She always did what she wanted
That's what Pearl and her father said at the hotel in Keystone when they reconciled. He had never thought about that phrase before. And, after all, who wasn't like that from time to time? But he didn't realize that it had a deeper context, even more so if one of the people who commented on it was supposedly the one who knew Rose Quartz best.
It wasn't that she did what she wanted for the right reasons, such as the Gem rebellion and the liberation of the Earth from the reign of the Diamonds, but that literally she did what she wanted, without caring about the consequences that her actions could cause.
Because she couldn't confront the diamonds directly, she decided to create an alias in the shape of Rose Quartz to be able to do what normally, as Pink Diamond, could never do like how to live with humans or speak normally with other gems or even fight against the Diamonds. What's more, the rebellion and creation of the Crystal Gems may never have been within her plans, but simply occurred and she seized the moment.
It may not be entirely her fault. She was a diamond and they did what they wanted. There were no consequences for what they did. His word was law. But that doesn't eliminate the damage he did.
Because she didn't agree with Bismuth (and he wasn't saying that he agreed with what she wanted to do), she decided to lock her up and tell everyone that she was missing in action. Being the leader, who wouldn't believe her? Also, there was no possibility that someone would burst the bubble she was kept prisoner, so no one would find out about it
For making Homeworld believe that it had been destroyed, they threw the weapon that corrupted all the Crystal Gems, being only Garnet and Pearl the only ones that got rid of that future because she managed to protect them with her shield
But worst of all was his poor understanding of the feelings of others
Because of this, she assumed that everyone was okay with the decisions she made. Even the most drastic ones.
Even though they were evil, both Blue and Yellow Diamond were her sisters. She never understood that knowing that his sister had been shattered would cause them such great pain that they're suffering even to this day.
She never understood what giving her gem to Steven would cause in the Crystal Gems.
Amethyst's pain after seeing that her main emmotional support would no longer be with her. The one that convinced her that, just for being different, it didn't mean that she was bad or useless.
The responsibility imposed on Garnet to make her the leader at the time she disappeared. She practically forced her to calm the other gems while she also suffered. But among the three, the biggest victim was Pearl
Despite having empathic powers, she never understood what happened to Pearl. It's probable that, at the beginning, everything was a game for her, as when they coordinated her "defeat". For Rose it was something exciting to live with her. A new experience. Something different and changing from the usual routine.
But for Pearl it was something different. Something special and unique.
She thought that it was going to be a relationship between just the two of them. That she had finally corresponded to her emotions. That there wouldn't be anything to prevent them from being together and enjoying the love for the rest of their immortal lives. But it was never like that. She always had human lovers over the centuries because she wanted to "keep experimenting". That indicated that she didn't see Pearl in the same way that Pearl saw Rose. She wanted her only for her while Rose wanted to live new experiences on Earth.
Maybe she would have kept thinking like that if his stubborn dad hadn't shown up and managed to explain to her what true love really means. And, despite that, she never talked to Pearl about what was happening between the two of them. Because there was never a "between the two of them". The only time she experimented supposedly true love was with Greg and no one else. And still, with him she also did what he wanted.
She had already mentioned it before. The reason why I am here thinking about this is because she couldn't experience the same thing that a human being experienced: growing up, eating, learning new things and she wanted to do it. Even if that meant doing it from the perspective of someone else
After all, her goal was to experience emotions and experiences no matter what happened around her.
Maybe empathy was a human power inherited from his father. Not hers
Because
In the end
She always did what she wanted
Before I could keep wandering further, I heard the distressed voice of Amethyst saying
"Rose was actually Pink Diamond?!"