Hello, everyone, whoever may be reading this. For old fans of mine, I've returned! For new readers, welcome! This is my newest inspiration, and being as inspiration in any form has been lacking as of late, I'm extremely excited about this. Enjoy my Steven Universe story!
Long before Rose Quartz and the Crystal Gems ever arrived on Earth and discovered the beauty there, before the Kindergarten was founded, Gem Mining was a common and standard method for growing the population of Homeworld. Intellectual Gems would strategically "plant" Gem shards for aquatic and earthen Gems to nourish and cover. Held safe underground in a bubble of nourishing mineral water, under the heat and pressure of the nursery planet, a new, child Gem would be created. When they were developed enough, they would be encouraged to burst from their shelter, finding strength in their struggle.
How the Gem formed would depend on a number of factors, though mainly the previous Gem's shard used, but also the planet they were grown on, the depth in which they were buried, and the type of mineral water used to nurture the young gem. It was a natural process. Older Gems would eventually become brittle and break, but their life did not have to end. Their shards could be regrown into new Gems, based on aspects of the old Gem, the child may be a new copy, or an individual with similarities to their predecessor.
But, there were occasional problems. Some Gems were shattered to dust, never to be recovered. They became incorporated into mineral waters, thus altering the Gem development of those they nurtured. Sometimes shards never regrew into new Gems. The common theory is that the Gem who passed simply felt complete with their life and did not wish to be reborn again. This theory was built on personal testimony of those close to the Gems who would not be reborn. But, stranger things can happen.
This was such when the recovery team pulled the earth from a child Gem that was taking far too long to mature. They believed the shard had failed to regrow, not surprising, considering the shard they had used. But, as the layers of dirt and mineral came away to reveal a small set of fingers poking through the sediment, those gathered gave audible surprise. The consensus was that they should re-cover the sleeping form and allow it to mature in its own time, only giving it extra observation. The Gem in charge, however, had other plans.
"Pull it out." The large, red Gem stared down on her workers with absolute authority.
"But, Almandine, if the Gem is underdeveloped, it could-" A young Fluorite tried to interject, but was cut-off by the back of Almandine's hand. The other, smaller gems stayed back, too cowed to try and help the beaten Gem.
"No spawn of a Diamond would ever come out underdeveloped, their gems are too strong. Pull it out, and let's discover for ourselves what causes this one to lie dormant." The Gems rushed into action at her orders, quickly removing more earth from the bright yellow hand. Almandine glared down, her oppressive gaze urging the the workers to move faster. There was slight hesitation when the arm they revealed began to slowly fade to orange, then to red at the shoulder. The workers paused, concerned, but one look at their task master had them doubling their efforts.
"Move aside," Almandine ordered as the team uncovered the Gems head, some gasping in alarm, "Show me." The little face she stared down on was peaceful in its rest, thin lips slightly parted, eyes softly shut, golden hair tousled about to frame the bright red face. Almandine sneered down on it.
"What's wrong with it?" Fluorite asked, standing beside her tall leader, confused.
"You tell me," The commanding Gem turned, "What type of mineral was it soaked in?"
Fluorite focused and pulled a small tablet from the gem seated in her shoulder. She looked over the markings, then at the juvenile Gem, and back at the words.
"Fragment: Yellow Diamond. Location: 29°0′01″S 28°51′43″E. Depth: 12. Earth composition: 96% Neutral, 3% High Grade Gem, 1% Trace Elements. Mineral Water..." Here, she paused her factual, monotone iteration and looked up at Almandine nervously.
"What is it?" Almandine commanded. Fluorite took a deep breath.
"Mineral Water: 30% Pure diamond, 10% topaz, 15% quartz, 15% moonstone, 20% onyx, and..." She had saved this most shocking piece of evidence for last. Unsure of the consequences, she hesitated, but a look from Almandine had her hurrying to finish her words. "10% Pink Diamond!" Fluorite said this as quickly as she could get the words out and stepped back, out of arms reach of the aggressive commander. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her body tense in preparation for the strike sure to come. When it did not, she slowly opened her eyes, but that did not subside her fears. Almandine was glowing with rage, her body shaking, heat rolling off of her in waves.
"I'm sorry, Almandine, we couldn't nurture a diamond without at least some Pink in it, they just don't grow without it!" Fluorite tried to explain, but her words only brought the mass of seething rage to turn on her.
"Ten percent?! You flooded a Diamonds development chamber with ten percent Pink?!" Her words were lava, spewing forth from the mouth of an angered volcano, burning Fluorite's skin.
"The shard was so damaged, we thought we'd need it, we never could have guessed..." Fluorite collapsed to her knees, bringing her small tablet above her head as the most meager form of protection. She shook, terrified to be sent into her gem, terrified more of where they would put her for when she reformed. But, she felt the searing heat recede, and opened her eyes to see Almandine marching away, sending all other Gems scurrying from her path.
"Destroy it," she called back over her shoulder, "And all evidence of its creation. Let no one know what happened." She marched down the hill, the Gems she had scattered looked up, confused and curious, but none had the gall to ask.
Fluorite sighed and crumbled her stone tablet of information to dust. She walked over to the peaceful Gem that seemed completely unfazed by the tantrum that had occurred only an arm's reach away. The bright, little Gem did not move, but from the placidity of its face, Fluorite knew it was healthy. A perfectly good Gem, slated for destruction because of lineage. A sad day, truly.
The next couple hours were spent uncovering the Gem, alone, as no one else was to know of this failure. Fluorite did not like being alone, but found solace in speaking to the comatose infant at her feet. And, an infant it was, far smaller than was expected for the period it had resided in its maturation bubble. It even looked young. Fluorite had not seen many children Gems, most of those they nurtured here were a regrowing of past Gems, so they made them mature much quicker, so as to join the world as quickly as possible. She had heard of farms on distant planets, where they pulled Gems from the earth as soon as possible, raising from the smallest of stages until they were fully functional, but that was considered flawed. Too young a Gem would not be able to think for itself, only able to follow what it was told. And that lead to unnecessary alliances, which lead to divisions of the social group, which lead to disagreements,which lead to fights, which lead to battles, which lead to war. It had been recorded an infinite number of times by Gems of ages past, and the current leaders wished to prevent it from happening again. Thus, the current rules.
Fluorite said all this to the small Gem as she uncased it from the earth, knowing it did not truly comprehend her words, but perhaps it at least could hear the sounds and be comforted by them. At one point, Fluorite was surprised to see the tiny Gem shift, seeming to come to life for a moment, but was then still once more. Fluorite was strangely saddened by this, but could not understand why.
Finally, the last couple toes pulled free from the layers of mineral and Fluorite held the child Gem before her. The Gem was certainly strong, befitting a Diamonds shard, and heavy as one twice its size. The color pattern persisted up the shoulders to the face, a bright scarlet red, and below the chest it faded to orange, and back to vibrant yellow so that everything from the navel down glowed as fire. The gem, far too large for the size of the body, rested to the side of the chest, so that Fluorite's right hand, holding up by the armpits, could brush the large, beautiful crystal. The only abnormality at all was the small appendage below the waist, but when that showed up on new born Gems, it always vanished with the first growth reforming.
As the child was held aloft, it stirred again, startling Fluorite near to the point of dropping it, but the baby merely yawned, stretched out its stubby little hands, and grabbed Fluorite's forearm. Fluorite found herself smiling at the sight, a small warmth growing in her chest. She took a quick look around, saw no one watching, and headed away from the main nursery.
She had sworn to obey all orders given her by the Diamonds, and that included commands by their direct subordinates such as Almandine, but the tiny Gem, now bundled in her arms as she hurried away, simply could not be destroyed. Fluorite could not describe the sensation. It was not necessarily affection, it certainly wasn't how she felt towards her companions and friends, but she felt she could not let the little Gem die. It simply felt... required of her to protect it until it could speak for itself and argue its own existence.
So, Fluorite ran, the little Diamond wrapped in her arms protectively, not to meet another Gem for years to come.
Once again, thanks for reading! Please leave a review if you enjoyed it, or on what I could do better. Any questions on my interpretation of SU Gem Lore are also welcome!