CHAPTER 10: A WORLD OF DARKNESS

"Wha…what?" Steven couldn't believe what Pearl had just said to him; Connie, his dad, and now even Pearl, didn't care about him. Steven began to step back with tears in his eyes as Pearl, still snickering, began to walk towards him.

"Y…you don't…care about me?" Steven asked, hoping that Pearl would have answered that she loved him, hoping that all what was happening was just a bad dream and that, shortly, Pearl would have woken him up, hugging him, telling him that he just had a nightmare… but it wasn't a nightmare… it was reality, and Steven couldn't face this reality, he couldn't face all this hate, all this dispair… not alone.

"Steven… of course I don't care about you… why should I care about someone… like you?!" As Pearl reached Steven, her laugh stopped and her voice became full of anger, then, suddenly… she slapped him, knocking him to the ground.

"P…Pearl?" Steven spoke with a tone of voice made of fear and dismay as he got up.

"You…you destroyed my life… YOU DESTROYED OUR LIVES! We were so happy when Rose was with us, but then…but then you… YOU CAME AND RUINED EVERYTHING! I swear I'll never forgive you for what you have done to us, for what you have done to her, I will hate you 'till the end of my life, and so will do Amethyst and Garnet… SHE WAS EVERYTHING FOR US, SHE WAS EVERYTHING FOR ME…AND YOU…KILLED…HER!" Pearl shouted as she summoned her spear.

Steven got up screaming, he rushed towards the door and opened it as fast as he could, then he began to run down the stairs and reached the beach, he had to run away, even if there would have been no one willing to help him, which, sadly, was now his only belief; he could only think about the people he loved most breaking his heart, and now, for the first time in his life, Steven could feel only rage, hate and despair… his joy, his love, his…light…was no more with him… and when Steven stopped running, breathing heavily, and saw the dark figure standing in front of him, stretching his long arm towards him, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him in the air… Steven could see nothing but one thing… darkness.

Meanwhile:

Pearl opened her eyes, she felt very weak, as she tried to get up, she fell on her knees, she could feel that something terrible had happened, but she couldn't understand what, she could remember her scolding Steven, asking him if he was so childish not to understand what was real and what was not. At this thought her eyes began to water, but she couldn't remember anything about what happened after that moment.

"What have I done Steven?" Pearl said as she got up, she looked around in order to spot Steven, but she couldn't see him anywhere.

"Steven!" Pearl yelled.

"Steven where are you?!" Pearl began to limp around, searching frenetically for Steven everywhere when suddenly… her eyes widened as she heard Steven screaming. Pearl began to walk as fast as she could towards the house's door as she heard Steven's scream coming from the beach. She rushed down the stairs and as she reached the beach… her heart stopped beating. She saw a dark…tall figure… holding Steven by the neck… lifting him in the air.

"STEVEN!" Pearl shouted as she summoned her spear and began to rush towards the dark creature.

The dark creature turn around and saw Pearl rushing towards him, with a white spear in her hands, but even when Pearl was a few meters away from it and raised her spear, ready to strike, it didn't move away, it just stared at Pearl the whole time, and when her spear came down to its head, nothing happened, Pearl's spear got stuck into the ground, it didn't hit the creature, it just passed through it, like if she tried to hit the air.

"W…what?!" Pearl said as the dark figure let Steven go and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her in the air. Pearl couldn't fight back, as the creature grabbed her, she felt all of her energy vanishing in one moment, and when she opened her eyes and meet the gaze of the dark figure, which was staring at her with its red, wicked, soulless eyes, her expression of pain changed into one of pure terror.

"Y…you…" Pearl whispered, she remembered those eyes and she had hoped that she would have never had to see them again.

"Oh Pearl, I'm so glad you remember me and our little…playtime…" The dark figure said, chuckling.

"How…how is this even possible?! We…we defeated you!" Pearl cried as she struggled to get free from the creature's grasp.

"Pearl, Pearl, Pearl… so naive… that creature was just a simple shell…"

"Wha…what are you talking about?" Pearl's eyes became wide as she assumed an expression made of confusion and fear, she couldn't understand what the dark figure was talking about.

"When I came to this world, I was…still too weak…too much light…to much of his light, and not enough hate, not enough rage, not enough despair, I had to become stronger, so I took possession of a strong body and killed your friends…"

"But…why did you spare me?" Pearl asked, still puzzled.

"Because without you… my dear… now I wouldn't be here…"

"No… you are lying! I would have never helped you!" Pearl couldn't believe what the creature was saying, she couldn't have helped it hurting the person she loved most.

"You are right… you would have never helped me… consciously… I killed your friends… to make you and Steven feel the despair that I needed to become stronger… to be able to live by myself in this world and not like a parasite… but… his light… the light that came from the love that he felt for you… it was still too bright for me… I couldn't even touch him… but then… when he got scared by me… and you didn't believe him and you scolded him… you let out all your rage and despair and in that moment… when you made him think that you didn't care about him… I became strong enough to take possession… of your body…"

Pearl couldn't believe what the creature had just said to her, if only she had believed what Steven was trying to tell her, maybe now they wouldn't have been in this horrible situation. Then, a horrible thought came into Pearl's mind…

"Wha…what did you say to Steven while you were in me?" Pearl was frightened to know the answer.

"Oh, just that you hated him for having killed his mother…" The dark figure replied tittering, as tears began to stream down Pearl's face.

"YOU ARE A MONSTER! I SWEAR YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO US, FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO STEVEN!" Pearl cried as she tried to kick the creature, she loved Steven like a son and she could have never said such a horrible thing to him.

"Yes… hate me… it just make me stronger…" The dark figure whispered.

"Who… who… are… you?" Pearl was now sobbing loudly.

"Who I am has never been important… what I am… that is what you should be scared of… at the beginning I was nothing… I was no more than a whisper… a furtive movement caught with the corner of the eye… I didn't really exist… I needed someone to define me… and when she died and her light couldn't stop me anymore… you created me with your hate… you fed me with your rage… you made me strong with your despair… your dreariness had been my placenta… and showing nothing but hatred you have prevented light to pass through… and you gave me birth… I… am… Darkness." The dark figure let Pearl go and began to walk towards Steven.

"NO! DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Pearl tried to get up but she was too weak, she began to slouch towards Steven.

The creature kneeled down to Steven and gave Pearl a final look.

"Watch me…" The dark figure said, as it touched Steven's gem, disappearing into a cloud of black smoke.

Pearl reached Steven and pulled him into a tight embrace, she saw that he had his eyes closed so she began to call him loudly. After some moments Steven began to open his eyes.

"I… I'm… sorry… Pearl…" Steven whispered as something terrible began to happen, his eyes became completely black, his skin became gray and covered in black, pulsing, veins, then suddenly, Steven stopped breathing.

"STEVEN! STEVEN PLEASE ANSWER ME!" Pearl cried as she hold him tighter.

"I'm so sorry Steven, I made this to you… Please… Rose… forgive me…" Pearl whispered as she buried her face into Steven's hair, sobbing loudly.

Somewhere in the darkness:

Steven got up slowly, he opened his eyes and saw that around him there was nothing, just an endless darkness, he could barely see himself, thanks to a faint light coming from his gem. As he looked around, Steven began to hear a hellish laugh coming from the darkness. Afraid, Steven began to run away, but he couldn't see anything in front of him, and the more he tried to escape, the more that horrible laugh became louder and louder.

"Please… stop… let me go home!" Steven cried as he stopped running and fell on his knees, exhausted.

"You can't escape Steven, you are in my realm now… and now… finally… you will perish… and with you… the light that has been preventing me from swallowing this pathetic world for thousands of years" The voice of the darkness said loudly.

"You… you won't win! My friends will save me and then they will defeat you!" Steven said as he got up.

"What friends? You have no friends… the gems, your little friend Connie, even your dad… they all hate you, they don't care about you, they won't save you, not now, nor ever, you are alone Steven… alone in this world of darkness." The voice of the darkness said, as Steven fell to the ground, as the light coming from his gem became more and more faint.

"Steven…" Suddenly Steven heard another voice, this time coming from behind him, but even if it wasn't the voice of the darkness, he refused to open his eyes.

"Go away… please… leave me alone!" Steven cried.

"I could never do that…" The voice replied in a soft tone.

Steven got up, then, slowly, frightened by what he could have seen, he turned around and opened his eyes… as he saw who was talking, his eyes began to water and a smile grew on his face, then, the voice of the darkness spoke again…

"Rose…"