Better Together

Mindful Education

Y/n POV

*Inaudible yelling*

*Scrape*

*Cut*

*Glass breaking*

"Come on out you worthless piece of trash. Daddy's gonna be really mad if you make him wait any longer." A man said.

I held my breath, hoping he couldn't hear me. I couldn't move, I couldn't even think straight. He walked past, searching every corner of the house. I saw him holding a bloodstained knife, the same one he cut me with. I touched my arm where it got hit, wincing at the stinging pain.

"Please...please don't see me." I mumbled to myself. Since he couldn't find me, he was getting increasingly angry.

"Now you've done it. When I find you, there will be hell to pay." He said. "...Found you..." He mumbled.

He just picked me up one handed, choking me like I was hoarding every last bit of oxygen. "N-no... please j-just stop...!" I managed to say. He hated when I didn't accept my punishment, all it did was fuel his rage.

"I've told you TIME AND TIME AGAIN. WHEN YOU DON'T LISTEN, BAD THINGS ARE GONNA HAPPEN!" He screamed, jabbing the knife right into my stomach.

It was the most painful thing I've ever felt. Just a constant tearing inside me, with the burning on the outside. "AGH!" I yelled, coughing up blood. He threw me to the ground, picking up a vase.

"Now then, this should shut you up for a while." He said, getting ready to smash the vase into me.

"NO!" I screamed, waking up from my dream. I was clutching my stomach tightly, trying to stop what I thought was real blood. My breathing got heavy as I tried to get the images out of my head. All this commotion woke Steven up suddenly. "Huh? What's going on-" Steven started to say, seeing me hyperventilate. "Hey! Hey, just breathe. Don't worry, you're okay." Steven said, pulling me into a hug. My breathing started to slow down as I crawled into his touch. I've been having these nightmares for a few days now; it's starting to become a worry.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Steven asked, stroking my hair. "N-no..." I sniffled, hugging him tightly. Steven started humming a gentle melody to try and get me to sleep. After a moment, I finally drifted off. "I gotta do something about those nightmares, I can't watch him like this." Steven thought to himself. I woke up the next morning to a very bright day.

"Ugh, that was a really rough night." I mumbled, yawning. Steven woke up shortly after. "Good morning, sweetie." Steven said, kissing me on the nose. "Morning honey." I replied. We got out of bed and Steven started to make some breakfast. While Steven was finishing up some pancakes, my mind was focused on other things. I swear for a moment I saw a white butterfly perched on my backpack.

"Here you go! Tasty chocolate chip pancakes!" Steven exclaimed, giving me the plate of pancakes. "O-oh! Thank you." I replied, starting to eat. When we finished eating, we went into the bathroom to change into clothes. The warp pad went off and out came Pearl and Garnet who was holding a sign.

"Steven, Y/n, are you ready for today's training lesson?" Pearl asked. "Training lesson- oh, was I supposed to get something?" I asked, forgetting that we had fusion training. "Only yourselves." Garnet said. "Don't you remember? We have fusion training today!" Steven said, excited.

"Oh! Right, my bad." I said, embarrassed. "Garnet even made signs for both you and Eclipse!" Pearl said. We warped over to the arena where we got ready for our training. "Initiating fusion dance!" The holo-Pearl said. Steven and I nodded and promptly fused into Eclipse.