"I'm glad you and Greg got a chance to talk about what's going on with you and Connie." Freshwater said, staring into the waves as she and Steven sat against the large hand that faced the ocean. "I am too. It's…really been bothering me." he said looking away. "I shouldn't have given myself over to Homeworld, even if it meant keeping Connie safe. Now Connie's mad at me and I don't even know if she'll want to be my friend after this."

"Steven, I'm sure Connie still wants to be your friend. Look…" the blue gem ran a hand through her purple mohawk with a sigh. "When I was at the Zoo, Jet and I ended up striking a deal. The plan was I would help them sneak out of the Zoo with the humans, then I would take the downfall and full responsibility. I did it because it was my fault Holly Blue was on Earth in the first place." she said, grimacing. "I felt like it was a worthy punishment for someone who almost single handedly walked someone I cared about into guaranteed shattering. It felt like a good trade-off. Pearl would safely ride with Jet, B9, and the others, and I would suffer the fate I almost doomed you and the others to. Like when you turned yourself in to Homeworld, I thought it was the best and easiest solution and I…I didn't think about how that might affect the people around me. In fact, I didn't even really give it much thought until we were at Le Hotel and Pearl broke it down for me." she said, looking down at the shorter boy and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Look…what I'm trying to say is you and I made a mistake. We should have fought harder to try to avoid just giving up and accepting our fate. Sometimes when we make these mistakes we see ourselves as unforgivable, but that isn't always the case. Sometimes people just need some space to reflect about how they feel before they come to talk to you about it. Just because they're taking a break doesn't mean they don't want anything to do with you."

Steven put his phone in his pocket as he mulled over the gem's words. "That's…very insightful. So…you and Pearl talked? How did it go?"

Freshwater looked away, guilt washing over her face. "It was…intense. Like I said, I didn't know or understand how giving up like that affected her, so I felt awful when I realized in an attempt to save her, I had deeply hurt someone I cared about until the deed was done and I couldn't take it back. I still feel awful. But, Pearl forgave me. And something tells me that Connie will forgive you. She just needs time, and you have to respect that."

Steven nodded. "You're right, Freshwater." he said, hugging the gem. "I'm glad I can do this in person instead of the dreamscape." Freshwater laughed as she returned the hug. "I am too." she said, affectionately ruffling the boy's hair.

"Oh, speaking of Le Hotel," Steven said as he pulled away, grinning at the gem. "How did the vacation go? Did you guys get to see the pool and huge slide? You gotta tell me everything."

"It was a ton of fun. We explored the city a bit, spent some time messing around at the pool in the hotel, and Pearl even showed me this really cool ballroom. I can't dance to save my life, but Pearl's a pretty good lead."

Steven's eyes lit up. "You danced with Pearl? Oh my gosh that's so cute! Did you guys fuse? What's your fusion's name? Can I meet them?"

Freshwater ran a hair through her hair and looked away embarrassed. "Yeah, we danced for a while. We didn't fuse, though." she said, laughing awkwardly. "I was way too nervous and trying not to trip over my feet. We have fused before, though. Her name is Tahitian."

Steven's grin widened. "So…did you tell her how you feel?"

Freshwater's face darkened, putting her head in her hands. "Diamond's sake was it really that obvious?"

Steven nodded aggressively. "I swear every time you guys are near each other your face gets the color of my jeans." he teased. "So…did you?"

Freshwater rolled her eyes but nodded, unable to keep a smile from tugging at the corners of her lips. "Yeah. Honestly…I was surprised she not only felt the same way but that she wanted to be my girlfriend. After everything I didn't even think she would want to be in the same room as me. I consider myself a very lucky gem."

Steven squealed happily, throwing his arms around the gem as he bombarded her with questions. "So when's the wedding? Can I be the wedding planner? Where are you guys going to get your ring-"

The endless questions were interrupted when Steven's phone buzzed loudly, the boy letting her go, fixing her with another grin. "We're going to talk about this later." he said, not giving the gem a chance to respond as he answered it.

"Oh hey Peridot. Hey Lapis! Hey Pumpkin!" the boy said, waving at the gems with a grin. "See Lapis, I told you he didn't lose his phone! He was probably just ignoring us." Steven rubbed his neck sheepishly at Peridot's words. "Sorry guys. I wasn't ignoring you. There's been... a lot going on. Connie's really mad at me, and Homeworld was really intense."

"What happened? Start from the beginning." Lapis said, f look of fear flashed across her face.

"See, I was trying to protect Beach City, so I surrendered myself to Homeworld, and I was put in a big, empty room, and I ended up on trial in front of the Diamonds! But it's okay. I escaped in a palanquin and went underground and-" the boy's explanation was cut short when Lapis took the iPad Peridot was holding. "Wait, wait, wait, you ran from Blue and Yellow Diamond!? After going on trial?!" she demanded, looking like she might be sick as Steven nodded in confirmation. "Peridot, We have to leave Earth. Right now."

"Uh oh." Steven murmured as the call ended. "That definitely doesn't sound good." Freshwater muttered as Steven put his phone in his pocket with a sigh. "Yeah. Hey, I'm going to go talk to them. I won't be long." he promised, offering the gem a smile. Freshwater nodded. "Sure you don't want me to come with?" Steven shook his head. "Nah, I'm sure things will be okay. I just need to talk to her." He said, flashing a grin at her. Freshwater grinned and ruffled the boy's hair affectionately.

"Alright Steven Universe. Work your magic."

…

"This is never going to work." Rhodonite whispered, biting her nails as she and the rest of her crew peered around the corner at Hessonite's base.

"It has to." Jonathan whispered back. "Just stick to the plan like we talked about, okay? Everything's gonna be okay, and if things go wrong, just call Code Red and we'll go to Plan B." he said, nodding and high-fiving Lars, who nodded. "We've run through the plan and the backup plan front, back, and sideways. Even if the plan goes sideways, we've got each other. We have to trust that we can do this, because if we stop believing in ourselves now things won't be pretty. For any of us. Now." he said, ruffling Jonathon's hair affectionately and turning his attention to Hessonite's base. "Let's get us a ship."

Hessonite groaned at the sound of the doorbell, making her way downstairs. "I swear you lower level gems need help with even the most basic tasks. I'm in here trying to sort out the downfall of the disaster that unfolded a few rotations ago, so this better be important." the orange gem snarled as she threw the door open, her enraged expression turning to one of a mix of anger and shock when she saw the sight in front of her.

"I'm s-so sorry to disturb you, your excellence." the Ruby guard said as they gripped the arm of an Off-Color human who was doing their best to wriggle free of their grasp. "See, my platalion and I were in the middle of hunting the Off-Colors, but those Defects know the Catacombs way better than we ever could. They ambushed us, and in all the chaos the rest of my platalion was defeated. I barely managed to grab this one," she said, gesturing to Jonathon, "before I made my escape. They even managed to hijack our ship and I…Look, today's been a really rough day and I need to let the Diamonds know about this. So please. Can I please your place of residence to write up my repo-"

"Screw you and your report!" the boy snapped. "The Off-Colors are going to come back for me, and you'll be sorry."

Hessonite's eyes flashed. "Look you pathetic Earthling." she said, her voice calm but fierce. "If those Off-Colors know what's good for them, they'll use that ship to get as far off-planet as they can." she said before rounding on the Ruby guard. "Fine. But on one condition." she said with a small smirk. "I get whatever reward the Diamonds give you for returning the human and any other of those pathetic defects." she said, stepping aside to allow the Ruby guard and Off-Color human inside.

The Ruby guard nodded, relief flashing over their face. "Yes, your radiance. Thank you so much."

Hessonite nodded curtly, picking up the boy and making her way over to a nearby cell and easily avoiding any attempts at punches and kicks he was trying to aim at her. "Cute. it thinks it can fight." she said with a small laugh as she put the forcefield up and turned to the Ruby guard, motioning for her to follow. "Okay. You've got ten minutes. After that I want you and your defective human out of here."

"Okay!" The Ruby guard called, her eyes widening as she and the human shared a look before the gem sprinted upstairs.

As soon as Jonathon heard the door upstairs close, he jumped up and made his way to the forcefield, pushing his hand through and not exhaling until he was successfully outside of the cell. Doing his best to stay as quiet as possible, the boy slinked to the door and unlocked it, momentarily peeking his head out to give Lars, Padparadscha, Fluorite, the Rutile twins, the Rutile twins, and an anxious Pearl a wave.

"Padparadscha, how are we on time?" Lars muttered, glancing at the orange gem, who thought for a moment. "I predict we have about 3 minutes left on the timer."

Lars sighed. "Alright. I'm going in. You guys stay here in case things go South." he said, giving the Off-Colors a thumbs up before putting his hoodie up and quickly sprinting to the door and slipping in.

Jonathan grinned and pointed at a key ring a few feet above both him and Lars. "Guess Hessonite doesn't get out much." Lars muttered, grinning as well as he picked Jonathon up and put him on his shoulders.

"Alright." Jonathan said with a grin as his hands wrapped around the key and slipped it into his shirt pocket. "Let's get out of he–" the boy's voice was cut off by a sharp gasp as he suddenly gasped and wobbled back, off-balance. Before Lars had a chance to ask what had happened, both boys had toppled backwards, crashing into a display case and sending it toppling to the ground with a loud crash.

Jonathon felt his blood run cold as he heard heavy footsteps coming toward them, him and Lars exchanging a look of shock as Jet picked herself up from the ground, stunned.

"Jonathon? What the hell is-"

"Code red!" Jonathan wrenched his eyes away from the Onyx as the Ruby guard came stumbling downstairs, barely managing to round the corner as an orange spear whizzed over her head and planted itself into the wall where she had been seconds before.

"Don't think you can escape me that easily you worthless chunk of Earth!" Hessonite shrieked, her rapid footsteps coming aggressively towards them.

"I got the key! Let's get out of here!" Jonathan yelled, grabbing Jet's hand and pulling her to her feet as everyone ran out of the base. "Jet, I love you, but you could not have picked a worse time to drop by." the pink boy said as he unlocked the ship and everyone scampered onboard, the Ruby and Pearl fusing as soon as they saw each other.

"Everyone ready?" Lars asked, doing a headcount as the Off-Colors made their way to the controls and Jonathon and Jet took their seats, leaving Lars to sit in the captain's chair.

"Okay. Let's go home." the teenager said with a grin, looking out the window and grinning as Hessonite ran outside, her swear-filled rant inaudible as the shift started to lift-off.

"I predict we have a new member in our crew." Padparadscha said, glancing at Jet.

"Oh, yeah!" Jonathan said with a grin, looking at the others. "Sorry about the mishap, everyone. This is Jet! She came through Lion's mane while me and Lars were grabbing Hessonite's keys." he explained as the Off-Colors gave a series of greetings.

"Yeah, the timing…wasn't great." Lars said with a laugh.

"Yeah, Hessonite was furious. I wish I could have seen her face." Jonathan said. "I swear when that spear flew over my head I was done for. It was terrifying. But the face she made when she came out of the ship to see it was being stolen? That was hilarious." Rhodonite said, everyone sharing a laugh.

"So." Jonathan said, turning to Jet as the laughter died down. "You wanna ride the rest of the trip to Earth with us? Now that we have a ship it should be a lot easier. We may need to make a few pit-stops for fuel, but we can figure it out."

Jet hesitated for a moment before waving the boy off. "Don't worry about it now. Let's celebrate and rest up for a while, okay?" she said, playfully ruffling the boy's hair. "You've had a long day."

…

"Does anyone want to explain why Peridot is sleeping in our bathroom again?" Pearl asked, a hint of annoyance on her face as she came out of her room to find Amethyst and Steven sitting on top of the boy's bed playing Crying Breakfast Friends Racer while Freshwater poured two cups of freshly brewed tea into a cup. 3

"Lapis took the barn." Steven said with a sigh. Pearl looked baffled. "The barn?! Like as in…picked the whole thing up and took it with her?" she said in disbelief. Freshwater nodded. "That's what I said. I didn't even know that was possible." she said, picking up the cups and handing one to Pearl.

"Apparently Peridot's going to be crashing there for a few days. She's…really upset about it. I think she just needs a little more time to herself." Steven explained, looking at the bathroom door dejectedly. Amethyst paused the game and stood, rolling her eyes. "Nope. That's it. We're getting her out. She can't just sit hauled up in the bathroom all day. It isn't good for her or anyone." she said, making her way to the bathroom with Steven at her heels.

"How is it? Be honest." Freshwater asked, looking up at Pearl hopefully as the gem took a sip. "It's perfect. Thank you."

Freshwater grinned, starry eyed. "You're welcome. I've seen you make it a few times, so I wanted to make sure I got it right."

"Well, mission accomplished." Pearl said as she finished the cup and put it in the sink and turned on the faucet to start washing the dishes. Freshwater, meanwhile, made her way to the bathroom, knocking to announce her presence before sliding it open, surprised to see a dejected looking Peridot lying over the side of the tub as her music played nearby.

"Dude, let's just get out of the house. I can't stand seeing you like this, Peridot." Amethyst said as Freshwater was walking in. "What about the Kindergarten?" she said, her eyes lighting up as she snapped her fingers. "Those Amethyst guards from the Zoo came out of the same rock I was in. I've been meaning to get a good look at the neighborhood now that I've met the neighbors."

"Hey, that sounds fun. And while we're there you can tell us about all the stuff we don't know." Freshwater said, leaning against the wall. "If the Diamonds are gonna use my exit hole to try to complete another genocide, it'll be good to know what they know."

Peridot groaned as she pushed herself to a seated position. "I do miss telling you Clods stuff you don't know anything about, especially if it means preparing ourselves for when the Diamonds come back."

"Great!" Amethyst said, pumping a fist in the air and picking Peridot up, leading the way out.

"You four heading out?" Pearl asked, looking up from the book she was reading on her spot on the couch. "Yup. Gonna go to the Kindergarten for a few hours to take a load out my exit hole while we're there." Freshwater explained.

"Alright. Be safe." Pearl said, returning her attention to her book.

"You know it." Freshwater said, bending down to kiss her girlfriend on the gem. "I love you!" the gem called over her shoulder as she headed out, her face a dark blue. "I love you too." Pearl said, waving and taking another sip of the tea the shorter gem had made her.

…

"And why, exactly, are we taking this clackity and outdated ship there? The Kindergarten has a very convenient warp pad." Peridot asked from her spot curled up in the back of the boxcar she, Steven, Freshwater, and Amethyst shared.

"We're taking the scenic route." Steven explained as Freshwater swung her legs back and forth, loving the way the wind whipped through her hair. "Come on, Peridot! Take a look at the beautiful countryside."

"No." Peridot insisted at the boy's pushing. "Your attempts to entrance me with Earth's beauty are pointless. My sector of countryside was perfect. Now, it's somewhere in space. Just…let me know when we get there."

The gems exchanged a look, but nodded, agreeing to give the gem her space.

"Aah, good old Kindergarten!" Amethyst said, leading the way throughout the deserted area. "It feels so much….different now. Like, before it just felt like a bunch of empty holes. But now it's like it's empty with holes which were once full, ya know what I mean?"

Freshwater nodded. "Agreed. When I stumbled on the Kindergarten at Homeworld before knowing the dark history of the Diamonds Perfect Pearl experiment, it was just like…the holes didn't mean anything? Like, logically I knew there were once gems there, but it's so weird to think that every gem that was in these holes," she said, gesturing to the wall of Amethyst exit holes, "are - or were - once living."

Amethyst nodded. "Exactly. All those Amethysts I met in space were all right here, and I was right there in the ground. But now, I can finally start putting some faces to holes!" she exclaimed,

Steven's eyes lit up. "It's so cool! Hey, Freshwater, if we ever figure out a way to bring everyone back we should definitely start with the ones from the bubbles you sent us!"

Freshwater arched an eyebrow. "The bubbles? Steven, what are you talking about?"

"Oh yeah! I never got a chance to ask you about that! Did you ever bubble any gems while you were on Homeworld?" Steven asked. Freshwater's eyes widened. "The bubbles I made were going here?!" She said, astonished. Steven nodded. "Yeah! Where…did you even get them?" Freshwater raised her hands defensively. "Oh, trust me I know what it looks like. Rest assured that I never shattered anyone. Those were the…failures from the Perfect Pearl experiment. I guess Homeworld didn't care enough to bubble them, so they were just in their exit holes. I assumed they went to White I first bubbled them since that's who I worked for at the time, but when she said she didn't have them, I thought they were just…gone. I had no clue they were going to the Temple."

"See, that's the weirder thing." Amethyst said, cocking her head to the side. "The first time, they didn't even go to the temple. They went to Pearl's room. The second time they went to the temple heart. We probably wouldn't have even known they were there unless me, Garnet, and Pearl were already there talking about the first batch you sent us."

"Huh. Weird." Freshwater muttered. "Hey, Peridot." she called as Amethyst jumped from her exit hole. "Ya think ya can tell me some more stuff about me based on my exit hole?" she asked, walking over to her exit hole and leaning on the wall next to it with a grin.

Peridot frowned as she made her way over to the exit hole and stepping inside, her eyes widening slightly. "Huh. That's weird." she muttered. "Good growing conditions, decent space between the gems surrounding the area, good lighting…." the gem stroked her chin as she made her way out of the exit hole, looking the Pearl up and down. "Looking at you, I would think there would be more wrong."

"Dude!" Freshwater held up a hand before motioning for Peridot to continue. "See, the weird thing is…the only thing that really went wrong with this experiment was a combination of two things. Firstly, whatever clods made you didn't use nearly enough of the materials used from those injectors." the gem explained, motioning to one of the busted machines. "Secondly, you came out far earlier than you should have. Essentially, Because the gems who made you were in such a rush, they rushed and cut corners."

Freshwater looked a little surprised, but nodded. "So…where does that leave us?" Steven asked. "Oh, we're fucked." Peridot said, laughing. "See, if the Diamonds know what we know and they're really hellbent on this mission, they can easily use whatever nutrients they have and funnel it specifically into making another Pearl. Then the only thing left to do is ensure it comes out at the right time." she said with a sigh. "Look…speaking of Project Perfection." she said, glancing up at the gem in question.

"I'm sorry I was even a part of all of that mess. I-"

Freshwater held up a hand to silence the gem, offering the gem a smile. "Hey, I get it. You were just following orders. I used to be obsessed with that, and I did a lot of things I regret because of it. You didn't mean anything by it." she said, patting the gem on the arm. "Now that that boring stuff is done," she said, turning to Amethyst.

"Ya wanna tell us which Amethysts belong with which exit holes?"

…

"How was gardening today?" Pearl asked, turning from her collection of weaponry when she heard her door slide open.

"Exhausting." Freshwater said, the door sliding closed behind her. "Things were amazing yesterday. We managed to plant so many beautiful flowers, but when we went back today, they were dead." she said with a sigh. "On the bright side, though, we're probably going to try to grow something literally…anywhere else. It's really helped Peridot cope with Lapis leaving." she explained as Pearl sat on the bed next to her.

"I'm glad she has some sort of an outlet. It's better that she isn't cooped up in the bathroom all day." Pearl said, cocking her head to the side as she sat on the bed, patting the spot next to her for Freshwater to join her. "So, did you guys learn anything by studying your exit hole?"

"Yeah." Freshwater said dejectedly, joining the taller gem. "In Peridot's words, we're fucked." she said. "See, apparently the reason I'm so screwed up is because the gems that made me didn't use enough of that stuff from the injector. Combine that with me not staying in the ground very long because Holly was in such a rush and well…" the gem looked down and gestured to herself with a disgusted look. "You get an ugly, defective, mess."

"Freshwater. Look at me." Pearl said, gently taking the gem's face in her hands and turning it to look at her. "Don't talk about my girlfriend like that. Homeworld's concept of beauty and defectiveness is wrong. Not only do I love your personality, I like looking at you. You're a beautiful gem both inside and out, and don't let anyone tell you any different."

Freshwater put her hand on top of her girlfriend's and closed her eyes, leaning into the gem's touch. "It's just…hard. I spent years being told I was an ugly, defective, monster who didn't even deserve to be alive that it just…I feel like I can never be even half of what you think of me. Seeing myself the way you see me feels impossible."

Pearl wrapped her arms around the gem, pulling her close. "I felt the same way when I met Rose. But it'll get better one day. I promise." she said, giving the shorter gem a squeeze. "And I'll be here every step of the way." Freshwater buried her face into her girlfriend's shirt, feeling hr heart rate start to slow as that familiar warm feeling in her chest returned. "Thank you." the gem said, looking up with a smile and kissing her girlfriend. "Of course." Pearl said, gently caressing the gem's cheek as the room filled with light.

Tahitian hugged herself with a grin. "Yes! I told you we'd be able to do this again!" the fusion exclaimed as they excitedly jumped into the air. Their celebration was cut short, however, when the bed they were sitting on disappeared in a flash of light, the fusion clumsily falling to the floor. "What the-" the fusion's eyes widened as they jumped to their feet, running as fast as their legs would carry them to the temple door, barely managing to throw themselves through it and collapse onto the ground as the room disappeared and the temple door closed behind them.

"Oh man…" the gem muttered as they pushed themselves to a sitting position, jumping when they heard a loud gasp from the kitchen. Turning their attention towards where the sound came from, they shyly waved at a stunned Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven, all staring at them with mouths agape.

"Uh…sorry. I forgot that a gem's room can't exist when they're not there." Tahitian said, running a hand through her hair shyly.

"I'm Tahitian by the way."