Shattered Hearts (Steven Universe)

Chapter 9

Ben looked at her with fear and stood up. "Come on!" he shouted. He grabbed her arm and pulled her through the house until a small room appeared that Peridot hadn't noticed before. The door was ajar, but Ben pointed to it. "Go in there." The green gem examined the space beyond the half open door. It was cramped and dark, but the Crystal Gems wouldn't think to look inside if they ventured this far into the house. "It's safe, right?" "Yes. Just go in and I'll come back to get you once I've made sure the coast is clear." Peridot frowned, confused. "The coast? What coast?" "Oh, forget it." The hammering at the front door drowned out what the boy had said to her next. The noise was followed by the screech of tearing metal and a harsh slam. Peridot gasped. The door to Ben's home must've been torn off of its hinges. She hurtled into the dark empty space, and when footsteps resounded through the house, Ben left, casting one last anxious glance at the alien fugitive he had hidden away.

Peridot felt like she was being smothered by darkness. The distant murmur of voices was all she could hear from her hiding place. With a flash of her gem, her visor was on her face again. She pressed a miniscule button on its side with one slender finger, and the voices at the front of the house changed from a murmur to a steady drone that her tech could at last pick up. "A girl that's a close friend of mine ran away from home not that long ago. Have you seen her? She was wearing green and black clothes." This voice belonged to Garnet. Peridot shivered at her enemy's words. A close friend? Sure. If she discovered her location, the hostile fusion would easily pin her down and smash her gem, obliterating her form and therefore causing her to disappear from existence. Ben answered her timidly. This didn't surprise Peridot. Garnet was definitely taller than him by a few feet, at least, and was intimidating due to her height. "I haven't seen her, but I don't know you. Why should I tell you anything? For all I know, you could be trying to hurt this missing girl." The gem stifled a laugh. Ben was a surprisingly good liar. "I wouldn't. We have always been close." "Well, there's no need to look for her here because the girl you saw was my, um...cousin." Peridot's eyes widened. What was he saying? "Your cousin, huh?" Garnet was unconvinced, and Ben's voice had grown shaky. "Y-Yeah. Look, you can't just run over to someone's house and tear the door off and expect them to give you answers. You're obviously crazy, and no crazy friends of yours would be in my house." Peridot expected the fusion to react negatively to this remark. She winced and braced herself to hear the sound of Garnet's gauntlets smashing him into the ground. However, nothing like that happened. Instead, in a calm manner, she said, "I suppose you wouldn't mind if I checked, then?" Peridot began to panic. She could hear what they were saying still, and Garnet was coming close to her hiding spot. This was no longer a safe place to stay in. In a moment of terrified thinking, she pushed open the door and raced out into the hallway, her heart pounding. Another door across from there caught her eye, and she hurried inside. In her haste, she tripped and fell, knocking over a table in the room that fell over quickly, accompanied by a loud noise. She scowled and righted it. The sound had to have drawn Garnet right to her. She turned around to see a window, and with a sigh of relief, went to open it. It was locked, but she was able to pry it open. The green gem looked out of it to see a grass filled lawn that would keep her from injury once she jumped out. The doorknob on the door to the room she was in began to turn, and she wedged one foot out of the window, and then the other. The door swung open then, with Ben and Garnet behind it. Garnet yelled her name, but Peridot was already out of the house and on the grass, running for her life. Ben shouted for her to stop, but she was beyond listening to him now. Her thoughts were only focused on one thing now, and that was getting away. Her tech led her to where she needed to go. She might be safe here, but the more important thing was that she completed her given mission. The place was luckily deserted, though she knew that it had been moronic to think that anyone else would be here. Peridot had arrived at the gem Kindergarten.