Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Their first fusion was a happy accident, unlooked for beside the dead seas of Yann. Under twin moons Yellow and Blue danced, in triumph and sheer delight at being strong and beautiful and together at last. It was artless, this dancing, nothing like the flawless movements of White’s court celebrations, and perhaps that was what led to everything.

Blue twirled Yellow and spun her out to the length of her arm, tossing her head for the pleasure of feeling her hair swing around her. Yellow laughed her stone-shaking laugh and tugged hard on Blue’s hand, hauling her in. They grinned at each other, standing close, their brows resting together.

“You were magnificent .” Yellow said lowly, eyes like embers in the dark. Blue thrummed with pride for herself and Yellow, for what they had done here on Yann. She took Yellow’s face between her hands and beamed at her.

“As were you. I have never seen anything as beautiful as you on the battlefield.”

Blue shrieked when Yellow suddenly swung her up in her arms and tossed her into the air, her laughter booming over the black water. Blue was laughing too as she came down, full of love and power and a thousand things besides until she did not think her form could contain it all. Yellow caught her, of course she caught her, and the moment Blue fell into her arms again there was a spark, a shock of recognition. Their gems flared, the light blazing up on silent Yann’s seashore, and the boundaries that decided Yellow from Blue became confused. Blue’s last coherent sensation was not of falling, precisely, but of having fallen and at last come to rest.

When the light died down, Green Diamond stood alone and opened her four wondering eyes. For the longest time she just stood blinking by the sea, turning her head this way and that as she tried to make sense of herself. Green looked carefully down her body and gasped. She lifted her hands to her face and then lifted the second pair before her disbelieving eyes.

“Oh!”

The legs beneath her trembled with newness but they were strong enough to bear Green to the water’s edge. She stared down from her great height into her own stunned reflection. Her face was strange to her, unknown yet wonderfully familiar.  Again Green raised her hands, all four of them, and gently continued her previous exploration.

Four eyes, slanting and cunning, soft and secretive. The cheekbones cut high, but her mouth was generous, made for songs and smiling. Her brow was tall and her chin sharp, and she was crowned with glorious hair, bright and falling abundantly around her. Green gaped foolishly at herself, hands flitting from one exquisite feature to another, too overcome with delight to do much else.

(A memory in double: seeing her own face for the first time in the surface of a massive crystal and being well-pleased at the sight. Seeing Blue see herself for the first time, radiant and hers .)

Eventually Green lifted her head and spoke aloud.

“I am beautiful !”

The sound of her own voice so thrilled Green that she threw her arms around herself and laughed uproariously until the ground itself shook beneath her feet.

“Oh, just look !” she enthused. She admired her reflection again, grinning, and lightly touched the two flawless gems on her breast. She knew herself to be all that was great and good of Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond, their strength and courage and beauty. Surely there was nothing in the Universe as wonderful as her!

It was natural, then, to see what she could do with the combined might of two Diamonds. Green ran tirelessly over the cratered surface of Yann, vaulting canyons and smashing down mountains with only her hands. She laughed and sang and shouted for the joy of it, praising herself with every feat. She was brilliant, she decided, brilliant and fearsome and glorious, for how could she be otherwise? Green nearly wished that Yellow and Blue had not dealt so thoroughly with the organics of Yann, for she would have liked the chance to test her strength against an opponent.

“It would be over in moments, of course.” she said, preening over her magnificent self. “Stone cannot stand against me; a fleshy Yann sorcerer could hardly do better.”

Green pointed her toes and stretched out a long leg to be admired, sighing happily. There was no part of Green that felt weak or vulnerable. There was only a feeling to total power, from crown to heel.

“Why, I bet even White would be hard-pressed to hold against me.” Green mused. Her smile vanished the moment the words were spoken and all four hands flew to cover her traitorous mouth.

“Blue! How could you say that? How could you even imply that I would fight White?!”

“Oh Stars, Yellow! White! What if...what if She sees me?”

Green shuddered as her mind flinched from the thought. That feeling of invulnerability fell from her like a cloak, leaving her suddenly small and alone. Green thought that it would be less frightening if she had someone to stand beside her, and in that moment her body was bisected by a burning line that was there and gone again like a meteor.

Blue and Yellow staggered back from one another and fell into the sand. They reached for each other at once, instinctively, but Yellow pulled back at the last moment. She stared at their hands as though they were things apart from themselves, alien and untrustworthy.

“Blue. What did we do ?”

Blue knew very well that Yellow was not expecting an answer but she gave it all the same, her voice soft with wonder.

“ Fusion .”

Yellow jerked back as though Blue had said something obscene and staggered up, arms locking behind her back as she began to pace. Blue watched her, too shaken to trust her own legs just yet, and tried her best to acclimate to her own body again.

“We were foolish in the extreme, I cannot understand how this could happen , it is wrong , Blue-.”

“No.”

Blue got to her feet at last and went to Yellow, intercepting her mid-stride and wrapping her arms about her waist.

“Do not dare call her wrong, Yellow. Green is...she is this .”

Blue cupped the back of Yellow’s neck and guided her head down so that their foreheads touched. She nuzzled Yellow, delighted to be close to her ( not close enough ), overcome with a joy so vast it almost swallowed her fear. For her part Yellow stood rigid in Blue’s arms, but eventually settled her hands in the small of Blue’s back. She sighed, a tiny shuddering sound.

“No. She is not wrong. But nor is she right , Blue. That was dangerously close to treason.”

Blue frowned, resenting the reminder, and huffed like a petulant newcut.

“Hardly treason. It wasn’t even intentional.”

“Still. We must not do it again, Blue, for the sake of the Authority.”

For a wild second Blue almost did not care if the Authority crumbled to ash, if it meant becoming Green again, but she regained her senses. She closed her eyes and sighed too, resigned.

“You are right. She...it must not happen again.”

And tears stung her eyes then, for the idea of losing Green so soon after becoming her seemed a terrible crime to Blue. Yellow carefully cradled her face in her hands and swept her thumbs beneath Blue’s eyes, dashing away her tears.

“It is agreed, then.”

Chapter Text

Blue and Yellow held true to their vow for many millennia, behaving as Diamonds ought and never dwelling on that night by Yann’s seas. They conquered other worlds and toppled sprawling empires, bringing glory to the Authority with every victory taken. And in every interaction they shared, be it battle or a simple evening of song, they were cautious, never touching for longer than was necessary nor even spending time alone together. It was a perfectly serviceable arrangement, in Yellow’s mind. Safe and efficient. That she missed Blue was beside the point; at least she and Blue were around to be conscious of what they had lost.

And then Pink had come.

So small and yet so ferociously alive , Pink disrupted everything in their lives without a second thought. It was difficult to stay away from Blue when White had given Pink into their care, difficult to remain unmoved when Yellow watched Blue nurture their young charge.

It was inevitable that they would break their vow. Pink had a way of making them both weak.

Their second fusion happened the day Yellow and Blue took Pink into the heart of Homeworld’s most ancient city, the place where Gemkind had originated and began to remake the Cosmos.It was intended to be an educational venture, to help Pink understand the origin of their people and the role of the Authority, but of course Pink would not cooperate.

Yellow did what she could. She had prepared a series of short lectures concerning the arrival of White and the sowing of the first Quartz warriors, but Pink abruptly lost interest and went tearing off into the ruins of Home.

“I don’t know what I expected.” Yellow said, staring after her. Blue came up beside her and laughed softly, though Yellow wasn’t sure if it was at her or Pink.

“She is young yet.”

“I was young too, and still I learned my history.”

“Mmm. But then, of all of us, you are the one with the head for lore and law.”

Yellow made a noncommittal noise in response, and they stood together for a while, watching Pink as she plunged from one crumbling structure to the next. Her delighted laughter carried back to them, and Yellow had to resist a smile. Blue shifted slightly beside her, brushing Yellow’s flank, and for a moment Yellow thought it was accidental. But her hand crept into the crook of Yellow’s arm, and her chin rested on her shoulder, and Yellow clenched her hands tightly together behind her back to avoid doing something unwise.

“It is good to set aside our duties for a time.”

Yellow nodded, not trusting herself. Not far away, Pink was busy scaling an ancient tower and shouting back to them all the things she could see through the windows. Blue began humming something that Yellow felt more than heard, and gradually she let herself relax. It was nearly peaceful.

But then Pink leapt from the tower and plunged to the ground, landing hard. For a moment all seemed well, Pink standing cocksure in the sunlight and grinning, but there came a rumbling from deep below and the land began to buckle.

“ Pink!”

Blue screamed as Pink was swallowed up, or maybe it was Yellow who was screaming, but they charged forward together step-for-step, hands locked together, and then it was Green who was running, Green who was tearing into the collapsed soil of Homeworld. Four hands she thrust into the land, her unending strength heaving aside shattered walls and slabs of holy bedrock, her fear and love driving her into a kind of frenzy.

Green pulled Pink from the rubble, small and limp between her grimed hands, and tears came boiling out of her in a huge, undignified gasp.

“Oh Pink! Are you hurt?”

She held the little body close, bowed over Pink as though trying to shield her from a blow. Her tears fell on the young Diamond, washing away dirt and grit, and Pink stirred a little. Her eyes opened slowly, dazed, and she blinked up at Green.

Pink jerked upright in Green’s hand, eyes round as moons.She gripped one of Green’s fingers and hauled herself to her feet, staring hard at Green as though waiting for her to attack. Green looked her over and was relieved to see that there was no damage to the younger Diamond’s gem, the last of her fears fading like mist in sunlight. She let Pink reorient herself, standing perfectly still as Pink glanced up at her, then down at the two gems shining on her breast, and then back into Green’s eyes.

“You...you’re Yellow and Blue, aren’t you? Both of them?”

Green smiled and nodded once, lifted a free hand to touch her chest.

“I am the unparalleled Green Diamond. It is a pleasure to meet you formally.”

Pink attempted to make the proper salute for greeting an elder, which was complicated by the fact she had yet to release Green’s finger. It made for an adorable sight and Green had to actively fight the urge to croon.

“Hail, Green Diamond! Uh. Do you...that is, how much do you remember? From...being Blue and Yellow?”

Pink seemed uncertain, even shy, and Green’s smile grew. She lifted Pink until the smaller Diamond was level with her eyes.

“I remember everything. You, above all else.”

“Oh! Good.”

And Pink smiled at her, that sweet little grin that never failed to warm the recipient straight through. Green brought Pink to her cheek and gently buffed her, humming happily. She felt Pink lean against her, doing her best to return the gesture. Green straightened up and made to turn away from the wreckage, Pink held safe.

“Come, we must leave. The ground is likely unsta-.”

Her next step fell away beneath her, plunging Green down into the deeps of Homeworld’s hollowed ground. She did not scream, only clasped Pink to her chest and curled herself around her. They fell for what seemed like a long time through the cloying dark, Green’s body turned and battered by jagged stone. The bottom rushed to meet them, and Green struck the ground with tooth-jarring force. Cold water and silt blinded her and she struggled up, spitting and cursing.

“Pink? Are you well?”

Green opened her hands, one after another, and found Pink whole, if shaken.

“I’m fine, Green, what of you?”

Green scoffed and tossed her head, her water-laden hair swinging over her shoulders. She grimaced; somewhere in her mind Blue was howling at the affront to her immaculate person. She got to her feet with care, two hands holding Pink while the other two scrabbled in the lightless place for purchase. There were in a shaft of some sort, though the walls were pocked with many holes.Helpfully, Pink said,

“Yellow can call fire.”

“I know that.” Green snapped, but she straightened up and stretched out her free hands. Flame sparked and bloomed over each palm, growing and growing until the shaft was lit. Green looked  and saw rows and rows of neatly regimented openings, each the exact size and shape of a perfect White Quartz.

“A Kindergarten?” Pink asked.

“ The Kindergarten, I expect.”

It was impressive, to say the least. Miles deep and expertly seeded, the ancient Kindergarten had once yielded thousands of White’s favored warriors. Now, however, it trapped Green and Pink, the tired stone too fragile to hold Green’s weight long enough for her to climb back up.

“I suppose I ought to unfuse.” Green said softly. She wrapped her unoccupied arms around herself and looked up, blinking hard.

“Unfuse? You mean, break apart? But you’ve only just gotten here! I refuse to let you!”Pink cried, leaping to her feet. Green snorted and swiped at her eyes.

“You refuse, do you? And what do you propose we do?”

“Well...think of this as a history lesson! Yellow was going to tell me about this place anyway, yes? Then let us explore it a while. There’s bound to be a transport platform at the end of this thing eventually!”

Green regarded her a few seconds, thinking carefully, then slowly shook her head.

“Be that as it may, we shouldn’t continue in this way. To remain in this condition on Homeworld’s soil would be...foolish.”

Pink scowled up at her and stomped her foot with what she clearly thought was a great deal of power and wrath.

“But why ?” She whined. Green rolled all four eyes and frowned her most forbidding frown, Blue’s icy disapproval coupled to the threat of Yellow’s thunderous temper.

“White would not approve, precious thing, and that is reason enough.”

“So? We’re so far down that White likely doesn’t bother to send Robotnoids on patrol anymore! Let’s just go a little farther! Please?”

She gave Green an imploring look, her eyes huge and hopeful in her dear little face. Green twitched and glanced away, uncomfortable. To stall for time she examined the walls around them, running her fingertips over the walls.Stone crumbled to dust under her touch. This Kindergarten had been long abandoned by the time Yellow and Blue had been born, all useful space and nutrients exhausted. It was silent now, and very still. White did not believe in wasting time on what no longer served her.

“Perhaps...there would be no harm in going a little farther down the path. You’ve so much to learn of our history, after all.”

Pink leapt straight into the air and cheered so loudly that Green’s ears rang. Green sighed, as though exasperated, but in truth she was happy. She knew that separation was necessary, but she shied from it all the same. She missed being whole.

To free up her extra hands Green set her lights adrift and tied a climbing braid into her long hair. This she tucked over the crown of her head and secured in place with an old axle torn from an injector; she lifted Pink onto her head and helped her tuck her little legs through the strands of the braid, effectively belting her in place. Ridiculous, but Blue had happily sported far more complicated braids in order to convenience Pink before.

“Onward! And mind you don’t go haring off again, treasure.”

Green daintily lifted her skirts and began wading through the floodwaters, her fires drifting ahead and lighting the way. Yellow vaguely remembered where they were in the Kindergarten, having once gone on a similar expedition with Blue as a newcut under White’s guidance. Blue did not remember this expedition at all, as she had been too busy watching Yellow take everything in to pay attention.

There came a fork in the path, and Green hesitated only for a moment before taking the lefthand path. The darkness gradually began to lighten, and the tunnel gave way to a vast open space, the rock walls rising up on either side to gouge Homeworld’s silver sky. Even Green, who stood taller than any Diamond ever had, felt rather small in that moment.

“Here is where the First Thousand emerged, and so altered the fate of the Universe.” she murmured. She could not see Pink, but could feel that she had gone still in awe.

“Do you think I will ever have soldiers as great as them, Green?”

“Of course, treasure. I know that your Gems will not hesitate to follow you to the ends of the Cosmos when the time arrives. It will be an honor to see.”

Pink said nothing to that, but Green could tell she was pleased.

They passed through the the great central canyon at a leisurely pace, none of them in any hurry to find the transport platform. Pink asked cursory questions about the First Thousand and White’s subsequent generations of soldiers, but that soon gave way to questions about Green herself.

“Could you destroy a starspawn?”

“Of course.”

“What about a mind flayer?”

“The work of a moment.”

“A bugblatter beast of Traal?”

“A Pearl could kill one of those.”

Pink shifted atop Green’s head and swung down on a lock of her hair, dangling near Green’s lowest eyes. She squinted suspiciously at her.

“Have you ever fought any of those things?” she asked. Green narrowed her eyes and flicked at Pink.

“I needn’t fight every monster in creation to know I could defeat them.”

“That means you haven’t.”

“Hush, Pink.” she huffed. They were entering into another enclosed area at this point, a hall rather than a tunnel, and elegant pillars rose up to support the weight of the world. They were each twice as broad as Green herself, and carved intricately with the story of White’s great works.

“Prove it! Prove how strong you are!” Pink demanded, yanking on Green’s hair.

“Do not forget yourself, little one. I am your elder!”

“Who is too scared to prove how strong she is.” Pink said, in that infuriating tone she had surely learned from Blue. Green snarled and set her feet, swinging one leg up in a high, sweeping kick. The blow landed with a sound like thunder on one of the pillars, and a fine web of cracks spread from the impact of Green’ heel. With a tortured groan, the pillar slowly keeled over and slammed to the ground, lashing Green with filthy water and shaking the foundations of the Kindergarten.

“Ha.” said Green, hands on her hips. Then she opened all four eyes wide and clasped her hands over her mouth in horror.

“Oh. Oh, I just destroyed a priceless artifact of the First Coming.”

Pink cackled gleefully in her ear, and Green was sorely tempted to pluck the young Diamond from her hair and drop her into the waters below like the irksome pebble she was. Instead she flicked the water from her hands onto Pink and kept walking, shoulders back and chin high. Pink’s snickering subsided soon enough, replaced by still more questions.

“So you are terribly strong. What else? You can call fire like Yellow--can you sing like Blue?”

“No one can sing like Blue.” Green said, and smiled softly.

“Can you build things like Yellow? Or weave magic like Blue? Surely you can blast things like they can. What about--”

“Stars, spare me from the endless questions! Besides, you misunderstand. I am not merely traits of Blue and Yellow bound together. I am...something else.”

Green felt Pink rappel down onto her armored shoulder, the light tapping of tiny feet tickling some as Pink approached her face. Green turned her head to look at her, crossing her eyes slightly to keep Pink in focus. Pink leaned up and put her hands on Green’s face, looking very grave and curious.

“What is that?”

Green paused and considered the question. White had never discussed fusion with Blue and Yellow, not in detail. They knew it was something lesser Gems did in moments of crisis on the battlefield, but that it was unacceptable in peacetime. Unacceptable for them above all other Gems, for their combined power was a threat and an insult to White. So there was an absence in their vocabulary, in Green’s vocabulary, and she struggled to describe herself.

“I am...all that they are, every facet of them, even the unbecoming qualities, and sometimes I am all that they wish for. I am what they are when no one else can see them.”

Pink tilted her head to the side and her smile made Green think of young stars shining.

“You are love, then.”

Green froze, stricken, and opened her mouth to say something. She closed it again and glanced away.

“Quite.”

Pink threw herself down to sit on Green’s shoulder, her feet dangling over the edge, elbow on her knee and chin on her fist. Green kept on down the great hall, carefully stepping over fallen pillars and muttering bitterly to herself over the shambles the original Kindergarten had been left in.

“It’s one thing to reallocate one’s time on profitable ventures, but this just violates all professionalism. All this beautiful work, wasted! No Second Era Bismuths could create such intricate work, I tell you that much. Shameful, utterly shameful.”

Pink grunted, an unattractive vocalization she got from Yellow, and tugged on Green’s hair again.

“Green, a question.”

“Yes?”

“Am I able to fuse? Ooh! Blue and I would make a lovely fusion, wouldn’t we?”

“Absolutely not ,” Green said sharply, stopping midstride. “The very thought fills me with crawling horror.”

“You’re just jealous because we’d be prettier than you.” Pink shot back.

“Hardly. I am only concerned for the wellbeing of the Authority. The pair of you are hedonists and I shudder to think of what an entity comprised of you two could do to the Empire.”

Pink crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at Green.

“You’re mean like Yellow, I see.”

“Truth is rarely pleasant, precious thing.”

“Hmph.”

Green chuckled to herself. She felt remarkably good, though she loathed being so dirty. There were no reports to be completed or data analyzed, no troops in need of direction or technicians in need of demoting. There was only Pink, coming up with little snatches of song based on the murals they passed, and herself. This was exactly the sort of thing Yellow longed for in her busiest moments, what Blue wanted more than anything else.

Of course they found the transport platform eventually. They stood looking at it for the longest time, Green with her hands hanging idle at her sides, Pink fidgeting on her shoulder. It looked serviceable still, and was large enough to transport entire battalions of Quartzes to the surface. Green would be an afterthought. Yellow and Blue would trouble it even less.

Green closed her eyes and sighed.

“It is time, little one. Hop down.”

“Oh. If you’re sure?”

“I cannot see the surface of Homeworld, Pink. Come.”

Pink slipped from Green’s shoulder into her waiting palm. Gently she settled her young charge on the ground and rose to her full height. Green tilted back her head, relishing the feel of her hair flowing around her, the tension in her throat and shoulders, even the damp and tired scent of the Kindergarten soil. She fixed her eyes on the sky of Homeworld, admiring the distant rings and committing the color to memory...though she was not sure what the point was, when she didn’t even know where her memories went when she was gone.

Green wrapped her arms around herself, holding tight.

“Goodbye, Pink. Blue and Yellow will be along shortly.”

“Goodbye, Green.” Pink said, and Green was touched to see the little dear was crying. She closed her eyes again, and felt herself begin to fall.

Yellow came back to herself with great relief, and no small amount of sadness. When she opened her eyes Blue was there, just as she had always been, beautiful even under the grime of a neglectful eon, so beautiful that Yellow could not speak. Yellow looked down and found Blue’s slim hand resting lightly in hers. Impulsively, she clasped Blue’s hand between both of hers and bowed over it, eyes lowered in reverence.

“My Blue.”

“Oh, Yellow .”

Blue closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around Yellow’s neck, trusting the whole of her weight to Yellow’s strength. Yellow knew, objectively, that it was imperative for her to step away, to maintain the balance they had carefully kept for so long. Subjectively, this was the closest Yellow had been to Blue in at least two thousand years, and blast all the consequences. Yellow gathered Blue closer still, arms around her waist, face hidden in the curve of her neck, and let herself be.

Some time later, a hesitant voice piped up.

“Blue? Yellow?”

They both jumped and turned to look down at the intrusion. Pink shifted from foot to foot, deeply uncomfortable, and gave them a measured look. Blue grinned at Pink, her joy enveloping the three of them in a slow wave of warmth.

“Hello, treasure.”

Blue pulled away to fuss at Pink, taking a shining cloth from her sleeve and wiping muck from her face. Yellow took the opportunity to compose herself, tugging her tunic back into some semblance of neatness and smoothing her hair. She went to the control panel for the transport platform and put her hand to the pad, frowning when nothing happened. Yellow tore off the casing for the panel and examined the interior, pulling and reconnecting wires with a practiced hand.

“Can you get it running?”

Blue’s hand settled on her shoulder, and Yellow smiled.

“And who are you speaking to? This archaic rubbish couldn’t stymie a newcut Peridot, let alone someone who knows what they’re doing.”

“Such confidence.” Blue murmured.

Yellow finished the final connection and the machinery began to hum, long dormant lights flashing. Yellow shot Blue a triumphant look and straightened up, guiding Blue onto the waiting platform with a gentle touch to her waist.

“Come along, Pink! I should hate to leave you down here.”

Pink scurried after Blue, and Yellow reached down to touch her hair as she passed, full of affection. When they were all situated on the platform Yellow jabbed at a second bank of buttons, sending a shudder through the lift mechanisms. Pink leaned against Yellow’s leg as they began to rise, arm slung around her knee in a companionable fashion.

“I liked Green, but I am glad to have you both back.”

“Thank you, Pink.” Blue said.

“I cannot wait for our next history lesson!”

“I am foisting that particular burden off on one of Blue’s Agates.” Yellow said. Blue elbowed her, but without any real force. They all lapsed into a comfortable silence, Blue and Yellow leaning together, Pink standing between them, almost swallowed by Blue’s sodden skirts. Blue blinked as she seemed to remember something and turned to Yellow.

“Also, Yellow-- a hedonist? Truly?”

Yellow flushed and tugged at her tunic again.

“Yes, well, you cannot hold me accountable for Green’s opinions.”

Blue raised a single brow in a way that implied this wasn’t over and laid her head on Yellow’s shoulder. Yellow wound her arm around her waist and rested her cheek on Blue’s shining hair. Here, in the presence of the two creatures she loved most, she was happy. She told herself that all would be well, that no one would ever know of this day, and that she and Blue could walk away with the secret of this precious day tucked safe inside their minds.

Yet when the transport platform ground to a halt and its doors slid open to reveal a retinue of armed White Quartz soldiers, she knew that this would not be allowed to come to pass.

“There you are, my truant darlings. I was worried you would never show yourselves again.”

White Diamond stood before them in her impossible splendor, shining so brightly, so purely , that the features of the unloading bay around her seemed dim and flat. She smiled, her stare unwavering, and Yellow moved to stand before Blue and Pink, obscuring them from view. She bowed her head, hand to her gem in contrition.

“We are sorry to have troubled you, White Diamond. There was an accident in the city of Home, and we found ourselves...indisposed.”

“I know this. But it seems you and Blue found a novel solution to your situation, didn’t you?”

White’s smile grew until it seemed to consume her face, and her eyes burned in their coldness. Yellow felt Blue step out from behind her and take up her rightful position at her side, her fingers twinning with hers. From the corner of her eye she saw Blue raise her head, defiance in the lift of her brows and the jutt of her chin.

“Pink is blameless.” she said, and Yellow shivered at her tone.

“I know this also. Starlight, why don’t you run along to your chambers? I had some new organics from the outer colonies sent up, to replace the ones you used up last moon.”

Pink edged out from behind Yellow, hands clasped together before her gem.

“But I-.”

“What do you say, Starlight?”

“Thank you, White, but I’d really prefer to--.”

“Do as she says, Pink.” Blue said flatly, never taking her eyes from White. For a moment Yellow was overcome with admiration for her queenly calm, when she herself felt panic beginning to edge in. A group of sixteen Quartzes approached Pink and escorted her away from the platform--an honor guard, Yellow reminded herself. Pink glanced back at them over her shoulder, plainly afraid, and Yellow lifted a hand in farewell.

“We shall see you soon, Pink.”

The three elder Diamonds watched until Pink and her entourage disappeared into the belly of White’s palanquin. White Diamond turned on Yellow and Blue again, and Yellow could already feel the pain begin to build between her temples.

“We shall speak privately in my personal quarters, you and I. You must relearn old lessons.”

Yellow bowed her head again, surreptitiously kicked Blue’s ankle until she did the same. White Diamond turned, her starry cloak swinging around her heels, and led the way into her ship. They must be miles from the capitol, Yellow realized, and she was suddenly gripped with the urge to throw Blue over her shoulder and dive back into the bowels of the Kindergarten.

Instead, she gripped Blue’s hand harder and took the first step forward. Blue followed, her mouth now trembling with fear. Even now, following in White’s wake, she was the most luminous thing Yellow had ever seen.

“Blue?”

“Yes?”

Yellow leaned close as they walked, her forehead brushed Blue’s temple.

“Know that I do not regret.”

Blue managed a small smile.

“Nor do I.”

Chapter Text

Blue crawled on the floor blind with tears, blind with pain, gathering the shards of Yellow’s gem into her hands. She was chanting but it was only Yellow’s name over and over, for no spell she knew could unmake this, no spell could call her valiant one back to her.

Yellow pricked her hands where Blue grasped her but she did not feel that, not when the pain in her head was pounding her thoughts into nothing.

“Yellow, Yellow, oh Yellow oh no no no…”

Blue bowed over the gleaming fragments, her hair sweeping over them, cradling them close to her own gem, seeking that spark of life that would let her know that Yellow was still there but there was only cold, only emptiness, she was gone her beloved was gone

Blue turned her face to the floor and screamed.

Had enough?

The world shifted, growing brighter, sharper, at once smaller and more vast, and Blue collapsed onto the floor of White’s receiving room. She lay there gasping, throat raw, and she forced herself to open her eyes.

She cried out when she found Yellow sprawled not far away, her eyes tightly closed, breathing hard through her teeth as she fought to control herself again. Blue stretched out her hand across the floor, desperate to touch Yellow, and nearly managed to brush her fingertips against her knuckles before White’s foot descended between them.

“None of that, dear Blue. I have few points to make still.”

And White applied her will again, and Blue went rigid, back bending as pain burned in every atom. She gritted her teeth against it, tried to stifle the screaming as Yellow would do.

You deserve this, both of you.

Blue clutched her throbbing head between her hands, brought it down between her knees and curled around her gem, trying to hide, trying to outrun what she had known was coming the moment Green opened her eyes again. Behind her Yellow was making strangled sounds, heels drumming the ground as White made her displeasure known.

Did you truly think I would not know?

White eased back again, leaving Blue to go limp. She laid there, shaking, her eyes closed against the light of White’s domain, her hand once more reaching out for Yellow’s.

“I was wounded, to see that you two would attempt something so brazen in its treachery. Have I not been kind to you? Did I not pluck you from the Void, set you beside me as my hands in our great work, mentor you both in the arts of war and magic? And yet here we are.”

Here they were.

“Pink was in danger, White. We did not think.”

Yellow’s voice was strange to Blue, so tired and thin as to be nearly unrecognizable. Blue rolled her head to the side and saw Yellow trying to push herself up, her hair sprung from its tight braids and spilling over her sharp face. White walked a languid circle around her, her cloak whispering as she moved, a sound that would haunt Blue through her immortal life. White paused, looking down on Yellow and canting her head to the side in thought.

“Hm, so you said. And I could almost forgive that, Yellow, were it not for the fact that you stayed together for the better part of a day. Pink wasn’t being menaced the entire time, surely?”

Yellow lifted her head and met White’s unkind regard with perfect calm.

“It was my doing. I lost control.”

Blue shook her head in fierce denial, tried to find the strength to contradict her valiant fool’s lie, but White was laughing, a terrible sound that made her squeeze her eyes shut.

“And poor little Blue is as soft and biddable as a custom Pearl, is she? Did she weep piteously when you forced her into it?”

Blue snarled, and White turned her eyes from Yellow in favor of watching her.

“That wasn’t the way of it, Blue? Was it you who did the forcing?”

“It was a necessity.” Blue said, dropping her eyes to the floor and hating herself for it.

“I decide what is and is not necessary, Blue. I can be quite creative that way.”

There are worse things than shattering. Shall I show you?

Blue did not have time to ready herself for pain this time, and it came on her with the same slow violence of a planet being destroyed by its dying sun. She burned, and she felt her careful attunement with the Universe dying inside her as White consumed it. Blue opened her mouth to scream but her voice was gone, cut from her throat, and she opened her eyes to see what was happening to Yellow but she could not see for White had taken her eyes too.

Songless, sightless, empty of your adorable little hearth magic, I will abandon you at the edge of the Empire far from her and Pink and your precious artists. Even a Diamond can be brought low.

“Stop!”

Yellow’s voice, a lash of flame in the dark., drawing off White’s attention. Blue turned towards her even in her blindness, that voice comforting despite its desperation. She could hear White moving again.

“You want me to stop, Yellow?”

“Yes.” said Yellow, her voice ragged. White loosened her hold on Blue’s psyche, and her sight gradually returned. Yellow was on her knees before White, and it was wrong to see her proud one kneeling to any but her. White made a show of tapping her lips with a long finger, clearly relishing the moment.

“I am willing to be forgiving, in light of my fondness for you both. But I must know that you understand the foulness of what you did. I must hear an apology.”

“I am sorry, White Diamond, Paragon of Gemkind. I have transgressed against your rule, and I regret what I have done.” Yellow bent until her forehead touched the ground. Blue looked away, unable to see Yellow debase herself so.

“Do you recognize the fusion as an abomination, Yellow?”

“I do. And never again will I allow it to exist.”

“Good.” White smiled and laid her hand on the crown of Yellow’s head. Blue could have torn that hand off at the wrist for daring to touch what was hers by birthright. She wanted to scream at Yellow, for bending to White’s will and dooming Green to oblivion for the rest of time, when they had known such joy in her.

“Blue?”

White was smiling at her now,brows raised in expectation.The pain was far enough from Blue that she was able to slowly roll into a sitting position, though even that much movement threatened to destabilize her completely. She lifted her eyes to White, could not do otherwise, and knew that Yellow was watching her.

“Yes?” she said, as though she did not know what was required of her.

“Let’s hear it, then. We all have business to be getting on with.”

“Blue.”

Blue met Yellow’s eyes, molten gold and wild with fear. She wanted nothing more than for them to be far from here, safe in Blue’s bower with Pink chattering nearby.

“Come on now, Blue. Yellow has made her apologies, and you cannot do any less.” White said. The smile was still in place, gentle and benevolent, and Blue set her mouth in a hard line.

“I have nothing to apologize for.”

“ Blue .”

“Oh? Nothing?” White said. Blue recognized that she stood at a threshold, one that had protected her for all of her life. Yet she held fast to the feeling of being Green, of completion, of perfection , and wondered who White was, to try and humble her.

“I will not apologize for what I am not sorry for, and I shall say nothing more.” Blue said, with a serenity she did not feel. White went perfectly still then, and the smile slowly folded itself into a blank stare.

“Oh, Blue. You shall say plenty.”

White’s hand descended, winding in Blue’s hair and hauling her head back until she was looking into the heights of the room, her throat bare and her gem exposed. Yellow was shouting now but Blue could not hear the words, for White’s eyes held her helpless.

“We shall see if there is anything you need apologize for, Blue.”

And then she was pushing with unseen hands into the very core of Blue, farther than she had ever gone, deeper even than fear. She rifled through Blue’s personal memories as though skimming a memorandum, sifting through trivialities for something of use.

Yellow emerging from the husk of their star hard on Blue’s heels, a stranger self to keep Blue company in the expanse of space. Yellow smiling in joy at the sight of her, hands reaching, demanding welcome.

Pink small and frightened in the hold of Yellow’s ship, so newly born that she had not found her words yet, her slim shoulders hung with a thousand of Blue’s hopes.

And Green, so proud, so unapologetically happy in herself, unbowed under the moons of Yann.

Is this really what you waste your life thinking of?

White tried to reach still deeper into her mind, testing walls that had been carefully tempered and patrolled by Blue for years beyond counting. Blue knew that nothing of herself would be left if the walls were breached, and so she reached for the strength that dwelled at the root of her and shoved back at White, hard.

You dare?

White was truly angry now; Blue could feel it enclosing her like a stormcloud. She tore at Blue’s mind in heedless temper, uncaring of what damage might be done. Blue was aware that someone was screaming but she could not care, too intent on barricading herself against White.

Say it! Say it, and it will stop!

“No!”

She thought the word but it was Yellow’s voice that screamed it. White suddenly pulled back, leaving Blue disoriented and falling. Blue was conscious of arms around her and a weight settling over her, shielding her from White’s wrath.

“White, enough! Banish me to the edges of the Empire if you deem it right, only stop this! You’ll kill her!”

The unwanted advance finally began to recede, leaving Blue alone in herself again. She almost wept in relief and fear, but refused to give White the pleasure of her tears. She only turned against her protector, cheek to the brilliant yellow stone. Somewhere in the room White was pacing, dangerously unsettled.

“Exile? Death? Don’t be silly, Yellow. I could never do that to you two. I love you too much.”

The hideous thing, Blue thought hazily, was that White meant every word.

“You’ve gone too far.”

“Nonsense, she had to be persuaded. And you know now, don’t you, dear, how wrong you were?”

She had been given her cue. The part of Blue that loved Green rebelled, demanded that Blue refuse even if it mean being disrupted and bubbled for a thousand years. But Yellow was cradling her, and Yellow was shaking, and Blue could not make her endure any more. Blue spoke the words.

“I regret any distress I have caused.”

She hid her face in Yellow’s shoulder, conscious of White’s presence off in the expanse of her chamber. The silence stretched like a wire between the three of them, so tense that it seemed to vibrate.

“Well, there. That wasn’t so difficult, was it?”

White sounded jovial, her voice louder than it needed to be as though she wanted to speak over something, and Blue smiled bitterly.

“I am so glad we could discuss this as Diamonds ought, my dears.”

White was directly behind them now, and Blue clung to Yellow even as White patted their shoulders with gentle hands. White said a few more words about resting and getting ready to return to their usual agenda on the morrow, but it was all perfunctory. They were dismissed, and they knew it. White bid them a fond farewell and disappeared deeper into her quarters, leaving Blue and Yellow huddled on the floor like frightened Pearls.

“Come, Blue.” Yellow murmured. She stood up, careful to move slowly, and Blue tried to follow. Her head was heavy, however, and her vision was swimming. Her legs refused to take her weight and she swayed. Yellow caught her (of course she did) and swept Blue into her arms.

“Don’t,” Blue whispered, already settling against her. “Not when you are so tired already.”

“I am not tired.” Yellow said, lying. Blue pulled her veil up over her head as Yellow left White’s receiving chamber, grateful that White’s warriors kept their eyes trained into the far distance. She did not think she could contend with pageantry now, when she could scarcely bear to be seen.

“Let us find Pink, she must be fretting.” Yellow said, and Blue wrapped her veil tighter around herself.

“No.”

“No?”

“I do not want her to see me like this.”

Yellow nodded and made for the nearest warproom with brisk, businesslike steps, as though she were not a tortured wreak bearing a shadow in her arms. Blue let herself drift, trying to drive out the last of White from her mind and failing. She had never gone so far before, and Blue was afraid that she would never have herself for herself again.

They warped to Blue’s palace with minimal fuss, Yellow snapping at Blue’s servants with her usual bad humor. She took the well-trod path to Blue’s innermost sanctum, moving smoothly into the cool depths of the chamber. The sound of water playing against stone immediately made Blue relax, just a fraction, and she sighed outright when Yellow gently lowered her into her favorite pool.

Yellow cupped her face in her hands, thumbs stroking over her skin.

“You idiot.”

Blue scowled at her, stung. Yellow lifted her arm and reached into her sleeve, drawing out the cloth of refreshment that Blue had woven so long ago. Without a hint of remorse for her words, Yellow began to clean the last of the Kindergarten dirt from Blue.

Blue stared balefully past Yellow’s shoulder as she let herself be tended to, raw and unkind in her thoughts.

“You disavowed Green.”

Yellow snorted and swept the cloth up the length of Blue’s arm, her eyes hard.

“I would disavow the color of the sky or my own name if that is what it took to keep you alive.”

Angry as she was the admission made Blue flush with pleasure, and they spent the next few moments carefully not looking at each other.

“I despise her for making you kneel.” Blue said eventually, stilling Yellow’s hand with hers and linking their fingers together.

“It had to be done. That is one thing you never understood about White, my one. Deny her a struggle, and she will leave you intact. Feed her, and she will never back down.”

“You were not made for kneeling.”

Yellow’s cheeks flooded with color and she bent her head to wrap the cloth around Blue’s wrist, soothing the beginnings of a bruise. Her hair fell over her face, and Blue reached to sweep it out of the way, coiled it around her fingers like strands of sunlight.

“White is our leader, Blue. What would the Authority be, if we turned our back on her?”

Blue had certain opinions on that, but the idea of speaking them aloud so soon after White made her feel ill and tremulous. Instead of speaking she took the cloth from Yellow and began to dab at her cheekbone with it, revealing lush golden skin. Her anger at Yellow was already losing its toothiness, replaced instead by something like resignation. It was as it was, and always would be. So long as Blue had Yellow, and they both had Pink, she would grit her teeth and follow.

(In her innermost mind, however, Blue entertained certain ideas. White had said it herself, after all. Even a Diamond could be brought low.)

Chapter Text

Yellow walked from White’s stronghold in a daze, numb and wordless. Her long stride seemed to carry her nowhere, for the land stretched unending towards the horizon and the buildings passed faceless on either side. When Yellow looked at the pulsing lights of the transit tubes her vision swam.

Yellow lifted her hand to her burning eyes and stared, uncomprehending, when her fingertips came away wet. Blue’s palace was just over the horizon but it might as well be in another galaxy, and Yellow was adrift.

After that embarrassment of a trial, she and Blue had gotten into a screaming row that had devastated the courtroom. Blue had left in a cold fury and Yellow, seething, had gone to White’s palace to update her on the search for the fugitive. To seek her counsel, too, as she had done hundreds of times before. Yellow made an ugly sound, a wet ruin of a laugh, and shook her head.

All her life, White had always been the pinnacle of wisdom. Sometimes distant, sometimes cruel, but always Yellow could go to White in times of difficulty, and always White had known how to help.

“White, I am sure you are already aware of the situation, but I have come to debrief you on the hunt for Rose Quartz.”

Those eyes, far-seeing and all-knowing, looked down on Yellow.

“Rose Quartz? I thought we destroyed her.”

White had not been aware that their enemy had been found alive, much less brought to trial. She had asked why they were bothering to recapture the traitor, and Yellow had lost her composure.

“You ask why ? She shattered Pink!”

“Oh. That.”

Yellow staggered, hand flying out to catch herself against a wall, and she stood there with her teeth grit tight against the scream that threatened. Her form heaved, ready to fly apart.

“You needn’t waste any more resources that upstart, dear one.”

She needed Blue, and yet dreaded the sight of her. For a moment Yellow contemplated the road of cowardice, of turning away from what she had learned and burying it beneath years and years of silence. And yet when Yellow came back to herself, moments or hours later, she was already striding through the strict tranquility of Blue’s courtyards and rapidly crossing her threshold.

There was a weight inside Yellow, just beneath her gem, and it seemed to pulse as though possessed of its own sort of life. Electricity sparked over her skin, little bolts jumping away at random to illuminate the gloom of the vast entry hall. Instinct guided Yellow away from Blue’s receiving room, vacant these last six thousand years, and drove her instead to take a secret way down into the depths of the palace.

Yellow traveled twisting staircases two steps at a time, past curtains of silvery water falling from nothing into nothing, past rooms filled with seas obeying their own strange tides, past slow and contemplative courtiers who saluted as she passed, a ripple over the surface of a pond. By the time Yellow reached the final twist in the final staircase she was shaking from the effort to keep from screaming into the silence.

She found the door at last, wide but low, a blue so dark it appeared almost black. Yellow touched the old stone, worried for a wild moment that the door would reject her, barr her from its mistress, but no, no. It opened under her hand, remembering her as it no doubt remembered Pink--

No, no.

-- and Yellow stood in the doorway. Inside the chamber Blue was seated at her spinning wheel, arms bare and hair severely braided back, feeding something red into the mechanism that produced a thread of flame. Rage, perhaps. Or betrayal.

Yellow stepped fully into Blue’s weaving room-- her “room of wonders,” as Pink had called it--

Oh Pink.

--and Blue turned from her work with such a look of naked disgust in her face that Yellow almost hoped she would come and strike her.

“How dare you. I said I would not speak to you again and I meant it , Yellow, can you not respect any emotion of mine without--”

And Blue stopped, sat staring at her in irritated confusion as Yellow stood, half-ready to flee, silent as an idiot Topaz.

“What is it? What has happened? Come in and tell me, do not let the whole of my Court eavesdrop.”

The door slid shut behind Yellow at a gesture from Blue, and Yellow obediently crossed the chamber on legs that did not want to move. She ignored the chair Blue conjured for her in favor of pulling Blue’s bench away from the wheel and kneeling down before her. Blue let herself be moved and she banished her spinning material into wherever she had called it from. She looked down at Yellow, her anger fading away as she gently touched the skin beneath Yellow’s eyes.

“You are crying.”

She said this with mingled wonder and fear, and if Yellow intended to hold back, keep her silence, hold up the world, then this was the last moment to do so. Yellow regarded Blue’s face, the very first thing she had ever seen, and realized that this was going to destroy her all over again.

“She shattered Pink.”

Blue frowned, an ugly twist to a mouth made for sweeter things.

“I am aware of that, Yellow, that is why we had the trial.”

“No. Not Rose Quartz.”

And Blue looked at her, truly looked , for the first time in six thousand years.

“What are you saying, Yellow?”

Grief rose up in Yellow and now she did not even have her rage to sustain her. There was no one to execute, no way to unknow what was known, no solutions . There was only the pain of it, inescapable.

“White.”

“I thought you knew, Yellow dear. I told you both that I was going down to her colony to take the situation in hand.”

Blue rocked forward in her seat, hands over her gem, as if Yellow had just struck her. She said nothing, only sat as Yellow’s tears began to fall in earnest.

“I went to her not an hour ago, for advice, to keep her appraised, and she... she did not care . And I pressed her, and she, she just…”

Yellow was aware that she was becoming hysterical, the words falling fast like a rockslide from her mouth, but she could not stop herself, could not keep it all from boiling out of her even as Blue began to tremble. She had to speak this terrible truth, laid so casually over her by White, as though the ending of the world was nothing.

“A Diamond who will not rule is no Diamond at all.”

Blue reached for her with hands that shook, and Yellow expected her to weep. For the last six thousand years there had been nothing save weeping, the fierce creature Yellow loved so dearly drowned in grief, and Yellow did not think that Blue recalled how to do anything else.

Yet the hands that closed around her arms had the crushing strength of a glacier moving over the land, holding Yellow firmly in place as Blue surged to her feet. She towered over Yellow, her eyes huge in her face, her lips set in a thin line, and Yellow almost cried out. In alarm, in joy, she did not know which. She tilted back her head and met Blue’s stare, uncaring of her own vulnerability.

“She must die.”

The end of everything was in those three words, but a part of Yellow had expected them. A part of her, close to the core, had thought them the moment White had admitted to her crime. White was their leader, their mentor, the very bedrock of the Authority, and she had taken Pink from them. Yellow lifted a hand to touched her beloved’s face.

“Yes.”

Blue’s mouth trembled and she blinked rapidly, and her grip on Yellow eased. Yellow got up, unsteady on this treacherous ground, and wrapped Blue in her arms. That towering rage faltered as Blue looked at her.

“I did not think you would agree, not so swiftly.”

“I loved her too. Sometimes I think you forget that.” Yellow whispered. She could not read the expression on Blue’s face, perhaps shame, perhaps confusion or relief, but there was that rage still, not far beneath the surface and coming nearer every moment. She leaned down towards Blue, drawn to that anger as a planet was drawn to a star. Anger she could understand. Anger could sustain a warrior when all else had gone.

“It must be now. I laid wards here, but I have not tended them. She may already know.” Blue said.

“We must make a plan of attack.”

“Yes. What is it you said? Start looking forward, stop looking back?”

Blue tried a smile, cold and brittle, and Yellow would run into the burning heart of the world for that smile, had run into battle without heed or hinderance in the past for that same look. They had always been that way: Yellow running in the vanguard, Blue whispering intelligence into her ear. Yellow the sword, Blue the hand that wielded it.

“We must rally our respective soldiers, march on White’s palace. She’s in one of her searching trances again.” Yellow said, and later she would marvel at how easily the treason fell from her lips. Blue only nodded once, a sharp jerk of the head, and moved to leave the circle of Yellow’s arms. Yellow knew they couldn’t linger here, that every moment of delay was a moment of advantage to White, but she would not relinquish Blue. Yellow opened her mouth, uncomfortably aware that she ought to say something before they began, but she had never been particularly good with words, not behind closed doors, not when it truly mattered.

Yellow pulled Blue in for a long embrace, gem to gem, her chin tucked over Blue’s shoulder. For a moment, just a moment, she leaned against Blue. Blue held her, stood firm and stroked her hand over the curve of Yellow’s back. Yellow closed her eyes.

It was not like the other times. Before there had been that feeling of weightlessness, as in the moment between when a ship left orbit and when the gravity generator kicked in. Now, there was only warmth, steadiness, and then Green Diamond opened her eyes.

She stood dumb in the center of a room too small to accommodate her, staring at the shimmering crystal walls as she tried to hold herself together. Pink was gone. Pink was gone and she knew this because Blue knew it and Yellow knew it but they had had millenia with the knowledge, had managed somehow to live with it. Yesterday, Green had carried Pink safely through Homeworld’s Kindergarten. Yesterday, Pink smiled and sang and pelted Green with impertinent questions, warm as an ember in her hand. Yesterday, Pink was alive.

Green bowed under the weight of it and buried her face in her hands, a low and terrible sound escaping from between her teeth.

“Oh, Pink, oh my poor Pink…”

She gasped and shuddered, fingertips digging into her scalp. They should have known, they should have known what White would do, they should have stopped it, stopped her , done something--

“Enough. Enough now. There is no time.”

Green nodded to herself, swiping at her eyes with the backs of her hands, and opened herself to the rage of Blue and Yellow. The power of their anger flooded her, crushing fear and sorrow underheel until she was righteous with it. She straightened up, head brushing the ceiling, and turned to the door of the chamber. It was too small, of course, for Blue had deliberately built the room to be uncomfortable for White Diamond to enter, but that did not matter.  Green struck the wall with her fists, and the stone practically dissolved under the blow. She stepped over the rubble into the hall, shaking dust from her shining braid. Before leaving she took from its secret place the banner of the Authority, kept safe in Blue’s stronghold. It looked ridiculous in her hand, a flutter of ribbon rather than a flag. And yet there could be no war without it, this thing so many Gems had followed to the edges of the Cosmos.

Green climbed the winding stairs up to the main floor of Blue’s palace with long, sure strides, her every step shaking the ground. The courtiers cried out when they saw her, too stunned to do much more than stare.

“Ready yourselves for battle and gather at the mustering ground.”

Green spoke in Blue’s voice, and let cold certainty spill from her over the assembled Gems. Let them know her as their mistress and follow at her heels, all doubt pushed aside. The courtiers began a slow wave of salutes, maddeningly slow, and Green turned and sought out the small chamber Blue allowed her Pearl. They needed someone who knew what they were doing about, and Yellow’s Pearl was likely still grappling with the aftermath of the trial.

Blue’s Pearl was a credit to her, for she neither quailed nor questioned when retrieved from her room. She saluted her Diamond and went to enact her orders. From Blue Diamond’s long abandoned throne room, the call to war sounded out.

Trailed by Blue’s Court--her Court, too, now-- Green carried the Authority’s banner high, leaving behind Blue’s palace and making for the vast parade ground where Homeworld’s troops had assembled for millennia. With a sting of pride, she found that Yellow’s Jasper battalions were already waiting. They loved Yellow, without reservation, and had always been favored by her in turn. Green let them feel her approval, tried to ignore the murmurings of less stalwart warriors gathering. She was confronted, there in the pre-dawn dark, with the realization that she was not sure how to do this, not really. Yellow was the one who made the clipped, driving speeches, and it was Blue who passed her the standard and gave the blessing on the host. Green had their memories and their ferocious encouragement inside her head, but she was rather short on practical experience.

Say what must be said. Do it for her.

She had Yellow’s Jaspers and Blue’s, though White’s were in a far-flung galaxy and welcome to stay there. There were Amethysts aplenty and surly Bismuths fresh from their forges, a veritable horde of Rubies staring up at Green in awe, knots of Lapis Lazulis muttering worriedly together. Peridots, Topazes, Fluorites, and Emeralds, all milled about around Green Diamond’s feet, frightened but ready to heed her call.

Green lifted the banner in her right hand and gestured for silence with her left; as one, every Gem assembled stood at attention.

“Yellow Diamond discovered terrible treason this night, committed by White Diamond herself.” Green said, without preamble or even acknowledgment of the strange circumstances. She had no need to explain herself. The gathered Gems murmured below her, startled.

“ It was she who struck down Pink Diamond six millennia ago, she who struck at the heart of our Authority and so threatened the stability of the Empire. This act cannot go unpunished.”

Green wavered a moment, in the tide of shouts and cries from her motley of Gems, because it seemed she ought to say something of Pink herself, of how young she was, how determined. But she did not have words enough to do her justice, the joy of Blue and Yellow’s lives, and she did not want to share her own scarce, treasured memories with her impromptu army.

It was not needed; her love was felt, even shared, by all the Gems assembled. The Amethysts began the cry, an angry shout that was soon taken up by the Jaspers and Selenites and Emeralds, the Topazes and Lazulis and Peridots.

“For Pink Diamond! For Pink!”

Tears stung Green Diamond’s eyes, and she took the grief and fed it into the roaring heart of rage inside her. Green sounded her warcry. It was not Yellow’s clear and ringing paeon but instead piercing, saw-edged shriek of fury, raw and ugly. A red, pulsing wave fell in Green’s wake as she led the charge, and her Gems began to scream too, caught up in the pain of their Diamonds. Electricity leapt from Green’s skin in great arcs, shattering crystal and dancing from building to building.

She would tear White’s gem out with her own hands, or be shattered in the attempt.

Chapter Text

For nine days and nights Green Diamond’s forces clashed with the White’s Quartz army on the shattered surface of Homeworld,  devastating all in their fury. A blockade was set up in orbit, followed by a countering force, and soon no vessel could touch down or leave. At every turn Green fought White to a standstill, until the supreme Diamond retreated to her ancient palace and sealed the doors. Green Diamond gained mile after mile,  ground countless warriors to dust beneath her heels, and yet still her forces were broken like a wave against the walls of White’s stronghold.

Even Green Diamond’s own powers over lightning and floodtide did nothing to tear down the gatehouse, and she prowled the parameters of the fortress, losing her temper and howling challenges at the ramparts.

White offered no reply. Why waste the energy, when she could hold her ground indefinitely?

Green canted her head to the side, weighing her options, and decided there was nothing else to do, unless she wanted to keep throwing her forces at the immovable stone of the walls for eternity.

She tilted back her head and began to sing, a sound below sound that reverberated through the ground and into the walls. She sang of Pink Diamond, the joy-bringer, the hope-bearer, the one they had all been waiting for without knowing it. It was a lament for a life extinguished, but also renewal stolen, a future dimmed. The Authority could never be what it was destined to be, without her.

Green sang too of Pink’s bright laughter and the kindness that led to her end. She was a tender thing, a fusser, always watching over what she considered hers. There wasn’t a Gem sowed by Pink’s hand who had not felt her mercy, or benefited from her concern.

Inside the fortress walls, a thousand Gems heard Green’s song, and remembered.

A Gem does not forget her Diamond, no matter how long she lives or how far she roams. Though their Diamond had been dead for six thousand years,  they held every facet of her dear. Pink’s Gems listened to the music of memory, and on the dawn of the tenth day the doors to White’s stronghold were opened from the inside.

Green charged through the doors with her soldiers following after her, the bit of her terrible halberd blazing in the sterile light of White’s domain.Green’s forces fell upon the startled guards, arms swinging up with weapons in hand and flashing down again. The room seemed to shudder with the sound of screaming and Green smiled even as she leapt over the carnage. She had greater concerns, a purpose higher than the putting down of rabble.

Find her, kill her, do it before she realizes we are here!

The throne room. She will be rethinking her strategy.

Green ran through the stark, many-branching halls, cutting down those that resisted and crushing what survived underfoot. She spared no thought to her surroundings or the soldiers she left behind, too intent on the curt directions Yellow gave and Blue’s furious chanting.

She killed Pink, find her, kill her!

Green ran on, deeper and deeper into the twisting heart of White’s ancient home, through corridors full of impossible angles, over ground that trembled with the force of battle. She did not know how long it took her to find the door, only that it seemed a laughably frail thing to put between oneself and one’s enemies. She did laugh as she kicked it, the metal buckling under her strength, and her halberd finished the rest.

All was silent as Green stepped into the presence of White Diamond, the sounds of battle muted far beyond them. Green stood and stared at her enemy across the expanse, knowing she should rush White and press her advantage. Yet White was still on her tall throne, deep in a trance, as though Green were of no consequence.

Inside her mind, Blue and Yellow went quiet and exchanged an uneasy look. Green wavered for but a moment, finally calling out to shatter the silence and bring White into the world.

“White Diamond! Stand and answer for what you have done!”

Gradually, life began to steal back into White’s far-dreaming face. She slowly blinked her eyes and turned her head to at last look on Green Diamond. White did not quail at the sight of Green standing ready with weapon in hand, only leaned forward and bared her teeth in a smile.

“So. You are Yellow and Blue’s little perversion, are you? Step forward, horror, and let me see you.”

Whatever Green had expected, it was not that. Rage, yes, and they had all hoped for fear, but this calm, this amusement , no, they had not thought of this. Green gripped the shaft of her halberd and lifted her chin, hate a hard and tangible presence beneath her gems.

“ You .” she spat, and that was explanation enough.

“Yes. Is that what this is all about? Yellow dear, you’ve let our darling Blue lead you far afield this time.”

“ Silence! You shattered one of your fellow Diamonds, you struck against our Authority, and for this you must die!”

White lifted her hand to her mouth and laughed at her then, her eyes never once leaving Green. The sound was light, yet there was anger there under the mockery.

“ Our Authority? How dare you speak as though you have the right to exist, let alone rule .”

White stood up at last, her starry mantle flowing back from her shoulders, and Green saw that every line of her body was rigid with rage. For the first time in ten days Green began to remember why they had all feared White.

“I am half of this Authority, White, and I have come to see justice done.”

“Oh? Well, if you insist.”

White laughed her terrible piercing laugh and bounded down from her throne. She hurtled across the room to Green, a meteor, a missle, and in the moment before White fell upon them Yellow opened their mouth and said,

“Blue, I love you.”

And then White struck her, all the force and fury of seismic upheaval in one splendid form. White drove her shoulder into Green’s abdomen, knocking her feet from under her and sending her flying. Green struck the floor and rolled to her feet at once, stance wide and her guard up; she trained the spike of the halberd on White as she bore down on her again, faster than the eye could follow. Her sword was out, wicked and shining, and the two Diamonds clashed with a terrible thunder, blade against bit, strength against strength.

Green and White exchanged a flurry of blows, attacking and parrying with lightning speed, prowling around one another to find a weakness. Green moved with Blue’s grace and attacked with Yellow’s strength, deflecting White’s every cut and holding her ground. She reveled in the knowledge that White could not touch her, not in single combat. She was too strong, too cunning, too--

Too far away. She’s faster than us. Yellow pointed out, grim and admiring.

White could not touch Green, but nor could Green get to White. Every thrust with the spear point of the halberd missed White by atoms, every swing of the axe head flew wide, no matter her calculations. White was as the wind, intangible, unpredictable, one moment there and the next dancing out the superior reach of the halberd with a mocking laugh.

We must bring her closer, then. Blue told them, and showed them her plan. Still with her eyes fixed on White, Green split her weapon into its component parts. In her right hand she held Yellow’s two-headed axe, and in the left was Blue’s harpoon, elegant and light. With her second set of hands Green reached into a sleeve and pulled forth a long thread of flame, smouldering in the thin air of Homeworld. While her upper right hand brandished the axe menacingly, she stretched the thread between her two lower hands and knotted it firmly around the shaft of the harpoon. She gathered herself and sprang at White, swinging the axe at White’s head all while her lower hands held the harpoon ready. White darted out from under the axe with ease, smiling that faint and hateful smile, and Green threw the harpoon in the split-second the elder Diamond was distracted.

White staggered as the head of the harpoon pierced her throat, free hand going up to feel the wound, and Green hauled hard on the thread of flame. She dragged White to her knees, and rejoiced to see the sight. She brought White into her waiting hands, lifting her up until they were eye to eye. Green smiled a terrible smile and readied the axe.

White looked into her face, serene, and said,

“Was that really such a good idea, Blue?”

Her eyes, don’t look in her eyes!

The warning came too late, for Green was transfixed. The twin points of darkness drew her in, past the event horizon into a void beyond consciousness. When Green came to she stood on a hillside, gently sloping and dappled with flowers closed against the night’s chill.  Blue knew at once where they were. She had been here hundreds of times, in all weathers, at all points in the solar cycle. She would know even if stricken blind.

No.

Green turned against her will and looked up at the crest of the hill, where the palanquin stood upright and whole. Though she resisted she was drawn to it, step after step over the incline until she could reach out and touch the pink latticework. Her hand would not move, and she felt her mouth move to shape words she did not wish to speak.

“Starlight? Come out, now, and speak to me.”

No!

A scuffling from inside, and the curtain was carefully pulled back. Yellow and Blue cried out in Green’s mind when Pink looked out from the shadowed interior of her palanquin, exhausted and brittle but her , alive and whole, and it took all of their will to keep Green together. Pink looked up at them, at White, and one could read her conflicted feelings in her dear face.

“White? How did you find me? I’ve been offline for cycles now.”

Green’s mouth said:

“I will always know how to find you, Pink.”

“Hmph.”

Pink stepped down out of her shelter into White’s shadow, arms crossed tightly over her chest, and Blue sobbed to see her look so tired and hopeless. She stared up at them, mouth twisted bitterly, and it wasn’t the wary sidelong look she used to direct at White. Rather, it was the look of one beyond caring for the intricacies of courtly etiquette, who no longer worried about jeopardizing their standing for there was no longer any standing to speak of.

“Things have gotten out of control, Starlight. You understand this, yes?”

Pink closed her eyes and pressed her lips together, as though she didn’t trust herself to speak. Green continued to stare down on her, wanting desperately to gather her close but locked inside the form of White, trapped as surely as any prisoner of war. Pink lifted her head at last and met their gaze.

“I know it. I have a plan, though, a good one, and I will have Rose in custody by the end of Homeworld’s next solar year.”

She spoke with a steadiness of soldier, and she was in that moment every atom the calm and capable commander they had trained her to be. Green felt White cant her head to the side, and dread settled heavy beneath her gems.

“It is far too late for that.”

There was a humming in the air and a light in the darkness. Pink glanced up just as White reached up to her gem. Her eyes went wide.

“White?

The sword glowed in the night, a shard of starlight set in a hilt of twisted iron. White raised the blade, the terrible light falling on Pink as she stood numb with shock. Blue was sobbing inside Green’s head, and Yellow was screaming at Pink to run, to summon her shield or leap into her palanquin to summon help, something, anything. Pink only continued to stare at the blade, as though she was a newcut who had never known war.

“What...White, what is the meaning of this? What are you doing ?”

Green looked at White’s sword hand (her hand) and tried to force it down again, tried to will the fingers to loosen from the grip. Yet White lifted the sword up over her shoulder, preparing to make a devastating downward cut, and Pink finally began to understand.

Run you little fool, don’t give her the chance to strike, just RUN!

No no no Pink not Pink not her no you can’t you CAN’T

Pink staggered back, hands upraised in supplication.

“White, no , I can still end this, just please give me more time--”

“You have had time enough.”

“White, please! ”

The sword swung down, and Pink’s scream as her gem was bisected filled the whole of the world. They all screamed with her, wild with pain, helpless with it, and in that moment White struck again. Green howled and clutched at her left gem, wrenched from the memory.

She opened her eyes and found herself back in White’s sanctum, with White grinning at her as she pulled her sword from her chest. Green looked down and saw that Blue was damaged, Blue was cracked from end to end, tiny fissures spidering away from the central wound. Blue was silent in Green’s head, stunned and mute with pain, but Yellow was shrieking in a blind panic, her mind nearly lost in the face of her greatest fear realized.

Not her! Not my Blue you can’t take her too White no

Green wavered, her projection jerking and fading out for a perilous second. Blue was too hurt to focus, and Yellow was too intent on Blue to think straight, let alone maintain Green. She was alone, utterly alone, and White stalked her with a hideous joy in her eyes, reveling in Green’s helplessness.

And then Blue spoke.

Kill her for me, Yellow. Kill her or we die.

Yellow stopped, a landslide halted on a word, and without hesitation all of her will turned against White Diamond. From their birth, Yellow strove to give Blue every thing she desired, no matter how impossible or inconsequential. It was her earliest drive, her most fundamental motivation. She stabilized Green, wound her consciousness tight around Blue’s, and together they straightened to their full height. Their weapons were gone, dispelled the moment Blue had been damaged, but they had their hands still.

“I am surprised, Yellow. You were always more practical than this.” White said, sword ready, poised to lunge at Green and finish the job. Green’s eyes fixed on the blade, the very thing used to shatter their beloved Pink, and she gave a roar that shook the very walls. She charged White and matched her step for step, her wounded body made swift by fury.

Kill her, kill her, make her pay!

White lunged for Blue’s gem again, and Green pivoted on her heel, caught White’s sword arm in her implacable grip. She brought up her knee and broke the arm, brisk and businesslike, and White gasped. Green wrenched at her arm, forcing the sword from her fingers with brute strength, and held firm when White drove her knee into her midsection. Yellow had gone into a distant place where all her soldier’s knowledge ruled the day; she viewed White technically, without fear or fondness, and devised her attacks accordingly.

“You ungrateful wretches. You would strike me after all I have done for you, all we have built together?”

Green snarled and twisted the broken arm, making White stagger. When Green spoke it was with Blue’s distorted voice, one and many together as she fought to remain stable.

“You took her from us.”

“That? A defective, overcooked failure of a Gem. I shall find better.”

White threw herself into Green, sending them both sprawling to the floor. They struggled together, White’s cape falling around them as each tried to reach for White’s sword. White’s fingers scratched over Blue’s damaged surface, seeking purchase, prying at the wound. Yellow let go of White and threw their arms over Blue, curling around her beloved’s gem even as their enemy gained the upper hand.

You imbecile, forget me and fight!

What is there to fight for without you?

White straddled Green’s prone form, her smile stretching wide over her face. She was past pain, riding high on the battle-joy as she pinned Green to the floor. She bent low over them, beautiful and monstrous, and whispered to them.

“Was it good to see her again? Do you have peace now, Blue? Or perhaps you are both of you ashamed of how your protege begged for her life, like a cringing Pearl. Two thousand years of mentoring, and she didn’t even land a single blow in her own defense.”

Her voice was insidious, working down into Green’s mind like smoke, and they saw Pink in the moment before the sword fell, eyes huge with fear, hands out to ward off the shattering blow, so small when faced with such betrayal.

“It was simplicity itself, did you know that? She was no Diamond, to die so easily.”

Green surged up like a tidal wave, smashing her forehead into White’s gem and knocking her back.The older Diamond sprawled, tangled in her own cape, and Green fell on her in a shrieking frenzy, beating her with all four fists, biting the hands that rose up to force her off.

“Killyoukillyoukillkillkill--”

Green pinned White to the ground with two hands, held a third to her throat while the fourth gripped the flawless gem at White’s brow. Those luminous gray eyes opened wide, disbelieving, denying, and when Green dug her nails in at last the fear came.

With all her strength Green pulled and pulled at White Diamond’s gem and at last tore it free. For one moment of perfect silence, White stared up at them in wonder.

“You actually did it. I never--”

She vanished in a spiral of smoke before she could finish speaking, and Green was left kneeling on the floor with White’s gem clutched in her hand. She closed all four hands tight around their mentor and felt the lifebeat pulsing between her palms. She thought back to all the sentences Blue had passed in the Hall of Justice, and knew there was one thing more to be done.

“White Diamond, for the crime of shattering Pink Diamond you have been sentenced to death. By the might and wisdom of the Authority, it shall be done.”

She squeezed her hands together with all her strength, pouring all her anger, all her grief into the act of crushing the life out of White. For a moment the stone held true, resisted the impossible force being put upon it, but then Green heard the tiny crack, felt the gem crumble to pieces between her hands. Green opened them and looked with awe as a thousand colors refracted through the remains. She let White fall to the floor and sat back, staring at the beautiful refuse. She looked about her in the empty room, half expecting White to come at her from some secret hiding place, but there was no one there. She could now hear the sounds of battle again, still far off but closer now.

“We did it.”

The words were a release, and Yellow and Blue fell away from each other onto the floor. Blue spasmed, agonized, and her shuddering cry roused Yellow at once from her stupor. Yellow crawled to her through the shards of their leader, shaking from crown to heel as she gathered Blue into her arms. She pried Blue’s hands from her gem, looked long at the fissure that split the beautiful stone, and promptly burst into tears. Blue reached for her, her fingers bent and twisted, and tried to be comforting.

“Shh, my valiant one. It is done.”

Yellow pressed her face into Blue’s hair and made a furious sound, rocking Blue even as she shook with sobs.

“I cannot lose you. There is nothing for me without you.”

“Oh, my love.” Blue whispered, and cupped Yellow’s face between her broken hands. She was too far gone to focus fully on what they had just done, but she had enough left to feel grieved for Yellow. She had never been alone in their life, not truly. Even at their birth, Blue had been there waiting for her. Loneliness had always struck her hardest. Yellow leaned into Blue’s touch, her tears falling into her hair, and she snarled down at Blue.

“I won’t lose you. There is a way, there must be.”

They looked at one another, and the idea came to them in the same moment.

“The fountain.” Blue said. Yellow staggered to her feet with Blue cradled against her chest, battered and worn and blazing with purpose.

“We must find a ship, mine is too far.”

“We sh-sh-should sto-op the w-waaaar.” Blue stammered, her jaw clenching and distending as she began to feel the true effects of her damage.

“Blast them all into the Void.” Yellow said, and she began to run as Blue arched in her arms, wracked with the pain of distortion.

By the time Yellow found them a ship Blue had warped into a monstrous thing of teeth and eyes,  shrieking in agony as the crack in her gem grew. Yellow held her beloved fast and feared her not and set the course for Earth without a backwards glance at the civil war raging on the surface. There could be no Authority without Blue. There could be no Yellow without her.

Chapter Text

Deep in space within a ship grafted together from a thousand crafts, the last Diamond reigned without equal. She alone had survived the conflict that had devoured her fellows, and alone she ruled the remnants of Gemkind.

She tried not to think of it. She hid herself in the work of rebuilding the Empire, seeking survivors, salvaging what culturally significant items remained. She gathered the tattered remains of the four courts and did her best to remind them all that they were Gems, rightful commanders of all the known Universe. She hoped that if the tale was told often enough, it might at last become truth.

She endured, and in the depths of the Void Homeworld endured also.

Years after the destruction of all she held dear, her Pearls reminded her of an appointment promised. She ordered that a course be set for Earth and dismissed her attendants, sitting in silence as she prepared herself for the meeting to come. It defied logic, that such a small planet should have cost her everything. By all rights she ought to blast it into a charred husk. Yet she kept it safe, could not keep herself from checking up on it.

It had meant so much to Pink, and to Blue.

“We will soon be within Earth’s solar system, my Diamond. Shall I send word to the Warden?”

She looked down to find Blue’s old Pearl standing attentively at her feet, waiting with a holoscreen in hand for her orders. She sighed and nodded, vaguely waving her hand at the Pearl.

“Yes, yes, see that she knows. And tell the next squadron to make ready for their new post; we must change out the troops stationed on Earth. The youngsters ought to take to it.”

“Of course, my Diamond.”

Pearl left to make good on her instructions, and she massaged her temples uneasily. Thoughts of the Warden brought back memories she would rather remain buried, but Yellow had made a promise, and she would see it through.

She did not stand in the bridge to watch Earth’s approach, choosing instead to settle into her audience chamber in order to tend the minutiae of state. As she strode over the brilliantly sparkling path to her throne, she allowed herself a small, hard smile of satisfaction.

White Diamond, too, had her place in the New Authority.

She took her throne and settled in to mediate petty squabbles for a time, to sort out the allocation of resources between the scouting Calcites and the ground troops. She awarded more ships to the Calcites in the end, disappointing the Amethysts and the Carnelions, but the urgency of the Calcites’ work could not be denied. No matter their strength and resources, a conquering army was worthless without a planet to claim as home.

It was dull work, settling these squabbles, but vital, like hull maintenance in deep space. One small neglected detail could destroy everything, and so she kept at it. There was a lull between appointments, and she allowed herself a moment to close her eyes, drift into meditation.

“Presenting the most shining Warden of Earth, Steven Quartz!”

She opened her eyes and glanced down the aisle at the approaching figure. Steven Quartz had finally grown into the proper size of her gem type, tall and broad, power written in every line of her. She smiled uneasily as she approached, dark eyes roaming from face to face, hands fidgeting at her sides; behavior hardly becoming of a Quartz warrior, but one had to remember the unusual makeup of this individual.

A hybrid. An impossible idea, and yet Steven Quartz existed, a bridge between Gemkind and organic life.

The Warden at last reached the dais of the Diamond Throne and snapped into a smart salute, beaming up at her.

“Hail, Green Diamond!”

And for the first time in nearly a decade, Green Diamond allowed herself to smile.

“Greetings, Warden. How fares my conservation project?”

Green watched Steven Quartz attentively as she delivered a very enthusiastic status report concerning the capture and treatment of corrupted Gems on Earth, and the efforts being made to curb the pollution of the planet. She absorbed the Warden’s speech with half her mind elsewhere, listening always to the broken screaming of White’s remains.

There was sweeter music in the Cosmos, but none so satisfying.

Green allowed the Warden to ramble for a time about reforms she was hoping to instigate--would Homeworld technology be able to clone endangered lifeforms on Earth?--before straightening up and raised her hand for silence.

“That is sufficient for now, Warden. I am pleased with your progress so far.”

The Warden sagged slightly with relief, expression almost blissful, and Green had to stifle a chuckle. It was always fun to watch a youngster scramble to survive their first Court appearance.

“I would like a private audience with my Warden. Occupy yourselves until my return.” Green Diamond announced, vaguely waving a dismissive hand at the other Gems gathered. A few of the sycophant types--Aquamarines and Emeralds and such-- looked politely furious but dared not say anything. This suited Green, who struggled daily not to destroy every Aquamarine in sight, just to silence their horrid, wheedling little voices.

You and Yellow are so cruel to my little spies. Blue said, somewhere deep in Green’s mind.

Meanwhile, Steven Quartz looked up at her in sudden panic, clearly not prepared for this turn of events. The nervous fidgeting returned, and she reached up to smooth her riot of black curls.

“Um, is something wrong , my Diamond?”

“There are things that must be discussed between us alone, Steven Quartz. Come.”

Green snapped her fingers and a hoverdisc detached itself from the floor, sweeping Steven Quartz up and bringing her to eye-level. She paused, caught in a double memory of Pink Diamond gleefully testing out her own disc: Yellow satisfied she would no longer have to fear trampling the youngest Diamond, Blue in despair over the new heights of mischief Pink could now achieve. She shook her head to chase away the echo of Pink’s delighted laughter and rose from her throne, beckoning for the Warden to follow her.

She led the way out of the throne room, the Warden gliding after her like a little moon. Green had taken all of five steps before she realized that she wasn’t entirely sure what it was, exactly, she wanted to discuss with Steven Quartz. She had delivered her report on Earth and Green fully intended to give her whatever resources she could reasonably spare; the purpose of this meeting had been met.

And yet.

The historians already sang of Green Diamond’s great revolution against White Diamond, the tale growing more glorious with each telling, but they did not have the truth entire. There was a gap between the storming of White’s fortress and the fall of Homeworld that the Graphites could not fill, for no Gem knew what had happened.

No Gem, save for Steven Quartz.

It was a curious sensation, to be indebted to another being. Green Diamond did not like it, precisely, but was grateful that it had come to pass all the same.

“Come, I will show you the ship. The Bismuths and Peridots truly outdid themselves.” she said at last, taking the lefthand path that would lead them into a hall dedicated to the most elegant art that could be salvaged from Homeworld. The hybrid had been born on Earth, in the company of traitors, and was ignorant of all the noble heritage of Gemkind. She would be remiss as the matriarch of their people if she did not show her Warden what beauty they were capable of.

Steven Quartz proved to be an enthusiastic student, examining every piece with care and asking endless questions, zipping to and fro on the disc to get a better view of every tapestry, every weapon and sculpture.

“Oh, wow, this is really beautiful! Era One?”

Green glanced over to find Steven Quartz gesturing the great war banner of the Old Authority, hanging in silent majesty in an alcove of its own. She came and touched the fabric, tattered now from the devastation of the war, but no less vibrant.

“Yes.”

“Who made this? It must have taken an entire team of weavers to put it together!”

Green smiled softly and let her fingertips play over the banner, lingering over the bottom-most diamond for a moment too long.

“Only one weaver, though it took her many cycles to see it through. It is time-consuming, to spin and weave luck.”

And a hazard to life and limb, if one walks uninvited into the weaving room . Yellow said slyly in her head. Blue said nothing, but conveyed the idea of rolling her eyes. Steven Quartz asked some questions then about the process, and Green conveyed Blue’s pleased answers as best she could.Though she was half Blue, she did not have her gift for weaving magics. Rather the opposite, actually, but the Warden never need know that.

They exchanged pleasantries for a few more exhibits--a section of pillar from the original Kindergarten, Yellow’s golden sword, now notched and dulled--before the Warden turned those soft black eyes on Green Diamond and straightened herself up.

“My Diamond, is there...do you want to tell me something else, maybe?” Steven Quartz asked, cautious and kind. Green shot her a sidelong look and made an irritated sound. The hybrid was too forward for anyone’s good.

Well. She wasn’t wrong, was she? Green frowned and gathered up her thoughts.

“You alone, in all the Cosmos, know of what happened that night on Earth. And it occurs to me that I am...beholden to you, for your kindness. What I am saying is...well. I commend you, for overcoming your training by the rebels.”

The beat of silence following her declaration was mortifying. Some part of her, beyond Yellow and Blue, knew this was not what she ought to say, was in fact a craven half-truth, but she could not afford to address it. Steven Quartz’ face revealed nothing of her thoughts, though the slight downward turn of her mouth hinted at disappointment. She saluted her Diamond all the same.

“Um. You’re welcome, my Diamond?” she said, and Green shuddered at the feeling giving even roundabout thanks instilled in her. She was not made for thanking, but rather to be thanked . She glanced back at the banner, and she clasped her hands behind and before her.

“I wished also to say goodbye, Steven Quartz. We will all be embarking on a quest very soon, and I am uncertain of when I will be able to return to look in on Earth.”

It was not done, for a Diamond to bid personal farewell to a servant. It was sentimental at best, foolish at worst, and yet here she was. Green supposed it was because, aside from Pink Diamond, Steven Quartz was the only entity alive who had greeted Green Diamond's existence with joy. Not revulsion, not fear, but joy.

“So, um, where are you going next, my Diamond? If it isn’t, uh, impertinent of me to ask.” Steven inquired, and Green decided she was really going to have to send an Agate to Earth to teach the young Quartz the proper dialogue for Court. Green tilted her head to the side, sending one of her dozens of braids slithering over her shoulder.

“We shall go seeking again, like in the days of White’s wanderings. It’s all going to be very--” she twirled her hand vaguely. “Mythical, I suppose.”

“Seeking, my Diamond? Seeking what?”

“Why, another home planet of course. What else would we look for?” Green Diamond said, a trifle impatiently. The Warden froze on her hoverdisc, staring blankly into her eyes.

“You’re going to start colonizing again.” she said slowly, and all the color seemed to drain from her face.

“Yes. You did not honestly think we would stop , did you?” Green asked, arching her brows and frowning at her.

Steven stood shaking her head slowly, still staring at Green as though they were e quals.

“But White...she’s gone, you don’t...don’t have to do it anymore. You’re keeping Earth safe, I don’t understand why you can’t give other worlds the same.” she murmured, as though speaking to herself.

“The Authority’s mission remains the same, Warden. Be grateful for what I have given, and do not challenge the will of your Diamond.” she said, her voice rumbling low and deadly. And she saw anger steal into Steven Quartz’s face, a hardening of the features and a gathering of prodigious muscles. It was the look of a Rose Quartz ready to spring into the teeth of battle, and Green Diamond stared her down. The Quartz held her gaze for a moment, unmoving in her fury, and then dropped her eyes, gave the salute.

“My Diamond.”

“I am not ungrateful. You saved Blue’s life. One tiny colony is not enough to repay you for that. I am... indebted to you. We all are.” Green murmured, feeling utterly inadequate.

“Then why are you still destroying entire worlds?” Steven Quartz whispered.

“I cannot undermine what is left of our Empire based on the wishes of one Quartz warrior, no matter what service they have done for me. I have a duty to my people.”

“Sure.” said Steven Quartz, small and surly and hurt, and Green was so reminded of Pink Diamond that she had to steady herself against the wall, the grief an anchor pulling at her spirit.She shook her head and kept her thoughts in the now, striving to steer the conversation into productive territory.

“I will be sending you back planetside with the new troops. See to it that they are debriefed on their mission. And I remind you again that you have full authorization to terminate human officials that insist on dumping refuse into the blasted oceans.”

“Yes, my Diamond.”

“You are dismissed, Warden. Farewell.” Green said, and already she wanted to snatch the Warden out of the air, hold her safe between her hands while she tried to explain. A Diamond did not explain herself, not to anyone, certainly not an underling, but then no Diamond had ever had half of herself saved by an underling before. She felt as though she ought to make the Quartz see how vital it was for the Homeworld to be reestablished, for Gemkind to be reestablished, because if the Warden understood this then perhaps her debt would not weigh so heavily on her mind.

Green did not detain the Warden, for that went against the nature of a Diamond, and instead returned to her throne room in order to give Blue Pearl a few parting instructions before preparing for her own planetfall.

It will be her first and last visit to Pink’s Earth. She promised herself that much.

Blue’s Pearl accepted her orders calmly, unflappable as ever. Of the pair, she had handled Green’s ascendancy with the most grace; Yellow’s Pearl still addressed her by Yellow’s name half the time, and seemed miserable in her absence. Green Diamond made her way into the warp room of the Homeship, deep in the maze of corridors, and Green wanted to cringe in embarrassment when she realized that the new troops had not departed yet, and that the Warden was still present. Steven Quartz was talking animatedly to the squadron of young Amethysts and Jaspers and Rose Quartzes, the lastborn of Homeworld’s Kindergarten system and the remainder of Pink’s army, beaming fondly at them all as though they were all already dear to her.

Green watched as Steven Quartz finally led the soldiers onto their warp pad, easy with it now where once she had faltered. The Diamond saw the young soldier she had personally appointed to be the Warden’s aid bound up and salute, her odd face split by a grin.

She saw the Warden take in the soldier’s uneven coloring and mismatched eyes, the third arm waving from her back. Green Diamond could pinpoint the moment when Steven Quartz realized that Shouty was not a solitary Gem. Just before the shuttle doors slid shut, the Warden whirled around and fixed Green with a look of wonder, and Green dipped her head in acknowledgement.

Not all of Homeworld’s laws were worth preserving.

Green stepped up onto her own pad and held her destination in her mind, steeling herself for the confrontation to come. She closed her eyes as the light blazed up around her and carried her off, and did not open them again until she was on Earth. It was early morning on this side of the planet, dawn a silvery suggestion on the horizon, and Green Diamond allowed herself to acclimate to the new gravitational pull for a moment. There was music in the surrounding forest, a song of many voices together in the soft darkness.

She thought that Pink must have loved that, little creatures singing up the sun, and she let herself hold onto the idea. Perhaps Pink had stood in this very spot and sang back.

Green’s strides ate up the distance between her and her destination. Her feet were wet with dew from the lush grass and she let her eyes linger on the landscape, taking in the minute details of closed bud and rough-tumbled rock to be stored away. She did not want to lose even the smallest part of this place.

She kept her composure until she reached the husk of the palanquin, canted at an angle in the tangled brush. Unbidden the memory of Pink’s final moments came, betrayal and fear in the shadow of the sword, and Green stumbled to her knees.

“I’m so sorry.”

Green shuddered, lightly touched the roof of the palanquin and waited for something to come to her. Rage, it’s textures and applications, was something she understood very well. She had used it as tool often when salvaging her Empire, charging ahead with her head down and her hand steady.

She had no anger now.

“Pink. It’s...gone. It’s all gone. And I...we..I do not think that the Authority can...oh, this is stupid.”

Yellow lifted her head to glare at Blue; they knelt flank-to-flank in the grass, and their every movement echoed each other, their minds still clinging to the sense of oneness for a moment more. Blue did not frown, or sigh, only looked steadily at Yellow and took her hand.

“It isn’t stupid.”

“This thing has been an empty shell for millennia,” Yellow spat, flinging out her hand to encompass the palanquin, the wide sky and lonely hill. “It’s empty, it--she isn’t here , she hasn’t been here for years, what meaning is there in this if she is not here to hear me?!”

Here her voice faltered, and Yellow lurched forward as if she had hurt herself, eyes wide. Blue laid her hand on her back, serene with ages of experience.

“It is for you, as much as her. I used to come here to be close to her, to say what should have been said long ago. Things she should have known.”

“She’s gone .” Yellow whispered, small and fierce.

“It is better than not saying anything at all.” Blue replied, equally fierce. Yellow bowed forward beside her, hands clutching her knees, staring hard at nothing. She was as set and stubborn as bedrock, and despised weakness in all its guises, but it had been a hard road for her after White’s fall.

“I…”

Yellow clenched her hands until her gauntlets creaked, every atom of her body shaking with strain.

“I should have been there. To stop it, to protect you. I failed you.”

Yellow pressed her brow to the ground.

“I failed you.”

Her back heaved, and she made a low, miserable sound that could be felt in the ground. Blue laid her head between Yellow’s shoulders, wound her arms around her, and for the first time in six thousand years the Diamonds wept together. To Blue it held a sense of relief, of having at last reached the end. To Yellow it held fear, for there seemed to be no end to her weeping.

It was a long time before their tears had been spent and the sun had nearly reached its zenith; Yellow sat up and scrubbed at her eyes. There was a stillness in her, something that she had lost with White and Homeworld, and she smoothed Blue’s hair back over her shoulders.

“You’ve grass on you.” she said, and plucked the blades from Blue’s gown. Blue touched her jaw but did not press for more. Yellow turned back to the palanquin, frowning thoughtfully.

“Did we ever recover her daily log?” She asked, and idly let her fingertips play over Blue’s arm. Beside her Blue shifted, caught Yellow’s hand in hers.

“No...no, I don’t think any of us even bothered to look, after. It was all so terrible, then. Chaotic.”

“We were all intent on punishing the Rebellion when White--” Yellow flinched away from the thought of White, fell silent.

“She did not want to look into recovering her things. Wanted to press on. It’s a wonder we did not suspect her then.” Blue said, and the old anger was there in her voice.

“Well. It’s likely still there; let’s have a look.” Yellow said, and got to her feet, drawing Blue up after her.

“Are you certain?” Blue asked.

“Nothing we find here can hurt any more than what we already know. It might be...beneficial, to have her thoughts with us. For the future.”

They bent down to peer into the shadowed interior of the palanquin, and Blue stifled a sob at the sight of the small throne, overgrown with flowering vines. Yellow reached in with all care, searching among the scattered debris of millennia. It was hard to determine what was refuse and what had belonged in Pink’s collection small, shining oddities.

“Try the side panel of the throne.” Blue murmured, and Yellow pressed lightly on the side; a drawer slid silently out. They saw the slim datapad nestled amid inert chunks of rose quartz and strange cups of woven grass; Yellow took it up and cupped it in her palm.

A mere sliver of technology, the last remaining repository of Pink Diamond’s legacy. She trembled as she realized how precious it was, after the loss of Homeworld’s Archives.

“Let’s open it.” Blue said, and she reached greedily for the datapad.

“Not yet. We must return to the ship. The search must begin in earnest, my Blue.”

Blue’s hand hesitated, then she folded her fingers against her palm and drew herself up with a sigh.

“Yes. I suppose you are right. But...after the launch. We will clear our schedule.”

“Yes.” Yellow agreed. Blue smiled, and that tiny curve of her mouth outshone the sun. She held her hand out to Yellow, beckoning.

“Come. The youngest of our Court won’t know of what to make of two Diamonds; we mustn’t rattle them.”

Yellow considered her, reached up with her free hand to rake back her hair.

“It’s a long walk to the warp pad. We have time enough.”

Blue raised her her brows at her, but gave that small smile again; Yellow ducked her head and examined the treeline. She felt light, very light, and wondered how long it would last. Blue tucked her arm through Yellow’s, and she was beautiful, so beautiful. Yellow looked at her, and looked as long as she wanted.

“I have missed this, you know. Seeing you. So very dashing.” Blue murmured, tracing the slope of Yellow’s shoulder. Yellow tucked away the datapad and cupped Blue’s chin in her palm.

“I have too.”

What she meant to Yellow needn’t be said, for action spoke enough; the star of her life, for whom she had flung away revenge and a colony and millennia of tradition. They began walking together, step for step, and though they glanced behind them time and again at the dwindling palanquin they did not falter. They talked lightly of small Court matters, of songs the Calcites would sing as they set out on their great homeseeking voyage, of what Green ought to say to commemorate the event, of what sort of planet Pink would have liked best.They spoke of starting over, and fashioning an Empire she would have been proud to grow in.

Greater things had started from far less.