SUMMARY: PERIDOT IS NOT FEELING ALL THAT GREAT, STEVEN WILL HAVE TO HELP OUT WITH…DANCE, I KNOW FUNNY RIGHT; WELL THEIR LITTLE DANCE IS GOING BRING OUT SOMETHING AMAZING.
CHAPTER 1: HEART MEETS MIND- AMBER
Days after the events of –Too Short to Ride-, Peridot has been very happy about her discovering her new found powers of Ferro-kinesis. She has been learning to levitate other forms of metal, besides her tablet and rings from a carnival game, as she was testing her abilities; she unfortunately realized that her powers were still as limited as she was. Due to her lack of upper body strength and small stature, it was unlikely that her powers were to advance beyond lifting more than 10-15kg's of any metallic object.
Peridot realized her short comings again. At first she was proud to finally have a power; she later realized that no matter how much she trained, it would always come short. Peridot did know she was intellectually gifted than most gems, especially the clo-crystal gems on this planet, heck she was smarter than your average Peridot. But all that does not matter here…on the planet earth where anyone can be anything they want. She was still getting used to that idea or becoming 'anything or anyone' of your choice; it was just not done on Homeworld, where everyone was designed to perform a designated task like she used to do.
As she was pondering the many ways she was just a failure to Homeworld and all such Peridot kind; far off a young quartz boy has been observing his green imp of a friend. It was not so clear at first that his friend has been having some doubts about herself again especially after the whole carnival trip where she found her powers. Steven thought that she would be feeling much better after discovering something new about herself, but he above anyone should realize that you just can't shake the feeling being inadequate; he had to do something or else she would forever dislike herself.
The next day, around 10am, Peridot was busy working on a project and testing the capabilities of her powers once again by attempting to move some tools of hers; only her concentration was off and she dropped a hammer on her foot, leading to her yelping in pain,. Amethyst, who was just watching, and could not help but burst out laughing, Steven was close by and saw the whole thing; he could only cringe at the unimaginable pain felt by Peridot.
Steven was walking up to his two friends in his usual attire of a star printed shirt with jeans pants and slippers; but what stood out to all of them was the red, white and blue sweatband that he normally wore when working out, which only meant…
"Guys, it's time to work out and get strong in the real way" said the enthusiastic tween boy.
"Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Huh?" Peridot managed to say.
"Ahahaha…what?" Amethyst managed to blurt out through the laughs.
Steven explained that he wanted to train with them, so that they can all get a little stronger than they already are. It was met with 2 different responses.
"Sure dude that sounds fuuuunn" Amethyst said nonchalantly. While the green technician said, "Sounds pointless, a waste of time, energy and completely ridiculous, you clods have fun" refused not so nicely; but Steven is known to not quit so easily.
"Come on Peridot, it will give us all a chance to get stronger in the real way" he said reminiscing of the phrase said by Pearl.
"Excuse me, but what other ways of getting stronger are there? Steven look this sounds interesting but I don't think I can get stronger other than this" gesturing to how she barely made a hammer levitate in to her tool box, before it all fell down.
"Peridot-"he was about to argue.
"Peri, don't be such a wet blanket. This will give you the confidence you've needed all this while. It will be fun and we will take it slow. So please Peri" Amethyst made her statement, as if both pleading and demanding.
And begrudgingly she went along with the whole training regime, and just like she had guessed it, it was absolute torture. They were making her do runs, jump rope and even pushed Peridot to lift metallic objects that are more than what she is used to, causing at most pain. Every time she would complain, Steven would sing a ridiculous about being strong in the real way; that honestly would drive Peridot even crazier than she had begun to be.
It was getting late in to the day, about 6pm, and the sun was setting on a day's worth of horrible training; that's what Peridot thought anyway.
"Ugh, that was absolutely-"the green imp was trying to say.
"AMAZING! RIGHT?" Amethyst unwittingly said.
"Amazing? Are you kidding me? That was the most grueling day I have ever had and believe me, that says a lot ever since being stranded and surviving on this dirt clod planet!" Peridot shouted out, quite peeved.
"Come on Peri, it wasn't so bad" she tried defend herself.
"Not so bad. NOT SO BAD! You call strenuous training for hours without end, 'not so bad', well you and Steven maybe built to do something like this, but like I said before; I am a Peridot, we are made for technological and mechanical work on Homeworld" she retorted.
"Peridot, how many times do we have to say this, you are not on Homeworld, you are on earth and you are free. Free to be whoever you want to be and not conform or cling to your title, like seriously you're acting like a broken record going on and on about not being the Peridot you once were; get over yourself!" Amethyst
"You know what? I WILL GET OVER IT! OVER AND DONE WITH THIS MEANINGLESS CONVERSATION!" she stood up and took off with a huff.
"Fine be that way…ugh" Amethyst slumped back down, mad at the green gem.
Unbeknownst to them, Steven was watching all this unfold and though he wanted to intervene, he knew that this whole thing would get worse if he took sides. He really wanted to help Peridot feel better and teach her that there are other ways of being strong and though he should have played more to her strengths; maybe he should have gotten Pearl to handle this instead of him. He really wanted to cheer up Peridot, but what could he do?
Peridot was sitting in the corner of the barn, just trying to cool off from the plague of insults from the dwarf quartz soldier (*her words, not mine*), hoping for peace and quiet, until, "Hey Peridot…are you in here?" "Well that was short lived" she says under her breath.
"Peridot, are you okay, I kinda heard what happened between you and Amethyst and so I wanted to apologize" he said sheepishly.
That took Peridot by surprise but she composed herself before he could tell, "Uhm, why do you need to apologize, it is not like you shouted at me" she responded with a bit of chill in her voice.
"I know but I am the one who brought up the idea of training but I didn't consider your feelings; I am sorry"
"Well its fine, really" she said
"That's great Peridot...cuz I have one more workout" he said sheepishly, already knowing what the response would be.
"Steven! No way! Not happening!"
"Peridot, its good cardio" he tried to hype it up
"Just like the cardio of running around the barn, 5 TIMES?!" She asked with sarcasm
"No, no, no. It is just dancing" he raised his hands in defense
"Dance?" she asked, genuinely intrigued
"Yeah it will be awesome, we-" he was cut off
"Do you mean to fuse? Because I am not comfortable-" she asked, ready to put her foot down
"No Peridot. I just want to have some fun with you and get your mind out of the dumps…metaphorically" he said
"I don't know Steven. You sure it is not a fusion dance?" she asked skeptically.
"Yeah just please let's have a dance party, just the two of us, okay?" he asked hoping to get a good response.
"Hmmm, o-okay" she finally answered with uncertainty.
"Yay! Okay Let's Go!" he said right before he grabbed Peridot over to the center.
Steven brought out his phone to play a song that they can both dance to; the only problem is that finding the right song for Peridot was not easy. She was not in to hip hop as it was hard to understand, she did not like ballet for she had no technique and called it a ridiculous Pearl dance form; comments like that were met with Steven punching the green gem's arm until she apologized. Every music that followed was met with disgust, disagreement or disdain. That was until Steven accidentally played a techno song that he once downloaded a few months back. Peridot was so enamored that she started moving awkwardly to the beat, leaving Steven with a smile that soon led to bouts of laughter as he joined her.
Steven was teaching how to do the robot but it led to Peridot saying, "I already know how to make a robot" that made Steven rephrase and explain that he will teach her how to dance to the music. It was going fairly well, with both of them finding it hard to move according to the rhythm but then they enjoyed their selves. Moving about with their arms motioning like robots, sound effects done by Steven then Peridot; there were even 2 instances of butt shaking from both of them. They all laughed, enjoying the time of having fun. Amethyst after coming back from cooling off, heard the faint sound of some kind of music, interested, she went over there to investigate the scene and maybe join in or laugh.
She was slowly approaching the barn, but you could say it was too late. As the music was dying down, Steven wanted to spin with Peridot, though hesitant, went along with the intent and spun around with their eyes closed, giggling; not noticing the green and pink lights shining respectively from their gems. As the music concluded, a bright white light enveloped the both of them and what once were 2 gems became 1.
"Yo guys, what is going on? Having a party he-"Amethyst was stopped in her tracks.
The light died down, leaving twinkling stars and diamonds appearing before the new formed gem that stood in the centre that once was where Steven and Peridot stood. The being was approximately 5.7 feet, taller than Pearl but still shorter than Garnet, they have an average build combining Steven and Peridot's body stature. Their gems were of a yellow and orange shade. They had 4 arms as well, 2 on each side stemming from the shoulder.
They have orange tan skin. Their clothes were somewhat a combination of both gem's outfits: with Steven's shirt turned in to a loose crop top having 4 arm holes, and Peridot's top suit was there but had diamond opening that revealed part of the torso and quartz gem. Steven's pants turned in to shorts that reached a quarter of the way to the thighs, revealing black tights passing them to half the thigh; it breaks off exposing their orange tan skin, then the lower tights turn in to socks which enter in to their ankle boots.
Their brown hair pulled back in to a medium sized messy bun that was tied by a white, red and blue scrunchie, but two loose strands of curly hair hang down either side of the forehead gem. They opened their four eyes that were covered by round spectacle glasses, the 2 eyes close to the nose were of a red-brown color while the eyes on either side were different colors; left end being green and right being black-brown.
"Steven…Peridot…is that you? Are you guys in there? Are you guys…alright?" Amethyst asking almost sounding like Pearl
A heavy cloud of silence was in the air.
"Hmmm, am I alright? I am better than alright. I AM SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!" the unknown gem stated, full of enthusiasm.
"Huh?" Amethyst responded is shock
"I mean I am extremely good. Sure I am a fusion, and this is Steven's first ever gem-human fusion, so that part of me is excited. But the Peridot part of me is super nervous, quit scared and wondering what is happening; though intrigued about how this is possible and somewhat…happy." Said the new gem
"Wait what, the Peridot and Steven-"Amethyst was cut off
"Oh yes. It seems that their fun dance training must have led to forming me, quite silly but fascinating. Can you imagine it? A Rose Quartz and a Peridot fused together to form me; this is quite fascinating, amazing and atronom-." Interrupted but Amethyst now.
"Whoa whoa whoa, can you both or whatever just chill for a second? Look, I know you're excited but firstly what shall I call you? Peven? Steridot?" Amethyst asked, just trying to calm the excited gem down.
"Oh right, my apologies." The fusion said, a bit embarrassed by their behavior. "Now those names are cute and we can call them nicknames but I know who I am."
"Okay, what is it then?" Amethyst asked skeptically
"Glad you asked, I am…" she said with a cheeky grin "…going to show the rest of the crystal gems, hahaha" the fusion said as they made a break out of the barn.
"What! That's not fair, come back here!" Amethyst yelled after them.
Back at the Temple
Pearl and Garnet were chatting around the kitchen counter, part of their conversation was about a corrupted gem that was running loose in the desert and needed to be stopped. While talking, Pearl noticed Garnet was having a smile the whole time they were talking; every time she would ask, "why she was smiling?", she would answer by saying, "In due time." As they were checking the time, it was close to 9 pm and Pearl was getting worried for Steven, until she heard the warp pad activate and walked over to greet him and Amethyst; only to be met with an unexpected visitor that took her by surprise.
"Welcome back Steve- WHO ARE YOU?!" Pearl practically shrieked
"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance. You must be Pearl, I heard so many great things about you from Steven, haha" then she leaned forward to the startled Pearl and whispered, "and some fair things from Peridot, hehe!" she concluded.
"Um, what, who are-?" She blurted out
"Well I can understand your confusion, being that I am new to the scene, very well*cough* you may call me Amber" they said a bit condescending.
Pearl was about to reply till Garnet walked over to try to diffuse a potential future argument, "Amber, my, it is a pleasure to meet you. You do not know how happy I am to see that Steven can successfully fuse with gems also" she walked forward to give Amber a hug, much to the small shock of Amber.
"The pleasure is all mine. I am so happy to be formed. It is surely weird though"
"I can understand Amber, it must have been pretty scary for Peridot to even have considered fusing but I glad she found a great partner she trusts" Garnet said warmly.
"Oh Garnet, I am really touched. Honestly it was a total surprise for Peridot when it happened. She literally was freaking inside of me, until Steven calmed her down before I were to have a short appearance." They jokingly said
"Yes well this has all been fine and dandy, but I believe the both of them must be tired of being stuck together so-"" Pearl was cut off.
"Well thank you Pearl for your…helpful suggestion but we are not tired and far from testing out everything this new gem can do"
"B-but-"" Pearl stattered
"I do recall from Steven's memories that Garnet once said that a fusion he once did was an experience and he should have fun with it, so in the same reason, Amber being a new experience should have the liberty to explore our capabilities and grow our shared knowledge" They sternly said
"Well that is certainly true but-""
"Excuse me Pearl, is that all you can say "But", if so, I will not stand down to someone so "articulate", should I?" Amber said, now Peridot annoyed.
"Excuse me?" Pearl said, tightening her fists as if ready to fight the Peridot part of Amber until Garnet stepped in once again to give an idea.
"Amber, you are most definitely right." "Garnet! Are you serious?" Pearl shouted. "Yes Pearl, Amber is just as much of an experience to Steven and Peridot as it is to the rest of us and we need to respect their choice if they want to do more." Garnet said with her stoic voice but an emphasis on something particular.
"How about we do some sparring tomorrow, to better understand Amber and see what powers and abilities they have formed?" she said
"Whoa, that sounds cool. I am all for it" Amethyst added. Pearl was still a bit salty but could see the potential in training, especially if it meant to teach "Amber" a lesson, "Sure, sounds great. We will start tomorrow morning" she said, leaving to go in to her temple door, followed by Amethyst. Amber was getting so excited; they needed to prepare for tomorrow's battle. Actually, with all the excitement, they really did not stop to realize what they can actually do and it felt like a blunder on their individual parts; but could they really be blamed for having fun?
"Amber" Garnet called out, bringing the fusion back to earth. "You should get ready, tomorrow is going to be interesting" Garnet said before leaving to her door. As they were left alone, they soon had a conversation with themselves.
"Steven I must say that this was an amazing thrill. I was scared at first but this has been so far a wonderful experience" Peridot voiced out.
"I am glad you liked it Peridot, I am glad you are not mad at me for the accidental fusion" Steven voiced out.
"Honestly Steven I was scared but realized I am okay, still it is a bit weird but I'm okay; better than okay I feel stronger than when I was alone" Peridot voiced out
"Well that is great. I am happy you feel better…welp we should de-fuse n-" Steven's voice was cut off.
"What?! No Steven, we can't!" Peridot practically shouted
"Wait, why not?" Steven voiced out
"We-we-we have to stay fused and get to know more about what Amber can do. Tomorrow we will be facing the crystal gems and we have to be ready to show them what we can do" Peridot voiced out, trying to make a point.
"But I don't know Peridot. If fusions stay together too long, they usually start to lose themselves" Steven voiced his concerns.
"Yes I am well informed about that concept but I assure you that it will not happen to us. We are not going to end up like Sugalite if that is what you are worried about" Peridot voiced out, clearly knowing more about Steven's memories.
"It's not that, it's-" Steven voiced but was cut off
"Steven…I know that this is new and your worried about it but I really like being fused with you and it has really made feel better about myself because of you. I just don't want it to end so soon" Peridot voiced her pleas
Steven's voice was silent for a few minutes, until he realized that it wouldn't hurt to just spend more time as Amber; until he figures out how to deal with the bigger issue he has suddenly come to realize was present.
"Okay Peridot, we can stay fused for a little longer. We should do some recall on our abilities and et Amber take the wheel" Steven voiced his answer
"Really Steven? Great. Don't worry Steven, we got this" Peridot voice her assurance.
"Okay Peridot, I trust you"
The next Morning
It was the morning that everyone was expecting, mainly Amber as they were hyped to show the gems what they can do. Due to them being able to share a mind, it was not hard for them to catch up on their set list of abilities. It will be a fun and interesting moment.
"Alright everyone, you ready for this" Garnet asked out loud to everyone
"Ready!" Pearl said, preparing her spear
"Ready!" Amethyst said, preparing her whip
"Alright everyone, ready and able" Amber finally said with a determined gaze.
There was a long silence until…
"Let's go" the gems said in unison.
Amethyst was the first to attack the fusion. Without hesitation, she cracked her whip at them with devastating force, but was blocked by Steven's formed shield. That did not stop her; she pulled out another whip, striking both of them simultaneously at the shield bearers. Amber expanded the weapon wider to accommodate the wide range attacks heading at her. They were holding well alone until they sensed Pearl was coming in for a surprise attack from the back. Sure enough, she was, she lunged from the back towards the unsuspecting gem with her spear; to only be blocked by another formed shield with lower set arms.
"Nice try Pearl, but not happening" as Amber commented, they launched their shield at Pearl, sending her skidding backwards.
"Pearl! Are you okay?" Amethyst called out
"Yeah I'm fine, just caught off surprise" Pearl answered, while trying to regain her stance
That moment was the opening that Amber needed for them to toss a new shield at the purple gem who in turn dodged it in time but it disappeared out of sight. They leapt in to the sky, ascending in to the air watching from above the surprise faces that the two combatants had.
"Oh come on…they can float?" Amethyst questioned
"It certainly looks that way…how about we shoot them down from the sky?" Pearl said with a devious smirk
"Oh boy, you got it P" Amethyst agreed with her own smirk.
Amber could not hear what the gems were saying below but they didn't like the dance that was going on; in just a few seconds, Opal appeared. She wasted no time and leapt up the temple walls to the top to face the other fusion.
"Hehehe, well…hello Opal" Amber nervously greeted
"Hello Amber…" she said, while forming her bow, retracting the string conjuring her arrow, aiming for them, "And goodbye" releasing the arrow; it shot forth, splitting in to hundreds of arrows right at them.
"OH STARS!" They screamed in fear. Amber barely had enough time to form her amber coloured bubble to defend against another barrage of arrows. Before they could catch their breath, Opal was already on top of them, arrow at the ready "Any last words guys?" Opal asked, seeming sure she has won.
Amber lowered their head, looking as if they have lost, "Hehehe" only to let out a sinister chuckle. "Just 2…take that" but this only made Opal confused until…"Pearl. Amethyst. Look out" Garnet warned but it was in vain. The shield that was tossed at Amethyst earlier was flying back at Opal now, hitting her in the side with great speed and force; she fell down to the ground, unfused.
"Ugh, that did not go as planned" Amethyst groaned
"We certainly underestimated them, well…we won't make that mistake twice" Pearl said, getting back to her feet
"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I was you" suddenly Amber's voice carried down. They gems looked up only to be knocked off to the sides by a speeding object. It was none other than Amber on a hover board; it was Steven's shield, this time flat with a star on the bottom and in the shape of a rectangle with curved edges and curved front part.
"Here's a riddle, what do you get when you mix a shield user and a gem that possesses Ferro kinesis? You get a great and awesome ride, hehehe" Amber only laughed as she was hovering around them in circles. Picking up speed, they zipped back down, fast enough to knock the two gems from trying to get up.
"Well this was fun but can we say we're done?" Amber asked, with a hint of snarkiness.
"Not so fast, now it is my turn to spar with you Amber" Garnet announced, activating her gauntlets ready to fight
"Well this will be quite an interesting treat. I recall you have future vision, let's test how far it goes against my mind reading, shall we?" they said, hovering lower until they landed.
With that, Garnet rushed forward, ready to connect her fist with the new fusion. Amber as if they had future vision themselves, they prepared their shield just in time to block the attack. Though they were pushed back a few feet, if it wasn't for Steven's increased strength added to the fusion, it would have been a lot worse. Garnet, flashing a smile was impressed by the counter; but she wouldn't hold back just yet. She lunged forward again this time raising 2 of her fists to aim; Amber perceived this in time and once again countered but this time grew the shield to become wider. A great defense, but in turn took with greater force.
"My my Amber, you sure are strong, aren't you?" she asked, with every punch given to their shield
Amber could only groan for she was too busy trying not to lose focus on keeping this shield from falling. They knew that this would not be easy but they couldn't give up.
With enough force, they managed to push back Garnet far enough to leap in to the air; ascending up to escape the flurry of attacks. They summoned this time, 4 shields and threw them in four different directions. Garnet focused her powers to defend against the ferrokinetically controlled shields attacking and hitting her at every angle.
"Hahahaha, had enough now?!" Amber shouted out as they laughed contentedly, waving all 4 arms controlling the shields.
"Hmm, not by a long shot" Garnet replied, vanishing from the barrage
"What?" Amber screamed in shock. They were searching just a second too late, when Garnet appeared swiftly behind them in the air. Before Amber could make out what to do, Garnet grabbed two of their arms and with tremendous force tossed them to the ground.
*BOOM*There was a boom, followed by a dust cloud.
As the dust cloud settled, Amber sat up, groaning; not severly injured but a few aches and pains. Before they could stand up to retaliate, a gauntlet was raised right in front them.
"Honestly Amber, I am more than impressed by what you have done" Garnet said, lowering her gauntlet and giving out her hand instead.
"Haha…I suppose that matching up against you was not the most calculative stance; however I am proud that I was able to hold out for as long as I did" Amber said, defeated but trying to brush it off.
"Exactly. The two gems that formed you are equally special on their own and each of them gave rise to an even more special gem such as yourself" Garnet said, trying to cheer up the defeated gem
Amber reluctantly took the hand that was offered, "Let's be honest here, I am happy to be formed but I feel like I am more Steven, in the sense of strength; for if it wasn't for him I feel like Peridot's brains would not have been able to kick the other 2's butts" Amber said pointing at the two gems stepping closer
"Well I never" Pearl scoffed
"Hey, I am just rusty, want to go another round?" Amethyst shouted out indignantly
"But right now I see the Peridot side is showing more…unfortunately not in a confident way" Garnet said, almost in a whisper
"Huh?"
"Never mind" she quickly uttered "…anyway, aside from this short but enlightening battle. I believe that a little mission would help. Amber, Peridot and Steven told us about how Jasper had a place that held corrupted gems away for an army; we will be going there to clean up the mess" she announced
Once the gems arrive, they spend their time looking for the corrupted gems. Steven and Peridot were still fused in to Amber much to the dismay and concern of Pearl and to an extent Amethyst. Pearl was caught up in the battle to realize that the two have been fused for so long and argued with them to give it a rest but was immediately met with rebukes from the annoyed fusion saying that they are fine and can handle it. Pearl knew that this was not them but Amber, who seems to not want to let them go although it seems as though Peridot's persona was being brought out more as they talked.
They did not seem so stable, although through their characteristic childish and playful tones, you wouldn't think anything was wrong but someone who knew about stable fusions had a good idea about the tale-tail signs of an internal argument; but she knew that the designated path had to play out on its own
The gems located some of the corrupted gems, poofed and bubbled them. Until there was one that sped passed them out of the cave and knocked them over much to the amusement of Amber
She mocked them on how they could even let a thoughtless creature like that push them around and went on about how they could do much better (yup, someone's Peridot is showing). Two out of the 3 were about to argue till-
"Okay, go for it. We will be heading back to the temple" "Garnet are you serious?" "Yes Pearl, it will be fine and it will teach them about their true strength" she said. After several minutes of convincing and telling the others of the intention they finally left.
As the gems left, it gave the fusion time to talk up a plan:
"Steven, this is a perfect scenario to build on our abilities." Peridot voiced
"Yeah this would be a fun idea" Steven voiced
"Fun would not be the word I would use. All we have to do is capture the monster, poof it and take its gem in to show that we are not weak" Peridot happily voiced
"But Peridot…nobody called us weak. If anything, they were all impressed by our teamwork back at sparring" Steven voiced
"They didn't have to say it Steven but its-its-its ugh frustrating" Peridot voiced
"Peridot are you okay?" Steven voiced
"Of course I am, just a bit stuck in our shared head, that's all"
"Peridot I think we should unfuse now" Steven
"What why?" Peridot voiced
"I have benn getting too tired to focus on Amber and it seems I am not the only one not focusing too" Steven voiced
"I am not tired Steven, and we can perfectly capture that creature even if we were" Peridot voiced
"But I believe we can do this without Amber. Yeah it is strong but it is only a combined strength of us and-" Steven voiced but was interrupted
"You're wrong" Peridot whispery voiced
"Huh? What, I am not lying" Steven voiced
"Yes you are Steven! It is not our strength that made Amber, it is yours, I am just an accessory to add to its personality!" Peridot voiced, anger seeping out
"Peridot that isn't true, it was our shared attributes such as your brains, intellect and your powers of ferrokinesis that helped a lot in the sparring session today. We even had a cool new power, called Empathic telepathy" Steven voiced just trying to help
"Oh you mean that ability that wasn't a match for the war machine!?" Peridot voiced
"Peridot that is not nice and yeah Garnet beat us but will still tried"
"Tried? Oh yeah 'we' tried. You wouldn't understand how it feels to be weak…uh I mean"
"I wouldn't understand? I WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND?!" Steven voiced, now angry
"Steven wait-" Peridot was cut off
With that, the fusion was destabilizing, "No no please Steven don't do this!" Peridot pleaded as they finally separated from each other. Steven walked up to her in a humph, with tear soaked eyes he said, "I understand too Peridot, how it is not easy to be seen as weak and most to actually be weak. You of all people should understand that I am also feeling the same way as you. I knew you were still feeling down about it, that's why I went along being fused for that long; thinking that maybe you would see that it was not just my strength added but yours too. Peridot you are smart, smarter than Pearl even, but you tear yourself down too much and that's why I felt like the heart to help remind you that you are more than just a Peridot; you are special, so please remember that!" Steven finished his speech.
At that moment, Peridot was reduced to tears, "Peridot…I uh, please don't cry" Steven said, now calmer from his outburst. Peridot wasn't crying because she was hurt, but because she felt more stupid than ever to not realize that Steven was trying help and she selfishly kept him fused for so not realizing he was hurting too.
Peridot was about to say sorry till the corrupted gem zoomed towards them, tackling Steven to the ground. "STEVEN!" Peridot shouted in concern.
Steven summoned his shield in the nick of time, the monster was pinning him to the ground, clawing away at it. Steven was already too tired from being Amber all day, that he knew that this won't last long.
Peridot already knew how tired he must be, she wanted to help save him before he was severely hurt. 'What can I do? I am just a weak Peridot' she thought to herself until "NO! Steven is right, I am strong not like typical soldier class gems, but I have my brains and my…" she shouted then looking down at her hands "…Ferro-kinesis" she soon realized and looked around for her eyes to stumble upon pieces of scrap metal from the broken injectors. "Yes!" she said, "Aaahhh!" she turned back to Steven screaming, his shield was fading and he already got a few scratches on him.
Without another second to think, she raised her hands at the metal leg, making it float and flung it at the monster; knocking it off Steven. She kept flinging parts after parts, each one heavy as the last; this did not go unnoticed by Steven who sat up to his happiness that his green friend is fighting back. The monster tried to run away, but Peridot, no matter how tired she appeared to be, ran after that tongue flapper. She cornered it to a cliff where it was trapped. She wasted no time to tackle the monster off the said cliff, latching on to its gem, with Steven's screams not far behind, "PERIDOT!"
A loud boom was heard. Dust was settling down and a monster, Peridot crater was formed. Steven gently floated down to inspect the damage. "Peridot, are you okay?" he asks in concern. What came out was Peridot, holding the corrupted monster's gem, "I am okay Steven, us Peridot's are tougher than we loo- oomph" she did not get to finish due to being captured in a heartfelt hug. "I am glad you're alright" "Yeah well…I can easily outsmart this creature, I am more capable than some people give me credit for" she said, with a blushing smirk. Steven caught on to this and just laughed, happy she finally could see what he saw.
(Steven sighs in relief and lets go of Peridot. Garnet then walks into the scene.)
"Oh, hey. You're back" said Seven
"Eh, I never really left" Garnet confessed
(Garnet points at a rock behind her.)
"Honestly I knew this would happen and decided to follow through it"
"But how did you…" Peridot asked
Takes off her visor, revealing her third eye* "Future vision"
"Oh, I see. But why is something I don't get" Peridot asked
"Well I knew that you were having self-esteem issues and Amber was your way of feeling Stronger. But you relied on it too much and in turn you took too much control, causing you to make it kind of unstable; you lost the balance between you two. I knew Steven being himself allowed you to be more in charge to make you feel better but the fusion was getting too unstable and due to Steven being exhausted and leading to a fall out." Garnet finished her explanation
Peridot looked ashamed of herself till Steven came right to her, "Peridot it's okay, I am not mad. I understand that you wanted to feel stronger but like I told you before; you are stronger in your way. You basically saved me and took down that monster all by yourself, I couldn't be more proud" Steven said reassuringly, with so much enthusiasm at the end.
Peridot was shocked on how he could forgive that easily, but then spending all that time fused together, she could see that he was Steven, kind and amazing. "Steven, I am sorry, you were right and I am amazing. For I pushed past my limits and realized I lifted something far more heavier to save you; I the great and powerful Peridot" she exclaimed with her normal enthusiasm and confidence that Steven and Garnet missed so much.
After Peridot inadvertently bubbles the gem in her hand, they left to go home
Steven was at the barn with Garnet, Peridot and Lapis. Peridot could not stop talking about how we fused for a whole day and saved me from a monster; Lapis was just smiling the whole time. Garnet was now beside him and said, "Steven" "Oh hey Garnet, what's up?" he asked
"I wanted to say I am proud how you were there for Peridot today, helping her realized what she is capable of if she didn't look down on herself" she said
"Oh it was nothing, I am just glad she has her confidence back" Steven replied with a warm smile
"I also want to tell you that, you shouldn't beat yourself up too much to, for I know you suffer through your own self-esteem issues about not being as strong as us sometimes but always remember that you are strong in the real way and a vital part of our team" she said reassuringly, this time kneeling down to look straight in to his eyes.
"I understand Garnet. I will always remember that" he said, then was brought in to a comforting hug.
The camera moves on to the bubble. The star iris then zooms in on the bubble, ending the episode.)
Author's Note:
Let me just say that this was my hardest chapter and it is still the first, oh my STARS! I want to say that I wished that fusion between Peridot and Steven was canon but these animators really could not just badge on it, sheesh. I love this story so far, for I like the design from a picture I described; but the ideas were from a fusion video I saw on YouTube, that I am having trouble finding again and a dozen pictures of Amber ideas on the internet. I was wondering if I should have gone with Watermelon Tourmaline but I realized not.
Amber to me is a combination of Steven's childlike optimism and Peridots's intellect; they form a being of enthusiasm, with a snarky charm but as well as strength from not just Steven but as well as Peridot. Helping Peridot realize her worth more really is a great lesson and I wanted Garnet to hear that Steven's smile holds back insecurities too.
I hope you like the first chapter, please review it
