There was one room designated in the temple as a meeting room for the gems. It altered with who was present and who was fused accordingly, adding or removing chairs, and literally chopping off sides of the table. After immense amounts of paper had scattered across the floor, Pearl had declared that fusion (the physical act, not being one) was forbidden in the meeting place. The triangular table sat three, currently, the usual number. It gave Amethyst a seat to slouch in, and Pearl a table to frantically tap her fingers against as she thought. It also prevented any arguments that might have arisen, should they have chosen to meet in someone else's room.

The gems rarely used the place, but whenever they did, the situation always seemed to be dire. This occasion was no different. The tension could be cut with a knife, and any moment of silence felt like time wasted. Amethyst was trying to fill the void by saying everything that came to mind. It made her feel a little more useful. In contrast, Garnet said nothing. She sat up straight in her seat and was clutching her knees. She kept the conflict internalized, and could only say a few strangled words at a time.

"-she can update us on the current events of Homeworld, or better yet, serve as a guide," Pearl tiredly suggested.

"Great idea, just one problem with that. We need to persuade her."

"Punching always works for me," Garnet replied.

"But will it be a lasting solution?"

"Alright, we ask her about all that we can, poof her, and leave."

Peridot's bubble was retrieved by Garnet, and brought back to the meeting room. She squeezed it between her gauntlets, and then caught the triangular, green, gem. She set it on the floor of the room, and stood back. Peridot was quick to reform. She sprouted limbs, her hair grew outwards, and she then proceeded to land face-first on the temple floor. They hesitated for a moment, wondering if Peridot had cracked herself in the process. She proved to be surprisingly resilient however, and she got to her feet. Peridot took up a defensive position, shielding her face. They would have thought that it was a normal reaction, if not for the fact that Peridot had not yet seen them. She was cringing away from something that only she could see.

"My Diamond I'm so-!"

Pearl cleared her throat, drawing her attention to them. Peridot leapt for a second time, screaming in alarm. Pearl was stricken by just how short she was. She knew that Steven had brought up something about limb enhancers, and she had lost a foot, but she hadn't thought that Peridot was this short, either. She was close to Amethyst in size, but nowhere near as stocky.

"Peridot!" Garnet said in her cool, commanding voice, "we're not here to harm you. We just want to talk."

For the umpteenth time, they were surprised as Peridot fell to the ground. She curled up, her knees touching her chin. She screwed her eyes shut and began to wail. No tears came out (a gem had to grow tear ducts and absorb some form of water to do that) but it was quite clear that she was crying.

"I think your face scared her Pearl," said Amethyst.

"It did not!"

"I did everything you wanted!" Peridot sobbed. "Why are you doing this to me?!"

Garnet picked up Peridot, but kept her as far as she could from her own body. She did not even protest over the gesture.

"Who did what to you?"

"My D-Diiiamooond! I had enough time to think, and that's exactly what she'll say! She's gonna' shatter meee! My greatness will be dusted across the surface of this mud-ball planet!"

Peridot started to fail her arms and legs. It was impossible to tell whether she was trying to escape from Garnet, or if she was thrashing them in a fit of anger.

"I for one can't blame her," muttered Pearl, avoiding one of her kicks.

"How is she going to do that, while you're on Earth?" Garnet asked.

"Y-yeah..." She sucked in a deep breath of air, and her eyes grew wide, glassy. "I have an entire planet to hide on. Or better yet, I could enslave all the pathetic minds on this Earth, and use them to defeat Yellow Diamond! Yes! And I'll start by becoming the leader of you clods! It's perfect! Nyeh hehehehey could you put me down?"

"Peridot."

Calling her name managed to get the gem's attention again. Peridot was already muttering about her plans for world domination, and her revenge against Yellow Diamond for her "distinct lack of objectivity that is absolutely necessary for a good ruler to possess."

"Yes, my new, loyal vassal?"

"We need you to tell us everything you know about modern-day Homeworld."

"Why should I tell you, a fuuusion, anything?

Pearl sighed, and Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"We believe that Yellow Diamond has found Steven. We need to get him back."

Peridot didn't react to this. Instead, she continued to stare at Garnet (who was still holding her by the shoulders) and asked, "isn't your collective knowledge enough for you?"

"Garnet, you know we'd normally never ask something like this, but it's an emergency. Do you think that Ruby and Sapphire could just-?"

She grimaced, but still nodded in acknowledgement. She defused, the table grew another edge to it. Ruby and Sapphire quietly took their seats at the table. Peridot, who was next to Sapphire, screamed in fright and leapt away from her. All eyes were drawn to Peridot, who was breathing heavily, and clutching her arms like her life depended on it.

"Y-you're- you're a sapphire! I've never seen one in person, but there are less than four on Homeworld now! Wait a minute, you're fused with a ruby of all gems?"

"And?" Sapphire asked.

"I-I shouldn't be talking to y-you, I shouldn't even be making eye-contact- ohmystars I'm so sorry-"

With a sigh, Sapphire bowed her head.

"I had almost forgotten my life on Homeworld was like that," she said, more to herself than anyone. "I'm not going to shatter if you look at me wrong, no matter what gem nobility may tell you."

"T-this is," Peridot started to collect herself again, enough to stop stuttering, "this is good! You're definitely enough to get an audience with Yellow Diamond and the Steven!"

"Could you stop calling him, the Steven?"

Peridot continued to formulate a plan, ignoring what Amethyst had said.

"And it'll make sense for you to have both a pearl-"

Pearl stiffened visibly at the choice of words.

"-and a ruby guard on you at all times!"

This caused Ruby to glare at her, and mime punching something behind Peridot's back.

"What about me?" Amethyst asked.

Peridot laughed at the question. When no one joined in, she stopped.

"No way! You may be a quartz solider, but you're way too-"

"She'll lie," Sapphire interrupted, before anyone could try to poof Peridot again, "you'll say you're only shape-shifting, if they ask you about your height, because your real strength will then catch any attackers off guard. Claim it's an experimental technique."

"Oookay?"

"Yes, well that's all fine and good," said Pearl, trying to leave the subject of Amethyst's form behind, "but the reason why we even let Peridot out is because we need to learn about current Homeworld events if we want to pull this off."

"Well, I'll have you know that I, Peridot, am an expert at all information pertaining to Homeworld!"

"Aren't you just supposed to be an expert kindergartener?"

"Of course not," she dismissed, "the first thing you'll need to do is get the pearl to change her outfit. As fancy as it is, you'll need something more modern if you want to pass as one of the newer models. Plus, you'll need to look more like a member of Blue Diamond's court."

"Oh, and what do you suggest that I wear?" Pearl sarcastically asked.

"Well to start, can I have something to draw with?"

From the space inside of her gem, Pearl took out a pad of paper, a pencil, and eraser. She tore off the top page of the paper and hastily stuffed it into her gem before anyone could see the contents upon it. Peridot grabbed the paper and pencil. She started to draw. Her nose and hair may have been exaggerated, and there were angry eyebrows scribbled on her face, but it was an otherwise accurate drawing. Amethyst stopped scowling long enough to chuckle at the drawing. Sapphire looked to the left, so that her smile was hidden in her hair, while Ruby made a quite audible "pffft" sound. Peridot gave Pearl a long skirt, not unlike Sapphire's, as well as fabric around the shoulders, in a cape-like style. The angry eyebrows were them covered by more hair, which Peridot viciously scrawled in. The pencil snapped under the force.

"Stupid Earth writing technology!" Peridot snarled, waving the pencil. "What sort of cheap communication stylus breaks under less than a minute?!"

Amethyst calmly took the pencil, and sharpened it for her. Peridot's anger turned to surprise as she watched the pencil shavings curl and fall on to the table. Peridot especially seemed to like having the sharp pencil for her drawing. The moment it became dull again, she took up the sharpener. It soon became obvious that Peridot was adding more unnecessary details on to Pearl because she simply liked using the pencil. Not that she would ever admit to liking something about the Earth to them. Eventually, Pearl snatched the drawing out of her grasp, and looked it over.

"Yes, I'm quite capable of doing all this, minus the hair of course."

"The hair's the most important part!"

"I'm pretty sure that getting rid of the Crystal Gem logo is the most important," Ruby replied.

All of them looked at the prominent, five-pointed stars that were on their clothes. They would have to be replaced with diamonds, so that they would fit in better. It was then that Amethyst voiced the question that none of them had dared to bring up so far.

"Sooo, how are we going to poof each other?"

With the worst out of the way, they were almost ready to depart. Sapphire and Ruby were having some alone time, preparing themselves for the potentially long stretches they would go without any sort of physical or emotional contact. Pearl did not want to know or hear what they were doing. She let the rushing water of her room consume her mind, washing away thoughts of hope, free thought, and expression. In a passing, simple, simple suggestion made by Peridot, it had seemed easy. Pretend to be a vacant, simpering, pearl. Stand still, look pretty, think nothing. It had been hard enough to hide her feelings before, but now?

"Hey P?"

It was Amethyst. She had swum up one of the waterfalls, her arms and legs paddling like mad as she fought to stay in place. Pearl smiled a little. Amethyst was technically not in her room, she had to give her that much credit. It was almost like old times again, when it was just the three of them, all alone in the temple...

"You alright there?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

Amethyst hoisted herself up on to the floor of her room. She landed with a sopping, resounding splash, and remained a heap on the floor, next to her.

"I don't have any real feelings about your Homeworld. But you guys do."

"It's difficult just to think about it," Pearl said, placing a hand to her gem, "it's such an awful place, and remembering it, going back... The worst part is having good memories about it."

"Well my birthplace is pretty terrible too," Amethyst replied, "and I still go back there every once in a while."

"At least the rocks there aren't close-minded and think less of anyone who is different."

"They don't think anything."

"-remember to give the Diamond salute and not whatever heinous Crystal Gem one you clods use-"

"-Amethyst, you've never Galaxy Warped before, so remember that this ride will be extra long, and to bend your knees a little to avoid being flattened-"

"-don't use any Earth slang in your speech-"

"- because of the distance, sometimes asteroids will fly through the stream, but so long as you don't move, they can't hurt you-"

Their voices eventually died down, there was only so much information that they could convey. The Crystal Gems all had their final, normal moments with each other as they were on the warp pad. Ruby and Sapphire kissed, before they took on stoic poses. Amethyst, knowing that she was playing the role of a guard, tried to copy Ruby as much as she could. Sapphire was too short for Pearl to link arms with, so she stood behind her, her hands neatly folded in front of her. They steeled themselves, preparing for the dangers, and awful memories ahead.

Finally, they warped, returning to a place they had so desperately wanted to leave behind.

Amethyst was the first to realize there was something wrong with the situation.

"Hey, did we just leave Peridot to roam the Earth on her own?"

Two seconds into their rescue mission and Pearl broke character.

"Oh my stars I think we did!"

"Ugh! How could we have been so stupid?!"

"We'll worry about it when we get back," Sapphire soothed.

The gems fell back into silence, yet it was obvious none of them fully believed they would survive Homeworld for a second time.

Steven went through a whirlwind of precise procedures the moment he regained consciousness: his identity was verified through a series of questions, some of which he could no longer answer on instinct, because he hadn't thought about them for so long. He hadn't needed to state his gem cut in forever, or know where his main living quarters were. The rescue crew was dismissed, off to receive their "reward." The scientists in charge of him made it clear that the rescuers were not sworn to secrecy, because it was easier to get rid of them. Steven was too numb to even feel sorry for them, despite how smug the scientists seemed about sending them to their deaths. His body was checked over, making sure that everything was in order. They inspected his gem, and one of them shone a light that pierced through his skin and showed his bones. They only stopped to look in the spot where his leg had been broken. He told them it had been injured. They both glared at him for speaking, and went back to their silent conference.

He was hosed down, toweled off, and was instructed to discard of his "human clothing camouflage." He did all of this in a completely calm and obedient manner. He was too numb to panic. They must have sedated him at some point. His thoughts were few and far between, everything seemed especially sluggish. The rush of fear and despair he should have felt was little more than a small, sensation at the back of his head. What could he possibly have to worry about? Everything was fine. He had gone on a little trip, and he would come back to his Diamond's side.

The fear inside of him grew when thought about what to tell Yellow Diamond when she asked. The answer easily came to him, the fastest thought so far. He had nothing to worry about. He already had a cover story from ages ago: he wandered the planet aimlessly, waiting for rescue, nothing significant happened to him. Then, when Peridot and Jasper had arrived, the ship lost power. It wasn't even a lie, and his Diamond would have no reason to doubt him. He was calm, ever so calm, he had nothing to fear.

When he was finally given the thumbs up to leave the lab, he did so, with one of the scientists following him. She stood around his height, and her arms were filled with hastily written notes, and a computer she had brought along with her. He offered to help, and merely got a scathing glare in response. He wasn't allowed to touch any of the information. He didn't mind being scolded, the insults slid right off to him and were stepped on by his feet.

He smiled at the pearl operating the elevator. She made a squeaking sound instead of asking what floor they should go to because of it. The scientist sighed, and pressed the button for them. When they reached the top floor, they stepped out into the familiar, imposing hall. There was another quiet squeak. The operator pearl had been caught between the gilt doors of the elevator. She poofed. Before they could check up on her, she reformed. Interestingly enough, she had a new uniform on, and she had changed her hairstyle. The scientist rolled her green eyes and kept walking after she saw that. He caught up to her, taking two steps for each of her own. Yellow Zircon ushered them into the room ahead.

The moment they entered, he stood at attention, holding a salute, and staring at the spot between Yellow Diamond's eyes. She was saying something, but the sound followed at a delay, it took him even longer to process in his dream-like state.

"Autunite, report."

Autunite, so that was her name. Steven wondered if that was her real gem type, or if it was a false one, to protect her identity. Autunite started to talk, but he could barely concentrate on the words that were being said. They went in one ear and out the other. All he could hear was the quiet humming that perpetually ran through the room. Things were being said about him though! He wanted to focus, he wanted to make sure he didn't miss anything important. For all his effort to listen, he managed to grasp a few of the phrases.

It suddenly dawned on Steven why he was having so much trouble listening: it was in Gem, not English. He was used to hearing such different sounds that he was just tuning them out as nonsense words instead of understanding what they were saying. He got so caught up in these revelations that Autunite was dismissed before he could actually glean anything from the conversation.

"It is good to see you again."

What was the proper response to this? He had thought of the lies to spin and tales to tell, but nothing of small talk, and basic conduct. All the training he had to go through to learn gem culture momentarily seemed to have gone to waste. He focused hard on the spot between her eyes. The wrinkles that were starting to appear there vanished when he finally got the right words out of his mouth.

"I missed you, my Diamond."

Her brows furrowed back together, as the interrogation began. He gaged how much she liked his response by how closely they were knit together. Any time he said the right thing, they spread further apart, and she looked a little closer to the customary boredom that she usually wore. She asked a series of questions in rapid-succession, sometimes repeating herself, but with different wording. He felt the urge to put his hands together and twist them around nervously. They did not so much as twitch from their saluting position, but he knew they would if he wasn't careful. Then, Yellow Diamond took a step back. He was no longer staring above her eyes, but right into them. They were sharp, and bored right into his own

"Did you encounter any gem life on the Earth?"

"Just corruptions."

It was a better answer then saying nothing, it would make him seem suspicious, but for a moment he thought that it might not be believable. The thought passed as all of the other worried ones had, as all of her interest in the conversation finally dried up.

"Well, you're back, whole, and in one piece."

"Tell that to my gem."

She turned away from him now, reaching for something on the arm of her chair. From Steven's height, he could not see what it was.

"You've been gone for quite some time now."

He had been missing for over a rotation around the Earth's sun, a mere blink for a gem's lifespan. But he was not going to dispute it with her.

"Yes, my Diamond."

"Do you know what event is today?"

"No, my Diamond."

"You're fourteen years old now."

So that was his age? He had never really thought about it before, because no gems had ever brought it up. Only Mr. Universe had... Yellow Diamond obviously wasn't expecting a response, because she continued to speak.

"You've come a long way with your training, even if we'll have to see how much that planet got rid of."

"All of it."

"While this isn't battle training per say, it's still important for a high-up like you to learn."

Balanced upon her pinky finger was a box. Steven thought of the last gift she had given him: the shattered pieces of his friendliest teacher, so buffered and polished that not even her limbs could try to reform. It came with the warning not to try telling anyone about being half-gem again. He hoped it wasn't anything similar, but he knew better than to think such a thing was possible. There, sitting in the lining of the box, was a perfectly spherical pearl. The only thing that stopped him from dropping the box was the momentary distraction he received when the pearl reformed. She was not just any pearl however, she was Yellow Diamond's pearl. She looked just as confused as he was, but made sure to mask it quickly.

"You need to learn the responsibilities of having one before you choose one of your own."

Yellow Pearl's eyes widened, Steven wasn't certain if she was only now finding out what was going on, or if Yellow Diamond had said something similar before. He was feeling just as shocked as her. Yellow Pearl didn't even like him, and she was open about it! He didn't want a pearl either! there had to be some way that he could get out of this! The worry was all starting to return to him now. He could feel his hands starting to shake, he really wanted to twist his fingers together and squeeze, hard.

"What about you?"

"A new line of specialty pearls were recently made. I have mine here."

From behind the chair, the new pearl approached. She was completely silent as she moved. Her heeled boots didn't click against the floor, and her clothes did not so much as rustle. The sheer lining common to all pearls was attached to her shoulders and the tips of her index fingers. When she moved her hands in the slightest, the fabric billowed out, like wings. She bowed low, before standing up straight. Her spine looked like it was made of steel, she somehow made the average pearl look sloppy by comparison. Two splotches of colour appeared upon Yellow Pearl's cheeks when she saw the shiny-new pearl. Gold was a step up from the colour yellow after all. Steven had never seen a pearl look so mutinous. And he had actually known one that was!

"Thank-you, my Diamond. I don't deserve this," he said, "but not for the reasons that you're thinking."

She smiled a disinterested smile and waved him off to his room, new pearl in tow.

His room was the same as he had left it: way larger than necessary, and impossibly neat. If he could have thing his way, there would be some clutter, but someone always came to put away anything that had been left out. It was almost strange, to see how unchanged the room really was. All his work books were neatly lined on a shelf in the same order they had been left. His bed covers- a plain pattern of jagged yellow and greys- were undisturbed. The double doors leading outside were opened, to the same position they had been when he rushed out of the room, nearly late for training again...

He went past the doors, stepping out onto the balcony. The same view of gardens below, filled with gems strolling through, spread before him. Nothing had changed. He had spent all this time on Earth, the ever-changing planet, and yet- He couldn't hold it in any longer. The state of shock finally wore off. He was on Homeworld. He had returned. Over a year he had been gone, she said. Now he was back to the life he had lived before, like nothing had ever gone wrong and everything was just perfectly fine. It made him want to scream. When he stepped back inside, he saw Yellow Pearl. That wanted to make him scream as well.

"Pearl?"

"Yes?"

"Do you want to scream with me?"

Right away she lost the murderous look, and became confused. Steven remembered that she had most likely never been given a choice about anything in her life.

"What I mean to say is scream with me."

"But the security will hear us and wonder-"

Steven grabbed one of the pillows from his bed, and tossed it to her.

"We should just get it over with."

They did.