Disclaimer: Characters, settings, names from the cartoon television show 'Steven Universe' are creations and property of Rebecca sugar and Cartoon network. Any Non-steven universe characters, settings, names, Gems, Gem powers, beliefs, mythology are my own creation.
Author's Note: Surviving the first attack from Homeworld which mutated and transformed earth's flora, thanks to Steven and his friends, the earth got another tomorrow. But in time, the hidden quad radar dish will rise up and send the second attack, and that time is now.
Story Tags: Steven Universe, Lapis Lazuli, OC's, Connie Maheswaran Pearl, Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire, Bells, Whistles, Citrine, Peridot, Beach City, Gem Powers, Romance, Adventure, Comfort, Destiny.
Music Inspiration: "Devil's Laughter" By: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories OST
Chapter 38: Darkness Sets In
Monday
August 25, 2016, 8:00 [Morning]
Beach House, Crystal Temple
Two hours went by since Steven accompanied by Soren, brought the scourge of the plant folks which brought death and destruction with it to an end using his newly acquired power. Despite telling Soren that he wanted to catch some sleep upon returning to the beach house, it was not because of fatigue or expending a lot of energy. Truth be told, secretly Steven could have kept going for a whole month straight before succumbing to actual fatigue. It was the reason why Soren felt insulted when Steven said he wanted to take a rest. He felt Steven was not taking all of that had transpired seriously.
But Steven was not a gem, nor was he a commander for that matter. He was a hybrid, so perhaps serious matters and the threat of his planet's destruction did not process as it did with regular humans. Even so, Carlos, the other hybrid knew and understood the seriousness of this first attack on the earth.
Steven slept on his bed comfortably in the fetal position. Lapis sat down in bed with her legs crossed, facing away from him. Pearl and Carlos were sitting down on the couch down below Steven. Carlos who joined Steven in taking a break from helping Connie deal with the plant folks in Palmyra, rested his head comfortably down on Pearl's lap. He slept with his arms crossed over his body, his legs curled in a fetal position just like Steven.
Amethyst was not inside of the beach house, instead she hung out with Citrine and Bells, taking care of Whistles. Peridot was relieved of her babysitting duty when the whole gang returned back after Steven put an end to the short lived reign of the plant folks. She had returned back to the beach house at the same time as did Steven and his friends. Peridot was more curious about what was inside of Pearl.
Peridot held in her hand a crude but functioning x-ray scanner gun. Using her skills in ingenuity and innovation,Peridot was able to construct anything she wanted or needed as long as the materials, regardless how 'primitive' they were, were available.
Pointing her scanner gun at Pearl's abdomen, she pulled the trigger and fired a horizontal beam of light. It was similar to a pricing gun. Peridot moved the scanner up and down and side to side. A small red shiny nodule on top of the gun projected a 12 by12 inch holo-screen. The screen was a complete gray at first. Then there were neon green movements on the screen.
"It appears you have a growth inside of your stomach construct Pearl. I say get rid of it before it becomes a hindrance. Or don't, I really don't care what happens to you."
"That's not a growth Peridot. It's a baby. Its made up of half of me and Carlos." Pearl corrected Peridot, lovingly caressing Carlos's head.
"Uh huh. And how exactly is that possible. We're magical gemstones, not feeble organics like humans and the animals on this planet." Peridot put in.
"Well you just answered your own question Peridot. We're sentient stones born of and powered by magic. This union is only made possible because of magic. There are so many secrets about our species which we surprisingly still don't know about."
"I hate to agree with a common pearl, but you may be on to something. And what will happen when your hybrid is born." Peridot pressed with more questions.
Pearl brushed her hands through Carlos's hair. She stopped and placed her other hand over her stomach. "Even though I wasn't there, and based on what Greg told me. Rose only had an hour to bond with Steven before she vanished. I never understood why that happened, but thanks to Soren, we know how this process works."
"So what your saying is, when your hybrid-"
"Baby!" Pearl corrected Peridot, growing agitated.."
"Right, baaybee. When your baby comes in...seven months. You know you will cease to exist?" Peridot questioned.
"My hope is that this planet's commander, will bless me with some of his power so I can live my life with my child and husband. And if for any reason that commander does not wish to grant me a commander's courtesy, then I wish for Connie to do it. I have faith in her."
Commander Soren who had heard everything Pearl was saying, remained silent while he stood staring out the window next to the front door.
"i see. And how exactly does a gem get...what's the darn word... " Peridot said with uncertainty.
Pearl's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She smiled down at Carlos and giggled to herself. Lapis could not help but also feel embarrassed hearing Peridot's question. She turned around and wondered if somewhere down the road, if a child was in her future with Steven. When he was old enough of course.
Carlos stirred in his sleep and reached over to grasp Pearl's hand. Pearl only flushed harder and leaned down to press a kiss down on his temple. Peridot wondered at this action she coined it as 'lip marking.' Garnet, who had reformed hours ago to help her team members in the town of Yellowseed fight against the Plant folk, kept to herself behind the kitchen counter. Her arms were kept crossed over her chest. Her head hung low in deep thought. Those thoughts however, were interrupted when she heard Pearl giggling and Peridot laughing.
Pearl noticed Garnet's distant demeanor as more than just her normal self. She had an issue with her, and she intended to ask what it was.
"Garnet" Pearl spoke her name but got no response. She tried again. "Garnet-"
"This isn't fair Pearl" Garnet spoke, cutting Pearl's sentence.
"What exactly isn't fair Garnet?" Pearl asked.
"This! All of this! Rose should be here with us, standing alongside Steven in defense of the earth." there was clear frustration in Garnet's voice, and a little envy.
"is that all that's bothering you Garnet?" Pearl pressed.
"if you really want to know. Do you think having a baby is really the right choice right now Pearl. Or is this your way of getting back at Rose."
Pearl scoffed at Garnet's accusation and spoke to defend herself, "You think I did this out of spite for what rose did? Is that what you really think Garnet? You think I woke up one day and decided to bear the child of a human!"
"You can't tell me you did It out of love." Garnet stood glowering at Pearl.
Pearl's countenance went serious and agitated. She carefully moved Carlos's head off of her laps and stood up from the couch. "What did you just say to me Garnet. Did you just imply that I don't know what love is. Do you know what love is? Is ruby and sapphire's love the only reference you have to make that claim?"
Garnet looked away, but not before nodding disappointingly. "Hello!? Earth to Garnet can you hear me? Carlos loves me. And I love him. Our love is real. its so real, Carlos was not bothered about my relationship with rose when I told him about it. Could ruby and sapphire say the same about Jamie!"
Garnet shuddered hearing Jamie's name. Pearl found a soft nerve under the normally cool and silent warrior.
"How do you know about him" garnet asked, puzzled.
"From Steven and Connie of course. You're claiming I don't know a thing about love. Even before the rebellion I loved Rose long before you met us and even longer before you two ever met one another. Their might not have been a word for what we call love back in Homeworld, but I have loved longer than you ever had. At least I gave Carlos a chance, and how did that chance payoff. Steven has a mentor, an older brother, a friend. And we have a very powerful guardian. But most of all, he gave me his gift of life, and I, I will be the mother to our child in seven months. And I will be here to teach him or her how to walk, talk, laugh and fight."
Garnet uncrossed her arms, lowered her gaze and balled her hands into fists. Her gauntlets manifested and she jumped over the kitchen counter and charged towards Pearl. Soren felt a disturbingly sharp spike in magical energy that forced him to turn around. The energy was purely air based. And that meant it came from none other than Carlos.
Soren turned to see a Green dome encased around Carlos and Pearl. Jutting out from the dome was a giant hand that had Garnet in it's grasp. Carlos sat up from the couch he was sleeping on and yawned loudly. He stood up from the couch and walked through the dome and placed a hand down on Garnet's shoulder.
"I try to keep quiet when gems are talking or arguing between each other. But when someone, be they human, another gem or a commander," Carlos said giving Soren a small glance before turning back to Garnet, "I will step in and fight to the death to protect My Pearl. I'm a nice guy garnet, but I knew you never liked me when we first met. The next time you threaten Pearl..."
Carlos closed his eyes and let out a soft exhale of air. Garnet meanwhile struggled with all of her might to break free from the mighty grasp of this giant green hand. For all of her strength, garnet's struggle stopped when blackness came over her eyes. In the darkness she saw herself looking up past the stars from the earth at night and staring at a Behemoth sized green sphere of energy approximately the size of the Jovian planet Saturn. no. this was more like a vision with one simple warning.
The Saturn sized ball of energy was absorbed into the body of Carlos who appeared out of the stars. With the ball of energy gone, it manifested itself as his Guardian which grew speedily in a massize feathered serpent. It coiled itself around the planet earth. It stopped only to look at Garnet and let out a planet shaking roar.
"AAAHHH! AAHHHHH!" Garnet screamed and shouted in terror. Her body had turned into light and in the process of unfusing.
Ruby and Sapphire popped out of Garnet, holding on to each other. "A bit much to show the fusion the true scale of your power, don't you think so Carlos?" Soren asked from his position.
"I meant every word I said, especially what I said about protecting pearl. But i guess I should have phrased it differently. I will do everything to protect my family. And if Steven did not already share it with you, let me say it now. After what Steven was put through, he is absolutely capable of resurrecting Rose Quartz. But, that choice rests solely with him."
Carlos undid the protective green dome around Pearl and let out a sigh.
Pearl smiled and hugged Carlos's arm, "C'mon Carlos, let's go to my room." Pearl told him. She took him by his hand and lead them to the temple gate.
They disappeared past the gate when they walked inside of Pearl's bedroom.
Inside Steven's Consciousness
Descending back down into that most illusive place inside of himself. Steven landed softly down on the ground. He was greeted to the sight of the the tall pink grass the last time he was here. When Steven's feet touched the ground, several pulsing waves rippled across this world's ground. Each step he took, another ripple was created. When he reached out to touch the tall grass on his sides with his hands, the grass, the whole field around caught on fire. The fire did not burn, there was no neat coming off from it. But it was bright, beautiful and pink, very pink. The flames lifted up from the field it covered and surrounded Steven, swirling around him before rising up into the sky and coming down as sparkles.
Steven set his sights on the cathedral where the statues of his mother and lion were located in. he made his way for the thirty foot wooden doors, pushing them open with little trouble when he arrived to them. He walked inside and found his mother watering a small garden off to the upper right corner of the cathedral. Rose hummed a song to herself, kneeling down to caress the leaves and pedals of several rose flowers.
"Steven...you're back." Rose said.
"Hey mom. Listen, I wanted to talk to you about several things."
"My Steven, I can feel your new power as if it were my own. The weight of it, it's invisible but there's so much weigh to it. It's like an entire planet bearing down on me. I could never imagine myself with such power when I was alive. Did you know Steven, that gems, be they warriors, aristocrats, commanders and even goddesses. Are all made with a set limit on their powers and abilities that they cannot break. Human beings however, who have bodies that can become stronger, resilient and conditioned to bear extreme punishment; can break any limit with hard work. And you have worked so hard."
Steven raised an eyebrow, and looked down at his feet feeling a little terrible. He wondered if he had put his mother to shame by coming to visit her. Rose stood back up from bonding with her roses and turned to see Steven. In her eyes, she saw Steven's Aura as clearly as day and for what it truly was. Hiding just inches behind Steven, she saw a Giant of planetary stature. It's body was as black as a black hole, with several miles thick of Pink diamond armor with black markings covering its entire body and head. It's helm which was opened, revealed the pitch black face of Steven's Aura. The only features were its circular pink eyes which glowed ominously.
"I know you can see it mom. I see it when I close my eyes, when I stare at my own reflection. It's like another me, except more...different. You were right about humans and breaking limits. I had to work very hard and endure a lot to attain this power. When Connie challenged me to a friendly sparring match, Carlos told me that Soren told him that Connie was stronger than me. That was three months ago. Now..."
"And now you are in a league of your own, well that Carlos fella is just slightly stronger than you. I'm so happy and proud of you, my baby boy is now strong enough to protect everyone and everything. Plus you look leaner and healthier. You're going to need more than just power Steven for the coming war. Remember, your friends and the people of the earth will be there standing alongside you when she arrives."
"Mom, just how strong is Yellow Diamond." Steven asked, curiosity laced in his voice.
"She's...she's a supernova waiting to happen. Goddesses, those spoken of in homeworld's ancient past were said to have created galaxies upon their death. Either by being overpowered by a young goddess or choosing to die of their own accord. I know that sounds ridiculous, I myself seldom give that claim little credit. But Goddesses like,Yellow Taffeite, Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond and White Diamond, they are absolutely relentless with power like an abyss. With no bottom.
I'll tell you a secret son. Not even the others know this. The only reason I was able to defeat one of the diamonds was because your mother was made, not carved, from the magic of diamond who defected the diamond authority long ago. I had just enough power to seal half of white diamond's power before landing the killing blow. I used a special kind of Gemstone for that."
"And now it's my turn. Mom, dad would love nothing more than to see you return. But I don't want to do that, at least not yet. I don't need your other half of magical power. I'm confident I can do this with the power I attained. Besides, I have Carlos, Soren and Connie by my side. Soren calls me the shield of humanity, but humanity in fact has multiple shields protecting her from all sides."
Rose strode over to Steven and stopped just a shy few inches away from him. She cupped Steven's face in her hands and pressed a kiss down on his forehead. "I have faith In my baby boy. My baby boy, your mother loves you very much. I look forward to the day when I can finally hold you and Greg in my arms together."
"I love you mom. I love you."
Neso, Neptune's Moon
6:00 [Evening]
Rising out from under the interior neso, the quad radar dish stopped and locked itself when it was done surfacing to the top. charging up energy around the second dish with the black focus on it. An invisible energy was fired from the black focus. It's destination, the planet earth. The dark beam of energy traveled nearly the speed of light, reaching the earth in mere seconds.
The cylindrical beam of pure blackness did not let out ringing noises like the previous beam of energy. This one was silent. The darkness struck the earth's atmosphere, and spread all throughout the planet. From ocean to ocean, continent to continent. The darkness turned the skies black, even on the hemisphere which was experiencing day turned blacker than night. City lights were barely visible if one were standing next to a lamp post or street light. The sun which epitomized power and light, was blocked out from shining down on the earth.
Cities across the world which had not yet finished recovering from the first assault had no time to brace it self for what was coming. The beam did more than just blackened the skies. The blackness set in like thick smog from a very polluted city. It lowered the visibility close to zero. Holding an oil lighter in front of oneself would not be visible. The blackness was everywhere, ever present in every houses, room, crack and space. It stuck to people, animals and the environment like snow and frost. And like snow and frost, the blackness lowered temperatures around the world down to 10 degrees. Places like the tropics or the middles east and African nations which have never experienced near 0 temperatures, were put in a tough spot.
The blockage of light and freezing temperatures was only the start of this second assault. The blackness that stuck to people and animals brought forth and manifested their inner demons, insecurities, fears, hate and their inner darkness in the open. Monsters made from tar and black goo arose and came out from the frost spots on streets, buildings and the natural surrounding environment.
State of emergencies were declared worldwide, but unlike the previous attack, governments had no answer to how to deal the darkness or the monstrosities that were spawned from it. Calls for the people who were responsible for bringing about the downfall of the Plant-folk, were being asked to save the world from this darkness from all members of the United Nations and countries around the world.
Palmyra, Community Recreation Center
7:30 [Evening]
Thanks to the valiance of Connie, Thomas and Carlos, the town of Palmyra had survived being razed from the plant folk two days ago. With the help of Carlos, Connie was able to locate her father and the parents of Thomas. But like the rest of the world, peace and order was short lived when the second assault happened. Holed up in the community recreation center Connie maheswaran had a hunch that the first attack was probably only one out of many more attacks before the final showdown. So she ordered half the town to seek shelter in the local mall and the other half in the rec center.
Using her earth based powers, Connie sealed the mall and rec center with cold rows of steel walls. Food and water, plus medical supplies were all rationed between the two groups of survivors. To keep up with what was happening around the world, television sets and radios, including phones and tablets were kept with almost all of them turned on. Even though broadcasting signals were weak, news reports reported of a new phenomena happening all around the world. Darkness that originated from outer space had veiled itself over the planet. Reports of black tar monsters and horrific abberations prowling the streets, woods and towns and cities were coming in from all over. People were told to sat indoors and keep their windows and doors locked and barred. But that turned out to be a death sentence, as these monsters used the shadows to come forth.
People calling in on radio stations urged people to repent. That the first attacks and the current one were only the first of many plagues God had planned for the world and all of its sinners. While other callers believed the planet was undergoing some sort of violent pole shift. Connie did not buy any of the callers explanations for a bit. She consoled with Smoky to see what was the best method to deal with the darkness coming down over Palmyra.
taking some time for herself to communicate with Smoky, Connie first created a mound of white powder for the people of The rec center to grab and sprinkle over them. The rooms, floors, walls and restrooms. Though she was new to using 'holy earth' and being this was her first time, Connie was a fast learner and natural strategist. She came up with a three step plan to counter the darkness. First she erected a hard plastic dome over Palmyra. This did not keep the darkness out. The second step involved channeling positive earth energy through the ground below, changing the soil from its normal brown color, to sacred white. This kept the monsters from coming out of the ground, but not from the buildings, trees, animals etc. her third step involved her spinning her arms above her head, whipping up a sandstorm made up entirely of the sacred pure earth she created below the town.
The pure soil surrounded the whole town, eating away at the darkness. This was a process which lasted up to thirty minutes. At the end of the last minute, the darkness had vanished and the temperature returned to a normal seventy five degrees.
"Now only one thing left to do. To find out what Steven plan to do about all of this."
Next in Chapter 39, "How Far You've Come."
I will also be updating "Stone Kissed" when I am finished writing the next chapter.