Chapter Thirteen: Butter Knife

It was Monday, June 19th. The sky was a foreboding dark green. Peridot sat in the corner of The Department of Caffeine Distribution, fiddling with her tablet. There needed to be a way to fix all this. Granted, she wasn't entirely sure what the ' this ' was, but she suspected that in itself was part of the problem.

She looked around and noticed something off. Steven and Connie were on a couch in the corner, cuddled up close together. In their usual seat sat an unusually attractive human with long, dark hair.

Peridot tilted her head. She could not recall having ever seen this human before, but something about them seemed oddly familiar.

With a nod, the human stood up and walked over to Greg. Peridot decided to observe them closely. She couldn't think of any other way of knowing if this human was real or not.

She watched as the human struck up a conversation, asking for advice on something that must have certainly been meaningless. She decided to try and listen in, straining to hear what they were talking about.

"I'm just really freaked out, Dad," the human started. Their brow creased. "Er… Mr. Universe… I really need to think of what to call you."

"It's alright, as long as no one got hurt!"

"What?" the human asked, panicked. "Dad, what are you talking about?"

"Just remember to be yourself-self-self-self-"

The human stepped backwards as 'Greg' began to glitch.

Peridot turned to Lapis, prodding her frantically."Lapis! Someone else got lured into the room!"

Lapis looked up and squinted at the new human. Peridot followed her gaze and felt another wave familiarity wash over her, but it was different from how she felt earlier. The wariness made sense—a new person in the room would make getting out even more difficult than it already was— but the hints of fear and discomfort? Peridot was pretty sure those feelings didn't come from herself.

Together, they watched as the human attempted to communicate with Greg, who was quite clearly not behaving as a regular sentient being would. His voice was choppy, his smile vacant, and his responses didn't match the input given. The human stared with growing horror, nearly tripping over their chair as they attempted to get away.

Peridot wasted no time, leaping to her feet and grabbing the startled human by the arm. Before they could react, Peridot pulled them to her and Lapis's table. The human seemed shocked, continuing to stare at the Greg, nervously bouncing their leg. The not-human Greg had returned to happily strumming his instrument.

Peridot plopped back down in her seat next to Lapis, in front of the mystery human.

"Who are you?" Peridot demanded, startling the human out of their reverie.

"Oh. Uh… Stevonnie," the human started, slight confusion on their face as they looked between the two Gems.

"But who are you?" Lapis prodded. Peridot could practically feel Lapis's anxiety spiking as she desperately tried to place why this human looked so familiar.

A hurt expression crossed the human's face as their eyes darted between them.

"D-don't you guys remember me? It's me! Your friend!"

"I don't remember ever meeting you in my life," Peridot started, her brow furrowing. Lapis nodded in agreement.

"You're, uh... Huh." The human paused. "You're right. We haven't met yet, have we? But I still... I still know you."

"How?"

"I met you in… uh… in Steven's bathroom? No, no— on the beach? Or the Galaxy Warp? I—"

"Who are you?" Lapis asked again, but this time, there wasn't so much suspicion in her voice as genuine curiosity.

"It's no use," Peridot grumbled. Apparently the new human was glitching now, too. "They are either still stuck in the simulation, or part of it themself. Sorry Lapis."

Lapis buried her head in her hands.

"We're going to be trapped here forever," she groaned.

"No, we're not." Peridot tried to reassure, but her words were starting to sound hollow, even to her. She felt the reality of the situation dawning on her for what had to have been at least the fifth time. "But, ugh! Even with the small changes, everything keeps repeating. Everything stays the same—"

Neither gem caught the sudden realization on Stevonnie's face as they said, "No, no you're wrong. Remember, nothing is still on Earth."

Lapis's head shot up.

"How did you know to say that?"

"What?"

"'Nothing is still on Earth.' How did you know?"

"I… I told you that once. Or Steven did. After we saved you from Malachite, and I was trying to find you a home..."

The more Stevonnie spoke, the more Lapis's expression darkened. Not necessarily because of the story they were telling— they seemed earnest enough, and the story sounded nice, but...

All of a sudden, Peridot felt like her consciousness was being pulled in towards something beyond her own body— towards something else, something new . Normally, she would've been terrified of this unanticipated change beyond her control, but there was something, or someone, that reassured her— it's okay, it's okay — rolling over her like a wave, wrapping her form in cool comfort and...

And then Peridot knew how Lapis was feeling at that moment.

That despite the pleasant lull she got whenever she was scribbling in her notebook, there had always been something wriggling at the back of her mind, just out of conscious reach. Something important, but something unpleasant. Lapis wasn't sure what specifically had triggered it now, but whatever that thing was, it felt like it was clawing its way to the forefront of her mind, demanding to be remembered— and it hurt like chains digging into her wrists as she pushed and pulled against... a certain someone ...

Fusion...

"Malachite…" Lapis chewed the word around in her mouth, and it tasted so bitter, so familiar. She looked back up at Stevonnie. "Who are you ?" Lapis asked, once more, her eyes narrowing.

"I'm Stevonnie. I'm… Steven and Connie's—"

"You're a fusion!" Peridot gasped, looking up in shock. "And you remember?"

Stevonnie was rubbing their face, as if the movement could help clear the confusion away. "Bits and pieces. We're… We're still trying to figure this out."

"So Connie's real then," Peridot said. She looked again towards the couch where Connie and Steven still sat, cuddling. Then again, maybe she wasn't, if her fusion was sitting over here. Nonetheless, it was a starting point. "This is good. We can start figuring out who is real and who isn't… Maybe it will help us get out of here."

"We were… I was trying that too," Stevonnie started. "Garnet is real, like us… But Mr. Uni-Dad isn't, and I… I don't even know if we'll remember this when the room resets.".

"Well, we're remembering more each time," Peridot explained. "Even though the simulation keeps reloading."

"It keeps resetting right after we've figured something out," Lapis added. "And it remakes itself every time."

"Because it wants us all to be happy, and we aren't happy when we realize what's going on." Stevonnie started. They bit their lip in thought. After a moment of deliberation, they spoke again. "What if we tried to overload the room? Like maybe with constant resetting it over a short period?"

"Hmm..." Peridot considered it. The realization that fusion was a thing that could happen within the room's narrative had set her thinking. It seemed to be effective at reducing the room's mental influence— perhaps because it wasn't something that could be fully integrated into a simulation of human life. Could the presence of other Gem-specific abilities have a similar effect? "What if we are able get the room to stop looping by dissipating one of our forms? It might be too significant of a change for the room to integrate."

"What?" Stevonnie asked before the realization dawned on them. "You… you want someone to poof themself?"

"Yes. It's clearly the best route," Peridot explained.

Lapis looked at Stevonnie. She was frowning. Peridot could guess why. This uncertainty, the fear, the sadness in Stevonnie's eyes… So much like Steven's…

"I… I don't know how I feel about this," Stevonnie said.

"It won't be for very long," Peridot reassured.

"But, it can't be Stevonnie," Lapis began. "They're mostly human.

Peridot nodded. And she was certain Lapis wouldn't want to do it either, considering all the unpleasantness that had happened after the last time she was poofed...

No, no. There was only one way they could do this.

"Do it to me," Peridot said, resolute. She stared up at Stevonnie's concerned expression and briefly wondered which of them was more upset about this.

"I don't— I don't like this," Stevonnie said.

"I don't either." Peridot sighed. "But we need to do something. Regeneration heals damage, and this is mental damage. If I can recover from it through regeneration…" Peridot shook her head, then steeled herself for what came next. "If we're doing this, we have to do it right now. The room responds to unhappiness, and it's only a matter of time before another reset is triggered."

Peridot felt a hand on her own. She looked up to see Lapis's pleading expression. It nearly broke Peridot's (non-existent, metaphorical) heart.

"I don't want you to leave," Lapis whispered.

"I won't. I'll be right here." Peridot smiled, giving Lapis' hand a squeeze. She then turned to Stevonnie. "Will you do it?"

She almost felt bad, asking them to do this, but she knew it was the only way. She could see the struggle in Stevonnie's eyes as they stared at Peridot. They briefly nodded then they looked away, searching the table for something they could use for the task. They sighed as they decided on a butter knife, gripping it so tightly until their knuckles protruded.

Stevonnie looked at Peridot, raised the fist holding the knife, and then—