A/N: Ayyy ya girl is back with another story (haha please don't hurt me)

So this one is a new one! It's set pre-movie, pre-Future; basically, during the events of Lars' Head with a bit of a twist. This AU is something I've been working on for a while, something my girlfriend and I have been expanding on for quite some time now (a little over a year actually). It's basically... what would happen if Steven was forced to stay on Homeworld as 'Rose Quartz' for just a little while longer. And I figured now's a good time to start writing it. I probably won't be updating it as often as INGAA - juggling two stories is bound to get difficult - but I'll update as much as I can.

Hope you like my AU!

Steven leaned back, breath hitching, eyes wide with amazement and shock, as he watched his friend slowly heave himself up into a sitting position from where he had just been lying motionless, dead - the word echoed around in his head, he was still shaking, still felt chills - on the ground. He lifted a trembling hand to his own chest, blinking furiously against the tears in his eyes and opening his mouth to say something. Anything, really - but nothing would come out. The only thing he could do was stand there and stare at Lars in complete, utter shock, his mouth still hanging open, the tears in his eyes still building despite the fact that he was alive - or maybe, honestly, due to the relief that came with seeing him blink his eyes open again. "Agh…"

He wished he could shake the feeling of dread settling in the pit of his stomach, but honestly? As much as he would love to look for the bright side here, he felt like the worst was yet to come.

Still, even with the anxiety churning through him, he finally managed to feel a rush of relief when Lars pushed his hair out of his face. The scar didn't even register immediately; he was just happy, so blindingly, achingly, overwhelmingly happy, to see his eyes crack open, see his face twist in a mixture of exhaustion and surprise, before it was stamped out into pure bewilderment. "Mm… what the heck just happened…?"

The sound of his voice sent Steven right back into hysterics; he threw himself forward with a soft cry, calling out his friend's name as if he wasn't sitting right there in front of him. Lars jolted in surprise as the tiny teenager threw his arms around him, almost rocking backwards with the sheer force, but Steven managed to keep both of them steady as he held him close, the tears only coming faster and faster now as he struggled to speak past the lump building in his throat. "You saved us," he gasped, "you stopped the robonoids, but- but one of them exploded and-" Another hitching breath cut his words off, and for a moment he didn't feel like he'd be able to spit anything else out. He shook his head furiously, pressing his face into Lars's shoulder. "And you weren't m- moving-" The tears finally spilled, but he didn't stop, "-and I started crying, and-"

Crying.

Wait. He was crying.

He breathed in shakily and reeled backwards, backing away from Lars. No, no, he couldn't do this; he wasn't supposed to cry like this. Well- yes, crying had brought Lars back to life, but now everything was fine, and he needed to be fine, too, if he was going to get them all out of here. He lifted a hand, touching the tears briefly before rubbing them away. "I brought you back to life - it- it was an accident-" He added hastily, genuinely wondering for a moment whether or not Lars would be upset about that. His mind was churning, working double time now, most likely making up for the few seconds he hadn't been able to speak. "I mean, I- I probably would have done that on purpose if I had known I could do that, but-" Universe, come on, you're drowning.

"I didn't really ask your permission-" He turned his gaze back to Lars, still trembling. The other boy just stared at him, looking completely dumbfounded. "So, I'm sorry…!"

Lars blinked back at him, not saying anything for a moment. Then Steven watched his expression shift, the older teen slowly processing the information that had been frantically thrown at him in Steven's haste to both explain the situation and spit out words so that he wouldn't break down sobbing onto Lars's shoulder instead. "Back to life…?" He mumbled, and once again, stared at Steven for a good few seconds before he spoke up again. "So I was… away from life?" He lifted his hands up beside him, looking briefly like he was about to grab his head - before abruptly jerking his arms back down with a startled yelp, and Steven flinched. "Gah- I'm- pink-!" The teenager shrieked, looking himself over frantically.

Steven couldn't fight back a rush of guilt, though he wasn't really sure why he was feeling guilty. "I know…" He lifted his hands slightly, then lowered them again. There wasn't anything else he could do, was there? The pink thing was a weird side effect, for sure - he hoped Lars wouldn't mind it too much. And if he was angry, maybe Steven might be able to calm him down a little… Lars didn't usually stay angry for too long, right? "Do you feel okay…?"

"I don't- really know-" Lars was back to staring at his hands now, visibly shaken.

Steven's anxiety increased tenfold at that, guilt and confusion attempting to make a permanent home in his chest. His heart was pounding faster than it ever had - he felt like maybe he should sit down and breathe, maybe meditate a little like Garnet had taught him to calm down, but he knew they didn't have enough time for all that. He couldn't afford to weigh them down or make them spend any more time here than was absolutely necessary - but he did need to check on Lars. "But… your body-" He blurted out quickly, stepping forward hesitantly. "Are you sore?"

A brief moment of hesitation was enough to, once again, nearly send Steven spiraling into the panic that was steadily gripping him, ready to yank him under into the familiar endless abyss of self-doubt and uncertainty he practically lived in - but Lars finally spoke, his arms wrapped around himself now, and while he sounded confused, he also seemed somewhat certain. "No."

"Are you tired?" Steven pressed, looking him over. The pink thing couldn't be good, right? That was one side effect, there had to be something else to it. Something wrong. Because he had done it, and something always ended up wrong when he did things - and, yes, he was aware that he was treading dangerous waters with these thoughts of his, nearing self-deprecation at its finest, but he couldn't bring himself to care right then. It was the truth, anyway - somehow, he always managed to mess something up, even when he only had the best intentions.

"No?" Lars sounded a little more unsure of himself there; Steven's eyebrows creased together, a frustrated expression briefly rippling across his face as he looked up at the older teenager.

"Do you feel good?" He allowed himself a brief flicker of hope, but it didn't last.

"No?!"

Heart sinking, Steven gripped his shirt with both hands, wringing it desperately in his grip. He wanted nothing more than to rip it right off, to shred it into pieces between his fingers until he felt somewhat calm - but, no, Steven, that's not how you calm down, he chided himself with a quick shake of his head, breathing in shakily and forcing himself to focus. "Do you feel bad?"

"No!" Lars sounded exasperated now, if not somewhat scared; Steven couldn't keep himself from flinching on time, nor could he ignore the rush of sympathy that engulfed him as he looked up at his friend. He could practically sense the desperation and the terror radiating from him in waves; the new situation was downright terrifying. They were on an entirely different planet, surrounded by gems Steven didn't even know - and for Lars, a human, and a human that typically wasn't anywhere nearby when gem stuff went down, it had to be… well, traumatizing. "I- I guess I just feel- really freaked out?!" Lars lifted a hand to his head, grimacing.

The guilt that churned through Steven was enough to push more tears back to his eyes, and he spoke quickly, desperately, with the hope that nobody would notice just how close he really was to having a complete mental/emotional breakdown on the spot. "Well, I am too, so, at least we're on the same page here-" He stopped with his mouth half-open, ready to say more, only for every muscle in his body to pull taut with barely-concealed terror when he heard a familiar hum coming from behind them; for a moment, the hybrid almost didn't want to turn; a shaky breath escaped him instead of the words that had been supposed to, his mouth running dry almost immediately afterwards. He stood, frozen, before slowly managing to turn his head slightly.

"They're back," one of the fusions moaned - Rhodonite, that was her name - as she gripped the sides of her face, staring at the mouth of the cave. "Those shattering robonoids are back!"

"Quickly," Fluorite hissed, "block the entrance."

As the gems - minus Padparadscha - rushed for the boulder beside the entrance to the cave, Steven managed to shake himself out of his trance in order to turn back to Lars. The other boy was staring at him now - well, somewhat. He was more or less flitting his gaze back and forth between Steven and the others, but his eyes lingered on the younger teenager for a while as Steven mustered the nerve to speak again, praying that the next time he opened his mouth, he wasn't going to do what he felt like doing and vomit. "Lars, you stay here and rest-" He turned, ready to head after the others to help, but he had barely gotten a few steps in before he froze.

The gems had almost gotten the boulder to the entrance, but it was too late; Steven flinched, lifting a hand slightly to shield himself from the orange light as the robonoid burst in, immediately taking to scanning as much of the cave as possible. Steven went rigid, and he could hear Lars scramble to his feet behind him as the other gems shrieked and scrambled back as much as possible; Lars quickly pulled Padparadscha behind him, shushing her as she started speaking - saying something about 'Lars will change in hue' or whatever - while the other gems tried to shield themselves from the scanners, scattering in different directions to hide.

Steven rushed forward, ready to do whatever he could to get the robonoid out and save the others; it was his fault Lars was even here, and if it weren't for him, the off-colors wouldn't even be in danger to begin with. He was the one that had led the bots to them. Stop it, stop it, stop it! He screamed at himself, grabbing a rock off of the ground. Not the time for the blame game, Steven! Gotta- save- the gems! He pulled his arm back and flung the rock at the robonoid.

Thankfully, it hit the bot dead on; as it swiveled around to face him, Steven once again found himself cringing back, lifting his arms. Less to block the light now, and more in a defensive manner than anything. Yes, he was terrified of the stupid thing. It had almost killed Lars - heck, it had killed Lars! He'd still be dead because of it if Steven hadn't been able to accidentally revive him. And besides that, they were just completely eerie in general; the hybrid swallowed and rooted himself to the ground as it floated toward him, beaming the orange light in his direction. "It's okay to be afraid," he reminded himself in a whisper, "it's okay to be afraid."

He squeezed his eyes shut, prepared for the worst; his gem shimmered, glowing as the robonoid scanned it - he could feel it pulsing now, and it left a sickening feeling in his gut. He braced himself, reminding himself to just breathe, just breathe, he needed to think, and get-

Clunk.

"Hey!"

"Get away!"

Rather than relief, Steven's initial reaction to hearing the Rutile twins was complete and utter terror; he snapped his eyes open, whirling his head around to warn them off, fully expecting to see the robonoid pursuing them instead. However, the odd gem was still pelting rocks at the bot while it simply continued toward Steven, surprisingly undeterred by the assault - which the hybrid initially found odd, because even he had been able to distract the bot even after it had scanned the others' gems, but this one seemed deadset on him; he realized why almost immediately, stumbling back a few steps and raising his arm to summon his shield.

The orange light shifted into a yellow one, and he stiffened; every part of him trembled, every bone, every muscle, every inch. For a moment, it was almost numb - just a split second of complete and utter nothingness - before pure, raw pain enveloped him. It was like nothing he had ever felt before, and it was enough to send him crumbling to his knees with a scream.

"Steven-!"

The pain only intensified as the yellow light beamed down on him, the robonoid moving closer and closer until, finally, it was right there in front of him; Steven managed to lift his head slightly, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, and opened his mouth - only to let out a loose sob.

No, no, he was failing. He couldn't do this. He had to be strong. He had to save them. He struggled, fighting against whatever the hell this yellow light was doing to him, whatever force was keeping him pinned on his knees, but he couldn't move anything but his head. And then, finally, after what seemed like ages - it stopped. The yellow light flickered out, and Steven briefly allowed himself a moment of relief, a brief second of clarity, a chance to thank whatever God there might be above - and yeah, it was that bad, if Steven was praying to God - that it had stopped. But the relief was short-lived, and, honestly? The hybrid shouldn't have been shocked.

A green light enveloped him next, and a bubble formed around him before he had the chance to move away; the second it did, it began rocking, jerking, shuddering; he turned his head faintly to look, stunned to see Lars - as well as Rhodonite and the Rutile twins - pounding on the side of the bubble, lips moving frantically. They seemed to be screaming, but Steven couldn't hear them. He couldn't hear anything other than the humming of the robonoid in front of him, and the sound of his own heart racing much faster than it should have been. He wanted to get up and help them fight the bot, get himself out of the bubble and get them to safety, but he found himself completely consumed in exhaustion by the time he even managed to consider it. It felt like something was physically weighing him down - it wasn't painful this time, thankfully, but it was still enough to make him crumble completely, collapsing against the bottom of the bubble.

"No…" He groaned, turning his head slightly to press his face into his arms. He pressed one hand against the bottom of the bubble, struggling to heave himself back up, but he couldn't. "No, no, no, m'supposed to save them- I gotta save them…" The hybrid gritted his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. This wasn't supposed to be happening; he should have been on trial with the Diamonds alone - Lars should have never been on the ship. He should've made sure everyone was safe. He should've done a head count before they'd left - he should have done something, anything, to make sure that nobody else was with them when they left. And now Lars was stuck in space, and the off-colors were being hunted, and he was… well…

… that didn't matter.

"Doesn't matter…" Steven hissed, shifting to pull his other arm under him and managing to push himself up a little bit. "I don't matter… not right now…" He reached one hand up, pressing it against the side of the bubble, and finally managed to push himself back up onto his knees, only to freeze again. That was the most he could do; he was already trembling, on the verge of collapsing again, and he couldn't afford that. He needed to get out, and do what he was made to do and protect. The hybrid shuddered and lifted his other hand to the side of the bubble, glancing back out at the others - only to pause and freeze once more, hands dropping instantly.

He took another quick look around, every bit of determination he'd managed to muster immediately crumbling right back into despair. They were moving - if the way the buildings and towers around them speeding by in a blur was any indication - but it definitely didn't feel like it. Lars was gone - the off colors were gone - oh, god, were they in danger? Where were they?

Oookay, relax, the hybrid reminded himself, sitting back on his knees shakily and lifting his hands to grip both sides of his head. He was about to lose it completely. I'm sure they're okay. The Diamonds only wanted me, right? They won't care about Lars, he's just a human - uh- no offense, Lars, obviously, but- yeah. Yeah, he's fine, right? And the off colors… they're… ah… Steven rubbed his hand over his face, briefly allowing himself a split-second of exhaustion, letting the despair consume him for a good few seconds before forcing his mind back on the right track - positivity, Steven, come on. They've been in hiding for a while… and I was the only reason they were being tracked anyway… so they'll be safe now, everyone's safe now.

Sure, if you could say 'being trapped on an alien planet' was safe. God, this was so…

The bubble popped abruptly, and Steven let out a surprised gasp as he fell, too startled to use his floating powers to soften the impact; at first, there was nothing but pure pain, every inch of his body aching before it steadily began to dissolve again. He breathed in shakily through his teeth as the exhaustion cleared, as well - finally managing to push himself up without too much of a struggle, the young teenager rubbed his hand over his face and lifted his gaze slightly.

Fuck optimism, at that moment the hybrid wanted absolutely nothing more than to curl up and vanish right then and there; his eyes met a pair of yellow ones first, Diamond-shaped eyes narrowed down at him scornfully. The hybrid grimaced back at her before flicking his gaze to the side, toward the blue gem that stood beside her; arms crossed, Blue Diamond simply stared down at him. There was no readable emotion in her eyes, her face remaining frighteningly blank; considering what Steven knew about her now, it was nothing short of unnerving.

He stayed silent for a moment, flicking his gaze rapidly between the two of them, before hesitantly managing to force his lips upwards in an uncertain smile. "Hey…"

Yellow Diamond's eyes narrowed slightly, glancing him up and down wordlessly before turning her gaze back to Blue Diamond, who hadn't taken her gaze off of the hybrid at all. "Blue, come on," the yellow gem hissed, lifting a hand to gesture toward Steven - and the hybrid would be lying if he said he didn't flinch, and violently so - as she spoke, "let's just shatter her already. We already know she's guilty, and frankly, I don't see the point in letting this… abomination live."

Okay, that actually kinda stung. "Hey," the hybrid repeated, mumbling now, less nervous and a little more offended than before. "Words hurt, you know. Also, I'm not a 'she'-"

"You shut your mouth," Yellow Diamond retorted, offering him a furious glance; Steven grimaced again, lifting his hands in a half-placating gesture and making a show of snapping his mouth shut. The Diamond sneered back at him, clearly unamused, before turning back to Blue Diamond. "Please tell me you're ready to execute. I can't even look at her…"

Blue Diamond twisted her mouth into a frown, still staring down at Steven - honestly, at this point, her gaze was slowly starting to make him uncomfortable - but he took the chance to offer her a hesitant smile, half-hoping she might be a little more lenient than Yellow Diamond seemed to be. He didn't exactly want to die here - he didn't exactly want to die at all - but he most certainly didn't want to die at the hands of the gems that thought he was some intergalactic war criminal, because he had a feeling they weren't going to be merciful. "Wouldn't that be…" The blue gem trailed off and shook her head slightly, while Yellow Diamond arched an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you're taking pity on this miserable creature-"

"No," Blue Diamond interrupted quickly, and both Steven and Yellow Diamond leaned back a little at the slightly clipped tone she had now, the irritation lacing her words, "I'm not, Yellow." Now it was Blue's turn to narrow her eyes; as she looked down at him, with no traces of warmth, and none of the sorrow Steven was used to seeing from her, the hybrid felt his blood run cold. "Tell me, Rose Quartz- do you think we should shatter you?"

"Are you really…" Yellow Diamond pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed - Steven would have laughed if his throat hadn't chosen that particular moment to close up on him.

"Uh…" Steven glanced back and forth between them, swallowing hard past the lump in his throat. Okay, this was some kind of trick question, right? Blue was trying to catch him off guard. She couldn't actually think Steven was going to say yes, but… maybe she wanted him to say no. The hybrid hesitated slightly, finally managing to push himself up onto his feet completely - and trying to ignore the way Yellow shifted forward and lifted her hands slightly, fingers twitching - as he once again flicked his gaze between them before focusing on Blue once again. She had a soft side; Steven had seen it, she was just… really sad. If he went about this the right way… "Um… yes-?"

Blue Diamond arched an eyebrow at him, while Yellow paused, blinked, and opened her mouth slightly before abruptly snapping it shut; the Diamond stared down at him for quite some time before simply turning away and pacing a few feet away from them, mumbling something under her breath that sounded like 'unbelievable' and 'shards this is ridiculous'.

"Well…" Blue flicked her gaze to the side, glancing after Yellow briefly, before turning and fixing her gaze back on the hybrid. She lifted a hand - Steven nearly fucking stopped breathing, holy crap maybe 'yes' was the wrong thing to say there - but it was only to lift him up again, raising a small platform under the young teenager's feet in order to bring him up face to face with her; he swallowed, but reminded himself not to back down, not to show fear. This was fine. This was working, right? They were actually listening to him, kinda… "I'm not going to shatter you."

Steven stared at her for a moment as Yellow turned back to them, throwing her arms up slightly in exasperation as she made her way back to Blue's side. "Really?" The hybrid questioned tentatively after a few seconds, studying the blue gem's expression. "That's-"

"I'm going to do something much worse."

Oh, wow, he pinpointed the exact second his heart dropped straight out of his body. Cool.

His expression must have shown his surprise, his fear, his confusion - despite all of his best attempts to mask it - because Blue Diamond's face split into a grin at that moment, a smile that looked so unnatural on her that he genuinely had to wonder for a second if she was the same gem he had seen a while ago. Suddenly, Garnet's words made sense; her fear, her hatred. Suddenly, he could understand why the fusion had refused to take him to Pink Diamond's palanquin, why she had insisted 'I can't go near her'. Blue Diamond wasn't just sad. No… no, this wasn't just sorrow, and guilt. This was anger. The expression on her face, and the venom lacing her tone as she spoke again, that was nothing but pure, unadulterated fury.

"Did you really think," the blue gem huffed out a laugh, taking a step closer; Steven flinched in surprise, lifting his arm up to shield himself somewhat defensively, "that I would let you, a- a filthy… murderer off so easily? No, Rose Quartz, shattering you would be far too merciful."

"I-" Steven breathed in shakily, glancing past her, towards Yellow Diamond now; the yellow gem was silent, but her gaze wasn't fixed on Steven anymore. Now she was simply staring at Blue, with a mostly unreadable expression on her face, but the slight furrow of her eyebrows indicated confusion - maybe some concern? - as the other Diamond approached the platform Steven stood on. The hybrid flicked his gaze back up to Blue after a moment, stepping back slightly.

"What you did to Pink-" Tears pricked at the corners of Blue's eyes, and Steven felt his own well up in response, blinking them back furiously as he stared. "Wasn't mercy, was it, Rose?"

"I didn't…" Steven stared at her, more tears brewing, but this time they had nothing to do with Blue. He could feel her grief; he could feel it as if it were his own. The pure, raw pain - she was angry, yes, but… god, didn't she have a right to be? If she was as close to Pink as she said, then he couldn't imagine how hard it had been to lose her. He'd been conflicted over his mother since the moment he'd found out that she had shattered someone - that she had been able to take another gem's life just like that, to completely erase them from existence. Now, though, at that moment, he only felt something akin to disappointment for his mother, meeting Blue's gaze. He couldn't ever imagine shattering someone… how had Rose been able to…?

The hybrid swallowed, the tears finally spilling; he lifted his hands to his face, pressing them over his eyes silently as he struggled to focus, but he couldn't think of anything else except his mother, and Pink. What had the Diamond done that was so bad, bad enough to warrant shattering? Sure, the Earth had been her colony, and his mother was protecting the Earth, but had she really had to kill her? Surely there was a better way, a better solution than that.

"Well," Blue muttered as Steven rubbed his face furiously, looking up. "Feeling guilty, are you?"

He couldn't even deny that - because yes, god, yes, he felt guilty. He didn't even know why, but he did. He felt awful, awful that someone he had spent so long looking up to, and someone he had tried so hard to be like, had turned out to be a murderer. He felt awful that he was facing the family of the gem that she had murdered, the family that was seeking nothing but justice, justice they weren't ever going to get, because Rose Quartz had given up everything just to have him. It wasn't supposed to be him standing here, facing the Diamonds like this, facing all of the bad things his mother had done in her life; it wasn't supposed to be him, it was supposed to be her. And she wasn't here. So, yes, he did feel guilty - and, on top of that, he felt… angry.

He felt angry that she had just left him here to deal with this. That she wasn't there to face her own crime. That he had to be the one standing up in front of the Diamonds feeling guilty over something that he hadn't even done to begin with. He felt angry at himself, like he usually did - angry over not being her, like everybody seemed to think he should be.

Steven rubbed his arm over his face, finally managing to wipe away the tears for the most part, and looked back up to fix his gaze on Blue again. "I'm sorry."

He felt angry that he had to be the one who apologized here.

Yellow finally stopped pacing, coming to a complete stop beside Blue, and looked down at Steven with her eyebrows raised slightly, head tilted faintly to the side. Blue merely stared at him, blinking back the tears as her expression fell flat once again. "You will be."

He felt angry that, for once, he couldn't figure out how to fix something.

The hybrid fell silent, searching the blue gem's gaze wordlessly. He was only here because she wasn't. He was only being punished because she wasn't. But he hadn't done anything. He hadn't asked for this. He hadn't wanted this. He'd never asked to be brought into existence, and he'd never asked to take his mother out of it. He wasn't supposed to exist; he was never supposed to exist. It was her. It was Rose. It had always been Rose, and it always would be. But she was gone. And he was here. And he needed to figure out how to fix this. He needed to figure out how he could make this right for everybody involved, how he could satisfy the Diamonds, and give them the closure they needed, and protect everybody else.

There was a simple answer, a solution, but Steven wasn't sure how well it would go over here. Blue had already denied him once - but maybe he hadn't been sincere enough before. "I…" He trailed off, the words feeling bitter on his tongue before he'd even spoken them. "What… I did…" Struggling to keep the disgust off of his face, and out of his tone, he lifted his gaze back to the Diamonds again, forcing himself to straighten up. "What I did was wrong." What you did was wrong, he hissed internally, wondering if there was a chance his mother might actually be in there somewhere, watching, listening. "It was cruel-" You were cruel, "and it was… it was wrong." You were wrong. You were wrong to shatter someone. For any reason.

Yellow Diamond was simply studying him again, unreadable once more - but Steven was somewhat relieved to see that Blue Diamond looked somewhat satisfied now, watching him.

"I'm sorry," the hybrid continued, glancing between them once again. "I…" He breathed in slowly, forcing his chin up. "Rose Quartz, former leader of the Crystal Gems and the gem responsible for the death of Pink Diamond, fully surrender myself to Homeworld. Whatever punishment I'm given, I deserve." He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, nearly faltering as he continued, "and Yellow Diamond is right-" He heard a sharp huff from the gem in question, "-I deserve to be shattered for what I did to Pink Diamond, and honestly, I-" Steven choked out a laugh, slightly shaky despite himself, before swallowing and shaking his head, "It should've happened sooner."

"Perhaps," Blue Diamond agreed, and Steven blinked his eyes open again, looking up.

Yellow Diamond crossed her arms, eyeing him for a moment. "Mm." She sighed, flicking her gaze back toward Blue. "Well, if you're not going to shatter her, what are you doing to do with her? Bubble her with the others? Though-" She spared another swift glance back toward Steven, "she does seem to be trapped in an… organic life form, so that may be difficult."

Steven opened his mouth slightly to explain that he was not trapped, he was half-human, but he ended up thinking better of it and simply ended up shutting his mouth again after a moment. Why bother? They probably wouldn't understand it anyways. And the whole 'she/her' thing was actually starting to get on his nerves. Probably wouldn't have a problem with it otherwise, but the fact that they were mostly referring to his mother, regardless, was just unsettling enough. "So you're really not going to shatter me?" He asked after a moment, looking up at Blue. "After everything m- th- everything that I've done?"

"Like I said," Blue responded curtly, clasping her hands together. "It's far too merciful a punishment for the likes of you, Rose Quartz." She turned her attention back to Yellow. "And I'm not going to bubble her either, Yellow. That's more merciful than shattering her." The blue gem sighed, narrowing her eyes slightly. "No… you know what I'm going to do?" Her gaze flicked toward Steven again and, once more, he felt his blood run cold at the expression written across her face, the pure hostility and malice flickering through her eyes. "She hated this. Us. Pink." The Diamond lifted a hand, gesturing around them as she turned back to Yellow. "She hated being a soldier, serving under the Diamond Authority so much, that she…"

Steven grimaced and squeezed his eyes shut against another rush of tears, shaking his head.

"So the best punishment," Blue Diamond continued after a moment, a little calmer - a little too calm, in Steven's opinion, and that was enough to send a chill up his spine. "Would be to force her back into the life she despised so much that she shattered her own Diamond, right?" A hand closed around him before he could open his eyes again, but they flew open immediately anyway, a sharp gasp breaking through his lips as he looked up at Blue in surprise.

"I hope you had fun, Rose Quartz," the Diamond growled, lifting him up completely; Steven struggled slightly, fighting to get at least one arm free, but he went still again quickly enough when she tightened her grip in response, breath hitching, "but your little Earth adventure is over now. You say you'd deserve whatever punishment you're given?" Blue pressed her thumb under his chin and forced his head up, and the hybrid gasped again, pupils shrinking slightly. "Then I hope you agree that you'll deserve this one. Welcome back, Rose Quartz Facet-1 Cut-8BR."