You know, we don't really know anything about Rainbow Quartz, do we? There are a lot of roads you can go down to explain her origin, so consider this story one of them, I guess.

Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe. Steven Universe is owned by Rebecca Sugar.

I wasn't sure how, or even why. Only when.

I can still remember what it felt like when it first happened. To feel what it was like to emerge into the light. To feel the warm rays of the sun cloak me in their brilliance. To open my eyes, those first traces of color painting the picture I'd remember forever. To hear my first sounds all around me, complementing the sights as they were ingrained in my memory for the rest of my existence.

I remember the scream particularly well.

As I turned around, I almost lost my balance, desperately fighting to stay upright. I had never felt this before, the need to move; the infinite unknown was all that I knew. I had everything I needed in the darkness. But now, to find myself here, alive...?

"What is this place?"

I didn't have much time to ponder. As I looked straight ahead, the behemoth noticed me for the first time. She had this strange blue appearance, with wild navy hair running all the way down her back. In her hand, she held some kind of white sphere, its glow radiating all around. Her eyes sent me a feeling I had no hope of deciphering. What was she thinking in her mind?

With a blood curdling roar, she crushed the sphere in her powerful grip as she lunged at me. I could see this was only her arm closest to me, though; the other hand held some kind of... bar? Whatever it was, it had a very ornate, almost shiny look to it as it dazzlingly gleamed in the light. It was coming towards me, and fast. I braced myself.

But it was a trick. By the time I realized she had dropped it in mid-air, her head had already made contact with me. With my stomach, once I later learned the name. And I learned it pretty quickly.

You know, I kind of learned everything pretty fast.

As I flew backwards from the impact, I felt something stir inside me as everything I needed to know came rushing to me. Whether it was the force of the impact or something else that spurred my memory, it exploded like a bombshell. It was almost overwhelming how it all came at once, how I instantly learned why I was there. What I was supposed to be doing. What my purpose was.

Why I was alive.

I landed without so much as a stumble, although my momentum forcing me to slide backwards in the dirt, despite still standing. I could see I only had a second to react as the gem once again began to charge, but it was all the time I needed. I smirked as I jumped in the air with a great leap.

I can still remember feeling the broken shards under my feet. "On to the next one," I thought to myself as I turned to the edge of the forest, to the battlefield...

I had a job to do.

I didn't get to exist very often.

Pearl and Rose never stayed fused for long. I think the record was about a day or so, but I'm not sure. It would always be the same result in the end, though: when the fight was over, when we had defeated Homeworld's forces yet again, I would feel myself split apart. I had no control. There were a few times I wanted to say, I admit it. But I never got opportunity, no matter how much I resisted.

It was a hopeless battle. And I knew a thing or two about battles.

Still, as I got to know myself, and as I experienced the precious few seconds, minutes, hours of physical being, I began to let my mind wander. I didn't have to question what purpose I served; I knew that much already. I was a machine, a drone built for combat. I was Rainbow Quartz. My name inspired fear among the enemy.

Even though I hated fighting them.

I could feel it course through me, as I shattered gem after gem, as I killed foe after foe. It was the reason why I regretted every life I took. I could feel it creep up on me every second of my all too short existence. It would take years, even decades to happen, but I knew it would.

I knew that every gem I destroyed brought it closer. I knew that someday, the war would be over. And then what? What about me?

Was the end coming?

"Oh..."

I wanted to cry. As I felt my feet touch the ground and my lungs fill with air once again, I wanted nothing less than to burst into uncontrollable fits of joy. The elation in my mind only grew as the realization sank in: I was alive. I was me again. I was back. Me, Rainbow Quartz. I felt reinvigorated.

But I knew I had a time limit. I even knew how much I had left. It was a two minute song.

I began to dance. I knew it was my job, and I always had a job to do. But I wasn't dancing for him, the man I knew would put an end to me once and for all, and I KNEW he would someday be the reason they'd never fuse again.

I wasn't doing it for anyone. Not even myself.

"This is really it..." I thought as I lay down, my final dance finished once and for all. I felt a bright flash of light engulf me...

I'm not sure where the idea for this story came from, but it wouldn't go away once I thought of it. I know it's a little dark, but hey, it's like I said earlier: we don't know anything about Rainbow Quartz. Why not speculate?

Have a nice day.