A/N: This chapter, along with chapter 6 and 10, have been revised. Thank you.
After breakfast, Garnet dragged Bo out to the beach to train. Steven ran out the door to cheer the two of them one, leaving Pearl and Amethyst to watch Peridot inside the house.
"Must you two keep glaring at me?" Peridot groaned.
"And let you wander off to do whatever you please?" Pearl scoffed. "I don't think so."
"And what is it do you think I could do out there?" Peridot asked in irritation. "I'm stuck on this miserable planet with no means to get back to Homeworld."
"There's still the Kindergarten." Pearl said. "We know that you want to get there, and we're not letting you restart it."
"Then you're watching me for nothing." Peridot grumbled.
"What?" Pearl asked in annoyance.
"In case you two clods have forgotten, you smashed the power to the Kindergarten. I don't have a suitable replacement for the power source, so I cannot reactivate the Kindergarten, even if I wanted to." Peridot explained. Pearl and Amethyst stared at Peridot before Amethyst spoke.
"Even if you wanted to?" Amethyst repeated. Peridot's eyes widened as she realized her mistake.
"What did you mean by that?" Pearl asked. "If you're not here to restart the Kindergarten, then what exactly have you been trying to do there?"
"Nothing." Peridot lied. Pearl and Amethyst were not convinced, nor amused.
-Outside-
Garnet was training Bo and Steven, mostly Bo, in reflex training by throwing small stones at them.
"You need to react faster Bo!" Garnet said as she threw another stone at him, which he deflected with his scythe.
"I know, but it's hard to dodge or deflect them when you throw them so fast that they practically break the sound barrier!" Bo said as he sweat bullets from the constant jumping around. "And how come you've thrown most of them at me?!"
"Because Steven is younger than you. Plus, I don't want to see him get hurt." Garnet said, a smile at the last sentence.
"Besides, she's not throwing them that fast." Steven said.
'Teacher's pet.' Bo thought as Garnet threw a stone, dramatically slower, at Steven, who easily jumped out of the way to avoid it. Bo groaned before he was beaned in the head with a rock.
"Remember to pay attention during battle, or you won't be walking away from the battlefield." Garnet said.
"Yes Ma'am." Bo groaned as he rubbed his head.
SLAM
All three of them looked to see Pearl and Amethyst lead Peridot, who was bound by Amethyst's whip, out of the Beach House and down the stairs towards the beach.
"Why's Peridot all tied up?" Steven asked.
"Guess she tried something stupid." Bo said as the three gems walked towards Garnet.
"What did she try to do?" Garnet asked as she summoned her gauntlets.
"I did absolutely nothing." Peridot said.
"She was talking about the Kindergarten!" Pearl said.
"Did she try to sneak off to activate it?" Garnet asked.
"She said she couldn't activate it, even if she wanted to." Amethyst said. Garnet looked Peridot straight in the eye, making the green gem sweat.
"If you weren't there to reactivate the Kindergarten, then what exactly does Homeworld want with it?" Garnet asked. Peridot remained silent as she looked at Garnet's visor, which blocked out all three of Garnet's eyes narrowing at her. "I'm not asking. I'm demanding! What is at the Kindergarten?!"
"Peridot?" Steven asked as they all looked/glared at her. Peridot's eyes shifted between each of them, growing more nervous by the second before she relented.
"The Kindergarten's where Homeworld's conducting some experiments!" she said rather quickly.
"Experiments?" Bo asked. "What exactly is Kindergarten?"
"Kindergarten is a place where gems are planted into the ground, suck the life out of it, and incubate." Pearl explained. "But, what kind of experiments would they be performing there?"
"They're...Fusion experime-" Peridot was cut off after Garnet reached up and grabbed her by the throat. "Gack! Ack!"
"We're going to the Kindergarten!" Garnet said as she began walking towards the Beach House, with Peridot still in her grasp. The rest of them followed before Bo stopped and looked under the house.
"Is that a lion?!" Bo asked.
"Move it!" Garnet yelled, making Bo forget the lion and run into the house and onto the Warp Pad with the others.
-Kindergarten-
Everyone stepped off the Warp Pad before Garnet dropped Peridot onto the ground. Peridot staggered as she got onto her feet, still wrapped up in Amethyst's whip, and looked back at the gems.
"This is Kindergarten?" Bo asked as he looked around.
"Which way?" Garnet ordered. Peridot scowled at her before looking off into one direction.
"It's where you Crystal Gems smashed the power core." she said. Everyone quickly began walking before they came upon the deep hole that lead deep into the Earth's crust. Everyone slid down before coming to the dark and empty space at the bottom.
"This place is creepier than I remember." Steven said.
"Where are they?" Garnet asked.
"I have to pull them out of the ceiling manually." Peridot said.
"We'll pull them out. You tell us where to pull." Garnet said. "Steven. Bo. Guard the exit in case she tries to run." Both of them nodded before they went and stood near the exit.
-5 minutes later-
The room now had many pillars of Earth all around them, each of them pulled out of the ceiling where Peridot said they were, with some of them still hanging from the ceiling.
"So...what next?" Bo asked.
"Is something supposed to be in those?" Steven asked.
"Yes. Though I have no idea exactly what is in them." Peridot said as Garnet gently placed her hand on one of the pillars. Suddenly, it began to tremble and shake, causing everyone to back away from it.
"That's not good." Amethyst said before something fell from the ceiling and hit the floor. Everyone looked to see what looked to be a red hand merged with a blue foot, both of which were twitching on the ground.
"What is this?" Pearl asked as she picked it up, only for it to grab her face. Garnet punched it, making it poof into two tiny gem shards mashed together.
"It looks like two tiny gem shards stuck together." Steven said as he walked over and looked at it. "Is that what these things are? Gems, stuck together?" he asked as Garnet threw them away in horror. Soon, more began falling from the sky, arms and legs mashed together in odd combinations before the shaking pillar cracked open.
"What now?!" Bo asked as something came out of the pillar. It was covered in light, with what looked like four gems fused together in the center. It kept shifting, changing, and glitching before finally falling to the ground. It looked like a giant hand made of body parts wrapped in a blackish-gray cloth. All the gems looked at it in horror. "What is THAT?!" Bo yelled as it crawled towards the gems.
"Garnet! What do we do?!" Steven asked. No answer came as Garnet stared at it, frozen in horror as a few hands grabbed her. One slapped her face and knocked her visor off, showing a look of pure terror across in her eyes. "Garnet! Why aren't you answering?! Garnet!" Steven called as he and the gems began swatting and poofing the smaller fusions while Peridot watched.
"These were Crystal Gems! Shattered into pieces! They were buried underground!" Garnet said as tears streaked down her cheeks. "They were forced like this! They were forced to fuse! This is wrong! This is all wrong!" Everyone stared at her as Garnet spoke. "I-I'm sorry!" she cried before her body glowed white and began to split.
"No! NO! Garnet! You're coming undone!" Steven cried as he knocked a fusion away with his shield.
"Come on G! Snap out of it!" Amethyst called.
"Garnet! This isn't like you!" Steven yelled. Garnet's three eyes appeared and widened before she began to struggle and knocked the giant Cluster Fusion off of her. She then grabbed it and began to pull as her body returned to normal before she pulled the Cluster apart, forcing it back into it's fused gems. "We did it!" Steven yelled in triumph before his good mood faded as Garnet stared at the fused gems, her thoughts completely on the fused gems that she was holding in a bubble. She didn't even hear Steven as both Ruby and Sapphire spoke about the fusion, the rebellion, and this state being the punishment. "Garnet?" Steven called. After a few seconds, Garnet sent the bubble away to the temple before turning to Steven, a sad look on her face.
"Steven." she said with a sad look while the others all stared at her. She looked back at them all one-by-one before her eyes landed on Peridot, her expression quickly switching from sad to enraged. She walked over and lifted the bound Peridot of the ground with both of her hands, startling everyone there. "Why would Homeworld do this?! What were they trying to accomplish?!"
"They were prototypes for the Cluster!" Peridot said, her voice full of fear.
"What is the Cluster?!" Garnet demanded.
"If you untie me, I'll explain!" she said as she stared at Garnet's three angry eyes. Garnet didn't speak for a moment before dropping her to the ground with a thud.
"Untie her." Garnet ordered while she walked a few steps away, doing her best to restrain the urge to beat Peridot senseless. Amethyst obeyed and caused her whip to vanish, releasing Peridot from her restraints. "Now," Garnet continued, her voice slightly calmer. "What exactly is the Cluster?" Peridot took a few calming breaths before she, under intense supervision, explained exactly what the Cluster was. She had restored a bit of power to the room and used the screen to show pictures as she explained the Cluster, how it was a Gem Geoweapon comprised of millions of gem shards, how it's been incubating inside the Earth, and that it would destroy the Earth upon taking it's physical form. The others couldn't help but share shocked/grim looks as the weight of everything sunk in.
"How could Homeworld do this to the Earth?!" Pearl screamed, her hands held out at the picture before her.
"I don't know." was Peridot's answer.
"How can you not know?" Bo asked, his voice carrying nothing but confusion.
"I was created long after the idea of the Cluster was set in motion." she defended. "The only things I have connecting me to it are the few hundred years of reports I've read, and that I was assigned to check up and report it's current status." The gems glared at her before Garnet picked up her shades and placed them back over her eyes.
"Let's go. I've had enough of this place." Garnet said while walking towards the elevator. The others exchanged worried glances before joining her on the elevator, up to the surface, and back to the Warp Pad to leave.