Used to be abused - Steven Universe

Chapter 9 - The Perturbation (1/3)

I turned to look back but something fleshy hit me right at my face. I backed up as I rubbed a disgusting muck left sticking on me and as I looked up to see what it was, it was.... something.

A very disfigured creature of flesh and clothing stood opposite of me. I could tell that it was a gem as a glimmer of light reflected onto a shiny stone on it's forehead. I tried to recall of whatever thing I could have ever saw for my memories to manifest something like this, but remembered nothing.
As I was recalling my memories, beams of white light flashed my surrounding as scenes and old memories manifested and blurred which changed to whatever I was thinking of but finally ended up back at the void of blackness again.

"Huh, I don't remember you...", I said facing at the creature, "well, might as well try and find a way out of here..", I turned away and ambulated into the the deep void, unknowing where it would lead me to. I completely forgotten about the creature by then, but something was still not right about it. It's blank and lifeless stare and motionless stance makes one go uneasy thinking of it. I strayed far enough that the creature was no longer in sight, however I still acquired a daunted feeling over my surrounding. it was an enigmatic and dark place to be at and made me wary. I passed a couple of memories on the way, with scenes and gems frozen in place, as if inanimate to the eye.

Silence filled the void, nothing but my footsteps were all that I could hear. Until, I noticed that a sound was coming from behind me. I ignored it, thinking that my mind was just playing tricks on me, it was subtle, but soon I noticed that they were getting louder. Soon enough, the sound was now clear that they belonged to the taps of someone's footsteps. I couldn't deter the fact that they weren't real anymore and so I turned my head slightly behind, cornering my eyes to whatever was back there, but, there was nothing.

Nothing was there. Nothing but just the dark void of my mind covering each and every bit of my sight. The sound of footsteps were still there however, but I was now confused where it emitted from. My eyes cornered my back direction, still in tact of whoever or whatever was trailing me as sweat trickled down on the side of my face.
I began to continue my steps forward, still briefly uneasy of my apprehension. I stepped forward and blurred into another memory, passing each scene in a fast pace than before. The footsteps were apparently quickening in pace as slaps of it's heavy flesh thumped the grey ground hard, hard enough to rumble.

My gaze was fixed straight upfront as I saw a bright leak of light intrude from the darkness. "Hukh, what the heck is that?", I assertively resonated in my mind to whatever was following me. The footsteps were starting to fade and I was relieved, but my peace was short lived as three of the same horrifying creatures emerged beside the light in the distance. I halted my steps trying to see where the situation would lead me to. One of the creatures amongst the three stepped up and dashed it's way to my direction following the two behind it.

Looking around, I noticed that the previous creature was running up to me as well. I was surrounded by a bunch of creatures heading towards me, probably intending to harm me in any way. I took avail of the situation as soon as they got close to me and leaped up over one of them and landed opposite of the bunch as they all collided with each other.

I ran straight for the light ahead of me as I left the creatures behind but before stepping into it, I took a final glance at them, who were in no hassle whatsoever after colliding. They were just standing there, leaving a dreadful sense of fear in me as I stepped away from the void and entered the bright light.

•••---<><><>•••___•••<><><>---•••

I awoken from what had felt like a dream. My sight was still blurry however, but the voices in the background assured me that I was now out of my memories.
"Is she going to be okay?", a soft voice started.
"She's gonna be fine! We just need to get out of here!", a raspy voice replied agitatedly.
"She's waking up!", another voice spoke.
My vision slowly adjusted to the surrounding but as soon as they did, I had found myself surrounded by three gems, all looking at me with worried looks. Tourmaline grabbed me by my elbow and started to question,
"Pearl! Oh your really fine..", she wrapped me in her arms, "... what did you see? Who were you with? Or what, were you with, in there?", she asked sounding concerned.
"I saw, a creature.. I think it was a gem though, why do you ask?", I began as I turned to the others.
Tourmaline didn't answer me but instead, Howlite chimed in and warned us, "The guards are coming, we need to move, they're getting close!".
Zircon at her left retorted,
"But where? We're nowhere close to a suitable shelter, we have to stay hidden!".
Howlite argued, "I know this place in and out, just follow me and we'll be fine!".
Zircon had finally agreed to the argument causing me and Tourmaline to follow the direction they were going to.

Based on the surrounding, I was quite sure that they had been scavenging far enough in homeworld to escape the guards as mentioned by Howlite. The place was entangled by a gross variety of plants and looked like as if we were in some sort of old menagerie. Broken piles of glass were scattered everywhere as each step we tiptoed crunched the specks and pieces of glass beneath our toes. We entered through an opening in the dark as a soft green light beamed from an open field of gems outside from where we were. I tiptoed carefully into the dark as I examined the multiple amount of Quartz soldiers through the crack of the wall. They were dispersed and were on the hunt of a team of infamous gems.

Based on how Howlite looked, she seemed unsure on where she was actually leading us to.
"Hey, Howlite, so where are we exactly going through this route?", Tourmaline whispered as we hunched down through a broken entrance. She took a while before responding as she glanced around in pure confusion, "I - I, don't really know actually. This area seems new.", she explained as her vision landed to a direction in the distance.
"Well, wherever we are, just get us to somewhere you actually know!", Zircon exclaimed.

Before I could add anything else, Howlite dashed her way to a Blue door in the distance. We all followed behind her as she made a stop in front of the closed entrance. As much as I wanted to question on where we were or what we were doing there, the others seemed a bit unsure about it too.
"Well, our options are getting thin and there is literally nowhere else to go. Its either we open the door or head back having the risk of getting caught.", Howlite said unsurely.
"As you just said, our options are becoming thin and we can't risk anything that can go wrong so lets just go back!", Zircon declared in a fit of slight grump. ".. who knows where we might end up through this door. We might get caught!", she continued.

Tourmaline disagreed to Zircon's fit and decides heavily to go through the door.
"Lets just do this, if we even get caught, we can just fight them off. We can spare time to escape right after.",
She said.
Howlite still wasn't convinced that either of those were decisive and so she relied on me to make the decision.
"Pearl, what do you think?", she asked leaving me clueless.

I took a glance at the door and felt a surge of familiarity in me. The door was decorated in dark and light shades of blue and was engraved with lines shaped like flowers.
Howlite pressed the side panel and it lit up and was ready to open the entrance.
"Well, Pearl, we don't have all day.", Zircon grumped anxiously.
Perturbed and blind with fear in the heat of the moment, I finally let out an answer, "I... think, we should... open the door.", I answered unsurely.

Howlite tapped a button which emitted a beep from the panel and the doorway slowly opened. Behind the door, we were greeted to a familiar sight, I was greeted with a familiar sight as the others ambulated easily. The room was decorated with a variety of crystals and ornaments, all shaped in the Diamond insignia. We walked in surprised to not be bothered by any guards or security. The sight was clear and shady as the room we entered became Bluer and more expanded.

The surge of familiarity surpassed me by the limit as I finally realised where we were striding towards. We were heading into a Diamond throne room!