I didn't bother running or trying to escape. My entire goal was to stay near to Steven so that was exactly what I did. I sat with Steven alone in a room. "I know my mom did something bad. Whatever Homeworld has in store for me… I'm ready!" Silence. "I said, I'm ready! It's me, Rose Quartz! Hello? Anybody? Lars? You there? Is this the punishment? Come on! I know it's going to be worse than this! So whatever you're going to do... Would you just do it already?"
He slumped against a wall in the room in misery. "Are you done talking to yourself now?" I asked him.
"Yeah. I am." Steven sighed and looked over at me. "Why are you being so calm about this? Shouldn't you be freaking out? We're going to go see the Diamonds."
"I'd rather watch what happens." I told him. "They'll be so upset when they see me."
"What do you mean-" Steven asked but the door opened and a blue gem walked inside. She was human sized, with a slim figure, indigo blue skin, eyelids of a darker blue, a long slim nose, and periwinkle blue, crescent pointed hair that looked like a surgical hood. Her uniform consisted of a pair of baby-blue pants, flats of the same blue color, a boxy, long sleeved, baby blue jacket with padded shoulders and darker blue trims along the bottom, and a pale blue cravat. She wore a monocle over her right eye, which displayed multiple info screens. Her gemstone was located on her chest, where the knot of her tie would be. She had several panels floating around her and was very nervous.
"This is ridiculous! 4,000 years of loyal service to the court, and this is what I get? Oh, I'm the unluckiest Zircon in the galaxy! This is ridiculous! 4,000 years of loyal service to the court, and this is what I get? Oh, I'm the unluckiest Zircon in the galaxy!" Zircon said and Steven tried to run out of the door that Zircon entered from but it closed before he could reach it. He turned toward Zircon who gasped in surprise as she noticed him.
"Wait, are you… Rose Quartz?" Zircon asked.
"Yeah…" Steven said.
"... Really?" She asked and looked over at me. "Then who are you? What are you? I thought all the human was in another section."
"I'm not human." I told her. "I just want to see how the trial goes."
"Trial?" Steven asked.
"You must be from Homeworld then, maybe an old Crystal Gem." Zircon said and looked over at Steven. "Ugh! We only have this brief moment to prepare your case."
"Case? What are you guys talking about?" Steven asked.
"Ugh! Who am I kidding? This is pointless! We've all heard the rumors about the demise of Pink Diamond, but I can't believe these files-" She scrolled through the floating panels. "Shattered by one of her own soldiers- Ugh! In front of her entire entourage!?" She turned to Steven. "And look at you now! That ridiculous disguise is only going to make you look more guilty!" She curled up in fear.
"That's fine, because I am!" Steven yelled.
"Whoa! Wha- Don't say that! Especially when you're out there!" Zircon yelled.
"Out where?! What's going to happen!?" Steven asked.
"What did you think was going to happen, Rose Quartz!? As soon as that door opens, you're going on trial!" She yelled and at that moment the door opened and Zircon froze in shock. Steven glanced at the door.
"Umm…" Stevens aid.
"Listen. Strange Gem. Do you mind leaving? It's only reserved for the Diamonds, their Pearls and the Defense and Prosecutor Zircon." Defense Zircon asked quickly and at that moment I turned invisible. "Wha- How-" She shook her head. "Nevermind! We don't have enough time!"
Steven and Zircon walked down to the Trial Room. The Trial Building appeared as a white flower like mechanism in the city attached to an anvil and a circular black structure on top. It bore the resemblance to the shape of a Roaming Eye ship. There was an empty pink room for the defendant to stay in until their trial, which connected to a trial room, where court cases took place. Steven sat in the middle of a triangle shaped platform, along with the nervous Blue Zircon. Three pathways light up in blue, white, and yellow and another Zircon warped into the room.
The Zircon shared a similar appearance and attire to the Blue Zircon. The blue tint of the courtroom made her appear green, but I could see that she was actually a yellow Gem. her skin was a dull yellow color, she had olive yellow eyelids with black eyes. Her nose was long and slim with chartreuse hair that had two spikes, similar to Yellow's hair. She wore pale green yellow pants and shoes with an oversized, light colored vest with darker trimmings and a tinted necktie that was diamond shaped. She wore a monocle, except hers was yellow and on her left eye. Her gemstone was square shaped and located on her jugular cavity, where her knot for her tie would be.
"Defending a rebel? Isn't that... treason?" Yellow Zircon chuckled. *chuckles*
"I was assigned to this!" Blue Zircon said nervously. Two lights, blue and yellow, emerged in the room and Blue and Yellow Pearl warped in.
"All rise for the luminous Yellow Diamond!" She posed Yellow's famous pose.
"And the lustrous Blue Diamond." Blue Pearl bowed. Another light beams in behind the Pearls and Yellow and Blue warped in. Blue rested on Yellow's shoulders and gazed down at Steven. Both of the Zircons made the Gem salute. I held my breath, filling a mixture of awe, anger and pain hit me but I shook my head. I had to focus on the trial.
"Where is... the accused?" Blue asked as she looked around.
"Is that Rose Quartz? Look at this hideous form she's taken. Forget the trial. We should shatter her just for looking like that!" Yellow said annoyed as she looked down at Steven.
"No. I want to hear her make her case. I want to know what she thinks we're going to do with her. Because I want to do something worse." Blue said and Steven gulped nervously.
"Fine." Yellow said and a yellow and blue throne appeared behind them and they sat on their respective thrones.
"Let's just get on with it, shall we?" Yellow said and the Pearls began to record the case on their respective screens.
"My Diamond. My brilliant, opulent, radiant, glimmering-" Yellow Zircon said.
""My Diamond" will suffice, or we'll never get through this." Yellow said annoyed.
"Of course, My Diamond." She said nervously and cleared her throat. "Rose Quartz committed a crime, so unprecedented that one can't help but wonder "why"? Exhibit A." Yellow Zircon snapped her fingers and Lars wrapped into the room.
"Lars!" Steven gasped.
"Steven, what's going on here?! Where are we?" Lars said quickly and Yellow Zircon snapped and an air bubble went over his head and muffled his voice. But I could hear him ask: "Who are those huge giant ladies!?" Which was enough to make me smile, although no one could see it.
"As we can see from this specimen, humans are loud, absolutely hideous creatures that serve no purpose whatsoever. What sort of Gem would turn on her own kind for this? I'll tell you what kind." Yellow Zircon said. "A that kind."
"Just let him go! He's got nothing to do with this!" Steven pleaded to the Diamonds.
"There it is! The passion, the fury, that caused the diabolical Rose Quartz to... shatter her own Diamond!" Yellow Zircon said and there was silence. "But I know what you're thinking." She knelt down next to Steven. ""This thing doesn't look like a Rose Quartz". And for that, I'd like to call an eyewitness!"
The platform rose in the room and Eyeball stood on top, she growled angrily at Steven and looked around, probably for me. "Oh, Eyeball!" Steven said happily.
"Do not address me, war criminal!" Eyeball snarled.
"I'm just glad you're okay." Steven said mutely.
"I heard it straight from her. She said-" With a mocking tone of voice. " "I'm the mighty Rose Quartz! I've got her shield and everything!" And then she threw me... into space! She was in the form of some disgusting fusion with some random black gem!" Both of the Diamonds froze.
"We tried to help you! I healed your gem!" Steven said quickly.
"And who else has the ability to heal Gems, other than the villainous Rose Quartz?!" Eyeball said with a narrowed eye.
"And there you have it. Rose Quartz did it and that's Rose Quartz. I rest my case." Yellow Zircon said.
"Oh, she's good." Blue Zircon said to herself. Yellow Pearl closed her records and Blue Pearl drew a big cross over an illustration of Steven's face. Eyes went to the Diamonds and they blinked.
"Well, I'm convinced. Time to execute!" Yellow said quickly.
"Not yet. The defense still has to speak." Blue said.
"Right!" Blue Zircon said nervously. "Well uh, before I start my very... uh, thought-out defense, I'd like to remind the court that Rose Quartz did turn herself in."
"The court remembers, and the court does not care." Yellow said sarcastically. .
"Uh, of course!" She picked up the panel. "Uh, in-innocent! Uh, the word innocent can mean, oh- many different things." Blue Zircon said.
"I did it!" Steven said and stood up.
"Wha-what, what! Stop!" Blue Zircon said.
"No! I want to hear what she has to say." Blue said and raised her hand, the floor beneath Steven rose up toward her height.
"Get us out of here, Steven!" Lars yelled with a muffled voice.
Steven shielded his eyes from the light. "Uh…" .
"State your name for the record, please!" Yellow Pearl said.
"I, um… I'm Rose Quartz." He showed his gem. "And… I'm guilty." Yellow looked at him in complete shock while Blue just glared at him.
"Wait! No, don't say that!" Blue Zircon said fearfully.
"Everything you guys said I did, I did. And I did it by myself. And I'm sorry. I'll accept any punishment you want to give me." He pointed to Lars. "Just let him go! And leave the Earth alone."
"Ha! Sounds like a solid confession to me!" Yellow said happily.
"...How?" Blue inched toward Steven. "How did you do it?"
"Huh?" Steven said confused and I hit my head. I completely forgot to tell him how it happened. Though I had only heard the rumor that spread across the galaxies.
"How did you shatter Pink Diamond?" Blue asked menacingly.
"Um... Well... I did it on Earth, in front of Pink Diamond's palanquin. I was probably like, "Stop!" and she was all like, "No!", so we fought, I think." Steven said and Blue Zircon banged her head against the elevated platform while Yellow Zircon kept smiling smugly. "And she probably did some cool moves. I probably did some cool moves too, some jump kicks and stuff." Yellow Pearl looked at Steven in confusion, while Blue Pearl drew an illustration of Steven jump kicking. "But I was most likely deeply conflicted about deciding to shatter her. Definitely crying. I probably had to use the Breaking Point to do it."
"IT WAS A SWORD!" Blue screamed and covered her eyes as she began to cry. The room was enveloped in a blue aura which caused all of them to cry, accept Lars. "You... shattered her... with a sword.." She slumped back on her throne and sobbed, and Yellow walked up to comfort her.
"That's quite enough testimony from you! We shall take a short recess." Yellow said and Steven and Blue Zircon walked away back to the Waiting Room. I followed after them.
"You really don't know how it happened?" I asked him.
"No…" Steven said. "They never told me anything! You know that! I just guessed!"
" Don't tumble my rocks! Both our gems are on the line! Did you do this or not?!" Blue Zircon yelled.
"It was me, alright!" Steven yelled. "Rose Quartz did it, and I've got her gem, so… I'm the one who's got to pay for this!"
"You don't know how it happened…" Blue Zircon said and Steven hook his head.
"I get it." Blue Zircon said after a moment of deep thinking. She summoned a screen panel. "There's a reason they want you to explain how you did it."
"Huh?" Steven said confused.
"Because it doesn't make sense." I said.
"Exactly!" Blue Zircon said and I looked over at Steven. Feeling a headache…
'It doesn't make any sense!' I yelled angrily, in the same black room. Tears fell down my face.
'But Pink Diamond isn't here anymore. They found her gem shattered…' White Pearl said.
'Even if I told you my theory, the theory I've had ever since this 'Rose Quartz' rebelled against the other Diamonds.. You wouldn't believe me…' I told her. 'Even Pink's Pearl wasn't there! That doesn't make any sense, she followed Pink around like a Spinel!'
'Well… No one knows what Pink's Pearl looks like anyway…' White Pearl said. 'She was always with Pink…'
I blinked and noticed that Steven and Zircon had left. I quickly turned invisible and went to the Court Room. "Rose Quartz is flawed, I grant you. A shallow strata-Gem who turned against her own kind out of a misguided attachment to a planet and creatures like these." Blue Zircon said as she wrapped Lars in.
"What?! Huh?!" Lars yelled, still muffled with the bubble.
"It's indisputable, that as the Diamond overseeing Earth, Pink was Rose Quartz's enemy. Rose had everything to gain by shattering her. But even though she may have wanted to shatter Pink Diamond, could she? Blue Diamond, for the purpose of this argument, may I present your palanquin?" Blue Zircon said.
"Is this necessary?" Yellow asked annoyed.
"Isn't it? Please, proceed." She waved her hand and her palanquin appeared.
"Now, as the records show, Pink Diamond was shattered just outside a palanquin much like this." She stepped into the palanquin. "Witnesses say Pink had just stepped out and had only taken a few steps forward when Rose attacked her from the front!" Blue gasped and turned around in sorrow.
"But the question no one seems to be asking is, "how"?" Blue Zircon said.
"I've been asking that question." Blue said annoyed.
"A-A-A-And right you are to ask, my Diamond! B-Because at that time that Pink was shattered, Rose Quartz had been a recognized threat for several hundred years. There were no Rose Quartz soldiers in her entourage and none in her guard. So how did a Rose Quartz, with no business being anywhere near Pink Diamond, get so close in the first place? Where were Pink Diamond's attendants? Her Agates, Her Sapphires? And where was her Pearl?" Yellow and Blue Pearl paused and looked at each other in shock.
Yellow slammed he fist on her throne. "They were with her, of course! They saw the whole thing!" She yelled.
"But none of them saw Rose Quartz approach? Wouldn't her Sapphires have seen Rose Quartz coming? Wouldn't her Agates have tried to fight her off?" Blue Zircon asked.
"That is strange!" Steven said in surprise, Blue in shock looked at an angered Yellow Diamond.
"She must have slipped past them!" Yellow yelled.
"Even if she did, wouldn't her Pearl have cried out an alarm, "Watch out, My Diamond!" No, whoever did this was already close to Pink Diamond. Someone her guards would allow to get near her, someone she would listen to when asked to stop her palanquin and step outside, and someone with the authority to cover it up afterwards! Someone with supreme authority... Someone... like one of you!" Blue Zircon pointed at both of the Diamonds, and Blue gasped loudly in disbelief. Yellow, very unamused, got up from her throne. "Uh, disregard that last statement! I might have gotten carried away!"
Yellow came forward to crush Blue Zircon with her finger, but I placed myself in front of her, Yellow's fingertip turned grey and I showed myself. I looked up at the Diamonds. Both of them with a priceless, shocked expression on their face. "Youw ere never good at keeping your temper, were you Yellow?" I asked her.
"You… What are you doing here?!" She yelled at me and Blue looked like she was about to cry.
"You disappeared right after Pink… We thought that you were shattered…" Blue said,
"But not worried enough to go out and look for me." I said to her and looked over at Steven and motioned him to move away as I had the attention of the Diamonds.
"After all these years, you finally show yourself." Yellow said angrily. "You're even protecting that Zircon, was it because she finally showed your true nature." It wasn't a question.
"You think I shattered Pink?" I asked her and placed my hands on my chest. "Me? A defective, off colored Gem? Isn't that amusing?"
"You were always jealous." Yellow spat. "Of all of us." I noticed Steven grab Lars.
"I was created at the same time as White, but I'm not even considered as 'Perfect' and 'Pure' as she is." I said angrily at her. "Things were fine between us before the two of you showed up. She wanted to terraform the planets and create more of us, I enjoyed the time we had to ourselves."
"It gives you a motive." Blue said. "Ever since Era One you asked for a Pearl, a Court, an planet but were never given one. But Pink, the youngest of us were able to have one thousands of years before you."
"That's true.' I said. "White always liked having me as her own personal 'Star'. Even once you were created, we very rarely saw each other. I could count of my fingers on the amount of times I've seen you. Of course you'd think of me as an enemy."
Stven and Lars ran into the palaquin. The palanqin began to move and I disappeared. I ran into the palanquin as it burst out of the trial building. It was the first time I had seen Homeworld in over five millennia, the first time I was ever freely let out of Homeworld by my own will…
The planet had layers of dense, artificial infrastructure. The architecture was geometrical, many of the buildings took the forms of crystalline structures or inverted pyramids. The sides of many buildings were dotted with dark, neatly-arranged holes. Translucent tubes connected many of the buildings, entered through these holes. Flashes of colored light could be seen traveling along the tubes, although their purpose was unknown. Deep, dark pits lead down into the planet's abandoned surface.
The actual surface of Homeworld was dead, wasted, and abandoned, presumably from the Kindergartens draining the planet's natural nutrients. Dotted around the planet's surface were abandoned Gem structures. Some of the abandoned structures include ancient obelisks resembled the newer ones placed on the upper levels. The old broken statues left behind appeared to be fusions, implying that when the original surface began to die Homeworld Gems began to expand upwards, leaving old buildings and some aspects of their culture behind.
"Where is this?" Lars asked.
"Homeworld…" Steven and I said. Yellow blasted a diamond shaped hole in the wall of the trail and gazed at the palanquin as it began to fall.
'You think you can get away, Rose? You stood your ground on that little speck called Earth... But you're on our world now." She said and glazed her eyes at me. "We will meet again soon." We braced ourselves for impact, as the palanquin fell into a gaping hole; into the abyss of Homeworld.