Rachel was sitting in the darkened room with all the gems as she did the homework she had been assigned by Connie. Connie had commented on how strange it was for her to be a teacher to an older person, but Rachel was grateful for it anyway and was a pretty good student. She had been back on Earth for about a month now, and still couldn't summon anything but her shield, which was now able to last for five minutes.

The gems had been surprised to find out that Rachel had been experimented on and had even been considered for becoming a personal gem guard to Yellow diamond even without her gem. Rachel had only managed to convince the Homeworld gems this was bad by explaining that she seemed to be having a blood week each month that made her temperamental. Connie had embarrassingly taken Rachel aside and explained what it was and that that was part of her human functions. Connie had also helped her to prepare for it better.

Rachel looked up at all the gems and tried to draw one of them in one of her journals. It wasn't too difficult considering it was only a rock, but she felt that it was missing something, probably the body that went with it. Rachel looked over at the gem that seemed to draw her focus the most, a bismuth. Her brother and the gems were all out on a gem mission, trusting her to stay home for a bit on her own, and Connie was at her own school in town. Rachel knew that she could always just go talk to her dad down at the car wash, or go see the Peridot and Lapis over at the barn through the portal.

While it was tempting, and she sort of knew Peridot, she felt like she should talk to someone else. Rachel looked up at the bubbled gems and remembered being told that she couldn't touch them. There were also gems up there that were obviously shards, some of which had been put together, which made her gut wrench. She knew it was wrong, but Steven had explained them as to being made by homeworld, so they had suffered worse than she had. No one knew how to help them though. Rachel was tempted to try, but without enough training or a real weapon, she knew she couldn't stand a chance against anything if something went wrong.

Maybe she could talk to a full gem though? Rachel had only been told not to touch the Jasper gem as it had been corrupted. She had been told not to touch any of the bubbles, but that one had come with a very specific warning. No one had said anything about the Bismuth though…

Rachel slowly reached up and grabbed one of the pink orbs, somehow managing to not pop it. "I'm so sorry, Bismuth…" Rose Quartz voice whispered in Rachel's head as she looked at the gem. Rachel stood up as she popped the bubble and released the now glowing gem.

A large gem lady stood before the petite girl, her rainbow colored hair covering her face as she took deep breathes. Her skin was a light purplish blue with black star tattoos on her shoulders. Her gem was in her chest just above her blacksmith apron which also had a purple star on it that was part of her pants, along with a set of black boots. She looked at the girl in front of her with confusion. She wasn't Steven, but she looked like a Rose Quartz… was she…?

"Are you okay?" The hybrid offered her hand to the other gem. Bismuth looked at it and took it slowly.

"I'm… fine…" She recognized the place to be the temple still, though she hadn't been in this room last time. "Um… I hate to ask this, but uh…"

Rachel grimaced. "I'm not Rose Quartz, I'm just her daughter. That means that I am only part of her. Being a female, like most gems, I grew my own gem, which allowed her a few more years before she had my brother Steven. Does that help?"

Bismuth grimaced. She had been about to ask where Steven and the other gems were, but she was happy with the response she got anyway. "I was going to ask where Steven and the others were, but yeah, that does help… I didn't see you last time I was here…"

"Why were you bubbled? Answer that, then I'll explain why I wasn't here." Rachel smirked.

Bismuth liked her attitude, as it was that of a fighter, and it was clever. A good combination in a battle, to be sure. "I was bubbled because I lost my temper and had a fight with your brother, mainly because I thought he was your mom. Does that help?"

Rachel thought about it and then held out a hand. "Rachel Rosanna Universe, older sister of Steven Quartz Universe, and daughter of Rose Quartz and Greg Universe. I was captured by Yellow Diamond years ago and was recently rescued by Steven and the Crystal Gems."

Bismuth smirked as she shook the tiny hand gently. "Bismuth, Forge Master of the Crystal Gems. I may get a bit over enthusiastic about destroying those Homeworld jerks, but I make the finest weapons like nobody's bismuth." Rachel chuckled at that.

"Okay, so it sounds like I just gotta keep you from trying to shatter anyone and we can have you on our team, sound good?"

"Heh, you make it sound like you can just keep talking to me and we'll be fine."

"That's what we humans call counseling. It might help you out."

"You say so, but uh… you should probably put me back in the bubble."

Rachel frowned at that. "Why? You're one of us! You want to shatter gems because they shattered your friends, right?"

"Yeah?" Bismuth was curious as to where this was going. This girl was pretty smart for someone who had only just met her. "So? Crystal Gems aren't supposed to shatter."

"No, we aren't, but that doesn't mean we don't need your help. You said that you make the best weapons ever, right?"

"Yeah?"

"So, I bet you can also use them as well!"

Bismuth nodded, she was capable of handling most weapons she forged, that way she could be sure they worked. "But so what? I'm too violent, I almost shattered Steven! He's a good kid…"

"Yeah, he is, and he didn't shatter you. That means he must see a hope for you, right?"

"I guess…" Bismuth sat down and sighed. She didn't know what to do with herself.

"Look, okay, how's about we just… sit and talk about stuff while we wait for the others. They're your friends too, right?"

"Pearl and Garnet, for sure. I was starting to like that Amethyst, but I didn't get to know her or Steven that well. I liked them both though. They had spunk." Bismuth smirked.

"Look, it's none of my bismuth, but I can honestly say that as your friends, they might be willing to give you another chance, so long as you are willing to play by the rules. Okay?" Rachel asked as she sat back down at her pile of homework.

Bismuth sighed and nodded, smirking at the small pun that Rachel had included in her speech. "Alright then, we might as well get to know each other."

The two of them talked for a couple more hours until they heard the whoosh of a portal. Both looked slightly nervous until Rachel just took a deep breath and continued talking about the differences that she had noticed between her and Steven on their gems, such as their shapes. Her own gem had started to take the natural form of a star in some aspects.

Garnet was the first to enter the room, making Bismuth feel extremely guilty until the fusion hugged her and sat down next to her and Rachel. "So, I see you both are getting along famously."

"Yes, Aunt Garnet." Rachel smirked. "I think Bismuth is pretty cool once she gets down to bismuth." The three chuckled, which only brought Steven and the other two gems in.

Pearl and Amethyst didn't know what to think, but Steven was smiling nervously. "Um, hello, Bismuth."

"Hey, Steven… sorry about last time… I um…"

Steven grimaced. "It's fine, I probably shouldn't have gotten all up in your bismuth anyway." This caused the gem to chuckle, along with both Rachel and Steven. Garnet gave a slight nod to the other gems to assure them that Bismuth was no longer going to be a danger to Steven. "So… no more shattering?"

Bismuth nodded her head. "Yeah, no more shattering. I promise… I just…"

"You know, there might be a way to save those who were shattered and put together wrong…" Rachel interrupted.

"Put together wrong?" Bismuth asked confused.

Garnet pointed to some of the fused shards. "Homeworld was doing some horrible experiments with shards, fusing them together to make weapons." Bismuth looked at them horrified. "None of us knew, how could any of us know?" A tear fell down the fusion's face.

Bismuth was shuddering while looking at the shards that at one point might have been her friends and enemies, all horribly fused together… like some sort of monster…

"Guys…" The gems and Steven turned towards Rachel. "Mom had healing powers, right?" All of them nodded. "Well, what if one of us develop the ability and manage to save them?"

"I have the ability to heal, Rachel, I just… can't save those who are corrupted just yet…"

Rachel smiled softly. "We'll figure it out, Steven. Don't worry."