Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Ah, Paris!" Steven said as he stretched his arms in the Parisian air. The group of Steven, Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst and Connie were walking on a street toward the Champ de Mars. "Hey! Are we gonna get some croissants?" Steven asked excitedly. "Oh and maybe one of those French hats!"

"They're called 'berets'," Connie corrected. "Pearl," she exclaimed when they had reached the Eiffel Tower, "take a picture of us! My mom wanted lots of pictures of Paris. She's so jealous."

Pearl snapped the photo from Connie's phone.

"Steven," Garnet said after picture time was done, "what direction to you think the house was in?"

Steven thought for a minute. "I think it may have been west. And it was pretty close, too."

Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl did their dance to form Alexandrite. She lifted Steven up on her shoulder so he could get a better view.

"Do any of the buildings look like they could be the house?" the fusion asked.

"Well," Steven responded, "I never really saw the outside." He looked around from his perch on Alexandrite's shoulder. "All I see are a bunch of buildings. Nothing that looks like it could be a mansion."

"Maybe you got the direction wrong," the giant woman said.

"It's possible," Steven responded. "Let's try south."

They did this with each of the four directions of the tower, each resulting the same way: nada, zilch, zero, zip. Alexandrite lowered Steven to the ground and unfused.

"What do we do now?" Amethyst asked.

"Oo!" Connie gasped. She reached into her backpack and pulled out some papers. "It's a good thing Steven and I worked on these drawings before we left." She handed them to Steven as he looked them over. One was of the clothing logo; one of the boy; and one of the woman.

"We can go into boutiques and see if we can find the logo. And while we do that, we can also ask people if they know who the people in these drawings are. And I can get more pictures for my mom."

"Sounds like a plan," Garnet said.

"And I have an app on phone that will help us translate our conversations into French," Connie said.

Pearl chuckled in her least condescending tone. "Connie, we've been here for over 5,000 years. We have yet to find a language that we can't speak. We can even speak a few of the dead ones."

"Half of my mom went into me. Do you think I might know those languages, too?" Steven asked.

"Maybe you know half her languages," Amethyst commented.

"Lemme try it!" Steven ran up to a passerby with the picture of the boy. "Excusez-moi, monsieur, connaissez-vous quelqu'un qui pourrait ressembler à ce garçon."

The unknown man stared intently at the picture. "Non," he said.

"Merci quand même," Steven responded as he ran back to Connie and the Gems, his eyes wide. "I can speak French! I wish I had known about this when Dad and I went to Korea."

Connie looked at her phone. "I guess I should let you guys do the talking."

After that small discovery, the group proceeded to the closest boutique to start their search.

The white flash of life on the warp pad signaled the quintet's return to Steven's house.

"We're back!" Steven shouted. He and Connie were both wearing their brand new, matching blue berets. After a quick glance around the house, Steven noticed the house was empty. "Hm. Dad must have gone back to the car wash."

The group made their way to the couch and proceeded to sit around the coffee table. Connie texted her mom as she walked to let her know she got back to Steven's in one piece.

"We spent all day walking around Paris and found no semblance of this," Pearl motioned to the paper with the "G" on it, "what did you call it again?"

"A logo," Connie replied.

"And no one had even seen those people you saw," Amethyst cut in.

"Maybe this isn't worth figuring out," Steven said. "Amethyst and I are fine."

"But we don't want it to happen again," Garnet said. "Someone could be attacking quartzes, and we need to know who and why."

"Maybe it isn't connected to my dream," Steven said.

"It's the only lead we've got," Garnet replied.

"Maybe the logo is connected to Homeworld somhow," Pearl conjectured.

"Peridot might know," Steven said.

"Can we go tomorrow?" Connie asked. "I'm exhausted. And my dad's already on his way to come get me."

"Yeah," Steven added, "walking around Paris all day was fun, but I could really use some rest."

"Fine," Garnet said. "We'll pick this up tomorrow."

"I'll meet you guys at the barn," Connie said as she headed toward the door. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Connie," Steven said back.

"Steven!" Connie shouted when she noticed him and the other gems heading toward the barn. She had been standing at the entrance to the barn talking to Peridot and Lapis Lazuli.

"Connie!" Steven shouted back as he picked up his pace. "You got here before us," he said when he finally caught up to her.

"I woke up early, and I didn't have anything better to do," the black-haired girl said to her best friend, "so I just figured I'd come here." She turned to Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet as they had caught up to the group now. "I filled them in on what's going on."

Garnet gave a cool thumbs up.

"Whatever this is," Peridot said, referring to Connie and Steven's drawings, which she was currently holding in her hands, "doesn't pertain to Homeworld."

"Another dead end," Amethyst said.

"Well," Peridot asked, pensively, "are you sure you were in the right Paris?"

Everyone gave Peridot a confused look, even Lapis.

"Like," Connie asked, "Paris, Starstate?"

Steven looked wide-eyed at Connie. "There's a Paris, Starstate?"

Peridot looked confused. "There's a Starstate? There's more than one place called, "Paris," on this planet?"

"Twenty-three, to be exact," Pearl chimed in.

"Do they all have these . . . towers? As you called them?" Peridot asked.

"Most of them do," Connie responded.

Peridot shook her head. "There are still many things about this planet I have yet to comprehend. Anyways, I was referring to the multi-verse."

"The what?" Amethyst asked.

"You know, the multi-verse." Peridot was met with more confused looks. "Alternate dimensions? You clods really don't know about the multi-verse?"

Connie grabbed the green gem's shoulders and looked at her with a fiery determination in her eyes. "Are you telling me the multi-verse theory is real?!"

"Theory!" Peridot laughed haughtily as she removed herself from Connie's grip. "You earthlings are so behind. Homeworld has proven the existence of alternate dimensions."

"Um," Steven interjected, "for those of us that don't know what this multi-verse thing is, could you please explain it?"

"There are multiple dimensions," the green gem explained, "each with their own universe. And within each universe, there is a different version of each planet. Just like Homeworld is one of many in the multi-verse, so is Earth."

"So," Connie asked, "you think this person that Steven went into was on an Earth from a different dimension?"

"Well," Peridot said, "that was my initial thought. But maybe it's one of the 22 other Parises."

"We can't visit all of the other Parises," Pearl said. "Steven and Connie have human bodily functions they need to take care of. Like eating and sleeping. And Connie has all of those . . . lessons . . . she has."

"Maybe we can do a web search for the logo," Connie suggested.

"Web?" Lapis asked.

"Yeah," Steven said, "on the Internet."

The confused look on Lapis's face remain unchanged.

"It's like," Connie explained, "when a bunch of computers talk to each other."

Lapis still looked confused.

"Like control services?" Peridot asked.

"That thing that was on the moonbase?" Steven responded. "Yeah."

"I get it now," Lapis responded.

"So if we find the logo in another city," Garnet said, "we'll know to go there. And if you don't find it, we're going to need to find a way to get to the other dimension."

"And we'll need to figure out which dimension it is," Peridot added.

Connie looked at Steven. "We should probably go to my house. We'll have all the equipment we'll need there."

Pearl started walking toward the chalkboard. "I can start drawing up the blueprints." She turned toward Peridot. "Unless you would like to make this a collaborative effort."

"You really think you can do this without my knowledge?" the technician-gem retorted.

"Couldn't you just use Steven's lion?" Lapis asked.

"I don't know if he's even capable of inter-dimensional travel," Steven replied.

"And I'm not so sure it's a good idea if we try to find out," Amethyst added. "Who knows where we could end up?"

"Good point," Lapis said.

"I'm calling my dad to come get us," Connie said to Steven as she dialed said father on her phone.

"I'm calling my dad to fill him in on everything," Steven said to Connie. He looked toward Garnet. "I'll be back when we find out if we're staying on this Earth."

Connie and Steven couldn't find the logo anywhere on the Internet. They knew what that meant: Steven had gone into someone from another dimension. That was where Connie's parents drew the line. They would let her go to Paris and the Great North, but travelling to a parallel Earth in a machine built in a barn was just too dangerous for their daughter. But she was able to come and help build the machine when she didn't have school, tennis, or violin lessons. It turned out that even without knowledge of gem technology, Connie was a quick study. Even Peridot admitted she was proving to be an asset.

Building a dimension-travelling machine proved to be quite a difficult task. The up-side was that the only technology that was capable of that kind of travel was at the galaxy warp. Which meant further destroying the galaxy warp. The only gem that wasn't happy at that prospect was Lapis.

Construction seemed to go faster than construction of the drill due to the two extra sets of hands they had this time around. Before they knew it, the dimension ship was done. They'd taken Peridot's old pod off of the drill and used extra materials around the barn to expand it in order to accommodate more bodies. The long, metal legs that shot out from the top had been taken off, cut down to about two feet, and placed on the bottom. Peridot also insisted they be retractable.

The next step was to see if they could get co-ordinates from the Moon Base. Steven had to convince Lion with a lot of extra snacks. Since not everyone could fit on him, only Steven, Connie, Peridot and Pearl went. (Connie had just as much fun as Steven floating up to the control service.)

"Hm," Peridot grunted, looking at the screen.

"What's wrong?" Steven asked.

"This control service is older than the discovery of the multi-verse," Peridot responded.

"So," Pearl said, "they don't have a file on it?"

"Well," Peridot said smugly as she tapped through various things on the surface of the service, "it'd be impossible to keep a file on every single alternate dimension as those possibilities are endless. It's just that this service doesn't have access to the search servers."

"Can we get access to the search servers?" Connie asked.

"It would be easier if the communication tower was functional--" Peridot started to say.

"Oh, no," Pearl interrupted. "We are not repairing that tower."

"Of course not!" Peridot responded. "But I might be able to access a search server from here."  She gave a smug look. "I'd have to go in secretly though."

"How sure are you that we won't be noticed?" Pearl asked.

The green gem looked directly at the white one. "I called Yellow Diamond a clod. Do you really think I want them finding me poking around through their services?"

"Alright," Pearl said tentatively, "but one sign of trouble, and you get out of there quick."

Peridot rolled her eyes. "I know Homeworld's systems like the back of my touch stumps. I won't be detected."

The technician gem worked her way through the control service while she guided Pearl, Connie, and Steven through reorganizing various wirings and other gem technologies. It took an hour for Peridot to hack into Homeworld's search servers, and another hour to find the right dimension.

"Are you sure that's the right dimension?" Pearl asked.

"Well, to say it's the "right" dimension is not entirely accurate," Peridot responded. "It's the most likely possibility; the probability that this is the dimension you want is 95%. There's still a 5% chance of error. Which is why I'm creating this list of the top five. If it's not that one, it should be the other one. Just note that choices one, three and four are dimensions where Homeworld never invaded Earth."

"And you're sure no one from Homeworld knows you were in their system?" Pearl asked cautiously.

"I erased any evidence of my workings in their servers," Peridot replied confidently. "They'll never know we were looking around in there."

Pearl grabbed the data, and the four of them climbed onto Lion and headed back to the barn.

The next day was departure day for Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. Peridot enjoyed the last time she got to defend Beach City and was looking forward to doing it again. Lapis was apathetic about the whole situation. And Pearl was confident she could handle the dimension ship and any malfunctions they may have.

Steven had wanted to make sure his dad knew he was leaving so he could give Greg and Connie a proper goodbye. Plus it also gave him time to pack.

"Be safe, Schtewball," Greg said to his son as he rubbed Steven's hair. "Aw, c'mere." He knelt down and opened his arms for Steven to give him a hug, which Steven gladly walked into.

After a long hug, Greg got up and turned to the crystal gems. He raised his hand to the back and scratched it sheepishly. "Take good care of my boy. He means a lot to me, ya know."

"He means a lot to us, too, Greg," Garnet responded. "We'll make sure he comes back safe and sound."

"Don't break yourselves," Peridot said to the group, but more to Steven than anyone else, as she was fighting to hold back the tears in her eyes.

"Don't get shattered," Lapis said, "or whatever it is you do."

Steven gave Peridot and Lapis hugs. Then he looked off to the side where Connie was. They were both wearing their matching berets again. Connie was obviously trying to hide how distraught she was, but Steven knew better. They were best friends, and he knew this was tearing her apart inside. Just like it was tearing him apart inside, too. Oh, how he wished Connie's parents would let her go with him. But with all that Dr. and Mr. Maheswaran had let Connie do with him and the crystal gems, he knew better than to push the envelope.

With a heavy heart, he walked over to his best friend. "Hey."

Without saying a word, Connie gave Steven the biggest, tightest hug she could, making sure to get her arms under his cheeseburger backpack. "I really wish I could go with you," she said into his shoulder, tears forming in her eyes.

"I wish you could, too," the boy responded into the girl's shoulder, tears forming in his eyes as well. "But I promise I'll tell you all about it when I get back."

"And I promise I'll help Lapis and Peridot protect Beach City while you're gone."

"I'm gonna miss you a lot."

"I'll miss you, too, Steven."

Steven pulled away from the hug and rested his hands on Connie's shoulders. "Who knows? Maybe if this trip is successful, your parents will let you go on the next one."

"Hopefully, there won't be a next one," Pearl said as she walked over to the duo. "Are you ready to go now, Steven?"

The boy took his hands off of his best friend's shoulders and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Yeah, I'm ready," he said looking up at Pearl.

Steven walked with Pearl over to the dimension ship, and the foursome proceeded to get in. Once they were all inside, the stairs retracted, and the giant window closed down, sealing the group inside. Pearl pushed some buttons, and the legs retracted. She moved the joystick and turned the ship so that it faced away from the onlookers. Then she pushed some more buttons, and a gun came out from the bottom of the ship. The gun shot a white light and a white whirlpool, crystalline in appearance, materialized before the ship. As those they were leaving behind stepped back, Pearl moved the joystick to propel the ship forward into the whirlpool. Steven turned around and looked out the window, his hands and face pressed against the glass, hoping to catch one last glimpse of Connie before they left. He gave a small, sad wave.

Connie returned the gesture, but much more largely. The ship disappeared into the whirlpool of light, the portal disappearing after it. Oh, how Connie wished she could run after it.