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(Prompt: Birth-day)
“Give her back.” Pressing the tip of her spear into the two day old baby’s neck was probably not the right way to fix any of this, it probably wasn’t going to change how she was feeling. The little ones eyes where still wide as he giggled, trying to reach up and curl his hands around the blade.
The night Rose gave birth there was no screaming, no pain or labour, just a sudden torrent of deep pink petals that came gushing from her room, flooding the chambers of the other three gems and pouring out into the temple. Gems didn’t give birth the way that humans do, it would have been almost beautiful to watch, an explosion of joy as her gem broke into two. One half shifted, curling in mid-flight to form a huge, soft creature, its fluffy mane blossoming around its head as it shook the petals from its ears.
The second was tiny, the petals floating underneath it for support as it was gently lowered to the floor, bundling around it for safety as it was dropped into the scented torrent. The pink flood wound its way out of the temple, bearing the bundle aloft until it hit the midnight air, and the baby started to cry.
The strange, squeaky sound woke Greg from his slumber. He'd fallen asleep in the back of his van as usual, the doors thrown open to let in the warm summer breeze. Rose had never said he couldn’t share her room, but he’d almost always preferred to be outside, for one thing, there was actual air out here, gems didn’t technically need oxygen to survive.
When he noticed the petals swirling through the air he knew, bounding to his feet and scrambling towards the sound, still dazed and musty from sleep. He found he bundle easily, dropping to his knees in surprise as he held the baby close to him, looking around at the wisps of pink swirling around his head.
Rose had done it, she’d managed to give birth to him.
Gently, Greg stroked his fingers through the newborns dusting of hair, looking him over in surprise. The child looked almost perfectly human, if it wasn’t for the gem buried in his stomach. Stevens chirrups of surprise at being born stopped suddenly, and his father noticed he’d opened his eyes for the very first time, gazing up at him with a look of awe plastered across his tiny features.
“Um… Hi, Steven?” he muttered, blinking down at baby in surprise.
The little one squeaked again, his eyes unmoving as he wriggled slightly, both arms reaching up towards him.
Amethyst had been having a nap on a pile of junk she’d retrieved from the beach that afternoon when the first petal had fallen into her open mouth, sputtering a little as she sat up, looking around in confusion.
“Yuck…” She coughed, spitting it out and staring at the thing in her hand, and staring around her.
Realisation dawned on her almost as suddenly as she’d woken, the room was flooded with the petals, cascading down every one of the piles of rubbish in cluttering her room. So it had finally happened.
Rose had explained to all of them what was going to happen, and despite the cries and the complaints of the other gems, but she’d never expected it to happen this suddenly.
Scrambling off the pile she grabbed at the handfuls of flowers tumbling down through the temple, hugging them close to her as she closed her eyes, muttering into them the only thing she could think of: “Thankyou, Rose.”
Garnet had been meditating, sat on the floor of her room with her legs crossed as she contemplated life. This last month had been strange, the worry over Rose and her ever-growing human baby seemed to have ground life in the temple to a halt. The other two gems have been so busy fussing over her that they hadn’t been concentrating on the other important aspect of their existence on earth, gathering up the last of the gems left over from the war.
She’d taken over the duty almost willingly, not sure she was ready to think about the possibility of what was going to happen. When it did, it would tear her apart.
The first few Rose petals didn’t even disturb her, she’d become so used to strange things flying around the temple since amethyst had come to live with them she was almost immune. It was only when they became persistent did she bother to crack on eye open, looking around at the mountains of pink invading her private space.
The shock took a few moments to set in, and her form dissolved into light, and two much smaller gems came tumbling to the floor. Ruby righted herself in moments, yelling her irritation as she almost jumped on up and down on the spot: “How…. How…. How could Rose… Tonight!?”
“I suspected she might…” Sapphire muttered as she pulled herself into a more dignified position, brushing her hair out with her hand, her gaze focused on the pool of skirt between her knees rather than her lover: “I knew it wasn’t going to be long…”
“Why didn’t you tell me!” The other gem cried, hands on her hips as the floor beneath her feet started to burn: “You never…. Rose is gone. S-she’s…” The floor below her started to curl up in flame as her hands went to her eyes, rubbing at the scalding water starting to drip down her cheeks.
“I knew you’d cry…” The blue gem pointed out softly, crawling across the floor and kneeling up, gently pulling her down into her arms, putting out the fire with one wave: “It’ll be okay…”
“How do you know!” Ruby complained a few minutes later when she’d finally cried herself out, scrubbing at the residue on her eyes with a sniffle of annoyance.
“Let me show you?” Sapphire suggested softly, leaning up a little and pressing her forehead against the others, ignoring her tears as she closed her eyes, projecting the images in the back of her mind into the other gems. They were hazier than usual, but they where there, misty forms of a young boy dancing with the gems, Christmas trees and sandcastles across the beach. Ruby felt herself relax into the others arms finally, leaning up a little to press her lips over the others.
“Okay?” The blue gem muttered, barley separating their mouths.
“Okay.”
The eldest of the gems had been practicing her latest ballet routine, peached on her toes as she finished the last plié, arms arched above her head in perfect formation when the first petals had come tumbling down her waterfall.
“Rose?” Pearl was almost used to the other gem watching her dancing, it had been one of the few things they’d still shared even after Greg had arrived on the scene: “Is that you?”
The moment she turned her smile faltered, she’d never seen that many petals before, they where spilling out from the water now, tumbling across the room in spirals.
“Rose?!” All the grace in her movement was lost as she ran forwards, grabbing at the flowers and pulling them into her arms. Was this... it couldn’t be. Surely she would have said goodbye? Would she, the gem she’d adored for millennia really have disappeared like this?
Her knees gave out.
The hand on her shoulder wasn't the one she'd been expecting, or the hand that curled around her blade, gently tugging it from her grasp.
"I don't think he knows how." The human pointed out, almost softly as he threw aside her spear, the blade disappearing before it even hit the floor. Pearl froze, somewhere between horror and astonishment.
"Greg. What are you..."
"Well, Steven is kinda my son?" He pointed out, a noise almost like a laugh slipping out as he let her go, stepping back slightly: "And I got pretty worried when Amethyst said you where trying to behead him."
"Oh." The kindergarten brat was going to pay for that, surely she knew by now to keep her nose out of other peoples business?
Greg noticed the scowl curling at the gems lips and ducked around behind her, scooping up the bundle of baby from the floor and hugging him close: "She only did it because she cares!" He protested quickly, knowing that he was digging the other gem into a hole: "A-and because she's worried about you, Pearl. We all... Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Greg." She snapped, a little too loudly as her arms crossed her chest.
The baby whimpered at the noise, causing his father to look down in panic, bouncing him a little as he tried to shush him.
For a while, there was silence apart from the child’s sniffling, until the human finally got up the nerve to speak again, managing to voice something that had been bothering him for hours: "I miss her too..."
Pearl felt her expression wrinkle a little at that, heat prickling behind her eyes as she snorted, unable to think of a good retort to that, she just turned her gaze to the sky.
"...I loved her too." Greg pointed out, shifting a little awkwardly as she looked down at the baby: "A-and... i get it. She didn't tell me either that she was going and its not... where am I going with this..." he stopped again, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly: "...Wanna hold Steven?"
She turned around in surprise at that suggestion, completely forgetting about the tears that had finally started to fall at the mention of the L-word. The gem had expected a full time ban after what he'd just seen her doing: "H-hold... him?"
"Yeah." The human persisted, closing the gap again with a smile as he held out the baby: "I think he likes it? He doesn't cry if you hug him."
"Right..." Pearl grumbled, but held out her arms anyway, gently wrapping them around his tiny torso: "How?"
"Uh. Just kinda..." He lent in and corrected her arms: "There. The baby book said its kinda like holding a really breakable watermelon."
The gem was too distracted to notice the strange comparison, looking down at the child again. Steven was looking at her the same way he'd been looking when she'd been digging a blade into him, it was something like confusion and adoration mixed into one. His pudgy hands reaching upwards to touch her.
"Huh. He likes you." Greg muttered when he realised, watching the bundle: "He yelled when Garnet picked him up..."
The comment almost brought a smile to the others lips as she lent in a little to let the baby touch her.