A/N: Welcome to Diamonds are Forever, the fanfic where Rose Quartz is about to become a legend. In the midst of all this is the Minoan civilization, which shaped Western European civilization into what it is today. Well, I hope everybody enjoys this new story!

Rose Quartz sat atop the roof of a Neopalatial palace while she watched the Gem colony in the Minoan city of Malia thrive before her very eyes. It had been quite some time since she'd lost her husband/father figure Nephrite and a bit more since she last spoke with her real father; it was actually quite depressing just thinking about them, to say the least. There came days when they were all she could think about, and sometimes those days were not the best.

Today was not that different in all honesty. The memory of Nephrite's death was still fresh in her mind even though only a few millenia had gone by, and yet it refused to go away. It was all coming back to her now: the shattering gem, the way he convulsed while the stampeding aurochs trampled him repeatedly, his screams of agony as the cattle crushed every part of his body, and the feeling of helplessness he surely must've felt while he was dying. She had been so young then, but now she was all grown up and joined by several old and new friends of her own.

As for Zoisite, he'd said something about Earth being an irredeemable, inhospitable world for the colonists before leaving. In fact, it seemed like yesterday when he threw a hissy fit over the decision to settle on Earth. She couldn't understand why he'd do such a thing except that it had something to do with the dominant indigenous species (humans, as they'd called themselves) attacking him and then torturing him until he retreated into his gems.

"Hey, Rose!" someone yelled from behind her.

The pink-haired Gem turned around to see the homely human priestess Eudoxia on the ground. "Oh hello, Eudoxia!" she called out to her. "What are you doing here?"

Eudoxia innocently rolled her eyes while shrugging at the same time. "Well," the wavy-haired brunette started to gather her thoughts. "I just thought I'd drop by to tell you that later tonight, we're going to sacrifice a bull for the Great and Powerful Goddess. Would you and your friends care to join?"

While Rose found it nice that she was given an opportunity to observe more of the humans' religious practices, she couldn't help but cringe at the thought of the bull having to be killed in order to appease their goddess. Still, maybe there would be more to it than that.

"Of course!" she replied cheerfully. "I'd love to see how you're going to do it."

"Great!" Eudoxia exclaimed. "We'll meet near Kitane's villa. Tell your comrades about this. Farewell."

With that said, the priestess walked off with a smile. Right after, a bright sea blue Gem called Khaidarkanite ran up from behind and pounced on the roof, startling Rose practically to death.

"Good God, Kai!" Rose squealed. "Was that really necessary?"

Khaidarkanite's skin was radiating a brighter shade of Carribean blue than usual, but her rose-hued friend didn't seem to mind.

"I just stopped by to say hi." she said while shrugging off the question. "What's the big deal?"

"Priestess Eudoxia says there's going to be a bull sacrifice later. She'd like us to come if it's not a bother to you."

Khaidarkanite was too busy fidgeting with the small, thick braid in front on her face. "Sorry, you were saying?"

"Eudoxia wants us to worship her goddess tonight."

"You talking about that broad that just passed me by? Sorry, not interested."

"Alright then." Rose sighed dejectedly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Gotcha." Khaidarkanite winked at this and then jumped off.


Later that night...

On her way to the elderly Kitane's villa, Rose and her motley crue of friends seemed every bit as eager as the humans were; well, maybe except for Pearl who could actually care less about the sacrifice. However, the pink-haired Gem also had a recurring gut feeling that something terrible was going to happen at the same time. She was not about to reveal it, though, lest she worry the others.

"So Rose, is there gonna be lots of blood when they cut the bull open?" Amethyst asked anxiously. "Better yet, will we get to see lots of organs falling out or...?"

"Ugh, cut that out!" Pearl interrupted before gagging. "I don't even want to think about it. But the ritual should be interesting besides that."

"Aw, you're no fun!" the violet Gem whined. "Tanzanite, what do you think will happen?"

The graceful, blue-colored Gem Tanzanite thought for a moment before answering, "They'll just kill the bull and then move on to the worship, from what I could gather last week."

"I'll take your word on that." Garnet added. "I've never been to a sacrifice before, let alone one where a bull was involved."

"You haven't?" Jade asked incredulously. Then she remembered. "Oh, that's right. You're from a pacifist country, aren't you?"

"Jade, please let's not do that." Garnet warned. "There's a reason my home nation hates going to war with others."

By the time they made it to their destination, several of the humans were already gathered around a piebald black-and-white cattle/aurochs hybrid with small, curved horns and a large, stocky build. One of the humans, Kitane, was inspecting the animal with keen eyes and doing a damn good job of it.

"Well?" asked one of the humans, a forty-year-old male named Bansabira, beside her.

"He appears healthy..." Kitane muttered. "...and he seems very calm, almost as if he knows what's going to happen to him."

But before she could go any further, the steer suddenly bellowed out of distress and ran out the nearest opening, which greatly confused the humans as well as the Gems. Not long after, the wall to the humans' right exploded and revealed an oddly sleek feminine figure with spiked blonde hair and illuminating crystal-white eyes.

"A goddess!" Bansabira gasped. "Quick, we must find that bull and appease her before-!"

The enigmatic figure struck a lightning bolt at his head and blew it up, killing him within seconds. The other humans were fixed dead on their tracks, totally afraid of what would happen next, but Rose was not about to take this lying down. Without hesitating, she summoned her shield and the rest followed suit.

"If it's a fight you want, a fight you'll get!" the figure chortled. "Come at me!"

Pearl struck first and threw her spear straight at the figure's head, but sadly missed. She made up for that, however, by doing a somersault from right behind and kicking her across the back. The figure did not even flinch at this.

"Why didn't it hurt her?" Pearl asked in confusion.

"I don't know..." Tanzanite answered, just as confused. "But we need to get her away from these humans."

So they fought for hours and hours until it was so early in the morning that the moon could still be found in the sky. When all was said and done, the figure left in exasperation to find more things to kill.

"Could somebody tell me in a hundred words or less what just happened?!" Amethyst yelled in frustration.

"I have no idea..." Rose said while shaking her head back and forth.

"Hey, you said it in four. That must be a new record."

"This is no time for joking around. We need to find Kai and ask if she knows anything about that figure."

With that said, the group ran to find Khaidarkanite and hopefully get some answers out of her.