Who I Am
The steady rainfall had yet to lessen as the battle raged on, countless gems already fallen, and countless more being sought out by the attacking Home World as cries echoed around the now desolate land.
A slender frame appeared out of the countless blue flames that plagued the once peaceful fields as it made its way desperately towards a two large figures ahead.
The gem stood far shorter than her charge, much less compared to the enemy at hand, Jasper towered over the once strong Rose Quartz, who at this time had fallen rather weak in the battle.
Rose's breathing was labored as she held her ground against the menacing gem, sword lifted valiantly and shield larger than ever, but suffering great damage at her torn dress's side as she stared the Home World general down. The rebellion leader wasn't ready to give up all those countless lives for nothing, she ignored her kind heart and decided she would act as Jasper would have, with violence if need be.
At this determination she pressed forwards, her sword glinting dangerously in the low light as she attempted to lift it high, to meet Jasper's weapon in one mighty blow, or at least she hoped.
At the last moment Rose felt a sharp twinge of pain in her side, one of her many wounds had re-opened and was making it impossible to raise her arm any further than it already was, at this rate she'd be doomed to suffer the full on brunt of Jasper's attack.
Pearl had finally come close enough to see what was happening. There they are! She thought triumphantly, but her joy was quickly crushed as her analytical eyes surveyed the scene unfolding before her. Rose's weapon isn't raised nearly high enough to block that attack in the slightest… She realized with a jolt. And her shield is already so damaged, to summon a new one and have it in place in time…. She's going to be struck full force! It had only taken her mere moments to realize this, but to her it felt like an eternity's worth of time wasted, without hesitation she cried out for Rose, her cry cut off by the sound of the impending force of battle all around her as tears flew freely from her eyes up into the burning air around her.
She leapt without thinking, without care of her fairly new swordsman skills, without a single thread of thought to her name for her own safety. All that matters is that she's safe, that she can at least get away, or raise her weapons, or somet-. A blinding pain and a sudden weightless light engulfed her all at once, she hadn't even fully realized that she had leapt in front of Jasper's blow already and taken its full force on herself until it was too late. The large axe missed her gem but cut through the rest of her entirely.
She cried out in pure anguish, the agony tearing all thought free from her grasp, she turned, body only slightly together, glitching harshly between pure light and her form as she sought out Rose. For comfort, or to check on her she wasn't sure, one side of her vision had gone completely black, and her ear on the other side of her head seemed to forget how to continue working properly.
Even still, her one tear filled but functioning sky blue eye met the equally tear filled black eyes of her liege as she finally succumbed, her last possible thoughts being only that she had succeeded.
Bright, bright, blinding light.
That was all she was, all she had at the moment.
She tried to look down at her form, only to realize that there was nothingness in its place.
She could feel warmth all around her, or what she could only assume was her as it soothed away the pain until it was nothing more but a dull throb in the back of her mind.
Mind….. Yes …. This must be the inside of my gem…..
Why am I here? How did I?
The young gem felt herself slip into the embrace of her gem as a particularly warm healing wave washed over her, humming contentedly as it eased the last trace of her ailments away and she allowed herself a soft smile in return to its unearthly aid.
This feels so wonderful, how I got here I can't recall but this should be a place I make a habit of visiting…. She grimaced then, thinking quickly afterwards, of course it'd be nicer if I was here of my own accord rather than my apparent injury….. How did I get here? She ignored her gem's protest to her thinking so deeply so soon and pushed past the slight migraine that came on as she fought to recall the situation.
We were battling for one of the first times for Earth….. I disabled my adversaries when I heard the tell-tale sound of Rose's masterful swordsman skills across the field…. She ignored the fact that given a different context that would've been weird to say she could even tell the difference in sound, but as her mind protested with a weak throb of pain she decided to brush it off and continue recalling the scene. I ran, faster than I ever thought capable, weaving through countless fallen gems, both our own and…. Theirs… When suddenly I saw Rose standing before Jasper, clearly in too weak a state to do much more than take an impending blow from that monster's axe….. I leapt in front of it of course, there is absolutely no way I regret that but…
She jolted suddenly, quickly creating a form for herself, haphazardly throwing on her clothes as bones grew, sinews developed, things shifted and popped painfully into place at astonishing speed as she realized, Rose is out there right now, who knows in what condition ALONE.
Crashing to the ground from her position floating and regenerating in the air Pearl gasped low and ragged as the wind was socked out of her, scrambling to her feet at her body's protest she surveyed her surroundings, searching wildly for even one pink curl amidst the…. Chaos?
She found herself in a room, but not just any room….
Pink clouds floated peacefully around her, the overwhelming feeling of comfort and security enough to make her take to one knee, breathing raggedly as she cried out in astonishment.
The whole floor! It's nothing but clouds, clouds I should be falling through… right?
She gave a few cautionary pats to the ground beneath her, it was indeed made up of clouds, but unlike the ones that surrounded her above, these clouds were solid with plenty of cushy give to them, perfectly safe to walk on. For now at least she thought to herself. Pearl walked quickly, still cautious of the suspicious place around her as she called out, "Rose? Rose can you hear me?!" Suddenly she felt a presence, large and quickly advancing in her direction, her gem throbbed oddly in protest as she summoned her spear, too anxious to chide herself, silently or otherwise, for the sloppy summoning as she whipped around, ready to face whatever was coming for her.
Just as she could feel it barreling towards her, the feeling vanished, completely wiped clean from her paranoid radar. She went to quickly run towards where it had been, not being one even in her still shaken state to just wait around like mere bait, when suddenly she was encapsulated….. In the most comforting, yet crushing embrace that she had ever known, or even for that matter, craved.
"Oh Pearl, my precious, precious Pearl!" She was overwhelmed by the sudden embrace, but once she smelled the wafting scent of a rose's purest essence she was a melted mess.
"Rose, I'm fine I assure you," she stuttered out, trying to hide her adoration at the intimate hug from behind as much as possible in the hope of being at least a little professional in front of the far wiser gem behind her. The pale knight quickly regained that sense of professionalism as she recalled the recent events and was quick to say "Are you ok?"
Before she could go on further to apologize for leaving Rose like she did she found her thoughts broken again as she was suddenly spun around in the hug, now she was face to face with the taller rebellion leader, she's so stunning, a breath closer and my nose would be touching Rose's she thought, skin flushing a deep blue color as she let her eyes snap from the woman's eyes to her lips to her eyes again in the matter of mere seconds.
Unbeknownst to her in her flustered state, Rose had been studying Pearl intently, taking advantage of the close hold to thoroughly inspect her for any signs of damage, physically or otherwise. She finished her intent search and pulled back just as Pearl had allowed herself to bring her face a tad bit closer, humming obliviously in content and utter relief that her friend and valued ally had not been harmed…. Or at least permanently…..
Pearl woke out of her stupor the instant Rose had pulled away, momentarily worried that she had been caught drifting closer, her lips mere heartbeats from the larger woman's, she gave her own silent sigh of relief as she realized that Rose was preoccupied with her thoughts to have noticed her awkward subconscious advance and she breathed yet another silent huff of admiration for an unknown force as Rose took her hand and led her away.
"I know you must be a little frightened by your surroundings yes, Pearl?" Rose smiled knowingly down at the gem who was busy clinging to her hand, her eyes panning frantically all around Rose, making sure she didn't suddenly drop through the suspicious floor into what was surely nothingness below. "Room, some chairs for the both of us…. And a glass of water for Pearl, if you would please." The giant gem fell back into the nothingness, Pearl instantly there reaching for her hand, only to find that the moment Rose had sat back, a perfectly sized chair had appeared beneath her. She felt Rose push her back lightly on the chest with the softest of giggles and soon was fumbling as a glass of cold water suddenly appeared in her pale hands, a warm chair similar to Rose's pressing into her back.
"Drink, rest, and let me explain where we are." Rose offered a smile as Pearl, almost as if following an order, and if only to calm her nerves at the same time, all but pounced on the glass clutched between her hands, reminding herself to drink slowly only at the last moment, not wanting to make a beast of herself in front of someone like Rose.
A bubbly laugh filled the room as Rose sat and patiently watched Pearl try and fail to relax in the cloudy environment. She kept glancing all over the place, sure any minute Jasper would come leaping out of the poofy pink clouds around them and attack. She decidedly focused her attention on Rose, saw how relaxed and trusting she looked, she let out a controlled sigh through her nose as she felt almost all of her anxiousness ease out of her.
When Rose had seen that she was calm enough she started, her tone gentle and relaxed as to further lull away the shorter gem's unease. "We made it through the battle…." She trailed off, deciding with a heavy heart to tell her at a later date how many of their own they had lost, and unwilling to think about the many they had taken from their enemy as well. She watched Pearl shift uneasily then, and saw her large blue eyes taking in her form, looking for any possible sign, once again, of damage. "I'm fine my Pearl, I promise you." She assured, holding up a large soft hand to Pearl's face, tilting her chin up so they could lock gazes. "You were damaged badly enough that you had to retreat to your gem, I brought you here to help you when you came back, after the battle….."
She added with a slight pause, seeing Pearl's unasked question light up in her worried blue eyes. "The battle that was assuredly won, of course."
Pearl fought back her shame at her inability to help better and decided that for all Rose's kindness she wouldn't bring up her failure to properly protect her liege, just yet anyways, and decided to instead ask the older woman, "W-Where is…. 'here' exactly?" She was met with another soft laugh from the now widely smiling woman before her, who had chosen to stand in order to more properly gesture at the space around them. "My personal room of course."
Pearl had busied herself with hiding her flushed face behind her glass of water, trying to ignore the epitome of beauty that practically shone in front of her, but when she heard those words uttered from those lips… That she was in Rose's room her inner sanctum, her damn bed essentially, she lost it. She flushed a solid blue hue all the way to the tips of her ears as she felt a warm hand pat her firmly on the back, trying to play off the enormous blush as a side effect to almost choking herself back into her gem on the mouthful of water she just basically breathed.
As she sat there, willing her blush to go away, water forcing itself past her lips and dribbling down in a horrid mess on the front of her shirt she thought about the event currently taking place. I, Pearl, am currently in the private chambers of THE Rose Quartz, the object of my utmost devotion and utter love, and I'm essentially being burped by her while I re-establish that I'm not a freaking fish!
She looked down in shame and repulsion at herself, making a mess of her good shirt like that in front of Rose of all people, who was now looking at her with a mix of amusement and concern. "A-Ah….. I'm so s-sorry Rose I-I-!" Her lips were shut with a firm, warmly padded finger, attached to the gorgeously soft hand of Rose as she gently shushed the flabbergasted Pearl into silence. "It's fine Pearl, Room? A shirt please, for my friend Pearl if you would." Pearl felt a momentary flash of cold and then warmth around her chest as her shirt fazed into the tarnished form of before into the clean newness of after. She blushed for the umpteenth time as she realized that rather than let her do it herself, Rose had fazed her into a new shirt, and not only that but it was one of Rose's.
It had been shrunk a bit to try and accommodate Pearl's lithe form but the white, soft flowing tunic still hung a bit big on her, exposing a flushed shoulder blade no matter how many times she self- consciously pulled it up. She looked up into Rose's delightedly amused eyes, ready to assure her that she didn't have to go through the trouble, and that she could have easily fazed herself into one of her own clean shirts, self-consciously worrying the loose shoulder strap in her hand as she got ready to do so; before she could, Rose stopped her heart from beating, making her face explode in an array of blue hues that this time covered her to her shoulders.
"You look wonderful with your shoulder exposed a little, and in my shirt? The color and flowy style suit you, the white playing off your gorgeous eyes, makes them sparkle don't you think?"
Pearl was woken from her miniature heart attack by the way of a mirror Rose had apparently requested while she was busy flat lining, the simple gold mirror, a single rose carved into the back in way of decoration, was held in Rose's large hand in front of Pearl for her to see.
All Pearl could see was a small, weak gem in a shirt from a goddess many times her size, even shrunk. Pearl's nose crinkled slightly as she cringed at how bony her shoulders looked, how blindingly bright her azure eyes were in comparison to the clean white of the tunic. And yet….. This is Rose's shirt…. She smiled then, almost selfishly at the thought, to herself as she hummed lightly under her breath in a falsely agreeing tone to all the compliments, once more reminding herself that bony shoulders or not, she was in Rose's room, and in Rose's shirt. Nothing more but the greatest of privileges she simply knew, and quite frankly relished, basking in the knowledge that no one but Rose had ever been in here, much less taken something of Rose's with them.
She spent more time with Rose, the excited gem showing Pearl some of the best things she could summon in her cavernous room of clouds. They acted almost childlike in their reverie of one another's presence, dancing and chasing, playing about among the cotton candy pink room around them together.
Pearl sighed dejectedly at the end though, trying to keep it to herself as her smile faltered. She had finally felt the sub-conscious pull of doubt at the back of her mind, it felt like only moments in here with Rose, but Pearl knew deep down that surely she'd wasted the last hours of the day left for Rose, taking all this time better used for important matters selfishly for herself.
Rose seemed to notice this change of mood in her faithful friend, and tsked quietly when she saw Pearl stand to leave. "My Pearl where are you going? Are you ok, dear?" Pearl blanched but held strong, even though every part of her was screaming to stay in this, now enchanting room, with her even more enchanting host. She didn't want to hurt Rose's feelings, much less leave her side in general…. But she couldn't stand the thought of Rose getting tired of her, of her being a burden to the Quartz gem. "I really must go, it's late by human standards….. And I should really check on the others and- and….." She was grasping for straws, spouting off anything her mind could think of to use as a valid reason for her leaving the Heaven that was Rose Quartz. Rose quietly sighed, her gentle breath tickling some of the looser curls in front of her face as she saw through Pearl's façade.
She noticed the slight lag in Pearl's responses, heard how far- fetched her excuses became, and furthermore saw how tired Pearl looked in general. She had been through a lot that day….
Rose's usually calm, kind eyes hardened in grim determination, she wouldn't see her most precious friend suffer, especially after all the sacrifices Pearl had unknowingly made that day. Her plump pink lips parted, and she wasted no time in calling out, her voice, even as gentle as it was, carrying the weight of the message well throughout the room and to the ears of the retreating gem.
"Pearl, I wish for you to stay with me tonight."
If Pearl even slightly believed that Heaven existed she would have died and gone to it at that moment she was sure of it. She tried to keep her face from exploding into too big a grin, too flattered, surprised, and overall drowned in joy to even blush (hardly), as she all but leapt back to Rose's side.
She kept trying to assure Rose that she was fine as they settled down in Rose's luxurious king sized pink bed, tried to tell her that gems didn't even require sleep (as if she didn't know right?) feeling instantly enveloped by Rose's arms and her indulgent scent.
Hell, she even tried to pry her eyes away, and her eventually even her mouth, all in vain of course in the end, from the taller gem's as she tried, one last time to tell herself overall that she could've avoided this, if only Rose wasn't pretty much the air Pearl would've truly needed if she was mortal.
But try as she might Pearl succumbed to Rose's care, her touch, her all- consuming kiss, once more as she realized…. Rose is who I am…..