Shattered Hearts (Steven Universe)

Chapter 12

Ben's eyes closed as he kissed Peridot. He'd wanted to do that for a while now. Maybe it was the way her eyes brightened when she smiled, or maybe the way her face lit up while she had eaten his Doritos, but there had been a point where they had just been friends, and suddenly-during a moment they had spent together-that had changed. It didn't matter that she was an alien, a being from a planet so unlike this one, and was sometimes distant and cold. All their time together had made him realize how he felt at last, and all that mattered was that the girl he loved was beautiful and sweet, and he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, no matter what that would take. Soon enough, though, their kiss ended. Peridot moved away from him, gasping, her cheeks turning a darker shade of green as she blushed. She looked angry. "What was that?" "A kiss," he told her. The puzzled and somewhat hurt look on her face intensified with every passing second. Ben didn't like this. The expression she had wasn't what he had expected. "I'm sorry. Did I...do something wrong?" Peridot didn't answer at first, and backed up against the nearest wall. "No, but I...I don't know what to think of it. Your kiss...what does that mean?" Ben felt like laughing. Was she seriously asking him what a kiss meant? The look on her face told him that she was, and he cleared his throat, surprised. "Um, well, it means that...I like you. A lot. I think I might even love you." Peridot raised an eyebrow. "Might?" "No, definitely." He took her hand and intertwined her hovering fingers with his. They detached from her wrist, but he didn't notice. "My point is that...I love you, and I want to be with you. Is that okay?"

Peridot felt as if she were trapped in a cage by his question. She'd certainly enjoyed what he had done, but...this couldn't be right. Could it? No, of course not. She was a gem from home world, and he was a human from Earth, a planet that Yellow Diamond planned to demolish. He was destined to die, and she was supposed to destroy his home. She had to end this, for his sake. "No."

The word shouldn't have shocked the human, but he was startled by it anyway. "No? But...why not?" Peridot clenched her fists together out of partial frustration. "Why do you think? We're too different, and I don't think my leader would let you live if she learned about what I've told you. You know too much." "But you told me those things of your own free will! I didn't force you to tell me." Peridot sighed. "I know, it's just...feeling the way you want me to would be out of the question. I was never meant to have emotions like this. I was never supposed to be like this! I was just a worker with orders, and you-you with your wide eyes and your questions and your compliments, you've, you've...changed me." Ben looked at her with concern. The green gem knew it was genuine, but she didn't want his sympathy. She moved her hands away from his, and felt her broken gem. Tears made her eyesight blurry, and she struggled to speak. "This planet, regardless of what you tell me, will be eliminated. Blemished beyond recognition, and...I didn't want to care about that!" The girl started to pace, turning away from the human that was still listening to her speak. "This was going to be like all the other worlds we'd taken as our own. Yellow Diamond would tell me what to do to get the job done, and I'd be part of something greater than myself. Sure, I'd be told off sometimes, but that was just part of my given duties. I kept telling myself that I was doing something that was approval worthy, something my peers would notice and respect me for eventually, and they did, but not in the way I wanted." The world looked a bit like the solar system did when it sped past her from a ship's window. Furiously, she rubbed at her infernal tears and cried out, "You've ruined all that! I used to be able to accept the blaze of a planet exploding and bursting like a supernova, feeling a certain rush from it all, but now...now I would rather die than watch Earth burn." Peridot was trembling, and her tears fell faster then, hitting the ground with a certain intensity.

Ben saw her grief stricken face, but her words frightened him. "You've destroyed planets?" he yelled. "You were killing countless creatures and it felt right to you?" Peridot nodded slowly. "That's how gems are. That's how they are raised. I only saw what monsters we were, what murderers we were, when you talked to me about this." The gem put a hand to her head and then wailed, pulling it back. "Oh,why, Ben? Why does this knowledge hurt me? Is this what being a hero is? Being in pain because of what others do, or what you do that was a mistake?"

She shook her head, her trembling increasing, her face looking a little older than before. "No. I can't be that way. It would kill me. It's killing me now." Ben felt almost numb. "But...I saw goodness in you, Peridot! I saw it the moment I met you! How could I be so wrong?" Peridot was almost expressionless. "You saw only what you wanted to see. Ben, I can't go on like this! My heart is broken, and the fractures inside of me are unfixable." She shuddered and gasped, shaking from her sobs. "I have to go. Being with you will break me, and I don't want to die here." She took out the boy's hand, and squeezed it tightly. "Maybe one day things will be different, Ben, but until that time comes...don't look for me, and don't follow me. Enjoy your world while you can, because it may not be here for much longer. Goodbye." The gem released his hand, and ran off again, out of the tunnel she had hidden in, and out of the Kindergarten itself. As her outline faded in the distance, Ben felt his heart break too, and with each step he took, he tried to forget what she'd said, but each word rang out like a bell. Eventually, his knees buckled beneath him, and he fell forward. He understood why Peridot had said that knowledge had hurt her, because hers had hurt him deeply. It was like a knife that someone had driven through him, but it was being twisted, and no matter what he did to dull the ache, it didn't leave him. The knife continued to twist and tear him apart, and his heart shattered like glass with each little turn.

Author's note: Hi, dear readers of my fanfic! I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for the attention you've given to this story. When I started this, I never planned to continue it beyond Chapter 2, but it has become a wonderful success to me and it just makes me so happy to see that every time I look at my works. Thank you very much! I honestly don't know where I want this story to go now. It would help if a new Steven Universe episode would air soon, but I don't think that will happen until much later. (Sigh) Oh, well. I'll definitely try to update faster and such, but with my current lack of ideas, that might be a challenge. I'll do my best anyway :3 Also, before I go, I just wanted to say, check out my other stories! They're not about Steven Universe, but they're just as good, I promise. Okay, bye now! ~ awesomeri14