Humanity seemed to have the uncanny knack for ignoring gem weirdness. You'd think multicolored, immortal alien women who wield fantastical powers and spent thousands of years routinely capturing monsters would get more attention, Pearl mused once again. She'd wanted to study the phenomena for the longest time.

If any of the speakers noticed that Rose was dead in her seat, rubbing her eyes every couple of seconds and barely saying a word to anyone, the politicians were more than happy to keep on talking.

"At least some things never change," Pearl chuckled silently, peeking over she shoulder to see many of the other gems were looking bored. Poor Cinnabar was all but asleep while Adamite yanked her hair to keep her from snoring. Peridot was fidgeting her fingers constantly, clearly craving one of her devices.

Steven, on the other hand, was razor focused. He was waiting for the instant Rose needed a break so that he could make a beeline for her, the reporters and cameras not fazing him in the least.

Pearl, above all, hoped this plan worked for his sake. He already had a tough life in Rose's shadow but to resort to violence with her? She couldn't stand the thought.

"This has to be the strangest thing I've ever done!" Yellow Diamond shouted as she grappled with Fulgurite, her hands pushing against the fusion and getting slick by the sea spray made from their struggle. Cracks spread along the hull of the ship underneath them, threatening to break every second as more and more force collided. Yellow very quickly discovered that the battle suit insulated the wearer.

"And this must be some kind of cosmic joke…" the diamond moaned, "First thing I'm doing after this is atomizing the blueprints I made for these!"

"What's the matter, tyrant?" Fulgurite shouted, "Getting tired already? Bet you're not used to a real fight instead of sitting on your butt zapping gems like they're insects!"

"I'm also not used to driveling nutcases!" The diamond suddenly released her hands, allowing the fusion to stumble forward into a sucker punch that sent her tumbling off the battleship and into the frigid half-frozen water.

To a normal gem, this would have been a massive disadvantage. For Fulgurite, it only gave her another opportunity to show that her fused flight suit still lived up to its name. Yellow Diamond then considered herself lucky that there wasn't a lapis lazuli in sight.

And to continue to prove its functionality, Fulgurite fired a massive repulsor blast at the ship under Yellow's feet. The cracks widened and ripped open, causing the two sides to split under the queen's feet and dumped her in the frozen sea as well. The diamond then had to swim for her life, hoping that she would kick up enough water to throw Fulgurite's aim off or that the fusion wouldn't just dive-bomb her.

"This is also officially the most humiliating thing ever now…"

Down in the south, Blue had already made a splash and had thankfully found a deserted tropical island so she'd at least have some solid ground under her feet. A shame it was pitifully tiny for her, giving her just enough room to pivot around to face any oncoming attackers and not much else. She did have some leeway to walk in the water but that made her movements sluggish especially given her robes.

"When this is all said and done," she griped, "I need to look into some new fashions. At least I won't be commissioning murals of myself anymore."

That initial commotion meant that the fighters refused to let up lest she pulled another ambush. The smaller jets were coming at her from every angle while the warships hung back. Blue was no expert on military strategy but she had a gut feeling they were waiting for her to get exhausted so that she'd be easy prey for the big guns.

But she knew she had to keep fighting. Every gem poofed and bubbled was another iota of Rose's power gone. One more step towards a brighter future where Pink brought them together, they could put behind the eons of fighting and she could actually pursue other interests.

There was still that instinct to curl up and cry but that wouldn't solve anything here. Sure, it could blind the oncoming pilots and make them crash but she didn't want more shards on her hands. She had sentenced too many dissenters and free thinkers before and that was a mistake. The old ways led to her being miserable, her subjects suffering and her family almost broken beyond repair.

She could still hear herself swearing revenge on Steven a few months ago, not knowing that he would eventually reveal the secret that would bring Pink back… And reveal that Blue and the others were more than half of the problem.

As three more jets tried to outflank her, Blue raised one arm to fire off a scattershot of blasts while the other fired more precise shots from her outstretched fingers to force them to either retreat or get a face full of kinetic pain.

"No more crying! I'm done wallowing in my own grief!" she shouted inside, "I'll fight on as long as it takes!"

White Diamond fired that first shot, an arcing white beam that forced several fighters to swerve away or being shot down. As she stood there, perched on her ship, watching the scramble unfold, she realized something.

This was a terrible tactical decision. As dramatically appropriate as it would be, she needed some room to maneuver. Instead she pulled the remote control for her ship out of her gem and programmed it to float next to the Galaxy Warp face-side down so that she could use it and the platform itself to get a little bit more room.

Just a touch more, however, since she had already worked out a plan. She watched four fighters rush at her in a cross-formation, coming at her from every cardinal direction.

"I hope they don't sincerely think this will work…" she pitied them mentally, quickly lighting her entire body and unleashing a flash of energy that quickly expanded outwards like a grenade. The ships hurriedly swerved out of the way, two of them colliding with each other as the pilots were completely blinded.

White winced at that, watching in concern until the two in those cockpits bobbed out of the water. This whole "no shattering" rule might have put more of a handicap on her than she thought…

"All the more reason to show my strategic brilliance!"

Three more decided to rush in from behind, skirting low to the water so that they could easily evade only for White's hands to glow and unleash individual beams from her fingers that quickly struck all three. Rather than take the pilots over, however, she simply held back her influence and left the three paralyzed until their ships were forced so skip over open water like oversized stones before stopping.

Now that she made it clear that her powers could still stop them without possession, the ships circling her were much more cautious in their approach. They took potshots but the diamond easily dodged most of them. The ones that hit left an unpleasant warmth for all of ten seconds before fading.

No, White was more focused on the half a dozen warships hovering above like a barricade. After dodging and downing a few more ships, she was sure that they would react.

"I still love it when I'm right!" she thought as two of them pointed directly at her with fingers glowing. They were literally bringing out the big guns. If she could have seen Yellow's earlier stunt with redirecting the blasts, she might have taken that for inspiration but she had something else in mind.

Two colossal green beams shot down at her but White's hands, once again shining with her own power, simply caught them. Unlike Yellow, she held them both in place as her mind quickly ran through the calculations. From the frequency of the photons to the density of the plasma itself, White considered every difference between this energy and her own. It might have taken a supercomputer several minutes to calculate all the variables but for White Diamond? Twenty seconds.

She could relish in that fact later. Now it was time to unleash her own energy but not to push the twin towers of pain back. She watched as her energy did what it always did, assimilate any foreign powers sources into more of itself, and slowly the green started to fade until it became white.

Up and up it went, quickly racing back towards the ships that spawned them with the gunners no doubt panicking. White wondered if they would do the smart thing and shut them off before they eventually reached the rest of the ship and its generators…

The two ships were soon engulfed in white for a moment, the engines going up in massive explosions that made even her wince before falling out of the sky and crashing into the ocean. The diamond shook her head in disappointment. Stubborn to the last like their leader, it seemed.

One of the other warships decided to try a far more direct approach of ramming into her. White, not wanting the Galaxy Warp or her own ship to be pulverized, did the only logical thing she could think of.

She leapt straight at the oncoming skyscraper-sized ship, yelling all the while, and began pushing the entire thing back. White could feel her body straining, clearly not used to physical exertion from a life of managing from her own little abode. She could have used one of those plasma suits Yellow designed for herself until another idea came to her.

Focusing her power down her legs, they glowed white-hot until energy began pulsing out of her feet and quickly gave the momentum she needed to stop the warship and eventually start to repel it. Her hands began to sink into the metal, giving her an easier grip before twisting her entire body around and slowly bringing the entire ship swinging with her.

They tried to change their course or alter the thrusters but it didn't change as White's strength was far too much and sent the entire ship slamming into the ocean. With three building-sized pieces of flotsam bobbing in the water, the diamond looked around at the battle and thought something new.

"Why am I finding this fun? I'll need to ask someone about this potential psychosis…"

Pink Diamond, on the other hand, was in the most peaceful situation possible. She was actually standing on the bridge of one of Rose's warships, having simply booted up her communicator and asked to come aboard. The hard part was lying through her teeth that she wanted to meet with Rose after the summit was over to discuss reforming their alliance.

Unlike all the others, Pink knew she didn't have the power to directly take down a battleship. She had to get in on the inside and sabotage it from there. The big problem there was how she was going to take down the second one flying nearby.

"After all these years, I still can't make a plan to save my life… Or a planet, go figure."

She couldn't call the other diamonds for advice since that would give away the ruse. The Crystal Gems were all occupied keeping Rose in the dark from the very thing she was doing. Even a pearl could at least do something while she acted as a diversion…

"Wait… A diversion?" A smile slowly came to her face. Distracting was something she was very good at.

She turned to the captain, a topaz dressed in a tailcoat and more ornate gem suit, and asked if she and her crew were getting bored with all of this patrolling. It turns out that's exactly how they're feeling and while they understand Rose's mission, they desperately want some entertainment.

Pink then did the only sensible thing she could do in this situation and offered her services at keeping them occupied in case any of the other, not friendly diamonds showed up and they were all too happy to oblige. She immediately reached over to the comms station and tuned the frequency to Earth's radio stations. Making very sure to avoid anything covering Rose's summit, she eventually settled on a specific tune that immediately caught her ear.

She had happened to stumble upon it before and was intrigued by it, more so when Amethyst kiddingly called it the only song all humans liked.

As those first few techno beats started, Pink told everyone on board that they should all join in on Earth's most popular dance. She showed off the movements to them all and let them all get into the swing of things. Soon they were bobbing their heads and swaying until the chorus started.

Dale a tu cuerpo alegría Macarena

Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegría y cosa buena

Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena

Heeeeeeey Macarena, ay

The song was flooded through the entire ship and then even to the neighboring one, giving Pink an even better distraction than she ever hoped. As everyone was completely caught up in the beat, Pink made her away from the captain's chair and over towards the bridge itself. She glanced over the controls and wondered how she could render both ships inert without blowing everyone and herself to kingdom come.

That was when her hand ran over the tractor beam controls, used only by these ships to recover damaged vessels or to apprehend fugitives. An idea was percolating in her head along with infectious beat but she didn't want anybody stopping her halfway. She needed to lure them away but how?

"Hey, everyone!" Pink said over the music, "Who wants to see me jump across spaceships?!"

Everyone cheered and laughed at the idea, clearly still craving a spectacle. As they all ran to the access hatch to get a better view, Pink had the perfect opportunity to hack into the other ship's controls and set the tractor beams to lock onto the other ship's coordinates once the timer ran out.

If nothing else, Pink Diamond proved to be a natural when it came to operating gem technology. Maybe it was the centuries of hacking she did to catch onto the other diamonds' businesses or maybe she was smarter than she gave herself credit for. Once the ships were wrecked, she knew then she would have to bubble several hundred gems before they could retaliate.

"When this is all over, an actual party is in order. Goodness knows we all need some R&R after this…"

Steven's eyes were burning by this point, well over an hour into the summit but the plan was working. Rose's eyes were so drooped that it was a miracle she could see anything. She hadn't said a word for almost the entire time and almost a dozen politicians had done their job laying on filibuster after filibuster to exhaust her.

He almost shot out of his chair when Rose politely stopped this speaker's ramble on the environmental impacts of gem cohabitation for a brief recess. The good lady on the other side of the podium encouraged the mother gem to take all the time she needed before they resumed. Steven contained himself enough to not leap out of his chair. Instead he followed into a small backstage corridor with Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst following behind him.

"Hey, Mom, are you alright?"

"Oh, Steven," Rose sighed, blinking away the spots in her vision, "I've just got this horrendous headache."

"I mean, I can get why," Amethyst breezed, "All these bigwigs using their fancy words would drive me nuts too…"

"No, it's not just that… I can't help but feel something is seriously wrong. It makes me wish Pink Diamond were here."

"Why's that?" Garnet asked.

"Well… We parted so badly. All I can think about is how I betrayed her trust. I wish I could make it up with her…"

"Even if she wants to make peace with the other diamonds?" Pearl asked, hoping that the sweat dripping down her brow wasn't too obvious.

"I… I know it's what she wants but…"

"Mom, I get that it's really hard to forgive someone when they've hurt you. I really do."

Rose looked confused until he caught the serious look he was shooting her. A wave of guilt slammed into her as she remembered how she lashed out at him, even trying to stand against him. She looked at the others, seeing the same chastising look that made her realize exactly what they were all talking about.

"But," Steven picked back up, "We all need to move forward, you know? It's really easy to just hurt someone who's hurt you but that doesn't mean you have to be like them. I… We know you're better than that."

The mother's legs suddenly gave out, dropping her onto her knees. Whether it was from the swirling pain in her head or the tsunami of regrets she had, she didn't know. She now looked her son in the eye, placing a hand on his cheek.

"S-Steven… I'm so… W-What have I been doing?"

The Crystal Gems couldn't believe it. She was coming around! They wanted to celebrate but they all remained calm. They knew Steven needed to finish this. He was about to say more about how she could move on, they could all be a family, this whole ordeal would finally be over!

Except he didn't. He desperately wanted to say all of that and more only for a single question to come out.

"Mom, why are you feeling up my face?"

Rose didn't answer, her hand continuing to move around that same cheek she just touched until she suddenly pinched a spot and ripped off the communicator. Him and his guardians all went stiff as boards as the mother held the little chip in her hand, inspecting it with an icy stare.

"Steven, why do you have this on?"

"Ummmm… I left my phone at home?"

"You're an awful liar, Steven," she chided, "And you should know better than that. Besides, if all of the gems are here, then why would you need this?"

She then looked at the others, pointing a finger at them before a thin pink laser shot out and hit all three of her cohorts in the face. All of them winced in pain but the now fizzling communicators falling to the ground made them all wish they had been poofed.

Rose simply looked down, her hair shading her eyes, before asking in the most tranquil voice possible, "Where are the diamonds right now?"

That made everyone, even Garnet, start sweating. Nobody wanted to answer that as Rose drew herself to her full height and then hovering above all of them.

"If one of you doesn't tell me, I'll go out looking for myself."

"R-Rose, please try to remain calm," Pearl shivered, "T-The Diamonds aren't up to anything-"

"Then why is the same weakness coming over me like when that Chrysoprase defeated my gems? Coincidence?"

Steven felt the urge to hide behind his shield but he resisted. "Mom, come on, it's just-"

"They put you up to this…" the mother whispered, aghast, "All of this… The summit is a ploy to lure me away while they…"

"Rose, just listen to us…"

"YOU ALL LIED TO ME!" She slammed her fist into the wall behind her, the entire thing crumbling under her power. Steven had to hastily put up a bubble around his family so they didn't get flattened by debris. Rose didn't give them another chance as she flew straight through the ceiling, that ferocious pink glow around her as she blazed away.

"We need to get her, now!" Steven panicked, running out to the audience where the reporters and summit guests were already fleeing in case the building collapse. The half-gem only shared a glance with Connie, her instantly understanding and running alongside him out the door.

"Where are they going!?" Priyanka gasped.

"Stevonnie is the best chance of slowing her down," Garnet told her, "We need to get moving ourselves. Rose is going to scramble her troops and we need to cut off as many as possible. Greg, get your suit!"

"Right behind you!" he called, rushing out to the vehicle that brought them all to do just that.

"Peridot, get yourself onto the Beacon ASAP! We'll need a ship of our own to have a chance at stopping them!

"Can do!" the techie saluted before rushing over to the nearest person's cell phone and literally beaming herself back to the ship.

"You seem oddly gung-ho given the circumstances," Adamite noted as the entire team poured out of the building, "I'd have thought given the scope of the battle, you'd be petrified."

"Oh no, we're all crapping our pants," Amethyst chuckled, "It's just that the world is doomed and we're all gonna die if Rose wins so it's business as usual for us."

"Heh, just like old times…" Bismuth sighed wistfully leaving Lapis looking baffled.

"What kind of freaks are all of you?"

"My kind of freaks, that's what!" Cinnabar hollered, "Now let's get out there and roast some butt!"

As insane as it sounded, Lapis soon found a smile on her fact. What a strange feeling, optimism was. The fact that she was in between the love of her life and her best friend helped. Still, she wished Steven and his friend the best of luck. Knowing Rose's power, they would need every advantage they could get.

The instant they were outside the convention center, Steven and Connie joined hands and Stevonnie was formed a second later. As they leapt into the sky, their body was consumed in a golden flash as their full power was unleashed before rocketing off after Rose. They hated that it had come to this but the fusion knew negotiating was out the window. If Rose really wanted a fight, they'd just have to give her one.

Thankfully she was easy to follow given the path of broken clouds as she flew, quickly making her way across the states and out towards the Pacific Ocean. Stevonnie clicked their tongue. Rose was heading straight towards the Galaxy Warp and White Diamond.

Stevonnie poured on the speed as they flew over open ocean, the sky darkening as they crossed different time zones until they could make out a glittering pink comet in the distance. Now the easy part would be getting her attention.

Taking in the deepest breath possible, Stevonnie belted out a single word loud enough to shake the sky.

"STOOOOOOOOOP!"

That did the trick as the bolt of pink power quickly redirected itself until Rose was floating a few feet away from them.

"So, you aren't wasting any time," Rose said plainly, "Steven, Connie, I understand that you both want this to end but are you fully prepared to do this?"

"Are you?"

"Excuse me?" The mother quirked an eyebrow at that.

Stevonnie brought their index finger and thumb an inch apart. "I was this close to shattering White Diamond, Rose. Seconds away from ending her life. And you know what would've happened if I did?"

"None of this chaos would have ever happened."

"Exactly. You'd still be in Steven's gem, we'd all be going on with our lives and the entire gem empire would have collapsed."

"Are you trying to say that like it's a good thing? You-!"

"And what about Pink?" Stevonnie left a nice long pause to give Rose a chance to retort that but she didn't have one.

"Let me take a guess at what would have been… We'd have to unbubble her, she'd naturally ask about you and Steven would have to let the cat out of the bag that you were dead. Can you imagine the heartbreak she'd feel, knowing your entire plan blew up and now she had no one. And that White was dead?"

"She hated White Diamond!"

"No, she hated the way White and the others treated her and looked down on her. She clearly wanted their affection again. You know, like she was about to accept at that gem summit that you hijacked because you hate the diamonds and you assume Pink does the same."

"Are you accusing me?!"

"No, that would imply there's a possibility that someone else is responsible. I'm flat-out saying this is all your fault and…"

Rose fired a laser right at Stevonnie, but they hastily dodged to the side without skipping a beat. "You are the one who keeps dragging this feud out more and more because of your grudge!"

More blasts from the mother's fingers tried to hit Stevonnie but they raised a shield and blocked but they wouldn't stop even as their arms burned from the strain. "And now you've gotten so mad with power that you're willing to lash out at anyone and everyone who disagrees with your including your best friend and your only child. What does that say about you Rose, huh?!"

The lead rebel stopped her onslaught at that, her head still swimming as she could feel fragments of her power starting to fade. She was part enraged as she knew the diamonds were behind it but the rest of her thoughts were getting clearer. Was she taking all of this too far? Has she already crossed that line? Why was she having such a hard time remembering all of these things?

Stevonnie floated up to her slowly, their hands raised to make it clear they were empty. "I get what it's like to hate. I really do. Remember how Steven felt when he shattered Jasper? And imagine how Connie was when that topaz killed her father… It isn't easy to let go of your anger but it's definitely better than the alternative."

"What about Aquamarine?" Rose brought up, "Steven chose to let that little clod get pulverized."

"He did, and part of him still wishes he could have convinced her." This made Rose gasp in shock. Her son still saw hope in that miserable blue dwarf? Now she could clearly remember when she told Steven about her entire friendship with Pink and how they wanted to reform the empire and live peacefully.

"I… I just wanted to fix all of this…" she mumbled, her entire body feeling weak all of the sudden. Stevonnie placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"You still can."

"No… Not just the empire, or the diamonds… I wanted to fix my mistakes…I didn't want to be a failure anymore…"

"Huh? You're not a failure."

That finally got the shell to crack as Rose burst into tears. "YES! I! AM! I've failed everyone! The rebellion failed! All of my comrades, my family, DEAD! And now they're all ashes thanks to that orange CLOD!"

"My best friend, the only person I didn't have to be the perfect leader around, stuck in a treasure chest for millennia because of me!" she sobbed, "Sh-She'll never get those years back! She can't age but she could have tried her own way…"

Stevonnie wrapped their arms around the bawling gem, not saying a word and letting her release all of this.

"I do hate them… With every fiber of my being, I despise the diamonds and everything they stand for. And seeing them change, to willingly put down their arms and just surrender after all the pain, the sacrifice… It makes me hate myself…"

"Why?" Stevonnie asked, no judgment in their voice.

"Because you were right… There was a better way. You came so much closer to my goal than I ever did, and I had to watch. Jealousy doesn't even begin to describe it. I finally saw White Diamond, the cancer that infected me and so many others, inches away from finally meeting a just end only for you to turn away. I wanted to scream at you, demand that you finish her before she got up and almost fried you!"

"She did attack me but wouldn't you do the same?"

Rose looked up, aghast until Stevonnie finished that thought. "If you were at the edge of life or death, wouldn't you do anything to survive?"

Her gaze filled with shame at that. "Y-Y-Yes…"

"Rose, look at me, you are not a failure. You want to know why?"

The pink-haired rebel simply remained silent as Stevonnie gave a reassuring smile. "Because the Earth is still here. Humanity owes everything to you and the Crystal Gems. You founded the only successful gem rebellion in history! Earth would be a lifeless husk without you!"

They pointed down at the ocean beneath their feet. "Every living organism in these waters should be thanking you! Every animal on land, every bird in the sky and every person who has lived for thousands of years now owes their lives to you! That's billions you've saved, Rose, not including the hundreds of generations of people that aren't here anymore!"

Stevonnie looked and saw the gears in Rose's head were finally beginning to turn, actually processing what they were saying.

"Then why do I still hurt so much?" she asked finally, "Why does everyone think I'm a success, but me?"

That took the fusion by surprise but it made a little too much sense but they still had an answer. "Because when you look in the mirror, all you see is yourself. You don't see the people standing behind you, the ones who love you and will follow you to the end of time. The Crystal Gems don't see a failure, Rose. They see their founder, leader, their greatest strength and that was long before you had all of this power."

"The original Crystal Gems didn't look up to you because you could annihilate your enemies. It was because you helped them, saw them as something besides being a cog in a war machine and you helped them see that in themselves. Pearl isn't just a simple handmaiden, Garnet isn't just a cheap tactic, Amethyst isn't just a defect and you are not a failure, Rose. You know all of them, especially Pink Diamond, would tell you the same thing."

More tears flowed free from Rose's eyes. She suddenly felt tired, no doubt a result of more of her troops falling, but there was a new weariness to it. It was like her body remembered how old she was just now and decided she needed a nap.

"I… I want this to stop…"

Stevonnie could sense a 'but' coming…

"But I worked so long and hard to get here. To just surrender now…"

"Then let's settle this…"

Rose looked confused as Stevonnie backed away, moving until a dozen feet of space was between them.

"If you can defeat me, then I'll give up. Go after the diamonds, do whatever you want but I'll allow it."

"Really? You'll agree to that?"

"We both know I'm the strongest one out of all of us so if you beat me, nobody else will get in your way. But you better be ready for the consequences if that happens…"

Rose mulled that over for a moment before asking, "And if you win?"

"Then you agree to stop all of this. Because if you can't beat me this time, I'll just keep stopping you every single time until you finally make nice."

A slight smile tugged at Rose's lips. "You're starting to sound like a leader."

"I am technically your kid, after all. Between you and Dr. Mahesweran, is it any wonder?"

Rose chuckled at that, a resolution soon filling her eyes. She looked and saw that exact determination in Stevonnie's look. They both nodded, agreeing to this little wager. Whoever won this would officially set aside their beliefs. It just so happened that they would also decide the end of the war currently going on between Rose's troops and the Crystal Gem/Diamond alliance.

"Ready?" they asked at the same second, giving them all they needed. Both fighters rushed ahead, the ocean shaking underneath them as they each readied their first punch.

4 chapters left. It's time to finally throw off the gloves and get the endgame moving. Prepare for one hell of a climax!

Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave any questions or comments below.