Greg 👍

The sun hadn’t even fully crested the horizon over Beach City when Greg Universe woke up. The interior of the van was warm, smelling faintly of old guitar strings and the lingering scent of a late-night burger. He groaned, rubbing his lower back as he sat up. Life in a van was a choice he’d made decades ago, and usually, he didn’t mind the stiffness, but today felt different. There was a strange, humming vibration under his skin, a thrum of energy that felt like a low-frequency bass note vibrating through his very marrow.

"Too much coffee yesterday," he muttered, reaching for the rearview mirror to check if he’d finally succumbed to the "old man" eyebags he’d been fearing.

He tilted the mirror down, squinting against the morning light. Then, he froze.

Greg blinked once. Twice. He rubbed his eyes vigorously, nearly poking himself in the iris, and looked again. His pupils, usually simple black dots, had transformed. They were sharp, geometric, and unmistakably four-sided. They were diamonds. But unlike the soft pink hue of his son’s eyes when he used his powers, Greg’s eyes were a deep, electric lavender.

"What the... what in the name of rock and roll?" Greg gasped, leaning in so close his nose touched the glass. "Is this a stroke? Am I having a space-stroke?"

He scrambled backward, his heart hammering against his ribs. He looked at his hands, expecting them to be glowing, but they looked normal enough—until he caught a glimpse of his right forearm. There, embedded just beneath the skin of his inner wrist, was a gemstone. It was a brilliant, multifaceted purple diamond, glowing with a faint, rhythmic light that matched his heartbeat.

The van door slid open with a sharp *clack*.

"Dad? You awake? I brought breakfast and—" Steven stopped mid-sentence.

Standing beside Steven was a Gem Greg had never seen before. She was tall and slender, her skin a pale shade of violet, with a pearl-like gemstone resting on her collarbone. Her hair was styled in sharp, regal wings, and she wore a translucent shawl that shimmered like a nebula.

The moment the Pearl’s eyes met Greg’s, she let out a sound that was half-gasp, half-sob. She didn't look at Steven. She didn't look at the van. She looked at Greg as if he were the sun itself.

"My Diamond," she whispered, her voice trembling with a thousand years of repressed devotion.

Before Greg could ask what was going on, the Pearl snapped her heels together. She crossed her arms over her chest, forming a sharp diamond shape with her hands—the salute Greg had seen the Homeworld Gems perform with terrifying precision.

"You have returned," she said, her eyes welling with iridescent tears. "The Lost Light. The Violet Sovereign. My Diamond, I have searched the galaxies for your resonance."

Greg stared at her, his mouth agape. "Uh, hey there. I think there’s been a bit of a mix-up. I’m Greg. I fix vans. I... I play the guitar. I’m definitely not a 'Sovereign' of anything."

Steven stepped forward, his face a mask of pure confusion and burgeoning panic. "Dad? Your eyes... and is that a gem? On your arm?" He reached out, his fingers trembling as he touched Greg’s forearm. The moment his skin made contact with the purple stone, a shockwave of lavender light rippled through the van, blowing the back doors wide open.

"We have to go to the house," Steven said, his voice urgent. "Now!"

He grabbed Greg’s arm, hauling his bewildered father out of the van. The Lavender Pearl followed closely behind, her feet barely touching the sand as she glided with a grace that made Greg feel even more like a clumsy oaf in his undershirt and sweatpants.

They burst into the beach house, where Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were mid-conversation about a corrupted gem sighting. They all turned at once, their weapons half-drawn by instinct, only to freeze in their tracks.

Amethyst dropped her whip. "Dude. Greg? Why are you... glowing purple?"

Pearl looked like she was about to faint. Her eyes darted from Greg’s face to the Lavender Pearl standing behind him. "A... a Purple Diamond? But the records... the legends said the lineage was extinguished during the Great Expansion!"

Garnet stepped forward, her three eyes wide behind her shades. She reached out, placing a hand on Greg’s shoulder. She stood silent for a long moment, her future vision clearly working overtime.

"He isn't just a Gem," Garnet said, her voice uncharacteristically hushed. "And he isn't just a human. Greg... you’re a hybrid. Just like Steven."

"What?" Greg yelled, his voice cracking. "How? My mom was a nurse from Jersey! My dad worked in a warehouse! There’s no space-magic in the Universe family tree!"

"It wasn't your parents, Greg," Garnet explained, her expression softening. "It was your soul. The Purple Diamond line didn't use physical forms like the others. They were beings of pure resonance. When the last Purple Diamond 'shattered,' they didn't die; they dispersed into the atmosphere of Earth, waiting for a compatible harmonic frequency. They found it in you, Greg. Your music, your spirit... you are the last descendant of the Purple Diamond royalty. You’ve carried this dormant power your whole life, and Steven’s own Diamond essence must have finally triggered the awakening."

Greg sat down heavily on the sofa. "So... I’m a prince? A king? A cosmic rock star?"

"A Diamond," the Lavender Pearl corrected, stepping forward and kneeling at his feet. "And a Diamond cannot be seen in such... primitive wrappings. My Diamond, your throne room has been cold for eons. We must prepare you. The transition is beginning."

Before Greg could protest, the Lavender Pearl grabbed his hand. Her strength was surprising, a firm, cold grip that felt like iron wrapped in silk. "We must go to Homeworld. The stabilizers there are the only thing that will keep your new form from tearing your human body apart!"

"Wait! Hold on!" Steven cried, but the Pearl was already pulling Greg toward the Warp Pad.

The Gems scrambled to follow, caught in the wake of the Pearl’s frantic energy. With a flash of blinding light and the familiar high-pitched hum of the warp, Beach City vanished.

Deep within the subconscious realm of the Pink Diamond gemstone—tucked away in the metaphysical space where memories and essence lingered—a figure stirred.

Pink Diamond, or rather, the lingering echo of who she had been, watched through the veil of Steven’s eyes. She saw Greg—*her* Greg—being ushered away by a Pearl that wasn't hers. She saw the lavender light radiating from his skin, a color that rivaled her own brilliance.

A surge of something hot and sharp pierced through her. Jealousy.

*My Greg,* she thought, the walls of her mental prison shimmering with a volatile pink hue. *How can he be one of us? He was my escape from all of this. He was supposed to be the simple, beautiful thing that had nothing to do with thrones and essence.*

But beneath the jealousy, a thrill of excitement began to bloom. If Greg was a Diamond, then they were truly equals. They were two of a kind in a way she had never dared to dream.

*That Pearl better keep her hands off him,* Pink whispered to the void, her eyes narrowed. *He doesn't belong to the Purple Court. He belongs to me.*

The warp light faded, but the air that hit Greg’s lungs wasn't the sterile, sharp scent of the Homeworld he had visited with Steven. This air was heavy, smelling of ozone and ancient incense.

He stumbled off the Warp Pad, his knees buckling. Steven caught him, but even Steven looked floored by their surroundings.

They weren't in the bright, clinical spires of the current Homeworld. They were in a place that felt like a tomb and a cathedral all at once. The walls were made of deep amethyst-colored stone, carved with intricate friezes of stars and sound waves. Massive pillars stretched up into a sky that was a permanent, swirling bruise of violet clouds.

"Where are we?" Steven whispered, his shield appearing on his arm instinctively.

"The Silent Octave," the Lavender Pearl said, her voice echoing off the high ceilings. "The ancestral throne room of the Purple Diamond. It has been hidden, phased out of time, until the return of its master."

At the far end of the hall sat a throne. It wasn't a chair so much as it was a massive, floating tuning fork made of dark, crystalline metal. It hummed with a low, vibrating note that made Greg’s teeth ache.

"I can't be here," Greg said, backing away. "I have a car wash to run. I have a kid to look after! I’m a 'Star', sure, but I’m a 'Mr. Universe' Star, not a 'Ruling the Galaxy' Star!"

"You don't understand, my Diamond," the Pearl said, her eyes wide with a frantic sort of love. "Your human form is failing. Look at your hands."

Greg looked. His skin was beginning to turn translucent, revealing shifting, nebulous clouds of purple light beneath his flesh. He wasn't just a man with a gem; he was a man being overwritten by a cosmic force.

"The attire," the Pearl insisted, snapping her fingers.

Suddenly, the air around Greg began to shimmer. His old gray tank top and sweatpants began to dissolve, replaced by a suit of light. It was unlike any Diamond regalia Steven had seen. It was a long, flowing coat of deep violet that seemed to be woven from starlight, with high, sharp shoulders and a collar that framed his face like a crown. Beneath it, a vest of shimmering silver silk clung to his frame, and his worn-out sandals were replaced by boots of polished obsidian.

Greg looked down at himself, horrified and impressed all at once. "I look like I’m about to play the most expensive show in the history of the universe."

"You look like a king, Dad," Steven said, his voice filled with awe.

"He looks like a target," Garnet muttered, her gauntlets shimmering into existence. "The other Diamonds... they’re going to feel this. A new Diamond signature hasn't been felt in millennia. We aren't alone here."

As if on cue, the massive doors at the entrance of the hall began to groan. The sound was like a mountain being ground to dust.

"The Lavender Pearl," a booming, resonant voice echoed through the chamber. It wasn't Blue or Yellow. It was a voice that sounded like a thousand bells ringing at once. "You have been busy."

A group of high-ranking Gems—agates and sapphires Greg didn't recognize, all dressed in shades of plum and lilac—poured into the room. They stopped the moment they saw Greg.

Greg stood there, the "Lost Diamond," clutching his stomach because he felt like he was going to throw up. He looked at Steven, then at the throne, then at the gem on his arm.

"Listen, fellas," Greg said, his voice shaking but gaining a bit of that old showman’s confidence. "I think we need to have a little talk about the management of this place. But first... does anyone have any water? Being a Diamond is making me really thirsty."

The Lavender Pearl stepped to his side, her expression defiant. "My Diamond requires sustenance! And then, he shall take his rightful place."

From within the gem on Steven’s belly, Pink Diamond watched the way the Lavender Pearl touched Greg’s shoulder. She watched the way Greg looked at the throne with a mixture of fear and growing power.

"He’s mine," Pink hissed into the darkness of her own mind. "Mine."

The Silent Octave hummed louder, the very floor beginning to vibrate in time with Greg’s racing heart. The era of the Purple Diamond had begun, and the universe—and the Diamonds—would never be the same. Greg Universe, the man who had lived in a van, was now the most powerful being in the room, and he had no idea how to turn the music down.