Shattered Hearts (Steven Universe)

Chapter 14

Peridot sat in the forest, her back against a tree's trunk. Her head ached horribly, and her form was hardly stable anymore. She was using all of her energy to keep from glitching or fading away, but she knew she wouldn't be able to keep doing that for long. From where she sat, she could see the communication hub sparking and sending out her message. With a sigh, her eyes began to close from exhaustion. Please hear me now, Yellow Diamond, she thought. Please listen to my message, and come find me. If you do, I will be more vigilant than ever for you, and I will live up to all of your expectations. Don't let me die here. Please, oh, please... Her gem glittered faintly, and a holographic image of the world and the leader she had given so much to appeared before her. She blinked back tears. Oh, what was she doing? Yellow Diamond didn't care about her. No one on home world did, not really. They'd probably already found someone else to do her job for them. She glanced down at her shoes, the picture fading. What can I do now? If my commander doesn't find me here, the Crystal Gems surely will. Ugh, I hate this miserable planet, and I hate how helpless I am! Why couldn't I be like Jasper, or like Garnet? They're strong, strong enough to solve a simple problem like this one on their own. She put a hand to her head in shock. I must be going insane. I've just compared myself to my enemy in a positive way. Help needs to arrive soon, or I just know that I'll lose my mind. Come on, hurry up already, Emerald...

Ben raced down one of the streets in Beach City. He had a feeling that Peridot wasn't here, but it was worth a try regardless. He looked in each corner and behind trees and bushes, but then paused in his search when he saw a tv screen in a house through a window. On the screen was Peridot, saying the same message from before. This worried Ben. If she was on that tv too, then that must mean... The human gasped and ran farther down the street. Every television he glimpsed had Peridot's face on it, repeating her message to her home planet over and over again. This was worse than he'd thought. Maybe the gems Peridot was hiding from didn't have tv's. Maybe they hadn't seen it! These thoughts were cut off when Ben ran into someone and tell to the ground. He pulled himself up and mumbled an apology. "Sorry about that, I-" His words faded when he saw who he'd slammed into. Garnet. The tall gem had her arms crossed over her chest, and even with her shades on, he could still feel her burning gaze on him. "Hello, Ben," she said. "H-Hi," Ben stammered. "Look, I didn't mean to bump into you like that. I just-" "That's not important. What's important now is that you stay away from Peridot." Ben's eyes widened with surprise, but then narrowed. "Wait, you know about that? How much do you know?" "Only what I saw the night that my team discovered that gem's escape pod in the corn field a mile away from your house. I just figured that during her run from us, Peridot must've wanted some shelter, so she turned to you." Garnet looked curious. "I'm puzzled as to why she came to you first. She must've tricked you into letting her stay." Ben's hands curled up into fists at his sides. "No way! Peridot stayed with me because I asked her to." Garnet straightened her shades, seemingly out of habit. "Are you telling the truth? You couldn't have trusted her immediately." Ben nodded. "Yes. I didn't trust her at first, that's true, but she seemed lost and lonely, and I just thought that maybe..." Ben smiled a little. "Maybe she just needed someone to understand her." A chuckle from the tall gem startled the human boy. "Oh, I see. You like her." Ben's face reddened instantly. "No, I don't! She's a gem! How could I like her!" Garnet smirked. "I was just about to ask you that." The human frowned, his face still red. "So what if I do? Why does that matter?" Garnet shrugged. "I suppose it doesn't. A relationship between a human and a gem has happened before, but...Peridot isn't like the other gem that happened with. She's cruel and irritable, and she only cares about one thing." Ben's gaze brightened with sudden interest. "And what might that be?" "Destroying this planet, and all of its life. Before you argue with me, know that I was part of a war thousands of years ago between gems like her and gems like me, and they didn't once stop to think about what would be lost if Earth was vanquished." Garnet put her hands on Ben's shoulders. "I know you don't want to, but it would be best for you to leave Peridot alone. I don't want to see you get hurt because you trusted her, and she took advantage of it."

The reddish gem turned to walk away, but Ben's words made her freeze where she stood. "But if I do, you'll kill her!" Garnet turned around. "We gems don't die like humans do. She wouldn't be gone forever, and keeping her away from this planet is something I have to do now. You don't know what she's done, or what she's capable of. Goodbye." Garnet faced the opposite direction and left. Ben felt like she might have been right. He didn't know enough about gems to stop her the way she could, but he still had to warn her. That would be all he'd do. He'd tell her about her message, and then he'd leave her be. Ben ran towards the forest again. He had to find her soon, or it could be too late.

Author's note: Hi, everyone! Wow, it's been way too long. I'd blame it on writer's block, but it was also because of a bit of laziness on my part. Sorry :/ The next chapter will hopefully be up much sooner than this one. Bye for now! ~ awesomeri14