The new plan was made then and there: return to the planet's surface for regrouping and new strategy development. The gems of Crystarra were eager to get underway, and for once the gems from Earth gave no opposition. No one knew what to make of what happened the last few minutes, so any news was good news.

It was nervous at first, to be flying back down to the surface. After all, their first time going down there was anything but pleasant. They had to be reminded that the threat of lightning hazards were no longer present. The trip to the planet's surface this time was much more smooth and transitional.

Peridot piloted the warship down, but not in the direction of the Citadel. This time, Steven, Pearl, and Garnet were treated to a completely different view: miles away from the Citadel was a small sprawling city. Buildings of various heights and colors could be seen, with random ones having lights that were on or were flashing back on. Some of these buildings were made of hardened sand of the planet, while others were simply hollowed out crystalline buildings. It was obvious that power had been restored to some of them, while others were still being worked on by the inhabitants.

The city did in fact have inhabitants as well. Many gems were present in this location going from place to place. With the warships parked onto a nearby massive landing platform off to the far side, it was obvious where these had come from. A few seconds within, Peridot announced their clearance for landing. They touched down much more gently, and everyone departed from the warship.

All the inhabitants on board the ship took their leave, and were immediately beset upon by fellow gem comrades.

"Gem council! Gem council!" a brightly colored orange gem addressed them, "What happened just now? That planetary lightning is gone? For how long?"

"Did these gems have anything to do with it?" another gem indicated to the Earth gems.

"And is happening to the dark plasma?" The entire greeting party might as well have been an insane mob from their relentlessness alone. The four council members were almost overwhelmed, yet still managed to remain cool and appear professional.

"We do intend to have a formal addressing of the situation in, perhaps... one hour's time," Emerald announced, "And all us council members will be presenting it. For now, return to your assigned duties..." The group slowly began to scatter at the order, "Chrysoprase, see to it that Ruby Prime is restored and then both of you rejoin us... and take them with you." Her finger pointed to the Earth gems.

"What? Why?" Pearl asked.

"Don't worry, we will meet up with you later," Spodumene reassured them, "Once we again have a firm bearing on the situation."

"In case you haven't noticed, we've just regained our home planet," Citrine added, "Order must be restored." With that, Emerald, Citrine, and Spodumene took their leave, with a majority of the other gems breaking off with them and swamping them with questions and updates.

"On our own again, looks like..." Steven shrugged. He looked back and all around, feeling like he was finally studying this new world in earnest, "So... where are we now? Some kinda gem airport?"

"Not quite something I remember, but from the looks of it..." Garnet pointed out along the long, stretched plain of smooth cut stone, and all the familiar gem warships that were lined up side by side. Some of the gems that had scattered went over to these massive ships, looking them over, tinkering them in various ways.

"Chrysoprase! You've returned!" Their attentions turned to a light purple gem addressing the cream gem, "You must hurry! The infirmaries are stocked over with gems in need of repair, and having you on site would be most helpful!"

"Indeed? Well then, I'll be right there," the relieved purple gem turned and rushed off somewhere, with Chrysoprase turning to the Earth gems, "Well? You three'd best come with me. And from the looks of it, some of you could use some repair..." Her last comment was just snide enough to send an agitated chill down their backs.

"Wait, don't tell me we have to walk all the way there, do we?" Steven asked, earning him a raised eyebrow from Chrysoprase.

"Walk? All that distance? Now why would we do that?" Her hand gestured to a line of teleporters, similar to theirs back on Earth.

"Oh! You've got those teleporters here, too?"

"Crystarra is the planet that teleport pads came from..." Chrysoprase nearly deadpanned.

"Oh yeah, makes sense I guess..." the boy rubbed the back of his head. The group then made their way to an open teleporter, and let its light engulf them. When the light cleared a rather quick second later, they now stood inside of a building. The place closely resembled a common hospital. It was also packed heavily, with half of its gems rushing this way and that, and the other half either as gems or being healed as gems.

"So many gems..." Steven said as they slowly stepped off the pad, "They all look injured. Were they also infected by that dark plasma?"

"Chrysoprase! You've arrived!" one of the gems announced.

"Indeed..." Chrysoprase held out her hand to reveal the ruby, "and someone important requires healing."

"Is that...?"

"Yes, it's Ruby Prime!" Chrysoprase answered, then held her other hand out to Steven, "Here human, take this." Steven's hand quickly took the kyanite gem. He looked down at the gem in his hand, his mind slowly catching up to what just happened so fast.

"W-Wait! C-Chrysoprase, what about Kyanite here?" he called out.

"Do not bother me with triviality!" the cream gem dismissed with a wave of her hand, even as she didn't even bother to look, "This takes priority!"

"What? Come on!" Steven insisted, "Kyanite here needs to be healed! Her gem is all scratched up, see...?" But Chrysoprase had already disappeared into the chaos of the other gems in the hospital. With a huff, he turned back to his two gem guardians, "Guys? I can't just... I have to do something!"

"Steven, aren't you forgetting that you can...?" Garnet suggested.

"Oh my gosh, you're right!" Steven's starry eyes lit up, "Why do I always keep forgetting that?!" He held the gem in the palm of one hand, then openly licked his other one, "Come on, work...!" He pressed both palms flat against the gem for a second before releasing one. After a moment of suspense, the kyanite began to glow its dark blue color and levitate from his hand. The three watched as the blue light took corporeal form once again of Kyanite.

"Mistress Diamond, why?! I..." Kyanite immediately took her form crying out frantically, before suddenly getting her bearings, "My limb enhancers! Where are-... Wait, where am I? A healing ward?"

"That's right, I healed you!" Steven's announcement caused Kyanite to turn around and eye him. Her eyes then looked straight up at her forehead and her fingers on one hand rubbed her gem.

"My gem... healed... You healed me?" she asked, to which the boy nodded, "I... don't know what to say..."

"Perhaps a thank you," Garnet muttered, just loud enough to be heard.

"Did you see that?" Another voice got their attention. A small number of gems standing nearby had stopped their own healing operations to watch. Many eyes were widened, and many mouths struggled for words.

"Did that human just..."

"Unbelievable..."

"But how?"

"That's not possible!" The remarks became numerous and just like before, the three found themselves surrounded by gems just like outside. That is, until one of them stretched her rather large, bulky arms out to both clear a path to them, and to get their attention.

"Alright, settle down, you all! There's no need to get so worked up!" the teal colored gem spoke, "Resume your duties! There are gems that need healing, and neither me nor Chrysoprase can do it alone!" The gem's words seemed to calm the crowd, and they quickly moved back to where they came from, "Now, Kyanite? How fortunate to have a tech gem here and whole; The basic systems for this ward need someone to look over them."

"Ah," Kyanite glanced at Steven's group once, "Alright, I'll see what needs to be done... Hopefully there'll be some limb enhancers as well... And, I suppose you have my gratitude as well, Steven."

"Oh it was no trouble at all!" Steven smiled. With that Kyanite marched and vanished into the crowd. Now alone, the remaining four looked at each other.

"I apologize for the chaotic appearance you see here... I mean, you can probably imagine how worked up everyone is right now, being forced off of your planet, the fates of some of your comrades unknown, and only now being able to come back..." she sighed and shook her head, "It's... exhilarating to say the least..."

"I imagine this would break your boredom, Beryl," Pearl spoke up, for once her tone not as dark as before.

"Beryl?" Steven said, "Is that your name?"

"Yes, human, I am a Beryl; proprietor of this healing ward," Beryl said, "And I am quite familiar with Pearl and Garnet here, but I can't say I'm familiar with you..."

"Oh I'm Steven! Steven Quartz Universe!" he almost moved to stick out his hand, but caught himself.

"Steven... Quartz," Beryl's eyes narrowed, "Why do you bear the same name as a... Rose Quartz?"

"Oh, um..." Steven held his tongue this time before speaking. He turned his head to Garnet as if seeking her approval, which she eventually nodded to, "Rose Quartz... is my mother, and here..." he lifted the front hem of his shirt, "is her gem." Beryl leaned in closer, and her narrowed eyes now widened a little.

"There is no mistaking it... that is her gem," she looked back at him with a serious face, "You know, while Rose Quartz was one of the greatest traitors to our kind..." The implication in her voice was heavy enough to sting, "I still found her to be a worthy... colleague. She was also one of the great healers here. You could say I respected her..."

"Really?" Steven said, "You and my Mom were friends?"

"Of a sort..." Beryl leaned back from him, "Like I said, we were colleagues in our field." Suddenly, she glanced behind her, as if just reminded of the chaos in this hospital ward, "Well, I suppose I should get back to healing the survivors..."

"Wait!" Steven spoke up before she could walk away, "Could I uh... help with anything? Maybe heal some other gems?" This earned him a look from the teal gem.

"You want to... heal our gems?"

"Sure! We're all gems here, so we should all be in perfect shape!" Steven said, "Plus I know about the dark plasma thing, and I wanna try and do something for the gems affected."

"Hmmm," Beryl pondered, "Dark plasma taints are not a primary concern at present... but perhaps you could assist with follow-ups?"

"Follow-ups?"

"Healing gems is hardly a problem," Beryl explained, "But we could always use someone to repair any minor damages these gems may have sustained."

"So I'd be doing the second-rate healing?" Steven asked, "Sounds good! Anything to help gems out!" He looked back at his guardians, "Are you guys coming with?"

"We might as well," Pearl said, "Not like we have anything else to do..."

"Still playing the role of bodyguards, are you?" Beryl asked, to which the other two said nothing, "At any rate, come with me human..." She led them along the walls to where gems were either waiting to be healed or currently being healed. Unknown to them, Chrysoprase was casting glances at them in between her own work.

"What are that human and his gems doing..." she wondered out loud, "Oh, nevermind; Ruby Prime?" Before her the short red gem was flexing her arms and her fingers.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine," she said, "Just good to be back is all. But... why am I in a healing ward?"

"Perhaps there are a few recent things you should be made aware of..." Chrysoprase said to her.


"Are we certain of this?" Citrine said. She, Emerald, and Spodumene stood outside of a circular shaped encasing that, despite having a low roof and slightly raised floor, appeared to be lacking walls. They watched as two Agates carefully held the bubbled blue diamond gem between their palms and move it to the center space.

"Our ray fields were created specifically for gem containment," Spodumene evenly reasoned.

"Never did I think Mistress Diamond herself would ever need to be contained..." Emerald said, "I just have a feeling anything could happen..."

"We'll soon find out..." By now, the two Agates had de-bubbled the blue diamond in the center of the floor, and moved out of the perimeter, "Agates, activate the field!"

One of the Agates nodded and pressed the palm of her hand to a hand-shaped holo-panel. Immediately, a cylinder of faded, light yellow light connected the circular top and floor. All gems watched the blue diamond in anticipation for something, but for a handful of seconds, nothing did happen; the gem remained stationary, unmoving.

"... Nothing's happening," Emerald said.

"So, should we wait for something?" Spodumene asked.

"No, the three of us don't have time to wait for something to happen. We have one very important matter to attend to," Citrine said, now addressing the pair of Agates, "You two remain on constant vigil; contact us immediately if anything changes." The two Agates saluted a fist over their chests, and the three council members took their leave from the room via teleporter.

In an instant, the trio now stood in a completely new setting: a crystalline library, with hundreds upon hundreds of shelves of various books and texts stored.

"The Grand Library..." Emerald said as the walked forward, "Surprising that this of all places isn't badly damaged." To prove her point, several gems were running this way and that cleaning up knocked over texts from the floor and cracks in the walls. There were no where near the numbers that had initially greeted them outside, but they nonetheless worked tirelessly and diligently with their tasks.

"Ah, the Gem Council is here?!" a voice exclaimed. The three turned to face the source: a yellow-shaded gem with a gemstone in place of where a right eye would've been, "How thoroughly unexpected! Why if I had known you'd be coming here, I would have-"

"Yellow Spinel, please," Citrine cut her off, "Time is of the essence here; We've come because we are in need of something- information, which we hope can be found here..."

"Oh, of course!" Yellow Spinel snapped her fingers. Instantly, a group of other gems who were currently policing the Library joined her where she stood, "As the Library's head keeper, I, and my assistants, would be happy to assist. Now, what is it exactly that you require?"

"Answers, mostly," Emerald said, "However, if only there were a better way to exactly describe our question... Spodumene, show the recording." Spodumene stepped forward, held up her limb enhancer, and projected the recording she had taken. The other gems watched intently, At first Yellow Spinel's eye showed intrigue, then rapidly grew more concerned. When the recording ended, the only other gem who had spoken so far was left nearly at a loss for words.

"By the cosmos..." she said, "Was that... 'thing' real?"

"We were hoping you would tell us," Citrine reminded her.

"Yes, of course!" Yellow Spinel snapped her fingers, and her assistants scattered in multiple directions. Each one took a section of the library's tall, wall-side bookshelves and searched frantically. The Council followed Yellow Spinel as she chose a section to search. She then paused in front of the shelf, and her eye-gem began to glow. The light it produced was a thin, focused spotlight that hovered over section after section of books.

"Well, you may not think it now," Yellow Spinel said aloud, "But this Library was actually in far worse shape when we arrived back here. Multiple shelves were cracked, chipped, or damaged immensely, and that's not even counting for the Library's overall structural damage..."

"Do you have a technician or repair gem here?" Spodumene asked.

"Yes, I believe," Yellow Spinel replied while keeping her focus, "She's down below doing whatever she can for the Library's power systems..."

"Have her send a report to me when given the chance," the fusion said.

"Yes Spodumene," Yellow Spinel's eye stopped glowing, "Hmmm, there's nothing on this shelf of relevance... Perhaps we should try over-" The sound of fingers snapping got her's and the council's attention. A nearby gem of purple color was waving for them, nonspeaking, but with eyes filled with urgency, "Purple Sapphire? You've found something?" She nodded, and the group quickly moved to join her. The purple gem pointed to a single book in front of her, dark blue with red outlines.

"That's- that's for ancient myths and legends," Emerald looked closer, "How could this have what we seek?"

"Perhaps we should look and find out," Citrine reached up and removed the book from the shelf. She held it before her so all behind her could see, and opened to the first few pages. At first there was nothing helpful, save for ancient stories of the supposed precursors who were the originators of their kind. Citrine turned a page midway through the book, then froze, eyes glued to the open page before her.

"That?" Emerald said, "That is classified as 'ancient'?"

"And if this text is to be believed," Citrine said, "Predating thousands of years..."