A/N: This is a story I've wanted to try writing for a while now, exploring how Rose Quartz became to be the leader of a rebellion and what came before she arrived on Earth. Let me know what you think, hopefully I'll get the 'oomph' to write a second chapter.
The kid had fallen asleep a while ago. Jasper looked up at the tuft of curly, black hair sticking out from under a thick quilt. This had been a nightly routine of hers for some time now. The kid would fall asleep, usually after one of the other Gems had told him a "bedtime story" as they called it. After that, Jasper would wait until he was asleep before sitting on the couch near his bed until the first rays of sunlight appeared on the horizon. Sometimes the Pearl would come to watch him sleep for a few hours before going back to her own room. This was a ritual Jasper couldn't understand. Was it some kind of fascination with the human respiratory system? An overbearing paranoia that the kid would stop breathing? Or the remaining shreds of an unrequited love for the child's mother that manifested itself as a kind of stalker-like behaviour? Maybe it was just because she cared for the kid.
"I'm thinking too deeply. I need to get out." She thought to herself. Jasper stood up gently and walked as softly as she could to the front door, opening it and closing it behind her without so much as a click of the lock.
She sat beside the sea for a while, allowing herself some time to clear her thoughts. She and Peridot had been in exile for months now, forced to shack up with the only other Gems on the planet. The same Gems that Jasper and Peridot had un-fused, imprisoned and tried to take back to Homeworld to answer for Rose Quartz's rebellion. Needless to say, the Gems were more than a little apprehensive at first. The kid on the other hand was almost ecstatic.
Jasper couldn't understand the kid sometimes. She'd knocked him unconscious, given him a black eye and tried to take him to a certain death for crimes he'd never committed. Yet, he always had a way of finding the positives in any situation. In this case, he had two new Gems to try and befriend.
Peridot had been won over several months before Jasper and Lapis Lazuli had un-fused and washed up on the sea shore. Jasper's reaction when she saw that Peridot had not only joined their enemies, but also had lost the limb enhancers gifted to her by Yellow Diamond had made the warrior Gem not sure whether to laugh or go berserk.
Jasper hadn't warmed up to the kid as fast. It was because of him they they had failed their mission, yet Jasper couldn't find it in herself to be mad at him. She didn't know why.
"Jasper?"
The orange Gem turned around and saw the Quartz child standing behind her in his pyjamas. His hair was a tangled mess and there was a look of concern on his face.
"Oh. It's you." Jasper said. She turned back to look at the water again. "You should get back to bed, kid. It's late." She heard the kid's footsteps and soft thud as he sat beside her knee, looking up at her. Jasper looked down at him.
"Are you okay, Jasper?" He asked.
"I'm fine, Steven." Jasper replied, looking back to the ocean. She could still feel him looking at her. She looked back down at him, her brow beginning to furrow. "What? What do you want?"
"You've looked so down recently, I thought if I came and talked to you alone, maybe you'd cheer up." The kid explained. "And then maybe we could be friends..."
"Pfft, 'friends'." Jasper scoffed, cutting him off. Smirking, she looked down at the human, only to see his downtrodden expression and watery eyes. A pang of guilt shot across her stomach. "Oh, hey, no no no no." She sighed, ruffling the child's hair in an attempt to cheer him up. "I didn't mean that, kid. It's just... with everything that's happened, 'friend' isn't a category I'd ever imagine either of us in."
The two of them sat in silence for a while.
"Did you know my mother?" The kid asked. A smile spread across the Gem's face.
"Yeah, I knew her. She was my commander during the seventeeth Great Harvest." Jasper smiled.
"What was that?" Steven asked, looking up at the orange gem. A thought crossed Jasper's mind.
"Look, I don't know if I should be telling you this. Have the others told you anything about our race? About Rose?" Jasper turned around fully to look down at Steven.
"I know that not all Gems are good and I know that some really bad things happened before you guys came to Earth." Steven replied. He looked up at the concern on Jasper's face. She towered over him, she was taller than Garnet by half at least.
"Okay. I guess I can continue then." Jasper sighed. "You know not all gems are good. That's not even the half of it."
-
"My beloved Gems. As you know, the time has come once again for the Great Harvest."
Deafening cheers rose from the crowded terraces, floating below the high palace of the Diamonds. The palace stood above the towers and domes of the Homeworld skyline as a glittering green obelisk. At the top of the tower, a large balcony protruded from the obelisk's smooth curvature, looking out over the city streets and suspended courtyards where the masses would gather to hear the heirarchs of the Diamond Authority speak.
White Diamond smiled at the crowds that gathered below. Her semi-translucent body was draped in a fine white toga, befitting the most flawless of the Diamond caste. Her fine white hair was styled in the shape of a seven pointed star.
"At dawn, the chosen among you will head out into the wider galaxy, to find more worlds and bring them and their inhabitants into joyous union and compliance with our race!"
There was another explosion of cheers and White Diamond turned to look at her kindred. Yellow Diamond was dressed in glittering golden battle plate, her slender form rendered invisible by the bulkiness of her attire. A cape of white velvet adorned her shoulders, trailing down to the floor. Blue Diamond wore a high collared coat in bright blue and white shades. A pair of armoured gauntlets covered her hands, rising up to the elbows of her uncovered arms. White turned her attention to Pink Diamond. Her thick, pink hair was tied back, falling behind her. She wore white robes with pink accents, the traditional attire of a healer.
White smiled at the three, before turning her attention back to the Gems gathered below.
"This Harvest however, will be slightly different." She began. "In my stead, our exalted and beloved Pink Diamond will be leading an expedition fleet, as I will be staying here to guard our glorious planet until our fleets return."
Even more cheers erupted from the crowds below, louder than before. White turned to face Pink Diamond again.
"You see?" She beamed. "You have the love of our people, the trust and sisterhood of your fellow Diamonds. My faith in your capabilities is not misplaced, my dear."
Pink Diamond bowed her head, a smile on her lips. "I will not fail you, Flawless One." She promised. White placed her hands on Pink's shoulders.
"I know you won't."
-
Pink Diamond stepped off of the warp pad onto the loading bay on one of Homeworld's many orbital defence platforms. No longer was she dressed in her ceremonial healer's robes. Instead, she wore a gleaming white breastplate, with pink armoured gauntlets and greaves. At her hip hung a large pink sword in an intricately ornate scabbard. She made her way through the loading deck, smiling and nodding curtly at worker gems who stopped their tasks to bow before her. Pink accessed a panel at the far side of the loading bay. The door swept open and she stepped through the portal onto the station's observation deck.
Yellow Diamond was waiting for her. Still in the glittering golden battle plate she had worn at the ceremony the previous day, Yellow Diamond towered above Pink. The larger gem smiled and embraced her fellow heirarch, almost lifting Pink off of the ground.
"Sister!" Yellow beamed. "Glad to see you at last! Thought we'd have to start the Harvest without you."
Pink looked up at Yellow. "I am glad to finally be here." She smiled. "Though I do feel a little unworthy of this assignment."
Yellow snorted. "Unworthy?! Listen to me, Pink Diamond. If any of us believed that your skills as a leader and as a tactician were not effective, you would not be standing here. You'll do fine and when the Harvest is over, you will return to Homeworld and regale us with your tales of glory." The larger gem smiled, revealing her gleaming white and sharply pointed teeth.
"It pleases me to hear your trust in my abilities, sister." Pink smiled. "I will not fail the Authority." Yellow nodded.
"Glad to hear it. Anyway, follow me. I have something to show you."
The two Diamonds walked along the observation deck, looking down on the planet below. Ships were arriving from, or departing to the vast fleet of sleek frigates, hulking cruisers and bulky carrier ships, all in the colours of Yellow and Blue Diamond's gemstones.
"Where is Blue Diamond?" Pink inquired. "Shouldn't she be preparing her fleet?" She Yellow visibly tense up.
"Blue's departure will be...significantly later than ours." Yellow replied, the happiness of their earlier conversation had left her voice. Yellow stopped to look down upon Homeworld's surface, many miles below.
Pink stood next to her, looking at the concern on Yellow's face. "Has something happened, Yellow?" She asked.
"It's those damnable rebels again." Yellow sighed. "They attacked an Injector manufacturing plant last night. Apparently Blue's inquisitorial forces received a threat of another attack. Group of lower caste lowlifes."
Pink snorted. "They've got a lot of gall or a death wish if they think they can go toe-to-toe with Blue."
Yellow smiled and looked back at pink. "Heh, that's exactly what I'm thinking, sister. But we'll get them. Ah, here they are. Perfectly on schedule." The larger gem gestured to the planet below as a fleet of ships ascended out of Homeworld's atmosphere.
Six frigates, two carriers and three cruisers, all painted pink to signify Pink Diamond's command, formed a flotilla much smaller than that of the other two diamonds' fleets, but still a force to be reckoned with. Finally, as if struggling under it's own weight, one immense battle barge broke atmosphere and positioned itself behind the rest of the pink ships. The battle barge was larger than any other ship in the flotilla. The front of the ship formed a plough shaped wedge, good for ramming enemy vessels if space combat was necessary, whereas the rest of the ship was blockier and better armed than the three cruisers.
Yellow diamond turned to face Pink, a smile of self-satisfaction on her face. "Your flotilla, sister." She grinned. Pink pressed her hands to the glass of the viewport and stared, wide-eyed at the glittering ships before them.
"I...I can't believe it!" Pink beamed, looking up at Yellow. "It's absolutely beautiful!"
Yellow smiled another fanged smile. "They've been in production for several cycles now, there are many still to come though. White Diamond had them commissioned especially for you. These are just the ones the shipbuilders could complete before the Harvest. A Diamond must always have a fleet to command, sister. To burn a flawless path across the universe and ensure that the glory of the Diamond Authority is one shared by all."
"I don't know what to say, sister..." Pink stammered. Yellow placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You don't have to say anything. I have a final present for you." The larger gem pressed a finger to her ear, activating a communications link in her armour. "Topaz, bring the gifts."
A moment later, a large gem covered head to toe in thick battle plate strode along the observation deck towards the two Diamonds.
The armoured gem, who Pink Diamond could only assume was this 'Topaz' Yellow had mentioned, stopped in front of the two heirarchs and bowed, before standing to attention, flanked by two other gems.
The first was another large gem in battle plate, shorter than Topaz but roughly the same height as Pink Diamond. Her hair was white and out of control, her skin was orange with red stripes and her gemstone was framed in the centre of her face, where a nose would have been.
"This is Jasper, one of my most trusted generals." Yellow explained. "I have assigned her to your command for the duaration of your first harvest. She is one of the most excellent tacticians in my forces and a damn fine warrior to boot."
Jasper dropped to one knee. "It will be an honour to serve you, Pink Diamond. I will endeavor to bring you glory against any force that opposes you."
Pink smiled. "Thank you, general. Your skills will be invaluable to our journey." Jasper nodded and rose to stand at attention beside Topaz once more. Pink turned her attention to the gem at Topaz's other side.
This gem stood much shorter than any of the others on the observation deck. She was slender, her milky white skin making her look more like an ornament than a living creature. Her hair was a pale orange colour, cropped just below her jawline and a flawless white gemstone stood in the centre of her forehead. Unlike the heavy battle plate that Topaz and Jasper wore, this gem was dressed in a flowing blue gown, a shaul of transparent material wrapped around her shoulders. She bent her knees in a curtsy and looked to the floor as Pink's gaze fell upon her.
"This is-" Yellow began.
"A Pearl?" Pink cut in, turning to face Yellow. "Sister, I do not wish to sound ungrateful, but you know my objection to having servants."
Yellow smiled and placed a large, armoured hand on Pink's shoulder.
"I knew you would protest, sister and no, I have not forgotten your objections. You will be leading an expeditionary force across the galaxy, not tending to the needs of the gems back on Homeworld." Yellow looked Pink in the eye. "Think of this Pearl as a housecarl or...serf, if you will. She will attend to you while you attend to the needs of the Harvest and your fleet. Right now, you are not a hierarch of the Diamond Authority, you are the Primarch of a Harvest fleet. A warrior as well as a diplomatic envoy."
Pink Diamond nodded. "I understand, Yellow." She turned her attention to the Pearl. She couldn't help but notice a dark blue blush spread across the smaller Gem's cheeks as she looked her in the eyes. "I hope my tone has not offended you, Pearl. I am sure you will be an invaluable asset to me in the coming cycles."
"N-not at all, Flawless One." The Pearl stammered, clearly flustered and the blue blush on her cheeks spreading. "I-I-am honoured to be sworn to your service."
Yellow stepped forward, placing a large, gauntlet-covered hand on Pink's shoulder. "If we are done with the introductions, Jasper, please escort yourself and the Pearl to Pink Diamond's battle barge. Topaz, make your way back to the Cerelium, I will join you on the bridge shortly."
The two Diamonds watched as the three Gems made their way back across the observation deck, towards the orbital platform's warp pad.
"And now for the plan of action." Yellow said sternly. "You and I will be taking our fleets to a small world called Aurelia, just on the fringes of Authority space. That is where this Great Harvest will commence. It will be a great chance to test your flotilla's battle capability too."
Pink looked up at her sister, concern furrowing her brow. "You anticipate that we will need to fight before we have even left?" She asked.
"My dear, sweet Pink Diamond," Yellow grinned, her fanged teeth gleaming. "In every Great Harvest, there is always a need to fight. Not all races are... willing to swear fealty to the Diamond Authority."
A/N: So I hope you enjoyed reading this. I've got the outline for more chapters in case I get the kick-up-the-butt I need to get writing again. Thanks for taking your time to read this!