- Location
- Kansas
Ah, I didn't see that episode. Thanks for explaining.
Synthesis (Steven Universe AU)
- Thread starter Mre
- Start date
New forms and OCs
So, I'm setting up an informational threadmark to cover new forms of canon characters, OC gem types and the like.
New forms:
First off: Pink Diamond. In chapter one I wrote:
And I figured I should add a picture to illustrate the difference, however I can't find any good redesigns that are still obviously the same character, all of them are either complete redesigns or risque enough that I don't want to use them. Suggestions will be accepted from everyone.
EDIT: Credit to @Nivenex for finding a design that fits with what I was thinking, and credit to RoFlo-Felorez for making and drawing it, image under the spoiler
Next, Spinel:
She is currently in her base form, but after her next reformation she will end up looking like this
OC Gems:
Pink Lace Agate 7XA (Sway):
A commander without troops to command, she was in charge of Pink Diamonds personal guard the night she was "shattered" and spent the next several millennia being shuffled around garbage posts in the backwater of the empire. When Pink came back, she was trying to control a band of Quartzes on a frontier colony who showed her no respect because of her reputation as the Agate who let her Diamond be shattered, so when the order came down for all former Pink Court gems to return to Homeworld, her superior jumped at the chance to replace her with an Agate that would be respected by her soldiers, making her one of the first to arrive back on Homeworld after the order came out.
Gem location: Over the center of her chest.
Gem shape: Same shape as Holly Blue Agate.
Her gem is closest to the one in the bottom middle-right, the one with nearly perfect up-down stripes of white.
Next, Iolite:
An investigator who was assigned to Blue's court on Homeworld when the order came down, after a week to offload her responsibilities onto other gems she reported to the re-assembled Pink Court. Further characterization is spoilers.
Gem Location: Forehead, over the brain
Gem shape: Similar to example picture
Most recently added:
Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3
Gem Location: Upper right arm
Gem Shape: As in picture
This post will be updated as new OC's enter or characters get new forms. If you have any suggestions for artwork to use, let me know.
New forms:
First off: Pink Diamond. In chapter one I wrote:
And I figured I should add a picture to illustrate the difference, however I can't find any good redesigns that are still obviously the same character, all of them are either complete redesigns or risque enough that I don't want to use them. Suggestions will be accepted from everyone.
EDIT: Credit to @Nivenex for finding a design that fits with what I was thinking, and credit to RoFlo-Felorez for making and drawing it, image under the spoiler
Next, Spinel:
She is currently in her base form, but after her next reformation she will end up looking like this
OC Gems:
Pink Lace Agate 7XA (Sway):
A commander without troops to command, she was in charge of Pink Diamonds personal guard the night she was "shattered" and spent the next several millennia being shuffled around garbage posts in the backwater of the empire. When Pink came back, she was trying to control a band of Quartzes on a frontier colony who showed her no respect because of her reputation as the Agate who let her Diamond be shattered, so when the order came down for all former Pink Court gems to return to Homeworld, her superior jumped at the chance to replace her with an Agate that would be respected by her soldiers, making her one of the first to arrive back on Homeworld after the order came out.
Gem location: Over the center of her chest.
Gem shape: Same shape as Holly Blue Agate.
Her gem is closest to the one in the bottom middle-right, the one with nearly perfect up-down stripes of white.
Next, Iolite:
An investigator who was assigned to Blue's court on Homeworld when the order came down, after a week to offload her responsibilities onto other gems she reported to the re-assembled Pink Court. Further characterization is spoilers.
Gem Location: Forehead, over the brain
Gem shape: Similar to example picture
Most recently added:
Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3
Gem Location: Upper right arm
Gem Shape: As in picture
This post will be updated as new OC's enter or characters get new forms. If you have any suggestions for artwork to use, let me know.
Last edited:
Gathering the Court 2.3
Chapter 2: Gathering the Court
Part 3
After repeating the story of her "resurrection" for the second time that day, Pink Diamond stood in front of a crowd of gems. All except the Agate in charge of this station were either current or former members of her court, and they had hung on every word of her story with awestruck focus. The story was hard enough to tell normally, and that just made it worse for her. Thankfully, she managed to make it through without incident, at least until she explained why she had come to the zoo station.
"And because they are rightfully members of my court and deserve the chance to return to my service as much as you do, I will be taking volunteers to release the Rose Quartzes from their bubbles in this station."
Immediately the blue Agate began to sputter in response. "My Diamond! Those gems were bubbled away on the express orders of Blue Diamond! You can't just release them without her approval!"
Pink turned on her. "I can and I will. Those gems are members of my court, and this station belongs to me. If your loyalty to Blue Diamond is so strong that you will not obey me then I will drag you to the hanger, throw you into a ship and send you back to her myself. Those gems are going to be released no matter what you do, so don't waste my time trying to fight me on this, understood?" Pink was not in the mood to debate this, she was going to free the Rose Quartzes and make things right, and if this Agate wanted to get in her way she would get steamrolled. They never would have been locked away if I had been less short-sighted, and I am going to fix this no matter who tries to stop me.
Murmurs filled the room, and from the way even the gems that were technically under her command backed away from her, Pink could tell they wouldn't get in her way if she went to make good on her threat. The Agate seemed to understand that too, and her arrogant pose melted away as she looked around. Throwing up a salute, she beat a hasty retreat with a muttered "As you command."
Looking around, Pink could tell the entire room was staring at her. Turning to the nearest gem, and Amethyst in a Blue Diamond uniform with her gem on her left shoulder, she asked her, "What is your designation?"
"Amethyst Facet 5 Cut 8XJ My Diamond!" She answered.
Pink frowned at the number. "You're from Earth, correct?"
"Yes My Diamond, all of us except Holly Blue were made on Earth."
Pink nodded. Of course they just stuck the gems from Earth out of the way on the zoo, I'm not surprised. Turning to the side, she caught the eye of the skinny Jasper from before, who was standing in the back near some other gems whose forms and colorations were very much out of line with Homeworlds view on what gems should be. "And I'm assuming you all came from the Beta Kindergarten?"
The Jasper swallowed nervously. "Yes my Diamond, we were a rush job, so our kindergarten produced nearly all… off-color gems." She said, her head down as she tried to avoid eye contact.
Pink frowned as she walked over to her. Lifting her head up to look her in the eyes, she said: "It's alright, I can't exactly complain about off-colors when I came out like this." At her words, everyone froze, the idea of a Diamond implying that she was an off-color was too much for them, and in the back Spinel smacked her head with her hand.
Pink heard movement behind her as Sway came up beside her. "My Diamond, if that's your command, then we will not interfere with any off-color gems in your court."
"Yes Sway, that sounds good. After all, if that rule was implemented when I emerged, I wouldn't be here."
Sway looked very uncomfortable at the sentiment, even as the off-color gems in front of them looked like they were about to break down crying. "As you command my Diamond. Now, might I suggest we move to release the Rose Quartz gems now?"
"That sounds like a good idea, but considering how many there are we need some volunteers…" Pink was cut off as dozens of gems volunteered to help. "Alright, alright, some of you have duties to attend to, but we'll take as many as we can!"
A few minutes later, Pink opened a giant Diamond sized door with around 40 various gems behind her, walking into the giant room. Looking around, she only noticed a few Rose Quartz gems in bubbles, but as she looked up she saw more and more of them, the minor color variations washing out in a sea of pink. Staring up, the reality of what had happened hit her. Right in front of her was every surviving Rose Quartz gem, and even though they had only been made on Earth there were still hundreds if not thousands in this room. Staring up for a moment, she felt the other gems filter in, waiting for her to give commands.
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she started to give orders. "Spinel, use your shapeshifting to pull them down. Amethysts, get up on the ledge and see if you can jump up to grab them. Sway, coordinate the rest of the gems to pop the bubbles and explain what's going on, once they're settled see about getting them to work, Rose Quartzes can jump high and regulate their descent."
Sway nodded. "I remember that My Diamond." She answered before turning to give orders. Pink winced, remembering that the last time she had been in this room Sway had been made to poof and bubble the Rose Quartzes under her command.
Turning back to the bubbles, Pink watched as the first Rose Quartzes came to the ground. Around their gems, light began to form into a body as the first one began to reform. Walking over to her, Pink helped her stand up as she shook her head. "Oh, what? I'm free? Thank you…" She said as she looked up at Pink, who gave her a small smile.
"Welcome back."
The gem blinked up at her, confusion on her face that brought back memories to Pink. She looks so much like the form I had on Earth. She thought as the gem stared at her. Suddenly, the Rose Quartz realized that Pink was still touching her, and she jumped back into a perfect salute.
"My Diamond, I… I heard you were…"
"I was." Pink answered, stunning the gem in front of her. "It's a bit of a confusing story, you see back during the start of the rebellion the other Diamonds made a machine…" Pink relayed the story again as a small crowd of Rose Quartzes gathered around her, tears flowing freely as gems that had thought they were to be shattered or bubbled forever tasted the relative freedom of returning to the service of their Diamond.
Sway pulled as many Rose Quartzes away to help as she could, and as she did new ones came forward and Pink told the story again and again. No matter how much she hated the story, no matter how much she hated the reminder that she was just a copy of the original Pink Diamond, the looks on the faces of those gems as they were freed softened the pain, and she found herself crying along with them.
After an hour, as each Rose Quartz brought down others and the pace picked up rapidly, the room was soon full, with gems spilling out into the nearby hallways. Realizing that things were going wrong, Pink ordered the gems to head to the room she had made her announcement in.
That room wasn't large enough to hold them either, so she sent Amethysts from the crew to lead groups of Rose Quartzes to other rooms while she went back to the control center to access the intercom. Knocking on the door, she was greeted by a terrified Holly Blue Agate.
"Pink Diamond! How can I be of assistance?"
"I need to use the intercom, there are too many gems to fit them in one room."
"Of course, right this way." Holly Blue lead her inside. Pink was uncomfortable with how friendly she was acting, but she went along with it. It's not like she's stupid enough to attack a Diamond, right?
"Now, press here and the station will be able to hear you." She said, and Pink nodded in response before leaning over and talking into the microphone.
"Attention, attention, the is Pink Diamond speaking. First off, I would like to welcome all of you back into my court. However, I have some bad news. It's been over 5000 years since you were all bubbled away, and a lot has changed. Don't worry though, I'm still getting used to the changes too, so there's no shame in feeling confused." She pulled back from the intercom and sighed. Is this how I want to make it up to them? They lost millennia of their lives because of me, and I can't even tell them the truth.
Shaking her head, she turned the intercom back on. "Right now, many of the Agates who lead you are still deployed to other courts and have not been returned. We have two agates with us right now, Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 cut 7XA and Pink Agate Facet 9 cut 9XC. If you were under their commands, please congregate in...." Shoot, what conference rooms aren't full? Think fast uhhhhhhhh. "...hangar bay 1 for 7XA and hangar bay 2 for 9XC. The rest of you organize yourselves based on what Agate you were assigned to using the available conference rooms, and we'll get you back to your Agates once they return to my court. That will be all, thank you for your understanding."
Turning off the intercom, she leaned back and heard Holly Blue Agate speak up. "Your Radiance, is it wise to leave so many Quartzes without Agates? Perhaps we should rebubble the ones whose Agates haven't returned yet…"
She stopped talking as Pink turned and stared at her. "That will not be necessary." She said through gritted teeth. "I am confident in my ability to keep my court in line. However, that brings up a conundrum: this station belongs to my court, and you are a devoted member of Blue's court."
"Yes I am your Radiance." The Agate responded.
"In light of this, and in light of Blue's likely need for loyal Agates to replace the ones sent back to my court, I believe you would be best suited returned to Blue Diamond." Pink said, her voice calm as she stared down the Agate that had suggested she re-imprison most of the Rose Quartzes.
"Of… of course, do you have a replacement in mind my Diamond?" Holly Blue asked.
"Yes, Pink Agate 9XC will be an acceptable replacement for you."
Holly Blue sputtered. "My Diamond, she is in command of a unit of Rose Quartzes! This station is full of Quartzes as it is, they'll all just layabout doing nothing if her detachment is added to the garrison here!"
Pink turned to her and frowned. While she really didn't like the way she was talking, she was right that overstaffing the zoo was probably not a good idea. But waiting for a free Agate to arrive could take weeks or months, so she made a decision. "The combined deployment will be temporary until the garrisons original Agate can be found. In the meantime, some of them will be attached to 7XA to reduce overcrowding."
"My Diamond… their original Agate never made it off Earth." Holly Blue told her, her voice low.
"What?" Pink asked, surprised.
"Apparently, she was directing the rest of their unit to use the warp pad in an orderly fashion the last time she was seen, and when the Galaxy warp to Earth went down she was on the other side."
Pink sighed. "Very well, in that case the deployment to 7XA and 9XC might be longer than anticipated, but unless an Agate with no command shows up that's my only option. Thank you for your input, that will be all."
Holly Blue Agate nodded, gave a salute, and marched out of the control room. As she watched her go, Pink sighed before getting up. She had a pair of Agates to talk to and a load of Quartz soldiers to wrangle.
Hanger bay 2 was a mess, full of Rose Quartzes gathering around Pink Agate 9XC, who was struggling to give orders through her tears. As Pink approached, the sea of gems parted, and 9XC turned to face her with a salute. Pink smiled back before giving her the news in her best 'Diamond voice.'
"Agate 9XC, Holly Blue Agate, the current commander of this station, is a member of Blue Diamond's court and has returned to her Diamond. As a result, this station has no commanding officer. Therefore, you are to take command of this station, effective immediately, with your detachment being assigned here with you. The existing garrison will be split between you and 7XA until a replacement Agate can be found for them."
As 9XC stammered her thanks, Pink gave her a reassuring smile and some words of encouragement before moving over to hangar bay 1. There, she found Sway having her own emotional moment with her command.
"...I'm so sorry, Blue Diamond insisted that you were too dangerous after what happened to Pink, and I couldn't just argue with a Diamond!" She was crying as she embraced one of the Rose Quartzes.
Pink was tempted to back off, but some of the gems noticed her, and quickly the entire crowd knew she was there, opening a path for her towards Sway, who was scrambling to act normal. Doesn't she know by now that she doesn't have to do that around me? Pink thought, concerned.
"Sway, I have some good news and some bad news." She said. "Which one do you want to hear first?"
"... The bad news, my Diamond." Sway said, her concern evident as the gems around her shifted awkwardly.
"Well, since the current commander of this station is a member of Blue's court, she'll be leaving, so 9XC will be in charge here. But with the number of Quartzes already here, putting them and her command here seemed like a waste, so some of them will be assigned to you." Pink said.
"I understand, I will do my best to bring them up to speed." Sway said, bowing. "And the good news?"
"Well, I need a personal guard now that my court is being reassembled, and since you're the only one here with experience leading the guard of a Diamond, I'm putting you back in charge of my personal guard."
"I… My Diamond I can't do that after last time! I let the rebel slip through and she shattered you!" Sway answered, genuine pain in her voice.
Pink felt incredibly guilty hearing her that sad, and she desperately wanted to just tell Sway the truth, but she knew that if she did that her entire court would hate her, and worse word would get back to the other Diamonds. So instead, she just smiled and kneeled down to look Sway in the eyes.
"That wasn't your fault, believe me. I don't blame anyone but the rebel for what happened that night, and you shouldn't blame yourself."
Sway leaned back, stunned by her words. "I… Thank you, my Diamond. I won't disappoint you."
"I know you won't." Pink said, an encouraging smile on her face. When Sway looked up at her, Pink saw a look in her face that she had seen on many faces over the millennia on Earth, a look that she had last seen on the faces of a strong, renegade Pearl and a wonderful musician who had ended up playing a show in the town near their base and giving up his career to stay with her. As she saw that look on Sways face, one thought ran through her mind: I am not ready to deal with this again.
A few hours later, Pink was moving through the halls with her new guard. Organizing the division of the station garrison had been… difficult, even with the knowledge that it would be temporary many of the gems had been reluctant to part with comrades they had worked with for thousands of years. In the end, they had managed to come to an agreement on the division, and Pink had decided to finally go see what she had been avoiding since she got to the zoo.
Entering the main observation platform, she turned to the technician on duty, who leapt to her feet to salute. Waving the gem down, she walked forward to the front of the room, where a collection of view screens designed to look like windows projected views from inside the various habitats in the zoo. Looking over the current setup, she saw something out of her worst nightmare. Humans, that wonderful species that could adapt to anything stuck in a rigid, controlled system that stripped them of any chances to grow, leaving them ignorant and pliable in a zoo, pampered and incapable of doing anything without being told.
I'm sorry. She thought, I didn't know Blue would do this when I asked to save the human race. I should have stopped her. A sense of determination filled her as she stood there watching. I will see you all set free, this station will be put to a less horrible use. I promise you.
Behind her, she heard Spinel walk up beside her. "Hello Spinel, done playing with the Quartzes?" She asked.
"Nah, just wanted a break." Spinel answered, watching with her. "So those are humans? Don't look like much to me."
"That's because they aren't in their natural environment." Pink answered, her voice wistful. "On Earth, humans do remarkable things with so little, but here they have everything they need, and they can't do anything themselves." She could tell out of the corner of her eye that the gems staffing the observation deck were incredibly uncomfortable with the way she was talking. The truth hurts, doesn't it? She thought bitterly.
Spinel gave her a look. "Oooookaaaay then, so what are you going to do?"
"Probably find a way to make them less dependent, give them more chances to grow. If I get approval from the other Diamonds, maybe try experiments with them to give them lifespans and power like a gem."
"Wow, pretty ambitious plan there Pink." Spinel answered.
Pink shrugged. "What can I say, spending all my time thinking about the next day or so has gotten boring, I wanted to look a bit further into the future this time."
Spinel gave a soft laugh. "Fair enough, that's something you always could use practice with."
Pink rolled her eyes as the two of them stood in silence. After a few moments, a gem tried to get her attention. "My Diamond?"
Pink turned around. "Yes?" The gem was one of the Peridots that had been part of her original court she had told to make a report on humans and other biological species to base her experiments off of.
"We've got a copy of the analysis of human biology, and the old studies are archived on Homeworld, but given the amount of data here and the size of our unit, we were wondering if there was perhaps a specific subject you wanted us to focus on?"
"Well, a long-term goal of mine is to figure out how to combine human adaptability and the strength and lifespans of a gem "Without needing a gem to give up her form to have a child with a human" so any information on potential ways to make that work would be appreciated."
"Of… of course My Diamond." The Peridot answered, surprise evident. As she backed away, Pink decided she had seen enough of the humans in the zoo, and she turned to leave, Spinel following her.
Three hours later, after a long day of organizing her court and determining who would come back to Homeworld (Sway and her command only, the rest to wait on the station until their Agates returned) and dealing with the thousands of issues involved in having a bunch of Quartzes get released in close quarters and told that their Diamond was back from the dead, Pink was relaxing in a room on the hand ship. Spinel has gone off to spend more time with the Quartzes, and Pink had retreated here because there was basically no peace anywhere outside the human habitats in the zoo and she knew that if she went in there she would probably do something rash like free all the humans. As much as she wanted to do that, right now there wasn't anywhere under her control to put them, and from what she remembered about diseases taking them back to Earth would be bad for their chances of survival. As she sat and pondered what to do, the door hissed open, and the Iolite from earlier stood in the doorway.
"My Diamond" she said, her voice soft "I have a preliminary report on changes to the empire since you left ready, if you wish to hear it."
Pink nodded. "Yes, please come in."
"When you were shattered, the empires production of new gems hit a massive stumbling block, which combined with the losses taken in the final suppression of the rebellion on Earth and removing rebel cells from the rest of the empire that were inspired by the rebels actions on Earth, the empire entered a period of widespread resource shortages…" She began, presenting the changes to the empire in a simple and understandable manner. Pink was impressed by how professional and thorough her presentation was considering how long she'd had to work on it, and without direct access to Homeworlds archives to boot. At the end, Pink leaned forward, impressed.
"That was very informative Iolite. I should promote you to official investigator for my court for this, I could definitely use someone of your skills."
Iolite hesitated as she responded. "My Diamond, surely you should wait for other Iolites to return to your court before making a decision like this, it's incredibly likely that I'm not the best choice for that position."
Pink gave her a look. "Yes, but you are the best I have right now, and who knows how many weeks until another Iolite shows up? My court never had that many, and the rest are probably busy with their tasks and can't be pulled away easily. I need an investigator now, especially if I'm going to be starting up a colony soon."
"Umhm" Iolite answered wordlessly. "From what I've heard, this isn't going to be a traditional colony, you intend to experiment with organic life."
Pink turned and looked the smaller gem up and down. "Yes. How did you hear this, I haven't exactly gone around saying it."
Iolite relaxed at her words. "I had a hunch when you assigned the Peridots to create a report on organic life, and it got stronger when I heard what you were talking about on the Observation Deck."
"You were on the Observation Deck?" Pink asked, wracking her memory.
"No, I heard the gossip after the shift change." Iolite answered, a small smile on her face. "But until you confirmed my theory, I wasn't certain I was correct. Now that I know what your goals are, I can serve you much more effectively."
Pink just stared at her. And she said she wasn't the best choice for a court investigator! She definitely deserves the job. She'll be a massive help. "Well, based on your recent performance I'm sincerely doubting that a better gem for the job will show up." She said, a small laugh on her voice.
"Thank you, My Diamond." Iolite answered. "Will there be anything else?"
Pink thought for a moment before answering. "Actually, there is one thing. I need help preparing a presentation for the other Diamonds to explain why experimenting with organic life is a good use of resources. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you assist me?"
"Of course, I would need access to detailed data from the archives on Homeworld and much more time than I took for this report in order to make an acceptable presentation for the Great Diamond Authority." Iolite answered. "Also, it would be useful if I knew what your exact plans for these experiments were, what the hoped for result is, so I could create the best argument for why that result would benefit the empire."
Oh yeah, she's not actually a mind reader, she just does a good impersonation of one. Pink thought, feeling a slight sting of embarrassment for how she'd given Iolite a vague goal and just assumed she'd be able to figure it all out. "For now, my goal is a way to prevent Kindergartens from permanently draining the organic life from their planets, letting more gems be produced on a planet. Also, I want to see if I could seed organic life on a dead planet and then use it as a source of gems instead of having to search for planets with organic life already present." And then create some blank gems and see if humans can have a gem put in them after they are born and if that works make a quick little visit to Earth to stop aging from taking my Greg from me before I can safely go back there full-time...
"Very well My Diamond," Iolite interrupted her musings. "I will focus on those goals while preparing the presentation. Do I have your permission to work with the Peridots you assigned to write that report on organic life to make this report?"
"Of course." Pink answered.
Iolite nodded before continuing. "In that case, I will have the report ready as soon as possible."
"Thank you Iolite." Pink answered, and Iolite gave a short salute before leaving. As she walked out the door, Pink noticed that she seemed a lot more tense than when she had walked in, but the door closed before she could call her back.
Of course she's stressed, you just told her to make a presentation for an idea you had to give to the other Diamonds and let her have three Peridots as assistants. Any gem would be stressed in that situation. Pink thought to herself. You're a Diamond again, if you ask someone to do something they will treat it as an order.
Sighing, Pink sat in the room, the question of how to fix the strictness of Homeworlds hierarchy joining all the other issues in her mind. The problems she had to solve, gems needing to drain life from planets to reproduce, tearing down the caste system, helping humans without letting the other Diamonds know the truth about her time on Earth, all of them stacked up in her mind, and she sat there in a room all by herself, the stress of these goals and the realization that she would need to work with the other Diamonds to get anywhere near achieving them hitting her all at once. Closing her eyes, she felt exhaustion join the stress, and she fell into a restless and disturbed sleep.
Authors Note:
Back when I started this fic I expected to update with about 5k words a week, one update a week. That has been blown out of the water by now, turns out writing is pretty fun! Thank you to everyone who left comments on this work, all the feedback is what keeps me going.
I won't be updating this weekend, I have family stuff going on, but updates will continue next week, and maybe I'll even be able to bring myself to set a schedule instead of just popping out 4k words and updating.
Also, I just want everyone's opinions, should I make fewer but longer updates or is the current update length fine?
As always, let me know if you want clarification, see an error, or just want to ask a question. I noticed some formatting errors when I copied this update over from SB, I think I got them all but if I didn't, let me know.
Part 3
After repeating the story of her "resurrection" for the second time that day, Pink Diamond stood in front of a crowd of gems. All except the Agate in charge of this station were either current or former members of her court, and they had hung on every word of her story with awestruck focus. The story was hard enough to tell normally, and that just made it worse for her. Thankfully, she managed to make it through without incident, at least until she explained why she had come to the zoo station.
"And because they are rightfully members of my court and deserve the chance to return to my service as much as you do, I will be taking volunteers to release the Rose Quartzes from their bubbles in this station."
Immediately the blue Agate began to sputter in response. "My Diamond! Those gems were bubbled away on the express orders of Blue Diamond! You can't just release them without her approval!"
Pink turned on her. "I can and I will. Those gems are members of my court, and this station belongs to me. If your loyalty to Blue Diamond is so strong that you will not obey me then I will drag you to the hanger, throw you into a ship and send you back to her myself. Those gems are going to be released no matter what you do, so don't waste my time trying to fight me on this, understood?" Pink was not in the mood to debate this, she was going to free the Rose Quartzes and make things right, and if this Agate wanted to get in her way she would get steamrolled. They never would have been locked away if I had been less short-sighted, and I am going to fix this no matter who tries to stop me.
Murmurs filled the room, and from the way even the gems that were technically under her command backed away from her, Pink could tell they wouldn't get in her way if she went to make good on her threat. The Agate seemed to understand that too, and her arrogant pose melted away as she looked around. Throwing up a salute, she beat a hasty retreat with a muttered "As you command."
Looking around, Pink could tell the entire room was staring at her. Turning to the nearest gem, and Amethyst in a Blue Diamond uniform with her gem on her left shoulder, she asked her, "What is your designation?"
"Amethyst Facet 5 Cut 8XJ My Diamond!" She answered.
Pink frowned at the number. "You're from Earth, correct?"
"Yes My Diamond, all of us except Holly Blue were made on Earth."
Pink nodded. Of course they just stuck the gems from Earth out of the way on the zoo, I'm not surprised. Turning to the side, she caught the eye of the skinny Jasper from before, who was standing in the back near some other gems whose forms and colorations were very much out of line with Homeworlds view on what gems should be. "And I'm assuming you all came from the Beta Kindergarten?"
The Jasper swallowed nervously. "Yes my Diamond, we were a rush job, so our kindergarten produced nearly all… off-color gems." She said, her head down as she tried to avoid eye contact.
Pink frowned as she walked over to her. Lifting her head up to look her in the eyes, she said: "It's alright, I can't exactly complain about off-colors when I came out like this." At her words, everyone froze, the idea of a Diamond implying that she was an off-color was too much for them, and in the back Spinel smacked her head with her hand.
Pink heard movement behind her as Sway came up beside her. "My Diamond, if that's your command, then we will not interfere with any off-color gems in your court."
"Yes Sway, that sounds good. After all, if that rule was implemented when I emerged, I wouldn't be here."
Sway looked very uncomfortable at the sentiment, even as the off-color gems in front of them looked like they were about to break down crying. "As you command my Diamond. Now, might I suggest we move to release the Rose Quartz gems now?"
"That sounds like a good idea, but considering how many there are we need some volunteers…" Pink was cut off as dozens of gems volunteered to help. "Alright, alright, some of you have duties to attend to, but we'll take as many as we can!"
A few minutes later, Pink opened a giant Diamond sized door with around 40 various gems behind her, walking into the giant room. Looking around, she only noticed a few Rose Quartz gems in bubbles, but as she looked up she saw more and more of them, the minor color variations washing out in a sea of pink. Staring up, the reality of what had happened hit her. Right in front of her was every surviving Rose Quartz gem, and even though they had only been made on Earth there were still hundreds if not thousands in this room. Staring up for a moment, she felt the other gems filter in, waiting for her to give commands.
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she started to give orders. "Spinel, use your shapeshifting to pull them down. Amethysts, get up on the ledge and see if you can jump up to grab them. Sway, coordinate the rest of the gems to pop the bubbles and explain what's going on, once they're settled see about getting them to work, Rose Quartzes can jump high and regulate their descent."
Sway nodded. "I remember that My Diamond." She answered before turning to give orders. Pink winced, remembering that the last time she had been in this room Sway had been made to poof and bubble the Rose Quartzes under her command.
Turning back to the bubbles, Pink watched as the first Rose Quartzes came to the ground. Around their gems, light began to form into a body as the first one began to reform. Walking over to her, Pink helped her stand up as she shook her head. "Oh, what? I'm free? Thank you…" She said as she looked up at Pink, who gave her a small smile.
"Welcome back."
The gem blinked up at her, confusion on her face that brought back memories to Pink. She looks so much like the form I had on Earth. She thought as the gem stared at her. Suddenly, the Rose Quartz realized that Pink was still touching her, and she jumped back into a perfect salute.
"My Diamond, I… I heard you were…"
"I was." Pink answered, stunning the gem in front of her. "It's a bit of a confusing story, you see back during the start of the rebellion the other Diamonds made a machine…" Pink relayed the story again as a small crowd of Rose Quartzes gathered around her, tears flowing freely as gems that had thought they were to be shattered or bubbled forever tasted the relative freedom of returning to the service of their Diamond.
Sway pulled as many Rose Quartzes away to help as she could, and as she did new ones came forward and Pink told the story again and again. No matter how much she hated the story, no matter how much she hated the reminder that she was just a copy of the original Pink Diamond, the looks on the faces of those gems as they were freed softened the pain, and she found herself crying along with them.
After an hour, as each Rose Quartz brought down others and the pace picked up rapidly, the room was soon full, with gems spilling out into the nearby hallways. Realizing that things were going wrong, Pink ordered the gems to head to the room she had made her announcement in.
That room wasn't large enough to hold them either, so she sent Amethysts from the crew to lead groups of Rose Quartzes to other rooms while she went back to the control center to access the intercom. Knocking on the door, she was greeted by a terrified Holly Blue Agate.
"Pink Diamond! How can I be of assistance?"
"I need to use the intercom, there are too many gems to fit them in one room."
"Of course, right this way." Holly Blue lead her inside. Pink was uncomfortable with how friendly she was acting, but she went along with it. It's not like she's stupid enough to attack a Diamond, right?
"Now, press here and the station will be able to hear you." She said, and Pink nodded in response before leaning over and talking into the microphone.
"Attention, attention, the is Pink Diamond speaking. First off, I would like to welcome all of you back into my court. However, I have some bad news. It's been over 5000 years since you were all bubbled away, and a lot has changed. Don't worry though, I'm still getting used to the changes too, so there's no shame in feeling confused." She pulled back from the intercom and sighed. Is this how I want to make it up to them? They lost millennia of their lives because of me, and I can't even tell them the truth.
Shaking her head, she turned the intercom back on. "Right now, many of the Agates who lead you are still deployed to other courts and have not been returned. We have two agates with us right now, Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 cut 7XA and Pink Agate Facet 9 cut 9XC. If you were under their commands, please congregate in...." Shoot, what conference rooms aren't full? Think fast uhhhhhhhh. "...hangar bay 1 for 7XA and hangar bay 2 for 9XC. The rest of you organize yourselves based on what Agate you were assigned to using the available conference rooms, and we'll get you back to your Agates once they return to my court. That will be all, thank you for your understanding."
Turning off the intercom, she leaned back and heard Holly Blue Agate speak up. "Your Radiance, is it wise to leave so many Quartzes without Agates? Perhaps we should rebubble the ones whose Agates haven't returned yet…"
She stopped talking as Pink turned and stared at her. "That will not be necessary." She said through gritted teeth. "I am confident in my ability to keep my court in line. However, that brings up a conundrum: this station belongs to my court, and you are a devoted member of Blue's court."
"Yes I am your Radiance." The Agate responded.
"In light of this, and in light of Blue's likely need for loyal Agates to replace the ones sent back to my court, I believe you would be best suited returned to Blue Diamond." Pink said, her voice calm as she stared down the Agate that had suggested she re-imprison most of the Rose Quartzes.
"Of… of course, do you have a replacement in mind my Diamond?" Holly Blue asked.
"Yes, Pink Agate 9XC will be an acceptable replacement for you."
Holly Blue sputtered. "My Diamond, she is in command of a unit of Rose Quartzes! This station is full of Quartzes as it is, they'll all just layabout doing nothing if her detachment is added to the garrison here!"
Pink turned to her and frowned. While she really didn't like the way she was talking, she was right that overstaffing the zoo was probably not a good idea. But waiting for a free Agate to arrive could take weeks or months, so she made a decision. "The combined deployment will be temporary until the garrisons original Agate can be found. In the meantime, some of them will be attached to 7XA to reduce overcrowding."
"My Diamond… their original Agate never made it off Earth." Holly Blue told her, her voice low.
"What?" Pink asked, surprised.
"Apparently, she was directing the rest of their unit to use the warp pad in an orderly fashion the last time she was seen, and when the Galaxy warp to Earth went down she was on the other side."
Pink sighed. "Very well, in that case the deployment to 7XA and 9XC might be longer than anticipated, but unless an Agate with no command shows up that's my only option. Thank you for your input, that will be all."
Holly Blue Agate nodded, gave a salute, and marched out of the control room. As she watched her go, Pink sighed before getting up. She had a pair of Agates to talk to and a load of Quartz soldiers to wrangle.
Hanger bay 2 was a mess, full of Rose Quartzes gathering around Pink Agate 9XC, who was struggling to give orders through her tears. As Pink approached, the sea of gems parted, and 9XC turned to face her with a salute. Pink smiled back before giving her the news in her best 'Diamond voice.'
"Agate 9XC, Holly Blue Agate, the current commander of this station, is a member of Blue Diamond's court and has returned to her Diamond. As a result, this station has no commanding officer. Therefore, you are to take command of this station, effective immediately, with your detachment being assigned here with you. The existing garrison will be split between you and 7XA until a replacement Agate can be found for them."
As 9XC stammered her thanks, Pink gave her a reassuring smile and some words of encouragement before moving over to hangar bay 1. There, she found Sway having her own emotional moment with her command.
"...I'm so sorry, Blue Diamond insisted that you were too dangerous after what happened to Pink, and I couldn't just argue with a Diamond!" She was crying as she embraced one of the Rose Quartzes.
Pink was tempted to back off, but some of the gems noticed her, and quickly the entire crowd knew she was there, opening a path for her towards Sway, who was scrambling to act normal. Doesn't she know by now that she doesn't have to do that around me? Pink thought, concerned.
"Sway, I have some good news and some bad news." She said. "Which one do you want to hear first?"
"... The bad news, my Diamond." Sway said, her concern evident as the gems around her shifted awkwardly.
"Well, since the current commander of this station is a member of Blue's court, she'll be leaving, so 9XC will be in charge here. But with the number of Quartzes already here, putting them and her command here seemed like a waste, so some of them will be assigned to you." Pink said.
"I understand, I will do my best to bring them up to speed." Sway said, bowing. "And the good news?"
"Well, I need a personal guard now that my court is being reassembled, and since you're the only one here with experience leading the guard of a Diamond, I'm putting you back in charge of my personal guard."
"I… My Diamond I can't do that after last time! I let the rebel slip through and she shattered you!" Sway answered, genuine pain in her voice.
Pink felt incredibly guilty hearing her that sad, and she desperately wanted to just tell Sway the truth, but she knew that if she did that her entire court would hate her, and worse word would get back to the other Diamonds. So instead, she just smiled and kneeled down to look Sway in the eyes.
"That wasn't your fault, believe me. I don't blame anyone but the rebel for what happened that night, and you shouldn't blame yourself."
Sway leaned back, stunned by her words. "I… Thank you, my Diamond. I won't disappoint you."
"I know you won't." Pink said, an encouraging smile on her face. When Sway looked up at her, Pink saw a look in her face that she had seen on many faces over the millennia on Earth, a look that she had last seen on the faces of a strong, renegade Pearl and a wonderful musician who had ended up playing a show in the town near their base and giving up his career to stay with her. As she saw that look on Sways face, one thought ran through her mind: I am not ready to deal with this again.
A few hours later, Pink was moving through the halls with her new guard. Organizing the division of the station garrison had been… difficult, even with the knowledge that it would be temporary many of the gems had been reluctant to part with comrades they had worked with for thousands of years. In the end, they had managed to come to an agreement on the division, and Pink had decided to finally go see what she had been avoiding since she got to the zoo.
Entering the main observation platform, she turned to the technician on duty, who leapt to her feet to salute. Waving the gem down, she walked forward to the front of the room, where a collection of view screens designed to look like windows projected views from inside the various habitats in the zoo. Looking over the current setup, she saw something out of her worst nightmare. Humans, that wonderful species that could adapt to anything stuck in a rigid, controlled system that stripped them of any chances to grow, leaving them ignorant and pliable in a zoo, pampered and incapable of doing anything without being told.
I'm sorry. She thought, I didn't know Blue would do this when I asked to save the human race. I should have stopped her. A sense of determination filled her as she stood there watching. I will see you all set free, this station will be put to a less horrible use. I promise you.
Behind her, she heard Spinel walk up beside her. "Hello Spinel, done playing with the Quartzes?" She asked.
"Nah, just wanted a break." Spinel answered, watching with her. "So those are humans? Don't look like much to me."
"That's because they aren't in their natural environment." Pink answered, her voice wistful. "On Earth, humans do remarkable things with so little, but here they have everything they need, and they can't do anything themselves." She could tell out of the corner of her eye that the gems staffing the observation deck were incredibly uncomfortable with the way she was talking. The truth hurts, doesn't it? She thought bitterly.
Spinel gave her a look. "Oooookaaaay then, so what are you going to do?"
"Probably find a way to make them less dependent, give them more chances to grow. If I get approval from the other Diamonds, maybe try experiments with them to give them lifespans and power like a gem."
"Wow, pretty ambitious plan there Pink." Spinel answered.
Pink shrugged. "What can I say, spending all my time thinking about the next day or so has gotten boring, I wanted to look a bit further into the future this time."
Spinel gave a soft laugh. "Fair enough, that's something you always could use practice with."
Pink rolled her eyes as the two of them stood in silence. After a few moments, a gem tried to get her attention. "My Diamond?"
Pink turned around. "Yes?" The gem was one of the Peridots that had been part of her original court she had told to make a report on humans and other biological species to base her experiments off of.
"We've got a copy of the analysis of human biology, and the old studies are archived on Homeworld, but given the amount of data here and the size of our unit, we were wondering if there was perhaps a specific subject you wanted us to focus on?"
"Well, a long-term goal of mine is to figure out how to combine human adaptability and the strength and lifespans of a gem "Without needing a gem to give up her form to have a child with a human" so any information on potential ways to make that work would be appreciated."
"Of… of course My Diamond." The Peridot answered, surprise evident. As she backed away, Pink decided she had seen enough of the humans in the zoo, and she turned to leave, Spinel following her.
Three hours later, after a long day of organizing her court and determining who would come back to Homeworld (Sway and her command only, the rest to wait on the station until their Agates returned) and dealing with the thousands of issues involved in having a bunch of Quartzes get released in close quarters and told that their Diamond was back from the dead, Pink was relaxing in a room on the hand ship. Spinel has gone off to spend more time with the Quartzes, and Pink had retreated here because there was basically no peace anywhere outside the human habitats in the zoo and she knew that if she went in there she would probably do something rash like free all the humans. As much as she wanted to do that, right now there wasn't anywhere under her control to put them, and from what she remembered about diseases taking them back to Earth would be bad for their chances of survival. As she sat and pondered what to do, the door hissed open, and the Iolite from earlier stood in the doorway.
"My Diamond" she said, her voice soft "I have a preliminary report on changes to the empire since you left ready, if you wish to hear it."
Pink nodded. "Yes, please come in."
"When you were shattered, the empires production of new gems hit a massive stumbling block, which combined with the losses taken in the final suppression of the rebellion on Earth and removing rebel cells from the rest of the empire that were inspired by the rebels actions on Earth, the empire entered a period of widespread resource shortages…" She began, presenting the changes to the empire in a simple and understandable manner. Pink was impressed by how professional and thorough her presentation was considering how long she'd had to work on it, and without direct access to Homeworlds archives to boot. At the end, Pink leaned forward, impressed.
"That was very informative Iolite. I should promote you to official investigator for my court for this, I could definitely use someone of your skills."
Iolite hesitated as she responded. "My Diamond, surely you should wait for other Iolites to return to your court before making a decision like this, it's incredibly likely that I'm not the best choice for that position."
Pink gave her a look. "Yes, but you are the best I have right now, and who knows how many weeks until another Iolite shows up? My court never had that many, and the rest are probably busy with their tasks and can't be pulled away easily. I need an investigator now, especially if I'm going to be starting up a colony soon."
"Umhm" Iolite answered wordlessly. "From what I've heard, this isn't going to be a traditional colony, you intend to experiment with organic life."
Pink turned and looked the smaller gem up and down. "Yes. How did you hear this, I haven't exactly gone around saying it."
Iolite relaxed at her words. "I had a hunch when you assigned the Peridots to create a report on organic life, and it got stronger when I heard what you were talking about on the Observation Deck."
"You were on the Observation Deck?" Pink asked, wracking her memory.
"No, I heard the gossip after the shift change." Iolite answered, a small smile on her face. "But until you confirmed my theory, I wasn't certain I was correct. Now that I know what your goals are, I can serve you much more effectively."
Pink just stared at her. And she said she wasn't the best choice for a court investigator! She definitely deserves the job. She'll be a massive help. "Well, based on your recent performance I'm sincerely doubting that a better gem for the job will show up." She said, a small laugh on her voice.
"Thank you, My Diamond." Iolite answered. "Will there be anything else?"
Pink thought for a moment before answering. "Actually, there is one thing. I need help preparing a presentation for the other Diamonds to explain why experimenting with organic life is a good use of resources. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you assist me?"
"Of course, I would need access to detailed data from the archives on Homeworld and much more time than I took for this report in order to make an acceptable presentation for the Great Diamond Authority." Iolite answered. "Also, it would be useful if I knew what your exact plans for these experiments were, what the hoped for result is, so I could create the best argument for why that result would benefit the empire."
Oh yeah, she's not actually a mind reader, she just does a good impersonation of one. Pink thought, feeling a slight sting of embarrassment for how she'd given Iolite a vague goal and just assumed she'd be able to figure it all out. "For now, my goal is a way to prevent Kindergartens from permanently draining the organic life from their planets, letting more gems be produced on a planet. Also, I want to see if I could seed organic life on a dead planet and then use it as a source of gems instead of having to search for planets with organic life already present." And then create some blank gems and see if humans can have a gem put in them after they are born and if that works make a quick little visit to Earth to stop aging from taking my Greg from me before I can safely go back there full-time...
"Very well My Diamond," Iolite interrupted her musings. "I will focus on those goals while preparing the presentation. Do I have your permission to work with the Peridots you assigned to write that report on organic life to make this report?"
"Of course." Pink answered.
Iolite nodded before continuing. "In that case, I will have the report ready as soon as possible."
"Thank you Iolite." Pink answered, and Iolite gave a short salute before leaving. As she walked out the door, Pink noticed that she seemed a lot more tense than when she had walked in, but the door closed before she could call her back.
Of course she's stressed, you just told her to make a presentation for an idea you had to give to the other Diamonds and let her have three Peridots as assistants. Any gem would be stressed in that situation. Pink thought to herself. You're a Diamond again, if you ask someone to do something they will treat it as an order.
Sighing, Pink sat in the room, the question of how to fix the strictness of Homeworlds hierarchy joining all the other issues in her mind. The problems she had to solve, gems needing to drain life from planets to reproduce, tearing down the caste system, helping humans without letting the other Diamonds know the truth about her time on Earth, all of them stacked up in her mind, and she sat there in a room all by herself, the stress of these goals and the realization that she would need to work with the other Diamonds to get anywhere near achieving them hitting her all at once. Closing her eyes, she felt exhaustion join the stress, and she fell into a restless and disturbed sleep.
Authors Note:
Back when I started this fic I expected to update with about 5k words a week, one update a week. That has been blown out of the water by now, turns out writing is pretty fun! Thank you to everyone who left comments on this work, all the feedback is what keeps me going.
I won't be updating this weekend, I have family stuff going on, but updates will continue next week, and maybe I'll even be able to bring myself to set a schedule instead of just popping out 4k words and updating.
Also, I just want everyone's opinions, should I make fewer but longer updates or is the current update length fine?
As always, let me know if you want clarification, see an error, or just want to ask a question. I noticed some formatting errors when I copied this update over from SB, I think I got them all but if I didn't, let me know.
Reactions 1
So, time for a collection of side stories showing the effects of Pink returning. I'll be doing a little chapter like this every so often to shine a light on the parts that aren't obvious when following Pink herself.
The Tireless Investigator
Iolite Facet 5 cut 2YG was concerned. Ever since Pink Diamond returned, something had seemed strange about her. Back on Earth, Pink had always been more hands-off, shutting herself away for weeks at a time as the rebellion had dragged on, and when she had interacted with her court she always did the bare minimum before returning to her chambers with her Pearl in tow. Now though, she was throwing herself into her work, organizing Quartz soldiers and personally welcoming the unbubbled Rose Quartzes back into her court, and Iolite didn't know why. As an investigator, not knowing what why such a massive change had happened to her Diamond was unsettling.
Walking down the hallways of the hand ship her Diamond had taken for her court, she thought through all her interactions with her Diamond since she had made her return. They had all been so confused in that room, with no one knowing why they had been ordered to report there, and then Pink Diamond had returned, and it was as though every norm vanished as they had all piled on top of her. Blushing at the memory of breaking down crying with the rest of the gems who now made up Pinks court, she tried to focus on their most recent conversation Pinks goals were ambitious, but they were also bizarre. Sure, they made sense in a way, the one gem type Pink had designed ended up having an affinity for human life, and she had seemed to admire aspects of Earth's life before her shattering, but the difference between that and trying to completely change how new gems are made was huge.
Entering a small private room, she began reviewing the information she had on organic life and how it was used to create new gems. As she did so, her thoughts kept coming back to her Diamond. More specifically, her Diamonds goals.
Even if her goals are just an extension of her earlier interests in organic life, the way she has been acting is incredibly dissimilar to her earlier behavior. She acts familiar with the various gems under her command and her behavior is focused and driven, while even during the height of the rebellion she was distant from even her highest ranking advisors and her orders had little sense of strategy behind them. She winced as she thought that, ingrained instincts to not even think poorly of a Diamond clashing with the truth. I'm likely overanalyzing things, or misremembering her behavior back on Earth.
Focusing on her work, Iolite attempted to gain an understanding of how gem production interacted with organic life, pulling up a report and sliding her hand into the terminal to let the data flow directly from the database to her gem. The connection established, the next step was simply analysing the vast amounts of data available to her, a task she was both designed for and incredibly experienced with.
An hour later, she realized that this presentation would be easy for all the wrong reasons. The amount of research into this topic is incredibly low. It's as if the process was only researched enough to ensure a high rate of successes without ever looking into the fundamental principles behind it to see if there were any changes to be made. Standing up, she shook her head as she walked out to track down the Peridots her Diamond had said she should work with.
My Diamond is correct that research should be done, and it is good that she is more involved now, but the fact that it took her going through some mysterious change to even try to do this research is concerning.
As she walked, she felt questions start to form in her mind. What inspired My Diamond to order this done? And more importantly, why have none of the other Diamonds ordered research like this done before? Perhaps the databases on Homeworld will have more information for me, but unless there's a treasure trove of data that isn't even referenced in the data here, on a station literally built for the study of organic life.
Entering the zoo station, Iolite went to work. No matter how much she knew that questioning a Diamond was a bad idea, all the questions she asked herself still rang through her mind no matter how much she tried to focus on her work. It'll be alright, your Diamond has noticed the issue and is working to fix it, you just need to keep focused on your task. She hoped that if she kept telling herself that it would come true.
The Determined Commander
Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 Cut 7XA (Sway to her friends, and apparently now her Diamond) took a moment to reflect. Only a few days ago she had been certain that she would spend the rest of her existence dealing with Quartzes who didn't respect her and superiors who wanted her re-assigned as soon as possible, all because that filthy rebel had snuck past her and gotten to her Diamond….
She stopped, composing herself. It's fine, Pink is back, and she doesn't blame me. She doesn't blame me. As she repeated those words in her mind, she felt the wave of emotions she had been trying to suppress for the last few hours threaten to overwhelm her. Taking a moment, she leaned against a wall to collect herself, millennia of dealing with hostile gems causing her to do her best to keep any emotions off her face.
Focus on happy thoughts Sway, like the fact that your old command is back and most of them don't hate you for bubbling them away! Alright, that's not that happy, how about learning Pink was alive? You hugged her, and not only did she not get mad, she hugged you back, and invited the rest of the court to join in! That's got to be worth something! Sure, she basically ignored all the rules you have to enforce, but she's a Diamond, she can make exceptions. Like how she basically told us to ignore all the rules about off-colors.
The thought of that particular statement from her Diamond did not help her mood that much. The idea that a Diamond could be off-color was… disturbing, to say the least. The Diamonds were perfect, that is the basis of the whole system, and if a Diamond could come out off-color…
Forget that, you're an Agate, you have rules from your Diamond and you will enforce them. Questions like that will just get you in trouble, so knock it off. She chastised herself. Pink Diamond gave you her trust by letting you take your role in her personal guard again, so you need to make sure you are deserving of that trust, and you won't do that by sitting around questioning your Diamonds orders.
With that thought sending determination through her body, she stood up straight and turned down the hallway, ready to rejoin her command and prepare for their new assignment. Turning a corner, she nearly ran into a pair of the Amethysts that had been assigned to her by Pink Diamond. At the sight of her, the two fearfully saluted her.
"Forgive us Pink Lace Agate!" They cried out, although one of them said "Holly" before correcting herself. Sway frowned, reminded of the new members of her command. They spent so long on guard duty for a station that never saw any threats under an Agate who didn't respect them that they freak out at anything. I know Pink wanted to get them out from under that Agates control, but now my command is nearly a third larger than it should be!
Outwardly, she hid her concerns under a mask of professionalism. "At ease 8XK, 8XL. You two didn't do anything wrong." The two of them looked at each other, dropping salutes but staying tense. Sway sighed, reaching out and putting her hands on their shoulders, which made them nearly bolt. "Look, I know this is a lot to process right now, but I need everyone on their best performance right now. Our Diamond will be formally announcing her return soon, and when she does how her personal guard looks will reflect on her. So take some time to get yourself calmed down, that's an order. That will be all." She said walking away.
Walking down the hallway, Sway could hear the pair whispering behind her, but it wasn't the hostile whispers about how her Diamond was shattered on her watch that she was used to from other assignments, and for now that was enough for her. Entering a room where some of her command were socializing, she started handing out assignments, but a small voice echoed in her mind. You should take your own advice Sway. You can't keep focusing on work forever, and sooner or later those emotions are going to catch up to you. Sway ignored the voice. She had a lot of experience at that.
The Fixated Matriarch
Yellow Diamond was busy. This was not news to anyone who had anything to do with her in the last several thousand years; ever since Pink Diamond had been shattered by traitorous rebels she had thrown herself into her work. Blue Diamond sinking into despair while White retreated from interactions with her fellow Diamonds left even more work for her, which she gladly accepted in her bid to distract herself from her emotions.
Pulling up the files on Earth, she reviewed all the classified information that Pink would need to know as a Diamond. The Cluster was still inactive, and the squad of Rubies she had sent to confirm that and retrieve the Jasper in charge of the Earth expedition had still not reported it. Shrugging, she made a note for Pink and moved on. After all, the Rubies had been given a full year for their search, a planet was a large place afterall. There really was no reason to rush any of this because all the estimates said The Cluster could emerge anytime in the next few decades, and if there was one thing Yellow knew from experience it was that if an official estimate gave her a 50 year window for something, 90% of the time it happened in the last ten years.
Reviewing the files on that earlier expedition, she frowned as the designation of the arrogant little Peridot who had dared to call her on a private line, defy her orders and insult her to her face. Sure, she was arguing for the same thing Pink had asked for, to find a way to use the organic life on the planet to benefit the empire, but that was no excuse for disobedience. Yellow attached a note that any follow-up expedition would have capturing the rogue gem as a secondary priority and moved on.
The Lapis Lazuli who had been on Earth and freed by a local "Steven" who matched the description of the Steven who had been reported present in the Kindergarten was still MIA, and given her proven ability to return to Homeworld herself, the only options were that she had been captured unlikely on a planet as covered by liquid water as Earth or turned traitor with the Peridot. Frowning at the thought of a gem of that power on a world so well-suited for her, Yellow attached a warning to the report and closed the file.
After reviewing the other files, Yellow marked all the files as Diamond-level classified and had her Pearl send them to Pink with the less restricted files on Earth. Due to her long history of reviewing as much as she could, Yellow didn't even think about what would happen if Pink decided to have another gem without Diamond-level clearance review the files for her. Surely when she learned there were files that were classified for her only to read in the report on Earth she would review them in depth, even at her most depressed Blue did that.
Confirming that the files had been sent, Yellow went on to the next file that needed her attention. After all, a Diamonds work is never done.
The Reluctant Aristocrat
Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3 hadn't lived a very exciting life so far. Made in the Beta Kindergarten on Earth, she had quickly been identified as a mistake, a waste of resources that should have gone to making another soldier as the war turned against Homeworld, instead of an aristocrat who couldn't be of any use in combat. Thankfully, her gem had been of decent quality, so instead of being shattered as a useless off-color she was taken to the warp pad and dumped at the Lunar Sea Spire, where she had been assigned to a minor role managing supply chains for her Diamonds armies. She soon found that the gems in the Lunar Sea Spire were allotted a large amount of free time by their aristocratic status, which she at first enjoyed before realizing what the others had used their free time for over the last few centuries.
A massive game of court intrigue had been played at Pink Diamonds court for the last several centuries, and her new supervisor was quick to introduce her to it through using her as a scapegoat to avoid consequences for one of her failed schemes against one of the other supervisors. After several more embarrassments and betrayals, 6C3 found herself wondering what the point of it was. Pink Diamond never had anyone shattered or even re-assigned off world as a result of the constant frame ups and plots, and all demotions were temporary, with the tables being turned years or decades later when the victor finally slipped up and made to many foes. In the end, it seemed like everyone was playing the game for the sake of playing the game, even as the war dragged on outside.
Adapting to the court, 6C3's dislike of her fellow aristocrats grew. Between the way they treated her for being a mistake and the incomprehensible web of alliances and enemies that had accumulated over centuries of intrigue, she found herself dreaming of being somewhere else, of going out and fighting the rebellion the way the other gems from her Kindergarten had, and most importantly of something putting an end to the stupid game.
She got her wish in the worst possible way. When word came down that Pink Diamond had been shattered, the court was thrown into chaos. The arrival of the other Diamonds stabilized the situation on the surface, but behind the scenes the delicate balance was completely upended by their arrival with parts of their courts. 6C3 did her best to avoid the damage, keeping her head down and doing what she could to help out the few gems she called her friends, but in the end the situation spiraled beyond the ability of even the Diamonds to control.
The evacuation of Earth was chaotic, but it was also fast. The Lunar Sea Spire was one of the first locations to receive the evacuation order, and it only took 6C3 a few minutes from hearing the order to make it to the warp pad, and from there the Galaxy Warp. Leaving the planet of her creation for the first time ever, she entered a terrifying new reality. Every former member of Pinks court was interrogated and reassigned, and the minor meaningless games that the aristocrats had played suddenly became deadly serious. Now the rumors that had flooded the court were investigated by teams of outsiders, who dragged gems off by the dozen to interrogate them based on half-true gossip.
6C3 was lucky, she had joined the court too late to make any truly long-term enemies who would want to spread rumors of her being disloyal, and she had been made long after the rebellion started in earnest, which combined with her known enthusiasm for the fight against the rebellion allowed her to avoid the worst of the paranoia. Reassigned to Yellow Diamonds court, she would spend the next few millenia performing much the same work as she had on Earth, and as time went on the pain of the loss of her Diamond and her world faded, but it never left.
Posted on a small station overseeing shipments from one sector to another, 6C3 found herself in a small enough environment that the tangled web that was the court on Earth just couldn't be replicated, and she was important enough that when she said she wanted to stay neutral she had the power to make examples of the low-level aristocrats who tried to test her. FInally in an environment without stupid plots and schemes, where she could focus on her work and relax, she found several of her wishes had come true, and she desperately wished they hadn't.
One day, while she was performing the same tasks she had for the last several millennia, 6C3's supervisor approached her with orders. She was being reassigned to Homeworld, to leave as soon as possible. 6C3 accepted the orders quietly, as she had every order since that horrible day so many thousands of years before. After ensuring that the other gems in her department could cover for her absence, she went to the warp pad to Homeworld.
In the palace of the Diamonds, she left the warp pad and approached a nearby Topaz guard.
"Excuse me, I've been ordered to report to chamber 517-D."
"Oh! You're one of Pinks aren't you?" The guard said, a strange tone in her voice.
Taken aback, 6C3 blinked in surprise. "Yes, I was, and I need directions." She said cautiously.
"Right!' The guard answered before giving her an in-depth route to follow. "...and that should get you there! If you miss the room, remember the first two digits are what floor it is, the third is what hallway it's on, and the letter is on the door in the hallway!"
6C3 thanked her and left, her mind racing. She had finally recognized the tone in the guards voice, it was the tone of someone who knew something you didn't. What is going on? Why would they summon members of Pinks court here after all this time? I know most new gems don't know what happened to her, so are they going to just get rid of us to make sure we don't tell them about the time a Diamond was shattered? They wouldn't, they can't replace us, we're all Era-1 gems! They physically can't replace us!
As she wrestled with her fears, she noticed the other gems in the hallways whispering as she went by. Calling on half-remembered techniques from the Lunar Sea Spire, she did her best to listen in without making it obvious.
"Another one? That's seven today!"
"Pretty high-ranking one, most of them have been grunts."
"Nice coloration and cut, I bet she was important back then."
The gossip continued like that as 6C3 walked down the hallway, and a sense of annoyance grew inside her. Passing down a grand staircase, the gossipers only got thicker. At this point I could probably find my way there just by following the crowds. Crowds like this don't just appear out of nowhere, there has to be a reason for this.
Finding her way to room 517-D, she entered to find a group of gems waiting. Looking around, she leaned against the corner near the door, looking around and trying to get a feel for what was going on.
After a couple hours, she concluded that none of them knew what was going on either. That did not make 6C3 feel any better about this whole situation. As the rumors swirled around her, she lost herself in thought. I hope I'm not being reassigned to work here. If those gossipers are a clue, this place is going to be just like the Lunar Sea Spire, with all the petty games and power plays that came with it.
The front door opening interrupted her thoughts, and as she looked at the open door she felt stunned. Standing there in the door was Pink Diamond. As her Diamond walked into the room, everyone was silent, and then an Agate in the front of the room asked her how she was here, and 6C3 was moving forward and just trying to understand what was going on as her Diamond explained something about a machine moving her onto a blank copy of her gem.
She was still watching as the Agate in front went and hugged Pink Diamond. And then, Pink not only hugged her back, she asked if anyone else wanted to join!? Without even thinking of it 6C3 felt herself moving forward, her arms moving apart. Before she reached her Diamond every other gem was moving forward, and she found herself buried in a pile of gems. Buried in the pile of gems, her arms wrapped around her Diamond, she cried tears of joy. For the first time since she had realized the truth of life at the Lunar Sea Spire, she felt genuine, unreserved happiness.
Authors Note:
And with that, the final of the cast of OC's I came up with to flesh out Pinks court is introduced. I'm not saying I won't add any new ones in the future, but this is all I have planned for now.
As always, let me know if you see any typos or just want to share your thoughts on the chapter.
Also as always, here is the gem I'm basing my latest OC, this time Fire Opal 6C3:
Location: Upper right arm
The Tireless Investigator
Iolite Facet 5 cut 2YG was concerned. Ever since Pink Diamond returned, something had seemed strange about her. Back on Earth, Pink had always been more hands-off, shutting herself away for weeks at a time as the rebellion had dragged on, and when she had interacted with her court she always did the bare minimum before returning to her chambers with her Pearl in tow. Now though, she was throwing herself into her work, organizing Quartz soldiers and personally welcoming the unbubbled Rose Quartzes back into her court, and Iolite didn't know why. As an investigator, not knowing what why such a massive change had happened to her Diamond was unsettling.
Walking down the hallways of the hand ship her Diamond had taken for her court, she thought through all her interactions with her Diamond since she had made her return. They had all been so confused in that room, with no one knowing why they had been ordered to report there, and then Pink Diamond had returned, and it was as though every norm vanished as they had all piled on top of her. Blushing at the memory of breaking down crying with the rest of the gems who now made up Pinks court, she tried to focus on their most recent conversation Pinks goals were ambitious, but they were also bizarre. Sure, they made sense in a way, the one gem type Pink had designed ended up having an affinity for human life, and she had seemed to admire aspects of Earth's life before her shattering, but the difference between that and trying to completely change how new gems are made was huge.
Entering a small private room, she began reviewing the information she had on organic life and how it was used to create new gems. As she did so, her thoughts kept coming back to her Diamond. More specifically, her Diamonds goals.
Even if her goals are just an extension of her earlier interests in organic life, the way she has been acting is incredibly dissimilar to her earlier behavior. She acts familiar with the various gems under her command and her behavior is focused and driven, while even during the height of the rebellion she was distant from even her highest ranking advisors and her orders had little sense of strategy behind them. She winced as she thought that, ingrained instincts to not even think poorly of a Diamond clashing with the truth. I'm likely overanalyzing things, or misremembering her behavior back on Earth.
Focusing on her work, Iolite attempted to gain an understanding of how gem production interacted with organic life, pulling up a report and sliding her hand into the terminal to let the data flow directly from the database to her gem. The connection established, the next step was simply analysing the vast amounts of data available to her, a task she was both designed for and incredibly experienced with.
An hour later, she realized that this presentation would be easy for all the wrong reasons. The amount of research into this topic is incredibly low. It's as if the process was only researched enough to ensure a high rate of successes without ever looking into the fundamental principles behind it to see if there were any changes to be made. Standing up, she shook her head as she walked out to track down the Peridots her Diamond had said she should work with.
My Diamond is correct that research should be done, and it is good that she is more involved now, but the fact that it took her going through some mysterious change to even try to do this research is concerning.
As she walked, she felt questions start to form in her mind. What inspired My Diamond to order this done? And more importantly, why have none of the other Diamonds ordered research like this done before? Perhaps the databases on Homeworld will have more information for me, but unless there's a treasure trove of data that isn't even referenced in the data here, on a station literally built for the study of organic life.
Entering the zoo station, Iolite went to work. No matter how much she knew that questioning a Diamond was a bad idea, all the questions she asked herself still rang through her mind no matter how much she tried to focus on her work. It'll be alright, your Diamond has noticed the issue and is working to fix it, you just need to keep focused on your task. She hoped that if she kept telling herself that it would come true.
The Determined Commander
Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 Cut 7XA (Sway to her friends, and apparently now her Diamond) took a moment to reflect. Only a few days ago she had been certain that she would spend the rest of her existence dealing with Quartzes who didn't respect her and superiors who wanted her re-assigned as soon as possible, all because that filthy rebel had snuck past her and gotten to her Diamond….
She stopped, composing herself. It's fine, Pink is back, and she doesn't blame me. She doesn't blame me. As she repeated those words in her mind, she felt the wave of emotions she had been trying to suppress for the last few hours threaten to overwhelm her. Taking a moment, she leaned against a wall to collect herself, millennia of dealing with hostile gems causing her to do her best to keep any emotions off her face.
Focus on happy thoughts Sway, like the fact that your old command is back and most of them don't hate you for bubbling them away! Alright, that's not that happy, how about learning Pink was alive? You hugged her, and not only did she not get mad, she hugged you back, and invited the rest of the court to join in! That's got to be worth something! Sure, she basically ignored all the rules you have to enforce, but she's a Diamond, she can make exceptions. Like how she basically told us to ignore all the rules about off-colors.
The thought of that particular statement from her Diamond did not help her mood that much. The idea that a Diamond could be off-color was… disturbing, to say the least. The Diamonds were perfect, that is the basis of the whole system, and if a Diamond could come out off-color…
Forget that, you're an Agate, you have rules from your Diamond and you will enforce them. Questions like that will just get you in trouble, so knock it off. She chastised herself. Pink Diamond gave you her trust by letting you take your role in her personal guard again, so you need to make sure you are deserving of that trust, and you won't do that by sitting around questioning your Diamonds orders.
With that thought sending determination through her body, she stood up straight and turned down the hallway, ready to rejoin her command and prepare for their new assignment. Turning a corner, she nearly ran into a pair of the Amethysts that had been assigned to her by Pink Diamond. At the sight of her, the two fearfully saluted her.
"Forgive us Pink Lace Agate!" They cried out, although one of them said "Holly" before correcting herself. Sway frowned, reminded of the new members of her command. They spent so long on guard duty for a station that never saw any threats under an Agate who didn't respect them that they freak out at anything. I know Pink wanted to get them out from under that Agates control, but now my command is nearly a third larger than it should be!
Outwardly, she hid her concerns under a mask of professionalism. "At ease 8XK, 8XL. You two didn't do anything wrong." The two of them looked at each other, dropping salutes but staying tense. Sway sighed, reaching out and putting her hands on their shoulders, which made them nearly bolt. "Look, I know this is a lot to process right now, but I need everyone on their best performance right now. Our Diamond will be formally announcing her return soon, and when she does how her personal guard looks will reflect on her. So take some time to get yourself calmed down, that's an order. That will be all." She said walking away.
Walking down the hallway, Sway could hear the pair whispering behind her, but it wasn't the hostile whispers about how her Diamond was shattered on her watch that she was used to from other assignments, and for now that was enough for her. Entering a room where some of her command were socializing, she started handing out assignments, but a small voice echoed in her mind. You should take your own advice Sway. You can't keep focusing on work forever, and sooner or later those emotions are going to catch up to you. Sway ignored the voice. She had a lot of experience at that.
The Fixated Matriarch
Yellow Diamond was busy. This was not news to anyone who had anything to do with her in the last several thousand years; ever since Pink Diamond had been shattered by traitorous rebels she had thrown herself into her work. Blue Diamond sinking into despair while White retreated from interactions with her fellow Diamonds left even more work for her, which she gladly accepted in her bid to distract herself from her emotions.
Pulling up the files on Earth, she reviewed all the classified information that Pink would need to know as a Diamond. The Cluster was still inactive, and the squad of Rubies she had sent to confirm that and retrieve the Jasper in charge of the Earth expedition had still not reported it. Shrugging, she made a note for Pink and moved on. After all, the Rubies had been given a full year for their search, a planet was a large place afterall. There really was no reason to rush any of this because all the estimates said The Cluster could emerge anytime in the next few decades, and if there was one thing Yellow knew from experience it was that if an official estimate gave her a 50 year window for something, 90% of the time it happened in the last ten years.
Reviewing the files on that earlier expedition, she frowned as the designation of the arrogant little Peridot who had dared to call her on a private line, defy her orders and insult her to her face. Sure, she was arguing for the same thing Pink had asked for, to find a way to use the organic life on the planet to benefit the empire, but that was no excuse for disobedience. Yellow attached a note that any follow-up expedition would have capturing the rogue gem as a secondary priority and moved on.
The Lapis Lazuli who had been on Earth and freed by a local "Steven" who matched the description of the Steven who had been reported present in the Kindergarten was still MIA, and given her proven ability to return to Homeworld herself, the only options were that she had been captured unlikely on a planet as covered by liquid water as Earth or turned traitor with the Peridot. Frowning at the thought of a gem of that power on a world so well-suited for her, Yellow attached a warning to the report and closed the file.
After reviewing the other files, Yellow marked all the files as Diamond-level classified and had her Pearl send them to Pink with the less restricted files on Earth. Due to her long history of reviewing as much as she could, Yellow didn't even think about what would happen if Pink decided to have another gem without Diamond-level clearance review the files for her. Surely when she learned there were files that were classified for her only to read in the report on Earth she would review them in depth, even at her most depressed Blue did that.
Confirming that the files had been sent, Yellow went on to the next file that needed her attention. After all, a Diamonds work is never done.
The Reluctant Aristocrat
Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3 hadn't lived a very exciting life so far. Made in the Beta Kindergarten on Earth, she had quickly been identified as a mistake, a waste of resources that should have gone to making another soldier as the war turned against Homeworld, instead of an aristocrat who couldn't be of any use in combat. Thankfully, her gem had been of decent quality, so instead of being shattered as a useless off-color she was taken to the warp pad and dumped at the Lunar Sea Spire, where she had been assigned to a minor role managing supply chains for her Diamonds armies. She soon found that the gems in the Lunar Sea Spire were allotted a large amount of free time by their aristocratic status, which she at first enjoyed before realizing what the others had used their free time for over the last few centuries.
A massive game of court intrigue had been played at Pink Diamonds court for the last several centuries, and her new supervisor was quick to introduce her to it through using her as a scapegoat to avoid consequences for one of her failed schemes against one of the other supervisors. After several more embarrassments and betrayals, 6C3 found herself wondering what the point of it was. Pink Diamond never had anyone shattered or even re-assigned off world as a result of the constant frame ups and plots, and all demotions were temporary, with the tables being turned years or decades later when the victor finally slipped up and made to many foes. In the end, it seemed like everyone was playing the game for the sake of playing the game, even as the war dragged on outside.
Adapting to the court, 6C3's dislike of her fellow aristocrats grew. Between the way they treated her for being a mistake and the incomprehensible web of alliances and enemies that had accumulated over centuries of intrigue, she found herself dreaming of being somewhere else, of going out and fighting the rebellion the way the other gems from her Kindergarten had, and most importantly of something putting an end to the stupid game.
She got her wish in the worst possible way. When word came down that Pink Diamond had been shattered, the court was thrown into chaos. The arrival of the other Diamonds stabilized the situation on the surface, but behind the scenes the delicate balance was completely upended by their arrival with parts of their courts. 6C3 did her best to avoid the damage, keeping her head down and doing what she could to help out the few gems she called her friends, but in the end the situation spiraled beyond the ability of even the Diamonds to control.
The evacuation of Earth was chaotic, but it was also fast. The Lunar Sea Spire was one of the first locations to receive the evacuation order, and it only took 6C3 a few minutes from hearing the order to make it to the warp pad, and from there the Galaxy Warp. Leaving the planet of her creation for the first time ever, she entered a terrifying new reality. Every former member of Pinks court was interrogated and reassigned, and the minor meaningless games that the aristocrats had played suddenly became deadly serious. Now the rumors that had flooded the court were investigated by teams of outsiders, who dragged gems off by the dozen to interrogate them based on half-true gossip.
6C3 was lucky, she had joined the court too late to make any truly long-term enemies who would want to spread rumors of her being disloyal, and she had been made long after the rebellion started in earnest, which combined with her known enthusiasm for the fight against the rebellion allowed her to avoid the worst of the paranoia. Reassigned to Yellow Diamonds court, she would spend the next few millenia performing much the same work as she had on Earth, and as time went on the pain of the loss of her Diamond and her world faded, but it never left.
Posted on a small station overseeing shipments from one sector to another, 6C3 found herself in a small enough environment that the tangled web that was the court on Earth just couldn't be replicated, and she was important enough that when she said she wanted to stay neutral she had the power to make examples of the low-level aristocrats who tried to test her. FInally in an environment without stupid plots and schemes, where she could focus on her work and relax, she found several of her wishes had come true, and she desperately wished they hadn't.
One day, while she was performing the same tasks she had for the last several millennia, 6C3's supervisor approached her with orders. She was being reassigned to Homeworld, to leave as soon as possible. 6C3 accepted the orders quietly, as she had every order since that horrible day so many thousands of years before. After ensuring that the other gems in her department could cover for her absence, she went to the warp pad to Homeworld.
In the palace of the Diamonds, she left the warp pad and approached a nearby Topaz guard.
"Excuse me, I've been ordered to report to chamber 517-D."
"Oh! You're one of Pinks aren't you?" The guard said, a strange tone in her voice.
Taken aback, 6C3 blinked in surprise. "Yes, I was, and I need directions." She said cautiously.
"Right!' The guard answered before giving her an in-depth route to follow. "...and that should get you there! If you miss the room, remember the first two digits are what floor it is, the third is what hallway it's on, and the letter is on the door in the hallway!"
6C3 thanked her and left, her mind racing. She had finally recognized the tone in the guards voice, it was the tone of someone who knew something you didn't. What is going on? Why would they summon members of Pinks court here after all this time? I know most new gems don't know what happened to her, so are they going to just get rid of us to make sure we don't tell them about the time a Diamond was shattered? They wouldn't, they can't replace us, we're all Era-1 gems! They physically can't replace us!
As she wrestled with her fears, she noticed the other gems in the hallways whispering as she went by. Calling on half-remembered techniques from the Lunar Sea Spire, she did her best to listen in without making it obvious.
"Another one? That's seven today!"
"Pretty high-ranking one, most of them have been grunts."
"Nice coloration and cut, I bet she was important back then."
The gossip continued like that as 6C3 walked down the hallway, and a sense of annoyance grew inside her. Passing down a grand staircase, the gossipers only got thicker. At this point I could probably find my way there just by following the crowds. Crowds like this don't just appear out of nowhere, there has to be a reason for this.
Finding her way to room 517-D, she entered to find a group of gems waiting. Looking around, she leaned against the corner near the door, looking around and trying to get a feel for what was going on.
After a couple hours, she concluded that none of them knew what was going on either. That did not make 6C3 feel any better about this whole situation. As the rumors swirled around her, she lost herself in thought. I hope I'm not being reassigned to work here. If those gossipers are a clue, this place is going to be just like the Lunar Sea Spire, with all the petty games and power plays that came with it.
The front door opening interrupted her thoughts, and as she looked at the open door she felt stunned. Standing there in the door was Pink Diamond. As her Diamond walked into the room, everyone was silent, and then an Agate in the front of the room asked her how she was here, and 6C3 was moving forward and just trying to understand what was going on as her Diamond explained something about a machine moving her onto a blank copy of her gem.
She was still watching as the Agate in front went and hugged Pink Diamond. And then, Pink not only hugged her back, she asked if anyone else wanted to join!? Without even thinking of it 6C3 felt herself moving forward, her arms moving apart. Before she reached her Diamond every other gem was moving forward, and she found herself buried in a pile of gems. Buried in the pile of gems, her arms wrapped around her Diamond, she cried tears of joy. For the first time since she had realized the truth of life at the Lunar Sea Spire, she felt genuine, unreserved happiness.
Authors Note:
And with that, the final of the cast of OC's I came up with to flesh out Pinks court is introduced. I'm not saying I won't add any new ones in the future, but this is all I have planned for now.
As always, let me know if you see any typos or just want to share your thoughts on the chapter.
Also as always, here is the gem I'm basing my latest OC, this time Fire Opal 6C3:
Location: Upper right arm
- Location
- Kansas
Pink gave Iolite full clearance including Diamond level access, didn't she. That means she is soon going to see Crystal Gem Peridot's report to Yellow Diamond. I wonder how Peridot will feel about being declared a VIP by Pink Diamond's court?
Also, that hug that Pink gave her court? All these gems need more of that, stat!
Also, that hug that Pink gave her court? All these gems need more of that, stat!
Last edited:
Pink actually never said "You have DIamond-level clearance" or put in an order to get her that access, at least I hope I didn't put that in their by accident.
Returning to Homeworld 3.1
Chapter 3: Returning to Homeworld
After a long day and a half of working, Pink Diamond finally had her court organized. Sure, it was something like 98% Quartz soldiers with many roles left wide open due to a lack of "proper" gems for them, but what she had was organized. I'd be able to fill the gaps if I didn't have to keep up appearances for the others all the time. Although convincing the rest of the gems to leave their role and try something else will be… challenging. She thought to herself with a sigh.
Arriving at the bridge of her ship, she saw a trio of Peridots, literally her only technical specialists, manning the stations. At her arrival, one of them jumped up and saluted. "My Diamond, all members of your court who are returning to Homeworld are onboard. We are ready for departure."
Nodding her approval, Pink watched as the ship detached from the station and pulled away, gaining a bit of distance before engaging its faster-than-light drives. They would be back on Homeworld soon, and Pink was not looking forward to interacting with the other Diamonds. Busying herself with some minor tasks onboard the ship, their return was far to soon for her.
As the ship came into the docking bay, she saw a pair of Pearls rush into the receiving area. Blue and Yellow are probably really annoyed at me right now she thought as she shifted uncomfortably. Leaving the ship flanked by a squad of Rose Quartzes lead by Sway, she marched up to the Pearls.
Naturally, Yellows Pearl spoke up first. "Pink Diamond, Yellow and Blue Diamond wish to speak with you in the throne room as soon as possible." She declared loudly. Pink nodded, and after taking a moment to compose herself she lead her guards on to the throne room. Walking through the halls, her emotions ran wild through her mind so she barely heard the whispers from the courtiers at her being guarded by Rose Quartzes.
At the sight of the throne room, Pink remembered the last time she had come here, when she had told Yellow and Blue she was back. That meeting hadn't ended well, and Pink knew it wouldn't be good for her court if she picked a fight this time. Not waiting to be introduced, she marched into the room, determination filling her.
Yellow and Blue Diamond turned to the door as she entered, and they both looked upset.
"Pink!" Yellow nearly shouted. "What were you thinking? The Rose Quartz line of gems is unstable and dangerous, and you just let them out? Put them in charge of guarding you after one of them lead a rebellion against you? You've put yourself in serious danger!"
"Yellow, I'm not in any danger from these gems." Pink replied. So much for not picking a fight. I guess this technically isn't my fault though... "One gem from the cut became a rebel, and she inspired a few others to join her. The rest of them remained loyal to Homeworld the entire time. Besides, it's not like she's the only rebel who wanted to shatter me, she was just the only one who got the chance to actually do it." Sorry Bismuth, hopefully I'll be able to tell you the truth when I go back to Earth.
"Pink, think for a minute. The whole cut is flawed, they rebel to easily."
Pink bit down to stop herself from making an angry retort. Get back on track, don't let this turn into a fight. Taking a moment to center herself, she replied calmly. "The rest of the cut was redeployed years before I was attacked that night, there were none in my personal guard when I was shattered, so how can I blame them for it? I might as well blame the Amethysts who were in my guard for what happened. I must respectfully disagree with your conclusions Yellow, and I intend to keep the Rose Quartz gems in service. That is my decision as a Diamond, and if you intend to overrule me I will defend my court." Woops. I really am not good at this, am I?
Yellow physically recoiled from her words, and Pink braced for another round of yelling when Blue cut in. "Yellow, they're her gems, let her decide how to handle them."
Yellow looked back on forth between them, frustration evident on her face. Pink decided to try and calm her down a little. "If it makes you feel any better Yellow, I'm incorporating some Amethysts into my personal guard as well, so I'll never be watched by just Rose Quartzes." That really didn't seem to make Yellow all that happier, but she nodded and sat down regardless.
Blue gave a soft smile now that the fighting was over and turned to Pink. "Pink, we need to discuss officially announcing your return. We can't have you performing the duties of a Diamond without officially informing everyone that you're back. Now, for your return we need something suitably grand."
And here it goes, "Pink plan a ball for us" like before. Actually, maybe I can get around this… "Well Blue, I have a few members of my court who I can assign to plan a ball, but personally I'm to busy getting caught up to do it myself. Will there be anything else, a broadcast of some kind?"
Blue nodded at her. "We can handle broadcasting the news to our courts. However I am a bit concerned Pink. Keeping yourself too busy to plan a ball? Are you sure it's a good idea to work so hard after being shattered?"
Pink sighed. "Well, there's a lot of work that I need to get done before I can get my new colony going, and with my experiments there's even more work to do."
Blue was clearly still not happy with her running off to start a colony so soon after coming back, but she kept quiet about it. Yellow took the opportunity to shift the topic. "Speaking of your experiments, did you learn anything important from the Zoo? That station has been studying organic life for thousands of years, surely there will be some information there that could help your research.."
And if I hadn't taken the opportunity to collect that information it would be evidence that I'm not responsible enough for a colony so soon. "I did, the data was transferred over to the ship and I've assigned a few Peridots to analysing it and any records here on Homeworld." Pink answered.
"That's good to hear. White hasn't gotten around to telling me when she'll meet with you regarding this project, so I don't know how long you'll have to wait before starting it."
Blue took the moment to interject. "Pink, do you really think this is a good idea? Organic life is so messy and it gets everywhere. Surely now that you're back we'll be able to put the resource shortage behind us."
Pink frowned. "This is something that needs to happen Blue. There are only so many planets we can colonize before we run out, and the farther away we have to put colonies the harder it will be to run the empire. If we can understand why making gems destroys the organic life on a planet, we can learn how to make it independently. We could use planets until their stars die instead of being done in only a few thousand years." She answered, focusing on the part of her plan that was likely to get their approval and not the parts about making more gem-human hybrids.
Blue sighed. "I guess you've been putting a lot of thought into this. I hope it goes as well as you want it to Pink, you always were so fond of organics."
Pink could tell she was still uncertain about the whole thing, but that was to be expected. Blue was a traditionalist through and through, and massive changes like this would be hard for her to stomach. Yellow on the other hand would be much more accepting if she could get results, Yellow forgave a lot of things if the end result was higher efficiency.
The three of them talked for a while longer about Pinks plans, the conversation stiff and formal. Wrapping up, Yellow repeated her promise to help Pink convince White to let her run her experiments and Blue did her best to look supportive. As she left, Pink was amazed at how civil the whole thing had been. Maybe I actually got through to them. She thought as her guards met her at the door and she returned to her quarters.
Spinel was waiting for her when she got back, lounging on a couch while lazily playing with a couple Pebbles. "Hey Pink, how'd it go?"
"It went fine Spinel, Yellow and Blue were… reasonable. At least, compared to how they usually act. It was kind of weird honestly."
"Well, maybe they were worried you were going to run off and leave them, so they're just happy you came back?" Spinel responded, a playful tone despite the reference to her trauma.
Pink winced at the remark. "Well, whatever the reason, it's over. The announcement of my 'return' is coming soon, and Blue expects me to help throw a ball soon. Since I've got a lot of work going on and you have so much experience with cheering people up I was wondering…"
"You don't want to do it and want me to do it for you." Spinel said blankly.
"...Yes?"
Spinel just stared at her for several long seconds before smiling. "Sure, sounds like it might be a fun time/ All those gems that haven't had fun in such a long time, forced to attend by the other Diamonds."
Pink was regretting several of her recent decisions right now. "Spinel, don't embarrass anyone in front of the other Diamonds, they have hard enough lives as it is."
Spinel got a strange look in her eyes. "Alright Pink, I won't embarrass any gem but the Diamonds."
"Spinel…"
"I'm kidding! Maybe. Probably. Anyways don't you have work to do?"
...I asked her to do this because I have too much work to do it myself, if I say I don't have any work to do that'll confirm I just didn't want to do it… "Yes, I have a large amount of work to do. I will go do it now." Smooth.
Spinel seemed to share her opinion of that excuse, and as Pink went and started looking over the massive piles of reports Yellow had given her she heard a mischievous giggle from behind her. Shaking her head, she got to work on reading through the reports.
Three hours later, Pink was 100% done with reports. How does Yellow do this all day? It's nothing but documents and charts without end. It doesn't help that I spent so long on Earth with only two other gems, we didn't exactly use reports there. Finishing up the last section of a report on the redeployment of former members of her court to Homeworld for her to receive them, Pink pulled up the next report. As she read the title, she felt a wave of discomfort hit her...
A Collection of all Information Regarding the Planet "Earth"
Calm down Pink, it's just a report, you've seen what it talks about firsthand. It's not going to hurt you. As she began to read, she realized that it was mainly just a dry document about Earth's weather and biosphere. Alright, this isn't that bad… she thought. Going through the rest of the opening slides confirmed her impression. No mentions of the war to be seen in the first several hundred pages, just reports on the geological aspects of the planet, followed by a brief summary of what Homeworld knew about Earths organic life. There was much less than Pink would have liked, but the material that was there was so esoteric and heavy in jargon that she was hopeful a gem better suited to that sort of language would be able to get more meaning from what little there was.
A knock on the door interrupted her review, and when it opened she came face to face with a nightmare.
White Diamonds Pearl, Pinks original Pearl that had been taken and twisted by White into a puppet, stood in the doorway. "Pink Diamond, White Diamond will see you now."
Pink was shaken. As she got up to follow the Pearl, her mind was racing. She's still here, she's still like this. Thousands of years later and she's still like this. Why would White keep her like this, as a warning? Letting me know what would happen if I step out of line? Arriving at Whites Head Chamber, her Pearl disappeared, leaving Pink alone with her fears and the gem that had caused most of them.
"Hello Starlight. I heard you wanted to ask me something?" Came that voice, the voice that had haunted her dreams the first few times she had tried sleeping, that still slipped in every so often when she dreamed even thousands of years later. The voice of White Diamond, who had taken her Pearl from her and turned her into a bleached shell because Pink dared to actually enjoy her life instead of doing what she was told.
All of this ran through her mind as she stood there, staring up at the massive form of the most powerful Diamond, and by extension being, in existence. The silence stretched on, a long uncomfortable silence that came to an abrupt end when White lost her patience. "Well Pink? Yellow seemed to think this was quite important to you."
Her words shook Pink out of her shock, and she quickly responded. "It is important White. I had an idea for my next colony and Yellow thought it would be best if I ran it by you first." White waved her on and Pink braced herself to give the speech she had been practicing.
"I want to study how organic life is used to make gems so I can figure out how to make gems without stopping organic life from ever living their again so we can keep making gems for a longer time instead of just using a planet up and moving on." She said quickly, her emotions causing the words to roll together in some places. Locking eyes with White, she did her best to project confidence and determination despite those feelings.
After a brief moment, White laughed. "Oh, is that all? Alright Pink, go play around with the organics for a few hundred years. When you get tired of that we have plenty of real work for you to do."
Pink was stunned. She should have been happy that White had accepted her request that easily, but "real work"?
"What do you mean real work? This is real work, this could change everything! This could completely change how the empire functions, letting us keep colonies permanently producing new gems instead of leaving a trail of dead world behind us!" Pink answered, her offense at Whites words overcoming her fear for a moment.
White gave a soft laugh. "Of course Pink, I'm sure that's the only reason you want to do this, hmmm?"
Pink found herself stunned again. What does she know. How does she know. Oh crap, what if she changes her mind because she knows!?
"Anyways Pink, I gave you my permission to run your little experiments. Is there anything else you need?" White asked, the smile on her face just confirming Pinks fears that she was somehow reading her mind.
"No, White, I'll be going now." She said, immensely proud of herself for not stuttering in fear. Turning around, she felt herself get engulfed by a white bubble and get carried back to her room. As it deposited her back in room, Pink collapsed, tears streaming down her face as she felt panic overtaking her.
Spinel rushed over and shook her. "Pink, Pink what's going on? Pink are you alright?" Pink didn't answer, or more specifically, she couldn't answer. Her mind was racing, her emotions were overwhelming her, and she could barely hear Spinel even though she was right next to her.
She just looked at me, and it was like she knew everything. She can't though, she can't know everything. She's not all-knowing, otherwise they never would have used that attack on Earth… Pinks thoughts trailed off as a horrible question came to her. What if she did know, what if trapping me on Earth was part of her plan? What if she planned to trap me there as punishment for defying her? Is that why the machine was set to let her know I was back instead of all the Diamonds?
A sharp feeling of pain snapped her out of her fearful ramblings. Looking up, she saw Spinel staring down at her, a look of incredible rage on her face. "What the heck is going on Pink?" She shouted. "Did White hurt you, did she tell you no? You can't just drop in here and curl up on the floor to cry without telling me what's going on!" She was nearly shouting at this point, hints of tears in her eyes as well.
"I'm sorry" Pink answered "It's just, White basically treated my idea like it was a plan for a game, and then when I got upset over her treating me like a kid she implied that she knew I had other reasons to want to do this research and"
"Whoa, OK, stop. What exactly did she say? She might be playing mind games with you Pink, try to remember her exact words." Spinel interjected, gripping Pinks shoulders and looking her in the eyes.
Pink recounted the whole experience from start to finish. It was easy since she hadn't been in there for that long, but she had to stop several times and try to get herself under control. After she finished, Spinel asked the pebbles to build Pink a seat and helped her off the floor.
"Pink, I don't think she knows everything. She's obviously figured out something was off somehow and is playing mind games with you, but she doesn't know the whole story. So what if she didn't take your idea seriously, you'll just have to prove her wrong." Spinel said,
Her words were enough to calm Pink down a little. "You're right Spinel." She said, wiping her eyes clear. "She can't know the full truth. Besides, even if she did, she could have done whatever she wanted to me then, but she didn't."
"Yeah! So either she doesn't know or she doesn't care. I mean, obviously her not knowing is better and more likely, but either way, you're fine, we're fine, everything is fine." Spinel said, her tone full of forced optimism as she tried to convince herself as much as she tried to convince Pink.
Pink gave her a small smile as she stood up. "Thank you Spinel. Now that I have White's 'permission' I'm going to go talk to the other Diamonds about setting up my colony, do you want to come with me?"
She was very obviously not recovered from her breakdown, and Spinel could see that, but it was also very clear that Pink did not want to talk about what was going on, so she simply nodded. "Sure, the Pebbles are fun but there's not much else to do here."
Leaving her room with Spinel, Pink wasn't exactly in a cheerful mood, and it was obvious to everyone around her. Spinel seemed like she was going to say something, but everytime she looked at Pink she seemed to decide against it. Returning to the Diamonds throne room, Pink entered to find Blue and Yellow… were not there.
Of course they aren't here, they actually have courts and colonies to run, why would they sit around doing nothing all day like me? Pink thought bitterly. Asking her guards to send a messenger to get the other two Diamonds, Pink walked up to her throne. Spinel followed behind her, and after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence as Pink started up at her throne, Spinel said something.
"Pink, are you sure talking to the other Diamonds right now is a good idea? You're not giving yourself time to deal with what happened with White…"
"I don't need time to deal with it, there's nothing to deal with. You said it yourself, either she doesn't know the truth or she doesn't care about the truth."
"Pink that didn't mean you should just ignore what happened and go right back to work!"
"Well it's not like taking time to think about it will make it any better!" Pink shouted. "I tried that Spinel, I tried taking time to think about where I messed up back on Earth and you know where it left me?! I was"
"Shhhhhhhh" Spinel covered Pinks mouth. "Not so loud, we don't know who's listening."
Pink was not exactly happy about that, but she listened to Spinel and dropped her voice to a quieter, but still angry, level. "You know what waiting around, thinking about my mistakes and never trying to fix them left me? It left me messed up enough that when I came up with the idea of having a human baby and giving them my gem to make a hybrid, I went for it and didn't change my mind ever in the nine months I was pregnant. So no, Spinel, I don't want to just sit around and think about what happened. I want to fix this, I want to fix all of my mistakes, and I can't do that if I'm sitting around feeling bad about things."
Spinel had a look of shock on her face, and she backed a few steps away from Pink after hearing that. Seeing this, Pink slouched over and sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I just really want to get this done so we can leave Homeworld and I don't have to worry about White all the time."
Spinel nodded. "Alright, but once we go to setup your new colony, you are going to have some fun." Pink was about to argue when Spinel held up a finger in front of her face. "No! You aren't getting out of this, I don't care if it's with me or some other gem, but I know what you need to feel better, and as your friend I am going to make sure you get it."
Pink smiled at her. "Alright, if you insist. But first, I need to talk to Blue and Yellow about getting my colony started."
Naturally, at that moment Blue Diamond entered the throne room. Walking through the room she approached the thrones, coming up short when she saw Spinel. "Oh! Pink, you found your old Spinel! How wonderful, we thought she was lost forever when you… left." She said, trying to avoid saying shattered.
Pink noticed that Spinel was not happy with that statement, but she wasn't saying anything. We can complain about Blue together after we're done here. She thought before putting on a fake smile for Blue. "Well, she was actually in my old garden, I'm surprised you never went there."
"Really?" Blue asked. "How curious, I never thought to visit your garden, I was so worried that it wouldn't, well, fit me." She said with a chuckle, gesturing to her size compared to Pink. Pink frowned at the remark. Yes I know, I came out small and that's funny to you, I get it.
Spinel noticed her mood shifting and interjected. "I'm just so happy to be back with my best friend Pink Diamond! She was really sad when she came back, and I helped her be happy again!" She said. Pink frowned, she knew that Spinel couldn't exactly tell the truth to Blue, but watching Spinel pretend to be a happy, naive toy again just seemed wrong. Blue seemed to like it though, laughing along as Spinel used her shapeshifting to make some jokes while Pink laughed along to keep up the facade.
When Yellow walked in, Pink actually felt relieved. At least she wouldn't try and have fun like Blue. Of course, then she actually had to talk about important matters with Blue and Yellow, but at least that didn't involve Spinel reminding her of her failures.
"Pink, you wanted to speak with us?" Yellow asked.
Pink nodded, using the opportunity to brace herself. Remember, you can't tell them you got freaked out by White. Just get the whole thing over with and get out. "White called me in to discuss my plans for an experimental colony."
Both of the other Diamonds froze, and Pink could have sworn the atmosphere shifted at her words. Deciding to ignore it, she continued. "I presented my argument to her, and she agreed to allow me to run my experiments on a colony."
Yellow spoke up first. "She just… agreed? Just like that?" She asked, her tone both confused and a little hurt, to Pinks surprise. "All these millennia of me asking her if we could make changes or do something different and she just lets you do this after one meeting?"
Well this is not good. "I mean, she didn't really seem to be taking it all that seriously…" Pink answered. "She kind of implied that it was just another game I was playing and that she expected me to do 'real work' when I got bored with it."
That brought Yellow up short. She sat in her throne, pinching her forehead with a look of exasperation on her face. "That sounds more like White. It's not perfect, but it's still all the approval you need to do this. I assume you brought us here to review suitable worlds for your experiments?"
Pink nodded. "Thank you Yellow, I was hoping there were some planets near Earth for me to use for this colony, but if there aren't any world with organic life will do."
Yellow frowned and gestured at Blue. "She's got some planets over there that she could let you have."
Blue meanwhile was thoughtful. "Unfortunately, all my worlds in that region are being colonized right now. Let me see where the nearest available world would be… Pearl! Come here and show Pink the nearest uncolonized world with organic life to Earth."
As they reviewed planets, Pink found herself frustrated. Not with how far she would have to be from Earth, there were actually a few planets nearby that were untouched, but with the other Diamonds attitudes towards Pearls.
"I'm just saying Pink, running your court would be much easier if you had a Pearl to help you run things." Yellow was saying.
"I told you Yellow, I don't need a Pearl. I can run things on my own!"
"Pink, be reasonable, trying to run a court without a Pearl would be incredibly difficult." Blue tried to argue.
"I know, and I don't care. I'm not getting another Pearl!" I'm not going to replace her, I'm not going to replace her. She isn't just a tool to be replaced I'm not going to replace her.
The other Diamonds paused at the ferocity in her voice, before Yellow sighed. "Alright, try out running a court without a Pearl for a while Pink, if you change your mind, we'll be here."
"Yellow!" Blue exclaimed.
"It's fine Blue, if she doesn't want a Pearl let her try to run a colony without one." Yellow answered.
Pink frowned. At least they're letting me try. "Thank you Yellow, I will let you know if I decide I need a Pearl in the future. Now that We've got the planet picked out, I should go and get my court ready."
"Hold on Pink" Yellow stopped her before she could leave. "You can't just go to a planet and set up a colony, you need equipment and ships to move the equipment and all the machines to run your tests with. Now, I should be able to spare a few heavy transport ships for you to use, but we need to figure out where the equipment will come from. Pearl, pull up a list of colonization equipment in standby. Blue, do you have anything you can spare?"
"I believe I do, Pearl could you pull up that list for my court?"
Pink hung her head. I forgot about this part. Oh well, it had to be done. She thought to herself. Strangely, the thought did not make her feeling of boredom go away.
Hours later, it was almost done. The list of all the ships and equipment that would be officially transferred to her court, and the list of the ones that would just be borrowed by her court until they could make their own, was being finalized. Yellow was reviewing the list one last time when she turned to Pink. "You plan to return to Earth, correct?"
Pink blinked in surprise. "Yes" Where is she going with this?
"Then I will also transfer a pair of Large Mining Machines to your court." Yellow marked the list and moved on.
Pink was a bit confused. Why would I need those? Those things can crack a planet's crust! Does she think I'll need to break through the Earth's crust for something? Also wow that's a really inspired name, Yellow probably came up with it herself.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Yellow sighing. "Alright Pink, that is everything. I'll write up the orders and they should be ready to go in a month. Plenty of time for the announcement of your return and for your full court to assemble."
"Thank you Yellow, Blue, I'll be returning to my quarters to plan now." Pink answered, keeping herself from leaping out of her throne only through sheer will. The other Diamonds said their goodbyes, and she left with Spinel. A sense of excitement, of sheer happiness that she was finally going to be out and making things better, came over her, driving out the lingering fear from her meeting with White, and when she got back to her quarters she jumped into calling up members of her court to start preparing, Yellows suspicious addition of mining equipment to the list of machinery she would receive slipping from her mind.
Authors Note:
According to Google Docs, this is the longest update I've ever written for this story, at around 5k words. I'm pretty happy about that.
Also, the XF2 update messed up copy-pasting, so instead of just copy-pasting from Google Docs into the text box here and submitting, I had to go line by line to add paragraph breaks. If I missed any, let me know, and if you know a better way to get stuff from google docs onto this site, I would love to hear it.
EDIT: It was pointed out that no Rose Quartzes were in Pinks guard on the night of the attack according to canon, changes have been made to the relevant section.
After a long day and a half of working, Pink Diamond finally had her court organized. Sure, it was something like 98% Quartz soldiers with many roles left wide open due to a lack of "proper" gems for them, but what she had was organized. I'd be able to fill the gaps if I didn't have to keep up appearances for the others all the time. Although convincing the rest of the gems to leave their role and try something else will be… challenging. She thought to herself with a sigh.
Arriving at the bridge of her ship, she saw a trio of Peridots, literally her only technical specialists, manning the stations. At her arrival, one of them jumped up and saluted. "My Diamond, all members of your court who are returning to Homeworld are onboard. We are ready for departure."
Nodding her approval, Pink watched as the ship detached from the station and pulled away, gaining a bit of distance before engaging its faster-than-light drives. They would be back on Homeworld soon, and Pink was not looking forward to interacting with the other Diamonds. Busying herself with some minor tasks onboard the ship, their return was far to soon for her.
As the ship came into the docking bay, she saw a pair of Pearls rush into the receiving area. Blue and Yellow are probably really annoyed at me right now she thought as she shifted uncomfortably. Leaving the ship flanked by a squad of Rose Quartzes lead by Sway, she marched up to the Pearls.
Naturally, Yellows Pearl spoke up first. "Pink Diamond, Yellow and Blue Diamond wish to speak with you in the throne room as soon as possible." She declared loudly. Pink nodded, and after taking a moment to compose herself she lead her guards on to the throne room. Walking through the halls, her emotions ran wild through her mind so she barely heard the whispers from the courtiers at her being guarded by Rose Quartzes.
At the sight of the throne room, Pink remembered the last time she had come here, when she had told Yellow and Blue she was back. That meeting hadn't ended well, and Pink knew it wouldn't be good for her court if she picked a fight this time. Not waiting to be introduced, she marched into the room, determination filling her.
Yellow and Blue Diamond turned to the door as she entered, and they both looked upset.
"Pink!" Yellow nearly shouted. "What were you thinking? The Rose Quartz line of gems is unstable and dangerous, and you just let them out? Put them in charge of guarding you after one of them lead a rebellion against you? You've put yourself in serious danger!"
"Yellow, I'm not in any danger from these gems." Pink replied. So much for not picking a fight. I guess this technically isn't my fault though... "One gem from the cut became a rebel, and she inspired a few others to join her. The rest of them remained loyal to Homeworld the entire time. Besides, it's not like she's the only rebel who wanted to shatter me, she was just the only one who got the chance to actually do it." Sorry Bismuth, hopefully I'll be able to tell you the truth when I go back to Earth.
"Pink, think for a minute. The whole cut is flawed, they rebel to easily."
Pink bit down to stop herself from making an angry retort. Get back on track, don't let this turn into a fight. Taking a moment to center herself, she replied calmly. "The rest of the cut was redeployed years before I was attacked that night, there were none in my personal guard when I was shattered, so how can I blame them for it? I might as well blame the Amethysts who were in my guard for what happened. I must respectfully disagree with your conclusions Yellow, and I intend to keep the Rose Quartz gems in service. That is my decision as a Diamond, and if you intend to overrule me I will defend my court." Woops. I really am not good at this, am I?
Yellow physically recoiled from her words, and Pink braced for another round of yelling when Blue cut in. "Yellow, they're her gems, let her decide how to handle them."
Yellow looked back on forth between them, frustration evident on her face. Pink decided to try and calm her down a little. "If it makes you feel any better Yellow, I'm incorporating some Amethysts into my personal guard as well, so I'll never be watched by just Rose Quartzes." That really didn't seem to make Yellow all that happier, but she nodded and sat down regardless.
Blue gave a soft smile now that the fighting was over and turned to Pink. "Pink, we need to discuss officially announcing your return. We can't have you performing the duties of a Diamond without officially informing everyone that you're back. Now, for your return we need something suitably grand."
And here it goes, "Pink plan a ball for us" like before. Actually, maybe I can get around this… "Well Blue, I have a few members of my court who I can assign to plan a ball, but personally I'm to busy getting caught up to do it myself. Will there be anything else, a broadcast of some kind?"
Blue nodded at her. "We can handle broadcasting the news to our courts. However I am a bit concerned Pink. Keeping yourself too busy to plan a ball? Are you sure it's a good idea to work so hard after being shattered?"
Pink sighed. "Well, there's a lot of work that I need to get done before I can get my new colony going, and with my experiments there's even more work to do."
Blue was clearly still not happy with her running off to start a colony so soon after coming back, but she kept quiet about it. Yellow took the opportunity to shift the topic. "Speaking of your experiments, did you learn anything important from the Zoo? That station has been studying organic life for thousands of years, surely there will be some information there that could help your research.."
And if I hadn't taken the opportunity to collect that information it would be evidence that I'm not responsible enough for a colony so soon. "I did, the data was transferred over to the ship and I've assigned a few Peridots to analysing it and any records here on Homeworld." Pink answered.
"That's good to hear. White hasn't gotten around to telling me when she'll meet with you regarding this project, so I don't know how long you'll have to wait before starting it."
Blue took the moment to interject. "Pink, do you really think this is a good idea? Organic life is so messy and it gets everywhere. Surely now that you're back we'll be able to put the resource shortage behind us."
Pink frowned. "This is something that needs to happen Blue. There are only so many planets we can colonize before we run out, and the farther away we have to put colonies the harder it will be to run the empire. If we can understand why making gems destroys the organic life on a planet, we can learn how to make it independently. We could use planets until their stars die instead of being done in only a few thousand years." She answered, focusing on the part of her plan that was likely to get their approval and not the parts about making more gem-human hybrids.
Blue sighed. "I guess you've been putting a lot of thought into this. I hope it goes as well as you want it to Pink, you always were so fond of organics."
Pink could tell she was still uncertain about the whole thing, but that was to be expected. Blue was a traditionalist through and through, and massive changes like this would be hard for her to stomach. Yellow on the other hand would be much more accepting if she could get results, Yellow forgave a lot of things if the end result was higher efficiency.
The three of them talked for a while longer about Pinks plans, the conversation stiff and formal. Wrapping up, Yellow repeated her promise to help Pink convince White to let her run her experiments and Blue did her best to look supportive. As she left, Pink was amazed at how civil the whole thing had been. Maybe I actually got through to them. She thought as her guards met her at the door and she returned to her quarters.
Spinel was waiting for her when she got back, lounging on a couch while lazily playing with a couple Pebbles. "Hey Pink, how'd it go?"
"It went fine Spinel, Yellow and Blue were… reasonable. At least, compared to how they usually act. It was kind of weird honestly."
"Well, maybe they were worried you were going to run off and leave them, so they're just happy you came back?" Spinel responded, a playful tone despite the reference to her trauma.
Pink winced at the remark. "Well, whatever the reason, it's over. The announcement of my 'return' is coming soon, and Blue expects me to help throw a ball soon. Since I've got a lot of work going on and you have so much experience with cheering people up I was wondering…"
"You don't want to do it and want me to do it for you." Spinel said blankly.
"...Yes?"
Spinel just stared at her for several long seconds before smiling. "Sure, sounds like it might be a fun time/ All those gems that haven't had fun in such a long time, forced to attend by the other Diamonds."
Pink was regretting several of her recent decisions right now. "Spinel, don't embarrass anyone in front of the other Diamonds, they have hard enough lives as it is."
Spinel got a strange look in her eyes. "Alright Pink, I won't embarrass any gem but the Diamonds."
"Spinel…"
"I'm kidding! Maybe. Probably. Anyways don't you have work to do?"
...I asked her to do this because I have too much work to do it myself, if I say I don't have any work to do that'll confirm I just didn't want to do it… "Yes, I have a large amount of work to do. I will go do it now." Smooth.
Spinel seemed to share her opinion of that excuse, and as Pink went and started looking over the massive piles of reports Yellow had given her she heard a mischievous giggle from behind her. Shaking her head, she got to work on reading through the reports.
Three hours later, Pink was 100% done with reports. How does Yellow do this all day? It's nothing but documents and charts without end. It doesn't help that I spent so long on Earth with only two other gems, we didn't exactly use reports there. Finishing up the last section of a report on the redeployment of former members of her court to Homeworld for her to receive them, Pink pulled up the next report. As she read the title, she felt a wave of discomfort hit her...
A Collection of all Information Regarding the Planet "Earth"
Calm down Pink, it's just a report, you've seen what it talks about firsthand. It's not going to hurt you. As she began to read, she realized that it was mainly just a dry document about Earth's weather and biosphere. Alright, this isn't that bad… she thought. Going through the rest of the opening slides confirmed her impression. No mentions of the war to be seen in the first several hundred pages, just reports on the geological aspects of the planet, followed by a brief summary of what Homeworld knew about Earths organic life. There was much less than Pink would have liked, but the material that was there was so esoteric and heavy in jargon that she was hopeful a gem better suited to that sort of language would be able to get more meaning from what little there was.
A knock on the door interrupted her review, and when it opened she came face to face with a nightmare.
White Diamonds Pearl, Pinks original Pearl that had been taken and twisted by White into a puppet, stood in the doorway. "Pink Diamond, White Diamond will see you now."
Pink was shaken. As she got up to follow the Pearl, her mind was racing. She's still here, she's still like this. Thousands of years later and she's still like this. Why would White keep her like this, as a warning? Letting me know what would happen if I step out of line? Arriving at Whites Head Chamber, her Pearl disappeared, leaving Pink alone with her fears and the gem that had caused most of them.
"Hello Starlight. I heard you wanted to ask me something?" Came that voice, the voice that had haunted her dreams the first few times she had tried sleeping, that still slipped in every so often when she dreamed even thousands of years later. The voice of White Diamond, who had taken her Pearl from her and turned her into a bleached shell because Pink dared to actually enjoy her life instead of doing what she was told.
All of this ran through her mind as she stood there, staring up at the massive form of the most powerful Diamond, and by extension being, in existence. The silence stretched on, a long uncomfortable silence that came to an abrupt end when White lost her patience. "Well Pink? Yellow seemed to think this was quite important to you."
Her words shook Pink out of her shock, and she quickly responded. "It is important White. I had an idea for my next colony and Yellow thought it would be best if I ran it by you first." White waved her on and Pink braced herself to give the speech she had been practicing.
"I want to study how organic life is used to make gems so I can figure out how to make gems without stopping organic life from ever living their again so we can keep making gems for a longer time instead of just using a planet up and moving on." She said quickly, her emotions causing the words to roll together in some places. Locking eyes with White, she did her best to project confidence and determination despite those feelings.
After a brief moment, White laughed. "Oh, is that all? Alright Pink, go play around with the organics for a few hundred years. When you get tired of that we have plenty of real work for you to do."
Pink was stunned. She should have been happy that White had accepted her request that easily, but "real work"?
"What do you mean real work? This is real work, this could change everything! This could completely change how the empire functions, letting us keep colonies permanently producing new gems instead of leaving a trail of dead world behind us!" Pink answered, her offense at Whites words overcoming her fear for a moment.
White gave a soft laugh. "Of course Pink, I'm sure that's the only reason you want to do this, hmmm?"
Pink found herself stunned again. What does she know. How does she know. Oh crap, what if she changes her mind because she knows!?
"Anyways Pink, I gave you my permission to run your little experiments. Is there anything else you need?" White asked, the smile on her face just confirming Pinks fears that she was somehow reading her mind.
"No, White, I'll be going now." She said, immensely proud of herself for not stuttering in fear. Turning around, she felt herself get engulfed by a white bubble and get carried back to her room. As it deposited her back in room, Pink collapsed, tears streaming down her face as she felt panic overtaking her.
Spinel rushed over and shook her. "Pink, Pink what's going on? Pink are you alright?" Pink didn't answer, or more specifically, she couldn't answer. Her mind was racing, her emotions were overwhelming her, and she could barely hear Spinel even though she was right next to her.
She just looked at me, and it was like she knew everything. She can't though, she can't know everything. She's not all-knowing, otherwise they never would have used that attack on Earth… Pinks thoughts trailed off as a horrible question came to her. What if she did know, what if trapping me on Earth was part of her plan? What if she planned to trap me there as punishment for defying her? Is that why the machine was set to let her know I was back instead of all the Diamonds?
A sharp feeling of pain snapped her out of her fearful ramblings. Looking up, she saw Spinel staring down at her, a look of incredible rage on her face. "What the heck is going on Pink?" She shouted. "Did White hurt you, did she tell you no? You can't just drop in here and curl up on the floor to cry without telling me what's going on!" She was nearly shouting at this point, hints of tears in her eyes as well.
"I'm sorry" Pink answered "It's just, White basically treated my idea like it was a plan for a game, and then when I got upset over her treating me like a kid she implied that she knew I had other reasons to want to do this research and"
"Whoa, OK, stop. What exactly did she say? She might be playing mind games with you Pink, try to remember her exact words." Spinel interjected, gripping Pinks shoulders and looking her in the eyes.
Pink recounted the whole experience from start to finish. It was easy since she hadn't been in there for that long, but she had to stop several times and try to get herself under control. After she finished, Spinel asked the pebbles to build Pink a seat and helped her off the floor.
"Pink, I don't think she knows everything. She's obviously figured out something was off somehow and is playing mind games with you, but she doesn't know the whole story. So what if she didn't take your idea seriously, you'll just have to prove her wrong." Spinel said,
Her words were enough to calm Pink down a little. "You're right Spinel." She said, wiping her eyes clear. "She can't know the full truth. Besides, even if she did, she could have done whatever she wanted to me then, but she didn't."
"Yeah! So either she doesn't know or she doesn't care. I mean, obviously her not knowing is better and more likely, but either way, you're fine, we're fine, everything is fine." Spinel said, her tone full of forced optimism as she tried to convince herself as much as she tried to convince Pink.
Pink gave her a small smile as she stood up. "Thank you Spinel. Now that I have White's 'permission' I'm going to go talk to the other Diamonds about setting up my colony, do you want to come with me?"
She was very obviously not recovered from her breakdown, and Spinel could see that, but it was also very clear that Pink did not want to talk about what was going on, so she simply nodded. "Sure, the Pebbles are fun but there's not much else to do here."
Leaving her room with Spinel, Pink wasn't exactly in a cheerful mood, and it was obvious to everyone around her. Spinel seemed like she was going to say something, but everytime she looked at Pink she seemed to decide against it. Returning to the Diamonds throne room, Pink entered to find Blue and Yellow… were not there.
Of course they aren't here, they actually have courts and colonies to run, why would they sit around doing nothing all day like me? Pink thought bitterly. Asking her guards to send a messenger to get the other two Diamonds, Pink walked up to her throne. Spinel followed behind her, and after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence as Pink started up at her throne, Spinel said something.
"Pink, are you sure talking to the other Diamonds right now is a good idea? You're not giving yourself time to deal with what happened with White…"
"I don't need time to deal with it, there's nothing to deal with. You said it yourself, either she doesn't know the truth or she doesn't care about the truth."
"Pink that didn't mean you should just ignore what happened and go right back to work!"
"Well it's not like taking time to think about it will make it any better!" Pink shouted. "I tried that Spinel, I tried taking time to think about where I messed up back on Earth and you know where it left me?! I was"
"Shhhhhhhh" Spinel covered Pinks mouth. "Not so loud, we don't know who's listening."
Pink was not exactly happy about that, but she listened to Spinel and dropped her voice to a quieter, but still angry, level. "You know what waiting around, thinking about my mistakes and never trying to fix them left me? It left me messed up enough that when I came up with the idea of having a human baby and giving them my gem to make a hybrid, I went for it and didn't change my mind ever in the nine months I was pregnant. So no, Spinel, I don't want to just sit around and think about what happened. I want to fix this, I want to fix all of my mistakes, and I can't do that if I'm sitting around feeling bad about things."
Spinel had a look of shock on her face, and she backed a few steps away from Pink after hearing that. Seeing this, Pink slouched over and sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I just really want to get this done so we can leave Homeworld and I don't have to worry about White all the time."
Spinel nodded. "Alright, but once we go to setup your new colony, you are going to have some fun." Pink was about to argue when Spinel held up a finger in front of her face. "No! You aren't getting out of this, I don't care if it's with me or some other gem, but I know what you need to feel better, and as your friend I am going to make sure you get it."
Pink smiled at her. "Alright, if you insist. But first, I need to talk to Blue and Yellow about getting my colony started."
Naturally, at that moment Blue Diamond entered the throne room. Walking through the room she approached the thrones, coming up short when she saw Spinel. "Oh! Pink, you found your old Spinel! How wonderful, we thought she was lost forever when you… left." She said, trying to avoid saying shattered.
Pink noticed that Spinel was not happy with that statement, but she wasn't saying anything. We can complain about Blue together after we're done here. She thought before putting on a fake smile for Blue. "Well, she was actually in my old garden, I'm surprised you never went there."
"Really?" Blue asked. "How curious, I never thought to visit your garden, I was so worried that it wouldn't, well, fit me." She said with a chuckle, gesturing to her size compared to Pink. Pink frowned at the remark. Yes I know, I came out small and that's funny to you, I get it.
Spinel noticed her mood shifting and interjected. "I'm just so happy to be back with my best friend Pink Diamond! She was really sad when she came back, and I helped her be happy again!" She said. Pink frowned, she knew that Spinel couldn't exactly tell the truth to Blue, but watching Spinel pretend to be a happy, naive toy again just seemed wrong. Blue seemed to like it though, laughing along as Spinel used her shapeshifting to make some jokes while Pink laughed along to keep up the facade.
When Yellow walked in, Pink actually felt relieved. At least she wouldn't try and have fun like Blue. Of course, then she actually had to talk about important matters with Blue and Yellow, but at least that didn't involve Spinel reminding her of her failures.
"Pink, you wanted to speak with us?" Yellow asked.
Pink nodded, using the opportunity to brace herself. Remember, you can't tell them you got freaked out by White. Just get the whole thing over with and get out. "White called me in to discuss my plans for an experimental colony."
Both of the other Diamonds froze, and Pink could have sworn the atmosphere shifted at her words. Deciding to ignore it, she continued. "I presented my argument to her, and she agreed to allow me to run my experiments on a colony."
Yellow spoke up first. "She just… agreed? Just like that?" She asked, her tone both confused and a little hurt, to Pinks surprise. "All these millennia of me asking her if we could make changes or do something different and she just lets you do this after one meeting?"
Well this is not good. "I mean, she didn't really seem to be taking it all that seriously…" Pink answered. "She kind of implied that it was just another game I was playing and that she expected me to do 'real work' when I got bored with it."
That brought Yellow up short. She sat in her throne, pinching her forehead with a look of exasperation on her face. "That sounds more like White. It's not perfect, but it's still all the approval you need to do this. I assume you brought us here to review suitable worlds for your experiments?"
Pink nodded. "Thank you Yellow, I was hoping there were some planets near Earth for me to use for this colony, but if there aren't any world with organic life will do."
Yellow frowned and gestured at Blue. "She's got some planets over there that she could let you have."
Blue meanwhile was thoughtful. "Unfortunately, all my worlds in that region are being colonized right now. Let me see where the nearest available world would be… Pearl! Come here and show Pink the nearest uncolonized world with organic life to Earth."
As they reviewed planets, Pink found herself frustrated. Not with how far she would have to be from Earth, there were actually a few planets nearby that were untouched, but with the other Diamonds attitudes towards Pearls.
"I'm just saying Pink, running your court would be much easier if you had a Pearl to help you run things." Yellow was saying.
"I told you Yellow, I don't need a Pearl. I can run things on my own!"
"Pink, be reasonable, trying to run a court without a Pearl would be incredibly difficult." Blue tried to argue.
"I know, and I don't care. I'm not getting another Pearl!" I'm not going to replace her, I'm not going to replace her. She isn't just a tool to be replaced I'm not going to replace her.
The other Diamonds paused at the ferocity in her voice, before Yellow sighed. "Alright, try out running a court without a Pearl for a while Pink, if you change your mind, we'll be here."
"Yellow!" Blue exclaimed.
"It's fine Blue, if she doesn't want a Pearl let her try to run a colony without one." Yellow answered.
Pink frowned. At least they're letting me try. "Thank you Yellow, I will let you know if I decide I need a Pearl in the future. Now that We've got the planet picked out, I should go and get my court ready."
"Hold on Pink" Yellow stopped her before she could leave. "You can't just go to a planet and set up a colony, you need equipment and ships to move the equipment and all the machines to run your tests with. Now, I should be able to spare a few heavy transport ships for you to use, but we need to figure out where the equipment will come from. Pearl, pull up a list of colonization equipment in standby. Blue, do you have anything you can spare?"
"I believe I do, Pearl could you pull up that list for my court?"
Pink hung her head. I forgot about this part. Oh well, it had to be done. She thought to herself. Strangely, the thought did not make her feeling of boredom go away.
Hours later, it was almost done. The list of all the ships and equipment that would be officially transferred to her court, and the list of the ones that would just be borrowed by her court until they could make their own, was being finalized. Yellow was reviewing the list one last time when she turned to Pink. "You plan to return to Earth, correct?"
Pink blinked in surprise. "Yes" Where is she going with this?
"Then I will also transfer a pair of Large Mining Machines to your court." Yellow marked the list and moved on.
Pink was a bit confused. Why would I need those? Those things can crack a planet's crust! Does she think I'll need to break through the Earth's crust for something? Also wow that's a really inspired name, Yellow probably came up with it herself.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Yellow sighing. "Alright Pink, that is everything. I'll write up the orders and they should be ready to go in a month. Plenty of time for the announcement of your return and for your full court to assemble."
"Thank you Yellow, Blue, I'll be returning to my quarters to plan now." Pink answered, keeping herself from leaping out of her throne only through sheer will. The other Diamonds said their goodbyes, and she left with Spinel. A sense of excitement, of sheer happiness that she was finally going to be out and making things better, came over her, driving out the lingering fear from her meeting with White, and when she got back to her quarters she jumped into calling up members of her court to start preparing, Yellows suspicious addition of mining equipment to the list of machinery she would receive slipping from her mind.
Authors Note:
According to Google Docs, this is the longest update I've ever written for this story, at around 5k words. I'm pretty happy about that.
Also, the XF2 update messed up copy-pasting, so instead of just copy-pasting from Google Docs into the text box here and submitting, I had to go line by line to add paragraph breaks. If I missed any, let me know, and if you know a better way to get stuff from google docs onto this site, I would love to hear it.
EDIT: It was pointed out that no Rose Quartzes were in Pinks guard on the night of the attack according to canon, changes have been made to the relevant section.
Last edited:
paradoxdragon
Immersed in Dreams
- Location
- Someplace or another
Might have added something you shouldn't have Yellow ?? Something...possibly very very dangerous...also, does this mean that on the Timeline, it's just before Peridot came in ??
watched
watched
Well, the sidestory post includes a snippet from Yellows POV clarifiying where we are in the timeline.
TL;DR: The Ruby Squad has been sent to Earth, Yellow got called a clod by Peridot, and as far as anyone on Homeworld knows the Cluster might not emerge for years, so Pink has plenty of time to deal with it.
Thanks for the watch!
serra2
Himouto! Sylvanas-chan
Man, so no one has actual explained the Cluster to Pink yet? I kind of want the Cluster it self to be dealt with by Pink's Court without her ever finding out about it.
"What was that rumbling last night? It knocked a few things off of the shelves and woke me up for a bit!"
"Oh, nothing serious, my Diamond."
"What was that rumbling last night? It knocked a few things off of the shelves and woke me up for a bit!"
"Oh, nothing serious, my Diamond."
Pretty close, but I was thinking more along the lines of
*Pink finally learns about the cluster, runs to Earth*
"It's Pink Diamond! how is she here?"
"THERE'S A GIANT GEOWEAPON BURIED IN THIS PLANETS CRUST AND IT'LL KILL YOU ALL! GET ON THE SHIP OR YOU'LL DIE!"
"You meant the Cluster? We already dealt with that."
"...You did what now?"
Obviously not those exact words, but I feel that captures the spirit of what's going to happen pretty accurately. Although your version would be a fun non-canon thing to write if I ever hit writers block again.
- Location
- United States
Watched, partly because Pink is my favorite Diamond and seeing her trying to make a positive change for Homeworld is cool, but also for the inevitable train wreck for when she gets to Earth. I hope she and Steven can have some quality mother/son bonding time. Also if you're still looking for possible Pink Diamond designs I found one you might like. Should I post it here?
Oh yeah, when she gets to Earth there is going to be a massive emotional mess.
I am definitely still looking for images, thank you.
- Location
- United States
First time posting an image like this so I hope it works. The person who made it based it on the mural she's in, so I hope it's satisfactory. Also I can only imagine the reactions if the first news the Crystal Gems has about Pink Diamond coming back is from a Homeworld gem. It'd be hilarious.
That is an amazing design! It's definitely a good fit for her in this fic. Thanks for showing it to me.
Also, Pink is really hoping that she can break the news to them herself, but you know what they say about the best laid plans.
The Ball 4.1
Chapter 4: The Ball
Part 1
After her meetings with the other Diamonds, Pink Diamond threw herself into working with her court. The first 17 members who had joined her on the trip to the zoo had first been joined by the Rose Quartzes, and then by dozens and then hundreds of other gems from her court. Spinel was having the time of her life, with all these new gems she was able to go around making friends, and the few complaints were shut down by Pink telling the complainer that Spinel was simply boosting morale within the court. Lately, she had been hanging out with the various aristocratic gems who made up the bureaucracy of Pinks court. Pink had always had some issues with the more aristocratic members of her court, their adherence to rules and other attitudes reminding her far to much of Blue and Yellow, but Spinel obviously had a different attitude towards them.
With all the work she had to do, reading the surveys of her new colony and discussing how to setup the experiments without revealing how much she knew about how her powers interacted with organic life from her time on Earth, she found herself unable to read the report on Earth herself. Tasking Iolite to create a summary, she moved on to dealing with the constant influx of gems and reports that threatened to swamp her. Despite the difficulty, she refused to get another Pearl, and increasingly Spinel and Iolite found themselves looped into the roles Pearls filled in other courts. If either of them were insulted by this, they didn't say anything to her face.
After a few days of being distracted by other tasks, Iolite finally was able to meet with Pink to review the files on Earth. "My Diamond, based on my analysis I believe that reclaiming the existing structures on Earth will be a relatively simple affair. Despite the intelligence of the human species, all available records indicate that they are no threat to the forces available to you. However, there is a series of records regarding the end of the war, indicating that the planet might be hostile to gems in some way that would make establishing a colony difficult, but all the details are classified Diamond-level."
Pink nodded, thinking she knew exactly what Iolite was talking about. "According to Yellow, after the withdrawal the other Diamonds combined their powers to attack Earth, wiping out all the gems on the surface. Those files are probably just explaining the details of the attack and why they think it might still be dangerous."
As Iolite reviewed her memories of the files, she found herself in agreement.The cost-benefit analysis of reclaiming Earth included a massive resource expenditure at the initial stage of any effort, a lingering effect from an attack by the combined powers of three Diamonds could easily explain the need for such a massive investment in time and resources.
"In that case My Diamond, let us proceed to the plan to retake the Earth." She turned on a small projector, and Pink felt a wave of nostalgia for when Pearl used to project for her… It's better this way, at least this is just a machine and not a person. Iolite noticed her thoughtful expression and waited until she waved her on to commence with her presentation. "This plan was made with assistance by these other members of your court: Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 Cut 7XA, Red beryl Facet 9…"
As Pink listened to the list of gems who had helped make the plan, she felt incredibly guilty. There is no way I ever let this plan go into effect, even with our experiments to not harm the humans on Earth there is no way the Crystal Gems would be able to hide. The moment my court gets access to the Warp network the temple is indefensible, and either the Peridots will notice them using the warp or they'll have to cross the planet on foot.
Turning back to the presentation, Iolite was covering the kindergarten. "And so we will be able to begin experiments on potentially revitalizing the kindergarten via the power of the Rose Quartz gems using nearby organic life, however whether we succeed or not is entirely theoretical, as I must stress that until we have begun testing on your new colony world this aspect of the plan is effectively guesswork."
Pink nodded. "I understand."
"Moving on, we have plans for rehabilitating the remaining gem structures, such as the Lunar Sea Spire and communications hub, but those mostly consist of 'determine what state they are in, make repairs as necessary.' Beyond that, re-establishing our control on Earth will be a simple matter, given all the reports on humans they are projected to pose no threat to us, especially if we remain in a limited set of regions around the existing warp network, minimizing potential interactions between us and the humans." She turned to Pink, her presentation completed, silently waiting for her Diamonds approval.
"That was very informative Iolite, it's unfortunate that so much of our information on Earth is so out of date though, but I'm sure you did the best with what you had available to you."
"Thank you my Diamond, you are most gracious." Iolite bowed to her. "If I might make a suggestion, once your new colony is set up it might be prudent to send a scouting mission to Earth to gain updated information on the status of the humans and the remaining gem structures on the planet."
And find out that the Crystal Gems are still alive, and that gems can inhabit the Earth without problems. Fear ran through Pinks mind as she thought of what sending an expedition to Earth would mean. Forcing herself to remain calm, she told Iolite that she would look into it, and as Iolite saluted her and left to return to her other duties, she worried about Earth.
I can't keep the other gems away from it forever. One of these days I'll have to go back, and when I do I need to be sure I can save the Crystal Gems from being shattered. If I can't do that, even as a Diamond, then what am I even good for anyways?
With that happy thought, Pink returned to the stack of reports and requests that never got any smaller no matter what she did and did her best to sort them out.
After days of hard work, the Pink court went from chaos to organized chaos. Stuck in a subsection of the palace, the court technically didn't exist, and many of its members were uncertain on what exactly they were allowed to say about what was going on when asked by the gems who worked in the palace. Pink desperately wanted to move up the ball, but to do that, she needed to actually have it planned out first. Which is how she found herself in her quarters with Spinel going over the final draft of the plans.
"Spinel, I'm sorry but we need to make these changes or the other Diamonds will throw a fit! I;m sorry your plan didn't work out, but"
"But nothing. You gave me a job and didn't tell me everything I needed to know, and now we have to redo basically everything! How was I supposed to know that the color scheme of the decorations mattered that much?" Spinel asked, incredibly unhappy with the whole situation.
"I know, that's my fault, I just... " Pink hung her head. "Back before I started the colony on Earth, I was always throwing these balls for the other Diamonds, and after a while I started to feel like I was going around playing games and throwing balls while they were running the empire. So when I came back, I tried to avoid having to do it again." Lifting her head up, she looked Spinel in the eyes. "But that wasn't fair to you, and I'm sorry for that."
Spinel met her gaze for a few moments before turning back to the documents laid out before them. "It's fine, let's just get this stupid thing over with. I can't believe there are so many stupid rules about this, I'm actually happy that you never asked me for help before you left."
"I can't say I disagree with how you feel." Pink said, her voice quiet. Spinel gave her a look, and after all the talks they'd had that was enough to get Pink to elaborate. "I used to enjoy doing this, planning the ways the different gems would be positioned, what songs would be played, it all was so much fun, like I was playing with toys." She said, her voice hinting at her distaste for her past self. "Most of the time I hate how I acted back then, I was greedy, and immature, and I hurt you and so many other gems because of it. But sometimes, I just wish I was like that again, because at least then I was happy."
"We were both happier back then." Spinel answered, and Pink felt a pang of guilt run through her at the memory of what she'd done to Spinel. "But I'm going to be honest with you Pink, I like the new you better. I'm not happy with what it took to get you here, but I wouldn't want to go back to the way things were either."
"Thank you Spinel. That means a lot to me." Pink said, genuinely touched by the sentiment from her old friend.
"It's nothing, I just told you the truth." She answered.
"It helped me feel better, and that isn't nothing."
Spinel turned away from her, focusing on other things. "Then, I guess you're welcome. If you ever need someone to stand next to you and just tell you the truth, I'm your gem."
Pink let out a soft laugh at that. "I definitely need someone like you right now, sometimes it feels like the rest of my court thinks I'm going to shatter someone at a moments notice."
Spinel frowned at her. "Well, you did return from the dead and take them away from jobs they had been doing for millennia, this whole situation is kind of stressful."
"I know. Hopefully things will calm down once we are able to get the ball done and leave Homeworld, right now the palace is feeling cramped with my entire court jammed into it." Pink answered, turning to the plans for the ball. Manipulating the holographic design, she said "I think for this section if we just change this we'll be fine, and I'll take the blame if one of the others makes a fuss about it."
"You don't have to do that."
"Spinel, believe me, that is the least I could do for you." Pink answered.
Spinel blushed, turning back to the design for the ball with a small nod. The two of them spent a couple more hours working to finish the design before sending it to the other Diamonds, and afterwards Spinel decided she wanted to go meet up with a couple of gems who had actually agreed to call themselves her friends, leaving Pink to finish the preparations for her court alone.
After submitting the final plans to the other Diamonds so they could prepare their courts, Pink found herself trying to do the same to hers. Naturally, her restored honor guard had pride of place in the ceremonies, so she met with Sway to discuss getting them ready. After all, first impressions mattered, and she wanted to make sure all the Rose Quartz gems under her command were properly introduced to the empire.
Naturally, finding the commander of her personal guard was a simple matter, if it hadn't been there would have been something incredibly wrong, and thankfully she had been completely understanding of the need to have the Rose Quartzes impress at the ball. However, she had some concern about what was supposed to happen after the ball was over.
"My Diamond, I understand the logic behind using the Rose Quartz gems to help your experiments, but the gems in your personal guard should not be redeployed from guarding you! There are enough other Rose Quartz gems that doing that will only leave you vulnerable, what could my command do for the experiments that all the other Rose Quartzes can't?" She asked, impressing Pink with how willing she was to disagree with her in public. I'll make a Crystal Gem out of you yet Sway.
Outwardly, she hid this sense of pride behind what she hoped was a calm, professional expression. "I understand that they do not have the numbers to make a major difference, but I don't believe that guarding me will be a better use of their talents. After all, what exactly are they supposed to be guarding me from?"
"Rebels, or wild organic life, or, or, or…" Sway looked frustrated, her desire to keep her Diamond safe clashing with the logic that there wasn't exactly anything to guard against. "They also are useful for keeping your court in line, some of those aristocrats have already started playing whisper games and there isn't even something for them to scheme over until your colony is founded! Who knows what will happen if they are just allowed to run amuck?"
Pink frowned at that, and Sway seemed to shrink a bit at her look. "Sway, unless they have actually done something to deserve being kept in line, I will not use my guards to randomly intimidate members of my own court." They're stuck up and care too much about the rules like Yellow and Blue, but that doesn't make them bad. Sapphire was one of them, and Garnet told me she didn't hesitate to pull Ruby away from Blue back at the Sky Arena. Looking at Sway's face, she noticed that the gem was obviously upset and trying to hide it.
"Sway, what's the real reason?" She asked, her voice soft and understanding.
"I.. My Diamond, it's just… the night you were shattered, I was there to report, but none of my command was, because of the traitor, and because they weren't there the traitor was able to get through to you and she… and she…" Sway turned away, hiding her face. Pink placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, firm enough to stop her from running away but soft enough to let her know she wasn't angry. "Forgive me My Diamond, it's just… I care about them, and they've been punished because of what that traitor did for so long, and I know you say that you don't blame them but now you're sending them away again and."
She was cut off as Pink kneeled down and gave her a soft hug. Stunned that her Diamond had touched her in a friendly way, she stared at Pink blankly as she responded. "Sway, I don't blame them, and I'm sorry for sending them away the first time back on Earth, that was wrong." I never should have listened to Blue and Yellow, I should have stood up for them then, I shouldn't have punished them for what I did. "I don't want them to feel like they are still being punished for what the traitor did, and if that's what helping the experiments would feel like, then they won't be assigned there. I'm sure you'll be able to find something to keep them busy as they guard me." She said, a soft smile on her face as she stared Sway in the eyes.
Sway was shocked, staring up at her in disbelief as sheer gratitude overcame her. Moving forward, she wrapped Pink in a fierce hug. "Thank you, My Diamond" she whispered, her body shaking. After a few seconds of this, she realized what she was doing and leapt back, terrified by how many rules, official and unofficial, she had just broken. As she started to stammer apologies, Pink reached out and cupped her head with her hand.
"It's ok Sway, I'm not going to get mad at you for hugging me." She said, her voice soft as she fought to keep her emotions in check. I can't believe… alright I can believe that she thought she would be in trouble for hugging me, but I don't like it.
Sway stood there, silent for a moment, before whispering out a soft "thank you" and leaning into Pinks hand, as if Pinks mere touch was enough to reassure her that everything was ok. After a minute of this, she calmly took a step back and saluted. "My Diamond, I must return to my command now." At Pinks nod, she turned and walked down the corridor, the long commanding strides characteristic of an Agate seemingly lighter than they were before.
As Pink watched her leave, a sinking feeling came over her. She went through so much pain because of me. If… When I tell her the truth, she'll be devastated. In fact… she realized how similar Sway's attitude after she had reassured her had been to how Pearl had acted the first few times she had gone outside of what was "acceptable" for a Pearl and Pink had told her it was ok. Watching as Sway walked down the hallway, Pink felt powerless to stop the pain she knew Sway was going to feel. I am going to break her heart, and there's nothing I can do to stop it because everything I did to hurt her has already happened.
An hour later, Pink was walking down the hallway on one of the floors assigned for temporary use by her court when she heard a familiar voice coming from one of the rooms. Looking inside, she saw Spinel chatting with an orange Fire Opal. "Yeah I know what you mean, a lot of the gems here are all stuck up, they don't like having fun or anything." Spinel was saying.
"They like fun, they just think 'fun' involves spending years preparing to get revenge on a gem for the last time she got revenge on them or convincing a gem they are friends and then blaming her when they do something wrong." The Fire Opal said bitterly.
"Well that's why I'm here, to show them there are other ways to have fun!" Spinel answered, getting a soft chuckle out of the Fire Opal.
"Our Diamond thinks you can make this band of crusty old gems have fun? You must be really good at having fun." She said.
"She is." Pink said, stepping into the room, shocking the Opal who scrambled into a salute while Spinel only flinched a little. "Spinel is a trusted companion of mine, and if she says she can make my court less… treacherous than the courts of my fellow Diamonds then I believe her."
"My Diamond, I didn't mean to question your judgement." The Opal started to answer before Pink cut her off.
"It's fine, I'm not a 'crusty old gem' who will punish you for speaking your mind." Pink said, which surprised the gem in front of her. "In fact, I think it's good that some members of my court understand that things can't go back to the way they were back on Earth. I'll keep you in mind when it's time to assign tasks at my new colony, Fire Opal…?"
"F… Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3 My Diamond." She answered, shock and confusion all over her face.
Pink nodded an acknowledgement before turning to Spinel. "Spinel, the other Diamonds have confirmed the ball will happen in two days, if you have anything else you need to prepare before the ball now is the time."
"I've already got that handled Pink." Spinel answered, waving her off. Pink gave her a small nod before turning and walking out the door.
Inside the room, Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3 turned to face Spinel as soon as Pink left the room. "What was that about? Why did Pink Diamond just eavesdrop on us talking? Diamonds don't eavesdrop!?"
"She probably just heard me talking and came over to see what was going on, we are best friends after all." Spinel answered, trying to play it cool and calm her new friend down.
Those words got a reaction out of 6C3. "So, did she mean it when she said that she would be keeping me in mind because of my ideas, or was it just because you like me?" She asked, memories of the politics of the Lunar Sea Spire coming to the front of her mind.
Spinel shook her head. "She meant it, trust me. I know what she talks about where no one can hear her, she totally agrees with you on how her court acts. She probably wants you to set an example for the others, like how I'm here to set an example for how to have fun without hurting people!"
"If you say so…"
"I do say so. Now, before I forget, you know about the nicknames the Quartzes give each each other, right? Well considering how many Fire Opals there are in Pinks court, you need one. I'm thinking... Flare."
"No."
"How about Starfire?"
"Please stop."
"Okay then, no nicknames (for now). What do you like to do for fun?"
"... I relax and avoid court intrigue."
"Alright, I am going to teach you how to have fun like a Spinel!"
"I'm not a Spinel, it would be improper for me to…"
"Ahbaba! None of that! Pink Diamond has entrusted me with teaching her court how to have fun, and I have decided to start with you!"
As she was dragged off by the overeager Spinel, 6C3 reflected on the utter insanity of her life ever since she'd returned to her Diamonds court. Well, at least I'm not bored.
Authors Notes:
I'm not dead! I know my update frequency dropped off massively, and that's my bad, but I still was able to keep the gap to less than a week, so I'm calling that a success. I think from now on I'll shoot for one update a week on Friday/Saturday. I might do more, but I'll always have an update then.
This is mainly a setup chapter, the next one or two (depending on how writing goes) will cover the ball itself.
As always, thoughts and critique are welcome, if I don't know what I'm doing wrong I will never improve.
Part 1
After her meetings with the other Diamonds, Pink Diamond threw herself into working with her court. The first 17 members who had joined her on the trip to the zoo had first been joined by the Rose Quartzes, and then by dozens and then hundreds of other gems from her court. Spinel was having the time of her life, with all these new gems she was able to go around making friends, and the few complaints were shut down by Pink telling the complainer that Spinel was simply boosting morale within the court. Lately, she had been hanging out with the various aristocratic gems who made up the bureaucracy of Pinks court. Pink had always had some issues with the more aristocratic members of her court, their adherence to rules and other attitudes reminding her far to much of Blue and Yellow, but Spinel obviously had a different attitude towards them.
With all the work she had to do, reading the surveys of her new colony and discussing how to setup the experiments without revealing how much she knew about how her powers interacted with organic life from her time on Earth, she found herself unable to read the report on Earth herself. Tasking Iolite to create a summary, she moved on to dealing with the constant influx of gems and reports that threatened to swamp her. Despite the difficulty, she refused to get another Pearl, and increasingly Spinel and Iolite found themselves looped into the roles Pearls filled in other courts. If either of them were insulted by this, they didn't say anything to her face.
After a few days of being distracted by other tasks, Iolite finally was able to meet with Pink to review the files on Earth. "My Diamond, based on my analysis I believe that reclaiming the existing structures on Earth will be a relatively simple affair. Despite the intelligence of the human species, all available records indicate that they are no threat to the forces available to you. However, there is a series of records regarding the end of the war, indicating that the planet might be hostile to gems in some way that would make establishing a colony difficult, but all the details are classified Diamond-level."
Pink nodded, thinking she knew exactly what Iolite was talking about. "According to Yellow, after the withdrawal the other Diamonds combined their powers to attack Earth, wiping out all the gems on the surface. Those files are probably just explaining the details of the attack and why they think it might still be dangerous."
As Iolite reviewed her memories of the files, she found herself in agreement.The cost-benefit analysis of reclaiming Earth included a massive resource expenditure at the initial stage of any effort, a lingering effect from an attack by the combined powers of three Diamonds could easily explain the need for such a massive investment in time and resources.
"In that case My Diamond, let us proceed to the plan to retake the Earth." She turned on a small projector, and Pink felt a wave of nostalgia for when Pearl used to project for her… It's better this way, at least this is just a machine and not a person. Iolite noticed her thoughtful expression and waited until she waved her on to commence with her presentation. "This plan was made with assistance by these other members of your court: Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 Cut 7XA, Red beryl Facet 9…"
As Pink listened to the list of gems who had helped make the plan, she felt incredibly guilty. There is no way I ever let this plan go into effect, even with our experiments to not harm the humans on Earth there is no way the Crystal Gems would be able to hide. The moment my court gets access to the Warp network the temple is indefensible, and either the Peridots will notice them using the warp or they'll have to cross the planet on foot.
Turning back to the presentation, Iolite was covering the kindergarten. "And so we will be able to begin experiments on potentially revitalizing the kindergarten via the power of the Rose Quartz gems using nearby organic life, however whether we succeed or not is entirely theoretical, as I must stress that until we have begun testing on your new colony world this aspect of the plan is effectively guesswork."
Pink nodded. "I understand."
"Moving on, we have plans for rehabilitating the remaining gem structures, such as the Lunar Sea Spire and communications hub, but those mostly consist of 'determine what state they are in, make repairs as necessary.' Beyond that, re-establishing our control on Earth will be a simple matter, given all the reports on humans they are projected to pose no threat to us, especially if we remain in a limited set of regions around the existing warp network, minimizing potential interactions between us and the humans." She turned to Pink, her presentation completed, silently waiting for her Diamonds approval.
"That was very informative Iolite, it's unfortunate that so much of our information on Earth is so out of date though, but I'm sure you did the best with what you had available to you."
"Thank you my Diamond, you are most gracious." Iolite bowed to her. "If I might make a suggestion, once your new colony is set up it might be prudent to send a scouting mission to Earth to gain updated information on the status of the humans and the remaining gem structures on the planet."
And find out that the Crystal Gems are still alive, and that gems can inhabit the Earth without problems. Fear ran through Pinks mind as she thought of what sending an expedition to Earth would mean. Forcing herself to remain calm, she told Iolite that she would look into it, and as Iolite saluted her and left to return to her other duties, she worried about Earth.
I can't keep the other gems away from it forever. One of these days I'll have to go back, and when I do I need to be sure I can save the Crystal Gems from being shattered. If I can't do that, even as a Diamond, then what am I even good for anyways?
With that happy thought, Pink returned to the stack of reports and requests that never got any smaller no matter what she did and did her best to sort them out.
After days of hard work, the Pink court went from chaos to organized chaos. Stuck in a subsection of the palace, the court technically didn't exist, and many of its members were uncertain on what exactly they were allowed to say about what was going on when asked by the gems who worked in the palace. Pink desperately wanted to move up the ball, but to do that, she needed to actually have it planned out first. Which is how she found herself in her quarters with Spinel going over the final draft of the plans.
"Spinel, I'm sorry but we need to make these changes or the other Diamonds will throw a fit! I;m sorry your plan didn't work out, but"
"But nothing. You gave me a job and didn't tell me everything I needed to know, and now we have to redo basically everything! How was I supposed to know that the color scheme of the decorations mattered that much?" Spinel asked, incredibly unhappy with the whole situation.
"I know, that's my fault, I just... " Pink hung her head. "Back before I started the colony on Earth, I was always throwing these balls for the other Diamonds, and after a while I started to feel like I was going around playing games and throwing balls while they were running the empire. So when I came back, I tried to avoid having to do it again." Lifting her head up, she looked Spinel in the eyes. "But that wasn't fair to you, and I'm sorry for that."
Spinel met her gaze for a few moments before turning back to the documents laid out before them. "It's fine, let's just get this stupid thing over with. I can't believe there are so many stupid rules about this, I'm actually happy that you never asked me for help before you left."
"I can't say I disagree with how you feel." Pink said, her voice quiet. Spinel gave her a look, and after all the talks they'd had that was enough to get Pink to elaborate. "I used to enjoy doing this, planning the ways the different gems would be positioned, what songs would be played, it all was so much fun, like I was playing with toys." She said, her voice hinting at her distaste for her past self. "Most of the time I hate how I acted back then, I was greedy, and immature, and I hurt you and so many other gems because of it. But sometimes, I just wish I was like that again, because at least then I was happy."
"We were both happier back then." Spinel answered, and Pink felt a pang of guilt run through her at the memory of what she'd done to Spinel. "But I'm going to be honest with you Pink, I like the new you better. I'm not happy with what it took to get you here, but I wouldn't want to go back to the way things were either."
"Thank you Spinel. That means a lot to me." Pink said, genuinely touched by the sentiment from her old friend.
"It's nothing, I just told you the truth." She answered.
"It helped me feel better, and that isn't nothing."
Spinel turned away from her, focusing on other things. "Then, I guess you're welcome. If you ever need someone to stand next to you and just tell you the truth, I'm your gem."
Pink let out a soft laugh at that. "I definitely need someone like you right now, sometimes it feels like the rest of my court thinks I'm going to shatter someone at a moments notice."
Spinel frowned at her. "Well, you did return from the dead and take them away from jobs they had been doing for millennia, this whole situation is kind of stressful."
"I know. Hopefully things will calm down once we are able to get the ball done and leave Homeworld, right now the palace is feeling cramped with my entire court jammed into it." Pink answered, turning to the plans for the ball. Manipulating the holographic design, she said "I think for this section if we just change this we'll be fine, and I'll take the blame if one of the others makes a fuss about it."
"You don't have to do that."
"Spinel, believe me, that is the least I could do for you." Pink answered.
Spinel blushed, turning back to the design for the ball with a small nod. The two of them spent a couple more hours working to finish the design before sending it to the other Diamonds, and afterwards Spinel decided she wanted to go meet up with a couple of gems who had actually agreed to call themselves her friends, leaving Pink to finish the preparations for her court alone.
After submitting the final plans to the other Diamonds so they could prepare their courts, Pink found herself trying to do the same to hers. Naturally, her restored honor guard had pride of place in the ceremonies, so she met with Sway to discuss getting them ready. After all, first impressions mattered, and she wanted to make sure all the Rose Quartz gems under her command were properly introduced to the empire.
Naturally, finding the commander of her personal guard was a simple matter, if it hadn't been there would have been something incredibly wrong, and thankfully she had been completely understanding of the need to have the Rose Quartzes impress at the ball. However, she had some concern about what was supposed to happen after the ball was over.
"My Diamond, I understand the logic behind using the Rose Quartz gems to help your experiments, but the gems in your personal guard should not be redeployed from guarding you! There are enough other Rose Quartz gems that doing that will only leave you vulnerable, what could my command do for the experiments that all the other Rose Quartzes can't?" She asked, impressing Pink with how willing she was to disagree with her in public. I'll make a Crystal Gem out of you yet Sway.
Outwardly, she hid this sense of pride behind what she hoped was a calm, professional expression. "I understand that they do not have the numbers to make a major difference, but I don't believe that guarding me will be a better use of their talents. After all, what exactly are they supposed to be guarding me from?"
"Rebels, or wild organic life, or, or, or…" Sway looked frustrated, her desire to keep her Diamond safe clashing with the logic that there wasn't exactly anything to guard against. "They also are useful for keeping your court in line, some of those aristocrats have already started playing whisper games and there isn't even something for them to scheme over until your colony is founded! Who knows what will happen if they are just allowed to run amuck?"
Pink frowned at that, and Sway seemed to shrink a bit at her look. "Sway, unless they have actually done something to deserve being kept in line, I will not use my guards to randomly intimidate members of my own court." They're stuck up and care too much about the rules like Yellow and Blue, but that doesn't make them bad. Sapphire was one of them, and Garnet told me she didn't hesitate to pull Ruby away from Blue back at the Sky Arena. Looking at Sway's face, she noticed that the gem was obviously upset and trying to hide it.
"Sway, what's the real reason?" She asked, her voice soft and understanding.
"I.. My Diamond, it's just… the night you were shattered, I was there to report, but none of my command was, because of the traitor, and because they weren't there the traitor was able to get through to you and she… and she…" Sway turned away, hiding her face. Pink placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, firm enough to stop her from running away but soft enough to let her know she wasn't angry. "Forgive me My Diamond, it's just… I care about them, and they've been punished because of what that traitor did for so long, and I know you say that you don't blame them but now you're sending them away again and."
She was cut off as Pink kneeled down and gave her a soft hug. Stunned that her Diamond had touched her in a friendly way, she stared at Pink blankly as she responded. "Sway, I don't blame them, and I'm sorry for sending them away the first time back on Earth, that was wrong." I never should have listened to Blue and Yellow, I should have stood up for them then, I shouldn't have punished them for what I did. "I don't want them to feel like they are still being punished for what the traitor did, and if that's what helping the experiments would feel like, then they won't be assigned there. I'm sure you'll be able to find something to keep them busy as they guard me." She said, a soft smile on her face as she stared Sway in the eyes.
Sway was shocked, staring up at her in disbelief as sheer gratitude overcame her. Moving forward, she wrapped Pink in a fierce hug. "Thank you, My Diamond" she whispered, her body shaking. After a few seconds of this, she realized what she was doing and leapt back, terrified by how many rules, official and unofficial, she had just broken. As she started to stammer apologies, Pink reached out and cupped her head with her hand.
"It's ok Sway, I'm not going to get mad at you for hugging me." She said, her voice soft as she fought to keep her emotions in check. I can't believe… alright I can believe that she thought she would be in trouble for hugging me, but I don't like it.
Sway stood there, silent for a moment, before whispering out a soft "thank you" and leaning into Pinks hand, as if Pinks mere touch was enough to reassure her that everything was ok. After a minute of this, she calmly took a step back and saluted. "My Diamond, I must return to my command now." At Pinks nod, she turned and walked down the corridor, the long commanding strides characteristic of an Agate seemingly lighter than they were before.
As Pink watched her leave, a sinking feeling came over her. She went through so much pain because of me. If… When I tell her the truth, she'll be devastated. In fact… she realized how similar Sway's attitude after she had reassured her had been to how Pearl had acted the first few times she had gone outside of what was "acceptable" for a Pearl and Pink had told her it was ok. Watching as Sway walked down the hallway, Pink felt powerless to stop the pain she knew Sway was going to feel. I am going to break her heart, and there's nothing I can do to stop it because everything I did to hurt her has already happened.
An hour later, Pink was walking down the hallway on one of the floors assigned for temporary use by her court when she heard a familiar voice coming from one of the rooms. Looking inside, she saw Spinel chatting with an orange Fire Opal. "Yeah I know what you mean, a lot of the gems here are all stuck up, they don't like having fun or anything." Spinel was saying.
"They like fun, they just think 'fun' involves spending years preparing to get revenge on a gem for the last time she got revenge on them or convincing a gem they are friends and then blaming her when they do something wrong." The Fire Opal said bitterly.
"Well that's why I'm here, to show them there are other ways to have fun!" Spinel answered, getting a soft chuckle out of the Fire Opal.
"Our Diamond thinks you can make this band of crusty old gems have fun? You must be really good at having fun." She said.
"She is." Pink said, stepping into the room, shocking the Opal who scrambled into a salute while Spinel only flinched a little. "Spinel is a trusted companion of mine, and if she says she can make my court less… treacherous than the courts of my fellow Diamonds then I believe her."
"My Diamond, I didn't mean to question your judgement." The Opal started to answer before Pink cut her off.
"It's fine, I'm not a 'crusty old gem' who will punish you for speaking your mind." Pink said, which surprised the gem in front of her. "In fact, I think it's good that some members of my court understand that things can't go back to the way they were back on Earth. I'll keep you in mind when it's time to assign tasks at my new colony, Fire Opal…?"
"F… Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3 My Diamond." She answered, shock and confusion all over her face.
Pink nodded an acknowledgement before turning to Spinel. "Spinel, the other Diamonds have confirmed the ball will happen in two days, if you have anything else you need to prepare before the ball now is the time."
"I've already got that handled Pink." Spinel answered, waving her off. Pink gave her a small nod before turning and walking out the door.
Inside the room, Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3 turned to face Spinel as soon as Pink left the room. "What was that about? Why did Pink Diamond just eavesdrop on us talking? Diamonds don't eavesdrop!?"
"She probably just heard me talking and came over to see what was going on, we are best friends after all." Spinel answered, trying to play it cool and calm her new friend down.
Those words got a reaction out of 6C3. "So, did she mean it when she said that she would be keeping me in mind because of my ideas, or was it just because you like me?" She asked, memories of the politics of the Lunar Sea Spire coming to the front of her mind.
Spinel shook her head. "She meant it, trust me. I know what she talks about where no one can hear her, she totally agrees with you on how her court acts. She probably wants you to set an example for the others, like how I'm here to set an example for how to have fun without hurting people!"
"If you say so…"
"I do say so. Now, before I forget, you know about the nicknames the Quartzes give each each other, right? Well considering how many Fire Opals there are in Pinks court, you need one. I'm thinking... Flare."
"No."
"How about Starfire?"
"Please stop."
"Okay then, no nicknames (for now). What do you like to do for fun?"
"... I relax and avoid court intrigue."
"Alright, I am going to teach you how to have fun like a Spinel!"
"I'm not a Spinel, it would be improper for me to…"
"Ahbaba! None of that! Pink Diamond has entrusted me with teaching her court how to have fun, and I have decided to start with you!"
As she was dragged off by the overeager Spinel, 6C3 reflected on the utter insanity of her life ever since she'd returned to her Diamonds court. Well, at least I'm not bored.
Authors Notes:
I'm not dead! I know my update frequency dropped off massively, and that's my bad, but I still was able to keep the gap to less than a week, so I'm calling that a success. I think from now on I'll shoot for one update a week on Friday/Saturday. I might do more, but I'll always have an update then.
This is mainly a setup chapter, the next one or two (depending on how writing goes) will cover the ball itself.
As always, thoughts and critique are welcome, if I don't know what I'm doing wrong I will never improve.
serra2
Himouto! Sylvanas-chan
Don't apologize, take your time if you have to.
paradoxdragon
Immersed in Dreams
- Location
- Someplace or another
Agreed, don't burn yourself out here
Thanks
I don't think I'm at risk of burnout, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew I hadn't just stopped writing when I went quiet for nearly a week. I guess I just got used to the fast pace of my initial burst of updates that going a week without updating seemed like I was taking forever to get the update done.
The Ball 4.2
Chapter 4: The Ball
Part 2
Pink Diamond felt anxious and tired as she waited on her throne for the ball to begin. After thousands of years on Earth, she had gotten used to a slower pace of life, and the days of work to prepare for the ball had been difficult to handle, especially since the last day before had been spent reviewing both the ball and her colony plans with the other Diamonds. No wonder Yellow was always so mean if she does this all the time. She thought to herself as a few courtiers finished the final decorations.
"So you're sure it's ok for me to sit up here?" Spinel asked from her seat at the top of the stairs leading to Pinks throne.
Pink nodded "Yes Spinel, I'm a Diamond, and I say it's ok. If anyone gets in trouble for improper behavior it'll be me." And after you made that joke about pranking the other Diamonds during the ball I want to keep you right here where I can see you.
Spinel seemed to accept this response, and as various lower ranking gems began to arrive she watched as the members of her court take their places amongst Yellow and Blue's gems. As always, there were no gems from Whites court in attendance, and Pink didn't know if White would even bother attending. I hope she doesn't, I don't need to deal with her sitting behind me and judging me the whole time.
As the gems took their positions, she looked for the gems she recognized from her court. The Rose Quartzes were over by the Amethysts from the other courts, and as her eyes swept across them she made eye contact with
Sway, who was double checking her command. With a small approving nod, Pink watched the Agate stand a little straighter, before one of the Rose Quartzes said something that made the others nearby laugh, and Sway turned to get them quiet. I wonder what that's about… Pink thought before she heard the sound of music.
Looking up, she saw the green gem that was singing, embedded into the wall. The sight of a gem made only to stay in one place and serve as a glorified instrument unsettled her to her core. At least with gems that could move around they could have a chance to be free like the Crystal Gems did, but that gem and who knows how many others trapped as decorations would never have that chance.
I'll do something to help you, one day. Pink promised silently before the first gems walked forward to present themselves to her, the music being the signal for the ceremony to begin. For now, there wasn't much she could do for the majority of the gems in the empire, even with her own court she would need to tread carefully in case word made it back to the other Diamonds, but she knew she had to do something. She wasn't quite sure what, but as the crowd of gems presented themselves to her she knew that even if she could just ignore how other gems were suffering, she would hate to live like this for much longer. The distance between her and every gem in her court except for Spinel was so large, and the way that they all treated her was enough to make her uneasy after thousands of years with gems who respected her but didn't worship her.
As the various aristocrats came forward, the Fire Opal that Spinel had been making friends with was with them. When it was her turn to present herself, she looked the orange gem in the eyes and gave her a small smile and a nod. Surprised, the Fire Opal blinked a few times before returning the nod, the rest of her form locked in a perfect salute. As she walked away, Pink mentally thanked her for being Spinels friend while she was busy. I can't even imagine how difficult it must be to keep up with Spinel if you aren't used to her, and when we get off Homeworld and she doesn't have to worry about members of another court seeing or hearing about what she's doing…
When the rest of her court finished presenting themselves, the time came for the least comfortable part of the night. As the assembled gems lined up, Yellow Diamonds Pearl entered the room to announce her owner. Pink fought back tears at that thought, even after months of interacting with the other Diamonds Pearls and the Pearls of various high-ranking gems she still couldn't help but get a flash of sadness at the thought of the Pearl that had stolen her heart, the terrifying renegade that she had last seen on the beach by the temple before being thrust into her old life again. But it isn't your old life, it's the original Pink Diamonds old life… I'm not dealing with this right now, I have her memories, I have a Pink Diamond gem, that makes me Pink Diamond.
Her thoughts were interrupted as Yellows Pearl made her announcement. "Everyone, behold! The daunting, beauty and elegance that is, Yellow Diamond!"
The curtains over the Diamond sized entrance were pulled back, and Yellow entered the ballroom and walked towards Pink, greeting her informally. "Not a bad turnout Pink."
"Thank you Yellow, I appreciate your attendance." Pink responded as the other Diamond took her seat. Before them, Blue Diamonds Pearl announced her in the same way.
"You're doing a wonderful job so far Pink." She said as she walked up, and Pink forced herself to smile and thank her despite all her emotional issues.
Finally, the worst part of the night arrived. Standing in the doorway was Pink Diamonds old Pearl, the Pearl that Pink had spent so long playing with before White had decided to punish her by taking her Pearl and doing something to her, leaving her a shallow husk that could only obey White. Just looking at the Pearl was enough to make Pink angry, but when she started speaking she was upset for an entirely different reason.
"To those in attendance of the Era 3 ball, White Diamond... has more important things to attend to." As Pink reeled from her words, the Pearl was encased in a white bubble and moved up onto Whites throne behind her. "Therefore, I will be here to observe in her place. Welcome to Era 3!"
Pink was enraged. After everything I did to make this work, she just sends her Pearl? She's mocking me, she knows I did something on Earth and this a punishment, a reminder of what happens if I get out of line.
"Pink? Pink are you alright?" She heard Blue ask her.
With her hands digging into the side of her throne so hard she thought she might break her form from the pressure, she managed to force herself to answer. "Yes Blue, I'm fine."
"Pink, I understand that White not attending is disappointing, but we still have to make it through the ball.' Yellow told her as she seethed in anger.
Taking in a breath, she forced her anger back inside, hiding under an emotionless mask. "Fine, let's begin." She said before turning back to the assembled gems. Yellow gave the signal for the dancing to begin, and as Pink watched over the sea of gems performing slow, methodical dances as the music droned on, slow and peaceful. Watching the whole scene, Pink found herself comparing the ball to some of the human shows she'd seen.
It's so… boring. I knew it would be bad, but I didn't realize how bad until now. These gems aren't enjoying themselves, they are doing it because I told them to, because I needed the ball to be nice and successful to make Blue happy. Sighing, she leaned back in her throne, glancing down at Spinel who gave her a look of discomfort. Offering a reassuring smile in return, Pink turned her gaze over the crowd, watching over the gems dancing on the floor. I can't stop the ball now, all I can do is just get it over with as quickly as possible. She thought to herself, her eyes gazing over to her court to see the clump of Iolites over by the back corner. As her gaze passed over the Iolite that had been serving as her official investigator for these last few months, she realized that she had never used the arguments that Iolite had put together to justify experiments with organic life, the other Diamonds had just accepted her plans once White had given her approval.
White Diamond… a surge of anger overcame her as she glanced up to White's throne, where her former Pearl stood, watching over the ballroom. Why do you still have her like this White? What do you get out of holding her like this for thousands of years? Did you expect me to come back, is that it? Are you holding her just to mock me, to remind me of what happens when I make you mad? The Pearl didn't react to her gaze, her face locked in a large smile, her bleached white frame and the marks on her eye reminding Pink of her first major mistake. But not my last. I'll fix this, I'll fix everything. I have a second chance to make everything right, and if I don't, if I mess this up… I can't mess up again, I let every gem in the empire suffer last time.
Turning back to the ballroom floor, she noticed the smaller sizes of a few of the gems present. Even the Diamonds courts were not entirely Era 1 gems, and as she saw the smaller Era 2 gems side-by-side with their Era 1 counterparts, she was reminded of the consequences of her last failure. They are like that because of me. Without me to help make the injector fluid, those gems came out smaller and weaker, and killed more of their planets. I need to make it up to them, somehow. I was such a coward that I didn't think about what would happen to every other gem in existence, I just wish I knew how.
As the night dragged on, Pink found herself increasingly annoyed, both with the ball and with her past self for enjoying the ball. Thankfully, after hours of dancing and music, the ball finally ended with her giving a brief speech.
"Assembled Gems, I trust you all had a wonderful time tonight. I haven't been to a ball like this in thousands of years, and I wish to thank you all for making this such a wonderful night! And for putting up with this waste of time. "Now that my court is assembled, I will be far too busy to have another ball like this in the immediate future, but I'm sure that once my new colony has reached its first successes we will host an even grander celebration! Thank you again for making this ball so wonderful, goodbye!" She said, signaling to the assembled gems that it was time to leave.
It only took a few minutes for the room to empty, the gems who had been in attendance filtering out through the various doors in a calm and orderly fashion, and when the last door closed Blue turned to Pink.
"Pink, you know you don't have to thank them for doing their jobs."
Pink bit back her initial response, instead calmly answering, "I know Blue, but I wanted to thank them for a wonderful party." And just because I could have ignored them doesn't make it right.
"Well, it was a nice party…"
"I agree!" The voice of White Diamond came from her Pearl, causing all three of the assembled Diamonds to flinch in fear. "That was an excellent party, White Diamond will be pleased to hear about it." The Pearl said before a white bubble encased her and she floated out of the room.
As she left, Yellow shook her head. "I can't believe her. Not showing up for the first ball of Pinks return, and sending her Pearl instead?" She asked incredulously.
"Yellow, not so loud." Blue said with a concerned voice.
Yellow held her angry glance for a few moments before hanging her head and sighing. "I know, it's just so frustrating how she refuses to treat any of us like we matter. We say we're 'The Great Diamond Authority' but half the time it feels like White ignores everything we do."
Well now you understand how I felt. Pink thought, but she didn't say anything that could cause drama before she was able to leave Homeworld. "Yellow, is there anything else we need to discuss regarding my colony?" She asked, hoping to shift the conversation around. Yellow blinked a few times at the sudden shift in topic before answering.
"No, I don't believe so…" She trailed off as Blue swept pink up in a hug.
"I'm going to miss you Pink, you were gone for so long." She said, and Pink could feel tears welling up as Blues emotions swept through the room.
"Blue, I'll call you regularly all right? It's not going to be the same, I'll still be around, alright?" Pink fought with the tears, refusing to give in to Blue's power even as it reminded her of all those dark days locked in the tower. She's not trying to torture you, she's not trying to torture you, she's not…
"Blue, stop using your powers." Yellow commanded, her voice firm even with the tears in her eyes. As Blue pulled back, she gave Pink a small smile.
"I'm sorry, I know you want to get your colony setup as fast as you can, but I will miss you. If you're certain you have to go now, then I won't stop you."
Pink froze, emotions warring in her mind. For thousands of years before she had been given Earth, Blue had been a constant source of fear and anger for her. But as she stood there, looking up at the massive form of the Diamond who towered over her, she realized she actually felt slightly bad about leaving her. She looks so sad, and she actually seems like she's gotten better… "Thank you Blue, I'll get the communications hub set up as soon as I can so you can call me."
Pink turned and walked out, meeting her guards at the door. Smiling, Pink fell in with them, and together the small group walked over to the docking bay where the first of the ships Pink would use to take her court to her new colony was waiting.
As her party arrived at the docking bay, she saw Spinel come running up behind them, the pebbles from her room held in her arms. At Pinks look, Spinel got defensive. "What? I wasn't going to just leave them alone waiting for you to come back!"
Like you did. The unspoken words hung in the air as Pink nodded to Spinel, who carried the Pebbles into the waiting ship.
As the ship took off, Pink stood by one of the windows, watching as the massive white form of Whites ship/palace shrank behind them. I'll free them White. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but some day I'm going to free every gem on this planet from you, and I'll never have to be afraid of you again. She promised silently as the ship left the atmosphere, leaving Homeworld, the other Diamonds, and all of their rules with it. The gems in her court might not be ready to go full on Crystal Gem for a long time, and her planned experiments might not even work out, but just being free from Homeworld was enough to put a smile on her face as she watched her court prepare for arrival at their new world.
Authors Notes:
This one fought me, I just wanted to get off of Homeworld and onto the plot, but I didn't want to skip the ball, and this was the result. I did however come up with a few interesting ideas for other gems reactions, so there's going to be another reactions chapter sometime next week before the first part of Pinks new colony next Friday.
As always, let me know what you think in the comments.
Part 2
Pink Diamond felt anxious and tired as she waited on her throne for the ball to begin. After thousands of years on Earth, she had gotten used to a slower pace of life, and the days of work to prepare for the ball had been difficult to handle, especially since the last day before had been spent reviewing both the ball and her colony plans with the other Diamonds. No wonder Yellow was always so mean if she does this all the time. She thought to herself as a few courtiers finished the final decorations.
"So you're sure it's ok for me to sit up here?" Spinel asked from her seat at the top of the stairs leading to Pinks throne.
Pink nodded "Yes Spinel, I'm a Diamond, and I say it's ok. If anyone gets in trouble for improper behavior it'll be me." And after you made that joke about pranking the other Diamonds during the ball I want to keep you right here where I can see you.
Spinel seemed to accept this response, and as various lower ranking gems began to arrive she watched as the members of her court take their places amongst Yellow and Blue's gems. As always, there were no gems from Whites court in attendance, and Pink didn't know if White would even bother attending. I hope she doesn't, I don't need to deal with her sitting behind me and judging me the whole time.
As the gems took their positions, she looked for the gems she recognized from her court. The Rose Quartzes were over by the Amethysts from the other courts, and as her eyes swept across them she made eye contact with
Sway, who was double checking her command. With a small approving nod, Pink watched the Agate stand a little straighter, before one of the Rose Quartzes said something that made the others nearby laugh, and Sway turned to get them quiet. I wonder what that's about… Pink thought before she heard the sound of music.
Looking up, she saw the green gem that was singing, embedded into the wall. The sight of a gem made only to stay in one place and serve as a glorified instrument unsettled her to her core. At least with gems that could move around they could have a chance to be free like the Crystal Gems did, but that gem and who knows how many others trapped as decorations would never have that chance.
I'll do something to help you, one day. Pink promised silently before the first gems walked forward to present themselves to her, the music being the signal for the ceremony to begin. For now, there wasn't much she could do for the majority of the gems in the empire, even with her own court she would need to tread carefully in case word made it back to the other Diamonds, but she knew she had to do something. She wasn't quite sure what, but as the crowd of gems presented themselves to her she knew that even if she could just ignore how other gems were suffering, she would hate to live like this for much longer. The distance between her and every gem in her court except for Spinel was so large, and the way that they all treated her was enough to make her uneasy after thousands of years with gems who respected her but didn't worship her.
As the various aristocrats came forward, the Fire Opal that Spinel had been making friends with was with them. When it was her turn to present herself, she looked the orange gem in the eyes and gave her a small smile and a nod. Surprised, the Fire Opal blinked a few times before returning the nod, the rest of her form locked in a perfect salute. As she walked away, Pink mentally thanked her for being Spinels friend while she was busy. I can't even imagine how difficult it must be to keep up with Spinel if you aren't used to her, and when we get off Homeworld and she doesn't have to worry about members of another court seeing or hearing about what she's doing…
When the rest of her court finished presenting themselves, the time came for the least comfortable part of the night. As the assembled gems lined up, Yellow Diamonds Pearl entered the room to announce her owner. Pink fought back tears at that thought, even after months of interacting with the other Diamonds Pearls and the Pearls of various high-ranking gems she still couldn't help but get a flash of sadness at the thought of the Pearl that had stolen her heart, the terrifying renegade that she had last seen on the beach by the temple before being thrust into her old life again. But it isn't your old life, it's the original Pink Diamonds old life… I'm not dealing with this right now, I have her memories, I have a Pink Diamond gem, that makes me Pink Diamond.
Her thoughts were interrupted as Yellows Pearl made her announcement. "Everyone, behold! The daunting, beauty and elegance that is, Yellow Diamond!"
The curtains over the Diamond sized entrance were pulled back, and Yellow entered the ballroom and walked towards Pink, greeting her informally. "Not a bad turnout Pink."
"Thank you Yellow, I appreciate your attendance." Pink responded as the other Diamond took her seat. Before them, Blue Diamonds Pearl announced her in the same way.
"You're doing a wonderful job so far Pink." She said as she walked up, and Pink forced herself to smile and thank her despite all her emotional issues.
Finally, the worst part of the night arrived. Standing in the doorway was Pink Diamonds old Pearl, the Pearl that Pink had spent so long playing with before White had decided to punish her by taking her Pearl and doing something to her, leaving her a shallow husk that could only obey White. Just looking at the Pearl was enough to make Pink angry, but when she started speaking she was upset for an entirely different reason.
"To those in attendance of the Era 3 ball, White Diamond... has more important things to attend to." As Pink reeled from her words, the Pearl was encased in a white bubble and moved up onto Whites throne behind her. "Therefore, I will be here to observe in her place. Welcome to Era 3!"
Pink was enraged. After everything I did to make this work, she just sends her Pearl? She's mocking me, she knows I did something on Earth and this a punishment, a reminder of what happens if I get out of line.
"Pink? Pink are you alright?" She heard Blue ask her.
With her hands digging into the side of her throne so hard she thought she might break her form from the pressure, she managed to force herself to answer. "Yes Blue, I'm fine."
"Pink, I understand that White not attending is disappointing, but we still have to make it through the ball.' Yellow told her as she seethed in anger.
Taking in a breath, she forced her anger back inside, hiding under an emotionless mask. "Fine, let's begin." She said before turning back to the assembled gems. Yellow gave the signal for the dancing to begin, and as Pink watched over the sea of gems performing slow, methodical dances as the music droned on, slow and peaceful. Watching the whole scene, Pink found herself comparing the ball to some of the human shows she'd seen.
It's so… boring. I knew it would be bad, but I didn't realize how bad until now. These gems aren't enjoying themselves, they are doing it because I told them to, because I needed the ball to be nice and successful to make Blue happy. Sighing, she leaned back in her throne, glancing down at Spinel who gave her a look of discomfort. Offering a reassuring smile in return, Pink turned her gaze over the crowd, watching over the gems dancing on the floor. I can't stop the ball now, all I can do is just get it over with as quickly as possible. She thought to herself, her eyes gazing over to her court to see the clump of Iolites over by the back corner. As her gaze passed over the Iolite that had been serving as her official investigator for these last few months, she realized that she had never used the arguments that Iolite had put together to justify experiments with organic life, the other Diamonds had just accepted her plans once White had given her approval.
White Diamond… a surge of anger overcame her as she glanced up to White's throne, where her former Pearl stood, watching over the ballroom. Why do you still have her like this White? What do you get out of holding her like this for thousands of years? Did you expect me to come back, is that it? Are you holding her just to mock me, to remind me of what happens when I make you mad? The Pearl didn't react to her gaze, her face locked in a large smile, her bleached white frame and the marks on her eye reminding Pink of her first major mistake. But not my last. I'll fix this, I'll fix everything. I have a second chance to make everything right, and if I don't, if I mess this up… I can't mess up again, I let every gem in the empire suffer last time.
Turning back to the ballroom floor, she noticed the smaller sizes of a few of the gems present. Even the Diamonds courts were not entirely Era 1 gems, and as she saw the smaller Era 2 gems side-by-side with their Era 1 counterparts, she was reminded of the consequences of her last failure. They are like that because of me. Without me to help make the injector fluid, those gems came out smaller and weaker, and killed more of their planets. I need to make it up to them, somehow. I was such a coward that I didn't think about what would happen to every other gem in existence, I just wish I knew how.
As the night dragged on, Pink found herself increasingly annoyed, both with the ball and with her past self for enjoying the ball. Thankfully, after hours of dancing and music, the ball finally ended with her giving a brief speech.
"Assembled Gems, I trust you all had a wonderful time tonight. I haven't been to a ball like this in thousands of years, and I wish to thank you all for making this such a wonderful night! And for putting up with this waste of time. "Now that my court is assembled, I will be far too busy to have another ball like this in the immediate future, but I'm sure that once my new colony has reached its first successes we will host an even grander celebration! Thank you again for making this ball so wonderful, goodbye!" She said, signaling to the assembled gems that it was time to leave.
It only took a few minutes for the room to empty, the gems who had been in attendance filtering out through the various doors in a calm and orderly fashion, and when the last door closed Blue turned to Pink.
"Pink, you know you don't have to thank them for doing their jobs."
Pink bit back her initial response, instead calmly answering, "I know Blue, but I wanted to thank them for a wonderful party." And just because I could have ignored them doesn't make it right.
"Well, it was a nice party…"
"I agree!" The voice of White Diamond came from her Pearl, causing all three of the assembled Diamonds to flinch in fear. "That was an excellent party, White Diamond will be pleased to hear about it." The Pearl said before a white bubble encased her and she floated out of the room.
As she left, Yellow shook her head. "I can't believe her. Not showing up for the first ball of Pinks return, and sending her Pearl instead?" She asked incredulously.
"Yellow, not so loud." Blue said with a concerned voice.
Yellow held her angry glance for a few moments before hanging her head and sighing. "I know, it's just so frustrating how she refuses to treat any of us like we matter. We say we're 'The Great Diamond Authority' but half the time it feels like White ignores everything we do."
Well now you understand how I felt. Pink thought, but she didn't say anything that could cause drama before she was able to leave Homeworld. "Yellow, is there anything else we need to discuss regarding my colony?" She asked, hoping to shift the conversation around. Yellow blinked a few times at the sudden shift in topic before answering.
"No, I don't believe so…" She trailed off as Blue swept pink up in a hug.
"I'm going to miss you Pink, you were gone for so long." She said, and Pink could feel tears welling up as Blues emotions swept through the room.
"Blue, I'll call you regularly all right? It's not going to be the same, I'll still be around, alright?" Pink fought with the tears, refusing to give in to Blue's power even as it reminded her of all those dark days locked in the tower. She's not trying to torture you, she's not trying to torture you, she's not…
"Blue, stop using your powers." Yellow commanded, her voice firm even with the tears in her eyes. As Blue pulled back, she gave Pink a small smile.
"I'm sorry, I know you want to get your colony setup as fast as you can, but I will miss you. If you're certain you have to go now, then I won't stop you."
Pink froze, emotions warring in her mind. For thousands of years before she had been given Earth, Blue had been a constant source of fear and anger for her. But as she stood there, looking up at the massive form of the Diamond who towered over her, she realized she actually felt slightly bad about leaving her. She looks so sad, and she actually seems like she's gotten better… "Thank you Blue, I'll get the communications hub set up as soon as I can so you can call me."
Pink turned and walked out, meeting her guards at the door. Smiling, Pink fell in with them, and together the small group walked over to the docking bay where the first of the ships Pink would use to take her court to her new colony was waiting.
As her party arrived at the docking bay, she saw Spinel come running up behind them, the pebbles from her room held in her arms. At Pinks look, Spinel got defensive. "What? I wasn't going to just leave them alone waiting for you to come back!"
Like you did. The unspoken words hung in the air as Pink nodded to Spinel, who carried the Pebbles into the waiting ship.
As the ship took off, Pink stood by one of the windows, watching as the massive white form of Whites ship/palace shrank behind them. I'll free them White. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but some day I'm going to free every gem on this planet from you, and I'll never have to be afraid of you again. She promised silently as the ship left the atmosphere, leaving Homeworld, the other Diamonds, and all of their rules with it. The gems in her court might not be ready to go full on Crystal Gem for a long time, and her planned experiments might not even work out, but just being free from Homeworld was enough to put a smile on her face as she watched her court prepare for arrival at their new world.
Authors Notes:
This one fought me, I just wanted to get off of Homeworld and onto the plot, but I didn't want to skip the ball, and this was the result. I did however come up with a few interesting ideas for other gems reactions, so there's going to be another reactions chapter sometime next week before the first part of Pinks new colony next Friday.
As always, let me know what you think in the comments.
Last edited:
TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
White Diamond ghosts the ball. Rude.
It was an incredibly petty move by White, but it was also perfectly in character for her, considering that it is exactly what she did at the canon ball that Steven held specifically so he could talk to her.
serra2
Himouto! Sylvanas-chan
Nah, I think this one was worse, in a way. As mentioned, that was Steven going out of his way to get White to come over, so it makes twisted sense to mess with him like that to get them in line. This is, like, demanding the abused kid whose leg you broke to get up off the bed and get you a beer. Someone who knows how much power and fear they have over someone else and exercises it to the fullest.