Hey guys, I'm back with a little fic. I was heavily inspired by the season 4 finale, and I wanted to write something that had some relation to it. Obviously, it will have some spoilers to the finale, so if you have't watched, please make sure to. It was a crazy finale and an amazing way to transition into what is sure to be the best and last season of Steven Universe in terms of plot. So, as you may have guessed, this fic is set directly after "I am my Mom." Thank you guys so much for your continued patience on my writing, I appreciate it.
"I can't believe it." Peridot whispered gingerly, balled up against the wall of the barn. It was the dead of night, and the cold air hung like a luminous cloud of suffocating gas, gripping her skin and stomach so tightly she felt that she might die before the grips of Homeworld had the chance to touch her. In her mind, Pearl's words echoed like a bad dream. "They took him." She had told her. "He's on his way to Homeworld!" Steven was gone- like, REALLY gone. Homeworld had taken him away in their only ship, their only hope of getting him back, as Ruby, that damn gem that had tricked them into trusting her, took the ship they themselves had owned. It was all for naught- and when the gems told her, she fled from the grassy fields of the farm, away from Lapis, away from the Crystal gems, and away from Pumpkin. For the first time, Peridot was absolutely confounded, confused, and most of all, frightened. She felt so utterly hopeless that she couldn't bear but muster a few tears in the name of her friend, who was sure to be killed and strut about Homeworld like some damn trophy by gems who didn't understand what he- and so may others, had died for; by those miscreants that were fed lies by the tyrants that held Homeworld.
"Why?" Peridot hissed to herself, each shameful tear that fell feeling like a drop of acid against her artificial skin. "Why wasn't I there to help? Why couldn't we find another way?"
"Peridot!" She heard Lapis call, and a bark from Pumpkin too. "What are you doing? Crying won't help, just get out here!"
Peridot tried her best to quiet down, and hide herself behind the silo that was jutting from the side of the barn.
"Go away." She whispered to herself, sniffling. "Why can't I be left to my own devices to conclude my own desperations?"
"I know you're here!" Lapis called out. "I can hear your whimpering!"
Muffin let out a few barks, signaling to Lapis that she had sniffed out the little green gem. She ran around the side of the barn, a determined Lapis in tow. The pumpkin made her way to Peridot, jumping on her, though not breaking Peridot's fettle position as she wept even more powerfully, knowing that she could not escape Lapis's grasp, of whom was now leaning down in front of her, her hands firm on her hips.
"Peridot." She mumbled.
"Leave me alone." Peridot replied with a voice so weak and pathetic it made a frightened Ruby look bold and powerful. Pumpkin was resting in her lap, trying to lick the streams of tears that were staining her cheeks.
"We need to help Steven!" Lapis spoke loudly, though trying her best to refrain from yelling at the gem, for she knew how sensitive she could be in her weaker moments. "I know you're upset, I am too, but we need to be reasonable!"
"Says you." Peridot sobbed, clenching her fists.
"No- Peridot, don't you start this!" Lapis spat, her frustration having been ever growing since the news was delivered to her. She was furious, in fact. "You're acting-"
"You're being just as irrational as you think I am!" Peridot yelled, breaking free from her balled up position, the tears on her face reflecting the moonlight finely as her balled fists shook. "What do you want me to do, huh?!"
"Build a ship, or something!" Lapis yelled, Pumpkin whimpering and scattering off away from the arguing gems. "You're an engineer, you're supposed to find problems and fix it!"
"We can't just build a spaceship that will take us to Homeworld as fast as theirs!" Peridot yelled, her voice wavering as she sobbed. "Or any for that matter- we don't... we don't have the required plans..."
"Well, I can fly there, and I can... I can take some of you with me!" The water gem mused, gritting her teeth. "We can think of something, just come on!"
"They're going to Homeworld, what don't you understand about that?! There are millions of gems there, we can't beat them all!"
"We can do anything for Steven!"
"We can't!" Peridot yelled, bowing her head and giving way to a flurry of defeated sobs. "We just... can't..."
"You're such a... a..." Lapis grumbled. "You don't want to help? Huh? What's wrong with you? If it weren't for Steven-"
"Lapis..." Peridot whispered, sobbing and shaking violently from not only the problem at hand, but the confrontation as well. "I-I gave you... nothing but, b-but sympathies, superlatives, and patience when you were reduced to n-nothing but what I am now, o-over Jasper."
Lapis paused, letting out a shaky breath as her skin burned.
"S-so why... why can't you just give me a little patience, too, for once?!" Peridot whimpered out. Lapis stared at her for a moment, rubbing her temples and sighing fervously.
"I'm... you're right." Lapis whispered, sitting in the damp grass next to her and curling up as she had. "I just... I'm so... I just want to shatter whoever layed hands on him! That Aquamarine is DEAD when I see her!"
Peridot managed to turn her head to Lapis's, a sad yet scared look on her teary face.
"Wh-when, you see her?" She asked solemnly. "Y-you're really... going to go? After the ship?"
"Yes." Lapis mumbled, looking to the sky, her eyes burning with the desire for revenge. Peridot quickly wiped the tears from her face and hugged Lapis's arm, shaking her head as she gripped it as if her life depended on it.
"Please, no!" She whimpered once more. "You'll be shattered, really, I mean it, you will!"
"You don't think I don't know what'll happen to me?" Lapis yelled, a tear finally breaking free from her eye as she tried to blink it away. "I just- maybe I can help Steven home, that's all that matters! He's what really matters!"
"You don't matter...?" Peridot mustered, grabbing her wrist. "I don't matter? I'll lose you forever! I don't... I don't want to lose you!"
"And I don't care! You'll forget me, eventually. You'll have all the time in the universe to. But Steven... I owe everything to Steven, and I'll never forget him, without him I'm just a terraformer caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm nothing more than another Lapis!"
"You're more to me!" Peridot rasped, tears flowing down her cheeks once more. She couldn't bear to say much more, so she simply held onto her, sniffling like a baby as Lapis looked at her, giving into a small, simple hug, pulling Peridot against her.
"I just..." Lapis muttered, shivering weakly. "I just... don't know what to do."
The two sat in silence for some time, the tears that both shed dying down eventually. They heard the other gems calling, but neither moved or made a sound. It seemed that both had given up, the cold of the night locking them in a steel embrace as the gems were led astray into the barn to complete their search. For a while, this was their resting place, as they sat undisturbed, and uncommitted to a single word or course of action.
"Where are those gems?" Pearl muttered, shining her gem light around the barn. Amethyst simply shrugged, and looked to Garnet, who cleared her throat.
"It's a lot to take in, but they're wasting time." Garnet mumbled. "We should be saving Steven."
"But how in the world are we gonna do that?" Amethyst protested, though moreover in confusion than rebellion.
"I don't know." Pearl answered, crossing her arms. The three stood there for a moment in silence, an uneasy aura over them.
"Rose, would know what to do." Pearl whispered. "But she's not here. She can't save us this time."
"We don't need the saving." Garnet thought aloud. "But we can save Steven, as soon as we find the two gems we're after." She focused for a moment, using her future vision to predict their location. "They're most likely behind the silo."
And so the three nodded, stepping outside and around the barn, seeing the two curled up in silent despair, and as they made themselves known the two gems looked to them quietly and with wavering gazes. Garnet herself let out a sigh, and they all gathered around the gems, sitting down in a quiet meditation. Neither spoke for some time, a mutual understanding that there should be allowed some measure of time to think between them.
After some time had passed, and each had been allowed their time, Peridot still leaning onto Lapis and curled into a warm, comforting embrace, the time came to speak. Garnet was the first.
"There is a way," Garnet mused. "if you want to help Steven."
They all picked their heads up, and looked to the fusion.
"I see 3 futures where we can save Steven. And 46 where we're all shattered and left to drift into space."
After a long silence, Pearl spoke up. "I'm willing to take on those odds." She said determinedly. "I've fought against worse, over 5000 years ago."
"I'm in, too." Amethyst nodded. "Me too." Lapis joined in with them. Peridot stayed silent, holding onto Lapis once more.
"But..." Peridot whispered. "What's the point? Steven saved us- and if we attempt to procure some means to give chase, then we would be throwing all of our lives away."
Garnet shook her head, standing up. She looked down at the engineer, and with a smile.
"Well, in case you haven't noticed," She spoke openly, "We are the Crystal Gems." After a bit of silence, Amethyst smiled, clearing her throat.
"Yeah and like, We'll always find a way, and stuff." The purple gem added, standing with her. Pearl let out a chuckle and chimed in, standing as well.
"And if you think we can't, we'll always find a way."
Garnet stepped over close to the two gems, crouching next to them. "And that's why the people of this world believe in us- and you two."
Peridot looked away for a moment, clenching her fists before looking to Lapis and nodding.
"Alright, alright... I'm in."
"That's the spirit." Lapis smiled dimly, putting a hand to her shoulder. Peridot only smiled simply.
"Then, there's a ship that a few corrupted gems were trapped in, some time ago. It's almost certainly not in working condition, but it's much faster than the tiny ship the others left in. If we make quick work, we can repair it in a week or so, and possibly catch them."
"The centipeedle ship?" Amethyst asked, her herself not knowing the actual names of the gems.
"Yes. That one."
All five gems stood in silence for a moment before the small green engineer spoke.
"I can fix it." She said.
"Then it's settled. Let's go."
The gems readied themselves, each facing the other with a look that was some mixture of determination and desperation. Without another word, they all began to walk for the fields that would make way to a warp pad, that would make way to their location, and as they walked, Peridot stood close to Lapis and took her hand. Lapis looked down for a moment at her, but made effort not to protest. Whatever would comfort her at this moment, Lapis would stride to help accomplish. She gripped her hand back, the two continuing on toward the warp pad with a little more stride in their steps.