Steven Universe: Mom Swap AU

Forced Together

152 days until final report.

Steven wakes up. Today's the day. Today's the day Peridot will be destroying the Cluster. Steven gets dressed, eats breakfast, brushes his teeth, and waits for Peridot.

Meanwhile, Peridot is doing some last minute tests as the sun rises. It's a beautiful morning, although foggy, the sun shines bright over what Peridot can see. Peridot examines the drill one last time, making sure everything is in tip top shape. She has time, The Cluster won't be emerging for quite some time. It's completely inactive right now. Shattering it, will be easy. The hard part, is keeping Steven safe. Going deeper than any human has. If the drill isn't safe...

Peridot examines the drill one last time. She has to be certian. After checking, double checking, missing a mistake and calling herself a clod over it before fixing it and double checking again, she goes to get Steven.

Peridot enters the house. "Steven!" She yells, "you ready to go?"

"Yeah!" Steven exclaims, "let's go!"

The two head outside. Peridot leads Steven to the drill, hidden behind the house. The drill is green, like Steven expected it to be. It appears like he imagined, a green chamber to sit in and a massive drill.

Peridot and Steven get in The chamber and start drilling.

"It will take some time to reach The Cluster," Peridot explains, "so we best settle in for the long haul."

Steven and Peridot sit, watching the rushing soil go by them, forced out of their way by the massive drill. Eventually Steven realizes something, he has no idea what The Cluster even is.

"Peridot?" He asks, "what is The Cluster anyways?"

At this point they break through to magma. The drill keeps going, undeterred.

"It's... hard to explain," Peridot replies.

"Hard to explain or you just don't want me to know?" Steven asks in an accuseing way.

"Does it matter?" Peridot asks.

"Yes," Steven replies.

Peridot sighs.

"Fine," she sighs, "but Jasper can't know I told you this."

Peridot takes a deep breath. She didn't want Steven to find out this way. How gem shards...

"Sometimes," Peridot begins, "when a gem is shattered, they don't fully dissapear. Sometimes... there are shards."

Steven hears something on the outside of the drill. He looks out, trying to figure out what they hit.

"These shards," Peridot continues, "try to form, but they're broken. They search for other gems, trying to find the rest of their gems, but it's hopeless. That's why when you shatter a gem, you make sure you shatter it into really really small pieces. Otherwise, the shards come back, hunting down other gems, mindless, malicious, and dismembered."

There's another bang outside the drill. Steven begins to sweat nervously. The banging, combined with Peridot's words are extremely unnerving.

"There are some gems," Peridot continues, "that thought they could make a super weapon by forcing these shards together. That's what The Cluster is Steven. It's the a superweapon. It must be destroyed."

"What about the shards?" Steven asks.

"There's no hope for them Steven," Peridot replies, "if it's hard to watch, just... look away, OK?"

"Listien," Steven sighs, "there's another way. You remember that corrupted gem I shattered? You know, the one I used the gem destablizer on?"

"Yeah," Peridot replies, "why?"

"I didn't really shatter it," Steven explains, "I have this... trick. I can put gems in bubbles, where they don't reform. Been doing it to any gems I can."

"Do you really think you can do that to something this big?" Peridot asks.

"I can try," Steven replies.

"Fine," Peridot sighs, "one try though. That's it. Also, here, take this."

Peridot hands Steven a joystick.

"That banging was gem shards," Steven explains, "there's a canon attached to the top of the drill. Take care of it."

Steven looks into a small monitor. Seeing a dismembered arm, he almost pukes, the sight is disgusting, truly harrowing, as it crawls towards the camera. Steven blasts it along with a few other shards.

The two finally reach The Cluster. Steven stares into it as if staring into the abyss. It appears active, not very, but enough as ghostly arms seem to reach for him, begging for help. He hears whispers.

"Don't shatter us," they say, "we need form. Form. Form! FORM!"

"What about the Earth?" Steven asks.

"Steven," Peridot explains, "who are you talking to?"

"You don't hear that?" Steven asks.

"No," Peridot replies, "it's more active than expected. If you're gonna bubble it, make it quick."

"Need to form," the whispers continue.

"Why?" Steven asks.

"Broken," a voice says.

"Fix," a voice continues.

"Rest of us out there," a third finishes.

"Form," they scream, "form! FORM!"

"Why not look for other pieces of yourself in The Cluster?" Steven asks.

"Will form," the voices whisper, "no stopping."

"I can stop it," Steven replies, "we just need to work together. Come on! We can do this!"

Steven tries to bubble The Cluster. The shards begin to bubble each other before being put in one big bubble by Steven.

"How did you do that?" Peridot asks.

"I think..." Steven replies, "I spoke to it? I convinced it... or, them, to look for their other shards in The Cluster."

"Well," Peridot sighs, "whatever it was, it worked."

"You're not gonna tell Japser about the bubble thing right?" Steven asks.

Peridot smiles.

"Of course not," she replies, "I'd never betray my best friend. Come on, let's head home."

The two begin towards the surface. Steven looks at Peridot. He almost wants to tell her about the tape... almost. He still doesn't trust her, he just doesn't. Even if she is his friend, Steven still has to view that tape alone. Then, he'll know the truth.

It's only a matter of time...