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Stories for Steven

Summary:

Steven is old enough for the whole truth now, and it is because of this, that he asks his dad and the Gems about their past. The Gems willingly tell him about what shaped them, and their lives before the "Crystal Gems" ever exsisted. The stories will not be in order, sorry, and I do not own any of the characters. All characters are property of Rebecca Sugar.

Notes:

Sorry this is so long. Idk if I am going to make this two chapters or just one. But please enjoy, and remember that they are not in "historical " order. I am currently writing a chapter for my other story, and if you know what I am talking about, don't worry. New content is coming soon. Btw guys, I will write as much as possible, but with school and basketball, and drama club, and work, I am busy all the time, so just bare with me. I will write as much as I can, whenever I can, and post it as soon as I can. Thank you! (Whose ready for Gem Harvest on the 17th? Ik I am!)

Chapter Text

"GarnetAmethystnPearl can you tell me a story?" Steven asked the Gems one day.

Garnet hummed, Pearl looked at him with wide eyes and Amethyst just stood there.

It was Garnet who broke the silence. "Okay Steven, what would you like to hear about?"

"How about a nice fairytale, or a historical fiction?" Pearl asked.

"Okay," Steven agreed, jumping onto the couch and sitting all the way back. When he was comfortable, he patted the seat next to him, and Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl sat down on either side of him. Well, actually Amethyst sat on the coffee table, but it was close enough. "Tell me a story about one of you guys. The full story, with no sugar-coating." Steven was almost sixteen now, and he felt that he was old enough to hear more in depth details from Gem history and their involvement in human history, in full detail without being told he was too young.

The Gems looked at each other in understanding. Steven had done very well all of these years, and proved that he too was a Crystal Gem, and the others decided it was time they began telling him more than just the small stuff.

Amethyst, who understood why they kept things from Steven, was never perfectly fine with it. There was things she didn't know either, and it bothered her, not that she would ever tell anyone that. "Alright," she shrugged, "how about I tell you about how I was in the Kindergarten, and Rose found me?"

Pearl and Garnet gasped. "Amethyst, are you sure?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah, Amethyst, you don't have to," Steven assured her.

Amethyst was still a little messed up about her time spent in the kindergarten, and being "defective," but she was coming to terms with it, and herself. Amethyst nodded, "yes, but I need to. You...you should know."

Steven nodded, understanding what it took for Amethyst to talk about things from her past, especially if they weren't necessarily good things.

"Okay Steven," she began, "it all started when
..."
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The little gem opened her eyes. It was pretty dark, but also cozy and familiar.

Where am I? she wondered, looking around. A bright light peeked around the corner, and it drew the small gem out. She squinted in the open sunlight, and looked behind her. She gasped as she saw a giant mountain behind her, covered in holes. And there was another of there, and another of there...everywhere she looked, she could see holes. Does this mean that there are more of me? she thought to herself. The little Gem spun around, taking in the the dull gray and quietness of her surroundings.

She let out a little roar, listening to the echo reverberate throughout the caves. She giggled and let out another roar, a bit louder this time. Once she had gotten bored of doing that (and it had been a while), she decided it was time to explore. She found that she had surprising strength, and was able to pull herself up the mountain side with ease, finding little foot and handholds to help her up. She tirelessly looked into each hole for days, hoping to find someone or something within, but even after searching  every hole in the Kindergarten, she found nothing. The little gem sighed in defeat. She was tired, and all alone in this big place.

She wearily walked back to her hole, and crawled inside. She had no idea where she was, or even really what she was. She only knew that she had no memories of anything before she woke up. Amethyst curled into herself, and even though she knew she didn't have to (she didn't know how she knew, she just did) she fell asleep.

It was sometime until the little gem woke up. The sky was grey, and water was falling from the sky. Of course, the little gem proceeded to dance in it, and stick her tongue out trying to catch the drops. Puddles formed on the ground, and she jumped and splashed in them, giggling as she was coated in mud, and drenched from head to toe.

She shook herself off, like a dog, and decided to do a little more exploring around the mountains, and she decided to check out other holes as well.

She went through this same routine daily, checking the different holes, and under rocks, but there was no sign of anything. Her hopes for at least one friend were diminishing. But then- yes, she definitely heard a sound, like rocks falling down a hill. She turned toward the sound with a frown, and heard the noise again.

Yup, there was definitely something. The gem smiled. Maybe it would finally be a friend! She thought about what she would say to her new friend. "Hello," she said, "my name is..." Oh, what was her name? She didn't even know. "Hello," she tried again, "What's your name?" She nodded, deciding this was the better way to go. She walked in the direction she heard the sound from, even though she hadn't heard it again. When she came to a dead end, she stopped and listened harder.

There was...she could hear mumbling? She squealed in delight and climbed up the cliff side with even more energy and strength than usual.

She peeked her head in every hole along the side as she went. "Hello?" Nothing. "Anyone in here?" Nothing in this hole either. She came to a hole close to the top and peeked inside. "Hello?" she asked, "anyone in here?"

There was no response yet again, and she was about to leave when she heard a quiet gasp. The gem crawled in halfway, squinting in the dark after being outside for a few hours. "I know heard something," she said. "Show yourself." She thought she saw the silhouette of a person. "Hello, what's your name?" She asked.

The gem in there with her sighed. "I hoped you wouldn't find me," she said sadly.

"Why not?" The little gem was confused. Didn't this one want a friend too?

"Because...because I don't even know who you are!" it  said.

Oh. Well that made a little sense. "Umm, well I'm-" the little Gem paused. She still had no idea who she was.

"Exactly!" the other one exclaimed.

"Well...who are you?" The little purple gem asked.

The other sighed. "I don't...I don't know..."

The two sat in silence for a moment, and then the little purple gem spoke up. "Wanna go outside?"

The other one looked at her and nodded. They crawled out of the hole, and down the mountain. When they were out, the purple gem looked at her new friend. She was completely black, except for her eyes, and she had a blackish grey thing on her arm.

The black gem saw the purple one's gaze and looked at her arm. "Oh, yeah, that. I guess it's part of me. Like a birthmark or something."

The purple gem could not stop staring at it. It was shiny, and cool, and had a strange design on it.

The black gem gasped, "you have one too!"

The purple gem jumped. "What? Where?"

The black gem pointed, and the little purple one looked down in surprise. In the middle of her chest sat a shiny purple gem. She had never seen it before, and in fact, she hadn't really noticed that she was purple either. "Wow!" she gasped, touching the thing on her chest. It was hard as a rock and it was embedded in her, though it didn't hurt.

"I'm going to call you Purple," the black gem said.

"Okay, then I'll call you Blackie," said Purple retorted teasingly, happy to have a new friend.

Blackie giggled. "This is great! I thought I would be all alone forever."

"Whaaaat?" Purple gasped. "Me too!"

Both started screaming, doing a jig in a circle, and so their friendship began. During the day, they would go exploring together, and at night they would visit each other and talk for hours.

They didn't know how long this went on, time had no meaning. There was just day, and night, and even that didn't matter.

Until one day...

Amethyst was resting in Blackie's hole, and so was Blackie, when they suddenly heard a noise that got louder as it got closer. Amethyst cracked an eye open, and then shot up as the sound was right over the top of them.

It was like a loud, whining, buzzing sound, and the two Gems could feel the wind it was producing from inside the cave.

"What's going on?" Blackie asked.

"I don't know," Purple replied, looking to the sky. A giant metal looming thing came gliding over, blocking out the majority of the sun, and casting everything into shadow. The hull of it was wide, and blackish gray.

"Get out," Blackie said suddenly.

Purple looked back at her, eyebrows raised. Did she hear her right? Did she say-

"Get. Out!" Blackie repeated.

"What? Why?" Purple asked. This wasn't like her friend.

"I have a bad feeling about this," was all she said.

"But I don't understand, Purple said.

"Please, get somewhere safe. Please! I don't know what's going on, but it can't be good. Run! Hide! And don't come out to look for me until they are gone," Blackie begged.

Purple sniffled. She didn't like the turn that this day had taken. She didn't like not knowing what was happening. She didn't want to leave her friend behind. She didn't think they should split up, but she understood, and she ran to give her friend a fierce hug, and was hugged fiercely in return. "Stay safe," Purple told her.

Blackie nodded, "you too."

Purple wiped away a tear. She took one last look at Blackie, before all but jumping down the mountainside. She sprinted to her hole, but then stopped. What if they were to come looking for her there? Assuming that's why they were there, which Purple had a feeling was the reason. She made a split-second decision, and hightailed it in the opposite direction. She crawled into a different hole, one that was cold, and had clearly been abandoned long ago. She had a clear view of Blackie's hole, and the ship, and stared with rapt attention.

The door opened and two figures walked out. One was grey, with long black hair, and she looked like an older and taller version of Blackie. She was dressed in military gear (which of course "Purple" had never seen before and therefore didn't know about, but for the sake of description), and had a stern expression on her face.

The figure standing beside her was green, and had a screen that she occasionally tapped on.

"Peridot, do you know why we are here?" The grey figure asked.

"Of course Onyx," Peridot responded in a nasally voice, sounding a bit annoyed. "We are here to retrieve two Gems that have taken too long to form, and we are bringing them back to Homeworld to train them."

"Correct," Onyx said, "if it weren't for Rose Quartz and those other traitor Gems, we wouldn't have this problem. Now we are running out of warriors. We need these two in order to win. Now whom are we looking for?" she asked.

"We are looking for an onyx gem, and an amethyst gem," Peridot recited, sounding bored.

Onyx nodded. "Good, let's go."

They walked along, Peridot leading the way, and the purple gem held her breath and scooted back into the darkness as they walked right passed her. She released it when they passed, but then held it again when they stood right in front of her hole.

"Come out Amethyst gem," Onyx demanded. "We are here to take you home." When she got no response, she looked at Peridot and nodded.

Peridot squared her shoulders and walked into the hole. She came back out a moment later shaking her head.

Onyx opened her mouth but then closed it and began looking around. "We need to find her. Quartz gems make excellent soldiers."

Peridot was looking at the details over the hole. "Umm, Commander, you may want to see this."

Onyx looked up and walked over to where Peridot was standing.

"Look at the size of the hole, and the markings. Not only did this gem stay in too long, but she could also be defective."

Onyx sighed. "Of course. She would have made an excellent soldier too. But we can't have her going over to the side of the Crystal clods. Let's find the other, and then leave. I have to report this." She began walking, and then stopped. "What about the other? Is she defective too?"

Peridot shrugged.

Onyx growled, "well?"

"U-umm the chances are split that she either is or isn't defective," Peridot responded. She seemed a little intimidated now.

Onyx rolled her eyes. "If you can't do your job properly, than what use do we have for you," she spat.

Peridot swallowed. "T-this w-way," she stuttered, all the superiority washed away. She led her to Blackie's hole, and Purple covered her mouth to conceal a little yelp.

She prayed that they wouldn't find her friend. Surely Blackie would have been smart and hid in a different hole. But her hopes were dashed as she watched Onyx climb the mountain side, look into the hole, and grab a screaming Blackie by the foot.

Purple shook her head as she watched her only friend be pulled down the mountainside. Blackie was kicking and screaming the whole time. When they reached the bottom, Purple could see the similarities between the two more clearly now.

"The onyx gem has been retrieved," Onyx said, holding Blackie out for Peridot to inspect.

Peridot hummed thoughtfully, looking at her "birthmark", which Purple realized was apparently a gemstone, and her overall appearance.

"I have come to a conclusion," Peridot said after a while, "though this Onyx has clearly taken a while to properly form, she isn't defective and should grow to the proper height in a few decades. She'll make a fine warrior for the war."

Onyx nodded in relief. "At least this trip wasn't a total waste. I'm still disappointed in not receiving the Amethyst gem, and I am sure the Diamonds will not be pleased. They were hoping to get a warrior. That was why the Amethyst gem was made after all. But, she probably didn't last long if she was defective. Come along, let's get out of this place. We still have to check the other kindergarten."

They began walking back to the ship, Blackie  (or should she say Onyx) was under the bigger version's arm, and was still struggling, but she wasn't strong enough.

"Don't worry little one. We are getting you out of here so you can join the rest of the Gems on Homeworld as we prepare for battle. You are going to help us win a war, or die trying," Onyx said in what she probably thought sounded soothing, but was actually terrible sounding.

Blackie screamed as they boarded the ship, and it echoed around the entire Kindergarten. It was a scream of loss and horror and sadness, and it was a scream that Purple would never forget. She watched as the ship flew up, and disappeared from sight. Then, Purple began crying. She cried for her friend, and their situation, and her new found loneliness.

She stayed in that hole that wasn't hers for weeks, or even months (she didn't know and she didn't care), and grieved the loss of her friend. When she was sure the scary (what did they call themselves? Gems?) Gems wouldn't come back, she crawled to her hole and slept for a very long time.

Weeks later, when Purple finally crawled out from her hole, she blinked up into the sun for the first time in about eight months. She let the warmth hit her as she sat and replayed the horrible image of her only friend being carried into a giant ship and being flown away.

What was Homeworld? she wondered. And what battle? Why did they take her only friend away from her? Why didn't she do anything to stop them?

Purple put two and two together on some things. Like that Big Onyx was probably a Commander of some sort, while Peridot was an informant or something. And they expected little Onyx (they clearly called each other by their Gems) to train and fight in some big war.
She also figured that the Diamonds were probably some kind of authority figure.

She hoped that they never came back, and if they did, she would put up a fight.

(Even though she knew that technically her name was Amethyst now, she would go by Purple for a while yet...not that it mattered since she was alone now anyways.)

As the days went by, Purple became more lonely, and more wild. She took to crawling rather than walking, and she found that she could run and then roll into a ball, and she did that all throughout the Kindergarten. For fun, she would bark at the stray bird that would dare land (not that much of that ever appeared, the Kindergarten was too dark and dreary a place) and she would lift rocks to build her strength, though she rarely did that.

The rocks became her friends, and then her family. She would talk to them, sleep by them, crawl over them, sit and think on them, and just be around them, because if she just pretended that they were real and responded when she spoke to them, she didn't feel so alone. 

She tried her very best not to think of Blackie, but when she did, she wondered where her friend was now? Was she okay? Was she hurt? What ever happened in the supposed war? Did it even happen yet? Where was Homeworld? Was it far from here?

This routine continued for some time, and Purple began growing restless. Her hair was long and mangy, her nails had dirt embedded in them, and she was covered in bruises and scratches, trying to defeat a rock "enemy."

She was sharpening a rock with another, and then she ran her finger over it. It didn't hurt, but when it drew blood she knew it was sharp enough. She brought it up to her hair and began hacking at it. When it was barely touching the top of her neck, she used it to pick some of the dirt out from underneath her nails. When she was done, she threw the rock shard and watched it bounce off the side of the mountain and shatter. Then she closed her eyes and let the sunlight hit her. She was no longer hot because she no longer had long hair weighing her down. She just sat there in silence  (which was basically what she did daily), until it became dark and chilly.

Purple wasn't tired, and she was bored, so she did some running around (on all fours, and rolling of course). Suddenly, a big looming thing appeared in front of her. Something she had never seen before. It was kind of shaped like an oval. Purple went up to touch it. It was cold and hard. Metal, she thought. It was too dark to really see anything else though, so Purple decided to head back to her hole, and come back in the morning.

She lay outside on her back, looking up at the many white dots in the sky. They were so pretty and the sky was so clear. Purple wondered what it was that she saw earlier, and why she hadn't seen it before.

In the morning, when she awoke, she quickly set out to find the thing she saw last night. She walked for hours though, trying to find it. "I must have gone out really far last night," she muttered. Finally, she spotted it. It was metal, and skinny, like a tube. And it had needle-like legs, and a large container thing coming out of the top of it, with mutilple needles at the bottom pointing toward the ground. Purple shivered. It looked so strange and felt...evil, like its purpose was to harm. She gingerly touched it, and jumped back, expecting something to happen, but it just sat there.

"Guess it's broken," Purple sighed with a shrug. She looked up and gasped. There were more of them, all along the mountainside. Everywhere she looked, one of these metals things were attached. Purple put her hands to her head. Why was she just seeing these now? None of this made any sense. What were those things? She wished someone could answer her questions. But she was all alone. Purple's shoulders slumped as she walked all the way back to her hole. It was only about midday, so she decided to take the long way. She took a path that she didn't really recognize. Some parts looked familiar  (of course there really wasn't any differences because everything was rock, but still...) but some didn't.

"Guess I didn't explore the whole Kindergarten like I originally thought," she shrugged. She continued her walk with her head down, kicking at pebbles and medium sized rocks in her path. Nothing made any sense to her anymore. She was alone, and so very confused. She was so caught up in her thoughts, that she almost missed it.

Her head sprung up, and her eyes went wide. To the side of her, about 20 yards up was a giant glowing platform overlooking the whole Kindergarten. It had glass and diamonds surrounding it, and was a glassy blue. Purple scrambled up the side of the mountain to get a better look at it. She observed the outside and found that it was very hard. She climbed onto it and expected to be cold like everything else in the Kindergarten, but it was warm and buzzing with energy.

Back at the hole, Purple was pacing. What were the two things she saw today? Were they good or bad? The first thing definitely looked ominous, but the second one she wasn't all that sure about. She kicked a boulder in frustration and watched as it bounced into another, splitting it in half. She huffed and crawled into her hole. At this point, she just wished someone or something would show up. If not to save her, than to at least give her some sort of purpose. That was what she was missing. She felt incomplete. She lacked a sense of purpose. She was created for a reason, but why? To fight? She blinked furiously as a tear pricked the corner of her eye. She hated crying. She hadn't since Blackie was taken. Was that her duty? To fight in a war or die trying? It sure seemed like it according to that Peridot and the bigger version of Blackie, Onyx.

Purple hated this. She never asked to be made, and she never asked to be "created" this late in the game. All of it was so unfair.

Some time passed, and Purple began to resent herself and her situation even more. She became more fierce and wild as time passed. On the days were she felt slightly more calm and stable, she would sit and stare at the platform, watching and wishing for something to happen. But nothing ever did.

Until a few months later...

Purple was laying on her sitting rock, doing what she called, "lying there, thinking about happiness," or in this case, meditating. She thought about finally being with someone who didn't care about her background. Someone that she could trust and depend on. Someone who wouldn't leave her. She was thinking about all of this when she heard a noise. It was like a buzzing whine, and for a second she panicked, thinking it was something from Homeworld, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that this sound was quite different. She sprinted in the direction of the sound, and froze when she saw the platform. There was a lady standing by it. She had large, curly, pink hair, and a white dress. She turned around and Purple could see that she had a star cut out in the middle of her dress, and a rose colored gem could be clearly seen in it. She looked so peaceful and friendly, and a calming presence seemed to follow her.

So this was another gem? Purple wondered, watching her.

The Gem was humming to herself as she looked around. Purple watched her through half lidded eyes. All of the tension and fear was drained from her body. This Gem was the only source of light in this desolate place. And then, she climbed onto the platform, and disappeared into a stream of light.

"No, don't leave," Purple yelled, running to the platform. She climbed up on it, but of course had no idea how it worked. She sighed, alone once again, and walked back to her hole.

She spent the whole day on her sitting rock, thinking about the Gem she saw. She was the first one in a long time who actually appeared to be nice.

The Gem didn't come back for quite some time, but Purple didn't lose hope that she would see her again, one day.
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"So what happened after that?" Steven asked, stars in his eyes.

Amethyst smiled, and huffed. Pearl wiped at a stray tear, and Garnet put her hand on both Amethyst's and Steven's shoulders.

Amethyst looked up at Garnet and smiled. Then she looked back down at Steven amd continued her story. "Well, one day..."
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Purple had learned that she had a weapon.

One day, the platform had activated, but it wasn't the Gem. It was a monster who roared and growled and spit.

It had green eyes with no pupils, messy blue hair/fur and it had multiple limbs that were an assortment of oranges and reds. It looked right at Purple and growled, low in its throat.

Purple, feeling very uneasy, slowly backed away, but the monster just crept closer.

It backed her into a corner, and she whimpered. What was she supposed to do?

The monster opened its mouth to reveal many sharp teeth as it roared. Purple flinched and shut her eyes. She didn't want to see anymore.

But then she became angry. The one thing that came for her, and it was a monster who wanted to kill her? She didn't think so. This was her home, and she wasn't afraid of anything. She was strong now, and she was angry. She raked her hand down the mountain, flinging dirt and stones into the monster's eyes. It yelped and fell backward, giving Purple plenty of time to duck under it (being small had its advantages).

She felt her chest burn with a ferocity, and it began glowing a purple light. She looked down at the gem in her chest, and by pure instinct, reached down. Her hand wrapped around a handle, and pulled. She felt no pain, just a strange sensation. She looked at what came out. In her hands was vine-like whip with purple spikes on it. The hand-grip was a purple knob, and it fit in her hand like it was made for her. She snapped her hand a few times, and watched as the whip jumped.

Purple smiled, and flicked her wrist, sending the end of the whip right into the monster. It roared, and whipped around to face her. Its eyes were narrowed, and it swiped one of its many feet along the ground as it huffed. Dust blew from its nose. Purple flicked the whip again and again and again, and each time it hit the monster about the face.

The monster charged, and Purple side-stepped just in time, avoiding being trampled. It growled, and charged again. This time, Purple rolled, which gave her an idea. She ran and then rolled, rolling in a purple ball all around the monster, confusing and taunting it.

The monster spun in cirlces trying to keep up but it was too big and too slow. It shook its head, disoriented, and Purple saw her opportunity. She snapped her wrist, and the whip wrapped around the midsection of the monster. Purple yanked, and the monster disappeared with a pop.

"That was nicely done," said a voice behind her.

Purple whirled around and stood agape. Behind her was the lady with the giant pink hair. She was even more radiant up close, and her voice was so soft and kind. Purple did the only thing she could think of. She ran.

Back to her hole. And then she curled herself into a ball, hoping that she would become so small she would be practically invisible, just in case she was sought out. Thoughts whirled through her head. She just killed something. Sure, it was a monster, and its intention was probably to kill her, but she killed it nonetheless. What did that say about her? Was she just living out her purpose? She fought, so that must have been what had happened. And where had that whip come from? Her gem? Why, what did it mean? And who was that woman she kept seeing? She wished she had the answers. She hated being in the dark.

"Hello?" the voice asked. "Little gem? Where are you? I won't hurt you, I promise." It sounded like she was right outside Purple's hole.

Purple held her breath, and released it once she knew that the lady (was she a gem too? She must have been, she had one on her stomach) had left. She sighed. She was so mixed up and confused. Her head hurt, and so did her stomach. She unfurled and fell over, dry-heaving even though she had no reason for substance or oxygen. Tears splattered against the rocky ground. Was this what her life had come to? Bored, confused, wild all the time? When did it end? She didn't know who to trust. That lady? She was a gem, but so were the people that took her only friend away, and in Purple's eyes, that did not make them nice people.

"Aha, there you are. Come on out," said the familiar voice.

Purple's head whipped up, and she could see the silhouette of the other Gem in the cave entrance. She quickly dropped her head, and curled back into a ball.

"Won't you come out? Please. I won't hurt you, I swear, and I never break a promise."

Purple didn't know what it was. Maybe it was the loneliness. Maybe it was the constant confusion. Maybe she really wanted answers, and to be with someone who would care about her, and never leave her again. Whatever it was, Purple slowly crawled out from her hole into the setting sun.

She looked up tiredly at the other gem from the ground, not bothering to stand up. She was tired of running, tired of being in this place any longer.

The Gem looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. "What is your name little one?"

Right then and there, Purple decided to let go of her past. It was over, and even though it had made a pretty big impact on her life, none of it mattered now. What mattered now was the present, and that was it. She didn't even want to think about the future. "A-Amethyst," she responded, letting go of the old name a good friend had once given her.

"Amethyst," the tall gem spoke. "My name is Rose. Rose Quartz."

Amethyst blinked up at the grand Rose Quartz. So this is the one who had been mentioned all those years ago. This was the leader of the rebellion against Homeworld. Amethyst didn't know what to do, so she bowed, still on the ground.

Rose chuckled lightly, but it was a kind of self-deprecating chuckle. "My dear little Amethyst gem, you don't have to do that.

Amethyst blushed and looked back at the ground.

"Amethyst, how long have you been here?" Rose asked softly, concern etched all over her face.

Amethyst began telling Rose her story, and she didn't leave anything out. It might have seemed strange, being the first person she saw in a while, and also being a Gem, but Amethyst trusted her.

She told her of when she first woke up, to when her friend was taken, even about what the very first gems she met had said. She told her every detail, up until this very moment, and every emotion she had ever felt during all of these years.

By the time she was done, the sun was just a sliver of light along the horizon. Tears raced each other down her cheeks. Telling her story to someone who listened realeased a new emotion within her. For once, she felt respected, but at the same time, unworthy. After all, she was defective (whatever that meant) and she had just told this great leader, who obviously knew what she was talking about because her eyes went wide, and then watery.

"I am so sorry," Rose apologized. "I can't even imagine how awful that must have been. What are you feeling now?"

Amethyst hadn't expected this question. "U-umm...scared, happy, sad, angry, lonely, and... confused?" she said, listing off of her fingers.

Rose bent down, and Amethyst could see the tears in her eyes at Amethyst's expense. Amethyst wasn't expecting this either, and before she knew what was happening, Rose wrapped Amethyst in a big hug. "There is no longer any need to be lonely. Come back with me. We will take care of you," she whispered gently, a tear falling from her cheek onto Amethyst's shoulder.

Amethyst no longer felt frozen. For the first time in her life, she was safe, and happy, and warm inside.

Amethyst gave in immediately, rhough she didn't know who "we" was, and Rose grabbed her hand and gave it an assuring squeeze. Together, the two walked all the way back to the warp pad, just as the sun was setting, and disappeared into a stream of light.

The whole time, one thought ran through Amethyst's mind. 'I am home.'

(For years afterward, Amethyst would visit the Kindergarten from time to time. After all, you never forget your roots, no matter how hard you try. She would go, and sit on her rock, and think a while, maybe for one day, maybe for two. But she would always come back home, home to Rose and the other kind gems she met at the Temple. Because now, she had a new purpose. Protecting the earth and all of humanity as a Crystal Gem.)

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One last note: The Peridot in this story, was not our great and lovable Peridot. She was a different one. I guess you could say she was one of the first Peridots, like an experiment, especially during the Rebellion if they were meant to replace Pearls in some way.