*We are starting to wrap-up on this story, just this chapter and epilogue left, here's Chapter 25, you'll learn a few secrets in this chapter, enjoy :)
Chapter Twenty-Five: Saying Goodbye
*Play: Dawn (Skyrim OST)*
Steven's POV
The deed was done, Nightmare was dead and world was saved from his destructive tyranny. The dark clouds surrounding the sky dissipated almost instantly after Calla killed off Nightmare, and the clear, pink sky of daybreak burst out from them. A flash of light, which was the sun rising on the horizon indicated that everything was back to the way it was before this whole incident.
"Is it over?" I heard Elsa ask Calla.
"It is," Calla answered her, "Unfortunately, we couldn't save your sister in time, sorry about that Elsa."
Elsa signed remorsefully.
"Its fine Calla," she replied, "At least we avenged her life, that's all that matters now."
"What are you talking about? I'm right here," we heard a familiar voice speak up from behind us. All three of us turned our heads around and noticed Anna breaking free from the now brittle restrains that held her, she was alive!
"Anna?! You…you're alive!" Elsa said, bursting into tears of joy, "I thought I lost you for good!"
"But Elsa, thanks to you and your friends, the world is saved," Anna said to her older sister.
The two sisters shared a warm, reuniting hug. I was happy for them for finally being reunited again, but the gems that helped care for me for my whole life did not survive the ordeal, and that just made me depressed.
Calla noticed me depressed and decided to speak to me about it.
"Steven what's wrong?" she asked me.
"I miss the gems," I answered her, "Do you know what it's like to lose the ones you love?"
"I do Steven," she answered my question, "I've been through ordeals like this before. I apologize about the gems' untimely demise."
"It's okay Calla," I replied to her, "It wasn't your fault that they're now dead, I remember Pearl telling me once before that they couldn't age, but were still vulnerable to getting killed. At least I got revenge when we took out Nightmare for good."
"I understand," she replied to me, "And you got that right, we did avenge them when we eliminated Nightmare."
She wrapped her arm around my back in a way to comfort me about the losses I had just suffered from, which made me smile confidently. At least now the gems had taught about how to use my powers in a way, and maybe one day I'll master them.
Suddenly, Anna's face lit up with concern.
"Hey what's going on behind you Elsa?" she asked her older sister.
"What do you mean Anna?" Elsa wondered.
Anna broke away from the hug they shared for a while already and point behind Elsa. Elsa turned her head and saw a strange sight.
"What is that," she wondered, raising an eyebrow.
Calla and I turned our heads to our left where Anna was pointing and saw what the two of them were talking about, in the area where she was pointing, three bright balls of light were floating down onto the ground and began to glow brighter once they reached the ground. The lights then began to take the forms of three human figures. At first, they looked unrecognizable to all of us, but as the figures began shifting into their actual forms, they started to become slightly familiar in appearance, almost like they were some people I used to know.
Just before I was able to figure out who these figures were, a bright flash blinded all four of us. As the bright light began to fade out, I could not believe what was standing in place of the bright figures a moment earlier. There, clearly standing without any sign of injuries, were the Crystal Gems.
The three of them stood slightly confused about what just happened before one of them, Pearl, caught sight of me.
"Steven?" she said.
My eyes lit up seeing the one gem that cared about me the most.
"PEARL!" I shouted ecstatically, running at the slender gem with my arms spread out. When I made it to Pearl, I wrapped my arms around her body, embracing her into a warm hug. I was finally reunited with the gems once again.
"Steven, oh thank goodness you're all right," Pearl said to me, a bit surprised about hugging her, but then she began to embrace in it a moment later.
"I thought you guys were gone for good," I told her.
"We thought so too Steven, when Nightmare consumed our souls, and then exploited them against our own will," she replied.
"Ohh," Anna groaned painfully, "That was terrible."
"Wait, you mean you guys remember when Nightmare created evil forms of you that fought against us?" I asked the gems.
"Well, sort of," Amethyst answered my question, "Our conscious could only see what our evil forms were doing very faintly."
"I remember that happening too," Anna replied, "I couldn't see much either."
"I do remember fusing into Sugilite at one point, do you Garnet?" Amethyst asked the unofficial leader.
"I do," Garnet said, showing no expression as usual, she paused for a moment before she continued speaking, "And strangely, I remember the evil version of Sugilite being…much more…controllable."
"Yeah," I agreed with the gems, "But she still had her hostile personality."
"True," Calla replied to my statement.
Pearl turned her head, looking down off the cliff towards what remained of Beach City; I joined her and looked down onto the town as well. I was quite surprised to see that some of the buildings were still intact, although many were still destroyed from Nightmare's catastrophe.
"I saw many of the citizens dead along the streets of the city," I told Pearl, "This attack was just awful."
"I did too Steven," she responded, "And I mourn for those that Nightmare took the lives of. But at least the attack is finally over, and the city can begin recovering from the incident."
"Did anyone survive?" Calla asked her.
"Yes Calla," Pearl answered, "Many of the citizens Steven and the rest of the gems met over the years through personal situations did, including Steven's dad, Greg Universe."
"And let's don't forget about Connie," I spoke up, "We all were present when we rescued her back in the Cross Dimension."
"Exactly," Calla replied to me.
"Well, now what do we do?" Amethyst spoke up among all of us.
"The best we can do now it assist the people who survived the onslaught with recovering in Beach City," Garnet answered.
"Yeah, and it's best if Anna and I return to our kingdom, and notify our citizens off this event, and the demise of Prince Hans and the Duke of Weselton," Elsa replied.
"Wait, you mean Hans and the Duke are…dead?" Anna asked her older sister.
"Indeed they are," the Snow Queen answered, "And thankfully, I hope that means we don't have to worry about their threats anymore."
"I hope so too," Anna replied.
"I could take you two back to Arendelle whenever you're ready," Calla told the sisters, "I'll have Emeraldite fly us their in no time."
"Thanks Calla," Elsa replied to her, "You are a true friend to me, and the same for you Steven Universe."
I smiled at the Snow Queen as she continued to speak.
"Feel free to visit Arendelle whenever you like," she finished, turning to Anna, "I suppose we could leave now if you're ready, are you?"
"I am Elsa," she responded, "Let's go home."
"Splendid," Calla spoke up, "I'll have Emeraldite take us their immediately."
Calla finished speaking and then gave a loud whistling signal, a moment later, a dragon roared in the distance before approaching the cliff and landing nearby all of us. It was Emeraldite, Calla's faithful dragon.
"Calla, so good to see you and your friends stopped Nightmare," she replied.
"We did indeed Emeraldite," Calla answered her, "Now, could you take Elsa, Anna, and I back to Arendelle?"
"I can," Emeraldite responded, "Climb onto my back and we'll be there in no time."
Calla smiled and turned back to the gems and I as Anna and Elsa began mounting the green dragon. Calla decided to say some parting words to us before leaving.
"Well, I guess we'll be on our way, good luck on recovering," she said to us.
"Goodbye Calla," I said farewell to her.
She turned to me and smiled.
"Farewell Steven," she replied, "I see a great future in you."
I smiled proudly as she turned around and mounted Emeraldite; I then realized that I still had one thing to say to her before she and the sisters left for Arendelle.
"Wait!" I called out
I ran at Emeraldite and stopped her just in time before she took off. Calla turned to me before I continued speaking.
"Will we ever meet again?" I asked her.
"I'm certain we will Steven, someday," she answered, before turning back, and having Emeraldite take off.
When the four of them began to fly away, Calla called out to us once more before vanishing into the horizon.
"Farewell Crystal Gems!" she called out to us.
When she vanished, the gems and I turned back to each other with a look of concern.
"Well, I guess we should return to the temple now," Pearl told us, "And tell everyone that it's safe to leave."
"Agreed," Garnet said emotionlessly.
"And Steven, you and I should see how Lion and Aqua are doing too," Pearl told me, "I hope they survived the ordeal as well."
"I do too," I replied to her.
She nodded and all four of us began walking down the Cliffside back to the temple. Everything was back to normal now.
Aww, it hurts to see friends leave, but fortunately, everything is back to normal now, well…save for Beach City being in ruins XD. Well, I hope you all enjoyed this story, and now all that remains is the epilogue. Please review and tell me what you think will happen in the end. The final chapter will be up soon, I promise ;)