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Standing in the living room of the Temple Garnet contemplated. ‘Mistakes happen, even when you can see the future’ this is what she said to Peridot once, and it was true. She could only see possible outcomes, most of which were ridiculous and stupid. The more sane ones had a tendency to stick to the forefront of her mind, so she ended up ignoring the ridiculous ones. Maybe that was the reason why.
Looking around from her reverie, she noticed pearl sitting on his bed… crying. It had happened four years ago today. They all had different ways to grieve, Pearl sat on his bed and blamed herself, Garnet sat in silence contemplating whether she could have done anything different, and Amethyst… she liked to go out to her hole. Lapis probably took it the hardest, next to Pearl. Two years ago she asked Garnet to shatter her, that her life on this planet had no meaning without him. Garnet obviously declined; instead they reached a medium, one which Garnet still wasn’t too happy with, poofing and bubbling Lapis. Peridot was the only one who took it moderately well, but she still visited the grave every other day, he was her first friend, and she missed him.
The grave hurt too much for the other gems to go see, so they let Peridot, Greg, and Connie be the ones who visited it. Connie hated the gems now, blaming them for what happened, She said that Garnet should have been able to see it with her future vision. She never went back to sword practicing and never visited. Greg still came around now and again, but it was mostly so he could have a shoulder to cry on. That shoulder was usually Pearls.
Deciding to let Pearl cry today, Garnet decided to do something she hadn’t done in four years. She was going to visit the grave… his grave.
The trip to the grave wasn’t too hard; he was buried in his mother’s garden, next to the fountain. Looking around she noticed a green gem quietly sobbing, while sitting next to his grave. She walked up to the gem and took a seat beside her, Peridot didn’t even flinch. “Are you okay Peridot?” she asked the smaller gem.
“What do you think?! Of course I’m not okay!” she looks away after the outburst, “I miss him so much,”
Garnet sighs, “We all do Peridot, I-,” Peridot cuts her off.
“Well maybe you could act like it! Instead of being holed up all day, maybe you could visit every once in a while. I’m sure he’d love to see you guys again,” she finishes more tears gathering in her eyes.
“I’m sorry Peridot,” Garnet starts, “Sometimes it’s just so painful to come here and see it finalized. He’s not coming back, and that’s what hurts the most for us. Being gems were used to waiting a few days for our friends to come back, but with him… it never happened. He never retreated into his gem, and he’s never going to. He’s dead. And we hate to see it written in stone like this,” She gestures to the tombstone, “It’s just easier to grieve away from this place.”
Peridot sighs, “I just wish things could have turned out different.”
“Me too Peridot, me too.”
After a few minutes of silence Peridot stands to leave. “I’m gonna go, but you should stay and talk to him. He misses you, I’m sure of it.” With that she leaves to teleport back to her empty barn.
At the sound of the teleporter activating Garnet starts to speak, “I’m sorry I haven’t been here to talk to you, Steven,” Just saying his name was enough for tears to slip out from her visor, “I just miss you so much, so does Pearl and Amethyst, but they wouldn’t be able to say a word with all the crying they’d be doing,” She gives a soft chuckle, “I know it’s not what you would have wanted, but he’s dead. Pearl tore him in half before any of us had a chance to do anything, which was probably a good thing, I wanted to make him suffer…,” She stops for a few moments to remember the past. “The police say he was trying to kidnap you, but when you wouldn’t go quietly he got fed up and pulled out the gun,” She stops again, taking a shuddering breath. “A gun is the way he killed you. A gun. Of all the things you’ve been through, and a fucking gun kills you! Sorry for cursing.” She looks up to the gravestone, “I just wish I could have seen it coming.” Garnet stands and wipes away the tears to head home. Before she leaves she plucks a rose from one of the bushes in the garden and sets it on his grave. “Goodbye Steven… we love you.” She says in a soft voice and walks away from the grave of Steven-Quartz-Universe.