Amethyst and Sleam chilled with the bunnies for a little while longer before they decided it was about time that they went to find Steven and Connie.

"They're probably fighting in the training area by now," Sleam informed her, giving the last bunny a soft kiss on the forehead and setting it down before leading Amethyst toward the aforementioned area. Sleam was correct. Connie and Steven were in fact fighting in the training area… but…

"Absolutely not!"

"Steven, you're letting your emotion get in the way of a viable plan."

"No, I'm letting rational thought get in the way of a viable plan… I mean a not viable plan! It's not a viable plan!"

"Er, when you said they were fighting, I thought you meant they were training. Not having a domestic."

"Domestic?"

"Human thing."

"Ah, well," Sleam rubbed her shoulder a bit, looking at the squabbling couple. "That's what I thought too." The training area had mostly been deserted by the other residents, except for a couple of the centipedles who were half in their gem forms/half in their corrupted states. They whisper/hissed anxiously to each other, trapped near the far wall, the feuding humans between them and the exit.

This seemed like the type of thing Amethyst should slowly back away from before finding Garnet to deal with it.

Welp.

Guess it was up to her.

She sidled up to them as casually as possible. "Trouble in paradise?" she asked. They both turned to her, startled out of their row. The centipedles took that opportunity to scramble past them towards the door. Amethyst saw Sleam also quickly abandon her. Traitor.

"Yes," Connie replied, her mouth set in a line.

"No." Steven did that sassy hands on the hips thing he always did when he was throwing a fit. "Because this conversation isn't happening." Connie glared at him, looking like she would gladly murder him right then and there.

Channel Pearl. Channel Pearl. Channel Pearl. "Steven. That's rude," Amethyst chided, crossing her arms over her chest. He opened his mouth to argue. Thought better of it. Closed his mouth. Then crossed his arms too, a sullen expression on his face. "Now," she continued. "What is all of this about?" Both went to speak, and she held up a hand. "Connie first." Steven mumbled unhappily at that, and Amethyst resisted rolling her eyes. She'd thought she was done with the dealing-with-a-moody-toddler part of parenting years ago.

"I think I should let myself be captured by Yellow Diamond."

Oh. "… I side with Steven."

"Hear me out."

"No," Steven grumbled under his breath.

"Stop," Amethyst cut them off before they got back to bickering. "How is that in any way a rational plan?" she asked Connie.

"Steven said that you said Yellow Diamond kept Pearl by her side at all times," she started. Oh. That's what this was. "Well, you said that Yellow Diamond is interested in me, right?"

"I said she wants to have you dissected. Probably alive and awake, I might add."

She winced just a bit, but her voice was steady. "Yes, and that's good."

"How is that good?" Steven bit out.

"Because if she wants to dissect me alive. Then, her soldiers probably have orders to bring me in alive. Probably as uninjured as possible and probably directly to her."

"That's a lot of "probably"s, kid," Amethsyt commented, trying not to fidget. She was not cut out for these conversations.

"They'll notice you're gone soon. We don't have much time and it's the quickest way to get to Pearl," she said.

"And a stupid way!"

"Yeah, well it would be my stupid way! Meaning my choice!"

"You can't!"

"Oh, I can't can I? You threw yourself into danger for my mom when she was stuck in Golden Arc City! Do you know what they would have done to you if they'd caught you? A human with the gem of Rose Quartz instead of a belly button? They would have done far worse than dissect you! At least I'm letting you in on the plan first! At least I have an escape plan! How is this any worse than that?" Steven appeared to be at as much of a loss for words as Amethyst was. "Huh?!" Connie continued, her cheeks flushed and her eyes flashing. "But I guess I'm not half gem, so I can't do anything, can I?! I mean what use could I possibly be?!"

"I-I didn't… I didn't mean. It's just you'd be all alone. I couldn't go with you, 'cause I'm a gem and they'd kill any other human who went with you, let alone one of the corrupted gems. And what if something went wrong and… and," he trailed off. As always, angry Steven was 3 seconds away from crying-his-eyes-out Steven. He did that little hiccup thing he did when he was trying not to cry, but his tears were already building up in his eyes.

Not all, but a lot of the anger melted off of Connie's face. She sighed. "Look, let's…" she pinched the bridge of her nose, "let's calm down and actually talk about this," she said.

Steven nodded quickly, his tears starting to leak down his face. Connie softened even more at that. She waved her hand, giving him permission, and he lunged forward to lift her off her feet. He hid his face in her stomach near her belly button. "I'm really sorry about the Golden Arc thing. I wasn't thinking. I'm so sorry," he mumbled into her shirt.

"I-I know Steven. You've already apologized. I've already accepted. I shouldn't have brought it up." She carded her fingers through his hair a bit.

"You're my family, and she's my family. And I didn't want you to lose a mom. I-," he was full on sobbing now.

Connie had to bend a bit to kiss the top of his head. "I know Steven. But, that makes Pearl my family too then, doesn't it?" He didn't say anything, just nodded into her shirt.

Amethyst waited for a moment to see if they'd finish up on their own. "Hey," she said when it was clear they weren't planning to break it up any time soon. "You gonna put her down or do you two need a room?" Steven didn't look at her, but blindly shot out a hand and grabbed her by the shirt before yanking her into the hug. Connie giggled above her. "Ugh, humans are so mushy," she complained. He peeked at her with a little smile, his eyes still red and puffy. She nuzzled her face into his shoulder for a few moments. "Hey, Connie," she said.

"Hmmm."

"You realize he totally ruined your shirt, right?"

She groaned, and Steven giggled.

It ended up being a sort of compromise. In the way that Steven thought it was a compromise and Connie basically got her way entirely. Amethyst… Amethyst wasn't sure how she felt about this. She'd barely gotten the chance to know Connie as anything other than the girl Steven was all doe-eyed over and half of one of the coolest fusions to every exist, behind Garnet. So, it shouldn't have been that hard to agree with the plan when it could save Pearl.

Ugh. It made her insides all squirmy and not in the fun way like when she ate something weird.

In the early morning, Connie had taken lion to go see her parents who lived at some makeshift hospital down the coast. Steven had been a ball of nervous energy the whole time she was gone. That had made the funny feeling Amethyst had worse. He'd finally been distracted by a couple of the kids in camp and was currently tossing them one by one into a small pond, to their extreme delight.

"I don't like it either," Greg said from beside her.

"Yeah." They didn't speak for a while. "You make the thing?" she asked.

"Yeah, but it'll only work on Earth. They won't take her to space, right?"

Amethyst shrugged and kicked at the dirt. "Yellow Diamond has her current base on Earth. She also has a ship in orbit she sometimes goes to."

"Well, will Lion be able to hear her whistle there too?"

"Yeah? Probably?" Amethyst had no clue, but it was probably more reliable than the tracking device which relied on old satellites which the humans hadn't been able to do much maintenance on since the invasion. But, the advantage was it would go under the radar unlike any type of gem tracking device. And it gave some peace of mind that they could track her down even if something went wrong and she wasn't able to call for lion. It wasn't much, but Steven's absolute faith in his dad's abilities calmed some of his nerves. It did not seem to have the same effect on the man himself.

Steven turned suddenly, as though he sensed something, and a moment later there was a distorted roar as a portal opened beside them. Connie hopped off of Lion and was immediately swept up by Steven. He kissed her all over her face and she giggled, happily. Their little moment of joy didn't last long though, as the residents of the camp stirred when they realized their leader was back. Everything was suddenly bustling.

They'd called in people from all over the globe for this. Amethyst didn't recognize many of the humans, but she knew a few faces from the boardwalk back in Beach City. She also recognized the one weird man who didn't speak and just sat by himself staring at everyone as Vidalia's other son. A couple of corrupted gems had been mingling with the humans all day. It was interesting to watch since it was clear that many members of the two groups were on friendly terms with each other. She'd seen Larry's mom chatting with one happily while she was preparing her weapons.

Now, the children were called away from the pond by their parents. The corrupted gems' forms flickered as they split up to join the four quickly forming groups of humans. A group of three centipedles, including the one Steven called 'Centi' gathered around Steven and Connie. They rubbed their beak/nose things against the girl's head and she gave them a quick pat in return.

Greg got to his feet and Amethyst followed him. He handed Connie the little device. "It goes in your mouth," he told her, pointing. "That part hooks around your back two molars like a mini retainer."

"They won't think to look in your mouth," Amethyst told her. At least. They wouldn't for a while.

"And I'll have you right here," he showed her a screen, tapping a glowing green dot on the map.

Connie smiled, and they hugged tight. "Thank you," she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Come back safe," he said into her ear, then, quieter so Steven couldn't hear. "You've still got to make an honest man out of my son." She laughed at that, drawing back to smile at him. Leave it to Greg to slice right through all that tension. She popped the tracker into her mouth, shoving it into place with her fingers. Her tongue moved around her mouth, prodding at it. Satisfied it wasn't going anywhere, she squeezed his arm and moved to Steven's side.

Four people broke off from their respective groups. All of them gave Connie a respectful nod. Donut Girl reached over and gave her a pat on the shoulder.

"Alright," Steve said. She could tell he felt like throwing up, but he swallowed it down. He spread a map out in front of them with a flourish. He'd circled the location of Yellow Diamond's base as Amethyst had described it. There were three red X's near it: the three nearest wrap pads. "We all know the plan?" he asked. "Blue team," he pointed to one of the wrap pads and retrieved a nod from one of the men. "Green team," another point and another nod from the woman who wasn't Donut Girl. "Purple team," it was Donut's Girl's turn to nod. Steven turned from the map and reached out a hand to touch Lion's mane. "Pink team." Connie squeezed his other hand. He looked up at the last man, Vidalia's son. Without a word, the man pointed out an unmarked location on the map. "Thank you, Onion." Onion didn't respond. Steven marked the location with a red arrow. "You got that Lion?" Steven asked. The lion huffed. "Good. Everyone waits for my signal. Whatever you do, don't blow up the wrap pads too soon. It'll tip them off. And that could be," his fingers gripped onto Connie tighter, "bad news." The entire group agreed without question. Steven turned to Connie, put his hand on her cheek, and pulled her into a long kiss. It lasted for much longer than what was at all socially appropriate in normal circumstances, but no one commented. Eventually, they pulled apart, Connie blushing, but Steven not even phased. He looked back over them all, something solid in his eyes that Amethyst had never seen there before, a seriousness she wasn't accustom to. "Let's do this."

Connie breathed in deeply, trying to calm her racing thoughts. She'd changed into her usual battle armor, but the weight of her usual sword was missing. She had one, of course, to complete the outfit, but it was a lot lighter and wouldn't be of much use against a gem unless she caught them off guard.

The ground here was covered in brown leaves, though it was supposed to be spring in this part of the world. That was the most obvious indication that this land was dying. She stepped lightly, though not as lightly as she usually would on a mission. The leaves crunched softly underfoot. She couldn't look like she wanted to be captured, but she still needed someone to find her.

It was so quiet here. She felt completely alone in the world even though she'd just left Steven and Amethyst with Lion a few minutes ago and they wouldn't have gone far. She leaned against a dying tree for a moment to ground herself. Then, she closed her eyes and listened to the world around her. It was almost completely silent except… she held her breath for a moment and… there. She could hear a slight electricity-like buzzing sound farther into the canyon. She steeled herself and walked in that direction.

The sounds got slightly louder the farther she went. Eventually she came to a ledge. She hid behind a half dead bush and looked over into the hollowed-out land below. There was a half-constructed warp pad with two peridots working on it. One gripped a cluster of wires with some kind of tool in her mouth while the other was busy tapping away on a screen of some sort. A group of quartzes stood guard: one jasper, two ametrines, and three amethysts, all looking bored. For now. Connie swallowed and the reached forward, rustling the branches of the bush. The jasper's head snapped up, looking directly at where she was hiding.

One of the ametrines noticed her change in posture. "What?" she asked. The peridot on the tablet startled at the sudden sound of a voice, but quickly went back to what she was doing.

The jasper's eyes didn't move away. "Heard something."

"Want to check it out?"

"Hmmm…" Connie reached forward and dug her hand into the soil below her. It crumbled easily under her fingers and she shoved it forward, causing a few rocks and pieces of dirt to tumble down the wall. All of the quartzes shot to attention; the peridots looked around in confusion.

"You three, stay here and guard the warp pad. You with me," the Jasper barked pointing at an amethyst before running and jumping at the wall. There was a deafening bang as her fist hit the wall three-quarters of the way up, digging in enough for her to get a grip. Connie scrambled up and back.

"Hey!" yelled the amethyst below, catching sight of her. She turned and ran. Connie rarely ran from danger. There was never any use. Gems were way too fast for a human. The options were always fight and if you couldn't fight, hide. But, she had a different goal today. So, she ran, forcing down the part of her brain that was terrified, screaming at her to duck into a hole, to pull her sword out and ready herself for them before they caught up.

The Jasper landed in front of her with a bang that shook the ground under Connie's feet. The gem straightened up, glaring at her. "Human," she growled. Now, it was time. She drew the sword, pointing it defiantly towards the gem. The jasper studied her more closely. "It's you," she breathed.

Connie attacked with a war cry, even though the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up. Don't turn around, she commanded herself. Don't turn around. Don't. The jasper dodged her swing, just barely. Slow down. Connie swung again, sloppily this time. The jasper summoned her own weapon, some type of large hammer with spikes, Connie didn't get a good look at it before it smashed against her sword. Her wrists smarted at the feeling of the impact and she let go of the sword. It flew a few feet away. The jasper straightened, watching Connie with a careful intent, not giving away the trick. Connie took a step back, away from her.

Arms grabbed her by the shoulders in a bruising grip, and her feet left the ground.

"What do we have here?" the amethyst asked playfully, and Connie felt a shiver go down her spine as cool breath blew across her neck. Squirm. Do not kick. Do not reach for the knife on your ankle.

The jasper stalked up to her. She grabbed the pouch around Connie's waist and yanked it off. She ripped open the side instead of unzipping it and spilled the contents on the ground. She studied Connie's props, kicking them over a couple of times.

"A sabotage attempt," she said to the amethyst, eyes intent on Connie. "Hold her still." Her hands were rough as she patted Connie down. When she reached for her leg, Connie aimed a kick at her nose. The jasper caught her ankle easily, squeezing and twisting until Connie gasped and bit her lip hard. The gem's palm brushed the hilt of the knife Connie had stored there and she removed it with her free hand. She glanced at it and then pressed the sharp edge up against Connie's face, trailing it down her cheek and across her lips before placing it under her chin. Connie didn't have to work to act terrified as the jasper forced Connie's chin up, so she was staring into the gem's emotionless eyes. The weapon lingered there for a few moments before the jasper smirked. "You wish," she whispered before drawing back and dropping her ankle, teeth bared in a wide smile. Connie shivered. "I think Yellow Diamond would be pleased to meet you." She tossed the knife over her shoulder into the pile of other equipment that had been stripped off her.

They did not think to check her mouth.

The amethyst carried Connie the entire way to the nearest warp pad with all the effort it would take to carry a pillow to another room. The warp pad was a good distance away and even at gem speed it took them till dusk. She was careful to continue to put up a struggle for appearance sake, but she didn't want to push too far in fear that they'd hurt her. Or worse. Gag her.

She tried to stay calm. If she concentrated, she could almost pretend it was Steven carrying her around on one of those days where he refused to let her go for even a second. But, the hands on her were too rough for that and she got jostled around too hard.

Finally, they slowed their pace near the wrap pad. Connie caught the sight of a figure out of the corner of her eye, there one moment and gone the next, when the gems were looking the other way. Sadie. She felt something untangle in her stomach a bit. She wasn't alone, despite what it might feel like. Despite what the quartzes thought. Her people were waiting for her in the shadows. Steven was waiting for her. She silently thanked the other woman for that sliver of reassurance before the two gems stepped on the warp pad and she felt a familiar tingling sensation run up her spine.

The two figures guarding the warp pad glanced up lazily when they warped in, but then quickly came to attention.

"We brought Yellow Diamond a present," the amethyst sang, hoisting her up for all to see. The jasper turned to a pearl near the door and gave a single commanding head jerk. The pearl obeyed the unspoken command and rushed into the door of the stone fortress before them.

This was it.

She was carted inside, carried through halls she tried to store in her memory. Gems either scuttled out of the way or stopped to stare at her, unmoving, with nasty expressions on their faces as Connie and her escorts went by. They passed through one door and they were no longer in a normal sized hallway. Instead they were in a hallway with a roof the height of a small mountain. The pearl from when they'd arrived was standing at the doorway waiting. When she caught sight of them, she pushed open the doors, not bothering to say anything.

The jasper led them through the doors into a giant room. "Your radiance," she greeted with a formal bow. Connie looked up and up, her neck craning for her first up close look at Yellow Diamond before she was shoved to the ground on her knees before the large throne.

"We found her trying to sabotage the newest Kindergarten," the jasper informed her. Connie kept her head down but glanced up through her hair. Yellow Diamond frowned down at her, fisting her hands under her chin and staring at her intently. But, honestly, Connie couldn't have cared less at the moment, because her eyes had caught on someone at the base of the throne.

Amethyst hadn't been exaggerating when she'd told Steven that Pearl was in bad shape. In fact, she may have been downplaying it to spare him. Her form was all fuzzy, like she was a figure cut out of an old home movie and her visage was constantly flickering like the corrupted gems did when they were agitated. Connie was not a gem. She did not understand exactly how they worked, but even she could tell that Pearl was in a lot of pain. The last bits of her nervousness burned away in a fire of rage. She tilted her head back to look at Yellow Diamond, her eyes full of fury.

That made something shift in the gem's face. She sat up straight, attentive. "You are the leader of the humans." It was not a question.

"I am." She saw something shift in the corner of her vision. Pearl, despite the way her form glitched and shuddered, straightened at her voice in recognition.

"What are you?" Yellow Diamond asked as she titled her head to the side to scrutinize her.

"Human," Connie told her, flashing a grin.

The diamond snorted and leaned back. "Oh, that's fine. Don't tell me. I'll have far more fun figuring it out myself."

Connie clucked her tongue. "Always underestimating us humans. Even now." Then she turned away from the diamond and looked directly at Pearl. "Steven missed you," she said. Then, she whistled, high and sharp, while lifting one hand into the air. She heard a familiar roar behind her and felt a hand she knew as well as her own engulf her wrist. She was lifted slightly off the ground. And then. She wasn't Connie anymore.

Authors Note: I really liked writing Connie's perspective for this. Her parts just kinda flowed naturally so that was fun. Two Crystal Gems down one-to-two to go.