She awoke with a jolt, pressing the area she was stabbed so long ago. The flowers had gone away millennia ago and were replaced with a quickly accumulating blanket of snow, shimmering under the soft moonlight.
A noise broke the tranquil silence, startling her. She turned towards it to find a small beach house in the hands of the Crystal Gems' temple.
"What?" she was shocked. the place looked a thousand years old, and from the small house, fluorescent light intermingled with firelight to create a glow seen from all around the area. "What happened-"
"Snowball fight!" Phosphosiderite hid behind a boulder, pulling her double sword from her gem as she observed the source of the noise.
"A human child?" she whispered to herself.
"Oh, no! You can't run from me now!" the girl roared as a hard-packed snowball was launched from her hand.
"Hey- Ah! Okay, you got me! You win!" the boy had been knocked to the ground by the force of the snowball, hit directly in his gem.
"Maybe I should have put on a coat before this…" he pulled his shirt up, exposing the gemstone that lay in place of his belly button. "Hey, cool! It's got frost on it!"
"What are you…?" Sid whispered. Bad decision.
"Cool- Wait, did you hear that noise, Steven?" the girl asked.
"No, what happened?" she followed him through the cold air, towards a towering boulder.
"H-Hey! Don't hurt me!" she backed away nervously, weapon in hand.
"Whoa! Who are you?" the girl asked. "Steven, I didn't know there were more of you guys-"
"I don't know who she is…" Steven said warily as he summoned his bubble around the two.
Startling the gem, she stepped back, retreating her weapon.
"It's okay. I don't want to hurt anyone, not any more…" she trailed off. "My name is Phosphosiderite. I'm a gem and I want to fight for the Earth and all its inhabitants."
"Phos- Wait, what?" Steven asked.
"Oh, yeah," Sid smiled. "You can just call me Sid."
"In that case, hi, Sid! My name is Steven, and this is Connie." he removed his bubble. "But where have you been this whole time? Are there others like you on Homeworld, who like Earth?"
"Well, I was in the gem war a long time ago, but when I tried to fight on Rose's side, Yellow Diamond caught me talking about it and stabbed me before I could rebel. That sword must have had some serious magic, though, because it looks like I've been out for a few thousand years. I just regenerated, right before I met you two."
"Oh! The gems'll love to meet you-" Steven exclaimed.
"Steven!" a gem came sprinting from the beach house, followed by two others.
"Don't hurt her, Garnet!" Steven yelled, jumping in front of Sid and summoning his shield. "She's a nice gem, guys!"
The Crystal Gems failed to lower their weapons.
"State your name and purpose," Garnet demanded.
"My name is Phosphosiderite, and-"
"Sid, for short," Steven interrupted.
"Oh- Yes. I was in the gem war millennia ago. I wanted to fight for Earth, alongside Rose Quartz, but Yellow Diamond overheard my plans and stopped me before I could. I've been trapped in my gem this whole time."
"Garnet, do you really believe her?" Pearl wailed. "She could be one of Peridot's spies!"
Garnet thought for a moment. "Let's go back to the temple and decide this for ourselves. Lately, corrupted gems have been more attracted to us than before, and with Lapis and Jasper out there, we need all the gems we can take in."
"Yay! So does that mean she can stay?" Steven asked.
"She can stay for now-"
"Woo-hoo!" Steven retrieved his shield and ran to hug Garnet.
When they returned to the beach house, Sid was astonished by the technology that it held.
"What's that?" she asked, touching the television.
"Aww, what? You've never watched TV before, have you?" Steven and Connie took joy in explaining how far humankind has come since the Rebellion- technology, inventions, and even space travel.
"Wow. I knew there was something wonderful about humans, something that most other gems couldn't dream to grasp," she thought about Jasper and her inability to understand the value of a life. "Have you been in contact with Homeworld at all since then?"
"Steven, I don't think you should be telling a gem we found tonight all of this. Phosphosiderite, we can tell you once you've proved yourself trustworthy." Garnet stated.
"I understand. It wouldn't exactly be smart to tell a possible enemy all you know," Sid froze, laughing nervously. Wow. That probably wasn't the best thing to say at the moment, she thought.
"Yeah. Probably not," Garnet paused, staring at Phosphosiderite suspiciously. "Steven, maybe you two should go to bed. I've heard Santa is almost here."
"Aww, Garnet! It's only 10:00!" Steven complained as Amethyst walked in with a batch of cookies.
"I call whatever Santa doesn't eat!" she set set the plate of cookies on a tray near the Christmas tree.
"Come on to bed, you two," Pearl led them to Steven's bed, away from the unfamiliar gem. "And you," Pearl pointed at Sid. "Phosphosiderite, sit by the warp pad so Garnet can watch you."
The lights had shut off, leaving only lingering eyes and unbroken silence throughout the Temple.