"One day, thousands of years after the end of the rebellion against Homeworld, Rose Quartz gave up her gem to bring her child, a human-gem hybrid, into the world, dying in the process of bringing life to the boy who would go on to bring an end to Homeworld’s tyranny.
But against all odds, even after she was supposed to have died, she woke up. On a station far from Earth, next to a strange machine, she realized her old identity as Pink Diamond had finally caught up to her, and all her mistakes came with it."
Summary for Awakening
The “Synthesis” series is a Steven Universe Fanfiction written by Mistery Man, and can be found here
on Archive of Our Own as well as here on Spacebattles.
Tropes included in this series include:
- Abusive Parents: Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond used to be this for Pink Diamond before she “died” and they had a partial Jerkass Realization, and White Diamond still qualifies as one, as seen in Chapter 9 when she dismisses Pink's plans to find a way to “reuse” planets so that organic life can still live there and help produce gems as “not real work.”
- All Love Is Unrequited: It’s hinted that Sway has some level of romantic feelings for her Diamond. Said Diamond has two lovers back on Earth who still miss her over a decade after her death, and doesn't seem interested in reciprocating hers as well. Said love seems to have vanished after Sway learns the Awful Truth.
- The Atoner: A major aspect of the story is Pink trying to undo or make up for the mistakes she made millennia ago and the consequences that happened because of them.
- Back from the Dead: Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond is resurrected by a machine that pulled a copy of her mind from her gem and “inserted” it into a copy of said gem.
- Broken Pedestal: Rose/Pink becomes this for many characters who learn the Awful Truth.
- Spinel is very understandably pissed at Pink Diamond for leaving her in the Garden for 6000 years.
- Similarly, Sway is furious to discover that Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond were the same person.
- Much like canon, Rose Quartz becomes this to Garnet when she learns that she was Pink Diamond, only now she's around to deal with the fallout.
- When Bismuth learns the truth, she can barely contain her anger. She even tells her that unless it involves something like a Homeworld invasion, she doesn't want anything to do with her ever again.
- Consummate Liar: Pink is really good at lying to the other Diamonds and preventing them from learning about her time as Rose Quartz. It also helps that she's able to play off her genuine PTSD at being on Homeworld again as trauma due to being "killed" thousands of years ago.
- Clone Angst: Rose/Pink is distraught to discover she’s just a “copy” of the original Pink Diamond. However, it’s also pointed out that she has all of the memories and knowledge of said original, up to the point of her Death by Childbirth, so any true difference is hard to determine, with the original dead.
- Easily Forgiven:
- Downplayed; Spinel is extremely pissed at Pink Diamond for abandoning her, to the point of outright attacking her and poofing her. After Pink reforms and lets Spinel cry on her for a while, and the two have a discussion about why she left her there, Spinel more or less is willing to live and let live with Pink Diamond. But she isn’t above using the events in question to make Pink Diamond squirm, and Pink notices that she’s sort of amazed Spinel is even willing to share a room with her at this point.
- Completely averted with Sapphire and Bismuth. After they learn the truth regarding the rebellion, they shut Pink/Rose out and make it clear they don't want anything to do with her.
- Also averted with Rose/Pink Diamond herself, when it comes to the other Diamonds. It rapidly becomes clear that her "relationship" with the other Diamonds mostly consists of her gritting her teeth and ignoring their wishes one way or another, hiding her disgust thanks to being a Consummate Liar, or flat out screaming at them. Overall, Rose/Pink's perspective makes it clear that any love in the other Diamond's relationship with her is now one-sided, and the only reason she pretends otherwise is to carry out her own goals.
- Fix Fic: The story has Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond brought back to life by White Diamond, and she uses this second chance to fix her mistakes and ensure that her son will never have to pay for her actions.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Pearl admits in the end that it's her fault that Greg isn't living with them and Steven, and that she has no excuse for her actions, just an explanation. When Rose tries to comfort her and claim responsibility, Pearl shoots her down by saying that she is very much capable of making mistakes without Rose.
- Healing Hands: Rose/Pink has this like in canon, just like Steven, and it turns out the (other) Rose Quartzes do as well.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: When the members of her Court start crying Tears of Joy to see Pink Diamond is alive again, she's very confused as to why they are so happy to see her, at first. This is probably due to her previous trauma on Homeworld and her past with the other Diamonds repeatedly looking down on her, treating her as less than an equal, and abusing her.
- In Spite of a Nail: Much of what Steven goes through in Steven Universe: Future still happens, just two years earlier.
- It's All My Fault: Pink Diamond firmly places the fallout caused by her rebellion squarely on her shoulders and no one else's. A major driving point of the story is her trying to make amends for the fallout.
- Mama Bear: Besides the Crystal Gems, like in canon, Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond is prone to dropping everything to head to Earth the second she even thinks Steven is in danger.
- Misplaced Retribution: Even after Pink Diamond frees the Rose Quartzes, Yellow Diamond still claims that the whole cut is “flawed and rebels too easily”. Pink Diamond points out that the entire Rose Quartz line of gems was redeployed years before her assassination, that none of them were in her personal guard when she was “shattered”, and that only a few of them even rebelled originally.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- The beginning of Era 2, Spinel staying in the Garden for 6000 years, and the Rose Quartzes all getting bubbled, are all indirect results of Rose faking her own death and leaving the Authority. She’s horrified by this. But fortunately, it’s all reversible to some degree.
- Greg and Pearl have this when Priyanka calls their attention to how they are responsible for the colossal neglect of Steven's human side.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Rose asks Priyanka about how she can take care of Steven in a long-distance parental relationship, considering that due to her work and the need to keep the other Diamonds in the dark on Steven's true identity/that she was Rose Quartz, When You Coming Home, Dad? will be a very real concern for her. It might be bordering on Odd Friendship, if the two of them knew each other better.Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond: So, I know this might seem a bit abrupt, but you are literally the only mother I know who knows enough about me to give me decent advice, so I have to ask… what do I need to do to be a good mother? I know I’ll never be the greatest ever, and with my other responsibilities I probably won’t see him more than once every couple of months, but there has to be something I can do.
Priyanka : (to herself mentally) Worried about her child but so busy with work that she can’t spend as much time as a mother as she wants. I want to say I was never this bad, but this is hitting uncomfortably close to home for me. - O.C. Stand-in: The Rose Quartzes are this, since the only “Rose Quartz” seen in canon is Rose/Pink Diamond herself, and Steven. Though this is later subverted after "Rose Buds" premiered in canon, as a Rose Quartz implied to be the Shy Rose shows up when Pink/Rose goes to Beach City.
- Original Character: Besides the Quartzes at the Zoo and Spinel, and some of the Rose Quartzes, all of the Pink Court’s other gems are this since there's nobody else in canon who was confirmed to be a part of the Pink Court and still loyal to Homeworld.
- Parents as People: It says a lot that Rose/Pink Diamond is arguably Steven's most stable and mature parental figure.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Downplayed version, but the second that Pink Diamond can, she starts a colony close to Earth and away from Homeworld, in order to find a way to make gems without damaging organic life (and potentially make more hybrids). And also so that she can get far away from the other Diamonds. To boot, she deliberately has the construction of the Communications Hub on said colony delayed, and turns her Diamond Communicator offline.
- Secret-Keeper: At first, Spinel is the only other Gem who knows that Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond are the same person, and that the current Pink Diamond was "cloned" from the original.
- Later, Iolite, Fire Opal, and Sway all learn the truth as well, as well as the Crystal Gems, Greg, Connie, and Priyanka.
- It's also implied that Vidalia recognized Pink's voice and figured out the truth herself, which would make her a Secret Secret-Keeper.
- Sins of the Father: Averted with Bismuth. She's largely learned from her fight with Steven and treats him with kindness despite her overwhelming hatred for Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond.
- Tears of Joy: The former/current members of the Pink Court, besides the Famethyst, all start crying when they see their Diamond is alive again. It’s extremely disconcerting to her.
- Trauma Button: Even seeing White Diamond or White Pearl hits Pink Diamond hard. White Diamond’s choice of words when they talk in Chapter 9 sends her into a temporary Heroic BSoD.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Pink Diamond has to spend most of her time on her new colony, away from Earth, and cannot spend that much of her time with Steven.
