CHAPTER 13: BATTLE AT THE CORE
"I think she's coming back!" Steven said as she pointed at Amethyst's gem, which began to glow in Pearl's hands.
"Already?" Peridot whispered in disbelief.
"She has always been fast in doing that…" Garnet stated as the purple gem rose in the air.
"You are min- hey?! Whe- where is that…?" Amethyst asked as she landed on the ground.
"Garnet made her run away…" Lapis stated as she looked towards the dark room.
"We mustn't waste time… if she's here… that could mean that even the one who attacked us in the Kindergarten is waiting for us… let's find the adapter and then head for the core's room…" Garnet said as she walked towards the opened door.
The group entered the research room and as they began to search for the adapter, they all began to think about what they had seen some minutes before… none of them could tell what kind of gem they had fought… it looked like a pearl but her gem was black… could it be another defective one… abandoned in the research facility during the rebellion because of it… if she was… why would she fight against them… why fight the gems who went against the ones that despised a gem just because she was different… this train of thought was interrupted by Amethyst's voice.
"I think I found the thingy!" Amethyst said out loud as she pointed at what looked like the adapter described by Peridot.
"Good work Amethyst!" Pearl exclaimed as she began to approach the device.
"Now we just need to reach the core, turn on the power and charge the shard… Amethyst… help Pearl holding the adapter…" Garnet said as she looked at the room's exit.
"I got it…" Amethyst said as she grabbed the hose while Pearl held the glass sphere.
"Now… let's head towards the core… and all of you… be careful… that gem was talking about a mistress when I reached you… and I think I know who she's talking about…" Garnet said as she turned towards the group.
"Garnet… do you think… the one she was talking about… is the same person who attacked us at Kindergarten?" Pearl asked in a worried tone as she stared at her leader.
"That's what I was thinking… so… from now on… let's stick together…" Garnet answered as she began to step towards the exit.
All of the gems began to follow her through the dark corridor as Pearl provided some light thanks to her gem. After a long moment of silent, Pearl approached Garnet and while the two began to discuss about the eventuality of having to deal again with their assailants, Lapis noticed how Peridot's hands were trembling slightly as she looked her holographic interface.
"Hey… are you alright?" Lapis asked as she placed her hand on Peridot's shoulder, giving her a slight smile.
"Yes…" Peridot replied coldly as she kept her eyes fixed on her interface.
"Peridot…" Lapis spoke in a soft tone.
"I… I said I'm ok…" Peridot said, trying to sound calm.
"Your hands are trembling…" Lapis said as Peridot closed her eyes, she tried to calm down, she tried to make her hands remain still, but she couldn't do it… that… until she felt a pair of hands covering her ones… which slowly began to become steady.
"L-Lapis?" Peridot asked as she looked in awe at the blue gem.
"You know you don't need to be afraid anymore right? We are all together Peridot… we all care about each other… and we'll always protect each other, no matter what happens…" Lapis said as Peridot gave her a slight smile.
"Hehe… even after all what I have to you… you still pretend to consider me a friend?" Peridot asked as she lowered her gaze.
"I'm not pretending to consider you a friend… you are my friend Peridot… what happened in the past doesn't matter... the only thing that matters is that you have changed… you understood that what you were doing was wrong and you did the right thing… just like me…" Lapis said as the green gem smiled sadly.
"Yes… I… I did betray Homeworld too… in the end… I'm no better than you, Steven or the others… I tried to fight it at first but… I… I really wanted to protect Steven… I felt it was the right thing to do… I'm… I'm just a defective gem…" Peridot whispered as a small tear streamed down her face.
"Peridot… stop saying all this nonsense… now… listen to me… you… are… not… a defective gem… neither am I… nor Steven, or Pearl, or Amethyst, or Garnet… none of us is defective… and you know why? Because all what we did was deciding to stay with people who showed us love and compassion instead of staying with people who showed us nothing more than hate and ingratitude… does that really mean that there is something wrong in us? Don't you think that if all the gems had the possibility to fell what is like to be loved and appreciated… they would all choose to leave Homeworld?" Lapis said as Peridot wiped her cheek.
"Y-you're right Lapis… thank you…" Peridot said as the two smiled to each other.
"I think this is the place…" Garnet said as the group reached a large, circular room, with a great cylinder positioned right at the center of it.
"This is the core's room… now… let me see if I can…" Peridot said as she approached a panel right next the entrance of the room and proceeded to remove it.
"Once the power is on… we'll have to reach that cylindrical container… it contains the core… once I'll have opened it we'll have to plug the adapter in it and use it to charge the shard… ok… just one moment aaaaand… done!" She exclaimed as the light began to turn on.
"Now… let's reach th- WHATCH OUT!" Garnet yelled as she saw a bolt of energy coming towards them.
The bolt came from a tall figure which appeared from behind the cylinder, in fact, as soon as the light was turned on, she stretched her long, thin arm towards the group, ready to strike. Everyone managed to move… except for Peridot… as she turned around and saw the bolt coming towards her, she remained motionless. Peridot closed her eyes, ready to feel the bolt hitting her… but instead of feeling herself being electrocuted, she felt herself being pushed away. When she opened her eyes, she noticed she was on the ground… Pearl over her.