Steven stood outside the rubies ship, mentally preparing himself for the ensuing battle. They had gathered a general plan, but it wasn't complete.
He had no idea if he could talk down Aquamarine, or if he would be forced to bubble her.
Connie had decided, against his preference to join them. She stood next to him, holding her sword at her side.

"It's going to be alright." She reassured him, giving the boy a small side hug. Steven held her next to him for a moment, still lost in his thoughts.

"What if I can't stop her?" He murmured, doubt growing inside him. Connie let go, and stared into his eyes, giving him a small smile.

"You'll find a way, it'll work out." She answered, though it was too vague for what Steven wanted.
He was ready to leave, but he wasn't at the same time. He wanted to stop Aquamarine, But he didn't want to destroy her. He didn't feel he had a choice though.

For other problems he had faced, he could easily talk down his foes, usually ending with some kind of ally by the end, he had only failed with two gems.
And this was different than the other times, this time, Aquamarine was here for him.
Not his mother, and that made the whole of the situation seem far more daunting than previous.

Steven sighed, grabbing Connie's hand and leading her into the ship.

The trek to Homeworld was short, but despite it's menial time consumption, Steven dreaded every second as they drew near.

They hovered above the dismantled planet, he stared out the window, watching as the ship entered orbit, through the atmosphere and stop a few hundred feet in the air.

"Oh no." Pearl's voice was low, and she held her hand to her mouth as she stared at the wreckage below. Gem homes were alight, not with advanced technology, but with fire.

Steven could hear the screams from where they hung in the sky, watching as quartz soldiers invaded the cities below.

Garnet shuddered at the sight, barely able to keep her fusion as she watched the infinite possibilities of Aquamarine's attack unfold.

"Why would she do this?" Connie turned to Steven, he could barely pull his eyes from the horrendous sight.

"I..I don't know." He admitted, unable to process the destruction just below him.
"We have to stop her."

Garnet pointed at a large palace that jutted out from the horizon, "She's there."

Pearl nodded, bringing the tiny ship lower to the ground, hovering by as Citrines and other soldiers mercilessly poofed and shattered civilians. The screams invaded Steven's mind and it was all he could do not to jump from the ship and try to help. But he had a goal, to stop Aquamarine, stop the coup and save Homeworld.

The ship landed at the edge of the palace, it wasn't guarded, aside from a single white gem who stood at the top of the steps, looking rather bored of the whole endeavor.
The crystal gems stepped forth, drawing their weapons in preparation for the attack.
Antarcticite cocked her head, glancing down at the gems.

"Aquamarine knew you'd come to stop her, it's a pity you'll never even get to her." The gem sighed, raising her arms and bloating them with water to three times their size. She flung them down, breaking the stairs beneath her and nearly sending the gems and Steven flying.
They stood fast, Connie broke the line of defense first, bursting forward on Lion as he bounded toward the gem. Creating a portal that opened up just behind her, Connie leapt through it slicing one of the gem's water hands in half before rolling out of range and back to safety and hopping back on her steed.

"Oh, you've never fought me before, so I can understand how you'd make that kind of mistake." She glanced at the girl then back at the water that made up her hand, it erupted with spikes, they shot toward her, only to be shatter upon impact with Steven's shield.

"Figures." She remarked, melting the shards and pulling them back to her body. Pearl launched herself at the gem, forcing her to melt before her spear could damage her body. The puddle reappeared behind her, she raised an icy claw that was caught by Amethyst's whip.
The purple gem yanked, ripping the ice from her hold and shattering it on the ground before steamrolling toward her.

Antarcticite seemed to shortly break her emotionless facade, attempting to melt out of the way before a large, very hot glove punched through her body grabbing the tiny sliver of a gem inside.

"No more water for you." Garnet muttered, pulling the gem from her watery armor.
The tiny gem squealed in her hands, wriggling in an attempt to escape.

"Let go of me!" Her shrill voice squealed. Steven could barely hold back a laugh, she was minuscule, struggling to get out of Garnet's grip like a tiny rat.

Garnet squeezed the gem, forcing her to poof and opened her palm to reveal the sliver of her gem inside.

"She used the water to refract the light of her form." The fusion said, bubbling the gem and sending her to the bubble room on earth. "She was actually really small."

Connie chuckled at the thought of the tiny Antarcticite, she seemed much more formidable when Steven described her, but it was all a trick of the light.

"We should keep going." Steven directed, looking up at the entrance to the palace, now unguarded. Garnet nodded and started the charge upwards.

The gems burst through the doors, halted by the sight at the end of the hall.
Aquamarine sat on White Diamonds chair, looking from the distance, like a small blue dot in comparison to the size.

Below White's chair, sitting in Pink Diamonds chair, was Spinel, she stared at the floor murmuring nonsense to herself, not even looking up at the gems as they entered. She held the scythe in her hands, delicately thumbing the button that released its ungodly screams.

"Well, look who joined the party."