Chapter Text
Several years after Steven decided to live on his own he and Connie decided to move in together and after got married. Now respectively 34 and 32, they still occasionally spent time with his gem’s family but they both decided to live normal lives. Steven stoped his training, almost never used his powers but he kept on seeing his therapist. Connie on the other hand liked going to space from time to time often with Lion who otherwise kept living as he always did.
The Crystal gems had a hard time adapting to life without Steven but soon found things they liked to do. Homeworld gems kept adapting to their new lives even if the most loyal ones were still serving the diamonds. But it was not a relationship slave/owner anymore. They had breaks and could earn things if they wanted to. They had jobs. A lot of jobs were created on home world since it still needed to fonction and the planet was in serious need of fixing.
Blue Zircon was elected as the leader for a few years, the tale about her accusing the diamonds of murder to their faces was pretty popular.
White Yellow and Blue still had control over Homeworld but it was more diplomatic than anything else. They traveled to their many colonies trying to install a sort of constitutional monarchy.
Blue and Yellow finally admitted their love for each other and were now in a relationship, as were Spinel and Volleyball. The two gems found each other easily and were spending almost all of their time together except when Spinel went to play with the diamonds as Volleyball was still not comfortable around them.
Greg, now nearing his 60, retired, bought himself a house and visited Steven and Connie from time to time. In their conversation the idea of him being a grandpa came several times but he would never push when they said they still wanted to wait, they wanted to be sure that their family was as stable as it could be.
But far from all of this happily ever after, on a dead colony that was once filled with organic life, were a few gems who were not pleased with the situation. It has been long enough that almost everybody forgot about them.
Brooding in what used to be a kindergarten were four gems. An era 1 ruby with her gem where her left eye should be, an era 2 Lapis, an aquamarine with her gem on her left cheek and finally an emerald with her gem on her right eye. All of them had one thing in mind: revenge.
Holly blue Agate was in the zoo when all it’s resident decided to stop on a moon near an old colony. The humans wanted to visit and taste the food that could be found only here and the gems wanted to explore. For once she decided to go outside for a bit. She stayed on what looked like to be a path. Something under a rock caught her attention. Convinced it would be one of the Amethysts pulling a prank on her she decided to go, ready to give her an earful.
Instead she saw a little blue gem.
“Come with me Agate. I got a deal for you.”
“What could you give me?” Holly asked warily.
“Don’t be like that. Come and I’ll tell you.”
“Alright.” She said, resigned.
They walked for a short time and came to a stop in the shadows of a large tree.
“Now that we have a bit of privacy... Emerald? Where are you?”
“Right here.” The gem landed from the tree. “Don’t yell like that.”
“An Emerald? What is the meaning of this?” Holly asked, with a touch of apprehension.
“Emerald here got her whole fleet and her favorite ship taken away from her because of Steven Universe. Isn’t that right?”
“It is.” Confirmed Emerald.
“The diamonds must have decided that it would be best.”
“Indeed they have. But under the influence of Steven Universe! Her sole purpose and life taken away from her... and you. You commanded an entire facility directly under Blue diamond’s authority and he took that away from you too! Now you have to live with all these amethysts and those humans... don’t you wish you could get a little revenge? Just so we could prove him and everyone including our diamonds that this is not the right way?”
“I imagine that to speak such things you already have a plan.” Holly thought out loud. “We will be lucky they won’t punish us afterwards...”
“They dont punish anyone anymore right aquamarine?”
“They don’t. And yes we have a plan. We just need you to bring Steven Universe, and only Steven Universe to the prime Kindergarten on earth. Should be easy for a gem like you.”
“What do I gain from this?” Holly asked. “And almost nobody hears from him anymore.”
“Once we’ve done it will change everything, everybody loves change now, they will love this believe me.”
“We need you to bring him to us in 10 cycles.” Emerald said.
“Do we have a deal, Agate?”
“Anything for the diamonds.”
“Of course.”
The gems went separate ways. Agate went back to the zoo and started to think of a plan.
A few days after, on Earth.
Holly blue was running from warp pad to another trying to find exactly where Steven was living and found him in ocean town in a little house a few hours before she had to bring him to the kindergarten.
“Come on you can do this. They’re just going to be a bit rough just so the diamonds can understand none of this is right.” Holly said trying to convince herself.
Holly steeled herself and made herself look exhausted and terrified. (Which isn’t that hard since it’s pretty much how she’s feeling). She ran to the front door and pounded on it.
“Steven! Steven please! We need you!”
“Hi holly, what’s wrong?” Steven said as he opened the door.
“The zoo crashed in the kindergarten! Some gems are cracked and some humans aren’t moving anymore!”
“But i thought I gave you a lot of healing essence!” Steven said, confused.
“The containers broke. Almost all of them.”
“There’s no more time to waste then let’s go.”
They took steven’s car to head to the warp. They got to the crash site but something felt off to steven.
“Holly? Where’s the crash? Where the zoo? Where’s everyone?”
“Just after this turn hurry!”
They ran. Steven was about to ask another question but was lifted of the ground by water arms. He screamed and looked around him. He saw them, two fusions, there was bluebird and another one he never met before, she was teal but he couldn’t recognize her components, she was the one holding him with water so he guessed a lapis lazuli but the other one he had no clue.
“What are you doing!” Steven yelled, clearly afraid but trying to make sense of the situaton.
“We’re sorry Steven” bluebird spoke “but as you know things gotta change. And you will not be a part of this one.” Bluebird smirked.
“Wha...?”
Before Steven finished his sentence bluebird flew straight toward where the other fusion was holding him. Steven only got the time to see she was holding a breaking point before it was too late.
Holly blue watched with horror as bluebird shattered steven’s gem, no, she told herself, Steven’s Diamond. For a moment none of this felt real to her. Surely they didn’t just do that. They were just supposed to make him see reason. Holly couldn’t stop watching, even as bluebird retracted the breaking point from steven’s organic body. There were a few shards here and there but mostly blood. A lot of blood.
For a time she thought that Steven would get up but noting happened. His body was drained of all color but his shards were as pink as they could be.
“Finally we’re done with that. We have to go and wait for a bit.”
The two fusion unfused and aquamarine spoke.
“Let’s get out of here. We will regroup at the moon of the old colony, nobody says a thing about this.”
The four of them went to the warp and disappeared one after the other.
Agate on the other hand was still next to steven. She didn’t realize that she fell to her knees at one point but she didn’t care for now.
What have they done? Why? Was it really going to change something? What was going to happen?
But most importantly how would the crystal gems and the diamonds react to this? She had to tell them. Now. There might still be hope for him. At least that’s what she told herself when she ran to the warp to go directly to the temple.
When she arrived, there was nobody, she called for pearl for a moment, everything either too slow or too fast, unreal. After what felt like hours there was a sound behind her, the temple opened for Garnet to step out.
“What do you want?”
“It’s steven he... he”
“What about steven? what...”
Garnet stood still for a second. Pearl and Amethyst entered the house and stopped their chat once they saw the scene before them.
“G? Holly? What is it guys? You two look like you saw a ghost, right P?”
“We need to go now” Garnet urged “no time to explain.”
“What? Where?”
“NOW.”
Garnet made sure everyone was on the warp pad and took them directly to the prime kindergarten. Once they got there she ran leaving the others behind.
Amethyst and Pearl ran after her pulling out their weapons, they expected a fight. Once they turned at the corner there was no fight. Just Garnet kneeling down visibly crying in front of a body surrounded by blood.
Pearl arrived first. The sound she made when she dropped to the floor almost stoped Amethyst had she not wanted to see what was happening to leave her friends in such a state.
It was the sight that made her stop. Amethyst stood, unmoving, her weapon forgotten, and watched the scene before her. The first thing was the color red. It was in a puddle, on the ground, next were the bits of pink. They were everywhere, some bigger than others. And finally the color white. It was steven’s body, steven’s face. His eyes were still opened.
Amethyst wasn’t crying but wished she was, so she would know what she was felling. So she turned to Garnet.
“Huh, Garnet? What... what is this? Why? How?”
“I didn’t see that coming Amethyst. Steven... he told me he didn’t want me to look into his future, that he didn’t need it... I... I should have.”
“But how... Holly blue! Where is she?“ Amethyst looked around them but saw nothing.
“She was with us in the warp.” Garnet said.
“Well can’t you tell me where she is? Use you vision do something!”
“It doesn’t work, Amethyst. I can’t see anything.”
“Ugh! Pearl do you have any idea? Pearl?”
Pearl was on the floor sobbing her hands on her mouth and her eyes darting between steven’s body and the pieces of his gem scattered on the floor.
“Ok guys, lets think for a second here. Maybe we can save right? Garnet?” Amethyst said, trying to think instead of panicking.
“We could try but I don’t think his essence is gonna work on it’s own.”
“Then we’ll use all the essences of the three diamonds with it come on! We have to! Pearl get up!”
Pearl didn’t move.
“I said GET UP!” Amethyst yelled, clearly upset that her friends weren’t doing anything. “We don’t have time for this! Garnet say something!”
“Amethyst is right pearl. We gotta do it for him, you of all gems know this.” Garnet began to come back to her senses. “I pick up his body you two take every shard, it’s best to have everything.”
That seemed to get pearl moving. Amethyst found six shards an pearl four, they tried to reform the diamond, the process causing pearl to collapse again but there was a missing shard.
“You two got all of them?“
“No, one’s missing.” Amethyst answered.
“Yes, it... for the size of the dia... of the diamond it could be relatively small so in one piece. But Amethyst and i searched everywhere, it’s not here.”
“Maybe it’s the one who did it that took it?”
“Could be. We gotta try anyway, take everything you found, I’m picking steven up and we’re going.”
Pearl insisted to take all the shards herself, leaving Amethyst to watch as garnet took steven into her arms.
“Garnet wait!”
“What is it Amethyst?”
“Hold on I think I saw something. Can you put him down?“
“We don’t have time...” Garnet began to walk.
“I saw a shard in his body!”
“What? Where?”
“In the hole.”
Amethyst was right, a shard was stuck right where his gem used to be, only a bit of pink could be seen. She asked garnet not to move and concentrated to shapeshift to catch the shard without touching anything else. Amethyst asked pearl to show her his gem to put the last shard in place. Fortunately the gem was now complete.
“Let’s go.”