Chapter 7: Confrontation
Part 3
[Beach House, Pink Diamonds Perspective]
Pink had wanted nothing more than to stay in the house for hours and talk to her friends and family, but like always, her dreams ran into reality. First, even though everyone (except Sapphire and Ruby) was outwardly happy that she was back, she could tell that there were a lot of feelings under the happy masks, and there was the minor issue of the horde of gems that she had brought with her. Before she could deal with that though, she had to ask the people she'd betrayed and abandoned to lie for her.
"So, I can't let anyone know you're my mom?" Steven asked as she finished explaining.
"Yes, as far as anyone outside this room is concerned, your gem is a Rose Quartz gem and I'm only interested in you because you're a hybrid. I know it's not the best solution, and I'm sorry that we can't be family in public, but I have to keep the rest of Homeworld from finding out about you."
Steven blinked, confusion on his face. "But… if they have proof that organics and gems can live together, then won't that get them to stop killing planets?"
Maybe, but even if they do, everything else about Homeworld will still be there, and with an infinite supply of new hybrids… Pink shuddered at the thought. She knew that the same would occur if her experiments with growing new gems without killing a planet worked out, and she understood that the only way her dreams could become reality was if the other Diamonds were no longer in a position to abuse what she planned to make, but that was an issue for the future.
"Well Steven, as long as you're 'only' a Rose Quartz/Human hybrid, the other Diamonds won't care that much about you, but if they found out you're actually another Diamond… if White found out she…" All of her warnings caught in her throat as the image of Steven bleached white from head to toe, posing with his arms stretched wide and mocking her in Whites voice. "They can't learn the truth" she forced through her tears as she pulled him in and held him with both arms.
"I understand." He said.
"Thank you." She kissed the top of his head and pushed him back. "I know this is a lot, but I'll do my best to not interfere with you. I've already got a few ideas for how I'll be able to pardon the Crystal Gems for the rebellion, and while it would look bad if I left you on Earth and didn't even leave some researchers behind I'll make sure they don't interfere with your life to much and if any of them cause problems I'll leave a way for you to call me, and I'll visit whenever I can, and…"
"Rose, Rose it's ok, we still have time to plan, you aren't leaving for a while, we don't have to have a plan right now." Greg was there, holding her shoulder and trying to calm her down.
"That's right." Came Pearls voice from her other shoulder. "We still have plenty of time to figure out how to keep the other Diamonds from getting involved, right now we should focus on the horde of Quartzes occupying Beach City. Once that's dealt with, then we can have a proper planning session."
Pink blinked, tears in her eyes, as she felt her two closest companions reassure her. After a few moments, she nodded and stood up. "You're right, you're right. I just… got a little carried away. It's been a pretty rough few months. I'll go tell the gems I brought with me to stand down, everyone just stay here until I get back, alright? Right now they still think of you as rebels, and I need to think of an excuse to get them to leave you alone."
With a wave of acknowledgements, Pink turned and walked towards the exit. Stepping out onto the balcony, she first called up her court investigator.
"Good news Iolite, The Cluster has been dealt with."
"..."
"Iolite, are you there?"
"My apologies My Diamond, I just… the rebels neutralized The Cluster themselves? I was unaware that heavy mining equipment was abandoned on Earth."
"Yes, they did, and they actually used some drills scavenged from the old kindergarten." Pink could nearly hear Iolites jaw hitting the floor.
She's a smart gem, but a bit to by-the-book for something like that to occur to her. "Anyways, apparently The Cluster is smart enough to communicate and understand that forming would destroy the Earth, and since it was mainly made of former Crystal Gems that's how they dealt with it."
"My apologies My Diamond, but this whole situation seems… bizarre."
"Don't apologize, I'll never punish you for asking questions." Pink replied.
"... Yes My Diamond." Iolite responded. "Shall I call off the excavation teams? There is always the risk that extracting The Cluster could cause more damage to the planet than leaving it inside."
"Well, we don't know what will cause the most damage, so I want you and Fire Opal 6C3 to come down here and examine The Cluster so we know what to do."
"You want us to work with the rebels." She said, her voice flat. "Is that wise? I was under the impression that all except your Pearl were unaware of the truth behind the rebellion and would not take the revelation well."
Pink frowned.
I already explained that they are willing to do just about anything to defend the Earth, why is she surprised by this? Is she just making sure or is she trying to subtly ask if my friends hate me… Pink shook her head.
Calm down, there's no way she actually cares about my relationship with the Crystal Gems, not after what I told her. She just wants to make sure they won't attack her.
"You'll be fine Iolite, they know that I don't want to draw attention to Earth, but if they cause trouble I will have to." Pink answered. "Moving on, there is the issue of the reporting. As far as any of your reports go, Steven is a Human-Rose Quartz hybrid, any gems from my court that are deployed here are monitoring his development for more insights into how biological and gem life interact, and the Rebel group we found was not shattered because they have information on his development and the human race that I deemed vital for my research. They have been given a reduced sentence of imprisonment on Earth until such time as I believe they have repaid my court for the damage they caused it."
"Of course My Diamond, I will ensure that my reports and 6C3's are written with those details in mind. Is that all?"
"Yes, once you are ready, come down here and I will ask them to help you with the analysis of The Cluster." Pink answered, and after hearing an acknowledgement she ended the call and looked out over the beach, taking in the cluster of Rose Quartz gems and the hovering hand ship.
Pink knew that the other Diamonds would not be happy with the cover story she'd come up with, but compared to the truth it was the least bad of a series of terrible cover stories. Of course, to keep the lie alive she needed to keep guard gems here to monitor the "prisoners" and researchers to learn about the biological life of this world. Thankfully, she just so happened to have some gems in her court that were familiar with humans who could be trusted to not cause problems.
Sighing, she walked down the stairs to the beach, approaching Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 Cut 7XA, the current commander of her guard. After a few moments, the pink gem stood before her, posture straight, all the minor signs of trust and familiarity that she had started showing ever since Pink reunited her with her original command gone, replaced with a wall of formality.
"My Diamond, what are your orders?" She asked, her salute perfect and her face blank as Pink sighed internally.
I need to talk to her privately soon, she's hurting because of me and I have to help her.
"Well, I have decided that we will be establishing a small outpost on Earth to monitor the situation with The Cluster and the hybrid." Pink answered, conscious of the Rose Quartzes nearby who could overhear her. "I was considering using the soldiers from the zoo that were attached to your command for that duty, do you believe they can handle detached duty?"
"They are undisciplined, if there is any threat they will respond as individuals or small groups with no overarching strategy." Came the blunt response. "However, they have extensive knowledge of the human race that could increase the odds of success in an environment where threats are not common. I would note that doctrine frowns on deploying Quartzes to remote locations without a commander, but given recent events I doubt you would find that argument compelling."
Well, cold professionalism and some minor backtalk is an improvement from screaming and crying I guess. Pink thought as she gave the smaller gem a small nod. "Unfortunately my court has a severe shortage of Agates right now, so doctrine must be flexible." She responded. "Please gather the former zoo gems and organize a chain of command for this outpost, and back all your troops that aren't guarding the temple back to the ship, we really should stop interfering with these humans lives."
Pink could tell that the other gem did not share her concern for the humans of Earth, but she obeyed. Thankfully, from what she could tell from a few interviews and reviewing incident reports the gems from the zoo seemed to have a basic respect for humans, so an outpost staffed by them would be unlikely to cause any major issues. Of course, when the Agate began giving orders for the gems to assemble on the beach one of the squads sent back a simple "currently engaged" message. Getting the squad leader on the communicator did not clear things up much.
"7XK, please explain your situation."
"Alright… so one of the humans was freaking out about how the Diamonds are here to conquer the planet, and he grabbed some weird sword and some other humans held him back and now there's a crowd of them. 7XJ and L tried to calm them down, but they only really listened to 7XM."
Sway frowned at that. "7XM is not assigned to your squad! What is she doing away from her unit?"
"Well, she doesn't really have one."
"How did an Amethyst without a unit get onto Earth?"
"She was here when we got here ma'am."
Pink froze at that, realizing who they were talking about.
What did you do Amethyst? She thought. She panicked and leaned over to speak into the microphone.
"Rose Quartz found an Amethyst who was still in the ground when the war ended and took her in, that might be her. I'll go handle the situation." Pink saw Sway's eyes widen slightly as she made the connection, and the Agate nodded in acknowledgement before turning to carry out her other orders.
Walking down the beach to the boardwalk, Pink saw the row of shops. Painful memories of lazy summer days lounging on the beach with Greg forced their way to the surface, but the cluster of humans and gems in front of one of the stores brought her back before she could slip to deeply into her memories. As she approached, the crowd parted before her, the humans seeing her as Pink Diamond, not Rose Quartz.
Because Rose Quartz is gone, and she'll never be able to come back, not while The Diamonds rule Homeworld.
Amethyst, or 8XM now that there were other Amethysts present, was doing a surprisingly decent job of keeping the situation calm, but as Pink walked through the crowd a strange young human with brown skin and yellow, fry-shaped hair started screaming.
"It's one of the Diamonds! They're here to conquer the Earth and turn humanity into a race of immortal rock hybrid warrior slaves!"
Pink stopped flat at his words.
If they thought hybrids could be more useful than normal gems the other Diamonds wouldn't even hesitate, but how could he possibly know that?
"No, I'm not interested in that." She said. "I have no plans to conquer anything, I'm just here to fix some old mistakes, this has nothing to do with any of you." She reassured the humans before turning to the knot of Amethysts.
"You four on the other hand…" She trailed off as she saw the three Amethysts of her guard close ranks behind 8XM, the scrappy runt that they had never met before that day. "8XM, good to see you again." She said, hoping Amethyst wouldn't reveal her secret.
"... Yeah, sure thing 'My Diamond'." The short gem mouthed off to her before turning to the other Amethysts. "Have fun getting bossed around, I'll be back at the temple if you feel like ditching her and staying on Earth."
The other Amethysts braced themselves for the worst. 8XM was technically off-color, and she'd mouthed off to a Diamond, many gems had been shattered for less. Needless to say, when Pink simply shook her head and chuckled they were stunned.
"If you want my soldiers to join your cause you will have to try harder than that 8XM." She said, forcing herself to keep up a calm exterior despite her worries.
Amethyst, now is not the time for this, most of my court hates you for being associated with Rose Quartz, and even the ones who know the truth would still try to punish you for that.
Thankfully no one was really in the mood for a fight right then, so Amethyst just scoffed and walked away, muttering. Pink turned to the crowd of humans who had just witnessed the spectacle, and with a skinking feeling she realized that was the easy part. In all her years in Beach City, she'd only tangentally gotten to know many of the residents, but even that was enough to slip her up if she wasn't careful. If humans started asking how she knew them, worse if the Amethysts started asking how she knew about individual humans...
Pink pushed those thoughts out of her mind and put on her best "Diamond Face".
"Attention humans…"
I sound like an invader from those cheesy movies Greg liked. "... I am not here to conquer you, or kill you, or do anything else to harm you. I apologize for how our actions may have impacted your lives, but unless you attempt to assault myself or a member of my court we will not interfere with you any longer. Now, these Amethysts here have an important meeting with their commanding officer and I have business to attend to, so goodbye to you all."
Nailed it Pink thought as the Amethysts turned and walked away while the humans began to disperse.
Considering the only references I had were alien invasion movies and Passions of Xanxor I'd say that was a pretty decent first-contact speech.
As she turned to walk away, she noticed one human watching her out of the corner of her eyes. The blond woman, who Pink was pretty sure had been one of Greg's friends who Amethyst had started hanging out with, was giving her an inquisitive look.
Did… did she recognize my voice? She knew she couldn't exactly tell the woman the truth, but it reminded her how dangerous being around people, gem or human, who knew her as Rose Quartz, even tangentially, was for her cover.
The sound of car brakes slamming drew her attention, and as Pink turned she saw a dark-skinned human woman staring at her, fear in her eyes, but also determination. Pink stepped back, ready for the woman to drive forward and try to run her over, but the more she thought about it the more that didn't make sense. If the woman had wanted to hurt her, ramming her with the car would have been the best option, so what…
The side door opened, and a human girl stepped out of the back seat, dressed in an outfit that vaguely resembled some of the uniforms Quartzes wore, and carrying a bag nearly as large as she was. Something about the bag drew Pinks attention, and as she looked closer she realized what. Sticking out of the bag was a pink pommel, engraved with a rose vine pattern. As the two talked, Pink heard the girl mention Steven, and based on the tone she realized who this was. Stepping forward, she prepared to meet her son's girlfriend.
Authors Note:
Yes, I know at this point Connie and Steven haven't even gotten to kissing, but Pink has a very skewed perception of human relationships, and Connie showing up with Rose Quartzes sword and worrying about Steven reminds her of Pearl, so that's where her mind jumped to first.
It's a bit of a cliffhanger, and I'm sorry for that, but I'll try to get back on my normal schedule in January once the holiday craziness is over. Expect the next update either the 3rd or the 4th.
As always, let me know if you think anything could have been better, if no one says anything I'll never learn.
Also, this fic has a
TvTropes page now! Thanks to everyone who contributed.
