Chapter 26, rolling on down the line.

I don't own Steven Universe.


Chapter 26: Beta

This isn't happening, this isn't happening!

The thought ran through her mind over and over again, as if the mantra would somehow snap her out of it. She didn't know what was going on, but whatever this was it wasn't happening.

It couldn't be.

She looked to the reflection again and touched her face, Pearl's reflection copying her every movement.

But it was.

Okay. Okay. Calm down. She thought to herself looking away and beginning to pace. What could have caused this to happen? And what about her real body?

She quickly made her way down the stairs, though not too quickly. She was, after all, still adjusting to their new proportions for her. When she reached her personal chambers, she tried to access it, only to be denied.

Pink slapped her… er… Pearl's forehead. Of course. That's right. She'd sealed the room because she wanted to be alone.

She then had another idea. Pink stood up and took a stance, attempting to summon Pearl's blade the way she'd seen her do it thousands of times. It took a few tries, but her gem finally glowed and the sword came through… and she dropped it.

Pink picked it up and then wedged the blade between the seams keeping the door shut. She bent and pushed, wriggling it around trying to get more of it in, but she couldn't quite see if it was managing to make any headway or if she was just using a sword in perhaps the most idiotic way ever devised.

"Pearl?"

Pink turned to look and saw Peridot, a perplexed look upon her features.

"Are you trying to pry open the door with your sword?"

Pink let go of the blade and it flung out of its crevice and down the tower, disappearing back into light as Pink came up to Peridot and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Peridot! Thank the stars! You got to help me!"

Peridot gave a deeply confused look. "I uh… don't think Pink would appreciate me helping you break in, Pearl."

"Pea-?" Pink nearly said before looking quickly down at herself and up again. "No! No, no, no, no, no! I'm not Pearl, Peridot! I'm Pink Diamond!"

If there had been any hope for Peridot to figure out what Pearl was trying to say, it was completely gone now. Leaving her with only one response. "What."

"I said I'm-" She began until Peridot shrugged her hands off and covered her mouth.

"Yeah, I heard you. I meant 'what' as in 'I cannot and will not believe what you just said'." Peridot replied.

Pink pulled the hand down. "But it's true! I'm Pink-" The hand raised again and Pink's features contorted with annoyance. She pulled the hand away again. "Stop it!"

"You're the one who needs to stop it!" Peridot shot back. "You're Pearl! P-E-A-R-L! Pearl! Not Pink Diamond!"

"What in space is going on?"

The two turned to see Onyx looking at them. "If you two were any louder you'd be drawing the attention of everyone in the spire."

Which would not be hard. Ever since the rebellion began the moon base had been operating with mostly a skeleton crew, every other gem was either fighting or guarding a base on Earth.

"Onyx! You have to listen to me!" Pink said drawing near to her. "I'm not Pearl, it's me Pink Diamond!"

Onyx raised a single brow and looked to Peridot with a "what kind of joke is this" look. Peridot just shrugged with a muddled look of her own. Then she looked down to Pearl again and… something was off. She looked directly into her eyes and saw something she'd never seen in Pearl before. "Look, this problem is easily solved." Onyx said, changing her shape until she was Pink Diamond and opened the door. "See? Pink Diamond is…" She stopped as she looked inside the room and the other two quickly joined her, closing the door behind them.

Pink Diamond laid slumped over in her seat, entirely unresponsive. "Pink Diamond…?"

"Yes?" asked Pearl.

Onyx glanced down to Pearl with a grimace but then walked over to Pink Diamond's form and pushed her up. Pink's eyes were closed, still entirely unresponsive.

"What's wrong with her?" Peridot asked.

"It looks like she's unconscious." Onyx observed. "Which is really weird, since I thought that was a thing only for organics."

"We can't really get a good look from here, lay her down." Peridot said. Onyx did just that, gingerly picking her up bridal style and laying the body down, face-up.

"Wow, is this really how you guys see me? I'm so huge compared to you." Pink observed as she looked upon her own body.

"Knock it off Pearl." Peridot chided.

"Actually Peri, I think she might be telling the truth." Onyx replied, reverting to her true form.

A look of relief fell upon the features of the pink gem at the acknowledgement. The green gem however looked at the shapeshifter like she'd grown a second head, which was probably not an out of the question sight, considering Onyx's abilities.

"You can't be serious Onyx." Peridot said, the pointing to Pearl. "I mean what makes you think she's Pink Diamond?"

"Well a couple of things." Onyx said, crossing her arms. "First off, I've never known Pearl to lie, not ever." Peridot looked taken back by that point and Onyx went on. "On top of that we now have her claiming that she's Pink Diamond, and the real Pink Diamond here is lain before us, somehow unconscious, a state no gem has ever been in. So, you'll forgive me if I'm willing to entertain a wild unheard-of possibility right now."

The green gem considered this and then took a few steps closer to Pearl. "Could it really be…?"

Pink just smiled as Peridot's eyes shot wide. She then closed the distance completely. "OhmystarsI'msosorry!" She blurted out, falling to her knees in front of Pink and grabbing her hand.

"Whoa whoa! Easy Peridot. It's alright." Pink said patting her head.

Peridot smiled and stood up, relieved. "But how did this happen?"

"I don't know, I was just feeling sad about… things and then I was in Pearl's body." She explained, rubbing the back of her head unsure of quite what to say. "The better question though is how do I get back?"

"I got this." Onyx replied before transforming back into Pink Diamond. She then straddled Pink Diamond and began smacking her left and right across the face.

"WHAT IN THE COSMOS ARE YOU DOING?!" Peridot screamed before suddenly feeling Pearl go limb and collapse on top of her.

Pink Diamond's eyes fluttered open and just as Onyx was going in for another blow, Pink caught the hand. "Thank you, Onyx, that's enough."

The shapeshifter gave a half smile. "Just when I was getting into it…" she said before reverting back.

Peridot looked to Onyx in shock, still looking from under Pearl's body. "How-?"

"Saw humans doing it to wake each other up, figured it was worth a shot." Onyx replied.

Pink sat up, holding her head with one hand as Pearl was regaining consciousness, rolling off of Peridot. "Wha… what?" she said, sitting up and looking around. "My Diamond, what am I doing in your room?" She looked off to the side where Onyx and Peridot were. "And how did you two get in here without me noticing?"

Peridot got up and walked over to Pearl, offering her hand. "It's a strange story, Pearl." She said as Pearl took her hand, a curious look on Pearl's face.

Pink stood and returned to her seat and the three stepped forward before her. "So Pearl, do you remember anything? Say from the last ten minutes or so?"

Pearl looked unsure, something that was very rare to see. "I… don't know. I remember standing outside and then… something felt like it was washing over me and then… nothing. I was here, somehow."

"Well brace yourself for this Pearl," Onyx said walking over and putting a single hand on her shoulder. "Pink Diamond took over your body." She said pointing up to her.

Pearl gave a look of shock and turned to Pink who smiled uneasily. "She's right Pearl, I'm sorry to say."

Pearl was silent for a few moments, processing the new information before looking back to her. "But how did you do it?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. Honestly, it just sorta happened." Pink said rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

Onyx put a hand to her chin. "I think I may have a theory." She turned to Pink. "Do you remember when Spinel gave you her power?"

Pink nodded. It hadn't been apparent at first. The power manifested itself quite slowly in fact. But after thousands of years it had matured and grown to the point where Pink could sense the feeling and intentions of those around her and if she concentrated she could reach out to feel entire planets or star systems.

"What if the power changed somehow?" she proposed. "What if instead of just feeling what others feel you can, well, you can now literally see things from their point of view."

"Even if I were to entertain such a ridiculous explanation, what caused it?" Peridot asked.

"I was feeling pretty bad, about Flint…" she trailed off and the room fell into awkward silence, no one wanting to meet anyone else's eyes before Pink finished. "and I remember wanting to understand, so very badly."

"Understand? Understand what, my Diamond?" Pearl asked.

"You all." The three looked at her curiously and she continued. "I wanted to better understand normal gems. Because I'm a Diamond there's always been a disconnect between me and you and I wanted so much to close it, and then I found myself in your body." She said turning to look at Pearl.

"So, it was triggered by an emotional response, and a strong one at that." Peridot said thoughtfully. "I wonder if it's possible to recreate it?"

"Please don't make me sad on purpose." Pink said, eyeing Peridot wearily now.

"No no, I don't think it's even despair we need, not necessarily anyways." Peridot said waving a hand. "Just a strong enough emotional response of any kind should be enough. But then again maybe not."

"What do you mean?" Onyx asked.

"Well Pink's had strong emotional moments before, we've all seen this." Peridot said and the other two nodded. "So, what made this one special enough to cause this phenomenon?"

"Her desire to understand." Pearl said, the answer dawning on her.

"Right." She turned to look at Pink. "I think that your intense emotional state combined with your desire to 'understand' is what caused this." She then shrugged. "At least, it's the best I can come up with, given what we know."

"And that's not much." Pink said seeming rather disappointed in that fact.

"But think of the possibilities if we knew more." Onyx began. "To take over the bodies of other gems? It could be a valuable tool." She turned to look up at Pink. "Imagine if you could take control of anyone, perhaps even Yellow or Blue Diamond?"

Pink frowned at that. "I don't think I like the idea very much."

"I wouldn't dismiss it so easily, my Diamond." Peridot began again. "Given Yellow Diamond's current behavior concerning the rebellion and her refusal to retreat from the planet despite the enormous losses in time, gems, and material, it could be a possible way to end the war. If you took over your sister's body you could order every gem off the planet and that could be just the start."

The implications were not lost on Pink. She knew if she mastered this mysterious new power it could in fact be a great boon to her. The ability to make anyone do as you please no question asked? She knew it was certainly something her sister would have very much liked to use. And in it, she did see a possibility to end the war, to finally make her sisters listen whether they liked it or not. She then looked down to Pearl. But at what cost?

"Perhaps but even if I did choose to control my sisters in such a way, I don't think it would work that well." Pink said pointedly.

"Why not?" Peridot asked.

"First off, the effects don't seem to be permanent." She said motioning to Pearl. "As soon as I left Pearl there she reverted completely back to her old self. You are back to your old self, aren't you?" she asked.

Pearl nodded. "As far as I know." She said.

"Second, I would simply be me but in another body, meanwhile my real body would just be laying around doing nothing. And I think some gems would find that a bit odd to say the least." She continued. "Third, even if we ignore the first two points I'd somehow have to get close enough to Yellow and simulate the conditions for this 'body swap' power. And I think Yellow would immediately suspect something wrong if I just went back to Homeworld, barged into the throne room and collapsed into tears right in front of her."

"She has a point." Onyx admitted.

"Hmm… well regardless it bears more investigation." Peridot said. "Perhaps we can even try to make it so you can do it at will, or evolve it in some other way. It could be quite interesting."

"Well, I'm glad at least someone is enjoying this." Pink said exasperatedly.

"Well, you know me and Pearl, if you need us to help, just call." Onyx said shrugging to which Pearl nodded.

Pink smiled gratefully. "Thanks."


Fifty years later…


The wind was beginning to pick up and the dust in the air. Peridot grimaced as she looked upon her creation.

"Hey Peridot!" Onyx said, in her Amethyst form. "What's the hold up? Are they coming out or what?"

Peridot said nothing, only continuing to frown deeply. Onyx waved a hand in front of her face, causing the green gem's frown to deepen more and more until she smacked the hand away, very irritated. "What?!"

"Whoa, what's with you?" she asked.

"Look at them all." Peridot said motioning to the pods in the rock.

"Am I supposed to be seeing something?"

"Yes!" Peridot shouted. 'They're terrible! Awful! Such shoddy workmanship. And what's worse is that the one who did it was me…"

"Didn't Pink ask you to do that though?" Onyx asked.

"Yes, I still hate it though. I mean to ask me to mess up my favored craft on purpose? It just hurts to even look at but doing it? Don't even get me started." Peridot said shaking her head.

"And yet you did it." Onyx said. "Because Yellow Diamond wanted us to try and start another kindergarten to support Homeworld, but Pink made sure no soldiers of significance could be added by asking you to sabotage your own creation." She patted Peridot's shoulder. "I know it must hurt, but it's all for the best."

Peridot sighed. "That's what I keep telling myself."

"And hey at least your first batch was a total success, right? They were great soldiers, all of them."

"Well, not total." Peridot said thinking back.


Meanwhile…


The stone rumbled in the Alpha Kindergarten. The only sound for miles in fact as a purple arm and leg jutted out before the quartz finished pulling herself out and tripped, landing on her face. She was soon standing straight up and standing stiff. "Whew! Sorry about that, it took a little longer than I would have like but I'm finally…" she looked around, seeing nothing but darkness and mists of the long vacant kindergarten. "here?' She looked around, but saw nothing else, no one else. "Where is everyone?" she wondered. "Ah, well. I'm sure they'll come to get me, I mean how long could it take?"


"Regardless, I have a duty to fulfill, even to these gems who will be inevitably flawed." Peridot said stoically.

Onyx punched her lightly on the arm. "You trooper you. So, shall we?" Onyx said motioning down to where a few Amethysts had gathered to receive the new soldier and assign them.

"You go on ahead, this part is more of a quartz thing. My job's over." Peridot said turning and walking away.

Onyx shrugged and greeted the other Amethysts before their little group headed into the valley to await their new arrivals.

Within moments the walls shook as gems made their way out, but it was not at all like how it had happened in the first kindergarten. Many came out wrong, some coming out diagonally, sideways, even backwards somehow and none of them looked quite right. Some were too short or think. Some of their body proportions were way off from what they should be.

The amethysts looked at each other, a little unsure, but none the less they began to spread out, forming what gems they could into groups.

Onyx looked at the newcomers. It had been just what Peridot had said, none of these were the way they should be, not in any regard. They were all defective and misshapen, it was kind of hard to look at really, knowing that this had been done to them on purpose. That they could have been properly formed gems but that chance was stolen away from them so Homeworld wouldn't have even a single chance at a half-way decent soldier.

Worse still was the possibility that like so many others, they may have been sympathetic to the rebellion, but now would be severely inadequate for any fight against Homeworld. Sure, they'd probably prevented Homeworld from getting any significant increase in soldiers, but at what cost?

Onyx walked alone, watching as the others were forming ranks now, but then she heard something… different. Like stone sliding on porcelain. She followed the sound and watched as a group of gems, both Amethyst commanders and the new gems watched as the wall they were looking at practically lit up and then with a single loud bang a gem fell from the hole and landed on one knee.

She looked up with a wild smile her amber eyes glowing with intensity. She had tangerine skin with reddish-orange markings on her face and arms. She had thick, beige-white-colored flowing hair. She had a muscular body and stood both taller and wider than the average quartz, a sure indication of her immense strength and durability. Her gemstone sat smackdab where a nose should have been.

"Oh… this can't be good."


Pink sat on a small transport, barely listening as the two agates were droning on once more. She had gotten quite used to be praised unnecessarily, but these two seemed to have taken a special pride in being on Pink's good side considering how much they kissed up. She briefly wondered if that had been a trait Yellow had instilled into them.

Still, she had learned how to drown out the gushing praise and glean actual information every once in a while. For instance, just recently they had mentioned that Yellow had spoken of some sort of end-all solution to the rebellion, which greatly concerned Pink. If she knew her sisters, which to her great disappointment she did, Yellow had probably revived that mind wiping project or the gem shard project.

Maybe both.

In any case, it was something she'd have to bring up the next time she saw Yellow. But for now, she was on the way to one of the arenas. She had had it built to train the solders of the Empire but also to closely inspect them for more possible recruits for Rose. Though, admittedly, Onyx was much better at that then she was.

The four gems soon arrived at the arena, departing their transport and entering the magnificent structure, Salutes lined the halls as their group made their way to the main viewing box. Pink was given the most luxurious chair in the center while smaller, but still ornately decorated chairs for the agates. Pearl stood nearby, waiting patiently for any orders directed to her.

The two agates seemed to sneer as they all looked down on the fighters below. Some were sparing with one another some were fighting with dummies, others still tried their hands at obstacle courses. "Look at them." Iris began. "These are supposed to be our reinforcements? Look at them all, I've never seen so many defects."

Thunder Egg nodded in agreement. "It's pathetic, who designed the Kindergarten? They should shattered for such a poor showing of gems."

"You would both do well to be silent." Pink said her voice grave. "The gem I assigned to this project was working with almost no time and had to find a location nearly impossible for the crystal gems to find. We're fortunate to have gems at all."

"Yes, of course my Diamond." Thunder Egg said quickly.

"Please pardon our comments." Iris followed up.

"It is alright, but think more on your words next time." She advised.

"Yes, my Diamond." They said in unison.

Pink's face remained straight, but inwardly she smiled. She didn't often admit it, even to herself, but there were times when throwing one's power around was kinda fun.

BANG CLA-CLANG

The four's attention was drawn over to the sparing section of the arena where they saw one fighter who stood out from the rest. The orange-hued gem was facing down several of her beta-sisters, and they stood no chance at all. She knocked them aside and away like she was swatting at insects,

"C'mon! That the best you can do!" She turned to look at two of the amethyst commanders. "Hey! You! Come over here! I'd like to get a little bit of a challenge!"

"Watch your tone, newbie. Or you might get exactly what you asked for." One of them responded narrowing her eyes.

The orange quartz smiled even wider. "What I asked for is a challenge, but hey, maybe you're the wrong gems to ask for something like that."

That was enough to get the two of them to draw their weapons. "Time to put you in your place, newbie." The other said, charging at her with a sword.

Despite the orange quartz being bigger than her, she was also much quicker. She dodged the blows of the amethyst and the second one started getting her blows in with a spear, but to no avail. The speared amethyst slashed with a spear, striking down, the orange gem side stepped and grabbed the spear's shaft, quickly shoving it back into the amethyst's stomach and knocking her away.

The sword amethyst saw an opening and was about to bring down her blade on her head, but the orange gem's head lit up, and a helmet appeared, blocking the blade's blow. The orange quartz grabbed her purple counterpart by the ankle and brought her down on friend and in a puff of smoke they were both gone, leaving behind two gems on the ground.

The orange quartz smirked for a moment before fiercely eyeing those around her, changeling any who were near. All the gems began to back away cautiously and the orange gem stood to her full height, an arrogant smile upon her face.

The two agates looked elated as they had watched the scene unfold. "She's amazing!" Iris exclaimed.

"She could be the Empire's greatest warrior. You were right all along, my Diamond! But of course, you were." Thunder Egg added.

Pearl eyed her Diamond carefully, with a look of concern. Pink's face had tried to remain flat and neutral but when looking close one could see the cracks in the mask, showing signs of perplexion. Finally, she stood from her seat and began to clap, slowly but respectfully.

The two agates quickly followed suit, getting from their chairs and clapping vigorously, Pearl joining them, though slower, closer to how Pink's was. Soon the entire area was aloud with the sound of clapping and the orange gem looked around, that same arrogant smirk on her features all the while. She then looked up to Pink and bowed her head low, saluting as she fell to one knee.

Pink suddenly jumped from the viewer's box and landed in the area gracefully, the two agates and Pearl following behind. Every gem aside from them suddenly saluted and fell to one knee. Pink strode her way past the gems and stood in front the orange quartz whose head was still bowed. The agates flanked her on either side and Pearl stood a bit behind Pink.

"Raise your head." Pink ordered. The orange gem complied, still kneeling and saluting. "You displayed great strength just now."

"Spectacular!" Iris added.

"Amazing!" Thunder Egg piled on.

"I can think of no higher honor than a compliment from you, my Diamond." The orange gem said respectfully.

"What is your name, quartz?" Pink asked.

"I'm cut 9JX, my Diamond. A Jasper." She answered.

"Well Jasper, know this. These gems are not your enemies, they are your comrades. You would do well not to treat them so harshly." Pink said.

Jasper nodded once, but spoke up. "If I may speak freely, my Diamond?"

Pink was curious. "Go ahead."

"Weak gems are not what is going to win us this war." Jasper started. "We must be strong, and train the strong and if the weak are crushed and shattered then it means they had no place in being solders in the first place."

Pink raised an eyebrow. Iris spoke up. "Are you questioning my methods?"

Jasper hesitated for a moment but then answered with a single word. "Yes."

Iris and Thunder Egg jumped on either side of Pink. "Now see here! She is a Diamond! You owe here more respect than that!" Thunder Egg started.

Iris joined in. "How dare you question a Diamond's orders?!"

"Should we not question policies that are flawed? Or the gems that make them?" Jasper asked calmly, and every gem seemed appalled at the question, all except Pink who kept a straight face. Even Pearl looked a bit surprised that anyone would speak this way to Pink.

Thunder Egg and Iris fumed. "The arrogance!" the latter said.

But Pink, to the great surprise of all smiled before bursting out into a chuckle which left every other gem in stunned silence.

"M-my Diamond!" Thunder Egg began. "You can't possibly find this situation amusing!"

"She's questioning your authority! Your policy!" Iris added.

Pink's laughter ceased, leaving only a smile, looking to her advisors. "I know, it's been a while since anyone has tried challenging me like this. It's a bit refreshing really." She then looked back to Jasper. "You've surprised me Jasper, and that's no small feat. I look forward to your future."

Jasper smiled her wide and toothy smile. "As do I, my Diamond."


DONE! Now let's see here… oh! More questions fantastic!

- JamesFlames – What you got to remember is that entire centuries are passing by here. It's not to say that she didn't hold a grudge for a good long while, but after years they've gotten to know each other and thus a relationship. And while I'd love to sit here writing for years on end about the centuries I'm glossing over I don't really feel like bogging myself down like that. Besides a friend of mine asked me to set them up, and since I didn't really see a problem with it, I green lighted it.

- Savannah9137- Don't really know what you're referring to here exactly, could you elaborate?

-Tsukimine12- Can't really tell you if Flint is coming back or not without spoilers so… sorry about that. For the second question, In a way, she is and isn't, just like how Rose both is and isn't Pink Diamond, as well as all the other Rose Quartzes. Third question,yeah, I suppose so, in a way.

More questions please, this is fun.