A/N: That was seriously the best Steven Bomb ever. I really do think this one has my new top 5 favorite episodes.

That being said: Welcome to extreme canon divergence! I'm probably going to just keep this as canon divergent for now (even though I like canon more), but we'll see if I do decide to do an re-edit.

This chapter was amazingly difficult to write and I did a last minute edit to it that I'm hoping works. I'm kind of time jumping a little bit to keep the story moving for the next part. Because holy moly, that next part ...

There's going to be a turning point coming up soon that I'm getting a little nervous writing about because I can either go completely evil or only slightly evil (I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't Clouds).

Thank you for the reviews and follows! I'm hoping to get the next chapter up towards the end of next week!

Feel free to review!

-FourFaces

It had been a few weeks.

The forces of the Crystal gems had grown exponentially and the Moonstone had not regenerated yet. Steven wondered if she could sense the other gems around her. It was probably wise that she didn't regenerate yet.

The Beach House was crowded at nights, multiple gems huddled around trying to decide on the next step to take before the Diamond Authority arrived. Pearl and Garnet were trying to figure out a good way to make the Temple a more welcoming base for the other gems while Peridot and Amethyst occasionally took a gem out to Beach City (much to Pearl's annoyance). The Quartz type gems seemed to enjoy the boardwalk more than the others, though the Rubies thoroughly enjoyed spending time at the arcade (and getting kicked out). The one Labradorite spent most of her free time watching the birds that lived in the wetlands near the temple while the Watermelon Tourmaline would relax near the ocean with Lapis and Chrysoprase.

Greg had offered the use of the barn again to take the strain off of the Temple and Beach House, but Garnet was confident that they would find room for them. They had found room for all of the gems when they were in their corrupted forms. They would do it again.

Steven had noticed Connie was starting to become more tired than usual towards the end of the fourth week of planning, occasionally dozing off in the middle of a meeting, but decided it had to be stress. After all, the Diamond Authority was coming to try and take her away.

He wasn't about to let that happen.

Peridot and Connie had gone out after one particularly stressful discussion (where methods of experimentation were discussed that sounded more like torture). Peridot took her to the boardwalk to try and take her mind off of everything. They had taken one of the Citrines to Fish Stew Pizza. Connie watched as the Citrine devoured an entire pie by herself (to the amusement of Kiki), while Peridot looked on in shock and horror. Connie herself only had two slices (suddenly she wasn't hungry), but did sit and talk with the elderly Nanefua. Even though she was nearing 100, she was as spry as she had ever been. She enjoyed the parade of new gems, enthralled by their stories and experiences. Kofi was hesitant to welcome the gems in, rightfully worrying about damage to his business.

Peridot noticed something off about Connie's demeanor as she poked at her pizza.

"Are you alright?" She asked her friend.

"I think so ... I just don't feel right," Connie started. "Maybe it's just stress from everything ... I don't know ..."

Peridot noted Connie's skin tone was suddenly lighter, more pallid. Her eyes barely hung open and, when she gently touched her, she felt almost feverish.

"Maybe we should head back to the Temple?"

"No ... I don't want to think about what's going on now. I don't want to think about what the Diamonds could do ... or the Alloys."

"Mmmph ... They would be crazy to try to mess with you," the Citrine finally spoke in between bites. "You're human ... I think. Most of Homeworld's holding cells aren't calibrated to your kind and so you could easily get out, destroy their ship ... and that's probably it. I don't think your kind can survive in space ... hmm ... But the Alloys? Yeah, you're pretty much screwed. We all are," she punctuated with a bite of another slice.

"Thanks, Citrine," Peridot groaned. She turned to look at Connie who did not look well at all. "I think I'm going to override your decision, Connie. You need to get some sleep."

As the three walked home, Peridot studied Connie subtly. She couldn't help but notice her physical state seemed very off. More than from stress. There was something else. She just couldn't quite place it yet.

When they arrived at the Beach House, most of the other gems had departed, off to do their own exploration of the surrounding area. Connie immediately went to Steven's bed and curled up under the blanket next to Steven. Garnet walked over to Peridot, her face fallen.

"How did it go?"

"Not well. Steven wanted to try and heal another gem and we had a setback," Garnet said, producing a bubbled, shattered Azurite. "This one didn't heal properly. We'll try it again next week, if we have time, but if we can't heal her, then we'll have had our first possible casualty."

Peridot looked up to the loft. No wonder the atmosphere had been so off. Perhaps that was why Connie was so low. She was feeling Steven's pain. She wondered if their connection from fusing was that strong. It usually didn't work that way with gems, but with Steven, who knew what was possible?

"Labradorite hasn't come back in since then," Garnet sighed. "I remember these two in battle. They were fierce and loyal to each other especially. We'll need to watch her and make sure she is alright."

She nodded and went outside. Garnet was about to follow her when she saw a path. She shot a look up to the loft.

No ... That can't be right ...

It can't be ...

Oh no ...

Lapis watched Labradorite as she stayed curled below the Beach House steps. Lion had moved out from there, not enjoying all of the company from the other gems, so she was alone. Lapis wanted to walk to her, but she opted to just watch the gem from afar. Her head was bowed, her face hidden from view, but Lapis knew she was crying. She watched as Labradorite clutched the gem on her chest tightly as she cursed in the ancient language.

Instead of walking over to console her, Lapis watched, helplessly, as the Labradorite curled up even tighter.

There was nothing she could do.

He was floating, finding himself in his usual dream-walking state. He sighed, not wanting to deal with this right now.

Soon, he was pulled into the darkness, a sense of dread washing over him.

"Interesting ..." he heard a familiar voice chuckle. His blood ran cold. "You're a hybrid. I wondered about this ... It doesn't surprise me that Rose would do this. I am surprised that you are alive. I would have been certain that Jasper would have killed you ..."

He did not want to be here. He did not want to be here at all. He wasn't even sure how she was able to talk with him. Most of the other gems that he had run into that were still shattered did not have coherent thoughts.

"So you refuse to look at me ... That's alright. You know, I suppose it serves me right, to just want to end your second attempt at a rebellion. But everything I threw at you was thwarted. If you had just let the cluster incubate, then this whole quadrant wouldn't be doomed. Sure, your planet would be gone, but your species - the one whose heritage you should be more proud of - would live on ... We can't even use this planet for kindergartens anymore because of you. I can sense the gems you've been healing. The gem energy on this planet is getting to be enough that they will come right for you ... and you won't have enough quartz soldiers or weapons to hold them off. Your planet is going to be involved in a war that there is now no chance of winning. It would have been a mercy kill to allow us to restart the kindergartens. Death is better than assimilation."

He tried to claw his way out. He wanted nothing more that to escape.

The blessing came in the worst way possible as he was jarred awake by Connie leaping from the bed and rushing to the bathroom.

He sat in bed, mulling over what he had heard during his dream. He had refused to look at her, but he started to wonder if she was right. If there was any way to truly save the Earth from a threat he now knew was nearly unbeatable.

He was sitting in bed for about five minutes before he heard the retching. He made his way down the stairs and followed the sound to the bathroom.

Connie.

He waited and watched the minutes tick by. After about 20 minutes, he heard the toilet flush, the sink turn on, and the water run for a while. The water was shut off and Connie emerged looking ragged.

"Are you alright?" Steven asked.

"I think I might have eaten too much with Peridot," she lied. "Or the fish isn't sitting well with me ... Shall we head back to bed?" Connie asked.

Steven nodded and followed Connie to his bed. He curled up behind her, holding her close, and nestled his face into her hair as she quickly fell asleep. Steven was not as lucky. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was terribly off. She felt much warmer than normal, yet she shivered in his embrace. He went through several scenarios in his head, but kept arriving back at stress. That seemed to make the most sense to him.

She could see the pink fluffy clouds again. The atmosphere was soothing and calm, light music playing on the breeze.

She could happily stay here forever if she had to.

She could feel a glow again and turned to see the gem shard on the ground. The same one from the dream she had only a few days ago. She leaned down to pick it up. As she held it, it began to melt into her hand, covering her with the same glow that it emitted. She wasn't sure what was happening and was sure that this should be frightening, but it was not. It was calming and wonderful.

"Connie?"

She turned to see Steven.

"Are you dream walking?" she asked.

"I think so ... Interesting dream."

"Heh, yeah. I think this has been on my mind a lot lately ..."

She felt the dream shift around her.

"I don't want to talk to any more gems tonight ..." he started. "I saw her ..."

Connie knew, without even asking, who he meant.

"Oh Steven ..."

"I'm worried that she was right ..."

The next morning, Garnet had called Pearl, Amethyst, and Peridot into the Burning Room. She had to share her vision with someone, even if there was nothing to be done.

"Would it maybe stop them from testing on them?" Amethyst asked.

"Doubtful ... I can only see one positive outcome and it's a long shot. An extremely long shot," Garnet replied. "I mean, there is one thing we don't have to worry about at all, but that hardly helps us."

"So, what do we do?" Peridot asked.

"We need to protect them. If this is really what is happening, then they need us ... and they may need to get as far away from here as possible-" Pearl started.

"It will never work," Garnet sighed. "Steven would never let us fight alone and Connie won't let Steven fight without her. I just don't know what to do ..."

"When will we know for sure? What should we be looking for?" Peridot asked.

"I'm afraid we won't know until the Diamonds arrive ... We need to find a way to stall them ... or keep them on Earth. Connie won't survive the trip, that is a guarantee. And Steven won't survive that …"

Peridot curled in on herself.

"Were we wrong? Should we have just let the Diamonds blow up the Earth?"

"No. We can still turn this around!" Amethyst cried. "I don't know how, but we have to try!"

Garnet sighed. She just couldn't see this working out.

She wondered if she should let them know of the other vision she had seen. She decided against it, so as not to worry them even more.

The Larimar really wanted to run tests on the bubbled Alloy.

She really did.

She watched as it writhed and surged around the bubble, melting and reforming.

She sighed and went back to her work of studying the notes on humans. She needed to make sure that there was food and oxygen in the ship (something that was not common to gem warships). She also needed to make sure that there would be supplies in case something happened to fully threaten the lives of her test subjects. She had never been able to study a human before, so this was certainly exciting.

The allure of studying an Alloy was even greater.

She looked away from the bubble. Perhaps a walk would help calm her down.

The ship had been stalled in the travel for repairs, the Peridots being assigned to making sure that no other Alloys had stowed away. If they had, then this entire mission would be jeopardized. Blue Diamond had hoped that this would not affect their ability to arrive before the other two Diamonds. Occasionally, she would hear her talking about a "Pink Diamond", someone who was never mentioned on Homeworld. Some wondered if she even existed or was just used as a cautionary tale.

She continued on her way, running into a few Peridots that were busying themselves with checking on different parts of the ship. Rumors floated through the air of a communication leak from White Diamond's ship. How they had stopped to check on a colony and were nearing the arm of the target galaxy, preparing to lay waste to the remaining Crystal Gems. There were huffs as they secretly questioned the importance of this mission. Larimar wondered how many of them were truly aware of the marvel that they were about to discover.

A gem hybrid! How exciting!

But the allure of the Alloy was almost as strong.

She found herself wandering towards the bridge again. She knew better than to bother Blue Diamond now, but she couldn't avoid the nagging feeling. She wanted to study the Alloy so badly. She raised her palm towards the access panel and stopped.

No. She wasn't that foolish. Not after everything that had happened on this journey.

Steven had been healing gems for the past three hours. Tonight, he would try to speak to some while dream-walking, but until then, he was mending shards. He watched as Garnet would arrive with bubble after bubble, several inert gems littering the room. He knew that the Diamonds arriving was serious and that this could signal the end for Connie and himself, but he secretly felt as if Garnet was going overboard.

Connie was laying on the bed, tired and weak. Steven would occasionally take a break from trying to heal gems to spend time next to Connie who claimed food poisoning (which surprised Steven because Fish Stew Pizza was usually reliable). He watched her shiver on the bed during his latest trip up and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

Her skin was scalding to the touch.

"Connie?" he asked.

She curled up even tighter, not wanting to respond.

Garnet watched the scene and grimaced. She wasn't sure if her next suggestion would work (it was only a forty percent probability), but she had to try. She had to try for so many reasons.

She walked up to the loft and sat next to Steven.

"Perhaps you should try healing her another way ..." She smiled.

"What do you mean?" He asked. "I've been using my own healing powers and she's still like this."

"Do what Ruby did for Sapphire," Garnet started. "Whatever is going on, she might need your strength."

"This isn't food poisoning, is it?" Steven asked.

"I don't know what it is," Garnet half-lied. "But I do know that this has a chance at succeeding for her."

Steven nodded and gently lifted Connie's head. She stared into his eyes.

Not a word needed to be spoken, not a dance move performed. Garnet watched as they phased into each other, leaving Stevonnie on the bed.

"Woah ... That does not feel good," they stated.

"Are you able to tell what is wrong?" Garnet asked.

"No. Never felt this way before ... I don't think either of them know either."

Of course. Connie wouldn't know and Steven wouldn't have any idea ... he wouldn't know the first thing about this ...

"Hmm ... how long do you think you could be stable?" Garnet asked.

"I dunno. I've been here a lot more lately, so I suppose I could stay stable for as long as I'm needed," Stevonnie smiled. "They don't unfuse at the drop of a hat or inappropriate comment of Amethyst anymore."

Garnet chuckled.

"So you don't know what this is either?" Stevonnie asked.

Garnet shrugged.

The two fusions sat in silence on the bed, Stevonnie trying to find out what was going on inside them.

A fear ran through them. Connie could be dying. Perhaps she had gotten some strange disease and was going to die.

I'm not dying. I don't know what is going on, but I know I'll get better soon.

I hope so ...

She had only set foot in this galaxy once. A thrill ran through her the closer her ship got.

When she had heard about the disappearance of White Diamond on Earth, she first thought of it as a terrifying place. A place where gems could not possible survive. How could such a primitive species have so much control over a gem? And over the famous Rose Quartz who had turned rebel? Who had renounced her title and essentially renounced her species.

She had a hard time getting as mad over Rose Quartz as any Yellow Diamond did, much less the new one, but she did feel betrayed by her, nonetheless.

I suppose that if it weren't for her, I wouldn't be in the position I'm in now, she thought.

She turned to look at her Pearl who stood faithfully by her side. She remembered stories of the Rose Quartz's Pearl. A terrifying sight to behold on the battlefield, especially if you came too near Rose Quartz. She wondered if this Pearl was still alive.

She wished she could meet the actual Rose Quartz instead of this supposed hybrid. She sighed, reclining in her seat as the ship neared the outskirts of the solar system.

The communicator in the armrest of her chair glowed. She sighed and responded, seeing the new Yellow Diamond glare into the screen.

"We're being followed!" she grumbled.

"Well, what did you expect? You left your Pearl to tell Blue Diamond you were doing this. Did you really think she wouldn't come after us?" The Diamond laughed. "I think this will be fun. We can race her to the planet and wipe out the Crystal Gems before she can land and ruin this for us. We'll be able to finally create an endless supply of Amethysts to take on the enemy at our base in K-66. We can beat them back if we do this right."

"I don't want her involved in this at all!" came the reply. "She doesn't understand these gems like I do. There will be no reasoning with them."

White Diamond sighed. She was just as difficult to deal with as the previous one.

Perhaps this was a bad idea ...