Silence. An eerie silence had filled the room some time ago, forcing the air to become stiff and rotted. Yet, no one had decided to leave. Even Lion, the one to mysteriously disappear from to time to time, stayed for some unknown reason. Amethyst hadn't stopped moving since the day's events. She paced around the room, often times staying in place and shuffling her feet. She even opted to throw a few practice punches, although stopping occasionally to glance over at the dark-haired human boy. Steven had been sitting at the foot of his bed, staring at his deactivated and cracked TV since he had returned.

Pearl hadn't stopped tapping her foot or glancing between the two. Neither her nor Garnet had any idea what went down in the Kindergarten, but both had their own ideas. Peal's had stemmed from the idea that Steven had been limping when they returned. He hadn't said a word in hours.

Garnet had also stayed silent, not unusually. However, she was getting tired of it. Something had happened and she wanted answers. She cleared her throat, watching as Amethyst stiffened and Steven flinched. Neither said a word.

Pearl sighed, "Can one of you just tell us what happened? At least why tell us why Steven was limping."

Amethyst looked up at Steven, he was still droning out on the blank screen. She gestured for them to follow her and she walked outside, pushing the screen door out of the way. She walked well onto the beach, turning to find the two other members of the Crystal Gems staring expectantly at her. "Steven was limping because he was attacked by a Corrupted Gem,"

"So not Jasper?"

"Pearl!" Amethyst's voice cracked causing Pearl to reel back.

Garnet walked forward and put a hand on Amethyst's shoulder, "What happened to Jasper? What happened between you two?"

Amethyst looked down, "We . . . learned a lot. Jasper was from Earth. Earth! That and the fact that she can't return to Homeworld," Amethyst's face turned when she saw Garnet's weak smile, but not for the better.

"Not the conventional reason to shift sides, but having Another Crystal Gem is always on our goals,"

"What?!" Pearl took a step back, "You can't be serious!"

"There were many possibilities of this, Pearl." Garnet adjusted her shades, "Jasper joining us was almost guaranteed. It'll be a long road, but it's one we can accomplish,"

"Garnet." Amethyst was looking the taller fusion in the eye, "She saved us. Jasper saved us from the Corrupted Gems, but she paid the price. She's no longer with us. She's corrupted and we couldn't save her,"

Garnet's smile fell, "She's . . ."

"Gone." She walked past Garnet and Pearl, "Steven was right. She would've been great." She turned her head slightly, "Don't tell him about the possibilities, he'll just feel worse,"

Steven tapped his foot, still deciding if he wanted to go through with this. How could he tell them? Would they understand? He breathed in, activating the warp stream and letting it take him. He had made his choice.

It took him a few minutes after he was at the next Warp Pad to arrive at his destination. Just seeing the two going about their daily activities made him smile. Lapis and Peridot were watching the tv . . . in a truck that was suspended over the door of the barn. Steven came to the conclusion that the two had renovated. "Hey, guys!"

The sound of the TV went out and he heard a flap of wings and a thud. The two had come down to greet him.

"Steven! It's so nice to see you." Lapis smile, faltered a bit at seeing Steven's dusty appearance.

"OH MY STARS! What happened to you?"

Steven blinked, "Huh? I don't look that bad, do I?"

"You appearance modifiers are torn! All of them! Did you get in a fight?"

"Kind of,"

Peridot blinked, expecting a second part of his statement that she never got. She cleared her throat, "So, where are the others? Did they get hurt? What brings you here?"

"Everyone's fine, Peridot. They just don't know I came here. Oh! And I just want to get my mind off things, so I came here to . . . hang?"

Peridot chuckled, "You know you're always welcome here! Right Lapis?"

"Absolutely. Steven, you're our friend. You're always welcome,"

The small quartz boy smiled, "Thanks, guys. You have no idea how stressful things have been. And . . . all for nothing. So, what do you guys do around here?"

"Camp Pining Hearts." Both Peridot and Lapis said simultaneous.

Steven blinked, "Oh, well . . . how's things been?"

"Great!" Peridot was practically bouncing with energy, "Lapis and I have got along splendidly and we're on season five of CPH!"

"Cool . . . can I . . . watch?"

Peridot gasped, "Last time I asked you you said no!"

"That because I already watched the first four seasons,"

"Lapis! Fly us in!"

Lapis smiled, "No,"

"Fine. What about Steven?"

Lapis shrugged, walked over and grabbing Steven. With a flap of her wings they were up in the back of the truck. Peridot slid out of the wall next to them, "So, so far, one of the camper's have ran into the woods after an infection broke out in Camp Green. There's a camper is looking for him."

Steven nodded as the three sat down.

It started.

"Hello?! Is anyone out here?!"

Steven watched as the character walked into an open area to find another camper,

"What— what are you doing this far out?"

"I've come to call you back."

"What?! No! I like it out here!"

"But—" The camper stopped cold as the show centered in on an infection blistering from Jacob's right hand and wrist. "You're infected!"

The infected camper smiled, "I know. Isn't it wonderful!"

Steven's smile dropped like a stone, this seemed way too familiar.

"What? Are you nuts?!"

"Of course, not! This infection will set me free!"

"I have the antidote! I can heal you!"

"No. I don't want to be healed. I like it better this—"

The tape cut off, delivering an eerie static instead. "Aw, what?!" Peridot grumbled, "This never happened before . . ." She looked over to Steven, ready to apologize for the faulty equipment, to see him barely holding in his tears, staring at the floor. She made eye contact with Lapis and nodded. "Oh! There's got to be other parts around here, we'll just have to repair this faulty human device. We'll finish the episode, don't worry, Steven."

"No, Peridot." Steven sniffed and wiped his eyes, "It's not the that, it's just . . . it reminds me of the Beta Kindergarten and what happened there,"

"Oh, Beta. What a rush job that was." Peridot grumbled.

"Yeah, it was made during the war, wasn't it?"

"Yeah— wait, how do you know that? Did Pearl tell you?"

"No . . . Amethyst and I checked it out. There were some Corrupted Gems,"

Peridot raised an eyebrow, "Corrupted Gems?"

"Gem beasts." Lapis immediately covered her mouth, eyes widening, "Sorry," She dropped her hands and looked off to the side, "remnants of Malachite."

"Wait, did Malachite influence your thoughts?" Steven asked.

"No! No. I don't know much about them, but information of any kind wasn't really . . . secure in Malachite. The fusion was so unstable that our thoughts just bounced around. I didn't get many of Jasper's thoughts, but I did hear that,"

Peridot cringed at the mention of Jasper.

"So, that's how . . ."

"That's how what?"

Steven looked up at Lapis and sighed, "Jasper. She knew I wasn't my mom. She knew because of Malachite,"

"Steven," Peridot was now next to Steven and whispering in his ear, just loud enough for Lapis to hear; although, not intentional. "I try to avoid using the J-word."

Lapis scoffed, "I can handle it, Peridot." She turned to Steven and nodded, "What was Jasper doing? Did she come to fight you?"

"No." Steven's response caused Peridot to gasp dramatically. He glared at her before continuing, "Malachite messed her up. She was even willing to get shattered just to forget the feeling. And, in the end, it wasn't far from what happened. It might of been better if we went with the shattering instead,"

"What?" Lapis and Steven turned to Peridot, "Shattering? But, you're Steven! You give everyone a second chance!"

"I gave her a second chance and . . . she took it. I had hope that things would— no one deserves corruption,"

"What is corruption?"

Even Lapis looked towards Steven for answers. "Uh . . ." His eyes widened, remembering what Garnet had told him in regards to Centipeetle. "When you crack your Gem you tear the body," He looked towards Lapis, then towards Peridot. "When you become corrupted you tear the mind." He looked to the ground, "It can't be fixed."

"But, you healed me,"

Steven looked up at Lapis, "That's different. You were cracked, not corrupted,"

"So what? You're giving in? You've never givin in. You didn't give up on Lazuli or myself, so why now?" Steven turned to Peridot, wide eyed. "Sure, Jasper is . . . well, annoying, loud, and reckless, but you saw something and you shouldn't give up just because of this corruption,"

"But—"

Peridot continued, "You bubbled the Cluster, Steven! If you can do that, you can beat corruption,"

"The cluster . . . that's it," Peridot raised an eyebrow and looked at Lapis, the Lazuli Gem shrugged. "I think I understand. Thanks, Peridot!" He turned to the hole in the wall, the one Peridot had been using to translocate. "I'll see you guys later and hopefully everything will be okay." He stepped into the hole, falling and tumbling to the bottom. He groaned and licked his palm, pressing it on his arm. He stood to his feet and walked forward, hearing a thud from behind him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I promise I'll see you guys around."

He walked forward, waving at Lapis, and nearing the Warp Pad. One last thought entered his mind,

Would Jasper want to be healed?