(Steven Universe Intro)

The Angel's Fall

Many Gems on the home world refer to the conflict on the planet Earth centuries ago as the Rose Rebellion, while some just call it the Rebellion and some even call it the Humiliation.

It all started when Rose Quartz incited a rebellion on the planet that would be known as Earth for reasons unknown to the High Command, garnering the loyalty of over half the Gem population that established itself there. Earth had generally been colonized as a way to expand our population and resources on the orders of the ruling cast of the Gem home world, the Diamond Authority. The heads of the authority were Blue Diamond, White Diamond, and Yellow Diamond who were hailed as the ruling Trinity of Gem civilization decreed that the Gem home world was slowly using resources needed to create new Gems and ordered their subjects to the search the stars for planets that could sustain and be used to aid in producing new Gems. The planet known as Earth was one of the few planets that was perfect for aiding the home world in producing new Gems and thus under the orders of the Diamond Authority a Kindergarten was established, using the minerals in the planet to produce new Gems despite the fact that the planet would eventually be hollowed out and become unstable, leading to its inevitable destruction.

This was deemed unacceptable by Rose Quartz who inspired other Gems to join her, forming the Crystal Gems and what was meant to be an operation to save Gem kind quickly turned into a war. The Diamond Authority expected this minor rebellion to be put down but to their shock the Crystal Gems won several major battles that had been led by Rose Quartz and her most trusted advisors, a Gem fusion warrior known as Garnet, a scientific but skilled Pearl, and a general whose skill and ferocity on the battlefield combined with Rose's tactics crushed the Gem armies. This general was a Gem who sprouted three wings from her back, making her faster than any of her peers and with enough strength to take down multiple opponents this Gem, Seraphinite, crippled the home world Gem army which allowed the Crystal Gems led by Rose Quartz to attack and damage the Kindergarten, saving the Earth. Recognizing the Crystal Gems as a dangerous threat, a young Lapis Lazuli Gem was sent, using her hydrokinetic powers to turn the tide of the war.

However when faced with Seraphinite the young Lapis quickly realized that Seraphinite was too strong. Her speed, her strength, and her ability to use light as a weapon broke through the water waves the Lapis used and at the end of the battle her Gem had been cracked. The Lapis's body retreated back into her body to regenerate but Seraphinite took the cracked Gem and placed it in a mirror for the Gem to power and keep her from regenerating her body. For millennia the Lapis was trapped inside the mirror, only able to communicate through images with no way to escape from its captors…

Until a young human boy found it.

And as for the Gem, Seraphinite, she disappeared into the waste lands created by the war, never to be seen again.

"Wow…" Steven said once Lapis had finished her story.

It was early in the morning and it had been only five hours since the fight between Seph and Jasper and the Gems were still active. One reason was the possible residence of Lapis Lazuli who had nowhere to go since she couldn't return to the home world or she would be branded as a traitor. The Crystal Gems were reluctant to let her stay with them, even though Steven vouched for her. They reluctantly allowed her to stay, if only so that they could keep an eye on her and so they could learn what she knew of Seraphinite.

"I fought the original Seraphinite and I was imprisoned in that mirror. I have no idea what happened to her after that but I guess she left the mirror with you for some reason." Lapis said, sitting on pillow in the small cottage home connected to the Gem temple.

"Well that's a lot of help." Amethyst muttered as she lied on her back.

"We now know that it was Seraphinite who imprisoned Lapis and she must have given the mirror to Rose before she disappeared." Pearl said before turning to Greg. "Did…Seph tell you what happened to Seraphinite?"

"Sorry, Pearl, he wouldn't talk about Gem stuff when I was around. I think he knew I was uncomfortable about it, especially after he and Rose had a brief fight." Greg shrugged.

"Why did they fight?" Steven asked.

"Well, it was mostly a misunderstanding. Rose thought Seraph was a Gem monster taking over human bodies when she saw the Gem imbedded in his chest and Seraph thought Rose was some renegade Gem that was left on the planet after the war. He was technically right but he didn't immediately realize it was Rose until…I guess when the Gem on him told him who Rose was." Greg said. "They were social with each other after that. At least until Seraph left."

"Why the name change?" Amethyst asked.

"I have no idea." Greg answered honestly.

"At least he stopped Jasper." Steven pointed out.

"But we still know nothing about him." Pearl said.

"We know the Gem of Seraphinite is embedded in his chest. Perhaps he transplanted it into his body after Seraphinite was damaged and had to regenerate. Not even the strongest of us survived the war without injuries." Garnet offered.

"But to transplant a Gem into the human body would have a required incredibly delicate work and even than the human body shouldn't have been able to handle it." Pearl replied.

"Why not we just ask him?" Steven asked, not seeing what the big deal was. "He's not a bad guy…or Gem. If he wasn't good he wouldn't have protected us, save Lapis, or imprison Jasper."

"But what does he plan to do now?" Pearl asked.

"If he target Jasper because she was sent by the home world it's likely he'll go after Peridot." Garnet spoke up.

"That's good right. Let him track her down and save us the trouble." Amethyst shrugged.

"And what then? Will he come back after us once he's done with Peridot? And what about Lapis?" Pearl glanced at the blue Gem who shifted uncomfortably. "What if he decides to attack the temple just to get her?"

"But he helped her." Steven protested.

"But he…The original Seraphinite was the one who cracked my Gem and imprisoned me in that mirror. He says it was because of the war but why did she seal me in the mirror and not kill me. Why did she spare me?" Lapis shook her head. "I don't understand why Seraphinite would even bother to spare a Gem that was on the other side."

"Maybe she knew you weren't like the other Gems." Steven offered, earning Lapis's attention. "Maybe she thought you were good but you were being forced, like when Jasper forced you to come back and attack us."

"So why lock me in the mirror?" Lapis asked, sounding angrier than she meant to and regretted it when Steven flinched.

"I don't know…" Steven looked away while Garnet and Pearl patted Steven's shoulders.

"Regardless of the reason he left the mirror with Rose for a reason." Garnet said. "He wouldn't have done that without a reason. Based on what we've seen, this Seph is not the type to do something without a sufficient reason."

"So what do we do, oh fearless leader?" Amethyst asked, becoming frustrated.

"…We do it Steven's way. We ask him." Garnet stood up. "Engaging him in battle would cause a lot of damage to the city. He split the ocean in half before fighting us off, even though we were all holding back and defeated Jasper while summoning what I believe to be the original Seraphinite's powers to do so. This makes him a dangerous opponent…or a formidable ally."

"Ally?" Pearl asked.

"Rose would have a good reason not to tell us about him and he did not fight us with the intention to harm us. Perhaps it's time we take a non-aggression approach."

Xxx

"Oh my head…I thought I swore never touch any form of liquid alcohol again." Seph rubbed his head as he sat up on his bed.

The Gem on his chest flashed.

"I know it's a side effect of using so much of your power. I was just trying a little a little humor to help cope." Seph shook his head as the Gem flashed again. "After all this time you still don't understand humor? Come on, you have been with me for a very, very, very long time now. I think you just say these things to tease me."

This time the Gem flashed twice, making a humming sound that sounded…agitated.

"Calm down, I meant no disrespect and you know it." Seph stood up from the bed. "But I need an aspirin rather badly. Why can't you just heal me?" The Gem flashed another answer. "You keep my body young, you morph to give me your wings, you heal the serious injuries but you can't get rid of a small splitting headache? It's official, you torture me."

The Gem made another sound that could have been interrupted as a giggle.

"Sure laugh it up." Seph scowled. "You love to drive me crazy."

The Gem flashed again and this time he thought he heard laughter.

"Here we go again." Seph sighed and looked to the window. "So do you think they'll want to meet us before we leave?"

There was no answer but Seph didn't need one.

He knew the Crystal Gems would come to him for answers.

It was only matter of time now but would they accept him for who and what he was or was there another fight waiting to happen?

Xxx

"So what's your story Greg? How did you and Rose meet him?" Amethyst asked, turning to Steven's father who rubbed his head nervously.

"Well you know about him now so I guess I can talk about it. It's a long story though. It happened a year before Steven was born." Greg answered.

"Yay! Another story for Steven!" Steven cheered.

"It started on a nice day, much like this one. Rose and I were going up to the top of the hill where you could see all of Beach City. It was one of her favourite spots..."

Xxx

"It is so beautiful." Rose smiled in content as the wind blew through her curly strawberry hair while looking down at Beach City and the ocean.

Next to her sat a younger Greg Universe who was simply happy to up here with her. "Yeah. It's really good, especially at this hour."

It was morning and the sun was slowly rising up, causing the ocean to sparkle which looked almost, dare Greg say it, magical.

"Oh Greg, to see something like this over a thousand years, it would make anyone feel at peace with almost anything." Rose sighed as she sat down, not caring at the dirt from the ground getting onto her dress.

"It really is something." Greg chuckled, sitting next to Rose. "Guy could wake up to this every morning."

"And so could I." Rose said, placing her hand on Greg's which caused the man to blush.

It was so nice.

So quiet.

So peaceful.

It could last forever.

But that moment ended when Rose opened her eyes. "Greg?"

"Yeah Rose?" Greg asked, still relaxed.

"Something's here." Rose stood up, still calm but was now focused. "Someone's watching us."

"Hm? Who?" Greg stood up and looked around. "Hello? Anyone here?"

"Come out and show yourself. You are good at concealing your presence but I know you are there." Rose said, sounding stern but not angry or threatening.

At first Greg thought Rose was imagining things but then he heard a voice. "Hm, not bad. And here I thought I was imagining things."

Greg's eyes widened as a young man with dark green shoulder length hair appeared a few feet from him and Rose, staring at Rose with narrow eyes. "Whoa! He just appeared!"

"Who are you? This energy I feel…You are a Gem." Rose stated, staring at the young man with cool calculating look.

"I could say the same for you." The young man smiled. "If you want a name you can just call me Seraph. And here I thought all the Gems were dead. I thought that little stupid war kicked your kind off this planet for good. I guess I was wrong."

The Gem on Seraph's chest flashed under his shirt.

"Yeah, I noticed. So tell me, what brings you back to my planet? Couldn't handle rejection once you have to try and destroy it again?" Seraph asked taking a step forward.

"I am not one of those Gems. I have nothing against the Earth." Rose stated.

"Nothing against the Earth huh? You came here, you brought an army, and you tried to turn Earth into a lifeless shell. Not to mention your kind tried to kill me." Seraph raised his hand. "Never again."

Rose brought her arm up and blocked the invisible blast of power Seraph released by summoning her shield. "Greg, stay back."

"Right!" Greg stepped back, gulping slightly.

Seraph narrowed his eyes as he put his hand on the ground and sent a pulse of power through the ground underneath Rose, attempting to attack from below where her shield did not cover. Rose jumped up, softly gliding up into the air as the ground beneath her exploded.

"Whoa!" Greg shouted in shock.

He knew the Gems had powerful magic stuff, but he hadn't seen a whole lot of it. He mostly avoided the magic because it scared him, even though he was dating a Gem.

"Who are you?" Rose said as she landed on the ground. "How can you have a Gem?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Seraph scoffed as he disappeared and reappeared in front of Rose, preparing to deliver a punch but Rose blocked.

Seraph grunted as Rose released his fist and jumped back. "You are good."

"That power…I have sensed it before…" Rose whispered as she looked at the Gem on Seraph's chest as it flashed.

That color…

Rose's eyes widened. "Seraphinite."

Seraph stopped and narrowed his eyes. "So you remember her."

"How is this possible? Seraphinite perished centuries ago." Rose said, her mind racing to figure out how this was possible.

"Wishful thinking huh? You should have tried a little harder." Seraph stepped forward. "I imagine Yellow Diamond will be a little annoyed that I'm still alive."

"I do not work for Yellow Diamond. In fact I was the one who instigated the rebellion against her and the Diamond Authority." Rose replied.

"Please. The Gem who instigated the rebellion was Rose Quartz and she's dead." Seraph retorted.

"I have lived a long time and I would certainly remember if I was dead." Rose said, a small smile appearing on her face.

Seraph raised an eyebrow. "You are Rose Quartz? The one who formed the Crystal Gems and battled the Diamond Authority, defeating them and forcing them off this planet?"

"Pleasure to meet you, Seraph. But I thought Seraphinite was dead as well. She vanished before the final battle." Rose said, bowing her head slightly.

Seraph frowned. "After all this time, Rose Quartz, if that is who you really are, is still alive after all these years and just happens to be in a small town like this? That's a little hard to believe since I heard that the Crystal and Diamond Gems fought to their mutual defeat on the final battle."

"It was indeed mutual. We lost a great many Gems that day on both sides." Rose said, becoming sad at the memories of the war. "I only saved a handful of my closest comrades that day while the surviving Diamond Gem retreated."

"And you've lived on this planet the whole time." Seraph said, seemingly lowering his guard. "That sounds a little too good to be true. But the Diamond Gems were never too creative or thoughtful to make up a story like that and they wouldn't send a Gem disguised as the most hated rebel on the history of their planet back here, even if to check if some Gems still survived."

"And what about you, Seraphnite? How are you still alive and yet you are in a human body?" Rose said, gesturing to the Gem on Seraph's chest.

"I…am not Seraphinite." Seraph answered slowly. "I'm a human with a Gem embedded in me and the power of a Gem that's kept me alive for centuries."

"A Gem embedded in a human?" Rose's eyes widened. "That's…astounding."

"Well, it's better than being labelled as an abomination like those Diamond jerks." Seraph commented. "It really drove the few I met up the wall."

"A human given the power of a Gem is not an abomination. It's something…astounding and never believed to be possible. It's a…miracle." Rose said, awestruck by what she had learned. "I never thought Seraphinite truly perished in the war. She was always too cunning..."

"Cunning is one word." Seraph admitted as the Gem on his chest flashed. "Seraphinite says it's good to see you after all these years, Rose."

"It's good to see you as well, somewhat, Seraphinite." Rose said with a smile. "I sense we have much to talk about."

"It's a long story…"

Xxx

"Shortly after that Seraph explained that he was a human, around the time of the Gem War and he became involved when he found…Seraphinite's Gem. Rose said she must have retreated into her Gem after being injured or something like that. She recovered and got to know the human for a while, sounded like she was actually happy to get away from the war and the fighting before his village was attacked and she tried to defend it but something went wrong and her Gem ended up in that human's body. He wouldn't say how or why he had the Gem, only that Seraphinite had found what Rose did." Greg said, finishing the story. "After that we exchanged a few more conversations and Seraph left the city, saying he'd drop by and say hello from time to time but this is the first time I've seen him in over twelve years."

"Wow…" Steven said in awe.

"So he fought Rose. Wow. That guy's got to be insane." Amethyst said, falling down onto the floor and spread her arms and legs out.

"He didn't know it was Rose. He thought it was some kind of…spy sent by those evil Gems. He thought Rose was dead with the other Crystal Gems." Greg continued. "And you guys thought the same thing with the Gem, Seraphinite."

"But Seraphinite wouldn't have simply abandoned us in the middle of that war. She hated the Diamond Gems, especially Yellow Diamond. She considered them a blight on Gem kind and believed that it had to be replaced by a better ruler." Pearl stated. "She once tried to convince Rose that she could take over but Rose refused to leave Earth. She fought alongside Rose because she wanted to push the Diamond Gems back to the home world and with their army depleted she could try and take down the ruling cast and replace it."

"Why would she do that?" Steven asked.

"Seraphinite was a Gem that saw things along the lines of good or evil and she believed the Diamond Gems were evil. She was the first of the Gems to join Rose aside from Pearl and myself. In fact she voluntarily led the Crystal Gem armies against the Diamond Gems. She was kind but fiercely driven. The Crystal Gems suffered a great blow to their morality when we thought that Seraphinite was lost." Garnet answered.

"And now she's back, well kind of." Amethyst sat up. "So what do we do?"

"Why do we have to do anything? Let's just go talk to him." Steven stated. "He hasn't done anything bad."

The Gems all shared a look.

"He may not be trustworthy…But Steven has a point. All right, we'll try it Steven's way." Garnet said with a small smile.

Xxx

Seph yawned as he walked through Beach City as the business owners opened up their shops for the day. "I hate it when I wake up feeling like road kill. Honestly that stupid sun couldn't wait another five hours."

His Gem flashed causing him to stop and scowl down at it.

"My fault? How is it my fault?" He asked before the Gem flashed again. "I didn't play around with Jasper or the Gems. It's not my fault that upstart took so long to drag herself out of the ocean after I temporarily cut Lapis's connection to the ocean. And don't get me start on the Crystal Gems-"

"SEPH!"

Seph winced at the loud noise and looked in the direction where the voice came from. "Now what?"

He raised an eyebrow when he saw Steven running towards him with the Crystal Gems walking behind him at a slower pace.

"Steven! Hold on a second!" Pearl called out, not wanting Steven to get so close to Seph without someone to protect him.

"Well this is interesting." Seph remarked as Steven stopped in front of him. "It's a little early, young man. Didn't you get any sleep?"

"I got a little sleep." Steven answered, panting slightly. "Seph can you tell us about yourself?"

"About myself? And what do you want to know?" Seph asked with a smirk, pretending to be ignorant.

"About how you became a Crystal Gem!" Steven answered excitingly.

"Ah….No." Seph said as he turned around to walk away.

"Huh? Why not?" Steven asked, a little surprised and hurt at how casually dismissed he was.

"Honestly, I don't feel like talking about it. I'm looking for a place that makes a decent breakfast along with some coffee. I woke up a lot sooner than I should have after last night's fight and ended up feeling road kill the second that stupid sun made me open eyes." Seph said, yawning again. "I'm really not in the mood for storytelling, Steven. Especially since I'll be leaving right after breakfast."

"Why? Why do you need to leave? You just got here." Steven pointed out.

"I never stay in one place, Steven." Seph said as he slightly turned back to face the young human/Gem. "My job here is done. That upstart Jasper is where she belongs, in a place where she can't hurt anyone but there is the matter of the Gem Peridot. If she manages to alert the Gem home world to what has happened there is a good chance that another Gem army will be sent to Earth and this time there is not army of 'Crystal Gems' here to stop them."

"We can help you." Steven offered but Seph shook his head.

"Your offer is appreciated but right now the reason you can't find Peridot is that you have not considered that she is already in hiding at one of the Gem strongholds or worse, hiding amongst the humans." Seph answered, looking at the Gems. "Despite your fancy warp pad network I am more mobile and I can move more freely since I've been to the top and bottom of this planet. Asking for help right now would waste both of our times since you have your own concerns, Steven."

"My own concerns?" Steven asked.

"You are aware that Jasper recognized you as your mother, correct? If the Gem home world believes Rose Quartz is still alive the consequences would be unspeakable. Focus on mastering your powers for now, Steven. You'll need to learn fast." Seph remarked as he turned to walk away again.

"Wait! You can help!" Steven called out, making Seph stop again. "You are a human and you got Gem powers too!"

"I'm hardly a person who can teach you anything, Steven. Everything I know about my Gem powers I learned instantly when Seraphinite's Gem was implanted in me. I know a lot of Gem history and I could care a less about it since it's not as fun to remember as human history." Seph answered. "You have to learn about your powers and it can only be done by people who personally knew Rose Quartz."

"Could you please tell me how you became a Gem? Please?" Steven begged.

"You don't stop until you get your way don't you?" Seph raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Very well, at the very least it would be interesting to see everyone's reaction."

"So you will tell us?" Steven asked eagerly.

"Might as well." Seph shrugged. "Let's get some donuts first though."

Xxx

Once Steven and Seph had bought some donuts everyone was back in the Gem Temple with Seph sitting down in front of the table while Steven sat on the couch and the Gems sat close by.

"Now I suppose I'll start back to my beginning days, when I lived in a small village in a country called…Scotland."

(Steven Universe Ending Theme and Credits)