Disclaimer: Characters, settings, names from the cartoon television show 'Steven Universe' are creations and property of Rebecca sugar and Cartoon network. Any Non-steven universe characters, settings, names, Gems, Gem powers, beliefs, mythology are my own creation.

Author's Note: Here it is readers and followers of Shield of Humanity, chapter 44 is up in all of its glory. there are going to be at least three more chapters before this story comes to an end, but before that, I plan on making these last few chapters as epic as possible. Just one word of warning, some characters are going to die.

Story Tags: Steven Universe, Lapis Lazuli, OC's, Connie Maheswaran Pearl, Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire, Bells, Whistles, Citrine, Peridot, Beach City, Gem Powers, Romance, Adventure, Comfort, Destiny.

Music Inspiration: "The God Awakened" and "Kaguya's Battle Theme" By: Naruto: Shippuden OST

Chapter 44: Mother

Thursday

September 8, 2016, 10:00 [Morning]

Crystal Temple, Beach City

A large oval light pink portal opened up over the damaged sandy shore of beach city. lion came leaping out of the portal with greg universe riding on top him. lion slid to a stop on the sand, which whipped up clouds of sand in the air. greg shielded his face from the blowing sand with his fur glove covered hands. Lion laid flat on his belly, shaking his head several times and letting out small groans. he leaned to his side as a signal to greg to get off of him.

"I'm sorry lion. I know I must weigh a lot" greg got off of lion and pulled the fur hood of his coat down.

Greg stared out at a city and beach that still looked like a bombed out city during a world war. he supposed what had transpired in the last few days was a world war, except this was a war between two worlds; and it looked liked earth was losing despite some battles won. the clean up of the city was the first job of the mayor and citizens. with no outside help coming from the federal government or even the state government, bands of people united to help each other and lend a hand.

"I can't believe you're coming back rose. darling it's been so long since I've held you or heard your voice. but to be honest, it kind of makes me sad that you'll be seeing me as a much older man, what I would give to remain the same age as when i first met you rose," greg spoke, turning to look at lion who licked his paws.

"I suppose how I look like now doesn't compare to the grave state the earth is in. and with my car wash destroyed, and other businesses and owners going through the same dilemma, I'm left to wonder what to do next. No one really wants to start rebuilding until their certain the main threat has been dealt with. and even then, this planet is never going to be the same again. this is far worse than any dumb war humans have waged against each other. Far worse..."

Greg removed his fur clothing until he was left only with his shorts, tank top and slippers. he folded the articles of clothing and took a seat on the sand. lion came walking over to him and rested his face on greg's lap.

"Yo Greg!" he heard a young man's voice call out to him.

Greg turned and saw carlos coming over with pearl, who was showing a serious baby bump. Following just behind them were amethyst, garnet, peridot and the entire martian family. "oh hey there carlos. pearl you're looking better. and hello to the rest of you."

"Yo hermano what are you doing sitting out here all alone with lion? and where's your son and lapis at sir."

"Well mee hair-manno, my son and lapis are taking their time coming back from the land of the freeze, with a large army behind him" greg responded.

This got a certain look from both carlos and pearl. Pearl especially looked a bit disturbed given what commander soren made her do when they were there, only months earlier. carlos felt her mood change and wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her in closer to him. he pressed a kiss on her temple, which got him a smile from his future wife and mother of their future daughter, polyphony.

"An army?" garnet queried.

"Yes garnet, an army. These gem warriors are tall, almost as tall as rose was and their-oh that's right!"

"What is it gregory?" amethyst chimed.

"What I'm going to tell you is going to drive all of you really, really cra-"

"Dad! That's suppose to be my line" everyone heard steven's voice echo from high above. their eyes looked up and saw steven and lapis come flying down together.

Steven landed so hard the beach, it created a small boom and sent up sand and a gust of air everywhere. greg held on to lion, trying to ride out the small rumble steven created on his landing. steven straightened himself up, but staggered a little bit from a pain in his right leg. carlos notice this and any smile or relief on his face slowly faded. still, this little post crystal skull injury did not stop steven from looking cool or even acting cool.

"My army should be hear in a short while, but first I wanted to share with the rest of you something very big. my dad and lapis already know what I have planned, but the rest of you don't. a long time ago connie helped me contact my mother who was hidden deep within the layers of my gemstone. when I met her, she told me I had a choice to make. either absorb the half of her full power she stored in lion to attain a level beyond "Mastered Gem Form." Or I could use my mastered gem form to unlock a seal in lion that would fuse lion's raw magic and my mother's, which would reconstitute her physical body; basically bringing her back!"

Pearl's hands became sweaty, her grip on carlos's hand tightened. he could feel her nervousness, happiness and a plethora of emotions singing to him from just her touch. carlos lowered his head, smiling back at her but also looking worried and concerned. he knew just how much pearl loved rose. that was what worried him.

"I'm bringing my mom back...right now!" everyone heard the same thing, but to those who knew rose, like the crystal gems. they heard those words in slow motion. There was long silence before that silence was broken.

"Oh my moon and stars! oh my, oh my, oh my" pearl repeated over and over again when that changed to excited shouting and cheering.

"Rose is coming back? Yes! Yes! Yes!" amethyst hopped wildly, pulling on her hair and shaking peridot.

"The traitor is coming back? Hah! I'll never believe it until I see it with my own eyes!" peridot shouted as loud as she could in the background of all of the cheering and tears.

Garnet couldn't hold back her own tears and let out a cry of happiness. admiral bells, citrine and whistles watched and smiled happily at the crystal gems who were filled with joy and happiness. the martian family didn't know much of the famous rebel Rose Quartz, but if this was the kind of reaction she was receiving before being brought back to the physical world, then she must have been some some pretty great gem indeed in the physical world.

"Ok ok, let me get some silence already, I need to concentrate," steven asked of his cheering friends and dad, "Lion can you come over here, please."

Lion walked over to steven while everyone watched in total silence. "Lion, thank you for everything you've done for me, the gems and for the world. But I really want to meet my mother, my father would like to be reunited with her. I guess in a sense, you'll still live on through my mom, that is if she pick up any of your personality" with that, steven kissed lion on his cheek and hugged him.

Lion seemed to understand what steven was getting at and pulled steven in with one of his paws for a hug. after a warm and tender hug from lion, steven gathered his thoughts and placed his emotions off to the side. no one but carlos saw steven's hand become armored in bleeding pick crystal, when he raised his hand above lion's forehead. Steven brought his hand down on lion's forehead, which caused lion's mane and eyes to glow their usual white color. but this time was different, a large pick circular hologram seal with embroidery designs appeared to steven and everyone else.

Steven's eyes eyes went white like lion's. he took his hand off of lion's forehead and watched a lock symbol slowly appear in the middle of the circular hologram. Steven once more brought his hand back over lion's forehead, but this time instead of touching his forehead, he manifested a key of light and pushed it inside of the keyhole. The chains around the lock disappeared and the shackle opened. what appeared next were two small holograms that rose from the center of the circular seal. One of them was a pink hand raised into a balled fist, and the other was silhouette of rose quartz.

Power or his mother. The choice was simple for steven. he pressed on the small hologram of his mother. when he did, the small silhouette sunk inside of lion's forehead. The circular hologram vanished with a blip sound effect. Lion's entire body glowed whiter and brighter, so much everyone had to close their eyes from the pain and discomfort it produced. expecting to see rose when the light began to dim down, everyone was surprised to see that she did not come back, at least not now.

A timer with pink numbers appeared above lion's head, it read one hundred and twenty hours. It would take five days before lion would sadly die, and for rose to return.

"Huh...this was one thing I didn't see coming. Sorry guys, I guess we're going to have to wait five more days until mom comes back."

"WHAT A PITY. I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO TAKE ON THE IMMOVABLE ROSE QUARTZ!" a voice rang high in the skies.

Everyone's attention was pulled up to the sky where a giant yellow diamond shaped mother ship appeared over the continental united states. "dad, take lion and pearl down to the bottom of the temple. It's a safe room that soren built after he came to earth, they won't find you there."

"But steven i-"

"it's ok dad, I'll be fine. I couldn't ask for a better team than the one I have with me now. go, hurry!" he told his father. carlos placed pearl on top of lion's back and placed a kiss on her gemstone.

"Carlos, please be careful. I don't want a daughter growing up never knowing who her father was, ok?" he begged him.

"I'll be fine pearl. It's just like steven said, I couldn't ask for a better team than this one. And if something does happen to me, polyphony will have a great godmother in rose."

Greg ran back to the temple with lion and pearl already far ahead of him. Steven raised his left hand high above his head, and fired a giant yellow star up in the sky that exploded like a giant firework on the fourth of july. that was a signal he and connie agreed to use whenever they needed the other's help. it would take some time before connie came to this last fight.

"Here they are!" steven said, releived.

His gem soldiers fell down from the sky in columns of one hundred all over beach city. they landed in the emerald hills, on the beach, in the middle of town and on the cliff the lighthouse was situated on. they gathered together and stopped just behind steven and his friends. garnet, amethyst, peridot and citrine watched as the rest of the gem soldiers marched together in close formations. The sound of their boots and marching echoed and caused the ground to rumble lightly.

Peridot and amethyst in particular could not keep their eyes off these ancient gem warriors. their armor and shield and weapons were the same as those of humans of in the days of old. amethyst stared at a fully formed amethyst warrior. she was much taller, broader, eyes filled with nothing but concentration and fearlessness. among the warriors were pure quartz, hematites, ametrines, aventurines, blue quartz, milky quartz, tiger eyes, hawk eyes and vermarines.

From the continent sized mother ships yellow diamond and jasper were no doubt inside of, one hundred

cylindrical black and yellow pods as tall as towers, were fired from the ship into the sea not far from the sandy shore of beach city. the pods opened up with thick sliding doors that revealed troops of onyx gem warriors wearing the latest homeworld armor and wielding advance plasma energy weapons. the homeworld gem warriors came marching out in cohorts of one hundred abreast.

Steven and carlos watched the ten foot tall enemy warrior gems stop short of a hundred feet away from them, where they stood at ease. their shields and weapons relaxed at their sides. steven's breathing picked up only slightly when he saw a large yellow diamond come slowly levitating downward from the mothership. the last of the gem warriors finally joined the rest of their comrades in three large cohorts made up of one thousand warriors each.

In total, yellow diamond's forces numbered ten thousand strong, far more than steven's army.

"Steven...i know you can feel it too. there are two commanders with yellow diamond inside of that diamond that's coming down. their far more powerful than soren. we might be in a pinch, might."

"I know carlos, we just need need to wait for connie to arrive first. I have a plan to make my gem warriors stronger and army larger" steven signaled to lapis to come over and stand next to him. She leaned in to listen to what steven had to tell her.

"Lapis, i'm planning on buffing my army with wooden armor. then connie will add three inch thick steel plating over their wooden armor. those plasma energy weapons might be able to cut through the armor my warriors are currently wearing. I'd appreciate it if you could, i don't know, create some sort of water and ice projectile weapons for them. Maybe mount it on their shoulders or wrists. can you do that lapis?"

Lapis looked behind her and stared at steven's army. she placed her thumb and index finger on her chin and thought about it. "i suppose I can, but to be honest, it would be the first time i'm trying something like this."

"Thank you lapis. and here comes Connie!" steven spoke.

Connie came flying on a large piece of rock that touched down on the beach in front of steven and his whole army. She was wearing a full suit of marble stone armor with multi-millimeter layers of steel, cement and metal underneath it for added defense. the marble helm on connie's head broke apart to expose her face so she could talk.

"Wow i can't believe this is really happening you guys. Whoa, are those actual gem warriors behind you steven?" connie asked him, looking and sounding amazed.

"yep, this is my army connie. it's not as big as the enemy's behind you, but I plan on making it larger" steven answered, pointing behind her.

Connie turned around around and became wide eyed as she gazed at the division of homeworld gem warriors, who waited patiently for orders from eitther their field commanders or diamond. connie joined steven, carlos and the rest of the earth defense force. steven whispered into connie's ear, who nodded her head in agreement and then gave him a thumb's up.

Yellow Diamond

The large yellow diamond that descended from the ship finally came to a stop and hovered over the sea, just behind the homeworld division. The top section of the diamond opened up, revealing four gems. the first was jasper who was fully clad in armor. She hopped off of the giant yellow diamond construct her diamond and leader created, and made her way to the center of a cohort of homeworld warrior gems. The warriors knew instinctively to create a space for their field commander.

The other two gems levitating beside yellow diamond were two very tall commanders. The one on the left wore a full body steel armor colored green with black. On his breastplate he had his mother's insignia emblazoned on it, a yellow diamond. His cape was a yellow color that had a black arrow pointing downward. to everyone, he looked like a fully armored European knight, who keept his face hidden behind a black and green helm with slit visors.

The other gem to the right of yellow diamond was a foot taller than the one on the left. his appearance was more of a roman gladiator. He wasn't as heavily armored as his brother was, but what he lacked in proper defense, he made up with a large upper body, powerful arms and legs. his balled up fists were a color of red and black. his skin was a blood red color with patches of black. what his face looked like was also hidden behind a gladiator like helm, like his brother. the face section of his helmet had small little holes where he could see from.

And then finally there was her majesty, yellow diamond herself. she was seated on a throne she fashioned from her own power. she did away with the rest of the yellow diamond construct she made to carry jasper in. connie turned to see what kind of expressions her comrades and friends had on. their faces were a mix of fear, uncertainty, nervousness and quiet terror. steven on the other hand, had a smirk on his face. But that smirk did nothing to cover the fear and anxiety in his heart, small beads of sweat started to form on the sides of his face.

Connie tried to reach for his hand to comfort him, but lapis beat her to it and hugged him from behind. but the look lapis gave connie wasn't one of cocky arrogance or hate, it was empathetic. yellow diamond stood up from her throne construct and did away with that too, choosing to levitate with her two sons. she took a look at the ancient gem warriors, the earth's warriors and the last of the rebel gems. her eyes skimmed through them until stopping on peridot.

"You..." yellow diamond spoke, pointing her finger at peridot.

"Oh no, she spotted me!" peridot squealed. She hid behind admiral bells, peeking out from behind him.

"Hmm what this? A bipedal sentient cat and a smaller one with...a gem on it's throat. A hybrid, and the gem mother is that citrine gem over there" yellow diamond analysed.

"Mother, that feline is a martian native. Mars was the red planet we passed coming over here. his kind fought alongside the rebel commanders during the reign of the mad goddess, Taffeite" commander olivine shared with his mother.

"It's not the martian that interest's me at the moment son, it's the original rebel commander who was responsible for causing so much trouble for my great ancestor" she replied to her son.

Everyone on steven's side looked to steven, who was looking at connie. she had her head hanging low, when a smirk came over her face. The gem on her chest, hidden behind her armor, shined brightly regardless of how many layers of compressed stone and steel it was hidden under. connie raised her head, revealing glowing brown eyes and mouth.

"It's so good to see you descendant of my mother, the mad goddess taffeite. allow me to introduce myself. I am The Lord of Earth, the cradle which civilizations are born and grow from. My name is Commander Smoky Quartz!"

Steven's eyes, like carlos's and everyone's else's grew wide from the shock of hearing a completely different and older male voice coming from connie's mouth. yellow diamond's face showed signs vex, then slowly turning to anger.

"It can't be true. that commander is supposed to be dead along with all of the others who fell in battle on mars" commander olivine said in utter disbelief.

"Of course he would still be alive. his self-righteousness got him cast down from the royal family and nobility. but he's not as powerful as he once was, at least not without his original body. there's only so much a body made of bone and flesh can produce and endure commander, before finally failing. your famous rings of asteroids would be enough to cause even a diamond like myself to think twice before invading a planet you were protecting. but generating that much earth from such a small organic body would cause that organism you've foolishly fused yourself with to rapidly wither and die. As far as i'm concern my lord Smoky, you're nothing but an empty smoking husk that was once a proud shining powerful star. Jasper dear, where is rose quartz?"

"She's the small boy with curly black hair, i think that's her hybrid offspring. i was confused at firs, thinking she had changed her form, but he has all of her powers my diamond"

"not all of them jasper," yellow diamond corrected her, "hybrids are born with only some, half if their lucky, with the powers and abilities of their gem parent who cavorted with organic life. they all produce different sized auras. You can gauge how much power they have by how much area their aura can cover. I can see the powerful aura the hybrid is trying to hide from my all seeing eyes. you're doing a terrible job hybrid, now be a good little-"

"My name isn't Hybrid, it's Steven Quartz Universe! and i'm only going to ask you this once. leave earth and never come back. If your weapons of terror and crystal skull couldn't do what you wanted, what makes you think your armies and you and sons can do anything!?" steven challenged yellow diamond.

Yellow diamond's face contorted in anger, but quickly became relaxed as she began to laugh. she laughed a big hearty laugh, her sons joined her in laughter as did jasper. "tell me jasper dear, does rose's hybrid remind you of her"

"Yes it does. please my diamond, let me kill him first." jasper asked her leader.

"I doubt he would let you touch him jasper, but he will die along with this planet which looks ripe for a second colonization. listen up you fools! you have three thousand ancient gem warriors, a fusion, two hybrids, old rebel gems and one martian. And your youngest hybrid doesn't look capable of fighting. you do not stand a scintilla of a chance even in a simulation. give up right now or else!"

"Or else what?!" commander smoky spoke through connie.

Yellow diamond crossed her hands behind her back and sighed disappointingly to herself. she returned her gaze back over to peridot and pointed her finger at the small lime green gem. to everyone's surprise, peridot had been flung up to the sky by way of telekinesis.

"Yellow Diamond Stop!" steven cried out.

Yellow diamond's ignored steven's cry to stop and pulled peridot over to her. "aahhh! Help me you guys!" peridot yelled frantically and desperately.

Peridot froze from fear when she was now face to face with yellow diamond in all of her majesty and power. yellow diamond grabbed peridot by her head and turned her around for her friends and traitors to see her cowering in fear.

"Yellow diamond put her down right now!" commander smoky yelled back with fury.

"See here you ancient gem warriors, and pay close attention! this is what's going to happen to all of you in just a few moments. Olivine, Blood Stone, would you please be two dears and execute this failure of a peridot."

Blood Stone and olivine held peridot by each of her forearms and slowly pulled. "damnit we're going to lose peridot. Connie and lapis it's time!" steven signaled to his friend and girlfriend.

Steven pressed his hands on the sandy beach and fitted his gem warriors with a thick layer of wooden armor that covered their entire bodies. connie, or in this case, commander smoky added a second layer a thick layer of steel to their wooden covered bodies. lapis went last and created small guns that fired dense basketball sized shots of water that were attached to the warrior's wrists and mounted on their shoulders.

"Nooo, Pewidot" little whistled cried out her names as best he could, sticking his arm up at her and grasping at her image like a child.

"I'm sorry whistles...i guess I won't be making your favorite tuna sandwiches the way you like em anymore. be good whistles...be good for me." peridot answered, crying.

"Citrine honey, take whistles to the temple with the others and wait there for me" admiral bells told his gem wife.

"No! I'm not leaving you bells. you didn't leave me behind not for a moment when I gave birth to your son. i'll take whistles and leave him with steven's father and pearl, but i'm coming back to help you. it's time we fought together as cat and wife.

Admiral bells nodded at her, smiling. he created an invisible protective barrier around her as she ran back to the temple.

"I am so sick and tired of waiting for this planet to die. If the previous diamonds couldn't do it, and my great ancestor couldn't do it either before the great diamond authority, then this ancient task has fallen on me to complete. Kill the peridot and then kill this pathetic excuse for an army. KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM RIGHT NOW!" yellow diamond ordered her sons and army.

"Yes mother!" commanders olivine and blood stone said together. with one hard pull, they pulled peridot's arms off first. Then her legs went. commander olivine ripped her head off and his brother blood stone held her dismembered torso and expanded it until it exploded, leaving nothing but dust. Commander Olivine held peridot's lifeless head in his hands and squeezed it, while he smiled with sadistic satisfaction at steven and his friends.

When peridot's head was turned to nothing but dust, everything went silent for steven. he couldn't hear carlos yelling at him to order the warriors to attack the incoming homeworld warriors, nor could he hear commander smoky's voice telling him to lead the charge into battle.

Steven's eyes over flooded with tears that ran down his cheeks like a broken damn. he clenched and gritted his teeth and furiously let out a deafening cry of a broken heart.

"You...killed...Peridot. What, what did she ever do you you you biittcchhh! Aaaaggghhhhh! Secret Magik Method: Great Arbor Warriors, awaken and help me!"

Stomping his left foot on the sand, steven summoned an army of one thousand fifteen foot tall oak tree warriors that came marching down from the emerald hills and on top of the cliff. commander smoky erected a similar giant stone statue the temple was fashioned out of in an instant to fight alongside steven's army. but he took this fight even further.

"Commanding Earth Method: Vengeful Earth!" this special earth technique allowed for arms and hands whether unarmed or armed, to erect and manifest anywhere on earth. Wherever there was a solid ground, arms would reach up and grab an enemy and either crush them or eliminate them with a weapon if they had one.

Steven immediately went into his third aura form, his guardian mother form. the image of rose only grew bigger and bigger until she was as tall as yellow diamond herself, shielding everyone inside of her. carlos took this as a sign to go into his third aura form as well. garnet and amethyst fused quickly to make sugilite and readied herself. Smoky created a new helmet just for connie and get ready.

"Gem warriors!" Steven shouted like a commander.

"Yes field commander!" his gem warriors replied together.

"Wedge formation! break through the enemy's formation. arbor warriors! split up into two groups of five hundred and support my warriors flanks. commander smoky, deal with blood stone. carlos, you're in charge of olivine. i'm going after their damn mother!"

Steven's Army vs Yellow Diamond's Army

(Round One)

Homeworld gem warriors and steven's warriors including giant oak tree warriors clashed against each other in the sea. connie took off after blood stone who flew off to one side of the beach, while carlos took off after his brother who also flew opposite blood stone. steven levitated high up into the sky until he and yellow diamond stared at one another.

"When you and your friends are dead, hybrid beast of rose quartz, I'm going to send this hunk of rock to your sun and laugh as I see it disappear from this universe. and there's nothing you can do about it. you were doomed before you were ever born."

The image of rose surrounding steven became furious. her hair had changed into burning fire. Her famous sword and shield had manifested in her hands for one final fight. Steven took off like a hyper-sonic jet, creating not one, but three sonic booms behind him as he flew towards yellow diamond with anger and hatred in his heart. yellow diamond chuckled and grabbed steven's sword just before it could come down on her shoulder.

"All of this because I killed one peridot? do you know how many there are, hybrid?"

"I don't care how many of them there are! there was only one peridot that I knew, AND YOU KILLED HER!" steven swung around and bashed yellow diamond with his shield hard enough to send her flying back, but not enough to cause any serious damage.

Yellow diamond stopped herself from flying back further and became serious. A small aura formed around her, but this small output of energy was enough to cause a storm as large as the whole east coast of the united states. giant bolts of lightning flashed and thunder crackled with fury on a completely different level than steven had ever seen.

It was only for a moment, but steven raised his shield up in the nick of time when he felt yellow diamond move. her fist was stopped by steven's shield, but there was just one thing,

"She fractured...mom's shield!?...no...no..." he thought to himself, surprised and shocked.

"Yes I did" yellow diamond replied vocally.

Steven was even more shocked. yellow diamond could read his thoughts. yellow diamond grinned at him in such a frightening manner, it lowered steven's guard enough for her to land an uppercut on his shield. A mighty blow that sent steven flying up into the upper layers of the atmosphere, close to outer space.

Next Chapter: Pioneers of The Apocalypse