As Steven left the temple room, he left Pearl behind, who silently disappeared through the tube connecting the different sections of the building. He didn't watch her. Instead, his eyes drifted to the main room, where Lapis had Peridot sitting rigidly on the couch, completely motionless, while Lapis stared at her, unblinking.
Steven frowned, confused by the scene.
He asked what she was doing, his voice betraying his bewilderment.
Lapis calmly replied that she was just making sure they didn't mess things up again, as she took a sip of water and slowly poured it down Peridot's neck. The green gem reacted with a high-pitched screech, like a bird being pecked by cats, and shook herself drastically.
Steven remained silent for a few seconds.
He didn't care. He simply begged her not to kill her, before turning and walking toward his room. He said nothing more. He closed the door and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep almost immediately.
...
The next day.
Connie's voice came through the communicator in her usual tone, though with a slight hint of concern.
She asked how everything was going.
Steven replied that it was fine, that he'd only done a few missions here and there, nothing out of the ordinary, and that they'd already captured several gems. He said it casually, as if nothing was really wrong.
Connie didn't seem convinced.
She looked at him through the screen, her eyes narrowed, hesitant.
She asked which ones exactly.
Steven hesitated for a second. The silence became awkward. Three beads of sweat seemed to trickle down his forehead as he searched for something believable to say.
Then, out of nowhere, he feigned interference.
He said something about the call dropping.
Before he could finish, Connie's voice boomed on the other end, telling him not to dare hang up.
Steven stared at his phone as messages started pouring in, one after another, relentlessly. He sighed. He looked up at the window and slowly shook his head.
He decided it was best to train.
He got up and left quickly, but before he went, his eyes lingered for a moment on Leon's mane. He studied it intently, carefully, as if something wasn't quite right in his head.
He dismissed it.
Or at least, not for now.
Three days passed as I trained my power. The pink power was quite difficult to control; I could access it, but the problem was the emotions. I felt stupid, foolish, an idiot, and many other bad things. I even felt like a monster for a few moments.
"I need to train more," I wrote in a notebook I always keep in the temple room. My holographic mother was watering some imaginary plants. I honestly don't know what I was thinking, giving her that free will in the room, but I was still careful.
"I'm leaving, holographic mother. This doesn't affect my sanity at all," I said.
The hologram just stared at me, beads of sweat forming on the back of her neck.
"Goodbye, real, flesh-and-blood son, whose sanity wasn't affected..."
I should definitely take away some of your advantages, I thought as I left, observing the hologram's panicked expression.
I left the room and, without another word, walked toward the living room.
"Huh?" Peridot said, emerging from her misery.
"Is something wrong, Steven?"
I looked at her, and she shrank back.
"We're going to work on the Cluster. You seem very calm."
"Huh?" she said, panicking, and quickly stood up.
"Let's go!"
Lapis, who had been intently watching Peridot while she played Geometry Dash, flew up beside me and watched as Peridot stepped into the portal.
Peridot, upon entering the portal, didn't feel the sensation of being inside it. She looked at Steven, her eyes wide.
"Can't I use it?"
I raised an eyebrow at her.
"I guess it's because of the corruption," Lapis said, placing her elbow on my shoulder to farm aura, though she quickly removed it and fell to the ground with a spectacular crash.
"Ouch!" Lapis said, her voice laced with no further reaction as she fell.
"Well, I guess I didn't perform as many miracles as I should have," I sighed.
"I should have the other three Diamond essences to heal a Gem more completely," I thought, looking at Peridot with a raised eyebrow.
The Gem I was watching started to tremble.
"You're not going to harvest me, are you?" Peridot said, panicking.
"Huh?" Lapis and I said, completely confused.
"Destroy my Gem?" Peridot asked, raising an eyebrow, but she was still trembling like a dog in bleach.
"Not at all?" I said doubtfully, looking at Lapis, who just shrugged as she stepped into the portal, just in case the portal was broken.
"Phew," Peridot sighed, wiping away an imaginary sweat.
I just shook my head, grabbed a page, and stuck it in the usual spot where Pearl checks if I've done anything. The note read:
"Hey, just letting you know we went to the barn to work. Come if you want; it doesn't really matter, but I don't want any fistfights in front of me. Sincerely, the fat jerk."
"Let's go," I said as I activated the portal and we arrived at the nearest one to the barn.
"Follow me, good people," I announced as I floated up and picked up Peridot like a stuffed animal, flying toward the barn. Lapis followed without a word.
When we arrived, I dropped Peridot.
"Ouch!" she exclaimed as she landed on her butt.
"Do your research on all the junk I collected," I said as I opened the barn. A mountain of objects I'd been collecting over time tumbled to the floor.
"And what's this junk?" Peridot asked.
Lapis gave her a light tap on the head.
"Work with what you've got and don't complain," he added.
Peridot just stared at the ground and walked robotically toward the objects.
"Let's see," she muttered, inspecting every detail.
"Hmm... yeah... no... maybe... what's this thing?" she asked, picking up a weight.
"An exercise weight, use it. It doesn't even bother me anymore," I replied, sitting cross-legged.
"I'm not great at math, but if you need a third-person perspective, I'm here. If you need something heavy," I pointed to a rather conspicuous body of water.
"Should you ask Lapis to help you?" I asked.
"Me?" Lapis said, confused.
"Yes, you. Get to work, lazybones!" I said, a hint of anger in my voice, trying to control my pink form.
Lapis nodded without another word. She knew more or less how my personality shifted, having experienced the mood swings firsthand—which, in my opinion, were worse than Connie on her period... though I still didn't know what her period was.
I quickly sensed Peridot starting to work, and Lapis sometimes helped her with some drills I'd brought and ship parts I felt were absolutely necessary, like a car radio. I mean, totally unrelated, but I'll definitely be the one going down with her, which is 100% a given, since I need to connect with the Cluster to create a bubble. Well, that's going to hurt, so I'm mentally preparing myself for it.
I looked up at the now dark sky and simply said:
"I hope this goes well."
End of Chapter 54.