"Are you sure about this?" Pearl hissed to ruby as Lapis said her goodbyes to the children "it's not too late-"

"You said it yourself Pearl." Ruby whispered back "we can't fight her. So, we need to trust her. We don't have a choice."

Pearl wrung her hands "I did, your right, but-"

"She doesn't want to hurt us. We can't lose that. We can't."

"I could-"

"If she sees you, she'll take out the whole beach. The children are here."

Pearl barely held in a scream of frustration. It was hopeless. They were helpless, they had made the wrong choice to release her, they had failed to inspire her to stay and now they were stuck between letting her fly to Homeworld and tell them everything or try to bubble her and lose and have her destroy beach city in response.

Ruby was right, at least if they let her leave perhaps, they Could plan something. Find some way off of the planet. Or set up a defense, or something. She didn't know. But she knew if they fought her now Steven would likely be shattered. Ruby and herself as well.

Lapis walked over.

"Thank you," she said, "You have helped me so much."

And this is how you repay us. Pearl wanted to yell. "We just wish you would stay."

"I know. But I can't."

Pearl almost felt bad for her. She would never have stayed on this planet if Rose wasn't staying. If she didn't belong at Rose's side above all else. But this Lapis was endangering Rose's legacy. Endangering Pearl's friends. "We know," she said.

Ruby cut off their conversation by throwing herself around Lapis's legs. "I'm going to miss you." She said, Ruby wasn't much of an actor, so Pearl thought she was being genuine, although she had surprised her recently.

"I'm going to miss you both as well. Thank you for everything." The lapis pulled away from Ruby and took off. Ruby took Pearl's hand almost at once. Stopping her from attacking. Pearl calculated every wing stroke as she flew away, until Pearl could no longer reach her. Still, she watched. Calculating her trajectory until she was out of sight. Finally, Pearl sighed "she's gone."

"We did the right thing." Ruby said.

"We did the only thing we could do." Pearl said.

They brought the children to Fish Stew Pizza, too tired to entertain them. Nanefua came out to sit with the children, sensing the gems couldn't deal with them right now. Reassuring the children that Lapis would always remember them.

The gems sat at a table away from them, silent, almost still, only the occasional fidget betrayed their fear. They switched between staring at the children and looking out the window. The clear blue sky seemed in stark contrast to their emotions.

Nanefua kept the children busy for a few hours before Steven slipped over to the gems. "Are you okay?" He asked them.

"We're fine Steven. Fine." Pearl answered quickly, too quickly.

"What's up, Buddy?" Ruby asked.

"Lapis showed me something."

Oh dear. Pearl thought.

"Were...were there more gems than just Mom before?"

That…had not been what Pearl expected. She glanced at Ruby to see how she was handing the indirect mention of Sapphire. But Ruby was looking at her, looking for an answer on what to say. "Yes. There used to be more crystal gems." Pearl answered hesitantly.

Steven looked down.

"Steven?" Ruby asked, "you, okay?"

"Why aren't they here anymore? Is it because of me?"

"Well…" Pearl started. She saw his shoulders hunch, "Of course not Steven! It's not your fault, it was just-"

"It was your mother's fault." Ruby said shortly. "Don't blame yourself for what she did."

"But what did she do! I don't know anything about her! You never talk about her!" Steven yelled, and Pearl looked around awkwardly at the silent pizza shop, every person froze in place staring at the gems. "Who are the other gems? Why don't I know about them?" Steven asked quietly.

Pearl looked out at the sky as though Homeworld was going to appear any second. "Gems…aren't always good Steven. And sometimes, even when they don't mean harm they can hurt others. Maybe most of all when they don't mean too. Amethyst and Sapphire, they are so angry right now. They might hurt you. They don't even understand who you are."

"Sapphire calls you Pink Diamond." Ruby added. "She won't listen to me that you aren't your mom."

"But…I'm not my mom. And...why do they hate her? In what I saw they didn't hate her? Did she do something horrible? And what about Garnet?"

Ruby scowled, "Garnet's gone with Sapphire. We don't need either of them."

"But why are they gone?" Steven asked.

"Why did you keep Lapis a secret?" Pearl asked.

"What?" Steven blinked. "Um…she wanted me to? She was scared. Sorry."

"No, Steven. Don't feel bad, I'm just trying to explain. Lapis was scared. You tried to help her, but we could have healed her the whole time…the secret…wasn't worth keeping. Your mother had a secret like that. One we kept for a very long time. Her friends never knew that she had once been Pink Diamond. And when they found out…that she had lied about her identity…it destroyed them. It destroyed the crystal gems. It would have been better to not keep the secret so long…"

"Not your fault. You didn't have a say." Ruby grumbled, poking the napkin until it set on fire and Pearl snatched it away from her and crumpled the napkin in her hand, suffocating the fire. Ruby groaned and slumped onto the table "I can't touch anything!"

"Mom didn't tell her friends she was Pink Diamond? Dad never said that."

"No, Steven, she was afraid they wouldn't understand. I was the only one who could know…it weighed on us…and when the truth came out…they left. We should have told them a long time ago…we might have been able to explain together. But they won't listen to a- well, to just me."

"Maybe they will listen to me! I could tell them how much you miss them and then they would be like, oh, we miss you too and then they would come back, and you will be happy!"

"That's very sweet of you Steven. But you aren't going near them when they are like this. It's too dangerous."

"Pearl's right." Ruby said. "Sapphire would treat you like a diamond."

"I am a diamond!" Steven pointed out.

Ruby poked Steven's stomach and Steven giggled. "Don't seem so tough to me." Ruby said.

Pearl turned back to staring out the window. Unsure how Ruby could tease and play right now. The only time the world had felt more bleak was when Rose had died. Homeworld could return, the world could be destroyed before their friends ever forgave her. Ruby brought Steven away, back to the children's table. Leaving her to her thoughts.

She thought Kofi might have called the other parents and told them to collect early, because Greg and Vidalia showed up not long after that to bring their children home. Buck, Rolando and PeeDee were given suggestions to leave, and Jenny and Kiki were told to help in the kitchen. Pearl and Ruby sat,watching humans come and go all through the dinner rush before they finally got up to leave.

"We need to tell them about Lapis." Pearl said, "We can't let this turn into another secret."

"Yeah, I agree…I'll tell Sapphire. You tell Amethyst?" Ruby said.

"Of course."