Missing Peace: Chapter 34
Rose's Saga, Part 4
Earth, 5700 years ago:
Rose sprinted across the battlefield that had once been a pleasant meadow. In the last hundred years, the periodic skirmishes between Homeworld and the Crystal Gems had erupted into a full-blown war, turning much of Earth into scarred wastelands like the one she now found herself in. The mud drenched and coated her boots, and the smell of smoke and metal assaulted her senses. Every once in a while she would feel hard lumps in the mud beneath her, but she ignored them and kept running; not wanting to find out how many were hunks of metal, and how many were the shards of shattered Gems.
Before the war started, no Gem had ever seen anything like this. The only reason Gems even had a word for 'war' was to describe the conflicts that occurred whenever the local populations of the planets they were colonising decided to mount brave but ultimately futile resistances. Those conflicts were typically quick and one-sided; nothing like the chaos that was happening now, with Gems, and the power they commanded, on both sides of the fight. Homeworld had the number advantage by several orders of magnitude, and yet the Crystal Gems were still proving to be an issue. Every time a base of theirs was discovered, they relocated too quickly for the majority of them to be caught. Every time they engaged Homeworld's forces, they took out dozens of the Diamonds' soldiers for each one of their own that was lost. There had been talk of a near-perfect Jasper having come from Earth's Beta Kindergarten, who was now finally tipping the fight in Homeworld's favour, but if that was the case, it hadn't been in a tangible-enough way for Rose to notice.
She had been on the run almost constantly for the last century. Even now, she still frequently thought back to the events of the day she and her fellow Rose Quartz were stripped of their honour and titles. She had been ready to fight for her life, but few of the others had been so willing. Compliance with authority was baked into a Gem's nature. It took a powerful will to overcome that desire; even now it still felt wrong to have fought her fellow Gems somehow. For some of the other Rose Quartz, the thought had been too awful to consider, and so most of her facet had simply stood there as the Agate and her entourage poofed them. Rose and the few who were brave enough to fight with her had fought admirably; managing to poof most of their attackers, and escaping into Earth's wilderness before the Agate and her remaining guards could follow.
This had effectively made Rose and her allies into fugitives. Over the next one hundred years they, and any other Rose Quartz who had escaped the initial purge, were hunted to the ends of the Earth by Homeworld's forces, when said forces weren't too preoccupied waging their war against the Crystal Gems. There were still a few of Rose's facet left, but their numbers dwindled with every passing day, as more and more of them were picked off by the Diamonds' soldiers. Every time they had tried to group together and lie low, they had been found, and Rose had had to watch time and time again as her fellow Quartz were bubbled or shattered.
This had happened most recently just the previous day, when their makeshift camp had been happened upon by a patrol of Jaspers. Rose and the others had beaten them back, but not before losing half of their number. When the Diamonds' reinforcements arrived, they were forced to scatter, running anywhere they could, just as long as it was in the opposite direction from the blades of their pursuers. And so, Rose now found herself shambling across this wasteland of mud, and flames, and Gem shards, hoping that her hunters would lose her in the chaos.
As it happened, she got a lot more chaos than she had hoped for. An explosion just metres to the side of her knocked her down. As she got to her feet, her head ringing, she crested the slope she had been climbing, and saw where the blast had come from. She had thought this battlefield abandoned, but clearly she had wandered into an area that was still very much active, as small armies of Homeworld and Crystal Gems were still throwing themselves at each other in the lowlands below. Towering Jasper fusions, accompanied by hundreds of other Quartzes, Rubies, and more, were trying their best to pin down a Crystal Gem fighting force consisting of a jumbled collection of Gem types, including various bizarre fusions Rose had never seen before.
A small fusion with a large Square head was dodging her way impressively between artillery fire and the fists of the giant Quartz fusions. As one of the giants slammed its fist into the ground in front of the her, she ran up its arm, summoned two large gauntlets, and punched it in the face with such force that the giant was sent sprawling; splitting into its constituent Jaspers. A couple of dropships flew towards her position, strafing the ground with their blasters. The fusion was unfazed, leaping high into the air, smashing the cockpit window of one of the ships, and ripping the Nephrite within from her pilot's seat. Tossing the Nephrite aside, the fusion reached into the cockpit and yanked on the controls, causing the first dropship to collide with the second one. The fusion leapt off the ship moments before the collision, and landed calmly as the two ships exploded in a cloud of fire.
While Rose knew that the presence of this fusion should probably have intimidated her, she actually felt a swell of anticipation at the sight of it. She, like just about everyone else in the empire, knew who the fusion was. This was the fusion that had been recruited by the traitor fifty years ago, and had quickly become a senior member of the Crystal Gems. She had been sighted in many battles over the last half a century; usually in close proximity to the traitor, who Homeworld had taken to simply calling 'Rose Quartz'. Rose hated that her Gem type had become synonymous with treachery in the eyes of the Gem populous, perhaps even more than she hated actually being on the run. Still, her excitement remained. If the fusion was here, then 'Rose Quartz' was likely not too far behind. After one hundred years, she would finally get a chance to confront her again; to make her pay for what she had done to the Rose Quartz legacy.
Rose stuck to the edge of the battlefield, trying to avoid drawing too much attention to herself, while simultaneously flanking around to whatever position the Crystal Gems were trying to attack; after all, if they were trying this hard to press into Diamond territory rather than simply relocating, it was likely that the rebels' leader was on the front line herself. That was where Rose would find her, and enact her revenge. Despite her efforts, Rose wasn't able to stay out of the fight entirely. Along the way she came across a couple of squads of Homeworld Gems, who had no doubt had the same thought as her. She dispatched them with relatively little effort; years on the run having honed her already formidable fighting skill. Even after she had made it all the way to the back of the Homeworld Gems' defensive line, the fighting was still going on around her; the rebels had evidently pushed deep into this part of Pink's territory. Rose longed to be at her Diamond's side, defending her from this assault, but she knew those days were long gone.
Getting to a vantage point, she found herself overlooking a large hill, which only a few isolated Homeworld Gems had managed to reach. The battle was still ferocious, but the hill seemed relatively quiet compared to the constant deafening noise that had typified the rest of the battlefield. That was when she saw it; sat on the hill, surrounded by skirmishing Gems: Pink's palanquin.
Rose's eyes widened as she stared at the walking throne where she'd spent so much of her early life; a sight she hadn't seen in over a century. She found herself overflowing with questions: What was Pink doing here? Had the Crystal germs really managed to push so far into her territory that they had cut her off from her guards? Why was her palanquin just sitting there? Diamonds were powerful, but standing around in the middle of a battlefield was unwise even for one of them.
Rose approached the palanquin, trying to stay hidden behind what little foliage remained on the heavily blasted hillside. As she got closer she could see the battle unfolding around the palanquin clearly. Small groups of Crystal and Homeworld gems were engaging in melee or hand-to-hand combat all around the palanquin. The scuff marks all over their bodies indicated that they had been at it for a while. The Crystal Gems had fought a battle of attrition to reach Pink, and it appeared to finally be paying off for them. Gems of every type, all bearing the star emblem which identified them as members of the rebellion, were doing their best to hold back the Homeworld reinforcements who were now doubling back on themselves to protect Pink Diamond. A large, brownish Quartz was making short work of a Homeworld Ruby fusion; splitting it into its component Gems in a single titanic punch. All but one of the Rubies jumped on the Quartz, attempting to swarm her. The remaining Ruby, whose gem was positioned in place of one of her eyes, ran on ahead towards the palanquin, obviously hoping to reach Pink before the rebels did. Sensing that this might be her last chance to get to her Diamond, Rose did the same.
At that moment, Pink stepped out of her palanquin. She looked tense, but not panicked; showing remarkable composure for someone in the middle of a warzone. Rose wondered just how much fighting the Diamond had seen in the century since they had last spoken. Abandoning all attempts to stay in cover, she began running towards Pink. Unfortunately, neither she nor the Ruby got the chance to reach her. As Pink looked on at the battle unfolding around her, Rose Quartz; the one leading the Crystal Gems, stepped out from behind Pink's palanquin. She must have been lying in wait for the Diamond to emerge. Spotting the traitor, Rose cried out, but to no avail. As Pink whirled around to face her attacker, the Crystal Gems' leader swung her massive sword, and cleaved Pink in two, slicing right across her Gem.
There was a painful, high pitched shattering sound as Pink's physical form exploded into a cloud of smoke. All the Gems in the area stopped fighting the instant Pink was struck; many of them still holding each other in the mid-battle poses they had been in beforehand. They all just stopped, and stared at the scene. When the smoke cleared an instant later, several unmistakable pink shards lay in the dirt at the rebel leader's feet, glinting in the moonlight. Her fist was clenched, almost as though she was angry somehow. Why? Why should she be angry? She had just won a massive victory; she had just shattered a…
The reality hit Rose as her emotions caught up with her. Pink was gone. Her Diamond; her perfect Diamond, had been shattered. The Ruby, who was now stood mere metres away from her, looked similarly devastated. The two fell to their knees, unable to support themselves under the weight of their grief. The rest of Homeworld's soldiers rallied more quickly though, channelling their sadness into rage. Many took advantage of the Crystal Gems' distraction to break through the lines and charge at the rebel Rose Quartz. They didn't even come close to catching her. The Crystal Gem glared at them for a split second, before leaping away with shocking agility. Most of her fellow rebels followed her, with a limited amount staying to delay their pursuers. In mere moments, the Gem who had shattered a Diamond had disappeared over the horizon.
As the remaining Crystal Gems broke off their attacks, and attempted to join their leader in escaping, they were pursued by a portion of Homeworld's army. The rest of the Homeworld Gems, who were not currently chasing the rebels, advanced on Rose, who was curled up in a ball in the mud. She knew she shouldn't be feeling such grief at the loss of a Diamond who had abandoned her and left her to fend for herself for a century, but the sight of Pink's shattered remains still felt as though someone had ripped out her own Gem and thrown it into a fire. As the Homeworld soldiers surrounded her, she no longer felt any desire to attempt an escape. Rising to her knees, she looked up at one of the Quartzes above her.
"Go ahead" she said; her voice trembling. "Just do it."
The soldier obliged, bringing its blade down upon her. Rose embraced it, feeling almost eager to let go. She felt her body dissolve in an instant, and then, the world faded to black. There was nothing…