"OPEN. THE. DOOR!" Jasper yelled.

"No! I'll never talk to you!" Pearl cried. "Never!"

Jasper gave a growl, "What is the Cluster?! We need to stop it!"

"You… can't." Pearl sighed. "That's all I'm telling you."

"Listen up clod, what do you want?" Peridot asked, leaning on the door. Pearl was silent and Peridot smirked at the gems. "See? She's thinking it over! Bribery always works."

"I want my swords back, now." Pearl answered. "Then I might tell you more."

They glanced at Lapis who gave a weak sigh. "I'm pretty sure they aren't in the water anymore, I can't feel them. They probably washed up on a beach somewhere."

"You threw my swords into the ocean?!"

Peridot gave a strained, "Maybe?"

They heard Pearl give a scream of rage.

"Thank you for the privacy, Pearl." Connie said, as she slipped out of the bathroom. She blushed at the Temps. "Sorry if I interrupted your interrogation, guys"

"Oh, that's just fine, kiddo." Jasper smiled softly.

Peridot gave a grunt. "The Pearl must crack soon!"

"I never will, you…. you CRYSTAL TWERPS!" Pearl yelled from the bathroom, evilly laughing.

"YOU'RE THE TWERP, YOU LITTLE-!" Peridot yelled before Lapis grabbed her arm.

"Whoa, chill. If she won't talk, we'll have to search for this thing on our own." Lapis said. Peridot gave a grumble, admitting Lapis' resolve.

They walked to the warp pad but Connie chased after them. "Wait! Aren't I coming?"

"Eh, we need you to stay here and guard our prisoner, ok?" Jasper said.

"Really?!" Connie gasped in surprise.

Lapis glanced at Jasper and then at Connie. "What if Pearl tries to kidnap her again? Or worse, hurts her?"

"Lazuli, you worry far too much!" Peridot smirked. "The Homeworld warp is down and she is harmless without her swords."

"I'm not harmless!" They heard Pearl call from the bathroom.

"Hey! SHUT UP!" Jasper yelled. She glanced back to Connie with a grim expression. "Kid, I've got something you need to know before I leave."

"What is it?" Connie asked, a bit frightened.

"You need to know this, it's very important." Jasper whispered softly and sharply. She then formed a heart close to her chest. "I love you!"

Connie giggled and Jasper waved goodbye as Lapis blushed and Peri had a tiny smile.

Later, Connie was making vegetable soup. It was raining very hard and she glanced at the bathroom door. "Are you okay in there? You haven't spoken in a while."

There was only silence.

"Pearl?" Connie called, turning away from the soup and to the door. She walked over to the door and was abou to knock when a huge crash of thunder filled the house. She heard Pearl give a sob of fear and opened the door to see the gem clenching her knees to her chest.

"Pearl?" Connie whispered. Pearl gave a small gasp and wiped away her tears.

"Are we… dead?" Pearl asked. "Has the Cluster emerged?"

Connie gave a small life, "Oh! That isn't the Cluster, that's just thunder. That happens when it rains, kinda scares you a bit, hm?"

Pearl blushed and shook her head. "It didn't scare me! Ha! As if… silly…. ra-in."

"You've never heard about rain before?" Connie asked surprised.

"I'm afraid I haven't." Pearl said softly.

Connie glanced out the window at the rain. "Well… the bookstore would be closed at a time like this, so I guess I'll go with a simpler route." She motioned for Pearl to follow her to the soup. "Okay… So pretend that this soup is the ocean. When the sun, or in this case, the flame, heats it up, the water or soup evaporates into clouds, like the steam, and when they get heavy, it rains."

Pearl looked scepticel. "So, burning liquid comes down from the sky?"

"Huh? Oh! No!" Connie laughed. "It's just water! Come on, I'll show you." She switched off the stove and ran to the door. Opening it, she ran out and twirled in the rain, to show it was harmless.

"See? It's so much fun!" Connie laughed. Pearl stood in the doorway hesitantly and Connie offered her hand. "I promise you're safe!"

Pearl reached out her hand and flinched when the first drop fell on her. She tried again and slowly stepped out into the rain.

"Yeah! Isn't this amazing? It's really beautiful when you think about it!" Connie grinned.

Pearl glanced down at her wet pink dress and soggy slippers. "... It truly is."

Connie soon was back in the house and wrung out her hair before using a towel. "I told you you were safe. I haven't played in the rain in a long time."

Pearl was silent, still feeling how wet her outfit had become. She then spoke: "Yellow Diamond?"

Connie glanced up. "You can call me Connie, like you did before."

"Connie, thank you." Pearl forced out.

Connie smiled. "For… what?"

"For explaining rain to me." Pearl said with a small smile.

"Of course! My job is to make you feel safe." Connie giggled.

Pearl smiled wider and said suddenly: "Oh! This is perfect! You are… quite knowledgeable in Earth, aren't you?"

"I'd like to think so." Connie answered slowly.

"Very useful to me. Very useful indeed…" Pearl murmured. "Connie, I'm about to share some information with you."

"Oh, I already know you like to use my toothbrush." Connie answered with a blush.

"No!" Pearl cried with a teal blush. "I… Well, yes. But this is about the Cluster."

"You're telling me about the Cluster?" Connie asked happily.

"Yes, I just said I was." Pearl answered, rolling her eyes. "Now then-"

"We need to tell the Temps!"

"No! I refuse! Your servants are far less powerful than you, Connie, they couldn't help us! You are all I need." Pearl said, gripping the girl's shoulders.

"Is this another attempt to kidnap me?" Connie asked, suspicious.

Pearl gave a sigh. "No! I wish it was, but I know for a fact that there is no way of the Earth. As I was saying before you rudely interupted, some of my logs that I have been recording are backed up in the Facet Five of the prime Kindergarten."

"The Kindergarten?" Connie whispered.

"Yes! In my logs is valuable information about the Cluster." Pearl answered.

"I… guess we can go." Connie murmured.

"Ha, ha!" Pearl cried punching the air.

"But," Connie countied.

Pearl gave a confused sound, glancing back.

"You need to hold my hand the whole time." Connie said firmly.

"Your… hand?" Pearl choked, glancing down at the girl's hand.

"I promise my destabilizing powers are done for a while." Connie said, offering her hand.

The two warped into the Kindergarden and took it all in.

"Well, here we are." Connie exclaimed.

Pearl nodded. "Then let's go! There's no time to waste!"

Connie peered over the edge and stopped Pearl before she could walk right off. Pearl sighed in annoyance and grabbed Connie, putting the girl on her back, tying her on with the pink ribbons of her dress. "This is the only time." She growled. Connie was about to ask what she meant but Pearl gracefully leapt off the cliff like a ballerina and landed with her legs crossed and arms out. She untied Connie without a word.

"That was incredible!" Connie cried. "You're an amazing warrior Pearl!"

Pearl gave a small smile with a blush. "You think?"

"I know." Connie said. She walked ahead and Pearl waited until Connie was ahead to go after. Connie looked around and sighed. "This place gets worse everytime I come… Are the Kindergartens in Homeworld better?"

Pearl glanced at Connie and then at her pink slippers. "Surely, you don't want to hear me state my opinion…. or anything at all."

Connie froze and turned. "What? What would make you think that?"

"You're a diamond. You may not look like it now, but you are." Pearl said, softly. "No gem, especially not a diamond would care for a Pearl's opinion. I wouldn't think you'd forget that, you just disguised yourself."

"Disguised myself?" Connie whispered. "I'm not Yellow Diamond, my name's Connie, you know that. I'm her daughter."

"Her… daughter?" Pearl asked.

Connie smiled. "Like… a smaller, weaker version of your creator. I was made from my dad, a human, and my mother, Yellow Diamond."

"Oh." Pearl whispered. "So… you're a fusion of some sort? A human fusing with a gem is impossible-"

"You'd be surprised." Connie giggled. "I'm not a fusion, I'm a hybrid. I'm organic…"

"How?" Pearl asked.

Connie smiled. "Well…" She then thought of Rose Quartz, how Pearl was loyal to her no matter what. Telling her the story of how a unknown hybrid never before seen… might be dangerous. "Nevermind. It's nothing…. Are you sure this is safe? Last time I was here, fusion monsters attacked me."

Pearl frowned at Connie brushing away her question but answered. "Yes. That is to be expected. I came here to check on them."

"Can you… teach me more about them?"

Connie walked deep into the Kindergarten, listening to Pearl explain the Cluster: "When it became clear that the Earth was no longer a viable colony, Homeworld decided to use it for something else, a series of experiments. A gem geo-weapon."

Connie shivered a little. "Oh. I see. …. Did you help?"

"Me?!" Pearl started to laugh and when she saw Connie still wondering, she stopped. "Oh, you're serious.. A Pearl like myself is never to help in any projects, we are made to be servants, obeying our masters commands and doing nothing else."

"Oh! Is this it?" Connie asked suddenly. Pearl looked up to see the control room.

"Yes. It is." Pearl said. She walked up to a panel in the wall and sighed. "Oh. We don't have the Jasper with us, do we? Well, that's it! I can't open it and-"

"Try." Connie responded.

"W-what?" Pearl asked, turning to her.

Connie smiled and said again, "Try to open it. You're probably stronger than you think."

Pearl looked at the girl as if she had just spoken another language that she didn't quite understand. "... Well, alright…but I need my hand." Connie let go. Pearl turned, took a deep breath, and attempted to open the panel, pulling and straining and Connie soon helped her pull it off, flinging them both back.

Pearl walked up to the wires and adjusted them. The room lit up with teal and Connie saw a hand rise from the room. Pearl walked up and placed her hand on it. The screen suddenly filled with gem shards.

"These are the early experiments." Pearl explained as Connie slowly touched her own heart. "So many… broken gems…"

"I suppose it is rather morbid, but it's not me, so I'm not complaining…" Pearl sighed. "Homeworld was growing them here, they are merely tests though."

The screen lit up with a globe and a singular dot stood on the coast of North America.

"Merely tests for the monster made out of millions of gem shards: The Cluster." Pearl said.

Connie seemed mortified and tense. "Wait… are you telling me that there's a giant monster gem the size of the Earth under us right now?"

Pearl turned to the girl's distress and bent down to hold her shoulders. "Oh, Connie, don't worry. When it forms, it'll be much, much bigger than the Earth."

Connie tore away from her and her somehow cheery voice. "No…"

"Yes. Right now, it lies dormant, incubating in the Earth's core, but when it emerges and takes its physical form, it will, in theory, destroy the planet." Pearl said, her and Connie watch the Earth blow up on the screen.

Connie started, sweating.

"Since the prototypes are already emerging, The Cluster is next. And we must stop it." Pearl said, matter-of-factly. "I thought it was impossible, but now we have a chance…" The gem turned to the shaking girl.

"A… chance? What is it? Where can we find it?"

Connie asked.

Pearl gave a small chuckle. "You really are a bit dense sometimes…" She then smirked. "It's you!"

"W-What?!" Connie cried.

"Now then! Let's get started now that you're filled in!" Pearl smiled happily as they walked out.

Connie was walking after her and stopped, "Pearl, I can't help you with this…"

Pearl glanced back. "Huh? What do you mean? You know all about Earth, you're a diamond, and with my knolage and technolgy exspereince, we have a chance! Oh, we can do this! Togther! And then-"

"What? No!" Connie cried. "Just because I know how clouds work, and I am some giant woman's kid doesn't mean I know how, or even have the power to stop a giant mutant in the center of the earth! I only know about rain because my dad taught me."

"Ah, yes, the another human I assume?" Pearl asked.

"Yes. I used to be scared of thunder too, just like you. Only when my dad taught me how it worked, I wasn't afraid anymore." Connie exsplained, praying it got through.

"Ah… so what? You have other knolege of the Earth! And I've seen your powers!"Pearl insisted.

"Well, yes, but nothing that I know will help this, and I'm not really in control of my destabilizing. We need the Temps!"

"No! I'm not obeying them!" Pearl frowned.

Connie gave a moan. "You don't have to obey them, we just need their-"

They heard a sudden roar and they gasped.

M

"What was that?!" Pearl cried.

"Gem mutants!" Connie yelled. She grabbed Pearl and made a bubble around them as a monster attempted to attack them.

"What are you doing?!" Pearl moaned. "Where's your sword?!"

"Er, at home?" Connie said nervously.

"What? You didn't think to bring it?!" Pearl growled. Connie shook her head, "I did! I just didn't want you to have access to a sword!"

Pearl rolled her eyes. She grabbed Connie's hand and pulled her away. "We have to run then!"

Connie gave a gasp. "Not that way!"

They ran again. They kept trying to find a spot to hide when suddenly a monster slammed into them, pushing them into a wall. Connie gave a growl through gritted teeth in pain.

"Your powers! Use your destabilizing powers!" Pearl squawked.

"I can't! I told you, I don't control them!" Connie yelled over the monster.

"Don't worry kid! We're coming!" They suddenly heard. Connie gasped in surprise. "It's the Temps!"

A huge tidal wave went in and smashed all the corrupted gems. When they were gone, the Temps stood there, Lapis in front with her eyes shadowed until she saw Connie. They ran over and Connie looked at Pearl. "Pearl, you and I can't do this alone! We need the Temps, or we'll be in over our heads!"

"Connie! Connie, oh my stars!" Peridot cried, worried for the girl. She hugged her tightly and wouldn't let her go. Pearl walked up.

"Pearl?" Lapis asked.

Jasper turned to Connie with a frown. "I told you to watch her!"

Connie gave a sigh. "I know, and I'm-"

"She did what she was told!" Pearl interrupted. The gem glanced over at Connie, who was surprised she had covered for her. Pearl looked back at the Temps and sighed. "Alright, please, hear me out you twer- Grr- Crystal Temps, I've made up my mind! I have to tell you something about…. The Cluster."