The Gem Who Would Be Empire

by ViridianVillain

Summary:

Once upon a time there were four Diamonds who ruled an empire. The most unruly of the four, Pink Diamond, demanded her own world to rule. However, upon discovering the life that existed on earth, the diamond assumed a fake identity and had started a rebellion. After long, lengthy battles between both the crystal gems and homeworld, the war had eventually ended when Pink Diamond faked her own shattering. In their grief and rage however, the three remaining diamonds devastated Earth with an attack that corrupted the remaining gems still on the surface, ending the hard fought war.

Two thousand years later, White Diamond, the supreme ruler of the Gem Empire, had done something both unexpected and thought to be all but impossible. Seeing the gap that Pink's death had caused, White Diamond created an entirely new gem. Now the newest member of the Great Diamond Authority must navigate her way through an empire that's built on both oppression and cruelty. Will her efforts be in vain, or will her presence be the thing that can finally change her society for the better?

A Black Diamond Self Insert.

Chapter 1

I gasped from shock, before collapsing on the floor, coughing up a storm. Formless colors and dancing lights flashed across my eyes while strange sounds boomed around me. I took in a few more heavy breaths, hoping to ground myself, but went still as I looked at the floor. The floor was blackened coal. Why was the floor coal? I brushed my fingers onto its jagged surface but squinted my eyes in clear confusion. Something was weird with my right hand. It was dainty with rounded, black nails. It was also a very dark gray in its coloration.

That was not definitely my skin color.

"—took too much energy from the Core—”

The more I looked at the hand the more that it seemed wrong. The proportions were off. The fingers didn't have visible joints. There weren't any tiny hairs, pores, or even little crinkles on the hand. The veins were gone, the nails were casting a literal glow onto the floor and the skin… I couldn't see it as anything other than perfectly polished blackened stone. Yet even despite that, it magically morphed in its shape, clenching into an ordinary fist when needed.

"—imminent collapse! The structure is—”

My eyes scrambled over the rest of my new body. I had two thin, delicate arms, a pair of slender legs, a petite torso and long, flowing, fluffy shoulder length black hair. I was wearing some form of inky black sundress. The dress had no sleeves, leaving both my arms on full display, and the darkened fabric flowed only just past my knees. Flat sandals protected the bottom of my feet while my back was exposed to the world showing something that made my eyes widen. On my back, right between both of my shoulder blades, was a huge, priceless, Diamond shaped jewel that seemed to suck in all light that came even slightly near its sight.

"I told you clods! This was a mistake!"

Where the hell was I?

"Stop disobeying and follow your orders!"

What happened to my body?

"I am so going to get shattered!"

What happened to me?

"ENOUGH!!"

A flash caused all the noise to go silent.

I jolted upwards to the source of the shout and promptly felt my jaw drop. Surrounded by various figures was an unbelievably enormous glowing white woman. She wore a scandalous dress with a transparent skirt that exposed her thick thighs. The woman wore tall heels, black makeup, and a long flowing clock that seemed to shine with stars. Her hair was done up in a five painted star and on her forehead was one massive white diamond. Everything about her screamed protectionism, and she was looking down at me with a wide shimmering smile.

I instantly recognized who I was looking at, but denied the truth. This had to be some kind of hallucination. It just couldn't be possible.

Sensing my attention, the absolute colossal of a woman began to speak. "Rise and shine, my Little Star. You certainly took your precious time in there, didn't you?" She had paused, her grey diamond-shaped pupils gazing at me with blinding intensity. "Still, we're all so very glad you finally decided to form, even if it did take a little… encouragement. Just look at you!" She exclaimed, "So dense and dark and so very, very durable. It's a shame you did not turn out as a lighter shade, but no matter. You are already the flawless solution to all of our issues. Just like we all want you to be. Like the Empire needs you to be. What I made you to be." Her smile had stretched out further.

"After all, what is darkness but the shadow of light?” She looked up and laughed in pure joy. Her arms as thick as marble columns lifted upwards, palms spread open as if holding the entire world. A vast black cloak with bands of glittering galaxies extended out, enhancing the woman's hourglass figure. It all resulted in a shimmering splendor of radiance that shone of power, charisma, beauty and intelligence.

I blinked upwards at her, my black eyes filled with slight awe. “I don't mean to be rude… but who are you? What Empire? Where am I?”

My voice was soft and innocent, like a child speaking for the first time, but it had also held a powerful earthy tone. The contrast was both jarring and captivating. I had decided to play dumb. It would be the smartest move, when all things were considered. There wasn't any doubt in my mind now that somehow I inhabit the body of a gem. I could perhaps use my knowledge of Steven Universe to play along, but the words of White Diamond clearly shows that she had expected me to have knowledge already programmed into my head. The best thing to do right now was show my ignorance from the start. If I had pretended nothing was wrong, but did something that tips her off that I wasn't who she thinks I was, she might just retaliate, or worse. I couldn't take the chance.

The woman's arms had grinded back down, ending her posture. There was a tension in her brows. Still, she remained smiling. "My, my. You almost fooled me there, Little Star. You already know who I am. Now, stop trying to make a fuss. We need to—”

"I assure you, I'm not lying. I truly don't know who you are." I quickly cut White Diamond off. With megalomaniacs, you had to take control of the conversation before they ran away with it. “I don't have any of the knowledge that you seem to think I possess. I don't know where I am, or who you are, or even what I am. All I can remember is…” I try and think back to before this, but I can't remember. It all comes up blank. I can't seem to remember anything personal about my life. Did I have a family, did I have friends, did I have a partner? It's all just gone. “...I can't remember anything at all.”

Her plastered smile twitched slightly. "Very well. We shall be gracious and indulge you for now. I am White Diamond!" She proclaimed royally. "The Leader of the Great Diamond Authority! Ruler of the Gem Empire! Creator of Gemkind! Conqueror of the Galaxy! Origin of The Light, Unity of Perfection, Shatterer of The Stars…” White Diamond had gone on for several long minutes, listing out all her surely very impressive titles. For my part, I tried to pay attention, but my mind started to wonder.

Instead I sat down with my legs crossed and looked around my environment. I was inside a huge, cylindrical room whose ceiling extended far beyond my sight. The walls seemed to be hazy windows full of glowing lava. There were other gems around us and they were all some similar shade of white. Perhaps they were her subjects? What I found interesting however is the height difference between us. Obviously, next to White Diamonds humongous towering form I looked like a child. But when compared to the average gem, while sitting down mind you, I was on their eye level. At minimum I was double their height, maybe slightly more.

Eventually, White Diamond had finished her introduction. When she did I looked up at her with wide sparkling eyes and let my curiosity run wild. I should be freaking out, but talking with a character from my favorite TV show of all time was amazing! I got to see an actual giant woman! “Woah… you're the ruler of an empire?! That's so cool!” My eyes shined like stars. “You're so tall! Were you made like that, or did you grow up to be that big? What's The Great Diamond Authority? Does that mean there are more diamonds like you? Oh! Who are all these people? They look kinda like you, did you make them? Did you make me?!”

With every word that came out of my mouth, White Diamond's smile had become more and more strained, until it seemed she had started to disassociate. Hard. “Uhm… are you okay?"

"What--But-How could this-This doesn't—!”

I patiently watched White as she struggled to process my words and what they all meant. It was clear she now believed me about having no memories. White clutched her face with her hands, the diamonds expression flashing through many emotions. Confusion was there, along with frustration and anger. That wasn't very surprising, but for a tiny fleeting moment, there was something vulnerable about her. Something worried her. Something that made her deeply scared, but it ended before I could catch what exactly it was she was scared of.

“No.” The Diamond said, calming herself.

"Nothing went wrong with your creation. That would signify that We made a mistake using the last remains of Homewords Core material, which is impossible because We are perfect. There must be a perfectly reasonable way to explain your lack of memories…” White paced back and forth while I watched. “It must be… because We used multiple Diamond essences in your creation. Yes. That has to be it. The Diamond matrix programming was simply split between four options, so it chose none.”

“Diamond matrix programming?” I asked her.

“Yes. The matrix programming.” She regained her confident smile. “It's what gives every gem their preprogrammed knowledge. Normally a Diamond's essence, the thing that gives life to a gem, dictates what basic knowledge is given based on the type of gem they are. However, you were created with the essence of all four Diamonds, a first in galactic history. Naturally something like your seeming lack of memories could not be predictable, and as such We are still perfect, without flaw and without error.”

Oh dear. She was doubling down on her own reasoning by diving right into the deep end of denial. White had continued, her reverberating voice sounding throughout the air. "However, your missing memories will still be a problem. Because your facet and cut were designed to be impenetrable to any damage or change, a rejuvenation wouldn't work… and implanting data libraries is only possible during a critical stage in your gem formation, which already passed long ago.” She seemed to think for a moment. “The only option remaining would be learning the required information manually. An inefficient method that will likely take several centuries, but an acceptable one. We have waited two thousand years for this. We will be able to wait just a little while longer.”

“Several centuries?!” I jumped up in surprise. I suppose in immortal gem terms that wasn't all that long, but it was to me! “I can't do that! I-!”

Suddenly, two bright beams of light shot out of her eyes and shined over me like a spotlight. I gaped like a fish, mostly in shock, and slightly in awe. That was the coolest thing I have ever seen! "Shush, Little Star. You will speak when spoken to.” The coolness factor immediately wore out, and I was about to give her a piece of my mind, but realized with growing horror that no sound escaped from my mouth. White Diamond's smile turned smug as I flapped my lips pointlessly. This was so, so very not cool!

"I will begin with the basics. You are Black Diamond, one of the most powerful and prestigious gemstones in existence. You are heir to the fourth throne of the Gem Empire, a galaxy-spanning civilization with hundreds of planets and billions of gem citizens, whose perfect vision will eventually reach the entire universe. Your purpose is to rule together with the Great Diamond Authority for all eternity.”

I felt my eyes widen. I'm a… Diamond? Wait, she said the fourth throne. Does that mean Pink Diamond already faked her shattering, or am I replacing her in the story? “However, due to your… issues. The responsibilities that will come with this great position shall be given to you when it is deemed fit. For now, you will be expected to produce at minimum four hundred tons of Diamond essence every year without fail until the resource crisis is over. To assist with this task, you will be receiving a personal court, a Pearl, and a ship, but you will be grounded on Homeworld until your education is complete to the standards expected of you.”

As White finally finished with her monologue, one thing became clear to me immediately. I need to get away from this crazy magic lady.

Looking around, I see a hole in the ground. Where does it lead? No idea, but wherever it goes, I doubted it would have self obsessed dictators. I get up and make a break for it.

It was no use.

A pale hand snatched me up before I could enter. How—How did White get over here so fast? I stopped looking at her for less than a second! I struggled against her grip to escape, but it was hard as stone. I suddenly felt out of my depth. Small. Powerless. Like a child.

"Now, now, Black. Now is not the time to run off and play.” White had scolded with a smirk, moving over to a platform where her subjects are standing. “We have taken long enough to return to the surface, and I tire of keeping the Core from collapsing. Activate the elevator.”

The stationary gems unfroze and then began operating the consoles, unfamiliar symbols flashing on the screens. The platform hums with activity before shooting upwards, turning into a dot in the sky. I briefly wondered why the other gems immediately left the area as White's diamond had flashed. My eyes widen in fear at the answer. Whatever type of glass that the walls were made of had disappeared, and now lava was rushing towards the two of us like a flaming tsunami. I thrashed. Hard.

White Diamond looked at my futile resistance with slightly amused eyes. "Don't you worry, Little Star." She said, caressing me under her thumb. I gulped at the sharpened nail the size of my head. "We have it all under control.”

White crouched down and tensed her legs. Then, just as the lava would have reached us, she jumped. A nuclear bomb exploded. In an instant, we launched upwards at unimaginable speeds, wind slamming down onto us with a sonic boom. After what seemed almost like an eternity of screaming later, White had landed softly on the platform without a single sound, her smile just as serene as ever, as if she had not done anything special. “Here we are…”

What the fuck. What the fuck. What the fuck.

"Thank the Stars we're leaving that dreadful place behind forever." White said, ignoring my trembling body. "It was such a chore to drill down here every time to check your progress, and no matter what I did, it always got stuffy after a few years. I can't wait to return to my extraction chamber and let my Pearl focus on other tasks. But we still have one more thing to do before I return to my duties. We need to organize a ball—no, a special event to reveal your flawless, perfect existence to the rest of our precious gems!" Excitement had laced her words. "They will all be so overjoyed to meet you. Especially Yellow and Blue. Oh, their surprise will be just delightful!" She chuckled and sighed fondly.

"This will be excellent, Black. The struggles of Era 2 will be over, and a new Era will usher us into prosperity. All thanks to you… and me."

What kind of hell did I find myself inside?

Chapter 2

Notes:

The word count for this chapter was low, so decided to post two! You may praise me now.

White Diamond was still holding onto me when the elevator finally finished its ascent.

We passed through many layers of magma, and not lava. It finally got into my head that we had been at the literal center of the world. Occasionally, there would be caves. Large, sprawling sections of never-ending caverns, some filled with scaffolding and roaming robot bugs-things, while the others were abandoned and gloomy. Every single wall I saw in those caves were littered with human silhouettes of all different shapes and sizes. It was creepy.

I'm just lucky I wasn't trypophobic.

Throughout the journey White was content to just smile, hum a strange tune, and rub my head. I couldn't really ask about everything I was seeing, and she didn't bother explaining anything else. The other gems, who were all unique in their own ways, were deathly silent. They just touched their screens, sometimes swapped positions, and never looked up.

Because of the boredom of this long ride, I had a lot of time to think. What I thought most of all was my future, and what my next steps will be. The future didn't seem bright however. Sure, I was a diamond. Like White said, we're basically gods compared to the average gem. We're stronger, faster and rule over them like absolute monarchs, but what's even the point of being a god if you don't have any freedom? The Empire is a cruel and oppressive place run by the biggest dysfunctional family in the galaxy. I didn't want to be stuck here, but it's not like I could leave. White would never allow it. I'll have to just play along with her for now.

My thoughts then bring me to my new body. Without the presence of certain white gems to distract me, I noticed some things about it that were just slightly… shall I say, inhuman? My mind functioned too fast. My vision saw things that were miles away as if they were right next to me. I didn't feel the need to blink. My chest didn't expand or contract at all when I tried to breathe. Feeling my teeth with my tongue had revealed they were actually just two combined masses rather than natural individual teeth. I was able to turn my head normally, but while I was distracted by a beetle-like robot that was crushed by the sides of the elevator, I realized I had done a complete circle round my body.

These changes were both cool, and incredibly horrifying. For my body to behave in ways that I knew shouldn't be possible… well it's kind of creepy. Still, I'm sure I'll eventually get used to it. What drew my attention the most however, was the black diamond poking out of my back.

Whenever I tried to focus on the jewelry, I felt an alien sensation spread across my entire being. It felt cold, it looked dark, it smelled and tasted like coffee, it sounded like the silent gaps between the stars, It was basically the combined synesthesia of anything related to color black. It felt comforting, it was amazing, and it was incredibly addicting. This was most likely one of the perks that being a "Diamond" was all about. I could get used to this part.

I didn't manage to activate any other magical ability, like shapeshifting or making a bubble. I suppose simply knowing you had the ability to do something and actually knowing how to do something were two different things. Shame.
My one known diamond power didn't seem all that useful. Nothing like White's godly abilities. Using it more than once was likely dangerous and ill-advised, but I was stressed, so worried, and very, very bored. Briefly I had wondered if gems could have ADHD. Seeing all the same sights had turned monotonous, no matter how unique they were. So I abused the heck out of it, just like an addict who tells himself the next hit would be the last. It definitively wouldn't be.

It was on the thirty-third try when eventually we reached the surface.

"Look, Black." White Diamond said, finally deigning herself to speak to me. "This is our Homeworld. It is magnificent, is it not?"

Once again, I was floored by the sights.

Enchanting edifices, twinkling towers, geometric buildings, crystalline constructs, crisscrossing catwalks, fast speeding ships, uncountable cables, and a golden sky uniting all of it under a banner of light. It was all so clean and bright. There were so many colorful people—sorry, gems—moving about, all busy as bees doing their best to do whatever things that needed doing. A few gems that managed to glimpse us froze like deer in headlights and performed some sort of strange salute.

"Wow…" It said in awe.

It was definitely magnificent, but something was missing. As I looked at the details, I had realized what that was. There were no plants.

No trees, no flowers, no weeds, not even a patch of artificial grass. Anything green was crystal-related, or a gem, or a painted surface. Sure, it was beautiful, but all I could see was what's missing. There was no soft grass, no flowing rivers, no gently swaying trees. It felt empty. Dead. Like a dystopian future where all plantlife had died out long ago. The weather, too, was gone. No cool breeze, or droplets of rain held here domain on Homeworld. It was a travesty. I loved the rain. I wondered what the diamonds did to remove a fundamental aspect of any planet, making a small, quiet, hum of commiseration for the tragic loss of nature's green thumb—Wait. Did I just hum? Did White remove her power? Was it time based?

I looked at White, noting her smug smile. She knew, what a bi—Nope. The plan. Remember the plan. Calm down. Calm yourself Black.

Eventually after a repeat of the caverns but on the surface, where everything seemed to blur together, we approached the first and only unique landmark. It was a huge diamond on the ground, split into four smaller diamonds, with each one being a different color of white, yellow, blue, or black. Beside each corner was a dark pedestal and on all of these pedestals were body parts. They were tall monoliths of glistening metal, larger than even the tallest of towers back on Earth. The biggest one was a big white angular torso, complete with a spiky five pointed star. White looked smug as she saw me staring at it. There's also a blue left arm, lankily draped as if crying, a stiff yellow right arm, and finally, there was… a pair of black wings? I suppose that's a point in favor of this being after pink diamonds shattering.

"Oh good! Blue and Yellow came just in time. Just as punctual as always." White said with cheer, making my head bobble as she pointed out each body part. "That ship is mine, that one is Yellow's, that one is Blue's, and that one will be yours, Little Star." Gee, I couldn't have known that. Who could've guessed?

"They are spaceships capable of instant, intergalactic flight. Intergalactic flight means being able to fly between galaxies, a handy thing to have when your Empire spans across almost two thousand celestial bodies." That, I truly didn't know. Begrudgingly, I admitted to myself that giving me spaceship wings was… a pretty good gift, but I would never say it to her face. White is definitely the type to gloat.

Wait, there was something else she said. Blue and Yellow were already here? Did that mean the special event was starting? How? When was White able to organize it, or tell someone to do it? I was in her palms the entire time. Oh no, I thought I had more time to prepare, what am I going to do! This is going to be a—

An earth-shaking roar derailed my thoughts.

The colored diamonds on the floor weren't for decoration. They were actually packed full of screaming gems. As the elevator neared the black space on the diamond, the cheering and stomping and waving increased in intensity. It made me dizzy. Did we land? White was… saying something—something about a core? I couldn't focus. Her lips were too smushed, her figure was too smeared, the shapes were too diffuse, the gems were all shrieking, there were too many words, too many emotions, too many thoughts, it was all too much. Too much too much toomuchtoomuchtoomuch—

I was tapping into my power.

I immediately released its hold, gasping as clarity hit me like a four wheel garbage truck.

"—listening to me? I asked you a question, Black." White's tone brooked no argument.

"Y-yes?" I said unsurely, blinking away at the afterimages. Agreeing to something you didn't quite pay attention to was always a good idea. I was an absolute genius. Heh heh, gemnius.

"Good. Don't do anything… erratic." She sent me a sharp warning glance before releasing her hold on me. I raised my brows. That was unexpectedly quick. I was on a podium now, its color and feel just like my namesake. White stood behind me, doing that awful pose again, looking at something, and yet also nothing.

The crowd was as silent as a graveyard, their faces bright with anticipation. It seemed they were waiting for some kind of speech. I wasn't really all that good at public speaking, and I've definitely never spoken to a crowd this large. I clenched my hands on the sides of the talking podium in stress, cracking the black crystal.

Screw it. I can do this… right?”

“G-Greetings! Gems of Homeworld!" My voice echoed across the planet's surface, far louder than expected. “My name is Black Diamond. I am the heir to the fourth throne of Homeworld. I hope that my rule shall be both a long and prosperous new era for all Gemkind. I will do all I can to ensure that I live up to the honor of serving as your new diamond. G-goodbye!”

I felt my face heat up in embarrassment at the cracks in my voice. Why could gems even get voice cracks!? However, the crowd seemed to be looking at me with reverence. What? Did I actually do a good job? I quickly glanced back at White. All tension was gone from her huge shoulders. She was even nodding along. Huh, I expected to be booed right off of the stage.

The supreme ruler of gemkind speaks up. “I declare that with the end of this event, Era 3 shall begin. Begone." The gems scattered like flies at her words. I noted that two squares weren't fully empty though. Two large gems had stayed behind, walking towards us with thudding steps. The yellow one had marched forward, always looking ahead. The blue one shuffled over with a hunch, a cowl hiding her face. As they reached us, they switched between staring at White with her pose and smile and my low standing form.

Both spoke, one full of authority and the other full of raw emotion.

"White. We need to talk.”

Chapter 3

Notes:

My Steven Universe DVD box set just came in the mall! Time for a re-watch!

Standing inside a solid white privacy bubble, I looked at Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond with wide eyes. Yellow was bulky, sharp, and deadly, wearing a militaristic-oriented suit. The women had large brown heels, rough looking gauntlets, large intimidating shoulder pads, and a bright shining diamond on her chest. It was an electrifying and scintillating gemstone. I couldn't tell if Yellow was wearing a golden helmet, or if her blond hair was simply shaped as one, and finally her face was an eternally annoyed expression, but the Egyptian accents over her eyes made it fierce like a predator.

Blue Diamond in contrast had a softer, more feminine figure. The cloak that covered her slender body made the gem look like she was attending a funeral. I peeked at the opening of the fabric when she wasn't looking. Blue had a long face, sad lips, and dark bags under her downturned eyes. She made being depressed look good. On her chest was a diamond as deep as the ocean. Interesting enough it was shaped like a teardrop, the opposite rotation of my own gemstone. I wondered if there was some significance to that, or if it was random.

Looking at the three of them together, the similarities became clear. They all had thin necks. Black makeup highlighted all of their features. The color of their skin, pupils, and diamonds were their respective, if unoriginal, names. They could be called siblings, in the furthest stretch of the word, with White being the tallest and Yellow and Blue reaching up to her shoulders. In comparison I barely reached up to Yellow and Blue's knees. The three of them were extremely powerful in ways I could only imagine. They were like gods to normal gems, the alpha predators of the universe.

The bubble was thick with tension. It popped open, revealing the location we were in. It was a grand palace room, with a reddish slab of a carpet and four stacked colored thrones. Their diamond colors hadn't made it hard to guess who these were for. White was at the top, Yellow and Blue were on the sides while mine was at the bottom, replacing Pink's. I wonder if this was a symbol of a hierarchy, or simply a physical accommodation to our heights? I didn't know. I heard a sharp intake from Blue, but the other two didn't seem to register it.

White floated upwards on a stepstool of light, leaving us behind on the ground floor. She sat on her chair elegantly, holding both hands together with a smile. "Yellow. Blue." She said, "What did you two wish to talk about?"

Blue Diamond remained silent, still as stone, her eyesight fixed at the black throne. Yellow glanced at this and scoffed, before crossing her arms. She spoke with a grating tone. “We need an explanation, White.”

White had tilted her head. "For what, Yellow?"

"Don't play coy with us, White!" Yellow's voice thundered, electricity crackling all across her body. "Where were you the last two thousand years? Why haven't you contacted us until today? Why haven't you helped in managing our Empire at all except for puppeteering that Pearl? And what exactly," Yellow pointed her finger at me, "Is that?"

Excuse me? I am not a thing, thank you very much. I cross my arms with a huff. Also, White was taking avoidance personality disorder to the extreme if she hadn't talked with them for two thousand years. Talk about a shut-in.

White chuckled. "Oh Yellow, always so direct and to the point. Well, if it wasn't obvious enough already We were solving our resource crisis, which required our full, undivided light. What came of our successful endeavors was Black Diamond, our newest addition into the Great Diamond Authority. Our perfect Star.”

“That doesn't explain anything.” A crunch had come from Yellow Diamond's clenched fist. “Her existence shouldn't be possible."

"Whatever do you mean, Yellow?" White had smiled innocently, being intentionally dense.

"You know what I'm talking about, White!" Yellow stomped the floor, making me jump a few feet in the air. "There's only ever been the… the three of us from the start. You, me, and Blue." The hitch in her speech had been tinged with sadness. "No matter what our Gems did, no matter how far our fleet has searched, and no matter how advanced our technology has become, it's all come up with the same result. The unique circumstances that created us can never happen again. This gem cannot be a Diamond."

"Quite the bold claims, Yellow. But you are blinding yourself to my Light." She said with gravity and slight arrogance, before it turned into light sympathy. "However, We understand your doubts, as We also thought the same not long ago. To address this concern, why don't you perform a simple... test?" White looked at me before her lips curled up devilishly. Oh no. She was up to something nasty, wasn't she?

"Use your full might on this 'Impossible Diamond' and let's see if you are correct."

Rebecca Sugar, give me strength.

"You actually want me to disrupt her light form?" Yellow had raised a disbelieving brow. "It might shatter her, damage her at the least.”

White smoothly nodded, fully aware that she was advocating for my misery. "Believe me, her hardness as a Diamond won't let it." Oh, I am gonna slap this big, megalomaniac Bitc-

Yellow narrowed her eyes in suspicion before finally looking at me. I was frantically shaking my head and waving at her to stop, but she rolled her eyes—The gall!—before generating a threatening ball of electrical energy in her hand. "Very well. Don't say I didn't warn you.”

I let out a quick squeak of fear before running for my life. I didn't get far. I got hit by the ball.

"What?" Yellow blurted out, surprised.

It felt… strangely not that bad actually. It had tingled and made my limbs tremble, sure, but it wasn't unbearable. In fact… it almost felt good. I forced myself to stand, turning around and looking at the taken-aback Yellow with an expression of disapproval. Yellow huffed out a disbelieving sigh before lobbing another shot of electricity at me. It hit. I shivered, but stood tall. Yellow frowned and shot more. I started to shake and stumble from the zaps, but I didn't fall. It was after the fifth that I allowed myself a vicious grin, feeling energized from the attack.

White wasn't wrong when she said I was very durable apparently.

Yellow growled and changed her tactics. She didn't send sparkly spheres of electricity at me anymore. This time she had thrusted both of her palms at me, two streams of continuous charge exploded at me. It hurt. A lot. A grin of savageness grew on her lips as I had buckled the strain. It really hurt. The voltage increased and I squirmed more. It hurt so much. Molten lines of gold started to split my form apart as I convulsed on the floor, agony filling my bones.

I wasn't going to last long, I could feel it.

But despite the pain, I didn't scream. Instead, I laughed. “Hehe… hehe… HAHA!” The pain, it felt strangely… good? The pain meant I was alive, but there was something more than just that. Suddenly from my skin a fountain of pure black ink burst forwards, absorbing all of the offending yellow energy before slurping back into my body. I let out a burp. “Excuse me.”

"H-h-h-how!?" Yellow Diamond exclaimed, electricity sputtering out of her fingers.

White held her hand to her face and laughed uproariously, a sonorous bell chime that had resounded throughout the entire throne room. "What's the matter, Yellow?" She goaded the diamond in between laughs. "Cat's eye caught your stone?" Yellow spluttered even more in embarrassment. For once, I felt gratitude for White. Then I realized she likely orchestrated this whole scene, and the feeling turned bitter.

White's laughter eventually petered out into giggles. "W-well played, White." Yellow quickly re-gathered herself, looking at anywhere else in the room that wasn't us. "I'm… I shouldn't have questioned you. It seemed too good to be true. Still… you have done the impossible once more." Yellow gave out a respectful nod, and White's smile grew three sizes that day.

"And as for you..." I froze as her large yellow hand approached me. Instead of crushing me however, Yellow just picked me up with her index and thumb and placed me upright. Her pinch was surprisingly gentle. "…I was wrong. I recognize your authenticity." She performed the diamond salute and bowed. "I greet you, Black Diamond. Welcome to the Authority.

…While this was certainly nice and all, there was a certain something missing. An apology. I crossed my arms and looked away from the diamond with a huff, like the drama queen that I was. "What? Yellow had asked with a frown. I mimed out her savage grin and stretched-out arms before returning back over to my posture of displeasure. “It was a test. You pass. That's it." Yellow gave me a deadpan stare. "Move on already.” I pouted slightly, before sticking my tongue out at the amazon. “You little brat!”

"Excellent. We are thrilled you two are getting along so well." White said happily. "Now that this discussion is over, we can all begin the preparations for Era 3's prosperity. Black can't rule together with us yet, but she will still be able to provide her Essence. We will use it to restart Gem production, design entirely new Gem variants, and conquer more worlds for the empire. We will need to re-organize the fleets, update our ageing infrastructure, and dispose of all the old and unused structures that were left in my absence—"

Suddenly, a wave of emotion washed over me, and I went down onto my knees. Heavy tears were flowing from my eyes like drops of rainwater. "Have… you… all… forgotten?"

Blue's cloak was gone now. What it revealed was a woman wracked in maddened grief.

"Her Palace. Her ship. Her throne. They are gone." She walked towards White, each step cracking the perfect marble floors. "Her zoo. Her garden. Her colony. Forgotten."

Yellow held out her hands to stop her. "Blue, don't, not here—" But she was thrown by the wayside.

"Her infectious laugh. Her beautiful smile. Her wonderful color. In pieces." She stood face to face with White, Blue looking up with flowing tears while White looked down with a frown.

"HOW COULD YOU REPLACE PINK WITH AN OFFCOLOR, WHITE?" Blue's shout tore through the palace, destroying everything in front of her. What had remained was a White Diamond standing above a mountain of rocks and rubble."We... we loved her." Blue heaved with crushing grief. "I thought... I thought you loved her too. Was I the only one who did…?”

White was angry, that much was crystal clear. But I could also feel a hint of… sadness? Her face showed none, so how did I know-? “Blue, have you wondered about Pink's shattering?" White spoke with an eerily bright, robotic and unfeeling voice. Her smile seemed strained.

Blue was revolted. "How dare—!"

White had continued, shutting Blue's lips with her finger. "While you were so infatuated with preserving the relics of a bygone time, We were busy investigating our dear Starlight's end. We couldn't just leave it alone, we had to make sure it wouldn't happen to the rest of us. And you know what we found?” She asks with a rhetorical tone. “Inconsistencies. Conflicting information, hearsay, rumors, along with a few shards of a whole that can never be repaired."

Blue struggled out of her grasp, blue spheres flying all around her. Yellow stood next to her, barely restraining herself from helping Blue.

"The only thing that our data shows to be the truth was this. A weak and derivative Quartz shattered her own Diamond. A Diamond, who stands above all. A Diamond, who has powers beyond compare. A Diamond, who is forever. Shattered. It should have been impossible.” She shook her head. “Improbable, immutable. A fantasy imagined by the most despicable of offcolors and organics. Yet it happened, and we have not been the same because of it."

More tears flowed from Blue's eyes as she hit White's arms repeatedly. "But let us imagine a hypothetical Blue. What if Pink Diamond, our Starlight… simply wasn't a Diamond at all?"

Blue froze. Her eyes widened. Tears falling.

"With this as a hypothesis, the impossible will become possible. Pink was shattered for she was something else, something that could be shattered. All other unexplained phenomena become explained as well. Why she was so mercurial. Why she failed at everything. Why she had obsessions, tantrums, and even a rebellion. Why she couldn't do our tasks, why she was so disobedient, so deranged, so very different." White released Blue, but no words came from her mouth. White continued on.

"Perhaps she was a Pink Morganite all along? A Pink Tourmaline? Maybe she was even a Pink Quartz? How ironic would that be? Or maybe, and this was the most likely, she was simply a fragile gem with a fragile ego that hid her own fragile flaws. All within the protection of her stronger kind. A Diamond that was not a Diamond. A jester, an actor and a clown."

The next words that White said were the most soft spoken, barely heard against the lacking breeze in the air. "In the end, We concluded that our little Starlight, was a Star-Lie. A lie that lasted a million years before it crumbled alongside her. Shattered. Forever. Gone.”

Silence. The air felt as heavy as tungsten.

White had shut her eyes, shedding a single, entirely real tear. It twinkled as it fell, landing on a random pebble. The pebble had begun glowing. It now had tiny limbs and a cute face. It looked at all of us. Blue soon collapsed into a puddle of sorrow, motionless to the world.

Yellow kneeled down to her fellow diamond, gently putting a hand on her back while a look of sadness passed over her. White looked up at the sun being almost indistinguishable from its light. As for me… I stood silently, watching the scene, feeling like some outsider who had stumbled across something that was sacred.

The pebble wisely clattered away, never to be seen again. I envied the little creature.

It was inside of this mourning quiet that Yellow Diamond had spoken up. "How did you create Black Diamond, then?"

White didn't answer.

"If… If Pink really wasn't one of us, then how is Black possible? Is she… real? Or is she just another fake? Is she also a lie? Is she?!" She demanded with grief filled rage."Tell us! Now!”

"No." White finally decided to speak. "We had made sure of that. But… Black Diamond was not our creation. It was actually yours, Yellow."

Yellow was taken aback by that. "What?"

"The idea, at least. Your experimentation of shattered gems to turn them into a fused total was an ingenious one, even if it was crude and wasteful. We refined its application with another idea, liquefying shards with my light, combining that with the essence of four whole diamonds, and implanting it within the Core until they emerged. I did this for a thousand years for dozens of specimens, yet none of them became a Diamond. None except a single one. The one that used pink shards."

Blue let out a faint gasp. "No…"

"For two thousand years, we took constant trips to carefully shine the growing Diamond with my radiant light, returning to the surface sporadically to recharge. The crystallization was fast at first, slow later, and diminished for centuries. Yesterday… We were impatient. We exceeded the threshold. But it worked." White's smile returned, a bright and joyful one. "Black emerged perfectly. We announced her existence, and now Era 3 will erase all the mistakes of the past. We are now the true Great Diamond Authority."

Oh no... I didn't like where this was going.

"Everything is perfect now. We are perfect.”

Chapter 4

After moving us with a bubble to another place that wasn't destroyed, one that had the exact same copy of thrones but in a circular orientation, White, Yellow, and Blue went to their enormous seats and continued with talks of galactic conquest. White spoke the most, using these Diamond shaped floating displays to show territories, fleets, and planets. Blue and Yellow occasionally said a word but were clearly subdued. I wouldn't have gone straight to a big discussion after such an emotionally exhausting conversation, but hey, it wasn't like I was the one calling the shots here.

This discussion was surely a treasure trove of classified information, but it mostly went over my head. All I got was that an infrastructure renewal was happening, and that a promising galaxy full of resources was being targeted. I had tried my best to pay attention, but with so many technical terms, strings of letters and obscure gem names being used, everything seemed like gibberish. For example, "Crystal calibrators", "ion formations" and "aqua terraforming". Two of these were real terms, while the others I had invented. No one could guess which is which unless they were here.

So, without being able to contribute anything or understand their meeting, I had the feeling they had forgotten about me, being silent and all, I mentally went over everything that I knew so far about my situation. In summary: about two thousand years ago Pink Diamond faked her shattering, which had caused a resource shortage, along with devastating all three of the remaining diamonds. White could lie all she wanted, I saw the genuine sadness in her eyes. To solve this problem I, Black Diamond, was made to fill the hole in the Great Diamond Authority. The biggest problem was that there were three thousand years until Steven would be born. I was stuck here for a long, long time.

I suppose I could try to run away, maybe go to earth and hide out with the crystal gems, but I doubted I could make it. The Diamonds would not be letting me go anytime soon. They need me to fill the hole Pink left. There was also the fact that I was apparently from the remains, as fake as they be, of Pink. Finally, there's also a chance if I did somehow make it to earth, that Rose may just decide to poof and then bubble me. It wasn't like she had any problem doing it to Bismuth. I might even accidentally lead the other diamonds to her. Right, no earth then.

Turning away from the events in the past, I instead focus on the gems in front of me. To untangle the complicated feelings that these Diamonds had for one another, I would use my knowledge on Systems theory. It was a psychological model that focused on the interconnective relationships, behaviors, and life choices between individuals within one's family, and boy, were the Diamonds a messy family of dictators that were not dealing with the loss of one of their members well at all.

White was the manipulative elder. She did what she thought was best for her family, regardless of morals, ethics, or the wellbeing of others. Yellow was the strict enforcer. She was results-oriented, following White's lead to gain approval from her. Blue would be the emotional reminiscer. Her grief disrupted her relationships, and she confusedly had an Irish accent which made absolutely no sense at all. As for Pink, she was the youngest child, who demanded attention from the older members.

And now there was me. The newest addition, the black sheep in the family. My relationship with them was untenable at best, and outright hostile to me at worst. I didn't even know what to classify myself in their little group. Was I a daughter? White nourished me with her light within the molten womb of her planet. A sister perhaps? We are meant to be in an equal position of power in the Authority. A niece? My body was created with the shards of Pink, so I was her descendant literally and figuratively.

I really didn't know what to feel about the fact that I was apparently immortal now, but one thing was for sure: I'm one of them, and they would not be letting me go willingly. Ever.

I knew that many people would kill to be in my position, I had basically been handed the role of a goddess, but the problem was that I didn't really want to be a ruler, at least not inside the Empire as it currently was. The Gem Empire was a dictatorship filled with cruelty where no one had any freedom and being anything less than absolute perfect was a disease. Even the diamonds themselves weren't in that good of a position. Sure they ruled over everyone else here, but they still weren't happy. Not really.

I stared at the back wall with a frown. I didn't want to just be White's puppet, or some kind of fruit to be squeezed out of my essence for all eternity. If I was going to stay here for the foreseeable future, I wanted to change things for the better. So, what should I do first?

I sighed. I didn't have any clue how to start.

"…should use Hessonite H3X-212's squad in an alpha-beta attack position to retake moons HC1 and 45S2-Beta, and let Pyrope 66-K23 maintain NS 444 in System 9O223 to…"

Listening to the three Diamonds speak, I let out a small sigh. I was so bored! I needed to get out of here. Well, I suppose now was as good a time as any. All three Diamonds were in a single place. If I could convince them that I could be trusted with the simplest of tasks, I could start investigating this gemological civilization and decide on a plan for action.

I mentally prepared what I was going to say until I had to stop because I was just going around in circles. Okay. You can do this. Just interrupt the powerful crystal ladies that were deciding the fate of a galaxy and tell them that you wanted something. I steeled myself.

"White. Yellow. Blue." I shouted during a lull in their conversation for universal domination.

White's head snapped at me. "Oh? We were wondering when you would finally decide to act up, Black. Getting bored already?" Her eyes started glowing. I needed to say this fast.

"I want to help you."

White stopped, her eyes dimming. "Go on." She said, lifting an intrigued eyebrow. Yellow only moved her eyes, disinterested. Blue had a frown on her face. They were all looking down at me, both literally and figuratively.

Here goes nothing.

"I can't manage resources and the military like you three, but I want to help you. I can't do that here. You need my essence, right? I… I promise I will do my best to produce as much of it as possible, as soon as I can. However, I need my court, my pearl, and my ship to do so. Can you give me permission to leave and go receive them please?” I say nervously.

White smirked, happy that I was going along with her agenda, but she didn't answer me immediately. "Yellow, what do you think of this? Should Black begin essence extraction?”

"Hmm…" Yellow intertwined her fingers and narrowed her eyes in thought. "If she wants to make herself useful, then I have no qualms with doing so. We can always punish her later if she fails to meet flawless expectations."

Yellow ever the practical one. I gulped.

"Very well." White said. "And you, Blue?"

Blue pursed her lips. "…I don't care.”

White clapped, making a sonic boom echo the room. "Excellent. Then it seems we are all in agreement. We shall have our Pearl make the necessary arrangements. Black, you will leave when they are ready. Now, back to that we were discussing. Refitting Outpost #5556223 with the latest warp technology needs to—”

"I— I wasn't done yet." I stuttered out.

White's smile had twitched. "My Little Star, It's very rude to interrupt someone when they are speaking. You don't want to stop being able to interrupt forever, do you?" Her eyes sparked.

I ignored her threat. "I had another request—"

"Denied." "No." White and Blue immediately cut me off. I pouted at the immediate refusal.

My heart fell. I needed them to listen to this, it was important to my future. One diamond was yet to answer however. I looked over at Yellow as she watched me with her scrutinizing eyes. I gave the Gem my biggest pair of puppy dog eyes, having no shame in using my (probably) cute looks to my advantage. Please! Please!

"…Speak. What do you want?" Yes! I let my lips turn into a smile. It looked like getting struck by her lightning made her impression of me a bit more favorable. Pain for the win!

White frowned at Yellow and then shot me a chilling glare that promised trouble if I crossed any lines. "I want to spend as much time with you three as possible." Yellow blinked. White leaned back, observing my face for now.

"Be with us?" Blue said heatedly. "We're already busy enough managing our colonies, and with the new expansion, our schedule will be filled for centuries. We can't be distracted by playing your silly games, P—Black."

I shake my head, thinking of what her slip of the tongue meant. Was I really that similar to Pink? Maybe this was a side effect of being made from her fake shards? Whatever it may be, it wasn't important right now. "No, I want to learn how you work, what you do, and why you do it. I may ask some questions, but I can be quiet if that's what you wish."

"You'll behave?" Blue scoffed. She really didn't like me. "I'll believe it when I see it."

"…Why do you want to learn anything at all?" Yellow interjected with narrowed eyes. "Your gem should already have all the necessary skills to perform as a Diamond to perfection."

I glanced at White. Right, she told them that I emerged perfectly fine. It presented a unique opportunity since it wasn't true at all. "White can explain why I need to learn much better than I could. She created me, after all." I said, before smiling innocently at the pathological liar with a bit of viciousness. Revenge is nice.

White's grin stilled. If she could sweat, a drop of it would fall from her forehead. Hah! Let's see how you gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss your way out of this one! "Well?" Yellow tapped her fingers on the armrest. "I'm waiting, White."

"Black Diamond needs to learn because…" Her right eye twitched. "Because she was created with pre-existing shards! Yes, during the matrix programming, we had to perform an extra step in deleting the previous recordings so they wouldn't conflict with Black's personality matrix. Unfortunately, this led to us not having enough time to inject the updated data libraries, only the most basic ones. We didn't know then that she would succeed, not until she began to show results. And because her cut was meant to resist any tampering, we can't update her now, not unless we destroy her in the process. She must fill her void of knowledge manually. It's also the true reason why she can't rule with us yet." White finished, relaxing back to her previous smile.

Oh no, you just dig your grave deeper White.

"Missing memories…?" Yellow muttered. A strange glint shone in her eyes. "Is that—"

"You deleted Pink's memories too?" Blue rasped, stopping whatever Yellow was about to say. Her hair floated in the air, tears falling from her eyes. I was crying, too. "Haven't you destroyed enough about her already, White?"

White didn't seem to be affected by her outburst. In fact, she didn't seem to be listening to her at all.

"Blue, stop this. White has already told us why." Yellow barked, swiping tears from her eyes as well. "What's the use in feeling, Blue, when Pink lied to us for so long?" Wow, way to invalidate Blue's emotions, Yellow. "We need to stop looking back and start looking forward."

Blue retreated her azure aura away and buried her head in her arms, sniffling. Yellow saw this, looking conflicted for a second before schooling her face into neutrality and looking back at me. "So, you know nothing, Black. Why don't you have your Pearl teach you everything instead of us?"

Ah, I prepared for this question.

"I believe the best way I can learn how to be a Diamond is through example. And what better examples are there than the most radiant and flawless gems of all? A… simple pearl can't understand how to be one. After all, she isn't a Diamond.” The words left a bad taste in my mouth. White still hadn't shifted her perfectly practiced smile. Yellow was deep in thought. Blue was still saddened. They all eased a bit when I flattered them, but I needed one more push to convince them. An emotional appeal.

"It's not my only reason why. I… also want to get to know you better." Because you are the ones in power. "I don't want to stay alone on Homeworld." I would be stuck here with just nothing to do. "And you are my family, now." Technically. "Family should stick together no matter what." I felt sick when I said this. It was so manipulative and deceptive. Exactly like White. Still, when in Rome. I didn't start this.

White and Yellow considered my words. Blue was not having any of it, however.

"What's a fah-millie?" Blue said accusingly, flipping from sad to angry at the flick of a switch. "Is it another one of those made-up words of yours P-” Once again Blue mistakes me for Pink, and her aura had flared, before returning to a natural state. “...Black.”

"You don't know what a family is?" I ask with a tilted head, genuinely being confused.

"No." Blue bluntly stated.

Oh no… this was worse than I thought. Gems didn't even have the most simplest of social structures. What other things didn't they have, friends? Relationships? Fun? Homeworld was bad. Real, real bad. This was… How sad.

I needed to teach them using their own words, so they understood what a family was.

"…A family is a group of gems who've formed a strong bond. They talk and spend time with one another. The group loves and cares for one another, and would do anything for them, especially when they are in danger. A family only works when everyone does their part, giving and receiving affection whenever they can. When a member of this group has been separated from the family or is gone from this world, the other family members start to miss them, feeling very sad or lonely. It is very hard for them to deal with this loss. Anyone can choose their family, but the family must also choose them as well."

"That's what we are. A family."

Yellow and Blue were entranced with my words. They snapped out of it when White clicked her fingers. "Well, Black, that was a nice story and all, but We are afraid that We can't have you following us around. Our tasks require our full attention. You can leave—"

"Wait." Yellow held up a hand. White looked affronted. "You can accompany me during my colonization efforts, Black. I will inform your Pearl when I am available." Yellow then shot Blue a meaningful look.

"…Fine." Blue huffed. "You can join me in my extraction chambers when I am not also in a meeting. But the second you go out of line, you will be leaving. Understand, Black?" She glared.

I nodded quickly, feeling hope bubble in my chest. Blue squinted at me for any falsehood before nodding as well, satisfied.

Yellow and Blue then looked at White, who had a strained smile. Oh-ho ho. Look how the turns have tabled. Peer pressure doesn't feel good when it's directed at you, does it?

"We," White cleared her throat, "Will allow Black's presence during our court trials. That is all."

I smiled in glee. It was definitely not smug.

"Now, as we were trying to say before we got interrupted, again… Black, you can leave us now. Our Pearl is waiting for you outside with your Pearl. We picked one of the best from Era 1 stock. Unfortunately, the Pearl had an unpopular color that caused it to get returned many times, but will match your shade quite nicely. It shall help you contact other gems, manage your schedule, introduce your court, navigate your ship, and provide you with any entertainment you so desire."

"We trust that you will do what you promised, Black. If not, you will not like the punishment. Do you understand?" White said with a stern voice. I gulped and nodded. She smiled again. "Run along now, Little Star." A clear dismissal.

"Goodbye, White, Yellow, Blue. I hope to see you again soon!” I waved goodbye, before running to exit with a skip. The meeting had resumed, technobabble spewing from White's mouth. I then stopped when I realized that I didn't know the way out. While I was swiveling my head all around in panic, I heard a snort. I quickly turned over toward the origin. Blue.

Her face revealed nothing. She pointed at a diamond indent in a completely different section of the room before going back to her meeting. I held back a blush and walked with a faster pace, my sandals leaving indentations on the stone floor. That was embarrassing…

The court, pearl, and ship were nice, but the real objective was convincing the Diamonds to see me regularly. Words cannot understate how important this was. I needed to win them over first, and the only way I could do that was to interact with them physically. Plus, I really didn't want to get stuck in a room learning the ways of Homeworld for the next few centuries.

White… Being with her will probably be a one-sided and very stressful affair. But it will be important in making her relax around me. Yellow will tolerate me as long as I show results, but if I fail in anything, she will lose faith in me. Blue will be the hardest to win over, as my existence carried too much emotional baggage. But that last interaction we had gave me hope.

Really, all I could do now was hope that I could wear them down. But I was sure that even the most immovable of Diamonds stands no chance against the unrelenting force that is the power of love. I'm gonna Talk No Jutsu my way right into a happy ending! Believe it!

The diamond-shaped door opened and closed by itself as I passed through.

What awaited me was an anorexic black and white ballerina with a pointy nose, Leia-styled hair, and a cracked left eye. She magically held up a bubble that contained the biggest black Pearl I have ever seen. Oh… this was Pink Diamonds original pearl. Volleyball.

"Black Diamond." Her voice was the exact same as White's, only robotic. "Here is your Pearl. White Diamond spends her regards.”

She hands me the bubble, which immediately popped when it touched my hands. I panicked and scrambled to grab the Gem, and barely managed to catch it. I let out a long, relieved sigh. That could have been bad. “Hello there. It's nice to meet you.” I smiled widely down at the gem, before looking back up over to White Diamonds pearl only to find her missing. Oh…

I looked at the Pearl. It was oval with a golden ring around it and a smooth, glossy surface that seemed equal to the ebony color of my own gem. I practically bounced in excitement. Time to make a new friend! Several very long minutes passed, and right when I was thinking of biting the gem to see if that would make the wait shorter, the Pearl began to float, forming a glowing grey clam around the black jewel.

"Please identify yourself." The clam said with a pleasant tinkling chime.

"Uhm… it's Black Diamond." I said shyly. Wait, I should've just said Black—

"Greetings, Uhm, it's Black Diamond. Please state preferred customization options."

I blanked out. Quick, say something White would say! "Uh… Something that matches me perfectly?"

"Diamond setting selected. Please stand by."

The clam did some sort of scan on me before it floated a few meters away. It delicately landed on the floor and opened. A glowing figure emerged with a twirl and stepped out just as the clam vanished, the light fading away to reveal a different type of ballerina. This time, she had a black leotard and see-through tutu, light grey skin, and a cute bowl cut of black hair with a beak-like nose. The Pearl was now on the middle of her back.

"How do you do? My Uhm, it's Black Diamond," she sang, performing a low bow. "Thank you for bringing me into, the world." She held my hand and kneeled. "I am at your eternal service," she looked up at me, two big doe eyes and a smile full of innocence. Both of my own eyes had widened at her words.

"Welcome, to your new Pearl!"

Uhm… task failed successfully?

Chapter 5

Pearl's joyful tone instantly turned to worry at my surprised expression.

"Are you not feeling simply radiant, my Uhm, It's Black Diamond?" Pearl's voice was high and melodic, full of expression. An opera singer from Earth couldn't hold a candle to her range. "Did… Did I do something wrong? I-I can fix it! Please tell me what I did wrong!"

"No, no, no! I'm fine Pearl! You didn't do anything wrong." Damage control. Dammit, I shouldn't have reacted like that. "I… I was just a little surprised to see you. You, you're quite cute." Distract with a compliment, although it's not like it wasn't true. She really is quite cute.

Pearl immediately blushed, coal dusting her light gray cheeks. "Th-thank you, my Uhm, It's Black Diamond. I've never been called that…" She fidgeted, clutching her see-through skirt. I briefly wondered the purpose of having a skirt if it was see-through. Was it meant to just look pretty? That seemed like the theme here.

"Oh! I can further customize my form to look cuter!" Pearl had exclaimed before tapping on her gemstone. A big light show emerged from the gem, making many smaller Pearls appear with different costumes. Woah, that was pretty cool. "Would you like me to have a cropped bond? A cubic chattel? A spherical serf? My form is entirely yours to shape! My Uhm, It's Black Diamond!” She smiled widely at me.

That was not amazing. Not amazing at all.

"Um, there's no need." I was getting worried about how servile her behavior is, but I need to correct my mistake first. "Pearl, could you please just refer to me as Black Diamond?”

"Of course, my Black Diamond!" She did the diamond salute. "Your insight is as brilliant as the reflection of your facets!"

She's just full of energy, isn't she? Or anxiety.

I let a small smile form on my lips and speak in a calm, even tone. "Pearl, there's no need to be so high-strung around me. I won't mind if you think you make a mistake, and even if I am a Diamond you are going to help me learn my responsibilities. You don't have to follow everything I say. You're your own gem, after all." Hopefully this makes her relax a bit. She is going to be around me for a long time. It'd rather be friends than some authority figure.

Pearl didn't seem to be that relieved, though.

"Not follow everything you say? But that's my whole purpose, my Diamond!" Pearl said with concern. "I must do anything you need, want, or ask. I can never fail in this duty. If I did, I would need to get refurbished, or replaced!" Oh no... "And I am not my own Pearl. I am your Pearl, my Diamond. I was designed to always be yours, to always fulfill your every desire, for as long as you want to have me." Pearl finished with an unsure smile. In her gaze I saw a desperate need to please me.

Oh God. She truly thinks that this is normal. A naturalized slave, created to be an obedient servant. And now I… I was her owner now.

The floor broke under me.

I agreed to this, to having a Pearl. A slave in all but name. I even proposed it as part of my sick plan! How… How could I let this happen? The Gem Empire wasn't just totalitarian. It was also a hierarchical, slave society, and I was at the top. Their ruler. Their queen. Their Diamond. Forever. I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't want to be here. This was supposed to be a kids show about friendship and love for God's sake! I didn't know I would contribute to such an evil, disgusting—

A yelp of fear snapped me back into reality.

Pearl. She was trembling on the ground, far away. Her eyes shook as she watched me. Why? Why was she- I had looked around.

Devastation. Everything under me had been cracked and crumbled as if a heavy wrecking ball fell from a great height and crashed into the floor. But there was no ball. There was only me. I did this, and Pearl saw the whole thing, right as she had declared her undying loyalty and said she would be mine forever.

"I didn't mean—I'm so sorry—Pearl, I—" I held my mouth with horror and stuttered, hastening to leave the cracked crystal floor I created.

Pearl shakily stood up in panic when I neared her. "I-I-I apologize that I u-upset you with my words, m-my Diamond. I… I overstepped my b-bounds." Her voice was discordant, eyes glazed with tears. "Please, p-p-punish me as y-you see f-f-fit." A small, ornate knife quickly emerged from her gem, and she gave it to me before clamping her mouth down and showing me her hunched and trembling backside.

What.

I stared at the knife. It had a dark pearlescent handle embossed with flourishing swirls, silver highlights and an elegant double-edged blade.

It was a ceremonial weapon meant for torture.

A storm of negative emotions brewed inside my mind. The implications— The floor had cracked more. No. Get it together. Now wasn't the time for anger. Calm yourself down Black.

The knife clattered to the floor. Pearl froze.

"Pearl."

I couch down to my knees and ever so gently grab her stiff shoulders and slowly turn her to face me. We were about the same height now but she felt so… light. She looked everywhere but me. "Pearl. Please. Please look at me."

She struggled before doing so. Her eyes, two gleaming moons, were so full of sadness and fear. "I will never, ever, punish you." I started with as much sincerity as I could. "I don't want to hurt you, or mutilate you, or even hurt you emotionally. Do you understand? I promise I won't let any other gem hurt you either, even if it's another Diamond. You don't deserve such horrible treatment. Can you promise me that you won't let other gems punish you as well, even if you think you made a mistake?"

Pearl nodded in tears, still holding her mouth closed. I slowly lowered her hands and held them between mine.”Pearl, you didn't upset me. I upset myself. While I was talking to you, I realized I made a mistake that was my fault and reacted poorly, and because I don't know my powers well, they went out of my control. I didn't want to scare you, but I did anyway. I'm so sorry for that." I bowed back, hoping that it would mend the damage I did. "And as for the thing you said at the end… I would just love to have you here, as long as you want to stay.”

Pearl… She looked utterly detached from the world. She was like a scared seal that couldn't decide whether to freeze or flee from a person trying to help them. I sighed slightly. She had too much ingrained mental conditioning to fully appreciate what I was saying. And I can't just say 'you're free now'. That would make her think I was abandoning her. Baby steps…

Let's do what's familiar and safe for her first, and hopefully she'll eventually come out of her shell. Hehe shell. Do you get it? Nice one, me.

I clapped my hands together and Pearl and I both jolted from the sudden shockwave. Well, that was new. "So, Pearl. Why don't we start again with a small icebreaker? Just say your name, what you do, your age, and something you like. I'll go first. I'm Black Diamond. I am the fourth heir to the Great Diamond Authority and I emerged a day ago. I like to sing, dance, garden and play games. Now it's your turn."

Pearl scrunched her brows in confusion with each sentence I spoke, until she realized what I said last. "Oh, uh r-right!" she squeaked. "I am Pearl model Nacht One-three, but you can call me anything you want! I am your Pearl, a gem that helps their holder with any tasks they require. I am…" She grabbed some sort of geometric transparent tablet from her Pearl and touched some shapes on it. "10,543 years old according to our current Era 3 calendar! As for what I like… I… I like… I like you, my Diamond! You're so benevolent and generous and radiant and… pretty…" She trailed off, a blush overtaking her features.

In reply I felt my own face heat up. “O-oh! I-I… Thank you…” Despite my embarrassment, I managed to hold back a big sigh. She seems to have no identity at all, except a fawning for her… master. Still, ten thousand years? That was practically longer than humanity's written history. I don't know how to process that fact, so I moved on from the topic. "You said you can help me with my tasks. Would you like me to explain them to you?"

"Oh! No need, my Diamond!" She showed the tablet and made it float from her hands. "I came with an updated data pad, courtesy of the Perfect White Diamond! It should contain all the relevant information I need to fulfill my purpose as your Pearl. Please wait as I peruse its contents." She touched it and her eyes began glowing. I grew worried when Pearl began muttering and gasping in shock. Just when I was about to ask if she was okay, the glow faded from her eyes, and she shot me a beaming smile.

"There! I just went through all your Diamond duties in order of importance and arranged your schedule for the next three centuries!" I hummed, genuinely impressed that she could do it so fast. I was also a bit terrified that such timescales could be possible. Pearl then let out a horrified shriek. "Oh no! I forgot to ask if you wanted a schedule! Oh stars, how could I have made such a pebble error? I need to get punished, I need to—"

"Pearl. You haven't made a mistake. I needed a schedule anyway, so thank you." I hold up a hand to stop her downward spiral. Just why in the world was she acting this way? Was every Pearl like this? "And even if you did make a mistake, remember what we promised?"

Pearl was deeply conflicted but nodded anyway. "Yes, I remember, my Diamond. I won't get punished by other gems."

"Great." I smiled. "Now, what's the first thing that needs to be done on your schedule?

Pearl swiped her data pad up to the top of her list. "We need to tour important locations on Homeworld, visit your wing ship, and finally go to your Extraction chambers to start producing Essence, my Diamond."

This time, I didn't hold back my sigh, but I did promise the Diamonds that I would do it, so I had no choice. "Okay. Let's go start that tour, before someone notices what I just did to this poor hallway."

Pearl looked at the devastation I wrought and made a strangled smile. "Y-yes, let's. Follow me, my Diamond!"

As we left the destruction to see even more beautiful and lifeless sights, it occurred to me that I didn't see Pearl's knife again after I had dropped it. It must've fallen through the cracks somewhere. Good riddance.

Pearl didn't mention it again either, so it must have not have been important.

Notes:

We really earning that Homeword is horrible tag with this one. As fun as Steven Universe can be, the lives of gems can be horrible. But don't worry! It only gets worse from here!

Chapter 6

“Here we go! We have arrived at our first destination!"

We walked for about ten minutes, passing through passageways carved with intricate lattices of squares, triangles, circles, and most of all, rhombuses. We also passed through some gems. There were blue ones, green ones, purple ones, short and tall ones, thin and hulking ones—all with weird hair, boring clothes, diamond insignias, and their own gems placed somewhere on their body. I would have loved to talk to them, but all they did was salute and say, "my Diamond!" So they weren't the best of conversation partners.

Pearl and I were standing on some sort of clear blue, flat, circular crystal, its sides cut with sharp edges. The central room we were in was as detailed as the rest of the hallways, with a clear view of the sky. It was already night, a kaleidoscope of stars unfamiliar to my memories. Various spaceships swarmed and glittered like fireflies, far, far away. In a blink, they were gone. I suppose this was one of the many warp pads located on Homeworld. Still, best to keep acting completely ignorant. The last thing I needed was to contradict my story by showing knowledge that I shouldn't have.

“Pearl…” I speak up. “While this place is very pretty to look at, I don't get why we're here.”

The gem turned toward me with a confused frown. "Don't you recognize where we are, my Diamond?"

"No, I don't Pearl. I only know some of the bare basics about the Diamonds, and that's it. White Diamond says it's because I don't have any 'implanted data libraries', whatever that is. I don't know anything about the gem empire… Gempire?" I pondered for a moment before then shaking my head. "About Homeworld, its history, or what technological advances it has. I don't even know what gems actually are.”

"Y-you don't know… anything?" Pearl held her head in anguish. "Oh no, no, no! How could I have presumed that your knowledge on basic subjects would be impeccable?"

I spoke patiently. "Pearl, it's fine. Really. Look, I have you to help me now, right? How about you simply teach me all of these things as we happen upon them?” I offered up with a smile.

"Teach you?" Pearl said, surprised. "O-okay, then! It would be my esteemed honor, my Diamond!" She then quickly started to read her data pad, cleared her throat, and began a lecture. "Right now, we are on a warp pad, one of the three main technologies that has allowed us to conquer the galaxy. A warp pad is capable of teleporting anything on it to other warp pads through warp space. It is activated by a gem when they focus their thoughts on another warp pad they know about. It can also be activated through other methods. It is said that our glorious Perfect White Diamond was personally responsible for creating the first pair of pads! This Warp pad is only connected to the Homeworld network, but if you want to visit other colonies on distant star systems, we can go to a galaxy warp and do it there!"

"Impressive." I said, genuinely feeling that way. A teleporter that can travel through entire galaxies was certainly something noteworthy.

"Without further ado, I'll activate the warp pad to begin our tour!" Pearl exclaimed with literal stars in her eyes, before shyly looking back at me. "Only If-if you want me to, my Diamond?"

I nodded with a smile, a bit exasperated at her antics. I really wished she'd chill out a tiny bit.

Pearl went back to being excited, closed her eyes, and held her arms to her side. Soon a whirring noise had started emanating from the warp pad. Light emerged and it enveloped us, before something pushed me up into the air. I let out a cry, my arms flying about. When the expected fall onto the ground didn't happen, I opened my eyes to see Pearl and I floating. I looked to the side and saw a rounded wall of pure energy surrounding us. Slowly bringing my hand to the wall, I try to touch it, only for my hand to pass clean through. Suddenly a feeling of coldness passed over my limb. The feeling wasn't unpleasant, more like a gentle breeze. Deciding to take the risk, I stick my head out of the wrap and stare in awe. It was a space of endless void with crystal clouds and constant streams of light that all led to a single point. I pulled my head back inside.

And then suddenly we were somewhere else. Somewhere that I had been before. I stared at the four faraway floating thrones, already fixed from Blue's destructive shout from earlier.

"This is the central throne room, my Diamond! Special events happen here with the higher status gem. Such as balls, dances, court meetings, public shatterings, and Diamond proclamations! Though, it hasn't been used much for some centuries, I gather." Pearl took a quick look at her data pad. "The last official event was a grand ball made over 2000 years ago held by Pink Diam… Um, someone not important anymore!" She chuckled nervously.

"Thank you for the explanation, Pearl." I had smiled softly, reassuring her. "And I won't be offended if you talk about Pink Diamond with me, okay? Just don't do so around the other Diamonds." Pearl nodded, relieved.

A medieval European society, then? It was another thing that was eerily like humanity, but stranger. The Gempire's technology had advanced so far, but their cultural progress remained static. Perhaps the Diamonds holding so much literal power over smaller gems didn't allow them to even think about overthrowing them, leading to no renaissance, no revolutions, or any societal evolution? There was one thing I was suspicious about, though. "What's a public shattering, Pearl?"

"Ah yes. That." Pearl's tone was flat now. "It is when a Diamond shatters a high-ranking gem that turns traitor or is found flawed. The gem in question is held by the Diamond until they can no longer remain whole, and their dust gets blown onto the audience."

Ah. Public executions then. How… fun.

Just as I thought. A show of force to scare the other gems into compliance. Still, wasn't that a bit wasteful? Were we not going through a resource crisis? Hmm, I suppose if it works it works. I raise an eyebrow at how Pearl spoke so uncharacteristically bland and how both of her hands reflexively went behind her back.

"I won't be doing that to anyone anytime soon, so don't worry about seeing one in the future.” Pearl untenses, and a bit of her cheer returns. "Let's head to the next place, pretty please."

Pearl nodded and then we were back in that wonderous warp light again. I slipped my fingers through the waters of teleportation. It felt cold and boundless. Soon we emerged in a dark room. I squinted my eyes. I could see the room perfectly, a semi-sphere of sorts with a glass floor, but there was no light that could have made it possible for me to see it in the first place. Another power of gems, I suppose.

"We are in the trial chamber, my Diamond." Pearl said, touching some symbols on the data pad before the triangle sections on the ground lit up down below us. "Court cases are regularly presented here, all under the strict purview of a distinguished Hematite judge. The defendant's and the prosecutors' Zircons present their evidence in the trial, with Ny of the witnesses asked to come and state their accounts. The defendant will then be deemed innocent or guilty, with a… fitting punishment imparted on them if it's the latter. In important or controversial cases however, a Diamond's judgement is required for the final decision.”

"You've got actual laws in this place?" I asked, honestly surprised that such a judicial branch of government existed here. Even if it may not have a jury or if it was heavily biased towards the Diamonds. Honestly, I half expected them to shatter first and then ask questions later.

"Laws?" Pearl tilted her head cutely. "What are those, my Diamond?"

I clicked my tongue, my hope that these jewel people had any mind of decency withering by the second. "Never mind." I looked at the trial chamber. There wasn't much of anything except some flashy lights. "When there is a case, is everyone supposed to stand, or…?"

"Ah, no, my Diamond! You have a prestigious seat perfect for presiding over the populace! Let's see, where is it…" Pearl fiddled with her data pad more, her finger taps getting heated.

A giant crystal chair shimmered into view. A pink one. Pearl's hair spiked in anxiety.

"Pearl, wait." I stopped the gem from berating herself when I saw her mouth suddenly open. I looked at the chair. This might be a surprise tool that helps me later. “Can I keep this?”

"But, oh-um-yes, of course, m-my Diamond!" Pearl then made a brave face, launched herself at the chair, made the whole thing glow with her hands, and sucked it in her gem. She landed on her ballet shoes without making a sound, showing off an elegant twirl.

I feel my eyes widen, both impressed and also intimidated. "You can store large things, too?”
Pearl nodded quickly. "Any decent Pearl can do that for their owner, my Diamond."

A strained smile passed over my face at the reminder of our relationship. "But not any Pearl is like you. Thank you for storing that chair, Pearl. I'm going to need it in the future." Pearl ducked her head, not able to respond to my gratitude. Baby steps Black, baby steps.

We then went back to the middle of the trial chamber, which was apparently a warp pad in disguise. I remembered that I wanted to ask something. "Before we go. Pearl, how many court cases end in the death sentence- sorry, shattering?" I held my nonexistent breath.

Pearl took a glance at her tablet and quickly answered. "76% of all cases, my Diamond."

I said nothing as Pearl activated the warp pad. So many gems killed, likely for no justification at all. I clenched my fists. Yet another brutal reminder that the Diamonds held no sympathy for those that don't align with their views. Was this pointless? Would I ever be able to change the empire, or would I become another victim?

The view changed, and now we were outside a maelstrom of activity.

Different cuts of gems that were every shape, color and size were inside bubbles, traveling through the air, thousands of them entering and leaving a massive hole-filled building that was reminiscent of a beehive. Metal eyes with fins held the bubbles with beams of red light, and the ones that left the building deposited the gems in small capsules on glowing trams before they zipped off through a network of glowing tubes that disappeared over the horizon. Buff, armored gems stood guard at the main entrance of the huge building, white halberds denying access to the door.

Pearl explained where we were, detachment leaking into her voice. "This is the Re-setter, my Diamond. This is where common gems who have failed at their tasks get re-set. After getting their light-form disrupted and their gem bubbled, they are sent here to be thoroughly analyzed. If nothing is wrong with them, they are returned to their previous assignment without issue. If they are found wanting or with other such… defects, then they are sent off to a Harvesting Center, where their shards can be used to make new, more efficient gems. As a Diamond, you can make a request for any kind of gems that you need right here."

I looked at the gems in bubbles passing by in droves. Every one of them had a story, and a person inside of it. There's also… something else. I could hear something. What was that? I peered deeper into the building. An extremely high-pitched sound… A whine? No. No, it was different. More eerie, more painful. A scream? Yes. That was it. It was a scream. No. It was a symphony of screams. They screamed in…

Agony, fear and pure unrestrained terror.

I flinched, the fleeting sensation prickling my perception. I tried to distract myself with Pearl. She was smiling. It was a customer service smile, stiff and fake. "—to go to the Re-setter and obtain your diverse array of attendants, guards, and workers for the maintenance of your ship and the security of your palace. We need Amethysts, Topazes, Rubies, Quartzes, Lolites, Peridots—" Her right hand trembled a bit as she listed each type of gem.

The screams didn't go away. They won't go away. I could hear them right inside my head. Every scream, every desperate cry, every little plea for mercy. And worst of all, it wasn't like I was simply hearing them. I was also feeling them. The pain became my own. The fear, the terror. I felt it as my very own. Absentmindedly I noticed that as my emotions got worse, the other gems' emotions had gotten better. It was like I was taking them for all myself. It hurt.

"Pearl, let's get out of here." I quickly cut her off, now barely being able to stand as a dark feeling had started to fill my stomach.

"Huh?" Pearl was perplexed. "But why, my Diamond?" She tilted her head slightly.

“I… I…” Suddenly my knees gave out and I fell to the floor. “Just… anywhere else…”

“Of course, my diamond!” A look of panic had overtaken Pearl's face as she quickly held her hands out. A warp trip later, we were in a giant hexagonal crystal-black room that had a large ceiling high window that gave an incredible view of Homeworld and various pieces of pure black furniture that's made to fit my large size. “Are you alright?!” The gem quickly went over to my side and offered a hand. Taking Pearl's hand, I stumbled back to my feet, now feeling better that I was out of that place. “Please! Tell me what is wrong! Did I do something to make you unhappy?!” Small tears fell from her eyes.

“No… you didn't do anything wrong.” I slump down onto a nearby bench and let out a sigh of relief as I slowly returned to normal. I was not ashamed to say that the Re-setter should be burned to the ground. That place was Hell. The fear and pain that emanated from there is overwhelming. I didn't want to imagine what the Harvesting Center was like. My trip there was good for one thing however. It helped me discover what seemed to be one of my unique diamond powers, empathy. That explains why I could tell White Diamond was genuinely sad about Pink's shattering, and why I seem to be most affected by Blue Diamond's aura.

I could sense the emotions of others and take them in myself. It was a useful power, but one I couldn't control. A true double edged sword. Knowing what other gems, especially Yellow, Blue or White Diamond were feeling would let me navigate conversations with them all much easier. The problem was I had no control over it right now. Looking over at Pearl I could feel the worry, concern, fear and shame that were radiating off her. Thankfully I didn't seem to be absorbing any of her emotions now. Coming into contact with so many negative feelings most likely activated my power instinctively. I try to shut out Pearl's feelings, but fail. I need to figure out how these powers work, but that would be for later. I need to reassure Pearl.

"Pearl, you didn't do anything wrong. Really. It seems that I've accidentally discovered one of my Diamond powers and had a bad reaction to the Re-setter.” I let out a small tired sigh. “I have other reasons for wanting to leave that place as well. I'll explain them to you. Firstly, I can't use my wing ship right now. White told me that I'm grounded on Homeworld, so what would these gems do when I get them? Stand around and look pretty?" I asked rhetorically.

Pearl tilts her head confused. “But any gem would be honored to stand in your presence, My Diamond! You only need to ask.” Right… I suppose I should have expected that of her.

“Secondly,” I quickly cut off that argument. “I need to learn how to control this new empathy power before I can set foot in the building. I'd rather not be overwhelmed by the negative emotions coming out of the Re-setter. Finally,” I stood up and gently grabbed onto Pearl's still trembling hand. "Pearl… were you sent to the Re-setter before I met you? White told me that you were returned many times."

Pearl had clearly been uncomfortable with something about the Re-setter, but she only voiced it through her body language. If I was right, then Pearl had most likely been sent there plenty of times. It must've been because of that shallow comment about Pearl being an "unpopular color", which was completely untrue. She looked just great in black. Wait… White Diamond did say she would match my shade quite nicely. Was she… insulting me! That little manipulative, maniacal, egotistical-!

"I was reassigned?" Pearl looked shocked at the new information. I winced slightly. Maybe I shouldn't have told her that, but she deserves to know the truth. Pearl looked down towards her hand and then held it back to her chest in a way that made her seem smaller. "I… I don't know, I-I… I apologize, my Black Diamond. I can't remember. However, I don't believe I would have gone to the Re-setter, regardless. All damaged Pearls are required to be sent to a specialized gem center called the Reef. The Reef can refurbish, repair, and store any kind of Pearls. But If I had been reassigned to you, then…" Her delicate eyebrows were pulled together in clear anguish. "…I would've been rejuvenated there, to remove any memories of my previous owners."

My lips thinned in barely disguised disgust at the thought of rejuvenation. To just rip away a person like that… in my opinion it was worse than just killing someone. At least when you're dead you're not made to become a shell of yourself, never able to become whole again, never able to remember the person you used to be. Then again that may be a mercy when compared to being shattered. Gems never died. You could reduce them to dust and they would still be semiconscious, suffering all the way. It was a horrifying thought. Too know that you would be split into separate parts and still conscious after. There seemed to be only two ways to escape this fate. One, have all four Diamonds heal your shattered remains back together, something that I knew wouldn't be discovered for at least a few more thousand years, or to be harvested to make an entirely new gem. Both options were very bad. If only there was a way to just… stop. Cease. Die.

I quickly snap out of my depressing train of thought and clap my hands together. "Well! That settles it. We can't ever go there again if it will cause you distress."

"Buh… What? You can't not do your important responsibilities because of the possibility that it might inconvenience me!" She had shouted, then bowed in shame. "…my Diamond.”

I raised an eyebrow at her shout but didn't comment on it. "Yes, I can. And I will." Pearl was still troubled. "Look, your feelings matter just as much as mine. The Re-setter, while it may not be the same as the Reef, reminds you that something has hurt you before, and I don't want you to experience that hurt again. Also, I don't exactly want to go back there any time soon.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Even if your conscious mind doesn't remember it anymore, your unconscious certainly does."

"Unconscious?" She asked, confused. Figures that gems don't have any knowledge on basic psychology. I suppose that the gemstones are their brains, and I doubt the diamonds care.

"Yes, the unconscious.” I nod my head. “That is the part of ourselves that can't be accessed with our psyche. It affects our behavior, our emotions, our biases, even our capacity to learn. It helps us with all the things we can't do by thinking, warns us of danger, and stores all the memories that we have lived through, even the ones we have forgotten."

"Are you referring to my programming, my Diamond?" I blinked. Right. Gems think it's all code and computer nonsense, which can't be true if they act like people.

"It might be." I said, keeping an open mind until new evidence states the contrary.

"But… If I was rejuvenated, then my past memories should have gotten destroyed in the process. However, if what you say is true, and my unconscious still remembers.” Something flashed within her eyes. "Is something still wrong with me?" She whispered, clutching her shaky hands into fists. "Where do I go to fix my unconscious? The Reef? The Re-setter? I don't want to feel like this." She pleaded, eyes wide with worry and emotions going haywire.

I sighed sadly. "This isn't something you can fix. This is something you talk to someone about, learn to cope with, and possibly heal from—and that is with enough time and effort. It won't be easy or even show results at first, but it will help you with what you're feeling. "

Pearl was down-crested, clearly not liking the fact that there isn't a quick solution to her deep-set problems. But I realized something. Pearl didn't have anyone to talk to, and there were no therapists around here to offer their services. Only me. How did I get roped into playing therapist for her? For the Diamonds?

The next 3000 years were going to be long.

"Pearl. If you ever want to start this healing process, I'm here. Okay? You don't have to do it now, just talk to me whenever you feel like it and I'll gladly listen to you." I offered her my hand. "As a friend. Whenever you need one.”

"A… Friend? Not an owner?" She glanced at my open palm with slight longing in her eyes.

"Yes, Pearl. You can call me a friend."

Pearl hesitated before tentatively grasping mine with her own. "O-okay, I'll take your offer, my Black Diamond. No, my… my Friend."

I smiled widely at her words. Baby steps.

"Now, what's next on the tour list, Pearl?"

"I'm glad you asked, my friend!"

 

--<◊◊⟨⟩◊◊>--

 

After telling me that we were apparently in my palace, a black cube that had an opening on one of its edges, which White also gave to me but didn't mention, we continued our tour. We passed by a huge communication hub, where millions upon millions of messages were all received and also relayed to other colonies by Vanadates. Brown, thin gems with brown-red cubic gems whose special power seemed to be interfacing with gem technology. A visit to the guard barracks showed me the sight of a disorganized mess of purple, red, and yellow warrior gems, Amethysts, Rubies, along with Topazes respectively, rushing to get into their perfect formation within seconds. The roar of their salute pushed Pearl back four feet, while barely an inch on my part.

The Metamorphic center was a geode-like place where new gem variants were tested and created. It was avoided due to it also emanating bad feelings. The shipyard was hidden in an enormous ravine, where green Peridots with their funky hairdos and their spherical robots, they called them Robonoids apparently, cut and fitted special crystals to build spaceships galore. Most of them were either blocky or spherical in shape, with a few hands and even feet nestled between them all. Why were limbs the theme among them?

Homeworld had many geometric buildings on its surface, all specializing in one single task. A lot were administrative skyscrapers that took charge of specific colonies, others were corporate complexes that housed living gems, a few were technological research centers, and very few were purely decorative with no other reason to exist but to just look pretty.

Some other locations included Homewords Galaxy Warp, An Archive Facility where gems can access information depending on their level of clearance, Blue Diamond's Art Gallery, Yellow Diamond's Armada Base, some empty Extraction Chambers color coded to the other Diamonds, a Spa thats meant for high-ranking gems, and finally Homeworld's Moon Base. I found to my immense displeasure that I could not jump like an astronaut in low gravity. My stupid gravity-adjusting body was to blame.

The second-to-last-stop was my wing ship. It was the only Diamond ship besides White's to still be on Homeworld, the others having left.

We arrived on its landing pad, which was behind my palace. Up close, I could see it was standing on the tips of its feathers, which were not feathers but actually numerous blades of sharpened obsidian glass. The short bridge between the two wings was the pilot's room. Pearl told me she couldn't open the ship due to White's restrictions, but she could tell me about some information on it. Apparently, the ship was made 1,500 years ago, didn't need any crew except for maintenance, and could join with the back of White's spaceship. It was also supposed to be controlled with my wings.

I didn't have any, which confused me greatly.

"And finally, this is your personal Extraction Chamber, my Diamond."

A massive black marble door, detailed with the abstract silver form of my Diamond body facing straight forwards and looking up while holding what looked to be a single planet in my hands above my head, stood before us.
A pair of Topaz guards waited at the sides with their ceremonial maces, their faces hard as stone. Interesting enough now that I think about it I haven't seen a single black gem the entire time I've been on Homeworld.

I've seen a bunch of yellow gems, blue gems, pink gems, a few white gems, and all of the colors that they make when combined, but no black yet. Now that I think about it, my own Pearl isn't even a black gem. Her skin while still being gray was a lighter shade compared to my own darker one. I wonder… does that make her an off color? Is that why her color is unpopular? Her skin is literally an off color of white? It makes sense. Wait… so that would mean that White Diamond purposely gave me a Pearl that was off colour. Damn it. She was trying to insult me now wasn't she? Giving me a Pearl that wasn't ‘perfect’. Not that I care at all, but still. Where do the games end?

That still doesn't answer my question on why there aren't any black gems. Maybe… it was based on which Diamond essence they used? Yes, that must be it. If this was true then I had a theory on how gem creation worked. The gem type depends on what they were made from, while what Diamond created them is a factor in what color they are, but that depends on the type of gem. For example, a ruby will always be red and a Lapis will always be blue, but for other gems like Pearl's, they can come in a multitude of colors. This also means that If both Pink Diamond’s and Blue Diamond's essence were used to make a gem with the base material being Quartz, the result would be an Amethyst. I'm sure its more complicated than that, but it seems to be somewhat true.

The only exception to this rule seemed to be white gems. Any kind of gem could be white. But… I'm starting to wonder if they're naturally like that. White Diamond's unique power is mind control. Are… are those gems under her control? They did seem pretty emotionless, at least compared to the other gems I passed. I'm sure there are natural white gems, like the ones I saw when I first awoke and my Pearl, but I'm guessing that most of her court has been mind controlled. Or maybe… going back to the idea of the diamond that made the gem shaping its color, maybe the gems that White makes aren't colored by her? In colour theory white is the absence of colour, so it makes sense her essence wouldn't change anything.

However, by that line of thinking, in color theory black is the presence of all colours. So that would mean that any gems made by me, regardless of type, would be black. Now that I'm thinking about it actually, I remembered something White said about my creation. She said that I was the very first to be made with all four Diamond Essences. In other words, all the colors. Black. That explained why there weren't any other black colored gems. Huh…

Suddenly Pearl taps at the panel beside the entrance, snapping me out of my long train of thought. The doors slid open with a low and reverberating grind to reveal…

"A river?" I tilted my head, slightly confused. Streaming water flowed downward from a cascade, forming a constant flow of water that made an hourglass shape in the pool of water. The edges of the river had blackened sand and the walls were made of rough stone that mimicked the look of rock, giving the place a secluded oasis vibe. Fake plants of unnatural colors surrounded the area and the ceiling was made of glass, allowing view into the sky. This place, like all of Homeworld, looked like a failed imitation of life, off in just enough ways to break the illusion, but It was comforting to be in such a familiar environment to that of earth.

"The chief Bismuth that built your Extraction chamber left some notes a thousand years ago." Pearl then spoke in a rougher, gruff tone as she read her data pad. "The Classified Extraction Chamber was designed to be as effective as possible to combat the resource crisis. Instead of using osmosis or evaporation as the main method of extraction, water is forced through a chokepoint in the middle of the chamber, forming a vortex that increases contact with the given specified gem light-form measurements. Its theoretical maximum production is at 1250 liters of condensed Diamond Essence per day, compared to Yellow Diamond's sauna chamber of 1100. I hope this chamber meets your satisfaction, my Diamond. End of note."

"Hmm. Interesting, but Pearl. What exactly is Diamond Essence?" I ask while bending over to touch the river water. “I mean, I know it can be used to make gems. But does it have any other uses besides that?”

Pearl blinked. "I apologize. I thought you said that you quote, ‘knew some things about the Diamonds,’ end quote. So it hadn't come to mind to explain what it exactly is, my Diamond." Pearl looked out at the waterfall.

"Diamond Essence is the quintessential aqueous solution formed by the interaction of a Diamond's light form and water. It is used for terraforming, interstellar flight fuel, and for the creation of advanced technological apparatuses. Because of Pink Diamond's shattering however, Era 2 was marked with the struggles of rationing her remaining Essence to fulfill the Gem Empire's expansion policies. This led to some of Era 2's gems not reaching the standards set by Era 1. But with your arrival, all gems will be as strong as before, all according to the Diamond's perfect plan."

So that's why White was so desperate for another Diamond. She not only needed me to make new gems, but to fuel the machines of her galactic conquest. I felt like I had signed my soul to the Devil. I sighed. Too late to do anything about it, and I had Pearl to worry about now. She would be taken hostage if I did anything rebellious. "So… all I have to do is sit in the middle of the river and let it soak me?"

Pearl let out a graceful chuckle. "Your inference abilities know no bounds, my friend."

Without anything else to stop me, I walked to the middle of the Chamber and looked at the place I was supposed to sit at. In the pond, water was rushing from one end into a violent swirl and spewing out the other. I glanced at Pearl, no concern apparent on her face that I could get sucked in by the current and be hurt. I look down at my black sundress and sandals and try to take them off, only to remember that they were now part of my real body. I decided to not think about that for the sake of my sanity and with a grin began to run towards the river. I jumped up into the air before landing in the pond's middle with a big splash. I always did like to swim.

I observed the raging torrent circling my body get tinted with ink and leave to get collected by Great Diamond Authority drains on the other side of the river, now with Pink's symbol
Now being taken by a Black Diamond. “Pearl.” I looked back at the gem with a pleased smile. "How much time am I supposed to spend here anyway?” I feel my smile fall at her answer.

"Seventeen days until Yellow Diamond's colonization appointment, my Friend.”

Ah. Well then. I suppose this was my life now.

Chapter 7: Interlude One

Notes:

Warning for: non-explicit descriptions of sex, voyeurism, depictions of genocide, suicidal actions, self-harm and general unhealthy mindsets. Seriously. The Gem Empire is not a happy place and nobody is having a good time here. Except Black. She busy chilling, blissfully unaware.

--<◊◊⟨ Yellow Diamond ⟩◊◊>--

 

Black Diamond truly was an enigma.

I tapped my finger on my armrest, reviewing the status of my six-hundred and thirty-eight Crystal System colonies, and soon to be more if White's grand plan was successful. Every one of them was maintaining their structures, producing new gems and approaching the standards of perfection with diminishing results. Issues always cropped up of course, as was the case now with some flawed clods not doing their job properly, but it seems so… Irrelevant. All of it.

There was a new Diamond among them.

I could not believe it when I first saw her. She was small, around the same size Pink had been, but she was strong. Her light-form was heavy and solid, a cut above even my own toughness prowess. I could lift her because I was a Diamond, but any other kind of gem? Impossible. And the most surprising thing, her power… Absorption of all energy, with no way to take it back from the abyss's maw that was her Diamond gemstone.

I could not understand why White would want to create the perfect predator to all gem-kind.

Yet for all of her gifted powers, she hadn't any memories on how to use them properly. Black seemed to use them in an instinctually, but less-than-optimal manner. It was aggravating. Such might. Wasted until she learned how to properly utilize them. A process that will likely take centuries to millennia depending on her processing capabilities. Of course, she had a Pearl to assist her with imparting knowledge. A fine accessory if too dark for my tastes, but as Black had said. A Pearl could not teach a Diamond to be a Diamond. Only a Diamond could teach one how to be like themselves.

Something I will be rectifying as soon as possible.

Even so, if missing memories were the only problem that involved Black Diamond, then I would not be distracted from making sure that the supply logistics for my next colonization expansion were managed properly.

No, Black Diamond also couldn't be predicted. She acted like a Diamond, and then didn't. It confounded me greatly how in one moment she could be greatly mature, and then in the next immature. In those immature moments, she acted almost like… Pink. I wondered if those memories White erased were somehow influencing her. If so, how much of Pink was left in her? Could she… perhaps be in there-

No... No. She's gone. Stop thinking like Blue.

Black also seemed to hold both wisdom and knowledge that no other gem had, which conflicted with White's explanation. And her greedy and energy-taking aura… it stood at complete odds from how she acted. White Diamond had still not given me Black's crystallization reports or told me how exactly Black was created in detail. That's suspicious.

Something was very clearly misaligned with White's claims.

But the greatest problem was that Black was smart. Too smart. I did not recognize it then, but the way she used language as her weapon to get what she wanted, to convince us to be with her, sent a shiver through my light-form. Pink could have never achieved that. She would whine, make a tantrum, or be endlessly annoying until we acquiesced and gave her what she wanted. But Black? She waited patiently, striking at the right moment with just the right words to make me feel intrigued, to make me feel like it would be a disservice to say no, and to make me want more.

A family only works when everyone does their part, giving and receiving affection when they can.

I could not get her words out of my gem.

And then there was everything that happened during that meeting with White, where I was tricked into becoming a laughingstock, where Blue acted out of line and almost paid the price, and where White finally told us the truth about Pink. Yet what remained unsaid and unacknowledged were my efforts in keeping Blue functional, of continuing colonization efforts within acceptable margins, and also maintaining the Gem Empire alone for three thousand years without the company of Pink.

"…My Diamond, is something flawed with the colony reports?" My Pearl asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. My throne had cracks all over it from holding it too hard. Again.

I smoothed out my features and dimmed my electrical aura. This irrational behavior was not befitting of a Diamond. "No, Pearl. I was testing my throne's capacity to withstand stress. It failed. Order another replacement and make it stronger." Pearl nodded, typing the request on their datapad.

I needed to work, to stop thinking about Pink. She wasn't a Diamond. White made sure of that. And like always, I was a fool in giving in and believing her. All those times when she sang, when she made us smile with her jokes, when she made us furious due to her antics—It was all a ploy to make us stay with her and give her our undivided attention. It was all a lie. A lie to make her be like us. Well, she was not going to make a fool out of me again.

The familiar pain inside my carbon lattices returned. A pressure I could not get rid of except with one action. I continued with my work, solving most of the logistical supply issues and moving onto the next task: Reviewing a certain Jasper's battle reports against some primitive organics in star sector 87A2T. She had the necessary potential for what I wanted.

It was still not enough.

"Pearl, one final thing. Tell the Peridot in charge of the Cluster to speed up its emergence with whatever method she wants. I don't care if it's twenty years too early, I wanted that dirt planet gone yesterday." I ordered.

"It will be done at once, my Diamond." My Pearl said.

Everything that reminds me of my mistakes should be erased from this universe.

 

--<◊◊⟨ Blue Diamond ⟩◊◊>--​

 

Pink's replacement was not Pink.

"My Diamond, you have an appointment with your Court to discuss the Sapphire's predictions for future colonies. They need your illustrious guidance—"

"Hush Pearl. I am watching the humans, so I must cancel the meeting. The Sapphires should have predicted that I would have done this, regardless. And because they already know which star systems I would have likely chosen for our key expansion points, there will be no need for a reschedule. My Court will deal with the rest of the planning process."

My Pearl checked her data-screen. "…What you say has been confirmed, my Diamond. The meeting is over."

"Then leave me. I desire to be alone."

"Of course, my diamond." My Pearl bowed. Eyes hidden behind hair.

As soon as my Pearl left the viewing chamber, I let out everything I had been holding back. Sadness, fury, grief, hate, melancholy, disbelief—not caring that it would affect the other gems on the ship. They deserved to suffer the same emotions I did. The pain I've been feeling for ages, my mourning of Pink that will never end. And only once I let it all out that I could finally think about everything that has happened.

White was wrong.

Pink had always been one of us. She might have been the smallest of us, acted immature, and did silly things for no reason at all, but there was never any doubt that she was a Diamond. So how could White bury all the time we were together and all the things we had done because Pink had been lying? To insinuate that she was fragile? She wasn't fragile. I used my powers on her when we had to lock her in the tower due to her misbehaving, and she was fine. She was strong.

I didn't want to think about how it was possible that the despicable Rose Quartz shattered her.

And then there were Pink's shards. How dare White use them like that? They were her last remains, incomplete even though I scoured the grounds of her Palanquin thousands of times. I tried my best to fit them together, to make them whole again, and when it didn't work and left me crushed with guilt, I hid them in a secret place so no one could disturb her again. Not even Yellow knew where I left them. How did White get them?

She must have been spying on me.

And finally, there was Black. She was so… different from Pink. Yet also so very similar.

She made funny faces at Yellow just like Pink did. She was patient, willing to wait while Pink never seemed to sit still. She wanted to spend time with us just as Pink always did. She was so confused when she couldn't find the way out of the meeting room. She wanted to help us, instead of us helping her. She said things that I've never heard of. Her smile was bright, her brief laughter joyful, and then her eyes…

Oh her eyes… They looked just like Pink's.

I hated her. I hated the pain she brought to my gem. My aura pulsed once more with sorrow, frustration, regret, mourning, pain, grief, hope-

By the stars, she was so much like Pink. So much it made me think a part of her lived on in Black, but then she did something not like Pink and it just started the cycle all over again and again. I hated it. I hate her. I hated White for making her. I hated that I felt this way.

I knew it was not Black's fault for existing, but I couldn't bear to look at her dark visage for more than a second without getting flooded with negativity. She reminded me of all the things Pink was never going to be, what she had been, what we wanted her to be. Why couldn't Pink do her responsibilities with no fuss? Why couldn't Pink be satisfied, not asking for more than what she already had? Why couldn't Pink be so durable that nothing can hurt her? Why couldn't Pink have defended herself and be with us instead of Black?

Why, Why, Why?

I let myself drown with overflowing desolation until a chime reminded me of why I was inside Pink's zoo in the first place.

"No… No, I can't get distracted again, I must see this. For Pink."

I wiped away my tears and summoned the zoo screen, seeing the organic humans approach their circle. They looked so similar to gems—half of them, at least—however, it was all an illusion. Soon, they will shrink, then get weak, then stop living. What I was seeing in the present was something that would only happen a few times with these specific humans, before they create mini-humans that will take over their place.

Today was a special day for the soon-to-be last specimens of humanity in the universe. Holly Blue Agate had informed me that today was their 'Choosening' day.

The humans eagerly awaited their name.

"J-5. P-11. Step into the circle. You have been Choosened!" The autonomous zoo voice said.

The two humans cheered, then went in the circle. They met in the center and gazed into each other's eyes. They began to touch each other with their hands, their lips. They removed their clothes, revealing that one of them had a crack, and the other, an injector. They moved closer and conjoined in the middle. The other humans watched with fascination and applauded as the pair wobbled and grunted incoherently.

I bit my lip, my cheeks flushing blue. Stars, the sounds they made…

At first, I didn't like to watch the Choosenings, always thinking that it was repulsive how the humans tried and failed to fuse, but when I realized they did it to create more of themselves, even deriving pleasure from doing so… I couldn't stop. There was something so fascinating about it, how these primitive beings continued their short existences through strange acts and scandalous behaviors. It made my light-form feel strange and fuzzy.

I wondered if this was why Pink wanted to stop progress on her colony.

I burst into tears again. Pink's colony… Soon, it will be gone because of Yellow's Cluster. There was so little left of Pink. Her shards, remade. Her palace, her court, her throne—all a darker shade under a new owner. Pink's ship had been declared missing for eons. The only things I had managed to preserve were her Zoo, her Rose Quartzes, and some of the gems that emerged from Pink's Kindergartens.

I needed to find all I could of Pink's legacy before it disappeared forever.

What else was left? Maybe… Some pebbles she created? No, I don't want them. Any other gems? No, I already had the important ones… Oh, her garden! Yes, her garden. I needed to check if it was still functioning when I had the time to do so. Which was a thousand, three hundred and forty-five years in the future too late because of my packed schedule.

I will just have to make an excuse when Black inevitably distracts me during our Extraction and use that precious time to visit it. Hopefully Pink left something of hers there…

"K-8. J-1. You have been Choosened!"

I looked back at the humans again, as a new pair did their rhythmic actions as they hooted in pleasure. They looked carefree. So joyful. So… happy.

My hand drifted to my Diamond, trying to replicate what the humans did to their partners.

I… I wanted to be happy, too.

I sobbed, instead.

 

--<◊◊⟨ White Diamond ⟩◊◊>--​

 

Our little star was imperfect.

We reviewed Black Diamond's activities through our Pearl's eye, confirming her actions with eyewitness accounts of Sard H893-J99D and Topaz L245-JHS. She didn't receive her gem workers at the Re-setter, but this could be done at another time, which was acceptable. She also had a tantrum when she received her Pearl. It amused us greatly that she had repeated what our Star-Lie had done, more evidence that Black was based on a faulty Diamond. But our Black was far better. This was shown by doing what she promised: Following our perfection and creating more Essence for our Empire. And she was succeeding, already producing 15 tons in two weeks. A satisfying amount for that timeframe.

For now, our little star will be closely watched until corrective action is deemed necessary. It was a shame our Light couldn't guide Black, another similarity she shared with Pink, but no matter. There were always alternate ways to do this.

We shifted our view to Citrine 74NY4-V0N on Star sector 59593, leading her Star exterminator fleets into battle against some rebel gems remnants. Citrine was a successful general and had suggested many innovations for warfare, but when she was found to have slight imperfections in her gem that were the source of all these fanciful ideas, she had to be promoted to obey our direct commands. The rebels were soon dealt with effectively. Our strategies and tactics were already perfect after thousands of years of honing, after all.

Another shift in perspective led us to Albite H4-98, constructing the future palaces on the capital of our central colony. This Albite was found… fusing with a lower Bismuth, their reason wanting to create original architecture to better represent our radiance. While a nice sentiment, the action could not be forgiven, and Bismuth was shattered for this insolence. However, because Albites are rare and require many stabilizing regents to produce, she was shown our Light to continue to be useful. Her designs reverted to our standards: a perfect copy of the beauty in Homeworld.

We returned to Homeworld with Chrysolite H402-J231. Poor, misguided Chrysolite had believed there were alternative ways to create gems, using imperfect organics to 'fixate nitrogen' and make colonies 'renewable'. We had to disabuse such laughable notions when she shared her ideas with other Peridots. Instead, she was now experimenting with Black's Essence inside the Metamorphic center. It behaved in a very interesting way. Rather than mixing with the other Essence’s it overpowered them. The resulting gems would be completely black in color, regardless of the type. We decided it would be best to only use her essence for technology and fuel instead of making new gems. That could wait until Black was ready to receive her first crystal colony.

Soon, the less-than standard gems will be replaced with better ones, and we can get rid of everything Era 2 represented: a lack of resources, a lack of quality, and a lack of a Diamond. Yellow created an acceptable alternative to combat these deficiencies with technology, but they won't be necessary any longer.

Finally, we returned to our original Diamond, the Origin of Light. We were in our Head, orbiting potential colony #1974952. Its mass was 1.56 HW, inundated with a planet-wide violet sea and plenty of valuable oxides. It also unfortunately had billions of aqueous-based organics tainting its surface. The Lapis Lazulis had to retreat from aquaforming the planet because the organics were targeting their gemstones with precise physics-based technology. Seventeen were shattered. After a thorough analysis of their danger, our direct intervention was judged to be vital.

We began an orbital bombardment of Light on their main settlements.

Their defense was thousands of light-years behind from the Empire. Fission bombs were archaic and simple enough to redirect, so the organics stood no chance. Not that they would have, in any case. In an hour, their numbers were reduced to thousands.

We landed the Head on their last holdout, the lesser lifeforms squealing for mercy and writhing their tentacles with peace-intending desperation.

Disgusting.

We crushed them all with our eternal strength. Stomping the measly vehicles they had created. Destroying their underground building. And erasing the smaller variants hidden within weak, calcified shields. The planet was peacefully silent now. A scan with our Head confirmed there were no more. We smiled, returning to our perfect form and shining brightly. The purple remains sticking to our light-form evaporated.

What the organics could never understand was that our mercy was showering them with our Perfect Light before they contaminated the universe more with their presence.

But we couldn't enjoy eradicating imperfect filth forever. We had so much to do, so many gems to guide. And with every single viewpoint shift, it became easier to further separate our uninhibited self, each wavelength of our Light responsible for a different task. If there was one thing we could thank Pink's shattering for, it was forcing us to explore the limits of our great power as we created Black Diamond. We would have never discovered that our ability to guide our precious gems could be expanded up to our current 152 gemstones.

We wondered if there was even a limit.

 

--<◊◊⟨ Pearl Model Nacht One-Three ⟩◊◊>--​

 

Black Diamond was my friend.

But was I hers?

"Pearl, what are light forms?" My Diamond asked, her bright eyes filled with wisdom and a lack of common sense. "I get that they are the physical projections of our gemstones, but what are they made of? Can it be damaged?"

I was seated beside her in the Extraction chamber, after much cajoling from her part to not have me standing beside her all the time, and I was honored to be so near her presence. My Friend was a pristine example of a Diamond. She was beautiful and exquisite, her form absorbing all light without failure. Her gemstone was staggeringly stunning. And as for her conduct… I could not believe that she was a Diamond, for all the right and wrong reasons.

"Light forms, as the name suggests, are forms made of pure light. This light is the hardened reflection of the techno-magical properties of a gemstone, which is why a light-form's color is always the same as the color of their gem. Light forms are not as invulnerable to damage like yours is, my Diamond, as with enough force or damage, it can get disrupted and leave the gem defenseless until it regenerates again. This disruption is sometimes called getting 'poofed', as the warrior strata are fond of saying."

"But if Black is my color, how can my light-form exist? Black isn't a color in the rainbow." My friend asked, tilting her head.

I looked at my Diamond's glistening surface as I wracked my mind for an adequate explanation. Oh, how I wanted to touch it. "Perhaps… your light-form is a more physical type of projection that absorbs light? Snowflake obsidians also have black light-forms, but they aren't as solid or as heavy as yours."

"So basically I'm fat, huh…" She muttered, and I blinked in confusion. Another word I didn't know about. It joined the others within my perfect memories.

I wished I didn't have such a memory.

My Friend mulled over the explanation, before looking back at me. She had never averted her eyes in disgust over my color. "Thank you, Pearl. I know that it might be annoying to tell me everything, but you've helped me so much. Especially with the gem glyphs. That language is so gosh-darned hard…"

My Friend was kind. She treated me like an equal, never once regaling her superior facets over me. She always showed me gratitude for what I did, even for the most basic of tasks. She had just so many different ideas and experiences that I wondered if she was from another reality. The one time she resembled a Diamond, when she turned into an energy-sucking void that left me quaking in fear, she apologized—apologized!—and promised that she would never punish me. She didn't want me to feel pain, ever.

But what she could not know was that I was always in pain.

But not because of her. Because of me.

"Y-you're, welcome, my friend." I said, forcing the guilt down that threatened to explode from my Pearl. "M-my Black Diamond, I apologize, but I must leave you to your Extraction." I removed myself from the rushing waters and bowed in shame. "There are several tasks that need to be done, such as organizing your Court creation, preparing for your meeting with Yellow Diamond, and checking to see if your Essence is delivered properly."

My Diamond frowned, sensing that something was up with my excuses, but she did not pressure me into telling the truth. She was too kind. "Okay, Pearl, I understand. I'll try meditating again to see if I can pass the time quicker. But before you go, can you tell me if you decided on a name from the ones I came up with? I don't want to call you like every other Pearl forever."

I let out a tiny sigh. Why must she be so nice? "…I liked the name Noche."

My friend smiled. I couldn't take my sight away. "Noche, huh. What a beautiful name. I like it.”

I ducked my head, heat burning my cheeks. "Goodbye, My Diamond!" I fled to the door in haste.

My Diamond laughed, a bright and clear sound of joy. "Goodbye Noche! Remember to say thanks to the Topazes standing outside for me!"

I nodded and the Extraction Chamber door closed shut. Immediately, I removed all the emotions from my face. The two guards who watched this widened their eyes slightly.

"My Diamond thanks you for your service, Topazes."

The two nodded, uncomfortable with my flat tone. I did not explain my circumstances to them. They would never understand.

I sprinted through the hallways, searching for an empty room. One that was hidden and under no view from other gems. There! I went in and closed the door, checking to make sure it was safe.

It was.

I collapsed on the floor, not being able to restrain the tears gushing from my eyes anymore.

Why couldn't she be awful to me? It was so much easier when your target did not care for you and punished you at every moment. Snide words, shouts of aggression, implied threats, physical harm. I tried so hard to make obvious mistakes, to make my Diamond mad, but no matter what I tried, she has not once let her true nature slip.

Black Diamond was a good gem.

I summoned my gem weapon, the knife that I both hated and loved with equal measure. My Diamond had made me promise that I could not let any other gem punish me. But I was no other gem.

I scored my arms, the pain giving me the punishment I deserved for my unforgivable crime.

I was not a good gem. I was not her friend. I was a traitor that never wanted to be one.

"Welcome, Pearl Model Nacht-Zero." Shell said, the first words I ever heard as I emerged alone from my batch. "You are a special Pearl designed to act like all the others, but you hold a hidden purpose that you can never tell any other gem about: to gain the undivided trust of your owner, and to eliminate them if the Great Diamond Authority requests it. This may never happen, but once you see or hear the following code, then your orders are absolute. Remember this code and never forget it…"

She can never know.

Stab.

She can never know.

Stab.

She. Can. Never. Know.

Stab.

Notes:

Made some art of how Black Diamond looks. Yes, I traced an image of Lapis. Don't judge me! I can write, not draw!

https://www.tumblr.com/overplayinggames/791961305972195328/fanart-of-black-diamond-from-my-fanfic-the-gem-who?source=share

Chapter 8: Chapter 7

I rolled my shoulders and let out a small sigh, absentmindedly noticing the lack of any body aches from staying in this river for seventeen days straight. Lifting my right hand out of the water, I watched as the water rolled down my arm. Strangely, my mind was as clear as ever, despite the lack of sleep. Thankfully It seemed I could still rest if I wanted to, although ‘rest’ is a bit of a stretch. Gems didn't need sleep after all. It was more like… meditation. Or standby mode if you wanted to keep with the robotic theme. It was a lot harder to do than sleep, as you actually had to focus on trying to fall into unconsciousness. Difficult, but still possible.

I suppose it was just another gem thing that I would have to get used to. I did miss eating however. Not because I no longer could, but because of the lack of food on Homeworld. I could drink the water from my river, but it was tasteless and pretty gross. It was like drinking bath water. Sure, you could, but do you really want to? I didn't spend much time meditating, or at least trying to. Instead I've been passing the time with Noche's lessons and learning to both use and understand my gem powers.

Noche was a excellent teacher. While it helps that I now seem to possess increased mental faculties and an almost photographic memory, Noche's prepared lectures were very well put together. When I asked for further clarification she always answered the best she could. Our first day was a basic overview of the Gempire as a whole. Then, as the days started blurring together, we superficially covered topics like Photoanatomy, Crystophysiology, Gemology, Kindergartening, Technomagica, Diamond etiquette, and the stratum caste system. I had reached a point where I could identify pretty much anything in this gem world, but not how exactly it worked. At least I won't disrespect other Gems because I had to ask Noche what their type was. One major disaster avoided.

We also covered Gem History: Era 1 and Era 2. The public and heavily modified history of course, but it still provided me some context.

Oversimplified, Era 1 was a golden age for Gem-kind. It started about 17,000 years ago when gems first took to the stars and started expanding the empire exponentially to other star systems, creating more colonies, gaining boundless resources, and producing millions of high-quality Gems. The Crystal Galaxy was soon conquered, but when they had started expanding to another galaxy 3,000 years ago a rebellion gained traction on Pink's first and only colony. The 'evil' Rose Quartz alongside the 'cruel' Crystal Gems fought against the 'benevolent' GDA's rule, starting a war that lasted around 1000 years. It culminated with Pink Diamond's shattering. In retaliation, the remaining three Diamonds wiped out every single rebel Gem on Pink's colony with their combined powers and Era 1 had concluded.

After this, the Gempire entered Era 2, a dark age of sorts. There was still expansion, but it was much slower and significantly harder than before. It had a resource shortage because of Pink's limited essence, and probably White's too since she was busy creating my Diamond, causing Gems born in this era to be smaller than before and with less powers. Because of this, the Gempire had to heavily rely on their technology more instead of their pseudo sci fi magic, and their technological level advanced as a result. Some examples of these were the limb enhancers, gem destabilizer, more fuel efficient ships and other things of that nature.

What struck me as extremely odd however was the fact that both Eras combined had only lasted about 17,000 years. Noche couldn't tell me about pre-Era 1 since all records of it on her datapad amounted to "a time when the only colony was Homeworld". It stunk of some 1984-type history manipulation. I knew that by the time of my death, the origins of the Gem Empire and the other Diamonds was yet to be explained, but this wasn't the old world. What happened during those millions of years White spoke about when she called Pink a lie?

Something to question the other Diamonds about when I eventually go visit them.

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I can't seem to remember my death, or if I even died to begin with. Anything personal from my last life, my family, my friends, even my name was just… gone. That was probably for the best if I'm being honest. Unsettling, but for the best. I can't miss something if I don't remember what I'm supposed to miss after all. My last life, at least the life I could piece together from my fragmented memories, was over. It's better to focus on the future. I was Black Diamond now.

Anyway, moving on from that existential crisis.

I've also experimented more with my Diamond power. I've taken to calling it ‘Absorb'. Absorb was a… pretty complicated power that did a lot of things. Unlike the other diamonds, Blue, Yellow and White, whose only unique powers were a form of emotional, physical and mental manipulation respectively, mine seemed to be able to do a variety of things. I theorized this was because of our differing mindsets. The other diamonds were rigid in their roles, and so their powers manifested in a single way. I had two pieces of evidence for this being true.

Firstly in the sequel show, Steven Universe Future, after the diamonds change their ways they start to develop brand new ways to use their powers. Secondly, Pink Diamond. She was always the most flexible of the four, and so her powers were the most varied. Healing, Sonic Screams, Gemstone Creation, Shields, they were all so different yet shared a theme.

My own Diamond power, Absorb, seemed to be a catch-all ability that probably had many hidden functions to it. Some of the functions I discovered so far were what I had decided to simply call Empathy, Densify, and Devour.

Empathy, as the name might imply, was the ability to feel the raw emotions of other gems. More than that however, I could take away the emotion the gem was feeling and make it my own. However, being surrounded by intense negative feelings could overload my mind and cause… problems, as I discovered back at the Re-setter. Overall, I had mixed feelings about this power of mine. On one hand it was very useful to know the emotions of others while on the other hand it was also a morally bankrupt way to remove much of other people's privacy. Then there was the fact I could just take the emotions of others. That was a very slippery slope between helping other gems with their feelings and blatant emotional manipulation.

There was something that worried me when I was testing out Empathy however. Whenever I thanked Noche, a burst of guilt shot through her. I have tried to stop sensing her emotions from now on because of that, but I still get the occasional round of raw feelings from her.

Changing my density, or Densify, seemed to be primarily dependent on having negative emotions, which wasn't something so easily controlled. However with a little trick called emotional intelligence, I could think about my mistakes with extreme self-hatred and boom, I was now incredibly heavy to the detriment of some new cracked tiles on the river bed floor. I didn't have a way to measure it precisely, but if I dropped from a great height, I doubted the floor would survive. By calming myself, I could return to my previous density, but there wasn't any floating when feeling happy.

A shame. I would have really liked to try flying. Something I had found pretty interesting was the fact that both of these two powers seemed like opposites to the other diamonds. Empathy allowed me to feel the emotions of other gems instead of forcing them to feel mine, and then Densify had made my body heavier instead of lighter. I wondered if this would be the theme going forward, or if I was simply reading way too much into it. Probably the second option.

The other Gem powers that Noche told me I was supposed to have, enhanced strength, storing things inside my gem, projecting light, bubbling, weapon summoning. Well they were a work in progress. I wouldn't bubble Noche, no matter how much she thought that it was a good idea. When I tried testing my strength with a jump… I glanced at the familiar-shaped hole in the sloped ceiling and winced. Storing things in my gem was a no-go. I'm sure that anything I tried to put in there was never going to come back out, and I absorbed light, how would I be able to shine it outward? Weapon summoning was also a dead-end. I just could not figure it out. It slipped through my fingers

Finally, there was the last of my diamond powers. The one that I was afraid to test.

It was the most dangerous one of them all: The ink that saved me back during Yellow's electrocution. The power that I called Devour. I clearly remember how it erased everything that tried to hurt me. What would it do if it got near another Gem? To Noche? I dreaded the answer, and it's not like it was a one-off event. I was almost certain it was some instinctual response from my Diamond in the case I got into a dangerous situation. And it will happen again, eventually. There was no way I would be lucky enough to escape danger forever.

I sighed. What was up with my life now? It was so absurd, so strange. Not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined this.

I looked up. Light from an alien star shined down on me from the top of the Extraction chamber pyramid. I looked behind me. On my back was a pulsing, light-sucking Diamond, converting the churning waters around me with blackening Essence. I cupped my hands with water and looked at its reflection. White, expressive eyes with diamond shaped pupils stared back. I've thought long enough about my new reincarnation status as an immortal Diamond ruler for a space-faring civilization of magical rock women to come to a conclusion.

While I would have loved to grab Noche and run away to earth and hide out with the crystal gems for the next 3000 years, I've accepted the reality of my situation. I was here to stay. The other diamonds wouldn't let me leave any time soon, and even if I did, I may just bring Homeworld's attention to earth. No, it would be best to wait until Steven's around to do his talk no jutsu. Assuming my mere presence in the story hasn't made some cosmic butterfly effect that stops his birth. That would be bad.

Hmm. Actually, what would my relationship to Steven be? I know we're family, but what kind of family exactly? I guess it comes back to my relation to the other Diamonds. I was directly made from the Essence of Pink Diamond via her fake shards and I inherited her spot in the Great Diamond Authority, so I suppose being his older sister would make the most sense.

Heh, I guess inheriting Pink's messes was a family trait. Thank you for that one mom.

Now, the ultimate question was still left. What should I do? I could lay low, keep my head down and enjoy the benefits of my position. It would be easy- I only had to darken this water with my body and pretend to learn about how to be a true Diamond for just a few thousand years. There was nothing stopping me from ordering gems around to suit my fancies and playing around with my new powers, living in a fantasy where there was nothing wrong.

I couldn't deny that the thought tempted me—I had been a selfish human, once. And perhaps someone else would choose this option if they were in my Diamond shoes, or I suppose my sandals, but I wasn't that someone. I couldn't ignore all of what I have seen in the Gempire and leave it like that.

I wanted to change things for the better.

There were so many things wrong with it. The Diamonds were a significant part, but Noche had taught me many, many other disturbing things about my new Gem culture. From how perfection and flawlessness were the norm, to how Gems are born from holes knowing what they will do for the rest of their immortal lives, to the extreme measure taken to ensure no gem strays into gaining individuality. It was all work, work, work, constantly. What was the point of being immortal if your eternal life was a job? All work and no play make gems a dull species. Race? What's the right terminology?

Not to mention, I now knew what Blue was talking about when she called me an off-color. It was a derogatory term given to Gems that had flaws, were deemed "defective", didn't conform to Homeworld's standards, or were simply born different. Sometimes, this was enough to order their execution. Worse than that however was the fact that entire types of gems were banned altogether. My mind went to Padparadscha, a member of the Off Colors. It never made sense to me why she had been considered an off color. Padparadscha's were a real gem type after all. She was simply an orange sapphire. By this world's rules, just like with the different colors of quartz, she should have been considered a unique gem type.

However, the true reason she was considered an off color was simply because she served little use to the empire. Compared to the more common Sapphire's and their future sight, the ability of hindsight, while still useful in certain circumstances, was worthless. And as such the entire gem type was discarded. There are so many examples of this to my horror. Every other colour of Sapphires besides blue, rare Amazonite's, Angelite's, Rose Quartzes, and many more gems. All gone simply because of the whim of three people who value efficiency over anything else. As soon as I could I would save them all. They didn't deserve to be shattered. The problem was that I don't know how to convince the other Diamonds of this.

I sighed in extreme disappointment.

Why were the Diamonds so awful? So… evil? And how could I convince them that their way of doing things was wrong? Through words? Through action? Or maybe, through… power?

It wasn't that I disagreed with the Gem Empire in principle, an unending civilization that could rule entire galaxies was impressive, but rather their methods disgusted me. If all just seemed to be… pointless. Why bother expanding the empire? We didn't need food, resources, and gems didn't reproduce on their own so space wasn't an issue. There was no other intelligent civilization in the universe that could match our might, and the diamonds didn't care about spreading our beliefs, assuming we even had a religion of any kind, to other lifeforms. That left only one reason. To make our subjects happy. But clearly that didn't matter to the rest of the Great Diamond Authority. So, what was even the point? Simply expanding for the sake of expansion? We do it because we can?

The Empire could have been great. We could have made a paradise out of rock. Instead the other diamonds had settled for suffering in its place. Did the others even know what we had here? Did they ever think of changing? Were they even aware they could do such a thing?

I chewed on my cheek and looked down at my hands, the skin as dark as blackened stone.

I hadn't forgotten the darkness that engulfed my form and leaked out like flowing ink. The darkness that devoured light and energy like a hungry beast. What if I controlled it, trained it, made it safe to use? Would it be enough? I was also just a bit desperate, very bored, and also alone. Noche still had yet to come back.

I had to try.

I sighed. I was definitively going to regret this. But if I was going to attempt this, then I should at least perform it with the calmest state of mind I could muster. I closed my eyes, going into a cross-legged sitting position. I breathed in for four seconds, let it stay for five, and exhaled for six. I repeated this breathing cycle for several minutes, my thoughts settling into a rhythmic familiarity. The sounds and feel of the swirling river and cascading waterfall acts as white noise to further dull my senses.

It was here that my meditation began.

I cleared my mind of any distractions first. My doubts, my regrets, my anxiety, I pushed them all away. They weren't needed. Then I thought of nothing. A surprisingly hard thing to do, but something that can be trained with practice. After a few minutes, my mind became a blank canvas, having little to no activity flitting upon its surface. I sustained it, bordering upon the edge between wakefulness and resting.

I was ready.

And then, I was suddenly somewhere else. A black void greeted me. I made myself get up and walk forwards to my destination, my steps lumbering and shaky. My barefoot feet curled up from the cold of the formless floor beneath me. I felt surprised and feel up my body. I was no Black Diamond but a shapeless figure with no features. Panic started to manifest and the body of a single white butterfly flew through the air. No, focus. I took in a deep breath to return to calm and resumed my walk. After a few long minutes of aimless walking, I had felt a presence ahead. It was dark, powerful, and foreboding. Every inch gained increased its intensity. I stopped. It was right in front of me.

Slowly, and very carefully, I opened my eyes.

An infinite mirror of void stood before me. It reflected my body facing away from me, one that was inhuman, dark as the night, and one that I now held ownership of. Black Diamond.

It was time.

I slowly reached out through the mirror and put a hand on the gleaming black diamond in my back. However, the moment contact was made the figure turned around and grabbed my wrist. The Black Diamond in the mirror had hauntingly hollow eyes, and she opened her mouth. As she did so white butterflies started exiting her orifices like something straight out of a horror movie. The butterflies had begun swarming around me and thoughts exploded in my mind that were both mine and also not.

Abyss. Hunger. Incomplete. Wait.

Death. Wanting. More. No.

Take. You. Want. Please.

Need. Consume. Any. CALM.

Eat. You. All. STOP.

Want. Take. NO.

Want. NO.

Yes. NEVER.

…

Never.

…

WANT W̵A̶N̴T̴ ̶W̷A̶N̸T̸ ̵W̴A̸N̶T̵ W̸͓̉A̴̧̪͋̓̒̈́̾̉͗̈N̵̰̟̱̅̏̊́̀̎̒̈́̆̃T̴̢̻̝̳͚͔̓̈́̏̽ ̸̛̘̉̋͑́̈͝W̷̦̦͗̚Â̵̡̺̲̻̮̘̓̆́̏͑͑̎͝ͅN̵̨̛͔̬̭̮̆͒͗̌̒̂͆T̶͚́ ̵̡̻̞͇͚̰̾̓̊̒̄͜Ŵ̷̰͘A̴̢̮͉̖̳̫̥̭͆̐́̈́͗̀̓N̵̩̣͈͙͚̪̻̈́̒̉̈̂́Ţ̴̡̦̝͙͚̈̂͐̈͗̏̆͋̕͠ W̴̦̤̫̠̗̦̹̏̒̕͜͠Á̵̞̜̣̦̟͍̥̺͔̬̺̹̱̱̰̮̗̥͕̗͍͎̩̔͛̓͜͜N̵̡̡̰̘͓͕͖͖͓̭̝͎̖͎̮͔̻̳̤̖͙̰̱̂̋̌̓̃̿́T̷̡̢̝͎̖̜͚͉͕͚͔̞͚̫͚͉̤̫̏̄̓̍̐͑̓̃͋͒̈̒͠ ̶̨̨͙͙̤̝̮͚̣̺̲̣̟̠̘̗̫̰̈̉ͅW̴̢̨̻̖̥̪̠̥̰̙̳̰͕̱͚̗͇̘̙̗̮̞͍̓̐̃͒͑̕ͅÃ̵̧̠͙͓͇͖̲̳̟̻̱͕̝̺͕̪̩̬̟̹͍̞̤̞̞͇̓͒͋͊̈́̚N̶̢̡̲̞̣̝̝̟̘̫̘͖̪̈́̿͒̃͆̿̕̚T̸̨̟̺͖͎̮̥̪̪̥̺͓̼͈̻͇̮̝̪̯̬̝̥͈̩̀̾̍̐́͌ ̸̢͔͕̫̭͍̖̰̥̭̱̙̭̪͎̦̼͇͚̠̺̖̯͙̻͕͈͑̓́́̃̽̀̔̋́͘͜W̶̢̨̡͇̗̣̦̙̖̺͇̣͕̩̝̣̖̠͔̺̖̣̯͙͚͉͚͍͈̓̎̓͆̽͛͛̎̽́̓̌̎͌̅̓̋͌̕͘͝Ã̷̡̧̨̛̤͙̝̼̠͇͕̥̰̘̖͉̼̯̖̘̗͍̈́̐̎̃́͑̈́́̾̈́̿̀̀̐̒̀͘͘͠͝͝Ǹ̵̹̲̜̘̗̙͇̻̂̾̈́̃͋̀̆̕̕͜͝͠͠T̸̹̻̳͛̏̆̈͂́̃́̂̀̕͘͝ —

 

A door opened.

"I'm so, so sorry, my radiant and beautiful Diamond, Yellow Diamond has delayed your meeting—" A blood-curdling scream. "WHAT HAPPENED?!” I choked out a huge gasp, the universe cracking my head like an egg and serving it on a platter. Eerie tendrils of void had suddenly shrunk back into my light-form.

"No-Noche!" I bellowed, completely out of it, "Don't you know your manners? Always knock before you enter into someone's room!" I said, pointing my feathers at her and softening my voice. "Please take this into consideration next time, okay? The people inside might be doing something private, and barging in like that could—Wait a second..."

I turned away from the pale Pearl and looked at the Extraction chamber. There were swiss cheese holes on it everywhere, sparks of magical energy crackling from fallen cables, and water leaking from the ceiling to the floor. My special river was gone. Yet, I was floating midair, held aloft by two immense raven wings composed of midnight black crystal flakes.

"Huh. Well that's new.”

Chapter 9: Chapter 8

Hundreds of small, little pebble people glared at me as they worked to fix the Extraction chamber. They resembled gnomes minus the creepy beards, and with far cuter outfits. They also talked with small, high-pitched voices and were certainly calling me all sorts of names within their little stone circles. I couldn't help but find them adorable. I've tried to speak with them to say sorry dozens of times, but they just crossed their stubby arms and looked the other way. I pouted at their blatant dismissal.

It got a bit hectic after Noche entered into the Extraction chamber and sort-of saved my life. Hearing the commotion inside, the two guard Topazes crashed through the door, carried us out of there with a princess carry, and put us in a defensible corner while they waved their spears threateningly at nothing. It took a bit of explaining from me to lower their guards. I also had to convince Noche that it wasn't her fault that this happened, just because she left me alone for so long. She hadn't left my side farther than ten feet since then. And then the pebbles came rushing in to rebuild, spurning me at every moment.

All the while my new wings dragged on the floor, and my gem hungered for more.

Yes. I should have been more careful when I said I missed eating, and that I wanted to fly. It seems my diamond power took those desires a bit too seriously. I now felt hungry, and not a peckish sort of hunger either, but full-blown starvation. It stabbed at the very edge of my thoughts, begging me to devour anything that I could. I regretted so much that I connected with my Diamond and caused this to happen, I much preferred feeling nothing to this hunger. However, the damage had been done. I had awoken a hibernating beast of void, and the only thing restraining it from consuming us all was a leash of my concentration and will.

I could restrain it for now, but not forever.

My black wings, the only upside of this whole situation, were wonderful. With all the crazy stuff that had been happening, I was strangely very accepting of them. Stretched out, each wing covered a span of 10 feet. They sprung out of my back seamlessly, with no added muscles that would make them move. Their special ability was making me float in place, a feat I haven't yet achieved again. My feathers were a forest of primordial hunting arrow tips, each a deadly weapon carved from obsidian glass. I touched one of the longest feathers, the primaries, and felt its razor-sharp edge. It hummed with power.

I could barely control them properly.

Noche's eyes were glued on my wings as I struggled to fold them up on my back. "Um, my Friend, I can hold your new wings if you want to." She held out her arms with a smile. The look in her eyes made me blush slightly. "It would be my pleasure, my Diamond.”

“U-uhm… no thanks. I-I can manage just fine, Noche!” I look away, rubbing the back of my neck while she drooped down in sadness. Oh Noche, why must you want to get punished?

I shake my head. Now wasn't the best time to deal with these… issues, both hers and mine. I grunt in annoyance as the new added weight shifted my balance. Every time my feathers clinked together they sent shivers through my spine. I clenched my back and did more joint maneuvering, until they felt right. "There! That should do it." I stepped forward, confident that I had gotten the situation fully under control.

An eardrum-rupturing sound made us both wince. A nearby pebble shot me a withering stare and began polishing the gouges I left on the floor. "Sorry." I said, shifting the tips of my feathers up a bit, now fully clearing the floor from any future damage.

The pebble ignored me. I felt just awful.

Noche shot a dirty look at the pebble, and then smiled at me. "My friend, they are just pebbles. They are beneath your attention."

I sighed. Even Noche was a normalized racist. Or gemist. Whatever the correct term would be. I suppose that it makes sense. We've only known each other for about seventeen days. It isn't like she can forget all of the propaganda Homeworld's put into her brain in that amount of time. "They're still gems Noche, even if they are quite small. And they're the ones who are fixing the mess I made. An apology is the very least I can do to make it up to them."

Noche nodded, but I wasn't sure I got through to her. She then ahem-ed, probably to distract me from my glum mood. "Well, while I don't know how you came to possess these new extremities, or how your extraction chamber was destroyed, I still need to tell you that your meeting with the daunting Yellow Diamond has been delayed."

Oh, right. That. "When is it going to be, then?" If I had a few days to get used to my avian limbs and find a way to get rid of my hunger—

"She is expecting you on her ship, which shall arrive in seven minutes."

Crap.

"Your Court formalization ceremony will also start as soon as you return. "

Double crap.

"Blue Diamond has also requested your presence in her Extraction chamber two days later."

Well, at least I had some time for that.

I took in a deep breath and pushed down my craving for… something. Gems don't eat, so what was I hungry for? Light? Energy? Rocks maybe? I sincerely hoped that it's something easy to eat, but with my luck, who knows. I exhaled. "Time to face the music, Noche.”

 

--<◊◊⟨⟩◊◊>--​

 

The yellow bubble popped, and the two of us were now inside Yellow Diamond's handful of a spaceship. The commander's room was yellow and very big, obviously. There were diamond insignias on the shimmering walls, a balcony on the left where I was, and a screen in front displaying the beautiful lifelessness of Homeworld.

A yellow Pearl with a turned-up nose spoke up after we arrived, her vision locked onto her tablet. "The impervious Black Diamond has arrived, my Diamond."

I did a curtsy Noche taught me, and almost fell over because of my wings. Noche turned stiff as a rock. Thankfully it seemed that my hosts didn't notice.

"Good. You're here." Yellow said. She was atop her massive captain's seat-lounge chair. She supported her statue-sized head with her left hand, and held her right hand forwards. It had a glowing outline that suspiciously looked like her ship. "Let's go." Yellow raised her arm with a commanding pose and the ground had shook beneath me.

We took off. Flying to star systems unknown.

The screen outside showed the crystal city outside slowly turning into a pinprick among a diamond-encrusted planet. I stared with wide eyes. It was one thing to see the sight on TV, but another to see it in person. Homeworld was split apart like a cracked geode. How was that even possible in the first place? I'm pretty sure planets all stayed spherical for a reason. I couldn't question the sight more, as when Yellow punched the air in a controlled fashion, and we entered into a flowing river of stars.

"I took the liberty to inform White that I was taking you today." Yellow said, her stern voice making me pay attention. "As long as you are within my sight, you are cleared to leave Homeworld. Now, inform me of your learning progress while we travel to—" She had finally looked at me and stopped talking. Yellow Pearl, sensing something was wrong, also glanced at me. She gasped in shock.

"What are those… things sitting on your back, Black?" Two raised eyebrows and a sparking electric crackle were the limits of the woman's reaction.

I involuntarily remember the way Yellow had zapped me, and my wings fluttered in fear, along with… anticipation? Excitement maybe? The hunger in my gem seems to grow slightly. Dammit, looks like they also responded to my inner thoughts. I settled them down and spoke with the calmest tone I could muster. "They're my wings. They formed while I was testing my Diamond powers. I think I was always meant to have them, because White made my ship identical to them."

Yellow let out a low hum. "…White must have her reasons to design you like that, so I won't comment on it." A beat of uncomfortable silence passed. "So? What have you learned, Black?"

Oh. So we're moving on as if growing wings was a common occurrence. Okay. Coolbeans.

With a quick gulp, and ignoring the pangs of hunger, I talked about everything that I had already summarized previously within my mind. I was thankful that my throat didn't get sore from speaking so much. I really wanted to not hold anything back, to tell Yellow of all my conclusions and the things she needed to change, but it would be too soon. She would definitively take issue with my less-than-stellar opinions about their style of parenting—, sorry, rule.

"…And thus, Era 2 ended with my creation." Yellow, Noche, and Yellow Pearl had all zoned out during my speech, probably because they all knew these things from heart. Do Gems have hearts? I know they have some bodily functions, as they can cry, but bleeding wasn't one of them. I guess it makes them heartless.

"Your learning speed is… commendable, to say the least, Black. I can safely say you have the basics done." Yellow drawled. "Anything else that you have not mentioned?"

It seems I have a choice. I could continue with explaining my Diamond powers, or I could use this opportunity to ask Yellow something else. Something important.

I knew which pick I would be choosing.

"No, but… there's one thing that puzzled me when I was learning about our history. There is no information available before Era 1. No theories about the Gem's origins, or how the Diamonds came to be, or what happened during those million years White spoke about. Yellow, is there a reason why this period of history is gone, and can you please teach me what you know about it?”

Silence reigned upon the ship. After a few seconds, Yellow turned her head towards me. She was no longer leaning on her hand with nonchalance anymore. She had narrowed eyes, pinched eyebrows and a clenched jaw. Not an expression of hot anger, but one of solemnity—heavily strained with deep, cutting memories she didn't wish to revisit.

Noche and Yellow Pearl were begging me with their eyes to stop this line of inquiry. I held my ground. Speaking about things that were uncomfortable was a necessary and an important part of having a healthy relationship. Plus I was really curious. I wanted to know.

"Black." She ground out. "There is a reason why we do not look back upon our past. It is messy, chaotic, and most of all, imperfect. These matters shouldn't concern you." This was a clear rebuff. "They are not necessary for your education."

I couldn't let her shut down the conversation like that. I needed to persuade her.

"But aren't those who cannot remember the past condemned to repeat it? Yellow, If I don't learn about what happened, then nothing will stop me from making those same mistakes." Logical appeal done, now for an emotional one. "And you recognized me as a Diamond. I want to learn our history. Our true history.”

Yellow frowned at my words. She tapped her fingers on her armrest, the action making the ship vibrate slightly. Finally, she sighed softly.

"Fine." She said unhappy. "But I will only tell you this once, and you are not to repeat this classified information to any Gem, especially to White. Do you understand?" Her eyes had shone with a warning glint.

"Of course." I nodded happily at her words. Another score for Black Diamond.

"Pearls, this upcoming conversation is strictly confidential. No records allowed."

"Yes, my Diamond!" Noche and Yellow Pearl saluted, stowing away their tablets inside themselves with a bow.

Seeing that everything was in order, Yellow Diamond settled down into her seat. She had sighed lowly at my earnest expression before regaling the tale of the Formation of the Gem Empire. A tale of war, pain and family trauma.

 

--<◊◊⟨ Yellow Diamond ⟩◊◊>--

 

There was once a time when our resplendent Gem Empire, us Diamonds, and even Gems as a whole did not exist. Throughout most of recorded geologic history, instead of Gems there were Crystals. Rough and unpolished versions of the current day gems. Our weak, primitive precursors. They had spontaneously emerged out of the depths of Homeworld with flawed forms, crumbling cores and no purpose in existence. They fought one another with no logic or reason inside their simplistic minds.

The strong Crystals shattered the weak. Their remains returned to the earth, which had then formed into stronger Crystals. They shattered the weak, who were once strong but suffered unrepairable damage. No Crystals survived more than a century. This cycle of destruction and creation repeated for billions of years until an unprecedented event happened. The first two Gems had come into existence.

Yellow then ordered her Pearl to show Black some relics. Yellow Pearl created a hologram of two women sculptures: One having yellow hair resembling a sun with a round orange jewel in her hands, and the other one with flowing hair and a blue diamond-shaped gem. They resembled religious statues of ancient human civilizations, with plump bodies and simplistic designs.

Our Gems know them today as the Sun and Moon Goddesses, but they were originally called Sunstone and Moonstone, the first Feldspars to ever exist. Their facets were aligned, their light-forms were stable, and their brilliance was undisputable. Their formation was an improbable event that required very specific heat and pressure conditions, being fed the correct balance of minerals, and crucially, being created at the same time. But they didn't form at the same place.

Born in an active volcano, Sunstone was strong and powerful. She looked at the honor-less chaos from her rabid counterparts, and decided this was not to be. She fought against the primitive Crystals, stopped their resurgence by collecting them as trophies, and formed the basis for Gem combat today. But Sunstone was alone. She couldn't create another like herself to fight without killing. So she traversed Homeworld, looking for another to share the glory of battle.

Born deep within the mantle, Moonstone was intelligent and wise. She looked at the entropic chaos of the environment, and decided this was not to be. She investigated her creation, discovered how crystallization works, and formed the basis for Kindergartens today. But Moonstone was alone. She couldn't safeguard her growing Gems from the dangerous Crystals. So she traversed the caves, looking for another to protect her kind.

When the two met in a chance encounter inside a ravine, they didn't know what to say, as language hadn't been invented yet. But they persevered. Eventually, they fully came to understand one another, and they realized their goals complemented each other perfectly. They formalized their cooperation with a promise: to help each other forever. We celebrate this promise as the Sun and Moon festival every thousand years.

Soon, new Gems were created from their cooperation. From Sunstone came the warrior caste: Agates, Quartzes, Topazes, and Rubies. From Moonstone came the creator caste: Lapis Lazulis, Bismuths, Peridots, and Glasses. With more gems to help their cause, the first Gem City was founded, and it continuously expanded until it covered all of Homeworld.

With Sunstone and Moonstone's benevolent rule, Gems entered a time of prosperity and innovation never seen before. This was the First Gem Empire.

It was here that Yellow Diamond's voice, which had been respectful and slightly reverent, turned grave.

…However, for all that we owe Sunstone and Moonstone for the foundation of our glorious civilization, they were not perfect. They loved their Gems too much, giving them as much individuality and freedom as they wanted. Sunstone let her armies intermingle with no ranks or discipline, even promoting… Fusions between different Gems. Moonstone let her subjects explore all ideas and question everything, even if they involved Moonstone herself.

At first, these liberties led to great progress. The Crystals were wiped out and many impressive techno-magical advancements were made. But as centuries passed in peace, differences between Gems magnified. Many Gems became dissatisfied with their position. The noble caste was created to deal with these issues—the Garnets, Zircons, Jades, and Sapphires—but it wasn't enough. Disagreements and inequalities became common. Sunstone and Moonstone, who had resolved these spats before they could worsen, turned against each other in a fateful fight. Their promise was broken, and they would never reconcile after this.

Without their ongoing support, it became inevitable that the Gems fought senselessly once more. The Great Gem War began.

Factions formed between Gems. Some supported Sunstone, others Moonstone, many both, and a few supported neither. Battles were fought, peace treaties didn't last, and thousands of rare Gems were shattered. So many precious resources were wasted. Powerful inter-gem fusions changed the tides of war constantly, only for them to switch loyalties at the drop of a pebble due to their shifting and unreliable personalities.

The four factions got stuck in a four-way never-ending war, until the unimaginable happened: In what is now known as the battle of the Eclipse, Sunstone and Moonstone shattered each other in grief and rage. How tragic that the pair whose birth created everything, almost destroyed everything with their deaths as well.

With no leaders, all rules and conventions were thrown away as anarchy became the norm. Most of Homeworld's surface was destroyed because of this. When Gems regained their senses and tried to rebuild, it didn't work. The damage done was irrevocable. The combined horrors of the Great Gem War had created an all-pervasive lethal weapon against Gem-kind: Weather. A fatal affliction that causes Gems to get eroded particle by particle, no matter what they did to protect their gemstone. It was over.

But before the First Gem Empire ended forever, the remnants of the four factions banded together to create the ultimate project within the Core of Homeworld: Us. The dying factions used up all their resources and managed to create one Diamond each. One to create a perfect empire, one to maintain peace, one to end their suffering, and one to make them happy.

This was the last of our written pre-history.

When White, Blue and I were born, it was far too late to save them. We emerged to the ruins of the civilization that created us.

Pink emerged much later, after we fixed most of the damage, after we created a stable foothold on Homeworld, after White rediscovered how to create Gems with her infamous Emerald. Pink never had to live through the desolation of those first few thousand years, removing the rubble of our once great buildings, sifting through the remaining dust for any surviving gems, and desperately piecing together what happened. She never understood the burden of our responsibility, the weight of our existence, and remained immature all her life. But perhaps, without her, we wouldn't… no, it doesn't matter now.

We eventually managed to recover our basic technologies, but much was lost in the Great Gem War.

Sunstone's mythical seven-form martial arts, capable of shattering a gem with just a touch, were gone. Moonstone's illuminating debates within her court—rumored to have obtained the answer to life, the universe, and everything—were destroyed, the only remaining record being the inexplicable number forty-two. The Hourglass, capable of turning back time with a wish, remained a non-replenishable object of power. Magnificent synthetic gem variants, such as Alexandrites, Corundums, and Moissanites, would never be recreated again.

The four factions never wrote down how they created their Diamonds, their greatest and last invention. So we will forever remain the only four Diamonds in existence. At least, until White made you.

So, know this, Black. It took 800 thousand long, hard years, but we restored the Gem Empire again to its previous levels. And when Homeworld began to be too small for our Empire, it took another 200 thousand years to be able to visit other stars and make new colonies. And however long it takes to conquer the universe, we will do that as well. All to pay homage to our origins, to fulfill our original purpose to the best degree.

We had to rebuild, recreate, redo everything about the Empire ourselves, alone. We didn't know what happened, at first. We didn't know how to do it, at first. And we made many, many mistakes, at first. But we toiled, we adapted, and we learned. And just like you said, if we don't remember our history, we are condemned to repeat it.

This is a warning to you, Black. There are reasons we do the things we do, reasons that give our Empire stability and permanence, reasons that we figured out long ago. Rose Quartz and her trifling Rebellion could never understand this, so when they shattered Pink and threatened the foundation of our Empire, drastic measures had to be taken. So don't question anything, don't change anything, and most of all, don't be anything except what you are supposed to be: a Diamond.

We must make sure that the tragic end of the First Empire will never happen again.

…

The rest of our flight to Yellow Diamond's colony remained silent.

Chapter 10: Chapter 9

"We've arrived at Colony #2283 my radiant Diamond." Yellow Pearl announces, breaking the heavy silence. A brown planet covered with red seas appeared on the screen. I note the massive craters marring its surface with a quick thoughtful gaze. I wasn't exactly thinking about the wonders of space however.

There was a whole lot to cover about Yellow's version of the Gem creation myth. From the extinction of the pre-evolution Gems, was it a coincidence that the Crystal Gems had called themselves like that? Too how Sunstone and Moonstone were a mix between Adam and Eve and magical geniuses, to the fact that the original Gem civilization had been destroyed. But most of all, I was interested in how the Diamonds came to be. Because if what Yellow said was true, then it's one of the worst cases of transgenerational trauma I've ever seen.

I may not be a dedicated historian, or even a licensed therapist for that matter, but I could see a dysfunctional family when I saw one.

So let's put this into human terms. Sunstone and Moonstone were the grandparents. They had lived lives full of struggle and strife. So to give their Gem children a better life, they were caring but permissive—treating them more like friends instead of kids, without setting firm limits or self-discipline upon them. Because of this the Gems fought each other, causing rifts to form between the family. After a traumatic and violent divorce that ended with the death of Sun and Moon, the Gems irresponsibly had Diamond children to fix all their problems. The Gems died soon after to self-inflicted natural causes, leaving the Diamonds orphaned.

It painted a devastating picture that explained much of the Diamond's pathological behavior and their lack of morals. It didn't justify their actions, but it did show them in a new light.

The Diamonds simply didn't have anyone to teach them what was right, what was wrong, or what was healthy. They only had this vague 'purpose' to guide them through their immortal lives, and the difficult mission of reviving their dead society. They achieved it, but at what cost? When I thought about it, the purposes Yellow had mentioned might also explain their current personalities, powers, and positions within the GDA. I summarized everything that I knew about them.

White was to create the perfect Empire. She's a manipulator and perfectionist. This Diamond could mind control others, sharing her ‘perfect’ light with them. She's leader of the empire.

Yellow was to maintain the peace. She's very Work-focused. This Diamond had electricity based light-form disruption, clearly meant for dealing with rouge gems. She's commander of Homeworld's military.

Blue was to eliminate suffering. She's the grief stricken family member. This Diamond had aura-based emotional override, meant to calm other Gems. However, since Pink's death she has been unable to do anything other than inflict sadness onto others. She likely handles diplomatic affairs between different Gems.

Pink was to make everyone happy. She was childish, playful and temperamental. She had the widest range of power due to her nature of change. I'm not exactly sure what her job may have been. Perhaps it was… entertainment? That did seem to fit well with her purpose.

However, all the Diamonds seem to have the responsibility to expand the empire. Each of them produces colonies. I wonder how much freedom they get in making those colonies…

Anyways.

After the Diamonds learned of the cause of their parents' demise amongst their ashes, they fulfilled their wishes by creating a better Homeworld with their own Gem family. But, not wanting to repeat their grandparents' mistakes, they chose to do the opposite with an authoritarian parenting style and overdid it. They set up extreme rules, enforced strict obedience, and did not show much care or affection. It didn't help that the Diamonds also put themselves on a pedestal as their rulers.

The repressed Gems eventually rebelled, with Pink Diamond getting ‘shattered’ as a result. Fearing that this might cause a destabilization of their existence the remaining diamonds had nipped the rebel in the bud by burning the whole damn Rose bush with a flamethrower. But a Diamond was still lost, a crucial part of their empire and of their core family. A time of long depression followed. To correct this, White did the same thing her own parents did, creating a Diamond to fix their problems.

Me.

However, this new information placed many limits on what I could realistically do to help the Diamonds. Their culture was far too rigid to change, their beliefs were too ingrained to influence, and their hardships made them too resistant to accept anything resembling their tragic past. It was a miracle that the Diamonds weren't worse than they already were. I knew it was possible for them to change, but it just seems so… daunting. Yellow and Blue would be simple to influence, but take lots of effort.

Yellow was all about efficiency. I just had to show her my way of doing things was better. How I would do that however… was another question entirely. I'd need to discover some way to create Gems without using up planets. Colonies were a non-renewable resource, so that would definitely sell her. Until then I need to show her that kindness can be used more efficiently than cruelty. A gem who serves you out of willingness rather than simple fear is a more dedicated gem. Plus, it helps that gems genuinely seem to like serving the Diamonds.

Sure, a lot of that is probably just ingrained propaganda, but there's something… innate in their loyalty. Take Holy Blue Agate from the human zoo for example. She seemed to live for the diamonds. Even after the empire was disbanded she wanted nothing more than to receive orders. Jasper was another example. She seemed completely aimless after she had been healed, just living in the woods. Even Pearl, one of the original, founding members of the Crystal Gems only really fought for her Diamond, Rose Quartzes. Gems definitely did not like to be mistreated, but if the Diamonds could just be a little nicer, and allowed them a bit more freedom, I'm sure they would have a lot less rebellious gems on their huge hands.

Blue on the other hand, needed the opposite approach. Instead of unfeeling logic I would have to apply emotion. I need to get closer to her, something incredibly difficult due to the baggage my existence carried. I'm a constant reminder of Pink's ‘death’. I need to somehow get her to see me as more than that. I need her to love me in the same way that she loved Pink. Ugh… it sounds so manipulative when I put it like that. Still, it would need to be done.

Finally, there was… White to deal with.

White was a completely different challenge when compared to her fellow diamonds, there was no convincing her of anything. There was no bargaining, no compromises, her way was right and that's the end of the discussion. She took denial to an entirely new level. Even the supposed shattering of her sister didn't shake that delusion. All that it did was push her even further into denial. I understand why, It was a coping mechanism. If she simply denied that anything was wrong in her perfect world, then well, nothing could be wrong! The only way to break this delusion was to do something that couldn't be denied. Something so extreme that she couldn't rationalize it. I need to rip her delusions of perfection away somehow.

Now a question was brought forth. What was my role in all of this? Beyond simply making more Essence for the empire, and probably eventually creating colonies of my own, what did the other diamonds expect from me? I was made to replace Pink Diamond, so then am I supposed to make Gems happy just like her?

Perhaps I could use this 'purpose' as an entry point to make the Diamonds change, and then consequently the rest of the Empire. It wasn't the least contrived reason to do so, but it was something the Diamonds could accept at face value. I knew that Yellow and Blue were both unhappy with their current situations, so if that changed, then they might become more open minded to my recommendations later. As for White… Well, I'll figure something out later.

Yes. This was the greatest plan!

So, without any time to waste, I spoke up to Yellow. "Yellow. Can I say something before we leave?"

Yellow Diamond remained impassive as she lifted her hand to land her ship on an orbiting grey moon. "You have the floor, Black."

The two Pearls beside me tensed up in fear. I sent a soft reassuring smile to calm them. Not a fan of rocking the boat, I see. I take a quick breath and start. "I want to say… Thank you."

Yellow blinked in surprise.

I continued on. "Thank you for trusting me, for telling me our history and for all the hard work you did to create the Gem Empire. Because of your accomplishments I was born with many such privileges, a stable home, and a family." Even if I couldn't personally agree with some of the more reprehensible things that they've done, I can still be grateful. My situation could have been far worse after all. Imagine if I had been born a Ruby, or a Pearl? At least being a Diamond meant I had a chance to change the empire for the better.

"While I will never experience the same kind of devastation as you, I fully understand how difficult it must have been to rebuild an entire civilization by yourselves." I might have been able to rebuild something from the destruction of the last civilization, but to create a galactic empire spanning hundreds of worlds? Yeah, I wouldn't have been nearly as successful, no sense in lying. I then smiled, my wings now extending out in a welcoming manner. "I will try my best to honor our legacy, to fulfill my predecessor's original purpose, and to help you all become happier."

Yellow Diamond didn't seem to react to my words. She was as ineffable as ever. But if I looked in deeper, darker, I could see that her eyes shimmered with a touch of golden pride. A sense of validation filled the diamond. Even some of the stress hardening her perpetual annoyance had relaxed a tad bit. I wondered where the vengeful rock goddess that wanted to smite me to death with lightning had gone.

A sniffle diverted my attention.

I looked back at the two Pearls. Noche was smiling, feeling mostly positive with a side of very complex negativity. Pretty much what I've come to expect of her. Yellow Pearl though… she openly had globs of joyful tears streaming down her face. I was honestly flabbergasted. Why was she this moved? I didn't think I said anything that deep, did I?

Yellow cleared her throat, and I looked back to see all traces of emotion had been wiped from her face. All except for a small tilt of her lips. "Black, your… gratitude, is much appreciated. At least someone around here recognizes the titanium efforts required to make our Empire great. Nonetheless, if you are being truthful about wanting to help us all…" Yellow's smile disappeared. "Then you must prove it."

She then summoned a neon yellow screen in the air, showing the step-by-step pictographs on how to create a Colony.

"Learning from me will be no easy task. For now, I will be teaching you about Moon Base operation, Gem colonization troop direction, optimal Kindergarten placement, along with successful Colony design. All of these are essential skills you must have to rule within the Great Diamond Authority." She regarded me with a solemn look. "There will be no returning to Homeworld if you get bored, no running off to play any games, and no asking your Pearl for any help. You are to stay until I deem your progress satisfactory. If you waste my time then I will not teach you anything else again. Do you agree?"

My lips spread into a small smile. School was never exactly my favorite thing, being forced to sit in a classroom and learn about things I had no interest in, especially with my… shall I say less then optimal attention span, was just about the last thing I ever wanted to deal with. But this was different! I was going to learn all about gem creation! You gotta admit that's just a bit cool. Dark, considering the fact that you need to kill organic life to make gems, but still cool. I quickly nodded my head. "I agree!"

Yellow nods, rising from her seat with a glint of amusement and confusion in her eyes, her boots thudding on the floor as she extended her palms towards us. "Come now. I will carry you and our Pearls to the Moon base."

I raised my eyebrows up, warily watching the huge, armored gauntlets capable of crushing me in an instant. I shook my head mentally at the thoughts. Paranoia will not help me now. Besides, it's not like she will attack me for no reason… right? After the two Pearls saluted in thanks, the three of us stepped aboard her hands. The space was a tiny bit… cramped, thanks to my larger size. Noche had to sit on my lap, much to her visible blushing. Yellow Pearl on the other hand was so happy I feared she might explode. I nudged a bit farther away from her, just in case.

Yellow Diamond then carefully carried us to her chest, not letting us fall. Up close, I could see the electrifying might of her light-form, Aad wow, that Diamond of hers was as large as my torso. I noticed something else as well. Somehow, the hunger threatening to take over my mind had decreased. I quickly realize why when I look at the boots draining some of the light from Yellow's hands. So, I have to stay near the other Diamonds to not feel hungry? I could do that.

I absorbed the sensation. The tension in my shoulders lessened. This… This was nice, even if Yellow didn't realize she was helping me. I smiled, looking up at her. "Thank you. You didn't have to do this."

Yellow pursed her lips. "Your thanks are unnecessary, Black. I did this for efficiency purposes.”

I let out a huff of amusement. You're not fooling anyone, Yellow.

We left the arm ship with a magical golden bubble and entered a monolithic base on an alien moon. What was I worried about? This was going to be awesome!

 

--<◊◊⟨⟩◊◊>--​

 

My eyelids felt like they had bags on bags, my face etched with weariness, and my soul sent through the wringer. A cage made out of clear diamond-shaped glass kept me from escaping to outer space, away from the yellow predator that judged my every action with a critical eye. It had been a dreadful six months, six months! Since I had the naïve thought that this would be easy. Outwardly of course, my Diamond body was still as perfectly fine as ever. To my immense detriment. If I showed signs of wear then I could stop for a few hours at least!

How could I forget Yellow was a workaholic?

Yellow Diamond didn't seem to know about the concept of positive reinforcement, breaks, or even fun. She was constantly saying this, look at that, remember this, don't do that. And when she finished lecturing on a topic, or was distracted with even more work, she passed increasingly difficult tasks down onto me.

She didn't tolerate any mistakes.

Not when I was getting used to the Moon Base's clunky controls, or when I mistakenly instructed some similarly named Gem troops, or when I had incorrectly placed Kindergarten locations based on misread data. When I had finally finished all the tasks with no mistakes, Yellow instantly assumed I had mastered it and moved on to the next overtly complicated exercise. When I complained once that this was too much, she laughed. "Oh, Black. This is nothing compared to my work. Get used to it." I stopped complaining. It didn't feel good to be invalidated like that. But if this had been her life for thousands of years, then it was no wonder that she was so annoyed all the time.

I mean, I did just manage to ride the learning curve thanks to my immortal body, my absent need to eat or go to the bathroom, along with my accelerated pace of learning—which had improved so much it honestly scared me. My memory and my mind were still crystal clear, no matter how mentally fatigued I felt. Noche even cheered me on silently with a thumbs up (I taught her that) whenever I looked her way with pleading, exhausted eyes. Honestly I was just grateful that my new gem mind somehow made this amount of time bearable. Humans weren't made to sit in the same room for six entire months straight.

Still, this was all cutting it too far. It was an insane training regimen. No matter how cool the contents I was learning were, doing one thing for so long bored me out of my mind.

Why was I doing this again?

"Black. As your final task, I want you to revise your Colony design for any mistakes. Here is the file. Now, don't bother me until you have finished. I need to go call some slag-headed Nephrites that managed to crash their ships in the middle of empty space. Tch. Of all the things, they had to get cracked as well…"

Oh, right. To get on Yellow's good side.

I sighed inwardly. At least my hunger had diminished to a low growl thanks to Yellow's constant presence, and this learning torture was almost over.

I tuned out Yellow's harsh berating and leaned forward in my blackened marble chair. It was a special one that accommodated my wings and yet looked like a children's toy compared to Yellow's three-story seat. In front of me was a holographic projection of the planet with the Colony design. I've taken to calling the planet Maroon because of its reddish-brown color and because of how my attention drifted away because of Yellow's dry lectures. There was one Diamond palace, four main Gem hubs, 16 different spires, 64 Kindergartens and then 256 facet factories each with a Galaxy Warp.

Apparently, Maroon was an anomaly of a celestial object because of its high amount of reactive minerals. A boon to create both the warrior caste Gems and for specialized weapon building, hence the high number of kindergartens and facets factories.

Once I used the incredible Observation Orb on the Moon Base that could place you anywhere on the planet as if you were there though, the answer was apparent. Maroon once harbored life, but because of an asteroid that landed millions of years ago, it wiped out everything living on it. That's why it was so unusually ripe with rare resources. I pressed a black button on the touchpad desk to open my notes. Yellow had thought they were striation scratches and told me to stop, but after I had thoroughly disproved that notion with slightly harsh remarks, she dropped the subject.

I began check-marking my list on creating a colony with everything Yellow taught me.

I frowned. I couldn't detect anything wrong with any of the kindergarten placements or the colonization routes, or the order of operations. The data coming in from planetary surveys was perfectly fine. Simulations gave positive marks. Materials were being used efficiently. I triple checked, just in case, but nothing. Were there no mistakes? No. Yellow wouldn't give me a false alarm, there always was a hidden trick to it.

Maybe… Maybe I was looking too much at the bigger picture.

Instead of looking for errors, I looked for where there were none, and I quickly found something. There was a spot near Epsilon Kindergarten that bugged me. It didn't have any issues, terrain variations, or different resource levels. It was all too uniform, too… perfect. I re-scanned it with the Moon Base's sensors and it revealed completely different data that would have caused the Gems born there to have imperfections.

I smile. Got it. I quickly move the Kindergarten five miles away to a better place, find no other errors like it, and submit the file design over to Yellow. However, right before I touched the confirmation button, I gave myself a bit of time to reflect on what I was doing.

I didn't really have a problem with colonies in concept. Sure, I would have preferred to send down gems to preserve some of the unique organics this planet may have, but at the end of the day this was Yellow's colony. Not mine. It was a shame, but I could accept it. Plants were plants, and animals were animals. More can always be grown or bred later down the line. If the planet held intelligent, sentient life however, that would be a very different story.

I deemed the trade off in this situation to be worth it. Creating more gems outweighed the bad that finishing off this already dying world would do. That didn't mean the decision was one I made easily however. There was still the possibility that with time the planet could heal, support new life, and be a beautiful place. If I submit these designs however, that future will never pass, and the universe would gain one more dead husk in its lifeless cold abyss.

I sighed before pressing send.

"Yellow, it's done."

Yellow ended her call with the crying Nephrite and reviewed my design, swiping through each location and reading the data. Her eyes had narrowed on the Epsilon Kindergarten correction. My hands tensed under the desk. Was I wrong? Did I miss anything? Oh, this was far, far too stressful. Yellow dismissed the screen, her face stoic as she looked down at me. Her lips opened to speak, and I braced myself for the worst.

A smile was not what I expected.

"Well done, Black. Your design is Diamond approved. You've paid attention to everything I've said and performed excellently as a result. Not perfectly, but we can't all start out like White. Your work will be used as the official design for this Colony. Since you have met my expectations, I've decided to reward you."

A reward? So she does know about positive reinforcement. Why didn't she do it sooner, the bitc—No, Black, think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts. Think about the reward you will receive. It could be something very valuable and/or useful. Like being able to use my ship, or spending more time with her, maybe even a favor that would give me a chance to make her change her villainous ways—

"I will give you my best Jasper from my army. She will oversee your combat training until we meet again."

My right eye twitched. Her reward was more work? The previous excitement was crushed and replaced by annoyance. "No thank you."

Yellow's rare smile had disappeared instantly.

Chapter 11: Chapter 10

"What do you mean no?" Yellow growled out in a heated, strained voice. "Is my reward not good enough for you?" A crackle fizzled from her body, electricity threatening to escape at any moment. "Explain why you're rejecting my most generous and splendid gift. Now."

I flinch back slightly. I shouldn't have snapped at her like that. Was I becoming like Yellow, all annoyed and snippy? No. It must be because I'm just that tired. Great. Now I have to put out this fire before it burns away all the progress I made with Yellow. I'll have to word it in a way that aligns with Yellow's militaristic mindset as well, otherwise who knows what she will do next. I'm not getting thrown in that tower they punished Pink with. At least the Pearls weren't that fearful now. Instead of looking like the sky was falling, they just made a face like they're sucking a lemon. Back to business as usual.

Hmmm. Maybe this was actually a blessing in disguise. I could finally confront Yellow about some things that need to be voiced out. And honestly, I'm not feeling that patient after the literal months of nonstop studying. First thing first though, it was time for some talk no jutsu.

I stood up and faced her directly, my wings bracing themselves against the incoming storm. "Yellow, while I am thankful for your offer, there are many reasons why I said no. Firstly, I'm not used to my Diamond powers yet. I have accidentally ruined part of one of the hallways in my palace, and my Extraction chamber after discovering my wings. What if your best Jasper is cracked, or even worse, shattered? I don't want to risk damaging such a valuable soldier. Until I get my powers under control, I can't guarantee anyone's safety."

Yellow's ire hadn't fully faded, but the scent of electricity in the air lessened slightly. "So you can't control your powers. Not surprising. But this isn't enough to justify your refusal. Simply request some warrior Gems at the Re-setter and use them as practice until you can control your lacking quality. They will bear the brunt of the risk and my Jasper can supervise you far away. Safely." Her lip turned slightly upwards.

I crossed my arms. Oh no, she doesn't get to use the 'Gems are disposable' line at me. Not happening. “Yellow, are you telling me to be irresponsibly wasteful after we had just exited a resource shortage?" I raised an eyebrow.

Yellow scowled and crossed her arms as well. "…Fine. What are your other reasons?"

Hah. Black: 1 – Yellow: 0.

"Secondly. I don't know who Jasper is or what she is like. Can you fully vouch for her skills? I assume she is a great warrior, but that doesn't mean she will be a great mentor too. What of her personality, her disposition to teach?” The words roll off my tongue while Yellow looks to be slightly surprised, taking in my words with a thoughtful expression. Of course I knew who this Jasper was, and while she would make a valuable piece in controlling the future plot, my annoyance with Yellow was overruling that line of thinking. There was also the fact that I couldn't let the other diamonds think that they could push me around. If I'm meant to be part of the Great Diamond Authority then they will need to treat me like a Diamond. Like them.

“Maybe she won't hold back after a heated fight due to being a born berserker, or would baby me due to my status as a Diamond. Have you even asked her if she wants to train me? Perhaps she is quite content within her position in your army, and being given away like this would make her dissatisfied, feel betrayed by you. This would negatively affect her relationship with both of us in the future."

Yellow reclined in her seat, a thoughtful hand resting on her large chin. The storm receded slightly. "Interesting… I haven't considered these issues before." Most of the anger was replaced with a calculating gleam in her eyes. "Once again, you have made me learn something new, Black. I realize now that I was too hasty with my gift. I will check if my Jasper meets these requirements.”

Some of the tension left my body. So she could change her mind on things. That is a very, very good sign. Now I just needed to introduce her to the idea that Gems are as valuable as Diamonds and we'll be golden—

"However, you've forgotten something Black." Yellow Diamond said, her voice buffeting me with fierce winds. "All Gems are made to serve us, regardless of their opinions on the matter. Jasper should not feel anything else but pride and honor at being selected to be your combat instructor. If she doesn't, or performs inadequately for any other reason, then she will be slated for Rejuvenation. No matter how many achievements she earned during the Rebellion."

Dammit! She got me!

Black: 1 – Yellow: 1.

Logic and practicality weren't going to help me win this battle it seems. She will just find ways around it and eventually win. I'll have to hit her with a curveball she won't expect: My opinion.

"My third and final reason is…" Here goes nothing. "I never accepted to be trained in the first place." Yellow's face instantly twisted into a harsh indignance. "Listen to me Yellow. Just as you had the right to accept or deny my plea to help teach me, I have the right to say no to things you ask of me. I agreed to learn how to design a colony, but I didn't agree with this.”

I spread my wings out to the side fully, trying to get my point through. “You can't expect me to do everything you ask, like a soldier under your command. I'm a Diamond same as you.”

Yellow's face was hidden under the shadow of her hair-lmet, her sitting posture foreboding. "Black. You don't know what you're talking about." Cracks on her chair formed under her grip. "You are a Diamond only by gemstone. You don't have the memories required to rule. Need I remind you that you begged me to teach you? Knowing how to fight is a must in your position, so you don't have a choice in the matter. You will learn under Jasper, and that's final. This is for your own good."

Oh-ho-ho-ho. Pulling the 'this is for your own good' parent card on me? That won't work on me Yellow. I'm a fully grown adult, not some child you can scold into behaving properly, no matter how much you want me to be.

I didn't say what I was thinking, of course.

Yellow would definitively break me and this entire place apart. There was also Noche and Yellow Pearl to consider as well. I didn't miss how they hid behind my marble seat, huddled together in fear. I needed to tone down my flaming frustrations to cool, clinical reasoning to give them both a chance to flee, before I escalated this confrontation any further.

"So, I don't have a choice because it's for my own good. Okay. I can understand that." I held my arms behind my back and paced to the other side of the room. "Let's just say I learn to fight under Jasper, and I become proficient in the art of destruction." I gave the two Pearls a look that said to LEAVE NOW while I was talking. “You become satisfied with my ability to cause damage, and we move on, forgetting this entire conversation happened." They had swiftly escaped down the stairs. At least they'll be safe now. "However answer me this simple question. Who exactly am I to fight against?"

Yellow blinked slowly. "Our… enemies."

"Okay." I nodded my head. "Which enemies?" Yellow opened her mouth to speak, but I didn't let her answer. "The organics? As this planet has just shown us, they all die so very easily. And as far as I'm aware there aren't any other intelligent civilizations in the universe that can match our level of technology or reach. The rebels? Don't make me laugh, you wiped all of them out with Blue and White's help!”

“An existential threat so great, no one speaks about it in fear of making it exist? I was there during your meeting, Yellow. Not once did you three seem worried about anything going wrong, sure that you will conquer the universe in time. So who is it, then? Who is this enemy I have to fight?" I pointed my finger at her in accusation. "Or is there any enemy at all?"

"Don't question me, Black." Yellow growled with gritted teeth.

"Why not?" I shot back. "If I can't question anything, then how am I meant to learn how to be a Diamond? I simply don't know anything about being one. If you had wanted me to stay ignorant, then you shouldn't have bothered to teach me in the first place. No. There has to be another reason you're not telling me, and I won't accept it just because you said so.”

"Stop. Talking. Now." Yellow glared at me, frustration sparking the space around her.

I didn't stop. I was on a roll.

"So why do I have to learn to fight, Yellow? I want the truth. I'm as safe as can be near you. You're all so mind-bogglingly powerful, I can't even begin to comprehend how you could be defeated conventionally. If I'm not with any of you, then I could have massive armies, super powerful weapons, and supreme technology to protect me. With all of this, I am not in any danger, Yellow. I am the danger.” A thought crosses my mind. “And another thing. If I'm supposed to make everyone happy, then how will fighting help anyone? The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that you're the one that doesn't know what they're talking abou—"

"IT'S BECAUSE I DON'T WANT YOU TO GET SHATTERED AGAIN!"

The might of the rising sun exploded into view.

Instinctively, my wings shielded me from the light/shockwave, densify rooting me in place, and Devour doing all it can to take the brunt of the damage. My feathers cracked and broke. My feet sank into the floor and My Diamond voraciously consumed the yummy energy. After what felt like an eternity of searing light and heat blinding me, I regained my vision.

A red light shone in pulses. Pieces of glass were thrown everywhere. The vacuum of space was all around me, a dark blackness amidst pinpricks of stars and galaxies. In the middle of a molten crater that once was the command center, Yellow stood still as a statue, her eyes shut in repressed sadness.

…I might have taken this a bit too far.

Then, an emergency bubble had formed over us, air and sound rushing from the vents in tandem. Without the shock of getting blasted by Yellow, I could now feel my poor wings. They hurt, itching in places I wasn't sure how to scratch. Those things were not meant to protect me one bit.

I sighed. Yup, I definitely went way too far.

I looked at Yellow, seeing her unresponsive. I felt extremely guilty. Of course Yellow would want me to know how to defend myself. How could I forget just how much Pink's ‘Death’ affected her? Affected them all? As opposed to Blue's unending mourning, Yellow bottled up her emotions. She threw herself into her work, never letting herself think of the past but also never letting herself grieve. A strong rush of sadness, grief, guilt, anger and even some self-hatred was coming off of Yellow in droves. Part of me felt touched that even in the short amount of time we've known each other, she genuinely wanted nothing bad to happen to me. Sure, most of that was due to a mixture of past regrets and the fact I was all she had of Pink, but still. It reassures me slightly.

She did care, in her own strict, bossy way.

I couldn't leave her alone like that. I removed my legs from their holes with a bit of force and walked over to Yellow, moving over the molten squishy stone as pieces of my black feathers fell onto the floor, new ones growing back into place. I stop when I was right next to her and look up at the depressed space goddess.

I hugged her enormous high-heel boot.

I felt her shift, noting my presence. After a tense moment, she let out a long, suffering sigh. "…Black. What are you doing?"

"I'm hugging you." I stated plainly.

"You're holding onto my foot."

"It's a sign of affection, Yellow. It's meant to make you feel better."

"I don't need your—"

"Shut up and take it already. It's just a hug."

Silence.

Then, a chuckle. A sad, but affectionate one.

In the corner of my eye, I saw the two Pearls pop their heads to check in on us. They look at us, look at themselves, and then went back downstairs as quickly as they could.

Eventually, the chuckles died down. "…I can't predict you, Black. Nothing about you makes any sense. One moment you're a cunning Diamond, and then the next you're a tumbling Pebble. Not even Pink could have made me feel this… confused. I… I don't know what to think about you."

I let go of my hug and walked a bit further away to look Yellow in the eyes. "Then let's reconcile, Yellow." I then realized who I was talking to. "Do you know what reconciliation means?" I tilted my head, smiling up at her.

"No." She said deadpan.

Figures.

"Reconciliation is where two individuals make amends after a peculiar fight, restoring their relationship and ending up happier as a result. Why don't we try it with something simple? I'll say one word, and you say the same. Do you agree?"

Yellow pinched her brow. "Fine."

"I'll start. This is the word: Sorry. Now, you do it."

"Fantastic…" She sighed again. "…Sorry."

"Great. Now, let's say why we're sorry. I'll start again. I'm sorry that I didn't consider why you wanted me to train in combat. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." I said with honesty. "Now it's your turn. Just say what you're sorry for.”

Yellow was dead to the world.

I gave her a big smile. One that promised her untold amounts of suffering if she didn't give in. Never say I couldn't be persuasive or petty.

"…I'm. Sorry. I. Didn't. Give you. A choice. To learn… how to fight." Every single word was said as if she was getting stabbed in the back.

My smile softened to a natural one. "Apology accepted, Yellow." I knew I was pushing her a lot, but Yellow was a bull you had to take by the horns to get anything done. "Now, this is the last one. Both of us will tell what they want from each other and say why. With the truth. It must be reasonable, achievable, along with something the other will agree to do." Yellow looked ready to kill someone. "This time how about you start?”

She blinked, her bloodlust fading, only to return in full force as she narrowed her eyes in complete distrust. I didn't need to absorb her emotions to know what she's thinking.

I exhaled. "Look, Yellow, Just say what you want from me. Say it honestly please. Just try it, once. I promise I'll listen to what you say.”

It took a full minute for her eyes to turn from hostility to sadness. When she finally spoke, her voice was dry and crackling. "I want you to… undergo combat training, with my best Jasper." Her voice was dry. "I want you to do it… Because if I had done the same to Pink, then maybe she wouldn't have…" She wiped her eyes. "No, I want you to do it, so you are able to defend yourself if you ever need to fight for your life." Yellow looked back at me with a fierce glare. "So. What will it be, Black? Are you going to reject me again just like you did with my reward?"

"No. I'll do it."

"Tch, I knew this was a waste of my—!" Yellow stopped mid-rant. "Wait … you agree?"

"Yes.” I tilted my head. “Why wouldn't I?"

"Why wouldn't—" Yellow couldn't believe it. "That's… That's it? After all the things you said, all that time you had spent being so frustratingly dense, all that resistance you showed on every steppingstone along the way, and you just say… Yes?"

I nodded. "Easy, wasn't it? All you had to do was to tell the truth, Yellow. If it means you feel better about my safety, then of course I will learn to fight. I wasn't that averse to the idea in the beginning but the way you went about it was not right. You don't treat your family members like they're lesser, taking away their freedom of choice because you said so. You treat them equally based on love and respect. Otherwise, our relationship as a family will become strained and then break."

"Easy? But… But I…" Yellow was conflicted, doubt seeping into her emotions, but then she simply shakes them away alongside her head. "No. No, you don't get it, Black. Treating each other equally? Preposterous. All Gems have different values based on their powers, their roles, and their quality. It forms a perfect stratification system where the rare Gems are placed over the common ones. Us Diamonds aren't an exception, even if you claim we are a 'family'. You're at the bottom of the Authority, Blue and I are at the sides, and White is at the top. This is how it is and always will be. End of discussion."

I frowned deeply. Damnit, her beliefs were once again an immovable obstacle. I was so close to a breakthrough with her as well! No, I can't give up. I could still do this! “Yellow… I think you're confusing authority with personal worth.”

Yellow's eyebrows scrunch together in clear confusion. Gotcha. “What's the difference?”

I rub my chin in thought. How do I explain this to someone who thinks those two concepts were the same thing? “While it's true that rank informs how we act with someone officially, it's not the same personally. While we may be at the top of the empire, and have authority over those serving under us, that doesn't mean we should treat them lesser for that fact.”

“Then how else are we meant to treat them?” Yellow's confusion grew. “They are lesser, it is a fact. A simple Ruby is less valuable than a Sapphire. An Agate is more valuable than an Amethyst. We are the most valuable of all.”

I rubbed my eyes in annoyance. Right, I had to remember that unlike humans where the only actual difference between us was only things like race, the different gem types had quantifiable advantages and disadvantages.

That made this incredibly difficult. I couldn't just say all gems were equal and expect her to understand. Yellow was practical above all else. So what should I do? Maybe a 'no lying' promise? No, it wouldn't work, Yellow doesn't lie, she withholds her true feelings instead. Always tell me how you're feeling? Still no, too vague and could be misinterpreted. I needed something that increased her empathy and understanding… Hmm… Oh, I got it.

"Then, for my part of our reconciliation," I said, being surer of this plan by the second, "I want you to promise to follow the Golden Rule with me."

A raised eyebrow was her response. "What rule are you speaking of, and why is it made of gold? It isn't a very useful metal, too soft for any practical use. Its only redeeming quality is its conductivity and color."

So Gems don't value gold? Interesting, I wonder if—No, I can't get distracted. "It's just a name I came up with. The rule is: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Yellow remained unperturbed. "Explain."

"It is quite simple, really. But it requires the answer to this question first. How would you like to be treated by other Gems?"

"With respect, deference, and obedience, of course." She primly responded.

"Okay…" I have to find another angle here. "Who doesn't treat you like this?"

"You." She said with a quick roll of her eyes. "Obviously."

"Yes, I know." I withheld my urge to sigh. "But what about Blue? …White? How do they treat you?"

"Them?" Yellow scowled, looking away. "They treat me fine."

"…Yellow, you've got to do better than that if you want me to explain the Golden Rule."

"Ugh, fine! You want the truth, Black? You'll have it." She snarled. "Blue doesn't listen to me anymore. She's too hysterical, always obsessing over Pink's toys. I've told her time and time again to be the leader her Gems need her to be, but she doesn't care, passing all the work to me whenever she can. And White? I've done so much for her, colonized so many planets, sacrificed so much for the sake of our perfect Empire, and yet, she never returns my calls! And when she does, it's always 'as expected' or, 'continue as planned'. Why can't she acknowledge my efforts for once? That's all I ask! But no. It's always up to me to fix everything."

Yellow Diamond stomped the ground with a huff, making me jump a bit as the destroyed floor crumbled further. She really had a short fuse, huh.

I let her stew for a few moments before I spoke softly.

"To summarize, what you really want is for you to be listened to and to be acknowledged. Am I correct?" I repeated her own words to further the point.

She was ready to bolt. "…Yes."

I solemnly nodded. With all the required context acquired, it was time to finish this whole thing off with a bang. A different kind from the one Yellow made, though.

"…So, what the Golden Rule tries to do is help you imagine how others would react to your actions. Here is a hypothetical example: Let's say Blue listens to your advice and does her job, and White calls you to thank you for everything you've done. That would feel good, right? Now, let's imagine that a distinguished, but unawarded Nephrite requests to speak to you. You have the option of ignoring her, but just like how Blue and White make you feel when they ignore you, the Nephrite will feel the same and become dejected. However, if you instead do what you would like others to do for you by listening to this Nephrite and congratulating her for her efforts, you will have made her significantly happier, and thus more eager to serve under your command.”

"That is what the Golden Rule is all about, Yellow. To be clear, I don't want you to adopt the Golden Rule with everyone. Just with me. And of course, you can do this with others if you want to." I clarified. "And look, to be fully honest, Yellow, I… don't want to fight you like we just did. I just want you to listen to me, to acknowledge me. If you do this, then through reciprocation, I'll also do the same to you. I've already done this a bit of this when I thanked you back in the ship, and when I learned about colony design. Wouldn't you much rather have pleasant experiences instead of bitter struggles? I can safely say that I would."

I held my hand out to her.

"So what do you say, Yellow? Do you promise to follow the Golden Rule along with me?"

Yellow Diamond had remained silent during my whole speech, her arms crossed over in defiance while indecision and conflict warred within her gaze.

She needed a bit more convincing.

"Come on, Yellow. Please? I promise you won't regret it." I waved my hand leadingly. "Or are you scared of trying something new?"

Immediately, Yellow's face hardened into one of determination, and with a blast of air, she appeared right next to me, crouching while holding my hand with her index and thumb.

We shook on it. I smiled.

Black: 2 – Yellow: 1.

Match won.