Armed with nothing but a waffle iron and determination, Greg slunk around the sandy shore surrounding the beach house. He made sure to stick close to the walls of the cliff, distancing himself as much as possible from the alien warship that loomed over the shore. His legs trembled more than he would have liked, but Greg pressed onward. He was going to save his son.

Greg had gone into panic mode the moment he woke up and realized Steven was missing. His hair had nearly fallen out when he read the note left behind by his son stating that Steven had gone back to fight against the gems who invaded Beach City. He wasted no time, hopped into his van, and headed back to Beach City with his heart pounding the entire drive there.

Now, as he approached the beach house Greg couldn't suppress the slight tremors of fear that racked his body at the thought of having to face off against gem soldiers. His grip on the waffle iron tightened as the house came into view.

"Mr. Universe?"

He shrieked and widely swung his makeshift weapon in the air. "Stay back!" he warned. "I've got a waffle iron!"

"Are you okay?" a concerned voice from behind him asked.

He whipped around ready to fight a horde of ancient gem warriors only to be greeted by the sight of a young girl. She had long black hair, glasses framing her eyes, and a face he recognized.

"Connie?"

Connie nodded but didn't approach, warily eyeing the kitchen appliance in his hand. "I came to check on Steven." she explained. "Is he alright?" her concerned gaze darted to the green handship.

"Steven is…" he began, but stopped. What was he supposed to tell her? That her friend was fighting a bunch of dangerous aliens and he was quite possibly injured? That Greg wasn't even sure if Steven was here or on some far off alien planet? No, that would only worry her. "Steven is… fine. You should probably go home where it's safe." he said. "Not that it isn't safe here!" he quickly added, a nervous laugh escaping him.

Connie's lips stretched into a thin line. "You're lying." she accused. "Steven left me a message saying something about a giant space hand and that he might… be in danger."

Before Greg could even attempt to come up with a lie he was yanked off the ground. He let out a cry of surprise as he, along with Connie were suspended in the air by chains made of water. His waffle iron fell uselessly onto the sand as he struggled to free himself.

"Lapis?!" Connie yelled."What is she doing here?"

Greg followed her gaze, eyes widening at the sight of the blue gem who had stolen all of earth's oceans not that long ago. She sat on the roof of the beach house, an almost bored expression on her face as she pulled them closer.

"Sorry," she said in a voice indicating that she wasn't really sorry. "But no one's allowed near the hand ship."

"I just want to see my son!" Greg told the apathetic gem.

"We weren't trying to go on the ship." Connie said. "We just want to make sure Steven is okay."

Lapis raised an eyebrow at the mention of Steven's name. "You know Steven?" she asked.

"Of course we do." Connie said. "Don't you remember us?"

Lapis gave her a blank stare.

"You almost drowned me when you stole all of the world's water?"

"I almost drowned a lot of people." Lapis said.

"Lapis!" a familiar voice called.

Greg turned his gaze to the sound of the voice, his shoulders sagging in relief at the sight of Steven, unharmed and standing in front of the door to the beach house. Greg let out another yelp of surprise as Lapis flew down from the roof, pulling him and Connie along with her.

"Steven," Lapis greeted, her voice much warmer than it had been just a few moments earlier. "I was just stopping some humans from messing with the ship."

Steven paled somewhat when his gaze landed on them, but he kept a smile on his face. "Oh, thank you." he said, awkwardly. "But can you please put my dad and Connie down."

Greg fell onto the wooden deck in front of the house immediately after Steven's request. He let out a groan of pain when Connie landed on top of him, his body breaking her fall. Connie instantly got up and moved away from him, profusely apologizing for hurting him.

Greg rubbed at his aching back. "Don't worry about it Connie. I'm alright." he said, hiding the pain in his voice. "How about you? Are you hurt?" he asked.

Connie nodded. "I'm fine, Mr. Universe." she dusted off her clothes. "Just a little shake up is all."

Steven struggled to explain what a dad was to a confused Lapis. The conversation ended with Steven gently explaining to Lapis why she couldn't trap humans against their will before she flew up onto the roof again. Lapis did mutter a short apology to them before leaving although Greg suspected she only did so for Steven's sake.

"Sorry about that." Steven said. "Twoie doesn't want anyone using the ship."

Greg's eyes darted over to the imposing green ship, his previous anxieties of alien warriors resurfacing.

"Is everything… okay?" he asked. Did they win? Should he be worried? Judging by Steven's chipper attitude Greg wanted to assume that everything had gone well, but he wouldn't believe it until he heard it from Steven.

Steven nodded, a large smile stretching across his face. "Yeah! Everything's great." he gasped as if he just remembered something. His eyes twinkled with excitement. "You guys have to meet the new gems."

"New gems?" Connie asked. "Do you mean Lapis?"

"C'mon!" Steven grabbed both their hands and started tugging them toward the beach house. "Pearl and the others and talking to Bismuth, but you can still meet Jasper and Peridot."


Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond.

Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond.

Rose Quartz was Pink Diam—

"Bismuth?" Pearl's concerned voice pulled her back to reality.

She looked up to see three identical faces of concern. The news that the rest of the Crystal Gems had been corrupted had made her furious, especially when she caught sight of the gemstones of her closest friends suspended in the air. Her anger was suppressed by the even more shocking news that Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond.

The rainbow-haired gem stood up and calmly made her way over to the small pool of lava in the center of the room. She kneeled down in front of the lava, staring at the bubbling red liquid for a moment before dunking her entire head in and screaming.

Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond! It all made sense now. How had she not realized it sooner? Rose had been far stronger than any typical Quartz soldier and she alone had the power to heal cracked gems. Of course she was a Diamond. Bismuth let out one last shout into the depths of the lava before pulling her head out.

"Are you… okay?" Pearl asked, her voice tinged with anxiety.

She let out a tired sigh as she submerged her legs in lava, the warm liquid soothing her nerves. "I will be," she answered honestly. A small chuckle escaped her. Rose's reaction to the Breaking Point suddenly made a lot more sense.

"What matters now is that we're all together again." Garnet said.

Bismuth nodded in agreement. "Rose was shattered so it's not like it even matters anymore."

The three gems exchanged confused glances.

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Amethyst said. "Rose wasn't shattered."

"What do you mean?" She asked. "Twoie told me Rose was gone."

"Rose is gone," Garnet said. "but she wasn't shattered. She gave up her physical form in order to have a human child in the form of Steven."

"Yeah and since Twoie is from the future they both have her gem." Amethyst added.

Bismuth tensed at the news.

Pearl placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's not always easy to understand Rose's choices... But we have to stand behind them."

Bismuth remained silent.


Connie Maheswaran had always wanted to meet aliens. When she was a child she imagined them as super intelligent beings, capable of near magical feats due to their advanced technology. She thought they would be cool, calculating, and articulate. She certainly hadn't expected them to be this… childish.

Jasper, the imposing gem that towered over her, was the first gem that Steven had wanted to introduce her to. Connie's first impression was that Jasper was a staunch and relentless warrior, but that was massively undercut by the bits of pancake and syrup that stained her otherwise intimidating face.

Jasper was slumped over in a chair, her distraught face resting on the kitchen island. According to Steven, Amethyst had challenged Jasper to an eating competition and Jasper had immediately accepted without even knowing how to eat. Amethyst had, of course, won and Jasper had been sulking ever since.

It was an odd sight for sure, seeing someone nearly four times her size being so… pouty. Jasper sullen demeanor did, at the very least, make her more approachable. Connie only hesitated slightly when Steven tugged her over to the large gem.

"It's okay, Jasper." Steven consoled as he patted Jasper's back in a comforting way. "I'm not disappointed in you. I don't think I've ever seen anyone eat more than Amethyst."

Jasper's forlorn expression lifted slightly at his words, her posture straightened when she caught sight Connie. Jasper narrowed her eyes at her and Connie suddenly wished Jasper was still sulking. Connie stiffened under her scrutinizing gaze and inched closer to Steven. Steven must have noticed because he perked up, happily looking between the two of them and seemingly oblivious to the sharp look that Jasper was sending her way.

Steven cleared his throat. "Jasper, this is my best friend Connie." He pulled her into a side hug. Connie's face warmed at the action but she didn't pull away. "Connie, this is Jasper. She's the one who came in the hand ship." he explained.

"Um, hello." Connie greeted nervously, sending a small wave in her direction. "It's nice to meet you."

Jasper merely grunted in reply, the suspicion in her eyes slowing leaving.

"She doesn't talk much." Steven explained. "But she's really nice once you get to know her."

Connie nodded wordlessly, but was glad when Steven pulled her into the living and away from Jasper. She could hear Mr. Universe and Twoie's quiet conversation in Steven's bedroom. From the concerned glances that Mr. Universe sent towards the new gems Connie could only assume they were discussing their safety. Steven sent them a small wave, causing some of the worry in Mr. Universe's face to leave.

The next gem she was introduced to was more in line with what Connie expected an alien to look like with her green skin and smaller size. She was considerably shorter than Jasper. Connie suspected that even she was taller than the green gem, though it was hard to tell given that she was seated on the couch.

"That's Peridot." Steven said. "She's—"

"What do you want pebble?" Peridot spat, her voice dripping with annoyance. "I already agreed to help construct the drill. What more do you want from me?"

Steven smiled, undeterred by her hostile demeanor. "I just wanted to introduce you to my friend. Her name is Conn—"

A loud thud interrupted Steven. Connie turned to the noise and gaped at the sight of an unconscious Twoie. His body was limp and unmoving in Mr. Universe's worried hold. His worried shouting caught the attention of Jasper who wasted no time and dashed over to the scene, Steven quickly following after her.

By the time Connie snapped out of her shock and raced up the stairs to Steven's bedroom Twoie was already standing up. His body was leaned against Jasper as he reassured everyone that he was fine, but Connie didn't believe him and judging by the grim expressions on everyone's face she wasn't alone.

Still, Twoie continued to brush off the incident. "I'm fine." he said, swaying a bit as he struggled to stand on his own. He turned toward them, a strained smile on his pale face. "Why don't you two go explore the ship?" he said gesturing toward the green space ship that was still parked in front of the house.

Connie opened her mouth to protest, but Twoie didn't give her the chance to respond. He turned to Jasper who was watching Twoie carefully.

"Jasper, can you give them a tour of the ship?" he asked, though it sounded more like an order.

Before Connie could process what was happening, she was already being carried off the ship along with a worried Steven.

"Make sure they stay safe and don't contact anyone from Homeworld." Twoie said right as they were leaving the house.


Greg was good at knowing when someone was lying to him and Twoie was definitely lying. His face was chalk white and his forehead was drenched in sweat, but he continued to insist that he was fine even going as far to send the children away so they wouldn't ask him any questions.

Greg forced him to take a seat on the bed.

"I'm fine, dad."

"You just collapsed!" He shouted, lowering his voice when he noticed Twoie wincing and clutching at his head. "You're not fine. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Twoie didn't respond. His eyes were glued to the wooden floor.

Greg frowned. Steven was never this stubborn when it came to asking for help. Greg supposed it was just another difference that he had to get used to.

"Should I get one of the gems?" he asked, thinking Twoie would be more comfortable speaking to them about his problems.

"No!" Twoie said a bit too loudly. "No, don't get the gems. I'll only cause them worry again."

"Again?" Greg repeated. "Has this happened before?"

Twoie's silence was the only answer he needed before he made up his mind. Greg stood from the bed and marched over to the temple door, ignoring Twoie's weak protests. If this was gem related then the gems might know how to help.

He pulled back his fist and knocked on the temple door. "Pearl? Amethyst? Garnet?" he called, hoping one the gems would hear him and appear. He had no way of entering the temple otherwise and he doubted Twoie would help him.

He knocked a few more times, stopping when a weak hand held back his fist. Twoie had followed him and was now trying to tug him away from the temple door. He wasn't having much success, all of Twoie's strength seemed to have left him and he only succeeded at feebly gripping at Greg's shirt.

"Don't tell the ge—"

The door the temple shone brightly. Greg stepped backwards, pulling Twoie along with him as Pearl appeared in front of the door.

Twoie wiped the sweat from his brow and plastered on a fake grin. "Pearl! Hey!" he greeted, nervously. "So, How's Bismuth?"

Pearl quirked an eyebrow at his odd behavior. "Is everything alright?" she asked. "Why was Greg knocking on the door?"

"It's Twoie." Greg began, sending the teen a stern look when he opened his mouth to interrupt him. Twoie crossed his arms and looked away. "He collapsed and—"

"Again?" Pearl asked, worry lacing her tone. She approached Twoie and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. "You're burning up." she noted.

Twoie sighed. "I'm fin—"

"You're not fine." Greg and Pearl said in unison.

Greg guided Twoie over the couch, ignoring the angry grumbles of Peridot as she moved to the other end of the couch. Thankful, Twoie was too tired to resist and only half heartedly protested.

"You're fainting spells are only getting worse." Pearl said. "Have you been eating and sleeping?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I don't think that has anything to do with it." Twoie said. He rubbed at his temples. "I think I'm just a little stressed."

"Maybe…" Pearl hesitated. "I think we should send you back to your time."

"What?!" Twoie exclaimed. "But we still have to take care of the cluster and after that I need to figure out how to deal with the Dia—"

"I appreciate you trying to help," Pearl said. "but you've been pushing yourself too hard. You've already helped us a lot with Jasper and Peridot. I'm sure we can handle whatever the future throws at us."

"Pearl's right." Greg said. "You shouldn't stay just because you feel obligated to help."

"But the artifact that brought me here is broken." Twoie said.

"That's true and I was struggling to fix it on my own, but…" Peridot glanced at a grumpy Peridot. "We do know someone else who may be able to help."

Greg wished he could help, but realized he was way out of his depth. He barely knew how to repair his van so he doubted he would be of any use when it came to repairing something as complicated as a time machine.

He gave Twoie's shoulder a reassuring squeeze before standing to leave. "I'll let everyone one know that it's safe to come back to Beach City." he said. "I'll be by the carwash if you need me."

Twoie nodded. "Don't worry about me dad. I'll be fine."


Pearl handed the artifact over to a reluctant Peridot who immediately raised an eyebrow as she turned the object over in her hand. Her lips pressed themselves into a thin line and the displeasure on her face only grew the longer she stared at the artifact. Twoie's heartbeat picked up slightly as he waited for Peridot to say something. It wasn't like Peridot to be so quiet.

Peridot's gaze briefly flickered over to him before returning to the time artifact.

It was Pearl who broke the silence, some impatience leaking into her tone. "Are you able to repair it?" she asked.

Peridot's eyes darted over to him again, quickly returning to the artifact before they could make eye contact. "It's extremely old," Peridot began. "Even by Era 1 standards. That being said, I should be able to repair it fairly quickly provided I make some minor adjustments to modernize its antiquated hardware, but…" Peridot paused, nervous energy rolled off of her in waves.

"But?" Twoie pressed, ignoring the knot of worry in his stomach. Peridot never hesitated when it came to technology.

"Well…" Peridot said. "We should hurry if… I should be able to get it functioning within a week if construction on the drill is put out on hold."

"Put construction of the drill on hold?" Pearl said, her tone suggesting she wasn't particularly fond of that idea.

"The artifact can wait." Twoie said. "We should focus on the cluster first."

Peridot gnawed on her bottom lip, a conflicted expression plastered on her face. "If we wait any longer then it may be too late."

"Too late?" Pearl repeated, her eyes narrowing slightly. "For what?"

Peridot's eyes widened ever so slightly before returning to normal. "You don't know." She said.

Twoie frowned. "Don't know what?"

"Tell me, have you made any… significant changes to the past?" Peridot asked, ignoring his question.

Twoie bit on the inside of his cheek. Peridot's mere presence could be considered a significant change. She should be hiding out on earth and trying to contact Homeworld not helping them with the cluster. That wasn't supposed to happen for months. Plus, there was Jasper, Lapis, and Bismuth who all joined the Crystal Gems at later dates. Heck, the Jasper in his time was still as grumpy as ever, only really leaving her base in the woods to go collect more rocks to train with.

"Yeah, I guess I have made some changes." he said. "Is that… bad?"

"The Pyramids of Observation-" she gestured to the artifact in her hand. "-was never intended to alter the past. It was originally created for elite gems to view significant events in gem history, but the project was abandoned due to certain… issues."

Twoie recalled how strange the ruins he found the artifact in were. Random objects would appear and disappear seemingly at random. The layout of ruins itself was constantly changing making it difficult to locate the artifact. However, none of this explained Peridot's nervous behavior.

She went on and on about the history of the artifact, spouting excerpts from old log dates she had read up on and generally avoided the topic of the 'issues' that the artifact seemed to have. While this wasn't the Peridot that Twoie was familiar with, she still had the same nervous habits and obvious tells that let him know she was hiding something.

Peridot continued, "The users of the artifact who stayed in the past for extended periods of time would experience immense pain, flashes of heat, and spontaneous dissipation of their physical forms. These side effects were usually the result of gems unintentionally altering the past."

Oh. That would certainly explain the bouts of pain and disorientation that were becoming more frequent. Thankfully, he was half human so he couldn't poof but he could still feel pain.

Pearl placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're fainting spells must be the result of the artifact."

"But I should be fine once I return to my time, right?" he asked.

Peridot was silent for a moment. "Maybe," she said. "But you have already made changes to the past. You're a time anomaly who, if the changes you've made are drastic enough, comes from a future that may not exist any more. The pain you've been experiencing is likely the result of the timeline attempting to… erase you from existence."

Beside him, Pearl gasped. "What do you mean 'erase from existence'?! Why didn't you say anything sooner?!"

"I thought you knew! One of the fusion's components is a Sapphire. Surely, she must have noticed the instability of the future…."

The duo continued to argue but Twoie had stopped listening. He was still reeling from Peridot's earlier words. His entire existence was going to be erased. He was going to die.


The night sky was adorned with beautiful stars, each of which twinkled and shone brightly. The sea of stars above her were too numerous to count, but Spinel tried to anyway. It gave her something to do while she waited. She was very good at waiting.

She turned her gaze downward to a patch of dried grass near her feet, frowning at its brown and lifeless appearance. She used to admire the vibrant flowers that surrounded her, but they had not bloomed for hundreds of years. Hopefully, that too would change when Pink returned.

Pink…

Spinel missed Pink. It had been so long since they last played together and if she were being completely honest with herself Spinel was getting tired of waiting, but she didn't dare move. She had promised Pink she would not move.

Here in the garden

Let's play a game

I'll show you how it's done

Here in the garden

Stand very still

What kind of best friend would she be if she broke her promise? No, Spinel would most definitely not break her promise. Pink would return any moment now and they would go back to playing games in the garden just like they used to. She just needed to be patient.

The familiar chime of a warp pad activating pierced the silence of the garden, but Spinel's gaze remained fixed on the ground as she busied herself with counting blades of grass. She thought she had heard the warp pad activate many times before only to be met with disappointment when she looked up and found nothing.

Still, she couldn't stop the wave of hope that washed over her at the noise. She longed to hear Pink's warm voice as she announced her return. She longed to hear anything other than the deafening silence that she'd been listening to for the past 6,000 years.

The faint sound of footsteps caused her to stop counting. Her eyes remained glued to the ground. The footsteps were getting closer, rising in volume in tandem with her hope. She forced her gaze upward and was disappointed by the sight of a human.

Despite her discontentment at the human not being Pink, Spinel was somewhat happy at the human's presence. It meant, at the very least, that the warp pad was still functional and that Pink would have no trouble returning to her.

The human stopped once he reached her and stared. Spinel stared back.

The smile he gave her was shaky and strained like the slightest breeze would cause it to crumble. He opened his mouth before abruptly closing it a moment later. This continued for a while as the human struggled to find the words to say.

When he finally did speak his voice was soft and gentle. "Spinel…"

She tilted her head in response.

"I… I'm sorry." he said. "I should have come sooner, but I… I'm sorry."

She merely blinked in response. Had this human confused her for another Spinel? No, that couldn't be right. She was made especially for Pink Diamond. There was no way anyone, not even a human, could mistake her for an ordinary Spinel.

He extended his arm out and offered her his hand. "C'mon, let's get you out of here."

"I can't leave." she said, surprising herself by speaking. When was the last time she had heard the sound of her own voice?

His already weak smile came crashing down at her words. Something flitted across the surface of his brown eyes, an emotion that Spinel failed to recognize.

"Yes, you can," he insisted.

She shook her head in disagreement. "I promised Pink I would stay until she came back."

His fists shook at his sides and his jaw clenched. Had she angered him by rejecting his offer? No, his eyes were too shiny and lacked any malice.

"She's not coming back, Spinel." he said after a beat of silence.

"She will." she immediately replied. Pink would never forget about her, they were best friends. "She promised."

He made a noise that was half way between a scoff and a laugh. "Yeah, well, she was a liar."

She didn't respond. Clearly, this human had no idea what he was talking about. He'd probably never even seen Pink, let alone talked to her because if he did then he wouldn't be calling her a liar. Pink would never break her promise.

The human sighed. "She's gone, Spinel. She is gone and she's never coming back."

Her eyes widened, body trembling as his words sent her reeling. "No," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "You're lying. Pink isn't… She would never…"

"I'm sorry."

She squeezed her eyes shut, memories of her time spent with Pink flashing before her. "She promised she would come back." She could almost hear Pink's melodic laughter. She opened her eyes, blinking away tears that threatened to fall. "She has to come back."

"You don't have to wait here anymore." he offered her his hand again. "You deserve a better friend."

She shook her head. "I already have a friend." she said. "She'll be here soon, very soon. I can feel it."

His hand fell back to his side. He was silent for a moment, his glistening eyes were contemplative. "Do you mind if I wait here with you?" he asked.

Did she mind? No, she didn't. The thought of having company after so many years of being alone was… nice.

"Okay." she said. "You can stay."

He flashed her a grin and for the first time in centuries, Spinel could feel her lips quirk up into a ghost of a smile.


A/N: I decided to post more short chapters instead two really long ones. I also wasn't planning on adding Spinel in this story, but I decided to do so in the end.