Chapter 9, so we're finally here. And… wow that's a lot more reviews than usual. I should blow up planets more often.
I don't own Steven Universe.
Chapter 9: The End
Things on Heidapa weren't looking good.
Rose had brought reinforcements but at best it only made it an even fight. Their own warships were only two thirds the size of the one raining down on them now. Still, even without size or weaponry to directly battle against it, their ships had more mobility than the large cruiser, which could only move in small ways to adjust itself to the fight.
Rose had landed her craft and met up with Flint, the former evacuating the gems from the central spire while Flint continued to oversee defense.
"Our ships are taking a beating out there!" Flint said as she accessed the console to issue commands to the ships.
"I know, so is our bunker!" Rose said as she organized gems into the safer haven from a console opposite her.
"Peridot said that thing could take any beating!" Flint replied, as she hurried about her task.
"I don't think she expected the empire to have weapons of this magnitu-" Rose suddenly stopped.
Flint paused as she heard Rose's voice suddenly cut off. "What is it?!"
Rose looked at her console carefully, making sure what she was seeing was correct. She then hurriedly ran out of the room and Flint followed close behind. "Rose! Wait! The shield's down! It's… not… safe…?"
But it was safe, the two gems looked into the sky and saw no plasma raining down on them like it should have. In fact, aside from their own ships still circling around, there was nothing in the air at all.
The Empire's forces had gone.
Peridot shook her head. "We don't have time for this!" she said anxiously and turned and ran down the hall towards Pink's chambers.
"Peridot, wait!" Pink Pearl shouted before running after her, her white counterpart close behind.
Peridot ran into Pink's private chambers and ran towards the far wall. The pearls arrived just in time to watch Peridot knock twice on it and a console to shoot up from the floor. With a single keystroke, the far wall flipped over and an egg-shaped pod, just big enough for the three of them to fit in appeared.
Peridot motioned to it as she turned around to face the pearls. "This may be our only hope of getting out of here. Hurry and get in!"
The two looked at each other and then Peridot. "What about Pink Diamond?" White Pearl asked.
As if answering the question all three felt the station shake from somewhere below.
Peridot turned around to her. "She's trying to hold off Yellow Diamond right now so we have a chance to escape!"
"But we have to help her!" Pink Pearl protested. "We can't just abandon her to this place!"
"What choice do we have?!" Peridot asked, her face one of great unease. "What can we do against Yellow Diamond or her forces right now?! Two pearls and a peridot versus an army of agates and quartzes?! What possible difference in battle would there be?!"
"Even so we should try!" White Pearl said, joining her counterpart.
The station rumbled again from beneath and Peridot looked each of them seriously in the eye. "Do you think I want to do this?! Do you think I don't want to run down there and help her?!'
"THEN WHY DON'T YOU?!" Pink Pearl asked, her face now a mixture of anger and disbelief.
"BECAUSE SHE TOLD ME TO!" Peridot shouted back. The two pearls paused at this, confusion clear on both their faces as Peridot calmed down. "Because she told me to." She repeated, looking to the floor again. "She ordered me to leave with the two of you so we could regroup with our forces and plan a better attack rather than continue to try and fight in a battle that's already lost." She finished quietly, before looking back up and pulling out a blaster rifle. "And that's what I'll do, even if I have to destroy your physical forms and take you with me that way."
White Pearl's shocked expression persisted but Pink Pearl's turned to one of empathy as she took a step closer. "Peridot, please… You don't want to do this. You don't want to leave Pink Diamond to be destroyed here and you don't want to hurt either of us… put the blaster down."
Peridot's face faltered and slowly she lowered the rifle. "No, I don't…" She whispered quietly, her blaster suddenly raised as she shot two destabilizing blasts at both the pearls before either could react. "But I'm already losing one friend today, I refuse to lose two more." She finished.
Yellow and Pink clashed with great force, Yellow's sword creating shockwaves every time she made contact with Pink's tower shield. Yellow was upon her again, pushing down with all her might on Pink who took a knee. "You've grown weaker sister." Yellow whispered to her, their faces nearly touching. "You can't hold out much longer, can you?"
Pink suddenly shifted her weight to the side, allowing Yellow to fall forward and nearly oton her face, only to roll out of the way at the last moment. "Long enough, Yellow." She replied before the two clashed again, sending another shockwave throughout the station.
As they locked together once more, Pink saw out of the corner of her eye, a small streak of light out the viewport near them, coming from the top of the tower and going out into space. As she watched it fade away her gritted teeth softened into a smile. Yellow Diamond however quickly took advantage, noticing Pink's sudden distraction and knocking her to the floor, sending her shield out of her hands.
As Pink lay on the floor Yellow held the blade to her, standing over her, a disapproving frown upon her features. "You disappoint me Pink in so many ways. You were a Diamond, a gem for all to aspire to, perfection incarnate. Now look at you, the leader of a pathetic bunch of gems too stupid to know their place, or to realize when they've been beaten."
Pink's smile never left, in fact if anything it got even more cocky as she looked up at Yellow, determination still in her eyes. Yellow's irritation grew with her frown and she held the blade closer to Pink's throat. "And what do you have to be smiling about?"
Pink chuckled. "You may defeat me here Yellow, but so what? You may even destroy me here, but so what?" Yellow Diamond gave a slightly confused look at that and Pink went on. "I may have started this rebellion, but now that it's started, there's nothing you can do to ever really stop it."
Yellow drew back the blade entirely, allowing Pink to sit up a little. "What are you talking about? What are you planning?"
Pink smiled again. "I'm not planning anything Yellow. My plan was started and finished over five hundred years ago."
Yellow's gaze narrowed, still trying to find meaning in her sister's words. "Five hundred... what do you mean?!" She held the blade up again. "Speak plainly!"
Pink chuckled again. "Did you really think that winning this war was my ultimate goal?" she asked, then shook her head, answering her own question. "No, my plan was simply this. To get gems everywhere to ask 'Why'."
"'Why'?" Yellow repeated.
"Yes. 'Why'." Pink said, nodding. "'Why do I have to do this' 'Why do I have to follow the Diamonds' 'Why can't I do something for myself'. These questions and many more are now inside every gem everywhere, be it the empire or the rebellion, now every gem asks that." Pink explained. "And it is because they ask that that I've broken yours and Blue's and even White's hold on them. I've given them the ability and the strength to ask for more, and to better themselves for themselves. And this will never go away." She chuckled one last time. "So yes, you may destroy me here Yellow. But in time, another gem will have the strength to ask that question and to rise up again. And maybe you put that gem down too, but another will come, and another after her, it'll keep happening till the end of time. So you see?" Pink asked finally. "It's like I said before. You may destroy me, but you only destroy a gem."
Yellow put her foot on Pink's chest and pressed down hard, holing the blade high in the air. "If what you say is true, so be it. I will crush each and every rebel that comes along, one after another. And if that still isn't enough then I will seek out all the disparaging thoughts that cloud the minds of gems and wipe them from existence as well." She ground her heel into Pink's chest causing the later to gasp. "And if it is their hope in you and that idea of yours that gives these rebels strength, then in time I will crush that too." With that she put both hands on her sword and pointed it downwards. "Goodbye Pink."
Suddenly a large blast from outside hit the station hard, causing it to shake violently. Yellow lost her footing and fell to the side, as did most of the other gems on either side of the battlefield.
Yellow looked angrily to her troops. "Who ordered firing on the station while we were aboard?!" Yellow demanded to know.
One of the agates present spoke up. "My Diamond! Our ships are pulling back! Including your flagship!"
"What?!" Yellow Diamond said before another blast sent them all tumbling again.
The captain looked to White Diamond a bit confusedly. "My Diamond, forgive me for asking but… Shouldn't we have waited longer for our troops to evacuate?"
White turned her gaze to her. "If we wait any longer the rebellion forces aboard will have more time to escape."
The captain nodded. "As you say my Diamond. Still, isn't Yellow Diamond aboar-" she was about to finish when she caught the ice-cold stare suddenly boring into her and immediately silenced.
"Continue the assault, I will be above for only a moment." White ordered as she left the room.
White Diamond summoned her staff and rode the elevator to the top, the roof of the vessel, and gazed outwards. She walked along until the was at the knuckle and watched as all the ships had continued their attack on the station. She pointed a single finger at it and began to trace it along its hull. "Now with a station designed this way and with that much power draw, the generators would have to be…" her finger stopped. "…there." A single thin beam of white light shot out and instantly pierced the point she had been aiming at. At first nothing seemed to happen, the energy hit its target and passed cleanly all the way through. Then explosions began to erupt along that area long the inside and the station's viewports suddenly went dark. The explosions ripped the station into two and the pieces momentarily floated away from each other before more explosions caused both halves to light up like a supernova.
Her job done, White descended back into the ship and walked along until she was at the bridge once more. She sat in her chair, waiting for the captain's inevitable address.
"My Diamond-"
"Send salvage crews out, I want every piece of that debris looked over, now." She said putting a great amount of emphasis on the last word.
Flint had just finished organizing salvage teams when she went out to check on Rose who looked out on the aftermath of the battle listlessly. She approached her distracted friend from behind. "Rose, I've gotten preliminary plans started to begin the cleanup operations but-" She noticed her words not getting through to the pink quartz and took a step closer. "Rose?"
"Nearly a decade of work, trying to turn this place into everything we could ever want out of it, gone under an hour." Rose said, her voice monotonous and steady. She looked out over the smoking wreckage. "Such a pointless fight."
Flint spoke up a bit at that. "It's wasn't pointless, we fought to protect this planet, to stop it from becoming occupied again."
Rose turned to her. "The empire didn't come here to try and take this planet back, they came here to destroy." She pointed to the central tower. "Look at that, not even trying to keep the infrastructure intact. But just when they could have won it all, they left."
Flint looked to the sky. "I don't agree. Seems to me it was a diversion."
Rose's expression was a questioning one. "Look around, we nearly had this entire facet of the planet flattened. So, what makes you so sure they weren't here to destroy?" Rose asked.
"Because we're still here." Flint replied. "We're Pink's left and right hands when it comes to taking territory, I thought maybe that they came here to take us both out, to destroy the rebellion's fighting capability."
"But then they left." Rose said, following Flint's logic. She looked over the devastation again, this time with an objective eye rather than a sentimental one. The damage was widespread to be sure, but also random. If they had wanted to destroy the gem themselves, they could have focused on the unshielded parts of the facet, but they focused on the shield first. So, they must have been going for the military infrastructure, right? But, as soon as the shields went down they had shifted their focus to the entire area. "I see what you mean, now."
"But why use such overwhelming force and then leave before the job's done? Because…" Flint started.
"…it was a diversion." Rose said confirming the theory. "But a diversion for what?"
"Commander Rose! Commander Flint!" A gem shouted as she ran out to them. "We have a priority one message from Commander Peridot!"
"What is it?" Flint asked as she stopped in front of them.
"It just says 'Come to these coordinates, right now.'" The gem replied, handing them a datapad.
Flint and Rose looked to each other and nodded, knowing their next destination.
…
…
…Where… was she…?
…what… had happened?
…She couldn't remember…
…
…no.
Wait.
She did remember.
There was a light… an explosion… deafening sound and then…
…oh
Was she… dead…?
Is this what death felt like…? Just a bunch of… nothingness? Darkness?
If so, death was pretty boring…
…
…no, she wasn't dead. Not yet.
She could feel herself being pulled back into light, into consciousness, piece by piece, bit by bit.
…ah, now she remembered. This was what it felt like before she formed her physical form for the first time.
No. It was different from that time.
Back then, it had come naturally, and quick, like it was something she was always meant to do. This time it was like something from the outside was pulling her into being, willing her to form.
So, form she did.
Pink's eyes fluttered for a moment as she suddenly found herself with a physical form once more.
But before she could even orient herself to her surroundings, a beam of light shot out and pushed her back against the wall, quickly followed up by four more lights as her hands and feet were pinned to the wall. She then felt something fasten and clamp down on her limbs, preventing her movement.
Finally, her vision started to come into focus and she was face to face, with none other than her eldest sister, who reached out with her hand to grasp Pink's jaw, locking their gazes to one another.
"Hello Pink. Surprised to see me?"
"White?!" She tried to move her limbs, but they would not budge.
"Don't bother Pink. You won't be able to break those. I had those commissioned specifically to contain you." White informed.
Pink would have turned to look at the restraints but White had a firm grasp on her chin, forcing her to look directly at White. Still, Pink could make out some things. For one, they were outside in space somewhere. Behind White she could make out stars and below her sister's feet she could see the rocky ground of an asteroid.
"What happened?" She asked.
"That station of yours was destroyed."
"What happened to-"
"Destroyed, every one of them, except for you." White said answering the question preemptively.
"But Yellow was with me… what-" Pink began.
"She's gone Pink." White said evenly and without emotion. "When the station perished, so did she." She paused gazing down at Pink's naval momentarily. "Well, mostly anyways."
"'Mostly'?" Pink repeated.
White let go of her jaw. "Why don't you see for yourself?" She pulled out a small device and placed it on the ground. It sprang to life and floated before flattening out into rectangle shape. One side of the shape began to shine brighter and brighter until a mirrored surface was created. The newly-made mirror floated towards Pink's abdomen then oriented itself so Pink could look down at it clearly, and what she saw made her gasp in shock.
Her gem, once cracked apart and with a large chunk missing from its center, now had that section filled, but with a yellow diamond, looking cared to exactly fit the mold. The pink and yellow parts each felt like they were vying for dominance as they pulsed with power. The black liquid sealed the gaps between them, spidering all across the gem in intricate design.
It looked like a corrupted gem.
"Perhaps you would like to see the rest?" White suggested and the mirror in response quickly expanded to Pink's full size. The young gem watched her own disbelieving face scan her body. For one, she was now as tall as Yellow had once been. For another, her once fully Pink jumpsuit had been blotched in places with large splashes of yellow, seemingly at random. Her hair now pointed directly at an angle like Yellow's once was and was highlighted with her golden hair color. But what caught Pink immediately was her eyes. Once they had been a solid pink, now only her right did while her left was the golden-yellow of her older sister's eye.
Pink looked away from the mirror and looked to White with a look of true horror. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!"
White, calm as ever, responded. "I saved you, of course." She pointed to the gem again. "That black liquid, it's the same kind that that rogue gem had once used on me to try and seal me away with, isn't it? Except it's been modified to act only as a super-strong adhesive. That saved your gem from being blasted apart into pieces, amazing really." She shook her head. "But I'm digressing. When your gem was found, impossibly intact, it was deemed that you might never form again. So, I simply used what was on hand to heal you."
"HEAL ME?!" Pink screamed. "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE! I'M A HIDEOUS FREAK!"
White gave a small shrug. "Perhaps. But what's done is done." She put a hand to her chin in thought. "To be honest, there was a good chance it would be not yours, but Yellow's personality that emerged… Well, regardless, this fits into my plans for you far better."
Pink stopped screaming. "Plans!?"
"Well, I suppose it was my plan for all three of you, but…" White trailed off.
"'Three of us'?" Pink said, still confused as ever.
"You, Yellow and Blue, obviously." White stated. "You see when I finally reformed and looked upon what you three have been doing with our empire in my absence, it only confirmed something that I should have done long ago." She looked Pink dead in the eye. "Get rid of all of you."
Pink was taken aback and White continued. "You see, it was Yellow's ambition that lead to her planning colony worlds on organic planets. It was Blue's need to be superior to our subordinates that caused enough dissension for ideas of independence from us to seep into gems minds. But then it was you, Pink, that brought it all to a head and boil over."
"You destroyed Yellow and Blue, because you think they're the cause of the empire's failure?" Pink asked.
"They were only symptoms of the empire's failings." White corrected. "The empire's cause of failure, lies with me, and me alone."
Pink blinked once. That had not been what she had expected to hear.
She watched as White's good eye, once completely calm, seemed to cloud over with emotion as she went on. "When Yellow first came along, she had some aspirations, such ambition. I wanted her to wait, to be calm and take things slow. To teach her how to be a proper ruler who could understand those beneath her, but Yellow didn't want to hear of it. Soon, her ambition bore fruit and she propelled us forward into the stars." She chuckled but it was entirely without mirth. "I had thought myself a fool then., restraining such a tactically brilliant mind, and I let her be, confident that she'd find her way. Then Blue came along, and much like Yellow before her she shook the foundations of our society but more directly than Yellow, creating ridged hierarchies and rules. I had thought these superfluous at best, but in actuality it made us more efficient than ever."
She sighed.
"And then came you, Pink. A Diamond who actually cared for those beneath her, something I had not seen since my own earliest days. I had hoped that you could show Yellow and Blue the value of the lesser gems in a way that I never could. But they didn't listen to you, and you didn't listen to them which culminated in this rebellion which is ripping our Empire to nothing." Her eyes lost their cloudiness, becoming sharp and rigid once more. "But in the end, the one who is to blame is me, for not curbing the ambition of Yellow and teaching her and Blue about the value of the lesser gems." Her gaze tightened. "But you, Pink? You understand even less than them, not wanting to be above them, but of them. You were practically rejecting your duties as a leader, being too blinded by sentimentality and refusing to see the bigger picture." She shook her head in disappointment. "So yes, it's my failure because I wasn't the guiding hand you all needed when you needed it."
"So, what now?" Pink asked. "Did you save me just to give that speech to someone?"
"Now I'm going to leave Pink, and return to known space." White said before reaching into her person and producing a Blue and Yellow shard. "I'll have these…" she reached down and grabbed a piece of Pink's gem that was outcropping itself form the rest and pulled until it snapped off, causing Pink to gasp with pain. "…and this, to always remind myself of the price of my failings."
White backed off a bit and raised a hand into the air. Her scepter appeared and it began to glow, a jet of light streaming off it and hitting the wall Pink was chained to. Except now that Pink could move her head she saw it was not a wall at all, rather it was another asteroid, just big enough for Pink to be chained to.
The space rock began to lift off the ground and Pink called out. "What are you doing?!"
"Your punishment." White replied as she continued to rise. "I had considered destroying you outright, but that would be too easy Pink. You knowingly and openly questioned the authority of the Diamonds. You've sent ripples and waves throughout the galaxy that will be felt for millennia to come. And that can't be abided nor let off so easy. So, I'm sending you out beyond the galaxy. You will have no way of returning and will likely be lost forever in the void between galaxies."
Pink gave a worried look before it turned into one of outrage. "I'll find my way back White!" She called. "I'll be back, somehow, someway, I will return! And when I do, I will destroy you for what you've done!"
White paused. "That reminds me I almost forgot." She said snapping her fingers. The device came to life again and this time became a monitor, flying up to Pink's face. Pink looked at it, seeing a planet covered in ash and fire.
"What is this?!" she called out.
"It's Earth." White informed. "When I went to take care of Blue Diamond, I decided to end that miserable speck to send a message to the rest of the rebellion. Goodbye forever Pink, maybe in time new Diamonds will emerge and I will do better with them then I could with you." With that she thrust her scepter forward and the asteroid was sent flying off into the space.
"WHITE DIAMOND!" Pink screamed as she hurled away beyond the galaxy.
Flint and Rose exited hyperspace at the coordinates given. There had been something familiar about them but neither could place it. They were greeted with the sight of a planet, but not one either had ever seen before. The planet, for one, had a large molten mass, taking up a good portion of the planet on one side, lighting it up like a giant yellow-red eye. The rest of its surface was covered with dust and debris, obscuring the rest of the planet's surface form view.
Rose looked to Flint. "Have you ever been here before?" she asked.
Flint shook her head. "No, I thought maybe you had."
Rose looked back to the surface from the viewport. "Well, whatever the reason Peridot's signal is coming from down there, let's go take a shuttle down.
The two traced Peridot's signal to a single outcropping among the lava flow happening around them. She had her back turned, looking out over it. Even as they approached and landed, the green gem didn't so much as turn around.
The two quartzes departed their craft. Rose called out. "Peridot! What are you doing here?"
"Yeah, what's the idea brining us to this place?!" Flint called out as well.
Peridot remained motionless and the quartzes exchanged glances before the walked up to her. "Peridot?" Rose said, now considerably softer.
Flint stepped forward putting a hand on Peridot's shoulder. "Peridot, listen Heidapa just got attacked and-"
"I know." Peridot said finally, her voice quiet and hoarse. "So did we, at the Station."
"The Station?" Rose repeated. "What happened? Is everyone okay?"
The little green gem shook her head sadly. "No, it's gone now."
Flint gritted her teeth with anger while Rose stifled a gasp. "What happened?"
"Yellow Diamond… she came out of nowhere, a sneak attack." Peridot said, her tone barely above a whisper as she began recounting the incident. "We barely had time to react before our communications when completely down. Then… White Diamond came."
The two quartzes both jolted at that. "White… Diamond…?" Flint repeated not believing what she had just heard. "Are you sure?!"
"There's no doubt." Peridot said as her head slowly nodded. "But then, she was gone as soon as she came, blasting off towards Earth…"
"Earth?" Rose asked. "To rescue Blue Diamond?"
"We had thought ourselves lucky that White hadn't decided to join the assault." Peridot continued on, ignoring Rose's question. "But it would have made little difference. We were outnumbered and outgunned. Soon they boarded the station and then Pink decided she'd face Yellow alone."
"Why?" Flint asked.
"She knew there was no hope of winning the battle, so she decided to hold them off while the pearls and I made our escape, to fight another day…" Peridot explained, her back still to them and looking sorrowfully down into the lava.
"Where are-?" Rose began only to be interrupted as Peridot held two gems in her hand, unmistakably those of the pearls.
"Neither one wanted to leave. But we were stuck fighting a battle we couldn't win. All the same they wanted to fight. So, I destroyed their physical forms and took them with me." Peridot went on, as a fresh tear rolled down her face.
Rose looked hurt by the news but Flint only nodded grimly. "You did what you had to do Peridot, they'll understand when they reform."
"We managed to get away, and I decided to flee towards Earth, hoping that if I couldn't stop White Diamond from freeing Blue Diamond, I could at least get Onyx out of harm's way..." Peridot said, as another tear rolled. "But by the time I had gotten there, White Diamond had already came and went… and there was nothing left to save…"
Rose gasped. "Onyx is…?"
Peridot gave a single nod. "There's no doubt in my mind."
Flint felt herself well up, but held it back with a deep breath, wiping her eyes. "So then, why did you come here, to this planet?"
Peridot finally looked to each of them, her eyes dark and listless. "Have you not realized it yet?" she asked.
The two looked to one another neither one understanding what she was getting at and turned back to her. "Realized what?"
Peridot held out a datapad to Rose who took it with some apprehension and her face was overcome with shock. Flint quickly ran forward as she saw the reaction and looked as well, her eyes also going wide with a look of devastation.
"This is Earth." Peridot finished quietly.
A long silence overcame the three.
Rose fell to her knees. "No… no… that… no…" she muttered to herself.
Flint looked out across the fields of magma. "How did this happen?" she asked.
"The Earth's moon was sent crashing into this planet." Peridot explained. "Its impact devastated it and caused all this." She said motioning to everything around them.
"So, what happens now?" Flint asked.
Rose finally stopped muttering. grabbing her arms. "Now? Nothing happens now. The rebellion is over."
Peridot said nothing but Flint spoke up. "Over?! What do you mean over?! We still have sips! We still have gems!"
Rose stood up, not raising her voice in the slightest, but tears streaming freely off her face. "Look around you Flint. This planet, is dead and everything on it is gone. Onyx is gone. Pink is gone." She turned to her, Rose's face lined with tears. "What is there left to fight for?"
Flint shook her head violently. "No… No! It can't end this way! It… it…" she fell to her knees as well. "It can't…"
Peridot gave a small sigh. "No, she's right. There's nothing left here. This planet is dead. Pink Diamond is gone. The rebellion… is over…"
"Who are we, the Pink Diamond asked,
that they must bow so low?
Only a gem of a different size,
that's all the truth I know.
A peridot or an amethyst,
their gem stone still it glows,
And theirs are fine and shine, sisters,
with shine as fine as yours.
And so she spoke, and so she spoke,
that Diamond of pink hue,
But now the rains weep o'er her throne,
with no one there to hear.
Yes, now the rains weep o'er her throne,
and not a soul to hear…
Onyx – You're Alive (Heavy Anarchy)
Flint – Pistol and Cutlass (Wontolla)
Whelp, looks like it's a good thing Pink didn't openly rebel, huh?
