It angered Yellow Diamond, more than it should have, to witness the beauty of the planet Earth all for herself. The way the rising sun painted the sky different colors, and the higher it hiked, the more the water of the ocean sparkled. From where she stood close to the primitive lighthouse atop the high hill behind the Crystal Gems' base, she could see so much of it. See the rest of the "town" the Crystal Gems lived in, where the humans stayed. She scowled down at it, unable to fully reconcile the sight within herself.
It made no sense.
None of it did. Not this... organic life, or the information she and Blue Diamond were given by Pink Diamond's former Pearl. How could it be, that the oldest of them, the strongest of them, White Diamond herself, was to blame? Oh, and Yellow wouldn't kid herself. Even if White hadn't actually shattered Pink on her own, she had scared her into thinking they would use their powers of corruption on her, leading her to express those sentiments to her Pearl, to Rose Quartz, and ultimately Rose Quartz had decided it would be better for her to cease existence than to - how did the Pearl put it? "Lose herself in the body of a senseless beast"?
Yellow brought a hand up to cover her eyes, feeling every part of her body tense.
This wasn't even her only problem.
Yes, of course it was her biggest problem, and she and Blue had to confront White about it. But how could they do that if they no longer had a ship, no way to get off this - this cursed planet? At least the Cluster won't be emerging after all, she thought, sneering to herself. That took out the imminent danger of being shattered by the forming of a gem billions of times her size and the size of the Earth. And who's idea had that been?
...Well, hers.
She remembered it all too well, the feelings of anger and hatred. All she and Blue had been told was that Pink was gone. No specifics, though she supposed being aware that Rose Quartz had been the culprit was something. But, knowing what she knew now... The anger was still there. This time, it was simply directed elsewhere. And the pain she wanted to project. Deep down she knew she couldn't blame the Crystal Gems for this, not even Pink's Pearl. How much had they really known? She had thought, watching all of them comforting the Pearl in the wake of her tale, that they were all aware of what she had said. Save for Steven. But once she had ordered her gems to assist in patching up the unintentional damage she'd done to their base and they had finished, leaving them and the Off Colors to go inside (Steven had, in the meantime, showed her and Blue that they could stay up on the hill) it was the Pearl, the fusion Garnet, and the defective Amethyst who remained on the beach by the remnants of the fire.
She hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but it was a tad difficult when Steven joined them and the Amethyst ultimately raised her voice in her confusion, and then Garnet had fallen apart. Unfused. Yellow had glanced to Blue at the time and saw the quiet recognition play across her face seeing the two gems she was comprised of. The Sapphire had rushed into the base, leaving Pink Pearl, the Amethyst, Steven and the Ruby alone on the beach.
Yellow let out a short sigh, just about the only relief she figured she was going to feel when it came to the tension rippling through her body. She closed her eyes against the assaulting brightness of the sun reflecting off the water as it climbed higher.
They couldn't wait any longer.
She turned, lowering her arms from their crossed position over her chest and gem. Behind her Blue was lying down on her back, hands neatly placed on her stomach, staring up at the sky with an unreadable expression. Their gems, aside from their Pearls, were in the lighthouse for the time being. Yellow knew it would probably be best if they stayed in there for a little while longer. She took the few steps that brought her to Blue's side and hesitated, wanting to simply say what she wanted to so they could go do it. Instead she wrinkled her nose, looking out at the town again, and lowered herself down to lie beside her fellow Diamond.
The silence ate at her because it wasn't complete. On Homeworld, if she wanted it quiet, it was quiet. Nothing could interrupt it until she said it could. Here on Earth there was so much organic life singing in the morning, making all sorts of noises and she couldn't even begin to deduce what sound belonged to what creature. Then there were the human noises. Those she was even more clueless over. But each one reached her ears seemingly no matter what, jabbing at the headache she'd had since the night before. Looking up at the sun wasn't quite helping but she felt vulnerable when she closed her eyes... even lying beside Blue, she felt constantly on-edge, threatened, even.
It made her fidgety at best, hostile at worst.
"Yellow," Blue said softly.
Pursing her lips briefly, Yellow took a breath. Why the nervousness? "Yes, Blue?"
"We must get back to Homeworld."
"I know."
"We must talk to White."
"I know."
Blue rolled onto her side, propping her head up on a hand, and Yellow looked to her. She swallowed, mouth suddenly dry and throat scratchy. "But what about Steven?" the blue-skinned gem sighed. "I don't want to leave him here. Already there's no telling if White has discovered where we've gone or not; if she knows, she'll be coming here. To attack him."
Yellow curled her lip up in a vicious sneer. "Who knows what White would do. Perhaps she'll come and shatter us, too."
"Oh, Yellow," Blue sighed, tone hinting towards the urge to sob, and Yellow glanced away in shame. And regret. "Please, don't say that. We don't know if White was responsible. For all we know it was still Rose Quartz, but it doesn't matter, because she and Steven are not one in the same no matter what we may believe-"
"White was responsible either way," Yellow spat. "If she didn't shatter Pink herself, she frightened her into a state of paranoia so bad that Rose Quartz wanted to relieve her of it."
Blue averted her eyes and blinked away tears. "We just don't have all the answers," she whispered, lying back down.
Yellow wished she would lie her head on her chest, but swallowed the request even as it danced on the very tip of her tongue. "And we can get those answers, one way or another. For now that means we work with Steven and the Crystal Gems. We have no way off the planet and we need to be on Homeworld to confront White."
For a moment Blue just stared at her, long enough for her to feel heat rising in her cheeks, and she almost snapped at her fellow Diamond to get her to do something, anything. Then Blue smiled. "You continue to surprise me, you know," she chuckled halfheartedly. "At each and every turn, you've done the opposite of what I expect you to do. Why is that? What's changed in these thousands of years?" She propped herself up again, leveling herself into a perfect position to really look Yellow in the eyes. The directness made Yellow even more nervous than she already was simply being in the blue-skinned gem's presence. She swallowed again but it did little for her. "I know you're still angry," Blue whispered. "I can see it in your eyes. It is as natural as the shape of your pupils; it doesn't change." The smile returned, this time arguably hesitant. "But now it has."
"I am no longer angry at Rose Quartz, or her group of rebels," Yellow said lowly. "I am angry at White. She's been lying to us this entire time." Propping herself up on her elbows - and unintentionally bringing their faces much closer - she met Blue's gaze with every part of herself. "I will not let her put us through this. Something is wrong. I can feel it, and I would... well, I would rather do without it. We've been through enough already, we've felt enough pain."
"Oh, Yellow," Blue sighed again. And she kissed her.
It was surprising, to the yellow-skinned gem, to feel Blue's lips pressed feather-light to her own after everything they'd gone through so far. The kiss only lasted a moment and she was left utterly winded. Blue stood, brushing off her skirts, and held a hand out to help her up. They stood together and she looked out across the ocean with a small smile on her face.
Yellow thought she had never before looked more beautiful than she did in that moment. And yet it was really no different than other moments they'd shared; perhaps she was just being less of an idiot than usual.
Blue turned back to her. "I'll let you take the lead, for now. So-" she placed a hand on Yellow's chest, right beside her gem "-what do we do?"
"We start with finding a way off this planet," Yellow huffed. "Come. I believe we'll have to shrink ourselves in order to fit inside their base."
They did so simultaneously, compressing their forms into something a bit more manageable, though Yellow had never before thought that she would ever lower herself to this level. Literally. It was a world's difference being so drastically shorter, and overall smaller. She glanced down at herself, appearance slightly altered for the occasion. The armor had been replaced by simple fabric. Even Blue was wearing a casual dress as opposed to her usual robes.
Yellow beckoned their Pearls after them, frowning down at her own briefly and marveling at the change in perspective yet again. She was still taller by a few feet but she could hardly remember the last time she saw her Pearl so closely. Shaking it off she headed down the hill, rounding the cliff wall at the bottom to continue along just the beach, not the beach and some of the human installments in the other direction which she could see much more clearly now that she wasn't distracted and had also memorized every detail of the "town" during her sleepless night. She stomped up the steps to the front door of the Crystal Gems' base and entered without knocking and waiting for permission - habit, mostly, and she flushed at the low chuckle of chiding amusement Blue let out as they stopped just in the entryway.
Pink Pearl and the Amethyst were seated at a couch to their left, while Steven was tinkering around in another section of the room to their right. Up another, shorter flight of stairs on a loft the Ruby was lying atop a bed and staring forlornly at the ceiling. She started at their (Yellow's) abrupt entrance and immediately leaped down onto the couch with her fellow Crystal Gems, hands clenched into fists at the ready. And yet she didn't look aggressive in the slightest, only anxious, tired, and... lonely.
"Oh, wow!" Steven said, dashing up to them - much closer than Yellow had assumed he would dare approach. Talk of surprises; this half-human, half-gem hybrid was keeping her more on her toes than she believed she was keeping Blue on hers. "You guys got so much smaller! Thanks, though, I - I don't think you would have fit in here otherwise," he added with a laugh.
"You're welcome, Steven," Blue said kindly.
Glancing around the room, Yellow noted a few things were missing. Namely... "Where is the rest of your army?" she asked, clasping her hands behind her back and straightening her posture, shoulders jerking back even further. "Your human friend, the Sapphire, the Lapis Lazuli, the traitorous Peridot, and those - Off Colors. I would like you all here."
"Well, uh," Steven said carefully, looking to the three gems on the couch, "we're really the heart of the Crystal Gems. Minus, of course, Sapphire... But we can tell Connie, Lapis and Peridot about this later. As for the Off Colors, they don't know if they want to be Crystal Gems yet, too. They're resting inside the Temple right now." He moved over to the couch and sat down, shooting the Ruby a smile and urging her to step off the cushions and sit down on the floor with the small Amethyst, the both of them frowning. Only Pink Pearl looked as confident as Steven, though not at all as at ease. "Sit down with us," he offered, patting the cushion beside him. The smile turned into a grin.
Yellow hesitated - she may be out of her armor, but that didn't make this meeting any less formal - and in the meantime Blue chuckled again and glided over, sitting beside Steven primly. She shot Yellow this look that had her flushing and feeling rather foolish. Stomping over, she sat beside her fellow Diamond, allowing their Pearls room to sit on the floor and finish the circle around the small table in front of the couch.
"Where is your Sapphire?" Yellow demanded.
"Why did you two unfuse?" Blue asked the Ruby softly. "Forgive us, but we couldn't help witnessing your... fight... from afar. I do hope it wasn't because of Yellow and myself. Yes, we are unused to fusion between two different gems, but we're both willing to put that aside."
The Ruby glanced awkwardly to Pink Pearl, expression a clear plea for help. Pink Pearl could only offer a similarly awkward shrug. "I, uh," Ruby stammered, rubbing the back of her neck. "Sapphire... she used the warp pad and went somewhere. I'm not really sure, uh, where. It's different, being separated... now I don't have future vision so I couldn't really begin to tell you where exactly she is. I know there are various possibilities but it - it would take us forever to narrow it all down!" She bowed her head sadly. "I just wish she'd come back..."
Yellow opened her mouth, ready to move on and make do with what she had, but Blue leaned forward and spoke before she could. "I'm sure whatever Yellow has planned can wait until she comes back," she said, tone still soft in the way Yellow always admired, but in this moment it was honestly stressing her out. "We can even help you find her, if you'd like."
"O-oh," Ruby squeaked, picking her eyes up from the floor. "I - n-no, uh, Blue Diamond, I wouldn't want to bother you with-"
"Nonsense," Blue interrupted. She turned to her fellow Diamond. "Right, Yellow?"
Scowling, Yellow scoffed. "Well, I know how much you'd like to play extra nice... If helping them find the Sapphire is what you wish to do, then so be it. Let's find her."
"Really?" Steven said, beaming.
Blue smiled back. "Where might she have gone?"
"This is where we landed, when we fled from-..." The Ruby cut herself off, glancing awkwardly to Blue Diamond. "I mean... this is just the first place I thought Sapphire might go. There's a small cave not too far from here, and if she isn't there, she could be in the forest. Uh, should we split up to cover more ground?"
"Oh! I want to pick teams!" Steven said, scurrying around to the front of their group standing a few paces away from the warp pad.
Pink's former Pearl sighed, but she smiled. It had a tired quality to it, Yellow Diamond thought, and she couldn't really blame her for that. "There aren't any teams, Steven," she said. "This isn't like when we played baseball with all those other Rubies."
"I know, but I thought it'd be cool to mix things up." Steven smiled around at all of them and Yellow crossed her arms over her chest, trying not to feel quite as... insecure as she felt. It was about as bothersome as most of the aspects of this planet. "Well, there's eight of us, so we can split into groups of four! How about... Ruby and I will go with the Diamonds, and Amethyst, you can go with Pearl and the other Pearls!"
The small Amethyst rose her shoulders up to her ears and didn't lower them. "I don't know if that's a very good idea, Steven," she hissed. She looked uncomfortable - then again, so did all three Pearls and the Ruby.
"Yes, it isn't exactly... common... for Diamonds to go without their Pearls," Pink Pearl whispered. As if two Diamonds couldn't hear her regardless. Yellow arched an eyebrow down at her and she flushed a little, averting her gaze solely onto Steven. "Why don't the four of us stay a group, and the Diamonds and their Pearls can be the other one?"
"No, we should mix stuff up!" Steven said, a bit of a whine entering his tone.
"You sound like Pink, almost," Yellow half-growled, half-huffed. "Pearl, go with your fellow gems and the Amethyst."
"But, My Diamond-" Yellow Pearl hastened to say, and Yellow held up a hand.
"No need to worry about either of us. I do not believe Steven has any ill-will for us, and this Ruby does not seem... energetic enough to break this truce we have." She glanced down at the small red-skinned gem in question and arched an eyebrow. "Your worry for this Sapphire is... cute," she drawled.
A spark entered Ruby's eyes and her brows furrowed. "Thanks," she growled sharply.
"I should only hope that once we find her you will find the motivation to act as you are supposed to," Yellow added, and she almost flinched, certainly feeling a slight chill at the look Blue sent her. She cleared her throat. "My apologies. I forgot just who I am speaking to."
"That's alright, Yellow Diamond," Steven said. "Old habits die hard, right?"
Yellow glanced around at the gems surrounding her, even Blue, though only out of the corner of her eye so as to avoid a full blast of chilliness. "Indeed," she huffed.
She allowed Steven and the Ruby to take the lead, going in one direction across the open landscape of grass and more grass while the three Pearls and the Amethyst set off in another. Well, this is different, she thought. Not being in charge... she felt it might not suit her. It was all too easy for her to slip into the role she had played for so long, she knew she was going to do it again regardless of however many looks Blue sent her way in an attempt at silently reminding her just where they were and who they were with. In all honesty she was waiting for Blue to forget herself; certainly she would. Just because they had met and sat down to talk to the Crystal Gems that didn't mean either of them were going to just take on their dogma and break free of the "little boxes" Pink's former Pearl had spoken of.
A tree line soon came into sight, and the Ruby led the way like she had walked this invisible path every day of her existence. Not too far in at all they approached the base of a mountain. "Sapphire!" Ruby called, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Sapphire! Please, I just - can we just talk?"
"Sapphire!" Steven called. "I'm here too! We're with the Diamonds!"
"Steven!" Ruby hissed, whirling on him with a look of panic.
"Leave me alone, Ruby," a voice shouted back from somewhere nearby. The Ruby jumped slightly and quickly ignored the request, dashing off towards the source of the voice. Yellow drew to a halt, knowing they were not wanted there. This was why she didn't want to come - not because she wasn't feeling helpful.
Steven glanced from her to Blue, bent over a bush a few feet away, then whipped around to look off into the trees where the Ruby had vanished. "Um, Ruby? Sapphire? ...If you want us to leave you alone, just say so!" he called.
"There are so many different smells on this planet," Blue murmured, straightening. She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes.
"They shouldn't be here, Steven."
Yellow blinked down at the small form lingering in some shadows at the base of the mountain. The Ruby burst back out of the trees some paces away. The Sapphire stepped forward, mouth set in a grim, downward tilt, her one eye obscured by her light blue hair. Still, Yellow could practically feel the confusion, betrayal and frustration just wafting off her; she shuffled backwards in a placating sort of gesture, ready to turn around and drag Blue along with her back the way they'd come to find the Pearls and the Amethyst and tell them they'd found the Sapphire, even if she wasn't quite ready to return to the base with them.
She should have expected Blue to take a strong step forward, a small smile on her face that seemed to agitate the Sapphire further. "Hello," she said, calm as ever. "I'd really love to talk to you, Sapphire."
"And if I don't want to talk to you?" Sapphire retorted lowly.
The Ruby glanced anxiously between them before hurrying over to Steven's side. Yellow bit her tongue to stop a sigh from coming out.
Blue's smile grew slightly. She glanced up at the leaves above them. "I knew this place looked familiar," she murmured. "I spent a good while looking down at it from above. It's... so different than what I could see, so far removed." She paused and her smile faltered with an emotion Yellow didn't quite expect - regret. Looking down to the Sapphire, she took another step forward (and clearly increased the anxiety of Steven and the Ruby, and even Yellow's). "If you would at least listen to me, Sapphire," Blue said softly. "I want to talk about the day you first fused with this Ruby over here."
A/N: Happy eve of new episodes! Who else is ready for the Heart of the Crystal Gems arc?!
So obviously we know now the truth about Rose and Pink Diamond... but that isn't going to stop me from exploring this idea of mine. I was a bit bummed about the (*spoiler*) reveal that Pink Diamond was Rose Quartz, not because I don't like it, but I was really looking forward to somehow interacting with Pink. I want to see so much more of her, and while I'm sure we still will, it's... different. Idk. Hence why I'm not bothering to change anything lol.
Sorry, also, for the months it's been since the last update. I just wasn't feeling terribly inspired. However, with the excitement of the coming episodes and the fact that I've been re-watching a lot of the show, I got HELLA inspired! I'm so interested in the Diamonds. I want to know more about them. Even more so, I'm excited to just write about them myself.
One last thing I'd like to add: tumblr user happyds has a lot of wonderful SU art, so go check that out (they're mostly posting on their Twitter now and you can find those links on their tumblr) but they have these drawings of BD and YD if they had also gone through a bratty phase like the way PD seems to have acted. So for the part where the Diamonds shrink down, I was honestly thinking of the way happyds drew them for that lol. So go check that art out!
Thanks for sticking with me~ Also, special shout-out to OmegaInfinity and guest Shippingmonster for your reviews! Much love to you.