You me: what does this chapter have to do with anything?
...well...foreshadowing. I just realized that I haven't set up my ending well enough. or at all. I swear Stevonnie's nightmares have a point! Just bear with me.
(シ. .)シ
Sometimes, White Diamond would tease Stevonnie. "So this is what becomes of the Great Traitor? Stuck in a little ol' coffin with nowhere to go? Mayyybe you should try breaking it!" She would laugh, and Stevonnie would try yet again to break their prison apart. The previous ten times they had tried to so failed, and this time was no different. This coffin has to be made of something special. Stevonnie reasoned.
Indeed it was-the coffin was made of White Diamond herself! Not too long after White Diamond had captured Stevonnie, she instructed her Kingsguard to transport Stevonnie down below to the hydraulics near her feet.
…A diminutive Gem assisted with the soldiers' efforts. Small and mouse-like, neither White Diamond nor anyone else, save one, noticed the Gem scurrying about.
Once the soldiers had left the vicinity, White Diamond herself transferred Stevonnie down below, into the lab underneath her feet. The Oxides living there accepted the coffin, and set into contact with White Diamond's feet. That way, White Diamond could freely move the coffin wherever in her building she desired.
White Diamond congratulated her trapped Gems, and thought carefully about her next move. Somehow, I have to trick Stevonnie into giving up what they know. White Diamond scratched the top of the coffin with a long finger, irritating the human-Gem hybrid with the resulting noise. The Matriarch had contemplated interrogating Stevonnie; however, she did not want to clue Stevonnie in to what she wanted from them. I need to know everything they about the murder of Pink Diamond. Depending on what they know…I might just have to kill them myself.
A squeaky sound met Stevonnie's ears, like rubber-on-rubber. Stevonnie gritted their teeth and knocked their shoulders against their dark prison. Fortunately, White Diamond stopped soon afterwards.
It made no difference whether Stevonnie opened their eyes or closed them; not a speck of light was trapped within the coffin with them. Stevonnie shut their eyes anyway, watching as green-and-purple plumes blossomed underneath their eyelids. Eventually, they drifted off into sleep…and more lucid dreams.
Power! Nothing else in the whole world can provide so much, take so much, be as valuable!
Stevonnie hurtled through a tunnel of Bismuth crystals and pink grass. Tiny diamond-pink bats shot upwards, slashing through Stevonnie's skin and clothes, biting and ripping at they with tiny pink-as-a-diamond teeth. Despite this, they could not feel a thing; all they could hear were the voices echoing up the tunnel, defeaning in their intensity.
Behold the Dragonslayer! This baby can shatter rock like it's nobody's Bismuth! Just check out that sharp edge, that width and breadth!
The spectre of power lies before you-grasp it! Just like we have! See the lights above our heads, Rose!
A blade of pink grass shot up Stevonnie's nose. They flailed their limbs in the air, clawing the cold, narrow plant leaf from their delicate nose canal.
Rose! Look at this baby. It's a real beauty, a gamechanger. Homeworld knows how to hit us where it counts, but we can do everything they can do, and better. Here it is: the weapon that would've won the war.
Stevonnie's descent abruptly stopped. They slapped into the ground so hard, they did not feel the pain of impact. I can't even feel my own face. Stevonnie thought, poking at the medley of scratches, deep and shallow, adorning their limbs and face. Stevonnie used this moment of brief respite to study their hand carefully. The veins underneath the skin wriggled like snakes. The fingernails buzzed around in place, their edges splitting in red, blue and green shades.
It's only a dream. It'll be over sooner or later, Stevonnie reminded themselves. They were surprisingly calm, for such a bad dream.
I suppose it's because I know this isn't real. Stevonnie sighed, and tried not to wallow in their fate too much, or to worry too much. Even in their nightmares, Stevonnie tried to piece together some kind of escape plan. I can't let myself panic.
Stevonnie waved their limbs about and creating a dirt angel, cherishing their fleeting freedom of movement. At least I can move in these lucid dreams...Inside their coffin, Stevonnie could not move more than a few centimetres in any direction without meeting the cold coffin walls. Their limbs were locked in place.
Stevonnie had not the time to let their mind wander any more. A sea of pink grass shot up around Stevonnie, resplendent with the two trees, shirt, bubble, chest, and features Stevonnie knew so well.
Stevonnie sunk down into the pink grass, drawing in a deep breath of "air" they knew should not be there. A dense fog trickled from everywhere, obscuring everything. Stevonnie stood up, preparing themselves for the next apparition.
Two massive monsters loomed in the distance, howling eerily. The creatures resembled horses, with disproportionately large heads, and gaping cavernous mouths. Stevonnie could see these features despite the fog; almost as if the sights seen by their two eyes were different.
A shard of Bismuth echoed within those screams. As the howling got closer, Stevonnie called out, "Bismuth! Is that you?"
The figures shuddered, and after a moment morphed into two massive Bismuths, gazing down at Stevonnie.
The world shivered under their weight, and crumbled.
Stevonnie opened their eyes to see only darkness, and reflexively tried to stretch. The coffin hit their funny bone; Stevonnie let out a muffled curse.
How much time had passed by this point?
Stevonnie could use only her sleep-wake cycles as a gauge of the time. They had fallen asleep at least five times; in the dark of the coffin, Stevonnie often floated off into mindlessness. Not quite sleep, but not quite awakening either.
Stevonnie stretched their limbs within the coffin, and rocked back and forth in vain.
Outside, White Pearl nodded, summoning a light document. She quickly wrote down Stevonnie's curses upon the note, for White Diamond's later use.