/AN: Whelp, I guess this is a thing. A oneshot about another story idea that didn't quite get off the ground. For context: Peridot is allied with the Crystal Gems to help find and take down Jasper. /


Water. Surrounding, cold, unforgiving. Drowning wasn't an issue for Peridot, as Gems didn't need to breathe, but it was still uncomfortable. She would have swam to the surface, but the most she could do was flail about, incomplete limbs dragging heavily through the ocean. Her prosthetics were back on the land, broken and mangled beyond recognition, useless.

"Just like me.." she thought as she continued to sink further into the water. Fighting Jasper had been a mistake. She was an nearly unbeatable opponent for Peridot. The technician vaguely remembered getting a few hits in before Jasper had crushed her mechanical limbs and thrown her over the cliff and into the sea. The memories paled in comparison to the sight of what had been standing in Jasper's place just a few minutes before the battle. A monstrous fusion, one of the biggest she had ever seen, and extremely violent. A quick electrical charge had been enough to defuse the thing, but not before it had damaged her gem, leaving a crack down the middle. She was so preoccupied with defeating Jasper that she had almost missed seeing who she had been fused to.

The Steven creature had told her that Lapis had fused with Jasper, but Peridot didn't want to believe it. The prospect of Lapis being stuck together with Jasper was almost as bad as the idea that she hadn't survived the crash to earth. The fact that she was still out there was the only thing that had convinced Peridot to ally herself with the Crystal Gems. Of course, none of that mattered now, Peridot realized. Even after all the effort of hiding their relationship, she and Lapis had still been forced to stay apart on the mission, and Jasper had been sure to keep the rules in place. Her mood grew darker as Peridot realized that the last conversation she had had with Lapis had been a fight. Many things were said, and all of them would be regretted later, but the worst one was simply a fact.

"At least I'm a real gem, and not one of Homeworld's failed experiments!" Lapis had shouted. Peridot knew that Lapis had been angry, and didn't mean what she said, but it was all the same in the end.

" She was right. I'm a failed experiment, incomplete and broken, fated to rest at the bottom of the ocean on this miserable planet." she thought as she felt her back touch the seafloor. She had just about given up when a murky figure appeared in the water above her. It came closer and closer, its fuzzy outlines becoming clearer, though its face was still just out of sight. The water around Peridot turned into a blur as she felt herself being lifted up. After a few moments of confusion, she found that she was out of the water, feeling the air move around her.

"I'm on a beach." she realized. Someone had saved her. She looked towards the previously obscured figure and gasped.

"I'm sorry for everything." said Lapis, leaning forwards to pull Peridot into a hug, repeating the word sorry over and over. Peridot did her best to return the embrace.

"Why did you save me?" she whispered, almost not believing what had happened. Lapis pulled her closer.

"Because you saved me." she replied. A shout from the distance revealed the Crystal Gems running up the beach towards the two. Jasper was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Jasper?" Peridot asked, pulling back from the hug a little.

"They captured her. She can't hurt anyone." said Lapis with a small smile. She opened her mouth to apologize some more, but was cut off by a kiss from the gem in front of her. Peridot ended the kiss after a moment and looked at her partner with tears in her eyes.

"We don't have to hide anymore." she said. Lapis nodded in response.

"You're right. As usual." she said, giving Peridot a little nudge. The two Gems giggled together as the other Gems came closer.

"Things are going to be different now." whispered Peridot. Lapis smiled at her. "I don't mind as long as I'm with you."


/AN: yaaaay, oneshots!/