". . . As for me, I'm certain I don't need you. After all, I'm every colour of the light!"

". . . But you're a part of me — a part I always have to repress."

"Your new friends are so funny. . . Is that what they're supposed to be?. . . Funny?"

White Diamond had let her power do the talking until now. Now, Pink Diamond is infatuated. Now, she is surrounded by her pathetic, greyscale friends. She knows she can make her yield.

"Do you know why you defend their flaws?"

Pink is silent. She has her now.

"I know why, Pink."

She lets her voice run through her puppets, echoing the words back at the defected Diamond from every angle.

"You like surrounding yourself with inferior Gems."

"What?"

"You enable their terrible behaviour so you can be the best of the worst."

"That's not true!" the Diamond fights. She doesn't realise how fruitless it is. "And, even if it is . . . even if it was. . . y— you're talking about my Mom! You're not talking about me!"

The chamber rings with her laughter.

"Your 'Mom'?"

This is too ridiculous. Even when Pink knows it's over, she still fights.

"Guys, I'm here!"

Ah, the human is back. When White directs the defected Pearl to fetch her, she is amused.

"Well, what have we here? It's another one of your pets!"

Pink Diamond and her pet are soon immobilised.

"Let her go!" she cries, but White knows she doesn't truly care for the human. She only smiles and continues.

"These worthless Gems weren't enough, were they? See how you surround yourself with lower life forms?" the greyscale Gems repeat her words, their lips curled. "You've smothered yourself in them. It feels good, doesn't it, Pink? Dulling your power, hiding your face, blaming everything—"

"STOP! You're hurting them!"

This is growing tiresome.

"You should know all too well by now that what you say is never the case, Pink. You don't care for these 'friends'. You use them, don't you? You use them for your personal gain."

"Please, stop!" She is still fighting. "Let them go! You'll break them! You're breaking them! Look at what you did to Mom's Pearl!"

"I do not break my Gems. Don't you remember it was you who—"

"Please! Just let them go, let everyone go! You're hurting everyone—"

"I am PERFECTING them," she cuts—

Crack!

She freezes. Blue Diamond is falling.

"No," White gasps—

She hits the floor, and the grey fades from every other Gem. Yellow Diamond is on her knees, and then she is beside the fallen Gem, chest heaving.

"Blue," she breathes, and her voice is trembling. The Diamond is still, her colours still faded.

Pink is beside her now too, coaxing her, trying to wake her up.

White sees the crack on her gem. And she realises her mistake.

White Diamond is on her knees next to Yellow. "Blue, no—"

Yellow Diamond spins to her. Her eyes are wet, but burning with a hateful fire. "You — you did this to her, didn't you?"

It looks like she will continue, but she bites her lip, holding herself back. It is clear she is afraid of the largest Diamond, but then, looking at Blue again, she bursts.

"How could you? We— All we did was talk! All she did was— was. . ." she lets out a little gasp, and a tear rolls down her cheek. "You broke her." She meets her gaze again, eyes hard. "Pink left because of you. We should have left too. Before . . . Before it was too late."

White knows that Yellow doesn't believe this herself, and she doesn't expect it to hurt, but it does. She is flawless, she shouldn't feel this way. She is perfect—

She gazes down at Blue, and it strikes her again, like a lightning bolt.

I'm NOT perfect.

And she finds her glow has suffused, leaving her vulnerable. When she looks down at her hands, they are translucent. This is what she is; inside. Without that infernal glow, she is nothing, and everyone can see that for themselves.

When she looks up, the walls aren't solid anymore, either. They are mirrored. She stands and a dozen copies of herself follow suit. She feels outnumbered, claustrophobic. She nears the closest reflection, lays her hand on the glass. When she gazes at herself, all she sees is a ghost.

And she has known for a long time. She has always hated herself for it. She has shoved it down, masked it, ignored it always. She has hidden herself, more and more frequently, lest her Gems — and forbid, the other Diamonds — find out.

Because she has grown attached to Pink. Pink's light may be her own, but now Pink has brought out her Pink. Her Pink that suffuses with her many-coloured self, that throws her Off-Colour. Less and less she goes out. More she hides. Less Gems rejected, fewer shattered . . . and then more, more, MORE, to prove to herself, to prove to everyone, she IS perfect.

Mind games. Puppeteering. More control. The Tower. She hides Pink in that Tower in an effort to hide the Pink in herself.

But it doesn't work. And then Pink is playing games — and then the Blue, and then the Yellow. They all shine through in her, and though she is perfect, she is Off-Colour.

And through herself in the mirror, she can still see Blue, lying motionless on the floor. She is grey, she is cracked — she is imperfect.

Just like herself.

White. . .

It is HER fault. All of it.

White?. . .

An Off-Colour Diamond! If she were herself, she would shatter her.

White!. . .

There is nothing to do, nothing at all. She feels so empty. She is nothing. She has always been.

"WHITE!"

When she opens her eyes, Pink is there by her feet, and she looks as if she were light-years away.

"White, please, you need to help her."

She can't help her. She can't help herself.

"Please. I know what you can do."

She finds she is breathing hard. Breathing? Breathing like a lower life form. She is more than Off-Colour. It is much worse than that. She is defective.

"You care about Blue, don't you?"

Finally she can muster a response. She nods, silent.

"Okay. Then just come with me, and I'll show you what to do."

Time blurs and again she's in front of Blue Diamond. Pink is sitting on her chest, hand on her gem.

"I already tried to heal her, but it didn't work. Maybe it's because you've still got a hold on her."

Imperfect. Flawed. Off-Colour. Defective.

"Can you try to take it away, please?"

Imperfect. Blue. Flawed. I'm sorry. . . Off-Colour. No! Defective. Please. . .

"White . . . please?

Imperfect. Focus. Flawed. FOCUS. Off-Colour. Release. Defective. Release. . .

"It's working! Keep going!"

Imperfect. Relax. Flawed. Release. Off-Colour. Draw it away. Defective. Blue again.

"White, you did it! Look, it's okay. I can heal her."

IMPERFECT. FLAWED. OFF-COLOUR! DEFECTIVE!

"Blue? Blue, can you hear us?"

"Blue, it's me, Yellow. . ."

Movement, and the voices in her head quieten.

Blue Diamond is sitting up. She is drowsy, but blue. Awake. Her gem smooth and untarnished.

"Blue. . ."

Yellow's talking, lifting trembling fingers to the other's gem. She draws in a sharp little breath, and she is kissing Blue, on her forehead, her hand, her gem. . . She looks up.

White's eyes are fixed on her. She has never before seen such . . . such untamed actions in her Court.

She feels her brows crease and her lips curl, and then Pink speaks.

"You did it, White. You fixed her."

Slowly, her gaze drops to the tiny Diamond. She looks happy, and she reaches out for her.

She fixed her. . .?

Imperfect. Flawed. Off-Colour. Defective.

The whispers are still there, but as she gazes at Blue Diamond in Yellow's arms, she can feel something inside her soften.

Maybe she is good for something after all.