Chapter Text
As the daughter of cutthroat business mogul Yellow Diamond, Peridot didn’t want for much in her lifetime. That is, until Yellow cut her off and kicked her to the curb for refusing to attend business school, instead opting to be a degreeless, albeit successful, inventor. Why would Peridot need somebody to teach her something she was better than everyone at?
Lapis Lazuli used to have a good life, too. She doesn’t remember much of it after years of hell with Jasper Quartz. Countless nights of breaking glass, shouting, and the occasional shove or punch had rendered the notion of happiness and peace near fable to Lapis. After another black eye – Lapis lost count long ago – she decided to take matters into her own hands. She wandered the streets all night, hoping to come upon some unfortunate affluent and get enough cash to high tail it out of Delmarva before Jasper was out of her post-fight, alcohol-induced coma.
Just as she was beginning to lose hope, Lapis saw a familiar face pass by the dirty alleyway where she lurked. A face she had seen many times on local newspapers: Peridot Diamond.
Lapis pulled up her hood and mask, ducking out of the alleyway and following the young heiress from a distance. A few times, Lapis thought she might lose Peridot around a corner, but she managed to tail the girl for quite a few blocks. Suddenly, Peridot stopped and turned. Lapis ducked behind a building and watched.
Peridot was standing outside Diamond Inc. Headquarters, examining the imposing building. Lapis felt herself on edge as her legs tried to decide the next move. After a moment, Peridot began to walk again, and Lapis knew she had to act now or never.
She ran after the blonde, grabbing her around the neck from behind a cocking her revolver, barrel against Peridot's neck. "You're coming with me," Lapis ordered, dragging Peridot backwards into Diamond Inc. Headquarters, satisfied that the girl cooperated and didn't fight against Lapis's arm. Compliance would make this so much easier.
People began to scream and Lapis fired three rounds into the ceiling, "Everybody get out or get shot! Tell Yellow I want a hundred-thousand by sunset or her daughter gets a bullet!"
The building was quickly evacuated. Lapis chuckled darkly to herself at how cowardly the workers at Diamond Inc. were. Lapis released Peridot's neck and tied her hands behind her back, helping her sit down on the floor. Lapis went and adjusted the receptionist's TV to the local news channel. Part of her was horrified at how methodically she was executing this whole plan. Jasper was lucky Lapis was running away, and not holding her hostage. Lapis sat on a chair across from Peridot and began to reload the 8-round revolver. Peridot sat calmly and watched Lapis with curiosity.
"So," Peridot said, "I'm Peridot."
Lapis hummed in disinterest, revolving the magazine of her gun with a series of satisfying clicks as each round passed by the chamber.
"Can I, uh, have your name?"
Lapis scoffed.
"Right, right, anonymity. I guess that's why you have the whole... mask." Peridot smiled sheepishly.
Is this girl serious? Lapis thought to herself.
Peridot cleared her throat. "Well, do you..." she looked at the ground as she searched for something to say, "do you watch Camp Pining Hearts?"
Lapis squinted at Peridot through her mask.
Peridot blushed, "Cause that's just, you know, my favorite show, and I thought if you watch it too we'd at least have something to talk about while you're holding me hostage."
Lapis didn't know what to say.
"Sorry, that's such a dumb question. I'm making an idiot of myself, ugh-"
"Percy is my favorite." Lapis said, cutting off Peridot.
Peridot’s eyes went wide in shock at actually earning a response from her captor. She grinned, “Really!? Mine too! Pierrcy is my OTP!”
Lapis found herself smiling, “Ew, Pierrcy? But what about Paulette? She and Percy are in love.”
Peridot tch'ed, “Paulette? Paulette is garbage!”
Lapis was about to refute that statement when the TV interrupted her.
A gunman has taken a hostage in the Diamond Incorporated Headquarters. Multiple shots fired. Early reports claim that the suspect is a woman and the hostage is believed to be Peridot Diamond. Police are standing by.
The pair sat in silence for a few minutes after that. Lapis got up and began to pace. Another ten minutes passed. Peridot’s stomach growled. Lapis stopped her pacing to look at Peridot, who gave another sheepish smile. Lapis started pacing again. Peridot’s stomach growled again and Lapis stopped again, “Is there any food here?” she asked, feeling a bit hungry herself.
Peridot jumped when Lapis spoke up, but quickly relaxed. “There’s a vending machine down that hallway,” she tipped her head, “I have some dollars in my wallet if you want to—” Lapis was already walking down the hall. Peridot heard some glass break and a few moments later, Lapis came back with armfuls of chips and candy bars. She dropped them on the ground before Peridot and sat across from her, digging into a bag of nacho cheese doritos.
Peridot watched Lapis, her heart sinking as she tugged on the rope binding her wrists behind her back. Was Lapis going to make Peridot watch her eat? Lapis noticed Peridot struggling against the binds and kicked herself, “Oh! I didn’t even think to—” she bit her lip. Could she trust Peridot with her hands free? She had been nothing but compliant, unsettlingly so, even.
Lapis leaned forwards and Peridot turned, giving Lapis access to the rope which she fumbled with to untie. Peridot rubbed her wrists and smiled gratefully. “Help yourself,” Lapis said, gesturing to the pile of food.
They ate in comfortable silence, eventually falling into a comfortable conversation about Camp Pining Hearts lore and theories. Every so often the news feed would interrupt their discussions. It was a bit surreal for Lapis to see the police gathering outside the building, watching footage from the police helicopters flying over the building. It would have made her unbearably anxious if it weren’t for Peridot’s warm smiles and nerdy ravings. After they had eaten themselves close to sickness on junk food, Lapis tied Peridot’s hand behind her back again. They began to talk about other things: hobbies, things they’d want to do someday. Peridot shared her dream to live on a tropical island, away from society, so long as she could have a workshop to tinker, of course. Lapis thought that was an amazing idea.
“If I may,” Peridot started, Lapis tensing as she sensed the oncoming loaded question, “Why do you need a hundred thousand dollars?”
Lapis bit her lip, unsure if she wanted to share the information. Peridot could tell the police and use it to help identify Lapis… but her kind eyes reassured Lapis that she meant no malice. “I’m trapped in a bad relationship. I need to get far away and fast.”
Peridot nodded sympathetically, carefully weighing her next question. “Is that what happened to your eye?”
Lapis’s hand shot up to her mask, covering her black eye insecurely. Could Peridot really see it through her mask? Lapis mentally cursed as her mouth betrayed her, “Yes...” she replied quietly, vulnerably.
Peridot’s voice sounded genuinely pitiful, “I hope it works out for you. I know you can make it somewhere better, there’s always hope for that.”
They sat in familiar silence again. Lapis turned away from Peridot, slipping off the mask to wipe sweat from her brow. She looked down at the plain piece of plastic… What was she doing? If she was going to hold this kind, innocent girl hostage… didn’t Peridot have a right to know who could possibly be putting a bullet in her head, come sundown? Speaking of which, the possibility of doing such a thing was beginning to eat at Lapis as sundown ticked closer.
A desk phone loudly rang out, causing Lapis to shriek and whizz around to face the sound. She met Peridot’s gaze and turned around again, swearing under her breath. Peridot had definitely seen her face. She sighed. So much for anonymity. Lapis turned back around, looking back at Peridot hesitantly. Peridot’s face was turned away in embarrassment, blushing profusely.
Lapis slowly walked past Peridot and picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Is this the gunwoman?” a man asked from the other end.
Lapis felt nauseous at being identified as such, “Yes. Are you going to bring me my ransom? It’s getting a bit dark out.”
The man replied, “This is Chief Dewey of the Beach City Police. Release Miss Diamond immediately and nobody needs to get hurt.”
Lapis gritted her teeth, “You’re not in a position to negotiate, Officer.”
“We have the building surrounded. You won’t escape.”
“And I have a gun to her head.” Lapis lied, feeling the weight of the gun in her waistband, “Neither will she unless you comply.”
She heard Dewey breathing heavily, “If you don’t surrender yourself we will be forced to come in and—”
Lapis snapped, “If you don’t bring me the money in ten minutes, Yellow Diamond’s daughter is going to have her brains rearranged.” She slammed the phone down onto the receiver, breathing heavily. She felt Peridot’s eyes on her back.
Again, silence filled the room. The news reporter stationed outside the building reassured Lapis that Dewey was bluffing:
Chief Dewey has spoken to the suspect and intends to wait her out. The police have no evidence at this time to indicate Peridot Diamond is in immediate danger…
The only sound was the ticking of a wall clock. Each click made Lapis flinch and her unease threatened to overflow. The ten minutes passed agonizingly slow, yet Lapis found herself wishing for the clock to slow down.
As it neared closer to ten minutes, the phone rang again. Lapis tried to remain calm as Dewey offered mediocre persuasions. Lapis insisted Yellow pay her; under no circumstances would Lapis surrender herself. Eventually they reached one minute. Then thirty seconds.
It was quiet as Lapis began to count down, her voice feeling out of place among the heavy silence. “Fifteen.”
Peridot’s stubborn mother would cave any second now.
Still holding out? “Fourteen.”
Peridot met Lapis’s eyes from where she knelt on the floor, hands tied behind her back. She smiled softly at Lapis. Content and resolved to the situation. It made Lapis feel at ease, for some reason. Did Peridot think she was bluffing?
Lapis drew the gun, fidgeting the safety on and off nervously.
“Thirteen…”
Lapis’s blood ran cold with adrenaline as she spoke again.
“Twelve...”
Peridot’s gaze bore into her and made her sweat. Lapis turned her back to her hostage.
“Eleven...”
She lifted the phone close to her lips and audibly sighed into it.
“You force my hand, Yellow.”
She let the phone clatter to the floor. No mother could hold out against the idea of their daughter’s brain splattered on the walls. Peridot sighed behind her. Lapis mentally reassured herself. They simply needed to wait out Yellow’s obstinacy.
Live Update: Beach City Hostage Ultimatum.
Police have been stationed around Diamond Inc Headquarters for over 7 hours. The anonymous gunwoman announced earlier that Peridot Diamond would be killed in 10 minutes time if Yellow Diamond does not pay a random of $100,000…
The police have failed to enter the building and we are just passing 10 minutes… Police are awaiting confirmation of Peridot Diamond’s death to assess whether to proceed as a rescue or recovery mission…
On the TV, a video flashed by of Yellow Diamond waiting outside the headquarters. Emotionless, armed crossed against her chest. Jaw set in determination.
“I stopped being worth anything to her a long time ago…” Peridot commented quietly, Lapis barely registering the sentence as her head spun from adrenaline.
Lapis turned around and faced Peridot, shock and despair fighting for dominance within her.
Yellow didn’t care.
Billionaire Yellow Diamond wouldn’t spare the price of a house for her flesh and blood.
And Peridot knew. That soft smile that had kept Lapis company for the past 8 hours now made something deep in her twist up painfully.
Peridot didn’t have anything to live for, either.
But… she was so sweet to Lapis, so kind. Optimistic towards Lapis’s strife, encouraging and supportive despite the situation. Yet, she sat before Lapis smiling as the latter raised the gun with a shaky hand.
For the first time in a while, Lapis felt moisture burning her eyes.
She let out a heavy, shaky breath, consciously willing her hand to lower the firearm. She closed her eyes, turning away as they began to overflow.
Before Peridot could react, Lapis lifted the gun again and shot a round into the wall behind Peridot.
Peridot looked at her in shock as Lapis produced a knife and cut the rope binding Peridot’s wrists. Lapis dropped the knife and took Peridot’s hand, “Come with me?” Lapis asked gently, clutching Peridot’s hand to her chest. What was she doing?
Peridot looked at Lapis with stars in her eyes. “Wow… o-kay.”
Lapis smiled and started to lead Peridot to the back of the building where a getaway car waited. Peridot stopped and pulled Lapis back, “They’ve got all the exits surrounded. But I know a way out…” Peridot took them to Yellow Diamond’s office and candidly jimmied the lock on Yellow’s hidden safe, producing a stack of money. “It’s not a hundred thousand… but it’s better than nothing.” Lapis gawked at her and followed in a daze as Peridot led her to an inconspicuous supply closet, opening the door and then pulling a panel out of the floor, exposing a tunnel with a ladder that went down into a deep blackness. “It leads to the city drainage system. By the time they figure out what happened, we’ll be leaving Delmarva on a boat.”
Lapis was really glad she kidnapped Peridot Diamond.