Missing Peace: Chapter 31

Crystal System Colony Earth, approx. 6000 years ago:

There was no sound; no light; no thought. There was only the earthy, comforting smell of the dirt around her. It felt warm and soft against the underside of her gem; made her want to stretch out to touch more of it; to grow. The long sleep continued, as she grew bigger with each passing moment. How long were those moments? Who was to say; they could have been instants, or millennia. Once she was big enough to touch all the dirt around her, at every angle, and knew without conscious thought that she could grow no more, she felt a second desire. She wanted to see; to move; to stretch the protrusions of flesh-like light that had grown from her gem.

That desire was answered. From beneath closed eyelids, she could see a change in the light as the earth around her began to glow, and hum. There was a muted bang, and she stumbled out into the bright, and cold, and noise. She opened her eyes, squinting in the unfamiliar abundance of light. Standing over her were three others, just like her in almost every way. They were tall, muscular, and their curly pink hair fell down past their waists. Before she could get to her feet, one of them walked forward and looked down at her.

"Oh, 9DS. You're up. Good, you can hang out with us until the rest of our unit emerge. Welcome to Earth."

Rose's Saga, Part 1

Without even being told, she knew exactly who she was: Rose Quartz: Facet 31, Cut 9DS. She knew what she was meant to do, too. None of the others had told her; she just instinctively knew. She was a soldier; an elite one at that. She and her comrades were the highest-ranking Quartz soldiers on this planet; the royal guard. She also knew who they would be guarding. Rose had never met her, or even heard her name spoken aloud, and yet the thought of her filled Rose with adoration and pride. Their Diamond. Pink Diamond.

As Rose and the others waited for the rest of their Facet to emerge, she gazed at her surroundings. They were in a valley so deep that you could scarcely see up to the sky above it. The walls were layered with strata in varying hues of muted pink, and were pocked with hundreds of holes, each one the former home of another Rose Quartz. This was a kindergarten. There were others on this planet, but none like this one; where the minerals in the rock made their colour match so beautifully that of their Diamond. It was for this reason that this site had been chosen as the Apex Kindergarten, exempt from the classification system that was used to describe the others.

Rose felt fortunate to have been born into such an honourable position. All the Quartz soldiers born on this planet contained Pink's essence to some degree, but in most of them it was mixed with the essence of either Yellow or Blue Diamond, changing their colour as a result. Only Rose Quartz were created from Pink's essence alone, and as such, they were her quintessential soldiers. Rose smiled, eager to carry out her Diamond's wishes and aid in the transformation of this planet.

After waiting around for a few hours for the rest of their unit to emerge, the whole of Facet 31 got in formation and marched up the large ascending path carved into the kindergarten, until they reached the high plateau which overlooked the entire valley. Their task was to meet Pink Diamond at her palanquin, allow her to decide whether they were worthy of her approval, and then receive any orders which were more specific than their built-in programming allowed for. As they reached the highest point, the palanquin came into view. It was a bizarre sight; an ornate cage-like structure supported by four mechanical legs, not unlike those of the injectors they had passed on their way out of the kindergarten. It wasn't as large as those employed by the other Diamonds, but the knowledge that their Diamond dwelled within was enough to strike awe into each and every one of the Rose Quartz.

The formation stopped in front of the palanquin, each of them forming their hands into a rather uncomfortable salute. Rose thought to herself that, while it wasn't her place to question the Diamond Authority, the salute was the one thing she would have chosen to change. The sparkling translucent curtain at the mouth of the palanquin pulled open, and Rose saw her with her own eyes for the first time; Pink Diamond. It took Rose a moment to see her at first; her various pink hues matched almost perfectly with those of the palanquin. As she got up from her throne though, Rose saw her in all her glory.

Her form was dazzling in its beauty. Rose couldn't put her finger on anything specific about her aesthetic that she actually had an opinion on; she was just programmed, as all Quartz were, to find the sight of her Diamond inspiring. However, one factor cut through Pink's brilliance. Though she was wearing a smile, she was ever-so-slightly red and puffy around the eyes. Rose was perplexed. Had her Diamond been…crying? What reason would a perfect being have to cry?

She discreetly darted her eyes around the palanquin, to see if anything was amiss, though, of course, she found nothing. The palanquin was empty save for the throne, and Pink's Pearl. Rose had heard about this Pearl. While they had been waiting for the stragglers to emerge, Rose and the others had chatted to a Peridot who had been working on one of the injectors. The small green Gem had spoken excitedly about Pink Diamond having received a new Pearl just a few days prior; one which all the Diamonds had chipped in to help design. Rose had wondered why Pink would need a new Pearl, given that a Diamond would usually have been assigned one from the start, but she dismissed the thought quickly. Owning a Pearl was basically a statement of power or accomplishment on Homeworld, and of course it was only fitting that a Diamond should have the nicest Pearl. If the fashion back home had changed, it wasn't unreasonable that the Diamonds would have swapped out Pink's Pearl to be more in keeping with the flavour of the month.

The Pearl was stood formally beside the throne, looking up towards Pink. Just as the Peridot had described, she wore a dress emblazoned in the colours of all the Diamonds. Rose knew that Diamonds were granted particularly fancy Pearls, but she imagined that this one would stand out even among those. Pink Diamond opened her mouth to address the group of Quartz, but closed it again and looked back towards her Pearl. The two smiled at each other, and Pink's formerly rigid stance relaxed slightly. Any Pearl would be expected to smile when making eye contact with their Diamond of course, but it was rather… unorthodox for the Diamond to smile back. Still, Rose didn't care. Her Diamond was perfect, so any personal quirks she might have were obviously the correct ones.

Pink turned back to face Facet 31 again, and this time began speaking as she had intended: "Hello! You all must be my new Rose Quartz." A flicker of some unknown emotion crossed her face as she mentioned their Gem type, but Rose was far too enraptured in her Diamond's presence to care.

"Allow me to officially welcome you to Earth." Pink bent down to be closer to their height, and moved her head from left to right as she surveyed them, no doubt deciding which ones met her approval. "Well," she said after a few short moments, "it certainly looks like you've all emerged perfectly. I'm sure you'll all be fantastic members of my royal guard."

Rose wasn't sure how her Diamond had arrived at that conclusion. A couple of the Rose Quartz were slightly shorter, or less muscular, and she was pretty sure that 9DK had a slightly lumpy head; but hey, if Pink Diamond said they were perfect, then they were perfect.

Completely unaware of Rose's internal diversion, Pink continued her speech: "You're going to be accompanying me whenever I'm out in my palanquin, so… I hope we can all have a good time together!"

This seemed like a very bizarre thing to say, but Rose appreciated the suggestion. After all, any time spent in the presence of her Diamond was a good time as far as she was concerned. Granted, she had emerged only a few hours ago, so she had no other experiences to compare it to, but deep inside she was certain that there was nowhere she'd rather be.

The Pearl then stepped forward and recited to them the more long-winded aspects of their duties. Evidently Pink had little patience for this task, and had therefore delegated it to her servant. Over the next hour, the full scope of Rose's duties was explained to her. As well as guarding Pink's palanquin whenever the Diamond requested a tour of her facilities, she and her fellow Rose Quartz were to serve as commanders for the other Quartz soldiers to answer to. They were also to be Pink's elite executors, should it become necessary to use force to subdue Earth's organic population, though from what Rose had heard, that seemed unlikely. Earth's native life was widespread, yes, but most of it was incredibly soft and fragile. A Ruby could probably supress the lot of them if need be. Not that Rose considered the job beneath her of course; she was happy to aid her Diamond's efforts in any way that Pink saw fit.

When the Pearl finally closed the screen she had been using to read out the dizzyingly long list of details, she stepped back to her initial spot beside Pink's throne. The Diamond sat back down, and turned to regard the group of Rose Quartz.

"Well then" she said, looking somewhat relieved it was over "thank you all for coming. I'll leave you to oversee the rest of the emerging Quartzes. I'll call you all next time I want to inspect the colony. So um… I'll see you around!"

The Palanquin began to levitate, its legs folding underneath itself as it took off, and floated away towards wherever Pink's next destination was. Rose smiled as she watched it leave. If this was what it meant to be a Gem, then that was just fine with her. Her Diamond was flawless, her fellow Quartz were fun to be around, and the thought of her upcoming duties filled her with anticipation.

This was what she was meant to do.

Author's notes: Well, since things seem to be coming to a head in the main story, I wanted to take a side step and explore the origins of our antagonist. The next few chapters
will be dealing with Rose's origin story, and how she became who she is today. Hope you're all still enjoying it. As always, I welcome your feedback. See you next chapter!