"That makes no sense! The ship says it should be right here!" Lapis only stares at the desolate scene before her. Steven panics.

"We have to be in the wrong solar-system, or- or the wrong galaxy! This can't be... something's wrong, Lapis!" The blue gem doesn't respond to the hybrid's ramblings, and instead pulls up a file on the holographic screen showing Earth. Scrolling through reports and useless details, she mumbles to herself.

"Come on... when's the last time this system has been updated... ?" Pressing a button, she leans back as the screen loads. Steven hovers over her.

"What did you do?"

"I'm updating the systems."

"To fix the map?"

"No, to find out what happened to Earth."

"Well, you don't need to do that, this isn't Earth. The map was wrong!"

"Well, obviously not! You named literally every planet on our way here from just looking at them, so obviously you're familiar with the area." He did. He had been so excited and confident, almost bouncing off the walls when he saw Mars.

"I must have been mistaken!"

"You sounded so sure!"

"Not anymore! We've come to the wrong place! All that time in the mirror must have muddled up my memory, or something..."

Lapis pauses. "Just... wait for the update and we'll see."

Steven wasn't happy, but he sat down in one of the seats. Gazing out of the observation glass, he wonders what happened to the planet before them.

It looked dead, inside and out. It was falling apart; giant cracks in the surface and drifting pieces showed the empty hull of the center, dark and probably cold with the absence of its core. The remains of the planet were brown and grey, even black in certain places.

A large chunk of it was gone, not even visible from where the ship was positioned.

Almost as if something had emerged from inside.

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Tears pour from Steven's eyes and down his cheeks, and he looks at Lapis fiercely, with a burning fire in his eyes.

"That's not true. It can't be."

"Steven... the logs are updated. It says it right here. Earth... Earth is gone." Lapis had to lean back into the chair. She almost poofed out of shock when she read the reports. Tears trickle down her own face, dripping at a slow pace as opposed to Steven's.

If Earth was gone, where were the Crystal Gems? How did they find her? What was going to happen to them now?

No home, no place to go back to, all they had was a ship that would at some point run out of power. Sure, Lapis could fly, but how long could a human hybrid like Steven last in space with no oxygen? Lapis shook her head and pulled her knees to her chest, feeling helpless.

She startles when she hears a sudden banging, and stares at Steven as he kicks the controls. Lapis feels his anger and frustration is justified, but her concern grows as he continues to try and break the control board.

"Steven, maybe we should- "

"It has to be a lie, Lapis! You have to believe me, it's a lie!" Lapis puts her head on her arms, pausing for a moment before responding.

"Steven, you saw the reports. Earth was taken out by some super weapon called the cluster. Nothing more to it."

"There has to be!" Steven is screaming now, pounding his hands against the board, and Lapis starts panicking as it cracks.

"Steven, what are-"

"We stopped the cluster!" Lapis quickly stands and grabs Steven's hands, but he rips them away and turns to her, face wet and red, eyebrows furrowed in anger and uneven breaths causing him to stumble a bit.

"We stopped it, Lapis! I bubbled it! We were all safe from it, this couldn't have happened!"

"But then Homeworld took control of Earth. They must have... triggered it, or something!" Lapis glanced at the logs again, but everything was just how she left it, proclaiming the destruction of the planet that had been their only hope. How had she never heard of this? If this is what began Era 3, shouldn't she have at least been aware?

"You don't understand, Lapis! If Earth is gone then- then why am I here?!" Steven backs up, bumping into the control panel and leaning on it for support. Lapis remains silent, trying so hard to gain control of her own emotions.

"Why did I go sacrifice myself if it didn't matter in the first place? Why did I leave everyone, if they were going to die anyway?! This can't be Earth, because if it is, I've wasted all those years in that stupid mirror for nothing!" Steven finally collapses to the ground, but Lapis notices when his gem cracks more, sending small bits and shards clinking onto the ground.

"Steven, your gem!" Lapis rushes over to him, kneeling and checking over his gem, and pulling him close when she saw there was nothing she could do. She sniffs as Steven glitches a little, and only hugs him tighter when she realizes he'd stopped crying.

"Lapis?" The blue gem leans back, looking into Steven's fractal eyes. "For so many years, all that time in the mirror, I told myself it was okay, because everyone else got to live."

Lapis started to tear up.

"I said it was okay, because everyone else got to live their lives to the fullest. Even if it was without me, I was glad they would be okay. I knew I would never see them again." Cradling him in her arms, his voice started to break, and she began petting his hair to comfort him.

"Even when I escaped Homeworld with you, I knew all my human family and friends would be long gone. But I told myself that at least they were able to live to grow old, and have families. To move on from what happened to me."

"It's funny how I lied to myself every single time."

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This is Carnelian, Facet 3 Cut 2XG, reporting the destruction of Earth. After the downfall of rebel leader Rose Quartz, who somehow survived since the end of the war, Homeworld has finally managed to destroy the planet Earth, where our bright, dazzling Pink Diamond was brutally shattered before her palanquin. A bioweapon known as the "Cluster" has done the deed, yet only moments after, the monstrosity seemed to self destruct by tearing itself apart.

This demolition marks the beginning to Era Three, where we can finally move on from the mourning of our fourth late Diamond, and achieve new, glorious succession.

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Okay, so, you're probably thinking something along the lines of this:

"Where the heck were you?! What took so long?! Why are you coming back just now?!"

Or maybe you don't really care about this story that much, so you're thinking something like this:

"Oh, this is back. Kinda forgot it existed."

Well, fellow human beings, I must regrettably inform you that this has been a little harder than I thought at first to maintain. Make no mistake, I'm not giving up, but there may be a few breaks between me uploading new chapters. Please bear with me!

Also, why does Lapis not know that Earth was destroyed by the Cluster?

...I'll probably come up with a BS reason to cover that up later. See you guys!