Chapter Eight: Dawning


Yellow Diamond stared at the tiny creature currently crawling over her palm. While it was tiny to her, it would have been even larger than a human when standing upright. The creature, composed of several disparate Gem shards haphazardly melded together, looked like an utter abomination of nature; and yet, it didn't seem the least bit aggressive, passively exploring its surroundings like a large, easygoing bug. But then, to Yellow Diamond, anything and everything had been like a bug, easily crushed.

"And these…these things were once Homeworld Gems?" Beside Yellow was Blue Diamond, clearly uncomfortable at the presence of the experiment. She was still taking it better than White Diamond, who refused to be anywhere near the creature. She watched from behind some nearby hills, uneasy.

Filling up the Diamond attendance, Steven was there as well, accompanied by a handful of other cluster mutants. "Homeworld and Crystal Gems," he said solemnly. "According to Peridot, any and all shards were taken from battlefields without any attention to who they were. At least with the Cluster itself, the fragments of the Gems who made it were able to find each other, but them…" He glanced over at the other mutants. With nothing to set them off, they were relatively peaceful. But there was still a sadness that hung over them; one stared down at a puddle, as though disbelieving its own reflection, while another pawed at its malformed gemstone. "...they don't really have anybody. Not even themselves."

Holding back her anger, Yellow placed the cluster Gem back on the ground before she accidentally crushed it. "This is abominable," she spat. "If I had know even half the extent of Heliodor's projects–"

She was cut off by Blue. "Don't try to pretend you weren't involved!" Even as angry as she was, her voice was still soft and reserved. "There's no way you couldn't have known what she was up to! And even if you truly were in the dark, you're the one who ordered the Cluster's creation to begin with!"

At these accusations, Yellow got to her feet, Blue following suit. "As if I'm the only one to blame for any of this! How many organics were taken to that zoo of yours? You claimed it was for Pink's sake, or to protect them from the Cluster, but they were nothing more than trophies of your conquest. And you say I'm the militant one…"

"Everyone's fault but your own, as usual," Blue huffed. "You say that I retreated into myself when Pink died, but what about you? How many of your conquests were actually for the empire, and how many were just you, refusing to work through your issues in any way that didn't involve destruction?"

"At least I was still involved with the empire!" snapped Yellow. "You left the ruling of the Blue Court entirely up to your subordinates! I can count on one hand the times you actually did your duty as a Diamond–all you did was shut everyone out!"

Their argument was soundly halted by Steven, who had leapt up to eye-level with the two Diamonds and hovered there. "Stop it, that's enough!" he shouted. "I thought we were trying to put all of this blame-shifting behind us! Yes, you were tyrants. Despots. Conquerors. Denying that isn't going to help anyone, but wallowing in it isn't going to, either. And pointing fingers at each other definitely isn't! Now can we all please calm down, and talk about this? Civilly?"

Both Diamonds were quiet for a moment, before sitting back down. "Don't look at me," Yellow mumbled. "She's the one who started it."

"And I'm the one who's ending it." Steven floated to the ground, looking up at the pair. "So, we've made a lot of progress, but we still have a long way to go. Your colonies are free, Homeworld can govern itself, and Gems who were corrupted can be healed if we work together. But there's still the manner of these guys. My healing powers can't help them, because they aren't technically injured. Is there anything we can do?"

Blue examined the cluster mutants. "It's a tricky conundrum. The shards have been melded together by extreme heat and pressure; nothing short of the same would be able to separate them. But that runs the risk of further distorting the shards, making recombining them all but impossible. And shattering them is similarly out of the question, I should think."

A spark the size of a thunderbolt crossed Yellow's palm. "If it's heat and pressure we need, I could provide both. Undoing their bonds shouldn't be a problem if I'm careful enough. Of course, being careful isn't something I excel at…

"Well, what about Blue?" asked Steven. "Your powers could make people sad, so can they also make someone happy, or calm, or anything else you feel?"

A tiny smile crossed Blue's face. "There was a time when I wasn't shackled by my emotions," she said. "It's been so long since I've felt anything other than heartbreak, but…with how everything has been lately, I think things might be different."

White had crept slightly closer in the meantime, once the initial shock of seeing the cluster mutants in person had worn off. "Have…have you discovered a way to fix them?" she asked hesitantly. She stepped warily around the mutants, as though they would rush at her and crawl up her legs at the slightest provocation. "I would like to do whatever I can, but…I'm not sure I can bear being around these things for long…"

"Would you relax?" said Yellow. "If a five-Gem fusion, one of them a Diamond, didn't faze you, you don't have anything to fear from these."

"They are quite harmless, despite their disquieting appearance," Blue assured White, taking her hand as she sat beside them. "Perhaps if you could see things through their eyes, you might be able to understand them better."

As the cluster Gems milled about, White regarded them intently. The very sight of them reaffirmed to her that she had made the right decision to step down from leadership–what kind of Diamond was she to allow her loyal subjects to be converted into such abominations? "Perhaps. I have only seen things as myself for so long. Putting myself in another is all I know how to do; it will take some practice to do the opposite."

Now that all three Diamonds were once again sitting side by side, Steven couldn't help but smile. "See? We're getting somewhere already!"

Though the therapy/planning session was going well, it seemed things back at Little Homeworld weren't. "Steven!" Amethyst suddenly appeared, rushing over. "Steven, we could really use your help! Garnet just brought in another corrupted Gem, but when we tried to heal it, it ran off, and now it's mayhem all over the place!"

"What!? Shoot, and everything was going so well!" Steven prepared to leave, turning back to the Diamonds once more before he did. "Could you guys stay here and watch after these guys? Thanks, I'll be right back!" With that, he joined Amethyst in running back to the warp pad, leaving the trio alone.

Despite Steven's insistence, the Gem mutants didn't really need much watching. Although a few of them were wandering, they never went far, staying within roughly the same area. The one from before made its way back over to Yellow.

"It seems you've made a friend!" said a smiling Blue as the cluster climbed up onto Yellow's knee. She held out her hand, and it proceeded to crawl over her arm as though it was exploring uncharted territory. It must have been part Nephrite.

Initially wary, White seemed to come at ease after seeing the creature curiously crawling across Yellow's shoulders. She laughed to herself when it hid behind Yellow's neck as the Diamond attempted to reach for it. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing," White replied. "It's just, seeing you with this thing reminded me of you and Pink. She always seemed to love riding on our shoulders–'I feel so tall!'"

Blue laughed as well at this fond memory of their sister, and even Yellow couldn't help but crack a smile. "She did love high places, didn't she? Just so long as nobody brought it up. I remember how angry she would get when she thought we were calling her short."

"So would you!" said White. Blue laughed even harder, much to the annoyance of a blushing Yellow. "I remember when you were first formed: barely hours old, yet you seemed ready to fight the entire universe with your bare fists–myself included! Oh, you were adorable!"

"No comment," said Yellow, to the amusement of Blue.

"And Blue, you were so shy. You could barely even speak to your own Pearl, always hiding in your cloak!" Now it was Blue's turn to blush, and Yellow's to smirk at her sister. "But even at a young age, the two of you were inseparable. Yellow and Pink really helped you come out of your shell. Just like your sisters helped you mellow out, Yellow." White tittered at her rhyming.

"And what a wonderful job of that they did," said Yellow, with slight sarcasm. "Maybe if I had taken any of that to heart, I never would have–no, not now. Not anymore."

"Hmm? What's the matter?" asked Blue.

After a brief silence, Yellow sighed. "Pink wasn't ready. I never should have given her a colony. Maybe if I had actually listened to her, she never would have…" She trailed off, her voice quivering with emotions.

Blue was quick to place a hand on Yellow's shoulder. "No, no. What happened to Pink wasn't solely your fault. All of us played a part in what she did. Any of us–no, all of us could have listened to her. Should have listened."

White agreed. "It seems that hiding from our feelings runs in the family. We only focused on what we wanted from Pink, what we wanted her to be, we were blind to what she wanted. I…I only wish we could have given it to her."

"You know what?" Blue looked around at the hills surrounding them. The sun was beginning to rise, lighting the landscape from the east. "In the end, perhaps she did have what she wanted. As Rose Quartz, she found people who loved her, just as she wanted. People who felt how she felt, who could appreciate her for who she really was."

"And all it took was hiding her real identity," Yellow said quietly.

"Are we sure that's what happened?" said Blue. "Maybe Rose Quartz was more than just a mask that Pink hid behind. Maybe as Rose, she was able to be who she really was, without us imposing her will onto her. Maybe as Rose Quartz…she really was able to die happy." She wiped a tear from her eye. Yellow and White did the same.

"We can only hope," White said tearfully. "We can only hope."

In all of their emotions, Yellow had completely forgotten about the cluster Gem crawling over her. She noticed that it had gone still, lifting her arm to get a better look at it. It was staring up at her, its multiple eyes meeting hers. The two shared gazes for a moment, before it raised two of its frontal limbs. The twisted arms were moved, with some difficulty, into what could be recognized as the Diamond salute.

None of them could believe their eyes. "Stars above," Blue whispered. "She really was loyal. She still is, from the looks of it."

"I can't believe she still remembers us," said White. "I never would have imagined they retained so much of their former selves. There's no telling what sort of memories the Cluster has…"

Yellow, however, simply regarded the Gem mutant in silence, a growing look of what seemed like shock in her eyes. Her fingers twitched, looking for a moment like she was going to crush it then and there. Instead, a power began emanating from her palm, a light hum of static electricity. Her power leaked out from her hand and into the Gem, soon eroding its physical form and leaving it nothing but a twisted gemstone. Yellow sprang to her feet, the gem being enclosed in a bubble and vanishing in an instant.

"Yellow!" cried Blue as the other Diamond seemed overcome with anger once more. She rained bolts of lightning down on the mutated Gems, their gemstones likewise disappearing to her sanctum. Blue tried to calm her down, but she wouldn't be sated until every last one of the creatures had disappeared. "Yellow, what's gotten into you!?" she admonished.

"I don't care what it takes." She was kneeling, breathing heavily. "I don't care how long I have to search, but I will find a way to bring them back. Every last Gem that was mutilated in the experiments, I will restore her! I'll dig the Cluster out of this planet with my bare hands, rip it apart piece by piece, and fit them all together one at a time if I have to!"

"That's enough, Yellow. Calm yourself." White had risen to her feet as well, holding out a hand. Yellow had begun to calm down, though her hands still sparked. "We all want to undo our mistakes, but we can't do that the same way we made them. Just as I need to reach out instead of retreating inward, you need to control your rage."

"What else am I supposed to do!?" shouted Yellow. "Pink is dead because of me! All of these Gems are worse than dead, because of me! I've torn apart everything I care about, and if I can't fix what little there is left, then…then…"

"Then you will still have us."

Blue pulled Yellow closer, embracing her counterpart. Tears ran down her sister's shoulder, with a few falling on her own. White stepped closer as well, wrapping her arms around the two.

"We will fix this, no matter what it takes," the eldest said. "None of us are going to be alone, never again. I already lost one of my sisters, I will not lose another."

Before any of them knew it, the light of the sun was fully washing over them. Their hug split apart, all three of them still holding onto the other two. None was willing to let go, not fully.

Yellow glanced down at the scorched ground her lightning had created, where the Gems had been moments before. "I…don't think Steven's going to like this."

The tension broken, the three of them couldn't help but chuckle. "We really do have a lot of work ahead of us," Blue said. "Who would have thought we would be so busy even after stepping down?"

"At least this time we aren't doing it for ourselves," said White. "I can finally say that after all this time, I truly do know what's best for Homeworld." The other two couldn't agree more.