List of oneshots part 4
chapter 28
Steven discovers the rejected diamonds.
Series: Steven Universe
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"Ah, Steven, it's so nice for you to stop by and visit." Smiled White Diamond, all three of the diamonds in their thrones as their 'nephew' arrived with a smile walking into the room.
"It's nice to visit, it's been awhile.' He said sheepishly. 'I'd almost forgotten, what with getting little homeworld up and going.'
"Had we known sooner we could have had a celebratory greeting waiting for you." Remarked Yellow shaking her head. "You should have called ahead."
"It's ok, really, there's no need to go that far." He said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"He's right Yellow, now we don't have to worry about formalities, we can spend more time with Steven." Smiled Blue. "So tell us, what's been happening with you?"
"Well, me and the gems have been getting little homeworld on earth all set up, and we've been trying to find a use for the kindergarten." He remarked with his hands in his jacket pockets. "We figured with all that extra space, maybe we could turn it into something useful or just help brighten it up."
"Hmmm, well if you figure out a use for it let us know, we've never been able to fill those holes, especially the bigger ones from the failures."
Steven flinched hearing that and sat down on the floor. "Actually, there's something that's been on my mind for a while now."
"What is it?" Asked Blue curiously.
"Well, I know and understand how so many gems were made, but one thing that I never learned was, how were all of you made?"
"Oh, that? It's complicated, we haven't quite figured that out, and trust us, we tried, we really did, it certainly took us quite a few attempts to get it right."
"What do you mean?" Asked Steven confused.
"Well Steven, it's like this." Yellow stood up with her hands behind her as she walked past him. "Ever since we can remember, we have existed. We don't know when it happened since it's been so long, we don't know how it happened, but what we do know is that we were formed here on Homeworld long long ago. We've had some possible theories on how, but...none really gave us the real answers."
"Yes, and it was quite tricky to re-discover the right process, in fact we'd nearly given up before Pink Diamond was successfully created." smiled White Diamond. "It took so much trial and error, but after Pink came to be, we lost track of things and let that thought drift away."
"Besides, after what those rejects came to be, it's good to not try it ever again." muttered Yellow shaking her head.
"Rejects?" Steven asked in confusion before his eyes widened. "Wait… are there other diamonds?"
"Well….they're not technically real ones." Remarked Blue looking away. "They WERE the ones that came into being when we tried to find the answer behind our creation, but they came out...flawed."
"Wait, did you…. Shatter them?" Steven asked, horrified.
"What? No, no, they may have been flawed but they were still diamonds, we wouldn't shatter them we just… sent them away." Remarked White while Steven stood up. "Far away, to a planet where they could still exist, just not here."
"So… how exactly were they flawed?" Steven asked in confusion.
"It's not important Steven." Yellowed waved her hand. "What is important is spending this time together before you have to go."
"Awww, but now I wanna know." Pouted Steven. "I can't let something that big be forgotten like that."
"Trust me, it's best that it is." Yellow said firmly as Steven frowned before grinning and turning to Blue.
"Blue, will you tell me? If you do I'll stay for a week this time."
Blue gasped before standing up. "Wait right here." She walked over to the side wall and put her palm against it, causing a light to appear before it showed a line leading up to the ceiling, causing a portion of it to open as what looked like a hovering screen came down.
"Blue." Frowned Yellow. "Don't, it's best that the past stay forgotten."
"But Yellow, Steven said he'd stay here for a whole week." Blue said as she turned to Yellow. "Isn't just a bit of information worth that?"
"...he has to stay a month."
"I wouldn't mind a year." White chimed in with a smile making Steven hold his hands up.
"Maybe we work it out afterwards."
"Fine, but White's right, I won't settle for anything less than six months."
'Oh man.' Thought the hybrid as the screen stayed in the air and glowed.
"Alright Steven, since you want to know so much, this monitor will make things simpler. It's linked up to the recorded footage from eons past on them." explained White. "This is the only footage we have of these events, each shows the creation of a diamond and their… flaws."
Steven sat down to get comfy as the screen started to show what looked like a pitch black room with bubbling lava in the center raised up in a column, showing White, Yellow, and Blue surrounding it with serious, but also curious expressions.
"This better work Peridot." Yellow said as she glanced at a basic green gem who was tapping away at a tablet.
"Based on the calculations and the Bismuth's constant work to construct the room, everything should proceed as planned." Spoke the gem nervously. "The link to the planet's core will provide enough heat while gathering the highest minerals it can to ensure sufficient results."
"Good, because if this fails you know what will happen.' She said coldly as the lava continued to rise up, starting to take the form of a humanoid creature.
"It's happening." Spoke Blue, going wide eyed in awe while White herself watched with her former cold, cruel, and spine tingling smile.
"Excellent, now let us welcome a new diamond into the world." She said as the lava began to condense into the form of a gem. This one slowly being revealed as a green diamond that was glowing and giving off what looked like sparks.
"Yes, yes, it works!" Yellow laughed as she reached out and took the gem before setting it down on the ground.
All eyes focused on it, Steven more so with amazement.
"Why isn't it forming a body?" Asked Blue in the video.
"Well, I think I have a theory, it could be because it wasn't made traditionally in a kindergarten, so it might not burst out, ready to go." The peridot said before the gem began to glow. "Or it was a late bloomer."
The gem slowly rose up as green light stretched out from it, beginning to form a figure again, but more stable and near Yellow and Blue's height. The figure had a large round afro of green hair and her clothes seemed like they would fit into the seventies with a low cut blouse and bell bottom pants, both green. Her skin was more white with a light green undertone with the diamond situated right in her belly, like Steven, with high platform shoes forming on her feet before she touched the ground and stood up, letting out a low groan.
"Welcome." Spoke White Diamond in the screen with her arms spread out. "You have come to know existence, Green Diamond."
"Green Diamond…" The figure said slowly, trying the words out. "I like it."
"Wow… so that's another diamond?" Steven asked in awe.
"Yes, the first one of many failures." Sighed Yellow while herself in the screen walked over to the new diamond.
"Tell us, how do you feel?"
"I feel good, groovy, ya know?"
"I see, well then, do you know who you are, what your duties are?"
"Uh….I'm Green Diamond?"
"Yes, but I mean do you KNOW what that entails? What it means to be a diamond?"
"Kind of…." She said as she looked around before spotting the Peridot. Her eyes widened as said gem was trying to take in this development. "Oooh, and who is this little thang?"
"That is a Peridot, she is a-"
"Can I have one?"
"Ah, well it only makes sense. As a Diamond it's natural to want lesser gems at your command to do your will." Nodded Yellow while Steven saw Yellow in her throne covering her face.
"I should have kept my mouth shut on that." She groaned as the Green Diamond looked at the Peridot with a large grin before the video was cut and began again, this time Yellow and Blue moving towards a large green tower.
"Are you sure she's in there? What has she been doing, the only time I hear from her is when she is requesting more gems to come to her palace." Blue said nervously. "I hope everythings ok."
"Maybe she's making them fight each other for amusement, but that's no reason to do it all in her tower. There's plenty more all over Homeworld to command." Remarked Yellow. She cleared her throat before knocking on the large pair of doors. "Green, are you in there?"
"Whatcha need?!" She called back. "I'm busy!"
"Green, we need to talk, we haven't seen you in months, and you refuse to give us any progress reports."
"I've been busy, that's all!" Called back the Diamond. "Just leave me be for now!"
"No, we're coming in." Spoke Yellow before using her hand to make the doors open as she and Blue walked in. "Green, you-what in Homeworld are you doing?!"
"Get out!"
"Oh dear." Gasped Blue covering her mouth. "Green, what is this, what have you done?"
"I told ya I was busy." Glared Green who had several gems in her arms, hugging them close to her chest with all of them looking relaxed and in some sort of trance. A few others leaning against her legs with her sitting on the floor. On the wall around the palace were massive shelves, each full of gems who all seemed to be in the same trance as the ones Green was cuddling.
"Green, explain yourself, now." Ordered Yellow in a stern tone. "What have you done to these gems?!"
"I'm havin' fun is what it is. Looking at all of them, walking around, being all tiny and stuff, it was too dang adorable. So I decided to go on and show 'em all the love I got. Besides, they're too cute!"
"Green, there are hundreds of gems here, they have work to do!" Yellow said with a frown before turning to several Amethysts on a shelf. "You all, get to work!"
"Oooh...I feel...too relaxed." One spoke laying on her back with a smile. "Ahhhh…. This is nice."
"Feels good….not to do anything." Remarked the one next to her while a third nodded with her eyes closed.
"Green…. Did you do something to these gems?" Blue asked slowly, getting a bad feeling.
"Of course, these cuties kept yakkin' on about how they had to get back to work, so I decided to help them relax~" She smiled while rubbing a Jasper on the head slowly. "They don't gotta do anything when they're with me."
"Green! I have no problem if you want to treat a few gems like your own personal pets, but doing it to too many of them will slow down our projects." glared Yellow walking over. "Now, you are going to let most of them get back to work and work on that report, do I make myself clear?"
"Hell naw! You know what, you need to relax too!" She stood up and grabbed Yellow by the shoulder with her hand glowing green, making Yellow go wide eyed and groaned since she felt a tingling sensation run towards her gem. "Shhh, Shhh, just relax and enjoy yourself Yellow~"
"Why….you….clod!" Yellow growled and blasted Green, causing her to go flying back as she dropped the gems and slammed into the wall. "Getting cocky was your second mistake. The first? Thinking you were above your superiors." She growled before the feed cut off.
"Hey, what happened next?"
"Oh, just a simple battle, me and Blue were victorious and that traitor was sent far away, though unfortunately some of the gems she used her powers on were unfixable, so we just sent them with her to satisfy her." Remarked Yellow shaking her head. "If we had just given her a Pearl from the start, maybe she could have worked out her issues."
"Wow… so were all of them like that?" Steven asked as White grimaced.
"Oh goodness no, the next one was even worse, we knew she was a failure the minute she came out."
The feed came back on, but this one actually showed numerous gems running around as a piece of debris nearly crushed them, several Jaspers and Amethyst moving in formation.
"My Diamond please! Calm down!"
"NO NO NO! MY PALACE ISN'T PERFECT, IT'S ALL YELLOW'S FAULT! I WANT A NEW PALACE! I WANT IT, I WANT IT, I WANT IT!" Roared a voice before a red beam came out and hit the gems, sending them flying with several poofing. "IF IT'S NOT PERFECT THAN I DON'T WANT IT!"
"RED! Stop this madness at once!" Yellow bellowed as she moved forward towards the voice as the dust began to settle.
"NO! I DON'T WANNA!" Screamed the voice as the tall figure was shorter than Yellow with lightish red skin, but wearing a long crimson skin tight top, matching pair of pants, but with spikes jutting from the sides and had hair in the shape of a cone. Her shoes looked more like combat boots with her gem in the center of her forehead with her eyes glowing bloody red.
"Red, calm down this instance, you're tearing Homeworld apart!"
"IT SHOULD BE, IT'S NOT PERFECT!" she growled while clenching her hands. "So many things are crooked! Dirty! Off center! So many different colors at once! IT SHOULD ALL BE PERFECT!"
"Well throwing a tantrum won't fix this! At this rate you'll destroy the world!"
"NO, YOU JUST WANT TO KEEP ME FROM GETTING MY PERFECT WORLD!" She accused before firing beams from her eyes with Yellow ducking as they blew a hole behind her. Red shouted once more and let another beam out before the fede immediately cut off.
"Ah, that's right, she destroyed the camera drones you had with you." Blue said as Steven stared in shock.
"Whoa…. She was so violent."
"She was spoiled." Huffed White. "She acted like she should be the one to decide what was perfect and what wasn't. That was solely my job, or at least it used to be."
"Was White, was.' Blue said calmly. "It is unfortunate we had to get rid of her, but she did tear Homeworld in half."
"Wait, that's why the planet is torn in half?! And you put her on the same planet as Green Diamond?!"
"Well…. Not exactly, I think it was one planet, or was it several small moons orbiting a planet?" Blue mused. "I think they were separated from each other so they didn't kill each other… or plot to overthrow us."
"It's been so long I completely forgot." White said with a shrug. "Oh well, at least the next one wasn't as bad."
"Ugh, her?! She was insufferable!" Groaned Yellow covering her face. "I can still hear her annoying singing even now!"
"Singing?" Steven asked as the feed started up again. It showed what looked like the throne room where he heard what sounded like humming. "There was a diamond who liked to sing like me?"
"Yes…. and no."
"Ahh~ Another wonderful day to be me~" Sang the voice as the feed went over to show a figure that resembled Blue, what with the white hair and face, but the hair was more curled around her purple face with darker purple elbow length opera gloves and a long sparkling indigo dress that exposed one leg, showing a high heeled white shoe and her gem right at the base of her neck. "What a wonderful day~" She sang.
In the background a small group of Rubies snuck past the hall, looking at the diamond nervously, almost fearfully.
"Why are they looking at her like that, she seems pretty relaxed compared to the other two.' Steven thought as the Rubies moved from doorway to doorway until the last one in the group tripped, letting out a small groan.
The others went wide eyed and tried to shush her, but the Diamond glanced over and spotted them. "Oh my, what do we have here~"
"W-We're just on our way to our post my Diamond!" The lead Ruby said quickly as the diamond frowned.
"Ah, ah, sing it~" She wagged her finger without losing her tone.
"Uh...um...we...were on our way, to our post~" The Ruby tried to sing out as best as possible.
"Ugh, off tune~" Sang the Diamond before grinning. "But I know how you can be truly useful~"
All of them paled and huddled together as she got up and walked over towards them.
"P-Please my diamond, don't do it, please!" Begged one of the Rubies.
"You forgot to sing~" She let out before towering over them and reached down, grabbing the gems who screamed out in fear. "Now hold still, I've been needing some new earrings~"
Steven went wide eyed as the gems screamed from the diamond squeezing all of them, feeling uncomfortable and straight up scared when he saw them all go poof. "S-She poofed them?"
"Yes, but she didn't stop there, keep watching."
The screen showed her humming as she walked over to a mirror on the wall and pulled a small piece of metal from a hook and began to slowly twist and curve it, her hands unseen by the screen before moving them to her ears and smiled.
"Ah, perfection as always~" She sang as she moved her hands away to reveal two new earrings, both having red rubies as part of their decoration.
"S-She put them in jewelry?!"
"Yes, and she went even farther, take a look at her dress and guess what's making it sparkle."
Steven gulped and tried looking closer at the shines, and went slack jawed seeing numerous gems sewn into the dress, all different colors and shapes. "She...She's wearing them!"
"Yes, once we realized what she was doing we banished her immediately, after freeing the gems of course." Spoke Blue looking down. "Back then we seemed more considerate now that I think about it."
"Yes, I still think we should have shattered her." Groaned Yellow as she shook her head.
"I could have always fixed them." White said with a smile, making the others slightly shudder.
"Well, at least things got a little better, right?" Steven asked hopefully, only for the diamonds to look away.
"Not quite… the next one wasn't as destructive, but…. She was useless."
The screen cut away to show Blue currently knocking against a dark set of doors.
"Black? Could you come out?"
"No….. leave me here to rot…."
"Black, dear, it's been years since we've seen you, and you haven't done anything…" Spoke Blue with concern. "We're worried for you and want you to come out."
"No, everything is pointless… just let me gather dust here alone…"
Blue let out a deep sigh and slowly pushed the doors open and walked in. "Black, I'm not leaving until you come out." She called as she looked around before spotting a figure lying on the ground, a small layer of dust atop her, the figure being larger than even White Diamond herself. 'I hope that sounded firm enough, Yellow said not to wave when I speak.'
"It's pointless….you'll be waiting until we both fade away into nothing…."
"Now Black, you know you can't just lie around like this, you're a Diamond, you have to lead."
"My, I sound a bit hypocritical here, huh?" The real Blue Diamond said as Yellow shrugged.
"You were in mourning, and you occasionally did work, unlike Black."
"I'm not fit to lead...I'm useless…"
"Come now Black, your Pearl has been very concerned. She says you barely even acknowledge her when she tries to cheer you up."
"Everything is pointless, eventually the universe will end, so why do anything?"
Blue sighed and crouched down near the figure. "I'm sorry for this." Before grabbing the arm of the shape and started to lift up, forcing them to get up.
"Noooo, just let me collect dust!" They groaned trying to pull their arm back. "I wanna be alone!" The figure cried out, revealing to have grey skin with long, oily black hair with dark circles under her eyes, and a plain, black outfit on, as if the figure had barely given it any thought when she was formed.
"I'm sorry, but you can't!" Blue pulled her towards the doors with Black closing her eyes when she felt light come in and reach her face.
"NOOO! Not the sun, it's too bright!" She hissed, trying to claw at Blue's hands. "Let me go, let me go!"
"No Black, enough is enough, now are you going to get to work now?"
"NO!" She yelled, her gem in her hand glowing before what looked like darkness rose up from it, engulfing her and Blue suddenly.
"Black! Stop this at once!"
"I'm not going out there and you can't make me!" She shouted as she managed to free herself from Blue's grasp and dashed back into the doors, slamming them behind her as she went.
The darkness quickly faded away with Blue groaning and facepalming before the feed cut out.
"She seemed a bit shy, don't you think?" Asked Steven, feeling bad for her.
"Steven, she was a Diamond, she was made to lead with us, and she never did anything, any work at all, all she did was lay on the floor." Spoke Yellow crossing her arms. "Even when we gave her a private group of gems to help her, all she did was wallow and not do anything. She never once smiled either, not once in over 300 years."
"When we told her she was banished she practically celebrated, going on about how now no one would bother her again."
"Well maybe she wanted a friend. You know, someone to talk to without worrying about work."
"Steven, you have to understand this was a different time, and we tried, we even gave her a Spinel, who somehow got depressed after spending a week with her!"
"We didn't even know that was possible. I actually felt a bit nervous." Admitted White with a hand on her chest. "Luckily she's gone now, the next Diamond we made was almost a success except…" She trailed off with a sigh. "Well you'll see soon enough."
With that the screen changed to show a large space station orbiting a new planet, a battle raging outside the station.
"My Diamond, the troops need your guidance, should we continue the battle in space or should we move down into the planet's atmosphere?" Asked an Amethyst to a figure who had a peach colored skin with gloves similar to Yellow's, but orange. She wore a long dress that covered her legs with several sashes across her chest, with a curious expression and orange hair done up in four buns atop her head.
"I see…. Tell them to continue the battle in space." She said as she rubbed her chin.
"Yes my dia-"
"WAIT! What if that's a mistake?" She quickly asked with her hand on her chin. "If so, we better move down to the planet to be sure."
"Yes my Dia-"
"But what if that's what the enemy wants? What if they have a trap waiting for us down there?" she continued rubbing her chin as a red alert started going off. "We'd be walking right into it and be slaughtered. Continue the battle!"
"But my Diamond! Our shields are in critical condition!"
"Hmm….what to do, what to do…." She muttered looking up in thought. "I wonder if we could surrender….but then Yellow would get upset and yell. Then again, she might think it makes sense."
"My Diamond, we need an ans-"
"But then again the organics would get valuable technology which would only make their resistance even stronger, but then again if we surrender we could easily recapture the station later…"
The Amethyst looked at the readings and paled as the alarm went wild. "My Diamond! We-"
"I've got it!" she stood up. "We'll catch them off guard! Barrel into them!"
"My Diamond, the battle is lost, we've lost most of our fighters, we need to pull back now!"
"Hmm...then again, it wouldn't do any good to wreck the ship further. Oh I can't decide. What do you think, captain?"
"The station is lost, get to the escape pods!" An Emerald shouted as she slammed a large button, making an orb appear around Orange Diamond before shooting out of the space station, rocketing back to Homeworld.
"She had potential, but couldn't keep her mind focused." Sighed Yellow as the feed cut out. "A shame too, the battle plans she could come up with were decent, provided she didn't work out another one that made no sense."
"Wait, so you got rid of her because she couldn't make up her mind?"
"Steven, this happened every time she made a decision. Every. Single. Time." Emphasized Yellow. "Sometimes she would even change her mind on what hand she should use to address the gems with."
"Yes, so as you can see, she had to go, but after the complete failure that came next, I almost wish we kept her." Groaned White.
'Uh oh.' he thought as the screen went on to showcase a hall with numerous Jaspers running in line with weapons in hand.
"Forward, she couldn't have gotten far, we need to poof her to prepare her for banishment!"
"Wait, she's already being banished? What did she do?"
"Watch." Spoke Blue before there was a loud crash and the Jaspers all stopped when they saw part of the wall near them break apart.
"Stand your ground!" Yelled the leader, only for a growl to be heard and a shape in the dust loom over them. "D-Diamond, you need to stand down, now!"
"No, no no no, you want to get rid of me?! Then I won't go without a fight!" They screamed before swinging and smashed the Jasper away before turning to the others who stood their ground. "I'll shatter you all!"
"Poof her, do it now!" Ordered the leader as several more gems were blasted back.
The figure growled and took off running in a dash, moving so fast it was hard to get a clear look at her.
"She's heading to the lower levels, stop her!"
"Inform the Diamonds, we may lose her!"
The camera feed suddenly changed to the figure, jumping down a nearby crevice leading into a large open cavern making Steven go wide eyed.
"Wait, I know that area! Me and Lars wound up there after the trial."
"You were down there?! It's a miracle you survived, I hate to imagine what would have happened if she found you down there." Blue said worryingly as she picked Steven up and held him closely.
"What do you mean? If she's like the others, then she was banished, right?"
"We…. never actually caught her, she's still on Homeworld." Admitted Yellow with closed eyes.
"But what did she do? She sounded scared, not dangerous."
"She was, but… after awhile she became feral." White sighed. "Look, this is the last video we have of her when she still had her mind."
"The first sign something was wrong when she was born, but….completely unlike us." Spoke Blue with a grimace. "She was...several colors at once." She shuddered. "She was an off color."
"What?" Steven asked in shock.
"Yes, as soon as she was born we tried to banish her but… she was smart, and figured out what was happening."
"So she made a run for it and escaped, now she exists in the inner caverns of the planet." White shrugged as the camera manned in to focus on the off color, to show a short figure, only a little bit bigger than Pink Diamond, whose skin was a patchwork of blue, green, orange, hot pink, and white. She had sharp claws with no clothes, and sharp teeth with a wild look in her eyes. Her eyes darted around before spotting the camera and lunged at it, causing the feed to cut off.
Steven flinched and felt a shiver go up his back at the idea of running into her, him and Lars, defenseless down there, completely unaware of a Diamond who was a wild animal that could have...he didn't wanna think too hard on that. "So… was the next diamond you made Pink?"
"No, the next one was….someone you and the Crystal Gems could have probably been close friends with. Especially that Garnet of yours." Sighed Yellow as the feed started. "She… well you'll see."
The monitor turned on to show the three Diamonds in their thrones, facing someone whose face was obscured.
"Please, you three have to listen!"
"No Violet, this is madness!"
"How is curiosity madness? None of you have seen nor experienced it!"
"Because this is not how things are supposed to be!" Yellow snapped. "The very IDEA of gems doing….that! Is complete and utter insanity!"
"But it could be so amazing, and why are you opposed to me doing it with you or Blue? We're technically the same type of Diamond, so why would fusing be problematic?" Groaned the obscure figure.
"We are not like the other gems. If we did something like that, it might give them the idea to do it with gems that aren't like them. It would throw the sense of balance we've held since the beginning completely off!"
"But that's the point, it's time for a new era, a new age, and it would be awesome!" Spoke the figure with eagerness. "Just imagine it all. Jaspers fusing with Rubies, Pearls fusing with Emeralds, even Peridots fusing with Lapis!"
"Fusion?" Steven spoke with wide eyes and looked at Blue who closed her eyes with a guilty look. "You mean...there was a Diamond who was all for fusion?"
"That and more, that's all she talked about! Fusion this, fusion that, she even wanted to fuse with us!" Frowned Yellow slamming her fist on her throne rest. "It was so bad we would even find her trying to get the entire planet to fuse together!"
"Wait, what?!" Steven cried out in shock, remembering how large Obsidian was, and she was only a fusion of a handful of gems.
"You three are too thick headed." Sighed the figure as the camera moved around to show she had long light violet hair, with a dark violet gown that had a high collar up, with long black sleeves and frills on the gown that went all across the front. "As soon as something new and unknown is shown, you're too scared to give it a chance."
"The current system is fine, and it has been fine for millennia!"
"But it could be sooo much better!" She groaned. "Just trust me and fuse with me!" She cried out as she moved towards Blue.
"Violet, enough with this nonsense." Spoke White standing up with a frown. "You will forget something so utterly….revolting, immediately."
"No, never!" She shouted as she looked around before spotting Yellow's Pearl and grinned. "In fact, I'm gonna do it now!" She shouted before leaning down and snatching up the pearl.
"Wah! My Diamond!" she yelled out making Yellow stand up.
"Violet! Put her down, now." She glared holding a hand up with it glowing.
"Mmmm, not yet." She said with a grin as she began to spin. "Fuse with me Pearl!"
"I'd rather not!"
"Pearl, this is a direct order from a Diamond, fuse with me!"
"Pearl don't you dare!" Yellow ordered. "I forbid you from fusing!"
"No, do it!"
"Don't do it!"
"DO IT!"
"DON'T!"
"ENOUGH!" Yelled out Blue, letting out her own blue beam that hit Violet, sending her crashing against the wall. "Violet, you have gone too far this time!"
"Oooh…." Violet groaned, dropping Yellow Pearl on the floor whose eyes rolled around in her head.
"This is the last straw, she can't stay here anymore!" Yellow shouted in anger as she got up and moved forward before picking her Pearl up.
"I completely agree. She will be banished, along with the silly idea of fusing with different gems." Spoke White.
"Agreed, as long as I live there will be none of that in our empire!" Yellow declared before the feed cut.
"Wow… that did not age well." Admitted Yellow Diamond as Blue looked down.
"I never would have imagined what we said would come back to prove us so wrong." White sighed fondly as she shook her head. "Oh how things have changed."
"Garnet would have gotten along with her." Steven muttered to himself. "So, who uh… who's next? Was it a diamond who shattered people, wanted to encourage organic life, or what about them wanting to stop expanding the empire?"
"No, the next one forgot she was a diamond."
"Wait...really?" Steven asked as the screen started up. "That one doesn't sound so bad."
"And it wasn't, but there were several problems that came with that."
The screen flickered to show a squad of Rubies marching in line down the hall. They kept marching, unaware they were being watched before a figure leapt out from behind the corner and began to march behind them.
"Come on you pebbles! I wanna see those knees go higher!"
"Sir yes sir!" The Rubies cried out.
"Sir yes sir!" Called the newcomer, making them all pause.
"Wait a second." the leader turned and raised her finger. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Huh, that's odd. We have one extra." She said as she looked at the new figure and began to tilt her head up… and up…. And up. "Wait… M-My Diamond!"
The others turned and jumped before quickly doing the salute as the tall figure looked confused and around.
"There's a Diamond around? Where?"
"Y-You're the diamond!" She cried, the figure revealed to be a pale figure with a beige diamond in her cheek, with her being as tall as Yellow Diamond, and she had a short pixie bob hair cut, with a plain pair of jeans and flannel shirt on, and nothing else.
"I am?" She looked surprised while pointing at herself. "I don't feel like a Diamond."
"Well it's true, my Diamond." She said nervously. "Y-You should get back to your duties, right?"
"Well, I think I'm good here, I feel a bit like a Ruby right now." She said as the Rubies paled.
The Ruby squad looked at each other confused right as a Peridot came hovering past, looking over some data on an info pad.
"Hmmm, so far the data is as predicted, but still, I do need that report fro-" She started before bumping into the diamond. "Hey, watch it!"
"Oops, sorry." She said as the Peridot looked up and paled as she realized who she just bumped into and insulted.
"I-I'm sorry, that was my fault!" she yelped, dropping the pad and making the salute. "Forgive me my Diamond!"
"It's ok… say, is it fun being a Peridot?" She asked, not seeing the Rubies quickly running away, abandoning the Peridot.
"Uh...w-what do you mean by that?"
"Well you see, it's been oh so long since I've been one that I've forgotten, it might be fun to try it again." She said cheerfully, making the Peridot pale. "So do you mind helping me relearn it?"
"P-Perhaps a Jasper would be more exciting."
"No, I was one last week, besides, I wanna be green again." She said with a grin as the Peridot began to back up nervously.
"Or or or! There's always an Agate. I think I saw one just around the corner, I'll go-" She started before the Diamond's hand lashed out and grabbed her as her eyes began to glow dangerously.
"No, I want to be a Peridot~" She sang as the gem cried out, slowly going pale while the Diamond began to gain the tiny gem's color. "Just close your eyes and it'll be over before you know it~"
"N-No, please, no!" She cried as she began to lose her color, her Gem beginning to shake as well.
"Don't worry, it's almost over." She said with a smile as the Peridot let out one last gasp before her form broke up and her gem began to disappear into the Diamond's body. She hummed and stood up, looking at her green hands. "Ah, now then, time to do what Peridots do."
"W-What… what did she just do?" Steven asked as the feed ended, feeling horrified.
"She absorbed a gem, she seemed to be fond of doing that." replied Yellow crossing her arms. "She had a terrible knack of forgetting she was a Diamond, and would go off to absorb other gems to try and be like them."
"S-So she fused with them?"
"No, not at all, she would absorb the gem, and gain the skills, colors, and in some cases personalities of the gems, and the gems she absorbed would be destroyed completely." Blue said sadly. "Unfortunately this effect only lasted for a few days, so as soon as she was back to normal she would go look for a new gem."
"She was a danger to all of us, reason enough to banish her." Spoke White with a frown. "She could have easily tried that with us, so we had to be rid of her before she thought of it."
"Wow…" Steven said, still in shock. "And… was she the last one?"
"No, there was one more before we created Pink." replied Blue as the screen flickered. "Although this one was actually relatively harmless compared to Plaid Diamond."
"Yes, she was just such a clutz, watch this." Yellow said as the feed started up once more.
Steven watched as a Pearl was seen looking at something off screen, she had a translucent ballgown-style dress on, light greenish skin with aqua green hair done up in a bun who was looking worried.
"My Diamond, you don't need to do this. Let me take care of it."
"No, no, it's fine, I'm a diamond and I should be able to do this on my own." grunted a voice before a slam was heard. "Oops! I can clean that up."
"Let me call up some Amethysts, they can clean this up easily."
"No, I got it, if I can rule a galaxy I can clean up a small me- oops." The voice called as a wall next to the Pearl shattered. "It's alright, I can get that taken care of easily."
"My diamond, please, just let me clean up this mess for you!"
"No Pearl! I am capable of many things, and this is nothing." The Figure called as they stepped through the wall, revealing a gem even taller than White diamond with sea green skin. She had dark aqua green hair that covered her eyes with fingerless gloves and high heeled shin length boots, with what looked like a toga over her body as she bent down to the pieces. "I'll have this all taken care of with plenty of time to spare."
"B-But my diamond, you've been trying to clean up this mess for a week, and it's only gotten bigger!" Spoke Pearl with anxiousness. "Please, as your pearl it's my job to assist in any and all tasks."
"Bah, forget about that, I am a diamond, it is necessary that I am capable of doing everything, and that includes cleaning up a minor mess!"
"A minor mess that has become a gigantic one." Muttered the pearl, which the camera picked up on.
"This mess problem just kept growing larger and larger until a fourth of Homeworld was rubble, her powers made her insanely powerful, so even a little bit of force against an object and it would break, and she was never good at controlling her strength to start with." spoke Yellow before they saw the diamond lift a huge piece of rock and walk over to the wall, not noticing a smaller one in her path.
"Watch out!" Cried Steven on impulse, only for them to see her trip on it, and yell out before letting the piece of debris go flying up into the air. The piece flew higher and higher before it began to fall down and fell down on the drone, crushing it and ending the feed.
"She was too stubborn to accept help, and even too blind to realize she was causing nothing but a mess." White sighed. "We had to eventually tell her she was being moved to a new location, we didn't want to know what she would do if she was really mad."
The camera went off with the screen going back up into the ceiling.
"So as you can see Steven, it took us numerous tries before Pink came to be." White sighed. "Luckily we made a nearly perfect Diamond when she was made and stopped trying to make new ones after her."
"So… all those diamonds are just sitting on a moon somewhere?"
"Yes, far far away from the planet." Sighed Yellow in relief. "With the whole war that went on, I had completely forgotten they existed."
"Well… shouldn't you give them another chance? I mean, how long has it been since they've been banished?" Steven asked curiously.
"Millennium." replied all three bluntly.
"Well, maybe they could have another chance." He suggested. "I mean, that's a lot of time to be on their own, far away from their home. Maybe they've taken the chance to think about things."
"Steven, didn't you just watch the same video as us? They're hopeless!" Yellow protested.
"I doubt a single one of them have come close to being real Diamonds, let alone realize how faulty they were." Spoke Blue.
"Well, they don't have to be diamonds now, right? They can just be themselves, and I'm sure if we help them learn why what they did was wrong, they'd fit right in!" Steven said with a smile as the other Diamonds looked at each other hesitantly. "Think of how happy they'd be to get another chance?"
"Steven… we love you, but…" Blue started slowly.
"That is an idiotic plan, they're staying banished." Yellow finished sternly.
"Agreed, especially given how much time has passed." Spoke White. "We've had a total of four diamonds as leaders of Homeworld. If too many came to pass, it would disrupt the balance."
"Isn't that kinda off since Zircon became the new official leader?"
"You still get what we're saying." Yellow huffed. "Besides, what do you suggest, we go collect them one by one and tell them homeworld has changed, please be nice?"
"Yes!"
"That would never work." White said as she shook her head. "It would only end in disaster."
"Come on, can't we give them a chance, please?" Pleaded Steven with his hands together. "You all got another chance to change."
"Yes, but that's different!" Yellow groaned. "Now then, let's just forget this nonsense, we still have to work out how long you'll be staying with us in exchange for learning about the failed diamonds."
Steven sighed before getting an idea and put his hands behind his head, turning his back to them. "Alright, I completely understand. I guess I'll just have to spend all that time with my thoughts, wondering on all the good they could have done if given the chance. How you all could help inspire the gems more than now by demonstrating how benevolent you are. Or maybe I'll just sit alone, by myself, feeling down about not getting a chance to see them in person."
"What? Steven, no!" Blue cried out, horrified. "You can't do that, it's ok they're banished, they wouldn't fit in!"
"And it would do no good. I guarantee you nothing good would come out of it." Spoke Yellow.
"I guess I'll never know for sure, oh woe is me." He sighed dramatically. 'I know this is playing dirty, but being punished for that long should be more than enough to have some time to think. They probably wanna come back just as much as anyone forced to leave home.'
"Steven, please just trust us on this, keeping them banished is for the best!"
"And nothing you say will change our mind." White said firmly.
"Are you sure?" He asked with a grin. 'I can think of a few things that will make them change their mind~'
"Yes." Yellow crossed her arms. "Now let's drop the subject."
"I'll stay for nine months."
Their eyes widened hearing that.
"Isn't that nearly a year?" Blue whispered to Yellow.
"Yes, it is… it's almost too good to be true…"
"Deal!" Spoke up White before the two could stop her.
"Great! Let's go get them!"
(Timeskip)
"Ahhhhh!" Screamed several aquamarines as they flew around in a panic.
"Come back! Just let me love you!"
"Hands off, I need a new ring!"
One of the many pearls got picked up by her legs and dangled upside down by Violet who smiled while holding a sapphire in her other hand. "Hi cutie, wanna have some new fun~?"
"L-Let me go!" She cried as the two began to glow.
"Don't worry, the feeling of fusion is a wondrous thing." She sighed as several agates ran as the plain diamond ran after them, her hands held out eagerly.
"Come back! I only want to experience what an agate is! It's been oh so long~!" She called eagerly. "I wonder if I absorb more than one of you it'll last longer?"
"AAAAAHHHHHH!"
"YOU CALL THIS A STATUE?! IT SHOULD BE OF ME!" Yelled Red Diamond, blasting a statue of a gem down while growling. "WHY AREN'T THERE ANY OF ME?! I WANT MY OWN STATUE TOO!"
"Statues are pointless, like everything they'll eventually crumble…" Black Diamond sighed as pieces of the statue rained down around her. "Just take me back to the moon…. To waste away to nothing…"
"Ah, it's good to be back here." sighed Orange Diamond looking around before holding her chin. "Or is it? Maybe that's just my memory playing tricks on me. Would that mean I'm sleeping or conscious?"
As she pondered whether anything around her was real, several rubies and peridots ran past her, only for a mangled, monstrous hand to shoot up from the ground in front of them and snatch a few.
"Someone call the jaspers!"
"Hey! We're trained in combat too ya know!" frowned a ruby.
"We need gems that can actually get the job done!" Called one of the Peridots before a green hand snatched her up. "AAAAHHH!"
"Hi, can you tell me where I can find a broom, I've seem to have made quite a mess." Asked Aqua Green Diamond looking around. "I need to get it all cleaned up, after all I AM a diamond." She said as she accidentally tightened her grip, making the Peridot poof. "Drats, that's the fifteenth gem that I poofed."
As this chaos went on, we see Yellow, Blue, and White looking down at Steven with crossed arms who looked embarrassed with his fingers poking together.
"So…. things may not have gone as planned…"
"I wonder where you got that idea from." Remarked Yellow facepalming.
"We did try to tell you Steven." remarked Blue shaking her head.
"Which means we'll have to fix things." Sighed White. "Let's get to banishing them."
'Maybe not everyone is savable.' thought Steven while an explosion was seen in the distance. 'Well, I'll have plenty of time to rethink about it for over half a year.'