"Steven, are you really sure we need all this?" Lapis asked, frowning as he shoved item after item into a small, hamburger shaped pack. He didn't answer her, though, and instead kept shoving things in until it looked like it was ready to burst.

"A toothbrush! Some snacks... a sleeping bag..." He mumbled, still focusing on packing it down as much as he could. The Crystal Gems, Lapis, and Peridot all watched him, standing in the brightly lit living room of the temple.

"Steven..." Pearl added, "They won't be gone forever, you know. I'm sure they can handle themselves."

Steven looked up at them with a gleeful smile. "Yeah, but you never know, you know? Hamburger backpack!" he said, smiling as he handed it to Peridot, who slipped it on without a word of protest. Amethyst chuckled and pumped her fist at them.

"Yeah, Hamburger Backpack!" She cheered, "It saved us a lot of trouble. Could help 'em, Pearl."

Pearl started to say something, but merely shrugged instead, saying "True."

Garnet layed a hand on Lapis' shoulder, smiling. "Good luck." Lapis appreciated the gesture, but was still kinda creeped out by the bigger gem and her use of future vision not long ago.

"Uh, sure." She muttered, giving a weak smile. Garnet realized she was invading Lapis' personal space, and backed off.

"We should really get going." Peridot said, obviously tired of basking in the presence of the Crystal Gems. She didn't have much against them, but she was eager to start her journey with Lapis, seeing as she made up her mind last that morning.

"Yeah," Lapis said, backing away and toward Peridot. Steven gasped and yelled, "Wait! One more thing!" before scampering away to his room. He wasted no time in grabbing two things in particular, an Mp3 player coupled with a white pair of earbuds and his Ukulele. He brought them down to the duo, handing both items to Peridot.

"Steven," Garnet said, "Your father gave that to you. Are you sure you want to just... give that to them?"

"Well, yeah!" the boy said smiling. "They'll be back soon, right? They can give it back then! Until then it's like a parting gift. Y'know, something to remember me by."

Peridot thought of saying something to deny his gifts, but before a word could slip from her lips, Steven shushed her.

"I insist." he said, pouting. The green gem gave a tired sigh.

"Alright, Steven." she said, looking to Lapis, an instrument in one hand and a mobile device in the other. Lapis looked at them all, ushering a few thank yous.

"We're uh, gonna go now. We'll keep in touch" She said, quickly picking up Peridot and walking out, closing the door quickly as the Gems and Steven ushered their goobyes. As they exited, Lapis Lazuli sighed, smiling.

"Finally, we'd been in there for an hour, at least..." she mused, setting her green counterpart down gently on the wooden boardwalk. Peridot scoffed at her, holding the intsrument away from her body, saying, "Well, if you hadn't wanted to say goodbye to the Crystal Clods in the first place, we wouldn't have had to wait."

"Quiet, pipsqueak." Lapis said jokingly, resting a hand on her triangle shaped hair. Peridot's cheeks tinted slightly as she did, resulting in her shaking her head to free herself from her grasp. "Besides," the blue gem continued, "I only wanted to say goodbye to Steven. I don't really like the rest of them."

"What?" Peridot said, looking a bit confused, "Why not? They aren't that bad."

Lapis shook her head, standing up straight and smiling.

"Let's not talk about it, just get onto our journey."

Peridot shuffled for a moment, thinking.

"But I... want to talk about it." She said, her voice quiet, yet somehow crystal clear. Lapis' smile faded quickly as she spoke, a sigh creeping from her mouth.

"Look, we can talk later, when we're away." the blue gem said, picking Peridot up even though the newly acquired ukulele disrupted them. Peridot grunted.

"Where are we even going to put this pointless instrument?" she said, pulling it away from them. Lapis hummed in thought.

"Well, does the backpack have any space in it?"

"No. It's full of junk."

"Don't say that. Steven packed it for a reason. If it were junk, he wouldn't have put it in there."

Peridot nodded slowly and held it in her hands, inspecting it.

"Well, I can hold it, I guess." She spoke, the backpack starting to weigh her down and put strain on her shoulders. Her blue counterpart nodded, her smile returning.

"Well, climb on, and we'll go see the world." She said, a hint of joy in her voice. Peridot obliged, climbing around to her back with some difficulty due to the instument in her hand. She wrapped her arms around Lapis, holding the Ukulele in front of her as the watery wings ripped from her shoulder blades like a wave of soft knifes, cutting through the thick, humid summer air.

"Ready?" Lapis asked, getting into an able position to take off.

"Ready." Peridot said, eager to fly.

With one flap of her wings, they jetted into the sky, both gems laughing from the wave of cool air that hit them. With that, they were free. They would pick a direction, and fly. Get there, explore. Stay a while, discover new things.

"This is the Yellow Diamond contact line, what do you need?" The yellow Pearl said into the screen, obviously uninterested in the affairs of the caller. The caller, a set of Rubies, all fought for the microphone, which was a small, diamond shaped crystal.

"Y-Yeah!" one of the Rubies said, pushing the other four away. "W-we were told to contact Yellow Diamond directly on our progress of the mission."

The towering mass of Yellow spoke, her cold voice echoing through the room.

"And your progress?"

All of the Rubies shrunk back at her voice from a mixture of fear and respect. With a trembling voice, one of them answered.

"W-we were told that she had went to Neptune and-"

"And what made you believe that?" Yellow Diamond asked, shifting her eyes to them.

"W-well, there were some gems, Uh, and the Peridot assigned to the Earth mission and they told us-"

"There is no form of transportation off that miserable rock. Any day now, the cluster will emerge, and we will lose a Jasper if you don't get there and take her back. The tremors should already be starting, so we won't have much time. I'll send another squadron of gems to meet you at Neptue. Ones who aren't so incompetent. You will accompany them and locate Jasper immediately, and leave the rest to be destroyed in the recesses of space." Yellow Diamond said, typing some commands into her pad.

"Uhm, M-my Diamond, uh, are you.. Sure? We were on Earth for a while and... and there weren't like, any tremors... at all."

"What?" she said, turning to face them.

"The cluster... uh.. wasn't doing anything."

Yellow Diamond sat back in her chair, thinking for a moment.

"That means that either my calculations were incorrect or..." she said quietly, but soon after she realized what was happening, she clenched her fist in anger.

"That damn Peridot nullified my Cluster!" She yelled, slamming her fist down on the arm of her chair. The Rubies all jumped back, even though they were not actually in her presence.

"Alright, change of operations." Yellow Diamond said, fury welling in her chest. "I will send a team with Gem Grinders. I want you and that team to find every gem on that planet, and destroy them."

"Destroy them? B-but-"

"Do I make myself clear?!" She yelled, to which all of the Rubies jumped and yelled "Yes Ma'am!"

Hey Guys! I got around to writing this finally! It's the sequel to my fanfic "A New Leaf," which got great feedback. This chapter is a wee bit short, but as the first chapter was in my last fic, it's just to set the ground for future chapters. Anyway, though, I can't wait for the new episodes that will start permiering on the 18th! It's gonna be awesome! I saw some of Lapis and Peridot in the sneak peak, and me being the Lapidot trash that I am, I really want it to happen in the next Steven Bomb...

Oh well! Leave a review and tell me what you think so far! (Even if it's not much to go on) I really appreciate every review, follow, and favorite. Feel free to list any complaints you have, too. I'm writing these stories to imrove my writing, after all!

Thanks again, and Bai Baii!