Chapter 44: The Return

Summary: A brutal masacare

"So let's go over what we have." Ruby started the meeting to save the world. "Rose's triple light cannon." She pointed to the object. "Lion." She pointed to the cat. "The wand." She pointed to Star. "And … I'm sorry we've never really seen you fight." Ruby deadpanned at Ponyhead.

"Oh, I'm a fighter, don't you worry, shorty. Just ask all my exes…well, if you could. I haven't seen them since I put them in the hospital."

"Trust us, Ruby, she knows how to use her horn." Star spoke up.

"Alright then, I'm going to be blunt with you people." Ruby said plainly. "We are completely boned and anyone who is under the age of two centuries should evacuate the country."

"Way to inspire us with such a passionate speech." Kelly rolled her eyes. "We have Star's wand and a triple light cannon, as well as the original one. Whatever ship's coming down isn't going to be able to even touch the ground."

"Gem tech became resistant to magic, and it's probably gotten stronger along with their advancements." Pearl added in. "Star will probably be dead weight in anything but one on one unarmed combat."

"You can't help but be insulting no matter what you say, can't you?" Star groaned. "I've been living on earth for months now, if something is threatening it, I'm going to fight for it no matter what anyone says."

"Come on Sapphire, back us up." Steven asked the gem. "You think we're gonna win right?"

"... You really don't want to know what I see." Sapphire looked down at the ground. "So many of many visions have been cloudy and uncertain, it's become difficult to see what's coming ahead." Sapphire directed all their attention upward at the sky. "Until now."

Above them was.."A giant green hand?" Marco asked in disbelief.

"That's a Homeworld warship." Pearl spoke with terror. "They're designed after body parts for mobility and flexibility."

"And it's built stronger than the Red Eye." Sapphire laid down the horrible facts. "I've seen us try over and over again. Light cannon, magic, nothing we throw at it will stop the ship from landing on the beach."

"We won't know unless we try!" Steven shouted, going to the triple cannon. "If every pork chop was perfect, we wouldn't have hotdogs!" The object began glowing, charged up before shooting all three blasts of light.

"Shooting Star Rainbow BOOSTER!"Star shot forth a beam of her own, a rainbow colored shooting star mixed with the three beams, forming a brilliant drilling light that flew with incredible speed and power that blew all of them back, shooting up, and up … as the giant hand proceeded to slap the blast away as if it was a mosquito. "Sometimes I just want to go back to fighting Ludo and his gang, life was much easier then."

"The simple times." Marco agreed. "So what's the plan?"

"Well that was our strongest attack, and it did nothing, so …" Ruby could only come to one conclusion. "Everyone that's not over two centuries old evacuate the country." Going back to the original one.

"Come on, we can still think of something if.." Amethyst cut Steven off with a hug.

"Dude, I love your enthusiasm, and you're fun to hang out with … but worry about your own safety for a change. Please?"

"Think of it as being…our back up." Pearl spouted the quickest lie she could come up with. "Focus on keeping all of your friends safe for the moment."

"..Fine." The boy sighed. "But when things start getting ugly, I'll be sure to come back." The group ran off.

Once they were all out of hearing range, Pearl turned to Sapphire. "Get Moon on the line, have her force them back. We lost him once and we're not doing it again."

"Agreed." Ruby sighed. She desperately wanted the boy to see the best part of her, maybe for his birthday…guess some things were never meant to be.

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For once they were avoiding the danger. On the off hand, it felt fucking therapudic to be running to safety instead of towards the problem. On the other hand this felt … like giving up. Like accepting their home in Beach Creek would be gone. On the plus side they managed to convince Mayor Dewey, through the help of Buck, to give an evacuation notice to the town.

"I won't be fooled. I got it all on camera now!" Walking through the busy streets, he heard the second most annoying voice he's ever heard, almost being tied with Lars. "The sneaple won't get away with it this time!"

"Ronaldo!" Marco shouted. "Stop obsessing over that thing and leave the town. Or you. Will. Die!" He emphasized.

"If I just ran away I wouldn't be able to accept the weird as it was." Ronaldo sneered. "This is why nobody wants to be around you, Diaz."

"Marco, we need you to be around us right now, everything is going wrong!" He didn't have time to bask in how wrong the moron was when Star grabbed him by the arm.

"Alright, we got the Diaz family out, the Ordonias, and the Barrigas. We don't have anything for the warship though. If magic and power won't work … what else do we HAVE!?" Steven argued to himself.

"Steven, relax, there isn't anything that we aren't capable of surviving so far, so don't start doubting now." Kelly tried to reassure Star's brother. "I mean, if you can survive dimensions colliding into each other, everything else is small potatoes, right?"

"That was different, that had an easy solution and only me and Star remember it. Here, everyone's being affected and I'm being told to stay out of it!"

"Well maybe we can just … leave it to the gems." Marco suggested. "Wait until the threat is gone. It's not like we can do anything …" He looked at his hands. "I can't anyway."

"Hey, don't get all sour puss on me now, Marco, you're probably the toughest guy I know." Star patted his back. "You stopped lobster claws, you survived Mewberty us, you started a whole revolution, and you completely wrecked the invisible gem!"

"Yeah, and you've been keeping Star safe! I'm pretty sure Mom will give you a medal for that alone at some point." Steven's mood lifted ever so slightly, as did Marco's. "We can do something, I just don't know what."

"We just need a way to get on board." Kelly looked at the thing. "Get Lion to warp us in."

"Nah, Lion doesn't do well with vehicles." Steven explained. "His portals get all wonky from hitting something."

"Well we'll just have to make a way in." Star muttered. "Maybe there's something in the spellbook for." Her mirror phone started to ring. "Hey Mom. This isn't exactly the best time, we're all in the middle of.."

"I'm well aware of the situation at hand, Star, that's why I'm calling." The Queen of Mewni looked at her daughter with that ever rigid expression. "I want both you and Quartz to come back home immediately."

"What, we can't do that now!" She argued. "We're evacuating the town and coming up with a plan to-"

"Star, it isn't your duty to protect earth. The planet already has guardians for this situation handling it." The Queen didn't let her finish. "I'm sending the guards to oversee your departure. You have five minutes to gather your belongings before they force you back to the castle.

Star stared at the mirror phone for a solid minute of their time, before crushing it with her bare hands, letting the pieces fall to the ground. "Of all the bullshit she has to pull now, Why…So what?! I can't just…NOT want to see an entire planet not blow up because I'm from Mewni!?" She punched a dent into a brick wall. "We can't just..I…"

"Star…" Steven's glare looked down. "We should just go." 

"No!" Star slammed her foot on the ground. "I care about this planet, about this town, about the people living here, it's basically my home now! I'm not going to leave that all behind just because Mom says the word!"

"But-"

"For once in your life, like when you wanted to learn about that message in the mirror, do something mom doesn't want!!?"

"Star, of course I want to stay! I want to help my family!" Steven yelled right back with tears running down his eyes. "But the gems don't want me around, and the only mom I have in this entire universe is telling me to do something! What am I supposed to do here?!"

Star just growled in a high pitch, before blasting the ground over and over. "DAMN IT ALL!"

"Star, it's fine." Marco told her. "We'll be safe, just go home, be safe too."

"This is my home, Marco…." All life completely left Star's eyes as a portal opened, knights coming in to grab her, but she shoved them out of the way. "I know where to go, jerks."

"Steven." Kelly stopped Star's brother before he could leave too. "A lot of things have been happening in your life lately, and it gets confusing. But tell me, would you rather be safe but regretful, or in danger but free to do what you want?"

The boy looked lost in thought, almost defeated, as one of the knights pulled on his arm. In a matter of seconds, there was no more portal, no more Star. "You're staying, aren't you?"

"No duh. I'm not backing down without a fight, whether it's my dimension or not." Kelly took out the sword. "What about you, safe kid? Wanna take down some alien butt?"

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Steven was quiet as the guards took them to Mom's chamber … Why would he fight? Everything they did would just get in the way right? Their strongest attack didn't scratch the warship, and it had enough firepower to render the city destroyed. All they could do was run … right?

He couldn't even bring himself to look Star in the eye, let alone say something to her. This was probably just as devastating for her as it was for him, maybe even more so. Steven had family on earth, but Star lived there…Earth was her home. When she left, it felt like a big piece of his home was left with her, and that wasn't including the spell that transported her room.

After what was probably six seconds of painfully awkward silence, the two of them entered Mom's room, where she was awaiting the both of them along with dad. "I hope the guards weren't too forceful, but I needed to make sure neither of you could have the chance to go off on your own." Mom said to them.

"Yeah, because that would've been the right thing to do." Star muttered under her breath.

"The last time you went off on your own to try and save the day, it was for Toffee." Mom spoke plainly, pointing at the wand. "And look how that turned out!"

"You put me on Earth so I could train my magic! I've been doing everything I can to protect it, to actually make something of what I have, and you took me away when everything I care about there is in danger!"

"Once the threat passes, we can come back around to you living on earth." Mom told Star. "In the meantime, you will remain here."

"And it will go away, right?" Steven asked his parent's with pleading eyes. "The gems will come out of this winning in the end, right?"

"... I don't know." She admitted. "They're the ones that informed me of the situation at hand."

"They…told you…" Steven's mind immediately raced to the only conclusion he could make. "They know they're going to lose….it's a losing battle…they need my help!" 

"NO!" She shouted. "It doesn't matter if you're there or not, the situation won't improve. All you'll be doing is putting yourself in danger!"

"There's a giant hand coming down on the beach waiting to crush them! They don't have protection, they don't have Mo-Rose's shield! But I do!" He concentrated as hard as he could to form the disc like when Lapis attacked, but it just sputtered out with a spark. "Come on!"

"Quartz that's enough!" She walked to them. "I've already lost my mother, I won't lose my children to another problem that can't be solved!"

"And I don't want to lose my family to a bunch of rock ladies from space!" Steven felt his body warm up, his skin starting to glow pink. "They've been hurting for so many years because they've been looking for me! I want to do everything I can to keep them together !" A shockwave spread out from underneath him, a crater forming on the ground.

"Wow … that's new." He could hear Star mutter. "But he's right, we're going to save them! And Earth."

"No you're not!" Moon shouted. "I'm not letting you leave this room!" She looked at her husband. "And he's not letting his guards help."

"Sorry children, but on this matter, your mother and I agree." Dad said with a formal tone, none of his usual jovial voice present. "And we've made sure Lion is being held down."

"Don't need him!" Star shouted, pulling out her scissors. "Illegal Dimensional Scissors, do your trick!" She shouted, ripping a hole in the air.

"ILLEGAL WHAT!?" Mom screeched as Star jumped through. "Quartz, don't you dare follow her! Do you hear me!?"

"Mom…I'm sorry." That was all he could say to the woman who has given him nothing but love and care for all his life. Once the portal closed, it was just him and Star, in the empty streets of Beach Creek. "So … make up the plan?" He asked his sister.

"Absolutely … let's go save your family Steven."

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Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG, or Peridot for short, landed the ship onto the beach. "Alright, we've arrived on earth." She said calmly, looking to her partner for this assignment with a raised eyebrow. "You're bringing the Lapis Lazuli?"

"She's aware of the area." The Jasper stated plainly.

"Yes, but you're bringing a terraformer into a highly concentrated H2O based area … unrestrained." She deadpanned.

"I have no intention of fighting. It's pointless to do anything by this point." The stray Lapis Lazuli rolled her eyes with a tone that signified defeat.

Peridot shrugged, moving to the pad and ascending. She had things to do, and worse comes to worse, Jasper can poof the gem easily. They finally reached the top. "Alright, there's the 'ocean' … the civilization of humans … and-" She paused, noticing the four gems glaring at her. "You." Peridot growled. "It's them, they're the ones who kept breaking my things!!"

"This…This is it?" Jasper looked at the entire group with a look of disappointment that wasn't entirely unwarranted. "A defective Pearl, an overcooked runt, an abandoned Ruby, and a traitorous Sapphire." When they said it outloud, it was quite a pathetic gathering of Gems.

"And us!!" Peridot turned to … the boy with a red hoodie and the green haired sword wielder. "We're not backing down."

"So you have Rose's sword." Jasper scoffed. "Shame she was too cowardly to show up in person. She must be ashamed of this remnant ghost of a once decent army."

"Marco! Kelly, you were supposed to leave with the rest of the town, with Star and Steven!" The ownerless Pearl waved in a way that some Gems might've found amusing in any other circumstances.

"We weren't going to just walk away from this without a fight." The bushy one spoke. "No matter how hopeless it is!"

"We haven't backed down from anything before, we aren't going to start trying anytime soon!" The hooded one prepared an odd stance.

"... I came here looking to go head to head with Rose Quartz." Jasper sighed. "I feel severely disappointed today." The gem turned to her. "If none of them are the Mewman, wipe them out with the orbital bombardment."

"With pleasure." Personally, she would've suggested to leave one of the organics alive to torture information out, but if Mewmans were on Earth, than it should be easy to wring out the information eventually.

"Are you starting to see why we asked you to run?" The short Amethyst asked of the organics.

"Yeah, I just see that you all need as much help as you can get!" The hooded figure argued back. "Either way, it's too late. We've made our choice, and we'll stick to it until the end!" Peridot readied her screens, warming up the lasers to blast them all into sticky Oraganic blood stains on the ground.

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" … Oh, the Mewman was running into the group … OH CLOD, SHE WAS RUNNING INTO THE FIRING RANGE!

"Cancel, Cancel, Cancel!" She desperately pressed the button. "Why won't you cancel you stupid machine, I designed you!"

"Star! Steven!" The Ruby and Sapphire screamed at the same time."

"Quartz!" The Lapis shouted. "I told you to Stay on Mewni!"

"... You knew?" Jasper asked the gem with a glare. Looks like they were going to need to torture the blue terraformer for just a little longer.

"I wasn't going to stay away while my family rushed ahead into danger!" The Steven charged ahead of the Mewman, getting in front of the Crystal Gems. "If they're going to do it, I am too!" The laser fired as the Steven leapt right at it like a suicidal maniac. "BECAUSE I'M A CRYSTAL GEM!"

KABAAAM!

The dust settled, the traitors and the organics completely unharmed, because a big bright pink shield took the brunt of the attack. One with a particular organic based design …

Jasper began laughing in a very unsettling manner. "So … you've finally shown yourself … ROSE!" And now Peridot had to deal with this for the rest of the trip, just what she needed.

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"I keep telling people I'm not Rose!" Her brother shouted. "I'm her son, Steven Quartz Universe Butterfly!"

"Lies won't get you anywhere!" The giant yellow gem shouted, walking straight at them. "I've been waiting centuries for this moment, reading every tactic you've ever used during the war, all so I could have the satisfaction of bringing your shards to Homeworld myself!"

"Get away from him!" Ruby shouted, running at the gem with their fist set ablaze.

"Pathetic." The cheese puff rolled their head back, a yellow shine coming from the helmet that wasn't before, and hit the gauntlet head on … as a crack began spreading from Ruby's arm.

"Ah sh-" The gem was poofed, their stone falling to the ground.

"RUBY!" Sapphire and Steven shouted at the same time, but only Steven charged ahead, with dark green bubbles in his hands. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" Getting up close, he shoved both bubbles into the big gem's chest, and a cloud of green static forms from it.

"... Is this what you've become?" The gem was unphased, grabbing her brother by his shirt. "I had respect for you in battle, but now you're a coward hiding in this weak and pathetic body." They headbutted Steven, a sickening crack was heard as the boy lost consciousness, being unceremoniously dropped to the ground. "She didn't poof …"

"I can't say the same for you, you giant overgrown piece of cheese dust! MEGA NARWHAL BLASTS" She shot her magic right at the gem's nose, hoping to at least crack the rock on her face. Green and terrifyingly sharp Narwhals were shot, sending the giant flying and hitting the ship with a hard thump.

"For your information …" The gem recovered, pulling out a yellow and sparking stick. "My name is Jasper, 'princess'." The homeworlder shoved her stick into the narwhal, shocking it until it disappeared into a gooey green paste. "Not that your kind is deserving of having such titles."

"I think we'll take that advice with a grain of salt." Amethyst rolled herself into a ball that was covered in purple energy. It didn't do much of anything when the gem just stuck out her stick again, and blasted the shorter gem. "AW CRU-" Amethyst's gem also fell to the ground.

"Take this you alien!" Kelly swung her blade, which was actually dodged and countered with a punch to the gut hard enough to hear a crack. "That's … smarts."

"BITCH!" Tad contributed by shooting some bullets that just bounced off.

"I don't know who this 'bitch' is …" The gem grabbed Tad, tossing him like a home run into the ocean. "But that's not my name." She walked right to Sapphire next. "If you can truly see the future, you know just how futile it is to resist. Your little rebellion has been squashed, your leader is captured, you've all lost."

"Cupcake Amber Rain! Rainbow Kitty Hawaian! Maximum Sparkle CANNON!" Jasper wasn't even acknowledging her, waving that annoying STICK around as it poofed all her spells.

"You're certainly as barbaric and brainless as the rumors make your kind out to be." Jasper rolled herself up in a ball similarly to Amethyst, and knocked Pearl straight into the temple wall entrance. "Tales of the Mewman's savagery, corrupting everything around them, even the purity of our Diamonds."

"I don't care about any of that!" Star shouted, trying to shoot blast after blast at the horrible monster. "Stop hurting my friends!!"

"Don't worry about these pathetic pieces of earth's crust." The Cheeto puff bastard growled out, squeezing her arm with just enough force that it felt like it would snap at any moment. "You'll be coming with them. The diamonds have special interests in anybody hailing from Earth's second moon."

"What the…Mewni Isn't even..how's that…" The gem didn't even give her time to think about that fully when she sent a headbut directly into her face, the only thing Star being able to register afterwards was darkness … Mom was right, wasn't she?