Hope struggled with trying to wake up. Her body unable to cooperate. There was nothing but darkness in her mind. Her heart heavier than the rest of her body. She felt a gentle hand and realized it was Pearl. "Hope...I know it's hard right now, but can you get up? You'll need to work soon." Hope sighed as she remembered how she wound up on the couch of the beach house. It was after her fight with Bluebird. Jasper picks her up gently and Garnet looks at her with concern. When they got back to the house, Garnet had a vision of Hope shattering Aquamarine and then Larimar coming to the house to tell the gems what had happened. Throughout the night, Hope cried until she found herself falling asleep on the sofa.

Hope sighed and finally opened her eyes. The blanket on her fell away to reveal that she was wearing the same clothes she wore yesterday. She got up to go to the bathroom where she looked up to see that she had dark circles and bloodshot eyes. Her hair was a mess and the clothes weren't much help. She took a shower, sitting in the tub. She was lost in her own thoughts. She basically lost everything in one day. A home. Her Aunt. Her scarf. Her will to go on. She turned off the water and dried herself. Before she could reach for her old clothes, she heard a knock on the door. "Hope," Garnet said. "We got you some fresh clothes." She opened the door and took it. It was a pea green t-shirt with a seahorse on it with a fresh pair of jeans.

Once she was dressed she was surprised that a stack of waffles was already there for her. What even surprised her more was that Blue Lace showed up with some muffins in a basket. "Blue Lace? What are you doing here? I won't see you until another hour."

"Oh." Blue Lace said. "Larimar told everyone what happened yesterday before she went to funland this morning. I'm sorry that happened to you. I thought to bring these over to cheer you up. Also, I wanted to thank you for helping me clean up and get those cakes baked. It was a real lifesaver." She held out the basket. "I have one of each flavor. What do you prefer? Apple, Pumpkin Spice, Blueberry, Chocolate or Vanilla?"

"Apple." Hope pulled out the muffin of her choice and ate it. It was soft and had the right texture. She swallowed hard. "Thank you." She tried not to cry. Before long, she started to sit down and eat her breakfast. She began to enjoy the softness of waffles and drinking water.

-Hours later-

Hope was able to pull herself together long enough to help Blue Lace with the latest cakes she planned to put on display: Constellation Cakes. Each cake would have a night sky with a constellation on it. Hope did all thirteen constellations that she knew by heart by the time lunch started.

Once she removed her apron, She was soon met up by Larimar, Volleyball and Jasper. The three gems were looking at her in the doorway. Volleyball was holding a bouquet of flowers for her. Both she and Larimar smiled while Jasper looked away in shame. "Larimar told us what happened this morning. We're so sorry about what happened between you and Bluebird. If it makes you feel any better, she tried destroying the plants in Peridot's greenhouse and stealing weapons from Bismuth's workshop." Volleyball handed her the flowers.

"I'm not surprised." Hope grumbled, taking the flowers. "Mr. Universe told me that he was held hostage by her. She wanted Little Homeworld to burn to the ground. Guess she was trying to find ways to do that without bringing too much attention." She looked at Jasper. "I'm so sorry they had to drag you into that mess."

"It's not your fault. Those two were asking me if I could guard those books because they didn't want to be stolen. Pearl and Garnet are returning them right now." Jasper said. She simply petted Hope's head. "Glad to see you're up and about." There was a small smile on her face, but her eyes held sadness.

Hope sadly smiled back. "Well, I guess we can explore more of Beach City before your next classes are next." She waved Blue Lace goodbye and then left. It didn't improve her mood too much, but the warm sun and the breeze gave her some comfort. She began exploring one store to the next. She met with Valdalia, a local artist that ran a t-shirt shop. The Frymans gave some of their tater tots on the house. The Pizzas were hanging out with their grandmother, Nanafua, who was also the mayor of the town. When she told them about her situation, Nanafua let her have some free lunch. Also, she was suspicious. "That's odd. I've been meaning to have that house renovated, but it was bought beforehand." She thought for a moment. "I'll have that investigated."

Hope nodded thank you. She went with the gems to Little Homeschool. She didn't have much to do. She needed a job permanently so she won't struggle during the fall and winter. It wasn't long until a lot of gems were surrounding her. They all were complimenting her gem and expressing sympathy for what had happened. Before long, she started sitting through some classes. She was enjoying Lapis' art class. Garnet's class on relationships made her feel hollow so she went to Pearl's class that involves doing human technology. As the afternoon was rolling by, she noticed that some gems were sitting around a few photos. They seemed to be arguing about something. Hope walked over to them to have a look.

"Um...Hi." Hope said. "What are you looking at?" She knelt beside the ruby and nephrite. She was stunned to see some accurate photos of the animals on the beach. One of the photos had a sea lion laying against a rock, sunbathing. "These pictures are good. Where did you get them?"

"We had a fishing trip with Yellowtail and Pearl wanted us to take some snapshots of the wildlife." A ruby with her gem on her knee explained. She lifted up the photo. "Then, we saw these really cool animals that bark like dogs."

"We heard that they are called seals and sea lions." Nephrite spoke. "I said it's a seal."

"No way! It's a sea lion and it's a way cooler name!" Ruby roared.

"Seal!"

"Sea Lion!"

"Seal!"

"Sea Lion!"

Hope immediately got between the two. "Calm down! They belong to the same family, but they are two different species." She held up the picture. She notices that the creature had ear flaps along its head. The flippers were facing a different direction. "This is a sea lion. More specifically, Stella's Sea Lion." She showed them the ear flaps and the flippers. "Seals don't have visible ears and they are a bit smaller with a more tube shaped body."

"Oh." Both Ruby and Nephrite pulled out another picture. This time, it was a dolphin. "What can you tell me about this one?"

Hope started to identify each animal that was presented in the photos. Before long, she began to have an audience. Every gem sitting around her. Asking questions about the ocean birds and mammals until it was time to go home. Pearl and Garnet stood there with smiles on their faces. "Wow. I had never known you could teach the class like that." Pearl spoke. "You really enjoy the subject you teach."

Hope blush. "I just read a lot of ocean books and bird books whenever I went to the library. Sometimes I would sneak outside when I just wanted to be alone when my aunt kept encouraging me to try new things."

"Well," Garnet said. "Why not?"

"Trying new things doesn't give you friends." Hope said. "Not for the right reasons anyway." Hope felt her body tighten. She had tried some new things like knitting, but it never guaranteed having new friends. Even when a few kids were her friends, they would run away or laugh the moment she reveals her gem. Tears began to sting her eyes at those memories. Her heart falling into pieces. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Garnet.

"Hope. Why don't you spend the night with us." Garnet said. "If you would like, we could set-up a personal classroom in Little Homeschool." She raised her hand before Hope could speak. "Everyone loves you here. You really do enjoy those topics." The red gem blushed. "Also, we don't know that stuff too well. We could use all the help we could get."

Hope chuckled. She wiped away from her tears. "I guess I can give it a try. It could give me something to get my mind off of my problems." She smiled. "Thank you, Garnet. Thank you, Pearl." Then, a thought occurred to her. "Do any of you have a notebook so I can figure out what to do for lessons?"

Pearl materialized an empty notebook and handed it over to Hope. Hope hugged her and went to find Larimar and Volleyball to tell them the good news. When Hope was gone, Pearl frowned. "Garnet? Do you think we should tell Hope that her aunt suddenly quit after all those books in the reference section disappeared?"

Garnet thought for a moment. "In time. Right now, Hope is hurting. That piece of news might be too much for her to take in right now." She adjusted her visor. "We need to find Aquamarine and Eyeball. Those two are dangerous especially after my last vision showed me Hope holding a sword over Aquamarine." She looked at Hope talking to Volleyball and Larimar as the trio hugged in celebration. Garnet looked at Pearl and then into the dusky sky. She silently prayed that the grim vision didn't come true.

-In the woods-

Aquamarine grumbled as she pushed away the branches and leaves in front of her. Ever since the two were separated, Aquamarine had to hide in a cave for an entire night. She had to wait until it was safe to come out. She kept calling Eyeball until her voice was raw. I would leave this horrible plant, Aquamarine thought. But I need that rock head in order to get out safely. Suddenly, she heard Hope's angry words echo in her head. She shook it. Her head perked up when she heard sniffling. She kept following that sound until she saw Eyeball sitting on a log. "Ruby!"

Eyeball looked at the little fairy. Her regular eye streaming with never ending tears. Her nose being runny. She wiped her nose, but couldn't stop her sobbing. "She hated me...She was so...upset...She's the best warrior of Homeworld. Now…" She tried to wipe away her tears.

"Pull yourself together!" Aquamarine growled. "We don't need Jasper! I knew it wouldn't work. I guess she's not that dumb as I originally thought. We need to get out of here before Garnet or the Crystal gems find us. We'll get our revenge on them."

"What's the point?!" Eyeball snapped. "My hero called me a weakling! My squad is gone! All I have is a stuck up dot of a gem who can't use her water powers right and had to use a wand just to get the job done!"

Aquamarine blushed then turned angry. "This little dot! Came up with far better plans than you could! I don't know why I even find myself hanging around a whiny has-been when I should go find someone with more class!" She was about to turn to leave when she felt something hit her in the back of the head. Before she could react, she was tossed to the ground by Eyeball. The two gems were rolling around. Exchanging punches.

Suddenly, clapping was heard which caused them to stop. Aunt Cassie appeared out of the bushes. The red-headed human had a pleasant smile on her face. She looked different for some reason. "I thought I would find you here. I want to thank you for helping me today."

"Help you?!" Aquamarine gasped. She shoved Eyeball off of her. "With what?"

"It was thanks to you letting us have those stupid books caused Jasper to hate me!" Eyeball roared. She froze when she saw something slithering in the shadows.

"Well, it helped me get the sacrifice ready." Aunt Cassie answered. She tossed her glasses on the ground.

"Sacrifice? What are-" Aquamarine stopped. She remembered reading in a dictionary that a sacrifice is something or someone that is being presented to an all mighty being. For some reason, it didn't feel right to her. Her mind screams that they should get away fast!

"Aqua-" Eyeball was about to grab the gem when something stabbed her side. Tentacles surrounded her as pain began to erupt on her side.

Aquamarine turned around only to be stabbed as well. She felt a burning sensation throughout her body! Something kicked her hard. The action caused her to roll around until she hit a tree trunk. Before she got up, she was pinned to the ground. She wanted to call out to someone, but no voice could come out. Her vision began to blur and her hearing started to become distorted. Her breathing became hard even though she didn't have lungs. Aunt Cassie stood over her with creatures resembling snakes and sea creatures surrounding her. "Guess the poison is working. You two will make fine experiments when this is over…Just need to get...Goodniiiiiight…" Aquamarine soon found herself falling into an unending darkness.

Yes, folks this just got dark. I'll make sure it's rated T. Hope is going to go through one more heartache and face something that'll change her character. Review please.