Chapter Text
Steven was running through the beach like many mornings. The day was sunny, with a nice breeze blowing from the sea. He was really happy to have the sea back. After releasing Lapis from the mirror she had taken the ocean to build a giant tower trying to reach her home. Even with all of the water collected she was far from it, but thankfully Steven could heal her cracked gem. With that she had been able to fully use her power and fly back home.
After that Steven had stayed with his dad helping him after supposedly failing to heal his leg. He had felt very bad about having lost his powers, and also his dad lying to him… But in the end everything had turned out well, he could now somewhat use his healing powers and hed mended the relationship with his dad.
And now everything was back to normal, and Stevven was going to have some food. He headed in the direction of the Big Donut. But before he could enter, something caught his attention. Just a street away a huge truck from “Moving Empire” was parked right before a house. If Steven remembered correctly that house had been empty for some years now, he even had to try to convince his father to move in (he refused saying the van was more than enough). It looked like someone new was coming to town!!! Steven was very excited by this, Beach City was small and because of all the gem related phenomena not many people moved here.
Thinking of this Steven entered the Big Donut. Sadie was organizing the donuts of the counter while Lars was sitting half asleep in one of the chairs. A normal, and regular morning.
“Sadie,Lars!”-Steven started shouting just as he crossed the door- “Sadie, Lars”
“Oh, hi Steven”- Sadie answered calmly, already used to Steven’s energetic personality- “What happened?”
“There is someone new moving to town!”- he answered jumping excitedly
Lars moves from his chair coming towards them- “Why are you shouting Steven?”-he sounded annoyed (his usual state)- "You know I need my twelve hours of sleep everyday”
“There are new people coming to town”-Sadie quickly answered without following Lars’s hijinks.
“Ok…”- Lars without much interest. As if this wasn't something worth stop slaking for.
“Have you met them Sadie?”-Steven asked her, he had notice how she had said people in plural, given him suspicion she new something (Steven is a bit silly, but he is not stupid)
“Actually I have”-she said, and then gave Lars a side-eye-"Two girls of our age are moving here. Apparently one of them likes the sea a lot.”
“Gi.. Gi.. GI… Girls you say?”- Lars suddenly became more interested, and his face turned a bit red.
“Are they nice?”- Steven said, oblivious to Lars’s puberty explosions.
“They seemed so.”-She answered- “We couldn't really talk too much. I had to come here and they were busy finishing to unload the truck. But don't worry, I’m sure you’ll see them around”
That left Streven even more curious than before. Would he be able to befriend them? He thought so, after all he was friends with almost everyone in the city. Steven bought his donuts and said goodbye to both teens. After that, he started making his way back to the temple. He was excited for the rest of the day
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That afternoon Steven and the gems were on the beach in front of the temple. Steven was practicing his shield bubbles stopping Amethyst’s attacks. He had gotten quite better with them, but he was still a bit slow when activating it. Pearl and Garnet were watching just a couple of meters away while giving their encouragement and some pointers. His Dad was also here today, he had brought the van as they planned to have a barbecue tonight to celebrate all the events of the past days. Connie was also going to come later after finishing her homework. It was a nice afternoon.
After a quite strong attack of Amethyst's whip Steven was sent flying to the opposite side of the beach, near the path towards the town. He started spinning like a hamster ball down the sand. Until he was stopped by something. Steven did a couple more spins inside the ball before coming to a stop and seeing what had happened. There was a tall, tanned girl that had stopped the sphere with her leg. Steven couldn't recognize who she was.
“Steven!!!! Are you okay”-he heard Pearl shouting while all the Crystal Gems and his dad made their way towards him.
“Yes. I’m fine”- Steven answered and dissolved the bubble
“Nice catch, dude”-Ametyst congratulated the mysterious girl.
“Thanks”-she said- "Wasn't expecting magic on my first day in town. But I can't really be surprised, we heard of the town’s rumors before coming”
“Well, welcome to the towns everyday”-Greg said with a bit of a nervous laugh- “Im Greg Universe, and this little goofball is my son Steven”
“Nice to meet you, Im Persephone Jackson”-she said
“Oh, and this are the crystal gems”-Steven began introducing them- “They are Garnet, Amethyst and Perl”
“Sup”-Ametyst answered
“Nice to meet you”-Garnet said, adjusting her glasses with her hand.
“Yes, very nice”-Pearl said- “But can I ask what you're doing in this part of the beach?”
“Just exploring a bit”-she said- “I do love the sea, and the coast in general. So I was looking around for a less urban part of the beach”
“We live here so I guess this is still part of the town”-Steven answered innocently
Suddenly a scream cut the air taking all of their attention away. A giant crab-like monster had come out of the water. Steven could see a big yellow colored gem near the center of the crabs “chest”. It was another corrupted gem monster. The Gems took out their weapons and charged at the monster, but it slammed them with his giant claw. After that it started charging at Steven and Persephone. He stepped aside and formed a bubble around himself trying to attract the monster's attention, but the beast didn't seem interested. It instead charged towards Persephone. It swung its claws incredibly fast. Steven couldn't look, he just met her, and she was already going to be hurt because of their gem problems… But the hit never connected. Persephone dodged at the last moment. She didn't look really faced by it, like it wasn't something noteworthy. They kept going, the monster attacking and she masterfully dodging until Garnet came down from the sky and punched the crab. It puffed leaving behind just a spotted yellow, triangle shaped gem.
“Nice moves”- Garnet said to the young lady
“Thanks, I've got practice”
“Are you all okay”- Pearl came
“We are Pearl. Persephone was all like “swoop” and the crab couldn't hit her”-Steven playfully explained.
“Please call me Perse”- she said- “Only my enemies call me by my full name”
“So if we aren't enemies then that means we are friends, right?”-Steven asked tentatively
“I dont see why dont little guy”- she laughed
“Yeeees!!!”- he was excited to already make friends with half the new people in time.
“We are happy about it”- Pearl started to say- “But this is quite dangerous, please try not to interfere in gem related events in the future”
“Sure”-she answered with a not very convincing tone- “I’ll be as careful as I can. But anyways, It's been very nice meeting you all, but I have to go back home. Annabeth is waiting. But I’ll see you around”
“Yes, It has been really nice”- Steven smiled
They said their goodbyes and Perse made her way back down the beach path to Town. They cleaned up the aftermath of the fight and later Connie came to have the barbeque they planned. After all, it had been a nice and sunny day.