Always There

Late Night Thoughts

"Just a few more hours, and I'll be there." Steven said with a smile as he pulled the Dondi off of the road. Once he had it parked, he leaned his chair back, yawning.

"Sleep is a curse, but a curse I have to live with." He turned the radio's volume down a bit, chuckling as Haven't You Noticed came on.

Just a few more hours and he'd see them all again. Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Greg, Connie, and everyone else. He hadn't seen them in person for almost a year now, except for Connie. She sometimes used Lion to visit Steven wherever he was. She still had a year left before college, so his chances of being able to see her didn't seem to impossible, as long as she wasn't to busy prepping.

As for the Gems, Steven couldn't wait to see them. He had so much to tell them, and so many pictures he wanted to show. He'd gotten taller since the last time they saw him, and he was pretty sure he was taller than Greg now, but not by much.

Steven was so excited to see everyone, even the Diamonds! The thoughts of how they would smother him didn't even bother him a little, he looked forward to it. He missed his home, and his family, even the parts that he'd usually find annoying.

As he continued thinking about these things, trying to drift off to sleep, Steven found his thoughts focusing more on the Diamonds. He didn't know why, but they just kept popping up in his mind. He thought about how Peridot first contacted Yellow, how Blue had abducted his dad...how White had removed his gem. These memories didn't disturb and haunt him, but instead passed by without a single ill effect.

The gem...White...the gem being removed...

Steven's eyes shot wide open as the voice went off in his head. It sounded feminine, and he didn't recognize it at all...but he did. It sounded like his mother's, but it was a bit higher than Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond's voice. Despite that fact, something about that voice rang a bell of familiarity deep in Steven's subconsciousness.

You saw me that day...we saw each other...we met each other...but not for the first time...I've always been here...you know me...I know you...

No way to say it was just a trick of his mind now. Something or someone was talking in Steven's head, but who? He wasn't asleep, so it couldn't have been him using his ability to enter other beings' minds, so did that make it an outside force? Who would be trying to talk to him though, and why did she say he knew them?

"Who a-are you?" Steven managed to say. The situation probably would have scared him on a regular day, but something about that voice kept him from being scared.

Its taken so long for me to finally be able to talk to you.

"If you just want to talk, can you come out so I can see you?" Steven hoped the voice didn't think we was trying to force her out of where ever she might be, but he felt better talking to gems and people that he could see.

I'll try.

Steven's gem suddenly started glowing. Even through his shirt, he could still see a vivid circle of pink light. He lifted his gem up in surprise, not knowing what to expect. He hadn't done this, so what was going on?

"Hey, are you-" Steven stopped, his eyes popping as a cone of light spread out of his gem, and landed in the passenger's seat beside him. It reminded him of when Pearl would use her gem to cast projections of images or memories, but something about this wasn't the same.

The light was pink, and flickered, the hue shifting brighter and darker with each passing second. It didn't stay in the cone of light, but would bend and straighten out. A few times, the light would shape into a glowing silhouette, like when gems would reform after having their forms poofed, but this silhouette didn't have a glowing gem anywhere.

Finally, Steven's gem stopped glowing, but the light stayed in the seat next to him, bending and shifting. All he could do was watch in shock and fascination, wondering what in all the galaxy could have just come out of his gem. Soon the glowing figure of light made his own silhouette, and flickered, becoming just like his gem half when he had seen it the first time, but now his own age and with his current clothes. The figure didn't stay like that for long though, its shape started changing again, its height shortening by an inch or so, its body becoming more curved like a young woman's, and its hair becoming more poofy and similar to Pink Diamond's.

Steven was totally speechless as color started to show on the figure next to him. She was pink, but her skin was such a light shade that it looked like a regular human skin tone, her hair was a vibrant magenta shade, her jacket somehow matched the exact shade of Steven's and her shirt was the same shade as her hair, a nice rose colored star in the center. She looked up at Steven, her form now longer glowing, looking as physical as any other gems. Her eyes met his, and they were pink as well, but her pupils were white, and shaped like diamonds.

"Hello, Steven." She smiled as she spoke in an awed voice, like she couldn't believe what was before her own eyes.

Steven was so confused. Was this his gem half? Had his mother locked up a gem in her gem and it got passed down to him? Did he somehow make a gem with his healing powers? Was this mystery pink girl like his own version of Pearl's Holo-Pearls? How did she even get into his gem? Was she even a gem?

He looked her up and down, but didn't see a gemstone anywhere. Was she not a gem? If she wasn't a gem, why was she made of light? The amount of questions soaring through Steven's brain made his head throb. All the while, the pink girl just smiled at him. She seemed friendly enough, maybe he could just ask her.

"Who are you?"

"I'm you're sister," she said a litter faster than needed from her excitement, "I'm Nora Universe."

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Hey, do y'all want me to continue this?