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He breathed heavily, Steven’s breath lingering on the inside of his bubble, blurring his view, using a finger to remove some of the condensation. He felt guilty throwing eyeball out into space, he couldn’t help it. Steven was exhausted, so much had happened recently and he wanted a break. He wanted to rest and for all of this mess he was never apart of to be done with.
He spun slowly inside the bubble, he could see so much around him. Planets, moons, stars, galaxies dance around him like sparkling Christmas lights at night. He could see all of the wonders space had to offer, he tried to marvel in all its beauty, but he couldn’t. His eyes were drooping despite him fighting the urge to rest them. He placed a hand on the inside of the bubble, it made a squealing sound as his hand dragged downward.
He fell asleep, he was so exhausted, so scared, so calm. Steven dreamt about the actions leading up to this. The rubies coming back to earth, Amethyst pretending to be Jasper, going to the moon base, the rubies figuring out they were lying, the rubies fusing, and Steven opening the door to the moon base. Sardonyx had hit the rubies out of the moon base but one of them had grabbed onto Steven and sent him flying into space too. Eye ball didn’t believe he was rose quartz and then tried to kill him. Steven needed this rest, he’s just a kid.
Steven curled up, knees to his chest, his breathing slowing down some now. Tears fell from his eyes, the bubble around him shrank. Soft crying echoed through the small, suffocating bubble, he wanted his dad. His dad, the gems, the people of beach city, Connie, his bed, Mc bear bear; all of it felt so far away, yet he yearned for it all so.
He cried for a while, calling out to the things that had once brought him comfort, his head pounding and dizzy. He even called out for his mother, but she didn’t exist anymore, he had never known her. He placed a hand over his stomach—the place his gem lay bedded in his skin—his gem cold against his hand. All that didn’t matter, he was scared and alone in space.
<}—{>
Sardonyx unfused moments after Steven was sent flying off into space, Amethyst called out to him. Amethyst had attempted to grab Steven with her whip—although unsuccessful—her whip dissipated away as she fell to her knees.
Pearl stayed on the ground, overwhelmed with emotion, meanwhile Garnet was standing and trying to make out the situation. She didn’t have time to attempt to use her future vision, she was lost in thought; small white butterflies landing on her palms. She waved them away frantically as she remembered the ruby ship still in the moon base.
The ruby ship was a bright red—albeit deluded due to the lack of light—the shape was an a teardrop just upside down. She placed her hand on the cold metal, gliding it to the activation for the door. None of the gems knew how to use the ship, but they couldn’t leave Steven out there alone. The door opened with a loud gush of air and a bang of metal on the ground; it startled Pearl and Amethyst—who were both deep in thought—they both stood and looked better Garnet and the ship.
“Come on we need to find him.”
Garnet’s voice was stern yet sincere, she wasn’t going to deal with whining; neither of the others planned on disagreeing or putting up a fight. They all walked into the ship, the inside was yellow, with a few red seats, and control boards.
Pearl went and sat at the drivers seat, hesitating for only a moment before attempting to drive the ship. Everything on home world had advanced so much, she didn’t quite know how to use technology anymore, but she was the one who would have the most knowledge. After a few hurried minutes the ship started, Garnet attempted a smile at the excitement Pearl in front of her. Amethyst had slumped down against the edge of the control board, curled up. Garnet placing a comforting hand on the top of her head, although Amethyst didn’t look up.
Garnet hesitated, her hand not moving.
“We’ll find him”
She wasn’t lying, they would—in every future she saw they would—just not how they would want to. It was only then that Amethyst looked up, tears welling in her eyes. They all silently knew none of them would stop looking until they found him.
Pearl had finally figured out how to fly the ship, they flew out the door of the moon base quickly. They had the entire universe to search, Steven could have been flung in any direction at any speed. They were all silent as they flew through the infinite cosmos, the universe was so beautiful, bursting with many colors, planets, and stars. They had spent thousands of years observing the universe and yet it never ceased to amaze. The gems were too worried to take in the beauty, they all were focused on finding the lost boy.
<}—{>
Pearl used to hate Steven, he was a constant reminder of how rose chose Greg over her; she once almost removed his gem as a baby, longing for Rose. She never did, Rose wanted to have him so much and Pearl couldn’t possibly take that away. After Steven moved in she became more fond of him, she now cared deeply for the boy and felt heavily maternal towards him. She would clean up his messes in the temple, teach him what she could, and protected him. Steven was her baby, her heart ached at the current situation, but she refused to cry, she needed to focus.
It took a while for Amethyst to call him Steven. She would call him Lil Rose or Lil Greg—Amethyst was probably the one who was the most accepting with the change—after a while she started calling him Steven. Steven and Amethyst had gotten very close recently. They acted like siblings; they would tease each other then spend time together as evidence. Steven helped Amethyst become confident and feel like she fit in and in turn she did the same for Steven. Even during big events that happened due to Rose, Amethyst would try to comfort Steven as much as she could. Amethyst blamed herself for not being able to save Steven from this.
Garnet had partially accepted Rose becoming Steven, she had seen the futures and prepared herself. She was still upset though, Rose was the one who made her feel okay being herself; a Ruby and a Sapphire fusing was like a death sentence—blue diamond was not happy—Rose made Garnet feel safe. It took her a while to be fully okay with Rose’s decision, she had learned to love Steven. He was a silly kid and Garnet loved having someone small and valuable to take care of. Garret would protect Steven more than anyone else—some of the reason was because he had a human body, the gems could poof and regenerate—he made Garnet feel accomplished. She had once unfused when he was a baby, he started crying and reaching up where Garnet had been. Ruby and Sapphire were scared of how he would react when older, she wanted to wait until his birthday. That plan was foiled by Jasper and a destabilizer. Garnet had seen all of the futures, she hoped a certain few would be how the future unfolds.
<}—{>
Steven opened his eyes slowly, the light from the stars close by were making his head hurt. He was woozy and didn’t quite know why, he didn’t quite know how long he had been asleep. He was still spinning, unless he hit something he wouldn’t stop. It was a manageable speed, not too fast to make him sick but fast enough for him to be able to admire the views around him. The pink bubble around him had shrunk, he had barely enough room to move out of his curled up position. The stars around him slowly went by, moving farther from him. He realized that he was breathing abnormally deeply even though he felt he still wasn’t getting enough air to fill his lungs.
The consolations he got bored and named were becoming blurs, his eyes unable to focus correctly. Steven was trying to think of why this was happening. That’s why. He was running out of air in the small bubble, there was no atmosphere around him. He soon would run out of air, he already was.
He forced himself not to panic, that would make things worse. He tried to calm himself and breathe slowly as to conserve oxygen, he already was starting to feel weak and his chest hurt. His heart rate was increasing, trying to push around the oxygen he wasn’t getting, his lungs felt like they were being dragged down by something heavy. Steven couldn’t tell what was space darkness and what was vision spotting, the darkness felt consuming and like it was choking him instead of the lack of oxygen.
He saw a form floating around in his peripheral vision but would disappear when he tried to look at it, his mind now playing tricks. He hallucinated gem experiments, his mother and choking on curly pink hair, people from beach city, random figure, faces on stars and planets. He spread himself out in the minute space he had, he himself stopped spinning within the bubble. Although he had stopped spinning, the bubble hadn’t, he felt sick to his stomach. Steven hugged his stomach while breathing heavily.
He saw something in the distance, it had a beam of light and seemed to be searching, the beam passed above the small bubble. It was a strange almost upside-down tear drop shape, it looked unnatural. The dark spots in his vision made it hard to decipher the color but it looked like a red albeit a brighter red but darkened due to shadows.
He didn’t worry much on the details, he physically couldn’t. He had a small feeling in his gut, it somehow looked different than the previous hallucinations. He had too little oxygen to worry about that. He gasped and clawed at his throat, Steven was panicking. He knew she shouldn’t but his brain was forcing him to panic, he was out, the supply had run out in only a few minutes.
He continued to panic, attempting to drop the bubble or expanding it. His gem refused it only made the bubble smaller in retaliation, he felt he was being suffocated by the bubble, it was compressing and heavy on his back. Steven was just a kid, scared, and alone out in space, he curled up like he had before. His hands didn’t leave his chest, he tucked his head in and closed his eyes. It was only a few moments before he became unconscious, his lungs expelling what little he had left in his lungs.
<}—{>
The gems were searching as fast as they could, he could have been anywhere; space was vast, it stretched farther than the eye could see. Pearl was starting to worry, she knew how enormous the galaxy is. Garnet had been leading her around to where he may have been based on her future vision, she was in the middle of a sentence and stopped.
“Garnet…? Are you okay?”
Pearl was weary and almost afraid to ask. Garnet stayed silent, he jumped from one possibility to the next. Her thoughts were spinning, it was making her dizzy. Garnet stumbled back until her back was against the wall of the ship.
They had missed him, the beam of light from the ship had passed right over him. Their small mistake had caused a tidal wave of destruction. Steven, that sweet boy was now gone. Lost in space, dead. Garnet couldn’t get the words out but both Pearl and Amethyst knew, the gems on the palms make a clinking noise as they met the ground. Garnet had slid her back down the wall, tears streaming down her face, pulling her knees to her chest. She looked so small in that position, it was the same one Steven was in.