And now, just in time for a holiday, here's another chapter! I'd cue the fireworks, but I'd rather not burn someone's house down.

Once Lapis was properly rested the next day, she flew out to sea and fished out the Sun Incinerator. While the group was saddened to see it waterlogged and damaged in many places, Bismuth would assured that she could iron them out. And once they fished Peridot out of her lab, she also reiterated that the electronics could also be salvaged. Once Pearl checked her data and saw that the nearest satellite was roughly a thousand miles away, the gang all agreed to let the satellite issue rest until their ship was back in flying shape.

In the meantime, the entire team redoubled their efforts to train and improve in case another surprise attack like the one at Bismuth's forge happened. This meant that both Steven and Connie were thrown into training by Garnet and Pearl. While they did many of their exercises together, Pearl took it on herself to help Connie get the hang of her new crystal powers and further improve her swordplay.

"Alright, let's go through everything to start," said the trainer as she and Connie stood at the Sky Arena at high noon, "Change your body."

With barely a thought, the pupil morphed her entire body into green crystal.

"Excellent. Now restrict the change to just your hands."

A few moments later, Connie's body returned to normal save for her crystalline hands.

"Now shape the hands into blades."

The hands reshaped themselves into knifepoints. Pearl then pulled a baseball out of her gem and threw it at the girl with no warning. She stabbed through the ball with one clean thrust of her left hand.

"Very well done. Now for your newest trick…"

Connie placed both her hands on the ground and concentrated. Her efforts were soon rewarded as a series of green crystal spikes grew out of the ground in a circle around her body. They were only a foot tall, but that was a great improvement considering her first try meant violently straining for five minutes to make a series of opulent thumbtacks.

"Impressive! Now that we've covered everything, it's time for a sparring session. Remember, let me know if it ever becomes too much for you."

The girl nodded as Pearl summoned two clones and they charged ahead with their spears drawn. They were about to strike, but two crystal spikes emerged from Connie's torso at the last minute to block them both. That left them easy pickings for her to change her entire right arm into one giant and slice one by the legs. The other clone saw her double being cut down by the legs and jumped over the blade as Connie spun in a circle but three crystal swords appeared from Connie's back and tried stabbing her in mid-air.

The Pearl clone deflected them with a spin of her spear, but Connie did not let up as she used the transformed arm and another sword held in her other hand to try taking out the clone. Pearl managed to defend everything until she suddenly struck out with her leg and kicked Connie in the face. She expected the girl to go flying, but she barely budged since her face crystallized moments before the blow hit. Connie them seized on the brief surprise and had the remaining swords she summoned earlier to fly in and impale the clone from the back.

"Oh my goodness…" said Pearl, barely believing what she saw, "Connie, that was remarkable."

"Thanks!" said the girl as she returned to normal, "I wasn't being too intense, was I?"

"I'll admit your ferocity was surprising, but not unwelcome. Learning to channel that into your fighting is an asset as long as you keep it under control."

Once she was done talking, Connie sat by the edge of the floating arena and stared at the world underneath her. She relaxed her breathing as she took in the gorgeous scenery which Pearl noticed even from a distance.

"You seem rather tense," she commented, "Anything on your mind?"

"Well… I just really want to succeed here. Those gems tried kidnapping my parents. First they were after Steven, but now my family? What did they ever do to deserve that?"

"Trust me, you refusing to obey their will is reason enough to them," Pearl said spitefully as she sat down next to her student, "Take it from experience. Trying to negotiate with them is like talking to a cinderblock."

"I don't think so. At least cinderblocks are quiet…"

"True enough…" Pearl chuckled, "But Connie, I don't want you taking this too personally. I speak from experience when I say it's not healthy and it will detract from your abilities."

"I get that. I won't go all sacrifice-crazy again."

"Good. I'm sure Steven would be very grateful to hear that like I am."

Connie smiled as they both stood up, ready for another round as the day continued on and were not the only group honing their skills.

At the same time as them, the three elemental gems were at the former site of the barn and started to spar on their own. Cinnabar had brought the idea to Adamite and Lapis that seeing how amazing Moonstone's powers were, they should work to find new ways to use their respective elements. The two were surprised by the initiative, but they quickly agreed and now stood in a triangle as they agreed to begin.

Adamite made the first move by trying to form sinkholes under Lapis and Cinnabar, but both of them avoided the trap. The former soared into the air as she gathered water from the nearby lake while the latter coated her legs in flames in order to dash out of the way. Both of them planned a counterattack as Lapis made watery fists to fly at the earthbender while Cinnabar pitched a fireball.

While Adamite dodged both attacks, the other two clashed when Cinnabar ran straight at Lapis. While the firebender expected her opponent to fly away, Lapis stood firm and prepared a liquid shield to stop whatever attack she had planned. What she did not account for was the gem running straight through it, which while slowing her down, did nothing to stop her from punching Lapis in the face.

Much to the flaming gem's surprise, that still did not throw Lapis off as she changed one of her wings into an aquatic fist as thick as her entire body and swung the new arm into Cinnabar's side. As her long-time partner went flying, Adamite readied an attack of her own. She tunneled underground, but also sent up dozens of smaller stones flying in order to distract her and further disrupt her guard. When the burliest of the three burst out of the ground in front of Lapis, she successfully landed a blow on her before the sole flyer of the group deployed her wings and lifted herself into the sky.

While Lapis planned a move from the air, Adamite and Cinnabar went at each other in melee combat. The former covered her arms in stones for armor while the latter ignited her hands. Cinnabar's blazing punches proved to be too much for Adamite's improvised gauntlets as she ended up punching through them. Before she could celebrate, though, Lapis divebombed both of them with a watery battering ram. If it were not for their quick reflexes, both of them would have been squashed.

For almost an hour, this was how the three spent their time. While the field was quickly being covered in puddles, fissures and scorch marks, all three of them were smiling. Not only did they find it fun to cut loose once in a while, coming up with new ways to outsmart each other and also devise new way to beat their enemies.

Once they decided to finally take a break, they laid in the shade of the former barn. In contrast to the constant noise they made, all three of them were completely silent as they let their bodies unwind and their minds focus on making even more new moves. The time, however, also gave Lapis time to think about something else.

"Can I ask you two something?" she said curiously. Being in the middle of three, she knew the answer when both of them turned to look at her instead of the clouds.

"Back in the old days… You know, when we were… With Homeworld…"

"What is it?" asked Adamite, "Something is clearly discomforting you."

"Spit it out then!" assured Cinnabar, "Getting stuff off your chest makes you feel better. That's why I never hold in anything!"

"We noticed," said both of her friends in unison, getting a laugh out of them and a pout from the arsonist before Lapis continued.

"I was wondering what it was like back then. I can't remember anything before I got stuck in that mirror. Did we ever… hang out like this?"

Both gems paused and thought back until Adamite found an answer. "Yes, actually. Whenever we were between assignments, we would often hand in our assignment together and then spend our leisure time together."

"Homeworld gives leisure time? Somehow I doubt that…"

"No, it's true!" said Cinnabar, "There were parties, transit rides, and almost anyone could sign up to maintain the Kindergartens."

"Really? I thought that was like Peridot's old job."

"Back then," theorized Adamite, "Homeworld was a lot less strict with its procedures. The Kindergarten was always looking for more hands to assist with upkeep and maintaining records. True, the peridots were the main workforce, but we were still welcomed to assist them. I believe they were quite fond of me in particular since my terrakinesis was the ideal way to reshape any exit holes so gems could be born with deformities."

"Deformities?"

"Yes. When a gem is made with any sort of physical deformities, it is to be harvested immediately."

"WHAT?!" shouted Lapis, "That's horrifying! I thought you said they weren't so strict back then!"

"They were, but their standards were still high. Their leniency was in letting worker gems have more freedom. Even then, though, gems like Rutile would have never been tolerated."

Their conversation stopped when Cinnabar stood up, her eyes wide as she started to walk away. The other two thought she spotted an enemy at first until she kept moving towards nothing in particular. Eventually both Adamite and Lapis got up and caught up to her.

"What's gotten into you?" asked the latter, "You look like you've seen a ghost?"

"'Ghost?' Is that some form of natural predator?" asked Adamite.

"It's…" interrupted Cinnabar, "I helped harvest gems on Homeworld."

Both gems, equally shocked, took a step back from her. This only made Cinnabar feel even worse as she started walking away from them as she kept rambling.

"I used to think it was fun… They'd have me throw a crate full of gemstones into this weird device that would just disintegrate them…"

"More than likely returning them to their base components," said Adamite, "But Cinnabar, it's okay. We all did things-"

"What was wrong with me?!" she gasped, "I did that so many times like it was just some game! If the others find out, they might throw me out and Steven will hate me and-"

"STOP IT!" shouted Lapis as she grabbed the red gem by the shoulders, "Stop freaking out. You're not helping anyone. Now just take a deep breath and relax."

"But Lapis…"

"Cinnabar, listen to me," she said in a much more calming voice, "Steven and the others will understand. I stole the whole ocean once and all Steven wanted to do was help me. Peridot tried to squash him, Bismuth tried to pound him twice and even Topaz dragged him into space to get a death sentence. And he cares about all of us."

"But…"

"Remember when this all started?"

"You mean when we… kidnapped him?" asked Adamite shamefully.

"Even after that, he was still nice to you and wanted to be friends. As soon as you said you were on our side, he let you and Adamite in without a second thought."

"Y-Yeah, he did," admitted Cinnabar, "But what about the rest?"

"They all worked for Homeworld at some point except for Amethyst and she'll be the first to tell you she isn't perfect either. Cinnabar, we're your family. That means we stick by each other no matter what, okay?"

The fiery gem seemed shocked by her words, but she was won over. She then hugged Lapis and let out all of the anxiety with a few tears before picking herself back up and then running off, saying she was going to warm up before they resumed training. That left a very relieved Lapis alone with Adamite who chuckled for a moment.

"What?" asked the former, "Was that funny?"

"No, it was very sincere. It's just that also reminded me of the past."

"Wait, really?"

"You may find it hard to believe, you may have noticed I'm not the best with emotions. Logic is more my strong suit and Cinnabar's my polar opposite. You were the middle ground who knew when to think but was much better at expressing feelings. In all honesty, it's something of a miracle the two of us survived without you for so long."

"Adamite, I think you might be exaggerating…"

"I don't think so," the earthbender said moving closer to Lapis, "You were a vital part of our old team and I know the other Crystal Gems hold you in high regard as well. Without you, Moonstone never would have existed and Brookite would have trampled us."

"Half of that was Steven…"

"Perhaps, but you mustn't undersell your accomplishments. You have tremendous abilities, a constant desire to improve and you want to protect people."

"Yeah… But I was kind of a jerk before all that."

"And I'm a constant ray of sunshine?" Adamite quipped now only a foot away from Lapis, "And trust me, you did have the occasional moment where you told both of us to shut up."

"Heh… That does sound like me."

"Lapis, believe me and take your own advice: We all did less than admirable things on Homeworld, but that doesn't matter now. We have a much better life here and we need to protect it. I don't care what happened before all of this. I want to be here now with you…"

Adamite was about to reach a hand up to Lapis's, but a sudden shout from the distance caught both of the gems off-guard.

"Hey, are you done being mushy yet? We've got training to do!" Cinnabar said, overly eager to fling fireballs.

Both of the gems stepped back from each other with a noticeable yellow blush on Adamite's face. As immensely awkward as they both felt, Lapis still felt immensely better.

"You know," she said as the two walked back to Cinnabar, "I guess one good thing came out of being Homeworld droogs."

"Besides existing?"

"Yeah. I got to be friends with you two."

They wanted to continue, but Cinnabar was now beyond impatient. She ran straight at them with both fists firing and they had to break apart unless they wanted their hair singed. Even if they could regenerate their locks, they knew the firebender would laugh at them over it for days.

The next few days passed similarly with the gems splitting up to do their own things before coming back together to work on exercises as a team or simply to spend a moment together. It not only made sense to keep up morale, but it also reminded them of the peace they would be able to enjoy every day once Homeworld was fully dealt with.

The only exception to this rule was Peridot. The moment she got her hands on Brookite's suit, she holed herself up in her lab day and night to experiment on it. The properties of the wearable plasma fascinated her unlike anything she had ever worked on and she was hellbent on finding a way to utilize it.

It was not until almost a full week later that she stumbled out of her lab and into the temple in the middle of the night that she finally gave herself a break. The only sound in the room was Steven and Greg both lightly breathing in their sleep above her. She walked over to the kitchen island and sat at one of the stools cradling her head, trying to curb the massive headache she felt. Minutes passed in relative silence until Amethyst came walking through the front door with a new wrestling belt slung over her shoulder.

"Man, those chumps didn't know what hit them…" she chuckled to herself as she headed to her room, only to see the unmoving Peridot in the kitchen. Half wondering if she was seeing things, she moved to the island and sat next to her. When the smaller gem still did not notice her, Amethyst spoke up.

"Hey, what's up with you? Finished making a plasma death ray or something?" she whispered, still mindful of the two snoozing above them.

"No…" she moaned, sounding utterly miserable.

"Okaaay… What's up then?"

"It turns out that plasma is highly malleable and surprisingly stable. The only thing I can't do is fabricate more of it."

"Well that stinks. I'd totally want a closet full of those things."

"So did I," admitted Peridot as she trudged back to her lab. Amethyst followed her and was surprised to see what appeared to be hundreds of white marbles littering the floor and several tables. Brookite's suit sat on the central worktable, looking no different, while surrounded by dozens of tools including multiple sets of plyers, scissors and even a chainsaw.

"Do I wanna know?" asked Amethyst, only to grimace when she saw Peridot slump on the floor with one of the marbles in her hand.

"I was trying to isolate a sample of the plasma so I could potentially create a second suit. Every time I separate a piece, it immediately crystallizes and becomes completely inert."

"Okay, that sucks, but why do you look so down? The thing still looks fine so why can't you make something else?"

"I wanted to make a suit for myself."

"Again, I get that, but why not-?"

"Because I'm sick of being useless!" she shouted, throwing the marble hard enough to smash into one of the invisible walls of her room. The ever-present lightning zapped it into ashes when it made contact.

"What?! You're not useless!" protested Amethyst, "You make all our awesome gadgets!"

"Maybe, but give Pearl enough time and she could equal or even surpass me."

"You helped me hijack Emerald's ship!"

"While you did the vast majority of all the work."

"Greg's a super-awesome fighter thanks to that suit you made!"

"That was a joint effort with Bismuth, and I refer you to my earlier statement about Pearl."

Amethyst kept quiet now as Peridot kept pontificating. "All this time, I've been relegated to the sidelines. Sure, I've made my contributions through my technological know-how and use of my metal powers like during the abduction attack, but it doesn't feel like enough."

Peridot then stood up and began pacing as she returned her focus to the suit. "But even with my ferrokinesis, I have the hard limit of being restricted to using whatever metal is around me. Lapis has been able to overcome her limitations using her wings and better physical abilities, but that's not much of an option for me. Trying to train myself to any notable physical improvement would take so much time away from my inventions and then we'd be even more vulnerable."

"Ouch, man," sympathized Amethyst, "I know the feeling."

"Perhaps, but it doesn't make it much easier. Knowing about a scientific anomaly does not mean you'll instantly find the answer."

Amethyst walked inside and looked at the suit herself, finding it much more appealing now that it wasn't being worn by a megalomaniac gem ogling Pearl. As her mind wandered, an idea popped into her head.

"Maybe you're thinking about this all wrong…"

"Yes, quite reassuring. Tell me how wrong I am."

"No, just hear me out. Maybe you shouldn't mess with this, but you could make a set of armor out of metal! One you could control with your powers."

The scientist opened her mouth to protest, but no sound emerged. Her creative juices were starting to flow as her mind turned from despairing to finding an all-new way to apply her talents.

"THAT'S IT!" she shouted, completely elated. With the door to the main house still open, however, she quickly clamped her mouth shut out of fear that she awoke either Steven or Greg. When the only noise that came was a light muttering from upstairs, she sighed in relief while Amethyst was busy gathering up all the marbles from the floor.

"Well, glad your local champion wrestler could help! You want these little orb thingies?"

"Please, take them. I need to be free of distractions while I get back to work."

"I thought you said you suck at working with metal?"

"I said it wasn't my strong suit, but I can still draw up designs! Plus, I did have a backup plan for this armor in case I couldn't use it. The abduction brought several design flaws of Greg's armor to my attention and now I might have the perfect means to upgrade it!"

"Cool beans. See you in a month, nerd!"

While Amethyst was exaggerating that night, Peridot was once again nowhere to be seen for several more days, but everyone had their own jobs to attend to. Bismuth was making headway on restoring the Sun Incinerator with the Off-Colors pitching in wherever they could to speed up the process. The others continued their training and that included Steven.

The boy was off doing his usual morning routine with fifty laps around Beach City to warm up before heading back to Garnet and Pearl for the bulk of his exercise. While that may have sounded extreme to anyone who asked, those who saw him run understood. The sight of a pink blur running at speeds faster than many of the cars obeying the town's speed limits became a familiar occurrence to the citizens with only the occasional tourist asking about it.

He was halfway done with his workout when something pink, furry and unusually excited appeared right in front of him from a swirling pink portal.

"Lion!" he exclaimed joyfully, "Where have you been? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!"

The feline came and went as he pleased, but his absence for literal weeks only did not worry the boy since he had far more problems on his plate as well as the knowledge that his companion was more than able to take care of himself.

Lion immediately knelt down and, after shoving away a belly rub, made it clear he expected Steven to hop on and go somewhere.

"Oh, I would but I gotta tell Garnet," the boy insisted, "Then we can set up a way to make up for this and-"

The cat gave him little choice in the matter as he bit Steven's shirt and flung him into the air so he landed on his back. Before Steven could protest, Lion roared open another portal and jumped through until they emerged in the middle of a desert.

"LION!" yelled Steven, "What are you doing?! Garnet's not gonna be happy when I'm late!" He tried pulling out his cellphone only to see there was no reception. "I can't even call Pearl out here! What gives?"

His four-legged companion answered by throwing Steven off his back into the sand and walking in a random direction. Feeling there was no other way to get answers, the half-gem followed as best as he could given that his shoes kept sinking into the dunes. It was not until he saw a familiar pink ridge in the distance that he realized where Lion was taking him.

"Mom's old landfill?" he said trying to get Lion's attention, "What's this for?"

The door was already unlocked and so the two strolled in without another word. Steven peered at all of the piles of rubbish, wondering if there was something he was supposed to grab here when he suddenly felt a painful pull in his gut. He wanted to call out for Lion to take him home, but no sound came out as he soon found himself in a black void.

"Oh, thank goodness it worked!" said a very familiar woman's voice, "I hoped my connection with Lion was strong enough to bring you both here."

"Mom?!" said Steven, "What's going on? How did I get here again?"

"Long story short, I needed to talk to you and I've been trying for some time now but nothing went through. I'm grateful you were never as depressed as before, but I needed to do this and I figured maybe bringing you somewhere I spent so much time would do the trick."

"Couldn't you have just gone with the armory? Or your bedroom at the temple?"

"Maybe… But I knew Lion knew the way here. It was his home and he brought you here the first time."

"Really? How'd you meet?"

"Well, that's a long story that I sadly don't have time for. I needed to talk to you about Homeworld."

The brief joy at seeing Rose again vanished when she said that, not helped by the serious expression on her face.

"You're going to want to sit down for this," Rose said. Two white cushioned chairs much like the ones in Steven's house popped up on command. Once they were both seated, Rose started her explanation.

"Steven, I really hate that it's come to this. I wished I could just go back to watching, but I have a hunch something serious is happening. Those spy cameras Brookite was guarding? I don't think they were just watching you."

"Huh? What, you think they're after something else?" replied a shocked Steven, "What else is there?"

"You're a smart enough young man to know already. Think; what is something this planet has that the Diamonds want?"

"Revenge on me and the other Crystal Gems for what you did?"

"True, but something more… tangible."

Steven was baffled now, remembering how clear the Diamonds made it that they were going to wipe Earth away once their grudge was settled. The only reason they went after humans was as bait for him and it was obvious they had no other use for them. His memories started going back farther until he remembered something else.

"The Cluster…"

"I think so, Steven. That thing was a few steps away from destroying Earth and you along with it."

"But… But I bubbled it! It's under like a mile of rock!"

"Gems bubbles can be broken. My guess is that those cameras were actually scanning the planet itself so they could find a way to pop that bubble you made open."

"But that's crazy!"

"Is it? You've already seen the lengths they'll go to for the sake of soothing their egos." Rose's voice turned venomous as she got up and walked out of her chair.

"Mom? You don't sound so good…"

"Steven… This is the last thing I wanted for you. When I had you, my last thoughts were hoping that you'd have a peaceful, normal life free from all the strife me and so many other gems went through. I carved out a tranquil little place for us all where we could be whatever we wanted away from those psychopaths and yet they won't let up. They've kidnapped you, tried destroying the whole place again and again… They'll never stop."

Steven rose from his seat and grabbed his mother's hand. Shocked by the gesture, Rose looked his way despite not wanting him to see her cry. The son was unperturbed by the expression and spoke as reassuringly as he could.

"Mom, I promise I can do this. If Homeworld want to use the Cluster, the Crystal Gems and I will stop it. We did it once and we can do it again! Heck, if anything, the Cluster is a friend! It won't wanna destroy the Earth."

"Steven…" Rose sobbed, amazed by how much her own son resembled her more than herself right now. Seeing him like this made her snap out of her sorrow and get back to what she wanted to tell him. "This is still just a theory. You need to actually confirm it."

"How do we do that?"

"You could have one of the satellites retrieved and then Peridot could analyze it. If it's designed to scan for the Cluster, no doubt it's components would reflect it."

"Yeah, that's a good point. I wouldn't wanna waste the gems' time. Thanks, Mom."

"You're welcome, but I'm afraid there's one other very big thing I need from you."

"'From me?' What is it?"

"I actually have something that will help you fight Homeworld. I didn't tell any of the other gems about, but I'm sure it could be the key to stopping Homeworld permanently."

"What?! That's great! What is it? Where is it?"

"I… can't tell you what it is."

"What? Why not? If it's some super-dangerous weapon, I can handle it!"

"I wish it was that simple. Trust me, if anyone knew about it, the consequences could be horrible. What I can tell you, though, is where it is. Do you remember seeing a treasure chest inside the pocket dimension in Lion's mane?"

"Yeah, I remember. It's in there?"

"Yes, but you'll need the key to open it."

"Did Lion swallow that one too?" Steven squirmed

"No no, don't worry about that," Rose giggled before finishing, "It's somewhere cleaner, but much harder to reach. It's inside your gem."

"Really?! It's been there this whole time?"

"I never wanted anyone to find it, so I literally held onto it until sacrificed my body. Now you've inherited it just like my powers."

"Well then that's super easy! I'll just summon it like I summon my shield!"

The rebel leader turned spectral mother sighed at that. "I love your optimism, but I really hate to disappoint you. Summoning physical matter from a gem is much different than summoning your weapons. Have you ever tried storing things in your gem like Pearl does?"

"No, I never really needed to."

"The good news is I already have a good idea on how to access it."

"Awesome! Tell me!"

"That's the bad news… You need to be more in touch with your powers to do that and you aren't going to like it."

"How bad could it be?"

"You'd have to transform like you did when you fought Jasper." Seeing all the color drain from Steven's face, she felt she owed him an explanation.

"When you did, you quite literally became more of a gem. Your human half receded until you were one hundred percent alien. That's why your powers increase so much at that point and now you-"

"No," he interrupted, "I won't do it."

"Steven, please, you have to."

"No, I don't. There has to be something, anything else that can do it. We can build something, we can try new fusions, we could even find stronger gems who hate Homeworld!"

"It's not enough, Steven. Believe me when I say the contents of that chest is far more powerful than anything we have or could get in any reasonable amount of time."

"I can't… Last time I went berserk and killed someone! And then I went nuts on you! I-I can't stand thinking about it!"

"Steven, calm down!" Rose said, holding her son's hands and kneeling to look him in the eye, "If you want, I can help you."

"H-How?"

"If you let me into your mind more, I can actually communicate with you when you're asleep every night. That way I can help you open up more and discover a way to do it without losing yourself."

Rose was worried when he did not react for several seconds until he looked at her with a worried yet accepting smile and nodded. It might be a difficult task, but he meant his word when he said he would protect his home.

And so the suit is accounted for, but much bigger things are on the horizon! Connie's new powers, the growing relationship between elemental gems and the return of the Cluster! And also Lion's first appearance in a long time. My thanks to one of my readers on AO3 for pointing it out! But what will happen next? Tune in to the next dramatic bonfire cere- I mean, chapter to find out!

Thank you all so much for reading! Please feel free to leave a review!