And now a chapter dedicated to showing everyone's favorite quartet of technicolor alien ladies!
On many occasions, the sight of a diamond's personal vessel meant certain doom for whatever the destination was. Many a planet had spotted the odd appendage-shaped ships coming thousands of miles away only to not realize it was the start of colonization. Some sent negotiators, others sent preemptive strikes but all of them were blown away.
If those same races could see the two harbingers aimlessly searching the cosmos for a pair of pink legs, many of them would have laughed themselves to death at the ridiculous imagery and the irony that for once they were lost. Making this fact worse was that Pink did something to disable all tracking meaning they were trying to find a brightly colored needle in an endlessly expanding haystack.
Yellow Diamond had to sigh in shame and admit the best plan they had was to split up and cover as much ground as possible. They figured Pink Diamond would be heading for Earth, but how she would get there was impossible to tell.
The only solace they had at this point was each other and the fact that White Diamond was out of their lives at least for now. They were not sure if they could truly leave the empire in her hands alone. As they flew, both of them tried listening in on the communications of passing ships.
Yellow and Blue were both saddened to hear some ships fall into complete chaos with news of the Stevonnie's battle spreading. The sound that their leaders were beaten threw them all into disarray while others were oddly quiet. The duo only guessed that the soldiers on board simply carried on whatever orders they had out of habit. Now they knew they had to hurry and bring Pink back as soon as possible before White could run their empire into the ground.
The only solace they had at this point was talking to each other. It was nice to actually be able to speak whenever they wanted without having to worry about protocol or business. As the days went by without any progress, however, soon their conversations became more focused on how their work was all being undone or how gems might start to turn out poorly without them.
Eventually, however, Blue Diamond had a thought enter her mind that absolutely refused to leave. She contacted Yellow to only ask this one question.
"Was Stevonnie right about me?"
"What?!" Yellow scoffed, "Blue, don't be ridiculous! You shouldn't listen to anything that monstrosity said!"
"But I am. I mean, what else should we go on about? It's not like we have any pastimes or the like. All we've done for the past several thousand years is work under White's thumb."
"Well, yes, but-"
"Do you have a lead on Pink?"
"No…"
"Then it's not like we have anything new to bring up. Yellow, I want an honest answer. Was Stevonnie right? Have I just been obsessing over Pink? And did I… Not treat her well?"
"Blue… I don't know how to put this…"
"Why?"
"What?"
"Why don't you tell me how you feel? Answer me already! You don't think I can handle it?"
"Blue, stop it! I don't want to upset you anymore and-"
Yellow actually leaned back in her chair, thankfully rebuilt after she melted the last one to nothing, as Blue's face filled the holo-screen.
"That's all you think I can do, isn't it?! I'm just one big ball of tears that'll burst if you so much as look at me funny!"
"Why are you getting so worked up?! You're letting that fusion creature get to you!"
"Because I'm thinking it was right!"
"Wait… You are?"
"I… I think back to when I used to punish Pink for misbehaving. Or how she'd want something and come to me only after she tried shaking you down… I didn't remember doing any of that before. All I could think about was how much I missed her. Yellow… We did mistreat her."
"Look, I'm not saying we were perfect…"
"'Not perfect?' Yellow, you were way harder on her than I ever was! You tried to give her private lessons to improve her etiquette or else you'd take away her toys. You locked her in her tower whenever she made a mess of things!"
"Of course, I did! If White saw those things, she'd…"
"What is it?"
"I… I did do that. How… How didn't I…"
"Yellow? Are you okay?"
"I… I once told her… That s-she needed to get her act t-together… Or…"
"Yellow, you're shaking! And are those tears?! You never cry!"
"I almost… How could I have…?!"
"What is it?!"
"I THREATENED TO SHIP HER INTO SPACE!" Yellow wailed as she suddenly threw her face into her hands, sobbing hard enough to put Blue at her worst to shame. The usually upset one of the pair looked on in complete disbelief as the stalwart rock she relied on for so long collapsed into pieces. As shocking as this was, the words she just spoke finally clicked in her mind and most of the sympathy went with it.
"You what?"
"It… It was right after I… Caught her smuggling in organic lifeforms again… These slimy little purple blobs… I chucked them into some incinerator and then I… Told her…"
"You did not…"
"I said… 'If you like these things so much… Why don't you live with them?' I… I was so stupid, I…"
"You did that? By yourself?"
"Yes… I even… Showed her how… I could override her ship… So…"
"Stop," Blue said, colder than she had ever spoken before. Yellow looked up from her grief to see a flat look on her sister-in-arms' face that instantly put her on edge.
"B-Blue?"
"Do you want to know what got me thinking about Stevonnie having a point? She nailed you and White on the head."
"W-What?!"
"Oh, don't act coy with me. You're so smart that you know every last thing she said about White was true. She never cared about Pink, she is an absolute control freak who treats the two of us like toadies and I doubt she even comprehends what compassion is."
Feeling her pride come back, Yellow dried her tears and tried collecting herself. "S-So? That's because White is so arrogant about her goals and philosophy. A pebble could figure that out by just observing her for a few minutes."
"But what about you?"
"Me? What are you insinuating exactly?"
"You're answer to everything really is anger. All you do is scream and rant at everything that doesn't go your way. You also seem eager to turn to violence to solve every problem."
"And you're any better?!" Yellow shouted back, offended beyond all belief, "All you do is sob and whine about Pink all day to the point where I have to bail you out again and again and again! You want to criticize me now?! And you want to listen to some abomination instead of the gem whose been saving your hide for centuries?! I'll admit I messed up with Pink but so did you!"
"You don't think I know that?! But you know what? It isn't just White that's the problem. All you do is thrash around and all I did was cry about Pink instead of my actual job, but you know what? The first thing I'm going to do with Pink? Just let her talk. Ask her why she did this and just listen. Can you do the same?"
"This conversation is over, you ingrate! Just go back to blubbering!" Yellow then smashed the button to cancel the call so hard she nearly broke the console in half. Once the line was cut, however, both diamonds let their real emotions show. Yellow was the one who began sobbing while Blue just glared in simmering anger.
As troubling as the drama between the two public diamonds would be to most of gem-kind, the sight of Pink Diamond abandoning her people would have made most of them fall apart. If it were not for the deactivated tracking on the youngest queen's ship, tens of thousands would have realized that the supposedly shattered leader was alive and well.
The diamond herself, however, was far from the high spirits she fled from Homeworld with. While she set out with the grand vision to find Earth to discover the fate of her best friend, she had absolutely no idea where the planet was or where to even start looking. She did consider sticking it to White a major achievement but the high was fading as she spent days fruitlessly searching the stars for any sign of Rose Quartz.
She also had ample time reflect on her time but all she learned was how much time had gone by. One look at the date on the ship's star log told her thousands of years had passed since her gambit was put into play and could only imagine what had happened since then. It only spurred on her drive to find Rose if only to get a proper explanation.
A frown also crossed her face when she realized how little had changed with her "family" in the massive gap of time. Sure, Yellow and Blue seemed to miss her but how long would that last? And White was somehow exactly the same as when she last saw her confiscating her pearl for a mistake she made. She suddenly felt queasy imagining what happened to her old assistant with the best possibility being that she was locked in a bubble somewhere.
As depressing as that was to dwell on, it was still something compared to the deafening silence of the journey aside from the whirs and hums of Pink's ship as it operated. The smallest diamond was shaken out of her thoughts, however, when her scanner picked up a few incoming ships. They were far too small to be the other diamonds, but they were following her nonetheless.
If there was anything Pink was grateful to the other queens for, it was making this spaceship an exact replica of her old one down to the most minute controls. It meant she could quickly scan the pursuers and better assess the potential threats. While unfamiliar with the newer designs of the empire's ships, a quick cross-reference with the database meant she could find out any information.
Turns out she was being followed by two transportation frigates and half a dozen fighter escorts. Pink was now starting to sweat as she increased the thrusters and the platoon on her tail followed suit. She considered readying the weapons but wondered if that would be overkill. All those gems were doing were following orders.
An even bigger surprise came when one of the cargo ships sent a request to access her communicator. Curious at just what some gem was about to say, but fully expecting it to be someone sent to retrieve her, Pink allowed it. The holo-screen was then filled by a brookite outside of the standard battle armor although the diamond was more stunned to see one of the gems she designed eons ago.
"Greeting, Pink Diamond. I apologize for startling you but I have an urgent message."
"How did you know my ship? All of my tracking signals have been deactivated."
"True but your ship is a rather unique model. A pilot just happened to spot you with her vision spheres and reported it."
"Oy… Look, whichever diamond is bossing you around-"
"I work for Rose Quartz."
Pink's mouth was left hanging upon mid-rebuttal. "C-Come again…?"
"I figured that would get your attention. Yes, the Rose Quartz you knew from Earth. She is currently occupying a gem transportation hub about twenty thousand lightyears from here. If you'd like, we can escort you to her."
"Y-You're serious? Because if you're lying, I'll-!"
"I assure you, Pink, that I am wholly serious. We have all sworn off the Great Diamond Authority. We ask this not as servants, but as allies of a benevolent gem who wishes to see her old friend. She was completely thrilled to hear of your sighting."
It took Pink a full minute to reply, fearing she was just walking into some trap set up by White, but the opportunity was simply too good to pass up. "Alright… Escort me."
The flight passed by quickly even with warp speed but Pink was constantly fretting with only her hands and her energy powers to calm her nerves. She would often summon a small spark of power on one fingers and then move it from digit to digit as a way of moving through her anxiety and this was the latest example.
Somehow too quickly and not fast enough, Pink and her new company arrived at a large complex sitting on top of a desolate red moon. Like many gem structures, a central hub spire sat atop a larger area. In this case, a ten-story tall purple crystal overlooked a series of buildings and docked ships meant to carry gem-formation materials and equipment to surrounding colonies. Even from the air, however, Pink could tell there was something different about this operation.
Instead of the scarily efficient gems going about their business piloting ships and loading cargo, gems seemed to be milling about doing whatever they wanted. Many talked amongst themselves about nothing in particular, some were inventing games to pass the time and still others seemed to be actively destroying the implanting devices. As she saw all of this as her ship descended, Pink's fears of this all being a ruse lifted bit by bit since she knew any of her superiors would quash this kind of behavior in an instant.
Pink lowered her ship into an empty spot on the farthest end of the field before exiting. An oddball welcoming party of a nickeline, a peridot, an amethyst and a sapphire were all waiting for her to depart. The diamond tried finding something to mark them as different from typical Homeworld gems but they were indistinguishable save for their apparent allegiance to Rose Quartz and being far more accommodating.
Now that she was on the ground, she could take in how radically different the vibe was on this base. The gem empire had been the epitome of all work, no play but that could not be further from the truth now. On top of that, the social hierarchy seemed completely gone with servants and workers mingling freely with supervisors and elite soldiers. Pink even blushed as she saw some gems getting more than friendly with each other in public.
Before she could be overloaded with the lackadaisical nature, Pink was in the central tower and quickly took the lift up with all of the gems leaving just as soon as they arrived. Her thoughts were now so preoccupied with the unusual culture that she mindlessly walked out of the elevator and into the sight of a very familiar gem.
Rose Quartz was standing right at the bridge of the tower, the panoramic view overlooking the whole complex and out into space with her admiring all of the details. As soon as she heard footsteps, she turned around. She said nothing but her eyes were practically shining with joy. The diamond herself could scarcely believe what she was looking at.
"Rose… You're alive! I… But how? What's happened to me? What happened to Earth? Where are all your soldiers?! I thought that the diamonds might have shattered you and-!"
Pink's rambling was cut off by Rose running forward and hugging her around the waist. The taller gem looked down, all of her breath suddenly gone, and hugged back while letting out all of the bottled-up emotions.
"I missed you so much, my friend," Rose admitted, patting the diamond on the back as she sobbed, "I almost can't believe how long it's been either."
"W-What happened to you? W-White told me you… You…!" Pink choked up from even remembering the thought, but Rose just kept comforting her.
"She doesn't know about my return. No one does, actually, except for all the gems I managed to recruit. Pink… I have a lot to tell you."
The few gems managing the bridge took that as their cue to leave, giving the old friends all the time they needed to catch up. Considering one of them had spent the past several millennia in a bubble, that meant Rose did the majority of the talking as she recounted everything from their botched plan to have Earth to themselves to Rose's relatively recent decision to have Steven.
When all was said, Rose gave Pink all the time she needed to absorb the glut of information. The diamond looked half-ready to burst at first but slowly came to terms with everything.
"So… How many Crystal Gems are there now?"
"There was only three when I had Steven but he went out and found almost a dozen more." Rose chuckled out of pride, but with a tinge of sadness, "Takes after me in more ways than one."
"And you were… inside him his whole life? What was it like?"
"It was exactly what I wanted. After all the fighting, all the failures I made… It was my chance to finally get away from it all. And while I'm glad I got to see you again, Pink, it's where I'd rather be now."
Now it was the diamond's turn to assure her friend, placing a hand on Rose's shoulder. "Well I for one am elated to see you again. If White was right about you being gone… I wouldn't know what to do with myself."
"Thank you. So how do you feel about all this?"
Pink just sighed. "Disappointed. I can't believe our plan backfired so badly. Who'd have thought they actually cared that whole time. Tch, could have fooled me…"
"Cared about you? Or cared about their reputation?" Rose snarked, "I'd bet it's fifty-fifty that they just wanted to wipe out the only force that ever posed a threat to them and managed to tarnish their perfect record. I am really sorry, Pink, for not telling you. I just knew you wanted freedom as much as I did and-"
"You don't have to apologize, Rose. You were always better at planning. But now… What about the corrupted gems? Are they all really gone?"
Rose's hands tightened into fists. "Yes. They broke into the temple and lifted the whole bunch. The only ones I know that are still alive are some nephrites of yours left in a spaceship."
"And they think putting some tribute to my soldiers is compensation?!" Pink shouted, getting enraged herself, "Why not just fix them like they fixed that one jasper?!"
"Hey… Hey, that's right! They did fix her? Why not just fix the others?!" Rose herself suddenly felt her energy spike, having to repress the urge to fire a laser through the nearest ship.
"I know exactly why! It's because the diamonds haven't changed in the slightest! Yellow, Blue, White… They can go on and on about how much they missed me, but I don't care! They're still the same egomaniacal monsters who trample over anyone who crosses them and I won't stand for it!" Pink's own power flared up, the metal around her starting to warp and bubble under her feet.
"And that makes two of us…" Rose and Pink both simmered for a bit, letting the anger exit their systems as well as cooling their powers. With their common goal of throwing off the Diamond Authority's reign, they at least appreciated being together again. As she looked at Pink, however, Rose got an excellent idea on how they could take their original plan one step further.
In stark contrast to the other three, the largest and grandest of the diamonds has scarcely stepped away from her spot in the past several days. That was because White now had the responsibility of running a multigalactic empire with billions of subordinates all by herself up to her own immaculate standards.
That challenge, however, was one that quickly consumed all of her time. Not only did she have to keep things actually running efficiently, but make it look like it was done with a level of polish and accuracy to bely how much planning and forethought went into it. At least that was how her own immovable pride insisted how it should be done but her expectations were quickly clashing with reality.
She had half a mind to send out search parties to find Yellow and Blue, but quickly realized that the empire was already reeling. The incident with Stevonnie made the first encounter with the Crystal Gems look downright paltry in comparison. All of the diamond's palaces destroyed, thousands of soldiers defeated and yet none shattered and the monarchs themselves thoroughly humiliated. If the public found out about Pink's revival on top of it all, even White had no idea what would happen.
Her first and foremost priority then became to run as much damage control as possible before morale and thus faith in their infallibility could fall. The repair systems on White's ship meant it was back to pristine shape already and a memo to all commanding gem officers made it so Yellow and Blue were instead repaying the rebels for their destruction tenfold. While this was a lie now, the grand leader had every intention of wiping Earth's entire galaxy off the map in revenge.
As overloading as it was to flit between dozens of screens to monitor ongoing projects that needed to be restarted, societal matters such as public works and the judicial system, and persecuting off-colors along with any wannabe dissenters that might have gotten the wrong idea from the Crystal Gems' escapades, White was keeping up for the most part and was dead-set on not letting this setback ruin her plan.
She was so consumed by her desire that she did not notice her pearl enter her chamber without her permission.
"What are you doing here?" she asked the servant without looking away from her work, "You're supposed to be spreading how I'm minimizing the damage."
"My Diamond, I would never do this under any other circumstance, but there is something incredibly important I must tell you."
"Unless the Crystal Gems were eradicated by a supernova, I don't care. Leave at once."
"My Diamond, I beg of you, this is absolutely vital."
Now White pulled her eyes away to glare down at her pearl. "Are you defying my orders?"
"My illustrious Diamond, it will only take a few minutes! It is something that could compromise all of-!"
And those were White Pearl's last words as the diamond she dutifully served for eons suddenly sent a concentrated beam clean through the gemstone. Even if the pearl had not been cracked during the conversion process, the laser would have pierced right through it leaving a pile of shards on the floor.
White merely made a sidenote in her head to custom design a new pearl when she had a spare moment, at least grateful that she no longer needed to keep a mote of her power active at all times to maintain her control. With that distraction done, she dived back into her work for untold hours.
Days later, however, something crossed her screen that caught her attention. Something about a group of carriers whose communications went down. She sent a repair squadron to look it over before resuming.
Except that squadron never arrived as she lost all contact with them as well. She instead moved communications to the nearest colony to relay an SOS to get the now stranded ships back on course.
Then the entire colony started losing its signal, much to White's total surprise, as she began dedicating more and more time to this systematic breakdown. Unfortunately, she soon began receiving distress calls from numerous unaffected ship in the area that they were under attack.
White's bafflement soon changed to outrage as she pinned the entire affair on Steven, readying the biggest armada she could to invade Earth. That changed, however, when her own private channel became overridden. Before she could demand an answer, the cause of the problem revealed itself on all of her screens.
"Greetings to all of gem-kind, or at least all who are hearing this," spoke the pink-haired bane of White's life, "I am Rose Quartz Facet 2B6E Cut 1X4 but you more than likely know me as the Rose Quartz. The Ultimate Defect. The Worst Off-Color. The founder and longtime leader of the Crystal Gems."
"Now, I'm sure you all have several questions. Why have I been inactive for so long? How has my son, Steven Universe, who participated in the latest confrontation with the diamonds have my powers? And just how am I broadcasting this message to so many of you? I would like to answer that last one first since it is the simplest – I have used a very special code to override all your channels. A code that thankfully was left unchanged out of apparent sanctity for Pink Diamond."
White's boiling rage and turbulent confusion all cleared in an instant, replaced by an actual moment of dread. Her entire body suddenly went numb as she realized that this was being broadcasted to billions, if not tens of billions, of her subjects this very moment.
"Yes, I used Pink Diamond's original Veto Signal. I understand this is a grave measure, used last by White Diamond to order the death of my son and his family, and I am also sure this incenses all of you to no end. After all, I'm using the privilege granted only to a diamond and in my case the specific one I shattered. The fact that I also had the signal jury-rigged since I do not have access to the diamond's exclusive channel means I had to combine multiple relay stations to have the same effect. My apologies to any inconvenience this may have caused you."
"Rest assured, though, that I have this access for a very good reason. I would explain, but why not take it from someone I know you'll trust more?" Rose's neutral expression throughout the whole speech changed to a grin so victorious that it frightened White to the core. It was the exact look she gave when one of her plans came together. That expression left with Rose as she moved out of view from the holo-screen only for a face most of gem kind had not seen for ages.
"Hello, everyone," Pink Diamond waved with a melancholy smile, "I can imagine you're all shocked to see me. And before any of you ask, I'm no imposter."
She proved her point by summoning her fiery energy, an ability no other gem possessed, before resuming.
"This is something I say to you with a very heavy conscience. Era 2 was a lie as I was never truly shattered. It was, however, a mistake on my part. I was under the impression that if I lost my life, the other diamonds would sit idly by and abandon the conflict with the Crystal Gems. I was more wrong than I could have imagined and because of that, too many good gems lost their lives while I remained in hibernation."
"But there is an even more pressing question on your minds – Why was I in hibernation? And how could I be allied with Rose Quartz, the gem opposite of everything the Great Diamond Authority stands for. A very simple reason actually – choice. I chose to side with Rose here, a gem who showed me far more compassion and respect out of her choice and not predetermined loyalty. She is more than just my ally. She is my friend and one that I hope will prove herself a far better leader than Yellow, Blue and White."
Pink then moved out of frame again. Rose quickly took her spot afterwards, a satisfied look on her face.
"Gems, I cannot express how many times you have been lied to, mistreated or shunted aside by your supposed betters. Before we did anything else, Pink and I wanted to give you something that the Diamonds have never offered you before – free choice. You are free to be loyal to your oligarchy as before if you so wish. If you, like me, want a different life, want a role outside of the gem hierarchy or wish to rejoin the long lost Pink Diamond, then you may do so. I have gathered a few followers already and we will be making the round of the entire empire to hear your opinions. Please, however, refrain from any shattering if possible. Neither of us want any innocent shards on our hands. Aside from that, however, the rest is up to you. Thank you all for listening."
The message cut off, finally giving White enough time to shudder uncontrollably. Her eyes caught sight of the various red signals flashing all over her holo-screen display as total chaos broke out across the empire she meticulously built for so long. Her logical side insisted she get up and try to rectify all of these problems as they grew by the second, but her body refused to obey. Her mind was too busy catching up to the realization that not only was she wrong, but it was going to cost her much more than her pride.
So, after that many bombshells, let's do something lighter next time and see how Steven and the others are enjoying a normal life!
Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.
Actually, there is one more thing... Have any of you wanted to see Adamite and Cinnabar drawn? I know at least someone has and now thanks to the excellent Meek Illustrations on Instagram, they have been brought to life! Link to the artist's gallery here: drawingwithmeek/
I personally loved seeing them myself and if any of you have fanart commissions (or at least SFW ones), I would highly recommend this artist, an absolute joy to work with!