Silly Accidents

I remember the day White Diamond made me. She gave me one job, and that was to make Pink laugh. Smile, that way she wouldn't break or harm another gem. I didn't care about that pearl that nearly shattered, I just cared about hearing that snicker of Pink's, which was always followed by a snort and a laugh. It was music to me, and my song was one of hi-jinks and energetic way I played it was through hi-jinks and energetic tangents.

The very first day, Pink decided that if I was to be her friend, I couldn't use her title. It was strange, but it was a pleasant surprise when I wanted her attention to show her something new in the garden.

We had so much fun! We sang songs, laughed, and played games every orbit. I made up games for her, like 'touch and go', 'What's That?', and, my favorite, '20 questions'. I loved thinking of things I had read about outside of the garden to get Pink curious about them, cause that would make her smile so brightly, I could have sworn they turned into one of the garden's moons.

She was happy, and I was content.

As time went on thoughy, I noticed her smile less and less at my antics, laughing and running and guessing less when we played. It was shocking each time she went further into her shell, but I continued, ramping up my silliness as needed. I just wanted her to smile some more.

As she smiled less and less, she went to the other Diamonds more and more, demanding a colony or something. Eventually, she became so impatient that she was constantly at the screen, in a chair, waiting for them to call.

I had more and more free time, which I spent growing flowers and life in the garden. It became bountiful with life, blossoming every day of every orbit in every yellow and pink and blue imaginable. Pink came out of her shell slightly at this, but went back to her waiting.

Then, about 100 orbits of Homeworld later, she got a call. She refused to let me hear, though I tried amusing whoever was on the other side with my shenanigans. Pink only gave those fake-smiles she had been giving lately to me, but beamed at whatever the conversation was.

Eventually, her movements jostled me out of watching the clear, red sky and the plants bloom. Pink, in her various-shades-of-pink attire, was walking towards the Warp Pad that led off of the planet.

I bounced with her at first, receiving a hand that was telling me to stay put. I continued anyways, and she sighed.

Uh oh…

Pink knelt down, lowering herself to my eye level, and said "Let's play a game!"

I eagerly nodded my head.

Finally, she's playing again! I thought.

"This'll be so much fun! Eeeeee, I can't wait!" I jumped and laughed and told her.

"I want you to stay very still. As still as you can, until someone tells you to stop, okay?"

I looked at her, nodding and smiling, though my thoughts turned to something else entirely.

Well, I'm gonna be left here a while, huh. Least she'll come back when she needs a laugh!

I watched her walk into the Warp Pad, knowing she'd be back. If not this orbit, then eventually.

hr

I waited for her for decades, though I admit I was rather impatient. I was devastated to see how the garden changed as I stood as still as could be. Weeds overtook many of my plants, and the plants had started to die out, leaving a strange cacophony of sound, probably from bugs that had gotten through the Warp Pad and bred.

It was musical when I heard them all, but… so lonely.

It was the fortieth year after Pink left that I found myself stuck in place as meteors ran overhead, creating patterns on the night sky. The colors changed, and one of them hit the ground somewhere far away from me. The plants were growing around my feet and arms at this point, and they died.

I cried, not knowing what tears were at the time, for the only company I had on this world.

Once there was nothing left of them holding on to me, I began to walk around the now silent garden. Looking at the devastation that the stray meteorites had caused, I was disheartened to see the husks of the last patches of flowers in the garden.

It was then that I decided to disobey my Diamond, and follow her to… 'Earth'.

The warp pads around the planet were unaffected by the shockwave that the meteorite caused, indifferent to the mass death of plant life. As I stepped in, I thought of the coordinates I had heard so long ago, the ones the Diamonds had sent Pink to.

And the Warp Pad glowed, sending me through the night sky in a beam of light. This light was different somehow, faster for some reason, but I hadn't gotten that far reading before Pink had ordered me to stay standing in one spot.

As I travelled down the pillar of white light, I saw other streaks, some green, brown, blue, turquoise, and every other color of gem. I saw planets and stars go by, most faster than I could even process, until I was sitting in the middle of a bunch of plants. Plants that stretched up to the sky, farther than any plant in the garden. I saw bushes with squishy, little blue balls, and I could hear a waterfall in the distance. I could see flowers every which way, flowers that were of greater variety than in the garden. I smiled and laughed and played in this forest for hours. There were animals, some with sharp claws and fangs, but they all stayed far away from me. They seemed scared.

Ignorant of the animal's fears, I climbed trees, ate those Blueballies, and tried to pet animals of all types.

The only problem was that the animals seemed… terrified of me. I heard flocks of birds flying away, and felt the shaking caused by creatures with hooves and paws alike fleeing.

As the sun set, I saw new kinds of birds that went 'hoo'. These creatures, along with more that I couldn't get a good look at, left in the same direction that the others went.

It was disheartening, and I sat until sunrise. As I sat there, awake but dormant, I noticed the fallen foliage crunching, and a pair of gems meander closer.

The gem had pink, curly hair. She had a dress that seemed free, and her smile was bright. Her gem was pentagonal, sloping in clean cuts down to her navel. It was a bright pink, and reminded me of someone I knew. Couldn't put a finger on it, though. She had a look of shock when she noticed me.

With her was a pearl, one that I knew all too well. It was the pearl Pink got after breaking her first one's eye. This one was very organised, and was a near perfect cut of a pearl.

"Spinel?" The new gem asked incredulously.

"That's my gem!" I said, flinging my hands up to the trees to hang and swing. I had a brilliant smile, one I could blame on all the new creatures and flowers I had seen.

I figured out that the new gem was a type of quartz, but couldn't figure out why or how she was a rosy pink.

"But weren't you told to stay in the garden? I thought you..." The pearl asked, trailing off.

At this, I dropped from the trees. "I know that she did that to get away from me. I waited forty orbits on that planet, when a meteorite struck. It killed the plants, and I decided to come here to see what I was missing." I said, partly excited, but partly afraid.

"I had almost forgotten about you… I'm so sorry Spinel." The quartz said shakily, taking a step back.

I took another look at her gem. I couldn't shake the similarity I knew from it, and the strange gem's words made no sense.

Then it hit me.

No, not a revelation, something hit me from behind. It wasn't painful, though I had a stick pointing out of my arm. It seemed to be a rudimentary spear, made out of the trees and some stones.

I looked behind me to see bipedal… things… looking at me with a mixture of anger and curiosity. They seemed to be looking at the gem pair questioningly, as if searching for answers of some kind.

The Quartz rose her hands in a placating manner, and started to assure them that I was a friend, when I recognized her voice. And nervous laugh.

"Pink?" I asked incredulously.

Pink nodded and continued nervously laughing. I could see beads of sweat run down the sides of her face. "Yep… it's me!" She forced out.

"How… Why… what kind of gem did you turn into?" I asked, circling her whilst taking in her new form.

Her hair was very different. Before it was just kind of… poof, though rather short. Now it had curls and was long. Her uncovered feet were different from the slippers she had gotten as a gift from her sisters. Her dress, open at the arms and flowing down her body, was quite different from what she normally wore, which was tight and looked more like a uniform. She also seemed more at peace, even though Pink was currently emotional since she left me behind.

Something I didn't care about. If it made her happy, I would have waited for her. But I found that I wanted to see the universe too.

"I disguised myself as a Rose Quartz, and I'd like to keep it a secret that I'm a Diamond. Can I ask that you keep my secret?" She pleaded.

It sounded like she didn't want to order me, which was odd. But even though she didn't outright order me to keep her secret, I would still comply since it would make her happy.

I nodded. "I'll keep your secret. Though, what have you been doing the last 40 orbits?"

"Well, for one, it's been about 80 orbits here, so keep that in mind. For the first 10, I wandered the land. Took in the sights and sounds. From then, I've been fighting for the Humans. Pearl and I have been wandering, and, as you've seen, we've found sentient life!" She exclaimed. Whatever birds had been in the trees before were scared away by her shout. "For 30 years, I asked the Diamonds to stop, to spare this world. I failed. So, I decided since I'd fought all I could as Pink Diamond, I had to fight as Rose Quartz. I gained the locals' trust by fighting off any gem who tries to terraform their land." She looked happy and purposeful at this. Like I must have looked when I had played with her in the garden.

She was really, truthfully happy.

Her explanation also explained a lot. The humans had been afraid of me because they saw that whenever new gems came, the land became barren and lifeless. She had been fighting for their rights to live, as well as their right to the planet, but the other Diamonds had not cared.

She had finished her story, but she still had more to say.

"Would you help me, old friend?" She asked. Like she had to. I wasn't about to leave her alone, disassociating herself with her own race no less!

"I don't really know how to fight, so one of you'd have to teach me… "I trailed off, rubbing my elbows lightly.

"Well, I think you came to the right place! Pearl is a great fighter, and I learned from Blue and Yellow, so you'll be in great hands." She started jumping around excitedly.

It was fulfilling, to say the least.

They drug me to the humans' village, where the homes were rudimentary. It was about noon when we got there, and I saw the humans eagerly eating berries and meat.

"I ate some berries earlier, but it was just to see what they tasted like. Is there a reason they're eating when they could be getting work done?" I asked Pink curiously.

"'Humans' as they call themselves, need food their entire lives. And they live quite short lives in comparison to even Pebbles." She informed me morosely.

I nodded my head and 'ah'ed as we walked to a house in the middle of the mini-city the humans had built.

We went into the door, and I grew to be about three quarters the height of Pearl. Purely for appearance, of course. Rose and Pearl looked lovingly at the humans gathered, which exclusively included humans with gray hair and beards.

They spoke in a language I couldn't understand, nodding and making gestures with hands, in Pink's case, or sticks, in the gray-haired humans' cases. I was unsure why the leaders would choose forms that were so… feeble and slim. After all, didn't they want to condense their power to stay in charge?

I must have had a weird look, because the gray haired humans said something to Pearl. She nodded, speaking in the same language to the leader, and turned to me.

"He says he wishes to speak to Rose in private, and would like to ask you questions later. For now, how about I escort you out of the room to talk about the… details of their culture?" She offered.

I smiled and nodded, eager to learn.

Even if Pink took her instead of me…

I shook my head, wondering where that thought came from, and followed Pearl outside.

"Whatcha wanna talk about?" I asked with my high pitched voice, in a playful manner, swaying slightly while asking.

"Well, there are some things about their culture and structure that are going to seem counterintuitive, but Rose has asked me to inform you of these things. First, these people believe in what they call 'Gods', which they normally associate with the unexplained phenomena." The only reason I was able to follow her was that I had gained quite a lexicon while looking new things up at the garden. "Another thing to be weary of is that those gray humans…" She trailed off. It looked like she was trying to force the words out of her mouth.

"Yes?" I asked, gesturing for her to continue.

"Well, they… used to be like those small ones you saw. The only difference is how much time has passed. So when you learn their language, don't call any of them 'peasant', 'farmer', or otherwise, even if that's what their jobs are."

It was at this point that my mind blanked out.

"How do they know what they are made for if they aren't referred to by either their job or their…" I asked.

"They… don't. Many of them will search for purpose their entire lives, some rarely finding true purpose." She said hesitantly.

I couldn't imagine a life like that. Looking around at others like me, never knowing what I was made for.

"They have to serve some kind of purpose, or something." I said nervously, grasping onto Pearl's arm tight.

She shook her head. "They find purpose in everyday struggles! They can adapt far better than any Gem! It's truly amazing! All the humans you see here, they came from somewhere much, much warmer, and have acclimated to the cold that comes for a third of the year remarkably! They came up with tactics that befuddled the Gems that tried to relocate or remove them before Rose or I even got here!" She said with a mixture of pride and surprise.

I smiled. "Well, I guess I might fit in, seeing as how I… ah… disobeyed orders and such…" I trailed off.

Even though I said this earlier, Pearl either thought I was joking, exaggerating, or lying, because her facial expression contorted into one of no emotion but shock. She stopped in place, and it could have seemed like the whole universe had stopped had I not seen the Humans wandering about.

"Should I see what help I can be?" I asked her, partly to escape the awkward situation, partly to make new friends.

"So… you disobeyed her orders? W-what command did she give you that you stopped?" She asked curiously.

"Oh… just standing still so I couldn't follow her. Nothing too bad…" I chuckled and trailed off. "So, about that help?" I said with the largest smile I could muster.

Pearl didn't move an inch in any direction, seeming to have reset from shock. She did let out "You can't go around freely until after tonight, as the humans will think you're an enemy. Trust me when I say, even with what technology we have, you don't want to be swarmed by these things." in a monotone voice.

Welp… can't get much worse than the mess I've thrown myself into...