5 years later...

Natasha Romanoff sat alone in the living room, her long was touching her shoulders as she stared at the various holograms standing in front of her. Among the holograms, those participating were James Rhodes, Okoye, Garnet, Azurite, Peridot Captain Marvel, Nebula, and Rocket Raccoon. The two of the Guardians of the Galaxy were off world, along with Carol Danvers, helping the planets that suffered as much as Earth and Homeworld did because of what happened five years ago. Azurite, Garnet and Peridot were in Little Homeworld, Amethyst, Shi'ra and Jasper weren't present with them as they along with a few other gems went to take care of one Lapis Lazuli that was causing troubles for quite some time now. Rhodes mentioned he was somewhere in D.C., helping to solve some sort of refugee crisis that had recently broken out, and Okoye was streaming right from Wakanda.

''Yeah, we boarded that highly suspect warship Danvers pinged.." Rocket started,

"It was an infectious garbage scowl." Nebula added.

"So, thanks for the hot tip." Rocket turned to Danvers with a smirk.

''Well, you were closer." Carol pointed out.

''Yeah." Rocket growled, "And now we smell like garbage.''

Natasha turned to Okoye, ''You get a reading on those tremors?''

''It was a mild subduction under the African plate.'' Okoye reported.

''Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?" Nat asked.

"Nat, it's an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it.'' Okoye anwered, staring at Natasha.

"Sometimes nothing is the best thing you can do." Garnet stated, to which Okoye nodded her head in agreement.

"What about you guys? How's the situation on Homeworld?" Natasha asked the gems.

''The situation is pretty stable. We have some problems, like some gems that are causing troubles, but other than that, as I stated just a moment ago the situation is pretty stable." Azurite answered, to which Peridot and Garnet nodded their heads in agreement.

"That's why Amethyst, Jasper and Shi'ra are not here with this at the moment. They went to take care of a gem that was causing troubles for quite some time now" Peridot added as the others nodded their heads in understanding.

Natasha turned to Carol, "Carol, are we seeing you here next month?

"Not likely." Danvers reponded with a shook of her head.

''What, you gonna get another haircut?" Rocket snorted, gesturing towards Carol's new tomboyish cartoon.

"Didn't you had enough changes through these few years?" Peridot pointed out.

"Listen fur-face." Danvers said to Rocket, before turning to Peridot, "And you gem-face. I'm covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth, are happening everywhere, on thousands of planets.''

''All right, all right, that's a good point. That's a good point." Rocket muttered to himself.

Carol turned her attention backt to Natasha, ''So you might not see me for a long time.''

''Alright.'' Natasha stated, "Uh, well. This channel is always active. So, if anything goes sideways... anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't... comes through me."

Okoye agreed in her language.

''Okay." Rocket agreed.

"Yes." Garnet agreed with Peridot and Azurite nodding their heads.

With that Peridot pressed a button which ended their talk with the others. The talks between them and others became a very regular thing, especially in the first months after Thanos' victory. They were many situation where they had to leave to help something with Rocket, Nebula or even Danvers, or to take care of the problems gems were causing. 

It was when they heard the door open, which told them one thing. That the group that went to take care of a Lapis Lazuli that's been causing problems for a while now. Jasper, Amethyst and Shi'ra were walking in the front as Biggs Jasper, Army and Eyeball were walking closely behind them. Army and Eyeball were one of the gems that started living in Little Homeworld after Thanos' snap. 

"How did it go?" Peridot asked, even though the expressions they had already told her the answer.

"Just as you can except, Peri." Amethyst answered.

"We tried to talk her down for I don't know which time, she refused to listen again, then we started fighting with her for which time I don't knew neither, the she just flied off and left us alone." Shi'ra explained.

"I really want to know if the other Lapis would be such a pain as this one is." Amethyst said.

"We probably never going to find out." Jasper stated.

Amethyst sighed, "Yeah, you're right, sis."

''Anything happened while we were gone?" Shi'ra wanted to know.

"Nothing much. We had another one of the talks with the others." Peridot answered with a shrug of her shoulders.

"What about them?" Amethyst asked about if the others had any problems to deal with.

"Some sort of an earthquake under the ocean is in Wakanda, but they're going to handle it by not handling it, Rhodey is helping with something in D.C, Danvers may be gone for a while because she is helping other planets, Rocket and Nebula checked the warship that turned out to be a garbage scowl, so nothing that dangerous that would require us to do something." Peridot explained 

"At least that's some good news." Biggs stated from the back of the group. 

"Is there anything else we have to do today?" Shi'ra wanted to know.

"No, sis. Your mission with that Lapis was the only thing we had for today." Azurite answered.

"That's good. I could eat something." Shi'ra stated, "I haven't eaten anything today because of this mission."

"That's actually a good idea. This mission was a very stressful one, I could eat something." Amethyst said, liking Shi'ra's idea, as she turned around to Jasper, "Sis?"

Jasper shrugged her shoulders, not really having anything to do now, "Why not." 

Amethyst turned to Biggs, Army and Eyeball, "Guys?"

Army and Eyeball shook their heads as Biggs nodded her head, "I can tag along."

With that said, the group that just returned from a mission made their way over to the exit and headed out. Amethyst, Jasper, Shi'ra and Biggs went to eat something while Army and Eyeball went to do their own thing.

"I think I should head out too. I was working with Tony on a project for the past month. We're actually close to finishing it." Peridot to which Garnet nodded her head in understanding. Tony and Peridot actually became close friends over these past five years, and were paying each other visit from time to time.

"What's that?" Azurite asked.

"You'll find out when you'll see it." Peridot responded as she walked out of the room to talk with Tony about their recent project.

Azurite glanced over at the clock, "I have to go too, the training is starting in a few minutes."

Garnet nodded her head to that, as Azurite slowly left the room as well, leaving her alone. The fusion sighed as she looked over at the picture of her, Steven, Amethyst and Pearl, her attention was mostly focused on the ones that didn't made it out alive from Thanos' snap.

---

Amethyst, Shi'ra, Jasper, and Biggs already left Little Homeworld and were now walking along the sidewalk, trying to figure out where to eat. They didn't had much to choose from so they  eventually decided to go to Fish Stew Pizza. They took their seat as Nephrite walked over to their table to take their order. With Green Larimar gone, Nephrite was left take the orders and give out the food.

When they gave her their orders, Nephrite went over to Kiki and Bixbite to tell them what they ordered. With Kofi gone, Kiki was the one who was left in charge of this place.

"Hey guys." All four of them turned to the source of the voice and saw Orange Spodumene, Zebra Jasper, Little Larimar and Crazy Lace Agate walking into this place.

"Oh, hey." Shi'ra greeted them as the group of four gems approached their table.

"What are you doing here?" Biggs raised her brow.

"We saw you coming into this place so we thought we stop by and greet you after you returned for this mission ." Orange Spodumene answered.

"And ask you about it." Larimar added.

Amethyst, Jasper, Shi'ra and Biggs all shared a look with each other, as the purple gem spoke up to the group that just approached them, "If you want to hear about it, then move your seats to this table."

The four gems did as they were told to. They grabbed the chairs from the nearest table and pushed them over to one where three gems and one Kratai sat at, as Crazy Lace asked them, "So, how did it go?" 

"You know the usual." Amethyst started, "We warped ourselves to the planet where she was causing trouble, and it went down from there."

"We started off as our any other meeting with her did. We tried to talk her out of being a pain that she was for us for these five years, even though it seemed pointless to us, and we found ourselves to be wrong. She asked us if we're done and started fighting with us." Shi'ra continued, annoyance because of what happened on this mission.

"The fight went on as any other fight, minus the part where Jasper was threw into a rocky wall. Thanks the stars it didn't damaged her gem." Biggs said, turning to Jasper.

"The Power Stone threw me into Shi'ra's ship while I was charging on Thanos and my gem made it out without a single scratch on gem, though I can't say the same about my helmet." Jasper stated. Good thing they made her a new helmet, "After that she just flied off and we probably are going to hear about her again in a week or two."

"Some gems just don't want to change." Orange Spodumene stated, "Even after what happened."

"Some people just don't want to change. You'd suprised how universe is filled with people like her." Shi'ra said to Spodumene.

"It's kind of suprising that even I managed to change, and yet there are still people like her. Even here on Earth people started to fight over things after Thanos snapped." Jasper pointed out.

"Sis, what do you mean by "Even I"?" Amethyst asked her.

''You exactly know what I mean by that. I did many terrible things in my life, like Malachite, or trying to hurt you on numerous occasions, and honestly after I finally decided to try living on this planet, I was still, well, you know who, one of the first things I said to Azurite was call him a defect, but as the time passed I became someone else, someone better. I found friends that care about me, I found family." Jasper said.

Shi'ra smiled, she could see that smiles grew on the faces of the rest as well, "Family? I'm glad you think about me like that.''

"Why shouldn't I? You guys are my family." Jasper pointed out, smilling back.

Shi'ra shrugged her shoulders with her smile not leaving her face, as she turned to Amethyst, "I guess we should go back to the original topic.''

Amethyst nodded her head, the smile that grew on her face because of what Jasper just said not leaving her face, Then we want back to Little Homeworld, told Azurite, Garnet and Peridot about and went here to eat something. As for them, they all probably went to do their own things, Peri came out just a few second after we did, so she told us what she was planning to do. She was going to talk with Stark about the project they've been working at for the past month." 

"Who would have known that she'd become friends with him." Zebra Jasper stated.

"Well, when you're stuck in a ship, drifting aimlessly through space for three weeks." Jasper pointed out.

"If that's true then why you're not with her now?" Crazy Lace asked her.

"They're both the brains. I'd say that I was more more with Nebula than him for these three weeks." Jasper pointed out.

"I wonder what is the project that Peridot is working on with Stark." Little Larimar wondered.

''We asked her the same thing about it. She told that we will have to wait, but one thing is for sure. She seemed pretty excited about it." Biggs stated.

"Guess we'll have to wait and see." Zebra Jasper stated, earning nods from everyone.

Nephrite finally came out of the kitchen, holding two trays with pizzas, and she was followed by Bixbite who had the other two trays. They put them on the table and asked Spodumene, Crazy Lace, Zebra Jasper, and Little Larimar if they wanted to eat something but the politely declined, saying that they just wanted to talk with Amethyst, Jasper, Biggs and Shi'ra about their mission, before going back to the kitchen.

"Well guys, let's dig in." Shi'ra said, eyeing her meal but Amethyst already dug into her food.

---

Azurite leaned against the wall with crossed arms, watching how a few pairs of gems were sparring with each other. As the time passed, Shorty and Rose eventually got a word out that if there a gem that is interested in hand-in-hand combat then they knew someone who could teach them about it, and gems eventually started coming. Azurite didn't mind it at all. It was one the things that helped him to forget even just for a second after everything that happened five years ago. Shorty and Rose became something like foster teachers who were taking his place as a teacher when he was busy with something.

"Want to talk?" A familiar voice said to him as he turned in the direction of it and saw Centi approaching him.

Azurite gave his friend a small smile, "With you? Always.''

Centi leaned against the wall by side, watching over the sparring gems, "Another one of your trainings?"

"As you can see." Azurite said.

''Are Jasper, Shi'ra, Amethyst are others back from you know what?" Centi wanted to know.

"Yup. It went just as think it went." Azurite answered.

Centi sighed. It really amazed her how stubborn some gems could be, even after what happened, what he has done, "...How are your students?"

"They're improving as you can see. Some of them still have a lot to learn, but it's fine." Azurite said, as he glanced over at Shorty and Rose who were having a chat in the background, and offered them a quick nod to which they nodded back, "These two were helping me a lot in these training."

"Good thing these two gems introduced you to each other. It's always good to know some gems who are the same gem type as you, despise being you know." Centi stated.

"Speaking of the same gem types, how is Terra doing?" Azurite asked the green gem about her crewmate.

"She's been getting a lot better, but you know that already. She should be now at another one of the meeting of support group in Beach City." Centi pointed out. Around a month after Thanos snapped, a support group was made for humans and gems alike who lost someone close to them. Many people and gems were attending it in the first months, Greg, Sour Cream, Yellowtail, Buck, Earth Beetle, Terra, Centi,  Amethyst, Garnet, Peedee, were only a few of people and gems that were attending them. Some of them like Greg, or Peedee, or Terra were still attending those meetings. Even he attended a few of them at the start, but as the time passed he just stopped coming, thinking he had no need of that anymore.

Azurite sighed, ''That's good. I and her we never were close friends, our relation is pretty much just a friend of a friend I talked with once in a while, but seeing her for the first time the snap on the day when Era 4 started was just painful." 

"It pained you and you barely even know her, just think how much it pained me as her captain..." Centi paused for a second, "Seeing her being much better now is one of the best things I've seen during those five years."

"You're her captain. It's obvious that you're happy that she's doing better now." Azurite pointed out.

"I know that." Centi said with a nod of her head, "I like coming here to talk, at least I have some...."

"If you come here because you don't have much to do, then you know you can always sign up and we can teach you some basics?" Azurite interrupted her, knowing what she was going to say.

Centi chuckled and shook her head, "Me? In your training group, sorry but that's no for me. You already know that I prefer to use a blade or a spear, instead of my fists." 

"Okay, your loss." Azurite shrugged his shoulders.

"Besides, I don't only come here when I don't have anything to do. Shi'ra and Jasper are often here with you, and the four of us talking in our free time, while not being on a mission because someone is causing trouble or there a problem that requires our help... It just feels nice." Centi explained.

"Just the four of us." Azurite said.

"Yes. It feels like before Thanos snapped, plus you, a gem that is often so calm behaving as a stern teacher is funny to watch." Centi said, smile growing on her face at the last part.

"I know. Shi'ra likes to tease me about it." Azurite stated.

"Don't blame us. It's just funny to us." Centi said.

"It certainly is." A familiar voice came from their side as they turned around and saw Garnet approaching them.

"Garnet." Centi greeted her, offering a quick nod of her head to the fusion.

"What are you doing here?" Azurite raised his brow as Garnet approached them.

"You all just went to do to your own thing. I was left alone and you were the closest one out all of them." Garnet explained.

"What about Peridot?" Azurite asked her.

"She's probably now busy talking with Tony about this project she told us about. I don't want to interrupt them." Garnet answered.

"Project? What project?" Centi asked, hearing about it for the first time.

"She didn't told us. She wants it to be a suprise, or something like that." Azurite explained.

"Oh." Centi said in response.

The three of them just stood there, watching the sparring gems in silence, or listening when Azurite was correcting someone who made a mistake, but overally this is a really awkward silence which was broken when Azurite spoke up to them.

"...You know something, both of you? I keep telling everyone that they should move on from what happened all these years ago, and the ones who were living in Little Homeworld before Thanos' snap know how much I've been fearing the scenario of Thanos succeeding." Azurite started, staring down at the ground, "I keep telling myself that I moved on, but inside, I just know that I'm lying to them, and more importantly myself..."

The fusion and former corrupted gem were just listening to everything he was saying, until Garnet reached her hand out and offered Azurite a quick pat on his back.

Centi saw Azurite lifting his hand to have a quick look on a bracelet made of Spinel's necklace,  and asked a question that seemed pretty obvious to her, "Do you still think about it?" 

"What kind of question is it, Centi?" Azurite asked his friend as Centi remained silent, "Of course I do. Sometimes I can still see her dissolving in my arms, just a moment after we saw Orange and Groot shatter into dust..."

Garnet and Centi cringed at that, mostly because they both were dealing with the same thing. There were moments where Centi still could see her crew fade away into dust while Garnet, even though she was unfused into Ruby and Sapphire at the time still could see Steven breaking apart piece by piece in their hands.

"And to think that I was so naive..." He continued as Garnet and Centi listened to everything he had to say to them, "On the New Year, when I and Spinel go together and fused into Lolite for the first time, when we shared a drink with Shi'ra alcohol, when we watched fireworks, or even when Spinel dragged me to the dancefloor and I was so terrified because I had no idea how to dance, I finally felt whole again, I finally felt like I had a family again. I could forget about him and actually enjoy my life. I haven't felt like that since Konoritos, which was something I'll never thought I feel again. I thought I found  new family to which nothing is going to happen...but then you know what happened..."

Garnet and Centi could see a tear falling down his cheek, as the fusion reached out her hand again and gave him another comforting pat on his back, "Azurite, no matter what happened on that day, we are all family here, and that includes you too.''

Azurite sent Garnet a grateful smile, to which the fusion offered a quick smile in return. Centi doing the same, as she gave him a pat on his back herself.

"Azurite! Garnet!" All three of them turned in the direction the voice and saw Squaridot slowly approaching them.

"What is it, Squaridot?" Garnet asked her.

"Peridot told me to find you and tell you that these two Avengers want to talk with you about something. This is really urgent she said." Squaridot explained.

"Why? We just talked with Natasha." Azurite said, sending Squaridot a confused glance in response.

"Something new must've happened." Garnet stated.

"You're probably right about that." Azurite agreed with her.

"Thank you for telling us, Squaridot." Garnet thanked Squaridot for informing them about it.

Squaridot nodded her head in response, before heading off to do her own thing, as Azurite and Garnet looked over at Centi, "Thanks for the talk, Centi."

"Anytime." Centi said with a small smile on her face.

"Let's see what they want." Garnet said to Azurite, earning a nod from him.

"Rose! Shorty!" He called over his fellow Azurites, as they turned over to him, "I have to go! Can you take over while I'll be gone?" 

"Sure thing, Az." Rose said, giving her fellow Azurite a thumbs up, with Shorty nodding her head in agreement.

Azurite and Garnet all turned around and walked out of the traning place towards the house in Little Homeworld that was something like their main place of operations. On their way they were joined by Shi'ra, Jasper and Amethyst who told them that they were called over for the same reason. Upon reaching this place, they saw Peridot standing in front of a hologram that was showing Natasha and Steve was standing in front of them, but there was one more person standing by the sides of the two Avengers. All of them recognized him as Scott Lang, but the thing that confused them was the fact that he was confirmed to be one of those that died in Thanos' snap.

-----

The timeskip is here! If you are wondering if the characters looks changed, most of them stayed pretty much the same, except for Azurite and Shi'ra. Azurite now wears black jacket instead of a red one, and his entire clothing is black at this point and Shi'ra changed her hairstyle. She got rid of her ponytail and tied her long hair into drealocks.