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

Aftermath

Lapis POV

About 3 days had passed ever since the attack on Earth, and Peridot hasn't taken it well at all. When I first told her what happened while she was corrupted she was horrified, she couldn't believe what she had done. She hated herself for shattering gems that were only fighting for what they believed in, sure it was a radical and tyrannical view but she sympathized for them because they were fighting just like we were not even a decade ago.

Her damaged state showed, her students told me she barely had any energy and that she had canceled all after school study sessions. They mentioned they could hear crying if they passed by the greenhouse after class. Whenever she arrived home I tried to cheer her up in anyway I could, we went on walks with pumpkin, visited the other gems and Steven, rewatched Camp Pining Hearts, and I didn't see her as cheerful as she would normally be. I could understand the dread and sadness she's feeling but, I had to deal with the regret of shattering gems.

When I ran out of ideas I had to ask Steven about it, I didn't want to because I can imagine he wants to focus on his discovery journey, but he was eager to help. He mentioned that Yellow Diamond was often helping out gems that homeworld had wronged or gems that generally needed help but I wasn't too keen on that idea. After all we fought against them, I doubt they'd be willing to help. However I was running out of ideas and if they were really nasty to us, I'd stick it to them.

Peridot and I stood on the warp pad with Steven as Peridot drearily asked " Steven, where are we going? I have classes to teach today, this is a grievous misuse of my valuable time. " Steven replied calmly saying " You'll see, besides Garnet is an amazing substitute teacher. You won't have to worry about a thing. " Peridot let out an annoyed sigh as we warped in a beam of light and in no time at all we were in homeworld.

Peridot and I looked around in wonder, homeworld has changed so much! It didn't look so uniform is was much more creative, gems of all statuses were mingling and talking to eachother! Peridot was more interested in the structure of the buildings but Steven quickly led us along to a large building. It was a long hall and at the end against a wall it had many multi colored thrones which I could only imagine were for the diamonds.

Once we entered the room Peridot began to let out a high pitched squeak of enjoyment as she ran up to the yellow throne saying " Oh my stars! The hall of the diamond authority! So many gatherings and balls must've been held here! " Once she realized what she was doing she quickly ended it saying " Well, it's just an extremely impressive piece of history from era 2, how come you wanted to bring us here Steven?"

Steven walked towards Peridot saying " This is just the entrance, I'm taking you to the diamonds. They've been helping gems that they've hurt or just have needed help. It wasn't exactly for me, but I think they can help you. " Peridot quickly shook her head in amazement and shock, before quickly and apprehensively saying " W-what?! I doubt they'd want to see me since we were against them, remember!? "

Steven waited for her to stop before calmly saying " Peridot, that doesn't matter now. All they've been was nice to me, so I hope they can help you. Besides Lapis and I will be with you, nothing will go bad. " Peridot hesitantly nodded as Steven lead us through the palace, eventually we were lead to room with a large yellow door, we entered it and found Yellow Diamond laughing while conversations with 2 other gems. While I looked around I saw many bubbles filled with pieces of gem shards, it was a bit disturbing but Steven explain prior that she was helping corrupted and shattered gems return to whole.

Yellow's attention quickly turned to us as she said " Oh Steven! What a lovely surprise! You also brought some of your gem friends! What brings you here?" I always hated the pretentious tones of the diamonds, and now was no different. Steven may be a master of helping people but I doubt he could've fully changed them. Steven responded saying " Well, I was hoping you could help with one of my friends. They've had..... Corruption issues lately?"

Yellow Diamond was clearly confused by this, but she asked " Are they fully corrupted? " Steven shook his head before saying " Well, not really, but I think it'd be easier if they told you. " Peridot immediately stared at Steven as if he betrayed him, which I almost interjected before Peridot took a deep breath and took a step forward saying " Yellow Diamond, I was Peridot Facet-2F5-"

Before Peridot could continue Yellow interrupted saying " Oh! You're that Period that was a part of the crystal gems! So glad to see you again and it's not at a battlefield! So, what issues have you been having?" Peridot wasn't expecting her to remember her, so she hesitantly carried on by saying

" Well, recently I've been dealing with issues that are, unprecedented to my knowledge. Every solution I've applied has been unsuccessful without the help of another, recently I've been becoming corrupted whenever I've reached an emotional bottom my gem malfunctions and my physical form appears to be corrupted but compared to the others it still retains most of my features and not as many a abnormalities. " Steven and I were a bit confused by this logical explanation but Yellow Diamond seemed to understand it.

Yellow intriguingly responded by saying " A corruption caused by emotions? It's similar to how Steven's but its cause was different, and its effects are different because you're a gem. May I just check and see if your gem has any physical abnormalities?" Peridot nodded and walked up to Yellow, Yellow gently reached down touching the tip of her finger to Peridot's head closing her eyes. Peridot's eyes seemed to glow a blank green for a moment and I sprouted my wings about to fly forward shouting

" Wait her eyes! What are you-" Steven stopped me before I could go as it ended just as fast as I got worried, Yellow then said " Whenever this ' emotional bottom ' happens to you, your body sends an electrical signal to your gem and it destabilizes it. Causing the abnormal corruption, so it's an emotional problem. You might want to see Blue about this, the problems are not my forte. "