#wanted event

While he was listening to the “off-colours” discuss where to go next Lars’ hair started to glow. Before anybody knew it, Steven’s head popped out.

Lars lost his balance but fortunately Rutile was there to catch him.

“We need to figure out how you can give me some sort of warning,” Lars grumbled, he added, “One day you’re gonna make me fall and crack my skull open. I’d probably end up hot pink next time.”

Steven laughed as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Sorry Lars.” He tapped the screen and had an excited look on his face. “I brought you a gift.”

“What, is it some kind of gem-phone that’ll let me make a call to Earth?” It looked like a normal phone to Lars but anything’s possible at this point.

Especially when you’re a zombie-but-not-really.

“Nope,” Steven grinned. “It’s videos! From you family! And Sadie!”

Lars’ eyes went wide. “Wha…”

He was speechless.

“But-y-NO!”

“Huh?" Steven certainly didn’t expect that reaction.

“You can’t show me my family and Sadie,” Lars fought off the tears. “If you do that then-” he was choked up, his voice went quiet, it’s gotten hard to keep up the act around Steven. “…I’ll miss home.”

“Aw Lars, they had a lot to say to you. I think you should watch it.”

“No dude, I can’t. I’m stuck here for who knows how long and that’s assuming I’ll eventually get back to Earth I can’t see them.”

The Gems present had been listening to the conversation. They weren’t entirely sure what was going on but they reached a conclusion.

“You should watch the videos,” Fluorite spoke, the rest of the group nodded in agreement. “We don’t know what a ‘family’ is but it sounds important.”

It’s moments like this where it really hits Lars that he’s stuck with a bunch of aliens.

A bunch of weird wonderful aliens.

Naturally Steven took it upon himself to explain what a family is.

“A family is a group of people who love each other very much. They care about one-another and help each other out. A family is…”

“Us,” the left rutile twin said, her sister looked at her then the pieces fell into place and she smiled.

“Exactly,” Steven was thrilled that they came to that conclusion.

“Well then you should definitely watch them,” Rhodonite wore a stubborn expression.

At this point it was hard for Lars to keep refusing.

“Okay fine,” he gave in. “But I wanna do it in private, alright?”

After everybody left him alone Lars opened up the first video.

He was quickly met with the faces of his parents. Both of them looked like they had no idea what to say.

But for once they didn’t look like they were about to lecture him.

Lars started the video.

His mom was the first to speak.

“Oh my dear sweet Lars. We’ve imagined so many things happening to you. Some good… some bad. But nothing like this. We could have never imagined you would give up so much to help somebody.”

Martha’s already fragile composure crumbled so Dante took over.

“I can’t say that I fully understand what happened or what went through your mind. But Lars, I hope you’re safe, wherever you are.”

Dante’s stern expression softened.

“And, I’m proud of you, son.”

“We’re proud of you,” Martha added.

They looked sad as they waved.

The playback stopped.

Lars felt tears running down his face, he didn’t even realize he was crying while watching that.

He never thought he’d be so happy to see his parents.

His dad’s words, ‘I’m proud of you son’ played in his mind.

His dad’s never been proud of him before.

Or even called him ‘son.’

Lars took time to process the message from his parents before watching Sadie’s video.

He wasn’t sure if he could do it.

But Steven needed to go home.

Steven could go home.

And Lars wanted to get better about not being a selfish prick.

He steeled himself before starting the video.

“Um, hi,” Sadie looked a bit shy, it was obvious that she wasn’t used to being on camera.

“Sooo… Steven told me what happened. Crazy stuff always happens around him, huh.”

Sadie blushed. “It’s been really quiet at work without you. I miss your constant complaining.” She sighed. “And our conversations.”

“Look, I just miss you! When you come home I’m gonna smack you!”

Her fiery expression vanished.

“Then we can watch some movies together.”

Sadie looked shy again. “I…m not good at this so I’m gonna stop now.”

“See you later.”

The video stopped.

This one also hit Lars hard but in a different way.

He was mostly glad that Sadie didn’t hate him for being such a coward on the ship.

“See you later,” he said before turning the phone off.

He took a breath to regain his composure then found his friends.

“I see Lars getting a wonderful gift,” Padparadscha proudly stated.

“Yep, you’re right,” Lars told her with a small smile.

Padparadscha beamed at him.

“You don’t look as happy as I expected,” Rhodonite said, she cupped her cheeks. “Oh no, was it bad?”

Lars shook his head. “No, it was good. Seeing my parents just got to me a bit.”

“What are parents?” The right rutile asked.

“Parents are, well, in my case they’re,” Lars’ face turned bright pink.

Never in a million years would he have thought that he’d have to explain ‘the birds and the bees’ to a two-torso’d alien billions of light-years away from Earth.

This fact made Lars laugh. “I’ll explain later.”

All of the pure-gems looked puzzled but went along with it.

Lars handed Steven’s phone back to him.

“Do you want to record a message for anybody?” Steven asked.

“I can’t let them see me like this,” Lars replied, looking a bit sad.

“Why not?”

“I’m a pink mess!”

“But they’ll see you when you get home.”

“Well-” the argument died in Lars’ mouth. “Yeah, they will.”

Lars heard Fluorite’s distinct voice. “If a family is what Steven says it is then they will accept you as you are.”

It’s kind of amazing how a huge caterpillar woman could move around so quietly.

“You’re right,” Lars looked at Steven. “Alright, I’ll record a video.”

Lars caught Steven before he started the recording. “What all do they know?”

“They know that you died saving some nice people and that I brought you back to life.”

“Do they know I’m pink?”

“I’m not sure if I mentioned that. Oh! But I did tell them about your magic hair.”

Lars rolled his eyes. “Wonderful.”

“Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Steven hit record then signaled to Lars.

“Hey,” Lars wasn’t quite sure where to start. “So, this isn’t a filter and your eyes aren’t messed up. I turned pink when Steven, you know…”

This was hard.

“Anyway, I’m fine. I’m with a nice group of people and we’ve been keeping each other safe. Right now we’re looking for a ship so we can get to Earth.”

“And yeah, I said ‘we.’ Next time you see me in person I’ll probably have some aliens with me so… expect that.” Lars listed them off on his fingers. “There’s Fluorite who’s a giant caterpillar grandma, the rutile twins who are conjoined, Rhodonite who’s a big lady with four eyes and four arms, and Padparadscha who’s a small lady that predicts the past.”

Lars chuckled. “They’re so weird.”

“But they’re nice. They make me feel at home.”

Lars looked embarrassed. “This is sounding so sappy.”

“I just wanna thank you for the video.”

“And that…” tears pricked at Lars’ eyes. “I miss you.”

“See ya.”

Lars made a cutting gesture at Steven who was a bit too touched to stop immediately.

“Steven! Stop the camera!”

Steven finally did.

“That was so beautiful Lars,” Steven was crying a little.

“Cool, thanks for telling me,” Lars looked away. “Now hurry up and go back to your family.”

Lars was almost his old self when he felt embarrassed.

“And thanks for doing this.”