Steven Universe At The Creek Chapter 8 Pink Night From The Other Side

Night time fell over the neighborhood with the creek itself devoid of people. All the children went home for the day, not a single one was sticking around during bedtime. Back at Craig’s place, it took a while for his family and Steven to sort things out after what happened at the restaurant. Steven offered Craig’s parents to take his phone away for tonight and tomorrow for his punishment. After the family meeting came to an end, Steven and Craig made their way outside to settle the agreement they made hours earlier.

When they returned to the creek, Craig took Steven on a much longer hike. He didn’t have second thoughts knowing how his first choice won’t have anyone spying on him, but he couldn't take the risk. At the same time, Steven was expecting a much more private spot. Even during the night, the moon from the sky brightens the creek, giving the grown teen more insight of his surroundings.

“Is any place here more private?” Steven asked.

“Not really.” Craig answered.

“How far away are we going?”

“To the other side of the creek.”

When they came across the overpass, there were inflatable boats for anyone who wanted to go to the other side of the creek. As Craig pushed one in the river, Steven became confused. “Wait, we’re gonna need a boat to get there?”

“There are other alternatives, but this is the fastest.” Craig stepped in the boat. “Besides, do you really want your shoes to get wet?”

“Of course not.” Steven replied as he also stepped in the boat. “But this feels really unusual.”

As Craig used the paddles to move the boat, they went under the overpass. “If you knew about the creek, you would know this doesn’t feel unusual.”

“But you said yesterday that you didn’t mind me not coming here.”

“It’s not like I wanted you to be here from the beginning. It’s what you have that’s bothering me.”

As they went out of the overpass, Steven turned his head around. He did go on a boat with his father in the past, but for a small scale on a river, he thought that families only do these activities with their children, not the children themselves.

Upon arriving at their destination, the two got off the boat as they witnessed the gate to the other side. “Are we allowed here?” Steven placed his hands in his pocket.

“Yes, but like before, it’s off limits for people like us.” Craig walked up to the gate. Upon pushing both ends of the gate, Craig and Steven head inside the other side of the creek. Steven is in disbelief of what he’s witnessing, as if he expected any of this in his past.

Craig closed the gate behind him, even if there’s no way to lock it, he’ll be as sure as possible to keep this between him and the teen. As he walked up to Steven, he noticed he was distracted by the tree fronts, especially the one in the middle.

“Steven.” He spoke to the teen’s attention. “We're here, and no one’s around.”

Steven took a deep breath, he hoped it would last longer but he knew he had to keep his end of the deal after the family meeting. “I know, but there’s one thing I need to point out.” He took out his phone. “I brought my phone along because everything you see isn’t a lie.”

“Is it about your family?”

“Definitely.” As he turned on his phone, he scrolled to his image of his family. “I want you to know that I didn’t show anyone any information about my family, especially pictures.” He showed Craig a picture of himself, his father Greg, and three of his mothers.

When Craig took a closer look at the picture, the three mothers confused him. “So…who’s your real mother?”

“These are my mothers…but also my guardians at the same time.” Steven answered.

“They look like they’re cosplaying.”

“They’re not costumes, they’re the real thing. They’re gems.”

Craig became even more dumbfounded. “Okay, you’re really not making any sense.”

This caused Steven to roll his eyes in annoyance. “I have too much to explain.”

“You can’t have three mothers, just one.”

“That’s not the point Craig.” He placed his hand on his forehead. “Unlike kids like you, I never went to school, I never made friends of my age aside from one, and my old daily life as a kid…is far away from your own life.”

Craig took the time to process what Steven just said, but it made him harder to believe Steven never spent a day in school in his life. “Was it hard for you to make friends?”

“No, I was referring to friends who are human.”

“You can’t expect me to believe you had non-human friends. I know video game characters don’t exist.”

“You’re missing the point Craig!” Steven slightly shouted. “I know this is crazy to believe, but you're the first person outside of my old life I ever told.”

“Then what is your old life?”

Steven tried to stay calm as possible but at the same time, the tension only got worse. “I…was…a hero of a galaxy!” He then scrolled to another image of his youth being surrounded with the diamonds, far larger than himself, showing it to Craig. “Tell me that this is fake.”

Craig became speechless of three women right behind Steven during his early childhood. One who’s yellow, who’s part of the military, the other who’s blue who’s feeling shallow, and the last one who’s white who felt the most odd, compared from the rest.

“They’re not statues, they’re real.”

“And I doubt any of this was done on a green screen.”

“If it was then I would’ve been in high school.” Steven then scrolled to pictures of his friends. “These are the friends I had in my life.”

“Who are green and blue?”

“Yes, are you catching on?”

“A little bit.”

Steven put his phone away while trying to prove his point. “The first picture I showed you is my family. The three are Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet.” As he stopped himself for a moment, Craig managed to catch on, but not completely. “They never intended me to be what kids are like because they’re never taken care of kids in their thousand years of living.”

“Thousand years of living?” Craig blinked.

“If only you knew about gem culture. They’ve taken me to places to stop corrupted gems. As time went on, I’ve learned more about everyone around me, the more I fixed their problems, the more I got to know them.”

“I do the same thing.”

“True, but when it comes to gems, it’s far more complicated.”

“You know, I would’ve known what gems are if I ever met one.”

Upon hearing that compliment, Steven was hoping he would say that. He decides to grab the end of his shirt, pulling them up slightly to show Craig his gem. “You’re meeting one right now.”

Craig’s eyes turn wide upon, seeing Steven’s belly button in full view. He walked up to Steven to see it closely, the pink gem itself felt so real, it made him question how it’s possible to pull it out, or how it was pushed in.

“I still can’t believe this is real. If you're a gem then…why are you a human?”

“I’m part gem and human.” Steven said. “I’ve turned into a baby and the gems raised me to be like a gem.”

“This has to be the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.” Craig backed away. “You hide that to keep your true identity? Then why are you here?”

“Moving on with my life, after turning into…a monster.” Steven lowered his head. “I would tell you but, you’re too young to understand.”

“Steven, I can handle it.”

“Craig, for how I handled my life back then, is a lot more scary when you get older. Using your imagination is not similar to doing it in the real world.”

“But that’s what everyone does at the creek.”

“Then you don’t know what it feels when it comes to you.” Steven let go of his shirt as he allowed Craig to see his powers. He lifted his arm up as his gem glowed from his belly button. Craig saw the pink sparks on Steven’s gem, all the while his shield magically activated with no effort at all.

Craig was in complete shock, he knew he didn’t have anything before this moment came. The shield wasn’t tricking him for how real its magic was, thanks to Steven’s gem. When he touches it, he can feel how real it is. Steven is thankful Craig is taking his time to see the bigger picture in all this.

“I’ve gone through a lot and if you were a Gem…you would be me and if I were you…I would do the same thing.”

Craig listened to every word Steven said out of his mouth but he is still stunned at the moment. “Actually, I would probably be gone in your life.”

“Don’t say that, you would’ve gotten used to-”

“You make it easy.” Craig interrupted. “For how I do it, I wouldn’t even last a week.”

“You don’t even know what I’ve been through to protect me, my friends and family. If you were a Gem, you would understand.”

“Yeah, but not as a human at the same time?”

Steven took notice from Craig’s choice of words. If he didn’t have the life of what he had, everything would be completely different, especially of what his friends went through. The only way he would be in his situation most of the time was if he was one of his guardians.

Craig only turned around while looking at the ground. “My grandpa told me about real life wars when he helped me with my social studies homework. While I got an A plus, he told me how terrifying it was for soldiers to sacrifice their lives. Did your family tell you about the war of the Gems?”

Steven knew he had to come clean if anyone caught on with more questions. “Yes, and it was called The Rebellion. And since you lived farther away, it would take a new social studies experience for schools to approve teaching about it.”

When the two remained dead silent, Craig didn't feel betrayed, knowing how nice Steven is. All the while Steven knew how respectful Craig was since meeting him, despite what happened during lunch time. But the biggest difference of them all is that they’re not the same age to be friends with each other.

“What would you feel if you had a life that’s like everybody else?” Craig asked.

“I wouldn’t even exist if that happened.” Steven signed. “But if I did, the Gems wouldn’t even exist. If you ever met any one of my friends who are gems, they won’t be like anyone who lives here.”

“That’s the thing that bugs me. No one here ever knew about Gems and the fact you’re the first gem I met, makes me wonder why we never knew about The Rebellion.”

Steven’s shield disappeared, then he walked up to Craig while placing his hand on his shoulder. “There are a lot of places across the world who don’t know a lot about other cultures. Connie told me about it when she was doing social studies.” This caused Craig to look up to Steven. “She’s the only human I’ve ever had as a friend.”

“What happened between the two of you?”

“We’re boyfriend and girlfriend but…I proposed to her when she was fourteen.”

Craig cringed at the idea. “Let’s just leave it at that, shell we?”

“I actually was part of a wedding…involving two Gems who are Garnet.”

Craig would try to process the meaning of Steven’s life experiences, but it really made his head hurt too much. “We don't do any of that at the creek okay? At first I would say goodbye once you leave on better terms, but now, all I’m thinking is how can Garnet be split in half!?” He then landed on the ground with his knees. “Your gem just broke me rather than making me satisfied with the response.”

“I told you you needed more proof. I never lie, especially when I say those words.” Steven crossed his arms.

“You think I brought this upon myself?” He turned around.

“Apparently…in a way.” Steven replied pessimistically, rolling his eyes while biting his lip.

“Then this night was bound to happen to you. Admit you knew this would happen when you were traveling.”

“Okay, you're right!” Steven signed. “Therapy is what helped me to prevent any of this. I just wished you would let it slide for how small it was, for you at least.”

Craig got back on his feet while turning his full attention to Steven. “I’ve gone through a lot in this creek, big and small.” He gave the teen a straight face. “You may care less about how your childhood was much, much harder than mine, but if there’s one thing we have in common, it’s honor.” He then closed his eyes, knowing how less meaning the creek is to Steven. “I went through a lot of adventures with my friends and other great experiences here. And if all of that were real…we would be farther away from each other…it would make the creek worthless to be around.”

Craig then sat on the dirt, after getting everything out of his system. He couldn’t even think of how his friends would feel knowing they would never see Steven again, with no proof of showing to them that Steven’s a gem.

Steven wanted to help, but with his final priorities on his mind tomorrow, he can’t think of a way to resolve anything that happened. His curiosity of the creek isn’t enough to make him stay for a few days, knowing the neighborhood is what's really important to him.

“Can I ask you questions for a change?” Steven asked. “Did someone take over this place?”

“Yes and…he’s a bully who pushed everyone around. His name is Xavier.” Craig answered.

“And how did you get rid of him?”

“We played Capture The Flag. My team won after that wild day.”

When Steven looks at the tree front in the middle, it reminds him of the white throne of White Diamond, who didn’t attend the party on the Gem Homeworld. “If he was a Diamond, I would never trust him. And if you lost…maybe I would’ve saved the creek.”

“Are you serious?” Craig lifted his head up.

“Yes. I don’t know what he would’ve done if he won, but even I know it’s wrong for kids like you to be pushed around.”

“Or banished from the creek.”

As Steven pulled Craig off the dirt, he continued with the subject at hand. “If that ever happened, he should be exposed to take over a place that doesn’t belong to him.”

“You don’t know how the creek works.”

“I’m just saying that there should be justice for the kids.”

“If only you would’ve known everything about the creek, you would feel what I feel.”

Steven decides to cut to the chase with Craig. “Craig, I encountered kids when your brother gave me a tour. And one of those kids spends their time in the sewers.”

“It’s not like they’re weird for their age.”

“What makes you think that? They’re gonna outgrow it when they get older .” Steven decides to kneel down to Craig’s level, while placing both of his hands on his shoulders. “I want to know about the creek, but I don’t have to, nor do I need to.”

“That’s what I was aware of yesterday, but-”

“Save it.” Steven interrupted. “If nothing is in danger, it’s not my problem. The day after tomorrow, I’m leaving no matter what. I just want to focus on your family reunion and not this night we just had.” As he stood back up, he took out his phone. “Speaking of which, we need to go back, it’s getting late.”

“I’ll just be out of your way since my cousin’s gonna be there tomorrow.” Craig made one last grasp for the night. “I just wished you would give the creek a chance somehow…after I’ve been thinking about it.”

The two left the other side of the creek by taking the boat back to the overpass. The two didn’t make any eye contact at all during their trip back. Steven couldn’t even respond to Craig’s last sentence knowing what he said earlier is true. But after showing him his gem, he’s aware if he’s ever going to be in this situation again. And yet it would never change how Craig felt when he showed off his shield.

After leaving the creek, Steven and Craig made it back to Craig’s house. As Craig headed up the front door, he only had one thing to say to Steven before going to bed. “See you tomorrow.”

As for Steven, he took out his keys to unlock his car door. “I’m looking forward to meeting your family, including your cousin.” He smiled.

“I know. But I’m looking forward to nothing.” He opened the door and headed inside, closing the door behind him.

As Steven drove back to his apartment, he looked through his phone after locking his apartment door. After leaving Beach City, he still had the phone numbers of his friends. But aside from Connie, he never called any of his gem friends. He was willing to call them eventually, but even he wanted them to know he’s feeling better than he was. Once he got into his pajamas, he tucked himself in bed while placing his phone on the counter. When it comes to tomorrow, all he can do is make the best out of it, especially where he’s gonna go next.

But as for Craig, after he got into his pajamas and tucked himself in bed, he couldn’t get to sleep. He may have got what he wanted, but all he can think of now is how he’ll explain this to his friends. Unlike before, he was mesmerized by Steven's gem, including his shield, and it will never be erased from his mind, but he knows it will be the only time he’s seen a gem in person. When it comes to his family reunion tomorrow, he’s not thrilled like the other times in the past. But he’ll try to give his cousin company once he is reunited with him.