The temple was quiet, the Crystal Gems had finally had a moment of silence in days and were all inside. but this silence was soon ended when a sonic boom sounded. Steven ran outside just in time to see something falling from the sky. As it approached, he heard it screaming as it crash landed into the ocean. Steven went to step forward, but was scared backwards as something landed in front of him. He soon found that the object was a gem destabilizer, similar to the one that jasper used before. He looked up and saw a familiar figure crawl out of the ocean and gasped. "Star! You're back!" his celebration was short lived, however, as he heard Star Alexandrite scream in horrible pain, and struggle with his own body.

"YOU CAN'T TELL ME YOU'RE GIVING UP! and what do you suggest, Einstein? HOW ABOUT YOU TRY-? We can't. THEN MAYBE I CAN! ALONE! Wait! NO!" His head began to tear apart, but was suddenly collided back together, as Star screamed in pain again. "H-Help... me...!" He looked up to the destabilizer and reached for it. at that moment,

Pearl stepped out of the house to see Star and Steven. "Star!?" She saw Star grab the destabilizer and gasped, dashing to Steven and covering his eyes. Steven struggled, but Pearl kept his eyes covered. Steven was unable to see as star took the destabilizer and stabbed himself with it. He screamed in blood-curdling scream and his body was covered with neon yellow cracks. His entire body was painfully torn in two and slowly the parts became the two separate gems that made him. they then retreated to their gems. Pearl then let Steven go and walked over to the two star gems. She reached out her hands, ready to bubble them, but Steven ran up and grabbed them first. "No, Pearl, don't! We need to know what happened to him!"

Pearl nodded silently and they brought the gems inside. Steven stared at the gems for a while, mesmerized by the two stars inside the gems, while Pearl explained what happened to Peridot, Amethyst, and Garnet. Peridot growled, "So this is the clod that started this all." She went toward the gems, but was met with Garnet who just lifted her off of her feet and made her struggle. "Let me go, you fusion! i want to give him a pice of my mind!"

Suddenly Star Ruby formed his body and drew his fire katana, lunging at Peridot. "that goes double for me!" He yelled as he attacked Peridot, but before he could land the first blow, Star Sapphire appeared and grabbed him, holding him up as well. "I apologize for this, he is just having a bad time. we both are."

Steven walked up, looking up at the two. "What happened?"

Star Sapphire sighed and looked at Steven, "We went to Homeworld, but were too late. Lapis, Jasper, and Peridot had already returned here. we were confronted by numerous Homeworld gems and were stuck fighting them off for days on end."

Pearl looked at him with surprise, "There were more gems in Homeworld?"

"Yellow Diamond's minions. Corrupted and shard hungry. Even cluster gems. We eventually retreated, and drifted in space for some time... we got into an argument and attempted to de-fuse several times... it was painful."

Garnet thought for a second, then came up for a reason. "You both can feel pain, and fusion involves combining your molecules into one body. that must be why you had trouble separating."

Star Sapphire nodded, "Ruby here is afraid that i think Lapis has given up on us and joined Yellow Diamond. i tried to tell him otherwise, but he's not listening to me."

Star Ruby growled and flailed his fire katana around. "LET ME GO!"

"Ruby, listen to me, the possibility is still there, don't raise your expectations too high!"

"YOU DON'T LOVE HER ANYMORE!"

"No, I do!"

"Enough! Both of you!" Steven and Garnet both said at the same time. Every gem, including peridot and Star Ruby both silently stared at the two in shock.

Steven spoke first. "You two shouldn't be fighting, you two are friends!"

Garnet nodded and set down Peridot as she continued, "You two can't disagree on something you don't know anything about. Now if i were the two of you, i would get along and try to focus on the situation at hand."

The two star gems looked at each other and nodded.

"Sensei is right." Star Sapphire said as he nodded at Star Ruby.

Star Ruby nodded and sighed. "Lapis is here on earth, somewhere, and we need to find her!"

The two smirked at each other as Star Ruby was set down and the two quickly linked arms and charged into each other.

Star Alexandrite fused quickly as he looked at his hands and scarves, observing them. "no pain... no struggle... our care for lapis makes our fusion stable..."

Steven smiled and walked over to him. "Is Lapis like your girlfriend or something?"

Star gasped a little at the thought. he learned about human relationships in the time he spent on earth, even though he never actually was in one of his own. He always adored Lapis, and he considered trying to ask her to be with him in a human relationship, but one problem persisted. Did she remember him? Is she still the gem he met on Homeworld? "I... I wish it were true, Steven." he said as he walked to the edge of the balcony and held out his arm. his red scarf extending from it as far as physically possible as it waved in an imaginary breeze. "i don't know if she'll accept me anymore. and if she doesn't, i will have to accept reality. I will be like a Pearl guard to her."

When Pearl heard that last sentence, she smiled slightly. no other gem related to her in this way. Like her love for Rose Quartz, he loved Lapis to the point of being a Pearl guard toward her. Pearl's eyes were finally opened toward him. All along she saw him as a freak, but now she saw him as both a warrior and a companion.

She stood up and walked over to him with a small smile as she began ti sing. "you'd do it for her." Star turned to her in confusion as she continued. "And you will do it again." She walked up to him, seeing he was almost a foot taller than her, and she rested her hand on his shoulder. "You'll do it for her, and when you find her, she'll do it for him."

Star smiled slowly and nodded. "Thank you, Pearl. this is the first time you've seen me as an actual gem. "he turned to the ocean and thought for a second. "Tell me what happened to her."