"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, and 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's 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! 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 the surface of it.

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

"But Blue," Yellow spits out through his wavering voice. "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 becausew 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 brilliant monologue, she seems to analyze the points of light in his eyes. She is unable to detect any hint of guile, of trickery. In front of her is just a man still overcome with grief, broken beyond repair, beyond any crack or corruption. But despite the fact that he is broken, he still stands before her, strong and tall.

She touches her cheek and realizes that she had been crying as well. She tries to open her mouth to say something in response, but the words stick in her throat like too-sweet medicine. Instead, she gives out a loud sob and throws herself into Yellow's arms. Her tears fall in conjunction with Yellow's, and fall even faster when Yellow pats her back.

"I'm sorry, Yellow," Blue cries. "I've been a fool this entire time. I'm sorry for thinking bad of you."

"The blame is mine, Blue," Yellow soothes. "I didn't want to appear weak to you, but after you visited the Earth, despite it being the place where the Cluster could have emerged at any moment, I understood my foolishness. It was I who has failed you."

Blue gives out a pained cry and hugged Yellow harder. Her mouth could not form words anymore, only guttural noises to express the pain and grief spilling out from her heart.

"Blue, I understand if you still need time to grieve for her. Please, if it's not too much, lend me control of some of your colonies. I can keep them running as you sort out your emotions."

Blue still cannot respond, only hiccup as she collects herself.

"Blue, please. Let me do this for you. You can take all the time you need here, and when you're ready to come back, I'll give them back."

Blue bites back her tears, enough to push Yellow away from her. Yellow, whose tears still flowed in little spigots from his face, wipes them. Blue wipes her own, and offers Yellow a brave smile. "No, Yellow. I can't just stay here and grieve." She takes Yellow's hand in her own, holding his up to shoulder level in both of hers. "I'm a Diamond first."

Yellow's eyes widen for a split second before settling back down. He smiles as well, and places his hand on the side of Blue's, folding them to make a Venn Diagram with them. "Are you sure you don't need more time?"

Blue folds her hands to her fingers hold one of his hands captive, and he hers. "I can ask my Pearl to schedule time to come here, after I'm done dealing with all of the work that's piled up."

Yellow places his forehead on her knuckles, but though his head is tilted downward, Blue can still see the faint tugs of a heartwarming smile on his face. She feels the wet tears on her hands. "Thank you, Blue."