"So let me get this straight. Rose Quartz. Leader of the Crystal Gems. Steven's mom…was actually Pink Diamond?!" Amethyst said, her eyes wide with shock from her spot on the couch next to Garnet.
"She faked her own shattering, then formed to be Rose all the time." Steven explained, looking away.
"Pink Diamond's final command to me was that no one could know. But now that Steven does, I can finally tell you all everything!" Pearl said, clasping her hands together with a grin.
"It isn't fair." Freshwater said from her spot in front of Rose's portrait, staring at the gem with hatred and clenched fists, the other gems turning to look at her.
Pearl made her way over to her girlfriend, placing a hand on her shoulder, surprised to find the gem's shoulders shaking aggressively. "Freshwater…I know this is all a lot to take in. Rose faking her shattering was something she felt like she had to do. I was given to her to make her happy but-"
"And what about your happiness?" Freshwater snapped, spinning around and aggressively waving a hand at the picture on the wall. "So what, she gets to play dress up for a few thousand years and run away from her responsibilities? Cause a war that killed and corrupted thousands? Live happily on Earth and fall in love despite knowing she could probably return to the Diamonds and explain everything. And then," the gem laughed, putting her head in her hands. "To make this whole mess, even worse, she lied. Then went away and forced you to keep her dirty secret. So now, the only thing we've got left of her is this WONDERFUL painting." she said, turning and throwing her hands up.
"It's more complicated than that, Freshwater." Pearl pleaded.
"Then explain it to me." Freshwater snapped, whipping back around, fury in her eyes. "Explain how any of her absolute bullshit is okay. Even if she had done all of this horrible stuff the least she could have done is tell her own crew about it, but-"
"She lied to us." Garnet interrupted softly as she stood, Freshwater freezing mid-rant as the gem squeezed herself in an attempt to hold herself together before disappearing into a flash of light.
"She lied to us! She lied about everything." Sapphire yelled, a pool of ice forming at her feet. " She held our hands, looked at us right in the eyes, and told us to never question who we are as Garnet. We never questioned ourselves, or her!"
"We couldn't have known!" Ruby protested as Sapphire shook her head. "No. you couldn't have known. You never know what's going on. That's what I'm for! But I never looked into her, I trusted her... I let her make fools of us all!" she said, turning on her heel and stomping off towards the Warp Pad, fury in her eyes as Ruby tried to follow after her, calling her name as she slipped clumsily on the ice covering the temple floor.
"Guys!" Steven called, hopping to his feet as Sapphire disappeared via the WarpPad and Ruby sank to her knees, devastated.
"Come on, Pearl. Help me explain everything to Sapphire." Steven said, looking up at Pearl, who nodded before turning hesitantly to Freshwater.
"I…think you should come too." she said, offering the gem her hand.
Freshwater started to angrily protest but froze when she looked into Pearl's eyes which were still full of the pain and tears Rose had caused. There wasn't anything Pearl could say to excuse the gem's actions in her eyes, but when Freshwater saw the pain reflected in her girlfriend's eyes she felt obligated to go with her as she told her story. Nodding, the gem took her girlfriend's hand, squeezing it gently as the anger ebbed away slightly, both gems making their way towards the Warp Pad.
|Everything we were running from, she was right there all along. Using us for her little war?" Sapphire said from where shew as sitting, Steven rubbing her shoulder as Pearl and Pearl sat next to her, hand in hand as Sapphire continued. "Smiling at us with those... knowing eyes? Making me believe in a better future that I couldn't see, because it wasn't real. And now here we are, our friends, shattered! And corrupted!" she said, rubbing her temples and closing her eye as a tear leaked out. "Of course she was a Diamond. What a long road she took, to torture us all like this…"
"It wasn't like that! You know she didn't want anyone to get hurt." Steven insisted as Sapphire shook her head and looked away. "I don't know that! I clearly don't know anything!"
Pearl sighed. "You deserve to know everything. I was given to Pink Diamond a few thousand years before she was given the Earth. I was supposed to make her happy, I just... never could." the gem said with a sigh as Freshwater squeezed her girlfriend's hand for support as she began recounting her time with Pink Diamond.
"Pink Diamond spent so much time browsing the different Gem locations on Earth. But she hated it and thought it was boring. She would spend time asking me to imagining things for her about how Earth might be to fulfill her desire to see her future colony. That was until the first Quartz soldiers started to emerge." she said, looking away wistfully. "She was so excited that she wanted to see it in more of a way than an observation room could provide. She knew the Diamonds wouldn't approve, though, so I suggested she change to a Quartz soldier for a while." the gem sighed, hanging her head slightly. "I had no idea the can of worms I was about to open when I did that."
"You couldn't have known, Pearl." Freshwater said, squeezing Pearl's hand. "No. I couldn't have." Pearl said, looking up. "But I did know we could get in a lot of trouble of the Diamonds found out about this. So, in an attempt to avoid that, after we went to the Prime Kindergarten, we went to explore Earth together."
"So…So it was all, just so she could get out and have some fun?" Steven said, frustration etched in his voice and face.
Pearl sighed. "Well, that's how it started. But…the more time Rose and I spent here, the more in love she fell with the planet and the less she wanted to colonize it. She said that in the beginning she thought they were creating life from nothing, but after exploring it, she realized the Diamonds were actually taking life, and leaving nothing behind. I felt so awful for showing her, but she felt she needed to see it and was grateful."
"So she did want to protect Earth. She didn't realize what the colony was doing to the planet." Steven said, nodding..
Freshwater scoffed, nodding as Sapphire voiced her thoughts. "So what?! She suddenly started to care about Earth? Why did she have to rope us into all this? Why couldn't she just stop the colonization herself?"
Pearl shook her head. "She tried. When she told the other Diamonds she didn't want to go through with the colony, they told her to finish what she started. When she told the other Diamonds she wanted to preserve life on Earth, they created the zoo and threw a handful of humans in. She did everything she could as Pink Diamond. But her status meant nothing to Blue and Yellow. So she decided to make a stand, as someone they couldn't ignore. Rose was going to scare every Gem off the planet. But everything changed when she saw... your fusion." Pearl explained, Sapphire, Steven, and Freshwater cocking their head to the side in confusion.
"Rose was absolutely fascinated by Garnet. Neither of us even knew gems could fuse with each other if they didn't have the same gem type." Pearl explained. "Before Garnet, Rose was only fighting for Earth. But Garnet changed everything. Rose wanted to fight for her, she wanted to fight for Gems! Then, when she met Amethyst, she realized how amazing gems are - no matter what 'defects' they may have." Pearl explained, glancing at Freshwater. "So, when she met you she wanted to make sure you were protected as well. She felt awful when she remembered her demands for perfect gems. But it was too late for her to put a stop to it. She was already on Earth, her Diamond form dead and gone. She was foolish, and maybe even... selfish! But she was-"
"Following us." Sapphire interrupted as Pearl nodded. "This whole time, we thought we were following her, but she was following us. How could she not after you swept her off her feet?
"W-What? Me?" Pearl said, blushing as Freshwater nodded with a small smile. "I mean, I may be a little biased considering you're the love of my life, but I think you're pretty great. Hell, you took her on this whirlwind tour of Earth and then she wanted to live here with you forever! And I can't say I blame her." she said, she and Pearl blushing as Steven and Sapphire nodded.
"That's just how I felt when I came here with…" the gem froze, her eyes widening. "Ruby! Oh no! We have to get back right away!" she said, standing, Steven at her side.
"You guys go on ahead." Freshwater said, waving she and Steven off. "I…I need a minute." she said, staring at her legs and biting her lower lip as she made circles with her thumb on Pearl's hand. "Alright. We'll be in the temple when you're ready to talk." Steven said, placing a comforting hand on Freshwater's shoulder as he followed Sapphire to the Warp Pad and walked away, leaving Freshwater and Pearl sitting in awkward silence.
"Is this…about me being in love with Rose?" Pearl asked, pulling her hand away as Sapphire and Steven warped away. "I know I loved her, but we never dated since she met Greg, and even if we had that doesn't mean I don't love you just as mu-"
Freshwater held her hand up to stop the gem, looking away. "No." she said, softly, yet firmly. "I'm not jealous of the relationship you had with Rose." she said, looking back so Pearl could see the hurt in her eyes.
"This is about the way she treated the gem I'm madly in love with. First, she forces you to remain silent about a traumatic event, telling you to never speak of it again. Then, you two are madly in love, then she comes to Earth and leaves you for someone else." she said, gritting her teeth as she took a deep breath. "Then she just…has a baby with that man and disappears. All the while never transforming back to Pink Diamond for even a moment to take back the order or give you a new one. She wanted to run from everything, and in that attempt she left us behind to pick up the pieces. She never once went back to the Diamonds to stop the war, to stop corruption and to stop the Perfect Pearl experiment. She…she just ran away." Freshwater said, taking another deep breath.
"And it just…it hurts to see the gem I love trip and fall over herself to try to defend someone who hurt so many people so deeply. Who hurt her so deeply." Freshwater explained, looking up when she felt Pearl's hand on top of hers, both gems returning to the uncomfortable silence as Pearl mulled over the gem's words.
"You're…you're right." Pearl said, feeling tears start to fall from her eyes. "I have been trying to excuse her actions. It's just…so hard not to."
Freshwater nodded. "I…I get it. I still have to convince myself sometimes that I didn't deserve every bit of abuse I suffered at the hands of Holly Blue Agate and the Diamonds. In fact, the only reason I even started to try to change the way I saw it was because that night I got back from my meeting with Holly Blue in the Zoo."
Pearl grimaced. She remembered that night far too well. "You were so comfortable with her laying her hands on you." she recounted. "I hated it. I still hate it." she said, her hand resting on Freshwater's making its way up to gently caress the gem's cheek where she remembered the indentation of the Agate's hand being. She could almost feel the heat she remembered coming off of it.
"And I hate knowing that someone hurt you." Freshwater said, leaning into the gem's touch. "Even if she didn't put her hands on you, she still hurt you and so many other people." she said, closing her eyes. "And, for the record…I'm not angry that you loved her. Or even if you still love her. I fell in love with you and I can't imagine that ever changing. No matter what." she said, smiling and opening her eyes when she felt Pearl's other hand come to her cheek, both gem's faces shining with tears.
"I love you." Pearl said, her heart fluttering as she pulled the gem in, kissing her.
Freshwater felt her heart flutter in her chest as she closed her eyes when Pearl's lips met hers. Though they had kissed several times now, each one still felt magical to her. "I love you too."