Peridot drops to her knees in the sand as a sudden realization overwhelms her like the waves on the ocean they're standing in front of her, and that realization is that she will never truly understand this. She really doesn't get fusion- her experiences with it are secondhand and her fear of it is irrational and based on so much uncertainty of what happens to the individual when you're two people in one.

And that's the crux of the issue, isn't it? Because Lapis is no longer an individual in the strictest sense. She's a Lapis Lazuli, shot through with yellowing imperfections like scars from the time she spent with Jasper. Those scars can't be smoothed over. They'll linger. She'll be imperfect and off-color forever now.

Just like a crystal gem, then.

Peridot forces herself slowly back onto her feet. Malachite's shadow eclipses her, blocking out the moonlight on the beach. "I don't know how. I just am. I've always known this about you, even when I didn't understand it." No, that's not right. "Even though I don't understand it. You don't have to be okay with it, but you can be happy. You can be happy with me. It's not easy for either of us, but we'll figure it out."

Gingerly, hopefully, with tears in the corner of her eyes: "Can't we try, Lapis?"