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Ruby was trapped in a cell. Small, disgustingly green and yellow-ish, and with an energy barrier that wouldn't let her get out of there to find Sapphire. She tried to break it, somehow —she never knew what she was planning to do—, but it didn't work. What a surprise. She knew it wouldn't.
Ruby was desperate, but she was loosing her energy. Sapphire usually did all the thinking when they were fused; she just punched stuff. Now, she couldn't even see where Sapphire was. How useful was she? How was she supposed to protect Sapphire if she wasn't even by her side? And who was she if she couldn't protect Sapphire?
Then, she heard Sapphire singing.
She was singing their song.
She had to do something.
"Think, Ruby, think," she insisted, whispering to herself.
She concentrated on Sapphire's singing, and then, some serious steps seemed to get closer. Maybe it was Jasper. Maybe the steps were too light to be Jasper's. She didn't care. She knew she did not have a single chance to win in a fight, not with the gems' new technology, so she had to be smarter. She had to follow a plan.
So she started screaming.
It had the effect she wanted.
The gem's steps got closer, first seeming a fast paced walk, then undoubtedly showing a well raced sprint.
Okay, definitely not Jasper.
Ruby kept screaming. She knew this would worry Sapphire, but it was the only way. At least, the only one she could think of.
The gem got to Ruby's cell really quickly. At first, she struggled to recognize her. Truly, she was awful at remembering faces or names. But then, it clicked. Peridot.
It should be easy.
So she kept screaming her nonsense.
Peridot was desperate to shut her up, so she yelled at her to stop. She wasn't very imposing, for Ruby. She'd seen worse. That Lapis Lazuli, for example. That was scary.
Ruby payed no attention to her. She needed Peridot to loose her mind, so she screamed even louder.
Peridot was visibly going insane. She yelled something like, "Stop right now or you will regret it!". That was fine for Ruby. Unless they had a new super magnificent weird electricity cannon to strike her from inside the cell...
Oh.
They did have that cannon, right?
Peridot took out a remote and pointed it to the inside of the cell.
But a cannon didn't appear magically out of nowhere. Instead, the energy barrier holding her back from running to Sapphire vanished.
Wait, what?
Ruby was astonished.
Peridot seemed to be astonished, too. As if she acted on impulse, rather than logic. Which is seemingly strange for someone like Peridot. However, Ruby didn't think too much on it.
Sapphire was singing again, after stopping when she heard Ruby's screams, so she ran to the sound, leaving Peridot behind, who was frozen in place. She ran so fast, she was surprised with herself, but those thoughts didn't matter. Sapphire mattered. But she stopped. She had to.
How would she take Sapphire out of there? Where were those remotes?
She hated to admit it, but she needed Peridot.
It was risky, going back, but it was her best option. If she didn't, she might end up captured again.
She had to put some effort on remembering where she came from, since that spaceship was almost as confusing as a labyrinth, but eventually, she found Peridot in the same place in which she left her. When Peridot heard her, she seemed terrified, ready for the consequences of her acts, but, when she saw Ruby, she was relieved. Not surprised, relieved. That seemed curious to Ruby. It was almost as if Peridot wanted to help.
"W-what are you doing here?" Peridot asked, seeming annoyed, but not looking at Ruby directly.
"You want to help," Ruby said. with certainty.
It took Peridot off guard, but she simply handed the remote to Ruby, still without looking at her. Ruby didn't take it.
"No, you have to come with me," Ruby insisted, "come with us."
"Why would I do that?" Peridot replied, intending to sound mean but failing. "It's not like you would accept me either. I have hurt so many gems."
"Yes, but we all come from Homeworld. We are rebels, Peridot, not saints. We all have done questionable stuff, you know? You'd fit right in," Ruby said, in a warm tone. "Come on, we've got work to do."
After a short and dramatic pause from Peridot, who probably was trying to not sound desperate —or at least that's what Ruby thought—, she sighed and said, "Okay, let's go, comrade."
Ruby laughed softly and joked, "We'll have to work on the terminology."
Peridot nodded sympathetically and let out a small laugh, which was big for Peridot, from Ruby's perspective. Together, they ran to Sapphire. Ruby saw her puzzled face when she saw her with Peridot coming to rescue her, but, when Peridot opened her door/energy field and she could hug Ruby, she saw her relax.
They both pulled away only slightly to look at each other.
"Did they hurt you?" Ruby asked, desperately looking at Sapphire to see if she had any visible marks of damage.
"No, no, I'm okay," Sapphire replied. "Did they hurt you?"
"Who cares?" Ruby exclaimed, softly and with a little bit of laughter.
"I do," Sapphire assured Ruby, lovingly.
Then, Sapphire kissed Ruby's forehead, and, spinning and laughing, they fused again, welcoming Garnet.
Peridot watched it all amazed, but also feeling guilty for what she had done, and what she had worked for. She had never seen this kind of pure, free love. Where she came from, where she had always lived, affection was limited. Fusion wasn't an act of love, but a war tactic. In that moment, she vowed to herself she would look for this kind of love and affection, and not for orders to obey.
Garnet looked at her funnily, as if she knew something Peridot didn't. She didn't think much of it. She was scared she would now be crushed, or reported to Jasper, or something worse she couldn't even imagine. Instead, Garnet simply said, "Go get the others."
Then, she left.
So Peridot initiated her first mission as a Crystal Gem.
When running down the corridors, she could hear commotion from where Garnet ran to. She imagined she was fighting Jasper, and she seemed to be doing well. Any combat that lasted with Jasper was a good combat for the opponent. But Peridot actually knew Garnet would win, because only love could win against hate.
She found Pearl quickly enough, and sort of explained everything. She could sense Pearl didn't trust her, and hoped that, when she liberated the others, they wouldn't turn on her. She insisted that she was a Crystal Gem, now, and explained how in debt she felt with them. Pearl seemed to buy it, at least for now.
They found Amethyst close to Pearl, and she seemed confused, but didn't actually seem to care. Not far away, there was another gem, one Peridot didn't remember capturing. She got closer and found her curled up in a corner of the cell. She was a Lapis Lazuli. A really gorgeous, visibly powerful Lapis Lazuli. She liberated her, too.
The Lapis Lazuli hadn't heard her, so she got scared when she stopped feeling the energy field, and even more when she saw Peridot. That usually meant bad news. But Peridot moved back to show Lapis she wasn't harmful.
"I'm with the Crystal Gems, now," she said. "I will not hurt you. I apologize for all the pain and damage I have caused. I hope you can forgive me, someday."
She said 'someday' with such certainty, with such convincement that they would see each other again, that Lapis seemed to relax, even though she couldn't find an explanation to why. Maybe the fact that she put so much hope in it made her feel connected to the Peridot, somehow. Lapis knew better, but she found herself levitating to Peridot.
"Hey, thanks," she said, not truly sure she was actually safe. "Why did you let me out?" She asked, letting her insecurities and bad experiences of the past come out in the form of a question.
"I just think you'd be a good member of our... uhm, team?" she said, looking at Pearl and Amethyst to confirm she was using the right words. "That's all. But, uhm, you don't have to be, you can... Stay here? I guess?"
Peridot had never been one to care about other gems' opinions on her, but there was something about this Lapis Lazuli that made her want the gem to like her.
Pearl and Amethyst were wordless, but not opposite to the idea of Lapis Lazuli joining the Crystal Gems. She was powerful, that was for sure. Having her on their side would be great.
"Yeah, join us!" Amethyst said, which made Peridot feel calmer. She was starting to think she had messed up again. She really wanted this new chance.
Before Lapis could say anything, Garnet arrived smiling. She had some signs of battle, but was otherwise untouched.
"The ship is going down," she said, calmly.
"I can help with that," Peridot said, sure of herself.
Garnet smiled gently at Peridot and Lapis Lazuli. "Welcome to the Crystal Gems, Peridot. You too, Lapis. You have a home with us."