool,” Steven says somewhat wistfully.

“They’ll spend most of their day searching for the corrupted gem,” says Sapphire. “It stays reliably in one geographic area, but it’s frustratingly evasive.”

“Oh. That suddenly sounds far less cool.”

“Don’t worry, it is,” Ruby assures him as she climbs up onto the barstool next to his. “We wouldn’t send Pearl and Amethyst on any cool missions without us!”

Steven laughs. “So, since you both heard all of our brainstorming, did you hear anything that interested you?”