Finally, chapter eight is here, hope you all enjoy it. Oh, and soon I will put up a poll for my upcoming mom swap fic, so I got to ask: Who should be Steven's mother, Rose, or Bismuth?

Rhodonite was ecstatic, and it wasn't just because the fruit in the zoo today was extra purple. It was because he was finally getting a mission to earth. Earth. His home planet, no less. He expected it to be blown by the cluster by now, but here he was, riding on a spaceship with Carnelian, to his place of origin. He remembered exactly how he felt when Blue Diamond gave him the news.

"My little quartz," said the familiar motherly voice of the Blue ruler, "I have a special assignment for you today."

Steven respectfully bowed as he had in the past, but on the inside, he was like a full water balloon, just waiting to burst out everywhere. The last time he had a special assignment, he lead his entire troop to plant up a new colony. He had did it perfectly, no casualties, no major resistance to slow them down, and best of all, had managed to impress Yellow Diamond. Sure, that's what lead to the rivalry with her Jasper, but every other Gem in Blue, Yellow, and even White Diamond's court looked to him with respect and praise after that. A certain squad of rubies even fought each other just to get close enough to talk to him.

"Yes, my diamond". Steven said with all the respect and love he had.

Blue Diamond just smiled. Oh, how she missed the days where he would accidently call her mother instead. "You do recall your home planet."

"Yes, earth, was it?" He said with some confusion. Half the time now, he hardly ever thought of earth as his home. Homeworld was his home now. It had been for eight years. Its where Blue pearl, Carnelian, and his Diamond were.

It was where his family was.

"It seems that inspections on the cluster have been failures as of late. Yellow Diamond has commissioned a Jasper and Peridot to personally check on its status. However, I managed to convince her to send ahead a scout or two to handle the interference."

"You mean?" Rhodonite said with more of his usual enthusiasm as stars begin to form in his eyes, something she never understood how it was possible for a human to do, whether or not he was half gem.

"Yes, you will go down to earth before it explodes. After you handle the interference, you may be allowed to enjoy the planets last days."

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! he kept saying as he floated in the air with excitement. "Thank you, Thank you…

Hey

Hey!

HEY!

"Ughh, what?", in the midst of flashbacking, Rhodonite manage to just stare in to space. He's only brought back to reality by the slightly taller red quartz staring right at him.

"Yo, dude, you dozed off for like twenty minutes. We're already here."

Steven Just looked at the screen ahead. On it, was the big blue ball of life that they where sent to. From that perspective, everything was so colorful, not the constant bright flashes of pink and white Homeworld was known for. It was a still color, one that required a lot on observance to truly appreciate.

"Wow, hard to believe that two quartz like us can come from such a beautiful place." Steven said in the middle of his awe."

Carnelian just turns to him. "What do you mean we, Rhodonite? I mean, I know that it definitely applies to me, but you, not a chance. You're the best, like, out of all the Kindergarteners. You're the strongest, smartest, and most calm out of all of us. You personally know and see a diamond every single day! You've even managed to beat the toughest of Yellow Diamond's court. Nobody can do what you can do!"

"Awww, Carney" Steven says with a blush. "Its only because of you, B.p. and Blue Diamond that I am what I am today."

"No, it because of you that things are the way they are today. Gems like Holly Blue thought of us as empty shells of a true gem. They thought we were nothing more than simple hall monitors for the zoo. But you showed everyone that we can be more than that, more than what we were made to be."

"Yeah, but" …

"You even managed to get more use out of a pearl then the diamond for crying out loud. If that's not incredible, then I don't know what is."

Steven still held on to his blush, knowing that he has lost this conversation yet again.

"Ok, enough compliments for now, we're about to land". Steven said as he prepared to guide the ship to the planet, to Pink Diamond's fallen colony, to Pink Diamond's legacy.

" Okay nothing seems to be interfering here. You know, its hard to believe once this was a place of chaos and rebellion, right Carney?" Steven said when they finally hit the ground. He decided the best thing to do first was to check the sight of one of the last battles before the war ended. But you couldn't even tell it was a battlefield before, because in with the landscape with various weapons of both sides were a bunch of vines and what seemed to be a lot of red squishy orbs of some kind.

"Uh, what was that?" Carnelian responded with a mouth full of the red objects. "I was distracted by these little whatamacallits. They taste way better than when the zoo serves red food."

"Carnelian, everything you put in your mouth taste better than the zoo food.

"Come on, try it, I dare ya." Carnelian mischievously said. Steven may out rank her, but she was still his "older sister" as he put it, and only she could ever push him in ways no one else could.

"Uhhh, fine" he finally relents, as he squats down and plucks a Strawberry. He opens his mouth and prepares to eat it, when suddenly a swarm of moths surround his eyes, making him practically blind.

"AHHHHHHHH, oh stars! My vison been compromised! Abandoned ship! Spread out and attack!" Steven randomly ordered as the little insects attack his little eyes.

"Ha, ha, Ha!" Carnelian just kept on laughing. This was the least serious Rhodonite has been in a month. Apparently leading a group of rambunctious Quartzes tends to make one mature a little. And while Carnelian couldn't have been prouder to see that she didn't mess him up, she was always a little irked when he had to become a stick in the mud for everyone's sake. So, at moments like this, she didn't hesitate to enjoy it.

"Get, Offf!" Steven Screamed as he finally get all the invading insects of his eyelids, only for him to fall back and hit his head on something hard.

"Oww! What is that." He says with irritation as he turns around to investigate it. Within the confines of strawberry gush and bushels of vines, there was something pink that stuck out. He reaches forward, and pulls it out with little difficulty. It was a scabbard from what he could tell, but on the other end, there was a symbol, one that, for some strange reason, felt very familiar to him."

"Dude" Carnelian says in shock, finally deciding to focus her attention on the object he was holding. "Do you know what that is? It's the Scabbard to Rose Quartz's Sword!

"Wait, the Rose Quartz? The Rose Quartz that started a thousand year war and shattered one of our beloved matriarch's?"

"The very same!" If you bring back the scabbard and the sword, you'll be a legend to everybody. You could get your own pearl!"

"Carney. You know how I feel about owning Gems."

"I know, I'm just saying. The Diamonds have been looking for closer from all of this since the war ended. They have no idea whether or not they won or lost it. That right there, could be the answer that they've been looking for.

Steven sorta hesitates at this. Sure it might boost his status even more and appease the diamonds, but was it really right to show it off like that? The property of a gem that risked so much for something she believed in? Okay sure, it was against his homeworld, but even then, he didn't want to dishonor anybody, same side or not.

"Come on, think about how happy Blue Diamond might be."

That's what got Steven, nothing encouraged Steven more than the smile on Blue Diamond's face.

"Okay, I'm in. Where do we find the sword though?"

"Hmmm, since only the scabbard's here, I can only assume the sword was taken out. So let's go by that warp pad we saw earlier and think of the last place it could be. From there we find the sword, finish the set, complete our part of the mission, rub the sword in Jasper's face, present it to the Diamonds,, and bam, get instant elite status for life!"

"Okay, let's do this, except for that Jasper part.

About 100 miles away, a large square headed Gem was mediating on the beach. It was the only way to clear her head nowadays, from Ruby's and Sapphire's constant arguing, to Pearl and Amethyst's constant bickering, to her own future visons, it was hard being the only sane one around. She focused her thoughts on the one thing that could fix everything. The one person who could bring back the harmony that was lost.

Flash

She smiled.

Garnet, leader of the Crystal Gems, got up from her spot, and moved towards the temple. She had news to tell.

Steven was alive.

I tried to put more character dialogue in. I hope I did a good job with it.

Next, Rhodonite and Carnelian search for the sword while encountering a furry beast and three blasts from the past.