Missing Peace: Chapter 46

Peridot flew gracefully through space on the metallic disk that had once been an escape pod. She had been practicing her flying ever since the battle with the Diamonds' mech, and by this point had manoeuvring down to a fine art. Another plus was that she had no shortage of weapons. The battle had only being going on for a few minutes, but already the space around the zoo was littered with debris from damaged ships. Reaching out with her metal powers, she took hold of a large sheet of battered, yellow metal that was about twice her own size. It had likely been sheared off a Facet 31 saucer at some point. On Earth, Peridot's powers would have struggled to even lift a piece of metal this size, but out in the vacuum of space, everything was weightless. As a result, she was able to swing the large hunk of hull plating with ease.

Turning her attention to the nearest facet 31 ship, she flung the piece of bent metal with all her might. It spun towards the sun-class ship and struck it on the starboard side, cutting a deep gauge in its hull. The ship rocked from the impact, and sparks and shards of metal were blown out into space through the gash in its side. She ship turned to aim its main guns at Peridot, but never got the chance to use them. One of Homeworld's hand ships took advantage of the damage Peridot had done, firing a bolt from its finger straight into the damaged section of the Facet 31 ship. As the sun-class vessel tumbled away from the impact, its lights went out. The hand ship flashed Peridot a thumbs-up, before moving off to target another ship. Peridot knew she was only going to be of limited help compared to the weapons of the Diamonds' starships, but any time she could buy Steven could count for something. She used her powers to take hold of a shard of plating which had been ripped away from the Facet 31 vessel during the impact, and followed the hand ship further into the battle.

Human Zoo, Command Centre:

Rose fought like a cornered animal. All semblance of posturing or strategy had left her. Things had gone wrong so quickly, what with the appearance of the Diamonds' fleet, and the apparent survival of the Crystal Gems she had ordered neutralised. She knew there was still a chance of the plan succeeding, assuming her Peridots could reorient the weapon before the Diamonds took the station. However, she also knew that there was now very little chance that anyone in Facet 31 would be coming out of this in one piece. Even if they fired the weapon, they would still be outnumbered and outgunned, and would surely be captured in the following minutes. The logical part of her mind knew that this was the reality, but the emotional part refused to acknowledge it. She couldn't stop yet; not until she made Pink pay; not until Homeworld was returned to its former glory. She had to beat these Crystal Gems somehow, and she had to escape with enough of Facet 31 to continue the fight, and overthrow the Diamonds.

Part of her had known that that last part was unrealistic from the beginning. They hadn't the numbers, or the power to achieve it. But she didn't care. She wasn't going to live under the people who had so casually cast her and her fellow Rose Quartzes aside; the people who had made Sapphire, and all the other Gems who had flocked to Facet 31, feel so forgotten. No, she and Facet 31 would take Homeworld, or be shattered trying. She put her trust in her Peridots to handle the eradication of Earth, and focused herself on the fight. She had hoped to watch the planet die herself, with Pink bound at her feet, but it seemed that was no longer going to be possible. Having Pink die in the knowledge that her world's doom was near would have to suffice. She charged towards the small, fleshy body which Pink now resided in, knocking aside the Crystal Gems' Pearl with one swing of her forearm. As Pink turned to face her with shield in hand, Rose raised her sword to strike.

"Rose!"

A voice cut through the noise of the command centre. There were few voices that could get Rose's attention instantly. In the chaotic din of the battle, she had already tuned out the frantic shouting of her technicians, and the battle cries of her fellow Quartz soldiers. One voice though, was enough to get her to instantly snap her head around, taking her attention away from even Pink. Sapphire's voice. Rose turned just in time to see Sapphire stood in one of the command centre's entry doorways. She opened her mouth to speak to her; to tell her to get further away from the fighting, but her words caught in her throat when she noticed the Gem who was accompanying Sapphire. Standing next to Sapphire was the Crystal Gems' fusion; Garnet. She was looking rather banged up, but was completely unrestrained, and was looking at Sapphire with a calmness that made it clear that the small blue Gem was not her captor. Rose simply stood, staring, unable to process what she was seeing. Sapphire despised that fusion. Why would the two of them be standing there together? What was going on? Before Rose had the chance to spiral any further into confusion, Sapphire ran up to her and stood at her feet, looking up at her imploringly. "Rose, I…I need to talk to you. Right now" said Sapphire in a tone of mixed embarrassment and trepidation. Rose didn't know what to think right now, but she knelt down to Sapphire's height to listen. It must have been a surreal sight; two Gems just stood still in the middle of a raging battle, while almost everyone continued to fight around them. The only other people not currently engaged in combat were Garnet and Steven, who simply were simply watching events unfold, seemingly dumbfounded that Rose had even stopped to talk to Sapphire.

"Sapphire….what is it? This isn't exactly the best time" said Rose, in a tone of confusion rather than annoyance. "It's just…" Sapphire began, nervously twiddling her fingers "are you sure this is what you want?" Yet again, Rose was at a loss for how to respond. Surely Sapphire wasn't having doubts now? Rose's eyes briefly flicked up to Garnet, who had remained in the doorway. Had the fusion said something to her; manipulated her somehow? Turning her head back down to face Sapphire, she finally asked "What do you mean? This is what we both wanted, right?" Sapphire looked as though she was about to fall apart at any moment. She gulped, and attempted to regain her composure, before continuing: "Of course! I mean…yes it was, but…" Rose didn't like where this was going, but she made no effort to stop Sapphire. This, she needed to hear. "I've…had a lot of questions lately…" Sapphire continued. "Questions my future vision couldn't answer, like… where this plan's going to leave us." Rose was growing irritated, but tried her best to mask it in her reply. "What….do you mean?" Still wringing her hands, Sapphire spoke up again. "Well… I'm just not sure that this plan is going to get us the kind of lives we would want, or at least that I would want; I don't know if you feel the same, I just-" She paused to collect her thoughts, having blurted out more than she had meant to.

Taking a deep breath and collecting herself, she made a second attempt. "Look, I know how you feel about this plan, but is it really the best thing to do? I mean, I understand wanting revenge on Earth, and even the Diamonds, but what are we going to do once that's done? I know you said we'd put things back the way they used to be, but I'm just not sure I want that anymore. I'd just be a tool again. My only purpose would be to tell the future. Everyone in Facet 31 would just be shoved back into their old jobs again; we wouldn't all be together like this anymore." Rose had to shake her head in shear disbelief at Sapphire's questioning. Everything Rose had done had been to make Pink and the other Diamonds pay for how they'd mistreated their Gems. Facet 31's camaraderie had been an enjoyable side effect, yes, but that always came second to the master plan. Surely the fusion had got into Sapphire's head in some way. That was the only reason her hitherto loyal confidant would be questioning their mission now. "What are you talking about?!" Rose snapped back with more venom than she had intended, unable to hide her annoyance any longer. "Of course we'll go back to our old lives. Wasn't that the whole point?! Weren't we all happy before the Crystal Gems showed up?!" Sapphire's expression was enough to make it clear that she was not convinced. In fact, a look of irritation was now encroaching on her anxious face. "Yes, I was happy then." The dainty blue Gem replied with a powerful tone that defied her fragile appearance. "But that was before all this" she continued, gesturing around the room with her arms. "Before I joined Facet 31; before I met you. When all this started, I was so focused on how the war had hurt me that I just wanted to turn back the clock, but after everything we've been through…I'm not the same person. I couldn't live that life anymore. As ridiculous as it sounds, I'm glad all this happened."

Rose was scarcely containing her fury now. "Well I'm not!" she replied in a white hot rage. "It may surprise you to learn that I didn't want to be stabbed in the back by my own Diamond, be bubbled for millennia, and wake up only to find that the rest of Homeworld was making nice with the people responsible! Sure, Facet 31 is great, but I'd much rather there had never been a need for it in the first place! Besides, what would you prefer?! That we just leave Homeworld the way it is; not even bother to undo all the damage that Earth did?! Hasn't this whole thing been so that we could put all that behind us and move on?!" Sapphire seemed genuinely angry now, but the steady quivering of her bottom lip gave away the sadness beyond it. If she had an eye, she would surely have been in tears. "Is that what you want?" Sapphire asked imploringly. "For us to all just go back to our lives and pretend that all this business with Earth never happened? Well I can't do that Rose. I can't just forget the last five thousand years, and pretend they haven't changed me. You're the one who isn't moving on. Are you really telling me you'd rather just have everyone put back in their boxes than build something new, with me?

"It's not about that!" Rose shouted, scrunching her eyes shut and shaking her head. "Pink and the humans need to pay for what they did to me! Everyone who joined Facet 31 is here for that reason. As long as Pink gets what's coming to her, who cares what happens afterwards?!"

"I care!" Sapphire shouted back, now bellowing as loudly as Rose, despite being about a quarter of the size. "Did you even think this plan through? Did you even have a vision for what we'd to afterwards? Or were you so caught up in getting revenge that you didn't care if this ended up becoming a suicide mission?!" Rose scowled. She didn't have time for this. If they didn't fire the weapon in the next few minutes, this would all be for naught. She knew that she should be focusing on putting an end to Pink while she had the chance, but all her mind would linger on was Sapphire's betrayal. Was she really willing to abandon the fight completely, just so the two of them could run off somewhere?! Rose only had to ponder the question for a moment before she got her answer. "Rose, listen to me!" Sapphire said pleadingly, walking right up to Rose and holding the Quartz's face between her two tiny hands. "It doesn't have to end like this. Let's just gather up all the Facet 31 members we can, hop on a ship, and go. The Diamond's won't catch us with the battle going on; we could slip away easily. Then we could find a nice planet to colonise; just us and our friends. Then the two of us could finally be-"

The last word caught in Sapphire's throat as she suddenly found that she had no breath. A sharp pain flashed through her abdomen and back. She glanced down, and tried to gasp in shock. Rose's blade had been thrust through the front of her torso, and was protruding from her back. Rose's hand lingered on the hilt, shaking with a mix of sadness and rage. A wave of terror washed over Sapphire. Even the wildest projections her future vision had given her hadn't shown anything like this; it had been a future too terrible for her to contemplate. Unable to speak, she raised her head and gave one last terrified glance at Rose's face. Then her future vision failed entirely. The picture before her became dark, distorted, with a myriad of futures flashing before her eyes and disappearing almost as quickly. From what little she could see of them before they vanished, there was only one inescapable truth. She wasn't in any of them. Then, there was nothing.

Steven and Garnet stood open mouthed as they saw it happen. Even the rest of the fighting in the command centre had stopped over the course of Rose and Sapphire's argument, and now Crystal and Facet 31 Gems alike were looking on in slack-jawed shock, as Rose knelt with Sapphire's Gem on the floor in front of her. Garnet clenched her teeth in rage, summoning her Gauntlets and stepping towards Rose. The instant Rose lifted her head though, Garnet froze. Instead of the maniacal grin or blind rage she had been expecting to see on the Quartz's face, there was only sorrow. The shadow of Rose's fringe covered her eyes, and tears streamed down her cheeks, as her mouth quivered in barely contained despair. Rose turned her head to look at Steven, and spoke in a hollow, broken voice. "How much more? How much more are you going to take from me Pink?! My status, my home, and my purpose weren't enough?! Now you have to start poisoning my friends against me too?! She shot towards Steven like a bullet, somehow rising from her kneeling position faster than anyone could react. The other Facet 31 Gems didn't resume fighting this time; they simply watched on as the Crystal Gems dashed to try to reach Steven in time. As Rose charged, she thought nothing of the battle around her; not her allies, not the crystal Gems, not the weapon; she saw only Pink. Her Diamond had to suffer for this. That was all that mattered now.

Author's Note: Whew, this was a heavy one this time round. Sorry this one took a couple of days btw; this chapter was basically the most important dialogue exchange in the
entire fic, so I went back and forth for a while on exactly how to phrase everything. Regardless, Hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you next chapter!