"Believe in..." Steven took a deep breath. "Garnet Amethyst Pearl Peridot Aventurine... and Steven!"
Peridot let out a short groan as the three sat on the roof of the barn. They were curled up in a foetal position just in front of Steven and Aventurine.
"You're right, Peridot." The boy strummed their ukulele. "I probably have to change the melody rather than the lyrics."
"I'm a traitor to my Homeworld."
Aventurine patted the green Gem's arm, dipping their hand into a large bag of Chaaaaaps. "Cheer up, pieslice. Look how happy Steven is, and he's the one who has to completely change his rad song just to fit us in!"
Steven blushed. "Thanks, Aventurine... A-vent-ur-ine, that's four syllables. Hey, do you think I could call you a nickname in the song?"
"Oh, no you don't." Aventurine shook their head. "Sorry pal, but nothing good ever comes out of humans shortening my name."
"I'm a Crystal Gem." Peridot moaned, breaking the conversation.
The boy leaned forwards. "I heard you calling Yellow Diamond a clod, right to her face! That was really cool!"
"You two don't understand anything..."
Aventurine balled up the plastic bag and placed it inside their cloak. "Eh, I know more than you think. Here,"
Something landed on Peridot's face. They took a break from lounging in the depths of utter despair to examine it.
"This is my audio log." The green Gem sat up, frowning. "Where did you find this?"
"In the Temple."
Steven cut in. "Aventurine, that's really dangerous! Garnet said the Temple needed several weeks to repair after all the damage Malachite did."
"Chill, pal!" The cloaked Gem grinned and patted Steven's head. "I always know what I'm doing. And hey, Amethyst!"
This last addition caused Peridot and Steven to turn their heads, where they saw the Gem in question perched on the roof, fluttering their wings.
"What's up, guys?" Amethyst shapeshifted back into their regular form. "Uh, Pearl wants to know if Peri's finished freaking out about Yellow Diamond. She needs you to help with the drill- oh, and Steven can help gather stuff with me n'Garnet."
Steven frowned. "What about- hey, where's Aventurine?"
"I dunno. All the more reason for you to come with us; we're getting tungsten!" The purple Gem helped Steven to their feet. "And what about you, Peri?"
Peridot looked down at their audio log. "Just... give me a moment."
"Alright dude, but I think if you stay up here much longer P's gonna come up and drag you down. She's really missed working with you... but don't tell her I said that."
The green Gem waited until the two had gone. Then they stood up, walked towards a hole in the roof and jumped down into it. This upper floor was currently the Gem's home in place of the Temple, and except for Peridot's communication device (which they had so far refused to throw away) a caterpillar sleeping bag, a lamp and a TV laid out for Steven, it was notably empty in comparison to the rest of the barn.
It was there that Peridot brought up the audio log, looking around suspiciously in case some nosy Gem was lurking in the shadows. Seeing nobody there, they pressed the record button.
It made a strange whirring noise, and the red light that flashed when it was recording did not appear.
Peridot frowned, shook it a little and tried again. There was still nothing, so they rewinded to check if it was truly broken.
"Heyyy, pieslice!" There was a click as the recording ended.
This made them jump. It took a few seconds of searching for Aventurine before they realised the sound came from the audio log.
Had Aventurine... been using their log? They rewound it a bit more.
"Hey!" Click. "Steven, hi!" Click. "BP, how're you doing?" Click. "Steven! Hey!" Click.
After a couple more rewinds, it was apparent Aventurine had filled the audio log with slight variations of greetings to Peridot, Steven and this BP.
It was a strange prank, the green Gem thought as they began erasing all the messages, but no stranger than Amethyst's. Then they pressed the record button, and it began working normally.
"Ahem. Log date 8 12 9. Oh my stars, I can't believe I just did that!" They stared out of the window. "I called Yellow Diamond a clod, right to her face! But, she was being extremely unreasonable about Earth... but she is Yellow Diamond! Maybe she had had reasons for doing so? But she refused to listen to me, and now I'm stuck here – a Crystal Gem! - working on a drill to defeat the Cluster. And-"
"Peridot!" It sounded like Pearl was downstairs. "Are you sure you don't want to work on the drill? It'll make you feel better, I promise!"
"Peridot Facet 5, end log." Peridot put the log net to their communicator, let out deep sigh and began climbing down the ladder. "Fiiiine. I suppose it would at least distract me from- Nghyaaaaaa!"
This strangled-cat noise was produced by the green Gem slipping on a rung, falling almost the entire height of the barn and faceplanting on the ground with a cracking sound.
"Peridot!"
Pearl ran over to the green Gem and helped them up. "Peridot! Are you okay?"
Peridot frowned and opened their mouth, but for some strange reason no words came out.
"Your Gem..." Pearl breathed, their eyes wide with fear. "Ohhhh... okay! This is fine, we just have to find Steven... who is out with Garnet and Amethyst. Well, wait here! No no, come with me!"
They grabbed Peridot by the scruff of their neck, dragging them over to a chair by the blackboard outside. Then they began poking and prodding at the green Gem's face, much to their displeasure.
"Stay still, Peridot! Oh... Oh no... Oh, stay calm! Don't worry!" Pearl backed off, trying for a reassuring smile. "Steven will be back soon. You'll be fine! In the meantime just... stay there and don't panic!"
The green Gem wanted to point out they should take their own advice, but as they couldn't speak they settled with a pouting glare.
"Great! So, you can stay there and rest while I go work on the drill right here." The pale Gem picked up a wrench, seeming to calm down just that little bit. "Okay. This is good, if you just stay there... what can go wrong?"
A loud roar of pain sounded from behind the drill, and Lion skidded to a halt in front of them. A second later a blue corrupt Gem stomped onto the scene.
Peridot recognised that Gem. It was the one that had attacked them and Aventurine back at Steven's house.
Meanwhile, Pearl drew a spear from their gemstone. "I don't know how you got out, but you're going back where we put you!" They leapt up onto the drill and threw their weapon right into its eye. The Gem monster growled and stumbled back before taking a deep breath and roaring right back, depositing a thick coating of ice both on the drill and the grass in front of it.
The fight was on. Peridot got up and peeked around the side of the drill to see what was happening.
The blue monster raised a hand and smashed it into the ground where Pearl was standing, but they darted to the side and shot a charge at the arm. The resulting explosion took their arm right off, and the corrupt Gem turned to face them, breathing hard.
Pearl aimed their spear right into its mouth for a killing blow, but before they could do anything the monster roared. This time, its breath completely froze the pale Gem in a messy clump of ice. Then it raised its fist and prepared to strike.
Peridot began to panic. They ducked behind the drill, trembling all over in silent fear for their life. One day into being a Crystal Gem, and already they were going to be shattered by this monster.
There was a great bellow and a thud, causing the green Gem to flinch. Then they thought about all the ways they could've done something to help Pearl... but no. They hid here, and now-
"Hey, pearl!" Peridot's eyes opened at the voice. "I thought you needed an assist."
There was a poofing sound. "That was excellent timing, Aventurine! Thank you!"
"No problem."
"Peridot?" The green Gem jumped, before crawling out of their hiding space.
They saw Aventurine and Pearl standing together. Aventurine turned around to Peridot and began grinning widely.
"Wow, that's some crack. Did'ja get that fighting the monster?"
Peridot shook their head. Pearl sighed deeply.
"No. But, I suppose I did tell you to stay where you were."
There was an awkward silence. Then the pale Gem brightened up. "Well, what are we all waiting for? The three of us can help get the ice off this drill whilst we wait for Steven to come back!"
The green Gem got to their feet, but when they looked up again they saw Aventurine was gone.