Chapter Text

It was clear that something was off from the moment they woke up.

Because that's the thing. They normally don't wake up. They normally don't sleep in the first place, so there's nothing to wake up from. Even when they retreat into their gems, they're not asleep; they're perfectly conscious in their own pocket-dimension mind-scape, even if they're unaware of the outside world. Amethyst is the only one who chooses to sleep at all, and she instantly realized that even sleep was different from this. When she wakes up from a nap, it's a slow, comfortable thing, like your mind softly drifting into focus. Here, it was more like everything had just snapped into place instantly. It was jarring and confusing and generally just unpleasant.

Upon regaining consciousness the three Gems started picking themselves off the ground- if it could even count as ground, being so muddy as to practically be considered liquid. None were sure how or why they ended up in such a situation.

“Ugh, disgusting,” Pearl muttered, irritably wiping the mud off herself once she finally managed to rise to her feet. Her two companions were seemingly unperturbed by the muck, and instead turned their attention to their surroundings; Amethyst with open and obvious confusion, Garnet with her expression hidden behind her glasses.

“Where are we?” Amethyst asked. They were standing on a mountain side, overlooking a vast rainforest, surrounded by the crumbling remains of Gem architecture. The sky overhead was heavy with clouds, and they could hear the ominous rumbling of thunder in the distance.

“Looks like the Dome of Knowledge,” answered Garnet.

“Oh, yes," Pearl said, with a tone of clear distaste which suggested that said place was worst than the mud she'd just finished wringing out of the ribbon tied around her waist (a ribbon she couldn't recall previously having, but nonetheless). “I remember this place. Why on Earth did we come here?”

There was an uneasy silence, as the three of them stared around at the dusty old marble columns, then at each other.

“...none of us remembers, do we?” asked Amethyst. She received two terse nods in response.

“I don't like this,” said Garnet.

“Me neither,” Pearl agreed. “I've always hated this place. To call it the 'Dome of Knowledge', considering the kind of technology they developed here- simply disgraceful, I tell you. And something here must have activated- no wonder none of us can remember how we got here or what we were doing or why-”

“Ok, yeah,” Amethyst said, cutting off the other Gem's increasingly hysterical rant. “So we got hit by some of Homeworld's old memory tech or whatever. But how? I mean, I don't think any of us aimed it at ourselves.”

Pearl's expression momentarily froze before growing even more distressed.

Garnet laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, then addressed them both. “The technology here has spent thousands of years exposed to the elements. It easily could have malfunctioned and spontaneously activated. A controller would not be necessary.

“However,” she continued. “I think we should return to the Temple. We shouldn't be wandering around here without knowing what happened. Or why we came in the first place.”

It was a sound idea- perhaps a bit embarrassing, having to return from the mission with nothing to show for it, but it wasn't like there was much alternative. Thankfully, they weren't far from the warp pad; waking up in a strange place with a gap in their memories had put the three Crystal Gems on high alert, and they were jumping at shadows. (Not literally, although Pearl did end up eviscerating a falling branch with her spear). They neither found nor saw anything that was actually dangerous, however, and they managed to warp away without any trouble.

No, the trouble started when they actually arrived.

“Uh...where are we?” asked Amethyst, staring around at the unfamiliar place the three found themselves in upon re-materializing.

“It looks like a human house,” Pearl said. “But how? Did we go to the wrong place?”

But they hadn't, and they knew it. The Temple was a beacon, imbued with their own power; it called to them, and no matter what happened, they would always be able to sense it. Nonetheless, all three turned around to confirm it; and there was the door, same as ever.

But it was in a middle of a human house.

It was clearly a human house. It was made of wood, and it had a kitchen, and a little seating area, and some stairs leading to an odd little alcove and- and a portrait of Rose Quartz hanging above the door-

“This is very odd,” commented Garnet. Her voice was as even as ever, but the two Gems had been with her for thousands of years, and they could tell that she was confused as the rest of them. The sudden appearance of the human dwelling was utterly baffling; humans had long-since learned that it was just better for everyone involved to generally stay clear of the Temple, and the Gems hadn't even needed a moat for centuries. The fact that one would even think to build something here was ludicrous. Not to mention the amount of time it would take. As a species, humans had become much faster at construction in the last few decades, what with the development of technology such as 'cranes' and 'electric screwdrivers', but surely it would still take months to build something like this? Why would they have even allowed such a thing to happen? And why couldn't they remember it happening? Just how much time had they forgotten?

None of them knew the answers, but they were sure there was someone who would.

“Let's go look for Ro-” Pearl began, voicing what they were all thinking, but she was cut off mid-sentence as the door to the odd mystery house burst open, causing all three of them to start with surprise

“You're back!” The intruder was a human child. They were fairly certain it was a child, at least; he was quite small. It was this knowledge- that he was merely a tiny human infant, innocent and harmless- which kept the three Crystal Gems from immediately summoning their weapons out of pure shock and suspicion.

(Though there was something else that stayed Garnet's hand, though she couldn't quite pin-point what. Something about this child felt strange... or perhaps familiar...)

The child bounded towards them, apparently completely unaware of how tense and surprised the three aliens were. “I'm so glad you're back! The parade finished like, half-an-hour ago, but there's still stuff going on- there's this magician, and they're giving out glow-sticks, oh, and shaved-iced, I bet you'd really like...” he trailed off. “Why are you three looking at me like that? And why are you covered in mud? Did something happen on the mission?”

There was an uncomfortable silence.

Pearl spoke first, doing her best to keep her voice even and non-confrontational, and only mostly succeeding. “May I ask what you're doing here?”

“Uh...well...I came here to get my magic cards, to show the the magician. But then I saw you guys warp in...and...” He looked almost as confused as they were.

Amethyst stepped in then, decided to try a different tactic. “What's all this doing here?”

She waved her arm in a large, expansive gesture; the boy followed it with his gaze, only looking even more puzzled. “All of what? I cleaned up this morning.”

“All of what- this house! What's this house doing here?”

“Er- it's... being a house? What's with you guys, anyway? You're acting really weird.”

Pearl wanted to laugh at that; they were not the ones being weird in this situation. But before she could say as much to the human child, Garnet stepped forward, cutting her off.

“I'm afraid that you are going to need to give us a little more explanation,” Garnet said. “We are suffering from some memory loss, and may have forgotten some things, such as the construction of this building. We would be grateful for your help.”

The boy stood there, looking up at Garnet and the other Gems with very wide eyes.

“Memory loss?” he asked, in a small voice.

“Yes,” Garnet confirmed.

“So...you don't know who I am?"

Both Amethyst and Pearl shifted uneasily at those words. Garnet's expression was unreadable behind her glasses.

“No,” she said, not unkindly.

The boy's wide eyes suddenly looked very shiny; he blinked rapidly. Then he seemed to square himself, clenching his hands into tiny, tight fists. “You three built the house, a few years ago. For me.”

“Why would we have done that?” asked Amethyst, crossing her arms. Her tone wasn't exactly suspicious, but neither did she seem all that convinced.

“Because I'm magic,” the boy began to explain, but Pearl interrupted him.

“Magic?!” she exclaimed. “I've never heard anything so preposterous! You can't have magic. You're human.”

“I'm only half human. I'm also half Gem,” the boy told her. The pronouncement was met with exclaims of surprise, but he didn't let anyone disrupt his explanation- there was a look of determination on his face. “Rose was my mom.”

“What?” all three of the Gems exclaimed in unison.

“That's ridiculous!” Pearl half-laughed. Her left eye was twitching slightly. “Gems can't reproduce!”

“She's right. Nice try, kid.”

“I'm telling the truth! I'll prove it. My name is Steven Quartz Universe and I'm a Crystal Gem!” And with that, the human pulled up his shirt- red, emblazoned with a yellow star- and showed his gem.

His gem. Which was pink and round with a pentagonal cut and sitting in the middle of the boy's stomach, just like Rose Quartz's.

If, for even a moment, any of them doubted whether the boy was telling the truth, and thought perhaps that gemstone was just one bearing remarkable similarity to Rose's, they dismissed the thought immediately. They knew it was hers. Gems can always sense other Gems; and even if this human boy's organic body had masked that sense, once their attention had been drawn to it, there was no ignoring the subtle touch of Rose Quartz's essence.

Mouths fell open. Pearl literally shrieked.

She rushed immediately over to the human, kneeling down to get a closer look. Amethyst came to crane over her shoulder as Pearl poked at the pink gem, eyes wide. She seemed to be at a loss for words, unable to do anything but continue prodding it.

“Hehehe,” Amethyst laughed nervously. “Is this- this some kind of prank, Rose? Because it's a good one. Great shapeshifting. Really fooled us.”

“It's not a joke,” both Steven and Garnet said in unison, though only the latter continued to say, “that is a genuine organic body. You can feel it. Though how the gem got in there, I don't know.”

“Of course you don't know!” Pearl wailed, breaking out of her shock-induced trance. “That's because it should be impossible! Gems and organic matter are separate, they don't mix, I-” she broke off, staring intently at the gem embedded in the boy's belly-button for a long moment, before saying in a hushed tone, “we have to get it out.”

And then she lunged forward, clamping her fingers around the stone's edges, and began to pull.

“Woah! Pearl, stop it!” the human shouted. When she didn't, he swatted her away with a surprising amount of force.

Pearl began to move in again, undeterred, and the boy backed away, unease written through every inch of his body. “Stop!” he repeated. “It's my Gem! You can't take it out! I've had it since I was born!”

But Pearl didn't seem willing to listen.

“Pearl.” Garnet had come forward, and laid a hand on the other Gem's shoulder; not forceful, but a restraint, nonetheless. Then she addressed the human. “How is this possible?”

“I...I don't really know, or understand...I was just a baby, nobody's really ever explained...” A flash of inspiration crossed his face, hopeful and desperate. “My Dad! I bet he'll know! Let me go get him- he'll be able to explain everything!”

The child didn't even wait for the other Gems to respond; he just took off, racing for the door. As he disappeared through it, a stunned Pearl rose to her feet and prepared to chase after him, but Garnet's steady hand held her back. She tried to shove it off, to no avail, instead forcing her to turn towards her friend with a look of fury. “What are you doing?!” she half-screamed. “That thing has Rose's gem! We can't just let it run away!”

Amethyst nodded; there was an intense look on her face, and for once, she and Pearl appeared to be in complete agreement.

Slowly, Garnet shook her head. “We do not know what is going on here. We need more information. The boy- Steven,” she hesitated on the name. She usually didn't bother with them, seeing as humans tended to collect so many, and live such short lives, that it was rarely worth the effort, but she suspected this one may be important. “He appears to know someone who can give it to us. While he finds this person, we will have a chance to conduct our own investigation, and see if we can confirm his claims.”

“What if he doesn't return?” Pearl demanded, wringing her hands.

“I think he will.”

“OK. Fine. After all,” Amethyst said, a literal predatory look in her eyes as her body morphed into the form of a wolf. “If he doesn't, we'll just hunt him down.”

Neither of the other Gems disagreed.