With the organic now as dull as one of the wall panels, White found herself free to explore his mind. She brushed past the thoughts of utter despair and rolled her eyes at the word "murderer," before she found something interesting. A longing feeling — something that felt so strong, and yet so hopeless, that it intrigued her.
She focused on the feeling and was immediately submerged in it; drowned in a pool of frigid tears that called out for someone who wasn't there. Desire swirled in the tumultuous waves for a life that this organic — Steven was it? — once had. For warmth and love that came from the arms of those who owned the names his heart kept calling out for: Dad, Connie, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Peridot.
White paused and she felt a smile grow on her lips. She didn't know who this "Dad" or "Connie," was, but that didn't matter right now. It was as she suspected; this organic loved the rebel gems. He wanted them to help him and wanted to be with them again. But there was something more to it. The way he thought of their names, the way they swirled in his head and brought a feeling of hopeless hope to the boy, it was something White knew well.
Pink. She had the same soft spot for flawed creatures. She surrounded herself with lesser beings, adored and took in unintelligent organics, and loved them like they were her family. She no doubt did the same to these poor gems; playing with them and making them believe her silly game was real, just as she so often did when she was on Homeworld. That's why her original pearl was broken, why her Spinel was kept off Homeworld, and why so many of her organic pets were now dead in cages.
Although Pink loved them, she never took care of them. This organic, Steven, was proof enough of that. She had the poor boy convinced that she didn't exist anymore. That the only thing left of her was her gem.
But Steven was wrong. So much of Pink was in him. Her stubbornness. Her love of flawed beings. Her destructive power, covered up by gentle healing. Her relentless ability to be selfish.
"All of this could be over if you would just come out, Starlight," White said to herself.
"She's gone," the boy below her repeated in a dull, emotionless voice.
"No, Steven," White cooed. The human's name felt odd on her lips, but if she was going to play Pink's game, then she had to abide by the rules. "Pink was always like this. She tricked others into getting what she wanted. Blue could tell you stories that would last eons about Pink's selfish ways."
"She tried to fit in, for a time," White continued. "But she just never could. That's why she made you. That's why she convinced you and the others on Earth that she was gone. So she could finally fit in somewhere. She wants to be you, Steven. She wants to fit in and be loved as you are and to escape the duties she used to desperately beg for."
She had the boy's full attention now. He stared up at her with a spark of curiosity in his eyes. An almost painful yearning echoed in his mind.
"You really don't know anything about Pink, do you?" White asked, though not surprised by this revelation at all. "You only know what you've been told about Rose Quartz. Tell me, how did it feel when you learned Rose Quartz shattered a gem?"
He didn't need to say anything. At this statement, his mind was flooded with conflict. It became the warzone Pink created; a loving side fighting against bitter resentment. He wanted to love Rose. He wanted to hate her.
Through all the conflicted feelings, one thing was certain: he blamed her. For what though, White didn't care to find out.
"Did you know that the pearl with her was her second pearl?" White asked/
She didn't need to hear Steven's stunned gasp or see him turn violently to look at her. She felt it all — the sudden stop of his thoughts, the utter stall of emotion as shock and realization crashed into him. The slow shift into feeling like an idiot for not drawing the connection sooner.
There was something else too, a sort of mixed pain that White didn't have a name for. She caught flashes of his thoughts: the rebel pearl sitting on a ledge, kneeling in front of a holographic image of Rose Quartz. The image shifted so Rose Quartz and the pearl were holding hands. Then of Steven, his arms wrapped around the sobbing Pearl who couldn't even look at the boy.
"Yes, the answer was right in front of you the whole time," White said as the feeling grew stronger in the boy. "Her pearl always knew. And even when she told you that Rose Quartz was gone, she still followed her orders. Why do you think she did that, Steven?"
"She...," Steven whispered, too torn to form an answer.
"She knows her master isn't gone," White filled in the blank. "She knows that Pink Diamond lives in you."
"No," Steven muttered, but he didn't sound as sure as he once did.
"You could always ask her yourself," White said, gently.
"What?!" Steven suddenly exclaimed, his voice low and fearful.
White nodded. She tried to make her face seem motherly and kind, but the organic below him wasn't fooled.
"Starlight, I did say you'd be getting a third pearl. But that can't happen when your second one is still so damaged. And it won't happen until you deserve it. Luckily for you, I know just what to do," White trilled.
"Your colony has been incomplete for far too long, don't you think, Pink? Would you like it back? Would you like to finish it?"
"No," Steven forced out. "No, you can't!"
"Oh, but I can," White said, dropping the motherly act completely as she raised her arms and formed her signature pose — elbows bent and hands held flat at shoulder height. Steven below her, grunted in pain, but his body quickly adapted to match hers.
She nudged his body back and watched, amusement growing in her chest as the boy tried to fight. But, in the end, he was standing at her feet, facing her, and mirroring her every desire. The human's struggles were nothing more than a pebble tapping at her toe. He wasn't nearly powerful enough in this shocked state to break free from her. She made sure of that when she shattered Pink Pearl.
He was, after all, so much like Pink. Fueled by emotion. So easy to predict. So easy to manipulate.
"You have one more chance, Starlight, to save this organic and your friends. Separate yourself from him before the Earth colony is complete and I'll spare them. If you don't, then they'll die with the rest of the organic life on Earth. Is that clear?"
Steven didn't answer. He couldn't, even if he wanted to. But Pink did.
White watched a pink glow formed in his cheeks that spread to the rest of his body. The boy's heart leapt in fear of the surge of power and hatred, while White's grew with joy.
"Good, good," White said. "Now, Starlight, would you like to see your friends?"
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
It had been 20 hours since Lars watched his friends die. Well, not die, but "poof?" He wasn't sure how gems worked, but he knew that they didn't die like humans did. Their bodies could regenerate somehow. But that didn't matter. He followed their attackers at a safe distance — they never saw him as he slinked out of the shadows of the kindergarten and into the city.
He had watched the gems enter a large white structure that looked creepily like a giant head, but he didn't dare get any closer when she saw the large yellow guards at the entrance.
So he spent hours scouting around the building until he found three openings: two in the head's eyes and one vent at the base of its neck. He found discarded scrap metal that was sharp enough to penetrate walls. He climbed and climbed, and never looked down. He pried open the metal vent and snuck in. At every turn, he would pass through a yellow wall that made his skin crawl, but no alarm sounded.
At first, he hesitated at every turn, afraid the sweat from his brow would trip off the security grid, or the blasts of hot and cold air that came through the ducts would cause him to yell out and reveal himself. But he held steady; if he wanted to go home, he had to stay strong.
A gem security system can't detect organic life, he reminded himself constantly, until the obstacles were no more than a minor inconvenience to him.
He made it inside with hours to spare, but he learned something along the way as he traversed the vast ducts of the prison: he had been too late. It had taken him too long to find a way in, to climb into the building and to find a room with bubbled gems in it. He heard the execution broadcasted throughout the building and caught a gist of what happened through the hushed voices of gems.
Steven wasn't dead. He wasn't even Rose Quartz. He was this Pink Diamond lady.
What that meant, Lars didn't care to find out. It just meant he had more time to free the gems and more time to plan to rescue Steven. So that's what he did. He followed the ducts and learned their paths. The ones that funneled hot air all lead outside. The ones that are pumped in cold lead to various rooms and into machinery. Some panels had signs in them written in another language and dents, as if gems used to crawl in these to get around the building. But he never ran into one. Judging by the state of some of the wider tunnels, these weren't used in a long time.
He had seen Steven too, alive and well, though looking thoroughly downtrodden. He nearly shouted in joy at the sight of the boy, but the giant white shoes behind him made him think again. He was with one of the giant ladies — White Diamond, the other gems called her. They couldn't rescue him with her there.
But Lars was lucky. He overhead gems talking about White leaving her head, which was a big deal apparently, to adjourn a council with Yellow and Blue Diamond. That would be their chance. So he waited just above the room with the bubbled gems until the time was right.
As soon as the time was right, Lars kicked down the loose grate at the base of the alarm system and pulled himself into the room. He grabbed the first bubble, which head Amethyst, and popped it. Her gem landed neatly in his hand and began to glow. Lars didn't wait to see her reform before he grabbed the next bubble.
Soon, the entire squad was back.
"Oh no!" Peridot spoke first, her voice squeaky and panicked. "We're too late! It's passed the execution!"
"What?" Pearl shouted, but Garnet's hand covered her mouth.
"No, it's okay, Steven's okay!" Lars assured them in a hushed voice. "They didn't kill him!"
"What about his gem?" Amethyst asked, her eyes wider than dinner plates.
"It's fine," Lars said, not wanting to get into the details. "Listen, something happened, but we don't have time. Right now, Steven is with White Diamond. But White is leaving to talk with the other diamonds. He'll be unguarded!"
"HA," Peridot cackled. "Unguarded. We're in White Diamond's head. This whole place is swarming with scanners and gem guards! There's no way we can get to him."
Lars puffed out his chest and set his face. "Maybe a gem can't, but a human can."
Peridot looked stunned at this and her mouth dropped open. "Of course! You can get past the scanners!"
Lars nodded. "And I know how to get to Steven without passing a single gem." He pointed to the vent he emerged from. "There's security in there, but I can block it and you guys can slip past."
Garnet nodded and Amethyst shrunk down to the size of her gem without a second thought. Pearl hesitated.
"Pearl, it's the only way," Garnet said through clenched teeth. "We need to get Steven out of here before anything worse happens to him."
The pale gem took a deep breath before she nodded once. A pained look was on her face, but her form glowed bright and she shrunk down in size as well. They all followed Lars into the duct.
"Why didn't they shatter him?" Amethyst asked quietly from below Lars. She was walking under his hunched form, ahead of the other gems.
"I don't understand it," Lars admitted. "Something happened during it. I think Steven should explain it."
Amethyst frowned, but didn't speak again.
"We're here," Lars said after countless twists and turns. He peered through the grate and saw Steven sitting on the bottom of a large white step. They couldn't see his face, only his back.
His entire posture was slumped and dejected as he stared at his hands.
"I don't get it," Amethyst spoke up again as she peered into the room. "Why doesn't he just run?"
"He sacrificed himself for us," Garnet said. "If he left, the Diamonds would come for us."
"Won't they come if we take time?" Amethyst pointed out.
Garnet nodded. "But he'll be home. We'll protect him this time."
This time.
"Everyone ready?" Lars asked as he positioned himself to open the to kick open the vent. But Garnet put her hand on his shoulder and her other hand glowed and grew in size. Lars barely had time to cover his ears before she slammed her fist against the metal. It torn open on impact and the pieces dropped loudly to the floor below. Steven jumped up, turned and stared, eyes wide.
"Steven!"
Pearl launched herself out, followed by Amethyst, Peridot, and Garnet, who grabbed Lars and helped him down. They landed heavily and rushed to the boy, but Lars stopped after a few steps. Steven's entire posture was rigid; he wasn't running to them, he was backing up.
"Wait," Lars said. The other gems turned to look at him oddly. "Steven, are you okay?"
Steven shook his head. His eyes were glued to Pearl. He looked so beaten; dark circles under his eyes, his skin gaunt and hollow, and his face torn between a frown and shock.
"Steven?" Garnet called out, but Steven didn't look at her.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he finally asked Pearl. His voice was rough and scratchy, like he hadn't used it in days.
Pearl froze. She glanced quickly to Garnet, who offered no help, before gulping. Her hand crept toward her throat.
"Tell you?"
"About mom," Steven curtly added.
Pearl's hand flew up to her lips as she tried to speak. Her words were muffled though.
"White removed my gem," Steven told the room. Amethyst and Peridot both gasped out loudly, but Garnet didn't react. Pearl dropped to her knees and looked at Steven in such distraught, as if Steven had just told her that he had died.
"What does that mean?" Lars asked, unable to take it anymore. "Steven, what's going on?"
"Mom was Pink Diamond," Steven said. "Pearl knew."
"WHAT?!" Amethyst burst out, her eyes darting between Steven and Pearl.
"Steven, I -," Pearl tried, but Steven cut her off.
"You were Pink Diamond's."
It wasn't a question. Pearl's hand stayed clamped to her mouth, but she tried to keep speaking.
Steven took a step forward and the entire room seemed to shrink under his sudden forcefulness. "I have her gem now, so...," Steven stopped abruptly and took a breath. His face screwed up in pain and sorrow and a single tear fell. "So I order you to tell me what really happened to Pink Diamond."
Pearl's hand dropped to the floor as she stared at Steven with wide eyes.
"Guys, we don't have time for this," Lars told them. "We need to get going!"
But they ignored him. He kept his eyes on the door at the other end of the room and braced himself for it to open at all the noise. But it stayed closed.
"I'm sorry!" Pearl burst out, her voice quivered. "I wanted to tell you for so long. I just couldn't! But know you know. I can tell you everything. I will tell you everything. If we have time."
Garnet nodded once.
Pearl took a breath and looked to her folded hands. "I was given to Pink Diamond a few thousand years before she was given the Earth."
She launched into the story and weaved a tale of how she served Pink, an unhappy Diamond who didn't fit in on Homeworld. But that all changed when she found Earth and dared to shapeshift into the now infamous Rose Quartz. Though at the time, it was just to see her first gem soldiers emerge from the ground.
It was such an innocent story. And then it wasn't. She wanted to save the planet, so she started a war. She wanted to fight for fusion, so she followed the path of love. She wanted to rid the Earth of Homeworld rule, so she had Pearl pretend to be Rose Quartz. She faked her own death and abandoned her home to permanently live as Rose.
"She never intended for any of this to happen," Pearl said, her voice low. "She tried for centuries to fix the mess she made. She just couldn't."
The room was silent. Garnet's face was rigid. Peridot's mouth was nearly on the floor. Pearl's hands were folded in her lap as she stared desperately at Steven. Amethyst was staring at Steven's stomach.
His face was devoid of emotion as he stared at his hand, which covered his gem.
"Thank you for telling me," he said. The room seemed to relax with the small amount of warmth that was in his voice. He walked forward and hugged Pearl, though the motion seemed forced. If Pearl noticed, she didn't show it. She pulled him close and hid her tears.
"We need to go," Garnet said. "They'll be back soon."
Pearl lifted Steven and they all raced to the front of the room. Pearl jumped and landed neatly into the hole that must lead out of White's eye — the one that Lars thought was too exposed to use before. And too high.
"Wait," Steven said. "If I leave, they'll come for you guys! They'll come back to Earth!"
Pearl nodded. "We'll be ready for them."
"Yeah, man," Amethyst said, though she didn't sound confident. "We'll worry about that once we get off this planet, okay?"
Steven looked unsure as he glanced back to the room.
"If anyone can change the Diamond's minds, it's you," Garnet said, her hand on his shoulder. "But you need to make a choice. Just know that if you choose to stay, we'll force you to come home anyway."
Steven let out a low breath that could have been a laugh if it didn't sound so defeated. He looked to Lars, who smiled encouragingly at him.
"Okay," he finally said. ""Let's go home."
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..
AN: I am racing against a dying battery to finish this and get it posted LOL. I'm sorry about the wait, guys! Life is insane right now, but I am doing my best to get these out to you as quickly as I can. A LOT of you guys shared your theories on how this will tie into SUF and all I can say is " ;-)." What did you think? Let me know!