Chapter Twenty-Four: Universe

All across Etheria, and beyond, Horde Prime's machines began to shut down. The virus surged through the network, attacking the very program that was Horde Prime. It was as if a big power switch had been flipped, ending its reign of terror across the universe all at once. Earth, Homeworld, and Etheria were all free.

As well as the robots deactivating, the portals Horde Prime had opened were beginning to close as well. Like water flowing down a drain, the tears through space itself gradually disappeared, including the one that nearly surrounded all of Etheria.

Brightmoon was safe. When Horde Prime fell, as did its hold over the planet. The power of the Runestones was returned to its rightful owners. Mermista, Perfuma, and Frosta descended to the ground from their combined golem. Likewise, Alexandrite defused into her component Gems. Cheers erupted all across the kingdom and beyond, the threat finally vanquished.

"We did it!" Frosta exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "And that's what happens when you mess with the Princess Alliance!"

Garnet looked around them, adjusting her visor. "Well done, team," she said. "Another victory for the Crystal-eh?"

She, Amethyst, and Pearl were all suddenly caught in a hug by Perfuma. "Ooh, we couldn't have done any of this without you!" she said.

"Hey, calm down, there!" Amethyst said jokingly. "You're gonna poof us if you're not careful!"

"Um...just happy we were able to help," said Pearl.

"Yeah, we were all pretty spectacular out there," Mermista said with a small grin. "I should probably get going back to Salineas, though, to make sure Sea Hawk hasn't completely burned the whole kingdom down while I was gone…"

"Oh, Salineas is fine!" said Perfuma. "You can afford to stay for a little while longer!"

"Yeah, you're gonna miss the party!" said Amethyst.

"What party?" Pearl asked.

"We just defeated an interplanetary robot overlord, of course we're having a party!" Amethyst clarified.

Not far off from them, Entrapta stood next to the fallen form of Emily's cybercolossus form. Though unaffected by the virus, Emily had taken heavy damage at the hands of the other cybercolossi. Rather than mourn, Entrapta had simply hooked up her data pad to the access port on the giant machine's back. Within moments, happy beeping emerged from the pad.

"There you go, Emily!" said Entrapta. "Sorry your new body didn't last long. I'll build you another one soon." Just then, her eyes were drawn to a cybertroop that stood nearby, untouched by the combat. "Hmm…"

Closer to the castle proper, Bismuth kicked a cybertroop to the ground. "Yeah, what? What you got, Horde Prime!? You can't handle the Crystal Gems!" She then noticed that Glimmer was standing beside her. "Oh, and the princesses, too!"

"I just can't believe it's really over!" said Bow. "It...it is over, isn't it?"

Queen Angella descended from above, touching down beside the three of them. "Yes, I believe it is," she said. "For the first time in years, Etheria is at peace."

Glimmer and her mother embraced, both just overjoyed to have survived this ordeal. Bow joined in as well. Finally, Bismuth scooped all three of them up in a hug of her own. "Aww, you guys!" she said.

However, something caused the large Gem to drop them. She didn't even know she had, as she just kept sitting there quietly while the three of them sat on the ground. "Uh, Bismuth?" said Glimmer.

"Hmm? How'd you get down there?" asked Bismuth. She looked at herself, and was startled with the revelation that she was partially see-through. "Okay...what?"

To test Bismuth's newfound condition, Bow experimentally reached a hand out, finding that his arm passed right through her. Bismuth tried the same, finding that her arm passed right through Bow. When she placed her hand on her Gem, she found nothing out of the ordinary. "That's...definitely not normal," said Bow.

"Yeah, no kiddin', it's not normal!" Bismuth exclaimed. "Did that crazy virus infect me, too!? Am I gonna disappear!?"

"You guys!" Everyone turned to see Frosta running over. "Something weird's going on with the Gems!"

"We noticed," Glimmer said, indicating Bismuth. "Are they disappearing, too?"

"It seems like it." Pearl and the other Gems walked over as well. All three of them were just as transparent as Bismuth, and seemed to be slowly growing more so.

"This is because of that Virus, isn't it?" said Bismuth. "It must have somehow jumped ship from Horde Prime to us Gems!"

"Bismuth, look at me," Garnet said, placing a comforting hand on the other Gem's shoulder; it didn't pass through. "This isn't because of the virus. Look." She held up her hands, showing her gemstones. "Our gems are fading as well. A virus wouldn't cause something like that. This is because of something else."

"But, uh...what?" asked Amethyst. "It looks like it's only happening to the four of us."

Angella was looking upwards-not at something, but a lack of something. "The skies have cleared," she said. "Before now, Horde Prime had full control of Etheria. I believe it was attempting to transport the world into your reality."

"So, now that Steven and Connie stopped it...you think we're being teleported back to Earth?" said Bismuth.

"Hopefully," said Bow. "Better than being teleported into empty space…"

"But they're leaving so soon!" said Perfuma. "We won't have any time to celebrate!"

"Don't worry about us," said Garnet. She tried to place a hand on Perfuma's shoulder as she did with Bismuth, but it wasn't nearly as successful. She continued regardless. "Just be happy that the universe is safe."

Within the skies over Etheria, others were noticing the strange phenomenon as well. Not only were the passengers aboard the Crystallon, but the ship as well, were beginning to fade away.

"What is going on!?" said Pyrope, Duchess wrapped tightly around her leg. "Did that virus of yours somehow infect us!?" she yelled at Peridot.

"Prope, calm yourself," said Demantoid. "Software such as a virus would be unable to affect solid objects such as this. This is simply the result of space-time flux due to the rapid deterioration of a nearby dimensional gateway combined with our being unattuned to this reality."

"Yes, of course, that's what it is," said Hessonite. "I knew it all along."

"Then why are you clinging so tightly to Demantoid?" asked Lapis.

Hessonite released her fellow Garnet from her iron grip. "Well, for safety purposes, of course. I was simply unsure whether or not we would have fallen through the floor of the ship. I may be an expert, but even I have shortcomings!"

"You can say that again," said Pyrope, prying Duchess off of herself.

"So, does this mean we're going back to Earth?" asked Peridot.

"The two of you will," said Demantoid. "All of us will return to the last location we were present before entering this dimension."

"Well, in that case, I guess this is goodbye," said Lapis. "Thank you all for your help, all of you."

"No problem!" said Duchess.

"I'm sure we will see each other again," said Hessonite. "As long as Gems are in trouble, we'll do what we can to help them! And I'm sure that means our paths will cross before long!"

As everyone who had recently been transported to Etheria was being affected by this phenomenon, this also included Steven and Connie. Adora, understandably, was quite surprised to see the two of them fading away into thin air up in their bubble. "So, is this something you guys just do on Earth, or…?"

"Not that I know of," said Steven. "Maybe it's something to do with Horde Prime."

"But then, how come it isn't affecting Adora?" said Connie.

"...Maybe it is an Earth thing," Steven said. "The only time I've ever seen someone disappear like this is when the Gems use the warp pads."

"I guess that's what this is," said Adora. "So...where do you think you're going?"

Steven shrugged. "If I had to guess, I'd say somewhere on Earth. But I don't know for sure."

"Well...I guess this is goodbye, then," said Adora. "You're heading back to your world, and I'm going back to mine."

"Yeah," said Connie. "I know these past few weeks have been filled with crazed zombies and homicidal machines, but at the same time, I'm really glad we got to meet each other."

"Me, too!" said Steven. "I'm gonna miss you guys!"

"We'll miss you all, too," Adora said. Steven and Connie went in for a group hug, but in their current state they simply passed through Adora. Looking confused, Adora simply pretended to hug their transparent forms.

"Hey, Adora?" said Steven. "Once you get back down, could you tell everyone I'll miss them, too?"

"Of course," said Adora. And just like that, Steven and Connie disappeared, vanishing out of Etheria, and Despondos. They had returned home.

And with them, Steven's bubble disappeared as well.

Adora noticed what had happened a split second before plummeting down to the earth below. While the trio had drifted closer to the ground than they had been, she was still quite high up. Understandably fearful, Adora had let go of her sword in the ordeal, unable to locate it as she tumbled downward.

Before she could hit the ground, a powerful gust of wind seemed to cushion her, slowing her descent. Adora opened her eyes, noticing Spinnerella hovering not far from her, creating the winds that held her aloft. Spinnerella then lowered Adora closer to the ground, where she landed on a net made by Netossa. This net then dissipated, placing her safely on the ground.

"Adora!" shouted Bow, running over to embrace the girl. Glimmer teleported in to hug her as well. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, I-I'm fine," Adora said, unhurt, but still shaken up from her fall. Her hair was a complete mess from the winds. "But, um, has anyone seen my sword?"

"Did shomebody shay 'Adora'sh Shword?'" Swift Wind swooped in from above, carrying the Sword of Protection in his mouth. He deposited it on the ground in front of Adora. "Here. I figured you might need this."

"Thanks, Swift Wind," Adora said. She picked up the sword by its blade, not wanting to touch the saliva on its hilt. "I'm just gonna put this right here for now," she said, leaning it up against a tree."

"So, I guess you did it," said Netossa. "Good work up there, kid!"

"Thanks, but I couldn't have done it alone," Adora said. She then remembered what had happened. "Oh. Steven and Connie, they...I don't really know how to describe this…"

"Disappeared?" said Glimmer. "Yeah, the same thing happened to the Gems down here, too. "We think they're somehow being teleported back to Earth."

"Anyway, Steven said he'd miss you guys," Adora said.

"And we'll miss him, too," said Perfuma. "We'll miss all of them."

"Yeah. They really were a big help," said Glimmer, looking around at the cybertroops that littered their surroundings. "I hope sometime we'll be able to see each other again. Hopefully without the fate of our worlds being in danger." Everyone agreed.

"Hey, has anyone seen Entrapta?" asked Bow. "She was here earlier, but I haven't seen her since the robots stopped working."

"You know how Entrapta is, she loves machines," said Mermista. "She's probably having a field day out there somewhere. She'll turn up eventually."

"I hope you're right," Bow said. "I'd hate for her to go back to the Horde after all of this…"

"So, uh, I guess we won, then," said Scorpia, stepping over the deactivated cybertroops. "What do you think happened?"

"Don't know, don't care," said Catra. "All that matters is that Hordak is still gone."

The pair, after the Horde Prime crisis was over, had gone looking for Hordak and Entrapta at Scorpia's insistence. The first place they looked was Hordak's sanctum. "Well, they aren't...still in here, so I guess they escaped," said Scorpia.

"Entrapta'll turn up eventually," said Catra, travelling further into the sanctum, obscured by darkness. "She always does. She's Entrapta."

"Yeah, but what about Hordak?" said Scorpia. "If word gets out that he's missing...how will everyone react? We'll have a full-on crisis on our hands!" She looked down. "...claws."

"Scorpia, I can tell you right now that that isn't a problem we'll have to deal with," said Catra, still obscured by darkness.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I mean, people are bound to notice eventually. I don't know how you plan to...Catra?"

She looked up to see Catra's silhouette. Something about her looked different. When she stepped into the light, Scorpia saw what this was: she was wearing Hordak's old armor. It was a bit big and stifling on her, and there was nowhere for her tail to go, but it actually looked quite good on her. "How do I look?"

"Woah…" said Scorpia. "Oh! I get what you're doing! You're gonna pretend to be Hordak until we can find him!"

"Wh-No!" snapped Catra. "Now that Hordak and Shadow Weaver are gone, I'm taking my rightful place as leader of the Horde! Someone needs to be in charge...so why not me?" She strolled up to Hordak's throne, seating herself upon it. "I'll be able to do a better job running this place than he ever could."

Scorpia was awed. She threw her claws into the air; "All hail Lord Catra!"

"'Lord Catra," Catra repeated. "Now there's a title I can get used to."

Hordak stirred. Imp had been trying to awaken him for minutes, and was finally successful. The former leader of the Horde sat up. "Where...are we?"

He looked around, seeing nothing but desert in all directions. The heat of the sun beat down on the two of them, with no shelter in sight. Nothing but red sand all around, with only a few scattered plants and giant skeletons dotting the landscape.

"Impossible," Hordak said. "The Crimson Waste?" For a moment, dread gripped the Horde's former leader. Nothing could survive in the Crimson Waste. But just as soon as it had arrived, the dread was replaced with determination. Nothing...but Hordak himself. If he could be thrust into an alien world and create an army from nothing, he could certainly survive this.

"Come, little friend," said Hordak, urging Imp to perch on his arm. "We are not dead yet. We have much work to do if we are to return home."

"Huh? Are we dead yet?" Rhodonite opened her eyes, seeing that her ship and crew still surrounded her.

"Nooooot yeeeeet," said Fluorite. "We're definitely not on Etheria anymore," said Lars. They seemed to be surrounded once again by stars. "Padparadscha, status report!"

"I predict that-I mean, we seem to have returned to our reality," said the Sapphire. "When Steven and the others destroyed Horde Prime, the resulting dimensional flux transported all of us back to the main universe."

"Huh," said Lars. "Well then, I guess it's back to our original mission! Rutile, how far away are we from Earth?"

"We seem to have emerged just at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy," Rutile said. "It should only take us a few days to reach Earth."

"Oh, yay!" said Padparadscha. "I can't wait to finally see Captain Lars' home!"

"Me, too, Paddy," said Lars. "I can't wait, either. Full speed ahead!"

Steven and Connie looked around themselves. The seagulls calling; the cool sea breeze; the evening sun; the waves against the sand. They were back in Beach City.

Looking behind him, Steven saw the temple again. "We're...we're home," he said. "We're finally home!"

The other Gems were present as well. "Yes!" said Peridot, running up the stairs of Steven's house and embracing the front door. "I never thought I'd be so glad to see an Earth dwelling in my life!"

"Me, either," said Lapis, looking out at the ocean. "I'm glad to be...home."

"Aww, yeah!" said Amethyst. "It's good to be back!"

"It sure is," said Connie. Suddenly, her eyes shot wide open. "Omigosh, I just realized! My parents must be worried sick!" She ran off towards the town proper, giving Steven one last look. "Bye, Steven! I'd love to stay a bit, but this can't wait!"

"That's alright!" said Steven, waving goodbye. "Tell your parents hi for me!"

"Will do!" Connie ran off back to the town.

"You know, Steven, your father is probably worried about you, too," said Pearl. "We should probably go and pay Greg a visit."

"Yeah, I will," Steven said. "But, actually, there's something I wanted to ask you about, Pearl."

"Ask away."

"Back when I was fighting Horde Prime, Stevonnie and Adora fused together. But when we did, Horde Prime said something like 'Diamond detected.' Do...do you have any idea why?"

Pearl seemed taken aback by the question. "Well, you and Connie have a very strong bond," she said. "Plus, you and Adora are all very powerful. Your combined form most likely had power similar to that of a Diamond."

"That's what I thought at the time," said Steven. "But looking back...why would a machine that was designed to hunt Gems make a mistake like that? Something here doesn't make sense…"

And from that moment, nothing was the same. Secrets would be revealed. Lives would be changed forever. Bonds would be tested. Meanwhile, after the combined attacks of not only Skeletor, but Horde Prime as well, Homeworld soon came to realize that they needed a new weapon. Not content to wait any longer, Blue and Yellow Diamond would soon come to personally collect the Cluster. But that is a story for another time.

"And so, here we are," said Double Trouble. "The boss is really excited to meet you. I told him that he should fix the place up a little, but you know how he can be! All business, all the time, as usual."

Shadow Weaver said nothing as she followed behind the shapeshifter. After Horde Prime had fallen, they had met her to escort her to the Surgeon's camp. Shadow Weaver was not impressed by what she saw; for such an influential figure, the Surgeon was operating out of quite a ramshackle site. Makeshift tents littered the area, while his mutated minions shamled to and fro between them. They seemed to be quite disorganized.

"Anyways, he's right down here," said Double Trouble, directing Shadow Weaver into an underground bunker. "I'll wait here for you!" The sorceress descended the stairway into the darkness.

Lining the walls of this bunker were many of the Surgeon's experiments. Several of them were mechanical in nature, but they were mostly biological. Unrecognizeable creatures floated in vats of liquid, twisted into monstrous forms by some unseen force. The few of them that could be recognized were creatures or people from Etheria, heavily mutated. Shadow Weaver couldn't tell if many of them were alive or dead; not that it mattered to her.

She finally reached the Surgeon's workshop, where the man himself waited. He stood in the shadows, two other figures by his side. "Shadow Weaver," came his metallic voice. She wasn't sure where, but she was certain that she had heard this voice somewhere before. "How nice to finally meet you in person. Or rather...to see you again, after all this time."

"Enough smoke and mirrors, Surgeon," said Shadow Weaver. "You have wasted enough of my time. Reveal yourself."

"As you wish." The three figures stepped into the light; they were anything but human.

The being on the right was spindly, held up by four clawed legs, and holding a pair of clawed arms out in front of it. It was covered in some sort of carapace, cobalt blue in color. Its head possessed some sort of frill, but its face was its most notable, and horrific, feature. It possessed a pair of bloodshot red eyes, that seemed to be too big for its skull, as they bulged out unnaturally. Its mouth was filled with needle-like teeth that jutted out at all angles.

The being on the left was much larger and bulkier. A good foot taller than the other two, it nevertheless was hunched over, walking on its knuckles like an ape. It had slimy green skin, like an amphibian. It had two beady red eyes on the sides of its head, as its face was a circular mouth lined with teeth, much like that of a lamprey-no, more like a leech.

But it was the figure in the center that stood out the most: despite his monstrous appearance, he held himself with such a dignified air. His skin was smooth and orange, and he wore what appeared to be Horde armor over his chest. Rather than legs, he held himself up with six tentacles, each one splitting into three smaller tendrils near the ground. His arms were similar, being boneless tentacles tipped with three-fingered hands, which were clasped together in front of him. His oblong head possessed two red eyes that were far too human-like to belong to such a creature, and his mouth was contorted into a toothy grin.

Shadow Weaver was unafraid of these monstrosities. In fact, the moment they stepped into the light, she recognized the one in the center. "Force Captain Modulok," she said. "So, you have been the Surgeon all this time. And here, I thought you were rotting on Beast Island."

The Surgeon, Modulok, laughed. "Rotting? Oh, no, I was thriving!" His voice came not from his mouth, but from a mechanical device he wore around his neck. "Being banished was perhaps the best thing that has ever happened to me. I've created an empire to rival even the Horde!"

"And yet, you need my help," Shadow Weaver said.

"Yes, yes, I have," said the orange creature. He strolled closer to her, the other two staying close behind him. "Even a genius needs assistance. Unlike you, I am simply not too proud to admit it."

Shadow Weaver's eyes narrowed. "And what is it you seek to accomplish?"

"Oh, nothing much," Modulok said, growling lightly. "Simply to retake my-excuse me, our-rightful place as sovereign rulers of the universe. And with Horde Prime gone, and those Gems out of the way...we can accomplish just that." His back to her, he turned his head slightly to face her. "My dear Shadow Weaver, how can you say no to power this great?"

Shadow Weaver answered after a moment of hesitation. "I suppose I cannot," she said. "Very well. I will assist you...so long as I have something to gain."

Modulok laughed, turning to face his new partner. He held out his hand, which Shadow Weaver took, wisps of darkness dancing around her palm. "We are going to wreak such beautiful havoc together, you and I."

AN: It's done! I had an absolute blast writing this...and I hope to have just as much fun writing the next one!

You heard right, dear reader, we're not done yet! There is still more to the tale of Steven Universe and She-Ra! More action, more adventure, more drama! I hope you'll be right there with me with the next installment, coming soon!

Hope you liked this story, and I'll see you next time!