Stevonnie Forever

Wailing Stone

    After a few weeks of anger management, They were released from the classes and allowed back into the school. Frankly they didn't feel it helped, but back at their dorms Steven had been practicing with the Pink state. While he still couldn't control when it happened, he managed to reach a point where he could control his powers while he was in the state, so it wasn't likely they were going to destroy the cafeteria again, or anything else for that matter. They had been out of school for a while and apparently had missed a really interesting unit in history about strange artifacts, but they were back just in time for the last lesson; apparently the professor pulled some strings and managed to get a artifact in known as a shrieking pillar. They left that morning exited for class.

    "You know, it's probably a Wailing Stone"

   "That doesn't make it any less cool to see it in class"

    "I'm more concerned that it is transmitting; what's going on that they are using the wailing stones?"

    "I guess we'll find out in class, or if not than in two more days when we open the letter"

    When they arrived in class, the teacher began a short lecture. "As has been discussed before, these shrieking pillars have been found in many strange structures around the world. Ancient records indicate that at some point they transmitted intelligible speech, but they haven't done so in thousands of years, leading most historians to believe that it is just a myth." The professor hoisted one onto the desk and removed a pillow from the inside to unleash its deafening scream. Seeing this, Stevonnie was certain it was a wailing stone and raised their hand. After a moment of stuffing the pillow back the professor called on them.

    "Professor; that's a gem artifact known as a wailing stone, and I know how to un-garble the message."

    "Really, let's see it then"

    "Ok I'm going to need a microphone and a television." The professor was bewildered but wheeled out the television and microphone. "You see, the issue is Homeworld hasn't used wailing stones in thousands of years, they use transmitters instead, which release a video signal. We just wire this here microphone into the video input and feed the sound in and it should become a message." Following their own instructions, Stevonnie hooked up the wailing stone. The class stood in awe as an image formed on the television.

    The class, they didn't know who it was, but Stevonnie knew; it was Peridot. The message she bared was set to repeat, looping endlessly and drumming in their mind. The signal wasn't clear; the equipment wasn't the best quality but it was enough to know something was wrong.

    "This is Peridot, transmitting to all earth -krttz- wailing stones. I'm stationed at -krtz- with troop 1- -krrtz- We have a code g 5 and the -krrtz- are rearing for the big one. Follow Garnets orders and let's -krrtz- they're back in time."

    Stevonnie began glowing pink. The students knew the drill by now, they all ducked under their desks. They knew something was going to happen if Stevonnie went Pink. They excused themselves with a simple "I need to make a call." Nobody cared you stop them.

    They pulled out their phone and called Pearl with no answer which was strange, as she always picked up. They called Garnet instead, who answered the phone before it had rung, and replied with a curt "No." and hung up. Nevertheless, that simple no told a lot. There was notes of stress in Garnet's voice, and a clashing of steel could be heard in the background. Something big was happening, but they weren't supposed to be there.

   The rest of the day went uneventful; or at least they thought it did; they weren't paying attention, their mind was occupied with the message.

    The day afterwards, they called in sick. They weren't actually sick, but they felt like they were sick. Their mind was hazy, their body ached, and strangely enough, their emotions were erratic. They sat in their dorm and pondered what was to happen the next day. When the time came to get to sleep, no such thing occurred. They stayed awake all night. The aches were getting stronger. Alone they were enough to keep them awake, but coupled with the stress, it was just too much. They went out and gazed at the stars. There was one that was exceptionally bright, and something told them it wasn't there the night before.