A new year, another new chapter! And with a title like that, clearly this chapter is going to have a lot of fluff!

As Steven laid on his own bed, the rest of the Crystal Gems were all huddled downstairs. As soon as Pink's ship landed on Earth, Dr. Mahesweran rushed him inside and checked every last thing she could for any sign that Rose's attack permanently damaged him. The good news was, according to her checkup, the worst the boy would have would be some soreness and headaches.

The bad news was that everyone now heard that Rose was now devolving an immensely powerful yet unstable being of pure energy with a massive chip on her shoulders. The Off-Colors were one thing but Greg was beside himself.

"How… How could she do this?" he sobbed, "She said she was so happy to finally be a mother…"

"She probably is," Pearl comforted, "But at the moment, Steven just spoke against her, so she lashed out without any clue of who it was. She was immediately remorseful once she processed it all."

"Well, a fat load of good that does me and my boy who might have a concussion!" he snapped back, making the gems who knew him flinch, "She is never allowed near him ever again! She can come begging on her knees for another chance but she's not getting it!"

"Mr. Universe, relax, we understand," Topaz said, "We all understand. Rose should not have done this, no matter what the circumstance."

"It's pretty obvious she isn't in her right mind," Peridot surmised, "She's already rationalizing her actions and has probably gone back to assimilating others. I would need to study her to see if there is any addictive qualities to the energy intake but…"

A despondent sigh cut her off. Everyone turned to see Pink Diamond sitting against the door, even now being able to look Garnet in the eye. She had little choice since standing upright would put her only inches away from the ceiling.

Nobody had much clue what to do with the youngest matriarch. They all perfectly understood her beef with her best friend and considered it fair that she dumped Rose once she became toxic. The only problem now was what to do with her. She could have gone back to the diamonds but she still had mixed feelings with them plus that could have put her on Rose's hitlist. They had little choice but to offer her a place lest she just start wandering the universe alone.

"I just can't believe her now…" she moaned, "I thought she cared about me…"

"I think she still does," Bismuth told her, "But it's just hidden under all that pent-up anger she's got towards White and the others."

"But what are we supposed to do about her?" Amethyst asked, getting everyone's attention, "I dunno about you all, but I don't feel good letting someone that stupidly strong keep going on her whole revenge schtick."

"That's going to be impossible at this point since we have no idea how Rose's powers really work," Pearl sighed, "And I doubt we can just examine her without riling her up with how irritable she is."

As everyone else stewed and tried thinking of just how they were supposed to fight a gem who was starting to approach godlike levels of power, Greg silently moved himself upstairs to check on his son. His heart sank seeing Steven still laying motionless in his bed but he moved over to his side.

"Schtu-ball," he whispered, "I know you probably can't hear me, but I'm so sorry this happened to you. I promise…"

He had to stop as his voice hitched, but still placed a hand through his son's hair. "I promise we'll make this alright. You've done so much for everybody already. Just this once, you sit tight and let us do the work, okay?"

The father then left the room, stepping down the stairs too loudly to hear the slight rustling of the sheets as a barely-there smile came on Steven's face.

Ever since Pink and Rose's broadcast, Homeworld had gone from the well-oiled engine of a planet-conquering machine to a vacant husk. None of the leaders did an exact count but it was estimated that over ninety percent of the world's populace fled to be with the rebellion. The only holdovers were the upper crusts of gem society who were waiting for their servants and bodyguards to return and not at all because they were scared that they would be shattered on sight now that their underlings had a sense of free will.

Almost all of the reconstruction efforts that had started in the wake of the Crystal Gem's offensive and the various battles with the diamonds had all halted. Buildings still laid destroyed, the tiny remains of the military were as disorganized as could be and none were less active than the minds who were supposed to be in charge of it all.

Ever since the disastrous meeting with Pink, the diamonds remained cooped up in their ships since their palaces were still in ruins. They had all gotten a glimpse at finally reconnecting with her only for a thoroughly deranged Rose to ruin their apology. For the first time in eons, even White was clueless on what to do next. The gem empire was in no shape to do much else but lick its wounds assuming they would survive with a energy-crazed psychopath scooping up whatever subjects they had left.

They had no idea how many planets were even still under their control, assuming they had any. Any colonization efforts that were in progress were completely halted meaning a massive loss of resources. And the fact that only the bureaucrats, upper military and assorted management were the only ones still loyal meant nobody knew how to actually move forward without anyone to boss around.

Homeworld already seemed to be on its last days. And that feeling got worse as every scanner on the planet started going haywire as an outright impossible amount of energy was rapidly approaching. Some assumed it has to be some cosmic anomaly like a solar flare. Others guessed it was Rose's rebels approaching with a full-on invasion force.

Yellow, Blue and White Diamond knew what was really happening. They all emerged from their warships to find a gargantuan pink light, like an oncoming star, hurtling towards their world. None of them moved an inch even as Rose Quartz crashed down in front of them with enough force to send earthquakes for dozens of miles.

As she slowly floated up from the massive fissure she just made, Rose stared the three dead in the eyes with an expressionless face. The diamonds stared back, all of them taking note that the rebel was by herself.

"Where is Pink?" Blue asked for the group. Rose just shook her head although all of them could see a twinge of sadness in it. The distant sounds of gems fleeing and seeking cover was all to be heard as the two sides kept their eyes locked on the other.

Eventually, the tallest of the queens stepped forward. "Get on with it already."

Rose answered by raising an arm, grabbing her outstretched elbow with her other hand, and then firing off a ball of energy as big as she was that flew straight at White. The matriarch ducked down in time but could not stop Rose from racing forward at lightning speed and landing an uppercut that bucked her head upwards despite it being several times her size.

Yellow and Blue leapt back to put some space between them and this new threat but Rose was not having that. In a literal blink of an eye, she stretched out her hands to create a gigantic cube hundreds of feet tall and wide to trap them. It also leveled several buildings that could have been used as cover and forced the gems cowering inside to flee for their lives.

"Some savior you're supposed to be," Yellow griped only to have to rapidly move aside as Rose summoned pink plasma harpoons aimed squarely at her gem.

"Shut up!" Rose burst, hysterical in an instant, "You've done enough to poison enough lives! It's time I finally put an end to your madness!"

"We're mad?!" Blue scoffed, "You attacked us entirely unprovoked!" She fired off her own energy to intercept the barrage aimed at Yellow only for Rose to suddenly blip next to her and deliver a ridiculously strong kick that sent Blue falling on her side.

"Enough!" White shouted, channeling as much power as possible into a single blast that forces Rose to dodge. As the grand leader chased Rose around, her stream of plasma not making a dent in the cube imprisoning them, the rebel soon stopped dead in her flight path. White assumed she had run out of power but soon found she could not be more wrong.

Rose positioned both of her arms outstretched to her sides before spinning herself around vertically like a massive wheel as her body began to glow and quick turned into a massive roaring sawblade of pink death that literally cut through White's oncoming beam like it was butter. It took Yellow jumping in the way to push White out of the attack's path and even then, it grazed her shoulder.

"Okay, that was too close," the military diamond sighed, grateful that the damage was regenerating already, "She's clearly playing for keeps this time. We have to get out of here and get her away from Homeworld!"

"You three are not running anywhere," Rose growled, "All you've done is pervert far too many worlds to your whims purely for your own egos! It's time that I finally deal the justice that is millennia overdue for you despots!"

All at once, the walls of their prison lifted as Rose brought her hands above her head and coalesced all of the plasma into a ball about as big as her torso before firing it off. The diamond all hastily moved to the side only to still be knocked back by the gigaton-level explosion that rocked the ground. Once the light cleared from their eyes, all three leaders gaped at seeing the hundred-foot-deep crater they were all in now.

"How much energy do you have?!" Yellow shrieked, starting to get the sinking feeling that this fight was unwinnable. The other two soon felt the same way when Rose simply started flexing her energy and the entire world began quaking underneath her, the distant screams of the Diamond's last few subjects barely audible over the sounds of the various pieces of Homeworld threatening to shake themselves apart.

And then, all at once, Rose simply stopped as if turning a switch. The pinkette then floated right up to White with a striking glare in her eyes. "Now do you finally get it? The terror you've instilled into so many? The destruction you've brought upon their homes? The knowledge that there is someone who can destroy you in the blink of an eye?"

Despite being several times larger than her opposite, White started shaking like a leaf and her mind refused to work.

Yellow, however, could still voice the new question on their minds. "Then why don't you do it?! Just wipe us out already if that's what you want so badly!"

"Because I'm not done," she said eagerly, an almost demented glee entering her look, "You haven't seen power yet. I'll truly gain the light of every single gem in existence, the power of your entire empire united against you. I'll barely need to blink to turn you three into nothingness. That, to me, is exactly the kind of justice you deserve. And with you three gone, I'll then return the light of all gems back to them and we can form a harmonious new society over your ashes."

And just like that, Rose blipped out of their sight in an instant. They all wondered where she went only for the sight of pink beams streaking down and across the surface of Homeworld miles away caught their attention.

"Well…" White gasped, "I think it's safe to say we're officially out of subjects unless there's a resistance cell we don't know about."

"Forget a resistance, we need a miracle!" Blue cried, "What are we supposed to do?!"

"As much as it pains me to say it," Yellow sighed, "There's one group we all know who's stood up to overwhelming odds and managed to succeed."

The other two immediately knew who she meant but absolutely wished they had another alternative. As more of their own planet was assimilated by the second, however, they had to swallow their pride and quickly headed to their spacecrafts and charted a course for Earth.

On what was quickly becoming known as Rose's main base, millions of gems were merely relaxing without another care. Mingling with each other, playing games or simply fusing for the heck of it were the only things on their minds. After all, they had the now unlimited might of Rose Quartz to protect them from any harm.

That was not true for the only two gems still in the tower. They had been holed up in there for hours waiting desperately for Rose to return from her latest unexpected jaunt. It was quite ironic that the rebel's supposed handmaidens suddenly had no warning that their matron would zoom off to a distant planet. They had been waiting here for hours now with no idea when they would finally get to say their piece.

Eventually, by the point where both of the normally carefree gems were tapping their feet, Rose flew into the hub.

"Zoisite? Kunzite?"

"Yes, Rose, it's nice to finally see you," the former groused, "Would you mind telling us where all of your recent escapades have been taking you?"

"The rest of the planets where… Pink brought our new supporters," the mother shrugged, kicking herself for freezing up there.

"Is that so?" Kunzite bit out, "Because we've been keeping an eye on your flight path with our trackers. And we can easily trace your latest destination to the only set of coordinates every gem knows."

Rose raised an eyebrow at her tone. "Yes, I went to Homeworld. You say that like it's a bad thing."

"We want to know why you went there, Rose. And we aren't letting you dodge this question."

"What's gotten into you both? I don't-!"

"No! No-no-no-no-no! You are not worming your way out of this, Rose! We are supposed to stand by you and support you!"

"She is absolutely right," Zoisite insisted, standing behind her sister-in-arms, "If you wish for us to be your handmaidens, then some mutual trust has to go into this. We are not some tools you can just push aside when you don't need us anymore."

"I… I'm sorry, you two," Rose mumbled, looking almost pained, "I never meant for you two to be disposable. I guess I was so focused on attacking Homeworld that I-"

"You WHAT?!" Zoisite shouted, "Are you telling me you're planning on leading us as some kind of invasion force?! When were you planning on letting us know?!"

"I-"

"Now, now, sister, listen to what our great and impulsive leader just said," Kunzite cut in, "She said focused, as in the past. I take that to mean that she has already attacked Homeworld without even bothering to inform us. Am I right?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"What happened to negotiating with them?!" Zoisite demanded, "I thought we were supposed to reject the authoritarianism of the diamonds, not practice it!"

"How dare you compare me to those monsters?!" Rose shouted back, appearing in Zoisite's face before clutching the pearlescent gem's throat.

"I have to destroy them before they have the chance to spread their calamity!"

"Let her go, Rose!" Kunzite cried, trying to pry the pink hand off Zoisite to no avail. Rose didn't notice either as she tightened her grip around her handmaiden's neck.

"I was never planning on using you or the others as any kind of military. You and all of gemkind have fought enough, been terrorized enough, forced to destroy enough. I am the only one with the power to finally put them down. They've taken away my family once… Now they're trying to do it again…"

As Rose's words devolved into sobs, Zoisite managed to pull herself free and started to regain her breath. Kunzite was by her side quickly, helping the larger gem stand up before leading her out of the room.

"Rose, I suggest you sincerely think about your methods," the umbral gem warned, "Before you find yourself becoming the greater danger."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I'd say my piece," Zoisite said through labored breaths, "But I'd rather not get strangled again."

"Where are you both going?!"

"I thought we were allowed freedom under you. It seems we were wrong…"

Rose just watched as the two headed into the elevator and refused to face her as the doors closed. Instead of going after them, she flew out through the main window. The glass shattering around her barely fazed her as she focused more on remedying something else that came to mind.

As the days went on, the others were grateful that Steven woke up and was back to being fully functional so long as he did not strain himself. The only major hurdle was when someone had to tell him that his own mother was the one who knocked him unconscious.

And with that came the elephant in the room: what to do about Rose? The only thing they could not agree on was that they could not just leave her to her own devices.

"The real question is how are we supposed to combat her," Garnet brought up, everyone else being assembled around the house's fire pit save for Fluorite who was listening in through her communicator.

"Considering she's pretty much an actual star now, what can we do?" Lapis asked, "I mean, I don't want to bum anyone out but…"

"You raise a very valid point," Adamite admitted, "The sheer scale of her energy manipulation is formidable."

"She's got to have some weakness!" Cinnabar insisted, "Besides, you know… Going crazy…"

"As much as it pains me to admit it," Pearl sighed, "That instability might be our biggest advantage but it also makes her wholly unpredictable. We have no idea what she'll do next even if she's set on a particular goal."

"Maybe all of the diamonds can fake their deaths?" Topaz said, almost throwing up her hands only to wince when she got a mean glare from Pink Diamond.

"No offense but that isn't going to work. Rose is dead set on seeing them in pieces and making a fake gem like that takes a lot of time. At the rate she goes through absorbing gems, she'd probably finish off the real ones before we could set up the duplicates."

A loud sigh then escaped Steven and Greg, the two Universes looking besides themselves. Everyone spared the father and son a sympathetic glance before getting back to business. Even it meant little more than chucking ideas back and forth, it was progress to them and infinitely more encouraging than just laying down and waiting for a cataclysm.

Just as the group was starting to disperse, however, Fluorite called inside saying there was something approaching from the sky. Everyone soon filed out around the insectoid fusion to see a slowly growing blot in the blue expanse rushing towards them. Everyone was on guard even before they recognized that was an incomplete Mega Diamond.

"Oh, that's just great!" growled Bismuth, "Like we need these clods coming to bug us!"

"Steven, I don't know if you're up to this but…" Pearl started only to look over only for Steven to already be changing into his full-gem form with his face set in a grim line. Connie and her mother were both in their crystalline forms as well and Greg was already dashing inside to find his armor.

By the time the legless mecha splashed down a few dozen feet away from the temple, everyone had their weapons drawn and ready as the body opened up to reveal Blue Diamond who walked out of the ship with both her hands above her head. Nobody hesitated for a moment even as Yellow did the same while Blue stood off to the side.

As the two diamonds now flanked their craft, both of them still keeping their hands easily visible, White revealed herself doing the same thing but with a visible blush on her face. That color to her cheeks was what finally made the Crystal Gems and Pink start to lower their guard especially as White kept to just in front of the mech.

A long, tense stalemate came over between the two sides until Steven slowly floated up to the three queens, his own hands raising to the same position as a way to keep the trio at ease. He came to ten feet in front of White before stopping with an inquisitive look on his face.

"We…" White started before grumbling something under her breath.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"We… Need your help."

Although Steven stayed airborne, his jaw surrendered to gravity. White just rolled her eyes. "Oh, stop that. Does it look like we're happy to be in this position?"

"Steven, what's going on over there?" Amethyst shouted, having not heard a thing White said. The answer they got was the hybrid floating back to them with the same gobsmacked expression, making everyone prepare for the worst only for the lead diamond to blush like mad.

"WE NEED YOUR HELP!"

"HUUUUH?!" Everyone else answered, even Pink, at the top of their lungs making all of the other diamonds blush. Once the shock passed, White explained that Rose launched a full-on attack and went through assimilating every last gem they had on their side.

"…And that's why we've come here," Blue finished, clearly trying to hold back tears, "We officially have nothing left."

The Crystal Gems had a plethora of reactions. Some like Pink and Pearl were horrified to see how far Rose had gone, especially her vow to destroy the diamonds only after bringing all of gem-kind under her rule. Others like the Off-Colors and Bismuth looked downright offended that the three who were their oppressors and enemies were actually asking them for help.

"We also understand that you have very little incentive," Yellow admitted, reading those harsher looks, "But this whole experience has made us seriously reevaluate our methods."

"Really?" Rhodonite balked, "So you're telling us that you'll change everything once Rose is dealt with?"

"Well, that's a bit of a stretch…" White started only for both Yellow and Blue to smack the back of her head. The others all closed their eyes, expecting the grand leader to bite back only for White to just ignore it and move along.

"Any deliberation on our future operations can wait until we can safely say that we have a future."

As awkward as it looked, White Diamond knelt down to better look the Crystal Gems in the eyes. "But I can promise you this: We will officially consider Earth off-limits for any reason if you assist us. I swear to you all that you will live out the rest of your lives in peace."

No one seemed to move until White took her request one step further and bowed until her forehead touched the sand. The tip of her hair was only inches away from the closest of the Crystal Gems but they did not care. All of them were more astonished at seeing the head honcho of a multigalactic empire actually begging on her knees for their help.

At long last, the sound of footsteps across the beach made White raise her head. Steven, now back to his normal form, looked back at her with an inscrutable expression. The queen began to say something only for the half-gem to hold up his hand.

"Back at that meeting, you said you were sorry to Pink for how you all treated her. Don't you think you maybe owe that to us?"

White lifted herself up and, though she was clearly fighting something within her, she did eventually get it out.

"I am sorry. We… Should not have let our grudge go on for so long. We don't ask to be forgiven but we do hope you will assist us in stopping Rose Quartz."

Steven's face lit up in a smile. "That's good enough for me."

As unbelievable as it was, the three diamonds then walked onto the beach with many uncertain looks being traded between them. None of them had any idea on how this was going to work, but they figured it was still one more advantage.

The moment was promptly ruined when another, much smaller spaceship ended up flying over them all before landing on the cliff above the temple. Lapis immediately flew up to see what was happening and returned with Zoisite and Kunzite leaping down to the beach while the aqua gem just headed inside declaring she needed a nap.

"Ehm, sorry for the intrusion," the taller gem chuckled nervously, "But we have a request…"

The Human Zoo, once celebrated by some as one of the last examples of the late Pink Diamond's legacy, had now sat abandoned for weeks. Ever since the staff of the place were held hostage by White and eventually sided with the Crystal Gems, the place had sat vacant. The Holly Blue Agate in charge of the place was relocated to a harvesting plant for her failure in the operation to capture the rebels and, as an investigation revealed, woeful inability to command her subordinates.

Now, however, it was entirely empty save for the room full of recalled rose quartz gems. In the haste to evacuate the humans, the Famethyst had completely forgotten to do anything with them and they had been left behind in the chaos that came with Pink's return.

That was all about to change as the Rose Quartz effortlessly got in since no one was manning the security systems and now strode into the room with a saddened look on her face.

"Just one more mistake I need to fix…"

Rose changed herself into pure light and then took off, a guided laser to pop the thousands of bubbles in a matter of seconds. The memory of Steven doing the opposite to the gems of the Cluster crossed her mind and made her heart twist into a knot.

"I'll make that up to him. Once they're gone, I'll have his entire life to look forward to."

Once all of the other quartzes were free, none of them wasted time reforming into a legion of pink-haired medics all thoroughly confused as to where they were. The last thing they all remember was being ordered off of planet Earth because it was deemed unsuitable for colonization and then being loaded into his room.

That confusion stopped when Rose literally rose above them all and updated them that it was thousands of years later, they were all guilty by gem-caste association and that she had effectively usurped the diamonds.

And with the knowledge that they had been imprisoned for literally doing nothing, all of the quartzes happily threw their lot in with the rebellion and let Rose absorb their light. For the mother, the feeling of even more strength helped fend off the lingering regret.

So... The Diamonds and the Crystal Gems together at last! What will happen next?

Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave a review with any questions or comments.