Hey! I'm sorry I haven't updated this story in a while. I have no excuse. But regardless of that, I hope you all like the chapter. Hopefully this will have been worth the wait. If not, I'll make sure the next one(s) after this one are.

Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe. That glory belongs to Rebecca Sugar and the Crewniverse. The only thing(s) that I own are my multiple OCs and the plot of this story.

Enjoy!

Chapter 10:

Dread

What was supposed to be a fun day, turned into the exact opposite. Disappearances, destruction and violence. All caused by a new set of enemies that were not only strong enough to defeat all the gems that lived on the zoo ship, but also Spinel, Connie, the crystal gems, and even two diamonds, Blue and Steven.

Luckily, some mysterious stranger had enough power to defeat the enemy in charge of the attack, Daviron. However, Daviron managed to escape with his subordinates afterwards. Plus, there's no way of telling if whoever helped them was really an ally or an enemy, since they attacked Steven and the others after Daviron escaped.

For the past few hours, the best word to describe the atmosphere in the control area of Blue Diamond's arm ship, quiet.

When Blue's ship began to reach Earth's stratosphere, the diamond herself wanted to get something off her chest before dropping Steven and co. off.

"Everyone, please forgive me." The former matriarch said as everyone looked at her.

"If I had known this was going to happen, I would have never put you all in danger." Blue continued as she began emitting her aura in a familiar way that everyone hadn't felt since a couple of years ago. Soon enough, everyone began to feel tears leave their eyes.

"Blue, don't beat yourself up over this." Steven said in an attempt to comfort her.

"Yeah. Like you said, you didn't know what was gonna happen. It was beyond your control." Connie said. Soon enough, Blue's aura faded and everyone dried up their tears. Once that was done, Garnet had her own failure to share.

"You shouldn't place the blame on yourself Blue. If my future vision was working, I could have prevented us from ever going in the first place and maybe even warn everyone in the zoo to evacuate. But it didn't. I don't know why, but it didn't." Garnet said as she clenched her fists. For the first time in a long while, Garnet's future vision didn't give her any insight on what would happen ahead. Why though? The thought of not knowing why it wasn't working frustrated her.

Although she was frustrated, both the fusion and Pearl shifted their attention to a saddened purple gem, who just looked down at the floor.

"Amethyst, I know you're worried about the famethyst, but they'll be found. If they were shattered, Daviron and those other two would have just left their shards at the zoo. They must have wanted them for some reason, but I bet they wouldn't be much worth if they were in pieces." Garnet explained in an effort to talk Amethyst out of her worry for her fellow purple (and orange-ish) gems.

"Yeah, but still, I don't want to wait around to find out what those jerks want them for." Amethyst said punching her open hand with a fist, readying herself for another round against the new foes. Pearl quickly dismissed what the short gem was thinking.

"Amethyst, you saw what they are capable of and that was only three of them. There are more of them out there and we don't know what they can do. We can't jump into things we know nothing about. Otherwise, we wouldn't stand a chance."

"So I'm a little rusty. I'll get back into it. Just let me-" Before she could say anything else, Blue interrupted her.

"Amethyst, rest assured, we will find them. Right now, you all should rest and recuperate. I'll inform White, Yellow and the gem officials on what happened. And afterwards, all of us will decide on what to do from there."

Once the cool colored diamond said her plan, everyone was silent, but the look on their faces said that they agree it. Of course, one of them had some concerns.

"Blue, when you tell this to everyone, it's not gonna lead to anything….. drastic right?" Steven asked in slight worry. He knew that the top priority should be finding all the missing gems and zoomans. When it comes to the attackers though, it would be a different story. Sure Steven wants to give them a piece of his mind on what they did, especially Daviron for hurting him and the gems. The question is, how.

"Steven, I don't know. For all we know, this could be a smaller group than we think. But if they're not and they do anything more drastic….. well, we'll see".

Blue felt bad for what she just said. She knew that if things escalated and this "Nova Clan" group did anything more drastic, then it would possibly lead to war. Of course, she knew that Steven would be against this completely, so she decided to leave the real possibility out of her response. If only her response was believable.

Everyone on the ship didn't need Blue to know what the worst case scenario would be. Even Steven could see through Blue, but he knew she was attempting to spare his worries. So he decided to keep quiet and watch as the ship was getting closer to Earth.

Greg was relaxing on the deck patio outside the temple as he watched the sun set over the ocean waters. He mostly spent his day relaxing at the temple. Early this morning he watched his son, Connie and the gems head out into space on Blue Diamond's ship on route to the zooship. It's close to evening and his son and company should be arriving back home soon.

As soon as Greg finished thinking that, he and the temple were soon covered in shadows. Realizing what that meant, he looked up in the sky and saw Blue's arm ship. Excited to see his son and how his day went, he got up from the patio and made his way downstairs towards the beach.

As he was waiting for everyone to leave Blue's ship, Greg heard what sounded like water splashing and wings flapping. He turned around and noticed the B-team crystal gems making their way towards his location. Lapis Lazuli flying over while holding onto Bismuth by her arms and Peridot riding on her signature trash can lid. They all landed

"You all came by to welcome everyone back?" Greg asked, already certain of their answer.

"When we saw Blue's ship, we met up and made our way over." Bismuth explained.

"It's kinda hard to miss" Lapis said plainly, implicating that the ship was a clear sign of everyone coming back.

Once the ship stopped in the middle of the sky, Greg and the B-Team saw Blue's palanquin leave the ship and land on the sandy beach. Once it opened up, the four noticed that the people within the palanquin weren't happy. In fact, they looked defeated.

"Uh, care to explain what's going on?" Peridot asked with curiosity as she wondered why her friends look depressed.

"Yeah, didn't you all have fun at the zooship?" Bismuth asked.

"Actually…. No. It wasn't at all." That was all Pearl could say as Greg and the others shifted the looks on their faces with slight concern.

Confused and worried at Pearl's response, Greg and the substitute crystal gem team realized something must have happened at the zoo. Steven sighed and knew that they had to tell his father and their fellow crystal gems what happened.

"You're all going to want to come inside and sit down for this."

Once everyone made their way up to the house and inside, Steven began explaining what happened. As he was telling it, Greg and the B-team showed signs of concern and worry. When Steven finished, he gave them a minute to process what he told them, but they didn't even need a minute as they all made their way towards their friends and embraced them. The tale that was told was scary to hear, but at least they knew that their friends got out of it ok.

"Ok, let me see if I understand this correctly. Everyone on the zoo is gone?" Peridot asked if she heard that right. Lapis carried on to finish her friends astonishment.

"And it was all because of 3 people?"

"Yep. One pair of siblings. Probably twins. And a reptilian being named Daviron." Garnet explained as she and everyone else just looked down at the floor in shame.

"The first two were difficult, but manageable." Pearl said referring to the twins. However, she decided to add on their other opponent.

"Daviron on the other hand, was much more stronger than we realized. He even defeated Blue Diamond without too much effort. Even after she severed his arms." Pearl said with defeat as it was hard to admit when they were all beat.

"What?!" The B-team said at the same time. They remembered back when Blue and Yellow crashed Garnet's wedding. It took them, the A-team, Connie & Lion to actually force Blue to her knees. Now knowing that there was one being capable of taking everyone down, including Blue, all on his own made them all feel like amateurs.

"Blue mentioned that he's part of a race of beings called Komodos." Connie said out loud. She was hoping that Bismuth, Pearl or Peridot knew something about the reptilian race. Luckily, one of those had.

"Komodos? I've heard of them before!" Peridot spoke out remembering hearing that race before.

"You have?" Connie asked

"If I recall correctly, I heard of them when I first emerged back in Era 2 as a part of Yellow Diamond's court when the caste system was still in place. Of course that was about 3,000 years ago.

"Blue mentioned that the attacks on the komodos was around that many years ago." Steven said. The shortest gem soon continued her recollection.

"That's right. From what I remember, there were rumors spreading all over homeworld that these beings had very durable exteriors and were hard to battle against. But as time went on, they were eventually wiped out and the planet had begun the colonization process."

"Durable exteriors huh? That explains why his skin was so hard. Did any of them mention anything about komodos using their scales telepathically?" Connie asked. The memory of the scaly foe controlling his scales from his severed arms still intrigued and haunted her at the same time.

"I wouldn't know. As an Era 2 peridot, I was tasked with making sure the weapons and ships were functional. So, I never saw any action."

Connie soon turned her gaze to Bismuth and Lapis, hoping if they had any more info. But Bismuth shook her head and Lapis raised her arms in shoulder. Confirming that they didn't know anything else.

"Gotcha" Connie replied as she understood, but disappointed that how Daviron was able to use those powers is still a mystery.

Bismuth changed topic when she asked about the person that showed up and defeated the Komodo.

"But what about this fire guy you mentioned? You said that he beat the lizard right?"

"Yeah, but…." Steven mentally debated whether or not he should tell them that he interfered with him attempting to finish off Daviron. Everyone knew Steven was a caring person, but would they really be ok with him saving the life of someone who put them through hell at the zoo?

"Daviron got away from him and before we knew it, he escaped." Steven finished, deciding to leave out his own interference.

"So what happen to the guy that stepped in? Is he actually going to help us?" Peridot asked in curiosity.

"We don't know. He left before we could ask him. And trapped us in a blazing vortex." Connie answered.

"He what?!" Lapis said in anger. Lapis was angered to hear that this person left Steven and everyone to burn. If she was there, she could have put the flames out easily.

"Calm down Lapis. All of us are ok. Aside from needing a breather afterwards, there were no serious injuries. No burns." Connie said, trying to calm the water gem down.

"If you guys see this guy again. Let me know. I'll give him a piece of my mind. In more ways than one." Lapis said as she brought out her water wings and turned them into a water fist punching an open water hand, expressing her distaste for the person that just put her friends in danger.

With all this talk about what happened, Steven heard enough and just wanted to at least try to forget what happened today. Steven stood up from the couch.

"I'm gonna go outside on the deck for a little bit." He said as he began to make his way to the door. His friends and family were worried about him. They all wanted to ask if he'd be ok, but Greg was quick enough to ask first.

"You want us to come with you?" he asked with concern, wanting to know if his son would want to talk to him without the gems.

"Maybe later. I just need a few minutes by myself." Steven responded.

"Take your time." Garnet said as Steven nodded and walked out the door.

Soon after, he sat down on one of the deck chairs and looked up at the starry sky. He knew that beyond the sky there were gems out there on homeworld and other planets. However, he not only learned that there are other life out there, but they also want to hurt gems. Even if they want to hurt gems, does he really have it in him to hurt them? Even if in self-defense?

On the origin planet of gem kind, within the diamond palace, Blue's ship had already returned.

"WHAT?!"

That was all Yellow and White could say to their fellow diamond and Spinel after the former told them what happened on the zoo.

"A Komodo? I thought that race was extinct?" Yellow said surprised at the revelation.

"I thought the same thing. But clearly that's not the case." Blue said.

"Looking back in Era 2, I remember receiving reports of that species fighting back and them putting up a fight before it ended in Homeworld's victory." Yellow said as she thought back to the time the komodo planet was chosen for colonization. Of course, she could have chosen a better word for "victory" as she looked at Blue's eyes of "really?" Yellow was quick to try and defend herself.

"But still, if there were any survivors of that race, of course it's natural for them to feel hatred towards us and gem kind." Yellow said as she could understand the feelings of resentment towards an enemy, considering those were the emotions she felt towards the crystal gems for thousands of years for a crime that didn't even happen.

"We were lucky that someone showed up out of nowhere to defeat the leader after he incapacitated us." Blue said expressing slight thankfulness. White however questioned if that thankfulness on Blue's face was deserving.

"This person that stopped the Komodo said that the enemies are called, the Nova Clan? Are you sure this person can be trusted? You did say they hit Steven and trapped you in fire right? For all we know, it could have been an act." White said with skepticism.

"Although I find whoever that is was not only questionable and feel that they could've handled our interaction better, they seemed determined to wanting to stop these beings from doing further damage. Steven even mentioned that the person attempted to kill the Komodo before he escaped with his subordinates." Blue explained.

"I guess we can't deny that whoever saved you is against this enemy force if they're willing to go so far as to murder the enemy." Yellow commented.

"True, but we can't say they're on our side either" White added on in response to Yellow. The golden gem couldn't deny that what White said made sense too.

"Also a good point. But still, whether if they're on our side or not, we can't just sit back and rely on them to take care of this komodo problem. Especially if they show up at the last minute". Yellow said, referring to what Blue mentioned earlier about the mystery being who defeated Daviron, only after the Komodo and his twin soldiers attacked the zoo, kidnapped the inhabitants and knocked her, Steven and everyone else down.

"It's not just komodo's Yellow. Like I mentioned earlier, he had two followers with him and even they had strong enough power to force me to my knees. If it wasn't for Steven… who knows what could have happened to me." Blue said, remembering how the twins were about to fire a great power sphere at her in an attempt to poof her and how Steven summoned a wall to intercept it. She couldn't help but feel both thankful for him. But, she still felt guilty for involving him in such a battle.

"Then that means there's other species out there that are a part of this group." White said.

"The question is, how many species? Before Steven came into our lives, we had a combined number of over hundreds, maybe even thousands of colonies. And stars knows how many of them were inhabited before colonizing them. If any organic life survived the invasions, then of course they'd want the gem race to suffer for it." Yellow said. Spinel, being silent throughout this whole meeting, decided to speak up with a question of her own.

"I guess the better question is, what species WOULDN'T have a grudge against gems?" Spinel asked. This left the three former matriarchs looking down at the floor in shame. Aside from humans, the one race they have spared thanks to Steven's influence, they couldn't think of any other races that wouldn't hate them.

"The list for who wouldn't is….. rather short." Yellow said reluctantly. However, she had an suggestion about looking into the opposite.

"BUT, we can look into who would be a part of this group. There are records of each colonization during eras 1 and 2 in the diamond archives. If we look through those, there should be information regarding any possible species that would have a vendetta against us." Yellow suggested.

"How big are the archives?" Spinel asked.

"Big." Blue said simply.

"Oh boy." Spinel said, already not looking forward to doing research.

"What should we do about the rest of the gems on Homeworld? We don't want to cause a panic." Blue asked.

"I suggest we inform Zircon and let her decide what to do Homeworld's military power and how to inform the other colonies throughout the galaxy." White answered and carried on her reasoning.

"Homeworld elected her to be its representative because they're certain they can rely on her. Let her show them that they were right to do so." White decided. Both Blue and Yellow nodded in agreement while Spinel did as well, only with her chin out and finger and thumb rubbing it in an attempt to make the diamonds laugh.

Back at the beach house, as Steven was outside, everyone else was inside giving him his space and left alone with their own thoughts. Of course, one person's thoughts probably stood out more than anyone in the room. For once in her life, Amethyst was overthinking.

She couldn't stop thinking about their defeat at the hands of the komodo, Daviron. Her whips couldn't hold him. Her purple energy hardly did anything. Heck, not even her powerful spin attack could push him back an inch. She still remembers him tossing her over like she was nothing but a bag of sand. The gems and humans in the room noticed her look of frustration. The gem that was shorter than Amethyst, Peridot, attempted to snap her out of her depression.

"Amethyst, I'm sure what happened was… hard to handle, but you have to cheer up. Moping about it won't-"

"How can I cheer up?! Some chumps hurt people I care about and not only did we arrive too late, but we got our asses kicked! That lizard guy beat us like it was nothing. I mean, I try to burn him and roll him over and it didn't do a thing against him. If it wasn't for that strange guy, who knows what he would have done to us."

Everyone was silent. Amethyst has been upset before, but this outburst has to be at least at the top of the list.

"Damn it, i'm sorry guys. It's just, I haven't felt like this since Jasper kicked my butt." Amethyst complained. She didn't like remembering when Jasper poofed her in front of Steven and Connie on the beach. Steven though was there to help her out of her funk and actually defeat the "Perfect Quartz". However, now that they all got beaten badly, including Steven, who would help get them out of this funk?

"Amethyst, you're not the only one that's frustrated and hurt about this. We were there too. But complaining about the defeat isn't going to do undo what happened. We need to calm down." Pearl said. That being said, she was just as upset on the inside. But she tried to sound brave in order to assure everyone that things would be ok.

"How can I calm down though? We don't know where everyone at the zoo went. For all we know they could all be getting tortured or shattering as we speak. Even if they're not, not knowing what's going on with them is really…... really….." Amethyst just stopped right there as she had slight tears leaving her eyes. Garnet, Pearl and soon everyone else gathered around the purple gem and gave her a group hug in an attempt to calm her down. Although the tears left her eyes, her frown slowly shifted into a small smile.

As she was enjoying the hug, Connie looked back at the front door and decided to comfort Steven. Even though he said he wanted some time for himself, she figured a couple minutes was enough. Looking over at Garnet, the fusion nodded her head, knowing what Connie wanted to do. The young Maheswaran soon broke apart from the group hug and made her way to the door.

As soon as she went outside, she saw Steven leaning on the railing as he was talking on his phone.

"Yeah, that will work. Thanks Dr. Ellis. I'll see you then." Steven hung up his phone and saw Connie outside the door. She quickly made her way over and stood next to him as they both gazed their hometown.

"So you're going to see your therapist soon?" Connie asked, even though she was certain she heard her boyfriend say the name of said doctor.

"Yep. Tomorrow at Noon." He answered plainly. Soon enough, he asked Connie a similar question.

" What about you? Are you going to tell your parents about…. What happened?"

"Even though I'm worried about what they'll say, I feel like I should." Connie said with reluctance.

"It's probably for the best. I mean, keeping things to myself wasn't exactly… healthy for me." Steven said. Even though he was worried about what Priyanka and Doug would say or do in response to the truth, he knew that keeping such events secret would only make things worse later on.

"If I know my parents, after I tell them what happened, they're not going to let me go into space for a while." Connie told Steven as she kept staring at the beach.

"I wouldn't blame them if they did. Heck, I probably won't go into space for a while either." He said back. After what happened, he wouldn't want to cross paths with Daviron or anyone in this "Nova Clan" if they're just as dangerous as he is.

"Steven, before you see Dr. Ellis, is there anything you want to get off your chest right now?"

After a couple seconds, Steven decided to answer.

"Yeah. This sucks. It really, really sucks." Steven said as he looked down at the sandy shores of the beach.

"Steven…" Connie said, surprised at her boyfriend's choice of words. It was rare for him to say any curse words at all. Steven snapped her out of her bewilderment by continuing his disclosure. He just looked at Beach City as he talked out loud.

"I mean, for the first few days since I've been back in town, I've been happy with catching up and spending time with everyone. But all of a sudden, some new aliens show up and not only tear up the zoo, and kidnap everyone there, they also beat us too. The Crystal Gems couldn't stop them! Stevonnie couldn't stop them! Not even Blue could stop them and she's a diamond! If that helmet guy hadn't shown up, who knows what would have happened to us! And now, that guy said things will only get worse from here." Steven expressed his worry. Connie noticed that his skin was beginning to glow. When she did, she gently placed her hand over his radiating one. Soon enough, he breathed in and out and continued his rant of worry.

"I don't want to go through what we all went through with the diamonds. If these "Nova Clan" guys are really that strong… It might actually be worse than it was all those years ago. And… I'm just tired of putting up with things like this. It's already left a scar on my mind. Just when I thought it was fading, it reappears and reminds me of what happened and that what might happen in the future."

As Steven looked out at the city and the beach, even though he wasn't glowing, he felt a stream of tears leaving his two eyes. After Connie heard his words, she shared her own worries.

"Steven, I don't know what's gonna happen either. And after what happened today, I have every reason to be nervous about it. But…. I don't want to be. I have too much to look forward to and I'm not going to let some aliens in hoods scare me into not doing anything."

"Connie….." Steven said surprised at her courageous words.

"I know you care about our safety Steven. But you learned before you left that we're capable of putting up with stuff like this too and how to deal with it. You don't have to put all this weight on yourself Steven. We'll stand right beside you facing whatever comes our way. Together."

After hearing her declaration to stand by his side, along with his friends and family, Steven felt relieved. He remembered that even though he played a huge part in stopping the Diamonds and beginning Era 3, he didn't do it alone. Of course, that didn't mean he had nothing to worry about.

"But what about school? You're close to graduating. You should focus on that and let me and the gems worry about these guys."

"I'll find a way Steven. Like I said, I have too much to look forward to let these guys get in the way. College, career, and spending more time with you." She said resulting in Steven forming a light blush on his face.

"Well said Connie."

The two humans turned around to see those words come from Garnet and that everyone else was next to and behind her.

"How much did you guys hear?" Steven asked with slight embarrassment.

"Enough to remind us who we are. The Crystal Gems." Garnet answered with an assuring smile. Everyone else stood behind the love fusion with a brave face. Garnet continued to speak.

"Do you remember what that person said? He said if we ever encounter these Nova people again, we have to prepare ourselves."

"And after what happened, he's right. If this "Nova Clan" is going to cause more trouble, we need to be ready for it." Pearl said, agreeing with what the stranger mentioned earlier today.

"If these guys really have it out for gems, then we gotta kick it into high gear." The purple gem added as she looked at her closed fist, determined to find her missing famethyst.

"We didn't even see these guys in action, but after hearing what they did, they're clearly the real deal." Lapis said speaking for herself, Bismuth and Peridot as they both nodded in agreement with the blue gem's words.

Although Greg was worried for his son, considering everything he went through in his childhood and teenage years, he also knew that his son was strong. Stronger than both himself, Mr. Universe, and the late Rose Quartz. Plus, even though Steven went through a lot and suffered for it, Greg also saw that Steven knew how to handle it better and that Steven knows that he's never alone. Even though Greg's can't do much in a gem situation, he will always be there for his son and hopefully, unlike earlier in his son's life, actually protect him somehow.

"Should we tell the gems in Little Homeworld?" Peridot asked.

Hearing that, Steven immediately wanted to shut it down. It was already hard enough that his family and friends knew about this. The last thing he wanted was to tell the gems of Little Homeworld, who had put up with thousands of years of war & corruption, and tell them to prepare themselves for an unknown force.

"We don't know if they'll show up on Earth" Steven said.

"True, but that doesn't mean it's not possible." Pearl countered.

"Blue said she would tell the other Diamonds and Homeworld officials. They are likely to investigate this group. If Earth is a target, I'm sure Homeworld would warn us." Garnet explained.

"We've discussed gem attack scenarios and protocol's with Mayor Nanefua before. We might as well tell her to keep shelters ready in case there is an attack. Also, we might as well restrict warp pad usage to anywhere aside from locations on Earth." Pearl suggested. Everyone nodded in agreement. Including Steven.

His family saw the worry in his eyes. They assume it's about the worst case scenario. Everyone soon wrapped their arms around each other to form a circle. What better way of saying "We're in this together"?

Steven liked being connected with everyone like this and it showed on his face. However, his smile faded as he looked up in the night sky again. He knows he should be ready for whatever's out there. But that doesn't mean it doesn't scare him.

TO BE CONTINUED!

First of all, I apologize for not updating this story in a while. I have no excuse. I've just been lazy. Simple as that. However, I kept thinking over some scenes that will happen later on in the future. A bit far in the future to be exact. That distracted me from writing the present. Once the new year starts, I'll do my best to update my story sooner. Hopefully, the next chapter won't come out in the next few months.

Just so you know, the next few chapters (I don't know how many), like this one, are going to be filler chapters. For now, I'm trying to focus on everyone adjusting to the loss at the zoo and keep moving forward.

Next chapter, Steven is going to see a new friend he made earlier in the story (Chapter 2, Comeback). Find out though if it'll turn out ok.

Oh, and before I sign off,

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Hope everyone's enjoying the holidays and have you all enjoy the new year too! Hopefully 2021 will be better. Hopefully.

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