Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Rose! Rose! Rose!”

Steven had been sitting, curled up, in a dimly-lit holding cell, for who-know-how-long. His stomach rumbled. His mouth ached for water. He was probably doing better than a full human would, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t feeling like utter crap.

“Rose! Rose! Rose!”

The voices above were getting louder. So was the rhythmic pounding.

Suddenly, the door opened, and a trio of Citrines entered the room.

It was time.

---

“Rose! Rose! Rose!”

Hundreds of voices were calling out the name of his mother, or as far as they were concerned, his name.

The Citrines dragged Steven down the dark hallway and threw him onto a circular platform. A red force-field appeared around him, this one specially made to block out organic material instead of just light constructs. He was trapped.

Steven wrapped his hands around his legs and sat still on the platform as the bright orange Quartzes shut the door behind them, sealing him in darkness.

“Rose! Rose! Rose!”

The platform began to rise, and he decided to stand.

“If I’m going to meet Homeworld head-on like this, I shouldn’t be cowering,” he thought.

The ceiling above him opened, and bright white light shined down. His ears were bombarded by the deafening chant that had been pounding away for the past hour, now getting even louder as the platform ascended up the narrow tube.

“ROSE! ROSE! ROSE!”

Steven gulped. He was hit by a wave of light and sounds, and shielded his eyes from the former.

Upon adjusting to the light, Steven saw that he was in the center of an unfathomably large circular room, surrounded by rows upon rows of countless Gems continuing their never ending chant. All the walls were bright white, and there was a starry skylight at the very top.

“ROSE! ROSE! ROSE!”

Surrounding him at a distance were over twenty Quartzes of varying type, each with a weapon summoned. They alternated between facing toward and away from him, to stop him from escaping on his own or from someone trying to free him.

A few feet behind him were about a dozen rows of seats that formed a semicircle around him, with an aisle running down the middle towards a rather ornate-looking white door. The Gems there looked very important, and they were all murmuring about something.

In the other semicircle, there was a large open space, and directly in front of him, a very large podium stood, dwarfing him and all the other Gems in the room. On the podium, the Era 2 logo of the Diamond Authority hung over the older version, which Steven could still see poking out a bit at the bottom. Behind it, three thrones, yellow, white, and blue, stood empty.

Two small doors on either side of the podium opened, and out of them came Yellow Diamond’s Pearl and Blue Diamond’s Pearl. Steven noticed that there was a center door that didn’t open at all, and it seemed to correspond with the white throne.

The moment the two Pearls entered, everyone became dead silent.

“All rise for the luminous Yellow Diamond,” Yellow Pearl said.

“And the lustrous Blue Diamond,” Blue Pearl said.

Each and every Gem in the room stood up and gave the Diamond Salute. Steven was too terrified to notice that some Gems were glaring at him for not saluting like they were.

Two large doors opened up next to the blue and yellow podiums, and the two Diamonds stepped out. Yellow looked cold and authoritative. Blue looked bitter and angry.

After a moment of pure silence as the hundreds of Gems in the courtroom saluted, Yellow said, “At ease.” and sat down in her throne.

“Rose Quartz,” Yellow Pearl began, reading from the orange holo-screen in front of her, “You have been charged and convicted of the following crimes against the Empire…”

“Shattering a Diamond,” Blue Pearl said, also reading from a holo-screen.

“...instigating and propagating rebellion…” Yellow Pearl continued. The two Pearls alternated as they read down the list.

“...leading Gems to their demise…”

“...abandoning your duties…”

“...influencing and radicalizing a Pearl...”

“...and willful destruction of property.”

“The verdict: Guilty!” Yellow Diamond announced, looking up at the crowd.

“The sentence: Shattering,” Blue Diamond also announced, glaring down at Steven.

“LET THE TRIAL BEGIN!” the two Pearls said at once.

“What’s the point of a trial if I’m already guilty and sentenced?!” Steven asked.

“Looks like she’s forgotten,” Yellow Diamond said, “I’m surprised. Not much has changed since your day.”

She turned to Blue.

“Blue, you may begin the questioning,” Yellow said.

“Why,” Blue began, “have you taken on this...organic form?”

“I...uh...like humans...and I wanted to look like one?”

Blue squinted.

“Are you Rose Quartz?” she asked.

“Y-yeah…”

“Show the court your gem.”

Steven lifted his shirt to reveal the Rose Quartz gemstone where his bellybutton would have been, if...if only…

“Pearl, did the Peridot Corps submit their evidence yet?”

“No, My Diamond,” Blue Pearl said.

“Then send for it immediately. Yellow, she’s all yours.”

“Rose Quartz, as Blue has made quite clear, your current form or DISGUISE as I see it, has called into question your identity as Rose Quartz. But upon researching the records of the more...recent incidents regarding Earth, I’ve decided to call an eye witness that should settle that.”

“The Diamonds call to the stand,” Yellow Pearl announced, “Ruby Facet-1F4, Cut-4ND!”

Steven turned around and looked up the aisle. The ornate doors opened, and none other than the Ruby known to him as Eyeball walked towards the center of the room. She scowled at Steven as a small podium appeared just next to him.

Eyeball stood at it, and saluted the Diamonds somberly.

All Steven could do was sit down and wrap his arms tightly around his legs.

Chapter Text

“Ruby-1F4-4ND,” Yellow began, “What was your initial impression of Rose Quartz?”

“I remember…” Eyeball said in a low growl, “when the Rebellion started...6,000 years ago…”

The entire courtroom was quiet as they listened to Eyeball’s story.

“I was there when we got the first sabotage reports. I couldn't believe that someone would start a Rebellion like that. So I was eager to help bring it down.”

“Can you give the court a summary of your wartime service?” Yellow asked.

“I was assigned to a small platoon for most of the war. We saw a lot of battles against the Crystal Gems, but never against Rose Quartz. Until...until it happened.

“By that time, I was the only one left of my original platoon, and was assigned to Pink Diamond’s front guard during one of her visits to the surface.

“That was where I first saw her. The Palanquin stopped. Pink Diamond stepped out and walked past me and the other guards. Rose Quartz jumped out of nowhere, her pink sword in hand…

Eyeball turned to Steven and glared at him bitterly.

“I'll remember that moment the rest of my existence.”

In the silence that followed, Steven could feel the entire audience of the courtroom staring at him just as Eyeball did.

“Ruby-4ND, thank you for sharing your experience,” Yellow Diamond said, interrupting the silence, “Now, can you tell the court what your most recent mission entailed?”

“Yes,” Eyeball said as she pulled her gaze away from Steven, “We were ordered to find Jasper-9-4XG, who had gone missing on a mission to Earth. I didn't know it at the time, but that was where I met Rose Quartz for the second time.

“She lied to us, deceived us. One of her soldiers even...shapeshifted into Jasper in order to trick us. And once they were found out, the Crystal Gems blasted us into space!”

Yellow smiled.

“Can you identify Rose Quartz in this courtroom today?” Yellow asked.

“THERE!” Eyeball shouted, pointing angrily at Steven.

Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

“How did you know that the Gem you met was Rose Quartz?” Blue suddenly asked.

Eyeball hesitated for a moment, but proceeded once Yellow nodded.

“I managed to pull her out of the airlock with me. After getting sucked out, I found myself on top of a pink bubble Rose Quartz had generated for herself. I was hit by a rock, and...she healed me.”

“Yes!” Steven interrupted, “I healed you! That's good!”

“And who else can heal Gems but a Rose Quartz?” Yellow said, stopping the argument before it began, “Ruby, did you ever find the Jasper you were sent to find?”

“No…” Eyeball replied coldly.

“Do you have any idea what may have happened to her?”

“Rose Quartz...must've shattered her…”

“What?!” Steven cried out, “I- I didn't do that!”

Eyeball turned around and pointed her finger back at Steven, “Then what did you do, huh?! If she was alive then why didn’t we see her?! Why’d you trick us if you didn’t have something to do with it?!!!”

“I-” Steven tried to stammer out.

“That’s enough, Ruby,” Yellow interrupted. But Ruby wasn’t finished yet.

“You shattered her or harvested her or WHATEVER IT IS YOU CRYSTAL GEMS DO!!!!!!”

Eyeball then summoned her dagger and leaped towards Steven’s containment field, a pair of Citrines grabbing her just before she made contact.

Reporter Gems in the audience stood up to take pictures.

“Let go of me! Let me at her!” Eyeball screamed.

“Take her out of here,” Yellow Diamond ordered.

As the guards carried Eyeball out, she focused her attention solely on “Rose Quartz.”

“You had our ship! You could have saved us! But NO, you just...left us there! Floating! IN SPACE!”

Eyeball struggled to get free as they neared the door at the end of the aisle.

“She doesn't deserve shattering!” Eyeball said just before the doors shut, “She deserves WORSE!”

Those words echoed throughout the courtroom.

“Blue, are you ready to call your witnesses?” Yellow asked the Diamond sitting next to her.

Blue Diamond was listening to something her Pearl was whispering to her, lifted up to Blue’s ear by her hand.

“Yes,” Blue said as she set her Pearl back down.

Blue Pearl then spoke, saying “The Diamonds now call to the stand: The surviving Amethysts of Earth’s Prime Kindergarten.”

The doors swung open, and Steven turned to see Amethysts 8XL, 8XJ, 8XG, and several others begin to march into the courtroom, their arms each in a salute.

Many of them wavered, however, once they saw Steven at the Accused Platform.

They recognized him.

Steven didn't know whether to be happy about this or not.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Chapter Text

The Gems in the upper balconies shouted down at the Amethysts.

“Go back to that rock you came out of!”

“Dirty off-colors!”

“You should be destroyed!”

“You’re the reason she’s gone!”

“Shatter ‘em all!”

It all filled the room with a unintelligible white noise as the roughly three-dozen Amethysts marched down the aisle, their eyes avoiding the glares from the elites down below.

They all shuffled around a long, tall podium that appeared through the floor. 8XL stood in the center of the group.

Yellow summoned a gavel-like device to quiet down the audience, and slammed it on the desk.

The crowd silenced.

“I’ll speak for my squadron,” 8XL said.

“State your name for the record,” Yellow Pearl said as she prepared to type on her holoscreen.

“Amethyst, Facet-5, Cut-8XL.”

“Amethyst-8XL,” Blue Diamond began, “You are currently the de facto leader of your squadron, aren’t you?”

“Yes, My Diamond.”

“How long have you been with them?”

“Since emerging, My Diamond.”

“And when was that?”

“Roughly five and a half millennia ago, My Diamond.”

“So you all emerged half-way into the Rebellion?”

“Yes, My Diamond.”

Steven could feel the other Amethysts trying not to look nervous standing next to him. He couldn’t blame them.

A notification appeared on Blue Pearl’s screen.

“My Diamond,” Blue Pearl said, “The information from the Peridot Corps you requested.”

“Thank you Pearl,” Blue said as she opened the files on her holoscreen.

“8XL,” Blue said after reading the report, “Have you and your fellow Amethysts run an inventory on the Rose Quartzes contained at the Human Zoo as of late?”

“Yes, My Diamond,” 8XL said, stepping forward and saluting, “We did so just before leaving for Homeworld.”

“Can you tell the court how many there are right now, bubbled away?”

“Four hundred and twenty three, My Diamond. That’s it exactly.”

“Pearl,” Blue instructed, “Read the report that was sent.”

“Four hundred and twenty four Rose Quartzes injected, produced, and emerged. Signed and confirmed by the Kindergarteners Division of the Peridot Corps, circa late Era 1, reconfirmed by the Central Archives.”

“Then it is settled. The Gem standing here today is indeed the Rose Quartz that shattered Pink Diamond. I do not see any other explanation,” Blue said coldly.

“Thank you Amethysts, for your testimony,” she then said with a slightly more uplifted tone of voice, “You may all leave-”

Something popped up on Blue Pearl’s holoscreen that made her interrupt her master.

“My Diamond, a priority one message for you from Holly Blue Agate-1E3-8QC. She says it relates heavily to this case.”

All of the Amethysts began sweating and looking at each other nervously. Steven could only stare worriedly.

“Very well,” Blue said as she lifted the holoscreen up to her face to read. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

“8XL,” Blue began to ask, “when was the last time you received fresh specimens at Pink Diamond’s Zoo?”

“Uh...only a few months ago, when you dropped that one human off from Earth, My Diamond.”

“And when the Sapphire delivered another one to you.”

“Oh, yes! That one too!”

“Tell me, 8XL, did you or *any* of your Amethysts ever meet Rose Quartz in her current form before today?”

“N-no, my Diamond, never!”

“Because this was just sent from the Zoo’s database!” Blue hissed as she turned around the holoscreen, which displayed Steven’s mugshot from when he was put through the Zoo’s assimilation bay.

The audience gasped. Even Yellow Diamond looked surprised.

“Approximately three months ago, you let Rose Quartz, into the Human Zoo. You let Pink Diamond’s murderer into her private sanctuary. And what’s worse is, you tried to deny it.”

“N-no, I- we- uh…” was all 8XL could blurt out.

Blue and Yellow gave a silent nod to each other and Yellow took over from there.

“Guards,” Yellow said, “Arrest these Amethysts, have their Beta friends detained for questioning, and send a garrison to...relieve Holly Blue Agate for letting this happen.”

“What?! No!!!” Steven cried out.

The ensuing commotion, from both the audience, Steven, and the resisting Amethysts, was interrupted by the doors swinging open once again.

At the threshold of the doors was a Pearl. A pink Pearl.

The moment everyone saw her, they stopped talking immediately. Even Blue and Yellow eyes were wide. Their Pearls were still. Pink Pearl daintily walked down the aisle and saluted the Diamonds.

“Yellow and Blue Diamond,” she began, “My master sends her apologies for not being able to attend this trial, and for interrupting it with her request.”

“A-and what is… White’s request?” Yellow asked, barely holding back a fearful stutter.

“White Diamond urgently requests your presence at her central Control Room as soon as possible.”

Yellow and Blue instantly stood up from their thrones.

“Guards,” Blue ordered, “Escort Rose Quartz to the Harvesting Bay.”

“Wait,” Steven asked, “I thought you were gonna shatter me!”

“Like the Ruby said, you deserve worse .”

As the Amethysts were dragged down the aisle by the other Quartz guards, the forcefield around Steven dissipated and five other guards surrounded him and held him in place as they carried him out.

Cheers erupted from the upper levels of the courtroom. The Elites at the bottom just smiled with satisfaction. Blue and Yellow also smiled as they stepped through the doors they entered in.

Steven never wanted anything like this to happen.

Well, at least not to anyone else.

Chapter Text

After being dragged down a series of narrow hallways, Steven was thrown into a dark room, the door shutting behind him.

Then the light turned on, revealing two Jaspers standing by the door, and a Peridot hunched over a sleek metal table with a large drill poised above it.

“Ah! You're here,” the Peridot said.

She stuck out her arm and sent out a green immobilizing beam to Steven, lifting him up and placing him on the table.

“The nefarious Rose Quartz. I don't believe it,” she said as she strapped him down, “And to think, in just a few moments you're going to be ground up into itty-bitty bits and used as ingredients for a Carnelian or something.

“It's a shame really, you were the last RQ still active. Well, I guess that's the way it goes. Anyway, beginning extraction procedure.”

The Peridot pressed a few buttons on her holoscreen, and the drill began descending towards Steven's chest.

Steven tried to get free, but the restraints kept getting tighter and tighter and drill kept getting closer and closer.

Suddenly, at the last second, Steven glanced at the two Jaspers and saw them lunge forward at Peridot, weapons in hand.

There was an explosion, a puff of smoke, and the sound of limb enhancers falling to the floor.

His restraints were released, and he saw a large orange hand reaching out to him.

“Steven Universe?” one of the Jaspers, whose Gem was on her Right Eye asked.

“Y-yeah?”

“Heh, you're taller than 8XM made you out to be,” the other one, whose Gem was on her Forehead, remarked.

Right Eye took out a communicator and spoke into it.

“Carnelian, are you and Skinny in position?”

“Yup!” Carnelian said on the other end.

“Then fire!” Right Eye ordered.

Forehead grabbed Steven and forced him against a wall. Before Steven could protest this, a large explosion blasted through the opposite wall.

The three turned to see a Roaming Eye floating in the massive hole looking out at the Homeworld skyline. The door swung open.

“What are ya waiting for, an engraved invitation? Get in!” Skinny called out.

Steven and the two Jaspers ran on board and took off just as Quartz guards swarmed the destroyed room.

“Fighters are being scrambled as we speak,” Carnelian said from the main controls, “We gotta get out of here!”

“What about the Amethysts?” Steven asked.

“What about them?” Skinny asked in return.

“Blue Diamond ordered them all arrested!”

“Stars…” Skinny swore, “Alright, Carnelian, is 8XL’s communicator still active?”

“It sure is!”

“Head after it. Try to blast away the Quartzes guarding them so they can escape.”

“Roger dodger!”

The Roaming Eye descended through the towering structures of Homeworld, eventually finding and firing upon the guards surrounding the Amethysts.

Their captors now distracted, the Amethysts fought back and quickly won. The Roaming Eye set down and the door swung open.

“Anyone call for a ride?” Carnelian called out.

All the Amethysts piled aboard the small red ship, which quickly took off as soon as they were all in.

“Aw, stars!” Carnelian swore once again as she heard something over her earpiece.

“What is it?” Steven asked.

“Limb Ships have been mobilized. If we don't go to hyperspeed soon, we'll be done for.”

“We can’t do that here, there’s too much cloud cover. Take us out of the atmosphere, max sublight,” Skinny said.

The Roaming Eye began to head upwards into the bright pink sky of Homeworld, through the clouds of gases. Steven could only look downwards at the sprawling cityscape…

His train of thought was interrupted by a blast that hit the ship squarely in the bottom.

“We got company!” Carnelian shouted.

“Doesn’t this thing have weapons?!” 8XG asked.

“Yeah, but we used ‘em to break Meatloaf here out of Harvesting.”

“Hey!” Steven protested.

“No offense.”

“That’s better.”

Another blast struck the ship, resulting in a red light illuminating the room.

“Engine fire!” Carnelian called out.

8XJ and Skinny both said, “On it!” and opened up a panel in the floor, leading down to the engine compartment.

The ship was then rocked with more, smaller explosions, which were all coming from the ground. Hundreds of laser blasts fired from defense platforms on the buildings below.

The Roaming Eye did a large banking maneuver to avoid the weapons, and as it straightened out the crew was met with the sight of Yellow Diamond’s massive Arm Ship heading towards them, joined by dozens of multi-colored Hand Ships.

“That’s not good” was all Steven could say.

Carnelian tried to evade them, but the ship simply couldn’t ascend.

“Must’ve been that last blast. We’ve lost hyperspeed and primary sublight. All we got are docking thrusters.”

“So we’re stuck here?” 8XL asked.

“Unless Skinny and Jay can perform a miracle, yeah.”

8XL paused to think.

“How long until those ships are in weapons range?” she then asked.

“Two minutes.”

Steven looked over at the panel leading down to the engine room and, after a moment of thought, hopped down through it.

“The central feed’s internal support is fried,” he heard 8XJ say, “If you start up the initialization sequence, it’ll collapse.”

Then Steven saw what they were talking about. It was a large spherical object, vaguely resembling the engine from Aquamarine’s ship, except it wasn’t glowing, was much larger, and had been opened up, revealing a large tube going through it that branched off into smaller tubes. Everything looked black and charred

“We just need something to carry the pressure,” Skinny said, “Something sturdy, that’ll fit the height of the tube.”

Steven summoned his shield and mentally compared it to the tube. He figured it could fit.

---

“Why aren’t they firing from the ground?” 8XG asked.

“We managed to ascend just enough before the engines gave out, so the defense platforms are out of range. Now all we gotta deal with are the ships.”

“Lucky us.”

---

Meanwhile, down in the cramped engine room, Steven prepared to throw his shield.

“Everyone watch out!” he called out before throwing.

The shield hit right inside the large reddish tube going through the engine, the “central feed” as 8XJ had put it.

“That’ll work!” Skinny exclaimed, “Begin the restart sequence!”

---

“They’re in weapons range,” Carnelian said grimly.

“Skinny? Jay?” 8XL asked worriedly down the hatch.

“We’re almost there!” 8XJ shouted as the engine began to glow.

The Arm Ship began powering up its primary weapon, pointing its finger at the Roaming Eye.

“Five hundred years of battle on Earth and we get done in right here on Homeworld,” 8XG remarked, “Kinda fitting, ain’t it?”

“We got it!” Skinny hollered as both the hyperspeed drive and the sublight engines came back online, “Maximum velocity, now!”

Carnelian slammed her hand on the control panel as Yellow’s ship fired at them. The ship immediately went to hyperspeed, blasting them out of the upper atmosphere and into the stars.

On the bridge of the yellow Arm Ship, Yellow Diamond could do nothing but scowl at said stars, and furrow her brow in frustration.

TO BE CONTINUED…