CHAPTER ELEVEN

Steven took a swig from his bottle of water and pulled a face. It was probably warm enough to make a cup of coffee with; in fact, he was pretty sure he'd had colder cups of coffee from the Big Donut.

"Steven? Are you all right?" Peridot asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he assured her. "Water's warm," he added by way of explanation.

"Are you sure?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "You look pale."

"R-really?" he stammered, taken aback. "No, honestly, I'm fine! A-OK!" But if he were entirely honest with himself, he didn't feel fine. His stomach was churning, making him feel slightly nauseous, chills would run through him every now and then, leaving him in a cold sweat, and he kept coming out in goosebumps.

Peridot stared at him for a moment longer, not entirely convinced, then shook her head and turned away. "We're approaching the chamber," she informed him and the crew listening in from the control room. "Reducing speed now."

Steven sat up a little straighter and peered out of the window into the darkness, but it wasn't until they broke through into the chamber and he saw the strange, undulating shimmer on the surface of the bubble that he realized why he felt so strange. "We've scared the Cluster!"

"What?" Peridot said in surprise.

"What?" came an echo through the radio.

"We've scared the Cluster," he repeated, absently touching his gem. "'Cause we've come back, and it doesn't know why."

"It can tell we're here?" Peridot looked nervously through the window. "But... how? It's bubbled, it should be in a complete state of stasis."

"I dunno." He shrugged helplessly. "It bubbled itself, remember, maybe that has something to do with it. I just know we've freaked it out." He stared out of the window at the shimmering bubble and sighed. "I think I'm going to have to try and reassure it before I go out there and move it or it might panic and pop itself."

"Very well." Peridot leapt into action at once. "I had planned for this sort of eventuality," she explained, leaning over and pulling a handle on his chair. "So I installed reclining seats. Just in case."

"Recline-whoa!" he yelped as his seat tipped backwards. "Oh. Neat! These could definitely come in useful on the way back," he teased. "Just joking," he quickly added as a pointed cough sounded from the radio.

Peridot made no reply, instead busying herself by rolling up the shirt he'd discarded an hour ago, but as she leaned forward to tuck it behind his head, she hissed in his ear, "I'll see if I can convert the drill into a motor vehicle when this is over."

He laughed, then gave her a kiss and took one last look at the Cluster before he settled back into his chair and closed his eyes.

He pictured the Cluster in his mind, glittering with it's unworldly beauty just a short distance below. And as he pictured it, the floor beneath him seemed to fall away, leaving him floating just above the Cluster. "Hey," he said softly. "It's just me."

Several hundred voices replied in unison. "Why... why... WHY... what's wrong... why here... wrong... why... scared..."

"No, no, don't be scared! Everything's fine!" he rushed to assure them.

The Cluster calmed down a little, but he could still hear uncertain whispers. "Why... scared... why here... Diamonds... Diamonds..?"

He tried not to dwell upon the fact that just a few of those voices sounded almost hopeful. "I'm sorry we scared you, we didn't mean to do that. The Diamonds haven't come for you, don't worry." He hesitated for a moment. "But... we think they're going to. Eventually. And when they do, they'll want to use you to destroy the Earth."

"No... no... no..." the Cluster whimpered softly.

"I know," he said soothingly. "We really don't want that either. So I've just come to move your bubble to a safer place, that's all. It's a really nice place, you'll love it!" His eyes grew slightly misty as he fondly recalled that time he'd been trapped on Mask Island with Lars and Sadie, conveniently omitting the bit where Sadie had stranded them on purpose. "It's a beautiful tropical island, lots of sunshine, gorgeous sandy beaches, and friendly natives who've agreed to hang out with you and keep you safe – you'll like them, I made them myself. And you'll be able to see some of the world you helped save!"

The Cluster made quiet, crooning noises of approval and he smiled with relief. "OK. So, sorry again that we freaked you out, you're totally safe, I promise. I'm gonna go back to the drill now," he said, waving vaguely upwards in what he hoped was the right direction. "And then I'm gonna come back and just like, tap the bubble and send you to the island. That's all. And then you can go back to sleep and know the Earth's totally safe, OK?"

"Safe... sleep... safe..." the Cluster whispered, and fell silent. Sensing that all was now calm, Steven closed his eyes and felt himself drifting away.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his own body on the drill, and Peridot was curled up next to him with a hand on his chest, muttering quietly to herself. "What're you doing?" he asked sleepily.

Peridot yanked her hand back and blushed. "Nothing! Nothing at all! Just... keeping count," she mumbled.

"Keeping count?"

Her blush deepened. "Of your heart rate. It was Pearl's idea!"

"What!? No it wasn't!" Pearl's outraged voice squawked. "I just agreed that it was a sensible idea!"

"It doesn't matter who's idea it was-" Garnet cut in.

"Pearl's," Peridot mouthed.

"-The important thing is that Steven's awake now," Garnet continued. "So Steven, how did it go?"

"It went-" He paused, yawned, and stretched. "Oof. Yeah, it went well." He sat up as he spoke and looked out of the window again. The surface of the bubble was now clear and still and he smiled softly. "They're ready to go."

There was some muffled noise on the other end of the radio and then Garnet spoke again. "All right. Pearl's on her way to the warp pad now, she'll let us know when she's in position. Start getting ready."

"Here." Peridot snatched up his shirt and held it out to him. "You may want to put this back on, the harness will chafe."

"Kiss it better for him!" Amethyst yelled.

"As I do not possess healing powers, I shall not being doing that," Peridot replied calmly. She turned around and pulled a harness out of another compartment hidden in the wall. "Here. Would you like some help putting it on?"

Steven considered that for a moment. Did he need help putting it on? Probably not. But that wasn't the question. "Yes please."

He stepped into the harness, and then stood there, a silly grin on his face, as Peridot adjusted and tightened all the straps. "You're enjoying this far too much," she whispered up at him as she tugged at the straps on his chest.

"Yeah, and I'm not even going to try and pretend I'm sorry about it," he whispered back. Peridot rolled her eyes and yanked the strap a little tighter, but she couldn't help smiling back at him.

"What are you two whispering about?" Amethyst asked suspiciously.

"Nothing!" they called back in unison. "I was just checking to make sure everything was comfortable," Peridot added.

"And I'm all comfy," Steven said.

"I'll bet you are," Amethyst muttered.

"I'm ready!" Pearl's voice cut in breathlessly.

Steven nodded even though Peridot was the only one around to see it. "So am I. So... here we go."

Peridot leaned up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. "You can do this," she said softly. "I know you can."

"Yeah." He took a deep breath and stood up a little straighter. "I can do this."

He climbed up out of the hatch, Peridot close behind, and began gingerly inching his way towards the edge as she fed the rope after him. Finally he reached the point where he couldn't keep his footing any longer, and so he briefly closed his eyes, thought happy thoughts, and floated in entirely the wrong direction. "Whoops. Too happy."

He tried to think of mildly upsetting things. Nothing too bad, like sending the Cluster to the wrong place, or the Pink Diamond dreams or something horrible happening to Peridot-

There was a brief feeling of weightlessness, and then he fell the few feet back down and bounced off the side of the drill before coming to a halt. "Yeek!"

"Steven!" Peridot crawled as far as she could to the edge without falling over herself. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" He gave her a thumbs up and a reassuring smile and hoped he didn't look as spooked as he felt. "You can lower me down now."

Peridot hesitated for a moment longer, and then wriggled back and began slowly letting the rope out again until Steven was suspended just above the Cluster. "Stop!" he called up to her. "I think I can reach it now!"

"OK!" Peridot shouted back, and wriggled back to the edge again so she could peer over the side of the drill and watch.

For several seconds, he simply stared at the Cluster. Then he closed his eyes and pictured the site they'd chosen on Mask Island. "I can do this," he told himself firmly. He opened his eyes again, stretched out his hand and tapped the bubble.

Instantly, the Cluster folded in on itself and vanished, leaving him dangling over the vast, empty cavern. There was nothing more he could do now, so he twisted around and gave Peridot a thumbs up. "All right, wind me in- yeek!"

"Sorry!" Peridot called down and wound him in a little slower.

As soon as he was close enough, he scrambled up over the side of drill and hopped up and down impatiently as she unhooked the rope from the harness. "Come on, we can deal with the rest inside!" he urged, and as soon as he was free, he grabbed her hand and jumped back in. "Did it worked?" he asked urgently. "Did they arrive safely?"

"They're here!" Pearl answered at once. "They're here and- oh my, it's enormous! I had no idea it was so big- shut up, Amethyst!"

"They're really there!?" Steven said over the sound of Amethyst's laughter. "I did it? Really and truly!?"

"Yes!" Pearl shrieked. "You really did it, you wonderful, marvelous boy!"

"Way to go, Steve-o!" Amethyst cheered.

Steven closed his eyes, almost light-headed with relief; up until that moment, he'd been actively trying not to think about what might happen if he got it wrong and sent the Cluster someplace else. But it was over. He'd done it correctly. The Cluster was out and the Earth was safe.

A moment later, Peridot threw herself into his arms with a whoop of delight. "You did it!" she shrieked, and kissed him full on the mouth. "You did it, you did it! I always knew you could do it!"

"We did it," he corrected. "I couldn't have done it without you. All of you," he added for the benefit of the listening gems. "You guys were the ones who did all the work making the drill, Peridot was the one who piloted it here. Without all of you, I'd still be stuck up on the surface, hoping the bubble was always gonna be enough to keep things under control." He blinked away sudden tears and smiled a wobbly smile. "We did it together."

"In that case then, congratulations to everyone," Garnet said calmly. "And Tiger, Peridot? Hurry up and come back up here so we can all meet your friend."

xxx

The warp pad chimed, and the Watermelon Stevens immediately readied their weapons and adopted a defensive position. It wasn't until the light cleared and they saw Steven and the Crystal Gems, that they allowed themselves to relax.

"Whoa!" Amethyst's mouth fell open as she got her first look at the Cluster, towering over them as it floated just above the ground on the other half of the broken island.

"Didn't I tell you?" Pearl said, a little smugly.

"Y-yeah," Amethyst stammered. "But when you said it was enormous, I didn't realize you meant huge!" She continued to stare at it in stunned disbelief for several seconds as the others stepped off the warp pad around her. "I can't believe we just left that there in the ground," she breathed. For the first time, she understood how much danger they'd all been in. It was easily three times bigger than the temple fusion statue, and that was just the gem. No wonder Peridot had been so mad at them for constantly take time off working on the drill! "That could've destroyed the whole planet! Why didn't you tell us it was so big!?"

Peridot rolled her eyes but decided not to answer. She'd long ago figured out that the Crystal Gems thought she'd been exaggerating the danger posed by the Cluster when they were building the first drill. Instead, she reached for Steven's hand and held it tight.

"It looked smaller from above," Steven said, inadvertently answering Amethyst's question for her. "It's the angle."

Amethyst exhaled loudly and shook her head. "Man, we were sooo lucky that didn't blow up in our faces," she muttered.

"It's so beautiful. I didn't expect that," Pearl admitted. "I thought... well."

So far, Garnet hadn't said a word, but now she spoke. "Do we know who they were?" she asked, half-reaching out towards the Cluster before she caught herself.

"Uh, yes, there were records in the Kindergarten," Peridot said, feeling herself beginning to flush with guilt as Garnet turned to look at her. "I should have them backed up on my tablet, do- do you want me to fetch it for you?"

"Yes please," Garnet said, and gave her a small smile. Peridot gave her a slightly uncertain one in return and stepped back onto the warp pad before reappearing a minute later, hugging her tablet to her chest.

"Here," she said, holding it out to Garnet. "I opened the app ready, all you need to do is swipe across- like that," she added as Garnet did exactly that, flicking rapidly through the records.

"Oh! Is that Morganite?" Pearl gasped, leaning over Garnet's shoulder. "And Blue Lace Agate! I thought she'd been captured-" She stopped speaking and put a hand to her mouth when it suddenly struck her that that was exactly what had happened. "They're all here," she murmured.

Garnet continued to swipe through the records for a few more moments until she realized she had an audience. "Do you mind if I borrow this for a while?"

"Uh, no," Peridot said, because there really wasn't any other answer to that. "Go right ahead."

Garnet nodded and then sat down on the floor, clearly planning on settling there for a while. After a moment's hesitation, Pearl knelt down next to her, and soon they were completely absorbed in the final fates of their missing teammates.

"Come on guys, let's give them some privacy," Steven said softly, and led Peridot and Amethyst back down the cliff, towards the Watermelon's village.

"Geez, what a pair of Debbie Downers," Amethyst grumbled once they were out of earshot. "I thought we were gonna have a party or something, y'know, really celebrate the fact that we just saved the whole planet. Again."

"Well..." Peridot shrugged helplessly. "They knew those gems."

"Yeah, but they knew they knew those gems years ago," Amethyst persisted. "And they weren't like this when you guys first went down there and bubbled it. So why are they being like this now?"

"I guess seeing it made it feel more real," Steven said slowly. "Like... like, remember when you met all those other Amethysts in the zoo? You knew they existed before then, but I bet it didn't feel like it, right?"

"...Yeah, I guess so," Amethyst admitted. "When we were building the drill this time, I kept looking at all those holes and trying to figure out which ones they must have been in." She sighed and looked back over her shoulder. The Cluster was so huge, it was still clearly visible from halfway down the cliff. "Ah, let's go party with the Watermelons until they're ready to join us. We've earned it."