Note: Takes place right after "Beta" and "Earthlings" and during the events of "Back to the Moon"

"And that's how I learned to kick even more butt than before!"

"Wow!"

"That's incredible!"

"What do ya expect from the Kindergarten Quartz That Could?"

Amber's closed her eyes in chagrin—she was standing on all fours to keep her gem out of view—blocking out the sight of Amethyst masquerading as Jasper to fool the gullible Rubies swarming around her.

The rest of the gang's varying degrees of disbelief and exasperation seconded Amber's notion.

On the reluctantly brighter side, at least the Quartz's plan had subverted any further conflict, though Amber knew that would not remain the case for long. Even with centuries of shapeshifting skill under her facet, Amethyst could only assume that form for so long. These Rubies needed to be sent off—soon and permanently, which seemed to be Amethyst's intention despite her half-baked means of going about it. In which case, Amber approached the faux Jasper and gently tugged the end of her long white hair with her mouth to grab the larger Gem's attention.

"Hey, weird spiky thing!" Eyeball barked at the molehog, pointing a finger at her. "Who gave you permission to touch Jasper?!" Her fellow Rubies piped up similar sentiments, all of them as terrifying as a bag of red velvet marshmallows. The fact that she now found out about Steven's nicknames for them via Garnet and Pearl's inquiry upon arrival did little to help the foot soldiers' case.

'Jasper' waved a nonchalant hand. "Ah, it's cool you guys! This is just my...," her eyes sidled for a desperate second, "pet pincushion, so I can keep my hair nice and spiky, yeah that's it!"

...

...

"I can see that."

"Me too!"

"Makes sense."

"Quartzes need their hair in battle, after all."

'Aaand of course you guys eat it up,' Amber mused with a downward shake of her head as she followed Amethyst back to the group for a very interesting private chat.

"Really Amethyst?" Pearl, keeping her voice low, subtly gestured a lithe hand to the Rubies. "How long do you expect yourself to keep this up?"

"Just long enough ta convince 'em to go back to Homeworld and tell Yellow Diamond this planet's good as doomed," the purple phony murmured back.

"Amethyst!" Peridot hiss-whispered in a panic, hands clawing through her triangular hair. "They're going to expect you to return there with them! Yellow Diamond sent Jasper here to report back, not sightsee!"

"That's why I told them about the computer at the moon base! I gave 'em this whole spiel about how I made you guys take me up there, only to get surprise-attacked so one of you could bust the computer up and keep me from contacting Homeworld, and then beat all of you in a super-awesome fight! Totally flawless! That way, I can just ask them to do the report for me without taking me!"

Garnet tilted her face. "On what grounds?" The Moon Base computer being out of commission only meant 'Jasper' would need to report back in person.

And judging by the wide eyes and sucked-in lips, Amethyst realized that flaw as well. "Uh...," she stalled for ideas as she rolled her eyes upward and scratched her cheek, "on the grounds thaaaaat..."

"Jasper?" The purple Quartz jumped with barely restrained yelp at Doc's sudden proximity. "If you're having trouble with the prisoners, we can rough 'em up for you!"

"Oh, that uh won't be necessary!" Ame-Jasper hastily stuck a thumb to her chest. "Trust me I've already got that covered! I was just...interrogating them about what they knew about what happened to Pink Diamond."

Silence fell upon both sides, shock from the Rubies and bated breath from the Crystals. The moment finally broke when Eyeball patted her calf, face empathetic. "We understand. We can tweak some of the details in the report."

"Wow really?" Ame-Jasper shook her head. "I mean—thanks guys! I appreciate that."

"You sure?" Doc, uncertain, walked up to put a hand on Eyeball's shoulder. "What will we tell Yellow Diamond?"

Eyeball waved a dismissive hand at her leader with a confident smile. "Easy. We'll just say her Gem got lost when the Peridot's ship crash-landed." Said green Gem felt her eye twitch at the reminder, even if it was only a fib on her part. She still had her pride after all.

Regardless, Pearl and Garnet shared a look of wonder, as did Amber and Lapis. Maybe this farce would work after all, though they all knew better than to keep their hopes up.

"Besides," Eyeball continued, "somebody needs to avenge our Diamond after that traitorous Rose Quartz shattered her."

"WHAT?!" Of course, everyone forgot one important variable: Steven. His sudden shout startled everyone, giving the incensed human-gem teen room as he marched towards the Ruby Squad. He stomped a sandaled foot in denial. "Rose Quartz would never do that!"

"Oh yeah," Army sneered with crossed arms over her chest, "and how would you know that, human?"

Steven stuttered, now at a complete loss of words, hands balled helplessly and eyes shifting away from the Squad's pointed stares. "Um, well..." He shot a pleading look to the others, vaguely noticing how among the helpless faces that mirrored his own, even Garnet via her pained expression and Pearl who curled in on herself with eyes stark wide and both hands over her mouth.

Amethyst proved quick to improvise as she slid in between the Rubies and Steven with a huge fake grin. "Heeee's...their accomplice of course! Yeah, hehe," she thumbed over her shoulder, "you would not believe the junk these Crystal Gems have been feeding him!" Amber could practically hear the cringe in Amethyst's voice. "H-Humans, am I right? A-Anyway, you guys better get to Homeworld! You know how Yellow Diamond gets!"

Leggy shared a look and fearful shudder with Navy. "Don't remind us."

The entire Squad cast a diamond salute to Ame-Japser, one the violet imposter somewhat struggled to return out of awkwardness but managed before the squad marched back into their Red Eye. Less than a minute later, the ship levitated with a futuristic whir and warped out of sight.

Amber could only blink, taken back. 'Okay wow. That worked out.'

She smiled...until a peek out of her peripherals alerted her to Steven and his despondent stance. She winced. 'Okay almost.'

Amethyst seconded that notion as she warped back into her normal self, concern etched into her face. "You okay there, Stevo?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

Amber begged to differ on account of the boy's continued lack of eye contact. However, he wasn't her ward so she had no authority to address his emotional state unless she had the Crystals' okay, even if for a valid reason. Hence why she sincerely hoped Garnet or Pearl or Amethyst would take the kid aside to come clean about this inadvertent reveal.

Judging by the concerned yet hesitant glances being shared between Garnet and Amethyst and (most alarmingly) the way Pearl continued tremulously sealing her mouth with a shellshocked thousand-yard stare, something in the yellow stone's metaphorical guts told her they intended to do that—and more than likely botch it up.

Eventually, Garnet broke the tense silence as she stepped forward. "Steven—"

"Did...Did Mom really shatter Pink Diamond?"

Garnet shot Peridot, Lapis, and Amber a cursory glance before getting down to one knee and putting a hand on Steven's shoulder, Ruby's gemstone warm on the teen's skin. "Yes."

"Why didn't you guys tell me?"

When the maroon fusion cast another pointed look to the blue and yellow and green Gems again, a scowl cropped up on Lapis as she crossed her arms in defiance. "What? Afraid we'll tell you guys on the Diamonds or something?"

"D-Don't be ridiculous," Pearl retorted with less heat and snark than expected, almost as if she were relieved for the change in subject. "We all know you're neutral parties." Peridot cleared her throat with a self-important ahem, one fist before her mouth and eyes closed. Despite herself, Pearl rolled her eyes. "The two of you, I mean."

"So," the blue stone continued with crossed arms and a challenging frown, "me and Amber showing concern for Steven here isn't good enough for us to be in the loop."

Amber and Steven tensed; Pearl blushed in bright cyan; Peridot and Amethyst darted their eyes back and forth nervously; and Garnet kept her gaze on Lapis, who gladly kept up her end of the staredown.

In classic fashion, none other than Steven stepped in to defuse the incoming fight, coming in between the fusion and hydromancer. "Lapis, Garnet didn't mean it like that!" He looked to the taller Gem hopefully and desperately. "Right? Lapis and Amber have much a right to know what's going on as the rest of us."

Garnet remained silent, gaze unreadable, long enough that the others' faces started to contort in various levels of tension.

Until at last, she spoke. "We wanted to tell you when the time was right."

Pearl wringed her hands over her chest. "And we couldn't exactly tell you the moment you were born either." She met Steven's gaze, stilly visibly shaken. "We're so sorry."

Steven managed a weak smile at the apology before it melted back into a saddened frown. His eyes became downcast. "Did Mom...really have to shatter her?"

"She had to," Garnet affirmed in a stern yet gentle voice, "for all of us to be the way we are now. Or at least," she tilted her head at the sulking Lapis and attentive Peridot, "those of us she could help at least."

Lapis merely narrowed her eyes, hardly moved by the fusion's admission. Peridot cleared her throat in hopes of drawing attention away from her teammate. "With all due respect, this is hardly news to me. Amber shared all the details regarding Pink Diamond and the circumstances around her demise." She turned to Steven with slight guilt. "We had discussed sharing these details with you. We agreed to let the others have that choice."

Amber scrambled to write. I don't regret telling Amethyst about where she came from or Peridot , but considering the tension the former wrought on you all, you could imagine how much more loaded doing the same with you would be.

Amethyst rubbed the back of her head self-consciously. She felt the same way, so she couldn't blame the yellow Gem for her reasoning, but that fact didn't make seeing the hurt on Steven's face any easier. Amber, realizing that as well, stared down in her now fidgeting hands in nearing shame.

"We agreed to tell you on the way here," Pearl hastily yet truthfully interjected on Amber's behalf before sidling her eyes to the sky where the Red Eye had departed, "well after all that business with the Rubies, of course." She looked to Steven with a worried frown. "If you're still willing to hear us out, of course."

The silence carried on thick and heavy. Steven looked around at everyone, eyes pensive, before finally facing Pearl with an innocently stern face. "As long as everybody gets to hear the story, and I mean everybody." His eyes darted to the side, empty space, for a moment. "And Connie, too."

For a split second, Pearl appeared ready to argue—part of her didn't sit well with the thought of her best pupil becoming familiar with the tragedy of war—but one glance at Garnet and Amber silenced whatever protests she had. Besides, her logical side reasoned, it wouldn't be fair if only Steven got the opportunity to learn more about the Rebellion. So instead, the former servant managed an agreeing nod and small though strained smile, one Steven gladly returned.

In turn, Amber pulled her cellphone from out of her bag and left Connie a text message in case the girl had family time or some other activity going on at the moment.

Steven looked downward and rubbed the back of his head. "And Pearl," he panned back to her. "Me, Peridot, and Amethyst have something to tell you guys, too, after you're done."

Turning their eyes away as well, Amethyst chuckled halfheartedly and rubbed her arm while Peridot scratched her face with a finger, sneaking (in vain) a warily concerned glance at her sharp-eyed barn mate.

Garnet, Pearl, Amber, and Lapis all gave the younger Gems stares ranging from suspicious to curious to worried.

"Trust us," the purple Quartz added ruefully, "it's a doozy."

Sorry everyone—firstly that this chapter took so long; second that there's no tearful reunion in space—but at least Steven has one less traumatic experience under his belt!