Pain, the pain of his flesh melting off of his bones, is all Steven is aware of until he wakes up screaming, his fist crushing a table and poofing it into pink clouds.
"Room, let me into Pearl's room," he commanded.
A hole opened up in the ground, allowing Steven to jump down and fall into Pearl's fountains. He let himself sink to the bottom, shut his eyes tight, and felt the water running over him help clear his mind.
Later, he opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by partially organized items. His eyes stopped to rest on an old mirror with a blue, teardrop shaped gem in the back of it. The teen moved forward and reached out, taking in the large crack on the gem's surface.
"Are you conscious in there?" He asked, unimpeded by the water.
"Conscious," it parroted. "IN!" It screamed, and Steven's eyes widened.
"Why would Pearl have this? Can you speak?"
"You speak," it quoted back to him.
"I don't understand why you're in there, or why Pearl had you, but if I free you, will you help me? Answer with a 'yes' or 'no'."
"Yes, help me…..Free me." It pleaded, and Steven grabbed the mirror. The water pushed back, forming a perfect circle around them. His fingers wrestled with the edge of the blue gem, pulling it free from the mirror. The mirror itself shattered in his hand as a gem began to form- the first uncorrupted gem he had seen in years. It formed, stumbling forward with glassy eyes that looked up at him and widened as she forced herself to stand, giving a shaky diamond salute.
"My Diamond," she said before stumbling again. Steven grabbed her arm and held her up.
"You're the second person to say that name. Diamonds rule Homeworld, yes?"
"Yes, my Diamond, White, Blue, Yellow, and you, Pink Diamond...Diamond...Dia-," her form flickered violently before righting itself.
"Forgive me, my Diamond!" She begged, her whole body shaking. "I was cracked and you removing me from the mirror which, I believe, has exacerbated the situation."
He crouched down in front of her and said, "Show me."
She turned around, barring her cracked gem to him.
"Hold still," he told her, licking his hand, which started to glow pink as he pressed his fingers against her gem, earning a yelp as it started to piece itself back together. Her form glowed as her wings emerged from her back. He pulled his hand back as she landed, turning back towards him.
"Thank you my, Diamond."
"Look, whatever you think you know is wrong. I'm Steven and my mother was a Rose Quartz,"
"Forgive me, my Diamond, but I don't know what a mom is, and your eyes show any gem you look upon what you are."
"Can you show her to me? Pearl could make images, can you do anything similar?" He asked.
"As you wish, my Diamond," she said, holding her arms out. Water moved to cover the floor, forming a massive mirror. "I saw her once, before I set foot on this world. She was conquering the planet, and Blue Diamond sent me to help. A Lapis Lazuli on a planet that is 75 percent water is a valuable asset. I was to help her in the battle against the Crystal Gems, for a time, before returning to my other duties."
An image of Pink Diamond sitting in her palanquin appeared, Lapis standing in front of it saluting. His eyes widened as he saw a very familiar Pearl standing next to the tall figure, before his eyes rested on her, Pink Diamond. He was surprised to see his own eyes staring back at him, and a very familiar gem resting on her stomach. His hands tightened into fists as he stood suddenly, wiping tears away from his pink eyes.
Lapis gasped, "My Diamond? I'm sorry I've upset you."
"Upset, no, I'm angry. All my mother left me is a war and an army of gems driven mad. And now I learn that she might not even be who I thought she was!" Steven exclaimed, tears falling from his eyes far faster now. Suddenly, a rumble could be heard from outside.
"You stay in here," he said, jumping out of the fountain. "I don't trust you."
His gem glowed from under his shirt and the door opened to reveal three massive hands pointing at the temple.
"Fuck."
Steven walked out of the door to see one of the hands, a green ship, fly off towards the Kindergarten. From the two other crafts, two palanquins emerged, landing side by side on the beach in front of the temple.
Two massive beings stood from their thrones and stepped onto the beach, a blue aura emanating from the gem with the same color.
"Would it be safe to assume that you are Blue and Yellow Diamond?" Steven asked.
"What are you playing at, Pink? Why have you been sabotaging our ships? Why have you been hiding here? And why are you using that voice?!" Yellow demanded.
"Be kind, Yellow," Blue admonished.
"I am not the Pink Diamond you know, but, assuming she was my mother, and knowing she's a liar who makes awful decisions, I'm just going to tell you that Pink Diamond was Rose Quartz."
Yellow choked and Blue's aura strengthened, forcing Steven to have to wipe his eyes to see them.
"You declared war on yourself?" Yellow asked him in shock.
"We tried to shatter her, Yellow." Blue realized, horrified.
"Whatever game you think you're playing, Pink, you need to stop and come back to Homeworld."
"From what I've gathered, we're the same class of gem, why do you get to tell me what to do?" Steven asked her.
Yellow Diamond's eyes narrowed and she said, "I don't like your tone, Pink."
"I don't like yours. I also don't like being forced to cry, is that you?" He asked the towering, blue gem.
"Sorry." Blue answered, her aura retreating as Yellow wiped her eyes.
"Thank you, Blue. Now, Pink, where is your ship? We are leaving."
"Oh, are we? When was that decided?"
"Stop being difficult, Pink, this planet only has a few months left before the Cluster emerges."
His fists clenched at his sides.
"And what is the cluster?" he asked Yellow, gritting his teeth.
"It's a geo-weapon," she said proudly. "It's made from thousands of shattered gems. At least something good will come from this whole ordeal, honestly, these past 5,000 years have been the biggest embarrassment on our great empire."
"Great empire? From what I've seen at the Kindergarten, you're more like galactic parasites," he spat back.
"G-GALACTIC PARASITES?!"
"If the shoe fits."
Yellow's hands crackled with energy in anger.
"Yellow, calm down." Blue pleaded with the other Diamond.
"No, Blue, I'm going to dissipate her form, and she can reform properly back on Homeworld in her room." She said as she threw her hand out, Steven's shield formed in front of him without him having to even think about it, blocking the energy.
"I was hoping that this was another game, but from that shield I see that's not true. You've made fools of us all, Pink," she said, charging forward. She slammed into his shield and smashed through it, surprising Steven as he jumped into the air. Forming another shield and speeding up his fall, Yellow raised her hands up, meeting it and sliding back on the sand. Her hands slid to the edges of the shield, using her strength to wrench Steven out of the air and slamming him into the sand.
"Stop fighting me, Pink, this is for your own good!" She yelled, moving to bring her foot down on his shield. Steven kicked it up into the bottom of her foot, knocking her off balance as he rolled back, launching himself towards her. A blue hand reached out and grabbed his foot, as well as the front of Yellow's shirt, righting her.
"ENOUGH!" She said, dropping Steven and letting go of Yellow.
"We are Diamonds, we shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves like Rubies."
"You're right, Blue, I let my anger get the best of me. It was unbecoming of me," Yellow admitted.
"I won't apologize to you, you deserve far worse than me wanting to put you in a bubble after what you did to the gems on Earth."
"They're hardly the first gems we've shattered."
"Oh, you've shattered more, did you? Stars, you don't even know what you've done." He groaned, frustrated.
"Fine, I'll show you what you did," he turned and jumped up the hill to the temple entrance, opening it to Pearl's room once more.
"My Diamond!" Lapis yelped, falling away from the door. Steven brushed past her, going towards the pink bubble floating above the fountain.
"It's been too long, Pearl," he said, holding his hand out, the bubble landing in his palm.
"You follow me, Lapis, your Diamond is here if you want to go home." He said, striding out of the room back and back to the beach, to see the Diamonds surrounded by Amethysts, Carnelians, and Jaspers.
"This is what you did to the gems on Earth." He told them, dispersing the bubble and throwing a glowing gem into the air.
