Notes:

This exists because I made a bet with someone that I could write a better climax to Change Your Mind and the entirety of Steven Universe: Future, and then she was like, "okay, prove it."

Now I'm writing this, because I'm a man of my word. For my pre-write, I'm just going to explain what you should be expecting on this. If you seen some of my works, you would known that I'm currently a Steven Universe writer and most of the time, I include some twist on every single one.

But this time, the only twist I'm implementing is the plot and Steven. Which means there's no new characters being added (which means any character in this story exists in the official show, games and comics) and no ships involving Steven. Shipping in this fandom is so controversial that I'm eliminating it entirely so none of you could fight about it.

I'm going to try to lean towards a Steven Universe vibe as much as possible, since I don't really get that vibe in any of my other works. So you might notice a shift or change in my writing if you've previously read my other works.

As far as rating goes for this story, I prefer a PG-13/Rated T rating. Because there is no way this story could be a kids show, and I definitely don't want to make it way too 18+ with swear words, drugs, nudity, etc. 

The most you would get out of this story is violence, blood and injury. No gore, no graphic content, no nudity, no drugs. Basically a more mature story without making it too mature.

As you may know, I dislike how Steven Universe: Future was written in some episodes and aspects. And Change Your Mind was good, but it could've been better, especially with my White Diamond Theory and resolve to how her defeat could've been handled.

So expect some more action-oriented and refined/complex storytelling instead of childish humor and pointless plot points that the show tried showing us.

The Movie was great, probably the peak of Steven Universe - in my opinion. But even it has some problems that needed ironing out or things that could've been better.

One thing you should definitely keep in mind is that most dialogue and visualization is taken from the show directly and some stuff is either added in, paraphrased, or removed entirely early in the story, and later becomes original on my part.

Which means if you watched the original episodes and then read this, you would definitely notice when I go off the rails. I also guess that this is a spoiler warning, since it's entirely possible that you may have not even finished the series and tried reading this.

I recommend finishing the first show, at least, before reading this. Because this starts off from the show's near end. Even if you have already seen the show, I still recommend watching a few episodes of Season 7 just as a refresher. 

Here's a few things to keep in mind before this actually starts:

Lapis never took the barn and left after Steven came back from Aquamarine. 

Steven is already sixteen years old at the start of this, I don't like writing small Steven (no offense to short people). As well as developing his powers earlier, to make it more impactful than it did in Steven Universe: Future. 

The two year time-skip will be reduced to a different time skip. 

And Steven and Connie never made up at Kevin's party because Steven didn't accept Kevin's invite.

And one last thing that might make you question the logic (or "science") behind a gem's body and how it works. Gems do not have bones, but that doesn't mean they can't have a limb broken. It sounds weird, I know, but it's entirely possible for them to break an arm or leg without poofing.

Because their arms and legs still bend like ours, meaning it can be broken (just not as severe as a broken arm for us). The only gem that is exempted from that is Spinel, since she can stretch her limbs around and such. 

Anyways, enjoy the story.

3rd Person P.O.V.

Many would suspect that Steven had seen it all. With his sixteen years of life, he believed he had experienced enough of his heritage to have seen everything - on account of his mother being a war criminal. But tonight, everything changed upon his latest dream.

Steven opened his eyes and saw a blinding white color, subsequently forcing him to squint his eyes to make out the environment.

"But this is what you wanted."

He heard that voice before, it belonged to Blue Diamond. The last encounter he had with her was when he rescued his father from the clutches of the Human Zoo - barely escaping the deadly gaze of Blue AND Yellow Diamond.

"You begged us for a colony of your own, and now all you want to do is be rid of it." Blue Diamond hisses with her iconic Irish accent, sounding disappointed.

Steven's vision clears up and he could bear witness to the three silhouettes of three out of the four Diamond Authority. Pink Diamond staring down at the floor with a saddened look, Blue Diamond looming over her with a scolding tone, and Yellow Diamond standing straight with her back turned on the both of them - showing discipline and dismissiveness.

"First there were too many organics. Then their cities were too difficult to dismantle, and-and now these Crystal Gems." Blue Diamond glowered. "We're tired of your excuses, Pink. This Rose Quartz can't hurt you. You can't be swayed by a few unruly gems."

The littlest Diamond attempted to open her mouth, but the larger Diamond silenced her rebuttal with the lifting of her large open palm.

"Enough." Blue Diamond dismissed, subsequently making the little Diamond lower her head and then she used her large index and middle finger to lift her chin and forced her to stare her in the eyes. "You must understand, you are a Diamond. Everyone on this planet is looking to you. You don't even have to do anything. Just smile and wave. Show everyone you're unfazed by this little uprising. Your gems will fall into line, and these Crystal Gems will be no more. As long as you are there to rule, this colony will be completed."

She concluded with a clenched fist and proceeded to leave the little Diamond alone, Yellow Diamond following her. Pink Diamond sulks while standing in the exact spot she had stood throughout the entire conversation, Steven is still unable to see her body in detail.

He still failed to understand the purpose of this dream, this had no direct or indirect ties to him... or does it?

He saw a familiar silhouette approaching Pink from behind, taking careful steps with a large scabbard on their back. They halted when they were two or three feet behind the Diamond and took the scabbard off their back to slowly unsheathe the long and deadly sword.

Steven recognized the sword and the shape of the silhouette. "Pearl?!"

Then Pearl's silhouette violently snatched her head to stare at where he was located, startling him.

"AHH!" Steven violently jumped up from his bed in a frantic awakening, sweat dripping from his forehead and back.

The morning sun peered into his room through the exposed windows from the lack of curtains. He rubbed his eyes and pushed the blanket off of him.

After crawling out of bed, he made his way to the bathroom to use it and clean up to get started with his day. He hopped into the shower and brushed his teeth afterwards, making sure he was freshened up before trudging back to the bedroom to retrieve his clothes.

Steven isn't someone who cares much about what he wears, which is why it's always the same thing every single day. Blue star-shirt, blue jeans and an organic pink, fluffy jacket to top it off. And let's not forget his red flip flops.

Despite how much of a pain they are to keep attached to the bottom of his feet along with the discomfort in the syndactyly of his toes, he believed they were iconic for him to wear. As soon as he got his clothes on, he looked towards his bedside table and grabbed his phone from his charger.

He put his phone in his left coat pocket. Now with the morning preliminaries out of the way, it's time to find Pearl and question her about his latest dream.

He stepped down the stairs and into the living room, seating himself on the couch to wait for Pearl to come by sooner or later. To kill time, he retrieved his phone from his coat and browsed through the internet.

His scrolling and surfing was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

"I can't believe you've had your phone for a month and you haven't used it at all!" Amethyst exclaims playfully while standing by Pearl's side.

"That's not true!" Pearl refutes with closed, prideful eyes. "I use it to tell the time!"

"Sigh." Amethyst sighs in a dramatic way. "Come here, P."

She beckoned Pearl to sit with her on the stools near the kitchen counter. Pearl sits next to her with crossed legs and gives the small, purple gem her phone.

"Ugh, let's change your wallpaper." Amethyst opened her camera app and took a selfie of herself with her hand behind her head and tongue sticking out.

The phone emits a shutter clicking and Amethyst exits the application to observe the picture.

"Looks great!" Amethyst opened a different app. "Okay, now texting is in the messages. Just click on this green icon."

Steven's patience was wearing thin, so he blurted out, "Pearl, can I ask you someth–"

"Hold on, Steve-o." Amethyst waved a dismissing hand while keeping her focus on Pearl's phone. "I'm in the middle of a demonstration! Okay, anyway, and you can type, I mean, pretty much anything you want."

Steven's phone vibrates and he lifts it up with his left hand to check the latest text message he received. In the contacts app, he saw Pearl's face on the icon next to the text box that said:

Dear Steven, 
Hello.
Love, Pearl. 

He looked up to see Pearl staring at him with a polite smile.

"You really should have a case for this." Amethyst advises cautiously.

"I do!" Pearl admits proudly while making a briefcase materialize from her gemstone located at her forehead.

Amethyst could only scoff at Pearl's solution.

"Okay. I have a bunch of actual phone cases in my room. Hup!" She jumped off her stool and strides to the Temple. "Don't throw that thing against a rock or anything until I'm back."

Pearl sets her briefcase on the counter near her and curiously explores the cellular device's capabilities. Steven rose from the couch and softly approached Pearl.

"Pearl..."

"What is it, Steven?" Pearl replied without taking her eyes off the phone.

He hesitated. "You remember how Mom shattered Pink Diamond?"

Her attention was caught, and her eyes averted from the phone toward Steven.

"Well, I was wondering if... maybe you shattered Pink Diamond?"

"I–" Pearl slapped her hands at her mouth in an instinctive way that spelled obedience in Steven's eyes.

Her phone dropped to the floor.

"It's okay. You can tell me." Steven calmly reassured, taking a step closer.

Pearl made sounds from her mouth, but her hands fought against it and prohibited her from uttering a single word. She sounded like someone was smothering her with a pillow.

"Why can't you just talk to me about this?!" Steven cried with genuine concern.

He was tired of the secrets, but he was too scared to be chasing them this time. After what happened with Blue Diamond abducting his father, he doesn't want to go anywhere without the gems accompanying him.

The door to the Temple opens with Amethyst walking out. "I got the..."

She stopped when she saw the two of them in such an anxious state.

"...phone case..."

Pearl's eyes darted to Amethyst and she removed her hands from her mouth.

"Oh, yes! The phone case! Thank you, Amethyst! Ha ha, whoops! So clumsy." She snatched her phone from the floor. "It's probably safer if I just keep it in here."

She shoved the phone in her gemstone, grabbed the suitcase she had previously set aside and marched towards the Temple in a goofy, exaggerated fashion.

"Wait!" Amethyst tried to stop her with the phone case as she passed by. "Just put it in this, then put it in your head!"

And then she glances back at Steven.

"What was that?"

Steven could only sigh and left the house. Feeling hungry, he paid a visit to PeeDee and asked for the Bits. After finishing his meal, his phone buzzed with a new message.

Much like from earlier, he held the phone carefully with his left hand to inspect the message.

"'I want to tell you, but I can't?'" Steven read the message aloud and noticed the monkey emoji where the monkey appears to be covering its mouth.

He sprinted back to the house after throwing away the grease-stained paper tray from the food truck and pushed the door open.

"Pearl, I'm ready to talk!"

Pearl did not hear him as she was vacuuming the living room, but she did notice him busting through the door - almost close to knocking it off its hinges. "Uh, what?!"

She turned off the machine.

"I got your text." Steven showed her the phone with his left hand, almost shaking. "'I want to tell you but I can't,' with a monkey emoji?"

"Steven, I didn't send that." Pearl answered with a slight baffled expression. "I hadn't used my phone since I put it away this morning."

"Maybe you butt dialed me... with your gem?" Steven humorously guesses, hoping that was the case - but with circumstances like this, it seemed very unlikely.

"No, that's impossible." Pearl did not find the humor in his diction, which was quite obvious. "Hang on, I'll put it out, and we'll get to the bottom of this."

She reached in her gemstone and grabbed a TV remote, but dropped it and reached back inside. Next a violin came out, but she dropped it as well. Then she pulls out a book with the title 'Advanced Avionics,' and she lets it drop to the floor as well.

Next came down one of Steven's red star-shirts that he stopped wearing after he turned fifteen. Lastly, a stack of money comes out of her gem and it was added to the discard pile.

"Pearl, are you okay?" Steven inquires, wondering if this was deliberate or not.

"Ugh, where could I have put it?" Pearl asked with a genuine distressed look on her pale face. "I know it's in there somewhere."

Steven's phone buzzed again and he saw a new text message, this one had a pink rose emoji. "You just sent another one!"

After showing it to her, she flinched and realized what was really going on. "Steven, I need you to go inside my gem and find my phone."

"What? Is it stuck or something?"

"There are certain things I can't tell you, but I can tell you that I need my phone." Pearl explains cryptically. "Please! I can bring you back out once you find what you're looking for."

"Your phone..." Steven replied, uncertain about what she was entailing.

"Exactly!" She gently took his phone. "I'll keep your phone, text me with mine when you find it."

She offered him her hand, and he took it. When that happened, Pearl's gem shines a blue light and he was taken directly inside her gemstone. Inside, he was greeted to a purely pale-white room, with Pearl inside it and organizing some sort of floating shelf of her spears.

"There's a Pearl inside Pearl's pearl?" Steven said, mostly to himself, out of bewilderment.

He walked to her in a 'sauntered' manner. She glanced at her side.

"Oh, Steven!" She nonchalantly picked him up and tucked him underneath her arm while looking back at the shelf. "Where should I put you? Certainly not with the spears. Human paraphernalia? Personal items? Let's just go alphabetical. S... S-T..."

"Wait, no! Don't file me!" Steven resisted and struggled in her arm. "You sent me in here for your cell phone!"

"My phone?" Pearl reiterated in a perplexed manner.

Then she set him down.

"Well, all right, let's see." And then she slides her shelf to the side like it was a screen. "P-H-O..."

And then the shelf stopped, except there was nothing but a bunch of papers with phone numbers written on them.

"Ah, hmm. Nothing." But then she gasped. "Oh, it's a cellular phone! I must have put it under 'C!'"

She slides the shelf away again.

"It should be right... here." Upon seeing the updated shelf, she looked flabbergasted at the empty spot that stuck out like a sore thumb. "It should be right here! Unless... some other me took it."

"There's more of you in here?"

"Oh, no, not here. I made sure of that." Pearl replied quickly and with a smug look on her face. "I'm very good at compartmentalizing everything. That's why I get to be surface and they have to be put away."

"Well, if one of those Pearls has the phone, can you tell me where to find her?"

"Oh, you don't want to go where they are." Pearl denied. "It's a mess. Let's just stay here, where everything is alphabetized!"

"Come on, I can handle it!" Steven insisted bravely - albeit, kind of foolishly.

And then she groans with a disappointed and heavy sigh. "All right. Don't say I didn't warn you."

With a similar pose and technique from the real Pearl, she allowed Steven to enter her gemstone by holding his hand and illuminating her pearl to glow. Steven squinted his eyes again and was transported to a different realm of Pearl's mind.

This one was noticeably different from the last one, it's the beach shore just right outside the Temple - only the beach house was missing, probably because it was not built yet.

"This doesn't look like a mess. It looks like... the past." Steven commented after observing the rather peaceful environment.

But that peacefulness was disrupted with loud but also muffled sobbing of hysteria. Steven glanced behind to find a different Pearl, her attire feeling retro compared to the current one. She's curled up on the ground with her head behind her knees and hugging her legs to secure herself while letting the waterworks flow.

"Oh... that kind of mess." He hurriedly skids to the cowering gem and takes a seat next to her so he could console her. "Hey, Pearl inside Pearl inside Pearl's pearl. You upset about the whole missing phone situation, too?"

She lifted her head and briefly paused the crying. "No, it's Rose! What was she thinking?! She can't have a baby!"

"Well... this is awkward..." Steven said under his breath.

"What am I going to do when she disappears?! I'm going to lose her, just like I lost my... what was it you said?"

"Your cell phone?" Steven replied, unsure.

"My cell phone!" She wailed before hiding behind her hands again.

"Look, it's going to be okay!" He tried removing her hands so she could look at him. "That's why you sent me in here, I'm going to help you find it."

She stopped and used one of her hands to rub her eyes after freeing it from Steven's grasp. "I think I know where it is...It's probably where I lost everything else..."

Once again, she took Steven's hand and allowed him entry through her illuminated forehead. This realm immediately spooked Steven with its grim and unsettling atmosphere. A red sky looming over a desolated aftermath of a war zone, battle-axes and swords littering the cracked ground of hardened dirt.

Steven waltzed forward, only to trip on something. Upon hitting the ground, he looked and gasped at the dozens of broken pieces of gemstones scattered around the field of death. This is the gem equivalent of witnessing a spate of rotting human corpses in a cornfield with flies buzzing around them.

This was definitely going to haunt his dreams some time soon.

"It better not turn out that her phone was in her pocket... or she left it on the dresser or dropped it in the toilet." Steven silently wished; but with how his life is going, it might be the case. "Seems about as likely as putting it away in your repressed war memories."

Then again, he sometimes wonders if the gems ever get PTSD flashbacks of the Gem War. It's not uncommon for soldiers to not come back home from war the same, assuming they even survive the war. But that's for human soldiers, what about gem soldiers?

Steven keeps forgetting that gems are not people, no matter how similar they look. Their psyche could be stronger than the average man, but still - with his experience - breakable. He saw Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, Bismuth, Lapis, Peridot, pretty much any gem he had ever encountered, break down at some point.

He was yoinked out of his deep thoughts when he saw Pearl standing in the middle of the field of massacre, looking as traumatized as he was.

"Pearl? I mean, Pearl inside Pearl inside Pearl inside Pearl's pearl. Is this really about your phone or what!" He asked with an agitated, exasperated tone.

"We're the only ones left..." She uttered, sounding grim. "Homeworld... they were all leaving..."

She fell on her knees as she narrated the earlier events.

"We thought we'd won... There was a bright light and everyone was..." She stopped, she couldn't say much more about the light of death. "Why did I do it?"

"What do you mean?" Steven asked, sounding more distraught and irritable with the constant cryptic and puzzling answers - he just wants a direct answer!

She shook her head in denial and took his hand, transporting him to another tragic event in her subconscious to continue the complex story. This time, he was right in front of pink shards - he instantly presumed that this was Pink Diamond's shards.

Glancing up he spotted his mother, Rose Quartz, standing with her iconic sword in her hands and tears flooding down her pained face - but her eyes hidden by her long pink hair.

"Mom?" Steven softly whispered before standing up.

In the background, he can hear grunting - it sounds like someone was fighting. But he ignored that and sauntered his direction towards his mother.

"I thought this was Pearl's... What are you doing here? "

And then she revealed her tearful eyes, they were light blue.

That was not his mother.

"W-What?!" He gasped in shock.

He heard that same shouting again, this time more loud and clearer. The imposter snapped her head to look over at where they heard the voice, which made her curly hair fly out of her face and revealed Pearl's gemstone on her forehead.

"I... I knew it..." Steven sighs. "It was you who shattered her."

But then she looked back and opened her palm to reveal Pink Diamond's gemstone...

In one piece.

"Pink Diamond...? But... I don't understand."

Her forehead glows and it took Steven even further back in the past. In this memory, he found himself on a large and pink chair designed for someone obviously bigger than him. He scooted off of it and noticed how familiar this little closed area looked.

"The palanquin?" He was starting to get a headache from the extraneous and complicated conflictions being shown to him, rather than someone just explaining it to him - like a normal person would.

He heard whispering behind the chair, so she scurried to the side and peered his head to spot his mother and Pearl plotting.

"And then you'll be done! It's going to be easy!" The war criminal explains.

Pearl, holding her sword, looks conflicted and hesitant. "There's got to be another way. I mean, maybe–"

"Blue and Yellow don't care!" Rose Quartz silenced the pearl. "They never have! This is 'Pink Diamond's' colony. We can end it all right here, right now."

"You know this is crazy, right?" Pearl inquired, sounding fearful. "Your status, my purpose; none of it will matter anymore. This will change everything."

"I know." Rose Quartz replied, showing complete and utter disregard for Pearl's worried state. "Isn't it exciting?"

She let out a defeated sigh, knowing there's no turning back now. "It is."

"We can leave our old lives behind. If this is really my world, I want to give it to the Crystal Gems. I want to live here with human beings. I want to live here with you! We'll both finally be free!"

With that said, Pearl's cold feet were washed away by the swift and mysterious determination. "Okay, I'm ready."

Rose Quartz's eyes turned to stars and she squealed, "Pearl~!"

Both of them held hands affectionately.

"I can't believe I'm going to do this." Pearl admits.

"I can't exactly shatter myself." Rose Quartz chuckled.

Then they embraced each other, as if it would be the very last time they would feel their warm and fuzzy contact. Steven was too confused to even question why she said, 'I can't exactly shatter myself.'

He just lets them continue. And his patience was finally rewarded when Rose Quartz's form had glowed and turned into... Pink Diamond.

He even saw the gemstone in her midsection rotate, revealing that the gemstone he saw on his belly was only the top of the Diamond's gem. Aside from the gemstone, he never saw what Pink Diamond looked like before - physically speaking.

All he ever had from reference was those weird pictures of her as a silhouette in the moon base.

Now that leaves White Diamond to be the last Diamond he had yet to see.

Both Pink Diamond and Pearl walk by him, which left him riddled with confusion - did they not see him because this is a memory, or did they purposefully ignore him?

Pink Diamond kneeled on the ground to pluck a rose flower. She handed it to Pearl, who stuck it in her hair, and then blew into the dirt and crushed it to form pink shards in her hand.

"Convincing?" Pink inquires.

"Very much so, my Diamond..." Pearl replied, unnerved by how real it looks.

"Soon it will just be 'Rose.'" She corrected her before putting the shards in her mouth to swallow.

Pearl started to unsheathe the sword, but Pink stopped her.

"Wait. There's one last thing I need to do."

Pearl gently placed the sword on the ground. "Yes?"

"No one can ever find out we did this. I never want to look back." She grabbed Pearl's wrists and put them over her mouth. "So, for my last order to you as a Diamond, please, let's never speak of this again. No one can know."

Then she stood up and walked outside her palanquin. Steven felt sort of... furious at this. It wasn't just the secret that made him feel this way, it was the fact that she took it to her grave. This secret would have answered so many questions, yet they remained unanswered and continued to mock him in many manifestations.

Another thing that added fuel to the fire was Pearl being brainwashed or hardwired to keep quiet - despite how dire everything had gotten. Unintentional or not, Pink– sorry, his mother – took advantage of Pearl's innate functionality to serve and obey any and all orders she subjected her to. This was very apparent with 'my last order to you as a Diamond.'

Steven was pulled out from his thoughts when he saw a cell phone being offered to him. He looked up and saw Pearl holding it in her hand, looking very dull and depressed.

"Sorry to make you come all this way." She said softly, apologetic that he had to witness all of her past memories up to this point.

He took the phone, and then she gave him one last smile before shapeshifting into Rose Quartz. She leaned down to pick up the sword and followed Pink Diamond outside. Steven watches as the fake Rose Quartz struck down Pink Diamond - poofing her and those shards he had seen earlier fall down onto the soil.

He texted Pearl and was brought back into the real world, falling on his face.

He got up and dusted himself. "I know..."

Pearl was tearing up. "I wanted to tell you for so long."

"Mom was Pink Diamond..." Steven grimly replied.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Amethyst gasped.

Both of them were seated on the couch.

"Let me get this straight. Rose Quartz, the leader of the Crystal Gems, Steven's mom, was actually Pink Diamond?!" Amethyst summarizes, not quite believing that the entirety of the Gem War was built off of a lie.

"She faked her own shattering and reformed to be Rose all the time." Steven added on.

"Pink Diamond's final command to me was that no one could know, but now that Steven does, I can finally tell you all everything." Pearl said with relief, feeling a lot was taken off of her chest.

"Whew!" Amethyst flopped backwards on the couch. "I mean, a pink lion, a pink sword and now a Pink Diamond? If you told me Rose invented cotton candy, I'd believe it. Right, Garnet?"

She nudged the fusion's arm, but she remained stiff.

"Uh, Garnet?" Amethyst's humor was dialed down when she realized that Garnet was not responding.

"Rose..." The fusion growled. "She... she..."

The fusion groaned and held herself, but it was proven to be futile as she glowed a glimmering blue light before splitting into two halves.

"Sapphire!" Ruby cried.

"SHE LIED TO US!" The usual stoic Sapphire was now breaking her characteristics. "She lied about EVERYTHING! She held our hands, looked us right into our eyes and told us to never question who we are as Garnet! We never questioned ourselves or her."

"We couldn't have known." Ruby said, being the voice of reason - which was quite surprising to everyone.

It's like both of them were reversing their roles in the relationship.

"No! You couldn't have known. You never know what's going on. That's what I'm for." Sapphire countered.

"Sapphire–"

"But I never looked into her. I trusted her. I let her make fools of us all!" She said as she formed ice on the floor.

She ran to the warp pad by lifting up her dress so her feet could move freely onto the ice.

"Sapphire, wait!" Ruby cried as she effortlessly traversed on the ice with ease. "Please. We could just stay calm and talk about this, right? Let's just talk."

"Talk about what?" Sapphire asked, sounding rhetorically. "How our relationship is based on a lie? What else is there to say?"

She warped away. Ruby fell on her knees, tears going down her face.

"Ruby, I'm so sorry." Pearl apologized.

"Come on, Pearl. Help me explain everything to Sapphire." Steven said as she slid on the ice.

Pearl nodded. "Right."

He stopped at Sapphire and put a comforting hand on her hot shoulder. "Sit tight, Ruby. We'll go and get Sapphire."

"O-Okay..." She replied with tears flowing down her red face.

They warped to Rose Spring, the place where the famous fountain of healing tears could be found. It's a fitting place after all, a place where her facade remains to be restorative while her real self was damaging - she's supposed to be a healer, yet her past is quite damaged and destructive.

"Maybe she's here." Pearl guesstimates.

The entire place was frozen and had snow falling from the sky, yet it was June. Sapphire was definitely here.

"Sapphire!" He spotted her.

As they tried approaching her, an icicle formed in the ground and nearly impaled Steven.

"Everything we were running from, she was right there all along, using us for her little war, smiling at us with those knowing eyes, making me believe in a better future that I couldn't see, because it wasn't real, and now, here we are, our friends shattered and corrupted. Of course she was Diamond. What a long road she took to torture us like this." Sapphire elaborates, quite dull and depressing.

Steven sits down next to her. "It wasn't like that. You know she didn't want anyone to get hurt."

"I don't know that." Sapphire hissed her retort. "I clearly don't know anything."

"You deserve to know everything." Pearl knelt down next to them. "I was given to Pink Diamond just a few thousand years before she was given the Earth. I was supposed to make her happy. I just never could... During her observation session at the moon base, the quartzes were emerging in the kindergarten and she wanted to go down it. But she knew that would lead to trouble, since Yellow and Blue would never let hear the end of it. To compromise, I introduced her to the idea of disguising herself as a quartz to fit in with the other amethysts at the Prime Kindergarten. She was looking for excitement."

"So it was all just so she could get out and have some fun?" Steven assumed - knowing how care-free she used to be, that might have been the case.

"Well, that's how it started..." Pearl continued. "We traveled the planet and examined its contents. Until she saw humans and what they were. Preexisting creatures that are native to the planet. She then knew that the colony would've eliminated them all."

"So she did want to protect Earth. She didn't realize what the colony was doing to the planet." Steven negotiates, trying to find a neutral stance on the whole debacle.

"So what?! She suddenly started to care about Earth?! Why did she have to rope us into all this? Why couldn't she just stop the colonization herself?" Sapphire inquired with heavy aggression.

"She tried." Pearl replies patiently. "When she told the other Diamonds she didn't want to go through with the colony, they told her to finish what she started. When she told the other Diamonds she wanted to preserve life on Earth, they created the Human Zoo and threw a handful of humans in. She did everything she could as Pink Diamond, but her status meant nothing to Blue and Yellow, so she decided to make a stand as someone they couldn't ignore. She was going to scare every gem off the planet, but everything changed when she saw your fusion. Before Garnet, Rose was only fighting for Earth, but Garnet changed everything. Rose wanted to fight for her. She wanted to fight for gems, and maybe she was foolish and maybe even selfish, but she was..."

"Following us." Sapphire finished for her.

Pearl looked at her, baffled. "What?"

"This whole time, we thought we were following her, but she was following us. How could she not after you swept her off her feet?" Sapphire said with a smile.

"Wha--What? Me?"

"Are you kidding?" Steven chuckled. "You took her on this whirlwind tour of Earth, and then she wanted to live here with you forever."

"That's just how I felt when I came here with..." Sapphire paused. "Ruby! Oh, no! We have to get back right away!"

They all sprinted to the warp pad and warped in the living room.

Sapphire was the first to step off the warp pad. "Ruby, I'm so sorry! Where... Huh?"

The blue gem saw a note written for her on the floor.

"Oh, no." She picks up the note and moves her hair out of the way so she can read the note with her one eye. "'Sapphire, you were right. I need some time to think. So I am running away. Ruby.' This can't be happening." And then she begins to cry. "Oh, Ruby, I'm so sorry! You left before I could take back all the horrible things I said to you!"

Pearl picked up the note to inspect it further. "Well, Amethyst was with her, right? Maybe she knows where she went."

Comically, they heard sounds from Steven's TV. Amethyst was playing a video game on Steven's bed, unaware of the situation going on downstairs.

Steven jogged up the stairs and stood next to distracted quartz. "Amethyst, have you seen Ruby?"

"Yeah, I've seen her." Amethyst replied uninterested. "She asked for pen and paper a while ago. Why?"

Pearl practically shoved the note in her face. "Because she ran away. Did you see where she went?"

"I don't know." Amethyst pushed the note away. "Maybe she'll come back! It's not my job to babysit her. Hey, Steven. Get over here, I need a player two."

Steven holds up a hand.

"Hold on a second, Amethyst." And then he glanced back at Sapphire. "Do you see her coming back in your future vision, Sapphire?"

"Oh, maybe! But she's so wonderful and spontaneous. I have no idea what she could..." She stopped and teared up. "Why would she be a cowboy?!"

She hugged Pearl's legs and cried.

Pearl nervously chuckled while attempting to console her. "There, there. It's going to be okay. She's going to come back. She's got to come back. If she doesn't, then there would be no more Garnet, and what on Earth would we do without Garnet?"

"Oh, Pearl! How will I ever get her back?" Sapphire inquired with a shrill added to her hysteria.

Both of them hugged each other tightly.

"I... I don't know!" Replied Pearl emotionally, tears swelling in her eyes the more she talked. "You two are incredible together! It can't be over! It can't!"

They both cried - albeit, 'kind of' obnoxiously.

"Uh, why don't you two take all of this into the Temple?" Amethyst slightly groaned, showing the discomfort in their crying session. "Steven and I are going to play some video games."

Steven placed a hand on Amethyst's shoulder. "No, no. It's okay. Don't worry, Sapphire. I'm going to go out and find Ruby."

"What?" The small quartz showed a face of uncertainty.

"I'll be back with her in no time." And then he leaves.

Amethyst looked back in front of her, witnessing Pearl and Sapphire crying their eyes out while holding each other.

Feeling uncomfortable, Amethyst hops out of the bed and hurriedly follows him. "Yo, Steven! Wait up! I'm coming too."

Outside, Steven murmured to himself while looking around. "I don't think Ruby used the warp pad. She said she was running away, not warping away, and she's usually pretty literal. We just need to figure out which direction she went."

Amethyst stood by him, looking up at him since he's taller than her. "So how do we do that?"

"Uh..." Steven looked in two different directions. "Let's try putting ourselves in Ruby's shoes."

Then Amethyst immediately shapeshifts herself into Ruby before chuckling. "Now what?"

Steven sighed, not finding the humor in that. "Amethyst, be serious."

Amethyst seemed disappointed that her attempt of lighting up the mood failed, given that Steven dismissively ignored her expression.

"She could only have gone in one of two directions. Either into two or into the ocean." Steven pondered aloud, looking at the directions respectively.

Ten Minutes Later:

After checking the ocean, Steven and Amethyst were back at the shore and the sun was setting.

Steven let out a heavy sigh as he rubbed his temples. "Okay, so she wasn't underwater. Which means she went into town."

During their journey, Amethyst continued trying to cheer Steven up with childish antics or jokes. But each time she tried, the more Steven ignored her and the temptations around him.

All that mattered to him was finding Ruby.

After looking through the window in Fishstew Pizza, he sighed when they could not find her in the most common places of this town.

"Hey, why don't we get some pizza?" Amethyst offered, nudging his leg and trying to get him to look at her.

"But we haven't found Ruby yet." Steven denied, still looking around in search.

"Steven, it's cool you want to help Ruby, but what about you?" Amethyst inquired, noticing his reluctance to even look at her. "Come on! Let's forget about Ruby for a moment and get some pizza!"

Steven sighs in concede, he would have denied the offer if he wasn't hungry. After going inside and ordering some pizza, they seated themselves down at the nearby table and Amethyst ordered their meal while Steven stared out the window and contemplated.

"Here's your pizza with literally all the toppings." Kiki placed the platter of a large pizza on it, looking like a normal pizza with a big blob of cheese on top of it and lots of extravagant toppings on it - even a whole fish being inside the bubble of cheese, but only the head and tail prods out.

"Ye-e-e-es!" Amethyst's exposed eye from her messy hair turned into a star while Steven presumed the other one was a star as well underneath that clump of hair blotting it.

"Oh, and here." She hands them sporks. "You're going to need these."

"Thank you." Steven said calmly, not showing the same enthusiasm as Amethyst.

"Thanks, man!" Amethyst said with gratitude as she took a clump of the pizza.

Kik went back to the counter while they dined. Steven wasn't really interested in this cardiac arrest disguised as a pizza, but he needed something to eat and so he used his spork to collect small servings on it to eat.

Amethyst noticed how concentrated he was to eat, ignoring her or the pizza monstrosity in front of him.

"So..." Amethyst finished swallowing her large pizza slice. "Pink Diamond, huh?"

Steven remained silent, taking another small bite of cheese and pepperoni.

But Amethyst still persists with her passive interrogation. "Rose Quartz, eh?"

Steven still refused to speak, looking very deliberate and not busy with eating.

The overcooked quartz still continued, whether Steven liked it or not. "So all this time, you thought Rose was this rebel leader, but she was just rebelling against herself? And the Diamond that Rose 'supposedly shattered,' I mean, you've got it! It's right there under your shirt."

She noticed Steven's fist clenching his spork the more she talked, but she ignored it... hoping this doesn't turn into a shouting match.

"So how are you feeling?" Amethyst asked, wondering if he would answer that.

"Fine." Steven finally answered before taking another bite, resuming his greasy late lunch.

That answer intrigued her, so she kept going. "But, like, aren't you mad?"

Steven took another bite once more, but then he finally responded when he swallowed. "What matters is helping Garnet."

"But what about you?!" Amethyst slammed her hands at the table, finally getting him to look at her. "She's your mom! You were always under all of this pressure to be like her, but was she even like her? Was anyone ever like her? She was supposed to be so great. She was supposed to know everything. She was supposed to make everything better. It's not fair! We shouldn't have to deal with any of this! We shouldn't have to fix any of this! We weren't around for her stupid war! This is everyone else's problem. This is nothing to do with me."

Steven noticed her speech, realizing that she's talking about herself.

Amethyst realized that he was paying attention closely, so she corrected herself. "And you! Th– This has nothing to do with you!"

"Are you okay?" Steven finally said something after her monologue.

But this triggered an aggressive response from her, as she slammed her hands back down at the table in fury. "No! I mean, yes! Of course I'm okay! I'm trying to find out how you feel about all of this!" And then she leaned back in her chair to calm down. "She's your mom. Okay? It doesn't really affect me."

"Then why did you say this had nothing to do with you?" Steven countered, making her feel singled out.

Before their conversation could continue, the restaurant door flies open and Jenny comes in very excited.

"Dude, Kiki, I just got the biggest tip from Mr. Universe, and I'm totally going to buy those boots now!" Jenny gushes while leaning on the counter near her sister.

"Whoa, seriously?" Kiki asks curiously, resting her head on her palm.

"Yeah. He was like all the way out on Brooding Hill, which is totally out of our delivery radius, comforting some little friend. She must have been crying because she was, like, really red." Jenny answered, which caused both Steven and Amethyst to perk up.

"Let me handle this, Steven. No more adults should be putting anything else on you. Just let someone else take care of it for once." Amethyst insisted while getting up and heading to the door.

But then she felt Steven grasping her wrist from behind.

"Let go of me, Steven." Amethyst softly whined while trying to get away.

"Amethyst, you can talk to me." Steven softly spoke, which made her stop trying to pry his hand off her arm.

She looked back up at him. "Why when you don't even want to talk to me?"

"Just sit down, please." Steven gently pulled her back to her chair.

She finally sat back down and scooted her chair closer to the table. "You want to know how I feel, Steven?"

"I thought I was pretty clear about that." Steven replied, still looking grim and serious.

"I thought I was pretty clear, too!" Amethyst retorted, expressing some anger in her tone. "I feel like I don't want to say, 'what about me?' Okay! And I don't want to be bent out of shape. I don't want to be stuck in the past. And I'm not responsible for what Rose did! None of us are! Not you. Not Pearl. And not Garnet! But I am responsible for me. And right now, I am not going to dump another thousand-year-old complex on you or anybody else. I am ending it right here!"

Then she stood up in her chair with her finger pointed toward the ceiling.

"I am the ding dong sunshine future. Your friend forever!" Amethyst declared boldly before simmering down back in her chair and softly said, "and I'm not going to fall apart on you. So, Steven, how do you feel?"

Steven contemplated, staring at his palm. An unorthodox way of thinking, but one that suits him best.

Then he stared back up at her. "I feel... flawed..."

"What do you mean by that?" Amethyst leaned closer.

"I feel like I could do more than what I've done... even in the past, where I stood in the sidelines while everyone did the work... I feel like I could have tried harder..." Steven answered in breaths, taking brief moments of silence to keep his composure. "I didn't do enough to prevent this from happening..."

Amethyst scrunches her expression in disappointment. "You did plenty! You saved the entire world from the Cluster! None of us would've unbubbled Peridot!"

"And I endangered the world when I released Lapis and she took the water because I thought I knew better..." Steven slumps his head on his palm. "I got Dad kidnapped because I was doing things myself and brought him along... I upset Pearl by already knowing Mom's secret armory... I brought Garnet to a motel where she took her anger out on Ruby and Sapphire, which nearly ruined my experience... I caused you to feel bad about yourself when you took me to the Prime Kindergarten and Pearl came over to see where I went... It seems that all I ever do is hurt people by getting involved... I should just do everything myself so nobody important gets hurt... Even then, that somehow hurts others since Connie was hurt, but she wouldn't tell me why..."

Amethyst didn't feel like eating anymore, nor did she feel bad about herself anymore, upon realizing that Steven is more damaged than what she expected. "Steven... you... none of that stuff is true."

"I disagree." Steven replied in an unflappable manner, looking her in the eyes with his chin still resting on his open palm. "Why do you say it isn't true?"

"Because none of that stuff was in your control." Amethyst insisted, feeling kind of disturbed at his nonchalant self-deprecation. "You didn't cause Pearl to find us at the Prime Kindergarten, I did. Plus, Lion taking you to that armory was something he wanted you to know about, not you. You didn't tell Lapis to steal Earth's water. Garnet insisted on going with you to the motel, you never forced her to come. Connie was just being selfish, you did the right thing - it was just a scary situation for all of us. And there's no way you could've known your dad was gonna have the moves with Blue."

"But all of those situations happened because I was involved with them. If I hadn't gone with you, we wouldn't have been at the Prime Kindergarten. If I didn't free Lapis from the mirror, she wouldn't have stolen Earth's water. If I kept my mouth shut about the things I knew about in the armory, Pearl wouldn't have had her breakdown. And if I hadn't gotten excited over the road trip, then Garnet possibly would have stayed home. Connie is the only one I just don't understand." Steven counteracts, sounding very descriptive and specific - almost alluding that he had thought of this for a long time.

Amethyst was just feeling more distressed for him, since he just refuses to even show emotion towards his own criticism.

"Was that the answer you wanted?" Steven asked while sounding like a bored teenager - actually, he is a teenager and he is bored.

"N-Not really..." Amethyst looked down at the table and back up to look at him. "Is there anything else you want to share...?"

"Eh, not really." Steven shrugged, actually being a bit careless in his tone.

But she still insists on questioning him for more. "But are you... angry? Like, were there times where you felt frustrated with something, and you felt powerless to do something about it?"

"All the time, in those situations I just mentioned." Steven replied, looking rather slightly amused that Amethyst continued with this. "I was angry when Garnet kept Blue Diamond a secret from me, which subsequently got Dad kidnapped. I was angry when you and Pearl fought and wouldn't let me try to defuse the situation. I was angry when Pearl let me dangle on those vines hanging precariously over a deadly drop, all because she was upset for not being trusted enough. I was angry when Lapis stole Earth's water and possibly got a few people killed from it. I was angry when Ruby and Sapphire nearly ruined my experience in Keystone state and all that it took for them to even talk things out was me being upset at them. I was so angry when Connie wouldn't let me explain myself and just took off, as if I did something terrible to her..."

Unbeknownst to him, he was clenching his fist the more he talked about how he felt - which actually frightened the quartz a little bit.

And she surprised him with this. "Well, you can get angry."

He looked up at her with perplexed eyes. "...What?"

"You have the right to get angry, just like we did." Amethyst reiterated, feeling determined now that she finally had his undivided attention. "You deserve to let some of that brewing anger out. We weren't right to lash out at you or anyone else during our stressful times. It's only fair to let you have some moments of that."

He considered it. It's not like this was the first time where he was presented with the idea of letting loose on his emotions. But the last time he did, he stormed off to find Blue Diamond and that got his father abducted.

He needed to put a pin on this.

Then he rose from his chair. "Let's go find Ruby."

Amethyst was curious to know what he had thought of what she said, she could tell that he was contemplating. But right now, he had his focus on Ruby and making sure she was okay.

Perhaps afterwards he could tell her what his answer was.

After going to Brooding Hill, he spotted his father's van. Next to the custom-painted vehicle, Greg and Ruby rested near the cliff with an open pizza box between them. And a few comic books spread around.

"There they are." Steven pointed, directing Amethyst. "After everything Sapphire said, she must be heartbroken."

They calmly approached them.

"Hey guys." Steven gently waved before stopping.

Ruby was quick to turn around. "Steven? How'd you find me?"

"We sensed you!" Amethyst jokes while gesturing with her hands, sounding like a spooky narrator.

"We heard you ordered pizza." Steven flatly elaborated, killing the small joy Amethyst attempted to spark up.

His father looked over his shoulder, smiling. "Ruby was just telling me about your mom."

"Oh, are you okay?" Steven inquired while stepping closer to him.

"Well, I fell in love with Rose Quartz and she fell in love with Mr. Universe. Sure she never told me she used to be Pink Diamond, but..." He pauses to chuckle softly and briefly. "I never told her I used to be Gregory Demayo."

"So, how are you holding up, Ruby?" Steven looked back to the relatively calm ruby.

"I'm okay." Ruby nonchalantly answered before holding up the pizza box. "Want a slice?"

But Steven refused. "Wait, you seemed so sad before."

"Yeah, but me and Greg talked it out. I'm fine now." Ruby replied, sounding very chipper in spite of what happened earlier today.

Steven still seemed unconvinced. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Sapphire was kinda right about everything. We really did stay Garnet because Rose told us we were... the... answer. It's my first time really thinking about it. It's my first time really thinking about me!" Ruby points at herself, looking very joyful.

"What do you mean?" Steven raised a confused eyebrow.

"Back when I emerged, the first thing I did was get crammed together with a bunch of other rubies, then I was with Sapphire all the time. I was always checking in with someone, but now I can go wherever the wind takes me. I'm up here, eating pizza, reading comics! I dunno if Sapphire wants to read comics! I don't have to know!" Ruby elaborated before doing a graceful backflip up the van. "The rest of my life could be like this! I don't have to be Garnet, I could be on my own!"

"Sure." Greg agreed with a smile.

"I guess." Amethyst shrugged with folded arms.

"But you guys love each other." Steven said before taking a step closer to the van. "I'm sure Sapphire would want–"

"I'm not focused about what Sapphire wants." Ruby interrupts. "I'm seeing my own future now, and it's nothin' but Ruby!"

Steven still looked concerned. "But–"

"Hang on, kiddo." Greg interjects, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "That's not our call to make. Ruby's gotta want that for herself. If it's not what Ruby wants, then it's not what Garnet wants, right?"

"I guess." Steven replied begrudgingly.

"So... where you going after this, dude?" Amethyst inquired after witnessing Ruby jumping up and down on Greg's van. "You just gonna stay out here?"

"I wanna live free!" Ruby cheered after she stopped bouncing. "One with the wilderness! Facing danger at every turn! Not needin' nothin' or nobody to get me by!" Then she hopped off the van to grab a comic book. "Just like this guy!"

Steven gently took the comic from her. "Lonesome Lasso?"

"Out far from home, doing whatever he wants and facing whatever the wilderness throws at him! All by his lonesome, hence the name." Ruby grinned. "The open plain! That's where I wanna go!"

"I think I know just the place." Greg said while putting his hands on his hips. "I'll get you there."

Steven isn't so sure if he should encourage this. Sapphire is worried sick about Ruby, and he said he'll get her back. Right now, he needs to play along with this and hopefully bring Ruby back to the house, just so he can say that he brought her back and let the pair decide what to do with each other.

"Thank you!" Ruby cheered as she tossed the comic book and did another flip onto the van to make finger guns. "Yeehaw! Pa pow! Pa pow! Bang bang bang!"

The next day, Steven, Amethyst, Greg, and Ruby went out in the wilderness, like the red gem wanted to. Greg took the van with them in case they needed to drive back home, or to drive anywhere.

Ruby dressed up like a cowboy with Amethyst being her horse - actually shapeshifting as a horse. The group traveled around the wilderness and Ruby recited the quotes she read from the comic, experiencing some danger and reveling in independence. Steven still remained patient, waiting for when Ruby wanted to go home. He is kind of happy for Ruby, glad that she's taking the news about Pink Diamond well and wanting something more than just being Garne.

Soon nightfall came and right now, Greg and Horse Amethyst are asleep by the campfire Ruby made earlier. Steven tends to the fire, making sure it stays lit so they could remain warm.

Then, he noticed Ruby sitting on top of the rock and staring off at the stars in the night sky.

He stood up and approached the rock. "Hey, Ruby."

"Hmm?" Ruby didn't look back, still gazing at the stars.

"I got nervous when you said you didn't want to fuse with Sapphire anymore. I felt like I was losing someone I cared about, but I saw how much fun you were having today. All this buckerooing really suits you. I'm sorry I tried to push you back into being Garnet." Steven apologized while rubbing his arm, feeling guilty he attempted to push her into something she didn't want.

"It's... not true."

Steven looked perplexed. "Huh?"

"The stuff I said..." She looked back at him, revealing her distressed face. "It's not true."

Steven looked slightly surprised.

"I mean, I did have a lot of fun today. I loved it! But... the whole time I..." She sighed. "I kept thinking about how much more fun I'd have if I were with her. Sapphire was always there with me. I'd feel her smile... just like... it was mine... It's so lonely now."

She groans in frustration before falling off the rock and hitting her head, but she remains unflinching from the pain.

"That's lame, right?! I came here to be my own gem, but I'm still thinking about what she'd like, what she'd want, all the time! Turns out, I'm no good at not needin' nobody." She muttered in a pout.

"That's not lame. You led us on a frontier adventure. You're still the same Ruby who did all that stuff, even if you're thinking of someone. Look at Lonesome Lasso." Steven opened the comic and showed her a specific page. "They call him that because he's lonesome. 'I miss Sally May.' He's still a rootin' tootin' cowboy blazin' his own trails. But he loves someone too."

That seemed to make Ruby feel better, because her frown turned into a somber smile. "Well, if I'm makin' my own decisions, then I'll decide I wanna be with Sapphire. I mean, I gotta ask her first. I just don't want it to feel like we're going back to how things used to be... back when... someone else told us to be together... I want it to be different."

"Wait a second..." Steven flipped through the comic and showed her a different page. "What do you think of this?"

When Ruby observed it, she gasped with delight.

A time skip to the morning back at Steven's house, Steven entered the livingroom to find Pearl and Ruby on the couch.

The worried sapphire rushes to him. "Steven! Did you find Ruby?!"

"She's outside. She's got something to say to you." Steven directed her to the door.

Sapphire hurried outside on the front porch to see Ruby on top of Horse Amethyst in front of the sun that's rising slowly to the sky.

"Ruby!" Sapphire flees from the porch and on the shoreline to meet the cowboy gem. "Ruby, I'm so sorry! I should've never said those awful things to you, that we didn't matter anymore. I shouldn't have pushed you away. I was wrong."

"Nah, you were right." Ruby leaps off of the purple horse, patting her to leave and the 'animal' obeyed with a neigh. "Someone else told us we were the answer. But, I don't believe that anymore. At least, not 'till I hear it from you."

Ruby grasped her hand and got on her knee. The gushing wind was so strong, it made her hat fly off her head and reach sky-high.

"Sapphire... Will you marry me?"

"What?" She asked with a laugh. "Marry you?"

"Yeah! This way we can be together even when we're apart! This time, being Garnet will be our decision! Whaddya say?" Ruby inquires with the happiest smile she could muster.

Sapphire gushes. "Of course."

They hugged, Ruby spinning Sapphire around while the blue gem kissed her face.

"I've been waiting to kiss your cute face!" Sapphire commented as her lips departed from Ruby's cheek.

They were giggling whilst Ruby was tossing Sapphire up to catch her and do the same thing over and over again. Steven and Pearl watched this occur from the porch, and then Horse Amethyst shows up and startled her.

"Psst, it's me. Imma horse." Amethyst whispered humorously.

Later that day, Steven met with the two engaged gems in the living room to plan for the wedding. He placed a book on the table that was labeled 'dream wedding.'

"This is just to give you some ideas. Ruby said she wanted your reunion as Garnet to be special. And there's nothing more special and romantic than a beautiful wedding." Steven explained with a small smile.

"It's like they say, if you wanna drink the cow, you gotta put a ring on it." Ruby explains confidently.

Sapphire giggled and gingerly held Ruby's hands. "But, sweetums, who says that?"

"Let's take a look at printing styles for your invitations." Steven said while sorting the paper and coloring material out on the table.

Lapis took a seat near him and grabbed a pencil, ready to draw.

"Would it be cool if we got flames on it?" Ruby asked, scooting closer to see the paper Lapis is drawing on.

"Oh, and some dolphins." Sapphire inputs, her excitement matching with her fiancée.

"Yeah! Dolphins and flames!" Ruby cheered while jumping up from her seat.

While Lapis draws, Steven flips through the book to stop at a specific page. "I think I've got exactly what you're looking for on page 135."

"How long did it take you to put this together?" Sapphire inquired, noticing how lengthy the book was when he opened it.

"My entire life." Steven jokes, showing some sense of humor after being serious for a while now.

"This is gonna be the best wedding ever!" Ruby shouts with utmost enthusiasm and excitement.

And then began a painstakingly long process of creating invitations for the non-legal wedding. Pearl is tasked with folding the paper to look identical to an actual wedding invite that's printed. Steven's role is stamping the papers with a small ink shape of Ruby and Sapphire with letters forming 'you're invited.'

The soon-to-be newlyweds signed their signatures on the paper before giving it to Lapis, who adds some creativity in the invites before giving them to Peridot. The green Dorito stuffs them in envelopes and then Amethyst licks them to seal them shut.

Let's just say that this process wasn't so fun for everybody.

"This folding bone is so nice!" Pearl said with pride as she practiced her proficient use with symmetry when folding the paper. "Who knew that planning a wedding could be so fun?"

"I did." Steven replied as he tediously stamped the paper before sliding it over to the couple.

"Time to sign." Ruby comments as she and her fiancée sign the papers. "Here you go, Lappy."

Lapis quickly draws onto the paper before passing it to Peridot. "Here, Peri."

"Ugh! We've been stuffing these envelopes all day!" Peridot tiredly groaned while stuffing the envelope and passing it to Amethyst. "How many does that make?"

After making her tongue dangle loosely like Scooby Doo, Amethyst slurps the development before closing it and slamming it on the other envelopes in a stacked pile. "That makes ten!"

"Oh, just ten..." Sapphire comments, almost gloomy.

Steven noticed this. "We can print them to make more at a faster rate. My dad just bought an excellent printer."

Some time later and outside, Pearl and Amethyst are setting up chairs, the purple quartz carelessly tossing them behind her or setting them up crooked while the pale pearl organizes them as neatly as she could and symmetrically. Steven and the two lovers are on the stage that's set up, discussing how the ceremony should play out.

"So, my Dad will finish playing the music, and then, next, you'll do the 'I do's' and then I'll say, 'I now pronounce you Garnet.' And then you fuse. Everyone will cheer." Steven explains while holding a piece of paper, most likely a script.

Sapphire deeply stared at the Temple. "Everyone... who survived."

Her fiancée worriedly glances at her. "Huh?"

"Oh, it's just... there are so many old friends who won't be able to come. All the Crystal Gems who are corrupted and bubbled in the basement." Sapphire states while staring at the spate of empty chairs, knowing that not all of them will be filled.

"Maybe we could bring the bubbles up here?" Ruby appeases, attempting to make Sapphire happy.

But she denied, gently holding Ruby's hands. "No, no. It's not safe. We can't risk them getting out."

Steven notices this, still keeping it in mind as they proceed with the planning. Later on that day in the afternoon, He is signing names on the papers. He thought about what Sapphire said. Not all of them are corrupted.

There's Bismuth. He got up and went to the Temple. He finds her bubble and pops it. The gemstone glows and rises in the air. It formed a body and Bismuth dropped to the ground.

She groaned and moved her hair out of her face. "Hmm? I'm back?"

Steven just casually stood there. "Hey, Bismuth. Long time no see."

Her eyes darted to him. "Rose. I mean, Steven!"

"There's a third option now," said Steven with the attempt to defuse the tension with humor.

"Well, why would you let me out? I just tried to shatter you." Bismuth demanded, looking at him with questioning eyes.

Steven shrugged that off and continued to negotiate with her. "You know how you fought Mom because her whole war strategy didn't make any sense? Well, you were right!"

Bismuth noticed the bubbles in the Temple and gasped. "W-What's going on? Did Rose do this? Did she bubble everyone who disagreed with her?!"

"No, it's not like that!" Steven quickly replied, trying to stop her from thinking the wrong thing.

But it was too late, Bismuth can see old friends of hers in a bubble. "Tiger's Eye! Little Larimar! Beryl, Serpentine, and, ohh, Biggs! Biggs was beloved by everyone!"

She jumped and grabbed the bubble containing Biggs.

"Bismuth, wait!" Steven exclaimed, holding out a hand. "Bismuth, you don't understand!"

She popped the bubble. "Come on, Biggs, help me free the othe–"

She paused when she saw that it formed into a large, uncompromising monster instead of her friend.

"Biggs...?"

"Bismuth!" Steven quickly went to her and formed his bubble to protect them both from the monster. "I'm sorry, Bismuth! This is not the Biggs you knew before."

"Steven–"

"I know we had our differences, but so much has changed and I just wanted to tell you–"

The monster popped his bubble but Bismuth shapeshifted her hands into giant hammers to hold off her corrupted friend. Then, she turned her hands into blades and sliced her friend in half. The monster poofed and the gemstone dropped to the concrete floor.

Steven bubbles the gem and lets it safely float back up to the ceiling.

"Only a Diamond could do damage like this. It was Pink, wasn't it? And why didn't Rose stop her?!" Bismuth asked in utter despair, growling with clenched fists while staring at the ceiling.

"Because they were the same gem." Steven answered with a tired sigh.

She looked back at him, like he was insane. "What?"

And then he spent the time explaining the entire story to her - which took way longer than it needed to be.

"And that's the whole story." Steven concluded, and noticed Bismuth's silence. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Hang on a sec." She walked over to the lava pool and dipped her face in it. While she did that, she screamed as loud as she could and the only sounds he heard was muffled screaming and hot bubbles sizzling and popping in the lava before finally pulling her head out. "Oh, my gosh! It all makes sense now!"

Steven still seemed indifferent to everything. "Pretty wild, right?"

She sighed and slipped her feet into the lava.

"Steven, come here and join me. The lava's great." Bismuth gestured with her arm.

"I would, but I'm not lava proof." He replied while standing still and close to her, avoiding stepping too close to the lava pool in case a bubble popped and any residue from it were to land right on his exposed foot from his flip flop and result in a horrific mess.

Bismuth slightly chuckled from the amusement she thought of. "I was so excited to show Rose the Breaking Point. Can you imagine? 'Hey, Rose! Check out this cool weapon I made! I'm gonna shatter you with it!'" She briefly laughed before sighing. "I really thought all of our problems would disappear if we could just shatter a Diamond. Guess she ended up taking my advice."

"I'm sorry about all this." Steven replied, making sure there was no bad blood between them.

"Thanks... for talking to me." She pats him on the back.

"You took that pretty well. Way better than Garnet did." Steven commented.

"How so?"

"She unfused over it." He flatly replied.

"What?! No!" Bismuth exclaimed, her hands gripping her rainbow strands. "They're my favorite couple!"

"Don't worry, they're back together, but they haven't fused yet." He quickly explained.

"Huh?"

"That's actually why I came down here to begin with. I wanted to invite you to Garnet's wedding." Steven passively replied, defusing the tone.

"Garnet's wedding, huh?" Bismuth reiterates, the word 'wedding' sounding very alien to her.

"Yeah, it would be great if you could attend." He continued, still offering a spot for her to attend.

"Yeah... okay." Bismuth awkwardly scratches the back of her head. "I don't have any plans, so I guess I can come."

And then he smiled again, the smile still being small. "We'd be glad to have you."

"So, what's a wedding?" Bismuth asked, now with everything else out of the way.

After explaining everything and going back inside, Steven plans to surprise the other's with Bismuth's presence. However, when he came outside and gave Bismuth the cue to show up, she never did.

He went back to the house and she wasn't there. She couldn't have left the house without anyone knowing, unless she took the warp pad located at the entrance to the Temple.

He warped to the Forge, since it's the only place she knows and can warp to. Going through the same path she led him the first two times, he definitely knows where to locate her. Upon entering her domain, he could see that she's already back in business creating and forging new weapons.

"What happened back there?" Steven asked, approaching Bismuth and her anvil. "I thought you would be happy to see them."

"If they wanted to see me so much, they coulda let me out themselves, but they didn't." Bismuth replied in a somewhat dull voice, but also one that subtly showed sorrow. "Of course they didn't. I attacked their leader."

"They're not going side with Rose anymore. Not after–"

"I'm not talking about Rose. I'm talking about you." Bismuth interrupts, ceasing her hammering for a brief moment before staring down at the anvil and resuming.

"But I'm not the leader. Garnet's the leader." Steven retorts, still insisting for her to come back.

She stopped once again and stared at him with narrowed eyes. "And where's Garnet?"

"She'll be back. That's the whole point. It's a big Crystal Gem wedding. We should all be there together." Steven insists, still sounding hopeful.

Bismuth formed her hammer hands into normal hands.

"Why?! Why are the Crystal Gems still together after finding out that everything was a sham?! Somebody's making them believe in the future, and it's you!" She points at Steven's face, the hybrid remains unflinching. "You seriously think they're gonna want me around when the last thing I did was try to shatter you?! You told them everything, and they made their choice. They want me in a bubble, and you out there."

She picked up the sword she just made, before tossing it behind her head and landing in a pile of other weapons she made during the time she spent here. It is almost humorous that she already made a dozen weapons during the short amount of time she had before Steven found her here.

"But Bismuth..."

"You say they want me to be made of honor? Well, I am." She grabs minerals from the metal-pot container to hold tightly in her fist as she plunged it straight into flowing lava. "I'm made of the most solid, flexible, diamagnetic stuff there is, and I'm not as dense as you might think. I've got enough self-respect in this gem to accept that they don't want me on their team anymore." She set the hot metal on the anvil before she turned her hands into hammers again, but she didn't do anything else after that. "I blew it. Everything was different, and I didn't believe it."

Her hands reformed back to normal and tears slowly seeped from her eyes.

"Everything is different." Steven responds passively. "We had a fight, so we can make up, right? If they didn't let you out because they care about me, then they're gonna care that I want you back on the team."

Bismuth looked back at him with a confused look. "Huh?"

"I want you back on the team." Steven reiterated softly, giving her a look of compassion. "Forget the surprise. If we show up together, they're all going to know that everything's okay."

She somberly smiled. "Heh, spoken like a leader."

"No." Steven put a hand on her back and rubbed his consolingly. "Spoken like a friend."

Then they both went back to the house via the warp pad. At that point, all the gems had a contest where whoever holds their can of soda last gets to be the flower girl for the wedding. Ruby and Sapphire obviously played just for fun and were excited to see who would have the honor of spreading the petals onto the sand before the bride walked down the aisle.

"Hey, everyone! Did you guys miss me?" Bismuth said while awkwardly smiling.

Everyone - even Lapis - dropped their cans of soda except Peridot; who kind of cheated since she used her metal-telekinesis to ensure the can would never leave her hands.

"Ha! I win!" Peridot boasts proudly. "Also, less importantly, who are you?"

"I invited Bismuth." Steven explains calmly. "I hope that's cool."

Sapphire stepped forth, brushing her hair out of her face to see Bismuth more clearly with her one eye.

"Bismuth..." Sapphire gasps calmly before leaping at her to hug her.

Bismuth was shocked at this. "Whoa, Sapphire."

Ruby and Pearl tackled her, crying out, "BISMUTH!"

Sapphire held Bismuth's hand gently. "You wouldn't believe what we've all been through. I'm so sorry. We should've–"

"Look, I'm right there with you." Bismuth politely interrupted. "Steven filled me in."

"So, is anyone gonna introduce me?" Peridot inquired while scratching her head.

"Let's give 'em some space." Amethyst said while putting an arm around the green Dorito's shoulders/

"Oh, Ruby! Sapphire! I heard you're supposed to bring gifts to these things and these aren't weapons." Bismuth opened her hand to reveal two rings, one made of copper and the other made of steel. "Steven seemed to think they'd come in handy."

"We love them!" They both cried happily.

The Next Day:

All morning, Steven and the gang helped arrange for the wedding. It was truly commendable how much dedicated they are for making the couple happy, especially Steven.

Back to the important matters at hand, Steven sent out lots of invites to the wedding; anyone was allowed to attend. And the ceremony was stationed by the shoreline just a few hundred feet away from the beach house.

Steven and Sapphire stood down at the end of the aisle, both wearing tuxedos. While he was up there, Steven could see everyone in the crowd - everyone he knew while growing up.

Even... Connie and Lion, who he hasn't seen since they took off after the night he came home after being kidnapped by Aquamarine.

No, don't get angry, focused on the wedding. Steven assured himself.

"Are you nervous?" Steven friendly smirked, nudging her arm.

Sapphire scoffed. "I'm not."

He looked down to see some ice form around her foot. They both patiently waited for Ruby to arrive in the wedding dress made just for her; a flame-retardant dress due to the fact her form burns every time she feels extreme emotions.

Peridot volunteered to be the flowergirl and as such, she aggressively threw flowers at everyone as she was walking down the aisle.

"Flowers for you, flowers for you, flowers for you." Peridot said, harshly tossing the flowers at people - even knocking Mr. Smiley off his chair.

She eventually ran out and approached Steven like a soldier waiting for orders. "Wedding commander, all flowers have been deployed."

"Thanks, Peridot." Steven calmly said while gesturing for her to take a seat.

Not too long after that, Ruby finally comes out in her wedding dress with the biggest smile on her face - full of pride and joy. Greg was playing a melody with his guitar in tune with Ruby's steps. Then she quickly sprints her way down the aisle, going so fast that Greg had to quicken his melody.

She left little bits of fire on the sand, which caused Amethyst to get up from her seat to stamp it out with her feet.

Steven cleared his throat to get started. "Dearly beloved gems, humans, lions big and small, living gourds, Onion... we are gathered here today to celebrate Ruby and Sapphire, two of my favorite people who combine into one of my other favorite people. You all probably know her as Garnet. She is their love, given form." Then he pauses to look at the two lovebirds. "But now it's your turn to talk about that."

Ruby eventually mustered the courage to be the first one to speak. "I know this is all kind of silly. I mean, we've been together for 5,750 years."

"And eight months." Sapphire added on humorously.

"I used to feel like I wasn't much good, just one of me on my own..." Ruby comments, frowning at her old life. "But when we're together, it feels like it's okay to just be me. So, I want to be me with you. And... and not even the Diamonds will come between us. And if they try, we'll beat 'em up!"

To which, Ruby proceeds to throw her fists in the air and swing her feet a little bit.

Sapphire laughed before calming down to say her piece. "Ruby, my future used to look like one single, obvious stream, unbending till the end of time. In an instant, you pulled me from that destiny and opened my eye to an explosion of infinite possible futures, streaking across space and time, altered and obliterated by the smallest force of will."

Stars appeared in Ruby's eyes, being starstruck.

"What I mean is, you changed my life." Sapphire replied, her hands at her sides and keeping a disciplined posture. "And then, I changed your life. And now, we change our lives."

Steven opened a box that had rings in it. Ruby puts Sapphire's ring on and Sapphire put's Ruby's ring on.

"Ruby, do you take this gem to have and to hold, on this and every other planet in the universe?" Steven ask, a smile growing on his face.

"I do!" Ruby responds, full of passion and excitement.

Steven glances over to Sapphire. "Sapphire, do you–"

"Yes." She calmly interrupts.

"You didn't let me finish." Steven playfully scolds with a grin on his face.

"I'm just very excited." She replied, her joy softly breaking through her tranquil demeanor.

"Then, by the power vested in me by the state of Delmarva, I now pronounce you Garnet." He stepped back and gave them space.

They passionately kissed, and then fused into Garnet - her attire is a mix of a groom's suit and a brides dress.

Everyone gave her a round of applause for their wonderful achievement.

Later on that day, with the sun close to set, everyone is dancing on the dance floor they've set up for after the ceremony. Though, not everyone was dancing - some were just chatting amongst themselves.

But then he spotted someone approaching him, it was Connie.

The last time he was given a chance to speak with her is when he got an invite from Kevin to a party that she was attending, but he ignored it.

Steven tried texting her after the night he returned home from nearly dying at the trial and leaving Lars with the Off-Colors stranded at the lower depths of Homeworld. But she ignored them - not bothering to reply.

And in return, he just stopped trying and ignored her entirely. He had other important things to do instead of being depressed over Connie.

Right now, she's coming toward him and he isn't sure if he's ready to speak to her after what happened. She's wearing a blue dress, that's quite complementary to Sapphire's color, and she had cut her hair - that must've happened after she left him.

"Hey." Connie gives him a little wave.

"Hello." Steven didn't return the wave.

"That was a nice speech you gave up there." She sparks up some small talk, partially avoiding eye contact with him while he did the same.

"Yeah, I wrote it myself." He replied before taking a sip. "Where's Lion?"

"Over there." She points, and they both see him humorously drinking from the punch bowl.

She smiled at the feline's action while Steven still looked grim. Her smile died when she noticed his expression, he wasn't joking around.

"I guess you haven't moved on from what happened..." Connie said while scratching the back of her head.

"I have moved on." Steven replied, setting his cup down.

"Then why haven't you apologized?" She asked, finally looking him in the eyes.

"Because I have nothing to be sorry about." Steven folds his arms. "I did nothing wrong."

"Steven, you gave yourself up to them." She retorts, kind of angrily but keeping her voice calm enough - as to not ruin Garnet's wedding. "Pearl taught us not to give up."

"It was an impossible fight." He sighed his response.

"But we could've beaten them as Stevonnie." Connie insists, still remaining quiet. "Don't you remember our training?"

And then his expression frowned at her. "Connie, she managed to subdue Alexandrite. What makes you think Stevonnie would've had a better chance of defeating her?"

"It would've been better than surrendering." She retorts, still being firm.

"No, it wouldn't." He replied, sounding more tired at her responses. "You don't know what happened after I was taken. I was put on trial in front of Yellow and Blue. They almost killed me. They killed Lars when they sent those machines down there to look for us. And he would've remained dead if I didn't have Mom's healing tears. I protected you from them. And all I hear from you is that you're upset?"

"You scared us! We thought that would've been the last time we'd ever see you." Connie retorts, her voice slightly being raised but still simmered down so that no one else can hear them.

And then he remembered what Amethyst said.

You deserve to let some of that brewing anger out.

"But I survived, barely. And all you're fussed about is yourself." Steven said, taking a step forward which unnerved her by how fierce he looked. "If you want to be mad at me for not taking you with me to an alien planet where you could've died, then fine. But I will not apologize for what I did. It was the right decision to make." He took another step, getting closer to her and she was too nervous to move back. "Even though you don't think so, I did care about you and everyone's safety at the moment, as to draw their attention away from you. And in return, you just leave after I tried to explain myself."

"You gave yourself up because you thought you had to pay for your mom's–"

"No, not 'thought,' I knew." Steven cuts her off, getting in her face. "Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond all along. I figured it out, and that explained a lot of things that seemed flimsy. And if you stayed instead of taking off, you'd know too." With each sentence, he sounded more aggravated - despite his voice being limited to reaching anything beyond Connie's ears. "You can stay mad all you want, it doesn't change the fact that you were selfish."

She was utterly speechless at this, this was probably the first time she had seen him this aggressive before.

But then he finally simmered down to a more passive state, sighing the rest of his anger away. "Enjoy the party."

Then he moves on to the edge of the dance floor, staring at the ocean and sun setting.

That felt good. Steven tells himself internally. Amethyst was right.

"Steven!" Garnet surprises him by lifting him up into her arms to give him a bear-hug.

He couldn't help but smile at her gesture. "Hey, Garnet."

"Thanks for everything. I needed this" Garnet said in a relieved tone, but a grin still plagued her face. "What a wonderful idea. Humans find a way to make a moment's decision last forever. I don't need future vision to know I'll always remember this."

"I'm so glad." Steven replied, feeling utmost satisfaction.

He felt the tingling sensation of joy and pride in his chest. He just felt so happy that everything was fixed and now things can go back to normal.

He feels like crying.

"Aw, no. I'm sorry." Garnet said, keeping her smile on her face. "Don't cry."

Steven took a hand up to his face to feel tears streaming down.

"I guess seeing everyone together has got me really choked up." He tried wiping the tears off his face, only for them to keep flowing constantly - something was wrong, it's not him. "Wait a second. You don't think..."

Garnet took off her visor, her third eye blinking. "Blue Diamond!"

"She's here?!" Steven exclaimed, gently making Garnet let go of him so he can stand on his feet.

"And she's not alone!" Garnet looks up at the sky, Steven's gaze following hers.

The sun is almost gone, but what's left of the light is blocked by the two appendage-like ships in the sky. One blue arm and one yellow arm.

"It's the Diamonds." Steven said, kind of afraid but also kind of aggravated - Garnet is sharing a similar expression.

He raced over to Mayor Nanefua while everyone else that weren't gems was fleeing from the party.

"Nanafua, get on your Nanephone! We've got a code blue and a code yellow!" Steven quickly instructs before running back with the gems.

But then the two ships passed by the gems.

"We're over here, ya clods!" Peridot boldly shouts at them.

"Wha...?! Where are they going?!" Pearl fearfully asked.

"If they're not here for us, they must be here for the Cluster!" Steven said, watching the two ships burrowing their fingers in the surface to dig.

"What's the Cluster?!" Bismuth inquired, unaware of the geo-weapon's existence.

"It's a huge Earth-destroying geo-weapon that the Diamonds made out of a bajillion gem shards." Steven explains, trying to maintain balance as the ground was shaking due to the aircrafts' digging. "I gotta keep it calm and in its bubble. I can use my mind to connect with it, but only when I'm asleep."

"Asleep?" Bismuth tilts her head.

Racing back inside, Steven jumps into his bed and tries to sleep - which was very difficult due to the destruction occurring outside.

He sighed, gripping his head. "It's no use... How am I supposed to sleep through this?!"

"Maybe a lullaby will help." Greg said as he began playing the guitar.

And within seconds, Steven had fallen asleep just like that. However, his slumber did not last very long, as he woke up merely fifteen seconds later.

He jolts awake and runs to the front door. "IT POPPED!"

Leaning on the railing at the front porch, Steven watches as the enormous white-figure looking creature with multiple faces emerges from the ground the two arm-ships made and then forms an arm of its own.

Everyone froze, they were unsure what kind of destruction this creature could cause in its state. But then it surprised them by punching the yellow arm - which caused it to crash into the ocean, only for it to rise up moments later.

Steven glanced back at the Cluster arm and saw it giving him a thumbs up.

"All right, looks like it's in control of itself, and it's on our side!" Steven said, smiling at their new ally.

Then it blocked the punch from the yellow arm. After a bit of struggling, they end up performing an arm wrestle - where both arms have an equal chance of winning.

But everyone took their focus off of it and focused on the blue arm deploying a familiar face out onto the shoreline.

The blue giantess herself, Blue Diamond.

"Guess it's time to work the old Universe charm." Greg said, trying to adjust his hair - or what's left of it.

"No!" Everyone said to intervene.

"All right, I'll just be in here." Greg nervously smiled while scurrying inside the house.

"Rose Quartz..." Blue Diamond spoke, her voice loud enough for all of them to hear but also so calm. "So you escaped Homeworld and crawled back here. This is Pink's world! How dare you use it as your hiding place?! Come! Answer for what you did!"

"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad!" Peridot quickly said in fearful repetition.

Steven looked around and noticed Lapis was missing. Where did she go?

"Come on, you rocks, let's put her in a bubble!" Bismuth said, turning her hands into hammers.

Everyone else drew their weapons, except Peridot and Steven since they did not have any weapons.

While furious, Steven wanted to try the diplomatic approach. "Wait, let me talk to her."

He leaped off the porch and boldly approached the giantess.

"Blue Diamond, please listen to me." Steven said in a somewhat pleading voice, well kind of. "I didn't shatter Pink Diamond. Pink Diamond's right here. It's pretty interesting when you think about it–"

"Enough!" She shoots an orb at him, causing him to be vaulted back.

Steven was caught by another giantess, Alexandrite. And she roared in fury at Blue Diamond.

"You cannot fathom how much I've mourned, what thousands of years of grief has done to me!" Blue Diamond cried, causing the entire environment to turn blue.

Alexandrite unfused, dropping Steven, and now everyone is feeling her grief. They all kneeled down, uncontrollably crying.

"You deserve this, all of you!" Blue Diamond said, menacingly glancing over them all.

"St-Steven..." Amethyst said in the middle of her tears.

"What do we do?!" Pearl inquired while blubbering.

Steven just bites his teeth and fights through the emotional pain. Because not only was his sadness resurfacing, but his anger was too. He bites his teeth in fury.

"Blue Diamond!" Garnet shouts, her anger getting the better of her too.

"Who are you supposed to be?" The giantess glances down at the fusion.

"I am the will of two gems to care for each other, to protect each other from any threat, no matter how vast or how cruel." Garnet said as she boldly marched toward the Diamond. "You couldn't stop me 5,750 years ago, and you can't stop me now!"

And then the mournful Diamond's glance scowled. "It's you, that ruby and sapphire that disrupted my court."

And then the fusion lunged at the bottom of Blue Diamond's dress, hitting her ankles despite the dress concealing them. "AGH! This is supposed to be MY day!"

And then the Diamond snorts at her futile resistance. "You hope to defeat me by clinging to my feet?"

And then Garnet looked up and smiled, confusing the Diamond. "I just needed to keep you from taking three steps to the right."

Blue Diamond felt something dripping onto her hood, and then she looked up to see a barn hovering over her head due to it being held by several thousand gallons of water.

And the one who's holding it all is Lapis Lazuli. "Surprise!"

And then she slammed it down onto the Diamond after Garnet did a few backflips away from her. Lapis flew down over to the group.

"Did you really just use the barn as a weapon?" Steven asked while smiling.

"It was the only thing big enough to crush her with." Lapis shrugged, returning the smile. "Otherwise I would've used Earth's water - and that would've been a whole other debacle to deal with."

"Save the talk for after the fight, look alive!" Bismuth points at the debris surrounding where Blue Diamond once stood.

The Diamond merely shrugged the wooden debris off of her by standing up and returning the blue aura effect - making everyone cry once again.

"Lapis Lazuli!" The Diamond gasps her remark once she was free. "Does every gem that comes in contact with this planet turn traitor?!"

Steven and Lapis merely stood their ground while everyone else was kneeling from the emotional pain.

"What?!" The Diamond was dumbfounded, now witnessing two gems who grew resistant to her power.

Lapis wiped the small tears she shedded. "I've felt worse."

And then she used her hydrokinesis to create water-chains that seized Blue's wrists.

"Knock her off this beach!" Lapis said in a strained voice.

Steven popped his knuckles. "With pleasure."

Everyone drew their weapons once again, now that the Diamond is vulnerable. Steven formed his shield and tossed it like a throwing disc, hitting Blue right on the nose.

"Ah!" The Diamond viciously shook her head. "You're pathetic!"

"No, we're just getting started!" Steven said, allowing the other gems to attack while she was dazed.

Garnet and Purple Puma (Amethyst quickly shapeshifted) leaped up high enough to simultaneously struck Blue by her side with their feet, which made the giantess tilt while still struggling with the water-chains.

Steven, Pearl and Bismuth tackled her legs from behind her knees, making her kneel on the ground. Peridot fruitlessly pelts empty soda cans at the Diamonds face using her metal-telekinesis, and the only thing she accomplished was making the Diamond angrier.

"How does THAT feel?!" Steven mockingly asked while forming another shield and throwing it toward the back of her head to inflict more damage to her.

He no longer wants to be diplomatic, he just wants to be angry.

"Yeah, you tell her Stev-man!" Amethyst cheered, feeling a sense of pride now that he's listening to her advice.

The Diamond tiredly remained kneeled while Lapis still kept her chained down. Everyone took this moment to witness the Cluster overpowering the yellow ship and throwing it over to the parked blue arm.

The ships crashed and exploded, causing the hand to fall on top of Blue Diamond and the debris scattered onto the house.

"The house!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Don't worry, I can fix it." Bismuth replied confidently.

"My Dad!" Steven exclaimed, fearing for the worse.

The front door swings open and out goes Greg carrying Cat-Steven in his arms. "All right, I'm stickin' with you guys!"

Steven sighs in relief and notices the Cluster groaning. "Are you okay? Do you want to go back in your bubble?"

The giant hand gave him a thumbs up.

"Okay, take it easy!" He shouts, cheering it on as it goes back into the ground.

Garnet walks by him to put an arm around his shoulders. "So, that is a wedding reception. Nice job, wedding planner. Think you can do my honeymoon?"

Steven looked up at her and smiled. "Well, the night's still young. I think I can throw something together in a couple of hours."

Their fun was only short, as they heard banging from a distance. They turned around and saw something emerging from the debris of the yellow arm... Yellow Diamond.

She advances forward and lifts the giant blue middle finger to free Blue Diamond. Both Diamonds stand there and menacingly glare at the group.

"Ha! I told her off once." Peridot said in an arrogant tone. "I can do it again."

She went forward, and Steven reached out. "Peridot don–"

"Hey, yellow clod! Remember me?!" Peridot shouts smugly.

The Diamond rolled her eyes. "No."

And then she shoots a yellow orb at Peridot, poofing her quicker than what Steven had ever seen before.

"PERIDOT!" Steven raced over to her gem, gently using his foot to move it away from the battlefield (to which Bismuth picked it up in the background).

And then Yellow's eyes widened when she recognized Steven. "You!"

Steven felt angry again, he couldn't believe they're still fighting them - even after they destroyed their ships!

When will they ever quit?!

Yellow Diamond sprints over to him and Steven instinctively raises his shield to protect himself from her. Steven felt his anger pulsing through him again, hopefully it strengthens his shield. The Diamond raises her foot and stomps down at Steven - her heel breaking through his shield.

Steven closed his eyes and expected to die since she broke through his shield. But instead, he felt his hands pushing against something.

He opened his eyes and saw that he was holding off her foot and his skin was glowing pink. He isn't sure what was happening, all he knows is that he's alive and his skin is glowing pink.

Oh, and - of course - he somehow has the strength to be holding off Yellow Diamond's foot from crushing him. And then he slowly lifts her foot up, making the Diamond's expression change from anger to fear.

And then he finally got enough force to push her off and cause her to tumble backwards, crashing into Blue Diamond and they both fell on the sand - shaking the entire town from their weight hitting the surface.

All of the Crystal Gems were astonished by his profound strength. Steven had no time to be surprised, he's too angry to even care. With this knowledge of being able to match them in strength - yet still remaining to be as small as an ant to them - now they have a fighting chance against them.

The two Diamonds both stood up, still visibly shocked at his performance to knock them off balance.

No gem could do such a thing... Yellow Diamond exclaims in her mind, feeling nervous.

Why does this feel familiar...? Blue Diamond pondered internally, feeling an indescribable sense of familiarity.

Steven popped his knuckles and gestured at the two Diamonds. "Bring it on."

Both of them looked fierce, with Yellow Diamond sprinting at him once more while Blue prepared for her own orb of energy to use as a ranged weapon against him. Steven leaps up and kicks Yellow on her left cheek, making her head flinched toward the right.

Now feeling brave, the other gems took this as an opportunity to fight them with Steven being their main focus. Amethyst equipped her whip and used it to wrap around Yellow Diamond's ankles while she was busy recovering from Steven's kick.

Then the quartz shapeshifts into the Purple Puma again and begins to pull on the whip. Garnet and Bismuth came by to assist her, which caused Yellow's ankles to be tied together. The Diamond was not expecting this and she ends up falling over on her face, lots of sand flying up from the impact.

Blue Diamond aimed her hand at the gems who knocked Yellow over, but Steven threw another one of his shields which struck her wrist and made her miss her shot. Then Steven jumps up, lands on top of Yellow Diamond's head and uses it as a launching pad for him to leap toward Blue Diamond.

Rather than going for a kick, he instead plans to tackle her. He slammed against her abdomen and knocked her back into the ocean - landing on her back and being submerged in the water.

"I got her!" Lapis said as she used her hydrokinesis to ensnare the Diamond underwater and keep her subdued until the fight was over.

If she could hold onto Jasper for several months, she can surely hold down a Diamond for a little while.

Unexpectedly, Lapis was hit by a yellow orb and she poofed. Yellow Diamond had taken the opportunity to fire another one of her destabilization orbs while Steven was busy with Blue. Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst formed into Alexandrite while Yellow was freeing herself from Amethyst's whip.

Bismuth picks up Lapis' gem and decides to step back, seeing that there were three giants and one human fighting each other on the beach. She joins up with Greg, who is still holding onto Cat-Steven, and hides under the porch to keep the two gemstones and herself safe.

"You take Blue. We got Yellow." Alexandrite said, looking down at Steven.

Steven nodded before watching Blue Diamond reenter the shoreline, soaking wet. He approached her while Alexandrite refocused on Yellow Diamond again, ensuring that she did not surprise her with a sneak attack.

The Diamond was only several meters taller than the fusion, but that did not stop her from facing Yellow head-on.

"What an abomination." The Diamond insults, looking disgusted at the fusion's display.

"You talk a big game until you've met your match!" Alexandrite growled while charging at the Diamond with violent intent.

The Diamond's hands zapped with destabilization and then she tried to touch the fusion - knowing that one touch would poof it and make all those gems small and puny again. But the fusion knew that she was going to do that, and how much she relied on her size and power in a fight, so she leaped over the Diamond's head and grabbed her right arm.

Before the Diamond could react, Alexandrite slammed her elbow down onto Yellow's elbow - bending her arm the wrong way and rendering it useless.

"AGH!" The Diamond exclaims in pain before kicking the fusion away from her.

The fusion regains her footing and watches Yellow painfully snap her arm back into place - a small tear of pain shedding from her eye.

On the other side of the beach, Steven blocked a few orbs from Blue Diamond with his shield, and then threw it at her like a throwing disc again. This time, the Diamond ducked from - anticipating his attack.

Except he planned for her to do that, as he leapt toward the Diamond while forming his pink bubble around himself with spikes on it. The Diamond's eyes widened in shock and she quickly caught it - doing her best to ignore the spikes defensively pricking her palms.

Steven lowered the barriers of the bubble and quickly kicked her right in the nose to daze her. While briefly floating, he grabbed her by the collar and forced himself to fall down very harshly - bringing her down with him, like an anchor.

While he did hit the ground brutally, he also brought Blue's head on the ground with him. The Diamond was dazed while lying on the sand, feeling the wind knocked out of her. Steven took this as an opportunity to pick up the Diamond.

While struggling at first, Steven's body glows a brighter pink hue while lifting the giantess above his head. Then he turned to face Yellow and Alexandrite, who were circling each other. The fusion caught a glimpse of Steven and both of them nodded as a way to synchronize their plan that they just came up with on the spot.

The fusion quickly slides between Yellow's legs to make the Diamond instinctively reach down. And then she grabs Yellow from behind and forces her to look toward Steven's direction. The Diamond briefly tried reaching behind her, but then noticed Blue's body being thrown at her.

"Oh no..." Yellow's pupils shrink and then Alexandrite lets go of the Diamond before leaping out of the way.

Blue crashed into Yellow and both Diamonds fell back down on the sand, causing brief earthquakes to the town once again. Both Steven and Alexandrite pant from exhaustion, hopefully that was enough to keep them down.

But both of them were still conscious. However, they're perplexed. Not at their defeat or the fusion, but because of Steven's brawn.

And then Blue DIamond finally remembered. "It's you! Pink!"

"What?" Yellow rubbed her bruised cheek.

Alexandrite finally unfused and the three gems were just as exhausted as the fusion was. Steven's glowing finally went away and he fell on his knees.

Blue Diamond races over to Steven and scoops him up in her hands - rubbing his body against her cheek while crying in joy. "Oh, Pink! I can't believe it! You've been here all along!"

She laughed while crying at the same time, making Steven and everyone else tear up. Yellow Diamond painfully holds onto her arm, feeling the tender pain it brings every time she bends it.

"How could you do this to us, Pink?" Yellow Diamond said disappointingly while she walked over to them. "Why did you let us think you were shattered? Why the strange disguise? Why are you doing a voice? Why didn't you say something at the trial?" And then she wiped her eyes. "And, Blue, can you please stop crying? I can't see."

She flung her tears off her hand, getting a direct hit at the three core Crystal Gems.

"Sorry." Blue Diamond apologizes while setting Steven on the ground with the gems.

Steven looks up at Yellow, her enormous body blotting out the moonlight from him. "First, you started this fight. You deserved every pain you got. Second, I had no idea I was Pink Diamond until yesterday. Third, this is my body and voice, I cannot alter it. And finally, I couldn't even speak to any of you during the trial - you tried to kill me!"

The Diamond kneels down to look at him closer, Blue Diamond doing the same behind him while the gems are feeling nervous for him.

But he still stood his ground and looked at Yellow in the eyes. "My Mom kept it secret from everyone."

Pearl cleared her throat in the background.

"Almost everyone." Steven corrected himself.

Yellow narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, apparently, Mom–" But then he stopped himself. "Nevermind, you don't even know what a mom is... Okay, Pink Diamond took the form of Rose Quartz permanently after faking her shattering. Then Rose Quartz gave up that form to create a new life with my Dad; me. Rose passed her gemstone and her powers to me. But I do not have her memories."

The Diamond studied him carefully, looking at where the gemstone could be and then at his eyes - who looked very tired and stressed.

"Hmm... I'm sure your memories are in there somewhere, Pink." Yellow replied while standing up, rubbing her chin and looking out to the night sky.

"My name is Steven." Steven retorts defensively. "Now's my turn to ask you questions: How did you know I have Pink's gem?"

"Because only a Diamond could do the things you did." Blue softly chimed in. "And our Pink had the strength to knock Diamond structures if she was angry enough."

"But we always managed to subdue her, until now..." Yellow said while looking down at him again. "You're more elusive than before, Pink."

"I told you, my name is Steven." Steven growled at her, his fists clenching again.

"Oh, stars!" Blue Diamond gasped. "How did you even survive? We blasted the planet and obliterated every gem on its surface."

"They weren't exactly... obliterated." Steven answered.

Elsewhere:

Steven had brought the gems and Diamonds over to the crashed ship that contained his corrupted friend, Centipeedle. He unlocked the door and allowed the gem to crawl out, it squeals in excitement at seeing her old friend again - nuzzling her head against his.

"What am I looking at?" Yellow Diamond said in awe but also disgustment.

The corrupted gem's jaw dropped at the sight of two Diamonds standing before her.

"No one should have survived our attack." Yellow continued.

"Centipeedle's mind is broken." Steven explains, softly consoling the gem by rubbing her back. "I've tried to heal her, but it didn't work."

"Heal her?" Yellow reiterates, sounding perplexed.

"But maybe you two could help her." Steven suggests, looking at them. "I've gotten close, and perhaps this would be enough to fully heal her."

"Well... that's not something we normally do..." Blue Diamond said while locking her hands together.

"This is completely unprecedented." Yellow Diamond replied.

"But you did this to her!" Steven snapped back, startling everyone - even Centipeedle. "So you fix it, NOW!"

His body briefly glows pink before it returns to its normal pigmentation.

The Diamond uneasily kneels down, not wanting to engage in another fight with him or his friends. "Very well. I can try, but I make no promises."

She rubbed her hands together, creating an electric sparkle coming from it. Then she gently put her fingers on top of Centipeedle's head and her monstrous appearance morphed into a normal body.

Everyone, even Steven, was astonished at how much Yellow had healed her just for touching her head.

"There, good as new." Yellow said with closed prideful eyes.

But then she immediately opened her eyes when she saw that Centipeedle was snarling and making intelligible sounds.

"She may be too far gone." Yellow said, already giving up hope.

"Gently, Yellow." Blue replied, putting her hand on Centipeedle's head as well.

The growling stopped, but then Centipeedle began to panic. "No! Please, no! No, no! We're all gonna be–"

And then she continued to repeat that same phrase over and over again. Steven quickly licked his hand and put it on her back, making her panic stop.

Then she looked up and noticed the Diamonds, so she saluted at their mere presence. "Nephrite. Facet 413 Cavishon 12. I'm sorry for my failure to heed my Hessonite's evacuation orders. My team and I tried our best to make it out before the attack. But... But you're here. It must have worked! You finally avenged Pink Diamond! You destroyed Rose Quartz!"

And then they removed their hands, causing Nephrite to reform back into a monster.

"Oh, Pink..." Yellow rubbed her temples. "How many perfectly adequate gems did you have us ruin?"

"Shh, Yellow." Blue interjects. "Pink's been punished enough. She's been trapped here on this awful planet with these... creatures."

While that only angered him, he ignored it so he could focus on Centipeedle. "Do it again, it was working."

"How long do you expect us to hold her together?" Yellow asked with an annoyed tone.

"I don't know!" Steven responds violently, not bothering to be polite with them - they don't deserve it, in his opinion. "You did this, so you have to do something."

"We can only do so much." Yellow replied before looking off to the side to ponder. "If it was the four of us..."

"Oh, no." Blue interrupted. "We can't let her see this."

"Who?! Who do we need?!" Steven questioned impatiently.

"What do you mean, 'who?'" Yellow Diamond answered in a baffled tone. "White!"

"White Diamond..." Pearl softly said in the background.

The other gems looked terrified at the mere mention of her name, meanwhile Steven seemed fearless - thinking she's just another Diamond.

"Steven, White Diamond isn't like us." Pearl said, putting a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. "She isn't even like them."

She points at Yellow and Blue Diamond.

"You have no idea what she's capable of." Pearl continued, sounding worried and motherly as usual.

"She can't be any more different than them." Steven points at the two Diamonds behind him - not caring if they took offense to what he said. "I'll try talking to her before anything else, though."

"I don't think you'll have much luck with that." Blue said, causing him to look up behind him. "White hasn't left Homeworld in eons."

"Then we're going to Homeworld." Steven replied determinedly.

"In what?" Yellow asked in a hateful tone. "You and your 'friends' destroyed both our ships."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have pushed us that far." Steven retorts, staring at her in the eyes.

"Unless... you don't still have yours, do you?" Blue Diamond asked.

"I might, actually." Steven pondered aloud.

Back to the Beach House:

After searching through the desert in the dead of night, Steven found his mother's ship. It was a giant pink pair of legs - similar to Yellow and Blue's arm-ships. And then he brought it back to his house and began getting ready to leave Earth to go to Homeworld.

He just needed to speak with his father one more time before leaving.

"Love you, Shtu-ball." Greg said while hugging his son. "Be careful out there."

"I always am." Steven pats him on the back. "I'll be back before you know it."

Then he glances over to Lion, who was just hanging around. Apparently, Connie must have left him there after the battle at the wedding. Or maybe he just left her own his own.

Either way, Steven gives him a comforting pet before moving on to check in with Bismuth.

"Bismuth?" He calmly called out. "Are you coming with us?"

She looked hesitant, and then proceeded to tell him instead of hiding it. "I'm not gonna join a Diamond entourage. I know what you're doing, I get why you gotta do it. But I'm not gonna lay my gem on their anvil. You get what I mean?"

"I do." Steven nodded understandingly. "I don't exactly want to lay mine either, but if it's what it takes to cure all of those innocent gems, then so be it."

"Besides, you're gonna need me at the home base - 'cause I gotta rebuild it." She jokes while reaching into her pouch to grab Peridot and Lapis' gems. "Someone's gotta keep an eye on these two while you're gone. We'll be waiting for you when you get back."

Steven nods again. "I'll be back soon."

And then he goes into the ship with the rest of the Crystal Gems and Diamonds behind him. After getting seated, Steven steps on two footprints on the pilot platform, and pink holographic pants formed around his legs. He figured that's how he'll pilot the ship - since there's no control panel for him to use.

"Oh, it's been so long since we've been together in Pink's ship..." Blue said, shedding some tears, making Steven groan in annoyance in the background while holding back his tears.

"Please, Blue." Yellow groaned as well, wiping the small tears in his eyes. "If we could continue?"

"Yes, of course..." Blue sniffled before stopping the tears.

Pearl stepped close to him to give him instruction. "For launching, just get a running start."

Steven tests the controls by marching forward, testing its flexibility before jumping up to send the ship off into space - where all he has to do now is drift. After drifting for a while, Pearl taps on his shoulder.

"Do you have a plan in mind for when we make it there?" She inquired softly, being gentle as to not startle him.

"Well, my first plan in mind is to talk to her." Steven calmly replied while adjusting the sleeves on his pink jacket. "Hopefully the presence of Mom's ship will send her a good impression."

Yellow Diamond scoffs. "Good impression? We'll be lucky if she ever speaks to us again after this."

"I wasn't talking to you." Steven spats, giving her an aggravated look.

"The thing is... White can be difficult..." Blue imputes, sounding disconcerted about his approach.

"Then I'll speak to her in a language that I know she will understand." Steven replied, still not finding any terror in the eldest Diamond's name.

"And what would that be?" Yellow inquired, half curious.

Rather than speaking, he just punched his open palm and popped his knuckles - looking very grim and serious.

Yellow snorted. "Your confidence is amusing. Violence never worked before, why try it now?"

"It worked just fine against you two." Steven replied, which made her smile die.

Now looking annoyed, she returned to more important matters at hand. "When we show up in this ship, it will be irrefutable that the last six thousand years are now the biggest galactic embarrassment that's ever happened. And we're the ones to blame."

"Not my problem, I don't live there." Steven resumed readjusting his sleeves on his jacket.

Yellow scowled at him. "If you don't want to be in a bubble for the next few millennia, I suggest you let me do the talking."

"That's new for you." Steven finished adjusting, now looking forward. "Earlier, you wanted blood. Now, you're trying diplomacy - after being humiliated by someone the size of your finger."

"Maintain that attitude and I'll be the one putting you in a bubble." Yellow threatens, her fist clenching in annoyance.

And then he chuckled, further irritating her. The gems were feeling worried for him - given to how much back-talk he did.

As for the two Diamonds, Pink is acting more aggressive and... mature. Before, she was childish and throwing tantrums, always annoying them to no-end. But now, she's still annoying them... but in a more refined, but also arrogant manner.

Not only that, but she's physically capable of beating them in a fight - she never did that before. She's smaller now, and she can put them in their place if she wants to. Just how humiliating is it that the littlest Diamond can defeat two of her fellow Diamonds in a two versus one fight?

True, she had the help of some abomination of fusion, but with the way she fought them, she would most likely become victor of the brawl.

It's like she's entirely a new Diamond.

Pearl cleared her throat to break the tension. "We're here."

Once the ship landed, Yellow got ready to stand up. "Everyone, wait here. Blue and I will return for you once White's temper has cooled."

"Which might take a while..." Blue Diamond added on, dreading the confrontation.

"I'd love to meet her in a temperamental state, much more genuine and personal." Steven jokes, softly smiling at it before he forced himself to look grim and serious again.

"Wait, that sound..." Garnet spoke up, causing the Diamonds to listen in to what's going on outside.

Everyone heard indistinct cheering, which made them curious. Steven expected jeering or silence, not excitement. They exited the ship and took a few steps forward to look down at the courtyard.

There were hundreds of gems down here, matching yellow, blue, white and pink colors while forming the Diamond insignia. But then the cheering was cut abruptly when a white orb approached the group on top of Pink's legs.

Blue Diamond gasped. "It's White's pearl..."

"Pink Diamond, your presence is required." The colorless and lifeless pearl states, her arms opened wide at her sides with her palms facing toward the sky - the left side of her head looked cracked and damaged.

"Come on, Blue..." Yellow sighs, bracing herself to meet with the leader of Homeworld.

"Only Pink Diamond's presence is necessary." The pearl refutes, forming a bubble around Steven to trap him with her.

The next thing he knew was that he was being transported somewhere, but he had no idea where to. They stopped abruptly and then she lowered the barriers to the bubble, leaving him in a different place before she just phased through the wall to exit.

As he was bewildered at the physics behind that, a bright light was shining in his face - making him squint his eyes.

"Pink! There you are~" The voice greets, not a body to be seen because of the bright light.

When his eyes finally adjusted, he could make out the size and shape of this voice. A very, very tall and large gem - or Diamond, if you will - purely white with her pupils, lips and fingernails being black.

Her arms are stretched out like a T-pose, revealing her cape she donned on her back. From what he could see, the cape on the outside is just blank white, but the inside was purely dark with glittering diamonds to sparkle.

Her torso to her legs, it looks like she wears white dress, shoulder pads on top of her shoulders, and silver sandals for footwear. She looks like an Egyptian goddess. At her head, her face was as pale as a sheet of paper, her hair the same color and shaped like a star.

This is what Steven gathered from his quick glance, as he spent most of his time looking at her eyes. It's a trick he learned that eyes are the most honest trait of a person, it even applies to aliens like her.

"Hello, Starlight, you certainly gave everyone a scare." The Diamond - who he rightfully presumed is White Diamond - greets chillingly "They're all just thrilled to see you safe and sound."

She sounds cheerful, but he can sense the unbridled rage in her eyes. Steven doesn't bother to respond to her sentence. The more she talked, the more he learned from her.

"As for this latest little game of yours, thank the stars it's over." White Diamond continued, her gazing still monitoring him like a predator stalking its prey. "Did you have fun? Did you get everything out of your system?"

Steven still did not reply, his eyes locked with hers.

"Good, good." White Diamond smiled, her grin widening. "Everyone is so relieved. Welcome home, Pink."

Steven was swallowed by the white orb again, this time transporting him away from the Diamond. He tried his best to remain calm, despite being moved around like cargo. When the barriers are lowered, he finds himself in a pink empty room, with two distinct traits in it.

One of them is that there is only a door, and the other is a balcony that allows him to look outside, where the only view he has is the courtyard, his mother's ship and an enormous torso with a head on top - it looks similar to White Diamond.

He walked back inside and took this as an opportunity to ease up for a little bit and regain his energy.

"I need a bed..." He comments aloud, longing for sleep since it was past midnight on Earth before he left and he has no idea what time it is now.

Mysteriously, a bed was quickly erected in front of him. It looked like the floor had open up to set up the bed, and Steven quickly spotted little creatures scurrying around underneath the floor. But they fled when he got too close.

"Hmm..." Steven rubbed his chin and looked around, wondering what else this room could use. "I need a place to sit."

On cue, the floor opens up again to bring up a chair that looks like one of those beach recliner chairs. He quickly dropped down on the floor and spotted the same creatures again, this time hurriedly hammering the nails to the legs of the chair and fled once more.

Steven gets on his feet and looks at the wall. "I need a shelf for my face."

A hole was made in the wall for his face, precise measurements and everything, and he took this as an opportunity to peer inside the wall to see these creatures closer. They look like little rocks, but wearing small, raggedy clothes with hammer-hands.

They all fled under his gaze, and then he removed his face from the wall to give them space.

"Thank you, at least." He said before turning his back on the hole.

"Thank you...?"

He looked back and saw these pebbles all gathering around the hole.

"Is it...?"

"It is her!"

Like bugs scattering when you life up a rock in the ground, all of these pebbles run out of the hall and surrounded him.

"Why does she look different?"

"She's back!"

"Our Diamond!"

"Pink, Pink!"

They began to climb up, which made Steven freak out a little bit, but he calmed down when he relaxed that they weren't like bugs or spiders, they're just sentient rocks.

"Who are you little guys?" Steven asked, watching them slowly climb up his arms and chest - a bit jarring for him to witness.

"Very funny, Pink."

"Always playing her games. Pretending she doesn't know us pebbles."

"This isn't a game, and I'm not Pink." Steven corrected them, almost feeling the urge to brush them off.

Once they all heard the door about to open, they quickly scurried back inside the wall and closed the hole. The door opened to reveal Pearl, who looked worried to no-end.

"Steven!" She exclaims before practically lunging over to hug him. "Oh, thank the stars! You're okay!"

"I'm fine." Steven pats her on the back before gently pushing her off.

"What did White Diamond do? Did she hurt you?" Pearl asked with utmost concern.

"No, she was like, 'welcome home.'" Steven answered, taking a step back to give himself space from her. "I don't think she understands that I'm not Pink Diamond. Where's Garnet and Amethyst?"

"They're still on the ship." Pearl answered, taking a glance at the door before reaching into her gem to grab his Hot-Dog Duffel bag. "I'm only here because I'm bringing your things, and they consider me one of your things."

"Heh." Steven softly chuckled, but then kicked himself for doing that - realizing that it was hurtful. "Sorry."

Then both of them heard a chime.

"The Diamond chime, it's Yellow." Pearl said, recognizing the tune and melody.

The door opens to reveal a yellow variant of the pearl cut.

"Pink Diamond, my Diamond has requested your presence in the extraction chamber." The pearl announced in a dry voice - sounding similar to Pearl.

"You want to get changed into something more comfortable?" Pearl offered while reaching into the duffel bag.

"No, I'm good." Steven denied, not feeling comfortable to change in front of a new pearl - it already took him sixteen years to get used to one pearl.

And then he follows the yellow pearl down the halls, leading up to a golden room. Steven could feel the rising temperature. He presumed that this was a sauna.

"Pink Diamond." The yellow pearl saluted him.

"Please, call me Steven." He passively begged.

"Pink Steven." She reiterated.

"No, just Steven." He replied, this time sounding more annoyed.

"Just Steven." She repeats, sounding more and more like a robot that's programmed to obey every order.

"Forget it." Steven sighed, rubbing his temples while the door opens,

As he stepped inside, he heard the pearl say, "Have a nice extraction, Pink Diamond."

Steven felt the steam hitting his face as he blindly walked through it. He spots Yellow Diamond resting on a bench designed for someone her size.

"Pink." She greets, sounding calm and relaxed now that she is in her sauna.

Steven doesn't greet back. Instead, he folds his arms.

"Have a seat." She instructs, expecting some obedience.

He looked up and noticed another bench, but he remained on the ground and looked back at her. "I prefer to stand. Why am I here?"

"So you met with White." She folds her arms, similar to how he did his. "How was it?"

"I didn't say anything to her." He replied, unsure why he's telling her this - it makes no difference.

"Why?" She questioned, leaning forward.

"Because I wanted to know what she's like." He answered honestly, unfolding his arms. "You can learn a lot about someone if you let them ramble."

"And what have you learned?" She inquired, her tone being curious instead of annoyed.

"Given that the only light source in her room is herself, I know that she's self-absorbing and a Type-A narcissist." Steven explained, still looking at the Diamond.

"That's very astute, Pink." Yellow said, actually impressed with his conduct. "I suppose your time on Earth has allowed you to expand your intelligence."

"And, much like you and Blue, she's under the delusion that I'm Pink Diamond." Steven continued, sounding more bitter at the last remark.

"Delusion?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Steven retorts, his voice full of venom. "What part of me looks remotely similar to her?"

"You have the gem, abilities and agility as our Pink. Therefore, you are Pink." Yellow said so simply, yet ignoring his glowering face.

"I'M NOT PINK!" Steven roared, his body quickly glowing pink within a second. "MY NAME IS STEVEN!"

Yellow flinched at his quick and unexpected outburst.

Steven grimaced before simmering down, his glow disappearing. "Just because I have her gem, doesn't make us the same person... Did Pink ever beat you in a fight?"

"No." Yellow admits, not liking the answer.

"Did Pink ever speak to you like I did?" He questioned, his aggressive tone still present, but the glow nowhere to be seen glittering.

"No."

"Then I'm not her, am I?" Steven asks, wondering if she's as dense as a toddler.

She stared off to the side to avoid looking at him, while also sounding reluctant. "It's quite difficult to see her from... you, with the voice, shape and... attitude..." Then she looked back at him, still being hesitant - worried she might trigger another violent reaction. "But I suppose you have a point... err... what is your identification again?"

"Steven..." He replied, sounding relieved but also satisfied in a softer voice. "My name is Steven."

"Steven..." She enunciates, her tone matching his as they looked at each other.

And then it finally reached silence in the chamber, both of them were out of things to say. So they just looked around the room instead of each other, and Steven finally sat down on the floor instead of leaping up to the bench.

After a few more minutes, they heard the Diamond chime.

"Excuse me." Yellow said before forcing all of the sweat to come off of her, railing down to the floor and sucking down a drain, and then it made a vacuum sound and sucked all of the steam down the drain as well.

Then she rose from the bench, rubbing her arm that was still sore from earlier tonight, and strides for the exit. "I've got to check on the latest Citrine production reports."

Steven watched her leave, feeling a bit conflicted now that he finally has her on the same level of understanding - even if she's reluctant on it. Then he spotted something blue at the door behind him, so he stood up to look.

Much like the yellow pearl, this one is blue and she salutes him. "Pink Diamond, my Diamond has requested your presence."

He sighed, remembering he has two other Diamonds to get through about the truth. As he followed both Pearl and the blue one, he felt the temperature dropping - which is good because he was sweating buckets when he was with Yellow.

Pearl expected him to share what happened when he was with Yellow, but he remained silent the whole walk. When they reached the front of a flight of stairs, both pearls remained stationary while Steven awaited for instruction.

"Blue Diamond is just up the stairs." Pearl said, looking at him while the blue pearl remained in parade rest. "I'll wait for you here."

Steven nods before marching up the stairs. As he walked, he heard someone singing in the background - almost soothingly. He knew that it wasn't Blue, it didn't match her voice, so who was it?

When he reached the top, he saw Blue residing in a large body of water - with a waterfall behind her - combing her hair with a comb that's singing, he looked perplexed that the object was alive. He set his shock to the side and waited for her to notice his existence.

She sighs in a relaxed tone before noticing him, putting her comb away in excitement. "You're here! Come in!"

"No, thank you." Steven replied, ensuring that he wasn't close to the water to be splashed unexpectedly.

"Oh..." The Diamond's expression looked saddened at his refusal, his tone didn't help either. "You used to love to jump in here."

"My current attire is not suitable for this action, not to mention it's cold in here." Steven said, his breath showing some slight steam escaping his mouth.

"You used to be so silly, and so small..." She lowered her torso into the water, only her head being above with her hair floating on the liquid.

"Not anymore." Steven said while inspecting his arms - his way of fidgeting while remaining grim and serious.

"Yes... different..." She said, her voice growing more depressed with his speech and mannerism. "So grim... so angry... We used to have so much fun together, remember when I let you--"

"No." Steven interrupts, his voice cutting through her like a knife.

"Oh... D-Do you remember the game we used to play here?" She tried to smile, but his answer from earlier was still lingering in her mind.

He shook his head this time, sparing her from his cruel words.

"You and I and Yellow and White..." She reminiscences, sinking further into the water, but her mouth up for him to hear. "You would stand under water, all the way at the bottom, and sing. And we would be above the surface trying to guess the song... But we stopped coming here together after you left... That was the start of Era-2... No one wanted to be here; not with your empty spot..." And then she choked a little bit as her voice cracked. "It was so quiet..."

Not a single ounce of pity was shown on his face, and then he ruthlessly said, "Pink is gone."

"What?" She said, baffled with small tears shedding from her wet face.

"I'm not Pink, I'm Steven." He continued, still not showing any sympathy to her. "Whatever you had with Pink, it's all memories now."

"But, Pink--"

"Steven." He cuts her off, returning to his aggressive state from earlier. "I may have her powers and gem, but I'm not her. If what happened on the beach earlier tonight wasn't evidence enough, then I don't know what will."

"Our Pink always had the strength to crack the walls with her screams, it's how you lost your last pearl." Blue explains, her hand softly rising from the water to emphasize her statement - somehow.

"She lost a pearl?" Steven said, showing a bit of curiosity.

"Indeed, the original proved to be defective after the damage was set." Blue answered, sounding a little less sad after she sniffled and explained. "You were given a new, obedient pearl, along with a playmate to make sure you could still indulge in your childish games while working on your colony."

Steven ignored the rest of that, refocusing on the present. "None of those things matter anymore, they're in the past. I'm not her anymore. I don't play childish games or need a playmate, I'm Steven."

"Right, the weird nickname you've chosen." She sadly said, feeling like the Pink Diamond she once knew is truly gone.

Steven glows pink and stomps on the ground, cracking it into dozens of spiderwebs. "IT'S MY NAME!"

The loud voice reverberated off the water and her flinching from the jumpscare made some water spill out on the pool - some of it splashing Steven. The water quickly evaporated off of him to form steam, his skin burning with intense heat.

She looked afraid, mostly because he's proven to be able to throw her across a long distance with relative ease - making him look very intimidating in her eyes when he's angry.

He eventually calmed down and sighs. "I already had this conversation with Yellow, and I will have it with you: do I look like Pink?"

"Not particularly... the pink cloth on your torso looks similar to the uniform..." Blue answered, refusing to use pronouns yet.

"Do I sound like her?" He questioned, making sure his voice was heard very clearly.

"No..." She sighed in response.

"Did Pink ever fight you?" He asked, his aggression slightly going away.

"No, she never did anything from what we saw from your display earlier tonight... It was extraordinary, and frightening." Blue expressed, her hand sinking back to the water again.

"Do you still think I'm her now?" Steven asked, looking at her face to see if she actually accepted the truth.

Her eyes stared at her reflection in the water before looking up at his. She gave him a slight nod, which made him sigh with relief.

"Ahem." The blue pearl steps by him. "My apologies, my Diamonds, but Blue Diamond's next appointment is almost here and she will be late if she stays here longer."

Blue sighed, realizing it's time to go back to work. "Of course."

She climbs out of the tub, the water draining the moment she leaves it and the Diamond walks with her pearl after giving Steven one last look before leaving. He went down the stairs and walked with Pearl back to the room he was originally in before he had to see Yellow and Blue.

In the room, he paces while Pearl watches him.

"I think Yellow and Blue are starting to understand." He spoke aloud for Pearl to listen. "I think I finally got through to them."

"I suspected the same thing, mostly because I heard the shouting from both rooms." Pearl said with a sheepish smile.

"From what I noticed, all it took was a little bit of aggression and a lot of persuasion to make them change." Steven explains, sounding like he was strategizing. "Which makes sense, they rule the planet with an authoritarian lifestyle. Violence solves everything."

"For them, maybe. But not White Diamond." Pearl added on, sounding concerned about his implication to take on White Diamond in a fight. "She's too powerful."

"So was Yellow and Blue, but they became complete pushovers when we fought back." Steven insisted, and almost sounded insulted that Pearl doubts his ability to fight a Diamond. "And if you guys didn't form Alexandrite, I would've been fine on my own."

"Steven, White isn't like them." Pearl replied, getting more motherly when he talked about fighting her. "She's not only bigger than them, her power is also different. Yellow is physical, Blue is emotional."

"What is White?" Steven inquired, his curiosity making his determination calm down for a moment.

"White's power is the mind. She controls gems by making eye contact with her victims, striking them there or their gem." Pearl explains, tapping the side of her head. "If White can see your gem or eyes, she will make you... into a puppet..."

Steven recalled seeing White Diamond's pearl, remembering how dull and lifeless she looked - like something drained the color out of her.

"That pearl..." He said aloud, looking at Pearl again. "Is she afflicted by White?"

"I'm afraid so." Pearl mournfully nodded. "White keeps her victims under her spell forever. I cannot recall a single time she let someone go."

"Well then, that'll change today." Steven said confidently, looking out the balcony to see White Diamond's head. "Because I'm going to talk to her, and I'll make her listen."

"How do you propose to do that?" Pearl asked while putting her hands on her hips. "Because if you listened to Yellow and Blue more, you would know that White hasn't left her head in ages, let alone the planet."

"Then that means she won't be going anywhere from when I go to see her." Steven said, sounding more confident than before.

"Steven, what are you trying to do?" Pearl inquired, stepping closer to him. "Do you really think you can just talk to her? Or even fight her?"

"You doubt that I could do either of those?" He asked while looking back at her.

"It's not so much as doubting, it's more about worrying for your well-being." Pearl said, kind of shrugging but also in a deflective tone.

"That's the same thing," Steven replied, annoyed at her response. "You don't think I could change her mind."

"Steven, not even the other Diamonds - including your mother - has successfully changed White Diamond's opinion. Whether it be by negotiation or brute force, none of those options worked." Pearl explained, no longer trying to sugarcoat it with him. "Given that you just spent the past minute or so explaining that all it would take is violence, what makes you different from them?"

Steven rubbed his eyes, feeling tired for still being awake. "Because, Pearl, I know White. And I don't mean I personally know her. I mean I know her personality."

His eyes are slightly red - but that could mean a lot of things.

"I know what kind of person she is, and that is what I'll use to talk to her." Steven said, sounding more forceful and stern. "The only reason why they can't get through to her is because they're afraid. And I don't blame them, anyone would be scared if they saw someone like her. But when you know what I know, then that fear goes away."

"What exactly about her do you know?" Pearl questions, still sounding unconvinced - but also curious.

"I know that she's a narcissist. And from what I gathered from Yellow and Blue, she's embarrassed by this whole debacle." Steven explains, sounding fierce and bold. "She holds herself on this pedestal of superiority, and looks down at everyone. The whole situation with Mom has embarrassed her, so she hides in her head and acts like she knew this would happen to preserve her dignity. She takes advantage of her absence to instill fear into Yellow and Blue, which instills fear into everyone else - thus making her untouchable in physical and emotional security. And how do you get through to someone like White?"

Pearl did not respond, mostly because of her curiosity - hoping that he would tell her.

"You pull them off their pedestal." Steven replied, still looking and feeling determined. "And that's what I'm going to do, I'm going to bring White down to our level and show her that she's not untouchable."

"But how?" Pearl asked, now feeling a bit of inspiration from him but still fearful of failure. "She would squish us or turn us into her puppets."

"Well first, we're not just going to waltz up to her without a plan - that's for sure." Steven replied, glancing back at White's ship. "Next, we need to think about this for a little bit, gather up the others and see if we could come up with something good."

"Garnet and Amethyst are still on the ship, and I haven't gotten the chance to pick them up." Pearl jumps in to let him know their location.

"Hmm..." Steven contemplates, racking his brain for a decent strategy since he's going to be walking in the lion's den at some point. "I could try to get Yellow and Blue to help, they're just now coming around on our side, I just need to give them the motivation."

"Are you sure you can handle them?" Pearl inquired, her motherly instincts kicking in again. "Because they could... well... betray us and use it as an opportunity to be on White's good side."

"They won't, I'm sure." Steven replied, sounding calculated at that sentence. "Worst case scenario, they're the enemy again. I've beaten them before, I can certainly do it again. Besides, I can be very persuasive."

"Okay..." Pearl inhales and exhales, feeling like she's taking a huge gamble - but she trusts Steven. "I'll go get Garnet and Amethyst."

"And I'll gather Yellow and Blue." Steven adds on, his tone reaching a positive vibe. "We'll meet in the main room or Mom's ship when we're done, and try to come up with a plan."

"Okay, stay safe." Pearl said before hugging him. "I really hope you know what you're doing."

"I do." Steven hugged back, almost tighter than her. "And you stay safe too, I don't want you to lay your life down for anyone else."

And then they departed and left the room, going opposite ways when they're in the hallways. Steven isn't entirely sure, given that Yellow and Blue both had appointments with no known location (as far as he's concerned), so he needs to root around the place.

When he walked into the main room, he spotted two topaz guards at the entrance - and then he formed an idea. He approached them, to which both of them tensed up from fear.

"Hey." Steven said, letting them know his presence so he doesn't scare the daylights out of them.

"Pink Diamond." Both of them said in unison obediently

He did his best to ignore that - it's not their fault why they called him that. "Which one of you knows where Yellow and/or Blue Diamond's current location?"

One of them looked inclined to answer–

"We are not allowed to disclose our Diamonds' whereabouts, it's against the rules." The other topaz said, not giving her colleague a chance.

Steven looked straight at the topaz who spoke, and he immediately glows pink - scaring them both at the same time. He grabbed the reluctant topaz by her throat and hoisted her up off the ground - his other arm stationed at his side as he casually held her up like a ragdoll.

She dropped her weapon and instinctively grasped his wrist, fruitlessly trying to pry herself free while her colleague watched in horror.

"I am a Diamond, and if a Diamond issues an order, you FOLLOW it!" Steven growled, his patience worn thin. "Tell me where I can find one of them."

"Blue Diamond... is at her court... for a conference..." The topaz answered hoarsely, his hand clenched around her throat.

"Where?" Steven demanded threateningly.

"O-Over in the Diamond District..." She gagged, his hand clenching her throat harder and then she lifted her arm to point in the direction. "I-In the courtyard... look for her palanquin..."

"Thank you." Steven dropped her and the glowing stopped.

She grasps her throat tenderly and Steven just leaves. He isn't going to ask where that kind of brutality came from, or the choice of words he used.

He isn't like them, he doesn't want to be like them - but what came out of him earlier, it felt instinctive.

He shrugs it off and uses his leaping ability to jump from one structure to another for traversal purposes, avoiding the public attention and surveying the environment for Blue's palanquin. He remembers what it looked like from when he was on trial, it's hard for him to forget everything from that night - the same night Lars died in front of him.

Once again, he shrugs off the baggage to focus on the present. He kept his eye around for anything blue around this dull and near-lifeless environment. Homeworld is similar to most big cities in America, but very futuristic.

So that would make spotting for colors like yellow and blue easier, though the lights and banners can be misleading or distracting. He eventually found her palanquin in a courtyard, just like the topaz said, and he can see the Diamond sitting down in a chair designed for her while her group of gems were stationed around her.

"What's the status of the economic distributions in the district?" Blue Diamond inquired, her tone sounding bored of her job.

"Poor." One of the gems said in disappointment. "The percentages are decreasing by the day."

"The economy's expectancy will not last another fortnight." Another added on, sounding as dull as the Diamond. "The colonies are not supplying sufficient resources to sustain Homeworld."

"I was afraid this would happen..." Blue Diamond sighs, resting her head on her palm.

"What does White Diamond think of this pressing matter?" A curious gem inquired from the crowd.

"White hasn't spoken a word to me or Yellow upon our return." Blue replied, sounding unsure of what's to come next. "I suppose if she does not know what to do... then we are doomed..."

All of them seemed to be depressed from their dying planet, it's a problem that has occurred since the start of Era-2. Homeworld dedicated all of its resources to combat the Crystal Gem rebellion - and paid the price severely.

They lost so many gems, wealth and equipment when the war ceased. The only reason why their empire hadn't fallen yet is because the Diamonds used their colonies to send relief to Homeworld. But in spite of all the planets they conquered, there was nothing the universe could offer to fix Homeworld's condition after a war that raged for six thousand years.

The Diamonds could fix this issue if they all collaborated together for a meeting about this problem, but that's none of Steven's business.

After the court grew silent, Steven finally jumped down from the top of the structure he was standing on to make himself present. The gems gasped at his entrance, and Blue was yoinked out of her conflicted thoughts.

"Steven...?" Blue said in surprise, confused on how he managed to find her.

Steven felt relief when he heard her referring to his name. "I need to talk to you."

"W-What about...?" The Diamond nervously inquired.

He leaps over to her chair, standing on her armrest so their conversation can be kept between them. "About White."

The Diamond tensed up. "Wh-White? Why do you want to talk about her?"

"I want to cure the corrupted gems on Earth, that's why I'm here." Steven affirmed, ensuring his voice was heard to her only. "And if we're going to help those gems, we need her cooperation."

"Steven, I don't think White is going to help those gems..." Blue whispered as lowly as she could. "We rarely speak to her physically, she always communicates to us through screens or her pearl."

"Well tonight, that changes." Steven replied, unfazed by White Diamond's crypticness. "Because I know how to talk to her."

"How?" Blue looked perplexed at how he managed to learn something about her - especially since today was his first time meeting her.

"I'll explain it more when we meet in the Palace." Steven answered, not wanting to reveal it in a public area.

"Well, I am currently in a conference here. And I'm unsure how to dismiss it when I don't have an adequate report for it." Blue said, feeling uneasy by his plan - especially since White could be watching them right now, and she could punish her for not doing her job.

"I've been listening in on the meeting, and I can confidently say that there's no possible solution for the economic decline without meeting with the other Diamonds." Steven explains, looking at her court and back at the Diamond. "Think about it, how do you fix something like this in an ordinary meeting?"

Blue pondered about it, and his way of thinking made sense. She was too worried about failing to write a report that she failed to see to the impossible task given to her.

"I suppose I could write my report about a request to review our empire..." The Diamond taps her fingers on her chair. "But that could take days to bring to White, so I believe that ends tonight's session." She looks towards her court. "You're all dismissed."

The gems nodded before leaving the courtyard in a single file line. Now the two are alone and he looks back at her.

"Where can I find Yellow?" Steven inquired, hoping she'll be cooperative. "The last I've heard of her was checking some Citron production report thing."

"Citrine production report." Blue corrected, but kind of politely so he doesn't get mad. "But Yellow had to cancel due to her physical injury with her arm. The last time I've seen her was in her quarters, but she may have went back to her extraction chamber; it helps her relieve her stress. Do you know where that is?"

"I do. My friends are gathering in the Palace to talk about White. I want you to be there." Steven confides, sounding like he was relying on her. "Be nice to them, please."

"I will... try..." The Diamond said, unsure how to be courteous to a bunch of rebels she attempted to shatter merely hours ago. "Are you certain to be talking to Yellow alone? She can be brash, and sometimes have outbursts... Much like you from earlier..."

"Well, that makes me more confident to talking to her." Steven answered, sure of himself. "I can relate to bottling things up."

"Well then..." The Diamond rose from her chair. "I shall leave you to it."

The Diamond leaves the courtyard, with Steven leaping back up to the building to travel from rooftop to rooftop again. He made it to the Palace quicker than Blue Diamond, which isn't difficult to imagine - he can literally bounce around the world like a ball.

The topazes he encountered earlier were still there, fearfully saluting him on his arrival - but he just passed by them like they didn't exist. He quickly advanced his way to the extraction chamber, remember his journey there during his first hour on this planet.

When he made it to the door, he spots Yellow's pearl waiting on the outside - like earlier - and she appeared to be baffled by Steven showing up unannounced.

"P-Pink Diamond, my Diamond hasn't requested–"

"I'm here to talk to her." Steven interrupts unsympathetically. "It's important."

"B-But I can't allow you to–" She paused when Steven glares at her, so she pressed the button to open the door. "P-Proceed, Pink Diamond..."

Steven walked back into the steamy room, already sweating from the heat hitting his face. He spots Yellow Diamond on her bench again, trying to massage her arm, it looked painful from Steven's perspective.

He could see it swelling, especially at the elbow. It surprises him that a gem could have swelling from physical injuries - let alone a Diamond. She mutters something as she tried to fluidly move the arm again, only to wince at the burning sensation.

"Yellow?" Steven called out, startling her.

"Oh stars, you gave me a fright!" The Diamond exclaimed, accidentally hurting her arm when she flinched. "Ow..."

"How's the arm?" He asked, unexpectedly showing compassion to her.

He isn't sure why he's asking her that. It feels weird to be nice to her, after all she's put him through. Maybe their last conversation made him see her in a more positive light since she finally acknowledged him as Steven instead of his mother.

"It hurts..." Yellow admits, not liking to be weak in front of someone - let alone a human being with Pink Diamond's gem. "This has never happened to me before..."

Steven looked at her arm again, a dark yellow pigmentation on the crook of her arm present - it looked ghastly. And the look on her face really tells him how much discomforting it is to her.

"I can fix it..." Steven commented, looking off to the side while rubbing his right arm - feeling phantom pain to it for some reason.

"You can?" The Diamond asked, her face heating up - either feeling flustered or it's the steam.

Steven nodded, still not making eye contact with her.

"Well... what do I need to do?" She asked, not looking at him either.

"Kneel down to where I can see it." Steven instructs, sounding experienced in something like this.

Which is true, he's healed a lot of other people and gems' injuries with his spit or tears.

While reluctant, the Diamond gets down to her knees and leans down to rest her upper body on her left arm while moving her right arm closer to Steven. When presented her injured arm, Steven approached it.

Despite offering, Steven was hesitant to do it. The last time he healed a gem, that same gem tried to cut his gem out. Granted, Yellow couldn't possible threaten him now since he's stronger than before. But the thought of her taking advantage of his kindness still haunts his mind, all thanks to Eyeball.

Here goes nothing... Steven thought in his head as he leaned close to the crook of her arm and kissed it.

She barely felt his lips touching her arm, but she did feel the tender relief that soon flooded her entire appendage afterwards.

"This is... remarkable..." She said in astonishment while moving her arm again - no sharp pain restricting her movement. "Pink never had such an ability..."

"Well, this wasn't Pink's power. It was Rose Quartz's." Steven corrects, looking away from her again. "It's how the Crystal Gems seemed resilient, she was their medic."

The Diamond stands up and rubs her arm, unsure on what to say. "...I appreciate the assistance... Steven..."

"You can just say thank you." Steven said, a bit jokingly but still maintaining his serious demeanor. "I had originally came by to ask you for your help."

"For what?" The Diamond looks at him, still massaging her arm to make sure it was fully healed.

"About getting White's attention." Steven boldly answered.

The Diamond instinctively tensed up from the mention of White's name. "What makes you think you can gain her attention?"

"We can talk about that more at the Palace. That's if you want to help." Steven answered, noticing her hesitancy.

"B-But I must keep in line and perform my duties." She said, slightly fearfully because of the uneasy feeling of being watched by the eldest Diamond. "Those are the rules, and I must obey and enforce them."

"Let me ask you something: are you happy?" Steven said, his sentence sounding kind of caring - but also assertive.

"What do you mean by that?" The Diamond inquired, paranoid that this might be a trick question.

"I mean, do you feel accomplished? Do you take pride in what you do?" Steven continued to question. "Was there a time where you felt satisfaction in something you did? When was the last time you smiled?"

The Diamond contemplated, trying to remember the last time she smiled in delight. All she can remember is a picture of all four Diamonds together when they celebrated their first ball. But that was such a long time ago, back when Pink was there with them.

Everything was perfect in the past, the Diamonds were closer and happier together... and then everything went wrong when Pink started to become childish and whiny... and they did nothing but lock her up in the Tower for weeks to no end - or sometimes in a bubble for longer.

"Yellow?" Steven calls out, wondering if she had thought of something.

"I... I-I can't..." Yellow croaked before falling to her knees, cracking the ground and sniffling - tears starting to swell in her eyes. "I can't recall..."

She tilts her head forward to hide her eyes from him, even though he can clearly see her crying. Steven just stood there and lets her silently cry in her hand, the other hand positioned at her side - her fist slightly shaking.

Without thinking about it, Steven hops up onto her shoulder and puts a compassionate hand on the side of her head - even though she could flick him off if she wanted to. He still isn't sure why he's doing this, maybe seeing her cry made him think differently.

Yellow took the moment to let some of the repressed emotions out, even though she has someone on her shoulder. She usually lets some of it out when she's alone in here, but Steven's compassion made her comfortable enough to weep softly.

Finally when she was done, she sniffled and glanced over at the hybrid. "Thank you..."

Steven nods before leaping down, expecting to land on the floor, but he surprisingly landed on Yellow's hand - she moved her arm to make him land on her palm.

He looked up at her, to which she leans her head down a little bit. "What is your plan for White?"

"Take me to the Palace, and I'll tell you everything." Steven replied, and Yellow complied.

Both of them left the extraction chamber, Yellow forgetting to turn it off. Her pearl tried to ask her Diamond what she's doing, but Yellow dismissed her inquiries and said she has an important matter to handle.

The pearl was left speechless at how quick and sudden her Diamond was moving. Yellow quickly jogged her way back to the Palace, opening the door and witnessing Blue sitting in her throne with the three Crystal Gems on the floor waiting for Steven's arrival.

Pearl and Amethyst looked surprised to see Yellow carrying him on her hand, but they figured he must have made her do it. The Diamond gently lowered her hand for Steven to get off and she seats herself in her chair right next to Blue.

"We're all here, what's the plan, Steven?" Blue inquired, leaning forward and Yellow doing the same.

"We're going to try talking to White. And if that fails, then we'll fight her." Steven addressed, looking around to see if she's listening to them somehow.

The idea of physically fighting White Diamond is foreign to them, and it's even more alien to see him casually talk about it.

"But how do you propose to do that? She is taller and stronger than everyone else, including us." Yellow replied, not sounding hateful, just concerned and curious.

"Well, with my new power and the ability to shapeshift, I can shapeshift to her height to match her size and strength." Steven casually answered, inspecting his clothes. "But the downside to that is I'll outstretch my clothes, and I'll be naked if I do that."

"You could wear Pink Diamond's outfit." Pearl advised, not letting them be stumped on this road-block. "The material is meant to be stretched to any size without it becoming constricting."

"Okay, but what about White's power? She could make you just like her." Blue said with concern and apprehension. "Her power is the reason why nobody has ever challenged her before."

"Pearl told me that all I have to do is keep my eyes and gem away from her line of sight." Steven answered, stretching a little bit. I can certainly do that, mostly."

"And what makes you believe that fighting her would make her change?" Yellow inquired, still unsure if his plan would work. "Because she would be unable to help those gems if she's too hurt to do anything."

"Well, we don't have to physically defeat her. We can defeat her other ways." Steven said, already thinking of ways to end her reign of terror. "Because I know what her problem is."

"What's that?" Amethyst asked, curious to know.

"Narcissism, egocentrism and megalomania." Steven answered in one breath, and then none of them knew what those words meant, so he had to reiterate. "She has an inflated ego bigger than herself, and blocks out anything that makes her look bad. So our solution is to drag her down to our level, show her she's not as perfect as she likes to think she is."

"But White never listens to anyone but herself, how do we gain her attention?" Yellow asked, a bit more curious instead of afraid.

"Well, we could always just go to her head and force our way inside her quarters - that will definitely work. And as for bringing her down to our level, talking to her can help." Steven reasoned, his confidence giving them some hope.

"But neither of us want to hurt her." Blue stated, not liking the thought of them hurting the Diamond. "We just want her to be her old self, back when we were close."

"We don't have to hurt her. Perhaps if we just have a conversation like I did with you two, then maybe she'll change like that." Steven said, allowing them to feel comfortable enough to help participate in this.

A part of him thinks she would listen, but a big part of him believes she won't listen - which is why he's preparing for a fight. If he had a choice, he would talk to her. After all, he had to fight Yellow and Blue just to make them listen to him.

And they are the underlings of White Diamond, which means she'll be a tougher opponent. But that's just on the surface, a mental battle would make them different. Yellow and Blue don't have egos, at least none that could compare to White's ego.

"I like this plan." Yellow states her opinion, sitting up straight. "Given that White requested your presence earlier in the night means she's possibly willingly to talk - even if you haven't spoken a word to her."

"It seems a little too easy..." Amethyst said under her breath. "Ain't no way we're going to just talk about our feelings, like on Crying Breakfast Friends."

"Steven is prepared for this battle." Garnet said, nudging the quartz slightly.

"The pebbles could create Pink's uniform for you." Pearl said, offering to lead Steven back to Pink Diamond's room.

He followed her and requested the pebbles to come out of hiding so he could speak to them.

"This is what her uniform used to look like." Pearl said, creating a projection from her gem to show him.

Steven studied the image, and noticed that his belly would be exposed if he did wear the uniform. And then he had the idea to request something else.

"Could they, perhaps, create my clothes to be s stretchable as Pink's uniform?" Steven inquired, looking at them and at Pearl. "Because my current attire keeps my gem concealed."

"Well..." Pearl tapped her chin. "Maybe they can. Ask them."

He looked down at them. "Could you guys create a copy of my clothes to be stretchable for me to shapeshift into a giant?"

They all created a huddle and whispered to each other for ten seconds before breaking it up and looking at him, nodding their heads in unison. And then they immediately began getting to work by measuring Steven's clothes and size and began forming and knitting.

Within ten minutes or so, they created a carbon copy of his clothes; his blue shirt and pink jacket still there, but they made his pants into blue sweatpants than jeans (although, he could care less about that), and they even copied his underwear. He took off his clothes and when he did, he realized he still carried his phone on him. He's quite fortunate that it didn't break after all he's been through tonight.

Pearl gently took it from him to put into her gem for safe keeping.

And then he puts on the new clothes, feeling that they're fresh and even more comfy than his original clothes. He took off his red flip flops, knowing that they couldn't make a new pair of those - plus they would break if he grew while wearing them.

Pearl kept his original clothes and flip flops to put them into her gem, she plans to wash them when they get home.

That's if they make it out of Homeworld alive...

But they're not going to dwell on that grim possibility. Steven and Pearl went back to the main room and then the others followed him outside.

"Let's get to Pink's legs, maybe we can use them to get White's attention." He points, looking back to make sure everyone was on board with his current course of action.

Then they followed him, jogging down the bridge that would lead them to the ship. When they had gotten close, they were stopped by a white orb appearing out of nowhere and disappearing to reveal the white pearl he saw when he first set foot on this planet.

She eerily smile and said, "You're not going anywhere."

And then her eye focused on Steven, which unsettled everyone else. Then, from behind them, White Diamond's ship had flown over to them and connected itself onto the pink legs, making it function like a robot - but without appendages.

The eyes on the head opened, and the uncanny look sent fear into most of the group.

"You've made a grave mistake." The white pearl said to everyone, then she looked at Yellow and Blue. "Go to your rooms."

"Uh..." Blue said in apprehension. "Which rooms... should we go to?"

Yellow showed more panic on her face than her fellow Diamond. "Blue, don't make her any angrier than she already is."

Steven stepped forth, making the pearl's eye focus on him again. "I suppose this is White Diamond speaking, isn't it?"

The pearl's expression did not falter.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." He said nonchalantly. "Now that we have your attention, there's something they want to say to you."

And then he gestured over to the other two Diamonds, making them slightly wince in terror at the eyes from the robot and the pearl focused on them.

Yellow timidly stepped forth.

"We... W... We..." She bites her teeth briefly before regaining enough composure to look at the robot in the eyes. "We need to talk, about us. I've conquered so many worlds for the sake of the empire. I do everything you ask, and I do it all perfectly. But your very high standards put us all under a lot of pressure. A gem could crack under so much pressure. We Diamonds may be hard, but we're also brittle."

Blue stepped close to Yellow, putting a hand on her shoulder and then exchanging glances with each other before it was her turn to speak. "White, we used to be close. Don't you remember? When Pink would make us laugh. All those silly things she did for no reason. There was a reason. She wanted us to be happy together. But we weren't, and we're still not. I know my purpose isn't to be happy, but I find it harder and harder to enforce your rules when they make me miserable. When they make us all miserable."

"Look at them, White." Steven said, gaining the robot's attention as well. "Don't you see what you're putting them through? Why don't you let us all into your head? We could come up with a plan to help everyone, including Homeworld. You could start by helping Yellow and Blue."

The eyes focused on the Diamonds again, making them feel uneasy again. Then the eyes began to glow, and Steven's mind immediately panicked. He quickly formed two shields and threw them at Yellow and Blue - just barely reaching their gemstones to shield them from the two beams that came from the robot's eyes.

The two Diamonds were shocked at this and backed away before the robot could fire those beams again. They knew that was White Diamond's beams, and that's what she uses to make gems obey her.

"I knew it..." Steven growled, finally expressing something while the Diamonds were still in disbelief.

"White... how could you?" Blue said in horror.

"I'm coming in there." Steven growled again, popping his knuckles and began glowing pink. "Yellow."

"Yes, Steven?" She replied, being more obedient toward him than White Diamond.

"Throw me at her eyes." Steven points, he could see the way in. "There are holes in her pupils, which explains how he beam could shoot out."

"Are you sure?!" She asked, stepping back in case she tried to fire again. "Are you going to fight her on your own?!"

"Just do it! I'll be fine!" Steven growled, not meaning to be aggressive toward her, but White's cruelty is pushing him.

"V-Very well then..." The Diamond gently scooped him up in her head. "I hope you know what you're doing."

And then she tossed him at the robot like a football. Steven's body tensed from the velocity, but his pink aura made him immune to any possible dangers of being thrown by a Diamond such as Yellow.

When he reached close proximity to the face of the robot, he used his floating ability to make himself stop in midair and fall - landing on the robot's surface and climbs his way up to the eye. He crawled into the hole and slides down into a large room, with lots of space, and meets with the Diamond that was piloting the ship herself.

But she controls it with her mind.

Steven grew to her height and size, requiring a lot of energy that his pink aura is providing, and he stared her down - while she's still doing her T-pose.

"Oh, Starlight, what are you doing, crawling in here?" The Diamond cloyingly asked, still seeming emotionless. "You want your legs back? Your want your planet back? Surely, you can understand why I can't let you leave. Look what you did to yourself last time."

Steven scowled at her, his grim and angry face rivaling her calm and collected expression.

"My, my. We've been causing quite a scene, haven't we?" The Diamond continued to talk, taking advantage of his silence. "You've certainly caused a lot of trouble over the past six thousand years, and even more tonight. You've gathered all of these gems to collaborate, even Yellow and Blue. It's a pity, the way you bring out the worst in others. See how you've encouraged their deficiencies? It's written all over their gems: insecure, dependent, obsessed."

"Just like you." Steven replied, the first words he's ever uttered to her today.

And for once, her smile dropped. "What did you say?"

"I said, 'just like you.'" He repeated, sounding more bitter and hateful. "I know who you are, the real you."

White Diamond showed a little bit of an insulted look, but still kept her calm expression. "No, you don't. You think you do, but you do not. You like to think you help others, make things better. But you don't, you only make things worse. That's what you do. I make things better."

"On the contrary, I do help others and make things better. And I do know who you are." Steven retorts, his skin still radiating heat from his raging anger that's escaping only through the surface instead of his lips. "I know that you're trying so hard to prove that Pink is still there. But I hate to break it to you: she's gone."

"No, she's not." The Diamond countered, sounding slightly defensive. "She's buried beneath all of that flesh. And I'm going to let her out, to show the universe that I was right."

"I know you are, which is why I'm here to stop you." Steven replied, sounding more bitter. "I'm going to show the universe who you really are."

Then the Diamond lowered her arms, which actually caught him off guard briefly, and then pulls a long and sharp sword out of her gem. It looks very clean and sharpened to perfection.

"I will cut her free, and prove you wrong." The Diamond grins evilly.

Steven pops his neck and gets into a stance. "Bring it on."

She quickly tried using her beam to catch him off guard, but he used his shield to block it and then he threw the shield at the Diamond. She used her sword to chop the shield and destroyed it. Steven comes at her with a kick, but she sidesteps and tried decapitating him.

He ducked and rolled to the side to avoid her swinging at him again. He raced back over to her once he was on his feet and she braced herself for what move he had next.

He opened his arms like he was ready to attack and she did the same but was trying to jab the sword at his abdomen, so she could cut his gem out. He hits her left elbow with his right hand and hits her right elbow that is also carrying the sword with his left hand. When he hit her right elbow, he spun in freeflow to punch her right in the face that nearly made her fall.

The Diamond kicked him right in the chest to force him to back up while she recovered. When she did, she did a spin to possibly cut him in half, but the plan failed when Steven slapped his hands on the blade to stop it from moving further.

He quickly jabbed her face with his elbow and then used that same elbow to slam down on her blade, breaking it in half. The Diamond quickly regained control of the broken tool and began using it like a knife, swinging and slashing it around in a attempt to slit his throat.

He catches her wrists and kicked her in the abdomen to make her let go of the broken weapon. Then he tossed it to the side, not willing to use it in this fight. She prepared herself to fight with her fists, which is something she hadn't done in a while - but still going to try nonetheless.

He threw the first punch, but she blocked it with her arms and then tried to deliver a counterattack, only for Steven to lean toward the side to evade it. He tried hitting her right in the face, but she caught his fist and wasn't letting go.

She tried to use her other arm to attack, but he used his other hand to hold it down while trying to pull his other fist out of her grip. He lets out a pained and aggravated yell, making her evilly smile at him.

Then he took advantage of her hand by making hit herself in the face, dazing her and forcing her to let go. Then she tried to retaliate with a punch, only for him to deflect it and backhand her head with his fist as hard as he could.

And this time, he hit her gem as well, cracking it and bringing unimaginable pain to her head.

She groans in discomfort and tried tending to her wound, but Steven took advantage of her vulnerability and got a free punch to her head again. She slapped him with the back of her hand to force him to back off for a few short seconds before he was on top of her again. He punched her again, and this time she tackled him against the wall.

With the adrenaline rush flowing through her, she wildly threw random punches in random directions at his body. Steven only brought his arms up to defend his face, absorbing all of the pain she inflicted onto him

Then he swiftly moved, her next two punches obliterated the wall - revealing the outside from inside her head and everyone was still on the bridge, gasping at the fact White put a hole in her head and now they could see her in such a unprofessional and undignified state.

With the sounds of the wall breaking, all gems within the vicinity could hear it and are looking toward White Diamond's head. White did not care or seem to notice all of the eyes staring at her, as she immediately turned around to fight Steven.

She was in a lot of pain from her gem and desparate to prove him wrong. With each punch she swung at him, she growls and even snarls at him - giving him all she has. Steven only dodges and delivers counterattacks each time she swung an unprofessional punch - hitting her head to make the pain worse.

He eventually punched her hard enough to back her back up near the edge of the hole she made. As she was dazed from the punch he gave her, he looked her in the eyes and gave her a direct kick to the abdomen, sending her out of the hole and fall down to the bridge below.

As she fell, the two Diamonds and gems flee from where they were standing, as they just barely moved out of the way in time as White's body hits the surface - cracking the bridge. Steven jumps down from her head and softly lands on the ground, still glowing pink.

While White weakly rests on the ground, she realized something horrible. She sits up and looked around, noticing that the others had watched her fall, and then looked around to see all of the gems from below watching her as well - which means they saw the fall too.

While the pain was still present, she began to hurt on the inside, a pink hue plastering on her face.

"Wh-What's happening...?" She nervously asked, feeling the emotions flooding her heart. "S-Something's wrong... with ME! NO!"

She covered her face with her hands to hide the blush and shame.

"You feel that?" Steven mockingly asked, his pink aura dimming and his body shrinking back to normal. "That's being humbled."

Steven noticed that the pearl White was controlling is now free from her spell, and she's actually pink instead of white.

"Wh-What happened...?" The confused pearl said, looking around the place. "Where am I?"

"Welcome back." Steven said fondly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I can certainly understand how confusing this must be, so I recommend asking the others when you're ready. It's a long story."

He directed her to one of the Crystal Gems, and then he resumed looking at White Diamod while Yellow and Blue attempted to get close to the injured Diamond.

"Wh-What is this...?" She frightfully asked, still feeling her face warming up. "I feel... ridiculous..." And then she looked over to see Yellow and Blue approaching her - so she held out a defensive hand to stop them from coming closer and revealing her blushing face. "Yellow... Blue... Stay back..."

Both of them gasped, Blue covering her mouth and Yellow shielding her eyes.

"She's off-color..." Yellow said in horror.

"No, she's embarrassed." Steven corrected her. "Not only was she beaten, but she was proven wrong."

The pale Diamond noticed him approaching him and crawled back. "S-Stay back! Don't come any closer!"

"I'm trying to heal your gem." Steven asserted, taking a quick leap up to her lap and gestured for her to lean her down. "The more you delay this, the more time the other gems get to see your crack."

Feeling desparate she leans down, allowing Steven close proximity to her cracked gemstone. Similar to how he healed Yellow's arm, he leans close to give her gem a small peck before stepping back and watching it heal.

White felt physical relief, but she was still blushing.

And when she felt her face heating up still, she began to panic again while he's in her lap. "This can't be happening! I can't have a flaw! I'm supposed to be flawless! If I'm not perfect then... WHO AM I?!" Then she looked at Steven. "If you're not Pink, then... who are you?! Who-Who is anyone?!"

"You know, if you just let everyone be whoever they are, maybe you could let yourself be whoever you are, too." Steven spoke calmly, his anger gone and replaced with his humble side.

"But I'm not supposed to be like this!" She replied, still uneased and terrified. "I'm supposed to know better! I'm supposed to be better! I'm supposed to make everything better!"

"You can." Steven said, still keeping his composure. "And you've already completed the first step by leaving your own head."

She looked at him with perplexity, and then back at Yellow and Blue - still blushing. The two Diamonds, despite everything she had put them through - and tried to do to them - they looked welcoming and accepting toward the chance to start over and start making things better.

Steven gets off of her lap and she stood up, her blush still stuck to her cheeks. "What is the next step?"

"Curing the gems on Earth." Steven answered, and then pointed at the robot. "We can take our vessels to Earth."

She hesitantly walked with him and the others to his and her ship.

Earth:

The sun is rising, the light slowly peering over Beach City. Bismuth was sawing some boards while Greg hammered in some nails on the wood - building pieces for the house. However, their work was halted upon seeing the pink legs coming back home with a new addition on top of them.

"Whoa..." Greg said in astonishment.

"When he said he'll be back soon, I didn't think he meant in the morning..." Bismuth said, kind of smiling but also baffled at the fact he managed to actually do it in one night.

One night...

When the ship lands, a large colorful orb descends to the sand and began to dissolve to reveal the entire group. The three Diamonds appear to be cooperative, from where Bismuth and Greg are standing. The Crystal gems look happy and Steven appears to just be his old self.

Bismuth laughed in excitement. "He did it!"

Steven leads the Diamonds into a warp pad, where the three of them took turns warping into Rose's Spring, the place where the fountain and healing tears resided. Steven explained to them that if all of them were together in this pool, they would heal the corrupted gems.

So while Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst and Bismuth went to retrieve the bubbles form the Temple, Steven was left with the Diamonds.

"Are you sure this will work...?" White Diamond inquired, not wanting to step into the cold water.

"It should." Steven said, not showing too much sympathy to her - mostly because he's exhausted from being awake all night.

The Diamonds and Steven looked at the water, seeing their reflection and the morning sunlight glistening on it. Yellow and Blue were the first to dip their feet into the water and lowered themselves to take a seat on the edge of the surface - basically letting their feet rest in the water.

Then Steven sits down on the edge next to Yellow, taking off his flip flops and lets his exposed feet to deep in the water. Now it was White's turn, and she was very nervous. She slowly dipped her foot in the water, shivering at the temperature, and then did the same with the other foot and finally lowered down between Blue and Steven.

The four of them patiently waited there while the gems came back with lots of bubbles tucked in their arms. They all tossed them into the water, where they would pop and form normal-looking gems - but with distinct physical features like horns or tears on their forms.

Amethyst guides Nephrite and her crew to the water, forming the gems they used to be. Pearl and Garnet cried tears of joy, they've finally won the war and now all of the pain and damage from the past was being healed.

Bismuth jumps into the water when she saw that her friends were also healed, tackling them with hugs under water. Amethyst brings out the small plastic container that held the Heaven and Earth beetles, allowing the critters to go into the water and come out as normal gems again.

As the curing and hugging was occurring, the Diamonds were congregating amongst themselves - occasionally glancing at the happy gems once and a while.

"It has been a long and certainly exciting night, wouldn't you say, Yellow?" Blue asked with a smile on her face.

"Yes, it sure was." Yellow smiled as well, chuckling at the thought. "I'm still in disbelief that a six thousand year war had ended in one night. How about you, White?"

The eldest Diamond still looked embarrassed. "There's still our failing economy and major resource loss that needs to be addressed..."

Blue pats her on the back. "Well, Steven said that we could solve it in a conference meeting."

"I suppose we could." Yellow agreed and then looked down. "Steven, what do you... think?"

White and Blue peered over to where Yellow was glancing at, and saw that Steven was asleep - leaning on White's hip, which made her blush again. Blue laughed and Yellow chuckled softly while White was still baffled that he was leaning on her to rest - in the middle of them curing these gems.

Either he was confident enough to trust them not to attack/kill him while he's asleep, or he must be really exhausted.

A familiar gem emerged from the water, Jasper. She angrily looked around and spotted Steven. She activates her helmet and tried to swim over to him so she could kill him.

"Ahem."

Jasper looked up and saw Yellow Diamond glaring at her.

"Leave him alone." Yellow threatened.

"He's sleeping." Blue defensively hissed.

White said nothing, mostly because she's still flustered that he was sleeping on her.

Jasper made her helmet disappeared and Amethyst swims over to her.

"Hey sis." Amethyst softly greets while putting a hand on Jasper's arm, making the brute submerge most of her body in the water to hide.

The Diamonds resumed talking to each other, mostly talking about the things in the past - occasionally laughing and smiling while Steven is still sleeping.

"Oh, those were the days." Yellow sighed, feeling more relaxed than she's ever been in the extraction chamber.

"I'm glad most of our issues have been resolved." Blue sighs as well, sounding very happy. "And it's all thanks to him."

The three of them looked down at the sleeping hybrid again.

"He's brought us closer than Pink ever did." Blue compliments, her voice very soft and gentle.

"Even though he had to hurt us, he did fix our issues... and ourselves." Yellow adds on, her voice also soft so she doesn't wake him from his slumber.

White tried ignoring her blushing face and uttered. "He... He really did..."

"I think this marks the beginning to Era-3!" Blue cheered, her voice still being mindful for Steven's sake.

"Indeed, it does." Yellow replied, trying to match Blue's joyful voice. "When this is over, we need to talk about the changes that we need to make. And make sure Steven is invited to that meeting, we'll see what he thinks about our ideas."

"Yes, I like that idea.' Blue agreed and then nudged White. "What do you think?"

White was still looking at the hybrid and then at Blue. "I suppose..."

Yellow's face beamed. "Excellent."

And then they resumed looking at the happy gems reuniting with each other. They still had more work to be done, like repair Yellow and Blue's ships, figure out where to put all of these extra gems, schedule that meeting about Homeworld's economy, and so much more.

But for right now, they're just going to sit back and let this wonderful achievement settle. And to let Steven rest for a little while, they all know he deserves it. 

End of Chapter 1.

October 22nd, 2023. 7:12 PM.