Shattered (A Steven Universe Fanfic)

"BEACHFRONT"

A/N. The fic doesn't follow cannon, only taking some events that happened in the series and changing things about the story and characters as they go along. All we'll try to maintain is character personalities ... mostly.

STRIPS OF sunlight trickled into the temple, illuminating the living room where Steven and Connie practiced their instruments. They spent hours honing their skill, Steven on the ukulele and Connie on the violin, but their minds barely focused on it at all; their minds dwelling instead on the time they had together. They continued their joyful tune when a humming drew their attention to the Warp Pad as the Gems arrived.

"Oh, Garnet, you're back!" Steven said, rising to his feet. "We wanted to -," He cut himself off as he looked at them. "What happened to you?"

Garnet and Pearl stood on the pad, their bodies covered in bruises and their clothes torn apart. "Rogue Gem." Garnet said simply.

"This one was quiet," Pearl hissed, holding a gash on her shoulder, "Feisty."

"This is the eighth one this week." Steven said.

"Wait, where's Amethyst?" Connie asked.

"What?" Pearl looked around. "We were just with her."

Pearl stuck her head back into the portal, starting to panic when Amethyst fell right out, beer bottle in hand. "Ha! You lil bitch!" She chuckled, chugging down the gungy sludge within.

"Amethyst, what've I told you about drinking this garbage?!" Pearl took the bottle from her, gagging at the smell.

"What? This shit is great!" Amethyst grabbed the bottle, taking a swig and belching afterward. "Ah, fucking good."

"Language." Garnet glared at her.

"Whatever, grandma, I'll be in my room if you're looking for me." Amethyst took a few steps and fell over, passing out.

"She's that drunk again?" Steven asked.

"No, she's beat just like the rest of us." Pearl said. "The number of rogue gems popping up is becoming uncontainable - I'll need to look through the scanners and try to figure out why there're so many all of a sudden."

Pearl went up to the temple door, entering her room. "I'll need to heal up for a while." She headed for the egress. "Try to make sure Amethyst doesn't do anything stupid when she wakes up."

Steven and Connie turned to Amethyst, seeing her mumble in her sleep. "She's hopeless." Steven said.

"The Gems sure are going through hell right now." Connie said. "We should do something for them."

"Like what?" Steven turned to her.

"Ooh, what if we throw them a party! Something simple so they can kick back and relax." Connie grinned.

"Maybe at the beach?"

"Yeah! We can hold it tomorrow so they aren't preoccupied with a battle or something." Connie paced around. "We can invite some friends over - it'll be great!"

"Sounds like a good idea." Steven said.

"I'll go print out some fliers." Connie said, grabbing her violin and heading out. "Meet me at 3 and we'll hand them out."

"Sure thing." Steven said, moving over to pick his instrument off the couch.

"Mmmm, I love it when you're rough." Amethyst giggled.

Steven jerked up in surprise and turned back to her, seeing her still asleep. "The heck?"

STEVEN AND Connie split up through town and handed out their invitations, getting Sadie, Buck and their friends - except Lars - to agree to attend. Finishing his portion of the fliers, Steven backtracked through the city, heading to their meet up point where he'd agreed to meet up with Connie. He went up to a T-Junction, ready to cross when something red flickered in the corner of his eye.