A Big Difference (SU Human AU)

Sardonyx's Sorrows

Everybody knows that eventually, things come to an end. Especially loved things. Sardonyx is about to learn this lesson.

Sardonyx and Steven were just finishing up their pancakes in the woods. They did share one thing in common. They liked having their breakfast together. "To our friendship!", they both said at once. Suddenly, Sardonyx noticed a fire truck driving by. "Hm, quite interesting... people putting their lives at risk to save others... don't you think so?", Sardonyx asked, finishing up her orange juice. Steven stood up from his chair and noticed it went onto the coastline. "Yup." Steven answered. After throwing his trash away, he asked "Wanna see where it's going?", looking up at Sardonyx. "Of course! After all, I am rather curious...", Sardonyx replied. Steven climbed onto her hand, and she followed the tire tracks and sirens to where the fire was. When they found what the source was... their mood changed significantly.

Sardonyx's tree, her home, her retreat from the "monster" status... was in flames. Steven was surprised to see this happen. He felt bad for his friend. Looking over at Sardonyx, he saw tears running down her face. "Hey, don't worry! It's okay! I'm sure we could plant you another tree!" Steven said, wiping her tears. "It won't be the same... Steven, this tree is just, well, it WAS just, the most special thing to me... replacing it wouldn't feel right...", Sardonyx said, shedding tears. When the fire was put out, all that remained was a charred smokey mess. Steven couldn't help but feel bad. For all he knew, this was where Sardonyx had lived. If that was the case, he could at least invite her to his house for a few days, at least until her housing problem was fixed.

After the firemen explained what caused the fire, Sardonyx gave a sad look. "I guess unless I can find a home by tonight, I'll have to leave..."

Steven cleared the smoke with a towel, and Sardonyx swept up the leftover burnt tree. When she was done, she looked over at Steven, who was waving a towel in the air to clear the smoke. "Steven?", she said, getting his attention. Sardonyx took a seat in front of Steven. "I haven't thought of asking this, but... Is it fine if I stay with you?", she asked. This brought a big smile to Steven's face. "Of course! I could set you up a little spot so it could be just like your tree was!", he exclaimed. As the giant woman smiled, she began to salvage whatever she could.

She was only able to get twenty dollars from the remains, along with a few of her clothes. "Oh, it's better than nothing...", Sardonyx uttered, before putting the twenty dollar bill in her pocket. Allowing Steven onto her shoulder, she took a final look at the tree. After a minute or two of consideration, she took a couple pieces of the wood as memory.

When she got to Steven's house, Sardonyx kneeled down, setting Steven onto his lawn. "I just... need today alone... I need to get over this... this problem...", Sardonyx told Steven. Steven nodded, and pointed to his backyard, opening the gate to allow Sardonyx inside the yard. She rested her head against a soft bush, and just let the tears roll out. Steven walked inside, taking a look at Sardonyx. Never had he seen her this sad before. As he went inside to his room, he simply lay down and looked out the window at Sardonyx for the rest of the night.

Pearl walked in. "Steven, why is Sardonyx in the backyard? She looks sad.", she asked calmly. "Well, her home burned, and I invited her to stay until she can find a replacement home."

"Oh, that's so sad, I hope she's okay... I'll get her a little meal, it's about lunchtime. Why don't you come downstairs and sit at the table? I'll be making some pasta tonight."

Pearl cooked everybody a little macaroni for dinner. She walked out to the backyard with Sardonyx's serving. "Sardonyx, I'm really sorry about your home..."

"...It's alright, you didn't cause anything wrong."

Sardonyx put on a small smile. "...thanks for the meal anyways...", she uttered. Pearl handed her the bowl of macaroni and walked back inside. "Just leave your dishes on the windowsill when you're done, thanks."

As he got ready for bed that night, his mind was still thinking about the fire. No matter what he did, his mind never got off of it. He thought he could perhaps check his video game collection to find something to play and get his mind off the fire.
Fireboy and Watergirl.
Flame Warrior.
Fireman Sinulator.
No matter where he looked, there was nothing to get his mind away from what happened earlier that day.

As he prepared to go to bed, he heard a soft knock at the window. Now, there were two thoughts. Either it was Sardonyx, or i-

Another soft knock.

He pulled back the curtain, and.. there was nothing. I don't mean just nobody, I mean there was nothing. There was no grass, or people, or trees, houses, sky or clouds or sun or moon, nothing. Just pitch black nothing. He thought he was just seeing things and tried to go downstairs to see if Amethyst was still awake.

When he got to the door, it was locked. Steven unlocked the door, then as he opened it, nothing was outside in the hallway. Steven's heart began to race, and no matter what he did, he could only hear the sound of his own heartbeat. Suddenly, a much-smaller Sardonyx walked in through his closet. Except this Sardonyx had no emotion. Just a blank stare. "Uh... hey?", he tried to greet. Just as he did, she burst into flames, spewing fire all over the room. As Steven backed up away from the fire, he noticed the flame slowly morphed into a tree. The tree got so large that it went through the roof of his room, and outside. Just when he thought it was over, the flaming tree slowly fell towards him.

Just as he was about to be crushed, he was woken by the sound of his alarm clock. Thank goodness it was a dream...

As he woke up, he decided to go check on Sardonyx. He peered out the window, and noticed Sardonyx, planting a small tree in his backyard. "Morning Sard! Feeling better?", Steven greeted. Sardonyx turned to him, with dirt on her hands, presumably from gardening. "I'm feeling just great! In fact, I'm sort of feeling better than yesterday!", Sardonyx responded.

As Steven got ready for his first day at his new school, Sardonyx noticed through his bedroom window he was putting his ruler, paper, and pencils into a container along with a shiny red apple. As she poked her head through as much of the window as she could, she asked Steven, "Why exactly are you... putting things in that container...?". Steven checked to see he had everything, then looked at Sardonyx. "Oh, I'm just getting ready for school. I suppose you don't know what school is, right?", Steven asked. "Of course I do! It's just so unfamiliar..."

Amethyst opened the door. "You ready Steve-O?", Amethyst asked. "Uh.. Hold on Amethyst, I'm gonna take Sardonyx with me, she seems pretty worried about me." Sardonyx giggles. "Oh, of course not, see, I'm kinda nervous about going into the human world with you... see, I-" She covered her mouth.

"...you what?", he asked. "Nothing, I nothing, let's get you to school." Steven hopped onto her shoulder from the window. "It'll be great! You'll get to meet new friends, and I'm sure we could change your status! It was easy to do it yesterday, what's stopping us now?", he encouraged. Sardonyx sighed, cracked a smile, as well as a chuckle, then stood. "Alright, I'll give it a chance.", she said as she headed in the direction of Beach City Junior High.