So, Now What? (Steven Universe) (Lapidot)

The Fuse Gets Shorter And Shorter

Peridot POV

I was helping out Garnet moving some metal debris I caused when I had my episode. It felt amazing to finally be able to contribute this much! I finally wouldn't be sitting on the sidelines when all the heavy lifting was being done, however Garnet still seemed on edge much like when I first turned this way. I shouldn't be surprised at this, Garnet has always been odd towards me. When I first arrived she had the oddly patient kindness, and now she was being skeptical about everything that included me. We were just about to finish up before I heard the sound of a car drive up behind me, it was Stevens van!

He stopped the car next to a house and stepped out, walking towards me his eyes were wide with confused excitement. He smiled towards me and looked up saying " Wow Peridot! When I got the call from Pearl I didn't know much of what was going on but you look great now! Speaking of which, what was that whole situation about? If you don't mind telling me. " I smiled widely, it was so amazing to see Steven again! Now he could see me being way more helpful than I was before, I confidently said

" Well, at first I was so frustrated that I was useless and so much like a gem without a purpose throughout the whole time I've been here. Then I assume my gem reacted to the mental catastrophe in my head and unleashed an amazing amount of power which I assume was being held within me! However at first I felt like a prisoner to my own subconscious, I couldn't control my actions and my gem was seemingly put into autopilot and caused all kinds of trouble! Pearl even predicted that I could've killed the entire population of the Earth if I continued unchecked. Anyways after Lapis confronted me and I defeated her, it brought me back to my senses and I have total control again!"

During my retelling I could see Stevens face gradually become more worried, but at the end he cracked a smile out still looking a bit nervous as he replied " That's a lot to take in, I'm sorry that I wasn't here for you Peridot. So you said that you can keep your power in check? So we don't have to worry about that whole killing the people of Earth speculation. " I could tell Steven was skeptical, just like Garnet. However I could forgive him, he had just heard about all of this and most likely wanted extra reassurance, so I happily said " You don't have to worry one bit Steven! The only thing that I can't control about this new form is a small constant magnetic field around me! Check it out!"

I held out my arm down toward Steven and his keys to the van immediately flew out of his pocket and stuck onto my arm. Stevens eyes widened as he smiled saying " Woah! I sure wish I could do that so I can't lose any change under the seat anymore. You're also looking much tall-" Steven immediately stopped when his eyes which were tracing up my body reached my gem that was now placed in my abdomen, he could clearly see that my gem had a crack with energy streaming out of it. His face immediately went worried as he nervously smiled saying " Hey Peridot, if you're all mentally ok and in control, why is your gem cracked? "

I chuckled a bit trying to make light of it, then I said " Well, the power has to come out of it somehow! The crack hasn't affected me that I can tell! In fact I feel-" I was about to finish my sentence before I saw Pumpkin happily trotting along the girders and debris, Immediately held my hand out pointing toward her and said " PUMPKIN! Get down from there it's dangerous!" I wanted it to sound like I had a booming authority, but Pumpkin paid no attention to it and laid down on the Girder. I immediately sighed muttering " Oh my stars.... "

I then took a deep breath in and shouted towards Pumpkin " Pumpkin! Get over here or you're in trouble!" I swung my arm to the right to try and exaggerate the command but I unknowingly sent the girder he was sitting on flying into nearby house impaling clear through it and sticking out like well, how a girder would look sticking out of a house. I slowly brought my arm back muttering " Ohhh boy " Pumpkin had jumped off before it started to fly through the air, probably an instinct she had and now ran towards Lapis' and my house. Steven looked back to me with a slightly suspicious and worried face as I said " Don't worry I'll fix it, I just can't let Lapis find out-"

As soon as I mentioned her name Lapis came into sight flying in the air, she looked to the girder and immediately flew down to us saying " What the heck happened here-" However she was cut off as she saw Steven and immediately went up to hug him, he hugged back and after a bit they both let go and she said " Steven it's so nice to see you again! What're you doing here? Weren't you on that self discovery journey?" Steven nodded smiling as he responded " Yeah, but I wanted to come back after hearing what happened with Peridot how have you guys been? Besides the whole situation that happened recently. "

Lapis smiled as she replied " We've been good, Peridot and I have been taking a break from teaching just to get closer to eachother. In fact everything's been going according to plan " when she said plan she winked toward Steven and he nodded in return, I titled my head in confusion as I said " Lapis what's the ' plan '? " Lapis turned her head to me as she had visible tears in her eyes as she said " This. I'm sorry Peridot but we're doing this because we love you. " I was now extremely confused and I was about to retort but 6  square pink tiles appeared appeared around me trapping me inside what appeared to be a box, I looked towards Steven as his gem was glowing and he was holding his arms out keeping the shields in place as he created a small opening in the shield between me and him as he calmly said

Warning

" Peridot, let me heal you. You were never useless and you don't need this form to convince yourself that you aren't, please it's not healthy for you and trust me, It's not good being corrupted like this. " I couldn't believe this, even Steven didn't accept that this is who I wanted to be! It appeared Lapis was in on this " plan " to, I thought she had finally began to love and open up to me! Only to stab me in the back, they didn't know what was best for me, only I KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR ME. I didn't want to hurt them, I couldn't, I was smart enough to know if I hurt them it would only make them believe more that I was a monster like this.

I backed up until my back hit the farther tile away from Steven, he couldn't reach me there but soon the tile my back was to started moving toward Steven. I frantically started to say " Steven! You know you're wrong! This is how I can be useful! You saw it yourself. Spinel, the diamonds invasion, and the cluster! I wasn't much besides a waste of Earth material in those events! So how about you take your lies and share them with someone else!" I had enough of people telling me stuff that wasn't true, I raised my hand and 4 iron spikes came through the ground and broke through the shields like paper.

After that I stood up straight and looked at them, Lapis flew above Steven looking down at me. I turned my stare from her to Steven, I noticed he was in a stance ready to expect an attack. I looked at him in disappointment saying  " you think I'm going to attack you? After all you've done, not just for me but for Earth and everyone living in little homeworld, I'm not gonna hurt you just because I don't agree with you. " I had enough of the constant mental arguments this form created, whether they thought it wasn't who I really am. I kneeled down so that way Steven could easily reach my gem and I said

" Go ahead, heal me. I feel perfectly fine so I doubt anything will happen. You know what's best for everyone, so let's see if my gem agrees with you. " I had a slight stab of an insult in those words, Steven didn't even acknowledge it as he licked his hand and held it out toward my gem and soon leaned forward to touch it. As soon as he did he recoiled back and saw that he had a burn from the shock of coming in contact with the energy that came out of it, I smirked standing up saying " See? I'm totally fine, in fact I feel like a newly developed gem jumping out of a kindergarten hole" I said that chuckling a bit with a smile, however I soon began to lose my footing and fell to the ground. I sat up and tears began to flow out of me, I could feel my conscious slipping as I felt my energy being cut off. I couldn't lose what made me useful! I quickly shouted at them saying

Mega warning

" NO! YOU'RE WRONG STEVEN YOU'RE WRONG! THIS ISN'T FIXING ANYTHING YOU'RE ONLY TURNING ME BACK INTO WHAT I HATED! I'LL SHATTER BEFORE I TURN BACK INTO THAT!"

Before my gem could fully heal I violently ripped it out of my abdomen holding it in my hand. I was just about to crush it before I totally lost my strength and my arm fell to the side as I began to pass out, the only thing I could see before my eyes closed was Lapis flying down towards me with so many tears in her eyes. I could also see my arm weakly holding my gem, looks like I wasn't even strong enough to shatter it.