Chapter Text
Rose came to awareness slowly, the blank fog of nothingness she had existed in for so long lifting away as she became aware of her body. Her hearing returned to her first, the dull ringing in her ears dying out as she made out the sound of several raised voices all shouting at once, loud enough to make her wince at the volume. Blinking sluggishly, she opened her eyes in an attempt to gain her bearings.
“Finally! There you are, starlight,” an all too familiar voice said, making her freeze.
No
Lifting her head, she met White Diamond's gaze, horror dawning as the situation sank in. She could hardly make sense of what was happening. The last thing she could remember was saying goodbye to Greg and the Crystal Gems as she awaited the birth of her child.
Her child.
The dread slowly growing inside her only grew stronger at the thought of her baby. Where are they? Where are the gems?
As quickly as the thoughts formed in her mind, they were stopped short by the sound of a broken sob behind her. Turning her head, she found herself staring at her friends Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, along with…Bismuth? (The sight of her old friend both confused her and sent a stab of guilt through her. The last she knew, Bismuth was still bubbled and hidden away in Lion after their fight over the breaking point. Had she escaped? Or had somebody found and freed her?)
Along with Bismuth and the others, there were two other gems Rose didn’t recognize. The first being a small green gem who looked to be a Peridot, the second being a Lapis Lazuli, both of them bearing the familiar star insignia that marked them as Crystal Gems. All six of the gems stared at her with identical expressions of horror on their faces, tears visible in their eyes. Following their line of sight, Rose went completely still. Gems couldn’t really get sick as humans could, but Rose swore she could taste the bile in the back of her throat as she took in the sight before her.
Lying on the ground were what appeared to be two humans. The first was a young girl who seemed to be the one the sobbing was coming from, her small body trembling with the force of her cries. She didn’t seem to even notice Rose. Or anybody else, for that matter. Her attention was completely focused on her companion in her lap.
The boy…- oh, stars...
The boy lay completely still on the ground, his skin a pale, ashy grey color, his dark eyes stared unseeing up at the ceiling as blood (Stars, there is so much blood) dripped from a gaping wound in his navel. Rose stared uncomprehendingly at the two of them, at the still bleeding hole in the boy’s stomach.
No. nonononono.
For a moment, her mind refused to comprehend what she was seeing, the truth she knew deep inside, but her body moved without conscious thought, carrying her closer to her son.
Her son.
The thought sent a sharp stab of agony through her form. How many times in these last few months had she wondered? feeling that precious life within her growing, dreaming of the person her baby would become. She didn’t have to wonder now, and yet she wished with everything inside her that her curiosity had remained unsated.
He was beautiful, her boy. He had her hair. Or rather... he had Pink's hair. The same short thickly wound curls that she had favored in her past, as opposed to her signature loose ringlets that she had come to prefer. However, they were the same shade of dark brown as Greg's, an observation that drew a sad smile to Rose’s face.
The girl (a friend of her son?) seemed to finally sense Rose’s presence. Her head lifted to meet Rose’s gaze, those dark, tear-filled eyes seeming to bore into her.
“Please…” she managed to say, her voice a broken, jagged whisper.
Wordlessly, Rose knelt, taking her son’s corpse into her arms. She didn’t even need to try for the tears to well up in her own eyes.
Pleaseplease
She’s not entirely sure who she’s pleading with. Maybe the universe itself? The only thing she knows is that she needs this to work.
Just let him live
For a moment, nothing happens, until, slowly, his body begins to glow, splashes of pink blooming on his skin where her teardrops landed, overtaking his body until his skin is completely pink from head to toe. And then, miraculously, his body gave a jerk in her arms, chest rising as he gasped, his eyes fluttering rapidly before he peered up at her.
“…Mom?”
Rose had held many names and titles over her life, but she didn’t think anything had ever sounded quite as sweet as the title Mom uttered from her little boys’ lips. Chuckling, she nodded, a bright smile forming on her own lips as her eyes slowly traced over his face, taking in his features properly for the first time.
“honestly, starlight. Such fuss over an organic,” White’s voice suddenly echoed through the room, breaking the moment between mother and son and reminding Rose exactly why they were in this situation in the first place. Steven gave a barely perceptible flinch in her arms, which only fanned the flames of Rose’s growing fury.
She killed him shekilledhim shekilledhim she. Killed. My. Baby.
Rose didn’t hear anything else White was trying to say. She didn’t really care to. The only thing Rose was aware of was the pure burning hatred she felt as the realization of what happened fully settled in. Calmly, she rose to her feet, careful to set Steven down gently on the floor. On instinct, her hand raised, a bright light flashing from her gem as her shield formed on her wrist, and she let it fly, sending it sailing across the room, nailing White in the face hard enough to make her head snap to the side.
Without wasting a second, Rose lunged, another shield already forming that she also sent flying into White’s face. Rose didn’t even notice as her form began to shift, growing taller and taller, until she and White were almost eye to eye.
“Starlight, wait,” White attempted to beg, but Rose didn’t hear her. Quick as a whip, Rose’s hand shot out, grabbing White by her collar as she slammed her into the ground, pinning her down as easily as swatting a fly. White squirmed, attempting to shake her loose, but Rose was a soldier forged in war, having fought on the front lines for several thousand years during the rebellion against Homeworld, and now she was fueled by the rage of a mother whose child had been hurt. Her first punch landed solidly against white’s cheek, followed by another, and another, until Rose had almost lost count of the times she had hit her.
“Please. Stop.” The sound of White’s pleas stopped Rose short, the haze of rage that had descended over her lifting as she caught sight of her fellow Diamond's bruised and battered face.
Once upon a time, it might have been enough. Once. Now? The only thing Rose could see was Steven’s lifeless form on the ground. She could hear the screams of her fellow crystal gems. Her friends. Her family. She could remember the day the corruption blast hit the earth. She remembered the terror and helplessness of seeing that white light growing in the distance and having only enough time to grab Garnet and Pearl and pull them beneath her shield. The horror and crushing guilt of seeing her friends’ fates and being unable to do anything to help. They had trusted her enough to follow her into battle, believing she would be able to protect them, and she had failed them.
“Why should I?” she hears herself ask. Her voice sounded colder and harsher than she had ever heard it as thousands of years’ worth of rage boiled over.
“You didn’t stop when I begged you to,” she continued as she glared down at White. How many times had she begged for White, Blue, or Yellow to spare the Earth? How many times had her own pleas fallen on deaf ears? She watched with a growing feeling of sick satisfaction as White's eyes widened, terror and helplessness filling them.
“How does it feel to be helpless? How does it feel to know pain?” she asked, a cold, ruthless sort of smile forming on her face. She pictured the faces of her friends. Biggs, Crazy Lace, Snowflake, and so many more that were lost or shattered through the course of the war.
“I watched my friends die in horror, crying as they were all slain. I heard their final moments, calling their leader in vain.”
“Mom, stop.” Hearing her son’s voice, Rose turned to face him.
“She’s already beaten.” He says, looking at her with tired eyes. Sighing, Rose glanced back down at White. He was right. As angry as Rose was, it would do no good to shatter her now. Besides, it would only make her a hypocrite, going back on every ideal she ever claimed to have.
“You wanted me to be a proper Diamond, White? Fine. The earth is mine. The crystal gems are mine. My son is mine. And you will never touch any of them again. Stay off my planet and away from my family.” She demanded looking into Whites’ eyes. Tentatively, the other Diamond nodded in agreement, still eyeing her wearily.
Rising to her feet, Rose shrank back down to her previous height as her body shifted back into her Rose Quartz form. Gathering her son and the rest of her family, she didn’t spare Blue or Yellow a glance as she led them down to her own ship. She wanted to get as far away from Homeworld as she could. While she knew it wasn’t completely over (there was still so much work to be done), Rose found that she didn’t care. For the first time, she had stood up to White and won. And now, she had a planet to protect, friends to cure, and a son to get to know. Anything else could wait.