And now it's time for more goings-on in the ship and someone else is getting unlocked! Yay, confronting emotional issues!

As Yellow Diamond sat in her throne, she read the message in front of her for the thirtieth time. It was not often that a message managed to reach the entirety of Homeworld, but news that Steven's rebellions had been completely wiped out caused the mood of the entire empire to lighten. Gems everywhere enjoyed the news and went about their duties with a new spring in their step.

That good mood, however, had not carried into the Diamond's private quarters. The news that Satellite Alpha had gone completely offline shortly before said message was broadcast made the matriarchs immediately suspect something. They had already sent a scout ship to report on the scene, but that would be a day or two away.

That left Yellow contemplating on what Steven's game was. She had her pearl transcribing notes as she exposited aloud.

"Has there been any word of activity from Beta or Gamma, Pearl?"

"Negative," reported the servant.

"I want frequent reports from them, then."

"Would you mind sending those to me as well?" Blue Diamond asked as she walked into the central throne room of the palace.

"Sure. Any news from White?"

"Nothing. I can't tell if I should be thrilled or scared at that."

"Just leave her to her own devices. From what I can tell, it's mostly just boosted morale and they could use that considering the scare with me almost being gone."

"Rumor is that we're going to lower the Aventurescence and declare a galaxy-wide celebration any day now."

Yellow actually chuckled at the thought of that. "How about we throw that party once we have irrefutable evidence of Steven's destruction aside from one report?"

While the image of throwing parties made Blue's mind drift back to Pink, she was able to keep her emotions contained for once and simply bid her follow diamond goodbye while Yellow resolved to keep their defenses up. If it turns out the scouters found proof beyond a shadow of a doubt that Steven was no more, then she really would celebrate. If not, then she would personally look forward to getting even with the half-gem for defeating her.


The crew on the Crystal Beacon found the trip to the second satellite to go much more smoothly than the first. While they doubted it would fool the diamonds, it did mean many of the lower echelons of the empire were convinced and that meant the select few encounters were due to ships stumbling across them which quickly meant that they were shot down before they could alert anyone and blow their cover.

As they traveled, the crew resettled into the pattern of training most of the time with breaks thrown in. The only exceptions to this were Peridot and Bismuth who put their combined efforts into melting down and transforming the stolen horde of gem weapons into a proper set of armor for the former to command with her new technopathy powers. They happily used a section of the pocket dimension as it had all they needed even if it lacked some of the built-in features of the forges and labs they had on Earth.

Another relief for the crew was that Peridot's power trip was indeed temporary and soon she returned to her normal snarky yet helpful self. Even if she could essentially pilot the ship herself now, she insisted that Topaz and her former crew of the Sun Incinerator were fine fliers and that she had other things to attend to.

Elsewhere on the ship, Steven was briefly relaxing with Connie as they let their bodies rest after a few hours of continuous training. The latter had the idea to turn her part of the training dimension into an obstacle course complete with flame geysers to test her endurance and reflexes. She then made the mistake of mentioning that to her mother who did not care that she was a fireproof crystal-girl, the rule about not playing with matches still stood.

"Hahaha, that's hilarious!" Steven said, having just heard that story as they sat in Connie's room drinking juice boxes and staring out into space.

"What, your dad hasn't tried anything like that?"

"Nah, he's been used to this since I was a kid. I mean, he'd kind of get worried before but I really think getting that armor and fighting with us has helped."

"Yeah, well, I can't believe I'm actually in space!" She looked out the porthole in the cabin and watched them pass a multicolored nebula.

"So, you wanted to be an astronaut too?" Steven asked, "The tennis, the violin and now landing on the Moon?"

"Nah, the Moon's been done before. I actually dreamed of being the first person on Titan, but hey, Homeworld will work too."

"I dunno, they're not going to like you planting a flag on their planet…"

The two giggled at thought, almost imagining somehow sticking an American flag on top of the Diamond's palaces before Steven suddenly went quiet. His eyes grew distant as his focus shifted from the room to his thoughts.

"Steven? You okay?"

"Connie, how long have you wanted to be an astronaut?"

"Well, for as long as I can remember. All I know is the first time I saw a rocket took off on some old show, I wanted to be in one."

"And how old were you?"

"Um, maybe four or five? Steven, where's this coming from?"

"I just realized something… I've never had anything like that. I have no idea what I want to do with my life."

"Steven, come on, you're fourteen! Nobody knows exactly what they want!"

"You do. You just told me you wanted to be an astronaut."

"Yeah, and when I was seven, I wanted to be able to freeze things with my brain. Trust me, things change."

"Okay, but you've been going to school and working towards your goal, right?"

"Well, yeah, but you're not like any other kid. You're a Crystal Gem and-"

"And that's it!" Steven snapped, suddenly panicking, "When I was kid, this was all I wanted but now?! Now I just want this to be over with! I can't believe this is what I wanted!"

"Steven, calm down! It's okay!"

"Is it?! I don't know anymore!" Steven got up off the bed and started pacing around the room as he ranted. "I mean, I don't want Homeworld to blow us up or hurt Earth, but what happens if we win?! Then I've got nothing! No plans, no education, I'm not even sure I exist to the rest of the world!"

"Steven, don't talk like that! We will win!"

"Yeah, because otherwise we're all dead! It's all just so much and I… I don't know what else! This is all I know except that's not going to matter if we lose and-"

"STEVEN!" Connie shouted, grabbing the hands that had just been gripping his hair and locking them with hers, "Look at me, calm down, it's okay."

"Connie, I'm… I'm sorry, I don't…"

"Steven, you don't have to know everything right now. You've got time and you've got us. You can start homeschooling, just pick up stuff or maybe you'll find something out of the blue."

"But I don't… How do you…?"

"Listen, okay? I'll help you, my mom will help you, we all will. Trust me when I say that most kids need someone to push them in the right direction school or no school. And there are adults who have no clue what they want until they're, like, forty. My mom wanted to be in the Olympics when she was my age and now she takes x-rays for a living."

"You're right…" Steven said, his breaths slowing and reaching up to hug Connie, "I don't know where all of that even came from. It just… hit me. But yeah, I'll look into stuff when we're done here."

"That's better," Connie said hugging him back, "You know, I think I know a job you'd like."

"Please don't say astronaut. No offense, but I'm good with space for a while."

"Haha, no. I was thinking of a therapist. Steven, you're kind of one to the gems here already."

"Wait, you mean someone who helps people with their feelings?" he said, blinking as recalled how many times he had done work like that.

"Exactly. Maybe think on that when we get home, okay?"

"Yeah, I will. Thanks, Connie."

Steven then repaid her kiss on the cheek with one of his own before heading out and finding something else to do while the girl just stood there completely shocked. Connie also felt a twinge of guilt for paralyzing her friend same way before she finally got her bearings and returning to her own training.


Elsewhere on the ship, Adamite and Cinnabar were training together and greatly appreciating that they did not have to worry about collateral damage. Rubble and scorch marks littered the terrain they conjured up for their sparring and while it was nice to know that the ground could be customized for their use.

In spite of sticking together for so long, the gems had rarely trained or practiced together finding it pointless to tear up the world. This meant that their drive had grown exponentially since reuniting with Lapis as they found their own abilities lacking when they see the aquatic gem manipulate water on a much finer level than either of their elements and in much greater quantities.

The alien elementals stood apart from each other with only a hundred feet of dirt separating them before each of them lashed out. Adamite stomped her feet to make dozens of rock spires jut out from the ground which Cinnabar dodged by igniting her feet like rocket boosters to propel herself into the air. It was a far more unstable form of flight compared to Lapis's wings, but it proved effective for evading the attack.

Before Adamite could try to gain any altitude of her own, Cinnabar placed both her arms to her side and willed a fireball between her hands but rapidly condensed it as she poured more energy into it. When she thrusted her arms forward, a massive stream of flames bigger and wider than the gem was erupted and forced Adamite to burrow underground to dodge as the massive conflagrant attack flew for hundreds of feet and would have easily burned down near anything in its path.

The incendiary was about to taunt her partner out of hiding only for the ground to rumble underneath her. She leapt out of the way of what she thought was Adamite popping out of the ground but instead was shocked to find herself trapped inside a cage of solid stone while Adamite herself emerged just outside of it with a pleased expression.

"Hah!" Cinnabar boasted, "You think this will hold me?" She set her arms alight and tried punching through the pillars of rock around her only to find the cracks she made quickly being filled. She tried spot after spot around the walls and even ceiling of the cage, but she could not escape.

"Not bad, hm?" Adamite asked, "I've been trying to get better at reinforcing my constructs."

"Heh, okay, that's pretty clever. But now you've just given me an idea on how to get out…"

Adamite expected her to just throw around some more fireballs or maybe try hitting her to disrupt her concentration. Instead the usually flighty gem just closed her eyes as her form started glowing and radiating heat. Minutes passed making the usually stoic gem unnerved until Cinnabar let out a yell and suddenly every inch of her body exploded into a raging inferno that easily blew away the cage and spread for hundreds of feet in all directions until it finally died down.

The prison meant to contain her was now a bunch of half-molten sludge making her laugh maniacally at her success. Adamite, having been forced to simply tunnel at max speed away from the explosion, ran back and was properly stunned.

"Where… Did you learn to do that?"

"Oh, it was just an idea that came to me. I guess concentrating your powers really does help!"

"Impressive, I'll admit, but please resort to using that move as a last-resort tactic. I sincerely doubt we need to turn the Beacon into slag. That and you might just melt a few gems with that…"

"Eh, it's not perfect. It took me forever to charge up that much, but I'll keep that in mind."

The two then headed out of the pocket dimension, easily doable since they just had to ask for a door to the outside to the appear and went off to find Lapis. It occurred to them both that they had yet to train as a trio since they left Earth. They rounded the corridors of the ship looking through any open rooms only to not find a hair of her until they came across the bridge where Topaz confirmed that she had opened the main airlock to allow the gem to fly around outside the ship for a brief spell.

The wanderers turned rebels wasted no time heading out into the vacuum themselves where they found their third sitting on the roof of the ship staring up at the endless array of stars glowing in the vast abyss.

"I should have figured," Adamite commented as she and Cinnabar approached, "You always loved sightseeing."

"Heh, I guess a few things never changed," Lapis shrugged as Adamite sat to her left and Cinnabar to her right, "Homeworld may have sucked, but the flight was really nice."

"Maybe I should try flying around space sometime!" Cinnabar thought aloud, "It'd be a good way to practice!"

"Wait, when did you…?"

"It's a skill she's been developing. I should stress that she's still an amateur and thus won't be upstaging you anytime soon."

While Cinnabar stuck her tongue out at that, Lapis giggled and placed a hand around Adamite's shoulders and soon the two were necking as they watched comets streak by in the distance. As nice as the moment was, Adamite eventually stood up and planned to head back into the ship but Lapis grabbed her arm.

"Where are you going?" she asked, "Can't you stay a little longer?"

"Sorry, but we need to get back to training. I was actually coming to ask you if you wanted to join us."

"I don't know…"

"Eh, don't worry, we won't embarrass you too bad!" Cinnabar joked.

"But the training room doesn't have any water in it."

"It can make tons, trust me! Just don't ask it to turn into an ocean and you should be fine!"

"Actually," Adamite realized, "I don't think I've seen you train much since we first left Earth. You have been keeping yourself in condition, right?"

"Well, I mean… A lot of stuff has come up and…"

"Like what? If you can name something more important than our mission to save an entire planet from hostile imperialistic maniacs, then please tell me. I'd love to know what it is."

"Look," Lapis said, edging closer to her green counterpart, "I just think we shouldn't overdo it, you know?"

"And that's a very reasonable sentiment…"

"See? Now come on, let's just sit here some more and-"

"If you're human."

"Huh?"

"You heard me," Adamite said flatly, "Humans have to worry about their levels of exhaustion much more frequently due to their biological needs, but not us. And frankly I'm insulted that you think such a pathetic excuse would fool me."

As the aquatic gem tried to stutter an answer and Adamite looked about ready to storm off, Cinnabar tried to jump in. "Whoa whoa, time out! Look, Lapis, it's okay if you're scared-"

"Scared?!" Lapis balked, "Oh, will you shut up with that?! I've been having everyone treat me like I'm scared little puppy since I've gotten here."

"I'm trying to help you!" Cinnabar yelled back, "Why are you getting in my face over it?!"

"Because you hit a sore spot that I wanted her to bring up," Adamite answered, "Instead, you've just irritated her."

Lapis turned to face her more intimate partner, only to be surprised when she was enclosed in a hug and heard something whispered in her ear. "And if you think you're the only one who's scared, then you're wrong."

"A-Adamite…"

"And it would make me feel much better if you got yourself ready for whatever Homeworld throws at you. Please? For me?"

Lapis may not have had a heart, but something was causing her to feel lightheaded and flustered as she nodded, and the trio soon headed back inside the airlock and then went to the training room. And soon all of their worries melted away as the three began sparring and used their elemental powers to blindside and outmaneuver one another. Minute upon minute passed and at first the sensation was fun as all three seemed to be on equal footing until Lapis slowly started falling behind.

It seemed innocuous at first with her simply making a water shield to block a fireball and it broke under the attack. A failure that small she could overlook, but that was only the start. She sent a small wave at Adamite only for her to make stone armor and plow right through it. She then tried blocking the charging elemental's attacks with her water wings shaped into fists only to get a kick to the legs instead. Then she only narrowly dodged Cinnabar ramming into her and the fiery trail she scorched the ground with.

And that was all in fifteen seconds. From there, Lapis tried to bounce back but soon it became apparent to her that she was rapidly becoming the third wheel as Adamite and Cinnabar kept up with each other just fine and only once in a while struggled to counter whatever watery attacks the once mirror-bound gem conjured up. Once she ended up getting blasted out of the sky and landing in a mud pit, however, a new idea formed that made her feel better.

"Can we train as Sandstone?" she asked Adamite.

"Well… I suppose we might encounter a terrestrial base. That and it has been a while."

"Oh, please!" Cinnabar joined in, "No offense, but I really like how I can go all-out on her."

Adding that in mind, Lapis and Adamite joined in a twirl and soon their light coalesced into the ever-calm four-armed mudslinger who looked all too happy to be back.

"You ready?" she asked Cinnabar. The arsonist jumped back and forth on her legs nodding and soon a complete war of mud versus fire ensued. Sandstone may not have artificial earth under her feet, but that did not hold her back in the slightest as she made mud constructs ranging from clones of Cinnabar to hundred-foot tall tidal waves that threatened to leave the lone gem buried.

Said lone gem, however, proved to be exceptionally resourceful in her own right. Aside form generating an unlimited amount of fire, she had learned how to harness her element more and more. She was no longer the pyromaniac who just let her flames run wild and instead utilized her power to the fullest.

If one of those tidal wave was coming at her, she would floor it at top speed on her burning legs to escape the tsunami. If giant mud snakes tried to swallow her, she immediately concentrated on superheating a single point turning the mud into solid rock she could burst through. If Adamite tried getting physical by smashing into her, Cinnabar proved just how effective putting rocket-propulsion behind her limbs was as it helped even the power gap between them.

The volley went on back and forth between both sides, neither bothering to keep track of time with the intensity they were going at, until Cinnabar decided she needed a break. She was about to head out of the room but noticed Sandstone was not following her.

"You coming?" she asked the fusion.

"Out… there? The hallways… I can't fit in them," she replied.

"Yeah, but you can split up and then join up again when we come back."

"No… I…"

"Sandstone? Um, are you good?"

"I don't want… To be alone…"

"It's… for a few minutes…"

"Uh-oh…" Cinnabar said, realizing that it was a problem with Adamite and Lapis. She tried to leave but suddenly a wall of mud blocked the door.

"Hey, what gives?!" the incendiary demanded only to be silenced as she saw Sandstone's eyes vibrating madly. A shaky chuckle escaped her lips as she gripped her hair trying to quell all of her trembling.

"I'll be fine… I just won't come undone again… I know, I'll stay in here!"

"You sound… Insane! I have a life too! I need time… To myself still…"

"You've had enough! You spent millennia without me!"

"That doesn't mean… You can control me…!"

"Guys, snap out of it!" Cinnabar insisted, "I know, I'll get help! You just stay here and-"

"NO!" Sandstone bellowed, all four of her arms clutching the fiery gem's body and hoisting her into the air, "Not you too! I can't lose you too!"

"S-Someone help! Peridot, Steven, anybody!"

"You're losing it…" Sandstone said to herself, "Look what… You're doing…"

"I've been through enough! I'm not suffering anymore!" the fusion screamed to open air, "Do you know what it's like to feel yourself waste away?! To have your voice reduced to background in your own mind?!"

While she kept rambling, Cinnabar charged up her fire like she had before and thankfully the fusion was too consumed in her own issues to notice her literally glowing. All at once, she opened the floodgates and flames rushed out of every inch of her form which burned through all of Sandstone's hands and snapped her back to her senses. Although she ended up landing face-first in mud, Cinnabar still stood up and said what was on her mind.

"REALLY?! You want to treat me like that?! After all I've done for both of you?! Spending thousands of years by you, Adamite? Never giving up on you, Lapis? And you want to throw me around like some doll?!"

The door to the rest of the ship appeared behind her as she spoke her last words. "Go figure this out. Pull that stunt again and I will hurt you."

As she stomped out into the corridors, Sandstone finally split apart leaving a fuming Adamite and a weeping Lapis who was stuttering out apologies in between trying to catch her own breath. She was silenced when Adamite placed a finger over her lips and glared into her eyes.

"I know," she said resolutely, "That you have been through a great deal of trauma in your life. I know you may never completely recover from that and I want to help you."

Adamite placed her other hand on Lapis's shoulder and squeezed just hard enough to make it uncomfortable before her gaze narrowed. "But you will not use me like that. I am my own gem, not a crutch for you to use to solve all your problems. Perma-fusion is something we'll discuss once this is all over, but I'm warning you now: One more stunt like that and we're over. As a couple and as friends. Clear?"

"C-C-C-Cl…" Lapis garbled before just nodding and wilting onto the floor. As much as she wanted to comfort her like this, Adamite knew that this was beyond her. She trudged out into the ship while Lapis stayed for several minutes trying to at least get to the point where she would stop randomly breaking into sobbing fits.

It took almost ten minutes but she finally got on her feet and made her way to the bridge of the ship where she told Topaz that she needed to see Steven. Shocked by the utterly crestfallen look and stature she had, the fusion did so immediately and soon the half-gem took Lapis back to his room where he could work.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Steven asked.

"Yes," the gem replied, "I won't let all this junk in my past ruin my relationships. I… Need to do this."

Hearing that she was absolutely sure about her words, Steven placed a hand to her gem and soon both of them fell unconscious to the floor as Lapis's gem turned from blue to gray.


Satellite Beta, unlike its counterpart further from Homeworld space, was a series of buildings located on a dark blue moon orbiting a non-colonizable planet. The word on everyone's communication screens was that the Crystal Gems had thoroughly destroyed which meant a series of impromptu celebrations before the commander screeched at everyone to return to their posts or they would be harvested.

While the soldiers, pilots and technicians of Beta went about their day with little issue, they did constantly joked about how paranoid their boss was behind her back. What, so the footage and the report was faked by them? There was a betting pool going around that she would send out a false alarm by the next inspection in a few weeks.

Inside the central office, though, the commander simply sat in her chair waiting. She would bear with the mockery of her subordinates once she was ultimately proven right. She knew with complete certainty that the Crystal Gems were still out there. She had far too much experience with them to think they would be defeated by that egotistical Tsavorite and their renegade ship would fall prey to planetary gravity.

Her eye turned to the scanner where an unknown signal was just now coming into range. The readings quickly showed there was nothing else like it and that made her stand at attention. She could feel it in her facets, it was finally time! She began to ready the base for an attack.

Emerald had a feeling that this would be their final encounter. She had lost her beloved ship and been demoted to manning a hole like this. She would sooner be shattered than let them slip by her again.

Tune in next time to see more of Emerald and Steven finally trying to make sense of Lapis's literal ocean of angst!

Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments in the reviews!