Steven was seeing—or rather, not seeing, at least not from a normal perspective. At that exact moment, he was floating in midair while Jasper stared up at him from below, her face a mix of pure fury and utter bewilderment. How did he even get to this point? Well... let's back up a bit so I can tell you how he ended up like this, with a pissed-off Jasper and a Steven suspended in the middle of nowhere.
It had started as a sunny day, the kind where birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, and everything feels destined to go right. Steven was in a good mood—a genuinely great one. As usual, he'd been experimenting with his room, but this time was different. Ever since everything that went down with Peridot and the communications hub, the kid had become more reflective, and honestly, more creative. He had new ideas, new parameters, and a deep urge to push every single limit he could within his mother's AI.
Inside his room, standing in front of Rose's hologram, Steven smiled with the sheer excitement of a kid about to open a present. Rose—or rather, the projection—looked down at him with that soft, warm expression that always made him feel safe. And that was when Steven gave his first command.
"Room, show me how to fly, step by step."
The room fell dead silent. Rose's hologram flickered just a bit, as if processing thousands of lines of data all at once. Finally, she looked at him serenely, tilted her head, and smiled.
"Steven," Rose's image said, "to be able to fly, you need more than just strength or magic. First, you need a happy emotion. Something that makes you feel light, as if your chest wants to lift you upward."
Steven listened intently, feeling the room begin to adjust the gravity in a small perimeter right around him. The hologram continued.
"Next, you must feel a zone of weightlessness. It's not exactly floating... it's feeling like you let go of the ground before it lets go of you. It's like imagining yourself in a space where nothing pulls you down, where you are a part of the air."
Steven took a deep breath. He closed his eyes. He tried to lock onto happy memories—not the loud, chaotic ones, but the deep ones. The first time he summoned his shield; when he healed a wounded creature with his spit; when Connie hugged him after a rough mission; when Garnet picked him up in her arms, beaming with pride. All those feelings swirled inside his chest, glowing with a gentle warmth.
And that was when he felt it.
He didn't shoot up all at once. It wasn't spectacular, or flashy, or like something out of a movie. It was barely a tiny tug, like the way your stomach drops right before you jump. Then another tug. Then a weightless sensation under his feet. It felt like a tiny nudge, as if the room were encouraging him to let his own body do the rest.
Slowly, Steven opened his eyes and saw the floor drifting a few inches away. Just a few. But they were his.
Rose's hologram watched him, radiating pride.
"That's it, Steven. Hold onto that feeling. Don't force it, just let it flow."
Steven swallowed hard, completely focused. And just like that, inch by inch, he began to rise—no rush, no chaos. It was as if he had always belonged up there.
"Hell yeah!" I practically yelled as I started to float, feeling my feet leave the ground with an almost magical smoothness. It was about damn time. Tears escaped my eyes without permission—tears of absolute glory. I had wanted this my entire life. To fly. To feel the air without weight, without limits, without anything anchoring me to the ground. And now I could.
My hologram mom watched me with that strange mix of pride and sweetness she always wore. It didn't take long for her to rise up with me, as if just keeping me company was part of the tutorial. She floated up until she was at eye level and extended a hand, inviting me to match her movements.
"Steven," she said, her voice sounding like it came from a memory I never actually lived, "flying isn't a matter of strength; it's a matter of intent."
I tried to keep myself steady, even though my legs were doing things I didn't quite know how to control yet.
"Think of something that makes you feel light," Rose continued. "Something that makes you truly happy. The body responds to what it feels, not to what you think."
I closed my eyes for just a second, letting my chest warm up as I remembered the laughter, the hugs, and the faces of everyone I loved. Suddenly, the air seemed to hold me much more firmly.
"Very good," she said, leaning in slightly to adjust my posture. "Now breathe as if the air is welcoming you. Let it support you; don't fight it."
I opened my eyes and looked at her. She was floating so naturally it seemed like she'd been born in the sky.
"Like this?" I asked, clumsily moving my arms.
"Softer," Rose replied with a small smile. "Flying is about trust. Not just in yourself, but in what you feel. If you try too hard, you'll fall... but if you truly feel it, you'll rise."
I let myself go, just a little. And for the first time, I didn't sink; I went up.
Rose's smile shone brighter than the light of the room as I kept ascending—light, free, and happy.
Hours flew by as Steven gradually mastered the art of flying. At first, he was clumsy, almost as if the air was pushing him around more than he wanted. But with every attempt, every nervous laugh, and every soft landing, he gained confidence. He wasn't just floating anymore—he was maneuvering, spinning, climbing, diving... until finally, it looked like he was born to do it.
But even perfect moments have to end. Or at least, they do for most people. Steven wasn't "most people."
With a mischievous grin on his face, he turned toward the holographic figure of his mother.
"Mom, I'm gonna go fly outside," he said, that bottled-up excitement practically vibrating in his voice. "I think I'll go to the battlefield... you know, the one full of strawberries. I should eat some strawberries. I should really eat some strawberries..."
He started mumbling random things, his words tangling together—the little thoughts he only let out when he was completely alone. Things he kept quiet so he wouldn't make anyone uncomfortable. It was how he relaxed, even if it made him look a bit stranger than usual.
Rose's hologram looked at him with an expression somewhere between tenderness and confusion. A symbolic anime-style sweatdrop even appeared as her form smoothly shifted, growing taller until she transformed into the imposing yet warm Pink Diamond.
"My son, go wherever you wish," the pink figure said, extending a hand toward him. "Just... be careful, okay?"
She stroked his hair with a gentleness Steven had never physically felt, but it managed to touch his heart all the same. He nodded, that serious, determined look appearing on his face—the one that only showed up when he was completely sure of something.
With one last respectful nod, Steven left the room. And just as he crossed the threshold, he saw his mother's image softly dissolve into a cloud of pink dust, returning the room to its silent calm.
Nothing was holding him back now. And flying outside was just the beginning.
Steven stepped onto the warp pad, took a deep breath, and yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Lapis, I'm heading out! If anyone asks, I'll be at the battlefield practicing something, got it?!"
"UH-HUH," Lapis yelled back without taking her eyes off her screen, completely locked in a flame war with noobmaster60—a miserable troll with more alt-accounts than common sense.
Steven shook his head. Better not to ask. Better not to get involved. Better not to die today via a furious blast of water.
With a thought, he activated the warp pad beneath his feet and vanished in a flash of light.
He materialized at the battlefield. The sweet breeze of the strawberry field welcomed him, and the scent filled him with a sense of peace he hadn't felt in days. He floated a few inches up, almost effortlessly, reached his hand out, and picked a strawberry. Then another. Then one more. It was perfect. Just him, the sky, and the soft rustle of the field.
Couldn't it just stay like this forever?
Obviously not.
His instincts screamed before his brain could even process why, and in less than a second, he summoned his bubble. An orange fist slammed against it, sending Steven flying straight into a thicket of bushes that scratched him all over. He tumbled to the ground, scrambled to his feet, and looked up.
Jasper.
The Gem stood there, imposing, breathing pure fury, as if the earth itself feared her presence.
"Rose Quartz," Jasper spat, cracking her neck, ready for war. "Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you?"
Steven blinked twice. "You've been looking for me?"
"For a rematch," she said with utter disdain, smacking her fist into her palm with a dull thud that echoed through the air.
Her orange helmet materialized on her head, energy crackling around it. And without another word, she lunged at him.
Steven summoned his shield. The impact was brutal.
The explosion of sheer force kicked up a storm of crushed strawberries. The earth shook.
Steven was thrown to the side, rolling across the field as Jasper tore up the ground in hot pursuit. He floated back up, using the gravity to his advantage to soar higher, narrowly dodging a leap from Jasper that left a crescent-shaped crater in the dirt.
Jasper roared. "Stop floating around like a coward, Rose!"
Steven dived down to strike with his shield, but Jasper blocked it and hurled him toward an elevated area—a rocky platform that had jutted out of the terrain over time. Steven crashed, bounced, and immediately took flight again.
Jasper leaped toward him, shattering another platform in the process, but Steven spun midair, dodging her and unleashing a shockwave from his shield that forced her back a few paces.
The Gem smirked. "That's it. Give me a real fight."
The strawberry field turned into a total disaster zone of torn-up earth, flying rocks, and squashed fruit as the two of them blurred across the battlefield—climbing, dropping, clashing shield against helmet, brute force against magic, air against earth. Steven used the high ground to launch attacks from unexpected angles; Jasper obliterated the rocks just to force him to keep moving.
It was a beautiful chaos.
And it was only just getting started.
I stared at her, a mix of surprise and annoyance washing over me as Jasper emerged from the rocks like she owned the place. I couldn't help but let out the thought crossing my mind, wondering what the hell she was even doing here when there were so many other places she could be poking around in. Jasper responded with an arrogant smirk—that signature look of hers that seemed custom-made to push people's buttons.
She couldn't care less about my annoyance. She mentioned she had fought me right here once before, talking about that memory like it was some personal treasure. She complained about the Diamonds giving the order to evacuate, claiming that if it hadn't been for that, she would have crushed me without a second thought. Her gemstone gleamed, summoning two bubbles around her fists, and I saw her raise an eyebrow at my reaction. She wanted to know how many tricks I had up my sleeve, wanted to know if I really wasn't like her, her eyes locking onto mine as if searching for an answer I had no intention of giving her.
I stayed quiet. I had no desire to talk to her. The only thing running through my mind was the plan to poof her before she could escape—a silent strategy I was trying to piece together in seconds.
Just a few minutes earlier, Jasper had been sitting on a pile of rocks, staring motionlessly at the horizon. This place had been a field of death, and not just for the rebels; loyal Gems had fallen here too—Gems who had served the empire with absolute conviction. It was right here where a Gem had welcomed her into existence, where she had received her purpose, where she had been told that her duty was to defend the empire and protect the Diamond who had made her.
She shook her head as if trying to toss away an uncomfortable memory. Looking around, she noticed how beautiful the place looked now. It was a bizarre sight for her, someone used to despising these landscapes as if they were unworthy of her presence. Even so, she allowed herself a moment of calm. It wasn't so bad to have these kinds of thoughts every once in a while, though she would never admit that out loud.
She stared for several minutes, her mind empty of thoughts, filled only with memories that brought her pain. But after a while, a sound snapped her back to reality. She looked toward the warp pad and spotted the Gem responsible for shattering her Diamond. She still didn't know how "she" had pulled it off. A surprise attack? Did she trick her by passing off as another Quartz? Did Jasper care? Not at all. She was hyper-focused, waiting for any opening to land a solid hit, and she quickly lunged at Rose. Rose instantly summoned her bubble—something Jasper had completely forgotten about. She watched Rose stand up, spit a little bit of essence into his hand, and carefully rub it on himself. Something to look into later, she thought.
The two stared each other down.
Back to reality.
They launched at one another with a force that seemed to rip the air in two. Steven dodged the first blow with a level of focus he had never felt before. His flight was still a bit clumsy, but it gave him a completely new angle for every movement. He propelled himself through the air, pulled off a spin he never could have managed before, and wrapped himself around Jasper's arm, catching her so off guard she froze for a split second. Capitalizing on the moment, he delivered a kick reinforced with a bubble to maximize the impact. Jasper went flying backward, though she recovered with a speed that was borderline intimidating.
Steven didn't give her breathing room. He sprinted after her with the urgency of someone who knew a single second's advantage could mean disaster. He needed to bubble her before she tried anything crazy. Reaching out, he unleashed an attack he'd learned during his training sessions with Amethyst—a technique that burned too much energy and that he usually avoided. However, ever since that Rose from his dream had merged with him, something inside felt sturdier, fuller, as if strength was surging out of him without even asking for permission. Maybe now he could afford to use a few tricks... a handful... maybe a ton of them.
The blow landed squarely against Jasper's helmet, sending her crashing hard into the ground. Steven descended from the sky, scanning the surroundings where the remnants of abandoned weapons from the ancient war lay scattered. He picked up a sword to pair with his shield and took a firm stance, taking a deep breath as the curtain of smoke began to clear.
Jasper stepped out of the haze with an expression that tried to look fierce, but she couldn't hide the bright spark of excitement dancing in her eyes. She was practically unscathed—just a few bruises—as if her body had been custom-built to take exactly this kind of punishment.
Steven advanced first, testing the weight of the sword. His attack was direct but cautious, measuring the reach of his blade. Jasper blocked it with her forearm, smirking with the glow of someone who was enjoying the fight way too much to pretend otherwise. Steven backpedaled a few steps and shifted his angle, using the air to vault backward and land with a controlled spin on his axis, throwing a slash that Jasper dodged by mere inches.
She countered with an onslaught that felt like a whirlwind—a display of brutal strength that Steven barely managed to halt by raising his shield. The collision rang out loudly, but it didn't knock him down. On the contrary, that very impact made him realize his body could take a lot more than he had ever imagined. He stepped forward and slammed his heel into the ground, releasing a shockwave that made Jasper furrow her brow as she briefly lost her footing.
It didn't take long for them to go back to trading blows. Neither was looking to seriously injure the other, but both were testing limits and learning. Jasper relished every second, even when Steven surprised her with a new application of his abilities—like the bubbles he was now manipulating with much higher precision, or the small bursts of flight that turned his attacks into completely unpredictable trajectories.
Steven realized very quickly that training and actual fighting were two completely different worlds. The body reacted differently, the mind raced, and every movement became an instinctive decision. He found himself moving faster, more aware of his spacing, and for the first time, he felt like he was truly exploring his limits in a real battle.
Jasper, for her part, pressed forward without holding back, testing her might against him and shutting down his strikes with a quiet enthusiasm, as if she had been waiting for this confrontation for a very long time.
The clash of their powers left vibrations rattling the air and kicked up spirals of dust. And even though neither could get the upper hand to bring the other down, they both understood this fight wasn't about winning—it was about discovering what they were truly capable of.
Steven spun several times through the air before landing in a crouch atop one of the floating pillars. The surface vibrated beneath his feet, but his eyes never left Jasper, who remained below, standing firm, watching him with an animalistic intensity.
He threw a blunt question down at her, practically spitting the words out. He asked her if she liked that.
Jasper, who was already tensing her legs to leap up at him, froze in absolute confusion. She let out a baffled, "Huh?"
Steven gave a brief shake of his head. "Never mind," he muttered as his shield shrank in size, and he threw it with a perfect ricochet trajectory. Jasper dodged it effortlessly, flashing a smug smile of total superiority—the smile of someone who thought they had read the entire playbook.
That smile died the moment she saw Steven's expression. It was much cockier, much more provocative. Jasper managed to whip her head around just in time to see the shield looping back, smacking her dead in the face.
Jasper let out a frustrated scream. Steven seized the opening and lunged at her, rocketed forward by his newly learned flight. The impact was clean and precise, packing enough force to send her flying straight through the low-hanging clouds of the battlefield.
Steven took a deep breath, holding his air as he spit into his hand to rub the fluid over his scraped skin. It was way better than having to resort to crying. Who would want to start crying in the middle of a serious battle? Just the thought gave him secondhand embarrassment. He shook his head, recalling the shield back to his arm while keeping his eyes glued to the spot where Jasper had been blasted away. Seconds passed. Then minutes. And there was no sign of her.
Tensing up, he leaped into the air, spinning around to scan every direction, completely thrown off by her disappearance. "Where are you?" he muttered under his breath, fully aware that something wasn't right.
Before that, Jasper was still riding the momentum of the blow. She tumbled into a dense cloud bank that covered her, forcing her to a halt. She stayed still. She reflected. And she realized this fight was getting her nowhere.
Even if she managed to destroy Rose, the Rebel Gems would still be around. That wouldn't solve a damn thing. She needed to get to Peridot first. Maybe she would have an advantage, intel, a plan—something useful. Jasper crouched low and leaped into Steven's blind spot, slipping away from his line of sight with ease. She had no interest in running toward the main warp pad; it would be madness if that fusion showed up. That thing was a massive headache, even if she'd never admit it out loud.
No, she had to avoid a confrontation and find another route. Peridot would be heading somewhere with Gems or somewhere they could build something. The Kindergarten—either the Prime or the Beta. Those were the most likely spots.
With that destination locked in her mind, Jasper sprinted at full speed toward another warp pad—one that would take her away from the fight and closer to what she actually needed.
Back with Steven:
He waited for almost half a day. No exaggeration. Sunset had long passed, and it was pitch black by the time he was still out there, completely motionless, guarding every shadow in the strawberry field. He was so wired that he didn't even hear the footsteps behind him. He only reacted when he sensed a presence, whipping around instantly with his sword ready to pierce right through where Amethyst's gem was. She went completely rigid, seeing just how close she had come to getting skewered.
Steven recognized the purple Gem and stopped his thrust millimeters away. His breathing finally stabilized a bit. He asked her what she was doing there, his eyes still darting around the area as if something were about to jump out of the shadows at any second.
Amethyst was completely bewildered. She told him she'd been looking for him for hours and that everyone had been worried sick. Steven replied flatly, almost devoid of emotion, that Jasper had been there. That made Amethyst's body instantly tense up, and she summoned her whip right then and there. She stepped back-to-back with him, covering his rear while she scanned the terrain.
She asked how long it had been since Jasper attacked. Steven looked up at the sky for a moment before answering. "About seven hours," he said casually.
Amethyst was speechless. She just stared at him like he had completely lost his mind. She asked if he had seriously just been standing there for seven hours without moving. Steven nodded, his shoulders still tight and his gaze restless.
She took a deep breath before concluding that Jasper was probably long gone by now. Steven agreed. It was possible, though he didn't lower his guard.
The silence that followed was awkward. Neither of them knew how to break it until Steven dismissed his shield and bubbles, leaving him with just the sword in his hand, as if he'd grown attached to it. He muttered that they should head back. Amethyst shapeshifted into her cat form and hopped onto his shoulders, feeling just how tight his muscles were. She frowned, commenting that he'd been way too stressed out lately and desperately needed some rest.
Steven tried to argue, but the cat tail slapped over his mouth, cutting him off. "No buts," Amethyst ordered. Steven let out a laugh as they stepped onto the warp pad. He told her she was starting to sound like Pearl. Amethyst groaned in annoyance right as the warp beam swallowed them up.
When they arrived, they noticed everything was normal. Steven walked straight to his room without stopping, not even to look at Lapis, who was watching him with a raised eyebrow. He collapsed onto his bed as if the entire weight of the world was pushing him down.
Lapis looked over at Amethyst, who was still standing nearby. She asked if it had been a rough day. Amethyst simply confirmed it with a heavy nod as she started walking toward her own room. She asked Lapis to keep an eye on Steven, mentioning that he was carrying way too much on his shoulders. Her door slid shut.
Lapis turned back toward Steven, whose face looked completely drained. She walked over, pulled the blankets over him, and turned off the light. Like she had already done plenty of times before, she rolled him up into a burrito and then lay down right next to him, wrapping her arms around him. That was how they ended the night: one turned into a burrito, and the other cuddling a burrito.
End of Chapter 42.