Authors' Note: Hello, folks! This is a prequel to our story Faded Blue, an AU where Steven's mother ended up being Blue Diamond instead of Rose. Both can be read independently, but provide context for each other.

1: Do You Believe In Destiny?

This, Greg was beginning to think, might have been a bad idea.

His whole life, Greg had wanted adventure. And he had found it. He'd spent his childhood staring up at the stars through a telescope, reading textbooks about supernovae and comets and asteroids. He'd gone to community college for a degree in physics, because his parents would have wanted him to have gone to college, and he couldn't think of anything else he wanted to study. But he'd never had much of a head for math; he had trouble memorizing equations; he'd found it hard to maintain focus on the long, long assignments. Greg had loved space, but he hadn't loved astrophysics.

Greg had also loved music. Eventually he'd been forced to admit that his scientific aspirations weren't going to take him anywhere. He'd dropped out, changed his name, bought a van, and set to make his fame.

And he'd made that fame. It had taken him on a tour around the world, all the way to Korea, which by anyone's estimates, should have counted as 'adventure'.

But noooo. Mr. Universe had wanted some more. Concerts weren't interesting enough. Groupies were exhausting. Cities felt cramped.

He'd heard a local folktale about a crying ghost that haunted the mountains. He'd been intrigued, and decided to head out there. Probably nothing, but fresh air would do him some good.

Which was why he found himself in the middle of nowhere, hiding in a bush, staring at a literal giant.

She didn't look much like a ghost, Greg thought— not that he had much experience there. She looked too solid. Too real . She was massive, for a start, at least five times taller than any person he'd ever seen. It was hard to be sure, the way she was crouched over.

She was facing away from him, hidden behind a long blue cloak. But Greg could hear her. A quiet sobbing, a murmuring.

"Oh Pink," the figure cried, "I am so sorry… It is my fault— I should have been able to stop it…"

Greg squeezed his eyes shut, trying to calm his frantically beating heart, trying to still his lungs, gulping for air. It wasn't fear, so much. It was just the understanding that he shouldn't be here. Whoever this woman was, she was clearly upset, clearly grieving. This was private.

He had to leave.

Crouching low, Greg began to creep backwards. Careful as he was, he couldn't stop himself from rustling the bushes.

"What are you doing over there?" the woman said, and Greg stopped cold. Was she talking to him?

"I thought I heard something," another voice answered, very soft.

Greg gulped. Should he run? Should he hide?

"I think we're not alone," the second voice said.

He didn't have the chance to decide before he was discovered.

The second woman was normal sized, but that was where any normalcy ended. Her skin was pale blue. She was dressed in a sheer, lacy outfit, like something a ballerina would wear on stage, but which was completely unsuited for the middle of a cool forest. Her eyes— if she even had them— were completely hidden. She jerked back a little when she spotted him, then went very, very still.

"Uh." Greg struggled through a dry mouth. "Hi?"

Neither of them moved.

"Pearl?" the giant called.

"My Diamond, I've found a native," the person— Pearl?— called back. If 'call' was the right word; her voice remained very soft.

Greg climbed to his feet. "Uuuh. I'm not really a native— I'm from the US, actually—"

"Bring it here," the giant said.

Before he could react, Pearl's hand wrapped around Greg's arm. Her skin was strangely cold, and hard, like glass. He could do nothing but let himself be pulled along, out of the bushes and towards the giant. He gaped as she turned. Her skin, too, was blue— a deeper shade of it, like the ocean. Underneath the hood, her hair was the most lovely white. Her cheeks were stained with tears, and underneath her eyes hung dark shadows. Beneath the sadness, however, Greg could see other emotions— surprise, compassion— and despite everything, she gave a small smile.

"How curious. I'm impressed by humanity's ability to survive in the wild. What a strange planet." Her smile faded, and she waved her hand towards a broken pink chair-thingy lying not far away. "Where else would a being as fragile as a human live, while something as powerful as a Diamond, perish? This is where it happened. Where she was broken."

His mind was reeling— Humanity? Planet? Diamond?— but Greg seized onto one word. "Broken?" he said. "Do you mean… killed?"

The giant regarded him, and then slowly, nodded.

Greg bit his lip. "Were you close?"

"Very."

"I'm— I'm awful sorry. I know how hard it can to move on after you've lost people you love."

Pearl finally released Greg's arm, as the giant came to peer at him more closely. "You do?"

"Yeah," said Greg. "My parents passed away a few years back."

"Parents?" she asked.

Does she not know what parents are!? Greg thought.

"My Mom and Dad," he explained. When neither the giant or Pearl showed any recognition, he continued, "the people who… created me, I guess. My family. They raised me. We had our share of differences, but still… they helped me become the person I am today." He had to fight the rising wave of grief, push back against the tears. "But now they're gone. I… I try not to think about it too much. It's just— hard, knowing they're never coming back."

"I'm surprised that a human is capable of understanding how I feel. It's a shame. There's—"

"Wait," interrupted Greg. "You say human like… you're not one."

"I am not," she said.

Pearl spoke up, still in that soft, whispery voice. "We are Gems."

"Gems," Greg repeated, his eyes drawn to the shining circle and diamond sitting embedded in the two figures' chests. He gave a slightly hysteric laugh. "Not ghosts, then."

"Ghosts?" the giant asked.

Greg gave another laugh, and quickly explained about the legend that had brought him here in the first place. The Gems listened intently, although with some growing amusement.

"A very peculiar species," the giant said, once he had finished his tale.

Species. The way she said it, combined with all her other odd comments; it sent a thrill of something down Greg's spine. "Are you— are you aliens?"

"From your perspective, yes."

"Oh my— oh my goodness!" Greg felt dizzy. "Aliens! Actual real life aliens! I can't believe it. Like, from space and everything?"

"Indeed," the giant said. That amused smile had crept onto her face. "Would you like to see it?"

"Would I?" Greg said. "It's all I've ever dreamed of since I was a kid!"

The giant smiled wider, straightened—

— and then showed him.

She summoned a spaceship with a wave of her hand. It was huge, wreathed in clouds, shaped like a giant blue arm of all things. With Pearl trailing behind them, she lead them to another of those chair-thingies, this one undamaged and blue (he was beginning to sense a theme). It flew up into the spaceship, like the fastest elevator ever, making Greg's stomach flip as he stared through the delicate metalwork down at the world vanishing below.

Once in the spaceship proper, he was taken to a massive window— and there he stood, side-by-side with two aliens, staring down at the planet Earth as only astronauts ever had.

It looked so small. So small in the vastness of space. Like a jewel, shimmering in patterns of greens and blues and whites.

"It's beautiful," Greg breathed.

"It is, isn't it?" the giant said.

There was a silence as they just stared, enraptured.

"You know," she said, "I'm not really supposed to be here. But I am glad I came. And there is still time. I think I would like to see more of this world."

"You should!" Greg agreed. "It's a pretty great planet, if I do say so myself."

She laughed at that, a sound like the tinkling of glass.

Back onto the chair they went, and the aliens dropped him back to Earth. Greg stared around at the Korean countryside. Grass, trees, a light breeze rustling the leaves… it all looked so normal, so mundane, compared to the glory of space.

Mundane, except for the two Gems who stood among it all.

Greg hardly wanted to leave.

But he had to. He was hungry, and he had a show at eight-thirty, and— well—

"You will come back," the giant said.

"Absolutely. My heart yearns for the day that our stars shall cross again, oh lovely—" Greg stopped, and rubbed his neck, suddenly shy. "I— uh… sorry. I never actually caught your name?"

She drew herself up. "I am Blue Diamond."

"Blue Diamond," Greg repeated. He stuck out his hand. She stared at it, and he awkwardly lowered it. "I'm Mr. Universe." He mentally slapped himself over using his stage name; that was so hokey. "I mean— Greg. Greg Universe."

Blue Diamond graced him with another one of those brilliant, rare smiles.

"We shall meet again, Greg Universe."