"Ready?"
"I- Yes." He turned to the camera- Pearl was leaning around it, pulling at her jacket.
"Are you sure about this Steven? Really sure?" She looked around the room, at the walls, the floor, at Garnet. Anywhere but his eyes. "This could be- I mean this is."
"The right thing to do. You saw how Blue acted, she was worried! For thousands of years!" 'And she still turned on us.' He didn't say that out loud but.
"Didn't make much a' difference dude." Amethyst chimed in, echoing his own concerns.
"Thats, true." His head dropped for a moment. "But she was still worried sick! I know she had a more. Sort of personal relationship with Mom and all but. The rest of her court had to be upset too? Hiding the truth from then isn't right." Garnet nodded when he glanced over to her, then gave him a thumbs up.
"You got this. Just speak from the heart."
He took a deep breath, looking back to the camera. Back to Pearl. After a long moment, she finally nodded as well. 'Right. I can do this. I can do this.'
"Alright… On in three… two… One… Start."
Across the universe, terminals light up. Holograms sprung to life with no warning, no fanfare, no warning. A symbol formed that the Gems of the Empire hadn't seen in thousands of years. And the whispering started.
They had heard Pink Diamond had returned to Homeworld. There was a great deal of emphasis put on the event- and the start of Era Three as the great Diamonds had declared it. But then, nothing. An entire year had passed since then with no new word. All the Courts had been anxious, but most especially those of Pink Diamond.
So when the signal connected and the pink triple diamond symbol rose, trillions and trillions of Gems gathered, and waited. They did not have to wait long.
"Hey! My name is Steven Universe. And my Mom was Pink Diamond."
A round, dull-pink gemoid creature spoke to them, a mess of dark hair curling on it's head- it only barely looked like a gem at all! But it spoke. And it explained many, many things. It said it was half organic. That his 'mother' Pink Diamond had staged the Crystal Gem Rebellion, disguised as a simple Rose Quartz. That she had faked her own shattering, and lived on Earth for thousands of years. Before falling in love with a human, and creating this Steven with it. And passing on her gem to this Steven. Half organic. Half Diamond.
"I have her gem," it said, raising his shirt to show it. The alignment, the cut, it was undeniably her. "- but I don't have her memories- not really anyway, or personality. I'm a new being! But I'm reaching out to the Empire now to let you know. Because me and my friends have seen what Homeworld is like. And. It's all so, wrong."
In a far off sector of Gem territory, a Ruby and a Jade shared a quick nervous glance, before shooting their gaze back to the message. Even further still, all the way on Homeworld, murmurs start to spread. They had heard rumors that Pink and the other Diamonds had fought but- this was. Completely out of the norm, such a major diversion from protocol that- they could hardly believe what they heard. Neither could Pearl, but when she shot a glance at Garnet the fusion just shrugged.
"Gems should be free to do what they want! Not because you were made to do something, but because you genuinely want to! What's the point of the Empire when nobody gets to enjoy their lives? To explore themselves?" The… Steven's words rang out. In some it inspired disgust, confusion, or disbelief. In others, a small spark of recognition of the truth flared up inside.
"I'm saying this, to you all. As a 'Diamond'. What the Empire has been doing is wrong. The Empire has wronged all of you, for hundreds of thousands of years and- I'm sorry." A cluster of Amethysts and Jaspers on a space station, more familiar with humans than any other gems, noticed Steven's shudder, and understood.
"Gems everywhere feel the same. You just… need a little help to feel brave enough to say it. Which is why I'm saying it. I'm a Crystal Gem, and we aren't af-"
The transmission cut off suddenly. Several long, drawn out moments of silence followed, before returning. White. Pure, white. And she spoke. "Return to your duties."
And that was all. They were all left, glancing nervously amongst themselves. Some afraid to speak up. Others trying to mask their concerns with false bravado, proclaiming that 'Steven' creatures must be insane. Others whispered to their closer friends. Excitement, confusion, anger and- hope. It spread like wildfire over the coming weeks. And the Empire slowly ground to a halt.