Chapter Text
1
Amethyst was used to weird, she was an alien who lived in a sleepy Earth beach town who spent most of her time eating literal garbage.
Not much surprised her anymore, the last big, life-altering shock that she’d experienced was when Rose Quartz had turned into a baby that Greg had introduced to them as ‘Steven’.
Steven lived with them now, he had since he was eleven ever since Greg had realized that the two of them couldn’t fit in his van. They’d made a pretty sweet house for the kid, full of human things that Amethyst couldn’t really see the point of but made Steven happy. She liked the kid, really: he was funny (albeit annoying sometimes), he drove Pearl crazy which is always a plus, and he really seemed to care about being a Crystal Gem. He also thought Amethyst was the coolest―which she happily agreed with. He was thirteen now but still looked pretty much identical to when he was eight (maybe that’s just how humans aged?) and acted the same, he acted nothing like Rose.
If she hadn’t been there to see when Rose had disappeared (shapeshifted? fused?) into Steven she probably wouldn’t have believed that she was part of him. Rose was the unshakable leader of the Crystal Gems, she had always known exactly what to say, she never made a misstep―Steven couldn’t even summon her shield on cue. Pearl had said that Steven would be just like Rose one day, Amethyst hoped that was true. As much as she liked having Steven around, he wasn’t Rose Quartz, he was just Greg’s kid. The Crystal Gems didn’t need Greg’s kid, they needed Rose.
But he tried , he tried so hard, even if more often than not he screwed things up. He was always so excited to prove himself to them, which probably explains the fervor he had when Garnet invited him on their latest mission.
“Really!?” he’d exclaimed, already reaching for his cheeseburger backpack and his ukulele both of which he insisted on taking on any mission, “Oh, my gosh! Give me five minutes, thank you, Garnet!”
“Be quick, Steven!” Pearl chimed as Steven stumbled up the stairs with his infectious little grin. Once he was out of earshot she turned towards Garnet, “Garnet.” she murmured, cupping her hands together, “Are you sure about this? I don’t know if he’s ready for missions like these...you remember the Sea Spire...”
Amethyst choked down a snort, the Sea Spire had been a disaster but a really funny one. Garnet turned her head to face Pearl, “We have to give him a chance. He’s learned a lot since then, I think he’s ready.”
Pearl bit the inside of her cheek, “But this is a corrupted Gem . He’s never had to fight one himself.”
“He won’t have to.” she assured, “We will be there.”
“Hm.” Pearl looked to Steven, who was currently debating between which of his plush animals to bring, “...I’ll trust your judgment.”
Amethyst stretched, “Yeah, Steve-o's got some tricks up his sleeves. I mean, he talked that Lazuli into not shattering us so I think he’s got what it takes.”
Pearl didn’t look convinced, she never did when it came to Steven. She wanted him to be Rose but that just wasn’t him, unfortunately. “Steven!!” Pearl called, “Come on, we have to go!”
“Coming!!” he slung his full backpack around his shoulders and gripped his ukulele, skipping down the stairs. He paused, making a sudden beeline for the bathroom, “Wait! One more thing!”
Amethyst snickered as Pearl groaned, “Steven…”
“It’ll be quick, I’ll be right back!”
“He’s going to make us late!”
“To what?” Amethyst questioned, “The Gem’s not gonna get more corrupted if we give Steven a minute to pee, Pearl.”
“I know but…” her shoulders sagged then straightened, eyes looking up to the portrait that sat just above their doorway―the portrait of Rose Quartz, as serene and perfect as ever. “It’s fine.”
Mood thoroughly sombered, the three took a moment to imagine if Rose was still around, if she was there to roused them into action and lead them to contain yet another corrupted Gem.
To imagine if they still had someone like her.
Creak…
The nostalgia tour was abruptly cut off by the mesh door creaking open to reveal some bewildered looking guy who looked strangely familiar, “Oh, my God.” he murmured, frozen in the doorway. He was tall, almost as tall as Pearl, with tired eyes and messy hair; he look like Greg had right after Steven was born, he honestly looked awful. Despite his appearance, he wore a bright pink jacket that seemed out of place with his overall gloomy look.
The three Crystal Gems quickly summoned their weapons, pointing them at the intruder, “Who are you?” Garnet barked.
The intruder yelped, putting his arms up in defense, “Whoa, whoa, wait!”
“State your purpose!” Pearl ordered.
Amethyst reared her whip back to strike, “C’mon, guy, play nice here!”
“Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, stop!” he took a step towards them, “It’s me!”
Taken aback by the intruder somehow knowing them, they only grew more suspicious. Amethyst tightened her grip, “Ugh!! Whatever, let’s just get this fool!”
She flicked her whip, sending the barbed piece of hard light towards the human whose eyes widened as it approached, then they narrowed, then…it happened.
Rose’s shield!
Plain as day, the ‘intruder’ was brandishing Rose’s shield against Amethyst’s whip. The Crystal Gems gasped, this could only mean one thing…
“It’s me. Steven.” he spat, tossing down the shield which dissolved into sparkles before it reached the ground.
“Jeez! Wait, sorry, man!” Amethyst released her whip, letting it disappear. The others lowered their weapons, all of them getting closer to Steven, “You should’ve told us you were tryin’ to surprise us! I thought you were just tryin’ to go pee!”
“How’d you get out of the bathroom?” Pearl stored her spear, worry etched onto her face, “Why…why do you look like this?”
Steven looked majorly uncomfortable, “I…uh…”
Amethyst regarded him, “Tell you what, dude, you got really good at shapeshiftin’ since last time. Got the voice and everythin’, where’d you get the clothes though?”
“Well…I…”
“And Rose’s shield!” Pearl praised, “Good job, Steven! Your training has been paying off!”
“Actually…um…”
“Yeah, man, you summoned it like a cha―”
“Amethyst. Pearl.” Garnet interrupted. “Let him speak.” she directed her attention to the fidgeting Steven, “You seem uneasy.” She was right, Steven looked like he might curl up and die right there, usually he’d be soaking up all this praise but now it was as if it was hurting him.
“I am.” Steven choked out. His voice was so much deeper, he really had gotten the illusion down pat (even if most of it was probably wishful thinking on his part).
Garnet set a firm hand on his shoulder, something she usually couldn’t do to him without bending down, “Explain.”
Steven shrugged off Garnet’s touch and dug into the pockets of his jacket, movement revealed that the black shirt beneath was printed with a bright yellow star. The three watched him try to find whatever he was looking for. He did, pulling out a glass orb encasing a small hourglass. Garnet sucked in a breath.
“Sorry. I’m…” Steven rolled the ball between his fingers, averting their gaze, “I’m not Steven. Well, no, I am Steven but―wow, this is hard to explain―I’m not your Steven. I’m from the future.”
Amethyst’s first reaction was disbelief, she snorted, “C’mon, goofball! Lay off it, this is a good prank though, ten outta ten. Let's get goi-”
“Amethyst, I’m not joking. I’m from the fu…” he trailed off, his eyes following something.
“WHOA!” came another voice, Steven’s voice , his normal voice. Amethyst twisted around to find that Steven― her Steven ―was looking at this not-Steven with big, starry eyes.
“...ture.”
Amethyst suddenly realized that maybe she wasn’t as used to weird as she thought.