Bully Koopa heaved a long, deep sigh of exhaustion and stress. How could he have been so oblivious, so...blind to what was going on right in front of him? As he held the drawing his daughter drew of their family in his large hands, it was beginning to feel all too real….
It all began on an average day at Westboro Academy. Westboro was a private bilingual primary school that Rose Quartz attended on a daily basis, she was currently in Grade 1. Rather than getting her private tutors, Rose's parents thought it would be better for her to attend school with common children, so that she would be able to develop her social skills and be more down to earth with the subjects of her kingdom.
Rose Quartz had always had some difficulty fitting in with the other children. They typically steered clear of her for reasons she couldn't really understand. They gossiped about her, and called her dumb behind her back. Of course they never did
it to her face, she was the crown princess after all. She assumed that it was because they were just jealous of her success.
Anyway, Grade 1 was coming to a close. To celebrate the end of the school year, the student's were making different crafts to show off what they'd learned in their different subjects. In art class, specifically, Rose's class was tasked with painting pictures of their families.
All of her classmates were socializing away in Waffilian(French)--In Grade 1 at Westboro Academy, art class was taught in Waffilian, as was Waffilian class and social studies-- as they worked, except for Rose. Not only because she had no friends, but because she wanted to make sure her painting was the best painting anyone had ever seen.
Rose Quartz was notorious for her color choices when it came to paintings. She always used unnatural, odd colors when she painted that made the class snicker and giggle, i.e. when she used yellow paint to color water. However, for unknown reasons, she didn't do this as much when she used crayons or colored pencils….
"Salut." Lumiere greeted her as he sat down at Rose's empty table.
Lumiere was the son of Governess Caterina Dennel and like his mother, he was also an annoying snob. Caterina would sometimes bring her son with her to the Palace when they would have court and Rose would be forced to entertain him.
Additionally, Lumiere was the only boy in her small class of 15 students. Because the population was about 98% female, males were pretty rare. There were probably only about 5 in the whole school.
"What do you want?" Rose Quartz replied in Waffilian, continuing to focus on her painting.
"Madame Morin told me to come sit with you and 'keep you company'." Lumiere replied, glancing at Rose's painting.
He grimaced. "What's that?" He asked, pointing to the sky in her painting.
"The sky."
"Why did you paint it orange? The sky isn't orange, it's blue."
"Yes it is, haven't you ever seen a sunset before?" Rose asked, a little annoyed.
"Of course I have! The sunsets are the best at my estate, you should come by sometime and see what you're missing out on."
"That sounds really tempting, but no thanks."
He scoffed. "Why did you paint the grass dark blue? Grass is green."
"It's not grass, it's the ocean Mr.Know-It-All."
"Why is it spiky like grass?" He asked smugly.
"Those are the waves, I'm sorry, I'm not the best at drawing."
"Why are you all standing on the ocean?"
"Because we can."
"No you can't, your mom is a human. Humans can't walk on water."
"Why are you criticizing my painting? Focus on your own work and leave me alone!"
"...You're going to get in so much trouble."
"No, I'm not. Why would I?"
"Because Madame Morin told us to draw our families, your family looks like aliens or something."
"Well, gems are aliens so...thank you, I guess. Now stop bothering me."
"....Just admit it."
"Admit what?"
"That you're stupid. You don't even know that grass is green, even babies know that!"
Rose Quartz didn't respond to that. She didn't understand why Lumiere was so focused on attacking her today.
"You always have to be the center of attention, don't you? You can't just--"
"How are your paintings coming along?" Mme. Morin asked.
"I already finished mine, Madame." Rose reported.
"Mines going great, but Rose Quartz's looks terrible!" Lumiere responded.
The teacher scoffed. "Now Lumiere, that's not very nice at all! I'm sure it's not--oh, oh dear…" Mme. Morin paused when she saw Rose's painting.
"Rose, honey, um….today, we're painting our families. So we want to make it look as realistic as possible. Now, I'm aware that some students have parents with unnatural skin colors but um….I'm certain that His Majesty does not have yellow skin, I have provided skin color paints for you to use." Mme. Morin informed Rose.
"Yes, I know, but I'll paint what I want to paint. It's my painting." Rose replied, adjusting her sunglasses.
"Is that sass, young lady?" Mme. Morin asked, indignant.
"No, Madame. Rose is just dumb, she doesn't know what she's doing. Just let her keep her ugly painting, no one will have time to hate it because everyone will be too busy being entranced by mine. Well, except for her parents, her Daddy will be so disappointed--"
"Lumiere Dennel, that is enough--"
Before anyone knew what was happening, Rose had jumped on top of Lumiere. She knocked over the table in the process, spilling paint and art supplies everywhere. Rose repeatedly punched him in the face and pulled on his hair.
The rest of the students were yelling and some were egging on the fight. Madame didn't know what to do, so she called the SRO, begging her to come quick.
Rose had the upper hand until Lumiere slugged her in the face, shattering the lenses of her sunglasses. She screamed, falling back off of Lumiere.
He stood up, spitting out a tooth that Rose had knocked out. He was a bit surprised, he had never seen Rose Quartz without her sunglasses before, they were her trademark.
Eventually, the SRO rushed in with back up to intervene.
****************
Bully, Apple, Brigitta and Rose Quartz were now sitting in the waiting room of the optometrists office.
After Rose's outburst, she and Lumiere were promptly escorted out of class. They had to tell the Headmistress what happened, then she called their parents to pick them up. Rose's broken sunglasses were also confiscated and put in a plastic bag for safety reasons. The whole time they were waiting outside of the Headmistress' office, Rose sat with her eyes closed. She was filled with so much dread and anxiety. She was going to get in big, no huge trouble. At least, she got to keep her painting….but she hardly wanted it now. Lumiere was right, it was ugly. She'd never been very good at art.
After the parents arrived, they were informed of what had happened. There were some... harsh, not PG words thrown and Rose and Lumiere were ultimately suspended from school for a week.
The Headmistress also suggested getting Rose's eyes tested, so they headed to the nearest optometrist. On the way there, Rose began to cry and Apple dutifully comforted her. Rose had already been tested, they were currently waiting for the results.
"I'm sure there's nothin' to worry about, so what if Rose likes unnatural colors--"
"Your Majesty, Ms.Pie, could you come in for a minute? We need to talk." Dr. Bonheur said.
"Rosie, we'll only be a minute. Wait here with Brigitta." Apple gently instructed, before going into Dr. Bonheur's office with her boyfriend.
When they were seated in the chairs across from her desk, there was a moment of anxious silence.
"So--"
"What's going on with my baby?! Is she going to be okay?!" Apple shouted.
"Ms.Pie please, remain calm. It's nothing too serious--"
"Then what is it?! Just spit it out already!" Apple interrupted.
Dr. Bonheur sighed deeply and removed her glasses. "What I'm about to tell you may be a little bit shocking, but hear me out and let me finish."
Bully and Apple slowly nodded in understanding.
"Your Majesty, the Crown Princess Rose Quartz was born with achromatopsia, also known as total color blindness. This essentially means that your daughter cannot see color, well, she can, but she can only see black, white, and shades of gray."
"How many shades of gray? 50?" Bully asked.
Apple promptly hit him. "Stop it. How can you make those rubbish jokes right now, this is serious!"
She turned to Dr. Bonheur. "H-how...how did she possibly hide this for so long?"
"Well, Ms.Pie, most colorblind people do not know that they have an issue most of the time, it's all they've ever known so it often goes undiagnosed, and it can be very easy for children to hide. Achromatopsia is an extremely rare,no, the rarest form of color blindness, and color blindness is even rarer in females. So, this is a very, very, very rare syndrome you have on your hands.
On the other hand, the reason that her condition went unnoticed for so long, is because of your daughter's habit of wearing sunglasses all the time."
Apple glared at Bully. "So this is all your fault! She only wears those stupid sunglasses because you d--"
"Ms. Pie please, let me explain:
The Headmistress informed me that while Rose Quartz was in her office, she avoided opening her eyes. In addition, during the examination, she had great difficulty keeping her eyes open, only after I turned the lights off was she able to keep her eyes open. Rose also has hemeralopia, or 'day blindness', a common symptom of achromatopsia. This essentially means she has a dislike/avoidance of light. However, as a result, Rose has exceptional night vision and an amazing sense of smell. Sunglasses are usually suggested for people with hemeralopia, and because Rose always wears sunglasses, she never realized anything was wrong.
Rose Quartz also has seesaw nystagmus. Nystagmus is also a common symptom of achromatopsia. And you haven't noticed that because Rose's dark sunglasses obscure her eyes from view." Dr. Bonheur explained.
"Is there a cure, like, a surgery or somethin'?" Bully chimed in.
"I'm sorry My Diamond, but no there is no cure for achromatopsia. However, I am planning on putting plum-colored lenses in Rose's frames. They're very helpful at controlling light sensitivity. Besides, she needs new lenses anyway." Dr. Bonheur replied.
"W-well, how will this affect her in the long run? Will she be able to live a virtually normal life?" Apple asked.
"Her Highness will have some difficulties choosing her own clothing and matching colors, but one of you could always choose her outfits or she could get a personal stylist. I recommend you don't let her drive, as her day-blindness will make that somewhat difficult. Other than that I don't think--"
"Wait! C-can't she just get those...those...glasses--"
"You mean EnChroma?" Apple guessed.
"Yeah! Can't she just get those?" Bully asked.
"My Diamond, unfortunately no. EnChroma glasses don't work for people with total color blindness, because you must be able to distinguish at least some color for them to enhance your vision. I'm sorry Your Majesty, but there is no way around this." Dr. Bonheur replied.
Bully nodded slowly and got up out of his seat. "Well, if that's all, we need to get Rose home now, it's getting late."
"Here," Dr. Bonheur added, giving them Rose's repaired sunglasses, "I suggest you sit down with Her Highness tonight and break the news to her gently. It was a pleasure having you here, you both have a nice day now."
Apple nodded and waved goodbye before walking out of the room. When they got back to where Rose and Brigitta were waiting, Rose was fast asleep on Brigitta's lap.
And she remained asleep the whole way back to the Palace. On the way, Apple filled Brigitta in on the whole situation.
However, Bully was silent the entire way home and while Rose ate her dinner before getting ready for bed.
How the hell had he not noticed this before? Was he really that neglectful? Did he really not know his daughter that much?
When Brigitta left to put Rose to bed, all was finally quiet. Apple and Bully were finally alone.
"This is all your fault," Apple began, "We're lucky the Governess didn't press charges against Rose for attacking her son. And we're lucky that we have enough money to bribe all the witnesses so that news of this doesn't spread. The press would have a field day! I can see it now: Our Precious Crown Princess secretly a savage? The whole country would be so ashamed! I don't know why I entertained this sunglasses inside rubbish...and now she's attacking other children! Why can't she just be more like me?! Why does she have to be such a brute?!"
"You're right, this is all my fault." Bully admitted.
"Yes, I know I'm right. I'm always right. And what was that back there?"
"What was what?" He sighed.
"Back there in Dr.Bonheur's office. You were acting like you were ashamed of Rose's condition." Apple clarified.
"Well, I'm not. I didn't intend to come off that way." He replied.
"Well, you did. I'm just glad Rose wasn't in there to hear that. And it's your fault we didn't know and it's probably your fault she has this condition. We could've found out about this a lot sooner and all of this could've been avoided! But no! Now Rose has a disability and she thinks she's a dumb retard! And I'm not very surprised, the apple doesn't seem to fall too far from the tree when it comes to you--"
"WELL, EXCUSE ME! YOU THINK I MEANT FOR ALL OF THIS TO HAPPEN?! I'M JUST AS SURPRISED AS YOU ARE! I WANTED OUR DAUGHTER TO HAVE A RELATIVELY NORMAL LIFE, BUT NOW THAT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN ANYMORE! AND ON TOP OF THAT, SHE'S BECOMING VIOLENT WITH OTHER KIDS!" Bully shouted at her.
"HER VIOLENT BEHAVIOR IS OBVIOUSLY YOUR FAULT, MAYBE IF YOU SET A BETTER EXAMPLE FOR HER, SHE WOULDN'T BE SUCH A DELINQUE--"
Apple's response was interrupted by Bully punching a hole in the wall. From the door that connected Rose Quartz's chambers to theirs, the couple heard small, faint footsteps.
Apple scoffed. "See? Now look what you've done. You've ruined the wall and now you're scaring Rosie! Now go on, talk to her while I ring someone up here to mend this." She ordered, before stomping off to find her phone.
Bully sighed deeply before doing as he was told. When he entered Rose's room, she was in her bed, pretending to be asleep.
Bully sat on the edge of his daughter's bed, unaware of what to say.
"Soooooo, how's lif--"
"You and Mummy are fightin' again. It's about me, innit?" Rose interrupted quietly.
"No, Rosie, we weren't fightin'. We were just...havin' a loud discussion."
"You're not a very good liar, Daddy."
Bully sighed. "Fine. We were fightin' but it was just about adult stuff. Adults just fight sometimes."
"Daddy, are you mad at me?"
"No, of course not. It's just...Rosie, I know it's difficult but you can't just go sluggin' people left and right. As the Crown Princess, you have a reputation to uphold. You represent the kingdom, Pink Diamond's Court, and the House of Koopa. Princesses don't punch and they don't hit. What did that booger even say that got you so wound up like that?" Bully asked.
"W-well, he said that my paintin' was ugly and that you would hate it. And he said I was dumb, but I'm pretty used to that." She replied sadly.
"Really? Still, you can't let what people say get to ya, or you'll never get anywhere in life. People will always talk and they'll always laugh, you just have to learn to ignore 'em." He replied.
"Like people are always talkin' about you on the news?" Rose asked.
Bully nodded. "Yeah, like that. But I don't let 'em get to me.
As for your painting, I'll be the judge of that! Can I see it?"
"Are ya sure you wanna see it? It's pretty terrible…." Rose warned.
"Of course I do."
"Well….okay. If you insist…" She mumbled before sliding out of bed and going to the small trash bin in her room. She pulled out her painting and smoothed out most of the creases before handing it to her father.
He examined the painting closely. The colors were all odd and unnatural, but Bully still loved it. He could tell that Rose had put too much hard work into it to just throw it away.
Bully sighed. "Rose Quartz, did you know you were color blind?"
Rose shook her head. "No, I knew there was something wrong with me, but I didn't know I was an achromat."
"Rose, honey, there's nothing wrong with you, per se. You just see colors differently, that's all."
"Well I'm still a 'dumb retard', whatever that means. But I heard Mummy say it so it must be true. Even babies know their colors."
"Rose, no! You are not a dumb retard and I don't ever wanna hear those words come out of your mouth again, young lady. Do you understand me? Heck, you're actually pretty smart considerin' you kept this from us for so long. H-how did you do it? In most of your drawin's, the colors are just fine for the most part."
"Well...I dunno if you knew this Daddy but crayons and colored pencils have the name of the colors written on the wrappers, so I just read it. People are always talkin' about how grass is green, the sky is blue, the sun is yellow, sunsets are orange, etcetera, etcetera. So I just remember that. Sometimes, though, the colors won't have wrappers on them because some dumb kid took them off for some reason. When we were makin' our paintin's, Madame Morin just poured out all the colors into egg cartons so...they weren't labeled. And of course I couldn't ask which was which, my class already thinks I'm dumb as it is…." Rose Quartz explained.
Bully nodded slowly. He still couldn't believe he hadn't noticed any of the other signs that something could've been wrong:
Before Rose would eat meals or drink beverages, she would always smell them first before taking a bit or a sip.
And when she would play on her 3DSXL, she would always play and play and play until the battery was almost gone because she didn't notice the little light turn from blue to orange. The only thing that saved her from losing all of her progress was the fact that the light would blink before the system finally went dead, and if she plugged it in in time, she would be saved. However, after losing her unsaved progress one time to many, she would always sit by an outlet when she would play on her console. But...she couldn't always do that if she was on tour or something.
Bully yawned, it was getting late. "Honey, you need to get some sleep now but I just want you to know, never, ever, ever be afraid to talk to me if you feel like something isn't quite right, ya dig me?"
Rose giggled. "Yeah, I dig you. But Daddy, why do I have to go to sleep now? I don't even have school tomorrow."
"Yes, I know but I still wanna maintain your normal sleep schedule for when you go back next week." Bully replied.
"...Daddy?"
"Yes, dollface?"
"Do I have to go back to school? I...don't really wanna go back there…"
"...We'll see." Bully responded before exiting Rose's room.
"So, how is she doing?" Apple asked, while Bully was putting Rose's painting up on the refrigerator.
"She's doin' good. We had a talk, everythin's good." He replied flatly.
"Aww, that's lovely! Is that the little menace that started all of this?" Apple asked, noticing the painting.
"Red, Rose says she doesn't wanna go back to that school and I'm not gonna make her." Bully said, ignoring Apple's slightly insensitive comment.
"....Well, I don't see any harm in that. The school year is practically over, all she was going to do was busy work or playing games or something." Apple replied.
"No. She's not goin' to go back to that school. Ever. Next year she's goin' to go to school online and if that doesn't work for her, I'll get 'er a private tutor. She shouldn't have to put up with those dumbass, snot-nosed brats pickin' on her because of somethin' she can't control. And we need to teach her how to deal with her anger management while she's still young. Besides, goin' to school online will work better with her hectic famous-royal schedule. And we'll have more time to nurture and develop her powers and abilities." Bully clarified.
"....Wow, Bully. That is the smartest thing you've said all day. As long as Rosie is happy, I'll go along with this."
Apple yawned. "I'm gonna turn in for the night, toodles." She concluded before going to their bedroom.
Bully gave a small wave before looking back at the painting. He shook his head and removed it from the refrigerator. No, this doesn't belong here, he thought.
He took it to their bedroom and put it in a black and white picture frame. He nodded, before hanging it above his and Apple's bed.
Yes, that's much better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The art up top is the painting that Rose made. For a little more insight on what Rose sees as a person who suffers from achromatopsia (also known as achromats), I've provided the colors she used and how she saw them:
Normal Vision:
Achromatopsia:
According to the internet, you can recreate what total color blind people see by using the grayscale filter in your camera app
Anywho, thanks for reading!