Later than I wanted to post it, but here's the next chapter.. and I guess theres one more after this, so I can wrap it up nicely, sigh.
Hope you like this chapter though!
Steven was already regretting the late night movie watching session with his dad. He had gotten back late and then spent several hours talking with Peridot about the escape pod he was working on until Pearl shooed him off to bed. And after that, well he couldn't sleep so he picked up that series that Connie had recommended him. It was good, if a bit silly.
He woke up mid-morning to the sound of a robonoid alarm going off. Which wasn't unusual, sometimes corrupted gems that attacked the temple in Beach City drifted up here, they'd be taken care of in a bit, either by the Crystal Gems or Jasper. Not like he was supposed to help anyway, not until he could summon his weapon, or throw lightning reliably. Steven sat up lazily, carefully moving and marking his place in the book that was splayed out on his chest.
By the time he was rummaging for clean clothes, he could hear Peridot panicking in the main room of the ship. There were no sounds of gem monsters outside though, which was kind of weird. He slid his sneakers on and heard an unfamiliar voice yelling.
"Yellow! Are you in there?" Steven frowned and tried to angle his head around the edge of the window frame to look at the front door. He didn't see anyone but the door opened, and a scant few seconds later there was a lot of talking. Steven frowned, straightened his shirt and walked through his bedroom door.
"I don't care about how long she's been gone," The voice continued, Steven leaned over the railing and looked down. The voice matched a... He wasn't sure what type of gem that one was, an off color maybe? She was as tall as Garnet with brown skin and black hair that kind of looked like an oil slick after rain. Her gem was on her forehead and it didn't match the rest of her colors. The other one was a pearl, pink, kind of the same color as Rose's hair, definitely more fancy than his pearls. But these were two different gems! They had to be from Homeworld, and they had to have a ship! He wondered if he could take a look at it before they left. He noted the tense looks between Jasper, Peridot, and Pearl, there was also the question of what they were doing here, that might be a bit more important.
"Guys?" He finally said, interrupting the brown gem. "What's going on?" All the eyes in the room snapped up to him, Pearl looked even more panicked, the pink pearl's eyes went wide and the brown gem... paled? Like the blood had drained from her face, why would she imitate a human fear response, that didn't make any sense.
"Oh frack me." The brown gem swore. The last time he had heard that particular swear, Jasper had received the most ferocious scolding from Pearl that Steven had ever heard.
"Steven!" Pearl said nervously. "I thought you were still asleep..."
"Yellow Diamond, I presume?" Pink Pearl asked Steven. The brown gem was still staring at him.
"Uh... My mom was," Steven fiddled with the edge of his shirt. "So I guess I'm kind of Yellow Diamond- but I'm not my mom, my name's Steven. If that makes sense."
"Yes." The brown gem said bluntly. She looked at him disbelievingly, despite the fact that she said his explanation had made sense. Steven wondered if he needed to elaborate. "I mean, it makes no sense at all but... Shards, frack, shale." The brown gem groaned and rubbed the setting of her gem. "Sorry, I need a moment." She said before exiting the ship quickly.
"Who was that?" Steven asked, descending the stairs quickly. Pink Pearl looked between him and Pearl with a look on her face that was somehow more surprised than it had been before.
"That is... Domina, White Diamond." Pink Pearl said finally, before quickly exiting the room. Steven's first reaction was that this 'Domina' didn't really look like a diamond, she just kind of looked like... well Steven didn't exactly have a wide sample size to say someone was a normal gem, but the statement still stood. His second reaction was that Domina wasn't even a gem name.
"She's..." Steven stopped himself. That wasn't even possible. How... how had Pearl not told him? Why had Pearl not told him?
"Another hybrid?" Peridot blurted. "White Diamond is a hybrid? That's impossible?"
"Why? We have Steven." Jasper said, folding her arms.
"She is." Pearl said.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Steven asked. "She's like me! When you told me about the diamonds you didn't think to mention that White Diamond was half human?!"
"Steven, There was little chance of you two meeting and it wasn't as if Domina is exactly common knowledge."
"But you knew!" Steven snapped, the hair on his head started to stand up and everyone in the room collectively took a step back. Steven grumbled and shook his hand, the electricity arced off his hand onto the ground, no more powerful than a static shock. "I'm going to talk to her."
Outside, Domina wasn't anywhere to be seen, which was concerning. Steven had to wonder if she had already left.
"Up here." Domina said after the door had shut behind him. Steven looked up and then turned around to see Domina sitting on one of the ship's fingers, actually the one by his bedroom. Pink Pearl was next to her with an arm around Domina's shoulders, the way Pearl sat with Steven sometimes. "Steven, right?" She said, she looked upset but still smiled at him. She had to have known his mom, and of course his mom hadn't told her about him, otherwise she wouldn't be this upset.
"Yeah." He said, then looked around, there were no easily accessible routes to that part of the outside of the ship. "How'd you get up there?"
"Flew." Domina said with the same intonation that someone else might say walked. "Hold still, I'll bring you up."
"What?" Steven frowned. "Ho-" He was cut off by his clothes billowing around him as he felt himself picked up by an unbelievably strong gust of air. He was deposited next to Domina.
"Sorry about earlier, I... this wasn't at all what I was expecting when we landed." Domina said.
"Yeah, were you guys close?" Steven couldn't remember a lot of what Pearl had said about the other diamonds. He knew that Blue Diamond was still grieving the loss of Pink Diamond, and that Pink Diamond had once owned the Earth but had been shattered by Rose Quartz, something he was still processing. But, other than saying that White Diamond oversaw the empire's colonization efforts, Pearl had been silent on the subject of White Diamond.
"Well..." Domina said. "I was certainly closer to her than I am with Blue Diamond. I spent 12 years with her on Homeworld, learning how to be a Diamond." Domina actually looked at him then, giving him a crooked smile. "We rarely saw eye to eye on anything though, your mother was stubborn." Steven chuckled.
"Yeah that's what dad says..." Domina smile faded slightly.
"How old are you?" She asked.
"Fourteen." Steven paused, there was really only one good follow up to that question. "How old are you?" Domina laughed.
"Stars, I'm... somewhere over four thousand years old." She said, still chuckling. Pink Pearl sighed.
"Four thousand six hundred and thirty two. Domina if you do not need me here I'm going to speak with Yellow... Diamond's pearl." Pink Pearl's eyes flickered over to Steven briefly, to gauge his reaction. Steven didn't know what his reaction was supposed to be, so he just smiled. Domina nodded and with another gust of wind, Pink Pearl was on the ground, Steven tried not to be envious about the control she had, she had probably accidently fried a lot of computer systems in her time, or... like blown them over or something.
"Can you tell her I'm not mad, not at her at least?" Domina called after Pink Pearl was on the ground. Pink Pearl nodded once, before re-entering the handship.
"That's so cool." Steven finally blurted. "Whenever I use my gem powers I just make my hair stand straight up."
"I have a lot of practice, you'll get it eventually."
"That's what Rose says." Steven sighed. Domina tensed momentarily.
"Rose?"
"Rose Quartz, she's the leader of the Crystal Gems." Steven said, then had a thought, Rose should meet Domina right? If the Crystal Gems really wanted peace with Homeworld then Domina was in a better position to offer it than he was. Then again... Rose apparently did shatter Pink Diamond, plunging the empire into chaos. So maybe they shouldn't meet. "How did you get to Earth?" Steven asked, changing the subject. Domina didn't seem easily distracted but she answered his question.
"My ship's docked that way." Domina gestured towards the opposite side of the ship, away from Beach City. "Rose Quartz, she's here, and Yellow- Your mother knew?"
"Yeah..." Steven said, "Mom asked her to keep an eye on me I guess."
"What, that..." Domina paused for a moment, then there was another controlled gust, that deposited them both on the ground. "Would you take me to meet her?"
Where was Domina even supposed to begin with all of this shale? Yellow wasn't here. That was a good starting place, one she could work with. She was back at square one, Homeworld still really only had two (ok realistically more like one) diamonds. Changes were going to have to be made, especially considering...
Especially considering Steven. Yellow had given up her form, just like Domina's mother had, but she hadn't told anyone? Not even Domina who... stars she could have helped with something... anything. The moment Domina realized she was going to have to tell Blue she felt a headache coming on.
And to top all of this off, Rose Quartz was here. The shatterer of Pink Diamond was still alive, still on planet, and Domina didn't know what to feel about that. She didn't really understand war. The colonization fleet didn't fight wars, they just fended off wildlife on occasion. But she knew that losses were to be expected on both sides, especially on the side that lost. And there was no doubt in her mind that The Authority had lost the battle for Earth. She also knew that they hadn't lost with grace. If Rose Quartz was here, and Yellow had known that she was, then Domina wanted to know why.
Steven took her through town, cheerfully pointing out the various shops, waving to people he knew. It was strange to see someone with a yellow diamond in their chest this cheery. Domina could count on one hand the amount of times Yellow had smiled in front of her. Steven though seemed happy, excited when he talked about the things he was studying, and above all, relaxed, which was such a nice thing to see in Yellow Diamond's... son.
Steven led her to an area near the ocean, around a hill that revealed a giant statue, in the center of which was a warp pad and a single entrance multidimensional chamber, keyed to a few different gems.
"This is the temple," Steven said, walking right up to the door and knocking. "Amethyst is probably around, and hopefully Rose too." Domina nodded and took note of the other gems in the activation plate. A ruby, a sapphire, and a pearl. Stars, this day was just getting stranger and stranger. The door opened and in it's entrance stood a pink gem. Definitely one as big as a quartz.
Domina knew quartzes though. There were the gems that she was overwhelmingly closer with. She knew their base gemetic code almost by heart. She knew the way that their gems reflected the light.
"Hey Rose!" Steven said, grinning up at... Rose Quartz.
"Steven! What a surprise, who is your-" Rose trailed off as she focused on Domina. Domina watched Rose's eyes focus on the gem in her forehead, and then saw realization dawn in those same eyes. "...friend."