Summary:
Dreams ... how curious
Chapter Text
"Ha." Star stared at her test score. "B+ … I totally aced it."
"Wouldn't you need an A to ace it?" She jumped as her brother popped out of nowhere, asking the question.
"Steven, what are you doing in scho-... this is a dream isn't it?"
"Yep, and I once again, I am right in saying that you love school!" Steven chuckled as he floated in the air with a goblin dog. "Ate some chili before bed because Jana explained it helps make dreams more lucid, so I've been practicing this whole dream walking thing."
"If that's the case, mind if you help me spice up the dream a little?" Star pointed to the math board. "The last thing I want to be doing is math problems in my head like some kind of nerd."
"Sure, how about some bounce house logic." He laughed jumping up and down in the room, before turning into a pinball. "Oh no, I went too far, I can't stop!"
"Why would you want to stop, I see we keep the party train going!" A literal train crashed into the classroom, where on top of it was Bon Bon the birthday clown. "Oh nice, you're not dead anymore!"
"I make children smile in their dreams! Happiness and rainbows for all!" He shot out some regular rainbows.
"How are they not on fire?"
"Rainbows in dreams are made from pure joy! All it takes is a little… imagination."He waved his hands and created another one.
"Pure joy, you say?" Star decided to follow along. "Imagination…" She waved her hands in the arc motion, and the rainbow formed came to life and started tap dancing on the floor. "Close enough."
"Wow dog copter, thank you for saving me from falling into the dark inky abys off space." Steven came down from his little bounce attack with said dog flying him down with a helicopter blade on his back. "How did you get to be so amazing and wise?"
"Woof."
"Wow, you're right! The construct of man isn't a simple concept, it has many complex layers! And cheese is the answer to fixing our problems!" With that, the creature's legs turned into jets and began to fly off. "Fly on you magnificent fluffy child of wonder!"
"Soar forward to the unknown, you brave little pup." Star laughed at the sight. "You know what, It's been forever since I've been able to spread my wings, it's about time I use them!" Star leapt out the wisdom and began free falling through the sky. A second later, beautiful blonde butterfly wings sprouted on her back and she soared off. "Come on, bro! If we hurry, we'll make it to the Candy Kingdom before sunset!"
"Right behind you!" Steven's mode of flight was much simpler. Just shooting out bubbles that thrusted him everywhere he went. "I have rocket bubbles, I'm like a dog copter for the bathtub!" Star laughed at his joke.
"Yeah, the universe's most awesome bathtub. Traveling the stars as you're washing behind your ears." They laughed, hearing the sounds of nature, birds chirping and … something. "Do you hear that?" She asked.
"Hear what?"
"That … whining?"
"Whining?" Steven paused himself, and the silence was overtaken by the slightly irritating sound. "Yeah, it sounds really familiar, like I've heard it a million times over and over again."
"Same …" She paused. "Steven, why did you choose my dream?"
"Hmm?"
"My dream … Why me specifically?" She asked him.
"It was … a feeling …" He looked surprised with himself. "I didn't even think about anybody else to be honest. I just…suddenly felt like using my dream powers again."
"Steven, we need to wake up." Star said with panic. Something was wrong with the situation.
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Marco was woken up from his nightmare of being an accountant when he heard an explosion. Oh thank corn something dangerous was happening. "Let's see …" He looked at the clock. "One thirty … that's a little early." Usually it was eight at the latest that something was blown up by Star.
He got up and made his way to her door, which was giving an ominous glow. That was already bad sign number one. The last time Star's room glowed like that was when she created radioactive glow worms as part of her new spells.
"Star, it's late, you really shouldn't be focusing on new … spells …" He was completely befuddled by the sight before him. Star was floating as a golden butterfly, while Steven was covered in pink. Kelly had her hair wrapped around the both of them, before noticing him.
"Marco, help, restrain!" She shouted out.
"On it!" He took out the Gauntlets that Bismuth gave him. "Luckily these things came with one or two surprises." He fired off one of the hidden buttons on the side, which shouted out a grappling line that wrapped around Star. "I got Star, you focus on Steven!" He began pulling back as hard as he could. "Damn it, I really want my shredded hot bod right now!"
"It wasn't that ho--AAAA!!" Steven apparently began walking harder, steps creating cracks as he moved forward, dragging Kelly with him. "Stay down, you're sleepwalking, you could run into a river or something!" She shouted.
"You never wake a sleepwalker, it could end up dangerous!" Marco argued.
"MORE THAN THIS!!?" Star's body began shaking more violently upon Kelly's yelling. "Better get some water or whack them with a frying pan, because I'd take just about anything other than dealing with this crazy thing!" Star's hands spreaded wide in response, opening a portal that began to suck in everything. "Damn it! I've picked up Steven's habit of saying the wrong thing!"
The two of them were slowly being sucked in. Marco needed something to snap them out of it, worst case scenario be damned. "I'm gonna tell Kelly about that weird birthmark on Star's back!" That snapped the girl right into consciousness.
"High who wha-" The room stopped spinning, she fell onto the ground along with the now awake Steven. "Who said what about who?"
"Nothing!" Steven responded with a nervous sweat. "Wait, why are we in Star's room? And why is it a mess…a bigger mess than usual that is."
"You two went butterfly and pink and started thrashing your way to a portal …" Kelly spoke with a pant. "We had to hold you down and everything."
"Wait, I went into Butterfly mode, like mom does?" Star looked at her arms. "Since when can I do that? Last time was only a technicality when I forced my body to shapeshift into it against Malachite."
"Well you also did it as Starry Quartz, you were like that for your entire fusion." Marco pointed out, before pausing. "Wait, I'm living in the servants quarter, Star and Steven make sense … what are you doing here?" He asked Kelly.
"Oh nothing."
"Yeah I think this is more important."
The two of them stared at the blushing couple. "Oh… you're in that phase of the relationship." Star snickered. "Me and Tom haven't even gotten that far yet…"
"It's nothing over PG-13!" Steven shouted in defense.
"It's just cuddling, honest!" Kelly also argued.
"Alright alright … but after we figure this out I'm teasing you." Star threatened with a grin. "So, have we ever figured out what's up with Steven's pinkness? Maybe that helps?"
"Not at all, I just know it happens whenever I get really angry or stressed." Steven rubbed his chin. "But I was happy in the dream we were sharing, why would it flare up during that, and in my sleep at that?"
"We have seen that both your powers work differently when the two of you sleep, heck, this isn't even the first time you used magic while sleep walking." Marco recalled the events with Smoochy. "Maybe I could bring out the glasses and we could try some more therapy."
"NO!" The brother and sister duo shouted instantly.
"Therapy is evil! I don't know why we have to keep repeating that!"
"It's so evil I'd rather just tell mom what's going on." Star rolled her eyes, before they widened with a snap of her fingers. "Actually, that's probably not a bad idea. She goes Butterfly mode all the time during fights."
"Yeah, and I can invite the gems over and ask if Rose ever started glowing pink or anything. It's perfect." Steven added in. "A bit of a large breakfast theory."
"So … how much coffee am I making until breakfast, cause I doubt we should let you guys sleep again." Marco asked.
"Seeing how much trouble this brought on us….I say twice as much caffeine from the Marble incident." Kelly summarized before grabbing a blanket and surrounding herself and Steven in it. "Sleep or no sleep, I'm getting my cuddle time."
"Yeah, my mind's going to bust racing. I better call Tom to tell him all about this too."
"Cool, and I'm … just gonna … go make coffee …" He awkwardly said as he got out of the room. Once there he let out a sigh, walking to the kitchen. He had to apologize to Star at some point, being single sucked. "I really need to get a girlfriend."
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Pearl sat near the end of the table. While the more pleasant conversation was near the front … The Centipeetle trio were the best place to dispose of her food. Eating still just gave her the shivers no matter how hard she tried. At most she could take small sips of tea at a time. "Here you go." She handed them her plate, which was dissolved in acid almost instantly..
"Wow, so this is the together breakfast you're always going on about." Amethyst was obviously more in her element, as shoving down her entire plate of waffles covered in whip cream and popcorn. "Heh, you can feel the love in every bite."
"Yep, tastiest meal of the day." Steven spoke, bags prevalent under their eyes.
"You don't look good sweetie, is everything all right?" Moon asked her son.
"Probably, probably not, we're not too sure actually." Star answered, having similar dark circles around her eyes as well. "So, mom, you know how you can go scary Butterfly mode and kick butt with lasers and stuff?"
"That's a crude way of saying I have a good handle on my Mewberty form, but essentially, yes." The Queen answered with a slightly confused tone.
"And do you know how I went through Mewberty too which made Steven go through it with that dino mode and when we fused they combined to make the dragonfly embodiment of awesomeness known as Starry Quartz?"
"Yes, I remember that …" The woman blinked. "Does that mean I have a third child or a grandchild?" She asked Garnet.
"The first option is the less embarrassing path, and the one with the least troubling implications for your children overall." Garnet responded with a small smile in her usual stoic voice.
"Seriously, why does that image keep up in my head? I swear I hate ever knowing about the other versions of me." Steven grumbled. "Anyways, I was dream walking last night and entered Star's dream…"
" You can do what-now? " Pearl and Amethyst said at the same time.
"Part of the whole talking with Centi thing from before, I guess, but that's not important." It VERY much was.
"So we share a dream, hear a weird noise, next thing we know …" Steven trailed off.
"Steven and Star turned pink and butterfly forms respectively as they thrash us and try to enter a portal Star formed with her bare hands." Kelly deadpanned.
"What!?" Moon cried out hysterically. "You did all of that… in your sleep!?" Moon especially pointed to Star especially. "You made a portal, without scissors?!"
"Yeah, that's why we're talking to you about it." Star said. "So do you know a trick to stop it or .."
"This isn't something I've ever experienced before." Moon stated.
"So who would know about it?" Marco asked.
"Well …" She turned to a familiar blue bastard.
"Globgor!" The former all knowing man was fighting over a drumstick with one of the Centipeetle.
"Of course this would happen when the jerk's brain's been turned to pudding." Steven sighed. "Pearl, Garnet, you wouldn't happen to know about past Queens dealing with this, right? Or at least the Pink thing."
"Not every Queen went through Mewberty and gained a form like this." Garnet answered. "I could scarcely remember details of Rose talking about it once or twice, but nothing specific.
"And Rose…never turned pink, at least how you're describing." Hearing the word pink over and over again made her realize this may have been less of a Rose Quartz problem and more of what…or who Rose was before she came to earth.
"Then I guess this is a Steven thing." The boy looked at his hands. "Alright, new plan. I bubble you, then myself, so we don't walk away when we sleep."
"Yes, yes, please do so, and keep Star confined to her room as much as possible." River joined in while taking a bite of mutton. "If the commission gets word of Star being able to make portals without scissors, they'll probably over react, confine her, study her, experiment on her, and eventually replace her with another princess."
"WHAT!?" Star rightfully shouted in fear. "Mom, they can't actually do that, right?!"
"I've never seen or heard of them taking part in such heinous actions, but I wouldn't put it past them to do so." Pearl stated. "You do know what happened to Eclipsa right?"
"… Do gems have any anti magic chains, that would probably help." Star sagged her head, almost letting it drop into the sticky, mushy goop that was her breakfast plate.
"Peridot managed to get a few scraps of metal from Bismuth's forge before she was bubbled, we can workshop it into something useful." Garnet helpfully pointed out. Hearing their dear friend's name only saddened the pale gem more. Pearl had so much to be happy for now, and she genuinely was happy nowadays…but it still hurt to remember the path she had to go down to reach that happiness.
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"Alright, they're chained together, wand is far away, we've been covering Steven's gem as much as possible, and they're both bubbled three times over for extra effect." Kelly listed off.
"And all of us are on backup." Marco said, standing next to Lapis and Peridot.
"I understand calling me here to work with the anti magic metals to restrain Star and Steven during their re-energization cycle, but was it truly necessary for me and Lapis to be in the same room together?" Peridot complained.
"Hey, I'm only doing this for Steven. You're here because Marco asked you. We both have to make sacrifices for the friends we make." Seeing as how Lapis wasn't actively hurling water blades at Peridot, there seemed to be some progress made in her attitude.
"Also I haven't seen you in a while, I wanted to spend time together." Marco smiled at her.
"Yep, nothing like bonding with friends during a crisis, that's par for the course." Kelly shrugged. "Ugh, this is going to be the longest night ever. None of my pillows are as warm as Steven."
"I think you might be too used to sleeping together." Marco deadpanned.
"Ah." Peridot spoke. "So you and Steven have upgraded to what humans refer to as coitus?"
"This can't be! My baby's too young to be a father!" Pearl cried out before aiming her spear right at her. "If he disappears when your child comes.."
"Okay, one, I'm pretty sure that's not how it would work, and two, WE'RE NOT having sex!" Kelly got the pale gem to back off. "It's just cuddling! Seriously you guys have some pretty filthy minds to just jump to that."
"I just assumed you were fusing while asleep." Garnet shrugged.
"Tried that once, the dreams kept fusing our memories together so he had dreams of punching Queen moon during his fifth birthday which is what I did to my mom during mine. It got too weird for us."
"That's fair." Amethyst shrugged. "So what's the plan for when they break out?"
Peridot snorted. "Please, you severely underestimate my skills. Those chains are designed to handle full on magical energy blasts, if they manage to break out, they'll be too weak to-"
A blaze of glowing light filled the room, all parties turned to the bed, where Star and Steven glowed bright … a familiar light … "They're fusing!" Kelly shouted.
"They did it in their sleep!?" Garnet shouted, getting the gauntlets ready. "That's some serious love they have for each other."
"Love for each other, not so much for us!" Marco pointed to the glimmering and almost dead eyes expression of Starry Quartz, as their arms glowed a shiny neon yellow off their multiple arms and busted through the chains with a slight squeeze.
"Star, Steven, if you can be in your right mind, then please stand down! We don't want to fight you!" Pearl shouted.
The fusion gave them that dread dead eyes stare before opening its mouth. "Home." With that one word, a shock wave was sent across the room that shook the bricks out of place and sent everyone flying back as they tried to fly out of the room.
A ball of water was wrapped around Starry Quartz. "I've got em, take the-" The water around the fusion was turned boiling, before evaporating into steam. "… Shot."
The dragonfly creature zipped across the room in a golden blaze, practically becoming a blur in the wind as it sent a flurry of punches into Garnet, who could only take the hits as they buried them deeper into the wall.
"I've got em!" Amethyst wrapped their whip around her boyfriend …'s fusion, when they grabbed it and swung the gem through a wall. "I don't got em." She groaned.
"While I'm impressed to see all your progress in developing your powers, I'd prefer it if it wasn't aimed directly at us with malicious intent!" Pearl kept herself at a distance, firing lasers out her spears, which only deflected off the scaley armor of Starry Quartz.
"Home, Home. Home." The fusion kept buzzing over and over again.
"You're already at home!" Kelly shouted, using her hair to grab them. "You're already here!"
"Not home. They're calling. Must return." The fusion waved their arms and opened a pink portal that began sucking everything in again.
"Oh no you don't!" Marco used those grapples on his Gauntlets again and wrapped the two in one person. "Guys, a little back up!"
"Fear not, Diaz. For the mighty metal might of Peridot is on your side!" Peridot began throwing out her shuriken disks at them, making them spin all fancy like before hurdling it at them. The fusion stopped them mid air, then returned them with enough spin they became small tornados. "The mighty peridot shall assist at a later moment in time!" Peridot desperately began to duck and dodge the weapons.
"We need to close the portal! Marco, do you still have those scissors on you?!" Kelly began to feel strands of her hair begin to rip off her scalp.
"I'm the only one holding them down, just nab it from my pocket!" He shouted, as he started to get dragged.
She ran in, grabbing them and tossing them to Lapis. "Close it, now!"
"Got it!" She began to reach into the tear in the air, only for the scissors to spark and recoil out of Lapis's hands. "Uh, I think your scissors are busted."
"That's impossible!" Marco shouted. "I spent sixteen years in the Neverzone, scissors never fail!"
"They can if the surge of magic used to make a portal is larger than the scissors can handle." A new voice came in as everyone saw a figure exit out of a familiar red portal. "So…what's the deal with the glowbug and does it have anything to do with Star and Quartz?"
"Funny st-" Kelly watched as Marco was thrown back, the creature escaping to the still open portal. "… You may wanna sit down for this." Marco told her with a groan.
"Ugh, this was so much better when they were just Omni's headache to deal with." Heckapoo groaned as she snipped her scissors and closed the portal easily. The fusion fell, splitting them up to Star and Steven. "Look, this whole trial business already has the commission up in arms, and I really don't need another mess to deal with. So just tell me the full story and I won't have Rhombulus put you all in crystals."
"Star's sleep portalling for some reason we don't know, and it's affecting Steven." Marco explained. "And … that's it."
The woman groaned. "Look, I can't play babysitter every night, I have a job you know." She complained. "And if she creates portals this strong, I'm not going to be able to outsource it, which means inter dimensional cause as hooligans use free access to any dimension they please, creating mobs and many other situations that span farther than they should."
"I hate the domino effect." Kelly rubbed her eyes.
"You could simply have people stand guard until a time is available to close the portals." Peridot suggested.
"And who would be stupid enough to spend their time around an unstable interdimensional portal to who knows-is she sleep portalling again!?" The woman screamed as the Butterfly's opened yet another inter dimensional vortex. "That shouldn't even be physically possible unless you're me, and Lion is weird enough as it is."
"The gems can guard any portals they make." Garnet offered. "With my future vision, we don't even need to cover every one, just the ones we'll know for sure people will try to use."
"Fine, but I still need to put a report in." She growled.
"Come on Hekapoo, please?" Marco pleaded with puppy dog eyes. "For good old times, and the samerian desert?"
"…." The woman screamed in frustration. "You're lucky you're cute Diaz." Hekapoo growled out, jumping into the portal Star and Steven made as she closed it behind her.
"So… did you two ever…" Kelly asked as she pointed to Marco. "Because the way you guys talk.."
"No, we didn't." The boy clarified. "… But it was close …"
"What is it about humans that immortals find so attractive?" Pearl asked the sky outside the window. Kelly had no clue herself.
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"So apparently we traveled through fifteen dimensions before we woke up." Steven finished his story, sipping his hot chocolate provided by their current listener. "We fused in our sleep and now we're just going who knows where as Stary Quartz."
"Oh my, isn't that quite the predicament." Eclipsa smiled as she sat through the entire tale. "Rose would've been ecstatic to see Starry Quartz in action. An organic fusion that's strong enough to annoy the commission."
"I apparently annoy them just by existing." Steven chuckled. "So how's it been going for you? I know it's boring being stuck inside of the castle like this. I only had a little more freedom at one point and it still sucked."
"Quite nostalgic for me actually. My mother was super protective of me, so she rarely let me out of anyone's sight." The queen of not so darkness laughed. "She actually tried to hide the fact I had a father at all, claiming I was reproduced by her solely."
"Wait, seriously?" Steven asked. "She told you that?"
"Imagine my surprise when I read in her chapter saying she just wanted a child, and judged her 'sperm doners' by loyalty and strength." The queen chuckled. "Shows that decision since I find monsters more attractive than Mewmans." He just nodded along at that. "But she did love me, I know that much … she died with my drawing taped inside of her armor. A bit of a good luck charm."
"So weird, hearing someone who has done terrible things have such a sweet side to them."
"Everyone has good and evil in them Steven, they're just skewered to everyone else around them." She smiled. "Life would be dull otherwise."
"I guess. Can't say my life is boring, I can tell you that much." Steven chuckled with a sigh. "Anyways, we kind of have no choice but to let the portal thing happen until we can figure out what the heck is causing it."
"I can help guide you through the dreams if you wish." Eclipsa said. "I can't do magic without the wand, but I picked up a few tricks here and there, and it's especially helpful that you can dream walk naturally."
"Really? Thank you!" Steven nearly spilled his coco as he hugged the woman. "Wait, so could Rose do this too?"
"No, she couldn't dream walk, just astral jump." Eclipsa responded foundly.
"What's the difference?"
"One is entering another person's dream, the other is your soul leaving your still living body."
"So I can become a ghost and haunt people?" That sounded cool for a prank.
"Exactly. I can't tell you how much fun Rose and I had exploiting that power in my youth." The old queen laughed. "Above all else, your mother's power was derived from Empathy.
"Empathy?" He asked.
"The ability to connect with others emotionally." Eclipsa explained further. "By protecting others from harm, she learned how to shield. By being able to understand another pain, she learned how to heal. And by believing in her friends, such as Skywyne and myself, she could give us strength we could never achieve on our own."
"So I connect with people …" Steven looked at his own hands with a bit of wonder. "It … it's honestly better than the whole just being emotional thing, if I'm being honest."
"Emotions are messy, but they are necessary to get us through life. To close yourself from any one of them will only serve to harm one's self." She really was that wise and cool grandma he's always wanted. "That's enough lectures for today. Close your eyes and we can get to the fun part."
"Oh, is the part where you teach me to sleep on command?"
"No, this is the part where the sleeping pills I put into our tea should be kicking in."
"You did wha.."' Steven fell to the floor right alongside Eclipsa, the world going dark almost instantly.