Before we get started this time, I wanted to say something to all you readers out there. I understand that right now there is a lot of panic and discontent out there thanks to a certain bug. I was actually supposed to be back in class this week, but the recent issues with the bug have made them cancel my college's classes for the week and will move them online for the following weeks. I've heard stories of people panicking and treating this like an apocalypse, but I want to encourage all of you out there. If Steven Universe has shown me anything, it's that humans can be pretty wonderful and that if we remain optimistic we can come out better. Fear and force cannot compare to the power that kindness, empathy and virtue. I hope everyone out there makes it through this better and here's to being in a better future.
And now, the new chapter...
With the dome destroyed and Silver Agate being bubbled and sent to the temple, it was easy pickings to fix the rest of the town. The stragglers were suddenly much less eager to fight seeing their enemy commander defeated and an already powerful fusion split into twelve and then annihilate their greatest weapon in no time at all. Some actually laid down and surrendered while others tried hightailing it back to the ships, but most were met by Pearl and her clones. As soon as they defused from Opal, they planned to ambush any returning troops and check for any last abducted people.
When the sun finally rose after the longest night in Beach City's history, every single person was accounted for after Amethyst did a head count of some of the surrounding suburbs. She returned with Connie actually riding on her back.
"Hey everybody!" called the makeshift taxi, "Look who I found!"
Steven quickly saw his best friend and ran up to her. He threw a hug around her but was taken aback when he felt something cold on his shoulder.
"Connie? What's up with your-"
"Hand?" she finished, showing off her green crystal appendage. "Yeah… That kinda just happened a few hours ago. I tried calling you about it but none of my calls got through."
"That's probably thanks to the death bubble White Diamond put Beach City under."
She blinked a few times before responding. "You know, that doesn't even faze me anymore. Plus, I'm dead tired and my parents are waiting for me back at my aunt's place where we were staying. You all good here?"
"Should be. All I really want now is some sleep."
"Ditto. I'm amazed I didn't crash coming here on a two-hundred mile an hour piggyback ride."
As both friends left, they felt a sense of calm overtake them. Even with some rather extensive property damage to clean up, the day was saved. On top of that, between Pearl's new cloning ability, the powered armor that Greg was already putting to good use and the odd new power Connie possessed that they had all become stronger. It made the boy's inevitable fall into slumber even easier as he was asleep halfway into his walk back home. One of the Pearls naturally took him home and tucked him to get a much-deserved rest while Beach City began recovering.
Yellow and Blue Diamond were many things. Both were matriarchs to the Gem Empire and have spent tens of millennia building it into the multi-galaxy spanning masterpiece that it is today. While Yellow was the primary commanding officer for their empire's extensive military, she was still responsible for several internal affairs such as training programs and handling martial law. Meanwhile Blue was in charge of most of the domestic affairs such as the architecture, resource management and naturally keeping their culture as pristine as possible. Even still, she did make regular rounds to check up on colonies and keep the general well-being of her people up. These two, while opposites in many categories, were the chief operators of their empire and the hands that ran everything.
Today, though, they had plans to check in on White's plan to finally eliminate the rebellion of Rose Quartz. Shockingly enough, their leader was incredibly quiet when they arrived and merely instructed them to watch a recording of the entire invasion effort. Several hours later, the two matriarchs were grateful they were in complete privacy as their reactions were less than dignified.
"WHAT IN NAME OF THE COSMOS WAS THAT?!" erupted Yellow, more infuriated than she had been in years, "Those clods, including two organics, managed to fight off an invading force that outnumbered them more than twenty to one! And then a pearl, Rose Quartz's personal pearl, spontaneously arrives with the ability to duplicate herself and drives off the entire force with an illegitimate fusion?! This is a mockery! This is a farce! This is-"
"-Quite enough, Yellow," said Blue, "I don't understand any of this either, but that doesn't change what happened."
White, in a telling change of pace, merely listened while the most emotional of them spoke rationally. "We clearly have underestimated these Crystal Gems over and over again and every time we do, they have gained something from it. Stolen technology, new members, a growing number of hostages to use against us and now they've made a sham out of our forces. Time and again, they've been growing stronger and more invigorated by their successes."
"I-I know that!" shouted Yellow, "But how?! They are a speck on the face of a hideous ball of water that somehow keep doing this! I've had enough, I'm going to Earth personally to shatter that insidious quartz myself! I will-"
"Be silent…" urged White, finally making herself known, "…And curb your temper. Emotionally snapping won't get you anywhere."
"What we need to do now is figure out our next move," she continued, "And I have something that can eliminate Rose Quartz and her beloved planet Earth in one move."
"Wait a moment… You don't mean…" spoke Yellow.
"Indeed, a little project that someone here forgot to check up on some time ago – The Cluster."
"The what?" asked Blue, feeling lost already. She also felt rather nervous given that Yellow went from angry to very embarrassed at the name of it.
"Yes, a little superweapon that a certain other Diamond was supposed to be overseeing but nothing has come of it so far. Can't imagine why…"
White then pulled up a diagram showing the project itself – an absolutely colossal sphere made of millions of gem shards left over from the original conflict with Rose that was planted roughly two hundred years ago. While Yellow looked at it curiously, Blue had a very different reaction.
"Is that… thing made of gem shards?"
"Yes," replied Yellow, "Why do you ask? You can obviously see it for yourself."
"I… I never knew about something like this. How…"
"Spit it out already, Blue!"
"How could we have done this?!" she yelled, even getting White's attention, "According to this data, there's no telling where the shards came from aside from this planet! Are you telling me you both were making a superweapon out of the remnants of our own loyal soldiers?!"
"Blue, it was out of necessity," assured White, "I mean, what were we going to do? Draft thousands of our active troops into becoming a prototype for a world-shattering weapon? That's nonsense! Think of the losses our gem production and military that would create!"
"That's not the problem! These gems were heroes! They fought Rose and her rebellion until the very end and lost their lives in the process and how did we repay them?! Desecrating their memories by keeping them there to be used as a tool!"
"Blue, you need to calm down," said Yellow, "I understand you're upset-"
"Preposterous! You were the one monitoring this abomination! You clearly knew about it and went along with it out of your hatred for Earth! I want Rose and her infernal planet destroyed just as much as you, but did it necessitate this?! This sacrifice of so many innocents spending millennia trapped in the planet they lost their lives on all for the sake of a weapon?!"
"That's enough!" shouted White, her patience completely gone, "Curb yourself right now or you'll seriously regret it!"
"Oh, shut it! As if you even understand what regret is, you insensitive clod! You already said you don't care about Pink-!"
That was all she got out before White finally let her have it. She sent a beam from her hand straight at Blue. The smaller monarch went from yelling in rage to screaming in agony as she felt her very essence being assaulted. Her eyes were completely dry for a change, but she felt a sense of pain unlike anything from the past few millennia. Yellow shielded her eyes as her sister in arms was engulfed in blinding energy, and not seeing the color drain out of her for a moment, before White finally let up.
"Now then," spoke the grand monarch in a motherly tone, "Are you ready to move on?"
"Y-Yes…" mumbled Blue, "I'm s-sorry, White… I overreacted."
"Excellent response. Now then, the Cluster was projected to emerge some time ago but that Rose Quartz has somehow managed to prevent this. We must find a way to discover her way of accomplishing this and do so discretely. It's obvious that direct confrontation has continuously failed so a more subtle approach is in order. Begin deliberating some ideas and report back to me later. That will be all."
Back on Earth, the town of Beach City was hard at work being rebuilt. While the massive device responsible for trapping the town was disintegrated by Opal, there was a great deal left to do from the rest of the battles. Along with every single pane of glass for several miles being broken to smithereens thanks to Sugilite, there were buildings, roads and countless other examples of property damage though thankfully injuries to the townspeople were minimal.
The Crystal Gems thought it was only fair that they contribute to the rebuilding efforts as much as possible. At the start of the next day, Amethyst was already making trips to nearby towns for more supplies, Garnet and Bismuth acted as muscle clearing up any debris they came across, Adamite was repairing all of the roads, Peridot was getting the ships relocated to the temple for her to work on later and all the while Pearl and her clones supervised the situation.
As one of the copies checked her clipboard, she spotted a shadow flying overhead. "Lapis!" she called out, "How's Steven doing?"
"He just woke up, actually," she reported, "And seemed really eager to help out."
"Of course he is… All in all, I think he'd be best off just making sure everyone's okay. Did you spot anything else on your flight?"
"Nope. No stray gems, no backup plans and the most exciting thing was Lars showing Topaz what cupcakes are. She seemed kinda lost on the whole eating business."
"Oh dear, I might want to warn her. Amethyst might have taken to it, but it still gives me every wrong feeling to this day."
"Eh, I never thought meep-morps would be my thing, but they worked! Anyway, want me to get Steven?"
"Sure. He spent all of yesterday in bed and I bet he's dying to help out wherever he can."
As Lapis flew off to rouse the boy from over 24 continuous hours of sleep, Pearl analyzed her list and someone else walked up to her.
"Hey Pearl," greeted Connie, holding one hand behind her back oddly, "Can I show you something? It's… weird."
"Oh, trust me, I've been so busy with so much commotion going on recently that nothing could faze me anymore-"
She stopped suddenly when her protégé showed her hand still made out of green crystal. To further prove her point that it was not purely cosmetic, she reached down and picked up a pebble from the road. She crushed it with her fingers with almost no effort.
"I may have accidentally ripped off one of the doors to Mom's car, too. Could you get someone to look at that? I don't think insurance will cover it."
"Uhhhh… I'll get Bismuth on that. You, um, otherwise alright?"
"Yeah. I guess on the bright side I don't need to use Rose's sword anymore since now I can do this." She then pulled a crystalline sword out of thin air just like she did in the fight against the amethysts. Before her mentor could freak out at this, she was saved when Garnet walked over with an uprooted tree slung over her shoulders.
"I found this in the road," she explained, "I'm gonna go replant it before Cinnabar makes it into firewood."
"Oh, yes, good idea!" Pearl yelped, "Why don't I assist you with that?! Connie, we'll talk later, this is urgent Crystal Gem business."
"I guess it is now," shrugged Garnet, "See you later, Connie. Cool sword."
"Thanks. Bye guys!"
While that was going on, Steven was roused from his day-long sleep by Lapis and found himself jogging through town looking to help in any possible way. He found himself merely holding things in place, retrieving items to speed along construction or simply keeping people upbeat with his natural charm. Outside of helping flip over a car with his hands, it was very routine stuff but all of the citizens appreciated his help and his positive attitude nonetheless.
After almost an hour he found himself at It's a Wash where his father was showing off his battle armor to a man Steven never saw before. He seemed perfectly normal with a short head of black hair, being dressed in a simple t-shirt and jean shorts and a laidback demeanor that made him very approachable. Never one to hesitate around strangers, Steven walked up to the adults in the middle of their conversation.
"…Plus, Peridot's looking to make some adjustments," Greg continued, "I honestly just wanted her to add a helmet since one of those guys yanked me around by my hair."
"Fair enough, I suppose," replied the unknown man, "Wouldn't want a mane like that getting ruined."
"Oh, you have no idea how long this has taken. Almost twenty years of no haircuts and more shampoo than you could think and-"
The man stopped him suddenly, though, when he noticed Steven watching them. "Oh, pardon me, Greg, but who is this?"
"Oh, that's just my goofball of a son! What's good, Steven?"
"This is Steven? Steven Universe?"
"Yep, that's me!" replied the boy with a smile, "What's your name?"
"Van Carson," he replied while holding out a hand to shake. As Steven took it and shook back, Van pulled out his cellphone.
"Excuse me, but I need to make a quick call to work."
"Sure, no problem!" assured the boy. The two gave him some space and started chatting amongst themselves until Van hung up the phone and approached them again.
"Sorry for the interruption, but I needed to check in with my job. Now then, Steven, would you mind telling me a few things?"
"What do you need to know? Are you new to Beach City? I know all the best places to go!"
"That's very good to hear, Steven, but my questions are a bit more personal. You see, I'm a representative of the government of the United American States and I've been sent here to ask you about a group called the Crystal Gems and the events of the previous night."
Steven and Greg both went numb in an instant. While Van seemed very casual and polite about it all, the fact that the national government wanted to talk to them was very alarming.
"Um, sir?" piped Greg, "Is Steven in trouble? Am I in trouble for raising him? Is anyone here going to Zone 15?!"
"Trust me, Mr. Universe, that zone is merely a rumor. However, I am not here to discuss hypotheticals. If possible, I would also like to speak with one of the Crystal Gems directly though I understand if you would wish for your affiliates to remain anonymous."
Without another word, Steven rapidly called up Pearl and told her she was needed at the car wash ASAP. The gem soon arrived and the government agent introduced himself the same way to the alien, still as cordial and casual as ever.
"W-WHAT?!" yelped Pearl, "H-H-How do you know about us?! W-Why only now approach us?! A-Are we being sued for property damages?!"
"Is she always this… high-strung?" asked Van curiously, seemingly unfazed by Pearl's behavior.
"Sometimes," answered Steven, "But now she's pretty relaxed unless there's mildew in the kitchen."
"Hm, a tidy housekeeper. I can respect that. Nevertheless, Pearl, I would first like to reassure you that your group is in no danger from us. In fact, everyone on this planet owes your team a debt of gratitude for your commendable efforts. Me included."
That instantly calmed Pearl down, but her curiosity was still very piqued. "W-Well that's very flattering Mr. Carson but-"
"Please, you may call me Van or Agent Van if you must. I won't elaborate, but I'm not fond of my family name."
"Very well then, Agent Van, but how on Earth are you aware of the Crystal Gems? We've done our best to maintain secrecy from human eyes for thousands of years."
"Ah yes, an explanation is in order. Steven, do you have any place in town that you'd recommend for a more comfortable spot for a meeting?"
The boy pointed him towards Fish Stew Pizza and soon the Universe family was driving there in Greg's van while the secret agent followed along in his inconspicuous beige car. Once they arrived at the pizzeria, thankfully untouched by the invasion, Van offered to pay for lunch for the family while they exchanged information.
"Now then, to put you at ease, I'll explain my knowledge of you first. As technology has gotten more advanced and allowed for better data collection, we have noticed several patterns emerge in historical artwork and literature throughout history."
Agent Van then opened up a laptop he brought into the restaurant with them and began typing away on the device until he turned it around and showed it to his three listeners. All of them saw a collection of nearly every form of historical artwork imaginable from ancient pottery, faded hieroglyphics, detailed paintings, a handful of sculptures and more all detailing a full-figured female with enormous hair. Some showed a star pattern on her navel, others had in full color with her hair electrifyingly pink, yet others a glimmering stone on her body, but they were all clearly depictions of Rose Quartz. Scattered among them were less prominent depictions of Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl with various features being presented.
"For quite a few years now, we began getting curious about these recurring images. Naturally, this was merely assumed as historical coincidences but the sheer number of examples we found were unprecedented. We soon began looking for something more concrete about this mythical woman, somehow completely unchanged despite living through every society known to mankind. Keep in mind these are only the visual examples. We've collected encyclopedias worth of oral myths and written records cataloging this same woman."
The Universe family were all stunned, but none more so than Pearl. She could hardly believe some random government agent was unraveling thousands of years' worth of Crystal Gem history in a matter of minutes. On the plus side, she did start to remember several adventures of those past eras that made her feel pleasantly nostalgic.
Van then zoomed in on a particular painting showing Rose and the main trio in a boat with Garnet in front upper-cutting a sea creature while Pearl and Amethyst saved a blonde man from drowning.
"This picture proved to be a vital key in our research when we found it in an archive last year. All of the figures matched, and we were even able to quickly ascertain two more people in this photo: Captain William Dewey and famed explorer Buddy Budwick."
"Cool!" cheered Steven, "Nice to see those guys get recognized."
"Yes, we most certainly appreciated their efforts. Given the time period of this painting and Captain Dewey's status as the founder of Beach City, we then focused our efforts on locating any sign of this pink-haired woman or her associates. It turns out that was far easier than we imagined…"
Van then turned the computer back to himself and went through more files until opening up another one and showing them. These ones were full-color photographs of the Crystal Gems out and about the town usually with Steven by their side and Greg in a handful of photos.
"Y-You've been spying on us?!" ousted Greg, feeling completely violated.
"Rest assured, all of these pictures have never been distributed in any public manner. In fact, they are not the only ones we took. With the link to Budwick, we soon found a copy of his journal and began documenting more fascinating phenomena in the locations affiliated with you as well."
A few more clicks and soon the three were presented with a slideshow of almost every location they had visited in the past with Steven even staring at a few places he had never seen before.
"From there, we merely contacted the current mayor and that's how we got the cursory information about your group such as your name, the Crystal Gems. Outside of that and the knowledge of Steven's existence, we've been left to put the pieces together ourselves for the longest time."
"I take it that changed due to recent events?" said Pearl.
"Correct. I'm afraid an entire town being held hostage by some sort of massive bubble is too much for us to ignore. We also picked up other worrying events such as a massive unidentified flying object crash landing onto your shore, but the authorities decided to leave that be for the time. Now, though, whatever conflict you are involved with has escalated to the point where innocent lives are endangered. They decided to send me here today to gain as much intel as possible."
With some clarity now in the air, the group decided to stop to actually get to eating. Steven and Greg split a pizza, Van ordered a small salad for himself and Pearl politely declined while noting that Gems did not need food for survival.
"Now then, with all of that said," spoke the agent once they had all filled their stomachs, "Would you mind answering the questions I have?"
"Sure," responded Greg, "But the answers are gonna be weird."
"Given I'm dealing with alien lifeforms, I should expect something unorthodox. Now first and foremost is where is this pink-haired woman that has appeared so frequently? Our surveillance never once caught her on any image of your group this entire time."
"That…" said Greg morosely, "Is Rose Quartz. She's no longer with us."
"She was the founder and leader of the Crystal Gems," added Pearl.
"And my mother," finished Steven. He gave a brief explanation of how she decided to give birth to him and how he now carries her gemstone. When he lifted his shirt to show the bright pink gem in place of his navel, Van was surprised.
"So, that stone is a component of all gems? I noticed the very large one on Pearl's forehead."
"Yes," said Pearl, "All gems are essentially living holograms with the only physical matter being our gems. They are our cores and the only way to essentially kill a gem is to shatter it. If any other part of our forms are damaged, we receded into our stones to heal and will reform in peak condition with enough time."
"Fascinating," said the agent while taking diligent notes on his computer, "What other properties do gems have?"
Pearl, seeing how earnest his question was, felt more than happy to explain. She elaborated on how gems were created, their physical capabilities and even demonstrated how she could summon her weapon.
"Now, it's also important to know that combat specifications depend on the type of gem," she continued, "For instance, Amethyst has a whip for her weapon, Garnet has her gauntlets and Steven a shield he also inherited from his mother."
"Pardon me," Van said, "But you're telling me that Steven here can do the same?"
"More than that, actually. Steven, would you prefer to demonstrate your powers yourself?"
The boy decided to do just that. He shuffled through all of his weapons and noticed each time Van was getting more surprised. Then he became fully blown away when Steven went outside, jumped straight up out of view of the restaurant window and then floated back down. He almost fainted when Steven then noticed a nearby light post that was knocked over and placed it upright with his bare hands. When the boy final came back in and took a sip of his drink, the agent seemed about ready to faint.
"Y-You… are half-gem? And that means you can do… all of that?"
"Yep! Plus, I can heal people with my spit or tears and shapeshift, but I don't like using that too much. Bad memories."
"He has a lot of unique properties due to being half human," elaborated Pearl, "He's become quite a capable fighter, but he's also far less experienced and has a weakness for his G.U.Y.S. action figures."
"I see…" said Van while regaining his composure, "I never imagined such a friendly child like you could do anything like that."
"Trust me, sir, he's still a lover," added Greg, "If anything, he'd much rather be friends with everyone instead of beating them around."
"Yeah, it's really sad," lamented Steven, "I keep trying to just talk things over with them, but they won't listen. The Diamonds just keep attacking no matter what I say!"
While Van did feel his heart warm hearing how nonviolent Steven was, he looked confused about the new term. "The Diamonds?"
"Allow me to explain," offered Pearl. From there she launched on another lengthy tangent on the Crystal Gems' battle with the forces of Homeworld from their inception to their newest clash involving the massive death dome. While Van was still keeping composed, deep down he felt his nerves being strained.
"So, if I followed all of this correctly, the Crystal Gems are a rebellious force against an imperialistic empire of megalomaniacal alien super soldiers that have conquered thousands of planets in the past?"
"Millions, more accurately, but yes."
"And Rose Quartz effectively murdered one of their leaders in an effort to free Earth, which while effective, also meant your force of hundreds was reduced down to the main three we have seen so far."
"Actually, no. Amethyst only joined after the Gem War was finished."
"Fair enough, but now after thousands of years, Homeworld has essentially decided to finish you off out of grudge for this Pink Diamond and they don't care about any organic life."
"Pretty much," agreed Greg, "And trust me, they're a tough bunch. Take it from someone who only just started this job, it's really something else."
"You… fought these gems?"
"In a super-awesome suit of armor that Peri and Bismuth made for him!" exclaimed Steven, "It has laser blasters and light swords and he looks awesome and he stopped a bunch of rubies from taking our house all by himself."
"Aw, sport, stop it. You're overexaggerating…"
"So, it seems you all are quite extraordinary," said Van, "I believe this is more than enough for my superiors to be satisfied although there might be a follow-up in the future."
"Will we see you again?" asked Steven.
"More than likely. I must admit that it would give me an easy excuse to eat here again. Thank you for the recommendation, Steven."
"You're welcome!"
"Agent Van," said Pearl, "Before you go, there is one thing I request you tell the higher-ups."
"And what would that be?"
"Tell them to stay as uninvolved as possible."
"What?!"
"While we understand you monitoring us and would appreciate potential assistance with reconstruction in the future, you need to understand that Homeworld is far more than any military force on this planet can handle."
"I don't mean to offend, but don't you think you are being a tad too… presumptuous?"
Rather than respond, Pearl closed her eyes and made two copies of herself. While Van was already stunned by this display, she was not done yet. All three pulled out spears and proceeded to throw them hundreds of feet into the air. Then the trio leapt into the air and soared right up to their weapons before catapulting themselves down onto the beach hard enough to make a crater and kick up a ten-foot wave in the ocean behind them.
"Keep in mind that in gem terms, I am among the weakest in terms of physical strength," said the one on the left.
"Homeworld has entire armies of gems, each one being magnitudes stronger than any human and outnumber you over a million to one," warned the one in the middle.
"And as for your weapons? They have genuinely leveled planets before from orbit and the only reason they don't do that here is because the stakes are personal," finished the one on the right. Once Van made sure he was not going to have a heart attack, he wrote down a phone number to contact him with and bid them farewell.
"Pearl, was it really necessary to spook him like that?" asked Greg once the gem had sent her clones off to get back to work on reconstruction.
"I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but yes. There were a few times humans got caught in the crossfire in the gem war and the results were horrific."
She then knelt down and looked Steven in the eye. "Steven, I'm going to warn you that your training is going to get much more intense from here on out. We need you to be as ready as possible for whenever Homeworld comes again."
"Is…" the boy stuttered, "Is it really that bad?"
"I'm afraid so. That last attack proved that all of the Diamonds are involved in this now. And by personally showing up White Diamond, we might as well have signed a formal declaration of war."
Next time on this story, some more time with Connie and her new powers!
Thank you all so much for reading! Please feel free to leave any questions or comments below!
