Chapter 5

After more eons of walking, the battered group finally approached the entrance to the Kindergarten. Inside, many gems awaited them. White Diamond immediately locked gazes with Steven.

"Steven, you're back!" Her tone was more enthusiastic than Steven had ever heard before.

"Ruby?" Bismuth pointed at the red gem. "Where is Sapphire?" She froze, her eyes widening in realization. "...Oh no…"

"She was...captured…" Ruby sobbed, "She's being used as bait to lure us into battle."

"Wait...no Sapphire means...no Garnet!" Peridot gasped, clinging to Lapis. "NOOO!"

"What are we going to do without Garnet?!" Bismuth gasped. "She's the leader!"

"Ahem." White scowled at her.

Bismuth's eyes widened. "I meant of the Crystal gems…"

"We're going to get Garnet back," Pearl replied. "And we're going to end Morganite's tyranny once and for all!"

"How?! By doing exactly what Morganite wants us to do?!" Lapis demanded. "That's just falling right into her trap."

"What other choice do we have?" Ruby cried. "We can't just leave her here!"

White stood up. "I'll get her back...myself."

Steven leaped in front of her. "White, no! You can't face the entirety of Homeworld on your own!"

She glared down at Steven. "Why not? I'll just step on them, mind control my own little army. Then none of you will have to get hurt."

"But...you could." White's gaze softened to the point of melting. "Morganite might be small, compared to you, but she's clever and she has all of Homeworld on her side. That's a lot of gems…

"Yes, it'll take more than brute force to defeat a threat like this," Pearl agreed. "Especially with us being as outnumbered as we are." White let out a sigh, nodding in agreement. She sat back down.

"What else can we do?" Biggs asked.

"We could sneak into the main building and surprise attack them from the inside," Amethyst suggested. Steven glanced at her. It was the first time he had seen her since before the battle with Jasper and Morganite. He immediately noticed her covering her eye and gem.

"There's no way for any gem of any size to sneak into any of the main buildings," White replied. "Trust me, it was specifically designed so that no one could enter a building unless they went through one of the doors."

"Darn it!"

"Don't blame me! We were just taking precaution!"

"Well if we can't attack them from within their walls...we'll have to lead them out." Everyone gazed at Pearl. "White, you and the diamonds can lure them out. You three are Homeworld's number one enemy right now. If Morganite sees you, she'll surely attack."

"Or just send other gems to do her dirty work," Amethyst grunted.

"Either way, whoever comes we'll help you fend them off," Pearl replied.

"Oh! That'll make for a perfect distraction for me to slip away and save Sapphire!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Yes, exactly," Pearl replied. "And if Morganite isn't in the battle, one of us can slip away and find her."

"And end this once and for all!" Ruby exclaimed, punching her fists together.

"Am I going to be with the Diamonds?" Steven asked.

"Well...I would honestly be more comfortable if you were near me or one of the other Crystal gems," Pearl explained.

"We are going to be putting ourselves at risk," White agreed, glancing at the floor.

"The rest of us will attack once they're close enough," Pearl explained. She was cut off by a sudden glow in the middle of the room. Yellow and Blue's gems were floating into the air. Steven beamed. Finally, something good! The two forms were pure light for a few moments. Once it faded, Yellow and Blue appeared. Yellow's form was the same, besides the lack of heels and a new cape, the only thing that stood out was a small pink shape on her chest plate. Blue, on the other hand, looked very different. Her dress was shorter, with no sleeves or hoods and wore blue flats with little puff balls coming off them. Something about that design seemed familiar to Steven.

"What happened?" Yellow groaned, putting her hand on her forehead.

"Morganite destroyed our physical forms," White answered. "Steven and the others only just recovered your gemstones."

"Why was she even out of her cell?" Blue asked.

"Steven let her out," White explained. Steven looked away, feeling a fresh wave of guilt. "Don't worry, he's already been punished for that."

"Wait...Homeworld is in danger?!" Blue gasped.

White nodded. "We were just coming up with an idea to defeat her," she explained.

"Are we in the Kindergarten?" Yellow asked.

"Yeah, we agreed that it seemed like the best place to hide," Steven explained. "Since no one seems to remember them."

"How did you even know about this Kindergarten?" Blue asked. "It's so old that only the earliest gems remember emerging from it."

"You remember those gems that came to Earth in the Sun Incinerator?" They nodded. "I met them after my trial and they showed me this place. It was where they lived until Lars helped them out."

"Gems...lived down here?" Steven nodded.

"Well, it shouldn't come as a shock. We shattered so many gems…" Yellow stared at her own hands, her eyes wide with horror. "Simply for existing."

"For not meeting up to our impossibly high standards…" Blue sighed. "We're the ones who should be punished."

"No." Blue and Yellow glanced at White with wide eyes. "You were just enforcing my orders, trying to live up to the standards I set. The forefront of the blame should be directed at me."

"We're still just as responsible for our own actions, White," Yellow replied.

"And we all need to work on making up for them." Blue leaned closer, wrapping her arms around Yellow, who accepted the gesture. White hugged her own legs.

"White...do you want a hug?" Steven asked.

"No," she grunted. "I'm fine."

Steven let out a sigh. He glanced at the other gems, who talked amongst each other. Amethyst sat at the edge of the crowd, still covering half her face with her hand.

"Amethyst," He called. "Are you okay?"

"I got a little screwed up during the battle," Amethyst admitted. She lowered her arm, revealing a crack in her gem. Steven's eyes widened. "I didn't want anyone to worry so I didn't say anything."

"Why didn't you just tell me then?" Steven asked, already licking his hand. "Here, let me heal you real quick." Amethyst moved her arm aside. Steven pressed his hand onto the crack. After a few moments, the gem returned to normal, as did Amethyst's glitching form.

"Thanks, Steven," she replied, rolling away. Steven turned back around, only to be greeted by a gaping Pink Pearl.

"You have healing powers?!" Steven nodded to her. "So you could've fixed my eye this whole time?!"

"Oh...I never thought about doing that,��� Steven admitted.

"You never thou-ugh whatever." Pink Pearl sat down in front of him, gesturing to her missing eye. "Heal me please."

"Uh...I can try." Steven licked his hand and pressed it against the crack where Pink Pearl's eye should've been. After a few moments, nothing happened.

"Why isn't anything happening?!" Pink Pearl exclaimed, pulling away.

"Sometimes it doesn't work."

"Oh come on!" She slammed her fists into the ground. "Am I just going to be one-eyed forever?!"

"Pinkie, what exactly...happened to your eye?" Steven asked.

"Ask White Diamond," she snarled. "She was probably the one who caused it."

White's eyes widened at the mention of her name. She gazed down at them. Pink Pearl ducked behind Steven, covering her eye.

"It's true…" White admitted. "It was my fault. The missing eye is a side effect of being under my control."

"But...you did that to a lot of people. Why did only Pinkie get a cracked eye?���

"Your friends were only under my control for a little while. Pearl was under my control for thousands of years. Her mind was practically rotting away so, after a while, her physical form slowly started to go with it."

Pink Pearl glanced at White, her eye suddenly gleaming with interest. "So it might heal eventually?"

"I don't know," she admitted, "I could try and heal you myself. In fact, I probably should since this is my fault but-"

"Do it."

"What?"

"Heal me," Pink Pearl ordered, already closing her eye.

"Um…okay."

White inched closer to Pink Pearl. For once, neither recoiled. Pink Pearl trembled more than an erupting volcano as White rested her finger on Pink Pearl's back. Energy coursed through her finger and through Pink Pearl. After a few moments, she glowed with a white hue, though much brighter than the mind control hue. This was more like the sun. The cracks on Pink Pearl's face began to close, slowly being replaced by another closed eye. The energy stopped.

"There you go," her voice was gentle and almost motherly.

Pink Pearl opened her eye. Then her other.

"Woah, you really did it!" she gasped. White removed her finger. Almost instantly, the new eye was replaced by the cracks. Pink Pearl let out a sigh.

"I'm so sorry," White gasped.

"Ugh, whatever it's fine." Pink Pearl grunted, turning away.

"No, it's not fine. What I did to you was awful." Pink Pearl glanced back at her, her eye wide with surprise. "Not just cracking your eye but having you under my control for so long, for any amount of time really, it was terrible. Now I can't even make up for it."

"Healing my eye wouldn't make up for that. That's just a physical reminder. I'll remember with or without the missing eye." Pink Pearl turned and walked away.

"I'm-I'm sorry," Her voice was hardly more than a whisper.

Pink Pearl glanced over her shoulder. "Sorry isn't enough."

"She's right you know,�� Yellow cut in, "Saying sorry isn't enough. Not when we don't know if you're truly sorry or not."

"You-you don't trust me?" White sobbed. "Please, you know I'd never hurt you."

"No, we don't know that," Blue argued. "You had no problem using your powers on us."

Yellow nodded, resting her hand on Blue's shoulder. "All we wanted to do was talk and you treated us like your slaves in return."

"But Yellow, you aren't still bitter about Blue using her powers on you," White protested.

"That was different," Yellow argued. "She did that to defend Steven."

Blue nodded, glaring at White. "You mind controlled us, that Pearl, and Steven's friends to use as your personal puppets. Is that all we are to you?!"

"NO!"

"Well you have a funny way of showing it," Yellow growled.

"Hey," Steven protested. "She's trying her best."

"No." The three froze, looking at White Diamond. "Don't defend them, Steven."

"W-why not?"

"They're right," White sighed. "I haven't done anything to prove that I've changed. All I've done is fix the problems I caused. Blue and Yellow at least fought for you. I've done nothing. They can forgive me on their own terms, which might be never. I understand." Tears formed in her eyes as she stood up to leave. "I need to be alone."

"No, that's the last thing you need!" Steven protested. White power-walked away, further into the Kindergarten. Bristling with anger, Steven turned to Blue and Yellow. "Why did you say that?! You made her feel awful."

"After what she did, maybe she should," Yellow sighed. Even as she said such harsh words, Yellow's gaze filled with sorrow.

"We want to forgive her of course," Blue clarified. "But we just can't trust her. I...I really thought she was going to attack us at the trial."

"Call us unreasonable but in truth, we're just scared," Yellow admitted. "We can't forgive and forget like you do.���

Steven let out a sigh. "Maybe I'm too forgiving...me forgiving Morganite is the reason you guys got poofed...and Sapphire got captured." Silence descended over the three as they retreated to their private thoughts.

"When will we attack?!" Ruby asked.

"We should wait until morning," Pearl replied. "Steven and Connie will need their rest."

"And food," Connie unzipped her backpack, pulling out bags of food. Steven's eyes clouded. He didn't realize until now that he hadn't eaten since morning.

"Food!" He exclaimed. He grabbed one of the two sandwiches, ripping the bag open to get it. Connie and Steven snarfed down their meals like a pack of wolves. Crumbs got absolutely everywhere. Every gem stared at them in utter horror. Except for Amethyst. She was down for it. Once they were done, Steven gazed around at the gathered gems. White still hadn't returned. In her place, sat the bristling Ruby. Steven made his way toward her.

"Hey Ruby, you holding up okay?" Steven asked.

"No!" she exclaimed. "Why would I be okay? Sapphire was captured and I might not ever see her again." She cooled down, only for her anger to be replaced with sudden anxiety. "Oh, my stars. What if Morganite was right earlier? About Sapphire being too good for me…"

"That's ridiculous," Steven replied immediately. "She only said that stuff to mess with your head," Steven rested his hand on her shoulder. "None of it's true."

"But it could be…"

"Morganite can be really convincing," Steven admitted. "But I speak from experience, she's trying to manipulate you into thinking whatever she wants you to think."

"Is that why all of Homeworld is following her without question?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Probably." Ruby's eyes were literal flames. She made incoherent noises of rage as she stomped and kicked everything in sight. Thankfully those things didn't involve gems. Just rocks. Hours went on like that until Connie and Steven decided to call it a night.

"Guess we're sleeping on rocks tonight," Connie sighed. "Sorry I didn't pack any sleeping bags."

"Nah it's fine," Steven replied. "We can figure something else out." Shooting a glance up, he noticed White, finally coming back to the others.

"I can just use my backpack as a pillow," Connie suggested. "Don't know about you though."

"Last night I slept in White's lap." Steven paused. He seriously couldn't believe that was only yesterday. "I could do that again."

"If she lets you," Connie replied. "She seems like she's in a down mood." She gestured toward White, who sat away from the rest of the group with her head bent down.

"I'll go ask, g' night Connie."

"Goodnight Steven." The two went their separate ways. Steven approached White slowly, who didn't notice him until he was in front of her.

"Hi Steven," White greeted. Even her voice was down in the dumps. "Shouldn't you be getting to sleep?"

As if on cue, Steven yawned. "I was about to but I saw how lonely you looked and I wanted to keep you company."

A smile formed on her lips. "Okay." Letting out a yawn, Steven climbed into White's lap. He lied down on his side.

"You do know I'm not a bed, right?" White asked. Steven glared at her, only to see the corner of her lips twitching up in a smirk.

"Yeah, but there's nowhere else to sleep," Steven yawned.

"Oh good, I'm glad you know that I'm not a bed," she teased.

"Come on White, I'm not that young."

"To me you are. You're what, fourteen years old? You're still in your infancy. I've been around for thousands of years."

"And yet I know more about friendship." White's cheeks glowed pink.

"Alright you win there," she replied. "I guess age doesn't always mean wisdom."

Steven let out another yawn. "Goodnight White," he murmured.

"Goodnight Steven." Her tone was the same motherly one from earlier.

Struggling to sleep, Steven tossed and turned, shivering as if it were snowing outside. He reached for a blanket only to remember he didn't have one. After a few moments, a warm surface enveloped him. His eyes popped open. White's huge hand covered his body like a blanket. He glanced up at White with a smile. This time it only took a little while for Steven to fall into a deep sleep.