Crystal's End

Chapter 1

It all started on a normal day at the barn. The Gems were taking a break from the drill to just have some fun and relax. Garnet was sitting on a bale of hay, apparently lost in thought, Pearl was organizing the unused pieces of the drill into symmetrical piles, Amethyst was in the barn, looking through some junk to find something to mess with, and Steven was tuning his ukulele and toying with some chords, apparently working on a new song. However, behind the unfinished drill sat a small green gem, sitting with her knees to her chin, forgotten for the moment by the Crystal Gems. Peridot sighed, then pulled out her tape recorder, and pressed the button to begin a log. She kept her high-pitched, raspy voice quiet as not to alert anyone of her recording.

"Log Date, 7 11 2. The progress rate of the cluster drill has increased by nearly five percent, which shows a surprising amount of effort put in by the clods…"

Peridot paused her recording as she noticed a tiny form flit past her eyes. Her gaze followed the small form until it landed on a blade of grass. She stood and walked over to its location to investigate further. Crouching, Peridot discovered that the form belonged to a small organic creature with a spherical shape, colored mostly red with black dots on its back. Confused, she attempted to open her finger screen to research the identification of the creature. However, for what seemed like the millionth time, she remembered that her limb enhancers were gone, and her fingers stayed attached to her tiny hand. Peridot couldn't stop a single tear from forming in the corner of her eye- she missed her limb enhancers. Although she was of very high intelligence, Peridot seemed almost dumb at times due to her lack of knowledge of Earth and its functions and lifeforms. Without her screens, she didn't know anything, and was stuck being the clueless, childish gem that the Crystal Gems saw her as. But she also missed them because the lack of them made her feel… vulnerable. As an Era 2 peridot, she lacked any natural powers, and she was very short in comparison to most other gems. Without her arm cannons and helicopter fingers, she had no way of defending herself and relied on the Gems for protection. She wanted so desperately to just be amazing as herself- not as a cyborg.

Her train of thought was brought to an abrupt halt when a young voice behind her said, "What's up, 'Dot?"

"Yah!" Peridot whirled around in surprise to find herself facing Steven. He smiled apologetically for startling her. Peridot collected her thoughts and said, "I was simply investigating this… Earth creature." She pointed to the small form still occupying the blade of grass. Steven knelt down and studied it, then turned back to Peridot and smiled. "Oh, that's a ladybug!" He said.

Peridot once again looked at the creature. Ladybug… she thought. The "ladybug" seemed to be harmless, so she stuck out one finger and poked it. The ladybug's back opened up to reveal a pair of wings, and the insect took off and flew away. Curious, Peridot turned back to Steven and asked, "Do all creatures on Earth possess flight capabilities?" Steven laughed and jokingly said, "Wow, you really don't know much about Earth, do you?" He giggled. Although he meant it as a joke, his comment struck Peridot as if he had just punched her in the gut. She had never told the others her feelings about her limb enhancers, fearing they would become angry at her for bringing it up. She knew Steven did not mean to hurt her, but it didn't stop the comment from stinging. She said nothing, allowing Steven to continue.

"To answer your question, Peridot, no. Only animals with wings can fly. But did you know that the black spots on a ladybug have to do with how old it is? It gets more spots as it gets older, so a really old ladybug would have tons of spots while a baby one would have an almost completely red shell. Pretty cool, huh?" Steven smiled brightly. Peridot simply nodded her head, still fazed by Steven's previous comment. "Yeah, cool." She said. Steven continued talking. "Isn't Earth amazing, Peridot? There are so many different things living here, each having something special about it that separates it from all the rest. But all of them work together in such a large, complex way, making Earth such a beautiful and harmonized place."

Peridot knew that if Pearl were listening, she would think that Steven sounded exactly like Rose Quartz, and probably get very emotional and start singing or crying. Or both. But Peridot simply just found herself agreeing with Steven. Since she met him and started helping the Crystal Gems to stop the Cluster, she had actually come to enjoy this planet. When she had been trapped on Earth, on the run from the Gems, she had never really paid attention to the Earth, only focusing on a way to contact Homeworld. Although she would never admit it in front of Steven or the others, she still missed Homeworld. She would probably never be accepted there, after working with the enemy and interfering with their plans. But now she actually saw that Earth wasn't so bad. Steven was right- there was so much here, to explore, to discover, to enjoy. Maybe being stuck here wasn't so bad after all.

"Peridot, are you okay?" Steven asked, waving a hand in front of her visor. Peridot snapped out of her thoughts and came back to reality. She looked at Steven and mustered a small smile and assured him, "Yes, Steven, I'm perfectly fine." She didn't want him to think even less of her, less than the small, clueless, cute gem that had to be treated like a human child. If any of them found out that not even her emotions were stable, she couldn't bear it. "Um, Steven, would you mind… leaving me alone for a bit?" Steven looked a bit surprised at her request, but nodded and walked back towards the barn. Peridot walked further out into the field to be more secluded, and once again turned on her tape recorder and continued her log.

"During my stay on Earth, I have actually come to appreciate its beauty. There are many organic lifeforms that create unique resources that might prove… useful. But other than usefulness, this planet has exemplified a certain sense of joy to it. Earth might not actually be so bad, perhaps I might consider staying here permanently and settling with… Mph!"

Peridot dropped her tape recorder as something seized her from behind and clamped a red hand over her mouth. She struggled against her attacker, but could not escape, and she couldn't pry the viselike grip from her mouth. She tried to cry for help, but her screams were muffled. Still kicking and grabbing at the hand on her mouth, three rubies appeared in front of her, studying the small green gem. They all wore uniforms bearing Homeworld's diamond emblem, signifying where they were from. One of them spoke. "This is the one?" it asked. The second punched it on the shoulder and replied, "Duh, do you think there are any other peridots in the area, especially without limb enhancers?" Peridot stopped her struggling at this comment and simply just watched the discussion with horror and panic. The third ruby said, "Cut it out, you two. We got her, now let's just get off this cruddy planet and report back to Yellow Diamond."

Peridot froze and her pupils shrank in fear. Yellow Diamond? What would Yellow Diamond want with her? Some peridot just lost to planet Earth, living with the Crystal Gems. Suddenly she made the connection- she was being taken back to Homeworld to be shattered. What other explanation could there be? She was working with the enemy and messing with Yellow Diamond's stuff. She was probably public enemy number one. Peridot began struggling again- flailing, kicking, and screaming, but to no avail. The ruby holding her laughed. "This one's really putting up a fight. Let's just get her back onto the ship." Then the second Ruby summoned its weapon, a red, electrified whip by the looks of it. Peridot began to tremble. These must be Era 1 rubies. The newer ones wouldn't have weapons so… But she didn't get to finish her thought. Her captor released her, and Peridot was about to make a run for it. But the ruby flung his whip at her, and it coiled around her like a snake to prey. Electricity immediately began working its way through Peridots small, frail form, and she tensed up and fell to the ground in agony. She let out one final scream of pain before her vision faded to black.