Templeschool

11. From The Frying Pan To The Fire

Steven didn't want to break off their hug, but he knew it was only a matter of time before the gems returned. He wanted to talk to Peridot before they had a chance to talk him out of it. "Room? I want to go to the basement. The real basement."

Both boys rose to their feet as a pink crystal vein appeared. "Thank you!" Steven grabbed Twoie's hand and dragged him over to the vein.

"Steven." The boy turned to look at his older self. "Remember that Peridot is going to be scared of us. I'll protect you if anything goes wrong, but all you need to do is be yourself."

That calmed Steven's nerves a bit. "Right! I'll put my heart out on the line." Twoie smiled lightly at the reference. The two brothers slid down the vein into the Burning room. Normally, this ride would be fun for him, but after Twoie's outburst, he couldn't bring himself to enjoy it.

The moment they landed in the burning room, Steven scanned all of the floating bubbles for the green triangle he knew was Peridot. "Hmm. There we go!" He floated up and grabbed it, waiting until he was standing on the ground again to pop it.

The gem shined and rose into the air the second it was freed. Peridot reemerged with a shout, waving her arm around as though she was wearing her limb enhancers. "-cluster, you insufferable half-formed crater mega clods!" She froze as she noticed Steven's presence. She whipped around in fear as she noticed Twoie as well.

"Oh my gosh. You're so cute!" Steven's worries faded from his mind. She was so small! He walked around her, smushing his cheeks in awe.

Peridot inspected herself. "My limb enhancers! Where are my limb enhancers?!" Twoie smiled weakly. This moment was pretty cute. "Aww! You're like, an angry little slice of pie!"

That offended her even more. "Stop talking! I demand to know where this place is and where are my-" She finally noticed the multitude of bubbled gems above her. "Oh, my stars... You're going to harvest me?!"

Okay, it's not cute anymore. "Peridot, wait." Twoie held his hands up in a placating way. "We're not going to harvest-" Steven made the error of getting to close to her. She smacked him in the face.

"Oww!" He rubbed his cheek. "That hurt!"

Peridot looked at her hands in amazement. "It did?" Twoie watched the exchange go back and forth.

"Yeah, a lot." She went to smack him again. This time Twoie intervened.

"That's enough, Peri. You don't need to keep hitting him." He gently pulled her away from his little brother. She started beating her hands against his stomach instead. It didn't hurt, so Twoie felt content to let her continue.

"Feel my unbridled rage!" He waited another couple of seconds. "You done?" She paused, then asked, "That doesn't hurt?"

He shook his head. "No, it just seems like it makes you feel better. You can keep going if you need to."

Peridot bristled in anger and continued smacking him. "You smashed me into a limbless cloud, trapped me in a bubble dungeon, and you called me cute!"

Steven threw his hands up in exasperation. "We didn't poof you; we freed you!" Peridot retreated to curl up in a sitting position on the floor. She regarded them with calculating eyes. "Why would you make such a miscalculation?"

Steven frowned and took a step forward. "Back at the warp pad. What were you trying to say? What do you know?"

Peridot uncurled slightly. "What do I know? Everything there is to know about the Cluster you pebble!" Steven approached her again, looking at her questioningly. "The Cluster?"