Roulette!AU | Steven Universe

Gem Glow

It was a sunny day. The seaside town of Beach City was pleasantly quiet.

        "NOOOOOOO!"

        Er, well . . . almost.

        Inside the Big Donut, Steven Universe was standing shocked in front of the mini freezer.

        "This can't be happening! This has to be a dream!" he spun around, making a beeline for the shorter shop assistant and wrapping his arms around her. "Sadie, Sadie! Please tell me I'm dreaming!"

        Sadie didn't act favourably to being tackled.

        "Steven, let go! I'm stocking here."

        She wriggled out of his grasp and walked away, leaving Steven to slap pathetically to the linoleum. At the counter, the cashier winced.

        "Sorry, man . . . I guess they stopped making them," Lars said, leaning over.

        "Stop making them?" Steven clambered to his knees. "Why in the world would they stop making Cookie Cats? They're only the most scrumptious and delicious ice cream sandwich ever made! Don't they have laws for this?"

        "That's life, Steven." He looked over at Sadie, crouching to stock the lowest shelves. "No one buys them anymore. I guess they couldn't compete with Lion Lickers."

        Steven was beside himself. "Not Lion Lickers! Nobody likes them!" He stood and trudged over to the themed freezer against the wall, gazing through the frosted glass at the drippy treats inside. The black bubblegum eyes stained the ice cream around them, and the mouths were lopsided. "They don't even look like lions! Kids these days, I'll tell you what!"

        Across the room, Sadie stood up, smirking. "Well, if you miss your ice cream so much, why don't you make some with your magic gem?"

        "That's not how it works, Sadie!" he cried, then paused. ". . . Right?"

        He turned to the freezer, inspecting his reflection in the glass. He raised a hand and tapped the gem against his forehead, but nothing happened. He sighed, drifting back to the Cookie Cat freezer. "Oh, sweet Cookie Cats, with their crunchy cookie outside . . . their icy creamy insides. . ." As he spoke, he drew the well-known shape on the frosty glass, and, in a melodramatic display, he gave the picture a soft kiss. "You were too good for this world. . ."

        Lars stared at him from the counter. "Uhh . . . Steven? Do you wanna take the freezer with you?"

        The boy gave a tearful nod.

○○○

Steven jogged happily across the sand, freezer cords fashioned into backpack straps. In a matter of seconds he was up the slope and lugging the freezer on his back up the stairs, swinging through the front door.

        "Hey guys! You won't believe thi—"

        And in a flash, he was knocked to the ground. When his eyes refocussed, he found himself staring into the eye of some sort of monster. Its jaws snapped just centimetres from his face, and he screamed.

        A whip lashed around the creature's middle and he looked up to see Amethyst standing across the room, her hands on the weapon's hilt.

        "Hey, Steven!" she grinned. She heaved on the whip and the creature went sailing through the air.

        On top of the warp pad, Rose Quartz was fending off attacks from multiple creatures with her shield. In a clever manoeuvre she scooped one up and whacked it across the room. Garnet snatched it from the air and, imprisoned in her gauntlets, it was squeezed until it poofed in a cloud of greenish smoke.