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“Connie Maheswaran, I forbid you to take another step down those stairs!” Dr. Maheswaran yells firmly at her daughter who is halfway down the stairs from her place at the bottom of the stairs. Priyanka places her hand on her hip and gives Connie her best ‘you are in big trouble, young lady’ face. The idea that her sweet, innocent, obedient Connie has completely disregarded a rule, a rule that has been put in place to protect her no-less, would have been completely unfathomable to Priyanka, if she wasn’t looking directly at the proof.
~ A few days earlier ~
“But mom!” Connie protests as her mother takes back Rose Quart’s sword and securely stows it away in the gym bag that she had brought it to the hospital in when she first confiscated the sword from Connie, only hours earlier.
“I said no, Connie, do not make me repeat myself.” Dr. Maheswaran says strictly as she does up the zipper on the gym bag, encasing all but the handle of the glittering pink sword. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve been taking lessons from Pearl and ‘know’ how to use it, which is ridiculous because you are a child. Children do not know how to properly wield a sword and not get hurt. This is for your own good, Connie. Absolutely no swords, no sword training, and no fighting. If you can’t follow these rules then you won’t be allowed to spend time with Steven. Those are my final words on the subject. Now, let’s go home.”
Connie’s face falls as her mother speaks, knowing when she’s made up her mind, almost nothing will change it. “Come, Connie.” Priyanka says when she sees that Connie hasn’t followed her. “Yes, ma’am…” Connie says softly and trails after her mother. “Bye Steven…”
Steven watches the exchange helplessly, bewildered how Dr. Maheswaran could tell her daughter she couldn’t sword fight when Connie saved her life! Well, maybe saved her life is a bit of a stretch, but Dr. Maheswaran certainly wouldn’t have been ‘okay’ if the gem mutant had gotten to her. Steven shudders as to what would have actually happened to Dr. Maheswaran if Connie hadn’t intercepted the six-armed gem mutant. Nothing good, that was for certain. Steven watches sadly as Connie and her mother climb into the Maheswaran car, and with a quick change of gear, they are off down the street and headed back towards the Maheswaran household.
In the car, Connie keeps her head down as utter determination fills her. She will not let her mother take this away from her. Sword fighting is something that Connie never new she needed until she started training with Pearl. The long hours training at the Sky Arena, the drills that Pearl has her do over an over and over again till she’s perfected it, the ever so slowly thickening calluses on her hands from gripping the sword, the burn in her muscles as she fights a holo-Pearl, the sourness in her limbs when she wakes up the next morning. No, she would most definitely not be giving this up. No matter what, she would get her sword back, continue training, and help Steven and The Crystal Gems. No matter what…
~ Present ~
“And just where do you think you are going, young lady?!” Dr. Maheswaran says, startling Connie who is standing at the top of the stairs. “And why do you have that sword? After I have made a very clear rule stating otherwise?” Priyanka narrows her eyes up at Connie, only now noticing the backpack hanging around her shoulders. She hadn’t been due back from the hospital for another forty minutes, however, the night shift had showed up a little early, allowing Priyanka to leave early; Connie was planning to run away. A surge of anger floods Priyanka’s system and she roars as her daughter starts taking steps down the stairs, making it about half way before the tone of Priyanka’s voice stops her.
“Connie Maheswaran, I forbid you to take another step down those stairs!” Connie looks down at her mother, utter determination and will shining in her glasses less eyes. Her left-hand grips tighter around her backpack, which holds the basics for any runaway. Rose Quart’s giant pink sword held firmly and confidently in her right.
“Okay.” She says with utter resolution, not flinching or cowering as she normally would should her mother use that tone. Connie throws open the window directly to her right, grits her teeth and jumps up and out of the window, she faintly hears a scream behind her but pays it no mind, focused on correctly landing this jump. Landing wrongly at two stories could hurt her, but she’s trained for this. Well, not specifically for jumping out of a two-story window in a mad attempt to run away, but she has trained to minimize impact, which is close enough. Connie keeps her eyes fixed on the ground where she intends to land and rolls the second her feet touch the hard ground. She successfully rolls, with only the faintest ‘oof’ being heard from the impact, and stands up, using the momentum from the roll to take off at a furious sprint down the road.
“CONNIE!” Her mother screams out the window, feeling as if her heart just tried to leap out of her chest watching her baby jump out of a two-story window. Connie doesn’t look back and is soon down the street and turning the corner. Dr. Maheswaran sprints down the stairs and out the front door, looking down the street to see if she can catch a glimpse of where Connie is headed. With a shaking hand, Priyanka grabs her phone and calls Doug. As soon as he picks up, she speaks, her voice cracking in anger, fear, and despair. “S-she’s gone!” She cries then takes a deep breath. “What? Darling, what are you talking about? What’s happened?” Doug asks suddenly nervous.
“Connie.” Priyanka takes another breath. “She’s runaway, we’ve got to find her. She’s undoubtedly heading to Beach City, please head there and start looking. I’ll work my way from this end.” She tells him firmly, having gotten a hold of herself, completely focused on getting her baby back. “A-alright, I will. Keep me updated.” Doug responds, the same focus filling him. “Right.” She says and ends the call, running back in the house to grab her med bag, her coat, and keys then runs back out and climbs into her car and sets off racing down the street to catch Connie.
~SU~
Connie races down her home street and makes a sharp right, keeping up her rapid sprint as she runs further and further away from home. That definitely hadn’t gone how she’d wanted it to go. Her mother wasn’t supposed to get back from work for nearly forty more minutes! Oh, well. She just had to keep running. She takes a left at the end of this street then a right at the next, trying to be a little unpredictable as her mother was most certainly going to come after her in the car. She takes a right and runs face first into a mass of fur. “Oof!” She grunts as she hits the immovable mass of fur and falls down hard. Connie shakes her head and looks up, her face brightening immediately. “Lion!” She smiles and stands up and pets the beautiful pink lion lovingly. “You are exactly what I need!” She cheers and strokes Lion’s fur gently. “Can you take me to the Sky Arena, please? I promise I’ll get you a lion licker as soon as I can.”
At the mention of his favorite snack, Lion’s ears perk-up and he settles down on his belly so Connie can climb on. “Thanks Lion!” Connie smiles and climbs on, threading her fingers in Lion’s main to hold herself steady as he stands up. With a roar he opens the portal and jumps through it, a moment later they immerge at the Sky Arena. Connie slides off of Lion and smiles triumphantly. “It worked!” She cheers and jumps in the air then kisses Lion’s head. “They can’t tell me I can’t train if they can’t find me.” She murmurs and heads to a more sheltered part of the Sky Arena and sets up a small fire. She rummages around her backpack for her sleeping bag and sets everything up and makes herself a little something to eat before curling up against Lion and falling asleep, the sun long since set at this point.
Connie wakes a while later shivering from the cold. She blinks slowly and gasps when she sees a blizzard setting in. “Oh no!” She gaps and quickly sits up. “I can’t stay here, I’ll f-freeze.” She murmurs and immediately starts packing her things up, her hand movement already slowed due to the intense chill in the air. “Lion! Lion! W-where are you?” She calls when she looks around for him and he’s not there. “I-I-I guess I’ll t-try the w-warp p-pad.” Connie stammers. She takes one step out of the protection of the walls and is hit by a strong gust, sending her flying back, her breath being knocked out of her at the harsh impact. “o-oww.” She cries and rubs her chest, once she’s regained her breath she stands and tries again, only to be knocked over once more. She cries is frustration and fear as the realization of how badly things could go.
“I-I-I” She stammers then quickly shakes her head, wiping the already frozen tears off her face and gets her sleeping bag back out and curls up in it, knowing she has got to stay warm if she’s going to survive the night… and it was going to be a very long cold night. “I-I’m sorry m-m-mommy. P-p-please d-don’t h-hate m-me.” She whispers to herself, knowing that her chances of surviving the night are very slim. She whimpers and wraps the sleeping bag tightly around her shoulders after pulling her coat firmly around her and tightening the strings of the hood. Connie doesn’t know how long has pasted, only that she couldn’t feel her feet or hands anymore, let alone any part of her face. “got… to stay… awake….”
…
~SU~
“Where is she?!” Dr. Maheswaran roars at the smaller gem. “Where is my baby girl!?” Priyanka pushes herself past Pearl and marches right up to Steven and glares down at the boy. “Where is she Steven?”
“D-Dr. Maheswaran?” Steven stammers and takes a step back from the very angry Indian woman. “W-where is who, ma’am?” Only a second later there is a very tall, very strong, and very protective Garnet standing between Priyanka and Steven. “You,” Garnet says in her firm strong voice. “Need to calm down.”
“I most certainly won’t calm down!” Priyanka almost shrieks. “She h-has to be here.” She says her eyes widening in panic as she realizes that Connie isn’t here, if the way The Crystal Gems are looking at her is any indication. “Please, please, tell me that my Connie is here.” Priyanka begs for them to say yes, but they all share a bewildered look and shake their heads.
“Pardon me, but why would Connie be here?” Pearl says politely and walks up to Priyanka, placing a gentle hand on the woman’s shoulders. Doug bursts through the door a moment later. “I’ve searched all of Beach City, she’s not anywhere.”
“Connie… She’s run away…” Priyanka says defeated, sinking down onto the couch. “And it’s all my fault. I-,“ Her voice breaks as a few tears spill over onto her cheeks. “I was too harsh with her the other day at the hospital. I didn’t even give her a chance to explain or argue her case.” She wipes angrily at the tears, embarrassed that she would cry in front of these people… well, gems. Doug walks over to his wife and sits down by her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, offering what comfort he can to the distraught woman. “We’ll find her, don’t worry, we’ll find her. She can’t have gone far. She’s a 12-year-old girl with a giant pink sword, someone is bound to have seen her.” Priyanka nods and takes a shuddering breath. “Y-you’re right. We’ve got to find her, it’s only going to get colder.” She says looking out where a snowfall has started. “There is a blizzard setting for the night and most of tomorrow. She’ll…” She swallows, “With the projected temperatures and moisture content of the snow, along with her small size, she can’t survive more than a few hours out there.” Priyanka’s voice breaks as she tells the others this, the severity of the situation filling the room with tense silence.
“We’ll split up, search all of the places she could possibly be. We will find her Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran.” Steven says with confidence, determination clearly written on her face. “Dr. Maheswaran and I will check our normal hang out places, Pearl and Garnet can recheck the town, and Mr. Maheswaran and Amethyst can check the beach and park. We’ll all meet back here in one hour to regroup if we haven’t found her.” They all nod, willing to accept the plan and head out to search for Connie. “Alright, let’s go.” Steven says then runs up to his bedroom to grab some boots, his coat, and a scarf the runs back down and heads to the warp pad and waits for Dr. Maheswaran to follow. She does and stands somewhat uncertainly on the crystal pad. Steven quickly explains the bare necessities of warping to Dr. Maheswaran, then warps them to all of the places where he and Connie would go to play that they had to warp to. Then after they had checked those places, he takes her to all of the nooks and crannies where they would hang out around Beach City. Dread, disappointment, and fear fill them both when Connie isn’t at any of the locations.
After the hour they all regroup back in the Universe’s living-room. “No one?” Priyanka whispers as they all sit down near the roaring fire place, trying to thaw out a bit after being out in the cold. The two other groups shake their heads. “Oh, my baby, where are you?” Priyanka says as she leans into Doug. The room fall silent save the crackling of the fire for several long minutes. “What doesn’t make sense to me is how she got away so fast.” Priyanka murmurs softly. “She only had maybe 5 minutes before I was in the car and looking. It was like she was there, then she just wasn’t.” Steven listens as she speaks, thinking that that sounds a lot like Lion. One moment he’s here and the next gone. Steven suddenly realizes that he hasn’t seen Lion around for a while and gasps.
“The Sky Arena!” He jumps off of the couch and runs to the warp pad. “We haven’t checked there, and if I’m right I bet she’s there!” He says excitedly, everyone else getting up and quickly making their way to the warp pad, where Steven warps them to the Sky Arena. As soon as they arrive, they are hit with a blast of freezing cold wind, the snow storm having picked up considerably since they had begun their search, combine that with the altitude and it made for one bitterly cold wind. The three gems, two humans, and Steven head from the warp pad towards the middle of the Sky Arena, fighting against the harsh wind with every step. “There!” Steven yells over the roar of the wind, pointing towards a faintly glowing yellow light across the open expanse of the arena, barely visible through the onslaught of snow blowing in every which direction. “It’s got to be her.” He says and takes a step on the open arena, only to be knocked flat over and pushed towards the edge by a strong gust of wind.
“Steven!” Garnet yells and quickly runs over to him and quickly picks him up. “Best if I carry you.” She murmurs and leans into the wind as she crosses the arena. Amethyst and Pearl share a look and nod, Pearl wraps her arms around Dr. Maheswaran’s waist and helps her cross the arena, a light blush coloring Priyanka’s face at Pearl’s touch, Amethyst does the same for Doug and together they make their way across the Arena.
“Connie!” Priyanka cries seeing Connie curled up in a tight ball inside her sleeping bag. She rushes over and shakes Connie, trying to wake her up. “Come on, wake up!” She yells, pulling off one glove and placing two fingers against Connie’s neck, searching for a pulse. She sighs when she feels a slow pulse under her fingers. “She’s alive.” She tells the others and rubs her hand over her chest. “Come on baby, wake up.” She says as the others form a circle around the two of them, doing their best to block most of the wind.
Connie’s eyes slowly open. “m-m-mom?” She gaps and shivers. Priyanka immediately pulls Connie to her and envelops her in a bruising hug, “Oh my little baby!” She cries and starts talking franticly in her native Telugu, something she only does when she is overcome with emotion. Connie buries her face in her mother’s neck and shivers violently. “I-I-I’m s-s-s-s-sorry.” She stammers around her teeth chattering, her small body trembling as she presses herself closer to the warmth of her mother. “Shh, shh, we’ll talk about that later, right now we’ve got to get you warm.” Priyanka murmurs as she takes one of Connie’s hands and rubs her own over them to restore some blood flow. “We’ve got to get her back and warmed up stat.” She says firmly, wrapping one arm under Connie’s shoulders and the other under her knees. She lifts Connie up and holds her closely to her chest, Connie whimpering softly at the movement. “Pearl, if you would?” Pearl nods, quickly coming up behind Priyanka and wraps her arms around the woman and helps her across the arena. The rest of the group following close behind, Amethyst warps them back to the house as soon as they are all on the warp pad.
Dr. Maheswaran immediately walks over to the fire and sits Connie down on a pillow in front of it, pulling at her coat and boots. “Doug, start rubbing her feet, we need to restore the circulation.” She tells him and starts rubbing one of Connie’s hands. Steven sits down next to her and takes the other hand and mimics Dr. Maheswaran’s method. Connie cries and leans into her mother, saying I’m sorry over and over, clearly in a state of shock and relief at being rescued.
“Shh, shh, you’re going to be okay.” Priyanka coos and kisses her head as she continues to rub her hands. “I’m very disappointed in you, what you did today was completely reckless! You should know better.” Connie hiccups, “I-I’m sorry, I-I’m sorry, p-p-please don’t hate me.” Connie cries harder. Priyanka’s eyes grow wide. “Hate you? My love I could never ever hate you.” She moves her arms and wraps Connie up in a firm hug. “Never ever, ever. I will always love you.” She says and kisses her head several times. “You scared us today, and you will be punished for that, but-,“Priyanka looks up at Pearl and the other gems, “You can train with Pearl, I was to harsh on you the other day and I realize I haven’t fostered a relationship where you feel you can come talk to me. I need to know what’s going on in your life so I can step in when you are in over your head.”
Connie sniffles and curls closer to her mother. “T-thank you.” She murmurs, still shivering. Garnet hands Priyanka a blanket and she wraps herself and Connie up in the blanket, staying close to the warmth of the fire. “You’re welcome darling.” She whispers and leans back against the couch, rubbing her hands up and down Connie’s back to help warm her. After several minutes Connie drifts off to sleep, having warmed up enough to stop shaking so harshly, securely held in her mother’s arms. “I love you Connie.” Priyanka murmurs and kisses Connie’s head as Doug joins them and wraps his arms around his wife and child, relief evident on both parents faces. Their baby is safe and is going to be okay, and that’s all that mattered to them.