Part III: Interference, Act III: "Pray for us sinners"
But as for me
I can only be forgiven if I'm givin' myself up to you
On a silver serving tray
Must I bare myself to the stabbing of your knife and gnashing teeth
While our lovely company appears so entertained?
Ah, yes, good etiquette demands
I remain soft and accessible in the face of my own ending
So I will try to be discreet
Through my full-blown implosion
I'll stay golden and retreat into my sweetest fantasy
The one where you are crying
And I don't do anything at all
My world has turned so cold but I won't cry
Cause icicles don't soften when they die
So why should I?
Why should I?
Oh, icicles don't soften when they die
They sharpen into sabers
And they stab you in the eye
-from The Scary Jokes' "Icicles"
...
On the observation deck of a large space station, Pink Diamond and her Pearl stood arm in arm, looking out at a nebula full of glittering, newborn stars, spread out among multicolored layers of star dust, the same origin that tied them all together, that connected them even to the humans on earth and the many other forms of life swarming life that populated the universe.
Between the two of them, they shared a secret.
No one else knew, none among the thousands of gems working and living of this outpost could have had the slightest inkling of a suspicion, but they were here to take one last, good look at the stars, before parting with them forevermore.
For this one last visit, they would tend to the affairs of the empire, and they would continue to do so for a few more weeks back on Earth, but then, it would all finally be over.
And if Pink had any regrets about the decision that was set in her mind, it would have been for Pearl's sake: She so loved space travel, and now, she would have to give it up forever for the sake of their plan.
Not that they had really been able to see that much of the cosmos to begin with – when they had accompanied the other Diamonds on their ventures, their journeys usually took them to advanced-stage colony worlds where not much of their original ecosystems remained – There's no way that Yellow would have allowed her anywhere near the front lines. In hindsight, Pink could only surmise that she must not have wanted her to see her ugly deeds, to keep her in the dark about what the authority really was. A few times, Blue had permitted them to come along on diplomatic ventures or the occasional summits where they would encounter the leaders of other intergalactic powers, and for brief moments, the two of them had been able to glimpse what life might be like on other world, but only ever briefly, and only from afar. Blue did not consider her very 'diplomatic', in other words, a liability.
Many times she had wished that she could just mingle with all these strange, strange creatures and get to know their ways in greater detail, but on the few occasions where she'd gotten any chance to do so, when she had perhaps been sent to sit with the consorts, pack-members and adjuncts of the other alien diplomats, the room would often fall deathly silent whenever Pink had dared to approach them on their tables.
She had been distraught when she realized that they were afraid of her, but now that she had seen the Earth, she could no longer deny that they had every right to be.
When she told Blue, her only reaction was snobbish, haughty laughter: "It wouldn't surprise me if they were afraid of us. They couldn't even begin to comprehend us with their tiny minds!"
Pink would miss nothing about this place, but Pearl... she wasn't telling Pink, but even someone as obtuse as her couldn't misread the wistful looks she had been sending up on the stars when they were marching together and the treetops would part to reveal the heavens. Sometimes, she even directed her glance in the direction of homeworld's galaxy.
Pink would miss nothing about that place, and if anything, Pearl should have even more reasons to never want to see it again, but even so, she did miss it, and she would certainly miss space travel. She said that though it was an awful place with many issues, not every single thing there had been horrible, after all, it had been their home.
Pink never really felt that way , but, if Pearl did, who was Pink to tell her that her feelings were wrong?
More than anything else, this whole farewell trip, and the visit to homeworld that would conclude it, had been more for Pearl's sake than anything else.
But now, it was nearing its end, as they were soon to depart from their penultimate stop, and Pink found the smaller gem seeking refuge in her arms.
She couldn't help but note that Pearl was still more reluctant to hold her when she was in this form, still flinching with every movement as if she were doing something wrong – Pink had offered to transform, but Pearl had understood that it would be unwise to do so in such a place. She almost did it anyways, but she had to concede that the smaller gem was probably right, as she always was; They must not risk being discovered so soon before the finish line.
Even so, Pink Diamond could not be dissuaded from holding her – whatever would she do if it weren't for her?
But she'd gotten so used to feeling Pearl's hair against her cheek; This arrangement felt foreign and awkward. The smaller gem barely reached past her midsection, so there was nothing to block her view of the panoramic window behind her, or her pale reflection in its pane, complete with those telltale eyes -
And if that face was hateful to her beloved, she would gladly erase it from this world forever.
With no more 'Pink Diamond', there would be no point in completing the colony. With no more 'Pink Diamond' for them to be loyal to, even the rest of her court would surely join the rebellion, (or so she thought) and never again would Pearl be forced into her old role, not even for keeping up appearances...
Perhaps naively, Pink had thought that they could actually be happy.
Perhaps, she had wanted this a little bit too much, and allowed herself to be blinded by her own desire to put the past behind her.
The promise of their rapidly approaching escape had made these last few week's worth of duties light upon her shoulders. It was easy to grin and bear them now that she knew that she would never endure them again, especially since she and Pearl now had each each other to lean on and give each other strength.
"Soon, love, soon, soon it will all be over-"
But if that was so, why did Pearl's familiar form feel so stiff in her embrace?
Why were her eyes full of tears?
Pink had told her insistently that she didn't have to come with her, again and again, and each time, she had told Pink that she wanted to stay with her... and why wouldn't she want to? With Garnet and the others, she was admired as an icon of rebellion; she was their strategist, their engineer, one of their fiercest fighters. She, too, could bear the restraints of her old life less and less after each taste of freedom.
Pearl had told her how many times she had dreamed of running away, so surely, she must want to leave as well, right? For her own sake, on not just because Pink would be down there – surely she had asked her enough times whether she really wanted this, reminded her time and time again that there would be no turning back, and that they would have to keep this a secret forever, and each time, Pearl had assured her that she was proud to be the keeper of those things she would entrust to no one else...
Once, Pink would never even have thought of doubting this.
Once, she had nothing but pure admiration for Pearl – the one who had suggested their venture in the first place, the one who had shown and taught her so many things, and made her journey possible on each of its steps, the one who acted as the voice of reason to her at times shortsighted exuberance...
If one of them had known what they were doing, Pink was sure that it must have been Pearl.
But that was before. Before Pearl had insisted on throwing herself in front of her, over and over again, into the blades of opponents she could have easily shrugged off, despite her pleas to the contrary, to the point that they'd had frequent arguments about it. And what could she do? Forbid her? Who was she to forbid her anything?
Sure, she had her secret to maintain, as Pearl would frequently argue, but, that couldn't possibly be more important than her life... and yet that's what Pearl had argued. That she was "too important" to be "anywhere near battle"... But how could she ask anyone to fight for her if she wasn't right there with them, putting her life on the line as one of them? She was doing this to protect them all – and even that was often more than she could manage.
This war had already gone on for so long. She couldn't stand to see any more of the people she cared about being hurt because of her. She thought that, if she kept the reins of both sides in her hands, she could direct the flow of events so as to minimize casualties on both sides. Her underlings were not to blame – they were simply doing their best to fulfill what was asked of them, just as she once had.
The whole debacle with Bismuth had been the last nail in the coffin. She had been one of her best friends... Pearl had been so fond of her – and yet, it had ended up like this. Pink just hadn't known what to do. She couldn't give away her secret, but she also couldn't let her go and slaughter the other side indiscriminately – these were the gems she was trying to sway to their side, the ones she wanted to save...
They had simply been brought up to believe all these poisonous lies – Even among the so called "upper crusts", how many of them were like herself or Sapphire? Trapped in their path because they had never been shown an alternative?
She had hoped to protect everyone – but instead, everything was slipping through her fingers...
But Bismuth had been right about one thing. This was all because of the Diamonds. In particular, because of Pink Diamond. If she weren't there, then surely, Pearl wouldn't feel like she had to throw away her life, and neither would her former soldiers, right? Garnet would get to be together. The Earth would be safe, all all the off-colors in their ranks, all of those who had shed their original purposes would be able to live there in peace, and maybe, just maybe, there would even be a place for 'Rose Quartz' to join in this garden of peace.
Surely... this would end everything, right?
And yet she reached her arms down in desperation, leaning down to find the soft haven of Pearl's lips -
But when she did, they remained pressed together, even moved out of her way as the azure eyes that meant the world to her averted their gaze.
So far, she had been coping with it, but this seemed to have crossed some invisible line that, for some reason, still existed though it should have lost all its power a long time ago.
Pearl had been anxious before, but that wasn't uncommon for her, and often, she would end up very grateful that Pink had pushed her to get over her reservations, perhaps giving her more credit than she deserved, for it was still Pearl who had done all these amazing things -
But this was different. Her body was hard and frozen in her grasp, her muscles tense, her expression clearly uncomfortable.
"I-Is this wise, my Diamond?"
And again, again, she was calling her that, though Pink had asked her many times not to do that – at least when they were alone, couldn't she simply call her 'Pink'?
But she never did, though she never had any problem calling her 'Rose'.
Desperate to remedy this sacrilegious iniquity, she had taken to refer to Pearl with high honors, as one might their superior, and once, that had been sparked from pure adoration and the simple idea that one should return the favor if someone did something nice for you, but, if anything, it seemed even more important now, imbued with heavy obligation.
She might have found herself in a position where the other crystal gems looked up to her for answers, but as the leader of the rebellion, she wanted it understood that she served them, that she waged this war for their sake simply because she was in the position to do so, and she wouldn't be able to stand it any other way.
She wanted Pearl to feel important, to know that she had every right in the world to put her hands on her -
And yet, she was reluctant.
"But no one's here... I can't sense anyone nearby, either... It should be alright...
Unless... you don't want to?"
"Of course I want to!" Pearl replied, but they were hasty, fearful words served with a strained, nervous smile. "...if that's what you want!"
But she was trembling.
And who could blame her? How could she ask her to love the one to whom she had been given in bondage? If anything, her tendency to compartmentalize things was probably her way of separating the tender spring breeze of their love from the taint of their past. And Pink couldn't blame her, for she, too, wanted nothing more than to leave it behind her and never speak of it again.
But at the same time... She was standing right here, burning with her youthful passion and sparkling admiration, no matter what her name was, no matter what she looked like...
And Pearl couldn't see her. Didn't want her.
Not like this. Not this miserable hunk of carbon...
Not unless she pretended to be the heroic leader Pearl wanted her to be, even if she knew that she would never be able to, even if she felt like a lost, ridiculous little fool most of the time.
She had always suspected, but now she knew for sure.
Despite herself, there had been moments where she wanted to tell them the truth. They were her friends, the ones she wanted so much to have – Of course she longed to be understood by them. She'd tried to, by presented them with 'doctored' versions of her tale where she kept the gist of things the same, but reframed the narrative to make it seem like she had always been who she pretended to be.
With time, the ties of comradely and friendship had wormed their way past her walls, and she had almost believed that they were strong enough to withstand the weight of her truth.
But the tiny light of self-purification that desperately wanted to shine could not conquer the profundity of her personal darkness, and after what happened with Bismuth, she was convinced that she could never ever tell them, lest she end up butchered at the hands of her own best friends.
They would surely kill her, and grind her shards into fine dust beneath their heels - or they would attempt it, and who's to say what she might do when forced to protect her measly little life?
And they would have every right in the world to want her dead...
Pink stood back up, loosening her grasp.
Paradoxically, Pearl almost seemed disappointed – no – uneasy, as if she feared... what exactly? Being abandoned? Even discarded, perhaps?
"Are you perhaps displeased with me, my Diamond?"
Good heavens! She never wanted to hear her say that again.
"No. Of course not. And what does it even matter what I think... I want you to be comfortable."
She smiled, deliriously, with an azure blush spilled all over her face, as if this most basic show of respect was somehow touching.
Pink Diamond found no comfort in it... she only felt more affirmed in her conviction of what she must do.
Surely, no one would ever miss some cursed, wicked, little creature whom Pearl couldn't even bring herself to kiss...
(Indeed, who could have missed her?)
They flew apart in an instant – and it was Pink Diamond who has pushed Pearl aside with both her arms, fixating her with the same, serious, commanding gaze she might have used to deliver a warning in the heat of battle. "Blue's coming. I can feel it. Take cover. "
Cover, in this case, meant that Pearl was banished to her allotted place beside the door, while Pink was left to brood by herself, doing her best to look inconspicuous and remain calm when her heart resented the interruption and the sensation of Pearls smooth, crystalline shoulders still lingered on her forearms.
Oh why must they continue to torture her so, just as they tormented everyone else unfortunate enough to cross their path? Or why couldn't they ever leave her and her friends in peace, and mind their own damned business?
At last, the door opened, and Blue stepped inside. Pink would have to grin and bear it, just one last time, for everyone's sake, and then it would be over...
Blue Diamond shuffled inside the room, rather slowly, with her long, heavy robes dragging behind her.
She seemed to have something weighing on her heart, and perhaps Pink even noticed it, in the hesitation when she stepped inside, or the slight tension in the fingers she had clasped together and how her demeanor seemed subdued even by her standards -
but most likely, she did not, and even if she did, she must have assumed that she was upset for some frivolous reason or another, ever the princess-on-the-pea.
She stepped closer to the window, taking her sweet time to pick out her words as Pink just kept staring out to space, wishing that she would finally get it over with.
"Hello Pink..." she greeted, very softly, without much strength or volume behind it. "Have you been stargazing?"
"Am I not even allowed to do that anymore? Have you come to tell me that it is not proper?" and despite the defiance she'd felt welling up inside her when the door first opened, her voice was no longer one of a petulant youth, but of a tired, bitter lady who kept a destabilizer hidden on her workbench, since she was, after all, deep in enemy territory.
"Of course not..."
"Then what are you doing here?"
Blue only sighed at this, and seated herself at her side, close enough to the window that was wide enough to frame even her in the iridescent shine of the nebula.
Leaning down to lie on the ornate floor tiles, propping herself up on one arm, her face was on eye level with Pink's.
She offered her her other arm, but the smaller gem was stiff in her embrace, even as Blue pressed her forehead against her cotton-candy locks.
The hand that remained on the smaller gem's back after the whole thing was done was intended as a gesture of support, but it was not welcome there – not that the elder Diamond took much notice of that.
All Pink could think of were the many, many gems that must have been shattered at the wink of that hand, gems that were just like Garnet, Bismuth or Pearl once – how she must have condemned them all from up high, the dust never touching her palms –
The poisonous thorns of the truth strangled anything that might once have blossomed in their place, leaving only the memories of all the times Pink had felt the burn of the searing light she called forth from her fingertips.
Did she even know what they called her, among the defectors from her own ranks, particularly the ones that used to find themselves at the lower ends of the hierarchy?
They called her the Ice Queen – the snobbish, sadistic murderer that even someone as fierce and strong as Garnet could not mention without trembling.
And the Ice Queen now took a moment to settle herself, shaking her head in a measured backward measure to shake her veil loose and just generally arranging herself on her spot before she chose to speak again: "The View here really is beautiful... I thought so too since the very first time I came here, but alas I haven't had much time to enjoy it as of late... I'm glad I found you here..." she mused with a drawn, melancholy smile that did not quite reach her eyes.
"Sometimes it feels like you and I were the only ones who ever understood these kinds of things... For all their strong points, White and Yellow have never quite known to take the time to stop and smell the roses... I can't imagine how they ever got by without us..." that last bit was even punctuated with something of a tired chuckle, but even then, it must have finally been dawning on her that her idle musings weren't accomplishing their intended goal, not that it made her shut up. "I think if the two of us weren't here to tell them to slow down once in a while, they might go stark raving mad... don't you think so as well?"
"How would I know. I wasn't there when you weren't."
Pink replied because it would be less trouble than staying silent, but there was half an accusation in there, how it wasn't exactly her fault that she wasn't as experienced as they were, all the old, trivial gripes that paled before all that she knew now, and yet added to them like the cherry on top of a cake.
"I suppose you wouldn't, right..." And Blue must have sensed at least some of her resistance, because her response actually sounded somewhat resigned, and paused to gather her thoughts before she spoke again, leaving a moment of silence and starlight hanging between them.
Clearly, homeworld's ultramarine ambassadress thought the time was ripe for a change of strategies, some other ploy to get her way, like Pink's feelings were merely a dashboard full of buttons to be pressed – so there was another attempt.
Her very presence was suffocating.
"You did well today, at the function... Yellow thought so, too, she told me as much. I really think there was something truly inspirational about your speech. Your court in particular was really, even in these trying times... I think you're really getting the hang of it... Now if only we could get these troublesome rebels disposed of, we'd have nothing left to worry about..." again, she tried in vain to inject some good cheer into the awkward, empty conversation, a task for which she was, as one might figure, tragically ill-equipped – but her efforts would have been futile either way, for there was no chance that Pink Diamond would have delighted in the destruction of her friends.
She made for a rather tragic clown when she was barely convincing herself and longing for some relief of her own – even without either of their psychic powers, her demeanor was so transparent that even Pink could see her through – and what nerve of hers, what impertinence, that she should be forced to endure her.
Once, she might have run off, covered her ears and sought out some distraction to numb her third eye – but now, alas, Pink knew better than to get her on her case so soon before the big day.
Pink didn't want to be sensing her presence or feeling her damned feelings, much less to feel the mass and definition of her form against her own, her silky hair and long dainty fingers –
What right did she have to resemble a person anymore, after all she had done?
How dare she be just the same as when Pink used to find comfort in her still, stone-pillar arms to which she would once come running when she was upset, how dare she speak with that mild, tired voice with which she had often conversed with her in their many hiding places scattered throughout the palace grounds, as if she were capable of mercy and gentleness, and how could her face look the same after Pink had come to know her true nature?
Once she had admired her – now, every shred that once contributed to her burnt-out illusions, every thorny shred of deception enraged her anew.
Why this nonsensical stage play? Pink already knew very well that she did not actually care, for if she did, she would not be capable of the things she did day in, day out, and she would not have been deaf to the futile pleas she no longer cared to repeat.
And yet, when she last expected it, the cutting radiance of reality cut straight through the curtains of the masquerade, piercing her straight in her center:
"...Pink..." Blue then addressed her, perhaps sensing that none of her attempts at conversation was bearing much fruit, at last baring what lay behind her previous indirections, the 'frivolous concern' she had been concealing in her chest:
"...is there something you haven't told us?"
The younger gem was stumped, wholly knocked out of her script.
For better or worse, Blue had always been the more sensitive one of the two, yes, easily thrown into low spirits, liable to be so overtaken with her inner concerns to feature in much of the greater world, prone to just swat thing away just because they upset her personally, but also, adept at picking up some of those subtle clues and gradations and formless understandings between people that Pink often struggled to grasp when they were not presented up straight to her face -
And she hated this, too, a manifold times more than she once envied for with all the ugly truths she now held inside of her, little could have terrified her more than the thought that someone might see her through.
At this point, the enormous, royal blue gem knew almost nothing of what there was to know about her, but she still undeniably held all advantages of one who had been there to observe her first steps – She'd have to be careful.
Cautious, guarded, resisting the urge to sneak a glance at Pearl or form too much of a fist, she turned around, her magic at her fingertips, ready to call forth her shield if worst came to worst.
And she was not so perceptive or thorough as to wonder in how far Blue Diamond might be taking note of her tensed limbs and furrowed eyebrows, or why she might be making of them, her mind did race through possible outcomes, seeing as she couldn't afford to panic and give herself away when her comrades were awaiting her return back on earth. For the most part, they believed that herself and Pearl had sneaked aboard the mothership for the purpose of gathering intelligence, which was not even completely a falsehood – in a sense, they had merely omitted just who they would be passing themselves off as behind enemy lines.
So in a sense, she was Pink Diamond pretending to be Rose Quartz pretending to be Pink Diamond, but however many masks she may have stacked on top of her face, she wasn't planning on shedding a single one at this time and place.
At this point, the most important part was that she wouldn't lose her nerve, after all, Blue hadn't been dangling some incriminating discovery over her head, nor was she ever the sort to play detective – rather she probably just had some vague sort of intuition or feeling free from any context that would allow her to even consider the truth, something subjective and unformed enough that she should be able to assuage it as long as she didn't lose her calm – after all, she was the useless little family disappointment, and as such, far beneath all suspicion.
And if there was one thing she had learned from spending her formative years around the rest of the authority, it would be the art of how to disappear completely from this world, how to vacate her own countenance in the blink of an eye at the sound of clicking heels approaching, leaving nothing but a picture perfect poker face.
When it came to keeping up appearances, she had all the practice she could possibly need.
They had taught her to deceive, bred her for conquest and tutored her in warfare, but little did they expect that they might find the wretched little dagger they had sharpened turned against themselves.
"What do you mean? You know I would never keep anything from you, Blue!"
Indeed, she took the bait, appearing almost relieved when presented with that meager facsimile of an affirmation, which, for a few moments, actually led Blue Diamond's smile to lose its strained, forced quality for an instant – but this emboldened her to proceed:
"Well, that's certainly good to hear, but I can't shake the impression that there must be something that's bothering you... you've been acting... a little distant since you returned from Earth. Not very much like yourself at all...
Yellow says I'm probably imagining things and that I should be glad that you're finally behaving yourself, but it's got me a little bit worried is all... Are you alright? This isn't because of the rebels, is it?"
Pink's gaze remained fixed straight ahead, at the starry void beyond.
"Did you ever wonder... that the rebels might be right? That maybe we're the ones in the wrong, and that all my gems and the Earth would be much better off if it weren't for me? What gives me any more right to rule over them than this 'Rose Quartz' does? What makes us so much better than them? How are we really any different?"
Something about seemed to startle Blue, for reasons beyond Pink's comprehension.
The elder Diamond rushed again to hold her younger companion against her face, but as usual, she paid no mind to the actual contents of her words.
"Oh Pink! Please don't you ever, ever think that! That filthy, degenerate traitor is nothing like you! Don't let her lunatic ravings get the better of you... Dear Stars, don't you even say anything like that ever again!"
"Alright.", Pink answered, curtly. "Alright, Blue. I will never say that again."
And she was halfway through another bitter musing about how Blue Diamond only ever seemed concerned with whatever she wanted to hear, when she spoke again, one quiet, somber, knowing little realization:
"Did something happen back on Earth?"
As a matter of fact, yes.
Somewhere back on that little Blue planet, there was a Bismuth contained in a bubble, betrayed by her own best friend, far, far away in what might as well have been a completely different person's life.
But for Blue to be the one to notice something 'off' about her was a transgression against so many assumed unwritten rules, across so many of Pink's mental compartments, that it hardly seemed possible.
There were things her friends didn't know about her, but at the same time, they knew a lot of all the things that she could not possibly have shown to the other Diamonds – Things integral to her being that they knew nothing of.
Blue had simply known her for longer, it was just as trivial as that.
No greater meaning about it...
And yet, there was a tiny little part of her that wanted to return Blue's affection, to come running into her arms as she used to when she was still fresh from the ground, all the times she had come to her crying so that she might make it all better -
But there was too much scorched earth, too much bad blood, too much trust broken and squandered.
She would have to quell that part and curb it into silence,
for this was the curse of her existence: Peace was unattainable to her.
Her life, for her, must be won with violence, her freedom, for her, simply must stem from betrayal.
She had no choice but to kill part of herself, if she still hoped to keep any part at all.
She still leaned into the other Diamond's fingers because she thought it the wisest course of action, and hoped that Pearl would not see it if she seemed a little to sincere in her performance.
Let Blue think that she had provided a comfort; That would serve to get her off their case, but while she wrapped her arms around her fingers, her fuchsia lips gave no reply to her inquiries – For how could she have told Blue what she could not even tell Pearl?
And so, their hearts would pass each other by without ever truly touching.
"You know that you can tell me anything, right, Pink?"
She knew for a fact that she most certainly could not.
"I know that we have our differences, and that we might not always agree, but when it comes down to it, the three of us only want what's best for you... You know that, right?"
"If you say so."
"Whatever is is, you can at least tell me and Yellow. White never has to find out. The two of us will always stand with you, no matter what..."
"You wouldn't understand. You never do."
"So what of it? Even if I don't understand, what I want most of all in this world is for you to be happy...-"
And Blue Diamond truly meant it, every last word, every droplet of feeling, from the depths of her soul and the bottom of her heart –
But after all that had transpired between them, Pink could no longer believe her.
Any trust that had ever existed between them was long since broken and squandered.
….
Her visit back home was to conclude with one last, exuberant gala.
Gems from all over the empire had assembled in the capital, a who's who of the empire's brightest and best who had made their pilgrimage for the rare and exquisite opportunity to witness the full, unbridled splendor of the Great Diamond Authority, all gathered in one place.
To behold all four was said to be a spectacle without compare, and all who had ever been fortunate enough to witness it could have spoken of it for hours on end, never ceasing for their rapturous praise – they would tell the tale of Pink Diamond's irresistible charms, or reiterate how they had been inspired by Blue Diamond's moving grace. Thousands of years into the future, they would still shiver in awe of Yellow Diamond's powerful, commanding presence and struggle to wrap their little minds around the boundless perfection of the First One.
How little did they know what was transpiring behind the curtains.
Just a few heavy locked doors from the ballroom, the 'beloved, charismatic Pink Diamond' was shouting in displeasure, her tightly-balled fists held close to her frilly costume, with disgust and rage written all over her bubblegum-colored face.
She had been planning on holding her tongue until the end, but alas, her patience had deserted her first, for the same long laundry list of reasons had that led her to plot her grand escape in the first place – She had grown so thoroughly sick of this place and everything it represented, and now that she was turning her back on it, she finally saw clearer than ever how much she had loathed every part of it.
Perhaps some part of her had provoked the confrontation, just to finally get it over with, to know when the blow would be coming so she could prepare her (metaphorical) shields for it; Perhaps it was one last attempt to get them to feel what she felt, or just the same old predictable patterns that repeated as always until they had driven her to this point -
But she felt the pain deeper than she did when she was ignorant inside the the walls of her Eden, before she had tasted of knowledge or felt the weight of responsibility upon her shoulders and stained her hands with sins of her own.
Her tears flowed from a different place now; Her heart bled for all the life that had gone to waste under the grind-wheels of the empire...
And what of the 'rational, objective' Yellow Diamond? She was just irately shooting down all her objections, never taking a moment to listen, always going on about how useless and ridiculous she found Pink to be – all she seemed to care about was to get them all to shut up so that they could all put on their little performance and then let get back to her work.
No luck finding the 'merciful, gentle' Blue Diamond, either – there was only some prissy, haughty aristocrat who was absolutely unsympathetic and kept whining about how all this was inconveniencing her, and why Pink 'must always do this' as if she'd ever cared to acknowledge the answer.
As for White Diamond of the 'impeccable judgment', she was standing across the hall from Pink like a larger, meaner mirror image of her, shouting, screeching and gesticulating with abandon in all her glittering finery, her petite features plastered with disdain and disgust.
"Why you little...! You will do as I say, because I said so!"
"No I won't."
"Yes you will!"
"No I won't!"
"Yes you will!"
"No I won't!"
"You will either SHUT YOUR MOUTH, or I will shut your mouth for you!"
And privately, Blue and Yellow might even have agreed that White might have been somewhat excessive here, but as of now, Pink was the one who had insisted on provoking her for no reason, making problems for them all where there might have been none - and they would certainly have little luck convincing White to give it rest.
True to form, she was an uncompromising as ever, Pink was intent on acting especially impossible today, and neither of them could help herself from pressing the other's buttons, nay, it was as if they couldn't resist setting each other off, and woe to anyone foolish enough to try making them listen to reason.
It became increasingly apparent that the gala was going to fall through, which prompted further hysterics from Blue, and this was when Yellow's much over-strained patience finally gave way to unbridled frustration directed at the other three, who, of course, shot back about her own lack of composure, some comments about how she had technically been the first of the four to raise her voice, and questions of who, exactly, had appointed her as any sort of arbiter.
In short, the altercation had devolved into an all-out shouting match with no shortage of cutting remarks, most of them courtesy of White, since no one but Pink seemed willing to take any direct shots at her, though there was no shortage of frustration being exuded in her general direction.
Before long, Blue had buried her face in her hand and Yellow was ranting about the pointlessness of functions like these and how she'd rather be doing just about anything else.
Ultimately, something had to give, and it sure wasn't going to be White Diamond.
She was about to send them all to their rooms and conduct the entire gala by herself if need be, (it did not occur to her as strange to hold a function on the occasion of Pink Diamond's return to Earth without Pink Diamond) and raving about what pitiful displays they all made for when Pink preempted her:
"This is exactly why I've always hated everything about this place! I don't know why I ever came back here when I could have stayed on Earth!"
And with that, she turned and ran, making it out the door before any of the elder three had the time to react.
"Wait! Pink!" Blue called after her, forgetting whatever she had just been going on about when she noted Pink's flushed, puffy, tear-streaked face.
White called after her as well, though in her case, she mostly seemed miffed that she had been so openly defied: "Come back here right this instant, you little punk!"
But the younger gem did not answer either of their calls, if she was not already out of earshot.
Balling her hands into fists insofar as her fingernails allowed it, White seemed ready to go after her and, no doubt, make matters even worse, which was exactly why Yellow chose to intercede:
"Leave her to us. There's no need for you to do anything at all... Blue and I will discipline her."
"Why? So you can go soft on her again? She's been getting to be quite a spoiled little brat from the way the two of you have been pampering her! No wonder she can't even deal with that wretched little mob of defects and deviants!"
"Yeah, because you never, ever indulged her or anything!" Yellow spat back. "Because you have been such a big help with putting down those rebels!"
"What. Did. You. Just. Say."
"Nothing at all, White!" Blue interceded before Yellow's temper could get the better of her once again. "What Yellow means is that we'll do it properly this time. We'll talk to her. We'll make sure she understands. You must forgive us, please, Yellow, Pink and I have been very stressed from dealing with those rebels as of late... I was hoping that coming back here would help us all get a little break, but it appears that I was mistaken. I must ask your forgiveness for that.
Once we have dispensed with the uprising, we will definitely make it up to you!
So please, don't you worry yourself about Pink or her planet..."
Saved by homeworld's diplomat-in-chief, Yellow would still not escape her misgivings for longer than it took them to get to the hallway after White had waved for them to get out of her sight with a disdainful little hand motion.
She had not exactly been placated, but at least Blue had gotten her to a point where the challenge to her pride was outweighed by her desire not to have to deal with them any longer.
"Can't you ever restrain yourself!" she harangued, making a disgusted face suggestive of a very urgent need to scream into a pillow "You were just absolutely inconsiderate with both of them, like a Quartz in a warehouse full of porcelain!"
Uncharacteristically, Yellow had actually gone quiet, though that might have more to do with the full, delayed realization of what she had actually just shouted into White's face in the heat of the moment, giving her yet more reasons to doubt and disfavor her... She would never have done that if she had been thinking clearly.
But the past was the past, and for now, the best they could do to ensure her forgiveness was to go and handle Pink just as they said they would.
They encountered her Pearl in the hallway, who confirmed their suspicions that Pink had gone to her room, waltzing past her without a second thought once they had received their answer.
Perhaps that's why they never took note that her usually neat bob of peach hair was somewhat tousled, just about as if a person twice her height had lifted her off the floor, pulled her into a desperate hug and messed up the peaks of her hairdo with her much larger hand in the process.
"Blue, you talk to her, " Yellow decided as they were nearing Pink's primary room. "You're better at this. She actually listens to you sometimes..."
And once upon a time, that might have been the case, but Yellow and White had relied on that quite a few times to many, as had Blue herself.
Pink had no more patience for a bond that would just be used as a chain by which to yank her.
When Blue peeked inside the high, magenta room, she found Pink on a couch with floral carvings, the latest novel creation of her personal flock of pebbles, stylized to resemble some of the native vegetation on Earth, as later folk tale collectors might have imagined the overgrown, coffin-like beddings on which one might have found Snow White or Sleeping Beauty waiting for True Love's kiss to awaken them from their eternal slumber, though at the moment, the feelings that she felt were more akin to Cinderella's.
She was lying on her stomach, her head buried in her arms, her face hidden under her large tuft of pale bubblegum hair.
When she heard the door open, she barely moved – if were up to her, she would only have buried her face even tighter in her pillows, but as it were, she had very few choices in her miserable little life, so she turned her head ever so slightly, glaring at Blue with burning fuchsia eyes, cerise lips pulled into a sullen expression.
"Have you come to yell at me some more?"
Already, Blue was sighing. "White was very angry with us all... Maybe if you come with us right now, we can manage to get back before White starts the gala without us, or calls it off altogether..."
"So what?"
"Please, Pink, be serious. This isn't just about you. It isn't even just about us... Everyone's waiting for us. They came a long way to see you, and now you don't even want to show up? It's your party."
"How? How is it my party? You prepared everything. It's your party. You wouldn't even let me decide anything, 'cause you're way too embarrassed of me to ever let me do anything! You don't need me for your cloddy gala... you said it yourself! You just need someone to smile and wave. I'm not needed at all... No, I'm worse than that, because I'm getting in the way of your perfect little performance... You're never going to let me decide things on my own, and don't you think I don't know why: You think I'm just a big mistake..." the princess spat. "I'm just a burden to you! Just some annoying little fool you have to put up with because White tells you so."
"No, never!" Blue exclaimed emphatically "We just want for your first colony to work out perfectly, just like with your parties. That's why we're putting so much work into helping you. That's why we try to show you how to do things the right way We just want you to do well... Even White. She may be strict, but just wants everyone to see how great her creation is."
"Well, THAT is NOT her creation!" Pink railed, sitting up from the couch to gesture vaguely toward the direction of the ballroom, exposing snotty, tear-streaked face and shimmering, to which she next directed her hand.
"THIS is her creation." she spread out her arms between the archway and the window. "And nothing we do – nothing I do is ever good enough for her. Nothing I do is ever good enough for you, and I know it never will be! So why? Why should I force myself to do all this terrible stuff if all the three of you are ever gonna do is tell me how I'm doing everything wrong?!"
"You think we like cleaning up your messes?" Yellow's voice came from the hallway. She leaned forward to look Pink in the eyes, though she didn't quite make it into the door arch since it was too narrow to hold both Blue and herself at the same time.
"Yellow!" Blue exclaimed, looking at her companion, concerned that her stern, undiplomatic tone was going to make short work of her efforts.
But Yellow insisted: "It's the truth! We have to tell it to her like it is. Trust me, Pink, we'd like nothing more than to have all this taken off our hands and let you handle your planets, your events and your soldiers all by yourself. If there ever comes a day where we never have a single complaint about anything you do, we'd all be overjoyed! We each have our own work to do, it's not like we enjoy meddling with yours. But you leave us no other choice, and you know why? Because you actively refuse to do your part! We can't keep covering for you forever, Pink...
Eventually, you're going to have to learn to act like a proper Diamond."
"Well, I never asked to be a Diamond!"
She had outright screamed there, only to break down in sobs right after wards despite her, halfway doubled over in her couch, hugging herself with her thin, gloved fingers.
She'd let them get to her again.
Even though she'd already denounced them, even though she knew that they were evil and terrible and wrong about everything, they somehow got under her skin, as they always did, every time, making her feel this pain when she knew they weren't worth it.
Since Pink was crying into her elbows, she did not see the stricken glance that Blue and Yellow exchanged between themselves.
"I know it's not easy. Believe me, I know it's not...", said Blue, "Sometimes, even Yellow and I struggled with our duties. I had my own doubts when I was your age... but we learned to do it, and so can you."
"We did what we had to had to," added Yellow. "...for the sake of the empire. Because we understood that there was no other path. And the sooner you realize that as well, the easier it will be for you."
"You know," Blue began, and she was half-smiling because, for a moment, she thought they were getting through to her. "I think every gem has struggled with living up to their purpose at some point. It's just a part of being a gem. We all want to have our place after all... but rest assured that yours is right here with us. You just have to accept it, and make the best of what you've been given, just like everyone else before you has done for hundred thousands of years...
I bet that even White has days where it takes her some effort to do her work. You know how she dislikes being around big crowds for too long..."
"Well, maybe if she was going to hate being around us so much, she shouldn't have made us just so that we could all be miserable just because she says so!
Then she could have the whole planet to herself, and no one would have to suffer!
I can't believe you honestly want me to go out there and, like, pretend to all the gems that we're all perfect and special and that that's why you get to do with them whatever we want... Just LOOK at us!
You all think you're SO MUCH better than everyone else, and that everyone should be just like us, but we're terrible. We're the single most terrible bunch people I have ever heard of. Everything in this place is terrible. This whole planet is the most terrible place I know. You wanna know why there's gems rebelling? That's why!
Because everything is terrible though you act like it's not.
If the gems out there knew what we're really like, they' up and shatter all four of us. They'd grind us into fine dust and everyone would be happy about it! No one would be sad at all!"
"That's enough Pink. You don't know what you're saying."
"No Blue. You don't know what you're saying! You think that one day I'll just shut up, apologize and that I'll be just like you.
But I never want to be like you!
I hate you! I hate all of you! I hate you more than anything! I don't ever want to be like you! I'd rather be shattered than become just like you! I'd rather be shattered!"
"Pink! Don't you ever say such a thing! Not even in jest!" Blue's voice was quivering, - she'd probably start to cry any moment now, Pink could already feel her psychic aura flaring up... she knew the drill. But it's not like she could have made her cry any more than she already had.
"Stop it, Pink. You're making Blue very upset."
"Oh, Blue's upset? Blue's upset? Well, Yellow, maybe one day you're gonna have to explain to her that she's not the only person in the universe who has feelings!
But hey, at least she has feelings, which is more than I can say for you and White!"
"You. Are. Out. Of. Line."
"Oh really? What am I in trouble for? Saying the truth for once?"
"Piiink! You're being impossible right now!"
"You know, I really thought... that at least you two cared about me, or about anything at all...
But you don't. You don't care a bit. You're no different from White!"
"Shut. Your. Mouth."
"...sometimes, you even sound like her. Sometimes, I listen to myself, and even I sound like her...
And that's just what she'd want. She wants us all to be heartless and terrible just like her... but you know what?
I'd rather be shattered!
I hate White! I hate everything she is, I hate this planet, and I hate all of you! I hate you all so, so much! I hate you more than anything else in this universe!"
Those were the last words she would ever speak to them.
The last image of her that would become lodged in their memory was of her, sobbing into her arms in the enclosure of her room, which they forbade her from leaving for quite some time.
This used to upset her, back when she knew of nothing else, but after she had seen actual war, it was nothing but a short wait.
Eventually, the door opened up again, and when it did, Pearl was waiting on the other side.
"Come on, let's go back to Earth... There's nothing left for us here."
….
But there was one last thing she wanted to, while Pearl was readying the ship.
She spotted a passing Jade in the hallways and asked where the other Diamonds were to be found, but while she followed the direction, it was not them she was looking to find.
She was informed that they were in a meeting, all three of them, possibly discussing something to do with the war, or how they might proceed with their efforts of hammering her into shape, not that she cared.
The ones she sought were waiting right outside the briefing room, left next to the portal like someone's bag or a jacket.
Two of them noted her displeased mood and made a move to stay out of her way, even as they did salute to her – and it stung just a little bit, to be considered something to be feared.
Despite the horrible day she had had – or really, horrible last couple of weeks – the greeted Blue and Yellow Pearl politely, even returning Blue Pearl's little curtsy for all that only served confused Yellow Pearl.
But then, she turned her attention to the other side of the large doorway, where there was something the others had wisely avoided.
Usually, Pink did the same, but today, she would make her way across, until she was faces with the emptied, bleached-out husk of her first and oldest friend.
"I'm afraid this is goodbye... I will miss you always, and no matter where I go, or what becomes of me, my thoughts will always be with you."
"That's very touching, Starlight!" answered White Diamond's voice. "But but don't you have anything else to say for yourself? Like an apology perhaps?"
But Pink had already continued her way down the corridor, never to return, and never to look back.
"I wasn't talking to you."
….
They were sitting in the foliage, gathering morning dew like the flower-laden branches around them.
Her long, taffy-colored corkscrew locks were spilled out above Pearl's thin little arms and the air around them was laden with sweetness. Pearl, too, was in her 'renegade' getup, a simpler, less 'fancy' dress in duller colors.
– and yet, they were uneasy.
"I'm sorry that the ball ended up as such a fiasco... You must have been looking forward to organizing one last one..."
"Why would I want to be at one of these terrible balls when I can be here with you? My Pearl..."
The impact of those words were felt all over Pearl's lithe frame, like her little body could barely contain all of her emotions. Holding her near like this – life-giver, death-bringer – Pearl felt like a goddess herself, as if the entire universe were contained in her arms, as if she were everything and anything.
But the heart and mind of her beloved were far from here.
Sometimes, Pink wondered if it had been just like Earth... Whichever planet White had burnt up to bring her into this world. Had it been an empty desert, or was there life, just like the plenitude that surrounded them in these branches? Sentient life, even, of which nothing remained anymore apart from the raw energy that had sustained her to this day?
No one even bothered to remark upon it in the records.
If there was any life, it died forgotten and unmourned.
If there was any life, it was now with her, hers to do with as she chose – and perhaps, she would always be a monster. An ascended demon, some bizarre, unlikely reverse of a fallen angel, aligned with the light perhaps, but, without doubt, a dark creature whose tainted hands worked black deeds.
"Sometimes I wonder if I'll have to pay the price for deceiving the hearts of others..." she mumbled into Pearl's hair as her dark eyes gazed right past her.
"Then I suppose I would have to pay it, too..."
But Pink only shook her head. "No you wouldn't... because the way you are when you go out there? When you're with Garnet, Biggs and the others? When you were with Bismuth? The you that's smart and resourceful and brilliant? That's not a lie at all. Not for you. That's who you really are. That's more truthful to you than any role you had to play on homeworld.
You couldn't hide your true feelings if you tried... you always had very pure heart."
'I wish I could be like you', she almost added, but she kept that to herself. After all, the wise and benevolent 'Rose Quartz' whom Pearl loved would never voice such a doubt.
The little gem almost whimpered in her grasp, both because she was so overtaken with the shower of praise she had just received, but also, because she could not fully bring herself to believe it... and yet here she was, being decorated with such honors by her lady.
"I hope that you always stay that way..." she added, running one finger of her large, soft hand over Pearl's forehead.
"Pearl?"
"Y-Yes...?"
"When we do what we talked about earlier, make sure no one sees your gem. If anyone finds out that you did this, you'd be a target. They would all come after you and spare no expense to destroy you... and we can't have that. If you're nowhere to be found after the commotion, they'll probably assume that you were shattered as well, and no one will come looking for you. "
"But they'll come after you!"
"Yes. And I am willing to live with that. But you can't hesitate. You really have to make it look like you nailed me right in the gem, alright? Don't hold back."
"Are you sure that's safe though?"
Pink Diamond might have made some humorous quip about being composed of on of the hardest materials in the universe, and perhaps it would have seemed rather out of place or morbid or even insensitive in these circumstances... which is why 'Rose Quartz' did not say it.
"We'll just have to rely on Bismuth's workmanship..." she mused instead, her eyes dull, her voice laced with a heavy melancholy. "It has never deserted us before."
Pearl sighed, unable to conceal the tears which that name had roused at the corners of her eyes: "In a sense, it will be as if she's saving us one last time..."
And she held her arms open and held Pearl as she bemoaned her fallen friend who was, in fact, stashed away in a bubble inside Pink's very own gem at this moment, about as close to Pearl as she could possibly be and very much alive...
What a terrible friend she had turned out to be, for one who had wanted to have them so badly. But as sorry an excuse for one as she might have been, despite everything of their violent fallout, though they had ended up turning against each other with lethal force, Pink still counted herself as Bismuth's friend... so the last she could do for her was to enact her plan - And she would do it in such a way that no one would actually have to die.
Even if she could never become good, even if she could never partake in goodness like a prophet who was only allowed to see the promised land from the distance though they would never dwell in it – the least she could do (for Earth, for Pearl, for Bismuth, for all that was destroyed leading up to her creation) was to put her dark powers in their service...
And yet, Pearl kept looking at her with those adoring eyes.
'It's enough if one of us has to dirty their hands, or live with the burden of knowing what really happened', thought Pink Diamond, but of course, she was not really 'here' to speak those words.
….
As fate would have it, Blue and Yellow Diamond were together when the news reached them, plotting further warfare in one of their control rooms, when they heard of an urgent transmission from Earth, and at first, they had to fight the urge to groan and roll their eyes, expecting yet another mishap or excuse, just another bead on the long string of misadventures that had befallen Pink's first colony -
For that's how they had inevitably thought of it, her first one, the first of many, naught but a stepping stone for the glorious future to come.
Instead, they were faced with the lowered head a solemn Morganite who had been chosen as the bearer of bad new by the other elites in the room, most of them officers or various aristocrats, including some of Yellow's own Hessonites which she had assigned to the war effort.
Immediately, Yellow's keen instincts told her that something was very, very wrong.
It was written all over that Morganite's face, over all their faces.
"Your Luminosity, we-!"
Before Yellow could even ask questions, the aristocratic gem broke down in tears, and many others followed suit, especially among the various pink, red or purple gems.
"We have all failed in on our purpose!"
Yellow felt the realization setting in, pressing down on her body like an unbearable weight, paralyzing all semblance of action.
A restless energy took possession of her as she began to pace around the room, fighting to turn tears into rage.
"What do you mean? What are you saying? How did this even happen? What was she even doing out there? What was her entourage doing? How could a single Quartz possibly get the better of them? What was she doing on the surface at all? And how could you possibly have let her leave her base without some Topaz guards?"
But amid the fervent storm of her racing thoughts, there was but one awareness serving as its ever-constant, silent eye, a broken record that would keep repeating itself in her mind for the next six thousand years: 'I am to blame.'
She had been the one to give in to Pink's demands, and talked the others into going along with it.
She had taught her to fight – and failed at it miserably, if a single Rose Quartz had been enough to overcome her.
She had been the one to suggest that accursed planet for her in the first place -
And now, it had come to be her tomb.
"Tell me, " she raged on, with burning eyes and her voice almost breaking, "Why I shouldn't just have you all shattered for your total incompetence!"
But luckily for Pink's orphaned subordinates, something else caught her attention in this moment, something more urgent -
Blue had risen up from her throne when the transmission began, and perhaps took a couple of steps closer to the screen before she had frozen in her place, staring straight at the screen with a dull, lifeless expression, her mouth slightly ajar and her hands hanging uselessly at her sides, the gem equivalent of a computer whose operating system had crashed.
While Yellow had been busy fuming, Blue had been all but shutting down with every passing second that she could no longer deny the reality of their situation, as if the bright chartreuse gem had not moved to steady her as swiftly as she did, she might have lost her footing right in front of both their entourages and crashed face first into the ground for everyone to see.
Yellow gripped her arms tightly, perhaps excessively so, as if she were convinced that Blue, too, might just crumble into nothingness on her if she were to risk letting go of her.
Somehow, she still had the presence of mind to consider their subordinates once she had arrange Blue in such a way that the weight of her form was resting against her order: "All of you! OUT! That's an order!"
None of the gems in the room were so foolish as to question her – the fury in her voice spoke for itself – not that she really waited until they had all fled out of the exits or turned off their communicators back on Earth.
All the attention she was capable of sustaining at a moment like this would have been focused on helping Blue back to her throne though she seemed much overwhelmed with the simple task of putting one foot in front of the other.
Usually, it would be a very easy matter to tell what she was thinking or feeling, especially from such a close distance, but all that Yellow could feel from her at this moment was a complete gaping emptiness, as if she, too had died though her light was still shining.
Over the course of the handful diamond-size steps that it would take to get her back to her seat, Yellow had to catch her thrice more, twice because she herself was so overwhelmed that her grasp slipped, and one last time because Blue's arms and shoulders had almost fizzled out of existence there for a bit.
Yellow never knew how she had managed to get her steadied in her seat at last, only that she wedged herself in beside her and kept her hands on her shoulders.
She tried to look her right in the eyes, herself increasingly frantic for some kind of decided response, but Blue did not meet her gaze, not that she avoided it, either – instead, she was transfixed on the screen that had long since gone dark.
"Just...just sit down alright? Just... focus on holding your form for now, can you do that?"
But Yellow was imploring her as much as she might have been trying to take care of her, if not more so – she could no longer hold back her own desperation, or the overwhelming sense that she was in the process of losing just about everything she had ever cared about it.
"Stay with me, please... for me... Just... say something..."
Blue's lips eventually parted, but what burst forth bore no resemblance to words.
Instead, she expelled a blood-curdling shriek, as if a torn-off piece of her black soul had been released into the sky.
Her banshee-like wails alone were heard all throughout the capital, but her aura could be felt for miles and miles.
(
Blue was never the same, after that.
She walked slower, talked softer, and never again would her face be without a certain hectic glow. Her light appeared just the slightest bit dimmer, and its colors, imperceptibly colder, and she could never quite summon up that commanding voice like she once did, at least not for long.
And she had always been... sensitive, moody even, certainly the type to dwell on her feelings, but now she had become absolutely fixated on the worst possible one – and Yellow would know, because she felt it too, and she could not help but think that it was her who did this – to Pink, to Blue, to all of them – and there was nothing, nothing she could do about that anymore.
)
It was one of her quartzes who delivered the remains, enclosed in a dark red bubble with orange streaks – splinters of faintly translucent, dark magenta stone devoid of all inner light, crystalline circuits fractured beyond repair.
Her soldiers had tried to gather up as many pieces as they could find, but some of the mass was clearly missing, perhaps trampled into the dirt, scattered tidbits that once held her thoughts, feelings and memories lost in the mud, too small to be picked up, and too sharp to put back together.
Of course Blue burst into tears when she saw them, but it's not like she had ever really stopped in the day since she heard the news.
And if her aura could still immobilize a seasoned warrior six-thousand years later, then what must it have been when the wound was fresh?
Some of her outbursts had poofed a couple of Agates. No one would stand to go near her, that is, no one but Yellow Diamond, who did not concern herself with the ceaseless tears that streaked her face since they might as well be her own.
Blue was a senseless, boneless puddle in the grip of her arms, but though she might have appeared more composed at first glance, the air in her vicinity crackled with the dry, electric reverb of her fury, and more than a few gems had found themselves smitten by a sudden lightning bolt of divine retribution for opting to talk to her at the wrong moment.
They were a pitiful mess, and a hazard to be around, and that's how White found them when she joined them in the high ancestral hall.
"Why have I been called here? What is this nonsense?"
Blue's wails only grew louder.
Yellow, too, said nothing - The bubble floating above their heads should speak for itself.
White stepped closer, along the path of the alabaster carpet that had been laid out for her, and continued with her remarks, almost as if she'd read Yellow's thoughts:
"Oh don't be silly! This whole thing is preposterous. As if a Diamond could be destroyed by some lowly defective quartz. This simply cannot be."
But it was. It was and none of them could reason it away.
"That's not her," she snapped, directing a side-eye at the bubble as she walked past it. "I made her. Don't you think I can tell?" She sounded almost a bit offended at the opposite suggestion, and that was the closest she would come to an actual reaction. "None of you are making any sense... Of course she's not shattered. How could she be shattered?"
Yellow knew better than to argue with her, nor could she be bothered to divine what she might be talking about.
"How shall we proceed... regarding the rebels?"
White blinked at her, as if the question surprised her. "Well, clearly we can't leave them running around, now can we?"
"No. We cannot."
Next to Yellow, Blue was digging her fingers into the fabric of her jacket, like she had only just found a reason to bother lifting up her haggard face. "I'll slaughter them.", she rasped, her voice hoarse from her never-ending lamentations "Every damn last of them."
...
She was good.
They never knew how, or why, or how a being like her had ever come to exist in a world like their own.
But like a flower poking through the concrete, she was there.
And maybe they wouldn't know goodness if it hit them in the face; Maybe they couldn't leave it in peace, and they certainly didn't understand it, but they had, without a doubt, felt it, as one feels the warmth of the sun, as self-explanatory as the barest feeling of pleasure.
They knew that when she had been with them, there had been days where they were happy, and that all joy disappeared from their lives when she left.
Of course, there were also countless days that weren't pleasant, but those were not what stuck in their memory.
In hindsight all her shortcomings and all the faults they had so often chided her for became weaknesses that the rebels had exploited, and the softness they had tried to drive out of her only added to the sheer vileness of her murder.
It was decided that this bloody planet ate her alive, that it broke her will long before shattering her form, now that the once laughable string pesky string of troublesome failures had become the prelude to her fall.
They lost not just the present, of which she would never again be a part, but also the past, which they could no longer regard without thinking the bitter end, and all possible futures where they had seen themselves together, perhaps tens of thousands years in the future where Pink would have become a splendid, gracious leader.
She had been cut down before her prime like a flower bud crawling with insects, so they could not know what sort of leader she might have become if only she had been given more time, but all of her subjects wept for her as more than just their monarch.
They had often chided her for being too lax with them, even admonishing her that this overly familiar attitude might just encourage rebellion, but now that she had fallen, all of her court had wept for her; And all of them were out for the shards of her murderer: Rose Quartz.
In a sense, she had been Pink's perfect enemy, her total antithesis that had been everything she was not: Graceful, mature, prodigious, decisive and deadly, a silver-tongued seductress that ensured the slavish devotion of her followers her followers with her irresistible wiles, a cowardly demoness who had come for their weakest link.
And they knew that, if this had been the outcome, they must have done something wrong – but it was not like they understood what, and so they redoubled their futile efforts with even more force. Not once did they perhaps consider that she might have been taken from them in retaliation for their own sins;
Rather, they saw that Pink had been soft, and that her enemies had exploited that, that she had been lax, and that the result had been chaos.
Little did they know that they had been so busy to dismiss all of their differences as results of her immaturity, that they had never noticed that she had grown up, somewhere behind their backs, not sheltered in the hallowed halls of their palaces, but out of sheer necessity, with her bare feet in the mud of a battlefield.
A/N: That's it for part III.