Steven Universe: Exploring Homeworld

1- The Secrets Within a Disk

If you've ever watched cartoon network during 2013 to today then you've more than likely stumbled upon the show Steven Universe at least once, maybe you liked it, maybe you hated it, or maybe you're like me and obsess over it. Allow me to properly introduce myself, my name is Roger and when I was 11, I remember watching the first few episodes and I was truly amazed by the stories, the characters, morals, and the art style of the whole show.

 

Now that I'm older I’ve gotten myself back into it, I’ve went to cons and met the voice actors, I’ve bought all the merchandise I could get my hands on, and currently I have spent at an estimate of $950 US dollars worth of merchandise, you get the idea. However that's not what this story is truly about, a few months ago I went online to look for a DVD that contains Seasons 1-4 of the show, the only problem however is the cost of the DVD itself, $87.99 US dollars. I went on to the buying options and scrolled down and luckily I've found myself a bargain, the same exact DVD collection with the low price of $23.00 US dollars only thing, However is that its used, and “Like New.” but I still bought it and waited.

 

A day later I went to go check my mailbox, nothing was there except an envelope that someone had sent me, there was no return address, and it seemed like the envelope itself was crumbled up and out of shape with faded letters drawn in pencil. I took it inside and found about 4 distorted Polaroids. the size of all of them were approximately at an estimate of 4.2 to 3.5 inches in length and width. I noticed one thing about one of the 6 photos, in the picture there appeared to be a picture of the night sky with different stars scattered across it, however it was warped and blurry unfortunately.

 

Another day later and I get a large package with a notebook filled with numbers, then later on that day I received the package I’ve been looking for, the DVD itself. Me feeling giddy with excitement, I open the package only to be very disappointed, it was just a thick purple tinted jewel case with a pink post it note slapped onto the cover with the Letters “AM 32/B” on the cover written with a Blue Pen, and had the same handwriting as the previous letters and packages that I got but the letters weren’t faded.

 

I checked the disks and each one just was just a DVD Rom disk that looked like it came from the local electronics store. “What a rip-off, I can't believe I bought a bootleg along with all this...garbage!”

I murmured countless swears and angry gibberish under my breath as I put in the DVD…Only to be greeted by a screen that says “This DVD is only to be played on region a region B DVD player…” It went silent for a good half minute then I started to giggle to myself, “oh…what a tease!” I yelled out loudly as I begin to laugh hysterically. “Well...I’ll just have to use the other DVD player then!”

 

I limped over to my portable DVD player feeling nothing but anger and hatred for the misfortune, luckily the DVD played well on my DVD player. Feeling a bit more relieved, I press play on the start menu which was just a blue screen with the simple words “Play” on it, and the video began.

 

It started off with an announcement from the legendary horror writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft himself. He said the following, and I quote.

“Over the past few years of writing about the fear of the unknown, it has come to my attention that there just might be signs of life out there inside the endless void of our universe...I’ve heard tales of ancient aliens whom we have assumed to have granted knowledge to our ancestors, and I believe that those claims may perhaps be true in some way. Recently, archaeologists have claimed to find large quartz crystals that are in the shape of a human skull, within the region of South America and it is said that these skulls belong to intelligent gem hybrid humans. It wouldn’t surprise me if those things are still breathing to this day, if only we knew where they were…Thank you for your attention, and as always I'm Howard Phillips Lovecraft…”

the film ended and it cut to a still Image of what appeared to be coordinates that read: 47°9′S 126°43′W

 

One quick google maps search later, and it lead to the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, more precisely close to the Pacific pole of inaccessibility or "Nemo" point, 48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W, a point in the ocean farthest from any landmass.

I then decided to contact my Uncle Ricky, who is a marine biologist who works at a marine life center to see if he knows anything of the sort, here is the exact call I made word for word.

 

Ricky: Hello, and welcome to the ******* state Marine life and rescue center, my name is Richard, how may I help you today?

Me: Hey Ricky it's me Roger, I'm calling to ask you if you know anything about sea life living in the point Nemo region of the earth's Ocean

Ricky: Oh hey nephew, I'm glad you’ve asked, uh...well you see, point Nemo is probably one of the most remote locations on the planet earth so I doubt that any discovery of new sea life has been found yet, meet me tomorrow at 11 am sharp in front of the center and we’ll talk more about it…

Me: alright sounds good

Ricky: Alright see you then

Me: bye

Ricky: bye

The call ended.

 

2- The Journey Begins

The next day on July 4th I met uncle Ricky outside the center and we walked inside, “So what made you interested in point Nemo?” He asked as I pulled out my computer, “Just last night, a package came in for me, at first I thought it was nothing more than just a simple bootleg of a Steven Universe DVD but it turned out to be a message from writer HP Lovecraft about Gem human hybrids along with a set of coordinates that lead to that specific location.” Ricky looked somewhat intrigued by this story as I showed him the video in its entirety. “Let me check something real quick…”

 

he went over to his computer and opened up a satellite software and put in those coordinates and immediately it zoomed into the location, there appeared to be a large platform in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on the exact pole of inaccessibility, “Wait here, I need to make a phone call…”  Though Ricky was in another room I could vaguely hear the conversation and this is what I heard from the phone call

Jim: Hey Richard how's it going?

Ricky: Hey Jim, I was wondering if I could maybe borrow the boat for the weekend, I have my nephew here who wants to us to visit point Nemo.

Jim: Richard, have you gone mad? It's too dangerous for the kid, like who knows what's out there, I'm sorry but i'm gonna have to deny that request.

Ricky: Jim Jim Jim listen…we made a discovery on the satellite view and we need to check it out, it appears to be some kind of glass pad in the middle of the ocean.

Jim vents for a good while

Jim: Alright…but that boat better not be damaged and I'm counting on you to bring everyone on that boat back alive or there will be some major consequences by god!

Ricky: Thank you so much Jim, and I promise that the boat and the crew will be perfectly fine.

 

The call ended as I grabbed my Computer and waved goodbye to Ricky as he gave me a note with information about the next meet up, it read

“7/5 8:30 AT THE DOWNTOWN MARINA”

 

The following night took place at the beach for the 4th of July celebration and on this day I don’t really find myself shooting fireworks or things like that, but instead I like to sit down on the shore and think about things, one thought that came to my mind was the size of our world that we live in, and we all basically live on very small islands compared to the endless sea that goes on for endless miles and recently with the point nemo incident, it was no surprise that I would get the creeps just thinking about the endless black oceans and how we weren’t supposed to travel far on it.

 

After my family was done shooting fireworks, I went inside to greet my Mom and Dad. Dad, unfortunately left to go on a business trip and won't be back until January of next year, we were saddened to see father leave town, all except my

brother Brycen.

 

I then lay down to watch my favorite movie; 1989’s “Vampire's Kiss”, and as I watched the movie I drifted to sleep. That very night I had a dream, I was on a great ship in the middle of nowhere and up above me was a beautiful starry night sky.

 

Things were peaceful, when suddenly there was a terrible roar all around me and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats with human skulls for heads, all swooping and screeching and diving around the boat, which was going about 10 miles an hour and waves kept crashing and splashing against it making the boat rock back and forth.

 

While this happened I started to swat at the air and flinched as it happened

“Holy Jesus, what are these god forsaken animals!?” I yelled, as kept ducking and swatting at the air, but before I could do anything, one swooped down and the last thing I saw in that dream was that one monstrous looking bat biting my head clean off.

 

I woke up at 7 and my alarm went off, I kept gasping for air as I was relieved that it was all a dream, “better get ready then I suppose…” I threw on some black skinny jeans, a black Nine Inch Nails tank top and a Maroon leather jacket complete with black Timberland Boots.

 

My mom told me to pack some extra clothes and something to entertain myself with during the trip, so I packed a blue button up shirt and dark brown jeans along with my region-less DVD player and the 4 mysterious DVDs that started it all, but just before I was about to walk outside to the car, my big brother Brycen went up to my mom along with his snotty nosed brat friends and begged to come with me on my journey, allow me to give a little rundown on who Brycen is and why he is...well…a bit of a pain.

 

Brycen is the true definition of a hooligan, he often skips school just to mess with our neighbors, and when he is in school, he often bullies unsuspecting kids, usually ones that don’t really fit into his “clique” as one would put it, and not to mention his friends are just as bad as him. Brycen has three friends who are much much older than Brycen himself, there was Owen, Nick, and Asher. Asher is the worst out of all of them, and the bad part about it is that they have one particular motive but we'll get to that detail later. They have no sense of remorse nor respect whatsoever. My mom, surprisingly, agreed to their request and hopped in the car.

 

3- The Video Entries of Dr Bearos

We drove to the downtown area and my brother was looking back at his friends with a grin and they all grinned at him back ominously, I simply ignored it and finally my mom dropped us off at the dock. “Ugh, what smells like fish?”asked Asher in an obnoxious way, I scoffed and responded with “Gee I don't know, probably fish” My mom looked at me and said “Well I’ll see you guys later, don’t forget to text me when you get back too…I love you son, and have a fantastic trip” a tear ran down her face as she kisses me on the cheek. “I love you too mom...and I’ll miss you” I said giving her a big hug as me and the troublesome four boarded the ship.

 

The boat was a fairly huge yacht and I could see my mom on the dock waving goodbye with tears running down her face but kept a smile, I waved back and I began to cry as well. Afterwards I was lead to my own room, it had a nice bed, a booth table, a miniature fridge full of soda and water, a bathroom, a cabinet full of very fancy snacks like Turkish delight and very rich looking chocolate, and complete with a stereo, along with a lovely plain cheese pizza from Pizza Hut just for me.

 

Oh It was truly Heaven my dear reader, bliss and Heaven. A few hours later around 12, a crew member alerted me to meet Ricky in his room, so I brought my stuff and headed towards his room and entered, he greeted me “Good Afternoon Roger, please have a seat…” I sat down and he said “Did you bring the DVDs along with a player?” I nodded “Yes sir” “good, i was curious to see the other 3 DVDs contents…” I then plugged in the DVD player and watched the 3 DVDs all the way through, DVD numbers 2-4 were all a series of blog entries recorded by a man named Dr Bearos, disk 2 had him in a room and looked quite fearful, he said as follows…”Good Evening dear viewer, My name is Dr Bearos, science Professor of Miskatonic University of Arkham, Massachusetts and part time archeologist. If you are watching this then you are in fact only one of many people who know about this cosmic secret, for I have finally found the procice location to homeworld and its contents, I will continue this entry in the next DVD rom for my camera is low on battery and I need to get this message across before I’m tracked, thank you”

 

I immediately recognized the name “Homeworld” for it is the home planet of most of the Gems on Steven Universe, The next DVD had Dr Bearos explaining what Homeworld has become, he said as follows…”If you’ve watched my previous entry, then you are aware of my discovery of Homeworld and its contents…as I spent most of my time in the alien realm I discovered more things about it, for one they have their own government...the diamond authority to be more precise, and unfortunately for them, the diamonds have all mysteriously passed away only hours after I arrived there, or shattered as the locals would say...I met with the “Pearls” whom work as servants for the diamonds, and they were most certainly devastated by their passing, I couldn’t bear to see them in such pain, so I left their planet with many humble goodbyes, and now dear viewer...may we now hope that Homeworld will soon get better over time, thank you.” Me and Ricky Noticed that Dr Bearos looked awfully distraught during this entry and so did we for we too felt remorse for the diamonds whom passed away, but Ricky tried to convince himself that what he was talking about was utter nonsense.

 

The last and final entry had Dr Bearos sitting in front of an old painting of a lighthouse and suddenly there was a small but eye catching detail, in the left side of the screen there was what appeared to be a deeply pale and feminine hand being eased down gently and delicately on his shoulder as he sighed and looked back, and then the video ended with a blue screen and yellow text reading “AM 32/B” Ricky and I looked at each other and shrugged, “I guess I’ll just be in my room if you need me…” Ricky responded  “Alright, enjoy the rest of your day Roger.”

 

4- On The Path to Point Nemo

It was 7 PM and the sun began to set over the horizon, and by this time we already passed Central America and now we were making our way around South America, we were somewhere near Brazil at that point. All of us were on the deck of the boat just celebrating the soon to be successful voyage, and Brycen along with his friends were all carrying around huge gym bags I paid no mind to it until they started looking around at everything in a very suspicious way and each one of them kept giving me strange looks as if they were planning on knifing me in the back but that was usually how they acted but it seemed strange at that point.

 

The next morning, the boat was somewhere right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and we finally passed South America too, I got dressed and went straight to Ricky's office and asked him where we were, he pulled up the radar showing the coordinates and compared them, “only a few hours more,” he said. I went to my room and took out a few things from my backpack to make sure that I have all the equipment I need for the journey, matches, a pocket knife, a camera, case of flares, case of water, rope, and first-aid. Few hours went by and a man yelled aloud “We’ve reached Point Nemo!” I sprung out of my chair and rushed to the front of the deck and looked into the foggy horizon to see the giant glass platform.

 

“There it is…” I said as I prepared myself as we inched closer to the platform and eventually reaching it.

As me and the rest of the crew on ship stared in amazement at the glistening blue glass platform we noticed that it had a long wooden dock that lead to it. The ship was anchored and tied to the dock then me and Ricky investigated the platform, but then I noticed something that almost made me faint, the glass platform was a Warp pad, I covered my mouth and I whispered, “its real…” I then felt an instant shock of excitement to know that maybe Lovecraft and Dr Bearos were right about the existence of gem hybrid humans.

 

Ricky went over to me, “Do you know what this is Roger?” I nodded and answered, “It's a Warp pad Ricky, this thing can take us to Homeworld, well at least one of them…” but just as soon as I went to step on one of the Warp Pads, I was immediately greeted by rays of blue lights going downward as I traveled upward and then, I have arrived in what looked to be a set of dark woods in an open space of grass and a large withered statue of Pink Diamond herself.

 

I could not help but hyperventilate about what came forth upon me. I could not believe that I have came so far up to this point, I have finally reached Homeworld after all this time. As I walked around the statue I was overwhelmed by a feeling of sorrow and remorse for her fate, that is if Steven had died at any point in time. I walked down the dirt road when I saw a man or a woman in a hooded black sparkly robe walking towards me, the black hood covered up his or her face.

 

The person came up to me putting its hand suited in a black glove on mine and slowly lifting up the hood revealing Lapis Lazuli herself. She looked to me and asked, “Are you going to the ball tonight, dear human?” I could not believe my eyes, “You can call me Roger thank you, you are Lapis Lazuli, correct?” She slowly nodded and I asked her “This ball, what is it about?” and she responded back with “The Diamonds memorial...would you care to join me Roger?” I nodded and she walked me towards a manner within the woods, it was a big place that she has lived in for years. “Wait here will you?” she went inside leaving me to be in the chilly outdoors of the dark woods, the only sounds I heard was the wind blowing and now and again, leaves rustling. “It's...too quiet here.” but that soon changed, Lapis walked outside and handed me a large paper bag, inside was a white button up shirt, black skinny jeans, black dress shoes, and a replica of Yellow Diamonds helmet.

 

I went inside and changed into the outfit as Lapis puts on a mask that I guess is supposed to represent Blue Diamond, even though it’s just a ghost-face mask with a slight blue tint. 7 minutes later I get ready and walk with Lapis to wherever this ball may be. On the way there I would ask Lapis some questions and we would talk about how our lives have been, but there was something that caught my attention. She mentioned to me that years ago when the diamonds got shattered, a certain force of energy possess hateful and mean spirited gems and turns them into murderous monstrosities. This chilled the very narrow of me the whole time while we walked through the quiet woods.

 

5- The Ball

As we came into the large palace within Homeworld I walked with Lapis inside and greeted the 3 pearls up front who seemed happy to see me and Lapis. I was pleasantly surprised to see them along with other familiar gems   “How did you get here human?” asked the Yellow Pearl, “I-it's a long story, my pearl.” I smile crookedly feeling somewhat awkward and delighted “I assume you have found the earth Warp Pad in the pacific region.” said the Blue pearl while smiling. “I did my Pearl.” and Pink Pearl opened the door letting us in the palace and into the large ballroom. It was beautiful, the whole ballroom was tinted in a dark teal light and glorious looking architecture composed of a teal tinted glass ceiling, statues of each diamond in each corner accompanied with potted plants, and a large beautiful stage within the back of the room.

 

A gem dressed in Pink Diamonds attire came forth, “Its Spinel.” I thought to myself watching her set up the music player within the stage. She put in a CD disk into the player, grabbed a microphone, and put it close to her. The first song that played was a song i knew very well, it was Blue Dress by Depeche Mode. The song went something like this,

 

“Put it on,  And don't say a word, Put it on, The one that I prefer, Put it on, And stand before my eyes, Put it on, Please don't question why, Can you believe, Something so simple, Something so trivial, Makes me a happy man, Can't you understand, Say you believe, Just how easy, It is to please me, Because when you learn, You'll know what makes the world turn”

 

While the song played and Spinel went on,  me and Lapis slow danced happily throughout the ballroom. Spinel sang other songs as well, that I assume Steven showed her, such as Something I can Never Have by Nine Inch Nails, Somethings Missing by John Mayer, I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing by Aerosmith, and finally Nothing Really Matters by Mr Probz. After her performances we all applauded her and what followed was a piano riff that went on for about an hour or so and me and Lapis went to go help ourselves to fancy bread and soda that tastes way better than it does on earth. “I’m glad that you like it here Roger, Homeworld has been blissful for the last few years but we do miss the diamonds, along with the other gems…”

Lapis said to me as I sat down and asked, “Well, where are the rest of the crystal gems?” Lapis sighed and responded with, “The Crystal Gems have been disbanded and Steven has disappeared.” My chest ached, I could not imagine the amount of grief I have felt at that very moment of time. I sighed and said “I am sorry about that…” All was well for the rest of the night and Lapis invited me over to stay at her manner for the night, I of course said yes, but I did worry about Ricky and the rest of the crew, so I pulled out my Walkie and I spoke into it “Ricky! Ricky! I'm safe, I reached Homeworld and I'm having a great time, over!” no response, “Maybe they are asleep.” said Lapis taking off her mask. “Maybe…Let's go home Lapis.”

 

We walked outside only to be followed by a large figure from a distance back into the dark purplish woods. “Who could that be?” asked Lapis as we walked down the trail. “I wouldn't know…maybe whoever it is will go in another direction…” we walked faster and we could still see the large figure following us getting closer and closer. We were almost to Lapis’ manner and the figure had disappeared into the woods. “Does anyone else live down here Lapis?” I asked in a whisper. “I-I don't think so…” she said as we both sprinted to the front door and went inside.

 

6- The Trouble

A half an hour later, me and Lapis sat in the living room by the fire in the fireplace. Lapis got up and went to a grand piano in the room, “What song would you like to hear?” she asked, “Ringfinger by Nine Inch Nails, Please.” she closed her eyes and began to play the song, and as it played, I felt as if each note echoed into my brain and transformed into waves of euphoria that warmed the very narrow of me. Bliss it was until I heard something tap on the window next to Lapis. “Hide, Quick!” Whispered Lapis as I quickly ran towards a closet and barricaded myself in. A loud crash was heard from the front door, “Oh Lazali!” a raspy and deep feminine voice called in which I have recognized. When suddenly the large figure made itself into the living room as I watched it slowly move in the dimly lit room.

 

The fire in the fireplace made a small dim light that radiated the shape revealing...Jasper, she was looking around as lapis hid under a chair, and then...silence. Minutes later Jasper spotted Lapis, she screamed as jasper picked her up by the neck and looked into her eyes. “W-what do you come for?” Lapis choked up in a small voice that shivered and shook. Jasper looked at her gripping tightly around her neck making her skin turn to a deep blue. “Where is he?” Jasper asked in a menacing way. “I-I don't know…” said Lapis as she teared up. Jasper said to her, “He’s here and i'm going to find him…” and i'm thinking to myself “Please don't let her come near this closet!” she looks under the couch, up the chimney, and around the kitchen and bathrooms, meanwhile I find a small box with a stun gun and i remember the switchblade in my back pocket.

 

I prepare myself as I see Lapis passed out on the floor, soon Jasper came back in the living room and looked right at the closet, her yellow eyes glowed. She slowly approached the closet and put her hand on the knob opening it slowly, and then what felt like a painful 8 seconds she stares into the closet and looks at me. I pulled the trigger and the bolts hit jasper right in the chest, she grunted and fell over. I quickly ran out of the closet and I try to wake up Lapis, “hurry Lapis she’ll be recovering soon!” I screamed as she slowly opened her eyes and got up on her feet, soon Jasper woke up as well and stood up. Lapis and I backed away against the wall as Jasper's body began to shake in a horrible way.

 

Her yellow eyes began to turn black as blood oozed from her nose, her veins began to pulsate and let out a horrible scream. Lapis and I watched in horror as this happened. Jasper's knees shook as 10 long worm like appendages sprouted from them and squirmed, soon her arms fell off and what looked like giant arms of that of a praying mantis sprouted out of the stumps of where her arms used to be.

 

And finally, her head then split open from top to bottom and a large head of that of a deformed roach sprouted from it and let out an ear splitting roar. We rushed out of the house as the large creature chased after us both, we ran for miles until we eventually lost track of it, but by the sounds of its roars we could tell that it was still growing.

 

7- The Lighthouse

We then reached a part of the woods where the trail ends and a lighthouse by a cliff could be seen, Lapis never saw this lighthouse before from what I heard from her. We approached the door and rang the doorbell, “Come in” said a man in a tired tone of voice. We let ourselves in and we saw the man sitting in front of a lit fireplace. “My name is Roger, and I have here Lapis, may we take shelter here for the night until the morning comes?” I asked. “I’m afraid you picked a horrible night to come visiting here my friends…” the man said as he turned around revealing himself to us. Lapis teared up and I was breathless. “S-Steven…” I muttered as Lapis began to cry.

 

Steven looked to be in his early 20s at this point, his star shirt was worn out and his pink Letterman jacket barely fit him. “W-Where have you been after all these years, where is the rest of the gems.” he sighs and crosses his arms “Well, when I heard about the diamonds passing away, I couldn’t rule Homeworld by myself, its too much work for Christ sake. And if you're wondering about the Crystal Gems, they're dead too.” he had a tear in his eye as he got up from his chair, “and if you wanna see them... follow me” he walked over to his kitchen, me and Lapis walked behind him. He had 2 large refrigerators and slowly opened it, inside was 2 heads that have been warped and fused into one another, the heads belonged to that of Peridot, and Amethyst. “They had a violent argument which resulted in them turning into those damned things.” he closed the refrigerator door and went to the other revealing two bodies of that of Garnet who was cut in half with the top third eye tinted white and poked out of the socket, with black blood flowing out of it, and a large tentacle coming out of her top half, and the lower half was covered in scales like that of a fish and Pearl had rose buds sprouting from every orifice and thorns poking out of her neck, her eyes were black and her arms were that of rattlesnake tails.

 

I Vomited, “They got to Bismuth too, but I had to push her into a fire, thank god you didn't see it though” we were shocked beyond belief. Steven looked sick, he let out a sigh and coughed up blood, “Holy shit” I said as me and Lapis backed away. Steven had a tear run down his face as ran to his room, he brought a pistol and gave it to me “Kill me” he begged. “Steven no!” yelled Lapis as she began to cry, and I slowly held the gun up to him. “Steven, I don’t want to do this, you’ve always been there for me, you are my hero Goddamnit!” I began to cry as the gun trembled in my hand.

 

“Do your hero a favor Roger…” he said as he closed his eyes. Suddenly the power went out and I took my finger off the trigger. “Ah shit...that damn thing his here, and soon the frozen gems will defrost.” he sighed and gave Lapis another pistol and he armed himself with a shotgun. “Let's get the hell out of here…” we ran outside into the dark forest and looked around for anything out of the ordinary. As we ran away from the lighthouse, we saw two figures and another small figure walk outside.

 

8- The Hunt

I conjured up an idea“we need to warn the other gems, there is a way to evacuate them right?” I ask as we quickly walk. “There should be a few warp pads that lead to earth around the mid-pacific and Atlantic ocean, Blue Diamonds Human Zoo, which is Abandoned now, and the moon-base. We can escort them to the moon-base for now” He said quietly. “Alright perfect!” I exclaimed quietly giving a thumbs up.

 

Soon in the distance we see a thin figure walk in the middle of the dirt road and face us making a graceful pose, I shined a light on the figure and there stood Pearl opening her black eyes and thorns poked out of the holes in her neck, “Should we kill her now?” whispered Lapis pointing her gun at the hellish Pearl. “Wait a minute…” said Steven as Pearls neck began to bulge and she coughed up the severed head of Doctor Bearos. “Holy shit!” we all said as each one of us opens fire on the hellish creature, it was killed when Steven shot it right in the head. “You can rest now…” said Steven as he lead us through the woods again. “I brought all my ammunition with me, running out won’t be a problem” Steven mentioned as we approached the entrance to Homeworld.

 

We heard a faint scream in the background coming from a lonesome Aquamarine being strangled by the mutated Garnet, with its long slippery tentacle wrapped around her neck tightly, the tentacle was coming out of her navel and the poor Aquamarine gagged and slowly choked to death. We tried our hardest to save her but it was too late, and her head popped off like the cork of a wine bottle.

 

I quickly aimed my pistol at the mutated Garnet and opened fire. With one blow, I was able to shoot it directly in the dangling eye and dropped the Aquamarine, with blood oozing out of the stump where her head used to be. The mutated Garnet shook violently and her mouth gaped open slowly with black oil spurting out of it, and slowly what appeared to be the head of an inside out wolf, it growled and barked in a horrible way. Lapis pulled out her pistol and fired it, but hit it in the shoulder.

 

Steven was just looking in shock as he slowly reached for ammunition as the creature slowly inched closer to us, once he found a bullet it slipped out of his fingers and me and Lapis kept our pistols aimed at the creature as Steven Knelled to get the bullet and put it in the shotgun. Suddenly, the creature pounced at Steven, Lapis and I opened fire, each of us shot it six times in the head and it’s bleeding corpse rag-dolled onto Steven.

 

“Son of a bitch…” sighed Steven as he pushed the corpse off him and looked at me “I forgot to ask you this earlier but, do you have a pocket knife on you?” I nodded and tossed him my switchblade, he looked over the creatures body and searched for Garnets gems, he found them and slowly dug the knife into her hand cutting out the gems and bubbling them. “There is a chance…” said Steven as he got up and walked towards the palace. “There should be an intercom inside White Diamonds room…”

 

We followed him, but guarding the palace doors were the two fused heads of that of Peridot and Amethyst, “Y-you three are gonna die here!” said the head in a raspy and nasally voice that seemed to be layered between both of their voices. “W-we are the ones who will suck your will to live and damn you all to hell!” they both laughed as Steven rolled his eyes and stuck the shotgun barrel in the heads mouth as it stopped laughing and looked up at him. “Suck on this…” this Steven as he fired making the two fused heads explode, blood got stained on my white button up shirt, and Lapis’ dress was covered. “Jesus…” me and Lapis said as we went inside and scanned the place for entrances to whites room. There were 4 gigantic rooms and it was too dark to make out which room was hers, when suddenly we heard the chimes of the clock-tower within the palace striking midnight. As the tubular bells chimed 12 times we felt ourselves getting colder and colder, and inside each room a small portrait of each diamond can be seen, each one of them was wholesome in its own way, But as the chimes went on the portraits began to warp in peculiar ways.

 

Yellow Diamonds face slowly melted off the canvas, Blue Diamonds eyes began to bulge and her mouth made a horrible looking grin, Pink Diamonds face went from happy and Innocent to shrived and decayed, and finally White Diamonds Arms began to elongate and her eyes blackened. “Well...that wasn’t too hard was it?” Said Steven in a snarky way as we followed him inside the large room

 

9- Deep Six

As we let ourselves in the room, each one of us picked up a scent of that of wax and mercury. It felt even colder than ever and I gave Lapis my leather jacket, “You need this more than I do…” Lapis grinned and said “Thanks, this room should have an intercom room up top near the ceiling. Steven spotted it but spotted something else as well. Soon the lights in the room slowly began to brighten up revealing how blank it was, and that's when we saw a large blob like creature up on the ceiling, it was pink pearl and her color was slowly fading away and tried reaching for us in need of help, but it was too late. Her face slowly began to fall off revealing her screaming skull with one rolling eye that eventually popped and pink pearl disappeared into the blob of grey liquids.

 

Me and Lapis got our guns ready as Steven kept his gun on the blob, but then the blob started to form this long black tube that slithered and grew around the room and finally made its way on the ground and out came White Diamond with a large empty mouth and soul crushing eyes that stared at everything, and not to mention the thin elongated arms. Lapis quickly spread her water wings and flew Steven up to the intercom room and turned it on, but White turned her head to them and snatched up Steven by the leg. I shoot whites arm making her drop Steven, who then landed on his back.

 

He got up and was perfectly fine, just a bit stunned and White looked at him and whispered “Do you like our bed?” as she quickly grabbed Steven by the hand and ripped it clean off. Me and Lapis rushed to make sure he was fine, Lapis ripped a strip of cloth from her dress and wrapped it around Stevens ragged stump oozing blood all over his arm. Lapis flew me up to the intercom while I pointed my gun at white and quickly made my way up to the intercom and shouted “Attention all gems of Homeworld, you need to evacuate yourselves as soon as possible, the plague is spreading leave now to The Moon-base!” I rang the alarm and before you know it they all began to flee.

White stared at me and laughed, “Your bullets cant harm me at all…” That’s when I heard a small voice in the distance that echoed through the room, It was Spinel and she had a tear in her eye as she looked upon the warped Diamond and began to sing Blue Dress once more within the dead silence.

 

“Put it on, I can feel so much, Put it on, I don't need to touch, Put it on, Here before my eyes, Put it on, Because you realize, And you believe, Something so worthless, Serves a purpose, It makes me a happy man, Can't you understand, Say you believe, Just how easy, It is to please me, Because when you learn You'll know what makes the world turn….”

 

White slowly began to turn back to normal as the song went on. And once spinel finished the song, she turned around to us and screamed, “Shoot! Shoot me now!” we opened fire with tears running down our faces and whites body dropped down to the floor and twitched, and Spinel began to break down and cry.

 

Steven went over to Spinel while keeping pressure on his bleeding stump of a hand, “Go on and get home you 2, I'll probably see you two in the future.” he saluted us and rushed Spinel to safety, and Lapis cut open Whites gem and bubbled it as quick as possible. I held her hand and picked up my gun as we ran towards the Warp-Pad I have come from.

 

I looked Lapis in the eyes and told her, “Lapis, why don't you come live with me on Earth and me and the rest of my family can provide food and comfort for the rest of your life instead of living everyday in fear.” She nodded and responded, “Thank you so much Roger!” she said as we both stepped onto the Warp-Pad and we arrived back.

 

10- The Incident

As we got back, no one was to be seen, the ship just sat there and rocked itself as the waves clashes silently against the boat. We went inside and looked into the control room only to discover Ricky and the rest of the crew were all under the table, they armed themselves with flare guns, “whats going on?” I asked as me and Lapis pulled out our pistols. Ricky stuttered and responded with, “Brycen and 3 of his friends, they have knives and AKs on them and they are looking for you.”

 

Me and Lapis get up and we slowly walk around the deck looking out for Brycen or any of his friends. Suddenly, Owen came out of a corner and charged at me with a knife and missed, I then hit him over the head with the pistol knocking him out cold. “One down…” suddenly Nick and Asher fired their guns at us and one bullet nearly hit me on the shoulder, they kept firing at us but didn’t take them long to run out of bullets. I quickly shot them both in the shin and I knocked them both out with the bottom of my pistol. Suddenly Brycen grabbed Lapis, pointing his AK to her head “Don't you fucking move Roger, or i’ll bow her brains out!” he screamed as he backed up onto the dock. “Brycen you better have a good explanation for this whole thing…” I said pointing my pistol at him.

 

“You want a motive? i’ll give you a good fucking motive. All my life I've been so goddamn sick of being the bad egg in the family, and I'm surprised that our slut mom allowed me and my friends to join you on this pointless voyage.” soon his friends started to recover and walk towards me and Brycen, they held out their knives and came towards us slowly. “Now say goodbye to your precious little blue fucking freak!” suddenly as they inched closer to the warp pad, the creature that used to be Jasper appeared from the warp pad and roared loudly.

 

It was bigger than ever and had Venus fly trap heads coming out of her chest and snapping. “What the hell is that!” screamed Brycen as he stared at the monster. He let go of Lapis and she ran towards me, but as I went to shoot the monster with my pistol, the monster swung its large Mantis-like arms at Brycen and cut him in half, his upper half was swept up by its arm, Brycen was still alive somehow, he had only 2 minutes of living and was screaming his lungs out, but that soon changed, the monster fed him to the Venus fly trap head in its chest and Brycen continued to scream as his body got crunched up by its large teeth.

 

Soon he died from a simple bite to the head, all that was left of him was the bottom half of him, and an eye that popped right out of the socket when his head got crushed. His bottom half knelled down as a geyser of blood shot out of it all over the monster as the other 3 began to run away and scream. They couldn’t run far enough however, and the monster made sure that those 3 were eaten and killed in horrific ways, Asher was decapitated by one swing of its arm

 

His head fell off the dock and his body began to punch and swing around like a chicken with its head chopped off and soon fell dead within seconds and was picked up by the squirming long worms that came out of the creatures knees and began shredding the body up into pieces until nothing was left except a puddle of blood that soaked into the wood of the dock.

 

Nick and Owen tried jumping off the dock and into the ocean, but they soon got caught by two giant green tentacles that shot out of the navel. The two tentacles wrapped themselves around both of their feet and swung them around at very high speed, one of them even vomited. Then Owen got smashed head first into the dock, his head bursts splattering blood everywhere, Nick was still being swung around by the large tentacle and his leg broke.

 

Nick screamed bloody murder and was soon flung up into the air by the tentacle and as he came back down, he was impaled by the tentacle and split in half vertically. The monster ate their remains and Ricky witnessed it all, and not to mention the surveillance camera on top of the boat that had recorded everything.

 

Ricky rushed me and Lapis to the boat while shouting “Get in! Get in and take cover now!” he said as we sped away on that large boat. Ricky got on top of the boat, wielding a shotgun and firing it at the monster, but the monster went into the sea.

 

11- The Arrival

As we arrived to the Downtown marina, we saw my Mom holding a sign that said “Welcome Home!” on it. We just looked at her with a straight face and didn’t even blink. As we got our boat tied down we went off and me and Lapis ran towards her, hugging her tightly and I began to cry. “What's the matter sweetie Did you miss me?” my mom asked “And who is this? Isn't she that character from that show that you watch?” she added. “Mom, Brycen and his four friends have been killed…” Mom began to cry, “How so?” she asked as she gripped my shoulders. “They've been mauled and mutilated alive by a corrupted being…” said Lapis as she put her hand on Mom’s shoulders.

 

We lead her to the control room and showed her the footage of the deed that the monster has done to them. Terrified, my Mom screamed and threw up in a nearby trash bin. “Oh my poor poor baby…” she moaned as she began to cry and soon fainted. Paramedics came by and rushed Mom to the hospital. I took the footage and saved it on a USB in case someone tried to accuse my uncle Ricky of murder.

 

I took Lapis home and took the time to rest and get some food. “D-do you think Steven will need us in the future?” asked Lapis, “Probably, there's no telling where that plague will continue. But listen here, we can always go back to help, and don't worry if we end up being killed off in the process, just realize that in the end we made a sacrifice…” Lapis grinned, “You're right! But we do need to prepare ourselves for our next hunt as well, and with that thing on the run it wouldn't be too long before Homeworld gets invaded again and need our help…” mentioned Lapis.

About an hour later my Dad arrived home from his trip, I went up to him and hugged him tightly and he hugged back just as tightly with tears running down his face, “I'm so glad that you're OK son…” he wept as he held me close and I responded “I'm glad too, and just know that Brycen is in a better place now...OK?” He nodded and chuckled a little bit “Kinda hard to believe that though..., after the things he has done…” he continued to bawl. “It will be fine dad…” I told him.

 

Then Dad looked to Lapis and was very confused, “Son...who is this?” I responded, “This is Lapis, I found her while we went on our expedition…” He then looked to me and asked “She’s from that show you watch right?” I nodded and he knelled down to speak to her “Ms. Lapis...My names Kyle and I want you to take good care of my son Roger for me please when i'm gone…Welcome to the Family.” she smiled and Dad patted her on the back and he went back in his car to go check on Mom at the hospital.

 

I showed Lapis around the house for the rest of the day and took her on a tour around my room, I showed her my mask and vinyl collection, and I even set up a bed for her which was a big  fluffy bean bag chair with a warm purple blanket on it. She however denied the offer and asked if we could share my king sized bed, and of course I allowed her. On my desk I found the 4 Polaroids from 2 weeks ago, it seems as if they have they have been developed.

 

The 1st image was a picture of modern day Homeworld. The 2nd image was the picture of the night sky, it was more clear and the warped parts showed ghostly versions of the gems whom we’ve seen killed off. The 3rd image was the crime scene of Dr. Bearos with his head missing and his neck had a large bite mark. And the 4th Image had the giant Jasper corruption mutilating Brycen and his friends from a different angle.

 

12- The Trial

A few days later, my uncle Ricky got into serious trouble with the parents of Nick, Owen, and Asher, they accused him of being the one who killed them and so court was held on Saturday Morning on the 18th of July. I showed up in the courtroom and sat in the very back, the family of the 3 kids were on the other side of the room. The jury looked as if they knew the fate of my uncle Ricky already, as if they didn't need evidence to know he killed those 4 kids.

 

The judge, didn't seem to look too hot, he sat in his chair quivering and trembling, not to mention how pale he was. “Court is now in session,” said the judge slamming his gavel on the desk. “Will the suspect please take a stand.” commanded the judge, Ricky got up. “Richard Aydens, you are here today being charged with homicide, how do you plead?” asked the judge. “Not Guilty.” said Ricky as his lawyer arrived. “Your Honor I will be Richards lawyer, my name is Dan Harrison and I have proof provided by his Nephew and Brother that he did not kill those kids.” he said as he brought out the USB port and put it in the computer and played the footage for the whole courtroom to see.

 

Everyone in the room was shocked at the footage, Nick’s mother fainted and the jury seemed to be convinced. The Judge however did not seem to believe the footage, “Order!” he Yelled as everyone grew silent. “This has got to be the stupidest set of proof i’ve seen yet!” I got up holding out the Polaroid of the monster killing them. “I object! As a witness myself I can confirm that Richard did not kill them!” he examined the photo and his bald wrinkly face began to turn red and he began slamming the Gavel all over while chanting, “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!”

 

The 2 cops keeping custody of Ricky undid his cuffs and went to calm down the judge, until they noticed something odd. The judges head was growing slowly and his veins slowly started to pulsate out of the top of his head. He screamed and slammed holes into his desk with the gavel and his eyes began to bleed. And soon enough the top of his head grew a small egg shaped bulge and popped with tons of roaches erupting from it.

 

Everyone ran out of the courthouse screaming and running while I hurried Ricky in my mother's car and we sped away. When we got back, Ricky paused and began to laugh hysterically, he knelled to the floor and screamed out loud while laughing in a horrible way. Lapis hurried downstairs and called an ambulance and soon Ricky was put in a straight jacket by 2 men and was whisked away to the town's mental hospital.

 

Since these recent events, our family has been falling to pieces each day, as the months went on. My parents too have gone mad from what had happened and both of them are in the same mental facility as my uncle. Lapis and I own the house until they get back, I fear now that I will soon fall victim to the insanity that has cursed my own family. Me and Lapis still await the day when we are needed again to save Homeworld once more, and this my dear reader is where this story and journey comes to an end, and until next time...Keep your eyes open.

 

The End