Shattered Hearts (Steven Universe)

Chapter 18

Peridot started to wave her hands frantically. "I'm here! Emerald, I'm right here!" The ship seemed to ignore her cries as it soared lower in the distant sky. Ben noticed her mistake first. He stifled a laugh as he realized what the glowing thing had been. "Peri...that wasn't a ship. It's just a shooting star. No one's come here to get you yet." The green gem stiffened at that. Her hands dropped down at her sides, and she turned to face the human, looking confused. "What do you mean, that wasn't a ship? It was, and it was Emerald's! She's come, and she just didn't see me!" Ben put a hand on her shoulder, his dark blue eyes fixed on her pale green ones. "Peridot, I'm sorry, but...I don't think they're going to come." Peridot frowned and pushed his hand away. "How would you know?" "I guess I don't, but it seems like they won't. It's been a while, Peri, and they would've shown up if they actually intended to find you." The green gem gritted her teeth. "Look, Ben, I don't care what you think. They're coming for me. They wouldn't just leave me here like this, all by myself. That's not home world's way. That's not what gems do!" "Well, clearly, it is." The boy sighed. "I remember it still. You did that to me." Peridot stared at him, but then recovered and stomped her foot. "Ugh, this isn't fair! They should be here by now!" She looked down at her tech hands and squeezed her wrists tightly. She soon became wracked with sobs. "They should be here..."

The gem sat down, looking defeated. Her gem glimmered faintly, and she grimaced from the pain. Ben moved to sit beside her, straightening his t-shirt and plain, faded jeans as he did so. His gaze held only concern for her. "Are you okay?" "No." Peridot sniffled, rubbing at her face with the back of her hand. "Why would I be okay? None of this is okay!" She gasped and shuddered, clutching her legs and turning away from him. "I'm useless. That's why my supervisors haven't come back for me. They must hate me, or I'd be on a ship going home now." Ben was surprised at this outburst. "Peri, that's not true. You don't know for sure, I mean maybe...maybe they're just busy." "No. If they were just busy, they would've arrived in a matter of days." She sighed, releasing a breath slowly. "I was wrong. I was wrong about wanting to go home. If I do, Emerald will hand me over to Yellow Diamond, and I'll die." She trembled, as if she were cold. "I never wanted this. To be damaged, to be held captive on a planet I know nothing about. I just wanted to complete my assignment, and then go home. I didn't know there were gems here that wanted to protect Earth. I didn't know that they would try to destroy me. I didn't even know that there was intelligent life here before I met you. Home world kept everything from me because I'm just a Peridot." She narrowed her eyes, and shook even more. "Nothing can save me. If I stay here, my cracked gem or the clods I'm running from will kill me, and if I leave, Yellow Diamond will-" She choked on her words, partially from her damaged gem and also from sorrow. "There's no way out of this. I just wanted to...be a part of something, be important, and prove my worth, but now...now I never can." Ben took her hand, looking upset again. "You're here with me, and you never had to prove anything to me. That's something." Peridot scowled, her gem making her wince. "You're just a human. That means nothing." "You admitted that you were wrong, Peri. You actually were. This means a lot more than you think." Ben smiled and leaned in to kiss her. Peridot meant to stop him, but she didn't really know how. She fought against him, but soon gave in and let him hold her like she was a commander of a valiant home world fleet. When he was finished, the green gem blushed and pushed him away, crossing her arms. "You humans are foolish with love. I have done nothing to deserve this. You're better off keeping to yourself and being killed by attacks from other gems than being killed because you decided to protect me." Ben shook his head, not the least bit deterred by her words. "The thing is, I chose to protect you, Peridot. No one else told me to do it, and being with me is better than being a mindless soldier." Seeing that he'd offended her a little, he softened his words. "You and me have a lot in common." Peridot glared at him in disbelief. "And what might that be?" "We're both stubborn." A harsh noise like the collision of two trees reached the couple's ears. They stiffened, and at the same time, they stood up to face it. Peridot ran off past the trees they had been sitting by, and found something she never thought she'd see. Ben came up next to her, and his eyes went wide. "What are those?" he exclaimed. Giant circular ships were embedded in the ground in front of them. Peridot's face lit up, and she smirked, running over to one of them and running her fingers across it. "Ancient gem ships," she murmured. "They've been here since gems first arrived here on Earth." Ben was soon unimpressed. "Well, if they're that old, then what good are they?" "You sound like one of my old supervisors," she murmured. "Never mind. You're right, for once. I can't use these to go home, but if I press a few buttons here-" Peridot moved inside of it and messed with the control panels at the front. "-I can send out another distress signal to a different planet. It'll be much weaker than the last one, but it'll do. If I can accomplish that, I could get out of this place, and still live to tell about it." She chuckled. "This'll be quite the story." Ben followed her every move, stepping inside the cockpit of the ship. "Wait, hold on. How would you leave if you did that?" "With a warp pad, of course." When she saw his puzzled expression, she made a huffing noise out of irritation. "You don't know what that is...right. I guess I'll explain that part later." The gem pressed a button, and the ship whirred, vibrating a little. Peridot stepped out of it and wiped the residue on her hands off onto her suit. "We should really leave now, and head to the place with the warp pads. I've got some maintenance to do."

Author's note: Hello again! I know I said that this would be the last chapter, but the end for this story will be a lot longer than I originally thought it would be. This just means that I'll be spreading it out a bit. As always, enjoy, and wait in anticipation for the big ending!
~ awesomeri14