Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sailing into twilight, Peridot was perched atop the crow’s nest of the summit, acting as the ship’s shrewd eyes. She remained privy to the gloomy stack of nimbus clouds hugging the western horizon, shielding the warship from the golden glow of late sunset.

It wasn’t normally Peridot’s duty to act as the Nebula’s lookout. It was a cabin agent’s responsibility to maintain perch atop the great bow of the Homeworld airship, not an established machinist. But seeing as Homeworld had been exceptionally frugal with the Nebula’s crew, lapsing into oversight and administering a meagre crew of twenty to a Class C warship. But Peridot would not hold Homeworld to the substantial fault. In fact, it sent a thrill of pride down her back to think that they were so confident in her ability to act as one of the commanding figures aboard that they didn’t even send one of the higher elites to captain the joint.

Now all she needed to do was convince her crewmates that she was capable of more than manning the crow’s nest and spotting aerial anomalies. Anyone with functioning eyes could spot a distant ship, ally or foe. Why reserve the seat for someone who should be down in the alumiron beams and walkways, checking the hydrium cells for any leaks or malfunctions?

Regardless, Peridot’s watch was almost at an end, and she was looking forward to retreating to the warm engine capsules. Even with the glass observation dome protecting her from winds slicing past at sixty-five knots an hour, nights were cool in the crow’s nest, and she was ready to pass that burden onto whichever crew hand they would send up to replace her.

By the time that junior officer Tourmaline had come up to inform Peridot of her shift’s closure, Peridot was already put together and brisking past the next lookout as she descended the ladder, peeling through the maze of pathways, beneath the catenary curtains and through the bracing wires that gave the Nebula its form. She dropped down onto the keel catwalk, the main thoroughfare through the entire length of the ship.

Normally she would be keen to dive into her quarters at this time of day and beneath the covers of her bunk, especially now that her work hours were drawing to a close. Instead, she passed by the artillery bays and crew quarters in the stern, down the prison block where rebels captured in the imperial sky lanes resided, as well as the resident informant.

Peridot paused briefly in the block, minding the vacant cells with a critical green gaze. They were meant to hold the notorious Crystal Gem pirates that would raid the sky lanes, downing Homeworld cargo ships and warships alike. Each vessel that disembarked from a Homeworld base of operation was charged with the task of capturing and interrogating every Crystal Gem they could manage to get their anchor hooks on. They were five days out of Gemhaven’s aerial docks now, and they had yet to see any activity to suggest pirates were tailing the Nebula.

All in good time with our mission , Peridot remarked inwardly with a slant to her lips. The Nebula was charged with the task of investigating a possible region where the Crystal Gems were speculated to hide a significant station. A hub, if you would. Being able to overrun and blockade their allies and counterparts from accessing the base would be a huge milestone in the success of Homeworld’s conquest.

However, the issue lied in the fact that the Crystal Gems had managed to rewire and manipulate ancient Homeworld technologies to completely wipe them from the star maps that Homeworld used to traverse the globe.

No matter. This is exactly why the Nebula was charged with an informant who knew the locations of several Crystal Gem bases, including the hub marked in Delmarva, a province in the Western Hemisphere that rarely saw attention from its government across the Atlantius.

Peridot trotted a few steps further down the path weaving between cells, reaching the diminutive quarantine cell where the informant was kept at all times. Homeworld had seen fit that she be maintained in this block due to the fact that she couldn’t be seen as trustworthy. She vanished during the cursory epidemic of war that fumed between Homeworld and the Crystal Gems some ten years ago, and had returned to the mainland only a month prior, battered, bruised, and full of valuable information.

Peridot peered with analytical interest in through the window slot in the cell door. Lapis Lazuli Ka’auki sat with her back facing the door, head bowed to focus on something that Peridot couldn’t see. Her eyes narrowed with a mix of impertinence and commitment.

The informant had hardly been anything more than a young adult when she was supposedly captured by Crystal Gem forces early into the war and held wrongly for crimes she did not commit. Or so Peridot had been told by her superiors prior to the mission. She had been willing to spare information thus far, leading to the takedown of a reinforcement Crystal Gem camp on an island at the edges of the Northern Atlantius Ocean. She seemed more hesitant to reveal the exact location of the Delmarva base, however, much to the frustration of the crew and her handlers.

Peridot’s nose scrunched as she turned away from the cell and made haste out of the prison block and down into the control car, the Nebula’s primary command post. The helm was reserved for higher-ranking members aboard the warship, so Peridot couldn’t help but feel a smidge of satisfaction as she keyed in the code to unlock the sealed door.

Inside the control car hovered the lead navigator and aviator, Captain Nephrite, gazing out the enormous wraparound windows of the car. Because the carriage was so well back from the bow of the ship its view of anything high overhead was limited, hence placing a constant lookout in the forward crow’s nest. The Nebula needed a set of eyes up top.

Peridot enjoyed working beneath Captain Nephrite, despite the fact she previously belonged to the Pink Diamond, a faction long since shattered since the turning tide of the war against the Crystal Gems. Peridot, herself, thrived under Yellow Diamond’s authority: a perfectly rational, logical, and militant leader. She boasted her allegiance to her faction at Homeworld with a sleek, yellow, rhombus-shaped brooch fastened to the lapel of her vest. She wore the ornament with pride, unlike some forsworn officers.

Wearily, Peridot eyed Jasper from the back of the control car. The soldier had a solid reputation on Homeworld, dubbed an unstoppable force that could throttle any Crystal Gem put in her path. The only reason she had been stationed on the Nebula was to act as extra muscle, but more than half the time she could be found stomping about the cockpit, barking orders like she was captain.

Peridot was sure everyone was too frightened to say anything because of the weapon she carried holstered to her thigh. The contraption was capable of sending half a thousand volts through the skin of anyone unfortunate enough to be at the pummeling end of one of Jasper’s tirades. Normally, this wouldn’t be a drastically lethal amount of shock. But after being kicked and tossed around with bruises and broken skin, a single zap of that thing could completely immobilize someone. No one was willing to take that chance, especially Peridot.

Peridot shuddered at the thought before willing herself into the control car, strolling up to Captain Nephrite to glance neutrally out the window, over the open ocean. “The nimbus clouds spotted on the horizon are well behind the Nebula now,” she reported, moving her gaze leeward, like she would be able to spot them in the far distance. “It should be easy sailing from here to Delmarva, Captain Nephrite.”

“I’m pleased to hear,” Captain Nephrite nodded, turning to regard Peridot briefly through the corner of her eye. “And your post?”

“Assumed by Tourmaline not five minutes prior to my arrival in the car. It’s my belief that she is responsible for the lookout tonight.”

“We’ve been fortunate to have peaceful nights,” the captain remarked, her clean, sleeved arms folding thoughtfully behind her back as the night deepened outside. “Especially after the invasion near the southern edgemarkers of the Atlantius. I would have expected some form of aerial retaliation by now.”

“The Crystal Gems-”

“Had better try thinking again before deciding to tackle another Homeworld vessel.” Jasper’s callous growl resonated throughout the cabin. Peridot had to refrain from rolling her eyes back into her skull as the stomping footfalls halted behind her. “It didn’t bode well for them the last time those impudent runts tried to take on Commander Emerald’s Sun Incinerator. You’d think they would learn a lesson after a good beating or two. Or ten.”

“Homeworld has recognized the Crystal Gems as a stubborn threat to the Great Diamond Authority for over a decade. If these rebels had any intentions of giving up, they would have done it with the defeat of their leader nine years ago,” Captain Nephrite stated sharply.

“They’re simply unable to take the hint that they’re only interfering with our work, not putting a stop to it,” Peridot added ruefully. “A few rogue soldiers can’t and won’t be the downfall of Homeworld’s growing empire. The charge of our mission is to locate and destroy their headquarters in the Northern Americus continent; once that base of operations is burned to the ground, the rest of the revolution will be left scrambling.”

“But we lack the coordinates to the base’s exact location,” Captain Nephrite frowned, turning to face her crew with an austere look. “Have you two managed to elicit anything out of our informant, Ms. Lazuli?”

Peridot tilted her head. “Actually, it’s Ms. Ka’auki.”

She flinched when she heard Jasper give a hardhearted sigh not five inches shy of her. “The informant has been less willing to reveal the exact location of this base,” the soldier grunted, “despite it being the most critical strike to put a swift end to these puny pirates.”

Captain Nephrite furrowed her brow. “But she’s been content to reveal the locations of other Crystal Gem establishments, hasn’t she?”

“She has,” Peridot nodded, tongue pressing pensively up to the back of her teeth. “But the closer we aimlessly drift towards the Americus coastline, the more likely we are to be caught and have our hydrium pierced by Crystal Gem harpoons until we’re nothing but flotsam in the sky lanes.”

“Then let’s do something about it,” Jasper snapped. “Let’s get the answers we need instead of sitting around like a pack of insecure footsoldiers. If I go down, it’s not going to be in this undersized hot air balloon.”

Peridot could feel Captain Nephrite’s ire emanating off of the captain’s uniform. It tinted her skin a deeper colour as she dully regarded Jasper. How the captain managed to keep her cool with this meatheaded brute around was completely beyond Peridot; if she were captain, ho, Jasper would have been thrown out the Nebula ’s grimiest boarding dock the same day they left Gemhaven’s port.

Then again… Peridot wasn’t so sure she was anxious to be convicted for the crime of throwing a well-known war hero out into the sea. Before she had much more time to ruminate on that fantasy, Jasper had torn away from she and Captain Nephrite, headed straight for the heavy cabin door. Her movements were deliberate, almost cold as she punched in the code to exit.

“I’d better make sure she doesn’t behead anybody,” Peridot sighed with resignation, excusing herself from the control car by showing Captain Nephrite a brief diamond salute. She then rushed out of the car before the gate could hiss shut and lock her in. Jasper was already halfway down the long corridor, taking the second left just past the tiny block housing the kitchen and dining car.

Peridot could feel the alumiron catwalk trembling with every single one of Jasper’s footsteps, and she had half the mind to chastise the soldier -- war hero or not -- that this sort of insensate behavior in the airship’s metal skeleton was going to get them all killed. But one glance at the sheer size of her made Peridot take a rain check, clamping her lips shut with exasperation as they made way back up to the informant’s quarters.

By the time they arrived Peridot was already short of breath, gloved hands poised on hips to give her chest some sort of respite. By no means did she wish she had Jasper’s monster legs, but it certainly would give her a leg up--quite literally-- when it came to keeping up with her more... vertically gifted crewmates. But complaining about a bad leg publically in a Homeworld warship spelled trouble for any member, even ones with a decent ranking like herself.

“She’d better get us the stuff we need,” Jasper muttered shortly, pausing briefly outside the cell door and giving Peridot a dismissive, if annoyed, glance over her shoulder. “I’m not going to return to Homeworld on a mission that had to turn tail because our informant was withholding things.”

“None of us want to do that,” Peridot concurred solemnly. She abhorred the thought of returning to Homeworld not only empty-handed of apprehended pirates, but having failed the most critical aspect of their mission. No faction, militant or aristocratic, would take kindly to that sort of failure. “But practice discretion, would you?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jasper bayed sourly. “But we need the location.”

“Discreet, Jasper,” grumbled the small machinist, afraid that Jasper’s belligerence might cost them valuable details that might be easier to obtain with a more mellow interrogation. Jasper only grunted as she unlocked the mechanism keeping the door sealed.

Lapis Lazuli’s cell door slid open, revealing the informant leaning against the cold wall. Her eyes snapped open at the sound of the door yawning open, before narrowing into flinty brown chips of ice when she saw who stood at it.

Jasper stepped in, crossed her arms over her chest, and spat an order. “Tell us where the Crystal Gem headquarters is.”

“And I suppose discretion is gone from the picture, then,” Peridot muttered, pinching beneath her wireframe glasses to soothe the growing ache in her forehead. “Lazuli, in order to complete our mission we need the location of their Delmarva home base, which we’ve yet to disclose from you. Once that is complete, the Nebula can return to the capital and you will be granted your pardon.”

“But I never did anything,” Lazuli challenged, bringing her knees up to her chest, locking eyes with Peridot. “I don’t need a pardon because I never acted against Homeworld.”

“Well, the government back in the capital begs to differ,” huffed Jasper, who took another dauntless stride into the cell, whereas Peridot hovered uncertainly by the door. “And you ought to know that what the government mandates, we are expected to oblige. How else would you know the otherwise secrete Crystal Gem locations? How else could you know where their largest hub in the Western Hemisphere is?”

“Because I was held as a prisoner of war,” the informant growled back, her sharp gaze leaving Peridot and instead choosing to focus on the newest aggressor. “I did nothing to warrant my arrest when I got back. If you hadn’t---”

“We are aware of your plight,” Peridot intervened, stepping in before either of them could get too red in the face. “And if you cooperate with us, we can help to relieve you of your allegations. Why do you want to keep the location of their Delmarva firm secret from us?” She let her eyes take on a harder glint. “Are you trying to protect the pirates who kept you dormant in captivity for nearly a decade?”

“I--” Lazuli’s mouth curled into a snarl as she turned back to Peridot, the words seeming to die in her throat as her teeth gnashed, but no sound came out. Taut shoulders faltered and stiff jaws set. Peridot could see one of her bare feet twitching, the knee bouncing with contemplation. Consideration.

It was a wayward thought, but Peridot reflected on how oddly dressed Lazuli was for this voyage. Even with the appropriate garments provided to her by Homeworld, she still wore the worn grey slacks with wide legs that tapered just above her ankles. She donned the pale, cornflower-blue collared shirt she’d boarded with. She didn’t seem to like the boots provided for her, either. The only real change in attire had been the fact that she had pinned her blue diamond brooch to a collar lapel, which clearly set her as one of Homeworld’s, not of the Crystal Gems’.

But if Lapis Lazuli was really one of theirs, why wasn’t she just giving up the last base they needed to dominate the Americus coast?

“I can’t.” Her voice drew Peridot back to reality, perplexing her, but infuriating Jasper.

“Why not, then?” Accused Jasper, fists held tight to her sides as she gave Lapis a skeptical once-over. “What do you get from protecting them?”

“I’m not protecting them, I--”

“Who are you trying to hide?” Jasper cut Lazuli off before she could finish, surging forward and towering over the informant. In the dull light emitted by the bulbs swinging from the cell ceiling, her dark shadow cast over Lazuli in shaky dapples. Surprisingly, Lazuli remained steadfast, raising her chin and pinching her lips, before reeling back and spitting directly into Jasper’s knotted face.

Jasper’s eyes grew wide with astonishment, then grew into thin slivers of yellowed fire. “Why, you little--” She soared forward, wrenching Lapis’ hand away from her mouth and slamming it up against the cell wall behind her, effectively cuffing her wrist and holding her just high enough to be uncomfortable. Lazuli went on the offensive, teeth gritting as she curled her legs, looking ready to give a sly kick to Jasper’s rib cage that she wouldn’t forget.

Peridot raced up to Jasper and grabbed onto her muscular arm in the vain attempt to reel it back. “Jasper, cut it out! We need the informant for the mission!”

“Some informant she’s turned out to be, if she won’t even give us the information we need!” Jasper snarled, shooting Peridot a withering look that made the machinist take a cautionary step backward. Peridot could feel beads of sweat accumulating above her brow when Jasper’s free hand went to unlatch the shock device strapped to her belt, an ill feeling taking over her abdomen as a wicked smirk stole her crewmate’s lips. “Maybe she just needs a little more convincing.”

Lapis’ brow furrowed as she hesitated, turning her head and trying to make out the instrument that Jasper was unclasping from her side. Peridot had half the mind to yank the thing out of Jasper’s hands because this was not how interrogations were supposed to work. They were not supposed to torture the information out of informants, especially not when they wore the diamond brooch-- that was one of the Diamond Authority’s less prominent regulations. But Jasper-- she didn’t seem too concerned about the rules of the airships right now, let alone the rules of common decency.

So instead, Peridot tightened her jaw and turned a blind eye, focusing instead on the scratches on the cell door left from informants left over from the Nebula’s wartime years. It was either Lazuli or her on the receiving end of that electrocution, and Peridot wasn’t sure she was so keen to make her nerves any more harrowing than they already were.

An abrupt, low gasp from Lazuli revealed that she’d recognized the weapon, and just as she was about to writhe and fight back against Jasper, the warship’s bullhorn cried.

All three heads glanced up, up towards the metal pipe that carried the horn’s roar throughout every block of the airship. Peridot’s jaw tightened as the bullhorn stopped for a brief two seconds, then continued. She recognized the bullhorn’s message. “The forward crow’s nest has spotted something in the sky. We need to get to the hull.”

“But--”

“The hull, Jasper.”

“But the informant!”

“I know about her! But if we dawdle here when we’re needed down there, there won’t be a base location to glean out of her if there’s no ship to get there with!” Peridot hissed, marching towards the cell door and clattering out onto the alumiron pathway. “Now come on! Captain Nephrite has called all active-duty crew down to the hull.”

Jasper hesitated, glaring down at Peridot like she was trying to size up whether or not she should listen to her. Peridot’s heart pounded at the back of her throat, anxious that Jasper would choose to prefer to stay here and beat the information out of Lapis Lazuli. She let out the bated breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding when Jasper dropped Lazuli back onto the stiff bunk with a despicable grunt. “We’ll be back for you, traitor,” the soldier glowered before following in Peridot’s suit and exiting the cell.

They careened through the underbelly of the ship, where the metal webwork thinned before opening up into a large alumiron bay, where a number of the captain’s consultants and officers had already gathered to discuss Tourmaline’s alert.

“It’s not registered on the flight plan for any Homeworld sky lane,” Morganite was saying as Peridot rushed in and joined the gathered crew. “Its running lights are off, and it’s currently drifting off to the starboard bow.”

“So the vessel is a rogue?” Hessonite queried. Peridot’s lips pressed together, wondering if the Nebula had been found and compromised by a smaller Crystal Gem ship. “Has anyone identified the markings on its control car?”

Morganite turned to Peridot, a brow quirked with disdain. “It’s not an airship. Rather it’s a Crystal Gem ballon; we’ve recognized the markings in the gondola and plan to reel the flight in.”

Crystal Gem balloons were not built for speed or combat, but camouflage. They acted primarily as floating sentinels, keeping watch over protected rebel areas. But the Nebula was nowhere near any registered Crystal Gem regions, let alone a combat zone. So what was this balloon doing out here? What was their game? If they’d just been trying to keep an eye on the Nebula from afar, Peridot would have seen it coming long before her shift had ended up at the crow’s nest. It’s feasible to miss one at the onset of night, but impossible to miss past anything earlier than dusk.

Nevertheless, their time was up! They could keep their lights off all they wanted, but the Nebula had spotted her and were going to anchor her down and pull her into the cargo bay and apprehend the pilot. Peridot turned to Spinel beside her, knowing she was the onboard expert on Crystal Gem records and their affiliates. “Have you been able to identify the pilot flying the balloon?”

Spinel frowned and shook her head. “According to Tourmaline, there was no sight of the pilot when the vessel was spotted blotting out the stars. The burner would occasionally ignite to keep the balloon aloft, but other than that, there was nothing to suggest the pilot was even still in the gondola.”

“They have to be,” Morganite determined, fists clenching as she motioned for Jasper and a handful of other Quartz soldiers to begin to spread the bay doors. “Crew, fit your harnesses and be prepared to take in the Crystal Gem balloon.”

Peridot didn’t need a second order to take down a leather harness from the back wall’s row of hooks and step into it, fitting it snugly over her legs and chest. A long line clipped her to a mooring ring on the wall to ensure that she wasn’t sent flying out the cargo bay doors the moment they split open. The wind--even on a calm night such as this-- would come galloping in and knock the whole crew about if they didn’t take the proper precautions.

Peridot instinctively spread her legs apart for balance as the Quartz soldiers pulled the doors open with a mechanical whisper, rolling flush along the ship’s hull. Premature starlight painted the ocean below silver, and its iridescent glow billowed into the bay and painted the faces of the readied crew grey. Peridot could feel the gentle pulse of the ship beneath her as it ascended to parry the sky lanes with the Crystal Gem ship. They were keeping distant enough as to not foul the fabric of its balloon in the Nebula’s propellers, but keeping close enough to be able to throw their grappling hooks out to snag the gondola basket.

“Haul her in, crew,” Morganite ordered, signalling out to the ship that was steadily entering the bay door’s vicinity. “Mind the propellers and don’t let the balloon catch its own burner, lest you want us going down with them.”

A short phalanx of grapplers assumed position at the mouth of the loading bay, enough space between each to swing the grappling ropes at the shoulder. The first officer threw first, followed by the rest of the line, but all but one grappling hook fell short of the gondola. Morganite’s brow twitched with displeasure. “Again.”

The auxiliary grapplers made a second throw for the gondola after reeling their hooks back into their grasp, only to miss once more. Peridot huffed, wishing that they had a squad of common Ruby soldiers aboard. They were stocky and could throw grapples with precision, lacking the gracelessness that the current officers were exhibiting. She didn’t wish to be in their place, though, especially not when Morganite cursed and stormed over to steal a rope right from Chalcedony’s hands. “If you want something done, I suppose you’ve got to do it yourself.”

Wisely, the rest of the crew shrunk away from the bar doors as the bay commander. Really, Morganite was no higher qualified to run things than Peridot, but she managed an air of expertise that Peridot lacked over others. She was also as intimidating as an Agate elite, with the same lack of tolerance for a lapse in protocol and method. Peridot had heard nasty rumors of what she had done when two of her attendants had been caught together.

One, two, three, four swings over the shoulder and Morganite’s grappling book was sent flailing into the open air, its sharp hooks digging into the basket of the gondola.

“Haul!” At her command, the rest of the listless crew grabbed hold of the line, drawing the Crystal Gem ship in, casting out harpoons to pierce the envelope and send its air out into the open night sky. Its gondola swung inwards at the will of the crew, and with a violent jump the basket skidded in on the bay floor, before it was rigidly held in place by the avit machine’s arm that had swung out to seize it so it wouldn’t be sucked right back out.

Peridot was the first to access the ship by right of being a machinist, turning off the burners as to not catch the balloon or anything else on fire. As she did so she caught a glimpse of the pilot laid across the floor of the basket as she did so. Thick dreads of hair covered her face, obscuring whether or not she was awake or unconscious at first glance. She wore the telltale garments of a Crystal Gem rebel, with colourful ornaments streaking her hair. She seemed to have a number of tattoos, as well, a deep, blackink over dark skin.

“Is she dead?” Spinel inquired from the back, drawing the crew’s eyes before they made a surge on the gondola to apprehend the rebel. Peridot looked back to the motionless pilot, startling back when their back suddenly rose with a deep, shaky breath, before shuddering back down.

“Take her to the prison block,” Morganite commanded, immediately drawing her weapon-- a sharp whip that would leave scars on even the toughest sheet of leather-- and aiming at the Crystal Gem. “And if she tries anything funny, let her know what Homeworld thinks of her and the rest of the revolution.”

“I don’t think she can even move right now, ma’am,” one of the Quartz soldiers admitted as they grabbed onto the unconscious woman, and with the help of two others hoisted her out of the damaged gondola and carried her out of the bay towards the containment cells.

Within the heartbeat that the rebel was taken from the gondola, the Homeworld crew charged the gondola, ready to loot and dissect any contents, maps, or documents that might reveal the rebellion’s secrets. Unfortunately, the gondola was practically vacant, save for the chips of the gondola splintered across its floor.

“Useless,” Jasper huffed, giving the gondola’s woven side a willful kick. “What sort of pilot doesn’t carry some sort of documents with them? There’s not even a chest to store them, let alone rations on this pile of junk.”

“Let’s just throw it overboard,” suggested Ametrine, drawing a knife and gesturing with it to the already ripped fabric of the balloon’s envelope. “It’s just taking up cargo space we might actually need to seize something worthwhile, like an attack ornithopter.”

“Hmmph.” Jasper narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the ragged hot air balloon with a hard visage. “Fine. Captain Nephrite wouldn’t want the weight of this thing throwing the ship off-balance, anyways.”

Peridot, who had been studying the downed balloon, and checking that the burner’s flames had been properly eradicated, winced and glanced back at Jasper. That was not how balance on a warship worked at all, but she wasn’t about to tell this horde of like-minded crew members that. They’d toss her out with the balloon.

So when they began to assemble to unhook the clasps and swing the avit’s claw back into the bay, she took a wary step backward to give them full access to the ship. She watched with a grimace as the basket was edged towards the lip of the open door, the balloon fluttering madly in the high-knot winds, frantically willing itself to escape from Homeworld’s open jaws. As it was tugged further along, however, Peridot thought she could make out something glinting against the side of the gondola.

“Wait!” She shouted, rushing forward to grab onto the edge of the gondola before the weight of the balloon could suck it out the open door. “There’s a compartment hidden just here-- in the basket!”

“Let me see--”

“Oh, back off, Jasper!” Peridot hissed, ignoring Jasper’s brazen glare as her quick hands moved in to unlock the clasp keeping the compartment sealed, unearthing a leather-bound journal that tumbled out just as the wind caught the balloon’s envelope and sucked the gondola out of the Nebula. Peridot jarred, flailing for the journal before it could be sucked out with the rest of its ship, jolting against her mooring restraints just as her hand wrapped around the spine of the journal.

She let out a breathless chuff of laughter as she hugged it close to her chest, shakily getting up to her feet as Spinel and Ametrine began to seal the bay doors closed. The second she stood firm, she could feel Jasper’s hulk of a presence behind her, practically breathing down her neck as she pointed at the leather-bound book. “What is it?”

“I don’t know yet,” Peridot snarked, hugging the log closer to her chest. “You’ve not given me any time to leaf through it. Besides, I believe it would be in Captain Nephrite’s best interest that she see its contents above any other crew member.”

“Yeah, but--”

“If it contains something valuable, our captain should be the first officer to know. Not you . Got it?”

Smoke fumed from Jasper’s ears and scarred nostrils, but didn’t try to challenge Peridot any further as she crossly stomped back over to the other soldiers and called them back to their quarters. Peridot smirked, satisfied, before glancing down at the journal and prying it open with a thumb.

Captain Nephrite would only care about this journal if it truly did have any useful intel, and if Peridot recognized anything that they could use to their advantage, she would show it to her. But as she thumbed through the first few pages filled with nothing but illegible chicken scratch, she began to lose hope that taking down the hot air balloon and capturing its pilot was worth the effort.

The first twenty or so pages yielded nothing of value, not even a single mention of a single base. Rather, from what Peridot skimmed, they detailed cargo stock and numbers, but not coordinates. It concerned Peridot to see just how many ships they had managed to steal from Homeworld in recent years, however small in stature, but it was common fare that they were pirates who stole things. That wasn’t news, just a stock number.

Growing increasingly frustrated, Peridot turned to where the crimson marker stuck out from the top of the journal. She parted the pages, stopping short when the inventory pages gave way to strange, strange drawings. Ugly sketches scraped in lead, smudged by an ineloquent sleight of hand, filled upwards of thirteen pages. They depicted odd, gnarled creatures that reminded Peridot of panthers, albeit with wider, blunter claws, larger chests and massive jaws.

“Fable drawings,” Peridot grunted, snapping the journal shut with a vexed sigh. Fantastic, they managed to take down the Crystal Gem’s residential storytale artist and inventory specialist. She stowed the journal away as she took off the mooring harness, fixing her glasses before trodding, disheartened, out of the cargo bay and back to her quarters.

If they could crack Lazuli or get information out of their newest captive, as unlikely as that seemed now. They would have better luck next time.

Chapter Text

The next morning Peridot was scheduled to the prison block. The machinist cruised through the dining car before moving to her scheduled post, retrieving a cup of hot, dark coffee and a small plate of sweet rolls from the kitchen trolley as she passed it by on her way to her assignment.

“Get what you can out of the pilot,” Captain Nephrite had instructed when Peridot had been called down to the control car shortly before the sun had begun to rise. “If Ms. Ka’auki refuses to cooperate, then perhaps we can make something out of an actual Crystal Gem.”

So now Peridot was hovering over the catwalk, elbows dug into the alumiron railing as she stared down the corridor of cells. There was the informant’s cell, just a bit nicer than that of a prisoner’s cell. But not by much. Lazuli had a bunk, a sink, and bulb fixtures to provide light. The pilot’s cell lacked all of these, and was honestly just a box with a door with a slot to slide troughs in through.

She assumed that Lazuli was aware of her new blockmate. The soldiers hadn’t exactly been quiet, she’d been told, in throwing the pilot into a cell and sealing it up tight. Ametrine and Aventurine, the twins, were standing a wordless guard outside. Curious, Peridot strolled over to the pilot’s door and glanced in through the filmy window.

The pilot laid facing the door, back pressed up against the furthest wall. Her face was visible now, her thick hair framing a strong face, and if Peridot could assume anything by the laughter lines in her brow and cheeks, had a strong personality to match. She almost compared in size to Jasper, but wore the muscle on a different level.

Suddenly Peridot didn’t feel all too confident that the guards would be able to stop the pilot if she decided to try and take on Peridot. Pirates-- Crystal Gems, especially-- were random and unsystematic people. She had no way to expect what the pilot might do when she realizes where she is.

Peridot took a long, solemn breath and motioned for Aventurine to open the door. They did without question, knowing the captain’s orders, and the door split flush to the sides. Peridot stepped inside. Her fingers fidgeted with the tough fabric of her belt for a moment before unhooking the quill and pad from their pocket. “Name?”

Unsurprisingly, there was no response.

Peridot waited a second longer before marching over to the Crystal Gem, crouching down in front of her. She pulled her jaw taut before clearing her throat, loudly. For just a moment it seemed like it was just as fruitless as before, but then the pilot exploded into motion. Peridot shrilled and stumbled backwards, sending her quill scattering across the cell floor.

The pilot jumped up to her feet, fists held out in front of her chest in a… defensive stance, not an offensive one. She took a wild look at the cell around her, before finally, slowly lowering it to glance at the wiry machinist strewn on the floor. Peridot’s eyes pinched as the pilot began to speak.

“Hey there… little friend,” the Crystal Gem spoke carefully, dropping into a steady crouch in front of her. “Mind telling me wh-” She stopped abruptly, eyes latching to something on Peridot that she didn’t take the risk of looking down to see. But she knew by the pilot’s swift change of disposition that she’d spotted Peridot’s glittering diamond brooch.

Hastily Peridot stumbled up onto her feet, frantically making a reach for her quill as she tried to assume the same professionally detached energy as before. “Name?”

A hesitant pause. “Bismuth Demirci.”

“And what was your charge sailing, unregistered, in Homeworld-governed sky lanes?”

Bismuth’s expression shifted. “I was never sailing in any Homeworld sky lane.”

“The Nebula found you aloft in a sky lane strictly traversed by only Homeworld vessels,” Peridot pointed out, voice curt with impatience. “What were you doing?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Bismuth’s dark eyes were thin with doubt. “I was flying above my post in-- at, my assignment. Actually, tell me one good reason why I should tell you anything, huh?”

Peridot remained impassive, muttering. “Because of the two large Quartz soldiers sitting directly outside your cell.”

Bismuth gawked at Peridot for a minute, then threw her head back and laughed. “Hah! Homeworld couldn’t lay a scratch on this Gem,” she cajoled. “Really, what am I doing in here? It’s unlike you Homeworld ships to head right into Crystal Gem territory unless you’re looking for a fight, and this isn’t some high-class warship, by the looks of things.”

“This is a Class C warship headed by Yellow Diamond’s faction, if you must know,” Peridot scoffed. Something was very off about this pirate. Where was Bismuth’s… guardedness? She seemed almost completely unconcerned that she’d been captured by the enemy. She was jovial, even! Peridot decided to put a damper on that mood. She preened, narrowing her eyes and pointedly settled her gaze onto the enemy pilot. “You were far from any registered Crystal Gem-controlled areas. Your balloon has been pierced and is most probably sinking somewhere beneath Atlantius’ surface.”

“Ah, well, that's a shame. But there was never a ship I had trouble in creating before,” Bismuth chuckled. “Anyways, there’s probably a rescue comin’ for me any second now. They would've noticed I'm gone, yeah?”

“Doubtful. Your balloon was inactive and merely drifting, not to mention severely outdated by today’s standards of hot air balloon technology. Which is unsurprising, considering your… allegiance,” Peridot said with a lifted brow. “It’s a miracle any vessel touched by a Crystal Gem can fly again, the things you do to them!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard this whole charade before,” Bismuth mumbled, waving Peridot off diffidently. Peridot scowled at this, a growl rumbling in her throat as she bit back. “You might want to refrain from being so offhanded, pilot, and show me some respect. I’m your handler as much as you are a prisoner aboard a Homeworld ship now, with all the charges pressed against the Crystal Gem rebellion on your neck.”

“Wait,” Bismuth held a hand out, her mild smile turning into an expression of worry. “The Gems. Where is Rose?”

“Rose Quartz?” Peridot knitted her eyebrows. “She was defeated during the Battle of Light at the end of the war, where, I might add, the Crystal Gems lost?”

Bismuth’s face dropped. The Crystal Gem settled Peridot with a serious eye, sending a nervy shock up Peridot’s spine. “What do you mean the end of the-- what do you mean, losing the war?”

Peridot’s hands found her hips. “You’re joking me. The Great Sky War, ended almost a decade ago, ending with the Crystal Gems vanishing after a direct attack from the Great Diamond Authority? Like weeds, the lot of you are-- returning years later, small but still as stubborn as before.”

Bismuth was quiet. She stepped backward, a hand pressed up against the cell wall like she needed the stability to keep her upright. Peridot watched, her skepticism ebbing into confusion. This was, apparently, shocking to the Crystal Gem. She decided to turn the tables now, feeling tired of informing Bismuth of what had happened ten years ago and demanded justice for the questions she’d yet to have answers to. “What was your busi--”

“How many of us did you kill?” Bismuth interrupted, body tense as she turned to Peridot. “I knew Homeworld elites were twisted-- always have been. How many of us are left?”

“Enough to remain a threat to every military Homeworld ship across the globe,” Peridot snipped, having taken a wary step back from the Crystal Gem. “Still enough to thwart our plans over and over, unfortunately. Now, if you’ll listen--”

“Huh.” Bismuth’s chagrin mutated into contentment. “And I thought this meant I wouldn’t get another chance to show those uppercrusts who’s boss.”

“I should remind you that I am a Homeworld junior second officer.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure. And this whole gist is an interrogation, right!” Peridot’s withering eyes confirmed Bismuth’s theory. “Heh-- all right, all right. What’cha got, Tiny?”

Peridot let out a long-lived sigh. She was halfway past regretting accepting this charge from the captain. “If you were… unaware of the Battle of Light and its catastrophic outcome for the Crystal Gems… what do you know?

“I know that I’ve missed out on a whole lot of things, it sounds like,” Bismuth grumbled good-naturedly. “All I can tell you is that I was scouting off the gulf of the Southern Americus, and suddenly, I woke up here, in a cell. Ten years later. Apparently.”

Peridot made a face. “You were found drifting aimlessly over the waters at the heart of the Atlantius Ocean. There’s no feasible way that a hot air balloon would be able to remain adrift for upwards of a decade, let alone travel such a great distance without proper custody. Your gondola was practically empty, I hope you know.”

Bismuth’s features knit wryly. “Sounds about right. I run a clean charge, no matter where I am.”

Peridot didn’t understand. She didn’t understand Bismuth, her tactics, her disposition, or how she was managing to keep up this blasé forgetfulness that was almost convincing. Most of all, she didn’t understand why she was feeling... impressed by it all. About how Bismuth was managing this facade. She shouldn’t be! She should be cracking down, twisting Bismuth like a sponge to get every drop she could out of her—but something about all this didn’t feel right. She wanted to find out what.

She scribbled what little things she had managed to dissect so far into her pad before studying Bismuth with a critical eye. “Your… knowledge, and lack thereof, will be noted by the captain. We will figure out what to do with the likes of you by tonight, after running your record and seeing how clean a ship you really run.”

Peridot turned to exit the cell, ignoring the pressing gaze clinging to her. She stepped out into the corridor with a weary huff as the door sealed shut behind her. The Quartz soldiers had apparently decided they had more important things to do, having abandoned their posts some minutes ago, by the looks of it.

Glad to know if I’d gotten in trouble in there, there wouldn’t have been anyone to step in for me, she thought bitterly as she bowed her head to stare at the log in her palms. She was displeased with how little she managed to get out of Bismuth. She wasn’t sure how genuine her guise was, the excuse that she didn’t remember anything; but if she wouldn’t comply now, then perhaps another handler would be pleased to assume Peridot’s place. But she had too much pride to give up her assignment like that.

With a sharp exhale Peridot began walking back down the corridor, shoving her notes back into her vest pocket. She only made it six steps, though, because she could see Lapis Lazuli’s dubious face through the opening in her door. “Who is she?”

Peridot slowed, eyes large behind her glasses. “Who?”

“The Crystal Gem you brought in.”

“I don’t know who you’re referring to.”

Lazuli’s eyes fell to half-mast, unimpressed. “I could hear everything.”

Peridot’s brow raised. “Then you must know who she is.”

The informant flinched behind the window, lips forming a nonchalant line at being caught in her own lie. “Okay. All I know is that she has to be a Crystal Gem.”

“Excellent deduction.” Peridot let out an unfulfilled sigh. “Is there any specific reason you decided to stop me other than pointing out the obvious?”

Lazuli’s features darkened behind the window slot, and she turned away with a scoff. “Nevermind.”

“What?” Peridot hoisted her hands up to her sides and stared in. “I’m not at liberty to discuss what’s been shared with your new cellmate. It’s all useless drivel anyways.”

“Is everything that’s not relevant to the mission ‘useless drivel’?”

“In some regard, yes.”

“Great.” Lazuli laid across the slim bunk across the wall off her cell. Peridot floated on the outside looking in for a minute. With resignation, she unlocked the door and stepped in. Lazuli appeared surprised for a moment but became indifferent after only a moment. “Why did you come in here?” She flatly asked, staring up at the ceiling. Well, at least Peridot wasn’t being outright ignored.

“Because I want to know the things that you do. We all do. But I fear that the lack of cooperation you’ve been showing for the past week isn’t going to turn over in your favor anytime soon. They’re only going to get more aggressive the more time goes on and the less we know.”

Lazuli looked up briefly. She was smirking lightly. “You say ‘they’ as though you’re not one of them.”

“W-Well, I—I prefer not to be in… accomplice with a number of people aboard this airship. Their tactics, their overall dispositions…” She thought of three nights ago when she’d walked into the dining car to an all-out foodfight between their two Quartz squadrons. “…Leave much to be desired.”

“But you’re still Homeworld.”

“I am, but I am a woman of science. That puts me at a significantly higher tier than sky soldiers.”

“Pffth. Okay.” Lazuli’s legs swung over the edge of the blocky bunk’s frame. “Why is it so important that I give you the information you need? Homeworld has gotten so… so advanced over the past decade, I don’t even recognize it… I—don’t understand why you still depend on word-of-mouth to find out where all the Crystal Gems are.”

The informant made a valid point, Peridot deduced as she sighed through her nose and leaned against the wall. But Peridot had an equally valid one to combat it. “They ransack technology produced by Homeworld to disguise themselves from us. We have radios, but they can create interference. We have marked maps, but they keep jumping locations and leaving nothing in their wake. They’re adders, Lazuli—just hiding in a rock’s shadow until they can leap out and snap at us.”

Lazuli’s face twisted. “Stop calling me Lazuli. It’s not even my surname.”

“Well, what would you have me call you?”

“Lapis.”

“And assume first-name basis with an informant?” Peridot shook her head. “My commanders back on the mainland would have my head and my aerial-science certification for it.”

The heavy thump of large boots began from down the hallway, causing both Peridot and Lazuli to jump. “Jasper,” Lazuli hissed, having recognized the footfalls, making Peridot pause. “You mean you know who’s walking through the halls based on their footsteps?”

“There are only two who bother coming through here, and your footsteps definitely don’t sound like it’s going to shatter the catwalk at any given moment,” Lazuli shot, casting Peridot a ludicrous look over her shoulder as she marched up to the cell door. Jasper’s footsteps were growing louder, more pronounced as she got closer to the cell door.

“She’s not supposed to be down here?” Peridot frowned, squeezing in beside the informant to press her ear to the cell door. “I’m the only officer assigned to the block this morning!”

“What do you mean?” Lazuli asked with a confused expression. “She comes down every few hours.”

“But that’s—Captain Nephrite can’t have ordered that! Morganite, either—what’s she trying to do down here?”

“Get information out of me,” was Lazuli’s blunt response, causing Peridot to receive pause beside her. “Oh… Has it worked?”

The scathing glance Peridot was sent ran shivers up and down her neck. “No. I—I haven’t told her anything.”

“Why is that, anyways? Why won’t you just—tell us where their headquarters is? It could mean the end to all the combat, all the dogfighting! The Crystal Gems kept you held, didn’t they?”

“They did, but, I—”

“But what?”

The footsteps outside stopped. Peridot felt a cold hand clamp down over her cheeks, keeping her silent as Jasper hovered outside Lazuli’s cell door. She didn’t seem to be looking into the cell, rather, she was staring at Bismuth’s cell across the corridor.

“You have to get out of here,” Lazuli whispered in a hoarse voice. “If she sees you in here…”

“She can’t lay a hand on me. She’s already on thin ice with Captain Nephrite.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Lazuli growled. Peridot felt her stomach drop and turned her gaze to the informant, reading her stoic, freckled profile. What did she mean by that?

“She’s walking away.” Lazuli leaned back, glancing down at Peridot and motioning for the cell door. “Get out there before she notices we’re in here together. Come back tonight—late.”

“Nyeh—hey!” Peridot squeaked as she was shoved out the door, feeling the wind as it sealed quickly shut behind her. Up ahead, Jasper stopped.

Peridot’s mouth moved like a gaping fish’s for a hot second before she managed to find her ground and call the soldier out. “Jasper!”

Jasper might have startled, but it was so difficult to tell by the sheer size of her. The soldier turned, eyes cutting into Peridot. “Where the hell did you come from?”

“I, guh—I was, on my way through! I went looking for the—” her eyes roamed to Bismuth’s once-guarded cell. “The soldiers! The ones who were supposed to be guarding the outside of the newest inmate’s cell? I definitely didn’t relieve them of their duty.”

“I did,” Jasper admitted, face hard. “I needed them to move to another post to—”

“To what? Endanger me? Some grand-scheme thinking that was. What are you doing down here, anyways? I know for a fact that you’re not here on captain’s orders, like I am.”

Jasper remained flint-faced. “I had business to attend to.”

“Oh yeah?” Peridot smirked, knowing she had struck a chord with the brute. “Business more important than the duties you’re probably skipping to sneak around down here in the catwalks? I don’t suppose Morganite would be pleased to hear that.”

“Ugh. You don’t have a defiant bone in your twig body,” Jasper grunted, a sliver of pale teeth poking devilishly through her thick lips. “Fine. But you’ve been down here long enough, too. It’s almost sunhigh.”

“Right, yes.” Peridot nodded affirmatively, tucking her hands casually into her pockets as she began marching up the catwalk into the main bays of the airship. “I can inform the captain of what I managed to get out of the Crystal Gem pilot after a brief visit to my quarters. I need to fetch my... my maps.”

“You’re not a stupid cartographer,” Jasper grunted, but ceded to Peridot’s indirect order nonetheless and began to follow her.

As they neared the end of the prison block, Peridot stole a secretive glance over her shoulder towards Lazuli’s door to see her tapered face hanging there. Peridot thought she looked relieved, but Peridot didn’t look long enough for fear of triggering Jasper’s suspicion. She would need to report Jasper’s breach of duty to Captain Nephrite, undoubtedly. But… with refrain. Jasper would know who had alerted her superiors immediately and wouldn’t withhold from making Peridot’s working life a living hell.

But she would come back tonight. Under the radar. Lazuli might finally be willing to tell her something! She wasn’t going to chance that—she couldn’t. She owed it to herself and to the captain, and thereby Homeworld.

“So. What did you manage to get out of the fresh meat in cell three?” Jasper’s voice reeled Peridot back to reality, forcing her to stare forward with an expressionless gaze. “I’ll be reporting my findings to the captain first, above all else.”

“Why? We’ll all be finding out anyways.”

“Because she’s the captain, and you’re not. What’s disclosed between a handler and an informant is meant to be kept disclosed until it’s given the go-ahead.”

The two wove their way through the Nebula, up the rafts and alumiron webs until they had reached the housing deck. They were fairly quiet during that time, with Peridot not wanting to engage with Jasper more than she absolutely had to. Rather, she was thinking about Lazuli, who was much more upset during questioning sessions when Jasper was with her.

But today? Well, it certainly wasn’t camaraderie, or anything even remotely close to it, but it was something. Maybe if Peridot, ehm, warmed up to Lazuli she could negate the coordinates out of her. And even if not that, a general location to report to the mainland and send troops storming in.

A content smirk was ghosting her lips by the time she stepped up to her cabin, drawing the door open and gazing over to Jasper. “I won’t be back on duty until five o’clock,” Peridot told her, stepping into her room and extending an arm to prevent Jasper from entering. “Is there anything else you have the uncanny need to probe me for?”

Jasper didn’t give a response, or even emote that she’d heard the shorter woman. Peridot stared numbly up at her, guarding her room from the unwanted visitor. The soldier only stared down at her for a second longer, eyes sharp with derisive suspicion. Her mouth split into a snide smirk. “Your limp is especially wonky today.”

Peridot slammed the door in Jasper’s face with a satisfying wham. She gladly shirked off her work vest and rolling up the sleeves of her shirt as she settled into the bench of her work desk. She picked the journal she’d looted from Bismuth’s gondola out from where she’d concealed it the night prior, prying it open and staring at the inventory pages. These were massively outdated, now that Peridot knew of Bismuth’s curious… lack of knowledge.

She wasn’t sure how long she spent thumbing through Bismuth’s journal. It was a listless activity, glancing at the page, then the next, then flipping back to look at the first one in case something that changed. Maybe there was some sort of old code written in between the tiny text and numbers that would reveal something pertinent to the now?

But after almost an hour of being unable to make anything of the journal, she ended up flipping towards the back where the peculiar drawings of the panther-like creatures flooded the starchy pages. She’d completely forgot to question Bismuth about the journal, she realized, and mentally gave herself a flick in the temple. She supposed she could pour over the contents and then interrogate her tomorrow about them, so she wasn’t walking in blind like she had earlier.

She managed to spend the rest of the day doing menial tasks. She picked up a frugal platter of sesame bread beneath simmering mushrooms and vegetables, eating it curtly in the company of some rowdier crew mates in the dining car before heading to her post at five. She was only meant to supervise the sailmakers in the hydrium chambers as they ran a basic check-up protocol on the machines and the gas cells.

Hydrium was a curious new technology, exceedingly rare. Homeworld had harvested as much as it could when its most talented scientists determined the ancient gas’ formula not some five years ago, and it had exploded Homeworld’s technology and economy since. Not to mention the fact that it was sweetly-scented; she'd once heard a Ruby soldier joke that the gas smelled like mangoes. It was also much lighter than helium, even lighter than hydrogen, making it invaluable to aerial flight and to Homeworld. She had studied the mathematics behind the element in school, and even today ran about the ship checking that the formula’s levels were all balanced. No vessel needed a bad hydrium cell.

Her shift was over by nightfall and she considered venturing to the meal car to graze, but decided against it and went to her room instead. Homeworld’s ships didn’t have the luxurious cuisine of cruise lines, but there tended to be leftover rolls or salads that had gone untouched by the crew. The more recognized and awarded your battleship was, the more high-quality your preservation was aboard it.

Peridot ended up pouring over one of her personal logbooks, one of many kept tucked away in the backs of her drawers. They were just lines to fill with her tasks, duties, and innermost thoughts—it kept her from losing her scientific head with all these soldiers bustling around. She’d just tossed the page and refreshed the tip of her quill with an ink blot when it sounded.

Ah-oooooooowgh!

The huge, tinny bellow of the Nebula’s bullhorn unexpectedly rattled Peridot’s ear drums. She spiraled out of her desk chair, losing her glasses in the fumble as her cabin was filled with the sound of the warship’s alarm. Rapidly she found her glasses and whipped on her vest, neglecting to button up the garment as she flooded out of her quarters. In the same second, a horde of her crewmates appeared down the wall, booking it up the ladder to the battle bay.

“What’s going on?” Peridot hissed, catching Spinel before she could shimmy up the ladder behind Tourmaline. “What’s the alarm sounded for this time?”

“A ship’s been spotted off starboard, heading right toward us!” Spinel reported, jerking her chin up the ladder. “It’s still distant, and small, spotted at ten o’clock--”

Peridot’s breath hitched as the Nebula suddenly began to climb beneath her. The ship was as responsive as a falcon, and she could tell as such as the airship began her turn, angling heavenward. She decided to latch onto the ladder and hike it up after Spinel, following the group as far as the combat bay before turning heel and rushing towards the control car.

The second she hurried in, she could hear the crow’s nest reporting in through the metal tube. They sounded beside themselves. “Captain, she’s chasing us into the climb.”
“Bear away,” Captain Nephrite commanded her rudder man. “Elevator up six degrees. Iolite, raise her on the radio.”

“She’s not responding.”

Peridot marched in, eyes sharp as she took to the crow’s nest, asking the lookout to describe the incoming vessel and its current location.

“Her distance, Azurite?”

“Some two hundred yards and closing in fast.”

“Why were you unable to report her sooner?”

“My guess is that they were hiding behind the stern! There’s no shaking them now.”

Peridot tutted and stepped away from the speaking tube, breaking for the huge windows of the control car. She was barely visible from the underbelly of the Nebula, but Peridot could make out the dark shape blocking out the stars behind it. Her skin was painted black, and she carried no running beacons anywhere on her. There was no light from its control car.

When the Nebula dove into a swivel to try to derail the alien vessel, it followed sharply, like a sleek raptor shadowing them through the night sky. And for just a moment, caught in the covert light of the new moon, Peridot was able to see the markings of a Crystal Gem battleship on its portside bow. “Crystal Gems!” She shouted to the control car.

Suddenly it climbed out of view, and Peridot could hear Azurite reporting the movement. “Captain Nephrite, she’s angling up,” the voice resonated through the cabin. “She’s going to overshoot us.”

“Take us down, fast,” Captain Nephrite ordered, and Peridot felt the Nebula pivot beneath her as the bow dipped. She felt heaviness rise within her, ears popping with resignation at the sudden tip.

“Thirty yards off our stern!” Azurite shouted. “She’s pulling up over our tail. She’s out of reach of the battle bay canons.” It wasn’t three seconds before Azurite’s voice cried out a second time. “They’re dropping lines on us!”

Captain Nephrite turned sternly to Morganite and Hessonite, who had just entered the control car, faces austere. “Man the axial catwalks, do not let these pirates take more than a single step into the ship.” She turned to the control crew, then to Peridot. “Do not let them into the hydrium chambers, at any cost.”

“Yes, Captain!” Peridot bristled, bustling out of the control car and moving as quickly as she could through the Nebula. Up ladders, across corridors, into the webwork until she had found their dual sailmakers, outfitted with pistols they’d undoubtedly received from the resident Quartz squad, guarding the door to the hydrium cell chamber. Recognizing Peridot, they allowed her in, and with urgency she ran to check the machines and cells.

Not a second after confirming that their lifting cells were still intact, the sounds of combat ricocheted through the machinery. The whine of the captain’s coaxial alarm resonated throughout the ship, and Peridot felt her heart kicking against her ribcage.

The Crystal Gems were aboard the Nebula.

Chapter Text

Peridot could feel her aviation goggles jostling in her hair as she pelted down the axial catwalks. It seemed that every turn she took to another branch of the ship, there was one of her crew members fighting off a pirate.

Peridot’s mind was fuming with Crystal Gem propaganda as she skirted down into the belly of the ship to her post. Crystal Gems wore bold attire, a common trade among them, regardless of the region of the world they were found in. Bold colours, bolder jewels, and somewhere, anywhere on their persons there was a star emblem to alienate them from Homeworld—the boldest statement of all. Wearing something with even a likeness to a star was considered treason at the mainland, a stunt punishable by a year-long imprisonment. Or worse.

Her heels dug into the grated floor as she wheeled around a corner, coming face-to-torso with a tall, ample-looking pirate. Peridot’s eyes widened as her hand flew to her back pocket, only to find it empty. She’d forgotten her weapon in her room. Of course.

“Ohoho, you’re just a bundle of nerves, aren’t you?” The pirate trilled. “Don’t worry! This vessel will be ocean-bound before you lose a hair or two. Some cool water does wonder for the nerves, didn’t you know?”

“Wh-- what are you even talking about?” Peridot sputtered.

“Oops, I’ve said too much,” the woman gasped, tossing a slender gloved hand over her lips. “Oh well! It’s not as if you won’t find out soon enough. Adieu!” Peridot’s breath was knocked out of her as she was tossed backwards, reeling from the pirate’s words and from the blunt object she’d just used to toss Peridot across the walkway.

A wave of Homeworld sailmakers exploded from the end of the corridor, hustling past Peridot, who was still sprawled out on the floor, each shouting and wielding the minuscule weapons supplied by their commander at the beginning of the voyage. Peridot blinked and scrambled up and hastened after them. But she slammed to a halt as the crew vanished behind a tangle of alumiron columns. A dread seated itself in the pit of her stomach, low and uncomfortable as she chased after the sailmakers to see where they were headed.

As soon as the sweet scent of hydrium reached her nostrils, she knew what was wrong.

The cells had been punctured, and if the skin containing the hydrium wasn’t stitched back together soon they sink out of the sky and into the sea.

She made way into the cell bay, watching the sailmakers frantically amassing materials to fix the hydrium cells before they plunged into the sea. The cells were made of goldbeater’s skin, an incredibly thin material made of translucent tissue that, once ripped, was incredibly difficult to stitch up. So their panic was massively understandable.

“Peridot, four cells have been cut!” Danburite, an apprentice sailmaker, sputtered as she darted past the machinist. “We need you at the panel!”

Peridot only nodded with a growl and advanced towards her post, hands flying to stare at the flickering dials whose hands seemed to sink lower and lower the more hydrium escaped their cells. “We need stitches on Cell B now!” She ordered into the din, watching two of the repair crew make haste to the bleeding cell in question. It had the biggest rift and was leaking the most hydrium-- not to mention it was their largest cell. “Get to it!”

The scent of the gases was so strong inside the chamber. It seeped through her gritted teeth as she read the hydrium levels on their dials, flipping switches and hauling on levers to ensure that the hydrium did not escape the room. Far too slowly did the sinking dials begin to stop, and gradually begin to rise back up as the sailmakers closed the first cell and pumped freshly contained hydrium back inside. Then the second cell was stitched, until it was only the biggest cell that continued to leak the substance.

“Stars,” Peridot grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose behind her glasses. Her heart was pulsing in her fingertips. “Were none of you here when those clods came sprinting through? This could have been avoided! Where were the soldiers?!”

“All heading to the crow’s nest!” Danburite flustered. “To try to stop them from getting any deeper in!”

“Well they did a great job of that, didn’t they?” Peridot turned away, heaving a sigh of relief as the hydrium dials began to level out. But they’d already lost so much hydrium that Peridot was worrying if the Nebula could stay aloft the entire journey. Sure, they could make a stop somewhere to obtain more hydrium from a military base, but if that reached Yellow Diamond… to put it lightly, “pit stops” were discouraged and considered a waste of hydrium and time. They’re the ones who were unable to stop the pirate raid; there was no sympathy for inept ships.

But the Nebula wasn’t inept, and those pirates were about to find out as much! Peridot moved away from her panel, moving briefly to check the stitched cells. Her fingertips lightly skimmed over the seal before freezing as a sudden thought came to her mind. The informants.

“Oh Diamonds!” Peridot gasped, jolting away and bolting towards the entrance. How could she have forgotten about the prison block?! It was practically left unguarded, if all the Quartz squads had gone up into the bow!

Peridot burst into the prison block to find it void of Homeworld soldiers. Instead, the space was quiet. Almost eerily so. Peridot, mouth dry, ran to check that Bismuth and Lapis Lazuli were still kept safely in their cells. But before she could even take more than a few unkempt strides, she received a striking blow to her back that sent her crashing straight to the floor.

Dazed, Peridot rolled onto the sore back, swallowing hard as the small of her back lit up with fiery sparks of pain. She quickly regretted this action, however, when the head of a sleek, pale spear cut through the alumiron plating not five inches from her face. She would’ve shrieked if she hadn’t lost her voice somewhere down inside her.

A tall, slender pirate dressed in pale blues and pinks hovered over her, arm pulling back to make for another strike at the machinist. Peridot gaped, scrambling backward on numb limbs, as the shoulder reared and the spear shot forward.

She waited. She waited for the searing pain in her chest, abdomen, or even head—but it never came. Peridot hesitantly wrenched open her rheumy eyes to find the tip of the Crystal Gem’s spear lodged directly into the control panel that controlled the locking mechanisms for the entire block. Electric sparks bled from the shattered panel, jumping and sizzling as the pirate yanked her spear out of the machine.

“Hey!” Peridot snapped, fumbling up onto her behind and gawking at the pirate. “What do you think you’re doi-“ The familiar sound of the cell doors whooshing open silenced her, and with a petrified eep! Peridot watched as Bismuth barreled out of her cell with a boisterous laugh. “Now we’re back in Bismuth , baby! Sorry ‘bout this, Tiny.”

The slim pirate startled, spinning around to stare at the seized Crystal Gem. Peridot could see pale eyes growing huge behind the bandana that concealed the lower half of her face, but didn’t have the leisure of trying to figure the pirate out before a violent series of crashes rocked the corridor.

Peridot let out a small cry as she felt herself sliding across the floor towards starboard, and a shaky hand flew out to grab onto the railing to prevent herself from being lost to the gaping webwork beneath them. When she finally managed to find the stability to get to her feet, Bismuth and the masked pirate had escaped from the block.

Peridot seethed, gritting her teeth as the Nebula took another deep turn, sending her lurching backward. Were they fighting in the control car for the rudder, or something?!

Peridot shakily tried to make her way up the corridor, towards the parted gate where she assumed the Crystal Gems had fled through but stopped when a series of light footsteps interrupted the groaning of the warship’s engine. She turned, wide-eyed, to see Lapis Lazuli making a quick escape from her quarters. “Hey, wait-- Lazuli!”

The informant stopped dead in her tracks, whipping around to pin Peridot to the spot with a transfixed stare. “They’re going to down this ship with all of us in it, and I don’t know about you, but I am not about to be holed up by the Crystal Gems a second time,” Lazuli hissed, gesturing willfully to the sparking control panel. “So are you with me, or what?”

“W-- What?”

“ Ugh! ” Lazuli marched forward, fingers clenching around the fabric of Peridot’s vest as she was yanked up to her feet. “Come on!”

Peridot ended up in the lead since she knew the ship, darting up axial walkways and down ladder reams with Lapis Lazuli tight on her heels. Wherever those two Crystal Gems had fled to, they had fled fast. Peridot was purposefully avoiding the main webworks, thinking that pirates were probably flooding the belly of the Nebula by now. They had a brief encounter with a pistol-wielding pirate at the lower stern, but a violent knock of the ship had given both of them a bit of leeway to escape through a narrow opening when the pirate was distracted.

Peridot didn’t know why she was going along with this. Every rational and patriotic part of her was scolding her for what she was doing; she was helping an informant escape, for Diamond’s sake! If they ever got word of this at the capital… she recoiled at the thought as she stumbled down a steel latter and into the bay deck.

The explosive boom of a fist colliding against the heavy door across the way filled the space, echoing off of the metal bay walls. It rattled in Peridot’s ears, growing louder and louder until she swore she could see a dent forming in the door. Peridot and Lazuli traded a nervous look.

“If that’s a group of pirates, we’re done for,” Peridot groaned. “This is it. This is the end!”

Lazuli narrowed her dark eyes towards the door before grabbing onto a vest lapel and dragging Peridot behind a stack of cargo crates. “I’m not so sure those are pirates,” she muttered, crouching low to the ground as the brutal pounding slowed. “Crystal Gems don’t-”

The sound of metal being ripped from its hinges crashed throughout the bay, sending Peridot into a reeling tizzy as Lazuli turned to investigate their hard-handed intruder.

“It’s Jasper,” Lazuli spoke softly, pinching Peridot’s shivering lips shut between her thumb and index. She turned to the machinist, eyes hard. “You didn’t tell her we were coming down here, did you?”

Peridot’s eyes flared behind their lenses as she tore Lazuli’s hand away from her mouth. “How could I? I’ve been with you this whole time!”

“Where the hell are you?” Jasper’s powerful voice cut through the air, grating in Peridot’s mind as her heart decided to make a nesting space near the bottom of her gut. Somehow, her heartbeat managed to hammer in three parts of her body. She wasn’t sure that was healthy.

Lazuli was tense beside her, legs bent into a readied crouch as she spared a glance around the crate stack. Peridot eventually followed suit, leaning around and sticking close to the ground as they watched Jasper storm about the bay, tossing crates and pallets without a care for the contents inside. Peridot curled her lips with disdain. “What’s wrong with her?"

“Lapis Lazuli!"

Lazuli jumped, ducking back behind the corner and fixing Peridot with a grave gaze. “You just got your answer,” she snipped, fists held tight at her sides. “She’s looking for me.”

“But-- why? ” Peridot shook her head in astonishment. “Why does she have it out for you so badly? What’s she got against you to--” Crash! “Knock over towers of crates for?! That's precious cargo!"

“Like I know!” Lazuli snapped back, quickly clamping her teeth together when the angry footsteps behind them suddenly began closing in. “We have to move!”

“No, wait--” Peridot stammered as Lazuli bolted past her, bare feet silent on the floor as Peridot floundered to put together the threads of the scheme in her mind. “Let me-- let me distract her! I can lead her away while you, erm-- go!”

Lazuli sent Peridot a look over her shoulder, the face unreadable, then sent a nod as she ducked behind one of the alumiron pillars supporting the web of catwalks above the bay. Peridot swallowed thickly as she heaved herself up onto her feet and turned to reveal herself around the corner, but instead walked face-first into the hard body of Jasper.

“You!” Peridot squawked with surprise when she felt the fabric at her neck bunching together as she was effortlessly hoisted up from the floor. Suddenly she was face-to-face with a very, very scary-looking Jasper. “Where is she?”

“W-Who?” Peridot wheezed. “I don’t know who you’re talking about, so-- put- put me down !”

“Don’t lie to me,” Jasper grunted. Her fist clenched a little tighter around the knotted ball of fabric on Peridot’s collar. “Two Quartz soldiers told me that they saw the informant running down in the stern of the ship with you. Where is the informant?"

“I--” Peridot gulped at the air that suddenly seemed too dense to reach the bottom of her lungs. “I don’t know! I don’t know where she is!”

“You’re lying!”

Peridot suddenly felt her body coursing through the air before she smacked into a stack of cargo crates, spine giving an uncomfortable creak as she made impact with the floor. Her leg flared with grief as she scrambled to get back up, but before she could even get on all fours she was being dragged back up into the air by the back of her collar. She sputtered defiantly. “Let me go you clod! I’ll have you arrested for assault of a second officer!”

“What makes you think I can’t defend that a pirate did this to you?” Jasper snipped bluntly. “Tell me where you’re hiding Lapis Lazuli. I know you were with her.”

“You’ve got the most one-track mind I’ve ever met,” Peridot wheezed, flinching when the fabric of her collar tightened around her neck. “Okay! Okay-- I-- I don’t know where she went. Is! I don’t know where she is-- currently! I-- I did know, I-- I don’t know, now.” This was only partially true.

“Well?” Jasper demanded, bringing Peridot a bit closer, snarling. “Where is she, then?”

“She’s…” Peridot’s eyes flitted from the right to the left, scanning the bay behind Jasper. Was Lazuli escaped? Had she made it out of the bay yet? Did she find one of the escape vessels? Her face gave an involuntary twitch of surprise when she saw Lazuli’s pale shirt and dark hair resurface around a column near the loading doors. The informant turned, and her eyes widened when they saw Peridot hoisted three feet into the air by her collar. Peridot, frantic, moved her eyes elsewhere as to not attract Jasper’s notice. “She’s, ah-- she was going up! Back up into the, ehm, crew quarters! Since they’re-- since they’re empty! Everyone’s moving around fighting, so--”

Peridot was cut off with a surprised gasp when she was dropped back onto the floor, stumbling as a flash of pain ran through her left leg, sending her down onto her bottom on the bay floor. Jasper was glaring down at her with a disinterested sneer. “You’re so full of it. It’s amazing how you manage to rank so high in the caste.”

Peridot didn’t get any time to feel resentment for Jasper for that insult because the soldier turned and saw Lazuli yanking on the chain to part the dock’s doors. “Lazuli, watch out!”

Lazuli jerked her head up just in time to see Jasper barrelling towards her, arms outstretched to grapple and detain her. She moved quickly, ducking out of Jasper’s way in time and pulling the emergency release trigger. A red hue filled the bay as the doors began to pull flush, revealing the dark night sky outside. Peridot gasped and scrambled to reach a mooring hook, wrapping her fingers around a rope so she wasn’t sucked out into the ocean. Lazuli was keeping herself tucked into a nook of alumiron webbing keeping her safe inside the Nebula, but Jasper was fast approaching.

“I know you know their secrets,” Jasper was barking over the chaotic howling of the wind. “I know you know where we can find them. I know that you know things that would end this war, once and for all.”

Lazuli furrowed her brows and maneuvered along the walls, hair jostling in the whirlwind as the Nebula took a deep bank to the left. “The war is already over!”

Jasper growled and tossed herself forward, snatching Lazuli’s wrist from her side and lifting her up into the air. “Not for me it isn’t. Not until every Crystal Gem and every illegitimate pirate this side of the hemisphere is ground into dust.”

Lazuli’s face steeled. It was almost in slow motion, the series of actions that happened next.

Peridot watched as Lazuli bucked in Jasper’s grip, recoiling her legs and kicked, hitting Jasper square in the chest, sending the large soldier stumbling backwards. A huge hand snapped out, calloused fingers wrapping around Lazuli’s bare ankle just as she was sucked out of the doors by the vacuum of the wind.

Peridot, hanging for dear life onto her mooring rope-- her lifeline, felt her face flush with horror as Lazuli was dragged out of the Nebula . Gooseflesh rippled flush across her skin as she scrabbled for a hook on the wall. She was not about to suffer the same fate as those two—she was not about to fall stars knew how many feet into the hungry ocean below.

She gathered her bearings and assessed the bay area. It was empty of any other person, friend or foe, which she would consider fortunate. And it would be! If it didn’t mean that if the rope and latch she was desperately clinging onto were to suddenly snap, there would be no one to catch her to stop her from being tossed out into the sea.

As it turns out, it was even more unfortunate to be alone, because when a handful of Crystal Gems stormed in, they made a beeline straight for her. Rather than leave herself vulnerable and clinging to the mooring Peridot jumped, swinging across the bay as the Nebula made another gut-wrenching pivot. She didn’t have a weapon or anything to defend herself (did her brooch count as one? It had sharp edges!).

She wasn’t just about to let these Crystal Clods get their grimy hands on her.

She knew that there was a spare ornithopter near the back of the bay. She just had to get to it before they did—and steal away into the night. Yes! By the time they’d scrambled back to their own shadow of a vessel Peridot would be far enough away to be obscured by the night’s gloom.

She didn’t want to think of what her commander back at headquarters would say when they heard she had abandoned post during a pirate raid. But it was either she take this ornithopter or these pirates take her life; and so she made her choice.

Peridot booked it. She leaped over crates and pallets, tripping only once as she hastened towards the ornithopter cubby. She could sense a pirate behind her, and when she took a sly glance behind her the theory was confirmed. A short woman, wild hair billowing out from behind a bandana wrapped around her cheeks, was brandishing a whip and readying to make a strike for Peridot’s back. And Peridot was not about to have that.

She reached the back, and her heart sang in her throat when she spotted the ornithopter. It was a sleek machine, with long, mechanical wings painted to mimic those of a falcon’s. It was already attached to the secondary avit, so all Peridot would have to do is unlock the hatch and spring the ornithopter out into the open air. While presently traveling at twenty knots an hour. Easy!

She slammed open the latch to undo the tiny bay doors and dove into the ornithopter. These flying machines weren’t made for comfort. They were stiff, small, and cramped, but it was her only means of survival right now so she could just tough it out!

She didn’t give the clods hounding her down the time to reach the ornithopter as she reached out and snapped off the drawstrings keeping the machine connected to the avit. She dove in right as the doors rattled open and the avit swung the ornithopter into the open air, out from the belly of the Nebula and into the night.

She wasn’t prepared for the wrenching force of gravity that throttled her. Peridot slammed into the simple panel in front of her, gut spinning with nausea as the ornithopter careened seaward.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon!” She frantically hooked an arm through the protective harness meant to help pilots keep glued to their seats. She tried to level the ornithopter so that the wings could make something of the winds pummeling them.

At last the wings caught, and Peridot felt her stomach drop all the way into the ocean as the ornithopter jerked upwards. Her discomfort abated with each additional jump as the machine found its rhythm, the spindly leather-based membrane pushing higher with every beat of the sky.

Peridot stopped and assessed her situation. One, Crystal Gems had raided the Nebula and had breached not only the prison, but likely every sector of the ship. Two, Bismuth and Lapis Lazuli had escaped, and Jasper had been knocked off-board. Three, Peridot had been chased out by a whip-yielding lunatic and was currently flapping, in a third class ornithopter, across the vast Atlantius Ocean.

Things were just peachy.

Minutes passed. Peridot knew she couldn’t continue in this thing forever. Ornithopter batteries weren’t meant for distance anymore than they were made for leisure. She would make it a meagre thirty miles, give or take, before the machine would wear out.

Funny how minutes stretch into eons in times of dire need, Peridot found herself thinking as the ornithopter chopped across the sky. Funny how on my first mission as a junior second officer and head engineer we’re raided by pirates. Her mind went out to the rest of her crew. She wondered if they had managed to fend off the Crystal Gems. She didn’t doubt that they were able to; Quartz soldiers could be very bellicose when they needed to be.

She thought of Captain Nephrite and how it must have been in the control car during the raid. Her lip pinched with culpability. It had been the captain’s first endeavor as a ship captain after years of being tossed through the faction system after Pink’s faction fell apart after the war. Being raided would not score well on the captain’s record. A shame, too; Captain Nephrite was a sensible woman, acting and speaking without the cocksure personality of most other Homeworld elites.

Peridot found herself dwelling on what she could have probably done better in her life of serving Homeworld as she felt the machine pulse beneath her. She probably could have taken up bioengineering, like many of the cadets in her academic courses had. She should have gone to that large district meeting that she had decided to skimp on in favor of tinkering with a damaged propeller, because the Yellow Diamond had actually shown up. Peridot’s squadron had been roaring about it for months after.

And now, she was going to die, going down in an ornithopter that was beating into the mist.

Wait. Peridot blinked, jerking up in the pilot seat and staring outside. A thin mist had, out of nowhere, wrapped itself around the ornithopter, shrouding the frothy ocean below. Her brow twitched with bemusement. Mist didn’t just form over the open ocean. It needed land to—palm tree!

It came suddenly, spiraling into Peridot’s view. She yelped and tore the ornithopter to the left, effectively throwing the whole machine out of balance. “What the-“ Peridot glared behind her, watching the tree disappear into the hungry mist encompassing them. That had come out of nowhere! She grunted and scrunched her nose, turning back to face the front window.

Then screamed, because another tropical tree had suddenly materialized and she was heading right for it.

There was no time to jerk the ornithopter in the other direction. The machine crashed against the tree, throwing Peridot around the tiny cockpit as it began to careen earthward.

The last thing Peridot remembered was how oddly that boulder was shaped before smashing into the ground.

Chapter Text

Green.

It was the first thing Peridot saw as her eyes drifted open. Actually, drifted is too clement a term to describe how it felt. They shivered open, and immediately were flooded by a garish amount of sunlight and crumbles that pinched the corners of their cuticles.

She roused with lethargy, like she’d been doused with something, each limb slugging as they patted her person down. She was still clothed. She could feel the stiff material of the ornithopter pilot seat beneath her, and the walls of the machine all around her. Good.

She made a move to turn in her seat before a red anger burned up the length of her leg, slamming her back into the chair with a painful hiss. Her neck jerked low to gaze upon the agonized leg, not finding any stain on her pant leg to suggest she had received any bloody injury. She twitched it again, the pain lesser this time, and figured being knocked about the cabin must have done a number to her already bad leg.

“Of course,” Peridot grumbled as she fumbled to escape the crunched ornithopter, favoring the weak leg. She climbed out and stood with the help of a boulder the machine had narrowly missed, laying with all her weight on her elbows across a blunt cleft to take in her surroundings.

The broken ornithopter laid in a hollow of sand, connecting to an arching coastline that affectionately hugged hills that gradually grew the deeper inland they sloped. Before her, the sea broke in a ragged white line against a colourful coral reef, protecting a petite turquoise lagoon and a long crescent of sand. Back from it sprouted palm trees, sparsely at first, then more densely as verdant tropical forest took over. The green shrouded the island in a canopy that continued up the hills and dappled the gaunt peak that rose up to greet the lowest clouds.

Peridot was suddenly very grateful she’d crashed on a sandy peninsula and not in the dense forest. The ornithopter wouldn’t have been able to keep from compacting in on itself like a can compress had it taken a few more hits. How long had it been since she crash-landed?

The sun’s position was only a few degrees from its summit, indicating it must be very late morning. It had been dark when Peridot escaped the Nebula, so there a notable lapse of time between the then and now.

Oh stars, the Nebula! Peridot fumbled for the downed flying machine, trying for the scanty radio box in the control panel.

“Hello? This is Peridot, Nebula second officer, reporting over the Atlantius 4 sky lanes.” No response. She tried again. “This is Peridot, reporting in. Nebula, do you copy?” Another three seconds with no response, and it was then that she realized that there was no thin, tinny whine to indicate that the radio was online. Nor was there any light over its bulb to suggest it was powered at all.

Great! She was likely stranded alone on this island with no radio signal, which meant reinforcement. No rescue. She was no chief navigator, but even she had enough knowledge of the ocean maps to know that this was uncharted territory.

Homeworld would never know she landed here, because they didn’t even know here.

“I’m gonna die.” The revelation came in the form of a strained wheeze. “I fled combat, and now I’m going to die here, alone, on this random island in the middle of the ocean.”

She stole a hysterical glance to the frugal treeline and out to the sea beyond. The mist had burned away with the late morning sun, revealing a glittering ocean where there had only been bog before. The sky was empty aside from a few flecks of fluffy white cloud. There were no airships in sight. She couldn’t have traveled that far, could she?

Peridot decided to take tentative steps into the undergrowth. Each step made her sore body throb, especially the leg, but she pushed on, desperate to investigate this island further. The detritus was rich and bouncy, well-kept by the abundance of moisture and warmth of the sun.

“Cloddy pirates, cloddy ornithopter, cloddy trees, cloddy roc— gyah!” Peridot’s tirade was interrupted when she stumbled over something jutting up from the ground. She managed to catch herself on a nearby tree before face-planting into the earth, whipping around with accusatory eyes to scowl down the thing that had tripped her.

In the middle of the hollow she’d been clambering through laid a smattering of netting. It wasn’t unlike the fabric of rope that Homeworld used to seal and carry crates, but it was too thin and too sleek to be polyester. But it was all torn up and scattered across the ground, like it had been shredded apart by huge furious claws.

This could have meant many things, but none of them looked, sounded, or felt good, so Peridot left the scene as hastily as she happened upon it. It could’ve just have been thrown out of the ornithopter upon impact-- yes, that sounded plausible. She decided to cling onto that thought, letting it nullify her with the false guise of safety.

She reached the top of the luscious hollow, running clammy palms up and down her sides as she limped deeper into the forest.

…

The afternoon had deepened into evening. And she was hurting everywhere.

Her leg ached like it was being pounded with a mallet in every stride. Her throat was dry, because she hadn’t found a source of freshwater anywhere on the island thus far. She didn’t recognize any of the foliage or trees and didn’t know what was safe for her to touch or not.

There was little to no survivalist training in Homeworld academia. They didn’t expect things to go awry on a mission, so they didn’t bother to teach aerial sailors anything about survival skills. Peridot wanted to march up to whatever mainland Homeworld board was responsible for the cadet regimes and punt them upside the head with a survival guide. If there were even any available.

By the time she was ghosting on the brink of exhaustion, she’d found a spot to sit. Her back pressed against the foot of a mossy boulder, legs jutting out across soft green grass in a cove shrouded by huge ferns. The sun had only gotten more vehement as the day matured, so the gentle shade provided the greenery was more than welcomed on Peridot’s flushed skin.

She was never going to get off this island. She couldn’t swim and she didn’t know how to make a raft out of… all this. All she had now were the clothes on her back, the shoes on her feet, and the rock keeping her upright. Absentmindedly she patted down her vest, dissatisfied to find it ragged with holes. She felt a small bulge in the right inside pocket and frowned, pulling out Bismuth’s journal.

“Perfect. Even if I don’t have food, water, shelter, or radio, I have this stupid thing.”

Grass crunched behind her. Her back shot ramrod-straight, her neck pressing closely to the cool slate of the boulder. She held her breath to see if the sound would continue, cursing the heart hammering in her hearts as she waited.

When there was no second step, she began to feel very, very worried that she wasn’t alone. If there were animals on this hunk of rock—were there animals on islands? If there were, what kind? Little scaly reptiles, or big, dangerous things… like tigers? Oh stars, was a tiger stalking her? Had it caught on to her scent? Is that why it stopped in its tracks? Was currently wiggling its haunches to pounce for the final kill? Was it the thing that had torn apart that canvas netting from earlier?

She waited. Seconds passed and Peridot still heard nothing. It was like whatever had made the noise had vaporized into thin air. She didn’t know if the latter was more concerning than the probable reality. Peridot slowly shifted on her thigh, risking a cautious glance around the large rock.

It was so difficult to see with through the mesh of greens, but Peridot caught it: the dark edge of a boot.

A-ha! The Nebula had come back for her! She’d made it out all right and was making rounds around the island! The navigators would be mapping its coordinates for future colonization, and Captain Nephrite certainly would have noticed her absence by now!

“Oh thank the stars!” Peridot heaved, scrambling out from behind the rock and tossing the ferns aside. “You found me! I was beginning to— gyah! ” Something heavy and cold suddenly wrapped around her legs, sending her straight into the soil. She withheld the snarl of discomfort seething in her throat when the muscles in her bad leg pulled taut and stared daggers at whatever naïve soldier had just tossed a chain rope at her. “What in Diamond’s name do you think you’re—”

Oh. These were not crew members from the Nebula, Peridot realized far too late. Directly above her stood three Crystal Gem pirates, each with a painful-looking weapon pointed directly at her.

“ Let— let me go!” Peridot jerked on her side, spitting up at her assailants with huge eyes. “I’ll—I’ll report you to the Great Diamond Authority for withholding a jun—a Homeworld first sailing officer!” She grinned. “Yeah! They’re looking for me right now, so if they see me tied up in the likes of your shoddy chain? I’d be—h-hey! Stop that! Get off m— mmf! ”

A damp rag was brusquely clamped over her mouth and nostrils. Faces blurred and voices slurred as she was overcome with tiredness, head lolling awkwardly as her consciousness spiraled into a fuzzy nothingness.

---

Peridot woke with a violent start. She inhaled sharply on reflex, only to sputter and cough as a bloom of dust motes coated her tongue. Her head lurched backward, teeth gritting as an unpleasant soreness ran up the length of her neck.

Something heavy was tied around her neck, hanging high on her chest—a cloth? Blearily she bowed her head, underestimating just how heavy it felt and ended up digging her sharp chin into her collar bones as she peered at the strange garment. A dark, ruddy bandana.

Everything suddenly came racing back to her. The raid, the crash, the island—the pirates on it. Peridot rose her head, gazing around the space she was kept in. It was a small, remote place, with browned bamboo walls and frayed palms overhead. Little streams of dusky light were pouring in through tiny slivers in the fronds A pair of ropes, sleek in texture but tough in strength, kept her hands and ankles bound and prevented her from exploring further. Her back was pressed against the opposite wall of what had to be the only entrance and exit to the room.

Other than that, there was nothing noteworthy to behold. She was most probably locked in a small bamboo room, held in custody by pirates. How could so much have gone so wrong in twenty-four hours?

Of course, Peridot tried to undo her bonds to escape. After what felt like hours she gave up, fingers rubbed raw and red from unsuccessfully trying to claw the bonds apart from the inside. The milky evening light faded to a wistful grey, introducing nightfall as its idle chill slithered through the room.

Peridot was trying not to focus on how uproarious her stomach was and how tender her leg was when there came a gentle rapping at the door. She jumped, nearly throwing the back of her skull against the wall as the door tentatively creaked open. Humid light flooded In, backlighting the short, ample silhouette slipping soundlessly inside.

“Stay back!” Peridot hissed, kicking her bound legs into the dust floor to help her up straight. “I’ve—I’ve got something behind my back! A weapon! To fend you off with!”

The silhouette showed no signs of alarm. Instead, its head reared back, like it was taking a cautious look outside before slowly shutting the door behind it. Peridot’s throat tightened and she barked out another threat. “I mean it! Stay ba --..ck?”

Her voice crawled back down her throat when the darkness in the room was suddenly chased away by the warm glow of a lantern. It caught the face of the intruder, lighting up the face of what had to be an adolescent boy, not the bloodthirsty pirate that Peridot had been expecting. She remained wary, though. It could be a trap! Sending someone in to alleviate her suspicions, then an ambush the minute she lowered her guard!

“Hey,” the boy smiled, eyes large with curiosity as he took a tiny step closer to her. “You must be the Homeworld lady that they were talking about bringing in earlier!”

“How observant of you,” Peridot said flatly.

“My name’s Steven,” the boy smiled. “What’s yours?”

“...Peridot Kaddouri.”

“Peridot! That’s a cool name! Honestly, it’s kinda funny, how everyone’s got a gemstone name these days. Do you think it’s on purpose?”

Peridot didn’t reply. Steven blinked and shrugged, before his eyes lit up. “Oh!” He snapped his fingers suddenly, twisting around to grab at the pack on his back that Peridot hadn’t noticed before. “I almost forgot! Here, I—brought you this.” He unearthed a bundle from the pack, untwining its knot to reveal the contents inside. There was a small brown loaf beneath slices of what Peridot assumed was an unfamiliar yellow fruit. He set them down as Peridot stared, dumbfounded, as the boy grabbed half of a sugar apple from the bag.

Steven dropped down with a friendly smile, gesturing the bundle to Peridot. “C’mon, it won’t bite!”

“I don’t understand.”

Steven blinked. “What don’t you understand?”

Peridot’s lip curled with disbelief. It was so difficult to ignore the absolute want, no, need for the parcel of goods lying at her feet. “Why you’re giving me this. I’m the enemy , aren’t I?”

“Well… yeah, I guess,” Steven murmured, tossing the sugar apple halve in his palms. “But it doesn’t mean I can’t… be nice to you, I guess. Everyone’s been talking all day about what they should do to you, instead of… what we can do for you?” He shrugged. “I just figured… you know?”

Peridot didn’t know. Homeworld didn’t consider hospitality when it came down to prisoners, or anyone unaffiliated with their society. She glanced down at the loaf and breadfruit, then up at Steven, who was still beaming expectantly at her. He didn’t seem like he’d lace them with any sedatives… unless this childish guise was a ploy to earn her trust.

Peridot shifted forward, deciding to throw her cynicism to the wind for just five minutes because by the Diamonds themselves, her stomach was about to tear itself apart. Her arms jerked as she tried to reach forward, reminding her of the bonds keeping them behind her back. “My hands are stuck,” Peridot muttered sourly, dropping defeatedly back against the wall. Steven regarded her for a moment, some thought process unknown to Peridot shifting the cogs in his mind. He got up suddenly, moving over to Peridot and, to her astonishment, loosened her bonds. “Don’t tell anyone I did this—I can, just, slip them back on when I leave so they’ll never know I was here! Okay?”

“…Okay.” Peridot wriggled her wrists out from the bonds, sighing with relief as she stretched them up over her head. They then shot forward, red fingers wrapping eagerly around the round loaf as they brought it up to her mouth. Steven smiled and mimicked her, taking a bite of his sugar apple.

Even if it was a little on the stale side it was the most delicious thing Peridot had eaten in her whole life. In what felt like no time at all she was picking crumbs off her fingers, eyeing the strange yellow fruit cuts laying on the parcel. “What is that, exactly?”

“What, these?” Steven pointed to the slices. “Breadfruit! They grow all over here—they’re really filling, too. They kinda taste like… bread, actually, when you cook them, but—I had to grab these on the down-low. They’re a little overripe, but, they get sweeter when they’re this way!”

“Mm-hmm.” Peridot eyed the fruit with no small amount of skepticism. She didn’t make a move to grab at it, instead shifting only to pinch back a pained hiss when a flare ran up her forsaken leg. She’d almost forgotten what crummy shape she was in. “Stars,” she huffed, blinking the lights out of her eyes.

Steven immediately looked up, eyes large and soft with worry. “Oh geez-- are you okay, Peridot?”

A furtive idea came to light suddenly, as Peridot’s eyes moved from her thighs over to the young… impressionable boy. “Not… really,” she tried, picking her words with the caution of a mouse. “I believe my leg’s been injured. I can’t imagine it’s because of the way I was... hassled and taken hostage by your pirate companions.”

Peridot watched as Steven shuffled on the spot. “Sorry about them, they-- can get really protective. All they saw was a Homeworld soldier on their island, so…”

“Their island?” Peridot perked a brow. “All land masses spotted in the Atlantius are under Yellow Diamond’s authority. This island is being impeached by pirates!”

Steven blinked. “Peridot, we’re not even in the Atlantius Ocean. We’re close to the Carribea, but it’s hard to tell. I don’t leave the island much.” He scratched his head. “Or at all.”

Peridot glared at the boy, trying to piece together what he’d revealed over and over in her head. They couldn’t be anywhere near the Carribea; for one, Peridot was very sure when the Nebula had been marked to traverse the Northern Atlantius. They hadn’t even been anywhere near the equator! “That’s impossible.”

“I mean--” Steven looked at Peridot, all baffle and no tricks. “I don’t think you’d see this kind of forest anywhere else? Not that I know of, anyways.”

The boy was right there. There were no tropics further north. But that still didn’t help things make any more sense. Peridot shook her head, lips pursed in an uncomfortable grimace. She’d unravel that mystery later. On top of the multiple other ones she’d managed to stumble into the past week. Go on Captain Nephrite’s voyage, they said. It’d be easy , they said. Easy, her a-

“Hey, Peridot-- do you want some.. help with your leg? I’ll have to bind it back up before I go but, it’d feel nice to stretch it out, I bet!”

Peridot nodded fervently, her mind roaring as her eyes quickly darted to the door beyond him. She watched as he loosened the binding around her ankles, the skin throbbing where it had previously been tightly constrained.

Sighing with relief, Peridot shifted her leg, grateful that it wasn’t rendered completely immobile from all the stiffness of the past day. Steven watched as she hobbled up onto her feet. She kept a hand to the wall to keep balanced, not trusting her flimsy calves just yet, but moved her eyes to the door behind Steven. “Do you station guards outside of your prison cells?”

“What?” Steven followed her gaze. “Uhh, no, I don’t think so. This… isn’t even a cell, it’s a shed on the outside of the village.”

“Village?”

“Yeah! There’s just a big clump of ferns between the shed and the village where we all live—well, I live here, a bunch of Crystal Gems come and go.”

“But you don’t keep guards?”

Steven opened his mouth to speak, drawing a thoughtful finger to his chin. “Not that I know of. We’ve never really… had someone who wasn’t a Gem on the island before. You were kind of a big surprise, to all of us!”

“Huh.” Peridot was only half-listening to the boy. Her mind was racing, calculating the likeliness of a swift escape from what was apparently a bustling hub of Crystal Gems. If she could just get back to the wilderness of the island, foregoing her own personal comfort to preserve her life— she could escape! Dive under a fern and live off breadfruit until Homeworld finally discovered wherever this was and rescued her.

First things first. She needed to be out that door. She took an experimental step towards it, which went unnoticed by the talking boy. A second step, unnoticed. On the third step, however, the boy had gotten to his feet, watching her with curious eyes. “What’re you doing?”

“Nothing!” Peridot affirmed, assuming diffidence as she, inch by inch, maneuvered her hands to wrap around the edge of the door. “Just—touching this bamboo plank.”

Steven put two and two together, and just as he began to race forward with an alarmed gasp, Peridot tore open the door and burst into the night. She fumbled through deep-leaved fronds before collapsing into a large grassy clearing, staring up at the settlement before her with large eyes.

They were close to the mountain that sat at the heart of the island, she noted. A large fortress carved out of the ancient stone sat at the centre of the village, topped by a large bamboo lodge with a generous verandah on all sides. Arranged all around it were boo huts and workshops, vacant, but Peridot feared to think how busy and full of pirates they would be, come sunrise. There were fenced pens of chickens and other fowl. Beyond them, small, kept fields of wheat and other sustainable crops rippled in the growing breeze.

The tropical canopies were dense enough to conceal the base from any overhead aircraft, unless you were to directly drift over the village for more than twenty seconds.

She took all this in in a matter of seconds, heart pumping in her chest as Steven’s fearful voice broke out from behind her as he scrambled out of the shack. “Peridot—Peridot, wait!”

Peridot took off, racing along the dirt pathways cutting through the village, between sheds and huts. She could see the deep green of the forest just behind the lodge’s raised balcony. Liberty from this place!

She bolted over, throwing her hands up over her head as she turned to face Steven, who was still a decent way’s away behind her. “ A-ha! Victory is mine!”

“A-hem.”

Peridot’s face dropped. Slowly, she swiveled her head around to peer over her shoulder at three  pirates emerging from the treeline. She looked at their weapons and made a wise tactical decision. “Retreat!”

She tumbled off the rise, running on all fours up the stairs to the lodge’s balcony. Fortunately the door was unlocked, allowing her to dash inside and slam it shut behind her. There were tall windows in the main room, which meant they could easily break them in and seize her—she needed to hide, fast.

The angry footsteps outside overshadowed her own frantic pattering as she scrambled to the back of the lodge, scrabbling in the dark until her hand found a handle. She shoved it, opening a door she hadn’t seen and tumbled into the room, slamming it shut just in time to hear the front door splinter open.

“Get back here!” A voice shook the walls and effectively drained Peridot’s face of colour as heavy stomps neared the door she’d locked herself behind. She didn’t even know where she’d hidden herself; there were no candles on, and she really doubted these incompetent clods had steam electricity running on the island.

As quietly as an injured person could, she lifted herself up from the floor, moving to feel around the room. There was a faint smell of citrus, which she thought for a moment might be hydrium, but when she felt the mesh netting of a bag holding what could have only been some kind of citrus fruit, she sighed with defeat. She’d locked herself in a pantry. A pantry whose knob was frustratedly jostling as her pursuers outside tried to get in.

“How did she get out?” One of the voices outside demanded. “We had her locked in!”

“Maybe we need a better lock.”

“My locks are fine.”

There was a moment of silence, before Steven’s timid voice chimed in. “I did it.”

Peridot smirked when a series of gasps filtered through the door.

“Steven, why would you do such a thing!?” One of them hissed. “You know she’s dangerous!”

“I mean… she’s pretty small compared to the other Homeworld soldiers we’ve dealt with before, Pearl,” a second voice mumbled.

“That’s no excuse, Amethyst. We can’t let her run off and report us to the Diamonds,” the first voice, Pearl, fretted.

“Oho, and you’re going to stop me, how ?” Peridot growled through the door. “My crew will be coming for me-- you don’t even know what’s coming!”

Amethyst’s voice spoke up first. “But you just told us.”

“Y-- whatever! You’re going to regret stuffing me into that shed and forcing myself to lock myself in here! I’m an aerial officer and you have no right to-”

“This is not a Homeworld-controlled colony.” A third voice, more staidly than the others, chimed in. She sounded as if she was directly above Peridot, despite being outside the door. “Homeworld has no ability to pick up on this island or the base that’s taken up residence on it. The Great Diamond Authority has no control over his place.”

“Th-That’s what you think!” Peridot furrowed her brows. “Just you wait, I bet they’re-- I bet they’re sending out search parties for me right now! Some of Homeworld’s best tracking ships will come here and--”

“Be quiet.”

Miraculously, Peridot shut her mouth, astounded by the weight of the pirate’s tone. There were footsteps outside, and Peridot was inclined to believe they had taken a few steps away from the pantry door. She pressed an ear to the bamboo and listened.

“We have her in our custody, at least,” Pearl was saying. “Even if the circumstances are less than optimal.”

“Yo P, do you think she looks a little familiar? I mean, we did just raid that ship the other d-”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Amethyst. Homeworld doesn’t know how to use the sky hang. ” The term made Peridot’s ears buzz with bewilderment. “She must have veered off-course in her flying machine and crashed here. There’s no other explanation.”

“No, Amethyst is right,” the stoic woman determined. “There is no Homeworld base anywhere near the Geode. Their signals buffer if they drift anywhere close to our sky’s borders. She couldn’t have made it that far in an ornithopter without… help.”

Well, she did. And Peridot felt pretty proud of the fact she’d managed to direct the machine to land, even if it ended up crash landing. It only went to prove she was a skilled machinist in any field. “Stupid, cloddy pirates,” she grumbled, sliding down the length of the door, a hand going to knead at her achy calf. She stiffened when she heard soft footfalls outside the door, preparing to reach up to hold the knob to prevent entry, but stopped when she heard Steven sigh outside. “Peridot, can you come out? Please? We could… talk? Instead of yelling at you through the door?”

“No.”

“...Please?”

“I said, no.” Peridot frowned. “As if I’d negotiate with filthy war machines. My ship was ransacked by the likes of you Crystal Gems! Why should I let you do the same to me? ”

“...Because I said please?”

“Steven, it’s no use, bud,” Amethyst huffed from afar. “Homegirl’s made up her mind with the whole pantry thing.”

“But it’s my pantry.” Steven sounded bemused. “All my stuff’s in there!”

Pearl sighed with resignation beyond them. “You’ll just need to be careful. We won’t break down the door because that might spoil everything inside. I’ll stay with you tonight to make sure she doesn’t do anything… unpleasant.”

I’ll show you unpleasant, Peridot grouched internally, folding her arms over her knees.

Another resigned sigh from Pearl. “It’s late. Garnet, Amethyst, you two go back to the cabin. I’ll watch Steven and keep an eye on our… escapee.”

“Are you sure?” The voice Peridot assumed was Garnet now inquired. “We can stay with you.”

“No, no, I can do it myself. I’ve handled much worse than a wayward officer,” Pearl mused. “Off you two go. And Steven, you ready yourself to go to sleep. We’ll discuss your punishment in the morning.”

“What? Punishment? Why!”

“Because you let a Homeworld loyalist run free across the village.”

“...Fair.”

Peridot listened with a dour expression as the room outside quieted. The sound of footsteps lessened until there were only two left; the soft pattering of Steven, and the even daintier, lighter footsteps of Pearl. Peridot huffed through her nose, hitching her shoulders up to her neck. This wasn’t terrible. She could probably live out her days in this pantry, if Homeworld really couldn’t find this place.

But there was no reason they shouldn’t be able to. Peridot had worked with one of Homeworld’s best trackers in her lifetime, and there wasn’t a scrap of land that they couldn’t find in their warships. So what made this place any different? Ugh, these Crystal Gems were full of secrets and mystery and Peridot was beginning to understand why Lazuli’s inside experience was so incredibly valuable.

For now, though… she had this pantry. And some oranges. She could escape this temporary prison, certainly!

But for now, she'd wait until the right moment. When Steven was asleep and this Pearl character was unwary. It'd come. Eventually.

Chapter Text

Rolling thunder growled beneath Peridot, resonating deep within the earth beneath the slanted floorboards of the pantry. The heavy cool crafted by the blanket of rain outside laid icily on Peridot’s skin, only adding to the prisoner’s apprehension as the night ticked precariously by.

Peridot hated the rain. It was instilled in an aeronaut’s best interests to steer away from the darkest clouds in the sky to better preserve their ships, and therefore, the lives within them. She knew there was no logical reason to be put off by the phenomenon now, since she wasn’t in the sky and wasn’t exactly in immediate danger. But the thought of the roof collapsing in on her, suffocating her with brown clay and combed bamboo strips, was more than enough to put her on edge.

It had been at least two days since locking herself in the pantry. There was no shortage of things to eat, but her stomach still roiled at the thought of depending on a Crystal Gem’s supply to keep herself sustained. Twice a day a pirate or two would come by and let her out to let her use the needed facilities, but Peridot was in no haste to remain in their tense company. She’d tuck herself back into the pantry and stare down the cursed raiders as she slammed the door back in their faces.

They made her do this. But at least it was a step up from that poor excuse for a shack she’d woken up in before. When Homeworld came for her, she wanted to be in the best shape possible; and that meant secluding herself so she wasn’t… whatever these clods would make of her if she lowered herself to their bidding.

...The house was quiet now. Or, so Peridot thought it was. The incessant sound of the rain made it difficult to discern any other people were in the heart of the lodge. Steven had given her a candle and means to light it some time ago. It had become her only real source of enrichment in the small, dark passage; a literal light in the dark that kept her mind occupied.

That is until a series of meaningful knocks on the door made her fumble and gasp, effectively blowing out the wick and plunging herself into the dark.

“What!” She snipped through the door. “What do you want!”

“Hey, Peridot,” a young voice responded softly. Peridot’s guard lowered fractionally when she realized it was only Steven. “Everyone’s gone on patrol or fixing the village-- a few big branches fell near the middle of it, so they’re off clearing them out… I was wondering if you wanted to come out?”

Peridot couldn’t lie. Her heart lifted up into her throat at being let out of this pantry. She longed for liberty: something as minimal as being able to stretch her arms far up over her head without fear of being bombarded with fruit hanging from meshes. But she didn’t trust any pirate; not even Steven. Not wholly.

“Why should I? I’m perfectly content in this space. It may be small, dark, and… cramped, but at least I’m not openly resorting to thriving on a Crystal Gem base.”

“You don’t sound too happy in there.”

“Oh, don’t I? I’m practically beaming.”

There was a gentle sound of scuffling outside the door. She assumed Steven had sat down. "I promise I won't tell anyone you stepped out. I-- you have a bad leg, right? It'd probably feel a lot better if you didn't keep it cramped up in there. Walk on it, and stuff. Pearl always says to walk on it when it gets sore."

Peridot's breath blew out from her cheeks. This boy was steadfast in his efforts to get her out of this pantry. Admittedly, the thought of being able to move around further than a yard in front of her was... incredibly tempting. Tantalizing. Some primal urge in her wanted it- no, needed it.

In excruciatingly slow movements, Peridot's hand fastened around the handle of the door and undid the latch. She cracked the door open, flinching at the crackling sound it emitted as it slid ajar. Steven was waiting on the other side, face bright with excitement. "Come on out! Here-- I'll-- I have tea! It's a little cold, but- it's probably better than the old well water in there!"

Before Peridot could even get a word in, the boy had taken off towards another section of the fortress. She chose caution over reckless trust, snatching a short wood rod from the closet (she assumed a broomstick, but didn't have any bristles) and methodically stepping out of the small space.

True to his word, the house was vacant, except for the two of them. It was dark outside, not a shred of light left untouched by the weeping, swollen thunderclouds. She flinched when a particularly bright beat of thunder flashed in through slats in the walls, followed a few moments later by a loud rumble.

"How is this primitive place keeping upright?" Peridot asked, jaw ticked with concern as she watched the front door shudder in its hinges at the wind's adamant hounding. "It's practically made of sticks and clay!"

"We've got some pretty talented architects living on the island!" Steven shrugged, reappearing from behind the table with a small ceramic mug. "Hope you like lemon ver- verd-- verbana? I forgot its name." He hopped onto a stout wooden stool opposite Peridot and thrust the cup out towards her. "Here!"

Peridot fumbled to grab onto the mug with both hands, unable to keep her fingers from nervously fidgeting along its edge. The gentle warmth of the tea filtering through the ceramic helped ease the antics, but only slightly. She sniffed it once, watching Steven watch her, before deciding it wasn't poisoned and taking a tentative sip. It wasn't bad. It tasted sweet like tropics, but bitter like the fruit the namesake promised.

Peridot stared at the chartreuse drink cupped in her palms. "Why do you keep helping me?" She questioned, focusing her intense green stare onto Steven. "You've got no reason to. Yet you do."

Steven shifted on the stool. "...I dunno. We don't usually... get people like you on the island. Mostly because it's dangerous. And it could expose us to Homeworld. I figured-- if we help you now, maybe you'll-"

"What? Help you?" Peridot's breath hitched as a mendacious cackle rose in her chest. "Why would I want to be in cohorts with the likes of pirates? Pirates who, mind you, have taken down full-fledged warships and laid siege to numerous military bases?"

"W-Well, because-"

"Because what !" Peridot shrilled. "Because you were friendly to me? I'm not going to abandon my allegiance to my Diamond just because some kid tossed me a spare piece of bread and-- gave me tea!" She turned heel, dropping the mug on the floor and sending it shattering into hundreds of brittle pieces. Her hands dug knots into disheveled hair. "It doesn't change the fact that I'm being held hostage by an island of Crystal Gems, with no hope of ever being found by my crewmates or any member of Homeworld, because they don't know that this island clodding exists!"

Her hostile gaze found its way back to Steven. The boy looked shell shocked, features slack in the incandescent glow of the candle on the table. Peridot realized for the first time how rapid her breathing was, cusping on the edge of wheezing as she steadied herself. Her body felt so warm, all except for her chest, which felt as cold as the heart of the northern Atlantius seas.

She'd frightened him. It hadn't exactly been intentional. She couldn't tell if it was the icy sensation of contempt making the skin of her throat flush cold. Maybe it was guilt.

Suddenly there were deliberate steps on the porch outside, making brisk haste towards the door. Peridot immediately let out a gasp and scrambled for the nearest thing to hide behind, which was a protruding, arched fireplace to the left wing of the room. Not two heartbeats later did the door to the fortress swing open, and Pearl was standing at the door. Thunder illuminated the negative space behind her, and Peridot had to restrain from making any startled noise. She shuddered in place instead as the pirate entered.

"Steven? What's going on? I heard a shattering noise from outside so I came in to--" There was a pause and the sound of ceramic crunching beneath something weighted. "Oh-- Steven, what on earth did you do! Did you drop another mug?"

"I-- uh-" Steven's voice wavered, and Peridot's chest weighed heavy when she heard how thick his words came. "Yeah. Sorry, Pearl, I-- guess the thunder startled me and I dropped it."

Pearl emitted a world-weary sigh. "That's the second cup this month. You're lucky Opal takes so kindly to you; we'd have been out of utensils years ago if she didn't keep making more."

Peridot's fingers clenched the fabric of her vest, keeping her eyes glued to the bamboo wedges in front of her. It was only the shadows keeping her from being spotted by Pearl. Steven could expose her at any given time- even pin the blame on her. But he didn’t.

That cold feeling in her chest burned and burned, chipping away at her ribs until it felt like something was clawing her inside out. Pearl was cleaning up the remains of the ceramic mug around the corner, and Steven was still silent on the stool. Peridot couldn't make out his features.

"Steven, what's this?"

Peridot's eyes followed Pearl in the dark, watching the Crystal Gem bow and retrieve something long and slim from the floor. Peridot stiffened. The broomstick. She'd dropped the broomstick!

"Is this the broomstick that Amethyst broke last week? I thought we put it in-" Pearl quieted, eyes reaching over to set firmly on the door of the pantry. The door that was held slightly ajar, with the lock unlatched. In less than a second Pearl was brandishing her sharp spear. "Steven, get behind me, now."

"No, Pearl, it's-"

"Behind me, Steven!"

"No, Pearl, it's okay! She's--" Steven stole a sparing glance in Peridot's general direction, and Peridot felt her heart skip a beat when his gaze scored over the small alley of shadow where she was hidden. "I know she's out! I-"

"You let her out again?" Pearl gawked, all exasperation. "Steven, what did we tell you about-"

"No, listen! She's- she's not dangerous. Please. She sounds like she's in trouble- she doesn't know where she is, or-- what you guys want to do with her. Pearl, I think she's scared."

Peridot wanted to snort with disregard. Scared? Her? Please! She might be stranded on an island filled with hostile pirates who would look for any reason to slice her skin right off, with no working machine to send a signal to Homeworld that she was in this predicament, and in probable need of immediate medical attention because her leg was ailing by the day-- but she wasn't scared ! She refuted the notion!

...Yet, she remained still in the shadows, unwilling to reveal herself to the spear-wielding pirate.

The space was rigid with tension. Silence stretched for what felt like minutes, teetering so dangerously on the edge of soundlessness, had it not been for the beating of the rain. Eventually, there was a sigh, and there was the metallic sound of the spear's base meeting the floorboards. "Come out, then," Pearl ordered. "Reveal yourself."

Peridot waited a hesitant moment before sliding cautiously out of the shadows, hands braced on the wall behind her. If hiding away wasn’t going to do her any… favors, (not that she wanted it, moreso that it was an unfortunate requirement... for now) she might as well try to be docile with these raiders.

Pearl was standing in front of Steven, holding her spear with the firm ease of a seasoned veteran. The boy leaned in to the guardian and tugged at the pale sash wrapped around her waist, beckoning her down and whispering something in her ear. Her face shifted slightly, a cheek ticking as cool eyes regarded the Homeworld machinist. She sighed. "Peridot, is it?"

"...That's right." Peridot's clammy hands found her hips. She braced them around her waist, disliking how weak her grip found.

"What is your business here?" Pearl inquired next. "How did you find this island?"

"I--" Peridot pursed her lips. There was no use in lying here; plus, the sharp, jeweled tip of Pearl's spear readily inspired Peridot to be truthful, despite every instinct to disillusion the pirate. "I crash-landed. On the beach."

Pearl's eyes lit up momentarily. "The ornithopter," she said. "You were the pilot of the ornithopter? We didn't think anyone had survived that crash! There were machine parts scattered all over the hollow."

Peridot rose a brow. "But there was no body. It's not like corpses can shamble away from where they died."

Pearl's features darkened for the fraction of a second, obvious, and Peridot wasn't sure if she'd dreamed it or not. Peridot took a wary step back nonetheless. Attitude wasn't appreciated in this situation, she reckoned. She needed information from Pearl; she needed a better bearing on where she was, like Steven said.

"How did you... get here?" Pearl tried, eyes narrowed with skepticism. "There are no Homeworld ports within hundreds of miles of this island. Let alone Homeworld sky lanes. How did you get an ornithopter to cover half the globe?"

Half the globe? Peridot blinked, recalling that they were nestled in the tropics of the eastern Carribea. She'd brushed Steven off the first time he'd mentioned that- taking this island as an odd-ball climate for the northern hemisphere. But the second reminder sent her spiraling into confusion all over again.

"I don't know what to tell you, pirate," Peridot huffed, ignoring Pearl's annoyed glare. "All I know is that my airship was ambushed by Crystal Gems some handful of nights ago. Over the Atlantius, not the Carribea. I was cornered, and used one of the spare ornithopters in the loading bay to escape."

"And how far did you get before you crashed?"

"Stars if I know! All I can remember is seeing mist and then a tree--" Peridot's hands went up in aggravation. "And then I woke up beaten and battered inside the cockpit on this dumb island! I don't know how in Yellow Diamond's name I ended up thousands of miles from where I expected to crash into the sea."

Pearl was thoughtfully silent after Peridot's fervent explanation. Peridot felt pinned under the Crystal Gem's pensive visage, eyes directing to Steven, who was watching Peridot with a thoughtfulness equitable to Pearl's.

"Suppose I believe you," Pearl spoke. "Humor me: what was the name of the airship you sailed? What was your ranking and charge?"

Peridot cleared her throat shakily. "I sail aboard Captain Nephrite's Nebula ." Pearl's face shifted. "I am the head machinist, as well as a junior second officer. I am responsible for the maintenance and welfare of the cell bay machines, as well as freelance machine health around the ship."

There was something indecipherable in Pearl's expression, and quietly the pirate turned to Steven and whispered something to him that Peridot couldn't hear. "Stay here," Pearl instructed, tipping the point of the spear towards Peridot. "And don't get any funny ideas about making a run for it. I need to bring somebody here."

"What?" Peridot blanched white. "Why? I've told you all I know! Officer's honor!"

"Relax," Pearl hissed, sounding more tired than angry at this point. "No harm will come to you, as long as you listen to everything we say. And right now, I'm saying you need to stay put while I find Garnet."

"It'll be okay, Peri," Steven coaxed, walking over to her as Pearl made a swift retreat from the lodge and into the rain. "Garnet will sort this out."

"It's Peridot."

"Right, okay, we're not to nicknames yet. That's fair. Uhm." Steven stopped behind a low table, looking unsure. Peridot sighed deeply. "Look. I apologize for yelling. You could say that I'm a bit-- on edge. In this specific situation. It isn't exactly ideal for any party involved, see."

"Oh, I know- I probably should have given you a little more space. I could've just slid the tea in through the door."

Peridot let out a small breath and shook her head. "No. Then no progress would have been made."

The two waited in a silence that wasn't tense nor comfortable, but a neutral medium. Peridot resorted to lowering herself onto an old cushioned seat near the fireplace, fingers massaging her bad leg as she tried to press out the knots. She was a bit concerned about it, since all this exertion and stress was treating her body as roughly as it was her mind.

The rain continued to whisper outside, softer than before. It only took Pearl a few moments to return with Garnet, who Peridot recognized as the tall woman from before: the passive one. Oddly, she wore shaded lenses, despite the gloom that blackened the room and the world outside.

"Pearl has explained your circumstances to me," the newcomer said smoothly. "If you don't mind, I would like to talk to you myself."

"Please, I'm just so full of valuable intel," Peridot muttered to herself sarcastically. Was this how Lazuli felt? She let out a grumble and leaned forward in her seat. "I've already told Pearl all that I know. No, I don't know how I got here. No, I don't know where my airship and my crew is. Diamonds almighty, I don't even know if it's still afloat or if it's flotsam in the sea by now."

Pearl stiffened her grip around her spear behind Garnet, but Garnet raised a hand to mollify her companion. "Go take Steven outside, Pearl. Peridot and I are going to have a little chat."

"Garnet?"

"Go on." Garnet watched as Pearl took hold of Steven's hand and led the boy outside, softly speaking to him. The tall, strong-looking woman hovered before Peridot for a quiet moment before settling into a seat across from her. Peridot waited on bated breath for the pirate to speak first. When it didn't come, she let out a heavy breath. "Well?"

"Do you feel ill, Peridot?"

"What? No-- unless you count the weakness caused by being holed up in a pantry for the past few suns. And the injuries I sustained after, you know, crash-landing on an island and being consequently abducted under the influence of chemicals."

"Hmm." Garnet's semblance remained indifferent. "How about while you were piloting your ornithopter? Did you feel anything peculiar then?"

Peridot stared at Garnet like she'd grown a second head. What could be peculiar about piloting something as simple as an ornithopter? Was Garnet doubting her piloting abilities? She had half a mind to snip something unpleasant about pirates and their lack of extensive aerial knowhow, but a sudden memory stopped her in her tracks.

"I- felt odd. Right before I saw the mist," Peridot admitted, surprised by the confusion in her tone. "A bit like I was drifting, despite moving at twenty knots an hour."

"What next?"

"Then- I was in the mist. I couldn't see anything until I'd already spiraled into the trees and then to the ground. I got injured, abducted, and was stuffed into a pantry for over fourty-eight hours. That's the extent of my knowledge. Happy?"

Garnet furrowed her brow slightly. "Happy is an overstatement. I would rather say contented with the information you've given me. I suppose it would only be fair you get to ask something of me next."

"What can I even ask?" Peridot asked, bemused. "What you intend to do with me next?"

"That might be a good start." Garnet stood, beckoning for Peridot to do the same. "Come with me outside."

"Into the rain?" Peridot frowned. Her leg panged with discomfort at the thought of being soaked through.

"Would you rather return to the pantry?"

Peridot scoffed repugnantly, heaving herself up and limping after Garnet to the door. "Fine. It's not like I'm already incapacitated enough."

Garnet opened the door, and to Peridot's surprise, the rain had slowed considerably. It spattered here and there along the porch, but patches of the speckled night sky had begun to grin through the overcast. It was minimal, but moonlight had begun to touch the outlines of the numerous shops and homes dotting the village. There was no one about with it being so late, save for a few patrolees Peridot could see making their rounds around the perimeters of the base.

"Tell me what you see, Peridot."

"Wh-- why?"

"Because."

Peridot was beginning to resent the Crystal Gem's cryptic way of speaking, but something about it made it impossible to disobey. "I see... houses."

"And what else?"

"A blacksmith shop. Pens of farm animals. Detritus. Trees."

"Does it resonate with you?"

"What, the scenery?" Peridot turned to Garnet, ludicrous. "What's all this about? Because I'm getting tired of playing this-- cryptic, enigmatic game you're obviously trying to get at."

"Look again," Garnet coaxed, folding her arms over her chest. "Harder this time. Listen closer."

"Ugh." Peridot groaned, wishing she'd accepted the offer of being tossed back in the pantry. At least she wouldn't be playing a children's spy game in there. Just oranges and silence. "Stars. I hear… birds. In the trees, I’m presuming.”

"You don't see those on the mainland often, do you, Peridot?"

Peridot glanced at Garnet through the corners of her eyes. “No. There is no suitable place for them to properly coexist with Homeworld’s civilization. But you don’t see me complaining. From what I’ve heard from the few border agents I’ve come across in my time, birds are just loud, extraneous pests. We don’t need them mucking up the perfectly tuned gears on land.”

She felt Garnet’s eyes boring into the back of her neck. She couldn’t help the restlessness this sensation brought on, twining her fingers around the bamboo railing of the porch and gently swaying on her feet.

Still, Garnet was silent for a few moments more, a thoughtful hum on the corner of her lips. “Do you know why don’t fly further inland? The birds.”

Peridot shrugged. “No. And I don’t care to. Frankly, I don’t get why we’re talking about-- avians when there are much more dramatic things at hand. Like, oh, I don’t know, my being captured here and whatever in Diamond’s name got me sucked from the Atlantius skies to here.”

“We know what’s happened to you. But it will take some explaining, and I doubt you’ve the mindset to comprehend it at the moment,” Garnet iterated, tone curt. “I am willing to explain it to you, but in due time. There are things we must do first.”

Oh stars, this pirate was really determined to keep up this ambiguous charade, wasn’t she? Peridot’s fingers nested themselves between her brows, trying to press away the headache she felt coming on. She just wanted answers so she could devise a plot and get off this island and back to her rightful place on a warship. That’s what she was trained for, so that’s what she was supposed to do. “Ugh. Fine.”

“Good. Come with me.” Garnet began down the steps to the village below, leaving Peridot to only scramble after, if only to not anger this enigmatic, seemingly… powerful person. She walked with an authority that she had only seen commanders employ within Homeworld’s rankings, so Peridot guessed that she was the leader of the renegade party on the island.

Regardless, her lips were pursed in a grimace the entire walk behind Garnet, up until the moment they reached the edge of the village. Huge, soaking tropical plants sprung up from the earth to whisper at Peridot’s thigh, and the night was immensely still, save for the gentle hum of rousing insects and the sprinkling of raindrops falling from the leaftops.

It was curious. Peridot wasn’t used to seeing lushness so up close. Of course, she’d crashed into it, but… there was something aesthetic about it. She would often see distant lands from the crow’s nest of whatever warship she was assigned to, but it wasn’t her duty to provide ground coverage or reconnaissance. That was typically left up to the Quartz squads: the footsoldiers.

“You don’t see life like this at the mainland because the land is exploited.” Garnet’s voice chipped into Peridot’s musing, and she winced, fixing the pirate leader with a puzzled look. “Homeworld capitalizes on the land and the wildlife around them to harvest materials. For an ecosystem to flourish like this, it must be able to retain all its resources. Such a thing is impossible, when Homeworld is resolute in its mission to harvest hydrium, among other things.”

“But what’s a few plants to a fleet of commandeered warships?” Peridot scoffed. “Hydrium is a vital necessity to Homeworld’s expansion! You can’t possibly expect us to just up and drop harvesting; it would petrify the entire economy we have built over the last two decades!”

This was obviously not what Garnet wanted to hear, and she let it be known by fixing Peridot with a bracing glance. Peridot averted her gaze quickly. “Hydrium is essential to Homeworld. Every airship has a cel for it now, even the, ugh, light kites . It’s thrust us into a brand new era of flight and energy required for global coverage.”

“But how long until every place like this, every place green and brimming with life, is worn from having its resources drained to sustain you?”

Peridot’s mouth flapped open to retort, but surprisingly, there was no argument to be had. She’d never really considered that. Mostly because no one ever considered it back home. It wasn’t up to her or her normal compatriots where they would go to mark a Homeworld territory; it was up to the Diamonds. But as long as her Diamond was pleased with their efforts, so too was Peridot.

Still, Peridot remained quiet, trying to piece together a feasible argument to challenge Garnet. But when nothing came up, Garnet continued. “Homeworld fights to sustain itself, thinking little of anyone who refuses to give in to their will. The Crystal Gems, we fight for everyone and everything: from the indigenous people living on the lands Homeworld brings to service to the smallest plant you can find there. Our leader thought all life was precious, big or small. And we’re working to preserve that memory and save it.”

“...It?”

Garnet’s hand rose and lifted up her dark lenses, exposing her dark, pressing eyes to Peridot. “Life. All over the earth.”

Peridot felt her skin flush with liability that didn’t feel like her own. Something within her splintered, a resolve she had formed after years of loyalty to her Diamond and her faction. It was uncertainty, an emotion Peridot always tried to quiet down whenever it rose within her. Indecision was frowned upon. She needed to be certain and firm and loyal, lest she be punished for betraying what was expected of her and thousands of others.

So she quieted it this time, too, digging her fingernails into the sweaty palms of her hands. “I see,” she muttered briskly, steely in the face of all this internal turmoil. “...Is that all you’ve brought me out here for?”

Garnet nodded, causing Peridot to sigh and knead her temple. Of course it was. She found herself blindly following Garnet back to the lodge near the foot of the mountain nonetheless, shuffling up the steps until they were back on the porch. It was silent, and Peridot didn’t know if she should be comforted or disconcerted by the quietude between them.

“Your leg,” Garnet noted idly. “I imagine it’s been giving you grief.”

“That’s a word for it,” Peridot grumbled, slowly moving the ailed limb behind its healthier counterpart, like hiding it from sight would dull the pain any. “What’s it to you?”

Garnet adjusted her lenses with a brief nod. “I’ll send someone to fetch you tomorrow morning to take you to someone for that.”

“Wh- what are you going to do to it?”

“That’s not up to me. We’ve recently.. found someone who should be able to size the situation and help you. After that, be ready to join my patrol tomorrow at sunhigh.”

Peridot was reeling. A mysterious healer-type of person? A patrol? What did these pirates take her for, an apprentice that needed teaching? She was a full-fledged part of Homeworld society! She’d gone through years of orientation at the institute and didn’t need to be subjugated to this. Not to mention being lectured by this pirate about-- plants and life and- other things. Things that made her stomach crawl for a reason she couldn’t pin down.

“Oh, and Peridot?”

Peridot looked up to Garnet, who was poised at the top of the steps. “Don’t go out into the forest alone. It’s dangerous, especially to someone unfamiliar with the island.”

Garnet didn’t wait for a reply before beginning to move down the steps to the ground, leaving Peridot stranded, confused and a bit timorous, up on the porch. What did she mean by that? Ugh. Stars, she felt so ill . Not in a debilitating way, but-- her chest ached and her head was throbbing. Maybe she should bring that up to whoever Garnet was referring her to about her leg.

She didn’t go back inside immediately. Instead she stayed on the porch, holding her arms close to her sides as she stared out into the village, and into the forest tropics beyond.

She was pensive. Garnet’s words stuck with her longer than they should have, echoing in her mind and deepening that achy feeling in her chest. What was she trying to do by telling her all this? Give her a sudden change of heart and expect her to start pillaging airships with them? As if, she scorned internally. These clods can’t stop Homeworld, and I certainly can’t do much. Not that I want or need to. Harvesting the resources and hydrium from our colonies is benefiting the capital and the empire- and that’s what matters. They’ll give it up soon enough.

Peridot was just about to turn heel and step back into the lodge, idly wondering if Steven had been returned while she was with Garnet, when she heard voices deeper into the village. She turned to mentally criticize whatever group of pirates were fumbling in from the treeline at such a late hour and making such a ruckus, but stopped when she saw among them a limp figure, in tattered attire and dark, wet hair.

Even from a distance, it was vaguely familiar.

Peridot saw rousing pirates swarm the party, including Steven, who emerged from below a straw canopy and began to wave his arms erratically at the newcomer.

It was then Peridot realized why the distant figure was so curiously familiar.

“Lazuli?”

Chapter Text

The group eventually dissipated, leaving the straggling few to make their way up to the lodge house where Peridot restlessly milled. The pirates who carried Lazuli in were unfamiliar to Peridot, giving her wary but disinterested regards as they stepped in and lowered the unconscious woman onto the cushions in the living area.

Steven was practically on top of her, floundering around Lazuli like a concerned mother hen. He spoke quickly and quietly to the Crystal Gems who deposited her, making a flurry of hand motions until the lot surrounding him appeased and began to trickle out the door into the night.

Peridot was tucked up on Steven's loft, where he'd pointed out his mattress for her to lay on earlier if she wanted to give the rescue party some distance. She'd gladly taken up the offer, but swiftly grew weary of watching Steven fret over this woman he barely knew.

Or... maybe he did know her? He watched her with large, careful eyes, and danced around her with certainty, like it was a familiar rhythm. Peridot was content to watch with a speculative grimace, that is, until Steven made a hasty retreat towards the kitchenette. Peridot took the chance to limp down the steps into the heart of the lodge to hover over Lazuli.

She was clueless as to how Lazuli had made it here. She didn't even know how she had made it here yet, and her conscience ached registering the mystery of it. Lazuli was still alive, else they wouldn't have brought her into a child's home; plus, her chest was still undulating, however shallow the breaths may have been.

"They found her on the beach," Steven brought up as the boy returned, fondling a small, steaming cup in his palms as he set it on the low table beside Lazuli. "Washed up."

"Peculiar," Peridot murmured. "How I get locked up in a shack and she gets put on a couch cushion."

Steven pouted. "That's not fair. We-- we know her. Her name is Lapis. She- I knew her, a while ago. But then she kinda vanished, and.. I haven't seen her since." His hands fidgeted, fitting shakily together. "I was worried about her."

Peridot shrugged. "She was affiliated with Crystal Gems, so that much makes sense."

The boy glanced up, face slack with astonishment. "Do... you know her, Peridot?"

"Know her?" Peridot turned half her gaze over towards Steven, eyes lit by her incredulous scoff. "She was my informant on the Nebula!" Steven blinked absently. "My ship, Steven. She was the informant on my ship."

"Oh! Yeah!" Steven nodded knowingly. "Gotcha. But-- wait, she was on your ship? For.. Homeworld?"

"Well, of course. We wouldn't exactly conduct an operation if it wasn't in Homeworld's best interests," Peridot huffed. She turned towards the boy, noting his puzzled expression. "What? This shouldn't be shocking to you."

"No, it's-- it's not, but. What was Lapis... informing you all about? Like, what was she telling you?"

Peridot felt her face pinch with unease. Lapis had been informing her handlers about them. About Crystal Gems. Or, they had hoped she would inform them; what they had managed to glean out of her was basically unusable, especially now that her two primary handlers were now missing in action.

Steven obviously seemed upset by this fact, looking upon Lapis' still form with a troubled overcast in his eyes. Peridot exhaled inelegantly through her nostrils, moving her eyes up to the ceiling as she heaved a resigned sigh. "Nothing. She wouldn't tell us anything."

"Us? Were there more of you asking her things?"

"Well, I was her main handler. But my crewmate, Jasper, has a head too big for even her shoulders and liked to butt in against our Captain's will. I last saw Lazuli with her."

Steven's eyes lowered thoughtfully onto Lapis. "How did she get on the Nebula with you?"

"She was assigned to be our informant by our faction's fleet commander. She had been returned to Homeworld by an outstretching group of light kites; the government mandated she be taken out by a warship to..." Peridot slowed her roll and reconsidered her wording, well-aware of Steven's brimming eyes watching her speak, "...scout any Crystal Gem bases she could divulge. She... never told us any location or coordinates. We couldn't get anything out of her."

"Oh," Steven noted breathlessly, turning his face away as he gave a breathless sigh. Peridot could swear she heard him murmur a 'that's good' that Peridot was sure she wasn't meant to hear. It made her chest throb with an unwelcomed emotion.

"Will she be out for much longer?" Peridot asked, pointing a curious finger at Lazuli.

"I don't know," Steven admitted. "She was awake when they found her, Stevonnie told me. But by the time they got to the village she'd passed out between them. I guess she must've had too much salt water-- not to mention being exhausted. The ocean around here isn't friendly.

"Well, how did she get here?" Peridot tried next. "My arrival here is a mystery as is."

Steven was quiet before he turned to face Peridot with a tired smile. "I'll explain tomorrow. I promise. Or someone will beat me to it. But-- why don't you go up to the loft? I'll keep an eye on Lapis and-- let you know if she wakes up, or something."

Peridot's brows raised. "Are you-- ordering me to go to bed?"

Steven blinked. "I guess?"

Peridot's face knitted with childish betrayal. Stubbornly, she turned heel and scrambled up the steps on all fours to Steven's loft.

Sunrise eventually did come. It burned away the dense fog that hung in thick wreaths around the wiry forest tendrils, making way for the avid tropical sunshine. Peridot wasn't even sure if she had slept or not, but Lazuli was still asleep below, motionless but breathing. Steven had fallen asleep drawled across a footstool across from her form.

True to Pearl's word, a pirate came to the lodge come dawn's light for Peridot. The machinist was hesitant to go alone with the stranger, but Steven quietly encouraged her with a nod, and she supposed that was the best promise of trust she would manage to scrape up in this place.

Peridot stumbled after the Crystal Gem, a short, wild-haired woman with a deep purple bandana (she recognized the voice as Amethyst), down the steps and stubbornly kept her eyes averted to the neighboring treeline as they moved into the village towards... whoever she was being referred to.

"So." Amethyst spoke up, stretching her arms up over her zany head of hair, turning around and proceeding to keep up the pace while backward to face Peridot. "Homegirl, huh? What's it like on the mainland, with all the elites and all the... dictation."

"I beg your pardon?"

The pirate threw her palms up in surrender, a cheeky quirk to her lips. "Just sayin'. From what I've heard 'n seen about Homeworld doesn't sound like much of a joyride." She paused. "Unless, like, being part of a capitalist regime and bending to please some authority figure's every will is kinda your favourite thing."

Every word was a probe at Peridot's conscience. It nagged and nagged until her heartbeat was thundering in her throat, until her neck was hot with frustration and her jaws tense with temper. "Any well-meaning Homeworld citizen would be glad to serve their faction," Peridot grunted, crossing her arms. "I've never had any qualms with my work or the tasks I've been ordered to carry out."

"And let me guess..." Amethyst's eyes rolled up into her skull as she swung back around, facing forward with a lethargic sigh. "You live to serve your Diamond."

"Finally! Some pirate who appreciates the common decency of loyalty to one's Diamond."

"Heheh, yeah, sure. Decency. Well, ah, get back to me when you learn a better connotation for that word, will ya?"

Peridot grimaced. "I don't get what you mean."

"Mm-hmm," Amethyst mumbled, eyes half-lidded. "Yup. Oh, hey, look, we're at the place." The Crystal Gem turned, gesturing at the closed door leading into an old-looking, two-story structure with a flippant shrug. "Now, personally, I don't know this lady. She was just kinda brought in real last-minute and I haven't been able to make odds or ends of her yet, but Pearl and Garnet seem to know ans trust her, so I guess that's the best I can ask for. So go on in."

"Is she... your resident physician?" Peridot inquired, feeling an anxious ache in her leg that didn't seem prominent before. "Surely she's qualified..."

"Ehhh.. guess she may be the closest thing we have to one," Amethyst mused.

"You guess?"

"Yup. Anyways, shout if you think you're about to die, or something. I'll be back later with the rest of the patrol to pick you up." Amethyst turned and sauntered away before Peridot could intervene and interrogate her about that dying part, leaving her with a deep, uncomfortable hollow in the space where a stomach might have been once. She turned towards the... de facto physician's keep with no minute amount of dread.

Stars. Stars, she should turn back. She should just pelt into the forest, into the ferns and brambles to never be seen again by any human, Homeworld, pirate, or other. No, no, then whatever was in the forest that the utterly unhelpful Garnet character had ominously hinted at would get her. Whatever had torn apart that netting like it had a personal vendetta to settle with it.

With something resembling a firm resolve, Peridot pushed open the shabby door to see swirling shadows. The front room was empty, but there was a doorway just beyond that had a warm glow filtering through the thin cloth curtain covering it. From what she could discern, this didn't look like a place of medicine by any means. There were hard, cobbled surfaces and blunt, flat tools scattered about. Planks of freshly sanded wood lay dormant against the left wall.

From the other room Peridot could hear the faint crackling of a low flame, as well as the whimsical sound of someone humming, presumably to themselves. The apprehension restored itself fully in the form of lead feet, keeping her rooted to the floor until whoever was in the next room began to shuffle towards the door. "Hello? Swear, I heard that door open..."

Peridot stiffened. That voice...

The translucent curtain showed a broad, powerful outline, and Peridot felt all the moisture in her mouth drain away as a familiar dark hand pushed the cloth aside to reveal Bismuth.

"Well, would you look at that!" Bismuth bellowed. "Lo and behold, Tiny's here! When Garnet said I'd be dealing with an unconventional case this morning I thought she was talking about Smoky gettin' caught in the thornbrush again."

"But-- you--"

"What? Surprised to see me?" Bismuth grinned. "Frankly, I'm probably more surprised to see you. So's everybody else around the island, I'd wager. Come in, come in."

A guiding hand led a stupefied Peridot into the fire-lit room, revealing less of a physician's office and more of a blacksmith's cozy keep. A stone furnace buzzed in the corner, burning bright with the embers of a fire that must have been running all night. A crumbling anvil looked like it was in the process of being refurbished, covered in tools and pastes to seal even the thinnest fractures. Peridot absentmindedly allowed herself to be piloted towards a wooden bench, seating herself with wide eyes as Bismuth moved around to the other side of the anvil.

"So what can I do you in for?" She asked.

Peridot simply gawked at her. She could feel her heart thudding in her chest, pounding against something firm and flat. Instantly her hands flew to her vest pocket, digging out the journal she had taken off of Bismuth's balloon. She stared at its engraved cover a moment before revealing it to Bismuth. "Is this journal... yours?"

Bismuth's eyes widened. She came around and stole the book out of Peridot's hands, running her fingers along its worn spine and barking with laughter. "Would you look at that! Thought I'd never see this old thing again-- figured it got chucked with the rest of my balloon. Which, really, was no big deal. My new one is much quicker. And nicer," Bismuth laughed, sending Peridot a cheeky wink. "I'm pretty sure I had it hidden..."

"In a compartment in your gondola, yes."

"Oh, that's right! Good eye, Tiny. Stars." Bismuth thumbed through the contents of her journal with a widening smile. "Man, am I glad to see this thing again! Thought all that documentation had been all for naught when it wasn't on my person back on that ship of yours." She paused, glancing down at Peridot with a wink. "Luckily I was caught up to speed here.. even if it still gives me a real headache thinking about it."

"Why is the journal important?" Peridot furrowed her brow. "There's nothing important in there. I scoured every page and it was a-- a catalog detailing last decade's inventory?"

"That's where you're wrong, Tiny," Bismuth mused, crouching down in front of Peridot and extending her arm out, thumb pressed out over the open journal to show Peridot the first sketch of the strange feline-looking creature. "See that?"

"Your fable drawing?" Peridot muttered, unamused. "Yes, I've seen them all. What of them?"

"Fable drawing?" Bismuth blinked. "This a detailed account of the corruptions."

Peridot held up a hand. "Excuse me, the what?" She pried. "Corruptions? You expect me to believe that-- that thing is something that exists, in real life? You're joking me."

Bismuth shook her head. "All truth here, friend."

"I'm not your friend."

"All truth here, not-friend. I wouldn't put that much time and effort into doodling something that wasn't out there. Why do you think there's such a rigorous guard on the borders of the village, and not on you?" Bismuth paused, and chuckled lightly. "Well, there's no argument there, actually. They think you're harmless. Anyways."

Peridot was left reeling on the bench as Bismuth stood up and made her way over to the wall, where buckled sacks of material sat perched on hooks. "What did Garnet send you in for? Painkillers? Dentures? A new eye-"

"My leg," Peridot wheezed, not quite over the initial bombardment from before. "She sent me in for... my leg. It was injured in the crash and.. it's always been a bit... painful."

"Ah, but they don't let you complain about that on the mainland, do they, short stuff?" Bismuth jested over her shoulder, but Peridot didn't smile with her. Instead she only shrank lower into the bench, drawing her legs in close with a wince.

She didn't like this. She didn't like being able to expose herself as vulnerable. She didn't like the amenable way that Bismuth regarded her, and she didn't like the sounds her tools made as she toiled away at something on that anvil of hers.

Peridot just wanted to be home. She wanted to be back in her compact space on the Nebula, or in Captain Nephrite's quarters being praised for her tact, or commanding the sailmakers in the cell chamber. That was territory she knew. It was territory she was comfortable with, instilled in her from when she was just a child. It was all she knew.

Most of all, she didn't like the way she almost felt hesitant to admit all this now. Maybe it was the dire weight of her situation finally sinking in, after three days of being trapped on this cloddy island.

"If, in theory, there was some practical cause behind the phenomenon of this island to me," Peridot found herself muttering, "what would that be?"

Bismuth laid flat a stiff strip of brown leather across the anvil, large fingers moving to fasten the joint metal clasps together. She didn’t speak for a moment, but when she did she rose her dark, thoughtful eyes up to Peridot. “Something that threw both of us for a real whirlwind, that’s for sure. I’m sure Garnet is gonna fill you in on all the details when she comes by to pick you up.”

“They’re really going to make me patrol with them? I’m not some-- patrolee . This all feels feels… patronizing.”

“Patronizing how?”

“Y-- w-well, I-- they’re just-- you’re just-- nyugh, nevermind. Forget I said anything.”

“It’s forgotten.” Bismuth chuckled drily, turning her back to Peridot and stoking the flames of the crackling furnace with a contented expression. “So, why’s it that I’m fixing you up this little apparatus now? You look like you’ve been on that leg for twenty-something years, right? Didn’t look too comfortable aboard that ship, either.”

“Wh-- you noticed?”

“Yeah! Not everyday a little Homeworld handler just waddles in-”

Peridot’s voice rose three octaves. “ Waddles? !”

Bismuth laughed and pulled her elbows up in surrender, balancing the molten brace she’d been piecing together skillfully in one heavy hand. “Simmer down, Peridot, I’m just kidding. Leg must drive you crazy. Here, gimme just a second. Stretch that bad girl out and let me take a quick measurement.”

“Uhm- all right.” Peridot, still frowning, extended her left leg, wincing slightly when a familiarly uncomfortable pang shot up its lower half. It wasn’t as bad as it was upon first landing, definitely, but it still had that particular ache whenever she stood upright. That couldn’t be good, even if it was only a slight strain.

Bismuth was quick to dive in and measure the leg, ducking away with a studious hum to make adjustments. Peridot couldn’t see what the-- physician, blacksmith, inventory keeper, whatever, was doing, but there was a lot of hammering and a lot of snapping sounds going on and they put her ill at ease.

In the fastidious silence Peridot received pause to think. She thought about the series of events that brought her here, to a Crystal Gem’s keep, receiving apparent medical care that didn’t feel much like medical care. Not that she had ever deliberately been subjected to any before. She just didn’t know what to compare this to.

She wondered for the first time what she might be doing now if the Crystal Gems hadn’t raided the Nebula . It was early morning now, so she would have already visited the dining car and was making way to, if not already inside, the sailmaker’s car. Maybe she could have even been down with the Captain, talking up the best methods of reinforcing the militant groups in the west.

But now she was here. She was in Bismuth’s keep, on an island thousands of miles from where she’d last been seen by any friendly force she had ever encountered.

No matter how many times she thought this over, she could never predict the outcome. She didn’t know where she would wind up next, and that… that scared her. She always knew what to expect before. She had a task and she would see it through, possibly receive laud from her superior for a job well done, but now? All of that was gone and thrown to the wind.

She was truly in uncharted territory now.

“Bismuth,” Peridot spoke abruptly, causing Bismuth to perk up and glance over. “Why did Garnet tell me not to go out alone?” Bismuth’s face shifted, making Peridot nervous. “Surely the whole island knows about me taking up occupance here? They wouldn’t try to-- run a spear through my chest if they saw me running around, right?”

“No, no-- they wouldn’t do that,” Bismuth shook her head, running a hand through her hair. “Garnet meant don’t go outside the village alone. You never know what you’ll find on an island like this.”

“But you all know what’s on this island, don’t you? It’d be unwise to make a whole village without knowing the risks.”

Bismuth’s cheek twitched as she stubbornly fixed her gaze on her working hands, limiting Peridot to only a stoic profile. Peridot’s brow ticked unhappily at being ignored, and as she opened her mouth to snap for Bismuth’s attention, the other woman turned around with a boisterous flourish. “A-ha! There you go-- a real state of the art brace to help you get back on your feet-- literally.”

Peridot blinked down at the mechanism thrust into her unready arms. It was a contraption of leather straps and buckles, with a flexible socket to adjust to her knee (she assumed). Not knowing what to make of it, she flexed the device, surprised to hear it slide fluidly without so much as a metallic squeak. “Do I just…”

“Fit it on! Should be a perfect fit, I’ve got quite the eye for making things just for whatever client walks through that door o’ mine,” Bismuth smirked with a wink. Peridot squirmed under her watch as she rolled up her tattered pant leg, unlatching the buckles and fastening it around the bad limb.

It felt… odd to have something as raw as leather press up against her skin, but she had certainly felt worse. She sat motionless for a second, like a cat frozen up with something stuck to its claw, before she felt a sturdy hand give her a coaxing pat on the shoulder. “Stand up and take a crack at it! Sitting won’t do you any good.”

“If you say so…” Peridot mumbled through gritted teeth, following Bismuth’s orders and hobbling up onto her feet. She didn’t feel any… different, but she could feel the contraption on her leg doing… something. She took a step, then another, then a few more and realized with a small intake of breath that she wasn’t wobbling. Her leg was being held firm, not stiff like a board but being supported by the brace.

“Well!” She chirped, fists balled with excitement at her hips as she sauntered around the room. “I think I’m getting the hang of thi--gyack!” She stumbled forward.

“Hah! I wouldn’t get too cocky if I were you, Peridot. It’s not gonna be an easy adjustment, if you’ve been stuck on that leg for all your walking life.” Bismuth was suddenly beside her, helping her back up with a kindly smile.

“No one makes these back at home,” Peridot huffed, patting herself down, all sourness forgotten in favor of trying to see how many strides she could take before her body buckled. It seemed as baffled as she was. “You just need to keep working. As long as you can reap benefits for your faction, you’re still in acceptable working condition.”

Bismuth’s smile faltered, and she left Peridot’s side to return to the furnace to begin fanning down the kindling. “That’s no way to live, little friend,” she commented. “They’d make you work with one eye closed and one foot dead, wouldn’t they?”

“No. At that point, you’re sent to the skeleton of a Kindergarten. Those unable to serve live out the rest of their days ensuring their upkeep.” Peridot shook her head, tutting. “A shame, too. Kindergartens are so glorious in their prime.”

She stopped her strutting with somewhat of a half-fulfilled grin, turning back to Bismuth to find the Crystal Gem regarding her with a solemn expression. A trickle of cold entered Peridot’s chest and her posture slackened, fingers wrapping together in front of her abdomen. “What?”

Knocking came to the door of the other room, startling the both of them. Bismuth blinked and laughed at her jolting reaction, whereas Peridot remained wary of the knockers, realizing it must be the patrol here to escort her. Regardless, she tailed Bismuth to the front door, hiding behind the thin curtain as Bismuth pulled open the door to reveal Garnet, accompanied by Pearl, Amethyst, and a pirate Peridot didn’t recognize.

“We’re here for Peridot,” said Garnet.

“Of course! She’s right behi-- well, she was right behind me. Hey, Peridot, your friends are here!”

“They’re not my friends !”

“Well, not with that attitude,” came Amethyst’s mutter.

Begrudgingly, Peridot emerged into the light. She only managed to fumble once en route to the group, disliking the way their eyes puzzled her over trying to find what was different. Only Garnet and the stranger seemed indifferent, nodding their thanks to Bismuth and taking their leave.

“Seeya around, Tiny,” Bismuth beamed as she waved the party off. “Door’s always open!”

“Right…” Peridot fixed her gaze to the small of Pearl’s back as she was marched away from the keep and through the village.

It was warm today, but damp from the previous evening’s rainshower. The ground was soddy underfoot, making it difficult to walk while still trying to get accustomed to the contraption strapped to her leg. But the further she walked with it, the more she realized she needed to support it just as it did her. She rose her leg just a little higher in each step, and soon she was keeping equal pace with the rest of them. It was a quiet victory that she celebrated in her own head.

On they walked with a silent meaningfulness that Peridot wasn’t privy to yet. Pearl and Amethyst walked beside one another, while Garnet took up the front, and the unfamiliar pirate hung just a few steps behind Peridot. She stole glances back whenever it seemed convenient, noting a tall, supple form and a gentle face framed by pale, pale hair. She almost seemed off in her own world, eyes anywhere but Peridot (or the group in front of her, for that matter).

Now, Peridot was perfectly fine with walking in silence. It’s not like she wanted to converse with these pirates. She had nothing to say to them! The only one who had proven herself worthy of Peridot’s respect and maybe trust was Bismuth thus far. But the fact that they’d been walking for Diamonds knew how long and seemed to be getting nowhere in particular was, to no end, frustrating.

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

...

“How about now?”

“No.”

Ugh.

Up a rocky path, through a dense grove of ferns as tall as Peridot herself, and Peridot was ready to keel out from exhaustion. “ Now? ”

“We’re here.”

“Oh thank the stars.” Peridot heaved, jogging weakly to catch up to the rest of the group’s heels, hands finding her knees with an exaggerated huff. “Stuff me in a closet for three suns and take me on a hike, why don’t you? Stars almighty! ”

“Oh, stars yourself,” Pearl uttered.

“Peridot.”

Peridot glanced up to Garnet, who was gesturing for her to glance forward. She did, and felt her stomach drop.

They were perched up on a mountain cliff. Peridot didn’t even remember beginning an ascending climb, she was so focused on walking correctly and inwardly cursing the stars for sealing her fate so prematurely. Before them the island sprawled outward. The green canopies, the sparkling lagoon, the crescent beach front, and the great, wide ocean beyond-- she could see it all. But it was what she saw when she turned her head that made her feel so dizzy.

It was a vacant stretch of forest, if it could even be called as such. It ran down the opposing side of the mountain, flanked by trees so compact that if you weren’t so high up you never would have expected it on such a lush island. The trees were barren, with dry, brittle black boughs that rattled in the mellow wind. There was no shrubbery, no ferns to shade little creatures and no soil to provide nutrients to grow them.

It was all just… dead .

Somewhere, a bird shrilled, sounding alien to Peridot’s thumping eardrums. It mocked the scene before them.

“What is that?” She asked, eyes moving around to scan for a speck of life amid the coarse dirt.

“That is what happens when one tries to extract hydrium from its rightful environment,” Garnet supplied, her voice curt and brief. “During the war, this island was one of many in a series of chemical tests brought on by Homeworld. The same type of experiment that stole over half of our forces away during the Battle of Light. They never looked back at these islands to see the damage they had done.”

“But-- why is it like that?” Peridot frowned. “All-- gone? Why isn’t the rest of the island like that?”

“Many of the trees flourished again, after a few years. It took time to restore the island. A decade. But where the attack unleashed, life can never grow there again. It exploded the mountainside, where large amounts of hydrium are stored in ancient chambers beneath the surface.”

Peridot’s eyes, despite herself, lit up. “Hydrium? There’s hydrium beneath the surface-- on this island?” Oh, stars, this was her key to escape! She could snatch up some flying machine these pirates had lying around and use the hydrium to lift away into the skies, back to Homeworld! “Where are the chambers? Can we go there?”

“What, are you crazy?” Amethyst barked, making Peridot flinch back, checked. “We can’t go down there. The stuff’s basically poison.”

“No it’s not,” Peridot defended. “It has an odd scent, sure, but it’s by no means dangerous.”

“Not in small doses, no,” Pearl joined in, settling Peridot with a haughty, all-knowing tone. “But when exposed to an enclosed seal of hydrium, it’s near impossible to breathe. Not to mention the toll it can take on the living things forced to live in the nearby ecosystems.”

“What do you mean?” Periot felt a headache coming on. “I’ve met personally with those who work in hydrium harvesting environments, and they seem fine to me! They don’t show any signs of sickness or delirium!”

“But why do you think the harvesters are such an expendable force?” Pearl cut back, startling Peridot with the sharpness of her tone. “Why do they wear such tactical gear when going out to scout for new locations to find hydrium, or why--”

“Pearl.” Garnet stopped her, a hand placed over the willowy woman’s shoulder. "In time." Pearl looked ready to further argue, but seemed to give it second thought and resigned with a nettled sigh. “Come on, then. There’s something else you need to see.”

“Great, more walking.”

“And don’t forget the hike back down,” Amethyst chuffed good-naturedly. “Don’t worry. You kinda get used to all the footwork after a while.”

But I don’t want to be here for a while, Peridot grouched inwardly, blindly following after Amethyst as Garnet led them away from the cliffside and deeper into the trees. They went down a slight decline, where the earth became rockier and the vegetation grew far and few, poking up occasionally between mossy brown stone. There was an upsetting suspicion that she was being led towards the lifeless spread of land. Like seeing it up close would be anymore jarring.

Stars, was she a thorough clod at assuming things. Because when they did eventually stop and fan out, Peridot nearly fainted from what they’d walked up to.

A skeleton. They’d taken her to a skeleton .

“What the absolute clod is that?!” Peridot exclaimed, falling backwards and scrambling to get away from this-- dead thing. She was no biologist, not in this way, so she didn’t know what she was looking at, but whatever it was had been gone for a long time.

Even with what she did know… she had no idea what it was . It was quadrupedal, at least… with a head, and a tail. Its jaws were frozen in an open snarl, and she noted with a nauseous squeak how notable of an underbite it had. It had big, big fangs, too. Where the eyes should have been, there were instead sunken hollows. Deformed.

Its limbs didn’t taper like you’d expect on an animal. They swelled outwards, ending in ridiculously large feet with large, blunt claws that could tear anything apart beneath them. She didn’t want to even imagine what that must feel like.

Her fear was stupid. This thing, whatever it was, had been dead for years. She was at no risk here, especially not when she was surrounded by presumably war-hardened pirates, who all had weapons of their own to defend themselves (and her) with.

But stars, if the macabre sight of this thing didn’t fill her with an awful sense of dread…

“This,” Garnet was the first to respond, “is a panther. Or, it used to be. An incredibly rare subspecies found only on this island. They roamed the island before we ever came, before Homeworld began to run experiments and then forgot about them. Its home was ruined when the mountainside crumbled and released hydrium, among other things, into the forest, causing defects like these to be born.” She knelt down beside the remains, a hand steadily moving forward to gently press against the crown of the skull.

“It wasn’t so much the hydrium that did this, but the resources that Homeworld exploited and, to this day, use with the element that pose such a threat to living things, new and old. Only a handful of these creatures live on the island today, and they are under our protection. But they are unpredictable and hostile. Hence, why it’s unsafe to go out alone." Garnet turned to Peridot. "This is why we fight our fight. Why we try to take down as many Homeworld colonization fleets as we can. It's difficult, to watch the life be sucked out of the land and watch the animals who live on it be affected so egregiously.

Peridot could only wriggle uncomfortably on the spot, unable to fight the culminating guilt that they were tying to her and her home. What could she do? Tell her commander, or worse yet her Diamond, 'hey, this might not be such a fantastic idea, let's not colonize this valuable stretch of land?' As if! She'd be dismissed of her ranking and sent to a Kindergarten for even considering it!

“This poor girl was one of the first ones to be born after the island had its little meltdown,” Amethyst said, breaking Peridot out of her stupor and joining Garnet and regarding the… former panther with some sort of despondence. “There numbers were really thin for a little while, but they’re comin’ through. Proved us wrong when we thought they’d die out, or something.”

“Amethyst,” Pearl sighed, a hand cupping her cheek as she turned her eyes over the remains, past the others and Peridot and up to the other pirate, who was standing a… what Peridot hoped was a vigilant guard at the other side of the clearing. “Opal, you’ve not spotted any, have you? Usually so much noise draws them over.”

The pirate-- Opal-- blinked, but turned with a serene face, eyes bright with curiosity. “What am I supposed to be looking for again?”

Amethyst and Pearl shared a knowing look between one another while Peridot groaned. “Those! The-- living versions of the skeleton they’re prying at! You-- you said there are still some on the island-- it could have eaten me if I was still out there alone!”

Amethyst smirked. “You don’t sound too happy here with us, so we could just-- set you free, if you’d like. Y’know, running all around the island with just a bunch of probably hostile, hungry big feline… things…”

“No!” Peridot threw her hands out, her palms already clammy with sweat. “No! I’m-- very content in the village. Really! I’d-- rather be there than-- out. Out here. Alone. With-- that.” She snapped her eyes to the skeleton, and suddenly felt her stomach return to her, this time moving too high and soaring up into the back of her mouth.

It was familiar. She’d seen something like this before. Not in a Homeworld archaeologist's lab or in a textbook somewhere, but she’d seen it. The dramatic jaws, the sunken cavities for eyes, the prominent legs-- these were the creatures in Bismuth’s journal! The same she’d just taken off her person. Ugh.

“These-- were in your-- Bismuth’s journal,” Peridot noted aloud. “Sketches of these things. When they were alive. With skin and-- I.. I want to assume fur.”

Pearl turned to Peridot, a brow arched accusingly. “Why were you handling the book?”

Peridot scoffed and held her hands up to appease her. “Relax. I--” Bringing up holding Bismuth essentially captive aboard the Nebula might not have been the most intelligent thing to do. Bismuth didn’t seem to hold it against her, but these pirates might. “I asked to flip through it this morning. That’s all. Happened to find the drawings in the back.”

Pearl hummed thoughtfully. “Right… Bismuth was one of the few who were willing to try to pacify the creatures shortly after we claimed this island, only eight months after the attack. Trying to help restore them, but… she vanished in a scuttle not long after.” She was silent a moment, eyes soft. “But she’s back now. Somehow.” The tall Crystal Gem moved her hands to her waist, eyes hard once more. “We should be heading back. I don’t like when Steven is alone when we’re out for so long…”

Amethyst shrugged. “Ehh, he’s not alone. He’s got that unconscious chick crashing all up in his space.”

“That’s not exactly consoling.”

“No, Pearl is right. We should be heading back to the village.” Garnet nodded, drawing the party away back towards from whence they came. “Opal, we’re going back.”

They made their way back to the village much faster than Peridot had anticipated. They cleaved through the dense tropical vegetation on thin, scraggly paths hidden by fern and shrub, and by the time that Peridot could make out the scruffy bamboo fence that guarded the village her legs were ready to give out. She’d gotten in more steps in the past forty-eight hours than she had in weeks here and her body was really letting her know it.

“Pearl, take Peridot back to the lodge,” Garnet instructed. Pearl nodded and moved in front of Peridot as Garnet took the rest of the group in the opposite direction. “You two come with me to find Sugilite; I want to know our naval defenses are faring.”

“Naval defenses?” Peridot wrinkled her nose. “Quite a primitive form of warfare, don’t you think?”

Pearl didn’t waver. In fact, she smiled, smug. “Well, when we don’t want to use copious amounts of elements possibly harmful to the environment in our airships, which we don’t, a navy is the next best option. However small."

Peridot’s features soured with an ill-tempered grunt, allowing herself to be guided in complacent silence for the rest of the walk up to the lodge doorstep. Pearl pried open the door, Peridot following in to find an empty living area. “Steven?”

“Up here!”

They both turned their eyes up to Steven’s loft, seeing the boy’s bright face peering over the edge. “Lapis is awake!”

A second later a second head appeared, and Peridot’s eyes widened. Gone was the hollowed, sullen face of the informant she had known; the skin was still a bit pallour, but you couldn’t expect anything more from someone who was found literally washed up on a beach. But there was a smile-- a wary one, but it reached into her sharp eyes.

However, whatever number of spells that Lapis Lazuli had cast over a stunned Peridot shattered all at once, when she fixed the machinist with a swift and unyielding glare.

“ You?! ”

Chapter Text

“What are you doing here?”

To say that the mood of the room was amiable was anything but the truth. Peridot remained agape at the foot of the stairs leading up to the loft, meeting Lapis Lazuli’s baffled but irate glare with no small amount of astoundment.

“What am I doing here?” Peridot echoed, face drawn into an incredulous grimace. “What are you doing here? The last time I saw you you’d been swept out of the Nebula and into the sea! In a whole different hemisphere! How on earth did you get here ?”

“I--” Lazuli’s face froze, brows furrowing as her voice clipped. “That’s not important. Steven?” She turned towards the boy hovering beside her, whose face had gone slack with surprise at thes sudden confrontation brewing in the room. “Why is she here?”

“She’s staying here, too?” the boy offered with a sheepish smile, shoulders hoisting up into a shrug. “She was in the shack at the corner of the village initially, but… she kinda kept running off, so, we figured…”

“But-- but she’s one of them, Steven!” Lazuli ducked back beneath the railing, voice lowering into a gritty hiss that Peridot had to strain to hear. “She’s the one who dragged me back into the fight from my ho-”

“Hey, I can still hear you, you know,” Peridot frowned. “And second hey, it wasn’t my idea. The Nebula was headed into Crystal Gem territories and we needed an informant. It would have been a simple mission.”

Lazuli rose up, knuckles growing pale as they gripped the edge of the bamboo slats with frustration. “You used me like everyone else did--”

Peridot intervened promptly, disliking the writhing cold in her stomach that grew colder as the confrontation heated up. “But I also made it possible for you to not only have means of escaping the Nebula , but also-”

“And look where that got me. Tossed into the ocean with-- Jasper!”

“But you’re here now,” Peridot challenged, “and seemingly in good if not fair condition!”

“That’s enough out of you two.” Pearl’s voice startled Peridot into backing down. She’d almost forgotten that the pirate had led her in. She sent the tall woman a mildly vehement glance through the corners of her eyes. “Steven, it was you who insisted that these two be allowed to stay with you, but this can only be a temporary accommodation for them both. I want it to be clear that I don’t want to see this place torn down because they can’t play nice.”

Peridot wanted to bitterly retort, but the steady look she was fixed with before she could even open her mouth stopped her. Lazuli reacted similarly, crossly folding her arms over her chest. Steven fidgeted in place, eyes moving from Pearl, to Lazuli, and then to Peridot, and then back again. “I can take care of them, Pearl, don’t worry,” the boy smiled tersely, moving over to Pearl and touching her hand softly with his fingertips. “Just gimme a few.”

“Are you sure?”

Steven turned and shared a quick look with Peridot, who only wrinkled her nose in response .”I’m sure.”

Hesitantly, Pearl turned and exited out through the lodge doors, but Peridot could see through the newly refurbished screen of fibers that she wasn’t going to stray too far from the building. Lazuli hadn’t moved from her position, standing rigidly upright with hands cradling her stiff hips. She didn’t look like she was ready to reach a plausible resolve, so begrudgingly, Peridot took the first step towards reconciliation.

“Look, I’m sorry for the lack of… luxurious accommodations back on the warship, but you were just so full of useful information.” She paused. “Even if you refused to share it.”

That was good enough, wasn’t it? Peridot thought so, so she was a bit surprised when Lazuli didn’t immediately drop her guard and give her the same softness she seemed to be giving Steven. Her mouth twitched as she turned back to Steven, face failing to soften as the former informant forced a rigid smile. “Steven, I don’t think this is going to work.”

“Aw, c’mon! I’m sure you can-- work something out, you guys! Like-- oh! Oh, hang on!” Steven perked up, fists balling up excitedly as he raced away from them, quickly dropping to his knees and looking beneath various furniture items. “Let me find him!”

Peridot rose a brow skeptically. “Find who , exactly?”

“Lion!” Steven chirped. “He’s my cat! He kinda does his own thing most of the time, though… he likes to be outside more than he does in here. But I know he’s in here right now… maybe.”

“And how will a cat help with…” She gestured between herself and Lazuli flippantly. “This, exactly?”

“Well-- he always helps me feel better. Garnet always says something about-- him bringing up certain hormones that make me feel better, but, I personally think it’s just because he’s so big and fluffy. That’s why he’s named Lion!”

For the first time that afternoon, Lazuli and Peridot met with eyes that weren’t shot with irritation. They were both thinking the same thing: that a small domesticated animal wouldn’t mend the ridge between them. Steven didn’t catch onto that shared sentiment, though, as he hauled out something furry from beneath the indoor palms.

“Stars, that’s a cat?” Peridot balked, staring wide-eyed at the enormous orange tabby cat Steven hauled from the greenery. It looked mild-mannered… but Peridot didn’t want to offend it somehow and end up on the receiving end of those huge paws, and therefore… huge claws.

“Steven,” Lazuli tried, a tired patience written in the lines of her face, “I don’t think- upff-okay-” She was promptly cut off when Steven thrust Lion into her arms, physically being dragged down by the sheer size of the animal. Honestly, the thing was half her size! It could probably take Peridot down if it wanted to. She shuddered at the thought, taking a mindful step away from the others.

“I found him on one of the ships at the port after they went to the northern Americus coastline,” Steven beamed, reaching up to give Lion’s broad face a thoughtful pat. The cat didn’t emote. “Pearl didn’t like it at first since I did kinda, sneak him in for the first few days, but I think he’s growing on her! Peridot, come here!”

“Hah, err, no. I don’t want to get mauled by that-- beast. ”

“Who, Lion?”

“Yes, Lion!”

“Oh, come on, he wouldn’t hurt a fly! ...Actually, wait, he likes to hunt lizards. And flies.”

Peridot growled and slowly walked over, giving herself a healthy distance from Lazuli and the huge cat in her arms. She looked like she was sagging from its weight. “I fail to see why… he matters in all this.”

“He matters in every situation,” Steven grinned cheekily, offering his arms out to Lazuli, who gladly dropped the cat back into his caretaker’s waiting arms. The boy only huffed, readjusted his footing, and let the cat drape its huge body over his shoulder. “But… well, I remember hearing once that having something to care for together can help build up a relationship between two people! Plus, he's so cute!"

At the mortified looks on both their faces, Steven backpedaled and quickly rephrased with a laugh. “I mean, it’ll help you guys get better. Maybe not-- over what happened between you, but, it’ll be a new start. I think you both can do that, here on the island.” He caught Peridot’s strained expression and offered a nod of consolation. “I don’t think anyone here is going to help you try to reach your old crew, or any kind of Homeworld official for that matter, but- if you work hard and, I guess, prove yourself, I think you’d fit in well here with-”

“When have I ever given the indication that I want to stay on this-- monkey island ?” Peridot sharp tone cut in before he could finish, startling Lion out of the boy’s arms as her heart hammered nervously in her ears. “This island full of-- malformed panthers and hydrium leaks which are supposedly terrible for all living things involved, and, oh, I don’t know, controlled by Crystal Gem pirates ? I don’t know what planet you’ve been living on, but--”

The sound of the door slamming back open humbled Peridot back into silence, letting the weight of her own frantic words sink in on her chest as Pearl and Amethyst stepped into the lodge, with Garnet following close behind. She quickly pulled back her offense.

“Pearl told me you’d woken,” Garnet said simply towards Lazuli as she entered the lodge. “How are you feeling?”

Lazuli tensed under Garnet’s staid stare, wrapping her fingers around her shoulder uneasily. “Tired.”

Garnet hummed absently, moving closer to the others and leaning over the back of the chair that Peridot had thrown herself into. Peridot shrunk in on herself, feeling Garnet’s looming weight hovering over her like a dense cloud of smog. “That’s to be expected after what you’ve been through. It was nothing short of traumatic, I’d imagine.”

Peridot winced. “What do you mean by that?”

Garnet lowered her gaze down to Peridot, who wriggled uncomfortably in the seat beneath the solemn stare. “Lazuli came to the island in the same manner you did; through the sky hang.”

Peridot straightened up at that, the term ringing familiarly at the back of her mind. “Wait, wait-- hold on a minute. What’s this sky hang, and where have I heard it before? One of you mentioned it when I got trapped in that cloddy pantry--”

“You locked yourself in there, buddy,” Amethyst smirked.

“Point being: you’re not telling me something.” Peridot accused sourly. “The something that ripped me-- us -- out of the northern hemisphere and tossed me all the way down the sky lanes into the tropics against my will and knowledge!”

Garnet shared a brief glance between Pearl and Amethyst, and then finally Steven, who nodded softly with assent. Garnet’s jaw ticked.

“The sky hang is an unnatural phenomenon that encompasses a number of islands beneath the equator,” she began to explain. “It is as unnatural a consequence of Homeworld’s intervention as the devastation on the other side of the mountain. The Crystal Gems have been learning to utilize the sky hang for the past decade in order to move faster and move undetected by Homeworld operatives. Think of them as continuously warping wormholes over the ocean.”

Peridot was as stupefied as she was disbelieving. She turned with a sneer over to Lazuli, expecting to see her former informant looking as incredulous as she was, but only saw a shadowy veneer over her features. “A wormhole. You must be kidding,” Peridot huffed when no one else in the room seemed put off by what Garnet was saying. “This isn’t an elementary science fiction novel! This is real life. Even hypothetically, there’s absolutely no way it can actually happen.” She turned her nose up. “Because if it was possible, we would have already recognized it.”

“Humor me for a moment, Peridot,” Garnet continued, unphased by Peridot’s discrediting outbursts. “How else, then, would you have been able to travel from the northern Atlantius to the Carribea in no more than an hour, by ornithopter?” She gestured over to Lazuli. “How would Lapis Lazuli have been able to wind up in the exact same place, when she was stranded in the ocean?”

“Well-- it-- there must be some plausible explanation other than rifts in space-time ,” Peridot snipped back, throat growing dry with dubiety. “A concept that I’ll gladly remind you all is purely science fiction.”

The three Crystal Gems in the room exchanged a chary look. It was Pearl who stepped in next, fingers held taut around her sleek spear. “These rifts are a marvel limited to these oceans. They’re an enigma more than they are something we understand, even after so many years of studying and… exploiting them.”

“Exploiting?” Lazuli repeated questioningly.

“Yes, erm, for a better turn of phrase, using them to our advantage in conflict,” Pearl amended. “We have coordinates located for each known sky hang, and if we’re very careful… we can send ships through them to surprise Homeworld vessels in territories we would never reach by the sky lanes alone. We would be harpooned and shot down the second we cross the borders.”

Peridot sighed dramatically, wrapping her arms around her chest. “Suppose I do go against every science Homeworld has studied for the past century and consider this-- wormhole .”

Amethyst scoffed. “Yeah-no, there’s way more than one.”

Peridot wrinkled her nose disdainfully. “ Wormholes , then. What tangible proof is there to prove they actually exist other than, what, your word?”

Pearl and Amethyst exchanged skeptical glances, whereas Garnet simply regarded Peridot with a blank expression and spoke curtly.

“Come with us.”

---

“I still fail to see why you’re taking me out here,” Peridot grumbled, kicking a clump of fronds off of her foot as the group hacked through the deep tropical undergrowth. “It’s like you don’t value the sanctity of words around here.”

“It’s easier to just show you than it is to sit in Steven’s loft and fail to convince you by words alone,” Pearl quipped back, keeping her eyes stubbornly forward. “You’re lucky Garnet’s even willing to show you this. It’s not like it isn’t one of our most secret ive weapons that has kept Homeworld off our tail for the past decade.” Pearl’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “So if by any means you manage to escape this island and reveal anything about us you have heard and seen to any Homeworld figure, the Temple will be there before you have the chance.”

Peridot’s face was pale as she sullenly nodded along with Pearl’s words, feeling her throat clog with apprehension. The pirate wasn’t bluffing. She didn’t want to find out what this Temple was, based on the dangerous tone that tagged it.

Wisely, Peridot decided to fall back from the group, back towards the only one she felt relatively safe with: Steven. Lazuli was still with him, but her gaze quickly hardened when she noticed Peridot dropping back to fall in line with them. Her face shifted slightly when she noticed how pale Peridot looked, though.

“Steven, where are we even headed?” Peridot sighed. “Everything on this star-cursed island looks the same to me.”

“I think they’re taking us to the port,” Steven deduced. “It’s where most of our ships are kept. For sea and sky! Mostly sea, though; we keep our airships in the more open parts of the jungle so they don’t get all caught up in the treetops.”

“And this manages to convince me of the… the…”

“The sky hang.”

“ Right. The sky hang. It convinces me how?”

“You’ll see soon enough.” It was Lazuli who spoke, surprising Peridot with the knowing in her tone. She sent Lazuli a bemused look through the corner of her eyes, tearing them away only when Amethyst’s voice called over to them. “Hey Steven, get over here! Help me win this whole is-eating-spoiled-fruit-bad argument with P over here.”

“Amethyst, I’m telling you, you’re going to kill yourself one day eating random things you find on the floor! Just look at what happened to Smoky!”

“Smoky was already sick, though! Honestly, I think the stuff helped them.”

“Aha, um- I think I should go up and get on that,” Steven smiled, humor glistening in his eyes as he glanced between Peridot and Lazuli. Then the humor in his gaze darkened into cheeky knowing. “Gives you two some time to talk, seeyabye!”

Steven split away, waving at them both as he rushed up to walk behind Amethyst, leaving Peridot and Lazuli to hover uncertainly together. The bubble of safety that Steven provided popped the moment he stepped away, leaving them both exposed to the charged air between them. Neither were ready to break the willed silence between them, but Peridot didn’t care if she wasn’t ready at this point; she just wanted it over with so she-- they-- could move forward.

“Okay,” she began, stopping when she recognized a certain hardness in her voice, quickly correcting it by lowering her shoulders and gaze. “ I don’t know what’s going on here. But I think you do. This is wholly unfamiliar territory to me; and frankly, that’s terrifying. And we’re both from the same ship here-- we’re both here because the Nebula was raided by the pirates.”

“I’m here because I was pulled back from the mainland and sent on a mission against my will,” Lazuli clipped shortly. Peridot frowned.

“Well, yes, but I had no personal part in that, like I mentioned. But back on the ship-- you weren’t nearly as harsh to me as you’re being now!”

“Because if I hurt your feelings then, I’d be punished.”

Peridot opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. She knew that Lazuli was right. It was expected of staff to offer repercussion to any form of crew if they acted out of line, and that didn’t exclude the informants aboard. She remembered Jasper and felt her stomach squirm unhappily. She always toed the line between appropriate conduct and reckless aggression; the only thing that was keeping her from unleashing it all was Captain Nephrite’s authority. But even that didn’t seem to frighten Jasper as much as it should have.

“What happened to… Jasper?” Peridot asked, reliving the moment where both Lazuli and Jasper had been pulled out of the bay of the Nebula. Her breath hitched for a moment, drawing a conclusion all on her own. “Oh stars, she isn’t here too, is she? On the island? She couldn’t have made it here like you did. ...Could she?”

Lazuli looked stricken at the thought, but after a pensive moment the strain let up. “No. No, she wouldn’t be here. She can’t be. I… knew what to look for, when we hit the water.”

Peridot’s eyes widened. “We?”

“Jasper.”

“Ah, ..right. Do you.. know where she is now?”

Lazuli shook her head. “No. And… I don’t care to know. We got separated by the torrent, and the kicking, but… no, I don’t know where she is. And she doesn’t know where I am.”

Peridot couldn’t help the small sigh of relief. “Thank the stars.” She didn’t think she could handle seeing Jasper right now, on top of everything that had already happened in the past week. If she were here, she was pretty sure she’d be trying to tear up the forest from its roots and use the trunks as a weapon against every pirate on the island. Then the relief turned to wariness. “I’m… sorry, that all happened. It wasn’t part of my plan at all to get you dragged into all… that. I thought taking one of the ornithopters would be the most realistic way to jump ship, so to speak, before the pirates got to us.” She had to smirk at the irony. “And look where that’s gotten us.”

Lazuli’s face waned slightly. “I know. I’m not exactly thrilled to be back in Crystal Gem territory, either. But…” She paused, conflict darkening her gaze as she gave a stubborn sigh. “I would rather be here than in the cell on the Nebula. Which might be deflated in the northern oceans by now.”

Despite everything, Peridot still felt sick to her stomach to think of the warship sunk into the depths. There would have been countless lives in that vessel, Captain Nephrite included. She had to think optimistically and believe that the pirates left just enough hydrium in the cells to keep the Nebula afloat until they could make landfall. But those were dangerous thoughts to harbor aloud here, so she kept quiet.

But thinking of Homeworld brought on another train of thought. She thought back on the previous day in the jungle with Garnet. It made considering Homeworld’s harvesting process weigh her down, no longer filling her with pride for her Diamond’s militant work. Of course it wasn’t completely vanquished, but… she was feeling… disillusioned. The pirates here had taken away her rose-coloured lenses and she was seeing, for the first time, the after-effects of Homeworld’s investments. And she wasn’t sure she liked it.

“I’m beginning to feel doubtful about Homeworld’s methods,” she admitted quietly, feeling that sharing this information with Lazuli might be safer than with one of the pirates. “I saw something recently that’s given me… hindsight. It challenges everything I think I know about us. About Homeworld.”

Lazuli’s eyebrows lifted, giving Peridot the indication that she should continue. “I know that even considering that we’re doing something… wrong in our projects is treasonous all by itself-- but I can’t help it! I’ve seen firsthand what the aftermath of hydrium harvests do to the land-- or, well, at least this land. But how do I know the same hasn’t happened to every other site on the planet where we’ve done this?”

Lazuli was quiet for a moment, expression distant as Peridot finished speaking. Then Peridot wondered which mindset Lazuli really fell under: Homeworld, or pirate? Certainly, she had always seemed keen to return back to the mainland and reinvent herself there after years of being held by the Crystal Gems, but did being with them for so long influence her like it did-- like it was-- Peridot?

That thought in itself was scary. The pirates, stars forbid, were influencing her. Making her feel different. Making her feel… bad. About Homeworld. She furrowed her brows as Lazuli’s lips pulled up into a taut smirk, the corners of her thin eyes wrinkling with dry amusement. “You’re becoming self-aware.”

“Wh-- pardon me?”

“You’re realizing that you’re part of their big monopoly,” Lazuli explained. “That they will get their way with you, and all the colonies, whether we like it or not.” She grew quiet, fingers wrapping softly around her biceps. “I lost my faith in Homeworld a long time ago. When I was first captured by Crystal Gems, I thought they would come for me. But they never did.” She shook her head solemnly. “And now you’re in the same spot I was.”

Peridot felt an unwanted pressure behind her eyes. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she defended. “Homeworld is going to come for me-- my crew is going to come find me. I’m a very important officer and--”

“If they are coming, then where are they?” Lazuli chipped in. “Peridot, you’ve played your part. And failed it. Homeworld will want nothing to do with you now that the Nebula failed its mission.”

Lazuli’s words weren’t harsh. They lacked the pointed aggression that would have made them all the more wounding, but even the blunt, tired tone drilled nails into Peridot’s heart. Homeworld was coming for her, she knew they were. She couldn’t just be stuck here.

But the more Peridot thought on it, the more sense Lazuli was making. She thought about it in terms she knew she would recognize. It was like this place was her own personal Kindergarten; she’d outlived her usefulness to Homeworld and was just doomed to perish on this island surrounded by pirates. Great.

Plus… even if Homeworld did reach the island (a deep, reclusive part of her loathed the thought she realized with a self-conflicted pang), if they saw her among these Crystal Gems, they’d immediately label her as a traitor. Her heart twinged. Just like Lazuli had been labeled when she reached the mainland.

“Oh stars,” she sighed to herself, stopping for a moment to refrain from falling over at the sudden spell of dizziness that overcame her. She was all alone out here. Well, not literally, but psychologically. And she was just expected to fall right into believing that these Crystal Gems had more than a few legs up on Homeworld. Wormholes-- sky hangs ? How ridiculous. But they were taking her somewhere; and the closer she felt they got, the more uneasy she became that it was about to become anything but mere science fiction.

“I know so much about this place because this was the island I spent most of my time on, when I was held.” Lazuli’s voice tore Peridot out of her own despondence, causing her to receive pause as she registered the words. “You mean, you were kept here? On this island?”

“Yeah.” Lazuli shrugged simply. “I...  I know Steven. He’s kind of, the only one who would keep me company. He’s the one who helped me get enough things together to.. try to return to Homeworld for one last chance at reintegrating.” Her lips twisted with resignation. “It was dumb of me to think things could just go back to the way they were. Things never do.”

Peridot nodded simply. That made… sense. And proved why Lazuli seemed so on her guard here; and it explained her warmth towards Steven. And now, Peridot felt for Lazuli. She felt she could… understand. Maybe not entirely, but she was beginning to.

Lazuli looked up to the rest of the group who had begun to slow as the foliage around them thinned out. Then she turned to Peridot, absently running a hand through her hair, keeping her eyes adamantly attached to the ground below. “And stop calling me Lazuli. Just call me Lapis.”

“Lapis,” Peridot echoed, the name sounding alien but not unwelcomed on her tongue. They weren’t on the Nebula now. There was no point in keeping the forbidden-first-name rule now. “Okay.”

Lapis nodded and turned her eyes forward to where the rest of the group had pulled off the main trail, towards the thinning tree line that exposed a bright, cloudless sky beyond. For the first time, Peridot realized she could hear the gentle whispering of the ocean.

“We’re here,” Garnet announced as she led the group down a soft decline of earth, towards the nautical bay.

Peridot couldn’t help but ogle the genuine naval vessels tied down along the wooden docks, held in place by tough bamboo tassels. They were large and sleek-looking, with huge masts stretching high into the sky and even larger sails bound with fibers to the outstretching spars. As primitive as traveling by sea was… the craftsmanship behind these ships was still admirable, at the very least.

There were a number of small workshops built along the dock that ran across the sand, each on stilts to accommodate for rising tides. Peridot could even hear the raucous crash of a wedge against metal, and assumed they were smelting… something metal used on water ships.

Garnet eventually stopped down near the beginning of the dock and was quickly approached by a familiar pirate wiping her hands on a soot-stained apron.

“Bismuth!” Peridot greeted before she could stop it, pushing forward to beam up at the large pirate with a proud grin. She stood tall with the brace she’d almost gotten completely adjusted to, brandishing her newfound stature like it was some sacred old treasure. “Pleased to see me again?”

“Well, would you look at that!” Bismuth laughed, kneeling down and cupping her grinning face between two fingers. “Peridot, up and about already. How’s that thing working out for you?”

“Like a charm,” Peridot beamed. “You’re going to have to show me exactly what you did to make it; though I’m intelligent enough to make some deductions myself.”

“Never doubted it for a second,” Bismuth grinned before turning to the others. “What’re you guys doing over here? I thought you wanted to keep this rascal back at the base,” she asked, gesturing playfully at Peridot.

Garnet adjusted her eyeglasses. “We’re going to show her the sky hang.”

“What- really? Already?” Bismuth’s eyes widened. “I know it’s been a week-- don’t get me wrong, Tiny--but you’re really goin’ through with this?” She ran her dark eyes over Peridot for a studious minute before shrugging. “I don’t see any star on her.”

Pearl sighed. “Garnet figured it was only fair to explain to her how she ended up here. And the same goes for Lapis Lazuli.” The slim woman turned, giving the latter a skeptical side-eye. “Though she knows how the phenomenon works, more or less.”

Bismuth shrugged again. “Whatever you say; I trust you guys. But hey, you’re just in time; I think the last fleet is about to bank up.” She gestured out to sea. Peridot turned seaward, eyes brightening with curiosity as she spotted two small vessels making way towards an open stretch of dock. They didn’t wear the colours of any Homeworld faction, obviously, instead flying across the waters with a dark brown sail decorated with cyan accents. But there was no star emblazoned anywhere on it.

“Connie’s back!” Steven’s voice thrilled as the boy rushed away from the rest of the group, speeding up the wooden planks of the dock to reach the end where the boat was headed. “ Connie !”

“Who’s Connie?” Peridot inquired, reading everyone’s faces, expecting confusion but only seeing warm knowing. “Is it the name of the vessel?”

“Nope,” Amethyst chuckled, gesturing up to Steven who was wildly flailing his arms over his head at the docking vessel. “It’s his girlfriend. ”

“The ship is his… girlfriend ?”

“No-- no, Connie is not Steven’s girlfriend,” Pearl intervened, placing a hand on top of Amethyst’s shoulder with a good-natured sigh of weariness. “And she’s not a ship, either. She’s one of the Maheswarans, a family allied with the Crystal Gems. They choose to not explicitly show that they’re… honorary Crystal Gems, as they live close to a number of Homeworld colonies.”

Peridot nodded uncertainly. “And they’re here why?”

Garnet smiled quietly. “Connie likes to visit Steven.”

The telltale sound of Steven’s joyful laughter filled the air as the ship pulled into harbor, and a young, pretty girl with long, dark hair pulled into a braid leaped over the side of the ship and onto the dock. Peridot watched as Steven excitedly swept her up into a hug, ignoring the worrisome comments from the two adults leaning over the edge of the deck. Connie’s parents, most likely.

“I’d better go see what their guide boat’s got to say,” Bismuth chuckled, giving Peridot’s hair a playful tussle, sending her vision reeling as she stumbled backwards at the pirate’s strength. She wanted to feel irritated or offended by it but couldn’t. She righted herself and dusted off her vest, watching as the rest of the group trickled after Bismuth down the pier. “Oh, are we all going?”

“Better than sitting around up here,” Amethyst called over her shoulder, sending Peridot scrambling to catch up to the group as they approached the newly docked vessels. The Maheswaran’s companion ship wore discreet beige colours, undoubtedly to remain unbothered by any overseeing Homeworld airships. A smart move on their part, Peridot deducted.

They passed by Steven and Connie, and Peridot swore that Connie met eyes with her for the briefest of moments before quickly tearing them away, looking shocked. Peridot wrapped her arms around herself as they moved past, stopping further down the docks behind Bismuth as she greeted the captain of the second ship.

“How were the seas, Alexandrite?” Garnet inquired first, waving down a tall, strong-looking pirate in a dark turquoise suit. Alexandrite wearily looked on at the group of Crystal Gems banded on the dock, leaning over the railing of her deck with a disgruntled expression. “Not nearly as peaceful as we had hoped, I’m afraid. The base on the southern peninsula of the Americus coast was raided and burned before we arrived.”

“Damn it,” Pearl hissed, tossing a hand up to her forehead in exasperation. “How long ago was this?”

“Two weeks. We suspect a Homeworld invasion.” She lowered her gaze reverently. “There was no one left.”

Pearl and Amethyst appeared visibly distraught, as opposed to Garnet who remained steely. “Do you have any idea of where the invading ships are now?”

Alexandrite shook her head. “No. They were long gone by the time we were nearby.”

Garnet frowned. “We’ll send reinforcements to secure the area before the next full moon. Those who are still near the base are smart enough to fend for themselves until more of us arrive to take them home. But we have other matters to attend to now. Alexandrite, this is Peridot.” She gestured down to the short technician.. “A Homeworld engineer.”

Alexandrite’s eyes narrowed. “Homeworld?”

Peridot threw her hands up in surrender, feeling them clam up with apprehension at the captain’s untrusting gaze. “Hey now-- I mean no harm . I’m only trying to understand what in Diamond’s name got me stuck on this island.”

“Always a pleasure havin’ ya around, Peri.”

Peridot sent Amethyst a quick look before focusing back on Alexandrite. The captain hadn’t moved from her spot on the deck, having some soundless discussion between Pearl and Garnet with only their eyes. Then the captain turned back to Peridot, the bronze bracers on her arms glistening in the sun. “The first thing you need to do is stop using Homeworld terminology,” she grunted. “It will only earn you enemies here.”

Peridot bit the inside of her lip and stubbornly nodded. “Fine.” She could just use the expletives she’d been using her whole life in her head. That would be fine. She could do that, at least; if it meant keeping pirate daggers off her neck. (Eyes or actual weapons, both were unwelcome.)

“Alexandrite, would you mind if we take one of your spare vessels out to the hang just a way’s away from here?” Pearl spoke up next, pale hands clasped hopefully together. “Only for a short while.”

Alexandrite shrugged. “By all means. But put down the colours; the Obsidian is afloat in that and I’d rather not have a ship bombarded by one of our own airships.”

“Does that happen often?” Peridot murmured questioningly to Amethyst, who only shrugged.

After a few minutes of walking to the smaller ship docked further in along the harbor, and climbing in with the help of Amethyst (she didn’t know if the ship would dip if she set foot on the edge of the deck, as small as she was), they set sail. One of Alexandrite’s crew members, a small pirate who introduced herself as Larimar, was at the helm, carrying them towards… wherever this sky hang was. Lazul-- Lapis, chose to stay behind with Steven, since he and the Maheswarans were going to return to the village together.

Only ten minutes in and was Peridot leaning on the railing for dear life, grip tight along the ropes as she tried to keep herself balanced. She was an airship officer. She kept to the skies more than she did the land- let alone the water. They didn’t have-- waves in the sky. Sometimes turbulence, maybe, but it didn’t bring on the same swelling in her gut that being on the water was giving her.

“Stars, I hate this,” she groaned, bowing her head and resting it on the tops of her palms. “I hate this so much.”

“More than being abducted by spooky Crystal Gems?”

“Even more than that.”

“Great, now move over.” Amethyst dropped in beside Peridot with a snicker. “And pick your head up, we’re about to reach one of the few spots where you can actually see this one rift.”

With a reluctant wheeze Peridot obeyed and rose her head. She kept her shoulders bunched tightly to keep herself from keeling over onto the deck. “Where am I supposed to look for this stupid thing?”

“Ya see that blip there?” Amethyst asked with a smirk, pointing up into the pale blue sky. “That little piece of sky that looks just a little out-of-place?”

Peridot’s eyes narrowed. She swept her gaze over the expanse of cloudless sky, but with how nauseous she was getting, it was hard to see anything out-of-place in the big span of just… blue. “I don’t see anything.”

Amethyst hummed thoughtfully, scratching her chin with furrowed brows. The ship was slowing its speed, and Peridot felt herself lurching on the ropes as it drew to a gradual halt. She rubbed the lenses of her glasses on her shirt to clean them off like it would help see this strange phenomenon before tucking them back onto her nose with a grimace. “Still nothing.”

“Look harder.” Garnet’s voice said softly from behind her, and Peridot felt her presence on her other side. “Focus. It’s near impossible to see with only the naked eye. You just need to look at where the sky hangs .”

“You and your riddles,” Peridot grumbled breathlessly, squinting up at the sky. Blue… blue… blue… a distant glimmer that she was sure was only the North Star, more blue… wait.

Peridot did a double take, eyes latching onto the little shimmer of sky. There was a tiny speck that looked like a faraway star, but she knew that the North Star couldn’t be seen in the southern hemisphere; especially not in the middle of the day! Then she noticed how the speck seemed to ripple downward, like one section of the sky was drooping. Where it was hanging.

If she hadn’t been looking for it, she would have never seen it. That thought made her stomach drop.

“There,” she breathed, pointing with a stunned finger. “That’s the sky hang?”

“ Eeeeyup ,” Amethyst grinned. “One of ‘em, at least. I think that’s the one that Alexandrite’s crew led the Maheswarans through; but they were just on the American peninsula, so maybe they just took it normally, I dunno.”

“They prefer not to use the sky hang effect,” Pearl reminded Amethyst. “I don’t blame them. It’s more dangerous than we often let on.”

“Dangerous?” Peridot whimpered.

Pearl sighed. Garnet took over then, removing her glasses to reveal grim eyes. “Sometimes we lose Gems to the sky hang. Whether they’re patrolling, escaping, or ambushing. We haven’t seen Lars and his crew for three months, and we only recently found Bismuth aboard your ship. She went missing ten years ago in a balloon meant for patrolling. We can only assume that…”

“One of the wormholes sent her here, to the present,” Pearl deduced solemnly. “We don’t know how. Something like this has never happened before. But she hasn’t aged a day and-- I think she’s scared to admit how off-putting it is: practically being launched ten years into the future, with no knowledge of what’s happened…”

Peridot’s eyes were large behind her glasses. She remembered Bismuth mentioning all this on the Nebula . She hadn’t known that the big war between Homeworld and the Crystal Gems was over, with the latter reduced only to a number of elusive revolutionary parties spotted across the world. If what they were telling her was the full truth, then the Bismuth that they found and brought in was literally from another time.

“When we found her,” Peridot spoke, “she was unconscious in her balloon. She didn’t look ill, just unconscious. Does the sky hang typically have that effect on travelers going through it?”

Amethyst furrowed a brow. “Not that I know of. I just get kinda dizzy. Sometimes.”

“The farther away the hang takes you, the more of an impact it has on your body,” Pearl explained. “This hang, I believe, should only take you fifty miles north. Far enough to see anybody coming long before they arrive. But there’s another directly above the island reachable by airship that takes you far, far to the east, near a notable Homeworld base.”

“What about the Atlantius?” Peridot inquired. “Do you know of any that reach as far as those waters?”

“Only two, pretty much,” Amethyst shrugged. “But where your whole bird-copter crashed down? We have no idea what rift that came through. It must’ve been just off the island, down by the lagoon.”

“Well why don’t we go back and find it?” Peridot pressed. “I can use it to get back into the northern hemisphere-- back to my crew and ship!”

Everyone, except for her, shared an uneasy look. She grimaced. “What?”

“We can’t exactly letcha go, man,” Amethyst admitted through gritted teeth. “What if you go and spill everything?”

“Wh-- what do you mean?”

“Y’know, tell everyone about us . About this base-- about the sky hang?”

“It’s a risk that I don’t want to take,” Pearl added with an affirmative nod, further sending Peridot’s petrified heart into even more of a tizzy. “This is something we’ve discussed in detail. Peridot, you’re not going anywhere.”

“But-- but the Nebula! Homeworld!” She turned up to Garnet, eyes huge with dismay. “Garnet?”

The leader only shook her head with a small wince. “I’m sorry, Peridot. But we can’t allow you to go home. Even if we were able to return you, how do you suppose they would react? The same way I’ve been told they reacted to Lapis Lazuli?”

Peridot was ready to argue, but she had been lamenting on the exact same thing earlier. So instead she deflated with a sigh, hiding her face behind cold hands.

“Can we please go back to land,” she requested quietly. She could see from the corners of her eyes that the three pirates were surprised by the tired softness of her tone, and Pearl was the one to nod and make haste towards Larimar at the wheel.

Well. What would she do now? She had already somewhat accepted half of her fate earlier with Lapis. But to have it confirmed by the very pirates who had torn the rift and pulled her out of the mainstream, literally , struck her differently and fulfilled the dread that had been building for the past week.

No matter how many times she tried to console herself that yes, Homeworld wouldn't turn its back on her. That it hadn't already. But there was doubt that shadowed each optimistic thought, tugging at the loyalist heartstrings keeping her allegiance in place to her home.

The home that she could probably never go home to.

Chapter Text

Peridot’s fingertips trailed slowly along the metallic buckle that kept the apparatus Bismuth had made for her fastened taut around her leg. It had been two days since Peridot had been taken out to one of the many sky hangs, but since returning to the village later that day she had been feeling rather mild.

She ended up staying with Steven and Lapis in the lodge, this time free to come and go whenever she pleased. Well, stray pirates would send her odd looks whenever she perused aimlessly through the village, but it was freer than she had been for the entirety of her stay on the island. She didn’t like to think that it was because the Crystal Gems had realized they’d broken her-- because they hadn’t, obviously. She was simply struggling to get through…. this.

Now she was leaning over a boulder near one of the small stock warehouses on the edge of the village, fidgeting with her new apparatus.

She was idly wondering why it was that Homeworld never created gadgets like this for its less… physically ideal citizens. She was fortunate that her leg never truly held her back from performing her required duties, but still unfortunate in the fact that it bothered her in ordinary life. But no more than seventy-two hours here, on an island of enemies, and they had one custom-made for her once they realized she was… imbalanced, so to speak.

Peridot knew she’d dwelled on those dubious thoughts before, but now that she realized Homeworld really might never be coming helped to solidify the dark suspicion that… they didn’t care. Maybe they never had. The idea of Kindergartens persisted in the back of her mind: a place where they would just send the citizens or workers who couldn’t keep up with Homeworld’s rapidly developing society.

With a sigh she fastened the gadget back to her leg. There was no use in brooding over the same thing for the fourth time that day, even if it was one of her subconscious’ favourite things to do against her will now.

The machinist glanced up from her hands then, feeling her eyebrows move up her forehead as she noticed a group of Crystal Gems heading in her direction.

It was a group of unfamiliar but familiar faces: ones she’d seen around the island but never had any means to talk to. Not that she particularly wanted to, anyways, especially now that she was having her midlife crisis twenty years early.

“Sooooo,” one of them sang playfully as the pirate threw themselves comically on top of the boulder beside Peridot. “This must suck, huh? For you, I mean. It’s pretty funny to us.”

“Wow, thanks,” Peridot muttered sarcastically.

The pirate’s eyes softened slightly. “Aw, c’mon, I didn’t mean anything by it. In fact, we three kinda came over ‘cuz you looked all sad sitting on this boulder alone.” Peridot flinched when a large hand was extended in her direction, and she looked up to a toothy, freckled face beaming at her. “The name’s Smoky. And that there’s Rainbow, and Sunstone.”

Peridot’s brow quirked. So this was Smoky. She had heard about them some odd number of times from the others already. “Charmed,” she mumbled, briefly shaking the chubby pirate’s hand before retracting it to the safety of her lap. “You have a reputation, in case you didn’t know.”

“Who, me?” Smoky grinned, all cheek. “Nah, I pride myself on that rep I’ve been building. Who else is gonna fall out of trees and tie Pearl’s legs up with yarn when she’s sleeping?”

“What?”

“Oh, what have I told you about doing that to the poor lass, Smoky!” The taller, slimmer pirate, Rainbow, chimed in, leaning atop the sleek handle of a parasol (did he always carry that around?) with a good-hearted but firm smile. “She’s already got enough grey hairs commandeering this whole base.”

“As long as no one’s gettin’ hurt,” Sunstone, who was large with deep skin and a wily head of flame-coloured hair, spoke up. “But if Smoky ever does get outta line,” they added with a wink down to Peridot (or… she thought they did, it was hard to tell with the dark eyeglasses,) “don’t worry; your rockin’ pal Sunstone can hold it down.”

Peridot watched as the three pirates entered an easygoing banter, mind roaring despite her placid presentation. She didn’t think she could ever get used to this. These pirates were all so free to be who they chose to be. They could have conversations like this and not be flagged down for it. Back at the mainland, it was do this, do that, and you were expected to carry it out without complaint. She’d never really thought about how different things could be until now-- because the way Homeworld mandated things was all she’d ever known. Even just sitting idly here, on this rock, would warrant some kind of trouble with a superior.

She felt her throat thicken against her will. Then with new resolve, she turned towards Smoky, brows furrowed in earnest. “How did you three become Crystal Gems?”

Smoky turned back from where they had been fruitlessly trying to snatch Rainbow’s parasol, caught like a stork in a ship’s beacon. They drew back, brushing their hands casually against their sides. “I was pulled into the fight when some stupid Homeworld faction colonized my home,” they admitted, before adding a quick “no offense” to Peridot for good measure. Peridot shrugged clemently as indication to go on. “I mean, I was just the local orphan rascal- but I loved that place. So when they just came in and… took everything-- the land, the crops, the little patch of sky we had to fly in-- and turned it into harvesting ground, I couldn’t just sit by and let that happen, y’know?”

Smoky jabbed a finger up at Sunstone. “So then this wisecracker comes in with a fleet of pirate ships and manages to fend off the Homeworld invaders long enough to get most of the civilians off the colony before it got bad. And it just so happens this ol' Smoky had enough fight left in ‘em to join up with these guys. I wanna stop the same thing from happening to other people. People like me.”

Peridot was quiet. She had never really thought about what happened to the indigenous people that inhabited the lands before they were colonized. It was taught that they were simply immersed into Homeworld’s society, but Peridot couldn’t remember ever coming across someone who hadn’t been born into it. It made her stomach ache with a despair she couldn’t quite explain.

“Where are they now?” She asked tersely. “The people who lived there with you.”

“Oh, they’re good now! They were dropped off in a free territory untouched by Homeworld-- if you can believe that-- with special protections from the Crystal Gems. There are a lotta places we protect that we don’t even have bases at-- we’re just protecting those who can’t protect themselves when Homeworld comes a-knockin’.”

“But this island-- it’s strictly a base, right?”

“That’s right,” Rainbow nodded. “There are far too many dangers to keep anyone unfamiliar with hydrium-- or the beasts that roam this island-- settled here. Even us pirates need to watch our step when out in that tangle of a jungle.”

“But it’s still a protected territory.” Sunstone crossed their arms with a grin. “We’re protectin’ the animals as much as we would any innocent. They’re just a little different, is all.” Peridot sent them a questioning look. “There’s still a big cat in there somewhere; it isn’t their fault that they were exposed to Homeworld’s fallout.”

Peridot’s nose scrunched. “I was told about that, but I still don’t understand how exactly that all works. First they destroy ecosystems, then create wormholes, and now it mutates living things? What else is there about hydrium I don’t know?”

“It’s not what you don’t know, it’s what you haven’t been told,” Smoky elbowed in. Their dark, greyish eyes lit up suddenly, then their face shifted on the sly as they leaned in close. “How’s about we go and take you down there, into the mountain? We’d be headed right into the heart of the island, down to the Geode.”

Peridot blanched. “Excuse me, the what? ” How many secrets did this island have?!

Peridot jumped when the head of Rainbow’s parasol dove down to separate her from Smoky. “Oooh, no, no, Smoky, that is a highly prohibited area, even for us,” he stated clearly. “Garnet would have our heads for even thinking of heading down there!”

“Which is why she doesn’t have to know,” Smoky pointed out, like it was obvious. “C’mon! What better way than to teach the little rookie here ‘bout this place than to show her firsthand?” Smoky turned to Sunstone with a beaming smile. “What’cha say, Sunny? A little field trip for the sake of… say, uh, enlightenment ?”

Sunstone looked down at Smoky, then Peridot, then seemingly made up their mind by pressing their fists up against their waist. “Sure thing, buddy. But the second things look like they could go wrong, we’re steppin’ off, all right?”

Smoky fist-pumped the air, nearly hitting Peridot in the process. “Yeah!”

Rainbow audibly slapped a hand to his forehead, and Peridot had half the mind to mimic him. But if it helped her understand the wild but natural mysteries surrounding the island… it might be worth it.

They managed to exit the village without much hassle, avoiding the eyes of the stationed guards by going through a big clump of ferns and into the forest. Smoky insisted that it wasn’t a long walk, but even they looked weary and breathless by the time they happened upon a mossy cliff running straight up.

“Fantastic,” Peridot heaved, hands on her knees as she sized up the colossal wall of stone. “A rock wall. Exactly the thing to convince me about the enigma of hydrium.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Rainbow sighed, skipping forward and extending the point of his parasol towards a thick sheet of lichen. “Not so fast. Sunstone, if you’d do the honors?”

“O’course.” Sunstone stepped forward, hands clamping around the thick tendrils and pulling them apart, revealing a dark, grimy-looking passage that dove down into the earth.

“Well, what d’ya know?” Smoky grinned into Peridot’s ear. “A passage-- huff-- all the way down into the mountain! I betcha the others didn’t show you this on those nature walks they been taking you on, huh?”

“No,” Peridot stated simply, eyes taking in every inch of the mysterious tunnel. She stepped down after Rainbow, followed by Smoky, and finally by Sunstone as they let go of the curtain and plunged the tunnel into darkness.

A few steps in and Peridot was beginning to dislike being unable to see where she was heading. “It’s awfully dark in here,” Peridot commented drily, hands extending to make sure she didn’t bump into any walls. “Did any of you think to carry a lantern with you?”

Smoky snorted in front of her. “You think I’m capable of forethought ? I’m blushing!”

“Don’t worry,” Sunstone called from the back. “It won’t be dark for long.”

Sure. Peridot responded with a simple grunt, keeping her arms extended and instead placing her focus on finding safe places to put her feet. The sounds of the others’ footsteps were reassuring, at least. There was some point she ran face-first into a big wad of cobwebs, which gave Smoky a good laugh while giving Peridot too much anxiety to move forward without Rainbow poking her in the back with his parasol.

Eventually the tunnel did level. Even though she couldn’t see them, Peridot could feel the walls expanding, giving them more space to move about the passage.

A minute or so in and Peridot’s eyes were glinting curiously when, at the end of the yawning tunnel, there was a shallow glimmer of light. “There shouldn’t be sunlight this far down,” she acknowledged with a grimace. “So what’s that?”

“Oh, you’ll see soon enough,” Rainbow commented from behind her, which didn’t make her feel better at all. The deeper in they marched, the more incredulous Peridot felt. It didn’t look like sunlight, which was as confusing as it was worrying. It rippled and danced on the walls, much like the reflection of water on a hard, dark surface. But she didn’t hear any water.

Smoky suddenly ducked out of sight with a light huff, and Peridot slammed to a halt just in time to prevent herself from tumbling ten feet down into an ancient stone hollow. She was about to snap at Smoky for failing to warn her of the cliff, but her voice crawled shyly back down when she glanced upwards.

Before her, sprawled across the widespread chasm with dark mouths that must have been other tunnels or chambers, were gemstones. There were no two alike. They gleamed and glittered, refracting the light emitted from an enormous boulder at the heart of the cave. A deep cavity cut through the large stone, revealing colourful minerals that seemed to leak luminescent light.

It really was, by all means, a geode. And quite a notable one, at that.

“I don’t believe it,” Peridot murmured, trying to take in the whole scene in one fell sweep of her gaze. She felt Sunstone over her shoulder. “Oh, you better believe it.”

“Okay.”

Peridot simply continued to gawk as Rainbow moved past her, swiftly jumping down into the hollow with a contented sigh. “At last! But I still don’t understand why we had to use the old entrance.”

“‘Cuz there’s always at least a guard or something at the newer one,” Smoky stated. “C’mon, Peri, you won’t get the full experience o’ this place if you’re stuck up there!” They called up next, and Peridot spotted them hovering near a clump of shiny green crystals.

“But-- what is this place?” Peridot inquired, sizing up the distance between herself and the rock-hard ground below. “What’s its significanc-- wh- whoa, hey! ” She was quickly cut off by strong arms fastening around her waist. A startled scream shrilled from her throat when she was suddenly diving towards the floor, throwing her hands up to her face to save it from any bodily arm.

She was pleasantly surprised to find that she, in fact, was not colliding with the hard earth. Instead, she simply hovered three feet above the floor-- held parallel at Sunstone’s side. “Let me go. Please.”

“It was no problem.” Sunstone just grinned, dropping Peridot on her feet and letting her dust herself down. “You looked like you just needed a push in the right direction.”

“More like an abduction,” Peridot grumped, but not bitterly. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on, now? Why you brought me down… here?”

“‘Cuz this is the real heart of the Crystal Gems.” Smoky moved towards the giant geode at the centre of the large chamber, hands moving towards a pocket in their jacket. Out came a small reflective guard, and Peridot had to assume it was glass. “Do you just carry that around?”

“Yep,” Smoky affirmed, lifting the glass up into the air and twisting it around in their palm. “Now if I could just… catch it juuuust right… Aha!”

The glass shard suddenly glittered to life, catching a stray stream of light emitting from within the split geode. A rainbow of colour erupted on the chamber’s roof as Smoky tilted the shard upward, allowing the smudges of light to congregate and mold on the rocky ceiling. Peridot opened her mouth to challenge them, but she felt Sunstone saddle up beside her, mouthing for her to ‘wait for it.’

Suddenly the light pooling on the ceiling took form. It twisted and writhed, specific colours piecing together like they had abruptly grown sentient. The palette was limited to glistening blues, violets, whites, and everything in between, but there was most definitely an image forming: the island. Peridot gaped. “What in Diam-- ahem, what… is that?”

“This is what the Geode can do,” Smoky cackled. “C’mere, c’mere, hold onto this thing.”

“Onto the shard?” Peridot quipped. “I think not!”

“Oh, c’mon, Peridot, the edges are all dulled down.”

“What Smoky is triggering is what we call the Storm ,” Rainbow commented, kneeling down beside Peridot and wrapping his hands thoughtfully around the handle of his parasol before him. “Quite an unfitting name, if I do say so myself, but it’s what Rose Quartz enjoyed calling it.”

“‘Cuz if it falls into the wrong hands, we’d have to fight tooth and nail to get it back,” Sunstone added next with a pensive nod. “Unless we want the whole world to fall into a storm of peril.” Smoky guffawed somewhere to the side.

Peridot’s confused look must have been proof enough that none of them were making much sense, so Smoky rolled their shoulders in a shrug and shifted the shard by mere fractions of an inch. The mirage of the island overhead shifted, and Peridot’s eyes blew wide as she recognized the crash site of her ornithopter. She could even see the dented, crunched remains of the flying machine beyond the edge of the lagoon nearby it.

“That’s-- that’s my ornithopter!” She exclaimed. “How does it--”

“The Storm is able to reflect places in real time,” Rainbow cut in with an explanation. “So long as it’s in contact with someone or something that has been there. So, for example, if I were to hold it, it would be able to reach back into my past and show something, like my childhood home, in present time.”

“And how does it do that?” Peridot asked. “Does it use the same properties as the sky hang to rip through… space-time?” She felt herself sink. “Stars, I can’t believe I just said that. It still feels like science fiction.”

Rainbow offered a small smile. “Colour me impressed! This place does uses the same energies-- dare I say, exudes the same energies as hydrium does in excess. Some speculate that this is the source of all hydrium on the island due to its powerful manipulation; it might even be why this island specifically is the most notable when it comes to the sky hang. It’s not everyday that you mix practical time magic with hydrium chambers.”

“Oh please, I at least know that magic isn’t real,” Peridot mumbled, but didn’t sound too confident. There was a lot she didn’t know. This did help provide a better understanding of how exactly the sky hang occurred… but it was still confusing. Very confusing. But she wasn’t about to be baited into believing magic.

Unless there was some more evidence to support it.

Stars, she was going mad.

“And… how exactly would it be bad if someone… else got their hands on it?” Peridot broke off and gestured to Smoky’s shard. “Why would it cause an issue?”

Smoky quirked a brow. “Oh, nah, nah-- it doesn’t matter what kinda shard they use, it doesn’t even need to be a shard-- this is just what I had in my pockets. The others usually use a specialized tool called the uh… erm… ah, geez, I forget the name of it-- but! It’s able to… concentrate more energy into whatever the person usin’ it wants to project. So it comes up faster and clearer. This is just the poor man’s glass.” Smoky smirked. “But, if you want a straight answer, let’s say… for example…. someone from Homeworld gained control of this joint and had captured one of us pirates...”

They paused for effect, and when Peridot flexed her hands as if to say, ‘yeah, what then?’ Smoky continued, content that they’d properly gotten her attention. “They could use them to get info on whatever the pirate knew. They could force them to use the Storm and, well, reveal all the secrets we’ve managed to keep from ol’ Homeworld for the last decade or two.”

Peridot blinked. Where was this thing when she was trying to get things out of Lapis on the ship? Immediately that thought was squandered beneath a formidable amount of guilt, one that she swallowed down with a bitter taste at the back of her mouth. She’d learned a lot since then. She wasn’t even sure she’d benefit from using it now; she knew enough to be an informant at this point, and that thought terrified her. “So, theoretically, if I were to use it, you’d be able to see what I’ve seen? Or-- where I’ve been, so to speak?”

“You got it,” Sunstone gave Peridot a proud pat on the back, startling her. “Why don’t’cha go give it a try, huh? You’ve got the stuff.”

“The stuff?”

“They’re trynna say you’re brave enough to try it out,” Smoky chortled. “Unless you aren’t.”

Peridot sputtered indignantly, breaking away from the other two as she marched right up to Smoky. “Of-- of course I am! Gimme that.” Smoky merely smirked as Peridot swiped the shard from Smoky’s hands, and the lights reflecting on the ceiling blinked out. Peridot flinched as the cavern was overcome with a swollen darkness once more, but after fondling the shard in her palms for a few thoughtful seconds, she rose it up with both hands, and waited.

And waited a bit more.

And some more.

She turned to Smoky, perplexed. “Uhh, why isn’t it working?”

“You’re holding it wrong.”

“Is there a specific way I’m meant to hold it?”

“No, you’re just doin’ it wrong.”

“Well-- then help me do it right !” Peridot snipped hotly. Suddenly the shard in her palm flared with light, and Peridot was so startled she nearly dropped it. She fumbled for a grip again, holding it firmly (but not too firmly because she didn’t want to cut herself) in her fingers as she directed its face towards the roof.

Slowly but surely, an image began to form. It was a gentle blue smattered with white, and soon Peridot was able to recognize a sky. She couldn’t help but feel disheartened. “It’s just a sky.”

“Well, do you have much airtime?” Smoky inquired, coming up beside Peridot with arms crossed over their chest. “‘Cuz if you’ve spent tons of time in the sky, this isn’t surprising.”

Peridot frowned, because Smoky was right. She reached into her mind, dredging up a specific memory of acing her first academy exam when she was fourteen. She gently twisted her wrist, and the image of the sky molded and shifted, until instead of a cloudy sky there was a wide lecture hall.

“I recognize this place!” Peridot chirped, unable to keep the pride from her voice. “This is one of my science classrooms from the academy! Is-- am I viewing it from my old seat?”

“Oh-- yeah, forget to tell you: the Storm sees things like it’s from your eyes. That’s why you gotta hold whatever the light touches-- so it can, like, reach into your subconscious or something.”

Peridot didn’t even mind Smoky’s blase explanation because she was so engrossed by the sight in front of her. The classroom was empty at the moment, but it was definitely different than she remembered; the posters that were new science at the time had been replaced by newer, updated ones with newer formulas, and there were even new technologies she could spot around the projection.

An idea came to light, metaphorically, and Peridot narrowed her eyes as she thought about the Nebula. Half of her was screaming at her to stop thinking about it, because if it was really struck down, all she’d be seeing was a flooded vessel at the bottom of the sea. But she had to chance this.

The classroom overhead dissipated as Peridot thought hard about the warship, grip flexing around the shard. The image appearing was muddled, blurred beyond comprehension to anyone. She thought harder, grip tightening around the glass.

“Come on,” she grunted, teeth grinding together as subtle forms began to glisten on the ceiling. “Come on…!”

“Um, Peridot?” Rainbow’s voice came from somewhere behind her, but Peridot could hardly hear him over the pounding in her ears. She had to focus. The image on the ceiling was gradually coming together; she was nearly there!

Peridot swore that she could see the blurred shape of the desk from her cabin, and in her excitement her fingers spasmed. A sharp flare of pain ran along the inside of her fingers and Peridot gasped from the shock, dropping the shard onto the hard ground. It shattered into hundreds of tiny brittle fragments as she rapidly pulled her hand back,  nursing it protectively against her chest. Her eyes were huge.

“Aww, man,” Smoky muttered, crouching beside Peridot and gazing down at the shattered glass. “That was my favourite shard, too.”

“Uh- I- I’m sorry,” Peridot wheezed, hesitantly pulling her hand away from her chest. There was a thin laceration stretching across three fingers, weeping something dark that she knew was blood. “I thought you said that the shard was blunt?!”

“Yeah, if you’re not crushing it,” Smoky scoffed. “What were you trying to do?”

“I was-- just trying to see something,” Peridot admitted, an unfamiliar feeling washing over her as she clenched her hand shut to keep the blood from draining out any further. She could hear someone sigh behind her, and in an instant Rainbow was before her, gesturing down at her shirt. “Would you mind?”

Peridot blinked. “Mind what?”

“This.” His nimble fingertips grasped at the rim of her shirt, and Peridot yelped with astonishment when he ripped off a thin strip of the cottony fabric. “Hey!-- what’re you--- oh.” She stopped flailing when he gently grabbed her wrist, unfolding her shaky hand and beginning to wrap the bloody fingers in the makeshift bandage.

“Um--” Peridot tried, fumbling over her words as Rainbow stood back up, brushing his hands daintily over his front. “Thank you.”

“It was no problem,” he shrugged. “Though I suppose you do owe me now.”

“I do?”

“He doesn’t mean it,” Sunstone chuckled. “The dude just likes to rile up his new buddies.”

Peridot glanced up at Rainbow, who was good-naturedly elbowing Sunstone in the side. Buddies? Were they buddies? Rainbow didn’t seem to say anything to debunk what Sunstone had said, and even Smoky was looking on with a cheeky grin. Peridot opened her mouth to speak, but quickly clamped it shut when she heard voices echo from deeper within the cavern.

“I really don’t think we have anything to worry about, Sapphy.”

“I know you don’t, but I’m concerned, Ruby. I just want to check to make sure my premonition is right.”

“Okay. I trust you.”

“Ruby, hands.”

“Sorry not sorry.”

“Hehe, it’s all right.”

“Crap!” Smoky hissed, hurriedly grabbing onto Rainbow’s shoulder and jostling him towards the tunnel they had come in. “That’s Ruby and Sapphire! What’re they doing down here?!”

Rainbow allowed himself to be pushed towards the entrance, stretching his neck to glance over Smoky’s head at one of the dark tunnel entrances on the other side of the cavern. “My best guess is they’re here to use the Geode.”

“Gee, great deduction, Rainy,” Smoky huffed. “But why? They don’t just let anybody down here!”

“Sapphire has some… psychic abilities, don’t you remember?” Rainbow asserted matter-of-factly. Peridot felt the pressure in her head thud uncomfortably; psychics? That was a can of worms she didn’t want to open yet. There was already so many cans she’d opened and still couldn’t comprehend. Regardless, Rainbow continued. “She typically has access to the storm whenever she needs it. Which means, right now, we should be fleeing.” He flashed Peridot a whimsical grin. “Are you ready?”

Peridot felt her face drain of colour. “For what?”

“ Alley-oop!” Peridot squawked when she felt Sunstone’s arms close around her waist again, and she was lifted up into the air gracefully. “Let’s get outta here, Gems!”

“Right!” Smoky and Rainbow chimed in unison, hurrying towards the cliff that led up to their tunnel. They managed to make it up in less than three seconds. Sunstone paused at the bottom, throwing Peridot a dazzling grin that made her stomach drop into her feet. “Ya ready, kiddo?”

“Never!”

“That’s what I wanted to hear. Kowabunga!” Sunstone launched themselves upwards, managing to catch the edge of the cliff with their hand. Peridot couldn’t even shriek because all the wind was forced out of her body from the sudden jump. Within a moment she was on solid ground, face-down as she tried to keep the world from spinning around her. The only thing that managed to get her to move was the growing echo of Ruby’ and Sapphire’s voices. Smoky grabbed onto Peridot’s vest and hauled her up, ushering her forward with a “c’mon!” as the ragtag bunch rocketed back to the surface.

When she saw sunshine trickling in through cracks in the ceiling, she nearly laughed she was so relieved. Sunstone spilled out first, then Smoky, then Rainbow, and finally Peridot came stumbling out, catching herself before she could stumble over her own two feet. “Ha! We made it!”

“But that poor stalagmite didn’t,” Smoky tutted amusedly. “How many times did you have to bump into that thing to catch the hint it was there, huh?”

“Only twice,” Peridot mumbled defensively, but softened up when she noticed the humorous spark in their eyes. “Why did you all take me down there? You had no means to.”

“Ehh, I thought it’d help shed a light on this whole… phenomenon we got goin’ on,” Smoky shrugged. “Took me some time to get used to it. Kinda mind-blowing, isn’t it?”

Peridot weakly nodded. “That’s a word for it.”

“Plus, we wanted to meet this Homeworld invader for ourselves,” Rainbow insisted. “You’ve made quite a name for yourself around the island, wearing that brooch and all.”

“Wh- my brooch?” Peridot’s eyes lowered down to her lapel, where her Yellow Diamond brooch still loyally stayed. “What of it?”

“It’s a giveaway about who you’re really with,” Smoky shook their head. “Not everybody’s gonna take to ya as kindly as we have. Don’t you dare even let Sugilite see you with that thing on.”

“Err,” Peridot gulped, feeling a cool trickle of sweat run down the back of her neck. She'd never met this Sugilite before, and definitely didn't want to now. “Noted.”

“We’d better get back to the village before anyone notices you up and went missing,” Sunstone declared, motioning to the sinking sun through the canopies. “We don’t want you gettin’ into any trouble, ‘cuz that’s no good.”

“You’re right,” Peridot ceded. She didn’t want to be caught up doing something she shouldn’t be when she was already walking on eggshells. She ended up walking behind Sunstone as the group began to make their way back to the base.

The journey back to the village seemed faster than the walk to the mountain. It was quiet apart from Rainbow and Smoky bantering ahead, up until when they could see the bamboo-and-bracken barriers that concealed the village from the outside. Smoky was the one who fell back and leaned over to Peridot, all whisper. “Now, if anyone asks, you were out lookin’ at some fancy rocks.”

Peridot’s brow flatlined, unimpressed. “Really?”

“What? It’s a totally believable excuse. Sardonyx believes it every time.”

Peridot wanted to say something but decided not to. She simply shrugged as they ducked through a sizable hole in the bottom of the bamboo slats, emerging in a big clump of shrubbery inside the village. There was nobody nearby as far as Peridot could tell, so she felt safe enough to jump out before the others.

She flicked a leaf off of her shoulder and turned back, but found the Crystal Gems headed in the opposite direction. Smoky called out over their shoulder, “We’ve gotta dash before we get caught, but remember: fancy rocks ! Tell ‘em you was lookin’ at fancy rocks!”

“Fancy rocks, got it,” Peridot called back with no real zeal, shaking her head with wry amusement. Fancy rocks it would be. She definitely wasn’t discovering the vital secrets of a private Crystal Gem base that gave them insight to events beyond their own personal intel. Stars. Homeworld might be ahead of the game in terms of technology and resources, but the Crystal Gems had quite a number of tricks up their sleeves.

Now that she was alone, though, she was a bit listless. They must have eaten up a good portion of the afternoon on that venture, because the sun was beginning to dip lower and lower into the west. It would be dusk soon enough.

She might as well make the most of her time before she returned to where she’d been granted… temporary refuge in the lodge with Steven and Lapis. She and Lapis were still on relatively terse grounds, a blooming tension neither were ready to acknowledge nor try to make amends for. They had already popped the balloon en route to the port those few suns ago, but it would take more than ‘sorry that happened to you, that’s really terrible’ to mend the gap; Peridot was finally beginning to realize that.

She found herself absentmindedly wandering towards Bismuth’s keep, stopping just a few feet from its door to kneel down to refasten the knot on her right boot.

“Gems!” Garnet’s powerful voice suddenly exploded from somewhere above Peridot, sending the machinist three feet into the air. She spun around to see the leader emerging from a bamboo blockhouse with Pearl and Amethyst. Then two unfamiliar faces emerged next, each short, one with long, pale hair that covered her eyes and the other burly with thick dark hair. All of them were the very picture of distress. “Guard every port and landing. Keep your eyes to the sky. There is danger approaching the island!”

Peridot’s stomach dropped. What did she mean? Danger? What-- or who was coming?

Against her better judgment she scrambled after the group as they began to hike down from the balcony and hasten through the village, barking firm orders to the hustling pirates rushing to their marks. “Hey, wait--”

Her request went unacknowledged as the pirates all made beelines around her, yelling amongst themselves and gathering arms to defend themselves-- and one another. What she supposed to do? She didn’t have anything to defend herself with! She slammed to a halt in the middle of the walkway and sent a questioning look back up at the lodge where she knew Steven and Lapis would be. She could go back in there; she’d probably be safe. After all, it was a large, fortified building… but who would she be then? She didn’t need these pirates to protect her!

So she kept going on foot after Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, moving largely unnoticed through the thinning crowd of Crystal Gems as they exited the village and began rushing through the jungle.

It only took a few moments for the three of them to take notice of Peridot, however. Pearl was the first to glance over her shoulder and look surprised, then quietly point out her presence to the others. Amethyst only groaned and kept running forward through the tropics, leaving Garnet and Pearl to wait. Then Pearl decided it wasn’t worth her time (the gall !) and went to catch up with Amethyst, leaving Garnet to hover ominously before Peridot.

“What’s going on, Garnet?” She asked, eyes hard with inquiry. “Who’s here?”

“Peridot, go back to the village,” Garnet snapped, the gauntlets on her hands glinting lethally in the late sun. “We’ll handle this.”

Peridot shook her head, eyes huge behind her crooked glasses. “But--”

“Now!” Garnet roared, effectively stopping Peridot in the middle of the clearing. Pearl and Amethyst had stopped ahead, voices carrying over their shoulders as they prompted Garnet to catch up. “We have to stop them before they get further inland!”

“Who?!” Peridot hissed. “Who’s here?! Is it Homeworld?”

Garnet’s precarious silence said more than any words would have. Peridot’s heart rose into her throat. It was Homeworld.

Garnet spun around to launch herself after the others, but briefly turned to fix Peridot with a deep, earnest stare. “Go back, Peridot,” she implored, and then she was gone, racing through the jungle to catch up with her team.

Peridot was as dumbfounded as she was humiliated. This was Homeworld they were talking about. If anything, she would be the most knowledgeable about how to handle this situation.

...But how much did she really know about Homeworld, after everything she’d learned? Ugh! That didn’t matter right now! These clods were about to expose themselves to any kind of warship! If this was a first class vessel, then Yellow Diamond help them all.

Peridot hurried after them, breaking through the undergrowth with astounding speed. Her heart was in her ears, muting out the crashing of the plants beneath her. They were here. Stars almighty, they were here ! Homeworld was here. And the Crystal Gems were about to storm, weapons drawn, into a mooring spot. They would be gunned down before they even had the chance to size up the challenge.

Wait-- why was she thinking about them ?! Homeworld was here! For her! There was no other explanation as to why they might be here-- making an unexpected and probable emergency landing!

Well, if it was an emergency, it was probably that but having her missing could be considered one, right? Right! She was still important!

She didn’t quite catch up to them, but still ended up running blindly into Amethyst. “Hey, watch it!” The pirate sputtered, fingers clenching around the whip wrapped around her forearm. “You want us gettin’ caught?”

“N -- no! I just--” Peridot stretched her neck out, trying to make odds or ends of the airship docked on the sandy banks. “I want to--”

“I thought we told you to go back to the camp,” Pearl hissed. “This is no place for you to be.”

“Yes, it is!” Peridot bit back. “Just-- let me go out there! Let me g-- hmmpffh!” A hand was wrapped around Peridot’s mouth, muffling her speech as another gripped her around the shoulders and held her down. Spitefully, Peridot nipped at the hand covering her mouth, unable to hide her smugness when Pearl jumped back with alarm. “What was that for?!”

“For infringing my right to free speech,” Peridot muttered sourly. “Let me go out there! It’s Homeworld!”

“Yes, we’re well aware of that,” Garnet frowned. “But revealing yourself brings us more danger than you know. It brings this very base to the point of exposure.”

Peridot growled. They didn’t get it . She had to get out there-- had to see for herself. She stretched out her neck, trying to catch a glimpse of the warship through the dense screen of foliage. All she could see was a charcoal-covered sail, a common feat among military airships. But the moment she saw a yellow diamond insignia across its bow, surrounded by diminutive caricatures of constellations, her heart sang with joy.

“It’s the Nebula!” Peridot choked. “That’s the Nebula! That’s my ship!” She began to kick more fervently, desperate to be set free from the Amethyst’s armlock. “You don’t understand-- I have to do th--”

“Oh we understand plenty ,” Pearl seethed through narrowed eyes, the sharp tip of her spear directing towards the struggling Peridot. “You’re going to flee aboard that ship and tell them everything you’ve learned here. Flee back to your old life.”

Peridot tried to challenge her but Pearl covered her up with forceful aggression. “We cannot let that happen. We have sacrificed far too much in Rose’s name to let this island and our cause fall to waste now .”

Peridot grit her teeth. Okay. So words were going to do nothing for her here. But they couldn’t just hold her here forever. They’d eventually need to either take her back to the village or go out on their own. That’s when an idea struck.

Swiftly she jerked her head to one side, a finger pointing to their right with an expression of faux surprise. “They’re already here!”

All three heads turned towards the side, and Peridot took the chance to rip herself from Amethyst’s grasp, taking a fumbling start towards the edge of the trees where the forest breached. She almost wanted to let out a triumphant laugh, but when she spared a look over her shoulder, she saw three enraged pirates hot on her heels. So instead, she yelped fearfully.

She must have only made it a few yards forward before she felt someone tackle her from behind. They fell tumbling to the ground, and Peridot bit down painfully on her cheek as her chin scraped against the hard earth. She twisted around, frustratedly kicking up at Amethyst’s stomach to displace her.

“Let-- go of me!” Peridot struggled, gnashing her teeth with frustration when she could feel the pirate beginning to overpower her. “Let go!”

“Like hell I will!” Amethyst hollered. “Why don’t I go and tell the Diamonds where we are, while I’m at it?!”

“You don’t understand-” Peridot hissed, hiking her bad leg up to her chest and kicking forward, hitting Amethyst square in the stomach. The pirate immediately let go, hands flying to wrap around her abdomen with a furious growl. Peridot stole the opportunity she had and scrambled away through the ferns, making a wild break for the edge of the treeline towards the familiar dark-casted sail of the Nebula .

She felt herself crash through the edge of the undergrowth, falling forward but quickly catching herself with outstretched palms before she could hit the ground. Peridot kicked forward frantically, unsure of why her skin felt so chilled despite the midday tropical sun beating down on her.

The Nebula was in worse-for-wear shape. The front bow was slumped, suggesting that the hydrium cells in the forward ballonet had been unable to refill properly. She could see spots where the sailmaking crew inside had to hastily seal the envelope of the airship from the inside. The closer she got, the colder that spot in her chest felt. Part of her wanted to retreat after so much preoccupation with Homeworld not wanting her anymore-- but they were here now! She was wrong! They were wrong!

“Hey!” Peridot panted, throwing her arms up as she made out some ground soldiers securing the mooring ropes to keep the Nebula from floating off. “Over here!”

One of the crew members glanced up, body charged to take on the offense as their hands flew to the holster at their hip. The others quickly followed suit, snagging the mooring and quickly turning on Peridot. The machinist slammed to a halt, throwing her hands up in surrender with a startled expression. “It’s me! Peridot!” She yelped. “Second junior officer! Machinist! Assigned to the N ebula by Yellow Diamond!”

The largest of the soldiers sent her crewmates a skeptical glance, before raising a hand to relieve them of the offense. Her hands moved up to remove the dark visor concealing her face from Peridot, and the small machinist breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she recognized Ametrine’s confused eyes. “Oh thank the stars you found me! I’ve been stuck on this island for who knows how long and I was beginning to worry that--”

“Hold on,” Ametrine interrupted, effectively quieting Peridot as the soldier took a wary step forward. “How on earth did you get here? And is that blood?”

“That’s--” Peridot stumbled on her words, thick closing in on itself against her will. She quickly reached up to her lips, withdrawing her hand to reveal crimson smudges on her fingertips. She cleared her throat and wiped the blood away, the adrenaline pumping through her frame numbing the pain in her jaw. She raised her chin. “It’s a long story. But I’m willing to explain everything once I’ve spoken to Captain Nephrite. ...Assuming, she’s…?”

Ametrine nodded tensely. “Yes. The Captain is currently in her car.” She ran over eyes over Peridot, the very epitome of skepticism. “She’ll want to speak with you. Considering how you courageously… vanished during the pirate attack.”

Peridot stiffened. They knew she had taken one of the ornithopters. She could tell by the light snickering of the other Quartz ranks slowly circling in on her. Not threateningly, but still slyly enough to warrant caution on Peridot’s part. So she stood a bit taller, jaw tight as she nodded simply. “Of course. As I stated, I can and will explain everything that’s happened.”

Ametrine regarded her for a moment before shrugging. “All right. Aventurine, Druzy, secure the mooring. The rest of you, with me.”

Peridot heaved a sigh of relief. Good, they were allowing her aboard. She was frightened that they would reject her then and there without any chance to redeem herself in the eyes of the Captain, and thereby Homeworld. Though… there was something else on her mind, too; something wayward that she felt inclined to lean towards. But it could wait.

They led her towards the loading car, where Ametrine radioed for someone inside to unlatch the loading dock. The heavy doors staggered apart with a ragged metallic hiss. Peridot winced. The engine room powering the Nebula ’s mechanics must have been damaged during or after the raid; usually it was so fluid-sounding.

Ametrine and her Quartz squad stepped up into the car first, followed by Peridot, who stopped as the hovered on the gridded ledge of the Nebula’s yawning opening.

She glanced briefly over her shoulder as she was led deeper into the Nebula by the mooring soldiers. Hidden silently in the shadows of the verdant treeline, she could make out three dark figures hovering in the brush, unseen by anyone who wasn’t actively looking for them.

That weight of the sleek diamond brooch on her lapel suddenly grew unreasonably heavy. She squared her shoulders and turned pointedly away as the mechanical door flushed shut behind her.

Chapter Text

There was something unpleasantly eerie about a silent Nebula. It lacked the metallic humming that would have otherwise masked the deliberate, heavy footsteps of the Homeworld soldiers leading her deeper into the ship. Part of Peridot was frustrated that they believed they needed to escort her. She was fully capable of making her way to Captain Nephrite’s car on her own, but she definitely wasn’t about to voice that fact.

There was too much whispering. Too many side glances. The group who had found her outside the warship were still her escorts, but every time they passed an opening into another chamber of the ship, she saw curious, confused, and suspicious faces alike all scrutinizing her. Trying to pick her apart and figure her out. It was safe to say the back of her collar was damp with cold sweat.

Certainly, none of them would realize she’d been with Crystal Gems for the time she was separated from them? There was no rational way they’d be able to know. There couldn’t be. She had to hold onto that hope as they filtered onto the primary stretch of alumiron catwalks in the wide, open chamber of the Nebula’s envelope.

The first thing Peridot noticed was the sweet, thin scent in the air. She immediately recognized it as hydrium and frowned. “Why is there hydrium in here? It should be kept in the primary cell room.”

Ahead of her, she noticed two Quartz soldiers glance solemnly at one another. The one on the left turned and sent Peridot a callous look over her shoulder. “Sometimes when ships make an emergency landing due to a hydrium leak, the hydrium, y’know, gets out of where it’s supposed to be.”

Bitterness made Peridot’s tongue writhe behind her teeth. She would’ve preferred the cool silence to an irreverent remark. “It’s not good to have it drifting about the ship, you know.”

This time more than two soldiers sent each other bemused looks, instead focusing their shady visors on Peridot, lips pulled into confused grimaces. “What do you mean?” Ametrine was the one to ask, having turned around from the front, all skepticism. “It’s just hydrium.”

Peridot realized her mistake and swallowed her tongue, feeling her skin flush twenty shades paler. They didn't know. They didn’t know about hydrium and the dangerous qualities it possessed that the Crystal Gems had shown her. And she couldn’t let them know that she knew that-- she would never hear the end of it, and they’d never want to hear the end of how she learned that when she was supposed to be shipwrecked alone on this island.

“I-I mean, it’s unfortunate that the ship has lost so much hydrium,” she stammered to correct, wringing her hands anxiously as the soldiers around her wavered their guards. “To the point where-- it’s floating around in the envelope, uncontrolled. It will be-- inconvenient, at the very least, to redirect it back to the chambers where it can properly keep the ship airborne.”

“Pfft, heh, you said it,” a guard behind Peridot chuckled drily. “But let’s keep it going. We already sent the Captain the alert that we’re headed to her car and I don’t want to be the one to explain to her why it took so long.”

A silent consensus passed through the group and they continued. Peridot was still trying to recover from her fumble earlier. Sure, they were joyfully naive to hydrium (just like she was before), and she felt a bit smug just based on the fact she knew something critical that they didn’t. But honestly, it was damaging to know about it. It damaged every perspective she’d ever held for herself, for Homeworld, and for the resource that it loved to reap so dearly. And it made her heart sink low to think that they would keenly continue to reap its benefits, blithely unaware of the tolls it placed on the environment it seeped from.

Peridot shook her head. She couldn’t be thinking these things. No, she-- she shouldn’t be. Not here in the Nebula; because if there was any shift in expression they’d be on her heels, barking for a lead on this new change of mind she’d had.

They were passing the branch-off that led to the crew’s quarters and part of her ached to see her cabin. She thought she’d seen it in the Storm and she grieved for its cluttered familiarity. A space reserved just for her-- she hadn’t been left alone to her own devices in what felt like eons... And thinking on it, she probably wouldn’t for a while yet.

They’d nearly gotten past the rooming wing when a number of soldiers spilled out of the small entrance just behind the escort squad, elbowing and jostling one another.

“See! I told you they’d come through this way!” Spinel snapped up at Tourmaline, jumping up to her feet and patting down her person indignantly. “You didn’t need to push.”

“Spinel, Tourmaline,” Ametrine nodded. “You had better go outside and join the others mooring the ship down. We don’t know what’s on this island.”

“We know there’s tons of hydrium,” Tourmaline shrugged. But her casual admission chilled Peridot to the core. Frantically she tried to puzzle out how they knew this island practically leaked hydrium at every pore, but fortunately remembered that the Nebula did carry sensors to read hydrium levels in the local atmosphere. It was probably picking up on the excess.

Idly, she wondered if hydrium levels rose the closer a ship was to the sky hang.

Oh, stars-- did they use a sky hang to get here? There had been enough time to move from the Atlantius to down here in the time since the raid, but-- no, no, the crew didn’t seem to be baffled by their place in time. They seemed-- fine, about landing on a tropical island. This must have been deliberate.

“Hydrium, really?” Peridot spat out a few seconds too late, trying to dispel any thoughts anybody may have that she knew about the island’s surplus. “I… hadn’t noticed.”

Spinel’s brows quirked. “I thought you of all of us would notice first. You’re the scientist on board.”

Peridot opened her mouth to speak, but only a weak trickle of breath came out. “It’s… more difficult to take notice of hydrium without the proper equipment, I suppose," she lied.

“Enough,” Ametrine sighed. “Tourmaline, Spinel, outside. Now.”

Tourmaline and Spinel shrugged but obeyed nonetheless, sending Peridot curious glances from down the catwalk as they made haste to the belly of the ship. Peridot’s skin was riddled with goosebumps that she discreetly tried to rub away with shaky fingertips. If she’d gone this far, it would be unlikely she would be accosted by Captain Nephrite. She was a sensible Captain. A good one.

Maybe she would even hear her out for all she had to explain. All that she had to say.

All that I have to say? Peridot echoed silently, brows raising high with surprise. It hadn’t even occurred to her that as apprehensive as she was… she was also hopeful. Nonetheless, her stomach sank lower and lower the closer she got to the Captain’s car. By the time they were approaching the door, the close walls surrounding them spasmed and hissed, suggesting the machinery behind them having a conniption.

Ametrine eventually dispersed the group and Peridot was pushed up to the front with a disgruntled frown. She risked sending the snickering soldiers behind her a vehement glare, but quickly turned to attention when the doors to the control car slid open with a mechanical shhh.

Peridot was glad to see Captain Nephrite standing behind the doors, gloved hands held behind the small of her back, eye firm but curious as she met Peridot’s green stare.

“Officer Peridot,” she greeted smoothly. “Come in. There’s much we need to talk about.”

“Of course,” Peridot gasped, taking a large stride forward to enter the car. Ametrine and two other guards made the move to follow Peridot in, but the Captain rose a hand to dismiss them. “Alone, preferably.”

Peridot was relieved that the Captain didn’t feel doubtful enough of her to need the guards in the car with them, but in equal parts she was terrified of what was to come. Captain Nephrite didn’t seem cold; but she didn’t have the same respectful warmth from before. So as the soldiers reluctantly piled back into the hall, Peridot watched uneasily as the door flushed shut.

“Stars, where to begin!” She anxiously spit out, using humor’s lightness to her advantage to keep the nervousness at bay. “I was beginning to believe that I would never be found here, Captain!”

Captain Nephrite regarded Peridot thoughtfully. “And how it is it that you got here, in the first place? The last we’d seen of you was just sort of a fortnight ago. Not to mention-- in an entirely different hemisphere. You vanished with Jasper as well as the informant, Lapis Lazuli.” She rose a brow. “There was talk of you three escaping the ship together when we were attacked by Crystal Gems.”

“Wh-- what? No, no, that isn’t what happened,” Peridot consoled, hands flying up in surrender. “Well, I was in the vicinity of both Lapi-- Lazuli, and- Jasper, at the time of the attack, but their disappearance has-- nothing to do with me!” She felt awful lying through her teeth to the Captain, but if she gave any idea she knew what happened to them, there’d be more questions to follow. “And… you’ve located neither of them?”

Captain Nephrite shook her head. “There seems to have been a conflict in the cargo bay. But there was conflict in every inch of this ship that night. So it's hard to know where to begin to consider to search." She frowned. "The raid wasn’t a battle for Homeworld to be proud of.”

Peridot nodded shyly. “Understood. I… for lack of a better term, had to escape with one of the bay’s ornithopters. I was chased by pirates and cornered and it was the only means of escape I had to avoid being captured.”

Captain Nephrite’s expression shifted, which made Peridot stumble for another explanation. “I know it was a cowardly option, but I had reason to believe they meant me harm, and would have caused it if I hadn’t escaped. I’m not an armed soldier who could… defend herself.” Admitting it left a terrible taste in her mouth. “But I was able to keep in the air in that ornithopter until I reached… here. As implausible as it sounds. I crash-landed on the banks of a lagoon east of here.”

Peridot froze as the Captain turned away, features pensive. Would she believe it? It was… technically a truth, but not the whole truth. She was immediately gladdened to see Captain Nephrite’s shoulders lower and a look of subtle admiration came over her face. “I never did once doubt your prowess over technology,” she mused. “I have trouble keeping up with it all myself. It's so much different than it was during the war.”

Peridot heaved a breathless sigh of relief as the Captain turned away and walked over to the wraparound windows of her car. She followed pointedly after, eyes reaching out into the tropical treetops.

Somewhere in there, an entire base was floundering that Homeworld had reached their pirate haven. Somewhere in there, a number of pirates must be so… hurt, because of her. She swallowed nervously, willing her heart to be still. “It’s a sizable island,” Peridot decided to say, choosing her words slowly and meticulously. A real change of pace for her, in more ways than one. “There’s much life to be seen, in the trees and above them.”

The Captain nodded. “Fortunate that the crow’s nest was able to spot it from so far away. It was an unexpected, but welcome, thing to see. The Nebula was caught in a violent storm along the coast of the Americus peninsula northeast of here; if we hadn’t been in indecent condition after the raid, we certainly weren’t after the storm. Our sail was punctured, and both rudders beneath the bow were damaged.”

Peridot furrowed her brow. “What did Homeworld say about this?”

Captain Nephrite was silent. Her gloved hands moved from behind her back up to her hips, where they rested as Peridot awaited response. “Homeworld has not received a distress call from us yet.”

“What?” Peridot gaped. “Why not? It’s expected of all ships to report any and all pirate activity to Homeworld in their sky lanes--” she cut herself off for a second, astonished that she’d said their sky lines, not ours . She recomposed herself and cleared her throat. “Can I ask why this incident hasn’t been reported to headquarters? The base at Gemhaven is designed specifically to refer ships attacked by pirates.”

The Captain glanced at Peridot sideways. “That’s true. The crew believes that Homeworld was contacted the morning after the raid, when our radio systems were able to be brought back. I was hoping to wait and see if the sailmakers would be able to fully repair the cells and the sail before phoning the attack. However, the storm managed to sever the radio frequencies, leaving us without means of contacting anybody .”

Peridot couldn’t help the reassured smile ghosting on her lips, much to the Captain’s confusion. Peridot jumped and rushed to fix the mistake, sniffing and cupping her chin thoughtfully in her hand. “So… what you’re telling me, is that the Nebula has been marooned here?”

Captain Nephrite waited a moment before simply shrugging. “If that’s the best word to use for it, then yes.”

Things were looking up! Homeworld command didn’t know of the pirate raid on the Nebula , nor did they know that Peridot had vanished, nor did they know where the Nebula was currently. The only thing Peridot didn’t know was what the Nebula crew planned to do now.

“What do you plan on doing now?”

The Captain kept her gaze focused outward, staring into the deep, tropical treeline. “My intention was to use what equipment we have to harvest the hydrium we’ve been reading since we floated past this place.” She paused in earnest. “If I’m able to repair the Nebula and quickly continue on our course, perhaps the ramifications for reaching our destination late will be light.” Her features sank. “It’s the most I can ask from Yellow Diamond.”

Peridot’s chest twinged. Of course. Captain Nephrite’s last mission had put her in bad terms with her superiors; losing a fleet of drop ships to Crystal Gems was not looked kindly upon. So of course she wanted to quickly remedy this attack and carry on like it had never happened. That’s why she hadn’t reported to command. Peridot glanced up to see the Captain looking at her, and quickly straightened up. “And now that you’re here, Peridot, we might have a true chance to have this ship ready for the sky lanes before the tides rise.”

Oh. They wanted her… to help them get airborne. To harvest the hydrium from the island. Peridot’s jaw ticked. “Is-- there nothing else I should do first?” She tried, the hair on her neck raising when Captain Nephrite seemed baffled by the response. “As in-- I’ve been gone for so long! Kept here-- on this island-- for.. days. Alone. Very alone. And-- I feel it’s in m-- our -- best interests, to… size up the island. Before we do anything that we might regret.”

She must have said the wrong thing. Or at least, something confusing, because the Captain was looking at her as if she’d sprouted a second head. ”What do you mean by that?”

“Well--” Peridot blanched, trying to think of something to say to the Captain to possibly deter her from using the island for hydrium. “I’ve been… around the island. Seen what resources it harbors. I did notice that the earth is quite, erm, porous? If we were to try to extract its resources, we’d need to be… cautious.”

“How so?”

Peridot swallowed thickly. “Because…”

Honestly, she didn’t even think she’d make it this far. But she couldn’t just tell the Captain how she knew what she knew.

She’d have to show her.

“Because there is a section of this island that is… different. Than the rest. It does contain a notable amount of hydrium, yes, that much is true-- however, there is a… side to hydrium I’ve not seen before in the excess here.” She interpreted Captain Nephrite’s curious silence as means to continue. “If you would allow me, I could show you why this island might not be the most favorable place to harvest hydrium or other resources.”

Captain Nephrite tipped her chin forward thoughtfully. Her expression was fairly unreadable, but Peridot was holding out onto the hope that Homeworld had kept the Captain in the dark about the dangerous truths of resource exploitation as they had her. If Peridot showed her, maybe she might change her mind about trying to reap it all.

“It’s vital that we find some means of becoming airborne again,” Captain Nephrite spoke at last. “By hydrium or any other resource. But if you’re so adamant about it, I’ll go with you and confirm myself.”

“Oh, thank the stars!” Peridot huffed, unable to stop herself from excitedly fist-pumping the air. The Captain merely tilted her head at Peridot, who quickly reassembled herself under Captain Nephrite’s stare. “That is-- to say, erm-- that it will be better in the-- long-term, for us to investigate first. Before we try to exploi-- harvest, anything.”

The Captain nodded and moved towards a chest beneath the control console, kneeling quietly and opening the heavy container to reveal a thick saber sword. Peridot’s eyes widened with surprise as Captain Nephrite clipped a leather holster to her hip, sliding the sleek weapon in with ease.

They exited through the discrete entrance in the control car, where the Captain explained to the grounding crew what their intent outside was. “We’ll be investigating the island further before any more action is taken,” she’d said. “Please stay here and keep an eye out for possible dangers. We’ll be back soon.”

Once they had managed to march past the treeline, the Captain stalled her sturdy pace and allowed Peridot to assume the lead. Part of her was thrilled to be leading her Captan through the island, pointing out things she’d learned on her time here, like the breadfruit trees and which plants were safe and not safe to touch.

Peridot knew where she was headed. She was going to take the Captain to the dark forest, where the life had been so tainted it shriveled and died. It was the result of a swollen hydrium explosion, sure, but if hydrium alone could do something such as that, she didn’t want to find out what happened if they kept on harvesting in the same location. The very same could happen to any soil they stuck Homeworld’s injectors into.

Truthfully, she didn’t know the exact path to the destroyed patch of land. Anytime she thought she saw something human-made, she immediately referred them in a different direction. Maybe it was luck on their side that no pirate patrols had stumbled across them, but more than once Peridot swore she could see shadows moving in the corners of her vision. She only hoped that Captain Nephrite paid them no mind, letting herself believe they were the shadows of the forest.

“Pardon my saying this, Peridot, but,” Captain Nephrite eventually did comment, causing Peridot to stop in her tracks and spin around. “Your walk has improved. You don’t quite limp anymore.”

Peridot stiffened, trying and failing to resist the urge to glance down at her leg. Her pants, while old and ratted, concealed the brace Bismuth had created for her. She’d forgotten she even had it- and hadn’t even stopped to think about anyone from the Nebula spotting it. With thin lips she uneasily reached her other boot around to pull down at the fabric of her pant leg. “I think it’s the uneven terrain makes it seem that way,” she dismissed, inwardly apologizing to Bismuth for so flippantly dismissing her handiwork. “I assure you-- it’s no better. It was injured in the ornithopter crash, actually.”

“Mm.” The Captain’s response didn’t reassure Peridot that her explanation was believable. So instead she just spun right on back around and pressed on through the dense cove of palm trees, pushing the huge broadleaves aside with purpose.

They hadn’t been out walking long enough to make feet ache, but Peridot was beginning to feel her calves twitching in effort, especially as they began an uphill ascent around the edge of the mountain. There was one moment where the sweet scent of hydrium overcame her as she passed a fissure in the surface, but she powered through and encouraged Captain Nephrite to do the same. They needn’t get sidetracked.

“How did you become so knowledgeable about this place?” The Captain eventually inquired again. “I understand that nature is the world’s best teacher, but it’s surprising to me you adapted so quickly.”

Peridot decided to take her remark in stride. “I’m a born naturalist! Scientists are more durable than you might think.” A pause. “While I never majored in biology studies I do know enough to make the best out of any situation.”

Captain Nephrite didn’t reply, but that was enough to tell Peridot that she’d managed to pull that card smoothly enough. She did, admittedly, get lost a few times, and she was sure she’d seen the same moss-covered boulder at least three times before she found them a trail.

And at last, Peridot could make out the shadows hiding at the edge of the forest. “We’re nearly there,” she panted, rushing through the trail with Captain Nephrite in tow. The latter was beginning to look slightly impatient, but Peridot knew it wouldn’t be all for naught once they got there. She’d understand, out of anyone on the Nebula, why they couldn’t go through with this.

Peridot’s boots finally rested on the outskirts of the destroyed forest. The ground below was hard, practically stone. The trees were spindly and blackened with what could have been soot-- she didn’t want to touch the leaky substance to find out. The sunlight’s colour changed from gold to a sullen grey, as if even the light itself was tainted by land’s darkness. There was no vegetation, no leaves, no light… no life.

It was even more upsetting up close, especially when she could just turn around and see the vigor of the forest only yards behind her. It never failed to prove to be a startling contrast, no matter how many times she did a double take.

Peridot had never been here up close. She had only seen it from the cliffside that the pirates had shown her, so to see it even closer filled her with an even deeper guilt.

She felt the Captain fall in line beside her, and through the corners of her vision she was able to see the malcontent in her face. It was a step towards Peridot’s triumph.

“What is this place?” Captain Nephrite inquired, making the motion to step forward and prod at the shriveled, furled remains of what could have been a tangle of ferns, once. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“I’m not too certain myself,” Peridot remarked from behind, taking the chance to reach her hand up and press it against the wrinkled trunk of a dead tree. The surface was coarse and unwelcoming, and she felt ill to see that when she pulled her hand back, it was covered in a sooty black substance. With a disgusted sound she wiped it off on her vest. “Admittedly, I’ve never been so close. I saw this patch of the land while… climbing the mountain, to gain a better vantage point. Yes, that’s it.”

“And this is supposed to be related to the hydrium inside the land, how?”

Peridot faltered. She figured that Captain Nephrite would ask such a thing, but-- frankly, she hadn’t thought this far ahead. The Crystal Gems had given her an explanation, definitely, but it had been so succinct. She didn’t understand how exactly it did this; she didn’t know the science behind it, and that infuriated her. She liked knowing things-- and she liked telling others about things they didn’t know (even if it was her Captain, as respected as she was).

“I…” Peridot ran her eyes over the lifeless forest. “I noticed… fissures. Hollows, where the hydrium is… leaking out of the mountain. In excess. They seem to be more… prominent on this side of the island, which led me to believe that it was the root cause of all this.” She gestured to the wiry ground.

Captain Nephrite had taken a brittle frond between two fingers, lightly rubbing its surface before the frond broke apart beneath the tiny force. She looked thoughtful. “Why here? I’ve never seen anything like this on any mainland, let alone a harvesting colony.”

Peridot’s jaw ticked with excitement. She knew the answer to this one. “Have you ever seen a harvesting grounds once all the resources have been taken?” She tried. “Have you ever stayed behind long enough to see what happens to the land, once all of the… life , so to speak, is stripped from it?”

Captain Nephrite stood back up, hands on her waist. Pensive. “I haven’t.”

“Then how do you know there aren’t hundreds-- thousands of ecosystems just like this out there?” Peridot pointed out. “We don’t! I think-- I think that Homeworld is hiding it from us!”

Peridot knew that she had stepped a line with that outburst. Captain Nephrite had turned to her, suspicion written all over her expression. “What exactly are you suggesting, Peridot?”

Startled by the wintry bite to the Captain’s words, Peridot flailed to reword what she’d said. “I mean-! Don’t you think it’s… odd that we’ve never seen this? There are places all over the world with far much more hydrium than this measly little island-- but only the most elite of the factions get to access them, as far as I know. We’ve never even seen the aftermath of what we’re doing-- and I don’t think anyone stops to think about what it might be doing.” Her fingers clasped together in front of her, thumbs twirling nervously on her palms as the Captain looked on.

“What I’m saying is-- I’ve l earned things here. All alone. Terribly alone. And-- I think that they’re things they don’t want us to learn back at Homeworld.”

It was so much different admitting it aloud than in her own mind. Even moreso now that the Captain who practically held the fate of her career in her hands. It was a heavy accusation, she knew, but it was one she wanted to risk making. But Peridot was pleasantly surprised to find the chariness in Captain Nephrite’s face fading, replaced by something uneasy. She turned away from Peridot and looked out into the broken treeline.

“I always knew there was something peculiar about the way we regarded these sorts of colonies,” she admitted in a low voice. “But I have never been in a favorable enough place to admit so, out loud. Especially not to Yellow Diamond or any of her court. Pink Diamond’s faction was so much more… mindful, of these things. Of the colonies we reached.”

Peridot’s throat tightened as the Captain turned back to her. “I don’t want to turn the rest of this beautiful island into this,” Captain Nephrite murmured. “But I know of no other way to harvest resources in any other way. We have no special equipment to change the procedure.”

Peridot clapped her hands together, unsurprised to find them clammy with sweat. “Right! Which… is why I wouldn’t take you out here without means of… fixing the ship, in an-- alternative way!” Her hands reached shakily into one of her inner vest pockets, retrieving a small scrappy notebook she’d taken from Steven’s home. She’d been writing down ideas and theories in there for days now, about hydrium, about the sky hang, and soon the Geode. “Since arriving here and taking notice of all this, I’ve come up with some plants to-”

A deep, low, and definitely inhuman sound reverberated from behind Peridot. She instantly clamped her lips together, snapping the notepad shut and spinning around. When she saw nothing she turned slowly back to Captain Nephrite, whose eyes had moved in a completely different direction. “Did you…hear th-?”

Suddenly, as if conceived from thin air, it was upon them: a large, dark mass of a creature, emitting a baleful howl as it attacked the Captain.

It was one of them. The mutated-- cats-- beasts-- the things from Bismuth’s journal-- and the very same that Garnet had showed her on the cliffside. Except this one was very much alive and very much about to flay them inside-out. Peridot fell backward, back pressing up against a tree trunk as she watched the beast press Captain Nephrite, gasping for air, down to the ground.

“M-- sword!” She heaved, arms shaking as they tried to reach for the holster that had detached from her hip, laying too far away for the Captain to reach. Peridot’s eyes dizzily roamed the forest floor until she spotted her sword laying across the blackened earth, and rushed forward, swaying on her feet with terror as the beast’s dark face focused on her. Its jaws were ample with an ugly overbite, with its face sunken in where eyes should have been. Its nose was damp and riddled with weeping scabs. The only evidence that it could have once been traced back to a panther were its torn, ragged ears. The drawings and descriptions did the creature's true horror absolutely no justice. Peridot was stilled by its eyeless stare. A few precious seconds in and she was kicked back into motion when she saw its blunt claws sinking slowly into the Captain’s chest, probing her, with its face still focused on Peridot.

Its teeth glinted dangerously as Peridot gathered the will to approach Captain Nephrite’s saber. Its eyeless face never missed a single beat, following her with every tiny, soundless step across the dead earth. If she could just-- reach the saber, and-- kick it over to the Captain’s shaky, waiting hand, they could defeat this thing.

Peridot managed to get within mere inches of the saber with this method, keeping the beast’s eyes on her (not that she wanted it to!) as she stalked across the small clearing. It was the moment that the tip of her boot brushed the hilt of the Captain’s sword that the beast’s fury flared, and with an uproarious bellow it threw itself off of the Captain and hurtled in Peridot’s direction. Peridot had almost no time to frantically kick the hilt towards her downed Captain before she was barrelled into by a much, much larger force. The sheer strength of the mutated animal sent her spiraling and flung her into a nearby tree trunk. Upon impact the top her head grew fuzzy and dark, leaving her consciousness swimming as she tried to upright herself to fight back.

But she could feel something cool dripping down the front of her head, something cool but warm that came from a spot on her forehead where it throbbed uncomfortably. As quickly as she could she reached up to her face and drew back her fingers, blearily looking at the red spilled across them.

She dared glance upwards and saw the beast staring at her directly. Its tail thrashed behind it, but the movement looked staggered because of how refracted Peridot’s vision was becoming. Her glasses must have been thrown off when she hit the base of the tree. She tried to lift her hand again to wipe away the blood weeping from her forehead, but realized she couldn’t lift her arm up again. She’d been overcome with a sudden, violent tiredness that made her heavy, heavier than she’d ever felt before.

The beast seemed to realize this, too, because it cunningly stepped forward and let out a guttural hissing sound no more than five inches away from Peridot’s nose. The sound was garbled to her, though, and the immediate sense of danger had vanished. So she numbly watched as the beast turned back towards where the Captain was laying on the ground. Her hand hadn’t even fastened around the saber’s hilt.

Terror crept into Peridot’s chest, outweighing shock’s forced desensitization, as she noticed a dark stain spreading across the white of her Captain’s coat.

“No,” she whimpered without a voice, watching as the beast leered over Captain Nephrite’s still form. “S-stop-- get away from… her..”

In the blink of an eye, the trees around them exploded win a flurry of colour. Blues, greens, yellows, pinks-- the colours all flashed across Peridot’s vision as the telltale hollers of a commanding figure rang in her muffled ears. Something roared.

She didn’t know what was going on. She couldn’t see anything other than the red clotting around her eyelids.

She wasn’t even able to feel the dread building up within her when three sets of hands closed in on her, unable to reach her before her consciousness spilled away into the black earth below.

Chapter Text

The base had, understandably, lost the illusion of composure it had before. It wasn’t blindingly obvious, but even a dizzy-headed Peridot could hear callous arguments outside the thin bamboo walls of the hospice shack. Arguing about her .

“We should’ve just sent her off on a buoy into the water,” one voice scolded. “None of this would’ve ever happened!”

“And what if she reached land, then? Huh?” Another voice rebutted. “She’d just pull the same trick again, but with someone much more dangerous than a ship captain .”

“What if we tied some rocks to her ankles and dropped her off the side of a boat?”

Peridot wisely decided to stop focusing on the quarreling outside, instead choosing to rest her head against the hay-scented cushion Steven had left for her. The bandage wrapped around her head felt constricting, and even if she knew it must be helping her head injury somehow, she wanted to rip it off and throw it across the room for causing her such discomfort.

She had seen very little of the pirates since waking. She had only really seen Steven, save for an exception where Pearl had begrudgingly accompanied him, brandishing her spear and making fierce eye contact with Peridot while doing so.

She was so frustrated by all this. It wasn’t Steven that needed to hear her out; it was the pirates who were utterly refusing to give her the time of day. She hadn’t heard nor seen anything of Captain Nephrite since coming to, but she often heard light voices filtering through the thin sheet wall from what must have been another room in the hospice. She couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but at least they all hadn’t just up and left her to cope by herself in the recluse of the shack.

The attack had grown fuzzy in her mind. Everything she tried to remember was swamped by a muddy dark pall, like someone had wrapped netting around her mind, preventing it from revisiting the moment she and the Captain were assaulted.

The most that she could recall was the initial shock that turned her blood to ice, and the echo of the agony she’d felt when she was thrown back against something hard. Then she woke up here, alone, with this stupid, bloody bandage on her forehead.

“Clods,” she muttered bitterly to herself. “Clods. Clods for telling me about the stupid creatures. Clods for… eugh .” She paused, eyes wrenching shut as her head throbbed, pressing a clammy palm to her temple to ease it. At least she could still articulate her irritation.  “...for kidnapping me on this stupid island. Clods for locking me up in this sorry excuse for a clinic. Clods for-- gyack!”

Peridot jumped as the door that divided this tiny room from the next suddenly creaked open. She was put at ease when she could see half of Steven’s paled face peeking in through the crack, but was put immediately back on her guard when a few more faces appeared through the doorway. They filtered in to reveal Garnet, Pearl, Steven, and two short pirates who seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place a name to either.

They all looked down at her, and she felt her heart pounding aggressively against her ribcage, in turn making her head pound uncomfortably. What did they want? Or-- what were they going to do?

“Where is she?” Was the first thing to come out of Peridot’s mouth after a few seconds of terse silence. “Where’s Captain Nephrite?”

“Resting,” Garnet supplied curtly. “We’ve left Amethyst with her.”

Somehow that wasn’t consoling. “But--”

"You don’t get to speak,” Pearl interrupted, eyes sharp. “We’re going to lay out our terms, and you’re going to go along with them. And if you don’t, we’ll--”

She quieted when Garnet laid a hand across her back, the glint in her eyes softening only slightly as she let out a small sigh. She seemed to recompose herself and reeled in the temper, fixing Peridot with a steady, grim stare. “We have decided that it’s far too risky to allow you so much liberty on this island. From now on, you will be accompanied by two pirates at all times, and be required to be back inside of the lodge before sundown, and remain there until the sun is rising again.”

“But-- that’s totally uncalled for! I don’t need-- bodyguards!”

“They’re not bodyguards, they’re there to watch over you and make sure you are kept in line.”

“Well, I don’t need those either!”

Pearl’s eyes narrowed. “You should have thought of that before you went aboard their ship and exposed this discreet location.”

“But I wasn’t trying to-- expose you!” Peridot defended. “I was trying to do just the opposite! Ask-- Ask the Captain when she wakes up! She’ll tell you! She will!”

“She… hasn’t said much,” Steven was the one to reveal, sounding sheepish, but concerned. “She wakes up every once in a while, but… she seems… disoriented? I guess? She keeps murmuring about… the war, and, dropships-- and… she said my mom’s name once, really quietly, but, I’m gonna assume that’s a thing that happens with older captains.”

Pearl stiffened at that, quickly moving to comb her thin fingers through the boy’s thick curls. “Let’s not dwell on that now. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” She turned back, earnest. “You understand that this ship’s arrival has put the entire population of this island in jeopardy- and not only the Crystal Gems.”

“You speak like I had something to do with it docking here,” Peridot remarked flatly. She knew the full truth of the situation, having heard it from the Captain herself, and she trusted every word that she spoke. “The Nebula had no choice but to land here. The balloon was damaged in a storm by that peninsula on the Americus coast- them landing on the same island has nothing to do with me. It’s purely a coincidence.”

One of the short pirates hummed thoughtfully, before placing a cautious hand on Pearl’s forearm. “She’s telling the truth. What brought the warship to this island was just the result of a natural phenomenon.”

“Sapphire, you can’t possibly believe her?”

“I’m not believing her; I’m telling it like it is.”

Peridot blinked. Sapphire. This was the pirate who entered the Geode chambers when she’d been taken down there. So that made the second pirate who was hovering beside her Ruby. She seemed mildly enough, but every once in a while she would send Peridot a slighting glance. Fair enough.

“I am telling the truth,” Peridot grunted. “Believe me, or don’t believe me. But I am a scientist of my word. I was worried that they docked to try to take hydrium from the island-- it’s a common practice, when a Homeworld airship makes an emergency stop in a fairly… decadent location. And they were. But I tried go out and show the Captain what hydrium exposure did to-- well, your island, to help stop that.”

Steven’s eyes glistened. “You wanted to stop them from taking the hydrium?”

“Well of course. You can’t just-- lay out all those truths on top of me and expect me to just, go right along back to turning the earth black when Homeworld comes back around? What do you take me for?”

“I can think of a few things,” Pearl muttered quietly.

Steven looked excitable enough, tugging at Garnet’s wrist so that the tall woman knelt down for the boy to press his cupped hands to her ear. He whispered for a bit, but Peridot wasn’t able to tell what he was saying in the slightest. Not because it was so quiet, but because Garnet remained passive throughout.

“Peridot.” It was Sapphire who regarded her then. “What of the rest of your crew? Where are they now?”

“I’m… going to assume that they’re still either on board or guarding the Nebula,” Peridot revealed. “Captain’s orders were to stay and watch the ship.”

That seemed to visibly relieve everybody. Steven had finished murmuring in Garnet’s ear by that point, leaving the boy to beam softly down at Peridot while Garnet, for once, looked pensive. “And you were out in the dead forest for what reason?”

Peridot exhaled roughly. “Like I explained… I was trying to show the Captain the dangers of hydrium exploitation. And I’m sure I’d just about gotten through to her when that thing attacked us!”

“And that’s when the eastbound patrol found you.” Garnet nodded, like the pieces of the puzzle had finally settled in together. “Hm.” She shared a glance with Pearl, and then with Ruby and Sapphire. It didn’t look like they would talk about her any more. Not in her presence, at the very least. Garnet turned back to her. “Are you well enough to walk?”

Peridot frowned. “I haven’t tried.”

“Then try.”

Peridot had to withhold a bemused snort. As terrifying as Garnet could be, her curtness was borderline amusing at times. She leaned up on her elbows, eyes closing to keep her head from spinning as she hesitantly swung her legs over the side of the cot she’d been resting in. She was pleasantly surprised to find her body still in perfectly working condition, save for an ache in her bad leg that she attributed to being bedridden for almost a full day. Her head still gave her some grief, but she found that she could stand. And that meant she could walk. Even if it would hurt a little bit.

“Come with me.” Garnet led Peridot out of the tiny hospice, and as she was exiting she sent a worried glance at the thin wall that separated her and Captain Nephrite. She’d be back later, surely? She wanted to see the Captain for herself.

Waiting outside the hospice were two familiar faces, ones that almost brought comfort based on how casual they looked when Peridot was led up to them.

“These will be your guards for the next two suns,” Garnet explained, then turned to introduce them. “This is Rainbow Quartz, and this is Sunstone.”

Peridot’s lips quirked slightly. “Yes, I--”

“Have utterly no idea who these absolute gems are!” Rainbow cut in loudly, stepping over and placing a firm hand on Peridot’s shoulder that said ‘hey, you don’t know us, remember ?’ Peridot’s throat dried as she nodded dumbly along with it. “That’s… right. I’ve never seen these pirates before in my life.”

“We can take it from here, G,” Sunstone told Garnet as Rainbow directed peridot away from the head pirate. “Don’t’cha worry about a thing, we’ll handle her.”

Peridot allowed herself to be led away by the two and put distance between themselves and Garnet. Once they were far enough away she stopped and crossed her arms over her chest. “What was that about?”

“We can’t exactly let Garnet know that we went down into the mountain,” Rainbow reminded her with a shake of his head. “Let alone, with you.”

“Wow, thanks.”

“Oh, don’t take any offense to that. It’s off-limits to everybody , I promise.” Rainbow straightened up and clapped his hands together excitedly. “Now! What do you feel like doing? I have the feeling that leaving the village is out of the question, if how deep in trouble you were is any indication.”

Peridot’s arms wrapped a bit tighter around herself. “So… you know.”

“Everybody does,” Sunstone admitted. “But hey, there’s no storm of Homeworld soldiers on the village. And where they found ya wasn’t even remotely close to this place, so we’re willin’ to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

Peridot couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief. She was finding reassurance in the most uncanny form of company. At least she’d hadn’t been stuck with two complete strangers for her first few days under watch. Which she still thought was completely unfair, by the way. She hadn’t done anything to warrant it. But she supposed… it was a precautionary measure. Homeworld would probably do the same if one of theirs went off into practical enemy territory and willingly boarded a pirate ship.

Peridot winced, surprised by herself. Now she was thinking of Homeworld as an entirely different entity from her. Calling it them. But-- she definitely wasn’t a pirate. No, she refused to be. She was just… in the grey area. The area of not being comfortable with Homeworld and what it was doing, and not comfortable enough with the Crystal Gems and their antics.

A faraway growl caught her off-guard, sending the hairs on the back of her neck up in alarm as she frantically spun around. It was reminiscent of the sound she had heard before getting ambushed out in the dark forest, and she wasn’t about to let another beast get the jump on her like the last.

Rainbow was immediately there to place a hand on top of Peridot’s head, stilling her whirlwind of movement with an amused huff. “Hold still, love, you’re not about to get pounced on again. Look there.” He adjusted her head himself, so that her eyes could line up with a crowd of pirates surrounding something near the village walls. “Do you want to go say hello to your big cat friend?”

“Excuse me?” Peridot paled. “You mean to tell me-- that you brought that thing into the village? Are you all absolutely insane!?”

“Just a small bit.”

“Don’t blow your top, pal,” Sunstone spoke up. “We’ve done this kinda thing before, and we’re always makin’ sure to be extra careful. We’re just rehabilitin’ it until it can go back out on its own.”

“It wasn’t the one that got mauled!” Peridot hissed. “It’s a wild animal-- or-- was! I don’t know! It can fend for itself out there with-- with the other ones-- hey, where are you going!”

Both Rainbow and Sunstone had taken off side-by-side, the former waving back at Peridot and calling on her to join them. “Better to come to terms with it now than later, Peridot! Come on!”

“But-- but--”

“No buts! Only walking.”

Peridot only sputtered and broke into a nervous jog after them, not wanting to find herself at the tip of Pearl’s wrathful spear anytime soon for being found alone without her pirate accomplices. But she did stick very closely to Sunstone’s side, practically using the larger body to conceal herself from both the crowd and… whatever they were hovering around. But the low, animalistic sounds that she could hear that sent both her and the crowd into a jumpy tizzy basically confirmed what it was.

“All right, all right, make way for th’ victim,” Sunstone commanded, and the crowd parted like the sea, to Peridot’s surprise (and mortification). She was slightly comforted to see Bismuth among them, even more so when she offered Peridot a smile, however wary, as she drew closer. “Hey Tiny.”

“Hey,” Peridot replied cagily, tentatively stepping out from behind Sunstone to approach the blacksmith. Her eyes roamed behind Bismuth, to where she could see rods of bamboo shooting awkwardly out of the ground, obviously a handmade structure. Through them she could see it, the thing that had attacked she and Captain Nephrite.

It was much less belligerent now than in the dark forest. It still made aggravated sounds, but Peridot imagined no animal was happy to be kept enclosed. But those bamboo poles looked like they could snap with a simple chomp of that thing’s huge jaws. She leaped three feet into the air when its head seemingly swung in her direction, fixing her with its eyeless stare. Its nostrils flared for a moment, but in the next it simply let out a sorrowful chuff and laid its head down across its swollen paws.

Peridot was still scowling. “What’s it doing? It’s not fooling anybody by acting all… all pitiful like that! You saw what it did to me, right?”

“My best guess is that you stumbled right into her nest,” came Bismuth’s voice, and Peridot felt a steady hand on her shoulder. “Easy.”

“Her?! ” Peridot sputtered, but quickly shook her head with a dismissive grunt. “But-- but it didn’t have the right to just-- attack us for that! It didn’t even give us a, ‘hey, get out of my territory’ growl, or anything!”

Rainbow tutted. “Let us remind you again that these creatures… are a bit different. They aren’t like other wild animals you would find. In many ways they are still much like their big cat counterparts, but in others, they’re as different as different can be.”

“You don’t say,” Peridot sniffed, uneasily watching the contorted face of the corrupted thing stare emptily forward. Ugh. It wanted her to feel for it, the gall of that thing! Well, it wasn’t going to fool her. She knew what it was capable of. And she wouldn’t likely forget.

“Why is it here?” Peridot grumped. “Why bring it to the village, of all places? What if it gets loose?”

“I wouldn’t worry about that too much,” Bismuth offered. “Turns out, she was injured when she jumped you and your Homeworld friend back there. The tranquilizer formula we use to put them down when they get too close to this place seemed to make things worse for it, so we took her back to keep an eye on her before we can release her.”

“You keeping calling it a her,” Peridot scoffed. “How can you even tell?”

Bismuth’s brows flattened seriously. “Did you never learn about the birds and the bees?”

Peridot coughed on her own gasp, hands flying down to her knees to keep herself upright. Her face was red as a tomato. “No, I-- no, you know what I mean!”

Bismuth grinned cheekily. “I sure did. Like I said, you probably stepped right into its nesting territory. Even normal big cats are pretty protective of their home. She must have lashed out immediately because she had cubs somewhere nearby.”

Peridot’s face dropped. “Cubs? Like… baby versions of these things?”

Bismuth confirmed with a hum. “That’s right. The circle of life is still goin’ on, despite everything.”

She glanced around to see that the crowd around them had thinned considerably, leaving only a few curious stragglers, Bismuth, herself, and her two watchers. The creature inside the structure seemed disillusioned by the people looking in from the outside. Peridot’s stomach was turning still just by being in the thing’s vicinity, knowing that it was only a measly bamboo rod separating her from an inevitable gorey demise.

“Why don’t’cha go up and make peace with her?” Sunstone suggested suddenly. “I’m sure she’d appreciate it.”

“She’d appreciate it,” Peridot repeated sarcastically under her breath. “I’d appreciate it if she hadn’t torn open my Captain’s chest and thrown me and cut my forehead open!”

“I don’t think that she knew any better.” Steven materialized seemingly out of nowhere, startling Peridot to the point where she had half the mind to launch herself into Sunstone’s arms for protection. When she realized it was just the boy she cleared her throat, anxiously rolling up the dirty sleeves of her shirt so that they were up to her elbows. “So much for a hello.”

Steven laughed lightly. “Sorry. I overheard you as I was coming over.”

Peridot nodded simply and turned back to the creature behind the caging. It-- she… was mellow-looking, and Peridot could’ve been fooled that the cat was completely docile. But its swollen, blunt claws told a different tale. She glanced over her shoulder at Steven to see him giving her a prompting look. “What?”

“Go up to her!” He whispered encouragingly. “Just go up to the edge of the cage and kneel there.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Peridot choked. “I already said no. The only thing stopping me from getting mauled, again, is a few spindly bamboo poles. I-- she could probably break out right now if she wanted to!”

“But wouldn’t she have already if she really wanted to?” Steven pointed out. “She’s hurt. I think she knows we’re taking care of her until we can send her back out there.”

“Well, I’m hurt too. And so is Captain Nephrite. So it’s still a firm no from me.”

Steven slapped a hand to his forehead, almost dramatically. “Oh my gosh, I almost forgot! Peridot!”

“I’m still right next to you.”

“Neph-- uh, your Captain woke up! She wants to speak to you!”

Something washed over Peridot, and she couldn’t tell if it was dread or glee. One, her Captain was awake, and was cognitive enough to ask for her! Two, her Captain was awake, and likely very confused as to why Peridot was in, fact, not alone on this tropical island.

Oh boy.

“Does she… want to see me… right.. Now?”

Steven shrugged. “I… assume yes?”

“That’s helpful,” Peridot sighed, but didn’t hold the boy to it. “Okay. Let’s go.”

Followed by Rainbow and Sunstone, who thankfully weren’t at all diligent in keeping eyes strictly on her at all times, Peridot let Steven lead her back to the tiny hospice. They entered in through a door she hadn’t seen before, and into a dimly lit space. Her free-spirited guards decided to stay just outside the door, per Steven’s gentle insistence and the most sincere of ‘sorry, sorry!’.

Dust motes danced in the slanted rays of light peeping in through slats in the walls. There was a lantern lit on a wooden stool in the corner, providing just enough light to see the contour of the Captain’s body on the raised cot. Peridot’s teeth tucked fearfully into her cheek when she saw the bandages around Captain Nephrite’s chest, looking close to needing to be replaced and cleaned. Her face was neutral enough.

“Heyy, I found her,” Steven chirped as he stepped into the room, skipping up to the bedside and hovering curiously beside the Captain. “Look! She’s right there-- say hi, Peridot!”

Peridot floundered on the spot, pale as a sheet. “Uhm--”

“I don’t.. understand,” the Captain stated blandly. “I don’t…” her voice wavered out, and Peridot felt her chest ache for her. She absolutely hated seeing the Captain out of her element. Especially like this. To her astonishment, the Captain seemed to glance up with a new vigor- but only after Peridot noticed Steven had carefully placed his hand over her wrist. Peridot couldn’t help but be curious about that.

She knew that Steven had been in with the Captain more often than not; he always entered Peridot’s room from the adjacent. Still. It was weird seeing him be familiar with her; this whole thing was weird.

Honestly, what wasn’t these days?

“I see that you’ve… become acquainted with Steven,” Peridot started, a nervous quirk to her lip as the Captain’s head rolled towards her. “Good. That’s good. Erm-- how do you… feel?”

Captain Nephrite regarded her blankly. “You lied.”

That sent Peridot flailing, skin flushed as she scrambled for an answer. “No, no, I-- I just-- I wanted to--” When nothing seemed to fit what she was trying to say, she gave up arms and hid her face behind her clammy hands. “Okay, yes, I might have been lying to you when I said that I was very much… alone, on this island. But I wasn’t lying about-- everything else! About the hydrium, about the dark forest, about--”

The Captain stopped her, a hand slowly but firmly raising to put an end to her rushed ambling. “I understand. Yet…” Her expression became conflicted, despite its extreme pallor. “I don’t. This is not a Homeworld sanction.” She glanced down at Steven, who was still at her bedside, who winced. The boy’s head spun around to meet eyes with Peridot, and from the prompting look he gave her, she could only put together that Steven hadn’t told her exactly where she was. Or who she was in the company of.

Maybe that was for the best, for now.

“It’s-- a civilization. Just a population on an island. They are not under the rule of-- any Diamond. They found me when I had crashed-- because that much is true-- and, err--” She couldn’t say they locked her up in a shack. That wouldn’t look good. “...Told me, about the island. And how exploitation caused the land to blight.” Yes. Good. That sounded reasonable enough.

The Captain didn’t quite look convinced, but it was so hard to tell by how passive she seemed. Peridot had to hope that she was still out of it-- because if any of the other Crystal Gems had been in her presence while she was awake, Captain Nephrite might recognize their flashy pirate attire.

The Captain was the one to break the tense silence first, sifting beneath the worn bed sheets as she readjusted. Her face was pinched with discomfort. “Why did you lie? About the people here?”

Peridot’s floundering returned. “I… well, I-- I wanted to… present the most.. immediate problem, first. The hydrium. Since it seemed to be at the front of your mind, over the possibility that this tropical island might be… populated.” Her voice grew more confident the longer she prattled, even if she knew she was spitting white lies. “And, frankly, Captain, I… wasn’t sure how well the crew would have handled that information. Homeworld does not, typically, take to uncolonized civilizations particularly… kindly. ” She spoke the last word like it stung her.

If you had asked her a month ago about Homeworld’s colonizing methods, she would have praised and upholded it. Now, though? After what she’d learned, after what Smoky had told her… she didn’t know what to feel. But she knew it felt wrong. “I would have informed you, in time, but only if the Nebula was able to become airborne again and we needed to resort to consulting these people for help lifting the ship.”

Captain Nephrite was silent. Peridot shared a skittish glance with Steven, who only shrugged, but the small smile on his face was a good sign that she’d prevented something that could’ve gone very badly very quickly. At last, the Captain sighed softly, sounding resigned. She didn’t speak, however.

Suddenly there was a rapping on the door, startling Peridot as a new woman entered the room. She seemed vaguely familiar. As she swept past Peridot in haste to reach the Captain’s bedside to replace Steven, she recognized her as one of the parents of Connie Maheswaran from the docks.

“All right, you two,” the Maheswaran began. “If you could please leave the hospice room so I can tend to the patient’s bandages. They’re in need of replacing.”

“Okay, Dr. Maheswaran!” Steven quickly ducked out of the doctor’s path, hastily snatching Peridot by the wrist and tugging her back outside. “Thank you!”

Dr. Maheswaran dismissed them with a stern but cordial wave of her hand, all focus on the Captain, who was watching Peridot be pulled out of the room, face unreadable. Peridot felt the weight of the world pressing down on her up until the moment the door clicked shut behind them, leaving them in the inquisitive presence of Sunstone and Rainbow.

“Soooo?” Rainbow trilled as they came up. “How is she? Is she cognitive? Aware? Seeking vengeance?”

“Fine, yes, partially, and no,” Peridot answered flatly. “She’s awake. But she doesn’t know she’s with Crystal Gems and I want to keep it that way-- for now, at least.”

“Lyin’ isn’t good, Peridot,” Sunstone chipped in, tutting quietly with their arms over their chest. “You should come clean to her. Looks good on every party.”

“It won’t look as good when she’s half-dead and trying to make a mad dash back to the ship to call for help,” Peridot clipped back. “As far as she knows, this is just a random island full of random people, unaffiliated with Homeworld or the Crystal Gems.”

“It’s the safest thing for her right now,” Steven mentioned, drawing Peridot’s attention. “She’s still kinda… quiet, and a little confused, but-- she’s understanding more now than she was yesterday. We’ll probably need to tell her when she’s better, but, I don’t know when that’ll be. That’s why Connie’s mom went in there, to help figure that out better.”

There was a general mumble of consensus among the group as they broke away from the hospice block, stopping by the well by the barracks to grab a quick drink. It was Sunstone who pointed out a faraway huddle of pirates, all standing around something that none of them could make out from that far. They ended up wandering over, Peridot wisely deciding to stay between her companions. Steven split off, saying he was going to go find Connie.

Peridot spotted Bismuth at the centre of the pirates, investigating something in her hands. “Stars, you’re everywhere,” Peridot remarked as she was led up, brows high. “I’d think you were following me.”

“You’re the one who marched up,” Bismuth pointed out helpfully, causing Peridot to snort. “You recognize this thing, Tiny?” Bismuth’s hand outstretched, revealing to Peridot exactly what she’d been looking at.

“A Diamond Communicator!” Peridot gawked, her hands instinctively flying out to probe at it. “Stars, I’ve-- I’ve never seen one before, they’re exclusively held for captains, and the most elite members of Homeworld’s…” She drawled off, noticing the annoyed looks from the pirates surrounding them. She cleared her throat shakily and drew her curious hands cautiously behind her back. “That is… it isn’t often there is a direct line of communication with the Diamonds. The Diamond line is a highly guarded and highly encrypted frequency; it can’t be tapped into unless you have one of these devices.”

Bismuth turned it over in her large palms, a frown on her face. “It’s real risky to have one of these things with us. It’s older technology, ‘cuz I recognized it the minute I spotted it on the Captain’s person. Luckily this little device is damaged.”

Despite how little Peridot wanted to be in contact with a Diamond, let alone hers, right now, part of her heart sank. “How do you know it’s damaged?”

“Not sure, but I know that it’s offline. Y’see, I had a big part in scattering Homeworld radio frequencies back during the war; cutting off their only means of communication, sometimes even listening in. But we’ve never had a Diamond communicator on hand.” Bismuth narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “There’s some potential here.”

“But-- you just said it’s risky to have this here,” Peridot reminded her. “Can’t these calls be traced by the Diamond on the other side?”

Bismuth shrugged and nodded. “Sure they can. But we’ve got a machinist on our hands now, don’t we?”

Peridot remained confused. Bismuth laughed and gestured at her. “I’m talkin’ about you, Tiny! Out of anyone on this island, you’re probably the most tech-savvy when it comes to Homeworld’s stuff.” Bismuth suddenly tossed the device up at Peridot from where she was seated, sending Peridot scrambling to catch it in her small hands. She nearly dropped it once it did, and inwardly she remarked on how cold the communicator was on her skin. The pirates around them visibly flinched as Peridot turned it over in her hands, investigating the device from every face and angle. She didn’t dare try to turn it on by twisting the top facet-- who knows what would happen?

Well, she did know-- she would be calling a Diamond. But Bismuth said that it was offline. If that meant it was simply off or out of range, she didn’t know. But she didn’t want to chance it.

“Are you sure she should be handling that thing?” She heard one of the pirates behind her murmur. The voice was met with an array of uncertain mumbles and more than a few unhappy growls. She tried her best not to let it ruffle her. “I’ve seen the light, you know,” she ended up remarking absently over her shoulder, turning to face the few pirates left dawdling in the room to ogle at her. “If I really wanted to exploit you all to Homeworld I could’ve done it the second I stepped foot back on the warship. But no, I decided to go out to try to change my Captain’s mind about using your hydrium and in turn, got attacked by one of your big corrupted cats. So keep muttering to yourselves, please. ”

A few of them had the decency to look embarrassed after that. Peridot turned back to Bismuth, who was watching her with an entertained grin. “What?”

“Nothin’. You got guts is all,” Bismuth chuffed amusedly. “How’s that captain of yours doing? Saw you coming from that direction.”

“She’s… disoriented. I don’t think she quite knows where she is. Or in whose custody she’s in. Or… stars, forbid, she does and she’s letting on that she doesn’t to string me along. But-- I don’t think she’d do that.” Peridot folded her arms over her chest. “She’s more… open-minded than other Homeworld captains. She was willing to hear me out about the hydrium. Name one other captain you know who’d do that.”

“I don’t know any. Literally.”

“Well-- good, because there probably aren’t many.” Peridot huffed, turning her eyes back to the Diamond communicator in her hands. “So this was just… on her?”

“In one of the holsters on her belt, yep,” Bismuth nodded. “Since it’s busted I don’t think we were in any big trouble in her hands, but, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Don’t want to get ambushed by Diamond warships in the dead of night.”

The thought of Yellow Diamond’s personal warship hovering menacingly over the island sent a sick feeling through Peridot’s body. She’d only ever heard of the thing, but apparently it was the warship of legend: large, luxurious, and lethal : the very epitome of Yellow’s militant-based faction.

Hm. Yellow Diamond. That brought on a curious thought that made the hair on her arms twitch with uneasiness, but at the same time… her eyes were growing larger. “I know what we need to do.”

“And what’s that?”

Peridot held the communicator close to her chest, meeting Bismuth’s eyes in earnest. “We need to talk to a Diamond.”

Bismuth threw her hands up, eyes wide. “Whoa, whoa, hold on there-- that’s a big risk,” she claimed. “You know that.”

“Only if they can track down where we are,” Peridot corrected, gazing down at the rhombus-shaped communicator in scrutiny. “If I could find some way to jam the signal to prevent this specific line from being traced, we could make the call without risk of having this location exposed.”

It was really a matter of studying which exact frequency the Diamond line used. Sure, there was encryption that she might need to break into without being recognized by the Homeworld base system as a threat, but she’d done more complicated things in her life. How difficult could breaching a private radio line be?

Okay. In hindsight, it sounded a little harder. There was a lot of decrypting in her future.

“Why a Diamond?” Bismuth winced. “Why not one of their Agate commanders, or go through their receptionists?”

“I thought that talking to Captain Nephrite would solve everything,” Peridot began. “But talking to a ship Captain won’t change Homeworld’s regime. But talking to a Diamond can. The second one of the Diamond’s entourages hears what I’m trying to say they’ll either disconnect or try to detonate this thing.”

“But the Diamonds aren’t exactly the patient type. They’re as hard-headed as their namesake.”

“Right, but…” Peridot bit her lip. “If I can provide a few… alternative methods of harvesting resources that don’t harm the local environment… maybe the promise of still reaping the benefits of hydrium without destroying the land will appeal to them? Yellow Diamond is very objective-oriented and materialistic. If she knew what Homeworld was doing to the lands it touches down on, maybe she’ll--”

“The Diamonds know full well what they’re doing to the planet,” Bismuth pointed out. Peridot faltered slightly, an unrecognizable, cold feeling seating itself in her chest. She cleared her throat shakily, combing fingers through her thick hair with a sigh. “Okay. So they do. Well-- maybe they’ve just, never thought of a way to take resources in a way that didn’t harm the environment.”

Bismuth rose a brow. “That after more than ten years, they couldn’t think of a single way to do this without sucking the literal life out of the ground?”

Peridot huffed. “Well, they never told any of us about what happens after harvesting. And now they have me to help puzzle this out. They’ve never had that before.”

Bismuth was quiet for a few moments, then let out a short, bellowing laugh. Peridot hovered on the spot, confused, as Bismuth wiped a tear from her eye. “What? What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, nothing, it just--” Bismuth sighed contentedly and leaned her elbows down over her knees. “You’re different than when you first got here. And that’s good.”

Peridot felt her skin flush slightly under Bismuth’s musing gaze. She blew the air out of her cheeks and dismissed Bismuth’s remark with a flippant flap of her hand. “Yeah, well , I’ve-- learned a lot since I first got here. Call it character development.”

“Sure is,” Bismuth grinned. “Go on and hand that thing back to me before Sugilite comes over and sees you playing with it. Won’t look great on anybody if she does.”

Peridot grimaced, handing it back. “I wasn’t playing with it.”

“Of course you weren’t.”

Bismuth ended up returning to her keep to keep the Diamond communicator in a safe location so it wouldn’t be disturbed by anybody, friend or foe. Peridot was marched back up to the lodge per her request because she was a little tired of being stared down on the village pathways by curious, angry, or simply indifferent Crystal Gems.

She idly wondered if Bismuth would tell the others about what Peridot had proposed. She didn’t imagine they would take to the idea too kindly. They were already at a big enough risk with a sizeable enemy warship on their beaches. They didn’t seem like the type to want to mess with a bigger fish.

As they came upon the raised lodge, Peridot spotted someone lounging across the railing on the balcony. Her eyes widened with an uncontained keenness when she recognized the figure as Lapis, who seemed to be looking out past the trees. Her pace picked up subconsciously until she was clambering up the steps to the balcony, much to the amusement of Sunstone and Rainbow who lingered at the foot of the stairs.

Despite having been living in the same space for a number of days now, they had seldom interacted with one another. Peridot was more than keen to learn more about Lapis, even befriend her-- but her de facto roommate was fairly distant and only seemed to enjoy Steven’s presence. For now. Peridot was certain she was only tolerated for Steven at this point.

They’d made a progressive leap in their relationship that day they talked while walking to the docks, but it had quickly gone stale. Peridot wasn’t in the lodge often- she was too busy, oh, you know, being interrogated and then attacked by genetically-corrupted wild cats. She wondered if Lapis knew how active she was on the island at all-- she never seemed to leave the lodge of her own accord.

“ Hey -- Lapis,” Peridot greeted chipperly as she reached the top, all gasps and wheezes as she tried to regain her breath from her animalistic sprint up the steps. “What’re you-- doing out here? Huff .”

“Standing.”

“Right, but--”

“I heard about what you did.”

Peridot stopped stuttering then, a rare moment of mental clarity overcoming her. “What exactly happened has been very convoluted, if you’ll believe me when I say that. I wasn’t trying to endanger the island or anybody on it.”

Lapis’ brow rose expectantly, so Peridot continued. “I thought if I took the Captain of the Nebula-- Captain Nephrite, you must remember her if the look on your face is anything to go by-- out to see the damage that resourcing hydrium puts on the land, then… she wouldn’t. They were planning to take the hydrium from the mountain to become airborne again- but, err, things didn’t go exactly as planned.” She gestured up to the bandages still wrapped around her forehead. “What… else did you hear?”

Lapis shook her head. “Nothing else, then. Steven was really worried when he came back last night and told me all about it.”

Peridot didn’t want to ask if he was worried about her and the Captain after being attacked, or worried that Peridot had supposedly revealed the secret base to a Homeworld party. She decided to believe it was the former. “That’s… nice . I should warn you, err, I’ve been sentenced to… house arrest, basically, from sunset to sunrise.”

Lapis glanced at her through the corners of her eyes at that, causing Peridot to fidget. Was she upset? Usually Peridot would try to spend as little time in the lodge as possible- it was easy, more or less. But now? It seemed like the only place she could stay where someone wouldn’t be staring her down for one reason or another.

“Okay.”

Peridot perked up. “Okay? Like, it’s okay okay?”

“Well, you don’t exactly have a choice, do you?” Lapis indicated, and she was right. She really didn’t if she wanted any chance of doing anything on this island ever again. “I’ll just- have to get used to it.”

Peridot couldn’t help the excited beam that came over her. She quickly cupped her chin in her palm to try to will the exhilaration down, especially when she spared a glance to the foot of the balcony stairs to see Rainbow and Sunstone cheekily nudging each other and pointing up at them. She pointedly glanced away with a huff.

So what if she was so relieved about this? She was practically going to be living with Lapis for the foreseeable future. It only made sense to seek validation from her counterpart for it. She wanted Lapis to be comfortable with it-- she owed her that much, after all, after before.

She just managed to be overwhelmed by this erratic, sparky trance whenever Lapis came near. She was sure it was just the desire to be accepted, and maybe even forgiven for the Nebula . The lack of awkward tension between them was inclination enough that they were halfway there.

Peridot looked up to the sky, noticing how the sun had begun to sink lower into the horizon. It would soon disappear beneath the dense trees. Garnet hadn’t said anything about her guards being in the lodge with her throughout the night, and she hoped that held true. She didn’t need Rainbow and Sunstone whispering over her when she was trying to sleep, as much as she preferred them over an unfamiliar pirate duo.

“I’m gonna.. go inside,” Peridot finally announced after a few moments of silence. “You can come in, too-- or-- you can come in whenever you like! It’s-- not up to me. It’s up to you, entirely.” Ever the master of eloquence, Peridot just barely refrained from facepalming at the sudden vocal incompetence. What was it with her right now? Stars.

Lapis only nodded, shifting her elbows over the guardrail slightly and glancing down at the ground, presumably at Peridot’s companions. Peridot decided not to give them a second glance because she feared they would be doing something embarrassing to her, specifically, and headed inside the lodge.

Stars. It was going to be a long few nights.