The diamonds were distracted. The nearest bubble was three arms' lengths away, and by how stubby Steven's arms were, that was pretty close. If Yellow Diamond could just turn thirty degrees to her right, the bubble would be completely out of view. Steven could make the sprint, teleport the bubble back to the temple on Earth, and run back behind the pillar. Or, he could shapeshift his arm to stretch out to the bubble and then teleport it. He didn't know which method was faster. He was starting to get sweaty and clammy. He wondered how familiar the two diamonds were with a human heartbeat. Would the diamonds eventually notice that two people in the room were hyperventilating, even though that gems didn't need to breathe? Steven didn't know how many opportunities he had, but the sliver of a pessimist within him told him that his chances were slipping away fast.

"Steven, what are you doing?" Greg screamed, but tried to whisper at the same time. Steven had already started to make a mad dash for his target. He had to do it. He just had to. No one gets left behind, not anymore. No more Bismuths, no more Jaspers, and no more Eyeballs. He couldn't save all the roses today, but he'd be damned if he missed the chance to save one.

Yellow Diamond thought that she saw something out of the corner of her eye, and it was enough to make her skip a beat.

My form explodes out my gem, ready to literally fight for my life. I approach my senses one at a time, making sure everything was formed properly. I might've been cracked. Please, please don't let me be cracked already.

Smell. My nose sharply inhales. Nitrogen. Oxygen. Carbon dioxide. Sulfur? High probability that I was still on Earth.

Touch. The air is dry and hot, suggesting that the sulfur was burning. The floor is even warmer, with a hard, metallic texture.

Taste. Not a priority, but it's nice to see that I have all of my teeth. I will them to sharpen a bit. In fistfights, I was a biter.

Hearing. A voice. Several voices. They're scared. No time to listen, my hearing works fine, and that's what matters.

Sight. The big one. My eyelids shoot open, and I adjust my irises to fit the dimness of the room. I catch the light source: A lava pit. That explains the burning sulfur. Deductive reasoning states-

Oh no.

No diamond was this cruel.

Genocide was one thing, but these, these monsters were actually going to melt my gem alive. My flail rockets out from the gem on shoulder with a speed I'm pretty sure is faster than light should travel.

I examine the faces my captors. It's four on one. Scratch that, one's a human. Deal with that one first, then-

Wait.

One's a human.

The diamonds don't employ humans. Mmmaybe I should give listening a try.

My captors (rescuers? Interrogators? Rose sympathizers?) are already in retaliation. A runt amethyst has a whip. A fusion (A FUSION?) has gauntlets the size of her head. A pearl has a spear (OH SHARDS, A PEARL WITH A SPEAR), and the human has a shield (THE HUMAN HAS A LIGHT CONSTRUCT WEAPON. WHAT IS MY REALITY HERE?), but specifically-

The human has that shield. From that rose. I take a step back, as if going physically backward would reverse time, so maybe I could think.

I can't tell which one of us spoke first, but I guess it was the fusion (A FUSION, I AM NOT OVER THIS).

"We aren't going to melt you!"

For the next five minutes, for the life of me, I couldn't keep track of what came out of whose mouth.

"Not helping, Garnet!"

"Steven, get behind me."

"Are you with the diamonds?"

"Are you with the diamonds?"

"How long was I out?"

"Where are the other roses?"

"If you're not with the diamonds, then why'd you draw your weapon?"

"Everybody shut up!"

"Where am I?"

"We're the ones that rescued you-"

"Oh, and look how well that's turning out, Pearl."

"What is this place? Why are all these other gems bubbled?"

The human is the first one to get distracted. Apparently, there was a banging on the door that was getting louder and louder without any of us noticing. The human opens the door to a smaller human (I once told Citrine 7TV that I found a human as small as a sandstone once, but she didn't believe me), and they talk for a minute.

"Afternoon, Onion," the light-making human begins, "say, this is kind of a bad time; real tense situation. Maybe you can come over to play in another hour? Sorry, I'm just having Steven problems."

This 'Onion' doesn't look amused, and I get chills. I get the distinct feeling that he'd be more likely to melt me then the gems I'm facing now. He doesn't say a word, and he probably doesn't need to.

"Okay Onion, you drive a hard bargain, but I usually resolve these issues in ten, maybe eleven minutes minimum."

The Onion is pleased and he leaves us to our own devices once more. Somebody coughs on the volcanic fumes.

"I believe we got off on the wrong foot," I understate, using the voice I used when talking to a human that was panicking and had something sharp on hand.

"We are the Crystal Gems," the pearl announces, flourishing her spear dramatically. "We protect the Earth and all its inhabitants!" It sounds heavily recited. Also, it was now safe to say that I was on Earth. After all, I wasn't aware of any space station that had its own lava pit. And if I'm on Earth in a Crystal Gem base, that must mean Rose 22MY was nearby. She probably guessed my feelings about her, and she didn't want to risk me directly attacking her, the coward. My weapon stays firmly gripped in my hand.

"If you're the Crystal Gems, take me to your leader," I counter, feigning skepticism. The amethyst snickers under her breath, but it's the fusion that answers.

"We don't have a leader." That makes me hesitate. On one hand, she could be lying, on the other, 22MY could've been shattered. Either way, the fusion has a face harder to read than an onyx, and those reclusive pebbles covered their whole faces. I examined the other gems for hints. The amethyst (how was she so short? It was cute, but 22MY must be desperate for recruits to take in something that overcooked) was still laughing at some inside joke. The pearl was still hostile, legs wide and knees bent, ready to literally leap at me at any given moment. I knew that 22MY had a pearl that incorporated dance moves into a fighting strategy, but cracking shards, she looked scary. Her stance wasn't fully offensive either, she was ready to push everyone else out of the way to safety just to fight me head on. She even went out of her way to stretch her left leg out far enough to form a make an impromptu fence in front of the human, which, in case y'all haven't forgot, already had a shield. That shield.

Un-cracking-mistakable, it was 22MY's shield. How a human could produce it, I had no idea. Forcefully, I yanked my attention from it and tried to focus on what the human was feeling. Empathetic sensors, don't fail me now. Please, give me something to lead on. I should read the other gems, too. The minds of the fusion and the pearl were a brick wall of hostility, paranoia, and even emotions strong enough to to form words in my head; a continuous march of 'She's not Rose, not Rose, not Rose. She's not Rose, not Rose, not Rose…' The amethyst liked to keep her emotions less complex, and the 'joke' I told her put her at ease. I feel a tinge of familiarity from her, like she's negotiated with hostile gems before, and it turned out well. It's a guess, though. Now to the 22MY-human.

Oh.

Oh wow, this one's a mess. He's scared. He's relieved that I'm safe. He wants to talk to me. He's regretting meeting me. He's hopeful. He's worried. He can't focus on one emotion; can't pick a reaction. He's starting to cry. He doesn't want to face me. He tells himself that he wasn't ready. Reading him is leaving me more confused than before. One emotion gets strong for a sentence.

'Oh god, her dress even has those white frills.'

"Yo," the amethyst interjects, finished her laugh long ago, "do you have random staring contests on Homeworld? I think we drifted off a bit."

The human's mind left me in a daze. "Are you going to be alright?" I ask him. I notice that I got distracted enough to release my flail. How long was I trying to figure out this human? I should start writing a mental list of questions, or else I'm going to lose track. Let's start with the question that the fusion likely knows, though.

"If you don't have a leader," I inquire, ignoring the amethyst's sarcasm, "what happened to Rose Quartz 22MY?"

The human turns to the pearl. "Is that-?"

"Yes, your mother." the pearl confirms.

And, thank the diamonds (for multiple reasons, I might want to hesitate before saying that phrase out loud), they start talking.

AN: 22MY. May 22nd. Earth Day. Apologies if I'm unintentionally butchering the real-life gem classification format.