Chapter Text
“We have another mission.”
Steven’s face fell. He had been looking forward to assembling the new puzzle he got with pearl! Or try the new recipe Lars gave him with Amethyst (If she could keep from eating the ingredients before they were cooked). Or anything else, really. It felt like the gems were going on more and more missions, and while his powers were developed enough to come with (for real this time!), the gems never let him accompany them, even if he promised to stay on the sidelines! They kept saying he wasn’t ready for real fighting, but he knew he had been in plenty serious situations before! In fact, he had half a mind to—
“And we think you are ready to come with us.”
Well. Never mind then.
Steven bounced up and down on his seat. He knew the gems wanted him to focus, but he couldn’t help himself. The gems were finally recognizing his abilities! Scenario after scenario flew through his head about the mission to come, thoughts blurring into each other so quickly it was difficult to recall what he was doing before another thought sprung into the limelight. Distantly he could hear one of the gems trying to get his attention, but his giddy train of thought wasn’t anywhere near stopping.
The slow, calming voice of Garnet washed over him, helping slow his racing thoughts. Garnet had started to describe the details of the mission. They would be catching and dispatching another gem monster that Garnet had tracked.
“Would you like to hear about the gem?” Garnet inquired. Steven nodded, not trusting himself to speak without making excess noise.
“I used to know her, quite well actually,” she continued. For the first time since she started talking, Garnet started to look pained. “We were very close in the rebellion.”
Steven let himself get lost in Garnet’s description. It was an Aquamarine, she said. (Her voice cracked on the word “was.” Steven pretended not to notice) Garnet described the gem as an administrator fed up with the horrors of Gem bureaucracy. She was a small, petite thing, with a teardrop shape gem on her left cheek. She was better suited for busywork and administration, but she put her talents to work as best she could. Just like all the others in the rebellion. She primarily served as a scout, due to her small stature and powers of flight. Her snarky sarcasm mixed up the conversation dynamics, and while she sometimes caused conflicts (Her personality often rubbed people the wrong way), most people found her humor refreshing amidst the demons of the rebellion. Her signature sarcastic “I’m crying” line while pointing to her teardrop shaped gem had everybody doubled over in laughter the first time they heard it.
Towards the end of her description, the corners of Garnet’s mouth turned up in a sad smile. Even through her glasses, her despair was clear. Steven gave her a comforting hug. Now that his thoughts had calmed down, he was better able to recognize the discomfort Garnet had put herself through. Steven hated bringing up memories of the rebellion, but he had to admit learning about it was fun. Seeing what kind of rebellion his mom had built and how they acted felt like learning parts of himself. But being happy and content while Garnet was clearly upset (to him, an outside observer would see Garnet being as stoic as ever) felt wrong. Either way, there was no more time to think about it. Pearl and Amethyst were waiting by the warp pad. It was time to go. Steven and the gems stepped onto the warp pad, and as Garnet activated it, Steven allowed himself to be carried into the unknown.
They touched down near an abandoned barn. Steven looked around in confusion. Nothing looked out of place. Noticing Steven’s confusion, Pearl spoke up.
“Don’t worry Steven, we wouldn’t bring you if the threat was so close to the warp. The Gem is down this road a while.”
Steven purposefully ignored Pearl’s unconscious jab at his abilities. “But I don’t want to walk so long. We’ll be gone all day!”
“Don’t worry Steven, I got this!” Amethyst’s form began to glow and change, growing bigger and wider until-
“No way, a helicopter!”
As they sped over the trees, Steven couldn’t help but marvel at the beautiful horizon. Travelling by helicopter definitely provided a view that couldn’t be beat, even by his own seaside cabin. The white fluffy clouds, drifting through the sky. The blue of the ocean behind them, visible even from this distance past the tips of the trees underneath them. He turned his head to look forward, marveling at the beauty of his planet Earth. In moments like these, he felt truly connected to what his mother, sharing the appreciation for the beauty of Earth. His mother felt compassion for all the life on Earth, from the birds in the sky around him to the blue trees below…
Wait. Blue trees?
He looked again. There, in the distance ahead of them, there was a small area where the trees abruptly turned blue. He looked over at Garnet, who read the confusion off his face and just grimly nodded. It must have been the Gem’s influence, whatever it was.
They landed a short walking distance away from the edge of the blue trees. As they descended, Steven got a closer look at what gave the foliage its unnatural color.
“Webbing?” he asked Garnet, who gave a small nod.
The trees were covered in thick blue ropes that looked eerily similar to the threads of a spider. Several animals from the forest were already caught, struggling against the bindings around them. The unnatural blue color of the webbing gave the entire area an otherworldly feeling. An uncomfortable weight seemed to settle in Steven’s stomach. What kind of monster had created this?
Suddenly, Garnet spoke up. “We wait here for now. We can’t track the gem while it is in hiding, but it will show up eventually.”
Amethyst made sounds of disappointment, but Steven took the opportunity to further observe his surroundings. The forest they had landed in was relatively flat, but the trees heavily obscured his vision. The webbing covering the trees implied that the monster, whatever it was, had taken residency in this area for a very long time. Steven was worried that the monster’s familiarity with the area would make him especially vulnerable, but since Garnet had finally allowed him to come to a battle, Steven was uncomfortable bringing up his concerns. Plus, if he expressed his discomfort, would that disappoint the Gems? Or would they appreciate his opinion and maturity in bringing his dilemma to light? Sighing internally, Steven concluded that Pearl at least, if not the other gems, would see his discomfort as reason to not bring him on any other missions.
Faintly, the sound of fluttering wings wafted across the team. Pearl flinched, summoning her spear and gripping it uncomfortably tight. Amethyst summoned her whip, wrapping it around her arms nervously. Garnet silently manifested her gauntlets. Steven simply looked around confused. What was the sound coming from?
A quiet, but incredibly harsh, swishing sound came from behind them. As they turned around looking for the source, a terrified squeaking noises were heard. Suddenly, a massive blue butterfly-like creature emerged with a webbed animal - was that a ferret? - in its hands.
As it emerged from the foliage, Steven could finally see the threat they were facing. The first thing he saw were massive blue wings. Taller than Garnet, with intricate patterns running through them. They fluttered nervously, keeping the monster levitated in the air. The body of the creature looked mostly normal, except for the fact that it had two -- no, three sets of arms on its disfigured body. The face looked like a normal gem face, but the eyes had grown into massive circular glowing lamps that illuminated the darkness of the shady forest. It was still carrying the squeaking ferret with two of its arms, ready for whatever perverse desires it felt it needed to fulfill.
Despite everything, Steven thought that a butterfly monster was actually pretty cute.
Of course, that was the moment the monster caught sight of them.
The monster had suddenly stilled, its face turned in their direction. The arms holding the ferret suddenly sprayed that same fluorescent blue sticky fluid that covered the trees, binding the ferret to a nearby trunk despite its terrified squirming. Throughout all this, the monster’s head remained staring at them, almost appraisingly. Its head tilted in consideration. Steven didn’t dare move. Under the monster’s glowing pupilless gaze, he felt trapped, almost paralyzed. The monster paused, considering.
Suddenly, everything was too bright. The monster’s glowing eyes, which previously was barely enough to illuminate the shade around them, had suddenly brightened to a level comparable to a floodlight. While the monster's gaze was enrapturing before, it now felt like a physical force was keeping him pinned. With the brightness of the eyes, Steven couldn’t quite get another look at the monster, but it was obvious it was reading for an attack. Steven belatedly tried to raise his shield, but his arms felt like they were moving through molasses. He started to panic. He couldn't move to protect himself. He couldn't fight, couldn't block, and definitely couldn't flee from the incoming attack.
Garnet and the others were outside the floodlight, and they were moving almost too quickly. They scattered, trying to get the drop on the monster, but it started to fly upwards, breaking its line of sight to him. Immediately, the strange restrictive force broke, causing him to stumble. Garnet leapt upwards, trying to catch it with a vicious uppercut but the monster deftly avoided her strike by fluttering to the side. The monsters six arms spread outward, and the same blue webbing trapping the ferret came spurting out towards them.
“Watch out, Steven!” He fumbled with his arms, just barely raising his shield in time to block the sticky spray. Garnet and amethyst had jumped away, but Pearl wasn’t so lucky. Looking over at Pearl, Steven saw that one of the arms had trapped pearls foot. Pearl slashed at the web connecting their limbs and severed it, but her foot was now essentially glued to the ground. While Pearl was busy extricating herself, Garnet and Amethyst resumed combat.
Amethyst was lashing out with her whip, forcing the monster to strafe left and right, while Garnet was trying to jump upwards to crush it with her gauntlets. Bright spotlights flashed everywhere as the monster flitted around evasively. No matter how much she tried, however, the monster was just too mobile in the air for Garnet to effectively battle it. Pearl had finally extricated herself and was trying to assist Amethyst with distracting the beast.
Steven, on the other hand, was overwhelmed. Everything was moving too fast, Garnet was visibly frustrated and barking orders to the others, but then “Gotcha!” turning his head, he saw that Amethyst had successfully lassoed the butterfly-like Gem monster, but it was struggling up in the air, wings flapping wildly, about to break free, then the massive floodlights focused completely on Amethyst, who became unnaturally stilled, but then Pearl leapt up from the side with her definitive war cry, launching her spear straight up right into the creature’s belly and suddenly everything was over in a puff of smoke.
The battlefield was silent. The gem began to fall from the sky. Everything was calm, in stark contrast to the out of control events of just a few seconds ago. Steven realized that he hadn’t helped at all with the battle, he had just stood there and protected himself. The Gems were dealing with what looked like a particularly difficult monster and Steven had not been able to help. At least I wasn’t actively being a burden, he pondered. He acknowledged that his shield allowed the Gems to focus on fervently fighting the monster instead of actively protecting him.
Steven maneuvered himself under the falling gem, prepared to safely catch it. As the gem descended, Pearl’s words floated through his head: “These monsters don’t mean to hurt us. And even if they did, nobody should be shattered unless they truly deserve it. These creatures are just…confused. Not in their right minds. We are doing everything we can to try to fix them but, in the meantime, we are just trying to keep them safe.” Even if Steven couldn’t help in the battle -His heart was still beating out of his chest¬- he could at least do something to help the mission.
He was so distracted he didn’t notice the small blur darting out between the trees. He did notice the involuntary jerk and shout given by the gems, but the blur had already leapt above his head and snatched the gem before he could catch it. The Gems drew their weapons, preparing to strike, but as the figure landed with the corrupted gem, he spotted a small tuft of yellow hair. A familiar figure stood there, holding the spoil of the Gems’ victory.
“ONION?”