"We need to track down Peridot," Garnet said. "We found her pod. We know she's out there somewhere. She came to Earth with a job to do and odds are, she's still gonna try to do it. That's why I've gathered you here."
"I thought it was so you can help me fold all this laundry!" Steven said.
He and the Crystal Gems were gathered around of large pile of Steven's shirts, neatly folding and stacking them. Well, except for Amethyst, who was slacking off and reading.
"Well, it did need to get done," Disgust S said.
"The chore wheel fell apart fast," Disgust R added. "Pearl kind of took over all the options for jobs."
"Well, it's better if we do them together anyway," Joy S said.
"Emphasis on together," Anger S said.
"Right, Amethyst needs to do her part," Anger R added. "We just need to give her a little glare and… there we go." She smiled as Amethyst put down her book and started helping.
"This is a lot," Steven said. "I bet this folding would go faster if Ruby and Sapphire were here!"
"Well, he's not wrong," Fear S said.
"It's adorable how he wants to spend more time with Garnet's component Gems," Joy S said.
"Maybe," said Disgust S, "but that doesn't mean we're going to unfuse for this."
"Garnet, you don't think Peridot would come looking for us, do you?" Pearl asked.
"That's a possibility I hadn't considered," Fear R said. "Is it plausible?"
"No, we weren't her priority," Fear S said. She pulled up some of Garnet's memories. "She was sent here to do something in the Kindergarten…"
"You mean like reactivate it?"
"Perhaps."
"That wouldn't be good," Sadness S said. "If the injectors are turned back on, and energy is drained for Gem production, the entire planet will become…"
"Janked," Sadness R finished.
"Well, it's a good thing the Gems will be able to stop her!" Joy R announced, giving Garnet a supply of confidence.
"And there's no time like the present to do so," Joy S said; so Garnet stood up and went over to the warp pad, telling the others to follow.
"What about this laundry?" Disgust S asked.
"It can wait," Joy S said dismissively. "Garnet and the other three can do it when they get back."
"Garnet, are you sure we should bring Steven?" Pearl asked as the hybrid joined them. "This might be dangerous."
"Danger is a potential," Fear S said, "but Steven's gained a lot of experience these past months, often with bigger threats than this one."
"Right," Joy R said. "Peridot's got nothing we can't handle."
"It doesn't look like anything's been activated," Fear R noted.
Garnet, and the other Gems, had arrived at the Kindergarten. There was no sign of Peridot, or indeed, or any disturbance.
"True," Fear S said, "but just because Peridot hasn't been here yet doesn't mean she won come. We should do a thorough check of the perimeter so we can monitor any future entry."
"So," Disgust R asked while the Gems patrolled, "anything on the Future Vision?"
"You know it's not completely reliable," Fear S said, turning it on. "It would only come in handy if Peridot showed up while we were here," she said, as the screen indicated that Peridot was nearby both physically and temporally, "or if she were… already… oh dear."
"She is here!" Anger S yelled, jumping up. "Let's get her!"
A pursuit ensued, but despite the Gems' best efforts, Peridot still managed to elude them. "Crystal Clods!" she shouted as she ran away. "Go ahead, wreck this place! See if I care! I already got what I needed!"
"Why that—" Anger R began to fume, but Fear S cut her off.
"Let her go; she's not that big a threat," she said. "She's just a technician; she can't do anything without Homeworld's technology."
"So what was she here to do?" Sadness R asked. "Reactive the Kindergarten?"
Fear S shook her head. "If that were it, the injectors would be on," she stated. "Her mission was something else.
"Then let's find out what it was!" Joy R exclaimed.
"Should we bring the others?" Joy S asked.
Disgust S dismissed this. "Nah; let them capture her if they can. But we won't need them."
"Right," said Fear S. "Garnet can handle whatever she finds."
"Better grab Steven, though," Sadness S said.
So Garnet grabbed him and explained her line of reasoning and lifting up some debris to reveal a passage leading underground.
"Oh!" Steven said. "You're brains and brawn! The whole package!" He gave her a high-five.
Joy R smiled and leaned back. "Yep, Garnet's a pretty great gal."
"Is it 'cause you're a fusion?"
"Well, Ruby and Sapphire weren't weak per se," Sadness R began.
"Right," Sadness S continued. "It's just that when two gems combine, they add up to something greater than the sum of their parts. Should we explain that?"
"Eh, let's just tease him a little," Disgust S said with a wicked grin. "Garnet has to keep some of her secrets, after all."
As they descended into the depths of the Kindergarten, Steven continued pressing Garnet. "Is the strong part of you Ruby and the wise part of you Sapphire?"
"I've got a feeling I should take offense to that," Anger R said.
"He's just being curious," Sadness S said. "But I do feel we should explain that a fusion results in something more than just their components' traits added together."
"Like I said; Garnet's a pretty great gal," said Joy R.
Steven was going to ask another question, but cut himself off as they entered the chamber below. "I don't know how," he said, "But this place is even creepier than the last time we were here."
"He's right," Fear R said. "There's something strange going on here. We should keep on our toes."
The two investigated what appeared to be cylindrical capsules pulled out from the wall. As Garnet approached one, it began to rattle.
"Is there… something in there?" Steven asked uncertainly.
"Definitely need to keep on our toes," Fear R said.
"Well, whatever's in there, it can't be that bad, right?" Joy R said.
Something dropped behind them from the ceiling; Garnet picked it up and examined it. It appeared to be a blue hand and a red foot grafted together. It was wriggling.
"Well, that's… disconcerting," Disgust R said.
Other, similar pairings of limbs began dropping down. Steven wondered out loud what they were, right before the one Garnet was holding got loose and grabbed hold of him.
"We'd better take care of that," Fear S said.
So Garnet punched the unknown entity, poofing it and leaving behind a curious object.
"It looks like two gem shards stuck together," Steven observed.
"Gack!" Disgust S yelled. "Get rid of it get rid of it get rid of it!"
Garnet tossed the offending artifact away, towards the other experiments of its ilk.
"Oh man," Fear R said, nearly hyperventilating. "How could this happen?"
"What the heck!" Anger R yelled. "What! The! Heck."
"What are these things? How did they…" Sadness S began, before a horrifying clarity overcame her. "Oh no."
A nearby container exploded, releasing what appeared to be a collection of gem shards welded together; with a blood-curdling shriek, it began the process of developing a physical body, the silhouettes of lights making it clear that its components were struggling to separate into their own, individual forms, before retreating and emerging as a monstrous, creeping hulk that lurched towards them.
The control room was in chaos. Both Sadnesses were sobbing; Disgust R looked like she was going to vomit; Joy S clutched her head in her hands, staring blankly downward, not daring to look at the screen.
"Panic!" Fear R cried, putting everything she had into her controls. "Intense, overwhelming, stupefying panic!"
"What do you think I'm doing?" Fear S yelled, slamming down on her own console.
"I can't handle this," Anger S said. "I just can't—no. I'm done."
Cracks began forming in the control room, and it began to shake violently; Garnet's two halves risked breaking apart.
"Garnet, you're coming undone!" Steven yelled. "Garnet! Please! This isn't like you!"
Joy S sat up at these words. "He's right, this isn't like us," she said. "We—Garnet—are stronger together. And we have to remain strong."
"Right," Joy R said. "We have to keep together."
The other looked uncertain, but complied. They all held hands, focusing on maintaining the fusion. Then, with a grim determination, they allowed Garnet to fight the creature, poofing it and bubbling the result.
"We did it!" Steven exclaimed in celebration, but Garnet's emotions weren't as enthusiastic.
"So," Disgust R said, "this is what Homeworld thinks of fusion. Just a tool… one that can be made from unwilling participants."
"There's no way we could have known they would do this," Fear S said softly. "We never could have imagined that they would do this…"
"We looked and looked, but could never find them," Fear R said. "This is where they were… they've been here the whole time!"
"All this time, incubating…" Sadness R said. "All this time…. suffering…"
"But we couldn't have known they would have done this," Sadness S said. "We didn't know it was possible… that they would go this far…"
"This is punishment for the rebellion!" Anger R cried. "Punishment for defying Homeworld! For fusion!"
"This isn't out fault!" Anger S yelled.
"Garnet!" yelled a concerned Steven.
"Steven!" Fear S exclaimed. "We totally forgot he was there!"
"I hope he's not too concerned about us," Sadness R said.
Before Garnet could comfort him, they heard the sounds of Amethyst and Pearl approaching, the two having found the tunnel their friends had gone off to.
"Quick, get a pair of glasses on Garnet!" Disgust S yelled. "We can't let them see us like this!"
"We can't let them worry about us too," Sadness R said.
"We have to try to be brave, calm, and collected," Fear R agreed.
"We lost Peridot," Pearl explained. "Her fingers were too fast for us." Her attention shifted to a pair of hands that were crawling up Amethyst. "Um what are these things?" she asked, picking them up.
"Put them down!" Garnet yelled.
"That wasn't very calm and collected," Disgust R said, eyeballing Anger S, who had slammed down on her controls.
"Sorry," Anger S said defensively, "but those things just elicit a strong reaction, you know?"
"Yeah," Anger R added. "It was a completely understandable response, so back off her!"
"Guys! Please!" Joy R yelled. "Can we please not fight, at least for the moment?"
"If we need to, we can settle our thoughts later," Joy S added. "But right now, we need to be of one mind."
The other emotions murmured in agreement.
"We need to poof and bubble all of them," Garnet said firmly. "We can't let any escape."
They managed to capture all the experiments—or at least, all the ones they could find—by the afternoon, before the group headed back to the temple. Garnet, for her part, continued working on Steven's laundry, hanging out on the statue's hand while a load was in the dryer. Steven appeared on the warp pad. "Hey, Garnet," he said. "How's it going?"
"Ugh, he wants to discuss it," Anger S said. "I really don't want to deal with that."
"It's nice that he's concerned," Sadness R noted.
"Yes," said Disgust S, "but there's a time to talk about things like that, and a time to… not talk about it."
"Let's just deliberately misconstrue what he's asking about," Disgust R said.
So Garnet distracted Steven by saying that the towels were still damp.
"Do we even have plumbing up here? How do you get the washer and dryer to work?"
"Well, it's a complex system of various gem technologies," Sadness R said, "but explaining it will most likely just bore or confuse Steven."
"So let's just say it's magic," Disgust S said. "He won't question it."
"It'd be nice to be so innocent to be able to believe in magic," Joy S said wistfully.
"Yeah; but innocence can't last," Sadness S said. "Not when he sees firsthand all the awful things Homeworld's done."
She pressed a button and Garnet's expression fell a bit.
"Are you alright?" Steven asked concernedly.
Joy R glanced around. "I think Garnet will be fine, all things considered."
"Wish Steven hadn't seen it, though," Sadness S said.
"Oh, it's okay," Steven said.
"Okay?" Disgust R echoed. "What happened is not okay!"
"Um, Disgust?" Fear S said. "I think you're deliberately misconstruing him again."
"No, no, she has a point," Anger S interjected. "What Homeworld did was wrong, in every sense of the word. Taking shards of fallen Gems and combining them like that…"
"Exactly," Anger R continued. "Those Gems weren't asked if they wanted to participate; they were simply used, like objects! Fusion is a choice, but they weren't given a choice. It's not right! It's not fusion!"
The dryer buzzed, indicating it was finished; Steven began pulling his clothes out into a basket. "What's it like, being a fusion?" he asked.
"Steven should know," Fear R said. "He's fused."
"I mean, like, all the time," Steven clarified. "Do you forget who you used to be?"
"Nope," Fear S said, pulling up memories of both Ruby and Sapphire. "We've got plenty of them right here."
"But those are from Ruby and Sapphire; they aren't Garnet's," Sadness R commented. "When we view them as Garnet, they're not our memories. Not really."
"She's right," said Joy S. "When we play these memories to her, everything—the sensory input, thoughts, and feelings—are relayed. But the massive feeling of joy Garnet feels just by existing overwhelms anything felt back then, so in a way, she forgets she was ever alone."
"When you split up," asked Steven, "is it like you disappear?"
"Well, once again," Fear S said, "Ruby and Sapphire retain the memories formed as Garnet…"
"And once again, it's not simply that technical," Joy S amended. "Because even when apart, the love Ruby and Sapphire have for each other—the love that Garnet embodies—will still be felt by them. That means that, even when they're split up, Garnet will still exist. But luckily, the strength of their love allows them to remain fused for a very long time."
"Good thing too," Joy R said, "because I can't think of any other set of emotions I'd rather work with." Joy R said, giving her counterpart a kiss on the cheek.
"Get a room!" Anger R demanded jokingly. Disgust S pretended to gag.
The two Joys giggled.