Default Settings // Sequel to "Factory Reset"

Chapter 33: Swan Song

Chapter 33: Swan Song

Lapis knew what she was seeing. She just couldn't believe it. Peridot was standing in front of her, not on a looped memory, not seeing through her, but staring at her with a warm smile.

"Peridot?" Lapis stared at the gem as if she was a ghost. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing?" Peridot laughed sarcastically. "Waiting for you, of course. We lost you after your fight with Red. You've been in here for hours. The gems and I found a way to open the portal for another one of us, so I came in here to get you out."

"Wait, wait, you guys are telling me that you fixed the machine?"

"I don't know how we did it either but somehow it worked. It's a miracle really." Peridot looked around a bit, surveying the new terrain. In thoughtful contemplation, she kicked a rock down the hill before turning back to Lapis. "What do we do now?"

"I figured you would know," Lapis groaned. She had been in this place for hours? That couldn't be right. Could it?

"I suppose we should start looking. I have a good feeling about the temple." Peridot marched onwards, beckoning for Lapis to follow. The latter reluctantly did though she couldn't quite wrap her head around the situation.

"Peridot, how'd you even get here?" Lapis asked. "I had to go through all these layers and fight off Red which was not fun by the way. Did you go through that too? I thought you had to get permission to-"

"I went a different path than you," Peridot cut off without missing a beat. "Pearl guided me through some loopholes in the coding. Consider it a shortcut."

"And you didn't have these shortcuts when I went through," Lapis deadpanned.

"We think you were the one that opened them. Your presence in Red's gem is changing things in here, for better or worse."

Lapis nodded her head. It wasn't the craziest thing that'd happened. The two made their way to the temple only to find the place looked completely untouched.

"I don't think anyone's been here for a while," Peridot frowned.

Lapis began to search the place, calling to Peridot that she'd check upstairs while the other examined the bathroom. Lapis was just about to shout out that she found nothing when she heard a muffled voice originating from a stack of books. Lapis tiptoed towards the pile, a collection of Harry Potter books. One of Ruby's favorites, Lapis noted. The voice was coming from a copy of The Deathly Hallows.

Checking behind her back to make sure no one was watching, Lapis grabbed the book and flipped the cover open. Inside, the pages were cut with a rectangular opening in the middle and in the hole was the walkie talkie.

"Lapis? Lapis come in, please. This is Peridot."

"Peridot?" Lapis whispered harshly into the walkie talkie. "Peridot where are you right now?"

"What do you mean where am- I'm in Garnet's room. Lapis we've been trying to get a hold of you almost two layers ago. You're right at the center of Ruby's code. What happened?"

"You're not in Ruby's gem?"

"Of course I'm not in her gem. Why? Is something wr-"