The beach was lit with green fire, rubble and debris littering the beach with immense jade shards. Three shadowed forms ahead stared up at the sky, a large emerald ship pointing down at them. The girl stepped forward slowly, her breathing slowly getting heavier, more panicked. Her heavy and slow footsteps went unnoticed, the gems in front of her beginning to panic. She was confused, so confused... if the ship was destroyed, how was it in the sky? Was it pointed towards them? It appeared to but she also thought it was pointing the other way, and it wasn't there and it was there, right in front of them in the water...
She fell to her knees, gripping her head. How could all those options be possible at once? They couldn't, they musn't...
"Connie!" Amethyst gasped, darting towards her. She looked up as Amethyst tried to help her stand, Pearl and Garnet staring back at her.
"Are you alright, Connie?" Pearl asked softly, her posture relaxing, her smile soft. She stared in awe then pointed to the most vivid ship, shimmering in the sky.
"The-the ship... don't you see it?!" she cried. She looked into Amethyst's eyes, then Pearls, and tried to look in where she thought Garnets was behind her shades. The gems looked concerned, but not for what she saw. "I'm not insane! They have Steven!"
Connie stepped back. She shouldn't have known that, she wasn't even there when it happened. Her breathing got heavy and she looked down at herself. No, this happened when she was a child, she wasn't suppose to be this old.
"Calm down Connie," Pearl said softly, approaching her. "We'll just get back to the temple and-"
"This is a dream!" Connie announced suddenly. "It makes sense!" She turned to Garnet. "What do I DO?" she asked desperately.
"Calm down," she replied evenly. "Do you remember what I said? Control."
Connie nodded and took a deep breath. Nothing changed.
"Garnet!" she cried desperately.
"Remember!" Garnet instructed harshly. "I'm not real, I'm you trying to explain this! You're stronger than this dream now remember what Garnet said!"
Connie narrowed her eyes and stared resolutely up at the ship, watching it flicker like bad television reception. She focused, remembered what Garnet had told her.
"If you focus your dreams, you may be able to access the same frame of mind that I can. It's a long shot, but Steven was able to access other peoples minds, and this was because he was human. I believe you can do anything you put your mind to."
That's what she had said. And Garnet believed in her, the gems all did. They needed her, and she could do it, she could see what was coming.
The beach shifted, the sand rolling against her feet and the gems turned to dust, caught in the wind. The flames and rubble turned to sand, sweeping across the beach with the breeze and leaving the night cold and blue. The beach was empty, the town was calm, and Connie was stood alone on the sand. The ship remained.
"Oh no," Connie breathed, her eyes widening. A ship was coming. Another one. Not just a drone, not a satellite or the orbital station... they were sending in the big guns.
The scene shifted and the ship had landed on the water, palm up and fingers stretched towards the temple as it rested across the beach. She was too far away to see properly and began to race down the beach towards the ship as mist and light began to spread from the edges. Although her eyes were focused on the ship, she could see the sand and ocean began to fade away, the town lights turning out rapidly and leaving only darkness. The dream was ending.
She ran harder, faster, remembering all the gems had taught her. Push yourself. You can always go further, just a little further. A bright light emitted from the centre of the palm and a hulking figure stepped out, a long white cloak dancing in the breeze. Their silhouette was imposing, a bushel of inky black hair swirling in the dark and blotting out the stars.
The sand began to fall away under her feet, sinking into the darkness of her mind. She gasped and looked down, giving a small yell as she saw the nothingness behind her feet. She looked up, desperate to see enough of the figure to know who it was, whether they were a threat. The cape had fluttered in front of the figure that had turned to stare at her. Their eyes shone and they stepped forward towards her. The mouth opened but all words were lost in the wind.
Connie dropped into the darkness as the sand in front of her breezed away and she screamed, reaching for something, anything to hold. She crawled and scratched at the darkness to stop it from consuming her as she stared at the underside of the world that rapidly drew away.
With a screech Connie opened her eyes, shoving with all her strength at what bound her. As she got her senses and mind back into control she saw that it had been Pearl trying to wake her from her nightmare; Pearl who was now sitting up slowly from being pushed to the floor, spreading a small pile of clothes out under her.
"Oh, Pearl!" she cried, slipping from the covers and helping her up. "I-I'm so sorry!"
"It's alright Connie," she said with a reassuring smile, gripping her arms. "What were you dreaming about?" Connie had almost forgotten; she had to hold onto the dream as strongly as she could.
"I think I saw the future, like Garnet told me to practice to!" she said suddenly, shaking Pearl slightly and staring down at her face. Pearl blinked once in shock and confusion before her face set into a resolute expression.
"Tell me."
"There's a ship coming, a large green hand!" she rushed, Pearl gently prying her hands from her arms.
"Continue," she instructed calmly, looking Connie in the eyes.
"There was a figure, a massive Gem with long black hair. The ship landed on the beach in front of the temple, but I couldn't reach it-" as Connie began to get desperate in her retelling, Pearl interrupted her to speak calmly.
"It's alright Connie. I'll go get Garnet and Amethyst, try and see if you can remember anything else," she told her reassuringly.
"Oh- okay," she said with a nod, sitting down at the edge of the bed. Connie watched Pearl descend the stairs and pass through the house into the temple, opening Garnets door and sweep in. The door shut resolutely behind her.
When the door shut, Connie frowned. She forgot to tell Pearl off for watching her sleep again. She sighed and shut her eyes, trying to remember anything else. There might have been another figure, but she hadn't been focusing on that. It was that one figure, it stood taller than Garnet even, she would have had to have ducked to get in and out of the temple door. Not just tall but wide too, big enough to crush Connie like a twig in her arms. She was resolute in not letting this Gem get close enough to her to do so. Maybe she could even show this Gem a thing or two about human strength.
Connie jumped when Pearl returned with Amethyst and Garnet, approaching the living space.
"Explain," Garnet instructed as Connie jumped from the bedroom tier and landed in a crouch on the sofa with a soft whump. She shifted to sit in the chair and took a deep breath before she retold her dream, start to finish.
"And then I was trying to climb back up the darkness but there was nothing there. I felt something grabbing me so I pushed it away, which turned out to be Pearl..." Connie said slowly, turning her head to Pearl. "Who I think was watching me sleep again," she added, raising an eyebrow.
Pearl laughed nervously then hid it with a cough. "This is not the time for such accusations."
"It's the perfect time," Garnet said flatly, turning to look at Pearl.
"Garnet!" Pearl exclaimed.
"We don't know when this gem or that ship will appear. But we do know they plan to land right in front of us, so we know they won't be fighting. A smart Gem would land further away, disguise themselves and sneak in. They're going to try to talk with us again, and all we have to do is say no."
"Again," Amethyst added with a mutter.
"You sound almost regretful, Amethyst," Pearl told her accusingly.
"Well, YEAH," she snapped. "It's hard, you know? Going through all this, trying to stop their ships all the time, and we can't always get to them! We're getting the blame from the humans for all the mayhem THEY cause. They're offering us a place to stay, they're offering to help us out, even fix up the temple-"
"And the price?" Garnet asked. "Claim allegiance to homeworld. I have to unfuse, and Connie gets taken away."
Amethyst hadn't looked at Connie in the eye since she started talking and blushed in shame, managing to avoid her gaze even HARDER.
"Amethyst..." Connie said slowly. "I... I don't mean to cause you all this trouble, you know."
"No, Connie, it's not trouble!" Pearl interrupted, waving her hands. Amethyst had finally looked up at Connie, who gave her a sad and nervous smile.
"I know I'm what's between you and... finally getting to relax after ten years, but... This is my planet. And I know it's yours," Connie continued, gaining in confidence. "And I plan to fight for it. The worst that can happen if you give up and stop fighting is that this planet is destroyed. Don't believe them when they say they wont if you give up. Ten thousand years wont have changed anything."
Amethyst paused before nodding. "Right."
"If we're all done agreeing the bad guys are still bad, I'm going to bed," Garnet told them all. She looked at Connie. "Well done. You're strong, fast, determined and a highly skilled fighter. And now? You can even see the future. You're our greatest asset Connie, be proud."
Connie smiled, her cheeks flushing with pride.
Garnet then proceeded to sit leisurely on the sofa, stare ahead a moment, then her head fell forward and she went still again.
Amethyst crawled forward and peered under at her face. "... I think she's sleeping," she told them, pulling back. "We should totally cuddle pile," she added enthusiastically.
"Oh no," Pearl replied, crossing her arms and turning her nose up. Amethyst rolled her eyes and grabbed her sash, pulling Pearl forward to land unceremoniously on Garnets lap. She gave a small cry of indignation, but Amethyst was already cozying under Garnets arm, giving Pearl a satisfied smirk. Pearl sighed and shifted back so her head rested on Garnets lap, entwining her fingers and resting them on her abdomen. She shut her eyes slowly and relaxed for a moment before opening her eyes and glancing at Connie.
Connie hadn't moved and was looking out of the window, her brow furrowed.
"Connie?" Pearl asked softly. She turned her head slowly, her expression growing sad.
"Do you think he's okay?" she whispered.
Pearl did her best not to cry. She didn't reply either, just held her hand out to Connie who took it slowly. Pearl pulled her down gently so her head rested on her tummy, stroking her hair softly and adjusting her legs so Connie could curl up. Connie got comfortable, but shut her eyes tight to stop the flow of tears. She was scared.
After a while, Connie was too tired to think about what frightened her, and there was a soft glow above her accompanied by muffled sound. Pearl was dreaming. Connie smiled and shifted slightly, gently descending into a dark, dreamless sleep.