Upon their arrival on Homeworld, the gems converse with the diamonds, finding out that White knows more than they all initially thought.

...

Arriving on Homeworld, the group was soon met by Spinel, who had been sent to retrieve the group and bring them to the diamonds.

"Hey guys, lookin good as ever." She lied, not wanting to bring down their mood anymore. "C'mon, their waiting for ya"

The group moved towards the throne room with heart shaped gem. While no one said it, they were all glad to see that Spinel was getting along nice here. Most of them hadn't kept on how she was doing here since they tried avoiding Homeworld in general, but seeing how well the young pigtailed gem was fairing, it gave them all a little bit of joy, something that was in desperate need for sometime now.

While on the walk, Spinel attempted to make conversation to see if she couldn't get more details about what was happening to her friend.

"So, I hear Steven ain't quite himself right now. Ya know, after that whole giant pink lizard phase, I was hoping the kid woulda gotten some kind of break." Spinel still was in disbelief over what had happened to the young galactic savior. She knew he wasn't doing so well as that much was clear during his most recent visit to Homeworld, but she would have never guessed it would get that bad, and in such short time too. She didn't know much about his history, but she knew the kid had been through some tough times, one of those times being caused by her...something she was still working on getting over. Since then though and especially now, all she, and also the Diamonds wanted, was to see the young hybrid get the help he needed so that he could continue being the person they've come to know.

"So did we. We're hoping to correct that soon enough though. We can only hope White can give us some information. Have they mentioned anything to you Spinel", Pearl asked.

"No, 'fraid not...seems like White was the only one who had an idea of what might be happening. Even Blue and Yellow seemed as lost as I was."

This surprised the group. Usually the three diamonds had a similar wealth of info, but to hear that only a third of the group could even have a guess as to what was happening was...unsettling to say the least. As the group continued the rest of the way in silence, they soon arrived to the throne room where the three diamonds were waiting. Upon their entry, it was White who spoke first.

"Welcome, all of you. Thank you for coming so quickly. Please have a seat. The explanation is going to take some time". As she finished her sentence, a few pieces of furniture had appeared from the floor. "Pink's pebbles had put these in sometime ago, both for Steven's sake and on the chance he brought any of you with him whenever he came over" Spinel noted to the group. "Originally, we thought that they installed too much, I guess it was a good thing they went overboard with it".

Once the group was settled, White began, "Now, to clarify, we understand you all encountered Steven recently, and that he had been different in a couple ways, correct".

"Yes." As she spoke, Pearl stood up. "I know we skipped over some details on the call, but please, let me show you what we saw." With this, the hologram show had begun again to catch everyone up. Upon its end, the diamonds appeared to be in a similar state of confusion as the Gems were before, all except White, who seemed like she was about to relive a nightmare of some sort. "It's just as I thought. Our starlight isn't himself right now and I know who is behind this, though I'll admit, I was hoping to be wrong about this."

"White, who did this? What do you know?", cried Blue.

"Before I can go into further detail, I need clarification on a few matters. Please tell me, what is it you all know about Homeworld's beginnings?"

"You had emerged, created from an unknown, greater power of some sort, and with your powers and wisdom, you began to create the gem empire, eventually making us diamonds and the court system." Yellow explained. Upon receiving a confirmation nod from all the other gems in the room, White continued.

"That is correct. However, there are some details that have been left out." Noticing the look of several confused faces, she began to elaborate, "Allow me to explain. Eons ago, when I was created, I wasn't the only gem who was made. There was another diamond. My twin...Black Diamond. Upon our creation, we began to do as our history mentions and started creating more gems for the empire. We both ruled over the slowly rising empire. But, after sometime, we began to see different. You see, Black and I are quite similar, but also very different. We were two sides of the same coin, I believe the Earthlings call it, or rather a Ying Yang scenario. We were both the exact opposite of each other in many ways. For starters, we usually pronounce gems as female, but Black insisted he be called after the male pronouns. We were both the same in that we wanted what was best for the gem empire, but our views on how that should happen varied as well. As you all know, I strived for a perfect empire. Everyone had a role to play and if they couldn't, then they had no purpose. Black however, believed more in honor and loyalty as key principles for the empire. He saw gems as more than just cogs in the machine, and had wanted them to have their own purpose, especially if they were unable to do the thing they were made for. He was a firm believer in second chances. Together for some few millennia, we were able to use our two different sets of morals to achieve greatness for the empire and begin an expansion. After sometime though, as I mentioned earlier, we saw different. We each desperately wanted our morals to outweigh the other's, which led us to the first great gem war. Thankfully, the war didn't last long, somewhere between a century and millennia, the details are a little fuzzy for me, but regardless, we, or should I say, the gems we led, fought a hard battle with a fierce determination. We both had gems that believed in our individual causes, some wanting independence and to be treated as something more while others believed in the order, structure, and purpose of things. For the longest time, we were at an impasse as neither side was losing or gaining enough to make a difference in the effort. The war's end was within grasp however, upon the discovery of our powers. When I discovered my powers, I used them to control the bodies of gems, to interject myself into their forms to gain numbers. Black however, had the opposite. He was able to gain powers true enough, but rather than taking the bodies of gems, he took their minds. He was able to put his morals and ideals into gems, making them believe that his cause was the only cause. With his abilities, he made sure that if gems weren't loyal to him of their own accord, then he would make them loyal. I suppose you could say he began going mad with power in a way as to take control of a gem's mind, he had to abandon some of his initial morals of independence and freedom. Although this did little to effect his numbers, the slight change in his demeanor was unsettling. From an outside perspective, it may seem like the war could have continued endlessly, but thankfully, I had the upper hand. Although we both had powers to use, the scope of how we could use it varied greatly. For starters, my powers are used in a laser form, as I am painfully sure you are all aware."

She paused as she received a group of glares from both the Crystal Gems and also her fellow Diamonds. Thought he glares lasted only a moment, it was enough to make the towering gem recoil, even if only for a second. Once she had recovered and the gems in the room showed a less irritated interest again, she continued.

"However, Black's powers could not be used in the same way. Rather then use it from a distance like I must, Black's abilities required his touch on a gem's stone. Though we were comparable for eons, in the end, I could use my powers to a greater extent, in that I could control more gems at once, at the time ranging around the fifty's without straining myself while Black was only able to use his on roughly four or five gems. I will admit though, he was a far better strategist then I was. Even with his low number of controlled gems, he was able to use them efficiently, at times even switching them out in the heat of battle to gain an advantage for the current struggle, wherever it was at the time. But, with our difference in power and the number of gems on each side beginning to show a difference, I was able to push Black towards submission, despite his tactical prowess. Upon his defeat, he was sentenced into exile from Homeworld alongside the few gems that remained loyal to him, though there weren't many of them. If I recall correctly, I believe he had a pearl and a ruby with him. Once Black was gone, I continued building up Homeworld in the image I desired, eventually forming the courts and the other diamonds. During that time however, I considered it best to erase the idea of Black Diamond and the war from Homeworld's written history as to avoid any further chances of a rebellion, something that I was unable to avoid anyway as I'm sure you are all aware of. But from there, the rest is history as we know it."

"So its likely that Black used his abilities on Steven, that much is clear", Yellow noted. "Do you have any idea how we might rescue Steven though? Surely this power has a weakness aside from his limit of gems and the versatility of it."

"Thankfully yes, I know of a few more weaknesses to the power. For starters, he cannot use it on me, nor can I use mine on him. I am unsure as to why we are both immune to each other's abilities, but we did eventually find that out near the end of the war. As for his control, it can be broken in a few different ways. Should Black or the gem he is controlling be poofed, the control is broken. In the case of Black being poofed, all the gems under his control are released.

"Well that makes things kinda difficult then since Steven doesn't poof." Amethyst added.

"White, you wouldn't happen to remember where Black was exiled to would you?" asked Blue.

"Unfortunately, no I don't. When he was exiled, many of the planets, the Earth included, were nothing more than minor pebbles, still on track to form later in history. Also, many of the planets that were around then have vanished to time, either by a supernova, black hole, or something other."

"So without knowing where Black Diamond is, we have no way of saving Steven then!?" cried Pearl.

"Not necessarily. There is a third option, but I would rather avoid it if at all possible, as I am sure you all would as well."

Seeing the look of curiosity on the group, she sighed and continued. "There is potentially a way we could poof Steven and break the control, but the method for it is...unorthodox. It's something we found out during the Crystal Gems invasion into my head a few years back. Steven's human friend there, Connie, knows what I'm referring to. With a glance at Connie, the group noticed a look of guilt, fear, anger, and sorrow painted across her face. Electing to attempt to get one of them to elaborate, Yellow spoke up.

"Exactly what do you two know? What is the third option?

"It was an unfortunate turn of events that day, one that you all either don't know or don't remember due to my control of you. I won't go into details right now, as I believe Steven would want to be the one to explain the events that transpired, but I will say it is possible to separate his gem from his human half." White bluntly stated. "In doing so, I believe that we could poof the pink diamond and return control to our starlight."

Time seemed to freeze as that bit of info hung over the entire group. Separating Steven from his gem...to even have to go that far was something that most of them wouldn't have even thought of, much less alone give consideration.

While everyone else was focused on what White had just said, it was Garnet who broke the silence, though she spoke with a bit of a stern voice at first as the info that was apparently hid from the lot of them was unsettling. "We will attempt to not consider that as an option for the time being, but that still leaves us with a dilemma. We don't know anything outside of what you have told us. No location for Steven or Black Diamond, nor any idea where to start looking."

Coming back down from her thoughts, Peridot spoke up. "I've actually been thinking about that one for sometime now. We saw Steven use a warp pad to exit the moon base. What if we could check the history of the warp pad, use that to pin point the location he went to. That warp doesn't have as much usage on a normal basis as the other warps do, so it shouldn't be too difficult to separate his use of it versus any other. The only issue is that I wouldn't even know where to begin with that. Sure, I was given the basic knowledge of warp pads in how to design, structure, and attempt repairs of them, but aside from that, I haven't a clue as to where to start."

"I believe one of our technicians could be of assistance for that. "Blue stated. "We have Peridots that were around at the beginning of the creation of the warp system, so they have the knowledge of everything involved with them. We could send them there to check on it's history and move with that info.

Coming to an agreement between everyone, the diamond called the technician out and explained the situation. All to happy to help, the Peridot, who had a square shaped hairdo, earning her the name Squaridot, accompanied the Crystal Gems upon their departure back to Earth. Once there, Garnet accompanied Squaridot as security in case someone unexpected was on the moon base yet again while the others stayed behind and awaited the results.

...

So, there's the big bad for the story, Black Diamond. Had a couple people guess that one right (kudos to them). Now, tune in next time for more story related events.

The Memory Remains by Metallica.