"Please tell me you're joking. You only just left, and you're already back?" Yellow sighs, stepping through the pink doors and into the pink room.

Blue stands up, nearly tripping against the altar. "Yellow! W-what are you doing here?"

Yellow steps closer, towards Blue. "To bring you back to reality, Blue."

Blue feigns a smile, but it falters and shatters like a dropped plate. "I'm fine. You didn't have to come here."

Yellow sighs, placing a hand on Blue's shoulder. "It's been thousands of years, Blue. It's time to be done with it and shatter the rest of these insipid Rose Quartz gems."

"But they're all we have left of her. These Gems, this place, the Earth." She shrugs off his hand. "You don't understand. How can you not feel any emotion that Pink Diamond was shattered? She's a Diamond, just like you and I!"

Blue curls her hands into fists and slams one into a pillar, knocking it over. "She was so bubbly, so optimistic, so kind. She even thought that the lowly organisms on Earth deserved to live! How can you put all of that behind you and just continue on like it was nothing?"

She glares at him directly. "You heartless bastard!"

Yellow sighs, expelling all of the anger he had built up. He again places a hand on Blue's shoulder, though she shrugs it off. "Blue, I'm not trying to demean that you're grieving. I understand. It was the first time in Gem History that a Diamond was shattered, and I understand that. I…" Yellow looks away from Blue. He is not tearing up, but he places a hand over his mouth. "I…was the one to give Pink Diamond a colony, after all."

Blue stares at him, a look of understanding crossing her face. The anger in her boils off like steam, leaving a calm surface of water behind. "Is…that why you didn't want to come here? Because you feel partially responsible for her death? And I just said…"

Tears well in Yellow's eyes, but he stifles the shout that tries to force itself up his mouth. It comes out more of a whimper. Instead, he takes a deep breath before lowering his hand. His lips are trembling. "I…Of course I'm grieving too," he spits out. "She begged me over and over to let her have her own colony and I…just gave in! What kind of Diamond can't even hold their muster against another Diamond? Of course it was my fault!" He stomps upon the floor, and spiderweb cracks appear on its surface.

"Oh, Yellow," Blue consoles, placing her hand on Yellow's spiky shoulder pads. "I had no idea."

"But Blue," Yellow quavers. "But even though I feel solely responsible for everything here, I still…have to move on. I'm still sad. I'm still grieving inside. I still want her back so, so much. I miss how she's always able to know what we're feeling. I miss her neon pink presence spicing up our boring meetings. How could I not?"

Here, Yellow Diamond shakes off Blue's hand and places his own on Blue's shoulders. The tears fall more freely now, but through them, Yellow glares at Blue with a mixture of unrestrained bitterness and lucidity. "But despite that, despite everything that I feel, I have to move forward. I don't come here not because I don't want to. I don't come here because there are other matters that deserve my attention. I have to put all of my feelings aside and pretend to be something bigger than I am, Blue. I, no, we are Diamonds first and foremost. We can't just spend our days grieving here. We are the ones that keep the cosmos in order. So despite everything that we might be feeling over Pink's shattering, we have to pull ourselves together."

Blue seems to freeze. So far, she wore a sympathetic expression on her face, but hit with Yellow's monologue, she seems to analyze the points of light in his eyes. He does genuinely seem to be crying, and there is not a trace of guile or trickery in either his voice or demeanor. The longer she mentally picks apart his expression, the more she is convinced that he was being sincere. Still, she sighs and lowers her head.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Yellow. I really do."

Yellow's expression convulses into that of horror.

"Yellow, thank you. I feel much better knowing how you truly feel, but…"

"Blue..."

"…but both you and I know that it was my army that failed to protect Pink Diamond that day. I had forces in reserve, but I chose not to use them. I thought the Rebellion too small a threat to waste resources transporting soldiers from possibly rebelling colonies. It's not your fault that Pink Diamond was shattered."

"Blue, it's not-" your fault. Yellow bit his lip, holding back the rest of the sentence. His feet seemed to tread on thin ice, already laced with spiderweb cracks like the stone beneath his feet. "Blue, please listen-" to reason. That particular argument had lasted in a cold shoulder of fifty years before she spoke to him again.

"Our intelligence was faulty."

"Only because I hadn't asked my Sapphires to see that far into the future."

"Your ranks had enemy spies in them."

"Which I knew about a full two hours before the battle. Enough to get a few Lapis Lazulis and Aquamarines to the scene."

"Which would have shattered upon meeting the enemy Amethysts."

"Which my own Amethysts would have prevented, even in their compromised states."

Yellow bites his lip. He is treading on even thinner ice here. Trying to console Blue was one thing, but doing so while attempting to not challenge Blue's strategic ability in the most catastrophic battle of Gem history was another matter entirely. "Blue, the battle was-" He did not even let himself think the words that came next.

He sighs, and grips Blue's shoulders tighter. He embraces her carefully, letting her adjust her hanging head to be over his shoulder before speaking again. "I understand, Blue. Would you like me to help you with some of your administrative work in the meanwhile?"

The words seem choked in Blue's mouth as they force their way out. "Thank you, Yellow. You're a real sweetheart, but I'll be fine on my own. What will White Diamond say when he finds out that I'm not even fit to carry out my routine Diamond duties?"

Yellow squeezes her for a moment, before stepping back. Even though she is not looking, he offers a reassuring smile. "As long as you're certain this is what you want, Blue."

Blue nods, and Yellow already sees trails of tears sliding down the bottom half of her face. He calls for his Pearl to open the door for him as he exits, leaving Blue to kneel before the altar. As Yellow sneaks one last glance back at her, she is surrounded by floating bubbles. He can still clearly see her weeping form, but it is lost in a pink haze, as if the Rose Quartz within each bubble were trapping a tiny fragment of her in it as well.