Gem Ascension

by Shinneth

With Steven and the Crystal Gems trapped within the confines of Homeworld, reinforcements from Earth come together to mount a rescue. Believe in Lapis, Bismuth, Greg... and their leader, Peridot. (immediately follows Escapism)

1. Center of Gravity

As Gem Homeworld heralded the beginning of Era 3 on a very dour note, the Crystal Gems that remained on Earth were given a clear objective. So many details were unknown to them on how and why negotiations went south with the Diamond Authority, but all that was needed for them to act was the clear message on the sand to send for back-up.

Normally, there would be immediate action, but only two pairs of eyes could witness the message as the Watermelon Steven that its namesake projected his consciousness into wrote it in on the beach: Greg, his father who largely stayed out of the conflict with no capability for combat, and Bismuth, a veteran Crystal Gem who had regained her consciousness less than a day ago and hadn't been in active service for thousands of years. Both agreed it wouldn't do their imperiled friends any good to jump into danger without a plan, and especially with so few numbers.

It wasn't long before the last possible member of the back-up team became available to them; light poured out from the gemstone as everyone set their eyes on their final and most-needed Crystal Gem to carry out the rescue mission coming into form.

"All right! Last, but not least!"

"Welcome back, Peridot!"

A very antsy and befuddled Peridot opened her eyes to the bright, smiling trio of faces that had circled around her gem in anticipation for his moment. Among the father of her close friend and the Crystal Gem she had only met earlier today, Lapis Lazuli was also present, though she opted to smile smugly instead of giving her former roommate a verbal greeting.

"Hi…?" Peridot could only hesitantly answer back, hanging on the end syllable for a bit as she tried to get a handle on the situation. After all, her last memory was being zapped to near-oblivion by her former superior… and split-second sidelong glances indicated that no one else was present on the beach besides Lion and Pumpkin. There was a large crowd that suddenly shrank into a handful of people, yet Peridot could tell she was still in Beach City, there had been no casualties, and for whatever reason, Blue and Yellow Diamond were no longer invading her peaceful home. She assumed upon reforming, there would either be a large massive audience giving her a standing ovation for fearlessly telling off Yellow Diamond for the second time, or she would be on Homeworld awaiting trial to be shattered with extreme prejudice. There seemed to be no possible middle road to this.

"I have no idea what to even ask first…"

"Things were pretty crazy out there," Bismuth understood. "All following up a wedding, on top of that. Worry not, Tiny." She gestured to the gem to her left. "She agreed to get you up to speed."

"Depends which you want first, Crystal Newbie," Lapis offered; the smirk still hadn't faded from her lips. "Good news or bad news?"

Peridot's features hardened upon being given the choice. She had been on Earth long enough to know this either meant there was really only bad news and a morale booster, or all good news with the bad news serving as a red herring just to mess with people. In the back of her mind, she recalled how this is the first time she's seen Lapis since the her escape to the Moon with all of their belongings. That brought about mixed feelings, primarily good, though that expression Lapis wore brought some irritation inherent with getting the short end of the stick in this split-up.

"The least you could do is give me a moment's respite with good news," she replied, keeping her tone tempered despite her obvious passive-aggression. She wanted to just keep it at that, but couldn't help but hang on that name she was called. "Wait, Crystal Newbie?"

"That's what I said; it's actually your good news," Lapis informed her in a more genuinely positive manner. "Check out your uniform."

"My–" Peridot froze before she could say anything more. No longer in the flowing yellow dress she wore for her Flower Girl duties, she was back to donning her default outfit. Still colored just the same, and the aesthetic difference Lapis implied was minor from a purely objective standpoint. But, with the context that came with the yellow diamonds on her knees and torso being replaced, it meant so much more.

"Oh. My. Stars."

Every word was spaced by a few moments of pause as Peridot took it all in, while trying in vain to contain the hint of a joyous squeal that threatened to escape her mouth. Though this was hardly the time to celebrate anything, her taller companions smiled along, all silently agreeing to at least let the youngest gem have her moment. Very soon, she would have bear the burden placed down on them already.

"Literally, my stars! I-I thought they'd never show up! It's been-… been how many months since I called her a clod?! Is it because I said it to her in person this time? Was a heroic sacrifice required?! Maybe my morality meter just wasn't high enough until-"

Bismuth's joyous smile became one of confusion as she watched Peridot continue to rant and rave to herself over her well overdue visual alignment shift. "There you go, now you look the part of a Crystal Gem, too!" She forced a grin as she muttered quietly to Lapis, "She knows she could've changed that any time, right…?"

"Era 2," Lapis casually replied; she knew no more explanation than that was needed.

"Oh, bless her," Bismuth sympathized, trying not to look she pitied the green gem overtly. "I was gonna say she's only short in stature and nothing else after seeing her today. Guess it's also age… unless we're talkin' gaps between us; now that's pretty big," she said with a chuckle, which Lapis couldn't help but share.

"-but if it is like transitioning from Dark Knight to Paladin, what does going back to level 1 mean to m-" Peridot cut herself off and turned her attention to her two fellow gems. Her childlike enthusiasm transitioned to a childlike tantrum as she stomped over towards them. "Hey! Do you really think I'm not on to you both? What else could you be laughing about if not the great and lovable yours truly?!"

It was immensely hard for Bismuth not to snort into full-on laughter and make a remark about her short temper. It was even harder not to point out that Peridot unintentionally insulted herself. The laughter seemed contagious, as at this point even Greg had to stifle himself.

"Maybe you've got a point," Lapis humored her. "But you're also not the only Crystal Newbie today." That got Peridot's attention, which prompted her to take her attention away from the faces of her acquaintances and look down to notice her friend had received a similar upgrade: a navy blue star adorned the center of her halter top in place of the half-diamond, while a row of smaller stars decorated the hem of her dress where the bottom half of her former "diamond" mark originally was. "Yeah, I wasn't sure whether or not that counts as good news to you, but it's officially a thing for me now, too." The very, very obvious way Peridot tried to purge away any hint of jealousy in her smile told Lapis all she needed to know.

"Welcome to the club as the newest member of the Crystal Gems," Bismuth jovially greeted to Peridot specifically. She had already given Lapis a similar welcome aboard when she reformed ten minutes earlier; of course Lapis knew by all rights she was the newest member. She simply couldn't resist passing up on an opportunity to push Peridot's buttons - one thing Lapis begrudgingly could admit to herself she had missed doing since relocating to the Moon.

"I reformed before you, so technically I did earn my stars first," Lapis egged on. She wanted to be sure to get this out of her system right here, right now. Following that, there would be no time for laughing; Bismuth and Greg were already all too aware. Realistically, they all knew it would be impossible to mount a rescue right this very second… whatever would be necessary to answer the call would no doubt involve working around the clock, and no one had any plans for how exactly they would be able to even leave the planet in the first place.

But if anyone could formulate a plan of action and a means of transport in a time crunch like this, it would be the Crystal Gems' youngest non-organic member. And that was only the tip of the iceberg in how crucial it was for Peridot to be part of the rescue team, but Greg had the foresight to let the other gems know ahead of time that front-loading the burden on her could cause their rescue efforts to blow up in their faces before it even starts. Over time, Greg had become familiar enough with Peridot to know some extent of her limitations, even if they spent relatively little time interacting directly. What he did know for certain was how close Steven had become to her, and from what he witnessed of their interactions, Peridot felt like the first gem who came off as something other than a maternal substitution for his son.

Well, with Amethyst the term was much looser compared to Garnet and Pearl, but even she had her moments where she'd put her foot down. But really, the eldest of the Shorty Squad embodied more of a cool big sister who could be a role model… sometimes. With Peridot, the widowed father got the vibe that she, more than anything, was a relative equal. Sometimes more so than Connie, even, Peridot embodied the kind of company Steven should keep to best enjoy his remaining years of childhood. Especially now since it was revealed his late wife was Pink Diamond all along, Greg had all but given up on believing Steven could ever truly live like an ordinary human boy. Once he witnessed Steven willfully inherit the mistakes and consequences of Rose and dedicate himself to making things right, Greg couldn't deny his little boy really had grown up too quickly… and it was entirely out of his hands. As a bonus, Peridot's overall ignorance of both Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond made her take that double identity revelation in stride. She had no reason to give the man any grief over it; that was a card even Amethyst would, could, and has used on Greg.

As Greg watched the diminutive gem fail to keep her cool in the eyes of Lapis' trolling, he knew he needed to get some laughs out before getting to business. Unlike previous times, Greg felt he wouldn't be left on Earth to "hold down the fort" for this mission. He had no doubts that the remaining Crystal Gems were competent, but a direct conflict with the Diamond Authority on their home turf would no doubt require everyone on the team to have any chance of success, if the post-wedding battle on this very beach was any indication. With less than half of the combatants on hand, Greg could tell even with so many details flying over his head that he couldn't in all good conscience just spectate.

"Sure… th-that's… that's totally how it works," Peridot grunted; hands tightened into fists and shook as she tried not to blow up then and there. Her glorious moment now felt cheapened, and for the life of her, she had a hard time accepting it. Life on Earth had given Peridot some measure of self-discipline, as she learned the hard way that in spite of how easily she could elicit joyous laughter from those around her, often times the technician could easily hurt her friends if she spoke too candidly. "Your timing was just so perfect back there," she said through gritted teeth. "Wh-why bother proving your loyalty by being the one who finally took out Jasper for good? Anyone could just call Yellow Diamond a clod to her face, right?" Her attempts to veil her sarcasm took a nosedive from there. "What was I thinking, n-needing to drill straight down the Earth's core and stop a massive cluster from busting this planet to bits, just to prove I'm a Crystal Gem?! Pfft, I could have left this rock ages ago and still get that recognition if I had a cool enough entrance to that silly battle…"

While Lapis opted to let Peridot sweat it out a bit longer, because she still felt a twinge of annoyance just hearing Jasper's name even now (and that backhanded reference to her decision to retreat from Earth didn't help matters), Bismuth decided to step in and ease the tension. To have any hope in making it to the imperiled Crystal Gems, the back-up team could not afford to be dysfunctional.

"Okay, okay, settle down," the arms specialist gently urged, coming between the two. "Peridot, I know we've just met today, but Steven gave me the rundown about how you ended up joining the cause. Let it be known we're just foolin'." She pointed to the star holding the younger gem's straps together, and Peridot quietly followed the gesture. "Those stars have been inside you this whole time, ever since you first stood up for your friends here on Earth. This Diamond invasion could've happened a long time ago if you had direct contact with Yellow, but here we are. Maybe they were a little late coming in, but there's no shame in being a late bloomer, you hear me?"

That last part flew over Peridot's head, as she tilted her hear up to Bismuth. "I'm not a flower, but…" Her features softened then; she was genuinely touched hearing this from a relative stranger. She picked up earlier that Bismuth was a Crystal Gem who predated even Amethyst, and some of her works from the early Era 1 period were documented on Homeworld. So there was a precedent that this praise was quite meaningful, which made Peridot's beaming that much brighter. "Wow, thanks."

"You said you hadn't been poofed since the Crystal Gems first captured you, as I recall," Lapis added, still cool as a cucumber. "So there's some cold hard facts if you were looking for a literal answer. Feel better now?"

Not even patronizing would kill Peridot's blissful moment now, though she tried to regain some composure before addressing Lapis. "Nyeh, as if Earth's co-saviour would fall apart that easily over some measly aesthetic symbolism." Now she sounded more like herself. But now that Peridot had been given time to take in how good she felt to finally look like she fit into this family - and to a lesser degree she was happy for Lapis - she remembered why she got this news in the first place.

"So, the bad news…" Peridot sobered down, as she already had a sense of dread the moment she acknowledged her current surroundings. Had she gotten the bad news right off, Peridot stood a chance in getting too overwhelmed to the point of destabilizing herself. Too much had happened and still continued to this moment, and the possibilities conjured in her mind were not pleasant ones. "It's Steven, isn't it? Why isn't he here to tell me how cool I look now? Are we seriously the only ones still here…?"

Lapis finally ceased her smiling. Bismuth closed her eyes and quietly sighed. Greg's eyes darted off towards the ocean as he tried not to shake and drench his shirt in sweat. Noticing all of this, Peridot gulped and looked to Lapis; she ceased making any noise, not wanting to miss a single detail of what was really going on around here.

"It'll take forever to go fully into detail," Lapis prefaced. "And we can't afford to waste more time than we already have, so make do with some abridged bullet points for now. If you need details, ask for them once when you can afford the moment."

Peridot silently nodded; she had no desire to constantly halt Lapis with questions between each half-sentence.

"Right, so… what happened after we were poofed. Steven was able to prove to Blue and Yellow that he was Pink Diamond before anyone else got hurt. The hostilities ceased there."

It was then that Peridot noticed her tablet was sitting in a pile of other supplies nearby Greg; no doubt to make sure everyone was equipped with what they needed for the mission briefing. During the break between Lapis' first sentence and her next, Peridot scrambled over on all-fours to retrieve her tablet, strap it to her wrist, then scoot back to where she was previously. Her attention remained firmly on Lapis as if she had never even moved. She didn't even need to watch herself transcribe the statement onto her tablet.

"Next, Steven insisted on assuming his mother's mantle and make up for her transgressions; he believed through the Diamonds, we'll finally find a way to cure the corrupted gems roaming the Earth. In exchange, the Diamonds would bring him to Homeworld to "reunite" with White Diamond and… negotiate there, I guess." Lapis still didn't like that part one bit, and rightfully so. If she hadn't been poofed during the battle, one of the Diamonds definitely would have done it to her later for defiantly speaking out of turn.

Peridot understandably tensed up when hearing about the Diamonds, but remained steadfast in absorbing the details. Correctly, she assumed she was the last one getting this news due to the circumstances, and a small part of her wondered why they would take the chance to waste time waiting for her to reform instead of working on a plan immediately. Like Lapis, she knew nothing good would come from everyone being under the Diamonds' custody on their home turf.

"So, here's what we're faced with," Lapis said ominously. "All we know right now is that their plans fell through, fast. We have no idea where they are in Homeworld, why negotiations fell through, or how they're in so much trouble that Steven could only give us this to let us know they're in trouble. And he had to push the limits of reality itself to make it this far. It's up to us to decide what the Crystal Gems do from here."

Lapis pointed out to a part of the beach just behind Peridot; an area she had yet to scan. She turned around, then sat up and approached the point indicated by Lapis to see what Steven left for them. The way Lapis talked, it almost implied that Steven was actually here, but alas, all she saw was the very simple request for back-up written in the sand. For one could fathom the reason why Peridot took a picture of this message with her tablet, but there was no time to dwell on it. She approached her comrades, now fully serious and more driven than anyone has ever seen her.

"Understood; thank you for the report, Lapis," Peridot said with complete neutrality in her tone. She looked to Bismuth. "So this message came along a while before I reformed, it seems. The three of you clearly knew this story already… I appreciate your consideration for waiting for my reformation before following the trail, but I must ask, what preparations have you all made in the meantime?" She did not like how there was only a small collection of supplies and a nearly barren workbench in her sights, and nothing more than debris from the battle.

Nothing was organized. A working mode of interstellar transportation was nowhere to be seen.

"It's only been an hour or so since we got the news," Bismuth admitted, now looking uneasy with the small gem's intensity. "And, well… as you can see, there's not much in the way of diversity in the group; at least not for what we'll need to come to their rescue."

"Basically, we're saying we've been at an impasse before you reformed," Lapis dully added. "Disregarding personal feelings about even going back to that… place," she greatly suppressed her disgust at such an idea. "We have no way to get to Homeworld. Even if we could make it there somehow, we won't be much of a rescue team if we don't know where Steven is."

"Lapis said she couldn't recognize Homeworld as she remembered it last time she was there," Bismuth followed up. "And me? It's been way longer than that since I've set foot on Homeworld. No way am I gonna fit as a team navigator. But…"

"... I can," Peridot finished; her professional tone waned at that moment. "Right, of course. Peridots are the technicians of Homeworld, so we have to cover every inch of the planet to perform maintenance. And that includes the Diamond Palaces, which is where we should find our friends. Alternatively, they could be stuck in a Prison Tower."

"You're sure you can find it?" Lapis asked, just to be sure. "I know it's been a while since you were last there, but…"

"Sure, but by my estimate, it's been less than three quarters of an Earth's solar orbit," Peridot assured, gradually sounding more like her usual peppy, confident self. "And for you two, it's been that thousands of times over." She frowned a bit upon remembering a small detail. "Of course, it was rare for me to be on Homeworld without my limb enhancers. Those, my touch screen… they contained a lot of that information. It was designed that way so we would never get lost," Peridot solemnly recalled. "So of course, Amethyst dumped all of that into the ocean right after they captured me… that's invaluable data that I can't possibly retrieve."

As if Bismuth didn't feel bad enough for Peridot already. Era 2 didn't kick off until after Rose had bubbled her, so Bismuth had little to no basis for truly identifying a gem that emerged during that time period; but given Peridot's natural size, she suspected her new little friend to be a very recent Era 2. Bismuth realized her youth is an asset to this mission, as she's the only one comfortable with the modern-day tech that had long replaced the antiquated methods she and Lapis were familiar with.

"Aw, forget all that hoo-hah," the blacksmith insisted. "Greg and Lapis here told me what a clever little pebble you've been since you came to us. And the whole time, you had nothing but what you were made with."

"You didn't know you could manipulate metal while you lived on Homeworld, right?" Lapis asked, though she knew the answer. She wanted - needed to remind Peridot that her intellect didn't come from a machine. "I bet when you go back, you won't find a single Peridot who can do that. So forget the stupid limb enhancers; you don't need them. You can still recognize specific places on Homeworld without them with your own memory. Your feelings, your experiences, your routine."

Peridot really did need to hear this, because she was already feeling overwhelmed. Knowing for sure now that Steven or any of his friends are in danger, yet not knowing just how well they are right now… that would forever haunt her until she saw those faces again. She was more than driven to give this mission her all, but she was very horrified to see now that Lapis, Bismuth, and Greg made zero progress while waiting for her to reform. No one had a plan for any stage of this mission, but Peridot certainly did.

She had too many of them.

"Right, right," Peridot muttered as she willed herself to stop moping over what was lost. "I certainly had a consistent routine before my mission to Earth… if I see it again, I'm sure it'll all come flooding back. I just spent all this time trying to forget about it... to our detriment. I won't let you down again." It was unclear whom she was referring to, but it was assumed across the board that Peridot was talking about everyone as a collective unit. "By process of elimination, I must be your navigator."

"Good! You can guide us right to the Diamonds so I can finally show those upper-crust tyrants what for!" Bismuth declared, bursting with enthusiasm, pride, and an unquenched thirst for vengeance.

"Quickest way to handle this is a surprise attack," Lapis advised the blacksmith. "One tsunami… that's all it would take... they'll never see it coming."

"What?! Oh, stars, no," Peridot couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had to nip this in the bud quick, so she puffed up her chest, hands on her hips as she tried her best to stand her ground on something she could easily be outvoted over. "No, no, no, no no. What exactly do you two think this is?! This is a rescue mission, not a second wave! ! We get in, rescue Steven and the others, thenget out. That plan is already a suicide mission in its own right, but seriously, think about what you're saying!" Peridot urged, very easily grabbing both Lapis' and Bismuth's attention. "You seriously want to take the fight to the Diamonds? In their realm? What makes you think you'll even get a glimpse of the Diamonds before you get shattered by their Homeworld army, which in case you've forgotten, outnumber us INFINITY TO ONE!"

Bismuth's eyes bugged out at the outburst. For such a comically diminutive gem of the lowest tier, this Peridot had the fire of an Elite in her. "Whoa."

Lapis raised an eyebrow, but otherwise looked unfazed. "Right, but most of them can't fly, right? Getting the drop on them would be stupid easy."

"Oh no, just stupid," Peridot shot back, narrowing her eyes. "I suppose I can't blame you since "your" Homeworld is hardly anything like the Homeworld of today, but Lapis…" Lapis saw her hesitate a bit. "I've always seen you do such cool and powerful things; I can't even dream of pulling metal off like you do water. But… Lapis…"

"But Lapis what?"

"Homeworld's natural reserves dried up a long time ago; the Homeworld I knew only had water processed through machinery… usually as a coolant," Peridot confessed. "At best, I could try bending the metal piping to free up some water that way… and I've heard rumors the Diamonds have their own natural sources exclusively for them. The latter is a deathwish. No way, no how you'll get to that water before the Diamonds notice you. And I can tell you with utmost certainty that Homeworld's infrastructure is heavily layered."

The group quietly listened while Peridot struggled to suppress her anger and frustration.

"I've been getting better, but it could take me hours just to peel off every layer to expose the core water line," the young gem admitted, looking ashamed. "And even if I did pull this off, it would cause a chain reaction that will compromise the entire facility. Our cover? Blown. If we don't already have Steven and the others before that, we'd might as well shatter ourselves. We'll get surrounded in a matter of seconds."

"S-so… so what, you're saying I'm useless for this mission?" Lapis finally asked, for once looking vulnerable. She understood the implications. She knew Peridot was saying this for her own safety, but that didn't ease the pain of a harsh truth Peridot had just lain upon her. "Is that it?! I might as well stay here?!"

"Th-that's not what I'm saying at all!" Peridot's voice cracked; clearly, until now she didn't realize her words still had the power to faze the mighty Lapis. "The point I'm trying to make…." She looked to Bismuth just to make sure she was following along. "… is that you can't come into this doing what you usually do. And yeah, I'm sure you're both eager to take your anger out on Homeworld. Those feelings are fully warranted. There's no love lost between me and Homeworld, either. Just understand that acting on those feelings at this time will accomplish nothing, and you'll be shattered before you can turn around to come back home. Can you guess what the worst thing about this would be…?"

Lapis and Bismuth just stared on; neither were inclined to answer, as now they both were second-guessing themselves.

"If you shatter before we get everyone home," Peridot warned with a sniff, then squinted her eyes to ward away any oncoming tears. "Someone's going to have to tell him. Someone's going to have to tell Steven Universe that you lost your life, that you were shattered while coming to save him. He's the one who agreed to this shady "negotiation", he's the one who took most of his friends out there to suffer the consequences of an attempt of making peace falling through. He… is the one who made this call for help." Peridot pointed down at the message in the sand. "We are going to Homeworld because he asked us to. You two… should know what that's going to do to Steven, once he finds out."

Peridot didn't need to go any further than that. Lapis covered her eyes in a vain attempt to hide her tears; just picturing what Peridot described felt like those agonizing moments before your body disappeared into thin air and returned to its natural gem shape. Seeing a traumatized and despondent Steven, much like how she had been for so many years… it was too much. The emotional weight of that consequence… Lapis felt like her gemstone would break in half all over again.

While Bismuth didn't have nearly as much time as the others to spend with Steven, the talks they had told Bismuth all she needed to know. On top of that, even though the scenario would be impossible, Bismuth couldn't stop seeing Rose Quartz standing right across from her. For them to fall out the way they did over clashing ideals, for Bismuth to take that first step to redemption after thousands of years thanks to her son, what would Bismuth have to say for herself if her actions made Steven suffer the very fate they had debated so very much on. She gladly would die for the boy, without hesitation. But Peridot's words quickly reminded the war veteran that self-sacrifice was not a matter to take lightly. She fights to protect the ones she loves… what can she do for them as a lifeless, shattered mass of rainbow pebbles?

"While you're thinking about that, also take his paternal unit into account as well," a savage Peridot added, pointing right to a very quiet Greg Universe. He was engrossed in so much of this, but once the topic shifted to how failing this mission would affect Steven, he was making pitiful attempts to clear the tears from his eyes. He gawked at the gems when all eyes turned on him. "Do you want to put him through all that pain when he can't do anything to help his own offspring?! Stars forbid we really screw up our mission, and it's Steven who's sh-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

That came from Greg, of all people. Peridot froze, terrified. She had never heard Steven's father raise his voice like this. He seemed like such a mellowed out guy…

"Peridot, believe me, I'm glad you're drilling it into their heads that you all need to play it as safe as you possibly can!" the man assured her, though he was still clearly triggered. "But enough's enough! Can't you see?" He gestured to Lapis and Bismuth, whose faces were still covered by their hands as they tried to suppress their crying, but they weren't fooling anyone. Pumpkin cuddled up next to Lapis, whimpering along with her. Meanwhile, Lion came to Bismuth's side to provide support.

Peridot felt like such a monster.

"I know you mean well," Greg told her, trying his best not to make her feel like the worst gem ever. "But you made your point. You let me worry about… those other things, okay? It's what dads do."

Peridot really wanted to cry along with the other gems, but internally she convinced herself to resist it. Her logic dictated that this would accomplish absolutely nothing. In fact, Peridot realized she was doing exactly the opposite of what she wanted to do: waste time. It was important to set everyone's priorities straight to they'd all be on the same page, but they hadn't even gotten started on finding or building ship worthy of making a trip across the galaxy. Peridot needed to decide which plan to go with, and stick with it.

"I'm sorry," she muttered to Greg before quietly approaching Lapis and Bismuth, who had calmed down significantly. She grumbled to herself briefly before deciding how to smooth things over. "Look, you two… I didn't mean to make you think about that kind of stuff," Peridot started off in a soft tone. "I know I sound like Pearl right now, but… gah!" She wished so badly she still had that tape recorder. That would have made everything so much easier. "W-we seriously can't spare the time even entertaining fantasies like that, okay? I know this feels like the perfect opportunity to get revenge for what Homeworld has done to you, to all of us… but it just isn't. Let's do the mission that was assigned to us, okay?"

"I… I went too far," Lapis admitted, sounding awkward and unsure of herself. "Part of me was just kidding at the start, to be honest… it got out of hand, but you… I've got no doubts about you now, Peridot."

Peridot could only stare at Lapis as if she was an entirely new species she just discovered on this planet. "Er… huh?"

"You didn't guess we had a chat about some of this stuff before you reformed?" Bismuth asked her with a light chuckle. "We did get carried away this time, but you definitely dug deeper into us than I thought!"

Now Peridot just looked tired and annoyed. "Did you two seriously just put me through a test?"

"Maybe you could call it that," Lapis said in a knowing, cryptic tone. Her tears dried, and she felt so relieved. "When I reformed, I felt helpless. I had no ideas to offer; no real plan. In all honesty, I really don't even want to participate in this mission. I wanted to be done with Homeworld. We all agreed that in order for this operation to work, we would need a leader."

Peridot felt her pupils shrink; she couldn't believe it. She was just about to knock sense into the two to talk about a team leader… of course they stole her thunder again.

"Nothing I said was enough to convince Lapis to stay," Bismuth explained.

"For… various reasons," Lapis added. For just a fleeting moment, she looked furious, genuinely so, before nodding to Bismuth to continue.

"Yes, but the point is I couldn't get through to her," Bismuth continued, shrugging off the flicker of fury. Either that, or she didn't notice. Peridot definitely did; it sent a chill that coursed throughout her body. "Not even my moving speech about Steven could sway her. I have to admit, if you need a field commander, there's no one better for the task than me. But this kind of thing… I just didn't have it in me. That was Rose's expertise. What I could do, was convince her to stay here until you reformed. She told me if you could make her reconsider, she'd cast her woes aside and join us. And maybe it's just me, Tiny, but I think you just succeeded where I failed."

"Wait, what? WHAT?!" Peridot really was being tested without knowing it. Her ran her fingers through her hair, frazzling it it felt like her head was splitting open. Of course, all she was doing was giving herself split ends. She whipped around to face Lapis, who looked way to casual and serene to be real.

"Lapis! You didn't say anything about wanting to back out! Y-you weren't even hesitating!" Peridot pointed out, desperate to find some hole in Bismuth's testimony. "Tell me she's making that up!"

"I stopped hesitating when I saw you not hesitate even once," Lapis responded. "You always talked about how Homeworld was hunting you down because you directly disobeyed Yellow Diamond and called her a clod. I could see back then, the whole idea of returning to Homeworld now, after everything that happened… you'd rather be shattered on the spot. That's close enough to how I feel on the matter."

Peridot just quietly nodded. Internally, she felt so powerful all of a sudden.

"But the second you heard that Steven was in trouble… at first, I thought you somehow overlooked or it slipped your mind that we would be returning to Homeworld to do this. But… nothing. You were worried about how to get there; never the fact that we were going there at all. It was secondary to you, your biggest fear… I didn't think it was possible to shove that aside so quickly."

While genuinely moved by Lapis' words, while trying her best not to choke up and let her friend finish, she added with a squeak, "Y-yeah! Uh-huh, that's… that's the primary phobia! How on Earth could it be anything else…?"

Lapis smiled. It was hilarious to her, really, that Peridot could be so transparent at times. "Exactly. Sometimes, when we were together with the other Crystal Gems, it was like you were as close to being a human being that a gem possibly can. You really do put your heart into everything. I know I said you sucked as Garnet back when you, me and Connie were being Crystal Temps, but Peridot… believe me when I say you would make a fantastic leader one day."

It meant so much to hear those words. Peridot never expected them to come out of Lapis for sure. She tearfully nodded, acknowledging her former roommate's words before speaking up; Peridot thought she'd somehow lost her voice for a moment. "S-so that's it, huh… you all really wanted me to be the leader that badly…?"

"At this point, you gotta be!" Bismuth affirmed with a thumbs up. "Put me as head of this operation, and I guarantee we'll end up real quick in some risky Bismuth!"

Greg got the wordplay immediately and started cracking up. Peridot paused for a moment, as that sounded so familiar to her… oh right, it was a movie she watched. "I get it!" she cried out as she joined with Greg and Bismuth in the hearty laughter.

Lapis was not impressed. Whether or not she got the joke, it just bounced off of whatever shield she had. She crossed her arms, letting out a huff that loosened up a lock of her hair.

"Well, I'd vote for you, Peridot!" Greg added in once they got all their laughs out of their systems.

Peridot's lip quivered, as it had so many times already since she reformed. "I'm just used to there being some resistance when I offer to lead…" Her jovial tone wore off as the words sunk in. It wasn't some kind of elaborate joke now. She became a leader because these three individuals believed in her. The feeling reminded her of how she always believed in Steven, and always will. Now his hopes and prayers were in Peridot's hands. It was her responsibility to make sure he didn't make a grave mistake by passing his will on to them. It would take some insane level of planning to make this rescue a success… luckily, the Crystal Gem who did it best was on the case. Absolutely everything to the smallest detail needed to be perfect, she believed. The slightest miscalculation or logical misstep could end them all on the spot.

"We really needed this morale boost," Peridot acknowledged, looking to the others. "And for that, I thank all three of you. But it's time to get to work."

"Mission layout's simple enough, right?" Bismuth asked. "Find a vehicle to get to Homeworld, get all our friends outta there, and get back home all in one piece." She paused for a brief moment. "So if we're gonna do this causing no ruckus at all if we can help it, what do you propose I do, Peri?"

"Simple: You will help me grab any scrap we can make use of from the Diamonds' crashed ships, I will give you the specs for a ship of our own, and you will build accordingly. Once we're in Phase 2, you'll suffice as the muscle of our group. I'm almost certain there will be obstacles that require brute force to bypass. Most importantly, self-defense. I'd be very surprised if we really could rescue Steven and the others right from under the Diamonds' noses, to be perfectly honest. So of course we'll resort to self-defense if necessary. I have the utmost confidence that you will protect us for this mission, Bismuth."

"Now that's what I like to hear!" Bismuth grinned at her boss before looking down at her work bench. "Gotta admit, I've never made a spaceship before. But heck, if I can make spires, armor, shields, and every kind of weapon under the sun, why not? I love a good challenge."

With Bismuth satisfied, clear goals set ahead for her, Lapis quietly stepped forth to take her place.

"So what's up, Dot?" Lapis inquired; her tone dry. "Before the drama bomb, you were in the middle of telling me how my powers are nigh-on useless on today's Homeworld. You're not thinking of bumping me down to team mascot, are you?"

Just like that, Peridot's composure dropped as she puffed up her cheeks and growled right at Lapis. But Lapis just smirked; it was obviously the flustered whiny child kind of whine she was used to hearing from her former roommate, current… "superior."

"Why you-!" But instead of exploding in a hyperactive rage like before, she just turned her nose up at Lapis, crossing her arms while trying her hardest to look so cool and sassy-but-classy. "Pumpkin has and always will be this team's mascot!" Peridot declared. "You dare commit sacrilege on this fledgling team by supplanting our lovable team mascot with you?! For shame!"

"What can I say? I'm a born rebel," Lapis answered. She rolled her eyes, then leaned over with her business face on. "You do have a reason for me being here, right?"

"Oh, without a doubt!" Peridot quickly answered; she did admittedly feel awkward that she was in the middle of berating her friend before she found out it was all a test. "I'll run you through what I've got in mind. While we're still here, you'll be essential to making sure we get our ship made as quickly as possible. It's a collaborative effort; Bismuth builds it, I design and oversee the project, and you will be speeding up the process."

Lapis didn't quite follow. "Right. So… how am I making this faster for you?"

"Bismuth told me she's got her own workshop. It's called 'The Forge'." Peridot couldn't help but use air quotes to emphasize the name. "Real original, right?"

Already, Lapis felt herself getting bored. This was not lost on Peridot, who made the effort to discipline herself better. She was supposed to be serious now, wasn't she?

"A-anyway, it's right underneath a volcano, I think she said. She siphons the magma straight from their chambers and uses that to forge her weapons! She's quite productive, mostly due in part to the fact that she usually gets to skip the cooling process since heat of that magnitude doesn't affect her at all."

"She can just touch it like that without burning her hand off?" Lapis looked a bit disturbed just thinking about it. Then again, it made sense. Being trapped underground with magma on all sides of you must be a Lapis Lazuli's worst nightmare. Or so Peridot assumed.

"She bathes in the stuff and claims it's like a lukewarm shower," Peridot informed her. "That's well and good for her, but the rest of us can't handle that kind of heat. She'll have to adjust to letting the ship parts cool down; otherwise she's assembling the entire ship herself, and given that she just admitted to never building one before, I believe it's pertinent that we oversee her work before jetting off into the vacuum of space wouldn't you agree?"

"I get it," Lapis nodded, her smile finally returning. "We're right next to the ocean; she can mass-produce these parts I'll cool them all at once with a big wave."

"Ah, you'll need more than one wave," Peridot cut in. "It'll turn into a big ball of steam in a matter of seconds. Definitely don't touch the parts until steam stops coming out. I'd also avoid the steam whenever possible. I think you'll find this task to be much more challenging than how I'm making it out to be."

Gradually, Lapis was becoming impressed with how Peridot conducted herself. Part of her wishes she had been there to witness how Peridot and Steven saved the world from the Cluster, or when she landed the final blow on Jasper. Of course, the blue-hued gem held no illusions of Peridot changing permanently. But it the way she stepped up to take this role, despite her quirks and attitude still slipping in here and there… at least she knew when it was time to get serious and stay serious. If her appearance was concealed, Lapis never would have guessed it was a Peridot putting her in her place earlier.

"That'll make it interesting, I guess," Lapis conceded. "Maybe if I make the water really cold… it should cool down much more quickly."

"Might wanna double-check with Bismuth on that," Peridot advised. "I mean, you're not wrong, but from a purely scientific standpoint, I've known some metals become brittle if they freeze quickly. But I'm not the antiquated weapons specialist here, so I advise you seek a second opinion."

"I'll be sure to double-check," Lapis assured her. "So… about the lack of water on Homeworld…"

Peridot nodded. "Relatively simple solution: we bring our own water. You know, I've seen kids on Earth during the summer with these garish plastic toys that sort of look like weapons, only they fire water instead of incendiary rounds or lasers. They just… all fire at each other indiscriminately; the objective eludes me. Relevant to your situation, I saw one particular boy with a different type of water-spitting weapon. It looked like a heavier faux firearm; probably not fun to carry, but the payoff is that it fires off a much bigger stream of water. I noticed a difference in the duration of his water spraying and virtually no pauses to reload. In a matter of a few Earth minutes, that kid was the lone dry survivor; everyone else was completely over-saturated!" Peridot very nearly let out a wicked laugh, because that was the one time she enjoyed watching human children engage in water-based combat, but she could see Lapis was waiting for her to get to the point.

"-So, how did that kid make a vague competition so one-sided, you might wonder. Well, I noticed his weaponry was attached to something on the kid's back. I later identified it as a container that held much more water than those piddly little chambers the other kid clods brought on their weapons. Now, I'm not suggesting you use something like that, Lapis! Give me a little credit, now…"

"That look on your face says you really want to see me use one," Lapis accused; she sounded so sure about that, as if this wasn't the first time Peridot tried to rope her into doing something stupid after making it sound so amazing all day.

At that point, it seemed even Peridot knew trying to lie her way out of it would be a waste of time, so she simply laughed it off for a quick second before shifting the subject a bit. "I sort of envisioned you flying around using something like that to store water when we're on Homeworld," she said. Lapis felt like that took an eternity to get to the point. "Easy access, it can hold a lot, and it shouldn't be a burden to carry."

Lapis paused to consider the option. "It's not a bad idea in concept, though I'd prefer something that doesn't weigh me down too much. I'll try some things out."

"Hm…" Peridot nodded in agreement, yet there was still something else on her mind. "Maybe I should have brought this up sooner: Lapis, if you have a finite amount of water to work with, how much would you need to adequately fight? How diligent would you be in reusing a fixed amount of water at any given time, while wasting as little fluid as you can? How much of it can you carry at all times without it adversely affecting your combat or flight abilities?"

For a few moments, Lapis was silent, staring at her leader like she was some puzzle rigged to be impossible to figure out. Finally, she replied, "You really should have opened up with those questions, Peridot."

"Eheh… I'm still learning?" was all Peridot could offer as an excuse.

Lapis turned to leave; she was finally satisfied with Peridot's answers. "I guess you're not doing too bad for a first day," she offered as some sort of compliment. "You've had a lot thrown at you in a short amount of time, Peridot. You're sure you're really okay with leading the rescue effort?"

Just by being reminded that all of this was for the sake of a rescue mission, Peridot looked more emboldened than ever before. She cast her eyes to the sand, hands forming into shaking fists.

"I won't let you down, Steven…"

"What was that?" It was still Lapis who had taken a few steps further away to begin her training. "Peridot…?"

"Hm? Huh?" Peridot tried her best not to look exhausted, but as usual, she fooled no one. The sun had set over the horizon. It felt like just a second ago the sun was still up for her… "Oh! It's nothing, Lapis! I totally swear I'm not gonna fall asleep or anything!" She forced out a laugh, as if that would throw off the scent. "Because then I'd be like you, wouldn't I?"

Lapis considered prodding further, but decided against it. She got the answers she needed to prepare for a fight for her friends stuck on Homeworld; now she had no excuse to kill time. "Their house is vacant now; did you realize that? Maybe you can steal another gem's bedroom for the night." She smirked to herself, and just before flying off without looking back, she made sure to make her words be heard loud and clear by her diminutive friend. "But knowing you, you'd be too freaked out to go through with it, right?"

With that, she took off into the air and smirked when she heard the disbelieving screeches of rage below her.

"Everything okay over there, Peridot?"

The diminutive gem froze and went dead silent, only to relax when she turned to see Steven's father. "Oh, it's just you. I'm… surprised you haven't left yet."

"I just can't bring myself to this time," Greg confessed. "Usually I'm good about keeping myself out of Steven's gem business, but this… it's different, you know?"

"Tell me about it," Peridot dully agreed, staggering a little, but ultimately caught herself before she fell.

Greg noticed her falter a bit, then gestured over to where he had made a fire a bit further up the beach. "C'mon, kiddo. You've had a lot on your plate today; a rest by the fire will do you good."

"I didn't eat anything today…" Peridot weakly rebutted, but had no qualms about joining Greg by the fire.

Greg just chuckled; he should've figured that's one Earth expression she hadn't come across yet. "What a day, huh? Wedding, big epic battle…"

"Poof, official Crystal Gem status is official again, Steven's gone, now I'm a leader."

"Exactly," said Greg. "I got a feeling you'll look back on this day years down the line and think better of it then. This could be the start of something bigger for you."

"Feelings don't foretell the future," Peridot muttered. She came off as a real stick in the mud whenever she got this tired. Truth be told, Peridot couldn't remember the last time she exhausted herself to this extent. Then again, she never made this much of an effort to contain her compulsive need to enjoy her free life on Earth until today. It took sheer strength and willpower to tone herself down and not go on a complete power trip now that she had officially become an authority figure.

For all the times she falsely claimed to be the leader of the Crystal Gems, Peridot never dreamed she could really become one. Her kind was never meant to stand above anybody and never climb the ranks to achieve greatness. By default, Cut-5XG had declared herself the greatest Peridot that had ever lived. That was one boast Peridot could always make without being challenged for it. Now that she really thought about it, it wasn't that much of a meaningful achievement.

"Maybe not," Greg considered as he took out a cup and a thermos. "But I'm pretty confident you'll feel a lot better in the near future if you take my offer of some hot cocoa."

Sure enough, Peridot found herself being offered a beverage before she had time to process the man had pouring the cup for her a few seconds ago. She accepted it without hesitation and took her time to sip it down. "Wow, thanks… I like it."

Greg nodded. "You look like you're perking up already." He turned his head and took notice to Lion suddenly appearing and settling into the gap between him and the lone remaining gem in the area. "Oh, hey, Lion. You're tuckered out too, huh?"

Similarly, Peridot felt something tapping her side, but paid it no mind. But suddenly, Peridot's arm shot forward on reflex as Pumpkin startled her by jumping on her lap. "Y-yikes!" She had just barely managed to keep a couple of fingers on her cup to keep it from spilling. Luckily for Peridot, she was close to finishing her drink, anyway. "Oh, Pumpkin!" She immediately sat her cup down firmly on the sand before devoting attention to her neglected pet. "I'm so sorry! How long have I been ignoring you today?!" Given the way it all played out, it was safe to say Pumpkin felt pretty left out for most of it.

She hugged Pumpkin, but continued to feel pangs of guilt somewhere in her body. "Aw, you're so freezing cold!" She sniffled when she felt Pumpkin still shivering even in her embrace. "H-hey, I'm sorry! How many times are you gonna make me say that today, and why aren't you warming up?!"

Peridot grumbled, then took notice to the cup she put down just a minute ago. "Oh, I get it now." She picked it up and dangled it in front of Pumpkin's face. The sentient winter squash yapped at the sight of the cup. "Emotional blackmail, is it?! You're gonna guilt-trip me until I give you the rest of this. You seriously didn't think I'd catch on? I am a genius!"

Ultimately, she sighed and fed Pumpkin the rest of her hot chocolate. That seemed to satisfy her pet, though she didn't get much warmer even from that. "Oh, for the love of-" She looked to her left and noticed Lion's presence for the first time. Now she understood what Pumpkin wanted. "Hey, Lion?" Relief fell upon her when Lion opened an eye and looked up to the gem addressing him. "H-hey, hi," we offered and awkward wave before picking Pumpkin up off her lap. "Do you mind…?"

This must not have been the first time this happened; Lion quickly consented in the form of a snort. Peridot carefully set Pumpkin over Lion's mane; the little creature automatically made itself comfortable on a spot and quickly went to sleep. Lion himself drifted right back off to dreamland himself. "We appreciate it," Peridot quietly thanked Lion before looking up at the night sky before she let out a sigh. Seeing something at the corner of her eye, again to the left, she turned and jumped out of her seat for a split second before fumbling around to calm back down.

It was just Greg, offering his thermos for a hot cocoa refill. Peridot couldn't refuse; she didn't know why or how, but the human told the truth when he said it would perk her up. Although she still must have been a little dazed to so quickly forget his presence the moment Pumpkin jumped in her lap, Peridot couldn't deny she was in a much better place now; much more at peace. While she sipped down her second serving of cocoa, the bright powder pink of Lion's mane drew her attention a bit. This time, it served as a reminder of why she sat here; why she was too scatterbrained, even by her own standards. She looked to the stars, trying to hide her bitter annoyance to Greg. "This is so unfair."

"Hm? Everything okay?" Unlike the gems, Greg was content letting Peridot talk only when she wanted to. He knew it was important to give her some degree of comfort during down time; some space especially, since she'd have to answer to everybody at all times once they were ready to leave Earth.

"Uh, sorry…" Peridot wasn't sure what she just apologized for, but she shook her head and decided there was no harm in being honest with Greg. Perhaps the real reason fate brought him together with this specific trio of gems was to give a way to offer Peridot a bit of therapy. "It just hit me how much of a tease it is that Lion is here," she grumbled. "Did you know he's capable of reaching the Moon from here in a matter of seconds? I was along for that ride."

Greg was taken aback by this. "Geez, I don't think Steven ever told me he did. Aw, man… did he really go to the Moon without ever telling me?"

"It was his first trip. I was there… we needed coordinates for the Cluster." Thinking back on it, Peridot realized how insensitive she had been to all of them that trip. Her shallow, misguided adoration for Yellow Diamond was painful to relive. It was hard to live down recounting the enthusiasm in her voice when she first saw what the Earth could have been, so oblivious back then as to how anyone could have considered that project a bad thing.

Really, the only interesting thing Peridot could glean from that memory was her equally insensitive criticism of Rose Quartz's methods. Her words hurt and angered each and every Crystal Gem, Steven included. But it was almost humorous in hindsight, since everyone else in Peridot's life had recently been making a big deal about Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond being one and the same. Peridot could hardly believe back when she was first told about the wedding that it all started by Garnet (still the cool one of the group in her eyes) taking that news so badly that it destabilized and broke her fusion. Back when she gave Rose a very sarcastic thank-you for dooming the planet, and even when she told Steven right to his face that his mother's actions really didn't save the world at all in the long run… she wasn't wrong. With Rose's deception exposed, by comparison Peridot came out of that smelling like roses in hindsight.

"Ah, I think I got it. You know Lion can take you all the way to the Moon that fast, and it's hard not to wanna think he could be taking you to Homeworld right now." Turns out Greg wasn't wrong, either.

"I-… I know there's a slim-to-nil chance of that actually happening," Peridot was quick to make that clear. "Lion really exhausted himself taking us to the Moon. That distance is smaller than a stupid grain of sand compared to the distance between Earth and Homeworld! So of course I'm not taking a risk like that. Believe me, there are so many quicker alternatives we could be taking right now if they weren't all smashed to bits."

Oh, those were the days. Back when the Crystal Gems routinely trashed everything Peridot had to her name.

"Well, try and focus instead how much of a good thing it is that Lion's with us," Greg urged. "We forgot to tell you it's because of Lion that Steven's message reached us at all. I'll spare you the details, but I guess one way to put it is… well, Lion was the bottle carrying Steven's message as it traveled across the ocean." It actually seemed like an apt metaphor in Greg's mind considering how the message was actually received, but…

"Don't tell me that's actually a thing here!" Peridot took it literally, of course. "There's no way that's a legit mode of communication!"

"Uh, think of it more like a fictional media thing, or a myth!" Greg quickly assured her. "A-anyway, we all owe Lion for letting us receive the mission. Maybe he'll come in handy on Homeworld."

Peridot snapped her fingers, like a light bulb just illuminated inside her head. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?! If we can get Lion to Homeworld, all we need to do is land in a secluded place, then just tell Lion to take us to Steven! I could skip all of that elaborate subterfuge I've been planning out in my head!" She turned to smile genuinely at Greg. "Wow, I'm glad I decided to draft you into my team! Who would've thought the best ideas we have to succeed here are coming from the token human of my crew?"

"Oh, so you are taking me along," Greg realized, both happy to have contributed genuine safer alternatives for the mission and nervous that the ambiguity of his involvement in this rescue effort was no longer there.

The young gem wasn't sure how to make of this reaction. "I was under the impression you wanted to join the mission earlier today. Was I mistaken?"

"A-actually, not at all," Greg explained. "There's some info I'd like to share that could help the mission, but I'd prefer to wait until everybody meets up here again. Do you know when they're coming back?"

"Bismuth…" Peridot winced, remembering she had made a folly. "Crud. I said I'd help her collect scrap from those Diamond ships hours ago. If I had to guess, she's already starting to prep some building material at her little "Forge". I still need to decide what model to give her guidelines for, or else we risk missing out on a day's worth of work."

Greg simply nodded. "And what about Lapis?"

"Urgh, I should've made her give me an ETA before she flew off," Peridot's sense of peace began to boil away. She was still making mistakes at every juncture. "I told her to hone her water skills so she'll have an idea of how much of a fixed amount of water we'll need to bring with us on the ship." She just realized she skipped an integral part of the explanation that would make this far easier for Steven's father to understand. "Oh, right. My proposal for Lapis coping with the lack of usable water to fight with was to bring some of our own. But you've seen the kinds of things Lapis likes to make with her power, right?"

"Ohhh yeah," Greg groaned, remembering the size of the giant water arm that inadvertently cost him a boat. "You could fill three public pools with that much water."

"It goes without saying she will need to downsize and revise her strategy. The longer we stay here on Earth, the more I'm going to worry about everyone. There's still so much I need to take into account as far as possible roadblocks go! Honestly, I have a hard time believing Steven entrusted his fate to us without taking into account that he could be putting his life in my hands! I never gave him a single reason to believe I work well under pressure… there's no way he would have wanted me in control of this operation!"

All too familiar words, Greg noticed. He was more than glad to offer his input, "Just a second, there. Steven and me; we've always been in tune. There are some things that even the Crystal Gems can't give Steven advice on… usually guy stuff and human stuff. And if he was ever worried or curious about the Crystal Gems but wasn't ready to talk to them in person, then he could always turn to me."

That was something Greg could always be proud of, and why he'd never think he would ever become irrelevant in Steven's life.

"And believe it or not, especially back when you were still new to Earth, Steven liked talking to me about you a lot. That was back when the others didn't really trust you; I was a valuable neutral party back in those days."

Peridot raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Neutral party? Wasn't your first impression of me that time I shoved you off the barn roof?"

Greg laughed out loud as he remembered that moment. The petite gem couldn't fathom how that was funny. Well, for her it was kind of funny. But had Garnet not been there to make the save, she was certain their first "meeting" would be devoid of any humor. "Ah, that's all in the past. Garnet vouched for you, and thinking back on it like that, it's just, y'know, funny. When I think about experiments, usually I think about some really creepy lab tests with a mass of dudes in white coats talking all weird. Pushing me off a roof just to see if I could fly? That's Sitcom 101!"

"Hm…" Peridot was following along, but she didn't know where Greg intended to go with this. At least she knew what sitcoms were now - and based on what she could recollect of the few series she did catch glimpses of, she could see the analogy.

"But seriously, when it comes to being given a chance to lead the team, I'd think Steven would be one of your biggest advocates, Peridot."

"Completely illogical," Peridot refuted. "On what basis do you found that thought of yours on?"

"You'd be surprised, but a lot of what you've been saying tonight, and the way you've been handling everything… I see a lot of him in you." That was certainly something Peridot never thought she'd hear from anyone. "Still so young - by gem standards, anyway - and I bet Homeworld is the last place you want to be right now…"

Peridot sighed; her gaze fixed up towards the sky. She appeared to be looking for something up there. "Yeah, doesn't that figure. I did everything I could to find a way off this planet once I got stranded here, and I was desperate enough to kidnap your offspring as a last resort. So I gave up on it, and once I'm finally comfortable living life as earthling, now… this." It was obvious these ironic twists had been grating on Peridot since she learned about the stakes of this mission.

"But if it's really gotten you shaken up, you could've fooled me," Greg pointed out. "The rest of us didn't have a clue where to even start; you've been handing out plans for everybody right away. You've assigned a big job to everybody to prepare for this while the ship gets built. Between Bismuth wanting to blow up everything and everyone in her path to get to Steven, and just getting Lapis to agree to come along at all… do you really think Steven wouldn't want you to guide us?"

When he put it like that, Peridot couldn't think of a real counter-argument. "I suppose I see where you are coming from," she conceded. "Though that reminds me… I haven't really given you a task yet."

"I was just waiting until you were ready to tell me," Greg assured her. "I'm not gonna pressure you. Besides, I know I'm kind of limited in what I can do for you guys. I know I'll still be a liability more than anything."

"N-no! Don't ever think that!" Peridot suddenly begged. She sounded so desperate to make Greg see he was integral as any of the other team members. "Really, even if you didn't want to come with us, I'd still make you."

Greg was glad he already consented of his own free will, because that statement concerned him. "You need me with you guys that badly?"

"I'm sure you've noticed there isn't much in the way of team synergy like there is with Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl," the newly-anointed leader pointed out. "You seemed like a pretty good mediator earlier. But you're not wrong about your limitations: even though you're coming along, I don't plan on you leaving the ship once we land on Homeworld. I guess the appropriate title for your role in this team is Chauffeur."

"Ah, like the people who drive limos for rich people," Greg understood… sort of. "I don't mind, but I haven't exactly got a pilot's license…"

"Irrelevant," Peridot declared. "For most of the trip, we'll be on auto-pilot anyway. The basics will be easy for you to learn. I know it's not exactly a glamorous role for the mission we're undertaking, but you're going to be crucial for our escape."

"How do you figure?"

The pensive Peridot chose her next words carefully. "I'm bringing you along because we're so short-handed with abilities that don't exactly gel that well for a cohesive rescue effort. It would be the worst if we all made it back to the ship before getting captured, but fail to escape because our getaway vehicle was not prepared ahead of time. It's also crucial to have someone guarding the ship at all times after we disembark. If anyone finds our ship, it's highly likely they'll commandeer it." She noticed Greg looked more and more fearful of this possibilities the longer she went on; he definitely needed some positive reinforcement.

"Listen: I'm very well aware how limited you humans are. But if you can just keep the enemy locked out, you won't have to fight at all. I can give you a few easy-to-use tools so that you can better defend yourself in a worst-case scenario." Peridot sighed as she looked down at the sleeping Pumpkin nuzzled into Lion's mane. "Against my better judgment, I've decided Pumpkin is coming, too."

"Are you for real?! It's crazy enough that I'm coming along!"

Peridot looked to Greg; her focused, unflinching eyes told the musician she was being real with him indeed. "Two simple reasons… and you sort of fall into that category, too. Once we depart for Homeworld, we're leaving Earth completely undefended. We're the only ones left in this group, and I can't afford to leave Pumpkin all alone. I've projected that this will be a relatively short mission, but there's always a chance something will delay us. And… I don't want her to think I've abandoned her."

"I-… I mean, I get it, but what's that got to do with-"

"I hate to give you more reason be be terrified of what we're doing, but the odds of our mission succeeding? It's slim. Slim in that it will be a true miracle if this plan goes through completely unhindered." Peridot hated having to talk about this, but the realist in her didn't want to delude her teammates into thinking this task would be anything less than nigh-on impossible that will require 100% of their efforts to succeed. "It's safe to assume we'll be shattered when we're caught. And if it comes to that… ooh, I'm such a selfish clod for saying this, but…!" She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. "If we all fail… and we're all sentenced to execution, and there's nothing we can do to get out of it… I… I kind of want all of us to be together when that happens."

Greg was stunned to hear this.

"I guess it's okay if you hate me for saying this, but… I want us all together in our last moments. So the last thing we'll ever think and feel is how much of an honor it was to be part of this team… part of this family."

A couple of minutes of silence followed this. Peridot kept her eyes glued to the fire, as she was certain Greg was only looking at her with disgust.

"Oh, and I forgot…" Peridot muttered; she really didn't feel comfortable talking again after such a morbid confession, but it felt like a detail Greg should be aware of. "For non-sentimental purposes, Pumpkin can guard you with the ship. I know it's not much, but I guarantee if she has the element of surprise, no one on Homeworld will know what she is or how to deal with her, and you can use their confusion as an opening to dispatch the enemy."

The last thing Peridot expected to get was a hug, but somehow she got it. Though confused and flustered, she didn't resist it or try to escape. This was the opposite reaction she expected out of Greg. "Gyah! What in the-?!"

"You really are a gem after my son's heart, you know that?!" Greg sounded oddly ecstatic and possibly on the verge of tears. "Peridot, don't you dare think you're not up for this job ever again! You are, beyond a doubt, the heart of this team!"

Oddly enough, Peridot's sentiments seemed to be felt by both Bismuth and Lapis. Both paused their work and felt a comforting warmth that felt similar to a human beating heart, before the feeling dissipated moments later. Each Crystal Gem smiled, and though they weren't entirely sure what brought about such a sensation, they knew there was only one individual on this planet that held such empathetic intensity. Projecting feelings that strong from a distance, though… Lapis and Bismuth did find that highly unusual given the natural limitations of their leader. But that only inspired them to work even harder.

"The heart…" Peridot quietly echoed. "Y-you can't be serious; I'm nowhere near the kind of heart that Steven is. Since we know he's a Diamond hybrid now… I guess a lot of his more… er, esoteric abilities make sense in hindsight. B-but that's all the more reason why it's inappropriate and inaccurate to claim my limited abilities come anywhere near Steven's!"

"Aw, and here I thought you'd be the one gem who wouldn't go on about Rose like everyone else has," Greg mumbled, a bit downtrodden.

"Don't be mistaken, Sir Greg Paternal Unit Universe!"

"–just call me Greg."

"Wh-whatever!" Peridot still didn't fight the hug, but she felt her fingers fidgeting again, as they often did when she was in shock. "I couldn't care less about the whole Rose-Diamond-Pink thing! This is purely about Steven - I can't even imagine what else he's been able to do since he left!"

"Well…" Greg stared up at the sky. "It sure didn't stop him from getting into trouble up there, you know. I doubt he would've sent the SOS if these "diamond" powers were doing anything to help.

"I-it's the principle of the thing," Peridot tried to rationalize. "Diamonds are at the very top of the gem hierarchy. B-but Peridots, especially Era 2s like me… we're at rock bottom. We emerge as technicians, and stay that way until the day we shatter. We're never meant to climb the ranks or become anything memorable. A Diamond's power has no limit; I barely have any to speak of."

"Hm…" Greg released his hold on Peridot, who sat back down looking extremely conflicted and confused. "I'll throw a hypothetical at you: if Steven told you that you had no limit to your potential, and he really believed you could be on par with the Diamonds one day, how would you react?"

Peridot quietly growled as she pictured the scenario in her head. She really could picture Steven doing exactly what Greg described. "I would call him the biggest clod that ever existed," she said with bitter certainty. "I'd throw Steven's stuff at him, just to get him to shut up. His bubble would deflect that eventually. Then the little twerp would start hugging me, saying all these sickeningly nice things to win me over… I'd break out of the hold and try to distance myself as far as I can, because I remember then…"

Greg smiled, clearly endeared to this hypothetical story.

"I can't get myself to stop believing in him," Peridot confessed. "The first time I trusted him, that was the point of no return. If I can't believe in myself when he clearly believes in me… it feels like I'm insulting him. I can't do that to Steven… so I'm not going to fight it. If he believes in me, I'll vicariously believe in myself through him. Even if I don't agree… but right now, lacking confidence is the last thing this team needs." Peridot seemed to regain her strength and resolve towards the end of her statement. "If we're going to rescue Steven and the rest, we need to be confident so we'll be able to perform the tasks assigned to us flawlessly."

"Sorry if it sounds like I'm prodding, but I've noticed every time you nearly went off the deep end today, you sobered up in an instant when you were reminded of something," Greg said with a hint of caution in his voice.

"The mission," Peridot immediately realized.

"But it's more than the fact that it's just a mission and you were chosen to lead the charge, right?"

"Steven gave us this mission," the youthful gem recalled. "His life is in my hands… I can't let him down. I won't let him down…"

Greg stood up from where he sat; the fire was beginning to die out. "And you won't. None of us will," he assured his tiny superior. "Good talk, Peridot. I'm glad I helped you out with your plans. Just remember you can always come and talk to me anytime when you're feeling down." He let out a yawn just then. "I think I'll turn in for the night. I'll make sure to get a week's worth of food tomorrow for the journey, okay?"

"Fantastic idea," Peridot affirmed. She also got to her feet. "I thank you for your invaluable input, uh… Greg," she cringed as she said that name out loud. "Augh, that is so dull." She looked sternly to the adult man towering over her and pointed to his face. "I must nickname you, Paternal Unit Universe. I will make a note of that right now and be sure to have a better name for you the next time we have a conversation by a fire."

Greg laughed as Peridot brought out her tablet, making a digital sticky note attached to her desktop to serve as a reminder.

"Hey, just a suggestion, but maybe you should get some rest too, you know?" the man advised. "I know gems don't really function like humans, but you're living proof that even gems can get overworked and worn out. You're the head of the Beach House now; go sleep wherever you want; I won't tell a soul."

Peridot smirked as Greg winked at her. "Funny you should say that. I wanted to search through the house to see if there's any artifact lying around that could help us out anyway, and Lapis dared me to sleep somewhere besides the bathroom for once… sounds like I have no reason not to raid the Crystal Gems' home base."

"Just try not to break everything is all I ask," Greg requested. "Odds are I'll be footing the bill for replacements, y'know?"

"I promise only to try," Peridot swore, giving Greg a salute. She eyed the Beach House; the entrance to the Crystal Gems' Temple, and scrambled over to it.

Pumpkin was plenty satisfied to sleep the night in Lion's mane by the fire on the beach. Greg retreated to his van. Bismuth was hard at work in her sanctuary, smelting pieces of the outer layers of both Yellow and Blue Diamond's ships.

She didn't expect this, but Bismuth was more than amused when the brightly colorful outer plating pieces begin to mix into another hue entirely as the pieces became one. That gave Bismuth a brilliant idea, but she'd keep it to herself and just focus on making more in the meantime. It's not like she had been given any design guidelines to actually build ship parts yet…

Lapis was hard at work further away on an uninhabited island; she loathed to admit it, but Peridot was right. She had never been in a situation where she had to fight where water sources were scarce. At least, nothing in recent memory. She was so accustomed to squashing opponents in an instant using obscene amounts of water to do so, and Lapis knew very well she couldn't possibly bring that much with her to Homeworld.

It wasn't too hard honing techniques using much less water than usual, but the aquatic gem struggled with her instinctive urge to just pick up more water from the ocean right next to her once she ran out of what she trained with. She wasn't accustomed to going out of her way to recycle the water she used, and she needed to adjust to trying to draw the water back to her as much as possible after every attack. But Lapis didn't falter; now that Peridot had convinced her to come along despite her reservations, she couldn't bear to let everyone down just because it was annoying and tedious to limit the amount of water she could use offensively. The less water the Crystal Gems needed to carry along for their mission, the easier it would be to fit in their imprisoned friends on the way back.

Peridot, at that time, had finished her preliminary scanning of the beach house and now stood before the Temple Gate. The little green technician giggled to herself as she considered her options. "It was stupid easy to break in here before," Peridot recalled. "Now whose room should I claim for the night…?" Then she smirked. "Of course; gotta pick the one who'd be the most upset about it: Pearl's room!"

She lit up her gem over Pearl's symbol, still mischievously chuckling to herself before realizing that, unlike last time, nothing happened. "Rrrghgh, come on! It worked like this before!"

Then it dawned on her: there was a difference. Back then, Peridot had her limb enhancers and much more immediate ways to hack into doors. Now that they were no more, it would take much more effort to force the door open.

"Hmph; I bet she reset the code or blacklisted me while they trapped me in the bathroom," Peridot deduced. "Pearl would do that… alright, let's try Amethyst's. They told me her dwelling is an abomination to all gemkind, but I'll be the judge of that. She is a Shorty Squad member, after all. We are still, as she would put it, "tight"."

She tried again, but again, the door did not respond and no lights activated. "Aw, come on! This can't be real!"

But it was. "You know what? Forget that," Peridot decided. "She's the reason I can't access these doors like I used to. Tossing my limb enhancers into the ocean… just… really? Hmph." The little gem that could would not stop there. "Okay, then! Garnet! She's still cool; she has to be cool with everything since she just had a wedding!"

The theory was soon debunked; Garnet's room was just as unresponsive.

"I HATE YOU!"

Peridot exploded at the door, letting her rage and agitation flow freely with her growling while she banged against the antiquated barrier.

Luckily, Peridot's punches may as well have been kitten strikes, as her little fit of rage left no marks on the door. Once she was tired of channeling her anger, Peridot stomped away from the gate.

She did turn around just before running back and delivered a final kick to the Temple Gate, but all that did was give Peridot a sore leg. Of course, Peridot noticed there were more symbols on the door than there were Crystal Gems living in this residence, but since she was locked out by three in a row already, it was safe to assume the original Crystal Gems deactivated their gate while they were gone.

"So much for that!" Peridot threw up her hands and walked away for good this time. She was a very sore loser and absolutely hated having to give up. "Guess I'll have to show Lapis tomorrow so she'll know I'm not making it up," she grumbled as she approached the lounge of the house, and familiar small ladder a little ways off caught her eye.

"Oh, right," she just remembered, and felt like a clod for letting it slip her mind. Peridot cast her gaze upwards to find the little area above the others known as Steven's room. How could she forget? This was where she hid under the cover of darkness to kidnap Steven.

She couldn't remember ever getting the chance to enjoy this bed. She noticed a TV to her other side that was a relic even by human standards, then took notice to the Dolphin console on the floor a well as the controllers. She crawled onto the mattress, doing her best to avoid disturbing the stuffed animals.

Stuck between the headboard and pillows was a photograph of Connie. Peridot plucked it out and took a close look. A sobering sadness took over; she so easily forgot Connie was a prisoner on Homeworld too, just like Steven.

She placed the photo back where she found it, stifling a sniffle. Greg was right about this rescue mission keeping the leader Peridot grounded whenever she faltered. But he knew, Lapis knew, and Bismuth had correctly suspected it was more than that. It was really Steven Universe who brought her subconscious back to Earth when it tried to float away. That same boy, even when he wasn't physically with them, urged the leader to dry her tears and stay on track. He stopped a tangent dead in its tracks. When the stress and self-doubt of Peridot's position became too much, Steven was there in spirit to purge the gem's mind of those toxic notions.

While she laid on the mattress, trying to get herself to sleep, Peridot's eyes opened wide as she felt her subconscious accept the truth of her motivation. The problem became clear: Steven would only randomly come to mind to calm her down. Either that or it needed to be triggered by someone saying his name. What she needed was something tangible; something she could take out at any time and cure herself of the jitters.

She glanced back up at the Connie photo and had an idea. Peridot rolled off the bed and started to dig around underneath Steven's bed. "Nyahah! Got it!" The gem plopped herself out from under the bed; her arms latched around a giant binder. It was nearly three-quarters her size, but it was relatively light.

Peridot hopped back on the bed and cracked open the binder, lip quivering into a heartfelt smile as she saw what was inside.

"This is exactly what I need to get through this."

---

The following morning, the Crystal Gems all assembled at the same spot on the beach, each having a refreshed, renewed sense of purpose. It was just a little after dawn; Bismuth was in fact carrying some of the pieces she smelted last night and brought them to her workbench. Lapis now wore a medium-sized pouch around her hips, sliding to the right side. It was the same kind of container used for any human crazy enough to traverse a desert. Greg hadn't gotten his supplies just yet (the stores weren't open this early), but he did bring his guitar along. He figured it had no practical purpose to the mission, but figured it would boost morale as the other gems would work tirelessly throughout the day.

Peridot was the last to join; she wasn't used to sleeping, really. She carried one of her ship designs and had some basic tools she found inside the house in her other hand.

"Hey, 'bout time you showed up, fearless leader!" Bismuth greeted/teased. "I got some samples to show you. You decided on what kinda ship we're making, right?"

"Y-yeah, sorry for the delay," Peridot apologized and handed over the specs for the ship they would soon save their friends with. "I settled on this one; adequate size to fit us, our supplies, and everyone we're taking home with us. We'll be in Homeworld within a few hours. And if our performance is optimal, we should be able to fully construct the ship in under two days." Peridot nearly walked away before remembering something, and turned around bushing with embarrassment. "O-oh, and I apologize for not accompanying you last night. I ended up having unscheduled consultations with… pretty much all of you, actually."

"No worries, Peri," Bismuth assured, not hesitating to give her new leader a pardon. "It kinda worked out because I can surprise you now. I'm thinkin' this should be our ship's outer shell, right?"

Peridot inspected these unusual smelt lumps that had a somewhat familiar finish to them. "Wait a second… isn't this the outer plating for the Diamonds' ships? You actually made building material of of that…! But… hm." She looked up at Bismuth; her eyes already nearly sparkling in delight. "This color is divine… but why is it like that? Does intense heat change the color?"

"Oho, better than that!" Bismuth was so proud of herself; she was waiting all night to talk about this. "I used outer plates from both Yellow and Blue's ships. Once they mixed together…"

"It changed to green!" Peridot squealed. "I had no idea pigments could mix in smelting!"

"Normally, it doesn't," Bismuth affirmed. She had a big smile on her face; she can tell she made Peridot's day already. "But this is from the Diamonds' ships. When I saw that last night, I just realized… you know how we can really tell the Diamonds to take this job and shove it? We'll pilfer their tech and taint their iconic colors with the color of Peridot!"

Peridot's eyes grew wider and wider, as did her pupils. They sparkled with awe and she could barely speak properly; she was too busy ogling this miracle of experimental smelting. In a split second, Peridot leaped over to Bismuth and hugged her around the waist. Given how large and sturdy the veteran was compared to her miniature captain, Peridot's pounce did not knock her down. All the same, she laughed along and let Peridot bask in the moment.

"Bismuth, I officially love you now!" This was more than Peridot ever could have hoped for. Her ship would actually be stylish, represent her, and mock the Diamonds all at once.

"Hah! Happy to serve, my Peridot!" Bismuth joked; she certainly didn't expect the young gem to react this well, but perhaps it was a sign of good fortune. "Did you know in Earth culture, green is the color of luck?"

"I actually did not know that!" Peridot exclaimed while releasing her hold on Bismuth. "So you're suggesting our ship will have good fortune?"

Bismuth chuckled at Peridot's childlike wonder. "With any luck, that might just happen!" That elicited some laughs from Peridot and Greg. It sounded like a snort came from Lapis, but she stifled it almost quickly enough to cover it completely. Just almost. "So, now that I got an idea of what we're making here, you gonna tag along with me to get more scrap from the ships? You might be able to salvage a control panel or a steering mechanism, but it's not completely safe in there. Sounds like a herd of insects."

"Robonoids!" Peridot exclaimed with joy. "Oh, I need to see this! If I can salvage enough of them, we might get this done by tomorrow morning! Ooh, if I can harvest their binding gel, we'll be set! I-I could actually repair a Homeworld Warp Pad! We could-"

"Perhaps stick to your plan," Lapis dryly advised. "If we fix that, there will be no escape because the enemy will warp right behind us."

"Nnrrgh… good point," Peridot conceded. Being brought down from her excitement. It just dawned on her that she's been acting like a child at her birthday party since they assembled here. "Um, Bismuth, hold that thought," she requested in a gentler tone before the lead gem turned her attention to her former roommate. "I see you acquired a new accessory, Lapis. Now, progress report."

"Nice try, but you're not fooling anyone," Lapis taunted. "I'm doing a test run with this pouch right now. I'll admit, it's… very frustrating to conserve and reuse the water when there's an ocean right next to me. You know how much water I'm used to using for anything."

Peridot nodded in agreement. "Indeed. The ocean is clearly an unnecessary distraction. I recommend training inland, far away from any body of water. I believe you'll get a better idea of how it will feel like when we're on Homeworld. I do hope you won't need to use it at all, but…"

"Wishful thinking, I know," Lapis grumbled. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind supervising the training so I can get some more immediate feedback?"

That crushing pressure within Peridot began to resurface. She winced a bit before speaking up. "I believe I need to set up an official schedule; you want me to watch your water works and Bismuth wants me to collect scrap for the ship. I can't be in two places at once, and I've got my own tasks that must be fulfilled."

"Oh…" Lapis understood, a bit downtrodden.

"No big deal," Bismuth assured. "I can manage on my own, so–"

Peridot smirked. "Actually, I just had a quick collaborative project we should do immediately. The beach will look like a trash heap, but we need to save all the time we can going from place to place."

Bismuth just blinked. "You talkin' about gettin' that other ship flung over here from the other side?"

"We have just the right combination of powers to make that happen!" Peridot proclaimed, though she had serious doubts her power could affect something so big. It wasn't that long ago that Peridot was able to levitate trucks with her powers… and even then, she couldn't push those too high up and it took nearly all of her energy to maintain the levitation. "What we need to do is-nyaaaaaugh!"

Peridot felt the ground rumble with the loudest thud she had ever heard, followed up with an average wave of water that rushed through the entire area. It was almost deep enough to reach her bosom, which freaked her out a bit for some reason. And Lapis couldn't help but take notice to poor little Peridot flailing in relatively calm water (more so than what Lapis usually conjures) with her hands fixated on keeping her body above the big star on her uniform from getting wet. She had never seen this kind of behavior… but she opted to save it to ask about while getting some work done.

Once the water receded, Peridot's arms dropped down.. and she looked so annoyed. "Thanks for waiting for my signal, you two."

"Oh, sorry! Guess I just got a little too excited over how great of an idea that was. No more traveling halfway across the island for scrap, now! Good thinkin' Peridot!" It just seemed impossible to get mad at Bismuth. Especially after that pleasant surprise…

"You know your powers aren't ready for something like that, Peridot," Lapis reminded her friend once she made landfall again. "You still have limitations; that's all there is to it."

That drew a tired sigh out of Peridot. "You always know how to lighten up the mood, Lapis."

Now that both of the Diamond ships were right next to their base of operations, Bismuth couldn't help herself; she approached the pile and started gathering scrap right away.

"Just focus on what your real strengths, Peridot." Lapis walked past her without so much as a glance. She stopped briefly. "It was a really good idea to do this."

For once, Peridot felt flattered. But she stumbled over to reach Lapis once she saw the watery wings and her stance that indicated she was about to fly away. "Wait, wait! Not yet, Lapis!"

Lapis let out a sigh of her own as she saw Peridot from the corner of her eye, rushing over and stumbling repeatedly. She turned around just in time to see Peridot fully trip over and splat face-first into the sand. Admittedly, Lapis was glad she waited to see that.

Peridot pulled herself up, staggered a bit before shaking the sand off her face and hair, and finally made it to Lapis just seconds before she flew off. "S-so, remember yesterday I told you to talk to Bismuth about cooling down the ship parts? I presume you haven't talked to her at all yet."

"I have my reasons," Lapis muttered under her breath. Peridot caught it, but decided not to press on the matter. "Correct. I suppose I should get that out of the way; it looks like she's getting a lot this time."

"That's the spirit!" Peridot cheered, and for a moment Lapis could have sworn she heard and saw Steven Universe himself then and there in Peridot's place. It was just too on-point. "While you handle that, I'm gonna go inside the wreckage and see what I can salvage for our ship's interior. There might even be some components I can reverse-engineer!"

If it weren't for the verbiage, Lapis still could have sworn that was still Steven Universe talking to her. "Right; sounds good," Lapis agreed. "You go on ahead. I don't trust someone with your level of grace walking behind me… no offense." Her smile said she totally meant it, though.

Peridot audibly grumbled, but opted not to make a spectacle out of all this. She ran on towards the wreckage of Yellow Diamond's ship and looked for a way to enter the mangled remains of its interior. Lapis smirked, because of course Peridot would want to loot that first. She turned around to see a rather humorous Peridot-shaped imprint on the wet sand, but that wasn't the only noteworthy oddity on this patch of sand. Right next to the Peridot imprint (Lapis entertained the idea of calling it a Perimprint…) was a photo laying face-down.

Lapis knew she was probably sticking her nose where it didn't belong… then again, Peridot would be a massive hypocrite to call her out on something like that. Either way, it didn't stop her from picking up the photo to see what Peridot had clearly been hiding underneath her uniform. It wasn't hard to connect the dots…

---

The day passed by, with Greg coming in and out, but he was never gone for long. Without a real need for lunch breaks or sleeping, an astounding amount of progress was made by the time dusk settled in. It helped that two of the three gems were working in their element. Constant work made it rather easy for Peridot to keep a level head an an even temper. As long as she had something to keep her busy, her leadership skills shined the brightest. Bismuth and even Lapis had no reason to be concerned… for now.

Then came nightfall. A near-complete spaceship with glorious, glossy emerald coating was propped up by multiple beams nearby Bismuth's workbench. Peridot was inside, applying the finishing touches to the interior. As she predicted, they would definitely be ready to take off before sunrise. Technically, they could leave at midnight, but it had been a while since she checked how far along Lapis had come training herself to use only a finite amount of water. This is something she needed to know in order to prepare for how much water would be stored on the ship. Greg stocked the ship with a week's worth of his human needs - it actually took up very little space - meanwhile Lion and Pumpkin had already decided the ship was a nicer place to sleep than the chilly beach and took their spots. Bismuth did a final exterior quality check, and Lapis took the time to hone her skills once more. Nearby her were a few empty water coolers, ready to be filled with seawater when it was officially time to blast off.

"Huh, Steven didn't tell me he wrote that song with you. When was this?"

Peridot didn't turn to face Greg, as she was still in the middle of the penultimate phase of bug-fixing the system and controls. But she did smile a bit as she continued to work. "This happened at the barn. We were building the drill for the Cluster. The clods were all sitting around just staring at the sunset while we still had a drill to finish. I still believe I was justified to berate them for their careless and lazy behavior that day."

"Hm, when you put it like that, I can't disagree," Greg admitted, absentmindedly strumming his fingers on his guitar. "But Steven still somehow got this song out of you, is that right?" He quietly played the first couple of chords, which elicited a giggle out of Peridot.

"How was I supposed to know music was contagious?!" she replied between her laughs.

"You learned the hard way, then. But sometimes, that's the best way." Greg dabbled through a few other bits of the song. "Okay, you're right. A guitar can't fit the ukulele's shoes. It already sounds way better in my head."

Peridot hummed along with the notes, grateful that an hour's worth of bug-fixing was nearing its end. She did appreciate Greg's company to offset the boredom of this particular task, and when she managed to teach Greg that song, something within her swelled with pride. She managed to teach it just by going off of how she remembered it sounded, as she never learned how to write sheet music. It felt like such a great accomplishment. She was almost too happy.

"I'm starting to get used to it; you're fine," Peridot assured him. "Besides, it'll be that much better when you get to hear the real deal when we get Steven back."

"I'll definitely need a word with that boy; he should be letting me know every time he writes a new song!" Greg exclaimed, but it was all in good fun. He needed to be in a good place mentally, as he knew in a matter of ours, he'd be up in outer space on the way to an extremely difficult mission. He started strumming the final chords. "C'mon, at least do the last part one more time? Maybe you'll serenade the rest of the bugs to sleep."

Peridot smirked; she was nearing the very last bit of code to review anyway. She played along to the tune… somewhat.

"No, that is not how bugs work, sir–"

"Uh-oh, that's not right!"

"I'd watch that tone if were you, sir–"

"I'm in trouble?"

"Who would think my adlib's worth more, than peace and love on the planet Earth?"

One moment later, a low beeping done broke the post-song silence. "Scan complete! Let's just cross that off the list, and– oh." Peridot's smile widened as she gazed down at her laptop. "That was the last test…"

Suddenly, Lapis' head poked up from the open hatch below. "Hey, turn down that racket, you hippies."

Peridot and Greg just stared at Lapis like she grew an extra head.

"Oh– sorry. That was my Uncle Andy impression," Lapis clarified.

"Ohhhh."

"Guess it needs more work."

"Actually, the line itself was perfect," Peridot pointed out. "It's the accent that makes it all come together."

"Yeah, that's what I was gonna say," Greg admitted. "Don't force yourself, though."

"Oof, I dunno, man. Dat sounds like some qoo-ality enta-tainment for da low-ng ride ta space if ya asks me."

That was enough to make Peridot fall out of her seat, kicking her feet with the biggest laugh she's had since her reforming. Greg was holding his sides while busting up with equally hysterical laughter.

Lapis just smirked and patiently waited for the two to get the giggles out of their system. It was a pity Bismuth was too preoccupied making final routine inspections around the ship; she probably would have loved to hear that.

"So, hey," Lapis spoke up again once Peridot was just about done. "Bismuth's pretty much done with her end of the quality check. Are we bug-free in here, Peridot?"

"Ah… ah, yeah, the scan just finished," Peridot squeaked before she got to her knees and climbed back into her seat. "I think we're about ready to set off. For once, we're ahead of schedule!"

"Cool," Lapis acknowledged. "I just need a minute to get some water."

Peridot looked over to her teammate, looking much more calm now. "How many are you gonna need?"

"Mm… let's make it three, just to be on the safe side," Lapis figured. "That's okay, right?"

To that, Peridot gave a noncommittal shrug. "Fine by me. Better that we get too much than too little. Worst case scenario, we can water bomb one of the Diamond clods on the way back."

Lapis nodded and ducked out to grab two of the empty plastic containers and flew out over the ocean. In the meantime, Bismuth came aboard and took a seat. "Woo, it's way bigger than it looked on the outside! Man, when we started, I was sure my first space ship would be some rinky-dink hunk of junk that'd barely fit the six of us!" She made sure to count Lion and Pumpkin. "This is pristine!"

"Eh, we did hijack pretty much every part of this ship from the Diamonds'," Peridot slyly reminded her. "You know, it's nice that they finally gave something back to the working class."

Bismuth smirked and nodded heartily. "Ain't that the truth." There was a silent pause. "We're really going back; I can hardly believe it…"

Peridot blinked, just remembering she needed to be a leader and cover all the bases. "Right, so… once Lapis comes back with her water, we're getting out of here. Let me know if you're all packed up and equipped to go. Once I close this hatch, we're beyond the point of no return."

"All I'm ever gonna need is my weapon," Bismuth assured her boss. "It's not like I've been unbubbled long enough to get settled back in, anyway."

"I'm good," Greg confirmed. "Thanks for letting me bring the guitar, by the way."

"Not a problem." Peridot smiled down at Pumpkin, who was exploring every little nook and cranny of of her new surroundings. Lion was… well, Lion. With her eyes back toward the front, she saw Lapis dive into the ocean with her third water cooler in hand. "Just a little bit longer, Steven," she whispered. "I'm gonna get you out of there… I'm getting you all out of there."

Discretely, she slid her fingers down her uniform to bring out one of two pictures she brought along from Steven's picture collection last night. She figured he wouldn't mind; this was for a good cause. She kept the photo close to her chest, obscuring it. After all, there was no reason believe something could be wrong right this very second.

One eye opened abruptly as she heard Lapis fly in with three large jugs of water.

"You sealed those, right, Lapis?"

"Airtight," she confirmed. "I'm fully prepared; we should get moving."

Bismuth and Greg audibly agreed with her. Peridot confirmed the coordinates of their destination on the front screen. Just before moving her finger to shut the hatch for good, she decided to give that picture she still held one last look for luck, as she kept it pressed to her chest the entire time since drawing it out.

This was not the picture she wanted out at a time like this. A picture of Steven and herself making identical faces close to the camera (must have been a Funland trip) was the last thing she needed to see. But it was an easy mistake to make; she wasn't even looking when she took the photo out. The real problem arose when Peridot couldn't feel another picture under her uniform. She patted herself down completely; the other photo had been separated from her. Peridot had no idea where it could have fallen off or how. She knows it isn't in the ship; she's the one who installed the ship's interior assets. The only answer is that it fell in the sand outside somewhere, but that was the worst place to lose anything. That's a lot of ground to cover, and everyone was ready to go. If it got buried, she'd definitely never see it again.

"ALL RIGHT! WOO! OUTER SPACE, BABY! LET'S GET THOSE DIAMONDS OUT OF OUR BISMUTH!"

Well, that's all it took for Peridot to scream, and not in her usual hysterical way. Not even bothering to address her crew, she hopped up and jumped down the hatch she nearly sealed up seconds ago.

"Whoa, what?!"

"Was it something I said…?"

Lapis stood up and grumbled. "Crap, I knew there was something I forgot about." She quickly looked to the others. "I'm sorry, everyone. I'll just tell you what you need to know; I have a feeling Dot's going to be too torn up to explain when I drag her sorry butt back here."

"What just happened?!" Greg asked. "She was fine just a second ago…"

"Simple. She thinks she dropped something important to her on the beach. Which she did, but I found it. Should've told her sooner. That's all there really is to it; it might be best not to interrogate her right away, so let me handle it." Lapis was annoyed, but resolute. Peridot was the only reason she agreed to this suicide mission in the first place. She wasn't about to let the leader of the Crystal Gems implode on herself before they even got off the ground. "I won't be long," she assured the rest before diving down the hatch to fly after her. .

Luckily, she didn't need to go far. Predictably, Peridot was digging in the sand all around her.

Amusing as it would've been to just hover behind and listen to Peridot insult herself over and over, this was not the time. Lapis landed by Peridot's side and poked her hair. "Hey, missing something?"

"G-go back to the stinkin' ship, Lazuli!"

"Ooh… you're pissed." Peridot hadn't called her that since they became roommates. Lapis reached around the back of her halter top and pulled out the missing photo. She peeled off the plastic wrap, which she had been thoughtful enough to do ahead of time since it was only a matter of time before she got completely wet somehow. "Hey, you're missing this, right? Why you would is beyond me…"

Peridot looked up. Sure enough, in Lapis' hands was a very simple and generic photo of Steven. Just Steven. "Ohhhmystars, ohgoodness, thank-" She reached up to grab it, only for Lapis to raise it higher so she couldn't reach. "Oh, I'm so glad I didn't finish that. GIVE THAT HERE!"

Lapis just stared down at Peridot with disdain. To add insult to injury, she started to fly up just to make sure Peridot couldn't reach her or the picture. "Maybe you should explain yourself first," she suggested. "Aren't you supposed to be leading us? What kind of example are you setting here?"

"N-no example at all!" Peridot shot back. "That's for me to know and for none of you to find out! Now give it back and we can forget this ever happened!"

"Look, I'm sorry I'm doing this to you now, Peridot; I really am," Lapis insisted. "I know it's a bad time, but if we don't get this resolved right now, there won't be another opportunity. Not unless you're cool with sharing… whatever this is to the rest of your team in there."

"NO!" Peridot's voice cracked at the idea. "Wh-why can't you let me just keep this to myself?!"

The elder gem grew more annoyed by the second. They were going in circles like this. Was tough love not working? It felt like it should… Lapis wasn't comfortable with any of this. But if there was any remote chance that this could jeopardize their mission, she'd put a stop to it here and now.

Maybe it was time to go the direct approach. Lapis hated to assume, but she'd have to if there was any chance of getting Peridot to give her something.

"Why are you being so dramatic?" Lapis inquired. "This is just a crush, right?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, that usually points to a "yes", so…"

"I just said I don't know!"

Now Lapis' patience was running on fumes. "What else could it be?! Puppy love? Deep, obsessive love? You wanna be the Rose to his Greg, is that it?"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

Lapis grit her teeth. She couldn't believe how much Peridot was stonewalling her now. And usually she was so bad at keeping up an act when she was lying…

"This can't just be a friend thing." Lapis crossed that off the list. "Familial love… no, doubt it. There's no way you hate him; that much is obvious."

"Y-you just can't leave well enough alone, can you?!" Peridot was on the verge of tears. Actually, it was impressive she lasted this long before "I don't even know how to explain this to myself, never mind you!"

Lapis felt a sting just then. Seeing Peridot like that… it was exactly how she felt less than a year ago. Back when she was Peridot's prisoner, being ruthlessly interrogated. The tides have turned, but not in a way either would have liked right now. It felt insane to even acknowledge that this overly emotional, vulnerable little gem used to be an emotionally devoid, morality-lacking soldier who just barely had more of a soul than a robonoid.

She sighed and gently descended to the ground. She walked over, sat down across from Peridot, and set the picture down at the middle between their feet. "Here," Lapis urged. "I'm not going to just wait here and prod you until you cry."

"Too late for that," Peridot growled, swiping the picture and keeping it close to her. "You just had to over-complicate this, didn't you, Lapis?!"

"I'm trying to understand you," Lapis calmly fired back. "Guess you're finally feeling what I felt back when Steven first tried to make us live together and you kept screwing up every chance I gave you for redemption." When she saw Peridot glare daggers at her right back, the elder gem flinched. "Fine, I take back what I said. I don't want to provoke you…"

Peridot narrowed her eyes at Lapis, still clutching the picture to her chest. "You sure do suck at not doing things you don't want to do, you know that?"

That was an obvious baiting attempt, and Lapis wasn't going to bite. "Something changed," she said. "Something shook you up badly. Almost like your whole world got turned on your head."

"You think?! Maybe you heard of a little thing calledSteven is stuck in Homeworld and I don't even know if he's okay right now because some blue CLOD is standing in my way!"

Finally, something connected. Lapis could feel it. "You've been all over the place since we told you about that. Is… is that it? Steven's on Homeworld and not on Earth, where he belongs. Earth… life in general.. it makes sense when he's around, doesn't it?"

Peridot just softly cried into her arms. No snappy comeback and no extreme adverse reaction. Definitely no stonewalling. Lapis was sure she nailed it. She scooted over so she could give Peridot a hug, even if she didn't reciprocate it. There was just one more thing she wanted to ask before she could cast aside any reasonable doubt. "Hey, when you think about things you've learned on Earth… what's something you would say is a lot like Steven? Like as close to Steven it can be without literally being him?"

She patiently waited a few moments. Questions like that could be tricky to answer, but the fact that she didn't blurt out a stupid answer right away was a good hint that she took that question seriously. "Mmm… I forgot what humans called them," she finally said. "They look like humans but they're not really… but they can fly, just like you do. Wings are different… bigger and puffier. And their heads… I think they emit some kind of antigravity field. I don't know how else they're keeping those gold-colored hollow discs floating over it."

Lapis smiled. This was something she was vaguely familiar with. "I believe they're called angels. And based off what I know of Steven… that's a very accurate way to put him, come to think of it."

"He's a special kind of angel," Peridot insisted. "I've seen 'em in movies…"

Lapis tried to think if she had seen any of these with Peridot, because nothing rang a bell just yet. "Special how, Peridot? What do they do?"

Peridot paused. She hadn't been looking at Lapis since she sat down next to her. She couldn't deny it felt therapeutic to talk about this; there really weren't any plans to get into this anytime soon. It just wasn't the time for something like that. Then again, neither was now. Peridot only had herself to blame, though.

"They save specific humans," she quietly recalled. "Save their lives, guide them on the right path… the humans are so messed up, they need that much supernatural help."

"Ah, I get it. Guardian angels." That was an even better description for Steven. If Lapis was being honest with herself, she sort of saw Steven that way as well. "That's what Steven is to you. And now that he's so far away, and in trouble on top of that, you're feeling lost."

"I'm confused," Peridot corrected. She sounded a bit more stable now, so Lapis released her hold. "Everything makes sense when he's here. One second I'm with everybody and I'm not even afraid to run my mouth at Yellow Diamond in person, because I felt so secure with that life and everyone in it. Then poof! Literally… poof! I wake up and nothing makes any sense."

Lapis saw where she was coming from, but still. For not being able to tell up from down, Peridot had done an amazing job making everyone believe she knew what she was doing.

"Like you said the other day ago, it's weird that I don't care that I'm returning to Homeworld! It's for the right reasons, but I should still be a little bit afraid, don't you think?! But we'll be saving Steven and the others, so I wanna go there, Lapis! When I see him again and know he's alive, I know it'll make me all better! I feel like I've lost my center of gravity or something, don't you get it?"

That made Lapis smile. She understood now. "Because Steven is your center of gravity, Peridot. Your center of gravity left Earth and is on Homeworld right now. You're going to chase him down, and you'll put him back where he belongs. It's no wonder you kept warding me away with all those "I don't know"s earlier. It's not that you don't want to tell me. You just don't know what to even say."

"That won't even matter if we can't get him out of Homeworld," Peridot muttered. "You're taking this too well… don't you think this is completely messed up? It's not like he's your center of gravity…"

Now Lapis smirked. "I think the world of Steven, but you're right. I don't think it's as complicated as you believe it to be. Just look at that picture of him and you. I love spending time with Steven, but his idea of being with friends versus mine is… well, a little too different. Stuff like that is too loud, too exposed to people who can see. Baggage might also factor into this."

That prompted Peridot to look up at Lapis. "You mean the fact that all of you are, at a minimum, 5 Earth millennia of age, and had something to do with the war and the rebellion stuff that I didn't even know about until coming to this planet?"

"Heh. I had a feeling you weren't anywhere near even a thousand years old, so you're welcome for covering for you with Connie that one time." Lapis suspected the token Era 2 of the Crystal Gems was much, much younger than she cared to admit. But the fact that Peridot was so removed from that ancient drama was what made her somewhat refreshing to be around. "Peridot, can you stand up?"

She did so, but she still looked a little pouty. "I guess I'm ready to go back now."

At least they weren't far away. Before reaching the ship, Lapis turned around to ask Peridot her original question. "So can you tell me why these pictures mean so much to you? I know you just got them from Steven's room last night; they're not keepsakes."

Peridot's lip quivered for a bit, her eyes darting around from left to right while she tried to find some justification for blowing up over something so pedestrian. "They're my… gravity stabilizers," she finally said. One cheers me up when I'm feeling like a defective piece of scrap; the other gives me strength and… pulls me back into reality when I start to break down. I realized last night that thinking about him is what keeps me going as a freaking leader now. But I can't count on my memory just flashing at me at the right time every time. I need to be able to control that, so that's why I picked these specific photographs."

"Gravity stabilizers… I like that," Lapis said with a smirk. "Well, at the very least, if the "center of gravity" theory proves to be true, then you're going to be a boss once we step into Homeworld."

"I'm counting on that," Peridot muttered. Both came through the hatch and back into their ship. "I apologize for the delay, everyone. Don't bother getting mad; none of you could ever hope to be more angry at me than I am."

With that, she plopped down to her seat and picked up from where she led off. The hatch closed, lights shined all around the ship's interior as everyone looked at Lapis after she took her seat, like they expected her to be the Oracle of all things Peridot.

She just shrugged at them and smiled. "We're all in this deep, aren't we? Let's see where this takes us."

And they took off, leaving the Earth behind within moments and on a fast course to Homeworld. There, Steven Universe and the original Crystal Gems waited for them. Emboldened with resolve now that the rescue mission was underway, Peridot couldn't help but express herself the best way she knew how.

"Prepare yourself, Homeworld! I'm coming back not as your slave, but as your savior!"

---

Notes:

This came spur-of-the-moment, and I wanted to get at least part of this vision out of my head before the upcoming season 5 finale. I was certain if I waited, canon would crush this sucker to bits and it'd never get written. I'm actually not sure if I'll continue this or not; I'm not exactly sure how good a job I even did for my first SU fanfic. There could be up to 3 parts of this, because I know for certain what I want going down for the Homeworld climax, but I highly doubt I'll be able to write all that out before the canon stuff comes about.

This story was like a slippery eel for me. 11 pages in and I thought I was nearing completion. The actual end came at... page 47. I hope somebody got to enjoy this story, anyway.