Just a little oneshot I came up with based on the events of Keeping it Together. I don't see this growing, as I'm already doing an empathic Peridot with "A Different Path." But, I just wanted to see what it would take to give the lil' space Dorito some damn empathy. Perhaps this would do it.

"Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another." – Alfred Adler

"Log date… 7-7-5… this is Peridot… holding position for extraction."

Peridot closed her pad and looked expectantly up into the star-filled sky. Finally, she was getting off this miserable rock. To be honest, she had been rather surprised by the sudden communiqué informing her of the mission. It was most unlike Homeworld to go out of its way to recover sole survivors, let alone of failed missions. Perhaps Yellow Diamond had changed her mind about Earth's usefulness to the Authority, and had decided to "cut and run" as the humans said. No matter. The ship was lost. Jasper and Lapis were likely incapacitated… or worse. The Crystal Clods had poked around in the… she'd rather not recall what she had seen in the Cluster reports. Anyway, this would be for the best. Soon, she would be able to put this mud ball and everything on it firmly in the past, and she could get back to her life on Homeworld. No humans. No Stevens. No Clods.

If she saw them again, it'd be too soon.

"Why don't we just go out there and kick her butt?" Amethyst grumbled.

"Nothing would please me more," Garnet said with an icy tone. "But, we have been on the defensive too long to pass up an opportunity to see more of Yellow Diamond's forces."

"I'm just glad I managed to jury-rig some of that old tech into a tracking device," Pearl said as she peered over the rock. "I'm surprised she hasn't found it yet."

"Small blessings, Pearl," Garnet replied.

"Are we really just gonna let Peridot go, though?" Steven asked.

"If we expose ourselves, we could be taken prisoner again, or worse," the fusion replied. "No. We're just here to see what comes for her, and that's it."

"Okay…" the pudgy boy sighed, downcast. "I guess I just thought… there could be some good in her. Or that she could come to like it here…"

"Everyone's wrong sometimes, Steven. Even the good hearted people in the world like you. Don't take it personally," Garnet said, patting Steven's shoulder. Steven smiled up at Garnet, weaker than usual.

"I know, I guess I just…" Steven was cut off as a low hum began to sound across the barren field. The quartet fell quite as a massive, hand-shaped ship descended from the skies above. Garnet motioned for everyone to keep their heads down as the craft came to a stop.

Peridot took a deep breath as she squared her shoulders and assumed a stance of attention. She doubted it would be Yellow Diamond herself… but she also doubted that she would have been exiled on this nightmare planet when she was assigned the mission. Better safe than sorry. Finally, the ship swished open, and a large form strode out, flanked by two smaller ones.

The largest form towered over the small green Gem, her pale blue skin reflecting in the moon light. Powerful arms encased in long gloves were clasped behind her back, over a dark red cape. Silver hair, pulled in a long tight ponytail, bounced with her slow steps. An eye-patch of darker blue covered the left eye, as the immaculately uniformed Gem scowled down at the engineer. Peridot gulped, but composed herself.

"General Zircon, ma'am… I… did not expect you."

"Where is Commander Jasper?" Zircon asked.

"She is… missing in action, along with Lapis Lazuli. General, ma'am, I have my report."

"Your report…"

"Yes. On long date 3-5-0, I arrived on Earth to—" Peridot was cut off by Zircon's hand lunging forward, slapping her across the face. Her visor cracked under the sudden shock. The small Gem's jaw fell slack, eyes wide, as she registered what had happened. Slowly, she turned back to her superior officer, fighting the urge to rub her burning cheek.

"This is… most unorthodox, General…" she managed.

"Unorthodox. Why do you think I'm here, Peridot?"

"Well… clearly for extraction… why else would—"

"And where exactly in the message did it say you were to be extracted? It said simply 'Prepare for the arrival of forces from Homeworld.' Did it not?"

"I… "

"Did. It. NOT."

"…yes, yes General," Peridot gulped.

"No, Peridot, I'm not her to extract you. I am here to pass judgment on you." Peridot paled slightly.

"J… Judgment? But… but I…" Peridot was cowed by the general raising her arm for another strike. She fell silent immediately.

"Yes; your judgment. Peridot, I am here to punish you for crimes committed against Homeworld."

"Crimes?! General, with respect, I have been nothing but loyal to the Diamond Authority!" Zircon responded by punching Peridot in the stomach; even from afar, the Crystal Gems winced at Peridot's strangled choke from the blow.

"I accuse you of gross incompetence, negligence, cowardice, destruction of Authority property, disregard for protocol, and dereliction of duty," Zircon continued.

"General, I have not—"

"You lost the command ship you were entrusted with. You managed to lose a decorated officer and a survivor of the war. You have failed to restart Kindergarten. You have failed to ensure the success of the Cluster. You have even failed to ensure the end of the rebellion here on Earth. How else am I… or Yellow Diamond… to see this but complete and abject failure on your part, Peridot?"

"I… it's not true!" the green Gem cried back. Sweat was beading on her face.

"I am not here to hear your excuses. I am here to pass sentence."

"G-General, please… if you would allow me to t-talk to Yellow D-Diamond, I could…" Zircon struck her again, sending her to the dirt. Groaning, Peridot dragged herself to her feet to see that Zircon's aides were now much closer. If she had a heart, it would be thumping frantically.

"Peridot, I find you guilty. The sentence… well… for crimes of this magnitude… I think you know what comes next." Zircon stepped aside as a warp effect formed. It revealed a simple metal box. Seeing what it was, Peridot's eyes widened in absolute horror.

"A… Gem digester?" Pearl gasped.

"It appears so," Garnet said simply.

"What's a Gem digester?" Steven asked.

"We got reports about them during the war, from agents on Homeworld," the fusion continued. "Apparently, it's a device that is able to dissolve a Gem to dust for recycling. It is a horrible and agonizing way to die. You basically feel yourself burning alive as your Gem melts from the inside out."

"And they're gonna use it on Peridot?!" Steven gasped. As if to confirm the boy's fears, Peridot started screaming.

"No! Please! Not that!" the engineer cried, backing away from the box.

"As I said… cowardice," Zircon grumbled. She nodded to her aides, who marched forward to restrain the doomed Gem. Peridot struggled to break from their grasp, but they were too strong for her.

"General Zircon! I beg of you! Please! I… I… don't want to die! I am a loyal servant of the Authority!" Peridot pleaded as tears welled behind her visor.

"Agate, Sardonyx, if you would please…" the general muttered, opening the digester. Peridot kicked, squirmed, and screamed, but her resistance offered no hope of escape as the stronger Gems picked her up and began forcing her into a fetal position.

"I'm a sentient being! I have rights! This is barbaric!" the engineer cried.

"Your rights were forfeit when you betrayed your oath," Zircon replied.

"Don't… do this…" Peridot sobbed as they crammed her inside the waiting maw of the machine. The aides slammed it shut after her, resulting in a crash of pounding fists and muffled screaming.

"They're going to kill her!" Steven cried.

"Oh, gee, what a shame," Amethyst shrugged.

"No! I don't care if it's Peridot or Pearl! It's not right!" the boy yelled louder, causing the three aliens to frantically try to silence him. "I'm not going to sit here and let them murder someone defenseless pleading for help!" Steven spat, hopping over the rock and running towards the scene. Sighing, the Crystal Gems summoned weapons and followed after him.

"Well, we've wasted enough time on this traitor," Zircon sighed to her aides. "Agate, if you'd please." The slender Gem nodded, and was just about to press the button when a stone cracked against her head. It was more annoying than harmful. The Homeworld Gems looked in the direction of the thrown stone to see a small human charging them.

"What in…?" Sardonyx said.

"Let Peridot go, you jerks!" the boy yelled as he continued to throw anything he could get his hands on. Zircon strode towards him, batting aside projectiles, until she could grab him by the shirt collar.

"What manner of foolishness is this," she asked.

"I'm Steven, and I demand you let Peridot out of that thing!" the boy snapped.

"What… Steven? As the Steven? This is the species Peridot spoke of, then? I can see why she was so flustered," the general drawled sarcastically.

"He's not alone," a voice growled from the darkness. A white spear suddenly soared out of the darkness, impaling Sardonyx in the chest. The startled Gem managed a brief gurgle before she retreated into her Gem. Agate quickly ran forward to retrieve the Gem when a black rope snapped out of the darkness. Agate was quickly ensnared, and dragged into the darkness beyond the ship. Her surprised yelp was abruptly cut off by the telltale poof of a retreating Gem. The projection-less rock was tossed back into the light. Zircon's eyes narrowed.

"Show yourselves in the light," she said simply.

"As you wish," a second voice replied. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl stepped out of the gloom, weapons drawn, teeth clenched, and ready to fight.

"Put Steven down," Pearl said.

"And if I refuse?" Zircon asked.

"You will pay," Garnet replied. Zircon studied her adversaries for a moment, chewing on her lip thoughtfully.

"Hmmm. Gems are on Earth after all. Three against one… hardly a fair fight, I think."

"I'll gladly make it fair for you if you wish," Garnet said as she stepped toe to toe with the hulking Gem. Zircon chuckled.

"You have courage. I like that. Very well… a challenge. Soldier to soldier. If you win, I will leave Earth without any further conflict."

"And Peridot lives!" Steven cried.

"…fine, yes, and Peridot lives." Garnet stiffened at the thought, but retained her composure.

"And if you win?"

"I execute the traitor, and claim you as prisoners. All of you."

"So be it," Garnet said.

"Garnet…" Pearl gulped, "she's not worth it…"

"Steven thinks otherwise… that will be enough." Garnet cricked her neck. "Shall we?"

"Of course," Zircon said, unclasping her cloak. The two assumed a guarded stance. "When you're ready."

"Despotism before equality," Garnet replied. Zircon lunged at Garnet, cracking her on the jaw. The fusion reeled, but stayed on her feet. Rubbing the sore spot, she smirked.

"My turn." Garnet inflated one of her gauntlets and slammed it against the Gem, sending her sprawling. She came to a rest in the sand, dazed.

"What… what manner of Gem are you?" Zircon muttered.

"I'm an experience," Garnet replied, grabbing Zircon by the collar.

"An experience?" Zircon repeated. "You're speaking nonsense, you're…" She trailed off, noticing for the first time the gems embedded in the large Gem's hands. "Wait… a ruby and a sapphire? You're a fusion, then?"

"And what of it?" Garnet asked.

"That's such an… archaic way of fighting. Nearly useless today."

"It is more than fighting," Garnet replied, her voice turning icy.

"Hardly. Why else do you think we try to find a better use for it?"

Garnet said nothing at first. She hardly seemed to twitch. Then, the hand around the general's shirt tightened abruptly, as the other wound back and delivered a devastating blow to the Gem's face. Zircon choked as the wind was knocked out of her. Garnet threw the commander to the ground and proceeded to land blow after blow on the invader until she retreated under the shock of prolonged assault into her gem. Pearl rushed to restrain one of Garnet's arms.

"Garnet, stop, it's over!" she cried. Garnet knocked her aside and continued trying to pound at the defeated Zircon.

"Garnet, no! Don't be like them! Don't prove them right about fusion!" Steven pleaded. Hearing this made the normally stoic alien stop, fist frozen in mid swing. She grimaced, punching the ground with both of her swollen hands with an angry roar that echoed over the barren lands around them. Finally spent, she returned to her feet, calmer but still seething.

"Thank you, Steven," she said simply.

"Let's get out of here," Amethyst sighed as she dissolved her whip.

"First, we'll need to see about our interloping friends," Pearl said as she gathered up the gems from the sand. "I will set the ship on autopilot for a course to home."

"They'll be back, though. If only to kill Peridot."

"I'll fill the digester with some Steven's green confetti and sand. Hopefully, they'll be content with that."

"But, first, let's get the real one out of there," Steven said. He approached the box, hearing soft, muffled sobbing coming from within. "Peridot? It's me, Steven. You're gonna be okay…"

"…I don't want to die… please…"

"I don't want to hurt you. You're going to be okay. But, we need to know how to open this thing." The sobbing stopped. "I promise, you're going to be okay."

"…the blue button on the right," she choked. Steven pressed it, and the box opened. Trembling green fingers slowly came over the edges of the doors, and the shaking engineer pulled herself free of the digester. She stumbled out, crawling as fast as she could from the infernal machine. Pearl grabbed it and wheeled it back aboard the ship to begin her plan.

"Th-thank you," Peridot managed.

"Are you okay?" Steven asked.

"I… I… I… yes," Peridot finally said. "I am uninjured. Physically."

"Physically?"

"I read the reports… what they're doing here… it's… the Cluster… I…"

"It's what," Garnet growled. "It's what, Peridot."

"It's… obscene. I thought the Clusters were an attempt to breed a new type of Gem from scratch. But... to force living Gem fragments together like that…"

"You're lying," the leader said.

"I thought it was going to be a new life form, not that… living death!"

"Shut up," Garnet replied.

"I was in denial about it… I didn't want to believe it…"

"I said, shut up…" Garnet hissed.

"Why else do you think I was laughing and screaming like that when you caught me… how is a rational being supposed to react to such a crime."

"I told you to shut up!" Garnet roared, storming towards the oblivious Gem.

"And to think… I was to be executed while crying for mercy… I can't help but think this is how those fragments f—" Peridot's self awareness was cut off by the gurgle in her throat as Garnet grabbed her by the neck and hauled her into the air.

"You're lying to save your skin. I won't hear it!" Garnet rasped.

"Garnet!" the others cried.

"Don't hurt her! She feels bad!" Steven begged.

"I want her to feel terrible," Garnet replied.

"But she wasn't a part of it! She only came to check on it!" the boy cried.

"And that makes it better!?"

"That makes her better! Garnet, please, you're better than this! Fusion is better than this!" Garnet's hands alternately tightened and loosened around Peridot's throat before the fusion dumped her in the sand. Peridot coughed and gasped for air, rubbing at her raw neck.

"Fusion is not a weapon. It is not a disease. It is a commitment. It is the decision to give love a pure and true form. It is the ultimate trust in another person. And you have defiled it. You have violated how I see myself…" Garnet paused. "…this is why I cannot make any decision about you without having my judgment clouded. In the past, Rose would decide what to do with someone like you. But she's not here anymore. So… I need to leave it to someone who's walking in her footsteps. Steven… she's your prisoner."

"Oh, uh, okay…" Steven said, rubbing his neck. He sat down next to the still shaking Gem. "So, uh, hi Peridot…"

"H-Hello, Steven…"

"How do you feel?"

"Horrible."

"Why?"

"I… I nearly died tonight. It would have been in great agony. And by the hands of my own people. Who didn't care for me at all. They just… wanted to dispose of me."

"Yeah, it's kinda bad… but, I think this is a good thing."

"How."

"Well, how you feel now… that's how those fragments probably feel. That's probably a lot like how Garnet feels. I think you learned a lot tonight. I think you learned that you shouldn't be mean to other people, because it's really bad when people are bad to you."

"I… yes, yes it is bad."

"So, like I said… I think this is a good thing. I mean, do you want to hurt anyone?"

"I would not wish how I have felt tonight on anyone."

"What about… ya know… the Cluster."

"A horror. An unforgivable, inexcusable horror that I have been sullied by. A horror I did not have the courage to stop or avert because I was too focused on my orders." Garnet snorted, but the two ignored her.

"I cannot be a part of such a regime anymore," Peridot continued. "I cannot. Not after tonight. Not after how I felt. I cannot do that to anyone." She turned to Steven. "Steven. I am not used to these feelings or concepts. I owe my life to you. I… require your assistance in these matters."

"Well, I think you should give being with us a try."

"Oh, yeah, that'll work," Amethyst scoffed. Steven scowled at her briefly.

"I think you made a big step tonight, Peridot, not wanting to hurt people anymore. I… always kinda thought that's all you needed, just a chance to see what you're doing and how it can hurt people. I really think this is a good thing for you."

"Yes, but… what do I do?"

"Well… I think we need to show you Earth and humans aren't all that bad. We'll take it nice and slow, and when you're ready… maybe you can go on missions and stuff."

"I doubt I will ever be trusted."

"If you earn it, you will."

"…what do I do, Steven."

"Well, changing your perspective was a brave step… how about going one step further and deciding to start over?" The engineer mulled the boy's words.

"I… accept. I will do what you tell me to try to atone." Steven went starry eyed and hopped into Peridot's lap, hugging her tightly. The Gem frowned.

"What… are you doing?"

"It's called a hug. We do it when we want to celebrate or make someone feel better."

"I see." Peridot paused. "Please do not stop for now, Steven."

"You can do it too. Just… wrap your arms around me and squeeze. Gently."

"Very gently," Garnet said coldly. Peridot nervously put her arms around the boy and gently squeezed him, causing him to giggle. She jerked back.

"I'm sorry! I—"

"No, no, Peridot, that was good! That meant I liked it…"

"Oh," Peridot mumbled. She quickly resumed the action. "I also liked it."

"Good." The two cuddled quietly for a while, only looking up when Pearl leapt down from the gangway as the Gem ship suddenly rumbled to life and sped away.

"It's done," Pearl said, wiping her brow. She frowned, seeing a sworn enemy cuddling her Steven. "What did I miss?"

"Peridot learned right from wrong," Garnet said simply, her face composed.

"I have learned a great deal about things. I have learned how much destruction decisions can bring, and how cold I've been all this time." She looked Garnet in the eyes. "I will make this right. I don't know how I will, but I will. This experience… I see now why the Cluster brought you such pain. I hope that some day, I can make it right… and… maybe… I can have your forgiveness." Garnet removed her visor, so that Peridot's two eyes could look into her three.

"She's a lying sack of crap," Garnet said to herself in a gruff voice.

"She wants to try," the fusion quickly added in a lighter tone.

"And you actually believe her?"

"What good is hate in response to hate? To be consumed by hate is more of a living death than even the Cluster."

"But she…"

"We cannot live in the past. We must move on. If she wants to try, so can we…"

"You're actually…"

"Ruby."

"But it's too easy!"

"First steps… let her try." Garnet closed her eyes for a moment. Her normal stoicism returned.

"You have my forgiveness provisionally. But I expect you to prove you've earned it."

"I will find a way to end that nightmare. I swear it."

"Good. But now it's late. Bedtime, Steven," Garnet replied, reaching for the boy to place him on her head. Peridot, however, held fast.

"I'm not ready," she gulped.

"It's okay," Steven said. He conjured a bubble around the two. "There. Now we can be carried."

"…very well," Garnet replied as she picked up the bubble. Pearl and Amethyst looked confused for a moment, but followed after the three.

"What a night," the thin Gem sighed.

"Yeah, totally. I almost feel bad for her… almost," Amethyst said.

"I do feel bad for her. No one should have to go through what she did tonight. And the path she has to take is going to be very difficult. But with a heart as big as Steven's to guide her," Pearl continued as she watched the boy hold the stunned Gem, "she should be okay."

"I still think we should just bubble her and be done with it."

"Steven's always said he felt there was some good in her… if Garnet can let him have that chance, I will too."

"Yeah, well, if she tries anything…"

"…we'll be ready."

Silently, the group walked for the warp gate home.