"Apparently, ever since The Ball, this place has been falling apart." Hessonite said, leading the gems through the desolate area of Homeworld. "Frankly, with how planned out that whole fiasco was, I'm surprised so many gems managed to get away. When Gold Pearl tried to have me join her little 'building of Era 3' fiasco with the promise of extending my meaningless existence by a few rotations, I had to bite the urge to laugh in her face."

Amethyst's eyes widened. "Wait, so she tried to shatter you, then offered for you to serve her?! Dude that is fucked up."

Hessonite chuckled. "Indeed it is. I was able to play along for long enough to snag a few bubbled gems, and I…" the gem sighed, looking away and running a hand through her hair. "I ran. I thought about stealing a ship and running to a far away planet, but I couldn't bring myself to. I had to do something. So, I ran here." she said as they finally came to a stop a few feet away from the gaping maw of the hole leading into the Kindergarten, the darkness below making it near impossible to see the bottom.

"It's a sight for sore eyes, but it's perfect. Lots of places to hide, and after a while, I was able to map out the area. I thought hunting the Off-Colors was so difficult because they were simply faster, but no. This place is freaking massive. Not only is it massive, but Gold Pearl wouldn't think to look here. It's out of the way, desolate, and most gems wouldn't even think of jumping into a dark hole." she said, rolling her eyes as the Quartz soldiers leapt into the dark abyss below, letting out whoops of laughter.

"So, how many of you are there?" Garnet asked.

Hessonite smirked. "Why don't you see for yourselves?" she said simply before running and jumping into the darkness below, leaving the gems to watch in anticipation as the gem landed solidly on her feet and stared up at them.

"Well, come on then. We don't have all day."

…

Tourmaline sighed as she closed the temple door behind her, the sound of Bismuth's commanding voice behind her muffling and growing distant as she looked towards the temple stairs.

"You do realize us checking every night isn't going to help speed the process up any sooner, right?" B9 said with a scoff.

"Maybe not." Jet responded, making her way over to the kitchen and rummaging through the drawers until she found a cup and grabbed it. "But I really want to be around when she gets back. Freshwater spazzed out when she realized Pearl was poofed,and I have an inkling that Pearl's going to be just as distressed."

"And…how is that our problem?" B9 said, rolling her eyes as the fusion started a cup of coffee.

Jet sighed, the fusion leaning against the table as the sound of brewing coffee filled the kitchen.

"Oh, are you still beating yourself up over that? Come on Jet, it's been ages since we -"

"Tried to kill Freshwater?"

The room fell silent and remained that way until the ding of the coffeemaker made the fusion jump and go to it, picking up the mug and pouring a cup before beginning to make her way upstairs.

B9 opened her mouth and started to argue, but immediately shut her mouth when she saw a bright flash of light and Pearl's gemstone lift into the air, the gem landing solidly on her feet, weapon at the ready and leveled inches away from Tourmaline, who calmly put the cup down.

"Where's Freshwater?" the gem said icily, not leveling her weapon.

"Not here." the fusion said simply, her voice level, but strained.

"Did you-"

"No!" the gem snarled before sighing and pinching her nose with one of her hands. "I..I mean." the gem sighed before continuing. "No. We didn't do anything to her. She, Amethyst, Garnet, and Steven went to Homeworld to try to put a stop to Gold Pearl's reign of tyranny." the gem paused before continuing. "She…told us to keep an eye on you and let you know what was going on when you reformed."

For a long moment, Pearl stared deep into the eyes of the fusion before slowly lowering her weapon when she didn't see a trace of a lie in either pair of eyes.

"Well…now that that's settled," Tourmaline said, fiddling with her uniform and trying to hide the relief that washed over her. "You've missed a lot. Firstly, the Diamonds didn't manage to eradicate everyone. Granted, many lives were lost, but some were able to escape and managed to run here, so we have new members to the Crystal Gems. A crew consisting of defective Sapphire, two fusions, a defective Rhutile, with their leader being the two humans that were stuck in space. At some point, they ran into another crew consisting of the gems that managed to escape the ball when it went down - a Jasper guard and, believe it or not, Blue and Yellow's Pearls. They were actually - "

"Wait, wait, wait - Blue and Yellow are here? " Pearl said, slack jawed.

Tourmaline looked slightly annoyed at the interruption but nodded. "Yes. Apparently the Amethysts that were working at the Zoo bonded together to find a way to save as many gems as possible, and the Diamonds Pearls helped with that. They've…actually been doing well in helping us build a ship to fly to Homeworld. As much as we all wanted to board on the Off-Color's ship and deal with Gold Pearl once and for all, we figured going in without knowing what to expect would be too risky. So Garnet, Amethyst, Freshwater, and Steven went to scope out the area so that when we get there, we actually know what to expect, along with potentially convert any gems they can to fight against Gold Pearl's tyranny."

Pearl squinted in confusion. "Wait, what do you mean Gold Pearl's tyranny?"

Tourmaline's eyes widened and a sheepish smile crossed her face. "Oh yeaaaahh, I forgot you weren't here for that. See, the Diamonds kinda…aren't in charge anymore, if you catch my drift. Or at least, Blue and Yellow aren't. As far as I know, White is still in charge, but frankly it wouldn't shock me if Gold Pearl decided to just shatter her too because frankly, this gem is obsessed with Era 3 and wants it to go her way."

Pearl did her best to pick her jaw off the ground as she sighed, sitting on the bed and shaking her head. "Anything else?" she asked, rubbing her temples.

Tourmaline thought for a moment before snapping her fingers. "Well, there is one thing. Your engagement ring - Freshwater's got it. See, we could tell she was really shaken up about leaving before you reformed, so we put it on a chain and gave it to her to help her steel her nerves. You'll get it back as soon as you two reunite."

Pearl felt her anger ebb away slightly as she nodded. As much as she already missed the ring, she felt a small smile creep onto her face at the thought that the sign of their love was serving as something that could help anchor her in her time of stress.

"Well, now that you're all settled…" Tourmaline said, picking up the coffee mug and offering it to Pearl, who looked at it like it might bite her head off.

Tourmaline resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Relax. Jet's seen Freshwater make the Earth beverage thousands of times. Anyhow…if we wanted to kill you, we wouldn't be so cowardly about it."

"Oh, you made that blatantly obvious." Pearl said, immediately pulling her hand back with a scowl.

Tourmaline's eyes flashed briefly before a look of hurt returned to her face, one set of eyes glaring back at the gem as B9 started to protest. "Pearl-"

"Stop." Pearl said, holding her hand up and staring the fusion down. "Don't even try to defend yourself. You may have won Freshwater over with your little ring stunt, but that doesn't undo the fact that you tried to kill my fiance."

Tourmaline flinched. "Pearl, it wasn't personal! Anyway, she agreed to-"

"You and I both know you had Freshwater backed into a corner. She was all too willing to turn herself into the Diamonds for my sake, and you were going to happily throw her to the wolves to suffer a fate worse than shattering." Pearl ranted with clenched fists.

"But she wasn't shattered! She was able to make it out alive. There's no point in being mad at me when everything turned out fine!" B9 shot back.

"Just because everything turned out fine doesn't make what you did any less fucked up!

"I know! " Tourmaline yelled, finally losing her temper and throwing the cup of coffee on the ground, sending it splintering into a heap of porcelain shards and the room into deafening silence as both gems finally broke eye contact and looked away.

"Do…you know what happened? After the ship left without us." Pearl said, unable to bring herself to look at the fusion.

Tourmaline bit her lower lip, hesitating for a moment before answering the gem's question. "You and Freshwater were able to fuse and went to were brought to the Dia-"

"No. Before that." Pearl said, her voice softer but still full of fury.

Tourmaline's mind went blank as she finally glanced up at the gem, who continued in a low, even voice.

"Do you really think Holly Blue just brought us to the Diamonds without punishment?" Pearl asked, her voice shaking as she raised her eyes to meet the fusion's, who looked away shamefully.

"She may not have laid a hand on me. But that monster… " Pearl said, gritting her teeth as she continued. "She beat her to the brink of death . That night was the night she finally told me about the abuse she suffered in her time serving that tyrant. If you had been ignorant to that fact for as long as I was, I may be more inclined to forgive you weren't ." she said, taking a step forward so she was nose to nose with the fusion, who held her ground.

"I know you were there when Holly Blue almost shattered her for leaving the Zoo."

The fusion went rigid, B9's usually argumentative nature immediately stopped in its tracks.

"So that means you knew about the abuse Holly Blue was inflicting on that gem - and yet you still didn't call it off. You still knowingly planned to leave Freshwater in the hands of her abuser. As much as I loathe the Diamonds, at least their shattering has reason. Fucked up reason, but Hlly Blue isn't like them. She shatters out of malice. She enjoys inflicting pain on others, and did that to Freshwater for centuries. And you were planning on leaving her to face that." the lithe gem said, finally taking a step back, her hands still shaking furiously.

"Alone."

"You're right." she said simply, starting to clean up the mess she'd made.

Pearl's eyes narrowed. "Is that all you have to say? I know I'm-"

"What else is there to say? I could say I'm sorry, but you and I both know that isn't going to cut it." the fusion said with a sigh, grabbing a broom from the closet.

Pearl crossed her arms, her gaze finally softening slightly. "Well…for what it's worth at least Freshwater's forgiven you. I don't know or understand why. But you should consider yourself grateful." she said, shaking her head and finally making her way out of the room, downstairs, and out the door which slammed loudly behind her, leaving Tourmaline broom in hand to clean up the mess she'd made.

…

Freshwater let out a grunt of discomfort as her feet met the ground of the Kindergarten below, the force of the fall causing her to stumble forward and into Garnet, who caught her by the arm and helped steady her.

"Alright, that should be everyone." Hessonite said, flickering on the light from her gem so she could do a headcount before turning on her heels and leading the way intot he dark catacombs of the Kindergarten.

"So…Do you guys have a plan?" Steven asked from his spot atop Garnet's shoulders.

Hessonite barked out a laugh. "Of course we have a plan, human. What, did you think we would just go stumbling into Gold Pearl's abode looking for a fight?" she asked, glancing over her shoulders. "I'm sure the Crystal Gems wouldn't be that sloppy, so why do you think we would be?"

Freshwater blushed as she and the gems exchanged a look.

"Well…our plan is more of a work in progress." Amethyst said sheepishly.

Hessonite rolled her eyes. "Of course it is. Well, in order for us not to be shattered in the bink of an eye, we've been planning. We were actually waiting on your crew to shop up for added manpower, especially since you have her on your team." she said, nodding at Freshwater, whose eyes widened slightly. Before the gem could ask for the former elite to elaborate, however, Hessonite put her fingers to her lips and let out a long, low whistle that echoed across the walls of the Kindergarten. When she received a return signal of three short, high pitched whistles in return, she nodded and turned to the others, motioning to a Warp Pad that Freshwater hadn't even spotted in the darkness.

"This Warp Pad leads into the deepest parts of the Kindergarten. Stepping on it will take us directly to our base. We've configured every Warp Pad on Homeworld to be capable of taking any gem registered into the system to our base in the case of an emergency, but I figured it would be a really dumb move to have a bunch of gems I haven't introduced yet suddenly be thrown into our home base. Quick way to get yourself shattered, as we don't take intruders lightly." she said, pulling a small box from her pocket and opening it to reveal a minuscule Robonoid that was a vibrant purple with green splotches on it. Placing the Robonoid on the Warp Pad,the gems watched as it stood silent for a moment before a bright light flashed, illuminating the Kindergarten in a purple hue for a moment before returning it to darkness.

Freshwater lowered her hands from rubbing her eyes from the bright light just in time to hear th Robonoid let out a small whirring sound before it dinged softly, its legs rolled in on itself to its usual bar form, and it imploded, leaving behind only a heap of metal.

"What was that about?" Amethyst asked grumpily, still rubbing her eyes.

"Initiation." Hessonite said with a small smirk. "And registration. See, that Robonoid is a swift way to register any gem we want into our system. Not only does it allow us to restrict who has access to our base, but every time a new group of gems are registered, it alerts our group. That way, if someone we don't authorize manage to get their hands on one of our Registration Robonoids, we have a squadron of gems ready to subdue them." she said, clasping her hands together.

"Now that that's settled. Let's get you gems debriefed." she said, stepping onto the Warp Pad and disappearing into a stream of bright blue light.