The New Diamond (a Steven Universe fanfiction)

Pink Diamonds New Home

Pink was sick to death of this.
And by "this" she meant the endless cycle of thinking she'd found a perfect home, realising the people she shared it with were stupid and cruel, faking her death and running away.
It had happened first with the Diamonds. They were quite nice to her, sometimes. They treated her a little like a child, and were cruel sometimes, but Pink knew they loved her, deep down. They gave her Spinel to play with her and be her friend. They just didn't treat her like an equal. That was very frustrating for her. Still, the Diamonds were the best she was going to get, with their occasional happiness and fun and games. Then she came to her colony that the Diamonds had finally allowed her, and she met humans. She thought they were perfect. So she got her Pearl to help her fake her shattering and assumed a new identity- the form of Rose Quartz, a villain who shattered a Diamond. She led the rebel group known as the Crystal Gems- a Ruby and Sapphire fused together into a fusion called Garnet, her Pearl, a faulty Amethyst and many more- but then she saw how cruel the species she was protecting could be. She saw the good parts and the bad parts. They could be kind to one another, but horrible too. They acted like they were lovely and merciful to the creatures that they lived with, but then they forced them to become things that they weren't- dragging wild creatures into their homes and taking away most of their free will. They killed creatures they had enslaved when they had stopped being useful. They have creatures food and shelter only to kill them and gorge themselves on food they could technically just survive without. They were greedy creatures. They cut down natural environments, used stuff faster than their poor planet could replace it. Pink realised that by protecting them, she was endangering the planet she'd been entrusted by Yellow and Blue to protect. And then she'd abandoned her responsibilities. Just like she'd abandoned the only parental figures she'd ever known. Pink looked up at the sky, tears welling in her eyes. She wanted her fellow Diamonds. She wanted her home. She wanted her past life. But she couldn't go back now.
Pink Diamond weighed up the good and bad parts of humanity. It was beautiful and amazing and she loved the Earth, and the species there, but the horror she had witnessed, that one particular thing among others, she still couldn't forget. Just thinking about what she had seen made Pink heave.
She had to stay for now, though. At least until her baby was born. She had it all worked out. Her husband, Greg, was aware that she wouldn't be around after the baby was born. She had convinced him that it would kill her to produce another being. In reality, that was just something she made up so she could run away. Just like she'd pretended to be shattered so she could run from the Diamonds.
She had come up with the plan when she found out she was having twins. She would find an excuse to get everyone out of the room, take one of the babies (for company), leave one of them with Greg (he was so excited about becoming a dad), run to the rocket she'd found in the forest and fly away to another planet.

Pink Diamond ran quickly away into the woods. She had told Greg to go and call an ambulance when she felt it happening, after making sure there were no phones in the house. So he left. After he did, she took one of the babies- the one that wasn't screaming his face off- and crouched down behind the sofa. As soon as she heard Greg step into the house, she opened the window of their small house and jumped lightly out of it. The female baby still wasn't crying. Pink transformed from her Rose Quartz form into her Diamond form. No one would recognise her apart from maybe Pearl.
"Better hope we don't run into her, then, right, little baby?" Pink said, glancing down at her daughter.
She was silent, watching her mother with her strange eyes. The former Diamond stared down at her for a second, before refocusing on finding that spot in the woods where she'd hidden the ship.
Pink weaved between the trees at top speed for about ten minutes before she stumbled across the clearing where the rocket was. Quickly, Pink placed her daughter into the ship before climbing inside herself and strapping into the seat. Carefully, the Diamond tucked the tiny infant under the strap with her before reaching out to launch the rocket. When she did, a digital map of space came up with a voice saying "select your location."
"Such advanced technology," murmured Pink. "This ship must have been designed by a Peridot. But what is it doing on Earth...?"
Deciding not to worry about it, Pink searched for the closest abandoned planet to Earth. She, as a Gem, didn't need to have food or whatever to survive, and she hoped the baby would be the same. If not...
"We'll have to be strong, baby girl," whispered the Homeworld Gem.
Selecting a planet, Pink Diamond waited nervously as the voice counted down. Suddenly, she felt the engine activate and the ship began to lift off of the ground.
And her sweet little baby didn't cry once.
Pink Diamond smiled down at her daughter. "Your name is Nora. Remember that now."
And she thought, in the baby's eyes, she saw a glimmer of excitement and recognition.
Pink clutched her baby close. "Goodbye, Earth," she whispered. "It was nice living here."

"AAHHHHHHHH!" Pink Diamond screamed, as her daughter, sitting on the brown, dusty ground watched interestedly. The huge, winged beast  that had been tormenting them since their arrival on this oddly small planet in the middle of nowhere  flapped after her with a throaty call.
Pink turned to glare at the creature, clutching her sword. The beast dove, scratching her shoulder with sharpened claws, forcing the Homeworld Gem to take a sharp breath and clap her hand to the wound.
Gritting her teeth, the Diamond lunged forward, forcing the beast to swerve out the way. Quickly, it lunged for her curious daughter.
"Oh no you don't!" Pink yelled, leaping in front of the little girl and attempting to stab the attacker, who screeched at them and flew away. Sighing, the mother collapsed next to her child and pulled her onto her lap. "That was a close one, wasn't it, Nora?" she whispered. She watched the beast's retreat sadly. "This is really no place for a child. I suppose..."
A thought struck Pink Diamond, and she shoved it away just as quickly. Firmly, the pink creature stood up and went in search of food for her child. Her daughter was no ordinary baby- she preferred mushing up the odd berries her mother scavenged to drinking baby milk, and she didn't seem to sleep. Giggling, baby Nora crawled towards the ship her mother had arrived in and shakily climbed onto her back legs, resting on the ship.
"No, Nora," said the mother, scooping up her baby girl and walking away from the ship.
Suddenly, a pink bubble appeared in front of her with White Diamond's face in it.
Pink gasped, backing away. "White! W-what are you doing here?"
But when the female spoke her next words, they weren't addressed to her fellow Diamond.
"Dear Gems everywhere, I'm pleased to announce that Steven is finally ready to take his rightful place on Pink Diamonds throne!"
Wait, Steven? But surely he would still be a baby! Pink leaned towards the screen, as her daughter watched interestedly. The camera panned down to reveal Steven, the lovely son that Pink had left behind. He turned to the camera, smiling.
"How's it going, everybody!"
Pink touched the screen. Her son looked at least sixteen years old. Meanwhile, his twin sister was still a baby. How was that possible?
"I know you might all be thinking of me as the new Pink Diamond," Steven began. The Diamond in question felt a little hurt that she was being replaced, but listened attentively to her son, letting his voice wash over her.
"- but you don't have to put me on a throne! I already have a rightful place and it's on Earth!"
Pink watched as the camera zoomed in on Yellow, Blue and Whites confused faces. She smiled ruefully at the faces of her old friends.
"It's a beach house where I live with my friends, Garnet, Amythest and Pearl. As much as I'd love to-,"
The words cut off for a second, and when it came back on, Steven was saying-
"I can't wait to get home and spend some quality time with my friends!"
So, Steven was in with the Diamonds and lived with the Crystal Gems? That must be pretty. Pink smiled at the thought of those crazy Gems living with her son.
"Cut the feed," said White angrily, leaving Pink to wonder why one twin was sixteen years old while the other was aged at only a few months.
Yellow would know.
The thought hit Pink as quickly and with as much pain as a bullet. Yes, of course Yellow would know. She knew most things about most planets. The Diamond sighed. "Why did I leave them?"
She flopped down in the brownish dust. It flew up around her, settling on her baby and making the infant sneeze. Then a thought struck the mother. What if the dust prevented people from aging? What if this was the legendary planet Cessat, where everything comes to a halt? Where you can live for ever
And ever
And ever.
Even if you weren't an immortal Gem.
Then Pink had a crushing realisation.
As long as Nora stayed on this wretched planet, she would stay a baby. And that was not the life Pink wanted her daughter to have
She couldn't leave. No one can leave Cessat unless they are sent away or collected by someone. If they try to leave, they die. So Pink Diamond knew there was only one thing to do. She would send her daughter away to people she trusted to look after her and give her a good life. She paced over to the ship and typed in coordinates for a distant planet. The navigation system told her it would take her daughter one month to arrive there.
The Gem piled the ship high with berries. Nora was smart, she'd figure out a way to eat them. And with that, she picked up her giggling baby, kissed her on the forehead, placed her in the ship and sent her away, flying towards a new planet and a new life.

(Roll credits!)

Why, Brackets. Just why.

(Because.)

*sigh*

Exactly, Narrator. Sigh.

"Goodbye, reader."