True Colors: A Steven Universe Story

Episode I: The Man in the Monastery

      As another day on Earth begins, the sun creeps up above the horizon and slowly rises into the sky, and just as it surpasses the mountain's peak, the world around it begins to awake. Trees resume growing, slow as ever. All the while, red pandas begin to scurry amongst their branches, and at their roots, yaks and tahrs graze the sparse mountain grass. For them, life continues as it always has. Not far from them, there sits an abandoned Taoist monastery. Life goes on for it, too, much to its detriment: In many places, its walls have crumbled, its ceilings have fallen in, creeper vines cover many of its surfaces—and yet, a sense of calm and serenity permeates through its halls.

      This calm is interrupted as a cerulean beam of light shoots from atop a faceted platform in the center of the monastery, causing the vines to rustle and the dust to shift. As the beam subsides, the figure of a large Gem materializes. He steps off of the warp pad, and as he walks his full stature becomes apparent. He stands just above two meters tall, and he carries enough bulk to look proportionally humanoid. His skin and hair are a bold green, as is the gemstone on his face where a nose would normally be. He wears a cloak of a similar color with light gold trim, all held together with a circular clasp adorned with a gold star signifying his allegiance to the Crystal Gems. He's known as Emerald, and he's just one of the many veterans of the war for Planet Earth.

      As he walks the halls of his home, treading lightly despite his size, he lights lanterns along the walls, and eventually the building is lit by a warm glow throughout. In his off hand, he carries a cloth bundle holding food for the animals around the monastery, scented candles, supplies for making tea, and various other items. Every once in a while he uses his warp pad to go down to the nearest village to restock certain essentials of his, as well as visit with some human friends he has. He always comes back with something new, too: This time it was the tea, a beverage his friends in the village said he might enjoy. For a moment as he walks, he thinks to himself what wonderful creatures humans are, and though the battles for Earth remain terrifying as ever in his memory, he is happy he could help save it for their sake.

      He reaches the doorway at the end of the hall, leading out to his favorite spot in the monastery. It's a small clearing at the edge of a cliff, empty save for two trees that block out the sun, but miraculously don't block the view of the surrounding mountains. In the center of the clearing, Emerald lays out a blanket and set the candles around it, lighting each one. He sits cross-legged in the center, and begins to meditate. Emerald had become incredibly spiritual and a devout pacifist after the rebellion—it was his thought that, by pursuing peace and happiness, he could avoid conflict. He'd found that neither humans nor Gems were capable of avoiding such conflict, so he moved to the monastery—Alone with nature, whose only concern is maintaining its own never-ending cycle. Somehow, he'd found peace with it and, thus, peace within his own mind. It was a lonely existence he lived, yet somehow, it was enough for him. Thus, there he sits: eyes closed, sitting on his blanket, content with his peaceful life.

      Across the mountain range, however, there sit the people that would disrupt his peace. Three Gems—one pink, one purple, and one yellow—look out at his home through two parted stones, doing their best to hide themselves.

      "Is this who we're looking for?" the yellow one inquires.

      "Seems so, yeah," the pink Gem replies. She turns a knob on one side of her visor, focusing it on Emerald. "There's only one there, though, from what I see. Didn't Septarian say there'd be two?"

      "The other one's probably just inside," the purple one suggests. "What're we waiting for, anyway? I'm excited to see how this plays out!" she adds, cracking her knuckles as she says so.

      "C'mon, Ame', don't be like that" the pink Gem replied. "We need their help, remember? If we go in expecting a fight, they might get weirded out. We need to make a good first impression, y'know?". The purple Gem relaxes and nods, knowing her comrade had the right idea.

      "Alright, it looks like the one on the cliff's asleep or something." the pink one says, readjusting her visor. "Let's move".

      With that, they leap down the cliffside and make their way to Emerald's home.

      Still sitting in the clearing, Emerald contemplates silently with himself. He thinks about the war, about the humans he knows, about how he misses seeing Gems in a strange way—mostly, though, he thinks about how he can't quite clear his mind today. Normally when he meditates he thinks about nothing, unburdening his mind of troubling thoughts and woes. Today, though, something felt off. He couldn't identify what it was, but one thing was for sure: he wasn't going to be able to focus right now. With a sigh, he gets up and gathers the items he'd set out, tucking them back in the bundle for later. As he walks back inside, he hears a loud crash reverberate off the walls, followed by echoes of hushed whispers. Startled, he drops the bundle and presses himself against a wall. He thinks for a moment what it could be—an animal of some kind, maybe? No, that wouldn't explain the whispering—what about burglars? But this far up in the mountains? No, no, it couldn't be. Oh, goodness, what if it's one of those corrupted Gems? These questions flood Emerald's mind at first, but he manages to calm himself. He decides that, whatever it is, he should be prepared for the worst. He spots a sizable broken roof brace on the ground and, psyching himself up for the encounter, he wields it like a club and walks slowly towards the sound.

      "Watch it!" says the pink Gem in a hushed yell. On the other side of the monastery, the three trespassers had entered through the main doors of the building, only to accidentally knock over a planter with one of them. In a whisper, she adds "They probably know we're here by now."

      "Sorry, sorry!" the yellow Gem replies, mimicking her comrade's quiet voice.

      "Whatever, just stay low and stay quiet. Pull out your weapons, too."

      "What happened to not expecting a fight, huh?" the purple Gem adds, smirking slightly as she says it.

      "Now that we broke their stuff, they might not be too happy to see us", replies the pink gem, justifying her hypocrisy. "Just be ready for anything, got it?". Nodding, all three summon their weapons—a mace, a lasso, and a pair of tonfas respectively. Slowly and stealthily, they make their way along the walls of the monastery, wondering if within them lied what they were looking for.

      The two parties gradually close in on each other, and soon they come to the same corner. Both press themselves against their walls, knowing that the other waits only one turn away. Emerald readies his make-shift bludgeon, holding it above his shoulder ready to swing. The trio of Gems prepared themselves as well, all ready to strike at once. Neither dared to move—both were awaiting some signal. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, both let out the breath they'd been holding, and both take that as their notice to act. In an instant, both round the corner with a yell. Emerald swings his club wildly, but it's quickly blocked by one of the pink Gem's tonfas. Instinctively, she strikes him hard in the stomach with the other, knocking him onto the floor with a loud thud. Before the larger Gem can recover, the pink Gem holds the long end of her tonfa at his face, and her comrades close in behind her for backup. All four stand silently for a moment, both because of the shock of the situation and the awkwardness of it all. Emerald is the first to break the silence, thinking that a bit of good humor would ease the tension. "Sorry about that," he says with a smile, "but I wasn't exactly expecting visitors".

      Realizing the aggressive position she was in, the pink Gem backs off and unsummons her weapons, her teammates doing the same. She helps Emerald to his feet and mirrors his smile, though hers ends up being more embarrassed than good-humored.

      "Well, we should probably be the ones apologizing," she says, "We did sort of break into your home here".

      "And we knocked over that plant," chimes in the yellow gem from behind her.

     Emerald, kind as always, replies to their apology with a shrug and a smile. "Oh, don't worry about it," he says. "No hearts broken, after all, just objects". Remembering both his manners and his dropped bundle of goods, Emerald asks "Would you like some tea?".