Nothing.
She had definitely been here before. She knew it. She knew this place, somehow... but she couldn't remember why she did. Normally, she couldn't tell what this odd void was in the slightest, but this time around she vaguely remembered it, and it was giving her a headache. She tried desperately to recall how she knew this nothingness, this seemingly endless abyss, but she couldn't figure it out. What did this place mean? What was here? What was this feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach?
But aside from that, there was something else...
Something was different.
It wasn't cold like it had been all the times before.
Nor was it hot.
It felt like absolute nothingness. It was a numbing absence of any sort of sensation aside from the phantom feeling of a floor beneath her feet.
The setting alone made her feel oddly disoriented and sent a chill through her spine. She felt nervous, as if for some reason she couldn't keep hold of her nerves. But why?... Nothing was here. Of all things, why was she afraid of this? No, be brave. There's nothing here. It's just darkness.
Yellow Diamond continued walking out into the black abyss, grasping the side of her head as she tried to comprehend just why this place was so familiar to her. It felt as though some voice was calling at her from the back of her mind, but it was distant and muffled. She couldn't make out any clear words.
–
CRACK!
The ground gave a violent heave underneath Yellow Diamond's feet as a stark-white crack spider-webbed across the black surface. A deep, warped laugh echoed behind her, and the ground gave a shuddering tremble, as if something heavy had landed not too far behind her.
Yellow cried out in shock, backing up swiftly upon feeling the tremors.
There it was... that laugh...
It, too, was somehow familiar.. but she didn't know how... yet. She whipped around, staring in horror behind her. Her body ran cold. Upon looking down a system of newly formed chasms, she saw him.
Crawling up from a bottomless hole in the ground, Hematite's roughly outlined form clawed its way up from the inky blackness of the floor. His claws dug into the ground, sending more and more cracks through it as he heaved his body out of the nothingness of the surrounding environment. The hunting visor on his face gave a loud, distorted 'chirp' as it locked onto Yellow Diamond, and the nightmarish hunter grinned in an unsettling, twisted manner. As he slammed his hands down again, towering rock faces shot up from the floor in various places, quickly surrounding the two with sheer black walls.
–
Her hair stood on end and she high-tailed it in the other direction, making her way for some of the cliffs behind her that jutted up out of the ground. She was trapped between a monster and a sheer rock face that only seemed to be climbing higher as the seconds ticked by.
The only option was to climb.
She looked behind her just in time to see Hematite's enormous figure slink its way up onto her current plane. Eyes widening, she gasped and backed up against the rock face. Okay, time to go. She turned to the wall and gripped at its surface, scrambling to get up as fast as she could, to get as far away from that thing as possible.
–
Another tremor shook the cliff that Yellow Diamond was climbing up, though as the wall cracked and trembled, it only created more footholds. How... terribly convenient.
The laugh grew far louder now. Quickly closing the distance between the two of them, Hematite launched himself at the cliffs, latching onto the vertical surface, his claws digging deep into the rock. It cracked loudly between his claws, bits of the black and white stone falling to the floor.
"Did you really think those guards could protect you?!"
–
She scrambled up the cliff's surface, clawing towards the top as quickly as she could. Her hair stood up on end as she felt the nightmarish creature's icy breath on her back. She dared not look behind her. Gritting her teeth upon hearing his voice, she let out a small, terrified gasp as his claws dug into the rocks beside her.
Get a move on!
Hoisting herself up to level ground once more, she regained her footing and started running to the next cliff. She didn't bother trying to reason with him, it didn't look like that was going to do any good.
She had seen him before.
Somewhere.
Why was Hematite acting like this? Why was he so aggressive?!
If she ever found White, she'd be sure to bring it up to her... assuming she could get away, that was.
–
Cackling maniacally, the monstrous giant heaved himself up onto the cliff and barreled after his target. He was running on all fours at this point, half of his body constantly cast in shadows.
"YOU CAN'T OUTRUN ME, YELLOW DIAMOND!" he roared after her, his very voice shaking the ground below Yellow's feet.
The giant gem pounced at his target again, landing mere feet behind her. A quick whiff of wind blew the tiny diamond forward a few feet as a loud SNAP of teeth echoed behind her.
–
She stumbled quickly forward with a sharp whimper, running as fast as her legs could take her. Alright, there was definitely no looking back now. Panting heavily, she latched onto the next wall face and started climbing even faster, sweat dripping from her brow.
"S-STOP!" she shouted back, her voice wavering in barely restrained fear.
–
For a moment it seemed that Hematite was going to give up the chase, as he stopped some distance back from the cliff as his target scrambled up to make her escape. He watched her silently, the whir of his visor piercing the air. The ground continued to heave and lurch, the cliffs Yellow climbed up ever-changing and shifting. By the time she clambered halfway up, Hematite still hadn't made a move.
But the calm was short lived. Silently, the monstrous gem shot forward and once again leapt for the rocky cliff side But this time, he hit his mark.
Claws digging into the rock, Hematite's fingers surrounded Yellow Diamond, cutting off her escape like a grim, stark-black cage.
"Who will watch your back now?~" he crooned, leaning in close to his tiny captive. His breath washed over her trapped form, his teeth glinting in the nonexistent light.
–
She flinched and held herself close to the wall, stifling another cry of horror. Opening her eyes, she stared up at the monstrous fingers that surrounded her. Face going pale, she suddenly scrambled upwards, prying desperately at his ice-cold fingers. All the memories of the past nightmares came flooding back to her at once in a horrific, bone-chilling wave.
She knew what this meant.
What he meant.
But it was too late to stop it.
–
Growling lowly, Hematite drew his hand away from the wall, grabbing the back of the diamond's shirt between his claws. Without a moment's hesitation, the giant gem tossed his target into his mouth, his teeth snapping shut behind her.
–
With how quickly things escalated around her, she hardly had time to react. She cried out in as much protest as she could, even though it wasn't going to do any good.
Suddenly, the freezing cold returned.
It took her breath away as she hit the all too familiar icy surface below her, the horrific flashbacks of her last dream coming back to her. Gasping, she quickly whipped around and sat up, facing the massive fangs in front of her that blocked her way out. Horrified, she punched at one of his teeth.
"NO! LET ME OUT, STOP!"
–
Hematite chuckled lowly at the tiny gem's pitiful attempts to escape. He quickly cocked his head to the side, his jaws parting momentarily. His tongue pushed Yellow Diamond between the pitch-black rows of teeth before...
CRICK
–
Yellow cried out in distress, kicking at the covers of the bed she rested upon, sitting herself up. Her eyes were wide, and her breathing was heavy. She could still feel the terror she felt moments ago in her dream. Her shocked expression slowly fell to something akin to confusion.
Still? What on Homeworld... She thought for sure the first few dreams were a fluke, a coincidence.
Now, she was sure there was something up.
One nightmare, okay. Two? Sure, maybe.
But four... even after she tried to defend Hematite? Well, that was peculiar.
Every time. Every time she went to sleep to try and rest up after work, this happened. It was always the same concept... and it always ended the same way.
Normally when she awoke the fear was quickly replaced with anger or frustration, but not this time. Something was different now. Were they getting more aggressive? More violent? Maybe it was just her imagination. Were these ever going to stop? What if this was a sign... a sign that sending Topaz's soldiers away was a mistake? Was her intuition trying to tell her something? What if Hematite was up to something and was still a danger?
... No, stop. You're letting this get to your head.
She decided not to mull over it much longer. Solemnly, she got out of bed and made her way to her office door. Might as well get some work done, now that she was awake. After all, she wasn't going back to bed any time soon after that.
These nightmares now were starting to concern her. She wanted to try and think of some solution to make them stop, but. Unfortunately, she still had work to do, so it was probably best not to dwell on it for much longer.
She shook it off, trying to forget the odd phantom pain in her gemstone. Maybe they need a bit more time to stop. It was just a dream. Move on, get back to work, forget about it. Just don't go back to sleep tonight, and you'll be fine.
But even she knew she wasn't going to be able to brush it off so easily.