Steven Universe, savior of planet Earth and the only member of the Crystal Gems that was even somewhat human, was feeling rather conflicted as he climbed the steps to his beach bungalow house. On the one hand, the conversation with Connie amid the ruins of the Homeworld ship had reassured him that it was okay to involve her and his dad in Gem affairs, even if that involvement was nothing more than keeping them up to date on what had happened to him.
On the other hand, he couldn't get it out of his head that this was a bad idea. That it might one day come to hurt them.
It was because of this that Steven sought out the advice of his three guardians, the intergalactic shape shifting gemstones known as Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. He started with Garnet, because maybe her future vision knew something he didn't?
When he relayed his dilemma to her, though, she merely gave him a smile and bent down to speak to him eye to eye. "Steven, the paths I see are only possibilities. They can't tell me for certain what will happen. There are countless universes where your fears come to pass, and Connie and Greg are placed in danger. There are countless more where it doesn't affect them at all. Do whatever feels right to you, Steven, and deal with the consequences when you come to them," the tall Gem told him, ruffling his hair and straightening up. He gave a small pout as she crossed the Warp Pad and entered her room of fire and gemstones; that hadn't helped at all.
Pearl was next. She wasn't much better.
"I, errr, I don't think you're quite ready for the lesson that brings to mind, Steven. It's a rather harsh one," she told him gently after he had cornered her on the Warp Pad, a bubbled gem floating above her hand. A corrupted Gem had been drawn to the lingering magical energy of the Heaven Beetle, and she had gone to deal with it. It was an easy fight, but now she wished it had taken just a bit longer.
"I'm a Crystal Gem too, Pearl!" he had said, crossing his arms, "And if you're ready for it, then I wanna know too! It could help me protect a lot of people one day!"
Pearl had stared for a moment, wide-eyed, before letting her face fall into a sad smile. She crouched down in front of him and carded her free hand through his hair, an emotion he couldn't quite place in her eyes.
"You're so much like your mother..." she told him, "Always wanting to protect people."
Heaving out a sigh, she cleared her throat and composed herself once more. "I'm not going to tell you, Steven, because not even your mother could learn the lesson I'm referring to. All I can tell you is that, when the time comes to decide about something like that, the circumstances will make the choice obvious."
She had straightened up and, much like Garnet had, disappeared into her room of fountains and weapons.
Amethyst, if at all possible, was even less help than the other two. Pearl had let him into her room so he could ride the currents down to hers, and after washing up on shore, he had found her lounging on a pile of assorted junk, eating a pizza.
He related to her his problem, his fears of what might happen to his family and friends, and even what Garnet and Pearl had told him. When all was said, though, all she offered was a sardonic laugh.
"That sounds like Garnet and Pearl, alright. Nothing but 'follow you heart' and 'do what sounds smart'," she mocked, then blinked and reassured him, "Not that there's anything wrong with that. But it didn't really help you, did it?"
"Not really, no," Steven admitted, and Amethyst grinned.
"Ha, I knew it," she said, then leaned forward and slung an arm around his shoulders. "Y'know what I say?" she asked him, and when his eyes widened in curiosity, she grinned wider and said, "Do what makes you happy. What sounds fun!"
"...What does that mean?" he asked slowly, and Amethyst gave a patient sigh.
"Okay, lemme give you an example. Remember when you went out for a joyride with those three friends of yours and found Peridot's escape pod?" she asked, and when he nodded she continued, "Well, it's like that. If you had done the responsible, Pearlish thing, you would have told us right away and missed out on all the fun you had messing around with it, right?"
He had to admit that she was right, and told her as much.
"Of course I'm right. And if you had done what Garnet said, you would have kept those three away from the 'dangerous alien doohickey'," she started, throwing her voice lower in mocking before continuing normally, "Which would have made them mad."
Steven looked toward the ground with a hand on his chin, contemplating this advice, before asking, "Soooo, you're saying I should do the thing that's most fun?"
"Exactly. Humans have such short lives that they have to enjoy them in whatever way they can," Amethyst said wisely, and Steven had to admit that this was at least partly true. The purple Gem let him out of her room, back into the main temple, and he flopped down on the couch with much on his mind.
"Garnet says do what feels right, Amethyst says to do what feels fun, and Pearl says to do what feels smart," Steven said to himself, a habit that let him sort out his thoughts much easier, "All great advice."
A short pause.
"Except I don't know how I feel!" he exploded to himself, sitting straight up on the couch and causing Lion to look up from his perch on Steven's bed. The pink quadruped fixed his gaze on his Mistress' reincarnation as he paced back and forth, ranting to himself.
"Sure, it would be fun if Connie and I could mess around with Gem technology, but it wouldn't be smart or right because most of it's dangerous! And yes, it feels right and smart to let Dad know how I'm doing, but it's not fun to see him worried about me! And I'll admit it, it would be smart to put the fence back up and lock out everyone who isn't a Gem, but that wouldn't be the fun or the right thing to do!" the poor boy yelled, turning to face Lion on the last sentence with tears in his eyes. The creature immediately jumped down and nuzzled up against the normally-happy child, making various Lion-y noises in an attempt to cheer him up, and Steven gave a little chuckle as he wrapped his arms around Lion's fuzzy neck.
"I just want somebody to tell me what to do..." he whispered, hugging Lion harder, and it wasn't until the Gem creature huffed and nudged his head forward that Steven realized the rose quartz gem embedded in his navel was glowing a soft pink.
Across the room, past the Warp Pad, the temple door was glowing the same color.
"Mom's room is opening?" he questioned, staring at it curiously, before a wide smile broke out on his face, and he cheered "That must mean it has something to tell me!"
The boy quickly ran across the space and entered the cloudy room, the door closing behind him, and Lion returned to Steven's bed. His new Master was happy again, and that was all that was important right now.
Inside his room, Steven was looking around in earnest, searching for whatever it was that the room wanted to show him. It could have been anything, from a book on making difficult decisions to a myriad of fun things to distract him from such serious thoughts, but as he caught sight of what, or rather who, the room had created, he supposed he should have expected it.
Who better to give advice than one's own mother?
"Hello Steven," the form of Rose Quartz greeted him gently, looking understanding and consoling and all around what a good mother should be. Her poofy pink dress and curly pink hair blended right in with their cloudy surroundings, and Steven couldn't help but feel a sense of rightness with this entire scene. "I heard you needed some advice?" she prompted him with a small smile, and Steven found himself smiling back before he caught himself.
A large sigh issued from his mouth, and the form of Rose Quartz looked confused as Steven looked at her sadly. "I do need advice, yeah..." he told her, "But I went through this with Connie. You're just part of the room, and only do what I tell you, right?"
The form of Rose blinked in surprise, a tad startled, and then giggled a bit. "That's very observant of you Steven, although not quite true," she told him, taking a few steps forward before a park bench materialized behind her in a small poof of cloud. She sat down, patting the seat beside her, and Steven hesitated for only a moment before walking forward and climbing up beside her.
They sat in silence a while, until the form of Rose spoke.
"This room is very special, Steven. It's not just a place that can make things from clouds; it's more like a giant computer, one that learns from everyone that enters it," she explained, turning to him and giving a small smile before continuing, "It looks into the memories of everyone that passes through the door, separating all the different people, places, and things, and adding to them as you learn more about them."
The form of Rose made a gesture, and in a poof of cloud, a facsimile of Peridot stood before the both of them. Scowl firmly in place, arms crossed, she tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for this demonstration to be over.
"This is the Peridot that the room has created from your memories of her. It can never truly be Peridot unless she comes in here, though, because you don't know everything about her. The traits she has, the things she'll do in any given situation, the things she's experienced, can be filled entirely only by her. Unless she comes in here, it will never truly be her," the form of Rose informed him, and Steven thought on this a moment before growing sad again.
"Just like you can never be my mom," he said quietly, and the form of Rose smiled sadly.
"Unfortunately, yes. Though she was in here countless times, you were not born here, and so the room's record of her is incomplete. And it will be forever," the form of Rose said, with an odd finality.
They sat in silence once more, suffering together, with the only sound being the continued tapping of the fake Peridot's foot.
Then Steven blinked his eyes open.
"Unless you just take the record of her out of my Gem. I mean, she's still in there, right?" he asked, and the form of Rose opened her eyes with a small frown. A frown which only deepened when he continued thoughtfully, "Actually, if you can look into any Gem, we could probably talk to all those corrupted ones down in Garnet's room."
Rose, for since her record was now complete she WAS Rose, slapped a palm to her face and drew it down slowly, annoyance written across her features as she murmured, "Now why didn't I ever think of that?"
"So…" Steven began slowly, turning to Rose with a hopeful expression, "You're my mom now?"
And then, Rose Quartz's expression froze where it stood. She seemed to be staring off at the horizon of her endless cloud world, trying to find something that she just couldn't, until suddenly tears sprung to her eyes and she enveloped Steven in a huge hug.
"Yes Steven…" she whispered, hardly daring to believe it herself, "I'm here, baby…"