A/N: Hello, fellow writers and readers. Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you like it. I actually found Steven Universe a few months ago, and like almost everyone who I talked to about it, I love its message, its characters, its world, and just the whole show. And so, I was inspired to write. This is actually the first thing I will have written and posted in some time, so I'm excited and a little nervous. In any case, thanks again for stopping by, and I again hope you like the story. And here ... we … go:

Steven Universe: Crystallize Red

Consultation pt. 1

The night was just settling in as the Crystal Gems were relaxing at home. Steven, Connie, and Amethyst sat on the couch, settled into a movie on Connie's laptop. Pearl and Garnet were washing dishes. Suddenly, Garnet went completely rigid, dropping the dishes in her hands. The crash immediately alerted everyone in the house…

"Garnet, what's wrong…?" Pearl was rightfully worried.

Before another word could be said, the warp pad whirled to life with a column of light. Peridot, an electronic device in hand, came sprinting into the off the pad and pulling Lapis Lazuli behind her.

"We'reintroubleSuperMegaTroubleDangerImminentTotallyThoroughlyCompromised!"

"Peridot, slow down." Steven said, despite quickly growing scared himself, "What's going on?"

Peridot, no less hysterical, relayed, "Homeworld ship! I just picked it up on the radar I built! And based on its speed and trajectory, it's HEADED FOR US!"

Amethyst jumped up, "You serious?!"

Pearl asked, "No. When will it get here?

"Right now…" Garnet regained herself and took action, "Everyone outside! Steven, Connie, stay behind us. Let's go!"

The Crystal Gems all went bounding outside. Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst went out first with their weapons drawn as Lapis summoned her wings and flew out over their heads. Peridot ran out behind them, the device in her hand still blaring. Steven summoned Rose's shield, Connie grabbed up Rose's sword, and both exited last. They made it to the edge of the beach just as the reason for their panic appeared.

A ship broke through the night sky and slowly descend toward the beach. It was circular vessel with four curved 'blades' swirling around the edge of its red spherical center, giving it a slight resemblance to an electric fan. As it got closer to the ground, multiple lights activated on the ship's underside and were morphed into circular streaks from the blades' rotation, the display changing the ship's resemblance into that of a swirling galaxy. Peridot let out a shocked gasp…

"Oh my stars! I've never even seen a ship like that before!"

The ship hovered to a stop over the sand, and a stair platform lowered from its underside to the ground. Down the steps walked a large gem, and she walked to the water's edge as her ship docked itself. Light beams shot out from the sides of the ship and swept over the immediate area. After a moment, they came to a stop on the side of the temple. The lights swept over the temple a second, more thorough time, scanning over it up, down, left, and then right. Seeming satisfied, the ship bent into an L shape, carefully got closer, and attached itself to the temple flush with the sand, the ship's adhering blades softening and conforming to the temple's shape.

The Gem herself was very tall and very well-built. She had a voluminous waterfall of platinum hair flowing down her back, and indicated by the little readily shown, her skin was deep red. She wore a black long coat with her hands stuffed into her pockets. Most obvious of all was that she was a Quartz.

She had seen large bodies of liquid like this before on other planets, so she reached down and dipped her hand into it. Not just neutral, this liquid was cold, calm, and very pleasant. She looked back up to the purple-hued sky, the stars just starting to shine down.

"What a lovely place…" She mused softly.

The Crystal Gems cautiously approached the new Quartz, but sensing them, she looked over her shoulder at them and revealed her piercing golden eyes and a marking over her right eye…: a white diamond. Peridot stopped dead in her tracks with a stifled shriek as the Quartz turned back to the ocean.

Pearl stated with as much authority as she could muster, "Quartz, this is not a Homeworld-controlled territory."

"I know." The large Gem replied without turning around, "I mean, this is planet Earth … isn't it?"

Amethyst readied her whip, "Okay, second question: what are you doing here? What do you want?"

"Nothing from you, if that's what you're worried about. I don't… I don't want anything from anyone, really."

Pearl responded, "You didn't answer the question. What is your mission? Why are you here?"

"I really don't want to tell you that."

Pearl persisted, "If you're going to stay here, we need to know your intentions. And if you're not going to tell us, then you have to leave immediately."

"I'm sorry, but… Leaving isn't really an option for me either."

Tension continued to build as the Crystal Gems tried to gauge their new visitor and what to do about here. She wasn't aggressive but she also wasn't backing down. She didn't seem sinister but was really evasive. Steven, meanwhile, was really hoping for a solution that would avoid a fight.

Pearl raised her spear toward the Quartz, "See here, we demand to know what you're up to."

The Quartz half-turned and responded with a hint of indignation, "You … demand?!"

Pearl stated emphatically, "We are the Crystal Gems, and this planet is under our protection. We will not have anyone threatening it, including you!"

"Pearl, be careful." Garnet whispered.

The Quartz turned square to them and exposed her hands, a ring on her left hand glinting as she does, "And you want my story? Well, I'm not ready to open up. Now, if you're ready to do something about that…" She audibly clenched her fists and bared her teeth, revealing fang-like canines, "I'm on your schedule."

"Pearl, don't…' Steven pleaded, acting on a feeling.

It was too late. Pearl rocketed forward, with Amethyst starting to follow only for Garnet to hold her back. Pearl attacked with a swift, artful swing, but the Quartz calmly responded with a two-handed block, seizing the spear's neck with her left hand and blocking the spear's point with her right forearm, and held the weapon in place.

"You're a Pearl, and you hit this hard…?! Very impressive."

Steven, urgent and desperate, looked at Garnet, who gave a confirming nod.

"Wait! Stop!"

Steven ran forward. Connie and Peridot reached out to stop him, just missing him, but Lapis followed. Steven ran right up to the deadlocked Pearl and quartz warrior…

"Wait, please, we don't have to fight." Steven pleaded.

Pearl didn't take her eyes off the Quartz, "Steven, stay back! This is…"

"Pearl!" Garnet finally asserted, "That's enough!"

Pearl started to protest in surprise, "But, Garnet, I…" She looked back only to see Garnet giving her a stern and truly withering look.

"You should listen to your family…" The Quartz echoed what the others said, "Nice and easy…"

The Quartz slowly and smoothly released the spear, and in turn, Pearl cautiously pulled back and lowered her weapon, though she remained staring at the new gem.

Steven tried to keep everyone calm, continuing, "Okay, we may have got off to a bad start, but it's okay; let's just start over…" Steven turned to the Quartz and extended his hand to her, "Welcome to Earth; we're the Crystal Gems. My name is Steven Universe; what's yours?"

The Quartz looked in confusion at the small being: short and stubby, round and soft hands and feet with large, clear, and hopeful charcoal-black eyes. She could sense a gem inside but only slightly, and none of this being features indicated what kind of gem resided in this little one. Those features even looked- what was the word- 'male'. Still, the little gem had a warm and amiable presence with no hint of malice, and definitely didn't seem capable of trickery. She returned the gesture, shaking his hand as she gave her name.

"Tanzanite. Nice to meet you, Steven." The boy's eyes lit up. Tanzanite decided to simply inquire, "If you don't mind me asking… I can sense you're a gem, sort of, but I can't tell for sure. I apologize if this is rude, but… What exactly are you?"

Steven happily explained, "Oh, I'm actually half-Gem. My dad is human, from this planet, and my mom was Rose Quartz; she gave up her gem so I could live. See…"

He lifted his shirt, and sure enough, a pristine pink Rose Quartz gem rested in the center of his belly. Tanzanite stared at the gem as she tried to absorb all the new information.

"Your mother…?" A gem reproducing with a native species…? I've only heard stories about that; never thought it was actually possible." Tanzanite puzzled out as Steven lowered his shirt. She gently placed a hand on Steven's head and said with a smirk, "You're a regular urban myth, little one." Tanzanite noticed out of her periphery one of others stepping closer, "And your family certainly defends you like it…"

Tanzanite looked over at Lapis and stopped stunned, her eyes widening and mouth dropping agape for a moment. She was a different shade of blue and her hair was a different style, but otherwise… She had the same clear yet arresting eyes and glare. She had the same petite frame and visibly delicate features. She even had her feet uncovered. For a split second, Tanzanite thought she looked exactly like…

"Uh, do you … have a problem?" Lapis asked, becoming rapidly uncomfortable.

Tanzanite shook her shock away, literally shaking her head, and replied, "Oh, uh, I'm so sorry for staring. You just … really look like someone else."

Tanzanite looked away with a very pained look in her eyes, and everyone went silent, unsure of how to proceed.

"Tanzanite…" Garnet stepped forward, "I don't know if you mean us harm, but we can't be sure. We don't get many visitors from Homeworld, and when we do, a battle has always followed. We can't take any chances when it comes to other gems we encounter."

Tanzanite took a long pause before letting out a resigned sigh, saying, "Okay… I don't know what you're all doing here or why. Honestly, I only landed on this particular spot on the planet because I picked up a signal on a broken galaxy warp. I was really hoping this place was abandoned … but no such luck; story of my life lately… I'm not here to cause any trouble. I'm not trying to take this world from you or you from it. I'm not trying to fight anyone. I just… I need to stay here; I don't know anywhere else to go. I promise I won't make a mess, I won't bother you, and I won't get in your way."

Silence again followed as everyone looked to Garnet. Garnet looked to Steven…

Steven finally offered, "I believe you; you can stay … but you don't have to stay by yourself. You can ask us if you need help with anything or even if you just want to hang out sometime."

Tanzanite started to smile but it quickly disappeared, chased away behind her eyes. So, she simply nodded and turned back to the ocean. With that, the Crystal Gems started back to the house when a discussion inevitably began.

Amethyst started, "Steven, I think we need to talk about this for a sec, especially since the SAME EXACT THING has already happened to us."

Steven reasoned, "That was different. Navy hated us and wanted revenge; we don't even know Tanzanite."

All the stress burst out of Peridot at once, "That's why this is a problem. In addition to the aforementioned similarities to the Navy encounter, we don't know anything about why she's here. She could be attempting something similar or any number of machinations."

Connie responded in analysis, "I don't know. From what I understand of Homeworld hierarchy, why would they send a Quartz to perform espionage?"

Peridot continued, "Yes, that would be non-standard, but everything about this is troublingly odd. I'm made to know and operate all forms of Homeworld technology, and I have never even seen that kind of ship before, never mind know its purpose or capabilities. I know almost all classifications and classes in the hierarchy but I don't know a class of quartz called Tanzanite. I'm not even sure I've ever heard of a Tanzanite."

"I agree with Peridot," Pearl entered into the conversation. "This is very suspect, almost too much. She's clearly hiding something or maybe everything. Lapis… She seemed to take interest in you; can you tell anything about her?"

Lapis looked between the hopeful Steven and the anxious Peridot, "I don't know if I saw anything helpful. All I know is that the look she gave me… She looked sad and hurt, like she lost something she can't get back. I definitely know that look."

"So maybe she could use our help." Steven pointed out. "Garnet, maybe you can look into the future and give us a clue, tell us if you see what we should do?"

Garnet took a long pause, adjusting her glasses momentarily, "There's … too many ways this could go. Some are very good; some are very bad; and a lot more in-between. There's no clear way is right. There is one thing I know for sure…"

"You know I can still mostly HEAR you all over there?!"

"That was it." Garnet deadpanned.

The group didn't realize they'd stopped in the midst of their discussion. Steven called back to Tanzanite, "Oh, sorry! Sorry about that. We're leaving now."

The Crystal Gems continued to the temple and didn't continue the discussion until they were at the temple, stopping at the bottom of the steps

"Well, we all have valid points and none of us is sure what to do." Connie then suggested. "Maybe we should take a vote."

Steven took to the idea immediately, "That's a great idea. Raise your hand if you think we should let Tanzanite stay…" Steven raised his hand then Connie and finally Garnet. "Okay, raise your hand if we should make Tanzanite go…" Peridot, Pearl, Amethyst raised their hands. It was a tie.

"Lapis…" Garnet said, "It's up to you. What do you think?"

Lapis took a long pause with the decision hinging on her, "I … think we should let her stay."

"But, Lapis?!" Peridot exclaimed, with the others also in slight shock.

Lapis explained, "She could be dangerous even if she stays or goes. I really don't want to find out especially if we don't have to. And…" Her tone turned slightly somber. "I guess I really want to know why she's here. What happened to make her come all this way, and by herself too…?"

Pearl said with a sigh, "Okay, but I still think we should keep a very close eye on her. We need to be ready the second she tries anything malicious."

Amethyst morphed into a hawk in agreement, "I'm on it! Say the word, and she'll never leave my sight."

Garnet grabbed Amethyst by the foot, "Settle down. She's probably not trying anything tonight. Let's just leave it for now."

With Amethyst morphing back to herself, they all go back inside the temple… Tanzanite looked out into the ocean, lost in thought. That blue gem was obviously the same class as her, a painful remainder. The red quartz pulled out a small glass container from inside her coat and gazed at its contents. An unbearable pain rose in her chest and a stinging hit her eyes; she blinked the potential tears away as she hid the container again…

The night however was not over. Pearl and Lapis had already gone back to the barn, but the Crystal Gems sprinted back out of the temple maybe an hour later at Garnet's urging. They came out onto the beach to find the water churning and bubbling as if it were on a boil. Something big was happening … and it was coming right for them.

Two corrupted gems emerged from the water. The first, pale purple one had a circular shell patterned like a turtle but rolled on it like an armadillo; it rolled out of the water right past the Crystal Gems and unfurled itself, exposing its head, legs and the gem on its belly. Right behind it came a huge bright green corrupted Gem with the long tail, small legs, and sharp talons of a lizard but the big snout and set of gnarly teeth of an alligator. It sped past the gems after the spin turtle, and the turtle immediately curled back up and began rolling away.

The following fight was a dangerous and trying one as the Crystal Gems weren't just dealing with two strong gems but also with unique difficulties. The spin turtle's gem was completely protected when it was rolled up and it gave a powerful ram when those rolls connected. It had little control over its direction when it rolled, so the Crystal Gems had to take the extra task of keeping it from slamming and wrecking the temple. The iguana-gator was incredibly fast for its size to go along with its strong treacherous jaws and it snapping its tail in every direction like a whip. Its gem on its head was practically impossible to reach without contending with its jagged teeth. The one saving grace for the Crystal Gems was the two corrupted gems seemed more interested in each other with the gator chasing and the turtle defending itself.

Connie eventually found her way onto the gator's back and headed right for its gem. The large green gem however sent her flying with a furious spin. Steven caught her before she could be seriously hurt, but the gator's attention was caught; it sped right for the two youngest Crystal Gems. Steven hurled his shield at the rampaging corrupt gem and quickly bubbled them both. The gator skidded to a stop as it caught Rose's shield in its jaws, giving Pearl and Garnet enough time to leave the turtle and intervene; Pearl urgently got Steven and Connie to safety while Garnet got the gator's attention, the corrupt gem hurling the shield away as it went for the fusion. At that moment, Tanzanite exited her ship to investigate just what was happening on the beach…

"Really hard to sulk with you all making so much—"

CLANG! Rose's shield hit the red quartz right on the bridge of her nose. Tanzanite reared back reactively and held her face in pain … then looked through her fingers in intense anger.

Lowering her hands and stalking into the fray, Tanzanite quipped in quiet fury, "I'm sorry but do you have ANY IDEA how RUDE that was?!"

Tanzanite made a very odd and almost eerie call with her hands and voice that immediately got both corrupted gems' attention and even got the Crystal Gems to stop. In seeming response, the turtle came rolling right for her! Tanzanite planted her feet, and when it came close, stopped in place with her hands, leaving it spinning in place. At the same time, Amethyst snapped her whip around the corrupted gem. Amethyst and Tanzanite locked eyes, and whether by luck or synergy, they nodded to each other in confirmation. Taking firm hold of the corrupted gem, Tanzanite launched the still-spinning turtle into the air with a roar of effort, and Amethyst followed up by snapping her whip taut and slamming the turtle back down into the sand with a loud crash and sending up a shower of sand. Tanzanite circled around the enclosed shell until she found where it curled, forced it apart slightly with her bare hands, and plunged one hand in. POOF! Tanzanite ripped out the gem with a loud bang and a cloud of smoke. The gator completely stopped at the noise.

Tanzanite visually located Steven out of the way still attending to Connie, and so approached and handed them the now-dormant gem. As Steven bubbled and teleported the other gem away, the gator broke away from Garnet and Pearl and stared down Tanzanite with a shrill roar.

"So, you're the rude one, huh…" Tanzanite was unfazed by large corrupted gem.

The gator wiped her tail at the red quartz … only for Tanzanite to catch the appendage under her arm. The corrupted gem tried to get free but Tanzanite simply wound the tail around her arm and further gripped it with her other hand. The red quartz then asserted her strength by planting her feet and giving the tail a powerful yank to completely pull the corrupted gem backward over herself. BAM! Tanzanite asserted herself again by giving the tail a forceful twist to flip the corrupted gem back upright. BOOM! The gator scrambled to her feet with a shriek and tried to escape, tearing and clawing big gashes into the sand to get away. Tanzanite however held on tight…

"Where you going?!" Tanzanite quipped, "I thought you wanted to talk!"

Garnet and Pearl took swift advantage of Tanzanite's aid. Garnet rushed in and fired a barrage of punches as fast and strong as she could into the gator's face to stun her. Meanwhile, Pearl climbed on the corrupted gem's back, ran briefly up its back, and then vaulted into the air. As Garnet finished her attack, Pearl spiraled downward spear-first like a drill and plunged right through the corrupted gem's back. POOF! The gator burst into a cloud of smoke, her gem falling harmlessly to the sand. Pearl bubbled the gem and set it away, finally finishing the battle. Tanzanite turned to see the Crystal Gems all looking at her, in particular Amethyst's glare and Pearl's confusion. Just then, Steven and Connie ran up behind her…

Tanzanite felt compelled to say something, "I'm … sorry for getting involved there."

Steven very quickly pushed away that sentiment, "No! That was amazing! Thanks for helping us!"

Connie added, "Yeah, we were having a tough time there, so thank you."

Garnet chimed in as well, "It was very fortunate you showed when you did. We really appreciate it."

Amethyst at first stayed silent, but soon got a nudge from Garnet, "Eh, you were all right."

Pearl only offered a very terse response, "Thank you."

Again, Tanzanite started to smile but again it was smothered by something internal. The red quartz stuffed her hands back into her pockets and looked away.

"No problem…" With that, Tanzanite headed back into her ship and disappeared back inside.

To Be Continued