"Hey..." Peridot flashed an innocent smile as the spike of water hung just above them. "You know about the Cluster? Look, I have a plan to stop it! So... you don't have to harvest me!"

The fusion did not respond.

"Okay, you're not answering me. That's... fine! Fine! I've dealt with silent Gems before: you just keep rambling on and on, slowly descending into nonsensical madness as you keep hoping they do something..."

The spike of water began descending on Peridot's gemstone. They gulped.

"...Something you understand?" They went cross-eyed as the spike lowered even further.

"Hey, dirt bomb!" There was a shout from behind, causing both Peridot and Malachite to turn their heads and stare.

And there they saw Steven, arms crossed. Alive.

"You're alright..." Malachite started softly, and then they frowned. "Did you just call me a dirt bomb?"

Steven looked over to the other side of the Galaxy Warp and waved at a tall, dark, hooded figure. "Hey! That's not nice, centipeedle!"

"And that's not my name, pal!" The figure called back, and flipped back their hood. A single green gemstone eye in the centre of their face and a cocky fanged smile was all that could be seen amid a wild mass of quartz hair. They pointed directly at Malachite.

"I'm Aventurine, and if you don't let go of my pie-sliced friend, then I'll make you!"

Peridot was too shocked to register the insult.

Malachite summoned another hand of water and smashed it down on Aventurine. They continued standing there, still grinning confidently.

"So be it, dirt bomb!" At the very last second they launched themselves out of reach, jumping off the side of a pillar and nimbly landing on the fusion's hip before summoning a small black-bladed dagger and holding it in a reverse grip, edge out. Malachite swatted at them but they danced away, landing a slash on the side of the fusion's hand.

"Argh, get off of me!" Peridot suddenly found the water chains holding them down dissipated as Malachite turned their full attention to the fight. Almost immediately Steven was at their side, helping them up.

Peridot stood up shakily. "Is that-?"

"Yep, that's the centipeedle." The boy answered happily. "Isn't she cool?"

As they watched, Malachite finally caught Aventurine. With a terrible laugh, they brought them right up to their four eyes, the dagger clattering on the ground and disappearing.

"Hah!" The fusion grinned triumphantly. "You caught me by surprise, but now the game is over. I've won, and you're going to suffer for this!"

"Oh, yeah?" Aventurine didn't sound concerned in the slightest. "You're going to have to do a lot better than that, fishbreath!"

Malachite raised an eyebrow. "What are you-"

Aventurine spat acid right in the fusion's face. With a roar of pain, they let go of the Gem to cover their wounded features.

They landed gracefully on the ground in front of Steven and Peridot. The boy's eyes had gone starry in amazement.

"Wow! I always thought you were cool when you were all centipeedle-y but... you're awesome!"

"What can I say?" The tall Gem flicked their thick hair back. "I missed a good fight."

Peridot looked over at Malachite, who had recovered from the attack, their bottom set of eyes shut tightly. "What's the plan?"

"Plan? Nope, that's not my purpose." Aventurine turned around, summoning a replacement dagger. "I think Steven was talking about something when I was carrying him back here, you guys should-"

"Look out!" Peridot pointed at a giant water hand coming down on Aventurine. They darted to the side, laughing.

"Nice miss!" They taunted, enraging Malachite. Peridot let out a sigh of relief before their eyebrows knitted into a frown.

"What are you doing?" The smaller Gem scolded. "You're going to get yourself killed if you don't pay attention to the battle!"

"Oh, don't worry about me, pieslice." Aventurine flashed a grin. "I know this type: the slow angry big guys. They couldn't land a hit on me if they-"

That was when another water hand came out of the ocean and smacked Aventurite, sending them flying into a pillar. They quickly jumped to their feet, the grin wiped off their face.

"Oh, so this is how you want to play it? Let's go, fishbreath!" They summoned a second knife and sprung at the fusion.

Steven reached up and took Peridot's arm. "Hey, can you do that helicopter finger thing?"

"What? Yes." The Gem narrowed their eyes suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"

I know where Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl are."

Peridot was about to ask their companion to elaborate, but a cry of pain made them turn. Aventurine had been knocked to the ground again; they rose up and continued the battle, but they couldn't keep this up forever.

The green Gem raised both limb enhancers to the sky and activated the helicopter mode. Steven jumped up and grabbed hold of a leg, holding on tightly.

The two spinning fingers were enough to get them well in the air. Steven pointed out to the ocean.

"Aventurine caught me before I fell in the ocean," Steven started to explain. "But I think I was too heavy so she slipped and fell. When I was underwater, I heard Sapphire singing!"

Peridot frowned. "Sapphire... that name is familiar."

"She's part of Garnet. Her and Ruby must have been split up when Malachite got them."

"Ah, so that was the Sapphire Gem singing on the ship." They nodded. "How far out did you hear them?"

"I'm not sure..."Steven frowned. "Maybe you could lower me down here and I could listen for her?"

So Peridot lowered themselves down to the water until their legs – and by extension Steven – were dipping in. After a second they felt the boy tap and they raised up.

"Did you hear the Sapphire?" They asked, and Steven gave a thumbs up.

"Let's go, Dot! Lower us down!"

"Wait..." Peridot frowned. "Isn't the ocean rather incompatible to you humans? It has no air, and the pressure would crush you."

Steven's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah. I didn't think this through."

"Nyeh..." The green Gem grumbled. They deactivated the helicopter on one of their hands and placed Steven in the water. "You know how to swim, so... just stay there. If I'm not back in ten minutes you'll have died of hypothermia or drowned, so you won't care."

"Aww... Can I have a lifejacket?"

"No." With that, Peridot deactivated their other helicopter fingers and entered the ocean, sinking fast like... well, like a stone. The sound of Sapphire's singing started softly but grew louder the farther they plummeted.

Yes, they had definitely heard this song and this voice before.

Another second later, they landed on the ocean floor. Switching on their gemstone light, they looked around.

They were again surrounded by a field of bones. They allowed themselves a moment to shiver at the sight, and then listened for Sapphire.

The song was coming from the right. They turned and began walking in that direction, and it wasn't long until they happened upon a blue Gem in a dress, their hands and feet chained to the ocean floor.

The Gem turned in Peridot's direction. "You? I knew somebody would come to rescue us, but I never expected..."

The green Gem frowned and tried to say something, but all that came out was a gurgle in the ocean. Sapphire sniffed.

"Hmm. We can discuss this later. For now I would appreciate being free of these chains."

With a blast from Peridot's limb enhancers, the entire watery chain seemed to dissolve. The blue Gem rubbed their wrists.

"Thank you, Peridot. Now we must free the others. Follow me; we will come back here to get Steven."

Sapphire took the green Gem's hand and all of a sudden they were flying across the ocean floor, with Peridot barely managing to keep their feet on the ground. Then Sapphire stopped on a dime, leaving them disoriented as they stood in front of a red Gem.

"Ruby!"

This other Gem did not appear to be able to speak underwater, but it was easy to read 'Sapphire!' from their lips.

"Don't worry, Ruby. We're getting you out of here."

Then they looked to Peridot, and the death stare they gave made the green Gem a little apprehensive to release them. Still, they diligently took aim and destroyed the chain.

Immediately Ruby and Sapphire rushed to hug each other. Peridot watched somewhat awkwardly as the two began kissing, and then swinging each other around, and then they fused and there stood Garnet, who was still laughing a little bit from the joy of being together again.

All three of their eyes looked to the green Gem, and they smiled. "Good afternoon, Peridot."

Peridot grinned back, but then they remembered what they had come for. Somewhat urgently, they pointed out at the ocean.

"Alright, I get it. We've got to free Pearl and Amethyst now." Garnet summoned their visor, and then picked up Peridot with one hand. They then pushed off the ocean floor, almost flying as they traversed such a long distance with one leap. The green Gem would have been screaming loudly at this point, if not for the water.

With a thump, they landed in front of Pearl and Amethyst. The two had been chained facing each other, and as soon as they saw Garnet their tired faces lit up.

Garnet dropped Peridot, and went over to the chains binding their friends. They grabbed them both and ripped them away, freeing the two Gems simultaneously.

Pearl and Amethyst rushed to hug Garnet, who merely looked over to Peridot and beckoned. "You too, Peridot."

This provoked an explosive reaction from the other two Gems, who drew their weapons and moved in to engage.

Garnet grabbed their hands. "This isn't the time, Crystal Gems. Peridot freed us, and we have bigger problems to worry about." They touched their visor. "Crystal Gems, go directly to the Galaxy Warp. Peridot will get Steven and meet you there."

And they jumped off. Peridot activated their helicopter fingers once more and popped up on the surface, where they saw Steven lying in the water.

"How'd it g-g-go?" They shivered, and slowly swam over to grab Peridot's leg.

"The Gems are back." Peridot answered, rising out of the ocean. "Garnet told us to meet her at-"

That was when Steven slipped and fell into the water.

"Steven!" Peridot cried, and immediately dived back in and recovered the shivering boy. They held Steven with one hand whilst only just managing to hover above the water with the other.

"Whoops." The boy grinned with blue lips. "I-I slipped."

The green Gem hugged them a little tighter to their chest. "You're freezing, Steven. Humans are even more fragile than I assumed."

"I-It's okay! I've been really c-c-cold before."

"When?"

"I-I went outside the G-Galaxy Warp and..." They trailed off.

"And?"

Steven frowned. "N-n-no, it wasn't the Galaxy Warp. It was... the stream... what was I saying?"

Peridot's eyebrows drooped, and they focused silently on the Galaxy Warp that was approaching. When they neared the Galaxy Warp, they could see three Gems engaged in combat; Malachite, Aventurine and this massive blue-haired being with six arms. Suffice to say, it was not going well for Malachite.

"Argh! I won't give up!" They were shouting as Peridot laid a shivering Steven on the side. "I'll never be your prisoner again, Crystal Gems!"

Malachite hurled waves at the blue-haired fusion, but their massive size made it difficult to knock them over. They summoned giant gloves with their lowest set of hands and punched through them.

"Hey." Peridot looked up to see Aventurine standing in front of them, dual daggers in hand. They were smiling but that dropped as soon as they saw Steven. "Is Steven okay? He looks one step off from a snowman."

"I don't know." The green Gem shrugged helplessly. "Humans get over cold easily, don't they?"

"Not hypothermia, they can't!" Aventurine kneeled down and picked up Steven. "Don't worry. I learned how to treat humans back in the war for Earth."

"That was thousands of years ago."

Aventurine froze. "...Oh, yeah. Heh, it doesn't feel like that long but I guess I wasn't really keeping count, eh?"

Behind them, Malachite was forced to the ground, only a thin shield of water protecting them.

"Anyway," Aventurine cleared their throat, and took off the cloak they had been wearing. "It can't be that different to what I learned."

Peridot stared as the Gem wrapped their cloak around Steven and hugged the boy close. There was a cry of anger as Malachite's shield finally broke, and they were poofed.

"Why are you staring at me?" Aventurine's words made Peridot jump.

"N-nothing! Eh..." They looked their companion up and down. "It's just... strange."

Before they could say anything more, Pearl came charging into the two with their spear in hand.

"Alright, you two! What have you done with-"

They noticed Steven wrapped up in the cloak.

"-Steven...?"

"Yo, your face Pearl!" Amethyst came cackling into the scene. "That's priceless... eh, who are you, anyway?"

"Aventurine." The Gem answered with a grin. "You guys are the Crystal Gems, right? Where's Rose?"

That was when Garnet appeared, placing their two hands on Amethyst and Aventurine's hair. "We, have a lot to discuss."

EDIT 28/3/16 - Changed 'Adventurine' to 'Aventurine'. Thanks to CarnelianWing for pointing out this spelling mistake!