So I'm not going to say a lot about this chapter. It's another one I've been building towards, it is unbeta'd so sorry about that.

see you all Friday

Domina got to her feet while Steven attempted to fill the centipeetles in on 5000 years of history. Pearl attempted to help her to her feet but Domina waved her off.

"I'm fine, really," She said.

"You've said that you're fine after receiving a concussion, and when bursting both your ear drums, and after you got run over by a herd of..." Pearl frowned thoughtfully. "What were those things?"

"That time on 32-KL6? Uh... some kind of ungulate, and this is different," Domina assured her, "I'll be fine." Yellow Diamond was standing by the entrance to the ruined dropship. To say that she looked surprised was an understatement. She actually had the same look on her face as Yellow Pearl which, while amusing, was probably not something Domina should point out.

"So, reversing corruption is impossible?" Domina asked, smirking.

"That... I..." Yellow Diamond held her hand to her face. "That shouldn't be possible. None of that should have been possible. Domina what were you thinking, fusing with a quartz?" Domina sighed.

"If you're going to yell at me can we at least take this outside."

"I'm not going to yell at you!" Yellow snapped, only to go red as her outburst garnered them some stares.

"Right, of course not," Domina said. "You haven't had an issue with Garnet the whole time we've been here."

"I... this is different." Yellow Diamond glanced away.

"How? It's just me and Steven."

"Domina, fusion is what cost us the war, why do you always insist on downplaying it."

"Why shouldn't I? Why should it still be the only offense on Homeworld that unequivocally ends with shattering."

"Because it disrupts the system, every gem has its place and fusion yanks two gems out of it."

"Well why do we need the system?" Domina said fighting to keep her voice low. Yellow blinked, shocked. "It seems to have done more harm than good. Because of it, you ended up doing the work of three, shards, four diamonds. You shouldn't have had to do that!"

"Well who else was going to Domina? It's my job, my place." Yellow said

"According to who? My mother? She's gone Yellow. It doesn't have to be like this anymore. My mother is gone and the policies she put in place should go with her. We're better than this." Yellow Diamond stared at her for a long moment before pushing herself off the hull of the ship and walking out the door. Domina blinked and turned to look at an equally stunned Yellow Pearl.

"That... was not the response I expected from her." Yellow Pearl said.

"Yes... that was... is she ok?" Domina asked. Yellow Pearl shrugged, then hesitated.

"Do you really mean that?"

"About fusion? Or about the system."

"Both,"

"Yes." Domina said. She glanced to the side where she could see Blue Pearl creeping closer. "And whenever anyone, is ready to bring that up for the future I'll be more than willing to listen." Yellow Pearl glanced at a frozen Blue Pearl. Domina smiled at both of them before taking a step back and nearly running into 5CN, Centi, the Captain.

"Ah I apologize.. My diamond." The nephrite said saluting. Domina inclined herself awkwardly. She glanced down at her jeans and Sadie Killer and The Suspects t-shirt. They were like the icing on the top of the weirdest looking diamond in the universe cake.

"Please, just... call me Domina." She said "I'm so sorry for what happened." 5CN blinked her singular eye and nodded.

"It's not your fault the evacuation order was clear, the crew should have departed without-"

"No. We should have checked that everyone was off planet beforehand." Domina said, shaking her head. "It's admirable that your crew waited for you." Aforementioned crew was watching their captain nervously.

"Thank you my... Domina?" 5CN said awkwardly, she looked less tense and Domina smiled and nodded. Nephrites were always pretty flexible, they were used to changes.

"What do you plan to do now?" She asked. 5CN looked around the ship with a clearly daunted expression.

"Well, I suppose we should start getting the ship in flight ready condition." She said. Domina nodded.

"That would be a good start. Steven's told you about the trouble on Homeworld and our plan?"

"He has." The nephrite hesitated. "Would you want us to accompany you?" Domina shook her head.

"No, no. I can't ask that of you you just got... back" Domina said awkwardly. "But, will your crew look after the earth, while we're gone?" 5CN nodded and glanced over at Steven with a smile.

"Of course we will. It's the least we can do."

"You know I've met Blue Diamond too," a voice said. Yellow Diamond glanced down to see Steven's father, the earth Vitus. She thought his name was Greg or something. She had been dragged along by Domina, to the local populaces celebration of the planets yearly rotation.

Domina was in the process of doing something involving a fire, built by the Renegade Pearls girlfriend, and some sort of edible material made entirely out of sugar. Steven had already offered her one of these smores but she had declined. Politely.

"I have heard about the 'zoo incident'," She said frowning. Greg was unperturbed.

"Yeah? Steven said you didn't say much."

"What was I supposed to say? It was just another reason we should have jwiped this planet off the star maps." Yellow Diamond said. Of course that was probably the wrong thing to say to a native of said planet. But, if it would make him stop poking at her thoughts then so be it. Over by the fire Steven had managed to ignite his most recent sweet. Connie laughed at his antics to put out the fire and offered him hers. The two of them had been... interesting to watch over the last few weeks, they certainly worked together well.

"You really hate this planet that much?" Greg asked. Was this where Steven got his annoying habit of prying from?

"...I hate the memories this planet reminds me of." Yellow Diamond said. She glanced down the beach where similarly sized campfires dotted the sand, each with its own cluster of humans. Each awaiting the beginning of a new year.

"Yeah I can imagine that doesn't help moving on, especially being stuck here." Greg said. Yellow Diamond frowned.

"I have moved on," She said. Greg looked up at her and smiled, then shrugged.

"Yeah, it certainly looks like it."

"I have!"

"I believe you, but just because you've moved on doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt sometimes." Greg stared at the fire, specifically at Steven, at the Renegade fussing over him, Amethyst eating... something Yellow Diamond was almost positive wasn't intended to be eaten, and at the fusion who was simply watching the group with a smile on her face. "And it's ok if it hurts."

Yellow Diamond looked again at the beach, then at the stars, and let her hand come to rest over her gem.

"Your son has done enough prodding at my emotions, you do not need to get involved." Yellow Diamond said.

"Yeah I know, Stevens good at that."

"He certainly is."

"One week." Yellow Pearl said. Blue Pearl nodded and looked down the hill at the sea of campfires below on the beach. They had excused themselves from the festivities roughly an hour ago. Even though they had a choice here. there was something gratifying about managing to steal some time away for themselves.

"Yes, we should be having one final transmission with the Omega base and then... that's it." Blue Pearl said. The weight of what was happening had been building on her since they landed on earth really. They were going to make changes, progress. Star's they were going to bring the Diamonds into this. And they had one on their side!

"You don't sound so enthusiastic." Yellow Pearl said wryly. "Isn't this your big goal, topple the entire structure of the empire?" Blue Pearl snorted. It was so nice to be able to laugh, to not be caught in an aura of despair constantly.

"I never thought we'd get this far. I mean, I hoped, but I didn't think it would be anything like this."

"Well congratulations." Yellow Pearl said. Blue Pearl nodded mutely.

"It's thanks to you really," Blue Pearl said finally. Down below a countdown had started. Steven had said there would be fireworks, some kind of aesthetic pyrotechnic, after the countdown, to ring in the new year. "If you had turned me in the first you had heard of the New Rebellion none of this would have happened." Yellow Pearl shrugged.

"What are friends for?" She said getting to her feet. The first of the fireworks had been launched, accompanied by a cacophony of bells and pots and pans banging together on the beach below. The fireworks were simple but Blue Pearl had to admit there was a certain charm to them. They made they're way down to the beach house as the sky was lit up in flashes of red and green and blue.

"Really Yellow, I mean it, I'm sorry that I didn't think to include you earlier. But thank you for keeping the rebellion a secret." Blue said as they began to mount the stairs to the house. Steven had mentioned something about movies and popcorn after the fireworks, and Blue Pearl did like popcorn. Yellow looked at her awkwardly for a moment as they stepped inside the beach house.

"Blue Your welcome but I-" She began, before the warp pad exploded. Yellow's shield went off a fraction of a second too late. She dissipated seconds before Blue felt a chunk of crystal rip through her form, sending her back into her gem.

The group hadn't even begun to pack up the blankets and chairs from the beach before the sound of an explosion sounded from the direction of the beach house. Instantly everything was dropped, and the entire group took off in that direction. Domina managed to outpace everyone by mere second. She burst into the beach house in a gust of wind,followed closely by the Crystal Gems and Steven. Yellow Diamond, still at her full size skidded to a stop outside the beach house. Inside was chaos. Chunks of warp pad littered the interior. As the dust cloud settled, she could make out that the now broken TV, the decimated couch, and the fist sized hole in the refrigerator. And on the floor, just inside the door were two pearls, one yellow, one blue. But they weren't alone.

"Are we sure she'll be here? This is the most active entry point but I'm not sure if her proximity-" A Peridot's voice said, her shape came into view as the dust started to clear revealing she was era 1.

"She has to be on planet somewhere, if not we're kind of out of luck aren't we?" Said the voice of a Milky Quartz who had pulled the peridot to her feet. A third figure got to her feet, and dusted off a shoulder cape as the dust finally settled.

"She will be." said Mossy Agate.

...Let me know in a review if you saw this ending coming