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.

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.

(!) "I edited the ending just a little bit, and added something extra. So there, no more edits after this one. Peace and Love everyone."

Music Inspiration: "Rose's Farewell" Composed by: Rebecca Sugar and Aivi & Surasshu & The symphony piece from the trailer of "The Last Guardian"

Chapter 46: Gone but not Forgotten

Thursday

September 8, 2016, 8:30 [Night]

The Beach, Beach City

Waking up hours later after the final fight with yellow diamond and her two sons, the dark blue gem beauty was the first to wake up among the sleeping group. Her first instinct was to look around for steven or carlos, who were nowhere to be seen. She became worried when she couldn't find her young hero and leader and future partner anywhere she looked. Her eyes then found greg universe, mr universe encased in a giant red-orange gemstone. She went over to him and fell on her knees, placing her hands on the beautiful gemstone boulder he was inside of.

Touching the surface of the stone for a brief moment, and lapis knew this was commander soren's doing. But his humanoid form had become undone and he had regressed into a more primordial form which was just a hunk of rock that was sentient but without no way of reforming again. Lapis tried to look to get a clearer look at greg, but his whole body had been covered in a film like substance made of red energy that hovered millimeters off his body.

Lapis would worry about mr universe later, right now she needed to wake the others quickly. Pearl was the first to be waken by lapis, and like lapis, looked around and asked where carlos had gone off to.

'"I don't know where either steven or carlos disappeared off to, pearl. But when soren, whose covered greg inside of him, wakes up, we need to ask him. Because I don't remember anything that happened moments to losing consciousness."

Lapis shook garnet and woke her up, helped amethyst up to her feet and gave admiral bells and citrine a helping hand. When everyone was up and moving, all eyes went to greg who was inside of soren's giant gemstone. Garnet grabbed the giant red-orange gemstone and carried him back to the beach house temple. With greg out of commission and commander soren unable to respond until he was done healing greg, days passed, and worried and fear grew and lingered.

September 13, 2016

but everyone's fears and nervousness that had accumulated and lingered in the beach house and temple had been crushed, or at least pushed aside when after five days, lion's body began to glow brightly. Releasing one final roar, as if to call out to steven, he was gone. And his body reshaped into that of the fabled and legendary rebel, the diamond breaker, Rose Quartz. She took her time to adjust to coming back. Her vision was blurry, her steps were shaky and her 'heart' felt heavy for some odd reason. But pushing that feeling that swirled inside of her chest, rose walked up the long steps that soren had made long ago.

The moment which her team had waited had finally, and once and for all, had come. Taking that last step up and surfacing back up into the beach house. Garnet, pearl, amethyst and lapis saw the tall, pink beauty with luscious locks and eyes that seemed to reflect the stars of heaven appear before them. They had all forgotten about steven undoing the lock on lion before his disappearance. Pearl's eyes had over flooded with tears, garnet's glasses vanished and her eyes too overflowed with tears. Amethyst was more shocked than overjoyed at first, but then the emotions came rushing over her.

Lapis was surprised to see her return, she who had been sitting on steven's bed, watched the crystal gems rushing over to her and hugging their long lost friend. Lapis teared up, hugging her knees close to her chest and cried by herself. When asked to come meet rose, lapis glared at them all and laid down on steven's bed, holding onto one of his shirts and continued to cried quietly.

When rose learned of steven and carlos's fate, she wasn't all that surprised but still heartbroken at the disappearance of her son and the father of pearl's child. Rose saw the gemstone greg was encased in and deduced that commander soren had fused with greg somehow, through what process, only commanders knew how. For the next four days, rose took with her everywhere she went , the giant gemstone her husband and partner lied in. she took him to all the places where she loved to visit when greg was younger.

Pearl, this time followed rose everywhere and listened to her divulge all of her secrets. Some were never revealed to the team, or the rebels for good reason, while others were more personal then public.

September 18, 2016

On the night of September eighteenth, when everyone was gathered outside on the beach and talking with one another, greg who was left inside of the beach house was about to come back. First the large gemstone he was inside of started to shake, then cracks appeared all over it where steam and embers escaped out of. The team heard something happening from inside of the house. Rose stood up and helped pearl up to her feet.

With three powerful flashes of red-orange light that escaped the beach house, greg had risen back up to his feet. The clothes he wore were the same he wore when yellow diamond had pierced her hand through his chest. Now, firmly inside of his chest where his heart had once been in, was the gemstone of commander soren. Lapis who chose to sleep for an indefinite amount of time on steven's bed, and not allowing anyone to come close to her, rose up on the bed and turned to see a mane of fire that waving off to the side, that mane of fire belonging to greg universe who had reverted back to the age he met rose quartz.

Her sad eyes met greg's whose pupils were bright with fire and hope. He walked up the steps that lead up to steven's bed and stopped beside the bed. He took lapis's hands and wiped the tears that rolled down her cheeks. He leaned in and whispered something to her ear. Something that brought the closest thing to a smile, one inspired by hope and a tinge of truth.

The team down at the beach had already began to made their wait back to the beach house, to check what all the ruckus was about. Before rose could reach the front deck of the house, lapis busted out through the door and flew up to the night sky and did not stop until she reached her destination. Rose and the rest of the crystal gems all blinked at one another, surprised and curious at where lapis was going in such a hurry.

When rose entered the beach house, and saw a young man with 'fire' in his long hair, turn to face her, she stared wide eyed at him with a jaw that hung down from shock. For a moment, greg universe came through and spoke for a moment.

"Hey rose...sorry I took so long to come back, I-I'm back."

"Greg..." rose spoke, her voice breaking from the emotion of seeing her partner in this age once again, "it's like you...never aged, oh Greg!" rose said shouting from joy and happiness.

After the hugs and kisses came and gone, soren's mind took over and spoke through greg when the crystal gems, admiral bells, citrine and whistles gathered in the beach house. Sitting on the same couch he had been set on when he first arrived to earth, and dealt with leo kunzite, soren gathered his thoughts and shared with everyone what had happened that fateful day.

"I had just finished finding a way out of the dimensional maze, that made up the core of the crystal skull's power. When I stepped out, I saw all of you, minus rose quartz, laying down on the ground. I saw greg here, lying in a pool of his own blood. And high above the earth, I saw steven and carlos being punched and kicked into a portal yellow diamond had made, moments prior to me finishing her weakened self once and for all. Before I took action against her, I asked steven telepathically if he wanted me to save him or his father.

He chose to save his father. He kept telling me that he wasn't coming back, and for a moment I believed him. Where carlos and steven were thrown into was a portal that linked to some vast and unknown location in the whole universe. Locating him right now is impossible, for there is no magic powerful enough to scan the whole universe. The sheer size of it means searching for all of eternity to find them. unless they can get their hands on extremely powerful technology, preferably gem technology, then I can't see them coming back home.

Then I had a dream. Where a gentle space breeze had blown rose petals over to this solar system, which had fallen on the moon first and on the earth second. I had told lapis the same thing, which is why you probably noticed her fly off in such a hurry. I told her of a mound of rose petals that had piled up on the moon. You see when a commander dreams, if ever he chooses to sleep, our dreams always come true. Sometimes the message or vision is not always clear, and sometimes it is. But I don't want to get your hopes yet, yours too pearl. If those two ever come back, you need to know something about space and time. What happens out in deep space, takes time for it to reach the peering eyes here on earth."

Pearl groaned a bit from the pain, but asked to speak, "Are you saying that if carlos and steven ever come back, they won't look the same way as when we knew them?"

"Precisely pearl. Thought I can't say for certain that they will be the same person who they were before, they won't look as they did before. That's all I had to share, and with that I leave greg in control of his body once more."

January 1, 2031

15 years later

In a span of fifteen years, the earth had finally healed and the damage it had sustained during it's assault by homeworld had been taken care of. The survivors of steven's army had integrated into human society. With help from the commander, rose was able to restore the corrupted gems to their previous selves. Releasing them after educating them about the new earth, they too found their own path in this new and human- gem world.

Beach city had gotten larger in fifteen years, losing it's small town feel which gave way to transforming into a true beach city. Large towers and business buildings reach up and touched the clouds. Gems and humans and gem hybrids went about their way, living together, working together, and marrying each other. Driving a new van, one with more seats in the back, greg universe drove pearl and her daughter to her first day of high school. Polyphony was much like her mother in personality, but mirrored her father's appearance closely. Light brown hair, light peach colored skin, and hair styled in a bob haircut. All except the pearl stone located on her forehead, which her father obviously did not share.

"So I hear garnet is working at this high school polyphony, she's been hired to teach humans and hybrids about gem culture and gem history on the earth. Sounds cool, huh polyphony?" greg asked her.

"Yeah I guess it is, hey mom, what do you think of this guy? He's cute, and he goes to his school."

"Polyphony what did I tell you about chasing boys? I don't want you dating anyone until your twenty years old and have a career." pearl replied back to her daughter.

Polyphony turned off her phone and crossed her arms, looking out of the window next to her, muttering "if dad were here, he'd probably take my side."

pearl heard this and chose to remain silent, while greg turned on the radio to break the silence.

Elsewhere, amethyst hung out with whistles who had grown into a fine and kind, if not rambunctious person at times. While their son hung out with amethyst back down on earth, bells and citrine visited mars together to see friends and relatives. With polyphony dropped off at school, and pearl heading to work. Greg returned back home to rose, who was washing their second child. A five year old little girl. Stopping by his home, and walking inside of it. Greg could hear the laughter of his daughter and of his wife. The splashing of water filled his home.

He walked over to rose and kissed her, and kissed ariana, the name rose chose for their little girl. "do you think about him, sweetheart?" he asked rose.

"Always, but as the commander said fifteen years ago, if he ever comes back, he probably won't be the same person we knew. But I will still love him regardless, always."

"Yeah, always" greg echoed rose's words.

Palmyra

Over in the city of Palmyra, connie had become the mayor of a town that grew rapidly as it's neighboring towns. married to Thomas, connie had two children by him, one girl and one boy. when she had fully healed after her fight with yellow diamond, years ago. She needed an entire on physical rehabilitation alone. After the events of homeworld's assault, connie finished school and enrolled into a prestigious school where she learned about law and politics. After running in a mayoral race, all of Palmyra unanimously voted for connie maheswaran, the hero of Palmyra and became the youngest mayor in her town's history.

In her moments of privacy when she was alone in her office, down in city hall. She liked to lean back on her chair and stare up at the sky and wonder, "if steven had remained, would anything be different between us? Maybe it seemed to be promised at first, but life is unpredictable and unfair at times. what's important it moving forwards, no matter how much we want to look back, even for just a little bit."

moment like these were always interrupted by calls or from messages sent to her by her children, husband and steven's friends. Not that she minded of course.

The Moon

Taking what commander soren said through greg universe, lapis had flown up to the moon where she made a promise to herself, to wait for steven. no matter how long it took, no matter how he looked and no matter how much he might have changed, she would wait for him and accept him completely. To make the years go by, lapis had frozen herself in a pose that offered her hand in marriage. for fifteen long years, she remained that way until the day had finally arrived. A giant brown portal with green and pink sparkles opened behind the moon where a star ship had landed on the moon.

As soren predicted, rose petals did fall on the surface of the moon, which were brought by a gust of air that escaped out of the star ship. The light of the space ship's entrance shined down on the surface of the moon where two men wearing space armor made of the colors of black, pink and olive green, with capes attached on their backs and helmets that automatically disassembled themselves, appeared.

"Dios mio steven, look, it's...it's" said one voice that no doubt belonged to Carlos.

"It's...lapis, carlos. I told you she would be waiting for me...i told you" replied the voice of steven, who sounded like a man grown and no longer like a little boy. his voice began to break as emotions of joy, happiness and love came over him when he saw lapis's frozen form.

All though their faces are not shown, steven created a bouquet of roses that he held in his right hand, as he bent down on one knee and held lapis's frozen hand with his left hand. The moment their hands touched once again, lapis began to defrost. She had made sure for her frozen body to automatically defrost when steven's hand touched hers or held hers, if ever. The ice dropped from her body and her eyes opened up, where a smile came over her face, and tears flowed from her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

"S-s-steven? You came back, oh my god you came back!" lapis screamed joyously, lunging herself at steven and hugged him.

Crossing billions of light years to come back home, for this very moment, steven and lapis were finally reunited and would never separate again.

"Lapis, me and Carlos are going to earth next, to see my mom and dad and to see pearl and polyphony. but me and carlos can't stay for long." steven shared with lapis.

"Why?" she asked, curiously.

"Because me and this big guy rule our own planet, together as princes. It's a long story, one filled with dangers, beauty, battles and dreams of home." carlos told her.

Steven picked lapis up and held her bridal style, where she admired him and his large luscious locks, with the one rose bud sticking out between the space of his ribbon that kept his hair tied in a bun.

"Ok lapis, are you ready?" steven asked her, to which lapis nodded at him whilst smelling her bouquet of roses.

Nodding at each other, both carlos and steven along with lapis were gone in an instant, where their next destination was Earth. But forgetting about someone who had came walking out of their space ship, was a peridot who had with her in her hands a holo tablet. She was much like the one in the past, except this one had hair cut into a circle.

"My princes, we have successfully warp jumped through three different points in the universe to get here. Be careful when stepping out...side? You guys left me again!? Those two always do this to me, always, always, aallwayyysss!"

The small peridot threw her tablet on the ground and hopped angrily on it. Carlos and steven appeared again in an instant, with sheepish smiles on their faces and grabbed her. Carlos carried her under his arm and teleported back to earth with steven.

"If I could begin to be, half of what you think of me, I could do about anything, I could even learn how to love. When I see the way you act, wondering when I'm coming back, I could do about anything, I could even learn how to love.

I always thought, I might be bad. Now I'm sure that it's true, cause I think you're so good, and I'm nothing like you.

Look at you go, I just adore you, I wish that I knew what makes you think I'm so special."

- The End

Author's Note: So this marks the end to this forty six chapter story. I want to thank everyone who has followed and favorited this story. Thank you to everyone for making this story great with your reviews and your views. Something else, those of you follow or read my other fan fiction called "Father and Bastards" I want to share something with you guys. I was entertaining an idea for a second part to this story, that was supposed to have steven and carlos returning back to their own planet with their loved ones, or should I say, partners, where they would rule.

It was supposed to be about thrones, crowns, wars and love. But you know what, i'm happy with how this story turned out. Nothing to do now but keep moving forward and focus on continuing existing works and hey, maybe starting new ones.