"Are you sure this is safe, Steven?" Connie voiced her concern.

"Of course, it's safe!" Steven reassured his hesitant friend, "after all, you're with a gem warrior!"

The human girl looked at her best friend. She gave a reassured smile as she looked at his infectious smile.

"Are you one hundred percent sure it's safe? I'm really excited that you want to take me to the gem battlefield, but what about the gems? Are they okay with us going to it without their permission?" Connie still had a small smile as she rubbed her arm.

Steven thought for a moment, "Well, Pearl said something about not touching things without her as long as we don't touch anything while we're there, we should be okay!"

"What about Garnet?"

"Garnet just gave me a thumbs up without saying a word. She does that a lot," the boy laughed.

"And Amethyst?"

"Amethyst just said not to interrupt her when she was eating."

The answers didn't fully comfort Connie.

"You're worrying about nothing! You dressed up for whatever we might come across and you got the big sword!" Steven pointed.

Connie looked at down at what she was wearing. On her feet were a pair of boots that were once her dad's. They looked massive and like they had seen better days. She had worn a pair of pants that allowed for easy movement, the same went for her shirt. Finally, strapped to her back was the giant pink sword that she had become accustomed to. Connie left nothing to chance and dressed ready for any possible fight.

Steven continued, "And I got my backpack, so we're prepared for anything!" The boy pulled the straps of the cheeseburger backpack that was on his back.

Finally, Connie agreed, pushing any anxiety and doubt down, "Alright then, let's go!"

Steven cheered as he quickly led Connie a few meters toward the warp pad in Steven's home. Connie trailed behind at a leisurely pace, finally reaching Steven who was standing eagerly on the stone platform.

"Ready?"

Connie nodded, "Ready."

Steven concentrated and the warp pad came to life with both color and sound. A huge surge of magic erupted up from the platform, engulfing the two children.

A few moments later, Steven and Connie had arrived at their destination. The magic subsided, leaving the two on the platform on what seemed like another world.

Connie couldn't believe her eyes. Before her was what looked something out a fantasy novel. Above her were floating rocks in the air that defy both gravity and physics, some looking overrun with plant life. Below the rocks on the ground was a massive field with what looked like strawberry plants as far as the eye could see. The terrain looked as if was not naturally created in this way. Connie took a closer examination of her new surroundings. She took note of the various weapons that scattered throughout the landscape.

"Incredible…." was all Connie could mutter.

"Welcome to the fabled gem battlefield," Steven said as he stepped down from the warp pad.

"Steven, this….this is all just….just incredible!" Connie repeated herself as she stepped down next to Steven. The aroma of strawberries filled her lungs.

"You said that already," the boy laughed.

Connie was continuing to soak in new landscape, starting to walk, "Are….Are we still on Earth? Where are we?"

"Garnet told me this place was the site of a big gem battle happened. The Crystal Gems apparently had a big fight with Homeworld here. This is all that remains of it. Well, this and the weird pyramid thing up ahead. I think Pearl wanted me to see this place because she likes how the strawberries grew over everything," Steven recalled, walking along with his friend.

Connie turned to Steven, "Wait, why did you bring me here? Is there something or someone here?" She reached for her sword, ready to bring it out in an instant.

Steven motioned for her to not bring the sword out, "No, no! No one is here to hurt us! Well, except maybe the butterflies. They really like strawberries." He shook his head to bring himself back to the topic at hand, "I brought you here so you can see this place!"

Turning to some of the weapons that were sticking out of the ground, Connie walked toward one. "Gems actually did battle here, huh?"

"Yeah, Pearl said it was like 5000 years ago or something like that."

Connie looked closely at the weapon. It was a large sword that was partly buried in ground, sticking out of the ground like many other weapons that littered the field. The exposed portion seemed to be at least the size of Steven. It seemed to have gotten dull with age, but she wasn't going to test that theory. What was most apparent was that the strawberry plants were had grown around the blade and have worked their way up to the very top of the hilt.

"It's beautiful, and yet so haunting," Connie mused as she examined the sword.

"Haunting?"

Connie turned back to Steven, "Well, yeah. I mean, all those years ago. The Crystal Gems fought against Homeworld right at this very spot. And here is where so many of them…." She couldn't finish that thought. She then turned to look at the rest of the battlefield, "These weapons are what remains of that battle." Her tone was a mix of mindful and melancholic.

Taking note of his' friend's demeanor, Steven stepped forward and placed a hand on Connie's shoulder, "It's not all bad, Connie. Pearl said that one thing she loves about the Earth is that even in the most surprisingly places, life here finds a way." He took his hand off her shoulder and raised it up to a passing butterfly. The butterfly flew around the hand for a bit before carefully landing on one of Steven's fingers. "Just because something bad happened doesn't mean something good things don't exist. There's always good in our world….and in other worlds," Steven added the last part with a small laugh.

Facing back towards Steven who was focusing on the winged insect, Connie smiled at her friend. He was always kind to everyone, no matter what. He had a gentleness about him that could not be rivaled. And he had a sunny disposition that was endless.

"Thank you, Steven."

Steven looked up from the butterfly. The sudden jolt of his head caused it to fly off, "Huh? For what?"

"For bring me here. For letting me see this piece of gem history; this part of your history."

The boy gave smile, "Well, that's not the only reason I brought you here." Steven took his cheeseburger backpack off and placed it on the ground. He continued to talk as he began to dig through it's contents. "The other reason I brought you here is because…." He pulled out a folded blanket from the bag. "Ta-da!"

Connie gave a puzzled look.

"I thought we could have a small picnic here," Steven said as he opened up the blanket. He quickly went back to his bag to pull out a jar of strawberry preserves, "You know, eating jam with my jam bud in a field of what jam is made from!"

With both a flustered face and a smile on her face, Connie couldn't help but laugh at Steven's joke.

Steven quickly sat on the laid out blanket, pulling out the packed lunch from his backpack. He took a quick moment to motion to Connie, "Come on, sit, relax!"

Connie sat down next to Steven on the blanket. "I get that you wanted to do this picnic and all, but why didn't you tell me about it from the beginning?"

"Well, I thought about doing that, but I thought it would be a nice surprise. But after you saw the weapons and got sad, I realized I should have told you about it from the start," Steven said as he gave one of the sandwiches to Connie, "Sorry about that Connie."

"It's okay," the girl smiled, "I did enjoythe surprise."

Steven saw Connie's smile which made his happiness soar.

The two started to eat their packed lunch in the stillness of the strawberry battlefield. A gentle breeze blew overhead, but other than that there was not a single sound. However, Steven broke the silence with a gentle tune:

"The sun is bright, our shirts are clean, we're sitting up above the sea./Come on and share this jam with me."

With a smile, Connie happily joined in, "Peach or plum or strawberry, any kind is fine, you see./Come on and share this jam with me./I'll do my best to give this jam the sweetness it deserves."

Steven continued on, "And I'll keep it fresh, I'm jamming on these tasty preserves."

Together, the two of them finished their accapella melody, "Ingredients in harmony, we mix together perfectly, come on and share this jam with me."

With the final note of the song finished, Connie gently rested herself against Steven. Her eyes were closed and her face was happily conent.

"Thank you, Steven."

"For what?"

Connie lightly planted a kiss on Steven's cheek, "For everything."

END