Summary: What immortality gets ya.
"I … I can fix this." Star muttered, the faint sound of a heart monitor playing around her, the woman only able to keep her eyes on her mother. "Magic can do anything … I just need the right spell … and …" She couldn't process this. She couldn't accept this.
It had started off slowly, almost unnoticeable. Mom had more gray than blue in her hair, her wrinkles were much more noticeable, and she walked around with a cane. Just the normal and standard old people stuff.
But as the years passed and the kids got older, mom started getting slower, her breathing more erratic, and coughing fits were abundant. Then she had to stay in bed, then the doctors said there wasn't much time, now they were in her last moments-why did it have to be last moments please don't let this be the end everything is supposed to work out please.
This couldn't be it for them, this couldn't just be the end! Dad was still in pretty good health, and his beard got so long and gray that everyone confused him for Santa Clause! Even Greg and Camila weren't doing that bad, the former needed a wheelchair to get around and the latter was supported by abominations, but the point still stood!
"Come on mom…" Star wiped a tear as she and Steven waited right next to the woman's bed. She asked Marco and Kelly to stay outside with the kids, and Dad was on his way. "Comet's just one month away from graduating high school…He needs his entire family to cheer him on when he goes on that stage..just like you were for me."
"I'd love to see that day Star … I really would." The woman smiled. "But that's not in the stars I guess … it's amazing watching them grow up, isn't it?"
"Please don't go." She pleaded. "Please don't …"
"Star." Steven gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Please …"
"We worked this hard … I don't wanna loose you …"
"Star.."
"Steven, keep rubbing your spit on her." Star said firmly. "She's not dead yet. Just keep kissing her forehead and she'll heal, she'll get better, and we'll forget all about this like the bad dream it.."
"Star." Steven interrupted her with a stern voice. "That's what I've been doing for the past three months. Mom's not sick, she's not injured, she's not cursed." Steven turned his head to wipe away his tears. "She's just…old. I can't beat time."
"Your tears." She whispered. "You can turn her pink and-"
"Star!" Steven yelled. "Do you really think for a second I would put that burden on our mom!?"
"Why are you okay with this!?" She shouted, grabbing him. "Why are you okay with her going away!!?" She could feel tears begin to flood. "Why, why, why …"
"Star." Mom raised her hand, caressing her cheek. "It's fine … you need to let me go …"
"I can't…I can't, I can't, I can't!" Star repeated over and over again. "I was such a brat as a kid! I gave you so much trouble and it took me forever to get my head out of my ass! I don't want you to go, not when everything's finally okay!"
"Star … it's always been okay." Mom smiled. "You've been happy and safe for years … i've had a loving husband, I got to see my children grow up with children of their own, and Lapis helped me fulfill that bucket list… my family will be alright without me …" They leaned back in their bed. "I've never felt more content with the world."
She knew what her mom was saying was sound. She knew that in the end, she wouldn't warm her mom back as a pink zombie…but why couldn't she just ignore reality for one second!? "You know…I find it a little funny." Her mom chuckled as she looked at the two of them. "Before…before you two changed everything…I never thought old age would get to me. The Butterfly family has always been so troubled by war and bloodshed…I thought I would've fallen victim to it as well."
"Mom, please save your energy." Steven tried to hush her.
"It got so many before us … Justin, Eclipsa, Festiva, Celena … pretty much everyone before Comet other than Solaria." Mom noted with a loud cough. "But you…you two ended the cycle…you started something new and spectacular…I couldn't be more proud."
. "... Is it painful? Steven asked with a quiet whisper.
"No … there's not much feeling left …" She closed her eyes. "It's like I'm floating on a cloud." Mom chuckled. "I wonder if it'll high five me …"
"Come on mom, I'm the one who gets the crazy dreams, it's my shtick." Star brokenly laughed. "Your the one who said I needed to get my head out of the clouds."
"I should've joined you when you did." Mom smiled weakly. "I wish I had stayed like you throughout my youth…I could've spared so many of us so much pain."
"Then you wouldn't have been the mom I know and love." Star rubbed the woman's face. "I wouldn't change a thing about you, never in a million years."
"Oh I would have attacked so many cities back in the day to hear you say those words back then …" Mom began to cough a little more, the heart monitor getting slower.
"I can do it for you if you want." Steven weakly joked as the tears were flowing out of his eyes.
"Oh Steven, my sweet boy…I remember when … you were my little Quartz …" She sighed in content. "How far … you've grown …" Mom coughed more violently.
"Mom, please stop.." Steven begged.
"I wasn't…sure… I had done the right thing for so many years when I raised you as my own..but seeing you here…as your own person…I'm happy with how it turned out." Mom continued to laugh. "I'm so happy that you are a Butterfly, my little Quartz."
"I wouldn't have anyone else raise me, not in a million years." Steven whimpered. "I'm sorry …"
"Don't be … never blame yourselves for anything involving me … understand?" She asked. "Don't blame each other either…the last thing this universe needs is another pair…of Butterfly's fighting each other…don't be a Crescenta and Dirhennia."
"As long as Marco and therapy isn't involved, we'll never fight." Star gave the best smile she could manage.
"That's all I…." Mom's eyes began to space out. "I…It's such a lovely day…such…such a lovely…" She stopped talking, the only sound permeating the room was the flatline of a monitor.
"Mom.." Steven nudged the woman's arms as the tears were falling down faster. "Mom…please…please don't go…""
"She's gone …" Star grabbed onto Steven tightly, hugging him for support. "She's gone …" It hurts, everything hurts right now. "She's gone…"
"I'm here!" The doors bursted open, revealing their dad, old and tiny, but still reflexively buff. "I'm here! I'm.." Their dad saw the state they are in. "No…no! Moon-pie!" Their dad pounded on the floor. "I wasn't there! I wasn't here!" His tears fell through the cracks on the ground. "Why wasn't I here! Why am I still such an idiot!?"
Star ran over and hugged him. "She was happy … Dad she was happy …" The woman cried out in grief, trying to assure him.
"We tried to make it comfortable." Steven came over and joined the hug. "We tried to make everything alright for her."
"You two are the best things to come out of this family…I know for a fact she wouldn't want anything less." Dad put them through a bear hug, and this time, she couldn't even muster up the strength to even feel frustrated at the lack of oxygen with the grief filling her brain. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you two….losing family is never easy no matter the circumstances.
"We didn't lose her…we just…saw her pass onto the next stage of life." Star weakly laughed as she squeezed her brother and dad back tighter. "She's probably with all the other Butterflies went, baking pies with her mom.." It was a weak comfort, but it was hers.
"Dad.." They looked up to see their kids with Marco and Kelly, concern and sadness washing all over them. "Grandma Moon…we'll see her again, right?" Even as a teenager, Rebbecca was still so child-like in her nature and expression.
"... No." Steven said weakly. "... I'm sorry but … that's not how this …" Steven cried as Kelly kept him from stumbling into the ground. "I'm sorry …"
"Rebecca.." Kelly did her best to keep herself stable. "Sometimes…sometimes there comes a point where you have to say goodbye to who you love for good."
"But..but we have magic. Ghosts exist! My boyfriend is literally the prince of hell!" Rebbeca cried. "We can find her, we can see..!"
"Ghosts are souls that haven't moved on or have unfinished business." Comet responded with an almost robotic tone. "If grandma moon was a ghost, that would mean she didn't die happy, and do you really think someone as sweet as her would end up in hell?"
"So … that's it?" The girl asked, tears in her eyes. "We give up and do nothing?"
"We don't do nothing." Star answered with a broken sniffle. "She was happy and … we should respect it." No matter how much she didn't want to. "And … try and be happy for her sake."
"But…But…" Rebecca kept crying, even as her dad hugged her. "How can we be happy..when there's less people who love us in the universe…"
"We still have our memories…we can still remember all the good she did for us." Steven answered, running his hand through the girl's hair. "I remember when Star announced she was naming her son Comet."
"Yeah, she never wanted to let him go…I almost had to fight to get you back into my arms." Star laughed as she hugged her son.
"... It's going to be okay Mom." Comet assured while hugging her back. She hated the fact her son could hold it together better than her. She hated that this was the situation. "Just let it out …"
"It hurts to let it out…..It hurts so freaking much…" Star cried out, even as her entire family was squeezing her tightly.
"It'll be fine, Star." Marco rubbed her back. "We're all still going to be here for you, for a long, long time."
"...You promise?" Star asked weakly.
"Of course we will." Steven reassured me. "We're family no matter what, we're always going to be there for you."
"Thank you…thank you…" Star would've been helpless without her family by her side…she couldn't imagine getting through life without any of them next to her.
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"Comet Butterfly Diaz." Giving an exhale, he walked forward, hearing the audience clap as he walked up to his professor. "You've done amazing, i'm honored to have a student like you graduate."
"Yeah … thanks for that." He accepted it, glancing at the crowd as they clapped in joy. Uncle Steven, Aunt Kelly, his Cousin, Daron, Rocka, Mom, Uncle Ian and his parents, Grandpa and Grandma Diaz with Aunt Mariposa and Meteroa… and an empty seat right next to his mom.
One he thought would have been filled as he stood here … but life wasn't that luxurious apparently. After waving to the gang, he moved down the stage, taking an exit that the other graduates weren't following as he went to the back. He just … he needed air right now.
It took two whole years of college before he was able to advance into medical school, and a whole four years before he could earn his doctorate. In those six years, he had nothing but the love of his family, as well as dad's financial backing, to support him all the way through. Comet assumed that once it was all over, he'd be able to celebrate with all of them, and work to pay his dad back so he and mom could enjoy a nice retirement
But one police raid got too intense … There was a shootout and Dad's apparent 'Neverzone' wounds were starting to cause him to weaken on the field … he wasn't able to recover from the shot. All those years of stress and strain in another dimension had taken a toll on his organs.
Comet was furious with his dad of course for a short while. He yelled at the sky for his recklessness when he was the one who taught him about having caution. During the funeral, he just wanted to shout at the casket and make the old man wake up, to stop being an idiot and get back to his family like he promised he would.
It was only his Mother's tears that kept him from just bursting out. So held it in … and bottled it up … and now he just let out a shaky breath as he leaned against the wall. "Damn it. Why couldn't you be here, damn it?" He asked. "Some sort of time travel bullshit, alternate counterpart, spectral ghost to catch your killer … just something." He could feel his face growing wet.
Rebecca had burst out in tears when it happened, just like with Grandma Rose, only less so this time due to Daron being an 'active' boyfriend this time around. Mariposa was the one with the biggest outburst, begging him to come back so she could apologize for making trouble. Meteora became silent and distant for the longest time, Ian noting that in her sleep, one could hear her repeating 'sorry' over and over again.
Comet shook his head. There was no point in feeling the grief right now. Today wasn't about his dad, today way about him finally being a doctor…even if he didn't want to celebrate in the slightest. He didn't want to feel happy, but he didn't want to feel miserable either.
"Hey." He turned his head to the familiar face of a green midget. "It's stupid right … feeling bad that you outlived them?"
"Yeah…" He weakly responded to Peridot. "It's not like it wasn't going to happen…old people get old, that's just how life is."
"I've seen a lot of species die off in my time as a kindergartener, I've seen life drain from race to race, from species to species, and I've never felt bad about any of them dying." Peridot continued. "Marco's just … the first one I had a conversation with….." She responded, looking distant. "The first conversation I had with someone that tried to know me as much as I tried to understand him."
"... What was he like back then?" Comet asked.
"He was the only sane sentient being I've met since coming to earth. You're a close second." She answered. "Everyone else didn't trust me, mainly because I've tried to kill them on multiple occasions, but he looked past that. They had a habit of talking in ways I didn't understand…" The gem told him. "And he just … made it easy. He understood me, and it helped me want to save this rock."
"Sounds about right." Comet sighed. "Honestly, half the time I didn't understand him. He kept getting on everyone's case for being safe, yet he was probably the most danger prone adult I knew." He was always the first to throw himself into danger when something went wrong.
"Time dilation and familial instincts clash hard against each other apparently." Peridot chuckled. "I suppose that I would've outlived him anyways…but I would've liked to see him live out his lifespan to the fullest…." She looked up to him. "He talked about you alot when we were alone together. Always happy that out of all the children, you were the non-crazy one."
"Yet I've time traveled more than anybody in the group." He muttered.
"Given that we're not all nonexistent with that fact, it's probably for the best that you're the one to do it." She muttered. "You know, your father was the one person I considered getting intimate with."
Comet groaned. "I do not need another sex story."
"What!? That gross human tradition!? Nononono, I ment hand holding." Peridot corrected frantically. "I'm no good with fusion, and after Jasper kidnapped me, I'm fine extending my affection to those of the purely platonic level."
Comet was silent for a few moments. "Did he ever have a regret?" He asked her.
Peridot looked lost in thought for a few seconds. "I know for a fact he regretted 'tainting' Mariposa's innocence, but that just seems silly. Would it be better for her to be sane too? Yes, but her choice to be crazy is her own choice."
Comet looked to his aunt in question, happily giggling along with Meteora and Ian. Probably a good thing his dad wasn't here. His brain probably couldn't handle his sister being in a polygamous relationship. Well, he'd accept it, but his 'protective instincts' would be shot through the roof. "Do you have any regrets?" The boy asked.
"A lot of them, actually. I regret not seeing the value of organic life sooner, I regret looking up tentacle hentai, I regret letting Ponyhead trick me into babysitting her kid, I regret agreeing to let the barn be used to hold all the pets, I regret seeing the reboot of Camp Pining Hearts, I regret Amethyst convincing me to drink motor oil that one time, I regret…"
"I ment relevant to the conversation." He interrupted before they stood there all day.
"Oh…. I suppose only one." Peridot said with a downward tone. "I felt like I should've told Marco how much I appreciated him more when he was alive….how much I …loved him….platonically speaking of course."
He sighed, rubbing her head. "I'm sure he knew, you were always his favorite gem after all." Comet began walking to his family, but paused. "And about the whole being late to liking organics … you're immortal, you have an eternity to appreciate them."
The green gem blushed a darker shade of green. "Well, you were always his favorite human…well, your half Mewman…I guess that would make you his favorite hybrid…wait would Stev…nah, it would definitely be you above everyone else." Now there was the awkward charm dad always talked about.
He smiled. "Thank Peridot. I'm glad you're here." He waved her off and turned around, only to be greeted by big, bulky, and not to mention, beautiful arms embracing him from behind. "Rocka, we're in public."
"Then everyone shall know how much my affections extend to you, my beloved." She lifted him above her head. "All bow before the success of Comet!!" She shouted as he felt his face flush brightly.
"Ha, if there's one good thing about all this, is that there's no one around to embarrass me anymore." Peridot smirked, before water splashed on her face. "Lapis! I thought you got over your prank phase!"
"My phase ended, but Rebbecca's has just begun." Lapis smirked as she sent a fist pump to her cousin, who had Ponyhead's kid, Cyran, sitting in her hair. "And that's how you pull a fast one without fully interrupting an emotionally powerful moment."
"Perfect! Now to cap it off the same way Aunt Jana did when Star graduated."
"Wait, didn't that …" Mom's eyes were wide open. "REBECCA NO!"
"REBECCA YES!" With a press of the button, fireworks went off … inside the building.
"Rebbecca! You're so grounded when we get home!" Aunt Kelly yelled.
"I'm an adult now, no one can ground me!" Rebbecca cheered as the fire spread, only for a pink bubble to cover her.
"No, but we can keep you in this bubble and lock you in Little Homeschool's detention room for a week." Uncle Steven sighed.
"Well, this is useless now." He looked as his diploma grew soggy and ripped apart from the dampness. "...Eh, about how I expected everything to end today."
"Well, you're still a doctor." Rocka kissed his face. "And I believe there's something I need you to check back home…I believe I need a personal check up."
"Is your gem hurting?" He asked. "I can double check with a stethoscope if-"
"I finally manage to flirt and you take it literally." She spoke with fond exasperation. "I had to fall for a smart dummy, didn't I?"
"Just like his dad." Mom chuckled, watching them from behind. … Well that was a lot to unpack.
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Everything slowed down, and the mortal coil has finally slipped, like tripping on a wire. Even as Jana awoke to the burning landscape, she wondered if it was really hell, or just another process of her dying … "Lars should have written a memoir about death." She muttered.
"Glad to see you make it." She turned to see Tom messing with some clay. "Sorry I couldn't be there, I wanted to get a head start on constructing your body."
"... Constructing what now?"
"What, did you think it was just die, fall in hell, and suddenly you live here?" He asked. "Didn't you get the pamphlet I put in the house a month ago in the fridge?"
"No one reads pamphlets anymore, sweetie." Jana reminded her husband. "I told you, if it's not a text, no one's going to pay attention to what you're going to say." She continued to look around. "So I was sent to hell, right?"
"Yep. Even if you helped save the universe, you still did a lot of shady and underhanded things that you willingly did." Tom explained. "Luckily you were judged for lighter rings instead of the deep dark stuff, which is great if I wasn't able to catch you in time."
"Catch me?" She asked. "Aw, did you take the job as my personal torturer so we can spend the rest of eternity doing stuff to each other that'll make everyone in the lust ring blush?"
"We're getting off track." He coughed with a bright blush. "Well the thing is you're just a soul …" He paused, looking her over. "A single soul … it's one of the reasons people rarely escape hell. What good can you do when you don't have a body to punch people or interact with." Fair point. "So demons have their own bodies constructed while putting a soul in them … tell me, do you think i've got your hair right?"
She looked at the body. It looked just like her own, only with pink skin, four eyes, and a trifecta of horns on her head that vaguely resemble a crown. "Hair could be shortened, oh, maybe add a red streak running down it, I always wanted that."
"Sure thing." He pulled out some paint, beginning delicate work. "So, officially, you have to complete a 'sentence' before you move from prisoner of hell to denizin, after that, we can make you the queen you always planned on being." Tom smiled at her. "I cut it down from fifty years to five, but even the king of hell has limits …"
"Pffft. Bureaucracy. Even in hell, it still makes everything worse."
"Why do you think it was installed?" The man rolled his eyes. "So besides the dark places, hell functions around ironic punishments. I'll make sure that when nobody's looking you can just fake getting tortured."
"Don't go too easy on me, bo. I've been a bad girl. Daddy needs to punish me." She teased her man. She loved watching him stutter and flush as he tried to come up with a response. "You know, you're pretty good at this."
"Thanks, I got some experience when I was with Sta-." He cut himself off.
"... Nono, go on. Experience, you say?"
"Well, it's just….well…back on Mewni, you know, before we dated, and before the multiverse had a giant skybeam ramming through it, and I was sore about Star and me breaking up the first time…I wanted to imagine her by my side always…so I made…life sized dummies of her."
"Right, regrets …" She could accept that. "… And how accurate were they?"
"...I only mainly focused on the face…you know, where the eyes…hair….and….mouth are." Tom tried to hide himself behind his arms. "And before you start trying to haunt me, just know, again, this was back when I was a more evil and self-fish jerk on the levels of Tad."
"Oh yeah … did you guys get his soul yet?" She asked.
"He's moved around the user section a lot. Not too far down, we can give you dual torture session if you wanna watch him scream."
"Oooh, tormenting me with his annoying voice while at the same time giving me personal viewings of terrible people in pain…you know me well bo." Even as a prisoner here, she could learn to love this place. "What about Toffee?" She asked with a grin.
"He's in a dark place." He paused his work. "It's … Demons don't actually go there … there's no need to." At her questioning look, he clarified. "There are only two hells worse than anything we can achieve with torture … one is placing scum in a single area, hatting each other with an untold malice and strength for all of eternity. The prisoners torture each other endlessly, that's where he is."
"With his healing, doesn't sound like it would be too bad…"
"You'd think but the thing hell is that it tortures you in every way imaginaable." Tom went on. "Right now he's experience every type of pain the universe has to offer, types of pain that could break your mind just by mentioning the name of it, and once he's done, he'll have to experience it again, and again, in a repeated hell of endless arguments, dealing with people just like him, and boredom that'll slowly drive him insane to the point he can't even remember his name."
"Harsh." She nodded.
"Honestly he's lucky he didn't get tossed into the casym … that's only for people on Bill Cipher's level of evil." He shivered. "It's just … nothing. Endless, nothing. Forever and eternity."
"Jessh, didn't think I'd get uncomfortable listening to torture." Jana shivered. Time to change the subject. "So, do you think you can fix this body up before Daron's wedding? Don't want him to think death will stop me from embarrassing him in front of everyone."
"Oh yeah, I'll get this down in a few minutes tops … getting out of here though, we're gonna have to get past some eyes." He sighed. "I'll have to explain everything to Lucifer who'll hold me to some sort of bargain, sneak past Satan who'll rip out half of my souls for the 'transgression', get mom's help to grab dad out of purgatory, and then I need to bribe Cerberus the guard dog." He groaned. "So much money for dog kibble."
"Don't worry, once I get my groove moving, I'll be making some major changes to this place." Jana smirked. "I'll have everyone here eating out of the palm of my hand in six months tops."
"If I win that bet I declare the right to adjust the thermometer in the bedroom."
"Oh come one, you can stand to have a little chill around here..I mean, it's not like you're lacking for heat, fire and brimstone and all."
"Actually the legends are way off base. Frosbite is a form of torture to you know."
"Really?" Jana raised an eyebrow. "I'll just add that to my list of fix ups once I'm queen." Jana snickered. "Heh, can't wait to see everyone's face again when I pop up. I'll catch them all off guard, and surprise them when they least expect it. Boom, baby! Hah, I'm back and sexier as ever! It'll be the best wedding reception ever."
"So you're saying I shouldn't tell people I'm bringing you back to life yet?"
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Rebecca could barely hear the kids playing with each other in the distance with the rain drumming in her ears, simply holding the umbrella as she stared at the stone in front of her. "Hey Mom …" She greeted her . "It's been a while … busy with work." Starting a guild of adventurers wasn't easy.
"A lot of things have changed … the kids are still growing up … the youngest learned to tie his shoes." Little Stephen was a bit of a handful, barely learned how to crawl before riding on the back of a wild unicorn, just like her aunt. "Thomas expanded Daron's black market gig into the next country, sold bootleg cotton candy to every store he could find, and Kendra started to learn how to use your sword…she's like a little version of you."
She gave the gravestone a few seconds of silence as if to give her mom time to respond. Time had passed yet again for the Universe-Butterfly family. Grandpa Greg, River, and Grandma Camila had passed away, and each time it was hard….but what really pained her was how easy it was to let go each time.
With each time…she had….experience…with the loss. Comet said it was healthy and normal..and he was a doctor, so she didn't argue with him. Death happened, she understood that, she didn't want it to happen, but it did. And then … then came Mom.
She wasn't quite sure what happened. One day she was fine as she and Dad went out on some adventure to a new world, the next moment he came home with her body in his arms, lifeless but happy looking.
Dad refused to elaborate what had happened, whether old age had gotten to her or if something else was involved, she just knew that it was on that day that she had finally noticed any signs of aging on his body.
Before he looked…we'll, he looked just like her dad, old but fit, but after mom died..that's when she noticed grays on his hair and wrinkles growing on his face. She talked with Comet about it, but he said it was probably the same reason Rocka looked the way she did … because they wanted to be that age.
Even with Rebecca reaching her mid-thirties, her dad looked like he could be her older brother instead. She made a joke about it once, and that resulted in her dad growing more wrinkles in response.
Speaking of, her dad was the only person currently with her. She asked Daron to keep the kids occupied, so now it was just the two of them talking to the dirt, hoping some remnant of her proud woolet mother was hearing them.
"The funny thing is she sees you like this awesome warrior … she even likes Woolia … the irony of it is kinda hilarious." Her dad said with a small smile. "You would have been so proud, maybe she'll make the place cozier than you remember." He paused. "Or more cut filled instead of punch filled."
"Heh, it gives Ian and his team on their toes." Rebecca laughed. "He, Mariposa, and Meteora went global. Last I checked, they were undoing a poltergeist on an entire country."
"They've also been going at it like rabbits. They're one their twelfth child now." Steven laughed. "Marco would have had a heart attack at this point if he wasn't already gone, I know Camila gave them a talking to."
"Star still spoils all of them to death. She had a little empty nest syndrome for a while." Rebecca continued. "She's still a teacher, though now she dedicates half the time to run the bakery now." It said something that she didn't feel the tears this time around. "She's no Moon, but it's still pretty good …" She placed a box down. "In Mexico they say the dead can eat food if it's placed next to their resting place …"
"We made sure to get all your favorites…mainly goblin dogs and pizza." Dad was wiping away the tears, which were constantly blooming flowers on the dead grass. "You know Rebecca, that was technically the first date me and your mom went on."
"Yeah, in Kiki's place, right?" She asked, patting his back. "... Do you wanna go there or …"
"Maybe later, I want to stay here just a little longer." Dad sighed sadly. "When I first met her, the biggest thought in my mind was 'wow, that girl is way too cool for me'. I considered myself to be the luckiest boy in the universe for her to be my friend back then."
"And yet she was a girl with self esteem issues and your sister was a princess from another dimension." Rebecca gave a soft chuckle. "It's crazy how it works."
"Yep, the brain causes you to think of so many stupid things in the face of the obvious." Dad laughed. "That's partially why we never stopped you from wanting adventure, you're so naturally confident and Kelly wanted to build that up."
"... I just … liked the idea you know?" She said. "Having fun, rescuing people … you guys made it look so amazing."
"Better than making it look horrifying I guess." Dad smirked. "There's always a part of me that wants to slow down, but know that's not going to happen." He laughed some more. "Life's an adventure, you see something new almost everyday and get to meet so many new people.."
"And yet no matter where you go, there's never a place like home." They turned around to see Star, long strands of gray in her hair just like grandma Moon's. "Hey Kelly…It's Star. I'm…I know we had a hard time getting along back then…I'm sorry…I'm sorry I never thanked you properly for making my brother happy."
The stone was silent once more. "I'm sure she says it's fine." Rebecca smiled. "She let you hang around us after all."
"Well, you are the best thing she ever made and I'm the best aunt ever, only natural I hang with you." The woman chuckled, before coughing a tad.
"You should go back to the car. We'll raggle up the kids." Dad walked over, holding her hand tenderly.
"Don't go out of your way for my account, I'll rustle all the youngins. Star laughed as she stretched her neck. "I'm old, but my spirit is as young as ever." She began walking over. "Alright kids, who wants to take their muddy shoes and try painting on the car windows!?"
"Even if she lived to be a thousand, I'd expect her to still be chugging five cups of sugar everyday." Rebbeca laughed as she looked at her dad, a content but forlorn smile on his face. "Dad, are you alright?"
"I'm as fine as I can be." Dad huffed. "It's….it's different from Rose Quartz being gone…I didn't know them…I didn't get to know the warmness everyone said she brought into the room…I didn't experience the smiles, the joy, the happiness that one life could bring to so many…with my parents…with Marco…with Kelly..I feel it…I feel a little part of me go away with them every time it happens."
She stayed silent for a few seconds, simply hugging him. "You'll never lose me, alright? I'll come back as a zombie ghost just so I can outlive you if needed."
"Just don't make any shady deals with the devil or anything like that. Last thing I need is my little mint chip's soul bound to some Editretch abomination."
"Dad, my father in law is a demon lord." She deadpanned.
"Like I said, bound to an eldritch abomination." Her dad repeated. "And that's not even counting Jana, don't make a deal with her period, it'll bite you in the butt in the worst possible way." Meh, she'd take his word on it.
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Luz walked up to the man staring at an empty bottle, a man she'd call a brother. "She's gone …" He whispered. "After all this time, after everything we've been through … it finally happened." Steven said in a daze. Over eighty years old and he barely looked like he was reaching fifty.
She would have joked about it, but the man's age was a sore subject nowadays. It got harder for the man to face the rest of his family, especially the grandchildren. The only one that came close to breaking him out of that shell was Star…but.. "Yeah…She was high on life till the end."
"She even had her say that she wanted to go out with space unicorn and viking fire on a diamond ship." Steven laughed hollowly. "Best use of those damn pink legs I ever had, almost as priceless as White's expression seeing it explode."
"And we all got plastered on aged cream corn while watching the fireworks." Luz recalled.
"We partied so hard it officially made Ponyhead retire from it entirely." Steven continued. "I now take the crown of the ultimate partier in the multiverse … how fun."
"Hey now, I can take the crown if you want. My bones are old but they are still sturdy enough to get the job done, at least that's what Amity says when we go out." She snickered to attempt to lighten the mood. "You should see what Azura does when she babysits the kids."
"I heard tales … and explosions." He chuckled. "... I think i'm gonna leave earth. I can't … I just can't take it anymore."
"That's understandable." Luz nodded. "Everyone needs a vacation every now and again.."
"No..I mean…leave." Steven emphasized. "I don't want to live on this planet anymore."
Oh….Ooooh. "What about little homeschool? Someone still needs to run.."
"The gems are more than capable of doing it themselves." Steven stopped her. "I trust them to not blow it up, or at least to fix it when they do."
"There's plenty of enemies that still want to take over and destroy ear-"
"The world's filled with plenty of heroes. Our kids could probably do more to take care of the peace than we ever could."
"But … what about the kids?" Luz asked. "They'll-"
"You know something really, really funny?" Steven stopped her again. "The other day, when I was walking with Rebbecca through the park, a woman made a comment, 'so nice to see an old man helping his mom'." Steven chuckled brokenly. "I look younger than my own adult daughter….I'm going to outlive my own kid…my grandkids, even my great grandkids… that's messed up, isn't it?" He gave a weak laugh. "I can't … I wouldn't live with that, ever." There was a desperation in that tone. "How … how did Rose manage to live like this?"
"I…I don't know…Steven, I really don't know." She spoke honestly. "I know the pain of losing someone, like our parents, like Eda and Lilith, but..I don't.." Luz cried for her brother's pain. "I won't judge you, I promise I never will…but please…even when you leave…don't cut yourself off from everything and everyone."
"I don't want to be lonely…but what's other choice so I have?" Steven cried, throwing the bottle away. "Constantly talk with my ancestors as they slowly die around me over and over until I'm watching whatever animal comes after humanity dies off?"
"According to what Dipper and Mabel used to say, Time Baby." Luz laughed, only for Steven to groan. "Steven, I know I can't stop you from leaving, but there's still a big universe out there, a huge infinitely expanding multiverse, there's always going to be someone for you to be with, some of those universes could probably use a long living and experienced alien rock boy." She forced him to look at her. "Heck, Homeworld probably still needs you."
"Oh sure, be an eternal babysitter for a whole species for the rest of time.."
"You're the one that encouraged them to change how they were." Luz stopped him. "You could see exactly what they're changing into, and guide them if they ever get off the course."
"... Maybe but … I'll just use that as a rock … I guess …" He clutched himself. "I don't want to stay with someone … alright?"
"I get it. I wouldn't marry anyone else if given the chance, that I understand." She nodded. "And please, don't give up on earth forever, meeting you and everyone else is what made it so fun for me before I moved to the boiling isles."
"I guess…it would be unfair for me to just forget about it forever, I'm not trying to be Glosseryck.."
"And if you have the time..check on King." She pleaded. "He has a long life ahead of him too, I don't want him to be alone either."
"If he's living as long as you said he is, I can spare a few visits." The man stood up, pulling out scissors. "... It was nice!knowing you, Luz. Only one person I knew was a better sister." He paused. "... Excluding Amethyst."
"Heh, glad I could be a part of this crazy loving family." She ran up and hugged him. "I'm glad that you got to be my brother first … excluding King." She snickered. "I'll make sure Ian knows not to try and find you, knowing him, he'll try to make it his 'great last case'."
"He has quite the flare for the dramatic, doesn't he?" Steven laughed, for a brief second showing that bright smile she knew him to have.
"He did learn from the best." She waved to him, a tinge of sadness inside of her heart as the man walked into the portal. "Good luck Steven…I hope you have a good life."
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Rocka moved on the empty desert, sitting down next to a familiar but aged face, letting silence envelop them. It had been a long, long journey, one that had taken almost a decade to complete, but she made it, she finally found him. "How is everyone?" The only person she ever considered a parent asked. The one she shared species with, the only one who could ever understand just as much, if not, more than her beloved.
"... Gone." She bluntly answered. "It's been three hundred years …"
"Figured as much …" He answered. "... Are you doing okay?" He asked as she observed the old man's face. It was much more wrinkly than her own, more than she expected it to be. He was also smaller, and more boney.
"I'm…as fine as anyone could be in this situation." Rocka answered, sitting next to Steven on a nearby rock. "You know, when you first left, everyone was worried, everyone was scrambling to figure out where you went, why you left and what we could've done to get you to come back."
"I wouldn't have if you tried." He sighed.
"I know." Rocka nodded. "Rebbecca was the most frantic, but a conversation with Luz shut it down. We never knew what she said to her…but…I can take a gander at what they talked about."
"Can you?" He asked with a cough.
"… It hurts watching people go." She answered. "There's still so much I want to see and learn but … it hurts watching them go by." She wiped away her tears, which practically became steam in the hot desert sun. "You know…I had three amazing daughters, and they all grew up into something spectacular. One of them led a rebellion against a galactic federation…one ruled Mewni….and the other followed Comet's example and became a doctor…and I watched them all grow old and into the casket." Rocka sniffed. "I looked after my grandchildren, and their children, and their children…and with every generation I became more and more of a stranger to my own family."
"... I think they're gonna be fine." Steven said after a while. "Each generation has a habit of topping the one before it … you want to know the worst part of this whole experience?" She stayed silent. "I finally understood how my mother could make such bad decisions … when you live for so long morality blurs … I don't want to do something I'll regret … I can't keep up the momentum like everyone else."
"I know all too well." Rocka sighed. "You know, no one on Mewni anymore even remembers names like Mina Loverberry and Heckapoo, heck, even the Butterfly name has begun to fade away into obscurity. History blurring into legend, truth turning into myth…."
"They're not reverting back to prejudice are they?" He asked. "Because I am willing to return just to teach them a lesson one last time-" He coughed some more.
"Save your breath old man, it's not what you're thinking." Rocka held her hand up. "The rock's too much of a melting pot for that to happen again…the point I was getting is that I've lost touch with everyone. Our family's expanded to the point I can't keep track of them anymore, and if I do, I'd just be a random stranger to them, everything familiar to me has changed so much that I can't recognize it, and every day, I feel myself becoming more and more numb to life as it goes on." She wiped a tear. "Why….why did my parents have me? Why did they leave me with this curse?"
Steven took the time to breathe for ten seconds before answering. "I'm not going to lie, Rocka, Jasper and Mina had you purely for selfish reasons. They experienced the same thing we're going through. Jasper didn't want to live in a world without Mina, and researched how to create life … it was kind of terrifying to try and explain." She didn't see the problem. It was just putting one thing in the other. "So after a couple years I went to check on them … then I just found you scounging in the woods." He said. "Mina's body couldn't handle the stress of birth, I guess."
"I vaguely remember that." Rocka found herself smiling just a little. "A pack of wolves took me in for…three years?"
"Five." Steven corrected. "I tried bringing you back home a couple of times, but you were a biter back then, so I'd come by three times a week to give you actual food that wasn't raw meat." The nice tasting stuff. "After a while we eventually got you to learn small words, building up into trust … and that's when you met everyone." He was silent. "If it's any consolation, there's only one trait you've inherited from your folks."
"My wonderful personality?" She sarcastically laughed.
"You've never learned to back down." Steven continued. "Once you dedicate yourself to something, you stick with it. You have the most determination and grit I have ever seen in one person, and watching you grow up…" Steven teared up. "I got the same feeling I did when Rebecca was born…It took me so long to realize I had two daughters and not one."
"It took me forever to see I did have a parent…one that cared about me." She found her voice starting to crack. "You were always so honest with me…you never hid anything from me, nothing about how terrible Mina treated you or how ruthless Jasper was."
"I didn't want you to end up like me." Steven sighed. "Constantly angry at the universe for what you didn't know, frustrated with choices you had no say in, and having to deal with the mistakes of your ancestors … like seriously, the assassins alone were just ridiculous."
"Oh yeah, all the people that ran up to me with crossbows. When I was younger, I thought making their bodies crunch like that was fun."
"I may have let myself get a little out of control a few times, but when it's my kids in danger, they're basically asking for a death sentence." He chuckled. "I wanted you to have the chance to grow up into whoever you wanted to be, to be free to make your own choices, good or bad."
She looked at the sky. "If it's any consolation, I don't have any regrets for my choices." Rocka thought back. "I grew up wanting to help people, just like my old man."
"Good … that's good." He coughed some more. "I'm glad I didn't mess up there …"
She was quiet for another moment, letting the wind blow across the land. "I'm going to miss you, Dad." She waited … and she waited … and then there was nothing. She grabbed a nearby blanket, and covered the body, a body no longer breathing.
After a half hour, Rocka stood up, walking as she wiped away the tears. All that was left was learning and helping, until it was her time.
========================================================================
Anne flew through the cosmos, letting the stars roll past her. "You know, I really had doubts about this whole godhood thing, but this is fun!" She laughed as she watched the universe roll past her. Part of her always assumed that it was just going to be her standing in one place forever, but that was far from it.
Just like the Guardian said, once she reached ninety seven, poof, that was it for her time on the mortal plane. And before she knew it, she was now all white and glowly, just like she was when she held the powers of all the calamity gems. She had forgotten just how…freeing this feeling was. That, and she no longer had to deal with morning cramps, so the pros just kept on piling.
The rundown was that she stopped any of the Snake's previous creations, Black Hat's current creations, and the Axolotl's creations. Keep the universe balanced so everyone could be happy, and stomp down on everything too strong for mortals to handle. Heck, she wrangled a lizard the size of the moon!
Right now she had a bit of down time … sort of. Time is weird now. Apparently her brain wouldn't outright explode trying to process it, but the circles of causality sometimes threw her for a loop. She could see both the past and future time flow just as simultaneously as the present, so she was very much an 'in the moment' type of deity.
Either way, she had a moment to relax and focus on one universe for the moment…her universe. Despite the different variations she's come to know and experience, that old expression, 'there's no place like home' still rang true even when she was essentially made from pure energy. Sure, age, entropy, and heat death has obliterated two percent of life in it, but the other ninety eight was still going strong till the big crunch rolled around.
She thought about all the crazy adventures she'd been on her own planet, and not just the moment of time where the plantars stayed on earth with her. The interdimensional broadcast show, fighting in another freaking war, helping build a city to act as the culmination of multiversal peace, facing off against an insane dorito chip, to just chilling as they watched other universes struggle while they recovered.
And then there were the later years, like babysitting Sasha and Marcy's cute little troublemakers, hanging out with some adventures on Amphibia, that one time she got the frog miraculous (the irony was not lost on her). Watching as people moved on … then drawing her last breath. She had no clue how death was worse the second time around, but yeah, that was rough.
Still, Anne kept to her core belief that change was necessary for life, and that included death. Even if it stung her to no end, she was mature and rational enough to move on and do her job. It had been a good century or two since she visited her own universe, might see if it was still running as well as the last time she saw it.
The earth was the same as always. Cool tech, blue seas … politicians were still morons though, you'd think they'd fix that by now. Amphibia was doing fine, incorporating stuff from other cultures without stealing their natural resources. Right now rap battles dominate the social structure, so that was a bit of a shame.
She looked to the Boiling Isles, still looked like a city on top of a corpse, just with a little more tech involved. Apparently glyphs were being incorporated into machines, so nice to see Luz's influence over there was still going strong, and hey, King was still around. She'd have to chat with him one of these days.
She looked over to Ooo. Still a post-apocalyptic earth, and giant gumball guardians were holding the candy people hostage. She'd have to check on that one of these days, maybe find whoever Finn and Jake reincarnated as. And Mewni … well they were having their own version of a renaissance, so they seemed like they'd be fine as it was.
Now she was just idly scouring the universe and the planets in them. Maybe if one was uninhabited but could support life, she'd point someone in the right direction. Or maybe she'd idly slip out a weakness of a tyrannical overlord, that kinda stuff. As she moved through a desolate solar system, she noticed something strange. A dot on the surface of a dwarf planet.
Normally this wouldn't have caught her attention, but something about it felt familiar, something about the small hint of warmness within the pink light that piqued her interest. She drew herself closer and closer, wondering what it could possibly be. "Hello?" She asked, setting her semi-physical form on the rock, walking towards the pink light.
"Hello." The light itself turned to her, looking just like … Steven? Wait, even his clothes were pink, and the whites of his eyes. He didn't even look like Steven was as an adult, just the fourteen year old she remembered when she first met him. There was nothing on this guy that wasn't pink. "You're Anne Bunchoy … Correct? Or a copy?"
"Yeah it's me." She would continue to let that last detail live in the back of her brain for the rest of eternity. "Is it really you, Steven?It's been like….four centuries…"
"Four hundred thirty seven years, ten months, two weeks, five days, three hours, fifteen minutes, and thirty seven seconds." He responded correctly.
She blinked at the dead tone and accuracy of the statement. "Are you a robot copy or something?"
"I feel like only a hollow shell of who Steven Universe used to be." He turned around and showed off the gemstone in his stomach, the one she remembered her old friend having. "I'm the sum up of Steven Universe's memories and experiences, yet without the human exterior, it feels all for naught."
"Oh yeah." She remembered the story from the whole experience during the gem war. "Pink Steven, right?"
"If that is my designation, so be it." The…person….said without a hint of either joy or annoyance. "Last time I came out, I was deprived of my human half forcibly by White Diamond, then remerged. I used to reside with the space of Star Butterfly's wand … until magic was reset." He looked upward. "I re emerged when Steven Universe took his last breath…..the human exterior is nothing but dust now….all my family are nothing but dust now…"
So he was experiencing the existential dread of immortality. That was never pretty. "So…what have you been upto since then….You haven't just been sitting on this rock for hundreds of years, right?"
"Not hundreds, just one hundred, for that has been how long I've been without the human exterior." Pink Steven Corrected. "I attempted to find solace in Homeworld for a decade ... but I can't stand being around the Diamonds."
"Even the robot can't stand them, youch." She winced. "So what's the plan, move on again somehow? Figure out your own life to live with your own experiences?"
"It's…different from you. You ascended to a higher plane with all your memories and experiences and personality intact" Steven turned to the side. "I'm literally only half of myself. My human half has passed, gone on to where everyone else goes when they die. No matter what, there's still always that piece of me that's incapable of moving on, an empty half of me longing for closure that'll never come, wishing for an end that shall not pass." He stated. "I will live on until the end of the universe. Maybe then I'll find some solace of peace."
Now that was depressing. And something she would stand for as long as she was around. "So what you're saying is that you're looking for a change of pace, a chance to get out of the immortal rut you found yourself in?"
"Affirmative."
"Remember when the Guardian of the Multiverse gave us both job offerings?" She asked. "The position of my assistant is still open." Anne laughed. "It'll be just like when we were kids, only we get to travel to those universes and talk to people, and punch them if they start acting stupid."
"The position…does sound enticing." Pink Steven noted. "But…I'm not exactly….the peace keeper Steven Universe was. My emotions tend to get…volatile when provoked."
"Don't worry about it, I'm more than capable of undoing the damage, a little temper tantrum here and there won't be that big of a deal." She reassured him. "I'll do the talking and negotiations whenever it comes up, and I'll leave anything involving fisty-cups up to you."
They were silent for a moment. "Acceptable." He stated. "Shall we leave then?"
"Heck yeah, this'll be awesome!" She put her hand up for a high-five. "Two butt-kicking teens turned cosmic beings road tripping through the multiverse like off duty cops!" She waited for him to slap her and. "Come on dude, don't leave me hanging."
He looked to her hand, and then to his own. "I'm suppose to slap you hand back, correct?"
"Don't tell me you've forgotten how to do a high five."
"Like I said, the human exterior is gone, it took a few experiences with them." He responded, slapping her hand as a sonic boom occurred. "Did I do it right?"
"You put three planets out of orbit, but otherwise, yes." She laughed nervously as she snapped her fingers, putting them back into place. This was going to be an interesting development.
========================================================================
Steven punched the crazy girl back into the sand. "Would you just leave, me, alone!" He punctuated with an explosive shout, buffing him up and turning him pink all over, aka, everything he was trying to AVOID doing for the past three months. He just wanted a relaxing day where he could focus on something mundane but enjoyable, like this sandcastle building contest.
A contest he was rather eager to win, until certain annoyances kept pushing every button on his back. "Well maybe you need to lighten up and have some fun!" The girl shouted, blasting him with flaming rainbows of all things.
"I was having fun building my sandcastle, until you blasted me with that stupid wand!" He responded as the watermelon seeds he spat out earlier grew into Watermelon Stevens and rushed ahead.
"I was trying to help, I gave your castle color!" She created a unicorn army to rush at him.
"You dropped five tons of sand on my head and blasted me with crystal cupcakes!" The Watermelon Stevens and Unicorns held each other off. "I tried to be nice and ignore it, but you just won't LISTEN!" He charged right at her with a spiky pink ball.
She responded by glow yellow, turning into this freaky golden bug form with six arms and nightmarish eyes as she stopped his charge and forced him back. "Fine then, you wanna fight, then I'll start actually trying!!" She shouted, as cupcakes were-EXPLODING cupcakes were blasted at him.
"You are the most." He growled, his shields forming. "Annoying person." He began preping to attack. "That I have ever-"
"Stop." A massive bubble locked around him, and another around the girl he was fighting. "This ends now."
"Hah! Easy Tar-wha!?" The bug girl was stopped from shooting as a white glow wrapped around her hands. "Hey! No fair! I was about to win!"
"Wow, I mean, I've seen multiple versions of you two before, but I've never seen a pair so antagonistic to each other." A weird glowing…glow said as two figures stood between them.
"What about the White variant?" Asked what appeared to be the pink steven, like the one he saw when White pulled out his gem.
"Yeah, but that was more general antagonism on the Star's part."
"Could someone explain to me what the heck is going on!?" Steven shouted.
"Oh, sorry, sometimes I get so lost in the job I forget to explain myself." The glow fizzled, showing off a more humanoid figure, one that looked like a girl with branches in her hair. "I'm Anne Boonchuey, guardian of the Multiverse."
"No you're not." The magic girl cut off.
"Yes I am, Star. I go around fixing anything that's wrong."
"Oh sure." 'Star' rolled her eyes. "Toffee tries to obliterate an entire realm and I nearly break space time on multiple occasions, but I haven't seen you until I try to fight one random guy with pink powers."
"You'll hate it when I say this, but that was supposed to happen." The pink him explained in a monotone drone. "Toffee unfortunately is a constant in the universe, one that is usually meant to be defeated by you."
"And I suppose the gems killing thousands of species is also 'meant to happen'." Steven himself was starting to feel a tad livid.
"I mean, it sucks that it happens, and believe me, I'm doing everything I can to stop universes like that from forming, but when the Koala created them, he planted the roots deep into the multiversal soil. But you stopped them from their genocidal rampage, so that's a good middle ground."
"What do you mean by Koala?" 'Star' questioned. "What's so powerful about a small snuggly little bear?"
"It's a long story we can't really go over at the moment." He said. "Right now, we need you to stop fighting and-"
Click
The pink version of him blinked, turning to what looked like a large man with a red vest and a shotgun in hand. "You're kinda ruining the moment."
"Ugh, I was wondering how many universes it was going to take until I finally ran into your little web show." 'Anne' groaned.
"Wait, so you've been ruining the fights on purpose?" A man in a white lab coat asked with bafflement. "Seriously, stop doing that."
"Uh, no. Do you know how many death's I've had to undo to keep the multiverse stable…hundreds! Thousands! I couldn't even revive all of them because the damage ended up being too great! I'm still feeling the after effects of Chuck Norris and Sega Sanshiro! That's not even mentioning Reverse Flash and Goku Black!"
"Okay, the Sega Sanshiro one was on us, we just needed to figure out his limits, our bad." The lab coat guy admitted. "But we still need to keep this going."
"Why, what possible reason do you have for this chaos?" The pink him asked, raising a shield.
"Figuring out who's good enough to go against the Black Hat Organization." The guy with a shotgun clarified.
"Wait..you're trying to actively go against Black Hat?"
"Well yeah, that was our job to begin with." Wiz deadpanned. "Why do you think we're making them battle to the death? We analyze the data, figure out who's the best out of the bunch, and organize the team."
"Can't you just throw someone strong at the group and wreck it down?" 'Anne' asked.
"Their field agent killed a version of Chuck Noris with her bare hands." That made the two widen in horror. "And if our intel is correct, the old trench coat is gutting ballsier with involvement. He's assembled his own team to do his bidding across the multiverse.
"If I still had my human half, I'd be emotionally wrecked and outraged at you two..but this is clearly bigger than I realized." Pink Steven looked to him, and then to Star. "If it's data you need, we can help. Just as long as we can stop the fights before the killing blow."
"Do you understand anything here?" Steven asked Star.
"They lost me after the Koala." The girl muttered.
"Oh, and just in case you're still wondering, Star would've won." 'Anne' announced. "Steven's physically stronger, but Star has more versatility in magic that Steven can't counter."
"Aww, ruining the fun." The guy with a gun sighed. "I'm gonna go drink beer now, wake me up for the next fight Wiz!"
"I guess getting more exact detail from two multiversal guardians will be a nice compromise." Wiz sighed as he left.
"Oh, and before I forget." He pointed to him. "Don't let your anger lose control like that again, it's a sandcastle competition, not the Cluster. If she was bothering you that much, you could've left the beach entirely.
"Hah, getting told off by a mini you!" Star laughed.
"And you…seriously, using magic on a sand castle competition? And on a random stranger you never met? I thought you were more mature than this." 'Anne' chastised.
"I believe the maturity fully sets after she faces Meteora."
"Who now?" Star asked.
"Ah … scram!" Just like that, the two weirdos vanished.
The two of them hit the ground, face first in the sand. "... Agree this never happened?" Steven asked her.
"Agreed." Star shook the sand of her hair and helped him up. "So..seeing as how the beach is.." She pointed to all the blacks spots. "..Wanna get something to eat? I know where you can find the best hotdogs in the universe."
"Ah..I'm actually a vegetarian." He chuckled. "But I know where we can get some fry bits, they're the best parts of any french fry served in tiny little chunks."
"Sounds like a good substitute, let's roll." This may have just been his usual optimism for befriending his enemies, but this felt like the start of a beautiful friendship.
========================================================================
He stared at the new universe. "One … mosquito." He muttered. "The only difference from this and my old timeline … one … microscopic … insect."Star was alive and happy, Marco was a safe freak, Kelly was still with Tad, he was … inside of Steven …"One mosquito led to me being born five year later, being found by Star in a bush while being chased by a corrupted gem." He sighed. "So peculiar how small one change can make a whole universe."
"Yeah, that was my reaction too when I started viewing them on my own." Anne smirked. "There's a universe where I landed with the toads instead of the Planters, and now I'm the sword girl … hehe …" She sighed. "Of course, there I ended up being the unreasonable jerk, so pros and cons."
"I see them all….every universe where me and Star interact." He pointed to another one. "In this one, I'm the older sibling watching over a toddler Star, in this one, in this one, Rose got with River and Moon got with Greg…I look so uncanny with blue hair." The possibilities were endless, he could just get lost analyzing each new variation for the rest of time.
There was silence for a moment. "I know you say you don't have his emotions … but it's still hard to let go, isn't it?" Anne observed.
"How can it not be?" He answered honestly. "I don't feel his hunger, I don't have his curiosity, I don't have his optimism, his ability to connect with others…but Star…Star was different." Steven would've cried if he was able to. "She impacted practically every moment of my…of Steven Universe's life. When she left everything broke inside of him, and I lost any connection I had other than my own host … she's still out there, endlessly existing and dying … over and over."
"Steven…"
"And here I am…'blessed' to be immortal, where so many of my variations can find closer. There's versions of me who pass on their own gem to their kids, versions who's gems die when he dies, and some who're stay immortal and human at once…each one of them has found they own way to cope….everyone but me." He let out the closest thing he could emote to a cry of pain. "It's been the lifespan of sixteen big bangs and big crunches … the lifespan of sixteen universes … shouldn't I have moved on?"
"Steven….I know the feeling….from my perspective, it had been three millennia before I ran into you." Anne placed her hand on his shoulder. "Three millennia since I had the chance to get close to anyone like this. I still carry that pain from missing my family, my friends, knowing that the ones I know I won't meet again.."
"Then how did you?" Steven asked. "How have you been able to keep moving even with all that pain in your chest?"
"Well I just have hope that they have peace, wherever they are. That they can be happy in some random spot in the multiverse or the afterlife." She admitted. "And…well…I have you now….reassuring me that even if I go on forever…I have someone right next to me…It helps me feel like all I have done has been worth it."
"I guess that's a fair point." They acknowledged, looking at the scene before him, Star taking care of Steven … and he placed it down. "Thanks for that."
"No prob, happy to help." She patted his back. "And don't be afraid to be open with your 'non existent' emotions more, it really takes you places."
Open … like teasing? What was a good tease … oh. "In that case, would you like to commit coitus?"
That made the white figure blush red all over, slugging him in the arms. "Dude, seriously, have some self control! Don't be that open!"
"It got an amusing reaction out of you, so I don't see the issue."
"It's going to be a long eternity itself just to improve your humor, isn't it?"
"Eh, we have the time." Steven shrugged. "...So…why does your deity form only have one shoe and branches in your hair?"
"Apparently because that's how it was when I first used the power, now it's locked." They began walking. "Now come on, we should start checking if anyone broke down that one dimensional gate." A long eternity indeed.