Oof, sorry for the wait. I procrastinated and got writer's block.
-
Oh stars, Pearl thought to herself, carefully dragging her injured leg behind her. That battle had been a disaster.
At first it was just a normal battle, with Pearl fighting alongside Rose against Pink Diamond's troops one moment and the next there had been a high pitched whistling noise from the sky, signaling that ships were going to land. Pearl looked up, confused. There shouldn't be ships; there shouldn't be backup; the Crystal Gems were supposed to win...
A large shadow fell over her.
They weren't Pink Diamond's...
...and they were terrifying.
They were covered in gold and copper that glittered in the sunlight, with large energy cannons attached to both sides, and a wingspan of easily 100 meters. The warships hovered in the air, held up by powerful engines that hummed loudly.
A yellow parallelogram - a diamond - had been indented into the bottom of the ship and Pearl frowned. These ships were Yellow Diamond's?
Oh, the diamonds meant business.
The ships had suddenly began charging up their attacks, yellow sparks flying from the barrel of the two cannons.
Pearl had watched in horror, feeling Rose grab her arm tightly. The Crystal Gems weren't used to dodging enemy fire from above.
Then beams of super-heated plasma rained down.
In a flash of light, Rose threw up her shield, the diameter at least eight feet across, and braced herself against the onslaught of enemy fire. Pearl felt a burning pain in her leg, the familiar crackle of energy that threatened to disperse her physical form. She bit her lip to stop herself from letting out a pained cry. Oh stars, she thought, flinching. She could take this, right? She had dealt with stray aura sizzling around Yellow Diamond's body hitting her plenty of times, she could take this. Her eyes snapped closed as struggled to keep her mouth shut.
Don't draw attention to yourself.
She didn't remember hearing the order, but after a moment, the Crystal Gems started running.
So they had ran too.
Pearl didn't know how, but she had somehow become separated from Rose. But she knew Garnet was nearby them when they had retreated. She could help her. She just had to pray that someone didn't destroy her physical form. She knew the way back to the base; she could regroup with her comrades there; she had to get there, she told herself.
Her leg, though only grazed by the plasma blast, burned and probably would have blistered if she had been organic. It must had been that experimental energy cannon Yellow Diamond had super briefly mentioned at the meeting.
Pearl finally started slowing down, now only jogged down the twisted path that lead to their base. After several more minutes of walking - and she kept glancing around her, to make sure no one followed her - she arrived at the entrance to the cavern they dwelled in.
Moss, vines and other forms of Earth flora grew around the mouth of the cave, and she carefully pushed it out of the way, careful not the break any of it. The soil turned softer as she progressed down the tunnel.
Luckily, Pearl wasn't claustrophobic because the tunnel could become very tight at times. Other gems might have shapeshift to get through, but she was skinny enough to travel through them with ease. She found herself in a large cave, not bothering to stop, knowing the tunnels like the back of her hand.
One could get lost in here if they didn't notice the tiny details: the trails of clay, the tiny rivers, the pebbles placed by the other gems, all leading to one place. The only light sources in here were thin beams of light from the ceiling, but her gem illuminated the tunnel much better.
Finally, Pearl thought to herself with a small smile. The entrance to there base was there.
Tap. Tap-tap. She tapped on the thin stone wall.
She waited for a moment, listening.
Tap. Ta-ta-tap.
She replied: Tap! Tap-tap-tap! Ta-tap!
The outline of a door glowed blue on the wall as that section slowly faded away.
Pearl stepped inside their base.
-
Pearl slumped against a large boulder to steady herself as she attempted to slow her breathing. Even if she had no biological need for the action, it was still a calming technique that she had picked up on. One of her pale hands was pressed against her chest and she trembled slightly and gripped the fabric.
Her eyes darted around the area for more foes, but the forest clearing was empty; the outskirts of the clearing were also free of gems.
That... was a disaster, she thought to herself as she removed at bottle from her gem. Homeworld troops - Yellow and Blue Diamond's soldiers - has abunshed them on their way to a spire constructed recently. Rose had been critically wounded by a jasper fusion's flail, and had been forced to retreat into her gem, her physical form crushed under the heavy weight of her foe's weapon.
Her gemstone was fine - maybe - but still...
They were losing. And losing. And losing. And sometimes winning, but it wasn't enough.
Pearl gingerly traced the facets of the large diamond, checking again for microscopic cracks zipping across its pale surface. It was absent of any damage and she sighed heavily, mostly in relief.
Rose - Pink - had had her physical form destroyed before - mostly by accident - but still, Pearl was worried about her. And she could say with certainty that it wasn't just because of her ingrained attachment to her. It was something different. Something that made her metaphorical heart flutter and made her feel nervous nut not scared around her. And, she felt happy around her. Very happy.
She had yet to confess this feelings to her.
Pearl waited.
And waited.
And waited and begun to wonder how long it took for diamonds to reform.
Reforming was something like turning something off while charging it to make it charge faster - why was it taking so long? How long had she even been waiting? Pearl looked up. The sun was beginning to set.
Why-
The pink gemstone Pearl was holding began to light up a brilliant white, basking the forest in an alabaster glow and levitate. Floating to the center of the clearing, the gem glowed blindingly bright for a moment, before a form emerged from it. A featureless form solidified and then hair and clothes appeared. The glowing form of Pink Diamond floated to the ground and the light faded slowly.
The diamond sat there on the ground for a moment, on her knees. Then her senses returned.
Her head snapped up, and she whirled around, her diamond pupils focusing on her.
Her eyes widened. "Pearl." The diamond's voice was hoarse and barely audible and tears formed in the corners of her eyes, the pink iris barely visible.
Pearl gave her a short bow and a small smile and lunged forward to hug her.
Pink stiffened when she first wrapped her arms around her midsection, but her body relaxed after a moment. She quickly embraced Pearl, squeezing her tightly. "You're okay," she whispered softly.
Pearl blinked and said, "I'm okay? What about you?"
Finally releasing her from her hug, the diamond leaned back. "I'm fine," she stated. "And I would be if anyone found out." Gesturing to her with her gloved hands, she said, "But... you might not be."
Pink was worried about her? Of course she would be. She was worried about everyone. (Except White Diamond. Never her.) She was incredibly sympathetic towards almost everything. Including humans and other weird Earth creatures.
She stayed silent for a long time.
"We're losing," Pink said, mostly to herself.
Yeah... Pearl thought. She whispered out loud, "I know."
Pink took a deep breath, seeming nervous. "There's something I've been thinking about. A way to end this."
Oh? That was good.
"You don't have to help me with this if you don't want to..." she carefully told her.
Pearl smiled slightly to reassure her. "I can do it."
Pink let out a small mirthless snort of laughter. "So you say..." She inhaled a deep breath that she didn't need and exhaled slowly. "So, here's the plan..."
-
Pearl barely remembered anything from the day the corruption light hit the planet, but she remembered Rose's face.
The horror. Regret. Fear. Uncertainty.
And she had turned to Pearl and Garnet, the last Crystal Gems, and hugged them and cried.
Did we do the right thing?
Somewhere far away, a butterfly crawled out of its chrysalis.
-
And... I think I might write an epilogue featuring the pearls, but no promises.
Anyway, thanks to everyone whose read this, but especially StressedCat and opkiller2324! :) (Sorry for that horrendous misspelling of "especially").