Rose Quartz kept her eyes shut tight and her friends held tighter. She did not know how long they had been like this—her, Pearl, and Garnet all huddled together under her shield, all too scared to open their eyes, too frightened to see the effect of whatever light or sound explosion they apparently had just survived, not knowing if it was really over or not. Eventually, after what felt like hours, Rose felt too weak to hold her shield above them and released both it and the gems. They rolled off of her and finally took a look of the aftermath.

All around them lay destruction, a scorched landscape covered in cracked rubble and broken gemstones. Pearl held her hands to her mouth and fell to the ground, tears pouring out of her eyes. Garnet stood staring at her hands, softly shaking. Rose let out a soft gasp, recognizing the shards of quartz and rubies and emeralds as both friends and enemies fighting proudly just moments before. She fell to her knees. I did this, she thought, I'm the reason they're all shattered. If I had just kept quiet and done my job everyone would be okay.

But now we're safe! The voice came unbidden, as it often did in times conflict, the voice of someone long since discarded and someone Rose would like nothing more to ignore, Yellow and Blue must think we died with everyone else! Now we're free! The Earth is free, the humans are free, the Crystal Gems are free!

The Crystal Gems are dead! Rose retorted, they're all dead and gone and shattered! I promised them hope and a life, and I destroyed them, we destroyed them!

Not all of them, look around you. Rose peeled herself away from her self-absorption to notice her three surviving friends. Pearl was still crouched in a fetal position, hands still glued to her face and tears still streaming out of her eyes. It appeared Garnet had split up, Sapphire was quite literally frozen in place, ice skirting out from under her dress as she watched her Ruby pitching a heated fit against the surrounding rubble.

"I HATE the Diamonds! I. HATE. THEM. I HATE THEM! I HATE THEM! I HATE THEM! STUPID! DIAMONDS! UGH!" she shouted, punctuating each fragmented sentence with a well-deserved punch to the ground, gradually burying herself.

Rose's eyes widened and started to sting with tears. Did you hear that, Pink? She hates you. You're terrible! I killed you! Go back to being dead! It wasn't supposed to be like this. The Diamonds never cared enough about her to retaliate so harshly. Why should they start caring now?

Listen, the voice persisted, this might not be the best turnout. But now we have the whole planet to ourselves! With Pearl and Garnet and the humans! We can finally rule the planet the way we want. We're free. This is what we wanted, this is what you wanted—

Rose slammed her hands into the ground, "I NEVER WANTED TO HURT ANYONE!" The tears that had been threatening her finally broke through, silencing her vile ghost so that she could focus on her own pain and those around her.

Ruby's cries eventually subsided, and the feeling of cold air gave rise to a new presence near her. She looked up to find Sapphire's single, bloodshot blue eye. "I'm so sorry, I never—I should've—I couldn't predict this. Rose, I'm sorry. I'm so sor—" Rose cut her off by pulling her into a hug.

"Shh… it's okay. It's okay." I couldn't have predicted this either, she thought. She should have. She should have thought of this possibility. She thought only of herself and what she wanted, without considering the grander consequences. She destroyed her family, she had gotten them killed with her foolishness. What remained of it was this, three emotionally distraught and volatile friends. And she would protect them with her life. Though they would all be heartbroken for the rest of whatever became of their lives, the single, stubborn, selfish thought still repeated inside Rose Quartz head:
I'm free.