Hello, everyone! Sorry for the delay, but here is the next chapter of ASITP!

Regarding Peridot's log, I just had her start with the first time she makes her log in the show since I don't know the method she uses for recording her date/etc. I won't have too many mentions of the log since I have no understanding of it, but I love Peridot's note-taking, so I did include it early.

No reveal on what Bismuth wants to talk to Twoie and Ven about, but I'm pretty sure you all will be able to figure it out fairly easily. I'm assembling the B-Squad right now, lol. XD

I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Twoie pushed open the barn doors and smiled as he saw Peridot quietly talking to Steven. She was sitting on top of Lion, carefully brushing a hand through his mane while murmuring excitedly about something he couldn't quite hear. Judging by his little brother's laugh and Lion's rumbling purr, it was about the large pink cat. "Hey, buddy. Getting a good nap out here?" Lion lifted his head and looked over the teen. Then, the cat pressed his head forward with a happy chuff. "Aww! I'm glad." He gently stroked the fur on the lion's snout. "You deserve a good rest."

Steven looked over at him with a grin. There was something about his big brother that seemed a little different. He seemed more… relaxed and happy. His "How was your talk with Ven? Where is he, anyway?"

Twoie lifted his shirt, and the others gasped in surprise. The rounded facet of the pink diamond gemstone was back in place over his stomach. If it weren't for the fact that Twoie was still pink, he would look like his usual self again. "Ven and I re-fused. I realized that I was pushing for him to experience being his own gem, but he really wanted to be fused. We had a talk about it, and Ven's aware that he can unfuse whenever he wants. He's content to be a fusion for now, though."

Peridot tilted her head in confusion. She still wasn't used to fusion, but if Ven and Twoie were a hybrid of human and gem, how could they fuse? "Can any gem fuse with a human? I knew fusing was an ability between gems, but I didn't know humans were capable of it too."

Steven shook his head. "Gems and humans can't fuse, but Twoie and I can fuse with humans and gems because we're half-human and half-gem."

Peridot slowly nodded her head. "Fascinating. I need to record this phenomenon. What was that thing you said you had? That auditory player with a verbal recording mechanism?"

Twoie had no idea what she was talking about. Luckily, Steven did as the kid grinned at her. "Yeah! I saw a tape recorder in the pile of stuff we were going to keep! I'll go get it!" The kid dashed off towards the pile of junk outside the barn.

"Were you able to resolve Ven's issue?" Peridot didn't look at Twoie as she watched Steven move items around in a pile.

Twoie hummed lightly. "Yeah. Thanks for letting me know, Peridot. I still need to talk to Steven, but I'll wait until tonight. Things have been really stressful, and I'd like to let him unwind a bit before having another serious talk." The half-human walked up to the green gem, who was still sitting on Lion's back, and puller her into a gentle hug. "You're a really good friend, Peri."

Peridot blushed and shoved Twoie away. "Of course I am! I am the best friend ever!" Twoie laughed as he stumbled back a few steps. Peridot pushed herself off of Lion and strode towards Steven. "Come on! I'll need you to show me how to use the tape recorder once Steven finds it. I have so many observations that I need to record! Not to mention that we need to continue our design and construction of the drill." The technician looked back at Twoie sternly, trying to play off her embarrassment. "We only have a certain amount of time before the Cluster becomes active."

The two walked over to the side of the barn, watching as Steven triumphantly held up a tape recorder. "Peridot! I found it!" The kid grinned and held it out to her, pointing at one of the buttons near the top of the device. "You can press this red button to stop any recording that is playing or press down on it to start recording yourself." He gestured to the two buttons below the red button. "This first one is to reverse the tape from whatever part you were listening to, and this second one is to fast-forward the tape." Lastly, he pointed at the lone button on the very top of the device. "This is the play button. You press this, and it starts playing whatever you recorded." Steven handed the device over, happily watching as Peridot began inspecting it herself. "When your tape is full, you can take it out and put a new tape in. That way, you'll have lots of stuff you can take notes on and have a way to relisten to it!"

Peridot hummed in approval as she pressed the record button. "Peridot's log: 7 11 2. Steven has provided me with a rather primitive means to record my notes while I am here on earth. We are currently working on designing a drill that will prevent the Cluster from destroying this planet. Besides recording my progress on the drill, I will be recording notes about the earth and the organic creatures that inhabit this planet." Peridot opened her mouth but paused before she could add anything else to her log. She looked at Twoie and Steven, then blushed slightly and made a motion for them to shoo. Twoie quietly snickered but grabbed Steven's hand and guided him away from Peridot. As they walked away, they could hear her resume her note-taking. "I was captured by the Crystal Gems, rebels that still inhabited the earth. I thought I would be shattered, but Twoie, a human-…."

The two brothers walked back to the main clearing in front of the barn. The sun was beginning to set, and the farm was coated in a warm orange glow. "I didn't realize it was already that late." Twoie hummed in thought, looking back at the barn. "I should probably make something for dinner. Do you think baked potato soup sounds good?"

Steven nodded. Even though it was a pretty warm night, hot soup sounded really nice. It reminded him of when he was little, and their dad would heat up soup on a cold night. He would tell stories while they ate, then play a song or two on his guitar. After the events of the past couple of days, Steven wouldn't say no to comfort food. "Yeah, that sounds good. Do we have everything for it?"

Twoie gestured for Steven to follow him inside. "Dad and I stocked up a lot of groceries in the kitchen. We probably have more food than we did at the beach house."

The kid frowned at the reminder of their old home. He didn't like thinking about what they had left behind. It just made him think of why they left. Of the angry glares on the gems' faces when they attacked Twoie. Of the panic on his brother's as the rocks came crashing down-. Steven quickly distracted himself from his train of thought by running over to the kitchen and washing his hands. "What do we do first, Twoie?"

Both brothers worked together in the kitchen for a while. With Peridot outside and their dad still in town, the barn was quiet. Luckily, Ven had found a radio when he went through the junk pile the previous day, which was now filling the kitchen with pop music. Steven watched as his brother stirred the now simmering soup. 'I hope Dad will be home soon. The soup's almost done.' Just as the kid finished his thought, the brothers heard the sound of a car rolling up on dirt outside. "Dad's back!" With a happy grin, Steven raced outside to greet their dad.

Twoie smiled as Steven ran out of the barn. He also headed outside to say hello but paused when he noticed a figure stepping out of the passenger seat. Bismuth smiled at Steven, waving hello before her eyes turned to Twoie. She smiled sadly at him, and Twoie couldn't stop the surprise from showing on his face. Did she come back for more answers? Why didn't she stay with the gems longer? "Bismuth? Is something wrong? I thought you'd spend more time with the others first?" Twoie blinked as he realized that could come off as rude. "I-I mean, not that you aren't welcome here! It's nice to see you!"

Bismuth interrupted his floundering with a soft laugh. "I know what you mean, Twoie. Don't worry about it." She rubbed her arm slightly in embarrassment. "I'm the one who should be apologizing anyway. For attacking you when you first released me from the bubble." The blacksmith smiled as she saw the young man relax at her words. "I know about what happened." Twoie flinched as she gestured at him. "Got the full story from my friends, and it made me realize that Rose was right. Shattering gems wasn't the answer. It would've just continued the cycle of sadness." She had only ever seen it from her perspective. The loss of her friends as Homeworld shattered them in battle. At the time, she never considered what gems on the other side would've felt. She didn't care about them. However, seeing both sides, Twoie's family filled with anger and sadness, and the gems realizing they'd hurt someone who didn't deserve it when they thought they did…. It reminded her that all of the rebellion gems were originally Homeworld gems. How many of her comrades would she have put through the pain that her friends experienced? How many gems would she have hurt beyond those that were shattered? Bismuth was ashamed that it had taken her so long to reach her epiphany. That it had taken this horrible situation for her to understand what Rose tried to tell her.

Steven quietly regarded Bismuth as she spoke. She sounded sincere to him, and that was enough for him to step forward curiously. "Do you want to stay for a bit? I know you had more questions, right?"

Relieved, Bismuth nodded. "Yeah, that would be great." She smiled at Greg as the older man walked up to the group, then turned to the two brothers. "Thanks for being so nice about everything. I kinda had another reason for coming, besides hearing more about what I missed." The bigger gem peered around them, searching for something. "Where is Ven anyway? I'd like to tell him as well, and I also want to apologize to him."

Twoie sighed tiredly, turning to head back into the barn while gesturing for the others to follow. He knew he'd have to explain the fusion part to her eventually. He just hadn't expected to do it so soon. "That's part of what I need to explain. Follow me inside. It's starting to get dark, and I made dinner." The young man called out for Peridot before turning back to Bismuth. "Do you like to eat human food? There's enough for you to have some if you'd like."

Bismuth hummed in thought, then nodded. "Yeah, I'll try some. There's a lot that I've missed out on since I was bubbled for so long." She followed them into the barn. The inside was brightly lit and well furnished. The blacksmith found herself enjoying the coziness of their little home. Peridot ran into the barn moments later, and Bismuth casually waved at her in greeting. The small gem froze but seemed to take her presence well as she nodded at her before walking over to Twoie.

Everyone situated themselves on the couches, with the humans and Bismuth holding a bowl of soup. Twoie took a small sip of his meal before turning back to Bismuth. "What did the gems tell you about me?"

Bismuth stirred her spoon in the soup as she recalled everything they'd told her. "Well, I know you're from the future and that you and Steven are half-gem and half-human. I also know that Rose was your mom, and that's why you both look like her and have her powers but are not actually her." She took a small taste of the soup and blinked in surprise. It was warm and tasty. She grinned and took another bite before looking up at Twoie again. "That was pretty much all that they told me outside of the… incident."

Twoie was a little surprised. He hadn't expected the gems to tell Bismuth that much. "Yeah, okay. That's actually most of what you needed to know, so I could talk about Ven's absence." The half-human placed a hand over his shirt where his gem was. "When I… died," everyone winced at the word. "I pulled my gem out. Something that the others don't know is that being half-gem and half-human is basically being a permafusion." Bismuth's eyes widened in surprise. "However, it's more dangerous as my human half normally would not be able to survive without my gem half. My gem half was originally part of my subconscious, like in fusion, we're one being." Twoie gestured to himself. "With my revival, I no longer have to have my gem half to survive. Ven is my gem half, and that's why he was around when you met us. We're fused right now, though."

It was definitely confusing. Bismuth was having a hard time wrapping her head around Twoie's explanation. Gems and Humans having offspring was already unheard of. Still, the fact that Twoie and Steven were permafusions with a heavy emphasis on the 'perma' was mindblowing. "Wow. That is really something." Bismuth took a deep breath to calm herself. She chuckled nervously, "any other mind-altering revelations you want to tell me about, or was it just that?" Bismuth wasn't sure she could handle anything else.

That made Twoie wince. Unfortunately, there was one more thing he needed to tell her about. "Yeah. It's gonna be crazy, but you need to know the truth about Rose Quartz." Bismuth leaned forward slightly in shock. Twoie took a deep breath. "The truth is Pink Diamond wasn't actually shattered. Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond all along."