Unwanted Attraction (The Sequel to Shattered Hearts)

Chapter 5

Ben sat on the couch at the gem's temple. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl stood nearby. The human boy looked around absentmindedly, impatiently waiting for Steven and Peridot to come downstairs. They were ready to tell the Crystal Gems about what they had seen, but Peridot had insisted they do it in the form of a presentation. When Ben had offered to help, Peridot had ushered him away, so he just decided to watch along with the other gems. It bothered him that she didn't want his help with this, but he could deal with it. He'd been rejected before. At last, the green gem and the little boy came out. Steven toddled after Peridot, a large box placed over his entire body. A crude drawing of the Earth was on one side. Peridot prepared herself to speak, clearing her throat, and then starting. "As it seems I have no other options, I have conceded to reveal important information to you Crystal Gems." The green gem snapped her fingers, and Steven came closer, the picture of the Earth completely visible now due to the way the boy was standing. Peridot gripped a red flyswatter in her hand, and hit the side of the box with Earth drawn on it, causing Steven to say something that was muffled by the container that encased him. "This is the Earth! At the very center of the planet's core lies...the Cluster!" Peridot stopped to give Steven an order. "Rotate." Steven obliged. As he turned, a new picture was on the different side of the box. It appeared to be a round red thing with multicolored stars in the middle. Ben ran his fingers through his hair. Oh, boy. This was like some weird, new version of charades. Peridot pointed to the colorful things and spoke again. "This is the Cluster, a massive artificial fusion composed of millions of gem shards! It has lain dormant for thousands of years within this planet's crust. When this gem activates and takes its form, the result will be catastrophic!" Peridot gave Steven another command. "Now!" Steven began to shake inside of his box, making muffled noises that grew louder and more intense with each passing moment. Ben cringed, and the gems did too. He knew what was coming, but the way in which Steven was doing it made it a little bit scarier. A green sock puppet burst from the front of the box, tearing a hole in the picture of the Earth. Steven made it make ferocious noises, and the gems gave a collective gasp. Ben practically did too, and he shuddered as his mind automatically jumped to what it would be like in real life. Steven waved his puppet around some more until Peridot stopped him.

"What is that?"

"It's the Cluster."

The green gem brought her flyswatter down onto the puppet with a surprising gentleness, one hand going to her head in exasperation. "It does not look like that...but it is real, and it can activate at any moment!"

The gems began to talk amongst themselves, looking greatly disturbed by this news. "That abomination must be stopped," Garnet stated. Ben was unsure of what to do now, but he figured it was his turn to ask a question. "But how? This monster will be really hard to get to." Pearl looked like she was deep in thought, so when she talked, her words were relatively thought out. "Of course. We'll need some sort of machine to take us to the center of the Earth. It'll have to-" Peridot interrupted her, pointing her swatter at her like a sword. "Hey! I wasn't finished speaking. What we need is to build some sort of machine to take us to the center of the Earth!" As she spoke, Peridot wildly waved the flyswatter around. She seemed to be antagonizing Pearl, much to the amusement of Amethyst. "Well, we mustn't waste time. We need to start finding parts for this machine immediately!"

Peridot clutched the flyswatter close to her body. It reminded Ben of how one of his younger cousins carried their teddy bear around-holding it close like someone was going to take it away from them. "Yes, obviously. We'll start by dismantling all of the devices in this dwelling!"

With that, the miniature green gem darted around the room. She headed straight for the microwave, clinging to it and trying to tear it from where it was attached to the wall.