Steven Universe: Pink Moon

Interlude 2: Left Behind

Rose, Pearl and the other Crystal Gems had a wonderful life on Earth, free of worry about the life being destroyed by gem growth. But what Rose didn't realise, was that long term exposure to the Moon's surface was enough to shatter some types of gems. And she had left the quartz soldiers there. Earth Gems, in a place with no atmosphere,  for almost 6,000 years. 

"It's been so long. There are hardly any of us left. Why haven't we got any orders yet?" A Quartz looked around the almost empty Kindergarten. Now, where there were once living things, there was a large pile of dull-hued, shattered gems. One Amethyst soldier clutched desperately onto the rock wall, struggling to keep upright.

"No, we can't lose you too!" The Quartz rushed over to the dying Amethyst soldier and took her arm. But it was too late. The Amethyst took her last look up at the Quartz, eyes wide and filled with tears, and her gem broke off and shattered into many pieces. 

The Quartz fell to her knees. That was the last one. There was nobody else here anymore. Just her. The only one whose gem hadn't finally shattered, after years of being here, waiting for someone to come and give them orders, make them feel useful, valued. She started to cry, her tears hitting the shards of the shattered Amethyst before her. 

Where was Pink Diamond? She was supposed to be commanding these gems. Instead, she left them to die, in a place they could not survive in. 

"I'm next. I should just shatter now. If she does come back, it's not like I am fit to fight anyway." The Quartz had given up. She was warped, and had been since she emerged almost 6,000 years ago. For one thing, her gem was grey. Her physical form had no colour, and was much smaller than that of the others. She didn't even know what type of Quartz she was. 

She also had this strange thing attached to her belt. It was round, and it had numeric characters written on it. There were two small arrows on it, and they would move, every 60 seconds. The Quartz used it, to count how long it was she was in this place. At first, she thought every soldier had it. It was a very useful thing, after all. But then, she noticed that nobody else had one. She was most definitely not the gem she was supposed to be.

She climbed to the very top row of the Kindergarten, looked down at the ground below her, and prepared to fall down and shatter her own gem. This was all Pink Diamond's fault, as far as she was concerned. She forgot all about her own army.

"Hey, look at this." A voice came from nearby. Someone was there! The Quartz decided she had better hide. She hid her physical form inside her gem. 

"Look at these caves! Maybe something lives here." It was a group of humans who had landed on the Moon. They scoured the Kindergarten for signs of life. They found only the shattered gems, which they picked up and put in a bag. They also found and picked up the Quartz. 

"These ones are broken, but this one looks fine. We can still test it." The humans took the gems back with them to Earth.

Tests were run on the quartz's gem, when they returned. Nothing was found. "It's just a normal rock. I knew it. I really hoped that we found something interesting!" one human said, and took it outside.

There the gem sat, for some years. Until, she started to reform. The Quartz looked around for a while. This wasn't the Moon. Was this Earth? 

Then, it dawned on her. She could find Pink Diamond on Earth. She had always wanted to meet her. And now, she wanted to tell her about how many gems were lost on the Moon, and ask her why she left them and never came back. She had so many questions. 

But she couldn't find Pink Diamond on this huge planet! How would she find her without any sort of clue where she was, what she looked like, or anything? 

"Where are you, Pink Diamond?" she muttered, while staring at her timepiece. Her gem started to glow slightly. Suddenly, out of it came a small photograph of a house, surrounded by cliffs. It was on the beach. She stared at the photograph, very confused, until it came to her – her gem was showing her where Pink Diamond was! 

After months of travelling by foot, and encountering even more humans, she reached the place in the photograph. She couldn't believe it! She could finally meet Pink Diamond, and everything would be put right by her. 

After scouring the beach and not finding anyone, the Quartz walked up the steps to the house, and looked in the window. There was someone in there! Maybe it was Pink Diamond! 

A Pearl and a human boy opened the door. They looked at the Quartz in surprise, she was clearly nothing they had ever seen before. Then, the human spoke.

"Hi! I'm Steven! Who're you?" The Pearl beside him whispered something that the Quartz couldn't make out. But she spoke up, anyway. She needed to find Pink Diamond, after all.

"Hello. I'm looking for Pink Diamond. I was told to look here."