A Runaway's Regrets

Rose walked towards the car wash. She wanted to see Greg after her most recent mission. As she walked up the driveway she saw Greg sponging off a car. A bucket was on top of the car. She smiled.

"Hi Greg."

"Hey Rose," Greg turned and waved. It was also at that moment the bucket seemed to decide to fall off the car and splash water all over Greg. She giggled, Greg laughed, "Guess I really am a washed-up rock star."

"Oh, don't say that," Rose approached him.

"Just let me finish washing this car then we can talk, alright?" Rose nodded. She went to the lawn chair that Greg left out for breaks and watched him wash the car. Finally, after drying it off, the customer paid Greg and drove away. Greg then got an extra lawn chair for him to sit in.

"Apparently you have to wax a car, after you wash it," Greg said, Rose smiled and nodded. Greg however frowned.

"Is something wrong?"

"Why would there be anything wrong?" Rose asked.

"Hey, I know you think because I'm human I can't help, but I can help by listening, Rose," Greg said.

Rose sighed, "Today we found another corrupted gem. I tried to heal her, but it failed… again."

Greg frowned, "You really want to help them, huh?"

"They were my comrades in the war," Rose said, "The only reason they joined me was because of I promised them a world where they could be themselves, without homeworld forcing them to be who they were. When they finally left, I thought I fulfilled that promise, but then the light from the sky came and…"

Greg placed his hand on hers, "Look Rose, I know that it's hard for you to see them like that. But I don't think they regret it. Following you. You gave them a chance to be themselves. That's something Pink Diamond never gave them."

Rose tensed up. Greg didn't miss it.

"I know that, you don't like to talk about her, and I'm not pressing you for answers, just know I'm always here to listen."

Rose looked down at her gem. She placed a hand over it, "Actually Greg, I'm really…" she trailed off.

"Really…" Greg repeated.

She took in a breath, "I'm really happy you listened."

Her lion found her at the edge of Beach City. She went into his mane holding a photo of the two of them. She already left her 'Mr. Universe' shirt there. She wanted to leave their photo there too. After leaving the photo at the base of the tree, she decided to change back to her true form.

The light engulfed her, and she grew into her true form, Pink Diamond. Her dressed remained the same, star shaped cut and all. She always found it strange; she was almost twice her adopted form, yet the dress seemed bigger in her real form. Maybe it was because in terms of proportions, she was slimmer. Not that it mattered.

She sat on the hill, looking at her things. Her flag, her shirt, Bismuth. She thought back to what Greg said; about how her gems didn't regret rebelling. She shook her head, they weren't her gems. They were free. But that still didn't make her feel responsible for them.

She didn't think the other Diamonds would go that far. They never acted like they cared about her. Every time she tried to do her job as a leader, they would stop her. When she tried to help Yellow with one of her colonies she yanked her away from the panel. When she told Blue she wanted to leave Earth, not only did she tell her she had to stay, but to do nothing. Smile and wave like the 'pretty little diamond' she was. That was all she did when she emerged, smile and wave. The authority never gave her true power, she was a figure head. If anything, they treated her like a nuisance, before the war she didn't know she could heal, she didn't know she could bring plants to life, she didn't know her weapon was a shield. She genuinely believed they would have been happy to finally be rid of her, that she could run away and never look back. But instead they took their wrath out on the Earth.

"If you actually cared for me, why didn't you tell me before you corrupted them?"

The crystal gems. She remembered them all, not just the ones who were still around. She remembered how happy she was when Homeworld finally left. Then she saw the light in the sky and immediately knew what it was. It was the corruption technique, only the Diamonds were capable of. She put up her shield and grabbed the gems who were closest at the time, Pearl and Garnet. Then the light bathed the Earth, corrupting her friends. And after everything they did, everything she promised, she couldn't save them. She tried had been trying for thousands of years. Was the power of one Diamond unable to correct the damage done by three?

She held herself when the memories of her friends began to twist into monsters. She couldn't stop trying, she owed it to them. She led them down this path, she had to save them. It was her fault they were like this. She remembered Yellow once saying that a Diamond was responsible for the faults of her subjects and vice versa. But they didn't deserve this! She didn't want anyone to get hurt, that's why the policy of the crystal gems was to poof their enemies, not shatter. Why she had to poof Bismuth.

But now gems were hurt, and it was her fault. She couldn't be more sorry if she tried. The only way for her to atone was to bubble the corrupted gems and find a cure, to protect the humans from their out of control power.

She sighed, a long time ago she believed she was born to be a leader. That all her decisions were right. She couldn't have been more wrong. Being a Diamond wasn't the same as being a natural leader, no matter what the other Diamonds said. A lot of things the on Homeworld was wrong. She knew that now. The caste system, the treatment of the off-colors. When she shapeshifted into one of her Rose Quartz, it was out of curiosity. She wanted to know what it was like to not be a Diamond. Then she saw how other gems were treated, and for the first time, seeing through Rose's eyes, she saw the fear and terror the off-colors had when she was about to have them shattered.

Maybe she should have stayed a Diamond. She could've put her foot down. Make the other Diamonds realize that being born different was not a crime punishable by death, to get rid of the system of how gems were placed. But what if they didn't listen to her? What if she had to force them to do it. It would have been civil war in the authority, it would had been like the gem war, but this time all gem kind would have gotten involved, not just the ones on Earth. She decided to put that thought away. It didn't matter now. The past was the past and she had to live with it.

She looked at the photo of her and Greg… Of Rose and Greg. She almost did something she never did with her past relationships. She almost told Greg she was Pink Diamond. Greg was different from the other men. Whenever she started a relationship she knew it would end. She was basically immortal after all. So, when they parted it wasn't that difficult, but Greg? She couldn't stand the thought of him leaving her. She even wanted to tell him the truth, that she was Pink Diamond. Her gem created a hologram of Greg smiling at her, when she reached out, she noticed; just how big her hand was… how big she was. As Pink Diamond she couldn't hold his hand. He couldn't kiss her. And besides; Greg fell in love with Rose Quartz, not Pink Diamond. The hologram faded, and she looked at the photo. The glass had her reflection over Rose.

What would Greg think of her? Of Pink Diamond? He knew her as the tyrant who tried to destroy his home. What if he got to know her, this side of her, maybe he would love her as much as he loved Rose? She reached out for the photo with a trembling hand, then she pulled it back.

No, he couldn't know, not ever. She remembered the humans that feared and fled her during her reign. She couldn't stand it, if Greg did that.

This is for everyone who clicked on the follow button. But this is the last chapter.

I know many of you are shocked at the revelation. Call me a Pearl if you want. But I believe in Rose/Pink. I believed that when she told Garnet that she was love, she meant it from the heart. I believed she did care for her friends. I also believe that she didn't mean to hurt the diamonds like that. In her flashbacks from her perspective they acted more like disappointed parents than loving ones. That makes it hard to believe they love you and it only makes you want to leave. Right now, only Rebeca Sugar knows for certain, but I believe in Rose. I also believe I finally know the reason why she couldn't heal the corrupted gems. Steven's powers are based off his emotions. So why not Pink's? Was the reason she couldn't help her gems was because she was one Diamond trying to fix the damage of three, or was the guilt of the war hindering the progress?