Angel of Yesterday

November 18, 2015

26 days left

My first appointment was three days ago, they put me on Anti-depressants, after diagnosing me with depression. They also diagnosed brief psychotic disorder, which is a disorder that is triggered by extreme stress, such as a traumatic accident or loss of a loved one. That would explain the hallucinations that I have been having with "Matt" and "Lapis." I don't have them anymore which I am glad for, but it kind of feels like I lost something within me again. "Steven, don't forget to take your pill today." Pearl called down in the kitchen. 'Come down here, I'll get you a glass of milk to help the pill go down." I was playing some video games when she called up to me, pausing the game, I grabbed the pill bottle next to my bag grabbed a pill and walked down to the kitchen. I stuck the pill in my mouth and took a drink of the milk. "Open your mouth, and lift your tongue." I did. "Good boy. If you need one of us, we'll be in the temple." She told me, once she was out of sight I reached in my mouth and took the pill out.

I found a way to hide the pill without her knowing. I wasn't going to take these. There was no point. Plus the aftertaste was disgusting. I took the last drink of my milk and stuck the cup in the sink. I didn't know what to do, then my mind starts to wander to Peridot. How long has it been since we capture her? Why was she so scared? What was she going to say? Now she's deep in the temple in a bubble and I'll never know. If I could just talk to her for one more second ... my gem started to glow and mom's door opened to reveal her room. Yes, thank you. I hoped over there walking into the pink cloud full room. I made sure I did a full 360 to look around seeing if any of the hallucinations were here. Nope nothing.

Good, good. "Room, I need to go to the basement. The real basement! I know there's a way down from here!" Some of the clouds part showing the Crystal Heart's Vein leading down to the basement of the temple. "Thank you!" I ran over to the hole and jumped down grabbing hold of the vein and sliding down it. "Woo! Yeah!" I flew off the pole. "Triple 550 Deluxe with no cheese!" I landed on my face. Ouch. I thought as I got up with a slight limp. "Yep, perfect landing." I said a little strained. I looked around at the array of bubbles, looking for a specific one. "There we go!" I climbed up the vein towards Peridot's gem. "Gotcha! Whoa!" I fell back to the floor, the bubble pops and Peridot regenerates in front of me.

"-the Cluster, you insufferable half-formed traitor mega-clods!" The Peridot in front of me looked way different without her enhancers. Peridot wiggles her fingers realizing that her limb enhancers are gone. She was actually really cute and small. I giggled.

"Hey, okay calm down, Peridot. I am not going to hurt you so you don't need to freak out." I raised my hands up in surrender. "Look, I came down here because I wanted to know is back at the Warp Pad, what were you trying to say? Why do we need you? What do you know?" I asked her, she looked around and freaked out a bit before looking back at me.

"What do I know? Everything there is to know about the Cluster, you pebble." Peridot said acting like I was the dirt on her sock feet. I rolled my eyes ignoring her tone in her voice.

"Cluster? Wait, "pebble"?"

She ignored what I said and continued talking. "My mission. The reason that I'm on this sad rock in the first place! I was to check progress on the Cluster! Just in and out, before it hatches. I wasn't supposed to get stuck here! But now it's going to emerge and nothing can stop it, and we'll all be shattered!"

"Okay, okay, wait, slow down. Now, from the top ... emerging, hatching, Clusters?" I raised my hands and put them in a downward motion, trying to make her slow down.

"You wanna know?"

"Yes."

"What's on your shirt?" She points to my pajamas, I was so confused until she flicks my face and ran away. Peridot ran out of the temple laughing manically and I followed her. They were going to see her, and they were going to blame me that she escaped. Well, it was my fault, but I didn't want to hear that from them. "Freedom is mine!" She yells, before stopping and slowly turning to face Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst at the kitchen bar. Peridot was stuttering as she was pointing to the ceiling. "Look! Over there! Another planet to betray." Garnet summons her gauntlets and Amethyst ate the whole pizza box she was holding in one gulp. She was shaking in fear. "Retreat!" She yells as she tries to run to the front door, but Pearl and Garnet blocked her way.

Peridot scampered up the stairs, where Amethyst was waiting for her on my bed. She summoned her whip, which scared Peridot and made her fall back onto the floor. She then ran to the bathroom and locks the door. "You may have won the war, but the battle isn't over, Crystal Clods!" She laughs behind the door.

November 13th, 2015

24 Days Left

I continue stirring my soup as I heard the roar of the thunder outside the beach house, looking over at the window I watched the heavy rain hit against the panel of glass. The Gems just left to investigate some things, while Peridot refused to still come out of the bathroom. It was so very awkward having to use it while she was in there. Thunder strikes again, when I heard the bathroom door slam against the wall, and Peridot running out. She went face first into another wall across from her. "It's happening!" She shouted obviously scared. I turned down the stove and put a lid on it as I walked over to the scared Peridot.

"What?" I asked confused. What was happening? The storm outside.

"THE CLUSTER!"

"Really?"

"What else could be making that horrible-" there was thunder once again. "AHHHHH! It's pounding on the Earth from the inside! This is it, this is THE END OF THE WORLD!" Peridot cries and whimpers as she ran over to the couch and hides under the cushion. I laughed a little.

"It's just thunder, Peridot. There is nothing to be scared of. It happens almost every time it rains. I am guessing with the confused look on your face that you don't know about rain?" She looked at me like I was stupid or something from under the cushion until she jumped up and pointed a finger at me.

"I don't know anything without my screen." She said accusingly. I kind of felt bad for her, like we took all her stuff away and now she just felt empty. Like me. I felt empty and even if I got my stuff back, I wouldn't feel complete anymore.

I nodded and motioned her to follow me over to the stove, where the pot was there. "I-It's okay. Here, pretend this soup is the ocean. When the sun warms it up, water evaporates into clouds, like this steam." I opened the cooking pot by lifting up the glass lid, and releasing the steam from inside. "However, when the clouds get really heavy, it rains." I explained.

"So, scalding liquid pours down from the sky?" Peridot asked non convincingly. I shook my head sighing, putting back on the lid of the pot to keep the soup warm.

"No, no i-it's just water, it can't hurt you. Here, why don't I just show you?" I walked over to the front door of the beach house and opened it getting a gush of wind from the outside. It felt nice from the warmth that was inside. I ran outside into the rain instantly getting drenched and not regretting it. "Come on! Look, I'm okay, it's just water! This is just something that happens on Earth! Isn't it cool?!" It felt so good on my hot skin as I fell into the mud, I was happy for once, just for a few seconds and it was the greatest feeling ever. Peridot reaches her hand out into the rain, but pulls back when she was hit by a rain drop, then tries again stepping into the rain. "Yay! You did it! What do you think? Isn't pretty cool?" I laughed.

"It was ... something. Hmmm, ehhh hmmm. Sssteven..?" I looked at her as she was trying to stay something, of course I was still in the mud because I liked how it felt between my fingers. "I'm going to say something." She takes a deep breath. "Thank you … for explaining this "rain" business to me." She smiles and my stomach flipped knowing I just made a friend for the first time in a long time.

“No, problem, how about we go back into the house to warm up.” That's what we did, I got on knew warm clothes, and helped Peridot dry herself off. We were sitting on the couch, with the lights dimmed and a cup of hot chocolate in my hands. “Peridot, what exactly is the cluster?” I asked her. She looks up from her hands, and her eyes narrowed. “I am just curious.” I took a sip of my hot chocolate burning my taste buds.

Peridot fiddled with her hands before speaking. “I would show you know if I had all my enhancers, but I don't. However, all of my logs up to date 6 5 2 still exist, backed up in Facet Five of the prime Kindergarten! If you can just take me there I'll show you.” She saw that I hesitated as I put down my mug on the coffee table. “Steven, don't you want to know about the cluster?” I did what to learn about the cluster, but I didn't think it was a good idea to take a Homeworld Gem to the Kindergarten.

I sighed and stood up grabbing my mug, I walked over to the cupboard and grabbed a traveling mug. It was a Cookie Cat one. Dumping the remaining hot chocolate in the cup, I rinsed out the mug, setting it back up in the cupboard. The house was silent as Peridot waited my answer. “Under one condition, you have to hold my hand the whole time we are there. Just so I know you won't try to run away on me. Understand?” I asked her watching her jump of the couch nodding quickly. We walked over to the warp pad, Peridot's hand in mine and my other hand holding the cup of hot chocolate.

We made it to the Kindergarten, managing to not spill my hot chocolate on the way there. I looked around as we stood on the warp pad. The Prime Kindergarten is a vast, foggy canyon with numerous holes carved out of the dark, dull purple rock faces; which are the "birthplaces" of many Gems. Injectors dot the landscape, some of which have fallen to the ground and have been destroyed. It was eerie, and Peridot was getting impatient at me just standing here. I took a drink of the hot chocolate which had cooled down a bit. “Are we just going to stand here all day? Or are we going to go?” She pulled me along and we fell off the edge of the platform screaming as we went down.

We both hit the ground, I had managed to keep a hold of Peridot's hand, but I had lost my traveling cup somewhere. I sat up and turned my head to see it shattered and the remains of my drink sinking into the rock. I sighed. That was great. I actually made a good cup of hot chocolate without burning it, and it got wasted. “This place just gets worse, every time I come here.” I grumbled getting up, and pulling her up with me.

Peridot started to pull me along, and we walked. “I know. It's been so poorly managed. It must have been in far better shape when you first emerged.” What was she talking about? Did she really think I emerged from this piece of dump? That was funny. “You're some kinds of quartz, right? You must have been made here.” We had stopped walking so I can look at her properly.

I shook my head, giggling. “I came from my mom and dad.” I told her, the look on her face told me she was confused at what I said.

What she said confirmed my suspicions. “Are those some kinds of rocks? Or another planet?” I chuckled.

“Nope. My dad is from Earth, but my mom's a Gem.” I lifted up my shirt to show her the pink Rose Quartz on my stomach in place of a belly button.

“You're some sort of ... hybrid? How is that possible?”

“The answer to that is a story I like to call, "The Ballad of Rose and Greg".”

She seemed very uninterested in that as she pulled me along without saying another word. I rolled my eyes as I followed. Our hands still intertwined. I wasn't going to have her go out of my sight any time soon. The gems had put me in charge of watching her, and that was what I was going to do. We entered the Prime Kindergarten control room. The room is a large, green hexagonal shape. The back wall contains the power source, which appears to be a gemstone. A green pedestal, sits near the center of the room, it has Yellow Diamond's insignia on the palm.

“I'm going to have to remove this panel and do a bit of work to restore power to this room, sooo ... can I have my hand back now?” I had forgotten that I was holding her hand in the process, when I let go of her. My palm was sweating. I wiped my hand on the side of my pants, watching Peridot walk over to the panel. It beeps, and Peridot grunts trying to get it off, but cannot lift it. “It's over ... I can't show you anything. Let's go back.” I shook my head walking over to her. I grabbed the panel, lifting it off with ease. The look on her face was made of shock and a hint of jealous.

Peridot begins to rummage around in the controls behind the panel. The control room then buzzed to life. When powered, the edges of the room glow neon yellow, and tinted green, but the light was dimmed this time. “It's not perfect, but it'll do for now.” I dropped the panel, and Peridot groans as she couldn't reach the gem pedestal. “I can't quite reach the--” I picked Peridot up and put her on my shoulders, making her able to reach the pedestal. Peridot presses a button and the height of the structure reduces, having me put her back down on the ground.

She clears her throat, and places her hand on the structure in the center. The structure begins to flow, and a plethora of a gem shards are shown on the room's screens. I stared in awe. “These are the early attempts at artificial fusion. We were growing them here at this very site, but these were just prototypes for the final product.”

The screen projects a globe, a marker displayed around the East Coast of North America. “A singular, giant, artificial fusion, composed of millions of Gem Shards. The Cluster.” I tensed up at what she said, it took me a moment to respond. I was letting the information sink into my skin.

“Peridot, you're saying ... there's a giant, mutant Gem the size of the Earth under us right now?” I clenched and opened my fists.

Peridot raised her hand in rejection. “Oh, no, when it forms, it'll be much, much bigger than the Earth. Right now, it lies dormant, incubating in the Earth's core, but when it emerges and takes its physical form, it will destroy the planet.” The Earth is shown to grow large and pop, the Cluster forming its physical form. I stare at it with great concern. “The prototypes are already emerging. The Cluster is next. If we can't get off this planet, we've got to stop the Cluster.” She clenches her fist and I start to sweat. “I thought it was impossible, but we have a chance. It's you, Steven.” She told me before we walked out of the control room, and back out into the Kindergarten. “Now that you are filled in, we can get back to work!”

“Uhh, how am I supposed to help?” I was confused, how could I help stop a cluster that I knew little to nothing about.

“Well, you have all the information that we need about earth and it's erratic behavior. Put that together with my expansive knowledge of the cluster and we just might be able to stop it!” Peridot was excited and I wanted to face palm. She didn't understand at all.

“No Peridot, I don't think you get it! Just because I know how clouds work doesn't mean I know how to stop a giant mutant in the center of the earth! Besides, the only reason that I know anything about clouds and rain is because my dad told me.” I told her, and she looked confused, I sighed. “I used to be really scared of thunderstorms, just like you. Then, Dad explained how rain and all that stuff works, then I wasn't scared of rain anymore.”

“Well I'm sure you have other knowledge about how this planet works.” I rolled my eyes.

“Sure, but none of its going to help us! If we want to stop this Cluster thing, we'll need help from the Crystal Gems.”

”I said I don't need them! Let's just warp me back to the bathroom or whatever you call it and we'll take care of this. If it looks really bad, then we can just ask this "Dad" for help, right?” We heard a screech from the distant, and we both jumped, our eyes wide with fear as we looked around to try to find out who made the sound.

“Oh no! Gem mutants!” I yelled, seeing six foot gem mutant. I noticed it only used four of them as arms. Two of the feet are dark purple and the rest of its body is dull red. On the bottom it has a vertical mouth that opens to reveal a single eye. It also has a dull yellow arm as a tail. I instantly made a bubble shield around me, and Peridot. The gem mutant screeches again, as we rolled around the kindergarten not knowing where to go. Peridot was yelling in my ear the whole time as more mutants showed up. A Gem monster pounces on my bubble, pushing down on it.

“Hang on, Steven!” My eyes lit up as I heard Garnet's voice. I watched Pearl stab the monsters as Amethyst smashes them, and Garnet attacks the gem mutant that was in front of Peridot and Me.

“Peridot, there's no way we can stop this thing in the Earth on our own. We need the help of the Crystal Gems.” I said determined, we were going to get the Crystal gems help if she liked it or not. I heard Pearl ask him I was alright. I nodded before getting pushed to the side by Peridot.

“Peridot?” Amethyst asked.

“What are you two doing here?” Pearl sounded upset, and I felt terribly guilty.

“Steven, I thought I told you to keep an eye on her.” Garnet sounded disappointed. I opened my mouth to say something, but Peridot cut me off.

“He did what he was told.” Peridot gazes at me, then back at the Crystal Gems. “Alright, listen up you clo- nyargh - Crystal Gems! I've made up my mind. I have something to tell you about the Cluster.”

November 14th, 2015

23 Days Left

We were at the Beach House the next day, Peridot was going to tell the Crystal Gems about the Cluster. With my help of course. “Ahem, ahem. As it seems I have no other options, I have conceded to reveal some important information to you Crystal Gems.” Peridot snaps her fingers, cuing me to shuffle in. I was wearing a box with a crudely drawn picture of Earth on it. Peridot, using a flyswatter as a pointer, smacks the box. The box ricocheted off of my face. Ow. “This ... is the Earth. At the very center of the planet's core lies ... the Cluster! Rotate.” I complied, turning the box to show a representation of the Earth's core and the cluster inside.

Peridot points at the scribbles at the center of the circle. “This is the Cluster. A massive, artificial fusion composed of millions of Gem shards. It has laid dormant for thousands of years within this planet's crust. When this Gem activates and takes its form, the result will be catastrophic. Now!” She hit the box again, with no warning at all. It made me tense up a bit.

I turned back to the Earth picture, and started to bob up and down. Eventually, a green, snake-like puppet bursts through the side of the box while I made growling noises. I heard the Crystal Gems gasp and I smile as I knew I did a good job. However, Peridot did not think so. “What is that!?”

Opening the puppet's mouth, I made it look like it was speaking. “It's the Cluster.” She then swats the puppet with the flyswatter.

“It does not look like that. However, it is real, and it can activate at any moment!”

“That abomination must be stopped.” Garnet growled out.

“But how? We'll need to build some sort of machine to take us to the center of the Earth, it'll have to-” Peridot suddenly swats at Pearl.

“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.” Pearl starts glaring at Peridot. Amethyst looks at her, smiling, but Pearl glares back, causing her to stop. “It'll need to withstand up to 360 giga pascals of pressure and temperatures of 9800 degrees.”

We were at the barn now, I was in a swivel chair with a smile on my face, after I made a cute diagram of the drill we were going to build. “All right. What we have here in the barn should be adequate enough for us to get started. First, I recommend we organize the component types and assemble a rough blueprint based off what we have available.” Pearl said, before looking at the chalkboard. “Ugh ... sorry, Steven, it's a lovely drawing, but it won't look like this.”

I stopped spinning, now frowning. Peridot picks up a piece of chalk, examines it and gives it back to Pearl. Hmm. Good, yes, this is adequate. Thank you. You can go now.” Pearl and I exchanged glances.

“Uh, what?” Pearl asks.

“Hm? Um, that will be all?” Peridot claps her hands in command. Pearl continues to stand there, looking incredulously at Peridot. The green gem in front of me leans towards me and whispers, “How do you get her to leave?” I looked at her confused.

“Excuse me, I am not leaving.” Pearl said with her hand on her hip looking down at Peridot. I nodded in agreement.

“Yeah! She's gotta stay here to help us build the drill thing, right?”

Peridot laughs slightly, “No, no. You're confused. A pearl can't build a thing like this. Because pearls aren't for this! They're for standing around, and looking nice, and holding your stuff for you ... right?”

“That's enough! If we're going to work together, you're going to have to listen to me.”

“Listen to you?” Peridot laughs more. “Did you teach her to talk like this?” I saw Pearl looks at Peridot angrily. “She's a pearl. She's a made-to-order servant just like the hundreds of other pearls being flaunted around back on Homeworld. So, who do you belong to anyway?” She asked as she grabbed Pearl's sash.

“NOBODY!” snaps Pearl, snatching the sash back out of Peridot's green hands.

“Then ... what are you for?” Pearl recoils back. “Well, you can belong to me for now. Ha! A peridot with a pearl, what would they say back home?”

“Now listen here, you tiny twerp! In case you've forgotten, you're on our turf now! And I didn't fight a thousand-year war for this planet's independence to take orders from the likes of you!” This whole conversation was confusing, all I was thinking was 'there were hundreds of more pearls somewhere else?' I always thought there was one. How wrong was I?

“Excuse me? I am a natural technician and a certified Kindergartener. I was made for this! You were made to take orders, not to give them!” Peridot says pointing a finger at Pearl. Pearl looked angry, clenching her jaw and fists, I got up and got in between the two before Pearl decides to do something rash.

“You're wrong! If pearls are really like you say they are, then Pearl isn't common at all!” Pearl blushes. “She trained herself to fight! She learned how to build things! And she works hard every day to be greater than she already is! That's not common; that's amazing! If you don't think so then, Peridot, I don't think we can be friends.” I felt the hands of Pearl on my shoulders as we stared at Peridot. Peridot was taken back, her face showed amounts of different expressions.

“I have to admit, it's ... remarkable that a pearl such as yourself could become such a … knowledgeable technician. Mmm ...” Peridot seemed like she was having trouble saying the words. She looks around and picks up the drill, holding it the wrong way. She holds it out to Pearl. “Why don't we get started?”

Pearl takes the power drill. “You're holding it upside down.” She hands the drill back facing the right away. I moved away from them as they started to talk it out about the plans for the drill.

I walked away from them a little bit. “Looks like we're well on our way to stopping the Cluster.” I told myself as I was holding the cluster puppet, I started to make it's mouth move like it was talking. “Do you think you can stop me?” I screamed, grabbing myself with the puppet and making fake devouring sounds. “Ah, we're doomed!”