Confrontation 7.5
Chapter 7: Confrontation
Part 5
"Mom, why didn't you tell anyone about Bismuth?"
Time froze for Pink Diamond as memories flooded back. That night in the forge, hiding Bismuth's bubble from the others and deflecting their questions until a battle big enough to provide an excuse, then thousands of years of hiding her and lying to everyone. Turning to Steven, she realized that yet again she'd made a horrible mistake and left him to deal with it, and when her eyes met his and she saw the pain in them, she was hit with a wave of shame.
"That's a long story Steven, and it isn't a happy one. Did she tell you why we disagreed that night?" At Stevens nod, she gestured to herself with her free arm. "I don't think I have to explain why I disagreed with her plan. After that, I panicked. I lied to the others because I couldn't bear to tell them the truth, and the longer I lied the worse telling the truth would be, and then the war ended, and that should have been the best time for me to let her out."
"So why didn't you?"
With a sigh Pink remembered those days. How it seemed that there was no point anymore, with almost everyone they'd cared for gone. Garnet sometimes spending weeks away from them as Ruby and Sapphire sought solitude to talk to each other about what had happened, while Pearl was so shaken by guilt that some days she couldn't even look Pink in the eye. "Because it would have hurt, and everyone was already hurting so much, I couldn't do that to them."
"Well, why not tell them afterwards? You had thousands of years?" Steven asked.
"Because I was a coward." Pink answered. "Because I knew it would hurt, it could tear the Crystal Gems apart, and I couldn't let that happen. Pearl, Garnet, and then Amethyst were the only friends I had left, and I was so afraid that if I told the truth I would lose one of them. So I didn't. I left Bismuth bubbled for thousands of years because I was afraid, because I didn't want to lose the only people in my life who could still make me feel genuine happiness." She felt tears begin to slide down her face as she talked.
After a few moments, she felt Steven shift in her arm. "But Bismuth got hurt. She was your friend, and you left her alone for thousands of years, and then when she got out she hated you and she thought I was you and she got really angry and I had to bubble her again and…"
"She what?" Pink asked, shocked. She thought he was me, and she blamed him for my mistakes just like all those other gems. I need to deal with this now. "Steven, is Bismuth's gem in the burning room?"
At his nod, she gently put him down. "Alright, I'm going to go talk to Bismuth. Now, she's going to be very angry, so I don't want you coming with me, alright? Go tell everyone else I'm letting Bismuth out, and if I'm not back soon then come with them, but this talk needs to be between me and Bismuth, alright?"
Steven nodded at her, and she watched as he left. As soon as the door closed behind him, she asked her room to uncover the crystal arteries of the temple, sliding down into the burning room. FInding Bismuth's gem wasn't hard, it was one of the closest to the ground, and once she grabbed it she took one look at the host of bubbled gems and decided to go back to her room. Can't have her freaking out and think I'm harvesting gems or something Pink thought as she began to climb back up through the crystal arteries.
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Steven was already back in his mom's room, this time with Connie. Pink only went to get Bismuth a few minutes ago, but he felt so awkward sitting out in the beach house that he had only stayed long enough to grab Connie and go back in. I can wait for mom to be done from here, and this way me and Connie can talk by ourselves.
The two of them sat down on a cloud, their legs hanging off into the seemingly endless sky below them. Even after all this time, and knowing that he could slow his own falls down, Steven still felt a pang of unease when he sat down. If Connie felt the same way, she gave no sign, simply flopping down on the cloud next to him and sighing.
"You know, as soon as my mom finds out that was your mom she's going to start asking why your mom wanted to know 'human rituals for meeting their child's romantic partner.'" She said as she stared up at the "sky".
"Sorry about that, I didn't expect her to run into you, otherwise I would have warned you about her."
"It's fine, I just…" Connie was cut off when the clouds nearby shifted. The two of them rolled around, keeping low as they watched Pink step back into the room, and Steven quietly asked the room to shift the clouds near them to keep them hidden.
"Steven, what's she doing back here?" Connie asked as Steven got a sinking feeling in his gut. Of course she wasn't going to just stay down in the burning room, there's all the corrupted gems there! I should have known she would come here. He thought as he watched Pink clear a small space and pull Bismuth's bubble up to her eyes. Although, she said I shouldn't come with her, but I was here when she came back…
"Steven!" Connie whispered as she jabbed him with her elbow. "What is going on!"
As Steven hastily explained the situation with Bismuth, Pink finished whatever mental preparations she was making, and with a gentle squeeze and a pop Bismuth was free. Her gem glowed, rising into the air as her form materialized, and she fell flat on the ground. The blacksmith slowly rose to her knees, brushing her rainbow locks out of her eyes as she examined herself.
"I'm back?" She asked disbelievingly.
"Yes, you are." Pink answered, and when Bismuth saw her her entire body tensed, and she nearly leapt to her feet.
"Pink Diamond," She spat the name as if it was a curse. "You're supposed to be a pile of shards."
Pink muttered something to herself as she looked down and cringed at the sight of her gem. "Right, you heard about that. Well, time for the rest of the story." With that she began to glow, and her body shifted down, her gem rotating inwards, as she began to take on a familiar form. By the time the glow had disappeared, and Rose Quartz stood in front of her, Bismuth was frozen solid in confusion.
"Rose? What… no, this is a trick, you can't be…"
Pink, Rose now, said something to softly for the pair of eavesdroppers to hear, and Bismuth started yelling.
"You're lying! I don't know what your game is here Pink, but I'm not falling for it. Rose might have locked me away, but even then she was still kinder and more compassionate than any Diamond has ever been!"
"Bismuth, this isn't a game, we're the same person."
"Oh yeah? Same gem, same memories? Then when you were Steven, what did I tell you in my forge?" Steven winced at that as Connie shifted uncomfortably. I should have seen that one coming. He thought as Rose blinked in surprise.
"Bismuth, me and Steven are different people."
"Right, because he has Rose Quartz's gem, and you're a Diamond pretending to be her. So why don't you cut the act and get to the point. I'm not going to just roll over and go back to being a good little gem, no matter how much you pretend to be Rose, so just hit me with the rejuvenator and get it over with already."
"What's a rejuvenator?" Connie whispered to Steven, who just shrugged in response as Rose sighed and began to explain how their were two Pink Diamond gems. At the end of her explanation, Bismuth was just shaking her head laughing.
"You know I'm never going to believe your stories, no matter how much you try, so can you just get on with it? Bring out the Zircons, have your little show trial and shatter me already, because I'll never go back to being your slave."
The entire time she had been talking, Bismuth had taken small careful steps, shifting her weight from side to side as she slowly drew close to Rose. Steven didn't have the experience to notice the shifts, and Rose was to overcome by her emotions to realize what was happening until Bismuth pounced. For Rose, the war was millennia gone, but for Bismuth it had been just going on yesterday, which is why when she struck, her hands were shapeshifted into points as she drove them through Rose's form, dissipating her and leaving Pink Diamonds gem lying on the ground.
It all happened in only a second, and Steven and Connie stared in shock as Bismuth picked up Pink's gem from the floor. "Alright you upper crust, this is what you get for playing mind games with me." She said as she shapeshifted a pocket to hold Pink's gem in. A Diamond as a hostage will help. Now, if they got me, they probably got the others to, so I need to rescue them before Pink's guards swarm me. The image of the other Crystal Gems being grabbed by legions of loyalist Quartzes flashed in her mind, and she scowled as she searched for the exit. They better still be alright, if any of them are hurt Pink is going to wish I'd only shattered her.
In their hiding spot, Steven and Connie shook themselves out of their shock as Bismuth started poking and prodding at the clouds for a way out, and at once the two stood up.
"Bismuth!" Steven yelled. Please let Mom be ok, please let Mom be ok. He chanted as he ran towards the gem.
"Oh! Steven! You busted out to, that's good! Who's your friend here?" Bismuth asked happily.
"I'm Connie, but I think introductions should wait, we've got a bit of a problem." COnnie said, looking at Steven in confusion.
"Yeah, I'll say! Pink's goons must have come back to finish the job. You two know where we are?"
Steven just looked at her baffled for a moment. "Yeah, we're in Mom's room in the temple on Earth."
"We're still on Earth? That's great! This temple was built after the war, but you've been living here for years Steven! Quick, are there any side doors we can take? Pinks goons are probably guarding the main exit. I mean, I guess we could just threaten to shatter Pink here, they'd let us through then…"
"Bismuth, please don't shatter my mom." Steven said, eyes pleading.
"Wait, what do you… are you saying that she was…" Bismuth stared at him, her mouth moving as no words came out. Steven and Connie looked at each other as Steven sat down in front of Bismuth.
"It's a very long story. It all started earlier today when I had this weird dream…"
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"... and then she brought you back here. You know the rest." Steven finished telling Bismuth, who simply sat on the ground, nodding.
"Uh huh, yeah, I see."
"You're taking this rather well." Connie noted from the side.
"Oh, I am absolutely furious!" Bismuth said with a cheerful voice. "But not with either of you."
"Well, yeah I guess that's pretty fair." Steven said as Bismuth pulled Pinks gem out from her pocket and stared at it.
"You know, if you think about it, she did take my advice." Bismuth said as she ran her hands over the points on Pinks gem, marveling at the feeling of holding a Diamond in her hands. "She really went and 'shattered Pink Diamond', and look where that got her." Bismuth sighed as she handed Pink over to Steven. "You said the others know I'm out of my bubble? I'm going to go talk to them, can you open the door for me and keep her busy for a few minutes while I calm down?"
"Yeah, ok." Steven nodded as he picked up Pink and willed the room to make a door. I'm getting better at mentally controlling this place! He thought as Bismuth walked out, leaving him and Connie alone with his moms gem.
"Soooo, how long is it going to take her to reform?" Connie asked, breaking the awkward silence.
"Well, I really don't know how long it usually takes for a Diamond to reform…" Steven said, frowning at the pink gem in his hands as he looked it over.
"Well, until she comes back, I think we have a lot to talk about." Connie said, resting her hand on his shoulder.
"We do?"
"Yes Steven. This has been a really crazy day so far, and I was only here for part of it. I'll admit, I'm not the best at talking to people about their problems the way you are, but I can't stab or study my way through this, so I guess it's time to talk." She maneuvered so she was directly across from Steven, her hands on his as she looked him in the eyes. "Your mom is back, how does that make you feel?"
Steven felt his words catch in his throat as he tried to think of a response. "I… I mean… it feels." He stammered before sighing and hanging his head. "I don't know. I want to be happy she's back, but she hurt the Crystal Gems when she had me, but I feel like I can't complain about that without it sounding like I wish I was never born, and that's not what I mean at all! And then there's things like Jasper and The Cluster and it's just, if she'd been around earlier, when Lapis showed up on Homeworld, she could have come to Earth with her, and Jasper never would have kidnapped us, and Lapis wouldn't have been Malachite, and Jasper wouldn't be corrupted, and…"
"Steven, Steven breathe." Connie said, grabbing his shoulders as he started to cry. "It's done now, you can't change it."
"I know." Steven sniffed. "And I know she's trying to fix things now, and I'm happy. I'm happy that she'll be able to work things out with Dad and the Crystal Gems, I'm happy that she's going to help fix the corrupted gems, and there's so many other things that she's doing that I'm happy about, but it feels like everytime she starts talking about a problem she'll fix it turns out that she's the reason it's there, and I just don't know how to feel about her." He said, head hung in shame. "Everyone else knows how to feel about her. Pearl and Dad are happy, Garnet got upset and unfused, Bismuth is angry, Amethyst is annoyed, and I just don't know what to think anymore."
"Steven, that's ok. It's ok to feel confused, and lost, and not know what to think. How do you think I felt when I found out about the rebellion and what the Crystal Gems do?" She asked him gently. "I know it's not the same, but if you ever want to talk about it, I'll always be here for you. Unless it's a school night, my parents keep my cell phone in their room after lights out on school nights."
Steven smiled at her. "Thanks Connie, that means a lot to me." Looking down he frowned at the inert gem in his hands. "How angry do you think the gems on the beach will be if I go out there and ask them how long it takes a Diamond to reform?"
"Well, maybe something's blocking her? Like, Bismuth kept her in a pocket, you've held her the entire time, maybe we just need to back off and give her some space?" Steven nodded at Connie's suggestion and placed Pink down on a cloud next to them. After a few moments when nothing happened, he felt Connie's hand on his shoulder again.
The two of them sat there for a few minutes, Steven shifting the clouds to let them be more comfortable, and they talked about the things good friends talk about: school, parents, the governance of an intergalactic Absolute Quadarchy, and music. Sometime while they were talking, Steven felt the length of the day catch up to him, and as he slumped forward Connie caught him and let him lean on her to stay upright. Naturally, Pink reformed while they were talking, and neither of them noticed she was back until they heard a soft "awwww" from behind them.
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Pink was honestly surprised when she'd woken up. With how Bismuth was acting, she was certain that she was going to be kept locked up, maybe even bubbled, for a long time. Instead, she woke up in her room, with Steven leaning on Connie a few feet away with their backs to her. Oh how cute, it's just like me and Greg! She thought as she let out a soft "awwwww" and the two of them leapt to their feet.
"Mom!" Steven said, blushing. "You're back! I was really worried when you didn't reform soon, but then I remembered that Pearl once took two weeks and I got worried about all the gems on the beach who won't be happy if you got poofed, but you're back!" He stammered.
Pink looked around, and Bismuth was nowhere to be seen "What happened?"
Steven looked at Connie for support before turning back to her. "I felt really awkward in the main room, so I asked Connie if she wanted to come in here with me while we waited for you to talk to Bismuth, then we sort of hid and listened in and I know you didn't want me to get involved but Bismuth was freaking out and had you as a hostage and I think it's a good thing I was there to explain things to her."
Pink stared at him for a few moments before chuckling. "Well, I guess I can't get to mad at you for disobeying me then." She ruffled his hair. "I'm guessing Bismuth went out to the beach house?"
"Yeah, she said she needed a few minutes away from you, but I'm pretty sure it's been a few minutes, so let's head out there!" Steven said, grabbing Pink and Connie's hands as he lead them out the door into the beach house.
Out in the beach house, Pink surveyed the scene. Ruby and Pearl were practically hanging off of Bismuth in the kitchen and Greg and Amethyst were chatting on the couch, but when she walked in, they all stopped and stared at her. Yeah, I deserve this. I deserve all of this. She thought, unable to meet the eyes of the people she loved. As she stood there and the silence stretched on even longer, she found she couldn't take it anymore.
"I'm sorry."
No one responded. They all hate me, I know it. This is what I deserve for what I did, to Bismuth, to my court, to everyone. There's no way any of them will ever trust me again. As her thoughts ran away from her, she heard footsteps, and as she looked up she jolted back as a large hand smacked into her face.
Turning back, she looked Bismuth in the eyes. The blacksmith was not happy, but Pink knew from plenty of sparring matches that she could hit far harder than that if she wanted.
"Look Rose, Pink, whatever you call yourself. I don't like you." Bismuth said, and Pink winced at the words. "But right now, you're the one thing keeping that ship out there from lighting this hill up until the temple is a pile of rubble, and you're keeping the other Diamonds from messing with us, so I'm not going to do anything to you." She scowled as she said it, as if not fighting Pink was disgusting to her. "But, I want as little to do with you as possible. You need to talk to me, you ask someone else to send the message, or hook me up with one of those human communicators Amethyst over there was talking about and send a message that way, but from now on I don't want to see you unless it's absolutely necessary, and I mean 'the other Diamonds are coming to conquer Earth' necessary, got it?"
Pink nodded mutely, and Bismuth walked past her towards the warp pad. Before she could leave, Steven spoke up.
"Uhm, Bismuth, if I want to come see you, is that ok?"
Bismuth's expression did a complete 180 as she knelt down to ruffle Steven's hair. "Course it is Steven, you're welcome to drop by anytime, and if she's not on the planet I'll stop by to visit all the time." She said with a smile before standing up and continuing on towards the warp pad, where in a flash of light she vanished.
Behind her, Pink heard footsteps as Greg walked up to her. "I think we all have had a very long day, it's starting to get late and I'm sure Connie's mom is worried sick about her. Right now, we all could use a nice long break, and tomorrow we can get together again and go over what happened today with calmer minds."
Pink nodded. He's right, today feels like it's been more than a month long. As she turned to leave, Steven grabbed her hand. "Mom, Connie's mom is in town waiting for her, and we haven't had dinner. Do you want to come with us?"
Pink thought about the mountain of responsibilities that was probably growing back on her ship by the minute. There would likely have been a call from one of the other Diamonds, and there would be all the reports from her new colony, and even if she went on the ship now and started working she wouldn't be able to clear the backlog by morning. But when she looked at Steven's wide, pleading eyes, and remembered how long she had left him without a mother, the weight of her responsibilities faded away.
"Sure Steven, that sounds nice." She told him. As she followed him and Connie out onto the beach and watched them race each other to the town, she knew Greg was talking with the others about what she'd done, and as she saw the ship hanging over the beach, she knew that the gems in her court, especially the "inner circle" who she'd told everything to, were likely worried sick about her. It's just a quick visit to town to get Steven some food and send Connie home with her mother, you can deal with all of that when you get back. She told herself, walking down the beach after the children.
As she walked down the beach, she remembered why she had fallen in love with the Earth all those thousands of years ago. The soft roar of the waves against the sand, the calls of birds, the smell of salt water, all of it a wonderful reminder of the beauty of the planet she had protected. After a long day of facing down the consequences of her decisions, answering for her mistakes made defending the Earth, it was a reminder she sorely needed.
Walking up to the town, she made out the shapes of humans walking around the boardwalk, and after a few moments identified three of them as Connie and Steven discussing food options with Dr. Maheswaran. When Steven waved at her, she smiled and walked into town, her worries and regrets muted but not forgotten as she sat down for her first meal with her son.
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Authors Notes:
And with that, the confrontations between Pink and the canon cast come to an end. Now the truth is out, and the next arc is mainly going to be everyone around Pink and Steven reacting to the shifting status quo as the two of them get used to their new lives.
Just a bit of heads up, this was not my way of writing Bismuth out of the story. Now that we've met the Earth crew, I'll be following Steven around as well as Pink, probably alternating chapters if they're on separate planets, and Bismuth will show up regularly in Steven's chapters. She just has some issues with Pink right now and wants nothing to do with her.
As always, let me know what you think, if I did something good let me know so I can keep doing good things, and if I did something bad let me know so I can avoid it in the future.
Part 5
"Mom, why didn't you tell anyone about Bismuth?"
Time froze for Pink Diamond as memories flooded back. That night in the forge, hiding Bismuth's bubble from the others and deflecting their questions until a battle big enough to provide an excuse, then thousands of years of hiding her and lying to everyone. Turning to Steven, she realized that yet again she'd made a horrible mistake and left him to deal with it, and when her eyes met his and she saw the pain in them, she was hit with a wave of shame.
"That's a long story Steven, and it isn't a happy one. Did she tell you why we disagreed that night?" At Stevens nod, she gestured to herself with her free arm. "I don't think I have to explain why I disagreed with her plan. After that, I panicked. I lied to the others because I couldn't bear to tell them the truth, and the longer I lied the worse telling the truth would be, and then the war ended, and that should have been the best time for me to let her out."
"So why didn't you?"
With a sigh Pink remembered those days. How it seemed that there was no point anymore, with almost everyone they'd cared for gone. Garnet sometimes spending weeks away from them as Ruby and Sapphire sought solitude to talk to each other about what had happened, while Pearl was so shaken by guilt that some days she couldn't even look Pink in the eye. "Because it would have hurt, and everyone was already hurting so much, I couldn't do that to them."
"Well, why not tell them afterwards? You had thousands of years?" Steven asked.
"Because I was a coward." Pink answered. "Because I knew it would hurt, it could tear the Crystal Gems apart, and I couldn't let that happen. Pearl, Garnet, and then Amethyst were the only friends I had left, and I was so afraid that if I told the truth I would lose one of them. So I didn't. I left Bismuth bubbled for thousands of years because I was afraid, because I didn't want to lose the only people in my life who could still make me feel genuine happiness." She felt tears begin to slide down her face as she talked.
After a few moments, she felt Steven shift in her arm. "But Bismuth got hurt. She was your friend, and you left her alone for thousands of years, and then when she got out she hated you and she thought I was you and she got really angry and I had to bubble her again and…"
"She what?" Pink asked, shocked. She thought he was me, and she blamed him for my mistakes just like all those other gems. I need to deal with this now. "Steven, is Bismuth's gem in the burning room?"
At his nod, she gently put him down. "Alright, I'm going to go talk to Bismuth. Now, she's going to be very angry, so I don't want you coming with me, alright? Go tell everyone else I'm letting Bismuth out, and if I'm not back soon then come with them, but this talk needs to be between me and Bismuth, alright?"
Steven nodded at her, and she watched as he left. As soon as the door closed behind him, she asked her room to uncover the crystal arteries of the temple, sliding down into the burning room. FInding Bismuth's gem wasn't hard, it was one of the closest to the ground, and once she grabbed it she took one look at the host of bubbled gems and decided to go back to her room. Can't have her freaking out and think I'm harvesting gems or something Pink thought as she began to climb back up through the crystal arteries.
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Steven was already back in his mom's room, this time with Connie. Pink only went to get Bismuth a few minutes ago, but he felt so awkward sitting out in the beach house that he had only stayed long enough to grab Connie and go back in. I can wait for mom to be done from here, and this way me and Connie can talk by ourselves.
The two of them sat down on a cloud, their legs hanging off into the seemingly endless sky below them. Even after all this time, and knowing that he could slow his own falls down, Steven still felt a pang of unease when he sat down. If Connie felt the same way, she gave no sign, simply flopping down on the cloud next to him and sighing.
"You know, as soon as my mom finds out that was your mom she's going to start asking why your mom wanted to know 'human rituals for meeting their child's romantic partner.'" She said as she stared up at the "sky".
"Sorry about that, I didn't expect her to run into you, otherwise I would have warned you about her."
"It's fine, I just…" Connie was cut off when the clouds nearby shifted. The two of them rolled around, keeping low as they watched Pink step back into the room, and Steven quietly asked the room to shift the clouds near them to keep them hidden.
"Steven, what's she doing back here?" Connie asked as Steven got a sinking feeling in his gut. Of course she wasn't going to just stay down in the burning room, there's all the corrupted gems there! I should have known she would come here. He thought as he watched Pink clear a small space and pull Bismuth's bubble up to her eyes. Although, she said I shouldn't come with her, but I was here when she came back…
"Steven!" Connie whispered as she jabbed him with her elbow. "What is going on!"
As Steven hastily explained the situation with Bismuth, Pink finished whatever mental preparations she was making, and with a gentle squeeze and a pop Bismuth was free. Her gem glowed, rising into the air as her form materialized, and she fell flat on the ground. The blacksmith slowly rose to her knees, brushing her rainbow locks out of her eyes as she examined herself.
"I'm back?" She asked disbelievingly.
"Yes, you are." Pink answered, and when Bismuth saw her her entire body tensed, and she nearly leapt to her feet.
"Pink Diamond," She spat the name as if it was a curse. "You're supposed to be a pile of shards."
Pink muttered something to herself as she looked down and cringed at the sight of her gem. "Right, you heard about that. Well, time for the rest of the story." With that she began to glow, and her body shifted down, her gem rotating inwards, as she began to take on a familiar form. By the time the glow had disappeared, and Rose Quartz stood in front of her, Bismuth was frozen solid in confusion.
"Rose? What… no, this is a trick, you can't be…"
Pink, Rose now, said something to softly for the pair of eavesdroppers to hear, and Bismuth started yelling.
"You're lying! I don't know what your game is here Pink, but I'm not falling for it. Rose might have locked me away, but even then she was still kinder and more compassionate than any Diamond has ever been!"
"Bismuth, this isn't a game, we're the same person."
"Oh yeah? Same gem, same memories? Then when you were Steven, what did I tell you in my forge?" Steven winced at that as Connie shifted uncomfortably. I should have seen that one coming. He thought as Rose blinked in surprise.
"Bismuth, me and Steven are different people."
"Right, because he has Rose Quartz's gem, and you're a Diamond pretending to be her. So why don't you cut the act and get to the point. I'm not going to just roll over and go back to being a good little gem, no matter how much you pretend to be Rose, so just hit me with the rejuvenator and get it over with already."
"What's a rejuvenator?" Connie whispered to Steven, who just shrugged in response as Rose sighed and began to explain how their were two Pink Diamond gems. At the end of her explanation, Bismuth was just shaking her head laughing.
"You know I'm never going to believe your stories, no matter how much you try, so can you just get on with it? Bring out the Zircons, have your little show trial and shatter me already, because I'll never go back to being your slave."
The entire time she had been talking, Bismuth had taken small careful steps, shifting her weight from side to side as she slowly drew close to Rose. Steven didn't have the experience to notice the shifts, and Rose was to overcome by her emotions to realize what was happening until Bismuth pounced. For Rose, the war was millennia gone, but for Bismuth it had been just going on yesterday, which is why when she struck, her hands were shapeshifted into points as she drove them through Rose's form, dissipating her and leaving Pink Diamonds gem lying on the ground.
It all happened in only a second, and Steven and Connie stared in shock as Bismuth picked up Pink's gem from the floor. "Alright you upper crust, this is what you get for playing mind games with me." She said as she shapeshifted a pocket to hold Pink's gem in. A Diamond as a hostage will help. Now, if they got me, they probably got the others to, so I need to rescue them before Pink's guards swarm me. The image of the other Crystal Gems being grabbed by legions of loyalist Quartzes flashed in her mind, and she scowled as she searched for the exit. They better still be alright, if any of them are hurt Pink is going to wish I'd only shattered her.
In their hiding spot, Steven and Connie shook themselves out of their shock as Bismuth started poking and prodding at the clouds for a way out, and at once the two stood up.
"Bismuth!" Steven yelled. Please let Mom be ok, please let Mom be ok. He chanted as he ran towards the gem.
"Oh! Steven! You busted out to, that's good! Who's your friend here?" Bismuth asked happily.
"I'm Connie, but I think introductions should wait, we've got a bit of a problem." COnnie said, looking at Steven in confusion.
"Yeah, I'll say! Pink's goons must have come back to finish the job. You two know where we are?"
Steven just looked at her baffled for a moment. "Yeah, we're in Mom's room in the temple on Earth."
"We're still on Earth? That's great! This temple was built after the war, but you've been living here for years Steven! Quick, are there any side doors we can take? Pinks goons are probably guarding the main exit. I mean, I guess we could just threaten to shatter Pink here, they'd let us through then…"
"Bismuth, please don't shatter my mom." Steven said, eyes pleading.
"Wait, what do you… are you saying that she was…" Bismuth stared at him, her mouth moving as no words came out. Steven and Connie looked at each other as Steven sat down in front of Bismuth.
"It's a very long story. It all started earlier today when I had this weird dream…"
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"... and then she brought you back here. You know the rest." Steven finished telling Bismuth, who simply sat on the ground, nodding.
"Uh huh, yeah, I see."
"You're taking this rather well." Connie noted from the side.
"Oh, I am absolutely furious!" Bismuth said with a cheerful voice. "But not with either of you."
"Well, yeah I guess that's pretty fair." Steven said as Bismuth pulled Pinks gem out from her pocket and stared at it.
"You know, if you think about it, she did take my advice." Bismuth said as she ran her hands over the points on Pinks gem, marveling at the feeling of holding a Diamond in her hands. "She really went and 'shattered Pink Diamond', and look where that got her." Bismuth sighed as she handed Pink over to Steven. "You said the others know I'm out of my bubble? I'm going to go talk to them, can you open the door for me and keep her busy for a few minutes while I calm down?"
"Yeah, ok." Steven nodded as he picked up Pink and willed the room to make a door. I'm getting better at mentally controlling this place! He thought as Bismuth walked out, leaving him and Connie alone with his moms gem.
"Soooo, how long is it going to take her to reform?" Connie asked, breaking the awkward silence.
"Well, I really don't know how long it usually takes for a Diamond to reform…" Steven said, frowning at the pink gem in his hands as he looked it over.
"Well, until she comes back, I think we have a lot to talk about." Connie said, resting her hand on his shoulder.
"We do?"
"Yes Steven. This has been a really crazy day so far, and I was only here for part of it. I'll admit, I'm not the best at talking to people about their problems the way you are, but I can't stab or study my way through this, so I guess it's time to talk." She maneuvered so she was directly across from Steven, her hands on his as she looked him in the eyes. "Your mom is back, how does that make you feel?"
Steven felt his words catch in his throat as he tried to think of a response. "I… I mean… it feels." He stammered before sighing and hanging his head. "I don't know. I want to be happy she's back, but she hurt the Crystal Gems when she had me, but I feel like I can't complain about that without it sounding like I wish I was never born, and that's not what I mean at all! And then there's things like Jasper and The Cluster and it's just, if she'd been around earlier, when Lapis showed up on Homeworld, she could have come to Earth with her, and Jasper never would have kidnapped us, and Lapis wouldn't have been Malachite, and Jasper wouldn't be corrupted, and…"
"Steven, Steven breathe." Connie said, grabbing his shoulders as he started to cry. "It's done now, you can't change it."
"I know." Steven sniffed. "And I know she's trying to fix things now, and I'm happy. I'm happy that she'll be able to work things out with Dad and the Crystal Gems, I'm happy that she's going to help fix the corrupted gems, and there's so many other things that she's doing that I'm happy about, but it feels like everytime she starts talking about a problem she'll fix it turns out that she's the reason it's there, and I just don't know how to feel about her." He said, head hung in shame. "Everyone else knows how to feel about her. Pearl and Dad are happy, Garnet got upset and unfused, Bismuth is angry, Amethyst is annoyed, and I just don't know what to think anymore."
"Steven, that's ok. It's ok to feel confused, and lost, and not know what to think. How do you think I felt when I found out about the rebellion and what the Crystal Gems do?" She asked him gently. "I know it's not the same, but if you ever want to talk about it, I'll always be here for you. Unless it's a school night, my parents keep my cell phone in their room after lights out on school nights."
Steven smiled at her. "Thanks Connie, that means a lot to me." Looking down he frowned at the inert gem in his hands. "How angry do you think the gems on the beach will be if I go out there and ask them how long it takes a Diamond to reform?"
"Well, maybe something's blocking her? Like, Bismuth kept her in a pocket, you've held her the entire time, maybe we just need to back off and give her some space?" Steven nodded at Connie's suggestion and placed Pink down on a cloud next to them. After a few moments when nothing happened, he felt Connie's hand on his shoulder again.
The two of them sat there for a few minutes, Steven shifting the clouds to let them be more comfortable, and they talked about the things good friends talk about: school, parents, the governance of an intergalactic Absolute Quadarchy, and music. Sometime while they were talking, Steven felt the length of the day catch up to him, and as he slumped forward Connie caught him and let him lean on her to stay upright. Naturally, Pink reformed while they were talking, and neither of them noticed she was back until they heard a soft "awwww" from behind them.
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Pink was honestly surprised when she'd woken up. With how Bismuth was acting, she was certain that she was going to be kept locked up, maybe even bubbled, for a long time. Instead, she woke up in her room, with Steven leaning on Connie a few feet away with their backs to her. Oh how cute, it's just like me and Greg! She thought as she let out a soft "awwwww" and the two of them leapt to their feet.
"Mom!" Steven said, blushing. "You're back! I was really worried when you didn't reform soon, but then I remembered that Pearl once took two weeks and I got worried about all the gems on the beach who won't be happy if you got poofed, but you're back!" He stammered.
Pink looked around, and Bismuth was nowhere to be seen "What happened?"
Steven looked at Connie for support before turning back to her. "I felt really awkward in the main room, so I asked Connie if she wanted to come in here with me while we waited for you to talk to Bismuth, then we sort of hid and listened in and I know you didn't want me to get involved but Bismuth was freaking out and had you as a hostage and I think it's a good thing I was there to explain things to her."
Pink stared at him for a few moments before chuckling. "Well, I guess I can't get to mad at you for disobeying me then." She ruffled his hair. "I'm guessing Bismuth went out to the beach house?"
"Yeah, she said she needed a few minutes away from you, but I'm pretty sure it's been a few minutes, so let's head out there!" Steven said, grabbing Pink and Connie's hands as he lead them out the door into the beach house.
Out in the beach house, Pink surveyed the scene. Ruby and Pearl were practically hanging off of Bismuth in the kitchen and Greg and Amethyst were chatting on the couch, but when she walked in, they all stopped and stared at her. Yeah, I deserve this. I deserve all of this. She thought, unable to meet the eyes of the people she loved. As she stood there and the silence stretched on even longer, she found she couldn't take it anymore.
"I'm sorry."
No one responded. They all hate me, I know it. This is what I deserve for what I did, to Bismuth, to my court, to everyone. There's no way any of them will ever trust me again. As her thoughts ran away from her, she heard footsteps, and as she looked up she jolted back as a large hand smacked into her face.
Turning back, she looked Bismuth in the eyes. The blacksmith was not happy, but Pink knew from plenty of sparring matches that she could hit far harder than that if she wanted.
"Look Rose, Pink, whatever you call yourself. I don't like you." Bismuth said, and Pink winced at the words. "But right now, you're the one thing keeping that ship out there from lighting this hill up until the temple is a pile of rubble, and you're keeping the other Diamonds from messing with us, so I'm not going to do anything to you." She scowled as she said it, as if not fighting Pink was disgusting to her. "But, I want as little to do with you as possible. You need to talk to me, you ask someone else to send the message, or hook me up with one of those human communicators Amethyst over there was talking about and send a message that way, but from now on I don't want to see you unless it's absolutely necessary, and I mean 'the other Diamonds are coming to conquer Earth' necessary, got it?"
Pink nodded mutely, and Bismuth walked past her towards the warp pad. Before she could leave, Steven spoke up.
"Uhm, Bismuth, if I want to come see you, is that ok?"
Bismuth's expression did a complete 180 as she knelt down to ruffle Steven's hair. "Course it is Steven, you're welcome to drop by anytime, and if she's not on the planet I'll stop by to visit all the time." She said with a smile before standing up and continuing on towards the warp pad, where in a flash of light she vanished.
Behind her, Pink heard footsteps as Greg walked up to her. "I think we all have had a very long day, it's starting to get late and I'm sure Connie's mom is worried sick about her. Right now, we all could use a nice long break, and tomorrow we can get together again and go over what happened today with calmer minds."
Pink nodded. He's right, today feels like it's been more than a month long. As she turned to leave, Steven grabbed her hand. "Mom, Connie's mom is in town waiting for her, and we haven't had dinner. Do you want to come with us?"
Pink thought about the mountain of responsibilities that was probably growing back on her ship by the minute. There would likely have been a call from one of the other Diamonds, and there would be all the reports from her new colony, and even if she went on the ship now and started working she wouldn't be able to clear the backlog by morning. But when she looked at Steven's wide, pleading eyes, and remembered how long she had left him without a mother, the weight of her responsibilities faded away.
"Sure Steven, that sounds nice." She told him. As she followed him and Connie out onto the beach and watched them race each other to the town, she knew Greg was talking with the others about what she'd done, and as she saw the ship hanging over the beach, she knew that the gems in her court, especially the "inner circle" who she'd told everything to, were likely worried sick about her. It's just a quick visit to town to get Steven some food and send Connie home with her mother, you can deal with all of that when you get back. She told herself, walking down the beach after the children.
As she walked down the beach, she remembered why she had fallen in love with the Earth all those thousands of years ago. The soft roar of the waves against the sand, the calls of birds, the smell of salt water, all of it a wonderful reminder of the beauty of the planet she had protected. After a long day of facing down the consequences of her decisions, answering for her mistakes made defending the Earth, it was a reminder she sorely needed.
Walking up to the town, she made out the shapes of humans walking around the boardwalk, and after a few moments identified three of them as Connie and Steven discussing food options with Dr. Maheswaran. When Steven waved at her, she smiled and walked into town, her worries and regrets muted but not forgotten as she sat down for her first meal with her son.
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Authors Notes:
And with that, the confrontations between Pink and the canon cast come to an end. Now the truth is out, and the next arc is mainly going to be everyone around Pink and Steven reacting to the shifting status quo as the two of them get used to their new lives.
Just a bit of heads up, this was not my way of writing Bismuth out of the story. Now that we've met the Earth crew, I'll be following Steven around as well as Pink, probably alternating chapters if they're on separate planets, and Bismuth will show up regularly in Steven's chapters. She just has some issues with Pink right now and wants nothing to do with her.
As always, let me know what you think, if I did something good let me know so I can keep doing good things, and if I did something bad let me know so I can avoid it in the future.
