Evil comes in all sizes
Some small red creature crawled out of the crater it created trying to lunge at them. Steven put up a bubble stopping their movements.
"Is that a gem?" Shadow asking the obvious. Their was a large gem right on their stomach.
Steven easily recognized who it was. "It's Navy."
"No Steven that's a ruby." Garnet corrected him.
Steven slapped his face. "No I gave her the name navy. Cause the gems on her naval."
"Wish my name giving skills were as pro." Shadow pouted.
The gems face was pressed against the bubble. "Oh please please don't make me go back to homeworld. I just want to stay here with you." The gem said in the sweetest of voices.
Shadow was more concerned as to why they were in a huge pink bubble. How much air did they have? Do gems even need to breath? What is breathing? You know this was probably not the time to have deep ass questions. Priorities needed to be situated.
Garnet let her gauntlets disappear. "This is a surprise."
Steven let his bubble disappear so that he could talk to the Ruby. Despite the back and forth feud between the Crystal gems and Rubies Navy didn't seem to be so angry about it.
Steven turned to Garnet when she expressed concerns about the gem staying here.
"That was eyeball, this is Navy. She always seeme kind of nice, and you know a Ruby falling from the sky, discovering this beautiful world sounds a lot like a story you told me once."
"Oh stop." Garnet blushed with a hand on her face.
Shadow chuckled lightly. "Geez you guys are so gay." He whispered to himself.
Steven cuddled up to the wide eyed Ruby. "Let me take it from here." He begged.
Garnet crossed her arms, a smile breaking out on her face. "Alright Steven Universe go work your magic." Steven went starry eyed at her guardian's consent.
Steven took Navy's hand and ran off towards their home. Before Shadow could turn around to leave Garnet tapped him on the shoulder.
"Whats up girl?" He asked.
Garnet adjusted her glasses. "Keep an eye on Steven for me please. That boy has a bigger heart than all of us and is quick to save any gem that comes crashing down from the sky."
Shadow rubbed his nose in a gesture of embarrassment. "Don't worry Garnet. I'll watch him like he's my own son."
Shadow had to resist the urge to not set fire to the cornfield him and the Ruby were trudging through. Steven had ran off ahead of them to find Lapis and Peridot since they weren't at the barn. A stalk corn he had punched in annoyance whipped back into his mouth right as he was about to curse. The corn hit him in the mouth so hard it sent him on his butt spitting out bits of corn. Navy laughed at him when he started to shake the stalk and tearing it into shreds.
After another five minutes him and Ruby came rolling out of the field into view just Steven was about to introduce them. One of them were about to laugh when Shadow put a hand to stop them. The only reason why he didn't erupt like a volcano was because the corn in his mouth otherwise it would have turned R-rated real quick.
"Hi I'm Ruby or uhhh Navy from homeworld. Nice to meet you fellow refugees!" Navy said in her overly sweet voice.
Lapis squinted her eyes, annoyed at the small gems sudden appearance. Peridot on the other hand was delighted that they had another friend to welcome aboard the barn crew.
"So uhhhh, when did you show up?" Peridot asked.
Ruby smiled at Peridot causing Lapis to roll her eyes. "Today." She replied.
Peridot took a second to soak in her quick response then threw her hands in the air. "Yay new barney!"
"What? No. Can we, talk about this for a second?" Before anyone could even respond she controlled the water from a pan and formed a water bubble around Navy.
Shadow got a chuckle out of that. "Jeez Lapis I thought my people skills were bad. At least I don't try to drown people when I've met them for less than five minutes."
Lapis shot Shadow a look that told him that she was not amused. "Really? Why did you bring her here? She hates us we did horrible things to her. Steven this doesn't even make sense."
"She doesn't though give her a chance." Steven insisted.
Peridot chimed in. "I understand where Lapis is coming from, but look at how I turned out."
"A green half squat?" Shadow said questioningly.
"No you clod!" Peridot shouted at Shadow.
Shadow just stuck his tongue out at Peridot he was only teasing her. Even pumpkin was standing next to Shadows leg nodding its little pumpkin nod in agreement.
"Okay okay all jokes aside why don't we just give her a chance. I mean what other choice is their really?"
Lapis crossed her arms with a scowl. "It's not that Shadow. Life on Earth is really confusing. It took me a long time to get used to it, I'm still getting use to it."
Steven was thinking of a response until Peridot chimed in.
"But we can show her the way. We've been through the ringer through all this stuff it would be really cool to have another rookie besides Shadow around."
"Hey I've been on this planet way longer than you ya cucumber."
Peridot stuck her tongue back at him. "Besides that I think we would be really good at it. What do you say?"
Lapis nodded her head and geared herself up to the task. "Okay, okay! I'll give it a try, But we have to take it slow."
Shadow gave Lapis a thumbs up he was glad that she would put in the effort to help this gem out. He really respected that.
Everyone else expressed their happiness to this new quest and was more than ready to begin the indoctrination phase.
While Everyone else was teaching Ruby about all the things Earth had to offer Shadow was relaxing on a hill overlooking the ocean. The sun hit the water creating beautiful sparkles, as if god dropped diamonds from the sky to rest above the waters. It was so nice out he just wore a button up and some shorts to let his body soak in the nice rays. A jazz song started to play on his phone filling his ears with a saxophone so smooth you would think someone wrapped you in silk and carried you off into the clouds. The soft beats of the tamborines almost in synch with your heartbeat creating a feeling of peace Shadow could really appreciate. With every breath he took he could feel himself really relaxing. Being out here with nothing but an album of good music, some beautiful scenery and your thoughts really did help a troubled soul.
"Once again I find you by yourself."
Shadow opened his eye to see Lapis staring down at him. A soft smile on her blue lips that earned her one back.
"Hey blue whats going on? You take a break from your young student?"
Lapis sat down with a scoff, she instinctively nestled her legs up to her chest and turned her head to look at him. "She fell asleep on the barn wood floor Shadow.'
His eye opened in shock then he started to laugh. "Jeez Lapis either you are teaching some boring stuff or that is some tempurpedic wooden floors." Once again Lapis didnt find any of this amusing and Shadow was left to feel like the awkward one.
He sat up and took his phone out of his pocket to hand over to Lapis. "Here take this. Maybe it will help."
"What is it?" She asked poking at the odd device.
"A little bit of peace and some cool beats. You'll see." Shadow scooted closer to her and put the headphones over her ears. Shadow scrolled through his playlist and finally settled on a song she would probably like. "I know" by Saib played, you could hear the beginning intro kick in. It only took a few seconds before Lapis closed her eyes and let her body mellow out to the song. Her body slowly hugged the grass and her arms spread eagle like the music was coursing through her body giving her an energy she never felt before. Though her eyes were closed Shadow liked to think that Lapis was imagining herself in the middle of the ocean on the back of some giant sea turtle. The sweet smell of exotic flowers in her blue hair perfectly mixing in with the smell of the ocean letting that small sense of doubt she had ripple away like the ones she created with her feet. Lapis would wear a blue summer dress that matched the sky, and a beach hat that covered just enough shade to not disturb her careless dreaming at sea without hiding the sun's warm affection. After a few more songs Lapis finally returned back to Earth.
She sat up slowly and took the headphones from her head.
"Woah." Was the only thing she could say. Lapis couldn't decide it she should say more or just keep it at that, the feeling of nirvana was still settled on her. Lapis was scared if she said what she truly felt she would be letting go of this magic he shared with her.
Shadow knew he didn't have to say anything he knew what she had meant, how she was feeling. "Yeah I know right. Now after that do you still feel that Navy doesn't belong here?"
Lapis was shocked at his question she couldn't even formulate two words to respond back to him.
"Hey just because I've been in this field doesn't mean I don't know what's going on. You feel like Ruby is just getting all this so quickly. You're probably thinking how could this gem who you guys once fought against love a planet she's only been on for a day huh?"
The blue gem only nodded her head.
Shadow chuckled. "I know everything hadn't been sunshine and rainbows for you on this planet Lapis, but Navy, you could give to her what you didn't have and be the hero of the day. Don't you want that at least."
Lapis looked down to the ground. No doubt contemplating what she should do, it was hard though being around someone so forgiving and loving of everything on this planet. It made her think something was wrong with her, maybe their was. "I'll try Shadow but I'm not making any promises. I'll only continue with this schooling if you join along."
Shadow broke out into laughter from that. "Yeah right crazy that's your job not mine. I'm just the eye candy today I don't have to do anything."
"Even if I tell Garnet that you did nothing to watch Steven." Lapis gave him that drama queen 'mhmm' shake of the head. He would have to make it a point to make sure he sabotages the video tapes they had here.
Lapis once again was not doing so well on being the nice gem. Shadow was rolling at the way she was picking at the little gem but she didn't seem to notice at all, Navy was loving everything. For a second he didn't really blame her they were rolling around in the smiling and laughing.
"But we were just enemies don't you remember?" Lapis was so confused as to why Navy was so accepting of everything despite what happened in the past.
Shadow rested a hand on Lapis shoulder. "Come on blue relax you don't-"
Lapis slapped his hand from her. "No Shadow I really just don't understand. I don't understand why she just won't get mad!"
Ruby got up from the dirt. Her big eyes looking at Lapis with all the innocence in her little red body. "I think that if I REALLY tried, that's the one thing I can't do."
"Oh come on!" Lapis turned around and took off into the air with her water wings.
Everyone was left stunned by Lapis attitude towards Navy. Steven, Peridot, and pumpkin took off after Lapis while Shadow stayed with the ruby to make sure she was alright.
"Hey you alright? I know Lapis is really giving it to ya she doesn't mean to." Shadow stood next to Ruby looking out at the sun that still hung above the ocean.
Navy looked up at Shadow. "I didn't do anything wrong did I? I only want to get along with everyone."
Shadow walked with Navy to the hills to get more comfortable. No you didn't do anything. Lapis has a lot of bad experiences with Earth. Not everything on this planet is worth love Navy."
"Did someone hurt you too?" Navy asked. The gem sat down on the edge of the hill, her feet dangling off the edge.
Shadow sat down next to her, he laughed at the question. "What makes you think that huh?"
"Because you're missing an eye." Navy pointed out.
Shadow touched his eye patch. Seemed like every gem and their mother wanted to know about his damn eye or lack of. "I lost it to a gem actually you might know them. Name was Jasper."
Shadow didn't notice but the gem suddenly went rigid as a stone. When Shadow looked over Navy was staring at him wide eyed like some possessed doll. His heart almost leaped out of his chest from the creepiness.
"Oh my gosh you knew General Jasper?! Please tell me how did you know her?" Navy sounded so excited that Shadow couldn't help but continue the conversation.
"General Jasper huh?" Shadow let the title soak in. He almost forgot that Jasper was a warrior, something he kept forgetting often. "Jasper was what you would think of her. Tough, brutal, and fierce. She was all those things and so much more. Jasper was my rock when I needed someone to lean against, the sunshine in my life that brightened my day. I could fall asleep in her arms and never want to leave. That's the Jasper I use to know at least… Now, I don't know."
Navy was so quiet that Shadow started to think of Jasper again.
"You know she killed an entire biker gang because she thought that they had killed me. I felt sick thinking she would do that because of me, I was the one that told her to not lose herself to her anger yet I was the one who got beaten and shot. Guess that was kind of hypocritical. How did you know Jasper?" Shadow turned around to see that Navy wasn't sitting next to him anymore.
Something hit his body and a burning sensation started to well up on his side. He looked under his arm to see a little red dagger sticking out of his side and his blood start to stain his red shirt. "Oh shit." Shadow fell over on his side, his body started succumb to the pain. When he tried to turn around a foot smashed into his face. Their was a disgusting crunch which probably meant his nose was broken again.
"Oh my look at all that red stuff that's coming out of you!" Navy grabbed her knife and pulled it out making Shadow scream. "And the way you scream is amazing." The Navy laughed in her innocent voice. Navy pranced around the bleeding Shadow laughing and twirling her knife. "You know what amazes me about this planet?" She asked. Navy placed the blade of her small knife to his throat. "That someone as great as Jasper had to be around such disgusting things. The way you speak of her as if you knew her is quite disturbing. Haha but Navy will fix that she loves fixing things!"
Though he felt the gems blade against his throat ready to take his life away he rolled backwards off the cliff escaping a certain death for a more subtle one. His body hit the water and his body began to sink downwards to its murky depths. Shadow could only watch as that sun he was looking at a minute ago became more distant as his body descended. Shadow would have laughed if he could at how ironic this was. Seemed like no matter how peaceful he was or how ready he was to find some peace something evil would come in and run him over with the reality train. Whatever he did in his past life must have been really bad to have been cursed this badly.
"So this is it huh?" A familiar voice spoke to him.
Shadow didn't want to acknowledge the voice that spoke in his head but he felt obligated. "Yeah I guess so. It's funny that you couldn't kill me, I couldn't kill myself, yet a small gem the size of Steven is what got me. I really must be the greatest smuck that ever lived.
The voice laughed at that, and he did too. "Shadow ever since I met you you fought for everything that meant something. When I took your eye did I take that away from you too?"
Shadow wanted to beat himself with a rock to rid himself of Jasper's voice. "If you weren't a voice in my head I would call you a bitch."
"You don't have the stones human."
It's kind of sad how a voice in his knew when he was bluffing. "Well Jasper now you won't have to feel regret not killing me. I'm going to die in the ocean and the fish are going to eat me. I'll be nothing but fish food and you won't be able to see my pretty little face."
The voice went quiet for a moment. "I never meant for this to happen Shadow. I swore to myself that I would do anything to protect you yet I was the one who let you down. I left Earth because I was undeserving of what you gave to me. I'll never forgive myself."
Shadow smiled at that. It must have been time to go because it felt like his body was being lifted out of the water.
"Thank you at least."
"For what?"
Shadow let his head fall back to accept the warm feeling at the light he was being lifted towards. "At least coming back to say goodbye. You did that one thing right by me at least so thank you."
"I think he swallowed to much sea salt." Someone said.
The darkness behind his eyes started to uncover when he blinked a few times. Lapis, Peridot, Steven, and Pumpkin were staring at him in confusion. That was when he realized that he was out of the ocean and on the beach, not heaven.
Shadow looked between all of them, surprised that his friends were just their. "So either I'm alive or Navy killed all of you guys too."
Lapis's eyes opened in shock. "OOH I KNEW IT!" Lapis would have jumped for joy if Shadow wasn't bleeding.
"Well I-i'm glad you were proven right, but I would rather not feel like I'm dying right now." Shadow wanted to chuckle but the sea salt in his stab wound made the whole thing worse. Shadow grimaced when they turned him over, the sound of Steven licking his hands grossed him out. It didn't take long for the wound to instantly close itself up and heal with Stevens magic spit. Then came his nose but that one hurt a bit since it needed to be reset first.
Shadow thanked Steven then stood to his feet. "Navy is evil. She stabbed me because I was talking about Jasper. She laughed and danced around me like some small psychotic bit-" Shadow stopped himself before he could finish. No need for his anger to slip out and say something that Steven might repeat in front of the others. Shadow probably wouldn't survive that kind of attack.
"I can't believe she would do something like this. I thought we were doing so good with her, maybe it's just you Shadow you are kind of a clod." Peridot squinted her beady little eyes at him.
Shadow ignored her jab. "No I doubt anything would have changed what happened. I had to roll myself off the cliff before she could cut my throat!"
Everyone put a hand to their mouth except Lapis, her expression turned from a grin to a murderous gleam in her eye. Shadow patted Stevens head, the little boy looked up to him, his normal smile gone. "Sorry little man. None of us could have expected for something like this to have happened."
His reassurance helped to calm Steven, from past experiences he knew that not everyone could be saved. Shadow turned to Lapis. "So since we have a red rabbit to start looking for. How about we do a little hunting?" A evil smile spread across his face.
The blue gem high fived Shadow. "I been waiting for this all day." Her voice just as evil as his. Both Lapis and Shadow started to laugh like maniacs. It was so bad Pumpkin cowered behind Peridots leg.
Shadow trudged his way through the corn field. His hands and fingertips were spread out, electricity arched out setting some of them on fire. He could hear Peridot yelling at him to stop it but he wanted revenge for her insult early. Damn it felt so sweet being evil.
The sound of crunching behind him made Shadow spin around. It didn't take much to mentally picture a weapon he would use. A curled electric whip formed in his hands that he whipped around his head before lashing it out across the grass cutting down a good hundred feet of crop. When the vegetables fell over Navy was staring at him, the murderous look she had in her fake innocent now gone.
Navy chuckled at him. "Wow you're alive human. I would think with the way that I stabbed you you would surely be dead."
Shadow let the whip disappear, with a snap of his fingers he summoned knives between his knuckles. "Hey little bitch." Shadows insane smile grew as wide as his eyes. "ITS HUNTING SEASON." Shadow tossed two of the knives sending them soaring towards Navy. The gem ducked the knives and rolled further into the crops. A little game of hide and seek then.
As crazy as it sounded he wanted it this way. Like a lion searching for its prey he was relentless, unwavering in his pursuit to hunt down this gem that would probably hurt more people if left to just roam around. "Navy why are you doing this? You could of had a home!" Shadow yelled.
The sound of footsteps to his right made him change direction.
"Do I need a reason. I saw everyone's faces when you told them what I did." Navy''s laugh echoed all around him. "It was so funny to see their happy faces get shattered. Did you, think...it was funny TOO?" Navy ran from behind him so fast. She slashed his thigh then disappeared again. Shadow tried to toss his electri-knives but she had already made off. Shadow cursed from the blood seeping from his wound.
Shadow summoned his whip again and spun it around his head taking out corn stalks in a 360 degree radius. She was till nowhere to be found. "Fuck! Come out you little shit stop hiding!"
"Look out!" Lapis shouted her warning to him to late. Navy had jumped out from underneath the corn like the sneaky rabbit she was. Navy lunged forward ready to take his life. If it wasn't for all the training he had been doing for Shadow his reaction time wouldn't have been that good. He sidestepped out of the way letting her pass him then grabbed her lead wrist, and brought it up as he brought his forearm down. Months ago this probably wouldn't have worked as a human but now Shadow wasn't so human now was he. The nasty sound of a gems arm 'breaking' almost made him sick. It looked like chunks of stone punched through the other side of her arm. Then came the screaming, a high pitched siren that hurt his ears. Shadow knew he should have probably felt bad, yet that little snake that slithered back into his heart loved the way Ruby screamed, the way it looked. The feeling was the same when he beat Alberto into a pulp.
Shadow knelt down next to Ruby. "Why Navy? You could of had a life here. We could have been a family. I know enough about your species that something like that doesn't mean a thing." Shadow ignored the sad way he sounded to try and level with the gem.
The gem stopped her screaming to turn around and look at Shadow. "You think gems need a family? From the moment we're born we're given one mission. Serve the almighty diamonds. When they broke apart my team and shot us into space we failed our mission. If I was to go back to homeworld it would mean getting shattered." Ruby turned back over, he swore he could hear her sniffling. "I wanted to try and make a different living I really did."
"Then what stopped you?"
Shadow got to close like the idiot he was. Ruby had summoned her knife without him noticing and rolled back over slashing his chest. "The look on you stupid humans faces when I trick you!"Navy pushed forward on top of Shadow who fell backwards. Navy brought the blade down on his one good eye. He managed to block it but was struggling.
"Lapis I need you to do that thing!" He yelled, he could see her ready to fly down to help but Shadow wanted to make sure this would be finished in one blow.
Lapis stopped her descent, as much as she wanted to help she knew to listen to Shadow. Lapis summoned water from the makeshift lake. A dark shadow formed over their heads, a huge mass of water she was controlling and moving just over their heads.
Shadow turned back to Ruby whose evil smile matched his own. "Now let me show you why Amethyst calls me the Shackster." He laughed so evilly Navy was even taken back by how crazy this human was.
Lapis released the water letting it shower over them. When they were both soaked. Shadow used his other hand to grab Navy by the throat. Shadow concentrated high voltages of electricity through his one hand. Navy's body lit up like a light bulb. The gem didn't even scream before her physical form poofed leaving her gem in the dirt she loved so much.
As bad as he wanted to feel he couldn't bring himself to feel bad, this one was genuinely evil. He picked up the gem as Lapis set down, Steven and Peridot came running in. Shadow could see Peridots eyes bulging at the destruction he caused trying to get one gem.
"You destroyed half our crops!" Peridot picked up a piece of corn and waved it in his face.
Shadow just chuckled. "You're welcome." He said back in a singy song voice.
"So what do we do with her?" Steven asked pointing at the Ruby in Shadows hand.
Lapis was about to suggest something pretty harsh when Shadow touched the gem with his other hand. A dark red bubble suddenly enveloped the gem to float just over his hand.
Peridots jaw almost unhinged at what just happened and Steven was bouncing from back and forth.
"Woah woah what the heck just happened?" Shadow moved his hand to let the gem free float in front of them. He didn't really know what he did, he felt some sort of warmth in the middle of his other hand then when he touched it the warmth just released itself.
Steven grabbed the red bubble. "I don't understand. Only gems could make a bubble."
Peridot stepped in between them and lifted Stevens shirt up revealing his own pink gem. "You're half human half gem Steven. You can make bubbles too." Peridot stated.
"Then what does that make you?" Lapis turned to Shadow.
All of them now turned their attention to Shadow. His face turned a dark shade. "Hey stop staring at me will ya. I don't know what this means okay? Peridot you told me that you never heard of a human getting powers."
"I never said that you weren't something else though. We don't know what you are Shadow but now…" Peridots pause made him nervous. "Shadow believe it or not you might be a gem. More accurately, half human half gem."
The realization of that should have hit him harder. With how his body had been changing plus the powers it wasn't surprising. Really no one should have been shocked at this. No pun intended.
Shadow just took the bubble from Steven and tapped the top of it. Their was a sort of sucking noise then the bubble disappeared back to the temple where Navy would stay a prisoner till they knew what else to do with her.
Shadow was surprised when Steven collided with his leg hugging him. His big eyes filled with happiness that his older brother was more like him.
"Haha so I guess I'm a gem now." Shadow ruffled his hair then looked at Lapis. "Does this make me a Crystal gem now? I'll be a gem but I'm not getting a star." Shadow teased. Lapis only rolled her eyes with a grin on her face. Steven was ecstatic they finally had another friend to add to the Crystal gems. Then again what else would Shadow be after being with them so long and going through everything he has. So yeah, nothing really changed. All of them were family through thick and thin, bread and butter.
Peridot on the other hand jumped on the back of Shadows back pounding at his head like a drum. "No he can't be one of us he keeps calling me a cucumber!" Peridot somehow managed to chomp down on his head making him yell in pain. Everyone else laughed while Shadow ran around trying to brush off the little gremlin. Evil really did come in all sizes.
Author notes:
Chapter seven and it's the longest with 5087 words or so. I'm glad I've made it this far and I hope to keep continuing with this story. If I haven't said it already thank you to my readers who continue to read. Since the military life is stressing me out I'm going to going home in a few weeks so I'll probably be talking a break for a little bit. Not to long just enough so that I'll actually be losing my mind while waiting for these new episodes of Steven Universe to not come out. As long as the waits not as long as Kingdom Hearts 3 then I think I'll be fine. Hope everyone a good night and stay classy.
-Shadowsamurai