Lamp Entertainment presents…

Steven decided to take Lapis aside to talk with her privately for a moment.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked her. "You seemed pretty upset yesterday."

"Oh, I was," Lapis said cheerfully. "But I thought about it for some time and worked it out on my own."

"R-really?"

"Yeah. Well, not all on my own. You and Peridot have helped me a lot. I just needed some space to think and come to that decision myself, you know? And I realized that even though I'm scared of the Diamonds, I still want to help you protect the Earth."

"O-okay, if you say so. But if you ever feel the need to talk, don't hesitate to ask."

Lapis laughed and smiled at him.

"That's really sweet of you Steven, but I am fine, really. I promise."

"Alright, I just wanted to check," Steven said and smiled back at her. He wanted to believe her, he really did. But… he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong…

Chapter 16: Welcome to Beach City, Act 2

Det var på väg till Arjeplog

Som jag frös ihjäl och dog

At Vidalia's house…

"Hello?" Amethyst yelled as she knocked loudly on the door. She had insisted that they go here first. "Hey, Vi? You home?"

"Mother Onion!" Garnet called out. "We need to talk with you!"

"In the garage!" came Vidalia's voice from the garage she used as her art studio.

Amethyst felt relief. Her friend was alive and well. When she thought of things she had seen the pillar men do to humans… those horrible images haunted her to this day and probably would for the rest of her life. When she imagined what the pillar man might have done to the people of Beach City… let's just say it was a good thing she hadn't had any breakfast that morning.

Still, even though Vidalia was alive…

"It might be a trap," Pearl whispered while the three of them slowly moved towards the garage door (or rather, the garage drapes). "Garnet, can you see anything?"

Garnet shook her head.

"No… or… maybe." she said. "There's a possibility that it's a trap."

"Very helpful," Amethyst muttered. It was always a pain in the ass whenever Garnet couldn't just wink her third eye and magically know the right answer to everything.

"Just be ready to act," Garnet said.

The three of them burst through the curtains like a herd of graceful bulldozers, ready for whatever might be thrown at them! And what they found was that… Vidalia's studio looked completely normal!

The woman herself stood behind a large painting she was working on. She waved at them when they entered. Sour Cream sat in the corner, looking at his phone and keeping his mother company.

"Hello there," Vidalia said cheerfully. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Amethyst noticed that she looked a bit… unkept. Her hair was sagging, she had dark rings under her eyes and her clothes were covered in fresh paint stains.

"A-are you okay?" Amethyst asked.

"Oh yes, I'm fine. Fantastic, even!" Vidalia said with a large smile. "I've just been up all night working on this new piece," she said and nodded towards the canvas. "I appreciate you checking in on me, but is that really all you wanted?" she asked. "You wouldn't bring the entire squad over just to say hi, would you?"

"Yeah, actually… we were wondering if maybe… if you've seen anything weird lately?"

"This is Beach City," Vidalia laughed. "You gotta be more specific than that."

So you haven't seen any strange or suspicious people around then?" Amethyst asked. She looked at Vidalia's forehead, right where JoJo had told them fleshbuds were usually placed. There was a convenient lock of hair hanging down, covering any potential parasites from deadly sunlight. She nodded towards Pear and Garnet, who both started moving slowly. They had wordlessly formed a plan. Amethyst would use her whip to tie Vidalia up while Pearl rushed in to remove the fleshbud. Garnet would handle Sour Cream in case he was possessed too.

A sudden rustle behind them made the well-oiled machinery that was the Crystal Gems nearly jump out of their won skins and swivel around in place. Two more people had just entered the studio. Sadie and Kiki. Two more people Steven had seen in his dream.

Not good. Not good at all.

"Hmm… suspicious people? Not that I can think of," Vidalia said.

What happened next happened very quickly. Kiki dashed forward, moving way too fast for a human. She ran straight towards Pearl, who only barely managed to dodge out of the way. She pirouetted around to face Kiki, her hand on her gem to summon a spear. Kiki reached out and lightly tapped Pearl's chest and Pearl just… froze in place.

Garnet roared and summoned her gauntlets, but was suddenly sent flying, crashing into the wall and ruining several paintings. She stood back up with a grunt and aimed a punch towards Sadie, only for her arm to disappear before it could reach its intended target. It was like the air itself swallowed her arm up… and spit it back out.

Amethyst was hit in the back of the head by Garnet's arm suddenly appearing from nowhere behind her.

She gritted her teeth and rolled up into a ball, dashing towards the exit to create some distance between herself and the possessed humans. But instead of running into the soft fabric of the curtains to the outside, she instead slammed into something much harder. Garnet. Who had been standing in the exact opposite direction of where Amethyst was going.

Garnet and Amethyst both fell to the ground in a pile of limbs and confusion.

Before either of them had time to get back up or even react, Kiki ran up to them. She patted Garnet on the shoulder and lightly pressed her foot against Amethyst's back.

Amethyst tried to move but she couldn't. It was like she was stuck. She could move her arms and legs and head just fine, but her torso was stuck, lying on her stomach in Garnet's lap. Garnet couldn't move either, her arm stuck in mid-air.

This all took less than a minute. The three ancient Crystal Gem warriors were defeated by a couple of human teenagers in less than a minute. Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Sadie! Sour Cream!" Vidalia said sternly. "Look at what you did with all my paintings!"

"Sorry mom," Sour Cream muttered and stood up from the stool he had been sitting.

"Sorry ma'am," Sadie said, with that distinct marking of someone who had worked in retail too long to actually make any sincere apologies to a middle-aged woman, even if she really did mean it. "But Santana said we couldn't let them get away."

"Whatever," Vidalia said. "I suppose those weren't all that important… anyways, Sour Cream, I want you to be home for dinner before seven tonight, got it?"

"Sure thing," Sour Cream said, already hurrying away. "See you later." He, Sadie and Kiki started walking towards the exit in unison. Without any fanfare whatsoever, they suddenly vanished into thin air.

Vidalia shook her head a shot the Crystal Gems a look that said 'children, am I right?'

"You know, you three are lucky," Vidalia said. "Steven is still such a sweet young boy, Just you wait until he gets into his teenage years. Saving the world is going to look easy." She suddenly yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Geez, I'm starting to feel tired," she said. "Shouldn't have stayed up all night painting. But… you know how it is. When you get inspiration, it's like you can't get tired. You just gotta keep working until it's finished, because if you stop for even one second, you will lose it…" Her gaze drifted away for a moment into some void before being jerked back to the now. "Oh! Of course, the painting! I'm sure you want to see it."

She grabbed the large canvas, a rather clunky object and turned it so the three gems could see it.

If they didn't already feel fear slowly creeping through their bodies, then what they saw on that painting was sure to fill them with overwhelming terror.

The tall, muscular body, the long, dark, flowing hair, the three horns, the prideful smirk… there was no mistaking it.

Kars!

"Ohohohoho!" Vidalia laughed. "That sure spooked you, didn't it? The color of fear is all over your faces. Ah… seeing you moved by my art is so exhilarating… This! This is what I live for. To see people be affected, touched by my creation… There is no other feeling like it!" For a moment, a light flickered in her eyes. "As a matter of fact," she said slowly. "It makes me feel… inspired."

Her arm moved, seemingly automatically to grab a new canvas. She placed it on the easel while eyeing the Crystal gems frozen in front of her.

"Yes, I can feel it… the urge to paint… to create…" The faint light returned to her eyes and her expression became excited, almost manic. "Yes, yes, yes! I can see it!" she cried out. "Your essence! It's like paint, full of wonderful, colorful emotions!" A white palette and paintbrush appeared in her hands as if summoned there by her sheer will to create. She began frantically painting on the canvas, faster than Amethyst had ever seen her paint before.

"Remind me to thank Santana for this power he gave me," she said, golden light glowing in her eyes. "With it, I'll be able to make the most life-like portraits you've ever seen!"

xxXXxx

On the road…

"This can't be!" Josuke yelled. "It just can't! Snow! In the middle of summer!"

"It must be the work of an enemy stand," Koichi said. "B-but… what kind of stand can change the weather? The power required to turn summer into winter… it can't exist! It's impossible!"

Indeed, it seemed impossible. Yet, Jotaro found himself driving through snowfall. It barely took a full minute for the sunny summer's morning to turn into a dark and cold winter's night. And it was getting darker and colder still. He could barely see a thing for all the snow that kept on falling, and it just kept on coming more and more and more. Koichi was right, it would take an incredibly powerful stand to completely change the weather in this manner.

Taking that into consideration, Jotaro did the one sensible thing he could think of and gunned it. He pressed the gas pedal down into the mat. The car roared and jumped forward. The boys were all thrown back in their seats, unprepared for the sudden acceleration.

"H-hey, what are you doing?" Josuke asked.

"Getting us out of here," Jotaro said, turning on the high beams and heating inside the car. "Stands this powerful have limited range. We should be able to outrun it."

"Y-yeah, I get that, b-but must you really drive s-so fast?" Josuke stammered. Jotaro wasn't sure if it was because of the cold or because he was actually scared. To be honest, Jotaro wouldn't blame him if he was scared. The car's tires were not made for icy road conditions, something that became very evident as they skidded through a sharp curve only barely clinging to the road.

"Yes," Jotaro said. He didn't bother with explaining. He had to concentrate on driving.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that every driving instructor on the planet will tell you that it's better to drive slowly during snowfall, especially when it's dark. And that was very true, under normal, natural circumstances. These were not natural circumstances however, they were supernatural. If this was an enemy stand intent on killing them, then they had to get as far away from it as possible as quickly as possible. The road was already covered in at least a centimeter of snow. If it kept falling like this, then the road would soon be fully buried and they'd be trapped, at the mercy of the elements.

So Jotaro drove as fast as he could, pushing the small rental car to its limits. During other circumstances, they might have been able to find the stand and destroy it, or take out the user. But with the snow and the dark, and the woods around them… that would be impossible. So their best bet was to just keep goi…

Jotaro was interrupted in his thoughts by a far more pressing matter. There was someone on the road! He slammed his feet on the clutch and breaks, trying desperately to steer to the side. He succeeded, the car sliding past the person harmlessly. Unfortunately, he had also lost all control and the car plunged right down the ditch.

Jotaro was thrown forward, only prevented from flying through the windscreen was the seatbelt holding him in place. The crash wasn't quite enough to set off the airbags or break any bones, but it's still never comfortable getting thrown around like that. Even so, Jotaro didn't have time to worry about his shoulder aching.

"Ow!" Josuke cried out. "What the…? The man on the street!" He started fumbling for the seatbelt. "We have to help…"

"No!" Jotaro yelled, giving all the boys a second shock. He looked up at the street, towards the man he had just barely avoided running over. He could hardly see a thing for all the snow, but what he saw…

Golden hair glowing through the darkness. A glimpse of sharp fangs, Evil eyes piercing through the storm like treacherous beacons leading ships towards dangerous waters.

It was a man Jotaro knew all too well. It was impossible. There was no way that it was him. His brain refused to believe what his eyes saw. And yet, his soul still recognized the man now slowly approaching the crashed car.

Dio!

xxXXxx

Then the door was open and the wind appeared.

At the center of the massive snowstorm stood the black doorway. The large doors were flung wide open, a blizzard pouring through the gates.

The candles blew and then disappeared.

A red light ignited within the cold dark abyss. A lone figure emerged from the land of the dead into the land of the living.

The curtains flew and then he appeared.

The Reaper had come.

Be afraid.

To be continued…