"AFTERMATH"
LOUD BANGING and screams cut into Connie's mind as she came to, bringing a painful ringing to her ears as she looked around took in the chaos on the streets in Crawford Terrace. She felt around and realized she was being piggybacked by Steven who was running down a destroyed road. She failed to understand what was going on and she looked back to see large black Gems made of rock with triangular torsos, large jagged arms, small legs and red gems at their center laying waste to the street.
She shrieked when she realized what was going on. "Rogue Gems!"
"They're more than rogue gems, Connie!" Steven said, panting. "We've been invaded!"
Connie paused and looked to her left and right, seeing that several buildings were destroyed and people were screaming and running for their lives. Taking in the carnage, she turned to Steven. "Steven stop, we gotta help them!"
"I can't!" He said his eyes clasped in grief.
"What do you -," Connie writhed and held her shoulder, feeling cloth hastily wrapped over a wound that bled out. Looking down at Steven, she realized that he was injured himself, his hands covered in bruises and his chest covered in burn marks. "Steven …"
"I can't fight them! We have to find the others or we're gonna die!"
"But …" Connie tried to think when she looked up. "Steven, look out!"
A low whistle came from above and Steven quickly jumped back, nearly crushed as another black gem with a red stone landed before him. The being turned to Steven as he was mid-jump and grabbed the boy's torso, slamming him into a building and causing him to drop Connie on the ground. Steven coughed out blood and the gem rushed to punch him when Steven quickly summoned a shield and kicked the gem away.
Steven looked ahead and saw Connie laying on the ground, quickly grabbing a nearby car and chucking it at the gem that attacked him. Grabbing the girl, Steven ran down the street and leapt through the air, trying to fly, but plummeting to the ground in a nearby street instead. Connie coughed as she pushed herself up and saw Steven passed out on the ground.
"Steven!" She ran to him and shook him, getting no response. "Steven!"
GARNET FELL to her knee on a sidewalk in Boardwalk Street, touching her lip and feeling blood, and seeing the carnage the black gems had created. Pushing herself up, she continued to walk when she realized that she felt different, looking around and realizing her field of vision was narrower. Looking at her hands and seeing blue skin, she realized that she was defused from Ruby.
Panicking, Sapphire hovered into a market street, moving past fleeing civilians and attacking gems as she looked for Ruby. Looking left and right, she felt her panic rise when she saw the red woman rising out of rubble and about to be attacked by a black gem.
"Ruby!" Sapphire cried and grabbed a car door, freezing it and smashing it into small spikes she flung at the assailant.
Freezing the black gem, Sapphire rushed towards Ruby who saw her and came running, coming mere inches of each other and reaching out to fuse. The black gem however broke out of its ice prison and slammed its fists on the ground, breaking the earth apart and sending the two gems flying with a concussive wave. Sapphire pushed herself up and quickly ran back to Ruby when the earth started to split in half with Ruby's side collapsing downward.
"Ruby!"
"Sapphire!" Ruby cried, getting bashed by a black gem that knocked her into a building that collapsed into the earth.
Sapphire jumped down after the fallen gem, only to be grabbed by a black gem that chucked her into a telephone pole and sent her barreling into the earth. Sapphire skidded to a stop and coughed as pain consumed her when the black gem came after her again, lunging at her and punching her in her stomach, digging her further into the road. Spitting out blood, the blue woman fell limp, getting picked up the attacker who looked at her coldly.
The black gem began to crush Sapphire when she acted quickly and slapped her hand on its face, freezing it to its core and jumping back immediately after. Barely landing on her feet, Sapphire looked for the fallen part of town where Ruby was, but not seeing it anywhere. She huffed, realizing that she was in a different part of town all together and several kilometers away from the Temple which she could see barely in the distance.
She took a deep breath and clenched her fists, closing her wounds instantly and healing herself - releasing steam from her body that also cleaned the dirt off her. Taking in her surroundings, she flew off and began to investigate, trying to figure out a way to get back to Ruby and the others. Hovering close to the ground and keeping quiet, she looked around for more of the black gems, not ready to face the behemoths again.
Coming to a descent, she went to a corner and peaked her head into another street where two of the black gems were. They simply stood there, not attacking anyone like before to her surprise when she realized that they were holding two halves of a metallic circular device. Putting the parts together, the two gems tossed the contraption on the ground, watching it expand into a gigantic metal plate.
Sapphire squinted as she watched and saw the device begin to spin at high speeds, whirring and digging rapidly into the ground. Waiting for the machine to go underground, the two gems went their separate ways, destroying buildings and attacking people inside. Sapphire raised her brow and flew toward the pit as they left. She landed at the mouth of the ditch and looked into the massive abyss, seeing circuit lines on the sides of it that lit up all the way downward.
"What is this …?"
AMETHYST PEEPED into Sussex Road and stepped onto the sidewalk, looking back and forth to make sure there were no black gems around. She huffed and roamed around, worried about the other gems and wondering what was going on as she'd not encountered any of the black gems despite hearing their carnage in the distance. Seeing it as a lucky break, the woman walked on when she saw a beer bottle of the ground and reaching to pick it up when she heard glass break nearby.
Running up to the next turn to her left, Amethyst looked into the next road and saw a group of four teens sneaking up on a black gem! "What the fuck?"
"Take this you piece of shit!" A skinny black boy cried, running up to the gem and bashing it with a baseball bat that immediately broke. The monster turned to him, overshadowing the kid who began to panic. "Look, man, I was only joking, heh," He turned to a blonde girl nearby. "Now!"
Adjusting her glasses, the blonde and activated a detonator, igniting several bombs beneath the gem that rocked it slightly. Coming up to it from the side, a red-headed Asian boy unloaded a pump-shotgun on the gem, barely moving it and drawing its attention to him. Satisfied, he holstered the gun over his shoulder and kicked a gasoline barrel at the gem, confusing it as it looked around and realized the other two kids had done the same. The three kids, joined by a tall brunette girl carrying an axe, tossed grenades at the drums and jumped for cover as they exploded and enveloped the gem in flames.
Looking at the fires that remained, the kids cheered and congratulated themselves. "Yeah, it's not down yet at all." Amethyst said blankly, startling them as they realized she was behind them.
The black gem rushed out of the flames, coming down with a furious punch and Amethyst pushed the kids away, blocking the monster's punch and getting pushed back against the asphalt. The monster threw a punch at Amethyst and she flipped back, turning into a spinning ball and rocketing back at the black gem, causing it to fall back and crash onto a bus. Summoning her whips, she stepped toward the creature, not noticing the teens gawking in awe.
"Cool …" The black boy said.
"You're a Crystal Gem!" The blonde girl grinned.
"That's right kids," Amethyst smiled and turned to them, "Now, leave it to the profession -,"
The black gem bashed her with its shoulder, smashing her onto the ground.
"Motherfucker,"
STEVEN CAME to and felt himself in the comfort of a bed with white sheets, looking around and getting up, seeing the bandages wrapped around him. Taking in his surroundings, he realized that he was in a small clinic, wondering how he got healed and what'd happened previously. He began to stand when he heard the door open, seeing Connie walk in with a tray filled with medicines.
"Oh, you're awake!" Connie smiled and went up to him. "Thank God, I didn't know how long you'd be out."
"What happened?" Steven asked, feeling a searing pain in his head.
Connie's smile died and she put the tray down on a shelf nearby, taking a seat beside him. "Home World invaded," She began, "They sent gems to attack and they're still out there right now. You'd saved me, but passed out and I dragged you over here. I don't know how much time we have before they reach this part of town."
Tears fell down Steven's face, almost on their own as he felt pain wash over him and his body began to tremble. It all came back to him and he looked at his hands, seeing droplets pepper them. "Dad …"
"What do you mean?"
Steven began to breath heavily. "Dad, he … he's gone …"
"Oh, Steven …"
"I could've saved him … I …" He felt the blood on his hands from before, everything becoming fresh once more. "I couldn't save him."
Steven wept and clasped his head in agony, screaming in a mixture of rage and grief as he rocked forward. Connie put her hand over the boy, unsure of what she'd say to him as he bawled out on her chest. She felt everything he'd felt, letting him grieve over it and merely being there for him, not saying a word.
On a street corner nearby however, a black gem appeared.
PEARL SHUFFLED across the sand, moving quietly behind large heaps of rubble and steeling herself as she heard voices of panicking beach goers get silenced out by the invading gems. She looked out of cover routinely, checking to make sure she wasn't spotted as she made her way across the beach. She'd set her sights on the temple, wanting to reactivate its defenses and launch another attack on the attackers.
She took a look and moved to cross between rubble when she heard the cry of a child nearby, quickly turning and seeing a young boy wailing alone on the beach. Her eyes widened with terror as she saw him and a loud crash came from behind her as a black gem drew close! She panicked as she wondered what to do and she raised her hand, pulling the boy toward her telepathically and covering his mouth.
The child began to panic in her grasp and she looked down to him, gesturing for him to be quiet and calming him as he realized who she was. Pearl pressed her back against the rubble and held her breath, waiting for the black gem to move on, but it came closer! Looking around at the rocks lying a path, the large rock monster began its search for the noise it heard, turning rocks over to see where it'd gone.
Sweat beaded down her brow as she heard the gem draw near and the boy started to panic as well, mumbling under her palm. Hearing this, the black gem began to walk toward them, its heavy steps making the very ground shake and their hearts skip a beat. The creature went to them when suddenly, a man with a gun came up from behind and opened fire.
"Get off our planet, invader scum!" He yelled as he blasted the gem.
The monster stood there, unfazed and sharply turned around, grabbing the man's entire body and crushing him in an instant! Pearl bit her lip and quickly ran to a nearby rock to hide, shutting her mind to the chilling sounds of blood and bone splatter on the sand behind her. She slid behind another boulder, holding the boy close to her chest, catching her breath and hoping the creature would simply leave.
It didn't
Tossing the man's corpse away, the black gem became more aggressive, tossing up rubble and barreling on as it searched for its prey. Pearl glanced around as she heard the monster rush in toward her, wondering how she'd fight back with the child on her arms when she heard the carnage suddenly stop! Hearing her heart beat loudly in her ears, the Gem slowly stuck her head out from behind the rubble, seeing the black gem look toward another such creature, communicating silently with it.
Dropping the rubble, the pursuing black gem went off, following the other gem which had a metallic black disc in hand. Ignoring the occurrence and taking the opportunity, Pearl set the boy down and manifested a light clone, putting the child in its arms. "You'll be fine, okay?" She told the boy, getting a nod from him. Sharing a telepathic instruction with the clone, Pearl went onward, sending the doppelganger into the city.
Maneuvering her way through the rock and keeping low to the ground, even crawling under at times, the Gem made her way to the temple, avoiding the scouting black gems. She moved up to the side of the hill and inched her way towards the house, seeing the building's edge on the other side when another black gem came around the corner!
Rolling out of the way, Pearl went back behind cover and let the monster go on its way, exhaling and returning her focus on her goal. She looked up from cover and gasped as she saw several black gems patrolling the building along with black insect-like ships hovering around.
"What is going on here?"
SMOKE BILLOWED from cars and buildings in town as the black gems lay waste to it, continuing their rampage even after killing or dashing people out of their homes. Sapphire watched this as she went on, moving between alleys and hovering close to the ground as she monitored the creatures. Despite the seemingly random chaos, she began to find a pattern in their actions, keeping a close distance as she observed.
The gems were strong, exceedingly strong as they tossed up vehicles and even whole buildings in their rampage. They also seemed to be disinterested in people particularly, only attacking those who happened to be in their way or those who tried to resist them. The destruction itself seemed to be made in a circular pattern, thoroughly leveling the area before inserting the discs from before into the earth and letting it barrel underground.
She figured out what they were doing, but not what their objective was, only concluding that they were creating a contraption underground that needed the upper surface cleared in order to operate. The gem entered an alley as she saw two black gems approaching nearby and she heard the hum of a vehicle nearby, looking out of her cover and seeing a ship descend nearby. They went in and out of the ship, taking out strange objects with magical symbols on them and entering the streets.
She stepped back and hid behind a dumpster, sifting her mind. She had to steal that ship.
LASSOING A black gem with her whip, Amethyst swung the the creature through the air and smashed it onto a car. Panting, she stepped back when another black gem crashed down and punched her in the face, knocking her through a nearby store. The creature moved toward her when the redheaded Asian boy chucked a grenade at the gem, causing an explosion that didn't rock it at all, drawing its attention to him.
"Get outta our town!" The Asian boy yelled.
"Or we're gonna make ya!" The brunette girl chimed in, whipping out her axe.
The black gem went toward the teens who took their stances, ready to fight when Amethyst burst out of the building, smashing into the creature with a spin attack and knocking it far off. Turning back to normal, she frowned and turned to the teens. "What're you doing!?"
"We can take them on too!" The Asian boy said.
Amethyst frowned and got sucker punched by a black gem that pinned her down, moving in for another punch. Shrinking into a bird, the Gem flew above the monster and turned back to normal, grabbing a car with her whip and hammering it onto the being's head. The black gem broke out of the vehicle, unfazed, and grabbed her by the neck, running on and ramming her through a nearby house, breaking through the living room, the dining room and into the kitchen sink, letting plates fall on her.
Amethyst threw the plates off her and couched under the rush of water from the broken faucet, only to get run through the ceiling as the black gem lifted her up and tossed her into the backyard. Skidding through the dirt, the Gem flipped over and raised her whip into the air, wrapping the rope around her body. Igniting the whip's crystals with a purple flame, the Gem spun into a fireball and revved on the ground, kicking up grass and dirt. The black gem burst out of the building at her and she ran through it, breaking a hole through the monster and smashing it to bits.
Amethyst transformed back to normal in mid-air, looking down at her handiwork and taking a breath when a truck flung through the air and crashed on top of her! The vehicle plummeted to the ground and exploded, drawing the teens' attention as they looked on, wondering what happened. Kicking through the trailer of the vehicle, Amethyst dragged herself out and panted on the ground, looking to her left and seeing two black gems approaching from down the road.
She picked herself up and saw the kids still there. "Why're you still here!?"
"We told you, we can help," The brunette haired girl said.
"You're gonna get yourselves killed!" Amethyst yelled and jumped out of the way as a black gem rushed at her, letting it crash into a home nearby. Watching the building collapse, she turned to the teens. "Get outta here now!"
"No! We have people we wanna protect too!" The Asian boy said. "If we do nothing, we'll end up dead like everyone else!"
Amethyst panted and looked at the two black gems approaching her, wondering what to do next.
METAL CLANKED against each other as Connie walked down the hall with a tray, stopping by Steven's door and hesitating to open it. Sighing, she walked in and found the boy already on his feet, putting his shirt on with his bandages on the bed and his wounds completely healed. She smiled, wanting to point out how quickly he'd recovered when she saw the empty look in his eyes as he looked off to the wall, not noticing she'd arrived.
Glancing around, she approached him slowly. "Um, it's good to see you've recovered." She said apprehensively, getting no response as she'd expected. Clearing her throat, she brought the tray to his bedside table, "I brought you some tea; hopefully it can warm you up."
She looked at him as he simply stood there, not saying a word and still staring off into the distance. Looking down, the boy grabbed a cup and sat down, slowly taking a sip. "Thanks." He said in a hoarse voice.
She smiled slightly in response and grabbed the bandages off his pillow. "I'll just dispose of these." Bundling up the bloodied cloth, the girl headed for the door when she spotted something shiny to her right. "Look out!"
Connie leapt to the floor as a car smashed through the wall nearby and crashed nearby, sending tiles and bricks flying all around. Dust peppered down and electricity sparked as Connie pushed herself up, seeing the destruction around her and making her quickly shoot up. "Steven?"
"I'm okay!" Steven said from the other side of the vehicle, picking it up and throwing it out of the way. Moving up to her, he looked to the hole in the wall and saw four black gems walking towards them. "They're back!"
A black gem shoulder charged at Steven and the boy barely blocked it, getting dragged through the floor and sending out a concussive wave that knocked Connie back. The girl fell toward sharp broken glass when Steven quickly caught her with a shield, letting down his guard and letting the gem smack him out of the building. Connie yelped as the monster attacked and she rolled out of the way, running through the hole Steven was chucked through.
She ran toward the boy who'd crashed into a nearby house and another black gem grabbed her, throwing her aside. Steven burst out of the rubble and caught her in mid-air again, plummeting back to the earth and crashing into the road. Connie pried her eyes open and saw that she was in Steven's arms, the boy underneath panting as he was in the broken asphalt.
She stood, trying to help him up when the boy threw her out of the way and blocked an attack from the third monster that lunged at them. The girl rolled onto the front lawn of another house and a gem rushed at her when a portal suddenly opened above her, sending Rose's sword down toward her! Grabbing the blade, the girl blocked the beast's attack and leapt away, letting it ram itself into the ground.
"Where'd this come from?" Connie asked Steven who locked fists with a black gem.
"You're welcome!" Steven tackled the gem and knocked it down, picking it up by its legs and tossing it into the air.
"Heh, you've gotten really good at bubbling." Connie said.
"No, I wouldn't say that!" Steven grinned shyly, getting caught off by the fourth gem that grabbed him and slammed him onto the ground.
The black gem punched Steven repeatedly, digging him into the dirt when Connie rushed at it, flipping through the air and slashing it clean in half with her sword. Steven tossed the monster off and pulled himself out of a water pipe and Connie came up to him, helping him out of the hole. Steven stumbled and caught himself, feeling the new wounds and gashes liter his body. The two looked onward, seeing six gems approaching.
"Do you think we can take them?" Connie asked.
Steven sized them up then looked to his left, seeing more gems approaching. "Nope. Lemme just ..." He smashed his foot into the road, breaking it apart and dug his fingers into it, struggling and pulling out a six meter large chunk of earth. "Have fun with this, guys!" He chucked it at the six gems approaching up ahead, blocking the road and destroying buildings nearby. "C'mon, let's go!" He ran off, leaving Connie stunned.
"Damn," She ran up beside him. "When'd you get so strong?"
"I found a place to train while the gems have been gone on their missions," He laughed uneasily.
"Well, you've done more than train." Connie said and skidded to a stop as ten more black gems cut them off. "You gotta be kidding me."
"Guess we'll have to fight our way outta this!" Steven said, grabbing a car and chucking it at the horde of black gems up ahead.
The black army rolled in from both sides, ensuing a battle in which Steven switched back and forth from enemy to enemy, taking them out as quickly as possible. A monster swung at Steven and he blocked the punch, flipping it and chucking it at the others ahead, trading with Connie who stabbed through a rock monster's gem and destroyed it instantly. Swapping again, Steven flung a black gem at Connie and she jumped onto it, springing into the air and chucking it down onto another gem, impaling it and drawing it back with a tethered ribbon that ran around her arm.
Landing beside Steven, Connie looked up ahead and saw the gems increase in number. "We can't win like this."
"You're right!" Steven said as he snapped a black gem's arm in half. "Hop on!"
"Huh?" Connie raised her brow and Steven suddenly grabbed her. "What're you -,"
Steven burst high up into the air, catching Connie off-guard and drawing a scream from her when she realized they were falling back down! Summoning his shield, Steven dove into the road, driving the two underground and knocking the black gems back in a wave of dust and asphalt. Connie coughed in the small tunnel beneath the ground and jerked back as a sharp light came alight before her.
"Let's find the other gems!" Steven said, taking a proud stance and lighting their way with his stomach gem.
Creating a hardhat and axe made of light, the boy started digging through the rocks up ahead,leaving Connie stunned as he made his merry way.
"C'MON, C'MON, think, think!" Ruby smacked the side of her head as she walked through Cedar Alley. "Where could she have ended up?" She looked around writhed at the gash on her leg, quickly healing it and moving on.
She seemed to find a new wound every minute as she roamed around, still feeling the strain from her battle with several black gems that she had to escape from. She wondered where they'd come from or what they wanted, but her thoughts trailed back to Sapphire and what could have happened to her. She felt strange being in her own skin after so many months, almost stumbling at times as she was becoming accustomed to seeing through two eyes again.
She felt cold, alone and scared, desperately wanting to find her other half as quickly as she could so she could feel whole again. A feeling of dread soon enveloped her, a feeling of weakness as she began to mistrust herself and whether she could face the enemy on her own. Throwing the thought aside, she went onward and hopped over car, continuing her search when she felt a familiar breeze.
"Sapphire?" Grinning, she ran around the corner and found Sapphire knocked out on the ground before two black gems who converged on her. "Get away from her!"
She ran toward them as they lifted the blue woman off the ground and ignited her right hand when two more black gems landed before her and smacked her aside. Ruby tumbled across the ground and clawed into the asphalt, melting the tar and trapping the two gems in it. She ran past them and saw the other gems drag Sapphire into a ship that flew off. She chased after it and was pinned down by another rock gem, forcing her to watch helplessly as Sapphire was flown off.
Enraged, Ruby burned through the black gem's arm and smashed it, slapping the ground and melting the rock, turning it into a large spike beneath her feet that grew toward the ship Sapphire was in. She reached out, mere inches away from the ship when another aircraft bashed into her, knocking her further away from Sapphire's. Burning into the metal, she clung onto the ship and looked on, seeing the vessel Sapphire was in blast off toward a large tower in the distance.
"Sapphire …"
A TALL, wide-shouldered orange gem with white hair strode through the hallway of a ship, moving into the cockpit and dialing into a craft's dashboard. A holographic feed came before her with Home World writing on it and she turned on the transmitter, "Command Authorization, Home World Invading Commander Jasper reporting."
The words flickered and a feed came on after, showing the face of White Diamond on the other end. "What do you have for me?" She asked blankly.
"We've arrived on earth and began our operation," Jasper said. "The conduits are ready for you, Lord Diamond."
"Good, report back when the machine is complete."
"Yes, My Lord." Jasper bowed and cut the transmission.
Smiling to herself, White Diamond turned to the map laid before her in her throne room, seeing the magical ley-lines spread all over earth. "Now, it's only a matter of time."
CONNIE FOLLOWED a few feet behind Steven as he continued to dig a tunnel up ahead, humming a jolly tune to himself. She felt odd and watched him happily work, hesitantly approaching him. "Um, Steven?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"I am, why'd you ask?" Steven said, now whistling.
"Well, you …" She cut herself off, "Never mind."
"Okay."
Connie stepped back and Steven continued to dig, suddenly stopping and dismissing his tools.
"Alright, this should be far enough." Steven said and shot through the ground, entering the surface.
Connie followed behind and looked upward, seeing Steven hold his hand out to her with a bright grin. Hesitating, she held it and he pulled her up, ending up in an alley that seemed empty. Stepping into the street, the two went on when they saw a Home World ship up ahead, quickly hiding and taking cover.
"Guess we didn't make it far, huh?" Connie said, taking a look. Her face froze. "Uh, Steven …"
Steven raised his brow and looked out as well, stunned at what he saw. "Coral?"
The red gem watched as black gems unloaded machines and artifacts, getting impatient. "Move it, Bloodstones, I don't have all day!"
The rock gems brought out the last item and she entered the ship, ascending with it. "Now, don't let me repeat this again; find the Crystal Gems or I will have you incinerated!"
Steven and Connie watched in confusion as the gem flew off. Stepping out of cover, Steven looked to Connie and back to the ship. "She's one of them."
