#straight up stab my char when we were clearing out a few skeletons so in retaliation i made angst because how else was i supposed to cope

[zixinyu]

💔  A what if scenario.

[jbhenwiler]

David’s Memories: The Day the Gems Invaded

David Memories 01: The Day the Gems Invaded

Author’s Note: This is going to be a bit of a departure from my other stories involving David.  These are basically flashback episodes, a window into life on David’s world before he got transported into Steven’s universe.  These are called “memories” but they’re not being told in first-person like real memories are.  Any of you guys ever played “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild?”  Having to go around Hyrule to specific locations where you could play a cutscene showing Link’s past life before the Calamity?  Those scenes weren’t being told exclusively from Link’s perspective, and in one case the scene kept playing even after Link was unconscious, plus the Zelda and the Master Sword memory in which Link wasn’t even present!  Anyway, this is the memory of the starting point of David’s adventure; the day Gems destroyed his hometown along with every other human settlement and enslaved humanity.  You may notice some differences in the events here and the ones that transpired in David’s nightmares in Redemption from a Dark World.  Those were nightmares, not David’s exact recollection of the time.  Therefore, these flashback episodes can be considered officially canon to the RFADW universe, or at least more exactly canon compared to the nightmares.  Enjoy.  Oh, one last thing!  Since this is David’s world we’re talking about, these stories are going to be much darker than the rest of the series.  This is basically an apocalypse world, after all, so expect lots of death and destruction, and a few very emotionally gripping scenes.

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Waitress: Here’s your meatloaf, David.  (Sets a plate down on the table)

David: Thanks, Emily.  (Begins to eat)

In the background, the sky begins to darken, but nobody seems to notice.  David’s phone lights up and vibrates.  He looks at the text message from his mother.

SMS>> Mom: How did you do at your new job, David?

SMS>> Me: Fine.  Clocked out.  Having dinner at Maxwell’s now.

` ……………………

SMS>> Mom: OK then.  Come home soon, it looks like there’s a storm kicking up.

SMS>> Me: Got it.

David puts his phone to sleep and slips it into his pocket.  He continues to eat.  A faint rumbling can be heard outside.  Some people out the window in the front of the restaurant are running past.

Random Citizen: What is that thing!?

David looks up from his meal.  Seeing people running past, David begins to suspect something’s wrong.  At that moment, a colossal explosion shakes the entire building.  Everyone screams and David, his food forgotten, stands up, and runs for the exit.  Outside, the sky is dark red, and David looks up.  The camera dramatically zooms out behind David to show the sky.  Hanging in midair are two gigantic metal hands, green in color.  Suddenly, the hands begin to shoot things at the town.

David: Oh, shi--  (Runs for his house)

Panicking citizens are running away from the invading forces, the entire town’s population creating a tide that David must swim upstream through to reach his mother.  A laser blast hits a house nearby, causing it to explode into a cloud of smoke and splinters. David begins to search for his mother in the crowd.

David: MOOMMM!!!

He can’t find his mom.  More buildings explode, and fires can be seen raging all around; the famed Henleaf Woods are now engulfed in an inferno.  As David runs, he sees that some people are lying on the ground, bloody stab wounds visible on their backs and necks, awash in pools of their own blood.

David reaches his home street, and he continues to run until he sees something that makes his heart stop for a second.  A gigantic, red-bodied being with five red gems set into its body, is cloaked in flame and is setting homes on fire.

David: (Panicked voice) What the hell is that thing!?

Then he sees his house.  It is completely engulfed in flames.

David: Oh no!  Mom!!  (Takes off for the house)

Thankfully the creature doesn’t notice him as he races for the front door of his house, and throws it open.  Inside, the burning home is showing signs of beginning to collapse.

David: MOM!!

David’s Mom: David!!  Over here!!

David grabs a fire extinguisher from the kitchen and makes his way through the flames, shooting as he goes to the living room, where his mother is pinned underneath a bookcase.

David: Mom!!  (Puts down the extinguisher and struggles to lift the heavy shelves)

The bookshelf is too heavy.

David’s Mom: David… It’s okay.  Save yourself, get out of here!

David: No, mom!  I’m not leaving you behind!  (Pushes himself past his limits, but to no avail)

David’s Mom: David, this house has gas appliances; it’s going to blow any second!  Go, David, NOW!

David: (Soot and tears staining his face) Mom…

David’s Mom: It’s okay, David.  You’ll be just fine.  I’ll always watch over you, but you need to go now!

David: (Gives up on lifting the bookcase, gets up, and turns to his mother one last time) Goodbye, mom… (Tears are freely flowing down his face)

David races through the flames for the door.  He makes it near the sidewalk when the house he grew up in explodes violently.  David is knocked off his feet, and he flies straight into his mom’s car parked on the curb, cracking the side window where he crashed into it.  On impact, David blacks out.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The camera vision fades in and out, flickering a bit.  A heartbeat and the sound of ears ringing is audible.  The view focuses in to show David laying on his back, buried in a coating of ash.  His eyes flutter and he slowly wakes up, raising himself into a sitting position.  He checks his surroundings.  Everything is gray.  Ashes are slowly falling from the sky.  Nothing is left, Henleaf Town had been replaced with an endless and bleak landscape, completely devoid of life, punctuated with the charred skeletons of buildings and the jagged tips of tree trunks.

David: Everything’s… Gone…   …………………. ...Mom!  (Scrambles to his feet)

David runs down the ashen sidewalk to where his house used to stand.

David: Mom!  Mom!!  Mo--

He sees a bone jutting out of the ashes and rubble, in the middle of what must have been the living room.  David immediately has a flashback.

Child David: Mommy, where’s daddy?

They’re in a hospital.  Doctors and nurses are bustling about.  David’s mother, visibly distressed and on the verge of tears, looks at the young David, around the age of three, and runs over to him, her face awash with tears and sadness.  She picks up David and locks him in a tight, sobbing hug, her whole body shaking.

Child David: Where’s daddy?

David’s Mom: Daddy’s not with us anymore, David.  I-It’s just us now…  (Sobs)

Child David: Where’s daddy!?  (Begins to panic and cry) WHERE’S DADDY!?!?

The camera zooms out to show mother and son locked in grief and mourning, and the flashback ends, bringing us back to the ruins of Henleaf Town, showing a closeup of the bones in the rubble, which are being pelted with teardrops from above.  David falls to his knees, tears beginning to fall from his eyes in droves, his body shaking with sorrow.

David: No… Nononono…  MOM!!!!!  (His anguished cry echoes around the area)

David sits there sobbing his eyes out for what felt like forever, and when he has run out of tears to cry, he gets up.  With an empty look in his eyes, he strolls down what used to be the street.  With no clear destination in mind, he wanders the wasteland, his limping, ash-covered body making him look like a ghost.  He passes what’s left of Maxwell’s, the restaurant he had ate at just hours ago.  Nothing is left of it, except for the skeletons of the cooks and waiters littered around the foundation.

David: That’s it then, everyone’s gone…  Everyone I know is dead…

He continues walking…

David: T-This has to be a dream, no, a nightmare!  (Stops) That’s it!  I’ll just pinch myself, I’ll wake up, and everything will be OK again!

David pinches himself multiple times.  Nothing happens.

David: W-Why isn’t this working!?

About half an hour later, David reaches the site of the Forest Guardian’s Shrine.  With all the trees now gone, the charred but still standing monument now sits atop a hill overlooking the ruined landscape.  A gem of some sort, resembling a Pearl, lay in pieces at the foot of the statue.  Suddenly, David has flashes of vision, seemingly from another being’s viewpoint.  For a few brief moments, David is a wolf, running for his (Or her?) life through the burning forest, pursued by a group of mysterious humanoids with crystals on various parts of their bodies, all carrying weapons like swords and spears.  The vision abruptly cuts out.

David: (Holding his head) What… was that?  I better get out of here.

As David walks down the trail, he begins to have a feeling he’s being watched.

David: H-Hello?  Anyone there?

A shadow appears above him.  He turns around, to face a large, muscular gem-being wearing a crash helmet looming over him.

???: You lost, little boy?

David: W-Who are you!?  What did you do to my town!?

???: (Chuckles) The name’s Jasper.  And you’re coming with me.  I know just the place for you.

Jasper strikes David in the head with her helmet, barely avoiding cracking David’s skull but still instantly knocking him out.  She chuckles again and hefts the limp human over her shoulder as she made her way to the landed hand-ship.

End memory.

Author’s note: In the Gem invasion of Earth in David’s timeline, hundreds of millions of human lives were cut short.  And yes, the Jasper who captures David is indeed the same Jasper we all know from Steven’s Universe.  In David’s world, Jasper is one of the lead generals leading the invasion of Earth.  Her forces were responsible for the total destruction of Empire City and all the surrounding area, including Henleaf Town.