Chapter 1: What do you mean by 'her'?
Lepidolite was standing in front of Rose Quartz, she had decided to leave them. Even after all these years, Doli was somewhat nervous to tell the pink gem about her plans.
''I'm leaving Rose, there are corrupted gems out there that aren't near warp pads''
Her voice cracked near the end, she wanted to say something more meaningful to Rose, but couldn't. They had been together too long, Doli had started to harbor feelings towards her leader, even if she knew they couldn't be together.
''Are you sure about this? You could stay if you wanted''
Rose didn't want her to leave, there were so few of them left anymore and she wasn't sure how to handle losing another friend.
Lepidolite nodded solemnly, there was no use in staying. She wanted to see more of the Earth and just forget that Gem Wards ever happened. She turned away from Rose and started walking, not once did she look back. If she had she could've seen what was left of the Crystal Gems mourning.
After 100 years of exploring the Earth Lepidolite stumbled to abandoned Kindergarten.
''No''
This couldn't be true, there wasn't supposed to be a Kindergarten here. She had been sure to steer away from any Gem related place, but here she was as if guided by fate. If it was fate, there was bound to be something important here. LepidoliteSCANNED the area and to her surprise there truly was something or someone here.
''Who's there?''
Her voice boomed along the canyon where the Kindergarten was located.
''Don't hurt me''
Voice was weak, as if it hasn't been used for a long time. Purple gem moved towards the voice and found small gem in one of the holes.
''What are you doing here? Who are you?''
''I'm Albite, I was left here all alone''
Small gem seemed sincere, cautiously they came out of their whole and Lepidolite noticed just how small that gem was.
''Who are you?''
Before she could answer, Lepidolite noticed that the scenery had changed. Now she was standing on the beach. In front of her were multiple shapes she couldn't tellAPART and a large hand which opened, revealing more shapes.
''Are they gems?''
Something inside her told that the answer was yes. Those weren't just any gems, they were Homeworld gems!
Lepidolite woke up with a jolt, what was that dream? She shook her head, trying to clear her mind, but no matter what she did, Lepidolite couldn't loose the bad feeling that came with her dream. She looked around, trying to find Albite only to notice that younger gem was missing. Purple gem stood up and went to search Albite.
Where could she be? Lepidolite should have known that younger gem would run off to have 'epic adventure against dragons' like she always said, even if she knew that dragons weren't real. After few minutes of frantic searching she stopped to take a deep breath. This forest was far too big for her to search alone, Lepidolite needed a plan. She couldSCAN the forest, but it was likely that Albite was using her camouflage to stay unnoticed by creatures of the forest and Lepidolite's vision. Simply calling out Ablite's name wouldn't do either, younger gem loved to play hide and seek and would take any opportunity to play it, but by the looks of it she had no other choice.
''Princess! Where are you?''
Purple gem focused on her surroundings, trying to hear Albite's usual giggle when called 'Princess'. This time there was none, now Lepidolite was panicking. Albite meant the whole world to her and there was no way she was going to give that up. She took another deep breath, panicking wouldn't get her anywhere. It was likely that Albite was playing with some forest animal and that Lepidolite could see it's heat whenSCANNING around.
Birds, bugs, few rabbits, nothing out of ordinary and nothing that would truly interest Albite. If there had been a fix then maybe, but rabbit's had habit of running away and Albite had gotten tired of chasing after them long time ago.
Lepidolite moved forward, trying to find anything unusual. It didn't help that Albite had most likely been levitating this whole time so she wouldn't leave any footprints. Doli had to admit that she was somewhat proud of Albite, she had been getting better with her abilities even if she still had lot to learn.
Part of her panic was caused by the dream she saw; Homeworld attacking them. Of course she knew that dreams weren't same thing as seeing into the future, but it had been enough to make her feel extremely squeamish.
''Albite, we don't have time to play games !''
Her voice was booming through the forest, hopefully Albite would understand that it wasn't time to be playing around.
''Doli!~''
Lepidolite's head snapped towards the sound, it was Albite. This started their game of 'Marco Polo', which luckily didn't last too long.
''What were you thinking leaving alone?''
''Look what I found Doli!''
Albite ignored older gem's question and presented her new discovery. It was small pastel violet creature with ringlets that looked awfully familiar and strange skirt thing.
''Albite look out! We don't know what this thing is''
Purple gem moved Albite behind her and summoned her weapon, ready to defend them if needed.
''Don't hurt her Doli! She can't hurt anyone!''
Albite was hanging onto Lepidolite's leg, desperately trying to stop her from doing anything rash.
Small creature was also covering in fear.
''How do you know? Don't tell me you've been playing with this thing whole day? And what do you mean by 'her?''
Lepidolite wasn't amused, that thing could be dangerous.
''She is not a 'thing'. Her name is Suu! And yes we've been playing all day. Before I found her, Suu was just a clump of slime. Look how cute she's now!''
Lepidolite took a deep breath once again and squatted down so she could look at the thing properly.
''Can you speak?''
Suu shook her head.
''Can I touch you? I need to see if you're a gem''
She looked puzzled for a moment, well puzzled as slime could, but nodded anyway.
Doli gently picked her up, noticing that Suu was surprisingly pleasant to touch and reminded her of human food called 'jello'. She searched for possible gem locations, but there were none. This puzzled older gem greatly, usually any strange creatures on Earth would have something to do with gems. There was also a chance that this slime had something to do with Rose Quartz and the Crystal Gems, if she remembered correctly Rose had habit of bringing most unusual things to life. At least then the ringlets would make sense.
''Do you remember where you came from?''
Suu shook her head and Lepidolite put her down. This had to be sign to go back to Beach City, she had to make sure that everything was okay and that her dream was just a dream.
''Never mind her. Albite we need to move, I wish to check something. We're going to Beach City''
''Beach City? That sounds fun! Can Suu come with us?''
Lepidolite looked at Suu, she seemed eager to go with them. There was a chance that taking slime with them would backfire horribly someway, but purple gem didn't want to start an argument with Albite, knowing that it could go on for multiple hours.
''Fine. Two of you can hang on my back while travelling''
''Can we use wrap pad? I've never used one!''
''I know, but no. We don't know how it'll affect Suu''
This meant that it would take few weeks before they arrived to Beach City, maybe sooner if they didn't make any unnecessary stops.
After securing Albite and Suu on her back Lepidolite took off. She was nervous about meeting Crystal Gems again, especially Rose, what would she say to her? Would she be disappointed? How would they react to Albite?
Younger gem could feel her nervousness and comfortingly squeezed her, hoping to calm her down.
It would most likely be okay, Lepidolite was just making assumptions like usually. Hopefully.