A/N: Special thanks to cashmanmoney30 and azure-emerald for joining me in the livestream! I will definitely be having another livestream soon! Again, I will post when livestreams happen on my Tumblr.
Now, here is chapter 9 of Cracked Landing!
Peridot and Ronaldo slowly walked up the hill to the lighthouse. Ronaldo felt his heart thud in his chest. What was with everyone assuming that Peridot and he were anything more than friends? Even saying they were friends was a stretch. Were they really friends? Ronaldo looked forward surprised to see that Peridot had stopped walking and stood halfway up the hill facing him.
"When are we going to my destination?" Peridot impatiently asked.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot about that." Ronaldo admitted with embarrassment. "We'll head out tomorrow morning. It is not safe to walk during night." Peridot frowned and marched up to him. Ronaldo was a whole head taller than her but that did not stop her from pointing a threatening finger on him.
"Listen here, human." She hissed. "I have a mission and I do not care what it takes to complete it. I will play along with your games, but we are nothing more but acquaintances and even that is a stretch. Do you understand?" she growled; however, it was more for herself than for Ronaldo. She was fed up with this human. He was brainwashing her to stay on Earth and Peridot needed to make it clear to him that she had responsibilities. She was no laid back human being, she was a machine for Homeworld. Ronaldo gulped at the sudden angry glare from Peridot and nodded with nervousness.
Seeing his silent gesture of agreement, Peridot turned and resumed walking back toward the lighthouse. Ronaldo sighed. The gem was far more servile to her leader than he had ever imagined. Convincing her otherwise seemed near impossible.
The two settled back in the dark room at the top of the lighthouse, only lit by the glowing beam above them. Ronaldo set up his makeshift couch bed and laid out a pillow and a thin blanket before grabbing a sleeping bag from the closet. Peridot stared at him, observing his actions carefully.
"You can have the couch bed." Ronaldo said gesturing to the pull out bed he had set up.
"Do not be ignorant. Gems do not need to sleep." Peridot said absentmindedly typing on her screen, having been freed of her sweatshirt disguise. Ronaldo frowned angrily.
"Listen, I know you're not used to kindness back from where you are from, but while you are here on my planet you can at least pretend to accept my kindness!" Ronaldo snapped unintentionally. Peridot flinched and Ronaldo quickly noted his mistake. "I'm sorry." He sighed tiredly. "It's been a long day and humans need to sleep." He tucked himself in his sleeping bag. "I should not have snapped like that. You're still free to use that bed if you would like. I'll see you in the morning." Ronaldo said dozing off.
Peridot let out a sigh. What was she feeling now? Guilt? Yes, it was rare but it seemed the only plausible feeling right now. She quietly walked over to Ronaldo wanting to apologize, but she was surprised to see that he was already fast asleep. His eyes were closed and his breath was rhythmic. His glasses were placed next to him on the floorboards and his closed eyes seemed relaxed. Is this what sleeping was like? Gems only slept for leisure and being a Peridot she was not allowed any time for leisure. While she had experienced it once or twice, it was only by accident and she was awoken to a harsh punishment for sleeping on the job. Peridot quietly made her way back to the couch bed and sat in the soft mattress with legs crossed. She had her screen pulled up which provided a soft glow on her face. Peridot stared at the blank screen, planning to type some observations on human sleep habits but found herself at a loss for words.
"Argh." Peridot groaned as words failed her and fell back into the sheets on the sofa bed. She stared at the light of the lighthouse as it rotated around, shining the light in her face at each rotation. It was so rhythmic and formatted to a single use. Peridot sighed. "Just like me, I suppose." She had done research on lighthouses during her stay here in the hideout. Lighthouses were used by humans to help navigate boats back to land, back home.
'How ironic. After all, this isn't home.' Peridot said closing her eyes as sleep took over her body.
"Peridot!" a loud voice rang. Peridot's eyes snapped open and she bolted up. She looked around at the surrounding area and noticed that she was no longer in the lighthouse. Familiar metal walls encased her and the hum of electric fields sounded in her ears. "Peridot!" the voice said again. Peridot stumbled to her feet and quickly stood straight. Loud footsteps made the entire floor shake as the source of the voice walked into the room besides Peridot's. Nervously, Peridot peered past the wall and looked into the room where two gems were speaking.
"Peridot! What do you think you were doing?" Peridot almost collapsed with shock.
'Yellow Diamond? What is she doing here?' Peridot shook in fear at the larger gem who towered over another Peridot, much younger than herself.
"I-I-I was just-I'm sorry!" The other Peridot cried and fell to her knees without even acknowledging her mistake. Peridot gulped knowing the younger gem's error.
"You think you can just sleep without finishing your job? Who do you think you are?" Yellow Diamond's large heel stepped onto the gem's head with a loud crack following.
"I'm s-sorry! I-I'm sor-ry!" The young Peridot cried, her voice stuttering as a result of her cracked gem.
"Speak clearly when you are asking for forgiveness from your leader!" Yellow Diamond hissed pressing her foot down. More cracks sounded and Peridot fell to her knees in horror.
"I-I-I c-c-can't!" Peridot shut her eyes and put her hands over her ears, knowing what was to come.
"Then you are not worthy to serve me!" Yellow Diamond slammed her foot down on the Peridot's head and a shatter rang through the room. Peridot opened her eyes nervously and felt her stomach churn when she saw the remains of the Peridot on the floor underneath Yellow Diamond's feet.
"Stupid Peridots." Yellow Diamond scoffed and wiped the shattered remains off her heel. "Guards! Get me another Peridot to replace this one!" Peridot inched backwards away from the doorway in fear.
'No! I don't want to be next!' Peridot thought, tears forming in her eyes.
"You!" A guard's voice howled. Peridot stiffened. She slowly turned her head and nearly fainted when she saw the tall Topaz guard tower over her shaking body. "You heard Yellow Diamond!" The Topaz roughly pulled Peridot up by her hair and threw her into the room where Yellow Diamond stood. Peridot looked up at her leader from her spot on the floor and her pupils shrank with horror.
"Get up you useless gem!" Yellow Diamond said impatiently slamming her heel onto the floor. Peridot quickly stumbled to her feet and stood into her straight posture, saluting to Yellow Diamond.
"Y-Yes m-ma'am!" Peridot said accidently stuttering out of fear. Yellow Diamond narrowed her eyes and Peridot instantly knew her mistake.
"What? Are you broken too?" Yellow Diamond hissed with anger.
"No, ma'am!" Peridot said fixing her voice. Inside, she was falling apart, but she knew better than to show that to her superior.
"Good, now get to Jasper. She already had a mission laid out for that other Peridot, but you will do just fine." Yellow Diamond commanded. "I'm sure Jasper will hardly know the difference." She scoffed.
'Wait, Jasper?' Peridot thought remembering the familiar words.
"This isn't real. It's a memory." She accidentally said aloud. Yellow Diamond stopped in her tracks.
"What was that?" She said pulling Peridot up by her hair. Peridot winced at the sudden pressure on her head. "I can assure you, Peridot, my commands are all real." Yellow Diamond's palm tightened on Peridot's gem and Peridot screamed. "And if you think otherwise, then I have no need for a faulty gem like you."
"Peridot!" Peridot's eyes snapped open. Rather than a forceful palm on her head, two hands were on her shoulder lightly shaking her. "Peridot." The technician gem looked up to see the familiar face of Ronaldo looking at her with worry. Her eyes quickly darted to the rest of the room, noticing the familiar wooden walls of the lighthouse. "Peridot, are you okay?" Ronaldo said taking a seat next to her on the sofa bed. "You were screaming."
Peridot noticed how quickly her breathing was and placed a hand on her chest. Ronaldo placed his palms on her cheeks and brought her face closer to his. Peridot felt his breath on her face and she felt her breathing quicken even more.
"Peridot." Ronaldo rubbed his thumbs over her cheeks. "You're crying." He said trying to brush her tears away.
Silence settled in the room.
"I didn't know gems could cry." Ronaldo said with surprise and took his hands off her cheek. "I have to write that down." Ronaldo said fumbling around his many pockets looking for a pencil and paper. Peridot watched as Ronaldo stumbled around the room in the dark, looking for his phone as well.
A chuckle interrupted Ronaldo's searching. Ronaldo looked over at the green gem who was giggling from where she was sitting. He smiled.
"Are you laughing?" He asked walking back over to the couch bed. Peridot quickly stopped noticing her action.
"N-no." She insisted. Ronaldo laughed.
"I'm glad you're feeling better." He said with a hand on her shoulder. Peridot didn't want to admit it, but she really did. Ronaldo wanted to ask what caused Peridot such distress but decided against it. He would much rather see her happy than upset. Ronaldo stretched and got back on his feet, walking over to the closet where he kept a spare change of clothes.
"Well, it's morning. We can head over to that place you wanted to visit now." Ronaldo said. Peridot had nearly forgotten the mission.
"R-Right." Peridot said nervously.
'Go to the Kindergarten, contact Yellow Diamond-" Images of her dream flashed in her mind and Peridot felt her knees shake. "-Get back home."
Could she even call Homeworld that anymore?
A/N: Thanks for reading! Leave a review and I will have Chapter 10 up soon!