Epilogue: Festival of Fun

A week had passed since Steven and the rest of the Crystal Gems' triumphant victory over the Nihilians, followed by a subsequent cleanup all over Beach City and most of Earth. It went rather fast thanks to the Gem race being back at full strength. Thankfully for them though, everyone finally had a chance to relax for once; the Beach City Oceanic Festival had finally arrived, but first, there was one more important task to handle, especially at the Crystal Temple, where Amethyst, Pearl, Topaz, Citrine and Sapphire were currently occupying at the moment.

"Why are they doing this again?" Amethyst asked.

"Didn't you paid any attention to what Topaz was saying?" Pearl questioned her friend.

"That's why I'm asking for the explanation again," Amethyst nonchalantly replied, causing Pearl to rubbed her temple in annoyance, before she took a deep breath and turned her attention to Topaz.

"What are we going to do with her?"

"Getting her a muzzle would probably be a good start," Topaz snarked, before he took a deep breath and began his explanation. "Citrine and Sapphire need to turn into humans for today because if they show up at the festival in their real forms, they would likely cause a riot. Or worse."

"Are you kidding me? That would be hilarious!" Amethyst exclaimed, trying to hold her laughter down.

"Yeah, but as funny as it would be, we're going to be an exception," said Topaz, before turning his attention to Sapphire and Citrine. "Are you two ready?"

"I was born ready!" Citrine replied with a smile.

"I'm ready as well. I always wonder what human festivities are like up close," Sapphire answered.

Activating their respective gemstones, Sapphire and Citrine were covered in light, while Amethyst, Pearl and Topaz shielded their eyes away from the glow, before it died down seconds later, revealing the duo's human forms for them to see. Compared to her real form, Sapphire looked a bit shorter than Pearl, but still a bit tall, her tail entirely absent, with long, blue hair on her head, five fingers on her arms, as well as five toes on her feet, in addition to wearing a sky blue shirt, dark blue pants and light blue sandals; likewise, Citrine's ears on her head and tail behind her were non-existent, as were her furs all over her body, replaced by human skin in their place, but was still of average-sized and wore a light orange sweater with a smiling cat symbol, dark orange shorts and brown sandals on her feet.

"So…" Citrine asked. "How do we look?"

"Can we fit in with everyone now?" Sapphire asked with uncertainty.

Amethyst, Pearl and Topaz continued to stare at the duo, unsure how to respond, stunned that, aside from a few changes, they still had their gemstones on their person. Eventually, Topaz spoke up, if only to break the silence between them.

"I say you two are good and ready for the festival now."

Throughout the entire day, the citizens of Beach City were having the time of their lives, from playing each and every game just to win a few prizes to dining on the festival's one-of-a-kind meals. In Steven's case, he ended up doing a bit of both, eating a corn dog on one hand and holding onto a stuffed octopus doll on the other.

'This has got to be the best day ever!' Steven happily thought, as he happily munched onto his corn dog. 'I'm glad the Oceanic festival came just at the right time!'

In the midst of his thoughts, though, Steven failed to notice two tall figures standing in his way and before long, he accidentally bumped into them, causing him to fell on the ground, still holding onto both his corn dog and stuffed octopus doll respectively.

"Steve, are you alright?" asked Garnet.

"I'm good, Garnet, but thanks anyway," Steven replied, getting himself up from the ground.

"So, how do you like the festival so far?" Obsidian questioned Steven.

"It's great, Obsidian! I love every bit of it!" he joyfully replied. "How about you guys?"

"It's good," Garnet simply replied, despite being stoic, with Obsidian giving a thumbs up.

"That's great," said Steven, before something suddenly came to up, his eyes widen what it was about.

'That's right! I almost forgot about it! Obsidian was doing something super secretive when me and that fake Emerald followed him around the other day. Now's the time to ask him about it.'

"Steven, are you alright, kiddo?" asked Obsidian, snapping Steven back to reality.

"I'm fine, Obsidian…" he insisted, before facing his friend with a serious look. "Except I need to ask you something: what were you doing acting so secretive the other day?"

"...Oh! I know what you're talking about," Obsidian answered, rubbing his head sheepishly. "Garnet asked him to help her repair the warp pad network on Earth, in exchange for a place to stay at the Crystal Temple."

Once he finished his explanation, Steven turned his attention to Garnet, who simply nodded her head, confirming Obsidian's claim.

"That's...amazing!" Steven shouted, before another question came to mind. "But what did you two kept silent about it?"

"It was an errand that only Obsidian could handle," Garnet answered. "And it wasn't the right to explain the situation back then."

"Is it right now?"

"No," Garnet bluntly stated.

"Plus, we wanted it to be a surprise for the rest of the Gems once it's completed," Obsidian added, "You'll just have to be patient and let us do the heavy lifting."

"That makes a lot of sense now," Steven was content with his curiosity. "Say, do you want to join in on the fun?"

"Sure," both Garnet and Obsidian replied, as they tagged along with a happy Steven around the festival.

Pearl and Topaz were by themselves at the festival, away from the rest of their friends, as they walked around and looked to see what everyone were up to; some were just playing games together and others were simply discussing on whatever random subject came to mind. They did make a brief stop, however, when the duo caught a glimpse of Amethyst and Citrine, still in her human form, shooting water from a built-in water gun, onto a random target, with a balloon on top of each of them, as the two were competing to see who would fill it up first.

"Wow, even as a human, Citrine is just as wily as a cat, am I right Pearl?" Topaz joked, only to not received an immediate response. Curious by the silent treatment, he turned to Pearl and noticed that she wasn't in a festive mood.

"Earth to planet Pearl, do you read us?" Topaz called out on her, prompting Pearl to turn her attention to him. "That's better. What's on your mind? You don't look...relaxed."

"It's not that, Topaz…" she began. "It's just that...why do humans invest so much time into an event after so many months of planning, knowing full well that this would only happen once a year? I just don't get the concept."

"Pearl, it's no different when we have similar traditions of our own," Topaz pointed out. "Besides, they need to do something to keep their spirits high and break out of their monotony. You should follow their lead and loosen up, especially now that we don't have to worry about any future Nihilian threats anymore. So let's enjoy ourselves and have a good time. What do you say, Pearl? You know as well as I do it's long overdue," Topaz said with his best charming smile, hoping to get through to her.

Pearl didn't responded right away, taking only a deep breath, before letting out a sigh and turned to give Topaz a warm smile.

"You know what, Topaz, you're right. I'll try to loosen up for once."

"Now that's more like it," Topaz said with satisfaction, before he and Pearl resumed roaming around the Oceanic Festival, enjoying each other's company.

Far away from the Oceanic Festival and on top of a lone building, Emerald observed the event from a long distance, keeping a watchful eye on the people celebrating the event; he was especially focused on Pearl and Topaz, wanting to make sure that nothing bad was happening between them or something bad was happening to them.

'So far, so good,' Emerald thought to himself. 'Still, it's hard to believe that this is all I got, now that the Nihilians are out of the picture just like that.'

"Emerald, are you up here?" Stunned by this, Emerald turned around and saw Sapphire approaching him in a human form.

'Oh yeah, that's right. Topaz told her and Citrine to take human forms for today. Though I have to agree with him, the riot would have been funny.'

"What are you doing up here?" Sapphire asked. "More importantly, how come you're not down there at the festival?"

"I'm just observing the festival in case something bad was going to happen," Emerald explained. "I want to prevent it before it even starts."

"There's nothing to worry about, Emerald. I double check the festival and I assure you, I haven't spotted anything out of the ordinary," Sapphire reasoned, before she looked at the scene from where Emerald was observing. "The view here is quite amazing."

"Yeah, it sure does," Emerald agreed.

"Say, mind if I stay here until you join up with everyone down at the festival?" asked Sapphire. "I was never good with crowds..."

"Of course not, Sapphire. I could use some company," Emerald happily accepted, as she joined up with him to admire the festival from afar.

A few long hours had passed and by now, the Oceanic Festival was slowly coming to an end, as the attendees were leaving the event with satisfaction on their faces. Steven himself was content, but for some reason, he didn't feel as satisfied as he thought he would be. Something was missing on this festival and he needed to find a remedy for his situation.

"Now what would be a good way to end this day?" he asked himself.

"Hey Steven!" Greg greeted his son from behind, as Steven turned around to face him. "Did you have a great time at the festival?"

"I did, dad, but I wanted to do something that we can all remember by," Steven replied, until an idea came to him. "Dad, do you have a camera on you?"

"I sure do, but-" was all Greg could say, before his son cut him off.

"Meet me near the entrance. I'm going to go get Connie and the Gems and take them there with me."

With that, Steven rushed to the opposite direction, leaving a dumbstruck Greg behind.

"What just happened?"

One hour later…

Steven made a mad dash all over the Oceanic festival, trying to locate the Gems as much as possible with Connie's effort. There were too many to count on how many he asked, but it wasn't the time to keep track: as long as they all agreed and showed up at the entrance, it was all that matters, especially now that he managed to persuade Topaz and Pearl to come with them.

"Steven, you shouldn't have ran around like that," Pearl admonished him.

"I'm actually surprised you didn't just tell the others to find us. It probably would have save you so much time," Topaz explained, but Steven didn't have time to face palm.

"Look on the bright side, Steven, at least you found everyone," Connie attempted to lighten her friend up.

"Yeah...I guess...that's a...good thing," Steven agreed, still breathing heavily from his running. "Now let's...head to...the entrance."

The four nodded in agreement and made it back to the main entrance of the Oceanic Festival, arriving in time to see that most of the Gems were getting into position, with Greg preparing the camera for the snapshot.

"Steven, you're just in time," Greg happily said, before he turned around saw his son worn out. "Whoa, what happened?"

"Steven is just tired, Mr. Universe, but I think he'll be fine," Connie assured him.

"That's good, then," Greg spoke with relief, before turning his attention to Steven. "Do you want to do the honor?"

"Yes, yes I do!" Steven happily replied, suddenly rejuvenated in an instant, as his dad, Connie, Pearl and Topaz positioned themselves, while he set the timer up. Once he knew he got it right, he quickly joined up with the others, positioning himself between Greg and Connie.

"Alright…" he began. "Now everybody say 'Gems'!"

"Gems!" they all shouted in unison, just as the camera took a snapshot of the entire group, taking a picture of the whole gang in a night they will always remembered for a long time.

Fin

A/N Steven Universe is now back on and it didn't waste time making me laugh. I swear, I don't even plan for things like this to happen. Peridot makes her official debut and because of this story and the fact that she debuted literally 5 days after the chapter my Peridot did, I couldn't even take the scene seriously my first viewing. I was laughing that hard. You can't plan a coincidence like that to happen within a week of each other. It's even funnier because I had Peridot planned since "Giant Woman" came out.

I don't exactly know what I'll do next in terms of Fanfiction but most likely continuing Sole Survivor (check it out by the way ;) My shameless self promoting demands it!) but with my next college semester starting up soon, I'm going back to having very little free time. We'll see what the future brings.

I'd like to thank all of you for being patient with me and this story and I'd especially like to thank those who have supported this story since the beginning. Thank you everyone! :)

Till Next Time, Sal out!