The Gems were at the Kindergarten. They hadn't arrived early that day because Steven had taken Lapis somewhere strange; according to him, it was to get her more used to living on the beach so she wouldn't stay cooped up in the house like always. Lately, Lapis was dangerously turning into an otaku, and that worried Steven way more than any intergalactic threat.
The three of them walked quietly through the corridors of the ancient facility, a routine they had adopted every now and then to ensure no Homeworld Gem could land on Earth without being detected. It was a strange, almost tense habit, but a necessary one.
Amethyst looked around with her usual detachment while chewing on something only she knew where she'd gotten. She wondered if any enemy Gem would actually dare to come here. If she remembered correctly, Peridot had already been to the Kindergarten—not physically, but her presence had left its mark on every single mechanism in the place.
Pearl, on the other hand, observed every projector with meticulous care. Each one illuminated fragments of the past, memories that dragged her back decades emotionally. With every flickering light, she seemed to question a thousand possibilities. Garnet had been clear with them: they had to stay alert.
Garnet walked with a firm stride, adjusting her visors with an air of calm leadership. The futures she had foreseen kept shifting, branching out, and expanding out of control. It wasn't something that surprised her, but it did demand her complete focus. Most major scenarios—the good and the bad, the awkward and the weird—always seemed to converge right here at the Kindergarten. It was as if destiny insisted on dragging them back.
"That's why," she said in that deep voice that always commanded calm, "it's best to stay sharp and keep our guard up."
Amethyst snorted with exaggerated enthusiasm, as if she already felt herself in the middle of a fight. She was ready, in her mind at least, to throw some punches without a second thought. She even ducked into one of the holes in the wall as if she were exploring a children's playground.
Garnet, however, let her voice drop with sudden gravity. She reminded them that one of the Homeworld Gems was considered flawless in combat. Ever since she had emerged from the Beta Kindergarten, her skills had been impeccable in every sense: precision, strength, efficiency. She was a Gem made to win wars without ever failing.
Amethyst puffed out her cheeks and rolled her eyes, making it clear she was well used to those kinds of comments. She knew she wasn't perfect, and she didn't care as much as she used to, but hearing the comparison still stung a little inside. She spoke with a tone of annoyance and exhaustion, muttering that yeah, she already knew she was imperfect, and there was no need to keep repeating it so much.
Silence enveloped them as the three advanced toward the massive hole in the wall—the very same one left behind by that colossal robot. The Kindergarten breathed an ancient, heavy stillness. It was a place that guarded secrets, memories, and warnings.
And the three Gems pushed forward into that quiet, knowing that at any given second, everything could change.
Amethyst was the first to speak while observing from above, taking on her bird form to get a better view of the terrain. She declared that this was the spot, her voice echoing through the empty space. From the skies, she turned her head in every direction as if searching for invisible signs. The three quickly entered the enormous gap in the structure—that silent hollow that revealed absolutely nothing. It wasn't clear if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Pearl rushed ahead immediately, nearly tripping over what was left of the main console. She said they needed to find out what those Homeworld Gems were looking for here, her fingers already sliding across the destroyed panels in desperation. She ordered Amethyst to help her move the fallen pillars and reorganize the wires, because they had to work fast before someone unexpected showed up.
Amethyst complied without complaining—a rare sight for her—and ran over to Pearl to start lifting cables and clearing away chunks of machinery. It was strange to see her so focused, but even she understood that something massive was at stake here.
Meanwhile, Garnet ran both hands along the walls, analyzing every crack, every mark, every residual vibration. Something about this place triggered an uncomfortable sensation inside her gem, almost as if an ancient voice were calling her to investigate. Her Future Vision had shown her fragments—disconnected pieces she couldn't quite wrap her head around—but just by touching that wall, she felt she was pulling the right thread. Something was hiding there, something that had yet to reveal its form.
Suddenly, a sharp thud echoed throughout the Kindergarten. The three of them tensed instantly. It wasn't a thunderous crash, nor was it an attack, but it held enough force to trigger their combat instincts. The three spun toward the source of the noise, ready to defend whatever was necessary.
What they found wasn't a monster or an enemy machine. It was Peridot.
The small green Gem was walking with an irritated clumsiness through the Kindergarten's corridors. Her transport machine had broken down... well, fifty Earths ago, according to her own exaggerated calculations. It was hard to tell if she was being literal or if she was just furious, but judging by her expression, it was probably both.
As she trudged past the ancient injectors, which to her were nothing more than obsolete junk, she checked her device in sheer frustration. Her robonoid had flagged this route as the last useful location, which meant she had to proceed with what Yellow Diamond had planned for this sector. Though as she looked around, she began to notice the differences—the atmosphere, the history buried beneath the rubble. She hadn't given herself time before to process what these places represented. Five thousand years overlooked. Five thousand years ignored. And now, they seemed almost... interesting to her.
She even thought this Kindergarten could serve as a temporary base. It was isolated, deactivated, and above all, quiet. A peaceful place, ideal for her experiments and plans. But she quickly shook her head. This was no time to get distracted; she already had enough chaos in her mind without adding more to it.
Then she felt it. That familiar, annoying presence. It was them.
The rebel Gems.
Taking advantage of the fact that they were talking to each other, she tried to slip by unnoticed. She moved quickly toward a fallen pillar with the intention of hiding, though she knew it wasn't her brightest idea. Before she could duck out of sight, she heard their voices far too close and completely regretted it. She would have preferred to throw herself out a window than get trapped there.
And as if the universe wanted to mock her, at the worst possible moment, her metallic foot clipped a piece of scrap machinery, producing a loud, clear clang. The entire Kindergarten seemed to echo with that single strike.
The three rebel Gems went dead silent, tensing up, spinning around in unison like predators on high alert.
And that was the exact split second Peridot knew she was done for.
The next second, three Gems were pursuing her at full speed, unleashing absolute chaos in the Kindergarten.
Peridot ran like her life depended on it, her shrill voice echoing across the facility as she yelled for them to go find another planet to betray, trying to weave through the destroyed pillars in the absurd hope that the rebel Gems wouldn't be able to catch her. It was a futile attempt. Every move she made triggered attacks: whips slashing through the air, giant gauntlets slamming into walls and sending out shockwaves, and laser beams grazing the metal of her enhancers. Everything was raining down on her while she was simply trying to do her job.
As she kept running, something unexpected caught her eye. Nearby, as if emerging straight from the darkness, Jasper appeared. Peridot could barely react before her own voice cracked in a desperate attempt to negotiate. She shrieked that if they destroyed her, they wouldn't be able to activate anything at the center of the planet, that they needed her system, that if they killed her, there would be no way to complete the operation.
The sentence was cut short.
A cold shiver ran through her entire torso. She lowered her gaze very slowly, as if her mind refused to process it, and saw the tip of a spear protruding right through her chest. Her eyes dilated in pure shock. She was still gasping when she looked up and saw Jasper, her escort, wearing a cold grin. It was an expression that came as no surprise: Jasper always enjoyed her work far too much.
A soft pop resonated as Peridot lost her physical form. Her body poofed into a small flash of light and her gemstone tumbled toward the ground, but the newly arrived Jasper caught it before it could strike the rock. She took three steps back with her trademark military precision.
The three rebel Gems, who were already celebrating because Pearl had driven her spear through Peridot, froze in their tracks upon seeing the ultimate warrior standing before them. The air grew heavy. Jasper's mere presence was enough to tense every single fiber of their bodies.
Jasper looked down at the three of them with utter disdain. Her eyes scanned the area as if searching for a ghost, and upon seeing no sign of Rose Quartz, she let out a loud snort dripping with annoyance. Without a word, she bubbled Peridot's gem in a yellow sphere, shoved it backward with force, and raised her fist. She brought it crashing down against the ground with such impact that it kicked up a massive cloud of dust. The three Gems were instantly enveloped in smoke, blinded, with no chance of following her.
When the cloud finally began to clear, Amethyst was the first to break the silence. Her voice trembled as she admitted, "We are so screwed."
Pearl didn't even try to hide her panic. "Completely," she replied, already weighing the absurd idea of facing Jasper without a plan.
Garnet didn't say a word. She closed her eyes, invoking her Future Vision, trying to track the perfect warrior's trajectory. But the image kept distorting. Jasper wasn't moving in a straight line; she was teleporting to seemingly random points, dodging every visible future path, making it impossible to track her accurately.
Garnet clenched her fists. There was more determination than fear in her voice when she finally spoke: "We need to put them in bubbles." It wasn't just a plan. It was the only way to stop the inevitable.
End of Chapter 45.