Chapter 30, I honestly didn't think it would end on a round number like this... How convenient.

I don't own Steven Universe.


Chapter 30: Future

A single day later…


Yellow Diamond seethed. Her mind was wrapped in a rage she had never felt before as she watched the footage over and over again.

The death of a Diamond.

Of her sister.

Of Pink.

The rebels had broadcasted it all across the empire. Pink Diamond had been destroyed and by none other than Rose Quartz, the leader of the rebellion.

Never, not once in her hundred thousand years, had something of this magnitude happened. Their sister was gone, a Diamond slain by a mere quartz soldier.

The term "unheard of" didn't even begin to cover it. It was an embarrassment. An outrage. One that needed the proper response. "Prepare my ship Pearl and be sure that the weapon is onboard and fully operational." She ordered.

"Yes, my Diamond." The yellow-ish Pearl said before running out of the room.

Yellow accessed communications and called the moon base, as expected, Blue answered, looking incredibly broken down, tears streaming freely from her eyes. "Blue? Are you there?"

Blue said nothing, only nodded once.

"Has the Cluster been implemented?" she asked.

Blue sniffed loudly. "The… the Cluster has been r-readied for insertion. Within a… d-day, it will be resting in the core…"

Yellow frowned. "Get ahold of yourself Blue. I need you to focus."

Her younger sister nodded.

"Good. Now, make sure it gets done, I'll be making my way there soon." Yellow said.

"You're… coming here? But why?" Blue asked.

Yellow's face turned into a snarl. "I'm going to finish what our sister started."


The aircraft landed back at the Crystal Gem's main base. Garnet and Pearl continued to carry Rose over the shoulders, taking her inside as other gems looked on.

The laid her down carefully and waited for something, anything, to happen.

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

"I don't know." Garnet answered honestly. She looked towards Rose's gem. "Her gem is fine, I don't understand why she's like this."

Pearl put a hand on Rose's forehead. "Please, please, be alright."


Inside Rose's head…


Rose felt like she was… drifting along. As if she was lying in a river and allowing the current to take her. Her mind felt hazy, and her vision was foggy at best. But still, even as she looked around she started to recognize where she was… she was… inside her room? How'd she get there? But still as she looked around the details formed and her surroundings came into focus, she was definitely inside her room.

"Actually, you are definitely not." Came a voice from nowhere.

Rose looked around for a source, but found nothing but more air. "What? What do you mean? Of course that's where I am!" she called out to the nothingness.

"Oh? Really?" The voice wondered. "How'd you get here then?"

Rose had no answer for this, as she'd been wondering it herself.

"Look, stop thinking so hard about it. We're inside your head." The voice said.

"Where are you?" She asked.

Pink mists began to swirl around Rose and she turned to look. The swirling became faster and got closer together before finally disappearing. In its place was a large pink ornately decorated throne. Upon the throne sat none other than Pink Diamond herself. "Hello Rose."

"But I… I mean you're…" Rose started in disbelief.

"Dead? Destroyed? Well… yes. But only my physical form." Pink replied bemused as Rose approached her. "And what a great job you did of it! Hail the conquering hero! Rose Quartz, the Diamond Slayer!" Pink announced clapping her hands in a polite manner.

Rose gave an annoyed look. "That's not how I wanted people to see me."

Pink ceased her clapping, laying her hands in her lap. "But it is how they see you. How they needto see you. You'll go down in history as the greatest hero of the rebellion, and the worst war criminal to ever exist. You've brought hope to the rebels and fear into Homeworld, you should be proud."

Rose stood stock still for a few moments in absolute silence, she then fell on her hands and knees as tears began to flow freely from her face. "I… I didn't want this! Not any of this! But you made me do it."

Pink frowned, a look of pity upon her face. "Yes, I did."

"You knew what it would mean! What others would think of me. What I would think of myself. And you forced me to do it anyways!"

Pink nodded. "Yes, I did."

Finally, Rose picked herself up, kneeling and her face filled with tears. "WHY?!"

The Diamond looked off and away, ashamedly. "I… was too afraid. I was always too afraid."

"Of what?" Rose asked.

"Of everything." Pink replied honestly. "I was too afraid to speak out against my sisters when I thought what they were doing was wrong, and even more afraid to act against them when I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do. So, like the coward I am… was… I hid and schemed in secret. I created someone who could fight the battles I was too afraid to fight for me." She turned to look Rose in the eyes. "I created you."

The quartz continued to look upset. "I fulfilled my purpose then."

"In part." Pink corrected. "There's one more thing I need you to do."

Rose gave a look of anger. "More?! After everything I've done?!"

Pink nodded, but this time a smile creeped up on her face. "Yes, and I'm afraid It's going to be the hardest task of them all."

Rose's face changed to some sort of mix between apprehension and anger. "What is it?"

The Diamond rose from her seat and walked over towards the quartz, standing over her and looking down as she looked up. Pink then knelt and embraced Rose all in one motion, whispering into her ear. "Live, Rose. I need you to live."

Rose returned the embrace, now freely sobbing into the Diamond's chest as Pink slowly stroked her back. "Shhh. It's alright."

"But, what about you?" Rose asked between sobs.

Pink pulled back a little and smiled kindly to her. "Rose, I led a wonderful life. I saw incredible things and made amazing friends. You, perhaps, most of all, always being so strong for me. I couldn't be prouder." Pink broke the embrace completely and took a few steps away. "But now, that life is over."

"But what about the other Diamonds? What about the empire still being here?" Rose asked.

Pink looked saddened. "If losing their sister hasn't convinced the other Diamonds that it's time to stop, nothing will. But even if they continue to fight, all the empire has seen that Diamonds are not invincible, and as long as the rebellion has you, nothing will ever destroy the Crystal Gems." Pink 's smile returned. "I entrust the future to you." The Diamond then chuckled. "Who knows, maybe in time you'll find someone to entrust things to." She then began to glow in a pink hue.

Rose's eyes widened. "What's happening to you?"

Pink looked at one of her hands, smiling softly. "I only had enough strength to talk to you one last time. Now, it looks like that time is up. Goodbye Rose, take care of them."

Rose rushed forward, attempting to grab Pink's hand, only for it to disintegrate as soon as she touched it. "Wait, you can't leave! What if I have questions?! What if I don't know what to do?! You can't leave me like this!"

The Diamond smiled that motherly smile, one last time. She reached down with her other hand as it disintegrated and pointed towards Rose's gem. "Did you forget? I'm always with you." The Diamond then fully disintegrated as her body turned into shards that floated into the air and faded into nothing.


Rose's eyes fluttered open and she immediately saw Garnet and Pearl hovering over her face.

"Rose…" Pearl said, on the verge of tears of joy.

"We'd thought you were gone." Garnet said softly, even as two streams came out from under her glasses.

The quartz sat up and embraced them both, one on each arm. "I am never going anywhere. I promise." She said as tears of her own started flowing.


Another single day later…


Yellow's pearl headed up the elevator. Her Diamond had ordered her to stay and tend to White Diamond's mirror. Not one to deny a request of her master, Pearl had agreed. Besides, she'd been doing this for over a thousand years, if there was anyone suited for the task it was her.

As she entered the room she picked up the cleaning solution and drying ray from the nearby dresser. They could have programmed a simple robonoid to do this, but there was something special to doing it one self's, something that Pearl took pride in.

As she entered the room and began her task something happened, something that was extremely rare to happen to the Pearl and had not happened to her since she had started this task for the first time.

The mirror spoke. "Pearl…" it said in the strange almost synthesized sounding voice that was a conglomeration of the other Diamond's voices.

Pearl was shocked, nearly dropping her cleaning supplies but catching them at the last second. "Ye-yes? My… Diamond?" She said the title, but was almost unsure if she should use it or not, because while this was a Diamond, it was a strange situation to be addressing her in.

The mirror was silent for a moment. "Something… had happened… hasn't it?" it asked slowly as Pearl tensed up. "Something very… wrong."

She was quite unsure what she should say, knowing what the news would mean, how she might react, on top of Yellow Diamond giving her specific orders to not talk about the subject in question. "I… whatever do you mean, my Diamond?"

"Something… is wrong" it repeated slowly. "Tell me… what is wrong…"

Pearl shifted uncomfortably. "No-nothing! Nothing at all, my Diamond! Everything is fine!"

Another moment of silence. "Are you… lying… to me…?" it asked.

Pearl said nothing, feeling as though the whole room was somehow looking at her as she looked at the mirror.

"She… told you… to lie… to me…?" The mirror said, it's voice still calm yet somehow adding a sense of menace to the words.

"W-w-who?" Peal asked, now trembling.

"Yellow Diamond…" The mirror replied, the menace increasing. "She… doesn't want you… to tell me… something…"

Pearl did not answer.

"You will… tell me… now…" The mirror said.

Pearl was stock still, the entire room felt like it was bearing down on her and while Yellow Diamond would be furious that she had disobeyed a direct order, this had been from another Diamond so… "My Diamond, the… incident you sensed. It concerns your sister… Pink Diamond."

The menace in the room seemed to lessen, if only a little. "Go on…"

"My Diamond… Pink Diamond…" Pearl gulped. "has been… shattered." the last word fell out of Pearl's mouth with a deafening silence.

For a few moments, the menace of the room dissipated entirely. But then it came back, stronger than before. "No…" the mirror said the room now feeling like it was shaking. "No… No… NO… NO… NOOOOO!" The glass began to crack, the gem shaking in its place on the mirror.

Pearl did the only thing she could think to do, she dropped her supplies, turned around and sprinted for her life out of the room.

CRACK-CRA-BOOM

Pearl had barely cleared the blast radius as the room behind her exploded in shards, dust and debris flying out of the room.

Pearl waited for a few moments, standing on the edge of the room. She was about to peer in when a white hand shout out and grabbed her, quickly pulling her inside.

Pearl slowly opened her eyes and only barely managed to stifle a scream of horror, a small almost coughing noise appearing in its stead. "W-w-w-White Diamond! My Diamond!" she said her eyes growing larger by the second as she stared at her. "Your fac-

A single white thumb appeared over Pearl's mouth and she stopped speaking. "Enough of that. Now, tell me everything."


Yellow watched the Earth far below her as she sat on the command deck. The war was nearly over, she could hardly believe it. She thought she'd feel satisfaction, knowing they were on the verge of wiping out the rebellion for good. And yet, she could shake the feeling of… emptiness. Was it because of-?

Her train of thought was broken as she heard the doors open behind her with a whoosh. She turned to see Blue Diamond walking towards her, slowly, and if Yellow wasn't mistaken… was her hair lighter? It had been a deep navy Blue before, but now it looked closer to resolution blue. "Blue, it's good to see you."

Blue looked at her sister, her gaze full of hurt and sorrow. "Oh Yellow…"

The older Diamond's composure nearly broke but her face remained professional and stern as she came to her sister's side. "I know Blue, there will be time to morn later. How is the Cluster?"

Blue got a distant look in her eyes as she seemed to drift off.


A few hours earlier…


Blue was beside herself with grief. She had felt sorrow when White had become inert ,but at least she had a chance to come back one day.

But Pink?

She'd been shattered. She was gone forever, and nothing would ever bring her back.

Even so, she had a job to do.

The insertion ship was positioned above a trench, a deep one, and if the calculations were correct, one that would lead directly to the core. Blue waved her hand and the waters parted, allowing the ship down into the ocean freely.

"Begin the scans." Blue ordered.

After a few minutes of scans, one of the gems responded. "My Diamond, this spot is unsuitable for insertion." She said respectfully. "The crevice will not lead all the way down to the core and if we try and insert it here, we will likely only breach to the inner mantel, the lack of heat required will cause the Cluster to take much longer than needed."

"How much longer?" Blue asked.

"Over a dozen times at least." She responded. "Unfortunately, all the other site run risk of Crystal Gem interference. What are your orders?"

Blue thought on this for a moment. Then looked out the front window and watched as sea life made its way by. Blue had never understood Pink's fascination with organics, they were weak, frail, and unspeakably plain. Still, they had meant something to Pink, and Pink had meant something to Blue. She should just try and find somewhere better to place it, but if all life was going to die anyways, why not give them all the time they could have? It's what Pink would have wanted.

"Sooner or later this planet's fate is sealed, begin the insertion process."


"It is done." Blue said simply.

Yellow nodded, then looked over to one of her gems. "How many of our forces have been evacuated?" she asked.

"Just over seventy percent, my Diamond."

"Good, being weapon charge, when the margin is past eighty, you may fire." She ordered.

Blue looked confusedly to her sister. "Yellow? What are you up to?"

Yellow only smiled and then looked back out the window of her ship at Earth.


Rose laid out the plans for her army. Soon the final battle would begin and everything would be over. Many in the rebellion seemed anxious while others were shaking with anticipation. Their entire army was going to be in on this fight, it was all or nothing and the siege would be a hard one. Even that distraction attack had taken its toll, but the rebels were ready to end things, once and for all.

All that was left to do was the final rousing speech.

Rose walked out atop a large rock formation, below her thousands of gems look to her, awaiting her words to them. The murmurs of the masses ceased as Rose appeared and held a single hand for silence. "My Crystal Gems! My Comrades! My Friends. Hear me." Her voice echoed across the crow, being amplified via acoustics technology. "The war's end is almost here! Soon we shall drive off the Empire once and for all! For a thousand long and terrible years, the Diamonds have tried to destroy us! To hatter us! They think us weak and foolish, but after winning battle after battle, and little by little taking this planet, I remember one thing…" the crowd got deadly silent, listing for the final word. "WE ARE STILL HERE!" the crowd roared with approval and Rose smiled wide. "Today! Let us send a message to Homeworld and to White Diamond, Blue Diamond and yes, even Yellow Diamond! WE ARE THE CRYSTAL GEMS! AND WE ARE NOT AFRAID!" the crowd absolutely burst with approval with yells and whoops, Rose turned back to see Garnet giving a nod of approval and Pearl looking as inspired as she'd ever had.


Hours later…


Jasper looked out from the walls of the base one last time, she inhaled deeply and let out a breath. The last few days had been… challenging to say the least. She was tired, and angry and… sad beyond measure, but she pushed her feelings to the side as she saw a dust cloud rising in the distance. She wanted so badly to stay right where she was, to look Rose Quartz dead in the eye and face off with her one on one… and strike her down just as she had done to… Jasper shook the thought from her head, orders were orders, and if all went right, the crystal gems would be gone forever. "They have no idea what we've got waiting for them…"


Rose approached the walls of the base with her forces and was immediately set upon by turret fire. The army dug in with their ray shields, moving closer and closer with their siege weaponry.

WHAM WHAM WHAM

The large metal frame of the base began to give way with each strike until…

Err… WHA-WHAM

The great door fell back, landing within as the army poured in.

Rose herself was in the center-middle of the pack as the same turret fire was now upon them from the inside as well. Imperial gems and a great many robonoid warriors clashed with the Crystal Gem forces. Rose began to move through the crowd, weaving through blows and knocking away strikes. She had a bad feeling and couldn't place it, something about this battle was amiss. She watched and looked for any gems she didn't recognize immediately. One… three… thirty-five… seventy-two… Seventy-two? That couldn't be right, there should have been thousands of gems in the courtyard of the massive base, and yet, for the most part, she saw only her own forces and robonoids.

She pushed forward by herself towards the control room, the center of the base. Rose aptly dodged out of the ay of incoming fire and slashed through the mechanical enemies in her way. Only two enemy gem soldiers fought her the entire way and the gut feeling was getting worse. She finally burst in through the doors to the center of the base and found… nothing. The hardware had been smashed, tables were flipped over and everything looked like it had been picked clean of anything tactically useful.

Rose then heard a smashing sound from an adjacent room. She quickly ran into it and found an Amethyst soldier standing over what looked like a Homeworld warp.

"Hey you!" Rose called out. "What are you doing?!" she demanded.

The amethyst turned around slowly, holding a sword and smiled smugly to her. "For the glory…" she raised the blade. "of the Diamonds." She finished, plunging it into her gut. The soldier fell to her knees and poofed, leaving her gem behind. Rose walked over to it and picked it up, holding it in her hand and looking at it confusedly.

"Rose! Are you alright?!" came the concerned voice of Pearl. Rose turned around to see her standing in the doorway, Garnet right behind her.

The quartz smiled to her. "I'm fine, Pearl."

"Our forces have routed the enemy, Rose! We did it! We drove Homeworld off of Earth!" pearl said giddily. Rose wanted to keep up the smile but it began falling second after second and Pearl looked at her worriedly. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I don't know Pearl, something just doesn't feel right. I mean we breached this base and won the battle far quicker than we should have." The quartz replied.

"Rose, we've fought long and hard to get this far." Garnet said stepping closer, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Homeworld must have known they couldn't hold this base and evacuated." She suggested.

Rose nodded. "Yes, it seems so, but I don't know. I mean, do you think the Diamonds would give up that easily?"

The three's conversation was interrupted as they heard cheering in the distance, they quickly ran outside to a balcony overlooking the courtyard. The Crystal Gem army were celebrating their victory. Some were hugging one another, others were jumping for joy and others still kicked at the machines parts that now lay at their feet.


"Fire."


Rose watched with an uneasy smile as her army continued their jubilation but suddenly everyone stopped. There was some sort of… hum? It started off low but soon changed pitch, almost musically. But then it got louder and louder and louder. Soon it was the only thing that anyone could hear.

Rose looked over to Pearl and Garnet who were covering their ears, just as she was. Garnet said something then pointed to the sky and Rose turned to look at it. Up in the sky was a brilliant light, but it wasn't the sun, it couldn't be, that was the wrong position for it to be in, and it was glowing brighter.

Rose sensed something approaching and quickly ran to her friends, tackling them to the ground and making the shield cover the three of them as the light and the sound were mitigated. After a few moments the light was gone, the sound was gone and everything was quiet, as silent as death.

Rose and her two friends got up and walked back over to the balcony and looked out to see their friends standing stock still, all staring up at where the light had just been, which meant that their collective backs were now to them.

The three jumped from the balcony and landed in the courtyard with the rest of them. "Hey are you-" she stopped as she turned one of the gems around. Her eyes were unfocused and dilated, staring off into the space even when Rose looked directly into them. Rose shook her, waiting for a response… nothing.

Garnet and Pearl also began to go to different gems, attempting to brake them out of their strange daze. Pearl tried talking sense into them while Garnet tried a few slaps across the face, still nothing.

"What's wrong with them?" Pearl asked horrified and looking to Rose.

"I don't know." Rose said.

"It's like they've all had their minds taken from them." Garnet said, looking at yet another one. "Who could-" she suddenly stopped as one of the gems turned her head to Garnet, her gaze still wide-eyed and strange. Soon other began to do the same, moving their bodies in unnatural and rigid ways until the entire army faced towards Rose and her friends.

The three had their backs to one another, taking defensive stances as their weapons were slowly drawn. "Don't make any sudden moves." Rose whispered to the both of them.

Silence once more ruled as the bodies did nothing but stare blankly at them, the unwavering and unified gaze boring into the three giving a sense of dread.

Then came a sound, it was… strange… alien, for lack of a better term. Like the sound of crushing and bursting, but more wet… like bone snapping and flesh tearing but different, more hollow sounding.

Soon the gems around them started growing strange appendages, spikes, tentacles, extra limbs, some growing bigger or smaller, or both. Other began to make horrible wails as thei bodies morphed out of form.

The three remaining gems each took on a look of horror as they watched their once-friends mutate out of control. But they soon recovered and took a defensive stance, ready for what may come.


Yellow smiled smugly as she narrowed her eyes at the Earth. Blue sat next to her, a simple frown the only indication of her mood.

"The weapon has fired successfully, my Diamond. The base was hit by the epicenter and by our initial calculations the weapon's range covered approximately a third of the planet." One of her gems reported.

Blue said nothing but Yellow looked elated. "Excellent, begin sweeps of the planet I want to make sure those Crystal Gems are gone."

"My Diamonds! Incoming priority one message! It's a recall to Homeworld!" she said.

Blue and Yellow both exchanged confused looks. A priority one message meant it was coming from the highest authority possible, in other words themselves, the Diamonds. They were obviously there with each other and Pink was gone, which meant only one thing.

"Set course for Homeworld, now!" Yellow ordered. The gems followed orders and blasted off into space.


Yellow and Blue landed at White's spire, but to their surprise, no one was there to greet them. No gems were present at the landing pad, nor were there any guarding the entrance to the spire. They opened up the doors and… nothing… all was quiet, eerily so.

Blue looked down to her own Pearl. "Wait at the ship for our word, Pearl." She ordered.

The little gem did a bow and left the two Diamonds alone. Their footsteps echoed in the emptiness and they set foot on the elevator, which began to rise. "Yellow, what's going on?"

Yellow did not respond and when Blue was about to speak again, a voice could be heard from above, no not a voice, a scream, a wail, one which they both recognized instantly. The wailing continued to stop and repeat every few seconds, becoming more and more distinct as the two reached the level for the throne room. They opened the large doors and could see in the distance was the looped footage of their youngest sister's demise, her wails coming to a halt as the door opened and the frames frozen on the exact moment of Pink's obliteration.

The two stepped inside and looked upon the picture with mixtures of anger disgust and sorrow.

"You three, I expected so much better from you." Came a slightly scratchy voice from behind, but one that the two knew all too well as they turned to look behind them. White Diamond sat in Pink's throne, which had been directly above the entrance to the elevator and across from her own throne.

Blue gasped as they gazed upon their sister and even Yellow was taken aback by what she saw. The entire left side from face to leg of White Diamond appeared scarred. Burns, scratches and scars marred that side of her starting from her temple and running all across the length of her left arm. Her left eye now appeared as a mirror, but with her right eye she gazed down squarely at them.

"White… You're back… you're okay!" Blue said, happiness managing to break through the intense despair she'd been feeling.

"Your face…" Yellow said a look of shock upon her own face.

White touched her scarred feature with one hand. "Yes, I suppose it must look rather bad." She then fixed her eyes on the two of them. "But not nearly as bad as Pink's." she said "I'm sure you noticed the lack of gems, I ordered them to clear out, so we could discuss things as privately as possible." She finished, jumping down and joining them.

Blue ran to White and embraced her but the elder sister did not react, barely glancing down at Blue before lightly pushing her to the side and striding towards Yellow who had already recovered from the initial astonishment. "I expected so much more from you Yellow, but then you allow this to happen?" she said pointing to the image.

Yellow gave an angry look. "I did everything I could! Don't put Pink's death on me! She should have been more careful, made her gems more disciplined! Had she just done what she was told, maybe she'd sill be alive!"

SMACK

Yellow reeled as White's hand came across her face. "I placed you in charge Yellow because I thought you could handle it, but under your leadership our empire has gotten into a bigger crisis than ever before. I forbade planet with inhabitants to be turned into colonies because I knew that our gems might develop empathy for the creatures and be more tempted to disobey orders. And now look what's happened, these rebels have made fools out of us and killed out sister, and all you can do is make excuses for yourself and blame our youngest sister for her own demise."

Blue attempted to intercede. "White please, it's no one's faul-" Blue was pushed back into the wall behind her by a sudden white hand extending from White Diamond's outstretched palm and pinning her to the wall.

"That's where you're wrong Blue." White replied looking to her before turning back to Yellow. "It is her fault."

Yellow snarled. "I will not stand here and be lectured by someone who hasn't even seen the cosmos in over twenty-thousand years! I knew what needed to be done. I did what needed to be done., our empire is stronger than ever!"

Another white hand appeared above Yellow and pushed down on her, forcing her to her knees. "Oh Yellow, always with that terrible combination of ambition and short-sightedness. Even now you fail to see how you've errored. Perhaps I should even punish you…" the light began to grow more intense, pushing Blue deeper into the wall and Yellow into the floor.

A surge of electricity began to surround Yellow and she slowly rose to her feet before the white hand disappeared. "It wasn't my fault… Had she only listened… Do you think I wanted her to DIE?!" she said literal sparks flying as Yellow summoned her blade, raising it to an attack stance.

White slowly shook her head, still pinning Blue to the wall who watched her elder sisters fight with dismay. "Don't do it Yellow." White warned, her voice only slightly above normal talking volume.

Yellow lowered the blade and for a moment the electricity died down, but just as quick Yellow got back into stance and charged at White with a single sword thrust. The blow picked up dust and debris, a critical hit on White, or so Yellow thought. As the obscuring cloud dissipated, White stood unharmed, holding the blade end of Yellow's sword, her hand glowing with light. With her other glowing, White released Blue and balled up her fist, a large glowing fist appeared above Yellow and came down hard on her back. The blow's impact shoved Yellow through the floor and out the bottom, sending her flying towards the ground floor. White peered down through the hole before jumping through it.

As Yellow lay in the crater made from her impact with the floor she attempted to reach for her sword, only for White's boot to come smashing down on her hand. Yellow let out a cry of pain and the sword dissolved into nothing. Yellow sat up but her elder sister was soon upon her, lifting her up by her neck and starting to squeeze. The younger gem made gasping noises as she reached up and fruitlessly attempted to loosen White's iron grip.

"WHITE! STOP IT!" Blue pleaded from behind, having landed only moments after White herself.

"White turned her head around to see Blue with a look of absolute sorrow in her eyes, but did not relax her grip in the slightest. "She challenged me Blue, she thought I was still weak and could be taken down so things could continue under her inept administration." White then turned back to Yellow. "I am simply showing her the error in such a line of thinking."

Blue ran up and grasped White's free hand, causing the elder gem to turn back around. Blue fell to her knees, groveling before her. "Please White! Yellow didn't mean for any of this to happen." Tears began flowing freely from her eyes. "She did the best she could with what she had, it's not her fault."

White's face relaxed a bit even though her grip did not. "What we intend to happen and what actually happens are often two different things, my sister. For instance, when Yellow challenged me, she was intending to prove she was better than me, that she could run things better than I could. But now look at her, the power that went to her head has evaporated like a puddle on a hot day, and all that pride that's blinded her to so many of her shortcomings may finally relent." With that she finally dropped Yellow to the ground, who landed on her knees coughing heavily as Blue rushed to her side, attempting to aid her.

Yellow stood up, supported by Blue, looking at White in her good eye with still a spark of resistance but she finally closed her eyes and relented. "Fine. What would you have us do?" she asked.

"If we're all done with the dramatics, we have much business to discuss, starting with that planet, Earth." White said. "We've spent over five times the resources and time on that single colony world than we should ever have."

"We managed to route the rebels there." Blue offered.

"Ah yes, with that weapon I forbade you to use." White said, eyeing Yellow again.

"But it worked!" Blue said interjecting between her sisters. "The rebels are likely to be gone forever after having used it."

"Regardless, I want it dismantled and you are to destroy all designs of it, and this time if I find out that you've tried to make this weapon again there will be more… permanent consequences." The younger gems said nothing and then White was silent for a moment, thinking to herself before speaking again. "And this… 'Cluster' creature?"

Yellow was about to ask how she knew about that but Blue was quicker. "We've implemented it into the Earth, we should see results from it in several millennia."

White peered at her two younger sisters, from one to the other. "I dislike it, but you've already implemented the thing, we might as well wait to see how it pans out. Besides, I think you've learned better than to hide things from me from now on, haven't you?" she said looking to the both of them but clearly referring to the elder sister.

"Yes…" Yellow said, the word coming out of her like air being released from a tire.

"Good. You are not to set foot on that planet until it is time for that thing to emerge, and only then to check on its progress, nothing more." White ordered to which the sisters nodded in compliance. "And concerning that station of Pink's…"

Blue immediately spoke up. "Let me take care of it!"

White and Yellow both looked at her curiously. "Why?"

"It's one of the last things we will have to remember Pink by, let us preserve it." Blue said.

White nodded once. "An excellent idea. The station is under your control now Blue, as well as all the gems stationed within." Blue nodded. "Now on to other matters, we need to start making plans to stabilize our crumbling empire."


To Peridot

You've always been the one I turned to when I needed an answer.

You are intelligent, even more so than myself, I know you will find a way without me.


Peridot landed on Zighost, she'd recently transferred there after Pink's destruction. Blue Diamond had offered her to continue to be the head of the station, but after Pink's death there were too many lingering memories, so she came to the one place where she might see a friendly face.


To Flint

I don't even know if this will reach you, but if it does, I can only say I'm sorry, so, so sorry.

I abused a trust you gave to me because of decisions that weren't mine to make.

I only hope you can forgive me.

Stay strong, stay safe, stay you.

Peridot opened the door to Zighost's command center and saw Flint waiting for her, open arms waiting as Peridot ran forward to embrace her.

The two walked down a hallway and both the gems took on tired and weary looks. "So, she's really gone."

"Yes, by Rose herself." Peridot said. "But then that was the plan all along."

"Flint looked at her. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"The belt that was preserving her, it was only a temporary solution. It slowed her breaking apart, it did not stop it. Sooner or later Pink would have shattered anyways." She answered.

"So that's why she allowed herself to be destroyed, to make her inevitable death mean something." Flint surmised.

"So it would seem." Peridot agreed.

"Do you think Pink meant for us to rebel as well?" Flint asked.

"I don't know." Peridot replied honestly. "Perhaps one day there will be a time to act, but for now, we play the roles we were made for."

"Just like old times then." Flint said. "Have you heard from the others?"

"No, but knowing Pearl and Onyx, they'll be alright."

"Yeah I hope so." Flint then stopped and turned to Peridot, who did the same with Flint. She reached down and hugged her. "I missed you, you little know-it-all."

"Peridot returned the hug, tears welling up. "And I you, you lummox."


To Onyx

The circumstances of our relationship are… strange to say the least.

But, I count you as one of my closet friends, I hope that you feel the same.

The humans will have great potential, but they must not squander it.

Watch over them, I know you'll guide them well.


Onyx destroyed the communicator shortly after finishing the message and took a deep breath. "Time to see what this world can really do." She said as a light enveloped her. The light died and a large human girl with pink hair and ran off into the jungle.


To Pearl

My closest confidant and friend, what else is there to say?

I will soon be gone, but you will still be there.

Rose will need help in the future, be sure to be there when she needs it,

even if she doesn't know it's you.


Pearl stepped inside the Rose's room one last time and took a deep breath, summoning her weapon. She pointed it high into the air and then suddenly brought down the blade into the ground. The floor parted and shifted as the entire room changed dramatically. The savanna plains Rose had been tending to transformed, and Pearl sucked it all into herself, leaving behind only pink clouds and empty space. She felt her own form change and grew larger, her hair growing out and her legs and arms changing into feline limbs. The new lion creature roared and a portal opened for a moment before the beast traveled through it, the portal closing behind it.


To Rose

Live.


Rose, Garnet and Pearl all huffed, the battle had been exhausting. Creatures of all manner had attacked them and they had barely managed to fight them off before most of them broke down the walls of the bade and ran off into the distance.

"They won't be gone forever." Pearl said.

"No and we'll have to hunt them down, for their own good." Rose said solemnly.

"What about all this destruction?" Pearl asked.

Rose looked down to the ground and touched it, a single bud grew from the ground and then burst forth with life, roses and greenery sprouted, covering the signs of battle and the shards and mechanical bits beneath vegetation. "This will be a memorial for all who were destroyed." Rose said sadly.

"So, what now?" Garnet asked.

"Now, we live."


Done, and wow am I tired. I realize this may not be much in the way of answers of endings in general but, hey at least you got one, that's more the most fics you read where the writer gets bored and stops forever.

The trust is, I've been basically writing chapter to chapter with only vague goals for what I wanted out of the future, but with that said, I think it turned out pretty okay. I was often plagued by things that cannon said had to happen, for instance, I think it would have been cool for Pink to openly rebel against her sisters, but I digress.

Regrets:

-Rushed through things at times, but like I said before I don't really want to sit here, well forever, I got other stuff to do, you know?

-Characters, weren't as fleshed out as I hoped many of them would be, perhaps even a little on the cliché side, but again not terrible, at least I don't think so

-Could really work with the main characters, Rose, Garnet, Pearl, Jasper, Amethyst (the show's not mine), would have like them all to have a bigger role, they just… didn't and I fear I left them woefully underdeveloped. Still this was the story of Pink and her friends, not of Rose and her's.

Sequel ideas:

-Pink openly rebels against her sisters?

-Rose story about what life was like in the thousands of years before she met Greg?

-Nora Universe?

-Others?

Onto the final questions.

Savannah9137-Explained it.

HarleyQuartz52-Explained that too.

Riux-Cause a story needs to end, explained that, explained that, explained that, explained that

Tsukimine12-Explained that, explained that, explained that, I would think fearing a Diamond's fury would be natural response, explained that, yes as you can see,

Doggo- Maybe, I've been mulling around a few ideas as seen above.

PixieDustAndFariyPowers-Explained that, explained that, yes,

Crush48-Basically yes

Theories that I used:

Lion is Pink Pearl

White Diamond is the de facto leader and there's something that happened to her but she's still around

Pink Diamond was behind the rebellion

Rose shattered Pink on her own orders