Steven Universe: The Diamond Legacy

Chapter 7

The cold mountain air was a welcoming embrace. I stepped off the Warp Pad overlooking the evergreen valley bordered by snow capped peaks. Lone eagles soared above the thermals and far off down below, a wolf pack howled.

I was alone on the mountainside, eyes red with tears and a crushing melancholy in my chest. I screamed my pain and rage out into the valley, warping the air and sending the eagles retreating to their nests. Silencing the song of the wolves. If there were any humans in the forests below they would've wet themselves with fear.

I wanted to sob my heart out to the end of the century, but this wasn't the place. I could still be found here, as wild and isolated as these mountains are. My secret place, the place only I knew, lay up on this mountain. Picking up the walking stick I lay next to the Warp Pad I began my hike up.

The serenity of the forest calmed me down , though, I still freely wept. I knew the trail as easily as I knew my neighborhood. Except for me, it had only been used by The Crystal Gems thousands of years ago.

Surprisingly, I wasn't isolated enough where cell reception wasn't reachable. Twelve times my phone went off and twelve times I furiously declined. Why can't they just LEAVE ME ALONE!?

The thirteenth time it rang I was ready to chuck the damn phone off the mountain, but the name stopped me.

"Nora are you okay?" Amethyst said urgently. "Your mom and dad have been trying to call you forever. The Gems are all worried about you."

Of course he had to call the Crystal Gems...

"Not really." I said with a lump in my throat. " I'm safe but that's it. I got into a fight with my parents and I just had to leave." I swallowed hard and let the tears overcome me. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Awww Champ." She answered full of sympathy. " It's okay, you don't have to. I'm sorry. I know what that's like. It's gonna get better trust me. Everything's gonna be fine."

I sniffled. "Look, tell everyone I'm okay. I just need to be alone."

"You got it." She answered. "Nora, whenever you're ready, just remember you can always talk to me. I'll be right by your side no matter what."

"Thank's cousin." I smiled. "I love you."

"Right back at ya!" The call ended and I was alone again, feeling a little less awful than before.

I came upon a slab of iridescent slate on the rock face. Reflective slate, mined from another planet and imported to Earth to build impenetrable fortresses for the Gem colony. Any attack inflicted on it would be repelled back(hence the name). I touched my glowing hand on the stone tablet and like magic, the rock face itself parted like massive gates, revealing a crown-like fortress implanted and carved into the mountains. 

It was an entire world for me to explore. I've been going here for years, ever since I discovered a peculiar shape on Boogle Maps. It was my place of solitude, my secret hideaway I could escape the world and truly be myself. At first I was worried about booby traps and security systems, but they were all deactivated by the invading Crystal Gems who eventually took over the fortress. (You'll see how I came to to this conclusion once inside).

The inside of the fortress was like stepping inside a cavern of shimmering ice. The iridescent slate reflected the light of the crystals like a dragon's scales. Gem glyphs shimmered on the walls in an ancient language, guiding you where to go. I didn't need their directions, I knew every corner of this place through years of exploration. I remembered every room down to the smallest detail and illustrated them in a journal hidden in this very place. I made my way to the highest tower, rising like a shard of  serrated glass above the fortress. 

 On the tallest level of the tower was a mural of Pink Diamond herself. One I had seen countless times in the textbooks. It was damaged, someone had torn through the mural, clawing like a beast and leaving jagged tears down the figure of the youngest matriarch. Flakes of its stone still littered the floor.

Standing in front of it was a regal statue of Rose Quartz brandishing her sword  as she  boldly  looked out over the mountains.  Emotions swelling in my heart, I sat next to the statue, touching my hand to her stone fingers. You would have understood me.  My tears plunked against the stone floor.  

A red glow permeated the sky, drawing me out of my melancholy. I walk out onto the balcony and see a streak of red light fall from the sky and crash in a billowing smoke plume at the bottom of the valley.

I narrowed my eyes. "A meteorite?" I whispered, looking at the crash site in the distance. Since when did they glow red? Something was off about this, but I couldn't put my finger on what. I decided to go and investigate. Leaping off the tower I floated in descent to the forest below, It might only be a falling space rock, but at least it will take my mind away from everything that's happened.

Little did I know, that decision would change the course of my fate forever