"Log Date 7 16 2…" Peridot calmly speaks into her tape recorder. "I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST DID THAT!" Then she goes ballistic hysterical at the memory of what she did to Yellow Diamond. "I disobeyed my orders and went against Yellow Diamond's wishes! I'm a traitorous clod! I never want to think about what I've done again!" She tells herself before rewinding her tape recorder.

"I'm a traitorous clod!"

"Yehahaha! And I called Yellow Diamond a clod right to her face!" She proclaims delightfully. Then she becomes very devastated as she drops to her knees with Steven watching nearby. "I called Yellow Diamond a clod… right to her face." She whimpers.

"Uh, Peridot? Are you gonna be okay?" Steven asks her. Instead of replying first, she rewinds the tape a few more times.

"I'm a traitorous clod…! Traitorous clod…!"

"No!" Peridot turns back to Steven with what amounts to be a deranged smile on her face.

"It's all gonna work out. You're with us now." He tries to make her feel better but it doesn't work as well as one would think.

"You don't understand!" She grabs him. "I'm protecting a planet I was once trying to destroy! I used to follow every order. Every rule. Now I'm a traitor. A rebel! A Crystal Gemmmmmmm! Hmhmh." It evolves into chuckling as her eyes turn to stars. She rewinds the tape over and over again.

"Clod! Clod! Clod!"

"Well… that tape recorder seems to be helping."

"No it's not!" She disagrees before tossing it away. "It's a chronicle of my descent into madness!" She yells, unbeknownst to her that the recorder hits Garnet in the face, who doesn't react to it at all and grabs it before it hits the ground.

"You dropped this." She says as she walks up to them with the recorder in hand.

"Get it away from me." Peridot crawls on the floor behind Garnet. "Give it to Steven; return madness to its source!" She demands.

"Are you sure you don't want it?" He asks. Garnet shrugs and drops the recorder into his hands.

"Whatever, it's yours now." Peridot grabs her face and goes down a road of crazy. "Yours, not mine, not mine! Yours! Yours!" She hysterically yells.

Garnet puts a hand on her shoulder to calm the green gem down. "Let's calm down."

"… Okay." After a moment, Peridot does and lets Garnet pick her up. "So am I gonna have to wear a star?" Garnet proceeds to carry Peridot away. "Where am I gonna put the star?!" She demands.

"MmmMmm." Garnet shrugs as they go outside. "Hey have you seen Marcus?"

"I don't know. After last night I think he mentioned something about fixing his transportation vehicle." Peridot grumbles as she's carried. Once they get outside, the fusions puts her down and looks in the direction of their home.

"Hmmmm."


After last night, preparation is going to be the key for future engagements. One of those is going to involve Peridot and after what she did, she basically branded herself a traitor to Homeworld.

I can't let just a simple title and gesture of being a Crystal Gem be the only reward she gets for joining us. I need to get her something concrete. Something for her… for the both of us.

With a sigh, I put down the etching tools I am using. I look at the time and notice that its well into the next day. I've been working all night but the work I've put into her gift has come along beautifully. I smile at the creation before going back to working on it.


"Log Date 7 12 2. Today marks the 30th earth rotation since my... capture." Peridot was working on a piece of the drill, complete with welding and goggles to work the bright tool.

"Happy one month canniversary!" Steven happily pronounces while holding paint cans with flames painted onto their sides to the working gem.

"Cylinders?" She asks in confusion at the objects as she folds open her goggles.

"They're stilts." He clarifies. "You tie them on to your feet and then make you taller. I tried to spruce them up a bit. I dunno what it is about flames, but they just make everything cooler."

"Why are you giving me these?"

"Because I want you to feel nice! That's what gifts are for. You give them to your friends to show you care. And they go 'wow, thanks!'" He explains to her as best he can.

"Hef! As if I'd stoop so low as to tie earth trash to my body. Leave me! Go-go-go-go!" She shoos him away but still keeps the present. "And WOW THANKS!" It is unclear if she was actually serious about it but still follows the instructions that Steven mentions.


*Click*

With the saying etched and ready to go, I set the piece into place before getting started on the rest of it. I have to make sure this thing can survive anything, be able to work in any kind of condition so as to it will not be destroyed or break so easily. This is something that I want to ensure that she won't have any trouble in using or maintaining it. I place it in the briefcase before grabbing the rest of the supplies.


"Log Date 7 13 2. Progress on the cluster drill is going optimal. Surprisingly, though I have a few complaints on the work ethic of—"

"Heyyyy!" Amethyst suddenly appears behind Peridot and laughs as she's turned into Lion. Peridot stiffens, startled by Amethyst.

"Amethyst, really, this is no time to be fooling around." Pearl scolds as she takes a moment from the welding.

"Please, we can't afford to mess this up." Marcus adds from his position lying on the ground, working on a lower piece on the machine.

"Aww… Come on you two, I'm just tryin'ta lion the mood… Lion the mood." Amethyst repeats her joke after a pause.

"Booooooo." Marcus chucks a bolt at the shapeshifted gem, which it bops her on the head. Pearl meanwhile closes her welding mask and mumbles something. Probably laughing but no one knows for sure, that's why she covered her face.

"Do you always use shapeshifting like this?" Peridot asks her after coming down from her startled state.

"You mean to be really cool?" Next she shapeshifts into Peridot. "Pretty much."

"But it's such a significant use of energy compared to the output."

"Significant use of energy compared to the output." They both say at the same time with Amethyst just lagging behind.

"What was that?"

"I've been practicing my 'Peri' phrasing, pretty impressive in my opinion but it's hard to beat the original." Amethyst compliments the green gem.

In turn, said gem blushes and lightly chuckles. "Hehehe. So, can you shift into anything?" She asks.

"Sure." The purple gem changes back. "Got a request?"

Later, Amethyst is running around like a chicken… as a chicken.

"Bawck bawck! I'm a chicken! Ahahaha!" She laughs as she runs around with everyone watching.

"Hahahaha! I get the joke now!" Peridot laughs.

"Heh, yes well at least she isn't lion around anymore, heheh." Pearl tries to make a joke.

"Ahhhahaha…" Peridot forces her laugh out which is very evident. Pearl looks to see Marcus looking elsewhere beside her.

"Marcus?"

"Oh! Huh. Yeah it was uhhhh…" He backs up a little as he gets closer to the machine and lays his arm on some of the components.

*Crink*

"Ohhhhh would you look at that. It's broken." He tells them in vague surprise as he put just a little bit too much force and some wires and tubes tear off. "Let me just do this and that…" His sentence moves to more incoherent mumbling noises as he focuses on the broken pieces. Pearl scowls at him with pursed lips as he focuses very intently on the broken pieces that just happened to come off when he leaned on them.

"Pearl really tries for some reason and I can appreciate that, Marcus tries not to raise to ire with anyone, and does a superb job at it, Amethyst's company is entertaining as well, but the fused one… eludes me."

The next moment later at night has them all working more on the drill closer to night time.

"Okay, we can add more support as we go, but for now we just have to pick it up and put it on top." Pearl says.

"No sweat." Amethyst shapeshifts into the Purple Puma. "Let's do this!"

"You've got the right idea but we might wanna be a bit more careful." Pearl proposes instead.

Amethyst shapeshifts back, getting what the pale gem means. "Gotcha. Ahem, shall we?" And with a few simple steps, the two fuse into Opal. Peridot freaks out at the fusion and Opal stretches before getting ready.

"Opal."

"Marcus." She greets him back as he walks by with an armful of components in a crate before she puts the drill on the placement board.


The main gift is ready to present but I need other pieces to go along with it.

I head back up to my main home and start going through my collection of books. Ever since I made my home, I've taken to purchasing and collecting a sort of library for myself of various books that might be able to help me in the future, interest me, or expand my knowledge in general. I know a lot already because of my gem side but I still always have more to learn.

"Let's see…" I mumble as I glide my hand along the spines of the books. "Law books, metal workings, some cook books, 'Cask of Amontillado', 'The art of war' by Sun Tzu, subterfuge, 'The biography of General Terrance Da Nella', herbology … ah-ha!" I shout triumphantly as I grab something that'll work more for Peridot than me since I've memorized it to near perfect. "Now I just need some instructions for that specific piece…" I mumble as I go back down.


"Log Date 7 14 2. It would seem that the hybrid, the Marcus, or Marcus as he prefers to be called, just like with… Steven, has allowed me to watch him have a more thorough look at the weapons he carries."

Marcus is sitting on the back of his truck, legs dangling off the back as he polishes the barrel of the Barrett .50 cal. he brought to the barn. The rag he uses is stained with repeated uses of it but works nonetheless. "What are you doing?" He looks up at the side to see Peridot hanging over the edge, peering almost menacingly at him with just her eyes. They both stare at each other for a second before he answers.

"I'm cleaning it."

"… Why?"

"So it doesn't break or get worn down so easily."

"And you have to completely take it all apart?" She pulls herself up until she's standing on the side and gestures to the parts splayed along the back. Along with are his Beretta's and the Anaconda who are soon to be dismantled too and cleaned. "Seems like a lot of work. Why don't you just get a new one when it breaks?" She asks likes it's the most obvious thing to do.

"Because unlike you, who was part of a powerful military army and had near limitless supply of resources that could easily replace anything you use that broke or no longer served a purpose, I am not as well-supplied… at least until recently." He mumbles the last part to himself as he remembers his agreement with the Iron Kings. True if he needed any new weapons or gear he could call them for some but he doesn't need to and will try to prevent himself from needing to in the future. He shakes his head of the thoughts and goes back to cleaning. "Either way, their sometimes is a sense of… bond one could form when it comes to the weapons they use." He lays the barrel down after its cleaned and picks up his Beretta's. "The weapons I use have kept me alive and safe through many tough times and to make sure they continue to do well in aiding and helping me, I clean, fix, repair and make sure there in tip top conditions to make sure they work to the best of their ability's. These ones right here have been with me since I first went out on my own and repaired them many times, including upgrading them too." He explains and stares in intently at the guns. "You know, I think I have some more ideas to upgrade them. Hopefully after we deal with the Cluster I can get to work, among other things." He places them down and looks fully at her. "Didn't you ever feel close to your limb enhancers?"

"Phe!" She scoffs. "Why should I? Their just tools. Tools that all are good for in giving us leverage to make it easier to fix and accomplish certain task. Why if I had my limb enhancers still, I could have scanned what we have of the drill already, calculated what we have on site, what we have, and have everything done in half the time!" She boasts happily before getting a cross look on her face. "But… as it stands I no longer have my limb enhancers. Just the one gravity connecter Steven gave me and I can't even access or use that because I don't have my control gauntlets to access it and make it connect to me." She starts getting angry. "Now I am completely useless in this small diminutive form that doesn't make me any taller than Steven!" She begins getting angry and bouncing. "Why did you all have to go ahead and destroy my- Whoa whoa whoooooaa!" She loses her balance and starts falling.

Marcus reaches forward and grabs her flailing arm before she falls off. Now she's standing at an angle off the truck with Marcus holding on. She stares into the sky for a second before glancing towards the hybrid. With a jerk, he pulls her back into the truck and allows her to sit down next to him. "You good?"

She doesn't make direct eye contact with him and looks away. "… Yes… thank you."

"No problem." He answers before he starts putting together the armor-piercing rifle. Peridot continues to look away but as the first couple sounds of machinery being slid, snapped and put together does she turn slightly so she can glance at the hybrid work. At first it's her simply glancing at him from the corner of her eyes but as the weapon starts to take shape as he expertly works does she become enraptured with it. She's fully staring now as he sets the barrel into place along with its muzzle. Next he slides on the scope and makes a quick check of the attachment before grabbing an empty magazine. He slides it in easily until its set with a satisfying click.

*Cha-chick*

With a pull of the bolt handle it shows how it works. Shouldering the weapon he aims it off into the distance.

*Click*

He pulls the trigger and it fires, but without a round it's harmless. Just gives a click in response. Pulling the weapon up he aims to the sky before glancing to the green gem next to him. After hearing her rant about her lost her limb enhancers, Marcus feels just a little pang of regret mixed with guilt in his heart at the fact he still has them in his base. They were pretty beat up when Amethyst gave them to him and it looked like it would take some work to get them working properly but still. "I can teach you you know."

"Huh?" She asks in confusion.

"Human firearms." He clarifies before laying the weapon down on his lap. "You've shown me you have some knowledge of our guns with what little information I've given you overtime. If you want, I can probably teach you a bit more about human weapons to make you just a bit more… proficient with them. In return, maybe you can teach me more about Homeworld tech." He proposes to her. So far Peridot has proven to be quite an asset and helpful to them in certain times, even starting to form bonds with the Crystal gems that could very well be lasting. To hopefully make things go more smoothly for them all, an exchange of lessons between the two could be helpful. Peridot stares at him curiously for a bit, contemplating the answer she should give him to his proposition. She looks down to think more so Marcus turns around to lay his rifle along the side of the truck. Turning back, he notices Peridot staring intently at the revolver. "You okay?"

"Gah! I wasn't doing anything!" She yelps suddenly and jumps off the truck before heading off. "I'm gonna go work on the drill!"

He stares at the retreating gem for a bit as goes. He purses his lips in thought. 'Guess she wasn't ready yet.' He thinks before reaching for another gun. His hand stops as it hovers over the Colt Anaconda for a second. He hesitates before picking it up and staring at it for a bit. His view switches to where Peridot is as she goes. "Hmmmm."


"Hopefully this'll work out for the best." I mutter and finish placing everything inside the case. Once everything is securely set and ready, I close it up and get ready go.

I spent the entire night into the next day down here working on her gift. I have her limb enhancers still and after the move she did to Yellow Diamond, this is something I have to do at least.

Getting into my car, which all the damage is repaired, I hit the button and the large ground gate opens from my base for me to head back to the barn. Once I make it out and it closes, all the lights turn and shut off.


"Okay, go!"

"Log date…" Steven gasps as he hears Garnet on the tape now. "Seven fifteen two."

"No, you say it seven one five two. Ugh! Log date 7 15 2. I have attempted a fusion with the fusion Garnet. I had hoped to gain a better understanding of fusion. Instead, I got a better understanding of Garnet." Peridot on the recorder says and is about to stop but is halted by Garnet.

"Wait, keep it on a moment. Steven, you probably shouldn't have listened to Peridot's logs, but I know your curiosity comes from a place of caring. You should give the recorder back to her now. She's going to want to keep it." Garnet, using her future vision, explains to Steven as he listens.

"Wait, what?" Peridot asks in confusion but before anymore could be said he stops the recorder. Just at that moment, the two that were on the recorder come back into the barn.

"Here, Peridot. Take this back." He gives her her tape recorder back.

"Wow. Thanks." She accepts the item back, despite going crazy about it before. Garnet and Steven both give her a thumbs up in turn at how good she seems to be now. Peridot blushes and follows suit like them.

"Nice." Garnet comments with a smile. Next they hear the engine of a car pulling up. "Oh, Marcus must be back."

"Yay!" Steven happily yells with his arms raised up and jogs outside.

"Joy." Peridot sarcastically says and they go outside to meet him. What greets them is the muscle car parked with the hybrid standing and leaning against the passenger side door of his car that's aimed at them as they come out.

He wears a pair of sunglasses as he stares straight ahead of him but as soon as he spots Peridot, he pushes himself off and gets her attention. "Peridot, let's take a ride." He suggests they do.

All three of them who walked out of the barn look at each other in confusion at the sudden demand. "Uhhh, what?" Peridot asks in confusion at him. He doesn't respond, instead he simply pushes himself off his car and opens the passenger door and gestures with his head for her to go in. "Uhhh okay." She agrees after a moment of confusion but agrees nonetheless. As she begins walking over to him, she glances back to Steven and Garnet to see looks of confusion on them as well as they shrug. Once she gets close enough, he keeps the door open for her as she clambers on in and seats herself before he closes the door. He wastes no time in walking around the vehicle to get at the driver seat.

"We'll be back later." He tells the two spectators without a glance towards them but loud enough for them to hear. Without another word, he climbs in and starts the car. Peridot just barely glances out the window to Garnet and Steven before the car starts driving away.

They both watch the car drive away from the barn until it becomes a speck. "What do you think they're going to do?" Steven asks the fusion.

"Mmm-mm." Garnet shrugs and walks back inside. Steven stares in the direction they left for a bit longer before going inside too.

Later with Peridot inside the car, she start to become nervous as the car ride draws on for quite awhile in complete silence, coupled with the drivers complete focus on the driving at hand with a stoic neutral expression makes Peridot silently dreading her action. 'What does he want with me? Why now of all times does he want to be alone with me? Is it because of Yellow Diamond? Did her words about him and this world make him so angry that if he can't get at her he's going to take it out on me?! Oh my clod! What is he going to do to me?! What type of horrific tortures will he inflict on me? What will he do to my gem when I'm forced to reform?! Oh maybe I can beg for his forgiveness and offer to do something for him. What can I do to make everything better?! WHAT IF HE TRANSFORMS INTO THAT MONSTER?! I can't reason with that thing! I'll be torn to shreds if he sick's it on me! What am I supposed to do…?!' Peridot's thoughts revolve around this particular thought pattern throughout the drive, ranging from facial expressions of being scared, worried, relief, horrified and so on. By the time Marcus makes it to his destination, he shuts off the car and goes to talk to his passenger but he's confused as she's now huddled tightly in her seat, her right arm wrapped around her body with her left on her face and head. She's also shaking like a leaf in heavy wind with a thousand yard stare in her eyes.


"Peridot?"

"GAH! Please don't hurt me?!" She yells in fright after her name is called, bringing her from her fear stricken thoughts. I give her a look of complete confusion and tilt my head to the side.

"Wha? No. I just wanted to give you something." I clarify and reach into the back seat.

"Don't shatter me!" She begs loudly as she brings her hands out towards in an attempt to stop me from hurting her, I think, along with her eyes closed. When something doesn't happen to her, she cracks an eye open to see me holding one of my better equipped, most secure and durable case I have in front of her.

"I got you a present."

She blinks a few times before relaxing and giving me a confused look. "A… present?" She asks in confusion.

"Yeah, it's a gift."

"Oh, a gift." She gets a look of realization on her face as she now knows she's not going to be shattered. "Like Steven's… stilts?" She asks.

"Stilts...? Oh! Kind of." I answer after I remember the painted paint cans that Steven got her for her one month canniversary. "Here. Follow me and I'll show you." I tell her and get out of my car. Moving to the front, I give her a bit to somehow be able to properly open the door without lowering the window, or destroying it, and meeting me in front of my car where I am sitting on the hood. 'It still never ceases to amaze me so much that for her being so smart, she still has trouble with earth tech.'

"Where are we?" She asks, gesturing to the item in my lap as she takes a seat next to me.

Looking up with a smile, I take in the view around us. "What you don't remember coming here to kidnap Steven?" I ask sarcastically. She has a look of confusion before taking another look around and notices that we are indeed back at the cliff where the temple is and my home. "This place right here," I point to the house, "That's my home where I live and work on a lot of different stuff from time to time. It's also where I store stuff I may need in the future, hence your old escape pod and the majority of the material used in the drill." I tell her. I positioned my car so it's close to the edge of the cliff and pointed out towards the ocean, that way we have a pretty cool view of the landscape for the conversation we are going to have. "It's also where I worked on your gift here." I say as I place the black case between us.

Her focus shifts to that of the item I have for her. "What is it?" She asks enraptured by what it might be.

I take a moment to stare at the case for a bit, the implications of what I am about to give her start to make it well-known in my mind but it has to be done. 'It has to be.' With a sigh, I plug in the code for the lock with it unlocked, I open it revealing the base stuff on the surface. "This is some stuff you'll need."

"Oh!" She reaches in and grabs two of the three things inside it. "Huh?" She asks in confusion at the book. "A complete guide to gun cleaning and repairing?" She reads the title before looking at the folded up leather pouch and opening it to reveal an assortment of brushes, screwdrivers, and a variety of other tools needed to clean weapons. "What is this?"

"Those are what you'll use to maintain your real gift."

"Huh?" She asks before I reach in and grab the main item in there that was covered by the book.

I pull out the ornate wooden case with gold trimmings. Varnished to protect it from minor damages, I stare at it for a long time before handing it to her. "Here." She looks down at it for a second before taking it and looking curiously at it. "Open it."

The amount of change that goes through her face as she opens the wooden box is priceless. The confused look at her turns to complete awe and surprise, stars even appear in her eyes as she stares at its contents.

My, now hers, Colt Anaconda sits firmly inside its place in the red velvet lined interior of the box. I heavily modified the revolver to take near any kind of damage now from the environment and battle it might get into. The main frame part of the gun shines brightly with the silver steel gleaming but it's not the only color that shines. The barrel of the gun that I had removed and instead had the material replaced with none other than the same material that was used in Peridot's ship. After analyzing the material for earlier uses awhile back, I found the material for the hull of the ship is able to withstand such powerful and massive bouts of heat and fire. That much is obvious since it's a space faring vessel and needs to cut through the atmosphere of most planets so it definitely needs to take superb amounts of high temperatures. That being said the green swirling material of light and dark green now makes up the barrel, contrasting the silver colored steel, and assures without a doubt that there will be no heat damage or metal melting from continuous damage, something I should adapt to my other weapons later on. The barrel also has vents at the end pointed at the sides to lessen the blow back from when the bullets leave the barrel of the gun.

The grip handle of the gun is a black soft overmolded synthetic rubber that's way durable, absorbs recoil and gives a somewhat comfortable feel compared to what one would expect from hard materials. The sights of the weapon also are equipped with night sights so when its in the dead of night or extremely dark, they will glow green to allow the user to properly aim and place your target.

All in all, I am quite proud of this weapon.

The ammo is still the same .44 magnum caliber but I also decided to give Peridot all the speedloaders I had to go with it. Just below where the weapons lies, six divots contain each of the speedloaders with their bullet payloads, cleaned and ready to be easily added to the chambers in a moment's notice. A small special screwdriver is inside as well to allow for small tweaks to the sights and allow for compensating for Peridot's aim. On the inside of the lid is a small booklet I made and printed out that gives exact specifications on how to properly fix and maintain this particular revolver for its new owner. Next to the booklet is an adjustable holster strapped inside that Peridot can use to strap to practically any other part of her body and holster her weapon.

"Is… is this…?" She stares in awe at the newly designed but oddly to her familiar weapon.

"It is." I answer with a nod.

"And your just… giving it to me?" She asks confused.

I give her a close eyed smile and nod. "I am, with some upgrades."

She looks between the weapon and I for a few times before laying it on her lap. "Why?"

"Peridot… for the longest time when you've been with us, in the back of my mind I've always had some reservations that just maybe you'd still be loyal to Homoeworld. I had thoughts at times that maybe you'd betray us or take off without a look back at us." I explain as I stare into the waters. Peridot looks down depressed as she remembers what she did with the communicator. "However," She perks up. "What you did to Yellow Diamond, the back talk, the interruptions, the INSULT right to her face… that took guts not many are ever known for. That proved to me right then and there that you just basically turned your back on the Diamonds… and became an official Crystal Gem." I say the last part looking at her with a smile on my face. "That being said, the others like it that you have the title, but I felt you needed something a bit more… concrete to symbolize your change and willingness to stay." I gesture to the gun. "You've proven to me that you can use the weapon when the need comes to it." She looks nervous at the memory of using the weapon on me but I'm not angry. It was good she did. "It was also awesome of you to give it back to me when you did. This is something that I feel you can do great things with." I tell her as confidently as I can to help boost her emotions. When I left she was pretty bummed out about her actions but she looks to be doing much better now. 'Now… for the other reason.' I think depressed before going into a sulked stature. "There's also… something else I'm gonna need you to do… when the time arises." I eerily say, not being able to look at her now.

"What is it?"

I glance at her out of the corner of my eye before I get up and take a few steps towards the cliffs edge. For the longest time I stare out into the ocean with the wind billowing against me. "You know, about the thing that lives inside me. What I can… become." I don't need to see but I know she nods. "When it comes out I can't control it. It'll go after whoever it feels like and won't stop until enough damage is done to it." I turn around and stare at her with a firm look. "I cannot expect the others to not hold back in doing what is necessary to stop me. That's why I know I can turn to you to do what needs to be done."

"What do you me—" She starts to ask in confusion but it turns to a horrified realization as she remembers the gun in her lap. She looks down at it before looking up at me. I give her just barest and smallest of nods. "But… I can't! We weren't friends then! Now we are! You can't—" I walk up to her and place a hand on her shoulder, quieting her. Next I kneel down, so now I am below her and looking up.

"Peridot, we are friends, thank you for saying that… but the others care about me too much to the point that I worry they'll hesitate. You however, we haven't known each other near as long and have been at odds with each other at times. Because of that, I know that out of everyone here I know that you can be the one to take me down because you've already done it before." I explain to her as best I can. Throughout the whole time I was working on her gift, that thought kept coming back to haunt me and while I don't want to put this burden on her, it's the only option I can fall back to. I can't outright ask the others, god forbid Steven to even do something like that to me. "Peridot…" I grab one of her hands into the both of mine. "I cannot, nor will I ever, wish any harm on my family, friends, and allies. And if that thing gets out I will be powerless to stop it. I NEED you to stop me from hurting everyone I care about. Please… will you stop me from hurting my family?" I sincerely ask her, almost begging. I'm resigned to doing so, should the need arise. And this is a need that I can't take any chances with.

She looks stunned at my pleading tone and action in front of her. Me on my knees in front of her, practically begging at this point for her to shoot me to the point I will be incapacitated and hurt very badly. Her stunned look may also attribute to me giving her this very important job that I can't trust anyone else to. For awhile, the stunned look dissipates to one of silent thinking. Soon, she looks at me with a determined expression and places her other hand on top of mine. "Alright, I'll do it."

Relief flows over my whole body at the answer. "Thank you Peridot. Thank you." I say relieved. After I let go of her hands, we give each other a smile and she picks up her new firearm and inspects it. After admiring it for a bit, she finds something on the side of the barrels that gets her attention.

"What are these scratches?" She says pointing to the inscriptions I etched into both sides of the barrel.

Smiling, I point at the one she's looking at. "That one is a quote I etched into it, for inspiration and remembering." I take the gun and aim out to her right with my left hand. "It reads, 'Patria est, ubi eam' in latin. Translated, 'Home is where I make it.' Meaning that it doesn't matter where you are or where you live, what home is matters to you." I gesture to her. She smiles at that. As I return the smile, I decide to turn the gun around to show the other etching I made.

As she reads the text, her eyes widen as she is able to read the text clearly. "'Earth is my home now.' Wait, this isn't earth language. I can read this! This is…" She trails off as she realizes what it is.

"It is. After some work, I was able to make out the words said in Homeworld script. I felt it would be… fitting for you."

"Wow…" She says in awe at the text before looking confused. "But shouldn't they say 'you' instead of 'my' or 'I'?" She asks but I can't help but smirk.

"No Peridot it shouldn't… because they are your words…" I hold the guns handle firmly in my right hand before I flip the gun around and hold the handle for her to take it. "If you'll take them." I offer.

She stares at me for a bit before grabbing the guns handle and taking the gun with her left hand. We both smile at each other before I decide to give her my own form of a salute. My right closed fist comes up and plants itself over my left shoulder, right between the shoulder blade and upper chest.

"What was that?" She asks confused at the display.

I shrug sheepishly since that's basically the first time I've ever done that. "I remember you giving Yellow Diamond that Diamond salute when you were talking to her. I figured… maybe I can have my own."

"… Oh." She says at the clarification. She glances between me and her own right hand a few times.

She returns my salute with a smile.

I grin. 'Thank you.' "Stick with me Peridot, I'll show a world of human tech."


I'm kind of surprised at how long this was. I honestly thought this was going to be a lot smaller but I guess I surprised myself yet again. I was worried it was going to be small because of the different context and point of views, scene changes and such that made me a little worried about possible confusion between the transitions but I hope I didn't suck too bad with it. I will also say I do like the transactions between Marcus and Peridot. Really starts to give them a new bond between the two of them since its now official that she's on Earth to stay, especially since he's given her an incredibly important job to go along with her new weapon. Whether or not the weapon is going to be used for said in the future, remains to be seen.

Onto other news, it's now officially the start of school and I have to say so far things are looking alright. Granted I've only gone to one class so far but still. Until I meet my other teachers and see how they teach their classes will I start to either be content with the future work they'll give me… or silently but mentally freak the ever living crap out at the assignments. Fingers crossed everything goes alright but either way, it's not like I'm going to quit if it gets too hard. I'm not the type to quit so easily… especially in some moments in video games where my entire team quits and leaves me all alone to deal with the enemies attacks. Annoying but I can safely say I didn't quit when everyone else did.

Just so you all know, while I will be focusing on this story a bit, I will gravitate a little between this and my star wars story. Just to get it off its feet a bit and get the first couple of action chapters published.

Another thing I plan to do is answer guest reviews here in the author notes rather than give vague answers. Seems unfair for me to personally answer or thank those with accounts and I can't do so with guests. All reviews are appreciated regardless. So guest IDIMOND, probably not. Don't have anything planned in that sort of regard, but I guess we'll what happens. After all, we still have another season of Steven Universe episodes that still need to be aired. The wait is killing me.

Thank you all for your support. Please fave, follow, review, keep enjoying my stuff and as always, have fun reading.