Notes:

I don't think I've noted it before because I wasn't sure if it was obvious to you all or not, but the Log Date ETA is Estimated Time of Arrival in reference to being on the space ship en route to Homeworld - meanwhile the previous Log Date TTC files take place as the ship is being made, so it's Time To Completion.

Also, that's my last easy entry. Lapis and Steven are definitely gonna take more than a couple of days to do. I'll try and do them justice!

"… Log Date ETA: 94 minutes…

PUU… honestly, given the nature of what I'm about to tell you, I need to call you by your lame proper name. Just for this, though. You're welcome.

Greg. It's a delight to talk to you one last time… even if it's just me talking at you when you're not really there. Yeah… if you're seeing this, then I must be dead. And I pre-emptively apologize for being so incompetent that I couldn't avoid being killed by… oh, anything on Homeworld. I can't even begin to list the possible causes… I'd be here all day. Still, I'm obviously a major clod if I couldn't keep myself alive for my own mission. You must be okay if you're watching this, so… I'm gonna assume you're all okay. And that's all I need to rest in peace.

You can probably tell where I am right now. I had just finished speaking with you before I started this video. I suppose that's why I decided to start with you first. I'll admit, had I not gotten to know you when we started this mission, I might have never considered making this for you. But I'm giving Bismuth one, and I've only known her for a few days. And you've more than earned your spot on my team, Greg.

I know it sounds ludicrous, but I'm really glad I decided to bring you along with us. Sure, you can't help at all in a fight, but you can still protect what's important to us – by that I mean our PeriLuck here – and more than that… you know, Greg, I think you're the heart of the team. You're fair and impartial to our many team spats, you do your best to keep the peace, you go out of your way to play music to lift our spirits… and, I'll admit it did lift mine.

You know, I was so proud of myself when I was able to teach Steven's song to you. I haven't learned anything about music yet – you know, the notes and the sheets and memorizing which key does what sound – but I somehow still pulled it off playing it by ear in my memory. That was amazing… and it was a new kind of exhilaration. It's just a pity you didn't have the proper instrument for it, but it's still passable with a guitar. I can't believe you got me to sing that whole thing and tried to do it a second time… music is such a weird concept and I obviously don't have a full understanding of it. I guess… I won't get the chance to. But I'm really happy that I was able to teach you a song without any musical credentials to speak of.

Talking to you is very different from talking to Lapis or Bismuth, you know. But I mean that in a good way, Greg. I think you saved me that first night… I really was on the verge of collapsing. I didn't tell you back then, but I was amazed how right you were about that cocoa stuff making me feel better. I don't know how, but I guess it works for gems like it does for humans. Sometimes we're not so different, huh.

You've never pressured me with any tough questions, demands, or doubt. You just let me talk at my own pace and you kept to yourself when you were supposed to. I guess it's not so surprising you were a great reliever of my stress that came from making our space ship a reality in such a short amount of time, but it kind of reminds me of my other means of therapy. You're probably still wondering why I spazzed out right before liftoff, right? Well, in lieu of my death, I owe you the explanation.

The first night after I talked to you, I went inside the beach house. I was locked out of all the Crystal Gems' bedrooms, so my only choices were the bathroom like always or the couch, or…. Or Steven's bed. I'm sorry about that… but I really think your offspring is the only reason why I haven't completely fallen apart. I felt so calm and protected. But before it lulled me to sleep, I found a binder of photographs under his bed. I, uh… kinda took a couple. Sorry about that. I think they were ones that had copies, at least. Just one with Steven and me during a trip to Funland, and a nice little picture of Steven by himself.

See, the first one makes me happy. I can't be an effective leader if I'm depressed, and right now I have plenty to be depressed about since I'm worried sick for your offspring and his friends every second of every day. I need some assurance there's light at the end of this long, long tunnel. The second picture… this is what I use when I need strength. Not literal physical strength, but… the ability to get over my other various problems you've all seen me having. He pulls me back together when I'm about to explode into pieces… h-he's my little center of gravity, you might say. So, these pictures serve as a function: they are my gravity stabilizers. I don't have time to let my mind wander; we've got a mission going on and I need to act like a real leader, because I fear I'm sucking at it so far.

I can tell you were worried about me just before I entered this chamber. Is it because my behavior got kind of… odd towards the end of our meeting? I know anyone can tell from the sound of my voice whether or not anything's wrong. I can't mask that very well. I'll admit, I had remembered at that point that I only made out personal messages to half of my friends, and I definitely wasn't going to have time to do the other half while we're on Homeworld of all places. I mean, seriously, who could be that stupid? So I panicked, but I didn't let it show. It took everything in me to hold back on those feelings, you know? And then I realized Lapis still hadn't resolved her stupid grudge over Bismuth. It was important to take care of that matter, and it provided perfect coverage for my own project. I hope it's turning out that way, at least.

So… yeah. My entire role as a leader has a foundation of two pictures of your offspring and my stubborn drive to go against anything, even things I want to do or say. I know it's super weird… but I assumed you've seen weirder over the years.

You… had some interesting points of view, Greg. Like when you said I possessed a maternal instinct even though such a thing could never be possible for a gem as we don't bear offspring like your species does! I-I mean… Rose somehow made it possible, but she had to die for it. She couldn't be a maternal unit for Steven based on the laws of gemetics. This was something I learned in my Homeworld days. Two exact copies of the same gem, right down to the facet code and cut series, cannot exist at the same time. And if you were to achieve this somehow and let the two gems touch, that would obliterate… everything. Absolutely everything. The entire universe would cease to be. Apparently, a tangible paradox has that kind of power. Who knew? A-anyway, sorry I went on a tangent there. You probably didn't care to hear all of that just now, but I don't think you were ever properly told the real reason why Rose and Steven can't co-exist. And I wanted to help. Does my help ever really help? Mmmh.

You said you saw that "instinct" in me whenever Pumpkin came to see me when I talked with you. I-I'm not sure what you meant by that, really. I mean, Steven's the one who gave life to Pumpkin. Honestly, if anyone should be considered Pumpkin's maternal unit, it's Steven. She even liked Steven way more than me at first. And you couldn't be comparing Pumpkin to Steven; I'm certain of that. Is it… is it what I did, or how I acted around her? I know I kinda seem like another gem entirely when I give her love and attention, but… instinct would imply an action or a behavior, wouldn't it… I-I, um… if I wasn't dead, I'd be looking into this.

O-oh, that reminds me. Steven can take care of Pumpkin in my place. I know that Lapis seems like the more appropriate candidate, but Greg, don't forget how flippant she is. I mean, you saw that behavior yourself on the first day. How can she take care of Pumpkin if she's flying off to stars-know-where every other day?! Pumpkin is an everyday job! An enjoyable one, but still! Pumpkin can't handle constant wandering about halfway across the world and she can't survive being neglected for so long! That's just cruel!

U-um… Greg, was that maternal instinct? I feel way more upset about this than I should be… hmph.

So, yeah. A lot of what you say sounds as coherent to me as a foreign sentence fresh off a cheap internet translator, but I've noticed that's common with you artistic types. I'm not sure if Homeworld even has an equivalent of your kind, to be honest… music as a concept was new to me, so that definitely wasn't a thing where I came from. Art in general… that's trickier to determine. Some humans here claim "everything is art", but I think that's stretching logic a bit far. And the foundation of art is, well… subjectivity. I don't do well with that… I'm more of an objectivist. I suppose you and your offspring have proved that I'm not incapable of understanding the subject, since I was able to teach you a song and everything… and Steven got me to create lyrics on the spot. I've learned about many of Earth's iconic landmarks that are considered works of art; that includes the ones with a completely different and more sensible primary function. A lot of the buildings… the "skyscrapers" as humans called them… some of the more extraordinary designs are reminiscent of certain structures built on Homeworld. A very odd coincidence, I'm certain of that… but if things like that can be considered art, I suppose Bismuths are probably the closest of gemkind you could call an "artist". It makes sense; our Bismuth certainly has a creative aptitude to create an entirely new color of the plating from the Diamonds' ships based on the simple principle as mixing tangible pigments together.

It really is fascinating to learn about these concepts that are just alien to me otherwise. Even if I don't fully grasp them yet, I really want to be able to "get it" one day. Not become a master, of course… just like how no gems on Homeworld under the Diamonds were meant to specialize in anything beyond their primary function, it seems humanity – while much more capable of having a variety of specialties – can't master everything, either. But I suppose that's a good thing… our specialties are a large part of our overall identity, are they not? If everyone could do everything, that aspect of our individual being would cease to exist.

But it doesn't mean I can't learn as much as I possibly can. I'm surprised the other Crystal Gems have been relatively set in their ways. Amethyst is an exception to that, but most of the others – and I'm counting Lapis here – they seem content to just do their own thing, as if they can't or won't integrate themselves with humanity any more than they have to. I'm here throwing myself headfirst into anything I can grab my hands on, and the others just… don't seem inclined to try them out, either. Not unless Steven goads them into it. Like, you know how I've taken up farming and all that – I wasn't aware until recently that there are certain things you can't grow depending on the season. And during the late stages of autumn, all of winter, and the early stages of spring, you can hardly grow anything at all due to the drop in average temperature and the weather that comes with the cold air.

That's too much time for me to not do anything just because your Earth vegetation is too sensitive to handle a modest drop in average temperature! So I've been trying a lot of other things over the past few months to pass the time, you know? I'd be here all day telling you about them and I only have just barely over an hour to get through this and make out messages to everyone else before we arrive to our destination. So… it's time for me to get into some mega awkward territory here.

I know I don't need to tell you to watch over Steven in my absence. As his paternal unit, that's literally your job description, is it not? And now that I've gotten to know you, and I see where Steven gets so many of his admirable traits from, I have no doubts about your competence in continuing that role. I'd tell you not to try and rescue me in case there's even a remote chance I'm just alive and captured, but we both know you can't do that on your own. Even if you stood by my decision, I'm certain the others will outvote you and drag you into it, anyway. So, I'm not gonna threaten you over this like I have to the others. And I won't hold it against you.

So, let's skip to the part I hate doing the most for these messages… Steven himself. I have so far promised everyone I've made a message to that I would die with a clear conscience, which requires me to confess everything I've never wanted to confess for various reasons. There's really only one thing I've kept to myself that's even relevant to you… and that's how I feel about Steven.

You think you know where this is going, but… it's much more complex than that, I think. You're aware that Steven is responsible for almost 98% of what I've learned here on Earth, right? Let's just round that up to 100%, because that's how it feels for me. Greg, I wasn't anything like this before I got stranded on Earth. The me you like seeing when I care for Pumpkin? Didn't exist in any way, shape, or form when I lived on Homeworld. I just did my job, worked hard for attention and praise… and, well. You remember the story I just told you not too long before I came in here. I was numb to a lot of things that would give me the gem equivalent of a coronary today. If I could dig deeper into the "feelings" I have in place of where memories should be, I don't think anyone's going to like that I find… least of all, myself. It's a terrifying prospect.

Steven made me who I am today, Greg. He rebuilt my life step-by-step. He can be an annoying little twit at times, but it's impossible for me to come even close to hating him. It's just as impossible for me not to love him.

A-and when I say "love", Greg… I mean that in so many ways. Steven and his friends… and you, by this point, became the family I never had. There's still a lot of family-related subjects I don't understand, as I told you before, but it's a comfort to truly be part of one regardless. I'm not sure what role you all see me in… I'll admit that does make me curious. But also nervous, because… Steven's also a good friend to me. He's my best friend, right up there with Amethyst. He's a friend who always knows how to help me when I'm having trouble with something. He likes to talk to me. He likes to listen to me talk… we've had so many conversations. We play all varieties of Earth games together. We explore together. We learn together. We work together. We support each other in hard times. We've even saved the Earth together… just the two of us. At one point we thought we were both gonna die down there, and… we just hugged each other, thinking these were our final moments. I asked him if he had any last words… he said, "I love you, Peridot". I know what kind of love he was referring to, as I felt it…

But since then, part of my subconscious has been stuck on that moment. I felt like the final seal on the true potential of my identity was broken that day… because I felt another kind of love for the first time. I imagined my life without Steven, and I hated it. I couldn't accept it. I need him in my life, because he is my life. Without Steven, there is no "Great and Lovable" Peridot. I never want to lose him, okay? Even if he doesn't… you know, reciprocate my amorous sentiments, I'll settle for him as a friend. As a member of my family. As long as he's in my life, I'll be satiated. But if he goes, I eventually will, too. I'll corrupt. I'll be unrecognizable; you'd all have to put me down, because even If you cured me, I still won't be anything.

He truly is my center of gravity. Steven keeps me together. Since he's imperiled on another planet right now, that's… mostly the reason why I'm having a hard time keeping it together, hence my need for the gravity stabilizers. And I have no idea if you're even okay with the concept of me loving your offspring that way. I can't control your feelings on the matter… I'm just optimistic enough to hope you'd be okay with it. If you're not… well, no need to worry since I'm dead now, right?

I just want to be with him… as much as I can. I have so much of this stupid "love" for Steven, I'm about to burst, you know?! I owe him my entire life. Steven showed me what life is. So I want to give him my life, so we can always be together and do the things we do whenever we want. I want to be a permanent part of his life… I just know, somehow, I won't find any of this anywhere else. Anyone else.

It's not like this is unprecedented, right…? You fell in love with a gem despite being an organic with a finite lifespan. So I fell in love with a hybrid gem-organic… it's similar enough. If you think about it… we kinda fell in love with the exact same gem. A Diamond, in actuality. Completely different people, of course, but the same gem—Diamond—whatever. I don't know if it'll work out for me like it did for you, but I can deal with it if it doesn't happen like that. I'll keep him as a friend, and a member of my family. I've been so scared to lose those aspects of my relationship with Steven, you know? I feel like if I start seeing him in a romantic sense, I can't see him as a friend or family member anymore. The nature of our relationship will change drastically if I go this route. Why can't I retain all facets of my relationship with him? I… I really am a clod on this subject. And it's irrelevant now as you watch this. I guess for all your help, you deserve not only to know of my loving dedication to your offspring, you deserve to see me make a fool of myself rambling on like this.

But… I think that'll do it for our time. I still need to make messages for Bismuth and Lapis, and… y'know, I've got like an hour to do them. Sorry to break the flow like this. I just hope you got what you wanted from my final message to you.

-Oh, and Greg? I really meant it when I said I was glad I took you with us. I'll admit this started out of sheer desperation, but you've helped us far more than you realize. Perhaps the original Crystal Gems work so well together because they have that human element with Steven… and that's exactly what we needed. And you turned out to be perfect for the job. Even if Garnet and the others deny it, never forget that in the Peridot Patrol… you are a Crystal Gem. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.

With the fullest extent of my support and appreciation for your help, I sign off for the final time…

Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG."

That was way, way more than Greg expected. He was honestly very overwhelmed. And he couldn't help but shed some tears… the man had seen the softer side of Peridot a few times, but this message showed the man the full extent of how precious and vulnerable she really was under all of that egotistical gloating and self-assurance.

"Well… thanks for giving me a clear answer, Peridot," Greg said out loud as he took the prism and pocketed it. "So I am a Crystal Gem, huh… and history's almost repeating itself. Your gem—or Diamond, it's really that irresistible, isn't it, Rose? Our son's a love magnet just like you are… I think I see what Bismuth was getting at earlier about how to get Steven out of his funk."

He stood up. "I told her I'd stay here, but if I'm a Crystal Gem, I oughta be helping Bismuth, too. It's been way too long since Lapis took off. Man, I wish I still had my boat…"

"Did I just hear you declare yourself a Crystal Gem? And did you say boat?"

"Bismuth!" Greg was very surprised. "Uh… how long have you been listening…?"

"Long enough to hear you say you're a Crystal Gem, and that you have some Bismuthto attend to with Lapis," Bismuth cheerfully replied before her face became somber. "I swear I've looked around all the way up to the lighthouse and haven't seen a trace of her. Sure, I get to see one obnoxious nutjob all about conspiracies or whatever, but not a single blue gem."

Greg laughed at that; he could only imagine how Bismuth dealt with Ronaldo… it was rather comical in his head. "So that means she's way far out there, maybe even past the shelf."

"The shelf?" Bismuth didn't quite get it.

"The, uh, the continental shelf. Past that point, you're in the open ocean and the ground below you takes a huge nosedive," Greg explained. "Maybe she thought she needed to be far away to vent without putting us in danger?"

Bismuth nodded. "That makes sense. But she's had more than enough time to get that out of her system, don't you think?"

"Yeah, she really needs to come back," Greg agreed. "But we can't contact her from here; we'd need a good boat to make it out that far."

"Hey now, that's why I came back for you," Bismuth said with a wink. "After buildin' a space ship in under 3 days, it was a cinch to build a makeshift boat in about 20 minutes. I can't promise it'll be that good of a boat, but Lapi can take us home herself after we find her mopey butt. All we need is the means to find her that far out. You think it'll do, Greg?"

Greg sighed as he looked over the boat. It definitely looked like the rush job it was, but at the very least Bismuth made sure it was sturdy with no vulnerabilities to possible leaking. The problem is that since Bismuth was an architect and not a technician, it was beyond her means to make an engine. All they had to work with are paddles and a single sail.

"I'm not looking forward to the exercise I'm gonna get out of this," he grumbled. "But if it's to find Lapis, I'll deal. She's more important, y'know."

"That's what I like to hear!" Bismuth commended as they both boarded the boat. "Peri Patrol, move out!"

As the boat took off from a very forceful hammer-hand blow curved up from behind it, Greg looked concerned again. "I think you heard more than you let on..."

It was tough to navigate since the waters were very choppy, but luckily Bismuth was more than able to power through them with her arms. Greg paddled, but he knew he was only barely helping at best. Lapis finally came into sight far into the sky at a distance where the Crystal Temple looked like some nondistinctive mass of pixels emitting light. But she had been "spotted" a while ago when Bismuth and Greg noticed some odd ocean behavior that would never happen naturally.

Lapis indeed had been this far out in the ocean for nearly 18 hours. She had admitted to herself that her performance on the mission was subpar, because she wasn't good enough yet to master the art of limited water abilities. The ocean just made everything so much easier… and it was a perfect venue for venting. Lapis had a lot of anger in her for many reasons: of course, losing Peridot was such a case, but also the Blue Diamond fiasco still hadn't quite left her. She figured it would soon enough, because Blue Diamond had to be dead by this point… it made her all the more furious at White Diamond. She knew she would soon be going back to that world, and going there the first time around was a huge struggle for her… and it was a struggle only Peridot could hold down back then. With her former roommate gone, Lapis was back to her desires to just run away from it all. So many painful events happened in quick succession… but she at least knew she shouldn't be messing with the ocean so close to her friends. Lapis did not want to hold back for absolutely anything.

"LAPIS! Hey, Lapis! Come on down, already! Let's go home!" Bismuth called out, but she received no answer.

Lapis stood tall on a giant pillar of water while she moved her arms accordingly to manipulate the water around her. She could easily create water tornadoes, though she dispelled them if they ever started to head towards Beach City. Lapis was violently angry, but she didn't want to actually hurt anybody. She did a variety of tricks with two smaller pillars of water that moved like tentacles, spraying water about and created a concentrated ball of water which Lapis shot into the distance. It would never get far enough to reach the shore, but anyone outside the beach house would think someone dropped a bomb in the water once it finally fell.

"LAPIS!" Greg called out to no avail. He looked worriedly towards Bismuth. "Bismuth, I don't think she can even hear us. And if we get too close, we're probably gonna get caught up in her little… stunt here."

"Hmm, I think you're right about the sound of the water blockin' us out. Her being so high up doesn't help, either," Bismuth mentioned, sounding annoyed. "If we did get caught up in her stunt, she'd notice us then…"

"Maaaaybe we can try something a little bit safer," Greg suggested as he dug around in his pocket and found a quarter. He was uneasy with the thought of just tossing away a coin, but it was either that or the prism containing Peridot's message. One was worth a lot more than the other. "I hate to suggest something that'll inflict pain, but this'll at least get her attention and it'll stop this. I'm sure you're strong enough to throw it up that far and—"

"Ooh, and nail her with this?" Bismuth looked far too eager to try this out as she took the coin. "I like the way you think, Greg. Yeah, I know I can make this shot. Gonna make sure it's right upside her head… she can't ignore that."

Greg winced. "Just… don't hurt her too much. Don't give her an excuse to throw us farther out here!"

"Tch, it'll just sting for a bit. I think Lapis needs a little sense knocked into her, anyway." Bismuth stood up and reared back for the perfect position like a baseball player up to bat, then shot the quarter up at a blinding speed.

It wasn't that difficult since Lapis was barely moving at all; everything she concentrated on, every aquatic feat she conjured fell apart as the gem was bonked in the side of her head by some unknown projectile that Lapis had no time to identify.

"OW! WHO DARES?!"

Somehow, she knew it wasn't Mother Nature. Lapis glanced down and spotted a tiny boat, and within a second identified Bismuth and Greg inside…

… and their boat was right next to where her water tower and other water projectiles collapsed. Lapis' eyes widened as she instantly realized the trouble she inadvertently put her friends in. She flew down as fast as she could, but couldn't make it before the water engulfed the boat and her friends. After a moment of being horrified when not seeing either of them resurface, she flew straight into the ocean, determined to catch them both.

Thankfully, they weren't far away from a horizontal distance, but the weight of the falling water tower managed to push Bismuth and Greg much further down vertically than usual. If they sunk any further, it would be too dark to see them, and Lapis' gem was in the worst possible position to use as a flashlight.

Bismuth and Greg were very lucky they had an aquatic expert as their friend, as Lapis zipped straight down like a torpedo to snatch Bismuth in one hand and Greg with her other. Lapis manipulated the water to boost them all back to the surface within a mere few seconds, and took to the sky as she carried both of her friends… but clearly struggled in doing so. She waited until they both finished coughing up seawater from their throats before giving them some sass.

"I hope you both learned a lesson here," Lapis said darkly. "You don't interrupt my me time."

"Your "me time" has gone on for almost a full day!" Bismuth shot back. "You gotta come back eventually!"

"Uh, Bismuth, maybe you shouldn't talk back to someone who could strand us here…" Greg was so grateful at being saved. He got enough of the ocean for the next few years, he thought. Now he just wanted return to dry land.

"See? At least I have one friend who isn't a total idiot," Lapis followed up, sounding oh-so smug. "Garnet said we had the day to ourselves. A day on Earth is 24 hours. I guarantee you I haven't used more than 20 yet, so I don't see the problem."

"Ah, so you took it literally…" Greg understood now. "We were hoping you'd spend some of that time just talking with your friends, that's all."

Lapis' expression softened, but still had some clear strain from carrying two of her very heavy friends. Riding with Steven, this was not. "I… I didn't know you had that in mind. I figured everyone would just be on their own for the whole day…"

"Really? Were you seriously considering reading your message to Peri all the way out here?" Bismuth asked with disbelief.

As Lapis sighed, her friends knew they hit a sore spot. They got concerned as they suddenly descended and were put back into the water.

"Look, I could carry one of you just fine, but two big friends like you? No, no, no. We're doing this another way. Just sit tight while I think of something."

"Uh… it's not like we can go anywhere," Greg awkwardly pointed out as he tried to keep his head above the water. "Sorry, Lapis. I didn't think that through…"

Lapis turned around furiously. "You're the one who did that?" She then calmed down. "No, that's impossible. A human like you couldn't throw that high and that hard."

"It was Greg's idea, but I'm the one who executed it, if you're lookin' for your culprit," Bismuth admitted. "We tried calling for you, but you were too high up and the water's too dang loud."

"… Oh." Lapis pouted a bit; they actually had a good reason to hit her head. "Okay. I've got an idea."

Lapis floated down between Greg and Bismuth and submerged herself into the water. "We're holding hands, team," she said dryly. "And if you wanna live, you'd better not let go."

Said teammates wisely grabbed each of Lapis' hands under the water. Then, with a few seconds of concentration, all three rose up. It looked like they were standing on water as Lapis ascended a bit higher than her friends to keep them at that level. On each pair of feet were pairs of water skis… only made entirely out of ice.

"Figured I should at least make the ride back home fun," Lapis said apologetically. "You know, for almost drowning you."

"I have no idea what this even is," Bismuth admitted. "But I'll take your word for it."

"My feet are not gonna like this by the time we get home," Greg said nervously. "But I haven't done this in years. It's a lot of fun, Bismuth!"

Bismuth smiled nervously. "I'll take your word for it, hun."

"Well, let me know when to speed up," Lapis said as her feet touched the water and landed slightly ahead of her two partners; all three were still joined by her hands. "Have fun while you can… I'm not looking forward to our talk when we make landfall."

With that. Lapis sped off, dragging her two teammates behind her as they got the pleasure of water skiing all the way home.

The ice skis quickly melted off once they reached the beach. Not a moment too soon, as Greg's feet were stinging hard with the pain.

"Good thing the fire's still going," he grunted as he made his way over there. "Heal me up, my flames!"

Lapis eyed Bismuth as he walked towards the fire. "So, where are we taking this conversation?"

Bismuth rose a brow at Lapis. "Where he goes. He's a part of the team as much as you or me."

"Pssh… are you for real?" Lapis wasn't buying it. "He went on one mission. That doesn't make him a member of the team. All he did was guard the ship."

"Which is an important job even if it's not as glamorous as what we do," Bismuth scolded her. "Besides that, Peri herself confirmed that as far as our team of four is concerned, Greg's a Crystal Gem as much as you or me. You gonna question her authority, Lapis?"

"Of course not," Lapis shot back, turning her nose up at Bismuth. "I do question whether or not you're telling me the truth, because I don't think even Peridot would be that stupid."

"Well, we do have proof," Bismuth said with a smirk. "Ain't that right, Greg? You're officially a Crystal Gem!"

Greg was a bit of a distance away, but he could tell the two gems were talking about him. He held out a thumbs-up as he rested his poor feet close to the fire. "Uh, yeah! I can play that part for you if you want, Lapis!"

Something Greg said made Lapis visibly shudder. It wasn't too hard to figure out what. Bismuth wrapped an arm around Lapis' shoulder and gently urged her closer to the fire where Greg was. "Lapis, as a team, we seriously need to talk some stuff out. And when I say team, I mean the Peri Patrol. So, just us. Everyone else is inside. You can handle that, right?"

Lapis was slightly more at ease after hearing that. She did seriously fear she was getting dragged to an intervention, but if was just her oddball teammates, that made it much less daunting. She still really didn't want to talk about anything, but she sighed, relented, and sat down next to the fire not far from where Greg was. Bismuth took a seat close to Lapis.

Greg looked up at the starry night sky and sighed. "I'd say this feels like old times, like a few days ago old times, but… it's missing someone. We know who."

Everyone just sighed. No one had a single word to add to that; they knew it and were still reeling from it.

"Oh, uh, Lapis," Greg said, trying to save face. "I keep forgetting to say it, but your new outfit's pretty cool."

"What–?" Lapis was caught off-guard by that and blushed. "O-oh… uh, thank you."

"I think it's very fitting for you," Bismuth added. "I'm sorry it took so long for one of us to even notice your new look since you reformed. It just... happened at a bad time. I'm sure the others are gonna shower you with compliments next time they see you."

Lapis blushed harder. "I just remember after we were at Peridot's work station… you know, after it was fried and blown up, Bismuth… there were pieces of shattered glass and crystal all over the floor. At that time, I decided I was going to consider some footwear."

Bismuth chuckled. "Good thing you got some so soon, then. You can avoid the kinda pain poor Greg is havin' right now."

That made Lapis chuckle, as well as Greg himself. "Hey, it's okay," Greg assured. "I've been through way worse than this; trust me. Take my advice: never take a dare to walk through a burning coal pit."

Now that made Bismuth start giggling along with Lapis. "W-wow! What kind of stupid human custom is that?" Lapis had to ask through her laughing.

Greg just smiled and shrugged. "A dare, like I said. Most dares are stupid and dangerous stuff no one should ever be doing. Stuff I hope Steven is never goaded into. If either of you come across him in that situation, please stop him." He was serious, but his tone was still light and jovial.

"We'll always protect Steven," Lapis promised. "It's not just what Peridot wants; we want it, too."

This seemed to be the perfect opportunity to steer the conversation the way two of the teammates intended. "Lapis, if you want to protect Steven right now, we're gonna need your help. We're gonna need everybody to help him right now," Bismuth gently informed her. "He went straight to bed when we came home, and he's been like that ever since."

"You didn't consider that maybe he's just really exhausted?" Lapis inquired. "He has gone through a lot over these past few days."

"You have a point, but sleeping for 18 straight hours isn't normal for a human, Lapis," Greg said. "He won't leave his bed, he won't talk to anybody… and wants nothing to do with Peridot's message to him."

That made Lapis' tired eyes snap open. "What are you saying? He wouldn't do that," she argued. "Maybe he's tired because he saw her sappy, lovey-dovey message."

"Then why would he lie about it?" Bismuth countered. "Steven's not exactly good at being dishonest."

"But there's… why wouldn't he?!" Lapis couldn't comprehend it. She knew at this point that Steven had some sort of mutual attraction to Peridot. She definitely caught them kissing on the veranda while Blue Diamond was sacrificing her life to save them all. There was no good time for Lapis to tease Peridot over it since then, but she kept it in mind. "Steven got the answers he wanted! Unlike me, he actually got to see Peridot in her final moments!"

"Lapis… have you not watched yours yet?" Greg asked very gently; he had no intention of being the aggressor here.

"What does that have to do with anything?!" Lapis barked back. "We're talking about your son! A-and anyway, it's none of your business!"

Bismuth shook her head while patting Lapis on the shoulder. "Unfortunately, it is. We're thinkin' Steven won't get better until he sees his message. But he won't even wake up right now; it's not normal for him, Lapis. We need him to get better if we're all in this to bring Peri back. Amethyst's got a plan, but in order for it to work, everyone needs to see their Peri messages."

Lapis hunched over and crossed her arms around her propped up legs. "I bet it's a dumb plan."

"C'mon, don't judge a book by its cover," Greg urged. "You should know Amethyst is really close with Peridot. I think she out of everyone would know how to use Peridot as a means to make Steven get better. You want to help Steven, don't you?"

"What kind of question is that?! Of course I do!" Lapis looked offended to even be asked such a question. "I know he must really be hurting right now… he probably just wants everyone to leave him alone."

Bismuth was not convinced. "That doesn't sound like Steven at all. It sounds more like-" She paused herself; this wasn't the right way to go about this. "Lapis… I'm not judgin' here, because me and Greg only saw our messages around an hour ago. We both had our own hang-ups and waited that long to see our messages. It's okay that you're having reservations about watchin' it."

"If you wanna talk about that, we can," Greg offered. "No one else needs to know, of course. But believe me when I say I came out of my experience better for it."

"Why? Because she said you're a Crystal Gem?" Lapis murmured mockingly.

"Nope." Steven's father seemed unfazed by Lapis' attitude. "She said a lot of great things. Things I bet you didn't know about. It was a great learning experience and… I needed something uplifting after all the drama we've had."

"We'd be happy to tell you what she told us," Bismuth offered. "But I think you really should see your message first, so you can share too if you want."

"I guarantee her entire message to me is gonna be a roast," Lapis stated. "And I deserve it, after how I've treated her. I'm really not up for her little ghost to taunt me."

"Lapis… do you really think she's dead?" Greg asked solemnly.

Lapis faced Greg, as if she tried to study his features. "She could be… or she could just be alive and captured. It's hard to tell with White Diamond. Never in my life have I seen a bigger lunatic."

"That's what most of us are thinkin'," Bismuth acknowledged. "But she'll know Steven is coming back for her if she's alive. We'll worry about all that stuff later, though. But let me tell you somethin', Lapis. I've known Peridot for less than a week, so I thought my message would be pretty short and generic. Peridot found a way to make it a fulfilling message for me, full of stuff I wish we had time to talk about in person. It makes me wanna rescue her that much more, Lapis."

"I didn't expect much from mine, either," Greg admitted. "I mean, my introduction to her was being pushed off the barn's roof, but she thinks of me way more highly than I could've imagined, and… I'm learning more and more about her. Lapis, do you really think you know Peridot well enough to know exactly what's on that message?"

Lapis' defenses started to break, but she tried to remain stubborn. "J-just because she subverted your expectations doesn't mean that'll happen with me. Understand, I've had to live with her…"

"Wanna bet?" Bismuth looked smug. "C'mon, let's place a bet, if you're so sure about what's on it."

"I'll get in on that action!" Greg was eager to go all-in.

Lapis looked at the two, hardly able to believe they were being serious about this. "You… you're seriously going to take a gamble on the chance that Peridot's not going to spend the entire time yelling at me?"

"I'm sure she'll yell at you some. I've overheard there were some surprise choices who she really let a rant out on, and others she acted almost opposite of how she acts with 'em in real life." Bismuth winked. "So yours is a real wildcard, Lapis. C'mon, are you scared to admit you might be wrong about Peri's message?"

"Scared? Don't be stupid," Lapis bitterly refuted. "I-I mean, how long are these things, typically?"

"Well, she did these during that time in the isolation chamber on our way to Homeworld," Greg piped up. "She had an hour and a half to do messages for me, Bismuth, you, and I'm pretty sure she had to do Steven's in there, too."

Bismuth nodded before looking to Greg. "So she must've done yours before me, I'm guessing. She had about 76 minutes left when she started mine."

"Yep, 94 minutes here," Greg confirmed. "She got onto that quick; last thing she said to me before she went inside was that she'd see me in 95 minutes."

Lapis registered the numbers carefully. "So just under 20 minutes between the two of you. And you're sure I was next?"

Bismuth nodded. "She said as much at the tail end of my message. You're closer to her than either of us, Lapis. I have a feeling yours will be a little longer."

"And I don't need Garnet's future vision to know Steven's will be even longer," Lapis acknowledged. "So assuming your message lasted around the same amount as Greg's, that leaves her… under an hour for me and Steven."

"Heh, what a coincidence," Greg remarked. "She saved you two for last, and here we are now: you and Steven are the only ones who haven't listened to her messages yet."

Lapis grumbled before standing up. "Okay! Fine! I'll watch Peridot's stupid message… why exactly does Amethyst need us all to do this, again?"

"There's one thing that all of our messages have in common, Lapis: Peri's talking about Steven to some degree in each one. And when I say she talks about Steven, I mean she talks about Steven." Bismuth smiled genuinely to her fellow gem. "If anything's gonna wake Steven up…"

Lapis hastily nodded. "Wh-why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?! I-I'll be right back; I promise I'll return after the message finishes!"

Just like that, Lapis flew up and over. Not towards the ocean this time - but further down the beach.

Bismuth and Greg shared a belated laugh when they realized how quickly Lapis got up and did as they asked after mentioning that one detail.

"Guess that's on us for not telling her sooner," Greg said with a fond sigh. "I think I'm gonna chill out here till she comes back. How about you?"

"You kiddin' me? I ain't movin' from this spot!" Bismuth laughed out. "Peri Patrol for life! Let's enjoy that a little longer while we still can."

"Awesome. Even when Peridot's not here, she's still bringing us together as a unit. Hope she'll be proud of us."

"She will, Greg. She will."

[ NEXT LOG: LAPIS ]