Consequences

7 - Goodbye, Peridot

It was a hazy battlefield. Steven was holding his shield with one arm, and a sword unfamiliar to him with the other. Chaos and fire was raging everywhere around him. There was muffled shouting and yelling and the occasional scream.

Steven couldn't control himself: it was as if this dream were a memory. When he looked down at himself, though, he didn't see his body, he saw his mother's.

Out of nowhere, a homeworld soldier yelled and came down on Rose/Steven. He was quick to react however, and countered the enemy's axe with his own sword, pushed the axe to the ground, leaped gracefully over the soldier and spun around as quick as a leopard.

Before the enemy gem knew what Steven had done, a pink sword was sprouting from her gut. The poof blew Rose/Steven's bushy pink curls back, and revealed a shining gem laying on the ground. In his sleep, Steven knew of his intentions. He tried to fight, tried to move his arms, but in the end he could do nothing.

He raised his sword up high over his head... a mement of hesitation... then he brought it down, hard and accurate. The sound of glass breaking filled his ears as loud as a gunshot. At that moment, the entire battlefield became clear. The sky was orange and cloudy, and gem shards littered the ground. Steven could make out everyone around him: he even thought he saw a fusion in the distance.

His shield vanished and his sword dropped out of his grip. Steven finally had control of this phantom dream body, and he kneeled down to pick up the shattered gem in his shaking hands, forming a pink bubble around it.

Suddenly there was a mirror in front of him, a huge mirror, and when he looked into it, he saw himself, even though his body was Rose's. Short, young, red star shirt, sandals, and jeans. The expression on Steven's face made it seem like he had seen a ghost.

In his hands was a bubble, but not a pink one. It was blue, and inside of it were jagged, sparkling pieces of a dark green gem. He opened his mouth to scream...

And shot straight up from the metal, lukewarm floor, doing just that. Steven panted and his heart was hammering. He realized tears were shed in his sleep. Steven laid back on the floor, whimpering, and realized his right arm really stung for some reason. OH yeah, Ruby had burned him yesterday.

Steven examined the reddish-pink burn to take his mind off his dream. Or, nightmare, more like. Steven removed the bandage from his wrist, which was mostly healed now, and wrapped it around the burn, surprised at the cooling sensation the bandage gave off.

As Steven finished adjusting the self-sticking bandage on his arm, the door to his cell open, causing him to blink hard at the sudden light, just like every time. Surprisingly though, Azurite stood at the door, not Larimar. Her hair was covering her eyes, and her hands crossed over her front daintily.

"Azurite?" Steven questioned.

"Hello, Steven." Azurite said.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"I wanted to talk to you," she stated simply.

"Are you allowed to?"

"Yes." Azurite nodded her head, not showing one ounce of impatience, or emotion really. Steven stared at her skeptically. Over time, this whole quality of her having no emotions was... unsettling.

Azurite ducked into the cell. But, when she raised her hands out around her, the cell began to grow until it was the size of a small bedroom, and faint blue light was emitted from the walls. Steven looked up in amazement, as Azurite sat down elegantly.

"How did you do that?" Steven asked.

"My Diamond has given me permission to alter certain rooms on the ship to my pleasure. It was a reward, as she was pleased with my work."