With Black Diamond's final words to him, Steven returns to reality.

...

Steven awoke with a sudden jolt. As he sat up, with some beads of sweat running down, he looked around and noticed that he was back in his room at the beach house.

'What? By why I am here?' he thought. It wasn't that he was unhappy to see his room and bed once more, but with everything that had happened, this wasn't one of the first places he'd expected to return to.

As he lay in his bed, he continued looking around. The room itself was clean and organized, no doubt done so by Pearl. As he glanced outside he noticed the daylight illuminating the beach. Returning his attention to himself, he moved the blankets aside to find that he was no longer in the standard armor that he had grown familiar with, but rather had been dressed in his once everyday pajamas. As his curiosity grew, he lifted the shirt up and uncovered his gem to find that it was it had it's normal pink color and glow to it.

'Was it all just a dream...' he thought was a rising curiosity.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get any answers laying in bed, he got up and began moving about the room. Seeing himself not in the armor anymore, he came to the conclusion that he should change as normal once more. After a few moments, he was dressed up in his usual attire of a black shirt with a star on it and a pair of shorts. Once he was dressed, he began to move to the lower level of the home. Now in the main living area, he noticed a lack of anyone.

"Helloooo. Guys. Anyone home?" he said, allowing his voice to echo through the home.

After a few moments of silence, he realized that no one was in the immediate area. With this info, he began to look around to see if anyone was at the home at all. He checked each part of the temple and it's rooms, but found no one. He looked out on the beach to find that his dad's van and Lion had both been present on the sandy environment. Once he saw that the van didn't seem to hold any activity, he moved down towards the large feline. Hearing the young man's approach, Lion perked his head up. Once he saw who was making the noise, he immediately began moving towards Steven.

"Hey buddy." Steven said as Lion came in close. "Guess you missed me huh?" Steven received his answer as Lion gave him a few licks of affection. "Heh, I'll take that as a yes. Don't worry Lion, I'm alright."

After a moment for the reunion to conclude, Steven made his way back up to the home, with Lion following closely. Now settled back in the house with the cat, the two sat on the couch, which Steven noticed had either been replaced fully or repaired at some point, and elected to wait for someone to arrive. As sometime passed, he also noticed the condition of the house, which he found odd. The home itself was organized and put back together as if nothing had happened. If the recent events he recalled did happen, then the main area should be a disaster. He saw Peridot's onslaught towards Red with his own eyes, which brought disbelief to the current condition of the home that he was looking at. Before he could ponder further however, the warp pad activated. Once the light died down, Steven saw all of the gems from his group of friends and family. He quickly and quietly noticed that neither his father nor Connie were among the group.

"Alright, now that that's done, we can focus on Steven's recovery...once he wakes up that is." said Pearl, who hadn't noticed the boy yet. "I'll go and..." Pearl was saying before she was interrupted as she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder.

"Uh Pearl, I don't think you'll need to do that." said Bismuth, as she directed the thin gem's attention to the living area.

"Hey guys, how's it-" Before much else could be said, he found himself being buried in a pile of bodies as the group moved all at once towards the boy.

"Ha ha, guess you guys missed me too huh" he said with the little gasps of air he was allowed. "I'm glad to see you...but could you all let me go now? Can't...breathe"

Once the group had let up on the warm embrace, Steven was able to regain his bearings.

"Sorry dude...you were out for so long...and we weren't sure if you'd even...we just really missed you." Amethyst said.

Not wanting to skip around, he elected to address the main topic. "How long was I out anyway?"

"About a week" said Pearl. "Honestly after everything that happened, we were afraid it would have been much longer."

"Everything that happened...so I guess it all wasn't a dream after all."

As he said this, Lion's head perked up. Suddenly showing a new found interest in something, Lion exited the home in a rush.

"Hmm, guess he got bored." said Amethyst.

"But to answer your question, yes...everything with Black Diamond did happen Steven." said Garnet.

"Right...what happened with him anyway? The last I remember, he was tossed in the distance during my...outburst."

"He landed not to far from the kindergarten battlefield. White found, poofed, and bubbled him away." explained Pearl.

'Well, that checks out with my dream then...' he thought. "And the armor? How'd you all get it off"

"Well, as you know, while I was working for that clod, I was tasked with becoming familiar with the equipment. With this knowledge paired with my genius, getting it disabled and separated from you wasn't any issue. Though, I still have some tests I need to run on both the armor...and you eventually. We...don't know what kind of side effects the organic rejuvenator could have in the long run, if any at all...especially since it was used alongside Black's power."

"Right...so where is everyone else? Dad and Connie I mean?"

"Were they not here? They both volunteered to watch over you while we traveled to Homeworld." said Bismuth.

"No, I mean, Dad's van is still outside, and Lion wasn't too far away from that, but I haven't seen either of them."

"Well, that's conc-" before Pearl's sentence could be finished, the front door opened as Greg and Connie walked into the home.

"See, I told you we both shouldn't have left." said Connie as they both rushed the boy. Although still able to breath unlike the last embrace, he was also still being crushed by the two's affection.

Once they let up, every one decided to settle down in the area rather than standing around like something was going to happen again.

"Where'd you two go? asked Lapis.

"I went to grab a few things from the van, but ended up hanging out there for a while. Didn't think you'd actually wake up while I was gone." said Greg, with a tinge of embarrassment painted across his face.

"And my parents' wanted to check up on me. We were actually just finishing up when Lion suddenly appeared. But since...what happened on Homeworld, my mother especially wants to do occasional check ups to make sure nothings out of place."

Hearing her mention the events on Homeworld, Steven slightly flinched. "Connie...about what happened back there...I"m sor-" "No Steven...don't." interrupted Connie.

"Don't what?" said a surprised and confused Steven.

"Don't apologize for what happened. None of that was your fault. Besides...if it wasn't for you, we might not be having this talk. You healed me enough for the gems to get me to Rose's fountain. After that...it was just a matter of when I'd actually wake up."

"You were out too? How long?"

"Connie woke up about three days ago. said Garnet.

"Your were out for four days!?" said a surprised Steven.

"Yeah. Honestly, I'd say I got lucky. With the injuries I had, I'm just glad I didn't end up in a coma."

"Yeah...good thing we missed that one. So what exactly happened since we passed out?"

"Well, after we got you two settled down, we had to begin the recovery of Black's actions. It took a day or so, but we were able to get all the gems back to their respective homes. Little Homeworld is back up and running as usual now as well. We had to make a few repairs, but aside from that, everything's returning to normal. Since then, we've been making trips to Homeworld to stay in touch with the Diamonds to make sure everything's running well enough." explained Pearl.

"And what about Black, Earl, and Red?"

"Their bubbles are being kept at the palace. We figured that the diamonds would be able to contain them better in case of a breakout of some kind."

"Right...so now what?"

"Now, we return to our lives...and we focus on you." said Garnet.

"Me? What about me?"

"Steven...even before all of this, you were working on improving yourself with everything that's happened to you. These recent events with this Black Diamond...they don't change anything. Heck, this just makes it even more of a priority." said Greg.

"The Greg is right Steven. After everything you went through these past few months...I cannot imagine that your mental well being is any better suited than it was before your kidnapping...if anything, it might be worse off." explained Peridot.

"But guys, I haven't been having any issues, especially with my pink powers. Heck, I even have those under control now. I haven't turned pink in months."

"Steven...the pink powers manifested because of your trauma. Even if your not turning pink anymore or having those issues, we can't leave everything else be. It needs addressed still, even if it doesn't seem like an issue anymore." said Garnet.

"Yeah, but I-" was all the boy got out before being interrupted.

"Steven, we just want to see you well again." said Connie. "After everything that's happened, don't you think you deserve some kind of a break or closure even from it all?"

"I mean, yeah, it'd be nice...but we can't just repair everything that's happened right? How do we even go about it?"

"We help you...just like you helped us. You don't have to do it now, but when your ready, we're all here for you. Anything you need to say, even if it sounds dumb...we'll listen." said Amethyst.

"Guys..." said Steven as their words began to set in. As he sat there, tears began to well up in his eyes.

"Oh Steven." said Pearl. Seeing the boy's emotions, the group came together in a large hug, one with much less of a death grip, as each of them began to feel their own thing of tears beginning.

"Thank you guys, for everything. Even after everything you all went through, you still came out on top, just like I knew you would. I...I was scared that Black would end it all...and he almost did too...I almost did...for him. Oh guys...I'm sorry for everything I did."

"None of that was you Steven. You have nothing to be sorry for. All of this was Black's doing." explained an emotional Garnet.

Hearing this, Steven broke off the embrace. "No, you guys don't get it. I might have been under his control...but part of me agreed with his plan, even if a little.

"Steven" said Connie.

"Look, I thought that...if he were the ruler of everything, then maybe all the bad things wouldn't have happened. He might've been able to prevent further issues, further conflict. I thought that he could have stopped me the first time I broke down...that he could have stopped the corrupted gems and everything that happened."

"I know on paper that his world sounded like a good one, but it wouldn't have been any better." explained Greg.

"He's right. If anyone knows that for sure, it's us. His ideas would have caused more issues...more rebellions." said Amethyst.

"I...I know...and that's part of the reason why I disagreed in the first place way back when. It was never going to work, but I thought that maybe, even if a little."

"Steven, we don't blame you for thinking like that. After everything you've been through, it's not a crime to want to find a better way." explained Garnet.

"Guys..." he said as he moved to continue the warm embrace, to which the group happily continued.

"I'm...I want to get better. I'm happy to be free from Black...and I want to get better." he said suddenly as his emotions continued to show.

"We'll be with you dude. Every step of the way." said Amethyst.

"She's right. We're not going anywhere...no matter what." Lapis said.

"We know it won't be easy...but we believe in you Steven." said Greg.

With this, the group sat in that same position for sometime, as the familiar feeling of freedom and choice began to come back to Steven. He was free once more...and was ready to get set back on the path to recovery.

...

And that's that. This part of the story is done with (at least for the actual happening of the plot). As I said, I do have more planned out in my attempts to keep this in line with canon Future outside of the difference in time. That, and I plan on writing out a what if on what almost happened, which will come out first before the follow up story surrounding Steven's recovery and the aftermath of everything. I believe I should have both of those up and going this week as well, hopefully even here in a few days as if they were normal chapters lol.

As for this part of the story though, the main plot is done with and the story is technically concluded until I begin that follow up (which I believe I am posting in a new title, unless something changes. I will have more on that for sure with the notes for the what ifs as they conclude). Thank you all for joining me with everything that's been put out up until now. It wasn't always easy on my end, but here we are (I can't believe this was started back in March. If any of you told me that this would take two months to put out just this part...I might've believed you after I called you crazy lol). But with this, again thank you all for the support and comments. I've seen all the ones posted, and even if I didn't reply, each one was enjoyable to see and read. And even if you didn't comment, the visits to the fic were also enjoyable to see as it showed that many of you showed interest still enough.

Happy Monday to everyone! Hope to see you all once more in the what if (which will be posted within this part of the story) I have planned and also in the near future with the follow up to this story. Stay safe, and I hope to see you all in what if #1, or chapter 43.

Family Together by Aivi & Surasshu (SU Future Soundtrack)

Also as an added bonus, now that we're at the technical end for this part of the story, y'all get another one.

Control by Puddle of Mudd