Steven was on a call with Connie, explaining—in a fairly brief summary—what his mission was all about.
"So you're going to get absorbed by some giant Gem and leave for a pretty long time?" Connie asked, trying to sound calm.
"Abducted," he said, but quickly realized his mistake and cleared his throat.
"It's a big summary, but yeah, that's basically it," Steven replied, scratching his cheek with a bit of discomfort.
A brief silence followed.
"Will you be okay?" Connie finally asked, a little worried now.
"According to Garnet, yeah. If I'm just myself or something like that. If I try to fake it, I'll have to fight someone older than Earth," Steven explained, as if talking about something ordinary.
Another silence, heavier this time.
"I'm not convinced," Connie said in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Don't worry, I've got this," Steven said, running his hand back through his hair, trying to play it down.
Steven looked to the side and saw Peridot and Bismuth putting the finishing touches on the ship's base.
"Well, I've got to go," Steven said, looking away. "They're almost done."
"Perfect," Connie replied.
The call went silent for a few seconds that felt longer than usual.
"Take care... I love you tons," Connie finally said, and hung up before Steven could answer.
Steven stood looking at the dark screen, then gently shook his head with a silly smile on his face.
He got up, walked toward the warp pad, and returned to his base.
As soon as he arrived, the first thing he noticed was Pearl surrounded by exaggerated amounts of food, clearly meant to last a very long time.
I just said good morning to her as I walked toward my dad. Ever since I gave him that treasure, so to speak, he had bought a video game to have something else in common with me.
"Stevo," my dad said, and it was impossible not to notice the dark circles under his eyes.
"Haven't you slept?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not much," Greg admitted, rubbing his eyes.
I just smiled.
"Relax, Dad. This is easy. Nothing's gonna happen to me."
Greg stared at me for a few seconds, as if trying to etch that moment into his memory.
"I know you're big now, but... would you blame me for worrying?"
"I'd be mad if you didn't," I said, nodding calmly.
We both gave each other a manly, chest-bumping hug.
I looked at the powered-on console; the screen showed the Need for Speed menu.
"So, are we playing?" I said, pointing at the controller.
"Of course," Greg replied with more energy. "These old bones still got it."
And so, we spent hours playing peacefully, racing and laughing softly, in a moment where it was just the two of us and nobody else—as if the universe could wait a little longer.
Steven was watching the dark night sky. The house was silent; only he remained awake. Lapis was there, but she barely counted, way too focused on fighting noobmaster12 to notice anything else.
Steven shook his head, let out a soft sigh, and his body began to turn pink. He summoned several pink squares in front of him, floating with almost perfect stability.
He observed them carefully as they levitated. They were a part of him, an extension of his shield, but now he didn't see them as simple defense.
With a slow movement, he made them fuse together, forming a cube of pink water. It was strange, unnatural even, but he wanted to try something new.
Out of nowhere, Steven created a spike inside the cube, piercing through without breaking its form. The water vibrated, but didn't collapse.
Steven just watched.
There was no emotion on his face. That was the control he had been training for so long.
Still, the doubt lingered.
He didn't know if this would be enough to face a Diamond.
If I can't handle a Diamond, I'll have to pull out the Universe charm, I thought, letting a charming "Universe smile" escape.
I raised my eyes toward the void of space. I was relaxed, but I knew that at any moment, a ship could drop from the sky.
"If my guess is right..."
Blue would land in the palanquin.
I imagine it's mostly because of the Cluster, I thought. But maybe I can talk it out... and if not, guess it's time to light 'em up like in Mexico.
I remembered my mother's words. She always used to say that Blue was the one who could understand the most, the closest to feeling something like guilt or sadness.
Though to convince her completely... I'd have to reveal myself.
Steven clenched the pink fist in front of him, watching it as he reconsidered that decision.
But first, he would have to tell everyone about his power. It was strange, almost absurd, that no one suspected anything yet. No Quartz should have abilities like these, and yet, everyone seemed to accept it without questioning it too much.
I shook my head and let out a smile.
Cartoon writing, I guess, I thought as I kept watching the void, waiting, calm... but ready for whatever was coming.
Steven entered his house and walked straight toward the temple. His steps were slow, almost thoughtful.
He observed the temple door, where five Gems were now embedded. He vaguely remembered Bismuth saying she'd add Peridot and Lapis at some point—something that clearly wasn't a priority right now.
His gem glowed softly, and his room's door opened. Without thinking twice, he stepped inside.
Inside, he looked around with the same fascination as always, as if every time were the first time. The curved walls, the soft light, the feeling of being inside something alive. Then, his mother's hologram appeared in front of him, taking shape little by little.
Rose stood beside him, looking at him with that eternal calm.
"You've been thinking a lot," the hologram said softly.
Steven sighed and looked up at the pink clouds moving slowly in front of the room.
"Yeah... and it won't stop spinning in my head."
Rose tilted her head slightly. "Are you sure you want to tell everyone the truth?"
Steven slowly shook his head, without taking his eyes off the artificial sky.
"Not yet," he replied. "Not like this."
There was a brief silence.
"If I do it all at once... it could break a lot of things," Steven continued. "Not just for me, but for you. For what you were. For what I am."
Rose watched him with a serene expression, yet full of understanding.
"Keeping a secret like that also weighs on you, my child," she said. "Especially when you know it will change everything. Maybe that's why the real me simply never said anything."
Steven closed his eyes for a moment.
"That's why I want to be sure," he finally said. "And there's only one more Gem who can help me decide."
Rose smiled softly, as if she already knew the answer.
"Pearl."
Steven opened his eyes and nodded.
"She was there from the beginning," he said. "If there's anyone who can tell me if it's time... it's her."
The hologram stepped back, becoming slightly more translucent.
"Then do it," Rose said. "Talk to her. Trust the Universe instinct—believe me, your father trusted it a lot."
Steven took a deep breath and took one last look at the pink clouds.
"Thanks, Mom."
The hologram slowly faded away.
Without hesitating any longer, Steven walked toward the entrance of the heart-shaped tube and let himself fall, descending through the interior of the temple toward Pearl's room, with the weight of the secret still on his chest, but with his decision growing clearer.
As he descended through the interior of the temple, Steven passed by Amethyst's room.
He saw her fast asleep, tangled up in pillows and snack wrappers. He said nothing and kept going down in silence.
Darkness enveloped him for a few seconds until the space suddenly opened up into a place filled with water.
The light was soft and bluish, and everything floated with an almost surreal calm. Pearl was there, carefully organizing several objects, moving them with absolute precision.
Steven descended smoothly and began floating toward her.
Pearl noticed the change in atmosphere and turned, a bit confused, until her eyes met Steven's.
"Oh, hi Steven," Pearl said with a calm smile.
Steven returned the smile, but his expression was more thoughtful than usual.
"Hi, Pearl," he replied. "You were... organizing."
"There's always something to organize—things I have here and there, stuff Amethyst leaves lying around, and now it's just Lapis and Garnet, I don't know where they get these things from," she said with sweat lines on her face. "Especially here," she added, pointing at what looked like an airplane engine.
...
...
...
Steven simply ignored it and looked around. The water reflected lights, memories, and fragments of the temple. Everything seemed suspended in a perfect balance.
"It's pretty," Steven said.
Pearl nodded. "This place holds many things. Some visible... others not so much," she said as she tried to scrub off a freakin' stain on the ground.
Steven floated a bit closer, watching an object spin slowly between them.
"Pearl," he finally said in a lower tone.
Pearl, noticing his tone, smoothed out the invisible wrinkles in her clothes.
Steven just had sweat drops from that, but recovered and asked, "Have you ever felt like silence weighs more than telling the truth?"
Pearl froze for a moment. She left the object floating and looked straight at him.
"Yes," she answered without hesitation. "Many times."
Steven looked at her.
"I've been thinking about everything," he continued. "About what's coming. About Blue. About the Diamonds. About... me."
Pearl didn't look away.
"And about Mom, too," Steven added.
The atmosphere seemed to grow a bit heavier.
"Steven," Pearl said carefully. "Whenever you talk about Rose... it's because something important is troubling you."
Steven watched the pink reflection of his own form in the water.
"Is it okay to tell them the secret?" he finally asked. "Is it okay to tell them that Rose Quartz wasn't who she claimed to be?"
Pearl closed her eyes for a second.
"That depends on what you're willing to face, my boy," she answered. "And what they are prepared to hear."
Steven frowned.
"And what if they aren't?" he asked. "What if telling them that Rose was Pink Diamond... that I am Pink Diamond... breaks everything?"
Pearl opened her eyes slowly.
"Steven," she said softly. "The truth always breaks something. The question is what gets built afterward."
Steven let out a small, nervous laugh.
"Sounds like something Garnet would say. Also, don't look at me with that know-it-all face, you cheeky son of a gun."
"And like something Rose would think," Pearl added, ignoring his last comment.
Steven fell silent.
"I don't want to be a Diamond," Steven said. "I don't want them to look at me like that. I don't want orders, or thrones, or fear, or to have robot Gems looking up to me with admiration or whatever Jasper had with Pink Diamond."
"I know," Pearl replied. "It should never have been your responsibility, dear."
"But I am," Steven said, raising his hand and observing the pink glow of his skin. "And hiding it isn't going to change that."
Pearl stepped a little closer.
"Rose hid her identity because she thought it was the only way to create something new," she said. "Something free... outside the crystals or the bubble of the Empire."
Steven bit his lip.
"And did it work?"
Pearl hesitated.
"Partly," she replied. "But it also left wounds... many," she said, hugging herself.
Steven closed his eyes.
"I don't want to repeat that."
Pearl looked at him with a mix of pride and sadness.
"That is the difference between you and her," she said. "You hesitate. You ask questions—unlike her, who would look first and ask questions a hundred years later."
Steven opened his eyes.
"And you?" he asked. "Do you think I should tell them?"
Pearl took a deep breath—a rare gesture for her.
"I think hiding it is wearing you down," she said. "And I think the Gems... already feel that something doesn't fit."
Steven lowered his eyes.
"No Quartz should be able to do what I do," he muttered. "And yet nobody says anything."
"Because they trust you," Pearl said. "Even if they don't understand everything."
Steven looked at Pearl.
"And do you trust me?"
Pearl smiled—soft, firm.
"Always, my boy. I watched you grow up—I even changed your diapers."
Steven felt a knot in his chest, one from emotion and another because he actually remembered that.
"It scares me," he admitted. "That they'll hate me. That they'll see me like her. Like just another Diamond."
Steven truly cared about the Gems; he had stopped seeing them as cartoon characters long ago—now he just saw them as his family.
Pearl shook her head slowly.
"They won't see you as Rose," she said. "Nor as Pink Diamond."
"Then as what?"
"As Steven," she answered without hesitation.
Steven let out a low laugh.
"I wish it were that simple."
"It isn't," Pearl said.
Steven looked at the scenery once more. The water, the light, the temple. Everything Rose had left behind.
"If I tell them," he said, "there's no turning back."
"No," Pearl confirmed. "But there isn't any turning back if you keep quiet, either."
Steven closed his eyes and nodded slowly.
"Then... I'll talk to them first," he said. "Calmly. No fear of success."
Pearl came a little closer and placed a hand near his, without touching it.
"Whatever your decision may be," she said, "you won't be alone."
Steven looked at her and smiled—a tired but genuine smile.
"Thanks, Pearl."
She returned the smile.
And in that space full of water and memories, the weight of the secret was still there... but for the first time, Steven felt he could carry it.
Light began to envelop them both without either of them forcing it.
It was natural, almost inevitable. Steven's pink glow and Pearl's pearly white intertwined, expanding through the watery space until their forms ceased to be two.
Rainbow Quartz took shape in silence.
There was no euphoria, no emotional impulse. Only calm. A deep calm, built on calculations, memories, and probabilities. The shared mind activated immediately, organizing thoughts as if they had always been destined to fit together.
It is clear that we must say it.
The idea was not accompanied by doubt. Not this time.
The secret was no longer a quiet burden; it was an unstable variable. And unstable variables, sooner or later, break systems.
It is far too obvious.
Steven's abilities. The control. The energy. No Quartz should be capable of that. No fusion should hold together like this. No hybrid Gem should resonate in this manner with ancient structures.
If we do not say it ourselves, someone else will say it for us.
The Imagination unfolded with precision.
Garnet.
High probability of un-fusing.
Not out of rejection. Not out of immediate anger. But out of internal conflict. The truth would shatter the temporary balance that kept Ruby and Sapphire together. A brief, yet inevitable crack.
They will need time to be able to fuse again, but it is to be expected.
It wouldn't be the end. Just a pause. Garnet always came back... once she understood.
Amethyst.
Confusion.
Not rage—maybe she wouldn't give a damn. The feeling of having shared laughs, fights, and growth with someone who was always more than they claimed to be.
She will ask if anything was fake. She might even ask if I am somehow—well, right now, if we are—Rose.
And there laid the real risk. Not the secret, but the interpretation of the past.
Lapis.
Fear.
The memory of the Empire was still too fresh in her. The Diamonds weren't an abstract concept; they were trauma. They were control. They were confinement.
But she will support Steven.
Not right away. But she would. Because Lapis understood what it was like to be defined by a role you didn't choose.
Bismuth.
The image was more tense.
High probability of aggression.
Not toward Steven. Toward the symbol. Toward what Pink Diamond represented.
Whispers. Clenched fists. Vibrating metal.
Bismuth didn't attack out of blind hatred—well, she did, but only when it came to Diamonds. She attacked when she felt the betrayal was structural. And this was.
But even then...
Not irreversible.
There will be a clash. There will be noise. But also truth. And Bismuth respected the truth, even if it hurt.
Rainbow Quartz floated in the center of the space, watching the light reflect off the water.
Silence is no longer a strategic option, the fusion thought, crossing its long, lady-like legs.
Keeping quiet protected in the short term. Speaking up strengthened in the long term. It was a simple decision once immediate emotions were eliminated.
Rose's mistake was hiding forever.
Not out of malice. Out of fear of losing what she had built. But the cost was high. Far too high.
Steven will not repeat that pattern.
The fusion understood it clearly. Steven was not Rose. He was not Pink Diamond. He was someone who could carry the truth without becoming it.
The timing will not be perfect.
It never was.
But it is the right time.
Every alternative scenario ended the same way. Suspicions. Tensions. Long stares. Unspoken questions. The group already felt that something didn't fit.
Saying it now reduces future damage, especially in battle.
Rainbow Quartz closed its eyes.
Leadership... what a difficult word to define.
Sometimes it meant shattering illusions before they exploded on their own.
Steven will accept the consequences of someone who no longer exists.
Because he already did. Every day. Every battle. Every decision no one else saw.
And Pearl...
Pearl brought memory. History. Context for the parts Steven lacked—Steven was making great use of this fusion. Without her, the account would be incomplete. With her, the truth would have structure.
It will not be an emotional confession.
It will be clear. Direct. Unadorned.
"Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond."
"Steven is her heir."
Not as a title. As a fact.
The fusion opened its eyes slowly.
And even so... Steven will still be Steven.
That was the only truly constant thing: the Universe.
Rainbow Quartz began to fade, the light separating softly, without resistance. Two presences returned to being one and another, but the decision had already been made.
There was no turning back.
End of Chapter 75.