The world spun. The smoke was ripped away as the wind roared in my ears. The floor dropped out beneath my feet. I was falling! The sky was around me, clouds drifting lazily beneath me. Thousands of feet below them, the ground stretched on endlessly, rushing closer by the millisecond. I heard screams. The others were around me, each of them suddenly in the sky alongside me. I have to save them! Lapis’s wings sprung from her Gem. I focused my emotions, finding those that made me feel weightless in any situation.

I felt a hand land on my shoulder. We stopped, suddenly floating in the sky as quickly as we had appeared. I felt myself being right, my feet finding solid ground on open air. Mo left me, helping the others levitate correctly. When they were all standing, Mo strode out in front of us, no sight of anything holding her aloft. “Sorry for the spook, Gems and gentleman, but I didn’t want to disappoint such important guests.”

“Where the heck are we?” Amethyst cried, her normal bravado shoved away by her shock.

“The sky, of course,” Mo said as if it was the most mundane of daily tasks. “Just showing you a fan favorite.”

“A fan favorite what?” Peridot asked, her voice shaking with excitement. “Did you teleport us? Without a Warp Pad? Was that smoke some sort of transportation ability? I’ve never seen anything like it!”

Mo bent her knees so that she looked Peridot straight in the eye. “A true Kindergarten, I see. If you bear with me for a little longer, I think the pieces will come together.” She left Peridot shaking from her curiosity, returning to that empty space in front of us. “Now, may I have a volunteer?”

Something large prodded my back. I turned my head to see Bismuth in my peripheral, her eyes moving from me to Mo. She’s not giving up. I raised my hand.

“Young man! Thanks for offering! Please come forward!” I broke away from the others and approached Mo. She was still smiling. I hadn’t known her long but seeing her like this makes me a little uncomfortable. “Now, what would you like?”

“Huh?”

Mo stepped closer. I had to tilt my head back to look at her. “Tell me. Tell me if it should wonderful or terrible. Happy or sad. Wild or tame. Just tell me.”

What… is she talking about? “I...uh… I don’t…”

“Maybe I should make myself clear.” Her false persona vanished. The real Mo was back, a tired smile paired with an equally tired face. “In this moment, right now, what would make you the happiest?” She held out her hand. I took it. Smoke curled from her fingers, coiling around my wrist.

Happiest? I’m already happy. For once, we don’t have anything to worry about. The troubles are gone. There are no more enemies. For now, everything is perfect.

Just this morning, everything was perfect…

I just love that part, where Pink Diamond spends the rest of her days on this nowhere planet, with a bunch of NOBODIES!

My Diamond! Your Diamond! Pink Diamond!

I wanted to tell you for so long…

If can’t be yourself, I’ll do it for you!

“Something uncomplicated,” I tell her. The smoke has reached my shoulder, it’s presence soothing me from the sudden rush of thoughts. “Something simple.”

Mo nodded, her smile the slightest bit different, a little more understanding. “I can do that. May I see your Gem?”

Out of habit, I clenched the stone through the fabric of my shirt. Mo didn't’ react, just waited. The smoke retracted from my arm, taking its comfort with it. My hesitation passed. I lifted my shirt and showed my Gem to Mo.

It happened again, her smile changed. I can’t place it. It’s a smile I’ve never seen before, one that doesn’t reach her eyes and still seems tired, but there’s something else that makes it almost happy. Mo withdrew her hand from mine, reaching towards my Gem. Her fingers found its facets. Smoke erupted from her body, blinding me. When it cleared, everything had changed.

Something was holding me, water spilling from my clothes. I looked up at what had me in its arms. Framed by the sun, I saw a face familiar yet completely unknown. A round face with a pointed nose and full lips, a steady determination lining her features. Wild hair was gathered into a giant ponytail, untamed and elegant. She moved so swiftly that my vision blurred. We were sliding down the railing of the steps that had taken several long minutes to climb. She leaped, the wind seeming to greet her. Her trajectory was effortlessly perfect, leaping from one floating platform to another without the slightest stumble. We landed just as fast, her four hands laying me down as she skidded to a halt. “Stay low,” She said, a voice as balanced as her movements.

The flock of Corrupted Gems was gaining on us. They formed a mass of beating wings and snapping jaws that sought nothing else than to devour us. I should be terrified. I’m not. As I watch the graceful Gem, a whip and spear materializing in her hands and combining into a bow, I felt no fear. I had no words. All I could do was watch as she pulled back the string, an arrow of light forming. She let it fly, scattering the predators. The arrow burst, a barrage of smaller projectiles skewering the birds, poofing and bubbling them simultaneously.

My thoughts were lost in sheer amazement. It was… incredible. She turned to me, hundreds of bubbles beginning to disappear behind her. She offered me her hand.

My amazement fractured, doubt creeping in uninvited. “Do you… remember me?”

Opal chuckled. In that steady voice, she sang “All you want to do, is see me turn into…”

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“Steven, you wanna play them the song you wrote?”

My dad looked at me. Why did he say that?

“Um…”

“Come on, you wrote it for them. Seriously, he’s really excited to live with you guys. It’s- It’s all he talks about,” My dad told the Gems, who were watching us. “Don’t you want them to hear it?”

I want them to hear it, but what if they don’t like it. I don’t want to upset them.

“Come on, Steven~”

I looked at Garnet as she said my name. She was smiling. She doesn’t do that a lot.

“Yeah, we’ll like it, even if it’s bad!”

“Amethyst! But... It’s true though.”

Amethyst and Pearl were smiling, too. They agreed. They didn’t happen a lot, either.

All of them, all of the Crystal Gems were smiling. They wanted to hear my song.

I had to play. I took a deep breath and strummed my ukelele.

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“The sun is bright, our shirts are clean, we’re sitting up above the sea. Come on and share this jam with me~”

“Peach or plum or strawberry, any kind is fine you see. Come on and share this jam with me~”

Connie stood up, unable to sit still as she sang and played her violin. “I’ll do my best to give this jam the sweetness it deser-er-er-eves~

I jumped to my feet, stomping back forth in time with our makeshift melody. “And I’ll keep it fresh, I’m jammin’ on these tasty preserves~”

We’d practice this next line constantly, working to time it just right. “Ingredients in harmony, we mix together perfectly. Come on and share this jam with me~”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Connie and the washing machine vanished into wisps of smoke. I was back in the living. Mo had stepped back, the traces of smoke vanishing from her hand, a faint glow from her Gem extinguishing.

“And that’s it,” Mo said. “Are you alright?”

It had seemed so real. Each memory was as clear as it was when it first happened. It was like I was back their, reexperiencing each event with fresh eyes. While I was there, they weren’t recollections. I might as well have erased the last few years and started from those exact moments. The emotions I had felt were the same, but it was like they were brand new. Each thought, every action, everything was the same, but it had been the first time I saw them all over again.

“It was… incredible…” I couldn’t even think of what to say. Those three words were as accurate as I could be.

“Wow.”

It was the first time since coming back that I realized I was still surrounded by the others. Each of them was dumbstruck, staring at Mo as if she had glued their gazes to her. They had seen them, too. They had seen and felt the same things I had. They got to see my memories through my eyes.

Mo bowed. “I’m glad you’re all pleased.” Her body shone, her regular attire reclaiming its rightful place. “It’s been a long time since I had the chance to pull out my bag of tricks. Looks like I still got it.”

A blur of green and yellow shot by me. Peridot latched yourself onto Mo’s leg, gazing at her with starlit eyes. “How are you able to do that? What… What even was that?”

“Memories,” Mo said simply. “I can access the memories of other Gems.”

Peridot looked like she might just burst from excitement. “You’re able to process the long-term information storage that centers at the existence of every Gem?”

“Umm… ye-es?”

“Do it to me next! Do it to me?”

As Peridot continued to plead for Mo to use her powers again, Bismuth leaned over the table and said, “See? What did I tell you? She’s pretty amazing?”

Mo tried to push Peridot off of her, bargaining that she would look at Peridot’s memories if she could get a little space. The sensation of reliving some of my favorite memories left me feeling light. Amazing… That doesn’t even begin to describe it. Mo can literally let you relive the best parts of your life as if they were new. In that space, I felt like a kid again. The time that I had sung that song for the Crystal Gems had been so long ago that it had been nothing more than a faint smug in my mind. Now, it stood out so vividly that I doubted it would ever fade again. Back in those moments, nothing had a bigger meaning than what was happening. It had been so simple, so easy. When I was there, I had what I wanted. It was perfect.

Mo really is incredible.

Peridot stood in front of Mo, physically vibrating from anticipation. Mo’s hand had just begun to ghost over her triangular Gem when a light sent the room into contrast. The Warp Pad blared for several seconds before dimming. Pearl and Garnet stood on its surface.

“We’re back~” Pearl sang as she stepped off the pad. “And we have good-”

She stopped abruptly. Pearl’s eyes lingered on Mo, the pale gem having gone still upon their appearance, her hand millimeters from Peridot’s forehead. Her expression was unreadable, but not nearly so as Garnet’s underneath her visor.

“Look who we found,” Bismuth bellowed good-naturedly, rising from the couch while spreading her arms.

“Moissanite,” Pearl whispered, her voice barely audible.

Mo drew her hand back, straightening her back as she kept her gaze on her old teammates. “Pearl. Garnet. You’re really here,” Her voice broke as she started smiling, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “I never thought-”

Mo never finished. She took one step forward, shattering Pearl’s stagnation. In a flash, she had summoned a spear from her gem and slashed at Mo, forcing to the Gem to scramble backward before she was cut. Wind buffed my face as Garnet launched from the Warp Pad, gauntlets armed, and landed a solid punch to Mo’s midsection, sending her flying and crashing through the wall in a burst of splinters.