Vic slammed his beer mug on the table, shaking the other drinks laid on the counter and even knocking a few over. He ignored the numerous growls and complaints from those around him and focussed on his empty cup. This was his life. It started off fine at first, it was up to the brim with beer, everything was fine when it was full. But as time went by, it lessened, he lost more drip by drip, and before he knew it, it was gone, completely empty. And once it was all gone, he always had to pay the bill, it never came free.
What was the point in asking for a refill? He could order one if he wanted, but he knew it would be the same in the end, it would just cost him more if he bought another.
"Refill."
He was stupid. He never learned from his mistakes, even when he knew how it would turn out. No matter how many times he ran out, he alway got more with some impossible hope that it would last longer. It could never change.
"History repeats itself," A voice from behind the bar said, "But there can be a few exceptions."
Vic looked up to meet the voice, and found a woman from the end of the bar with her back to him. Her short fluffy hair seemed to flow as though it were alive, it almost reminded him of a frosty white cloud against her dark navy blue jacket. As she turned around with a large cup of an icy bear in her hand, he could take a better look at her. Her skin was a white as paper, and beneath her jacket she wore a hot red T-shirt that seemed to clash her entire outlook and long comfortable jeans. Her frosty bangs came over her eyes and completely concealed them, but were short enough to reveal the calm and peaceful smile on her face. She almost looked like an old friend, happy and content with her life and even more so to see him. Yet despite her kind appearance, the stranger's words confused the drunken man. It was almost like she had responded to something he had said out loud. Had he said that out loud? How could he tell anymore, he could be announcing his thoughts right now without even realizing it. That happened every now and then whenever he got too drunk.
"Don't worry," The stranger continued as she took a crystal cup and began to pour a rich red wine, "You haven't said a thing."
Vic stared at the woman in disbelief as she swiftly went to the other side of the bar and handed a taller girl her glass. After that she quickly turned to a few empty cups and brought them to the sink behind her, both calmly yet quickly. Then without even turning around, she spoke to Vic.
"You were going to ask," She said as she rinsed out the glass cups, "There really wasn't much of a point in waiting for you to speak. I mean I could have just waited for you to ask, but it's just so much easier to tell you now."
Vic continued to stare at the woman, though he wanted to speak out loud he found his words failing him. Was this woman some kinda mind reader, or had he just had too much to drink?
"Neither," The woman replied (again, without looking at him), "I see into the future. And before you ask me to prove it, I think I've presented enough evidence to convince you."
Okay, so he was crazy. Figured. Still, there was worse things to imagine than a beautiful bartender with a calm mind and the ability to see into the future, it was just weird. The odd thing about her (besides seeing into the future) was the fact that she looked shorter than she really was. From behind the counter, he could only see the upper part of her along with a bit of the waist. By the size of her arms and waist, she looked like she could be no older than nine, yet she was tall enough to stand above the bar, and her face looked old and wise, with a bit of a youthful flare.
"Yeash, what did I drink to think of her?"
"Honestly, it could have been a variety of things," She continued as she handed two glasses of champagne to a couple sitting at the far end of the bar, "But that would be assuming I wasn't real, or that-"
"Would you stop doing that?" Vic finally snapped as he slapped his hand on the table in frustration. When he saw the startled look on her face (or at least he assumed it was startled) he couldn't help but grin.
"Bet ya didn't see that one," He snickered victoriously.
"Only as a possibility," The woman chuckled in reply, "I didn't think you'd snap. Sorry for freaking you out, my customers became used to it."
"Hu, weird," Vic almost said to himself as his eyes dropped down to the full cup in front of him.
"So was I gonna tell you about the whole beer thing or what?"
"How else would I know?" The bartender asked, "Like I said, I'm no mind reader."
Vic continued to stare down toward his drink. It was odd, really, how something could look so full at one point, so promising. If Vic didn't know any better, he'd have every right to believe that it would stay full like that forever. But no matter how many times someone could fill it up, it would always be empty. To think it would only take a few moments for the cup to be dry and fruitless. Anyone could walk up and have it filled up and drained over and over again, does it really matter how full something is it's going to be empty in the end?
"Man, that puts the whole 'half empty half full' cup to shame," The bartender chuckled as she took a few more bears on a tray and balanced it on her hands.
Vic gave a small shrug as he reached out his hand toward the cup.
"I know, I know. Nothing lasts forever, right?" She sighed as she grabbed a handful of ice cubes and dropped a couple in each drink, "But things exist so you can enjoy them while they're here."
"What's the point if they'll drain away eventually?" Vic sighed in a low voice, "And anyways, why should I take advice from some crappy bartender my mind mixed up?"
The woman paused to look at him, then placed the tray down and faced Vic for the first time.
"Listen pal, I'm a lot older than I look," She said with a bit of a smirk.
"Yeah, sure," Vic snorted before raising his glass to him mouth.
"I've been at this bar ever since it opened," the woman continued, "I've seen a lot of guys like you, believe it or not."
"And you're saying they all turned out fine?" Vic spat after successfully drinking half of his beer.
"Not all of them," The woman sighed, "But most of them found my advice pretty insightful, and I'll only offer it to people who know how to listen. And anyways, what harm will it do? Can you think of anyway I could make it worse?"
Vic stared down at his drink and considered her words. She had a point, even if she did give bad advice, it really couldn't make his state much worse. Besides, if he could get help, might as well be from anywhere, even some weird pale bartender.
"Yo Fire, where's our drinks?" Someone barked from the back of the bar.
"Yeah come on Fire, on with it!" A voice cried from the same direction.
"Alright I'm coming," The woman shouted back as she lifted the tray of beers once more and made her way to the door.
"Fire?" Vic thought out loud as he raised his eyes to the woman as she opened the small door to the bar, "That's your name?"
"Actually, it's Sapphire," Sapphire replied with a friendly smile, "But those idiots back there lack the capability to properly pronounce it."
"Hey that's not true," The first voice barked, "Fire just sounds better, that's all!"
"Yeah! You should be thanking us," The second voice added, "It's better than Roy's nickname for you."
"What? But she's all cold and stuff, Fire's a horrible name for her!" Roy (a third voice) Snapped, "Ice witches a much better name for her!"
"Roy, I swear if you call me that one more time," Sapphire called with a bright smile as she walked around the bar with the tray of beers, "I'm gonna break your glass mug on your head!"
"Again with the threats?" Roy sighed, "Come on Ice Witch, after all we've been through I thought we were past-no, no! Put the glass down! I MEAN IT! DON'T! GUYS HELP! SHE'S CRAZY!"
The group of people in the corner burst into laughter as Sapphire began shaking a bear mug toward a man who was practically climbing over his friends to avoid her. But Vic wasn't laughing like them or any of the spectating people in the room. Because it was now, for the first time, Vic saw the lower half of Sapphire. Her legs had to have been no shorter than her arms, which initially didn't make sense since she had been nearly as tall has him when he'd been sitting down. She couldn't have been taller than a 10 year old-at the most-her wavy jean pants looked like a 4th graders', and she wasn't even wearing shoes. But that wasn't the thing that was bothering him. What bothered him about her feet was the fact that they didn't touch the floor. She was floating over a foot of the ground! And what made things worse was that absolutely no one was bothered by it! Roy seemed much more concerned with his beer dripping on his head than the fact that she was flying over it, and all of his friends were drinking their beer and laughing it up like nothing was wrong (one of them was even reading!). When Sapphire finally came and saw the look on Vics face, she could help but snicker.
"I don't have to read the future to know what you must be thinking," She chuckled as she walked past him and floated over the bar table to her station.
"WHAT ON EARTH-" Vic started to cry.
"I never said I was from earth," Sapphire said slyly with a smirk.
Vic's jaw hung open, wanting to scream or express his confusion in some way but finding it utterly impossible.
"HA! Look at him," The first voice from the back cackled, "Clearly it's his first time here, ain't it?"
"Come on Morton, cut him some slack," The second voice chuckled, "Remember our first time we saw her?"
"How could I?" Morton replied with a snort, "We were so freaked out we wet our pants in front of her!"
"Not even I saw that coming," Sapphire called as she polished a mug jar with a white rag.
With that being said, the group of people once again burst into laughter as though nothing was amiss. Judging from their leather clothes and black boots, Vic could easily imagine them being some sort of motorcycle gang. The group made up of 8 men and 4 women, 7 of the men and 2 of the girls were cracking up, leaning over each other and spilling beer over themselves and the table, one of the boys was having what appeared to be an incredibly engaging conversation with one of the girls (neither one of them had barely touched their drinks), while the last girl hid her face behind a book nearly as big as herself as though her very life depended on it. They were all crazy, but at least they were happy.
"How…...where…." Vic stuttered as he turned back to Sapphire.
"What? Have you never been to a history museum?" Sapphire chuckled, "You might have noticed us if you have a sharp eye?"
"...us?"
"The crystal gems," Sapphire sighed, "I suppose I was never really an official one myself, but love the earth more than any of the clods on homeworld."
"H-Homeworld?" Vic stuttered, "Is that you're home planet?"
"It's where I'm from, sure," Sapphire replied simply, "But I don't like to consider it my home. It's not the best place for the open minded."
"What was so wrong with it?" Vic asked. He wasn't sure if it was the kind personality of the Sapphire or the other drinks he had had making his thoughts more blurry, but this alien bartender was starting to freak him out less, and he soon found himself more curious than scared.
"Well for starters they tried to hollow out the earth a few thousand years ago for their own greedy desires," Sapphire began, "Those upper cross elites talked about their plans and how it would be for the 'benefit all of gem kind' and all, but they didn't give a rats butt about any of the organic life already living here."
"Yeesh, they sound kinda mean," Vic muttered as a drop of sweat ran down the side of his head and he picked up his beer mug once again.
"But that isn't even half of it," Sapphire sighed, "I mean how could expect leaders who don't even respect their own subjects to care about anyone from any other planet? Especially when they couldn't live longer than 100 years."
"What do you mean?" Vic asked curiously, "Were they mean to you?"
"No, they tolerated me to some extent," The Sapphire said in a tone Vic had been unfamiliar with, "It was almost everyone else who they discriminated."
"For what?" Vic asked before placing his beer down (which now only had ¼ left).
"For self evaluation," Sapphire said as she filled another beer, "For thinking they could control their own lives, or for defining themselves in their own manner. On homeworld, everyone is made with a purpose, their considered tools. Tools don't have opinions, they can't have their feelings hurt, because they can't feel…...or at least they shouldn't. If a tool breaks, they have plenty more to replace them with. Or they could always make another one, it's no heartache if one has to be thrown away."
"Is...is that what they did to you?" Vic asked curiously, "Did you do something wrong, and they….'threw you away?' Is earth some sort of trash can to them?"
"Not quite, but that's a creative way to think about it," Sapphire chuckled, "The Diamonds never throw anything away, so to speak. If they wanted to get rid of me, I wouldn't be speaking to you…..well, I mean they did want to get rid of me, they just really sucked at it."
Vic found it quite odd how lightly Sapphire spoke of her seemingly terrifying home world.
"And the earth to them isn't so much a trash can," Sapphire continued as she placed a few champagne glasses on a silver platter, "They might think it belongs in a trash can, but I doubt they would look so merciful on it."
"What do they have against the earth?"
"Well the earth isn't exactly a normal planet, and neither are the gems that come out of it. But it's more than the earth itself, it's what happened here that burns them up," Sapphire replied, "Let's just put it like this: 4 Diamonds came to earth, and only 3 left."
"Oh….."
"Yeah. They were pretty p***** about it afterwards," Sapphire sighed, "Anyways, to put it simple, the Diamonds are the guys in charge, and anyone who's doesn't act exactly like they were made to are eliminated."
"Is that what happened to you?"
Sapphire nodded solemnly. "Yep. Before earth, I was all for the diamonds. I had seen everything that'd happen in my life and when, and I knew nothing could be done to change it so I sucked it up and accepted most of it, but earth caught me off guard….like, really off guard….for the first time in my life, I discovered that there could be more than one possible outcome for a given situation. Sure, some were more likely to occur than others, but they weren't the only possibility. I found out there could be multiple perspectives on things."
Vic poundered the aliens words, surprised by how the they touched him the way they did. For a while he had tried to predict the future, he was so sure of what would happen, but in truth, he had no control over the flow of time.
"You're wrong," Sapphire said as she polished a few more glasses, "You may not control others fates, but you can control your own. People can persuade and manipulate as much as they please, but you're ultimately in control of your own actions."
Sapphire then took the platter and hovered over the bar, 4 bloody marys staked on the tray as she flew.
"Man this place is weird," Vic thought to himself as he watched the girl fly off. Was everyone here really fine with the fact that an alien was running a bar? Did they not see how crazy it was at all? If he was less drunk, he probably would have been freaking out by now.
As his eyes bounced from person to person, he answered his own question. These must have all been regular customers, there was no other way for them to be able to act so calm as this went on. They lived here for so long that it had become the norm.
"So what brings you here?" Sapphire asked as she flew back to the bar, "I can tell you're not from these parts."
As the woman spoke, Vic flinched as awful memories flashed in his mind in seconds, recapping the events that had drove him away from home.
Fire.
Screams shrieking.
Sirens blaring.
Everyone's eyes glued to him like cats surrounding a rodent.
Their hatred burning toward him as though he was responsible for every heart ache they'd ever encountered.
"It's him!"
"He's the one who did it!"
"What's wrong with you?"
"Monster!"
"Cluts!"
"It was him! He did it!"
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??"
The memories of his past suddenly broke away and all reality crashed back in an instant as a piercing shattering noise broke through his thoughts. Vic nearly jumped out of his seat as he noticed the bear mug had slipped from his hands and crashed against the floor. Vic shook his head, clearing the thoughts from his head in an attempt to seem normal.
"Ah! S-Sorry," He stuttered, his face flushing as he did so, "I-I must have dozed off for a second. I, um, didn't get a whole lot of sleep the other night-Ah geez, I'm such a-h-here, let me-um-"
"Vic."
The man looked up and found Sapphire looking away from him, as though she were lost in thought. The woman's hand clutched the side of the bar as though her life depended on it.
"It's…...alright," She said, her words breathed the frosty voice of midnight, "I don't have to look into the future to know…"
Vic heavily blushed and looked away.
"I-Is it that obvious?"
"No, it's…...it's just that I can relate in a way or two…...it isn't anything to be ashamed of."
Vic clenched onto the bar tightly. As soon as he had moved into his new apartment, he had directed his main focus to go to the bar and drown out his past life. Yet here he was, sitting at a bar (at least somewhat drunk) and discussing his nightmares with a complete stranger-one from a different planet at that.
"How can you be so sure?..." Vic said, his voice carrying a certain darkness that hadn't been there before, "You don't even know….if you did, you wouldn't be talking to me right now…"
"Victor, listen," she said in a serious voice (speaking the mans full name for the first time), "Like I said, I'm a lot older than I look, maybe even more so than I'd prefer, so you can imagine I've made a lot of mistakes…..the one you could relate to happened years before you were born, but it still burns, even if it was an accident…"
"Are you saying I'm never going to get over this?" Vic asked, not able to meet the bartenders eyes, "That this will burden me for the rest of my life?"
"That can't be determined," Sapphire replied, "Not even by me. What I am telling you is that from my experience, things get better over time. It may never heal completely, but it gets easier to deal with."
"...how?" Vic asked, his eyes drifting to Sapphire hopefully, "How can I do that, how can I heal?"
"Well, the answer's pretty simple," Sapphire replied, getting her usual smirk as she did so, "You live."
Vic blinked, wondering if he had heard her wrong. "Live, wait-that's it? Seriously?"
"I'm not saying that's the only thing you can do," the woman chuckled, floating over the bar with a broom in her hand as she did so, "I'm just telling you what works for me. You can't rush something to heal, you can't expect certain things to just go away and fix themselves over night. Stuff like that takes time. Every day the pain gets a little better, you find yourself getting stronger, more able to face the world. You just have to be patient."
Victor pondered these words for a moment, and for a while he found himself lost in contemplation. He had never been the same ever since the incident, he'd never thought he'd get over himself. It was one thing being bullied in middle school, what they had said then wasn't true, it had meant nothing to them. But this was different. The things people said about them, their words pierced his skin like daggers, they were horrible, but it stung because they were true. Every time he had closed his eyes he saw their faces, he saw himself through their words, he was a monster…..
Yet despite this, there was something about Sapphires voice that reassured him, like she genuinely knew what she was talking about. His life wasn't over, not yet, maybe he could begin a new life here. But first, he had to make amends with the one he left behind, he couldn't really move on until that. But it was all so much…..just one moment had twisted Victors world into a nightmare, he had no idea how much time it would take for it to all be healed, if it was even possible.
"I can see you've got a lot on your mind," Sapphire dusted up the small glass shards beneath Victors feet as she spoke, "I think it'd be better to sleep on it, you don't want to digest too much in one sitting."
"Uh…...yeah, I guess," Victor stuttered with a shaky breath.
"And again, don't worry about the glass," Sapphire chuckled, "But if you don't want to break any others, you should probably leave now."
"Am…...am I being thrown out?" Victor asked nervously. It seemed as though Victor was already ruining things for his newly found friend the very day he met her.
"No, it's nothing like that," Sapphire gave Victor a reassuring smile as she floated over the bar, "It's just a friendly suggestion. If you stayed here and kept drinking, there'd be a strong chance of you singing the national anthem in the women's bathroom before puking on someone….it gets pretty ugly after that," Sapphire laughed as she imagined the scene, "And not the sort of first impression you want to make on a new town."
Victor shivered at the thought of ruining his reputation in only a matter of hours (not to mention the idea of waking up inside a jail cell).
"R-Right, I'll take your word for it," Vic chuckled nervously as he put his hand in his pocket, "I'll just pay the bill and-" Vic stopped mid sentence as his hand felt around in empty space. "Um-okay, that's a little weird…" Vic muttered, he could have sworn he put his wallet in his front pocket. After searching his right pocket for another 10 seconds before going to his left.
"No no no no," Vic muttered franticly, "Come on-you gotta be kidding me!"
"Let me guess, slipped your mind?" Sapphire asked with a smirk as she leaned against the bar.
"Ah geez! How many beers did I drink?" Vic groaned as he slapped his forehead with his hand, "Here, I could work for the money I owe you! I could mop the floors or-"
"Hey, no sweat, you've had a rough day," Sapphire chuckled as she turned around, "You can pay me back latter-by the way, your going to want this," She replied as she tossed Vic a long pointed object.
For a moment Vic almost thought she was throwing a spear at him as he caught the object mid air, but upon closer inspection, he found an umbrella clutched in his hands. Vic looked up at Sapphire in confusion.
"I checked my weather app, it's not suppose to rain till next week….."
"What, in this humidity?" Sapphire snorted, "Stranger things have happened bud. Trust me, it's gonna be raining cats and dogs, a few drops have already fallen," she said, nodding to the glass window with a few drops of water running down the side.
"Well, if you say so," Vic said casually as he rose from his set, "You sure I can take the umbrella though?..."
"I actually have a lot more than that," Sapphire replied as she gestured to under the bar, "Your not the first to come unprepared. You can go ahead and keep it, honest."
"Oh come on, I couldn't! Even if you do have a lot, it'd still feel like stealing."
"If your that bothered by it, you can just give it back to me next time."
"...next time?"
"Yeah," Sapphire replied as she took a bottle of white wine and poured it into a glass, "Next time you drop by."
"Did you look into your-um-future vision again?" Vic asked as he opened his umbrella.
"Nope, not this time," Sapphire said with a smirk, "There's some things you just know on your own…...plus, you still have to repay me for the beers you owe me," She chuckled as she handed the wine glass to someone a few steps away from Vic, "So you don't have much of a choice."
"Ha, right," Vic laughed, sensing the humor in Sapphires voice as he walked toward the door, "I guess I'll see you then. Thanks for the umbrella Sapphire."
"Anytime," Sapphire called, "And for future reference, my friends call me Fire, and not ice witch," Fire added as she flicked a straw towards Roys head. Roys friends snickered and snorted around him as he rolled his eyes and drained the last of his beer.
"Hey, if you want you could stay a minute longer and hitch a ride with one of us," The man presumably named Morton called, "Always room for one more!"
"Ah-no, no thanks," Vic said with a wave, "It's just a short walk, I'll manage."
"Alright, if you say so," He replied before turning back to his friends.
Victor then walked out the door with his opened umbrella and closed the door behind him. Before walking off, the man stopped to observe the bar that had seemed so normal and unimportant to him before he had entered. When he had first arrived, Victor had been too bitter and tired to even notice his surroundings, but to his surprise, he actually felt more clear headed as he left the bar and was now able to observe the details.
The restaurant was made up of red wood and stood out in the grey city illuminated by neon lights. It was roughly the size of a large house and almost looked like a log cabin, giving the building a warm and inviting look. Above the door was a large navy blue sign covered in small shining stars, and the sky got progressively darker as the stars rose. The white words that were placed on the sign were hand written, neat enough to read, but also sloppy enough to give off some kind of personality:
"Starlight Tavern"
Now that Victor thought about it, it made sense that the bar was owned and managed by an alien, the building gave off a very distinguished unearthly vibe, yet there was something oddly familiar about it at the same time. Victor didn't know why he had chosen this bar to go to that night, but he was glad he had. He couldn't believe he had been lucky enough to make friends with someone so understanding of his situation, especially when he had needed it most. The future had been so frightening and uncertain to Victor since the incident, he had no idea what his life would become in the years to come or what would happen to him, but for that moment (and for the first time in days), Victor felt that he could accept the fact that life was unpredictable, and that it would continue to surprise him and throw him off his path. But that was life, it wasn't always bad, and it wasn't the end of the world. Victor felt calm for what felt like years, and even in that cold and grey night, Vic saw his future as something bright and hopeful.
Suddenly a drop of water smacked the top of Victors umbrella across the smooth black surface. Vic watched as it clung to the edge and dropped to the pavement in front of him, marking the otherwise pale sidewalk. His eyes ran up the long buildings before him to the dark purple sky above him, promising to rain on the earth below as it clung to the humid atmosphere. The sound of thunder rumbled throughout the earth, and Victor began to navigate through the crowds of Empire city.
-Epilogue-
"Well, looks like that's the end of the first chapter of this series, I think it's off to a great start! This is my first Steven Universe fan fiction so it might be a bit rusty at first, but I'm going to improve my work chapter by chapter (or I'll be trying to anyways). Thank you all so much for staying after the chapter to read this (I mean if you're here and your reading this I guess I'm doing something right XD)."
"Don't speak too soon, this is only the first chapter."
"What the-Sapphire? What are you doing here in the epilogue?"
"You tell me, you're the author aren't you?"
"Yeah, an author with a memory of a goldfish!"
"Fair enough. Work was pretty slow after the gang left, so I thought I'd drop by and see the readers. Besides, I'm the main character here right?"
"Weeeeeeeeeeeel, I like to think maybe the author is the main character, don't you think?"
"I think the main character would have showed up in the first cha-"
"HAHahHaAHAHA! Let's talk about this another time, off script, alright?"
"Your the boss."
"Yeah I am!"
"Never said you weren't."
"...is it just me, or is your text different than mine?"
"Hm?"
"It's just-your words seem way fancier than mine!"
"I don't really see what you mean, but I guess my handwriting has a bit more….class." B-)
"How can your handwriting be better than mine?! I mean you can't even-"
"Hey hey, not spoilers!"
"Oh come on Fire, what if they want to know?"
"And what if they don't?"
"What's so wrong with one tiny spoiler?"
"Actually, that's kinda why I'm here."
"What are you up to?..."-_-
"I was thinking that I could spice things up in the end of the epilogue, if you know what I mean."
"Oooooooooooooh, I get it!"
"Yup, I was thinking that after talking about the general chapter I could use my talents to-"
"GET US SOME BEER!"
"...Nox, your underaged."
"SSSSHHHHH! They don't need to know that!"
"I wasn't talking about those talents, I meant my future vision!"
"Huh?"
"I was thinking that I could use my future vision to give a small teaser for the next chapter!"
"LIKE SHULK?"
"Yes, Nox, like shulk."
"That's a brilliant idea! I'm glad I thought of it!"
"What? But I-"
"Your not the author, are ya?"
*sigh* "You gotta stop playing that card."
"Why? Who's gonna stop me? IM MAD WITH POWER!"
"Ah geez not again."
"MWAAHAHAAHHAHAHAHA!"
"Your evil side is showing-"
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!"
"Your scaring away the viewers!"
"WHATS THAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER MY MAD POWER!"
"I'm so sorry-"
"AHAHAAAHAHAH!"
"-she's only like this on the weekends-"
"HIAKAHAHAHAHAhhhhAAAAA!"
"-I promise."
"Ha…ha…...ah, my sides!"
"Just start the preview you diamond" XD
"Haaaaaaaaaaaa, okay, go ahead…."
"Right, so, if you guys are still here after…..whatever that was…...then you're still here for a small teaser of the next chapter. If you don't want to spoil yourself, that's totally fine, but the teaser will always be here if you change your mind. ;) (plus, the chapters not exactly done yet, and Nox is a bit of a slow writer)"
"Hey!'
"I didn't mean it as an insult, quality takes time."
"Awwww, thanks Fire!" 3
"No prob Nox." :)
"But-wait, did you call me a Diamond earlier?"
"Welp without further adieu, let's start the flash back! See you next time!"
"Wait wait you didn't answer my-"
*-Flaaaaaaaaaaash!-*
"So Roy, where are the others tonight?" Sapphire asked as the door swung open and another customer came in.
"Ah, you know, same old stuff," Roy replied as the customer sat near the edge of the bar, "Guss and Morton have the auto body and some meeting tomorrow, so they had to call it a night early."
"You mean earlier than 4:38 in the morning?" Sapphire chuckled as she floated to the new customer, "That's believable. What can I get you?"
"A cold beer'd be fine," The stranger grumbled while remaining hidden under a black hoodie.
"Coming right up," Sapphire said as she floated to her familier station, "What about Lucy and Carl? Aren't they normally here for date night?"
"That's right, I forgot to tell you that Lucy finally got that promotion," Roy chuckled.
"No kidding? Good for her," Sapphire replied as she handed the customer a beer, "Was Carl okay with her skipping date night?"
"Ah you know him, he was all for it," Roy sighed, "And besides, he's got a few relatives from his moms side visiting, so he has his hands pretty full."
"Ah geez, you don't think his Aunt with the glass eyes coming again do you?" Sapphire chuckled, "I swear she's one of the most terrifying old ladies I've ever met, and that's saying something, I've meet more than my fair share of intimidating females back on hom-"
Suddenly Sapphire was struck with a future vision, one that was coming from the stranger. She could see him walking home an hour before sunrise, staggering from left to right along the sidewalk and clearly drunk. Suddenly he stumbled in front of an apartment before he took off his hoodie, and door swung open from the inside….