This is Beach City
Connie had been 12 when Steven Universe disappeared.
But that had been almost four years ago.
At first, the search had been relentless. No one got any sleep, and even people who barely knew him were torn up at the idea that a kid that innocent and loving- and powerful- had been taken away. Teams of people tore up the nearby countryside, searching even harder for where the beasts camped out during the day in case they could find him. Steven was a fighter! He had a shield! He was strong! He could take care of himself!
So why did no one find him?
Steven’s father, Greg Universe, headed the search parties. The man rarely slept, rarely did anything else. He even shut down his car wash for months, just trying to find his son. When he wasn’t searching, he was in his van alone, or out on the cliffside strumming his guitar out where the lighthouse was.
But, nothing worked, and eventually, Beach City had to accept the fact that maybe Steven was never coming back. Some refused, and to this day, Greg heads teams of people out into the wilderness, searching farther and farther every time. Sometimes, it’s just him looking, when no one else could join him.
But life goes on. Now-a-days, Greg could be seen by the car wash, or out repairing damage to buildings. He was ever-kind, almost as much as his son had been, and always tried to put his best foot forward, even when he would rather not.
Connie met the guy only a few times, but her respect for him was immeasurable.
Now, it was late springtime. Connie was 15 years old, to be 16 come winter, and spent a good lot of her time studying up on the dragons. She sat on the beach, savoring those last few strokes of daylight from the setting sun as she tried to figure out what went wrong with her most recent expedition out into the woods.
She had come across a Zippleback, a two-headed gem that was mostly green, but dotted in red corruption scars. It had been digging around in the bushes for something, which Connie had been curious about, but she didn’t try to figure it out. Instead, she made sure to make plenty of noise, making herself known so she wouldn’t startle it. The gem had looked at her, then went back to whatever it had been doing.
She tried to get closer, not bothering to try anything stealthy, and for a moment, the beast let her. It was only when it started to go deeper into the forest did things go wrong. Connie tried to follow behind, exceedingly curious and excited she’d made it this far, but then the dragon turned to her furiously and chased her away. Not back to town, thankfully, but away nonetheless.
What had it been doing? Did it know? Was there a point? Why did it only chase Connie away at that moment, and not before? Why at all? Questions swarmed in the girl’s head as she studied the Zippleback page in the Book of Gems (noting immediately that this was one of the many pages that didn’t list out what species of gem it really was), scouring for any type of answer at all. Was it territorial? The book didn’t say anything on the matter, for or against. Was there another dragon nearby it was trying to protect? Gems don’t have children, so that seemed unlikely, but not impossible.
Once again, Connie wished Steven were here.
A bell rang out. Connie perked up immediately. That was the Attack Bell, meaning tonight would be a fight. That was the sound of war, to either get somewhere safe or to prepare for fire.
Connie stood immediately, slamming the book shut and clutching it with both hands. A quick look around gave her all the answers she needed to know; the dragons were headed in from over sea this time, a medium-large flock of them all making a beeline for the boardwalk.
Connie stuffed the book in her cyan blue backpack, threw the thing over her arm, and ran. Feet pounded on sand, slipping just a bit as she tried to turn and adjust along the uneven shoreline. She hoped she could make it back to town before the attack began, and for a hot second it looked like it was going to be close, but alas, fate was not on her side today.
Part of the walk was already on fire by the time Connie arrived, already drenched in sweat. Screams rang out as wings coated the sky, yowls and war cries echoing up and down the walk. People held shields and swords, bows and tridents, mallets and maces, most any weapon one could imagine, bearing down their attackers with rage, fueled by fear. Fear of death, fear of hurt, and most of all, fear of losing someone close to them.
The dragons were equally fierce in their attack, claws and spines coming down to thunk roughly against the wood or metal of a shield. Fire and green, acidic gases filled the air, painting the town in yellow, orange, and red. The sun was halfway down now, only sinking faster, making the firelight burn brighter as a result against the dark-tinted buildings.
Connie watched as multiple dragons teamed up to break into Fish Stew Pizza, probably to collect the fishy prizes held within. Another set burst into the Big Donut, but were batted away instead of taking anything out. Sadie Miller and Lars Barriga each swung weapons after them, yelling commands.
Sadie stuck her spear into the sand, glaring at the retreating beasts. “AAAAAAND STAY OUT!” she screamed at them, waving a fist in the air. Her blond hair was already dirty, even though the fight had only just begun, with her shirt slightly burnt and tattered near the edges.
“Yeah, don’t come back!” Lars joined in Sadie’s cheering. He held a small club in his hands, small enough to fit on a utility belt if need be, with small spikes dotting the thicker part of the weapon. He grinned at Sadie, shooting her a smug look. “Did you see the way that Naddar ran scared when I hit it?” he gloated. “I bet it’s never coming back here again!” He gave a mock bow. “You’re welcome.”
Sadie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I saw it. I also saw it whip around to try and impale you and you run away screaming.”
Lars waved a hand in front of him, looking the other way. “Eh, details.”
“Lars! Sadie!” Connie ran up to them, both hands clenching her backpack straps tightly. She skidded to a stop in front of them, taking just a second to catch her breath. “What all have we got?”
Sadie pulled her spear out of the sand, hoisting it over her shoulder. “Well, we just got raided by a few Naddars and a Gronkle. There are also a few Deathsongs, a Whispering Death, and a couple Monstrous Nightmares from what I’ve seen.”
A smaller dragon- perhaps 2-3 feet in length, including the tail- slithered up to the trio, flaring its wings and shooting a blast of fire. Lars had to fling himself out of the way as Sadie rushed forward, swinging her spear. The creature, a Terrible Terror (who were more pests than anything else), backed away, then took off into the sky, letting out its shrill cry. Connie noticed a small grey gem on its hip as it took off.
Sadie huffed, turning back to Connie with a small half-smile. “And those guys, apparently.”
“Any Night Snatchers?” Connie’s grip tightened around her backpack straps.
Sadie shook her head. “Not from what I’ve heard, no. Trust me, when one shows up, you just know.”
Well, Connie knew that already. The Night Snatcher was known for its roar, loud and oftentimes destructive. They were darn fast and made a long, drawn-out noise when charging a fire attack (usually). They were also more like wildcards than anything on the battlefield; sometimes they ran, other times they fought back. Most of the time, they just… showed up. But because of their unpredictable nature, people steered clear of them anyway. The beasts rarely, if ever, raided buildings, but were known for tearing trees and other dragons right up off the ground, launching them far away. If one showed up, everyone knew.
Connie frowned in determination, though slightly disappointed that a Night Snatcher hadn’t arrived yet. “Any way I can help?”
Lars let out a scoff. “Uh, no. So unless you suddenly grow an entire foot, get buff, and suddenly know how to throw a bolo, I think you should go hide.”
Connie looked away, backing up from the conversation.
“Lars!” Sadie turned to him, frowning. “What was that for?”
“What? I’m being honest! She’s not exactly helpful!” He threw his hands in the air in annoyance. “How many corrupted gems does she bring back here that we then have to take care of?”
“So? That’s no reason to be mean!”
The two continued arguing as Connie continued to run into the fray, away from Lars’ insults. Not that they weren’t true. She was smaller- a thin girl with thin arms and next to no muscles. She’d never really gotten the chance to do any lifting or anything like that, aside from the occasional workout to keep herself in shape, but “buff” was definitely not a word one used to describe her.
Throwing a bolo, however, she may just know how to do. With a little bit of help, of course.
As she raced through town, Connie decided to take a quick mental inventory of the gems herself. Sure enough, she could spot several of the beasts Sadie mentioned, and then some.
Deathsongs launched amber from above, encasing their victims in solid material seconds after they were struck. Their large, butterfly-like wings and beauty be damned, those things could single-handedly take out an entire army if it didn’t know how to deal with them. Fortunately, years and years of experience was on the defender’s side, as hot liquid was poured onto the cocoons, bursting the amber and setting the trapped go.
Whispering Deaths were a terror from beneath, bursting through the Earth’s crust from holes they dig like moles, their pupilless eyes somehow seeing everything around them. Their tails were like whips, slashing into nearby buildings and causing collapse. People found reflective surfaces, shining light in their eyes and driving them back into the ground, their fear of sunlight too much. Fortunately, this was one of the few species of gem that the Book mentioned by name- corrupted Nephrites.
Monstrous Nightmares… weren’t hard to miss. They could set themselves on fire, though how was still unanswered as no one had been able to really study one before. They were all spines, spikes, and claws, along with pearly white, jagged teeth sticking out of their mouths from their jaws. Those guys were exceedingly hard to battle, and only the best fighters went after them. Connie saw three of them now, all of them engaged in battle with multiple people each, and even then it was barely a fair fight.
As Connie ran, she could see people on the ground, injured. Some were just taking a knee, while others were bleeding pretty badly. The casualties ranged, though most people were only a bit hurt. Nonetheless, people were starting to go down, so it was only natural that more townsfolk rushed out to help.
Doug Maheswaran shot past, waving a club with much more dignity than Lars’ tree branch. He leapt over a man who was curled up on his side, clutching a wounded leg, and hit a Naddar across the face as he went by. The spikey dragon gave a hiss, but took to the sky and flapped away. Doug widened his stance, ready to do it again, when Connie caught the corner of his eye.
He turned to her, eyes wide. “Connie! What are you doing here?”
The girl rushed over to him, hands growing ever tighter around the backpack straps. “I wanna help! Where can I find a shield, do you know?”
Doug frowned. “Nuh-uh, absolutely not. Get somewhere safe.”
Connie reached a hand up to him. “But-“
“NOW!” Doug turned back to the sky, racing after another dragon that appeared to be moving in towards another downed human. He swung the bat, only hitting air, but scaring off the attacker in the process.
Connie frowned. She wasn’t a kid anymore; she knew how to handle herself. Or, at least she would if her parents could just give her the chance to prove it. She shook her head, disappointed.
A moan from the ground caught her attention. The man on the ground was still hurt, and her just standing there wasn’t helping anyone. She quickly knelt down, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Can you hear me?” Connie asked him. “I’m going to help you walk someplace safe. Is that okay?”
He nodded, lifting up his arms like a child would, allowing Connie to easily slip her hands around his torso and lift. His arms wrapped around her shoulders, and together, with Connie acting as support, the two edged along to the outskirts of the battle. Some people saw what she was trying to do and cleared a path, making it easier to move. Doug also saw the two, noting his daughter’s intentions and rushing to help bat dragons away as Connie moved.
Eventually, she came to a stop in front of Fish Stew Pizza, where Kiki and Jenny were waiting. Kiki rushed out to greet them when she saw the injured man, and helped Connie with those last few meters to the door, holding it open. Connie set the guy on a chair, to which he murmured a quiet “thank you.” Kiki rushed to the kitchen, then a few seconds later came back with a soaked rag and a first aid kit.
Connie flung open the door, rushed back outside, and continued her sprint, right into Dr. Maheswaran. The doctor had been running around the whole time, helping others find safety just like Connie had. The only difference was that Connie wasn’t allowed to do that.
“CONNIE! What on earth are you doing here?!” Priyanka shouted at her. “Get out of here, now!”
Connie stepped back. “Mom! How did-? What are you doing here?”
Priyanka’s frown deepened. “I got a call from Jenny Pizza about a hurt man, and I’ve come to help. You need to go into the residential area and wait this out. The gem monsters aren’t attacking over there.”
“But-“
“Do not argue with me! Go!” And with that, Priyanka tore past Connie, slamming the restaurant door open and heading straight for the man sitting in the chair. Connie noted quickly that her father had also seen the interaction, and had opened his mouth to say something, but instead tore into the restaurant after Priyanka.
Connie didn’t stop to watch through the glass windows. She glared hard at the ground in annoyance, and continued running.
As she did, she noticed more and more people coming out to help people find cover. The Pizza Twins headed out into the heat of battle, bringing more people inside. Buck Dewey and Sour Cream joined shortly after, running in from the houses behind the main buildings on the boardwalk. Lars and Sadie, done defending their workplace, had also joined, with Lars more on the defense and Sadie on the offense. They were all teenagers, older than Connie, and had also been told to stay out of it by adults until they could get proper training to be on the field. Most teens would probably start that schooling soon, as Pearl’s fighting class was due to be open in about a week or less from now.
Meanwhile, the fighting continued. Poofing sounds could be heard from across the bay, but also yells and screams. One guy had latched onto a dragon that lifted into the air, but lost his grip and fell. He bounced back up quickly, as if it never happened, and moved on to the next one. The Gronkle bucked him off, too, but something had to be said about his determination, right? Another girl had a Deathsong by the neck, wrapped in a lasso with spikes on it. A singular tug, and the dragon poofed, leaving an orange agate dotted in dark purple and light blue spots fall to the ground. Connie had to start minding the rocks littering the boardwalk so as not to accidentally step on one.
Finally, she reached her destination. Going against her mother’s wishes, Connie burst into the forge, breathing heavily. She leaned against the wall to catch her breath, but once she had it, she was quick to move to the back of the building.
The forge was built where Suitcase Sam’s had been, ten years ago. It had gotten burnt to the ground completely, and the other uncorrupted gem of the original four, Bismuth, decided to rebuild there. Apparently, she had another forge like this one, but not human-proof. This one acted as her home away from home, and she continued to build and workshop new weapons here when the other three gems needed her help. Bismuth was the only other uncorrupted gem Connie had ever seen, though she was usually off in one of her forges, so the girl didn’t see her often. She was the backbone of the entire defense system here, and made sure everyone was equipped with whatever they needed.
That included weapons of their own, to which Connie had happily set up shop in Bismuth’s forge.
Connie wasn’t needed on the battlefield, at least, not today, so that meant that she had time to make a few more adjustments to her net launcher. It was firing at a slight angle from what she’d seen of her one test she did about a week ago (or maybe that was just the wind?), so she needed to figure out how to fix that.
The mechanism was about four feet tall, coming up to her chest due to the wood supporting the crossbow strings. It could rotate and move up and down, equipped with a trigger and two handles to make adjusting it easier. Connie grasped the handles and started wiggling it around, just to be sure that part still ran smoothly.
“Back again, Bluepack?” Bismuth’s voice called out from somewhere behind her. Connie turned to see the grey, rainbow-haired gem standing behind the counter, placing a freshly-made sword on the countertop. Bismuth’s eyes were filled with amusement. “Haven’t you been comin’ here during a battle for the past half year or so? If you’re lookin’ for cover, this ain’t the best spot to get it.”
Connie shook her head. “No, I’m trying to fix up my… trapper,” she replied. She spun back around to face the mechanism. “It’s almost done, but I just wanna be sure it works before taking it out.”
Bismuth shrugged. “Sounds like a solid plan. Whatsit do?”
Connie flushed a bit, embarrassed. No one had ever really been interested in what she’d been doing before, and her parents didn’t even know, so the surprise spotlight felt uncomfortable. “It erm, it launches nets. Err, one net at a time.”
Bismuth opened the counter door, which connected the thing to the wall in a horseshoe shape, and stepped out. Her boots thudded heavily on the wooden floor of the shop part of the building as she walked closer. “Mind if I take a look? I don’t know much about aerodynamics, but I’ve built traps before.”
“Oh, sure.” Connie stepped away, allowing the much larger woman to approach.
Connie took note immediately of how strong this gem must be. She had biceps to spare, which went well with her iron wit and will. On her left shoulder was a tattoo of a star, which went along with the star on her apron. Bis knelt down, running a hand along the wood, and for just a split second, Connie was afraid she’d crush it under her large hands. But, despite her size, Bismuth was surprisingly gentle, and no harm came to the contraption.
She hummed in thought, examining the mechanical aspects of the weapon. “This meant to shoot corruptions outta the sky?” she asked.
Connie nodded awkwardly. “Yes, ma’am.”
Bismuth practically jumped at the term, then chuckled. “No need to be so formal, Bluepack! The name’s Bismuth.”
“O-oh, uhm,” Connie blinked. “I’m Connie.”
Bismuth nodded thoughtfully. “Much better name than ‘Bluepack.’ Well, nice to finally get to meet’cha, Connie.” She held out a hand for her to shake.
Connie opened her mouth to reply, but a loud boom from just above their heads stopped her in her tracks. Bismuth looked up, almost as though she could see what just exploded through the roofing, and frowned in determination. “Well, this has been fun, but it sounds like they need me out there,” she announced. She looked back towards the much smaller girl, flashing her a grin. “How’s about when I get back, we take another look at this net launcher, huh?”
“O-oh! Uh, okay!” Connie smiled nervously at her, genuinely delighted to finally have someone take an interest, all while being intimidated by Bismuth’s sheer size and energy. “That sounds great!”
“Cool!” The grey gem’s hands flashed white, and suddenly, she had produced two hammers of her own, replacing her hands with flat surfaces. “See you then, Connie!”
The door was already standing wide open, as it always was during an attack, and Bismuth shot out with weapons literally swinging. Connie heard a poof sound just outside the door with a loud “NYAHHHH!” as a gem monster fell to her wrath.
Left behind again. The feeling was bitter, if less so this time. Connie turned back to her devise, using delicate hands to tinker with the pull strings again. She could hear more explosions, both poofs and dragon fire, as the sounds of war filtered into the building from the walls and open door.
But then she heard it. It’s roar was unmistakable, cutting through the air a knife. It was a tenor, usually, but had a vibration to it’s throat that made it waver into the alto section in quick succession. It was loud, commanding, demanding. That was a roar that said “I’m here. Now move.”
The Night Snatcher. The beast that took Steven.
It’s finally here.
Without a second thought, Connie spun back to her mechanism. Everything looked to be in order, and at least working, so she grasped the handles that also supported it on the ground, turned it on its front wheels, and ran out the door.
As soon as she was out of the safety of the forge, a blast of fire that flared blue on first impact before fading to orange hit the wall next to her. A nearby Gronkle cried out in alarm, jumping away from the impact before barreling straight into a human fighter. Connie felt the heat radiate from the explosion, nearly scorching her skin but slightly too far away to do any real damage. Connie looked up towards where the blast may have come from to see it, the dragon, its dark pinkish-magenta underbelly flashing in the dying light of the fire before it vanished into the sky again. It didn’t help that the creature was such a dark color, blending easily into the night sky.
Fortunately for Connie, it wasn’t quite night just yet. The sky was still plenty light enough to see it, but if she didn’t move now, it would be dark by the time she got to her launching spot. The dark magenta sky was still brighter than the magenta dragon, though their hues were quickly matching. She had to move, now.
Ignoring everyone and everything, Connie shot across the boardwalk, shoving her net launcher as fast as she could. While she ran, she took note that the Crystal Gems- Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl- had now also joined the fight, or had at least made their way to this side of the town. Knowing them, they were probably first to get involved. But they weren’t important right now. The rocks glittering in the setting sun falling all around her weren’t important right now. Not even the yellow Naddar with blue spots on it that landed in front of Connie was important right now. She simply ducked around it, and heard with relief as another person engaged with it instead.
Within five minutes, Connie had gotten up the hill that crested up above the Temple, above Steven’s old home. On top of it sat the crumbled remains of the lighthouse, once destroyed by a dragon only a few years ago. Many believed it to be the destructive power of the Night Snatcher, but no one was sure. Either way, it was the perfect place to see everything happening in Beach City, and that meant the battle as well.
Connie threw the legs back down, ran to the front and shoved the barrel up towards the sky. She ran back around and pulled the strings back, now having done a full 360 around the thing. She quickly double-checked that she had everything ready, including having a net in the barrel, and waited.
Funny, but you could barely hear the fighting from here. And what you did hear was behind the light show happening in front of her. Connie watched as a dragon shot fire down, but only heard the hiss of crackling flame a second after the attack happened. She wasn’t that far away, not really, so she supposed it should have been louder. Oh, well, it was for the best it wasn’t.
But other than that, it was quiet up here. The world almost faded away as Connie searched the sky, her sharp eyes scanning the stars for any kind of movement. The Night Snatcher was fast, but not unrealistically so. She just had to wait and be sure she knew where it was, then aim slightly ahead of where it was going.
There was no wind. It would be a clear shot.
The world stilled. Time stilled. Connie squinted.
Nothing…
The waves beat against the shore. There was the cry of startled seagulls.
Nothing…
Fire continued to make muted, delayed booms from below, but so far away that it seemed to be coming from a pair of speakers rather than reality.
Nothing…
Then, the sound of the Night Snatcher’s warm-up. It was like a hum, like when scientists booted up a time machine in the movies, and it took a moment to fully come alive. It increased in pitch, switching from the tenor to an alto as the dragon got ready to fire.
There! A dark blot against the trees swooped close to Funland, which was about as far away as one could get from where Connie now stood, but she knew the range on this thing was surprisingly far. There was no wind. This was it.
Connie brought her eye up to the little target, taking into account the fact that it had a slight veer to the left to it. She adjusted the barrel accordingly, then tilted it up to account for distance. The dragon was headed towards the ocean, so she moved the mechanism outwards. All of this in the span of a few seconds, she then watched as the dragon fired a blast at the ground. This one, too, flared blue before switching to orange flame, indicating how hot the blast was. The sound didn’t reach her yet, but now Connie could see it clearly. It was the Night Snatcher alright.
She took a deep breath and fired.
After a second, the net was lost to the night sky. Then, silence. Deadly, suffocating silence. Did she hit it? Connie looked up above the target, scanning for anything with narrowed eyes.
The boom from the explosion. Then, a shriek. A couple of cracks that sounded like quickly breaking wood. Connie waited with baited breath for the Night Snatcher to rise back up and take her out.
But it never did.
She waited for about two full minutes, fiercely long while in battle, but when the Night Snatcher never returned, Connie threw her hands up.
“WOOOOO!” She celebrated, jumping up and down a few times. “I DID IT! I REALLY DID IT!” Her eyes alight with stars now, she fist pumped, then placed that same hand at her hip. “And they said I couldn’t do this kind of thing. Wait till I show everyone! I-“ She cut herself off, her happy look fading. “Ah, who am I kidding? That’s a terrible idea.” She looked down at the town, imagining them all either laughing at her or running off after the beast to poof it, once and for all.
Connie built that trap to not poof its victims for a reason. She didn’t need the townsfolk doing it anyway. After all, you can’t get answers out of a bubble.
She needed to find her prize first, before anyone else did. The Night Snatcher was all hers, and she could finally have all the answers she wanted.
All she needed to do now was find it.