And now for some unexpected mother-son bonding!

Once Steven finally got all the tension out of his system, the gravity of who was standing before him came. All things considered, he acted as calmly and rationally as one would expect.

"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!" he yelled so loudly a tremor ran through the room while wearing the most baffled expression. Rose, however, was just amused by it all and chuckled.

"Steven, calm down, it's actually pretty simple; do you remember that video tape I made right before you were born?" The boy nodded.

"I said 'every moment you love being yourself, that's me, loving you and loving being you…' I was always a part of you physically, of course, but that also meant part of me would literally be inside your mind."

Steven was naturally floored, but his mind was starting to reach that point where it was overloaded and would just accept anything. He did try pinching himself a few times to check that once and for all this was not a dream.

"And this isn't like that time in my room, either," she added, though he barely reacted as the gears in his brain threatened to melt, "Pull out your phone for a second."

He was about to comment he did not have it, but he reached into a pocket and lo and behold there it was.

"Now bring up your camera."

He did just that and when he pointed it at Rose, she was perfectly visible on the device. With the only other explanation he could think of for this meeting gone, Steven's mind found a way to be overwhelmed all over again. He literally fell straight onto his back while staring up at the nothingness above him.

"You know you are taking this a lot better than I thought you would," commented his mother as she laid down beside him, "But it's also worrying me. I thought you'd be much more surprised."

The boy just shrugged, but that was not enough for Rose.

"Steven, I know everything that's happened with Jasper and Connie. That's why I'm here. You need to overcome this."

He remained silent, but she could see him trying to shuffle away from her. Instead the void around them suddenly flashed white and it turns out they were both in a giant pink bubble. Steven ran up to the side and tried punching it but could not even make a dent in it. He slammed his fists into it again and again, trying harder with each swing, but still could not make any progress.

"That's not going to work," chimed his mother, but then noticed how Steven started backing away from the barrier. At first, she thought he had relented but instead he summoned his gauntlets and tried to bring down the bubble with a running charge. He leapt up and break out the top, but only succeeded in hitting his head. The tried busting through the floor and only got wasted time and effort. He tried every weapon he could think of, but all of it proved fruitless.

"Let me out of here!" shouted the frustrated teenager at Rose, "If this is my mind, then you have no right to keep me here!"

"Steven, you're in no shape to help the others like this. I never spoke up before because you've always been able to pick yourself up, but now you need to get a reality check and-"

"I said LET ME OUT!" Steven then proceeded to actually charge straight at Rose, only to miss and roll onto the floor as she dodged him with a single movement.

"Okay, talking's not working. Let's try something else…"

The bubble around the two greatly expanded, now being large enough to contain a football field. Rose then summoned a simple black handkerchief and held it in her hand out to a very confused Steven.

"If you want me to release you, you have to snatch this cloth away from me. I promise that I will not fight back, but I will dodge everything you throw at me."

"And what happens if I can't?" asked the skeptical boy.

"Well with an attitude like that I don't think you'll ever succeed meaning you'll be stuck here permanently so you'll have plenty of time to try anyways!" She then calmly stood and watched as Steven got back up and tried charging her again. And once again she dodged his lunge with the smallest possible movement.

"How are you doing that?! You're like twice my size!"

"One, I have much more experience than you. Two, you're just flinging yourself at me with no real strategy so it's not much of a challenge. And three, despite how bulky this dress looks it's actually very lightweight."

Steven did take a moment to blink at how random that last sentence was before trying again, this time pulling out a whip and trying to swipe the cloth out of her hands. Instead all he did was give his mother another opportunity to show off by grabbing the whip with her other arm and yanking him in with enough force to throw him off his feet. He landed on his face, but when he got himself up, he found Rose offering him a hand and an apology.

"Oh my, I didn't mean to do that! Did you scuff your face, Steven?"

"What the-?! What is going on with you?" Rose just titled her head, prompting him to continue.

"You go from being all cryptic like the other gems used to be when I was younger to super serious and then all lovey-dovey like that! I don't get you! What's the point of this?"

"The point was to make sure you weren't hurt since this isn't a real fight. As for the other things, you're more than smart enough to figure that out on your own."

Again, Steven chose to answer with brute force instead of words. This time he tried using his spear to knock her away, but instead she proved far more agile than even Pearl despite her size. With all he learned from the others, the boy really had to give credit to her. She moved with complete control and grace, every step perfectly positioned so she never let her guard down. Combine that with the story he heard about how she once ripped a Ferris wheel out of the ground like it was nothing, he knew more than ever why Homeworld was frightened by Rose Quartz.

Then, finally catching Rose by surprise, Steven suddenly stopped his assault and summoned a bubble around himself. Given how she still had not tried to so much as poke him, this threw her off and it only got worse when Steven rolled over her with it! Instead of using it for defense, Steven actually turned into a fully mobile battering ram and flattened his mother with it. When she tentatively got up, he plowed into her even harder to the point where she ended up stuck to the surface and sent into the ground over and over again until Steven finally relented.

Once it was all finished, Steven went to his mother lying flat on her back. For once, Steven's frustration subsided as he got closer and saw her chest heaving and what sounded like sobs.

"Mom? Are you okay?"

He stood right next to her, her hands moving up to protect her face as she got louder.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" he quickly apologized, "I don't know what I was thinking, I didn't mean to hurt you but-"

It was then that Rose showed her face and she was laughing her head off.

"Oh my gosh, that was hilarious!" she guffawed, treating the entire scene like a massive joke, "I can't believe I never thought of that, too! Almost ten thousand years and I could've been used my bubble like a hamster ball!"

"What the heck?! That didn't hurt?"

"Steven… No offense, but I've been through much worse than that. But trust me when I say you've gotten much stronger thanks to your training."

He gave a small smile at the compliment, but it quickly faded. He suddenly plopped onto the ground as all the energy drained out of him.

"That's the problem, though."

"Hm?"

"When I fought Jasper… I remember it all. I felt unbelievable, like I could do anything, but then I just lost it."

"Steven, it's not your fault."

"YES, IT IS!" The bubble around them suddenly quaked.

"Steven?"

"ALL OF IT! I'm responsible for ALL of it! The Diamonds keep coming after us because of me! All because I exist! They want to kill me, shatter all the Crystal Gems, blow up the planet just because, and even when I do what they want…"

"Steven, say it. Don't keep bottling it up."

"THEY ALMOST KILLED CONNIE AND I HATE THEM FOR IT!"

The earthquakes were back, now strong enough to even put Rose on edge. While the barrier around them never fell, it did sway as if it were a literal bubble.

"What the heck is wrong with them?!" screamed the boy, "I finally do what they want and then Jasper just goes and cripples her! She even smiled when she did it, like it's all a sick game! Now my best friend is pretty much DEAD and it's all HER fault!"

Steven's gem began to glow with an unearthly light as it felt like the room was being shaken apart, but his tirade did not stop.

"I hate her! She deserved it! All of the other Homeworld gems deserve it too! ALL OF THEM, EVEN THE DIAMONDS!"

With one final scream skyward, the bubble shattered and a familiar transformation took hold of him. He managed to push himself back into his crystalline state much to Rose's surprise.

"Goodness, you needed this more than I thought," she commented, "But at least now you're facing the problem head on like a-"

Whatever she was about to say got cut off when he ran up and punched her square in the face. While it was not enough to cause major harm, it did knock her askew and quickly soured her mood.

"LET ME OUT!" shouted the possessed boy, "I have to make them pay! Give me that cloth!"

Rose all but forgot about her original challenge but remembered the cloth she still had in her hand. She looked into the cold, reflecting eyes of her new opponent and gave an unflinching glare.

"You really think I'm going to let you run amok again? Steven, you know that won't solve anything."

"Hand it over, NOW!" He summoned a shield on his left arm and a gauntlet onto his right hand to make the point crystal clear he was done with words.

"Okay then… We can still play this game. But now I'm going to fight back. Do you have any problem with that?"

Instead of answering her, he bee-lined straight for her, keeping both his weapons level to throw off her guard. Would he ram into her with the barrier or land a crushing blow with his fist? He may have been enraged, but his logic was not lost…

…Except Rose was no idiot either. Instead of reacting to either, she simply leapt several hundred feet into the air with a single hop and tied the cloth around her neck as she flew. Steven was about to leap after her, but he got a surprise when she instantly entered free fall and slammed into the floor with enough force to cause cracks several feet long to string out in all directions. The boy even took a slight step back when he looked into her eyes and saw raw determination. All the playfulness and motherly concern was gone, replaced with the concentrated essence of discipline.

"Steven, this is your last chance," she offered, her tone as cold as ice, "Calm down now, or I will be forced to hurt you."

His confidence wavered for a moment, but instead Steven pulled out a whip and tried to tie her up. Instead she pulled the same trick as last time by grabbing the whip before it could come close to ensnaring her. She then silently started spinning around with force to rival a hurricane, trapping Steven with the immense centrifugal force until his hands slipped and he went flying faster than a bullet.

He landed in a heap and quickly managed to right himself, but barely had to think as Rose was already behind him with the same steely expression. Given that the two were now at eye level, they stared at each other before launching into a frenzy of fists and feet that would have made any professional martial artist weep. Steven's raw power and unpredictability was losing, however, thanks to Rose's focus and greater experience. Their struggle ended when the mother sent a kick straight to his midsection that sent him rocketing away. This time he managed to stop his momentum, but the force left his legs halfway drilled into the floor.

Rose then summoned a shield of her own and ran straight him faster than a speeding train, but Steven managed to free himself by summoning a bubble around himself. With his legs no longer restrained he managed to leap away in time and summon Sardonyx's hammer. As Rose came for another pass, he swung the weapon like a bat to knock her away and actually landed the hit. The problem was that instead of flying away, Rose blocked and managed to tank the blow with only a slight flinch. He could even feel the force of his swing reverberate back up his arm, making him drop the weapon out of surprise.

"Impressive," admitted Rose, "You've got a lot of variety."

The boy barely registered the kudos and brought out both gauntlets and tried punching her out. Instead all he got was even more blatant example of her agility as she ducked and weaved every blow until she caught both of his hands.

"And your physical power is great, but you know what your problem is?"

Steven tried to yank away, but he was immediately let go and thus lost his balance. Rose took the opportunity and landed a palm strike right to his chest sending him tumbling end over end.

"You've completely let your emotions get the better of you. You're not using any strategy against me; you're hoping brute force will just let you power through. I know the Crystal Gems taught you better than that, Steven."

Steven felt his energy start to dip, her words and constant superiority starting to get to him. With a last defiant cry, however, he summoned Opal's bow and prepared to fire a point-blank energy arrow. He thought there was no way she could dodge this close!

What she could do, though, was summon a bubble and just stand there while the arrow harmlessly hit her barrier and left her unharmed. With Steven's steely expression gone and replaced with complete shock, Rose brought down the barrier as fast as possible and landed one punch to the face that felt like getting hit by a small planet.

"Ooooohhh…" he groaned, wondering if he could possibly fall unconscious while still in a dream.

Rose then stood over him and held out a hand. "Are you okay?"

He nodded and took her hand, staring at her eye-to-eye. She then placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Steven… I know it's difficult. Believe me when I say I never wanted any of this for you. I dreamed that you'd get to be a human who lived his own life, but now you're stuck in my shadow. I've had to watch you deal with the Diamonds for everything I did, and it breaks my heart! You and the other Crystal Gems never deserved this, but here you are fighting again all because of me."

"But…" he tried to intervene, but she cut him off.

"I never got the chance to say this before, but I am so sorry for all you've gone through. Just look at you - a child who's had to go through so much. If there's anybody you should be angry with, it's me. I'm the one who shattered Pink Diamond, but now you have to live with the consequences."

The boy noticeably backed away from her when she said that. "You're right. It is your fault."

Rose just stood there with her head down. "I know. And that's not getting into how all of you felt after all this… Especially Pearl. I remember that trip you took with her and Greg to Empire City…"

"Wait, you've seen everything?"

"As embarrassing as that may sound, yes. I knew how much she cared about me, but I never imagined her feelings got quite so… intimate. But that does remind of one other thing, Steven."

"How much singing went on during that vacation?"

"Hahahahahaha, I suppose you're right about that, but no. I've seen you go through a lot and it is hard to watch sometimes, but there is one thing I've witnessed that you need to know."

Steven was lost for the moment, but he soon got his answer when Rose placed her arms around him again.

"How unbelievably proud I am…" she whispered, "Steven… You've become so much more than I could have ever hoped for and I don't mean just being powerful. You are kind, selfless, genuine and always looking to see the best in everything. I may not have had the chance to raise you, but I wish I did so I could watch you blossom like you have! I still hate how you've been roped into all the messes I made, but you have proven time and time again that you can hold your own while standing by what you believe in."

The boy felt his heart swell with joy before suddenly jerking away from her and walking into the void.

"Steven? What's wrong? Was it something I said?!"

"You're wrong…"

"What?"

"I did something horrible… I shattered Jasper, Homeworld's still after us and now Connie's half-dead all because of me!"

Then the strangest sight Rose had seen yet happened as Steven's regular form appeared right next to his current crystalline one and began shouting at each other.

"I tried talking her out of it, but it didn't work!" pleaded the human half.

"But you did what she wanted, and Jasper still hurt Connie!" yelled the gem half.

"I didn't want to do it…"

"Yes, you did! They hurt you so you hurt them back!"

"Then I clobbered the other gems for nothing!"

"So what?! They're still okay!"

"I don't want to fight anymore!"

"So, you just want Homeworld to win?!"

"I don't want to be a violent jerk like you!"

"Yeah? Well I don't want to be a complete pushover!"

"ENOUGH!" shouted Rose with enough force to snap the two Stevens out of their debate before the two could literally come to blows. She then walked up to the two of them and placed a hand on both of them.

"This is not helping! Steven, all this fighting with yourself is unhealthy and is just holding you back. The Crystal Gems need you at your best right now, not literally being at war with yourself!"

She then let out a deep sigh and continued. "This is why I never wanted any of this for you. Steven, for all the powers you have, you're still a child who should've been able to live a peaceful life. I never wanted you to be put in these life-or-death decisions, but it's too late to change that now. You did shatter Jasper, Steven, but that doesn't immediately make you some kind of unforgiving monster."

The human child looked away as she continued. "Steven, it's okay to be angry. You actually surrendered and tried to do the noble thing and it was Jasper who decided to brutalize your best friend for fun. No matter how you look at it that was cruel, sadistic and absolutely wrong."

The boy nodded as Rose turned her gaze to the gem side of her son. "And while it's one thing to be angry, trust me when I say violence isn't always the answer. Fighting Homeworld is one thing but lashing out at everyone is going to hurt yourself more than your enemies. Bismuth… wasn't the only problem I had in the Crystal Gems. You must learn to control that drive and think rationally. The last thing I want for you is to end up dead because of you decided to throw yourself into a war."

Both copies of the son stared at each other for a moment before the crystalline one vanished into thin air. That left only the original Steven and his mother staring at each other before he walked up to her. With his body returned to its original size, he had to tilt his head upwards to see her face.

"Feeling better now?" asked Rose.

"A little… I'm just really confused and tired and-"

"Scared about the unknown? Worried about what's going to happen to everyone you care about? Looking forward to the day you can rest after all of the battles are over?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, like the old expression goes 'Like mother, like son.' That's the exact feeling I had everyday leading the rebellion. It's exhausting, you know you're being watched every day and it never seems to end. Believe me, I was there for several hundred years."

"How did you do it all? I feel like I'm falling apart after a month…"

"I had something worth fighting for. Just like you do, Steven. You love the Earth and everyone on it. If you ever start to doubt yourself again, remember everyone and everything you care about. The Diamonds don't have that, Steven, but you do."

Rose then reached up to the black cloth still wrapped around her neck after all this time and handed it to her son.

"Well, I think you're free to go."

"Wait, but I thought-"

"I said I'd let you go when you got it. I never said it had to be done with force."

Steven just took the cloth with a smile, appreciating the situation as strange as it was. The space around him began to fade, but he made sure to get in one last hug before he was gone.

"Thanks, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, Steven. I'll always be with you…"

Steven, for the first time in several days, felt fully rested. He could practically feel the lightened load on his shoulders as he confronted the emotions boiling inside him since the Jasper Incident. His thoughts were interrupted, though, by his father climbing the stairs.

"There you are, Steven! Thought you'd never get out of bed!"

Steven wondered what he was talking about until he saw his alarm clock read 12:30 PM.

"Oh man, Dad, I'm really sorry!"

"H-Hey, it's alright, kiddo. Everyone needs their beauty sleep now and then."

Steven stretched as he walked downstairs to find several of the other gems around. Peridot and Bismuth were continuing their progress on repairing the warp pad protector, Pearl was washing some dishes in the sink and Adamite was fiddling with a small hunk of rock seeing how she could alter its shape rather than just fling it around.

"Hey guys! How's it going?"

"Fine, but it seems you've become much more open," commented Pearl happily, "The past few days you'd be out the door already if you tried."

"Yeah, about that… I'm really sorry for pushing you all away like that."

"Steven, we understand. That kind of emotional shock from… the altercation would dismay anyone."

"All matters considered," spoke Adamite, "Your sudden recovery after such an event proves your fortitude. I lack the experience with other human beings, but many of them strike me as less mentally resilient than you."

"Yeah… Mom pretty much told me the same thing! Funny how that works, right?"

That sentence made the entire room fall silent. Even Adamite dropped her stone hearing the statement that Steven's irrevocably dead mother spoke to him.

"Uhhhhh, Steven?" said Bismuth, "You don't really mean-"

"Yeah… This might take a while."

One explanation later once the entirety of the Crystal Gems was pulled in by an extremely stiff Pearl, the group's jaws collectively dropped.

"Okay, this is nuts even for us!" said Amethyst, "Rose's spirit or mind or whatever talked Steven through his emotional junk in his dreams with a fistfight?! That's completely bonkers!"

"Well, I've thoroughly given up trying to process this situation," groaned Peridot, "And with my intellect, that's saying something!"

"Not to mention your ego…" snarked Lapis, much to the general laughter of everyone else.

"But Steven…" spoke Topaz, "That other you… Does that mean you'll turn into that again?"

"I really don't know. Maybe, but definitely not for a while. At least, unless I absolutely have to."

"Fair enough," said Garnet encouragingly, "No one's going to force you to get so upset you transform again. We'll get by with the Steven we've got."

"Heh, thanks guys, but there are three things I need to do."

"And what would that be?" asked Cinnabar.

Instead of answering, he immediately ran for his water bottle still in the fridge. Once he emptied the liquid into the sink, he ran to the warp pad and beamed off. He returned a minute later with a bottle full of pink liquid.

"Steven, did you get that from Rose's fountain?"

"Yeah and I want to do something special with it. Dad, have you seen Connie yet?"

"Not in person, but I've checked with Maheswerans every couple of days."

"Can we visit her in the hospital?"

"Of course we can, kid. You think you're ready for that?"

"Yeah, it's been long enough. And when I get back, I want to train with Pearl again."

The group was surprised at how fast the turnaround from ignore all his problems to going back to normal was, but they were glad nonetheless. Pearl of course agreed to resume his training the moment he returned and with that the father and son headed to visit Connie for the first time.

So, everything seems to finally be going right for the group! Next time, though, Connie won't be the only one getting visitors...

Thank you all so much for reading! Please feel free to leave a review!