Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a rare moment when Greg could be alone with his son, the gems since birth had been protective especially after the rose incident. He couldn’t tell if it was genuine love and worry that they always kept him so close, or the fear of what he might turn into. Greg didn’t really want the answer, he knew his son was the sweetest boy around and loved Beach City and all the life within it, he’d never be like those…dictators. He couldn’t.

But you thought you knew rose didn’t you? And look how well that turned out.

A voice whispered in the back of his mind, Greg tried to ignore it. As much as he hated Garnet’s apprehension towards Steven, he knew that he was also afraid.

They had all seen when he was a baby and unable to regulate his emotions, Steven’s scream cracked Vidalia’s wall and Greg spent months saving up to fix it. It was scary, knowing the power his son had and how he nor the gems had no clue on how to deal with it. The only one who could probably help was Rose and well…she was gone now.

When Rose and Greg decided to have Steven they always knew that there was a chance of Rose disappearing and Greg having to raise a child on his own. The thought was terrifying and the day  Rose announced she could make a gem for their child he had felt relieved. Both he and Rose had no clue on how to raise a child but Greg was happy he didn’t have to do it alone.

How wrong he was.

“Dad?” Steven’s voice pulled Greg out of his thoughts, he couldn’t change the past and it was pointless to dwell on it. He could only raise Steven as best as he could alone. Steven would not become a diamond, he would ensure it.

“What’s the matter schoo-ball?” Greg asked ruffling a hand through his sons hair, smiling down at his son, his world and the only thing that mattered right now.

“You looked sad…I just wanted to see if you were ok.” Greg chuckled awkwardly, he thought he had gotten better at hiding his emotions but Steven’s powers meant that Greg was often more exposed then he would like. It’s why he tried not to think about Rose, he didn’t want his son to sense his fear towards him.

It would destroy Steven.

“It’s ok, sometimes old men like me just get lost in their thoughts sometimes, can’t help but get stuck in the past” Greg replied after a pause flashing a smile that was a little too wide to be genuine.

“…were you thinking about mom?” Steven asked looking up earnestly at his father.

“I…uh…yeah” Greg said letting his face fall a tad, awkward silence followed.

“Sorry Schoo-ball we can get back to our old movie marathon if you’d like” said Greg attempting to change the subject

“Why did mom leave?” The question cut through Greg like a knife, out of all the questions Steven could ask. It was that one he dreaded answering.

“Have the gems…not told you?” Greg asks, wary that he’s overstepping his boundaries. He knows better than to get involved with gem stuff.

“No….Garnet doesn’t like talking about it, Mocha wasn’t there! And even amethyst doesn’t answer the question!” Steven said frustrated, his diamond shaped irises emitting a faint pink glow. Greg placed a hand on his shoulder trying to coax him.

“Well, I don’t know if it’s really my place to answer that kiddo, I’m not really big on the whole gem stuff”

“She was your girlfriend dad! Surely you can tell me about what you experienced at least? Please? I just want to know something. It’s hard knowing that my mom is apparently some evil leader of this alien army but no one explains what she did or why she’d even have me!” Steven exclaimed a tear falling down his face, his gemstone beginning to glow through his shirt. Greg knew that trying to evade the subject would make Steven even more upset and decided to finally tell the truth.

“The gems might not like this but here goes, I suppose you’re old enough to know the truth”

Greg reached over Steven to pick up his guitar. He could tell the truth but perhaps present it in a way that would be easier for Steven to hear.

“I suppose I ought to tell you the epic tale of an alien leader and her romance with a human dude with a rocking bod and voice! I call this one….the Alien Queen!” Greg exclaimed strumming a chord on his guitar, Steven giggled and moved closer eagerly listening.

“Do you believe in destiny?

Close your eyes and leave the rest to me

Do you believe in fantasy?

I have to when it's right in front of me, oh”

“What were you doing here?

In the human world.

What were you doing here?

So far from what you knew.

What were you doing here?

And why did you choose me?”

“Did you believe in Loving me?

Or was I simply a new toy to please?

Did you ever believe in Loving here?

Or were you hiding from your own fear?”

“What were you doing here?

In Beach City?

What were you doing here?

Did you just take pity?

What are we doing here?

And Why did you leave us behind?”

The Ocean’s gentle roar was always quite soothing to Greg, amidst the crash course that was his life the ocean remained a constant. If you kept going in one direction you’d find it after all. It was peaceful and the seaside was the one thing could make Greg truly relax. It was why his first performance was on the beach here, Marty believed an indoor venue would have been better but performing to a backdrop of Beach City’s calm waves was something Greg preferred.

He supposed it was lucky that Rose also felt similar about the Ocean. The two of them could spend hours sat at the waters edge, sometimes they would talk, other times they would sit there as the waves rolled in. Greg liked watching the ocean catch up to him sometimes even semi submerge him, Rose giggled every time it happened and always said the same thing.

“Everything moves so fast on earth, even the water” she always smiled when she said that but Greg knew she was also afraid. Things did move quickly for the immortal gems and eventually Rose would outlive him, he wouldn’t be the first, Pearl has told him this.

That’s probably why he and Rose decided to have a child, Greg was getting older and whilst he didn’t know how long a human gem hybrid would live, he knew that Rose would at least have someone there after he’d gone. He’d be remembered in a way none of roses other human …companions had been. Rose seemed to think the same thing. Greg looked up at the tall goddess he had somehow convinced to date him, even now heavily pregnant and in a dim light she was ethereal. Her pink curly hair that seemed impossibly long swayed gently in the wind, the sunset rays gently lighting up her face and causing her protruding gemstone to sparkle.

“You know Greg I once sat still at the beach for 100 years, it was amazing. The sea covered and uncovered me and sea creatures swam on me. Sometimes they’d get stuck when the tide went back and I’d help them back into the sea. The humans thought I was a statue. It was adorable” she said giggling, Greg smiled sweetly at her. Rose was truly fascinated by all life on earth even if it seemed mundane to humans, though Greg was still a little uncomfortable with how Rose talked about humans sometimes seeing them more as pets than anything else (something he had had to correct her on at the start) he knew that she had no malicious intent. He supposed human society was quite alien to her…after all in her home people literally could own others. Though he supposed Rose had probably witnessed humanities own…mistakes over the years.

“Wish I could do that but all that would be left after 100 years would be a pile o bones!” Greg replied chuckling, Rose didn’t seem to react to his joke which was unusual.

“Rose?”

Rose clutched her stomach in response and sighed.

“That’s right…you humans don’t even last 100 years and that’s so ….so short! I’ve been locked in room longer than that! And for you that’s just Boom! Gone! …it’s so heartbreaking to see you die every time” she said softly

“Sorry locked up?!!!” Greg said horrified, Rose looked guilty before stammering out

“I uh…during the war! I got captured for a tad but it’s fine I escaped!”

“And they didn’t kill you?”

“Uh nope! They take a really really long time with trials and stuff yknow?” Rose said looking a bit out out. He supposed it was because she didn’t like talking about Homeworld.

How stupid he was

“At least this time…I’ll have Steven…or Nora, who knows?” Rose said chuckling. She looked down at her gemstone.

“For the first time…I’ll finally be able to create something good” she whispered quietly, Greg decided not to ask her about what she meant. He knew Homeworld had done some horrible things and that Rose held guilt about her life back there (occasionally she’d scream out in her sleep about someone called Pinkie).

“I can’t wait Rose” He said holding her and and looking in her eyes.

“Neither can I” Rose said squeezing Greg’s hand back. “I hope our child turns out like you”

“Eh, I’d like it if they were like you…I wouldn’t want my kid to become a washed up star like me. My life has been a mess for a while…it’s only now with you that I’ve finally been able to change that” Greg said softly. Rose’s hand tensed in his grip.

“A baby like you would be wonderful” she said tiredly

Before Greg could answer Rose suddenly gripped his hand, hard. He was pretty sure it was now broken but seeing his girlfriend’s face scrunched up in pain he ignored it.

“Rose! Are you alright?” He called out worried for her.

“The baby…” she wheezed and Greg’s heart dropped.

“It’s COMING!”

Chapter Text

The gems waited anxiously outside the bedroom, it would have been safer for Rose to have given birth in a hospital but too many questions would have been raised about her gem in the middle of her stomach. Vidalia had been kind enough to let them borrow her house whilst she quickly made herself scarce and let the gems do their own thing. It had quickly become too much with Pearls loud concern (and trying to push Greg out), amethyst’s incessant questions and Garnet staring silently fists clenched, so Greg had ordered them all out. Pearl had tried to argue of course but Rose in the middle of her painful contractions also asked Pearl to leave. Now they were stood outside the door, waiting anxiously for the good news .

“Is it supposed to take this long?!” Pearl said snappily, throwing her hand up in the air and pacing in the hallway.

“Yes” Garmet replied, her face unreadable.

“Man humans are weird, why would they be created so painfully? Gems just yknow pop out. Can’t humans do the same?” Amethyst said

“Well Noooo Amethyst, Humans are nothing like us gems, they are fleshier, weaker and generally a nuisance. Of course they can’t produce as gracefully as gem kind” Pearl replied bitterly

“I wouldn’t call planetary destruction graceful Pearl.” Garnet said flatly. Pearl blushed and stammered

“I didn’t mean it like that! I just….why would rose choose something so painful? She could have just made a gem the regular way and saved her and us all this trouble!” Pearl paused before continuing “and besides why out of all of them did it have to be Greg. Out of all her damn pets he’s the most useless!”

“That’s not cool P”

“You are out of line Pearl” Garnet had finally moved from her spot on the wall and stood inches away from Pearl, her towering figure looking down at Pearl with a slight frown visible.

“You know this isn’t like before…Greg isn’t just some playmate for rose. He’s clearly more than that. And besides creating a gem wouldn’t have been the same, you know this. Even if she succeeded without the diamonds influence, she would be going against our own morals. Even if the gem was created to be as humanlike as possible. It would still be a slave to its programming, it wouldn’t be real. Just a hollow imitation of change.” Garnet continued placing a heavy hand on Pearl. It was clear what she was trying to say.

Don’t you dare say this in front of Greg and Rose

“ ‘sides P that’s not why you are so upset. You are just jealous that Rose cares about him. That she trusts him” Amethyst cut in smirking.

“Hmph! Even if she trusts him for now. I’m still the one she tells everything to. I always was and I always will be. No bag of flesh can change that.” Pearl huffed turning away. “I’m going outside, let me know when that….thing comes out”

Just as Pearl began to move away, a strangled cry could be heard as the floor shook and a crack appeared in the wall. A harsh pink glow emitted through the doorway blinding even the gems before it all calmed down. There was a moment of silence before a little cry could be heard.

“He’s here” Garnet said smiling. Pearl snorted in disgust though she did eye the cracks in the wall worriedly.

The door opens and an exhausted looking Greg stumbled out. He waved awkwardly at the gems and clutched his shirt.

“Um hey….do you guys want to meet him?” Greg said tentatively

“YES” Garnet and Amethyst said simultaneously, though Garnet said it in a calmer fashion than the purple gem.

“Ugh, I suppose I should. It is Rose’s child after all” Greg flinched at the tone Pearl used but moved out the way to allow them in.

Rose sat on the bed, a rough homemade blanket covering her, Pearl recoiled at how tired and worn down Rose looked. It reminded her of the worst parts of the gem war…there was one difference though, she was smiling faintly and holding a pink bundle.

“Hello gems, say hello to little Steven” Rose spoke softly moving the bundle to show his face. The newborn who had been born minutes prior seemed to have already fallen asleep. Garnet reached for the child and Rose smiled as she placed the kid in her hands.

“Just born and already sleeping. What a cool little dude” Garnet said the tiniest bit of warmth in her tone as she left a finger graze the cheek of the sleeping child. Garnet lowered herself so that amethyst could see too.

“So that’s a Rose Quartz?” Amethyst asked looking curiously “he’s so tiny! Like me!” She giggled getting closer.

“Close, but he’s also half human remember? He’ll grow as he gets older…probably” Rose said chuckling.

“Man I hope so, imagine having a baby for eternity!” Greg cut in nursing his hand. Rose looked at him guiltily.

“Oh Greg! Did I hurt your hand? I’m so sorry. Let me heal it!” She said softly

“You just had a baby rose, try and relax. I’ll just go with one of the gems to the fountain later”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to be in pain” Rose replied looking up at Greg concerned.

“I’m fine” Greg replied smiling gently back at her. Rose smiled before turning to Pearl who had yet to say a word. The gems face was unreadable as her hands shook slightly.

“Pearl? Isn’t he adorable?” Rose said completely oblivious to the frustration of the other gem.

“He’s absolutely lovely Rose” Pearl replied forcing a smile, her voice sounding incredibly strained.

“Yes…yes he is. I can’t wait for him to grow up. To see all Earth has to offer…to be free” Rose murmured softly, leaning back on the pillow and yawning. Garnet placed Steven in the Moses basket next to the bed tucking the tiny baby in with a blanket.

“Greg…I think we should get married” Rose dropped casually much to the shock of everyone present.

“I uh….SURE! Cool beans!” Greg blurted out as he started to walk backwards out of the room face blushing, Rose simply smiled.

“I think we should all go downstairs, give Rose a chance to rest yknow?” Greg said and they all reluctantly filtered out of the room with Rose assuring them she was fine but they were insistent on her resting. She found it amusing really, she was a diamond. She could handle more than this.

Once they had left Rose breathed a sigh of relief, too sore to get up properly she gently pushed herself over to Steven and pulled both blankets covering him down. The pink gemstone shone back at her almost like it was tormenting her. She had been quick enough to distract Greg from seeing the  distinctive shape of the gemstone but had hoped she had seen wrong.

“Why…why couldn’t you have just been a Rose Quartz….everything could have been perfect” Rose said quietly.

“I will not let my life here change…I can hide it…I know I can” she assured herself making sure to cover up the gem extra tightly. Steven squirmed slightly but she knew he was fine.

She could do this.

“So she just hid it?” Steven said baffled

“Yup” Greg replied grimacing

“How long did it last?” Steven asked curiously

“Not very long, a couple of days.  Rose was in the kitchen making formula and Garnet was holding you upstairs, you started fussing because you needed a diaper change and well….”

“She found out” Steven replied solemnly

“Yeah…and it wasn’t pretty” Greg sighed “anyways kiddo, how about we watch lil butl-“ what happened next dad” Greg froze unsure if he could even answer that.

“I…don’t think I should answer that schoo-ball” Greg replied tiredly

“Please dad…don’t keep things from me. Not right now” Steven said looking up at him, his saddened expression hurt Greg to see because he knew it was his fault. Gems be damned…his son deserved to know especially if Rose…Pink ever came back.

“…fine, It’s your history too in a way” Greg looked distantly out the window as rain began pouring from the skies, he always remembered Rose’s fascination with it, he wondered what Homeworld was like or if he’d ever see it.

“Rose…tried to deny it. She played it off as a miracle but Garnet…well Garnet knew, her future vision showed the truth, that Rose had lied to her for thousands of years. Garnet split right there and nearly dropped you but Sapphire managed to catch you as they split.

I’d never seen sapphire that furious….she screamed and coated nearly the whole house in ice. Between your birth and that, Via’s house was totalled.” Greg paused wondering if he should soften the details a bit.

“ In the end Sapphire and Ruby refused to listen to Rose’s explanation since according to her Rose kept lying. How could she trust anything that came out of her mouth at that point. I was told to leave with you since Sapphire’s ice and Ruby’s fire were getting out of hand.”

“What about Pearl? Or amethyst?” Steven said softly

“Amethyst rushed in after me, and Pearl came down not that long after. I heard a lot of screaming and crying…and a lot of things being thrown” Greg continued

“And then….things got so much worse”

Greg stood in the cold snow holding his son, he knew he should be stood here. Incredibly close to the gems and listening in. But he couldn’t help it.

Then the ground shook as Rose came crashing through the window, missing Greg by a hair. Garnet emerged though she looked angrily, messier and more dangerous than before, amethyst quickly scampering after her. Greg noticed Pearl was nowhere to be found.

“You damn liar” Garnet growled and Rose simply hung her head in response.

“I’m sorry” she whispered faintly, the apology lost in the wind.

“You are not welcomed here anymore, Pink Diamond” Greg’s eyes widening in recognition, he knew that the fight wasn’t for no reason but for rose…. To be the one who endangered earth in the first place…it was a lot to process.

“Please Garnet, you have to understand” Rose began

“No, I don’t. This is no longer your colony. And clearly the fact you never told us this secret proves you never trusted us. Did you ever care about Earth? About Gems? Or was this simply another game of yours?”

“I don’t care what excuses you want to say Rose but one thing is certain. Your very presence endangers everything we fought so hard for. It endangers Steven. I will not have him hurt by the likes of you”

Garnet got closer and turned to him

“Go”

And Greg ran faster than he even knew possible. In the distance he could hear roses plea for him to stay, for him to get Garnet to stop…but he couldn’t. Rose had lied…if she was anything like the gems sad the diamonds were he couldn’t take that risk with his son. Another earthquake shook Beach City as he fell and turned back to see a large glowing figure in the sky.

Sugilite.

Her roar pierced through the air and caused the whole town the shake again. Greg suddenly grew fearful on what an earth he had stumbled into.

“You need to leave, TRAITOR”

And the fusion summoned her mallet, throwing it at the pink gem. He couldn’t imagine Garnet’s fury if she thought to unleash such a dangerous fusion in the middle of the city. He only hoped everyone had run away from the danger, he hoped no one would die today.

Where’s Pearl? What is she doing? Surely…she could stop this!

Rose led Sugilite out of town and Greg ran back into the house, he hoped the worst hadn’t happened.

He saw what was left of the guest room, a gaping rose shaped hole and furniture thrown everywhere and in pieces. He dreaded what he would have to say to Via. He rummaged through the debris as well as he could with Steven and found what he was looking for.

Underneath what remained of the dresser was Pearl’s gemstone, it had a huge ugly crack through the middle of it, Greg flinched wondering if she would be alright. They had never gotten along but he would be damned if he let her die like this. If the room collapsed it was likely Pearl’s gem would be completely shattered.

He gently grabbed the gem wishing he had a bubble like Rose did to protect her. He was scared that he would crush her. The gem felt so light and fragile and Steven began to squirm in his arms clearly about to cry…

“Shhh it’s ok Steven…we can just go somewhere for a little while. Aunty Pearl will be fine”

He looked at the gem in his hand

“This feels wrong”

He had only one mission now, the fountain. He held Steven with his good arm and Pearl in his broken hand. He hadn’t even had chance to heal it yet letting Rose recover her full strength. He didn’t know if he could even get to the fountain but he had to try.

He ran into the temple and stood on the warp. In the distance he could see sugilite towering over the city swinging her weapon wildly…it scared him. He wondered if Rose would be alright, and considered if that was something he should even think right now.

He tried to activate the warp, stamping his foot and crying out.

“WARP! Uh… TELEPORT….TRANSMIGRATE…. OH COME ON PLEASE!” Greg shouted becoming increasingly nonsensical and desperately trying to escape. He could see the fight travelling along the beach to towards the temple getting closer and closer.

He didn’t trust the gems to not crush him

“Please please please” Greg cried out clutching his son and Pearl to his chest.

It was now he remembered one of Pearls taunts

What can you even do Greg? You can’t live forever, you can’t shapeshift, you can’t fuse, hell you can’t even warp!

“Crap…we’re doomed” Steven who had previously been fussing in his arms suddenly cooed. His little hands wildly grabbing out.

“Shhh there there Steman” Greg said cradling him.

Steven’s stomach began to glow as he began to squeal happily.

The warp activated and Greg breathed a sigh of relief.

Just before they teleported away, he saw a pink light.

It was Rose…but different. She shone in a pink light, taller with pinker skin and shorter hair. Her dress traded for some sort of jester outfit. She held her shield out facing sugilite head on.

Greg hated himself for thinking she was beautiful in that moment.

The diamonds really were a cut above the rest.

And then his view shifted as he was suddenly surrounded by pink walls and cobbles.

“Is this? The fountain? ..h how?” Greg looked down at his smiling son, who seemed obvious to what was going on.

“My little saviour”

He rushed to the giant fountain trying not to look at the giant statue of Rose and gently placed Pearl inside.

It didn’t take long for her to reform,

“ R-ROSE!” She cried out falling into the water

“The fountain…wha-Greg! What’s going on!” She demanded

“I uh took you here , I found you cracked in Vadalia’s house. The fight was getting nasty so I-“ FIGHT?! What FIGHT!” She cried out

“Um…between sugilite and rose” Pearl blanched at the news and quickly got out of the water

“I have to…I have to save her!” She ran to the warp pad

“Wait! Pearl you could get hurt again or worse! It’s too dangerous!”

“I HAVE TO PROTECT HER”

“No you don’t! She lied to us! She’s not your owner Pearl! Make your own decisions” Greg shouted after her

“That’s where you are wrong, Gregory, I am hers”

And she warped away.

—-

“I never saw her after that” Greg finished as he turned on the coffee maker he stashed in the van.

“What happened? With her? With Mom?” Steven asked quickly

“I don’t know”

“WHAT” Steven exclaimed surprised

“ the gems…never told me. All I know is that both Rose and Pearl are gone. I don’t think sugilite killed them but…I don’t know specifically”

“Maybe they went to Homeworld together?”

“That’s the best outcome isn’t it” Greg replied flatly

“Do you…still love mom?” Steven asked quietly

“I…I don’t know. She told me a lot of things and I thought…I thought she trusted me. But did I ever really know her? Was the Rose I knew a lie? Or was that the real her? I don’t know but the only thing I do know is that I will keep you safe. I can’t afford to trust rose if it means placing you in danger. You’re too precious to me kiddo” Greg said ruffling Steven’s hair.

“I think…somewhere deep inside…there’s a good part in everyone” Steven replied

—

“It’s been too long….far too long. I swear….I will make her pay!”

A pink fist shattered the screen in front of her, a new one quickly appearing before her.

“Oh starlight…such agression is pointless towards such inferior life forms. Do not worry”

The fist tightened around a shard of the old screen.

“It’s almost time”

Chapter Text

“Pearl” A sharp voice said sternly.

“Yes my diamond” A faded pink and blue pearl responded

“Bring me the orb” The larger gem shifted from her work chair closing down the screens, trying to remain focused was pointless, her mind was distracted. The only thing that could soothe her was the viewing orb- technology had come a long way since she’d been gone. The Orb once limited to within close range of a planet and stuck in one place, could now extend its range across most of the known galaxy, with high enough clearance. It had been designed for Blue, Yellow had explained, to try and prevent the diamond from visiting Earth too much. Now, it was the only thing stopping the pink gem from rampaging and turning the remnants of the crystal gems into coloured sand.

The Pearl scurried back, eager to appease her diamond. As she sat down on her sofa the Pearl passed her the orb having already turned it on.

“Are you observing your colonies today my diamond? I’ve heard Exron 6 has some real potential! It might have even more organic life than Earth! And the Peridots have said it might be possible to train them into useful life forms for the empire!” Sometimes she was surprised at the Pearl’s eagerness to expand Homeworld, after all it hadn’t been that long since the gem proclaimed to be ‘free’ and fighting for the life on Earth.

“No” she said firmly, causing the Pearl to frown.

“Oh, Earth” The Pearl almost spat the sentence out, disgust dripping from her tone.

How dare she speak like that.

The larger gem gripped the arm of the sofa tightly causing it to crumble into dust, the Pearl got the message and slightly looked away. Pink chuckled, a smirk gracing her lips as she finally keyed in the locator for the orb and it began to activate.

She had been a fool, as Rose she had believed her tantrums had been why no one took her seriously, that she shouldn’t act like that if she wanted to be a good person.

She realised now that Rose was a pushover, to be truly kind, you had to stand up for what you wanted, for what was best for those around you. Anger wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as you controlled it and used it to make those who sneer at you fall at your feet. Pearl had been too disobedient, she doubted Rose’s affections before and as a result failed in her most basic duty.

It was Pearl’s fault that she could no longer hold her child, Pearl had failed to grab Steven and Greg whilst Garnet was distracted, Pearl had failed to protect her and let Sugilite harm her, and Pearl allowed herself to be damaged only being saved by a human of all things, her human, but a human nonetheless. Yellow was right that Pearl was defective but Pink prevented her shattering.

Pink was a good person after all. She forgave pearl despite her incompetence and kept her by her side. Though naturally she had obtained another pearl from the diamonds, to show pearl that their friendship would not protect her further.

She was on her last chance.

But pink was merciful.

The orb finally activated and its glow surrounded the room, pink melded away to soft yellow, blue and grey tones as a familiar van came into view.

“Ah! He’s with Greg!” Pink said excitedly, usually when she observed Steven he was glued to the side of the Crystal Gems, the defects.

Once Pink had admired defects for being unique, for existing, for being able to live without instructions like her beloved humans, but Garnet’s betrayal made one thing clear. A diamond needed obedient gems else they would lose things important to them. For Yellow and Blue this meant minor things like a few colonies or gem batches but for Pink, it meant her precious organics could be at risk.

She should have kept the rebellion to just her and Pearl, at least Pearl she could control, to make sure her defect wouldn’t cause her to harm humans. The rebellion had originally been simply to save Earth from complete annihilation it should have remained that way.

Defects weren’t like organics, they were simply wrong, and they threatened to destroy both gems and humans. It was only a matter of time before Garnet turned on Steven and Greg.

Pearl had looked hurt when Pink expressed this to White diamond (who was overjoyed Pink finally ‘saw the light’) but Greg would understand. Greg had helped her realise this after all, on Earth human computers functioned like gems, if they were broken sometimes you could fix it, but if it was beyond repair and no longer serving it’s purpose they’d be destroyed.

She couldn’t wait to tell Greg all she had achieved, all she had done to protect organics, he never doubted that she was a good person. He always stroked her hair and accepted her even when she’d tell him about the gem war. Even the diamonds didn’t always support her but Greg’s love was unconditional.

She couldn’t wait to spend time with him in the zoo.

Earth had always been a lovely planet but it’s time was coming to an end. The planet was dying even without the cluster as foolish humans had accidentally harmed the planet.

It was fine though, she had preserved most flora species and even animal species in an expanded human zoo. She was like that man in the human book Greg showed her once. Moses, she believed who split the ocean in two drowning the rest of the bad humans and surviving with the good ones.

The Cluster would destroy the Crystal Gems, the corrupted gems, the battlefields, the ruins, everything. The evidence of her past foolishness would be forever erased and she would be able to create a new better world, finally moving on.

She would save the good parts of Earth and destroy the bad, because she was saving humanity.

She wasn’t like the other diamonds who wanted meaningless destruction to establish a sterile empire, she wanted to create a perfect empire with gems and organics. Only the good would remain.

One day they’d understand, or they would also be removed.

She couldn’t do it alone of course, but with Steven’s assistance, she was sure they could create a perfect empire.

Pink was pulled out of her thoughts by Steven who emerged out of the van with tears in his eyes, pink felt a pang of sadness and she wished she could comfort her son.

“Hey dad” Greg had slowly approached Steven as the two sat on the beach. It was the same spot she and Greg used to go she noted.

“Yeah Steven?”

Steven sighed as he looked out at the flowing waves, Pink wished she could be there herself, feel the wind on her hair and the sea at her feet (she should order the peridots to add a fake ocean to her palace, she was sure Steven would appreciate it).

“I hope somewhere out there both Mom and Pearl are safe. I know they’ve done bad things but…they fought for earth didn’t they? Surely somewhere inside them there’s good!”

Pink’s eye’s widened, her son was thinking about her! At least she knew Garnet hasn’t poisoned his mind too deeply. She didn’t want to have to hand him to white to fix him after all

“I like to think so Kiddo”

“I wish I could meet her….is that a bad thing to think dad? Even though you’ve told me all of that I still love her!…am I a bad person …like…like the diamonds?” Steven cried out clutching to Greg desperately as Pink longed to answer him, to reassure him.

Her words would never reach him.

Instead she approached the hologram and wrapped her arms around Steven hoping that somehow he would feel that he was loved.

Her gem glowed slightly as did Steven’s, and his tears subsided.

Before she could hear more the orb suddenly shut off and fell to the ground. Pink didn’t even waste time turning around, there was only one person who could be so callous.

“To what do I owe the pleasure Yellow” Pink said stiffly.

“Using the orb again pink? Honestly it’s only been what? 14 cycles since you returned. It’s not even been a century yet! And yet you incessantly check that orb like something will change!”

“14 cycles is a long time for humans Yellow, Steven is a teenager now. Greg has gotten older. He might not last until the length of a full century”

“Why you’d have children with such short lifespan creatures is beyond me Pink” Yellow said sighing as she marched into the room.

“Steven is like us Yellow. He won’t die, I designed him that way” It was true, when she realised both Steven and her could survive childbirth Pink had decided to make sure that he wouldn’t die. She couldn’t bear it.

“Well there are small victories I suppose. But that’s beside the point. Get back to work Pink”

“Who are you to order me around yellow” Pink said darkly, her pink eyes glowing in anger.

“You’ve been gone for over 6000 years! We still haven’t even gotten close to repairing the damage your absence caused on gem production! We had to make inferior gems! So you working now is the LEAST you can do. Instead of moping around like …like BLUE!” Yellow grew increasingly more frustrated waving her hands more frantically.

“Forgive me for wanting to see my son” Pink rebutted sarcastically.

“Trust me Pink, you won’t have to wait much longer.” Yellow said

“Oh I’m sure. Only another 28 cycles when Greg is dead and Steven is an adult” Pink snorted

“No, in fact White’s plan should be ready in less than half a cycle. So I’d prepare for their arrival, which you can’t do when your neglected duties have built up” Yellow said looking down at her.

Pink reluctantly sat back at her seat pulling up the screen.

“Besides if you are so worried, why not send him a little present? After all his 14^th birthday wasn’t that long ago.” Yellow remarked as she left the room.

“A present huh” Pink hummed and she opened up the work had previously been doing.

“That’s a great idea”

Chapter Text

Steven was alone, again.

The gems and Greg decided to split their days with him like divorced parents, Steven had tried to get them to be around each other, Mocha and amethyst were fine with him but Garnet, Garnet had been distant since the day Rose was discovered, she’d frozen nearly everyone out that day even her components.

Ruby and Sapphire hadn’t been seen from in years, Garnet didn’t talk about them even when Steven asked.

The only person she would smile for now was Steven but even he knew it was hollow.

Today was a gem day but Steven wished it wasn’t, he knew today would be the day Garnet shuts herself off and even amethyst went silent. Mocha was there to soothe him normally but the detectors she’d built to sense corrupted gems went off and she left him behind because it was too dangerous. His dad for once was out of town. So Steven was left to his own devices, being 14 years old he believed he was ready to warp on his own and have his own adventure.

He warped to the desert, where Lion was stood greeting him. Lion helped guard this place for him when the gems came around here, after all they couldn’t know about this place, Garnet wouldn’t like it.

He climbed on the back of the trusty animal and the two made their way further in. At last they’d reached it.

From the outside it looked like a crumbling old building, his mothers from centuries ago. However it held a secret which only Steven and Lion knew about. Steven walked in approaching a big chest in the middle before stopping in front of it, he looked around to see if anyone was there before he slapped it with his palm as the centre part of the lid glowed and the chest split unnaturally in two to reveal a hallway.

It was his secret play area and a space where his mother had clearly left mementos of her and the diamonds. Out of sight of the gems naturally.

Steven used it to hide stuff related to his mom, he felt guilty doing it though, like the very action was betraying the crystal gems.

Was he as bad as his mother?

It was also here that every so often gifts would appear, sometimes small like little shimmering sand in a cute pink pouch. It would bring plants to life when sprinkled on them and turn plants a lovely shade of pink. The plants couldn’t talk but they would dance and move about in their plant pots.

They always seemed to shiver whenever Steven’s gem was visible.

Other times it could be a cool alien plant with funny colours or nice tasting fruit.

He knew he shouldn’t accept gifts from strangers but it technically wasn’t a stranger.

It was his mom.

She’d send gifts with little notes attached in neat handwriting, originally in English they had slowly changed into gem glyphs as Pink provided little notes to help Steven translate.

There was no way to know he was getting these as she had to hope Lion would one day lead him there. And there was no way for Steven to contact his mom which meant it was totally safe.

There was a tiny little warp in the room which the presents came through (he’d seen Mocha show holograms of them before, they could only transmit certain sized things, not people ‘unless they are reduced back to their gemstone, but who would do that when we have warp pads?’ She had explained once.)

The warp pad was empty and Steven felt disappointed, his birthday had been a couple weeks ago and he had hoped his mother had sent something since he hadn’t been able to come here until now.

He’d been waiting for this day ever since as it’s the only day a year he’s usually left alone.

The day a Rose became a diamond.

It had been 14 years now since his mom ran away from earth, from him, a voice from the back of his mind added.

Maybe she’d forgotten? After all, it had been 14 years since she had seen Steven. Maybe…she forgot she had a son?

Maybe she doesn’t care anymore…and she got bored….like Garnet said she would

Before Steven could entertain that thought further a bright light enveloped the room, the warp had activated! Steven ran towards it eagerly awaiting to see what his mother sent.

It was a pink present box, Steven was excited since it meant the present had to be super special. He noticed a tag on the bow of the present box and picked it up to read.

‘Dear Steven,

I can’t believe its been 14 years since you were born.

It seems like just yesterday I held you in my arms.

You were absolutely adorable you know.

I wonder what you look like now, as little preteen.

14 years isn’t very long for a gem, its barely even a week for us.

It’s so fascinating how quickly humans grow.

As both a gem and a human you get to grow

To experience life with a fresh set of eyes

To change, to live.

Unlike humans though you won’t be limited to such a short life span

You’ll live eternally like me

We’re going to have so much fun

I can’t wait to see you Steven.’

“Wait what? Im…immortal?” Steven said freaking out, “that means everyone I know will….”

He didn’t want to finish that thought and kept reading.

‘Apologies for the long letter,

It seems I got carried away.

I know I’m Late but Happy Birthday my darling boy.

I promise you one day you’ll have everything your little heart desires.

I know that us being so far apart upsets you so I got you a little present.

To keep with you to remind you of me at all times.

love,

your mother, Pink.

PS: You know the warp can send things to me too? If you wanted to send a letter or a gift.’

Steven’s eyes widened, how did he not think of that. This whole time his mother must have been lonely without people giving gifts to her. He had to find something and write a letter to her.

His mom seemed nice and caring, maybe Garnet just jumped to conclusions.

She can’t be that bad, right?

Steven decided to open the box and found a smooth pale pink stone, he picked it up and smoothed his hand over it’s surface. It felt cool to the touch but felt very light and fragile.

“Wow! A space rock! It’s so pretty” Steven was content with the cool little things his mother sent, he had no desire for much more than that so a pretty space rock was enough to make him feel wanted, feel loved. It was strangely familiar to Steven but he couldn’t place where he’d seen it before.

The rock suddenly glowed as Steven nearly dropped it, and began to rise up above him emitting a soft pink light. A shell formed around the rock as a voice rang out.

“Hello Steven Diamond, Please state your customisation preferences.” The voice sounded a bit like Mocha but as a robot.

“Customisation preferences? What do you mean?” Steven asked curiously having no idea what was going on.

“What would you like your new gem to look like?” The robot replied adding to Steven’s confusion

“Um…I don’t really want to change anything about myself, I like me for me so I guess just like I am now? OH! But one day I’d really like to be able to play all day and run super fast and fight super cool!” Steven replied happily

“Preferences acknowledged, preparing….” The robot replied as the shell opened an a figure emerged slowly spinning up out of the shell like a ballerina.

The form’s silhouette grew more detailed before a bright light shone forcing Steven to close his eyes. When he opened them a gem was floating where the shell had been. The mysterious gem floated softly to the ground looking at Steven with open admiration.

The gem was tall but quite slender, with pink skin so light it looked human coloured and fluffy pink hair similar in shape to his own. She wore a pretty dress with big poofy sleeves and poofy shorts and see through mesh that almost looked like a t-shirt. Her shoes looked like fancy sandals and her eyes were a bright pink. She saluted at him before speaking.

”My Diamond, it is nice to meet you” She paused taking in her surroundings before smiling widely

”I am at your eternal service”

Chapter Text

Oh.

It wasn’t a space rock after all, his mother had sent a gem, a pearl a part of his mind provided.

Steven didn’t know much about Homeworld since Garnet refused to talk about it and Amethyst wasn’t around. He did know what pearls were for though, Mocha had delightedly told him that not long after she’d arrived. Originally she only cared about escaping her abusive owner, she didn’t really care about being owned itself. Being 5 years old, he hadn’t taken much note at the time. It was only when he got older he realised the disturbing truth behind Mocha’s words.

Pearls were slaves.

And this pearl had just called him her diamond. Steven started hyperventilating wondering what to do.

“I can’t own a pearl! That’s bad, that’s something only the evil diamonds would do. I can’t be like them…I can’t. Garnet…Garnet said I have to be a good diamond…oh crap GARNET…what do I do? I have to tell her about the pearl but then she’ll find out about this place and then…” he rambled off his breathing getting more and more laboured.

He suddenly felt a cool palm on his shoulder as the pearl’s face came into view.

“It’s ok my diamond, look at me. Breathe in” She mimicked the gesture “and out” Steven did as she said eventually calming down enough to break contact with the pearl.

“Um..thanks. What’s your name?” He asked trying to be friendly.

“My name is whatever you desire my diamond though I am currently known as Pearl facet 3P5L cut 6FM, I am the radiant model of pearl. A top of the line custom pearl made exclusively for the diamonds. I have also been preprogrammed with extensive human medical knowledge to assist you as necessary.” She replied happily and Steven felt like slapping himself. He forgot gems didn’t have names, even his family their names were just their gem names.

“I suppose it would be confusing if everyone was just called Pearl” he said quietly

“Precisely my diamond!” The pearl cheerfully replied.

“Well I’m Steven” He introduced himself holding out his hand. The pearl looked confused before saluting.

“It is nice to meet you Steven Diamond Universe” The pearl replied spooking Steven with his full name.

“Right…so why are you here?” He asked curiously.

“Her radiance Pink Diamond sent me to you so that you wouldn’t feel so alone! She’s noticed that those rebels often refuse to let you mingle with other humans yet leave you alone. So I am here to keep you company! Not to mention a spinel is being created for your amusement. As your pearl, I promise to never leave your side!” She exclaimed looked extremely happy just to see him. Steven couldn’t help but grimace slightly.

He hated the fact that part of him was happy when she said she would always be there.

“Wha-,” Steven started to talk before his phone rang, Garnet was calling him.

“STEVEN! Where are you?” She called out panicked and Steven felt guilty.

“Im just outside playing, what’s wrong Garnet?” He asked

“Where are you please Steven, I know you’re somewhere in the desert but my vision…it wont tell me where! I just…” she stopped breathing in shakily.

“Garnet what’s going on?” He asked, Garnet was usually alone on this day. Contemplating what she should have done.

“It’s pink…my vision saw she’s up to something…so please Steven, I just need to make sure you’re safe”

“alright” Steven hung up and went up the stairs to leave the room, he noticed the pearl (he refused to say his pearl) was following him quietly, a look of worry etched on her face. As the secret door opened he saw Garnet standing in the middle of the ruins. With Mocha and amethyst behind her.

She ran towards him and hugged him tightly, dissipating her visor to look at him with tears running down her face.

“Thank goodness you’re safe” She pressed him closer to her squeezing tightly but not enough to hurt “my baby” she said softly. It was then she noticed the pearl.

“Steven?” She asked curiously. Steven clenched his fist worried about her reaction but told her everything including his mothers letters. Garnet’s face darkened slightly but she still hugged him.

“Steven…I’m sorry” She said when he was done. Surprising him.

“G-Garnet?” Steven thought she might scold him but instead she was apologising.

“I’ve been far too distant…I promised myself that I would raise you since its my fault that rose…left. And yet I’ve failed so miserably. I let my own issues take over my emotions and distanced myself when you needed me the most. If I had been there…you wouldn’t have needed to come here…Im sorry Steven”

“It’s ok Garnet…I knew that it was never because you hated me” Garnet started sobbing softly and kissed him gently on the top of his head.

“Um Garnet…what do we do about her?” Mocha signalled towards Steven’s pearl who had been stood there with a mix of confusion and horror on her face.

“We’ll figure something out. For now though we can’t have any distractions…not right now. Bubble her” Garnet said

“Wait! Garnet” Steven called out

The pearl backed away “I only want to serve my diamond!”

“I know” Mocha said quickly poofing the pearl with her scythe before bubbling her and sending her to the temple.

“We could have just talked!” Steven said frustrated.

“And we will, we aren’t keeping her in there. It’s just right now we have bigger things to deal with” Mocha said softly.

“Is it why Garnet sounded so panicked on the phone”

“Yes” Garnet answered before Mocha could speak

“My future vision foresaw hostile gems on Earth so we are going to the moon base to see who they are and what their purpose is” Garnet said.

“The moon base?!” Steven’s eyes lit up “Like on the ACTUAL MOON??? IN SPACE” he started to jump up and down in excitement.

“yup, used to belong to ol’ Pinkie Pie” Amethyst said “apparently its really cool” she continued.

“Did you just compare one of the members of the diamond authority to that cartoon you like watching?” Mocha asked amethyst tiredly.

“Nooooooo” Amethyst looked away from Mocha, avoiding eye contact. Mocha rolls her eyes and sighs with a slight smile on her face.

“anyway. The moon base serves as the central hub for colonisation it’s the closest a diamond usually gets to the colony using the observation orb to view the colony as if they were down there.” Garnet explained as they walked closer to the warp pad where Mocha’s escape pod was waiting.

“But if they came all this way why wouldn’t they just…go to the planet?” Steven asked.

“The diamonds see interacting with organic as beneath them, Pink is rather unique in that regard, even before Earth I’ve heard she often took species from yellow and blue’s colonies and hid them in her palace. The orbs could originally only view from a certain distance so the diamond usually constructed a base on the nearby moon of a planet or built a space station nearby if the planet didn’t have one. Nowadays the orbs can view planets extremely far away so now the diamonds don’t even need to get close to their colonies! They can observe from the luxury of Homeworld” Mocha explained, Garnet suddenly stopped walking.

“Do you think they could…view earth from Homeworld?” She asked mocha a hint of fear in her voice.

“Most likely, I do believe I heard Pink had a viewing room built not long before I left Homeworld despite having no active colonies at the time” Mocha replied nonchalantly.

“WAIT! That means that pink could have been spying on us this entire time!” Amethyst exclaimed in frustration.

“New rule: Steven is NEVER to be without one of us present, and if you see another gem contact the rest of us IMMEDIATELY.” Garnet said icily before unlocking the escape pod door.

“Yes garnet” the three of them replied as they followed her in. The revelation of pink possibly observing them this whole time had them all on edge and the small walls of the escape pod felt suffocating.

Thankfully it didn’t take long to get to the moon base which was also clear of any diamond ships and they all quickly dismounted the ship and went inside.

“wow….its…very industrial’ Steven said as they went inside unable to see anything in the pitch black.

“The lights are off Steven” Mocha said as she hit a panel on the wall which activated them. It was still dim but he could see the inside much better. The room was huge with four towering murals adoring each wall surrounded by intricate carvings of planets, stars and gem glyph. Steven walked towards them and read each mural.

“The radiantly perfect White diamond” the first on read as the massive mural towered over him. It was the largest mural on the wall and surronding it were white crystals carefully embedded in the wall.

“Those aren’t…” Steven asked

“They are …shattered gems. Homeworld believes that gems should not be wasted and so… the ‘defective’ gems are repurposed into other items, such as mirrors, living walls or even purely decorative ones like this. Though this is the cruellest fate reserved for only the worst criminals as you are in constant pain, and still aware but unable to move or ever be put back together again” Mocha said shuffling behind him.

“Mocha that’s enough, Steven’s only 14” Garnet cut in.

“Which is why he should know what Homeworld is like in case they come back here Garnet. How long can we really shelter him” Mocha argued back.

“Still don’t you think that was a bit much, I mean how can you-.” Steven walked away from the argument as he looked at the other murals.

“The lustrious and Luminous Yellow diamond” the mural had the gem shards form elaborate electric bolts as the many colonies around her glimmered in the light.

“The elegantly beautiful Blue Diamond” She had less colonies than Yellow but each ones was encased in a mural that looked like the ocean. It was very soothing colours.

“The energetic and enigmatic Pink Diamond” He looked up at his mothers mural, only one colony…Earth and the sharp features that made up her mural. There were flower decorations around it yes but the mural reflected none of the warmth he’d seen in old videos of Rose Quartz nor reflected her appearance. But then again, he had never seen Pink diamond.

“Did mom really look like this?” He asked the gems

“HAHA NO” Amethyst responded laughing. “She was like the same height as garnet if only slightly taller and-“the mural wasn’t off rose quartz though was it” Garnet said interjecting.

“I only saw Pink’s true form briefly during our fight but it was not really anything like this. If anything it resembles yellow diamond more” Garnet said softly.

“Ah…” it seemed he would never be able to see his mothers true face.

“So where’s the orb?” He asked quickly changing the subject.

“Upstairs” Mocha replied and Steven looked up to find a tiny hole in the ceiling.

“Uh guys…how do we get there? We can’t exactly fly” Steven said wearily.

“There should be a control panel nearby that activates the steps” Garnet said

“FOUND IT” Amethyst yelled before smacking her head into the panel activating the steps.

Steven suddenly realised he was standing on where the steps would rise but Garnet grabbed him out of the way just in time.

“Saved you” She said chuckling.

“Now climb on, there’s a lot of stairs and I think it would be a bit much for your tiny human body”

“Im not tiny anymore Garnet!” Steven said before looking the long staircase “but I guess today i’ll allow you to carry me”

“How generous” She said amused.

They finally reached the room with the orb and Steven was in awe with the long and complicated mural that adorned the room.

“Homeworld likes their murals huh?” He said quietly.

“Yes they do” Mocha replied as she approached the orb and turned it on. The orb glowed turning into an image of earth and expanding the light around the room. It was focused on Beach city.

“Woah! It looks so real!” Steven said amazed “But how will we know where to look, the Earth is huge!”

“My visions are fuzzy about who will show up but they all showed that the enemy would appear in Korea. We just need to ascertain who is on Earth and how much of a threat they pose”

Garnet approached the orb clicking on Korea and focusing in on a particular spot.

It was a faded pink palanquin covered in vines and other flowers.

“This is where….Pink was shattered…or not I suppose” Garnet said softly.

“Um Garnet? I think I know who is here” Amethyst said pointing in the distance. Garnet moved the orb’s point of view closer and froze.

Beside the old faded pink palanquin was a brand new version of it beside a taller blue version.

“No….”

Chapter Text

(14 years prior)

Pink sighed, interrupting the silence of the journey. They hadn’t spoken for a couple of hours since they left Earth, nothing but the quiet roar of her ship. She was surprised it worked so well after being dormant for thousands of years with no maintenance but thankful it did. Sugilite had nearly caught up with her by the time she activated it.

Pink wanted to sleep, she knew gems didn’t technically need rest but she was exhuasted. Diamonds were significantly harder to poof than normal gems which was sometimes a blessing but most often to her a curse. During the war she had been pushed to her limits, just about strong enough to retain her form but utterly exhausted from fighting. She never expected to feel that again, especially not from one singular fight.

Birthing Steven had taken more out of her than she thought, as she fought sugilite it really felt like she was simply a Rose Quartz, outnumbered by a giant fusion. She used the last of her power to create a shockwave to give her some time to warp away. Sugilite eventually found her of course, but her future vision was significantly more muddied due to the rash nature of the fusion.

She had only just managed to escape, and didn’t like imagining what could have happened to her otherwise.

It was all she could manage to sit on her throne and try and hold herself together as best as she could, she had even activated autopilot so that she wouldn’t have to stand for the length of the whole journey. As soon as she finished talking to the diamonds though, she would probably retreat into her gem for a little bit.

It was then it hit her who she was going to see, what would their reaction be? Happy, sad, angry? Would they even listen to her? Would they just destroy earth immediately? Would they hurt Steven?

Part of her considered turning back, finding somewhere else to go and regaining her strength to take on sugilite but she knew how close they were to Homeworld. Their systems had likely already picked up on her presence. If she didn’t continue to Homeworld they would find her anyway.

Forwards it was then, it didn’t matter. She would make them listen.

“Rose, maybe this wasn’t a good idea” Pearl spoke up and pink looked over to where she had been standing, looking up from the ships screen to face her. Pink had felt nothing but admiration for pearl for centuries, she had introduced her to the kindergartens, to earth, to humans, pearl had grown into more than she was designed for and Pink used to find that so beautiful.

Now she felt frustrated, it was pearl who wanted them to leave, she suggested Homeworld and it was her who didn’t feel the need to take Steven and Greg with her to find her ship. Grabbing Steven whilst Sugilite was distracted would have been easy but no, Pearl’s jealousy had been too blinding for her to think logically.

She had known that jealousy was there of course, but she assumed over time as she and Greg got closer, Pearl would come around.

That never happened.

Pearl had never seemed to like human life, she didn’t seem to appreciate plants Pink did and she always took pleasure in bragging to Greg about Homeworld. Pink realised that Pearl never liked Earth.

And that ANGERED pink.

“Didn’t you suggest we should go to Homeworld? That we could get reinforcements?” Pink replied bitterly, surprising Pearl with her tone.

“I did but perhaps we were too hasty. Maybe we should find another planet to hide out on and regain our strength.”

How cowardly.

“No. Homeworld’s scanners would have picked up the ship by now. They would never leave us alone. This is our only option” Pink said firmly looking away from Pearl.

“But-..We’re rebels! We led an uprising! Stars! They’ll probably shatter me calling me defective and put you in the tower! This is bad.” Pearl said freaking out.

“Pearl” Pink said quietly but sternly. Pearl immediately froze.

“I will do my best to convince the diamonds. I will take the sole blame for everything. YOU just have to play the part of a loyal pearl hopelessly following their diamond around. You understand what this means don’t you?” Pink continued, with little emotion in her tone.

“Yes…Rose”

“Don’t you mean, My diamond?” Pink corrected.

“Of course, my diamond.” Pearl saluted at her.

Finally people were obeying her again, as they always should have.

Homeworld finally came into view and Pink gripped the seat tightly.

“Here goes nothing” Pink laments, wondering if she would spent the next 6,000 years in a bubble

The ship descends and she sees how much Homeworld has changed. There’s very little nature left on the planet, it was a cityscape of gleaming crystal towers and carefully designed passageways.

It was all incredibly organised, not a single flaw in sight.

It almost hurt her eyes to look at.

She saw a few peridots frantically running around as a few other gems milling about suddenly looked up in shock.

She landed on her landing pad which was miraculously still there after all this time.

As she floated to the top of the ship in the bubble and looked around she could see the gems far below looking in awe. The diamond insignia shaped platform in between each landing pad was empty as her arrival had been unexpected. There was no entourage to greet her.

It was just eerily quiet.

Pink nimbly stood on the giant platform and walked across, ready to enter her palace before a white bubble flew overhead.

She’d gotten white’s attention. Good.

“Pink diamond your presence is requested” The monochrome pearl said smiling down at her and pink felt intensely uncomfortable looking at her. She didn’t know why white talked in third person when possessing gems, after all it was abundantly obvious she was in control. But she mutely stood next to the pearl and allowed the bubble to take her away.

“Starlight, what an unexpected surprise” White’s cheerful voice sounded out, Pink tensed preparing for a confrontation.

“Whilst I am glad that the news we received was false, don’t you think this little game of yours went a bit too far Pink?” The giant diamond boomed, smiling down at her passive aggressively.

“White…I’m sorry. I made a mistake but please allow me to explain” Pink begged and for the briefest second, a look of shock could be seen on white’s face.

“An apology? From you? Well I suppose I should lend my ear seeing as you asked so sincerely” The diamonds grin grew more sinister.

Pink prepared to tell her story, ready to accept her fate.

..

Yellow rushed to the human zoo as soon as she received the message from white. She had ignored the peridots reports thinking that they were simply defective and ordering the agate overseeing them to shatter all of them but when white had sent the message herself. The first in over 6,000 years, she knew she had to get to blue.

Finally, they could be whole again.

Blue had withdrawn into herself within the human zoo, sitting in the chamber of bubble rose quartz’s. Yellow knew that blue rarely responded to communications normally, but she would never respond if she was here.

“Blue” Yellow said softly looking down at her twin. Her gem ached when looking at blue sensing the pain of her sister. They were created from a fraction of white’s own light, meant to be a diamond of equal standing but instead unexpectedly splitting in two and forming two flawed diamonds.

An emotional but caring Blue.

A strong but emotionally stunted Yellow.

Blue cared too much about her fellow diamonds, her heart shattering to pieces when pink was ‘shattered’ and Yellow found she could only care deeply about blue due to their shared origins. She had always held some affection for pink but never enough to actually express towards her. It was only when she was gone that yellow realised she wasn’t as emotionless as she thought.

White had only cared for Pink, according to her she was the only diamond capable of following in her image despite her short stature. (White mentioned something about growth but Yellow had never understood what that meant).

“Y-yellow. Are you here to scold me again? What this time? A song perhaps” Blue said bitterly.

They used to have a good relationship, but now Yellow spent most of her time trying to do the roles of two diamonds and in the rare bit of spare time try and coax blue out of the past.

“Pink is alive”

The Blue gem looked at her in confusion before a wave of sadness washed over them both.

“Do not tease me like that”

“Me? I would never do something so ridiculous. Check your messages. White said so herself. I am going to Homeworld to see for myself. Stay here for all I care” Yellow turned away dismissively internally feeling frustrated. ‘Why do I keep doing this’.

“Wait…please” Blue said softly as she pulled out her screen and read the message.

Yellows eyes filled with Blue’s tears again but this time, they were far more joyful.

“Let’s go”

…

Blue looked at the palanquin, remembering the times she had visited this place alone. Mourning. Yellow and white refused to go near this place. It was too sad. Even for them.

“So you came here often” Pink said softly. Blue was snapped out of her daze feeling ridiculous for focusing on her sad past when Pink was beside her once more.

“Yes, though to make yellow happy I went to the zoo more often. She hated me visiting here” Blue replied softly.

“And did it make her happy?” Pink said with a slight smile on her face, Blue snorted.

“Of course not”

Silence settled over the two of them as blue finally decided to ask the question she had been dreading.

“Pink…why did you make us think you were dead”

“Because, I thought it would end the war.” Pink replied solemnly looking at the floor.

“Did you not think about how we would feel?”

“I…thought you wouldn’t care…you never used to listen to me. I figured maybe…you’d be happy with me out of the way” Pink said softly, a tear falling from her face. Blue wiped it away and sighed.

“We love you pink, I know yellow and white don’t show it very well but we do. We can’t bear the thought of you not being here. That’s why we understand” She replied looking back at the palanquin.

“I miss him” Pink whispered

“I know” Blue said softly

“I promise you, it wont be much longer now. White has finally allowed us to act. Something about your punishment being over”

“Keeping my child away from me? Oh yeah she really cares” Pink said sarcastically.

“You know she has a good reason for it. White always does. What’s important is that the diamond authority will finally be complete very soon.”

“Can’t we just go now? We are here anyway” Pink sulked

“No, we aren’t supposed to be here. If yellow or white learns about this they will be furious. We just need to be patient Pink. I just wanted you to see Earth one final time,  before the cluster emerges. If you want we can collect some more flora for the human zoo” Blue said trying to placate the smaller diamond.

“Thanks Blue, you really know how to cheer me up” Pink said softly, whilst she would have to wait a little longer to see her son, she was grateful for the opportunity to save more life before it would be gone forever.

“It took me a long time to figure out how”

Chapter Text

“If you need anything just use your pearl to message me. I’ll wait in the ship. Try not to take too long, there’s only so long Yellow and White will be preoccupied for” Blue said as she sat down in her Palanquin.

“Liar, Yellow would never leave her work if she could. She practically married to reading gem production reports.” Pink replied a sly smile on her face.

“I suppose you aren’t wrong. See you in a bit.” Blue said chuckling a little, fondness in her eyes. She had become gentler than before, more openly caring.

Once Blue Diamond had left, pearl had dared to get closer, Pink ignored her prompting a sigh from the smaller gem.

“It’s surreal to be back here” Pearl spoke up softly. Pink still ignored her.

“We spent so long fighting for earth, for fighting for freedom. Now…”

“I don’t remember giving you permission to talk” Pink bit back sharply, her back still turned away from Pearl.

“Blue Diamond is gone now, we don’t need to pretend right now” Pearl replied and Pink clenched her fist in annoyance.

“Don’t we now” Pink responded, she felt that Pearl had only gotten braver since their return to Homeworld. Perhaps she should of told the diamonds how much Pearl had influenced the events leading up to the gem war.

“It’s funny, for all your talk praising Homeworld to Greg, you don’t seem to like following its rules”

“My-Rose, please, talk to me, when did our relationship become this?” Pearl pleaded, she attempted to grab Pink’s hand but Pink knocked her hand away.

“When I realised how much of a liar you are” Pearl flinched at her words as Pink finally turned to face her.

“Rose I’m no-“when I realised how much of a hypocrite you are” Pink cut her off getting closer to pearl. She stood right in front of Pearl, towering above her face inches away from Pearls.

“When I realised that this was your plan all along. You WANTED me to abandon Steven and Greg. Shall I keep going?” Pearl gulped in fear but stood her ground, it made Pink even angrier.

“Pink please, Of course I never wanted this-“LIAR!” Pink screamed as a powerful shock wave knocked Pearl flying a few feet backwards and the ground around split, the old palanquin built to withstand these outbursts finally groaned with age and split cleanly in two. If pink was thinking clearly she would laugh at the fitting symbolism. Her old self had finally been decimated.

“When exploring the outer lands of Homeworld to rejuvenate them and make Homeworld have a greater chance at staying in one piece I found a group of rather interesting gems. I found a sapphire who could only recall the past” Pink began to walk over to Pearl, surrounded in a pink glow that rose of her in a way that mimicked steam. Her pupils went white as her anger grew.

“Do you want to know what she said?” Pink sneered. Pearl on her back scrambled backwards, crawling along the floor.

“She said that a Pearl tampered with my stomach when I was asleep. And injected the extra minerals required to make a diamond. So do. Not. Lie. To. Me. I know you wanted this. Im sure if you were capable of it you would have told Garnet directly without such a scheme” Pink looked truly terrifying, looking eerily close to White Diamond in that moment as her face did not show her anger but instead a passive expression.

“I..Rose…please…allow me to explain!” Pearl begged. Pink had enough. With harsh pink energy swarming around her hands she reached for pearls gem activating the portal to her storage area. She pulled out a bubbled pearl gem and Pearl’s eyes widened in horror.

“Please my diamond! Please Pink, Rose! PLEASE” Pearl got truly desperate. Pink clutched the gemstone and yanked, causing Pearl to poof. The force caused the gem to have a sharp ugly crack in the middle, not enough to shatter but enough to hurt.

Pink threw the gemstone on the ground before unbubbling the other pearl, which immediately took form.

Her third pearl: Peach

Peach looked like a mix of her very first pearl and Pearl, she was entirely Pink this time as she was created with mostly Pink’s essence. Her personality was kind and muted, she had some energy but was not needlessly childish like her first pearl nor overly attached and jealous like Pearl.

Peach spent most of her time in a bubble, after all she existed as mostly a threat to Pearl. That she was replaceable, it was why she had Pearl store Peach in her gem when she was not in use.

“Peach darling, pick Pearl up. Shes on time out for now” Pink instructed.

“Yes my diamond. Shall I bubble her?” Peach said chirpily.

“No…I want her to be conscious. I just need somewhere to put her for the time being. The diamonds wouldn’t let me use the tower, they’d just shatter her instead. And I cant leave her here, I refuse to let her return to the crystal gems. To being ‘free’” Pink said angrily

“What about your old garden my diamond? My records show you haven’t gone there in a while. Plus no one but you and the other diamonds are permitted to enter and use the warps so she wouldn’t be able to leave without your permission” Peach suggested.

“Peach! That’s perfect! You’re so smart. This is why you’re my favourite pearl!” Pink squealed happily. Peach always knew how to please her.

“See to it that it happens. Leave a note explaining her punishment.” Pink felt like she was forgetting something but brushed it off. She was sure the garden was empty, but she felt she was glossing over something.

It was nothing surely.

“Let’s go Peach. We’ve spent enough time here, this planet will mean nothing soon enough. All that’s important will be persevered. We should probably swing by the moon base on the way back. There’s some important files on the drive that would be helpful for future plans.” Pink said waving her hand as she began walking to her new palanquin.

The image suddenly fizzled out and died, and the grey walls of the room returned. Steven blinked surprised before he looked at the orb.

It had been smashed in two with Garnet’s fist through the middle of it. The fusion was shaking as she slowly started to move towards the stairs.

“Um Garnet. We could have needed that” Amethyst said but was completely ignored.

“Garnet?” Mocha called out, she kept moving towards the stairs.

“I hope she isn’t going to smash our way back home” amethyst joked before being silenced by a glare from Mocha.

Garnet powered on upstairs, reaching the main console. With a primal sounding yell she smashed her gauntlets on the computer, utterly destroying it.

“Um Garnet..Are you ok?” Steven asked warily, what they had just witnessed was disturbing but Garnet took priority.

“I..uh…” Garneat stammered before glowing brightly. Suddenly she split and two gems went flying in two different directions. Hitting the glass hard.

“Oh no” amethyst said softly.

This was the first time Steven had met Ruby and Sapphire. He had hoped it would be under better circumstances (technically they’d unfused when he was days old but he naturally couldn’t remember that). Sapphire sat in a pile of ice looking frantic, her eyes darting around panicked clearly trying to decipher the future. Ruby sat defeatedly where she landed.

“Mocha….what do we do?” Steven asked looking to the only other gem he could trust for guidance.

Mocha had a hauntingly vacant look in her eyes as she frantically muttered, her whole body shaking.

“My….my sapp-sapphire” she stammered over and over again.

“Guys please…Mom…she’s coming here! We need to move else we’ll become diamond fodder!” Steven pleaded pulling at Mocha’s shorts.

“Please Mocha, Sapphire, Ruby anyone!” Steven pleaded as Amethyst ran over to sapphire trying to get her to snap out of it.

Steven and amethyst shared a glance before pulling the three gems towards the ship.

They got inside and Steven and amethyst desperately tried to sort out the controls.

“Don’t suppose you could fly this amethyst?” Steven chuckled uneasily.

“Uh…no? Man I cant even read this!” amethyst slammed the panel angrily.

“The gems didn’t teach you glyph?” Steven shrieked.

“NO! DUDE WHEN WOULD I USE THAT!” Amethyst shouted back

“Like right now!” Steven exclaimed, freaking out and sweating harshly. His gem began to glow with the stress unnoticed by the two gems.

“GUYS PLEASE HELP!” Steven scream begged.

“CRAP!” Amethyst  cried out “we’re gonna die!”

“Ugh…HELP US DAMMIT”

Steven emitted a strong shockwave which rocked the whole ship but thankfully didn’t break anything else. The shockwave seemed to make Mocha worse as she let out a whimper before poofing. It thankfully snapped Ruby and Sapphire out of and the two small gems ran to the console before activating the ship. They hastily sped towards earth, just as they descended into the atmosphere they saw faintly in the distance two ships emerging, a giant pair of legs and a blue arm.

Steven didn’t dare breathe as he hoped they didn’t spot the little escape pod.

Thankfully they descended with no problems and the four of them breathed out in relief. Steven sagged to the floor.

“Steven, amethyst. We’re sorry about that. It’s just…Pink is one of the few things that scares us. The fear of losing everything we’d fought so hard for was…just too much.” Sapphire said quietly.

“It was a lot, especially seeing Pearl and Pink like that. It’s hard seeing the lie you’ve told yourself crumble like that. As much as we had our issues, pearl…doesn’t deserve that. But she’ll never leave Pink’s side” Ruby added.

“its fine…I just cant believe P would do something like that. Why would she want to leave Earth? Why would she purposely hurt us like this” Amethyst asked sadly.

“All of this…was indirectly caused by her” Steven said quietly clenching his stomach. He was conflicted, part of him felt sympathetic for her situation being treated so horribly but another part of him felt angry. Like she had robbed him of a peaceful future. He tried to bury those specific thoughts though.

“What was up with Mocha then? She wasn’t around when p was.” Amethyst asked.

Sapphire pursed her lips “I believe her previous owner was a sapphire. And she wasn’t…very nice”

Steven gently held Mocha’s gemstone looking down at it in worry.

“I hope she’ll be alright” Steven said softly.

“Im sure she will be Ste-man” Replied Ruby comforting him.

Chapter Text

It had been four days and Mocha still hadn’t reformed, it was worrying what was left of the Crystal Gems. Ruby and Sapphire sat near each other on the sofa, close but not touching. Despite their efforts to act casual around Steven and amethyst, it was immediately obvious something was wrong. Pink’s appearance had shaken them up, badly. Steven desperately wanted to help them, to talk and help them with their feelings but he knew he would get no response. If Garnet would refuse to talk about Ruby and Sapphire for 14 years, there was no way Ruby and Sapphire would tell him what was wrong.

“AH! Why is gem stuff so complicated? I just want things to go back to the way they are!” Steven exclaimed, frustrated. Ruby and Sapphire remained silently looking at Mocha’s gemstone on the cushion in front of them.

“I know, man this sucks! If it were P she’d be back already!” Amethyst moaned, bored.

“Well she’s not Pearl, but she is still a valued member of our family.” Sapphire finally spoke up.

“Sapphire is right, Amethyst.” Ruby said going to place her hand on Sapphire’s before freezing and backing away.

“Speaking of Pearl, We need to rescue her! Mo-I mean Pink Diamond hurt her! No one deserves that.” Steven exclaimed finally deciding to bring up what he had seen on the moon.

“We can’t” Sapphire said sharply with a sense of fear. Ice slowly crept out from underneath her causing Steven and Amethyst to jump up from the sofa. Ruby stayed where she was instead emitting a bit of heat so that the ice didn’t reach her.

“WHY NOT! Look I know you two were hurt about Rose but Pearl is innocent. She’s a part of our team and needs our help!” Amethyst suddenly shouted making Sapphire jump.

“Pearl is not innocent” Sapphire said with grated teeth. “She followed Pink to Homeworld, She knew the consequences of her decision.” She continued, her voice level and devoid of emotion.

“LIKE SHE HAD A CHOICE!” Steven interjected angrily, he hated raising his voice but Sapphire’s statement had truly irritated him.

“we all know what Pearls were made for. Have you ever thought she never had the chance to break free from her programming? Think Sapphire, Pearl never got the chance to leave her owner” Steven continued lowering his voice a tad.

Sapphire seemed to stiffen in shock.

“sap?” Ruby began, concerned

“I….never considered that.” Sapphire said quietly, horror dawning on her face “all this time, I’ve-We’ve been so angry and we …we never even thought to question it.” Ruby looked at Sapphire finally deciding to place her hand on Sapphire’s.

“After Rose, we promised to never blindly accept things as they were. And yet we made such a stupid oversight” Sapphire laughed bitterly

“Sap it’s ok, we couldn’t have known-“Yes we could! Steven is right, how could we forget that sticking by their owner is literally what pearls are made for!” Sapphire cut Ruby off.

“Maybe we did make a mistake, but the situation was a lot overall. We reacted in a way that we shouldn’t have. But we need to keep moving forward. Pink is up to something and we have to ensure whatever despicable plan the diamonds have for Earth never comes true!” Ruby exclaimed, standing up. Sapphire couldn’t help but look up in awe and blushed slightly.

“You’re right Ruby, My vision is too blurry at the moment but we know Pink and Blue said something about this being their last trip to Earth. We need to find a terminal still connected to Homeworld and see what they’re planning.” Sapphire said determined.

“we need Garnet” Amethyst said quietly.

“Guys…I know the diamonds scare you a lot but we need to be as strong as possible if we are going against the diamonds. That means you need to talk. I think we’ve established secrets only weaken us in the long run” Steven cut in, ageering with Amethyst.

“We’ll try Steven, we can’t promise it will be soon. But we will try. Both you and Amethyst deserve that at least. After all, it’s our fault neither of you can enjoy a normal life.” Ruby promised.

Steven was about to respond when Greg burst into the house, looking unkept and frantic.

“is everything ok? I saw on the news in Korea about some sort of giant objects floating above and it looked an awful lot like gem ships. So I tried calling you guys but then you were responded and I just kinda panicked” Greg blurted out.

“Humans saw Pink’s ship?” Amethyst said slightly alarmed.

“THAT WAS PINKS SHIP?!” Greg practically shrieked.

“And Blue Diamond!” Ruby provided helpfully.

“WHAT!” Greg looked on the verge of a heart attack.

“Don’t worry Greg, they left. It seems they were more interested in sight seeing. They won’t do anything for another six months” Sapphire replied calmly.

“Don’t worry…DON’T WORRY??! Now all I am doing is worrying!” Greg clutched what remained of his hair in stress.

“We’ll handle it. The diamonds aren’t the type to handle things themselves.” Sapphire supplied.

“Oh and that makes me feel so much better. You seem to know a lot about what they were up to, you didn’t go in person did you?” Greg asked panicked.

“No of course not, going face to face with two diamonds is asking for trouble.” Ruby cut in jovially.

“We watched them from the moon!” she continued oblivious to Greg’s horror.

“WHAT! You took my son to the moon!” Greg staggered, looking on the verge of passing out.

“Hey Greg you don’t look so good are you sick? Or this an old age thing? OH MY GOD ARE YOU DYING?!” Amethyst asked observing him.

“WHAT! NO! I’m just…freaking out a little. I know how crazy powerful those diamonds are and I’m just worried for Steven. I still think he’s too young for all this gem stuff” Greg replied breathing in to calm himself down.

“I know, but we do not have enough time to let Steven mature at his own pace. At the very least we have to make sure he can fight before they get here. As a last resort” Sapphire stated grimly. Steven looked worried at her statement worrying what an Earth she was worrying about.

“Alright fine, but I still don’t like it. Ste-man go pack a bag. You’re staying at my house tonight.” Greg sighed.

“Aw but dad-“Nope. Come on kiddo you need one normal nights sleep besides we have an important meeting tomorrow” Greg cut Steven off sternly.

“Meeting?” Sapphire asked

“yeah, I figured I should enroll Steven in school. I’ve been home-schooling him this entire time but the kid is smart and I think he needs a proper education. If my ex somehow doesn’t cause the end of the planet, he’ll need a good education so he doesn’t become a washed up middle aged man like me. Working in a car wash for most of his adult life for minimum wage.” Greg said placing a hand behind his head embrassed.

“I know you guys didn’t want him around humans too much because of his powers but I think the outbursts are finally subsiding. And if you guys are training him too, it should be safe” he hurriedly said worried the gems would object.

“I think that’s a good idea” Greg’s eyes widened in shock upon hearing Sapphire agree with him.

“I allowed my own fears to control Steven’s life, he needs more people around him than just us. He needs to be human too” She continued.

“Aw I wish I could go school too” Amethyst whined

“Not happening.” Greg, Ruby and Sapphire said in unison, amethyst whined in response.

……

“Goodnight kiddo” Greg said leaning over Steven to plant a kiss on his sons head.

Steven’s room was full of lots of random book merch and gem artifacts, since the gems disliked him having anything that could link to his mother in their house, as for the book collection. The house at the temple had simply run out of room. Greg didn’t mind Steven’s room being full of clutter because it filled him with a sense of pride that he could afford a house. Sure it took him years of working the car wash and any other gig he could find (he could never thank Garnet enough for looking after Steven whilst he did that) but it was worth it to make sure on his days of having Steven they didn’t have to live in a van.

It was a sucky life for an adult, it was a terrible life for a kid.

“Night dad” Steven responded from under a hundred different stuffed animals.

Greg got up and turned the main light off, Steven’s room had glow in the dark stars on the celing resembling the galaxy above them. It was silly but sometimes Greg liked to think it was Rose looking down at both of them, protecting their son.

Some part of Greg knew that the Rose in his mind was mostly fictional but their happy memories was one of the few reasons he kept going when things got tough with Steven. He wouldn’t lie and say he never thought about leaving Steven with the gems and traveling all over the world trying to figure his life out after Rose. But his parents had abandoned him, he refused to do the same thing to Steven.

As Greg left the room and closed the door, Steven finally felt the exhausting he had apparently been fighting off. He hadn’t been able to sleep properly in four days. Part of him felt guilty for sleeping when people needed his help but human needs had to come first.

“Pearl, Mocha and New Pearl, I promise I’ll help you all” Steven murmured sleepily as he drifted off to sleep.

“COME ON NEW FRIEND! DON’T GO SLEEPIN ON ME!” He jolted awake to see a Pink gem in his face.

“AHH!” He screamed and noticed that his voice seemed different. The Pink gem backed up and he looked at her. She was fairly short, with pink little buns of hair shaped like hearts. Her outfit resembled a weird jester as she looked at him curiously.

“Micky mouse?” He said groggily.

“Wha? Come on Pearl did ya hit your head!”

‘Wait Pearl? That’s not my name! Where am I! Who is she?’ Steven thought to himself, it was then he noticed his body. His skin was pure white and his body was skinner than it should be. He didn’t recognise the outfit either but it seemed vaguely familiar.

“Um? Pink Gem? Is there a mirror around here?” He asked uncertainly, offput by how strange his voice sounded. It was oddly familiar.

“Uh. There’s a puddle over there?” The gem pointed confused. “You haven’t forgotten me already right?” There seemed to be a darkness to the gem’s eyes that wasn’t there before. It scared Steven.

Steven rushed over to the puddle in the middle of the hugely overgrown plants and looked at himself in horror.

Or rather he looked at this body in horror.

The realsitiation hit him like a truck.

He was in Pearl’s body.

“When I said I wanted to save pearl I didn’t mean this!” He yelled out in frustration.

“uh Pearl? You ok?” The gem got closer looking concerned “I mean I thought I was a tad loopy but you’ve been talking to yourself for a while and I got a little worried”

“Um this is going to sound crazy but I need you to listen to me…um…whats your name?” He said realising he didn’t know it. She didn’t look like any gem he’d seen though Steven knew he hadn’t seen many gem types.

The gem frowned but quickly smiled again

“Is that crack messin with ya head?” She asked. “well I suppose I don’t mind introducing myself again”.

The gem twirled around and spread her limbs out in a grand fashion.

“I’m Spinel! Your new best Friend!”

---------

AU Designs 

Mocha Pearl

Steven and Amethyst 

Garnet 

Pink, Peach (Pearl) and Pearl 

Notes: Steven is taller because he's aware of his true nature as a diamond and therefore in opposite to canon has a slightly advanced growth rate. PInk's design may change in the future, I'm not 100% happy with it. 

Chapter Text

Steven tensed as he fully took in his surroundings, it was a huge overgrown garden, with dulled pink walls and depressing decaying architecture. He could tell that it once was probably a beautiful garden closely resembling earth before being left to decay. He couldn’t even figure out how long this place had been left to rot.

“Hey spinel…this is going to sound crazy but I’m not pearl” he tried to explain hoping to get this gem onside. The garden looked abandoned and it was clear that his mother didn’t frequent this place, at least not anymore.

“Ha ha! Good one! Oh oh and I’m Pink Diamond” Spinel replied laughing hysterically.

“I’m uh…not joking” Steven tried to explain as Spinels expression changed to a look of concern.

“Oh Pearl, man that crack messed you up good huh? I always knew pink had an explosive temper but….this is bad” she said softly

“Look Spinel, my name is Steven. I don’t know how but I’m possessing pearl right now. My body is way back on Earth so could you just tell me what’s going on? Like who are you? And what is this place and is Mom going to kill us at any second?” Steven asked anxiously placing his or rather pearls hands on Spinel’s shoulders.

“Uh….how can I be sure this ain’t just a weird side effect of being cracked?” She replied squinting her eyes in suspicion.

“I uh….GAH! I don’t know! This is so frustrating!” Steven said kicking a nearby pillar and casing it to shatter. He noticed a faint pink glow emanating from the leg he kicked with.

“Woah…a pearl can’t do that….wait…Steeeven…steeeevooon. You’re pinks son Teethin!” Spinel exclaimed in shock.

“It’s Steven” Steven replied snorting a little “did mom…tell you about me?”

At the mention of Pink Spinel stiffened and looked down at at a nearby rock, Steven felt a pang of guilt for upsetting her unknowingly.

“She didn’t….she didn’t tell anyone about me, did she?” She said softly

“I uh…not that I know of. I think garnet would have mentioned you beforehand”

“Well it wasn’t Pink who told me, it was Pearl before you came along. I got so excited when the warp activated….I thought that it was Pink at last coming back for me after our game. But no, all that was there was a cracked pearl gem. When she formed she told me all about what had happened these past few centuries ….it was a lot. That’s when I found out that I’d been forgotten.” Spinel explained softly.

“Honestly… heh, the pain was so bad I nearly poofed myself but Pearl was in bad shape so I kept myself together. It’s nice to meet ya Steven”

“How come you didn’t go with Pink to Earth?” Steven asked hesitantly

“Because she told me to stay here, it was meant to be a game…I see now that she never had any intention of coming back. Ever.” She replied sharply before sighing.

She softly began to sing and Steven began to cry, all this time Spinel had been waiting here. Waiting for Pink to come and end their game for thousands of years. Stuck to one spot the whole time.

What a cruel thing to do.

It was then it finally sunk in about his mothers cruelty, he supposed for some time he had been subtly telling himself that Pink couldn’t be that bad since she’d started the rebellion, she’d saved Earth, she’d loved dad. But Spinel was clear cut evidence that his mother had never been the selfless misunderstood Diamond who fell in love with Earth, she had only ever been a selfish dictator, never caring about anyone else unless they directly interested her.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Spinel wiping a tear from his face. He looked up at the dirty and worn down gem who looked at him with nothing but kindness. She didn’t have to take care of him, or tell him her past but she did, even though his mother had hurt her so badly, she still took care of others.

He would take care of Spinel, because a Crystal gem always helped those in need. And a diamond did nothing but help themselves.

“Spinel, how about we leave this place?”

Her eyes widened looking uncertain as she scanned the walls of the garden. Her home, the only place she really knew and the place of so many happy memories.

But also so many miserable ones.

Perhaps it was time to move on, time to find a new life with Pearl, with Steven, with the Crystal Gems.

But Spinel couldn’t help but let out a concern.

“How do I know you won’t leave me too?” He was a diamond after all, even if he looked at her with such kindness Pink never had, and had only been nice to her, she was afraid. What could a diamond like him see in a Spinel like her? He could have a whole new Spinel made for him if he so wanted, so why did he want to save her.

Did she even deserve it?

Her diamond had left her behind and forgotten about her, it was probably all her fault. If she could have been better at entertaining Pink, if only she was a better spinel. Maybe pink wouldn’t have been bored enough to start a war, to harm so many gems.

“Spinel, come back to Earth with me

You can start over there, make new friends” Steven reached out his hand to her.

“Pink diamond won’t be able to hurt you there”

“Someday, somewhere, somehow, you'll love again

You just need to find someone” Spinel looked at Steven or rather Pearl, when Steven went away again she’d have to talk to her. Maybe they had something in common or maybe the Crystal gems did too! They were all abandoned by Pink after all. She took Steven’s hand standing up and allowing herself a small smile.

“Someday, somewhere, somehow, I'll love again

I just need to find someone” she breathed out and a glow surrounded her form as it refreshed into what she looked like thousands of years prior.

“Someone who treats me better

Someone who wants me around” she looked around at the Garden realising that Pink had never seemed to fully accept Spinel perhaps haunted by her first pearl. It was time to leave this place behind, permanently.

“Someday, somewhere, somehow

(You're) I'm gonna feel found” Steven hugged her as the two sung in unison.

“Today, right here, right now

I already feel found” for once Spinel allowed herself to feel like she was wanted. She hoped that she could finally find happiness.

The two quietly made their way to the warp before Steven stopped dead in his tracks.

“Uh Steven? Are you ok?” Spinel asked quietly

“I just realised I have no idea how to get to Earth” he said quietly embarrassed, Spinel snorted with laughter.

“Oh my! Well helpfully that’s one thing I do know! See pink let me leave the garden once to visit one of Yellow’s colonies nearby. I think there’s a ship dock nearby.” She said pointing a massive desolated planet in the distance.

“Wow..that’s convenient” Steven replied surprised as the warp activated.

“Yeah, yellow wanted the garden to be close to where she was working so she could keep an eye on pink. The garden is technically a ship after all so it could move about after yellow moved on but well, that wasn’t necessary in the end” spinel explained

“We need to be quiet, I reckon it’s probably abandoned but ya never know” she said and Steven smiled.

The two stepped off the warp and looked around, the station looked mostly abandoned but they could hear a few footsteps in the distance. Spinel signalled to him to go wide and he nodded and prepared to move, only to have to stifle his laughter as Spinel acted like a stereotypical action man in a movie, dramatically rolling across the floor and wildly swinging her arms in a movement signalling for Steven to move forward.

They ran to the door of the base which Spinel tried to unlock but it beeped angrily at her.

“Dammit! I’m just a spinel so it won’t work for me!” She cried out in annoyance. Steven reached out at the panel and it opened.

“Wow…I guess diamond pearls can go anywhere huh?” Spinel said surprised.

“Thank goodness” Steven replied as they rushed inside.

They ran through the creepy dimly lit hallways beginning to show signs of damage after thousands of years.

“If the colony is abandoned how come there’s still gems here?” Steven asked spinel

“Yellow liked to keep her old bases operational in case she ever needs to revisit an area. She’s over prepared like that. Besides with the rate she produces gems it’s not like she’ll miss a few skeleton crews. Man it’s weird being back here…it’s so empty now. And” she paused looking at a pool of water forming in the corner of a hallway that smelt rancid “sad” she finished looking at it in disgust.

“Honestly if you think this is bad you haven’t seen Earth’s ruins” steven replied jovially. Trying to distract himself from the fact that he was currently in another gems body far away from earth in a base and that if he got caught he probably just killed two gems.

They reached a wide hangar which was fully of various ships and weapons. Most looked disused and dirty apart from a pristine pink drill near the end of the hangar.

“Oh look! That’s operational! We should take-“ we are not flying on a giant drill. We’re bound to get caught by Homeworld or freak out all of earth and the gems. Hey guys here a giant world ending drill and a gem you’ve never seen before! Please don’t shoot!” Steven shot back freaking out as he could hear footsteps in the distance.

He saw a small pod near the drill, looking just about useable.

“Look there!” He signalled to Spinel and the two rang over as they could hear the footsteps getting louder.

“It’s missing an engine!” She said back

“It’s the most flyable option here!” He said worriedly

“I’ll see if I can find an engine or something” Spinel replied before barrelling off to the other ships and cluttering around.

Steven was about to enter the ship before he was grabbed by a big burly gem.

“Huh? Amethyst!” He shrieked before realising it wasn’t the one he knew.

“A pearl? That’s what’s been giving us trouble? Gosh how annoying” the gem spoke as another one came up behind. The sight of the gem made him gasp, he’d know that gem type anywhere.

A Rose Quartz.

“That’s not just any pearl you dimwit! That’s one of Pink Diamonds!” The Rose Quartz said hitting amethyst on the back of the head.

“You’re a…rose Quartz?” Steven said uncertainly as the gems eye twitched.

“Don’t crack your gem over it…I’m an era 3 Rose Quartz.  No rebel dna in sight” she said defensively before looking at his -Pearl’s gemstone.

“That’s a nasty looking crack there Pearlie? Did you upset your diamond? I mean you were THAT renegade after all. Maybe Pink Diamond realised how defective you really are” she sneered,

“Hey! She did not! She just-“ ROSE QUARTZ! It’s an order from the diamonds! Apparently a pearl escaped her containment from Pink Diamonds old garden and we need to find her!” A peridot came running up looking frantic.

“Don’t worry about that Four eyes, I got her already” The Rose Replied snarkily.

“Oh I see, in that case we need to send her and the other gem she arrived with to Pink Diamond. Immediately” Peridot replied looking at her screen.

“Wait…other gem?” The amethyst said before being hit by a giant engine poofing her.

The three remaining gems looked over at Spinel who began throwing ship parts.

“Leave my friend alone!” Spinel yelled throwing a heavy ship at the group. The Rose Quartz jumped out of the way and the Peridot shot the ship into pieces.

“Stars! Yellow diamond is going to be furious!” The peridot said worriedly.

“Focus on staying alive” the Quartz rebutted holding steven upside down by the leg.

Steven knew that Spinel couldn’t really fight back properly without risking hurting him and quickly began trying to find ways of escaping. Suddenly his or rather Pearl’s gem began to burn with deeply buried instinct. He followed it and reached for his forehead as a spear formed out of his head.

He grabbed it and whacked the Quartz in the face before gracefully back flipping towards Spinel.

“Nice one Steven!” She said and high fived him.

“So that’s what summoning a weapon feels like” he said surprised. He wondered what his own weapon could be.

“Ste-ven?” The Quartz had began to get up and looked at him curiously.

“Hey four eyes. Can the diamonds possess gems?” She asked the scared peridot.

“Um I believe two of them can, The r-radiant white diamond and the g-glorious Pink Diamond.” She stammered out.

“Interesting” the Quartz said before turning to Steven and Spinel.

“Steven Diamond! I am honoured you would pay such a lowly station a visit. Perhaps we should forget about fighting each other and go to Homeworld. Pink diamond will be delighted to speak to you. I know we must of frightened you but you must excuse us for not seeing your radiance sooner” She said kneeling down and saluting.

She received no response and heard shuffling as she lifted her head and noticed that the Spinel had installed a new engine to the ship and they quickly tried to climb aboard.

“My diamond please!” She had to be accepted by at least one diamond right? She couldn’t fail this mission. Pink diamond would shatter her.

She grabbed the pearl only for Steven to swing the spear at her causing her to fall back. She initiated a spin barrel to try and catch them before the ship took off.

“Oh crap she’s coming!” Steven exclaimed in fear as he held the spear out defensively.

He pointed it in the Quartz’s direction as he noticed the tip of the spear glow as it suddenly emitted a powerful blast knocking off the Quartz’s spin and sending her spinning into the wall.

Spinel had thankfully been able to get the ship started before they flew away.

Steven sunk to the floor in relief, thankfully they managed to get away.

“To EARTH!” Spinel shouted shapeshifting into a replica of an Emerald’s uniform.

Before Steven could reply he felt himself loosing sensation in Pearl’s limbs as he faintly began to hear his dads voice.

“Spinel!” He called out and she spun around.

“I’m being pulled back to my body! But remember I’ll always be your best friend!” He called out as his vision faded to black before he opened his eyes again to see his bedroom and his dad hovering over him smiling.

“Morning Steven, did you sleep well?”

Chapter Text

Steven walked slowly behind Greg, his head hung low. Despite not being physically tired, he felt immensely drained from his adventures in a very distant space. He couldn’t help but worry about Spinel and Pearl’s safety, if Homeworld would catch them, if the ship would last, if the gems would protect them.

Compared to that, worrying about starting a new school seemed mundane. He had previously been excited to possibly start school, to meet new friends and live more like a human but now those thoughts felt selfish, and childish.

His dad seemed happy that after years of fighting the gems on allowing Steven to interact with humans more they had finally relented. His powers were no longer lashing out uncontrollably as often and he was soon to be trained on how to use them properly.

Steven however was scared, he only knew the people in the town of Beach City that lived or worked near the boardwalk. So most humans he knew were far older than him, it hurt realising how small his social group really was. He looked curiously through the classroom doors as classes were happening and was fascinated by people his age. When Garnet had taught him, she made sure he was paying attention and her future vision would know when Steven was going to act up even before he did, as such seeing only a few students pay proper attention and most goofing off in some way, was alien to him.

“Steven will need to take a short assessment first just so we know which class to place him. We know the transition between Homeschooling and public school can be quite difficult so we just want to make sure he won’t struggle. We have a normal and advanced class for each subject within each year so correct placement is very important” the assistant headteacher Miss Brigs explained.

“No problemo! Steven’s used to acing hard tests, his aunt who helped me homeschool him went a bit nuts with schooling” Greg said smiling, Miss Brigs grimaced at Greg’s casual attitude, clearly judging him.

Steven’s eyes narrowed, he already had a bad feeling about her. The school was technically publicly funded but only accepted students from the nice affluent areas of the town which Greg’s house just about sat on the edge of and it received plenty of private donations from the parents. He and his dad were probably not who they wanted to admit, even though they had no power to object.

It was ironic really, considering he was technically space royalty and all.

Steven was sat down in an empty classroom and left to fill out the test whilst Miss Brigs and Greg went to fill out paperwork, an even older teacher supervised him, looking at him sharply any time he dared look up.

Thankfully the test was relatively easy compared to what Garnet set and he felt fairly confident about how he did. The teacher quickly snatched his paper away the moment the test ended and he was quickly ushered out the room.

“So Ste-man! They said you can start tomorrow! Aren’t you excited?” Greg asked as they left watching the parents pull up to collect their children. There were already some glances at Greg’s colourfully decorated van which made Steven’s heart sink more.

“Dad couldn’t I just enroll in Beach City Centre School?” He asked

“What? Have you seen this school Steven? It’s got way better facilities, we’re so lucky to be able to send you here. Honestly even Rose had wanted you to go here” Greg said and Steven looked down at the floor.

“But this school…” Steven looked over at Greg who was beaming at him and decided not to finish his sentence.

They got into the van whilst Steven fiddled with the ends of his hoodie, unable to take in anything Greg was saying. It was ironic with all the things he had to deal with and he was getting nervous about school of all things.

The drive back was mostly silent with Greg occasionally speaking to Steven about a random fact he’d read about on the Internet or something on the road that interested him. Steven raced out of the van as soon as it stopped, though he had only been there yesterday but as soon as he saw the temple he felt a strange sense of longing for it.

“Steven is everything alright?” Greg asked

“Yeah dad everything is fine-BYYYYYYEEEE---” Steven said running into the house.

Greg wanted to follow his son but he was running late as it was for work. So he sighed and started the van, vowing to bring the discussion back up with Steven again the next time he saw him.

The house was empty, presumably another corrupted gem attack which both Garnet and Amethyst had to handle since Mocha was out of action.

The gem sat on a soft cushion on the kitchen island as Steven pulled up a barstool to watch the gemstone. He had never seen Mocha’s gem before or Garnet’s really, as Amethyst was the only one to consistently poof herself. It was weird, that such a loving and kind person could be reduced to such a small, cold rock. Mocha felt so light in his hands as he stared at her gem, seeing himself reflected in the surface.

Tired, pink eyes staring back at himself, diamond eyes , he reminded himself. He felt guilty that Mocha was poofed, after all it was his powers being out of control that had caused her to poof, the fearful expression she made still lingering in Steven’s mind. He needed to control his diamond powers, the last thing he wanted was to hurt those he cared about even accidentally. He had seen pictures of the devastation a diamond could leave behind in the town. (The gems had tried to hide it from him, but hundreds of pictures existed on Gemddit)

“What happened to you Mocha?...you’re the only gem who knows about recent Homeworld and yet I still feel completely clueless as to what it’s like, or what exactly the diamonds do that is bad…I know they hurt people and do bad things but…I feel so frustrated. I’m so scared of becoming just like them….like mom. I just…I just want to save people! I want to save you, Pearl, Spinel and every other gem, the diamonds have hurt!” Steven vented frustrated. He knew Mocha couldn’t hear him but it felt therapeutic to get some of his anger out.

“I hope you come back soon” He said softly.

He sat there for a moment, holding Mocha’s gemstone firmly in his hands willing her to reform, to reassure him everything was fine. But nothing changed, the gemstone remaining cold to the touch reflecting Steven’s own sorrowful eyes back at him. Steven sighed, placing Mocha’s gemstone back on the pillow and walked towards the gem door.

As much as he loved the beach house, it was too open plan and often felt quite exposed. Garnet had a habit of glancing at him in his sleep and Amethyst could not be quiet to save her life. Sometimes he wished he had an actual room, separated from the entrance to the temple, even then the sound of the warp activating would probably still be loud.

Every other gem had their room in the temple, even Mocha who arrived later. Though Pink’s room had long since been destroyed and Pearls room became an extension to amethyst’s pit. He however, had not been given one, due to his inability to control his powers. He still had no idea what his gem weapon would be nor did he know how to summon it.

Steven sat infront of the door, his back leaning against it as he sighed.

“Its not very fun, being alone. You get these loud thoughts that are impossible to ignore. I wonder if you can think Mr magic door? If you can I can’t imagine that being very fun. It would be very lonely”

“I just wish there was someone around to talk to” Steven whispered.

Suddenly, he fell flat on his back as his eyes were blinded by a pink glow. Wincing, he turned around and looked at the now open door. Inside was a beautiful pink beach, with shimmering pink sand, pink waves and a pink sky.

“is this….my room?” Steven couldn’t believe what he was seeing, nervously entering the room he looked around as the door shut. A seemingly endless pink beach was actually a magical loop that if he went too far he would simply be brought back. In the centre of the beach was a giant rockpool with pink stones, looking in he could see a layer of water with pink creatures swimming, but underneath could see something darker. Poking his head in the water he realised it was another room. Steven attempted to reach the room but the water around it was boiling hot and he had to swim back out to the surface.

“I wonder why you brought me here, Mr Door, I don’t see any people” Steven lamented speaking to no one, when suddenly a bubble emerged from the rockpool, with enough force to drench Steven in water causing him to jump.

Inside the brown bubble was a very familiar gemstone, similar to the one he had been holding moments ago.

“it’s you…my…I mean…that pearl mom sent” Steven said softly, inspecting the bubble

“Garnet said we would free you when things have calmed down, but I don’t think she’d like it if I freed you myself” he said , turning the bubble over and inspecting it.

It was weird, to know he was holding a person in his hands, a person capable of their own actions, a person who had been created specifically to serve a purpose. To serve him.

The thought made Steven uneasy.

It was also weird to see that when bubbled like this, there was little difference between Mocha and this pearl. Despite his eagerness to run away from Greg, Steven was incredibly lonely, everything seemed to be happening too fast recently. His birthday, the pearl arriving, seeing his mother, Spinel and now having to go to school with others his age.

He wanted just one normal day to be himself, and have fun with the gems, to be able to smile at his dad without feeling like a burden. He loves his dad and knows that Greg loves hi, but he also sees how Greg flinches when Steven’s voice rises slightly, he’s seen his face after he destroyed a wall of the big donut in shock when they stopped selling cookie cat. He knows his dad is afraid, even the gems are too.

He was tired of gem stuff happening to him, as happy as he was to finally receive a room in the temple. He decided to leave the room to go for a walk on the beach, doing human things.

He made his way over to where the door appeared, gem bubble in hand. He paused, looking back at the rockpool wondering if he should return the bubble to the burning room, but decided against it.

It was fine, he wasn’t breaking any rules if he didn’t break the bubble.

"Ok, no more Gem stuff today, today I am just Steven, the human"

It was then he noticed a green orb on the warp pad and screamed.

"of course it could never be that simple...Donuts" He said tiredly

The orb began to activate the warp, seemingly startled by his presence. Steven in a moment of blind panic, charged after it, flying haphazardly into the warp stream and clutching the orb in his hands.

“Got you!” Steven exclaimed clasping against the orb tightly, if Garnet were here he was sure she would tell him it was an unwise decision but he had a bad feeling about the orb.

The orb proceeded to wiggle violently in his hands making steven struggle to hold both it and the bubble containing the pearl.

“no, no no!” he exclaimed trying to juggle the two and ultimately failing as the bubble containing the Pearl flew out into the warp stream. Steven without thinking jumped after it, managing to grab the bubble but now realising he was out of the stream. The biting cold of the void quickly making itself known.

“dang it….i forgot about Garnet’s warning” Steven rasped, his breath showing in the cold. Garnet had often given him many warnings around things that weren’t safe or might be dangerous. But she had always been strict on him staying still when warping.

Never leave the warp stream, you will die.

“Shoot…this isn’t exactly a good situation huh mystery pearl?” Steven joked trying to distract himself from the cold.

The ice was creeping up his skin and freezing over the bubble containing the pearl. In the distance, Steven could see some active warp streams, desperately willing his freezing limbs to move as he tried to ‘swim’ through the space.

“please please please…I just need to reach that warp” He begged to no one but himself, urging himself to get as far as he could but his limbs began to completely freeze over as he started to get sleepy, tears falling down his cheeks as he realised that he wouldn’t make it, that he could be stuck here forever, cold and alone.

All of a sudden, he began to feel warmth again from his stomach, a faint pink glow showing under his shirt.

“Please….I have to make it!” He whimpered as the gem glow slowly spread, encasing his whole body in a soft pink hue. The ice on his body slowly began to melt as he slowly floated over to the warp stream. Steven gained enough energy to throw himself into the stream, as movement slowly came back to him.

He then noticed that in the warp stream was several of the little orbs he was following earlier.

“Oh come on! There’s MORE of you???!!” Steven exclaimed fed up.

“Oh wait…I caught up with you!” He realised, cheering up slightly.

“Now let’s see what you weird little orbs are up to!” He declared whilst grabbing one. The other orbs floated away from him just as he could feel the end of the warp approaching.

The warp light cleared and Steven looked around shocked, surrounding the warp he had gotten off were more warps, all broken with a giant warp in the centre.

“wha-what is this place?” He asked confused as the orbs ran away from him, including the one in his arms, climbing the steps of the giant warp before they began to release a goo over it.

“and what are you weird things doing???” Steven was freaking out.

“are we even on Earth anymore?! I mean it looks like it but like we are in the middle of the ocean and oh my god Garnet is going to be so mad!” Steven said in a rush, panicking.

In his panic he hadn’t noticed the bubble containing the pearl had dropped on the floor and was slowly defrosting. The original bubble had popped when it began freezing over, leaving only the ice bubble surrounding it.

The gem inside slowly defrosting as the green orbs backed away from the warp, seemingly content with the work they had done. The previously heavily broken warp looked brand new, as the orbs spread out beginning to fix every single warp.

“that can’t be good!” Steven whispered as he ran over to stop the orbs, successfully throwing some in the sea as the main warp began to activate.

“and that REALLY can’t be good!” Steven said loudly, truly panicked now.

The light emitted from the warp was blinding and Steven was forced to look away until it faded.

On top of the warp now was a gem, and from the floating limbs and green colour, he knew that it was probably a Homeworld gem.

“Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG, Report, 2EXG, I have safely arrived on the hostile rebel planet, Earth. The Robonoids have successfully repaired the galaxy warp” Steven looked over in shock, unable to move, the gem was currently facing away from him and hadn’t spotted him.

He at least had confirmation he was still on Earth, though the fact Homeworld was back on Earth so soon was worrying.

“Proceeding with the plans set by my glorious Yellow Diamond and the Luminous White Diamond, I see no issues with the galaxy warp being a potential landing point for an elite armed unit. I have yet to gain any data on the Cluster’s progress, or on the current wellbeing on Coral Diamond, I suspect such data will be difficult to gather with the rebels probably having placed the diamond under strict lock and kEYEYYYYY!” The Peridot squealed as she turned around, staring Steven in the face.

“A human?? Here?” She said almost sounding annoyed “Ugh, I have no time for this! Yellow Diamond said my survey had to be submitted urgently!” She fired up a blaster and Steven still couldn’t move.

What do I do? If I tell her who I am she’ll drag me back to Homeworld, I’ll never see Dad or the Gems ever again! But if I don’t I’m gonna die! I have to move, I need to move!

Steven began to awkwardly stumble backward, the Peridot unbothered, only readjusted her aim.

The blast fired and Steven panicked holding his arms out, in a futile attempt at negating some of the impact of the blow.

“NO!” A voice screamed from nowhere as the blast was about to connect. Steven closed his eyes

The blast didn’t connect.

Steven opened his eyes.

The Peridot stood there baffled, and in front of his arms was a shiny star shaped pink shield.

“HUH?!!” He exclaimed, he had finally managed to summon his weapon, not a moment too soon. 

“Wh-what? That’s not possible…..humans don’t have weapons….unless…” The Peridot mumbled to herself.

“What are you doing!” A voice screeched as both Steven and the Peridot turned to where it came from.

It was the Pearl, Steven looked frantically around him and realised he had dropped the bubble.

“A pearl?! Who are you to shout at me!” the Peridot angrily retorted.

“Do you have any idea who you just tried to blast?!” the Pearl responded not quite shouting but aggression clearly in her voice. Steven blinked in surprise, considering how meek and quiet she had been when she had formed before.

“Uh-I…” The Peridot stammered

“That’s Steven Diamond Universe, Coral Diamond, the fifth diamond of the glorious Diamond Authority and the very person you were sent here to observe!”

“Forgive me my diamond! I failed to recognise your illustriousness! I truly deserve shattering for such an insolent act!” The Peridot cried out, frantically saluting.

“Uh…it’s ok” Steven said awkwardly.

“But my diamond! Please forgive my insolence as a lowly pearl daring to give you advice, she tried to harm you! That cannot go unpunished!” The Pearl chimed in.

“it’s fine, I could have said who I was but I didn’t, we are both at fault I guess” Steven said, uncomfortable with the sudden attention on him.

“I thank you for your generosity my diamond! I am truly grateful” The Peridot gushed and Steven felt even more uncomfortable.

“You should be, My diamond has shown unimaginable grace and kindness towards you.” The Pearl said coldly.

“My diamond, forgive this insolent Peridot for daring to ask this of you but would you consider returning to Homeworld with me, I know I hardly constitute the proper company you should have to make your grand arrival to Homeworld, but with the rebels currently absent, this may be a good time to slip away unannounced. Forgive me if my words are too insolent for you to accept, I understand if that is the case.”

“Uh, I would rather not” Steven said softly

“I completely understand, a Pearl and Peridot are nowhere near the level of grandeur a being such as you deserves!”

“Precisely, go now to your superiors and request an appropriate entourage for my Diamond” Pearl said firmly seemingly not forgiving the Peridot for her earlier outburst.

“Of course!” the Peridot replied unusually compliant.

“You aren’t going ANYWHERE!” Garnet roared as she smashed two warps with her gauntlets, Mocha and Amethyst standing behind her, their weapons out.

“The Rebels!” the Peridot exclaimed, the pearl moved protectively Infront of Steven.

“Uh- mystery pearl? It’s ok, they won’t hurt me” Steven said trying to push the Pearl’s hand down.

“Maybe not physically” She muttered looking warily, it seemed the last encounter had made her wary of them.

Garnet jumped over to the Peridot, knocking one of her limb enhancers off, the much shorter, now exposed limb caused them all to blink in surprise.

“Gah you clod! Quickly! We must leave” the Peridot shouted to both Steven and the Pearl. The Pearl prepared to follow the Peridot to the large remaining warp pad but was quickly stopped by amethyst’s whip, after her and Mocha had finished destroying the other old warp pads. The Pearl squealed as she fell over, letting go of Steven’s arm so that he wouldn’t be pulled down with her.

Garnet quickly picked him up, out of the Pearl’s reach whilst Amethyst dragged the Pearl over to her.

Mocha chose to run after the Peridot, who had just reached the warp pad. The Peridot, looked conflicted, wondering if she should run or stay and assist the diamond. Upon seeing Mocha, chasing with her scythe, nearly within poofing range, the Peridot chose the former.

“Forgive me my diamond! I will ensure that a sufficient armed force will retrieve you!” Peridot shouted as she started to activate the warp. Mocha knowing that she was too far, threw her scythe desperately trying to catch the Peridot. The warp cleared and instead the scythe embedded itself in the giant warp pad, destroying it once more.

“NOO!” The Pearl screamed, wriggling around on the floor whilst Amethyst kept her foot on top of the gem wrapped in her whip.

“Forgive me Garnet, I missed” Mocha said quietly.

“it’s fine, you tried your best” Garnet said tiredly before turning to Steven.

“Mocha! You’re back!” Steven shouted happily, Mocha smiled gently at him and opened her arms as he came barrelling in for a hug.

“Hello Steven, sorry I was gone for so long”

“it was only a couple of days! I was fine!” Steven lied hugging her closely. Mocha ruffled a hand through his hair, knowing he was lying but deciding not to comment on it. Their moment was interrupted though when Garnet cleared her throat, looking at Steven sternly.

“How is she out?” She said flatly

“uhm….it’s a long story” Steven said awkwardly

“We’ve got time”

Chapter Text

“We’re so doomed”

“Thank you Amethyst that is incredible helpful” Mocha replied sarcastically.

“She’s not wrong” Steven said softly.

“Not now Steven” Garnet said quietly.

“It’s what you deserve! You kidnapped a diamond!” Coral pearl cut in as the others turned to her and sighed.

“I wasn’t kidnapped, my mom literally didn’t even try to get me back for fourteen years Coral” Steven replied flatly.

‘that’s not true my diamond! These rebels are just brainwashing you!” She replied stuttering.

“And how are we doing that?” Garnet asked raising an eyebrow.

“by…by…argh! I don’t need to explain things to you!”

Amethyst snorted at Coral who shuffled herself further in the corner.

“What do we do with our latest guest?” Mocha asked garnet

“I would say keep her in a bubble but Steven is right, that isn’t fair to her. She’s a newly emerged gem and deserves a change to discover life for herself” Garnet replied looking down at the gem stoically.

“What if she tries to attack us or kidnaps Steven?” Amethyst exclaimed in frustration.

“If she tries anything we’ll poof her and separate her from her precious diamond. So, I’m sure she won’t…right Coral?” Garnet said as she got closer to the gem.

“I don’t take orders from you, Fusion” Coral said freaking out, Garnet looked over at Steven who sighed.

“Hey Coral, please don’t attack the gems or try and kidnap me” Steven asked looking uncomfortable.

“But my diamond! They might hurt you!” Coral said in horror.

“They won’t just…trust me? Please?” He asked softly.

“As you wish My Diamond” Coral replied sounding subdued.

“We need to plan our defences, Homeworld is coming. We have no idea who they’ll send but we have to be ready.” Mocha said suddenly as she balled up her hand into a fist, her face looking grim and afraid.

“We’ll take the canons from rose’s armoury, one of them was able to destroy the red eye before we can only hope it will be able to destroy other Homeworld ships” Garnet instructed as Mocha nodded, heading towards the warp pipe.

“Steven, I think it’s best if you stay with Greg for a little while, at least whilst we sort our defences” Mocha said as Steven pouted.

“But my training!” he protested. “Will be started soon I promise but this is more urgent” Mocha explained gently kissing him on the forehead.

“Fine…but what about Coral? I can’t exactly take her with me to school?”

“My diamond I must accompany you at all times! A diamond must always have at least a pearl around at all times to ensure that they do not have to do actions that are beneath them!”

Steven looked confused so Mocha quietly spoke up “She means things like holding items or closing doors”

“wow Homeworld really doesn’t respect pearls do they?” He said dryly.

“Nope, not at all” Mocha confirmed.

--

Rose Sapphire quickly walked through the halls of her diamond’s palace, she knew that if she was late she would quickly meet the fate of her predecessors. The Quartz guards eyed her as she went past, some looking at her amused, others more sympathetic.

All of them knew about the fate a sapphire in the Pink court usually met. And also knew it was an inevitability rather than an impossibility. Rose Sapphire only hoped that she would fare better than others in her position, a treacherous part of her wondering if that is also what those before her thought.

She reached the chamber leading to the audience room as she bowed down to the pearl at the door, ordinarily a sapphire would not be expected to bow down to a pearl but Peach Pearl was the beloved Pearl of a diamond, disrespecting her would result in immediate shattering.

“Pink diamond will see you now” The pearl remarked sounding gentle and kind whilst also seeming disapproving of Sapphire.

“of course…thank you”

The doors opened as Rose Sapphire gently walked into the room, the room lighting up around her to reveal her diamond graciously leaning into her chair, a grand window mural behind her.

The mural was of the great diamond authority, all five of them.

Sapphire saluted and bowed at her diamond, her eye carefully taking in the image of her creator, this was the first time they had met after all. Despite Rose Sapphire’s title as court seer.

“My diamond, you asked to see me” She said cautiously, measuring out every word to sound polite and humble to her diamond, any arrogance would have her shattered quickly.

“Ah yes…..Sapphire, I would ask your number and facet but honestly it doesn’t matter I’m sure you too will disappoint me.” Pink sneered as she leant back recalling a conversation with White Diamond.

(“Starlight, how unusual for you to seek me out” White said happily, her smile eerie as Pink gulped

“White…I know yellow said you were planning to retrieve Steven but…I would like to try and retrieve him myself, if…if you would allow” Pink asked nervously as she saluted at white, she had no idea if White would respect her wishes or throw her in the tower for daring to doubt her.

“Do you not trust me Starlight?” Pink shivered as she felt White’s annoyance.

“I-I do! It’s just been so long…can you really blame a mother for wishing to reunite with her son sooner. I want to at least try and bring him back myself….i feel so helpless doing nothing”

“Are the letters and orb not soothing that?” White sneered, it was clear she did not understand Pinks affection for Steven and Greg, she never did apricate organic life.

“No white…please i-.” Pink said before White cut her off “Alright Starlight, I will allow you to make an attempt, you will not be allowed to leave the planet of course but I welcome your attempts to retrieve him with your…wonderful gems.”

Pink looked up at the diamond in shock bowing deeper as she expressed her gratitude)

“Sapphire tell me what will happen on the mission to retrieve my son” Pink instructed as she glared at the sapphire. Her throne strategically placed above gems at an angle making Pink appear larger than she was. The sapphire gulped nervously knowing the future was something unlikely to satisfy her diamond.

“The Jasper and Peridot sent to earth will be successful in capturing the rebels and the fifth diamond however in the atmosphere of Earth’s planet the rebels will retake the ship, destroying it and standing the jasper. That is the future I see” the sapphire gulped as Pink gripped her throne, once again cracking the armrest

“What did you say” Pink barked as Peach began to shake her head, looking at the Sapphire with sympathy, the sapphire’s heart sank as she knew her fate.

“I said-….the plan will…fail” She replied as her voice shook.

“You DARE QUESTION THE PLAN OF YOUR DIAMOND?!” Pink roared.

“My diamond please! This is the future I see! I mean no offence! Please believe me” the Sapphire begged.

“ENOUGH” Pink shouted as a shockwave shot out and poofed the sapphire causing a large crack in the floor.

Pink pushed herself off her throne, flying up in the air before falling fast towards the gemstone on the floor, crushing the gemstone with her foot as she landed.

“I will request a new sapphire to be obtained my diamond” Peach said quietly as Pink seethed, repeatedly twisting her foot on the gem splintering it more.

“Another Sapphire Pink?” Yellow said sighing as she walked into the room, Pink looked up at Yellow and scowled.

“Yellow”

“We are suffering through a resource crisis Pink, we cannot afford to keep replacing good quality gems because you have a complex towards one defective gem!” Yellow scolded.

“She took my son away! None of them can be trusted!” Pink argued back.

“Senseless paranoia pink, and here I thought you fought for the lives of defects” Yellow teased looking down at Pink.

“That was before….I was naive, I thought they were like humans, unique and capable of change. Until they took my son away…White made me realise that they were exactly what you told me they were, defective, broken, dangerous. The only people I can trust are you, Peach and my organics. They will never betray me, they’re not as sophisticated as us after all” Yellow grimaced at the mention of White.

“are you….ok Pink? You haven’t been the same since she….’helped’ you” Yellow asked looking worried, Peach looking at both diamonds warily.

“I am fine, it’s been years since then Yellow. I am simply acting in my right as a diamond” Pink asserted.

“2 cycles is not long for beings like us Pink…you can talk to me if you want I-“will do what? Talk to White? Don’t make me laugh, you and Blue are terrified of White, you wouldn’t do anything to help me even if there was something wrong! Which there isn’t!” Pink replied getting frustrated as she cut off Yellow.

“Pink” Yellow stressed concerned as Pink snapped again.

“WHAT?!”

“You don’t have to hide it please sister….White has always been…a bit much but after your…’death’ she became a lot more…controlling whilst being more distant. You spent 12 cycles with her, almost entirely alone with her. It’s ok if you’re not-“ I AM FINE! NOW LEAVE” Pink cried out as her power surged again, knocking Yellow slightly off balance.

“Pink-.” Yellow said again but was cut off as Pink gathered an energy blast in her hands.

“You’ve overstayed your welcome Yellow, Now leave.” She ordered as she pointed her hand towards the elder diamond.

Yellow looked at her conflicted as Pink grew more irritated.

‘Remember Starlight, Gems, Organics, Defects, they all fear the same thing, Power. Use it. Make them fear you, it’s the only way you’ll be able to protect him.’ The memory of White echoed in her ear as she stood her ground, Yellow sighed before leaving.

Pink turned back to the shattered gem and looked at Peach who gasped in surprise as Pink’s diamond shaped pupils were a glowing white instead of their usual black.

Pink paid her no mind as she kicked the shards towards the pearl.

“Pack these up nicely, I’m sure Steven would love some more of his ‘Pink sand’, write a note telling him to add them to a pair of binoculars, I’m sure he’ll apricate the surprise” She ordered looking emotionless, Peach found it eerie considering how angry the diamond was previously.

“Yes my diamond” Peach didn’t dare argue, that was after all, not the role of a pearl.

“Will you be taking your next meeting in here?” She asked cautiously

“No, I will be in my palace garden, send them there” Pink instructed waving the Pearl away as she teleported on a nearby warp, as Peach picked up the shards of Rose Sapphire, making sure to grind them down further to a gentle rose coloured sand.

-

For the longest time, the name Rose Quartz was a taboo word in Homeworld, the thousands of innocent Rose Quartz gems were bubbled, some shattered in acts of gem led ‘justice’ though those gems were also shattered. Era one Rose Quartz’s were doomed to collect dust in the Human zoo as ambient decorations for Blue Diamond’s mourning.

Until Pink diamond returned.

Officially, the rebel had failed to kill the diamond, who had bided  her time to escape, killing Rose Quartz once and for all, and bravely coming to the defence of other Rose Quartz’s personally pardoning them.

Rose Quartzes knew the truth, they had heard the whispers, coming from a overly chatty Pearl in service to Yellow Diamond. The Rebel had been a fake, nothing but a persona for their diamond to act freely without consequences.

Their names tarnished, despite their innocence.

Even after Pink diamonds pardon other gems had been fearful about letting them among the general gem population and so like the defective Beta Quartz gems they were banished to the Human Zoo they had been freed from, the laughingstock of the empire.

Worse, when the new Rose Quartz’s were made, with Pink Diamond promising all of the ‘horrible defects that plagued era one were gone’, the old Rose Quartzes were shunned even more. They were previously allowed the odd excursion to send a message to mainland Homeland but even that right was stripped from them as they were forced to adopt the same hairstyle and uniform to identify them as Era one.

Rose Quartz Era 3 Facet 1 Cut 1AA, thought it all incredibly unfair. She was the first new Rose Quartz to emerge, the first Perfect Rose Quartz, however unliked many of her Era 3 sisters, was sympathetic to Era ones. After all, she had been the first to emerge and was sent to train with them as there were no other Rose Quartz at the time.

After every mission she went on as one of Pink’s prized Quartzes, she made sure to return to the human zoo bringing small gifts for her era 1 sisters. They were no longer able to see the galaxy for themselves, so 1AA made sure to bring them small parts of it.

It was why she was stood there in the zoo helping the other Quartzes move some deliveries into the feeding lines for the humans when Holly Blue Agate approached her.

“Rose Quartz Facet 1, Cut 1AA Pink Diamond Requests your immediate presence on Homeworld, I will escort you to the main warp” She said as two quartzes turned around.

Era 1 cut 1AA and Era 3 cut 1AA looked at each other amused. Era one answers “Sure thing Holly B” as the Agate’s eye twitched.

“Not you! You miserable defect! I obviously meant the era 3 1AA, no gem in their right mind wants your disgusting era gemstones blighting the sight of Homeworld!” Holly Blue roared as both Quartzes rolled their eyes.

Era 3 1AA got up to leave the room with Holly waving goodbye to the other Quartzes.

“Honestly I have no idea why you would talk to those rejects, you are a perfect Quartz after all. What if their….defectiveness would taint you! Pink diamond would be furious!” Holly stressed as Rose rolled her eyes.

“It’s fine Holly Blue, after all, I am the Perfect Quartz, It will take more than that to corrupt me” She said gently.

“If you say so, I would be quick today. It appears something soured the luminous diamond’s mood today”

“Another sapphire probably met their end” The Quartz replied dryly as Holly Blue gasped.

“You cannot speak of your diamond that way! What if someone overhears??” Holly Blue said anxiously looking around the empty corridor. Rose Quartz scoffed knowing that this hallway was only accessible to Holly Blue since it was a direct warp to Homeworld.

“It’s true Holly, I didn’t say anything slanderous about the luminous Pink Diamond, It’s well known that pink sapphires don’t tend to last long at this point” The Quartz remarked as Holly flapped.

“Well don’t blame me if it comes back to haunt you. Now off you go! Hopefully I do not have to see you intermingling with lesser Quartzes for a while. It makes them unnecessarily excitable” The agate complained as Rose stepped on the warp pad.

“Understood Holly Blue, if Pink is summoning me herself it probably means a serious mission so I presumably will be away for a while. Bye” She said flatly as the warp activated.

The Quartz quickly arrived at Pink Diamond’s main palace warp, each diamond had their own galaxy warp though Pink’s for the most part was deactivated considering the diamond had no need to go that far unless accompanied by other diamonds. The warp at the zoo could either go to the main palace galaxy warp or directly to Pink Diamond’s throne room warp pad. Rose Quartz 1AA, was obviously unauthorised to use that one and so had to manually walk to the audience room herself.

She exited the warp room, sighing as she hid her annoyance behind an emotionless face, she had only just returned from one of pink’s useless missions to go locate her second pearl (what diamond has three?) having found the trackers had lost sight of the escaped pearl due to the age of the ship they had travelled in. Rose Quartz had to shatter every gem responsible for losing the gem, including one of her sisters enlisted with guarding a half disused base in a far away quadrant of the empire.

Her sister had gone half mad, telling her that the fifth diamond had broken the pearl and mysterious accomplice out by possessing the pearl. Rose didn’t bother informing Pink Diamond about that, mentioning the fifth diamond would just be an easy way of gaining her ire.

“you’re late” a gruff voice said behind her as the door to the warp room closed. Rose turned towards the voice as Jasper stared at her irritated, leaning against the wall.

“I am not, Pink has yet to call us into her chambers so I am on time. Jasper” She said emphasising the gem type rather than her cut, to insult her.

Jaspers on the whole were a legacy gem type, meaning no longer in production. They had been designed as a less time and material consuming alternative to the Amethyst during the gem war but the shortcuts affected their production rates. Out of the total of Jaspers produced, over 97% were flawed in some way, either seriously defective such as being unable to draw a weapon and fight, to cosmetically flawed such as the Skinny Jasper in the zoo.

After the war had ended the Diamonds had seen no need to waste resources on a gem type with a high failure rate, the Jaspers were used during the war as cannon fodder, soldiers to try and shatter crystal gems and avoid causalities of the more effective Amethyst gems. With Era 2’s resources limited, they were discontinued with the remaining Jaspers allowed to remain as a sign of the Diamond’s mercy.

The Jasper before her however was an exception, created in the middle of the gem war in the hastily constructed and ill-suited Beta Kindergarten, her emergence was anomaly. She was one of the few Jaspers to emerge ‘perfect’, equal to a non defective Amethyst Quartz, taking out a rebel battalion immediately after emerging. Jasper thought herself as perfect, the Diamonds ever regarded her so. However whispers floated around the Quartz that she was just as flawed as her sisters, only her flaws were more hidden.

It wasn’t unusually to have a gem with mental defects instead of physical ones, The Fusion who has the ire of all four diamonds is an example, a Sapphire who otherwise looked fine failing to tell the correct future, a ruby who fused with a higher class gem, both to Homeworld, simply wrong.

Rose Quartz had unfortunately spent a lot of time with Jasper, she was a young gem herself, emerging shortly after Pink Diamond’s return from repurposed Rose Quartz seedlings almost fully developed but halted after The Rose Quartz appeared.

Technically the first true Era 3 Rose Quartz’s were about 400 years away from emerging, but the diamonds were convinced they had successfully reprogrammed the half formed Rose seedlings to be non defective.

Rose Quartz 1AA knew that Jasper was defective, she wasn’t proud like other Quartzes, she was weak willed, full of self doubt and overly aggressive to hide it. But Rose could see through her façade.

The two perfect gems of Pink Diamonds Court were not perfect after all.

Jasper was also hopelessly devoted to Pink Diamond, going into a mad rage upon the news of her shattering and eagerly changing courts upon her return. Her devotion made Rose Quartz ill.

“You need to show more respect to our diamond. But where were you instead? Messing around with those useless traitorous defects” Jasper said angrily.

“It seems someone is projecting” Rose replied as she walked away from the Jasper smiling.

“I am PERFECT!” Jasper nearly screamed in outrage.

“If you were truly perfect I don’t think you’d find the need to scream it out loud so frequently Jasper”

“Pink Diamond said so herself!” Jasper argued as Rose scoffed.

“Well it must be true then” Rose said lightly as Jasper looked ready to pounce at her.

“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN YOU USEL-“ahem” Jasper was cut off by Pink Diamond’s newest Pearl clearing her throat.

“Pink Diamond will see you know” Peach said as she led the way.

“Hey Pearl, we’re going the wrong way” Jasper said rudely as Rose rolled her eyes, only Jasper would dare to personally disrespect her beloved diamond’s favourite pearl.

“My Diamond wished for a change of scenery, you should be grateful you will be allowed in such a pure sanctum” The pearl replied stiffly, Peach also despised Jasper and always spoke incredibly formally to her, she sent Rose a sympathetic look who smiled back at the pearl.

‘I assume we’re meeting her in her palace garden then. She rarely takes guests in there, rumour has it she’s attempting to replicate a part of Earth for her son’ Rose thought to herself.

The doors of the palace opened as Rose blinked in shock, the air had a sweet gentle smell as flowers neatly cascaded over every archway.

It was beautiful and the opposite of anything else on Homeworld.

“I wonder…if this is what Earth is like” Rose said out loud as Jasper and Peach turn to look at her, she clasped a hand over her mouth realising she had spoken out loud instead of in her head.

“Its nothing like this” Jasper replied gruffly “It’s ugly and barren with stupidly high tall rocks, and grainy yellow land called sand”

“oh” Rose replied as Peach chimed in.

“Parts of Earth are like that but it is actually quite varied for being so small. Other parts are indeed similar to this, full of lush greenery” Peach corrected before straightening her posture.

“My Diamond is waiting for you in the centre, please stick to the paths and try not destroy anything. My diamond is very fond of these plants, some of them are the last of their kind” She instructed as both Quartzes nodded.

They made their way to the centre of the Garden and bowed down as they saluted at their diamond who was lying down on a chaise lounge covered in various shades of pink roses.

“My Quartzes” Pink said softly, thankfully her mood had seemingly subsided.

“My diamond” they greeted faithfully.

“I have a mission for you, it is of high importance” Pink said as she stood from the chair.

“Of course my diamond. Anything you need!” Jasper said a little too eagerly, Pink only smiled patting Jasper on the head.

“thank you my faithful Quartz, both of you may stand” She said smiling as she waved her hand. They stood but remained saluting.

“I am sending you to Earth” Rose’s eyes widened as she dared look up at her diamond in surprise.

“e-earth my diamond?” Jasper stuttered surprised, it seemed both of them had been caught off guard. They expected to be cleaning up one of Pink’s messes in her colonies where a new gem type had turned out faulty and caused havoc again.

“Yes, I want you to retrieve Steven” Pink said softly.

“Forgive my diamond, we are truly honoured, but surely we are underqualified? Perhaps an Aquamarine or Topaz would be more suited to the task?” Rose said politely, her mind racing as she was confused why Pink would ask them of all people to retrieve someone so important. Jasper glared at her for daring to question their diamond.

“Do not worry my quartz, I will send a Peridot with you, she has seen Steven herself and will be able to assist. And as for your qualifications, you two are my top quartzes, the only two gems I trust with such an important task. My own Aquamarines and Topazes will not emerge for another century after my previous ones were shattered, a shame but you two are more than qualified. Besides I do not wish to rely on the assistance of other diamonds for this.” Pink explained with a sense of finality, not allowing for any more questions.

“Of course My Diamond, we will depart immediately” Rose replied as she bowed again.

“Naturally, oh! And be careful the rebels will try and escape when you are in the Earth’s atmosphere, ensure they are properly secured.” Pink said clapping her hands together in delight, a trait all of the diamonds appeared to share.

“Are there any defences we should be aware of My Diamond?” Jasper asked.

“Hmmm, not really. We always assumed Homeworld would never come back. They may be able to figure out my laser light cannons but your shields should be able to block those” Pink said flippantly as she waved them off.

Rose internally laughed at the brief baffled look on Jasper’s face, she did after all, fully believe that Pink Diamond and The Rose Quartz were not the same person, so Pink Diamond’s language confused her. It was why Pink Diamond’s secret was so openly speculated over, as the diamond was terrible at hiding it.

The two Quartzes left the diamond’s garden and prepared to set sail for Earth, Peach turned to her diamond who was watching the gems leave.

“Speak Peach, I can tell something is on your mind” Pink said kindly as Peach gulped.

“My Diamond, May I ask why you changed your plan? You were initially only going to send Jasper, I had thought you were displeased with the Rose Quartz?” Pink looked slightly annoyed at the question.

“I just thought it would be better to be cautious. I’m sure the two of them will succeed” Pink said slightly forced.

“Is this because of the sap-“Enough Peach, Dismissed” Pink waved her hand irritated to send off the pearl. “I wish to be alone”

“As you wish my diamond” Peach bowed and left.

“Oh! Rose Quartz!” Peach called after her as she turned.

“hey Peach” Rose greeted stood on the ramp leading to the ships entrance, the Pearl blushed at the Quartz referred to her casually.

“My diamond says to keep an eye out for you know who, apparently their ship is very old so if they are heading where we expect them too you may pass them along your journey” Peach said smiling.

“I’ll keep an eye out Peach, but we know how that Pearl is, she’s good at hiding” The Quartz replied grimacing thinking of her failed mission, one of the few times she had made the diamond angry. Even if Pink had immediately healed the crack in her gem she created, Rose still disliked thinking about the runaway pearl.

“Don’t worry Rose Quartz, I am sure she will be found soon.” Peach replied confidently.

“Oh really?” Rose replied amused.

“She’s hopelessly devoted to Our Diamond. She has been for thousands of years, she’ll be back soon.”

Chapter Text

“This is your Cap’n speakin’ we’ll soon be arrivin’ at arrrrr final destination!” Spinel announced to Pearl who was sitting in a ball by the large window of the ship, silently watching the galaxy go by.

When Spinel noticed that Pearl didn’t react she engaged autopilot and bounced over to her.

“pearl? Are you alright?” Spinel asked without any of her usual goofiness.

Pearl said nothing as she continued to stare into space.

“Pearl?” Spinel asked again, placing her hand on her shoulder.

“nearly there” Pearl muttered as she looked down.

“What’s wrong? You can tell me…I can try and help!’ Spinel said gently.

“There’s no going back now…........I said the same to her 14 years ago" Pearl replied wistfully.

“oh I see...sometimes I miss her too’ Spinel admitted quietly.

“Back then…I really thought it would be me and her against the galaxy. I was so naive to fall for the same dream twice’ Pearl continued as a tear rolled down her face.

“She does that…makes promises she never intends to keep” Spinel replied, her voice sounded slightly resentful.

“No, not that time. When we ran away from Earth…it was all my idea. It was my fault for thinking things would change. But how things used to be…well that hadn’t happened in thousands of years, before the rebellion.” Pearl admitted.

“She agreed Pearl, you didn’t make the decision alone.”

“No but I…we…we could have probably made it work on Earth, just go back and apologise calmly. Greg would probably mediate things a bit. I wonder how things would have worked out if that had happened. I would still be the rebel Pearl, free to do whatever I want, whenever i wanted to. except I never did. I always stuck by Pink” Pearl remarked bitterly.

“You never had the opportunity to, every other gem had the chance to challenge themselves to break away from their diamond. But you never did, you were always in a position in which you had to take orders from your diamond” Spinel argued.

“I could have gone on my own”

“and end up shattered by homeworld”

“I could have taught other pearls to stand up and fight for themselves, but instead I willingly allowed myself to be enslaved again.”

“I could have left the Garden at any time. I didn’t. Because I was bound by my diamonds words. You’ve made some not-so-great decisions I’ll admit. But sticking by Pink? That wasn’t a choice YOU made” Spinel retorted making Pearl silent for a moment.

“We’re both so ridiculous, hung up on a gem who couldn’t care less if we lived or died.” Pearl laughed as she allowed herself to smile before briefly glitching out, they had both forgotten about her crack. It hadn’t gotten any wider but they had to be careful to avoid any situations which could cause the gem to fracture more. They desperately needed Steven’s miracle cure.

“When Garnet discovered the truth I felt relieved, like we no longer had to live a lie. Like we could be free. In my stupid, petty jealousy of Greg I started to romanticise the past, I didn’t care about how pearls were treated on Homeworld. I just wanted to be the only one by her side, I didn’t think…and even now I’m terrified. I would have never left that garden, never found the strength to actually leave her. To find out who I am” Spinel looked surprised as she stretched her arm to hug fully around pearl.

“I ruined everything. I was the one that put silly ideas of rebellion into her head, I caused millions of gem and human deaths, the Cluster. I was horrible to Greg because I was convinced I was the only person that knew her. I suppose I was the only person who knew what was hiding under the surface. The Diamond behind the Rose.” Pearl began to sob as Spinel hugged her harder.

“But you left Pearl! That’s a big step, and we can do the rest together”

“Because of Steven. Oh god…Steven. I ruined that poor boys life. I made him into something he was never supposed to be. I ruined his parents marriage. I took his mother away. He’ll hate me! They all will!” Pearl started to panic as she grabbed her hair.

“He doesn’t, trust me P, When he possessed you he wanted to save both of us. I thought he’d be like Pink but he wasn’t…he was kinder”

“I never thought things would turn out this way, I guess I am really rebelling now” Pearl began nervous laughing as tears continued to fall down her face.

“Pink only found out about my stupid actions because of a defective sapphire...oh OH MY GOD” Pearl recoiled in horror as she reached for her gemstone.

“What is it Pearl?” Spinel asked in shock.

“Pink wanted to terraform Homeworld, she said it was too ugly and falling apart. Considering the other diamonds refused to let her off planet it was the only real thing she could do. So we explored the old Kindergartens to turn into lakes and strolling areas. Pink wanted Homeworld to be the gleaming central hub of the empire, resembling earth but cleaner…more beautiful and efficient, it was her gift to Steven.” Pearl explained all at once, her voice panicked and speaking quickly as her gem glowed showing the past scenes, her cracked gem causing the images to occasionally distort.

-

“Wow these kindergartens were bigger than I thought” Pink remarked as they walked deeper into the old production lines. They were stood near the heart of Homeworld, the capitol of the empire, and yet mere metres below the surface of the grand palaces and courtrooms were giant chasms and falling apart rock.

“These extend for miles! I bet they go under the whole capitol! Who approved this?” Pink exclaimed in frustration as she kicked a rock.

“I believe that was Blue Diamond, we were desperate for new gems and could not expand to other planets due to resource limitations. Earth had a dramatic effect on our productions for Thousands of years” A nearby peridot explained. It was a small party of gems exploring the grounds, since the other diamonds had assumed there would be no danger there. Just Pink, Pearl, a Peridot and a single silent Amethyst.

“Right…well before we do ANY landscaping, we need to ensure the foundations of the buildings are structurally sound. Or at least install anti-gravity boosters to prevent half of Homeworld being destroyed in a landslide.” Pink Sighed as she looked up at the Diamond Courtroom, Pearl grimaced as she could see an ugly grey streak that remained on Pink’s neck, her hand moved to a scar in a similar place on her own neck.

“Right away my diamond, I will open a work’s request” Pearl replied as Pink sighed

“and I will remind Blue and Yellow about it, only then will something actually get done” Pink remarked annoyed, Pearl understood her frustrations. Any request by Pink Diamond’s court had to be approved by another Diamond, and getting a prompt response was nearly impossible. To gems, contact within 1,000 years WAS prompt.

They walked deeper into the pit until they were directly under the diamond palace in the centre of the capitol.

“Well at least here there is enough structure to protect the palace from immediately falling into a giant pit. Huzzah” Pink said sarcastically. The palace was supported by a cliff that had miraculously few emergence holes but was beginning to come away at the edge. The decay of homeworld had largely been ignored, where the ground fell away, a sparkling new bridge would be built.

Suddenly the floating robonoids that had been silently scanning around them pulsed and shot out beams aimed at two holes in the pillar supporting the palace.

The entire ground shook as a large groan could be hard.

“Oh Shit!” Pink swore as the Homeworld gems accompanying her looked confused at the human language.

Pink summoned her bubble to encase them all as the ground began to rumble and the collum split apart. Pearl closed her eyes, expecting an entire palace and landslide to fall on them.

The pillar split as the ground thankfully landed towards the side of them, and the palace stayed miraculous intact above them, until Pearl looked below it.

Where the ground had split had revealed an ancient looking structure. A green tinted stone palace had been revealed, with ancient carvings and delicate decorations surrounding it, laced in different golden patterns.

“So that’s why not many gems had emerged in this spot, this thing prevented them from burying deep enough” Pearl muttered as Pink glared at her for speaking out of turn.

“Peridot, what is this!” Pink demanded gesturing at the structure.

“I-uh I don’t know my diamond! My scanners say that this structure predates even the luminous white diamond!” The peridot stuttered in disbelief.

They walked closer to the building, looking at the figures depicted on the sides of the building, their features almost appearing reptilian.

“My diamond…could this be?” Pearl asked as Pink gasped “A race that lived here before us?” Pink muttered.

“That’s impossible! Gems are older than any currently existing lifeform!’ the Peridot sputtered

“The key word being existing” The amethyst said, surprising everyone.

‘She’s right, whatever this is from. They clearly haven’t been alive for a long time. We should check it out-“Hold on now Little Pearl” Pink suddenly spoke, her voice sounding overly sweet and in a tone completely foreign to her, grabbing Pearl’s shoulder and preventing her from entering the ancient palace.

Pearl looked up at her diamond and saw her eyes, Pink and black had been replaced with grey and white. The grey streak on her neck had spread up to her eyes in a subtle pattern but visible to Pearl’s eyes. The other gems were far away that they would not be able to see, too unfamiliar with their diamond to notice, too fearful to look directly at her.

“Right!” ‘Pink’ said clapping her hands. “Let’s leave this to the Bismuth’s to stabilise! We need to focus on our current endeavours. The Robonoids picked up on gem life down in these tunnels.” She said skilfully diverting their attention.

The amethyst and peridot had focused on where the Robonoids had floated over to before being destroyed by debris, ignoring the palace.

Pearl gulped and followed them, knowing there was nothing she could do, it was likely the amethyst and peridot would soon be shattered, and Pearl would be the only witness left.

“That’s right little pearl. You saw nothing. It would be such a shame to lose a legacy pearl such as yourself” ‘Pink’ whispered in her ear, pearl shivered.

“My diamond! We found tracks” The Peridot announced.

“Excellent Peridot” ‘Pink’ smiled as they walked away.

The tracks ended in a wide cavern full of emergence holes, Pink suddenly blinked and loosened her posture, as her eyes returned to normal.

The Diamond looked around confused and Pearl knew what she had to tell her.

“My Diamond, The robonoids found signs of unidentified gem life, you said to follow it. The unstable ground fell loose and destroyed them, so we have to locate them ourselves” Pearl whispered as Pink nodded.

“I-I must be getting tired again” Pink muttered looking slightly anxious. Pearl’s worry increased as she knew gems did not grow tired. Pink never had, until Steven’s birth, until she returned from White’s 12 yearlong ‘lesson’.

It made her worry what White had done to her diamond when they had been separated. During that time, only white had been allowed to see Pink, even Pearl was only allowed to tend to her for the briefest moments during that time.

Each time she did, her diamond seemed less and less colourful and when she had finally emerged, her formally joyful outfit and bright colours had been replaced with more subdued pinks in a dress that reflected someone of her status.

Shaking her head, Pearl focused on her current surroundings as she smiled up at her diamond.

“Worry not my diamond, I have a chair stored for you in my gem if you need rest!” Pink looked at Pearl and let out a genuine, adoring smile. It had been a rare sight for Pearl since the Gem War ended.

“Thank you, my pearl, you do know how to look after me” Pink said affectionately as she clasped Pearl’s face, Pearl blushed and felt happy. Every time Pearl had felt hopeless, like Pink was leaving her behind, she found that Pink would surprise her with little gestures to show her affection, to show she still cared.

Pink turned to the empty kindergarten and smirked “Peridot, get the others in the air now” She commanded as the Peridot wordlessly followed her order.

“Come out little gems…hiding will only make this worse” she said as her words vibrated against the walls, her face soured.

“Fine then” Pink curled her fists and let out an earth-shattering wail, causing the emergence holes to crumble and collapse as the whole valley caved in slightly. The gems that had hidden in the holes were forced to fall out.

“AH Gross!” The Peridot spluttered upon seeing the large caterpillar like fusion that had fallen out.

“huh a bunch of fusions, how unexpected.” Pink said bitterly

“Oh no! Pink Diamond will unleash an attack and discover us! We must flee!” a small voice said.

Pink looked up in amusement

“Hah! A faulty sapphire, how curious. I’ve never seen one this broken before!” Pink laughed, a bitter and jealous sounding laugh.

“Her name is Padparadscha you pink meanie!” The conjoined Rutile said, or rather half of it.

“And a Rutile with an extra head? Oh this just gets better! How unique!” Pink said, her eyes sparkling in a way that reminded Pearl of Rose Quartz.

The joyful and pure expression she would show to anything new had been twisted into an ugly sneer.

“We’re two gems!” The twins corrected as Pink laughed “More like one and a half”

“Please…………spare…………ussss…………piiiinnnnkkk….diamoooonnnddd” The oversized fusion begged as Pink scoffed.

“oh this is rich? How do you even function with that many gems?!”

“so many different kinds too, Peridots, a Pearl, even some little glass beetles, and….a….” Pink trailed off as her eyes glowed dangerously.

“Let’s see if you can see this coming FUSION” Pink roared as she launched a ball of Pink light at the large fusion, causing pink lightning to streak their body. Pink stood on top of the large fusion, grabbing hold of the sapphire gem embedded in the fusion and crushing it in her hands, causing the fusion to destabilise as the other gemsstones poofed and fell to the ground.

“Fluorite! NOO” The Rutile’s and another fusion screamed, the Padparadscha remained silent.

“Poof the other defects, Leave the ‘padparadscha’ for now” Pink ordered with a cruel smirk on her face.

The Amethyst launched an attack at the Rutile whilst Pearl summoned a spear, she had to poof the fusion before Pink noticed the gems that made up it.

If she saw the ruby gemstone, Pink would undoubtably loose it.

The ruby fusion ran away as pearl skewered the gem through the chest, quickly poofing and storing the gems in her head.

The Rutile soon fell at the Amethyst’s hand, however Pink stopped the gem from being bubbled as she held the Rutiles.

“Hmm, I believe this gem can be given a new chance” Pink muttered as the others looked in shock.

“Pearl, your spear” Pink asked as Pearl handed her the spear worried for the gem in her hand. Pink’s attitude towards the Crystal gems had soured on their trip to Homeworld but after she was released from her solitude her hatred had spread to off colours as a whole. Pink’s interest could not be a good thing.

Pink smiled before cleanly cleaving off the extra gem attached to the main rutile gemstones, using the spear she gently sharpened the now exposed edge, as the gem in her hand now appeared to be a clean non defective Rutile.

“Fluorite no!” Padparadscha exclaimed, her voice horrified, Pink laughed. “Hmm, anything else you wish to tell me little ‘padparadscha’” She asked the gem before turning to Pearl “better wait a few minutes for an answer” she said mockingly.

“There you go Pearl, make sure to keep her safe. I’ll send her to White for a little reprogramming before she can join my court. It will be so nice to have a Rutile! Especially one from era one. Speaking of…” Pink trailed off as she looked at the pieces of gem she had cut off, picking them up and crushing them, passing the cleaved intact Rutile to Pearl.

“I’m sure an era one Rutile dust, even half of the gem will be helpful to Steven don’t you think?” Pink asked as she smiled at Pearl.

“Of course my diamond, the shards will be an excellent reinforcer!” Pearl replied, not letting her doubt show. Pink bubbled the crush rutile and sent it off to her palace, ready to send to Steven. Pearl bubbled the newly separate Rutile as well as the remaining gems of the large fusion and stored them inside her gem.

Pink gestured to the amethyst to shatter Padparadscha, just as she spoke up

‘My diamond! Your Pearl was the one who made your son into a diamond! She wanted you to be exposed to the rebels” Pink’s smile disappeared as she poofed the gem keeping her in her hand. She turned coldly to Pearl.

“is it true?”

-

Pearl attempted to reach for the gems still encased in her head but was only able to pull out two before her own form glitched. The ruby and pearl gemstones rolled along the floor before the bubbles popped.

“Pearl?!” Spinel called out in worry.

“White had called Pink away immediately after that and she forgot about the rest of the off colours, they had been in my head this entire time…oh god…I can’t believe I didn’t let them out” Pearl stressed.

“What happened to that orange sapphire?” Spinel asked as she gently grabbed the ruby and sapphire gems to prevent them from crashing about.

“Pink kept her alive, she was different enough from a sapphire to be allowed to live. More as a source of mockery than out of genuine sympathy, she serves as pink’s entertainment” Pearl admitted.

“she really isn’t the same Pinkie I used to know” Spinel admitted with a sigh.

“No…that pink…died along time ago” Pearl admitted as a tear escaped her eye hitting the other Pearl gemstone in her hand.

Both the ruby and pearl started to glow and reform as Pearl and Spinel watched in curiosity.

“Fluorite!” They both cried out before looking at each other in surprise and hurriedly fusing.

The fusion turned to Spinel and Pearl, looking shocked and scared.

“its…you” They said, clearly afraid before noticing her crack.

“Where are we? Is this Pink Diamond’s ship?” they asked

“Nope! It’s an old stolen Yellow diamond vessel! We’re flying to Earth! Welcome aboard!” Spinel said attempting to bridge the gap.

“I-“ Pearl spoke up, her eyes watering as she stood up and introduced herself to the fusion.

“I am Pearl, and I no longer serve Pink diamond” Pearl gasped as she finished speaking, relieved tears streaming down her face, the fusion smiled at her.

“I am Rhodonite and I am a member of the Off-Colours”