Believe In The Weird and Wild (Star vs. the Forces of Evil x Steven U)

Summary:

Can you truly comprehend the scale?

"And so, I was ordered to never say a word." Pearl finished telling the tale to Garnet, Amethyst, Moon, River, Marco, and Kelly. "... But since Steven and Star found out on their own, a loophole has been achieved!" She cheered. 

"Hooray." Steven said in a dull and monotone voice, not at all enthusiastic.

"Well at most it fills in a lot of missing context on our lives." Marco said. "Mostly that Rose has been playing sides long before Mewni."

"It's not as simple as that, but…yes, that's mainly how the Crystal Gems were able to keep an advantage over Homeworld for a thousand years." If they didn't have that inside information, the entire rebellion would've been shattered within the first year at best.

"So Rose once tried to take over Mewni …" Moon muttered. "I guess that's something to mull over at night."

"Pink sword, Pink lion, Pink Diamond.." Amethyst tried to wave it off. "It was kinda obvious in hindsight. At least she was a nice person that helped us all, right Garnet?"

The fusion was silent, having not said a single thing since the reveal. "She…she…" Garnet began to grumble

"You'd have to stretch the definition of nice for that." Star rolled her eyes. "And I've done that plenty of times already for Eclipsa."

"Honestly the entire end goal compared to everything we've seen was weird." Kelly muttered. "Like, she wanted a colony right? We saw that on the jungle moon."

"She…she…" Garnet continued to mutter to herself, her body trembling and shaking more and more.

"Changing yourself doesn't justify the level of … Garnet?" Steven stopped. "Are you okay?"

"She … SHE LIED TO US!!! " They began to glow, defusing into a concerned Ruby and a violently angry Sapphire.

"SHE LIED TO US! SHE LIED HER ENTIRE LIFE!!" They shouted, accidently freezing River over. "We were told to never question ourselves, to accept that we like each other, but it was just a lie because she felt good about playing everyone!!"

"Sapphire, calm down!" Ruby tried to pacify the ice gem, only for more ice to cover the living room more and more.

"No! I've been calm all my life, I've never had the right to be more angry in my life! Garnet was based on a lie, because I trusted Rose, and never once looked into their future!!" The blue gem cried out, moving to the warp pad. "That's why we're always fighting uphill battles, that's why we're always losing! Because I let her make fools out of us all!"

"We couldn't have known." The red gem tried to justify.

"It's my job to know, that's my part in this relationship!" They argued back. "Because you never know anything!" She screamed, warping away.

Steven sighed. "Alright, time to play 'help the gems' again." He said. "I'll go talk to Sapphire with Pearl, Amethyst, stay with Ruby, everyone else divide up as you want."

"Actually Steven, That corrupted Slinker gem is still loose in my room." Amethyst said, moving over to him.

"I can take it." Kelly pulled out Rose's…Pink's…well, at this point, the sword belonged to the Woolet.

The purple gem sent a look towards Marco and Star, signaling them to do something. "You know what, you're right, Marco, you and Kelly take care of that, Amethyst, you take Steven to find Ruby, I'll go with Pearl and help mull down the drama there."

"What do you mean find Rub-...." Steven looked around, before sighing. "We already lost her in all our arguing … Mom, did you see where she went?"

"Sorry, I'm a little busy trying to thaw out your father." Moon answered as her glowing hands slowly began melting the ice away. "Best to go with what your sister has planned."

"Well, you've heard everyone, Ste-man. Looks like we're going to spend the entire day looking all over Beach Creek." The purple gem pushed Steven towards the exit. "We'll get with the rest of your friends and spread this far and wide."

"... Amethyst is surprisingly good at reading people." Star said the moment the two were out of the door.

"She is the most experienced with humans, that most definitely plays a part in it…something I should've picked up on long ago." Pearl shook her head. She could pity her own lack of emotional understanding later. Right now there was a story to tell.

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Sapphire gazed into the frozen lake, watching as her joke of a reflection glared back. "Our love was for her amusement … our love was built on lies …" The entire purpose of freeing herself from the entanglement of fate was just a big lie. 

"'You're the Answer', what a joke." Sapphire recalled what Rose said to her the day Garnet stumbled into those woods. The kids were right to doubt her future vision, they were right to question everything. She blinded themselves into just following the words and commands of a Diamond, just like every other deluded homeworld gem out there.

"Hey Sapphire." Star walked up to her, Pearl behind. "It's been a while since we talked … usually you're Garnet."

"Yeah … what a mistake that was." They grumbled. "You were right … fusion sucks." The two gasped at her statement.

"Maybe you shouldn't go that far.." Pearl tried to sugarcoat.

"Shouldn't I? I was given ONE compliment about Garnet, and I let myself be strung along by the 'oh so great' Rose Quartz. She must've laughed every time I made a prediction, knowing I couldn't see the freakin obvious." Sapphire groaned. "I mean, my future vision said Steven was supposed to be here with Pearl, and instead Star is."

"Actually Amethyst took him to help talk out his issues." The Mewman answered.

"... Garnet was a lie, Rose was Pink, and Amethyst is the most mature Crystal Gem …" She turned to Pearl. "Do you have any revelation that will forever change my outlook on you?"

"I can't guarantee what I say will change your mind about how you feel, nor should you feel forced to change how you feel. I just want you to make sure that whatever choice you make, it's a fully informed choice." Pearl sighed as she got on her knees "While I would have liked Steven being here for this, I suppose you'll fill him in on the important bits anyway Star." The gem said, resting against the frozen fountain. "It's time I tell you both the full story of Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz."

"Finally." Star said with anticipation. "Lay it on us, spare no details."

Pearl gazed at the sky, a twinkle in her eye. "I was formed on a colony, assigned to Pink Diamond just a couple of years before she was given Earth. I was a replacement for her original Pearl." Of course, because why wouldn't a diamond have 'expendable assets'? "My job was to keep her happy, as she let go of her Spinel recently, and the other Diamonds said she wasn't the … 'best' at technology."

"She broke it after three clicks, didn't she?" Star guessed.

"You should have seen her fly her ship, no grace at all." Pearl let out a soft chuckle. "So … we planted injectors from the moon base and watched … She was bored after five minutes. It was so hard to keep her happy, mostly because I wasn't informed of any jokes." They never really improved on that until Bismuth was around. "So after it was time, I suggested she could watch the Amethysts emerging from their holes. But on the moon base it was just a hologram … so after I made an attempt at humor, and offhandedly suggested she 'disguises herself' …"

"Wait…becoming Rose Quartz was your idea?" Sapphire, despite the anger, found herself a little shocked. "I didn't take you to be that creative so early on."

"It became a real struggle to keep her happy during those times, I had to think outside the box or risk failing my function." Pearl responded. "So we went down, met some Amethyst guards." The skinny gem smiled. "When one popped out of the ground, the first thing she said was 'you are beautiful'. She was so happy, making life …" They frowned. "Then she went out of the Kindergarten and saw some flowers … realizing that we weren't making life … we were just replacing it."

"So she genuinely just sucked a little less than the other Diamonds?" Star asked.

"Part of it has to do with age. She was the last Diamond to be created, and thus, she had a more 'fresh' perspective on life…something the Diamond's never truly appreciated." Pearl sighed. "She thought if she owned a colony the others would finally take her seriously, and that she would actually have a say …" Pearl sighed. "But neither Yellow or Blue acknowledged her attempts to save earth. Yellow said 'you asked for a colony, now run it'. And Blue formed the Zoo as she thought it was just a request to 'keep specimens alive'." That did sound like them.

"What about White?" Star asked.

"... She thought the idea of sparing a living organism was a joke." Pearl stared off, holding herself tightly. "She tried to look for an alternate route. One of which was colonizing Mewni instead. She hadn't grown attached to life there yet, and came close to starting the process when she discovered the Magic Well that would eventually become the sanctuary."

"And then she met Glossaryck?" Sapphire asked.

"Unfortunately, yes." The pale gem grumbled. "Before the book of Spells, he was tied to the Well, spending most of his days floating and giving vague riddles to the Mewman inhabitants. He took one look at Pink and instantly knew everything, saying he would help her just this, saying she reminded him of 'a child that fell from the stars'."

"Interrogate Glossaryck at a later date." Star muttered. "So, why would she listen to him? He was an asshole and she wanted to save Earth."

"She was desperate for any kind of guiding hand. The moment he offered advice, she took to it like a sponge taking in water." Pearl continued. "He simply said to watch the Mewmans, and so for a good year or so, she did."

"Wasn't that the early part of life when they took over Monster territory?" Star asked.

"Yes, although the Mewmans early attempts at it were quite laughable. This was during their first exposure to magic directly, so their minds were essentially mush half the time." Pearl explained. "Still, the idea of fighting the enemy never truly occurred to Pink until she saw them, so when Blue and Yellow continued to refuse to listen, Pink decided to take it into her own hands, attempting to become a boogeyman of sorts to scare off the incoming Homeworld forces.

"Well Homeworld gems still think she's scary, so she worked it out there." Star noted.

"But everything changed when she saw Garnet." Pearl continued. "She didn't even know the ability to fuse with other gem types was possible at the time. I was probably more curious than her…"

"For obvious reasons." She and Star agreed.

"...So when she was in the middle of a ramble, I tried to fuse with her like how the Rubies did..by picking her up over my head and shouting to activate." Pearl blushed.

"Really?" Star stifled a giggle. "That sounds a bit … childish for you."

"I have mentioned on several occasions that I was known as the renegade pearl." The pale gem reiterated before clearing her throat. "Rose never thought that there could be other gems that could think differently like her, but when she saw Garnet, two different gems that fused out of concern and care and love for one another, she realized she could fight for more than just Earth, she could fight for gems as well."

"Rose … she was chasing after us." Sapphire realized. "All this time we thought we were following her lead but … she was inspired by us."

"Yeah, by Garnet…and by Pearl." Star looked at both of them. "She only became Rose because of Pearl, and she only cared about other Gems because of Garnet…wow…she was dry on the creative front, wasn't she?"

"Maybe." Pearl admitted. "But there is one quality that she has that no other gem had ever experienced before."

"What's that?" Star asked.

"She changed … and matured …" Pearl said. "She hoped the Mewmans could do the same one day, the Butterflies being the only sensible people she knew."

"Wow…..my whole paradigm just got flipped." Star said with widened eyes and a shocked face. "I still don't like how we got to this point…but if what Pink did eventually led to Steven…I guess I can't completely hate her."

"Well at least one of you kids doesn't …" Pearl leaned back. "I guess all that's left is everyone else …" Sapphire stared into the future [Lots of fighting and awkward chaos].

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Amethyst took a bite of her everything topping pizza. "You sure you don't want a bite?" She offered a slice to Steven.

"No thank you … not a fish person." He muttered with a bit of green. "Also I'm trying to map out everywhere we've been. Ruby HAS to be somewhere within Beach Creek." He went on, continuing to look over a piece of paper.

"Well your friends are looking, nothing else we can do but wait." She deadpanned, taking a bite. This whole thing was a mess, but everyone was freaking out right now, and Steven needed at least one person that was a sobbing or angry pile of emotions.

"I … guess." He grumbled, taking a bite of his own pizza.

"So … Pink Diamond." She started.

"Yep."

"Rose Quartz, eh?"

"The one that's the center of everyone's problem in my life." 

"And you?" He looked up confused. "How are you taking it?"

"... Just more problems to solve, on top of the existing ones." He responded.

"It's ridiculous, isn't it?" Amethyst said. "I mean, this entire time, she was rebelling against…herself?" 

"Just a chess player that reached a jerk level rivaling Glossaryck for the 'greater good'." He shrugged. "Now do you think she could be in the forest? … No, she would have started a forest fire."

"Are you really okay right now?" Amethyst asked again. "The gem she supposedly shattered, the Diamond … it's in your stomach … like … just under your shirt."

Steven took a peak under his shirt, and rolled his eyes. "Diamond, Quartz, it doesn't matter what kind of gem she had. She was a jerk and she always was one. At least I can take it." He rolled his eyes again. "I can just imagine how Lapis, Peridot, and Rosie would take it … actually Rosie would take this pretty easy, she's like the most stable gem I know." His eyes sank. "Or she might revert to her old status and call me her Diamond, so maybe dont't tell her for a while."

"Lips are sealed." She made the motion. "But seriously dude, you should sit back and think about it."

"Well either I can think about it, or I can help Garnet, who's absolutely losing it, not to mention how Mom and Earth Dad might take this."

"Dude, they're all adults. More so, Garnet's over thousands of years old." Amethyst pointed out. "If they're spiraling, then they should focus on making it right on their own time."

"The word adult has no meaning." He rolled his eyes. "Pearl is a neurotic mess, Garnet's components can get into serious arguments, and no offense, but your self confidence rivals Kelly's."

"Ah, look at who's calling the kettle back, mr 'I am my Mom'." She raised an eyebrow. "Not even five seconds after everyone learns the truth, and you get back into your factory default of 'ignore my pain and heal everyone else's'."

"I don't have pain, I have to help everyone because I'm the only one who can take the revelation without losing it." He argued. "She was my mom, so I need to fix…"

"She was my mom too!" Amethyst pounded the table. "She's the reason I came out of the earth to begin with, she took me out of that dank dark hole, and I looked up to her!"

Steven immediately dropped everything, staring at her. "... I'm sorry I didn't notice." He said. "How-"

"Zip it." She put her hand on his lips. "You want to make this right? Focus on yourself for once in your life and let us fix our own problems. You're not the only one capable of working through pain, and you don't need another thousand year old problem to fix." She crossed her arms. "Now…how do you feel really?"

Steven took a minute to look around his spots, likely trying to find a way to run and ignore his problems again, only to take in a deep breath. "Really … frustrated … and angry … I'm angry for the position she put Pearl in, I'm angry that so many people I knew for so long put her on this pedestal like she knew all the answers, and that for so long I've spent my whole life wanting to be like her." He gripped the spoon on the table. "And … I feel … relieved that she didn't kill anyone…but now I'm frustrated that … that … she was…" Steven sighed.

"She was what?"

"That she didn't know what to do. From the memories I've gathered … she was just some powerful alien that didn't know what to do with the power she was given … and … that makes me more like her than I'm comfortable with."

"Dude, nobody knows what to do. That's why I freestyle." Amethyst said. "You'll find something amazing if you try everything."

"Well I did try wrestling, and It's been a blast and a half." Steven chuckled. "And now I'm confused over something else now."

"What is it?" She asked as she ate her giant glob of cheese and bread like a taco.

"I'm confused that you're somehow the most mature immortal I've ever met."

Amethyst almost choked on the nonexistent esophagus that she had. "What, no I'm not! I'm the fun one!"

"You realized I was going through a lot and separated me from everyone else, made sure that what we're doing was the least involved with the Rose thing, made sure I listened, you even paid for the pizza, something you've never done before for anything.

"Nope nope, totally the crazy one that does as she pleases. I plan on grabbing the ketchup and running" She defended herself.

"I bet you even made up that story about the corrupt gem running around your room." The boy chuckled.

"Oh no, the slinker has been running around my room for about five years by this point. It keeps making these neat little caves out of all my junk."

"... I know you want me to focus on my own problems but we should really go help them."

"Dude, Marco and Kelly are badass, they're fine." Amethyst waved off. "You guys have been fixing emotional junk that we haven't managed to get over in over a decade. Let us fix our own mess for once." She hugged her little brother.

"Fine, I will." He rolled his eyes with a playful smirk. "But if you stop putting your own needs aside too, expect me to do the same for you." Like he could catch her when she really booked it.

========================================================================

"So yeah … Pink Diamond lied to all of us." Ruby finished her story. "... Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah, perfectly fine." Greg waved off. "She was Pink Diamond, I was Greg DaMayo, we became new people and never focused on the past."

"Wow, the level of empathy within you is astounding." Moon, having caught up with her, which wasn't that hard, Ruby just ran to the cliff to talk with Greg, said. "I would've expected a frustrated sigh or something."

"Why would I?" He asked. "Everyone makes mistakes. There was one time I used mayonnaise on pizza, the worst mistake of my life."

"She committed genocide." Ruby countered.

"Well, I never knew that side of her." Greg countered back. "I didn't know who she was back then, only the person that she eventually grew into, and that's the side of her that I fell in love with."

"You are wise beyond your years, Greg Universe." River held up a cup. "If you were to ever perish, I shall place a picture of you in the halls of the Johansans."

"Thanks for the honor man." The fathers clinked their cups and drank. "How about you Moon? You apparently knew her as a kid."

"It's … a little much to take in, I admit. I'm … conflicted to say the least." Moon glared at her own cup. "She was always so aloof as it was during her time on Mewni, it was expected of her to keep some things secret … although why the Commission could never contain her suddenly makes a lot more sense."

"If the rumors of Diamond powers are true she could probably kill some of the commission." Ruby added on.

"Yes I suppose she could…" Moon sighed with a hint of sorrow in her face. "I never quite understood why she acted how she did with monsters. I often attributed it to her just having more capacity for empathy than I ever could…but now I see." She looked up at the sky. "She had experience and didn't wish for my family to repeat it." Moon closed her hands. "I must've truly disappointed her."

"I think you did fine with what you had." River placed a hand on her shoulder, holding her tightly. "You and Star turned out lovely compared to other queens we've had." Then again, there's very few things you could compare when one of them was a notorious baby eater. "What about you, Ruby? Are you holding up as well?"

"I … dunno." She admitted. "I always left the deep existential stuff to Sapphire and focused on what was important to everyone else at the time … even when we were split up." She said, "I … never really thought of what Rose was to me other than someone accepting of Garnet."

"You could always go on a soul journey." Greg suggested. "Walk on like Kelly did and search for what makes you you?"

"Is that something I should even do?" Ruby asked out loud, looking at the starry night that was reelected on the ocean below them. "Better question, is that something I'd want to do?" Outside of being Garnet, she never really wanted much. Heck even during those thirteen years split apart, the biggest thing on her mind was Sapphire and reforming Garnet.

"Well you should question what it is you want to do then." He said. "What makes you happy as Ruby?"

"What makes me happy?" She immediately thought about Sapphire, but quickly shook the image from her mind. "I like….nice and long sunny days….a clear blue sky…cacti….and horses." Something about riding a flaming warnicorn against the scorching sun just seems so relaxing to her.

"Like a cowboy? " River asked.

"A cowboy …" Ruby muttered. "... I like it … living on the land." She thought it over. "I should talk with Marco about it." He had experience with the rogue and wild lifestyle.

"You sure you're going to be fine without Sapphire?" Greg asked.

"I think so….it's not the first time we spent time apart." Ruby let herself take a deep breath. "Only this time, I'm not going to be concerned about reforming Garnet. She'll come back when the time is right." If that would be anytime at all.

========================================================================

Star walked over to her brother, sitting down next to him. "So … I got the full story, and Sapphire is taking it rather well."

"And our parents told me Ruby's going to take some personal time to herself." Steven leaned into the couch and let out a long sigh. "In fact, Mom and my Earth dad seem to be taking it well too, so everyone's just a little more emotionally stable than I expected." 

"I know right?" Star answered. "I knew Pearl was gonna be alright because she kept the secret, but honestly she seems better than ever now that she doesn't have to hide the secret … also Amethyst is mature?"

"When did we miss all this character development?" He asked with confusion.

"Maybe with all the times we're by ourselves screaming for our lives." Star guessed. "Or maybe it was just a gradual thing we didn't notice until now. I mean, I didn't think about it before, but people have lives outside of us."

"Okay, even I wasn't that naive." Steven snorted.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm the silly one, don't rub it in." She ruffled his head. "So … you're a Diamond now … or at least, you've always been a diamond, right?"

"Already had this talk with Amethyst, basically it changes nothing because I never knew her, but now I know everyone else is gonna think weirdly about Rose."

"Okay, just wondering…do you technically own the entire planet now?"

"That would mean I listened to Homeworld, which I'm pretty sure wouldn't give ME a planet." Steven closed his eyes. "I'm just going to take this time and let myself be a kid for once, and not try to fix everyone's emotional messes."

"That's the spirit." She patted his head. "Good old kid Steven, when riding trash can lids was the best ride we ever had."

"Or when we hung ourselves upside down eating cookie cats to see if all the blood rushing to our head would prevent brain freeze." Steven leaned into her arms. "Those were the best times." He looked around. "Hey, where's Marco and Kelly?"

The sound of Dimensional scissors were heard, and a black tendril threw out his girlfriend as a straggingling Marco was repeatedly trying to stab it. "We're out of her room already, stop trying to kill us!" Marco shouted as he closed the portal.

"Completely forgot that Amethyst didn't fake that." Steven muttered. "How was your guys' day?"

"Meh, platonic bonding." Kelly muttered. "So how about you guys?"

"Full story and decision to take it easy." Star waved off. "No more crazy Diamond stuff today."

The tv started to spark. Diamonds, gems, and other strange images fluttered on the screen. "... It's the interdimensional viewing time, isn't it?" Kelly asked nobody in particular.

"Looks like it." Steven said as he got out the mirror. "I'll text everyone, Marco, you prepare the snacks."

"On it!" The boy walked away, as Star remembered they really have to watch what they say at times.