Chapter Text
Rose clung ever more tightly onto the metal bar in front of her while their cart arose up over the peak of the track as it made its way to the apex of its arc. After reaching the top, everything stopped. And then slowly, it began to tilt forward.
The instant they descended back down at breakneck speeds, she felt the hot, heavy summer air whip past her face and through her hair while her body was overcome with a sense of weightlessness.
In the excitement she threw caution to the wind, tentatively letting go as she threw her hands above her head, her voice joining the symphony of screams amidst the other passengers aboard. With every turn and loop the track would take them, she felt her body shift and jerk in response to the change in momentum. For a few moments, she felt that if she were just a few feet higher, the tips of her fingers could almost touch the fiery afternoon sky before once again tumbling back down again to the boardwalk below.
Beside her, she could see her son mimic her actions, lost in the thrill of the moment until finally, just as soon as it started, it came to an end. Over the aged speakers, a slightly static filtered voice could be heard.
“We hope you enjoyed your ride on The Thunderbird today, everyone! Feel free to collect your t-shirt and commemorative photo just past the ticket booth and come see us again soon!”
Even a few minutes after being off the ride itself, and it still felt as though her head was constantly spinning from the ordeal. Like she had been trapped on an endlessly spinning merry-go-round. And if Steven’s stumbling was of any indication, she was not alone.
“Yo, Steven!” Cried Amethyst, holding some fried concoction on a paper plate in one of her hands. “Check it out, Birthday Boy. I got ya a funnel cake!” she teased, breaking off a piece to hand to Steven.
With little more than a sickly moan, Steven raised his hand to block the sight of the sugary treat from his view, “Uh… make it go away!” he moaned. Amethyst merely shrugged, scarfing down the entire treat, plate and all as Steven tried not make himself feel any worse.
By the time he had seemingly managed to pull himself together, Rose had scooped him into her arms for a gigantic bear hug, “Happy Birthday, Steven!” she gleefully cried out.
Through his pained expression, Steven fought to put on the ghost of a smile. “Thanks, Mom, but you don’t have to make a big deal out of it. I just kinda wanted everyone to have fun today.”
“It’s a big deal to me, sweetie!” Rose insisted, “I’ve only been with you for a little over a year and this is the first birthday where I got to celebrate with you! And only now that I’m here you’re turning sixteen!? It’s just not fair!”
“Yeah, Greg’s been talking about teachin’ him a little more about how to drive to get his permit.” Amethyst said, knowing full well the response it would garner from Rose.
“Noooo!” Rose whined, “Steven, why can’t you just stay tiny and adorable a little longer?”
“I thought you liked it when people grew up and changed.” He questioned.
“Well… you’re different.” Rose tried to reason, however awkwardly, “You’re my little baby bear, and I wasn’t able to be there when you were smaller.”
“That’s not your fault, Mom.” Steven reassured.
“I know… just… promise you’ll stay little just a bit longer, okay?”
Steven sighed, rolling his eyes in defeat, “Okay, I promise.” He answered jokingly.
“You sure you wanna stay small bud? ‘Cause it looks like you and Rose had fun there riding the Thunder Bird.” Amethyst deduced, pointing to Rose’s new t-shirt, “Can’t do that if you’re still a squirt.”
Rose already found it hard to contain her enthusiasm, “Oh, yes! Steven wanted to the two of us to try every ride here. He thought it would be fun for both of us!”
Amethyst chuckled, “I can tell, your hair is all janked up.”
Rose felt puzzled, pulling out the photo of the two of them together while on the ride. And sure enough, her normally uniform hair style had become messy and wild. The sight of it made Rose burst into a giggle, “Oh, how do I look?” Rose mocked, fluffing one the now matted pink ringlets of hair that draped over her shoulders.
Amethyst snickered, “Yeah, you should keep it like that. Bet it’ll drive Pearl nuts seeing your hair in a big mess!”
A short, electronic tune was heard through the ambient white noise of the boardwalk. Before Rose could guess its origin, she noticed Steven fish out his cellphone from his pocket. He looked back to them, struggling finding the right words to say, “Hey… so Connie said she wanted to meet me here, too…” he started to say, trying, and failing, to hide his obvious blush, “Do you mind if I..?”
Rose laughed and shook her head, “Steven, it’s fine. I can survive a few minutes without you.”
“Yeah, ‘sides, wouldn’t want to interrupt you meeting up with your girlfriend!” Amethyst teased, placing special emphasis on that final word if only because it made his blush that must more obvious. With a nod of recognition, Steven hurriedly scurried off. Almost instantly disappearing into the shuffle of locals and tourists alike before his voice broke through the crowd.
“I love you, Mom! Love you Amethyst!” he hollered out as he left.
“Love you more, baby!” Rose called back.
“Alright, finally weened him from ya for a few minutes, now yer comin’ with me!” Amethyst insisted, already taking hold of Rose’s hand to pull her away. While the two continued onward, they had passed by an assortment of attractions. From numerous rides adorned with bright multicolored lights, amusing carnival games, and vendors that offered an assortment of fried confections.
Finally, they stopped upon stepping up towards one such game. At a glance, Rose could easily recognize the basic setup around it. On the opposite side to her stood two pyramid stacks of empty bottles, the goal being to knock them down with one well timed toss with a ball to win a prize. The more you knocked over, the higher the prize.
Although initially absent, she could already hear from behind the frantic pants of someone fast approaching the stand.
“Hold on, I’ll be right there!” he cried out, Rose recognizing the voice as Mr. Smiley, the owner and sadly only active employee in Funland. Upon arriving, he dashed past them and lept over the counter, scrambling to his feet and dusting off his shirt in an effort to make himself look more presentable.
“Whew, sorry it took so long, July and August are usually my worst months…” he said between breaths, propping himself on his knees to keep from collapsing altogether from exhaustion. As he turned to see them again, he froze. “O-oh! Mrs. Universe, you enjoying you visit so far?” he asked nervously.
Rose nodded, “I am, thank you again for offering to let us in for free today.”
Keeping true to his upbeat image, he simply grinned and waved it off, “Not a problem, I just felt so bad after that woman knocked your lights out a few weeks back. It was the least I could do.” He reassured, Rose noticing a slight rasp in his voice as he gasped for air between words.
“Are you really the only one who works here?” Rose asked.
“Oh, I’m fine. Hasn’t killed me yet, right?” he joked, giving off a sarcastic laugh that somehow seemed more concerning than amusing.
“But who would run it if you couldn’t?”
He shrugged, “No clue, help is so hard to come by around here. Guess Funland would need to close if something happened to me.”
Something about that just didn’t sit well with Rose, “That’s such a shame, though. This place is special. It’s where humans can come to have fun and enjoy themselves. It means a lot to Steven…”
“Well, ever thought about applying for a job here?” Mr. Smiley offered, “You ever done anything like this before?”
Rose’s mind recalled memories of her days as a Diamond, of the grand balls she would host in celebrations of Homeworld and of the excitement she held in bringing joy to its gems. “I used to do something like this… but not for a very long time.” she admitted, “These days, I spend most of my time looking after Steven.”
“Well, if you’re ever interested, you could apply online at…”
“Alright, alright, enough. C’mon Rose, I brought ya here to win something!” Amethyst blurted out.
Wasting no more time, Mr. Smiley placed four tennis balls on the counter in front and stepped away. She gave a confident smile as she took aim. She knew that although these may have been a decent challenge to humans, as a gem, it was trivial. With two good tosses, each tower came crashing down. For her victory, she was rewarded with a prize of her choosing; a large stuffed dinosaur for Steven.
“You really sure Steven would want something like that?” Amethyst questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?”
“Y’know. Since Steven’s turning sixteen, he may be a little… old… for something like that?” Amethyst reasoned.
“I… I didn’t think about that.” Rose shyly admitted.
Amethyst rolled her eyes, “I know, I know. You wanted to get something cute for ‘your baby’.”
Rose could already feel her cheeks begin to warm from embarrassment, “I… that’s not…”
Amethyst groaned, “Dude, I’m just giving you grief. Don’t take too personal. I get you’re just super excited to be with him.”
Rose sighed, giving a nod of acknowledgement, “I am…”
“I see you two are having fun.” Replied Garnet as she arrived with her own prize, what looked to be a creature from human myth called a gryphon slung under her arm.
“Oh, Garnet, that toy looks so adorable!”
“Thanks, it wasn’t too hard to win it,” Garnet said with a smirk, light shimmering her visor as she adjusted it with her free hand, “One of us wanted to get it for the other.”
“Oh, so who won it for whom?” Rose asked.
Garnet gave a sly grin, “I’ll leave you to guess that…”
Behind Garnet followed Pearl and Bismuth, each standing close to one another with their arms locked together as Pearl leaned against her partner. Instinctively, Rose felt an ache of discomfort from being in the same space as Bismuth, but as she saw Pearl’s smile as she looked up to the rainbow-haired gem she felt herself much more at ease.
Bismuth waved to Amethyst, “Hey there, Deep cut!”
“Yo, Bismuth! How’s your date with Pearl going?” Amethyst asked.
Pearl’s huffed, “Amethyst, I kept telling you, we’re not… dating,” she asserted, “W-we’re just here to celebrate Steven’s birthday! Bismuth asked if she could join us, and being that she is a close and valued friend, I heartily accepted.”
“Speaking of which, have you seen how much the little guy has grown?” Bismuth said, “He’s outgrowing a lot of his old cloths, there’s this fuzz that’s growing all over his face now…”
“That hair, dear.” Pearl corrected, “That’s normal for humans.”
“…right and now I’m noticing his voice is starting to get a little deeper! He’s already a bit taller than Amethyst here!”
“Yeah, Peri and I are gonna have to bump him of the ‘Shorty Squad’ soon if this keeps up.” Amethyst reasoned, “Ya know Garnet, if Ruby and Sapphire are ever interested, we can always use new members!”
“We’ll take your offer into consideration.” Garnet answered before turning her attention to Rose, “You must be pretty excited, Rose. I always remembered how much people would change being something that used to fascinate you. And now it seems Steven is ready to open a whole new chapter on his life.”
At first, Rose was filled with a burst of sheer excitement, a sensation that humans would amusingly refer to as ‘getting butterflies in your stomach’. It was a feeling which had always consumed her as she thought about the uncertainties and near limitless possibilities one would have with each passing moment. Of the uncharted paths and new experiences for them to take. But strangely, she felt the initial euphoria just as swiftly begin to wither away. In its place came a feeling of longing and regret, something she struggled to process.
“I… well I thought I would be.” Rose stated somberly, staring down at the stuffed toy in her hands, “I mean, I’m happy for him! I truly am. I can’t begin to describe how proud I am of how far Steven has come. However, I suppose I have to face the reality that my baby… isn’t really a baby anymore. I missed practically his entire childhood. And that reality still has not set well with me.”
The others had now grown quiet. Rose panicked to try and explain herself further. “I… I know that it sounds so utterly selfish of me…” she stumbled, “I just wanted to feel like I’ve played a more meaningful part in his life, like all of you have. You’ve all supported and guided him along in your own ways, I want to feel like I’m doing so as well...”
“Trust me, Rose, you are.” Pearl assured, “You may not be noticing it now. But we do. You’ve been a part of his life for over a year, now.”
“Yeah, so like it or not, you’re stuck with us!” Amethyst blurted with a smile.
Rose chuckled, “It’s certainly a better family than what I started with…”
“Rose, despite everything, we would have loved to have you be there for him too. But take it from us, you need to stop dwelling in that past.” Garnet stated, “Think of the new memoires you’ll make with everyone. You may have missed out on his early years, but just think. Now you’ll have the rest of his life to play a part in.”
“I… thank you, Garnet…”
Through the muddled chatter and deafening ambiance around them, Rose could make out a familiar voice among the gathered parkgoers. At first, she had assumed from his exhausted pants that it was likely poor Mr. Smiley, still diligently navigating back and forth to another side attraction, but as the voice approached, she was quick to recognize who it was.
“Rose! Stay right there, I made it!” cried Greg, wheezing as he finally made his way to the others as Connie followed right beside him.
“Connie! Greg! Oh my stars!” Rose proclaimed, already rushing to his aid.
“Did I… miss the fun? I’m sorry I took so long. Tried to finish work early. Got really busy that last hour...” Greg asked, his attempt as a laugh causing him to cough and gasp for air.
“Greg, dear, just relax. I promise you didn’t miss Steven’s big day.” Rose reassured as she helped Greg to his feet.
After finally catching his breath, Greg smiled, “Well, this year is special. This is the first time we get to celebrate his birthday as the Universe Family. I know it means a lot to you. And I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Rose sighed, bending down to leave a kiss on Greg’s cheek, “I’m sure Steven would forgive you. But I might need a kiss from you before I consider it.” She teased, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. With an eager grin, Greg obliged.
“Now we better get to tracking our Birthday Boy. There’s someone with me who’s dying to see him.” Greg asserted, motioning to Connie.
“Hello Connie!” Rose said, “You ready to have us regroup with Steven?”
“You bet!” she cheerfully exclaimed, before dropping to a more nervous tone, “Just as soon as we find out where he is.”
Her answer left Rose perplexed, “Weren’t you with Steven?”
Connie simply shook her head, “No, I thought he was with you guys.”
“No, Steven said he left to go meet up with you.”
“Right, I texted him to let him know his Dad and I were almost to the front gate.”
“And you didn’t see him there?” Rose asked. Connie shook her head once more. Upon regrouping with the gems, she all asked them if they had seen Steven at all before meeting with her. Each one giving a similar, yet different answer. Garnet was preoccupied with the carnival games. Amethyst was obvious, as she was with Rose the entire time after Steven left them. Pearl and Bismuth explained how they only just got to Funland, as they been enjoying a nice walk across the boardwalk before arriving.
Each answer left Rose with a feeling of restlessness and anxiety. None of their stories made sense, at least one of them had to have seen Steven, and it’s not like he would willingly slip by them. Where could he have gone?
“Maybe he simply got lost?” Amethyst shrugged, “Summer crowds are usually pretty bad. Maybe try calling him?”
“Let me check.” Pearl suggested. Without a second thought, she tapped the surface of her gemstone. In an instant, her phone materialized and dropped into her hand before she immediately entered his number. A few moments later, she gave a puzzled look, “Wait, what?”
“What is it?” Bismuth asked.
“It went straight to voicemail.” Pearl stated, “Why would he not have his phone on?”
Connie looked to Rose, appearing just as worried and befuddled as her, “Mrs. Universe?”
“I… I’m going to go look for him.” Rose stammered, trying to hide how uneasy all of this was making her.
Initially, she tried to retrace his steps, returning to where they were shortly after exiting the Thunderbird. She replayed the memory of him departing in her head to decipher which direction he had gone. Now having to practically fight her way through horde of tourists did she really stop to think of just how many people were here. So many voices drowning each other out. So many faces that would appear as a blur to her as she rushed past them. No wonder Steven may have gotten lost, to the untrained eye, he’d just be another part of the larger mob.
But all the same, she called out to him. Her cries going unanswered. It took a few moments to realize she had already made it to the entranceway. Now she was starting to panic. Everyone else was almost clear on the other end of the boardwalk. She had crossed that distance and was still no closer to finding him. Perhaps I simply past him by, she thought, another search might…
Her first step back, she noticed something on the ground. A tiny, rectangular device that lay broken and smashed, the screen cracked and splintered. She recognized the old worn out case, but part of her didn’t want to believe it. Curiosity won out, and few moments later she had managed to retrieve it before it could be damaged any further.
As she waited for the small electronic to boot up, she was greeted with a photo of her, Steven and Greg gathered together behind Greg’s van as its lock screen. ‘This… this is Steven’s phone…’ she realized, ‘But… where’s Steven? What happened to my son?’