Keep It Inside

Steven had always thought the Gems were a little weird. Of course, the fact that he was half-gem meant that he was a little weird too. However, after he met with White Diamond, the Ruler of Homeworld and the Great Diamond Authority, he couldn't help but feel a little scared and paranoid every time he saw them. He knew that Crystal Gems keeping secrets from each other was bad, as he had learned the hard way from the "Secret Team" incident, but this time was different. This wasn't just some accident that he could cover up, it was his identity. His mother's identity, too. Occasionally, he would tap his gem, and hold it, thinking about whether or not he really was a Diamond.

Sometimes, Steven tried to tell himself that he wasn't his mom. That's not how Pearl saw it, though. And even Amethyst and Garnet seemed to be very fond of "Rose Quartz". But if what White Diamond said was true, then they might not have even known the real Pink Diamond this whole time. But then again, Homeworld was evil, and evil people lied on purpose. So White Diamond was just lying, on purpose. But if that was the case, then Steven should certainly tell the Crystal Gems that White Diamond visited him personally? But why would White Diamond visit him personally? Peridot thought that all the Gems were wiped out, which meant that only White Diamond would have known, but if that were the case, then it meant that White Diamond did have the ability to sense every gem in the universe! And why else would White Diamond visit Steven all the way out here if his mom wasn't a diamond?

Steven eventually realized that all the thinking was making his head hurt. It was also making his heart hurt, especially since he was living right next to people that might turn on him if they found out his secret. Steven tried to think about how to talk about his feelings, but he came up empty. Steven eventually resigned himself to going through the motions, and telling himself that all of this was totally fine. Everything was fine.

So when Steven did all of his laundry with the Crystal Gems, he was fine.

At least until Garnet said, "We need to track down Peridot. We found her pod. We know she's out there. She came to Earth with a job to do and odds are, she's still gonna try to do it. That's why I've gathered you all here."

Steven's skin tightened into goosebumps when he heard that.

"I thought we were just gonna be doing laundry together!" said Steven.

"That too. The chore wheel idea you had fell apart fast." said Garnet.

"Wasn't me." said Amethyst.

Steven glanced at the chore-wheel, and remembered how Pearl had crossed out all of the other names and replaced them with hers.

Pearl said, "I just really enjoy doing all those things."

Steven was a little amused by that, but then he remembered what White Diamond had said about her, and he worried again.

Garnet said, "It's better if we do them together."

Amethyst said, "Humans should just stop wearing clothes, it'd be a lot funnier."

Steven said, "Well. I'll have you know I'm a civilified part human, thank you very much! Clothing is a must. Oh! And I bet this would be even faster if Ruby and Sapphire were here!"

"I'm sure they'd be glad to see you, Steven," said Garnet, "But I am not unfusing for laundry."

Steven moaned in disappointment.

Pearl said, "Garnet, you don't think Peridot would come looking for us, do you?"

Garnet answered, "We weren't her priority. She was sent here to do something in the Kindergarten."

"Do you think she's still going to try to reactivate it?" asked Pearl.

"Hmm... If she reactivates it, the injectors will turn back on." said Garnet.

"Injectors? What are those?" asked Steven.

"You've already seen them," said Pearl, "Well, you've seen them disabled. If Peridot reactivates them, then they'll pick up where they left off, planting Gems in the crust of the Earth, where they'll incubate and suck the life right out of the ground. We can't let Peridot restart Gem production here. If we do, the entire planet will become..."

"...Janked," finished Garnet.

"Garnet that mouth!" said Amethyst.

"Wait, what about the Cluster?" asked Steven.

"The whatnow?" asked Amethyst. Pearl also made an uncertain noise.

"I've never heard of any 'Cluster', Steven," said Garnet.

"Where did you hear about this 'Cluster'?" asked Pearl.

"Oh! Ummm..." Steven was somewhat petrified. White Diamond told him, but he didn't want to tell them about her. But he did hear Peridot using that word on the ship. So luckily, he was able to say, "I heard Peridot talking about it on the ship. She said the whole reason she came was to check on the 'Cluster'."

Garnet said, "Well, then, we'll see what this 'Cluster' is, and if it threatens the planet, we'll stop it."

"Okay!" said Steven.

Garnet went to the Warp Pad, and said, "C'mon, Crystal Gems."

The three Gems gathered at the Warp Pad. Garnet beckoned for Steven to come, and called his name. Amethyst said, "C'mon, that means you too, right?"

Garnet said, "You're a civilified part-Gem too, after all."

Pearl said, "Garnet, are you sure we should bring Steven? This might be dangerous."

Garnet reassured her: "Peridot's got nothing we can't handle."

The four of them proceeded to the Kindergarten. As the looked around at the barren cliffscape, they didn't notice any changes. The massive Injectors, which they feared being reactivated, were standing motionless in place. Nothing looked out of place in that valley of death. The Gems decided to spread out in order to check the area. Steven, figuring that the place was pretty safe, decided to look around as well.

Then, he heard Peridot. "Log date six-five-two." she said, "This is Peridot, updating status. Still stuck on miserable planet. The fusion experiments are developing properly. A few have even emerged early..." Then, she saw Steven, and she froze in place.

Steven met her gaze, then waved at her. Peridot asked him quietly, "Are the... other ones... with you?"

Steven nervously waved his arms around indecipherably, then shrugged. Then, he shook his head, but he gave in and nodded.

"Of course! Why not?" said Peridot as she face-touch-stumped.

"Peridot!" yelled Garnet.

"There she is!" yelled Pearl.

They launched themselves at Peridot, summoning their weapons. Peridot deftly dodged Garnet's lunge, and ducked Pearl's swipe. Amethyst showed up and say "Hey!"

Pearl said, "You're cornered!" but Peridot noticed that the wall was right next to her. So she ran upwards.

Garnet launched her fist-rockets at Peridot, who tossed herself sideways to dodge it. She taunted them, "Ha! you missed!"

The four Crystal Gems stared intently, but Amethyst let out a "We'll see about that!"

The next thing Peridot heard was crash above her as the gauntlets slammed into one of the injectors. She looked upward to see that the injector was now falling toward her.

She cursed to herself, and then felt the impact of the falling machine catch her and put her in motion. Then, she felt herself being slammed into the ground.

Steven looked at the pile of rubble, and asked, "Do you think she's hurt?"

As soon as Peridot began running away, Amethyst said, "Nope!" and caught Peridot in her whip. Peridot lifted one of her touch-stumps and zapped the whip, forcing Amethyst to drop it saying, "Whoa! Hot whip!"

Peridot launched herself into the air and began to fly by the magnetism of her limb-enhancers, then said, "You Crystal-Clods! Go ahead! Wreck this place! See if I care! I already got what I came for!"

Pearl shouted, "Get back here!" as she chased after Peridot, who was just laughing at them.

"I'm gonna bop her good," said Amethyst.

Steven began to run, but then he noticed that his legs weren't connecting to anything because Garnet was holding him up. He was confused, and said, "Hurry, Garnet!"

Garnet calmly reminded him, "If Peridot's mission was to reactivate the Kidnergarten, the injectors would be active. But they aren't."

"Oh, right. So then it must be the Cluster." said Steven.

"Exactly," said Garnet, "Let's go find out what this 'Cluster' is."

Garnet picked up Steven and jumped into the shaft which led to the basement that Peridot was trying to reach. Steven felt nervous as he was held by her, but he still loved her, so he clung to that love to reassure himself that it'd be okay. Once they reached the end of the shaft, Garnet put Steven down. Then, Steven asked her, "What are Diamonds? What's the deal with them?"

"You're wondering about the Diamonds. That must be why you seem troubled lately." responded Garnet.

Steven felt put on the spot by that. Still, he knew that Jasper had mentioned Yellow Diamond, so he said, "Well, Jasper said Yellow Diamond needed to see me. So I'm just wondering. How many Diamonds are there? And what do they do?"

Garnet paused for a few seconds to gather herself. Then, she said, "Diamonds are the rulers of Homeworld. There are three of them-White Diamond, Blue Diamond, and Yellow Diamond. White Diamond is the supreme ruler of Homeworld, and has authority over all gems, including the other Diamonds..." That matched White Diamond's description practically word-for-word. Steven felt an ache in the pit of his stomach. (Or maybe it was his gem?) "...Blue Diamond is the 'artistic' one. She concerns herself with matters of appearance above all else. She is the diamond that Ruby and Sapphire served before we found each other, but that's a story for a different day. You want to know about Yellow Diamond."

"Yes," said Steven.

"Yellow Diamond is someone who is concerned about efficiency and accuracy above all else. She's the 'nerd' of the Diamond Authority-her gems have a greater affinity for technology than those of Blue or White, and she usually carries herself in a calm, calculating manner." said Garnet.

"So that's why Jasper and Peridot had all that advanced technology?"

"Yes. If any Diamond is concerned with maximizing the effectiveness of technology, it's Yellow."

Steven nervously considered whether or not to ask the next question, but he did ask, "What about Pink Diamond? What's she like?"

"Pink Diamond was the Diamond who originally tried to turn Earth into a Gem colony. Rose Quartz originally belonged to her, but she rebelled. Eventually, when it became clear that Pink Diamond would not leave Earth alone, Rose Quartz shattered her to end the war. After we built the Temple, Rose Quartz ensured that she could never be brought back by melting her shards in the Burning Room."

"Would any of the Diamonds ever visit Earth?"

"I doubt it, Steven. The Diamonds took Earth as a lost cause once Pink Diamond was shattered by Rose Quartz. They are the ones who attacked every Gem on Earth, and turned them into those corrupted monsters. Peridot thought that every Gem was destroyed, so I doubt the Diamonds would go to the effort of visiting here."

Steven felt a knot in his guts, and it seemed the tightest in the immediate area around his gem. His diamond. Garnet said White Diamond wouldn't go to the effort of visiting Earth, but he knew that White Diamond had visited him. And the Diamonds attacked Earth thinking that Pink Diamond had, indeed, been shattered. All those corrupted gems were hurt because Pink Diamond faked her shattering. Steven tried not to think about all that, but it was hard. Thankfully, his thoughts were interrupted by Garnet saying, "Anyway, we came here to see what Peridot was looking for. The 'Cluster'."

"Right," said Steven.

The two of them walked deeper into the underground lab, until they found a familiar scene. This time, however, the scene was a little different, as several cylinders of earth had been pulled out of the ceiling and the ground.

Steven said, "Wow... This place is even creepier than the last time we were here."

Garnet said, "Yes, there's something going on... It looks like Peridot pulled these out of the walls." She pointed to the cylinders.

Then, a skittering noise could be heard from somewhere in the room. Steven jumped a little, and Garnet walked over to investigate it. One of the dirt-cylinders was shaking.

"Garnet?" said Steven, "Is there something in there?"

A creature, which looked like a blue hand fused to a red foot, began skittering sloppily out of the cracks of one of the dirt-cylinders. Steven yelped, and Garnet picked it up to examine it. She stood there for a while, examining the creature, until she poofed it and held its gem; it consisted of two different gem-shards stuck together at the middle. Garnet cringed, and then tossed away the gem. Upon a second glance, more creatures could be seen skittering and limping around the area, and more cylinders began to shake. Two of them fell over.

"So that's what these things are? Gems, stuck together?" said Steven.

Garnet didn't answer him. She just stood in place.

Then, one of the pillars split in two at the middle, revealing another clump of gem-shards. It was glowing, since it was forming. The glow expanded outward, until it reached out into several shrieking light-sillhouettes of forming gems. Then, their forms scrambled and corrected themselves into several arms and one leg, in the shape of a large, multicolored hand and arm. The other end had several legs and feet. The monster began crawling toward Garnet, who was now making whimpering noises of disturbance.

"Garnet?" said Steven, "Is this the Cluster?" Garnet just stared at the amalgamation as it kept crawling toward her. One of the creatures grabbed Steven by the ankle, and he instinctively kicked it away. "Garnet? Garnet, what do we do?"

Garnet made more nervous vocalizations when the amalgamation grabbed her. Then, she said, "These were Crystal Gems, shattered into pieces! They were buried together!"

"Why aren't you moving?" asked Steven.

Garnet continued, "They were forced together. They were forced to fuse! This is wrong! Ahhh... I'm sorry..." Then, Garnet began to unfuse.

Steven was now extremely unsettled. "No! No, Garnet! This isn't like you! You're coming undone!" Another monster approached him, and he shoved it away with his shield. He shouted, "Garnet!"

Garnet brought herself back together and then grabbed the monster. The monster opened what looked like four eyes centered around its gem. She dug her hands into the cornerers from which its arms extended. She slowly stretched the amalgamation's physical form like a tough, sticky piece of dough until eventually, it poofed. Its gem clattered on the ground. Garnet picked it up. She said, "So THIS is what Homeworld thinks of Fusion."

Then, she said, "We couldn't have known they would do this!"

She replied to herself, "THIS is where they've been! All the ones we couldn't find! They've been here the WHOLE TIME."

"Rose couldn't have known!"

"This is punishment for the Rebellion!"

"IT'S NOT OUR FAULT!"

Garnet became silent. Then, she bubbled the gem and sent it to the Temple.

Steven and Garnet stood in silence for a while.

Their silence was broken by Amethyst saying, "Yo, GARNET! We got Peridot!"

Pearl followed Amethyst into the room, and said, "At first she tried to pull herself away by her own magnetism, but Amethyst turned into a helicopter and carried me up. Then I jumped toward her and drove my spear right into her back!"

Amethyst gleefully shouted, "That green dork thought she could out-copter the Amethyst-Copter!"

Pearl materialized one of Peridot's 'arms', and said, "When we poofed her, she left behind these artificial arms. Amethyst wanted to trash them, but I kept them. Who knows what valuable information we could get from them?"

Amethyst was all like, "Whatever... Bunch of nerd-stuff."

Then, Pearl was accosted by one of the amalgamations that bumped into her leg and "kicked" her. She said, "Eww, what are these?"

Garnet said firmly, "We need to poof and bubble all of them. We can't let any escape."

The gems went around the room and crushed the amalgamations. Then, they sent their gems to the Temple. They returned home.

Later that day, Steven went to the hand of the Crystal Gem Temple to check on the rest of his laundry. He noticed Garnet was there, and said, "Hey Garnet! What's up?"

"Still damp," replied Garnet.

"Oh right... The laundry. There are towels in there. Do we even have plumbing up here? How do you get the washer and dryer to work?"

"Magic" said Garnet as she waved her hand.

Steven chucklet to himself, then asked her, "Are you okay?"

"I wish you hadn't seen that," said Garnet.

"Oh, it's okay," said Steven, trying to reassure her.

Garnet said, "No, it's not okay." Of course it's not.

Steven said, "Why?"

Garnet explained, "What Homeworld did, taking the shards and parts of fallen Gems and combining them. Those Gems weren't asked permisssion. Fusion is a choice. Those Gems weren't given a choice. It isn't right. It isn't fusion!"

"Oh..." said Steven. He absorbed all of the information there.

"Why do you stay a fusion all the time?" asked Steven.

"Because, Steven, the bond between Ruby and Sapphire is very strong. The two of them combine, to become something even greater than the sum of their parts."

"When did the two of them first meet?" asked Steven.

"It all started long ago, around the beginning of the Rebellion. Blue Diamond had summoned one of her Sapphires to predict the outcome of the next battle..."

"Our Sapphire!"

"Yes. Sapphire had predicted that the rebellion would end, right then and there: Rose Quartz and her Renegade Pearl would attack, 'poofing' several Gems, including herself. Several Rubies were sent as her escorts, including our Ruby." Or was it Pink Diamond and her Obedient Pearl?

"And so the attack went forward: Rose Quartz and Pearl tore through several gems, but just as Pearl was about to 'poof' Sapphire, Ruby intervened, hoping to save Sapphire. Then, she accidentally fused with her. That's where I first formed."

"So it was an accident?"

"At first, yes. Blue Diamond was infuriated, though. She took grave offense that two gems of different types would fuse in her presence. She ordered Ruby shattered. But then, Sapphire ran, and took Ruby with her. Sapphire was intrigued by the actions of that Ruby-she didn't need to save her, but she did anyway. That wasn't something Sapphire could predict."

"Ooooh!"

"Sapphire and Ruby fell slowly to the ground. Then, they hid in a cave, where they talked about what had happened. Ruby talked about how ridiculous it was for Sapphire to save her, a disposable, easily replaced Ruby. Sapphire talked about how she had never seen a prediction broken before. Then, the two of them sang together, and fused again, this time in the presence of nobody."

"Ooh. Hey wait a second, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Steven felt goosebumps as he tried to figure out how to ask what he wanted to ask without giving away too much information. He asked, "What if Rose Quartz had something to do with Sapphire not predicting things right? Like, what if Rose was hiding something within herself that threw off Sapphire's predictions?"

"That's certainly possible, Steven," answered Garnet, "Although Ruby's behavior was definitely the most unpredictable thing about that day."

"Right"

"So. Just as Garnet had formed a second time, she stumbled upon a base, covered in rose bushes, where Rose Quartz and Pearl were hiding. Pearl was suspicious, of course, but Rose was elated to see something new-two Gems of different types that had fused together. I was very nervous back then..."

"You? Nervous? Nahh!"

"I know. It seems hard to believe, but I was definitely out of my element at first. I wondered if I should unfuse, but Rose encouraged me to stay like this. She told me to be myself, because to her, my existence was interesting. Her encouragement gave me the confidence I needed at first."

"Huh."

"Soon afterward, I became a Crystal Gem. I couldn't very well go back to Blue Diamond-she'd tear me apart and shatter Ruby, maybe even Sapphire too."

"Right. And you stayed together this whole time?"

"Yes. Barring certain... unfortunate circumstances, of course."

"Right. Wow. And Ruby and Sapphire, they're like, in love?"

"Yes. And I am the manifestation of that love."

"You're awesome, Garnet!" said Steven, no longer thinking of the doubts that had been planted in his mind by White Diamond.

"I certainly am." said Garnet, as she held her glasses and struck a smooth, confident pose.