Summary:
It depends on how you view infinity
The screen glitches over and over, showing off multiple images inside of the Diaz household. Within these images disturbing clips can be seen, diamonds, shards, limbs. Steven Universe.Broken wands, a fallen heart, a flicker of hope. Star Butterfly. All leading to a single image. Mewni Quartz Stories.
"Man, my name is nowhere near as cool as yours." Star pouts as she looks over the footage. "I got Star and Butterfly, you have five options."
"It's more confusing for me in all honesty, I'm tired of adding all these names, it gets redundant after a while." Steven rolled his eyes. "There's never enough space on the line whenever I have to write my full name down."
"You could use initials." Marco suggests. "Most people on earth just write the initial of their middle name instead of the middle name in full. I just say Marco U Diaz."
"Your initials spell out MUD." Jana snickers.. "I'm never going to get tired of that."
"And I still don't even have a last name." Kelly sighed. "Almost like the people who originally wrote my character never intended to expand upon it."
"Well tad didn't have one either, the authors just kinda gave him one as a joke after saying he ditched his family." Star noted. "Tad Forest … meh."
"So we're just going to spend the rest of the day working on Kelly's last name while the clips play?" Steven asked.
"Eh, for the most part, yeah. We got the usual six to go through." Star responded. "Not to mention we need to get mentally prepared for THE big Stevenbomb that still has the fandom divided."
"Ugg, I hate angry fandoms." Marco groaned. "The creator chose it that way for a reason, if you hate it, don't force your opinions on other people."
"I mean, if it's studios then it's a legitimate excuse." Jana nodded. "Poor Owl House …"
"Hey, at least I get to actually finish my story." Luz came in from the opened back door. "A lot of shows don't even have that much. The most they can hope for is some kind of revival ten years later."
"I don't know how Samurai Jack managed to pull through." Kelly said. "That guy is a fucking legend."
"Let's just be glad Amphibia was able to finish all the way through despite Disney trying to push it out the door as fast as possible." Star nodded. "Anne just had to deal with fans that keep demanding some kind of spin off, despite that defeating the purpose of how it ended."
"We closed up with a happy message and I'm aromantic! Fuck off!" Anne jumped through the window, panting. "... Damn the fandoms."
"A threat that can be scarier than even our greatest enemies." Steven sighed. "Let's hope this time the multiverse has something less frightening.
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Earl stared at the little gem as Amethyst cooed over it. "Hey there little guy." Apparently she was happy to have someone younger than her for a change. "My name is Amethyst, what about you?"
"I … don't have one." The little girl explained, hugging onto Steven as if he was a lifeline.
"I just found her in an underwater cave when looking for Aventrine. Apparently she was scrounging for parts all over." The boy explained. "I don't know anything about her."
"Let's start with something simple." Rose ditched the so-called 'anger and fear' she had for this innocent child, a motherly aura emanating as she sat down. "Hello there little one. I'm Rose Quartz. It's nice to meet you."
The small little oddity looked up at the pink menace curiously and oddly, tilting their head in confusion. "You look like a walking ball of cotton candy."
The taller gem blinked, snickering. "That's the first time I've heard that one, since I'm older than cotton candy." She raised her fingers. "I'm six thousand years old."
"Wow, you're a very old lady." The smaller gem stated.
"Yep, how old are you?" Rose asked, trying to pry any information she could
The little gem looked thoughtful, before raising nine fingers. "This many."
"Nine thousand years?" Pearl looked thoughtful. "We should have seen her by now if that was the case."
"No, days." Even the humans knew enough to stare in shock at that sentence. "I remember everything being all loose and sandy, and then I popped out on the beach.
"Well, she does resemble seaglass." Connie, Meterora's friend, gave a minor comment.
"Why would the sea have glass, it doesn't build anything." Meteora asked.
"No, seaglass forms on the beach, usually when broken shards fall into the sand." The explanation suddenly made Steven cling to his gem in realizations, notable where a scar surrounding it was.
"Ah…guys, remember back when Lapis was still in the mirror; and it broke over my head?" Steven brought up
"And then the blue bitch thought you were trying to control her before I gave her a knuckle sandwich and sent her flying?" Meteora spoke bitterly. "Fun times for the most part."
"Yeah, I cut my head from the glass, so some of my blood got on it." Steven continued, looking at Rose. "Didn't you say something once about Diamond essence being used to make gems?"
"Well yes …" Rose caught on, looking at the little gem. "I just … didn't think it would take so quick."
"Glass doesn't take that long to form compared to most minerals like gemstones, so that probably sped things along." Connie summarized, before her eyes widened. "Steven..I think you're technically a dad now."
Steven stared in horror, before screaming. "I can barely handle a sister, I can't handle a daughter! I can't handle another part time job to pay for child support over the five I have already!" A small part of Earl was glad he had priorities straight, another felt he was overreacting just a tad.
"Don't worry, Stevie, I think mom will be more than happy to help out, after she stops squealing from the good news that is." Meteroa commented with a smirk. "Don't you worry squirt, everything's going to be fine with your dad and aunt Meteora around."
"… What's a dad … and an aunt?" The little gem asked innocently.
"How do you know about cotton candy but not about parents?" Connie inquisited.
"Some guy with a flashy thing came by my home with cotton candy, talking about 'finding aliens for his blog' or something like that." She answered with a shrug. "After that I've been running into town at night and taking anything interesting."
"She's definitely got the Butterfly trait of kleptomania." Meteroa chuckled
"I'm not a kleptomaniac." Steven tried to defend. Earl signed about the pile of 'fashion accessories' under the bed. "That's different, Mom said no one would miss them."
"Would one of those items be a purple bedazzled hair clip?" Amethyst asked with a raised eye.
"..Jana said she really liked it." The boy blushed in embarrassment.
Rose sighed. "Well, if you want, I'll leave her in your care." Rose said, staring into Steven's eyes. "Take this as a sign of trust … and don't let me down."
"Pfft, like we would trust her in your care anyway." Meteroa scoffed, before scooting the little gem away. "Come on, we gotta introduce you to the wonders of ice cream for breakfast."
"Wait Meteora, we haven't, ughhh." Steven tried to say something, only to see that there was no way out of it. "Was it just as jarring for you to be a parent?" He asked Earl.
She simply shrugged. She was more of a nanny then a mother at the point she got her awareness back. Or was it an aunt … no, then she'd have to be associated with Solaria, and according to Eclipsa, that was something no one wanted to have on their backs.
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Mina Loveberry chopped another tree down. "Gatherin wood, gatherin wood." She sang to herself. "I'm gatherin wood to build me a fire." She began carrying a tree. "Buildin a fire, buildin a fire, i'm buildin me a fire to get rid of those monster scum."
The queen for the most part had her officially 'semi retired', which sounded like a bunch of ridiculous hogwash to her ears, but she blamed that mostly on Rose's constant influence rather than Queen Moon's.
Then again, her whole relationship with the Butterfly family had been a bit…iffy ever since Meteroa. On the one hand, she was glad that Solaria's line did continue in some way, but on the other, it still stung her right in the heart to know she failed her lovely Queen by allowing their tainted monster blood to flow through them.
Fortunately, years of breeding and a lot of bribery on the Magical High Commission's part made history forget about that tiny little mistake, no matter how much Rose tried to ruin it with her advocating peace for the enemy.
"Mina Loveberry." Curious, she turned to see the current princess, Star Butterfly, standing before her. Sure, she looked like a monster with that purple skin and multiple arms, but Mina knew she was decent enough. "Mewni needs your help."
Yes … yes! She threw the tree away, bowing down. "Yes! We finally get to slay some monsters and bring justice to the land!" After so long of being inactive, she would finally shine forth and slay the enemy of all living things.
"No." Way to kill the mood. "The threat we face is far greater than the monsters could ever hope to be."
"Greater than monsters?" Such an idea sounded so ludicrous to her mind.
"Tell me, have you ever fought Blue Diamond, ever since she combined our kingdoms into harmony?" The princess asked, resting against a tree as if this would take long.
"Blue Diamond…hm…" She thought long and hard about that name, one that left her…mixed in all honesty. "Queen Solaria said gems in general were a neutral side for the most part, but she would often take me aside to discuss certain strategies if the Blue gal were to ever go rogue." She thought back harder. "I was part of the raid the commission made to take in Meteora, but Blue Diamond swatted us back with a wave of a hand and hit us with this…wave of depression."
"I know the feeling." She nodded. "Blue Diamond had a son. How is not important, what matters is he is my future lover, and White Diamond, the leader of all gemkind, refuses to comprehend it, demanding his immediate departure before she personally arrives."
"A diamond, on Mewni? We could barely handle one living among us!"
"Yes, which is why I need you to be absolutely calm and comprehensive on this next part. Can you do that?" She asked the warrior.
"Of course, your majesty! You have my undying attention!"
The princess sighed. "Due to the threat at hand, my lover has been gathering allies. Toffee, a Serpentari, and the current leader of the largest collection of monsters. Along with Eclipsa, the frozen queen of darkness."
Mina absorbed those words for a full minute before calmly breathing. "Are you out of your flipping corn headed mind!?!?!?"
The princess aimed her wand at the warrior. "Stand down. If you couldn't beat one diamond on your own our options were limited from the start. You gave your word you would take this calmly." She spoke in a very cold tone.
" I…,I…I did." She relented, and let a soft calming breathe enter her body. "You know this has 'bad idea' written all over it, right?"
"I do, which is why I'm hiring you." She spoke with the authority of a queen. "Toffee cares for his race, and Eclipsa cares for her family, my lover only cares for me and a few close friends, and I only care for him. None of us have the full loyalty necessary to not be trusted to abandon the mission to flee." Star Butterfly stood over her, looking down. "So what I ask of you is to fight to the last of your breath for all of Mewni, no matter how putrid its inhabitants."
Her words, they had the exact same fiery passion that her beloved Solaria had. She was trusting her entire future to Mina…she wanted to make sure that faith would never go wasted. "I swear on my life that I will protect the land of Mewni until my dying breath."
"I thank you." The girl patted her head. "Now come on, we need to get you accumulated to not wanting to murder them on the battlefield."
"Can I at least behead the lizard? It won't kill him if I do."
"Broken arms only, we shouldn't waste what limited stamina his body can hold." Such a smart and reasonable little girl. Blue Diamond's son better appreciate how lucky he was.
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Toffee definitely didn't expect his life to turn out the way it did. He expected a kingdom flowing with blood, the Butterfly family groveling on the ground, and to be leading his people to the future.
In a way he got what he wanted, just in a completely different path that had him working with the very people and family he swore to hate forever. The old proverb was true he guessed, the enemy of his enemy was indeed a friend…and in the case of Moon, so much more.
It was for that particular path his life took that Toffee growled at the pink woman across from him, the one he had a very mixed relationship with, although it was closely leaning on 'hatred'. "Would you care to repeat that?" He asked very threateningly.
"I have discovered that Yellow Diamond has been hiding among you for quite some time and have managed to weaken them in this new form that they hold." Rose Quartz, a woman he was never fond of to begin with, stated as she held up her pink sword, one that was coated in blood.
"That form … happens to be my son." He said coldly, his hands twitching as he watched Star carry her brother back to their side. "One that holds no memory of any past actions of Yellow." The war that United the Monsters and Mewmans together for the first real time cemented the vile woman's face in every living creature that had the displeasure of being there.
"Can you trust that?" She asked. "You've met the woman, you know she had less care for living things than you ever did. Why else would they be inside of someone if not for the purpose of hiding and biding their time?"
"Rose, listen to yourself, you're talking like you have absolute certainty that Rhinestone is anything but a child." Moon said as she stood up defensively. "For corn's sake, you have blood on your sword! Something you've sworn you'd never let happen!"
"I don't know how she imitated organic functions so thoroughly, but I won't lit it trick me, just as how you shouldn't let it trick you
"He is my brother you bitch!" She shouted. "He saved so many people! He saved Connie from us during Mewberty, he saved me from being a moron, and he saved Spinel from being stranded on a space garden!"
"Both Something and someone no one but a Diamond would have knowledge about!"
"How would you know that?" He asked with a glare.
"I-Agggggh! Don't you get it, she's trying to turn everything against me! She is trying to torment me with this charade!"
"That is one possibility. The other is that you're so paranoid about your own past coming back to haunt you that you're taking any justification to attack needlessly." Toffee observed.
"And even if my brother 'was' Yellow Diamond, so what!?" Star shouted. "People can change! Dad planned to kill Grandma because he was being a moron, and now I can hear Mom and him late at night!" … They needed to invest in soundproof walls.
"That's different! We're talking about a gem! A Diamond! They don't change no matter what!"
Toffee scoffed, turning to his wife. "And people called us hypocrites."
"I'm just disappointed that years later I'm the one that's on the other side of the conversation for once." Moon shook her head in disappointment. "You're a great ally Rose, and a good friend, but it's obvious now you being near my family will only put them in harm's way."
"Yellow being near your family will get them killed!" She shouted. "I'm looking out for you here, but you aren't comprehending the threat!"
"I fully comprehend the threat quite clearly." Toffee stood up, making his presence and authority well known to all nearby. "You're from here on out banished from Mewni. If you attempt to come near Rhinestone or any Mewman, monster or otherwise, you and your allies will be shattered on the spot."
He watched the gem glare at him, her grip tightening as the ground cracked just a tad. "You don't know what you're doing." She spoke very quietly.
"I do know. And I grow tired of your presence." Toffee snapped his fingers, and another pink figure, one with a heart shaped gem on their chest, fell from the ceiling. "See to it that this traitor leaves and never comes back."
"Yessiree, king lizard man!" Spinel saluted as she looked at Rose, her face turning sour and vengeful. "It's not enough for you to kill my first best friend, but now you're going for the second!?"
"Spinel, I-"
"Nope!" She shouted, extending arms around her. "Now make like a tree falling to the ground at five thousand miles an hour, and split!" And tossed the old gem out of the window. "... Did I get the joke right?" She asked his currently bleeding out son.
"…You nailed it completely." Rhinestone laughed weakly. They should get him to a doctor fast. The blood loss was making him delusional.
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She was Star … she was Star. They were big. They were small. They were red. And pokadot all over. Just shut up, all of you! Everything was fuzzy. Warm. Cold. STATIC. So many thoughts swarming through her head. How did this happen?
The last thing she remembers was fighting a giant hand as the earth kept shaking. Form. Form! FORM! FORM! FORM! Now she's stuck with these voices going off like crazy inside of her head. She knew she needed to stop them from forming. FORM! FORM! FORM! But it was so hard …
The only thing that all the voices craved more than anything other than forming was warmth, probably the only thing all of them could agree on to some extent. Thus, she set out to find the only source of warmth she knew she could rely on, the one person she trusted and loved above all else. Want it. Need it. Get it. Find it. It increased the number of voices in her head, but she was able to use the other globs of limbs and body parts to search the world for who she desired.
And here they were now. "Let go of me you creeps!" Her adorable little flame, the one that brought her warmth. Warm? Warm. Warm! "I will take you down and … and …" The lovely little flame stopped talking, staring into her/ their soul. "The Cluster … it's still alive?"
"Not…Cluster. More than that. Shooting Star crashed. Bright Light exploding. Became one with light. We're one and all. Happy to see you again."
"Shooting Star …" The little flame murmured, no longer struggling. "... What are your thoughts on my ringtone?"
" Cute. Adorable. Ironic? Rainbows!"
"Star!?" The flame shouted with a mix of surprise, relief, and horror. "Is it really you!? I thought after the earth exploded you…you…" Tears were falling down her poor flames face.
"Still here. Stuck with voices. Want to form form form. It hurts. Force them to stop. Want warmth." She/they told her flame. Friend. Love. Soulmate.
"I'm here for you, just tell me what you want." Her flame said calmly, no longer struggling against the drones/ them.
"Join me. Feel me. Love me. Spread your warmth to us. Forever. Want it forever."
"Marco!" She/ they watched as the guards /them were attacked with a whip and pipe. "We've come to save you … you …" A purple boy/ gem looked at them. "The Cluster … it's still alive!?"
"Wait, this is the thing that destroyed everything!?" A girl/ friend / rival with blonde hair looks at her/ them with fear and disgust.
"Well if we're here, we may as well take it down." Another girl/ friend/ confidant spoke, batting a pipe in their hand.
"Wait, nobody attacks the Cluster!" Her flame/friend/soulmate/love saved her. "Star's inside of it!"
" HUH?!" All three slightly less wanted bodies shouted at the same time.
"Star, as in our friend from another dimension?"
"As in your best friend?"
"As in that weird girl that the demon side of you is so obsessed with?"
"Yes! The spell must have not destroyed the cluster, but instead shoved her inside of its head." Her flame gazed at them. "She's been fighting this whole time … to stop it from forming." Tears fell. "She's been hurting … alone …"
"Flame. Friend. Warmth. Marco …" She craved him, needed him! She couldn't let him go. "Stay.Spread warmth. Don't leave us."
"A teenage boy possessed by a high level demon is being flirted on by a mutant monstrosity hive mind being possessed by a teenage girl … why can't Romeo and Juliet be this awesome!?"
"Not the time Jana!" The purple boy/ gem shouted. "Well what the heck are we going to do here? We don't have magic and cracking the cluster will probably break your friend too."
"Shouldn't we?" The friend/rival muttered darkly. "The cluster's only going to make the world even worse than it already is, and we've already lost too much to it already."
"I'm not hurting Star, no part of me wants that." Her flame defended. "Star, can you try reasoning with them, in any way at all?"
"They want form. They want warmth. They want form."
"But why!" The boy /gem shouted. "Why do you want to form!?"
Star … didn't know, she never asked. The cluster was silent for a moment. "Lonely … missing pieces … broken things …" They spoke with her voice.
"It just wants company?" The friend /confidant said with a raised eyebrow. "We can totally do that, right?" She turned to all of them. "If you can gather all the gem mutants here, we'll stay and keep your company."
"Company? Friends? Love." For the first time in a long while, Star felt genuinely at peace.
"We're really going to do this, huh?" The boy/ gem sighed as he turned to her. "Fine, I'll stay, but only if you can tell me what happened to three other gems. A pale one, an afro one, and a pink one?"
Star leaked into the many minds, asking as the voices nearly overwhelmed with many thoughts. " Pale one buried , Afro one split , Pink one ascended to sky."
"Ascended to the sky?" The purple one looked confused? "Like to heaven?
" Spaceship. Shaped like legs."
"... Somehow that sounds perfectly reasonable given my life and still makes no sense." The boy groaned. "Well the closest thing I ever had to a mom ditched me on a dead rock, so screw her I guess."
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Yellow Pearl gazed at Pink Diamond, who decided to be referred to as 'Steven'. "And then we can set up decorations here, and there. And have a bit of a spinning ballet thing here." For once they went back to their old job, setting up parties and balls to bring happiness to Gem kind. Although she had a hard time puzzling together the functionality of 'streamers' as they called them.
"I admit the spinning motion does look elegant." She voiced her opinion, unlike the broken Pearl next to her. "But I still do not understand why you choose now of all times to do your job." She spoke. "What changed?"
"Well, I'm a kid, so I don't really like the idea of working in general for one." 'Steven' responded with a light shrug. "Second, I guess I didn't really see the point in doing anything if I'm not allowed to be like the others diamond's, with the planet conquering and everything. But then…let's just say inspiration hit me."
"Oh, you mean that blonde-" The small Diamond's personal Spinel began to speak up, only for 'Steven' to slap his hand over her mouth.
"Blonde …. Is that some sort of nickname you placed on a new gem?" She asked.
"Yeeeeeeeeep!" The Diamond said quickly. "Blonde means yellow, and most Topaz I know are yellow, so…yeah, that's totally what I've been doing!"
She sighed. "As long as it's your own gem you're free to please, I guess." She muttered.
"You know, you're very sassy for a Pearl." 'Steven' noted, much to her panic.
"I'm sorry, I-"
"I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just curious." They stared at her with sparkling eyes.
Yellow Pearl stared at him for a moment, looking away. "Yellow doesn't like people who just kiss up to her, she wants honest thoughts and facts." She blushed at the idea of being frank with a diamond. "It's a bit of a struggle occasionally, when the honest truth is that I find her more glamorous than the brightest star in the galaxy."
"Sounds like a frustrating paradox." 'Steven' nodded. "Never expected Yellow of all Diamonds to give her gems free reign like that though."
"She's a very rational gem." Pearl explained. "As long as you can get your work done efficiently, you're free to do as you please. It's one of the reasons she took one of your Jaspers." That gem could crush mountains with those limbs …
"Oh, that's why that gem's always visiting me. I just thought she was a stalker." The little diamond mused over the decorations so far. "So back then, with mom's…with the older Pink Diamond, her parties, were they fun?"
"They were a sight to behold, I will say that much." Yellow Pearl recalled. "All of us gems of lower stature were required to move in synchronized and orderly fashion, but your previous form would take center stage and move in some of the most beautifully chaotic rhythms I've ever seen." She smiled at the memory. "Those were the only times I could recall all four diamonds smiling at once."
The little diamond hummed. "Maybe I could make White smile … for real, instead of that weird and creepy one she wears all the time." A little too ambitious for their own good. "Any advice you'd recommend?"
Such a rare opportunity any gem would gladly shatter themselves for. "If you want my honest thoughts...avoid bringing any form of organic life to the party. The last time that happened there was an infestation of giant worms for a whole year."
"That's a shame, that means you can't invite Sta-" Steven once again slapped his hand over the Spinel.
"Remember that quiet game we were playing with Holly?" The diamond glared at the stretchable gem.
"Oh right, never tell anyone." She made a lip motion as Pearl started.
"... I wasn't aware you had a Starlite in your court."
"No, Spinel's just getting really, REALLY confused about the nickname list." The little diamond began dragging his gem off to the side. "We should take the time to have a personal refresher course."
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Leo watched as the little boy they guarded stood with sparkly eyes. "I don't believe it … how can food taste this good?" They asked. "What kind of animal did you have to kill, how much effort did it take?"
"Dude, it's just fries." The blonde girl stated. "You're telling me you've been alive for who knows how long and never tried-actually that's not hard to believe at all." The girl stopped herself. "Pearl never eats anything, so guess that could apply to you too."
"I eat, I just usually don't afford the luxury of cooking food thoroughly." The boy answered as he took another handful of the fried potatoes. "Most of the time it's a struggle eating the food you boil before it eats you. I have over a dozen teeth marks in my arms like you wouldn't believe." He showed off his scared arms.
"How do you still even have functioning arms with so many?" The blue girl, one that smelt like the boy vaguely, said in fear.
"I'm more durable than I look. They'd be cerebus chow centuries ago if my skin wasn't so dense." He started pointing to the various marks. "This one's from the dragon, this one's from that unicorn cannibal, this one's from Mina's training, this one's from my first encounter with Meteora.."
"Mina?" The blonde one asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Meteora?" The blue girl asked with confusion.
"They're friends of mine. The first is this super immortal lady who can kick my ass. The second is this crazy size-shifter that Mina hates for some reason." He shrugged. "We get milkshakes on weekends, that's the only time the two of them agree to a ceasefire."
"Oh, now wait just a moment." The blonde one grinned, looking at his boy with a smirk. "Is that a blush I see?"
"What, no, I don't blush, that's just the heat rising from the fire I make."
"That is the definition of being flushed." The blue one deadpanned.
"Whatever, I don't like Meteora as anything but a friend.."
"We didn't even say the who of your supposed crush." The blue one deadpanned again.
"Oh yeah, you never told me who you liked!" He accused back.
"I will one day marry a girl named Connie. I have made the arrangements for cake and flowers along with the day of our sixteenth date, where she finally confronts her mother about her life issues."
"Wow, way to suck out all the surprises and drama." The boy droned on. "I've never lost an interest in a ship so hard and fast until now."
"I have never felt genuine surprise until I met you … it's quite fascinating." She stated. "You have the absolute ability to live in the moment and never once think about your actions, constantly defying any and all visions I have seen and becoming a permanent blindspot in my life."
"Finally! We can plan a birthday without you knowing ahead of time!" The blonde one gasped. "Wait a minute, your twins, you share the same birthday!"
"Nope, I have a 'found day'." His boy smirked. "As I have said, I am eternally seven."
"Doesn't that get just a little boring or frustrating after a while?" Star asked.
"Why would I need to get older? It's like Nora said, I have absolutely no future."
"When you say it out loud like that and think about it, it sounds depressing." The blonde girl said.
"Whatever. There's nothing in this life that could possibly require me to grow up." Well Leo was immortal, so he had nothing to say on the matter.
"Possibly." The blue one stated ominously.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"The more you cause my visions to veer off course, the more the future alters to compensate." She explained. "It's like constantly changing the TV channel, now I see things I never thought possible … a lot of early ones seem to focus on a snake armed man and a mirror."
"Ughh, not the time out guy, he's the worst." The red boy groaned. "Does nothing but whine about his issues to that dumb mirror all day, even when it shouts at him to shut up." He rolled his eyes. "I'd rather get my arm chopped off by Toffee than hear Rhombulus blathering all day."
"Toffee is the guy leading the war, right?" The blonde asked with confusion.
"Yeah. Met him twice during some hit and run missions from Queen Moon." He shivered. "He's a slimy bastard, but super smart. I burned one of his eyes out and placed it in a bubble, so now he wants my head."
"Wait, couldn't he just grow it back?" The blonde asked, before gasping. "Do you guys have magic bubbles!?"
"I do. It's this weird thing I had with Meteora. Her eyes glow green and it makes my gem act funny. There's almost no telling what happens when we do that."
"Oh, Rose actually talked about that one with me." The blue one stated.
"Oh really?" His boy looked with interest.
"Yes … it means you're soulmates." She smirked.
"No, no, no! I refuse to think that fate is just forcing me together with her!"
"Yeah, get your head out of the clouds." The blonde said with her own smirk. "It just means your souls are bonded. Like me and Nora here."
"Oh, that's slightly less disturbing." The boy nodded. "Is there anybody living around here that we can tease you over?"
"Sorry, but it's the solo life for me-"
"She plans on sneaking out tonight to stare at Marco in the shower." The blue one interrupted.
"Girl, not cool!"
"Just being honest." The blue one shrugged before a red portal came out, and a short girl with clovers on her face hopped out with a sword that had an orc head pierced on it.
"Hey, Dante, so remember how your mom's been picky about what groups I can and can't kill, and that I need to talk to her about going off on my own?" The purple haired girl said sheepishly. "Let's just say there's one less village in the Neverzone now and I need to hide."
"... Starting to see why you bonded with Meteora." The blue one nodded.
"I know right, she's so awesome!" Looks like the boy would finally be entering the mating cycle.
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"Phineas, I got to say you guys probably made out the luckiest." Star complimented their young friends. "I think you have the only fandom in recent memory that never had any big blow ups."
"Our show did stay mostly episodic throughout its run. It was all about just having a fun time in the moment." The triangle headed kid responded. "Shame people didn't gravitate to Milo's show the same way."
"I think Ben 10 did well." The boy with the watch shrugged. "People just didn't like that it had multiple versions."
"Not to mention the latest version getting the teen titans go treatment." Steven shuddered.
"Meanwhile Gumball is stuck in limbo … poor cat." Mabel rested her head in sympathy.
"Ugg." Marco groaned. "The data keeps glitching. I think something might be wrong with the software."
"Maybe it's something in the computer." Dipper looked at the device. "Hmm … maybe it's the windows. Too many open slows the thing down."
"I just pulled up some cat videos." Star shrugged.
"Never can have too many cat videos." Mable agreed. "Let me take a look."
The moment the sweater wearing girl tried touching the device, it began to shake violently, smoke emanating from the back. "I've heard of cursed videos, but this takes the cake!" Dewey backed away in fright.
As the shaking escalated, they bumped into the console, shattering it … as multiple files came flying out, falling to the floor. ".. Huh, it was literally something in the computer." Ferb noted
"Oh crap, I got a bad feeling about this." Star looked at the papers. "Last time we had the segments extend this long, we found three more universes. Don't tell me.."
Kelly looked at one of the pages. "Yep, three more … congrats Marco, you have a wand in this one."
"Woo hoo!" Everyone stared at the red hooded dork with a blank stare. "I mean, oh no, that's bad…because…"
"Because now we have to stay in the blank space even longer before we go back to the canon." Jana groaned. "Why do we need more universes?"
Steven grabbed a post it note he found on the floor. "Apparently one of the creators, Hazard, found it unfair that two of the worlds were dedicated to Garnet and Amethyst having a kid, and wanted a world for Pearl too, so … 'guess which one it is'?" He blinked. "That's unsettling."
"Can't we make a plea to them? At least ask the other one to make the list shorter?" Luz asked.
"Nope, 616mcu is a huge fan of au's in general. It's taking a lot of patience for him to not write a bunch of segments involving all of us at the moment." Steven continued to read. "He's saving that for 'after the nexus'…whatever that means."
"Ominous." Anne noted. "So … go fish?" Star aimed her glowing hands at the girl. "Geesh, no need to get all dramatic over it."
"This is going to be a long day."
========================================================================
Steven stood nervously at the door, his body hesitating every time he tried to knock. "Take all the time you need." Pearl, his maid/nanny, assured him.
"Why do we have to do this Pearl? It's better being alone at the house than being with a bunch of strangers."
"The Butterflies are not strangers, they're long time friends of your family. As for home…we can't exactly go back there anymore." The pale woman nervously bit her lip.
Steven clenched his fist. "Because of the Diamonds." He couldn't believe they would try and take his mom to court over the idea of 'who should raise him'. "I already have a family, why do I need to get a new one?"
"The matters…more complicated than that." Pearl sighed. "Just think of this as a vacation, except there's no set date on when it ends."
"... It's three blocks down." He deadpanned.
"A very short distance vacation." The maid corrected.
Steven sighed. "Let's just get this over with." Completely unprepared mentally, he knocks on the door.
What sounded like a stampede of horses quickly followed as they waited outside for an answer. Sounds of crashing and tumbling made him very afraid to see what was on the other side, though he didn't have to wait long as a blur of something blonde crashed through the door and rammed him right into the ground.
"You're here! You're actually here!" The figure, a girl that didn't look much older than he was, sat on top of him as his back was against the green lawn. "Oh wow, I didn't think you'd come since it's been like, forever since we saw each other, like since we were three I think, but now you're here and you get to stay over like it's one big massive sleepover…!"
"... Right … of course … how could I forget …" He gave a pleading glance in Pearl's direction.
"Excuse me, Star, if I recall correctly." Pearl read the hint and cleared her throat. "Would you kindly remove yourself from my young ward at the moment? I'd rather not clean out grass stains today."
"Hmm?" 'Star' tilted her head. "Why would you need to clean them out, that's what the washing machine is for." She responded to the now twitching woman. But regardless, she stood up anyway. "So, wanna play hide and seek?"
Normally he'd be all for that, but the whole deal with the diamonds had left mostly everything he used to do with a bad taste in his mouth. "Thanks, but not right now. I'd rather today end as soon as possible."
She stared at his face for a bit, before giving a hum. "Alright, how about some hot coca? Jana nabbed some from a buddy of mine, Marco."
"That actually sounds pretty good in all honesty." He admitted, the corners of his mouth slightly lifting up. "Sorry if I came across as a stick in the mud. Things have been happening a lot in my family right now."
"Nah, you'll never be worse than my aforementioned friend. He wears bike helmets in the shower." She snickered. "And yeah, family drama is a bitch."
"Star Butterfly, why is there marker all over the ceiling!?"
"Because I already colored the walls, duh!" The girl shouted back to the voice. "I swear, no one around here appreciates my drawings of flaming rainbows."
Steven watched as a woman came out the door, tall with blue hair, fury on her face that immediately died down. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting you until later." She said, taking a breath. "My name is Moon, it's nice to see you again Steven."
"He doesn't need a reminder, he's got my name down pat, isn't that right Steven?"
"Of course … Star." He would question why someone was named after a floating ball of fire in space, but then he'd have to question why every adult he knew was named after a gem of some kind. "It's alright, this stuff did come out of nowhere. I'm sorry that we're intruding.."
"Don't even think twice about it. I'm more than happy to help Rose and her family." Mrs. Moon interrupted him with a smile. "Oh Pearl, I almost didn't see you there."
"No one ever does." The woman snarked. "I'm helping him unpack and adjust before going back to help Rose."
"Well don't worry, I'll make sure Steven here feels just like family." Star gave him a pat on the back. "Now come on, we have two cups of coca with our names on them."
Moon grabbed Star by the back of her shirt. "One cup … someone has a mess to clean up."
"I can help with that if you need it." Steven offered. "Don't have anything else planned for today, might as well do something."
"Sure, just bring in your baaaaa…." Star trailed off, looking at the piles of bags. "... You rich or something?"
"Mom's sisters work somewhere called 'Hometech inc', so maybe? I never really asked." He shrugged. "Now come on, I've got bags to unpack and flaming rainbows to experience." Today may actually turn out better than he thought.
========================================================================
"Steven, Marco, check it out!" Marco Butterfly, the prince of Earth turned to see his best friend, Star Diaz, stand on top of a cliff. "Trying a combo move with Lapis, i'm gonna do a triple flip into a flying water powered kick!"
"Star, that's a bad idea in any dimension no matter how you put it." Marco tried to talk the Mewman down.
The girl pouted. "Well Peridot vetoed my other idea."
"Jasper treating any organic like a cannonball other than Steven would result in them going splat." The green gem deadpanned.
"And I'm seventy percent certain that Lapis can get the timing just right!" Star pointed to the blue gem.
"I'm gonna be honest, I half volunteered because I can catch her if it goes bad, and half because I think watching her belly flop would be hilarious." Lapis shrugged with a smirk.
"Geesh, you guys have a really dark sense of humor." Steven, his rainbow haired adopted brother said with a mutter. "How exactly do you keep Mewni safe like this?"
"By using my complex computer algorithms to predict the sightings of corrupted gem life and logically evaluate every variable possible to.."
A tall buff gem made herself known and shoved Peridot out of the way. "Honestly, I just punch the problem if it shows up." He's seen her lift Buff Frogs castle with her bare hands, so he felt compelled to agree.
"Yeah, but, what about Morality." Star asked.
"Oh, that one's easy." Peridot stood up, dusting herself off with irritation. "I protect Earth because what it gives is amazing, and I prioritize the many of the few." She pointed to Jasper with a growl. "Loyalty to Bismuth makes Jasper here only care about the mission of protecting the planet instead of the people themselves."
"Why should I? They're doing everything they can to kill each other already; trees and other plant life doesn't talk sass when you protect it." A relatively good point.
"And Lapis …" The green gem paused. "You know, I don't think I actually learned her reason."
They all turned to the Blue gem, who looked almost nostalgic at the attention. "I'm free to fly wherever I want here and shape whatever I want with my power. That and Bismuth appreciated the value of a practical joke."
"Most wouldn't call sinking Atlantis 'practical'." Peridot muttered.
"They were the ones that wanted to go to war with the world, so I put the world to war with them. Natural irony." No one was laughing at the joke. "Oh you all have no taste."
"I'm starting to see why Solaria had such a great relationship with The Rainbow Sentinel now." Steven muttered. "So is everything about brutal violence around here?"
"Only half the time. The other half is all about trying to find the shards of Blue Diamond." Peridot stated.
"Blue who now?" They all asked.
"No one that's important. Just know that those shards are like a magic leach." Jasper explained.
"Well that sounds horrifying." Marco stared down at his hands and wand. "How can I train here with that stuff around?"
"Relax dude, those things only pop up like every five hundred years or so." Lapis shrugged.
"And most of them are stored within Bismuth's room, something which only she was able to open." Peridot blinked. "Although with Steven now inheriting her gem …"
"Wait, her hideout?" Steven started to get wide eyed and worried. "That wouldn't happen to look like a blacksmith shop, right?"
"No, the temple room is what I was referring to." She explained. "The Forge is a workshop for weapons, and was a location lost to time that none of us were ever able to locate for centuries."
"I'd kill so many people just to find it." Jasper admitted.
"Heheh…yeah, your not the only one…" Steven chuckled with sweat on his brow. "I may have..sort of…gave Heckapoo access to it."
"You WHAT?!" Peridot screeched. "Do you know how many weapons of mass destruction are stored there!!? And you let a member of the Magical high commission just waltz in there!?"
"We were desperate!" Star defended. "We ran out of options when the red eye came and needed something to even the odds!"
"Well that would explain the explosion." Lapis groaned. "Alright, we need to go there, figure out what's missing, then destroy the place." She idly turned to the giant orange gem standing above her.
"I am not letting you destroy that room." Jasper spoke with anger, causing everyone to tense. "She worked there, that's too many memories of Bismuth to just let be erased."
Lapis stared back, before sighing. "What if … Malachite destroys it?"
"…Damn it, you really know how to make a situation more impossible!" Jasper growled as she tugged on her hair. "Fine, but we save whatever weapons we can salvage. That's the least we can do for our leader."
"Wait wait wait." Marco waved his hands. "Who's Malachite?"
"Me and Jasper fused." Lapis spoke off-handedly.
"... So me combining with Princess Spiderbite at the dance … that was fusion?" All the gems stared with wide eyes at Steven. "What?"
"Too many questions at once, we'll discuss this later!"
========================================================================
Lekmet gazed at the two children, glaring at the image in front of them. "Now, let's take it from the top." Rhombulus spoke seriously. "Star, you see a monster approaching." He pointed to the image of a slime. "What do you do?"
"Use fire to dry them out. Or if fire's not available, push them into rushing water so they can't focus on staying stable."
"Excellent." Heckapoo gave a small clap before turning to the young boy in the room. "Quasar, what's the best method for taking out a Kappa?"
"They're fast, but very small and low to the ground. You kick them to disorient or gain distance, then rush in with whatever object you have available to keep them at arm's length." The boy answered almost immediately. "Then once you have the upperhand, you slash against the stomach and let the entrails fall out naturally."
"Good job." Omnitraxus Alpha congratulated. "You two are advancing much faster than any Mewman before you." It was a good thing they grabbed the boy before he had his own ideas developed. Sure, he was attached to the girl … but they've raised queens before. Omni was happy at least.
"Awesome!" Star raised her hand, high fiving her brother. "We're gonna be monster slayers in no time."
"Yeah, we'll be just like Solaria and Mina Loveberry! Killing everything threatens to harm our home!"
"Baaahhh." He warned the two.
"We're not overconfident." The girl waved off. "I know to wait until I get the wand."
"Can't at least blow up one of those two headed monsters? I can shoot my exploding bubbles out at a long enough distance."
"I would totally say yes, but not after you messed up with the boomerang bubble." Hekapoo grumbled. "You know I have a bald spot now, right?"
"Oh like that matters. You have a million years to grow it back." Star waved off. "And like your enemies are going to specifically point that out when you're ramming a dagger right through their heads."
"You'd be surprised." Rhombulous stated. "Sometimes fights can get very wordy for no reason whatsoever. Omnitraxus and I spent a full hour debating crystallizing baby Eclipsa before she got evil."
"Alright, even ignoring the morality alone, you know I'm the guy who specifically stops time travel from messing up the stream, right?" The skull head groaned.
"I thought that's the job we gave Raynaldo after Rhina cursed him." Heckapoo pointed out.
"No, he guards the flow of time and makes sure it keeps going forward. I take out the paradoxes before they destroy the universe."
"Wait, what about Father Time?" Quaser asked. "Wouldn't he be the guy to go to for time travel?"
"He is, but he's a bit…mushy in the brain. It's better to just let him run the wheel." Heckapoo shrugged before looking at a calendar. "Man, time goes by fast. Better pack it up, Star. Tomorrow starts another Mom week."
"Aww man, can I at least take Quaser with me this time? He never comes to the castle, and Mom keeps acting weird whenever we're alone." The blonde girl pleaded.
"Why doesn't Lekmet stay with you then, he's not doing anything important."
"Baaahhh." Sure, throw him under the bus.
"Besides, you know this is a Mina week for Quaser." Rhombulus added. It was a miracle they were able to convince the woman that the boy was indeed a boy and not Rose in another form. Having Quaser say he hated monsters right in front of her practically made the warrior adopt the kid right then and there.
"Sorry Star." He patted the girl on the back. "Don't worry, when we come back, we can try and rework the schedule to spend more time together."
"I guess, I just thought this would finally be the week we'd stick it to that pompous Lucitor jerk and ram hot coal up his butt."
"Star, trust me, no one wants to ram stuff up his butt more than-"
"Phrasing!" Everyone shouted. If they were raising the kid right, they were not going to let him become corrupted like that.
"Tell you what, we can get Lion to attack him. Get something that smells like him and mix some Lion lickers in there." The boy almost gagged upon saying the name of his most hated dessert. "If that doesn't work, we'll use the weakened to plan to take down both him and the Ponyhead princess."
"Why do you two insist on antagonizing the royal youths?" Omni asked them.
"They look weird."
"Yes, but they're rich, so they get a pass." Hekapoo stated, pulling them along. "Now come on, we should pack your bags."
"That's such a dumb rule." Star rolled her eyes. "We shouldn't have to tolerate those weirdos just because they have money.
"Sadly yes, we don't have the manpower to destroy everyone after all." Rhombulus shrugged. "See ya Quasar, good luck on your training!" Lekmet really liked this generation, so dedicated to good.
========================================================================
Omnitraxus Prime sighed as he warped into the room once more. "Curse you, Steven Quartz Da-" He paused. "Oh, you're looking at Alpha's universe. One of the few good ones around."
"Of course you'd like this one." The duck creature in green grumbled. He couldn't attack them sadly, they had a super rich family, and rules stipulated he couldn't attack anyone with money.
"These universe's just get stranger and stranger." The red hooded friend of the Butterfly's muttered.
"Yeah, I mean, a dimension where we're brothers is crazy." Steven nodded. "On the plus side me and Star didn't seem romantic in the new ones, so I count that as a win."
"I'm still weirded out by the apocalypse universe." A tall bushy haired girl stated. "The hive mind gave me way too many Darcy and the Core vibes."
He sighed at having to deal with these mortals. "Well I'll just be taking this and-"
"Actually, do you mind letting them keep it? I worked hard on the design." A voice popped up, everyone blinking in confusion.
"Who dares try to argue with-" He paused, glaring at the new entity. "You?"
"A cat?" A boy with a pine tree hat asked
"Oh, it's Anne's cat! Domino!" A latino girl shouted. "You never said she could talk."
"That's because she can't." The tall bushy haired girl said with a hint of familiarity. "This is the being I met after I used all the Calamity gems all at once." The girl did what!? How was she alive!?
"Nice to see you again Anne." The guardian nodded.
"Wait, that's the cat god you guys talked about?" Star asked. "… Why does it happen to look like your cat?"
"It's because your mortal minds are too weak to process my true form." They shrugged indifferently.
"Trust me guys, you don't want to see their real form." The girl said wearily. "My mind almost exploded after looking at them for three seconds."
"How is she even here?" Omni asked. "Aren't you supposed to die if someone uses all three gems?"
The entity shrugged. "Yes. But since they were the only ones to use the gems for good since … ever, I took pity and made a backup just before she died. Kinda like the wand did for Steven and Star."
" What?!" The siblings said while freaking out.
"Anyways, I was in the middle of offering her the chance to replace me when Steven popped into my domain after his soul was sucked out."
"…" He turned to the boy. "How do you keep giving me bigger and bigger headaches even when you die?"
"Oh, like I have any control over where I go when I die! Something I rather not repeat!" The headache shouted back.
"Don't worry, you've got a good th-"
"Do not tell me how long I have to live!" The boy shouted. "I've already hit the limit for existentialism for one lifetime."
"Ironic for many reasons." They muttered. "Anyway, they showed up, offered them a coed spot, Steven denied on the principle of still wanting to interact with the world and needing to help his sister, and Anne calling herself irresponsible also refused by saying there was room to grow." They explained. "So I'm unable to retire for a bit."
"Aww." Star moved to hug her brother. "Glad you came back for me."
"Wait…them….THEM!?" Omni pointed to the children. "You are placing your responsibility on a couple of children!?"
"Well mostly Anne, but Steven seemed like a decent secretary and confidant." The being shrugged. "Plus he's been naturally attuned with the multiverse for quite a while, so he'll have enough experience to help out once his time comes."
"Wait, I'm confused." The pine tree boy waved their hand. "Being replaced implies you can die. Aren't you like … omnipotent?" He asked.
"Oh right, question boy." They stared into the boy's eyes. "Let me give you a piece of advice about the omniverse … If something has a beginning, it has an end." They spoke with absolute seriousness.
"I feel both enlightened and horrified." The female duck creature said with light enthusiasm.
"Glad I can help. The point I'm making is that you should leave them alone from now on. This is basically their training."
This … this couldn't be happening! "Bastitch! You have no dominion over Mewni! Much less what happens when a person from this realm dies!"
"No, but I do outrank you in terms of watching all of space time, as well as all of those that I see fit to eventually replace me.
"Wait, where DO you rank?" Steven asked.
"About the same as Glossaryck." The moron in the form of a cat shrugged. "The big guy, at least the one that oversees us, doesn't have much time left in the chair due to certain events in another multiverse to transpire in about three decades, so I've been preparing ahead of time."They turned to him. "I suggest you'd start being nicer to your eventual co-workers/bosses."
…. Omnitraxus slowly felt himself lose it, the very axis around them warping. "I … refuse … to let this stand." He opened a portal. He needed to make preparations. Anything to stop that nightmare from taking a large spot in the multiverse.