Black & White
"… So that's what I'm going to try to do," Steven had finished explaining what happened.
"There's a Black Diamond now?" Amethyst asked.
"No there isn't," Garnet said, "She was never real."
"What makes you so sure, what does this legend about Black Diamond say?" Steven asked.
"Just that at the dawn of gem kind there were two Diamonds, but that's it," Garnet said, "No one has ever seen Black Diamond."
"That's because anyone who could have seen her was shattered a long time ago," Steven said, "I think she appeared in my dream because she was real. I want to know what happened to her."
"Why?" Garnet asked, "The Diamonds are dangerous, they take over and destroy planets," Garnet's tone turned more bitter and angry, "They don't care about other lifeforms or even the loyal gems that serve them, they…"
"You can't just say that," Steven suddenly interrupted. Hearing Garnet say that made something inside him snap, "Mom was a Diamond. Yes, she lied, but she still cared about you, not a servant but as a friend, and… and… I'm a Diamond!" Steven shouted. Causing the very air to become still. Steven didn't want to acknowledge that. He had pushed that fact out of his mind the moment he learned the truth about his mom. He was a Diamond, yes half Diamond, but Diamond nonetheless. "And I care about the Earth, the humans, and all of you so much."
Garnet was silent for a moment, before getting on her knees and pulling Steven in for a hug, "Of course you do. I shouldn't have said that."
Steven wasn't mad. He knew how much pain Blue Diamond caused her, but, "You can't just assume every Diamond is mean. And even if she is, everyone needs to know what happened to her."
Connie began to dig through her backpack, "I've got just the thing. Herbal tea," she pulled out a box and some water, and even some cups, "Relaxes you, helps you sleep."
"Um…" Pearl began, "Gems don't need to eat or sleep, so… there aren't any bathrooms on homeworld."
Blue reached White's ship. She spotted Yellow exiting the ship, good she caught her in time.
"Yellow," Blue approached. The yellow monarch stopped.
"Blue, how's Pink?" Yellow asked.
"She's fine," Blue answered, "How did your talk with White go?"
"All things considered," Yellow began, "Painless." Yellow then noticed a strange expression on her blue counterpart's face, "Blue? What's wrong?"
Blue looked at White's ship, "Not here, lets talk on your palanquin."
Yellow cocked an eyebrow but summoned the yellow vessel. The two entered, Yellow took her seat and Blue stood next to her as she made the ship take them to Pink's location. The vessel began to fly through homeworlds sky, "I don't know how we're going to make White help those gems. I did bring it up, but she just shrugged it off. Pink is going to be disappointed."
"I actually wanted to talk to you about those gems," Blue spoke.
"If you think we shouldn't, remember," Yellow said, "Our resources aren't what they use to be, despite our best colonization effort. Besides, that Nephrite was… acceptable. A loyal gem, we shouldn't leave her and her crew like that."
"That's the thing," Blue said, "Their current state. When you added your power for the attack, you meant to destroy the gems on Earth."
"I did," Yellow scowled, "I can't believe Pink. She made us believe she was shattered. She nearly got… corrupted herself."
Blue shuddered at the thought, but kept on track, "I know I tried to shatter every gem on the planet, yet those gems live, even if it is as those creatures."
"What are you getting at Blue?" Yellow asked.
"You intended to destroy those gems, I intended to destroy those gems… but White…"
Yellow's hand went to the panel and the palanquin stopped. Yellow stood up to face Blue, "What do you mean Blue?"
"Yellow don't act like you haven't thought about it," Blue said, "How could our combined attack fail like that? You and I wouldn't have made a mistake, but White…"
"She doesn't make mistakes either, Blue," Yellow said defensively.
"You're right," Blue confessed, "But she might have done it on purpose."
Yellow's eyes widened, "You're saying she would do that to other gems, deliberately?"
"You've seen what she did to her Pearl," Blue reminded.
"That's…"
"Besides, that's not the only thing that's been strange," Blue said, "The welcome of the gems. White's non-aggressive response, she's never been merciful over matters like this."
"Now what are you suggesting?" Yellow demanded.
Blue looked down in anger before looking up, "She wasn't as upset over Pink's shattering as she should have been. She didn't come to the trial. She wasn't angry when we returned with Pink," Blue pieced everything together, "The only explanation is… She knew Pink was alive."
"What?" Yellow was shocked by Blue's accusation, "Do you hear yourself? That would mean she left Pink on that forsaken planet, infested by those creatures, that was doomed to be destroyed by the cluster… She almost corrupted her as well!"
"Yellow," Blue said sternly, "You are the most logical out of the two of us. You tell me all the time to not let my emotions control me. You are denying the proof, even when it's in front of you."
"What are we supposed to do about it, Blue?" Yellow nearly shouted, "I also know for a fact that; even though we are all Diamonds, our powers aren't equal! With White, it took the power of three Diamonds to corrupt all gems on one planet, but without her we can't cure even one!" After her outburst, Yellow huffed in air. Then she turned, placing her hand on her throne and leaned on it, "She… is dangerous… to us and homeworld… but we can't defy her."
Blue placed her hand on Yellow's shoulder. She was afraid, they both were afraid. They always feared White. But, Blue knew after this, they couldn't listen to her anymore.
"Yellow, I spoke to Pink earlier."
"And...?" Yellow sounded tired.
"And, she thinks she can learn more about Black Diamond."
Yellow sighed, "Blue, not this again."
"I know what you're thinking, but Pink…"
"Is going through that phase again," Yellow interrupted, "You went through it. Even I admit I went through it, but none of us found proof of her."
"Because White said she didn't exist?" Blue asked, "Yellow, It won't hurt us to try it Pink's way."
"Pink's way?" Yellow repeated, "Pink's way, is to run away from her problems, her duties, us!" When Yellow shouted the last part, she sounded hurt. Blue noticed tears threatening Yellow's eyes and this time, they really were Yellow's tears, "Why didn't she talk to us."
"Yellow she did," Blue defended, "She did try to talk to us, but we didn't listen."
"I did listen," Yellow said, "Instead of continuing our kind, she wanted to save useless creatures."
"Yellow!" Blue said, "Maybe she was right."
Yellow looked at Blue in shock.
"Yellow," Blue began again after a minute of silence, "Maybe it was time for a change a long time ago."
"Why should things change?"
"Because we can't find good planets to make gems anymore," Blue reminded, "You said it yourself, our resources aren't what they used to be. Our method for making gems depletes the resources and when it's time to make more, we now find what resources we have collected dwindling. Whether we like to admit it or not, we need to change, our race depends on it."
"And you think Black Diamond can make that change?" Yellow asked.
"We have nothing to lose if we look," Blue said. The two Diamond's stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Then Yellow sighed.
"What, did Pink say exactly?"
Steven opened his eyes and stood up. In front of him was an enormous statue of White Diamond. It was so tall he couldn't see the top, but the bright light, was telling him she was there. Steven gulped and preceded forward. Where her feet were supposed to be, was a set of doors. Slowly he pushed the doors open. Thankfully there was no reaction from White.
Steven entered the statue slowly, "Hello?"
There was no answer. The white walls were decorated with more murals of White Diamond.
"I just want to know if Black Diamond was real or not?"
The floor vanished, and Steven began to fall. Soon he was surrounded by darkness. To make matters more terrifying he couldn't move. Then he heard cracking, then an explosion. He fell forward, into the light, free to finally move. He was so relieved he landed on his knees. His long white arms quickly supported his upper half… White arms?
Those weren't his arms. When Steven tried to move, he realized he wasn't in control. Still the body he was in did move the head. His vision showed him a canyon. Barren and dead, like a kindergarten, except, it was filled with any holes. A setting sun had cast half of the canyon in shadow.
What is this place?
The head turned to look behind, there was a large hole in the canyon's wall.
Did I come out of that?
A noise caused the vision to look ahead. Something had just scrapped against the ground. Sitting in the shadow of the canyon, was another figure, sitting in front of another hole.
Steven couldn't make out what the figure looked like. When the body tried to lean forward, it knocked a rock over, making noise.
A surprised gasp came from the figure, they now knew they weren't alone. The body Steven was in tensed up for a moment. Refusing to move even with the figure's attention.
After a moment of silence, the canyon began to fill with soft noises. Slight clapping and soft dragging. It took Steven a moment to realize, the figure was crawling towards him.
A dark grey hand emerged from the darkness. It grasped the ground and pulled the figure forward. A young woman. Flowing over her entire body was wavy black hair. Long bangs hung over her eyes. The woman finally reached Steven, she looked at him for a minute, not in anger, but curiosity. Then she just sat there.
The woman and the Steven just stared at each other. Steven the noticed the whites of her eyes through her bangs, and something else, something glittering. A White hand slowly reached forward. The woman flinched for a second but allowed the hand to touch her face. The hand pulled aside the curtain.
On her forehead was a black gem. Identical to White Diamond's cut. A princess cut shown on the side.
Black.
Her eyes were as black as her gem, but instead of round black pupils, like humans and common gems, were white diamond shaped pupils.
Diamond.
She was real. Steven didn't know what to think, until something else drew his attention. In one of the facets was the reflection of a gem he didn't recognize, until Black Diamond repeated the action and moved the bangs.
White Diamond?
Steven barely recognized her. She wasn't wearing black lipstick or black eyeliner. Her hair was soft and limp, cascading down her back. But what was most unrecognizable was her expression. Mimicking Black Diamond, White was confused, curious, and… young. Nothing like the Diamond he met earlier.
He suddenly felt something in his hand. He looked to see Black was now holding, White's hand. Looking at the body part.
"… White," a voice came from the black gem, showing for the first time she was capable of speech, "You're… white."
She made eye contact with White.
"You're…" White spoke for the first time, "You're black."
White held up her hand. Black pressed her palm against it. Steven noticed for the first time. Black was the exact same size as White. Yellow and Blue were still big, but still smaller than White. Their fingers wove together in both hands. Then they just began to… push and pull each other.
Gently the Diamonds were pulling and pushing their hands. Then, a smile began to form on Black Diamond's face, before she began to giggle like a toddler. Then a second form of laughter filled the canyon. It took Steven a moment to realize, it was White Diamond laughing. White was genuinely happy.
