#-deal w the lies he told himself/was told to deal w connies situation

[gomacave]

Oh also i think yuuri should keep his human identity. Like still identify as a human after everything. Idk it makes things more interesting. To know that you are only given your seat as king because of your soul (which u had no control over) and otherwise you would have been the enemy of the ppl u love and have bonded w is something i think would do rlly well w yuuris character arc. Also would help solidify the weird con/wolf/yuuri human conflict i rlly like thinking about.

[mimiwrites2000]

Legends

Chapter Nine ~

AO3 ~~

Pairings: Armin x Annie/ Eren x Mikasa (other pairings will be added as the story goes on)

Words count: 3157

* spoilers for chapter 127 and up

Summary:

an injury

a miracle

an understanding

and maybe 'everything happens for a reason' holds some truth in it, and all of it leads to that tingle of emotions with unsolvable maze that hypnotize its victims

~a story of broken hearts who are searching for a cure while mending each other’s wounds

“You did what?!” Armin’s eyes widened, he thought he didn’t hear right because there was no way Eren actually-

“I asked her to marry me,” Eren said once again, not turning or moving in the slightest.

“Are you fucking serious?!” Armin paced around, his hands on his head, his eyes flickering to Eren then to the sky then to the ground.

“What were you thinking?” Armin asked, appalled and at the same time grateful that he was the one in this situation; not Jean. Armin took two steps forward, sat beside Eren, more like dropped beside him, and for the first time got a good look of his face.

Eren’s beard was growing out, though uneven; some places on his chin were empty, or did he pluck these hairs out? His hair was growing past his shoulders. He had a poker face on, and that frustrated Armin even more.

“Did you really…” Armin said through his teeth, surprised that his own voice sounded breathy and compressed, “d-did you really think she’d just… she’d just say yes?!”

Eren didn’t respond, but he did fidget for the first time, and Armin could tell that he was getting uncomfortable. Armin wanted Eren to beg the earth to split and swallow him.

“Eren, you’re… you’re…” Armin was trying to look for a suitable word, but his mind went blank, and he couldn’t think of anything to say, so he blurted out: “y-you’re stupid!”

Eren cracked a smirk at that, the corners of his eyes crinkled, and Armin noticed that his eyes were blood shot, just like Mikasa’s.

“Okay, uh, w-what else did you say to her?” Armin asked, both his hands on his head, ruffling his hair.

Eren took a few seconds to answer, as if he was having trouble remembering: “I apologized to her.”

“Yeah no shit! You don’t say you actually did that!”

Eren didn’t reply to Armin’s sarcastic comment, instead he watched the stream, a golden fish was thrashing its tail against the flow, fighting versus the undeterred water, flipping on its back countless times.

Armin wanted Eren to look him straight in the eyes and tell him that all of this is a joke, but Eren didn’t, and Armin had no idea what he was supposed to do with him.

“At least… you could’ve at least waited! you can’t just straight up ask her that. God, Eren I know you’re a hopeless romantic, but that’s just… stupid!”

“Well, I don’t really know what to do!” Eren said, exasperation interfering with his monotone voice.

“You could’ve asked for advice, dammit!”

“Advice?”

“I don’t know! Anything! But not straight up proposing!” Armin took a deep breath, “you know Jean is waiting for a chance to kill you, and you just gave him the perfect opening.”

“You think he’s better for Mikasa, don’t you?” Eren asked out of nowhere, chewing on the inside of his cheek, making his cheekbones prominent.

“I…” started Armin, but he didn’t know how to finish his sentence, “I don’t know…”

“We both know that Jean would treat Mikasa better, he’d never hurt her like I did,” Eren hugged his knees to his chest, burying his face between them, he looked small and weak.

Armin’s lips opened the tiniest bit at how Eren’s hunched back reminded him of their days on the streets, before they joined the training corps. Back then, Eren was just a weak kid with anger boiling inside of him.

Chaotic times, but much simpler than these days.

Armin closed his eyes, let out a long sigh, then said: “Jean would never hurt Mikasa in any way, everyone knows that.”

Eren sank more into himself.

“But,” Armin continued, “it’s not about Jean, it’s about Mikasa, she’d never want to be with Jean, because…” Armin rolled his eyes over his own feeble choice of words, “everyone knows… how much she cares for you.”

After a few moments of silence, Eren sighed, the sigh weighted and labored, then he whispered: “I’m not begging for atonement, what I did is… irredeemable, but…” He threw his hands in the air, “Mikasa has nothing to do with it! I-”

Eren stopped, he looked at his hands, those hands that did horrible, atrocious acts. Red moisture oozed from between his fingers, tracking down a path of crimson down his wrist.

Thud, thud…

They dripped on the dirt, puddling into a damp darkened spot.

Eren swallowed and shook his head; this is not real. He lowered them, tilting his head down to his feet, and whispered: “I just want to make it up for her…”

The sounds of the stream accompanied with the wind rustling the leaves, creating a harmony, a tone orchestrated by nature… forming a relatively calming blend.

“Would you forgive me?” Eren asked, his eyes not wavering from the rocks underneath his shoes.

Armin wondered; would he be able to forgive Eren? Can he forget what happened and move forward?

Did he want to forgive Eren?

Armin’s eyes darted to the stream, the golden fish was still fighting the current, writhing in the water, until another golden fish wrestled its way to it, then nudged it with its head several times. Then, both turned and swam together with the stream, further away from Eren and Armin, where the water wasn’t violent, but it was tranquil and undisturbed.

“I’ll try…” Armin finally answered, still watching the trace of the two golden fishes. He confessed these words from the bottom of his heart, no lies, just a naked truth.

“Thanks…” Eren muttered, hugging himself.

Insecurity and uncertainty draped over Eren. Armin gawked at him, dozens of questions swirling in his head about the rumbling, the founder, the past and the future, but at the same time he had the sudden urge to hug Eren and forget all about it. Instead, Armin stretched a hand and patted Eren twice on the back.

“So, uh…” Armin started, the memory he saw also took a considerate space in his mind; the one with himself standing on an altar by the beach, but he couldn’t bring himself to talk about it, so he dodged his own thoughts and resumed: “did you had a ring?”

Not the best dodge.

Eren snorted, and Armin saw him smiling the first genuine smile in months, if not years.

They spoke with hushed voices, not wanting to disturb the nature around them, and they didn’t get back to the cottage until sunset.

When Armin walked into the cottage with Eren by his side, Jean threw daggers with his eyes at them, Armin rose his eyebrows, gesturing for Jean to not do anything reckless, but he didn’t seem like he planned anything; Mikasa probably told him so.

The next morning, Magath, Hanji and Gabi sat off towards the harbor, leaving the rest with nothing to do but wait.

~~~

Annie had a plenty of time on her hands to observe everyone as much as she wanted.

Connie was remarkably taller; she vividly remembers him being the dwarf of the 104th squad. Jean’s long hair suited him, and he looked older than his age, he looked like the type of guy to live in a fancy apartment and have wine on breakfast on Mondays.

Mikasa seemed… charming, but now it’s more prominent than ever, her hair alone was gorgeous, and Annie wondered how it would look like if it was longer…

Historia was and would always be the goddess.

Annie tried to avoid Levi as much as she could.

Annie talked to Reiner, but they avoided the heavy topics. An inaudible deal was shared between them to never talk about any sensitive matters, to never talk about what happened after she crystalized herself, about Bert’s death…

Eren was completely different too, the eager kid she remembered seems to have never existed. His forests glinting eyes were substituted with dull orbs, dark circles framing them, protruding them, sinking them more into their sockets, however, he seemed to get his spark back the more he spent time with Armin.

And yeah, Armin.

Now the dwarf of the group.

After some time thinking about it, Annie decided, from behind, he looked like a tough man, with broad shoulders, but the moment he’d turn and she laid her eyes on his face, the 15 years old kid with the weakest muscles is all she could see.

Armin’s face never changed, even with his new haircut, his baby face is something that would never change about him.

Armin would catch Annie staring sometimes; when he’d be sitting up the table, Annie would be on the farthest couch tracking each of his movements, and when Armin catches her, he’d smile and continue whatever he was doing.

Annie wondered if he thought of her as a creep.

But one day, Annie was the one to catch Armin staring.

Annie was outside, it was her turn to hang the laundry, and in the middle of it, she turned around and saw Armin standing at the threshold of the cottage, a basket filled with laundry in his hands. Armin’s cheeks immediately flushed red, and he stuttered some intangible words before he thrusted the basket in Annie’s arms and hurried inside.

It seemed that someone else noticed this ‘glances’ contest going on between them.

Mr. Leonhart.

Incontrovertibly, Mr. Leonhart would never be fine with someone he barely knew glancing at his daughter, and what triggered him more is that his daughter was stealing looks at him too.

And that was the same person who ratted his daughter out four years ago.

One evening, Mr. Leonhart followed Armin outside when he left to get wood for the fire.

“Good evening, young man.” Mr. Leonhart greeted.

Armin jumped and the wood he was carrying fell, missing his toes by an inch, he didn’t bend down to pick them up, instead, he stood erected and stuttered out: “O-oh Mr. Leonhart! Good evening t-to you too!”, his voice was a few notches higher.

“I was meaning to talk to you.” Mr. Leonhart said, one hand behind his back, the other clutched around the cane handle.

“Y-yeah sure! Is something wrong?” Armin rubbed his hands together; it was chilly outside.

“No, nothing is wrong… yet,” Mr. Leonhart took a step forward, “I was just thinking that I should inform you that…” He tapped his cane twice on the dirt, “after all of this is over, me and my daughter, Annie, are going back to Marley. We are aiming to compensate all those lost years and live in peace for the rest of our lives.”

Armin didn’t know what Mr. Leonhart expected him to say: “Yeah, sure, I want Annie to be happy-”

“Annie being happy or not has nothing to do with you, or this place.”

Armin’s brain paused, he blinked thrice trying to catch up with what Mr. Leonhart just chucked at him, he wanted to say something but couldn’t risk it, he knew he would stutter and make a fool of himself.

But when Mr. Leonhart turned his back and walked leisurely to the cottage, his chest puffed up despite leaning on his cane for support, the words flew out of Armin’s mouth, as if he had practiced them a million times before: “Annie’s happiness isn’t associated with someone or with a place, her happiness can only come from within herself.”

Mr. Leonhart halted in his steps, turned his head to the side, examining Armin from the corner of his eyes, but he didn’t reply, he merely drew circles with his cane on the dirt, got a better footing for it, and with deliberate steps, headed inside the cottage, leaving Armin standing there, looking down at the wood scattered by his feet.

~~~

Armin kept an eye on Mikasa, and he realized that he was the only one who knew that Eren proposed to her, but everyone was aware that something was up with her; she was distracted all the time. One time, she almost spilled boiling soup all over herself, after it, no one trusted Mikasa with anything that could hurt her.

Jean was the most irritated about this, but each time he tried to talk it out with Mikasa, she’d politely shove him away, and told him that she’s okay.

Jean never believed her.

The way Mikasa would dodge Eren was almost unbearable, she’d sit on the farthest available spot away from him, never look at his direction or acknowledge him in anyway. She would turn around if she crossed paths with him, she would distract herself with the hem of her shirt if the conversation involved Eren.

Until one night…

Just like they got used to; everyone shared the living room as a bedroom. The only two bedrooms were occupied with the two people in need of a bed; Historia and her kid, and Levi.

As always, Mikasa would lay her sleeping bag in the farthest available spot from Eren.

That night, Armin sleeping with Eren on his side, his mind never shut down, his thoughts were buzzing in his head, one time he would be thinking about Mikasa and Eren…

Armin was clueless of what to do with his two childhood friends, a part of him wanted to lock them in a room until they figured it out, but the other part told him to let them be, maybe it was better if he should let them find their way back to each other, even if it would take years.

Another time Armin would think about Annie, he had so many things to tell her, he wanted to sit by her side all day, he wanted to be with her, but some concealed barrier was holding him back.

Something in him told him to stay away.

And what was he supposed to do with her father?

Armin understood where Mr. Leonhart was coming from; Annie is his only daughter whom whereabouts were unknown for nine years. Any father would be protective over his daughter…

But Armin didn’t want any harm to Annie, hell, he would rather hurt himself than see a tear down her cheeks.

Annie went through enough.

She deserved peace.

She deserved happiness.

And if her happiness meant to stay away from Armin, then he would gladly vanish from her life.

Even if it would shatter him…

Armin’s thoughts would jump to Hanji and the rest who still didn’t come back-

Armin heard the shuffling of someone getting up.

Then he saw Mikasa tiptoe carefully across the room, slithering between sleeping bags, and when she got closer to him, he closed his eyes and pretended to be fast asleep.

However, Mikasa didn’t stop by him, she sneaked to the person sleeping next to him.

Eren.

Mikasa slowly lifted Eren’s blanket and slid beside him. Eren stirred, opening his eyes, which widened the moment he saw Mikasa’s eyes right in front of his face, he blinked twice, not sure if he was still dreaming.

“Mikasa…?” Eren whispered, his voice hoarse and thick with sleep, his eyebrows scrunched in confusion, the pupil in his eyes doubling in size, trying to figure out Mikasa’s silhouette in the pitch-black room.

“Yes,” Mikasa said, her voice a little bit louder than Eren’s.

“Yes…?” he asked, then his eyebrows gradually rose up his forehead.

“I mean… if your… proposal… is still up…” Mikasa said, regret seeped into her mind, snickering in a corner, and she started to question if it was too late now to hop back into her sleeping bag.

“Yes!” Eren said, suddenly enthusiastic, shooting up on his elbow, Mikasa put her finger on his mouth, shushing him, then he laid down again and repeated in a lower voice, nodding his head, “yes, yes...”

Eren glanced at Mikasa’s finger on his mouth, and she immediately withdrew it. Her cheeks were heating up with each time her heart pumped blood into her veins, she didn’t know if Eren could see her face, but she was sure he would feel the heat radiating from the embarrassment she inserted herself in.

Eren’s mouth was agape, he couldn’t see Mikasa in the dark, but he saw the unmistakable shiny black orbs of hers. He kept his hands by his sides, his fingers trembling, yearning to run in her hair. Eren wouldn’t want to creep her away, he still didn’t believe if she was by his side or if his desperate desire to hold her close had finally turned him into a lunatic.

“Good,” Mikasa muttered, she sighed and sank deeper into the blankets, Eren only stared at her, and she avoided his eyes because one look at them and she’d really run back to her own sleeping bag.

A moment of silence passed, Eren’s eyes still wide and unbelieving.

After two hesitant failed attempts, Eren wrapped both his arms around Mikasa, and with equal hesitance, she hugged him back, burying her face in his chest, hiding her flaming cheeks.

Armin heard everything, and he was smiling at himself like an idiot, he was using all the power he had to not shoot up and hug both of his childhood friends.

The fog in Armin’s mind cleared up, and slowly the excitement he felt was wearing off, and sleep was taking over him.

That night, Armin slept with a bunch of ‘I love you’s muttered behind his back until they faded out, and everything was tranquil and quiet.

The next morning, it was a shock, to say the least, for everyone to wake up to Eren and Mikasa sleeping on the same pillow, with their bodies pressed together.

It was Historia who found them; she was an early riser and the first to wake up, and when she checked on everyone else, she noticed that Mikasa’s sleeping bag was vacant.

Historia didn’t give it much thought, Mikasa would probably be outside already, working out or something, but when Historia got to where Eren was sleeping, she saw that he seemed… curled on himself, she got concerned if he was in pain, but she couldn’t tell because the covers were over his face.

Historia crouched beside him and slowly lifted the blanket up.

Her squeal woke Armin up.

Armin shot up from his blankets, ready to strike, but froze when he saw Historia peaking at Eren with her eyes even more significant than they already are, her hand covering her mouth.

Historia only motioned between the two heads under the blanket.

A laugh escaped Armin, and it wasn’t at Historia’s childish behavior; he too felt like squealing, but that Eren and Mikasa were in an unstirred sleep to the point where everyone woke up and was staring at them; they didn’t even fidget.

Mikasa wouldn’t look into anyone’s eyes for the next week, probably, Armin thought, folding his blankets.

After the shock wore off, everyone decided that it would be better if they let them sleep some more, they both were undoubtedly sleep deprived for being out of it during all the chaos.

They slept until noon.

.

.

~~~

uh, are you guys enjoying this?

[minijenn]

Chille Tid: Alternate Ending

For Week 1 of the UF 3-Year extravaganza, I give a slightly alternate take on Chille Tid: Part 1! (graphic blood warning!)

 ——-

“Hey kid, mind hurrying up here!  I kinda have other places to be!  You gonna take the deal or not?!”

Steven woke up from his internal thoughts as he looked down to the hand that was still ablaze with blue flames outstretched before him.  Right before him was the possible solution for everyone’s problems.  Bill would finally get what he wanted and might finally leave him and his friends alone, Dipper would finally be able to be reunited with Lapis and be happy again, and Steven himself would be able to feel what it was like to really be human.  All the young Gem would have to do was to give up his gem and all the powers that came with it.  He would lose his shield, his healing spit and everything else that makes him unique.  But what was all that compared to the health and happiness of his friends and family?  Wasn’t that his job as a Crystal Gem, to protect others no matter the cost?

“No tricks, no lies,” Steven asked with caution.  “You promise if I give you my Gem, you’ll free Lapis and leave us alone?”  Bill rolled his eye, obviously annoyed at the young Gem’s reluctance.  “Come on, Rose Bud!  This isn’t like that phony deal I made with Pine Tree.  I actually get something valuable from this!  Why would need to trick you with this?!  Now are you going to give me that girly rock now, or are you going to let Water Wings suffer down in the lake and have Pine Tree be miserable for the rest of his short existence?!”  That was the final straw for Steven.  He now knew what he had to do.  Giving up his gem and his place as a Crystal Gem was a small price to pay if it meant that Dipper and Lapis could finally be together again.  He really wished that there was another away, but he really had no other choice.  Besides, this meant that a whole new chapter of his life was about to start.  Now, he wouldn’t have to feel so different from Dipper, Mabel and Connie anymore.  Now he could finally experience what it was really like to be a human being, just like his mom wanted him to be before he was born.  Without his gem, he didn’t have to feel burdened by some destiny he could never really grasp.  With a firm nod, he outstretched his hand.  It was time to just be Steven Universe.

“A-Alright Bill, you got a deal.” Steven shakily said.  As he grabbed the dream demon’s hand, both of their hand lit up in the blue fire, although Steven didn’t feel the flames burn his hand.  The soon-to-be former Gem had done it.  He had sold away the one thing that made him unique from the rest of the universe, but it would be worth it.  It would be worth it to see his friends smile again and fully experience his humanity.  However, he was rather confused when after a few seconds, Bill just stared at the boy.  Steven decided to break the awkward silence.  “So uh, are you just going to snap you fingers and remove my gem like that last time we were in Mr. Pines’s mind?” he asked.  The triangle gave a small chuckle at the boy’s question.  “Well, normally this kind of procedure would take a considerable amount of patience and skill to do properly.  Unfortunately, I left my tools at home, so we’ll just have to settle with THIS!”

Before Steven could question what the dream demon had meant by that, every single thought in his head halted to a stop when he felt the piercing pain in his stomach.  As soon as he finished speaking, Bill’s other hand had morphed long, sharp, black claws and swiftly dug themselves into the boy’s stomach.  The demon only looked on with glee as Steven gave a loud, agonizing cry out into the endless, black void.  Words were unable to properly express how much stinging pain the poor boy was feeling at that moment.  For a second, Steven could’ve swore that he actually saw his life flashed before his eyes, from his time with the Gems to all of the great adventures he had this summer with Dipper, Mabel and Connie.  From those memories alone (and possibly from the intense pain), tears began to flow out of the boy’s eyes.  Finally, after what felt like hours of unbearable agony, Bill finally removed his hand from the former Gem’s gut.

Steven collapsed to his hands and knees onto the invisible floor that was below him.  Every tired pant that he let out only caused more pain in his abdomen.  Steven was terrified to even look down at his stomach to see the amount of damage that the sadistic triangle had caused.  However, it turned out he didn’t have to look down to see the extent of the demon’s handiwork.  The former Gem’s eyes went wide as saucers as blood started to pool in between his hands.  The amount of blood was so great, the boy was able see a reflection of his pained, confused face in the pool beneath him.  Steven finally decided to look up at Bill, who was laughing manically as he now held his prize.  In between the demon’s claws was Steven’s pink gem, only now it was stained with blood instead of its normal pristine state.  “It’s just like I told you all those years ago, Quartzy,” Bill said to the bloody gemstone.  “I always get what I want, one way or another!”  Bill then pocketed the gem behind him, supposable storing it somewhere else.  The demon then floated back down to the injured boy, hands on his sides.  “Woo!  You would believe how deep I had to dig in there to get that whole rock!  But more importantly, congratulations Rosebud!” the yelled as he threw a handful of confetti into the air.  “You are now officially, one hundred percent, grade-A human!  So, how’s it feel?”

“I…I-“Steven tried to tell the dream demon, only to be cut short as he started to cough up blood.  The boy cringed as he wiped his mouth, but still had a strange metallic taste in his mouth.  As if breathing wasn’t hard enough, talking seemed to only be more painful for the poor boy.  Bill merely gave a dark laugh at the former Gem’s suffering, obviously enjoying this situation more than he should have.  “Oh yeah, I probably should’ve mentioned,” the demon started to explain.  “It turns out the human body doesn’t really function very well when there’s a giant hole in the middle of it!  The good news is that it won’t kill you right off the bat, although the bad news is that you’re probably not going to like the next few days!  But you never know, your anatomy is sort of as messed up as your hopes for the future!”  Bill continued to laugh as Steven shut his eyes both in frustration and pain.  He wasn’t stupid, he knew that his new body would be less resilient than his former on, but he had made the assumption that Bill would just use his powers to remove his gem in a less direct fashion.  However, even though the former Gem was now in the worse state of agony that he had even been in his life, he knew this was still worth it.  Because now Bill had to uphold his end of the deal.  “Alright, you…got what you wanted…now you have to…save Lapis!” Steven managed to say, albeit with a few bloody coughs in-between.

Bill ceased his laughter and looked back to the injured boy.  “Oh right that.  Well, don’t you worry there, Rosebud!  I am a triangle of my word, and I’ll make sure Water Wing gets free from that lake and back with Pine Tree…..as soon as she’s unfused with Stripes!”  For a moment, Steven’s heart dropped like a stone.  “W-What?!” he also managed to yell out of shock and confusion.  Bill rolled his eye and let a sigh of frustration.  “Look Rosebud, if you remember correctly, the deal was that I would save Water Wings from the lake.  The last time I checked however, it’s Water Stripes who’s trapped in the lake right now!  Therefore, I have no obligation right now to fulfill our deal!  Oh, but don’t worry, Rosebud!  As soon as Water Wings decides to unfuse with Stripes, I’ll swoop in and save like her knight in shining armor!  Although, that might take a while considering that Water Wings is pretty determined to stay stuck with Stripes because she wants to “protect” you and Pine Tree for some reason.  Oh well, I’m a patient guy!”

Steven felt broken.  He felt beaten, defeated and broken.  All he wanted to do was save Lapis so that she and Dipper could finally be happy again.  All he wanted to have was to experience the humanity that had alluded him all these years.  He was willing to give up anything to get those desires, even if it meant giving up the other part of him that made him special.  And now that he had finally went through with that choice, it turned out it was all for naught.  Steven had given up his Gem that his mother had entrusted him with for nothing.  Lapis was still, and probably forever, be trapped in a toxic fusion.  The former Gem then remembered that it was Dipper that had asked him in the first place to go back into the Dreamscape again to try and find Lapis.  The boy hung his head in shame.  Not only did he fail Lapis, he failed Dipper as well.  Some friend he was.

Steven was about to say something in protest, but the dream demon quickly pressed his finger to the boy’s lips and shushed him.  “Shhhhh, no take backs, Rosebud,” he whispered in Steven’s ear.  “Besides, your gem belonged to me way before you were even born.  I guess Quartzy didn’t want to pay the bill herself!”  The injured boy was rather confused by Bill’s cryptic statement, but the demon had floated away from him before he could ask for further elaboration.  “Welp, I really appreciate you giving up your gem like that,” Bill said, deciding it was time to wrap things up.  “Really, I do!  It’s gonna be very useful in the future, trust me.  Normally, I would say that I’ll see around soon, but I think we both know that ain’t happening!  Don’t worry about the other Mystery Twerps though.  I’ll keep a close eye on them, just for you!  Anyway, good luck getting the blood out of your PJs!  SEE YA!”  With a quick flash of light, the triangle disappeared, leaving Steven alone in the dark, endless void.  The former Gem felt awful; physically, mentally and emotionally.

——-

“Steven!  STEVEN!”

Steven suddenly awoke to what sounded like Pearl calling out his name.  When the boy woke up a little bit more, he checked his surroundings to see that he was back in his room again.  He was back to where he, the twins and the Gems had decided to sleep for the night.  A wave of relief washed over the boy, grateful that he was finally free from the dream demon’s torment.  However, something didn’t feel right with him.  Almost as if he had an empty feeling inside.

“Guys, I’m up.  What’s the…problem?” Steven said as he stood up, only to pause as he looked at everyone in the room.  All of them were looking on in horror as they just stared at Steven silently.  Pearl and Dipper were looking as if they were witnessing a car crash, Amethyst was seriously cringing, and Mabel looked queasy and frighten at the same time.  As Steven wondered why they were all looking at him in such a manner, he unconsciously rested his hand on his stomach.  Alarm bells went off in his head as he felt something warm and slightly sticky.  He slowly raised his hand to his face to see that it was painted red.  The boy’s mind was racing as he slowly looked down to his stomach.  His cozy, sky blue pajama top was stained with dark crimson that covered his whole abdominal region.  Steven wanted to scream at the mere sight of this, but he was in too much shock to utter a sound.

“What just…how did this happen?!” Pearl said, trying her best to contain her panic.  “I don’t know,” Dipper answered the white Gem.  “There was this sudden flash of light and now…this happened!”  Steven began to panic more and more as he began to feel a growing pain in his stomach.  Had Bill really just ripped out his gem, leaving him with such a grizzly wound?  He needed further confirmation for this.  Steven grasped the ends of his shirt and slowly lifted it from his stomach.  The damage was absolutely devastating.  Where is belly button should have been was what could only be described as a crater deep into his gut.  Dark, red blood oozed out of the wound, leaving the bottom portion of his clothes and the floor beneath him stained with a sickly crimson.  Steven had no words on how to describe how Bill had maimed him.  The others didn’t react to the wound very well either.  Pearl let out a terrified scream from seeing her precious ward so injured.  Dipper was startled by the wound and backed a few inches away from the injured boy.  Amethyst was the only one who could respond to the reveal with actual words.  “What….What the f-“

The purple Gem was interrupted when Mabel swiftly covered her mouth with both hands and rushed out of room.  The sight of the pussing wound was too much for the poor girl’s stomach to handle, which caused her to start vomiting once she was outside of the Temple.  Back inside, Steven began to feel woozy as he fell back onto his back again.  He began to cough again, blood slowly trickling down from the corner of his mouth.  “Pearl, I don’t feel so good.” Steven weakly said.  It seemed that talking was getting harder and harder to accomplish and breathing wasn’t exactly comfortable either.  Pearl rushed over to the injured boy and gently pressed her forehead to his in an attempt to at least comfort him.  “Oh Steven,” Pearl cried out, tears running down her cheeks.  “It will be okay!  Just stay calm, you’re going to be okay!  We just to…to…I…”  The white Gem was starting to majorly panic.  She was in too much duress to activity come up with a plan at the moment.  Fortunately, Dipper stood up and began instructing the panicking Gems on what to do.  “Amethyst, go get some clean towels so that we can stop the bleeding!  Pearl, we need to call Connie, her mom’s a doctor.  Go outside and get Mabel, she knows her number!”

The Gems wasted no time in carrying out the boy’s orders, with Amethyst rushing into the nearby bathroom and Pearl hurrying outside to find Mabel.  Now alone with the former Gem, Dipper rushed over to Steven, careful to not get any blood on his skin or clothes.  “It’s going to be okay, Steven.  Help will be here soon.  Just stay with me!”  Steven looked up to the worried expression Dipper was wearing and remembered something.  Something important that he needed to know.  “Dipper,” Steven muttered, trying not to cough up more blood.  “Bill, he…came to me while I was looking for Lapis and…”  Dipper’s eyes widen in alarm at the mention of the demented demon’s name.  Was he the one responsible for this?  “Steven, did Bill do this to you?!  How?!  How did he take your gem?!”  Steven let out a moan in response, but still manage to speak a little bit more.  “He…said that if I gave him my gem, he would free Lapis from the lake.  I did what he said, but he tricked me.  I’m sorry, Dipper.  I couldn’t….save Lapis.”  The former Gem slowly closed his eyes, but not before a single tear went down his cheek.

“STEVEN!” Dipper yelled out in panic, assuming that the worse had happened.  Thankfully, this didn’t last long as the boy noticed that Steven was still breathing and concluded that he just passed out from the intense pain.  This wave of relief did not last long, however, as what the former had told him began to really sink in.  Steven had made a phony deal with Bill almost exactly like the one he had made with the demon earlier this summer.  The inquisitive boy began to wonder why on Earth Steven would do something like that after what he saw at the sock opera, but then it hit him a truck at full speed.  He was the one that persuaded Steven to go back in the Dreamscape to find Lapis again.  His recent actions and attitude was what lead Steven into a desperate action of making a deal with Bill.  It was clear now, Dipper had made Steven to make the same mistake he did with Bill, and now he was paying for the consequences.

Now it was Dipper turn to begin crying now, as he realized how much of the blame actually feel on him.  One of his best friends was going to possibly die because of him.  “This is all my fault!” he muttered to himself.  He then notice that he had accidently gotten blood on one of his hands.  Dipper could only stare at his hand painted red with his friend’s blood with both horror and guilt.

“This is all my fault!”

[alexiss-fic-archive]

Who You Really Are.

A Small one-shot of something I really needed to do.

I hope you guys really like it.

Also available in the Ao3!

SUMMARY:

After a month and a half of Being Grounded, Connie finds Steven in a somewhat dark mood

Connie hated being grounded.

She knew that her parents were very upset with the week she spent on that alien moon alone with Steven, and she was responsible enough to accept the consequence of her actions.

Still, that didn't meant that she liked being away from Steven and the gems.

So over the span of a month and a half, she spent all her free time to catch up with her classes. Jeff even went out of his way to give Connie his own notes to help her.

She still spoke with Steven on VERY long phonecalls during her grounding, but in her honest opinion, it wasn't the same as hanging out with him.

Therefore, once her punishment ended, Connie decided to regain the lost time with Steven and send a text to him to notify him that she was free.

And so she did, telling him that she wanted to go to get some ice cream to celebrate her regained freedom.

Unfortunately, instead of a cheerful reply filled to the brim with emojis, Connie received a rather gloomy message.

“Sorry Connie, but I rather stay in bed all day.” It read. “Something unexpected happened and I don't feel so well. Sorry…”

After this, Connie sent another message, but this one wasn't delivered to his device. It seemed that he had turned off his phone.

The girl, worried about his well being, was quick to take her duffel bag with her trusty blade. And after a quick farewell to her parents, she headed to the bus station to take a ride to Beach City.

★★★★★★★★★★★

“Steven! It's me, Connie!” The girl said as she knocked on the wooden door of the house. “Are you not feeling well? Is something wrong?”

She was about to knock a second time when a red, tiny gem opened up the door. Her small face gloomy as she cried tears that vaporized almost instantly.

“Y-You could say something like that…” Ruby answered, her own presence as herself and not as Garnet affirmed the gravity of the situation.

“W-What Happened?” An intrigued Connie asked.

The red gem beckoned the human into the house, before telling her: “Something I believe you need to hear from himself.” She told her. “He's on his bedroom, trying to wrap his head around all of this.”

“Thanks.” The girl said as she stepped into the house, just as Ruby started to make her way out. “Are you going out?” Connie asked

“Yeah.” The smoldering gem said. “I just need to blow off some steam next to the shore.”

“Okay…?” Connie said, hoping that Ruby wouldn't boil the ocean away..

“I’ll let you two talk privately.” The gem said with the ghost of a smile on her face before leaving the house.

A feeling of unease filled Connie's stomach as she headed towards the landing atop of the stairs. A feeling that intensified when she saw Steven lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling in a distraught manner..

“Steven?” She called his name, making him notice her.”Did something happened?”

“Do you remember that moment when Lisa found out who the one-eyed man was?” Steven answered with another question.

“Yeah?” Connie said confused. “It turned out that he was her father all along. Why are you asking me that?”

“Please take a seat.” The depressed boy patted a spot on his mattress.

She did as she was asked to, and sat next to him in an angle where she could see his tearstained face staring weakly at her.

“Mom was Pink Diamond.” The boy said nonchalantly, taking Connie by surprise.

“Huh?” She said in confusion before he proceeded to tell the story from the beginning.

���★★★★★★★★★★

“Woah…” Was all that the now speechless Connie could say about what transpired the past few days.

“Yeah…” He said. “Pretty heavy stuff, isn't it?”

“So that's why Ruby was alone when I got here.” She mused to herself. “And why we had that weird dream on the jungle moon. We were seeing Pink’s memories through Stevonnie’s gem.”

“It's also why i can raise the dead too, apparently.” Steven said. His ghastly expression unchanged as he let out a weary sigh and returned to stare at the ceiling.

“And how are the others taking it?” Connie asked.

“Well… Pearl seems alleviated by revealing this.” Steven said, his mood lightening a bit. “She no longer has to hide stuff from me, so I believe she feels better now.”

“And what about Amethyst?” The girl asked one more time.

“Other than the shock? She's fine.” He told her. “She went with Pearl to look for Sapphire this morning.”

“Oh, I see…” She said before a Very uncomfortable silence settled between the two of them for a while.

Eventually, Connie spoke again, this time, asking the question that was needed to be asked.

“And what about you, Steven?” She said softly. “How are you dealing with this?”

“Not as good as you think.” He said, placing an arm over his eyes. “All this time, I thought mom had shattered Pink for earth's sake. And I made peace with the fact that mom did all of that because there was no other choice.”

He took a deep breath before continuing.

“But now? It turned out that she just faked it! Like almost everything else!” He shouted angrily as he slowly sat on the edge of the bed. “She hid Bismuth from the gems! She never told Amethyst about Beta or the other Amethysts! She lied to dad! She lied to everyone! And because of that I don't even know what is truth now!”

Tears began to emerge from his eyes as he began to sob.

“I don't even know what I am, Connie!” He confessed to the girl next to him. His voice filled with sadness and despair. “I’m not a Quartz nor a Diamond! I'm not even sure if I'm human to begin with!”

His tears poured into the floorboards of the loft as rivers as he clutched his head with his hands. He was sobbing grossly as Connie saw him spiraling even further into his own self-loathing.

Connie decided to not let that happen and chose to help his jam bud in a way he always did.

She approached him and held him in a tight embrace, which was completed a moment later as he desperately placed his hands on her back, in an attempt to keep himself tethered to her.

“I know what you are.” The girl said soothingly as she caressed his head softly. “You are Steven Universe.”

“And I don't care if you are a human, a quartz, a Diamond, or a ruby.” Connie declared as Steven wept on her shoulder. “For me, For your dad, and for the gems, you will always be our Steven.”

She pressed a small kiss on the top of his forehead.

“And we would never change you for anything.” She assured him.

The boy broke down into wailing on Connie's shoulder, tightening his grip on her  as his warm tears fell on her T-shirt.

However, this time, the tears weren't product of his own existential problem. Instead, they were product of his gratitude towards Connie, who would always be there to keep him from losing sight of the truth in front of him.

“I’m sorry…” He sobbed as Connie caressed his hair. “For involving you in all of this.”

“Don’t be.” She said. “We’ll figure this out together. As Jam Buds.”

“Y-Yeah… We will.” He said with a soft smile. His tears vanishing upon hearing her kind words.

A moment later, Steven had let go of Connie, Who convinced him to check on Ruby and then buy Ice-cream for the three of them. Deciding to end that awful day in at least a sweet note.