Chapter Thirty Six- Lullabies of the Storm

Greg's fingers slipped over the frets of his guitars as he fingered a melody and then roughly strummed down. He nodded over to Jasper who was playing at her bass, who then awkwardly shuffled her large form nearer to the microphone.

"This place

This place is so drab.

Where I come from,

Earth seems kinda sad."

There was a strange semblance of sorrow in the tune, a sombre hint to Jasper's song. Her voice was… Different. It had her masculine hint, that small dip in pitch that just screamed testosterone. However, as she swiftly flicked her hair back, there was something very feminine about the sway of her hips. The way she ambled over her lyrics.

"I know

I know you're blue

Your sorrow

It reigns true."

It was then that Greg's fingers flicked over the strings, melody amping up in speed and volume as the background drums kicked in. The crowd began to cheer. It was a fucking ballad. Jasper was on stage, performing a rock ballad.

"But if you take my hand,

No, not the space one

But join my band,

Of space warriors!

We can reign true…

I will prove it to you!"

A sudden shift in pitch indicated that the song was suddenly taking on a far more… dramatic turn. It was then that Jasper began to wildly thrash about as Greg was losing it over his guitar. The chord to it spun around like an umbilical cord of a pregnant woman going through a loop-de-loop on a rollercoaster while simultaneously giving birth.

Jasper was literally doing screamo.

No one could look away.

"WE WILL BURN OUR ENEMIES

WATCH THEM BLEEED TO DEEEEATH

AND THEN WE WILL BE SUPER COOL

AND FEED RABBITS OF THE EARTH KIND

IT WILL BE AWESOOOOME

LISTEN HERE YOU PIECES OF SHIT

MY NAME IS JASPER AND I'LL

MAKE YOU SHIT A BRICK

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

UGHDGDHDTRHDHDHFH

JAJAJJAJHAAAAAAAAAAAA

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

STOOOP BEING MISERABLE

I'LL SLAP YOU IN THE FACE

AND THEN MAKE YOU LICK MY NOSE

WHICH IS A ROCK

AND IT…

WILL BE

DELICIOUS!

EVERYONE YOU CARE ABOUT

WILL DIEEEEEE

AND YOUUUU

WILLL CRYYYYYYYYYY!

BUT IIIIIII

WILLLLLL

BE THERE FOR YOU TO CRYYYYYYY

ON. FUUUUUUCK. YEAAAAAAAAAH."

She was playing her bass so fast that it was catching on fire. It then literally blew up, causing the stage to set alight, somewhat.

"This cannot be real." Peridot whispered. The rest of the crowd turned to glare at her with fingers over her lips.

Jasper was on her knees, steam wafting as she shredded the remanants that bass. No one even knew basses could be shredded, but she was making it work. She then finished as Greg looked like he was about to faint over his own guitar, the stage still on fire. Mayor Dewey was attempting to corral up the flames with an extinguisher.

At last, it was over. Jasper held up the bits that were still connected by the strings over her head, triumphant. "That song was called 'a poem about my feelings'. I wrote it for my good friend, Lapis. I hope you feel better soon."

There was a deafening noise as the crowd cheered and clapped, screaming for an encore. Especially the teenager group, who then promptly sat down. Steven could hear Sour Cream sigh. "Looks like they became too mainstream for us."

Amethyst turned around as she felt a finger on her shoulder. She twisted around and nodded to the newcomer. Pearl had finally made it. "Did I miss anything good? W-Why is the stage on fire?"

"Yeah, you sure missed… Something, P." Amethyst sniggered at Pearl's realisation of what the two on stage were wearing.

"I think it's a part of the show." Steven replied happily, ushering her to an empty seat next to him. She quietly sat down, the sweater so big that her hands were completely engulfed in its sleeves. He tugged at them in his childish manner. "Did you manage to bring Sapphire?"

"Yes." She gave a brief nod, frowning as she looked backwards. "She's quite upset over something, though. It's a little distressing and I'll need to talk to the others about it when we come back." She then tensed at Steven's sudden, puzzled frown. "But, hey, we're here to enjoy the show, right?"

"Uh. Guys." Amethyst's voice seemed all too drained all of the sudden. Pearl's brows furrowed as she realised the other had turned an even lighter colour of lilac.

"Amethyst? What's wrong?"

It was that moment that the sky began to turn an off shade of green.

A very familiar shade of emerald, the one which instilled only complete terror in the pallid gem.

The Crystal Gems looked up, simultaneous in their action.

Luminescent, the clouds began to shift and turn in on themselves as a deafening noise crashed through the sound barrier. And then, complete silence.

Until a shrill cry.

Pearl screamed as she realised exactly what she was looking at.

"O-Oh… No. No, no, no!" Peridot clung to the sides of her seat. The lower lids of her eyes crinkled as she cringed. Her face was all too suddenly twisted in pure fear.

"It can't be… This can't be happening!" Steven cried out jumping straight into Pearl's arms as he pointed directly upward with a chubby index finger. He then buried himself into the maternal figure's bosom, cowering his sight away from the rest of the world. Petrified.

Pearl couldn't move. Her stomach turned. Her whole body shaking.

She wanted to say something to the boy to stop his cries, to cease his fear.

Eyes wide.

The screams of a million gems filled her head. The images of the war thundering through her skull, causing her to shrivel away. Dread replaced all possible substances within her body. It was like a mouse in its last moments looking directly at the glowing eyes of a swooping, predatorial owl.

They were indeed, that. Prey.

The pale gem wanted this to be a terrible nightmare. A nightmare she could snap out of. The residents around her were beginning to scatter away. They'd seen this all before. They didn't know what was going on, but they were fleeing. None of the aliens could, however.

She was suffocating. She began to choke on a thousand words trying to spill out of her throat at once. She looked around, barely processing those beside her. Lapis' body was completely withdrawn, Ruby looked up in utter horror. Jasper, poor Jasper, on stage was absolutely awestruck as she glanced up in the sky. She hadn't been expecting this, not now. Not yet. Not at this moment.

Panic.

Panic of the worst kind. She clung onto the boy so hard that he yelped in pain. Rose wasn't here. No one could protect them now.

Her skin pricked when she heard Peridot mumble beside her. There was nothing resembling gusto or forwardness in her tone.

Fear.

Fear, only fear.

"T-That's the Right Hand." The green gem whispered. "They've come for us. This is it."