Chapter 25: Small Hiccup

Chapter 25: Small Hiccup

~Liam POV~

"Hello, Lars!"

Ah, I really like this new Luck boost of mine.

I saw a kid wearing a shirt with a star on the middle, sandals, and blue jeans talking to Lars like an over-excited kid as I see him asking for food.

Well, this makes my job a bit easier now that I can ask him what I want.

"Here you go, sir."

My thoughts are interrupted as I saw Sadie give me the box filled with donuts Steven glanced at me as I pay for the food along with hot chocolate, "Thanks. Here the amount takes the rest as a tip miss."

Handing the money over Sadie began to talk to Steven as he was getting overly excited about the situation I didn't mind and began eating outside.

Munch.

Munch.

Munch.

Gulp.

Ahh…

Downing down all the donuts along with the hot chocolate makes eating the donuts easier as I waited outside.

When I was waiting for Steven to come out as he began to go with his day as I decided to make some contact with him, "Yo kid. You live around these parts?"

He stops at that as he glanced at me as he questions me with genuine curiosity, "Yup mister. I'm Steven and are you new to Beach City?"

Nodding at this playing along with Steven I decided to go with the befriend route first before I go threatening Steven since the concept of threatening a kid will leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Doesn't matter just want to keep my options open and knowing this kid's personality would help out with my goals of convincing the Crystal Gems so long as I provide help to Steven.

Heh.

In all likely hood, they have no genuine idea how to raise a kid much less a human one so maybe trading some things about common knowledge will be useful to them.

Steven smiles brightly at this as he began to talk to me happy about the whole idea, "Wow! In that case how about I show you around Beach City and also the Crystal Gems!"

Right.

Forgot that this kid doesn't have a common sense yet.

Or even a sense of danger for that matter.

Whatever helps me obtain my goals faster I suppose would be more ideal.

Nodding my head in agreement I let Steven show me around the place of Beach City while keeping my friendly attitude the better to convince the kid.

Shame his deadbeat of a dad didn't send him to his parents so that Steven could have had a normal life away from the chaos.

Even if it didn't at least though it would have had Steven get a better chance and future.

Sigh…

And there is no way I'm leaving a Diamond as powerful as him around.

Truly his out of luck.

Just so Greg could put that life away for music and didn't care about his son not leaving him in his parent's place.

As the process was ongoing I made sure to endure Steven's talks about being the best place as time was soon closing up he began to take me to his place showing me his home The Beach House home of Steven Universe and serves as the entrance to the Crystal Temple.

But I was honestly more so impressed with the Crystal Temple than anything else honestly.

The Crystal Temple is a sacred place where the Crystal Gems live. It is their base from which they plan how to protect humanity.

Inside, the Temple itself is composed of several cavernous rooms, all of which are connected through the Crystal Heart and accessed with the Temple Gate.

Built in front of the entrance of the Temple is a beach house, which serves as Steven's home.

The beach house that surrounds the entrance of the temple was built by Greg around the time when Steven was a toddler.

The beach house was constructed to give Steven a safe home with normal human house rooms and utilities, such as a kitchen, porch, bedroom, and bathroom. He was unable to use his abilities as a Gem yet, and thus, Rose's room was inaccessible for an extended period of time.

The statue on the face of the Crystal Temple is of Obsidian the fusion of Rose Quartz, Pearl, Ruby, Sapphire, and Amethyst.

Oh yeah, and the fusion weapon replica sword is at the bottom of the ocean.

Does it work or is it just decorations?

Whatever the case is Steven leads me to his beach house home as he came and announces to the Crystal Gems, "Hey guys I'm home! Pear! Garnet! Amethyst! I brought over a new friend new to Beach City!"

Like that the rest of the Crystal Gems came coming as I kept myself with a smiling face on me being genuine about it.

They came over to Steven as they are concerned but are wary at me glancing my eyes over to Garnet, she stiffed up a bit before easing up.

Ah.

The wonders of seeing into the future and curses it brings.

Pearl went towards Steven lecturing him in concern and wary of me as she spoke, "Steven! You came home late mister. And who is your uh… new companion…"

Waving at them I began to reply to them in a kind manner not wanting to escalate things, "Pleasure to meet you Pearl is it? Didn't want to assume since Steven is talking about the Crystal Gems. The name is Liam Angstrom."

Pearl still cautious of me replied to me as she tried to be polite to me, "Liam. Thanks for watching Steven shouldn't you be going home soon?"

Playing coy to Pearl and appease to her personality a bit I decided to be honest trying to give Steven the idea he needs, "I could but I've been interested in who these Crystal Gems are. I hope it's not too much trouble but I was wondering what are Gems?"

Like that they expressed a genuine confusion as I began to clarify what I meant, "It's just to satisfy my curiosity although if it's too much trouble I could wait – "

"WAIT!"

Bingo.

Steven the eager one then announced his grand idea as he began to speak out, "I have an idea how about a sleepover! We can have Liam stay over with Pearl to teach us! I always wanted to have a sleepover!"

Taking a side glance at Pearl she then expressed joy at this while Amethyst looked annoyed at this, "Ugh! Nerds! I'll see you guys later I have a date with a bed to sleep in tonight! Later hombre."

Not even a few minutes in and Amethyst is bored already learning about her own kind.

To be expected from her because she really doesn't like to bring that up and how she is practically inferior to her own race because of it.

Ah, alien squabbles are truly something to take the abuse of.

Every human favorite pastime.

That and taking advantage Peral's personality.

Pearl is a perfectionist who is knowledgeable on a plethora of topics that value organization. Pearl has a penchant for symmetry and very high attention to detail.

Despite her perfectionism and occasional bragging, Pearl suffers from low self-esteem she admits she is very dependent on others to validate her, which loops into a strong inferiority complex.

She needs everyone's constant approval to feel secure.

Without anyone to tell her what to do or to depend on her, Pearl feels lost without meaning or value.

Pearl admits she often feels extremely weak and/or useless when compared to others who appear better than her, going so far as to describe herself as ineffective on her own; always in need of a leader, she can follow, thinking she has very little power to affect others, partly because her low self-esteem leads her to believe she lacks the relevance to be influential.

Her self-deprecating tendencies stem from the Homeworld caste values, where Pearls are viewed as property rather than Gems.

Hmm…

Note to self maybe recreate my own personal Peral in the future.

Then again that's asking for too much trouble worth.

Out of all the Crystal Gems, Pearl is the most poorly adjusted to life on Earth, being unaware of human social conventions and culture, such as jokes, games, arcades, food, and birthday parties.

Knowing this Pearl thinks for a bit before she agreed with me nodding as she gets happy to be used again.

Guess there are some kinks that made her useful to how she is and not out of real love for Earth but for her master's love for it.

Quite a beautiful but ugly thing to know the truth.

At least though this helps me out getting a better understanding and resources at the ready when they are mentally unable to keep it together.

That's what the show Steven universe shows a bunch of happy-go heroes each having a mental instability to them that they hide.

Like that Pearl went into full-on teacher mode as she began to explain to me and Steven about her Homeworld in great detail as I gesture along listening to valuable information about the whole thing.

However, before she could continue Steven managed to sleep as she sighs at this disappointment with the results, "Oh… I guess Steven is asleep about the whole Gem School… but mister Liam you seem to be more than awake? Would you like to continue more?"

I nodded in agreement but fake yawned as I began to get up and ask the big question, "Ahhh~ Yeah but you know us humans do get tired. Shame really. I truly wanted to learn more about the Gems and use the Warp Pad at least once."

The conflicted expression on her face was good as gold seeing that her use is coming to an end.

And through her paranoia of being useless showing, she began to regain her calmness as she pulls out the two certain items I needed as she spoke, "Well… considering how good everything went I don't mind lending you these. I mean since you are eager for Gem culture I'll indulge your curiosity."

Yup.

These are just the items I need to make my trip here all worthwhile and listen to Gem technology.

The Warp Whistle and The Mirror.

Bingo.

These are just the items I need.

…

Pretending to be sleeping inside the Beach House glancing at the items as Pearl allowed for me to sleep over just as she promised Steven I began to go through numerous plans and waited for Pearl to leave.

Thinking.

Just thinking about what the best course is next with the items I have obtained.

Let's begin with the Warp Whistle.

The Warp Whistle is a musical instrument shaped like a flute. It can remotely activate Warp Pads when played, allowing humans to activate warp pads. It resembles a recorder and is printed with diagonal blue, light blue, and white stripes.

The bad news with the Warp Whistle is the fact that when blowing in it, thus activating the Warp Pad, alerting the Gems that they need to return.

That's incredibly bad but for now useful at this time at least until I can convince the ally I needed for water-based dimensions.

A good example is One Piece for one.

Plus she is in a very vulnerable state after years of loneliness...

Lapis Lazuli.

How it reveals the importance is the fact it ties to the very mirror in my hand seeing it's the real deal once Pearl left.

An ornate design of silver-blue metallic material comprises the backing and handle of the mirror; Lapis' cracked gemstone was affixed to its back. The mirror itself is a round piece of reflective blue glass with a faint contour of an octagonal gemstone etched on its surface.

Lapis Lazuli is pretty much the only reliable ally I could take with me in Steven Universe because of her personality and loss.

Before incarceration she was like most of her former Homeworld peers in that she had no qualms over terraforming planets and was openly dismissive of and callous towards non-Gem life before meeting Steven; before having her gemstone healed she stated she 'never believed in' Earth as a planet.

However, the suffering of being trapped for nearly 6,000 years has changed her deeply into a deep depression or desperation to escape.

It was a recurring theme for her to be used by others and these experiences have cemented in her a general mistrust of others.

Furious and unable to easily let things go, she initially harbored hatred and mistrust for the Crystal Gems since they knew she was in the mirror but never helped.

Honestly, I would be the same and go crazy if something like that were to happen to me.

Makes me almost glad that I'm fully human… almost.

This trust issue she has is something she greatly troubling for most people except for the one occasion that could change her mood to trust…

Someone saving her.

​​​​​​On the other hand, Lapis opened up to Steven for showing kindness toward her, being the one to free her, and healing her cracked gem.

By doing that I would gain the ally I need as well as explain the background info she needs to know before her untimely imprisonment in the mirror with the Crystal Gems clearly ignoring her.

It's their loss that they ignored her and I gain a valuable ally.

Quite sad really that she was caught in the wrong place and at the wrong time.

Lapis visited Earth during the era of its Gem colonization and was caught in the midst of the Rebellion, the preceding event to the Gem War.

While trying to escape the planet, she was poofed by Bismuth. Homeworld's forces recovered her gemstone but believed her to be a Crystal Gem and an enemy of Homeworld, resulting in her incarceration in a magical mirror.

Homeworld intended to question her for information about the Rebels and Rose Quartz, but Lapis was unable to answer.

The Homeworld Gems eventually fled the planet having lost the war over Earth to the Crystal Gems. Lapis' mirror was left at the Galaxy Warp, trampled by retreating Gems and cracked. Thousands of years on, the mirror is recovered by Pearl and stored inside her gemstone.

That and she is a good powerhouse to have in water-based dimensions.

She took the whole ocean of Earth and raised it up in the air to get herself the boost she needs to leave the planet.

If she can do that to the planet Earth with that much ease… I can just tell she becomes a great asset outside her home dimension in water-based worlds taking control of the ocean to use as she sees fit.

Taking out the mirror I saw my expression on it as it began to contort and change everything around it to speak to me.

Smirking a bit I began to use my Telepathy to speak to her Gem since it still has her sentience inside making my thoughts be cleared, 'Uh… hello anyone inside the Gem? Testing here if any form of sentience is inside?'

The Mirror stopped contorting at that like it or rather Lapis began to hear my thoughts and tried to connect, 'What… wait can I hear you? Does that mean you can hear me… human?'

Nodding at this since I'm going off the bases that Lapis can see me through the reflection I began to reply back as I made some small talk, 'Looks like I was right. Seems to me you are a Gem I heard from the Crystal Gems talks about your species, but can you tell me why are you trapped in the mirror?'

No beating around the bush I played to see how Lapis would react to this as she began to speak through my Telepathy, 'What… it was the Crystal Gems fault that I got trapped inside, to begin with! Because of them… I wouldn't be trapped like this.'

Like that Lapis began to give me her info about what's happened to her and the events leading towards the great Gem war rebellion on Earth that Rose fought so hard for in more or less the gory details of the event.

Ouch.

However, it seems like even Lapis knew at this point she knew that her own Homeworld already sealed her in for questioning but never revealed the fact that they considered her a traitor colliding with the Crystal Gems at the time.

Interesting.

When she was done speaking out her feelings and everything out I asked with concern about her mental state of her, 'Whoa… sounds like you have it rough especially with your Gem is cracked as shown in the mirror.'

And I had to fuel more concerns with Lapis as she began to reply to me about her crack, 'Wait… my crack? Oh, my Diamonds I have a crack on my Gem! No. No… NO!'

Huh?

Guess she didn't realize that as I expressed a concerned look on her giving her an alternative to her issue, 'Well it seems like you need to have your Gem healed. Hmm… I might be able to help you out with that actually. Although you might deal with a side effect the healing would be great.'

Hearing my offer silence was what I met with.

Well…

I gave her some time before she finally replied to me almost with a quivering hopeful manner in her voice, 'P-Positive… you mean you know… a means to heal my Gem Crack… you aren't just tricking me right?'

Nope.

I gave her the idea of what I was talking about on where to send her to heal herself to her normal self again but the side effects are what the real issue lies.

Taking out the item of interest I got it from the PDA taking out a suitcase opening it up to show inside rows of syringe barrels all containing golden water.

This was a side project I had in the works when I sent my drones in different dimensions and one of them found this magical water.

This one I got from my side projects cleaning up HOTD and sending my drones to search other dimensions and catch the video feeds.

When my drone found it I began to research it and my powers telling what the dimension is and where it originated thanks to the surgery updating my brain to hold more information.

The dimension I'm talking about is located in the Star vs the Forces of Evil or to be more specifically a realm.

Realm of Magic.

The Realm of Magic is an outside dimension where magic originates and travels to all dimensions through a series of ascending gold-colored waterfalls. The realm is home to several unicorns.

Anyone who enters the Realm of Magic soon loses their memories and is reduced to a childish state, but this usually wears off soon after they leave the dimension. The unicorns within the Realm of Magic are immune to this effect.

But after some research and finding that dimension, it appears to have an interesting effect on any living being and objects that I found.

The gold water appears to have healing capabilities, or it reverts things back to their original state.

I even tested it out on my own body to gain the same properties of it whenever I'm injured or I purposely break my own bones.

As the saying goes whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Even briefly repairs objects to their original state to a degree.

Fortunately, enough I made enough tests that only some exposure to the magical water will heal it and only being in the dimension where the child mentality would begin.

The first test subject was me as I tried it when I felt that some of my memories were beginning to be forgotten but once leaving, I was able to retain them.

But when I left the dimension right away I managed to regain my memories again and on some tests there but the water is safe to consume but also a hypothesis that I now gain the affinity to use every magic but that's for another time.

Showing Lapis, the containers of syringes as I take one out, I began to explain to her what it can do for her, 'This here is magic water from another realm. The healing effects would heal your crack for sure and return it to its original effects.'

'*Sob*'

'*Sob*'

Hearing this I managed to hear tears from her thoughts as I was a bit off guard on this as I sigh out loud hearing her words, 'This… this sounds all too good to be true… please can you help me get out of this prison… just take my Gem out of the mirror and destroy the mirror.'

Nodding at this I took the careful steps to leave the area as I made my way outside silently and maneuvered outside the sand within seconds.

…

*Fwoosh*

Leaving a trail of dust in my wake halfway around an area I couldn't help but twitch my smirk at the scene in front of me, "Really? Couldn't you at least go away and leave me alone by pure chance big lady?"

*Boom*

Slamming her fist together Garnet made it clear her intention as she adjusted her glasses glaring her three eyes at me, "Sorry but no. Not when someone is endangering the Crystal Gems and the one in the mirror. Especially Steven. You're NOT taking his Gem."

Note to self-kill any future sightseers.

Because they are really annoying to interfere with my plans although the idea of taking Steven's diamond is tempting but…

Sigh.

No matter I'll simply take what I can get no matter what.