History TearJerker / StevenUniverseFuture

** Volleyball's surprise and gratitude that Steven would actually take her to the Reef to get her repaired there implies that despite the fact that Pink hurting her was unintentional, it never even occurred to Pink to even ''take'' her there in the first place.

* When Greg, Connie, and the Gems try to get Steven to open up about what's been going on, he starts to get stressed, which results in more uncontrollable swelling. Connie suggests bringing him back to the hospital, which ''horrifies'' Pearl and Amethyst, because ''they didn't know''. Imagine how it must feel when you find out someone you basically considered your child had a medical emergency, but they refused to tell you anything about it during or afterwards because they feared they were burdening you.

* When Greg, Connie, and the Gems try to get Steven to open up about what's been going on, he starts to get stressed, which results in more uncontrollable swelling. Connie suggests bringing him back to the hospital, which ''horrifies'' Pearl and Amethyst, because ''they didn't know''. Imagine how it must feel when you find out someone you basically considered your child had a medical emergency, but they refused to tell you because they feared they were burdening you.

'''Connie:''' You didn't tell them?

** And what makes this truly tragic is that everyone, his friends, his family, even near strangers like the New Homeworld Gems could tell something was horribly wrong with Steven. But they left him alone because that's what he asked for, when what he actually, desperately needed was help and intervention- and by the time he got just that, [[DespairEventHorizon it was too little, too late.]]

* '''''[[TraumaCongaLine Everything Steven goes through in this series.]]''''' Just when it seems like Steven can finally catch a break, problems just keep popping up that he either has to or feels like he ''needs'' to deal with. In the first ''ten episodes'' alone, he's had to deal with Jasper [[RedemptionRejection still being against him]] [[HazyFeelTurn (at first)]], continuing to have his mother's past and mistakes smack him in the face, Eyeball and Aquamarine seeking {{Revenge}} against him and attempting to use his own father against him, and everybody moving on and changing without him. Besides, his going through the typical trials of growing into an adult and dealing with change are complicated by his powers overreacting to the wild emotional rollercoaster that comes with being a teenager, making his very feelings ''dangerous'' and making him even more unwilling to try and handle them. [[FromBadToWorse And it only gets worse from there.]]

''Steven Universe'' has always been adept at tugging at the audience's heartstrings, and in a short period, ''Future'' has proven to be no slouch in that department. With the series focusing on Steven's attempts to adapt to many of the changes in his life, there'll be plenty of moments that'll have you reaching for the tissues.

--->'''Garnet:''' Steven!

* Steven's final tangent is especially tragic, because it's one last parallel between himself and his mother. In the previous series, Rose Quartz was consistently characterized as a fairly compassionate person who struggled a lot with genuinely empathizing with people. She rarely ever put herself in someone else's shoes and thought about how her actions could hurt other people (which she always puts herself down for), and when she actually was confronted with the pain she caused, she never owned up to it - she hid it and ran from it for years, to the point where Rose literally took all her worst secrets to the grave with her out of genuine belief that she couldn't fix her mistakes and would only make things worse. She gave off the impression of being a very wise, empathetic woman who had all the answers because she basically [[BecomingTheMask faked it til she made it for years]], all while marveling at people who could be the genuine article. Steven himself was furious at how fake the saintlike persona Rose built up around herself was, and over the course of the franchise, becoming more like his mother has become his greatest fear. But during his meltdown in "Everything's Fine", when he comes clean to his friends and family about everything he's done lately, it becomes apparent that not only has Steven been mirroring Rose's behavior throughout ''Future'', he's becoming ''even worse than her''. He's lashed out towards people like Cactus Steven, Jasper, and White Diamond and come dangerously close to ending the latter two's lives, and he desperately covered it up. He kept it a secret from his friends for as long as he could, so he could pretend everything was still fine and that he was still the unflappable, dependable, wise, saintlike teenager everyone thought he was, when he was really falling apart. His self-hatred over becoming what he thinks is a "fraud" and a "monster" is the final thing that sends him over the edge.

* A possible Fridge Tear Jerker: one of the reasons he broke up with Sadie and wants to go back to space may well be because Lars is going to outlive everyone in his entourage. [[BlessedWithSuck Why would anyone want to live to see your loved ones aging faster than you and eventually passing away long before you do ?]]

** It is later stated by Steven in "Everything's Fine" that while he thought about smashing White Diamond's head into a pillar he "never actually went through with it," indicating that it was more of an intrusive thought than an actual attempt to hurt her. This makes more sense based on the fact that White never actually moved from the center of the room, and Steven himself hit his own head even though he should have had complete control of her body.

** Though it initially seemed like Steven tried to hurt Diamond in this scene, in "Everything's Fine" Steven himself specifies that he thought about hurting White but never went through with it, indicating that it was more of an intrusive thought than an actual attempt to hurt her.

** A subtle visual detail about Monster Steven, look at his face: he's never shown to be angry or wrathful, [[https://rose-red-panda.tumblr.com/post/613798306958704640/one-thing-i-found-really-interesting-about-monster just sad, confused, and scared]]. Likewise, despite his monstrous state, Steven never attacks or tries to hurt anyone, only doing so if he's being attacked. A reminder that, although he looks like a monster, [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds that's still just Steven in there]].

** Lapis' art was one of her first acts of ''creation'' after years of imprisonment and destructive behavior. Even if she doesn't look like she cares much for it, even if it's insignificant in the grand scheme of things, it's one of the few good things she can actually say she added to the world. And for someone to mock them like that, especially someone who still only knows destruction, it doesn't just sting, it's freakin' ''offensive''.

** After she stops attacking, Lapis almost immediately starts verbally lashing herself for losing control. We've seen [[HairTriggerTemper how bad Lapis' temper can be]]; she almost drowned Steven and Connie, broke Greg's leg, trapped herself and Jasper at the bottom of the ocean, and said downright ''cruel'' things to Peridot in the past, all as a direct result of losing it in the clutch. She's clearly been working hard over the TimeSkip to get it under control, but here she loses her cool over something as petty as the Lazulis being jerks and is clearly ashamed. [[CharacterDevelopment Lapis has grown a lot since we first saw her]], but she'll probably be struggling with her emotions like this for the rest of her life... and being a Gem, [[TheAgeless that's probably going to be a very long time]].

* Steven's final tangent is especially tragic, because it's one last parallel between himself and his mother. In the previous series, Rose Quartz was consistently characterized as a fairly compassionate person who struggled a lot with genuinely empathizing with people. She rarely ever put herself in someone else’s shoes and thought about how her actions could hurt other people (which she always puts herself down for), and when she actually was confronted with the pain she caused, she never owned up to it - she hid it and ran from it for years, to the point where Rose literally took all her worst secrets to the grave with her out of genuine belief that she couldn't fix her mistakes and will only make things worse. She gave off the impression of being a very wise, empathetic woman who had all the answers because she basically [[BecomingTheMask faked it til she made it for years]], all while marveling at people who could be the genuine article. Steven himself was furious at how fake the saintlike persona Rose built up around herself was, and over the course of the franchise, becoming more like his mother has become his greatest fear. But during his meltdown in "Everything's Fine", when he comes clean to his friends and family about everything he's done lately, it becomes apparent that not only has Steven been mirroring Rose's behavior throughout ''Future'', he's becoming ''even worse than her''. He's lashed out towards people like Cactus Steven, Jasper, and White Diamond even to the point of accidentally shattering Jasper and considering smashing White's head into a pillar and desperately covered them up, keeping them a secret from his friends for as long as he could, so he could pretend everything was still fine and that he was still the unflappable, dependable, wise, saintlike teenager everyone thought he was, when he was really falling apart. His self hatred over becoming what he thinks is a "fraud" and a "monster" is the final thing that sends him over the edge.

[[center:[-[[Tearjerker/StevenUniverse Main Tearjerker Index]] | [[Tearjerker/StevenUniverseSeason1A Season 1A]] | [[Tearjerker/StevenUniverseSeason1B Season 1B]] | [[Tearjerker/StevenUniverseSeason2 Season 2]] | [[Tearjerker/StevenUniverseSeason3 Season 3]] | [[Tearjerker/StevenUniverseSeason4 Season 4]] | [[Tearjerker/StevenUniverseSeason5 Season 5]] | ''[[Tearjerker/StevenUniverseTheMovie The Movie]]'' | '''''Future'''''-]]]

* '''''[[TraumaCongaLine Everything]]''''' Steven goes through in this series. Just when it seems like Steven can finally catch a break, problems just keep popping up that he either has to or feels like he ''needs'' to deal with. In the first ''ten episodes'' alone, he's had to deal with Jasper [[RedemptionRejection still being against him]] [[HazyFeelTurn (at first)]], continuing to have his mother's past and mistakes smack him in the face, Eyeball and Aquamarine seeking {{Revenge}} against him and attempting to use his own father against him, and everybody moving on and changing without him. Besides, his going through the typical trials of growing into an adult and dealing with change are complicated by his powers overreacting to the wild emotional rollercoaster that comes with being a teenager, making his very feelings ''dangerous'' and making him even more unwilling to try and handle them. [[FromBadToWorse And it only gets worse from there.]]

* The BookEnds to [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E1GemGlow "Gem Glow"]] with the reintroduction of Cookie Cat, only this time with the Gems eating and singing the Cookie Cat song, [[DarkReprise and it's lyrics now much, much sadder under the new context]].

* The confirmation from Dr. Maheswaren that Steven's dealing with genuine PTSD, and the tone of shocked concern in her voice when she hears the first ''fraction'' of what Steven has had to go through.
-->'''Dr. Maheswaren:''' Steven, do you remember anything bad in your childhood that particularly stuck with you?\\

'''Dr. Maheswaren:''' Steven, this is ''serious!''\\

'''Dr. Maheswaren:''' I think all of these experiences have been subjecting your body to a harmful amount of stress, and that's affecting your ability to respond to new forms of stress in a healthy way. You've been dealing with ''genuine'' threats from such a young age that your body is responding to minor threats as if your life were in danger!

** To make things worse, as multiple commentators have observed, "giving Stephen his own advice" ''is exactly what he needs at the moment'', considering he doesn't ''have'' a "Steven" of his own to help him through his problems.