Chapter Text
Steven and the other gems were looking around the room filled with hourglasses. This wasn’t the gems’ first time being in this very room, but it was Steven’s first time. To say that the thousands of hourglasses were amazing would be an understatement. Steven couldn’t even begin to think of the words to describe the view in front of him. Not to mention the ocean view from the glass windows that surrounded them!
He just got done trying to convince Pearl that his hourglass was correct, because it was adorable, when Amethyst came swinging over to him. She had stretched out her arms so she could swing from the ceiling and be close to the top shelf of the building that held more hourglasses. Steven let out a small giggle at her antics, her long arms looked like big purple noodles.
Hearing Steven's laughs, Pearl glanced over to see what was happening. She shook her head in annoyance when she saw what Amethyst was doing. “Amethyst! Be careful!” Pearl yelled at her.
“Jeesh, I am! Don’t be a party pooper!” Amethyst yelled back at Pearl, taking the time to turn her body so she could look Pearl in the face. This turned out to be a mistake because she crashed into Steven which sent them into Steven’s cute hourglass and the many hourglasses surrounding it.
Pearl let out a startled gasp. Garnet, who had been thinking about the likelihood of an ornate hourglass being the correct choice, turned around to look at the source of the noise.
“Ehh, whoops?” Amethyst shrugged and picked Steven up from where they fell while trying to avoid the glass. She brought Steven over to where the other two were, trying to discreetly wipe the glass off of Steven’s clothes so Pearl wouldn’t freak out. However, it was too late to avoid Pearl’s meltdown.
“AMETHYST! What did you do! We’ve never broken one of these before. And you involved Steven in this mess!” Pearl yelled at Amethyst. Then she turned to Steven, almost in tears over the thought of him being hurt, “Steven!” She grabbed Steven’s shoulders, “Steven, are you okay?” However, before he could answer her, Pearl then gasped, “Oh no! Garnet, what is going to happen now?” she asked, turning to Garnet.
Amethyst just stood there, trying not to roll her eyes at Pearl's hysterics. She did wince in sympathy for Steven, who found himself crushed against Pearl as she freaked out.
“Brace yourselves”, was all Garnet said before the sand started to swirl up in the air, mixing with the water that had started falling from the ceiling.
“But we need to get to the warp pad! We need to get out! Oh, Steven come here!” Pearl continued and grabbed Steven, who had almost been successful in escaping her grasp before he found himself right back where he started.
Steven groaned in annoyance and then his eyes lit up as he thought about what the sand tornado might mean. “Does this mean one of the hourglasses we crashed into was the correct one?” Steven asked, watching in wonder, and slight fear, as the tornado of sand and water grew larger.
“Yes.” Garnet answered for Steven. Then she turned to Pearl, “No time to escape. We wouldn’t make it.” Garnet said. She grabbed all of them and they all held on to each other, trusting that this was the best solution according to Garnet. What they didn’t know was that Garnet wasn’t sure what would happen right after they got sucked up by the tornado. She knew this action would lead to the best outcome, but she couldn’t get a vision to come through on where they would end up after this.
More and more sand and water got picked up as the tornado grew larger and began swirling faster and faster. Just as Pearl started to worry about Garnet’s choice and Steven’s safety, the tornado picked them up. It felt similar to warping as they shot up into the air. However, that was the only thing similar about this situation.
The landing was rough as they all hit the ground hard.
“Urg, never let me do something like that again.” Amethyst said her indent in the ground.
“Well, if you weren’t so careless and irresponsible that wouldn’t have happened to begin with!” Pearl said as she carefully moved Steven off of her from where he had been sitting on top of her. She had held him and used her body as a shield from the impact into the ground, knowing that the impact might have really hurt Steven who was still learning to control his powers. After Steven was safely on the ground, she stood up and began brushing the sand off of her body.
“Ugh, I was just trying to reach that really cool swirly one towards the top. Jeesh.” Amethyst said, rolling her eyes at Pearl.
Before the argument could continue, a long “Guyyyyssssss…..” came from Steven a few feet away.
Garnet, who had been cleaning herself off and was getting ready to stop the two gems from fighting, glanced over at Steven. Pearl and Amethyst also stopped their argument at the sound of Steven’s nervous voice. “What is it, Steven?” Garnet asked walking up to him.
“Look!” Steven pointed stars in his eyes.
All three gems looked up to where Steven pointed and all three of them tensed up at once.
“What the heck!” Amethyst shouted, coming to stand by Steven and stare at the sight in front of them.
“Why does that….” Pearl trailed off, unsure of how to voice her concerns.
“Why does it look like there is a mini Homeworld on Earth.” Garnet growled out.
“Okay, but like, that wasn’t here when we left, was it? Look, the temple is just beyond it!” Steven exclaimed. His excitement made him disregard the gems' reactions as the gems stood there, tense and uncertain, trying to figure out their next move.
After hearing Steven’s statement, the gems turned to look and there stood their temple, still by the beach. However, even from far away, the temple itself looked different. Almost newer and bigger maybe?
“This. is. too. weird.” Amethyst said as she kept looking between the new city and the temple.
“It’s like an alternate universe or maybe even the future!” Steven exclaimed, thinking of all the possibilities.
The gems ignored Steven’s comment, too worried about what this city might mean.
“What do we do Garnet?” Pearl asked, her arms wrapped around her middle as if she were trying to comfort herself or hold herself together.
“We use stealth.” Garnet replied before marching forward.
The gems and Steven looked at each other. They weren’t exactly off to a stealthy start with their entrance, but no one had come running either. The gems ran after Garnet towards this new city. They caught up to her as they reached the outskirts of the city and then they almost slammed into Garnet when she suddenly stopped.
“What’s up?” Amethyst asked.
“No… it can’t be…” Garnet said slowly.
Curious, the other three glanced around her. To Amethyst and Steven, their shock and amazement came from all of the different gems walking around. Some looking partially corrupted, some off-color, and others looking perfectly fine. Although, Steven didn’t know why the gems all looked different. However, for Garnet and Pearl, their eyes were on one gem in particular.
Up ahead was a forge and just in their line of sight was Bismuth working away at the metal. She was explaining loudly and jovially to the gems around her how hot the metal had to be to shape it and how to tell when it was hot enough.
“What is this Garnet…” Pearl asked her, her voice wavering as she looked at one of her old friends. A friend she thought she had lost a long time ago.
“I don’t know. My future vision is… blurry right now.” She responded back to Pearl. She might not be good at showing emotion, but the tightness in her voice gave away how affected she was by this new situation.
“Whaaa….! Your future vision is a no go?” Amethyst exclaimed, turning to look at Garnet.
It was loud enough to catch the attention of the gems and Bismuth who glanced into the woods. Luckily, the gems hid away fast enough. Although, Pearl had to grab Steven since he looked about ready to walk into the city.
“Aww, Pearl,” Steven complained.
Pearl shushed him. At the forge, the gems turned back to Bismuth and she began talking to them again. The Crystal Gems took a big sigh of relief. At least, until Bismuth dismissed them and began walking towards their hiding spot.
“Hey, hello!” Bismuth started as she walked closer. “Lost gem in the woods?” she asked, “Or… er, a nervous gem in the woods?” she continued, laughing nervously. “It’s alright to be nervous. We welcome all gems here if that’s what you are worried about.”
Bismuth stopped at the edge of the woods and waited a moment. However, patience was never her strong suit, “I know I heard something over here. My hearing is impeccable!” she said with confidence.
“Oh Garnet, I think it really is her.” Pearl whispered and began to tear up. She struggled to hold herself back from running towards the former Crystal Gem.
“I- I don’t know.” Garnet said softly. She seemed to be concentrating on something that none of them could see.
“Okay, er… maybe you want to be left alone, but the woods are not a good place for anyone to wander in if they aren’t familiar with it. Doesn’t matter if you are human or gem. Come on out and I can show you some quiet places to hang out at.” Bismuth said.
“What do we do? Do you guys know her?” Amethyst whispered to the other two. She shifted in place, feeling anxious about what to do. Usually, she was an act first, think later kinda gem. However, the other two gems' reactions had her pausing and feeling unsure.
Steven stood there watching the gems' reactions and looking at the unknown gem in front of them. It took him exactly one second to decide on what he would do. Being Steven, he did the most Steven thing possible. He popped out at the gem from behind the trees, “Hello!” he said running up to the gem and smiling at her. After all, she seemed really nice and Pearl and Garnet looked weirdly happy to see her; even if they were refusing to go out and greet her. So, she had to be okay right?
“Whoa there! Steven? Wha-why do you look like that?” Bismuth asked, stumbling over her words. “Oh, is this a joke? Like, what was it… like April fools? Or maybe this is the Steven tag the others talk about?” Bismuth asked with a nervous laugh.
“Huh?” Steven asked he had never met this gem before, but she already knew his name!
“Steven!” the three gems yelled while rushing out towards him. Pearl pulled Steven behind her as the other two stood ready to defend themselves in front of Bismuth.
“Oh, whoa. Heyyy….” Bismuth said before trailing off. She started backing up with her hands up. “Uh, okay… if this is an April fool’s thing… Um, I think I’m good on earth customs for a while Steven. This is just too weird for me.” Bismuth said with a strained smile. After the whole rejuvenation thing, something like this just felt uncomfortable to her.
“This is a joke, right? Not some twisted version of a rejuvenator? Because these were not the results last time you guys got hit by it.” She added as the tense silence grew between her, the gems, and Steven.
“What? What are you talking about?” Pearl asked. “We just came from an accident with…. Oh. Oh, my! Garnet!” Pearl yelled suddenly, turning to Garnet. “What if… What if this is the result of the hourglasses? Well, not all of them, but we obviously found the correct one for this to be the outcome? We must be…. In the future maybe?” Pearl explained and then began pacing back and forth. Bismuth, Steven, and Amethyst watched her as Garnet stood stiffly. “Although, the legendary glass of time wasn’t meant to go this far back or forth in time!” Pearl ended while she threw her arms up in the air with exasperation.
“That would explain why my future vision hasn’t been working. Hopefully, once it adjusts to this time period it will become more stable.” Garnet said, more confident of herself as she relaxed.
“Wait… you’re saying that you guys are from… the past?” Bismuth asked slowly. She looked them over and could admit that might not be far from the truth. They all looked so different. She had never seen the outfits they were wearing right now. Steven looked the most familiar out of all of them since she first met him when he was this small. However, even with Steven, there was this innocence and immaturity that she never saw in him before. “Man… if you are from the past. How far back? You guys seem really young.” Bismuth said rubbing the back of her head. “Actually, don’t answer that yet. I think you guys need a meeting with your future selves.” She said, cutting them off before they could say anything. “Ugh, but how to do that without causing a scene?” Bismuth asked herself, deep in thought.
“Um, how about we hide in the forge and you close it up? Then you can go get them… us?” Steven asked unsure. It sounded weird to be talking about himself and he almost giggled. However, this was a time for serious Steven.
“Sounds good to me!” Bismuth said nervously. She rushed behind them and began herding them towards the forge. Thankfully, no other gems were too close to the area and any gems that were nearby weren’t paying attention to the oddity taking place a few feet away. They made it to the forge in record time with Bismuth following behind them and closing up the windows. “Okay, I’ll be right back!” She said after finishing up. She closed the door and locked it before running away.
“Uh, should we have done this? How do we know this isn’t a trap or something?” Amethyst asked, leaning against one of the anvils.
“It’s not,” Garnet said. “My future vision is coming back and I can say with certainty that we are in the future. More specifically we are around three years in the future.” She told them all.
“Whoa… all this change in three years? Cool!” Steven said happily. He wished he could go back outside and explore the city they found themselves in.
“This is all… quite sudden. I mean, what about…” Pearl trailed off, glancing at Garnet.
“Unclear. I’m not sure how all this happened, but it does look like we found a cure…” Garnet said.
“A cure?” Steven asked, “A cure for what?”
“Oh, the gems!” Amethyst exclaimed, “The gem monsters used to be good ‘ol regular gems!”
“Amethyst!” Pearl hissed through gritted teeth. “We agreed-“
“Oh please, if we’re in the future then he’s definitely gonna find out!” Amethyst interrupted.
“Wait! The gem monsters we fight are… gems? Like gem, gems?” Steven asked, eyes wide.
Pearl sighed, “Yes Steven. The gems became corrupted from an attack. We don’t have a cure in our time, despite how hard your mother worked to find one. The best we can do is poof and bubble the gems to keep them safe. All those gems that we saw, that had those blotches and horns, were once corrupted. One would almost assume they were becoming corrupted, but that can’t be the case. They wouldn’t just be walking around if that was true.”
“Whoa…” Steven said, thinking deeply on the subject. This lasted a couple of minutes before he got distracted by something in the forge. The other gems gathered together while Steven was occupied.
“So, what do we do?” Amethyst asked them, “Do we ask them to help us get back? Maybe this happened to them too?”
“The best thing to do right now is to wait for Bismuth to come back with- us,” Garnet told them, hesitating over the last word. It was a really strange predicament they were in. “I see us meeting ourselves, but we shouldn’t just bombard them with questions right away. Imagine if someone came up and did that to you. What you would feel is what your future self would feel.”
“Okay, if you say so.” Amethyst said, before losing interest in their meeting and wandering off.
The whole situation made Pearl want to start yelling at Amethyst again. If only the mission had gone smoothly. They could have gone home; she could be making Steven a snack and not stuck pondering all the unknowns of this new situation. For example, what happened to the diamonds? There is no way they could exist like this without the diamonds knowing. What about-
What about Steven! Do they know? Do they know the truth about Rose and Pink Diamond? Even thinking of the situation made Pearl’s hands come up to cover her mouth.
“Pearl? Are you okay?” Steven asked her, tugging on one of her arms. He had been happily exploring until he saw her distress and came over to check on her.
Pearl tugged her hands away from her mouth, “Oh yes! No need to worry Steven. We are going to be fine!” She told him, her voice strained as she rushed through the words.
“Er… okay? If you say so…” Steven said slowly, glancing at Pearl worriedly before going back to examine the swords lined up on the wall.
“Garnet,” Pearl whispered, “What about-“ she started and had to clear her voice, she almost couldn’t complete the sentence. “What about… the diamonds?” she said as softly as possible.
Garnet froze, if she was honest it hadn’t really crossed her mind. Sapphire wanted to blame Ruby’s lack of focus, but honestly neither had thought about it. Pearl brought up a good point. If Earth had become some type of safe space for all gems, there was no way they could stay hidden from the diamonds. No way. Garnet looked at Pearl, “Well, that is one important question to ask ourselves. However, if no one here is concerned then there must be a good reason why. We should trust ourselves and the other gems, if they aren’t worried then we shouldn’t worry either.” She told Pearl. Before their conversation could go any further, Amethyst interrupted them.
“When are they gonna be here Garnet?” Amethyst whined, laying on an anvil with the upper part of her body hanging off of it.
Before Garnet could answer her, the doors slammed open startling everyone except Garnet.