Lamp Entertainment presents…
The past.
Some remember it fondly. Memories of happy days when nothing seemed wrong with the world. Friends made that you thought would be with you for the rest of life.
Some look to it and remember those experiences that made them stronger. Experiences that, even though they were tough and grueling, still helped shape them into better, stronger people.
Yet others look to the past with regret. They remember the pain, the hardships, the loses. They remember those mistakes they made. Mistakes that have come back to haunt them.
Chapter 13: The Hermit, Act 1
There's no fool like an old fool
The Hospital just outside Beach City…
Pear, Amethyst, and Garnet stood gathered outside Katey's room, making sure to speak quietly so no one insides the room would overhear them. Steven and Connie were talking to Katey still about what had happened, trying to figure out if this boy she had met really was the Kevin they knew.
Doctor Maheswaran exited the room. She took several deep breaths and glared at the gems. And it was at that moment the knew why Connie was such a well-disciplined child.
"Alright. I demand to know what's going on," she said, her voice harder and colder than a surgeon's scalpel.
"We're… not entirely sure," Pearl said. "We thought it sounded a bit like… something we encountered in the past."
"Don't you try that with me," Doctor Maheswaran hissed. "I want answers and you're going to give them to me. What is this thing you're talking about?"
"It's, um…" Pearl hesitated.
"Vampires," Garnet said. Amethyst and Pearl both flinched at the word. Doctor Maheswaran just looked confused.
"Vampires…?"
"Yes," Garnet nodded. "About… sixty years ago, I think, we fought creatures known as vampires. We thought they were all gone."
"Oh. Of course. Say, uh… did these 'vampires' have these strange powers too?"
"No, which is why we're so confused too," Garnet said and tapped the side of her head. "We are not even sure if it really is a vampire. Although…" She looked to the side as if gazing off into another world… "There might be someone who does. Pearl, your phone."
"R-right." Pearl retrieved her phone from her gem and gave it to Garnet. "The passcode is…" Garnet had already unlocked it and was searching for something on the internet.
"Hm…" She muttered something and nodded to herself. She handed the phone back to Pearl and started to walk away.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Doctor Maheswaran asked.
"To get some answers," Garnet said. "Pearl, Amethyst. Don't let the others out of sight. And keep Aja safe."
"Of course," Amethyst said. "We won't let anything bad happen…" She glanced at Pearl who was looking at her phone. "Hey Pearl, what is it? What did she look up?"
"Stars…" Pearl mumbled. She showed the search result to Amethyst. "She really does think it's one of them."
xxXXxx
An old fool sits alone in his mansion.
"And this just in; A mysterious explosion in Empire City leave the police baffled. Just minutes before, the police had received an emergency phone call reporting a fight in a small restaurant. A patrol was dispatched to deal with the situation. Exactly what caused the explosion is as of yet not known. The police chief has elected not to give any comments. Witnesses report that the area was suffering from a strange blackout right before the explosion…"
Just days before, there had been life. His wife had been there, as well as the maids and butlers, gardeners, house cleaners and cooks. The new little life that had come into their life so recently had been there too. But they were gone now. Forced to evacuate thanks to his past mistakes coming back to haunt him.
"And now for the weather report…"
He changed the channel, switching to another one showing the same story. He had tried to get a better picture, but his powers weren't what they used to be. Even the blood connection between father and son wasn't strong enough to overcome the withering powers of senescence.
The old man sighed and tuned the monitor to the security cameras in the mansion instead. They showed the same things as yesterday. Empty rooms and hallways. The outside was just as empty, with a garden filled with beautiful flowers, but no one to appreciate them.
The only other human life for several kilometers were three guards. Two patrolling the outside, the third one wandering the insides of the mansion.
He was not sure what he was waiting for. But surely… they would know about it by now, right?
Call it fate, coincidence or instinct; whatever it was, the old man was viewing footage from the back yard of the mansion. In the fruit garden, there was a small clearing in the trees around a light blue crystal plate. The reason he had let build this mansion here, to begin with. Just as he was looking at it, it lit up, and a large pillar of light erupted into the air.
A radio buzzed to life on the desk next to the monitor.
"Lyla, we have a breach in the fruit garden, do you copy?"
"I hear you. On my way, over."
A purple vine wrapped itself around the radio.
"That will not be necessary," the old man said. "I know who that is. They are welcome in."
"Sir… are you sure?" Even through the electronic distortion of the radio, the guard's concern was clear. Rightfully so. Who was not to say the old man was speaking from demented delusions?
"Yes, I'm sure," he said. On the monitor, he saw a familiar figure walk off the pad. So many years and she had barely changed at all.
"If you say so, sir. Just… make sure to call if you need our help."
He didn't respond and instead followed the figure on the monitor as she made it through the hallways. She had completely ignored the guards… perhaps she already knew they wouldn't cause any problems?
Through the backdoor and up the servant stairs… the bedroom corridor, past the dining hall and through the hallway leading to the old man's room.
The old fool turned the monitor off and leaned back in his chair. Behind him, he could hear the door open.
"Your next line is…" a deep voice with a slight British accent said. "' Hello Garnet.'"
"Hello, Garnet. Your next line is 'I have some questions for you, JoJo.'"
"I have some questions for you, JoJo," Garnet said.
Joseph chuckled. Just like the old days.
xxXXxx
The Beach House…
Everyone had moved from the hospital back to the beach house at the Crystal Temple. The homely little house was fit for friends and family spending time together. Technically, that was what they were doing right now. But… the atmosphere was uneasy. The air was humid with secrets and unsaid words, and the tension made it feel like a thunderstorm could erupt at any time.
"So…" Pearl said, trying to keep some positivity in her voice. "Does anyone want anything? Tea? Coffee? Or is anyone hungry? I think we might have some pie leftovers…" It didn't work very well.
"Yeah, I could use some coffee right now," Katey said. She, in particular, was looking very uncomfortable. She had really wanted to go back to her family that had been threatened. Amethyst had used one of the warp pads to temporarily move the family to another part of the country for the night until they could decide what to do next, but Katey had to stay here. So far, she was the only one with any clues as to what was really going on.
"Of course!" Pearl exclaimed. "Sugar or cream?"
" Um... Sugar, please," Katey said.
That loud silence returned and filled the room again. It was only interrupted by the calm murmur of the coffeemaker still performing its task as best as it could.
"Pearl, Amethyst…" Steven spoke up after a while. "Is there something you aren't telling us?"
Oh yes. More than he could possibly imagine. Pearl could feel the pressure of those secrets, her burdens always weighing her down.
Thankfully, this particular one would soon be revealed.
The warp pad at the back of the house lit up and a cheerful tone rang out as the travelers materialized back in the house. Garnet was back… and she brought someone with her.
「Crash!」
Pearl dropped the empty mug she was holding. It smashed to pieces on the floor.
The man Garnet brought back with her was old and frail. His posture was hunched over and a grey beard and glasses nearly made him unrecognizable. But if you looked past that, and saw the man he once was; broad-shouldered and athletic and with sharp intelligent eyes…
"JoJo!?" Amethyst was the first to speak, saying what was on bother her and Pearl's minds.
"Hm… Haven't been called that in a long time," the man said. "Hello, Pearl and Amethyst. Long-time no see."
"B-but you…" Pearl stammered. She couldn't believe it. Why had Garnet… unless it really was…?
"You're still alive?" Amethyst blurted out.
"Ah… barely," Joseph chuckled, and made his way down the steps of the warp pad, steadying himself with a cane.
"So then…" Pearl looked to Garnet. Her expression was unchanging.
"It is as we feared," she said. "And the others… they deserve to know."
"W-what did you fear?" Steven asked anxiously. "What is it we deserve to know? Who are you?"
"Joseph Joestar," Joseph said. "You can call me Joseph." He had walked over to the sofa. Doctor Maheswaran stood up, offering her seat to the senior. "Thank you," Joseph said. "I'm sorry to barge in, but my knees got a bit weak after that warp tour…"
"No, no, it's fine," Doctor Maheswaran said. "But I'm more interested in exactly what it is that's going on around here lately." She stopped to think for a moment. "Say… have I heard your name before?"
Joseph waved his hand. "I used to deal in real estate. Made a bunch of money. But that's not important right now. No, as you said, and as Garnet informed me, there are… strange things going on around here lately. And they're my fault."
He examined the people in the room. The green Peridot, the pink Lion and Connie with the sword on her back seemed to interest him in particular. As did the lack of someone.
"Where is Rose?" he asked.
"She's… no longer with us anymore," Pearl said. She brought two stools that she and Amethyst could sit on over to the coffee table. Garnet didn't bother sitting down, leaning against the wall instead. "She… it's a long story."
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear," Joseph said. "I didn't know her for very long, but she seemed like a good person."
Pearl saw Steven looking down at the floor. Poor boy. She wished she could do something to comfort him, but… with what he was about to hear, Pearl wasn't sure all the comfort in the world would make anyone feel better.
"I think it's time to stop beating around the bush," Garnet said. "Tell them."
"Right…" Joseph sighed. He too looked down, at his hand. One of them was shaking, while the other remained still, holding onto the handle of his cane tightly. He looked up again. "There's a pillar man on the loose."
Pearl and Amethyst both nearly fell off their stools. The others looked mostly confused.
"W-What!?" Amethyst yelled. "Did you just say… a pillar man?"
Joseph nodded.
"But… they were all killed… except… you don't mean that… Kars is back?" Pearl stuttered. Even saying the name… thinking that thought… it sent chills all throughout her body. A single vampire would be bad enough. A pillar man, even worse. But if that individual was ever to return…
"No, it's not Kars," Joseph said.
"But then…" Amethyst counted on her fingers. "If it's not Kars… Esidisi and Wamuu are definitely dead…"
"Sorry but, um… I may just be out the loop, but what exactly is a pillar man?" Katey asked.
"Oh, stars." Pearl rubbed her temples. She took a deep breath. This was not going to be fun.
She concentrated on a memory from long, long ago. She summoned a projection of light from her gem showing the Earth many thousand years ago.
"Back when Homeworld first arrived on Earth w-they didn't think much of the organics on the surface…" she started explaining. The projection showed a simple animation of spaceships landing on Earth. "The humans didn't offer much in terms of resistance." Stick figure humans running away from gem stick figures. "But… there was something else."
In the projection, the sun set and the moon came up.
"They looked a bit like humans at first. But in reality, they were far from it." Three stick figures with horns emerged from nowhere. "They would only come out at night and disappear as soon as the sun came up. They would attack gem workers and soldiers, poof them and take their gems…"
The horned stick figures slammed into the gem figures, several of them poofing.
"Then one day… they stopped."
"Those creatures are what we would later call the pillar men," Joseph took over. "They were a type of apex predator, on the top of Earth's food chain. Not only were they nigh immortal and powerful, but they were also incredibly intelligent and very, very dangerous. And the most dangerous was the one known as Kars."
Joseph pulled an old photograph from the insides of his coat. It showed three human-like figures embedded in rock.
"Kars was ambitious, more so than any other individual of his kind. See, the pillar men had only two weaknesses. The sun's light and something known as hamon. Kars wished to conquer these weaknesses, so he created an instrument… a stone mask that would let him do so. And while it did grant him and his followers greater powers, it wasn't enough. He needed one more component…"
"A gemstone," Garnet said. "A perfect Aja. A gem that could refract and enhance rays of light in unique ways."
"Correct. After the rest of the pillar men clan refused Kars' offer, he and his follower Esidisi slaughtered them, and fled with two young pillar men."
"Hold on a minute!" Amethyst interrupted him. "You said…" She counted on her fingers again. "That makes four of them… but there were only three pillar men!"
Joseph's eyes darted around, looking at everything but anyone's eyes. "Not quite… you only met three of them… but there was one other."
"Another one… that you didn't tell us about," Garnet said. There was an edge to her words.
"Right…" Joseph said. He cleared his throat. "He was abandoned by the others because he was considered weak. He was discovered by the German military in the Mexican desert about… sixty… sixty-three years ago I think. I encountered him there and managed to defeat him, though barely. The Speedwagon Foundation has kept him locked up ever since."
"Which they did despite the fact that he had promised us that every last trace of those cursed creatures was destroyed," Garnet muttered.
It was amazing how much a senior could still look like a child being scolded.
"The potential medical applications were practically unlimited…" Joseph began to speak, but Garnet waved his words away.
"No matter. Just continue with the story."
Joseph stared out into the air for a moment, before resuming.
"The other three pillar men had sealed themselves within pillars of rock beneath Rome, waiting for the moment when a perfect Aja would be available." He tapped the photograph in front of him. "I attempted to stop them but was unable to do so. They set out in search of the Aja."
"That's… when we got involved," Pearl picked up. "See… there was actually a gem… a gem called Aja… made specifically for Pink Diamond's court… I think only two were ever produced. They were supposed to cultivate plants."
"After the war, the one left on Earth was corrupted and turned into a monster," Garnet said. "It used to live on the old battlefield… the one with the enormous strawberries. Those were a product of the Aja's powers."
"Somehow, Kars found out about it, and traveled there to retrieve it," Pearl said. "Luckily, we were there and was able to stop him… but not before the Aja was poofed and sent away. We ended up chasing it around the entire world, trying to keep it out of his hands."
"That's when we ran into each other," Joseph said. "Me and… a few other people who knew hamon was chasing the pillar men too." Again, his eyes were distant, looking at the long-gone past.
"And you… defeated the pillar men?" Connie asked tentatively.
"Hm… sorta," Joseph said. "I killed Esidisi and Wamuu…" Steven flinched at that part but didn't say anything. "Kars… I wouldn't exactly say he's dead, but he's gone." The fingers on his left hand twitched. "It cost me my hand and nearly my life… but he is gone ."
"But now this last pillar man… Santana… has escaped," Pearl said.
"Yes," Joseph said. "He broke out of the Speedwagon Foundation's headquarter a few days ago, and was headed this way."
xxXXxx
Meanwhile, somewhere close by…
He was not sure what it was, but something made Santana stand right up. He had been hiding in the bushes deep within the forest during the sun hours, avoiding that curse upon his kind.
Then suddenly… a feeling came over him. As if a sixth sense had been triggered, filling him with unease.
The last pillar man started to wander towards the town. The sun had set an hour ago or so he didn't have to worry about that. Even though the moon was full and bright tonight, the sunlight it reflected was diluted and not enough to be a threat. Still… he should be careful not to draw too much attention from the sky people.
How remarkable. He remembered so long ago… when he was just a weak infant, left alone to rot. He had seen those enormous metal monstrosities lowering from the sky, carrying with them the sky people. How he had tried to fight them and succeeded sometimes, and failed other times. He remembered the remarkable powers they possessed. At the time, it had seemed to him like magic.
He walked along the edge of the forest, continuing towards the residential area of the small town. He could hear the faint noises coming from the houses full of life and warmth.
The world had changed so incredibly much. When he went to sleep, the humans lived in huts and were merely prey to him. The sky people were invading the planet and building their monuments. Now… the humans were the dominators of Earth, and the sky people were long gone, all except for a few.
No longer did the humans live in huts built from sticks and mud. They had built enormous cities, with buildings that scraped the sky itself. Their machines and technological prowess exceeded imagination. Santana doubted that even Master Kars could think of even half the stuff the humans had.
A weak wind carried a smell with it, a smell of food. Santana followed it.
The humans in his memories were weak. That was what he had been told and believed. That even though he was the weakest of his kind, he was still stronger than the humans. That was a truth he could hold on to. That was until the day when he met that person…
"JoJo…" he whispered to himself, tasting the word. It was not a sound that struck fear into the hearts of enemies. Or rather, it shouldn't be. Yet, that individual had defeated not only him but also his masters… Esidisi of the Flame, Wamuu the Desert Storm… Even Master Kars, who had achieved his ultimate goal had met his end at the hands of that human.
Now only Santana was left. Who was he to think that he, the weakest of them all would stand any chance?
He approached a house. He opened the door and made his way inside. It was bright inside. Too bright. Those lights the humans had everywhere reminded him of those used to trap him. No matter. Soon, no light would be a problem for him. He would accomplish the goal of his master. And he was going to survive.
"Oh, hey," said a female human. Barb, they called her. "Just in time for some late dinner. Sadie and the others are downstairs if it was them you were looking for."
Who was he to think he could succeed where his masters had failed?
Santana looked over the group gathered in the kitchen. Barb pottering about, preparing dinner for her guests. Vidalia with a sketchbook making a sketch of her husband, the faint outline of a ghostly figure hovering behind her. They didn't pay much attention to him.
No, Santana was certain he would succeed.
"Oh, that's right!" Barb added. She gestured towards the living room, where a large map was set on the coffee table. "Someone's visiting young Universe. Appeared out of nowhere a few minutes ago. Don't know who he is. Thought you might want to know."
Santana examined the map… the power he had gifted the woman. It was a detailed map of the little town. What made it special, however, was the small figures moving around on it, showing what every person was doing.
In the house by the large statue… the residence of the sky people. The Crystal Gems, as they had been called. A group of them, alongside a few humans, were standing still. Talking? There was one figure on the map that Santana didn't recognize from before. It looked like an old man.
The experiences of his past had taught him much. And now… he was so much stronger than before.
There was one sky person missing from the group. The blue one. She was sitting on the pier all alone, looking down into the water.
Santana concentrated, trying to find that link between him and the small pieces of himself that he had left behind. He could feel them all around the house, the buds of flesh he had implanted in the humans. This one was a bit further away, with the one named Kevin. He sent a simple instruction for him, giving him a mission.
Yes, Santana would succeed. He would succeed because he would never again underestimate the strength of a human.
Even a small spark can cause a great fire.
xxXXxx
She's Not There
Tool type
User: Barbara Miller
Works as a letter carrier. Usually just called Barb. Is not a woman of empty threats.
Description: SNT takes the form of a large playing board-like map showing the entirety Beach City and all its inhabitants moving around on it in real-time. It also displays the location of every mailbox in the town. There is a slot on the side of the map, about 4 by 20 centimeters in size.
Powers and Abilities:
•Monitoring-SNT shows everyone within its range as small figures walking around on the map, mimicking their real counterparts.
•Postal Delivery-Any object with a proper address written on it that is entered through the slot on SNT is instantly transported to the corresponding mailbox.
Stats
Destructive Power: None
Speed: N/A
Range: A (the entirety of Beach City)
Durability: A
Precision: C
Development Potential: D
Notes: The user can summon only part of the map if they so wish. The ultimate postal delivery stand. May also be useful for stalking your daughter.
xxxXXXXxxxxXXxxxXXXXxxxxxXXXxxxXXXXxxxxxxXXXXxxxxXxxxxXXxxxXXXxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxXXXXxxxxXXxxxXXXXxxxxxXXXxxxXXXXxxxxxxXXXXxxxxXxxxxXXxxxXXXxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXx
Oh no! Poor Katey, she never got her coffee.
I guess Santana taking control over several of Steven's friends is also pretty bad.
Aw man, just you guys wait for Barb's battle, it's going to be lit! She's gonna drop letter bombs everywhere! I'm kinda worried I made her stand too awesome, she might overshadow every other stand I've thought up. But dammit, I couldn't keep such an awesome stand out of the story!
Speaking of which, you'll notice Joseph didn't mention stands at all, and that's because he will do that in the second part of this chapter. I felt like the info dump was getting a bit too long, so I decided to cut it off and show what Santana was up to, before continuing next time.
Now, if you excuse me, I have to go paint some walls. Until next time, take care of the planet Earth and remember that anything can happen in space!
