A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews and continued support!
A seemingly endless moment of silence followed.
"Steven! Uh-I-what are you-I mean-" Ronaldo stammered trying to find the right words, "This isn't what it looks like!" He blushed at this position he was in. However, that was one of Peridot's least concerns.
"A g-g-gem?" Peridot panicked and used her remaining arm to push off Ronaldo. She heaved herself with her single arm and tried to hobble away.
"Wait! Peridot, what are you-?" Ronaldo tried to speak. Forgetting she was missing a leg, Peridot tripped and fell flat on her face again with a loud crack.
"Ow…" Peridot groaned unmoving.
"Peridot!" Ronaldo rushed over and helped the fallen gem up to a sitting position. Her remaining arm and leg fell off onto the ground and she grumbled painfully.
"Ow…" Peridot blinked her eyes open and Ronaldo paled when he saw her eyes were nothing but static.
"Peridot? Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" Steven said rushing over to the green gem. Peridot panicked when she heard the voice.
"Get a-a-away from m-m-me!" She backed up onto the wall she was leaning on. "D-d-don't h-hurt m-me!" She whimpered. Looking pathetic didn't matter anymore. She just wanted to survive at this point, but she was at the mercy of a gem now.
"Let me help you, Peridot." Steven said with a gentle tone.
"N-never! G-g-get away f-fr-from me!" Peridot shook in her place with fear and shut her eyes again. Ignoring her command, Steven licked his hand until a thick coat of his spit covered it. Ronaldo looked at the younger boy with confusion and slight disgust.
"Um, I'll explain later." Steven said and knelt in front of the taller gem who was cowering before the smaller boy. "Sorry, this might be a little weird."
'What? Who says that before they murder someone? What is he planning to do to me?' Peridot gulped and squeezed her eyes tight.
Smack
Peridot shivered when she suddenly felt something cold touch her gem. 'What is he doing? Freezing me to death? Using some odd Earth magic?' Peridot's thoughts raced through her dizzy head. The feeling slowly subsided and was replaced with a warm glow. Peridot suddenly felt the static in her head disappear and a familiar click of her joints as her limbs fell back into its place. Slowly and hesitantly, she opened green eyes and looked around noticing that everything was clear and defined under her working visor. She quickly brought her hand up and saw her fingers resting in the correct spot.
"What the-" Peridot began but couldn't find the words. She pulled up a screen using her fingers and checked to see all the features working perfectly as if nothing happened. Her gem shone in the reflection of the screen and Peridot's eyes widened. There was no crack. Her gem was spotless without a single scratch. "What did you do to my gem?" Peridot asked with clear words.
"I-um-fixed it?" Steven said as if it was a question to her. Peridot looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.
"But… how?" Peridot asked looking at her reflection again. Fixing cracked gems was often difficult and a delicate procedure that required years, or even decades, of training, yet this little boy was able to fix her gem in just a few seconds?
"Oh. I have healing spit!" Steven said as if it was no big deal.
"Healing…spit? But that's not possible!" Peridot typed on her virtual screen. She searched through her databases for answers. "Healing powers are reserved for the highest class of gems. Surely the Crystal Gems would not be given this ability." Peridot pondered aloud.
"Oh, the other gems don't have it. It's just me." Steven beamed.
"That only baffles me more." Peridot mumbled.
"Well, the gems said my mom had healing tears, so I probably got it from her and-"
"Wait. Mother?" Peridot put her screen down and looked at Steven with utter confusion. "Impossible. Gems do not have mothers or fathers. We are synthesized beings unable to have a mixture of genes. There are multiple copies of the same gem assigned a certain role in Homeworld. There is no such thing as 'family' in Homeworld. That is a simply preposterous concept." Peridot mused.
"Whaat? My dad says family is the most important thing in life." Steven explained.
"Your father? Another gem?" Peridot said with shock. "How many gems are on this planet?" Peridot groaned in frustration. Clearly Earth had much more than she had signed up for.
"What? My dad? He's a human." Steven replied. Peridot was more confused than ever.
"So. Your father is a human and your mother is a gem?" Peridot clarified more for herself than for anyone else. Steven nodded. Peridot took a moment to soak all this information in. Humans? Gems? Producing offspring? It was unheard of. Gems could not reproduce. Kindergartens existed for that purpose, to produce and harvest gems. Peridot blinked, as if coming to a realization.
"Um, the 'Steven'…" Peridot began.
"Just Steven is fine." He replied.
"Right. Steven. Who exactly is your mother?" Peridot asked, somewhat nervous about the answer.
"My mom?" Steven's expression changed. "Rose. Rose Quartz. Why?" Peridot's heart dropped. Rose Quartz? The famous rebel leader? Peridot wasn't alive during the famous rebel wars, but she had learned enough from her superiors about the awful war that left thousands of gems shattered and captured by Rose and her army. How could his mother be the ruthless Rose Quartz? He was far too…innocent.
"Why do you ask?" Steven chimed. Did he even know about the wars? Did he know what his mother did to other gems? Did he know his own mother was a murderer? Peridot opened her mouth to respond to the human-gem hybrid but found herself cut off by another voice.
"Dang it!" Ronaldo cursed under his breath as his pencil snapped. Both Peridot and Steven turned to look at him scramble around for a pencil sharpener to no avail.
"Have you been listening to our conversation?" Peridot asked with a bitter tone.
"Well, yeah. This is important information for my blog!" Ronaldo reasoned. He switched to a pen and sat back down in his spot on the floor.
"You've been taking notes, as well?" Peridot hissed. Ronaldo shyly nodded. Peridot was fuming. She felt like an animal being monitored by beings lower than her. It was simply insulting. She opened her mouth to yell at Ronaldo when a tune interrupted her. She grumbled in annoyance. Steven's ringtone echoed through the lighthouse tower and the two other residents stared at him as he fumbled around for the device. Peridot watched as Steven took out another electronic device similar to Ronaldo's and pressed it up to his ear, taking mental notes of everything she saw.
"Hello?...Oh, hi Pearl!" Steven chirped. Peridot stiffened.
'Pearl, the tall defective one from the other day?" Peridot thought. She listened closely on Steven's conversation.
"Yeah, I'm still here at Ronaldo's house…Aww, I have to come home now? It's not even that late!" Steven said with a pout. "What? It's already 10 PM?" Steven glanced at the wall where a clock hung. "Oh my gosh! Sorry, Pearl! I didn't mean to stay so late!...Right, I'm on my way back right now! Bye!" Steven hung up on his phone and stood back up.
"Sorry. Ronaldo, I have to go home. I'm sure the gems are going to be excited to hear that I found Peridot!" Steven said halfway out of the door.
"Wait! You're telling the others about me?" Peridot yelped stumbling up onto her feet.
"Well, yeah. Last time I didn't tell the gems about something Garnet nearly shot me into space…" Steven shivered recalling the time he found Peridot's escape pod. Peridot shook with nervousness. No, it was bad enough that one gem found her, now all the Crystal Gems would be notified of her location? She was good as dead unless she stopped him, but Peridot found herself at a loss of words.
"Y-You can't! They'll have me taken away! They'll capture me or kill me!" Peridot said with panic.
"I don't know, Peridot. I mean, I can't just keep you a secret from them forever." Steven said scratching the back of his neck with nervousness. Peridot was frozen. This was it. Once the gems knew she was here she would be pursued for sure.
"Wait, Steven." Ronaldo spoke up. Both the green gem and the half gem looked up. "Do you think you could keep Peridot a secret for just a little bit longer?" He asked.
"Why?" Steven asked with confusion.
"Well, because I need to conduct more…research for my blog." Ronaldo replied. "Please, Steven! This is really important for me."
Steven looked surprised at Ronaldo's reply. Steven knew how much Ronaldo's blog meant to him, but he was willing to watch over Peridot just to get information for it?
"Well, I guess. But only until you get all the information for your blog, okay Ronaldo?" Steven said with hesitation. He knew he should tell the gems, but he also knew how much Ronaldo wanted this for his blog.
"Please, Steven. Do not tell the gems!" Peridot added. Steven gave a soft smile.
"Alright Peridot, I won't tell any gems where you are." Steven emphasized. Steven turned to Ronaldo. "Ronaldo, please take care of Peridot while you're doing your research! She still has to become a Crystal gem!" Steven said with a small laugh and left out the door.
Both Peridot and Ronaldo gave a sigh of relief.
"'Become a Crystal Gem'" Peridot repeated Steven's words with a scoff. "As if I would ever join a band of rebels." Peridot hissed. There was a silence that settled on the room.
"…Who are the Crystal Gems?" Ronaldo asked with a lost expression.
Peridot sighed with annoyance. She was going to have a lot to explain.
Steven rushed through the door and up the stairs to his little makeshift room. From the silence of the house Steven could tell the gems were still on their mission. Steven turned on his phone and lied down with his stomach on his bed, dialing a number.
"Connie! You will never guess who I found today!"
A/N: Well, technically he didn't tell the gems...
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