For one moment, it was dark, and then it simply wasn’t anymore. No fanfare. No ROB’s. No gods. Not even a truck. One day a boy named Stephon turned off his computer and slumped into his bed. It’s not like he had a long day at work or anything, but he was binge watching a random short anime at 3am. His eyes were already heavy, and they’ve gotten to the point where they itched every five seconds from being so irritated.

Something he learned to ignore as his binging became a regular occurance. Once he was in bed though, the moment he closed his eyes, he was out like a light. And then he wasn’t. His eyes seemed to open against his will and instead of being in his normally dark room, he was flashed with light.

“Oh gosh dangit, what the hell?!” Stephan yelled while covering his eyes. It wasn’t as if the light was particularly bright, but suddenly transitioning from a completely dark room into a fully lit one really wasn’t pleasant. He began rubbing his eyes, and trying to get the world to stop being blurry. As reality finally started coming into focus, he heard a voice.

“Whoa Steven! Who taught you that language?!” exclaimed a girl who appeared right in front of him, making him jump back in surprise. The girl was a cute chubby blonde who had on a short-sleeved collared shirt with a donut on the chest. The boy couldn’t help but to stare at her, gawking, even as she turned away from him to glare at someone else who was apparently there too.

“What? I didn’t teach the kid anything. Don’t just blame me for stuff. Maybe some of his weirdo friends taught him it.” a boy with no earlobes said in indignation from behind Stephan. The boy wore the same shirt with an orange fluffy mohawk that frankly looked ridiculous.

Lars...Sadie. Oh my god it’s Lars and Sadie….

He couldn’t help but stare at both of them, one after another, repeating the action over and over again. Honestly he was surprised he didn’t get whiplash. After a bit, he began to slowly scan over where he currently was. Some type of store or station. The thing that was freaking him out though, was that it was all like a cartoon! It’s hard to explain, but Lars and Sadie didn’t simply look like their fictional characters, they were their fictional characters. Everything was exactly the same and he was really trying his best to stop the panic attack that was very quickly forming. Stephan stared down at his hands in confusion. He was a cartoon too. Hesitantly he pinched his arm, which he then noticed is a lot shorter. Almost unexpectedly, he felt the pain.

“This can’t be happening…” Stephan said in horror, but while the situation is scary, his fascination at what was going on began to overtake his fear.

I’m animated. What does this mean? How did this happen. How did I even get here? No...no I’ve read enough fanfiction to know what’s happening. Logically I know what’s happening. But still, it’s like my mind is having trouble accepting that something like this can really happen. I mean, this is crazy right?

“Look all you want dude but you won’t find any CookieCats. They’re gone. Get over it and buy some Lion Lickers or something. I’ve never heard you curse before Steven, is it really that serious? Why don’t you just make some more with your MaAgIc BeLly BuTton~.” Lars says, laughing as he walks away, restocking more shelves.

Steven….Steven?!

The boy suddenly raises his shirt to find what seems to be a pink gem in place of where a normal person’s belly button would be. Oh god. Oh my GOD!

“H-ha ha Lars. That’s not how it works.” Stephan says panicking. He just needed to say something. Acting anymore suspicious could be bad. “Uhm. Sadie, can I take the freezer? I mean, if you guys aren’t using it anymore, it’s pretty useless right?” he asks hesitantly.

“Uh sure, Yeah go ahead. You feeling okay? This CookieCat thing must really got you shaken up.” Sadie asked, clearly worried. The moment confirmation was given Stephan picks up the fridge and begins speed walking out.

“Yes! Perfectly Fine! Bye!” Stephan responds while almost running out the store. He didn’t know what to do so he just defaulted to the original script. He just needed to be alone. To clear his head. Walking without any destination, he began thinking.

Okay, alright, think. I’m in Steven Universe. No. I am Steven Universe. That’s...that’s...cool? Amazing? Awesome? I can’t really think about any negative adjectives. This is a pretty epic situation right? But what about my parents? My family? Wait…

The boy stopped, his legs seemingly took him to a beach. He could see a giant statue of a woman on top of a hill in the distance but he ignored it for now. Closing his eyes, he focused on a picture in his mind, trying to make it as vivid as possible but he could never complete it. He could never finish the picture. Like he was trying to finish a puzzle but all the pieces weren’t there.

I can’t...remember them. I can’t remember my family.

It was weird. It’s not like he couldn’t remember their names or something, he could, but when he tried to picture how they looked, he could never actually do it. He can remember that him, his mom, and his dad went on a vacation to Hawaii one summer but couldn’t remember a single conversation they had.

Now that I think about it, I can’t remember anyone. Not just my folks, but my friends, acquaintances, teachers, nothing. And oddly enough...I can’t bring myself to care too much. I mean, it’s mildly upsetting obviously, but it just feels like forgetting the name or face of a man on the subway. Someone that you see all the time because your schedules just so happen to align but never actually talked to. Goodness this is weird.

With a sigh he decided not to think about it too much. If this was a weirdly vivid dream then in a couple of hours he’d wake up and everything would be back to normal. If it wasn’t and this was all real then he wasn’t going to force himself to be sad over people he didn’t remember.

I can’t do anything about it anyways. The god or whatever that brought me here didn’t even bless me with their presence or any type of explanation. I doubt they care whether I have complaints or not. Like it or not, I’m Steven Universe, and I better get used to it.

The boy, with new determination heads towards where he knew Steven’s house was. Or rather, my house now. Walking up to the door, Steph- no, Steven took a deep breath in and out before opening and stepping in.

“Hey guys I’m ho-”

Immediately a giant green bug thing jumped on top of him, scratching and biting at his face. He didn’t have a pleasant response.

“Oh what the FUCK! AHHHHHHH!!!” Steven screamed. Before the monstrocity could rip off his throat though, what seems to be a whip wrapped around it and pulled it off. I completely forgot that happened. I’m pretty sure I’m in the first episode. This kid really had to deal with a lot of bullshit from a pretty young age. No wonder he began going crazy when puberty finally hit him.

“Whoa~ Steven, dude I didn’t know you were saying ‘fuck’ now.” Amethyst sai laughing while throwing the bug towards a waiting Pearl who was taking on several herself. Noticing his slip up, he quickly glanced towards Pearl and Garnet, who was currently treating one of the things like Bane treats Batman, but they didn’t seem to have any visual reaction.

Amethyst wore a mauve, oversized, off-shoulder tank top with a black bra underneath. She also wore black leggings with star-shaped cutouts on the knees, with a tear above the left star, and small, pointed, white boots.

It looks like Amethyst is the only one who understands that ‘curse words’ are supposed to be bad and kids shouldn’t say them. I guess it isn’t something that would really catch their attention. Regardless. This is so cool. And gosh she’s so cute. She’s always been my favorite Crystal Gem before Peridot shows up. After though, I can’t decide which one I like better.

Seeing the real Crystal Gems in action left him speechless. It was like a dream come true. He did still have a line coming up though, so he snapped himself out of the trance. If this is all going to work, I still need to act like Steven, even if it’s just a little. I can slowly grow out of the childishness with time, but if I have a completely different personality from the start then everything will fall apart.

“Guys? What are these things?” Steven asks with a raised eyebrow. Pearl picks one up as it begins to struggle.

“Sorry Steven, we’ll get these centipedals out of your room. We think they were trying to get into the temple.” Steven tries to keep his distance as he responds. Pearl wore a sleeveless, sky blue top that had a yellow star, and a translucent chest that transferred into a transparent silk ballet skirt around her waist. She also wore short salmon pink-colored leggings, light-green socks, and slip-on ballet flats to match.

“Oh! I want to help!” Steven says before raising his right arm up into the sky, fist balled. A look of concentration adorned his face.

“Uh dude, what are you doing?” Amethyst asked, staring at him weirdly.

“I’m trying to summon my weapon. Just like you guys. Shh! I need to focus!” he says, eyes closed.

Okay, how does this work. Steven figured it out a 13 so I’m sure I can too. And I won’t need CookieCats to do so. Steven’s powers kickstart based on emotions. Sometimes, it even does things Steven didn’t know he could do if he’s troubled enough. But it has to be more than that. None of the other Gems have to feel happy to use their power.

Focusing on his body, he tries to feel any type of energy coursing through him. To feel the power in his veins. He slowed his breathing down and calmed his heart that was still beating kind of loudly from being attacked by a huge bug. He cleared his mind of anything and everything as he searched his body for the hidden power he knew was within him. A couple seconds passed in his meditation. Then a minute. Then two. By this time, all of the little creatures were popped. The Gems were just waiting for Steven to finish.

“Oh c’mon! Why the heck is this so hard?!” Steven yells, his eyes still closed. He felt a hand touch his shoulder and opened them to find Pearl with a slight smile looking down on him. I do not like that. Being short is a problem that needs to be fixed ASAP. Or at least this short. I’m supposed to be 13 for crying out loud.

“Don’t worry Steven, they’ll come to you one day. You must be patient. For now we have to go and find where these things are coming from. When we get back, we can work on it together.” Steven couldn’t look her in the eyes. He made a fool of himself, striking a stupid pose for how long just to fail. It was downright embarrassing. Out of the corner of his eye though, he saw them, his salvation. Running towards the open fridge, he stares at the frozen goodies. The CookieCats. He wanted to just rip them out the rappers and eat them now to unlock his powers but he had a part to play.

“No way! How did you get these?! I heard they stopped making them.” Steven gasped in an excited voice. Pearl, apparently happy to see Steven in a better mood, walks up with everyone else and explains.

“Well we heard that too~. And since we knew they were your favorite-”

“We went out and stole a bunch!” Amethyst interrupted, landing on a table. Pearl didn’t seem to appreciate the interruption.

“I went back and paid for them.” Wait...now that I think about it? That has to be a lie right? Do they even have money? Wait a minute! How do they even buy food and groceries?! They clearly don’t have jobs. Do they just steal everything? Or maybe Greg gives them food money. It would explain why the man never rented an apartment or something. He gives all of his money to these Gems.

“It was all my idea.” Garnet claims in a monotone voice, putting away her gauntlets. She had medium, maroon-colored skin, and black hair styled into a cube-shaped afro. She almost always wore triangular futuristic, translucent orange-tinted shades, which covers all three of her eyes. She wore a black and crimson bodysuit, with cubic shoulder pads (the right one being magenta, the left one being crimson), and a pink star with a magenta outline on her chest. She also wore long, elbow-length black gloves that covered her middle fingers.

“It was everyone's idea.” Amethyst countered.

“Not really.”

……

“Bwhahhaha!” Steven laughs, interrupting Pearl's line. I wonder if it’s because everything is actually happening right in front of me, but that was funny. I forgot how Garnet used to act when she was always expressionless. She kinda changed after we found out she’s a fusion.

“Thanks guys. You’re the best. NOW!” This is embarrassing-embarrassing-embarrassing but I’ll be damned if I don’t do it. Steven Universe the series began and ended with this very silly song, and I will not disgrace the people or the show just because I want to be a little stubborn.

“Ooooooh!

He’s a frozen treat with an all new taste-

Cuz he came to this planet from outer space!

A refugee-

Of an interstellar world!

But now he’s at-

Your local grocery store!”

I don’t remember the actual dance but for some reason, my body just knows the moves. God this is embarrassing. I know this was my choice, but still, kill me now. What the hell is going on anyway? Is this muscle memory or something? How many times did Steven do this dance???/

“Cookie Cat!

He’s a pet for your tummy!

Cookie Cat!

He’s super duper yummy!

Cookie Cat!

He left his family behind!

Cookie Caaaat~!

Now available at Gurgens off Route 109.”

The laughter didn’t help his growing blush but he ended it with a huge smile anyway. It’s not that bad. In fact...this is kind of nice. It’s almost like it’s always been like this. Like I’ve always been here. Like we’re a family.

“Now, for the moment of truth.” without further ado, Steven took a bite out of the treat. Of course, he ate the ear first, out of respect for the OG.

Whoa...Whoa! Is it just me, or are these really fucking good. Like suuper good! Why would they stop making these?!

For a moment, just a slight moment, Steven forgot about the point of eating the snack in the first place and just enjoyed the ice cream with closed eyes. That’s when it happened. Steven’s gem started to glow but nothing formed yet, despite that, Steven wasn’t worried. He figured it out. Not because he finally felt something. But because he felt nothing.

I was being stupid! I’m not in Naruto or Dragon Ball Z! I was looking for some type of inner energy or chakra but that’s not how it works. There is no ki to unlock and control. No, our power comes from our gem. Simply concentrating doesn’t work because the gem doesn’t know what we want. But it can respond to our emotional moods because it is a part of us. No energy. No Ki. It was clearing my mind in the first place that was holding me back. Just like the Crystal Gems forms, it responds to want. Instruction. Direction. Imagination to give it form.

“Shield!” Steven yells, opening his eyes and throwing his arm in the air. This time though, the results weren’t the same. Along his arm, a pink light takes the shape of thorn vines and travels up before they gather above the back of his hand and form a beautiful shield. “Heh, finally got it.” There's gasps around the room as they look upon his magnificent shield.

“Congrats Steven! You did it!” Amethyst says with a smile. She jumps off the table to give Steven a pat on the back while laughing. Garnet gives a nod and a smile.

“Well done.” she’s still in her none-talkative phase. Pearl doesn’t say anything, even after the other two does. She just stands there, looking at his shield. And Pearl is still in her Stupidly in Love With My Master phase. Well...that could actually be useful.

Finally bringing his arm down, he immediately begins to experiment with it. It was floating on the back of his palm, and he knew Steven could throw it in the show. He imagined the weapon floating higher and lower over his hand and immediately the real thing did the same. Thinking for the shield to grow large, the size immediately doubled then tripled before he forces it to go back to normal. Before moving an inch, he performs several more experiments. He still had time after all. Because Steven did it his first try, he didn’t have to go around town, and waste time asking the Gems how their powers work.

First he commands it to slowly fly away from him as far as possible without actually throwing it. It turned out that he could actually control the shield from 5 feet away from his actual hand. Moving it around, it was like an invisible wall just appeared one he reached his limit and refused to budge. Throwing it towards a wall and watching it fly back tested if it still had that same bounce as OG Steven’s and it did.

I wonder if I could change its attributes...Remove Spring. Improve Sharpness. he commands before throwing it towards a wall once more. This time however the shield didn’t bounce back. It embedded itself into the wall, quite easily in fact, and became stuck there. It can easily fly out of his 5 feet zone if he lets go of control.

“Wow, you’re really getting good at this quickly.” Amethyst said with her eyes wide with surprise. “It’s almost like you had them the entire time. You really are a natural dude.” she laughs while playfully elbowing me.

Disperse. he ordered and it suddenly disappeared.

Shield. he ordered and it appeared right back along his arm. With a nod he agrees.

“Yea, the sooner I master this, the sooner I can join you guys in battle. I don’t want to ever watch you all fight and get hurt while I just sit on the sideline again. I will be the shield that protects the Crystal Gems. No one will ever hurt you again.” Steven says with determination.

“Aww thanks Steven.” said Amethyst.

“Yes. We’ll be counting on you.” Garnet says with a nod.

Steven throws his shield a few more times against stuff and tries to catch it again. I don’t know how Captain America became so good at this. It’s very difficult to be consistent with the throws enough for it to bounce back right to me. Not only that, Cap could bounce his shield between multiple objects before making it arrive exactly where he wants it too. I can barely do one and it’s not even a 100% catch rate. And that’s with me having some kind of psychic link with it.

“Hey Amethyst, do ya wanna go outside and fight?” Steven asks after feeling like he finally got a good enough success rate. It was a little difficult, and he definitely couldn’t bounce his shield off of more than one object yet without making a fool of himself but he finally got his shield and he wanted to use it. Not like he waited long or anything but the point still stands.

“Heck yea! Let’s go and hit each other!” the purple girl agreed without much thought before moving towards the door. Steven began following her before Pearl interrupted them with a rather obnoxious scream.

“WHAAAT!? No! No fighting! Steven you’ve just gotten your powers. Why don’t you wait a while to get used to them. Then maybe you can go start fighting.” Pearl says grabbing Steven’s hand, stopping him with an anxious look on her face.

“Relax Pearl, it’s just a bit of training. Besides, nothing’s gonna help me get used to them better than actual experience. We’ll be careful, promise.” Steven smiles before looking back at Amethyst. “C’mon, let go while it’s daylight.”

“NO!!! What if you get hurt?! What if something happens?! I can’t lose you again Rose!!!” Pearl yells before her eyes widen in shock and lets Steven go. She covers her mouth, realizing what she’s said and done.

“....”

“....”

“....”

Garnet walked up from behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“C’mon, we should let Steven train. And maybe have a talk.”

Whoa whoa whoa! What?! What the hell was that?! I know I’ve made some slight changes, but regardless I’m pretty sure that wasn’t supposed to happen. Have I fucked up the timeline that badly already that people are acting out of character?

Tears slowly filled Pearl's eyes and her legs began to shake. She fell to her knees.

“I’m so sorry Steven. I don’t know what I was thin-” before she could finish, Steven places a hand on her cheek and smiles sadly. It doesn’t even surprise him when she almost seems to melt at his touch. Welp….time to fuck up everything. I never planned to stay too close to canon anyway. Still though, I didn't think it was going to happen this quickly.

“I’ve never told anyone, but sometimes I have these dreams. It’s never anything much, and they’re always just flashes of things I don’t understand. But sometimes, sometimes they're clear, and more often than not you’re in them. I don’t know...they’re weird. It’s like I’m me but not me. And it’s us, laughing, being together. And when I wake up, I always love you a bit more Pearl. I’m not fully her, but I’m half of her, and her love for you exists in me. I know you miss her, but she’s not gone. I’m here Pearl. We’re here. No matter what form I’m taking. So don’t cry okay? You’re most beautiful when you’re smiling, like in my dreams.” Steven says, wiping away her tears. He could see what seemed to be a blue blush across her cheeks as she stared at him. Silent. A smile slowly forms across her face but the tears don’t stop.

“Of course. Thank you Ro-...Steven. I was being foolish.” she gets up and wipes her face. “I’m sorry for that unsightly display. It won’t happen again.” Steven chuckles and waves it off.

“It’s no problem. Now I still need to train. Like I said, I’ll be your shield and protect you. All of you. But to do that I need to get stronger. Do you want to come too? Make sure no accidents happen?” Steven asks with a smile. Pearl nodded and followed him and Amethyst out. Garnet decided to come too.

Finally out on the beach, the two shortest Gems faced off against each other. A couple of feet away, Steven had his shield out and Amethyst had out her whip. The purple menace seemed to be confident in her victory.

“You sure about this? Don’t get butthurt if this ends too quickly.” she says with a smirk but Steven just smiles. 5 feet, I need to get within 5 feet of her if I’m going to stand any chance. She has the range advantage. Let’s do this! Shield!

The rose thorns travel down his arm and form the shield. Immediately, Steven begins to run towards her with a yell before suddenly finding himself having to block a whip strike. However, the attack isn’t particularly heavy, so he bashed it to the side without stopping. Instead of letting her attack once more, Steven whips his arm back and throws his shield. It flies a little off course but right before it leaves his distance limit, he compels it back on track, making it hit her right in the stomach before bouncing back to him.

“Oof!!”

“You’re in my Realm!” Steven yells at finally hitting the 5 feet mark before inwardly cringing at his weeb tendencies. Regardless, he felt much better about his chances now that he was closer, throwing his shield at her again she countered by jumping over it, doing a flip spin in the air before landing right behind him. Shit! Disperse! Shield!

Steven turns around just in time to block her front kick, but he’s still pushed back several feet, leaving two tracks in the sand as he digs his heels in to stop himself. With his bearings restored, another throw of his shield is dodged again but before it can get too far away, he controls it in the air to double back, whacking Amethyst in the back of the head.

“Ow! You little-!” she took advantage of his opening now that his shield wasn’t close by to attack with her whip again. Steven tried to disperse his shield but he couldn’t summon it back in time to stop the whip from wrapping around him. Amethyst pulls hard and without the use of his arms to balance himself, he falls face first into the sand.

“Oww~” Steven groans looking up to see Amethyst above him with that same infuriating smirk. He sighs in regret. Crap. I lost. I didn’t really expect to win, but I didn’t want to lose that quickly either. For some reason I couldn’t summon my bubble shield and I also couldn’t summon another shireld. Why though? I know the other Gems can have more than one weapon.

“I told you dude.” she brags. Steven laughs and rolls his eyes.

“Yea yea, you win. I’ll win next time. Now let me go please.” he asks and the whips disappear. Standing up, he wipes all of the sand off of his clothes. God I hate sand, it must be the most annoying material in the entire universe. It just gets everywhere!

“Are you alright? Are you hurt? Is anything broken?” Pearl says worriedly while running over and checking Steven for any wounds or bruises. He chuckles and removes her hands from him. Despite it being annoying, Steven could tell that she genuinely cared for him and not just the thing inside of his belly button;.

“I’m fine Pearl. See? I didn’t win, but I’ll get better. I’ll get stronger and protect you. Just like before.”

“Aww Steven~. I-” she begins before the ground begins to rumble. From what seems like nowhere, a bunch of small centipedals ran onto the beach in swarms. However they didn’t seem to be going for the Gems, but instead climbed the walls of their house. Looking up, they finally saw it, The Mother. She was sprawled around the statue above the house. “Steven! Go inside while we take care of The Mother!” Pearl yells as Garnet immediately begins to climb the statue in jumps to reach the monster.

“No! This is what we talked about! I made a promise to all of you that I would protect you, that with this shield danger will never be able to break through, and I’m not going anywhere.” Steven responds while Garnet begins attacking the monster and leading it onto the beach. Now directly in front of them was The Mother of the centipedals. As dust flew everywhere and began settling thanks to The Mother’s crash onto the beach, Steven looked up at the monster.

She is composed of roughly thirteen dark-green segments (excluding the head and the rear) that each bear one pair of similarly colored legs. The final segment bears no legs, but what appears to be a pair of claw-like cerci. Each of these segments is covered on the top side with a solid crystal covering. Her head is composed primarily of a large pair of jaws/mandibles with a gem in the back of the "mouth". This gem is circular in shape and colored light green with dark green contour lines surrounding the circumference of the gem, connecting to a circular shape. Her gem seems to act as her iris, being in the middle of what would rationally be a sclera. It also features a green crystal protuberance on the base of the head that forms a broken horn-like structure and a flowing, light-cream colored mane immediately behind her head.

It’s...it’s huge. Oh my god it’s HUGE! Shit! What have I gotten myself into?! I should have went back into the fucking house like Pearl said, but now I’m gonna die from acid because I wanted to play Captain America. Wait...the acid!!! Shield!!!! He realises before the corrupted Gem shoots a compressed stream of acid from what seems to be her eye, but before it could connect- Enlarge!

Steven’s shield tripled in size. Just enough to cover all of the Crystal Gems from getting hit as they huddled behind the boy. Fuck! No time to feel sorry for myself. I’m in this shit and there's no way out of it now. Fight or Flight Mode baby and I never was a runner. With new determination, he clenched his fists to gather his courage, and sent out a punch, sending the shield flying into the air and interrupting the acid stream and knocking The Mother back a bit.

“Gems! NOW!!!” Steven orders with a shout. He doesn’t know when, but while he was distracted they summoned their weapons. Now prepared and with a window of opportunity opened, they rushed the monster and crushed it.

That was much quicker than in the show. I guess since I can actually use my powers effectively, at such an easy level, things will be ending quickly. On one hand, I’m extremely grateful for this discovery. On the other hand it’s kind of disappointing.

With the main body destroyed, the gem fell to the ground, where Garnet then bubbled it and sent it away.

“Whoohooo!!! That was awesome!” Amethyst exclaims, walking back to Steven and patting his back. Hard.

“Yes. Good job Steven.” Garnet nods in approval.

“We’re proud of you.” says Pearl. He grins at the high praise.

“This was my first battle. My first of many probably and it was sort of scary, but I did it. We did it. I’m a Crystal Gem now, you’re Shield. So..” he says with a pause before looking straight at Pearl. “Don’t send me away. How will I protect you if I’m not on the battlefield. Believe in me.”

“...I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t believe in you. I’m sorry I tried to send you away. From now on you have my full faith.” Pearl says while more tears begin to stream down her adorable face. She gets on one knee and looks Steven in the eyes. “Will you protect me? Us? Like before? Like always?” she asks.

“Of course!” Steven exclaims. “Like always.”