Capítulo 19: Chapter 19
Jessica's POV
"Thanks for the help, Jessica. Make sure to keep a closer eye on Steven," my Guildmaster said as he walked away, taking all the fragments of the Red Eye we collected. I waved him off, but my mind began to churn as the day's events replayed in my head. Quickly, I came to one conclusion about the man known as Duke:
He is not to be trusted.
How did he know to come to Beach City?
Why does he always seem on edge?
Why did he only watch from the sidelines when the situation was so urgent?
Questions like these nagged at me constantly over the next two days as I continued my usual monitoring of Steven. However, I was limited to only watching him when he was with the Gems known as Pearl and Amethyst, as the one called Garnet scared me. At one point, I could have sworn she looked directly at me, even though I was stealthed.
Luckily—or hopefully—she didn't seem to notice me, as she didn't point me out. But after that incident, I made sure to keep my distance from Steven when she was around.
Fortunately, she wasn't around today. I sat directly next to Steven, my stealth keeping me out of sight as I waited with the boy, who seemed to be expecting a package. He bobbed up and down in excitement, drawing in the sand in front of him.
"He's here!" Steven exclaimed, snapping me back to the present moment. I watched as someone in a mailman uniform approached, with Steven becoming more and more excited. He bobbed up and down, waiting for the mailman, who seemed to know Steven well, judging by his greeting.
"Hey, Steven!" the mailman said. I observed him closely. He had olive skin, a prominent nose, thick eyebrows, brown hair, and soft black eyes. His uniform was like that of all mailmen: a light blue button-up shirt with an envelope embroidered on both sleeves, blue shorts, and a messenger satchel that also had an envelope embroidered on its flap. On his head rested a pith helmet, and he wore white socks under red shoes with white lining.
'He's kinda cute,' I thought, watching the man as he pulled out a package, getting ready to hand it to Steven. By this point, Steven was on the edge of exploding with excitement, a big smile blooming on his face.
"A package for one Steven Universe," the mailman said, his hands outstretched as he presented the package to an eager Steven, who spoke with a voice full of excitement.
"This thing's going to help me save the world!" Steven's words seemed to amuse the mailman, who smirked and asked, curiosity evident.
"How is something from Wacky Sack Supply Company supposed to help you save the world?" the mailman asked, as I took the chance to glance at the package and read the name on it.
'Wacky Sack Supply Company.' I knew the company well; they also made not-too-bad body armor for cheap prices. My curiosity was now piqued, wondering what was in the package.
"The Gems think I shouldn't go on missions because I don't have magical Gem powers," Steven explained as he struggled to pull whatever was inside the package. He looked as if he thought the Gems' point was absolute nonsense, but I couldn't help nodding in agreement. If the story Duke told me about them fighting that monster above level 150 was true, the last thing they needed was a child to protect.
"There are other ways I can help!" Steven declared, still struggling to pull whatever was inside the package out. The mailman looked at him with humorously skeptical confusion.
"With a Wacky Sack?" the mailman asked, clearly doubtful.
"Exactly!" Steven responded, giving one last strong pull but still failing to extract the item inside. The mailman then brought out a clipboard from behind his back.
"Wanna know how you can save my world? Sign here, please," the mailman said, holding out a digital clipboard. Steven wasted no time signing, finally allowing the mailman to wave goodbye as he left to deliver more mail, commenting about getting yelled at for not getting signatures. Steven waved him off with sympathy.
(Insert warp pad noises—if you know the written sound effect, please tell me)
"The Gems are back!" Steven exclaimed, and I turned to see the bright light signaling their return. I quickly followed Steven as he rushed up the slope to the temple, but I stopped short at the door when I spotted Garnet. I immediately took cover, even though my stealth was already activated.
'I need to calm down. I leveled up stealth yesterday; it's at level 3. I should be fine. Not only that, I'm level 7, so I should be fine... right?' I spent the next few minutes hyping myself up. Then I noticed the attention Steven was drawing with the burger-shaped backpack he was wearing, which gave me a chance to slip in through a conveniently open window.
'She seems not to be reacting,' I thought, my mind racing with worry. But seeing that no one noticed me, I breathed a sigh of relief as I took up a spot nearby to listen to their conversation.
'So they're heading to some sea spire thingy to place a statue. I wonder if I could follow them,' I thought, trying to plan my next move as I watched the group argue over whether to bring Steven on the mission. Eventually, they decided to bring him along, and they all gathered on the crystalline pad deeper inside the house.
Deciding to look around a bit, I followed Steven as he packed a bunch of weird items. At one point, I watched him switch out a medikit for a stuffed toy, but while he was doing so, I noticed that he had placed down what looked like a small statue of a woman holding a crystal before rushing off to pick up more stuff.
'Didn't they say they needed that? Better take it.' Remembering Pearl's words, I wasted no time picking up the statue and placing it in my inventory, planning to slip it into the boy's backpack later.
Quickly finding a spot to the far left, I waited with bated breath, standing next to the admittedly scariest member of the Crystal Gems. But my fear was soon outweighed by curiosity as Steven, after packing a bunch of what seemed like random items, joined the Gems on the pad, allowing them to finally begin the teleportation process. We disappeared into particles of light.
"WHAHOOO!" Steven shouted, giggling and laughing as he performed several flips in the zero-gravity environment. At one point, his head stuck out of the light tunnel we were in, causing Pearl to panic as she pulled him back inside while reprimanding him to keep his head in.
'Don't go out of the light tunnel. Noted,' I thought, taking note of Pearl's reaction, just as gravity returned and our surroundings became completely alien as the tunnel of light faded away.
'WOW.' I was honestly stunned as the sight before me left me enchanted.
The sheer magnitude of it overwhelmed me, my senses filled with the scent of salt and seaweed as I listened to the crashing waves echoing against the towering structure, which seemed to be crumbling before my eyes. My gaze slowly tilted upward, taking in the spiraling tower stretching impossibly high, piercing through the clouds like a needle.
Taking my first step to follow behind the Gems, who began to move quickly, I felt the stone beneath my feet, worn smooth by the surrounding sea. I also took the time to observe the beautiful and intricate carvings that, although faded, still emitted a beauty I couldn't describe. I passed by the weathered columns that rose silently, holding up the structure in stark contrast to its visibly crumbling state.
I fell into a daze while following the Gems, with Pearl slowly explaining the history of this place known as the Lunar Sea Spire.
"Hold on, we're taking Steven back." Suddenly, my daze was cut short as the group of Gems halted. Pearl quickly grabbed Steven, hugging him closely as she stared at the crumbling tower they had to traverse.
"OOH, my aching stomach!" As Pearl hugged Steven tightly, squeezing his backpack, a voice echoed out, surprising the group. Pearl immediately loosened her grip, allowing Steven to push himself away. He then pulled out what looked like a chubby, blue stuffed toy with a binky from his backpack.
"Mr. Queasy!" Steven laughed, shaking the toy as it giggled its voice lines. This only seemed to make Pearl visibly angry as she called his name sharply.
"STEVEN, this place is your heritage. I want you to stay and help, but you really have to take this seriously. Can you do that, Steven? Please?" Hearing the Gem's words, I nodded in agreement from the sidelines. Although I understood the importance of childhood wonder, this was a situation that needed to be taken extremely seriously—not just for the mission, but because the place was crumbling. At any moment, a giant rock could fall and crush us.
"You got it, dude!" Still not taking the situation seriously, Steven gave Pearl a thumbs-up while closing one eye and sticking out his tongue, causing Pearl to give a forced, strained "yes" in response.
"Enough, we have to move," Garnet interjected, quickly pushing aside Pearl's doubts. The group followed her, jogging up the spire. I followed them for the next hour as they made steady progress, only stopping when they found themselves unable to proceed due to a large gap in the path that led straight down into the water.
'Why don't they just jump across?' Seeing the gap, I was confused as to why they hadn't immediately jumped across. But when Garnet threw a stone into the gap, I soon understood why.
"The magic that sustains the whirlpool will pull us below," Garnet explained as we watched the stone plummet into the water below. I waited to see what the Gems would do next, but before they could act, Steven seemed to have an idea. From his cheeseburger backpack, he took out three sweaters, tying them together.
"What are those for?" Amethyst asked, soon getting her answer as Steven threw one end of the makeshift rope like a whip, catching the other end as it wrapped around a sturdy column. He tugged it, testing its strength.
'Wait, hold up.' Guessing what he was about to do, I tried to leap into action to stop him, but I was too slow. I watched in horror as Steven leapt off the edge. The Gems and I could only watch as he was slowly sucked downward. Miraculously, the sweaters held strong, and Steven began to crawl up the side of the wall, eventually reaching the other side.
'Thank God he's fine,' I thought, relieved to see the boy safe on the other side.
"WHOHOO, STEVEN!" Amethyst celebrated Steven's accomplishment, quickly shaking off her earlier worry. She then grabbed her fellow Gems, summoned her weapon, and did exactly what Steven had done, giving the others a heart attack in the process.
'No way in the two hells am I doing that,' I thought, looking around quickly for an alternative path. I soon found one that led to a lower level and took it without a second thought, not worrying about being separated from the Gems since I knew I could catch up later.
'What are these things?' While looking for a way to ascend higher, I came across a group of crystal rolly-pollies. I easily walked past them with my stealth activated and eventually caught up with the group, who were moving past similar creatures, their attention entirely focused on a tuna burger that Steven must have thrown to distract them.
'Simple problems, simple solutions,' I thought as I continued to follow the Gems. We soon arrived at what looked to be a rushing pool of water of unknown depth.
"I got this!" Steven exclaimed, once again pulling something from his backpack. I was surprised to see a raft, which seemed like a sensible solution for crossing water. But when Steven threw it into the water, it was immediately swept away by the current, leaving no time to get on.
BOOM! BANG!
At the same moment, I watched Garnet rush over to a nearby pillar. With shocking strength, she delivered two powerful blows, knocking it over to create a bridge for the group.
'Chance!' It was then that I remembered the statuette in my inventory. I wanted to sneak it into Steven's backpack while his back was turned. This proved challenging, given how erratic his movements were, but with my agility, I managed to slip it in unnoticed. With that final hurdle cleared, we found ourselves at the top of the spire, which stood parallel with the sea.
'This is a once-in-a-lifetime scene,' I thought, captivated by the sight around me. The crumbling tower, the barrier holding back the sea, and the pillar of light stretching into the sky all combined to create an awe-inspiring view. I watched as Steven and the group approached a small pedestal.
"Now, Steven, all you have to do is place the Moon Goddess statue right there," Pearl instructed. I watched as Steven rummaged through his backpack and found the statue I had placed inside.
"See, Pearl? You had nothing to worry about," Amethyst said as they watched Steven slowly place the statue on the pedestal, completing the mission they had come to accomplish.
"What now?" Steven asked, confused when nothing happened after placing the statue.
"It will begin slowly reconstructing itself, but for safety reasons, it only does so when there's no one around. So we'd better get going," Pearl explained. Steven seemed content with that answer, and the Gems quickly left. I was getting ready to follow, having no reason to stay around and not wanting to get caught.
"Oh yeah, and thanks." My blood ran cold as I turned around to find Garnet standing behind me, looking down at me with her shades removed, revealing three eyes all focused intently on me.
"No problem?" I replied, watching with bated as she walked away and with no choice I followed behind her as they were my ride home
- - - - - - - -
Next chapter back to Duke also I feel incredibly drained writing this from Jessica perspective as I roughly followed the show but hey it was cool.
anyways like share comment and subcribe.
wait wrong platform genuinely started typing that shit for a second.
guess the only thing you can really do on this platform is follow my profile or something
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