(Y/n) smiled in appreciation as she watched Lapis lovingly carry Peridot in her arms, the smaller gem resting peacefully with her legs loosely wrapped around the latter's waist, arms clinging lightly around her neck. Lapis held Peridot with one hand beneath her, the other supporting the head and running fingers through blonde, gravity defying locks. Peridot seemed to be asleep, either that or just resting her eyes with Lapis occasionally kissing the gem's forehead every so often.

"Are you guys a thing or something?" (Y/n) asked. Lapis smiled lightly.

"I like to think we have a strong bond...but nothing's ever been established, we just have a roommate agreement."

"No I mean relationship wise." (Y/n) explained. Lapis paused her words.

"Oh." She said, eyes shifting away uncomfortably, "I don't know, don't friends normally do this?" Lapis asked worriedly.

"Well yes but it just seemed that you may see Peridot in another way that's not friendship?"

"How would I know?" Lapis asked, Pearl took interest in their conversation.

"It feels like torture." She said bluntly, catching the two's attention, soft snores coming from the green gem.

"Well, that's one way to put it, where did you hear that from?" (Y/n) asked, folding her arms curiously. The pale gem bit her lip.

"I heard someone talk about it with your great grandmother." (Y/n) nodded as she returned to her conversation with Lapis.

"Am...I hurting Peridot?" She asked worriedly. "I don't feel like I'm being tortured..."

"No...it's like... you feel restless and incomplete without Peridot, and that feeling is something you can't bear." Pearl explained. "Not that I'd know, I've just witnessed things similar." She seemed to not want to talk more on the subject and instead ignored anything else that was said.

"Well..." Lapis began, "I DID feel something like that when I was away from Peridot for the first few years...but I think that feeling left me after so long of isolation." Lapis subconsciously kissing Peridot's hair again, causing (Y/n) to lift a brow.

"If that's the case then how do you feel about Peridot now that you've seen her in years?" (Y/n) asked. Lapis' face flushed as she cradled Peridot gently.

"I think I feel... somewhat bursting?" Lapis described. "Like something inside me can pop at any given moment... is this the torture?"

(Y/n) smiled, "That's the feeling of love." Lapis nodded in understanding, "The question is what KIND of love."

"There are different kinds?" Pearl perked up at Lapis' question, deciding to voice her opinion once more.

"Well yes, there is love like wanting to protect someone, love like family, love like friends and then, love like you're INlove with someone and you want to be with them forever and be affectionate and intimate, like a mate."

"Inlove." Lapis stated, "That sounds fitting." Peridot shifted in Lapis' arms, eyes blinking slowly as they scanned their surroundings.

"Oh hi Lazuli...are we there yet?" She yawned.

"No, we only just made it back to the warp pad." Lapis pointed out.

"Really? What took so long?"

"(Y/n) had to excrete."

"LAPIS!" (Y/n) exclaimed, face red with embarrassment.

"Now, now, there's nothing to be ashamed of! ALL humans excrete." Pearl said soothingly.

"Yeah but you don't just SAY that sort of thing out loud." (Y/n) groaned, a hand running down her face.

"It's nothing new to me anyways, I've SEEN what's gone on in those bathrooms you humans have." Peridot waved a hand, somewhat proud that she knew this. "We all know that you stand in front of a hole protruding through the ground which is called a toilet and-"

"Um not all of us." (Y/n) said, raising a brow, "Did you watch someone while they were using the toilet?"

"Affirmative, when I was first captured by the Crystal Gems, I took refuge in Steven's bathroom."

"I'm guessing you saw my grandfather?" (Y/n) asked with disgust, somewhat trying to rid the image from her brain, regretting even asking more.

"Affirmative, don't all humans excrete the same way?"

"NO!" (Y/n) yelled.

"Quite the opposite actually." Pearl piped up, "The male humans have-" (Y/n) put her fingers in her ears, ignoring what Pearl had said. Even if she WAS in her 30s, she wasn't going to listen to aliens explaining the human reproductive and urinary systems to other aliens."

"Bottom line is, I emptied my bladder, now can we PLEASE talk about something else?" (Y/n) sighed tiredly, watching as Peridot snickered.

"Eh, whatever, we have to warp to the volcano thing." She said, pointing to the warp pad in front of Lapis and herself. Pearl stood on the crystal surface, beckoning everyone to follow after her, stepping aside to make room.

Lapis carried Peridot to the platform as (Y/n) followed, standing carefully in place as Lapis nodded, suggesting that she warped the group to their next location.

The instant the light faded away, (Y/n) felt the rush of hot wind blow up in her face, her underarms growing wet with sweat as her forehead and neck began to perspire heavily. She turned to look at the gems, all standing motionless and seemingly unfazed by such extraordinary heat. (Y/n) gasped in surprise, a hand fanning her face.

"You guys aren't even a LITTLE hot?" she fanned herself.

"Gems have the ability to adjust their bodies to a suitable body temperature depending on the environment, we also can fluctuate our weight and gravity depending on the planet we are on- it's an adaptation thing we have since our species was originally designed and created to conquer multiple planets and colonise them." Peridot explained, peeking out from Lapis' hair.

"Well, us humans can also adapt, although the process usually takes a few years."

"That would be called evolution." Pearl explained, stepping towards the rocky grounds. "I think Garnet is inside the volcano, therefore Lapis, you will have to strike the top with water."

"Um, I don't mean to burst the metaphorical bubble but how can lapis do anything without water?" Peridot pointed out, "And I doubt the perspiration on (Y/n)'s body is enough to accomplish the outcome we are aiming for."

"Oh no, Pearl managed to transport a bucket of water with us in her gem." Lapis explained, watching on cue as three buckets full to the brim of water were summoned.

"Where did you get the buckets from?" (Y/n) asked, remembering that she was supposed to ask the pale gem that very question the moment she had filled them up.

"Oh I have many things in my gem for emergency, I tend to over prepare." Pearl blushed a blue tint in embarrassment, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Well it's a good thing you did, this really is helpful." Lapis grinned, removing the hand that held Peridot carefully to replace it with the hand that was resting on her blonde head. The free hand was raised into the air, the water following along in time as it rested mid-air, the buckets restored to Pearl's gem instantly.

"Do you think it's enough?" (Y/n) asked worriedly.

"Probably enough to cause some steam or smoke but not enough to damage the volcano itself." Peridot hypothesized, watching in delight as Lapis controlled the water molecules within the air. They flew briskly within the air, gracefully falling before coming into contact with supposed molten lava with a painful splat.

Almost instantly giant puffs of smoke arose, a mixture of carbon dioxide and evaporated water rising high into the sky, connecting and mixing with the small number of clouds above. (Y/n) watched in surprise as a few boulder sized rocks burst from the top, rolling along the opposite side of the mountain.

"Do you think Garnet saw?" Pearl asked, eyeing the boulders that had flown away moments before.

"LAPIS!" a deeper voice yelled, somewhat British and feminine, "I thought I told you to stay away!" the voice sounded angry, powerful and frightening as more of the smoke seeped out of the volcano, clouding the small group's vision and limiting their sight to only things 20 feet away.

Pearl blinked slowly, hand shielding her eyes as she beckoned the group to huddle closer, checking their surroundings for anything or anyone to stumble by.

A shadow loomed in front of them, almost waiting for the smog to clear away for a grand appearance. (Y/n) could make out thick thighs and a tall build with a somewhat square head. Time only improved her sight.

A woman, dark skin with a purple, red and pink suit covering her body. She wore strange gloves with one finger and a mysterious pair of shades that covered her eyes. Her palms had two gems indicating that she was indeed a fusion and only making her presence even more terrifying.

The air was clear by then, revealing Pearl, Lapis, Peridot and (Y/n) looking hopefully towards the gem, anticipation the feeling of fear.

"So...my vision is correct..." Garnet adjusted her shades and removed them, surprising (Y/n) sightly with three eyes, a blue, a red, and a purple one in the middle. She chuckled slightly, "There was 50 other futuristic possibilities." She began, eyeing (Y/n) carefully, "All of which involved you three," she pointed towards the gems, "Coming here to either annoy me, kill me or actually try and stop the Red Eye." She placed two hands on (Y/n)'s shoulders, the gems touching her body lightly as she smiled joyfully, "And out of those 50 possible outcomes, there was just one, only one, where I would finally get to meet (Y/n)."

(Y/n) smiled at the woman, shades magically covering her face once more, "I know why you're here and I will help you." She nodded to the rest of the team, smiling happily, "It's been so long, hmm? Very long..." Pearl hugged the former leader instantly as she took her place as leader once more.

"Years Garnet, years! I'm so happy to see you again!" Pearl laughed joyously as Garnet reciprocated the hug.

"It's nice to see you two as well." Garnet nodded with an appreciative glance. "Sorry for scaring you Lapis, it was not intentional."

"It's kay." Lapis slurred, hugging Peridot tightly in response. Garnet nodded in acceptance to her reaction.

"So have you two got it going?" Garnet snickered, pulling away from Pearl's hug. Lapis flushed a deep blue as Peridot burned green.

"Well we didn't really talk to Peridot about-"

Garnet folded her arms in disbelief. "Oh I dunno, Peridot?" the fusion asked knowingly.

"Um..." The smaller gem nuzzled Lapis' neck, "Okay so maybe I wasn't exactly asleep when you were talking about love and stuff..." Lapis' eyes bulged wide open at the news, lip bitten.

"W-well? What do you say?" Lapis asked hesitantly, looking at the gem within her arms.

"Well... are you okay with...this?" Peridot asked, fingers playing with each other.

"I am if you are! I like being around you." Lapis admitted as Peridot beamed contently.

"Well if you are then I am to." Peridot said, "Even if I can't fuse... I like being around you."

(Y/n) frowned. "Wait, you can't fuse?"

"I'm an era 2 gem, we don't have that kind of power, I'm lucky to even have ferrokenisis – metal powers. So I can't shapeshift, or fuse or even summon a weapon! At least I don't think I can..."

"But- that doesn't matter." Lapis spoke up, "Because I love you for what you are, not what you're not."

"Well someone's optimistic for once." Pearl noted.

"It's a quote from the 'Pretty Hairstylist'" Lapis blushed.

"That old book series? You guys seriously have been out of touch for quite a few years." (Y/n) noted, smiling lightly.

"Yes, and it's about time we got the final member of our team back." Garnet said.

"Oh there's one more Crystal Gem! But who?" (Y/n) asked. Pearl smiled.

"Amethyst, but the only clue we have is this drawing of what I suspect is the letter "M'... from the human alphabet." Pearl produced the book from her gem once more, showing the picture to the others. "And there's another drawing, I suspect it could be important but we should deal with it after we find Amethyst."

"That's obviously the 'M' for the McDonalds sign...we can find her working at one in Empire city."

"How are you so sure?" (Y/n) asked bewildered.

"Future vision." Garnet winked, reminding the human with the third eye from under her shades.

"McDonalds?! The fast food place that's killing people faster than you can say 'Antidisestablishmentarianism?!"

"At least we didn't continue to go on and harm humanity." Lapis noted.

"It actually only kills when they over eat." Peridot said matter-of-factly, "But the preservatives are just disgusting, I left one of their... 'burgers' out for half a year as an experiment – it stayed exactly the same." Peridot put air quotes around 'burgers'. "No fungus, mould or insect wanted to eat that shit."

(Fun Fact: there is currently a real life McDonalds burger that is 18 YEARS old, I'll leave a [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2313276/Man-keeps-McDonalds-burger-14-years-looks-exactly-the-day-flipped-Utah.html] but the original article is like 4 years old so the burger was only like...14 then...Happy Birthday Burger?)

Pearl scoffed, "Peridot language!"

"Eh fuck it." (Y/n) replied, "Someone was bound to start swearing shit." Pearl gasped.

"B-ut, (Y/n) your innocence!"

"Lost that like...15 years ago when I watched 2 Girls 1 Cup by accident. That was nasty fucked up shit – literally."

"I don't want to even know." Pearl groaned at the thoughts of what two human females could do with a single cup. (Y/n) shrugged as she shook the memories out of her head, clapping her hands impatiently.

"Well then, shall we get moving or wait till New Year's?" (Y/n) asked.

"Waiting till New Year's would result- oh wait, yes, that was an exaggerated form of speech." Peridot remember, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah you're getting the hang of human language." (Y/n) laughed.

"It's confusing." Peridot mumbled.

"Agreed, I have no idea who invented it but whoever did was crazy high." Lapis said.

"You know what high means?" (Y/n) asked in surprise.

"I'm not stupid, I know stuff." Lapis smirked.

"Right, well let's stop swearing and actually-"

"I vote for Pearl to say Fuck." Peridot burst out, earning giggles from Lapis and (Y/n).

"Peridot!" Pearl said in disapproval, "I am not going to spoil my language!" (Y/n) shrugged.

"Pearl, just say Fuck so we can move on." Garnet sighed, already seeing the future outcome of wasting a good thirty minutes on getting Pearl to say the swear word. Pearl fidgeted, annoyed clearly that her leader demanded her to swear to get it over and done with.

"Fine." Pearl began, "But you can't swear anymore after that." (Y/n) exchanged looks with Lapis and Peridot.

"Sure, that's fair." Peridot grinned.

"Okay then, fuck - happy now? Good, NOW LET'S GET MOVING YOU SHITHEADS!" Pearl yelled, dragging the straggling team to catch up with Garnet who was already waiting at the warp pad, laughing silently to herself at Pearl's small outburst.

The team climbed onto the warp pad, silent but content for some strange reason, probably pleased that they had gotten Pearl to cuss. (Y/n) couldn't help but burst into a fit of silent giggles before looking over to see Lapis and Peridot, silently snuggling against each other affectionately as the tractor beam engulfed the almost complete team within a shower of blue and white sparkly light.