Paint it Pink
Author's Note: Continuing from The Grey, Lars and Steven must find a way to understand Lars' new gifts. As well as seek the truth to White Diamond. You guys really surprised me. I didn't expect a simple one-shot based off of a dream I had to be praised so well. Thank you! The title is a play on the song "Paint it Black", by The Rolling Stones.
Still an AU with similarities to Off Colors.
"Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world...would do this, it would change the earth."
- William Faulkner
"Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
By: VampireQueenAkasha
~O~
The bottom of the quarry was dark.
But Steven was anxious about Lars' condition and his new appearance. He seemed disoriented, constantly rubbing his head.
"Lars, how are you feeling?" he asked, frantic. "Are you okay?"
Lars looked around, dazed. His bright pink skin and hair reminded Steven of something that he couldn't quite place; well, he really couldn't think of anything right now except for Lars' new hue and the fact that he'd been DEAD only a few minutes ago.
"I...uh...I don't know," Lars finally said.
Steven was anxious for answers. "Tell me whatever you can!" he insisted, "This is different! I've never been able to - "
"Able to what?" Lars asked, lowering his arm.
Then, he noticed his skin hue and his eyes widened. He looked around at himself and gave a startled cry, quickly rising.
"Wait, am I... Am I pink?" he exclaimed.
Steven held out two hands. "Lars, now hold on..." he said, trying to keep him calm. "I can explain - Well, actually, I can't!" A sheepish laugh. "I've never been able to do this before! But let's just say you were...not really...alive?"
Lars looked completely confused before his eyes widened. "Wait, I was...dead?" he cried.
"Yeah, but I revived you! I mean, I'm sorry I didn't ask for permission! I would have if I knew I could..." Steven continued to babble on. "I mean, sure I would have revived you since you were dead, but I just didn't know - Oh, I'm sorry, I just - "
Then, the two looked up when they made out the sounds of familiar humming. Three robonoids were making their way down into the quarry, optics scanning. Lars groaned with dismay and Steven took his hand, helping him stand.
"These things just don't quit!" Lars growled.
Steven looked around for a hiding spot, but could find none.
The two suddenly froze at the sound of a whisper, beckoning to them. They noticed a red arm reaching out from a hole near them.
"Hey! Come here! Quickly!" a female voice.
Lars paled. "Steven?" he said, warily.
Steven took his hand, not taking any chances. He followed the beckoning hand and dove into the hole with Lars. They fell deep into darkness and the robonoids passed overhead, missing them by mere seconds.
Steven and Lars struggled to see in the dark in front of them, but they could only make out two sets of eyes watching them.
"Are you okay?" a voice asked, from one of the eyes.
Steven nodded. "Yeah, thanks to you. Are you..."
Light from a gem began to glow and the two watched in amazement as their rescuer made themselves known.
Or rather, HERSELF.
Two thin, tall gems with short, maroon hair and red skin. They were conjoined at the waist with one pair of legs and arms. Their gemstone had a "Y" shape located on the navel, where their bodies connected.
Lars gave a startled cry, recoiling. His action seemed to shock the twins and they withered a little, clearly wounded by the reaction. Steven quickly took Lars' hand to comfort him and gave the gems who had saved them a look.
"Sorry." he said.
The two gems studied them curiously. "Hm," the left gem mused, "I've never seem gems like you before. What are you?"
Steven gestured to Lars, then to himself. "This is Lars. And I'm Steven."
"We're Rutile." the right gem said, with a smile.
The left Rutile looked up toward the hole before gesturing for them to follow. "Come, this way. This way, come!"
The two started to follow, but Lars hesitated. He looked down at Steven cautiously. "Steven, wait. Is this really a good idea?"
Steven nodded his head. "They seem... different. I think we can trust them!"
Lars nodded in return, but he still seemed hesitant. Even more, the pink shade of his skin was still a matter to consider.
O
Lars and Steven proceeded through the quarry with the Rutile Twins as their guide. So far, they were quiet, which gave Lars the chance to study his pink hands. Steven watched him uncertainly. He'd never done anything like this before.
Lars tried to move his burned shirt a little, adjusting it before it fell apart across his left shoulder. He groaned with disappointment.
"Aww man. That was my favorite shirt," he protested, with a sigh, "Oh well. There's worse things right now than a shirt, anyway."
"So...uh...how are you feeling?" Steven asked, carefully.
Lars shrugged his shoulders, then looked a little unsure. "I don't know. I mean, I'm not hungry anymore. So I guess that's a plus, right?"
Steven couldn't disagree with that. "So...do you feel okay?"
"I don't really know." Lars looked at his hands and seemed completely lost.
Steven continued to push for answers. "But your body, are you sore?"
Lars looked at himself and noticed a spider-web like scar across his shoulder and arm. It reminded him of a horrible scrape he'd seen one of his classmates end up with after falling down a patch of gravel. Still, it was kinda cool to him in a way.
"No." he answered. "Not sore at all."
"Are you tired?" Steven asked.
"No."
"Do you feel good?"
"No."
Steven was worried now. "Do you feel bad?"
Lars shook his head, a faint edge in his voice. "No!" he snapped. Then, he exhaled and looked at his pink arm again. "I - I guess I just feel really freaked out?"
Steven couldn't agree more with that. "Well, I am, too, so at least we're on the same page here."
He looked at the Rutile Twins now. "Uh, excuse me, but where are you taking us?"
The left Rutile looked back at him. "Somewhere... long forgotten." she assured him. "Where only those who don't belong...belong."
Steven and Lars looked at each other, not sure what to think of that cryptic message. Instead, they marveled the appearance of the quarry slowly changing; the rock walls looked to become smooth marble textures, there were even statues of gems.
The Rutile Twins led them toward what looked like a building similar to Egyptian architecture. Steven remembered seeing the Luxor Temple in one of Connie's text books.
"Wow, look at this place" Lars exclaimed. "It's huge!"
The Rutile Twins approached the great doorway and gestured for them to follow inside. As they passed, Steven noticed images of a shapely feminine figure standing on both sides of the door. They looked like statues of Pink Diamond.
There was a hypostyle hall style to the interior of the great building; dust covered every inch of the chamber and Steven could see interesting wall murals lining every inch of the walls and even floors. All of these designs bore history of Era-1, he assumed.
Finally, the Rutile Twins stopped and called out.
"We're back!" the right Rutile announced.
"Here we are! It's okay to come out!" the left Rutile added.
From inside a hole, a gem stepped out, panicking.
She looked muscular, perhaps almost similar to Garnet. She had reddish skin and a long pointed, upturned nose along with mismatched attire. She also seemed to have been a fusion. Steven could have only guessed that she was a combination of a pearl and a ruby, given how familiar this fusion's attributes looked.
"Oh, thank goodness! I hope you weren't followed!" the fusion mumbled, "You weren't, right, I hope, you double checked!" She took one look at Steven and Lars before crying out, her multiple eyes widening. "You've been followed!"
Steven stepped forward and reached out with one hand. Immediately, she backed away. "Uh, hi. Don't worry, I'm not a threat or anything." he assured her.
The Rutile Twins laughed gently. "It's okay, Rhodonite. Relax. We brought them here." the left Rutile added.
Rhodonite looked uncertain. "Can we trust them?"
The right Rutile nodded, giving Steven and Lars a smile. "Sure. I think so."
Lars looked down, noticing a smaller gem step out from behind a pillar. She was about the same height as Steven, peachy orange in complexion. She wore a beige, dull red, and light orange floor-length gown, with a beige collar, shoulder pads, and elbow-length gloves.
"Everyone, a wondrous prediction has come before me!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together, "The twins of Rutile will bring not one, but two strangers to our current place of hiding!"
Rhodonite sighed, as if she'd heard this many times before. "We know, Padparadscha, your prediction already happened!"
While the two were talking, Steven and Lars attempted to understand more of his revival and what he was feeling. Lars seemed a little more with it this time, though still slightly shaken from this new revelation. Steven wasn't sure how he was able to revive the dead, but he was reminded of Lion when he looked at Lars now.
Same pink, cotton candy-like hair and skin.
"So, what do you think?" Lars asked. "Am I a..." His eyes widened and he began to panic again. "Oh man, am I a zombie?"
Steven laughed weakly. "I don't think so. Zombies can't talk."
"So what am..." Lars looked beyond him and he gave a frightened cry.
Steven followed his gaze and noticed a new gem fusion studying them curiously. She wasn't humanoid, but resembled a large caterpillar. Each segmented part of her body consisted of a different color; green, gray, blue, purple and pink. Her first two segments had a pair of slender arms, clasped together. She had six greenish-blue eyes, a large bulbous nose and wavy, shoulder-length, fluffy, light-blue hair.
Lars ducked behind Steven with a yelp.
The Rutile Twins smiled when they saw her. "Fluorite!" the left one greeted.
Fluorite studied Lars and Steven with a curious smile. "They don't look like Gems." she said, speaking in a slow, almost dreamy tone.
Steven waved at her. "Hi, I'm Steven. I'm a Gem." he told her. He laughed sheepishly. "Well, half gem. And this is Lars. He's all human."
"That's why you look unusual." Fluorite remarked.
Lars scoffed. "We look unusual?!"
Padparadscha suddenly brightened. "Here comes Fluorite!"
O
Fluorite curled herself across the floor while the others gathered around her. Steven was explaining the situation to them, all the while they listened with mixed reactions. The Rutile Twins looked troubled, looking at one another.
"That's bad news," the left Rutile said, "Did White Diamond follow you down here?"
Steven shook his head. "I don't think so."
"She may not." Fluorite replied. "This place holds painful memories for her."
Lars scoffed. "Painful for her?"
"Yes. For this was once the chamber of the great Pink Diamond."
Lars didn't quite understand the significance, but Steven reacted a little to it. He looked around at the images painted on the walls, the statues in her likeness. It was probably some kind of castle or something for her.
"What happened to it?" he asked.
"White Diamond sank it down here into the abandoned Kindergarten," the right Rutile explained, her features suddenly pensive. "No memories left to remind her of what happened."
"She saved us, you know." the left Rutile added, "Pink Diamond. When the other Rutile's ran away screaming, she found us."
"Really?" Steven looked surprised.
The Rutile Twins looked at him sadly, nodding.
Their gemstone began to glow, before it projected a memory; an image of the Kindergarten. Steven and Lars watched with amazement as the memory began to play out of screaming Rutile's fleeing in terror from the Kindergarten.
Then, they were finally graced with the image of Pink Diamond. She looked beautiful, Steven couldn't deny that much. Something about the way she looked; from her expressions to her state of dress reminded him of a warm, maternal feeling.
The memory skipped and Pink Diamond was now kneeling before an exit mark, reaching out soothingly for something.
"It's all right. Come out. Let me see you." she said.
Within a few moments, the Rutile Twins stepped out, covering their faces with shame and anguish. Pink Diamond gently took them into her hand. Her gaze was piteous, but she certainly didn't look disgusted by what she was seeing.
"I'm sorry. This isn't supposed to happen," she told them, "But it can sometimes. I don't blame you for how you came out. It's not your fault."
The Rutile Twins couldn't look at her. They were too ashamed.
"A-Are we going to be broken?" the left one asked.
Pink sighed. "No. I wouldn't dream of it." she assured them. "But you cannot be seen in my court. You cannot exist up there. That is how things are and how they must be. You must never be seen, do you understand?"
The Rutile Twins seemed shocked, amazed by her mercy. They leaned close as they were cradled lovingly to Pink Diamond's chest. She wandered deeper into the Kindergarten with them.
"She showed us mercy," the right Rutile said, tears brimming in her eyes.
The left one saw her condition and gently wiped a tear that fell down her cheek. The right Rutile smiled at her.
Steven was amazed by what he watched. So once again, the others had been wrong about Pink Diamond being merciless and cruel. No diamond that he knew of seemed as merciful as this. What gem on Homeworld would go at such lengths?
"So, Pink Diamond wasn't as bad as I thought," Steven said, quietly.
The Rutile Twins shook their heads. "We only know what we experienced." the left one told him. "Pink Diamond cared about each gem in her court, even the off colors."
"Off colors?" Lars asked.
"You know. Wrong." Rhodonite told them.
Steven frowned. "There's nothing wrong with you guys."
"Yeah, try telling them that." Rhodonite quipped, pointing upwards.
O
White Diamond gracefully drifted down into the quarry. She landed at the bottom, as light as air. Looking around, White could see every detail of the quarry that led into the vast Kindergarten. She gave a long, quiet sigh.
"Pity..." she mused.
Meanwhile, Lars was talking about how he'd been killed by White Diamond's fire and revived to his pink condition. The other gems listened, awestruck by this knowledge.
"Oh my!" Padparadscha exclaimed, hands going to her cheeks.
"That sounds amazing." Fluorite said.
Something clicked and the gems looked over their shoulders. The familiar sound of White Diamond's heels made Lars and Steven pale with fright. The other gems also recognized the sound and began to panic, quickly backing up.
"That's impossible!" Rhodonite exclaimed, "She...She's never come down here this far!"
Steven quickly gestured to the cracks and holes in the wall. "Everybody! Hide!"
They didn't need to be told twice. Rhodonite scooped Padparadscha up in her arms and rushed off to hide in the place she'd emerged from.
"Watch out! White Diamond's coming!" the little sapphire told them.
Fluorite scaled a pillar, hiding away in the shadows and the Rutile Twins took cover in the ground. Steven and Lars hid behind a statue, mere moments as White Diamond appeared in front of the chamber. She paused in front of a statue of Pink Diamond.
Lars and Steven watched her, tense.
"What's she doing?" Lars whispered, fiercely.
"I don't know. She's just standing there." Steven whispered back.
He stared at White Diamond, watching as a strange look touched her face. His eyes widened in surprise when the mask of apathy fell away, replaced with an odd pain that he had yet to witness, except for on Blue Diamond.
She reached up, gently placing her hand over the statue of Pink Diamond's cheeks. "Oh, Pink..." she sighed, her flat tone replaced with a slight tremble of emotion. "If only I'd been there sooner. She wouldn't have destroyed you...and me."
Steven was stunned by her emotion.
A soft scraping sound; White Diamond slowly trailing a long, dangerous nail down the length of the statue. It was agonizing.
Then, she grimaced, showing her teeth in a soft snarl before swinging her hand, obliterating the statue into nothing more than rubble. The sound startled the hiding gems and humans. Lars made a small yelping sound that immediately froze White Diamond where she crouched.
Her eyes widened and she looked back toward the inside of the chamber. A thin, eerie smile lit her face and she turned, facing the entrance.
"I know you're hiding in there. You and your human pet," she said, "We know he would have survived my attack. Quite interesting that you'd go through such lengths to revive a talking animal. You must really love the humans."
Lars pursed his lips, glaring at Steven.
"I let you survive as long as you have. Perhaps curiosity on my part. I wanted to see what you would do," White continued, strolling into the chamber. "But along with mercy, you've managed to destroy yet another part of me."
Clack, clack, clack...
Steven and Lars seized with fear; White Diamond was inside the chamber now, walking around and searching for them. But now, the gems who had helped them were in danger of being found and there weren't many places for them left to hide.
"Do you think shattering is the worse thing I could do to a gem?" White crooned, attempting to drag them out of hiding through manipulation, "Oh, I have an entire party of red delights waiting all for you. I don't extend such promises to anyone, Rose Quartz. But I think you've managed to earn my full attention. Oh, but I won't say such attention is particularly wise. Especially from me."
There was a grin in her voice with that last sentence, sending chills up Steven and Lars' spine; a delighted, malicious purr that deepened like a malfunctioning computer.
"It only gets worse the longer you hide from me," White promised, glancing around. "And what of your new friends? What will become of them at the hands of your greed? How many gems have to die to preserve you? You're not saving them, you're leading them to ruin as you had so many others."
Playing on his guilt. White was clever.
Lars could see Steven struggling with himself and he placed a hand on his shoulder. Steven looked surprised by the gesture and Lars gave him a reassuring smile.
White exhaled, shaking her head and advancing. "Pity." she said. "There is no end to your greed, Rose Quartz. Now, you will watch as other innocents perish because of you."
While still looking straight ahead, she knelt down and punched her fist through the floor, seizing a struggling, screaming Rutile in her hands. Steven quickly moved from his hiding spot, panicking. The other off-color gems also joined in, talking at once.
White faced them, shaking her head with disgust. "Look at you. Forgotten memories and living nightmares. Destroying you would be an act of mercy."
She pressed a thumb to Rutile's midsection and the twins screeched in fright and terror.
"Stop! No!" Steven cried, tearfully. "Please, don't hurt them!"
White glanced from the Rutile Twins to Steven. Lars appeared beside him, still so frightened of her, but standing strong.
"That's the one thing it takes to bring you to your knees," she purred, pressing a thumb harder into the Rutile Twins. "The threatening of one weak. Pathetic. Defect."
She tossed the Rutile Twins aside like refuse and the gems grunted, pained. She was quickly retrieved by Rhodonite and White Diamond regarded them curiously.
"Ah. The pearl and the ruby who fled their Morganite. How appropriate that I would find you still alive." she said. "But I have no need of a misbegotten slave. You earn only my contempt, not my effort."
She turned her back on them, facing Steven with a smile of satisfaction.
"I trust we will not continue fleeing?" she said, her voice ringing out like a delighted child, "I know every inch of Homeworld and its darkest corners. There is no where you can go that I will not find you."
Steven's eyes widened when she reached for him.
"Now then...Rose..." White whispered, her voice frighteningly reminiscent of a blood-thirsty animal.
Lars shook his head frantically. "No!" he shouted, "No, no no!"
With that final 'no' uttered, a loud, massive sonic blast burst from his throat, smashing into White Diamond's midsection. She was clearly not prepared for it and the attack sent her flying through the wall, grunting with effort.
O
No one could speak.
Steven and Lars looked at each other, eyes wide in shock.
"L-Lars?" Steven exclaimed. "Lars, oh! I think I know what this is! You have Lion powers!"
Lars was still unable to comprehend what had just happened. "I have...what?" he cried. "I have powers? Like, really loud screaming powers?"
The off-color gems cheered him on, but didn't have much time to celebrate for long because White Diamond was stepping out of the hole she'd flown through, brushing the dust from her cloak with a single sweep of her arm.
"So you DO have some fight in you after all, little animal," she said, completely unscathed. "But I have no time for games. And now, you've earned my undivided attention!"
Her hand crackled with white-hot flames and she shot out a powerful blast at them. Fluorite quickly acted fast, circling the gems with her worm-like body. Steven raised a bubble to protect the gems from the attack. When he backed up, his foot pressed on a pressure plate and a hologram played back an image of Yellow and Blue Diamond.
White froze, almost mystified by the sight. The flames surrounded her, but did not harm to her form. The gems took the opportunity while she was distracted to make their way down a tunnel. Steven couldn't help but pause and watch the image play back.
"She's gone..."
"I can't believe it..."
"White..."
A hologram of White Diamond appeared; she looked like she was withering on the floor, as if in great pain. Steven watched with shock as the holographic diamond began to scream with anguish. Her hands were over her face, shaking. The sound was so haunting, he'd never forget it.
Yellow and Blue watched the diamond, shock on their faces. They were crying as well, but as the fresh tears poured down their cheeks, they could only observe their eldest diamond screaming with raw pain and hate.
It wasn't the same as the being currently standing there, emotionless to what she was seeing. She just calmly shut her eyes, as if the memory simply tired her out than anything else. Strangely enough, she hadn't continued her pursuit of them.
The hologram continued, and the sobbing, wailing diamond's sounds began to change into choking, hysterical laughter. It was disturbing to the gems watching from a safe distance away and so entirely alien on someone like White Diamond.
White Diamond laid her face against a wall, hysterically laughing as tears streamed down her cheeks. Blue and Yellow attempted to get her back to reality.
"White, look at me!" Blue begged, cupping her cheeks. "White, please..."
White continued to laugh before it broke into helpless sobbing once again. The raw, horrific way her features twisted...
"I WAS THERE!" she screamed. "I WAS THERE AND - "
Yellow pulled her to her feet. "Get a hold of yourself!" she groaned, also still crying. "White, stand up! We have to gather the gems! They will need guidance!"
White's eyes widened for a few moments, as if the notion startled her more than anything else. It was like a symphony played across her face. The emotions drained completely, leaving only a blank, deadened stare that concerned Blue more than anyone else.
"White?" she whispered.
"Yes, of course." White seemed to calm, disassociate herself to those around her. "They will need guidance, as will all of Homeworld."
Steven watched White, noticing the way she just stood there among the flames. She was calm, almost content in the surrounding atmosphere. A smile touched her cheeks and he knew from that look alone that nothing would convince her.
It wasn't going to change. Not after he saw the truth.
She won't change.
Finally, they continued on through the tunnels, not looking back.
O
Note - It was hard to choose, but I thought Pink Diamond could be voiced by Monica Taylor Horgan; she voices Maria from Silent Hill 2. The voice sounds kinda young, and I always thought Pink would sound younger.
I'm still on the fence as to whether or not White may have shattered Pink in the show. I don't like the idea, tbh. But...we'll see where it goes from there.
The ending with White Diamond standing in the fire was inspired by the OST from Silent Hill 2 called Theme of Laura (Reprise).