In-betweens.

Shatter Me

She was quiet, never voiced her thoughts unless asked to, never complained about the life she was supposed to live. She was a Pearl, she wasn't allowed to make her own decisions. And that was okay, because from the very first moment of her existence, she had known her purpose was to serve those who had created her.
Others like her envied her, who had been chosen to serve one of the Diamonds herself and she was proud of it. She carried this honour on her shoulders, no matter how heavy it became, no matter how worthless it seemed, she knew it wasn't. It couldn't be, after all this was her destiny, her purpose. She was a Pearl!
As the years went by, she began to collect certain thoughts. The ones she found interesting, the ones she was proud of and the ones she knew she shouldn't even have. Sometimes she was worried, maybe there was something wrong with her? Maybe she was defective? Should she tell her Diamond about it? But no, she knew it would be her end, someone else would do as a replacement and she would be shattered. No one would think about solving the problem when there was no reason to keep it. And it was true, wasn't it? There was no reason for her to exist, to be alive, other than serving her Diamond. Of course she would be useless if she failed to do even that!

So she kept quiet. Until that day.

She was told to leave her Diamonds side and speak with a stranger, one of Pink Diamond's soldiers - something she had never been asked to do before. Only two options opened up before her mind, either this was the end, or the beginning. The beginning of what, she didn't know, but it scared her more than the thought of being broken. But it didn't matter which of the two was to come. She would obey, she would fulfill her purpose to the best of her ability until the end of her existence. Keeping her face straight, gaze downcast and pride on her shoulders, she followed the beautiful soldier in pink.

After a quiet, peaceful walk through one of Earth's vast green forests, they arrived at a small clearing. Beautiful flowers blossomed all around them, not failing to amaze either of them. The brilliant colours and shapes, the way each small flower bowed its head in the light breeze, was a show of life on this planet. She had never understood why a Diamond would choose a planet such as this, but the sheer beauty resonating from only this small a piece of it set free another set of thoughts in her mind that left her wondering if she was seeing what was there.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

She dared lift her gaze to glance at the gem before her. A Rose Quartz, so majestic and wonderful she thought her own existence had to be far too unimportant to matter. Never had she felt quite like this in front of her Diamond. Rose Quartz' gaze seemed to look right through her, but instead of making her uncomfortable, she felt understood.

"I discovered this place years ago," the Quarz explained, unfazed by her stunned reaction. "I felt it was time to share it with someone else."

The soldier smiled warmly and she suddenly realized. That someone she was talking about was supposed to be her. It didn't make any sense, but that's what she meant, right? She wanted to ask why, wanted to know what made her decide to bring her of all gems, but she kept quiet. Yet, she couldn't move her eyes far from the pink haired soldier in front of her. After a moment of silence, said gem's expression morphed into a sad frown and she had the feeling the Quartz had been waiting for something. Should she have done something for her? Or maybe said something? Had she forgotten to deliver important information? No, that couldn't be. Her task had been to follow Rose Quartz and nothing more.

"Tell me, Pearl, what do you think of it?" she asked, sounding honestly curious about her opinion, something she had never witnessed before.

She blinked up at her, unconsciously biting her lip as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to say. She didn't know, no one had told her what to do in this situation!