Chapter 2:
"Argh!..." Howlite screams in pain as she blocks out the sunlight from her eyes as much as possible. Forgetting that she was running from the Crystal Gems only a moment ago.
Her eyes are severely sensitive to sunlight. They can't handle sunlight under any circumstances without causing excruciating pain that feel like her eyes are being burned out of her skull. Which is why she has to cover them or be in a place where there is no sunlight to harm her.
She hears footsteps come near her.
" DON'T!" She shouts in anger. " You. Dare. I maybe practically blind in the sun, but I can most certainly hear you!"
Garnet studies the mysterious Howlite. She's shorter than Pearl and Raina but not as short as Amethyst. She's around the middle. She can't see much of her face due to her long dark grey hair covering most of her face and is wearing an oversized light grey pullover hoodie with the hood up. The rest of her clothes consists of dark grey leggings and white boots with lighter grey leg pads over them.
" Look. I will admit there was a bit of a misunderstanding, but I promise you that we are not here to destroy your form. But I want to talk with you." Garnet says getting rid of her gauntlets.
" To hell with you!" Howlite shouts as she gets up on her feet with one hand over her eyes and touches her gem the side of her neck with the other. Ready to take down this gem
" Look. This fight will only be a waste of time. And we both know I have distinct advantages over you. So let's stand down and we can start by getting you out of the sunlight." Garnet says as she hears the rest of team come up behind her.
Howlite hears it too.
" No! You're just saying that to trick me! I can hear the rest of them!" She says angrily as she pulls out her weapon from her gem. A black scythe. It looks powerful, but it also has a gaunt elegance to it.
She then hears the young boy," No one is tricking you. Think about it. Garnet would have destroyed your from the moment she found out you were blind. But she didn't. Why would we want try and trick you when there is no point to doing so?"
Howlite growls as she shakingly holds her weapon. Conflicted. The boy makes an excellent point. They clearly have the advantage over her but hasn't seized on it. But she isn't one to give in on any battle of any kind.
" Look. How about you and me both hold the staff of your weapon?" The boy suggests. " You still have security while we can get you out of sun so you're not in pain anymore. Okay?"
Howlite grumbles. She knows that it's the only option considering she is in a part of the forest she is unfamiliar with and blind with gems she wants nothing to do with.
She finally holds out her scythe in reluctance.
She hears the boy's footsteps come up and pressure on her weapon. Meaning he has a hold on it. He then pulls her in a direction and she hesitates before reluctantly just blindly follows his lead literally.
Luckily it was only a few minutes before they stop and Steven says, " You can open your eyes now."
Howlite cautiously cracks open her eyes and find herself in a shady part of the forest. Much to her relief.
" Now we can we talk?" Garnet asks.
" Don't have much of a choice do I?" She says.
" Afraid not. Unless you want to go back in the sun?" Garnet says.
Howlite looks around. They purposely chose this location. It's nice shady area but the surrounding area is sunlight for many yards. Even if she wanted to run, she couldn't unless she was crazy enough to make a blind race out of it.
" Fine. What do you want to know?" She says.
" How long have you been here?" Garnet asks.
" Since….. Probably the middle of the war." She says. " Like I said, I was left behind because of my defect."
" Your blindness?"
" Probably, but Howlites tend to be have eye sensitivity anyway. Maybe mine's just more severe. I only heard that I was defective from my former manager." She says.
" How did you survive the final attack on earth?" Pearl says.
" The shadows. They protected me. I don't know how I did it though. I didn't feel like I commanded them at the time." She says.
" Commanded them?" Steven says.
" Howlites can command the shadows. Can bring darkness whenever cover is needed. You saw me demonstrate that back with that giant like chameleon gem." Howlite says.
" And when you tried to run from us." Steven says.
" Yeah. That too." She says.
" Why were you trying to run from us?" Pearl says.
" The sun was coming up and I didn't really have much of a choice. I was hoping that none of you saw me." She says.
" Why?" Steven asks
" Because I frankly don't want to have to deal with other gems." Howlite says. " I prefer not to get involved with gem affairs if I can help it."
" So you don't care at all what happens to Earth?" Pearl frowns.
Howlite snorts, " No. Frankly I don't give a damn. The earth is eventually going to die anyway. What's the point of defending something that won't be here forever."
" That's a terrible thing to say!" Steven shouts.
" That's a little something called 'reality' kid." Howlite smirks.
" Give us one reason now not to destroy your form." Pearl snarls as she summons her weapon.
" Pearl." Garnet says sternly. " We're not here to destroy this gem. Not matter how much you think she deserves it. We're here for answers. Not tell us Howlite, have you seen a green gem roaming around here recently."
" Green gem? Hm… Maybe….." She says skeptically before she remembers. " Did she has triangle gem on her forehead?"
" Yes!" Everyone else says.
" Sheesh. Alright then. Yeah I have seen her around. I don't know how much I will be of help to you." She says.
" Just tell us what you saw." Garnet says.
" Ok. Then. I saw her when she…." Howlite starts when her speech suddenly slurs and her vision starts glaring suddenly.
" When she….." Howlite tries to say when she slurs again. She blinks as she starts to feel a really familiar dizzy feeling that she gets at this point in the day.
She then starts chuckling. Much to the confusion of the gems.
" This the same gem that's angry with us. Right?" Amethyst says.
" Howlite? Are you ok?" Pearl asks forgetting how much she hateful of this gem a moment ago.
" I….am so….intoxicated….." Howlite says with an euphoric look on her face before she suddenly faints. Luckily Garnet puts a hand out to stop her as she slumps toward the ground.
Garnet bends towards the gem and soon smells strong alcohol on her breath.
" What's happened to her!?" Steven says out of worry.
" She's alright Steven. She's just really drunk." Garnet says.
" Oh great. Now we have a uncaring drunk gem to deal with." Pearl says in frustration.
" What do we do?" Steven says.
" We need to take her with us. Keep her at the temple until she sobers up and tell us what she was about to say about Peridot." Garnet says as she gathers the gem up with in her arms before she turns to Pearl. " Pearl. Take off your ribbon. We need to cover her eyes."
Yeah. I made Howlite a bit of alcoholic. Reason behind that is part of her character that will be explained further on in the story. Plus also I just wanted to see a gem kind of fall under the influence.
Next Chapter we get to see Raina again. If you haven't read my previous story Trapped I recommend you do that first before you continue to read Enraged. Like I said, this a continuation from that story but it focuses more on Howlite.
Please tell me what you think and would like to see in the story. I'm open to anything.