Empire City was exactly as it sounded. An empire, hundreds of buildings all cramped into a singular area with a whooping population of at least half a million. Busy roads, busy lights and busy people, each doing their own things and making their own ways through their own walks of life.

"Oh this is the place Steven showed me when I first settled on Earth." Lapis exclaimed, eyeing the loud machines that populated the roads. "It was just as busy as it is now."

"Well this could be slightly problematic." Pearl spoke up, turning to Garnet, "There are on average 50 McDonald's restaurants in a city and we have no map to indicate where they all are!" Garnet placed a hand on Pearl's shoulders reassuringly.

"Pearl." She said, voice stead and calm, "It's going to be alright- I know where to go." Garnet smiled confidently, leading the group of gems through the busy world.

"I wonder why Amethyst decided to take up a job." Peridot began, "Why does she need all that money?"

"A place to stay." Garnet explained knowingly, "She didn't want to return to the kindergarten after we disbanded and stayed as close as possible to people."

"Well, she sounds successful." Lapis said, "And smart too, being close to people prevents insanity, or the most of it at the very least." She nodded in approval as Garnet stopped at a pedestrian's crossing.

"Garnet, we can fly over to the other side." Lapis pointed out.

"Or I can stop the cars with my metal powers." Peridot suggested, pulling away for only a second from Lapis.

"We can't disrupt the human ecosystem here, we will attract too much attention." Garnet explained, patiently crossing the street as the green light signalled it was okay. The others followed, somewhat understanding the consequences of the actions and decided not to question them anymore.

"Amethyst is three blocks down from here, her lunch break starts in about 10 minutes which gives us enough time to speak with her." Confidence asserted the small group.

"Do you think Amethyst will join us?" (Y/n) spoke up. Garnet grumbled.

"Mmmhh, I don't know, it's hard to tell with Amethyst... But the favours are with us so I'm going to say most likely." Garnet explained.

"Well it's better than no hope at all." Pearl shrugged, fingers fiddling. "I hope she's okay, I mean, I haven't seen her for so long- none of us have...it's so strange to be a part of the Crystal Gems again, even if this is only temporary-"

"Temporary?" (Y/n) repeated in surprise.

"Well, I didn't think we were going to get back together after all of this... I mean, I didn't even believe we would get this far!" Pearl admitted.

"Well I'm not returning to isolation." Lapis said defensively, hugging Peridot.

"Neither." The green gem agreed.

"We can talk about the Crystal Gems later." Garnet said, a finger pointing towards a smaller purple figure across the road. A bag of what looked like trash was in her arms as she opened the larger dumpster to fill. Her back facing the group who slowly made their way towards the figure.

(Y/n) could make out purple tinted skin with long, purple tinted, white hair, the woman was short, a bit taller than what Peridot stood at and was rather plump, muscles lining her body.

"Amethyst." Garnet spoke slowly, "Good to see you."

Amethyst didn't dare turn around, almost surprised to be addressed in such manner. The bag of rubbish was thrown away as the woman folded her arms, back still facing away. "Depends... who's asking?" Her voice was raspy and somewhat dry, a hint of worry filling her voice.

"Amethyst?" Peridot questioned curiously.

"I don't go by that name anymore." She said coldly. "I'm not whoever you think I am."

"Then we must be confused." Garnet said knowingly, "You must not be the former Crystal Gem we are in search for, deep apologies, we will be on our way."

The girl turned quickly, a name tag revealing her to be called "Amy". She shook her head, an eye covered by a fringe.

"Wait, Crystal Gem?" This immediately grasped her attention, causing her to inspect the strangers. "Garnet? Pearl? Lapis? Peridot?" She asked unexpectedly. "What are you all doing here?"

"We are here to get you." Lapis informed her. "We need you apart of the Crystal Gems." Amethyst bit her lip guiltily.

"Crystal Gems? I don't know, I mean, we agreed we'd stop, why the sudden change of heart?" She folded her arms impatiently.

"Because a Red Eye is out to get me." (Y/n) spoke up, waving a hand shyly. "Hey, I'm (Y/n)." Amethyst's eye widened as she registered the human before her.

"(Y/n)." Amethyst repeated.

"But I understand completely if you can't help." (Y/n) began, "I mean, you did just say that you don't go by your old name anymore, have you removed that past self?" Peridot looked and waited for an answer.

"No you've got it wrong...I just..." Amethyst uncertainly unpinned her name tag from her shirt and tossed it aside. "Is this for real? Are we going to permanently get back together?" She was hopeful, (Y/n) could see it in her eyes.

"I don't know." Pearl admitted, eyeing Lapis and Peridot, "Those two are moving back to the barn and with (Y/n)'s parents gone, she's probably going to stay at the temple."

"Wait, why the temple?" Amethyst asked.

"I'm actually uh, Steven's granddaughter." (Y/n) shyly rubbed her arm, "So yeah, I'll keep the temple in order... you're welcome to stay with me after all of this mess is sorted."

"Steven's... granddaughter?" Amethyst asked, shaking her head. "I appreciate the offer, are you two going to stay?" The question was directed at Pearl and Garnet.

The two remaining gems shared a look of unknowing, "I may, perhaps." Garnet said.

"And you P?" Amethyst asked.

"I don't know yet." The tall gem admitted, earning a slow and painful nod from the shorter.

"Right."

"Do you want to be called Amy still?" (Y/n) tried to change the subject.

"Wha-? No! It's okay, Amethyst is just fine." Amethyst reassured the group, a hand running through her thick locks of hair. "Forget the Amy thing...just Amethyst" the last part was said out of almost what (Y/n) guessed as embarrassment, smiling hopefully.

"Well welcome back to the team." Garnet smile approvingly, a thumbs up raising.

"Thanks G Squad." Amethyst blurt proudly, looking around curiously, "Hey uh, on the subject of Steven's grandkid...where IS Steven... wait... where's (M/n)? If her kid is here then she shouldn't be too far off?" Amethyst looked excitedly around a (Y/n) shuddered uncomfortably.

"Actually she passed away recently." Amethyst's smile dropped.

"Oh I'm so sorry...I didn't really know your mom but uh... for the little time I did...she was a cool baby..." (Y/n) smiled appreciatively.

"Thank you Amethyst, I appreciate that." (Y/n) replied. Amethyst sighed.

"So what's your grandparents been up to recently?" At the mention of Steven, the group looked up in interest. (Y/n) stumbled and staggered at her words.

"M-my grandparents?" (Y/n) repeated.\

"Yes! I was silently pondering that very thought, where is Steven and his mate Connie?" Peridot asked.

"How old are you again?" Pearl inquired.

"Oh 30!...Why?" (Y/n) puzzled.

"If you are 30, your mother gave birth at 30 years of human age meaning she's currently 60, and according to her date of birth, that means we haven't seen Steven for 60 years!" Pearl replied.

"Wait he's like, 84 now?" Amethyst asked.

"Well, yes." Peridot agreed. "That is how one's meant to calculate age."

"Wait 60 years... how old ARE you guys?" (Y/n) gasped in surprise.

"Age is an illusion." Ganret said wisely.

"What Garnet means is...we range from 50 000 years to 5000..." Pearl said, somewhat proudly.

"50 000 YEARS!?" (Y/n) exclaimed in shock.

"Well yes, so you can see why human years fly past relatively quickly..." Peridot pointed out.

"Oh yeah! We were talking about Steven and Connie!" Lapis remembered, bringing the sense of dread that had left only momentarily to return back to the human girl.

"S-steven and C-connie... oh... well..." (Y/n) bit her lip. "I really don't want to bring bad news... I really don't, especially since we are all here together but... They passed away years ago...I'm so sorry."

(Y/n) had never heard a more quiet sound than that moment. Even if sound was sound, the absence of it was still considered so and it surprised her that these people, brought back after 60 years as they claimed, could be so sad.

"My little baby is gone." Pearl said, tears flowing down her cheeks. "I-I just...but.'

"Pearl don't cry." Garnet choked back tears, failing miserably as Lapis and Peridot squeezed each other tightly.

"Gone? Ste-man is... gone? B-but how can that be! 60 years can't have gone by so fast... we only JUST left!" Amethyst panicked.

"Humans have shorter life spans." Garnet noted. "Their single life seems like a day for us."

"But not with Steven..." Peridot concluded, "While time flies with humans when they have fun, time seems to slow down for us... Metaphorically of course."

"I can't do this anymore." Pearl shook her head. "No, no way can I do this anymore...no." She refused, hands waving frantically as she bit her lip.

"We have to." Garnet said, pointing towards (Y/n). "Because she's a human and she's alive and she will be hurt otherwise."

"I'm with Pearl on this one." Amethyst said, "We cancelled out helping humans YEARS ago! We all agreed..."

"This is ridiculous." Lapis began, wiping her face from tears. "Maybe I'm the only one thinking straight since I didn't know Steven as well as you guys but GROW UP! SHE, is a descendant of Steven! Whether you like it or not, she's part of our..." she hesitated or a split second, "FAMILY... And you claim you won't protect family?" (Y/n) gratefully thanked Lapis for her small speech.

"It's okay Lapis." (Y/n) began, clutching Rose Quartz's sword. It's hilt around her waist. "Thank you for trying...or coming together." (Y/n) nodded at the Crystal Gems. "Your effort in coming together was truly amazing, but you don't have to help fight my battles." (Y/n) braced herself, already fearing what was yet to come.

The second sun was directly in view above the beach, (Y/n) could see it from the city and already the wind was beginning to pick up in speed. (Y/n) knew what she was going to do, probably since the moment she received her great grandmother's weapon.

She was going to fight.

And so (Y/n) told this news to the former heroes of Earth with a smile on her face. "I'm going to fight...alone." Was all she said before running into the busy streets of traffic, leaving behind the new friends, the new memories and the old Crystal Gems.