"Peridot! We need to talk, NOW!"

Peridot yelled in surprise, falling out of the bar stool she was in before glancing up to see Connie towering above her. Something about the way the girl looked at her told her to be nervous.

"We all need to talk now." Jasper grunted and Connie realized she and Lapis were on the couch, they both looked upset for some reason. "Where have you been?! Peridot came to check on you hours ago and you were gone!"

Connie glanced out the window and saw the sun rising. She'd been out all night? "It doesn't matter, right now, I need to talk to Peri-!"

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?! We thought you'd been kidnapped by some Homeworld gems, or went off with Sadie into space and had gotten trapped there! Either idea was terrifying!" Lapis cried, surprising her into silence. "You really scared us, how could you run off like that without saying anything after… after…!"

Connie felt her own tears well up when she saw Lapis had to brush away her own. She definitely should've told them she was going out but that would've raised too many questions… She shouldn't be the one answering questions because her gem wasn't a shatterer like… "I-I'm sorry, I-I just…. I just have to talk to Peridot first and then I promise I'll… we'll exsplain everything!"

The other two quieted at seeing her face while Peridot felt her very projection shake. That face was beyond guilt, something else was going on…

"It's about mother… And it has to be alone."

Peridot and Connie sat together on the beach, the other two agreed to let them speak after seeing just how important it was to their daughter.

"Connie… What is this-?"

"Blue Diamond…. Peridot, did you shatter her?"

Peridot's eyes widened in shock and fear. She seemed lost in some kind of memory, no, millions of memories, as she stared into Connie's pleading eyes. "I…N-No… I…You don't understand…"

"I want to understand." Connie whispered, taking Peridot's hands in hers. "Please, please, you have to tell me what happened !"

"Tell… you?" Tears welled up in her eyes as she asked that broken question. She had wanted to tell her for the longest time, her getting taken had been the last straw and she'd decided then that she'd tell her but now that the time had come.

"Peri, are you okay…?" Connie asked softly, noticing the gem's hands were starting to tremble as the gem hyperventilated and tears came down her face. Her form started to glow and glitch then, making her release Peridot in shock. Was this… some gem form of a panic attack?! "W-Wait, no, I didn't want it to be like this!"

Peridot backed away as Connie tried to hold her as she always did when the girl was scared. She shook her head as her form began glitching to its previous ones rapidly. "I thought… I thought I could do this but… I… can't…! Get back, you'll hate me! …You'll hate me, you'll hate me, you'll hate me…!"

"Peridot, I could never hate you!" Connie cried as the gem started to loop the phrase over and over again. She grabbed for her arm. "Just please-!"

Peridot poofed the moment her fingers grazed her form, leaving only her gem there in front of her.

"Peridot…?" The girl whispered. She picked up the gem and cradled it close to her heart as her own tears began to hit it. "I'm so sorry… I just wanted to know the truth, I never wanted to hurt you for it…!"

Suddenly, the gem began to glow, making the girl glance down to it. "Peridot?!"

She was blinded by a green light.

Connie slowly opened her eyes to see a strange neon green plane that seemed to stretch on forever, the color being all she could see. The color alone made her want to throw up and the room twisting and churning didn't help. "Bleh… Wait, is this supposed to be inside Peridot's gem…?!"

"Supposed to be, it normally doesn't look this garish."

Connie gave a yelp in surprise, turning to see Peridot looking at her through a transparent screen that seemed to have dozens of files. She too seemed to be somewhat glitched.

The gem accepted the hug Connie gave her but then pushed her away. "You really shouldn't be here, Connie, it's quite dangerous in my gem now. Plus, it's my job to fix it."

"Dangerous? Was it cracked or something when I got sucked in?" Connie asked in confusion.

"No, the physical object is fine but due to my presenting self's little breakdown and the fact she's refusing to reform, well, the inside's an absolute mess."

Breakdown? Presenting self? Refusing to reform? Connie didn't have the words, just staring at the gem in confusion.

Peridot sighed before ruffling Connie's hair and turning her to the screen. "Here, watch this."

A little chibi figure of a blank gem appeared, looking incredibly anxious.

"When a gem feels a very, very strong emotion too much, their forms become incredibly vulnerable and unstable. It could be any emotion you could think of from fear to sadness to even excitement. And if the gem can't calm themselves in time…"

The gem suddenly poofed before clattering to the bottom of the screen. "Their form dissipates itself."

"Peridot was so upset and scared about me confronting her, she… she poofed herself…?" Connie whispered, placing a hand to her heart.

"I don't think it's that unbelievable, Connie." Peridot scoffed, going back to working on to stabilize herself. "But don't worry, I always manage to fix us in a timely matter, that's why I'm the top Peridot and the others are just… bleh."

"So… you aren't my Peridot?"

"We all are 'your' Peridot in some way but if you're referring to the one you interact with daily, I'm not. She's probably gotten lost again, she always does that when she gets poofed. This time, she's taken it a step further and not even told me when she wanted to reform. Even had the audacity to call me a clod…"

Connie thought for a moment and then gave a determined grunt. "Peridot inside Peridot's Peridot, can you help me find my Peridot? There's so much I have to learn from her, so much we have to talk about! But first, I gotta apologize for this mess!"

"It's incredibly dangerous, and if anything you should be apologizing to me since I'm the one cleaning up that mess." The Peridot grimaced. "… But I'll allow you to go looking for her, mainly so she'll get back to her senses and because I know you, you won't let this go…. Just be careful in there…"

Connie saw a door appear that looked like the temple entrance. She smiled back. "I will, thank you."

Connie found herself on the beach and frowned, turning around in confusion. "Hey, wait a second, did she just kick me out?! Peri-!"

She suddenly heard a soft sobbing and turned to see Peridot crying as she hid behind the fallen hand of the statue.

She wore an outfit that Connie recognized from the video her father had shown her when explaining how he tried to fuse with her mom.

"Wait, this isn't outside, it's the past…!" Connie relalized. She quickly sat down beside Peridot. "Peridot, I'm sorry."

"It's not you who should be sorry, it's that human!" Peridot sniffled, not even bothering to look up at her. "Yellow Diamond's going to have a baby because of him, a gross, disgusting human baby!"

"Ouch…." Was all Connie could say.

"I'm gonna lose myself when she's gone, I just know it…!"

"That's why I'm here, to get you back. Or, the other you." Connie told her, giving her a tight squeeze. "And I'm not gonna give up until I do."

The past gem nodded, leaning on her shoulder. "Thank you…. Maybe you should look in the memory we always get lost in."

Connie looked up to see a warp pad and nodded, running up to it. She warped away.

The gem battle was littered with broken gems and weapons and Connie found herself running to avoid look at them. "Peridot! Peridot, where are you?!"

She nearly passed her but then slid to a stop before jogging up.

Peridot looked into the sky with wide eyes, tears slipping down her face. "It's all over… W-We actually thought we won but… but… Homeworld, there was a bright light and they… Why did I do it…? Why did I do it?!"

The girl watched as she fell to her knees, hugging herself as she let out a wail of agony that struck straight through Connie's heart.

"Peridot…"

"She's back where this all started…"

Connie looked up to see the warp pad had silently appeared.

"Just go…"

Connie arrived just in time to see it happen.

Her mother swung and Blue Diamond's shards sprayed out onto the battlefield.

"… You did it…"

She turned to see Peridot standing there with a stoic face.

The yellow gem turned, tears coming down her face as she dropped the sword.

"You did it exactly as I planned. The execution was perfect…"

"Wait… you were the one who wanted Blue Diamond gone?!" Connie whispered in shock, backing away. "M-Mother was just some tool for you to use… to manipulate into… into…?!"

Peridot turned, her eyes shadowed. She suddenly lifted her hand and opened it, revealing…

"Mother…?"

Yellow Diamond's gem did indeed sit there in Peridot's palm.

"Then who…?!"

She stumbled back into Blue Diamond's palanquin then, into another memory.

"Is this really the only way?"

Connie turned to see her mother and Peridot standing together and then noticed two Pearls behind them, one yellow, one blue, their gems on their chest just like their Diamonds.

Peridot and the Pearls remained at a loss for words for a while until they suddenly heard a chilling voice.

"Yelllllow, where are you?"

The blue Pearl hid behind the yellow as Yellow Diamond drew her sword. "I have to do it, I can't let her remain a puppet forever! Unless I shatter Blue, she will never be released!"

Released? What did that mean?

"Or… you could just make it look like you shattered her."

They all, including Connie, turned to Peridot.

"If you poof her and hide her somewhere she can't reform, My Diamond, it should solve the problem without actually doing away with her."

Yellow Diamond nodded, following along while Connie was still trying to comprehend her meaning.

"And to ensure the believability, we'll have to stage a shattering." Peridot explained. She turned to the Pearls before handing some blue shards, most likely from the battle field, to the blue one. "Think you two can pull it off while we escape?"

They exchanged glances before nodding in unison.

"But, once we're done with it… What shall we do?" Blue Pearl softly asked. "We won't belong to anyone anymore…"

"You'll have to reinvent yourselves then. But, I believe you've already done that together." Peridot reminded them.

"We can do this, Bluebird." The Yellow Pearl assured her, taking her hand.

The blue Pearl nodded. "And after, we will be one…"

"Are you all sure?" Yellow Diamond asked suddenly, making her servants look up to her. "If we do this, there's no going back."

The three all nodded, it was clear their Diamond was for the plan.

The Diamond shape-shifted down to hug her Pearl then. "Thank you for everything, my Pearl…"

She then looked to the blue one and stepped up to her. "And thank you, as well. I know Blue has always appreciated your service, even if she'll never get to say it herself."

Yellow Diamond gave a sigh before summoning a blue forget-me-not and golden sunflower from her gem. She gently placed the flowers behind the respective Pearls' ears' before turning back to face the opening of the palanquin. "I'm ready."

"As am I, Yellow." They suddenly heard. She'd finally found them.

The curtains were flung back and Connie gasped in fright, seeing Blue Diamond towering above them. But she wasn't blue… she was… white…? That didn't make sense…

The Pearls ran out and Connie saw glowing from behind the curtains, the sign they'd shape-shifted in order to be in perfect synch with the poof.

"It's time to stop this silly rebellion, sunshine. You already got Blue to rebel with you, I can't have you turning Pink against me as well." The voice that came from Blue Diamond's was not her own, it was colder, more sinister. "Come, playtime's over."

"Only for you, White."

Connie heard her mother grow back to normal size behind her and then Yellow Diamond stabbed through her fellow Diamond, poofing her.

"… I'm sorry, Blue." Yellow Diamond whispered softly, placing the gem close to her own.

Her gem glowed and Blue Diamond was placed inside of it, where she'd remained ever since.

Yellow Diamond gave Peridot one last look before stabbing herself through so she could escape with them.

"Now that you know what truly happened…" She turned to see Peridot whose old form glitched away to reveal a new one, one with both a yellow and blue diamond as buttons that held the tight green and golden shirt in place over darker flowing pants. "…do you hate me?"

Connie gave a sob before shaking her head, glad to see the gem she'd been searching for the whole time.

"I'm… ready to reform then…"

At her request, the world around them faded away before they gently floated out of Peridot's gem.

They landed harshly on the beach before quickly standing up and embraced.

"Connie, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I kept it in for so long since… since…"

"Since the only way to not shatter Blue Diamond… to us all to keep safe from the one controlling her…" Connie placed a hand to her gem. "…was for her to stay hidden inside of my gem…"

"… W-What… are you talking about?"

They slowly turned to see Lapis and Jasper had come out at some point to check on them.

"… Oh clod…"