A/N: I have no excuse for the gap between uploads, but hey, I'm typo-free. Anyway, I suck at writing sad things, and WHEN IT RAINS COMES OUT TOMORROW, and also, this takes place in an alternate timeline where everything after Jailbreak is more spaced out timewise, and everything after Friend Ship didn't take place. Hence no alien living in their bathroom, and the thirteen month time reference.

Enjoy!


"You want me to do what?"

Steven grinned sheepishly. He knew this was ridiculous. That he was asking too much of Connie. However, he had to try. Pearl and Amethyst didn't agree with him. Garnet probably wouldn't-no, no, don't think about her. Focus on what's important in the moment.

"Yeah...I had a feeling you would say that."

Connie took a step towards him, her hands gracefully at her sides in an achingly familiar position. "No, I just-I want to help! I want to help protect Earth in whatever way I can. Please. I can lie to my parents. I have plenty of practice, right?" How was it possible to be so nice all the time?

"Thanks, Connie..." Steven's already faint smile faded completely. "But this is, like, really dangerous. That's gotta be a pretty big lie."

"Steven...I've been lying about a lot of stuff ever since I met you-Wait, no, that's a good thing! I had practically no free will!" Connie rested her hands on Steven's shoulders and looked him straight in the eye. "Steven, lying isn't always a good thing. But it this case, I really do want to lie. If it benefits the world in any way, I would do anything."

Steven blinked, somewhere between surprise and fear.

"...Really?"

"Of course." Connie lifted her hands from his shoulders and took a step back. "Di you really think I would say anything else?"

Steven managed a forced smile, and stood up. "Er...do you think you could teach me how to sword fight? Pearl never..." He trailed off, realizing that it had only been a month and a half. Pearl probably barely even noticed that Steven was waiting during that time. To her, it probably only felt like a couple of days.

"Um...Do we even have two swords? I mean, there's your mother's sword, but I don't actually have one..." Connie asked, cutting herself short before it turned into a run-on sentence. "Um...I think that I might be able to convince Lion to take me to my mom's secret Armory." Steven responded thoughtfully, wondering if it was even possible for Lion to listen to him consistently.

"There's no time for that."

Both of them jumped at the sound of Pearl's voice. She had apparently came out of her room during their conversation. "Yellow Diamond and those other four gems are still out there searching for Malachite and Peridot. We have to take defensive measures. I just told Amethyst about the...situation."

"But how can we defend ourselves? Isn't Homeworld, like, super advanced?" Connie asked, seemingly concerned. She had heard Garnet mention Yellow Diamond being incredibly strong a couple months previously.

Pearl interlaced her fingers and shifted her weight entirely to her toes. "That is true. Homeworld was centuries ahead of Earth five millennia ago. I shudder to think of what that horrible plce is like now. Gems even advance technology faster than humans..."

Steven and Connie exchanged a panicked look. "But...we don't even have one year. How are we supposed to find something to fight them with?" Steven asked.

Pearl gave a small, worthless smile. "We have Opal. There's a possibility we have Rainbow Quartz. And we have Stevonnie. There's a small chance that one of those three can fight Yellow Diamond. Opal is fairly strong, after all..."

They all knew there was no use even trying.


Almost a year passed.

The entire world was terrified. The huge, golden ship anchored over the Atlantic Ocean that nobody could get close to was clearly an omen of destruction, even to the unwitting humans. Pearl heard snatches of speeches from world leaders, low-level officials, even just that foolish man who had a crush on her. There was an attempted cover-up. The fishermen, navy, and even just passenger ships found out within a year.

Aside from that, life just...continued as normal around her. She had a feeling that Amethyst spent a lot of time at the Kindergarten nowadays. Steven and Connie were training constantly. And Pearl...trained. She stood on those water towers in her room, fighting holograms like there was no tomorrow. And odds are, there wouldn't be that many more. She didn't need Futurevision to see that the war was hopeless.

"Hey, P?"

She spun around, releasing the holograms before her. "Amethyst, wh-what are you doing here?"

Amethyst shrugged. "I dunno. Haven't seen you in a while, I guess. Uh, anyway, there was this stupid flood and Steven wants you to help clean up the beach. There was some Homeworld rubble and stuff, and he had and connie put up some signs to keep people out. You like cleaning, so I guess he was wanting to..."

Amethystt didn't say it. She didn't have to. Pearl stiffened slightly. "Tell him I appreciate the offer, but that I am busy."

"Sure, whatever." Amethyst turned around, and left the temple, leaving Pearl alone.

Pearl stared at her reflection in the water. Only then did she realize how tired she looked. As a reflex, she went down on one knee and projected an image of Rose from her gem.

"Oh, Rose. What do we do?"

The hologram spoke. This was an exchange from long ago. "We wait. Yellow Diamond cant hold off forever. She's bound to touch down at some point."

"But that could be in centuries! We just completely overcame our fuel problem, so she won't run out anytime soon. And Sapphire is being cryptic as usual, so we don't know if..."

Holo-Rose smiled faintly. "She will tell us if anything goes wrong. Nothing can happen to her, just so long as none of the Diamonds find her-her Mohs is a nine, after all."

"You're right...There aren't any other Corundums nearby, so even that isn't a threat."

As the hologram smiled, it faded away. Pearl sat back, pulling her knees to her chest.

"Oh, Rose. You were wrong. Now we've lost you...we've lost Garnet...We don't know what's going to happen...And it's impossible for me to be a leader in this horrible situation!" Pearl's whisper escalated to shout that echoed throughout the cavern. She covered her mouth in shock. She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Rose...Amethyst...Garnet...Steven..."

She lifted her eyes to the ceiling of her room.

"Ruby...Sapphire..."


Rain fell on the golden Homeworld ship. A tall blue gem with flowing white hair looked out the window of the small common area.

"...Boo!"

"I know it is you, Ruby."

The red gem behind her grinned. "Shoot. I am completely surprised about your knowledge, Sapphire."

Sapphire turned from the window. "Regulation requires all spoken words to be sincere. Ruby."

Ruby rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall. "Aw, c'mon. Can't you take a joke?" Sapphire stiffed. "Jokes are insincere, therefore disobeying regulation. As is your truly repulsive habit of...placing objects of organic matter with in your mouth and digesting."

Ruby blinked, clearly not understanding Sapphire's disgust. "Y'mean eating? I've told you this like twenty times in the past decade. You should remember."

Sapphire flushed angrily. "You little-If you make one more comment in that manner I will have you persecuted for disobeying regulation on a regular basis!"

"Elites."

The two arguing gems spun to face the voice directed at them. "Sir, I apologize," Sapphire said, paling abruptly.

Yellow Diamond waved a long fingered hand in disinterest. "I understand. I find other Diamonds quite infuriating, so I assume that mpst Corundums hate each other as well. Anyway, as this is, Opal has informed me of the situation of the current gem-controlled locations on this planet, and we have found the three gems who were stranded here."

Sapphire twitched her hands slightly. She seemed to know what would come next.

"We're moving out to attack Crystal Gem Base tomorrow."


R&R If you feel like it:3