"Wow. I can only imagine how this will all end". Steven eagerly flipped over to the next page of the book as the story drew to its conclusion. "Oh" he said in mild surprise. "Well, that really subverted my expectations."
Steven was lying flat on his stomach on the couch, engrossed in one of his favourite book series. As always, Peridot, Lapis and Jasper were out on a mission, leaving Steven to wait patiently for their return. Turns out, he didn't have to wait very long. The Warp Pad performed its signature chime sound and lit up as Peridot, Jasper and Lapis returning from their most recent outing, but strangely this time they seemed to have returned empty handed, with neither bubbled Gems nor ancient artefacts in tow.
"Hey, guys" Steven said happily, setting his book aside and hopping off the couch to greet them. "What'd you find this time?"
"We've been checking to see if we could find any more of the black cubes" Jasper answered, placing her hands on her hips. "Good news is, looks like they were all destroyed in that last battle"
"That's correct Jasper, but this isn't the time to be thanking me." Peridot said, without the least bit of sarcasm. Jasper rolled her eyes, suppressing an angry growl in the back of her throat and likely an urge to hit Peridot with something.
"But now with those cubes destroyed, there's no way they can re-activate the Homeworld Warp" Lapis said, sounding both thoroughly happy and relieved. "Homeworld can't get to us now. We're safe"
"Safe from what?" Steven said, deciding to test his luck. His curiosity had slowly been getting the better of him as he asked the single burning question that he had been holding back for weeks now. "What do the Homeworld Gems want to do?"
Lapis opened her mouth as if to speak but soon closed it again and bit her lip, turning away from Steven much to his surprise as he wondered what could be wrong with her. Noting Lapis silence, Peridot briskly stepped forward and spoke up in her absence with nowhere near the same level of hesitation.
"Well, you see Steven, it all starts roughly 6000 years ago when Gems first arrived on this planet. Their purpose was-"
Without warning, Jasper marched forward, roughly slamming her arm into Peridot as she passed, almost knocking her to the ground in the process as she stepped between her and Steven.
"Hey!" Peridot said, indignantly
"Peridot, be quiet" Jasper said coldly, without even looking back at her.
"But I'm just trying to explain…"
Jasper turned her head sharply, throwing Peridot a very dangerous glare, which was enough to dissuade her from any further arguments. "Nobody asked you anything. And you wouldn't know what you're talking about anyway"
Peridot narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth, scowling deeply at Jasper as she turned back around to face Steven. Seeing that she had officially been ignored, Peridot crossed her arms and began to angrily mutter under her breath.
"Alright, look, it's kinda complicated" Jasper said, dropping down to one knee, looking Steven dead in the eye. "All you need to understand, is that Homeworld Gems were going to do something bad here. Rose, me and Lapis and some others didn't want this to happen. So, we made sure that it didn't. Or at least we didn't let them finish what they had started. We thought that we had driven Homeworld away for good, but they keep crawling back here, like a bunch of parasites"
Peridot rolled her eyes, throwing Jasper another unpleasant and challenging look.
"We decided that we wanted to protect and preserve the life that was on this planet" Lapis said, finding her voice again. Her face briefly flashed a painful expression of sadness. "Even though it meant never going back to home again. But it's better this way" she said firmly, looking resolute and strong once more. "Homeworld Gems bring nothing but misery wherever they go" she said, with a much darker edge in her voice. "That's why we have to make sure they don't come back here"
Peridot suddenly dropped the angry scowl she had been reserving for Jasper and glanced over to Lapis, appearing far more hurt by her words, although Lapis did not appear to notice
"It was either Homeworld or the Earth, and we chose Earth" Jasper said, standing upright again. She watched Steven carefully, waiting to see what his reaction would be, hoping that he could handle this information maturely.
"Wait a sec," Steven said finally, as he begun to realise something. "So that means... we're just like the No Home Boys!"
"Huh?" Lapis said, confused.
"The No Home Boys!" Steven exclaimed with bright enthusiasm. He ran back over to the couch and picked up the book he had been reading, showing it to the Crystal Gems. "It's a book series about these boys who have no home. So, they travel around the country, living in boxcars, and riding river rafts, solving mysteries! They had a successful run…. until the disastrous graphic novel adaptation" Steven added offhandedly. "But my favourite story is this classic one where the No Home boys are chased across the countryside by a mysterious pursuer, which turns out to be the very fear resting within themselves"
"That sounds really, really awful" Lapis said, sounding sincerely horrified by the prospect Steven had just described. "Why would anyone want to live without their home?"
"Well, in the final book of the series, the No Home boys do finally find their one, true home" Steven said, with a simple shrug. "So, maybe it's more the journey rather than the destination"
"How can they be pursued by their own fear?" Jasper said, with more contempt than confusion. "That doesn't even make sense"
"I think that part is meant to more metaphorical than literal" Steven answered. "But I also think the symbolic parallel of them being without a stable home is still applicable to our situation"
Jasper sighed and shook her head wearily, looking almost too exasperated to care at this point. "This is our home, Steven" she said, as though she needed to make her point perfectly clear. "No matter what"
"Don't worry, Steven" Lapis said, deadly serious, raising her clenched fist in the air, looking ready to battle any number of terrifying foes. "No one is driving is from our home, no matter how many metaphors they are". Ending the discussion with that powerful edict, Lapis and Jasper both walked away from Steven, entering through the door of the Temple.
"Aw, I wish I could a No Home boy" Steven said, with some disappointment. "No past, no future. Just the open road. How about you Peridot? Peridot?"
Steven glanced around the Warp Pad, only now just realising that Peridot seemed to have disappeared and was no longer standing beside him. He turned towards the kitchen and saw Peridot, standing in front of the window with, her arms crossed, with a pensive expression on her face as she stared out at nothing in particular.
"Peridot?" Steven said, walking up next to her.
"Huh?" she said, tearing her view away from the window to look down at Steven.
"Wouldn't you like to be No Home boy?" he asked earnestly as though there had been no interruption
"You mean wander around aimlessly, devoid of purpose and security, struggling for survival against a harsh and uncompromising environment?" Peridot replied with a deadpan expression, returning her gaze to the window.
Steven remained silent, allowing Peridot's bleak assessment to sink in and take its full effect.
"It did sound better when they describe it in the books" he admitted, resigning to the fact that Peridot likely had a valid a point. Steven moved closer to the window and leaned on the edge of the window, resting his hand in his arms as he stared out at the same abstract nothingness that Peridot was looking at.
"I guess in the end, maybe the whole adventure of the No Home boys is meant to give the reader a better appreciation for the home that they have." Steven said, after taking a moment to re-evaluate the books series.
"That is a…. logical lesson to take away, yes" Peridot said, indifferent. "We should appreciation our homes". As Peridot continued to stare out the window, she slowly cracked a smile, her dour mood starting to brighten again. "In fact, I especially appreciate my home" she said, her usual vigour and energy returning in full force. "Considering I have the best and most perfect home there ever was"
"Aww, Peridot" Steven said, looking up at her with a sweet smile. "That's such a nice thing to say about our home"
Peridot let out a brief scoff of laughter. "I wasn't referring to this place, Steven" she said. "I was talking about my home"
"Really? Oh, you because you came from Homeworld right?"
"Well, in the past, yes" Peridot said. "But I did have another home here on Earth before I had this one. "
"You lived somewhere else before you came here?" Steven said, in surprise, lifting his head from the window. Though he had never really asked, Steven had always assumed that Peridot, Jasper and Lapis had always lived in the Temple which had been at Beach City since before anyone could remember. It, and by extension them, just seemed to be there.
"That's right" Peridot said with another grin. "It was my home away from Homeworld. Although now I suppose it also serves as my home away from my home away from Homeworld. Don't mistake me" she added quickly, catching the concerned look in Steven's eye. "This place does mean a great deal to me as well, but I'll always carrying a special affection for my own personal dwelling. In fact, I still go there from time to time, whenever I feel I need to get away from everything"
Peridot smiled again, as she soon became lost in her own bragging. "It had everything you could possible want in a home. Good scenery, spacious accommodations, excellent fortifications against hostile enemy forces. Any No Home boy would undoubtedly give up their nomadic lifestyle once they saw the superior housing qualities of my old home"
"I wanna see your old home!" Steven exclaimed suddenly, jumping up in the air with excitement. "Is it far? Can we take a boxcar?"
Peridot immediately dropped her smile, her face going from very pleased to very reluctant at Steven's abrupt suggestion. Judging from the excited look on his face, Steven had taken everything Peridot had said to heart, while Peridot clearly had not anticipated that he would actually ask to see her home. Despite her reservations, Peridot paused, taking a moment to seriously consider it.
"I have been meaning to get back there to check up on some things" she whispered to herself, rubbing her chin with a thoughtful expression as she seemed to be weighing the options of her next decision carefully. Looking again at the pleading expression plastered on Steven's face, Peridot let out another cocky grin, having made up her mind.
"Okay!" she exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air. "Let's go check out my old digs"
"Oh, wow!" Steven said, his eyes glimmering with joy and excitement, already picturing the adventure that lay ahead of them. "We're off on the run!"
"It's time to get moving, time for us to have some fun. There's no time to hang around, our adventure's just begun. We'll be thinking 'bout our friends as we chase the setting sun. But we're leaving them behind, we're on the run. We-"
"Steven, Steven!" Peridot said abruptly, cutting him off from the rest of his song; a brief record scratch may have gone off somewhere in the distance. Steven, who was now standing in the living room, his bindle packed and raised up in mid-air in a pose, slowly turned around to look at Peridot in surprise.
"We are not running away" she continued. "We're merely going out on a brief excursion and will then be returning back here later"
"Oh." Steven said, lowering his bindle again, allowing the moment to pass. His face soon lit up again with another smile. "Well, in that case I better leave a note, so Jasper and Lapis don't worry about us"
Steven quickly ran over to the kitchen counter, grabbing a pen and paper as he wrote down a quick note. Once the note was finished, Steven then carefully attached it to the refrigerator with a magnet, making sure it was perfectly visible. Satisfied, he rushed over to join Peridot on the Warp Pad which then lit up and warped the two of them out of the house.
Seconds later, Steven and Peridot landed on another Warp Pad, one Steven had never been to before. They appeared to be somewhere up in the mountains, miles away from Beach City, huge towers of black jagged rock standing on all sides of them, so high up that they obscured the sun. A cold breeze sent a shiver down Steven's spine as the wind howled in the distance.
Standing a few feet in front of the Warp Pad on which they landed, were two upright, stone pillars, each one looking to be centuries old, with Gem cravings etched down the sides, situated at the edge of a cliff, overlooking a massive, likely bottomless chasm. On the opposite end of the chasm was another cliffside jutting out alongside the face of the mountain.
Between the two pillars were series of flat, metal planks, suspended in the air by nothing whatsoever, stretching across the length of the chasm toward the opposite side, acting as bridge toward the other side.
Following Peridot's lead, the two of them stepped off the laptop and walked onto the suspended bridge. Steven playfully hopped along each of the floating planks one at a time, laughing goofily as he did, despite the obvious potential danger of falling off to his death, while Peridot calmly stepped across the planks, appearing unconcerned by Steven's antics, though she still had enough forethought to offhandedly catch Steven with her tractor beam when he nearly missed his landing on one of the planks.
After safely reaching the cliff on the opposite side of the bridge, Steven and Peridot now stood in front of a large, rectangular shaped archway, at least twenty feet high, carved into the front of the rock formation. Through the archway was a large tunnel leading deeper into the mountain, much like an abandoned mining shaft. Maybe this was an abandoned mine shaft, Steven thought, but for Gems instead of humans?
They entered into the tunnel, which was pitch black with no form of illumination on the walls or ceiling to guide their path. Clearly expecting this, Peridot released a beam of light from the gem on her forehead, which acted much like a traditional flashlight. Peridot then lead the way down the tunnel, with Steven following closely behind, not wanting to get separated as it was still quite dark; Steven didn't want to admit it, but he found the environment to be a little creepy.
"You lived a in a cave?" Steven asked, his voice echoing off the walls.
"No, my home is on the other side of this passageway" Peridot replied.
Now that there was light, Steven noticed the smooth and sleek like cutting along the walls, likely having been done with tools far too precise and advanced for human hands.
They trekked through the empty tunnel in complete silence, aside from the platter of their footfall and an occasional drip of water somewhere in the distance. As they rounded a long bend in the tunnel, Steven began to see a faint light coming up upon them. As the light began to fill the tunnel, Peridot deactivated the light from her gem, as they were able to make of the rest of the way. The light suddenly became so strong, it forced Steven to momentarily raise his arm to shield his eyes. Steven could also begin to feel a change in the temperature as the humidity seemed to be rising as they neared the end of the tunnel.
When they finally reached the end of the tunnel, Steven lowered his arm, blinking a couple of times, allowing his eyes a minute to adjust. Once they finally did, he let out a small gasp at the sight laid out before him.
Steven and Peridot were standing at the edge of a huge, tropical jungle, with lush emerald treetops as far as the eye could see. The sky above them was as blue and clear as the ocean, with sun shining directly down upon them in full view. At the furthers edge of the jungle was an unbroken chain of mountains, acting much like a wall which circled the valley, effectively cutting it off any contact from the outside world.
And although the natural landscape appeared to be unspoiled, Steven spotted several large hexadecimal shaped towers scattered throughout the jungle, rising up above the treetops. They were overrun with moss, vines and other plant life, as well as obvious signs of structural damage done by some unknown forces. Steven couldn't tell if these things were supposed to be buildings or what their overall function might be.
This change in scenery was so unexpected that Steven could hardly believe it. It was like that the tunnel they had just come through was really in fact a portal, transporting them from a land of desolation to a land of prosperity. It was truly beautiful.
"You lived in a jungle?" Steven asked, pulling his eyes away from the majestic scene and turning to Peridot in disbelief.
"Well, not exactly" Peridot said a with a brief shrug. "My home is down there within this secluded ecosphere. Come on, it's not far now!"
Giggling with pure glee, Peridot rushed from the tunnel like a child entering their favourite playground, while Steven calmly followed her.
Just as Steven took the first step out of the tunnel, he noticed something odd about the ground directly in front of him. Unlike everywhere else that was covered in plant life, the ground at the foot of the tunnel entrance was barren, the dirt churned and furrowed in a series of strange curved tracks. It looked like someone had picked up something very big and heavy, and dragged it around in a circle across the ground several hundred times for whatever unknowable reason.
Pushing this mystery out of his mind, Steven quickly followed after Peridot who was already disappearing into the jungle's tree line. Despite the tense foliage, Peridot walked with the quick pace and ease of someone who knew exactly where they were going, likely having made this trek dozens of times herself, while Steven would occasionally fumble over an unseen rock or have stray branch hit him in the face as he trailed behind Peridot.
They walked for another short while much like they did before, except now they had substituted the dark and creepy tunnel with a humid and exotic jungle. Just as they entered into a small glade, Peridot suddenly let out a small squeal of delight, recognising the area they were in at once. She rushed forward ahead of Steven, peering out through a thick wall of leaves, as if checking something was there. She turned back to face Steven, with an ecstatic look on her face.
"Prepare your vision spheres Steven," Peridot said, with a touch of dramatic flair. "As they are most likely to about to violently implode with amazement from the glorious sight they are about to behold!"
Steven stared at Peridot in silence, not really what to make of that statement, but opted not to dwell too much on it.
"Maybe, I'll just close my eyes?" Steven suggested helpfully, covering his eyes with both hands. Smiling in agreement, Peridot quickly trotted behind Steven and placed her hands on his on shoulders, hurriedly pushing him along through the dense leaves at such a rapid pace that Steven almost had to sprint to keep up, until finally they stopped.
"Ok….look!"
Steven pulled his hands apart and opened his eyes. He let out a small gasp. It took a little while for Steven's brain to fully register what he was seeing. Despite all the craziness and out-of-this-world things he had witnessed in his short life, he still manged to retain some suspension of disbelief. That was official gone now.
Sprawled out in front of them in the middle of a large clearing, surrounded by trees and entangled in network of vines, was a gigantic, green hand, so large that Steven thought it couldn't possible have belonged to anything other than a real life giant. Its open palm was big enough that it could flatten Steven's entire house in one swat. Each of its five fingers were pointed upwards into the sky, like skyscrapers, although both the thumb and the tip of its ring finger were broken off. And it wasn't just the size of the hand either; its skin was sleek and seamless, and radiated with a kind of translucent shine as the sun reflected its surface.
"You lived in a giant hand?!" Steven exclaimed in both shock and wonder. Steven glanced to the other side of the clearing, checking to see if there any kind of arm or lower body attached to the rest of the hand, but this did not turn out to be the case, as he saw that the hand stop at the wrist level, ending in a small stump with a clean cut.
"I didn't just live it Steven" Peridot said, grinning broadly, clearly enjoying the impression she had already made. "I flew in it. This was once my own personal spaceship"
"That's a spaceship?! You have your own spaceship!?" Steven cried, slapping both hands to the side of his head, his brain going into overload from all these shocking revelations. "Who are you?"
"Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG" she replied without missing a beat. "Now, do you want to see the inside?" she asked, raising her eyebrows up and down in a mischievous manner.
Steven nodded his head in earnest, the excitement in his chest beginning to rise higher than before, as he had never stepped foot inside an actual spaceship before. Or at the least, he had never set foot inside anything he didn't assume was a spaceship.
He followed closely behind Peridot as walked across the open clearing, thin blades of grass sprouting out from the ground reaching past Steven's ankles. They approached the exterior of the hand, which appeared completely unblemished from any dirt or rust; it might have only been there for a short time.
Now that they were closer, Steven couldn't see any distinguishable markings or lines that may have signified any form of entrance, yet he remained silent and watched as Peridot approached the turquoise coloured wall that stood before them.
Peridot raised her right hand up to the exterior of the ship, allowing the tips of her metal digits to touch the metal surface. The solid wall appeared to liquefy upon contact with her Peridot's fingers as they merged seamlessly into the smooth green material as though she had just inserted a set of keys into their corresponding lock. A ring of light then formed at the point of contact with Peridot's fingers and moments later, a section of the green wall next to them started to recede, the green material rippling like a water and pulling itself apart to form a hole-shaped doorway leading inside the ship. Steven glanced inside the hole to try and make out the inside of the ship, but he could see nothing but empty darkness.
Giggling happily, Peridot detached her hand from the wall and hurriedly stepped through the newly made hole, beckoning Steven to follow after her, which he did, albeit with a little more hesitance.
Once Steven had entered, the hole sealed itself again behind him again, leaving both himself and Peridot in total darkness. Peridot must have then flicked some kind of automatic switch as a series of lights appeared along the ceiling, allowing Steven to get a proper look at the interior of the ship.
They were standing in a long, hexagonal shaped hallway. The walls and the floor of the hallway were made of metal, which looked far more robust than the outside of the ship. Steven glanced up and noticed strange yellow tubes embedded into the ceiling, which reminded Steven much of the interior of the Temple. Some of the tubes were broken, dripping an unknown yellow liquid down to the floor.
"I know what you're thinking, and yes, it was even more impressive when it was operational" Peridot said, looking smug and pleased with herself as Steven stared wide eyed around the ship.
"You mean it can't fly?" Steven asked while glancing down each end of the hallway.
"Unfortunately, no. But when it could fly, it was capable of crossing half a galaxy in less than 70 years. And that's without the duel gravity engine upgrade. Plus, it has shielding from solar radiation. The auxiliary weapons system was also top of the line. And the touch stumps on this version are completely symmetrical. They used to build these things without a consistent model. How unprofessional is that?"
"Uh, yeah" Steven said, with an awkward chuckle, not entirely sure if he understood the context. "You have a lot of extra rooms here" he said, only noticing a long series of open rooms that stretched along one side of the hallway.
"Oh, those were never used" Peridot replied, with a nonchalant wave of her hand. "At least not when I got this ship. Oh, now let me show you the bridge!"
With the same kind of excited glee as before, Peridot lead Steven down the hallway, until finally they entered into a large circular chamber, like some kind of atrium. The ceiling above their heads was a dome shape with a large glass window in the centre which appeared to be heavily damaged from an obvious impact, the glass partially cracked, and some places shattered outright with vines crawling in from the outside.
On the other side of the atrium were five doorways, each one leading to another one of the same hexadecimal shaped hallways they had just entered through. In the centre of the floor was a large Gem symbol that Steven had vague feeling he had seen before; it was of a large triangle, with three smaller overlapping triangles in the middle of it, each of a different colour, one yellow, one blue and one white.
"How come this place looks bigger on the inside than it does on the outside?" Steven asked glancing around the atrium, which seemed to expand the longer he looked at it. "Is it magic?"
"It's more complicated than that, Steven" Peridot said, bringing up a display on her finger-screen. "You see by manipulating fundamental forces to re-orientate dimensional space, we can…." Peridot trailed off as she noticed the blank and innocuous look on Steven's face.
"Yes, it's magic" she said flatly, dropping her screen. "Moving on. The bridge is this way"
Peridot lead Steven down into the left most hallway. It wasn't long before they came to an open doorway, leading into a new room, one which reminded Steven a little of Peridot's observatory. At the far end of the room was a large glass window, which appeared to be intact aside from some minor cracks along the corners. The window was looking up toward the sky as though the room inside was pointed upside down, which threw off Steven's sense of gravity. Below the window was a kind of curved slab made of some kind of clear green liquid. They approached the slab and Just as she had done outside, Peridot placed one of her digits into green material which became liquid upon her touch. The slab began to hum as streaks of white lights passed along the inside of it.
A pool of turquoise coloured liquid rose up from the floor beside Peridot, solidifying into a legless, diamond shaped chair which hovered a few inches off the floor.
Peridot sat down in her newly chair expectedly, but before she could make the room do anything else for herself, she paused, turning to her side and saw Steven ogling her new chair. Peridot sent out another burst of white light from her digit into the slab; another pool of liquid came out from the floor, creating a second, smaller chair. Steven wasted no time before he hopped into the chair, laughing as he performed a few spins in it.
"Still functions" Peridot said, patting the slab in a gesture of pride. "From this command console I could operate the entire ship. I still use to backup all my log files so that I can come back here review them. It's so much less stressful in familiar environment such as this"
Peridot placed the rest of fingers into her command console as streaks of light fired along the surface, like electricity passing through circuits.
A translucent and rectangular computer screen appeared above the console taking up the view of the cracked window. The screen briefly displayed a static image before changing to show Peridot, standing within the Beach House, speaking into what must have been her own finger-screen.
"Peridot, log date. Today has been quite unproductive as we spent the majority of our time fighting a sentient mass of peanut butter which Steven had accidentally brought to life. A side note, we are now out of peanut butter"
"This is so cool" Steven gushed, sticking his hands inside the console much to his delight, laughing as he felt the strange green material wash through his finger until Peridot pulled him out again.
"So, where did you get your own spaceship?" Steven asked, sitting back in his chair, now wondering if Jasper and Lapis had their own private spaceships as well.
Peridot flashed Steven another cocky smile, likely having been waiting for Steven to ask her this very question.
"This ship was given to me as part of an extremely important assignment." she replied with eager anticipation. "You see, Steven, I was once a Warp Pad maintenance technician. My purpose was travel to different planets and star systems, helping to repair, install and appraise Warp Pads, as well as other Gem communication hubs"
"Is that how come you know so much about Warp Pads?" Steven asked. Peridot nodded impressively. Another thought then occurred to Steven.
"So how did you end up here on Earth?" he asked.
Peridot sent another unspecified command into the console with her fingers. The computer screen changed showing images of a stars, with lines drawn in form of a map.
"Thousands of years ago, I was sent out on a mission in a faraway part of this galaxy" Peridot continued. "This ship was assigned to me as my transport as a special privilege due to the length of the journey itself being too great for a standard vessel".
The screen changed to show images of the Earth in the middle of space.
"I wasn't supposed to come here. It wasn't part of my mission. But I as I was passing this section of space, I realised that I was within close proximity to the planet Earth. I had heard stories about this place back on Homeworld, but I had never actually been here myself. Thanks to my diligence and efficiency, I had completed my initial assignment earlier than was anticipated, saving up ample time for my return trip So, I thought that perhaps I could use the spare time to come here and have a look at the Earth for myself. I mean, there was no rule saying I couldn't come for a visit and I thought I earned break"
The screen changed to show images of a hollowed-out section of land, as well as blueprints of the hexadecimal shaped towers Steven had seen outside.
"I came to this location, as this site was originally a Gem space port where ships could land and transport cargo. It seemed the most logical location to leave my ship, while I went out to explore. I only intended to stay here for a short time, but as soon as my ship entered into this area, I was attacked by a Gem monster"
The screen changed again, now showing a terrifying, huge and sinister looking serpent, with bat like wings and fangs the size of a tree trunks, lunging at the unseen camera, its body surrounded by an electrical current; a line of five different coloured Gems were etched along the creature's back.
"The creature had the ability to siphon energy" Peridot said, with a small touch of bitterness in her voice, glaring at the monster on the screen with a kind of mutual understandable animosity. "It drained the ship's engine of all its power, forcing me to crash land here. And during the crash, the communications array was heavily damaged, beyond my ability to repair, leaving me stranded here with no way to get off the planet or call for help"
"That sounds really scary" Steven said, beginning to feel an ominous chill down his spine. He could hardly imagine what it could be like to be stranded in the jungle on another planet, and quickly started to hope that he would never get stuck in a situation like that.
"Luckily, I wasn't about to let that stop me" Peridot said with yet another proud smile as the focus of the story now shifted back to her achievements. "I knew there had to be some old Gem tech somewhere on this planet that could help me repair my ship. All I needed to do was find. Unfortunately, the Gem creature that attacked me was nested in this area, blocking the only access point to the nearest Warp Pad. It guarded the tunnel continuously. It would never leave or allow me to pass almost like it was acting on some kind of instinct. With the only available Warp Pad out of reach and the mountainous terrain too high to climb, I was trapped here."
"Why couldn't you just fly out? You know, with your…" Steven stuck out his tongue, loudly blowing raspberries and making a spinning gesture with his index finger in an attempted to imitate Peridot's finger-copter
"Uh, no. I was somewhat… incapacitated" Peridot said, looking away from Steven, briefly running her right hand over her left arm, as though trying to cover some kind of embarrassing scar. "I admit, I was mildly concerned. But as always, I kept a level head and took control of the situation, making this ship by my main base of operations as I planned my escape"
Steven could picture it in his mind; Peridot, battling her way through the jungle outside in a bid for survival, laying traps, building spears, swinging through the trees. But then again, Steven remembered that this was Peridot, so he couldn't help but think that maybe would be a few instances of hysterical, panicked induced screaming, followed by a number of temper tantrums and various painful setbacks.
"So, how long did you live here?" Steven asked, deciding to change the topic slightly.
"I lived here for many years actually. Most of that time was spent trying to find a way past the Corrupted Gem. And while I came very close to success numerous times, it proved to be an opponent worthy of my skill. Then finally, one day, your mother, Jasper and Lapis came here. Together, they combined as a Fusion and defeated the Corrupted Gem."
"So, Mom and the Crystal Gems saved you?" Steven said, smiling.
"Actually, no" Peridot replied bluntly, making Steven drop his smile. "Once I realised who they were, I tried to run away. But after masterfully outmanoeuvring them for quite some, I was finally caught."
"Why would they want to capture you?" Steven asked, confused. "You were just in trouble"
"Because back then, I was Homeworld Gem" Peridot replied, with neither a hint of shame nor pride. "They assumed that I was here to cause danger for the Earth just like Homeworld did before. Jasper and Lapis didn't like me very much. But Rose offered me help when I needed it the most. She showed me all of the new kinds of possibilities here on Earth."
The screen changed again, now showing dozens of different images, ranging from majestic waterfalls and green fields, to things as mundane as a cat's scratching post and a microwave. There was so many varieties of different images, that they couldn't possibly have been gathered in a single lifetime. Not a human one anyway
"Rose showed me the life that lives on this world, beyond this jungle" Peridot said, gazing over her collection of memories with joy and pride. "Could you imagine my surprise when I found out the whole planet was like this jungle! I thought everything beyond these mountains was nothing was a barren wasteland! There was so much here to see. So much for me to do."
Peridot glanced away from the screen, down to her hands, which were still merged with the command console; they fit together so seamlessly, one could hardly tell where the console ended and where Peridot's arm began. She pulled her hands out of the console, allowing the screen to turn blank again, as though under some kind of discomfort.
"But even after I gained an entire world to myself, sooner or later I always kept coming back here" she said, a little ruefully. "This ship, it's always felt familiar to me. It's the one place on this whole planet that's never been new to me. It reminds me of Homeworld"
"Do you miss Homeworld?" Steven asked, edging his chair closer to Peridot's.
Peridot leaned back in her chair and turned away from Steven, staring at an exposed panel on the other side of the room while he patiently for her to answer.
"Sometimes" she admitted. Peridot sighed and turned back to look at the console. "I know I can never go back to Homeworld, but it's hard. Not to have some feelings for where you came from. It was easier for Rose and the others, considering the circumstances"
They sat in silence for a long moment, the atmosphere having now taken a much melancholier turn. Steven absent kicked his legs back and forth a few times, trying to re-ignite some of the earlier enthusiasm they when they began this adventure, but this did not seem to work. His mind was stuck on the last thing Peridot had said.
"Peridot, what was the bad thing that Jasper was talking about before?" Steven asked finally. He didn't know if she would answer him or not. He didn't feel like he cared either. He just felt like he needed to blurt it out. "What were the Homeworld Gems trying to do here?"
"Well, that's simple" Peridot replied casually as if Steven had just asked her for the time. She sat up straight in her chair and re-inserted her metal digits into the console, bringing up a new display. "In fact, it actually has a lot to do with Rose herself and her origins. You see, it begins with-"
"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!"
Both Steven and Peridot froze up as they heard a very familiar and very angry voice booming loudly throughout the chamber. Peridot instantly pulled her fingers out of the command console, the screen disappearing at once. They slowly turning around in their chairs, and to their individual horror, saw Jasper, standing at the entrance of the chamber, looking absolutely furious.
"Hi Jasper" Steven said, with a weak smile, stepping out of his chair as she began to march across the room toward them. "We were just, ah-"
"You. Shut it" Jasper said, pointing a sharp finger at Steven, silencing him at once, while keeping her eyes focused on Peridot the whole time.
"What do you think you're doing here?" Jasper demanded, towering over the smaller Gem. Peridot gulped slightly, standing up out of her chair, having to supress a brief shaking in her legs as she stood before Jasper.
"Cleary, I am showing Steven my old spaceship" Peridot said, recomposing herself quickly as to appear unintimidated. "A better question is what are you doing? How'd you even know we were here?"
Jasper raised up her right hand, holding a small, square piece of paper between her thumb and index finger, which Steven quickly recognised as the same note he had left on the fridge before they left.
"Dear Jasper and Lapis" Jasper said, reading the note aloud. "Peridot and I are going to visit Peridot's old home. Don't worry, we are not a running away even though we thought about it. Love, Steven. Smiley face"
Looking very much unamused, Jasper crumpled the note in her hand and tossed it to the floor. Peridot cast an annoyed glance in Steven's direction, as he offered Peridot a bashful smile in return, shrugging his shoulders helplessly.
"What have you told Steven?" Jasper demanded angrily, her eyes briefly flashing to the computer screen.
"Nothing considering that you interrupted us" Peridot said, with more dry sarcasm than the situation may have called for. "Steven simply wanted to know more about Homeworld"
"He's not ready to know about that yet" Jasper said in a low growl.
"Well how is he supposed to be ready for anything if he doesn't have the nesscessary knowledge to be prepared?" Peridot shot back defensively
"That's not for you to decide!"
Steven felt a bead of sweat roll down his neck and rubbed his arm slightly, suddenly wishing he had not asked Peridot about Homeworld. He hated to think that he caused so much trouble from asking a simple question.
Peridot rolled her eyes again, placing her hands on her hips, now beginning to look more annoyed with Jasper than afraid. "Look, I was only going to tell Steven what I thought would be the most relevant facts of what occurred here 6000 years ago, so he could better understand-"
"You don't know anything about what happened here!" Jasper snapped, swinging her arm wide and swatting the diamond shaped chair with a strong backhand, sending it fly across the room, causing both Steven and Peridot to flinch at Jasper's sudden outburst.
Jasper then advanced in Peridot, moving so fast, forcing Peridot to back up right into the command console, cowing underneath Jasper's intense stare, now looking truly scared.
"Who do you think you're fooling?" Jasper said, jabbing Peridot in the chest with a single finger, but it was still enough force to knock Peridot push into the console just as she attempted to get up. "You brought Steven here just to show off your old ship. I can't believe you still come here to this worthless pile of junk"
Peridot ceased her cowering, a spark of her usual fearlessness now lighting up in her eyes again, as she pushed herself off the console, looking Jasper dead in the eye.
"I can go wherever I like." Peridot growled in a low voice, holding her ground.
"Oh, really?" Jasper sneered, with a derisive smile. "Does that include back to Homeworld?"
Peridot's expression suddenly faltered, and she turned away from Jasper. From the side-lines, Steven glanced back and forth between the two Gems, growing more and more worried at the way this exchange was going.
"That's what this is really about isn't it?" Jasper said, observing Peridot's reaction carefully. "You want to go back there, don't you?"
Peridot did not answer Jasper, instead keeping her eyes on the floor, before she finally turned back to the Quartz soldier with an unwavering stare.
"I chose to make the Earth my home" she said. "That makes me just as much of Crystal Gem as you, but you never seem to treat me like one. You and Lapis, you always look at me like I'm different. No matter I do, it's like I can never be like one of you. "
"That's because you're not like me or Lapis and you never will be!" Jasper snapped. "You never here when it all happened."
"When….what happened?" Steven asked, very quietly, feeling like he had been forgotten about completely. And right now, he couldn't help but think that was a good thing.
"Just because I wasn't here 6000 years ago, doesn't make me any less of a Crystal Gem than you!" Peridot said, standing up on her heels, bringing her face directly up to Jasper's. "The Earth helped to set me free too!"
"You think you know anything about being Crystal Gem!?" Jasper roared at Peridot, forcing her to back down again. "You have no idea what it means to be one of us. Do you have any idea what I've been through? Do you have any idea what Lapis has been through?"
Peridot opened her mouth to reply, but Jasper didn't her the chance, relentless in her verbal assault.
"All you did was get a little lost and Rose decided we should keep you, like a pet. A loud, annoying, clinging little pet!" Jasper spat. "You expect me to feel sorry for you like she did? I fought alongside so many great Gems here on this planet, Gems I'm never going to see again. We risked everything for Rose and the Earth. What the heck did you risk? Nothing!"
Ever world out of Jasper's mouth just seemed to bring Peridot further and further down, as she hung head low, staring hard into the floor.
"How about you do us all a favour and stop embarrassing yourself" Jasper said. "Unless you know what it means to fight for this place, you have no right calling yourself a Crystal Gem!"
Steven felt now something very unpleasant jab him in the stomach, almost like a dagger and he now greatly wished he was somewhere else entirely, away from this whole conversation.
Once she had finally finished her tirade, Jasper stared at Peridot, but then gave her odd look of surprise. She had clearly been expecting Peridot to get angry or give some kind of snarky reply as per usual custom. Instead, Peridot simply stood there, her head hanging low and refusing to budge.
"So, what?" Jasper said, curtly, trying to hide any sense of concern that she may have gone too far and somehow broke Peridot. "Got nothing to say for once?"
Steven held his breath, watching Peridot nervously. Much like Jasper, he had no idea what to expect from her at this point. Finally, Peridot raised her right arm up in front of Jasper and without looking up, placed the tip of her metal finger into the middle of Jasper's chest.
"You have something on your shirt" she said, in a low voice.
For a moment Jasper appeared so bemused that she didn't know how to respond, until she finally cracked a small grin. "That's it?" she said with a slight scoff, glancing down at her own chest. "You know, I actually expected-"
Moving in the blink of an eye, Peridot pointed her metal finger directly underneath Jasper's chin and before she could react, fired a bolt of green energy from her finger-cannon right into Jasper's lower jaw, blasting her up into the air until she came crashing down on the other side of the room.
Steven gasped, his mouth gaping in horror as he glanced back and forth between Peridot and the fallen Jasper. He didn't know what to be more worried about; the fact that Peridot had just attacked Jasper, or the fact that Peridot had just attacked Jasper and was not immediately running away as fast as possible.
Instead, Peridot remained exactly where she was, bellowing loudly at Jasper from across the room. "I am a Crystal Gem!"
Jasper's body stirred from where she was lying as she slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position. She raised her head up, glaring at Peridot with such a cold and fierce stare, it was clear that this was no childish game any longer.
"I am the one who destroyed the black cubes to keep Homeworld from coming here" Peridot continued, not the showing the least bit of fear. "I saved you and Lapis when you went crazy as Malachite. I have done more than enough to prove myself. But it's never enough for you, because clearly, as a Quartz soldier, the only the thing you can understand is fighting! Well, fine! If that's what it takes, then I'll show you how much of a Crystal Gem I am!"
Peridot raised her fists in the air and spread out her legs wide, in undisciplined yet determined fighting stance.
Across the room, Jasper glared Peridot in silence, her anger now coupled with a new sense of intrigue. Slowly, she rose back up to full height, cracking her neck from side to side, clenching her knuckles tightly.
"Ok, runt" she growled, her crash helmet materialising over her head in a brief flash of light. "Show me!"
"Wait, you guys can't fight each other!" Steven cried, thinking that they both must have gone insane at this point.
"Stay out of this, Steven!" Peridot and Jasper yelled simultaneously, their eyes locked onto each other. There was no stopping this now.
Making the first move, Jasper launched herself forward, charging right at Peridot with her signature comet dash attack. Peridot raised her arm and fired her tractor beam from the palm of her hand, catching Jasper within the green bubble of energy. With a smirk, Peridot spun around on her heel and flung Jasper back across the room from she had started.
"Ha!" Peridot jeered, before sticking out her tongue to Jasper and pulling down her lower eyelid.
Growling deeply, Jasper dug her fingers into the floor and ripped out a huge chunk of metal, throwing it at Peridot as a projectile, who caught it instinctively within her tractor beam just as before. But this is what Jasper had wanted, as the moment Peridot caught the piece of metal floor, Jasper jumped over head and came crashing down upon Peridot, who just barely dodged out of the way of Jasper's crash helmet as it slammed into the floor, the impact strong enough to shake the entire room, knocking Peridot off her feet, not to mention Steven.
Climbing back to her feet to floor to balance herself, Peridot activated her finger-cannon and fired a bolt of green energy at Jasper. Jasper didn't attempt to dodge it, instead she lowered her head and deflected the bolt using her crash helmet.
Peridot began to fire another barrage of bolts at Jasper in a rapid succession. Jasper rushed forward, tucking insider her body and rolling into her ball form, the green energy bolts bouncing her spiky body as she rushed forward. Peridot only had enough time to register a brief look of shock and dread as Jasper ploughed into her, carrying her straight through the nearest wall and out of the room.
After a brief explosion, the two Gems landed back in the atrium area in cloud of dust, Peridot laying sprawled out on the floor. Just as Peridot struggled to get back up, an orange hand reached out and gripped her tightly around the helm of vest, pulling her up into the air.
"Is that it?!" Jasper yelled, sounding both angry and disappointed as Peridot struggled to break free of her grasp. "Is this the best you can do against me?"
Peridot grunted loudly, unable to pull herself free from Jasper. She then raised her right hand and generated a stream of electricity on the tip of finger. She pressed her finger down onto Jasper's arm, sending the current of electricity through her body. The electricity briefly stunned her, but Jasper soon shook it off like it was nothing but a cold shower before she threw Peridot across the room.
"You think you're tough, huh?" Jasper said, slowly advancing on Peridot. "You think that you have what it takes to fight them when they come back here? You think can risk everything you have to save your friends and your home? When you can't even beat me!"
Just as Jasper was on top of her, Peridot raised her finger-cannon, but Jasper swiftly caught her by the wrist, pulling her arm up, sending the shot up to the glass dome. Peridot lunged at Jasper with her left hand, preparing another electrical attack, but Jasper soon grabbed that arm as well.
Peridot grunted as Jasper pulled both her arms apart preventing her from attacking or escaping.
"So, what now?" Jasper said with disgust. "How do you plan on getting out of this?"
Peridot snarled at Jasper angrily and started kicking her in the shin with her right foot which had as much effect as a piece of paper would against a brick wall. Jasper watched Peridot with apathy as she screamed loudly and kicked her again with she assumed to be all of her strength.
From out of nowhere, a broken piece of metal came flying through the air over Peridot's head and smacking Jasper on the forehead, the shock of the impact enough to force her to let out of Peridot as she rubbed her head.
Now free again, Peridot stared at Jasper in surprise, not entirely sure of what just happened. She glanced down at the piece of metal on the floor and then over her shoulder to see that no one was standing behind her.
But that mystery no longer mattered. Now looking to have finally snapped, Jasper reached her hand out and grabbed Peridot by the top of her head, holding her up in the air. Pulling back her fist, Jasper punched Peridot squarely in the chest, sending flying across the room to the centre of the atrium, where she landed on the yellow triangle on the Gem mural.
"So, that's it?" Jasper snapped. "You done after all that? I've seen Pebbles that fight better than that!
Peridot tried to get back up again, but that last attack still left her body reeling and she collapsed to the floor again and could nothing as Jasper now stood over her.
"If this is really the best you can do, then maybe you should stay here and hide
Peridot only had enough time to raise to her head and throw one last defiant look at Jasper who was about to land the final punch to end this fight.
"Jasper, STOP!"
Jasper's fist was blocked from making contact with Peridot by a thin, pink barrier which easily absorbed the force of her punch. The barrier expanded and surrounded all her around in a bubble, cutting her off from Peridot completely. Surprised, Jasper glanced around the newly formed prison until she noticed something pulling at the heel of her leg. Looking down, she saw Steven, his eyes closed, brimming with tears and his arms wrapped tightly around her calf, as if trying to hold her back.
"Steven, let go!"
Steven looked up to Jasper, shaking his head, squeezing her leg even tighter as more tears formed in his eyes.
"Please, you have to stop this!" he cried desperately. "How can you attack Peridot like that? She's your friend!"
"She wanted this!" Jasper snapped, unapologetic, pushing Steven off her leg and looking more than ready to continue the fight, but saw that she was still impeded by Steven's bubble, which had to yet to dissipate, keeping the two of them trapped.
"But she's the one whose hurt!" Steven said, pointing his hand at Peridot in an attempt to make Jasper understand. "Can't you see that?"
Jasper turned to look at Peridot who was glaring back her through the titl of the pink bubble. For a moment the two Crystal Gems stared hard at one another, their mutual animosity for one another give slowly giving away, replacing itself with something else entirely. Something that wasn't worth fighting about.
Releasing a long, tense sigh, Jasper's helmet disappeared from her brow. Taking that as an assurance, Steven dropped his bubble, without even realising he had done it, before he immediately rushed over to Peridot, hoping she was not badly hurt
"Peridot" Steven said, reaching his hand out to help herm but she the swung her arm at him to keep away
"No, forget it!" she snapped angrily at Steven. "I need you. I don't need anyone!"
Peridot rose back to her feet, spreading her arms out wide, as if gesturing to the entire room itself.
"This is all I need. This is my place and nowhere else! Because I'm just a parasite who doesn't belong here. I should never have even come here. Then I wouldn't have to put up with all the horrible, painful, terrifying, wonderful, amazing and beautiful things on this planet!"
The longer Peridot ranted, the higher her voice rose with emotion, tears coming to her eyes, everything from her anger to her passion bubbling to the surface. Once she was finished, Peridot looked equally embarrassed and angry, either from allowing herself to lose control or from expunging all her feelings at once.
Glaring at Jasper one last time, Peridot turned her back to both her and Steven, walking over to the side of the atrium, sitting down on the floor and hugged her legs to her chest.
Jasper threw her hands up in the air, letting out a frustrated groan at Peridot's sullen attitude. She quite looked ready to simply leave things as they were, her eyes already focusing on the nearest exit. But before she could take her first step, Steven grabbed her by the hand to pull her back.
"Steven" Jasper said, warningly. She looked down at the little human, who stared up at her with a pleading, almost desperate expression.
Jasper was about to say something, but then she grimaced awkwardly from his stare. She didn't want to admit it, but it was honestly times like this when Steven looked so much like Rose. That same look could always convince Jasper to do just about anything no matter how much she complained. Seeing there was no way of getting out of this, Jasper gently released her hand from Steven's and walked over Peridot.
Jasper stood behind Peridot, not so much as a single thought coming to mind as to what to say next. She turned back to Steven who gave her an encouraging thumbs up, having the utmost faith that she would succeed.
"Alright, look, I know for a fact that I'm not the nicest Quartz ever made" Jasper said, deciding to start with the obvious.
"Yes, you're likely the most unpleasantly one ever made" Peridot said, pointedly. The sad part was, she didn't really intend that as an insult.
Jasper briefly let out a small growl in the back of her throat but managed to keep herself restrained. "I'm…sorry for what I said before" she said, in a softer and more respectful tone. "I was wrong to say you weren't really a Crystal Gem. You're right. You have proven yourself. I should know better than to doubt you"
"Thank you" Peridot said, without turning to look back at Jasper. "I accept your apology"
There was a brief moment of silence. Peridot made no move to get up from her position.
"So….you feel better now?" Jasper asked.
"No" Peridot said flatly.
Jasper gritted her teeth, slapping her hand to her forehead in frustration. "What do you want from me?!"
"Ask her what's bothering her" Steven whispered in the background.
Jasper glanced briefly in Steven's direction and groaned heavily. "What's bothering you?" she muttered, in a very poor attempt at sounding compassionate.
"You" Peridot replied simply. "You bother me"
Jasper turned back to Steven, who gave another smile and made a waving gesture with his hand, signalling Jasper to keep prodding.
"How am I bothering you?" Jasper said, going back to Peridot again.
Peridot finally moved again, turning her head around, looking at Jasper with a dull glare in her eyes. "The way you look at me. The same way you've looked at me since the day that we meet. Like I was an enemy."
Jasper stared at Peridot, unsure what to say, because any she might have said may have sounded like denial.
"You act like I don't know anything because I wasn't here at the beginning" Peridot said bitterly. "That's not my fault. And I don't understand why it has to make a difference. But it is a difference. Not just with you, but with Lapis too. You have all that history. And I don't".
Peridot sighed and rested her head down on her knees as she wrapped her arms around her legs, feeling all the more miserable. Jasper observed her carefully. This time she didn't turn to Steven for any kind of assistance. Steven himself was now watching both of them with a mixture of anticipation and concern.
"Ok, look, it's true. I have always treated you like an outsider" Jasper admitted. "For a while it was just me, Lapis and Rose. Then you came along and before I even realised what was happening, you became one of us. I admit that I didn't trust or even like you at first. I had to learn to accept you no matter what my feelings were. But the truth is, there was always a part of me that…maybe resented you a little"
"Because I was a Homeworld Gem" Peridot said, lowering her head.
"No, because I felt cheated." Jasper said. Peridot look back at Jasper, surprised by her response. She was then doubly surprised when Jasper walked closer and then sat down on the floor right next to her. There was no trace of her usual anger or uncaring. Instead, Jasper appeared quite solemn.
"Peridot, when I said you don't know what it was like here, I really mean that" she said, her words sounding heavy as they fell from her lips. "You don't know what…any of it was like. We made decision that we could never take back, we made sacrifices that almost cost us ever, we fought a battle that would change our lives forever. Me and Rose and Lapis and the Crystal Gems. "
Jasper stared down at the mural on the floor, before glancing over her shoulder in Steven's direction, her expression unreadable, before looking back at Peridot.
"I'm not saying it was all bad for us" Jasper said. "Or that I wouldn't do it again, but none of it was easy. It's just…I can't even explain it." Jasper clenched her knuckles, her body tensing up for a brief moment as though instinctively expecting some kind of attack. "You could never understand unless you were actually here for. You and I just have a different experience of the Earth. That's all"
"So, you think less of me just because I didn't have the same experience?" Peridot said, sounding rather indignant yet at the same time, seemed eager to analyse Jasper's behaviour toward her.
"No, I mean-" Jasper sighed again, rubbing her hand over eyes, trying to find some way of resolving this quickly so she wouldn't have to keep talking about. "I had to fight for this place. And after all that fighting, you could waltz in and settle down with us like it was nothing. It just felt unfair to me, ok?"
Jasper gave another glance at Peridot who glowering back at her, clearly unsatisfied with that explanation.
"But the more I think about it" Jasper continued, quickly trying to find a better sequence of words. "The more I realise that maybe you really were the lucky one for avoiding everything that happened here. You didn't have to be a part of any of it"
"I would have been a part of it if I had been here!" Peridot said in earnest. "I would have helped too"
"I know you would" Jasper said, surprising Peridot again, by touching her hand to her shoulder. Even more surprising was how gentle her touch felt. "For me, it was always about the fight. But for Rose, she wanted something beyond that. She wanted the Crystal Gems to live here on the Earth. Maybe that's why she was so happy when you joined us. You didn't have to fight, you just had to live. And maybe…"
Jasper trailed off, looking unwilling to finish. But she soon felt much more compelled when she noticed Peridot sitting on her knees, staring at her with wide, expecting eyes, practically demanding that she complete her statement.
Jasper sighed and muttered into her shoulder, trying to sound as inaudible as she could
"Maybe that way, you're more of a Crystal Gem than any of us."
Peridot quickly pulled away Jasper, taking a moment to evaluate what she had just said.
"You're right" she whispered, a great realisation dawning on her. "I do live here!"
Peridot suddenly sprang back to her feet, feeling energised and exuberant like never before, spreading her arms out wide, allowing her voice to echo throughout the atrium.
"I'm a Crystal Gem! Because I'm living here!"
Despite herself, Jasper let out a small chuckle as Peridot continued to whoop and holler loudly around the room. Raising back to her feet, Jasper stood crossed armed in front of Peridot, giving her a smile that might almost suggest something along the lines of pride, while Peridot smiled back her with something along the lines of gratitude at finally receiving what she desired the most. Jasper's smile faded instantaneously, returning to her usual scowl.
"I'm not hugging you" she said, point blank.
"I didn't never ask you to" Peridot replied with a happy smile.
"I will!" Not needing any invitation or permission, Steven soon rushed in and jumped right into Peridot with his arms spread wide as he embraced her, laughing joyously. Peridot returned the hug in the kind, while Jasper merely watched from afar.
"Now let's all go live at our home!" Steven said. Without question, he grabbed a hold of Peridot's hand and the grabbed hold of Jasper's with his other hand
Jasper and Peridot shared a brief look, nether of sure how much they liked the situation, but at the same time, they wouldn't spoil Steven's cheerful mood. At his insistence, Peridot and Jasper each held on to one of Steven's hands for the entire journey back, as they exited from the ship and allowed him to lead the way as they trekked out through the jungle.
Finally, the three of them returned to the tunnel and without looking back, they entered, heading back to the Warp Pad that would take them home, leaving the forgotten space port just as it had been for another five thousand years
Five seconds later, a red warp beam struck the ground in the centre of the jungle, burning away the grass and plant life in the form of a perfect circle. Hovering in the centre of the scorch mark was a black cube, appearing perfectly intact and uncompromising operational. The cube beeped three times in succession before it began to hover forward, moving silently in the direction of Peridot's abandoned ship, for some unseen purpose.
Well this is probably too long, but at least it's done now. I decided that this chapter would be good chance to explore Peridot's origins and give a little more insight on the AU backstory for the Crystal Gems. All in all, feel happy with how it turned around
So, in case anyone is still unaware, the Steven Universe movie will be premiering on September 2. Very excited for. It's unlikely I'll have the next chapter up by then, but I'll see what I can get done. I'm planning to go up as far as Jail Break. Actually been wanting do it for a while now. Have some interesting planned for it.
Anyhoo, hoped you enjoyed the chapter and if you can please a review, and I will see you all next time.