Stars, Roses, and Scars (a Steven Universe Fanfic)

Chapter 1

    What Agate saw when the light disappeared was pure beauty. Instead of dry valleys with holes on the side, it was an open world. It wasn't dead like the kindergarten; it was lush and full of organic life. There were plants and trees everywhere. Even the ground had the tiniest of life: tiny little bugs were crawling on the ground. There were animals with wings in the sky and trees. Agate hasn't seen much of Planet p.15 or her kindergarten, but what she did see was that it was lifeless. Earth had more color than Agate has ever seen throughout the seven days she's been alive.
She stared awestruck. It was so big and wide. And the sun wasn't scorching down on her like it was in the kindergarten, but it wasn't freezing. Not that gems needed temperature. But nothing about this world was like hers. Earth seemed so much better.
"What is this place...?" Agate asked, not knowing what to say.
"This is Earth. It belongs to Pink Diamond, but I plan to change that," Rose explained, setting Agate to her feet.
"But you are Pink Diamond. You're just shapeshifted."
"I know, but once Pearl has shown me what Earth has to offer, I realized we can't colonize this planet. Life doesn't begin with gem production. Life ends with it." Rose looked solemn.
"How so?" She crouched down to look at a fuzzy worm crawling on a leaf.
"When gems are made, they take the life right from the ground. They absorb nutrients and water. When colonization is done, nothing is left behind. It destroys the ecosystem."
"Oh..." Agate never knew it worked like that. It was no wonder she was a defect; the planet was picked clean before she had the chance to emerge. She thought Planet p.15 always looked that way. Perhaps it was alive once. The worm crawled on her finger. It felt tingly and kind of pokey. "What is this creature?"
    "I heard humans call it a 'caterpillar'."
    "What's a human?" Even the way it sounded was weird. Caterpillar, human, what was this nonsense?
    "As far as I've seen, they're intelligent creatures that look and sound like us. They're fragile and soft, unlike gems, though. Like any other species, they have no gem."
    "Organic gems?" Agate theorized. This planet was already getting confusing.
    "Not exactly. But they are adorable. If I try to learn their customs, I could get to know them. I've already learned a few of their terms, such as 'mother' or 'sibling'. Isn't it fascinating?" Rose was looking at the trees as if she was expecting a human to show up any second.
    "Yea...yea, it is," Agate said, carefully setting the 'caterpillar' back on the leaf she found it on. "Can you show me your world?"
    Rose nods. "I'm starting a rebellion to protect Earth and prevent its colonization. I want to preserve my planet instead of wasting it away."
    "I'd be willing to join." Agate was trying to take in every color, every tree, every blade of grass she saw. She wanted to know exactly how much she was rebelling for, even if she already unintentionally rebelled. Or was she disowned? It didn't matter. Whatever group Rose was organizing, she was already accepting an abomination like her. If Rose accepted her, then oh well if the rest of the future rebellion didn't.
    Rose squealed with delight. "I can't wait! Just wait till you meet Pearl, you two will get along nicely! We're still learning about Earth, too!"
    Agate wasn't sure. The Pearl back at the kindergarten may not have hurt her, but she didn't do anything but stand by. "...Which Pearl, exactly?"
    "The one I'm training to use swords! She's officially the first member of my rebellion. She's the closest friend anyone could ask for," Rose explained, a slight blush on her face, but it passed.
          "So when will you start this rebellion? Do you think they'll accept us?" She didn't know how this would work. What if Homeworld didn't like the idea? Gems were instinctively loyal to their Diamonds, no matter which court they belonged in.
          "I'm not quite sure. Maybe once I've seen as much as I can and gotten to understand humans. But I have to be careful; Blue, Yellow, and White are always at me. Even after I was given earth, they never treated me like a Diamond. But that doesn't matter now. I don't want to be a Diamond anymore."
          "So you're going to be a Rose Quartz?"
          "Yes. We should find you a place to stay the night. I need to get to Homeworld now. I think I know a place. Follow me," She sounded like she wanted to change the subject.
          After a while, Rose found a small cave for Agate to stay in. There was a river near it. When Agate looked into the water, she saw algae and sleek finned creatures darting through. "What are those?"
          "I think they're called fshhhh, or something like that."
          Fshhhh. It didn't even sound like a word. Agate giggled.
          "Feel free to see the world, but if you see a gem other than me, crawl into that cave and hide, alright? I don't want any fights to start."
          Agate nodded and sat to see more fshhhh.

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          Rose returned at dawn the next day with a Pearl. The Pearl wasn't the same Pearl as the one in the kindergarten, and she seemed friendly enough. The Pearl stayed close to Rose.
          Agate stood up to greet Rose. "Is it safe? Is this the Pearl you told me about?"
          Rose smiles. The Pearl looks surprised. "She really is something else, isn't she? Quite unusual." Pearl reached at Agate's arm as if to observe, but Agate pulled away.
         "It's okay, she doesn't mean any harm. She is the one I told you about." Rose looked amused.
          "How is she so small? She's hardly any bigger than an Aquamarine," Pearl said.
          "I think it's from her planet. It wasn't in good shape when she was made." Rose sounded like she felt sorry for that world.
          "Can we, uhhh...stop talking about what's wrong with me?" This was not a comfortable subject.
          "Sorry..." Pearl mumbled.
          An awkward silence stood among them.
          "...I like the fshhhh...?" Agate tried changing the subject. "Those things that swim in the water? Is that what they're called?"
          Pearl chuckled. Agate and Rose glanced at her confused.
          "I think the term you're looking for is fish," she said.
          Rose snapped her fingers. "Fish! That's what I meant! Whoops. I think we should see more of earth. We're all trying to learn about it. I could meet some humans and see what there is out there." Rose said ecstatically.
           So they did. They ventured and saw all kinds of birds, rabbits, flowers, and they saw mountains and rivers. It gave Agate shivers, even if gems didn't need temperature. There was a valley they peered at, and it was lush and colorful. Much more alive than Agate's valley.
          They eventually saw a human. It was wearing some kind of animal fur and it was gathering water into a vessel. It looked like a gem, but it didn't. It was much smaller. Smaller than Rose, at least. It had a brownish tone to its skin and it had no gem. It did look quite fragile, as Rose described.
          When it saw the group of gems, it gasped and stared in awe. Two more joined the human carrying wooden spears, and both had different colored animal furs. One had a necklace decorated with animal teeth. They lowered their spears when they saw what the first human was so awestruck at. Their eyes went wide.
          "Are you...goddesses?" The one with the tooth necklace asked. Agate hid behind Roses' skirt.
          Rose tilted her head. "I'm not sure I know what you mean by 'goddesses', but my name is Rose. This is Pearl and Agate."
          "If you aren't gods, then what are you?" The one with a spear but no necklace questioned, raising its spear. The one with the animal teeth followed its lead.
          Pearl tugged at Roses' arm, but she didn't look afraid. "We should go. We can't protect earth or humanity if the main inhabitants are attacking us, even if they're weaker than us."
          "Just wait a moment. Let me try," Rose soothed. Pearl watched the humans as if daring them to attack. "We are gems, but not like the gems from Homeworld. We want to be at peace with you. We don't want a fight."
          "How do we know you aren't lying? Do you know about the Stone Fists and those demons killing off our people?" The toothed human spoke. The human gathering water turned and fled.
          "They're hurting your people?" Rose exclaimed. She sighed. "The Stone Fists are actually Blue and Yellow Diamond's ships."
          "We plan to start a rebellion. In Homeworld, gems are designed for certain tasks or jobs. They colonize and recreate planets to what they want them to be. But we plan to protect earth in any way we can. Once we get gems to join us, we can fight back." Pearl tried to reason. The humans lowered their spears and whispered to each other.
         "Our people will be searching for us." One human said. "I hope you can defeat the Stone Fists quickly. We'll be picked off one by one if you don't." The human without the animal teeth turned and left.
          "Pray to the gods you are victorious because if you don't, we will all meet our deaths."