#eh I don't think sapphire likes talking with mom's of any kind if she has a bad feeling about them

[tatttletale]

Steven's Dream (Zoo Arc: part 1/3)

Hibiscus flowers swayed against a lush backdrop—a grassy hill, a clear sky and a glint of pink—

        . . .Steven?. . .

        The voice is disembodied and distant, carried on the breeze that sways the flowers.

        Steven?. . .

        The view is constant, locked like a video camera during a scene in a movie.

        "Steven!"

        Steven woke with a start, vision blurry. When he touched fingers to the dampness on his cheek, they came back with glistening water.

        He became aware of the movie onscreen and sat up, wiping at his face.

        "You okay, bud?" his dad asked, settling a hand on his back. "You fell asleep during the movie. I was gonna let you sleep (you looked so cute!) but, then you started crying, and. . . that was less cute."

        Steven gave a soft laugh. "No, I'm fine. . . I don't know why I was crying. My dream wasn't really sad. . ." he yawned, and Greg checked his watch.

        "Oh, jee, look at the time. . . and my classy new watch!"

        Steven stared uncomprehendingly at the golden accessory against his wrist. Greg smiled sympathetically and patted his shoulder.

        "Let's get you home, bud."

✧✧✧

". . . Eh, you didn't miss much. Turns out they were abducting cows 'cause they needed milk for their cereal planet!"

        Steven stepped up onto the stairs to the beach house and paused. "Dad. Before you go . . . can I ask you something?" He turned and fixed him with a serious stare.

        "Yeah, of course!" he smiled, but seeing Steven's expression, his brow creased in worry.

        "Did Mom ever talk to you about. . . Pink Diamond?"

        Greg stared at him for a moment, before sighing. "There were some things your mom. . . didn't like to talk about. I . . . never pressed her for details."

        "Why not?" Steven felt himself growing a little desperate.

        Greg shook his head and started up the stairs. "Rose and I talked about tonnes of important stuff—music, comic books, getting sand between your toes . . . you know, feelings," he said, wedging onto the step beside him. "We both made a lotta mistakes when we were young—I thought disco was coming back, she started a war. . ." Steven cringed.

        "I think she felt like she had to confess everything to me, but. . .  I told her, the past is the past. 'All that matters to me is who you are now'—and who she was, was . . . an incredible, loving being."

        Steven gave a soft smile, feeling for the gem beneath his shirt. That . . . felt a lot better. He turned and gave him a warm hug. "'Night, Dad."

        "'Night, Steven."

✧✧✧

Hibiscus flowers swayed against a lush backdrop—a grassy hill, a clear sky. . .

        I'm here again?

        Steven craned his neck up to the clouds, and reacted with surprise when the view complied.

        Guess I can look around. . .

        His eyes tracked up the branches of a tree overhead, and then scanned across the green meadow.

        What is this place?

        A glint caught his eye—light refracting off a polished pink surface.

        What's— what is. . .

        He followed the arc of the thing, which led back—up—to a huge, intricately patterned . . . thing. It was almost like a chamber . . . on legs?

        Whoa.

        He was just taking notice of the masses of shrub gathering around the base of the thing, flowered vines climbing the structure, when—

        Steven's eyes blinked open and he sat up upon feeling something tickling his face. When he wiped at the stuff with his fingers, he found tears.

        He frowned. Again?

✧✧✧

Steven watched the pretty sheet-snow settle around him. Pearl isn't going to be too happy about that, he thought.

        "Sorry, I'll clean that up later!" Connie shouted excitedly, not sounding sorry at all. From somewhere on the floor beside her, she picked up a sizeable tome and dropped it with a thunk! onto the table.

        "When you told me about your dream, I thought it sounded familiar," she said, turning the cover and searching the contents page. It was remarkable that such an ancient piece of literature should be so well organised, but he supposed that was a testament to Buddwick's character. Connie picked up a handful of pages and flicked hurriedly through them, searching, until she stopped and slammed her hand down on an illustrated page.

        Steven gasped. "That's it! The— 'Palan-quinn'."

        "Actually, it's pronounced palan-keen," she corrected him, and further back in the house, the warp pad chimed.

        Steven brightened. "It's the Gems! They've gotta know about this thing!" He grabbed the tome and rushed over with Connie on his heels.

        When the light from the pad cleared, Ruby opened an eye. "Hey," she said, trying to sound coy and failing.

        "Hey, d'you know anything about this thing?" Steven motormouthed, and held open the book.

        "Hmmmmm!" Ruby stepped closer and frowned at the book, supporting her chin with thumb and forefinger. "Oh, this. Yes. I see. Steven, I can tell you this with absolute confidence." She steepled her fingers, closed her eyes and breathed out.

        Steven felt excitement bubble up inside him. Ruby never hid anything from him. She'd tell him exactly what this thing was, and he could figure out what it was doing in his dreams.

        Ruby opened her eyes again and fixed him with a very serious stare. "I have no idea what that is."

        He deflated, and she laughed, giving him a playful punch. "'Course I know! That's a palanquin."

        He shielded his arm from any further damage and huffed. "Ruby, I know. It says right there."

        She seemed surprised and stared at the caption he pointed to. As Steven came to think of it, Ruby had never seemed very interested in human culture for the most part, so it didn't come as much of a surprise that she hadn't learnt how to read.

        Raising an eyebrow, she looked back up at him. "Well, whaddya wanna know about it?"

        "Uhh, stuff like. . . what's it for? And what's it doing there?"

        "For important Gems, mostly," she supplied, waving a hand. "Someone prolly left it here during the War."

        "What kind of important Gems?"

        Sapphire had been listening in to the conversation, gradually growing more and more tense. She turned around when Ruby started to speak.

        "Well, the biggest ones are D—"

        Sapphire clapped a gloved hand over her mouth, startling all three of them. When she noticed the children staring at her, she shot them a nervous smile and removed her hand. "I'm sorry, Ruby occasionally gets ahead of herself."

        Ruby scowled at her.

        "What was she going to say?" Connie interjected. "'D'. . .?"

        "Diamonds?" Steven asked, and Sapphire stiffened, raising her hands to her head. "I had a dream where I saw this thing, and Connie and I were wondering maybe—"

        "Steven," the blue Gem interrupted, and hurriedly dropped her hands, instead clasping them in front of her. "Why don't you and—"

        She cut off when a large hand settled on her head. Looking up, she opened her mouth—

        "You can't go there," Opal said calmly.

        Steven blinked. ". . . Why not?"

        Ruby sidled up beside him and crossed her arms. "Yeaahhh, why not?"

        Sapphire's fists clenched. "Ruby, you know—"

        "Sapphire, it's okay," Opal soothed, and levelled her gaze at Steven. "We won't be going. And that's the end of it."

        Steven sighed and lowered the book. "I thought you were going to tell me everything from now on."

        Sapphire and the fusion remained silent. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he flipped the book around to examine it.

        "Wait. . . it was pink in my dream. Does—" he held it up again and pointed at the image. "Does this have something to do with Pink Diamond?" Sapphire cringed, and he forged ahead. "I already know Mom shattered her, so what is it about this you can't tell me?"

        Again, Sapphire raised her hands to her temples and shook her head. Opal stepped in front of her and gazed beseechingly at Steven. "Please. You're making Sapphire very upset."

        "No!" he burst out. "I'm very upset!"

        "We're. Not. Going."

        Connie and Ruby backpedalled, shooting each other a wary look.

        "Rose never wanted for you to see that place," the fusion said, steadfast.

        "Rose wanted. . ." he growled, voice rising to a shout. "What about what I want?!" he swung a finger at her. "I'm sick of everyone lying to me! Rose is my Mom! Out of anyone, don't I deserve to know the truth?"

        "This isn't the time."

        "I. Don't. Care! I wanna go there now!"

        "Steven!"

        "I'm sorry," Connie said quietly, rubbing her neck. "I— I shouldn't have brought the book."

        "Yes you should've brought it! It's lucky something has some information that I don't have to get out of THEM!"

        All three Gems recoiled, shocked.

        When Steven spoke next, his voice was calm but determined. "Connie, I need to borrow this book."

        She hesitated before replying. "Okay, just be careful. . . I gotta return it to the library in a week."

        "Thanks," he said, walking past her.

        "Wait, Steven, where are you—"

        A hand on her head stopped her, and she looked up at a stern Opal, eyes fixed on Steven as he slipped out through the door. Sapphire stood next to her, skirts bunched in her fists.

        Sat in the middle of the staircase, Steven gazed intently at the image. The creak of the door made him look up.

        "Steven—don't go. You have to trust us."

        He sighed and stood, turning to look up at her. "I don't understand, Opal. At least you're usually honest with me!"

        "I want to be. But if I tell you what Sapphire said. . ." she stopped and sighed.

        "What? What did she say?"

        "I can't tell you, Steven!"

        "Steven! Please don't go!"

        Sapphire rushed out and onto the balcony, gazing down at him over the guardrail. "You can't let her see you!"

        "Ah! Her! Her who!"

        "Oh, dear. . . Steven, please. Just stay here." She parted her fringe and gazed at him with her wide blue eye. "For me."

        His gaze dropped. "I won't."

        He trotted off determinedly down the stairs.

        Behind him, Opal crossed the balcony to settle a comforting hand on Sapphire's head.

✧✧✧

Greg was asleep, splayed across the mattress in his van, when a banging on the door jolted him awake.

        He scrambled forward and opened the doors to Steven, clutching a thick, leather-bound book. "Dad, I need your help!"

        "Is everything o—"

        "There's this place I saw in a dream, and it's real! But the Gems won't tell me anything about it!" he pointed at the map displayed on a stained page. "It has something to do with Pink Diamond. I know you didn't wanna get involved with Mom's past but. . . I wanna know the truth! Doesn't that matter at all?"

        His voice was shrill, his eyes wide. Greg stared at him for a moment before softening. "Of course it does."

        The boy appeared to calm a little. "Really?"

        Greg nodded and held out his hand. "Lemme see that."

        Steven passed the book to him, marking the page, and he examined the map for a moment. "And the Gems won't take you?"

        "No." His shoulders slumped defeatedly.

        Greg smiled. "Well I know a guy who will!"

✧✧✧

Andy DeMayo had only been too happy to give his cousins a lift in his bushplane. Such a small aircraft did have its drawbacks, though—they made it to Korea via stops in Alaska and Russia. When they finally touched down and farewelled Andy (promising to call him when they found their way back to Beach City, as Steven was sure the Gems would take them back), Greg had insisted they take it easy and have a little fun while they were here. Steven certainly couldn't object to that.

        Needless to say, South Korea was amazing. Bustling cities full of lights and billboards and screens; and clogging up the roads, beeping taxis, friendly locals and hurried tourists.

        They went shopping, tried the local food, visited the Heungnyemun Gate and tried on traditional garb. After purchasing a pair of branded shirts and a load of new clothes (which Steven certainly wouldn't wear but Greg insisted on anyway), they finally caught a bus to the Seorjjungsan mountains.

        "Kamsahamni— da?" Greg called upon their disembarkment, and stared dolefully after the retreating vehicle.

        "What's the hurry?" he mumbled, and turned and almost ran into Steven, who was examining the map.

        "This is it," he said, and began to walk.

        "You sure this is the place?" Greg called after him, lugging shopping bags up the hill.

        "Yeah!" Steven called back, "It's hard to explain but. . . I can feel it."

        "Huh. . . sure is pretty here." Greg gazed around at the masses of hibiscus bushes, blooming with delicate pink flowers. "So does any of this look familiar to you?"

        Steven stopped abruptly in his path. "Steven?"

        He was staring intently at the book. When Greg leaned forward to look at him, his face was streaming with fat tears. "Whoa, are you okay?" He glanced worriedly at the book, thinking he may have stumbled across something upsetting—but he found nothing except the map sprawled across the aged pages.

        "It's happening again," Greg pushed, gauging his reaction.

        "I-I'm fine. Let's keep going."

        "Come on. . . let's take a break," he offered tentatively, glancing back down the hill. "I think this mountain's really messing me up."

        "No, Dad! This can only mean we're getting closer!" He shot him a brusque smile and forged on. "C'mon!"

        Hesitantly, Greg trailed behind him until they reached a high mesh fence. Nailed (somehow) to the criss-crossing wires were two signs—one shouted KEEP OUT, accentuated with bold Korean symbols and a crossed-out stick figure; the one below was a little more mellow, wooden and scrawled with a soft Please. Steven thought that handwriting looked familiar.

        "Look!" Steven cried, a little unnecessarily.

        "This feels familiar," Greg grumbled, eyeing the signs.

        "Dad, help me jump the fence."

        Steven's expression was stern, fixed unwaveringly on the fence, but still flowed with tears not his own.

        Behind him, Greg gulped. "Oh boy, we're doing this."

        Steven dropped down lightly on the other side of the fence. Greg thumped heavily to the ground beside him with a whoompf!.

        "Your dad really can't jump fences like he used to," he wheezed from the ground.

        "Dad. . . look."

        Greg raised his head to Steven's receding figure. With a groan, he hauled himself up and followed. He didn't bother with the bags; they could come back for them later.

        They came to a stop in front of a huge, polished blue structure hung with curtains. It sat on what looked like angled legs and inside sat a grand carved throne.

        "This is it! But. . . it's different?" Steven gazed up in confusion at the pristine palanquin. "In my dream it was all broken down and pink! This one's in perfect condition!"

        "Maybe it got a paint job?" Greg suggested dubiously.

        "Oh, Pink. . ."

        A low voice echoed back to them from somewhere close. When Steven turned he could just make out a blue, hooded figure through the leaves of an obstructing bush.

        "I'm sorry."

        The huge figure was kneeling in front of—in front of the pink palanquin! Beside the figure, a small blue Gem knelt on the ground.

        "I'm so sorry. I should have done more. Yellow says it'll all be over soon. . . I wonder what you would think. This is your planet, after all. . . I still think it is."

        "Steven, do you know her?" Greg whispered.

        Suddenly, everything was blurred, and Steven sunk to the ground, tears flowing.

        "Whoa, buddy!"

        "My dreams. . . I was seeing through her eyes!" Steven breathed, and wiped at the onslaught of water. "I've been crying her tears!"

        "What are you doing over there?"

        The two froze. Light footsteps were approaching.

        "I thought I heard someone," said a high voice above their heads.

        "Don't worry, I'll handle this," Greg whispered, and gave Steven's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

        "I think we're not alone," the small blue Gem said, and Greg abruptly stood, earning a small gasp of surprise.

        "Ayyy! Uh, nice day out, huh? I— I didn't see you there, what's uh, what's. . . up?" Steven cringed as he heard his clicking finger-guns.

        The hooded figure in front of the palanquin straightened. "Pearl?"

        The aforementioned Gem turned and gave some sort of foreign salute. "My Diamond, I've found a native."

        She curtseyed and Greg clambered out of the bushes.

        "Oh, uh—yeah! I'm from here alright! I am your host, your. . . Highness." He didn't quite know what to refer to her by, exactly, but that seemed the most appropriate.

        The figure turned just enough to expose the lower half of a thin, blue face.

        "Bring it here."

        The smaller Gem straightened and, clasping her hands, went to the Diamond. Greg followed.

        "Dad, no!" Steven called, as quietly as he could manage. His father didn't hear him.

        Upon reaching the figure, the small Gem curtseyed again and stood behind Greg.

        "How curious," came the low voice. "I'm impressed by humanity's ability to survive in the wild."

        The voice seemed to grow weaker, quieter. "What a strange planet. Where else would a being as fragile as a human live, while a being as powerful as a Diamond perish?"

        The large Gem (undoubtedly a Gem, by now, Steven thought) gestured to the palanquin. "This is where it happened. Where she was broken."

        Steven's eyes widened.

        "Were you close?" He started at his father's voice.

        The Gem paused for a moment before replying. "Very."

        Greg sighed. "Ah. . . I'm awfully sorry. I know how hard it is to move on when you've lost someone."

        To Steven's shock, the figure then turned, exposing a long, mournful face, framed by white tufts of hair. The eyes were huge and blue, wet with tears. As another tear dripped down the Gem's face, Steven felt his own eye water.

        "I lost someone very important to me, too," Greg continued. "I miss her every single day and I think about her all the time. But. . . she's never coming back. That feeling can be so hard to be okay with."

        "I'm surprised that a human being is capable of understanding how I feel." She turned back and and gazed sorrowfully at the palanquin. "It's a shame."

        Slowly, she stood, drawing her rippling robes with her. "There's a geo-weapon incubating in your planet that will destroy everything, shortly. But. . . you don't deserve that, do you?" She turned and gave him a small smile.

        Greg stood transfixed, not quite believing. "Geo-weapon, huh?"

        "You know, I really shouldn't be here." She kneeled down and spoke playfully, almost as if she were conversing with a favourite pet. "But I'm glad I came back one last time. I can save one last piece of her legacy."

        Greg smiled. "Oh, yeah?"

        A huge blue hand darted out from underneath the cloak and snatched him off the ground.

        "Dad!" Steven cried, panicked.

        The huge Gem straightened and raised a hand. At her signal, a leviathan blue hand rose from somewhere behind a nearby mountain and into the air. Larger than her? How was that possible?

        "That's a. . . big arm," Greg stammered.

        Steven heard something behind him and ducked just in time to avoid being struck by the blue palanquin. It could fly, too?!

        "Put me down, please!" Greg's desperate cry echoed across the landscape. "Whoa, whoa! Put me down, your Highness!"

        The Gem heeded him none, just ducked into the palanquin and sat, her tiny companion following suit.

        Steven tumbled out of the bushes. "Dad, DAD!"

        Just as he would have reached it, the palanquin flew up into the sky, higher, higher, until it reached the hand—the ship? the hand-ship?—and disappeared into its clenched fist.

        "Stop!" Steven cried, and with all his strength he launched himself up at the ship, flying higher, higher, the ground receding beneath him, the trees shrinking into pinpricks—

        He stretched an arm out, reaching for the ship—

        It turned and shot into the atmosphere, warping out of sight and blasting him back towards the ground with the force of its afterfire.

        Steven gave up and went limp, falling, staring helplessly at the spot he had last seen it. "Dad. . ."

        Suddenly, he was caught up in two strong arms, and he closed his eyes, resigning himself to the strong hold.

        "Steven, I'm sorry!"

        He opened his eyes and gave a start. "Garnet?!"

        She let her visor fizzle away and he saw her eyes glint with regret. "I saw you come here, I saw Blue Diamond on Earth, I saw her see me and find all of us!—I couldn't be here with you!"

        "She took my Dad! It's all my fault— I— I should have listened to Opal!"

        "It's okay, Steven," came a soothing voice from behind him, and two more arms wrapped around him. Two arms wrapped around Garnet, too. When he looked up, he found Opal's sorrowful eyes gazing down at him.

        "What are we gonna do?" he whispered.

        Garnet's face hardened.

        "We're going to space." She pulled out of Opal's warm arms and held Steven closer to her own chest. "We're going to get him back."

PROMPT: "do the zoo arc. technically not much would change but it'd be funny to see pearl fuming over holly blue abusing all the amethysts there and ranting about how mad she'd be." — for scaldera3 on Wattpad! Hope you enjoyed! :)

       I'm sorry but I came up with Opal's little quirk to put her hands on people's heads instead of their shoulders and it's the CUTEST thing—        I also could not find the actual Korean dialogue for what Greg said to Blue Diamond, but I found the translation. . . eghh. . .

Seorjjungsan: A Crash Course in Fictional Linguistics

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