Chapter Text
Sean rolled on his bed, holding down shrieks of delight every time he heard a zipping sound coming from behind him. At one point, unable to control his excitement, he rolled to lie on his stomach and rested his chin on his hands to look straight at the scene.
"Are you almost done with packing all the stuff?" he asked, throwing a few giggles between words.
"No, it'll still take a while, I just started... but if you really want this, waiting won't be a problem." Marine replied, putting more gray shirts into the bag.
"Nuh-uh, it won't! I'm very patient!" Sean exclaimed, getting up and starting to jump on the bed, anxious.
Hearing the sounds, Marine turned around and gasped at the sight.
"Sean! I already asked you not to jump on your bed, especially with your shoes on!" she scolded, making him stop immediately, and approached the bed. "Look at this, it's a mess... another thing for me to fix, of course..."
"I'm sorry, Marine... I didn't mean to, I was just excited. I'll fix it!" Sean jumped out of the bed and started tidying it up again, before Marine took his arm.
"No... it's fine, I'll do it. Sean, I'm sorry..."
"It's okay, don't worry about that. I understand that you're worried... I-I'm a bit nervous too. After all, I'm going to a different planet, for the first time!" Sean said and opened his arms, trying to conceal his smile to show seriousness. "But I know everything is going to be alright! Because you and Olive are going to be there with me, and... just that fact alone already makes it good to me!"
Marine continued to stare at him with concern on her eyes before turning back to his bed and starting to tidy it up wordlessly. Sean stood still for a few seconds before kneeling next to all the luggage he was going to take; so far they were simply three metallic suitcases, too heaby for him to carry.
"What kinds of food are we going to take? We need breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert, right?" he asked.
"Food? We can't afford to take physical food! It would take too much space, plus it would be subject to spoiling or filth, which could damage your health." Marine replied matter-of-factly.
"Wha?! But... but... if we're not taking food, then... am I going to starve?!" the boy exclaimed in fear. "S-suddenly, for some reason, I-I don't like the idea of this mission, a-at all!"
"What? Of course you won't die, Sean... if you were going to die, I would have protested much more than I already have." Marine went back to putting spare clothes into one of the suitcases, and then took out a tube with pills. "You are getting all the nutrients and vitamins your body needs through pills and infusions."
"Oh... that sounds fun... am I going to taste it? I-I mean is there some kind of... hamburger pill or ice cream infusion?"
Marine stared at him like he had just called himself stupid.
"Of course not."
Sean let out a sigh and sat down on the ground, continuing to watch as Marine packed his things.
"What about sleeping? Is it going to be the same thing?"
"It definitely won't be the same thing... the days of planet in which we are going last 48 hours, which is about two Earth days. That means we'll have to update your sleeping schedule to match that... but you don't need to worry about that! I'll take care of anything regarding your time in there!" she replied, sounding a tad more excited.
"Okay, thanks! I'm glad that Commander Apatite decided to let me go in there... to see how a real mission is. So that maybe in the future, I can go more often... and actually take part in them." From his position, Sean saw a shiver run up Marine's body. "B-but let's not think about that now... let's think about the p-present! So, how exactly are we going there?"
"Actually, I wasn't informed of any of these details. The only thing that concerns me is your wellbeing, Sean... all I'll be doing is accompanying you."
Again, Sean moved from where he was, getting up and sitting on his bed, and started to shake his legs.
"It's... not fair." he finally said after some minutes of silence.
Marine stopped halfway through folding one of his towels to turn her face to him.
"The way they treat you isn't fair... I don't like seeing this. You were created like this and you're just like everyone else, but they still treat you like you're inferior because of it! It doesn't make sense!" Sean started, spreading his arms. "I thought this was supposed to be something for me... and you mean a lot to me. So they should have let you be more involved."
She looked down for a moment, her fingers faltering around the towel, before she placed it inside the suitcase, just as it was.
"I know... but that's just how it is, I'm sorry. I'm... just a pearl."
"That's what they think. I don't think you're 'just a pearl'... to me, you mean so much more. And I'm sure that I also mean a lot to you... so, instead of accepting what they say, why don't you try to understand what I think?"
Marine stopped. Sean continued as still as he already was. They would probably have remained like that for long before one of them decided to say or do anything else, but before this happened the door busted open and Olive sprinted inside with a smile.
"I'm here, finally!"
"Olive!" Sean exclaimed in happiness, getting up (on the bed) and jumping; like always, she caught him in a hug and spun him around. "You came!"
"Of course I came! After all, this is hybrid boy's first mission... I wouldn't miss it for nothing!" Olive held Sean with one arm, using her other hand to ruffle his hair and then tickle his belly, making him let out lots of laughter and some light gasps. "So, now that I'm here, we're ready to leave, right?"
"Not yet... I still have to pack up some more of Sean's things. You'll have to wait just a little more." Marine replied.
"You're still doing that? You know you don't need to fold every single towel and shirt, right? I mean, we'll have to take them out later, anyway... just shove them all inside, it'll spare time." Olive sighed, putting Sean back on his bed.
"W-what? That's not how it works! You have to do it gently... this is my department, I'll deal with it."
"Sure, I'm not trying to stop you... but if the things you're doing on your department start affecting my department, then I think I have all the right to get involved..."
Sean jumped down from the bed, landing on his two feet on the floor, and spread his arms with one of the most serious expressions both of them had ever seen on his face. If they weren't aware of his kind nature, they could have been easily fooled and thought Sean was actually mad at them. And if he had put that face on to catch their attention, it worked, because immediately both Olive and Marine's heads turned to him.
"Guys! Don't you remember what we were talking about that day? Don't you remember... the promise you two made to me?" he said, and by the end his stern expression had washed away fully.
Marine and Olive's eyes widened in realization as they realized what he was talking about. Sean himself had memories flooding through him, and let his arms fall limp on his sides before sitting down on the ground.
***
The noise rung through Sean's ears. He could barely make out the words Marine and Olive were saying, not that he wanted to; hearing it would make it worse. Or not. He would know they were arguing either way, and just that was enough to make his chest ache and his eyes burn with tears threatening to spill.
Sean turned away from the scene, rubbing his eyes. He jumped into his bed and buried his face in his pillow, finally letting the tears run free and soak his bed sheets and face, clinging to the pillow. He didn't even notice when the ringing sounds stopped, only when he felt two hands touching his back and sat back on the bed, staring back at Marine and Olive's concerned looks.
"I-is it over?" he choked out, then wiped away his tears. Marine and Olive glanced at each other, unsure of what to say. "This... can't be normal... this isn't what I wanted. All I wanted was to be able to have some time to... have fun. With you. But sometimes it seems that whenever we're all together, it ends on a fight!"
"It's... not like that... not always..." Marine argued, with a blush taking over her cheeks.
"T-that's what it feels like! Ever since I remember... it was always like this! Why does it have to be like this?"
"Look, Sean..." Olive started and sighed. "Marine and I don't hate each other, if that's what you're thinking... it's just that we're very different, so we don't always agree."
"But everyone's different... I'm different from both of you, but we never argue!" Sean retorted, before turning his gaze to the floor. "I just... don't get it. It's always about me... is it my fault?"
"It's not!" both of them shouted at the same time.
"But it has to be! Every time you guys argue, I'm the main subject... it's all just me. I don't mean to cause this, but--"
"Sean... listen. Don't blame yourself over this... it's not your fault, honestly. It's just... it's just us!" Olive assured him, with her hands over each of his shoulders.
"Yes! See, we can end this... y-you can go on a m-mission!" Marine choked out, ruffling his hair with her shaky hands and maintaining an equally shaky smile. "See, it's fine... we were just being stubborn..."
Sean sniffed, wiping away another tear.
"But this was supposed to be a fun trip... for all three of us. If you guys are just going to keep arguing, then... there's no point on it." Sean said, with slumped shoulders, but then quickly straightened his body up, with shining eyes. "Unless... unless you do something for me!"
"Of course! A-anything for you!" Marine replied.
"Just say it, and it'll be done!" Olive said similarly.
For the first time since the discussion had started, Sean showed them a smile.
***
"You promised me you weren't going to fight," Sean said blankly and placed his hands over his knees, toying with the fabric of his pants. "But we haven't even left yet and you're already arguing. Over something that... isn't even that important. Both of you matter much more to me than a bunch of clothes and towels and the time we're losing."
"It wasn't a fight! It was..." Olive started speaking and trailed off, looking at Marine for help.
"...a constructive argument!" Marine completed with a painfully forced smile. "We were discussing over the best way to make this excursion enjoyable for all of us!"
Sean let out a sigh and the Gems' smiles faded.
"Please... don't make excuses. I don't want to pretend it's fine... I want to see it so I can fix it." he said. "Marine is trying to help by making everything tidy... and it will take longer, but we can use this time to do something fun. We can turn a seemingly bad thing... into a good thing."
Some seconds passed and Sean wondered if he had perhaps said the wrong thing, but then he noticed Marine and Olive smiling (genuine smiles this time), and giving each other a silent nod. Then Olive approached him and extended her hand to help him up, before putting another hand on his shoulder and slowly leading him out of the room.
"I'll be taking our mission boy for a walk, then... are you going to be okay here by yourself?" she asked.
"Oh, sure! You don't need to worry... take as long as you need! A-after all, I guess I still have lots to do..." Marine replied with a chuckle in the end.
"Ha, okay! Then I'll... go with him, and... we'll get back here after we're done doing, uh, walking!"
With that, Olive pulled Sean out and closed the door, before letting out a deep sigh.
"What was that?" Sean asked, with a bright beam on his face. "You and Marine made up! I'm so glad! What I said really did work, after all!"
"It was... awkward." Olive admitted with a blush starting to show. "But I guess it was a start..."
"It was a great start! All starts are great! So... we should also start walking around! Or better... let's run around!"
With that, Sean started running away and giggling to himself, occasionally peeking behind him to see how close Olive was; and the idea of running turned out not to be what he expected, since Olive caught up to him soon. However, it was still worth it, as he continued to laugh, sitting on her shoulders.
"Yeah! This is so cool! I'm the tallest! I'm going to be this tall when I grow up!"
"Really, this tall? Wouldn't you rather be... this tall?" Grabbing Sean by his sides, Olive threw him up, triggering a yelp of surprise followed by more laughter by the boy; she caught him when he was falling.
"Hahaha, yes! I'll be as tall as the ceiling!"
"Ha, as tall as the ceiling? Doesn't sound very practical to me, buddy... you'd keep hitting your head every time you took a step!"
"Oh, you're right... I didn't think about that! Maybe then... I can be one centimeter shorter than the ceiling?" Sean asked curiously, making Olive laugh.
"Sounds great for a start!"
They continued strolling through the corridors of the ship. Sean made lots of stops, whether it was to look at the space outside through a window or to come inside a general working room and greet the Gems inside; but of course, it wouldn't have been half as fun if there was no dynamism to it. At least that's what Sean said as he wore the large fish the Elementals had captured to study as a hat.
After probably hours of taking a last look through the ship before leaving for their excursion, Sean and Olive were ready to go back to his room and check up on Marine, but as they made their way over there, Sean took an abrupt stop, as if he had been frozen where he stood.
"Sean?" Olive called, turning around to look at him.
The boy didn't respond, as though he were stuck on a transe. Following the place his eyes were pointing to, Olive saw a door leading to a room. A blue door.
"It's... Mom's room," Sean whispered, stepping forward to touch the door. He then turned his head to Olive, with a neutral expression, a serious thing coming from him. "I'd like to say bye before I go... can we take a little longer before going back?"
"Of course we can... take your time. It's not like Marine can complain about us taking long, anyway..." Olive replied, saying the last part only to herself.
"Okay, thank you! I promise I won't take long!"
Sean ran inside the room and closed the door. And like every other time he came inside, the room had a certain mystic aura over him, this time making him stop and ridding his mind of every thought; he no longer had a worry in the world. What mattered was the present, where he was now, the room, his mother's room. And it was beautiful. It was like each time he came inside it was different despite nothing having been changed, and each time it still managed to win him over with its natural charisma, as though it were whispering on his ear to come and discover it completely.
"H-hello, I'm back!" Sean called out, walking to the center of the room.
He did talk to himself, quite often, but it was not the same feeling of talking inside that room. He felt like he had a friend in it, someone ready to listen to him, cozy and welcoming arms of something so distant but so familiar.
"U-um, so, I have some news! It's something really good, and really unexpected... you won't believe it when I tell you!" The boy turned to the large picture of Azurite, his mother, stuck to the wall. An idea started sprouting inside his mind, and he opened the drawers of the chest under it like stairs, climbing on them until he was on the top, and grabbed the sides of the frame, lifting it then pulling it.
It was surprisingly heavier than he expected, and for a moment the boy lost his balance, with his body pending backwards with a "woooah" coming out of him. Back in control, Sean jumped back to the floor and walked towards a wall, carefully placing the paining against it and then sitting down himself with his back against the wall.
"There! Now you can be near me while I tell you everything," Sean said, getting himself as comfortable as possible, staring at his mother with shining eyes. "Uh, how do I start... well, I'm going on my first mission soon! It's not exactly a mission per se... it's more like an excursion. But what matters is that I'm finally going to be able to see what's out there! Beyond my room... beyond this entire ship. Outer space seems so large... maybe even infinite. And exploring a part of it, even if it is a tiny part... it makes me happy."
Sean stayed silent for a few moments, both his hands over his chest.
"I wonder if you were ever able to see much... I know you were created in Homeworld, but did you ever go outside? Like... for a mission?" Sean let out a sigh, cloing his eyes. "Hm, maybe I'll discover later..." For the first time he realized the room had a warmness to it, something that made him trust it; even at his most vulnerable moments, it would be there to comfort him.
A yawn escaped Sean's mouth. With his eyes still closed, he began to trace the borders of the frame by his side with the tip of his finger, feeling as it became weaker and weaker every moment, but in such a good way; when he realized, his hand was limp on the floor. It was cozy and warm, and that was Sean's last thought before falling asleep.
***
He was so, so excited, that he could barely even pay attention to the corridors in which he was walking, like he always did. All he could do was catch glimpses of the windows leading to the space outside as he skipped along the long hall. Nothing else mattered, none of those things; they were fun, but trivial, he had to admit, and he couldn't always live out of them. It was what he had been telling himself every day: this kind of thing was supposed to be nothing more than a distraction, not things he should actually worry about. Maturity, that was the name.
And now, what really mattered was that he was going to ask the Commanders the question that had been lingering on his mind for so long. Everything he had dreamed of for so long; just the mere thought of it was enough to make him giggle like crazy and want to jump and run around. But he controlled himself to appeal to them, letting only a blush take over. A Gem passed by him, seemingly in a rush, without paying attention to him.
That made him decide to stop thinking about it and actually act on it, and in response, he straightened up, put a smile on his face and continued to march forwards. Not long after, he felt something bumping against his back, pushing him forward slightly and making him let out a tiny shriek; and turning his body to the side, he was met with the sight of a pearl kneeled on the floor, frantically and desperately picking up fallen objects from the floor. Her rush turned out to be more harmful than beneficial, as the stacked objects slipped and fell back to the floor.
"I am s-so s-sorry," the pearl cried out, her voice and entire body shaking. "I-I was in a h-hurry, and I didn't see, I didn't t-think... I-I know this doesn't e-excuse it, but I b-beg you to forgive this incompetent, inexpert pearl--"
"It's alright." he replied. He wasn't mad at the poor Gem or anything. "Just, next time, be a bit more careful, okay ? Calm down... you know what, let me pick those up for you. There's no way you'll be done with picking up all these if you're so nervous... at least not in less than a thousand years!" He let out a chuckle.
After picking everything up and handing it back to the pearl, she made a respectful bow and he heard a low "thank you", before she left, making a turn on the nearest corridor to the left. He simply continued his quest, walking, and meeting no complications for the rest of the way. There it was, the door was right in front of him. He took a deep breath and then let it out in the form of a sigh.
"You can do this," he reassured himself, as he had done so countless times before. "All I need is to..."
He put his hand on the detector and pushed the door.
***
"Hey, Sean? Are you with me?"
Sean opened his eyes slowly, regaining consciousness. A figure appeared in front of him: Olive.
"Uuhh...? Olive? What... what happened?" Sean looked around, confused. "Mom's room? But I was... wasn't I in the corridors? No, I... I was definitely here, but..."
"What? You're not really... making any sense. What's wrong?"
Sean scanned the room once more, before shaking his head and looking back at Olive with a smile.
"I-it's nothing! I just had a dream, and I was confused... w-wow, for how long was I asleep?" he asked.
"Don't worry, just a few minutes. You were taking long, so I decided to check and make sure you were fine here... and I found you right here, sleeping and drooling!"
"Oh... I just felt tired so I ended up falling asleep." He noticed the picture by his side, just like it had been when he left it. "And I also took this out of the wall... better put it back."
"Alright, I'll put it back on its place, then."
After grabbing the frame, Olive hung it back on the wall, where it was. Sean stared at it and smiled, before getting up from the floor.
"Okay, we should get going now, huh? I think Marine is probably done at this point, and I don't want to leave anyone waiting."
"Sure. C'mon, let's go."
The trip back to his room was surprisingly short, or at least it felt short, probably because they spent the whole time chatting and joking around with each other. When they got to the door and opened it, Sean came inside to find Marine sitting on his bed, looking down with a calm expression, and in front of her, many locked suitcases.
"Hey, Marine, we're back! What have you been up to?" Sean said, approaching her.
"Oh! Sean, Olive... I finished packing everything up. I was just waiting for you two to come back..." she replied, straightening up to look at them.
"We're ready! Let's go, everyone!" Sean announced proudly, lifting his fist with a beam, and grabbed the handle of one of the suitcases; even when using his full strength he couldn't make it move, maybe just a tiny bit. But he still continued to pull, all while grunting in hopes that it'd make the job easier.
"Are you sure you don't need any help over there, buddy?" Olive asked awkwardly, unsure if she should laugh or not.
"Nuh-uh! I-I've got it... I just need to... try a bit m-more!"
"I think it'd be better... if you let us carry that, Sean." Marine suggested, grabbing one of the suitcases and lifting it, albeit with effort, while Olive grabbed all the rest without showing any discomfort.
"O-okay, if that's fine! We should... get going now, then."
Sean opened the door and all of them left the room. For the next minutes, they walked through the many sets of corridors until they finally reached a room.
"Is this where we're going to take the ship and go there?" Sean asked.
"No, not yet... the other members of the mission are here. We'll meet up with them and make sure everything is all set... and then we're going." Olive explained.
"Oh, okay! That's nice... I like meeting new people. I hope we can get along!"
Despite everything, he was nervous. Nervous and at the same time excited. With the biggest smile he could muster, Sean held Olive and Marine's hands.
"Okay, I'm ready! Let's go inside!"