A/N: This was supposed to be pure fluff, but it got a little philosophical toward the ending. It takes place before "It Could've Been Great", when Peridot and Garnet were bonding. Enjoy!

THUNDERSTORM

It was nighttime. Steven and Amethyst were engaging in the human activity known as sleeping. Peridot was on the loft of the barn, watching Camp Pining Hearts again and taking notes. Everything was silent, except for Steven's primitive image cube, or "TV", which was set to minimum volume at Pearl's request, lest it disturb Steven's sleep. Fortunately, Peridot had already memorized all the lines and didn't need to actually hear them. Sometimes, without quite realizing it, she would even whisper the lines to herself, in perfect sync with the characters' lips.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by what sounded like a huge explosion, and the TV turned itself off. Peridot nearly jumped out of her skin in fright and shivered. For a terrifying moment, she once again thought it was the Cluster emerging, but then she remembered the last time she had heard that kind of noise and figured it was probably the "rain" phenomenon that Steven had explained to her a while ago.

"It's just rain," she told herself, still shivering. "It's a common occurrence on Earth. It's just water falling from the sky. Everything is fine."

Now that the TV was off, it was completely dark in the barn. Peridot got up from the couch and slowly made her way down the stairs and to the barn's door. Her previous experience with rain had been surprisingly pleasant. She was going to go outside and feel the water on her skin again to soothe her nerves and reassure herself that there was nothing to be afraid of.

She opened the door, briefly noticing that there was no water falling from the sky, when there was a flash of light that illuminated the night sky for a moment, surprising Peridot. Seconds later, there was another loud explosion sound that turned her surprise into terror. She yelped and ran back inside. She shut the door and hurried to cling to the nearest awake Gem, not caring how pathetic she looked.

After a few moments, when no other noise was heard, she looked up. Garnet stared back at her, stoic and unreadable as usual.

"Is it the Cluster?" Peridot asked her, her voice too choked up to be louder than a whisper. "This is not the 'rain' Steven told me about!"

"It's just a thunderstorm," Garnet told her, not seeming worried at all. "It will be over soon."

Peridot wasn't completely reassured and continued to cling to the fusion's leg. She glanced at the strange vehicle where Steven and Amethyst were still fast asleep under Pearl's watchful gaze. How could they sleep with that racket? Peridot decided that she would no longer turn the volume of the TV down. If this "thunderstorm" couldn't awake Steven, nothing else could.

There was another flash of light accompanied by thunder, making Peridot flinch. The last time, there had only been a couple of thunders before it had started to rain. This time, the thunders weren't stopping, and there was no rain. Surely there was something wrong.

Garnet was still staring at her. "It's not the Cluster," she asserted, seeming to guess what Peridot was thinking. "You're safe."

"O-okay..." Peridot replied. If Garnet was sure that this was normal and there was nothing to worry about, then Peridot could probably relax. "Can we go outside, then? It's too dark in here."

Garnet hummed, deep in thought, and adjusted her shades. "We had better stay here. It's not safe outside. If you get struck by lightning, it will deliver a powerful electrical discharge to your body and probably poof you."

Peridot's eyes went impossibly wide. She wondered if Garnet was joking, but Garnet had told her that Peridot would know when she was joking. She didn't look like she was joking. Maybe Earth really was a lot more dangerous than she thought. How could humans survive this long on such an erratic planet, where it was normal to have powerful electrical discharges that could kill them coming from the sky?

"If it's too dark for you, why don't you just use your gem?" Garnet suggested, using one of her own gems, the one on her right hand, to create light in demonstration.

"Uh, no, actually, I'm fine being in the dark," said Peridot, mostly because she purplish light that Garnet was flashing from her hand just made the barn look even spookier.

Another flash of lightning from outside followed closely by booming thunder. Peridot jumped and instinctively latched onto Garnet's legs again. Her entire tiny frame was shivering.

The horrible sound quickly faded into silence again and Peridot realized that she was clinging to the fusion like a pathetic little thing. She pulled away, a little reluctant to part from the sense of security that came from being in close proximity to a much more powerful Gem.

"So, what is causing these thunders?" she asked, hoping that talking would help keep her mind off the scariness outside. If she could understand thunderstorms, maybe it wouldn't be scary anymore, just like rain. Even if Garnet said it could kill her. "How can water be so loud and—and scary like that?"

Garnet hummed again. "Pearl can probably give you a much better and accurate explanation, but it's caused by lightning. Lightning itself is caused by electricity moving in between clouds or between the clouds and the ground. It's not always accompanied by rain."

Peridot wasn't sure she fully understood Garnet's succinct explanation, although she could probably make a few educated guesses now that she had some basic information to go from. She suddenly didn't feel like trying to understand thunderstorms anymore, though. She just felt tired.

"Why does everything on Earth have to be so scary and complicated?" she wondered out loud and sighed, hugging herself. "It was easier on Homeworld. Back there, there's no rain or thunder. Everything is stable and predictable. Everyone knows their place and what they're supposed to do. We don't have to second-guess ourselves all the time. We don't have to keep wondering if we've hurt anyone. We don't have to figure out what we did wrong."

Garnet said nothing, just stared down at Peridot like a statue. Peridot was too caught up in her rambling now, though. Once she had started talking, she could no longer stop.

"On Homeworld, if you make a mistake, you'll know it right away," she snapped. "Everyone makes sure you know it. But then you are properly corrected or punished, depending on what kind of mistake it was. You don't get ignored and left to figure out on your on what you did wrong and how you're supposed to make things right. Nobody here tells me anything!"

"We don't tell each other what to do," Garnet finally spoke up, crossing her arms over her chest. "On Earth, you are your own Gem. You are free. You can be whatever you want to be and do whatever you want to do. But with freedom comes responsibility for your actions. You have to learn to think for yourself, learn from your mistakes, and mature. Everything on Earth is in constant motion and evolution. It's indeed different from Homeworld, where everything remains the same for thousands and thousands of years. It may not be easy, but you'll be better for it."

Peridot listened to Garnet's speech, and somehow, she even thought maybe she understood, although it made her head hurt. Still, it was too different from everything she knew. She didn't think she could ever fully adapt to life on Earth, even if she ended up having to live here for the rest of her life.

"I miss home," she whispered and looked up at Garnet. "Don't you ever miss Homeworld?"

"Sometimes," Garnet replied with a shrug, surprising Peridot. She hadn't actually expected the fusion to admit it so readily. Garnet gave her a small, knowing smile, amused that Peridot was so surprised. "Homeworld wasn't completely bad," she elaborated. "It was a beautiful world, at least back then. I had friends there, too. I mean, Ruby and Sapphire had friends. Ruby enjoyed training and going on missions with the other Rubies she was friends with, and Sapphire quite enjoyed the parties in Blue Diamond's court and visiting other planets as an ambassador."

Peridot frowned at her, still surprised to learn that Garnet—or perhaps more accurately, her component Gems—sometimes still missed life on Homeworld.

"If Homeworld were more accepting of your status as a permafusion... would you want to go back?" Peridot asked.

Garnet took just a second to think. She smiled and shook her head. "No. Earth is my home now. I'd rather stay here with Steven. Besides, Homeworld already has more than enough Gems and weapons protecting it, but Earth is too vulnerable. I'm needed here, more than I could ever be on Homeworld. There are too many things on this planet worth protecting."

"Like what?"

"Steven, for one."

They both turned to look at where Steven still lay, peacefully sleeping through the storm. For some reason, Peridot remembered some moments when Steven had been nice to her. She wouldn't even be here if it weren't for Steven. She would probably be imprisoned in the Crystal Gems' bubble dungeon, obliviously waiting to be destroyed along with Earth and everything on it when the Cluster finally emerged.

When she looked at Steven... she thought she could almost understand why the Crystal Gems were so dedicated to protecting the Earth.

Another crack of thunder snapped her out of her thoughts. It sounded a bit more distant now, but it still deeply unsettled her.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw Garnet crouch down. Before she knew what was going on, Garnet pulled her into an embrace. She had been hugged by Steven before, but Garnet's embrace was a little different. There wasn't the same warmth to it. It wasn't meant to be an affectionate gesture. But it felt safe. Garnet's embrace was comforting and protective.

Feeling her face burn in embarrassment, Peridot allowed Garnet to hold her, and even kind of returned the embrace. Garnet smiled again and Peridot felt the fusion's hand caress her hair soothingly.

"It's all right," said Garnet. "The storm is about to end."

THE END