Shattered Hearts (Steven Universe)

Chapter 19

Ben knew that once Peridot had set her mind on going somewhere, they were going there and he had no say in the matter. The muscles in his arms and legs complained from the trip, and he finally started to understand the green gem's frustration at his many needs. She could keep going for as long as she needed to, and he always had to stop to gasp for breath, or to eat, or sleep, or complain. He understood, and grew annoyed with himself, but continued his long trek, looking behind him often to check for the frightening reddish gem. Even though the others were scary too, their leader was the scariest. Garnet, was it? Yeah. She had tried to keep him away from Peridot, and being who he was, he hadn't listened. Had that been right of him, to go against her orders? He was only nineteen years old, and a human. Garnet had claimed that she had been in a war ages ago, so she had to be older than him. That must've made her right in a sense...no, never mind that. He had chosen to stay with Peridot, to protect her and keep her from harm. It wasn't so much that he cared about her, though that was a part of it. He also didn't want to see her die. Ben had always carried a soft spot for animals when he was younger. He wouldn't hunt, or fish, or anything like that just because he couldn't stand to watch anything be killed. That feeling went out to human beings as well, but Peridot...was a unique case. She wasn't an animal, or a human being, though qualities of them both were in her. She was a gem, a being that had no gender, but did at the same time. He knew next to nothing about her home, and only knew the things about herself that she told him about. Ben was in way over his head. He had been from the start, but only found the time to accept it now. He watched Peridot walk in front of him, her heavy boots clanking and her form wavering from her injury, and realized something.
"Peridot?" he called. The gem faced him, her green eyes curious, but tired too. "Yes?" "Um...how old are you?"

Peridot's eyes widened. Did he just...ask her about her age? No one had really done that before. She blushed and sighed, still walking, not bothering to stop to answer him. "Old," was all she could think to say. "Why does that matter?" The human boy answered her quietly. "Well, I'm only nineteen in human years. Does that matter for relationships on your planet?" Peridot considered this. "No, I suppose not, but we don't really have these...relationships you speak of. We keep things on a professional level." Ben sounded surprised. "Oh, really? So what you're saying is...you've never had friends before?" The gem was affected by the way the boy had said that. Friends? Was that the term for people you interacted with? "No. I mean, I had acquaintances, but no one in particular was very close to me." Ben had a solemn sound to his voice now. Peridot felt tempted to look back at him to see his expression, but that would make it seem like she cared about him, and she certainly did not. That was a sign of weakness, and she was not weak. "That sounds lonely," he murmured. "I never really thought of you as not having anyone to be with. Were you lonely?" "No," she replied. "I-we, I mean, never had any reason to be. The way we do things are very different from the way things are done here." She took a deep breath. "So, to answer your question, was I lonely? No. I never needed anyone. It was just me, always only me. Relying on others is foolish, because they will just turn on you in the end. The rebellion taught us that." Ben was puzzled then. "Us?" "Yes, all of gem kind as a whole." Peridot winced as the pain in her gem flared up, but she still managed to speak. "I was forced to rely on others twice before, once when I arrived on Earth, and again when I met you." She scowled. "It's a weakness, looking to others for help. You can only ever trust yourself in the end." "That's not true," Ben protested. "I'm trustworthy. I shielded you from the Crystal Gems. I let you stay in my house and everything. The reason you're still alive is because I helped you." "Yes, but if there were any sort of danger, you would run and leave me alone." Ben grabbed her shoulders and turned her around, angry at this accusation. "That's not true at all. Why do you think that?" Peridot shoved his hands off of her, and walked away, her gaze fixed on what lied ahead. "I just do." The green gem paused in her tread, her gaze facing forward still. "We're here."

Ben stepped forward uncertainly. He looked at the rounded platforms in front of them, and then turned back to look at Peridot. "Is this it?" The gem nodded, and pushed past him to stand in front of the nearest platform. Her cold look was returning, and this frightened the human. "Um, okay. I was expecting more than just...this." "Well, this is what you got." Peridot glared at the things intently. "Luckily, I was able to find a shortcut around the island that houses these warp pads. If I hadn't, it would've taken us much longer to get here." Ben was hardly listening. He rushed over to one of the platforms and placed one foot on top of it. "So...are these the warp pads?" Peridot nodded briskly, her arms crossed. "Yes. These are for the Galaxy Warp. I think you're smart enough to figure out why it was given that name." The boy examined the warp pads further, and then responded. "Oh, I get it. They can transport gems to any place in the galaxy. Or, well...they used to." He looked at the closest one, which had cracks running through it. The sun glittered off of its damaged, whitish edges. "These look...broken. How did that happen?" Peridot shrugged, studying the landscape. "I suppose my pursuers did it." She sighed, her pale gaze fixing on the rocks that lay scattered about the place. She moved to pick one up, and groaned, her struggles evident. "While you're here, you could at least make yourself useful and come help me move this debris." Ben nodded and hurried to help her. The rocks were heavier than he thought they'd be, and he had trouble carrying them. Peridot couldn't help but mumble complaints as they went. "Stupid broken warp...first the communication hub, and now this is busted again." She moved a rock with a neon green beam of light from her hand. Ben watched with shock, but didn't say anything as Peridot continued to angrily murmur things. "Those Crystal Gems are a menace." A warp pad across from the duo glowed, multicolored light coming up from it. Ben darted behind Peridot as fast as he could. The green gem gritted her teeth as she saw the outlines of her enemies, but remained where she was when the light dissipated, revealing the four of them altogether. The white gem with the short, peach colored hair spoke up first, her blue eyes wide. "Ah ha! Look, I was right! My plan worked perfectly!" Ben cowered at Pearl's voice, but it wasn't her that he was afraid of. Garnet. She was here. The little boy that Ben recognized as Steven from when he worked at the Big Donut looked right at them, still standing on the warp pad. In a friendly sort of way, he said, "Good mornin!" The other two only looked at them, the purple one and Garnet. Ben shivered. At this point, he wasn't even slightly surprised at seeing that Steven was part of the team that wanted to hurt Peridot. He was preoccupied with the thoughts of what Garnet would do to him if she found him here with the gem she'd forbid him to make contact with. He glimpsed her fists from behind Peridot and winced.

Peridot blinked in confusion, but then took a fighting stance. "What? How did you know I was here?" The Steven smiled. "We found a secret way to track you, and we'll never tell you how, even if you ask nicely." The boy reached up to his eye with one hand and pulled down the skin underneath in a strange manner. "Nyeh!" Is he...taunting me? She wondered frantically. Humans have such confusing hand gestures!

Author's note: Hi! As you can probably tell, I have based some of the chapters of this book off of existing episodes of Steven Universe. You're free to let me know if I've missed anything crucial in the final chapter, which will be based mostly off of the episode Friend Ship. Okay, bye! ~ awesomeri14