Me, Myself, and Him

Chapter 16: Back to the Temple

Peridot POV

I slowly awoke from the mattress to find Lapis still cuddled close to me, her face seemingly content and relaxed. My face heated up and I sighed in relief, knowing that she hadn't disappeared in the middle of the night and that she was in fact feeling better. My blush quickly disappeared, however, and was replaced with a growing sense of dread and sadness.

Lapis was going to die. These moments: cuddling close to each other, watching Camp Pining Hearts together, just... enjoying each other's presence. Soon, they would all cease. She accepted this.

I have not.

My eyes started to slowly fill up with tears. All the painful memories of the night before came up again, and the feeling of dread just kept getting bigger and bigger. I didn't want Lapis to wake up and see me like this, but I couldn't help it.

My body slowly started shaking and I let out a quite sob. Lapis squirmed in her sleep, so I covered my mouth in an attempt to keep myself quite. An attempt that was not met with success.

Lapis slowly awoke, her eyes fluttering open. I quickly turned away from her and tried to dry my tears. 

"Good morning, Per- Peridot? What's wrong?" She asked worriedly.

"N-Nothing! I was just... d-doing some thinking..."

"About... Last night?"

Everything went down hill from there. All my emotions spilled over again and I turned around and crying into Lapis' shoulder, clutching to her like she would disappear if I let go. Lapis, in turn, rubbed my back and pulled me closer.

"I-I just don't w-want you to go!" I sobbed.

"I... I know. I don't want to go either. But, it's just the way things are. Peridot, look up at me."

Lapis used her free hand to move my head up to face hers. She had a worried expression, a small frown, and half-lidded eyes. Her eyes... they always seemed sparkling and wild but now they seemed dull and muted.

"Peridot, I want to spend as much time as possible with you.I don't want you to think about what's gonna happen to me in the future, but what's happening now. Okay?"

*sniff* "O-Okay."

I slowly got out of the mattress and did a slight stretch. Lapis seemed to want to follow suit, but as soon as she tried to get up, she hissed in pain and laid back down.

"Oh, wait! I forgot to give you these yesterday!" I said as I raced to my satchel and dug out the medicine bottles.

"What are those?" Lapis asked.

I poured out a pill from each bottle and gave them to Lapis. 

"They're medicines. They'll help with any pain and nausea you might have, plus quell any hallucination you might get. All you have to do is swallow them. It'll help... with your situation." I said, trying not to get worked up again.

Lapis took the pills and swallowed them. "Wow, thanks." She said, a small smile appearing on her face. "How long do they take to start working?"

"Hmm. I actually don't know. Perhaps a couple of hours? Maybe you should stay in bed and rest until then."

"Okay. What are you gonna do in the meanwhile?" 

She raises an excellent question. What could I do while I wait for Lapis to recover. I could work on more Meep Morps, extending the Barn's very own art collection. I could do a bit more research into Lapis' condition, finding other ways to make her more comfortable. Though I doubt that would do any good to my mental stability. 

I could go and confront the Crystal Gems.

I froze up at this thought. Would that be the right thing to do? I did need to confront them on what they were doing with the Prime Kindergarten... but I want to be near Lapis. Plus, I might lose control with my emotions when talking with them. They have been all over the place recently. But the Crystal Gems need to face their consequences. I need this kind of closure.

"Lapis... I'm going to be out for a few hours. I'm going over to the temple to discuss some things with the Crystal Gems. I promise I'll be back when you've recovered. Then we can do more things together. But this is kinda important... Okay?" I say, hoping Lapis would be okay with this.

"Oh... That's fine! I'm actually still feeling a bit sleepy, so you can go do that. I'll be here waiting when you get back. Then when we can talk and do other things." She replies calmly.

"Thank you, Lapis. I'll be back in a few hours. Be sure to get plenty of rest. If you need anything, there should be plenty of supplies around the barn."

I turn and gather up my things, especially the research notes and my tablet, and stuff them in my satchel. As I turned to leave the barn, I looked back to see Lapis looking a little sad. I turned around and ran back to her, giving her a hug. Her eyes went wide and I thought I noticed a slight blush on her face.

"I'm glad you're still here." I said, squeezing slightly.

"A-And I'm glad you're back here with me." She stuttered with a slight smile.

"Bye Lapis!" I yell as I run towards the warp pad.

I just hope that I can keep my emotions in check for this next part.

--WARP--

As I warped into the Temple, I saw the Crystal Gems were all seated around the small table near the couch. Steven had a wide grin on his face, Pearl seemed content, Amethyst was giving a loud belly laugh, and Garnet looked calm. They seemed to be interacting with some kind of board with small little figurines on it. A "board game", If I recall correctly.

Nice to know that, while Lapis is busy suffering, they still find time to enjoy themselves.

Keep calm.

"Oh, Peridot! It's so good to see you!" Steven said, waving from his little spot on the couch. "We were actually coming to visit you tomorrow, to check up on you and Lapis. How have you been? How's Lapis doing?"

"I've been doing... okay, and Lapis is... Listen Steven, can you give me and the other Crystal Gems a few moments in private? I have something to discuss with them, and I think you might be a little too... young to listen in." I said firmly.

"Aww, c'mon P! We're in the middle of Monopoly, and I'm about to kick Pearl's butt!" Amethyst roared. "Besides, whatever nerd stuff you need to talk about, I'm sure Steven mature enough to handle it!"

They all had a little laugh while Pearl seemed to grumble something about "property values." I simply dug my hand into my satchel, pulled out my tablet, pressed the play button on the opened app, and threw the tablet into the middle of the table.

"Hey, what's the big ide-" 

"Daniel Ordain, Log date August 18, and I have had enough of gem creatures for one lifetime..."

All the Crystal Gems seemed to freeze up at this.

Pearl covered her mouth with her hand, giving a wide eyed stare.

Amethyst immediately stopped laughing, and her face went from happy to scared.

And Garnet, who was usually stoic and collected, seemed to slowly lose her composure and adopted a worried expression.

Steven, however, seemed a bit confused.

"Who is that?" He asked.

"You've got questions to answer, Crystal Gems, and consequences to face." I stated.

The data log still droned on, but Pearl leaped up and covered Steven's ears. She pulled him outside and told him something. Probably to go and stay with someone else for a while. Maybe with his friend Connie. Although I could care less right now.

Steven gave a nod and slowly walked away from the Temple, and Pearl came back inside.

I looked at all of them with a grim expression.

"I want answers. Now." I stated.