Author's Note: Daily chapters damn it, I got inspired.
Steven was sitting somewhere in the ship, feeling how it moved and at the same time didn't. The silence was heavy. He stayed motionless after remembering his dream, his body tense, rigid, and nobody had come looking for him.
If I'm really her pet, they should at least check on it... see if it's still alive, I thought with a silent anger that lasted for several breaths.
I looked down at the floor. There were traces of blood—the blood I had left behind earlier. I remembered spitting blood when I felt that damn rock land on my head.
I shook my head, as if I could erase that feeling, and finally stood up.
I was still wearing my pajamas. Great. I had several things stored inside my gem, but I didn't want to pull them out yet. I didn't want to explain where the hell clothes had come from in the middle of a spaceship. So I simply started walking.
As I moved forward, I observed the place more closely. It was massive, absurdly huge—large enough for Blue Diamond to walk around with total ease and still have space to spare. The walls glowed with soft, muted shades of blue, as if even the light itself were sad. The floor was perfectly polished, reflecting my small, out-of-place figure.
What a massive ship, I thought.
The hallways seemed endless. Some opened up into gigantic rooms with crystalline pillars that disappeared into the ceiling. Others were filled with floating screens displaying symbols, star maps, and data I didn't understand at all. Everything was orderly—too orderly.
Then I remembered how fast everything had happened. The unexpectedness of it all, the sheer absurdity of the situation.
Dammit, did I bring my phone?, I thought suddenly, urgently checking my pockets.
I found it.
"Got it," I whispered with a small burst of joy. I checked a bit further. "I have the chargers... ultra power-saving mode is on."
Look at you, clever boy, Steven, I thought with a faint smile.
I kept walking. Every new area seemed larger than the last. Massive windows revealed deep space, distant stars, and planets suspended in nothingness. There was no noise, only a low, constant hum, as though the ship had a heartbeat of its own.
Some doors opened automatically as I approached, revealing empty rooms. Others remained shut, silent, as if they weren't meant for me.
As I took all of it in, the feeling returned. I felt small—not just physically, but in a much deeper way. A human, half-Gem, walking alone through a Diamond's ship, not knowing what I actually meant to them or what was going to happen to me.
And yet I kept walking, because staying still in such a vast place was even scarier.
Out of nowhere, I noticed a few small rocks stacked against a wall that seemed alive, as if breathing along with the ship.
"Huh?" I said, confused, cautiously stepping closer.
The figures moved. They weren't ordinary rocks. They had irregular shapes, tiny embedded gems, and small eyes watching me suspiciously from the ground.
"What's up?" I said calmly, raising my hand slightly so I wouldn't look like a threat.
"Mnn..." muttered the tiny pebble after several seconds of silence, as if evaluating every single one of my molecules.
"You look familiar," the Gem finally said, tilting its body a bit.
Dammit, to who?, I thought, as three black lines mentally appeared over my head.
"Can't say," the Gem replied simply, as if that were a completely valid answer.
I crouched down a bit, trying not to look so tall or weird.
"What are you doing there, little one?" I asked with a gentle smile.
"Nothing. Working," it said with complete calm.
... ...
We both stared at each other for several seconds. The silence wasn't uncomfortable, just strange—like everything else on this ship.
"Well, keep working then," I said calmly as I turned around and began to walk away.
I took barely a few steps when something stopped me dead in my tracks.
"Pink?"
I turned purely out of reflex. The name shot through me like an electric shock. In that instant, I realized I had given too much away without saying a word.
We looked at each other for a few seconds that felt like an eternity.
"Don't tell anyone," I said seriously, not smiling this time.
The pebble nodded, showing a small smile before slowly sinking into the ground, as if it had never been there at all.
... ... ...
I kept walking.
The ship opened up before me like an entire world. It wasn't just a vehicle; it was a floating city, a palace on the move. The hallways shifted subtly as I advanced, adapting, as if they knew I didn't belong there yet permitted me to pass anyway.
The walls weren't entirely solid. Some seemed made of crystallized energy, with lights flowing inside like ocean currents. Others featured ancient engravings, Gem symbols, unfamiliar constellations, and figures that seemed to tell stories without words.
This is... too much, I thought.
I passed through a huge room where the floor was transparent. Beneath my feet lay the void of space, stars drifting slowly as the ship moved forward. My heart skipped a beat, and I took an involuntary step back.
"Don't fall, Steven. Don't fall," I repeated to myself under my breath.
Further ahead were artificial gardens. Plants I didn't recognize floated gently in the air, held up by energy fields. Some glowed with shades of blue and violet; others emitted a warm light that contrasted with the cold metal. The atmosphere was quiet, almost sacred.
Blue Diamond lives here..., I thought, feeling a chill run through me.
I saw massive statues—representations of Gems I didn't know, lined up like eternal guardians. Some were cracked, as if they had seen too much. Others were completely intact, proud, staring toward a point that didn't exist.
The further I went, the more I felt that strange pressure in my chest. It wasn't fear, exactly. It was nostalgia—a feeling of being in a place that wasn't mine, but somehow recognized me anyway.
The lights dimmed slightly as I walked down another hallway. Screens activated upon sensing my presence, displaying data I couldn't read, star maps, and marked routes to places I had never heard named.
All of this for a single Gem..., I thought. Nazi mode really gets results.
And there I was. In pajamas. With a phone almost out of battery. Walking through the ship of a Diamond who had taken me like a living souvenir.
I kept moving, because stopping only made the ship feel bigger... and me smaller.
Out of nowhere, a memory hit me—so clear that for a moment I stopped feeling the ground beneath my feet.
The environment shifted without warning.
The ship was no longer silent or cold. The light was softer, older, and the air seemed charged with a stillness that only existed in the past.
Shift to my mind.
"Where are we going, Blue?" Pink Diamond asked with evident curiosity as she walked beside her. Her voice carried that light, almost childish tone that contrasted with the solemnity of the place.
"I will show you how I make my colonies," Blue Diamond answered calmly, stepping forward with a firm stride through the wide corridor of the ship.
"Will I finally get a colony, Blue?" Pink asked, slowing down a bit, an unhideable smile of excitement on her face.
"Possibly," Blue replied without giving too many details, though her gaze softened just a bit.
That was enough.
Pink Diamond's smile broadened so genuinely, so brightly, that even Blue noticed. For a moment, the older Diamond's stern expression relaxed. Seeing Pink like that always had that effect.
"Come," Blue said finally, extending her hand slightly to signal her to follow.
They walked into a massive room. Holograms activated instantly, showing a planet slowly spinning before them.
"First, we observe the world," Blue explained as the hologram zoomed in, showing oceans, continents, and organic life moving across the surface. "We look for planets with enough energy to sustain new Gems."
Pink stepped closer, fascinated.
"It's alive..." she whispered.
"Yes," Blue replied. "And that is precisely why it is useful."
Pink tilted her head, curious.
"And what happens next?"
Blue gestured, and the hologram changed. Now structures were seen descending from space.
"We install injectors," she explained. "They are structures that drive themselves into the planet's core. They extract its energy gradually and redirect it to the incubators."
"Incubators?" Pink asked, leaning forward.
"That is where Gems are born," Blue said. "Every Gem is created from the planet's resources. Her strength, her type, her function... everything depends on how and where she is formed."
Pink's eyes sparkled.
"So... the planet helps create new life."
Blue remained silent for a few seconds before answering.
"Yes... though the planet does not survive the process."
The hologram showed how organic life began to disappear little by little.
Pink frowned slightly.
"Is it always like that?" she asked, her voice lower.
"Always," Blue replied firmly. "Organic life interferes with the perfect development of Gems. For the empire to grow, we must prioritize what lasts."
Pink watched in silence as the planet changed, becoming more barren, more geometric, more... controlled.
"And when it finishes...", Pink said slowly, "the empire is bigger."
"Exactly," Blue answered. "More worlds, more Gems, more order. Every colony reinforces our presence in the universe. That is how we protect who we are."
Pink looked down for a moment, thoughtful.
"It's... impressive," she said at last, though her smile was no longer as wide as before.
Blue glanced at her sideways.
"In time, you will understand it better," she said softly. "One day, when you have your own colony, you will see that all of this makes sense."
Pink looked up again and nodded slowly.
"I want to do it right," she said with determination. "I want it to be perfect."
Blue, for the first time in that memory, offered a faint smile.
And then the memory began to fade like light filtering through fingers, leaving me with a heavy feeling in my chest... and the certainty that this past was still affecting everything.
Steven came to his senses, swaying slightly, bringing a hand to his chest as if something invisible were weighing too heavily on him. He barely had time to steady himself when another memory struck him without warning, dragging him back into a past that wasn't his, yet felt far too close.
Space stretched out infinitely all around.
Pink Diamond was walking through the corridors of Blue Diamond's ship, far from Homeworld, surrounded only by stars and colossal structures of metal and light. To her eyes, all of it was strangely beautiful. The hallways were wide and clean, with polished surfaces reflecting shades of blue and violet. To Pink, this place had a distinct, almost artistic calm.
As she moved forward, several Peridots passed back and forth, carrying devices, checking panels, and projecting technical holograms. Upon seeing her, they all stopped immediately and performed the Diamond salute with absolute precision.
Pink sighed, raising her hand again and again.
"Alright, carry on," she repeated with obvious annoyance.
To her, this constant ritual was unnecessary. She didn't want to be interrupted every five steps, but she kept moving forward anyway until a taller figure caught her attention.
"My Pink Diamond," a Bismuth said, bowing her head slightly while holding a huge tool integrated into her arm.
"Carry on," Pink answered without stopping, still a bit irritated by the stack of encounters.
When the hallway finally opened into a much wider workroom, her expression changed. Her annoyance dissipated, replaced by quiet curiosity.
She stayed off to the side, watching.
Dozens of Peridots were working in organized rows, projecting holographic blueprints of the planet being colonized. They adjusted calculations, tweaked drilling trajectories, and corrected energy patterns with almost mechanical efficiency. Their movements were swift, precise, devoid of emotion, but incredibly effective.
Further along, several Bismuths were reinforcing the ship's internal structures. They hammered, welded, and reconfigured entire pieces with their own hands, creating and destroying tools as needed. Every strike echoed loudly, setting a steady rhythm that filled the room.
Pink watched in silence, fascinated by the coordination.
On a raised platform, a single Gem stood out for her absolute stillness. A Sapphire sat motionless, her gaze fixed on a point in midair, surrounded by tiny ice floating fragments.
A Peridot approached cautiously.
"Any issues?" she asked.
The Sapphire slowly opened her eyes.
"In three cycles, there will be a minor overload in the secondary injector," she answered calmly. "Nothing critical, but it should be adjusted now."
The Peridot nodded immediately and passed the information along. Pink observed closely. She found it strange to see someone so calm amidst so much activity, as if she had already lived that moment before.
Further away, near the hangars, two Emeralds were supervising entire formations of soldier Gems. Their gazes were firm, calculating. Around them, full squads awaited orders, lined up with flawless discipline.
"Units are ready," one of the Emeralds said, checking a panel. "If any disruption occurs on the colony, we can deploy them in seconds."
"Keep them on standby," the other replied. "The probability of organic resistance is minimal, but not non-existent."
Pink felt a slight chill hearing that.
She walked a few steps closer, stopping near one of the observation platforms. From there, she could see the planet in the distance, still intact, spinning slowly—blue and green, full of life, unaware of what was coming.
For several seconds, nobody spoke to her. Nobody interrupted her. They simply let her watch.
Pink clenched her fists slightly.
Everything worked. Everything was efficient. Everything was perfectly designed to grow, expand, dominate.
And yet, something inside her felt wrong.
She looked again at the Peridots, the Bismuths, the Sapphire, the Emeralds with their troops ready for any trouble. They all fulfilled their function without questioning a thing. It was the absolute order of the empire.
Pink took a deep breath.
"It's incredible," she whispered to herself.
But deep down, an idea began to take shape—quiet, uncomfortable, like a tiny crack in a perfect structure.
The memory began to blur little by little, leaving behind the echo of machinery, calculations, and discipline, while Steven felt that past continuing to press on his mind, reminding him that even in perfection... there was always something that didn't quite fit.
Steven snapped back to reality all at once, breathing heavily while leaning his back against a bluish wall of the ship. His legs were still trembling slightly, as if the memory had drained his strength for a few seconds.
"What the hell?", Steven said under his breath, staying upright only thanks to the cold wall behind him.
He brought a hand to his forehead, shutting his eyes tightly, trying to organize what he had just seen. These weren't normal dreams. They weren't his memories. And that was precisely what bothered him the most.
"If this shit is going to keep giving me memories every five minutes, I'm getting off at the next planet," I said to myself with clear annoyance in my tone.
I let out a long sigh and opened my eyes. The ship was still there—huge, silent, as if nothing had happened. Nobody seemed to notice that Steven's world was falling apart from the inside, bit by bit.
I pushed myself off the wall and started walking again, slower now, paying closer attention to every feeling. The floor vibrated faintly beneath my feet, reminding me that I was very far from home, very far from any safe place.
Maybe I should ask the pebble something, I thought as I walked down the hallway. That little guy knows more than he lets on... and he clearly didn't see me as just a human.
My eyes scanned my surroundings with greater caution. Every wall, every light, every shadow seemed to hide something. If the memories kept popping up without warning, I needed to understand why—and above all, how far they could go.
I swallowed hard.
"I'm not getting lost here," I whispered with determination as I kept exploring the ship, unaware that this would be just the beginning of something much bigger.
End of Chapter 78.