"Well then, this is quite intriguing."
Steven's body felt weightless, unfocused yet drawn directly to the two people in front of him. Instinctively his hand went over his gem on his stomach and clutched it protectively.
"Do not be afraid young one, you are in good hands here in the Velvet Room." Steven's gaze looked upon the speaker, a slightly hunched weird looking man with bloodshot eyes and a long pointy nose. He knew better than to judge others, yet he couldn't help but feel uneasy. He wanted to speak up and act questions, but his body was too weak to act anymore than he already had.
"I am Igor, and this is my assistant Margaret." He directs the attention to a blonde woman in a blue suit, who gave a polite hello to him before Igor continued. "You may already know this, but you have a very special destiny, what you don't know is, you will meet a special person that will change your life for the better, and assist you in your quest to protect all of the ones you love from a new threat."
Steven immediately began to worry of the gems, his dad, and the many occupants of Beach City.
"Our role is to guide you in your journey. Once your power from the sea of your soul has awakened, we will meet again. For now though, it is time for you to wake up."
Steven gasps loudly as he sits up in his bed, panting heavily. "Ugh, no more donuts before bed." Steven shakes his head to try and wave off the strange dream before getting out of bed to start his morning routine of getting dressed and eating breakfast. Just as he finished though, the familiar sound of the warp pad being activated alerted him.
Garnet approached out of the light and toward Steven, gently putting a hand on his shoulder. "Steven, I know it's early but we need your help on a mission."
"Huh? What's wrong? You guys usually can do missions without me, where's Amethyst and Pearl?"
"Pearl and Amethyst are currently trying to catch the corrupted gem. I believe we will need you and your shield. My future vision hasn't made it clear, but you're the key in helping us."
"Wow! Well I can't say no to that!" Steven has stars in his eyes as he follows Garnet onto the pad and they beamed off in a flash of light into a strange open field with a dilapidated looking house nearby. Next to the house was Amethyst and Pearl, the former banging on the door.
"Ugh, why is this place even locked? It doesn't look like anyone would live here." Amethyst groans before turning around and smiling when seeing Garnet return with Steven. "Back already? And it seems we got our cavalry." She chuckles before messing with Steven's hair.
"The door is locked Garnet, but we know the gem is here. I believe we'll have to break it down and leave an apology note later." Pearl hated unnecessary destruction of homes, but could not allow a corrupted gem to escape and cause future damage.
Garnet nods before easily kicking down the door. The Crystal Gems enter the house to see the inside damage worse than the outside. Furniture was ripped apart, a lamp shattered, electrical wires hanging loosely, and small but still noticeable dark red splatters on the wall.
"What happened here?" Pearls asks in a slight tone of fear before hugging Steven close, worried for his safety.
"Whoa, this place makes my room look clean in comparison." Amethyst states as she walks deeper into the house, her eyes widening though as she finds something. "Uh, guys? You might wanna check this out." The others follow her and gasp at the scene. A dead body of a young human male, barely older than 17 years, his left hand over his chest which was bloodied and deeply wounded, looking as if someone, or something, slashed him open. His right hand was bloodied and with glass embedded in it. Next to the body was a huge TV bigger than a window, the screen completely shattered, with the occasional electrical spark.
"D-don't look Steven!" Pearl immediately covers his eyes with one hand, and using her other hand to cover her mouth in astonishment.
"Pearl, I'm sorry but Steven needs his eyes to help us, The corrupted gem must have attacked this human."
"B-but"
"Steven has his shield, he will be okay." Garnet puts a hand on Pearl's shoulder, making her sigh before reluctantly letting go of Steven.
"I-I'm okay but...this is pretty scary." He looks at the dead human, trying not to vomit and taking steady breaths. As he relaxes, he notices something strange. "Wait...his hand is hurt." Steven carefully walks closer and looks at the body's hand. Sure enough, the glass embedded in his hand is the same material as what was part of the TV.
"Good eye Steven, I must admit that this confuses me too, why would the human destroy the television set while in a fight for his life?" Garnet adjusts her shades, seeming to be trying to look into the future for any help for this situation. Pearl and Amethyst look for clues around the body and TV, not noticing as Steven gets hit with a sudden wave of dizziness. His senses heighten and his ears pick up the sound of a faint whispering. Steven looks behind and gasps softly as he sees the corrupted gem.
A large pink round head that seemed too heavy for its shriveled looking body. In the middle of the head was a round gem, a moonstone. Steven notices when looking at its feet, it was levitating off the ground. Looking at its hands though, there were no claws or any sharp lethal looking parts of its body.
"Steven! Get back!" Pearl and the other gems finally notice the corrupted being and stand in front of Steven, readying their weapons. The floating gem only stays motionless, small whispers seeming to come from it, but no visible mouth was on it.
"Guys wait! I don't think the corrupted gem did this! Look at its hands, no blood or claws." They listen to Steven's reasoning and take notice of its lack of wounds and blood, as if it took no part of a fight recently. However, they clutch their heads as they now hear a high pitched whistling seeming to come from the gem. As the Crystal gems are distracted, Steven felt a cold hand on his shoulder, then looks behind to see none other but what was presumed to be a dead body, now standing on two feet and looking at Steven with blank eyes. The corrupted moonstone shines brightly as the shock of all these events are too much for Steven, along with a splitting headache and a vision of the smiling strange man from his dream, finally cause him to pass out.
"Hey there, sorry about the scare I gave you."
Steven gasps and pants heavily as he finds himself in black room, yet can see his own hands and body just as if there was natural light around him.
"Yoohoo! Over here!"
Steven's eyes look forward to see a young man smiling gently at him. Upon closer inspection, this boy was the exact same person who was a dead body a few seconds ago.
"Wait! Before you scream and panic, let me tell you that I am not a zombie. Look, my body was on the verge of death, but Moony saved me."
"W-who's Moony?" Steven asked fearfully, yet willing to listen.
"Oh um, she's the moonstone gem. I guess she's corrupted by your standards, but she was a big help to me while I was alive. As a last ditch effort to save me and help me on my quest, she used all of her energy to transform my soul into a mental being to live in your mind."
"...what!? T-that's crazy!"
"I know! But Moony is very adept in psychic skills. It was because of her I was able to make it this far. Unfortunately I was caught off guard and now my body is dead. I'm sorry to drop this onto you Steven, but I need your help, and I'm sure Igor agrees that we need to work together."
"W-wait, you know that guy with in the weird room?"
"Yes, the Velvet Room. I wish I had more time to explain, but unfortunately you're waking up." Just as the young man finished his sentence, several familiar voices reach Steven and a white light surrounds him.
"Steven!"
"Gah!" Steven quickly rises from bed in astonishment, but a feeling of vertigo causes him to lay back down into bed. Looking to his left, he sees Pearl looking slightly distressed but relieved.
"Oh thank goodness. I'm sorry Steven, I saw your gem glowing and your face looked as if you were in pain."
"I-it's okay Pearl...wait, what happened to me?"
"After the corrupted gem stopped screeching, it retreated into its gem. Whatever it was doing, it caused you to pass out, maybe it was too harsh on your human ears."
"B-but what about the body? I-I remember it got up on its own and grabbed my shoulder."
"Steven, it must have been a nightmare. It must have been traumatizing to see a human like that, but don't worry, we're all here for you." Pearl smiles softly before hugging Steven close, effectively helping both of them relax.
A deep bond exists between you two, that shall aid in your quest.
"Wow, a real dead body?"
"Yeah, it was pretty scary. I swear it got up and touched me, but the gems say they didn't see anything like that...maybe it was really a dream." Steven currently was retelling his recent adventure with the gems, secretly hoping that with her human perspective she can help get rid of any last fears of the body, or at least give sympathy.
"Dreams can be pretty powerful. One time I dreamt I was fighting with a sword, and woke up on my feet with my tennis racket in my hands." The two of them laugh at the silly thought, enjoying the peaceful time together. "Oh I almost forgot, have you heard of the new...mysterious rumor?"
"Sounds exceptionally mysterious...go on." Steven, with his attention captured, leans closer to Connie.
"Well there have been people talking about a strange thing happening to TVs, a secret channel known as the Midnight Channel.. Apparently, if you stare at a blank TV screen at midnight while it is raining outside,the channel comes on and you see your destined soulmate."
"Soul mate? What's that?"
Connie blushed lightly at the question and averted her eyes. "Well um, it's like, the person you will spend your whole life with."
"Oh, so maybe you'll be my soulmate." Steven smiled innocently at Connie, not fully grasping the meaning, and causing the girl to blush furiously.
"W-well, I guess the only way to know is if you watch it. It's supposed to rain tonight, so you if the rumor is true, you'll see someone."
"Alright! You said midnight? I'll do my best to stay up and watch it. But no matter what we see, we remain friends right?" Steven puts out his hand. Connie looks at his hand and smiles happily before shaking his hand and nodding.
11:59 pm
Steven's eyelids were heavy as he looks at the bright screen on his phone, telling him the time. He puts his phone aside as he looks at the inactive TV. He heard a light beep from his phone, signaling it was midnight. Steven looks out his window to confirm Connie's words and yes, it was raining quite heavily. He looks toward the TV and sighs, still blank.
"I guess it was really just a rumor." He was about to go to bed when he hears a eerie static like noise coming from the TV. Steven immediately walks up close to the screen, a blurry figure of a person with long hair but a feminine build on the screen. It was hard to tell who it was, possibly he has never seen this person before, but he knew something was off. Steven reaches close to touch the screen, only for his hand to sink into the screen like a pool of water. With his small stature, Steven felt like his whole body was about to fall into the TV, but at the last second he pulled away. Steven looks at his hand in fear, relieved to find nothing wrong, but then looked to the TV. Soon the screen goes blank once more, nothing visible.
"You saw it too?" Connie responded in disbelief over the phone as she makes her way to Steven's home.
"Yeah. A blurry figure of a girl, but I have no idea who she is, not that it matters because the screen wasn't clear enough for me to get a good view. But get this, when I reached over to the TV, my hand went through! I mean, I didn't break the TV, but my arm was going through the screen like it was just a pool of water!"
"Going into the TV? I may have to take your word for it considering all the crazy stuff you go through."
"But this seems like different crazy stuff, not related to the gems."
"Speaking of which, have you told them yet?"
"I can't, I already scared them enough when I passed out on our last mission. If I tell them about this, they may get too scared and break the TV, and then I won't be able to find out more."
"Yeah, I don't know about breaking the TV, but my parents would be scared too about this kinda thing. By the way, I'm here." Connie opens up the door and waves over to Steven who was on his bed before ending the call.
"Okay! Operation pretend having a sleepover but actually investigate the midnight channel is a go!"
"We really need to think of a shorter name for that." The two of them laugh a little before they get things prepared so they can stay awake while having fun.
Once again, rain batters the windows outside and the clock strikes midnight, the TV comes alive with the mysterious midnight channel.
"Steven! It's here!"
"H-huh? Yeah I'm awake!" Steven slaps his cheeks slightly to stir himself fully awake as he and Connie look to the screen. The image is much clearer this time, a young lady is on the screen with sandy brown hair and blue eyes. She smiles at the viewers, but Steven notices the little tears forming in her eyes.
"I'm sorry Max. I died." That was all she said before she turns around and began to run away from the screen, and heading into a bright green house, the doors opening wide just for her to run into. Soon though, a boy comes into view in the screen, and causing Steven to gasp in surprise.
"Steven? What's wrong?"
"T-that's the guy! T-the guy who was dead in the-"
"-house? Yeah that's me Steven, and I need your help." It seemed impossible, but the boy in the screen turns around and gives a small smirk, seeming to look directly at Steven and Connie. "Your friend can come too, but I warn you that it is extremely dangerous." The boy holds out his hand toward the viewers. Steven and Connie were in complete shock, unable to respond, but Steven slowly moves toward the screen and puts his hand to the screen, only for the screen to ripple and Steven's arm slowly pushes through.
"Steven wait!" Connie grabs onto his other arm, and both of them are pulled directly into the TV.