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Steven tried to steady his breathing as sweat beaded across his forehead, stomach tied into more knots than a balloon animal. His arms wrapped around his middle in a sort of self-hug, pressing against his gem as it sat in its true orientation on his stomach, exposed by the new, very rouge-colored outfit he was compelled into. It was the right thing to do, he chanted in his head, I have to take responsibility, I have to make things right. I'll be alright, everything will be alright. Well, maybe that last one was a lie, but it still helped to say it.
The chamber he'd been plonked into was more than reminiscent of his holding cell when he was awaiting trial; Homeworld wasn't much for creature comforts, it seemed. He was going to miss that, but the lack of distactons gave him more than enough mental space to think. So, distraction free, he thought. Even as he ruminated, he couldn't guess what the Diamonds were plotting currently, nor could he have predicted their reaction when they found out his 'parentage,’ but after Pearl showed him the truth, after he spilled his guts about Pink Diamond to the Crystal Gems, after he watched Garnet unfuse and Sapphire flee, Steven resolved to make things right. Not the half-baked, rushed 'resolution’ his mother left for him, but really, truly right. It had to come to this. Dragging Peridot away from the others, he persuaded her to recreate the communicator that had contacted Yellow Diamond. It wasn’t easy; Peridot was understandably incredulous that anything good would come from poking the distinctly Homeworld-shaped hornet’s nest, especially after how badly the last transmission went, but with a little pleading mixed with Steven’s own taunting that she wasn’t up to the challenge, he got his device. Hence his current residence on Homeworld in the hands of the Great Diamond Authority. Damn they closed in fast. He just hoped the armada that showed up to apprehend him didn’t leave a smoking crater of Beach City as they departed with their target. He’d asked nicely and everything.
A port in the wall slid open, presenting Steven with an astonishing sight. A small platoon of rose quartz soldiers stood at the ready, at the feet of Yellow and Blue Diamond. He tottered from his cell on jelly legs, trying his best not to openly gawk at the doppelgangers of his mom, coming to stand at the feet of the matriarchs. “I knew I was saving them for something,” Blue quipped, mouth tugged into a small, strained, but genuine smile. “Do you like them?” Steven’s head practically rattled with the force behind his nodding, finding his eyes wet with tears as he took it all in. It might have been the anxiety, it might have been the euphoria, but he found himself swaying from lightheadedness.
“I told you this would overload it,” Yellow remarked as she looked down at him, even discounting the height difference requiring Yellow to ‘look down.’ “At least it made itself more presentable than those nativist rags it had on.”
“THEY look very nice, Yellow. It's a different look, but it suits them better than Pink's original style.” Steven didn't exactly pride himself on his fashion sense, but when he was deposited in his cell and told to 'make yourself look like even half the Diamond you're supposed to be before we get back,’ he didn’t take his chances in idling. What he was wearing currently was inspired partly by that one prince that had gotten married on TV a while back, but also just a little like a french uniform because of that unit on the French Revolution he’d been taught in school recently, but also excessively pink due to the mantle was inheriting, and not at all even slightly silly under any lens or scrutiny. Not. At. All. In short, he’d thought it pretty princely, or at the very least prince-ish. He would think up something better when he had the time. For right now, there was a Homeworld to address.
“Just keep your mouth shut and we’ll all get through this with as little agony and humiliation as possible,” Yellow said to him. Her body was tense, foot tapping interrupted by brief bouts of pacing paired with arms that couldn’t decide if they wanted to be crossed or holding her hands at her hips. Even Blue wasn’t immune as she laced and re-laced her fingers together, occasionally entwining with her dress. In the small lull in chaos, Steven nearly jumped out of his skin at the overhead announcement informing that the stage was primed for the Diamonds’ appearance. “You stay here.” Yellow said, departing with Blue at her side. “You’ll know when it’s your turn.”
He would? How??? Once more Steven found himself panicking, but before he could even protest the two matriarchs were gone. Sinking to the floor, he curled into a ball and gave an exasperated whine. “My Diamond!” Peeking up, he was surrounded by the rose quartzes, all gathered in a close knit with their shields drawn and pointed to the outside like a circular phalanx. One in particular was kneeling over him in distress, hand held out as if she meant to help him up but was unsure whether she was actually allowed to touch such a superior. “My Diamond, are you hurt!?” Without even thinking, Steven leapt from the floor and into the rose quartz, throwing his arms around her in the tightest hug he could manage.
“I’m scared,” he sniffled. “I just got here and I don’t have anything prepared to say and they didn’t even give me any directions!” I'm not ready for this, he thought, this was a giant mistake, I just want to go home.
“I know you'll do just fine out there,” the rose quartz soothed, hand rubbing gentle circles into his back. “You've been gone for so long, I'm sure it will take some time to readjust to life back home, but you'll get there in time. We're all here for you, my Diamond.” A chorus of agreement came from the rest of the rose quartzes. “You're Diamond tough! You can take anything!”
Steven smiled through his waterworks, brushing away the tears with his sleeve. “Thanks, guys. You're all the best.” Mom, Steven thought over and over like a skipping record. I know you're not really my mom, but… He clung even tighter to the soldier. Mom. Maybe he could learn to survive this place. Homeworld was definitely no Beach City, but maybe he could learn to tolerate this new home with enough time. He'd miss the ocean, and playing in the sand on summer days, and going down to the arcade or the movies with Connie, or visiting the doughnut shop, that couldn't be erased. But he was basically royalty now, so that had to come with a couple perks at least. He had all these rose quartzes to keep him company. He could probably get some cool Gem tech to fiddle around with and learn about. With enough patience and work, he might even be able to convince the Authority to at least be a little less destructive in their conquest of the galaxy. He was a space princess, in space! That was pretty neat. Steven sighed; it'd be okay eventually. Eventually.
Somewhere behind him, another door opened, letting in a pervading luminosity. Steven looked up and gasped as he shielded his eyes, finding himself in the countenance and grandeur of the White Diamond. Hair that defied gravity in a snowy halo arrayed itself like a flower that blossomed at her head, accentuated by her colorless yet enthrallingly iridescent gem upon her forehead. Below rested the tranquil and unreadable face of a true empress rendered in blemishless marble, whose eyes saw the glimmer of even the farthest stars and reflected them back verbatim along with the void’s most consuming dark. Her dress clung to her frame as if glass made liquid, scintillations in every movement only impeded by her floor length cape of angelic hue. Where the other Diamonds’ footsteps fell thunderously with the greatness of their size, White stepped forward in ghostly quiet with only the faintest click of her crystalline heels belying that she wasn't truly a mere specter. She came so close Steven was sure she didn't see them below, but indeed she stopped just short and came to kneel, monumental hand resting on the floor directly in front of him.
Disengaging from the embrace, Steven inched forward; he must go to White Diamond’s palm, to be carried forth to the stage and to his new life, to retake the crown his mother had fled. If only he could make his legs move. Out there was all of Homeworld waiting for him, waiting to see their once-shattered Pink Diamond and getting a short, pudgy half-human in her place. Out there would have every single set of eyes trained on little ol’ Steven with his gaudy outfit and his organic body and his critically peaking anxiety. He really was going to lose it.
White Diamond's hand curled loosely so that only her index finger remained extended, which she tapped insistently against the floor before re-presenting her palm. Steven looked up, up, up, all the way to her face, looking into White Diamond's eyes for the first time. As they gazed upon him, Steven felt her stare pierce straight through him, but equally he saw his reflection in perfect clarity mirrored back upon his own view. His face echoed down, livid and fearful, then shifted into resolute calm as Steven squared his shoulders. Of course this wouldn't be easy, he scolded himself, there's 6000 years worth of screw-ups that need fixing. That's why I'm here, isn't it? That's why I have to make things right. I'm finally gonna make things right. Despite his shaking hands, he stepped forward and clambered onto White Diamond's hand, and they were off.
Steven was having a hard time contending with the newfound vertigo added to his pile of various un-well emotions as he rode stories above the ground in White’s palm. Falling to one knee, he closed his eyes and pretended the swaying from her footsteps were waves as he rode a boat out into the sea. Sun high at noon glinted off the salty spray below as he sat on the weathered, buoyant deck, the visualization helping a bit, although try as he might to envision the beach house and his own familiar coastline, he couldn't compel his imagination to put him anywhere but far, far from shore. The echoes of Yellow and Blue Diamond orating pulled him back to reality, and as he opened his eyes to the blinding brightness of outside, he was acutely aware that he and the Diamonds were on stage, and that by the sound of it there were thousands upon thousands of people below all cheering and screaming in jubilee. Once his eyes finally adjusted, he scanned the masses of Gems below, hardly able to comprehend the vastness of the crowd, how even at a distance their cacophony threatened to shout over his own thoughts. White Diamond walked forward, and the roar of the audience immediately hushed.
“Gems of Homeworld and the Outer Colonies,” White began, voice resounding across the stadium, “Today is a day of exaltation. A grief that has held us for almost six millennia, that war was waged for and that pained the hearts of not only all of you but I and my sisters, has been amended. It is a day of impossible forthcoming, and miraculous arrival. Six thousand years ago our Pink Diamond was shattered by the traitorous Rose Quartz and her debased rebellion, forever gone from her people and court. Or so we thought.”
Like thunder, the audience erupted into gasps and incredulous murmuring, magnified a thousand-fold by the sheer quantity of voices all resounding together, but with the simple act of White Diamond raising her hand, silence re-descended as swiftly as it had been broken.
"On that night of Rose Quartz's assault, our Pink Diamond was stolen from us. Not by death, but by Rose Quartz herself, leaving behind a decoy so perfect even our immaculate Celestites were unable to divine their true nature. Disrupting her form, that traitorous Quartz and her rebel faction spirited Pink Diamond away to her very own colony, imprisoning her on Earth for all these years, forcing her to survive amongst the savagery of organic life that still infests the planet even now."
Wait, that's not right, Steven gulped, palms growing chammy. He sacrificed everything to be
here, to begin to atone for all the wrongs his mother left in her wake, and they were just going to keep lying about what happened? How could they? Pink betrayed everyone she'd ever known, and only now, in the depths of the lion's den, in front of millions, did he realize that it ran in the family.
"These 'Crystal Gem' rebels knew no bounds in their insanity. They pillaged our colony's infrastructure, they walked among organics like they were natives, even fusing disparate Gems among their ranks. They..." White's theatrics were subdued, but effective. Every bat of her eyelash, every quiver of her lip, had the galaxy holding its breath in awe and fear, creating a silence so bated it could snuff out a heartbeat. "Please, if you are sensitive, you will be forgiven for looking away. Even now, it breaks my heart to see Pink in this state."
“Rose Quartz and her cult did profane things to and with Gem-kind, and to Pink Diamond. Breaking every law of nature and ethics, Rose Quartz forced our precious Diamond to fuse with an organic and live as their slave, meaning to erase all memory of her birthright. She failed. Pink is here with us once more, ready to rejoin her people and rule with the grace and clarity of a Diamond, forever immutable through all trials. Gems of Homeworld and the Outer Colonies, it is time to welcome home our once and forever beloved, Pink Diamond!” Wobbling as White’s hand surged forward, Steven was nearly knocked clean off his feet by the crowd’s elated screaming as he was pushed into full view. A small, floating platform levitated up to rest in front of him, and stepping forward out of White’s hand he smiled and waved out to the universe from his own little stage. It was magical, seeing so many faces swim together in a sea of elation and jubilee, all at seeing him. In a stroke of cheekiness, Steven bowed, grin stretching as he heard the approving roar.
Suddenly, the crowd hushed, and Steven looked back to see White call for order once more. “Pink, you've gone through so many tribulations. I want to make a promise to you that this will never happen again.” Before him, another platform rose to meet his, carrying a yellow and blue pearl who held a cushion in tandem. Steven saw the item resting on the pillow, and his blood turned to ice. A turquoise sash, reminiscent of the Earth’s hue from afar, lay neatly on its cushion, the attachments displayed in their fullest prominence. As the two pearls lifted it into the air, each of the gems of his friends, trapped in gold inset and pinned like bugs to the fabric, shimmered and glinted in the ambient light. They lifted it over his head to drape it across his shoulder, and as it touched him he felt its weight crush his soul. Every sense went numb. Steven saw the crowd howling in celebration and heard nothing but static, felt the platform drop away beneath him even as his eyes told him it was still there. As his vision began to vignette, he turned to face White Diamond as if a last desperate grasp for any of what happened to be false, that maybe this alien goddess could turn back reality and unravel his transgressions. Looking far, far above him, his eyes met her cold, glassy gaze. “Welcome home, starlight.”