"This is going to be so much fun, you guys," Steven expressed enthusiastically as he led the Crystal Gems, his dad, and his Beach City friends through the tall crop pastures that led to his uncle's old barn. He had already introduced everyone to each other before beginning the laborious trek to the barn. "Peridot and Lapis are already expecting us and they're both really excited for you to see the new art they created and taste the crops they grew!"

"For some reason, I can't really picture Lapis excited about much of anything," Amethyst commented casually, hands clasped behind her head.

"Well, that's what Peridot said when I last video chatted with her to set the date of our barbecue picnic," Steven elaborated genially. "I think I saw Lapis in the far back give a thumbs-up in agreement."

"That certainly sounds more like her," Pearl remarked with a wryly amused smile directed at the boy.

"Oh, which reminds me," Steven continued thoughtfully. "Garnet, did you bring the duck to roast?"

"Its demise will not be in vain," Garnet said neutrally as she stoically lifted the pre-packaged duck with one hand.

"May he rest in our stomachs, oh poor unfortunate bird!" Ronaldo eulogized with closed eyelids before sneaking a glance at the duck with a hungry glint in his eye.

"Ha ha, oh, you'll get to enjoy the duck soon, Ronaldo," Steven said amiably. "It's part of the reason I invited you and all my other human friends here! I love your company, but I also love that you love to eat, like me! I think Amethyst is the only gem that'll be indulging in food at this barbecue, seeing how gems don't need to eat to survive."

"Oh, wow, I didn't know that, Steven," Sadie piped up with interest. "I have to say... sometimes I wish I didn't have to eat, it'd save me so much money on groceries!"

"Not to mention... can you imagine not having to work out at all to keep your figure? That sounds amazing!" Connie added with wonder. "If it weren't for all that sword fighting training, I definitely wouldn't be so fit!"

"You know, the only reason I'm here is because I was told Stevonnie would be making an appearance, but all I see is you two pre-teen brats and your motley crew of neighborhood Sesame Street friends," Kevin voiced disgruntledly, pointing his index and middle fingers indignantly at Steven and Connie. He glanced at the mayor's son out of the corner of his eye. "Except you, Dewey Jr. You're cool."

Buck's sunglasses glinted as he finger gunned Kevin in acknowledgment, face impassive.

"Hey, what about us!?" Jenny squeaked out offendedly, indicating herself and Sourcream.

"Talk to me after you've bumped up the income brackets," Kevin said haughtily, dismissively holding up a hand at Jenny.

Onion pointed to himself questioningly.

Kevin glanced down at Onion. "And I suppose you're cool, too, Onion-boy. You're a freaky kid. I dig that."

"I only really came because I heard Kevin and the cool kids would be here," grumbled out Lars for only Sadie to hear.

"Oh, come on, Lars, you were, too, flattered when Steven asked you to prepare the duck for his barbecue," Sadie teased playfully, nudging Lars with her elbow.

"I don't know why he asked me," Lars mumbled out in embarrassed annoyance. "I'm only good at baking things. I don't deal in meat."

"Well, baking and roasting can be very similar, plus I think you're the one most comfortable around a kitchen out of all of us," Sadie pointed out helpfully.

"Hey!" Jenny yelled out, once again offended. "Need I remind y'all that my family runs a pizza store?"

"Big whoop. My family runs a fry joint. Are you the one to prepare said pizzas?" Ronaldo asked with a judgmentally raised eyebrow.

"... No, my sister does," Kiki said, grudgingly pointing to her twin sister, Kiki, and then countered right back, "Are you the one to prepare said fries?"

"... No, my brother does," Ronaldo said, grudgingly pointing at his younger brother, PeeDee.

The two shared an intense look of mutual acknowledgment and wounded pride at being the bums of their respective businesses.

They silently agreed not to touch on this shameful topic ever again through the telepathic communication line granted solely to family black sheep.

"Well, no one has to be an expert, maybe Kiki and PeeDee can work with Lars and you guys can help out as Chef Assistants!" Steven suggested happily.

Jenny and Ronaldo exchanged equally uninterested looks. "Pass," they both said.

PeeDee and Kiki exchanged equally unsurprised and unimpressed looks in commiseration.

"I'll focus on being the life of the party, Steven, how 'bow dah?" Jenny said with a playful wink.

"And I'll focus on keeping the barn weird!" Ronaldo cheered with both hands.

"Ronaldo, boi, don't make it weird," Kiki said with a bored look.

Ronaldo deflated. "Fine. I'll just blog about my feelings and report on all the weird stuff I encounter at the barn. You guys can check it out after the fact."

"Done deal," Sourcream responded smoothly. "You do you, blog brutha."

"Okay, we're here!" Steven announced elatedly when they all finally finished getting past the last patch of plantation grass. "My family barn turned Peridot and Lapis' place."

Peridot's head popped out of the back of the truck bed stuck to the front of the barn. "Is that Steven? Oh, Steven, you made it! And you brought your fellow humans! And the Crystal Gems! Hiiii, Amethyyyyst!"

Amethyst waved back politely, uncharacteristically abashed at being singled out for a greeting similar in enthusiasm to Steven's.

"Lapis, come on out, Steven's just arrived!" Peridot shouted as she jumped from the truck bed and lowered herself to the ground through an aluminum trash can lid.

As soon as her feet hit the ground, she straightened up and rethought her word choice. "Actually, come on out whenever you please, but preferably now since Steven's here!"

"I was already on my way," Lapis said normally when she finally stepped out of the barn, Pumpkin in her arms.

"She was busy arranging the final touches on our Meep Morp Museum Showcase," Peridot proudly informed, puffing out her chest. "It's going to blow your shirts off!"

Ronaldo hugged himself, covering his chest, feeling violated.

"Hi, Steven," Lapis said with a big, pleased grin. "I'm so glad you came."

Pumpkin barked eagerly in greeting.

"And I'm glad you guys decided to host us!" Steven expressed happily. He turned to motion to the rest of his posse. "Peridot, Lapis, Pumpkin, you already know the Crystal Gems, Connie, and my dad, but allow me to introduce you to the rest of my Beach City friends!"

After Steven held an icebreaker between all his different circles of friends in order for them to get to know each other and enjoy the barbecue picnic day in the company of familiar faces, everyone naturally broke up as individuals into smaller groups and began to socialize and enjoy their time out in the open.

Lars, Kiki, and PeeDee were cooking the duck and other meals with the vegetables and other ingredients supplied by Lapis and Peridot. Pumpkin was also hanging around their area since it lived to be around food that wasn't other pumpkins.

Steven, the Crystal Gems, Sadie, Ronaldo, and Connie were inside the barn admiring Lapis' and Peridot's Meep Morp creations.

Greg, Kevin, and the three Cool Kids were hanging outside the barn playing Cornhole. Kevin was refereeing because he was much too rad to engage in such a kiddie game. Cornhole didn't really need a referee but no one said anything because they didn't want Kevin to feel left out.

No one knew were Onion was. No one was sure they even wanted to know what he was getting up to...

Sourcream just checked to make sure he wasn't being accidentally used as an ingredient in the picnic food—given the shape of his head and his tiny build—like a responsible big brother.

"Soooo what does this one represent?" Connie asked, pointing to a painting of Steven's Uncle's Grandparents that used to live in the barn many years ago.

"Oh, that came with the barn!" Peridot explained casually. "We didn't remove it because initially we were essentially squatting the place, so we thought we shouldn't remodel too dramatically."

"Impaling a four wheel drive truck through a barn wall isn't considered 'remodeling too dramatically'?" Pearl hushedly commented to the stoic Garnet.

Garnet shrugged with a neutral countenance.

"But after Steven's older human relative gave us permission to stay, we still decided to keep the framed picture around as a symbol of our gratitude to both Steven and all his deceased past generations for allowing us to make their old home our new home," Peridot finished with a heartfelt smile, looking to Lapis for acknowledgment.

Lapis shot her a small smile and an "Okay" sign of approval with her fingers, quietly congratulating and supportive of her speech.

"That's, uh... a thoughtful sentiment," Sadie finally remarked since everyone else felt too awkward to say anything as follow-up to Peridot's explanation.

"At any rate, Steven's Third Best Friend..." Peridot began in a sophisticated tone.

"It's Connie. Steven just reintroduced me when we got here. We also literally spent a whole day together. The car wash. The role play. The strike-a-pose. The Crystal Temps. Remember?" Connie reminded, unimpressed.

Lapis and Peridot stared blankly at Connie.

Peridot scrunched her face up in vague recollection of that day.

Pumpkin barked happily and jumped out of Lapis' arms to properly greet Connie with a friendly licking.

Lapis blinked, then narrowed her eyes in reminiscence. "Hmm, now that you mention it, I think I do recall a day where Steven's inspiring motivational speeches just weren't up to par with the quality I was used to hearing... I thought he was just having an off day... but I remember now, that was you, not him."

"You blacked out my entire existence from that day and replaced that memory with Steven in my place!?" Connie asked indignantly.

"Can you blame us? Lapis and I are both very busy individuals, as you can see from the endless quantity of Meep Morps surrounding us," Peridot explained unapologetically, gesticulating to all the performance pieces she and the blue gem had constructed. "You'll excuse us if we forget some names."

"Lapis forgot my face," Connie grumbled out.

"Lapis is a misunderstood genius, and as such, her mind is more preoccupied with picturing future Meep Morp creations rather than people's faces," Peridot defended her barnmate smoothly.

"Not really, I just forgot," Lapis bluntly admitted with a shrug, metaphorically digging the knife deeper into Connie's self-esteem. Then, she remembered she was trying to improve her social sensitivities. "But, uh, I'm sorry... that I forgot."

Connie sighed, "We're good. Apology accepted."

Ronaldo patted her shoulder in commiseration. "It's okay. People forget me all the time. My presence is very negligible. It makes it easy to sneak into movie theaters."

Connie cringed in horror at being grouped with Ronaldo in... well, any kind of category.

"Yes, yes, we won't go on forgetting you ever again, Connie," Peridot reassured confidently. "Connie: Human girl. Sword-fighter in training. Decent motivational speaker. Official Crystal Temp. And most importantly..."

"Steven's girlfriend," Lapis completed with a small, conciliatory smile.

Steven choked on his own saliva. "Uh, guys—?"

"And ours, too," Lapis finished with an affirmative nod.

"Yes, that's right, we are all girlfriends here," Peridot stated sagely. "Lapis and I just recently learned that word in the newly premiered season 6 of Camp Pining Hearts."

Steven sighed in relief.

Ronaldo gasped in excitement. "Am I a girlfriend, too!?"

"No, you are classified as a boy," Peridot said with a cold, calculated look... that was then replaced with a sunshiny smile. "You can be our boyfriend, like Steven."

Amethyst whispered to Steven, "Hey, you should probably set the record straight with them at some point."

"Later," Steven whispered back. "They're really enjoying themselves right now." Steven cleared his throat. "So, are you guys going to show us more of your art?"

"Ah, but of course! Let's go through the whole exhibition in order, shall we?" Peridot began enthusiastically. "Since, clearly, none of you can appreciate the difference between what a 'Meep Morp' and an 'Art' is."

Amethyst opened her mouth, ready to explain there's no difference, they were just calling it something else, but Steven lifted his index finger to his lips and whispered, "Later!"

At that moment, the Cornhole crew casually walked in to take a break from the game and see what the rest of the group was up to inside the barn.

"Oh, good, more organic lifeforms to admire our Morps!" Peridot squeaked happily, buzzing enthusiastically.

Lapis chuckled demurely with a fond smile. "Peridot, maybe you should take a moment to settle down? I wouldn't want you to mess up your big showcase presentation because of too much excitement."

Peridot cleared her throat and composed herself. "Our big showcase, Lapis. But I concede to your point... I shall contain my nerves riiiiiiight... now. There. I'm all set. Let's begin!"

Amethyst and Lapis coincidentally met gazes and shared an indulgent, knowing look.

"So, what's this green bubble-looking thing that you guys got floating right at that corner?" Greg asked curiously as he scratched the stubble on his chin.

"Hey, I'm the Morpist, so I'm the one that gets to choose what performance pieces get spoken about first," Peridot reminded grumpily, then she smiled and pointed to the green bubble Greg had previously indicated, "And I say, let's start with this green bubble that you see floating by the ceiling corner of the barn."

Greg sported a deadpan expression that could rival Lapis'.

Steven grinned up at his dad sheepishly and shrugged before returning his attention to Peridot.

"This is actually another commemorative creation, much like the framed picture we spoke about earlier," Peridot explained as she approached her green bubble and gazed up at it proudly. "If you take a closer look, you will see that there is a gem inside—a corrupted gem. This bubbled gem is a reminder of the time Steven taught me that corrupted gems were still gems even if their personalities and behavior became a bit wonky following their unfortunate damage. It was after I understood this that I was able to bubble this little one. We had fun. But then it kept aggressively trying to dispel my physical form—"

Actually, those were mostly accidents that kind of came from all your failed traps, Steven thought with an awkward smile.

"—So I had no choice but to put them in time out. Possibly for eternity. Anyway, I call this piece, 'Gotcha.'"

Lapis appeared thoughtful. "How about... 'Gotcha, Bub'? You know, since it was sort of like your buddy... but now it's in a bubble."

Peridot gasped in wonder and saw stars. "Lapis, that is so witty! I LOVE it! Attention, everybody, the piece has undergone an official renaming. It is now to be called 'Gotcha, Bub'! Please, feel free to come and see it from up close, Lapis and I can use our abilities to help elevate you to a higher vantage point. That is, if Lapis is okay with that?"

Lapis released a small, acquiescing smile. "Sure."

Everyone murmured with interest and formed small crowds around Peridot and Lapis, awaiting their turn to get lifted up.

Peridot lifted people up by using her usual aluminum trash can lid mode of transportation. Lapis lifted people up by having them hang off of her elbows with their armpits.

"In the meanwhile, those on the ground, do you have any questions, comments, or criticisms you'd like to voice?" Peridot said genially. "But just so you know, our policy on critics is..."

"Critics. Get. Kicked... Out," Lapis said with a tight face and the dark, murderous aura of a nightclub bouncer. "No one needs that kind of negativity in their life."

"Well said, Lapis! So that's how it is. If you don't have something nice to say, then better not say it at all!" Peridot said, radiating positivity.

Kevin raised his voice to object. "But you just said we could criticize—"

"Uhb!" Peridot made a mouth-shutting motion. "No one asked you."

Jenny piped up skeptically. "Um, y'all literally just asked us for questions, comments, and critici—"

"Would you like to get bubbled, as well?" Because I can easily arrange that," Peridot said with narrowed eyes. "... I think."

"Oh, Cheezus!" Jenny exclaimed, startled.

Amethyst chuckled mirthfully and quietly joked with Garnet and Pearl. "Speaking of bubbles, they're kind of living in their own untouchable little bubble right here, don't ya think? Ha ha ha!"

Pearl twisted her mouth thoughtfully. "I do agree they certainly appear to be making a grand effort not to invite any sort of negative sentiment into their cohabitational space." Pearl glanced at Garnet. "What do you think of this, Garnet?"

"They're not harming anyone... else," Garnet finally shared sagely. "As such, it's none of our business."

"You're right, that's between them, and what they're comfortable with," Pearl agreed wisely. "Let sleeping lions lie."

"You guys literally taunted the Diamonds and kickstarted a planet-wide rebellion, and now you choose not to meddle?" Amethyst asked incredulously.

"I suppose we've all grown up a bit, haven't we?" Pearl commented with an awkward chuckle.

"Err, Lapis, Peridot? I think what Kevin and Jenny meant to say is that you guys asked for constructive criticism," Steven explained with a nervous smile, trying to restore the peace. "That's the type of criticism that helps you improve. Remember when we went to do art with Vidalia and she gave you both feedback on your creations? That was constructive criticism. It's meant to be useful."

"Oh." Peridot blinked. "I didn't know there were different types! Well, then, from now on, constructive criticism is allowed!" Peridot then purposely sported an intimidating face and glanced at Lapis quickly before looking over at her audience again. "But if anyone's feelings get hurt..."

"You'll be Barn Banned," Lapis finished resolutely.

"Right! For 1000 years! So don't be mean," Peridot added with a confident nod.

"Uh, I don't think us Earth dudes and dudettes get to live that long," Sourcream piped up.

"At most 100 years," Buck remarked.

"Oh." Peridot frowned, then shrugged somewhat sympathetically. "Well, then, take it all in while you can, I guess!"

"We're very sorry for your lifespan," Lapis said with as much feeling as she could muster.

"Okay, I've got something to ask," Kevin announced, raising his hand.

"Uh, Kevin, I don't think they were kidding about that thousand-year ban," Connie warned nervously. "They're both literally thousands of years older than us."

"No, like, it's a legit question, I promise," Kevin griped back, disgruntled.

"I'll hear you out, ask away," Peridot said, granting permission.

Connie and Steven looked at each other with widened eyes and prepared for the worst.

"So these corrupted gems... can they get cured or something?" Kevin inquired with a frown.

Steven and Connie blinked, then grinned with glittering eyes. "Unexpectedly wholesome."

"What was that?" Kevin asked, insulted.

Steven and Connie looked away nonchalantly.

"Well, that's a great question," Pearl piped up cheerfully. "And I would be happy to elaborate on that for you. See, corrupted gems used to be just like us, but after the events of the Rebellion War, which was fought—"

"Hey! What did I say about only the Morpist getting to speak and answer questions about her creation?" Peridot cut in, a tad irritated.

"Yeah, Peridot was talking," Lapis supportively said in monotone, eyes narrowed at Pearl. "Rude, much?"

Pearl sniffed haughtily. "Well, to be fair, I've bubbled hundreds more Gems than you, so if anyone is qualified to speak of corruption and the possibility of a cure, it would be me—"

"Pearl," Garnet said calmly, then smiled down at aforementioned Gem. "She's got this."

"Yeah, Big P, let Lil' P have her moment," Amethyst said with an encouraging nudge. "It is her showcase, after all."

"Little?" gasped out Peridot despondently.

Lapis chuckled softly to the side.

"She's also got a short fuse, but you already knew that," Amethyst jested good-naturedly.

Lapis turned away to hide her expanding grin and muffle her snort-laughter.

"Ten thousand comedians out of a job and you've got jokes, Amethyst?" Peridot questioned with squinty eyes.

Lapis placed her hand on Peridot's shoulder placatingly, and smiled reassuringly down at her.

Peridot sighed reluctantly. "See me after the showcase, Amethyst. We shall have a joke-off. We'll see who's the funnier gem, then!" Peridot turned back to Kevin. "Moving on, to answer The Kevin's question..."

"I dig the title," Kevin slipped in haughtily.

"... First, you must have some background. Corrupted Gems used to be normal Gems before the events that unfolded at the end of the Rebellion—that's the war that was fought between the Earth's Crystal Gems and the Diamonds in order for the Crystal Gems to declare independence from the Diamonds, by the way. As a last ditch effort to quash the opposition, the Great Diamond Authority sent out a Corrupting Light which corrupted warrior Gems from both sides, to ensure the rebellion wouldn't reach beyond Earth and directly affect Homeworld."

"Whoa... that's some Next Level stuff," Buck commented with a stoic face.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Sourcream agreed, looking just as chill.

"Of course, I'd be glad to tell you more about this topic," Peridot said genially, feeling smug at being able to impart knowledge unto the inferior organic life forms. "Before I do that, though, let's circle back to the matter of whether or not there is a cure. Well, that one's... tricky. Thus far, there is no known cure but, seeing how Corrupted Gems still retain an aspect of who they used to be before they were converted, it is not too far fetched to believe that there is a cure, we need only keep searching for it. Until then, we keep the Corrupted Gems safely stowed away in these bubbles, where they are unable to regenerate and remain in a state of stasis until we can restore them to whom they used to be."

"Brava, Peridot, I couldn't have said it better myself," Pearl graciously commended, clapping softly.

"Yes, I suppose you couldn't, huh?" bragged Peridot with a puffed out chest and arms akimbo. "Thank you for acknowledging my clear superiority."

"It was an expression," deadpanned Pearl.

"Well, dang, what a bummer for the Earth Gems," Sourcream commented. "They fought for Earth and still ended up getting brainwashed."

"They done did y'all wrong, I gotta say," Jenny said with a sympathetically pensive frown.

"Hashtag Earth Gems Forever, man," Buck said in an even tone and expressionless as ever.

Pearl cleared her throat. "Actually, we weren't fighting for Earth per say, but for our own independence; not to mention, it was Gems from both sides of the war that were corrup—"

"Earth Gems Forever!" Sourcream whooped.

"They usually go by 'The Crystal Gems,'" Steven corrected amiably.

"Crystal Gems Forever!" Jenny cheered spiritedly.

"They may not have the right idea, but it's the thought that counts," Garnet said sagely with a peacefully approving look on her face.

Pearl rolled her eyes affectionately with a tiny smile and a shy blush. "Oh, alright."

"This is goooold," Ronaldo mumbled out in an inspired trance as he furiously jotted down notes on his phone to sort into his 'Keep Beach City Weird' blog later. "I'll have to update my theories..."

"Was your question sufficiently answered, The Kevin?" Peridot asked politely.

"Yes, I think I got the gist... exposition, rising action, climax... Boom! We got our very own resident tragically tortured heroes living out their retirement on Earth," summarized Kevin nonchalantly, readjusting his season impractical fashion scarf.

Connie and Steven sighed disappointedly. He had started out so well...

Sadie rolled her eyes. She could sympathize with their frustration. She dealt with Lars on a daily basis, after all.

"Ha! Hardly. We save your butts every day and you don't even know it!" Amethyst insisted grumpily with a scowl on her face.

Kevin ignored the purple gem and turned to face Peridot's barnmate. "Enough about that. I want to hear from this tall drink of water over here."

Everyone looked around in confusion until they finally spotted the individual he was talking about.

"It's... Lapis," Lapis corrected with a neutral, if not slightly puzzled expression, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Sorry, I kind of zoned out of introductions, but now that I've seen you... Well, I definitely won't make the mistake again of forgetting to put a name to a face like yours," Kevin said smoothly with a handsome smile and an attractive wink.

"What's wrong with my face?" asked Lapis, now more noticeably confused.

"Are you being mean to her?" disapprovingly asked Peridot with narrowed eyes, trying to muster as menacing a demeanor as she could. She didn't like the familiar manner in which The Kevin was speaking to her roommate. She wasn't sure what it was about his advances in Lapis that were irking her but she preferred it if The Kevin would stop.

"Mean? What? No, I was flir... that was a pick-up li... ugh, that usually works on chicks, why am I striking out so much lately? First Stevonnie turns out to be a two-kid trench coat trick, and now I'm getting dissed by this artsy Mystique cosplayer that has about as much personality as a rock," lamented Kevin to himself, fingering his temple in exhaustion.

"I am a rock," deadpanned Lapis.

"Definitely not a chick," Peridot added with an affirmative nod, satisfied at The Kevin's despondent expression. Well-deserved due to his rudeness, surely. "What's a... chick?"

"It's kind of like a baby chicken," Amethyst supplied helpfully.

"Ha!" Peridot let out one loud chuckle, remembering the old chicken-crossed-the-road joke. "Hilarious! Well, Lapis is very funny, I can see why The Kevin deems her a chick."

"In this context, it means girl," Connie added more accurately.

"Did you just assume my gender?" Lapis asked with an unimpressed look, turning back to Kevin.

"Um..." Kevin murmured out uncomfortably.

Lapis suddenly grinned amusedly. "Kidding. Gems have no gender."

"Oh, Lapis, you're a hoot! Then what would you say we have? A ... gem-der?" Peridot joked, before cracking up.

Lapis raised her palm to meet Peridot for a solid high-five, both looking like partners in crime.

"What'd I tell ya? She's a riot!" Peridot said in between stomach clenching laughter.

Lapis snort-laughed right alongside Peridot.

Kevin's eye twitched. He began to wonder if he was a weirdo-magnet.

He cleared his throat. "Anyway, Lapis, what I originally wanted to ask was... how about you show us some of your... art?"

Lapis gradually quashed down her laughter and smiled indulgently at Kevin. "Sure. I don't know why you insist on calling it that but I can show you."

Lapis approached a badly battered NFPA 704 metal sign hanging above her hammock. "I call this one, 'Caution: Diamond Danger,'" Lapis explained casually as she motioned towards the piece hanging by a tough metal line. "Peridot found it inside old equipment she was scavenging. I asked her to give it to me. Every time I feel irrationally angry, I beat it with the baseball bat Steven gave me."

"Uh... so why do you keep it hanging above what's practically your bed?" Jenny inquired, incredulous eyebrow raised. "Is it like... a nightmare catcher?"

"It serves to keep the memory of why I'm stuck on this planet alive and well, which then makes me angry, which then makes me beat it with the bat, which then allows me to get my exercise for the day in," Lapis explained calmly.

"So it serves as a daily... workout reminder?" Greg reworded uncertainly.

"Yes, that's what I said," Lapis said with a small smile. "My arms have gotten sturdier since."

"Well, that's certainly... a roundabout way of going about things?" Pearl opinioned uncomfortably.

Lapis ignored Pearl's comment and faced Kevin. "Anything else you want to ask about?"

"Uh, I think I'll let someone else have a turn, thanks," Kevin said with a spooked expression.

"Oh, how about you take a look at one of our collaborative pieces! It will undoubtedly blow your physical forms away!" Peridot said excitedly. "Well, that's for the Gems. For the humans, prepare to lose more of your aesthetic clothing article enhancements!"

Ronaldo once again anxiously checked to make sure his shirt hadn't been blown away by the sheer awesomeness of the previous two art pieces.

"Lapis and I made use of the Internet and the tablet that Steven gave us to find Do-It-Yourself, DIY for short, projects that we could do at home to keep ourselves entertained," Peridot began sophisticatedly. "And so we came about the discovery of 'paper mache' Morping. We followed the techniques demonstrated in the video and created this true-to-life sized Red Ruby spaceship. I planned the structural design, and Lapis painted it."

"Water colors," Lapis said with a grin. "And the 'Sorry For Your Loss' balloon floating on top of the spaceship piece was a gracious donation from Garnet."

Garnet gave a thumbs up with a stoic expression.

Lapis continued, "It represents the time a Ruby named Navy almost became our third barnmate, and in a turn of events that shocked everybody but me, she turned out to be evil."

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Lapis!" Peridot boasted.

Pearl tightened her face incredulously.

"There's no room for evil in this farm! Over my shattered gem, I say!" Peridot announced heroically. "At any rate, we named this piece after a direct quote from the wise words of a certain socially skeptical blue gem... 'Ha! I was right!'"

Everyone applauded politely.

"Why were y'all so skeptical of that Navy gal shacking up with you guys?" Jenny asked curiously.

"I don't generally trust new people. It's not personal," Lapis said with a shrug. "I disliked Peridot when I saw her again after she forced me to become her informant and dragged me back to Earth."

Peridot chuckled nervously. "Ha ha... But we've let bygones be bygones by now, eh, Lapis?"

Lapis stared down reassuringly at Peridot before turning back to Jenny. "She told me she had changed, and her actions have only further served to prove that to me. I'd gotten used to it being just the two of us peacefully living at this barn... I sort of didn't want a third gem to barge in and ruin our dynamic."

Peridot blinked, startled. She looked up to try and meet Lapis' eyes searchingly, but the blue gem refused to make eye contact with the green gem.

Steven frowned sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Lapis, I didn't know you felt that way. If I had known, I would've tried finding Navy another place to live."

"It's okay, Steven, I wasn't, um, emotionally ready to admit that back then," Lapis said with an awkward smile and a shrug. "And, I mean, it did irk me that Navy appeared to be adjusting to Earth much faster than I was... it just wasn't the whole story."

"Whoa, a real-life tsundere, what a rare gem you are," Ronaldo said in awe as he took a picture of Lapis, whose face scrunched up at the flash. "Pun intended. Also, can I have your permission to use this picture on my blog?"

Lapis paused pensively, brow furrowed. "Who's going to see it?"

"Just the whole Internet," Ronaldo replied nonchalantly.

"Sure," Lapis said without concern, thinking the Internet was a single entity. "That's just one person."

"Brooooo, you want some ice for that burn?" Sourcream asked jokingly.

"I can help make the ice, if you'd like," Lapis continued, unsure why the conversation suddenly turned to being about frozen water.

"Dang, gemfriend, tone down the savagery," Jenny defended poor Ronaldo. "The boy has a higher viewership than that, I'm sure... like, 3 loyal followers, I think?"

"His brother, his dad, and Steven," Buck counted out loud on his fingers.

"Please, let's stop talking about my blog traffic stats," Ronaldo begged, slumped defeated on his knees, spirit brutally crushed.

"Could we circle back to what a 'tsundere' is then?" Peridot asked, intrigued. "I'm always seeking to expand my vocabulary and that is a word I have never encountered before. All the Earth linguistics I have learned thus far has been due to the influence of Camp Pining Hearts and its highly realistic depiction of petty human relationships and societal affairs."

"Oh? You watch Camp Pining Hearts? I thought it was a pretty neat show until they got to season five. What a hot mess," Ronaldo opinioned.

"I know, right? But I can't stop watching! I'm already too invested!" Peridot complained with a groan.

"You want to watch a show that has a load of episodes and whose quality doesn't diminish with the increase of seasons? Let me suggest Koala Princess," Ronaldo said nerdily.

"Ha! A show that tops Camp Pining Hearts, inarguably the best thing humanity has invented since its inception? Doubtful," Peridot said confidently.

"No wonder you don't understand the concept of tsundere! Camp Pining Hearts is a show produced by Western media! You need to delve into the Asian media fandom if you want to learn about the other half of the world and the terminology they use!" Ronaldo explained passionately.

Peridot's eyes held stars. "You mean... there are shows out there better than Camp Pining Hearts?"

"They don't have to be better... you could happen to discover some other genre that you may enjoy! Liking something different doesn't have to displace the soft spot in your heart for what you already hold dear," Ronaldo said reassuringly.

"Teach me," Peridot entreated determinedly.

"I have to tell you, though... it won't be easy, the breadth and depth of everything we must cover is extensive," Ronaldo cautioned. "Are you sure your mind and body are ready for this?"

"I quite literally have all of eternity," Peridot said haughtily. "Or, until your death do us part. Teach me as much as your time on Earth allows."

"That's... kind of dark, but I'll brush it off for now," Ronaldo said with an awkward chuckle. "Okay, then, let's first begin with explaining the tsundere archetype... there are many different types of -dere characters, and our friend Lapis here is what we call a model example for a kuudere, which is a romaji spelling of the English 'cool,' while 'dere' translates to onomatopoeia of being 'affectionate,' 'soft,' or 'lovestruck'... Is she hot and cold with you? Does she usually act aloof and bored one moment and then acts all concerned and sweet around you the next? If so, then you've got a handful of Kuudere on your hands, my friend..."

Peridot and Ronaldo walked away with Ronaldo explaining to Peridot more about Asian media and terminology.

Lapis furrowed her brow as she watched them jabber excitedly and walk off the barn by themselves. She wasn't used to seeing Peridot interact with humans other than Steven, and she wasn't sure she liked it. She wondered if these feelings of mild envy were similar to those she felt towards Navy when the red gem seemed to be making progress faster than her. Somehow, this felt different, but just as uncomfortable. "Is she going to be okay with him?"

"I'm sure they will keep each other entertained for hours," Garnet said with a smile. "I'm glad Peridot is making more friends outside of the Gems."

Lapis glanced at the barn exit with a slightly uneasy scowl.

Everyone eventually gathered back outside the barn after taking some individualized time to admire Lapis and Peridot's art projects.

Peridot and Ronaldo were off in their own fandom-obsessed world—Peridot showing Ronaldo her Camp Pining Hearts shipping compatibility chart and Ronaldo, in turn, showing Peridot his blog entries and the different conspiracy theories he came up with that explain the bizarre occurrences in Beach City.

Lapis was showing Jenny her fashion magazines that dealt with different hairstyles and how to achieve them. This piqued Kevin's interest and he jumped into the conversation to talk about his own amazing hair and the different products that he recommends for both men and women, to which Lapis replied that she was neither.

Lapis idly listened to Jenny and Kevin argue about hair products and occasionally glanced at Peridot and Ronaldo still chattering away animatedly. She was still strangely bothered by their seamless coupling.

She's supposed to be hosting and paying equal attention to everyone, Lapis thought with a surly expression and folded arms.

Greg, Garnet, Sadie, and Buck were playing Cornhole not too far from the barn.

Amethyst, Connie, and Sourcream were playing frisbee closer to the crop field area.

Pearl had gone to the barbecue area to help set up the picnic table and silverware and offer any last minute assistance in preparing food or salad.

Lars, PeeDee, and Kiki alerted everyone of the food being ready as soon as they finished, to give everyone enough time to wrap up their games or conversations and start making their way to the communal picnic table.

Finally, they all sat down, ate, complimented the cooks, and talked heartily about various topics as they continued to enjoy themselves.

From one moment to the next, things would change irrevocably for everyone involved in the scene, as the next fateful sentence was uttered.

"Hey, where's Onion?" Sourcream, ever the responsible older brother that only occasionally forgets he has a sibling, asked with some concern.

A rustling was heard coming from the direction of the crop field. The rustling noise gradually grew in intensity, signaling the impending arrival of something.

The Crystal Gems exchanged serious glances and slowly rose from their seats to position themselves in combat-ready stances.

Peridot and Lapis worriedly looked at one another and, while they didn't stand up, their bodies tensed, poised for battle should something dangerous be getting ready to pop out of the crop fields.

Connie, Greg, and Steven also stared at each other with concern but didn't show any outward signs of distress in order not to cause any panic amongst the Beach City denizens.

Everyone else watched on curiously in the direction of the crop field.

Onion popped out of the tall green grass, Pumpkin in his arms (when had Pumpkin disappeared?), tripped and comically fell on his face (Peridot could sympathize), and then quickly picked himself and Pumpkin up and continued running towards everyone that was seated at the table.

Everyone let out sighs and smiles of relief and almost chuckled at their own overreaction until Onion steadily kept running... past them.

A roar broke out in the direction of the crop field and the same rustling was heard but this time accompanied by the ground ominously shaking and the skies darkly clouding.

A giant disfigured creature covered in multiple shattered shards blasted from the tall grass and savagely roared before charging in direction of the table.

"EVERYONE, SCATTER!" Pearl shouted urgently, and everyone immediately split from the table and escaped in different directions.

The creature slammed through the table and sent any leftover food and wood splinters flying asunder.

"What in the fork is that!?" Amethyst shrieked disbelievingly.

Garnet turned to her and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Amethyst rolled her eyes. "I'm a foodie. Swearing will follow accordingly."

Garnet shrugged in acceptance.

The creature continued to blindly assault random sections of the farm and the Beach City humans only kept running and hiding.

Pearl covered her mouth in horror and sympathy as she gazed at the monster. "It's... it's the Cluster."

"What!?" Connie and Steven shouted at the same time.

"No, it's a segment of the Cluster," Garnet corrected with an austere countenance.

"B-but how!?" Connie and Steven once again cried out together.

"Y'know, if you guys are gonna be in sync anyway, it'd help us out a lot if you just became Stevonnie," Amethyst noted offhandedly.

Steven and Connie looked at each other with a faint fluster before steeling their expressions in determination and fusing into Stevonnie.

Somewhere in the distance, Kevin whooped.

Peridot gaped. It was her first time seeing Steven fuse. She didn't even know he could fuse with a human.

She quickly shook her head to snap herself out of it.

"That's simply impossible," Peridot said with lips twisted in distaste, exchanging a look with Stevonnie. "Steven and I ensured that the Cluster was trapped in a giant corrupted gem-holding bubble before we left the center of the Earth."

"It's true! The Cluster was completely covered, it shouldn't have been able to escape!" Stevonnie backed up.

"What's... The Cluster?" Lapis asked uncertainly, approaching the Crystal Gems.

Lapis stared apprehensively at Stevonnie. It was her first time meeting this fusion. New fusions were practically new characters of their own, altogether. She knew Steven was a part of Stevonnie, but couldn't help but feel strangely shy around the unfamiliar form.

Peridot jumped at Lapis' sudden appearance. Now that she recalled, ever since she started living with Lapis, Peridot had avoided any Homeworld-related topics in fear of upsetting her barnmate, and one of those topics included The Cluster.

It was time to come clean regarding her mission for coming to Earth. Peridot was reluctant to explain her involvement with the Cluster, afraid that it would change Lapis' view of her and the things she was—or used to be—capable of doing in the name of Homeworld.

Peridot sighed and then steeled herself for the upcoming reveal. "The Cluster is an amalgam of shattered gems of all kinds that lies dormant underneath the Earth's mantle. Once Homeworld deemed the Earth unviable to serve as a future gem colony, the Diamonds ordered a massive forced fusion experiment called The Cluster to be buried at the center of the Earth in order to serve as a geoweapon that would destroy the planet and the Rebellion Crystal Gems when it emerged in its full form."

Lapis looked at Peridot with confused trepidation. "Peridot, how do you know so much about this?"

Peridot affected a cocky front. "What don't I know, Lapis?"

Lapis stared at her, unimpressed and questioning. Of course she saw right through Peridot's false bravado.

Peridot weakly chuckled in nervousness before sighing in resignation. "The reason I originally came to Earth was to check on the progress of The Cluster and the forced fusion experiments. I, um, actually believed in the aims of the project... back then."

Lapis' expression darkened in undisguised betrayal. Peridot lowered her head in shame. They both knew Lapis' issues with forced fusion.

Stevonnie saw the developing emotional rift between Peridot and Lapis and cut in hastily, "B-but she soon learned the error of her ways and helped Steven drill to the center of the Earth to bubble the corrupted Cluster and everything was okay!"

Lapis glanced at Stevonnie skeptically.

"Uuuuh, clearly not," Amethyst said in a 'duh' kind of tone, pointing disgruntledly at the monster . "Allow me to show you Exhibit A."

"Peridot," Garnet called firmly, stealing Peridot's attention away from the internal emotional turmoil caused by her reveal to Lapis. "Is there a possibility that the Cluster was planted in multiple sites within the Earth? Not just at its center?"

Peridot cleared her throat and composed herself before responding. "Unlikely. I studied a 50-page report briefing on the mission before embarking on my voyage to Earth and none of the information said anything about implantation sites other than the aforementioned center of the Earth."

Everyone paused in tense pensiveness for five seconds.

"What if... it spread out? Segments of it just branched off and collected in other parts of the Earth right before Peridot and Steven bubbled it?" Stevonnie suggested with a scrunched up thoughtful expression. "But that wouldn't make any sense... The Cluster itself wanted to be bubbled by Steven. It was suffering! Why would it split up and escape bubbling!?"

"Those shards may be remnants of broken gems but they still retain warped versions of their past consciousness," Garnet tentatively speculated. "What if... some of the Cluster actually wanted to stay force fused?"

"Who would want that!" snapped out Lapis in dismay, looking put off.

"The Cluster is made up of the shattered Crystal Gems and Homeworld Gems," Amethyst reasoned. "Sooooo wouldn't be too far fetched to think the Homeworld shards probably want to stay fused and destroy the planet as they emerge as a final 'mission accomplished' nod to the Diamonds?"

"So they split up and spread like human cancer tumors into different parts of the world..." Pearl breathlessly finished the theory.

Lapis gazed in despondency at the monster now having destroyed most of the cropfield and grassland, heading for the barn. "So there's more of those just waiting to emerge from some unknown part of this planet?"

"Yes," Peridot said with a grimace. "But only assuming that this theory is correct which... I can't think of another explanation. The Cluster has to have spread, somehow."

"Hey, uh, Crystal Pals! I love conspiracy theories just as much as the next person, but could you guys maybe fight off the big bad giant monster that's still terrorizing the fields, pleeeeeease?" Ronaldo pleaded as he clung to the truck bed where Lapis and Peridot usually watched their TV shows. "AndalsoifyiucouldpickmeupbeforeIfallthat'dbegreattoo!"

Peridot urgently glanced at Lapis and Lapis sighed before flying off to retrieve the blonde guy that was just ready to slip off the truck bed.

She really didn't feel like rescuing the guy that had been getting too close to Peridot just an hour before, but she thought once again about how she was trying to improve her social sensitivities and she figured letting some dude fall to his death from a truck embedded on a barn wall when she could've prevented it probably wouldn't score her any Pearl points. Not that she cared what Pearl thought, in particular. Or what Peridot thought, for that matter, considering she heard that the green gem pushed Greg off a roof back when she was still reinventing herself for the better, so who was she to judge?

Lapis snorted to herself at her thoughts before carelessly dropping Ronaldo to safety on the ground.

"Now go hide somewhere while we fight that thing," Lapis ordered emotionlessly.

"YES, MA'AM!" Ronaldo squeaked out before he took off running.

Lapis heard a blast and turned to find each of the Crystal Gems taking turns at attacking the foe. Pearl tried to damage it with her spear, Amethyst with her whip, Garnet with her gauntlet, Stevonnie with her sword and shield, and Peridot with her still developing metal powers.

The closest Lapis had ever come to engaging in combat on Earth since befriending the Crystal Gems had been only once when Peridot had first moved in with her, to drive away the ruby ship that had come looking for Jasper (the same one Peridot had mistakenly thought was looking for her).

All she had to do was lift one finger (quite literally) and that was that.

Any battles that may have come since, Peridot, Steven, and the Crystal Gems had been able to handle just fine by themselves, so Lapis surmised that the same would apply for this battle.

She chose to stand back and keep an eye on the panicking Beach City people to make sure none of them got too close to the beast for the time that it took the Crystal Gems to defeat the foe.

Whenever possible, she preferred not getting involved.

"UGH! Why. Won't. It. Just. QUIT!" Amethyst grunted out as she whipped the same spot on the creature with each word she enunciated.

The shards would poof and fall but then the creature would just as quickly reabsorb them into its body and the broken shards would regenerate to reform the missing limbs of the creature.

"Well, we can just as well be the sum of our parts," Garnet said with a glint of her sunglasses. "Pearl, fuse with me! We'll need Sardonyx. Steven, Amethyst, please become Smoky Quartz! Connie, Peridot, you two can still help by preventing the creature from picking up its shards!"

Garnet didn't want to risk endangering Connie by having pure gems fusing with a pure human. Steven was able to fuse with both humans and gems because he was a hybrid of each, but Garnet didn't want to test out a new theory regarding human and gem fusion while in the heat of battle.

Stevonnie unfused immediately.

"But, wait, can't Steven just bubble the shards as they fall?" Connie suggested, projecting her voice. "Then the creature won't be able to keep regenerating its body!"

"Steven and I already attempted that back when we drilled to the center of The Cluster," Peridot piped up knowingly. "The amount of time and effort it takes to bubble shards one by one essentially renders the feat impossible."

"It's definitely what we plan to do once we poof the whole creature, but trying to bubble it in sections might be too hard since it keeps on moving its fallen shards so quickly and I need the shards to stay still long enough for me to bubble them," Steven explained with a dispirited expression.

"Even if we all bubbled sections of the beast, it would take too long and drain too much of our energy," Pearl further elaborated with a grave aura. "We must fully dispel its physical form. There's no other way."

"No, no, I mean, bubble its shards bit by bit just to weaken it! It's not the solution but at least it'll make it easier to break the fusion apart if we get rid of some of its parts!" Connie reiterated with conviction.

"Hmm, I suddenly have a heightened sense of respect for your intellect, Connie," Peridot praised thoughtfully. "I can take charge of the bubbling while the rest of you guys focus on beating the creature down!"

"Works for me!" Amethyst yelled out as she slammed down hard on the creature. "STEVEN!"

"Hereeee I comeeeee!" Steven shouted out as he jumped and grasped a hold of Amethyst and they fused into Smoky Quartz.

"Hey, guys, been a while, huh!" Smoky Quartz greeted casually with a cheerful drawl.

"Whoa," Connie whispered out in awe, as it was her first time seeing Steven fuse with anyone other than her.

Lapis and Peridot also gazed on in amazement from their respective positions. They largely regarded Steven as human so seeing him fuse with a pure gem readjusted their perspectives on him.

"PEARL!" Garnet called out, extending both her arms.

"I'm ready!" Pearl replied as she jumped into a twirl and fell into Garnet's embrace, fusing into Sardonyx.

"Well, hello, my dears! I hope you've enjoyed the opening acts because the main one is about to begin!" Sardonyx greeted theatrically as soon as she appeared.

Peridot, Lapis, and Connie stared dumbly at Sardonyx, as it was their first time seeing her, as well.

"Oh, while I don't mind your staring, you are certainly making me blush," Sardonyx said with an exaggerated giggle.

All of them were trying really hard to find the Garnet part of Sardonyx. She seemed to have more of Pearl's insufferable personality. These were mostly Peridot and Lapis' thoughts. Connie was still star struck.

Sardonyx and Smoky Quartz charged at the enormous Cluster Segment monster and broke off pieces off its body, allowing peridot to hastily bubble the broken pieces under the protection of Connie.

They were able to bubble about ten small chunks of the beast but it was still too huge to render it significantly weak.

The beast raised its paw and mercilessly hit Smoky Quartz across the field.

"It's no use, we're only expending our energy with no fruitful results," Sardonyx commented with a bitten lip. "Well, it seems I was wrong, Dearest Audience... this was only the rehearsal. Now, it's time for the real show to begin."

"We need to be bigger?" Smoky Quartz surmised.

"Yes, we must dazzle our spectators," Sardonyx added with a flourish to her tone. "Let's call forth Alexandrite."

"Um... can Steven join in?" Smoky Quartz asked curiously.

"We'll need all the help we can get," Sardonyx stated. "If Steven thinks he's up for it, I say why not let him try!"

"Alright!" Smoky Quartz cheered. "This thing won't know what hit it!"

Sardonyx and Smoky Quartz each individually performed a quick dance before merging with each other in a grand white light... only for Steven to be thrown out of the fusion.

Alexandrite caught Steven before he impacted with the ground.

Lapis and Peridot once again gaped in wonder at the giant Alexandrite. Connie had already become intimately acquainted with Alexandrite over family dinner so she wasn't quite as shocked to see this particular fusion.

"W-what happened!?" Steven blubbered out, startled.

Alexandrite smiled reassuringly. "It's alright, Steven, it might still be too early for you to attempt a multiple gem fusion. You've only just learned to maintain a fusion for a long enough period of time, and you've already fused twice today. You have done enough."

"B-but I want to help!" Steven cried out stubbornly. "I-I can bring back Stevonnie!"

"Steven, I think I also might be all fusioned out for today," Connie admitted sheepishly. "We can still help Alenxadrite as individuals!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Connie, I didn't think about your feelings on that," Steven mumbled out, feeling a bit ashamed of himself. "That sounds good to me. Let's tag team it!"

"We'll make do as we are," Alexandrite claimed with determination as she punched her triple fists into her triple palms.

"Steven, you'll help me bubble?" Peridot asked with a Cheshire grin.

"Yeah, of course!" Steven exclaimed cheerfully.

"Alright! This Cluster Clod will rue the day it dared to defy us!" Peridot announced with a—somewhat—malevolent "he he he he" snicker.

"En garde!" Connie shouted before she charged forward along with Alexandrite while Steven and Peridot warily stood back to jump in as soon as shards fell from the creature.

"Noooooooo, Mommyyyyyy!" Lars cried out as he blindly ran in the direction of the beast.

Lapis rolled her eyes and sighed. "Wrong way." She used the smaller than average lake water to turn him back around and send him running in the opposite direction of danger.

Sadie stopped running, gasping, right in front of Lapis. "Thanks. That's what I've been trying to tell him."

Lapis shrugged and released a small, joking smile. "Better catch up to him before he runs into a ditch or something."

"At least that'll keep him in one spot," Sadie groaned, before she took off after Lars again. "Thanks for keeping an eye on Onion, by the way!"

Lapis looked down to see Onion crouched down next to her, holding Pumpkin, curiously watching the fight.

How long had Vegetable Boy been sitting next to her? And why did she feel strangely abandoned by Pumpkin?

The beast once again proved too powerful for the Crystal Gems' offense strategy.

It kept moving too fast and dodging Sardonyx's attacks. Peridot and Steven tried to bubble any chunks of shards that might've fallen from the beast but it appeared that the monster itself seemed to catch on to their game and picked up the shards and re-fused with them much quicker than before.

"This... is... endless," Steven remarked breathlessly.

"We have to... keep going... " Connie said with shallow breaths as she, too, fought to remain standing.

"I shouldn't have underestimated even a Segmented Cluster... " Peridot ground out, teeth gnashing together. "I, more than anyone, should know what it's capable of once it's emerged... and even this branched off piece of Earth center Cluster is still filled with the abilities of its parent source..."

"We're not enough," Alexandrite despondently admitted with a strained voice, shakily lifting itself back off the ground. "We need more help."

Peridot chastised herself for glancing backwards, as it caused Steven to follow her gaze towards Lapis. Steven brightened up.

"Lapis! You're still hanging around!" he noted happily, before turning slightly more serious. "We... we need your help, Lapis. Alexandrite, Peridot, Connie and I can't defeat this shard fusion by ourselves!"

"W-what?" Lapis responded, startled. She hadn't had to intervene in a battle in a long time. She probably wasn't even combat-ready, having been so out of practice. Not to mention, battling a forced fusion made her incredibly uncomfortable. She remembered how she didn't want anyone interfering with her business back when she kept Jasper trapped with her as Malachite. "I... I thought you guys were making progress... slow progress but getting there!"

Connie shook her head sadly. "We don't have the energy to keep this up for long."

Peridot remained unusually silent.

"You don't have to fight alone," Alexandrite uttered gently. "Fuse with us. Your powers will make a great contribution to our collective form."

Peridot's head snapped up in surprise and she watched for Lapis' reaction attentively.

Lapis' eyes widened and she felt small tremors shake through her lithe frame in uncertainty. "H-how can you ask me that? I... I don't think I'll make a good addition to your team."

"You may not always join us on missions or fight corrupted gems on a daily basis with us... but since you re-emerged from the ocean... we've considered you a part of our team," Alexandrite shared with a gentle smile.

The beast roared and Connie, Peridot, and Steven rushed to hold it off in distraction while Alexandrite spoke with Lapis.

Lapis scowled in self-loathing, shrinking into herself. "No, you don't understand... If I fuse with you, I'll only drag you down and hold you back!"

"You won't! Your reasons for fusing this time would be different, and you're the only one experienced and strong enough to pull off a multiple gem fusion with us as things stand right now! You were able to maintain an unstable fusion together for months without any help! This one would never be like this. It would be founded on mutual respect, acknowledgment, and admiration. It will be easier... and welcoming."

Lapis stared at Alexandrite with haunted eyes. "You don't know that... It was difficult enough to keep Jasper and myself together as Malachite... I don't share the familiarity that you three do with each other... I don't know how to fight alongside anyone... I don't want to try to hold four gems together... The strain would be too much... I can't go back to that empty space where I had to toil so hard for so long just to make sure I didn't fall apart."

"But... Lapis..." Steven uttered lowly with disappointment in his eyes, pausing in battle to look back at the long-suffering blue gem.

"It's okay, Steven," Alexandrite said wisely, standing up straighter. "We shouldn't demand that she fuse with us. We would be no better than The Cluster Segment's forced fusion. It would only make our foursome fusion unstable if one member was unwilling." Steven nodded in understanding while Alexandrite turned to Lapis with a gentle look. "Thank you for looking out for the Beach City residents while we fought off the creature, Lapis. Please continue to do so while we finish this off."

Lapis blinked in disbelief. They weren't mad at her? For refusing to fuse? She was about to say that she could try and help by fighting with the water available in the small man-made lake, but Peridot spoke up before she could.

"I-I can do it. I'll fuse with you," Peridot staunchly declared with only a hint of apprehensiveness, but an otherwise self-assured demeanor. She was directing her words at Alexandrite.

Alexandrite blinked. "But... Peridot, you've never even fused before. We couldn't ask that of you."

"Stop looking down on me!" Peridot countered, bristling.

Awkward pause.

"Well, I know you can't actually stop doing that in the literal sense considering your abnormally towering height, but figuratively speaking, please stop underestimating my abilities!" Peridot corrected herself, only mildly embarrassed. "I can do this. So what if my first fusion is a multiple gem fusion with the infamous Crystal Gems I despised back when I first came to Earth? I'm sure treason is not contagious so I hardly mind it."

Alexandrite gazed at Peridot, unimpressed. "You're not making us feel like opening up space in our hearts for you."

"Your hearts are made of stone," Peridot pointed out dryly. "And I only need you to make space in your fusion for me, anyway. Now do you want to win or not?"

Connie shouted breathlessly, "I'm willing to try anything at this point!"

"Hey, I don't like you speaking about me as if I were some sort of last resort!" Peridot screeched indignantly. "If anything, I'm your trump card!"

Alexandrite smiled genially. "Then let's turn the tables on that Cluster Segment, Self-Proclaimed Trump Card."

"You'll be grateful to share even a smidge of my metal powers!" Peridot shouted proudly.

"Uh, guys, do you think you can fuse any time soon? Connie and I are struggling a little over here!" Steven grunted out urgently, trying to hold the creature back as it pushed against his shield.

Connie was on top of the beast, uselessly slashing it and trying to maintain her balance.

A sturdy blob of water splash-slammed into the beast, knocking it back several feet.

The Gems turned to look at Lapis, stunned.

"I can help hold it off while you try to fuse," Lapis told the Gems, but specifically gazed at Peridot with an unreadable expression. "Hurry. There's not enough water in the lake. And reabsorbing it from the ground takes time."

Lapis, Steven, and Connie headed off in direction of the beast.

Onion followed wordlessly with Pumpkin.

Lapis swiftly turned and pointed a stern finger at Onion. "No. You stay. Pumpkin, make sure he doesn't go anywhere."

And with that said, she went to catch up with Connie and Steven.

Peridot watched Lapis use the scarce water from the lake to imprison the beast in place while Connie slashed off shards from its body and Steven bubbled said shards.

Peridot took a deep breath and stared at Alexandrite with resolve. She never imagined Alexandrite would become her first fusion partner. After all, if anyone had ever crossed her mind as a formidable candidate it would've been... well, Alexandrite hadn't been at the top of the list of possibilities, and she should probably leave it at that before her train of thought cruised through dangerous swamps of water.

"Peridot, come!" Alexandrite urged as she glanced at the struggle the other three combatants were experiencing.

Peridot took one last sharp breath and took a sprinting start towards Alexandrite, shouting a battle cry of, "TRIAL BY FIREEEEEEE!"

She crouched down and, using her metal powers, levitated her trademark trash can lid into her path to use as a jumping platform and spring into Alexandrite's waiting arms.

At least, that was the intent.

Peridot kept her eyes closed in anticipation of her fusion.

...

...

...

"Um, are we fused yet? Am I still an amorphous glowing blob?" Peridot squeaked out in a tiny voice, eyes still closed. "You know, I heard that fusion brings gems closer together but I think you guys are pressing into me just a liiiiittle too tightly. Is there no personal space in the fusion void? Sorry, I'm new at this."

"Peridot, uh, that's not me," Alexandrite said tentatively.

Peridot opened her eyes and found herself held in the claws of The Cluster Segment. The creature appeared to stare wildly at her with its unseeing eyes.

Peridot looked unsurprised. "Oh. Of course this would happen. How anticlimactic. Is it too much for a gem to ask for one serious, suspenseful moment of unequivocal heroism? Frankly."

Steven was distressed. "Peridot! Don't move! The Cluster Segment has you in its claws!"

"Wow, thanks," sarcastically uttered Peridot, unamused and just plain unimpressed with her lot in life. "Anything else that may have escaped my notice?"

Connie grimaced. "Hang in there, Peridot, we'll come get you right now! Just don't move!"

Peridot felt the creature squeezing her.

"Oof! Not. That. I. Could!" she gritted out. The creature relived the pressure for an instant. "Ha! You'll find I'm a tough gem to—"

The creature abruptly and mercilessly squeezed through Peridot's physical form and dispelled her.

"PERIDOT!" all the gems cried in alarm.

Lapis and Connie were the most shaken, as they had never seen Peridot poofed before.

Steven ran underneath the arm of the beast to try and catch Peridot off the ground, but he was surprised to find that she had not landed below. "I-I can't find her! Where did her gem fall?"

"Steven, watch out!" Connie yelled out, pushing Steven out of the way as the creature's fist slammed down above him, narrowly missing him.

Lapis watched in horrified disbelief as the creature opened its palm and therein lied Peridot's green gem.

Alexandrite unfused and Garnet screamed, "ATTACK FROM ALL SIDES. GET BACK THAT GEM!"

Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet, Connie, and Steven all charged forward to try and weaken the beast enough to let Peridot's gem go but nothing seemed to work. The beast broke down in different parts of its body but it refused to let go of the green gem, as it brought its palm towards its forehead.

The rest of the scene seemed to play out in a warped sort of slow motion to Lapis. As the creature brought its palm to its forehead, and stuck Peridot's gem in a hollow spot on its head, everyone seemed to realize at the exact, same sick moment what was about to occur.

Peridot's gem began to glow white as it began to fuse with The Cluster Segment.

Fusion is generally a very fast phenomenon. It can take anywhere between 4 at least to 8 at most seconds for gems to reach their fully fused forms.

To the spectating eye, the transformations can seem almost instant.

It was in the period of this instant that Lapis' eyes glazed over with a mirror-resembling sheen that coated her pupils, not unlike Steven's first sighting of her after she was released from her artifact and millennia-long prison.

She drained all the water from the fields, immediately killing all vegetation, and reabsorbed water from the ground, creating a brown, musky wave behind her ominously impassive flying figure.

She unwaveringly struck the figure with water jets from all sides, most prominently piercing its forehead with acute force, forcing Peridot's gem to forcibly separate from the creature before fully fusing with it and delivering itself to Lapis through her water streams.

Lapis stoically gazed down with cold eyes at Peridot's gem and noticed the crack in the triangular shaped rock.

Her water boiled with the fury she was overcome with at the tragic sight.

She instantly immersed the entirety of the creature in her muddy water and encircled it in a water-filled bubble, much like those she had filled the rubies in when they had returned to Earth a second time.

She unforgivingly drowned the creature inside the bubble and increased the water pressure to violent levels in order to crush and, finally, dispel the creature's physical form into its constituent shards.

"Wicked!" Amethyst shouted in triumph.

But Lapis didn't stop there.

She scowled and continued to press the shards with water turbulence inside the muddy water bubble and managed to further break the shards down into unsalvageable dust specks.

"LAPIS!" Garnet called out angrily.

Pearl gasped in horror, tearing up at seeing the shards blending with and becoming indistinguishable from the soil particles whirling inside the frenzied sphere of liquid. "NO!"

"LAPIS, IT'S DONE!" Connie shouted, frightened. She had never seen the usually pacifist gem behaving this... malevolently. "You can let them GO!"

"LISTEN, YOU TALL SMURF CAST REJECT, LET THOSE GEM FRAGMENTS GO RIGHT THIS INSTANT OR YOU'RE THE ONE GETTING POOFED NEXT, DO YOU GET ME!" Amethyst shouted out threateningly with no hint of jest in her tone.

Lapis seemed to react slightly to that statement. She only pressed harder into the bubble, scrunching up her shoulders in an action similar to whenever she was vulnerable in front of anyone.

"They were already shattered! They've been dead for millennia," Lapis spat out with a hateful scowl, shaking with her rage. "This is MERCY."

"This is CRUELTY!" Steven blubbered out with angry, sad tears streaming uncontrollably down his face. "Lapis! Why are you doing this!?"

Lapis became more responsive to Steven's voice, and she looked down with her mirror eyes at Steven, looking ashamed at having saddened him but not remorseful of her actions. "Steven, they... that thing... it was made to destroy your planet... it attacked your friends... it trashed the barn and the farm... it ruined our picnic—"

"But those are not enough of a reason to warrant its annihilation, Lapis!" Steven tried to rationalize dejectedly. "It didn't know what it was doing! Are those really the reasons? C'mon, I know you better than that... at least, I thought I did... No, I know I do... so tell me, please, what made you do this!? Help me understand!"

Lapis left the muddy sphere to float for itself and she flew downwards, towards Steven.

All the gems, and Connie, stood in front of Steven protectively.

Lapis initially recoiled at the defiance and hostility in their postures, but then recalled her recent actions and couldn't exactly blame their caution.

"It's okay," Steven reassured the Gems and his human friend, sniffling and wiping away his tears. "Lapis won't hurt me."

Steven walked past their protective barricade and stood in front of Lapis with a sorrowful expression. "What happened? You can tell me. I'll listen."

Lapis kneeled down to his height obediently and opened her palms to show Steven Peridot's gem, cracked in the middle and with another small crack off to the side.

Steven gasped. "She's cracked! I-it's going to be okay, I can fix this!"

Lapis shook her head slowly, dejectedly. "Look closer."

Steven squinted and felt the ground tremble beneath him at the sight of the subtle but telltale dark splotch of corruption tainting the green gem. "Corruption."

The Crystal Gems and Connie gasped in horror. Pearl sobbed. Amethyst stomped the ground angrily with her foot. Garnet hardened her fist. Connie looked down tearfully.

"There's no cure," Lapis echoed numbly, staring with dead, cloudy eyes down at Peridot's cracked, corrupted gem. "I remember that's what she said."

Steven noticed the corruption slowly spreading. He blinked. "Wait. No. There's no known cure for full corruption just yet. But she's not fully corrupted. The corruption is only just now beginning to take place! I-it's acting fast but we can stop it!"

Lapis eyes gradually cleared up, returning to their normal visual. "What? W-what do you mean—she can be saved? H-how! What do we do!?"

The muddy water behind her plopped to the ground in one grand splash.

"I-I don't know yet but we won't be able to figure out anything else unless we stop the corruption!" Steven cried out hastily. "Quick, Lapis, you have to bubble her! You've seen me and Peridot do it, right? Just now during battle!"

"B-bubble her? Like how she has that floating meep morp at the ceiling of our barn?" Lapis asked hurriedly.

"Yes! Exactly like that! Can you do it!?" Steven asked quickly. "We have to do it now. The corruption is spreading. She can't wait that much longer!"

"R-right! Yes, I can," Lapis spoke determinedly, gazing down with conviction at the green gem.

Lapis drew some clean water from the environment to submerge Peridot in a bubble of water.

"L-like that?" Lapis asked hopefully.

Steven frowned in concern. "It sort of looks like the kind of bubbles the Crystal Gems and I make, but that's not it exactly."

Lapis looked crestfallen. "Let... let me try again!"

Lapis concentrated with all her might and tried to get the bubble to resemble those that she'd seen the Crystal Gems germinate.

"Why... why isn't it working!?" Lapis hissed out in desperate frustration as Peridot's gem became steadily more corrupted.

Steven became nervous. "Lapis, I think you can do it, but maybe you should let me do it this time before the corruption progresses further?"

"What? No. I promise I can do it! It's not hard I just have to... ugh," Lapis grunted out in despondency, angry with her lack of ability. No matter how she rearranged the volume of water, she couldn't form the infamous corruption-stopping bubble.

"Lapis, please, let me have her, we don't have much time!" Steven cried out imploringly, crouching to look up into Lapis' distressed eyes. "I promise she'll be safe with me. You have to let her go."

"I-I can't—I mean, wait, just give me one more try, she can be safe with me, too, just as soon as I figure out how to... bubble her," Lapis focused intensely on the bubble she was making but she could only watch through the blurry water in consternation as the corruption consumed the green gem and she was powerless to stop it in her panic.

"Lapis, please!" Steven begged.

"AGH! THAT'S IT! YOU HAD YOUR SHOT! GIMME HER!" Amethyst snapped out brusquely as she snatched Peridot from Lapis and bubbled the green gem with ease before vanishing her purple bubble into thin air.

Lapis moved with inhuman speed and gripped Amethyst tightly by the shoulders. "Where. Is. Peridot?"

Amethyst irritatedly pushed the blue gem off of her and glared at her. "Chill, Lapis. I sent her back to the temple. She's safely stored in there with the other bubbled gems, except she's only semi-corrupted. If we'd let you continue your useless attempts at bubbling her, she'd have zero hope of saving. At least now, she has a chance."

Lapis bristled. "You had no right to just take her—"

"Well, you weren't doing anything to help her! Peridot never hesitated in saving me whenever I was in trouble so there was no way I was just going to let her rot in corruption just because your pride and bizarre possessiveness wouldn't let you entrust her with Steven! Get off your high horse! Or should I say, spill off those wings!"

"I wasn't doing anything!? I was the one that prevented her from fusing with that monstrosity!" Lapis snapped back petulantly. "If it hadn't been for me, she'd have become a part of that Cluster Segment!"

"But you were the one that cracked her in the first place," Amethyst spat out with vitriol. "You risked shattering her! If she hadn't been forcefully unfused, her gem would be just fine!"

"I can't believe you have the nerve to get mad at me for saving her!" Lapis countered back in disbelief. "What if I hadn't unfused her, then? She would have been lost to us forever!"

"We would have eventually defeated the beast, we could have rescued her gem after the fact," Pearl chimed in, ever the voice of reason.

Lapis turned to Pearl with a wry smile.

"Oh. Right. Yeah. Of course you'd have no trouble abandoning a gem to fend off for herself until you sought to bring her back to emergence when you found it convenient. Just like you kept me imprisoned in that mirror, cracked and alone, knowing fully well I was in there the whole time!" Lapis bit out spitefully, scrunching her face up in pain at the memory. "You're more vile than the Diamonds. At least they thought I was a traitor and treated me as such. You didn't even bother to give me a chance."

Pearl recoiled, shamefaced at her past actions. That was a time before Steven. Before she learned compassion.

"Right now, what we should be focusing on is Peridot's chance," Garnet said sagely, trying to navigate through the roil of emotions on display from everyone on the vicinity. "She can still be saved. I don't know how, but I should think she has a better chance than the fully corrupted gems."

"This is all because of you," Lapis whispered out hoarsely in the onset of despair, looking up at Garnet boorishly. "The Crystal Gems... Whenever I'm with Peridot and Steven, we're okay, but then the rest of you appear and we always run into some sort of trouble. The peace is broken. The harmony ruined. My happiness... or whatever comes close to it... just seeps out."

Connie frowned sadly. "Lapis... you don't mean that..."

"But I do," Lapis sobbed dryly, before composing herself. "I've always thought it." Lapis looked towards Steven with a tragic expression. "It's why I don't like to join you on missions. I know you actively seek danger... I know you think you do it for the good of the planet... but it chases you right back. It's so fearless... and futile... and foolish. You should just accept your place, avoid conflict, and stay out of harm's way. It's the safest and more peaceful way to live."

Lapis paused, staring down at the ground now. "But you didn't. And the trouble followed you back to the barn. And now this happened." Lapis looked desperately at Steven with unhinged, broken eyes. "How are we going to get out of this, Steven?"

Steven could only cry at seeing the palpable pain in Lapis' expression. The blue gem, for some reason, could not cry, even in as dire a scenario as this one, so he had to do so for the both of them. He approached Lapis and hugged her fiercely.

"I don't know how," Steven said, his voice muffled in Lapis' hair. "But I swear to you that we'll get her back. That's a promise you can count on."

"I haven't trusted anyone in thousands of years," Lapis mumbled out with a weak, wry chuckle.

"Well, you better believe you can start to now," Steven said with a small smile, releasing Lapis from the embrace to look at her compassionately. "And not just in me. But all of us."

"Lapis, I hope you and I can make some time to talk things though in the near future when tensions aren't quite so... heightened," Pearl finished carefully. "I would appreciate the opportunity to clear any resentment between us."

Lapis looked at Pearl unfeelingly for a moment before offering a somewhat reluctant nod.

"Let's head back to the Temple," Garnet suggested after a brief pause. "We must pay a visit to Peridot. Connie, do you think you could round up the Beach City citizens, explain the situation, and make sure they return home safely?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Connie said dutifully.

She prepared to take off but then looked at Lapis and Steven and said, "I'll be back shortly to help out in any way I can. You guys hang in there. We'll be okay."

And with that, she left in direction of the somewhat disheveled barn, within which most of the human guests were still hiding.

Amethyst popped in front of Steven urgently. "Steven! Let's hurry to the temple! We need to put you to sleep!"

Everyone awkwardly stared.

"Uh, not that I don't appreciate your concern for my sleep schedule, Amethyst, but, uh, don't today's events give me a free pass to stay awake a little later than usual?" Steven asked uncertainty.

"Not that, Dingus!" Amethyst defended with a playful roll of her eyes. "I just had the best idea! Do you remember when Lapis was trapped with Jasper in a fusion as Malachite!?"

Lapis' eyes widened in realization, understanding dawning on her.

"Yea... what about it?" Steven still needed clarification.

"How did you communicate with Lapis even though she was several yards underneath the ocean!" Amethyst prompted excitedly.

Steven, Garnet, and Pearl finally caught on to her idea.

"Astral projection," Lapis voiced in hushed wonder.

Steven gasped. "Oh. My. Gosh! You're right! I've done and learned so many things through dreams! I talked to Kiki. I talked to Lapis. I saw the Diamonds."

"The Diamonds...?" Lapis questioned fearfully.

"Trauma for another time," Garnet said stoically.

Lapis frowned but decided to focus on Peridot's plight for now and tamp down on her anxiety.

"But... I never really had control over those dreams," Steven said with concern. "I never really purposely entered those dreams, they just sort of... happened."

"Because you were worrying a lot about those people... or things... whatever," Amethyst amended. "And you're worried lots about Peridot, right? So you can do it! We can try!"

Steven nodded resolutely. "Let's do it."

Pearl cleared her throat. "We must keep in mind... Peridot might not be or behave as the gem we are all now familiar with... she has become partially corrupted, after all." Pearl paused pensively. "Her reception of us into her corrupted domain might not be very welcoming."

Garnet looked thoughtful. "Is that really a thing? Do gems become evil when corrupted?"

Pearl shrugged. "Well, I don't really know, to be honest, but I thought I would throw caution to the wind, so to speak. We must be prepared for anything if we're going to come face to face with her again in her condition."

Lapis clenched her fist, which was holding on to her dress, wrinkling it. "We have to see her. I don't care what she may be like now. We know it won't really be her. We have to keep that in mind."

Amethyst nodded resolutely. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's vamoose!"

"Oh, heeeeeeey, guys, sorry, I'm late," Jamie, mailman by day, actor by night, stepped out of the dead crop fields. "Phew. Took me a while to get here. Can you believe I didn't get the invitation in time? And I've got only myself to blame. I forgot to put it in my mailbox. And I'm the mailman. Ha! That'll probably become a stand-up comedy sketch in one of my improv shows so keep an eye out." He chuckled to himself. "Anyway, what'd I miss?"

Let me know if you all would like to see more! I'm always happy to have feedback :)