I don't have much to say before this, so I'm just going to head right in. Enjoy!

"Alright, this was fun and all," said Shard as he finished putting out one of the last fires, "but we really need to start working towards the bigger goal here. Project Snap-Freeze isn't going to destroy itself. Lapis, it is about time that you come and help me find the first object I need to leave this world. Everyone else, you can continue your work on fixing the town. You should be able to do that easily enough, right?"

The Crystal Gems all nodded, except Steven who had to return to the house to get some sleep, it was the middle of the night after all.

"Good. Now, let me think… the first thing I need is going to be the remains of Peridot's escape pod, wherever that is. I have no idea if she's still around it, but even if it's broken I can still harvest some of the parts." he said. "So, are you ready to go Lapis?"

"Yes, I guess I am. Where are we looking?" she replied while growing her wings into flying position.

"Off this way, to the North-West. Let's do this!" Shard said as he jumped into the air. Not bothering to come back down, he simply turned towards the direction it seemed the ship would be, and began floating off at high speeds. "Oh, and you three," he shouted over his shoulder to the Crystal Gems, who were already a decent distance behind, "Maybe you should take that sword I summoned away from Steven, it isn't exactly stable!"

Whether or not they had heard him, Shard did not know. He also didn't really care too much either. At most it would destroy itself and leave Steven with some relatively minor bruises, which would probably heal within a few days at most. At best, the sword would remain intact until he came back and re-absorbed it. Either way, no lasting harm would be done, and a little pain now and then would only serve to prepare Steven for the darkening future that lay ahead of them.

Shard looked over at Lapis for a few seconds as they flew over the ground, admiring her wings without saying anything. To the best of his knowledge, she wasn't even aware of his watching her. Her form was one of beauty; a form that he would never have. He was nothing more than a machine designed by his own hand, made to protect, not to look good. He turned his attention back to the ground looking for a crater. Acceptance was over-rated anyway… If only he could make himself believe it.

Lapis noticed Shard looking at her every so often, but decided not to say anything. He never looked too obviously at her, and she would hate to accuse him of starring at her, especially if it turned out he just happened to be looking for the pod in her general direction. Any yet, she couldn't quite shake the feeling that it really was her that he was watching. After several hours of flying, the sun rose, making locating the pod all the harder. But Shard seemed intent on finding it as soon as possible and showed no signs of stopping, so they continued to fly on.

After a long enough time of traveling, Shard determined that the pod could not have landed farther away than they currently were. Thus, they would have to go back and start out in a different direction. Oh joy…

Much later, the duo found what they were looking for. As night once again fell upon the world, a green crater in a corn-field caught their attention, and they soon had landed in its center. Sure enough, the pod was there, albeit beaten up a good bit.

"Alright, we've found the prize. Now to get at what is inside… Lapis, this is where you come in. It needs a natural Gem within it in order to access the various extra-dimensional chambers. So, if you would…" Shard said as he turned it enough for the entrance to no longer be in the ground.

Lapis climbed inside the pod and began focusing on ordering it to open up as if for repairs, although in this case repairing it was the last thing on either of their minds. Sure enough, eventually a large number of thin chambers rose to the surface of the pod and opened. Each of the chambers contained various parts the pod needed to operate. Only a few of them interested Shard. After removing them, he helped Lapis out of the pod, then lifted it up and threw it into the sky. A few seconds later, he shot a few spear-like bolts of Anti-Gem energy up at it through his hands. Once it no longer held objects he needed, it was much safer destroyed. Needless to say, this did nothing to decrease the timidity Lapis felt around him…

By the time they had returned to the temple with the parts, it had been nearly two days since they had left. But strangely, all the inhabitants of Beach City, along with the Crystal Gems and Steven, were nowhere to be found. The only noise in the city was coming from deep in the underground area of the temple. Slowly they made their way towards the noise, being careful to avoid making any themselves. And then they saw the reason for the silence. For there, standing with her back turned to them, was Peridot, with a barely working Gem de-stabilizer in her hand and four gems on the ground around her.

Well, what a lovely surprise… I hope nothing majorly bad is about to happen… *Evil troll face appears.* And, just in time to help lengthen this cliff-hanger, my computer may be being worked on for a good part of this week. So, the next chapter may not be up for the next several days. But, I hope to see you all then. Bye!