It was just a typical day at the Zoo. The humans were reveling in their artificial habitat, the quartzes were dawdling apathetically at their post, and Holly Blue Agate was barking out orders.

Just as usual.

At the end of it, Skinny and Carnelian decided to sit out on the bay. It had been a long, tedious day, and they wanted to relax for a bit.

That is until they saw Jay staring out into the exit.

She had been doing this for weeks now and, to be honest, Skinny was starting to get worried. She hadn't seen the larger quartz this distraught in a long time.

"Hey, Jay,"

"Oh, hey guys," She replied, nonchalantly, not turning around from where she was sat.

"Are you okay?" Carnelian asked, "You've been coming here a lot lately,"

They both sat down next to Jay, Skinny laying a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder.

The colour of her uniform was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world to the larger quartz. "Yeah, everything's fine," Jay finally answered.

Unfortunately for her, Skinny could see right through the blatant lie.

"C'mon, you can tell us; we won't tell anyone else," she promised.

"Okay-" Jay sighed. She clearly wasn't going to get out of this one. "Okay, remember when the Crystal Gems broke into this place?"

Carnelian chuckled. "How could we forget; Holly wouldn't come out of her room for weeks."

"What about it?" Skinny asked.

"Well, it's just . . . I'm glad to know that 8XM's alive and she's found a better life than . . . well, this," she said gesturing to the door. "But, I don't know, I guess a part of me is upset 'cause of the fact that she's a Crystal Gem."

"C'mon, Jay, we helped them escape," Skinny pointed out. "I'm pretty sure they trust us enough to let us come pay a visit,"

"You don't get it, do you? She's a rebel, a-a traitor, an enemy of the diamonds!" exclaimed Jay. "Up to this point, everyone thought they were all dead; that was the only thing that kept them from sending out a huge fleet of warships to blow the Earth to kingdom come. But now that the diamonds know about Rose or Steven or whatever that stupid hybrid's name is, the next time we see her, she'll be in a holding cell awaiting shattering!"

Skinny took a moment to process everything she just heard.

It was a lot to take in.

"Look, Jay, I get it. But remember, you aren't the only one that misses her. So if that time does come, we'll be there for her."

"Yeah, but that would mean choosing between her and Homeworld,"

"Well, you're obviously gonna choose her, right?" Skinny said.

Jay was completely silent.

"Jay? You wouldn't actually choose Homeworld over her, would you?"

Still, the larger quartz remained silent.

"Jay?" Skinny called out again.

"Um, guys, you might wanna take a look at this," Carnelian interrupted, pointing toward the hangar exit. Gazing into the direction of her finger, they immediately caught sight of a flaming spaceship heading straight for them. Jay grabbed her sisters and rushed them to safety as the ship crashed right where they were once standing.

In an instant, long, tube-like cannons sprouted out of the floor and sprayed the ship with water putting out the fire. Soon, the other quartz soldiers, followed by Holly Blue Agate, entered the corridor.

"What in the cosmos happened here!?" Holly demanded. Her question was answered when she saw the smoking crashed ship. "Oh, my."

Suddenly, the glass dome surrounding the cockpit lifted and revealed, to everyone's shock, Amethyst, battered up and unconscious.

"8XM!" Jay shouted.