Chapter Text
Steven stared at the ceiling. He was laying upside down on the couch, his feet propped up on the backrest.
“Ughhhhh, so…. bored…” he moaned.
He turned his head to see if anyone heard what he said. When he didn’t notice anyone in the room, he brought his legs down, and laid on his belly.
“Sooo… bored,” he moaned again. His eyes looked expectantly at the gem door. No one came out.
“Auuuugh.” Steven rolled off the couch with a thud, then popped up. “Guys?”
He checked his loft, the bathroom, and the beach, and still couldn’t find them.
He went back inside and sat on a stool, dropping his head on the counter in the kitchen. He grabbed the sandwich left there and took a bite. He stared at the gem door while chewing, his face sagging more into his arm as the minutes went by and no one appeared.
He got up and walked over to the door, placing his hand miserably on the door. “Where could they be?” He banged his head on the door and just stood there.
Suddenly, a shimmering sound filled his ears, and before he could do anything, he fell face-first onto Pearl’s shoes.
“Steven?” she questioned, confused. “What are you doing?”
With his face still on the floor he responded, “I'm boreddddd.”
Pearl sighed, slid her feet from under Steven’s face and stepped over him.
He turned over and started to drag himself dramatically to where Pearl was standing. “Can’t we go on a mission or somethingggggg?”
Pearl looked at him, her arms crossed. “We can’t just go on a mission Steven,” she said exasperated.
Suddenly, something hit him in the ribs, and he heard a ‘wHoA’ before a big crash. He looked up and Amethyst was on the floor, covered in pots and pans.
“Amethyst!” Pearl shouted.
“What?!” she shouted back, “It’s not my fault Steven is laying in the middle of the floor!” She paused, “Why are you on the floor? And why do you look like someone stole your lollipop?”
Steven got to his feet, “I’m bored.”
Amethyst laughed.
“It’s not funny!” Steven said defensively. He put his hands on his hips and straightened his back, desperately trying to seem dignified, but the crumbs on his mouth were diminishing the effect. “Boredom is a very serious problem.”
Amethyst only started laughing harder. Through gasps of breath she said, “You… have… something… on your face!”
Steven’s eyes grew wide and he quickly rubbed the crumbs off, “Amethyst!”
“You… missed some!”
Before Steven realized what was happening, there was a pie in his face. He fell back with a thud. He couldn’t see anything through all the cream, but he could hear Amethyst’s laughter, and Pearl yelling his name. He sat up, collected as much cream as he could in his hands and threw it in Amethyst’s direction. Though his stubby arms weren’t really good at aiming, and he hit Pearl- who was standing next to Amethyst and yelling at her- straight in the face and she fell to the floor.
Amethyst started laughing EVEN louder than before, and Steven joined in this time. Pearl stood up, and before either of them saw what she had in her hands, both of them were covered in cream. Amethyst and his laughter had stopped abruptly, but now Pearl was laughing victoriously. Suddenly, the three of them were wrapped up in a pie fight. Pearl threw one at Amethyst, but she ducked, and it hit Garnet in the face, just as she left the gem door.
“Garnet!” Pearl screeched and covered her mouth.
Garnet didn’t say anything.
“I- we were just- uh- Amethyst started it!” Pearl rambled.
“Hey!”
“We have a mission,” Garnet said, walking past Pearl, and the giant mess.
“Ahem, yes,” Pearl agreed, “let’s get moving.”
“Yay mission!” Steven cheered, running to catch up with the tall gems.
Amethyst didn’t follow straight away. First, she shoved a whole pie into her mouth, then followed.
…
“It’s beautiful!” Steven said in awe, his eyes, stars.
“Keep it moving Ste-man,” Amethyst shouldered him walking past. She was slouching, and her voice showed obvious annoyance. “Do we really have to climb this thing?”
The thing, in question, was a mountain. Though beautiful, it had no clear paths, and looked like any wrong step would make a rock slide happen.
“There is a corrupted gem, we’ve never seen before, running up this mountain,” Garnet informed, “so yes.”
Amethyst groaned loudly.
“Come on Amethyst! It will be fun!” Steven hyped.
Pearl turned to Garnet, “Are you sure we should be taking Steven?”
“Steven can take care of himself,” Garnet responded.
“It’s just, the top looks… um..” Pearl trailed off.
Steven squinted his eyes to see the top. It was black, and scary-looking. Compared to the friendliness of the rest of the mountain, and the forest around them, it looked like death.
Steven pursed his lips thoughtfully, “this seems like a job for Chaps.”
Pearl turned to look back at him, “Chaps..?”
Steven whipped out a bag of Chaps. “They are my comfort food. Don’t worry Pearl, I got this.”
Pearl still seemed concerned, but she turned around without saying anything. Steven looked at the top of the mountain again and gulped. He shook his head and steeled his courage.
-
“Are we there yetttt?” Steven complained.
Pearl grunted under him, “no.”
“Why are you complaining bro? You get a ride! Why does he get a ride?” Amethyst whined.
“Because, Steven has small limbs, and less energy,” Garnet responded, reaching up for another grip.
“I have small limbs!” Amethyst protested.
“You can shape shift,” Garnet said with zero sympathy.
Pearl started to shake under him. He tightened his grip on her, slightly scared she would fall. Despite the shaking, Pearl kept climbing, her grip as steely as ever. After a few more minutes of climbing, they reached a small ledge. Pearl hoisted herself and Steven up with a grunt. She collapsed to the ground, and Garnet lifted Steven off her back.
“You’re with me now, Steven,” Garnet said.
He nodded, “that was a long stretch… sorry Pearl.”
Pearl was sitting now. She blushed subconsciously, “It’s alright Steven.”
She stood up shakily, but once she was up, her perfect posture was back.
“Let’s keep going, we’ll be there soon,” Garnet announced.
“Great,” Amethyst said sarcastically.
Steven jumped onto Garnet’s back, and wrapped his hands around her neck. He stared up, it was an almost straight climb up. He swallowed his fear and adjusted his grip as Garnet started the climb up.
After about 20 minutes of climbing they reached a ledge only a few feet down from the black tip of the mountain. There was a worn path so that they could walk the rest of the way.
“I wonder what caused this… black?” Pearl pondered aloud.
“Doesn’t matterrrr,” Amethyst said, “let’s just poof this monster and go home.”
Pearl growled in annoyance. The rest of the time they walked in silence. They reached the top, and it was a plateau. It was an awful lot bigger than it looked from the bottom, and middle… and even from a few feet down; the platform seemed to go on for miles.
“Where is the…” Pearl whispered.
Even Amethyst was standing up straighter. Everyone was looking around, they were tense, and itching to whip out their weapons.
There was a small noise, and the gems activated their weapons in a split second.
“Wait, what’s happening?” Amethyst squeaked.
Her whip was glitching. He looked at Garnet and Pearl, both of their weapons were doing the same thing. Unexpectedly, all their weapons disappeared.
“Where did they go?” Pearl screamed.
Pearl, Amethyst, and Steven all looked expectantly at Garnet. She removed her goggles and stared at them. All three of her eyes were filled with uncertainty.
“Well. Well. Well. Who do we have here?”