Ok, well I have the computer a little while longer apparently, it couldn't be fixed today… but, once it does go it will still be about a week before I can make the next chapter. Also, I wanted to do something very different in the last chapter but couldn't figure out how, so as a result Peridot is more on the evil side than I had originally planned. Hope you continue to enjoy the story anyway.


Lapis and Shard watched Peridot as she reached down to pick up the Crystal Gems, well, gems. She stuffed them in a small pouch she was carrying, and then began to lift up something from just out of sight. As Shard and Lapis continued to look around, they saw that the citizens of Beach city were all tied and bubbled together in a very far corner of the room. So that's where they had gone… But what really scared Lapis was who she saw Peridot picking up. There draped across her shoulder was Shard, albeit apparently unconscious…

Shard also saw this and was not happy. He quickly put his hand to Lapis mouth and pulled her back around the corner to prevent them from being seen. And just like the him that Peridot was carrying, he had lost his smile. That was never a good sign. Removing his hand from Lapis' mouth, he quickly whispered an order. "That other me down there is a very bad thing… you cannot begin to imagine what has to have been going to happen to get me to be that me. Don't think too hard about the tense of that last sentence… Anyway, I have a plan to save us and the others, but you aren't going to like it. So please, just trust me that this is the only way to keep you safe…" he pleaded while starring at her.

"Why, what are you going to…" she began.

"I'm sorry." he said so quietly she could barely hear him as he gave her a shove out into the open and right into the view of Peridot. As soon as he was sure Peridot had seen her, he made an invisible energy barrier to prevent Lapis from escaping. She turned and looked at him with betrayal in her eyes; he just lowered his head and began to walk away. Picking up speed slightly until he was moving at a fast jog pace, he rounded a corner and was soon vanished in the maze that was the under-belly of the temple.

"You!" Peridot yelled at Lapis. "Jasper has been overworking me all day thanks to you making her so mad! Now you are going to pay for that." she threatened. She didn't give her much time to respond either; she threw the de-stabilizer at her and let it pierce through her, forcing her back into her gem and using up what little power it had left. Grumbling to herself, climbed the stairs and grabbed Lapis' gem, sticking it into the pouch with the other gems. She continued onwards, and didn't notice that the supposedly unconscious Shard she was carrying had reached in and grabbed Ruby's gem from the pouch, being careful not to be seen doing so. With his last few seconds awake he threw it down a side branch-off from the path Peridot was walking down. It didn't make a sound from hitting the ground.


Yes, this is a short chapter. The next one will also be short. They together are my first two-part chapter. Be watching for it tomorrow. See you then!