Stars and Diamonds

Chapter 50: Return

It's the moment a lot of you have been waiting for. Our Pink mother is back!

--------------

Orange smiled as the dropship entered open Sol space, small, familiar planets coming onto the console's scanner, the screen lighting up with a signal that the nearby planets had been pinged on the radar. Leaning forward, Orange tapped on the Captain's command console, bringing up more recent information collected on the previously surveyed planets, as well as a time projection to their arrival of the ship's marked destination. During early lessons, the young Diamond had learned that Homeworld had hoped that the handful of other planets in Sol might have been useful for more colonies in the future. None were deemed viable, at least not the way Pink's colony planet, the Earth, was. If it wasn't an issue with climates, or the gravity, it was the actual make up of the planet, so utterly useless that not even the best Lapis Lazuli would be able to terraform it to work.

The only thing that was noted as a potential interest during the initial survey, by Yellow Diamond nonetheless, was the belt of asteroid around the inner planets of the system, which Yellow specialized in finding useful materials from the planetoids. However, whether from Pink's refusal to have another Diamond stationed so close by, or because it had been pushed off as a potential mining spot after Pink had successfully turned her colony, the ring of asteroids had remained untouched. Hitting another button, a view of the Earth's moon, as well as a basic schematic of the moon base filled the screen.

Orange couldn't remember a time she had felt happier to be nearing Earth's moon base, except for perhaps the first time she had been returning from her first stay with White Diamond, when both she and her Pearl were strangers to her and she wanted nothing more than to be back in her mother's comforting arms and the familiar pink walls of the base's spire.

In all honesty, she was giddy. It had been too long since she had seen Pink, and while not the longest she had been away, it felt like they had been centuries apart. Between her angry parting words and the situation she had found herself in, what had become her surprisingly pleasant life semi-independent from her mother, she felt more than ever the distance that had been growing between them. More so than just physically, but the distance that had been slowly created from her jealousy of the Sol colony to her pulling away in favor of the other Diamonds when she realized Pink would not be there for her as she always had as time went on. As the Sol Colony needed more of her attention when the Rebels began to grow from more than just a simple Rose Quartz gone rogue.

Something she recognized as entirely selfish on her part, not that she saw it that way in the moment. She had been an angry child, feeling abandoned and scared of losing her mother. She believed she had since grown from that experience. A stronger, wiser person, who didn't need be indulged so heavily, but still someone who missed her mother like crazy. Of course, only time would tell if that was true.

It seemed, after every wrong turn she had recently, things were finally looking up. She not only felt more and more like herself, like a person she could be proud of being, she was getting to see the other Diamonds, her family. Her friendships were growing in number, forging bonds outside of what she had always know, more than just the Diamond's Pearls, or an odd guard. She finally felt like she was emerging from the shadows and seeing a light she had only known from a distance. A light that made her feel radiant, powerful, like the gem she wanted to be.

It was wonderful seeing Blue, even with the little hiccup in their time together, Blue somehow always managed to make her feel cared for, even when she didn't know it was something she needed. Experienceing Yellow's guidance again was enlightening, alike and yet so different from Iris Agate's teachings. She had even had a moment to speak with White Diamond and her Pearl days before, when she was calling to ensure she would be able to get to see Pink, considering she was still, technically, under White Diamond's care and seeing Pink Diamond hadn't been on the schedule. White Diamond had agreed and had seemed quite happy for her to be getting the chance to see Pink, saying it would be good for the older Diamond to see her before she came back to Homeworld.