"YOU HAVE TO FIX THIS!" Peridot gestured to the destroyed Warp Pad.
"Wait, what?" Steven stared at her with bewilderment.
"You're my last chance," Peridot explained, a frantic look in her eyes, "I've got no Flask Robonoids! I've got no foot!" – Peridot gestured to her left leg, detached down the middle – "I've got no response from Yellow Diamond!"
Steven flinched at the tone and struggled to summon his shield. He kept imagining it in his hands; light, but sturdy. Small, but powerful. But he couldn't draw power from his gem. He couldn't feel the power from his gem at all. Was his mother unable to do anything to help him? Steven stared at Peridot with wide eyes as she took a deep breath and released it.
Peridot glared at Steven, "I know you fixed Lazuli's gem. Whatever you did, you've got to do to the Homeworld Warp! Or else!"
She held up her arm, the fingers pinched together and making a triangle, a ball of green energy forming and shining everything in a ghastly green glow.
Alright, alright, I'll do it! Steven thought, his heart pounding in his chest. He couldn't stop looking at the energy orb as it became larger and larger. But then, his mind caught up with everything else and Steven did the last thing he thought he should be doing in an emergency.
He stared at Peridot and said, "What."
"Don't play games with me, The Steven!" Peridot snapped, "Fix the Homeworld Warp or I'll shatter you!"
"But…wouldn't that mean I wouldn't be able to fix the Warp if you did that?"
Peridot's glare slipped off her face and the glowing orb suddenly vanished as she lowered her arm.
Steven looked at her nervously, "If you shattered me, wouldn't you just be stuck on Earth forever?"
"T-that's irrelevant, The Steven! I'll find another way –"
"Didn't you just say I was your last hope?" Steven raised an eyebrow, his heart slowing down. He stood up on shaking legs and looked at Peridot with a frown, "I'm just not following what you're saying to me."
"I want you to fix the Warp –" Peridot tried again, but Steven held up a hand to silence her.
"That's exactly it! I can't fix the Warp if you shatter me, so why are you threatening to shatter me?"
"I-I," Peridot's eyes grew wider and she turned away. And that was when Steven started to notice something else, she was shaking! He felt something twist in his stomach and stepped forward.
"Hey, don't worry," he placed a hand on Peridot's shoulder. Peridot flinched and stopped shaking. Steven continued, "Earth's not that bad. You could build a life here, if you wanted to."
He smiled, feeling a sense of renewed hope. Maybe Peridot wasn't such a bad Gem? Maybe they could put their differences asides, bond, and sing songs about Earth together.
Or maybe the Gems would appear, poof Peridot, and then leave Steven wondering if there was still the chance he and Peridot could have sang something together with him.
And now that Garnet and the others had suddenly appeared from the Warp Pad and took Peridot down, Steven would never know. And now he was wondering what Peridot was talking about right before Garnet poofed! her. She was the only one who knew about the...?
When he asked the Gems how they found him, Garnet tapped her visor, which seemed to shine for a moment. Future Vision. Of course.
But now, Steven was a little curious how the Future Vision worked. It scared him the first time Garnet explained it to him, but now he wanted to know how it helped them find Peridot.
"Garnet, what did your Future Vision see?" Steven asked as they made their way back to the working Warp Pad.
"Three possibilities," Garnet picked up the remains of Peridot and tossed them to Amethyst, "The first one was where you attempted to use your Healing Spit to restore the Warp Pad to Homeworld, but failed, and Peridot gave into despair. The second one was more frightening –"
Pearl's eyes widened and looked over to Steven, as if expecting him to break into a thousand pieces, "You mean there was the possibility that Steven could have been…"
"Close," Garnet continued calmly, "Peridot would have made an attempt, but Steven's Bubble would have protected him at the last moment."
"Sooo, what was the third one?" Amethyst asked, tossing Peridot's remains over the edge, the sounds of splashes heard a few moments later.
"The one we just experienced," Garnet answered, "Peridot would have threatened Steven, but he gained the upper hand."
"How?" Pearl asked.
"By applying logic into Peridot's threat."
Author's Note: I know Steven is still a child and makes childish mistakes, so he wouldn't have thought of this, but I kept thinking that Peridot should have phrased her threat differently. I mean, why destroy your only chance of getting of Earth when it was your only chance?
I am applying a theory that Garnet used her Future Vision to help catch Peridot. It was on the Awesome page for Steven Universe.
Funny thing while typing, I initially misspelled Garnet's name and wrote Garent instead. I automatically thought how Garnet was Steven's parent (or one of three, counting Greg and Pearl – Amethyst is the big sister in the family and I love her) and was amused at my mistake. Thanks for reading!