Chapter Two: De-Throning

Upon arriving at their destination, Emerald looked around at her surroundings. It was definitely a small house, or what remained of one. She stepped off the warp pad and onto the wooden floor as Pearl hurried down to the sand. The house sat below a cliff on the beachside, the sounds of water lapping against the shore reminding Emerald of her original home.

A large congregation of Gems had formed further down on the beach, with the three Diamonds standing before them, and the combined form of their ships rested nearby. The Diamonds seemed to be talking to Steven, and the rest of the Gems were talking amongst each other. "Are you coming?" Pearl asked. Emerald realized she had been staring, and followed after her.

"What exactly is going on here?" asked Emerald. "I thought the Diamonds weren't in charge anymore."

"That's what this whole meeting's about." Onyx and Tanzanite approached. "They're breakin' the news to everyone now. If you ask me, this is gonna go one of two ways."

"Those ways being, those present will either be overjoyed with the news, or this peaceful meeting will soon break out into rioting," said Tanzanite. "Given that the congregation is composed mainly of Crystal Gems, I surmise most will be pleased with this outcome."

"Even still, I'd feel better if we kept our distance," said Emerald, ushering her three companions a short distance from the crowd. "This could still get ugly either way."

After a little while, the Diamonds seemed to have decided what they were going to say. White Diamond spread her arms out, which instantly drew the attention of everyone present. With how effortlessly she could silence the entire crowd, Emerald found it hard to believe she would be stepping down. "Everyone, if I may have your attention," she began. "While I am sure many of you are willing to hear me, I understand that most of you would not want to be near me, let alone listen to what I have to say. However, I humbly request that all of you, Crystal Gems and Homeworld loyalists alike, give me your attention once more."

The much more soft-spoken Blue Diamond picked up here. "Since time immemorial, we Diamonds, and we Diamonds alone, have decided what is best for Gemkind. But in our haste to make these decisions, we have neglected to choose what is truly best for our subjects."

"And as such," Yellow Diamond continued, "we have decided to step down from power." A murmur spread through the ground, but Emerald couldn't tell if the reactions were largely positive or negative. "This will not be an immediate change, but will take place gradually over the next few years, as Steven has advised us. But the time will soon come when Homeworld will be ruled by those who truly understand her people, and can make a change for the better, for all of us. …How was that?" She looked at Steven, who gave her a thumbs-up.

The voices in the crowd grew more focused now that it had been said. Most sounded unsure, for various reasons. But soon enough, one of them rose above the rest. "Then that means…we did it. We won! We won, the Diamonds can't hurt us anymore!" The excited individual was no doubt a Crystal Gem from the war, whose excitement spread to her companions in no time at all. Murmurs soon turned to cheers and hollers at the revelation that the Earth War had not been in vain. Despite the Diamonds' corruption, the Crystal Gems had achieved freedom at last.

Not everyone was happy with this bit of news, as Emerald had been afraid of. Cries of outrage and indignation joined these cheers, almost loud enough to drown them out. "This can't be how it ends!" she heard someone yell. Another Gem shouted "This entire war was for nothing!" Yet another said "Is this really the result of all our hard work!?"

"Everyone, please, please!" Despite Blue's attempts to keep the peace, the crowd of Gems was rapidly splitting into two parties, each vehemently opposed to the other. Even after sharing the same fate for thousands of years, it seemed that most of them were not yet ready to let go of the past. A pair of mobs were quickly forming, and Emerald was worried that the Earth War was about to reignite at that moment.

"My Emerald, I suggest we retreat further," said Tanzanite. "Unless you intend on intervening, in which case I recommend you do it quickly."

If she was going to, she never got the chance. "ENOUGH!" bellowed Yellow, a bolt of lightning flying from her palm into the sand, where a spire of glass was left. Silence fell immediately, with everyone looking up at her. From her angry expression, she seemed to have been aiming for the crowd before averting her aim. She took a few deep breaths as Steven pat her reassuringly on her ankle, before continuing. "I know that for many of you, this is a lot to take in. Not all of you want this–believe me, I understand. But loathe as I am to admit it, our empire has been on the decline since Pink Diamond's…disappearance. Like it or not, the three of us are to blame for that. For much more than that. We've talked, and we truly believe this to be the best decision for everyone."

"So after all of this, after everything, you're just willing to throw it all away on the words of some organic?"

When this question had been growled, everyone turned once more to face who had asked it, including the Diamonds. Those near backed away to reveal a Jasper, the Jasper, glaring down at the sand.

"So many of us gave everything to avenge her. So many good Gems fought and died, all so her sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. And even after finding out what she did, now you just want to…to go back on everything we accomplished?" She looked up at the Diamonds, no longer with reverence, but with burning hatred. "She betrayed us! And now you want to betray us too! This is all your fault." She snarled, glaring at Steven as she stomped towards him.

The Diamonds were on alert at this potential threat, as were the Crystal Gems. "Woah woah, Jasper, hey!" The overcooked Amethyst tried to calm her down, prepared to hold her back if necessary. "Easy there, sis. It's alright, the war's over." Without even sparing her a glance, Jasper shoved her aside, only stopping when she towered over Steven. Rose's Pearl and the Garnet fusion had their weapons ready, but she paid them no mind either.

"Everything I did, it was all for the sake of making up for her mistakes," Jasper said. "Only they weren't mistakes at all, were they? All of the values I held myself to, the ones I thought she held, she had abandoned long before I was formed. I looked up to her, adored her, I wanted to shatter the one who killed her with every fiber of my being. And now…I wish I had."

Steven didn't appear the least bit angry. He wasn't afraid in the slightest. He looked up at this woman who had brought him and his family so much harm, and felt nothing but sympathy. "Jasper…" he said, in the softest voice. "I'm so sorry. For everything that they did to don't you see? All that self-sacrifice, it was doing more harm than good, not just to the Gems that died, but to you also. This is about fixing this. You…you don't have to be a soldier anymore."

"Oh, don't I? I'm a Quartz. I was made to be a soldier. Fighting, serving, it's my purpose. And if I can't fulfill my purpose…then I'm no better than the rest of you off-colors." With nothing more to say, she turned to leave. Steven followed her, reaching out to grab her arm.

"Jasper–"

"GET OFF!" She shoved him away forcefully enough to launch him several feet down the beach. He kept his balance, but the Crystal Gems drew their weapons, and the Diamonds were none too happy either. Everyone stood completely still for what seemed like several minutes in a tense standoff. Jasper, who had instinctively summoned her helmet, let the weapon disappear as she glared down at Steven. "You might have her gem…but you'll never be a Diamond." And she was gone, stepping onto the warp pad and vanishing from sight.

As the Crystal Gems converged to check on Steven, Onyx shook her head. "Yeesh. The whole Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz revelation must have hit her especially hard."

"Indeed," said Tanzanite. "I imagine every one of these Gems must be going through severe culture shock. So much can happen in almost six thousand years."

Emerald looked at the crowd of formerly-corrupted Gems. Although she hadn't been trapped on Earth like they had, and she got to come to her senses for a short while not long ago, she couldn't help but empathize with them, even the ones she had formerly fought against. "There has to be something we can do to help them," she said.

Pearl studied them as well, looking back and forth between Crystal and Homeworld Gems. "Maybe there is," she said.

AN: Hey, remember this one? Yeah, thought I'd finish it up before going back to Emerald Rising.