#and the pearl is surrounded by green goop

[little-pondhead]

This post reminded about a draft I had sitting around, so I finished it :)

I will go to the grave pushing the ocean core!Dani

You have heard of ghost cores? Yes? No?

And have you read about them cracking or being crushed to dust?

What if cores weren't crackable/ crushable or at least there were more than one kind of core?

Give me gooey cores, give me layered cores, frozen cores, molten cores, apple cores, give me stress ball cores, malleable cores, fragile bubble cores or insanely durable cores.

Maybe cores can exist on a separate plans of existence,so you might can see it on a scan but you can't interact with it

[four-of-diamonds-au]

Chapter 1: Gem Glow for Two

Steven ran back to his house under the Temple. The twelve year-old boy was carrying a small freezer strapped to his back by the cord, humming to the pace of every step. Earlier that day he’d found out that the Big Donut, one of his favorite places to get sweet snacks, had stopped carrying Cookie Cat, his favorite ice cream sandwich. Giving in to the boy’s crying, Sadie had offered to let him take the freezer home as a souvenir.

As Steven took a turn around the large cliff, the giant stone temple looming over his normal-looking house became visible, surrounded by the vast view of the ocean. As he kept running, his sandals making small tapping sounds on the sand, he noticed something unusual about the landscape.

The ruins of the arms and hands that had fallen off the multiple-armed giant woman-shaped temple were all there as usual. The beach looked exactly how it always did during a low tide… With one exception.

Next to one of the broken stone hands buried in the sand, there was someone standing. The figure of a girl with short, spiky brown hair and a short complexion became evident as he drew closer. She seemed to be leaning onto the rocky hand, trying to get sand out of her sneakers.

“Hi!”, Steven called out. It was quite unusual for anyone to approach the temple, let alone someone he’d never seen in Beach City before.

The girl turned around rapidly, apparently startled. She didn’t seem to have noticed as the boy approached her, and took a defensive stance in a moment. “Uh, hi.”, she replied while noticing she now had sand on her foot, which was covered by dark brown tights. She sighed.

“Are you new around here? Did you get lost? Not a lot of people come to this part of the beach!”, Steven tried to strike up a conversation.

“Yes, no, and I had already figured that out from how hidden this place is. Do you live here, by any chance?”

The boy was slightly taken aback by the incredibly direct reply, but since she didn’t seem like she was being blunt on purpose he replied.

“Yeah, that’s my house! I’m Steven, by the way. What’s your name?”

“Audrey.”, she replied. “If you’re the boy who lives in that house, then you must be… You know...”

Steven tilted his head , puzzled, but kept smiling.

“Alright, I suppose I’d better explain what I’m doing here and all that. I’d heard rumors about a kid who lived here in Beach City in a house under a temple -- that would be you. Those rumors said you, and the people who live with you here are… magical?”

Steven beamed upon hearing these words. “That’s right! I live here with the Gems, they’re all awesome and have really great powers and I… well, I’ve got my own gem too”, he said as he lifted his shirt to show a pink, shiny gemstone placed where his navel would normally be, “but it doesn’t do a lot yet. The Gems told me I got it from my mom when she gave birth to me. They all speak really highly of her… I hope I’ll be able to use magic too, someday!”

Audrey stared in silence as she listened to Steven. She seemed intrigued by his pink navel gemstone. “What about your mom? Does she live with you too?”

Steven didn’t seem to know what to say for a moment. “Well… She gave up her physical form to give birth to me. I never got to meet her, actually. All I know is that I have her gem. But ah, my dad always tells me all of this is really hard to understand for humans… I’m sorry if this is weird or confusing! Anyway, she isn’t around anymore. Why did you wanna know?

“That’s odd…” she said as she scratched her chin for a moment, then looking back up at Steven. “Oh, but don’t worry! Actually, I know a bit of what you’re trying to tell me… I’m not exactly a normal kid either.”

She used two of her chubby fingers to lower the collar of her t-shirt a little. It was then that Steven saw it, a reflected yellow light that had no business being under a young girl’s shirt. It was bright and faceted, a gem much like his own.

“Whoa-- WHOAAAAAA, YOU’RE A GEM TOO?!”

“Shh, there’s no need to shout!” she said, taking a step back as she cringed slightly. “I’m not sure I’d call myself a Gem, but I sure do have one. That’s why I came here… I figured maybe you were like us. Seems like I was right.”

“Us?” Steven asked after scratching his head in embarrassment over the girl’s reaction to his loud exclamation. “What do you mean with that?”

“Oh, right. He’s not here right now, but I have a brother. He has a gem on his chest as well. But… we do have our mom. That’s the only person who’s raised us, actually. She seems to be a full gem, but my bro and I need to sleep and eat just like humans. If you’re half-human and we’re the same, that would explain a lot.”

“Yea, the Gems always told me that my human half means I need to sleep and eat unlike them. But wow, there’s even one more person like us? Your brother? I can’t believe it! Having a sibling must be so cool!”

The boy’s eyes seemed to gleam like stars as he spoke those last few words. He was so excited, next thing Audrey noticed he was grabbing her wrist and taking her in the direction of the temple.

“I’ve gotta tell the gems about you, they’re not gonna believe it!!”, he exclaimed. His voice was already getting tired as he was half-dragging her across the beach at this point. She stumbled behind him, still somewhat confused about how fast he’d made that decision.

“Guys, you’re not gonna believe this!!” he yelled as he slammed the door open. Right then, he stopped on his tracks with Audrey behind him as he observed what was going on.

A green and black insectoid creature leaped towards them but was skillfully wrapped in a whip and pulled back by a short, purple-skinned girl. “Sup, Steven!” said Amethyst.

The three gems were inside the house fighting a lot of these strange green and black creatures. With a jaw-dropping combination of grace and skill, they kept fighting off the creatures and making them vanish in clouds of olive-colored smoke.

Audrey peeked over Steven’s shoulder, her eyes now glimmering like Steven’s had before. “Woooooooow, is your place like this all the time??”

“No… Not usually…” he replied, recovering from the surprise.

“Sorry Steven”, said Pearl as she held onto one of the creatures, “we’ll get these centipeedles out of your room in no time.”

“Aww, we don’t have to get rid of them! They look cool!” the boy said, just as the centipeedle Pearl was holding spat out a mouthful of corrosive green goop from its jaws. Steven nodded and stood back.

“Hey you guys? These things don’t have gems!” Amethyst noted.

“That means there must be a Mother somewhere.”, Garnet collectedly replied.

Steven gave Audrey the freezer on his back, much to her dismay and dodged a few of the remaining monsters to get to his combined fridge, which was now open. He took a centipeedle out of it, which knocked over a bottle of milk. Then, he looked up into the freezer as he complained about the creatures getting everywhere. Suddenly, his eyes stoped over a familiar-looking pile of packages.

“Are… are these…?”

“Well, we heard they weren’t going to make any more and since they’re your favorite…” replied Pearl.

“...we went out and STOLE a bunch!!” Amethyst interrupted. “Just like Steven’s been stealing some hearts today! Why dont’cha introduce us to your girlfriend over there, Steven?”

“I went back and paid for them.” Pearl retorted, irritated. “But who’s your little friend, Steven?”

“This is Audrey, I met her on the way here! This is great, now we could share some Cookie Cats!”

“Actually, I like Lion Lickers…” Audrey replied. “But thanks for the offer! And these people must be the Gems who live with you?”

“That’s right.” said Garnet.

“They don’t even look like lions!!” Steven complained, stubbornly putting a Cookie Cat in Audrey’s hand. He then sang the advertisement song happily. “He’s a frozen treat with an all new taste...”

The two children began to eat the ice cream, Audrey actually smiling openly for the first time since she met Steven. “They’re no Lion Lickers, though!”, she joked.

This time Steven didn’t answer. Him and the Gems were focusing on a strange pink glow that enveloped the room… coming from his gemstone.

“Quick, try to summon your weapon!” Amethyst told him.

Audrey looked puzzled. Weapon?

Steven focused hard, as hard as he could, but as quickly as it began the glow started to vanish. No signs of a weapon. “Aw man, I was so close! Could you guys teach me how to summon your weapons?”

“Can I tag along?” Audrey asked. “Promise I won’t get in the way!”

The children followed the Gems around as they attempted to explain how they summoned their weapons, but all of their methods were too confusing and contradicted each other. They went back without any results, however.

“Maybe my best bet is to recreate the last time my gem glowed!” Audrey gave Steven an unsure nod, but a nod nonetheless. With her reassurance, he tried to get everyone in the exact same positions they were in when his gem glowed. He tried to sing the song in a hurry, but missed a lot of the lyrics and nothing happened.

“Aw man, it was funnier the last time!” he complained, then sighed. “Maybe I’m not a real Crystal Gem.”

He glanced quickly at Audrey, who looked down to where her own gem was. She was silent but her eyes were clouded with disappointment. Did that mean half-gems couldn’t utilize any amazing powers?

“Don’t be silly, Steven. Of course you are!” reassured Pearl.

“And you’re fun to have around, even if your gem IS useless!”, Amethyst started before Pearl gnarled at her. “I mean… you’re one of us, Steven! We’re not the Crystal Gems without you!”

Garnet nodded.

“You’re right… I may not have powers, but I’ve still got… COOKIE CAT!!” the boy replied as he took a large bite out of the ice cream sandwich.

As he munched, the gemstone on his navel began to glow even brighter than before. Without Steven realizing it as he munched on ice cream, a pink rotating shield was projected from within his gem and to the outside.

In shock, Audrey and the Gems stared silently for a few moments. Pearl broke the silence.

“Steven… It’s a shield!”

Opening his eyes to find his weapon floating in front of him, Steven was overcome by excitement. “I get a shield? OOOH YEAH!!”

As he jumped in joy, the shield was released from his gem’s pull and flew off, bouncing around the house for a while until it landed on -- and broke -- the TV. Amethyst laughed.

“I summon my weapon by eating ice cream!!”, Steven concluded. Audrey stared at the one in her hand that she’d saved from before, unsure. Her gem hadn’t even glowed a tiny bit from eating it. Maybe there was a specific food that worked for her?

“What’s in these things?”, Pearl wondered as she picked up Steven’s package.

Suddenly, a rumble took over the house and a long silhouette with a mane and many legs passed through the translucent blinds. “It’s the Mother!!”, Garnet exclaimed as she jumped outside to fight the creature.

The other two gems followed, attempting to subdue the creature with their weapons and powers. Alone with Audrey, Steven began to collect a lot of extension cables from around the house.

“What are you doing?”, she asked, hanging her shoulders.

“I’m gonna fight too! With the help of Cookie Cat!!”

He plugged in the small freezer he’d gotten that morning, stuffed all the remaining Cookie Cats into it and rushed back outside. Upon seeing him, the Gems panicked.

He set down the freezer on the floor, a confident gaze in his eyes. He threw a stone at the centipeedle’s head, took out one Cookie Cat, and ate it in a couple bites.

His powers didn’t activate, and the centipeedle still had the Gems under heavy attack. Steven ate one Cookie Cat after another, hoping for his shield to return, but to no effect. Reaching the last Cookie Cat, he stood there unsure on what to do next. That’s when a stray spill of green acid hit the freezer.

Steven fell on his knees, desolate. Not only had he eaten through his whole stash of Cookie Cats instead of saving them for when he actually wanted them, but now his mini freezer was also destroyed. Angry, he called out to the centipeedle. He grabbed the cable that kept the freezer plugged to the house’s electric installation, spun the short-circuiting freezer around and threw it at the monster to give it an electric shock. Centipeedle froze in pain for a few brief moments, buying the Gems enough time to counterattack.

Audrey stood silently on the deck as the fight unfolded. She’d never seen a fight like that in her life. However, one thing stood out. When Steven gave the monster an electric shock, she felt the electric current as it passed through the many cables next to her. That sensation of static, the electric shock she watched from a distance, they all felt… familiar.

Steven made a small hole where he buried the package of the last Cookie Cat, adorning it with a small leaf on top. It seemed like a small grave.

“Dude, are you crying?” Amethyst asked.

“Only a little!!”, the boy replied as he bawled his eyes out. The Gems and Audrey gathered around him.

“Well, I guess my powers don’t come from ice cream…”

“Maybe, but you were right. These were better than Lion Lickers!” Audrey commented. “I want to punch whoever decided to stop making them!”

The group laughed together. As Audrey chuckled, a yellow glow enveloped the area around them. She took a short moment to notice it, and immediately stood still as the yellow light peeking from underneath her shirt gleamed fiercely.

“Audrey! You’re glowing too!!”, Steven pointed out.

“I… I am!!”

Pearl opened her eyes wide, shocked. “It… can’t be! There were no other survivors, Rose checked everywhere when she was still with us...”

“Steven, why didn’t you tell us your new friend is a Gem?”, Garnet asked with a hint of nervousness in her otherwise calm voice.

“I was going to, but then all the Centipeedles and Cookie Cat… I didn’t have the opportunity to make her introduction as dramatic as it ought to be!”

Audrey helf back a chuckle. “I’m also not a regular Gem. I came here to Beach City looking for Steven because I think my brother and I are like him.”

Amethyst seemed amazed. “To think someone like Steven DID exist this whole time!!”

Steven turned back around holding onto his stomach, having just vomited from excessive consumption of Cookie Cats. “Yeah, I was surprised too! Speaking of which, where are your mom and brother right now?”

“Siblings? And they have a mother…?”, Pearl whispered to herself.

“They’re looking around the remains of Ocean Town right now. While I came here to find you, they’re also looking for another kid our age about whom a bunch of rumors also circulated. I came here alone, but my brother is too afraid of looking through a deserted area so Mom went with him.”

Steven nodded in understanding. “So, what are you going to do now that you’ve found me?”

“I’m supposed to wait here for their return with or without the other one of us, but… I didn’t expect this place to be such a small community. There’s no hotels or inns or anywhere to stay…”

“What if you stayed here at the temple?”, Suggested Steven.

“Steven, she can’t stay at the temple.” Garnet bluntly replied.

“What? Why?! Are we gonna leave her just hanging with no place to stay?”

Amethyst put a smug look on her face. “Well, we barely know her so letting her in the temple is too sudden, but… I could ask Vidalia if she’s got room for another kid for a few days!”

“Vidalia? Onion’s mom?”

Amethyst nodded. “Audrey here will be in good hands with Vidalia’s family for sure! When her mom and brother show up we can think of something else. How’s that?”

Pearl hesitated. “Well, that IS safer than bringing her into the temple for now…”

Garnet nodded pensively. “That’s definitely the better solution for now. Vidalia probably won’t mind, either.”

“I’ll take her there, then! See you in a bit, guys!” Amethyst waved as she put her other hand on Audrey’s shoulder. “C’mon, girl! If we hurry, maybe they’ll have extra dinner made for you as well!”

Audrey blushed, truly feeling that she was going to be a shameless freeloader. Steven caught her gaze again when he extended a hand to her.

“So… Cookie Cat buddies?”

“Cookie Cat buddies!” she shook his hand with a smile, leaving by Amethyst’s side.

☆

[e350tb]

Steven Universe: Marooned Together - Chapter Forty-Seven

(with thanks to @real-fakedoors for proofreading!)

Sadie pictured herself in an open field.

She stood alone, surrounded on all sides by green grass, snow capped mountains in the distance. A warm breeze brushed over her skin, and heard the gentle sound of birdsong. Why was she here? She couldn’t rightly say - perhaps she was grounding herself somewhere peaceful before she confronted…

...she couldn’t rightly say. All she knew was that she was confronting... something.

She looked down at herself - her body glowed yellow, rays of light radiating gently from her form. She couldn’t really define herself, save for a vague shape. Was she human under this light, or did the twisted form of Chrysalis confine her, the puppets strings still intent on making her dance and pirouette at the beck and call of the Diamonds?

She didn’t know. And right now, with her friends in danger? She didn’t care.

A second form appeared in front of her - or, perhaps, her mind, struggling to provide visual context to an entirely abstract struggle, created it. It was her outline, but this doppelganger suffused the air with inky darkness, its only distinguishing feature being blood-red eyes. This was Chrysalis - or some symbolic representation thereof - and where she stood, the grass turned grey and died.

“Chrysalis,” said Sadie.

Chrysalis shook her head.

“Distinguishing between us is useless,” she replied. “We are the same. You are simply the past - confused, passionate, obsolete.”

“No,” replied Sadie. “You’re not me. You’re the control the Diamonds put into my head to turn me into their…”

“You tell yourself that,” said Chrysalis, “because you cannot face responsibility for your actions.”

Above her, an image appeared - the two human Home Guards being disintegrated, followed by the annihilation of the Orange Pearl.

“That was you,” snapped Sadie. “Not me.”

“It was your hand,” snarled Chrysalis. “Your body. You did nothing to resist. Their deaths are on our hands.”

Sadie looked down and let out a somewhat strangled cry. Her hands were suddenly caked in an oozing red gunk, a deep metallic smell filling her nostrils.

“I couldn’t resist!” she snapped. “You were-”

“Like you can’t resist now?”

Sadie swallowed.

“We are the same,” declared Chrysalis. “I am your strength. And you…”

Sadie was suddenly yanked onto her back as the red goop forced her arms to the ground, merging with the soil beneath it. The sky began to darken as threatening storm clouds covered the blue canvas - the birdsong turned into the cries of a crow.

“...you are my weakness. And weakness must be rooted out.”

----

Lapis ducked under a shot from Sadie’s beam, losing her footing and crashing onto her back. The cyborg quickly aimed a follow-up shot, but Stevonnie slid into her line of sight and deflected the beam with their shield, sending it shooting upwards. It broke through the roof, creating a small skylight that shone down on Lars.

“Okay, I know I was raised from the dead, but this is just tacky,” said Lars dryly.

Sadie spun round, shooting off a beam towards the pirate - he was jerked back as Garnet yanked him out of the way. The fusion quickly responded, sending a gauntlet hurtling towards her opponent. Sadie raised her arm; it glowed green, and a square holographic shield emerged, blocking the strike.

Before she could act again, Lapis brought a watery blade onto her robotic arm - it bounced off, and the cyborg turned her attention to her. She spun round, her other arm clutching Lapis’ neck and beginning to squeeze.

“Lapis!”

Stevonnie shot forward, grabbing Sadie by the hair and yanking her back. She lost her grip of Lapis as Stevonnie forced her to the ground, holding her arms down and looking into her eyes.

“Sadie, please! It’s me, Stevonnie!” they urged.

For a moment, Sadie stared into their eyes.

Then she swiftly and unceremoniously headbutted Stevonnie, sending them reeling back and clutching their head. The cyborg swiftly jumped up, ready to get back into the fray…

----

Sadie gritted her teeth as the oozing gunk began to swallow her arms - she glanced down, seeing the same happening to her legs. Around her, the soil and grass turned into a sea of metallic red, and she felt the taste of blood in the air. Chrysalis walked slowly and mechanically towards her, her eyes piercing into Sadie’s.

“You fight what happened to you,” she declared. “You still see yourself as the organic. I discard that. I embrace my purpose - to fight for the Diamonds and the Empire.”

She reached Sadie and stopped, gazing down at her counterpart.

“You’re… you’re a monster!” shouted Sadie.

“We’re a monster,” corrected Chrysalis.

She extended her arms, gesturing at the raging sea of crimson around them.

“Don’t you see?” she demanded. “You cannot go back. You will never be who you were again. Weak. Pathetic. Human. And yet you cling to it. You are a virus in my code. You are a legacy bug. Your resistance must and will be quashed.”

“We… we’re not the same!” shouted Sadie. “You’re not me! Chrysalis is not me! I’m human!”

“Less than seven percent of our body is organic in origin,” replied Chrysalis. “Even if it were possible to reverse your conversion, the parts removed have long been discarded. You are no more human than you are gem. Your base form has been used to create something far superior.”

She knelt down.

“You are me, and I am you,” she said once more, “We both know that.”

She put a hand on Sadie’s chest.

“Stop resisting. Become one with me. Embrace who you are.”

Sadie closed her eyes, seeing her real situation in her mind - her body, standing over a bruised Stevonnie, preparing to fire a disintegration beam right into their face; Lars in the corner of her eye, charging towards her, ray gun in hand, and her free hand raising to deal with him.

She opened them again.

“Okay,” she said.

Chrysalis’ arm suddenly flowed apart, the waves of darkness flowing into Sadie’s form.

“What?”

“You’re right,” said Sadie. “We are the same. I’m not human.”

Chrysalis’ form began to flow apart as more of her sank into Sadie. Around her, the gunk began to part, flowing away as if blasted by an enormous gust of wind.

“But I’m not Chrysalis either,” Sadie continued. “I’m not Yellow Diamond’s toy. I’m me. I’m Sadie. Maybe I’m a robot - but I’m the robot that’s gonna ruin her day.”

----

Lars squirmed as Sadie lifted him against the wall, hand around his throat. He gasped for breath, desperately reaching for the ray gun he had dropped to the floor. White spots began to blot out the room around him, chest seizing, throat burning. Was this it? Was it over? He had to admit - it wasn’t how he’d expected to go.

Suddenly, Sadie blinked. Her body shook, and her grip loosened - Lars dropped to the floor as his friend clutched her head, gritting her teeth as one hand reached upwards towards her hair.

Coughing, Lars managed to hack out the sound of her name. “S-Sadie?”

“Nnnngh! Get… out… of my HEAD!”

She clutched the antenna and pulled. With a metallic snap, it ripped in two - she screamed, falling to her knees as her eyes shone a brilliant red. Then, like a ragdoll, she fell face-first to the ground.

“Sadie!”

Lars sat up, grabbing his friend and turning her over. Stevonnie, Lapis and Garnet were at his side just a heartbeat later.

Slowly, Sadie opened her eyes - they still glowed, but now they were a soft yellow.

“...Lars?” The mechanical reverb was still there, but it was far less harsh - far more human.

“I’m here,” Lars pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back gently. “I’m here…”

“What just happened?” asked Lapis, tilting her head.

“She fought her programming,” replied Garnet simply.

Sadie pulled back from Lars, rubbing her head.

“I… I was trying for so long,” she muttered. “I guess something in me just snapped…”

“It’s very difficult for a mind to be forced to destroy what it values,” Garnet nodded. “This outcome was always inevitable.”

“What?” Lapis crossed her arms. “So we weren’t in any danger? Why didn’t you tell us that?”

“I never said that,” added Garnet. “Sadie would always have broken free… we’re just lucky she did that before Chrysalis destroyed us all.”

“So there was a future where I…” Sadie trailed off.

She looked down at her robotic body - at her free-floating fingers, her metallic, painted torso, the single small window of flesh on her arm.

“...well, shit,” she said flatly.

She stood up, looking down at her shiny body, holding her hands in front of her eyes. For a long time, there was silence - Stevonnie seemed to be searching for something to say.

“I… I’m…”

Lars put a hand on her shoulder.

“You’re safe now, Sadie,” he said, his voice cracking. “That’s all that matters.”

Without further ado, he scooped Sadie into a tight hug, letting the tears flow freely from his eyes.

----

“We’ve lost contact with Chrysalis!” exclaimed 4DT.

“What?!” exclaimed Aquamarine.

4DT paced the control room, clutching her hair.

“We’ve lost contact,” he repeated. “Chrysalis is no longer responding to commands! They’ve taken it out of action.”

“That…” Aquamarine clenched her fists. “That was years of White and Yellow Diamond’s experimentation, and now it’s… it’s… this is your fault!”

“My fault?” replied 4DT. “How is it my fault! You-”

“Settle down.”

Both of them jumped and gazed towards the figure that still stood in the doorway, the faintest trace of a smile on her shadowed face.

“The drones remain active, so Project Chrysalis remains a success,” the figure explained. “Sadie Miller was never anything more than a side-project - all this has proved is that the human mind is… unsatisfactory. Like most, in fact.”

“I… a test?” 4DT pursed her lips. “And how do you know what White Diamond thinks? Maybe this is a disaster, and you’re just covering yourself so she-”

“I know, 4DT. Would you like to know too?”

The figure stepped forward, revealing herself - a white pearl, her hair tied into buns on either side of her face, a crack running over her eye. 4DT swallowed.

“N-no, I… I’m good.”

“Good,” said White Pearl, smiling vacantly. “Now, Rose Quartz will be here soon - we’d best get ready. Have the drones-”

“Yes, ma’am,” replied Aquamarine. “The prisoners are being…”

“Aquamarine.” White Pearl turned her head towards her, her body remaining totally still. “Never interrupt me again.”

Aquamarine shut her mouth and gulped.

“Bring me the Peridot,” continued White Pearl. “I want to have a heart to heart…”

[kriegisms]

100 Prompts - 001Birth

Inspiration Playlist: x x x

She isn’t long for this world.

She knows it as well as she knows herself. Knows every tract of land, every curve of the terrain. It is her, after all. Everything she is, everything she stands for. Or stood for; what she was and is has begun to change, she can feel it in her gut the shift of power over what she perceives as her place, her lands. Lands she has put herself on Death’s very threshold to protect, people that will soon no longer be hers.

Protect it from the creature who lies not far from her own broken body. Torn apart by this monster in human skin, the body lying within reach, his own sword sticking from his chest and a blood-curdling smile still plastered across his face. His eyes are still open, gleaming with his wrought carnage across their glazed unseeing surface.

They called him ‘War’. He was bigger than she was, likely due to his ever-imposing and brutal presence on the world. Maybe she wonders what will happen now that he’s dead, slain by her hand driven by rage and maternal instinct to guard. Will another take the mantle? Will there always be such a beast in this world that causes malady and destruction?

He inflicted heavy damages of his own, to be perfectly honest. Her body is torn, her ankles and parts of her lower legs splintered beyond repair. How she stood to face him after he broke her is a mystery she quietly and briefly entertains herself with before a final fleeting thought of how stained and torn her once-pretty dress is, smeared in dirt and gore. It was a gift to her from her people and she has sullied it.

Any semblance of structure is lost to her, punctuated with a wet cough, her arms shakily holding her lofted giving way and collapsing. Her mane, flowing and cloud-like, drops like dead vines to the earth alongside her, no longer wisping of its own accords. The final breath is a death rattle, the world fades to black and she finds peace in it.

The heartbeat is not expected, deep and pounding. Painful.

The ether is lost in a flash, a brilliant white light flaring across glazed eyes striking her back into wakeful agonizing life. Or something akin to it, at any rate.

Another thump in her chest, more forceful than the last. She gasps at it, her lungs greedily gulping in as much air as they can from being rendered inert. A wet wheezing hack erupts from her, her body starting to activate long before her mind does. It will be some time before she realizes on any conscious or subconscious level where she has been and come back from.

One hand claws at her chest, gripping it as another heartbeat thumps, threatening in its tenacity to kill her again before she has a chance to fully revive. They come more frequently but no less ferocious. Her existence reignites around this pulse, driven by solid instinct alone to push herself up with her free arm. The foundation is shaky at best, but it holds long enough for her to stabilize herself with her other hand, dirty fingernails leaving grimy scratches in her skin, deep enough to bead dark blood just barely to the surface along her throat and upper chest.

It is a little easier to breathe without the burning, her heartbeat steadying and no longer explosive. She is stable for a second when her abdomen cramps painfully and she loses the lock on one elbow. It sends her sideways before she balances again, the loose arm pulled to put pressure on her middle.

The whimper that escapes is punctuated with a heave. She tries to hold it in, attempting to exercise some sort of primitive subconscious control, unaware of the scratched lines tracing all across her body. Blood rises like dark pearls before, with a wet tearing noise, they rip open. The shock of feeling it happen simultaneously is the final tether on that basic control and with a final heave, she empties her stomach much against her will onto the ground in front of her.

She hasn’t noticed yet that it is not actually blood that leaks from her new stripes, not even appropriate vomit. Black and oozing, staining everything it touches a sickly shade of very dark green. Her hair falls in front of her face, dripping with the same ooze, no longer voluminous. She has all of a half-second to contemplate this turn of events before the next few violent stages of the transformation happen.

It starts with a tingling sensation under the skin, from head to toe. Curious, until the muscle in the areas under and around the striping wounds bulk and tighten, wrenching a cry of surprised agony from her gasping maw. The feeling of her teeth growing and shifting in their places makes her tighten her jaw against it, clenching the now-fanged jaws together as though the pressure will make them stop.

The sight is indescribably hideous, a mass of vague human shapes and little semblance to the being it was before. Beneath the mass, she still holds what she can only assume was what she was before. She feels everything in this space between space, a tiny hole between the body she was and the ever-shifting blob that is pushed into its place.

The stripes begin to heal, knitting grotesquely together as she continues to leak ichor from every opening and orifice, her watering eyes dripping black tears behind a veil of oily tendrils attempting apparently to melt into the ground around her and take her with it.

With the healing striped scars comes something more pressing. The splintered and shattered ankles and legs are slowly pulling themselves back into alignment. It hurts like fiery coals have been injected into her skin and when they are nearly done, only then does some conscious thought manage to tell her that something has gone horribly wrong in this process, but it doesn’t know what exactly is wrong.

The tingling sensation returns, behind her eyes before the migraine comes. Strong enough to blind her, to make her feel dizzy and nauseous again, her arms wrapped at her middle in an attempt to keep herself from throwing up. It lasts for a fair while, she loses track of how long exactly. It ebbs out like a slow tide, the last appropriate precursor before the blob of goop pulls and shapes and solidifies itself back into her.

Besides the staining on her skin, her hair is the only remnant of the ooze that she simply is, a metamorphic beastly creature that has no one face it can use. She will mostly keep the face she can remember and knows the most familiarly. Her mane, however, will be no more cloud-like and wispy as fog, but oily in its constant movement and as black as the void that spawned it.

She thinks individually, fully aware of what is happening when the main ordeal is over. Her brain functions enough to barely croak out her name as though afraid she will forget it. She thinks in maneuvers and movements, strategies and tactics and equations. She thinks like a general and will perform like a soldier. It is the only thing she knows now.

It all comes flooding back to her from before her change and for the first time she can actively remember, she hates. Her land and country are no longer hers. She feels empty and alone and now she hates. Hates the horror War, lying nearby, his body growing cold and grey and starting to crumble to ash and dust beginning with his extremities. Hates the Polish monarchy what sent little Germanic crusaders to sweep in from the south at the behest of this monster she has slain. Hates that she no longer feels her earth, her people. It leaves her feeling none but pure, raw rage.

She would cry bitter tears here, would declare revenge on those responsible for what she is now. Except now she doesn’t know why. Like a flash, it is there and then gone and she remembers none of why she feels this cold empty loneliness. She merely assumes this is what she is supposed to feel at any given time, and accepts this and the feeling of wrath that is residual of her final thought.

She concentrates on who she is, but draws a complete blank. She no longer remembers the name she had before, but a new one flashes like bright red letters:

War

War. Her name is War. This is the name she is bestowed, the identity she remembers.

She tries to stand, to find where she belongs. There is a sharp jolt of burning agony up her legs from her ankles, causing her to fall again with a sickening crackle. She looks down at them, bared from beneath the torn skirts of the destroyed dress to see a subtle disparity between her lower legs and the ankle joints. The bones reformed, but the main break did not line up correctly. A purse of her lips, she knows now that the misalignment is permanent to her.

Unable to move, unable to remember what it is she is supposed to be doing or was doing, and feeling fatigued, she curls up where she is. It isn’t long for her to drift silently off into a dreamless sleep, hoping as she leaves the waking world that the nap will help her remember what her purpose is.

She is awakened by the sound of pounding hooves. Her eyes open slowly to take in her surroundings to determine if she needs to defend herself or not. The corpse next to her is hardly anything but moistened grey ash, piled around a sword stuck in the ground. But that is not what catches her attention besides passing glances.

Three massive horses are circling her continuously, going around and around and around her. Their riders are like something out of a horror story, told around a campfire by travelers to both ease the time and warn others of what lurks in the dark beyond the firelight.

One is grey and waxy, the perfect masque of ill. One misses their bottom jaw. One is hardly a skeleton with skin stretched on it.

The horses are not normal either; an emaciated white horse, a dark brown one with bright green eyes, a grey one with gleaming eyes of fetid copper. All of them fly a tattered black cloth from the back of their saddles, rogue tendrils and threads clawing futilely at the air as the three continue their endless circling.

Just beyond them is a larger circle of other horsemen, a normal-looking human cavalry of fair size, all flying the black cloth from saddles and bridles. The tack and armor on these horses vary from horse to horse. This is no standard cavalry. Unlike the three of the inner circle, these stand still. Or as still as a horse can stand at rest. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t curious to their presence.

New movement draws her attention forward, toward a stocky little man of dark skin and pale gold smiling eyes, almost as striking as the massive horse he leads. The beast’s head is trying to toss against the grip on its bridle’s chin strap and in lieu of not having such freedom, it ripples through its body instead. It is purely black, save for the flashing red eyes. An indeterminate breed, monolithic yet elegant. When it bares its teeth, it displays prominent canines in its upper and lower jaws.

The man stops in front of her and there is silence for a moment before he offers his free hand toward her. She takes it tentatively and he pulls her up to sit on her knees, but no further.

“You should probably mount your horse.” he tells her in a hushed tone.

She shakes her head, not even questioning why she understands him perfectly. Her voice is still rough, cracking from disuse. “I cannot stand. I think I hurt myself.”

He looks over her shoulder to where she favors her broken ankles and his lips purse behind his magnificent beard of greying red thoughtfully. He looks over his shoulder, lets go of her to wave a few others in the outer circle to him. A couple dismount, a few others in infantry uniforms run between the tight ring of horses.

“Help the commander mount her horse.”

She wonders why the rank for someone who has woken with no recollection of anything but her name and condition before she is suspended between hands and placed precariously on the saddle; the horse is surprisingly still during mounting. The soldiers run back to their positions as she takes the reigns offered her by the handler who greeted her and it is almost like magic. With someone on its back and the reigns in their hands, the massive beast becomes easy to control. Which is a good thing, considering she is unsure how to handle something as volatile as its display showed earlier. As if on cue, the other three horsemen circling slow down and file in behind her.

“We will have to help you with those ankles. We’ll head for Damascus; their metalsmiths are some of the finest. Wouldn’t hurt to get you a better saddle too.” the greeter says.

She shifts in the saddle a bit, aware that it was made for someone at least twice her size. The one before perhaps.

The man walks toward the sword sticking out of a pile of ash on the ground, pulling it up and sliding it into a hidden sheath at the left-front of the saddle before looking up. “I am Balthazar of Midian. I’m one of your generals for the Legion.”

“My name is...” She pauses, trying to remember her name. All that flashes is the one word, the concept. The idea. Surely, she has something different to offer...

At her confused silence, Balthazar picks up the slack. “You are War.” he assures, taking hold of the stallion’s bridle again and leading her and the others off toward the east. “You have much to learn of your new purpose.”