CHAPTER 16: THE RUN
"N-no… no no no no!" Peridot cried in dispair as she looked at her.
"What… oh… well… I hoped you'd discover about who I am later… I really wished my sister could see that horrified look on your faces too… but I guess… the death of all of you will be enough to satisfy me…" The figure said as she let her cloak fall to the ground.
"How is it possible?" Pearl muttered in disbelief.
In front of them, there was a tall gem, she was wearing a black and yellow bodysuit… her right arm was missing and her eyes looked like mirrors… the yellow gem on her chest presented a deep crack right in the middle of it and so did her face… but after all what had happened between them… how could they forget her.
"Y-Yellow Diamond…" Steven whispered in disbelief.
"Yes… it is I… I was the one who attacked you at the Kindergarten… after the explosion of my ship… my gem fell into the ocean… when I reformed… I noticed that my gem was cracked and that parts of my body were missing… it is a disgrace that I lack the power you have Steven… but don't worry… I'll take it from your corpse…" Yellow Diamond said as a malicious grin appeared on her face.
"S-stay… away…" The mysterious gem white haired gem hissed as she stood in front of Steven, shielding him from the Homeworld's leader.
"I don't need to come near… I'll just search between the debris of this place… and find his lifless little body…" Yellow Diamond said tittering viciously as she began to step back before turning around and running towards the exit of the core's room.
"Ngh…" Black Pearl grunted as she stood up and began to follow her master.
"Stop!" Pearl cried as she lifted her arm towards the escaping gem.
Just for a moment, Black Pearl stopped, she turned around and stared in Pearl's widened eyes, neither of the two gems managed to say a word, they just stared at each other for what it felt an eternity, then, Black Pearl shook her head and rushed towards the room's exit, she knew that there was something wrong with her, why did it hurt so much when she tried to remember? Still, she believed her master, she was the one who freed her and told her the truth… the truth…
"W-we… must… escape!" The mysterious gem cried as she took Steven under her arm and began to rush towards the exit.
"Whoa! W-wait a second!" Steven yelled as he was lifted from the ground.
"Get your hands off him!" Pearl cried as she began to run towards the escaping gem.
"Pearl! This is not the time for this! Whoever that gem is, she saved Steven! She is not a threat to him! But this place is a threat to all of us and it is going to blow up very soon! I need you to help Amethyst while I'll help Lapis, they're still weak and they won't get out of here without you helping me!" Peridot cried as she grabbed Pearl's wrist.
"I…I…" Pearl said as she hesitated for a moment… before nodding and rushing towards Amethyst, Garnet's gems still in her hands.
"Come on Lapis! I'll get you out of here!" Peridot said taking the blue gem's arm and putting it over her shoulder, as Pearl did the same with Amethyst.
All of them began to walk as fast as they could, trying to reach the elevator. As they reached the circular room from where they entered the facility, they sighed in relief seeing that the elevator was ready to take them out from that place.
"S-Steven must have done it! He sent it back!" Pearl cried as she stepped over it, followed by Peridot.
"I'm sure it is so P…" Amethyst grunted as she sat down, still weak from the previous fight.
"Ok… everybody get ready to leave this place!" Peridot said as she rushed towards the control panel.
Meanwhile:
"R-Rose… a-re y-you ok?" The mysterious gem asked as sat Steven down over the warp pad.
"Ehm, I'm fine… and thank you for taking me out and letting me send back the elevator but… I'm… I'm not Rose…" Steven muttered as the gem remained motionless.
"W-what?" The gem asked in disbelief as she put her hands over Steven's shoulders.
"Y-you see… I-" Steven tried to speak but was interrupted as a scream came from behind them.
"LET HIM GO!" Pearl cried as she, alongside Peridot, Lapis and Amethyst rushed towards the duo.
The gem, seeing four gems rushing towards her, began to step back, she managed to save Steven from Yellow Diamond… but this time there were four opponents who wanted to attack her.
"Guys wait!" Steven said as he stepped towards them.
"Y-you are… with t-them…" The gem hissed as she stepped over the warp pad.
"W-wait! They are good! They're not-" Steven tried to speak but he could see how much scared the gem in front of him was… it was no use talking… in fact… the gem disappeared into a beam of light.
"Steven!" Pearl cried as she lunged at him and engulfed him in a tight hug.
"Are you hurt? Did that gem hurt you? Did-" Pearl said frenetically as she checked him for injures.
"Pearl I'm fine! Really! She didn't want to hurt me, she wanted to help me… but… she thinks I'm mom…" Steven said in sad tone of voice.
"Well… the only thing that matters is that we're all fine… and that we got the shard…" Pearl said as Peridot stepped on the warp pad alongside Lapis and Amethyst.
"I… ehm… hate to ruin this… this display of affection but I think we should warp home before the hole place is disintegrated..:" Peridot said as Pearl raised her head and nodded, all of them disappearing into the beam of light.
At the beach house, that night:
As Steven went to bed, Amethyst entered her room, needing a break from all what happened during the day. When Ruby and Sapphire reformed, they couldn't be happier to see each other again and after they reformed, they began to talk with Lapis about creating a room in the temple just for her, after all, Lapis couldn't have slept on the couch forever, as they entered the temple, Pearl began to descend Steven room's ladder, after having given him a good night kiss, she couldn't be happier, even after all what has happened, her child was still there, and she couldn't be prouder of him. As she stepped towards the temple's door, she felt a presence behind her.
"Pearl?" Peridot asked as she shyly approached the white gem.
"Oh… Peridot, what is it?" Pearl asked as she turned around… needless to say, she wasn't prepared for what came next.
Peridot quickly closed the distance between them and hugged tightly the white gem. Pearl was more than surprised by Peridot, who never showed this kind of affection to anyone, if not to Steven but only in a few, rare occasions.
"P-Peridot?" Pearl asked as she slowly put her hands on her back, only for Peridot to jump a few feet away.
"Ah… ehm… i-it was just… I d-don't… I'm sorry I just wanted…" Peridot muttered frenetically until Pearl stopped her.
"Peridot, calm down… what did you want to tell me?" Pearl asked as Peridot sighed heavily.
"I… I just wanted to… apologize… for what I told you at the facility… I… was wrong… just because of the way a gem is made it doesn't mean that they won't be able to fight… or to be a good technician or simply to be whatever they want to be… and… thank you… for saving me…" Peridot said keeping her gaze low.
"I should thank you too… you did the same for me after all…" Pearl said as she slightly chuckled.
"Yeah… I… I just… it was the right thing to do and… goodness I'm not used to all of this…" Peridot said sighing.
"I may have noticed…" Pearl said sarcastically.
"Ehm… Pearl?" Peridot asked as the white gem began to turn around.
"Yes?" She answered as Peridot raised her gaze.
"D-do you think I could have my own room in the temple?" Peridot asked as Pearl slightly smiled.
"Of course…" She answered as they walked towards the temple's door.
"There's… only one more thing…" Peridot said as she crossed the entrance of the temple.
"What is it?" Pearl asked as she kept walking… that until Peridot spoke again.
"Do you know that black gem who attacked us at the facility?" Peridot asked as Pearl's eyes widened.
Hello guys! We are back with another chapter and this time we are going to go on publishing new chapters one day one not until the end since we don't have so much to do now that we're on vacation, merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you have liked this chapter and I wanted to apologize for the delay, I had a really stressfull period at school, but now I'm free so I and my coworker will keep working on this story until it's done, I hope you're not too angry because of the delay but the "hiatus" is over now! Expect another chapter very soon! Bye!