Hello, fellow fans of the glorious SU fandom! I bring about the 2nd chapter of Invasion! Sorry this took so long, I've been occupied with other things. I didn't mean to make chapter 2 this long, it just sort of happened. Anyway, enjoy!

I do not own Steven Universe. I wish I did, but I do not

Somewhere in the uplands, a large, gray, stalk-eyed animal was running across the forested landscape, pursued by three much lankier, sprinting shapes.

Attagornis clutched something in his mouth as he ran from his pursuers, a trio of lankilopes, long-legged quadrupeds with long necks and fleshy lips that covered sharp canines. Lankilopes were herbivores, however, and they were chasing after Attagornis because of what the stalk-eye had in his mouth: a piece of dry woodmoss he had stolen from them.

Attagornis leaped over a fallen tree and dashed behind a large boulder to hide. Thankfully the rock was wide enough to conceal his eye stalks. The lankilopes leaped over the trunk and looked around for the stalk-eye. Lankilopes had excellent eyesight, but their sense of smell was rather inferior, compared to that of other animals.

Seeing as they had lost the thief, the lankilopes whined in defeat and trudged back the way they had come. Attagornis watched them leave with his left eye. When they were gone from sight, Attagornis came out of hiding and groaned to himself. This was what he was reduced to: stealing food from other animals. Attagornis clutched the woodmoss in his mouth, trying to resist the temptation to eat it himself, but it was not for him to eat.

Attagornis walked out to the edge of the forest and grunted, signalling his return. At once, three juvenile stalk-eyes came scurrying out from beneath a large boulder where they had been hidden throughout the day. These were Attagornis' three sons, all that the once proud leader had left of his herd. Their names were Arnon, Eo, and Algran. Attagornis had raised them from hatchlings, when the creatures with gems on their bodies came from space and destroyed the plains.

Attagornis dropped the chunk of woodmoss in front of the young, and they hungrily tore into it. It was getting harder and harder to keep both himself and the young fed, and most days only one of them got to eat. Attagornis was reduced to stealing from other animals to get food. He was not proud of it, but it was the only way.

Attagornis didn't know why this was happening. He looked up at the huge trees overhead; most had hardly any leaves left on their branches, and their bark was peeling off, revealing the dry wood inside. Attagornis then headed up towards a ledge where he could see over the trees. When he reached the top, he stood on his hind legs to see farther, and he saw the dead, barren wasteland that had once been the plains. The gem creatures' machines were still active over there, and Attagornis suspected that all this was their fault.

Suddenly, Attagornis heard a cry from below. The children were in danger! Attagornis leaped off the ledge and thundered down the rocky hillside to see that Arnon, Eo, and Algran had been cornered by a pack of screechers! However, these screechers were smaller than normal, and were very skinny. There were also far fewer than normal for a pack. Screechers were known to resort to cannibalism during times of crisis, and this had clearly taken a toll on the pack. Attagornis could see that the screechers were all around the same size. They must have eaten their alpha, and thus they could hardly function as a pack.

Attagornis roared and stood in front of his children, protecting them. The screechers were hesitant; with no alpha, they had no-one to signal the attack or design a strategy beforehand. They had thought three unprotected juvenile stalk-eyes would be an easy kill, but now that a huge, full grown bull was staring them down, the screechers were reconsidering.

Attagornis roared and charged at the screechers before they could react, and slammed the nearest one to the ground hard with his forefeet, crushing its spine. The remaining pack members turned to flee, but the stalk-eye gave chase and grabbed another by the skull in his jaws, and broke its neck with a thrust of his head. The four remaining screechers fled for their lives, while Attagornis roared at them, frightening them even further.

It seemed that Attagornis had been overly brutal in his attack, but in truth he had killed those two screechers for food, and partially out of mercy. They were half-starved and hardly able to think for themselves, and by killing them, Attagornis had spared them from an agonizing death of starvation or getting eaten by their pack mates, and in turn they provided him and his sons with food.

Arnon, Algran, and Eo had eaten what they could chew of the woodmoss, so Attagornis dragged the two bodies over to their temporary den to eat them. Stalk-eyes were known to eat meat from carcasses when food was scarce, but they had never been driven to kill food for themselves. The four stalk-eyes ate from the scrawny carcasses emotionlessly, and Attagornis saved the meatiest parts for his sons. When Attagornis had eaten enough for himself, which was not much, he left the rest for the young. He had to make sure that they got enough nourishment before he did. It was his purpose as a father to keep them alive as long as he possibly could, and hopefully they would be able to make it when he was gone.

Attagornis ate the remains of the chunk of woodmoss that the young could not eat, but it wasn't very much. Once the children were done eating from the screecher carcasses, Attagornis took some of the bones and smashed them onto the rocks, breaking them open and causing the shrunken marrow to spill out, which Arnon, Eo and Algran promptly ate. It wasn't much, but every scrap of food available was precious nowadays. As the young licked up what marrow there was, Attagornis dragged the screecher corpses away and threw them over a nearby ledge into a ravine, so that their scent wouldn't attract other desperate animals.

Once the three youngsters were finished, Attagornis grunted, telling them that they had to leave. It was as if the life had been sucked right out of the upland forest, following the plains. Stalk-eyes were not built to survive in these conditions, and Attagornis, Arnon, Eo, and Algran had held out as long as they could. There wasn't enough food left for them here, so leaving was the only option.

After scrounging what they could from the remains of their last meal, Attagornis bellowed and began heading south with his sons following at his side, up the foothills towards the mountains. Once they crossed the pass, they should find greener pastures, away from the desolate wasteland the plains and the uplands had become.

It took days of walking on the hard, rocky ground, with only tough, sparse mountain vegetation to eat, but they made it. As Attagornis, Arnon, Algran and Eo came to the top of the mountain pass, what they saw before them raised their spirits like nothing before: ahead lay a huge, lush forest, brimming with green.

The little ones squealed in excitement and ran towards the lush jungle, with Attagornis racing after them. When they reached the leafy paradise, Attagornis and his sons tore up mouthfuls of vegetation and savored them heartily, the first good food they'd tasted in months. They found a large stream nearby, and gulped the sweet, fresh water like they'd never drank it before.

The family of stalk-eyes ate and drank until their stomachs could hold no more. Eo, Arnon, and Algran nestled down into a bed of ferns and fell asleep with full stomachs. Attagornis smiled at his children. He didn't know what they would've done if they hadn't found this place. Attagornis was about to settle down with them, when he heard the sounds of other animals. He pushed through some brush to see the animals from the plains and the upland forests feeding on the plants in a small clearing, alongside some of the creatures native to this forest. It seemed they had found this new paradise as well, no doubt driven from their original homes by the slow death of the land somehow caused by the gem creatures' interference.

Attagornis headed back to his children, hoping that this many creatures in one area would not cause trouble, when a pack of smaller animals passed through. Attagornis stepped aside to let them pass, and saw that the animals were rocktrots, pig-like hoofed animals with long tails, usually native to the mountains. The mountains must have been running out of food as well.

Attagornis laid down beside his three children, curling his tail around them before laying his head down on the soft, mossy ground. Before the bull stalk-eye fell into a peaceful, serene slumber, he hoped with all his being that what had occurred on the plains by the gem creatures' doing was an isolated event. He hoped that the slow dying of the earth that had made the plains, forests, and now, apparently, the mountains uninhabitable would not spread, and would not drive any more hapless species out of their natural habitat.

As the suns began to set, Attagornis joined the children he had saved, first from being crushed, and then from starvation, in a dreamless sleep in their new home, where Attagornis knew they would be safe.

But sadly, he was wrong.

Bleak. Lifeless. Desolate. A wasteland. Those were just a few words that could personify what had become of the once plentiful landscape, and the Planet itself as a whole. It had only been two years since the gem creatures first arrived on the planet, and destroyed a large area of the plains with their technology, and created that strange place, which the winged creatures had discovered and informed was some kind of reproduction site.

The animals had all thought it to be an isolated incident, but soon the gem creatures began spreading across the Planet to different locations, creating more of those odd sites, which were known as 'Kindergartens', as some animals had picked up.

Wherever these 'Kindergartens' sprang up, very soon the surrounding landscape would become drained of nutrients in the soil. Without rich soil plants could not grow, herbivores ran out of food, and so did the predators as their prey died off or vacated the region. Even the water sources in those areas became tainted, turned brown and filthy, becoming unsafe or even lethal to drink.

Wherever the animals went to escape, no matter how far or remote, the devastation eventually reached them, draining the life from the environment and forcing them to move on once again, until there was almost nowhere left to go.

The Planet had become a desolate, barren, wasteland.

Still, even in these deathly conditions, creatures still clinged to life as much as they could. With no greenery left, most if not all the animals turned to carnivorism, forced to eat flesh they were never intended to, just to survive. It didn't help that almost every animal still alive was hauntingly scrawny.

Out on what used to be a fertile valley, four creatures tiredly shambled along, four stalk-eyed creatures.

Attagornis trudged along the dusty, lifeless ground slowly, hardly having enough energy to move his feet consistently. He was deathly thin, his ribs could be seen poking through his skin, and even the outline of his spine and pelvis were visible. His eyes were bloodshot, his legs were bony and slim, and his tongue was hanging from his dry mouth. Everything about the once mighty stalk-eye's being personified starvation and suffering.

Behind Attagornis walked his three sons, Algran, Arnon, and little Eo. They were only slightly less scrawny as their father, as he still saved most of whatever food he could scrounge for them. They had not gotten much bigger in the past two years due to stunted growth from malnutrition, but they were still holding out.

The stalk-eyes soon came across the dry carcass of a giant moss-eater, huge, sloth-like creatures that ate moss, lichen, and woodmoss. Other animals, some former herbivores, were scavenging from the long-dead corpse, as even rotting meat would sate them now. The others did not fight, or even snarl a warning at the stalk-eyes as they approached and ate whatever meat was still on the bones, as they were focussed only on getting enough food to survive the day. When the bones of the carcass were picked bare of any remnant speck, the herbivores and predators turned scavengers went their own ways, hardly satisfied by the slim pickings.

A few hours later, the clouds above became dark, signalling the coming of rain. Attagornis grunted to his children, and they looked up in anticipation. Then it happened. The clouds poured sweet, life-giving rain on the stalk-eyes, and they faced the sky with wide-open jaws, swallowing as many mouthfuls as they could collect in their mouths. Unfortunately, the rain only lasted a few minutes. Even the oceans were being depleted of clean water, and thus it wasn't enough to produce heavy clouds or enough rainwater.

Eo, Arnon, and Algran whined sadly as the rain stopped. Attagornis nuzzled his children to comfort them, and explained to them that this was the way he world was now, and every tiny amount of anything was precious. Attagornis then said that they should all get some sleep, for they had another long day ahead of them tomorrow.

Attagornis found a shallow cave nestled in the hillside. He sniffed the perimeter thoroughly, thankfully finding no traces of other animals, and then grunted for his children to follow him inside. All four of them were tired, and almost immediately collapsed onto the dusty floor in exhaustion. As Arnon, Algran, and Eo fell into an uncomfortable sleep, Attagornis curled his body around them to give them some comfort. Attagornis didn't know what they were going to do; there was no hope for the Planet now, and the suffering animals prayed night and day for deliverance from the torture and starvation that plagued them. Attagornis had all but given up. He had but one reason to stay alive. Three little reasons, actually, and they were right here, slumbering beside him.

When morning came, Attagornis was roused from his dreams of lush greenery and fresh water by a rumble beneath him. Not knowing what was causing the rumbling, Attagornis stood up and dashed out of the cave to see a thunder-walker, the largest living thing on the Planet, walking past right in front of him, its massive footsteps causing the quakes. Needless to say, Attagornis was humbled.

Thunder-walkers were over 150 feet tall, and had bodies resembling those of blue whales, but thicker and with short tails. Their enormous bodies were mounted on four skinny-looking legs which widened into huge, column-shaped feet. They were colored bluish-gray.

Attagornis stared in wonder at the behemoth before him, and the thunder-walker bellowed deep, echoing calls as it slowly passed. Attagornis heard his children call for him as they rushed out of the cave, only to go just as slack-jawed as their father when they saw the mighty beast before them.

The stalk-eyes were frozen in place with wonder as the graceful behemoth slowly passed them by, and kept staring until the giant beast was far away. While Eo, Algran, and Arnon were still mesmerized by the magnificence of what they had just witnessed, Attagornis watched the thunder-walker sadly, knowing that it was well possible that, in these desperate times of famine and drought, this thunder-walker could very well be the last of its kind.

A few days later, the stalk-eyes were heading up the steep valley wall. Attagornis sniffed the air, unfortunately detecting no food of any kind. He could hear the children's empty stomachs growling, begging for nourishment. The weak bull stalk-eye groaned in despair. He looked up at the dark sky, mourning for what his once beautiful world had become.

Attagornis simply could not go on. His weak legs began to tremble, and he was only seconds from collapsing, when he heard Arnon and Algran squeal.

Instantly snapping out of his trance, Attagornis turned with a start to see Arnon and Algran calling to him in distress. Attagornis looked passed them to see that Eo had collapsed on the dry ground.

Attagornis roared in horror and immediately ran to his sons. Eo lay still on the ground and his eyes were shut. Attagornis gently nudged Eo with his snout. The little one's only sign of life was a soft, weak whine and very soft breathing. Attagornis looked down at his two other children; they were looking to him to help, but Attagornis knew that nothing short of a miracle would save the little one now.

Eyes closed in sorrow, Attagornis raised his head and unleashed a great roar of despair into the sky, so loud and full of pain it echoed across the landscape. The cry reached the ears of those still alive, letting all know that a once proud chieftain had lost what meant most to him.

After letting loose his grief, Attagornis pressed his snout to Eo's body, unable to muster tears. It seemed Algran and Arnon understood, for they nuzzled their brother too for the last time. Eo, still just barely clinging to life, weakly opened his eye and met his father's. Attagornis would not leave him, nor would his brothers, ever.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed, and Attagornis looked to see a column of white light had appeared only a few yards away, seeming to come from a wide crystal-like stone. When the light dissipated, there stood something Attagornis had thought, and hoped, he would never see again.

Where the light stream had been, now stood the gem creature with the long, pink hair atop its head.

The stalk-eye's eyes widened in terror; a gem creature was here, and not only that, but the one that had led the assault and destruction of the plains and nearly killed his sons! As she turned to look at him, Attagornis noticed that she was not wearing the same battle armor she had been during the invasion. She now wore a long, loose-fitting white garment that exposed the pink gemstone on her midriff.

Attagornis was frozen in terror. What had she come to do? Kill his sons, as a final blow after destroying his home and wiping out his herd?

Regardless of her intentions, she was a threat. Attagornis stood his ground and roared fearsomely at the gem creature. He would fight to his last breath to protect his children, and nothing, on the Planet or whatever evil place the gem creatures came from, would stop him.

Attagornis roared with all his might at the gem creature, but, mysteriously, she did not attack him. She only stood on the light-making stone where she had appeared, staring at the starving, suffering creatures before her forlornly, almost like in regret, Attagornis saw.

Attagornis dared not move. He would stand here, protectively in front of his children, until his last breath. While his heart was still beating, he would not back down.

It was now that the most unexpected of all things happened. Slowly, the pink-haired gem creature stepped off the stone, towards the stalk-eyes. Attagornis resisted his instinct screaming at him to attack, but he had to save whatever strength remained in him for the inevitable fight ahead that would likely claim his life.

The gem creature took another step forward, and Arnon and Algran whimpered in fear, huddling up to Eo behind their father.

The gem creature came no further, thankfully. Attagonis snarled at her, daring her to come closer, but the pink-haired one was still as she looked down at the stalk-eyes, and Attagornis' eyes met hers.

Attagornis held his gaze on the gem creature as the reached into her dress and revealed a small, pink, spherical object. Attagornis growled, not knowing what she planned to do with it. To the stalk-eye's surprise, the pink-haired one opened the pink sphere delicately, and kneeled to lower it to the ground. Attagornis watched silently as a tiny, green thing slid out of the sphere, barely a few inches long. It looked like some kind of fuzzy moss or lichen.

Attagornis was about to snarl at the gem creature again, when he saw the small clump of moss begin to quiver. He, Arnon and Algran watched closely as the moss began to grow, spreading across the dead ground unrealistically quickly. It seemed the moss had a mind of its own, and didn't even need anything to nourish it. Attagornis looked up at the gem creature, and her eyes met his. Attagornis didn't know what she was doing, but she wasn't attacking, at least not in any way the stalk-eye could recognize.

By now the moss had grown considerably, reaching several feet across, and was still spreading at a steady pace. Arnon and Algran looked at the moss hungrily, recognizing it as food. They were about to pounce on the moss, but Attagornis growled, stopping them.

Attagornis told his sons to stay with Eo, and then he slowly approached the gem creature's moss, warily keeping his eyes on her. Soon, Attagornis was barely a foot away from the pink-haired gem creature. After several tense moments of complete silence, Attagornis averted his gaze down to the moss in front of him, his mouth begging to taste the succulent plant as the first real food he'd eaten in months.

Glancing up at the gem creature again, Attagornis had an honest feeling that, possibly, she had no ill-intent towards him and his sons. His previous experiences with her kind had all been negative to say the least, but now, it appeared, she was offering them food, and it was a law in the world of the animals that if you saw an advantage, you took it.

Carefully, Attagornis lowered his head and opened his jaws just a little, and took a miniscule bite from the patch of moss.

It was juicy. And fresh. And it was food. Attagornis swiftly tore a much bigger mouthful from the moss and chewed it lavishly, savoring its sweet, watery taste in his long-starved mouth. The stalk-eye groaned loudly in ecstasy, his long-starved tongue rolling the moss chunk all around his mouth in unsurpassable pleasure. Attagornis then swallowed the mouthful, groaning again ecstatically as the food entered his starved stomach. Attagornis immediately called to Arnon and Algran, and they came running, joining their father and scooping up mouthfuls of the moss rapidly. The moss continued to grow as they ate from it, and Attagornis would've kept eating to his heart's content, but then he remembered. Eo.

Attagornis turned to look at his smallest child. Eo was still lying on the ground, not moving. Attagornis roared in distress and left the moss, running up to Eo and listening to his breath.

Thank the stars; Eo was still breathing, but it was much too faint to be a good sign. Attagornis delicately picked up Eo in his jaws and looked around them desperately. His gaze fell back on the gem creature, who had stood up and was looking at the limp stalk-eye child in Attagornis' mouth.

In his desperation, Attagornis willed himself to trust her completely and ran back to her. Attagornis placed Eo gently on the moss bed, and looked up at the gem creature desperately, pleading for her to do something, anything, that would save his son's life.

Rose Quartz looked down at the dying young stalk-eye, and she couldn't help but feel awful for indirectly causing this entire thing. The desperate cries of the stalk-eye's father and siblings only worsened her heartache. Her eyes beginning to well up with tears, Rose knelt down and gently picked up the dying juvenile, cradling it in her arms. She then began to cry, and pink tears streaked down her cheeks, and fell onto Eo.

Attagornis watched as the pink gem creature shed tears over his son's body, and he knew there was no hope. Attagornis lowered his head in despair, but then, he heard a faint whine. Attagornis looked up, to see Eo awakening and calling to him!

Attagornis roared in excitement as Eo squealed and jumped out of the gem creature's arms, and father and son embraced each other. Attagornis groaned in relief, having been moments from losing his son forever, the gem creature had saved Eo's life with her healing tears.

Attagornis looked up at the gem creature, smiling as Arnon and Algran joyously hugged their brother. Rose smiled at the stalk-eye, and then, she carefully reached her hand forward, and Attagornis, realizing what she was doing, closed his eyes and leaned his head into her hand, allowing her to stroke his forehead.

Attagornis pulled his head back and looked up at Rose. Even after leading the attack and destruction of the plains, and being indirectly responsible for the state of the Planet, Attagornis had more than forgiven her for what she had done today. She had saved him and his children, and for that he would be indebted to her as long as he lived.

Attagornis then rejoined his sons in feasting on the succulent moss Rose Quartz had planted, and the blanket of green grew rapidly, even with four starving mouths bombarding it. But Attagornis knew that they still needed water. The moss itself was fairly moist already, but it wasn't enough. Attagornis could see a small waterhole a short distance away, but the water was dark and cloudy, tainted by the the nutrients being sucked out of the ground.

Rose noticed Attagornis looking at the filthy water, and knew she had to do something. Attagornis watched as she gently touched the moss with her finger, and almost instantaneously, a strip of moss shot out along the ground towards the waterhole, spreading as it went, and touched the sickly water. Attagornis and his sons watched in amazement as the filth disappeared from the water, turning it clean again, as if the moss had absorbed the pollution! Arnon, Algran, and Eo squealed in joy and ran to the water, Attagornis quickly joining them. After lapping the sweet, clean water for a few moments, Attagornis turned to see Rose smiling back at him as she returned to the flat-topped stone she had appeared on. In a flash of white light, she was gone.

Attagornis stared at the stone for several moments, until he felt something nuzzle against his leg. It was Eo. The little one looked up at his father happily, and Attagornis smiled back. The stalk-eye family then returned to feasting on the moss Rose Quartz has left, which by now had spread across the entire area. Attagornis wondered if it could spread across the entire planet, and then, he was struck with an idea; Maybe…

Attagornis had his thoughts suddenly interrupted by a honking moan from nearby. He and his sons looked to see a painfully gaunt lankilope struggling across the dry ground, its eyes glazed over. Attagornis called to the lankilope, and the starving herbivore looked at him, and when it saw the moss, it reared its head and gaped. Attagornis jerked his head, motioning for the lankilope to come eat with them, and instantly the starving herbivore sprang over to the moss patch and began ripping off mouthfuls and slurping up water from the cleansed pond until its cheeks could hold no more.

Arnon then alerted Attagornis as a trio of lizard-like birds descended onto the ground in front of the herbivores, and squawked at the bull stalk-eye, asking to eat. Attagornis announced that all were welcome, and the birds wasted no time in tearing into the moss with their parrot-like beaks.

Attagornis watched as the herbivores shared the precious food and water, and then his idea came back to him. He could use the promise of survival to unite the animals of the Planet.

Attagornis then called to the lizard-birds. He told them, after they had eaten their fill, to fly out in different directions to find as many animals still alive as the could, and tell them to come this way to the moss patch. The lizard-birds agreed to do so, and after eating to their hearts' content, leaped into the air and flew off in separate directions to find more animals.

The lankilope asked Attagornis why he had told the birds to do that, and the stalk-eye replied that he had a plan to save all the remaining living creatures.

Within hours, more starving animals arrived, most of them herbivores. They ate the succulent moss and drank the fresh water, and Attagornis told them how this saving food was given to them. Attagornis then told the animals that he had plan, a plan, if doable, that would secure the animals' future survival, and return the beauty and balance to their world. The animals all listened to Attagornis, and pledged to follow him, even the ones of lower intelligence. They were going to take their planet back from the gem creatures.

To Be Concluded!

Sorry I took so long with this chapter, everybody. Things are looking up for Attagornis and the animals! Next chapter is the final one, where it all ends. Animals vs. Homeworld Gems in a final fight for the fate of the Planet! Who will win? And at what cost?

Join us next time for the exciting conclusion!