"I love you too, my little Quartz."
— Blue Diamond, Chapter 3
Gift of A Diamond is a Steven Universe fanfic written by MCU616.
After the war, Blue Diamond is lost and in mourning. But can a certain gem hybrid be what she needs to move on?
This fanfic provides examples of:
- All-Loving Hero: Steven Universe is so optimistic and charismatic, he was able to single-handedly change the nature of Homeworld and its Fantastic Caste System. Off-color and lower-tier gems have more of a voice, the Diamonds became more forgiving and there has not been a single gem shattered in 8 years.
- Alternate Timeline: Instead of being raised by Greg and the Crystal Gems, Steven is instead found by Blue Diamond at age five and raised by her and the Zoo Quartzes.
- An Aesop: Blue Diamond learns from Steven that just because things don’t turn out the exact way you want it, that doesn’t mean it does not have some value. This impacts Homeward politics in a big way.
- Anachronic Order: Here Steven encounters Blue Diamond mourning Pink Diamond when he was five and Greg received his cut of Marty's advertising fortune when Steven was barely a year old (as opposed to the show, where Steven was fourteen when these events happened).
- Ascended Extra: Carnelian ends up becoming Steven’s trainer, helping him learn about his various powers and, with the help of the other zoo quartz, becomes a formidable fighter. She is treated as being like a big sister to Steven, and even accompanies him on his mission to Earth.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Blue Diamond takes a liking to Steven because he listened to her an empathized with her, even developing maternal love to the half-gem because he wasn't intimidated by her status and size.
- Blue Pearl takes a liking to him because teaching and looking after him gave her something to do, as well as the affection and respect he gave her (something seldom displayed to a pearl).
- Berserk Button: Blue Diamond snaps at Yellow Diamond when she requests the Human Zoo and all of the gems and humans in it destroyed, Blue seeing it as an insult to their fallen sister.
- Chekhov's Skill: Blue Diamond thought it would have been useful for Steven to learn their outdated written language, which comes in handy when reading Centipeetle's message to them.
- Child Prodigy: Having been trained by Carnelian and the other Quartzes since he was five, Steven/Rhodonite has become a well-trained and condecorated Quartz officer who has succeeded at a number of daring and dangerous missions and has influenced Homeworld politics so much that he was able to convince all three Diamonds not to shatter gems and give second chances into his teens. He was even able to defeat Garnet and Pearl easily, two gems of with thousands of years of fighting experience.
- Comically Lopsided Rivalry: Jasper seems to consider Rhodonite to be her rival and does not have much respect for him. Not only does Rhodonite not feel the same way, but Rhodonite actually convinced Yellow Diamond not to shatter her for complaining about having to work with him on a mission in the first place. Safe to say when Peridot breaks this news to Jasper, she doesn't take it well.
- The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Apparently Blue Diamond received complaints in droves about Rhodonite from Holly Blue Agate. This eventually stops after Holly gets demoted to cleaning duty with Rhodonite taking her place.
- Contrived Coincidence: Rhodonite finds Rose’s sword (willingly given to him by Lion), the scabbard that it belongs to in the old battlefield and Lapis Lazuli's mirror within 24 hours after coming to Earth.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: When Blue Diamond finds out about Steven and Carnelian's rough-housing, Blue Pearl took Steven in her arms, expecting Carnelian to get shattered.
- Driven by Envy: Amethyst resents Carnelian for taking the role of "Steven's big sister" away from her. They reconcile rather quickly.
- Easily Forgiven: While Steven and the gems make it clear that Pearl endangering the time-space continuum by nearly using the hourglass to undo Steven's life on Homeworld is a case of Forgiven, but Not Forgotten, Carnelian feels like she got off with a slap on the wrist for almost undoing all the years she had with Steven over a contextually impulsive gesture.
- The Empath: While Steven is shown to possess natural empathy, being able to bond with Blue Diamond in the process, it is later revealed to be two-sided, Blue Diamond sensing his distress entire lightyears away on Earth.
- Everyone Can See It: Amethyst and Carnelian like to tease Rhodonite over his potential crush on his "tall, blue girlfriend" Lapis Lazuli.
- Eye Scream: Played for Laughs. Just after Rhodonite and Carnelian land on Earth, Carnelian tries to get him to try the strawberries growing around the area. Before he could however, he is blinded by moths that attack his eyes.Rhodonite: Carnelian, everything you put in your mouth taste better than the zoo food.
Carnelian: Come on, try it, I dare ya.
Rhodonite: Uhhh, fine. [Moths attack him.] AHHHHHHHH, oh stars! My vision been compromised! Abandoned ship! Spread out and attack! - The Gadfly: It’s their sworn duty as Steven/Rhodonite's "big sisters" for Amethyst and Carnelian to tease him incessantly about his adoring gems. Thankfully, Centipeetle finished her message before he died of embarrassment.
- Grew a Spine: When Blue Diamond brings Steven with her to the Human Zoo, Yellow Diamond chews Blue Diamond for letting her grief over Pink Diamond make her neglect her duties. Unlike in the show, Blue Diamond stands tall and stands up to Yellow Diamond, surprising her greatly.
- Heroic BSoD: Steven does not take it well when it suddenly occurs to him that his mother Rose Quartz was the very same Rose Quartz was the one that shattered Pink Diamond (something that has haunted his adopted mother Blue Diamond for thousands of years).
- Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: Garnet winces a bit when she sees Steven/Rhodonite wear his blue Homeworld uniform.
- Hope Bringer: Definitely Steven. Oh sorry, "Rhodonite."Carnelian: We were just glorified hall monitors, mistreated for being made on earth, for not being "true gems". There were talks of us being shattered, but Rhodonite changed all that. He believed in us, saw potential in all us "worst gems" than no one else did. He constantly faces the Diamonds, and he somehow manages to change their minds, something no other Gems have been able to do! Thanks to him, there hasn't been a shattering or purge in 8 years! And you think this is a problem for him? This, this is just how he's coping with a new situation. So, don't worry, if I know my little brother, I'll know he'll be better than ever after this.
- In-Series Nickname: Blue Pearl, Skinny and the Ruby Squadron keep their canon nicknames.
- Interspecies Adoption: Here, Blue Diamond finds a five year-old Steven Universe while mourning for Pink Diamond. Taking a liking to him, she takes him back to the Human Zoo and essentially adopts him as her "son" and favorite quartz.
- Meditation Powerup: Garnet's future vision alerts her of Steven’s presence on Earth while she was in a Lotus Position on the beach meditating.
- Meet Cute: Rhodonite first meets Connie when she accidentally slams a door in his face.
- Military Maverick: Steven/Rhodonite has shades of this, getting off for things that would have normal gems shattered because he is Blue Diamond's favorite. See Promotion, Not Punishment below.
- My Beloved Smother: Blue Diamond had to restrain herself from killing the zooman woman that left a kiss-mark on Steven's cheek. She later threatened to throw a zooman through the space shute when one of them tried getting him to be involved in "the Choosening" with them. Thankfully Steven is good at calming her down.
- Nervous Wreck: Aquamarine has a mild panic attack after she has her lecture with Blue Diamond, believing that she did something wrong and would be shattered. Skinny and Navy help curb her fears, knowing that Blue Diamond was not distracted because of her (not that she shattered gems anymore anyways).
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Garnet destroys Steven's ship before he, Lapis and Carnelian could leave off planet, as well as knocking Lapis unconscious just as Rhodonite convinced her not to seek vengeance. This unfortunately makes things needlessly harder, making stopping the Cluster much more difficult, leaving them stuck on Earth without a way of contacting Peridot and Jasper in orbit, souring Rhodonite’s relationship with the Crystal Gems and essentially denouncing Rose Quartz as his mother.
- Noodle Incident: The less about Steven’s strength test said, the better (not that much was said).Yeah, under circumstance do you ever want to know what happened during the strength test. Let's just say it involved breaking several walls and the poofing of Blue Pearl. This event will forever traumatize Skinny, who is now in a corner, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth as she tries to comprehend what she had just witness.
- Number Two: Skinny, Second-In-Command of the Human Zoo.
- Oblivious to Love: While Steven is naturally nice to everyone, it takes Carnelian pointing it out to him just how adored he is by the many gems around him (especially Aquamarine and Yellow Diamond's Ruby Guards) for him to realize how much they like him back.
- Parental Substitute: Blue Diamond to Steven.
- Pet Baby Wild Animal: Apparently Rhodonite finds and befriends a variety of wild animals on his missions. It happens so often, in fact, that Blue Diamond allowed him to extend the zoo for them.
- Promotion, Not Punishment: Holly Blue Agate ordered all of the gems at the zoo to stay put while she discusses with Blue Diamond on a drop in the oxygen supply for the humans there. Instead of following orders and potentially leaving the zoomans to suffocate, Steven led the other quartz to retrieve the zoomans and take them to safety. Holly Blue Agate tells Blue Diamond about the incident, insisting that he was "defective" and must be shattered immediately. When Steven admits that all of this was true, Blue Diamond instead rewards Steven by making him the new caretaker of the zoo while demoting Holly Blue to janitorial duty for jeopardizing the safety off the zoomans. This is treated as a lesson to Blue Diamond's court not to doubt Rhodonite.
- Promotion to Parent: Steven once accidentally calls Blue Diamond "mom." He then continues to do so after he explains to her what a "mom" is, Blue Diamond coming to see him as a son.
- Protected by a Child: When Carnelian was this close to being shattered by Blue Diamond for putting Steven in danger, Steven comes to the rescue and voices for her, essentially saving her life. This happens much later between Jasper and Yellow Diamond.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Zoo Quartzes
- Raised by Orcs: Steven Universe - son of Rose Quartz, enemy to Homeworld - ends up being raised by Blue Diamond, one of Homeworld's grand matriarchs. He becomes one of her best Quartz soldiers and her most influential court member. He reunites with his Earth family, but only after the Crystal Gems ambush his adoptive older sister Carnelian, thinking she was sent to spy on them.
- Rejected Apology: Steven/Rhodonite essentially comes to conclusion with the Crystal Gems by Chapter 22.
- Seen It All: Apparently having a bright-pink lion right in front of you isn’t all that frightening "considering the hours of space he goes through."Carnelian: Really? You think you've showed him something dark? Try leading a team to a doomed planet to gather a special energy source across multiple gem shattering traps while the planet's core is slowing collapsing on its self, because he did that once before, and handled it better than you guys here.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Downplayed. While Rhodonite gets along with virtually everyone and has softened the more toxic consequences of Homeworld's Fantastic Caste System, he gets slightly uncomfortable when the idea of getting his own pearl is brought up.
- Surprise Car Crash: As Greg was driving from a family reunion in Korea with Steven and the Gems, a giant multi-handed creature no doubt one of the cluster gems appears on the road, inciting a car crash that separates Steven from the others, eventually leading to him meeting Blue Diamond.
- Themed Aliases: In order to avoid suspicion, Blue Diamond introduces Steven into her court under the name "Rhodonite," another pink-colored gem stone.
- When Steven took on the title "Rhodonite", the episode "Off Colors" (which introduced an actual canon gem fusion named Rhodonite) was not released yet. It is later explained that Rhodonite was the name of a hypothetical failed gem-type Blue Diamond’s court tried to make, the closest to exist to their specifications being the fusion.
- Token Good Teammate: Blue Diamond was the only one out of the three surviving Diamonds that did not want the Cluster made and the Earth destroyed.
- Training from Hell: After Steven convinced her to not shatter Carnelian, Blue Diamond decides to make her act as Steven’s teacher after finding out that their rough-housing accidentally triggered one of Steven's inert powers. She is given a week to help Steven develop his powers with her Pearl taking note of his progress. If she fails, she is as good as shattered. Despite a rather turbulent training period, Blue Diamond approves of the results and appoints Carnelian's trainer role permanently (despite the stress).If Blue Diamond wasn't going to break her, the job eventually would.
- Will They or Won't They?:
Word of God says that Steven and Connie won't become a pair in the story. - Wise Beyond Their Years: Blue Diamond comes to value Steven's opinion, especially when all of his ideas and ideals have a positive influence on productivity and relations on Homeworld. Some time after becoming the new Zookeeper, Rhodonite matures considerably, having to lead a group of rambunctious quartzes 24/7.
- You Remind Me of X: Variant 3. When Steven first meets Carnelian, he mistakenly thinks that she's Amethyst.
- You Were Trying Too Hard: As Pearl and Steven looked through the Ocean Temple, Pearl brings up all her notes in decided which hourglass was the right time piece. As Pearl began her tangent, Steven immediately picks the right one with no effort.
