"-Yellow Diamond could've fixed this all! We wouldn't even need to build a drill!" Peridot opened their eyes, and saw to their surprise that they were in a different place. A very dark, wet place illuminated only by a gaping hole in the wall leading to the cloudy outside.
A thin layer of cold water covered the floor, so Peridot wasted no time in jumping to their feet. What was this strange place?
The foreboding sound of the sea roared in the back of the Gem's mind as they looked around. There were numerous dark lines in the stone ground that encircled some sort of pit. Around the edges were strange twisting tubes, a very faint greyish-red in colour. At the back was a platform supported by the tubes, which granted access to a minimally decorated arch through to a darkened room.
It looked strangely familiar. Frowning in curious confusion, Peridot splashed over to the pit and looked down. All they could perceive was blackness before a strange dark gas emitted from the depression rose up and got under their visor. Coughing and waving their hand around, they jumped back and fell into the water.
They couldn't see. Was this some sort of blinding weapon?
"Nya!" The Gem squeaked, momentarily taking off their visor to rub their eyes. The water on their hands appeared to help, so they flushed their face with the liquid, blinked hard several times and replaced the visor back on their face, their vision returned mostly to normal.
Much more cautiously, Peridot stood up and approached the pit. The strange dark blinding gas appeared to be streaming in thin, weak wisps from the centre, rising up into the ceiling. It was when their eyes followed these wisps that they discovered why this place seemed so familiar.
It was filled with bubbled Gems, shining various colours in the limited light, stretching up as far as the eye could see into a smoky darkness. This was the place where Steven had first begun to change their mind. This is was the place where bubbled Gems went.
This was the Burning Room, but not like Peridot had ever seen it before. After the fight, the Crystal Gems must have bubbled them, but some sort of accident damaged the room and freed them. How long they had been bubbled, they had no idea, but it was obvious the Crystal Gems would not be happy to see them free again.
As Peridot looked around the bubbled Gems, however, one object caught their attention. Roughly cuboid in shape, covered in a pink bubble, it had a speaker on one face and three buttons on the side.
Their audio log! Peridot's eyes widened in surprise; how did that thing get there? It certainly wasn't dangerous... but then again, maybe it was simply there for safekeeping.
Yes, that made logical sense, despite the obvious inefficiency of keeping multiple categories of objects together in one large space. The Crystal Gems as a group weren't known for their organisation.
After that analysis, Peridot's mind moved onward to another topic. Now that they had seen their logs, they wanted it back. There was a stone – a piece of debris from the broken wall, no doubt – lying in the water, so the Gem picked it up and chucked it at the bubble. Their superior aim struck the bubble and popped it, and they managed to dive and catch the audio log before it fell in the water. With a cackle of satisfaction, the small green Gem flicked a button, sat up and began to record.
"Ahem. Log date... unknown. In my attempt to contact Yellow Diamond, I was caught and my physical body destroyed by the Crystal Gems. Clods bubbled me for an undetermined amount of time, but it appears mysterious damage to the area I was being contained in has freed me. I shall continue my long-term goal to contact Yellow Diamond and request the termination of the Cluster, but for now-"
A bright light sparked into existence in a dark edge of the Burning Room. Peridot gasped as a yellowish bright form came into view and began to take shape.
They must have freed a Gem from one of the bubbles when they threw the rock! Peridot scrambled back, well aware of Pearl's description of the mindless and savage entities imprisoned in this room.
Quickly the small Gem splashed towards the gaping in the Burning Room's wall, but upon reaching it realised some sort of invisible barrier kept them from escaping. They did not have time to figure out exactly what this barrier was; they could only turn around and watch, shaking from head to toe, gripping their audio log to their chest.
The light around the being seemed to form some sort of featureless humanoid at first, but it was only for a moment. A great mane of hair sprouted from its head, and pincers formed on both ends. Twiggy, stubby legs and a segmented body took shape in the light.
Peridot's eyes widened; what was this Gem?! It was like nothing they had ever seen before, nothing Homeworld had ever even mentioned! Trembling in dead and fear for their life, they curled up into a ball, squeezing their eyes tight, whimpering loudly and pitifully whilst praying they would not be noticed by the animal.
A gasping, rasping growling sound started up, and Peridot only grew more terrified. They were going to die here, all for the sake of one primitive audio log! What prompted them to make such a miscalculation?
The gasping sound grew louder, and before they knew it a sniffing sound started up right next to their ear. The Gem braced themselves, but after a few seconds of suspenseful waiting the sniffing died off, and they had the distinct feeling that something was watching them.
Very slowly, Peridot peeked out an eye from between their fingers. They saw a giant bug-like animal, taller than them, with a white wild mane of hair and black mandibles that drooled some sort of smoking green liquid. In between the jaws was a spherical green gem, which also appeared to function as an eye; something the Gem had never seen before. Its hackles were clearly raised, but it did not seem to be attacking.
"Nyuh?" Peridot frowned. "What sort of being are you?"
The creature snorted and screeched, circling around the Gem in a sort of restless curiosity. Then, it stopped, seeming to relax slightly. It stopped pacing in the water and simply stood there, staring at them with that strange eye.
Peridot looked towards the entrance. Seeing no other option, they slowly stood up and moved towards the archway exit. The animal watched them closely, their hackles rising once more, still making that unsettling rasping noise.
All was going well... that is, until Peridot reached the base of the arch platform. They reached one hand away from their chest to grasp a tube, and that was when the hissing started.