The Enigma - Steven Universe

Chapter 5

The winds on the beach blew stronger as each step Peridot took got herself ever so closer to the salty sea water.

It was impossible though, she was unconscious. Her eyes weren't opened and to her, she felt as if she was just asleep. 'Snore!!', the sound of her slumber got louder, but then stopped as her foot met the soaking ocean edges. She sniffed the salty sea water aroma in the air and jolted awake. "Agh, what the?", she paused, trying to process the situation. Seagulls screeched in the distance and waves crashed loudly all around. Peridot sniffed and some sort of liquid dripped out from her nose, she pressed her finger against it, "what is this?"

The waves grew stronger and soon enough they threw her off from her stance. "agh..", Peridot made a series of noises as she struggled to fight against the strong grip of the waves, swaying her around. This action however attracted so many jellyfishes, that they clouded all around her. Which didn't really help since the bright glare of the sunlight already blinded her sight. The jellyfishes didn't sting or hurt Peridot since she was a gem, but they did make her feel a little puffy.

The liquid in her nose continued to fall rapidly. Colourless streams of slightly sticky water oozing from her nose was enough to agitate her. It was strange. Gems don't produce mucus fluids, or commonly known as, a runny nose. However, it was unprecedentedly happening right at that exact moment. She couldn't think of any explanation, well, she couldn't really think much at all since jellyfish were swarming her face.

Just as Peridot got out of the water and dried herself on the shore, a familiar voice called out her name from the distance. He was wearing a bright pink t - shirt with a yellow star in the middle. A look of concern painted across his features. "Peridoo0o0o0t!!!",
It was Steven! Though, there was something different about him that was quite noticeable, Peridot thought. There was some sort of white cloth strapped around his right arm. It was peculiar, but Peridot knew that it was an indication of an aid.
When he finally made his way up to Peridot, who was utterly surprised, he gained his breath and exclaimed
"Hey Peridot!", in a mutual tone.

"Hi Steven...", Peridot replied, wiping off some sand on her arm. "Sorry I didn't come home last night, I was-....... wh- what were you doing in the water?", he asked Peridot pointing at the jellyfish stuck to her butt. "Well, I blacked out last night, became unconscious, and walked myself into the ocean... I have no idea!..", she said as she slapped the jellyfish into the water. "Where were you all night?", she asked, but Steven was already set with a whole story to tell her.

Both of them sat on a log that rested just a few metres away near them at the shore. Steven began telling her about the vicious monster that attacked him at the carwash, and the hand in the flesh and the loud wailing stone that caused him to black out. Then, Peridot jumped in with her story with the mysterious black apparition that stalked her in the house. She told him how she was so terrified of having nobody around to be with her at such a horrific moment and that she needed someone so badly to comfort her at that time. It was all sweet, but there was something odd about their stories.
"Wait, so you fell unconscious after you saw that thing in the house?", Steven began, giving Peridot a mystified look. "Yeah, and you saw a hand reaching out from a lump of flesh before you blacked out.", both of them fell silent. "... what could this all mean?", Steven asked to himself, trying to piece out the events.

  The beach was void of any sounds now except for the seagulls and the crashing waves. Both of them pondered on what had happened to them. Had there been some sort of coincidence that both of them faced a problem and ended up unconscious the same night? Or was there more to it than what meets the eye? Peridot however wasn't too happy of thinking of it. Over the past week, she had been grudging on Lapis's departure. Taking the barn. Taking every single piece of memory she had ever kept with her and Lapis. She left everything she was living for, but most importantly, she left the only person who understood her the most. Now, adding this whole mystery to the chaos doubled the tragedy. She couldn't stand to just always be facing a problem every now and then. She felt like the whole thing was somehow orchestrated!

Her thought pondering came with a use  at last as she had rifled through the information. She looked at Steven, "You know.... your side of the story kind of sounded.. unnatural, in a sense of how it happened.", she began.
"I think, there's a cause as to why these occurrences have happened for the past few weeks. The abrupt monster attacks, the gems are missing and the whole thing that had happened recently!...and it's far beyond on what we might be able to face off.", she said ominously.
Steven raised a brow, "You mean, the monster attacks for the few weeks, were.. all a set up?" He asked.

Peridot nodded, "Yes, and though my knowledge on era 1 gems are slightly inaccurate, I think that a gem has been responsible for all this.. and I believe, that it's a Chrysotile."
"A wha- who now?..", Steven asked in shock. "A Chrysotile! An ancient gem species ordered by the Diamonds to serve a purpose in war. They had special abilities to place gems in a trance and use it to their advantage. So far, after the Diamond retaliation, Chrysotile's haven't been seen or heard from after the attack, and many of us assumed that they had all went extinct. Marking the new era 2 Chrysotiles, the much less sturdy ones, to establish in existence. However, the only attribute that the era 2 Chrysotiles could not possess from their predecessors, is the ability to manipulate organic matter."
Peridot paused to let Steven take in what he had just heard. "Wait, wait, wait, so you're saying that there's a gem walking somewhere among us, who can control animals and people?!!", He shrieked, "Yes and I'm afraid that they've got Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl in their clutches.", Peridot bellowed.

Steven thought for a moment and immediately questioned, "w- wait, why are they just attacking now? Why not before?"
"I don't know.. but what I do assume is that... this, has something to do... with Lapis's departure."