What up everyone? Lazuli's back with another chapter for ya face! At the end of the chapter I got something I need to ask you guys, but for now just kick back, relax and enjoy the chapter.
It was just over two o'clock in the morning. The Beach house was silent, the temple was quiet and all was calm on that early morning. Except for a lone young boy, who was absolutely bustling with excitement and joy over the incredible never been done before feat he'd just accomplished.
He had finally done it. He healed a Corrupted gem.
Steven was still in awe at what he had done. All those weeks of failure and secrecy had finally paid off, but this was only the beginning. This was the first step in the right direction but there was much more work left to do. He would still have to keep his achievements a secret much to his dismay, but soon it'll all have been worth the wait. And he was about to give up, where would he have been if he did just throw the towel in? Not as happy as he was right now for sure.
Steven was so excited after he exited the Burning Room and returned to his homemade pillow fort that he almost tripped over Connie's slumbering form. It took him a minute remember why she was there and then he realized that in light of his meeting with Jade for the first time he had somehow forgotten that his best friend was staying the entire next week there with him. His pride was greatly lessened when he also realized that he had to keep his great success a secret from her as well, and his father as well. Suddenly his fantastic deed didn't seem so fantastic anymore.
Steven mentally chastised himself for thinking such negative thoughts after something amazing just happened a short time ago, and so be decided that getting himself some rest ought to do him good. He tiptoed past Connie and retrieved his yellow pajamas. After he had undressed and put them on(which made him feel more than a little embarrassed) he layed down next to her on the soft and comfortable blanket fortifications that they were surrounded by. As he ly there Steven immediately began planning his next move. He would try to get to know Jade more and then continue on with healing all the other gem mutants that were captured. Maybe Jade would even offer to help him in his mission, which would give them time for their friendship to grow and Steven would need all the help he could get, especially since her wasn't planning on telling anyone anything soon, or at least until he had most of the Gems healed. It was a solid plan, in his mind at least.
Steven was kind of concerned though. It took him months to heal Jade from her Corruption, so how long would it take to heal the next one? Just as long? Longer? He didn't know much time he could keep this thing a secret or how long it would take to heal all of the other mutants before Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst found him out. He wasn't as concerned about Connie or his dad finding out as they would most likely support him, but he didn't want any of them getting hurt. And he didn't know Jade very well either. For all he knew she might still be loyal to Homeworld and was lying to get information from him.
Steven dismissed that last thought as just senseless paranoia. There's no way Jade was going to hurt him or any of the Crystal Gems either, she'd really have no reason to. Or at least, one that Steven could see. He was sure he could trust her, and so he would unless she proved herself untrustworthy, but in the meantime she was his new friend and he loved making new friends.
Steven's deep thinking of everything was slowly making him tired. Sleepiness soon overcame him and he fell into a deep slumber, imagining how great it would be to have an army of new friends after he healed them all.
David Fletcher was in trouble. His already stressful job went into something much more serious and terrifying. Well that's what being the President of the United States will do to you in times of crisis.
The day had started out normal, or normal for presidential standards. Go to an foreign country to discuss treaties and cooperative projects to become more connected, come back to the states to work out bills trying to get passed, approving or vetoing them accordingly, then go home to spend time with the wife and kids before going to sleep and waking up the next day to deal with tomorrow's issues. Simple.
Unfortunately that routine schedule used by every president before David was abruptly stopped a few weeks ago. He was working in the oval office on some to deal with conflicts in the Middle East when his secretary Nelly dropped a manila folder into his desk right in front of him.
David looked up from his work and asked, "What's this Nelly?"
"Sir, you need to take a look at this," she said in a serious tone.
David opened the folder and looked through its contents. They were photos, photos of...what appeared to be some sort of advanced spaceship outside the Earth's atmosphere.
"Why wasn't I informed of another lunar space mission? Get me NASA on the line, I never authors this."
"It's not NASA sir."
"Then get me someone from the UN, cause this is-"
"It's not the UN either sir. No one knows what this is, none of the world's governments have a clue on who this craft belongs to. There's been some rumors floating around..." Jelly trailed off, her eyes starting to fill with fear. This began to unnerve David and he started to get worried.
"What all do we know?" He asked.
"Not much of anything, but everyone was briefed on this."
"What do you mean everyone?"
"The Head of the CIA had everyone working in the White House briefed on this," she explained. "Even Robert the janitor was informed on this. You're the last to know about this."
David didn't say anything for a minute, he just looked through the photos again, a look of concern scrunched up on his face. Then he looked back up to Nelly. "You said there were rumors? Rumors of what?"
"Well, in our briefs they said that..." Jelly looked away, afraid and slightly embarrassed over what she was about to say. "They said that this craft was...alien in origin."
At first David was about to chuckle humorously and hand it back to Nelly when he noticed a symbol in the center of the ship, one that he recognized immediately. A look that can only be described as a kid of fear and disbelief formed on his face. He put his hand over his face for a minutes as he tried to form a solution but to no avail. Then he removed his hand and said "Get the world leaders online immediately. This has become a matter of international security."
"Right away sir." Nelly turned and was about to walk away when David said "And Nelly?"
"Yes sir?"
"I don't know what this'll escalate to, I really don't. But thank you for everything you do for me here. I don't do it as much as I should, but thank you for everything."
Nelly was taken aback, but she smiled and said "You're welcome sir." Then she went on her way to follow his orders.
David sat back in his chair and took a deep breath to collect himself. He needed to do that, he needed to do that because if his greatest fears were confirmed, then he wanted to make sure he said those words before...the world ended.
A few minutes later...
"Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a serious problem," David said to the various world leaders who were communicating to each other via video chat.
"How big of a problem is this that requires all of our attention?" Queen Jezebel of England asked with her British accent.
"Yes President Fletcher, you know we only gather like this if a threat of international security is present," said the President of South Africa Akeem Saluun with his thick African accent.
"I understand everyone's concerns and I apologize for organizing this meeting on such short notice," David started. "But as a matter of fact we do have such a threat on our hands. However, the severity of the situation is...well, simply much more severe than anything any of our countries have planned for."
The world leaders all expressed looks of concern and fear on their faces after me made his point clear.
"What are you saying Fletcher?" Francisco Hernandéz, President of Spain asked.
David hesitated, then took a deep breathe which further frightened the leaders before continuing. "The Earth may soon be invaded by what appears to be an extraterrestrial force."
Although all governments denied existence of alien life to the public, they were all aware and informed about the truth that intelligent life did indeed live in outer space and they were all ears on David's next words as the light of this situation was finally revealed.
"Just earlier today our satellites in space took photos of a strange spacecraft sitting just outside of the atmosphere, and it has been confirmed that no government or private company possesses a craft like this. It's been decided that this craft must be alien in origin and that whatever life on board must be hostile."
"Are you absolutely sure that this isn't some mistake, that this isn't some space trash or just a misidentified space shuttle someone created?" The German prime minister Steiner-Franz Derhachen asked.
"Yes, we could be worked up over a silly little mistake," The Queen added.
"Take a look for yourselves." David turned and nodded to one of the White House technicians, who began typing furiously on his government desktop computer. Within a few seconds the images taken from the satellites were sent to all of the world leaders, who stared at them with confused looks and quizzical expressions as they tried to identify the ship they were looking at.
Eventually the royal king of Great Britain George Henry-Edwards said, "I don't know what it is but what evidence do you have that proves this is an alien ship?"
"Look on the very front of the ship, where it meets in the middle, there's a symbol there. Do any of recognize it?" David asked.
The leaders took a minute to observe the symbol David spoke of, which was 3 small diamonds organized in a horizontal line, with the one in the center elevated slightly higher than the others. David could tell by their looks that some of them didn't know about the symbol, but some of them did and those people were the ones who finally understood what was happening.
"Oh my god..." Derhachen said in awe.
"What? What is it?" The Queen asked as she squinted at the image. "I've never seen such a strange marking before."
"I have," said Derhachen.
"As have I," added Akeem, nodded clumpy.
"What meaning does this symbol have?" King Henry-Edwards asked, confused as to why he didn't recognize it.
"Yes, I would also like to know," the Queen requested.
"And I," Francisco also said.
"Thousands of years ago," David began. "An extraterrestrial species, known as Gems, invaded Earth from their planet called Homeworld in hopes of colonizing the entire planet. Then soon after colonization began a group of radical Gems rebelled against their leaders, who were powerful beings known as Diamonds, and a civil war on Earth began between Homeworld forces and these radicals, who dubbed themselves the "Crystal Gems." All across the world ancient human civilizations allied with the Crystal Gems and drove the Hostile Homeworld Gems off-planet. The Crystal Gems suffered massive casualties during the war, which lasted at least a thousand years, leaving only a very small handful of survivors left at war's end, and they went into hiding of sorts and self-exiled themselves from mankind. The total number of Crystal Gems who survived and the whereabouts of their leader, Rose Quartz, are currently unknown, and since then there hasn't been any sign of Homeworld. Until now."
"My family has very ancient documents of these Gems recorded by my ancestors," Akeem said. "That have been handed down and kept safe for generations. This is how the South African government is aware of the existence of these Gems."
"We have records of our own also," said Derhachen. "And my ancestors were actually warriors who fought in the war against Homeworld, so we also have personal account of battles and Gem culture. "Rumor has it there are several governments with their own records, heirlooms and documentation of these Gems and their technology. I'm aware of a few other world leaders who are currently absent from this meeting that have such evidence."
"I am acquainted with some other world leaders as well, and even some we are allied with," Derhachen mentioned.
"The US government is also fully informed of the remnants of these Crystal Gems," David informed. "In fact to you leaders who weren't informed of these aliens, we'll be sending you everything we have to your agencies and your heads of security so you and your governments can be brought up to speed on this crisis. Then after all of you are fully caught up on this information, I propose that we should reach out to other governments, other countries, and spread the word out as quickly as we possibly can. Talk with your allies first, then move on to everyone else. Make treaties, form alliances, do whatever it takes to get as many countries' cooperation and support as you can. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm being very serious when I say that we may have another world war on our hands, only this time we're fighting for our right to exist."
"Another World War?" King Henry-Edwards questioned. "Did you even know how devastating the first one was? We're lucky to have never had a second one happen, especially after the innovation of nuclear energy for military use and the tensions that arose in Central Europe in the 1930's."
"President Fletcher, are you sure the situation is as grim as it seems? Is this really going to possibly become an Extinction Level Event?" Asked Francisco.
David thought quietly to himself for a moment to think about the whole thing. Then he let out a low sigh before answering. "Yes I do."
"I trust your judgment," Francisco replied. "Just know that whatever happens, Spain with be by your side."
"You have my country's full support as well," Said Derhachen with a prideful smile.
You have ours as well."
"And ours."
"South Africa with stand with you."
Despite the grim situation they all faced David expressed his happiness and encouragement with a bright smile. "Your support is greatly appreciated. America thanks you all, and you all have my personal gratitude as well. And now that we're supporting each other, I advise each of you to prepare your military forces and whatever emergency services you can provide to your peoples, and since we have the location of these Crystal, we're going to get them to assist us in our fight. We will organize another meeting in 3 weeks after we've prepared most of our armies and after we gain more support from other countries. And tell the public that this ship is real, and nothing else. If anyone has anything they'd like to say before we close this meeting, speak now or wait until our next meeting."
When no one spoke up, David said "In that case this meeting is adjourned. God bless all of you and I wish you all the best of luck in your mission. Good bye."
And with that the camera feeds of all the world leaders were disconnected.
That was a few weeks ago. Now David Fletcher was being flown to the current whereabouts of the Crystal Gems, Beach City, Delmarva in hopes of convincing them to come out of hiding and assist the human race one more time against Homeworld if they would attack, which was a very high possibility at this point. Right now David's only hope was that they would lend a hand and maybe, just maybe the Earth would stand some sort of a chance against their possible doom silently and patiently looming above...
The next morning...
Connie was awoken from her sleep by a strong smell that immediately drove the sleep from her body. She opened her eyes, yawned and stretched out across the blanket-covered floor, then when she finally completely woke up she got another whiff of the mouth-watering aroma. Eggs, bacon and what seemed to be sausage were cooking, the sounds of meat cooking and grease popping filling the air. Someone had been making breakfast.
Hearing and feeling her stomach growl with delight, Connie got up from the soft blanketed floor and made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen, where she found her jam bud cooking the delicious meal for them. He was still dressed in his yellow pajamas but he was wide awake and greeting the day with a bright smile on his face, happily humming a cheery tune as he continued to cook their breakfast. When he noticed her come into the kitchen his face lit up with joy.
"Good morning Connie!"
"Good morning Steven!" Connie greeted back with the same enthusiasm as he did. "What's all this?"
"This?" He said. "Oh I just woke up a little early and decided that making a together breakfast for the two of us would be a perfect way to start the day. I hope you're hungry."
"I sure am," Connie replied, sitting down at the table where Steven had placed a fork, an empty plate and a tall glass of orange juice. "The delicious smell woke me up."
Steven let out a hearty laugh that warmed Connie's heart and he brought over the pan he was cooking on over to the table and used the spatula to slide some food into her plate: eggs sunnyside up, several sausages and a bagel with strawberry jam spread across it. Connie's filled with gratitude and was deeply touched by her friends, he had made her favorite breakfast.
"Wow thanks Steven, it looks amazing!" She exclaimed with diamonds in her eyes.
"No problem Connie, but I hope it tastes better than it looks," he said while he served up his own plate and sat down at the table next to her.
She took her fork and tried the eggs first, savoring the great taste of them as she took her first bite. Her face lit up and she started furiously chowing down on her friend's amazing cooking.
"Steven," she said between bites. "This is incredible!"
"Nah there not that good," he said after he took a bite himself. "Definetley not my best performance. They're a little underdone, the edges are too crispy-"
"Steven." She reached over and put his hand on his to reassure him, which surprised him. "Just stop it, they're perfect. Thank you."
There they sat like that, eyes locked, her hand on his, and that moment seemed like an eternity to the both of them. They both started to feel the blood rise to their faces yet neither of them moved away or went back to eating their food, because at that very moment both of them had a sudden burst of emotions and thoughts that none of them could control.
Then after a few nervous minutes later Connie realized her hand was still on his and quickly pulled away before returning back to eating her food, hoping that Steven didn't see the deep red blush forming on her face. Steven also awkwardly resumed eating his meal, keeping all of his own emotions to himself as well. A few minutes of painfully awkward later and the kids had finished their meals, and so Steven got up, gathered up all the dirty dishes and brought them over to the sink so he could wash them in the soapy water he had already prepared earlier. As he took the sponge and began washing them Connie also left the table to go by the sink next to him, then suddenly took the sponge from him. Steven was confused and his look told it all.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"You made me such a heavenly breakfast," she said with a smile, while also being secretly grateful that the awkwardness from before was gone. "The least I could do was help out a little."
"You don't have to do that Connie, I'm the one who does the chores around here. Well, sometimes Pearl too."
"Sorry not sorry, I'm cleaning these dishes," she replied as she started to wash them clean.
Steven chuckled a bit as he watched his friend wash the dishes. "There's no stopping you is there?"
"Nope," she answered, winking at him.
"Alright. Well in that case I'm going back to my room to get dressed." He said walking off back to his room while she finished up the dishes. While he was getting dressed and she was cleaning up, Connie thought about the way she felt earlier when she put her hand on his at the table. It was just supposed to be a reassuring gesture to let Steven know that his cooking was fine and that the deed deeply touched her as simple as that, but then it became something completely different when they locked eyes and held that position for that long. Connie was starting to get confused and mixed up over how he felt about Steven over the time they spent together. How did she feel about Steven? Did she just want to be his best friend? Or did she secretly want to become something...more than just friends.
Connie was feeling conflicted, and as all of these thoughts and emotions, both old and new, began to pile up in her head, she suddenly became deathly afraid of being around Steven before she sorted her feelings out. For instance, what if Connie decided she did want to become something more with Steven and she confessed, only to not just be rejected and have her heart broken, but what if that destroyed the friendship they had right now? Then she'd be left with nothing in this world, and she didn't want that to happen. She didn't want to lose not only her one and only friend, but she didn't want to lose the best friend she could ever ask for either. She was lost, and she had no idea what to do. Good thing he wasn't here right now to see the confusion, fear and panic coursing through her, otherwise being the super friendly person he was he'd definitely try to ask and see what was wrong. What would she even say to him then? She'd either have to come clean, reveal the whirlwind of emotions she was feeling about him, and accept his response, or lie to him, have him know she was lying, and them feeling hurt for her not being honest to him. Connie wasn't too fond about any of these choices to be honest. One thing for sure, she didn't want to ruin what they already had, even if that meant never being in a romantic relationship with him. For now she'd have to deal with it until she sorted out everything and finally understood how she felt about him.
"You almost done out there Connie?" Steven called from his room. "I'm all dressed and I'm about to start episode 27 of Under the Knife, okay?"
"Okay, be right there!" Connie called back, finishing the last of the dishes and draining the rest of the soapy water. After rinsing the excess soap from the sink she proceeded to Steven's bedroom to watch the show with him. As she went up the stairs and sat by Steven on his bed she just really hoped that she could her feelings under control around him so he wouldn't get suspicious. Then the show came on, getting Connie's mind off of everything and soon they became just two friends watching their favorite show, completely unaware of the events falling into place...
So there you go guys, the end of another chapter. So here's the question I wanted to ask.
I just recently watched the newest Stevenbomb, and I have to say...Wow. It was a lot to handle, but it kind of changed things quicker than I wanted them to. So I'm going to ask you fans of mine this: Do you want me to incorporate things in the new episodes in my story so it'll make sense with the show? Or do you guys want me to just go with my own plan? I'll let you guys decide in the reviews, but I'll also be setting up a poll for the first time so you all can vote. I have ideas of my own I'd like to see in this story, but I have a few others as well if you decide to have me use the new episodes. That's all, no big deal. I'll leave the polls up for a week from tomorrow (tomorrow for me is Friday the 13th). I can't work on new chapters here until you all make your decisions.
Anyways that's all. Peace to all of you, and I'll see you in the next one.