Connie ran down the footpath, being much faster than her bookish nature tells others. Despite how smart the gems are, they hadn't even looked out of the temple yet. A round, light blue object was grasped in her palm, Pearl had given it to her for contact in they had any news. Apparently the thousands of years old polymorphic gems don't use cell phones, which is not really surprising.

She finally reached her destination, a large building with a donut on the top. She had never been inside before; her parents who were so worried about trans-fats would ground her forever. This was an important reason though. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.

The first thing that hit her was the smell, she hadn't eaten since breakfast but her worry was making the donuts seem nauseating. The two teens at the counter looked up from the conversation they were having, to greet the customer.

"Hey, you're Steven's girlfriend!" Lars blurted out, his remark earning him a hit in the shoulder by Sadie.

"Lars, don't be rude" She chided him "Hello…Connie, what would you like?"

Ignoring Sadie's question, she stepped up closer to the counter "Have you seen Steven?" Her voice cracked a bit on the last syllable of his name. She was so worried, which didn't make much sense. Steven went on dangerous missions all the time, often an inch from a horrific death. This felt different though.

Lars frowned, uncharacteristically "No, he is usually in first thing, yet it is after noon. Maybe he had a mission with his weird friends"

Connie shook her head twice, rapidly. "No, they were the ones who sent me to ask" A few tears were rolling down her face "He's missing"

The donut employees' eyes widened as the blue disk began to buzz. A holographic version of Pearl appeared, telling Connie she had found something.

Sadie and Lars looked at each other, wondering who was going to go. A moment later Lars pushed Sadie away from the counter, offering to take the shift.

Sadie ran after the faster Connie to the temple.

….

Lapis and Peridot entered the meeting room, which was wood, like the living quarters, but round where they were rectangle. A plain round table, the height to be kneeled at, rested in the middle.

Two gems entered Lapis' vision, one Lapis didn't recognise and one she…

Lapis stopped in her tracks and immediately bowed to the leader, who somehow felt it important to attend this meeting. Peridot followed Lapis' example, not wanting to be the disrespectful gem but knew Diamond found bowing tiring. As evidence by a moment later when she immediately asked them to rise and sit.

"Lapis Lazuli, this is Lepidolite." Diamond informed her "As you all should know, we are here about the placement of Steven.

Lapis timidly raised her hand "Why cannot we send him back to his home planet" Diamond and Lite raised their eyebrows at her.

"He was raised by known traitors, who we have no idea of their precise numbers or aggressive nature. Steven would be safer here. Besides Peridot, by protocol of planets with rough history, blew up the warp pad behind her for the safety of our community"

Lapis hadn't known this and snuck a glance at the green gem beside her, who had a completely neutral face, much like a soldier under orders. Which, Lapis supposed, she was.

Lite spoke up in her cold tone "If he cannot return to where he came from, perhaps we should attempt to teach him our ways, he is young enough to return to the correct path." Her gem flashed on her as she said this,

Diamond nodded in agreement "That is what we will do, he will remain in the castle until we find him a carer but he will attend the institute of learning"

Peridot frowned "Excuse me, Diamond." The pale gem motioned Peridot to continue "Steven may not take too kindly at being disconnected from his carers."

"That is why you and Lapis will convince him" She replied "He also needs to see a Gem doctor"

Lapis had heard of these doctors, they weren't around when she became trapped at the beginning of the war and she had never attended one. She was told she was too far gone to re-join the path and had to live as comfortably as she could, before she was gone.

Despite this being her former home planet, she didn't understand much about its culture now. She had already been considering moving to a planet with larger oceans when she was put in the mirror. She was young then, barely out of secondary schooling at only a century of age. She had lost a vast majority of her life in a mirror.

The meeting was adjourned and Lapis, along with Peridot left the room to speak with Steven.

…

Back on Earth, the two girls entered Steven's room silently, gazing around as if they expected Steven to pop out of a closet.

On the table in front of them was a warp whistle. Connie, who recognised it from Steven's stories dragged Sadie to the warp pad and blew. She almost flew away in the warp pad, being too light to stay grounded. The more experienced Sadie thankfully grabbed her before the ride ended.

Amethyst, Garnet and Pearl waited at the galaxy warps, the significance of what they had discovered, wasn't hitting them yet. Garnet stood there so blank that the other gems were worried. Finally the domestic warp activated, Connie and Sadie stepping out.

"It's the home world warp" Pearl started to explain "It is still broken but it was originally simply cracked," she gestured towards the largest platform.

"What does that mean?"

"Steven probably isn't in Kansas anymore" Everyone turned to Garnet, eyebrow raised at her reference.

"Garnet!" Pearl screeched "That can't be true! If it is…"

She was cut off her Amethyst's, who was now sitting on the floor, sobs.

…

Steven was sitting in his new room. It was so soft; he may have considered doing handstands on it if his arm wasn't still sore from being dislocated. It was improving rapidly though.

He was bored though, to the point of climbing the walls and was thankful when he had finally had visitors.

Lapis and Peridot painfully gave the news to Steven, seeing the boy's heart slowly break. There wasn't anything they could do though. Peridot, not knowing how to comfort him properly, remained standing behind Lapis with her hands clenched.

"Steven" Lapis knelt down and hugged him. Peridot was confused at the old gesture, she had never seen it before aside from once in a book she read in the First Institute. The boy cried into Lapis' arm.

"Steven, I will get you home one day. I'll make sure of it" Peridot found herself saying.

Steven smiled at her. Lapis stood up and the two older gems slowly led the gemling to his first gem doctor appointment.

After riding on the tram for several minutes, which Steven spent gazing at the unfamiliar place, filled with dirt and simple metal or wood buildings. This was in sharp contrast to the complex looking greenhouses and roads interspersed between.

Peridot sat hunched in her seat for a while, her gem pulsing painfully as she nestled her head in her arms.

"Are you alright Peridot" Lapis asked, for which she replied that she was okay. Sure enough, the feeling did go away after a while and the green gem looked up to the young boy and her blue friend.

When they reached the clinic Steven was allowed in immediately, with Peridot in tow. Lapis wasn't permitted and remained in the waiting room, reading the textbooks on the shelf. After a long while, they came back with a red gem behind them, who Lapis presumed was the doctor.

"Remember Steven, you must remember the path" The doctor told him.

Peridot and Steven automatically replied, like robots "We will walk the path" Their gems glowed with the statement. Peridot brought her hand to her head at the now faint pain and smiled.