With Blue Diamond's familiarity of the facility and Garnet's precognition abilities, the group actually made it to the loading docks without running into any guards or obstacles. (Steven's favorite part was the quick ride down the third-floor laundry chute. Sure, they were in danger, but he was a kid.)

Now they were crouched behind a semi-truck trailer opposite the loading docks looking at the carnage in front of them. Half of the facility had been blown to pieces. A fire raged at the front entrance as nearby fireboats tried to suppress the blaze. Multiple ambulances were triaging the wounded, and it was utter chaos.

"Man, I guess we know why the building shook now," Amethyst said somberly; she sounded stuffy because of her broken nose.

"Why would Aquamarine do this? These people were just doing their jobs…" Pearl was kneeling next to Steven, her hand clutching the back of his t-shirt collar.

"She's framing me, us. She wants my position as one of the heads of The Authority. She also wants Steven to be studied. She fought me tooth, nail, and claw to have him permanently detained." Blue's lilting accent was weak; she looked so pale even in the dark. She needed help and soon.

"We can't do anything from here. We need to get as far away from here as fast as we can. There has to be something around here that can help." Garnet looked over to Blue Diamond.

"I always keep a bug-out-bag in the secure area in the parking garage. I take it with me to any post I work at. It's only meant for myself, but it has a substantial amount of cash and a couple of throw away cell phones in it." Blue motioned her head in the opposite direction the group was facing.

"Let's get it and go." Garnet had spoken.
… … … … … … … … …

It was a treacherous swim across the Santee river and then a long hike up to the town of McClellanville, South Carolina. But the group made it in roughly four hours. Steven was just awestruck; he'd known almost all of these women all his life, but never in a million years would he have guessed they were superhumans.

They all swam through the river like it was nothing, then hiked through a thick forest for about 12 miles like it was a stroll in the park. (Even Blue with her injuries managed to keep up.) That's not mentioning the alligators, snakes, and in general unstable marshy wetland.

Garnet ended up carrying Steven most of the way…

The group now took shelter on the edge of town in a seemingly abandoned barn. It hadn't been used in decades. They entered through a broken panel on the side. Old hay bales and rusty farm equipment filled the building. Part of the loft was caved in, and ivy had taken root and cascaded down the wall like a leafy emerald waterfall.

Steven walked over to a couple of wooden chairs and brushed himself off a bit. After their trek through the marshlands, he couldn't call himself clean. Pearl dropped the heavy duffel bag and stretched before sitting down.

"Dude, this place is like The Grapes of Wrath," Amethyst said, walking around opposite from Pearl and Steven.

"Yes, well, I daresay that the farm in that book was in much better shape than ours," Blue said half stumbling into the barn heading towards the chairs.

Both Steven and Amethyst hurried to her side and helped her lay down on a nearby stack of large square hay bales. Amethyst looked at the dressing covering Blue's wounds and shook her head.

"Hey, G, gonna need your help here." The bartender took the rifle that the Diamond had been carrying and set it aside as Garnet walked up.

"You've just about bled out and then took a swim in bacteria-filled marshlands. You're in bad shape, colonel." Garnet raked her hand through her wild curly hair.

"Pearl, do we have any medical supplies?" Garnet asked, looking over her shoulder.

"None in the duffel bag." Pearl made no motion to move from her seat, she only glared at Blue.

"I've got some in my backpack along with some other stuff." Steven hopped down from the hay and went to retrieve his bag. As he did so, he gave Pearl a hard look. The restaurant manager noticed and pursed her lips.

He ran back over to the others unzipping the pack and handing it to Amethyst. The short woman shrugged and dumped the bag's contents out next to the Diamond.

"Steve-O, these are dry and clean and everything. Good job, little man." Amethyst playfully mussed his head, and Steven smiled.

"This will go a long way, Steven; you even grabbed some lidocaine shots." Garnet picked up a pair of medical shears and began cutting away at Blue's filthy dressing.

"We're going to need some additional supplies, though. Got some paper and a pen Steven?" Garnet looked at him, she was tired, but there was a spark in her eyes that was missing earlier.

"Right here!" The boy enthusiastically got out the items requested. (It was supposed to be for school that was starting in about a week.)

"Alright, the rest of you listen up as well. We need aspirin, bottled water, disinfectant, gauze, bandages, clean clothes, food, and if we can manage it antibiotics." Garnet finished cutting the dressing off of Blue's shoulder. It oozed dark red blood, and the skin around it was red and angry.

"Actually, we'll have to find antibiotics." The tall Gem changed her tone and pursed her plump lips.

"Why are we wasting resources on her! We're in this mess because of this woman!" Pearl exploded.

"Blue's also helping us out of this situation, Pearl! We wouldn't be in this barn if it weren't for her. I'd be crushed under dock or shot if it wasn't for her! We're helping her, whether you want us to or not." Steven had had enough, he jumped down from the bale he was sitting on.

"I don't know exactly what went on between you and Blue, but I'm disappointed in you. I thought you were better than this."

"Steven I…" Pearl reached out to touch his shoulder, but Steven ducked out of reach.

The silence was deafening, everyone was looking at Steven and Pearl.

"Hey P, let's go walk it off. We'll go into town and scope things out and see what we can scrounge up." The willowy Gem nodded and pulled out some cash and a pre-paid debit card from the duffel bag.
… … … … … … … … …

The day dragged on, the air was heavy and humid as cicadas sang in the nearby trees. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Steven had gone outside to relieve himself and saw black clouds in the corner of the sky. He definitely felt like a black cloud himself.

He ducked back into the barn and went over to the stack of bales that Blue was resting on. Garnet had cut the left t-shirt sleeve all the way up to the shirt collar, making it easier to access the wound. Blue was in bad shape; the wound in her side was worse than the one on her shoulder. Garnet said it was because it was infected.

Steven rested his hand on Blue's forehead; she was pale, but her cheeks were red, and a sickly heat radiated off of her. He looked over at Garnet, who had taken up residence on the wooden chairs. She sat in one while resting her feet on top of the other, chin resting on her chest.

Everything was terrible; they were stranded in a town with no car, and a small army of government agents was looking for them because he was framed for blowing up a prison. He didn't know if he'd see his dad or Connie or Beach City ever again. Plus, he got into a massive argument with Pearl, and his friend was injured severely, and they couldn't even go to the hospital. This was the worst, tears rolled down the boy's round face.

"Steven, love, are you alright?" The 12 year-old was sitting on Blue's right side (the good side). Her lovely voice was cracked and dry.

"I'll be okay." He scrubbed his face with his hand and gave his best attempt at a smile.

"That was quite a row you had with your guardian." She reached up and brushed a stray tear from his cheek.

"I don't know, she's acting terrible when we need to be a team. She doesn't normally act like this." The woman shifted stiffly on the make-shift pillow. Garnet had found an old horse blanket in the loft and rolled it up for Blue to use.

"There's a lot of bad history between us, and we're in an incredibly stressful situation. She's not entirely to blame. Perhaps you could talk to her when she gets back." Blue reached her arm around Steven's shoulder and coaxed him to lay down.

"Come, you've hardly slept in two days. Just lay here with me for a while." She softly kissed the boy's forehead before resting her chin on the top of his head.

He drifted away into a light, dreamless sleep. Anxiety was on the edges of his consciousness, but he took comfort in Blue's arms and Garnet's strong silent presence. Until the rumble of an engine was heard just outside the barn's main door.

"Bloody hell!" Blue hissed as she reached for her rifle. Garnet was already up, Glock in hand taking cover behind a support beam.

"Steven, get up in the loft." The Diamond said, leaning heavily on a hay bale.

"But, Blue!"

"Steven, no buts, listen to Blu-wait." Garnet stepped away from her position and flipped the safety on her weapon.

"We're alright, Pearl and Amethyst are back." Garnet gave both Blue and Steven a grin.

"Yo G! Check it out, we got a ride!" Amethyst poked her head through the hole in the barn wall, her scratchy voice filling the air. She then looked over to the 12 year-old and the Diamond.

"Got you guys some stuff too." She stepped into the barn proper and went to the front entryway. The short woman and Garnet then opened on of the doors, and Pearl rolled in with one of the oldest vehicles Steven had ever seen.

"It's the best we could do under the circumstances. A 1974 Volkswagen Bus." Pearl said to Garnet, hanging out the window.

"Whoa Pearl, this thing is cool," Steven said excitedly. It was green in color and had multiple rust spots near the bottom. The boy slid open the side door and looked inside; more than enough room for the five of them.

"It must have been a reasonable price if you picked it out," Garnet said, looking at Pearl.

"12K in cash, the farmer, signed the title over to us right there," Pearl said, pursing her lips. Steven jumped out of the van and ran over to the others.

"12,000 dollars!? How much money did you have, Blue?" The Diamond had gone back over to her makeshift bed and had since sat down.

"Between the card and the cash? Roughly 35 grand, probably a bit more." Steven just looked at her with stars in his eyes.

"Yeah, so we got a ride! Then we found a thrift shop and picked up everyone some clothes and blankets and stuff. Then P found her home away from home; The Dollar General!" Amethyst grinned as Pearl gave her an irate look.

"There's nothing wrong with that store! Besides, all the medical supplies, food, and other miscellaneous things came from there." Pearl proceeded to open the back of the van and brought out some bags, and a couple boxes form the rear storage (one box, in particular, had some motor supplies in it). She then opened the rear compartment and began inspecting the engine.

"Antibiotics?" Garnet said.

"Naw, but there's a large animal vet not too far away. I hate to steal but, we're kind of desperate. I'll go by later and see about liberating some meds." Amethyst had been digging in a bag while talking. She grinned when she finally found what she was looking for and walked over to Garnet.

"Here, you're not Garnet without the shades." Garnet slipped on the sunglasses and gave a mysterious smile.
… … … … … … … … …

It was storming outside by the time night came. Everyone had a clean change of clothes that actually fit. (Pearl was an expert at guessing sizes.) And everyone had food and water in their stomachs. It was a far better situation than they had been in.

The group now sat in a loose circle in front of the hay bales with an LED lantern. Blue was in her spot, resting on her right side. She was sporting clean dressing, a navy button-down top, and some khaki cargo pants. Steven was relieved; she seemed to be doing better now that she had some water and aspirin.

Amethyst was off to the side, spread eagle on another hay bale with jean shorts and a black t-shirt. Garnet not too far away with a new pair of sunglasses resting on her head and wearing jeans and an old purple Nike shirt. A map of the area was opened in front of her.

Then Pearl had the other lantern and was tinkering with the van engine in a pair of capris and a peach-colored polo. She, of course, didn't have a spot of grease on her clothes despite the messy nature of work being done.

Steven was sitting opposite Garnet, messing with an old battery-operated radio. Amethyst had picked a light blue t-shirt for him and a clean pair of jeans. Not exactly his style, but he could deal.

"Everyone, we need to figure out what to do." Garnet finally said, looking up.

"We go find this Aquamarine chick and punch her in the head!" Amethyst rolled on her side and rested her head on her arm.

"We need a better solution than punching Aquamarine in the face. Steven, what happened in the office at the prison? What did Aquamarine say to you and Blue Diamond?" The boy stopped fussing with the radio and started to fidget with the bottom of his shirt.

"She said a bunch of stuff, like how she should be in charge and how she was framing everyone with the attack on the compound and how she wanted to keep me for testing." The boy paused and looked around. Pearl had stopped working on the van, and Blue was now sitting up.

"She had this crazy report that said Blue was my grandmother? Something about DNA. It's how Aquamarine tied Blue up in this mess. She said Blue was 'sympathetic to our cause.'" Steven leaned back on his hands with his sandaled feet in front of him.

"That chick is cray, there's no way Steven's related to Blue D," Amethyst said yawing.

"That's actually incorrect," Pearl said quietly, she came closer to the group and sat down on her knees.

"What are you talking about?" There was an icy edge to Blue Diamonds words.

"The DNA report, the one that The Authority does on all Gems they find? The one that was certainly ordered for Steven is accurate." Pearl was wringing her hands.

"That's impossible! My daughter has been dead since 2004. You would know better than most!" Blue was standing now, hands clenched at her side as an azure light burned in her eyes.

"Yes, I would know better! You know why!? Because she didn't die in 2004! I helped Carissa Diamant fake her death. She didn't end up in a fiery car wreck at the bottom of a valley, she ran away with me!" Only the rain was heard, everyone was silent.

"You and Melena Diamant and Bianca Diamant were smothering her! Pressuring her into a life, she didn't want, trying to force her to join The Authority. You wanted her to be Pink Diamond and she wanted nothing to do with it! So, she asked me to run away with her, and I said yes. Because I was in love with her!"

"The only way to truly break away, to truly hide, was to make you and everyone else believe she was dead. Otherwise, there was no way this would work. She stopped being Carissa Diamant and became Rose Quartz." Pearl continued after wiping the tears from her eyes.

"We ran for a while and found Garnet and Amethyst. Finally, we found ourselves in Beach City. That's where Rose met Greg Universe, and that's where our relationship ended. Rose got married to Greg, and then Steven was born. Steven's birth was complicated, and… And Rose passed away." Pearl looked defiantly at Blue Diamond.

"So, Carissa… Rose is dead. But I didn't kill her, no one did. And Steven? He is your grandson; the DNA test and Aquamarine are both correct."

"When you came waltzing into Beach city looking for the Crystal Gems and me? You got far more than you were expecting, Linna." Pearl shook her head and walked outside into the rain.

Steven watched as Blue sat back slowly, her jaw clenched, arctic eyes distant trying to wrap her head around what was just said. (What could she say?)

Garnet and Amethyst were just stunned. "G, what do we do now?"

"We should… probably try and get some rest. We'll sort it out in the morning."

Steven walked over to Blue, her eyes focused on some distant corner of the barn, one hand covering her mouth. He grabbed her free hand, and she immediately turned her head to look down at him.

"Blue? You okay?" He whispered, unsure.

She just squeezed his small fingers tightly as tears rolled down her face.