Steven?!"

He sighed and started sitting up in the back of his dad's van, he had been napping near the wash. Steven looked over to see Jenny and the Cool Kids staring at him and he couldn't help but sigh again.

"How's the car?" He asked Jenny.

She chuckled, "Dad's pissed, and he blames you. He doesn't want to put blame on his golden child."

"Aw, man, the Pizzamobile is down?" Sour Cream asked.

"That's sad," Buck added stoically.

"Yeah, Kiki ran it into Steven, and tore the front up," Jenny informed them.

"Wow."

Steven groaned and went to lay back down.

"Hey, is this rad van yours?" Sour Cream asked Steven, looking at the side decal.

"I'm the only Universe left after…" He trailed off. "So it's mine." He moved to sit on the edge of the van.

"Look, is there a reason for this conversation?" The pink teen asked bluntly.

"Yeah, we want to see the temple, as payment for the car you wrecked." Jenny boldly told him.

"The temple? There's no fence to stop you,"

"Well, yeah, but we want a ride over and a tour," she said.

Exasperated, he replied, "That's my home, and you want to just waltz inside?"

"Yes, all the adults always say to never go to the temple, that monsters show up there, and that it's dangerous."

"So, of course, we want to go." Sour Cream stated.

"Your parents are right, monsters do on occasion show up there," he warned. "I have the feeling that, even if I say no, you'll just go alone won't you?"

The three of them nodded and he sighed, shaking his head.

"One time, and don't tell Ronaldo. I don't want him knowing too much about the temple, one interview was enough." Steven climbed over to the driver's seat and the Cool Kids climbed in after him. Steven started Greg's van and drove off towards the beach.


The van came to a stop in front of the temple and the Cool Kids scrambled out after Steven, who stepped out and shut the doors after them.

"So, this is my home. Do you want to kick the door in too?" He snarked, walking towards the temple with the trio behind him.

"Come on, I'll show you Rose's room. As long as we don't get stuck, it's usually the least dangerous."

"Who's Rose?" Kiki asked him.

"My mother, she gave up her form when I was born and I now have her gem," he says as they reach the cave.

"Wow, what is that?" Kiki asks, taking the cave in.

"This place would be awesome for a rave," Sour Cream said, looking excited.

"No, it wouldn't be, the warp pad is part of a system, and I don't know how vibration would affect it,"

"Warp pad?" Buck asked, hanging back.

"I use it to travel all over the globe and fight corrupted gems," Steven answered.

"Gems like you?"

"No, they're sick. They're unable to remember themselves, and they need to be bubbled before they hurt someone or themselves." He said darkly and the Cool Kids gulped collectively.

"That's...awful."

"Yeah, terrible," Sour Cream agreed, the mood way down now.

"And this is the door to the temple," Steven said, gesturing to it. "Each gem on the door represents a different gem. Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, and Rose."

"Amethyst? Like my mom's old best friend?" Sour Cream asked curiously.

"Short, loud, and purple?"

"Yeah, that's her,"

"Amethyst was a Crystal Gem."

"Was? I'll have to tell my mom." Sour Cream said sadly.

"She's not dead, just corrupted. It might not be forever," he tells him, more to comfort himself than anything else. Stepping forward, the door lit up and it opened to pink clouds.

"This is Rose's room," he says, and they walk inside, the door staying open. "Be careful, you do not want to get stuck in here, trust me." He adds seriously.

"What are these?" Jenny asks grabbing a handful of pink cloud in wonder.

"It makes whatever I ask," he explains. "Show me Fish Stew Pizza." He tells the room, and the world shifts into the shop with Jenny, Kiki, Kofi, and Nanafua walking around.

"Trippy," she says, touching her own shoulder and watching as it turns to her.

"Oh, you're me?" It asks. Steven dispersed the illusion quickly.

"You don't want to get drawn in," he warns. "Room, I want to see the Crystal Gems." The gems appeared in front of him and Steven winced when he saw them.

"Alongside my younger self, there used to be four of us, and more during the War," he told them, getting lost in his thoughts. The gems disappeared, leaving cloud Steven alone, who grew into current Steven.

"Which war?"

"The War, the Crystal Gems vs the Homeworld Gems, from as much as I can gather." He tells them, ruins forming around them and shifting over and over again.

"Is that how the gems were corrupted?" Buck hesitantly asked.

"No, the War was over 5,000 years ago, the gems were only corrupted ten years ago," he replied, and the world disappeared into pink clouds.

"Room, I want the real door." He demanded, and the clouds dispersed, revealing it.

"Tour's over, you're some of the only humans to have ever visited here." The humans walked out with Steven following after them.

"This temple is awesome," Sour Cream tells him. "And you should meet my mom, you can swap stories about Greg and the gems."

Steven opened his mouth to say something when his phone vibrated. Steven pulled it out, seeing reports of something large heading towards Earth and adjusting course.

"Look, you guys need to go home, I need to work now."

"Fine, badass, but you need to give me your number." Jenny told him. Steven states it off-handedly, a red thing appearing in his vision.

"Keys are in the van, get out of here and park it at the wash." He tells them, voice more forceful than before.

"Alright, but we need to hang out!" Sour Cream yelled as they jog towards the van.


Steven stood on the beach at his true height, staring at the approaching ship that was growing larger.

"A Red Eye?" He asked, staring at the red ship, Rose's cannon resting behind him.

Watching as it started to get closer, the wind blowing his hair and shaking Beach City, he crouched and then launched himself into the air, a pink aura surrounding his body as he slammed right into it. The force knocked it off its course towards the beach.

"The Crystal Gems still stand," he told it. "Earth is protected!" He yelled, forcing the eye to rest on him.

Peridot gasped, falling out of her chair, her eyes wide.

"A gem!?" She squeaked out in shock.

"The Diamonds said all the gems on the Earth were dead!" She exclaimed, climbing back into her chair and slamming her hands into the console to try to right the Red Eye.

"What are you!?" Peridot screeched, seeing the massive gem fighting with the Red Eye in midair.

"Desist!" She demanded through the Red Eye's speaker.

"No, you desist," the other gem snarled back at her.

"Tell the Diamonds that they haven't won! That what they did won't stand!" He said as he started to dig his fingers into the ship. The screen cracked and Peridot screamed and fired the cannon, blasting Steven off. Her eyes widened as Steven's shirt flipped up, his gem visible- a pink diamond.

Peridot stared at the screen, eyes frozen wide, a dead Diamond staring back at her, before Steven launched himself towards the beach.

"PINK DIAMOND!?" She finally yelped out as Steven willed himself to fall faster, the Eye stopping in the air and turning towards him as he slammed into the beach, coughing. The ship followed after him, with Peridot freaking out while trying to figure out what to do.

He quickly lunged, grabbing Rose's cannon, and lifted it under his arm to aim at Peridot.

"If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn't have hotdogs." He said to it, deathly serious.

A massive pink blast flew towards the ship, taking on the form of a rose and then Rose Quartz herself, hitting the ship and tearing it apart. The feedback threw Peridot across the room and showered the beach with debris. Steven stood on the beach as the water rushed back and sighed.


Meanwhile, Peridot pulled up the recording, cycling through it until she got a clear shot of Steven's pink gem, downloading it and the full video onto her limb enhancers. She rushed out towards Yellow Diamond's palace and was stopped by two Topazes.

"I have a report from Earth for Yellow Diamond," she said, and they stared at her silently, not moving.

"Yellow Diamond will want to see what I found, a gem is still alive there. It could jeopardize her Cluster." She explained nervously.

The two gems looked at each other before lifting their axes and pushing the door open to reveal Yellow Diamond, who sat on her throne with a screen in front of her. She looked up to see a Peridot unsurely stepping inside.

"And for what reason would you dare to come here uninvited?" She demanded the green gem.

Peridot eeped, diamond saluting her arms at the massive, yellow figure.

"My Diamond… I am Peridot Facet-2F5L, Cut-5XG. I was put in charge of the Red Eye sent to Earth. It was destroyed… by a living gem."

Yellow pushed her screen out of the way. "What gem?" She asked, voice tight.

Peridot pulled up the image she had captured earlier of Steven and his gem.

"Pink?" Yellow said, her eyes growing wide. "S-she's alive?" She said, emotion seeping into her voice as she wiped a tear away from her eye.

"Send me this image and the recordings," she told Peridot, quickly standing up. "Return to your station to await my orders." She commanded as she briskly walked towards the door, past the guards, quickly heading towards Blue's own palace.


"Blue!" Yellow said loudly, walking into the room. Her Pearl was sprinting by her legs, struggling to keep up.

"Oh, hello, Yellow," the other Diamond said softly. Yellow stalked forward, grabbing Blue's screen, pulling up the video she had just seen, and letting it play out.

"Is this Earth?" Blue asked, her eyes started to water and her aura spread through the room.

"Now is not the time to cry, that comes soon," Yellow said, as a large temple on a beach came into view. A pink being slammed into the camera and fought the Red Eye, whose announcement that the Crystal Gems were still around was heard.

"We failed to avenge her," the emotional gem said, and tears started to form in Yellow's own eyes.

"Blue, watch." She said, wiping her eyes as the gem came into view of the camera. Pink eyes with diamond pupils were visible and Blue gasped.

"Is that…?" She trailed off, seeing Peridot blast the pink figure, Steven's gem coming into view as he fell toward the ground.

"She's alive!" Blue yelled in surprise, arms grabbing Yellow in a hug. Her Pearl gaped, not having seen her Diamond happy in 6,000 years. Blue laughed as happy tears streamed down her cheeks.

"When was this taken?!"

"Moments ago," Yellow told her, wiping a few tears, not entirely sure if they were hers or Blue's.

"A Peridot broke protocol and brought it straight to me. I don't know whether to punish her for blasting a Diamond or to reward her for making sure this didn't get lost in my daily work."

"Reward her," Blue advised her. She turned towards her own Pearl and said, "Send word to the Zoo of Pink's imminent return."

Looking back at Yellow, she said, "Give the Peridot a ship to check on the Cluster. Have her bring the large Jasper and Pink's Quartzes, and Pearls ready our ships. We're going to Earth."

She grinned happily at Yellow, who grinned back at her.