First off, a huge shoutout to everyone who made a submission to the Ronaldo stand competition! I was a bit unsure if anyone would actually be interested, but now I see that fear was totally unfounded. I haven't decided the winner just yet, I'll have to go through all the submission one or two more times first. I got lots of awesome submissions, so it'll be hard to decide on one winner.
Alright, so this act didn't get finished on time. Big surprise. And 2020 didn't start off with the 'bang' that I had expected and wanted it to. But I'm still looking forward to this year. This is going to be my year! I have big plans for the future of this story, believe you me!
You could say that I, The Lampman, have a dream…
(also, I figured out that you can add horizontal lines as dividers instead of spamming X)
Lamp Entertainment presents…
Imagine having ultimate power. Imagine for a moment, that the world around you will bend to your every whim and desire. The humans around you are no greater than insects and are but your playthings.
Imagine the feeling of being at the very top, the highest peak. You stand there and look down upon everything else. You are a god.
Then imagine the fall.
Chapter 13: The Hermit, Act 3
Go slowly now, sands of time
Still have some verses left to pour
A while later at the Beach House…
Steven was lying in his bed, trying to fall asleep. Easier said than done. He was tired, sure. To say that the day had been exhausting might just be the understatement of the year. But still… his own brain wouldn't come to a rest. Stone masks and pillar men, stands and arrows. A thousand thoughts flew through his mind like a chaotic kaleidoscope of butterflies.
At the same time, he was painfully aware of every sound in the house.
Garnet had said it was too risky to let anyone Santana might target out of sight, so Joseph Joestar, Connie and Doctor Maheswaran were staying over. Katey had been joined up with the rest of her family a safe distance away.
Steven could hear everyone turning in their temporary beds, the soft squeaking of wood and rustling fabric. He could hear their breathing, slowly falling into rhythm with each other.
Outside, he could hear Garnet's footsteps as she paced back and forth. She was keeping guard alongside Lion. Pearl, Amethyst, and Peridot were patrolling the city and looking for Lapis.
Steven yawned and rolled around in his bed. He tried to do it quietly, so he wouldn't disturb anyone else. That too was easier said than done.
He tried to ignore everything else, instead focusing on the sound that usually helped him fall asleep. The faint sound of the waves rolling in on the beach. It was part of his home, just as much as the house was. Something familiar to him, a constant in the chaos.
He imagined that he was drifting with the water, away from all the problems in this world. Away… into the land of dreams.
xxXXxx
Bright light forced Steven to open his eyes again. He blinked a few times, disorientated. It took him a few seconds, but he quickly figured out what was going on.
"Oh, of course."
Rather than the peaceful embrace of sleep, Steen found himself standing in a dreamscape version of Beach City.
"Stupid dream powers," he muttered, kicking some dust on the ground out of frustration. It seemed he wouldn't get much rest tonight. And really, why should he? The threat of Homeworld and the Diamonds really wasn't enough, he could make do with some more problems to worry about. Some vampires, psychic fight ghosts and magic dreams ought to do it!
He sighed and took a good look around himself in the dreamscape. Now, the really funny thing with these dreams was that no two dreams were ever the same. Sometimes he possessed people or saw through their eyes, Other times, he relived a memory from the past, as Stevonnie did on that Jungle Moon. Where they had seen…
Steven shook his head and concentrated on the dream at hand. That mystery would have to wait.
He was standing on the Beach City boardwalk. The small town looked fine, a bit blurry at the edges maybe, but otherwise, it looked mostly like the real deal.
Mostly.
Instead of the warm orange and red light from the sun, the city was instead bathed in pure white light. It was like an old lightbulb sun had been replaced by a new LED lamp sun. Cold and sterile light rained from above, creating pitch-black shadows wherever it couldn't reach. The sharp contrasts were grating on the eye, and Steven could feel the beginnings of a headache grow in his skull.
One more thing. In front of him on the boardwalk stood two rows of doors that seemingly lead nowhere. Like an invisible corridor with invisible rooms, all he could see were various door frames and doors.
Every door had a nameplate on it. Sadie, Jenny, Sour Cream, Buck, Kiki, Vidalia, Yellowtail, and a few others he couldn't see in the distance.
Steven opened the door closest to him, the one with Sadie's name on it. Logically speaking, the other side of the door shouldn't have shown anything more than a nice view of the sea. But this was a dream, so logic was out the window (or door).
Instead, it led to a large stage, with an enormous crowd cheering. On the stage stood none other than Sadie Miller (or rather, Sadie Killer) herself. She was clad in her rockstar getup, with a black leather jacket. She noticed Steven on the side of the scene and turned to him with a cheerful smile.
"Oh, hi Steven!" she said.
He couldn't help but flinch when he saw her face.
Her eyes… were gone. Replaced by empty, blank whites.
"H-hello Sadie," Steven said. "How are you doing?" Those 'eyes' were a bit… unnerving, to put it lightly, but the rest of her… dream avatar seemed okay. "Having a good dream?"
"I'm having a great dream!" Sadie said. "I'm dreaming I'm a rockstar!"
The audience, filled with nondescript figures cheered and chanted, demanding an encore.
"You are a rockstar, for real!" Steven replied. "Anyways, I can see you're busy, so I'll be on my way. Just, uh… be careful, okay?"
"Sure thing!" Sadie said and turned back to her dreamt-up audience. "Alright, I'm feeling voodoo in my brain!"
Steven gently closed the door as the audience went wild.
Alright, so that was… something. He wasn't sure what, but it was something.
He checked the next door. Sour Cream's.
Steven stepped into a dark corridor. The only light sources were the floor tiles, which blinked rhythmically in turquoise and hot pink to the muffled beat of some electric dance tune in the distance.
From around a corner, Sour Cream came walking, humming to the far-away music. "Hey Steven," he said, completely unfazed. "What's up?"
His eyes were white too.
"Oh, you know, just visiting other people's dreams," Steven said. "Nothing special, really. You?"
"Cool," Sour Cream said. "I'm just walking around in this maze."
"I see… don't you think it's a bit… scary in here?" Steven couldn't see much, but the maze looked quite big and dark, full of places for nasty dream monsters to hide.
Sour Cream shrugged. "Nah. It's pretty chill in here. I actually got this idea for a new song…" He nodded his head to the beat in the distance.
"O-okay. I guess I'll leave you to it then," Steven said. "Be sure to let me listen to your new song when it's ready."
"Sure thing," Sour Cream said and started walking away into the dark depths of the maze. "See you later."
Steven stepped out of Sour Cream's dream and closed the door behind him.
So… that was another thing.
It seemed like this dreamscape was like a crossroad between the dreams of others... or something.
Steven checked a few more doors. Jenny was dreaming she was tending to a herd of cows and Buck that he was a snowflake in a great snowstorm.
Vidalia was making a sculpture alongside the greats of the renaissance and Yellowtail was playing the violin before a crowd of sailors.
Barb was playing chess against an invisible opponent and Onion… actually, Steven didn't dare to open Onion's door.
Steven felt… confused. Divided, in a way. On one hand, everyone seemed to be dreaming totally normal things and they were all friendly. On the other hand… everyone behind every door he had checked was missing their eyes. They all had the same white blanks for eyes.
That must mean something, right? But what?
He reached the last couple of doors. One of them had something scribbled down in a language and alphabet he didn't recognize. Then there was a door with Kevin's name written on it. And the last two doors… both had 'Lapis Lazuli' written on them. That was... strange, everyone else only had one door each.
He wasn't sure why, but he felt this sense… it wasn't quite fear, but more like unease. Like there was something going on that he could only barely sense.
He weighed his options. He didn't want to open Kevin's door. The less he had to know about that guy's dreams, the better.
Maybe… he grabbed the handle to one right next to Kevin. It was one of Lapis's doors. She had been pretty shaken by what had happened before, she might need someone to talk to.
He opened the door and standing in the doorway was… himself?
No… it was a mirror. A sheet of mirror glass filled the door opening. Steven's reflection looked back at him, as surprised as the real deal.
"Wait, how did you…?" the mirror image started saying before…
「CRACK」
"Shit!" the mirror Steven cursed. Large cracks spread across the mirror.
Suddenly, the mirror shattered into pieces and a jet of water sprayed out from behind it. The wave hit Steven like a truck. A big, cold and wet truck. It knocked the air out of him, and swept him away, forcing him to swallow several mouthfuls of water.
An unrelenting cascade of water filled the dreamscape, an enormous tsunami sweeping across the land, crushing and destroying everything in its path.
Steven coughed and sputtered, struggling to stay afloat as a howling wind whipped up large waves on the surface of the water and underwater currents threatened to drag him down. The world around him seemed to fade away, all things replaced by water, that white light in the sky and… a sound.
A sound coming from the depths of the ocean. A thunderous roar that shook the very world he was trapped in.
"LET ME OUT!"
xxXXxx
"Gah!" Steven sat up in his bed, wide awake. He was panting and his heart beating on the inside of his chest like it was still stuck in the dream and trying desperately to get out. He was practically bathing in his own sweat.
"Steven?" a voice whispered in the dark. "Are you alright young man?"
Steven turned on his bedside lamp and saw Mr. Joestar climbing up the stairs to the loft.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine," Steven said. "I was just having a bad dream. S-sorry if I woke you up."
"No need to apologize, I was having trouble sleeping myself." Mr. Joestar made it up the last step with a groan. "It must have been a really bad dream. You sounded quite distressed."
A pang of guilt struck Steven when he saw how the old man struggled. That and a nasty headache suddenly stabbed him.
"I-it really is nothing," he said quickly, rubbing the side of his head. "I'm fine, I promise. It's just that… I get these weird dreams sometimes. It's normal. Well, normal for me anyway."
Mr. Joestar raised his eyebrow.
"Weird in what way?" he asked and sat down on the edge of Steven's bed.
"The, uh… 'psychic' kinda weird, I guess? Sometimes when I'm sleeping I can… connect to other people. Visit their dreams."
"Fascinating…" Mr. Joestar mumbled. "Do you remember what happened in your dream?"
"I…" Steven thought for a moment. The events were fuzzy in his head. Like the dream was weeks ago, not minutes. He closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could, but all he could see in his mind was a light. A bright, blinding white light. The pulsating pain in his head got just a little worse.
"I think I drowned," Steven said finally. "And I think… I saw some people… from Beach City."
"Interesting…" Mr. Joestar said. "But… are you sure you're okay? You look like you might throw up."
"N-no, it-it's just a headache," Steven stuttered, rubbing his eyes. It didn't help. "I-I can't remember anything else…"
"That's alright, that's alright," Mr. Joestar said quickly. He put a comforting hand on Steven's shoulder. "It sounds like it was a very intensive dream. Perhaps you'll remember better in the morning."
"M-maybe…" A tingling sensation spread throughout Steven's shoulder and down into his chest. He suddenly felt a lot calmer. The headache didn't disappear, but it eased somewhat. His breathing became slower and smoother.
"There we go," Mr. Joestar said. "Do you feel better now?"
"Y-yeah," Steven said. "Was that…?"
"Hamon," Mr. Joestar said. "A powerful weapon against vampires and pillar men… but also a great tool for healing."
"Whoa…" Steven whispered in awe. "That's so cool."
"Thanks," Mr. Joestar said. "Though I'm afraid that's is all I can do." He removed his hand from Steven's shoulder and the sensation immediately disappeared. He sighed deeply. "At least it's something…"
The two of them sat quietly for a while. Steven thought about his dream. All he could remember was the light and the water. But he had the feeling… that there was something else to it. Something important he just couldn't recall yet.
Did a stand have anything to do with it? Maybe… if his dreams were psychic in nature and stands were manifested from psychic energy… perhaps he could connect with stands too? Could that be it?
His eye wandered around, not really looking for or at anything in particular. It was then when he noticed something he hadn't before.
"Mr. Joestar…"
"Please, call me Joseph,"
"Joseph… your hand, it's…"
"Hm? Oh, right." He held up his hand and showed it to Steven for the first time without gloves on. the light from the bedside lamp reflected off the shiny metal hand.
"Was that…?"
"Kars."
Steven could feel a cold shiver going down his back. It wasn't the name itself, but the way he said it. Kars had been gone for many, many years, but Joseph Joestar still spoke his name with fear and dread in his voice.
He had heard it before, the same trepidation and foreboding, whenever the gems talked about the Diamonds.
He had heard that tone before., whenever gems spoke about the Diamonds.
"What was he like? Kars, I mean."
Joseph's gaze was far away, looking at something many years into the past.
"Powerful. Intelligent. Ambitious," he said. "And that was before he… ascended. As the ultimate lifeform, he was… imposing. Terrifying. Unstoppable. Nothing we tried worked. At best we annoyed him. I threw him into a volcano and all that did was slow him down for a minute." His mechanical hand was closed into a tight fist. "I felt small and weak just standing near him. He was like… like a god. Everything and anything any living creature on the planet could do, he could do better. Never before and never since have I ever felt so powerless and insignificant."
"So… how did you beat him?"
"I didn't. I got lucky. Happened to be standing in the right place, at the right time. In fact, it was only thanks to your mother that I even survived that encounter."
"Really?" Steven said. "She heal-" he interrupted himself as the realization hit him. "W-wait! How did you…?"
"…know that Rose Quartz was your mother?" The old man smiled faintly. His gaze was back in the present, and with new-found energy. "A few reasons. I figured you had some connection to the Crystal Gems since you lived here and all. And I found it strange that Rose wasn't here. What on Earth could possibly have killed her? Then, when I saw how the gems treated you, almost like a son, I started to have my suspicions."
"Whoa…" Steven whispered with stars in his eyes.
"People reveal a lot more about themselves than they think they do. You can tell a lot about a person just by the way they act or the way they talk," Joseph said."There are small hints everywhere you look if you're just paying enough attention." His smile was wide and there was a glint of energy in his eyes, a hint to what he must have been like when he was young. "Also, your gem is showing," he said with a chuckle.
Steven looked down at his stomach and saw that his pajama shirt had hiked up a bit, revealing his gem. He blushed and pulled it down again.
"My mom gave up her form to have me," he explained. "I have her powers, but not her memories."
"I see," Joseph nodded. "Fascinating character, Rose Quartz."
After everything Steven had learned about her the last year or so 'fascinating' seemed to fit pretty well. Before he could stop himself, he blurted out a question.
"What did you think of my mom?"
"Hm… I only knew her for a short while, but she seemed like she was a very sympathetic and compassionate person. She was undoubtedly strong, the strongest woman I've ever known. But she was still heartbroken when she first saw the vampires and realized there was nothing she could do to save them. She also had this way to… empower others. Whenever she was near, I felt safe in a strange way." Joseph paused and thought for a bit. "I don't know if I should say this but… I also had this feeling that she was always hiding something," he said. "I got the idea that she wasn't very proud of herself, despite all the good she had done."
Despite all the good she had done… or perhaps because of the bad she had done?
Joseph must have noticed something was up because he placed his hand on Steven's shoulder again. A new wave of relaxing hamon energy washed through him, though it really didn't help as much as it had before.
"Do you know what I think about you?" he asked.
"What?"
"I think you're someone who carries a very heavy burden on your shoulders. I think you're someone who feels like you have to help everyone, even when it isn't your job. And I think you really need a good night's sleep." He stood back up. "Try and get some rest. I have a feeling tomorrow will be hectic."
"Okay…" Steven said. He waited with turning off his lamp until Joseph got down the stairs again.
"Goodnight, Steven Universe," the old man whispered once the light was extinguished and the darkness enveloped the room again.
"Goodnight, Mr. Joseph," Steven whispered back. He lied back down and closed his eyes.
This time, falling asleep was a lot easier. And he slept the rest of the night without any dreams.
—To be continued…
"Fascinating character, Rose Quartz."
-Joesph joestar, 2020
I feel like the whole 'white eyes' thing is starting to become a cliche in my writing.
Shoutout to snake screamer, who pointed me in the direction of Go Slowly Now, Sands of Time by Tuomas Holopainen, which I quoted at the start of this act. Did you guys know that Tuomas Holopainen, the absolute madlad, actually made an entire album with music based on the Life and Times of Scrooge? Go check it out, it's awesome.
To follow up on some things I said at the beginning, I am cautiously optimistic looking forward this year. I will be working fewer hours in January and February than I have before, which will leave me with a lot more time to write. So that's good.
I know that March-forward will see an increase in my work hours again, but I don't know how much just yet. And hopefully, by that time, I'll have enough steam built up to keep going. The hardest thing about slipping into these production hiatuses is to get going again. If you're on a roll, but you suddenly come to a stop, it takes a lot of time and effort to get rolling again. And by that time, you might slam into another wall.
But as I said before, I am optimistic and looking forward. I have plans and ideas that I just can't wait to share with you all!
…granted, that is if SU: F doesn't fucking kill me before I have the chance to do that. I swear, that show is going to give me a sheer heart attack.
Anyways, until the next time, take care of the planet Earth and remember that Fortuna Favet Fortibus!
