When Worlds Collide (Blue Diamond x Reader)

Chapter 17: Small Victories

You landed in a utopian city which casually blended natural environments with its infrastructure. About the landscape were a few giant pits resembling sinkholes. A crowd of all manner of aliens, including gems, stood around one of them, singing.
“Excuse me,” Blue asked, kneeling near a grey, noseless alien, “do you know what's happening?”
“A huge powerful being made of gem shards has been hibernating underground since the war here ended, and it's been growing stronger. A sapphire’s had the idea that we need to wake it up if we're going to stand a chance. If you want to help, add your voices!” You noticed that he showed no fear and spoke to Blue as if she were any random person. In fact, nobody seemed particularly interested by her arrival. You weren't sure if they didn't know who she was, or if they just weren't concerned.
You turned to Blue and shrugged, before all in your group joined the chorus. You weren't really sure what was happening. A large orange gem with a build similar to Jay’s stood near the pit, and kept glancing back at you strangely.
As the song carried on, repeating over and over, reinforcements arrived from all across the galaxy. Yellow Diamond came, and so did White. Fortunately, she seemed not to pay any attention to you. Another group arrived, standing right next to yours. Although you'd never met them yourself, you recognised them immediately as the Crystal Gems. When Blue realised this, she looked down at them with a hint of fear. They looked back at her, similarly anxious. There was a brief moment of acknowledgement as each side realised the other had no interest in fighting, and carried on.
Eventually, a terrible cry echoed from the depths, and a dark shape flew up from it and then out of sight. You heard a single phrase spoken in your own voice. You looked for the source, then realised no one else had heard it; it had simply appeared in your head, heard but unspoken.
“The End.”
You shuddered. That wasn't just a phrase. It was a name. And it meant… something you found you weren't allowing yourself to consciously know.
Satisfied that the situation was resolved, White and Yellow left almost immediately. Your group intended to do the same, but Garnet called up to you.
“Blue Diamond, we wish to speak to your human.” She turned her head and added, “No offence, Blue Pearl. I see through these kinds of things.”
Blue looked to you nervously.
“It's okay Blue. They're good guys. They wouldn't be interested in hurting me. Plus, we outnumber them if anything does go wrong.” She still appeared unconvinced. “Trust me on this. I'm sure they really do just want to talk.”
Trusting your judgement, she nodded and set you down in front of them.
“Hello (Y/N). I'm Garnet. This is Pearl, this is Amethyst, that's Peridot over there, and this is Steven.”
“You know my name?”
“As it happens, we know you, and you know us. You're down there right now,” she said, indicating the pit.
“I don't understand. I've never met you in my life, and I'm standing right here.”
“Exactly. And that isn't a contradiction.”
As she spoke, Amethyst went over to get caught up with Jay, while the two Pearls simply nodded to each other.
“So you're saying I'm in two places at once, and that we know each other but also don't.”
“Yes. I can see glimpses of the future… or rather, possible paths the future might take. Usually when I look at someone, I see a single past, a single present, branching off into near infinite possible futures, some more probable than others. But for you… that isn't what I see. You're starting from multiple points. It's as if some event, some moment of divergence, occurred in your distant past, and instead of experiencing one of the possible outcomes, your being split in order to follow multiple paths. When I look to your future, the opposite happens. There are many versions of you with different pasts and different presents, but as you go forward, the possibilities become fewer. As if all of you are heading towards a single common point of convergence.”
“I didn't know that was possible. So all those things I remember differently… they are real in my past, just not the past of the people around me.”
“Bingo.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I figured you should know,” she replied.
“Well, thank you for that, I suppose, although I'm not really sure what to do with this information. Oh, and, I know you guys are good people, err, gems, whatever, so I do just wanna say I'm sorry we've ended up on opposite sides. I have no interest in being your enemy.”
“Don't worry. You won't be. I don't think any of you will.”
“You think Blue’s going to change sides?” you asked quietly.
“Can't give too many spoilers,” she replied with a smirk, tilting her visor down to reveal three eyes and winking.
“So should we wait around? Should I meet myself, or will that break the universe?”
Garnet appeared to consider, but then her face fell.
“Someone is coming for you. You need to leave, now!”
You took a step back, confused and shocked by the sudden urgency of her tone.
“Who's coming? Maybe we can stand and fight?”
“I can't seem to see,” she said, rubbing her temples as if getting a headache. “I can’t - AHHH!” She cried out in agony and collapsed to her knees, clutching her head.
“Garnet!” you and Steven exclaimed simultaneously. She waved you off.
“No, it's okay, I'll be fine, I just can't try to see what it is. Go, while you can!”
“What about you guys?”
“We'll be fine, it's after you, not us. Leave, hurry!”
Blue put a hand on your shoulder.
“I think we'd better do as she says,” she advised with worry in her voice.
“Yeah,” you agreed with a nod.
You all returned to the ship and took off as fast as you could. You were glad you'd said your goodbyes earlier, because the sense of urgency left no time for ceremony as Zircon and Aquamarine, then Holly and Jay, were dropped off. It was just you, Blue, and Pearl as Blue guided the ship towards Earth.
As you approached Earth's orbit, you saw there was a second ship approaching, golden and with crescent wings, its every feature resembling a gleaming blade.
“The Burning Scimitar,” you whispered. You recognised it and remembered its name immediately… which was concerning considering you'd never seen or heard of it before. You felt every bit of hair on your body stand on end and a fearful shiver run down your spine. “Fire on that ship!”
“(Y/N)! That isn't like you! Do you know this vessel?” Blue asked, shocked by your tone.
“There’s no time! Blue, please!” you screamed.
Somewhat panicked, she obeyed, raising her arm and extending her index finger. Her ship did the same, and a blue beam of light shot forth… at exactly the same moment a glowing red projectile fired from one of the forward-arcing wingtips of the Burning Scimitar. The two blasts collided halfway between both ships, exploding and unleashing a crimson shockwave. You felt the ship shake violently, causing the lights to flicker. Blue gasped in momentary pain as she felt the feedback through the kinetic interface, falling briefly to one knee, but quickly righting herself.
“My Diamond! Are you okay?” Pearl asked.
“I’m fine, thank you Pearl. I don’t know how, but you were right (Y/N).”
“My Diamond, the integrity of the hull was severely compromised by that blast. It may breach if we sustain another,” Pearl explained as she checked her screen.
“And that didn’t even detonate close to us,” Blue muttered. “Can we outrun it?”
“My Diamond, reading an energy spike in the enemy vessel. They’re preparing to fire again!”
Blue pointed again, unleashing another blast, aiming at the Scimitar’s left wingtip, blowing away a small part of it. The remaining area glowed red for a second, then exploded violently as its projectile detonated prematurely in the damaged mechanisms. The Burning Scimitar was thrust sideways, slowly rolling over itself. Blue fired again, this time damaging the other wing. The Scimitar shuddered and spun for a moment, taking some time to stabilise. When it finally did, it rotated so it was facing away from you.
“Pearl, can you open a channel to that ship?” you asked. She nodded, went to work doing so, then nodded again when it was ready. “Black Diamond! If you’re on that ship, this is twice we’ve defeated you, and twice we’ve spared you! You owe us!”
You didn’t expect a response, but you got one. A male voice answered, croaky and tired. Your blood ran cold when you realised it was the same voice from your nightmare, when the red tree had spoken to you in your mind.
“Do not become cocky, Dreamer. Where my queen has failed, I shall not. You will live this day, for I am weak, and you were quicker on the draw than I. But the day grows near when I shall be strong once more. When that day comes, you will know defeat. You will know what it is to lose everything you love, as I did. And you will know that it is the end. Farewell for now, old friend.”
The Burning Scimitar’s engines flared, and it accelerated until it vanished. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, yet something in that voice meant everyone remained filled with terror and dread. You noticed that Pearl was trembling. You ran over and hugged her close, comforting her.
“Who… who was… was that?” she stammered in a whisper.
“I think it may have been the mastermind we suspected,” Blue said, reducing her size so she could join the two of you in a comforting hug.
“At least we’re safe now,” you said softly. Then you remembered something. “Oh jeez, I almost forgot. Blue, I am so sorry for snapping at you like that! That was miles out of line! I know I was panicking, but I don’t know what I was thinking!”
“You were thinking that we were in danger, and you did what you had to to keep us all safe. You did nothing wrong,” she assured you, kissing you.
“Were you scared?” you asked quietly.
“Yes,” she whispered after a pause. “But we're safe now.”
“Let's go home,” Pearl said.
Arriving at home, you found there was police tape outside.
“Ah. Right. Err, just ignore that,” you instructed, stepping over it. The two gems did the same and followed you inside. “Apparently no one got my message,” you grumbled, seeing how the police had rummaged through everything. “Make yourselves comfortable, I need to make a phone call.” You went and picked up the phone while the two of them sat in the living room. “Hey Hannah? It's (Y/N).”
“You're alive! What do they want?”
“What does who want?”
“The people who took you! I assume they're listening?”
“No no, I wasn't kidnapped! I'm at home, I just had to… take care of a few things. I explained it all in my message.”
“What message?”
“…The one I left on my answering machine? I see the police were here, I'd assume they found it?”
“Answering machine? What decade are you from?! I mean, I'm glad you're okay, but if you disappeared of your own accord, why didn't you give any warning?”
“Well, it came up suddenly, and it was urgent, so I needed to leave as soon as I found out.”
“Why are you being so incredibly vague? Oh, I brought your stuff back, by the way. I'll swing by with your suitcase later.”
“Ah, thank you. It's just that… I doubt you'd believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
“I was being stalked by invisible aliens, so a giant blue alien took me to outer space and to a bunch of different planets so we could find out what was going on, and I basically ended up fighting a goddess with the power of billions of beings. I won, then we went to another planet and helped a bunch of people defeat something underground by singing at it I guess, then we had a brief space battle above Earth with what might have been an evil tree, and then we got home just a few minutes ago.”
“(Y/N)... don't take this the wrong way, but… did someone in Korea talk you into taking some kinda pills or something?”
You felt Blue’s hand on your shoulder. She leaned over so she could speak into the telephone.
“I can confirm that what (Y/N) said is exactly what happened.”
“Who's that?”
“That's Blue Diamond. She's the reason I left. She's, well, I suppose you could say she's my girlfriend.”
“You're kidding me. I've heard of her. Aren't the Diamonds, y’know, evil?”
“I can't speak for the rest of them, but she certainly isn’t.”
“Oh… are we not welcome on this planet?” Pearl asked you uncomfortably.
“No no, you're fine.”
“Who's that now? How many people do you even have in there?”
“That was Blue Pearl. She's kind of also my girlfriend. It's just the three of us here.”
“Dang (Y/N), when did you get to be such a player?” You heard Hannah take a deep breath. “So let me see if I follow… we take a trip halfway around the world, and in the middle of it, you decide that isn't good enough, so you go on an epic adventure to outer space and come back with two girlfriends, then play the whole thing off as no big deal?”
“Actually, I had been enjoying myself. Leaving in the middle of the trip wasn't originally my idea - I had to be persuaded quite a bit. But other than that, yeah, you've pretty well got it.”
“Okay, well I'll come by layer with your things. Meanwhile, you should probably get in contact with the police so they can call off the investigation. Does your family know you're back?”
“No, I haven't called them yet. I plan to get everyone together so I can introduce the bluesome twosome and answer everybody's questions all at once, instead of having the same conversation over and over. I'll see you later, and I am sorry for disappearing like that.”
“It's okay, I'm just glad you’re, y’know, not dead. Bye!”
You hung up the phone and sat on the couch between Blue and Pearl.
“Ahh, it's good to be home. So… I guess we should figure out where we go from here. Blue, you and I love each other, I think that's well established. Pearl, I'm not as clear on how you feel. Would you say it's a crush, an interest, a bit more?”
“I… I'd say more. You've always been so kind and considerate to me. From the first time we spoke, I realised how much you cared about me… and how much I cared about you. I know it sounds silly, but whenever you talk to me, you make me feel like I'm the prettiest, most talented, most important gem in the world. I…” She turned her head away, unable to look directly at you. “I love you.”
You gently touched her chin, turning her head to face you.
“Pearl, you don't have to be nervous. I love you too.”
You held her close and slowly leaned in, intending to kiss her. But as you held her in your arms, you could feel that her heart was racing. So instead, you just rested your head on her shoulder and hugged her tight. Finally you felt her relax, and she put her arms around you. Now that she was calm, you put one arm around her shoulders, placed your other hand lightly on her cheek, and kissed her tenderly.
“So I guess that's the situation. You both love me, and I love both of you.” You felt like you'd just made a reference, though you weren't sure to what. “This isn't really a normal arrangement in my culture… but I suppose there's nothing wrong with it when you think about it. Why should it be acceptable to hate many people, but only to love one? If you both want to try to make this work, I promise I’ll try to treat you both equally. I can't guarantee that I won't turn out to feel more strongly for one of you than the other, nor can I control whether I do, but I'll try never to treat you differently because of it. And if either of you does ever feel neglected or like I haven't been spending enough time or paying enough attention to you, let's just talk about it and try to fix that right up instead of letting jealousy or resentment brew. I also acknowledge the possibility that either or both of you might develop affections for other people, human or otherwise. I don't think it'd be fair of me to try to forbid that or anything, so how about we all just agree to be honest in whatever relationships we have going? It'll take some effort, but I think we can do this. And I want to do this. The only life I can even dream of right now is one with the two of you. I love you both more than I thought possible.”
“That sounds lovely!” Blue declared, although you could tell by her eyes that something was troubling her. “Only… there is a problem. Much as my feelings about things may have changed, I still have duties on Homeworld, and worlds I cannot abandon. I can visit you here… but I cannot stay. Unless… perhaps you could come with me sometimes?”
“Aww, Blue, of course I will! Going to other planets is exciting, and if it means spending time with you? That's just awesome!”
“Of course, Pearl, you don't have such obligations. If you wish, you can stay here with (Y/N) as much as you like.”
“But My Diamond, what use am I if I'm not with you? I'm afraid I'd feel useless as a pearl.”
“Is that what you think you are to me? Just a pearl?” Blue asked, holding Pearl's dainty hand. “That had never been true. Do you think I have placed such trust in you, shared my every secret and inner thought with you, cried openly in front of you, because I didn't think enough of you to worry about you? No. It's because I think of you as my dearest friend, someone I can trust with anything, my only constant, the only one who has stayed by my side through all these years. You are not ‘a pearl.’ You are Blue Pearl, and that is the only thing I would ever ask you to be. If you truly desire to serve me, the best way you can do that is to do whatever makes you happy. I hope that sometimes you will come with me, else I shall miss you dearly, but you are free to remain here with (Y/N) whenever you wish.”
“Thank you My Diamond,” Pearl barely more than whispered, hugging Blue. Your heart melted at the sight.
The rest of the day was eventful, though significantly less exciting. Hannah brought your things over and got to meet Blue and Pearl, and the police came by later with many questions. When the day was finally done, you were worn out again, but it was worth it. That night you got to sleep cuddled up with the loves of your life.

I regret to say that we're in the final stretch here. I expect there to be only one more chapter. Although this hasn't turned out to be as long as I'd like, to be fair I originally intended it to be much shorter.