A/N: So sorry about the hiatus, everyone! It actually had nothing to do with writer's block or anything like that - I just moved, so things got a little hectic for a week or so. On top of that, this is a pretty long chapter, about twice as long as average. But here it finally is, and I'll do my very best to get back on a regular schedule after this!

By the way, I should have mentioned this before, but you should check out my tumblr at [turbomun dot tumblr dot com / tagged / song-seekers] if you haven't already. That's where I'll post if I think I'm going to be late with an update, and I also post cool little things there like illustrations for each chapter! Take a look if you want!

"…and I couldn't even land a single hit. It was horrible. I'm horrible."

Centi's hands lay limply in her lap as she finished the story of her day, her eye fixed dejectedly on a vague point in the distance. Neph, who was crouched behind her and running a brush through her hair, gave a wordless soothing gurgle of reassurance. Nearby, a kneeling Phrita chattered out a question.

"No, I didn't try drawing my weapon. You saw what happened last time! And even trying to fight without it made me revert." By now, Centi's useless extra arms had dissipated, but knowing that they (or any other number of deformities) could reappear at any time felt like living under some sort of curse.

Phrita clicked pointedly, crawling forward; everything from her neck to her waist was more or less normal, but her lower body was a mass of writhing legs, both normal and insectile.

"Sure, it's been a month." Centi sighed roughly. "Four weeks, four days, and six hours. So what? It took me half an Earth year just to get like this, and I'm still completely useless!" She flopped backwards, causing Neph to abandon her grooming endeavor and scurry away. "I don't know why the Crystal Gems are even bothering with me."

Phrita started to reply, but was interrupted by her body starting to glow and waver. She waited patiently for it to pass, and when it did, her head was left completely normal: a single eye gem, identical to Centi's, gleamed confidently even in the meager starlight, and her tuft of white hair shifted ever so slightly in the breeze that passed between the tree trunks.

"Captain, you must not be so critical of yourself!" she announced. "You have faced many trials and have come back to us regardless! You are our captain!"

Neph began to chant as best she could with her scrambled vocal chords, and Phrita soon joined in: "Cap-tain! Cap-tain! Cap-tain!"

The volume and rhythm grated on Centi's already sensitive nerves, and she winced, clamping her hands over her ears. The other two stopped immediately, immediately overwhelmed with guilt at their failed attempt to cheer her up. So she spoke up quickly, "Thank you for believing in me. But I am not in the mood for…for loudness. Besides, what am I even the captain of anymore? I have no ship…"

"Your ship is there!" Phrita pointed emphatically to the ruin that had become their home. "Not quite airworthy, but still operational after so many years! And you are still the captain of us! We are still your crew!"

Neph nodded and screeched in agreement.

Centi couldn't help but smile the slightest bit. "I am very glad to be your captain," she admitted. "I am glad to have such a kind crew."

Phrita smiled back, and both of her friends sidled up to her, nestling close as they all watched the stars. With their vision, the distant galaxies and solar systems were endlessly fascinating, even with the tree branches blocking some of the view.

Every gem type had its quirks, and the most notable thing about Nephrites was that almost all of them had their gem in the same location: their eye. But unlike normal eye-gems, these were specially designed to give them superior sight, with features like built-in distance and trajectory calculation and intuitive navigation abilities. Nephrites had always been a nomadic class, whether they were the pioneers who set off into space to find new planets to colonize, or (like Centi and her crew) were simply created after such planets had been found to transport supplies and builder gems to the new settlements. They were known for being adaptable, and quick thinkers, especially those who were designated to take charge of the ships.

Centi missed those qualities in herself, and while she didn't exactly yearn for the days when she'd had them, she wished that those desirable traits would simply reappear now so that she could use them in her new and happier life. All she had now was her vision – both a curse and a blessing, as it sometimes contributed to her sensory overload, but other times allowed her to create beautiful drawings. Even with everything she was seeing these days, it just didn't feel like enough. She wished she could see everything that was going on around her, and maybe even further, so that she'd know what was coming for once.

…

The next day started much the same as the previous days had been: Steven came to fetch her via Warp Pad, and she followed him back to the temple silently. But once there, things took a bit of a left-hand turn. There was no sign of Peridot or Lapis, and Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were all gathered in the kitchen expectantly, clearly awaiting Centi's arrival.

Centi stopped in her tracks and gazed at them, bewildered, and they simply stared back at her for a moment. Were they expecting her to speak first…? But how could she when she didn't even know what they were doing?

Finally, Pearl steepled her fingers and asked, "How are you doing today, Centi?"

"Fine," answered Centi stiffly, trying to gage where they were going with this.

Pearl cleared her throat and opened her mouth as if to say something more, but she was interrupted by Garnet stepping forward and peering downwards from behind her visor. "I understand that you had a bit of trouble in training yesterday," she stated.

Oh. Oh. So that was what this was about… "Sorry," muttered Centi, eyeballing the floor as a hot flush invaded her tense muscles. "I'll…I'll do better next time."

Garnet inclined her head slightly. "Centi, you aren't in trouble. In fact, we wanted to apologize."

Centi was so startled that she lifted her eye without even thinking. "Apologize for what? I'm the one who – !"

"We haven't been entirely respectful of your differences," interjected Garnet. "You have limitations that we aren't used to, and we should have been more considerate."

Centi flinched as if she'd been reprimanded. "You were trying to help me. You were trying to make sure that I would succeed. If I can't survive in a battle, I'll just – "

"Shh," said Garnet, holding a finger to her lips.

Centi gulped down the rant that had been building up in her throat.

"As I said, you have unique limitations, but also unique talents," Garnet continued. "We got a glimpse of both yesterday. We need time to figure out how to best accommodate you, and you need a break. So your assignment today is to have some fun. Steven will help you."

Right on cue, Steven tugged on the sleeve of Centi's spacesuit, regarding her with huge, hopeful eyes. "Let's go to Beach City!" he proclaimed. "I haven't had the chance to show you around, but now's a perfect day for it! And there's tons of ways to have fun there!"

"I wanna come," declared Amethyst. "I'm the Crystal Gems' resident expert on fun!"

Garnet made a thumbs-up to silently approve this course of action.

Centi was still perplexed as she looked around at the four Crystal Gems. To her way of thinking, they shouldn't have to 'accommodate' her – she should be able to behave like a regular gem. But to be honest, a break sounded optimal right about now. The thought of going back to training after yesterday's disastrous session made her chest fill up with ice.

"Okay," she finally conceded. "Show me the fun part of Beach City."

Amethyst reached over and slapped her on the back, not hard enough to hurt, but not soft enough to prevent her from stumbling. "Atta girl! You need to loosen up with me and Ste-cup! Trust me, by the time today is over, you won't remember any of the bad stuff from yesterday – I guarantee it!"

…

They went to the beach first.

After the monster attack yesterday, Centi couldn't help being a little apprehensive. Fortunately it was a beautiful day: no clouds, no strong wind, and no corrupted gems. She ventured closer to the water than she ever had before.

"It's so strange how the water breathes," she murmured, both feet firmly planted in the sand where her toes would be just out of the ocean's reach. "I have never understood it."

Steven thrust his hand into the air. "Oh, oh, I know this one! Pearl taught me that gravity from the moon makes the waves move. Sometimes they're higher and sometimes they're lower, and those are called tides!"

"Huh." She tilted her head. "So it's all a part of Earth's natural systems?"

"Yep! One hundred percent natural. Cool to look at, but even cooler to swim in!" With that, he took off into the waves, kicking up saltwater sprays and dampening his jeans up to the knees. "Come on, Centi!"

Her hands met each other in front of her chest and twisted awkwardly. "Uh…I don't know how to swim. It wasn't a required skill for pilots…"

Amethyst sloshed her way into the water, turning to face Centi with her hands on her hips. "Chill out, dude. You don't have to if you don't want to, but no one says you have to go far enough that swimming is required. Stay close to shore and you can keep your feet on the bottom the whole time."

"Well…" Tentatively, Centi extended her foot so that the sole of her suit touched the water. It didn't immediately eat away at her clothes or skin; it was neither boiling hot nor freezing cold. The feeling of liquid nudging at her like it was a living thing was rather unusual, but not entirely unpleasant.

So she took a few splattery steps forward, until the water line rose to her mid-calves, and nothing bad happened at all.

"Pretty awesome, right?!" called Steven.

She smiled sheepishly, not knowing how to respond.

Amethyst regarded her with a mischievous expression. "That's pretty good. Now how about you go a little further?"

That sounded fine to Centi, but out of nowhere, she had a sudden urge to be a little more playful instead of just complying with whatever she was told. She stuck her nose in the air and retorted, "What if I don't want to?"

For a split second, Amethyst's eyes widened – then she grinned. "What if I make you?"

"You can't make me do anything!" teased Centi. "I'm way taller than you!"

"Not for long!" bellowed Amethyst, and even as she spoke, her body was morphing into that of a heavily muscled fighter, a shape that easily doubled her height. She lunged towards Centi, snatched the corrupted gem around the waist, and hoisted her a foot or so into the air.

Centi squealed, banging her heels against Amethyst's artificially broad chest. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

"You're gonna play in the water, and you're gonna like it!" roared Amethyst, and with that she tossed Centi lightly towards the ocean.

The water wasn't deep where Centi landed, a few yards away, but the resulting splash was enough to drench her near-completely. She sat there, her butt in the wet sand, her knees poking up awkwardly out of the sea, her soaked hair hanging down on either side of her face like a set of curtains…and she burst into laughter. It was the first time she'd laughed in days, and it felt so refreshing that it was nearly a minute before she was able to stop. Steven and Amethyst laughed along with her, out of joy and out of relief.

Amethyst's fighter-body flashed and flowed into her normal one, and she flexed her arms triumphantly. "And the winner is…me!"

Centi did something that Steven had taught her to do not so long ago: she jabbed her tongue out of her mouth and blew a 'raspberry,' as it was called. Amethyst gasped in mock offense, and as retribution, she kicked up a new splash of water towards Centi. Centi retaliated with a splash of her own, and then Steven joined in, and then all three of them were running through the waves trying to get each other wet, playing a game that had no rules and no winners, and something incredible happened. Centi forgot about being a failure. She forgot about being useless. She even almost forgot about being corrupted. Anxiety and uncertainty had given way to a much-needed moment of pure happiness.

Finally, the three of them flopped down on the sand to catch their breath. (At least, Steven and Centi did, and it was metaphorical breath in her case. Even corrupted gems didn't need to breathe.) She was wet, sandy, salty, and utterly content. As she sat up, she flapped her hands a few times. "I think that I like the beach," she commented.

"Yeah, I like the beach, too!" agreed Steven. "Good thing we live in Beach City and we can come here all the time! Uh, well, you don't live here, Centi, but…you know what I mean."

Amethyst stretched her arms above her head. "Hey, the day of fun has only just begun! Oh, sweet, that rhymed. I'm a poet and didn't know it."

Centi giggled softly. "So, what are we doing next?"

"How about lunch?" suggested Amethyst. "I mean, you like human food, don't you?"

"Um…I like chips."

"She likes chips!" Amethyst chortled and prodded Steven lightly. "Wait until she gets to try some fries!"

…

The city proper was a little disorienting at first. Its buildings were a mash of styles and textures, so unlike the sleek designs of Homeworld architecture; unfamiliar sounds vied for Centi's attention; and of course, there were humans absolutely everywhere. But once she forced herself to relax and not try to analyze everything at once, she found the experience of being in a new place both enjoyable and interesting. She didn't have to 'figure everything out'; it was okay just to watch. She found herself wishing that she'd brought her sketchbook so that she could doodle parts of the foreign landscape around her.

As it turned out, 'fries' were like chips, except warmer and softer. "Like comfort chips!" she exclaimed after she tried them. They were good, but even better was the pizza, which Steven procured while she and Amethyst were playfully trying to steal fries from one another. Pizza was a completely different human food, an amalgamation of exotic tastes coming together as one perfect whole – and it was made even better by the fact that Steven had ordered her some with little spicy peppers on it. Centi had a particular fondness for spicy food.

Then Steven and Amethyst tugged her along to Funland. She tried cotton candy, which was shockingly sweet and had a rather novel texture. She rode a carousel, which involved sitting on an imitation of an Earth animal and going around in circles, and a Ferris wheel, which also went around in circles, except vertically instead of horizontally. From the very top, practically all of Beach City was spread out below her, and Steven pointed out various landmarks and explained what they were. Centi nodded along, though in truth, she was more focused on the view itself than on his commentary. It made her feel like she was a pilot again, in a ship providing her with an aerial view of the Earth.

After that, they went to the arcade, a small building stuffed full of interactive games. The second they stepped through the doorway, Centi cringed and slammed her hands over her ears. Steven and Amethyst looked back at her worriedly.

"Too loud," she muttered, her audio nerves throbbing from the onslaught of beeping and roaring and screaming. It didn't help that every game seemed to be flashing at least a dozen eye-dazzling lights, bombarding her with contradictor stimuli.

Steven apologized to her profusely. "We can leave if you want to. But I wanted to show you something I thought you might like…"

"It's okay, Steven. Go ahead and show me." If she didn't get used to the sounds and lights after a while, she could always inform him that she needed to make a quick exit.

He took her by the arm (carefully making sure that she wouldn't have to take her hands away from her ears) and brought her to one console towards the corner of the arcade. Then he pointed to the human-words displayed over the screen and read them for her: 'Road Killer.'

Centi hesitantly lowered her hands as she examined the machine. "Why does it have a chair?"

"This is a human driving simulator!" he informed her. "Humans drive these things called cars, which are sort of like tiny spaceships that go on the ground. I thought that maybe, since you're a pilot, you might like to try driving! Except, you know, maybe not in a real car, since you've never done this before…"

"Um…okay, I'll try it." She slid into the seat; it wasn't too different from a captain's chair, really, except the controls in front of her were far less sophisticated than even the simplest gem ships. "How do I operate the virtual human ship?"

He brightened at her acceptance of his idea and started pointing to her feet. "Okay, so, that pedal is for going, and that one is for stopping, and that one…doesn't do anything, so forget about it. And you spin the wheel to turn, and that's it! Oh, and you're supposed to crash into everything. But that's just for this game, not for real life."

Centi was slightly scandalized. "Why would I crash into everything? That would damage the ship!"

"Like I said, it's just a game! And games are about doing fun things that you can't do in real life."

While she didn't quite understand why crashing a human-ship could be considered fun, she let Steven insert a quarter and tried the game anyway. Her command of the on-screen vehicle was wavery at first, and she always seemed to overshoot with the frustratingly imprecise steering controls, but it was only a few minutes before she started to get the hang of it.

Nephrites were programmed with full knowledge of all gem spacecraft up to the time of their creation, and they were periodically updated with information on new models to avoid the need for a lengthy training process – but even more than that, their greatest time-saving trait was their general adaptability to vehicles of all sorts. As Centi played Road Killer, she felt like her hands and her eyes, more than her mind itself, were observing patterns and converting them into usable data. Ten minutes later, she was turning the wheel and using the gearshift like she'd been playing human-ship games for thousands of years. Maybe this was a good sign that her acclimation to technology had at least partially survived her corruption; then again, the game's controls were childishly simple compared to her ship.

"YOU'RE HORRIBLE!" blared the game, causing her to start and jerk the wheel for a second. She corrected her course as quickly as possible.

"The game's just saying that because you haven't crashed into anything," Steven assured her quickly. "Besides that, you're doing really good!"

Amethyst was peering over the back of the seat at the screen. "Yeah, you are. We should put you on a game where you don't have to crash constantly; I bet you'd slay!"

Centi smiled to herself, her eye still focused on the movements of the virtual vehicle. "It's not as good as flying," she said. "But it's pretty fun anyway."

…

The sun was almost touching the horizon by the time that the trio was ready to end their day of fun. As they wandered back through the streets, Centi felt not only happy, but normal. None of the humans were staring at her single-eyed face or ragged spacesuit. Nobody cared whether she was corrupted or not. She had successfully managed to enjoy several forms of Earth entertainment…and she hadn't experienced a single physical reversion all day.

Amethyst chugged a can of soda that she'd been toting along with her and belched. (Centi had tried soda earlier in the day, but had found the carbonation exceedingly painful, and couldn't help wondering why anyone would choose to ingest such things.) "So, what'd you think of Beach City, corrupted homegirl?" she asked.

"I liked it!" answered Centi brightly. "It's been a good day. Thank you for bringing me out here."

Amethyst slapped her on the back. "You're welcome! It's always nice to take a day off once in a while. Or almost all the time." She chortled at her own remark.

The phrase 'day off' reminded Centi that the time before she had to return to training was limited. Her thoughts must have wandered onto her face, because Steven touched her arm and said, "Don't worry about what comes next, okay? Garnet and Pearl are gonna come up with a new way to help you learn. And they're not gonna make you do it right away, either."

Centi shrugged. She didn't want to talk about it.

Amethyst crushed her soda can in her fist and hurled it over her shoulder. The sun began to look a little more orange as it lowered over the beach. All was quiet and right with the world…until Steven suddenly stopped up short.

"What's up, little dude?" asked Amethyst curiously, but when he pointed ahead of them, all casual laziness vanished from her demeanor.

Standing on the side of the street ahead of them were two small, square, reddish figures.

Centi stiffened, her foot halting in midair. "A-are those…?!"

"Rubies!" exclaimed Amethyst in a whisper.

"Shhh!" hissed Steven. "They haven't seen us yet! Quick, we've gotta get out of sight!"

The three of them scrambled into a nearby alleyway where they wouldn't be immediately spotted, peering out at the two Rubies. One of them had her gem on her lower back; the other's gem was on her cheek, like some kind of massively uneven blush. The back-Ruby was gripping a small handheld device with a design unfamiliar to Centi. Presumably it was something after her time.

"What are they doing here?!" whispered Amethyst angrily. Her fingers were twitching, as if longing to curl around the handle of a whip. "There aren't any monsters around!"

"Looking for us?" suggested Steven softly, before frowning. "But why wouldn't they go to the temple? Everyone knows that's where we live…"

Suddenly, back-Ruby broke off and pointed her device in the direction of the alley. Amethyst was the first to react: she yanked both Centi and Steven out of sight, dragging them further into the shadows. Age-flattened garbage gave slightly under Centi's feet as she stumbled forward –

And nearly collided with a solid metal obstruction. Some human had parked a car at the opposite entrance to the alleyway, rendering them trapped. When Centi whirled around, her eye drilled into the murky light and spotted the shadows of the Ruby duo giving chase.

"W-we're trapped!" she stammered.

Steven shook his head frantically. "We can still go over the car – "

"Or through it!" interjected Amethyst. She grabbed the door handle, and it must have been unlocked, because the door suddenly swung aside to reveal the car's interior. "Yeah, that worked!"

Moments later, one of the Rubies barked, "There they are!"

"Hey, you rebels!" shouted the other one. "Stop right there!"

Steven, Amethyst, and Centi flung themselves into the car at warp speed. Steven slammed the door shut behind them and clicked down on the lock button.

Amethyst eyed him with a frown. "What'd you do that for?!"

"If we run, they'll catch up to us!" he protested. "I figured that this way we could lock them out!"

The Rubies were almost instantaneously pounding at the thick glass window. They yelled orders, but the specific words were lost in the transition between outside and inside.

"All we did was lock ourselves in!" complained Amethyst. "And one of them will be able to bust out the lock, just you wait!"

Now the Rubies were arguing about what to do next. Thanks to their low capacity for intelligence, it would probably take them a little while to realize that they could just forcibly open the car – but Amethyst was right, they'd destroy the lock in an instant once they figured it out. Centi's eye practically pinwheeled to take in her surroundings. Everyone else was thinking of a plan, now she had to help…!

Wait a moment.

She was in a car. A human-ship. Her gaze landed on the controls and found them to be functionally identical to those of the game she'd played less than two hours ago. Except for one thing, that is…

"Steven, what is this?" she said, prodding a bunch of jangly metal things dangling to one side of the steering wheel.

"Huh?" He looked over at her distractedly. "Oh, those are keys – "

He cut himself off and exchanged a glance with Amethyst. Apparently they had both just drawn the same conclusion as Centi.

Amethyst nudged Centi into the driver's seat. "Hope you feel like being the captain of a human-ship!"

"Amethyst!" cried Steven. "She doesn't know how to drive!"

Centi shook her head frantically. "I can do it, Steven! The human-ship is easy to operate!"

Amethyst spread her hands. "Look, Steven, I don't know how to drive at all, and your legs are too short to reach the pedals. Centi's a freakin' spaceship captain, and we have to get away from these red jokers! What other choice do we have?!"

Steven bit his lip. "Umm…I guess we have to," he conceded. "But everybody, please buckle up!"

Centi played with the keys until she found that they turned in place, and when they did, the human-ship began to rumble and grumble beneath her. Clearly the engine wasn't particularly efficient, but that didn't matter right now. As long as it was fast enough to get them away from the Rubies…

Amethyst whooped and flung herself into the backseat. Still looking rather doubtful, Steven stretched a vinyl belt first over Centi, then over himself – and not a moment too soon. One of the Rubies had drawn her weapon, a mallet, and was preparing to bring it down on the car door.

"Prepare for takeoff!" shouted Centi, wrenching the gearshift down sharply.

Then she checked the pedals, slammed her foot on the smaller one, and grabbed hold of the steering wheel as they tore into the street.