-Six Thousand Years Ago-

The young gem laid motionless in the middle of a field of wildflowers, having crash-landed on another planet, far away from her own.

"Am I dead?..." She thought, staring up at the stars above her. It was then that she realized she had no body, and couldn't move, her subconscious mind giving her sight. "Why is everything pink?" She quickly became confused, and even a little panicked, but she soon calmed, becoming aware of her place. "Is this what regeneration is like? How does this even work? Do I just... Pop out? How did I even get here?"

She slowly started to regain feeling.

Peridot drifted in and out of sleep, the past day's events racing through her mind. She was rid of her problems, so why did she feel so... empty? She was finally free, able to devote all her time to destroying the miserable rock that was Earth. Free of responsibility for the life she had created all those hundreds of years ago, when she had wrongly believed that companionship was necessary. Now she was someone else's problem, if she was even still alive. She turned on her side, stretching her arm out, her lips turning downward at the empty space, where the other gem has used to lie.

What had she done?

-Present Day-

"Hey, want to check out this cool thing I found down the beach?" Steven asked.

"Sure," Connie grinned at him. "What is it?"

"It's a surprise. Come on!" Together they ran down the steps, giggling as they chased each other through the sand.

Centipeetles skittered across the sand, snarling as green drips of saliva rolled off their jagged teeth. Their sights locked in on the blonde standing in her usual place by the cluster of rocks, and they picked up their speed, charging towards her with jaws open wide.

Panicking, she drew her weapon, a stone sword she had crafted in her early days on Earth, when the area was rampant with monsters and other gems. She slashed at the creatures swarming around her ankles, crying out in pain when they bit at her legs, tearing the fabric of her jeans even more than they already were. As an inexperienced fighter, she soon acquired multiple gashes, each one more painful and deeper than the last. The long sleeves of her hooded pullover had ridden up towards her elbows, but she didn't have time to care. A Centipeetle head-butted the back of her legs, and she lost her balance, slipping and tumbling on the sea moistened rocks, smashing the back of her head on a rock.

Steven and Connie continued to run, almost to their destination when Connie stopped dead in her tracks, grasping Steven's wrist to slow him down.

"Look." She whispered, tilting her head toward the girl, desperately lacerating at the swarm, landing only one hit for every several they landed on her. "She needs our help, Steven." She gaped in horror as she slipped, flinching as she came in contact with the rock.

The girl staggered to her feet, just then noticing the two children standing there. She gasped and yanked her sleeve down, but not before they had seen what she had been trying so hard to hide. The Centipeetles knocked her down once again, and the two sprang into action.

Steven drew his mother's sword from his gem and handed it to her. "You take out the Centipeetles. I'll go and help her up."

Connie nodded and rushed off, gripping the sword tightly in her hands, as she had in all her training sessions.

Steven ran towards the girl lying on the sand, kneeling beside her, throwing the few Centipeetles in their area in the other direction. "You're going to be alright. I want to help you." He said, observing her condition carefully. She'd taken a lot of damage.

She shook her head and tried to pull herself up, coughing and heaving, gasping for air.

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down." Steven gently pushed her back onto the sand. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"You can't tell anyone about this," She pleaded, the fear and desperation clear in her expression. "Please.."

"Your secret is safe with us." He assured her, gently lifting her sleeve to examine the pink gem on the top of her wrist. "Your gem isn't damaged. That's a good thing." He smiled a little, in hopes of calming her down.

"How do you know?" She asked, coughing sharply, squeezing her eyes shut in pain for a moment.

"I have one too." He whispered, pulling his shirt up a little with his free hand.

"Rose Quartz..." The girl murmured, her eyes widening. "You look... Different."

"Rose Quartz is my mom." He explained. "My name is Steven, and that's Connie over there."

Connie ran over before she could respond, holding a gem in her hand, which Steven took and bubbled away. "We're going to get you some help, okay?" Connie smiled reassuringly at the girl, pulling her sleeve back down.

Steven nodded, then turned to Connie. "I'll bubble her. Do you mind helping me carry her?" He slowly formed a bubble around the gem, causing her to panic.

"Don't worry! You're going to be okay!" He shouted, gently lifting her up off the ground. Connie grasped the other end of the bubble.

"What about her sword?"

"Leave it."

Steven set the bubble gently on the floor. The girl had lost consciousness while they'd carried her home.

"Pearl!" He shouted. "Garnet! Amethyst!"

Pearl came running into the room, soon followed by the other gems, gasping in horror.

"Steven!" Her eyes widened. "What happened?!"

"She got attacked by a swarm of Centipeetles.. Please, you have to help her!"

"Corrupted gems don't usually attack humans..." She looked down at the girl. "Alright. Take her out of the bubble and bring her in the living room." She walked off to get the first aid materials, then came back into the living room. She knelt down at her side, gently cleansing the wound at the back of her head with alcohol, trying to gently separate the blood matted strands of her hair. She picked up a pair of scissors and clipped the reddened strands away. The wound had ceased bleeding, so there was no need for a bandage. She then moved to her legs, cleaning the cuts with more alcohol, stitching the deeper cuts closed.

"What are we going to do about her clothing?" Pearl asked, glancing over at Steven and Connie. "Her jeans are all torn up and bloody.." She gently pulled away a loose string.

"We can't fix them unless we take them off..." Connie responded, turning her gaze towards Steven.

"I guess I should probably go then..." Steven said, standing up. "I'll go wait outside."

"Amethyst, go with him." Pearl instructed. "He might be a little distraught.."

Amethyst nodded dutifully, following Steven outside and walking out towards the water.

Garnet picked a blanket up off of the couch, lying it over her legs after her jeans had been removed, to make sure she didn't get too cold.

Connie quickly closed the gashes with small, precise stitching, a skill she'd learned from her mother years ago. "They'll have to be washed, probably with bleach."

"I can take care of that." Garnet volunteered, taking the jeans and walking off towards the laundry room.

"What do we do now?" Pearl asked, looking down at the girl.

"We just wait for her to wake up."

A few hours had passed, and it was nearing nightfall. The girl hadn't woken up yet, but someone was always watching her, in case she did, and her jeans had been cleaned, repaired, and put back on.

"It's getting late. Maybe you should head home." Garnet suggested, looking down at Connie. "We don't want to anger your mother."

Just as Connie was about to reply, the girl started to awaken.