Lapis and Peridot found Jasper at the beach, laying down on the sand, watching the clouds drift by with a deep frown, her mind elsewhere. Luckily, the quartz gem didn't stray too far away. They hurried down the stairs before the quartz gem decided to leave. Lapis reached Jasper first and smiled weakly at her. "We have to stop meeting like this," she tried to joke but it ended sounding pathetically sad. Peridot laid a hand on her waist, both giving and seeking comfort.

Jasper's eyes moved away from the cloud shaped like a grotesque dog to the blue and green gem. "Why would we form Malachite again?" she asked, tired of beating around the bush. She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, looking like a child instead of the warrior she was created to be. "Every time I think we move past that mess, someone has to shove it in our faces." Her fingers raked through her hair in frustration. "I just stopped having those damn nightmares," she growled. "I don't want to have to sleep with Lion close by to bring me back to reality. It's humiliating."

Peridot let her hand fall from Lapis's waist to take a seat to the right of Jasper. She leaned into the bigger gem, not really knowing what to do at the moment. Lapis sat on Jasper's unoccupied side and grabbed a lock of beige hair. She was always amazed with how soft it was, Lapis had assumed it felt as coarse as it looked, just like Jasper and even Peridot. Such a strange analogy, the water gem thought. "It will be different this time," she finally said. Lapis didn't know if she was trying to convince Jasper, Peridot, herself, or all three of them. In the end it didn't really matter, she supposed. "It's not going to be filled with hatred like before."

"Yes," Peridot agreed. "It won't even be Malachite because I'll be in it to," she said, gesturing to her gem. "If the Diamond Authority is truly going to send a corrupted fusion as we believe, then we need all the strength we can get." Peridot looked up at the sky, the stars hidden from the sun's light. "We might not survive but at least then we can see we gave it all that we got."

Jasper looked down at her clenched hands. She didn't realize that her claws had pierced the skin until she relaxed her grip and blood began to trickle down her hands. Immediately, Lapis grabbed her left and Peridot her right, both gems inspecting the wounds and making sounds of concern. How had this happen? "What if I want revenge?" she asked, lifting her injured hands from loving ones. She watched as red pools began to form in her palms. "What if there's some part of me that still wants to shatter Steven for what his mother did to my diamond?" Jasper looked at them, desperate for any soothing answer. "What if you two get hurt because of my bloodlust? If we fuse, there will be two monsters to deal with."

They didn't say anything for quite some time. They just sat there, staring at their lover. Neither of them even made a move to stop Jasper from licking at the wound on her right palm. Jasper's eyes stayed glued on her injuries, not risking a peek at their expressions.

"There might still be a part of me that wants to serve Yellow Diamond," Peridot admitted. Gold and blue eyes snapped to her. She held onto her arms like she was trying to keep herself from breaking apart. "From the moment I was created, I was a peridot, a technician. I was given limb enhancers because no one believed I had any powers. As soon as I attached the enhancers to my body, I was assigned to check the progress of a Kindergarten on some nearby planet. I felt nothing for the planet that was dying because of the new soldiers, it was just a resource to be utilized to me." She took off her visors to expose her gem to the two, offering it to them. "Everything was so much simpler then; don't break the rules and you won't get punished. Just complete your assignment and wait to be assigned to another one."

"There is a part of me that still hates the Crystal Gems for what they did to me." Lapis looked out into the sea, she couldn't look at them like Peridot. "They knew I was in that mirror and they did nothing. I tried screaming for help but they wouldn't listen. Pearl picked me up and shoved me into her gem like I was just a toy to be played with on another day." The sky darkened as clouds gathered. In the distance, thunder was heard. "I stayed there for thousands of years until Steven let me out. I want them to feel the pain and loneliness that I felt in that mirror. I want them to understand how cruel they were, how shatterment would have been better than to plead for help to deaf ears for thousands of years."

Jasper threw her hands up. "See? That's why we shouldn't fuse." She rested her chin on her crossed arms. "We're all too fucked up. Whatever we would make would be fucked up too."

Peridot shook her head and leaned back on her hands, her feet moving side to side lazily. "There's a huge part of me that loves being on earth. Being my own gem!" She smiled up at Jasper and kissed the red stripe on her arm. "I wouldn't be with either of you two if I was still back on Homeworld. I would've been shattered in an instant for even thinking about this," Peridot said, gesturing between the three. "This planet is my home and I'll do whatever it takes to protect it. Even from that cloddy Yellow Diamond."

Lapis kissed the stripe on Jasper's left arm. "I want Steven to be happy," she murmured into Jasper's arm. "I want to repay him for the kindness he showed me. He didn't know who I was, what I've done, but he still freed me from the mirror." Lapis sighed and scooted closer to Jasper. "If that means tolerating the Crystal Gem's existence then so be it. It also means that I have to help him stop whatever the Diamonds are sending this way."

Jasper looked down at her hands where her claws still glistened with her blood. Her eyes spied the turquoise spots littering her arms and sighed. "I'm afraid of becoming that mindless beast again." The quartz gem tapped her head. "My mind was destroyed, there was barely anything left and what was there was tortured by my madness. I literally killed myself over and over again but I wouldn't stay dead. I would have gladly shattered my own gem than to go back there."

"It doesn't have to be that way," Lapis whispered. "We're here now and we can help you." Jasper still looked unconvinced so Lapis added, "We're not going anywhere. This planet isn't that big."

Peridot didn't say anything, she just got up and marched in front of Jasper. She lifted a hand slowly so that Jasper could see exactly what she was doing. Peridot poked her nose, biting back a chuckle when it scrunched up in distaste. She did it again and didn't flinch away from Jasper's glare.

"Quit it," Jasper growled.

"And if I don't?" Peridot asked, poking Jasper's nose again.

The quartz gem had to think of a proper punishment for Peridot being a brat. "I won't sleep with you for a week." The responding poke and roll of eyes pulled another agitated growl from Jasper. "I won't visit you for a month!" Jasper knew that she would never be able to fulfil her threat and the smirk from Peridot told her that the technician knew as well.

"That's how I know our fusion won't be a monster," Peridot declared triumphantly. She crossed her arms and grinned smugly at Jasper. "The old Jasper wouldn't have even bothered growling out half-hearted threats. She would have just broken my arm or something." She pressed her lips against Jasper's to stop whatever protest the quartz gem was about to say. Pulling back, she said, "You aren't her anymore so stop acting like it."

Lapis nodded and turned Jasper's head so she could kiss her too. "We've changed so much that Malachite will be a distant memory. There's no way she will come back, we won't let it."

Jasper sat there on the sand, trying to piece everything together. It was too much, too fast, but she couldn't do anything to stop or slow it down. She looked at Lapis and Peridot who stared back with not a hint of revulsion on their faces. Jasper groaned and flopped back on her back, unable to believe she was in this situation now. Just a few years ago, not even a blink of an eye for a jasper like her, did she want nothing more than to shatter Rose Quartz and watch her birthplace be destroyed, wiping away all evidence of that war. Now, she was going to help Rose Quartz's offspring save the earth. "Fine," she growled. "I'll do it but only if the other fusion can't stop the creature."

"YES!"

Jasper sprang up and whirled around. Steven was leaning on the porch's railing, his fists raised in the air as Lion yawned and closed his eyes for a nap. Amethyst was pumping her fist, celebrating with a chorus of "Do it! Do it!" Pearl nodded in approval, as if Jasper was just some difficult child finally doing as she was told. Even Garnet gave her a thumbs-up.

'Ugh," Jasper groaned, slapping a hand against her forehead. How had she not known they had an audience? "I'm going soft," she complained.

"Yeah," Lapis laughed. Peridot nodded in agreement.

Jasper opened an eye and smirked down at Lapis as well as Peridot. "Do you really think that," she practically purred.

Lapis and Peridot both gulped at the way Jasper's eyes seemingly glowed. They were in trouble.