I know the last chapter felt super rushed, it seemingly just a one off chapter with no point to it, but I really had no idea what to do with it and I felt really bad for being inactive for over a week. I'll try harder with this one.
Anyway, let's get to the chapter lol
-=The Capital=-
-=Steven=-
-=Four days later=-
Three few days ago, there was an announcement that Steven himself would be joining the clean up crew and helping them fix up the capital from the events of the attack.
For three days now, he had been coming to the capital and cleaning rubble as well as helping rebuild, being very apologetic to everyone about the attack, though they made it clear that no one blamed him, he still insisted that it was his fault.
Now, today was the last day of work for Homeworld, the capital would be a safe place to live once again. Unfortunately though, some Gems had other ideas.
In the shadows of an alleyway, multiple figures watched Steven working, him now finally being alone.
They glanced over to the other alley across from them, one of them giving a signal as a sign to attack.
In moments, Steven found himself surrounded by Gems, all of them had their weapons drawn. "So, you guys finally made your move huh? That's alright, I was more than happy to help clean up. Alright guys, you can come out now!"
Everyone have a look of surprise when a team of Quartz soldiers dropped down from the rooftops. "Remember, capture, don't kill."
"Yes, Pink Diamond!" They said in unison, the title of Pink Diamond being a slight uncomfortable annoyance to the boy.
He summoned his shield and the fight began.
-=The Palace=-
-=Steven/Spinel/White/Blue/Yellow-=
-=Four Days Ago=-
Steven and Spinel entered the meeting room, passing by a Topaz who was standing guard at the door.
"Hey guys, did I miss much?" The hybrid asked with a wave as he walked up into the room. There were two informants in the middle of the room who stood there awkwardly as they kept their heads down.
Steven found that weird, but not as weird as the expression Blue was giving White; she seemed upset, like White had done something to offend her greatly.
"Uh, guys? What's happening?" He asked, looking between his two Diamond aunts. "Is this a bad time or something?"
Blue went to say something but White spoke up before her with a smile. "No, not at all Star Shine. Please, take a seat."
Steven was unsure about her response, but sat in his 'him-sized' throne/desk, the three of them taking their respective sides to match the original Diamond insignia.
Luckily there was enough room for Spinel, he felt that her just standing there would make what seemed to be an awkward situation even worse.
"Steven, must your Spinel attend this meeting as well?" She questioned once she noticed the pink Gem. "I understand that you are happy to have someone around to keep you entertained, but this is a private meeting."
He gave a sigh as he leaned against his arm rest. "First off, I would appreciate you not describing my relationship with anyone as them being around to 'keep me entertained', I'm not my mom. Second off, yeah, she's staying here with me, this could take all day."
Spinel sat there, the awkwardness now enveloping her as well. She didn't feel comfortable doing something that White Diamond herself didn't want her to, but she decided that she would be more uncomfortable just sitting outside alone all day while she waited.
White decided to just drop the subject, though it did leave her ever so slightly annoyed. "Anyway, how about we just skip the last topic and continue on what this meeting was originally about in the first place?"
"Right, this rebellion is a bigger issue than that." Yellow said, seemingly trying to push the conversation on just as much as White.
Steven looked over to Blue, waiting for her response seeing as she looked to be the one who had a problem with whatever they were talking about, but she just sat there silently with a frown.
The two other Diamonds continued to converse with the informants while Steven waved over to Blue wanting to get her attention.
One the large, blue Gem noticed him, she gave him a smile and a wave. He tried to whisper over to her but quickly realized how that wouldn't work.
He raised his hand in front of his desk, bringing up a holo-screen. With White and Yellow distracted, he started a call with Blue.
The confused Diamond answered right away as the call came through. "Yes, Steven?"
"Hey, what was going on before I came here? You seemed pretty upset at White when I walked in." Steven asked, glancing to the radiant, white monarch.
"Oh, it's nothing, don't worry about that, me and her just had a small disagreement." She insisted.
He didn't believe it was really just some disagreement, but he knew he wouldn't get the truth out of her here. "Well- if you say so... anyway, what have I missed so far?"
"Nothing much, just some updates on how everyone is doing, and it seems that mostly everyone who wasn't fighting was able to escape the capital yesterday." She reassured him, speaking just as quietly as him.
"That's good, I'm glad that there wasn't really any more casualties than what we had confirmed." He said, relieved that this attack wasn't as bad as it could've been.
"Anyway, we should probably pay attention, they're about to get into the decision on our course of action now." Blue said, looking over to the others.
They hung up the call, giving their full attention to the conversation. "Listen, even with Starlight's new rules and laws in place, a rebellion like this definitely warrants shattering." White insisted. "We just up our security and interrogate suspicious individuals."
"While that would work, I personally think that we just hunt down witnesses and get descriptions of the attackers. That way we can just find and interrogate the Gems that are more likely to be actual rebels." Yellow countered.
Steven had now felt the need to speak up. "Wait, wait, wait." He sighed. "Neither of those are acceptable."
"I thought I adjusted her idea to a reasonable level of peace." Yellow said, unhappy that he rejected her solution to the problematic idea White had.
"Well, yes, your idea was much better than hers and it did show that you were trying to keep innocent Gems out of this, I just have to remind you that most Gems look almost exactly alike." He responded, not meaning to make her feel bad.
"Hey, wait a second now, why do I feel like everyone is ganging up on me during this meeting? I'm just giving reasonable responses to the situations we are presented with." White complained.
"White, no one is ganging up on you, your suggestion was just one that would've pulled many Gems into a situation that they had no part in." Blue corrected, seemingly done with her sister at this point.
"Ok then, if both mine and Yellow's ideas weren't good enough for you, then how about you bring something to the table?" While said, assuming he didn't actually have any idea on what to do here.
"Well, I think the best solution here is to bait them, if we give them a target to go after, it can be a trap, right?" Steven said without hesitation.
"You can't be suggesting what I think you are." Yellow said, already against the idea from the start.
"It's really the only way, I mean they want me after all, right?" Steven explained. "All I have to do is be easily accessible but not suspiciously accessible, any ideas?"
"Yeah, I have an idea." Yellow started as she crossed her arms. "You go back home and just relax in the safety of it."
"She's right Steven, you should just go home, you don't have to do this." Blue added, a sincere smile on her face.
"But I do. Yesterday, the capital was in ruins; building were falling apart if not demolished, Gems were shattered, and businesses that other Gems had just began to start up were also ruined. I refuse to sit by and let something like that happen again because of me." Steven said with determination, refusing to back down from his plan.
"I'm fine with this plan." White smiled, much to the other two's annoyance. "If Star Shine wished to be the one to fix this, I don't see why we shouldn't let him."
"White, do you even hear yourself?!" Blue shouted, much to Steven's surprise. "You're putting Steven's life at risk by letting him do this! You may be more than happy to do that, but me and Yellow actually care about what happens to him!"
"The way I see it is that it's either of your choices." She responded, her smile never fading as always. "If he decides that he wants to go and risk his life, then there's nothing you can do to stop him, I mean he convinced me to let him run Homeworld, I doubt he will let you two stop him."
Before she could argue, Steven began speaking. "She's right, I'm doing this no matter what you guys say."
"S-Steven no, I won't let you do this to yourself! You don't have to do this! Please...don't do this!" Blue pleaded.
"I too think this is a very bad idea, and it was my job to come up with war strategies, so I would know." Yellow spoke.
"I understand and your guy's' concern, but I do have to do this. Because of me, many Gems died yesterday and many buildings and homes were destroyed. It is my job as their leader to make sure everyone is safe, and with how it is right now...well, no one is safe." Steven explained, his plan seeming to be set in stone.
"Steven...I would also like to voice my concerns. I don't think I want you to put your life on the line like that..." Spinel spoke up, despite how nervous she was about coming in to a conversation between them. "What if you get hurt?...or worse?..."
Steven's gaze softened when he saw that she was close to crying. "Spinel..." he moved his hands to her shoulders. "Hey, you don't need to worry about me, I'm a lot stronger than I look." He said, giving her a reassuring smile.
"B-but...I just..." She let her head hang low, White giving an obvious eye roll though Steven decided to ignore the gesture for now. "I don't want to loose you already...is that selfish of me?..."
"Spinel, there's a difference between being selfish and wanting to be happy." He informed her as he tilted her head back up with hand. "So I promise you, as your best friend, I will make sure you stay happy, I promise I'll come back to you without a scratch."
"Wait, come back to me? I-I'm coming with you if you're doing this, I can't let you just go alone!" She panicked.
"I'm sorry Spinel, but I can't have anyone associating you with myself; I don't want you to have Gems after you as well." Steven sighed, hoping she would understand.
"No, we're best friends, we're in this together until the end! If you have a price on your head, then I will too!" She argued, fighting back her tears.
"Spinel, listen." The hybrid said with a warm smile as he pulled her close into a hug. "I can't let anything happen to you because of me, just like you don't want anything to happen to me."
"I know you want to make me happy and show how good of a friend you are, but in the end, what will make me the most happy is if you're safe, ok? Just trust me, I can handle myself."
She buried her face into his chest and let a few tears fall, each soaking into his shirt. She tightened her grip on the front of the shirt as she nodded. "Alright...I'll trust you. Just make sure you stay safe and come back to me then..."
The young Diamond gave a soft chuckle. "Of course, it's a promise." He said, sticking out his pinky finger.
She moved away from his chest and looked at the gesture, giving a small smile and a little chuckle, remembering when he explained what it meant. The pink Gem wiped the tears away and wrapped her pinky around his with a nod. "It's a promise."
-=Back to the present=-
-=Steven=-
The battle raged on, there seemingly more enemies than when they started now. Unfortunately, that overwhelming number that just kept growing was able to take out the team of Quartz soldiers that were charged with protecting him.
The hybrid was now backed into a wall, unable to fight them off anymore. He went to jump away but right after he had launched into the air, his leg was grabbed and he was slammed back into the ground, cracks now forming in the stone beneath him.
"Even after all this, you're still weak." A familiar voice growled. He looked up and the first thing he noticed were her horns.
His eyes widened as he realized who he was now under. "Jasper..."
-=End Of Chapter=-
Well there you go, we had a moment between Spinel and Steven, we had a fight, and we now have Jasper and a cliffhanger.
Now, I'm assuming you have all seen the new teaser for SUF, confirming without a doubt that Jasper is mad at him for taking away Pink or something like that.
Now, what will she do to him in the next chapter? I guess you just have to keep reading to find out.
Also, since I can't find a way to explain it in the story and it make sense I'll just tell you right here: the reason the rebellion is this active as soon as it is in this AU is because they didn't have the incident with Spinel and the earth to hurt Steven with.
In this AU, I'm sticking to my idea of Spinel having help from the rebellion despite it being disproved by Rebecca herself.
I think I've already explained why I refuse to acknowledge that as cannon before.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and as always-
Good morning, goodnight, or good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.
