There was nothing; nothing but the bleak emptiness in the Doomslayer's mind. He never dreamt nor had he ever slept at all during his time in Hell, except when he was forced into that accursed sarcophagus. After all, the need to slaughter demons took priority over his own luxuries. He wondered what events had transpired to have made him unconscious until he remembered Samuel Hayden's betrayal.
His blood boiled at how he had been used to simply dispose of Olivia Pierce and the rest of the demons who got in his way, just so Samuel Hayden could continue his operations of exploiting Hell's resources. It's a foolish idea to believe anyone can have "free reign" over Hell at all.
And now he is stuck in some unknown location, expected to stay put and wait for Samuel's latest fuck up to bite him in the ass. He looked around in his dark mindscape to find a crossed-legged woman sitting a few feet away from him. The most striking features about her, is how cubed her hair is and her height. She looked to be a lot taller than an average woman would look like and unless the woman in this dimension were as tall as her, she's definitely not human.
He started to walk towards her, fists at the ready, in case she proved to be hostile. But he noticed how she stayed in the same position; as if she didn't know they shared the same space. He took another step forward, when she quickly tilted her head up, looking directly at him. Whatever action was going to happen, was interrupted when the whole place started to white as he began to wake up.
When his eyes finally opened, he didn't expect to be greeted by the warm blue sky nor hear the sound of waves calmly crashing against a shoreline. He slowly got up, taking in the environment around him. He isn't sure if he was remembering correctly or but the absence of mile high, industrial skyscrapers; and various space freighters coming to and from space however, was a sign that something isn't right. There wasn't a single place on Earth that wasn't touched by the rapid industrialization or that wasn't marred by pollution.
Yet, here he is; in a coastal town with technology that dates back centuries ago and practically no pollution of any sort. How was this possible? There's no possible way humanity would simple regress, technology wise. Then it became apparent, he's in a different dimension all together.
Of course.
His heart started to pound faster, breathing became haggard, fists were clenched in a death-like vice, and… his blood boiled.
His vision, clouded in a red haze as he started to ooze rage.
That was until he heard someone talk to directly to him.
"Hi! My name is Steven! I haven't seen you around here. What's your name?"
"Something's wrong." Garnet worriedly thought when her future vision started acting up.
Future events were disappearing and new ones were appearing at such a blindingly fast rate, she couldn't concentrate well on them. She needed to meditate in her room to refocus her efforts on her visions. As she made her way to her room, Pearl couldn't help but notice how hurried Garnet is.
"What's wrong, Garnet?" Pearl asked in a concerned voice.
"I.. I just need to clear my head, that's all."
Garnet felt no need to make Pearl panicked yet. For all she knew, this was just a minor fluke with her future vision. Still, the timing couldn't be as impeccable as it is, that it should fail her when Homeworld was sending reinforcements.
"Are you sure you're all-"
"I'm fine." Garnet stoically responded.
As Garnet entered her room, Pearl couldn't help but wonder if there was more to what was currently going on with Garnet. But for now, she respected Garnet's privacy. She guessed it had to do with Lapis's warning about a visitation from Homeworld but could she really blame her? Everyone was stressing about how would they be able to prepare for a possible full-scale invasion when they're painfully outnumbered. And with Garnet apparently shaken about something, she could only guess that it was some future vision about them failing in the most horrible way.
"O-okay, just ask me if you need any help." said Pearl in a soft voice.
Garnet looked back at Pearl and gave her a reassuring smile.
"Alright."
The door closed behind Garnet as she walked to the center of the room. She then sat crossed-legged and cleared her thoughts as she began to meditate.
For two hours, her efforts at first were fruitless. The visions were still scattered and out of place, but then that changed. Instead of visions telling her about the aftermath of a Homeworld visit, she saw images from a more distant future, horrible images. She saw utter chaos, destruction, and death. She saw beasts not of gem origin but worse. The images became more gruesome and unbearable. Bodies hanged from the limbs of dead trees, free of their skins; buildings on fire and in ruins; and finally, gem ships burning in what used to be a battlefield, littered in the dust of crushed gems. She felt herself become sick from visions not of a war, but a slaughterhouse.
She had enough, the visions were coming back in full force and none of them were pleasant at all. Her head jolted up after she ended her meditation session for good. Ironically, the session left her far more stressed out than she had hoped, her hands were painfully clenched tight, and she was hyperventilating the whole time. She wiped the sweat from her forehead as she got up. However, there was one image stuck in her head, a man dressed in a full suit of green armor who had his hand stretched out towards her.
The door to Garnet's room opened as she briskfully walked out, not wanting to stay in her room for too long. She noticed that Pearl wasn't in the temple anymore.
"She must've went to the Sky Arena."
They decided on increasing the frequency of their training after the warning, to fend off any Homeworld gem who dares on setting foot on Earth. She looked around the temple to find Amethyst lounging on the sofa. Even with the looming threat of Homeworld, Amethyst still manages to look relaxed as though nothing bad would happen.
"Amethyst, where's Steven?" Garnet said as she hadn't seen the boy since this morning.
"He's taking a walk on the beach or something to think." Amethyst lazily replied.
Garnet thanked Amethyst as she walked out of the temple to look for Steven. Lately, he hadn't been his cheerful self ever since the warning. He kept wondering about Lapis's well-being, as well as if they'll be able to repel a Homeworld attack.
"He truly cares about her, doesn't he?"
Garnet thought back to their encounters with Lapis Lazuli and how things could have went a lot better. If they had known it was a gem trapped in that mirror, they would have freed her a lot more sooner. There's also the fact they always antagonized her after Steven freed her, never giving her a chance at all. Still, there's no point in dwelling on what-if's or what-could-have-been's, the past is set and the only thing to focus on is the present and the future.
When she stopped with her musings however. She stopped dead in her tracks. There standing not far away from her, is the man from her meditation session, his armor caked with dried blood and viscera. She could also feel the scornful wrath that is emanating from him, and it felt very sickly. Not only that, but there Steven stood in front of him, trying to talk to him.