Peridot's mission was a complete and utter failure.

Not only had she failed to stop these so-called 'Crystal Gems' from interfering with her work, but she had also managed to get captured. As if things couldn't get any worse, the Jasper that was assigned to her had turned traitor and was now working for the enemy. Peridot was fairly certain that Jasper had cracked her gem at some point during the battle because there was no other logical explanation for what the soldier gem was claiming— that Pink Diamond wasn't actually shattered.

The mere thought was absurd! Every gem who had existed for more than five minutes knew that Pink Diamond was shattered thousands of years ago. To claim otherwise was to ignore basic historical fact. There was no way Pink Diamond was still around and even on the off chance that she was, she wouldn't be living on such a sad rock of a planet as earth, and she certainly wouldn't be taking on the form of a human.

Peridot struggled against the sharp whip that currently restrained her, twisting and contorting her body in uncomfortable ways in hopes of wriggling her way to freedom. She stole a glance at the window where the green handship she arrived in could still be seen and was filled with renewed determination. All she needed to do was escape from her bindings and make a run for the ship. She would return to Homeworld, report Jasper's defective behavior to Yellow Diamond and everything would be set right.

In her haste to escape, Peridot failed to notice the presence of the human who was the cause of her current problems. He had somehow managed to take a seat next to her without her noticing and was now watching her with a curious expression on his face. Jasper was hovering next to him and sent a sharp glare in her direction. She let out a yelp of surprise and her body lurched forward without permission, going from the soft cushions where she had been placed to the hard wooden floor.

Peridot groaned. Her face had taken the brunt of the fall and was now throbbing in pain. She was about to start the process of picking herself off the ground, which would have been difficult considering her hands were still bound to her sides, when a pair of hands picked her up off the ground and gently set her back onto the cushions.

She looked up to see the apologetic face of her captor. "Get your touch-stumps off me, you Steven!" she shouted, wriggling in his hold.

He immediately released her and she almost fell again, only managing to stay upright because Jasper caught her before she hit the ground. Peridot shrunk into herself as Jasper pulled her close and growled in her face.

"Watch your tongue! You will address my Diamond with respect!"

"It's okay, Jasper. Put her down."

Jasper sent her another sharp look before roughly dropping her back onto the white cushions. "Yes, my Diamond." she said and to Peridot's disgust she bowed and made the Diamond salute.

"Why are you listening to that human?!" She asked Jasper. "Have you forgotten about the mission?!"

"That human is Pink Diamond. Show some respect!"

She groaned in frustration. Jasper seemed convinced the Steven was a Diamond and Peridot doubted that she would be able to convince the brute otherwise. Some fancy fighting techniques were, apparently, all that Jasper needed to turn traitor. Not that Peridot was surprised, soldier gems were made for their strength not their intellect.

She addressed the human, hoping he would be easier to intimidate. "I demand to be released!"

He paused and actually seemed to be considering her request. "If I release you, will you try and run away?"

"... No." she lied.

He shrugged. "Okay, then hold still so I can get this whip off of you."

To Peridot's surprise he actually did start to detangle her from her confinements, pulling the whip off of her until she was free.

She stared at him. He blinked back at her.

She made a run for the door.

"Freedom is mine!"

Large hands grabbed onto her torso preventing her from progressing any farther. Jasper's smirking face was the last thing Peridot saw before she disappeared into a cloud of green smoke.


Amethyst looked up from her spot in the kitchen when she heard Peridot's shrill yell. Jasper was crushing the green gem, her arms squeezing her body until she poofed. Ouch. That didn't look fun. Metallic green parts clattered uselessly onto the floor.

"I was really hoping she wouldn't run." Twoie muttered as he secured Peridot's gemstone and placed it on the coffee table.

Her eyes darted over to a despondent Lapis who she was supposed to be guarding and then back again to the strange pieces of Peridot scattered on the floor. She was getting bored just watching Lapis and she was pretty sure she wouldn't run away. She considered staying for a moment before shrugging to herself and walking over to the spot where Peridot had been poofed.

"Ughh, sick, there's bits of her all over." she said as she poked one of the pieces with her foot, causing it to roll away.

"They're her limb enhancers, they're not a part of her." Twoie explained as he gathered up the artificial limbs in his arms and placed them in a haphazard pile next to the green gemstone. "Thanks for stopping her, Jasper." he said, turning to the large gem. "but you didn't have to poof her."

Amethyst watched in fascination as a large smile stretched itself across Jasper's face at the praise she received from Twoie. Was it even possible to look that creepy while smiling? Amethyst turned her attention back to the robotic limbs on the table, grabbing a long piece that resembled a foot and turning it around in her hands. If these were Peridot's fake legs then she must actually be really short.

"Yes, my Diamond." Jasper said, her arms forming that weird Diamond salute.

Twoie winced. "You don't have to call me that. Just Twoie is fine."

"Yes, my… Twoie." Jasper said.

Amethyst choked back a laugh at how uncertain Jasper sounded. Ever since she realized Twoie was a Diamond she had been following him around like a lost puppy, eagerly listening to everything he told her.

Her curiosity sated, Amethyst placed the green leg back onto the table where Peridot's gemstone rested, unbubbled. "Shouldn't we bubble her?" she asked, pointing at Peridot's gemstone. "What if she tries to escape again?"

"No, it's fine." Twoie assured her. "Peridot is pretty harmless without her limb enhancers." he glanced at the window. "Although, we probably should be guarding the hand ship better…"

Jasper immediately perked up. "I can guard the ship, my Diamond."

"You don't have to call me that," he repeated, a touch of exasperation in his voice. "But it would be great if you could patrol the handship and make sure no one uses it."

"Understood, my Diamond." Jasper said, giving one more salute before turning on her heel and bolting outside toward the ship.

With Jasper finally gone, Amethyst allowed herself to laugh. "Man, this is so weird." she told Twoie. "She totally worships you, dude."

Twoie groaned before taking a seat on the couch. "Ugh, don't remind me. It's going to take forever to convince her to stop treating me like royalty."

"But aren't you kinda like royalty?" she asked. "Y'know since you're a Diamond or whatever."

"Yeah, bu-" he began, but was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering.

Amethyst whipped around, her hand hovering over her gemstone as she scanned the room for the source of the noise. There, in the kitchen stood Lapis with pieces of a mug scattered on the floor around her. Her eyes were wide and confused as they flitted around the house before finally resting on Twoie.

The blue gem pointed a shaky finger in Twoie's direction. "You're a Diamond!"

It was such an obvious statement that it left Amethyst speechless for a moment. Did all gems act this weird around a Diamond? Judging by the behavior of Jasper and Lapis, Amethyst assumed that, yeah, they did.

"Uh, yeah." Amethyst said, lowering her hand back to her side. "Didn't you hear anything that Jasper said?"

Lapis didn't seem to be paying her any attention, her focus was solely directed at an uncomfortable looking Twoie. She ran a hand through her disheveled hair, muttering under her breath as she frantically paced the kitchen.

Twoie looked at her for guidance, but Amethyst could only shrug in response. The only hysterical gem she was used to dealing with was Pearl and Amethyst only ever managed to her freak out more. She didn't know the first thing about Lapis or how to calm her down.

"... You good?" She asked in an attempt to be comforting.

"I thought Pink Diamond was… and Rose Quartz… " Lapis trailed off. "This doesn't make any sense!"

Water began to dribble out from the faucet in the sink and floated in the air around the blue gem. Amethyst took a step back from the distressed gem, recalling just how dangerous she could be when she had access to water.

Twoie stood up from his spot on the couch and took tentative steps toward Lapis as if he were approaching a wounded animal. "Everything is going to be okay." he said, his voice calm and soothing despite the increasing amount of water hovering near them. "I can explain everything. I just need you to calm down." he said, eyeing the ball of water.

Lapis followed his gaze, her eyes widening as she took in the water floating behind her. Whatever power she was using to hold it up disappeared the second she noticed what she was doing. It spilled onto the kitchen floor, turning into a harmless puddle of water.

"I didn't…" she backed away from them, her back pressing into the fridge. "I'm sorry."

"Amethyst." Twoie said, not taking his eyes off of Lapis. "Why don't you go check on Pearl and the others while I have a talk with Lapis."

She observed Lapis, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown, for a moment longer before deciding that her presence would probably only make things worse. The only person that Lapis liked was Steven and, by extension, Twoie.

She nodded. "Shout if you need anything." she said before walking into the temple to find Pearl.


It took a lot of soothing words and reassurances to get Lapis to move from the damp kitchen to the more comforting cushions of the couch. She sat with her knees pulled close to her chest, looking as lost as Twoie felt.

Where to even start when explaining something as complicated as this? Did Lapis even know that Rose Quartz was his mom? Did she even know what a mom was? Twoie doubted it.

"I'm not Pink Diamond or Rose Quartz." He began, figuring it was as good a place as any. "I might have her gem, but I'm not her. Rose Quartz, my mom, and Pink Diamond were the same person."

"That's why Jasper said you were…" Lapis muttered. "But Pink Diamond was shattered, Blue Diamond saw the shards herself."

Twoie cringed at the mention of shards, the memory of Pearl stabbing Pink Diamond flashing in his mind. The shards were eerily convincing.

"They weren't real." He said. "Pink Diamond faked her shattering to put an end to the war. She thought if the other Diamonds believed she was shattered they would leave the earth alone."

"But she was a Diamond! The earth was her colony. She could have stopped the colonization if she wanted. Why did she pretend to be a Quartz? Why drag innocent gems into a war she started with herself?" Lapis asked, an undercurrent of bitterness in her voice.

He heaved out a sigh. "It wasn't that simple. Sure, she was a Diamond but the other Diamonds didn't respect her authority. They would punish her if she acted out and not wanting to colonize a planet was considered acting out." A chill ran down his spine as he recalled the darkness of the tower, a place that he and his mom were all too familiar with. "Since they wouldn't listen to her as Pink Diamond she forced them to pay attention to her as Rose Quartz."

He paused his explanation to watch her reaction, but Lapis had rested her head on her knees and turned away from him. Her head was tilted to the portrait of Rose Quartz that hung above the door. The serene eyes of Rose Quartz bore through him, leaving behind feelings of inadequacy and repressed anger. He pulled his gaze away from the painting and focused on Lapis instead.

"It's funny." She said after a beat of silence. "Even before you freed me from that mirror, I always felt like there was something different about you."

He quirked an eyebrow at the statement, but didn't otherwise respond in fear of upsetting the blue gem.

"At first I thought it was because you were human. Then, you told me you were a Crystal Gem and I didn't know what to think. A half-gem, half-human hybrid?" She laughed, it was a tired noise devoid of any humor. "You had this aura about you, I don't really know how to explain it."

Ah, that made more sense. After all, a pink aura emitting from his gem was how he convinced Blue and Yellow of his own status as a Diamond. Could all gems sense his aura? Or was it only the ones that were paying attention to it?

Lapis sighed, her posture becoming more relaxed as she processed and accepted the recent turn of events. Even though she was still turned away from him, he could hear the smile in her voice. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're really a Diamond, Steven."

Twoie froze at the mention of the name Steven. Should he tell her that he wasn't really Steven? He didn't want to lie to her, but he also didn't want her to freak out when another much younger Steven showed up. "I…" he hesitated.

"I almost didn't recognize you when I first saw you." All of the previous confusion and fear in her voice had dried up and vanished, leaving behind a curiosity. "Do all humans change that fast?"

"I, um, well…" He stole a glance at the painting of Rose Quartz that seemed to be watching him, silently judging his actions. Nothing ever good ever came of hiding the truth, he decided. "I'm not Steven!" He blurted out before he could change his mind.

Lapis' head whipped around so fast he was surprised she didn't poof under the strain. Her eyebrows were furrowed and she had a guarded look in her eyes, a look he recognized was reserved for people she didn't trust. It was a jarring experience to have that look directed at him.

His explanation came out rushed. "I mean, technically I am Steven, but not really. It's kind of complicated and involves gem tech. The point is, I'm not the Steven you know."

Her cold expression morphed into one of confusion. "What?"

"I'm from the future." he said.

"The futu-"

A shout startled Lapis into silence. He strained his ears and was able to recognize the gruff voice as belonging to Jasper.

"I'll be back!" He shouted over his shoulder to Lapis. He wasted no time in springing to his feet and flinging the door open in his rush to get outside. He scanned the beach, peering into the darkness of the night in search of Jasper.

"Answer me!" Jasper's gruff voice bellowed from below him.

Twoie snapped his gaze downward and was greeted by the sight of Steven wildly flailing his limbs around as he struggled in Jasper's hold. His mouth went dry.

"Jasper, put him down!" he ordered, the words leaving his mouth before he even had the time to process them. Ordinarily, he would feel guilty for demanding Jasper to listen to him because of the unfair amount of power he had over her, but in the moment all he could focus on was the wide and fearful eyes of Steven.

He leapt off the wooden railings and landed safely onto the sand below where Jasper and Steven both stood. His eyes darted to Steven who had his shield out in front of him and a brave but fearful look plastered on his face. Twoie allowed himself to relax once he was sure Steven was unharmed. Jasper, it seemed, had only startled the boy and other than lifting him in the air had not physically hurt him.

An uncomfortable feeling settled in his stomach at the way Jasper bowed to him. "My Diamond." she said.

"You don't have to do that, Jasper." he reminded her, hoping this time she would listen. Unsurprisingly, she did not and only stood up straighter, her arms frozen in the shape of the Diamond salute.

"Yes, my Diamond." she said.

He stifled a sigh and walked over to Steven instead.

"Are you alright?" he asked and after a quick glance around the beach in which he failed to locate the van he added, "Does dad know you're here?"

"I'm fine." Steven said, his eyes drifting behind Twoie where Jasper no doubt stood in waiting. "And I left him a note. What happened?"

Nothing, he wanted to say in hopes of keeping Steven away from the complicated mess of a situation that he was currently in, but he realized that Steven was far too curious and far too stubborn to accept that answer. He stole a peek at Jasper who was indeed just standing a little ways behind him, a suspicious look on her face probably meant for Steven.

Twoie hadn't been planning on Jasper finding out that he had Pink Diamond's gemstone. He had just wanted to beat her and keep the earth safe from Homeworld, but she had noticed his Diamond eyes. That coupled with the power he used and his pink glowing skin made it easy for her to connect the dots and now for better or for worse, he was stuck with a Jasper who was far too happy to take orders from him.

She seemed to take the news of Rose Quartz being Pink Diamond well. At least as far as Twoie could tell since she hadn't actually brought up the topic, but there was no telling how she would react to there being two Pink Diamonds. Then, there was still the subject of what to do with Peridot and Lapis. Plus, the ongoing issue with Garnet and having to tell Bismuth that Ros—

He suppressed another sigh. He would deal with everything later.

"Let's go inside." he said. "I have a lot to catch you up on."


The wooden stairs leading to the house creaked under the weight of the orange gem that was glaring at him. Steven increased his speed and positioned himself closer to Twoie, grabbing onto his hand for added security.

Twoie gave his hand a comforting squeeze, then without turning to look at the large gem said, "It's fine, Jasper. He's not going to hurt me."

Jasper didn't reply, but Steven felt the intensity of her glare lessen.

The house was empty, save for the presence of a blue gem that he instantly recognized. It was Lapis! She looked up at the sound of them entering, relief and another emotion Steven didn't recognize flooding her eyes when their gazes met.

"Lapis!" he shouted, running over to embrace her in a tight hug. "You're okay!"

She returned the hug, but pulled away after a few moments and with her hands still resting on his shoulders she stared at him. Her gaze then shifted over to Twoie before settling back on him.

"Lapis?" he questioned, unsure of what she was looking for. Did he have something on his face? Or maybe he had food stuck in between his teeth again?

"Is it true?" she asked. "Is he really you from the future?" her eyes darted back over to Twoie.

A light bulb went off in Steven's head as he realized the cause of her strange behavior. She didn't know who Twoie was which made sense since he had shown up after Steven had freed Lapis from the mirror. Seeing both of them must have been confusing for her.

He opened his mouth to clear up any misunderstandings, but Jasper was in his face before he could say anything. He wilted under her intense, scrutinizing gaze and inched closer to Lapis.

"Leave. Us. Alone." Lapis spat, her voice cold and bitter.

"Jasper," Twoie said, his voice instantly catching the attention of the large gem. "There's something I need to tell you."

Thankfully, that was enough to get Jasper moving back to Twoie's side. Steven breathed a sigh of relief at the comforting distance between him and the orange gem. Did she hate him or something? Or maybe she just really liked making people uncomfortable? Whatever the case, she couldn't be that bad if Twoie was friends with her. At least, Steven thought they were friends. Jasper certainly seemed to like Twoie or at least respect him enough to listen to him.

"I probably should have told you this sooner," Twoie began, rubbing the back of his neck. "But with everything that happened I kind of forgot. I guess I was worried you would freak out, but you've been, um, handling everything else pretty well so that's good. I just…" he took a deep breath. "This is going to sound really weird, but I'm from the future and Steven, the human, is me."

The silence that followed after Twoie's statement was deafening and uncomfortable. Steven stole a glance at Lapis who had stiffened beside him. Her brows were scrunched up in thought as she studied Twoie's face.

"It's true." he announced, standing up from his spot on the couch and moving so that he was standing right next to Twoie. "Twoie is me from the future."

"So it is true…" Lapis muttered loud enough for Steven to hear.

Steven perked up, glad that he managed to convince at least one of the two gems. Jasper was still as a statue, staring at him without so much as blinking. It was honestly starting to creep him out a bit.

"Don't you see the resemblance?" he asked, batting his eyelashes as he made eye contact with Jasper. Twoie remained impassive.

He frowned at her lack of a reaction. Thinking Jasper wanted more proof, Steven lifted up his shirt just high enough to show off his gem.

"See?" he said, using his free hand to lift up Twoie's shirt. "We have the same gem and everything."

Jasper blinked.


Finding Pearl was easy. She was in her room like Amethyst expected her to be. What was decidedly harder was waiting. She never understood why other gems took so long to reform. It was easy. She, personally, never took longer than a few hours to come back after being poofed.

"Ugh, how much longer is this going to take?"

"Well," Pearl said, examining the three gemstones cradled in her hands. "Ruby and Sapphire were both poofed in battle and Bismuth was hit by a destabilizer, so it may be a while before they reform."

"Can't we just leave them here?" she asked. "It's not like they're in any real danger. Plus, I'm getting really bored just watching them."

"We need to be here to explain the… situation to them. If we don't they will attack Jasper on sight which will only lead to unnecessary violence."

She groaned in defeat, realizing Pearl had a point. "Don't you at least have anything interesting in your room?" She threw herself onto the wet ground. The water flew up into the air and splashed Pearl in the face. "Or is all just boring water?"

Pearl juggled the gemstone's in one of her hands while she used the other to wipe at her face. "Amethyst." she hissed, sending the purple gem a sharp look. "Take this more seriously, you almost made me drop them."

Amethyst rolled her eyes. "Relax, P." she said. "Everything's fine. Twoie kicked Jasper's butt so hard that she's working for us now and we captured Peridot, so there's nothing to worry about. We won."

"We didn't 'win', Jasper was just able to ascertain that Twoie possessed a Diamond gemstone. She's only obeying him because she believes he is Pink Diamond."

"Why do you care about what Jasper believes? She's on our side now. That's all that matters, right?"

"Because, Amethyst," Pearl began, her voice strained and nervous. "If she stops believing that Twoie is Pink Diamond, or if she loses respect for him then she won't hesitate to attack us. Also, in case you've forgotten we still have a huge warship parked outside the temple. What if Homeworld uses it to track our location? What if they try to contact Jasper? What if Perid-"

"Woah, dude, calm down." Amethyst said, but her reassurance fell on deaf ears. Pearl was now pacing back and forth, her eyes wide and dark with worry. Amethyst stood up and moved to stand in front of Pearl, causing the pale gem to stop her anxious pacing to look down at her. "Listen, Pearl maybe all the bad junk that you're talking about will happen, or maybe it won't. I don't know. What I do know is that we just beat Jasper and got a member of the original Crystal Gems on our side." she said, gesturing toward the rainbow colored gem still cradled in Pearl's hand. "So, can you at least try to calm down and enjoy this win."

Pearl's shoulders tensed and for a moment Amethyst believed that she would get yelled— or worse— lectured at by the taller gem, but the tension in Pearl's shoulders soon evaporated. Her eyes softened, losing their wide and frenzied look.

Pearl sighed. "I suppose there's nothing wrong with enjoying our victory—"

"Yeah, we totally kicked Jasper's butt!"

"—even, if we have other issues to worry about. We can worry about them later."

Just then, one of the gemstone's from Pearl's hand floated and twirled in the air like a star in the night sky. The white blob shimmered and changed a few times before taking on the familiar form of Ruby. The red gem flailed in the air for a moment then fell face first into the watery floor of Pearl's room.

She scrambled to get up, losing her balance a few times as she slipped in the pool of shallow water. "Sapphire!" she shouted, reaching a hand out to a gem that wasn't there.

"Everything is fine, Ruby." Pearl reassured, the panicked gem.

"Yeah and Sapphire is completely safe." Amethyst added.

Ruby blinked, finally registering her surroundings. "What happened?" she asked while looking around the room, then in a much more frantic voice, "Where's Jasper?!"

"Jasper is… no longer a threat." Pearl said, choosing her words carefully.

Amethyst nodded. "She's kind of on our side now. Twoie beat her to a pulp and she basically worships him now."

Pearl sent her an annoyed look. "Amethyst!"

"What?" she said. "It's the truth, isn't it?"

"We were supposed to ease her into the news." Pearl replied before turning to address Ruby. "But, yes everything that Amethyst said is true. Jasper now believes that Twoie is Pink Diamond and has pledged her loyalty to him."

To Amethyst's relief, Ruby seemed to be taking the news really well, looking more confused than distressed which was a good thing because Amethyst didn't know if she could stand to watch another gem freak out about Pink Diamond.

"So… we won?" Ruby said after taking a moment to digest the information.

"Well, we still have other issue that need addressing like th—"

"We won." Amethyst said, cutting Pearl off before she worked herself up again.

"Yeah! Take that Homeworld!" Ruby exclaimed, her chest puffed out in pride. Her expression quickly turned serious as she looked around. "Where's Sapphire?"

Pearl gave Ruby the blue gemstone that was in her hand. "She's still in her gem."

Ruby started to cry. It was sudden and unprompted. At first Amethyst thought that Ruby was just worried about Sapphire, but after carefully listening to her muffled words she was able to figure out the real reason for the red gems' distress— she missed Sapphire.

"I told her that I wanted to be on my own, that I didn't want to be Garnet. What if she never wants to be Garnet again?" she cried.

"I'm sure that won't happen, right Pearl?" Amethyst asked, looking to the taller gem for support. She groaned when she noticed Pearl's shiny eyes. She forgot how emotional Pearl could be at times.

Pearl sniffled. "Y-yes, I'm sure that everything will turn out fine. It has to. If it doesn't then… there would be no more Garnet. And... what on Earth would we do without Garnet?"

Ruby had started crying again, Peals words only making her tears fall faster.

"Hey, Pearl." Amethyst said. "I have a great idea. Why don't you go check on Twoie while I stay here with Ruby and the others."

Pearl nodded wordlessly as she handed the remaining gemstone to her before heading towards the exit. Amethyst breathed a sigh of relief, glad that there was a least one less crying gem she had to deal with.

She turned and stared at the still weeping Ruby. All she had to do was cheer her up. How hard could it be?


The door to the temple shone behind Pearl as she exited her room. A high-pitched shriek pulled her attention to the living room.

"Jasper, stop!" shouted a familiar voice that Pearl recognized as belonging to Twoie.

If Pearl had a heart it would have stopped beating then and there. She watched in horror as Steven was thrown into the air by Jasper, narrowly avoiding crashing into the ceiling beams. Jasper looked on with a sinister grin plastered on her face.

"Steven!" she shouted, pulling her spear out of her gem. Steven landed in the arms of the soldier gem. "Unhand him!" She charged at Jasper, screeching to a complete stop as she ran into Twoie.

"It's okay, Pearl." he said. "Everything is fine."

She sputtered. "Fine?!" she shrieked, attempting to push past him. "How can you say that when Jasper is…" She trailed off as she got a better look at the situation.

She nearly poofed at the sight of Steven laughing while in the arms of Jasper. To make matters even more confusing Jasper was actually smiling back at Steven.

"Wow, you really are strong!" Steven said. "Throw me again!"

"Steven." Twoie said pinching the bridge of his nose, his voice was tired and Pearl got the impression that this wasn't the first time this had happened. "Jasper, sto—"

The sound of Steven giggling as he was launched into the air cut off Twoie's protests. Pearl looked to Twoie for an explanation to the madness that she was witnessing.

"Steven and Jasper met." he sighed. "It went well."

"Hey, Pearl." Steven greeted once he was back in the arms of Jasper. "Have you met Jasper?

Her voice failed her so she simply nodded in response.

"Isn't she great?" he asked, then not waiting for an answer turned to address the orange gem. "Can you throw me again?"

"As you wish, my Diamond." Jasper said before using her strength to hurl the child into the air.

Pearl felt around for a chair to collapse onto and, when she failed to find one, leaned on Twoie instead.

"Are you okay?" Twoie asked her.

She said nothing, but nodded into his shoulder. This was going to take a while to get used to.