Chapter 2
The Temple was about a fifteen-minute walk to the Temple from the apartment, so one of the first things Peridot invested in was a scooter and a motorcycle license. The scooter wasn't anything overly special, it was an older model, she had gotten it at a used car dealership for a couple hundred dollars, and had fixed it up using gem technology so it didn't have to run off of that archaic fuel liquid or whatever Greg called it. It was also a pretty teal color.
Peridot parked the scooter at the Big Donut and walked across the beach to the Temple. Peridot had always liked the Temple, if she was more poetic, she would point out how it was a metaphor for the relationship between gems and humans, and the new she, Jasper, and Lapis had gained. But to Peridot it was just the place where all of her friends lived.
The screen door clattered to a shut behind her as she entered the house. Jasper was sitting on the couch, reading a book that Connie had given her. Garnet was also sitting on the couch, but she was just staring blankly at the wall. Pearl and Amethyst were both in the kitchen, arguing loudly about an empty jar of peanut butter.
"Hey Peridot," Peridot looked up Steven's loft, where Steven was packing his cheeseburger backpack with any sort of provision he could possibly need, with Lapis watching him from his bed.
"Hi Steven," Peridot replied, going up the steps and sitting down next to her partner.
"Hey babe," Lapis gave Peridot a peck on the lips in greeting, "You have a good morning?"
"I didn't appreciate you leaving the blinds open," Peridot replied, Lapis smirked coyly, "But besides that I have no complaints."
"Okay!" Steven exclaimed, as he crammed one last box of band aids into his backpack, "We're all set!"
Everyone in the temple heard this, and made their way to the warp crystal. "Jasper, Pearl, Amethyst," Garnet said, gesturing to the large crystal in the middle of the room, "You three go first, we'll follow after you." Peridot was relieved that they had started going in two groups, the warp crystal was not nearly large enough for all seven of them, and Peridot hated how they always ended bunched together.
Once the first group had gone, Garnet, Lapis, Peridot, and Steven stepped onto the crystal. Lapis stood next to Peridot, taking her hand in hers. Peridot blushed, she still wasn't too used to being touched, much less hand holding, but she knew Lapis enjoyed it, and in all honesty she didn't mind.
They warped onto some sort of tropical island. It would've been an absolute paradise is it wasn't for the absolute destruction that surrounded them.
An explosion went off above them, and everyone threw themselves off the warp crystal as whatever had exploded fell towards them. It turns out the exploded thing was Amethyst, who was a little singed, but mainly pissed. With a large roar, Amethyst pulled two new whips out of her gem and jumped back into battle.
"It was at the warp crystal when we arrived," Pearl told Garnet, who fell back a little to explain the situation to them. Garnet didn't say anything, but put Steven down, summoned her gauntlets, and charged into battle, Pearl followed.
Peridot looked up at the corrupted gem. It was huge, for one thing. It was dark brown, almost black, in color, with large, thorny tentacles protruding out of its round body, and at the tip of each tentacle was a beak like thing that appeared to be able to shoot fireballs.
"Heads up!" Jasper yelled as she shot past Lapis and Peridot, who ducked down. Jasper ran at the monster, intent on ramming it with her helmet, but didn't get far before a tentacle swiped her away, up into the foliage of the island, most of which seemed to be burned to a crisp.
Lapis summoned her water wings and flew over Steven, blocking several fireballs as she went, leaving Peridot by the warp crystal. Reaching into her backpack, Peridot pulled a small laser gun she had made out of some spare parts she had scavenged from the kindergarten and anywhere else she was able to get Homeworld technology. Aiming carefully, Peridot fired a few rounds of energy at the monster, leaving a few oozing dents in its flesh. It let out a deafening screech, and a barrage of tentacles in the directions of the shots.
"Shit," Peridot didn't have time to move, she didn't even have time to close her eyes and accept her fate, not either mattered much, because a wall of water washed over the monster and herself. A current pushed her away from the corrupted gem, and she felt two arms wrap around her as Lapis lifted her out of the water, taking flight above the destruction.
The monster had collided with the forest on the island, leveling most of it, and also incapacitating it for a moment. The rest of the gems took this opening to attack the monster. It gave last one, small spasm before it poofed.
Lapis placed Peridot gently on the ground, "Could you not shoot the thing when you're all by yourself?" Lapis chided, turning to face Peridot.
"I thought I was out of range?" Peridot replied, she did her best to play off the fact that she had made a mistake, but then she saw the look on Lapis' face, "I'm sorry..."
Lapis let out a breath Peridot didn't even know she had been holding, a small smile of relief fell across her face, and she pulled Peridot into a tight embrace. "Don't scare me like that…" Lapis whispered into her ear, Peridot held onto Lapis a little tighter. A silent promise.
"Are you two done being all gooey?" Jasper interrupted the moment, she had the gem in a bubble and a very salty look on her face, "I just wanna go home and take a shower. I smell like a burnt cheese quesadilla."
"Same," Amethyst groaned, she was covered head to toe in soot, "Minus the shower." The two hugging gems agreed, and pulled apart.
Back at the apartment, Peridot stepped out of the shower, not that she really needed it, it was just relaxing after a tough battle. Lapis was sitting at the couch, playing with a bubble of water that was suspended in the air. In the bubble was a small, golden fish.
"Where did that come from?" Peridot asked, examining the fish.
"It must have gotten caught in the water wings," Lapis replied, "I only noticed it swimming around in my extra storage a few minutes ago." Peridot shuddered at the thought. Just in case they ever had to fight in a place without water, Lapis constantly drank water, and instead of urinating it back out, she kept it in her "extra storage".
"Well, what do you want to do with it?" Peridot asked, trying not to imagine what having a live fish swimming inside her would feel like.
Lapis looked at her girlfriend, Peridot was reminded of a large dog that knew exactly what it wanted, "Can we get an aquarium?" Peridot was not surprised.
"Let me get my keys…" Peridot sighed. As she turned to the coat rack, she felt Lapis catch her shirt, keeping her where she was.
"Hey, Peridot?" Lapis said softly, rubbing the fabric between her fingers, "I love you."
Peridot felt something rise up in her, something warm, that made her feel like every part of her was going to implode. "I love you, too," Peridot replied. Lapis pulled gently on Peridot's shirt, and she leaned towards Peridot in a requesting manner, and Peridot was happy to oblige.
It wasn't the most romantic kiss they had ever had, or the most passionate, but it was in that kiss that Peridot remembered the white magazine tucked in her bedside table, and she imagined the two of them kissing in front of their loved ones, and everyone was happy for them, but not nearly as happy as they were. Peridot wanted that.