"It's okay, it's going to be fine. You're going to be fine. I know you can do this, Felix." He says, and pulls away to kiss my forehead, before giving me a reassuring smile.
And that was the last thing I could remember happening before everything happened in a matter of seconds. The TARDIS was shaken so violently that I was pulled away from the Doctor's comforting hug. I saw him get flung back onto the floor, before I tripped on something and fell towards the crack. I managed to look at the Doctor one last time, before feeling the warp star slip out of my grasp, hearing him screaming my name, and seeing the crack close around me.
Panic. That was the first thing I felt once I got back to my senses. The TARDIS had been attacked, I'd lost my only way of transportation, and I'd been separated from the Doctor, without even knowing if he would be okay or not. What if he didn't get away in time? What if he'd been hurt during the attack? What if he was forced to regenerate?!
I had no way to get the answer to those questions!
My thoughts were suddenly cut off, however, when I crashed face first into something that felt like concrete, sliding a few inches.
I groaned, though it pained me to do so, and begged to God that my glasses weren't broken. I struggled to push myself up, feeling the warm and dirtied blood running down my nose and lips, and hissed in pain once I got up on my knees. I looked down and saw a black blur in front of me, and reaching for it, I realized it was my glasses. I put them on and sighed in relief when I saw that they were still intact.
I looked down at my hands and legs, and saw that my knees and palms were scratched up from the abrupt landing, with blood sipping out through the small holes in my skin.
I sighed and got myself back up on my feet, before looking down to see where I'd landed, and seeing that I was on a large circular pad, that seemed to be made out of some sort of… crystal? I looked up and gazed around the area, and found it to be eerily familiar.
I was standing in the middle of a canyon, with strange holes around the mountain faces, and weird looking drill-machines scattered around everywhere, some being injected into the mountains and some laying destroyed on the ground. I looked around the crystal pad I was standing on, and saw that it was surrounded by large gems that looked like some sort of rubies, that were almost as big as me. What crept me out the most though was the ominous aura the place radiated, that sent several chills up my spine.
I only managed to take one step forwards on the pad, before realizing that I was standing on top of an outshooting part of the mountain behind me, and that it was at least fifty feet down to the actual ground. I looked around me again, trying to find a safe way down, but when I didn't find one, I groaned. Guess there's only one way down.
I carefully sat down edge of the cliff I was standing on, making sure I wouldn't slip and fall, and took a deep breath before leaping off. I started sliding down the steep mountain wall, my feet making contact with several small stones and firing them up at my legs and face, and was forced to do everything in my power to NOT trip, 'cause if I did, it wouldn't end too well for me.
When I was almost by the bottom I launched myself off the wall and landed safely on the ground, stumbling a bit before finding my balance again, but when I did, I stood up and tried to brush some dust off of my clothes, but to little success. I looked down at my legs and saw several small cuts through the now ripped open parts of my pants legs. I sighed and looked up and around again, and saw that I was surrounded by a thin misty fog, that only succeeded in creeping me out even more.
"Hey! There's something over here!"
I jumped at the sudden exclaim, and barely had the time to land before something zoomed past my face, close enough for me to feel it tugging my hair. I looked behind me and saw a white spear, definitely longer than me, stuck in the ground. The spear had a weird light blue spiral blade, and a blue and gold pommel shaped like a star, and looked awfully familiar.
I turned my head back in the direction the spear came from when I heard something heavy hitting the ground, and I saw the silhouettes of three females in front of me.
Oh no.
"Gems, move!" One of them shouted, and two of the women jumped higher than humanly possible as the third one started throwing spears at me.
I ducked as one of them was directed right at my head, and I felt the blade of the second one cut my left arm before getting stuck in the ground beside me. I looked up and saw five more spears flying at me, but instead of avoiding them, something inside me clicked, and I launched towards them instead. I reached out for the one closest to me, and wrapped my fingers around the cold white handle, before using it to reflect the other spears away from me.
I looked up at the silhouetted woman in front of me, and saw her taking a step back, before I grabbed the spear stuck beside me and launched both of them towards her. The weapons crossed halfway before they flew right under her arms and pulled her with them into the wall of a mountain a few feet behind her. There was a huge cloud of dust forming from the impact, and I immediately felt my heart sinking from the sight.
"I'm sorry!" I shouted to her, before throwing myself to the side when I heard something crack beside me.
I turned my head and managed to get a glimpse of a dark purple, three tailed whip with amethysts embedded at the ends, before it was pulled back behind me. I turned around and saw another of the women standing a good few feet away from me, whip in hand and looking ready to lash it at me at any moment. I took a leaping step towards another spear lying before me, and taking this as an action of attack, the woman whipped said weapon in my direction.
I grabbed the spear and held it out in front of me with both hands, and as I'd hoped, the three heads of the whip wrapped themselves around the handle. I looked up at the woman and gave her an apologetic smile before, without giving her a warning, yanking the spear to the side, causing her to lose her grip on the weapon, and spinning around. I held both of my hands by the pommel, and in doing so, once I'd spun a full 360, the whip lashed back at its original wielder and wrapped around her small body. I hardened my grip on the spear and yanked it over my head, with all the power I could muster, and saw how the woman was pulled along with it, crashing down not too far from the first one.
"I'm sorry!" I shouted again, and my heart sank even more. I hope I didn't hurt them.
Suddenly something crashed into the rock beside my head, and a heavy cloud of dust fell over me, causing me to have a coughing fit and my wounds to sting. I looked up and saw a dark-cerise gauntlet in the middle of a huge crack in the stone, and turning in the direction that the weapon came from, I saw the last woman standing right in front of me.
She had a huge gauntlet on each hand, and both of them were raised above her head, ready to strike. My eyes went wide and I let out a gasp, before seeing the two weapons being thrust down towards me. And in the second I had before they'd strike, I fell backwards and held my hands over my head, as tears started falling from my eyes.
"Please, stop!"
I was waiting for something to happen. Anything. But instead there was just silence.
After what felt like hours of panic and fear, I slowly lowered my hands, and looked up at the woman in front of me. Since the dust cloud had started to ease up, I could see her almost clearly, and the look she was wearing was of pure chock. Through the pinkish-blue visor on her cerise face, I could see her eyes widening as she looked down at me, and in a flash of light the gauntlets on her hands had disappeared, revealing her dark-purple one-fingered gloves, only an inch above my head. She took a stumbling step back out of the dust, and I could see her more clearly.
Her dark-indigo afro as well as her blue and purple bodysuit, that I now saw had a dark and light pink star on its torso, were covered in dust and pebbles. She even had a small scratch on her cheek, and her bottom lip was trembling slightly as she stumbled back another step, dropping her arms to her sides.
"You're a human." She spoke in a soft and surprised voice, and since I couldn't think of anything to say, and the taste of blood in my mouth was making me sort of nauseous, I just nodded. I saw her eyes widen even more, before she suddenly hoisted me up by the arms and placed me a few feet away, a worried look visible on her face.
"I'm sorry for attacking you. I thought you were something else. Did I hurt you?" She said, still in a soft voice, but I clearly heard the worry in it. I shook my head before I answered, and wiped away some of the blood from my lips.
"No, you didn't hurt me. Most of this I got from trying to get down here." I said, and hearing this seemed to calm her down, though she still seemed uneasy when she saw my wounds. She adjusted her shades before she spoke again.
"That's good to hear. Now if you don't mind, I think we should help out my comrades." She said, and I gasped slightly before facepalming, which wasn't the best idea since it only caused more dirt to get stuck in my scratched up hands. I'd almost forgotten about those two. I nodded my head again, and we started walking towards where the other two women were.
We stopped when we saw the slender white, peach-haired woman, dressed in a light blue leotard with a small skirt, with a lighter blue ribbon around her waist, amber colored leggings and pale blue flats with pink socks under, trying to untie the smaller purple woman from her weapon. It didn't look like she was too comfortable, having her long pale-lavender hair tangled in the whip in a painful looking way. I couldn't see much of her outfit, due to being tied up, and the only this I saw was her white boots.
"C'mon P, try pulling harder!" The smaller woman said, but it only achieved in getting a groan from the other woman, and a small chuckle from myself.
"I am trying, Amethyst! But this is harder than it seems! Why can't you just retrieve the whip and get yourself out?" The taller woman said, frustrated, and I had to cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing. Again, though, bad idea, since it only bloodied down my hands and made them sting even more.
The large woman beside me seemed to notice this, and finally walked over to the other two in front of me.
"Alright, that is enough you two." She said in a stoic voice, startling her comrades a little, before she grabbed hold of the tied-up woman and ripped the whip apart. Now that she was no longer trapped in her own weapon, I could see that she was dressed in dark-lavender leggings with black stars on the knees and a matching black tank top. She set her back down on the ground, before looking both of her comrades in the face.
"We're done with the mission. Now we go back to the temple and take care of our new guest." She said, and the other two women finally turned to look at me. They looked surprised at first, but their surprise quickly shifted to apology and, in the tall white woman's case, guilt.
"Oh my stars. We attacked a human? Amethyst, why didn't you tell us!" the white woman almost shouted at the shorter one, apparently called Amethyst, but was only met with a sour look from the latter.
"Well how was I supposed to know?! I thought it was another of those freaky fusion monsters!" Amethyst almost yelled back, but unlike herself, the taller woman just scoffed before looking back at me, a sympathetic look on her face.
"And you're wounded! Please forgive me for that, I-WE had no intentions of harming or attacking you." She said, and Amethyst looked up at me as well, guilt written all over her face. I put on a warm and reassuring smile, confusing the women a little.
"It's okay, I understand that I must've startled you. Seeing anything moving in a place like this, I would've been scared witless. Besides, I attacked you too. And speaking of that, I didn't hurt any of you, did I?" I said, and the guilt on the white woman's face seemed to worsen. Amethyst on the other hand, only snorted before stepping over and giving me a light punch to the arm.
"Nah, we're tougher than we look! And hey, you shouldn't be the one apologizing! We attacked you first!" She said, and I sighed, nodding my head.
"Touché." I said, and I saw how the white woman's face started shifting from guilt to slight curiosity.
"If you don't mind me asking, how were you able to avoid our attacks? I haven't seen a human move like that before." She said, which caught me a little off guard, and I laughed before I answered.
"I honestly have no idea. I've never done anything like that before." I said, before suddenly hissing in pain as the cut on my arm started burning. I placed a hand over the wound, earning concerned looks from the three women around me, before suddenly realizing something.
"Where's my bag?" I asked, mostly to myself, and they all looked a bit confused at my sudden question, though I didn't have time to explain it to them.
I'd lost the bag too? Oh no, no no no! I can't have lost it! It can't be gone! I had THREE things that I needed to keep with me, and now two of those are gone!
I turned around and was just about to go look for it, but I didn't even have the time to take two steps before I stopped. There was a monstrous screech echoing through the canyon, seemingly coming from every direction, and whatever it was that made those noises, they sounded angry. I took a few steps back, almost bumping into Amethyst, when something suddenly jumped out right in front of me, causing me to scream.
The thing looked like a giant worm, with arms covering its entire front body and legs covering the back, and in the middle of what I assumed was the face, was a weird looking piece of crystal chards. Coming from all sides behind it was a bunch of… arms and legs, that seemed to be fused together. The sight of these things made my stomach turn, and when I tried to back away even more, they screeched at me.
I suddenly felt an arm under my knees and behind my back, and soon I found myself being picked up by the tallest of the three women, while the other two were standing in front of us with their weapons drawn. I saw a flash of light, and saw that the woman holding me had her gauntlet back on the hand she wasn't carrying me with, and when I looked up I saw a frown on her face.
"Gems, do your thing, and don't let them hurt the human!" She said in a stern voice, and the women before us nodded, before they all launched themselves at the monsters.
The white woman was the first to be attacked back by four of the monsters, but before they had a chance of hitting her, she jumped over them and rotated her body, before slicing them with her spear. The monsters disappeared in a poof of smoke, and left gem shards behind them, which the woman was quick to pick up and… bubble? She somehow formed a bubble around the shards, before it disappeared into thin air. And soon after that, more monsters jumped at her.
I turned to look at Amethyst, and saw her wrap her whip around one of the leg-hand fusions, before spinning it around and hitting the other monsters around her. These monsters poofed as well, and once they were gone, Amethyst poofed the monster in her whip before running over to help the other woman.
The woman that was holding me, however, didn't fight any of the smaller monster, but aimed for the giant one instead. She held me tighter as she jumped and slammed her gauntlet into the giant monster's back, causing it to curl back and let out a horrifying screech, which drew the attention of the other monsters. The woman holding me shifted me so I sat on her back, before there was another flash of light and a gauntlet appeared on her other hand.
"Hold on tight." She said, and I barely had the time to heed her orders before she jumped again, a LOT higher than before. I wrapped my arms and legs tighter around her and buried my face in her shoulder, though it wasn't too comfortable due to my glasses, shut my eyes closed so hard it hurt, and held my breath.
Yay, hooray for being scared of heights.
I felt how the woman started shifting her body, and suddenly we were diving back towards the ground, and when I opened my eyes slightly to try and see why, I saw the giant monster zooming towards us. I shut my eyes again just before I heard the sound of several punches and a loud cracking sound, felt a strong gust of wind around me, before I felt how we landed on the ground again. I opened my eyes and looked over the woman's shoulder pad, and saw her holding a cerise bubble with the monster's gem shards in it, before she tapped on it and it disappeared.
"Hey dude, I think this is yours!" I heard Amethyst say all of a sudden, and when I turned to look I saw her throwing my bag towards me. I couldn't help but smile widely when I caught it, feeling a huge weight lift from my shoulders, and I laughed a little before I slung it back over my shoulder. It was a little tattered, but nothing too bad, and I looked up at her and gave her a huge smile.
"Thank you!" I said, and she grinned at me, but her smile quickly disappeared when more screeches echoed through the canyon. The white woman sprinted over to the one that was holding me, spear in hand and a slight panic on her face.
"There are too many for us to fight. We have no more reason to stay here, so let's go back to the temple." She said, and looked behind her when the screeches became louder. The woman holding me turned her head and looked at me for a second, before nodding to the white woman.
"Let's go." She said, and they started running to the cliff where I'd landed.
Amethyst was running behind us, keeping an eye on the monsters that tried to chase us, and lashed her whip at them whenever they were too close. She occasionally looked up at me, grinning in a reassuring way, probably to make sure I wouldn't freak out about this whole situation, and it was sort of working. Suddenly I found myself airborne again and when I turned to look, I saw that the women had jumped up to the outshot part of the mountain I'd crashed on, and landed on the crystal pad, before there was a bright blue light and everything disappeared.
Next thing I knew, I found myself and the three women in a room that seemed to be entirely made out of a shiny sort of stone, making the walls shimmer with a pinkish light that was reflected from the crystals around the walls. My eyes widened in awe as I looked around the room, and when I turned my head I saw a light blue door with a white star on it, and on each point of the star was a differently colored crystal. Above the door was a large circular mirror, and when I lifted my gaze to the ceiling, I saw that the entirety of it was made from the same stone as the walls and shone in a blue and purple light as well, and there was large crystals shooting down and glowing with a dim light.
To say I was stunned wouldn't be an understatement.
"Yay, you guys are finally back! I was starting to get worried, you never take that long on a mission-huh?" I turned my head in the direction of the sudden voice, and found it belonged to a young boy that looked to be no more than 10.
He was shorter than Amethyst, or at least it looked like it, and had curly dark-brown hair and big dark eyes. He was wearing a reddish pink T-shirt with a yellow star on it, blue jeans and sandals that matched his shirt. He was looking at me with large eyes and his mouth was slightly ajar, like he was trying to say something but couldn't find the right words.
The woman that was holding me started to gently set me down on the floor, which I realized was a crystal pad that looked exactly like the one from before, say for being surrounded by small blue crystals instead of large red ones, before looking at the boy with a smile.
"Sorry for worrying you, Steven. We didn't mean to take so long, but there was a sudden change of plans." She said, as the other two women started to walk over to the boy, and placed a hand on my shoulder. Her palm felt strangely… I guess the best word to describe it is 'hard'. It felt as though she had a rock where her palm should be, and it was emitting a cold aura onto my arm.
I looked at the boy again and gave him a smile, waving my hand a little. The three women went over to stand behind him, leaving me alone on the pad, and they all gave me patient smiles. I took in a deep breath.
"Ehm, hi. I don't think we actually did introduce ourselves, did we? My name's Felix. Guess I should thank you for saving me back there." I said, and scratched my neck a little. This was so awkward.
"So who, or what, are you exactly?" I asked, praying that the question wouldn't offend them. To my surprise, however, this question seemed to catch the boy's interest, and he beamed the brightest of smiles while bouncing a little.
"We're the Crystal Gems! I'm Steven, and this is Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst! They're rebels from another world and together we fight evil gem monsters and protect the planet from evil and stuff like that!" He said, his voice bubbling with happiness and his eyes star filled.
On the outside, I must've looked confused as heck, because I could see Amethyst trying to hold back her laughter. But on the inside, I was mentally slapping myself for not having realized it sooner.
I was in the world of Steven Universe! How did I not notice that?! They were standing right in front of me the whole time, gems visible and all! How did I not see them?! Pearl has it on her forehead, Amethyst on her chest and Garnet on her hands, and they were RIGHT there!
"Now, now, Steven. Maybe we shouldn't rush with the introductions like this, he seems to get confused about it." Pearl said, snapping me out of whatever state I was in, before she looked back at me with a warm smile. I smiled back and scratched my neck again, seeing how this only got more awkward every second.
"N-No no, I think I got it. So, you're beings from another world that protects this planet from evil, gem monsters? Is that what those things from before were?" I said, and Garnet nodded, giving me a sideways smile.
"That's right. And speaking of, how did you end up in that place? No human should be able to go there." She said, and the others looked at her for a brief moment before looking back at me, curious and almost suspicious looks on their faces. I looked away, feeling smaller under their gazes, and rested my hand on my neck.
How the heck do I explain my situation to them?! I mean seriously, how do I explain that I'm from another dimension where their entire existence is just a show on TV?!
I sighed and looked back at them, clearing my throat a little before answering Garnet's question. Here goes nothing.
"Well, you see-" I started, but had to cut myself off when my arm suddenly started vibrating. The gems looked just as confused as I felt, and when I looked down I saw the screen on the communicator around my wrist glowing, and after I'd quickly pressed top button, the Doctor's face appeared on the screen.
I was so happy that I couldn't help but laugh when I saw him, earning even more confused looks from the gems. The Doctor had a few scratches on his face, and it looked like he had smoke in his hair, but other than that he seemed fine, and he looked like he was just as relieved as I was when he saw me.
"Doctor?! Oh gosh, are you okay?! What happened to you? What the heck happened to the TARDIS? Is it okay? Are you hurt?" I asked all these questions at once, but he only laughed and smiled at me.
"We're both fine. What about you? You look hurt. Are you okay? Are you in a safe place?" He said, worry clear in his voice, and I just nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just had a rough landing. But I lost the warp star, and as far as I know, I don't have another way out of this dimension." I said, and he got a troubled look on his face, and I couldn't help but feeling that losing the warp star wasn't our only problem right now.
"I know, and I'm sorry about that. But for now, maybe it's for the best that you don't come back here." He said, and I felt my stomach churn. Why did I always have to be right about these things?
"Why not? What's wrong?" I asked, and he sighed. I really started to get a bad feeling about this.
"Your dimension is gone. It completely collapsed in on itself. I barely managed to escape after you left, but that last travel took away all of the TARDIS's energy. And now, we're stuck in a pocket-dimension." He said, and I'm sure I was standing with my mouth wide open.
My dimension's gone? My home's gone?! My parents, my family, my friends, my life… It's all gone. And not just that, but the Doctor's stuck between two dimensions and unable to escape.
I took a stumbling step backwards, almost tripping on my own feet, and took in a shaky breath.
"Is there any way to fix this?" I asked, and he dragged his hand over his face.
"I'm not sure. But if you find the creature and destroy it, then maybe there is a chance that time will fix itself and bring your dimension back." He said, and I smiled. I knew that there was a high chance of this maybe not even working, but I didn't care. There was a possibility for me to save my home.
"Then I will do whatever it takes to do so. I'll find the creature and defeat it, and I will fix all of this." I said, and he got a small smile back on his face.
"I know you will. I'll have to go now, the TARDIS needs to save up on its energy. Good luck, Felix."
And with that, the screen cut to black, and the air was filled with an awkward silence once again. I looked back up at the gems, and they were all looking at me with wide eyes. Suddenly the stars in Steven's eyes returned, and he brought his hands up and placed them on his cheeks, his mouth agape.
"You're from another world?" He asked in awe, his voice almost a whisper, and I let out a chuckle before nodding at him.
"That's right." I said, and the stars in his eyes got brighter. God, he was so adorable.
"Wait, so that means you don't have anywhere to stay?" He said, taking me a little off guard. Well, that question came out of the blue. But then again, I guess that's something Steven would be the first to think about.
"I guess." I said, and he smiled widely before turning to Garnet, who'd been standing silent this whole time. She softened her chocked look into a small smile as she looked down at Steven, and crouched down a little to look him in the face as he spoke.
"Can he stay here?! There aren't any other places he could go, and he's still hurt and might need help to heal his wounds! Please?!" He asked, and Garnet chuckled a little, and through her visor I saw her looking up at me.
"Why don't you ask him?" She said, and Steven didn't hesitate to walk over to me and look up at me with the brightest puppy-dog eyes I'd ever seen.
"Do you want to stay here with us until you go? We could go to the Arcade, the Big Donut, Beach City Funland, and we could-"
"Steven, calm down." I said, interrupting him as he kept on rambling, and placed my hands on his shoulders, kneeling down to his level.
"So, what do you say?" He asked, and I smiled sweetly at him.
"Seeing as I really don't have anywhere else to go, and it seems that the other gems are okay with it, then yes. I'd love to stay here with you all."