[The prologue takes place a few years before the events of the show]
Steven floated around aimlessly in an endless void.
It was cold, dark, and lifeless. Steven could barely see his own hands.
Sharp, howling wind whipped around him and at his face, as cold as ice.
He shivered, hugging himself in hopes of warming himself up just a little bit.
Then, he spotted a glow.
He saw a glowing silhouette that somewhat resembled a human. It was much taller than any person he'd ever seen though.
Steven couldn't say exactly, but it looked to be even taller than Garnet.
It tilted its head curiously, peering down at Steven with glowing pink eyes.
Steven felt a warm, comforting feeling from it, which was a nice change from the freezing emptiness of the abyss. It almost felt like he was connected to this figure somehow.
Steven reached out to the figure, but his vision suddenly went white.
-
Then, he appeared in the bubble room.
This was getting really strange. Steven has never even been in the bubble room, he's just seen it from the doorway to the temple when the gems would go in for something.
He heard whispers and hushed voices, almost as if they were pulling him somewhere.
He followed the whispers. He couldn't make out anything that they were saying.
The voices got louder and louder, to the point to where it hurt his ears. Then, he noticed that the whispers seemed to be coming from above him.
He reached up, and all the sudden he was lifted into the air.
He let out a small yell, no longer feeling the warm stone floor beneath him.
In front of him was a teal bubble. Inside of it was a diamond shaped pink gem. Or was it purple? He couldn't quite tell from the hue of the bubble.
He went to grab the bubble, but as soon as he touched it, his vision went white again.
-
Steven woke up with a gasp.
He rubbed the sleepiness out of his pink eyes with a groan. He's had this dream almost every night for the past week.
It had to mean something; he just had to figure out what.
And the answers were in the bubble room.
-
After putting on his slippers, Steven stood in front of the temple door. He knew what he needed to do, but there was one problem.
He didn't know how to get through the temple door.
He pondered on ways to open the door.
The gems would use their powers to get in, but Steven didn't have a gem.
So how exactly does he get it open?
'Hmmmm...'
-
After many failed attempts to get the door open, he let out a groan and sank down next to the door.
He was never gonna get this stupid door open.
Should he try one more time? There's no shame in trying one last time.
He closed his eyes and focused hard.
He held his breath and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
He could do this. He just had to believe in himself.
He was Steven Universe - the son of the Rose Quartz.
He had to have inherited something from her, other than his eyes.
'Come on.. please open...'
Soon enough, he heard a magical chime.
He opened his eyes and the temple door was open, and the bubble room was behind it.
He grinned.
If he can open the temple door, then perhaps he inherited some of his mother's powers after all.
Steven stepped through the door and it closed behind him.
Thankfully, the gems were on a mission so they wouldn't be back for a while; a couple hours at least.
He remembered the location of the gem was near the top of the ceiling, which was very high.
Amethyst had told him one time that Rose had levitation abilities, and thought about it.
There was no shame in testing it.
He closed his eyes, focusing on levitating.
Although he felt disappointed when he didn't jump any higher than he normally would.
If he wanted to get to this gem, he would have to climb the bubbles.
-
After a lot of very careful climbing, and making sure not to put too much weight on the bubbles, he saw the bubbled gem and reached for it.
He held the bubble in his hands, peering at the gem inside.
Then, all of the sudden, his foot slipped.
He let out a scream as he plummeted to the ground.
He hit the stone floor harshly. He was pretty sure he didn't break or sprain anything, but he was gonna be sore for a while.
He looked down at the gem, seeing that the bubble had popped during the fall.
The gem immediately started to glow, rising up into the air.
It started to take form, starting from the naval.
Then the torso, then her limbs, then her head.
Then the gem stopped glowing in her full form.
She had pink skin, and a blob of fluffy white hair with a fuschia tint to it.
She opened her eyes, revealing peculiar diamond shaped pupils.
Steven found it a tad odd. None of the Crystal Gems had pupils like that.
Maybe this gem was different.
-
It was silent - the only noise was the magma churning in the stone well in the center of the room.
"W-where am I?" The gem asked, breaking said silence.
Steven stood up and brushed his banana colored pajamas off.
But once he stood up, the gem panicked.
She backed up against the wall, getting as far away from Steven as she could.
She looked scared... no. She looked beyond terrified.
Steven felt bad for her.
"Hey.. I'm not gonna hurt you," he raised his hands up, trying to show that he was harmless.
The gem still looked wary, but she soon realized that she had no other option than to trust Steven.
Steven held out his hand and the gem, and she hesitantly took it.
"My name is Steven," Steven said to her. "Who are you?"
"I'm... my name is..." The gem stammered.
"...I-I don't remember."
---
A/N: Sorry for this shitty ass chapter. I'll try to do better in the next chapter.
Also, if you guys are curious about her base form, it's not her outfit in the show. Her base form in this is more like Amethyst's when she gets rebooted in the movie, but without the mannequin limbs.
Word count: 1082