Hidden amongst the mountains of a forsaken land, Rose's armory had rested peacefully for untold generations following the Gem war. Its contents had long outlived their purpose, and what remained amounted to little more than grim reminders of pyrrhic victories and the folly of men.

Pockets of sunlight illuminated the dank cavern in which the armory resided, reflecting stalagmites onto the shallow water around the armory's base. The water stood perfectly still as if in anticipation of what was yet to come.

A light as bright and brief as lightning cut through the silence. The light formed into a pink circle which manifested before the armory's steps. A majestic pink lion came blitzing out as the portal shut behind the creature which landed less than gracefully as it slid across the water. 

Connie held a firm grip on Lion's mane as she steadied herself amidst their rocky landing. Steven and Pearl sat behind her, latching onto each other so as not to fall.

"That went surprisingly well," Steven remarked as he leapt onto the ground. He let out a shiver as the ice-cold water splashed at his feet and sept into the cuffs of his jeans.

The last time Steven had visited the armory was in a fruitless pursuit to unlock the secret of Rose's key; he was relieved to find it had not changed since he had left it then. One less thing to worry about.  

Pearl followed behind Steven, landing gracefully in the water beside him. "I'm sorry to bring you out here so abruptly, Steven, but I assure you this matter could not wait a moment longer," Pearl proclaimed, her ivory complexion was glowing red with excitement.

Steven pulled his pink coat tightly together before wading through the water towards the armory's steps. "That's alright, Pearl. We can handle this quickly and get home. I can't wait to hear how everyone has been," Steven replied.

"Riiiight," Pearl mumbled, anxiously rolling the word in her mouth.

Steven's mouth straightened to a flat line. "Pearl?" He plainly asked with a raised brow.

Pearl fiddled with her fingers as she let out a nervous laugh. "Well, I may have asked Garnet to meet us here, and the hike might take her a few um . . . hours" Her voice trailed off, leaving Steven with only her endearing smile.

Steven sagged for a moment, mouth wide open, looking dumbfounded. 

Connie had remained silent atop Lion as their conversation transpired. "Well, I'm sure we could find her, and bring her—" 

"No!" Pearl shouted. Seeing their stunned gazes, a wave of shame flushed over her as she quickly collected herself. "I mean, no, that isn't necessary. Garnet had a few things to take care of before coming over. In the meantime, there's a few things I wanted to talk to you about, Steven," she paused for a moment to consider her next words. "About the war . . . and the things we had to do to survive." 

Steven could feel his heart begin to race. He was still uneasy dealing with his mother's past and was not too keen on sticking around but seeing Pearl's solemn gaze put him at ease. If she said this was important then they would deal with it together.

"Ooh, Gem history! That sounds exciting, doesn't it Steven," Connie said, clearly intrigued by the topic. She was no stranger to the Gems, but their was still much she did not know of their past time on earth.

"Yeah, it kinda does actually," Steven responded with a smile. Maybe he was taking this too seriously he thought. Connie and Pearl seemed excited so he should just try and enjoy himself.

Garnet had always been reserved when it came to the Gem war, and Amethyst still hadn't emerged from the kindergarten by then, so there was still a lot he didn't know. His father had told him that a lot of Gems and people died during the war, but he always wondered how it must have felt to live during such a time. The war had lasted 1000 years after all, so how could humanity have survived all that? And how come the world had seemingly forgotten about global conflict that permanently altered the course of history. Perhaps Pearl had answers for him. 

Maybe coming here wouldn't be so bad after all, Steven thought.

"There's also someon—I mean thing, inside the armory I was hoping you could help me with, Steven . . ." Pearl clasped her hands and paused as if she was contemplating something.

"You sure that's a good idea? Last time I was in here we got attacked by some sort of gem construct," Connie stated, vividly remembering the robot shooty thing that had attacked her and Steven when they were kids.

"Ehrmm, I suspect it could be dangerous, but it can wait a moment. We'll just have to wait for Garnet and the others to make the hike," Pearl said as she let out a nervous laugh.

Lion got up and made his way to Steven as if he sensed something was wrong. He rubbed along him before falling on his side, exposing his belly to Steven. A tactic Steven could not resist as he knelt down to rub him.

"Ahem, well then allow me to finish my story from earlier," Connie spoke up amidst the silence. "So, me and Steven were staying the night at the keystone motel when—" Connie said as she leapt from Lion.

"You mean the one in the keystone state?" Pearl asked.

"Right, in the state named keystone," Steven responded, nodding his head.

Barely an ankle deep, the water was unnaturally still; such was the case with many relics of the Crystal Gem's past. The group waded through to the armory's base where Steven and Pearl took a seat on the stairs while Lion found a spot atop the armory to lay down. Connie remained standing, acting out the events of the story.

"Anyway, we were just getting ready to head over to the best diner in the world when out of nowhere, Bluebird shows up," Connie continued, eyes wide with excitement.

"Noo," Pearl replied, placing her hand over her mouth.

"Yup, even when I try to escape, my gem life always makes its way back to me," Steven added with a shrug. "She showed up all like, I told you we'd be out there waiting to get you, Steven Universe!" Steven said mockingly with a raised fist, poorly mimicking Bluebird's accent. Connie and Pearl let out a hearty laugh as they relished each other's company once again.

"Bluebird came at us, but me and Steven were ready. Steven blocked their attacks with his shield making an opening for me to strike . . ." Connie paused and pulled out the sword Bismuth gifted her, raising it in the air where the sun shone off the blade's pink edge. "All it took was one well-placed parry and Bluebird's blade was on the ground and she was on the run."

"You could say Bluebird's situation got a little out of hand," Steven said with a nasty grin on his face.

The trio laughed once again, sharing a brief moment of innocence within the armory's cold confines, nearly forgetting the problems which plagued them.

"You don't think Bluebird's going to be an issue, do you?" Pearl asked like a concerned mother.

"Na, she's just a minor inconvenience. I've faced bigger threats and came out just fine," Steven remarked, his voice trailing off.

The more he thought about it all, the more it hurt. Everything Rose had done, everything he had to do because of her. He was just glad he had his family around to help him through it, he thought as he looked at Pearl and Connie.

"Soo, should we take a look inside the armory?" Connie asked.

"Oh yes, the armory," Pearl responded, jumping to her feet. 

Steven followed Pearl up the steps and onto the armory's base where it became filled with life as the entire structure gave off a pink glow which wake Lion who promptly ignored the light and went back to sleep.  As Steven made his way to the control pad the light began to dissipate at the edges before converging at the center where a pillar emerged from the ground. The pillar was shaped like a hand with Rose's crest on the center, still much too large for Steven even as he grew. The panel acted as the armories control panel and was only accessible by him which he assumed was why Pearl had asked him up in the first place.

"Did you forget how to use it?" Connie joked as she watched Steven space out, lost in concentration. "We could try the old way," Connie said, lightly tapping her elbow into his side.

"Huh, oh no, I'm just not sure what to bring up. Anything you'd like to see?" Steven asked. He kept his hand glued to the panel as he patiently waited for Connie to think.

He had seen all of the armory's contents before, which was primarily a large assortment of weapons as the name would imply, but he did not truly know the reason his mother had kept any of them.

"Hmm, that's a tough choice. There's quite a bit to be explored in here. What do you think Pearl?"

"Ooh, where to even begin?" Pearl responded as she continued to excitedly pace around the armory. She always relished the opportunity to teach Steven about gem culture, and this was no exception. "There's so many artifacts, each with their own connection to Rose and grand story to tell. We could start at the beginning with the axes of ages, or perhaps a tale of triumph with the quartizine trio, but then again, the blades of the Errantry . . ."

Steven and Connie gave each other a side eye as Pearl passionately rambled on about the armory's contents. With a devious smile on her face, Connie poked Steven's side causing him to smirk. Steven was trying to pay attention to Pearl, but Connie continued her relentless flurry until finally Steven let out a giggle that caused the armory to react.

Sixteen evenly spaced compartments opened on the armory's floor. The ground raised, revealing suits of armor from each space. The armor seemed very old to Steven who did not recognize most of the designs, but one stood out to him as it reminded him of the samurai—a dual katana wielding villain from the lonely blade series. One other thing stood out to Steven, he had not considered it as a kid, but all the armor was clearly designed to be worn by humans as opposed to something a gem would use, so why they did they have them?

"The armor of the fallen," Pearl exclaimed as she gazed at the armor which surrounded them.

"What are they?" Steven asked.

"Not what, Steven, but who!" Pearl passionately replied. "These suits of armor were once worn by some of the most loyal soldiers of the Order of Rose—a coalition of humans founded by the Paladin of Rose Quartz," Pearl continued to speak but her words were clearly not helping the pair's understanding. "Look, there's the legendary samurai, Takemura, and that's Jolder, the mighty Iron Lord! Ooh, and that's Wismut, champion of the Prism crusade." Pearl looked to Steven and Connie who continued to look blankly at her like she was speaking gibberish. "Did they not teach you guys any of this stuff in school? These are legendary heroes whose triumphs should be in the footnotes of history itself!"

"Nope," Connie replied.

"I never went to school," Steven added.

"Right . . ." Pearl slowly muttered, her expression shifting away from excitement as she rubbed her forehead. There was so much she wanted to share with them, but she felt like she was running out of time. "Alright, alright, let's take a step back. So, you two know that after the Gem war ended there were tens of thousands of corrupted gems left on the earth, right?" The pair nodded in agreement. "These Gems were scattered across the world where they wreaked havoc all across civilization, slaughtering the innocent in a feral frenzy. Your mother, Garnet, and I tried to stop them," Pearl paused as tears began to well in her eyes. "We needed help and it was the veterans of the war that came forward. A lot of people died, Steven, including those who wore these suits of armor. Once brave and loyal soldiers who believed in us and trusted us . . . died because of us."

There was still much Steven did not know, but he stepped forward and grabbed Pearl's hand, choosing his next words carefully, not wishing to dig her wounds any deeper. "I'm sure you did everything you could, Pearl. The Gem war, the corrupted Gems, everything that happened isn't your fault, it was the Diamonds. We can't take responsibility for everything they've done, but we can continue to pick up the pieces."

Pearl gripped Steven's hand tight, not wanting to ever let go. "I know, Steven, but it just doesn't feel right. It's like I can't escape the feeling that we could have done more." She wiped away her tears and straightened herself out. "That's why I brought you here, because I think there is one left we can help."

"Who?" Steven asked.

"The Heretic," Pearl replied.