Her arms tremble, making the sword waver and drop a few inches, ignorant of the battle it should be fighting. Her legs quake, and she's more aware than ever of the gaping hole in her side where living stone is supposed to be. The pain eating away at her threatens to send her tumbling to the ground and into her gem form.
But she will not do that, she will not; she can't, not yet, not this time.
She is here, on this battlefield, leading the charge like the reckless fool she is; she cannot afford to be left alone, with no one to protect her, not for even a moment.
She retains her solid body by the skin of her teeth, but the burning agony is so crippling she can barely keep the sword's tip from hitting the ground.
An unfamiliar voice scoffs, making her jerk, look up despite the needles pricking her flesh; the warrior she'd been facing, tall, green, decked in the armor of the HomeWorld Diamonds, grins wolfishly at her obvious struggle.
"You alright there, shortie? I could leave you here if you need a minute, go find an actual challenge to face instead of a dull little Pearl like you," she guffawed, clearly unimpressed by her opponent's small frame, not even bothering to remain in a battle stance as she laughed.
Pearl grit her teeth, glaring viciously even as her sword leant farther downward without her consent, digging into the earth in an attempt to keep her upright.
She could do this.
She could fight.
She wasn't useless, she wasn't, Rose had said so, Rose didn't think she was nothing, she had to do this for Rose-
Her knees buckled, and a sharp cry of ragged denial tore from her throat as she thudded into the dirt, unable to remain on her feet in the face of such torment.
As the world dulled and focused and morphed around her, she reflected that this, at least, was not a foreign concept; lying on the ground listening to the mocking laughter of her sisters and Mother of Pearl had been a common occurrence for so long… nobody cared about the cloudy, imperfect little defect…
If she couldn't fight, maybe she could at least fall in a war like this…
The derisive monologue the enemy had seemingly slipped into abruptly cut into shouting, snarling, furious battle-enraged screaming that Pearl could barely hear let alone understand.
The scrape of steel against steel, a muffled thud, some loud, garbled cursing, then the familiar poof! of a gem dissolving into their crystal forms to regenerate.
Pearl can't even lift her head to investigate, just focuses on breathing, doing the best she can to take her attention away from the torment digging deeper into her organs by the second.
When large, gentle fingers take her hand, her eyes shoot open, her body spasms, and new fire burns her side, but she doesn't even notice; she doesn't because those fingers are familiar, that warm pressure is both foreign and beloved, and why is she here she should be behind the lines she shouldn't be so far into enemy territory it isn't safe she can't be here she can't be here-
"Rose!" she manages, before her vision darkens rapidly as the pain intensifies a thousand fold and all she can do is gasp brokenly, tears leaking out of her eyes.
"-alri- you're al-ght" that lovely, sweet voice says, and Pearl is half-conscious and falling apart, but she hangs on to every word, "You'll b- 'kay, Pearl, just g- ead and regenerate."
"Noooo," she manages to whine, tightening her lax grip onto Rose's even as her lungs struggle to fill properly, "I have to- have to-"
"Pearl," is said sharply, cutting her off, and fingers are suddenly on her face, grabbing her face and pulling her up enough to look and see the flinty, cold look on her commander's face, making her gasp and jerk slightly in shock, "It is not a request. You can't do anything like this. You need to regenerate."
The surprise only serves to paralyze the younger gem for so long; stubbornness and a deeply-ingrained need to be useful make her wrench her face out of her commander's grip, some of the fire rising up in her own eyes now. "No! You can't be out here alllone! I need to help-!" she intends to continue despite the slurring, but she can't;
Rose is crying.
Rose is crying.
Rose is crying.
Rose is crying.
Rose Quartz, Pink Diamond, Commander of the Second Regiment of HomeWorld and Leader of the Crystal Gem Rebellion, is crying and Pearl couldn't think of a single thing to help.
She flounders for something to say, but the pain still coursing through her body addles her brain, makes her mute; all she can do is watch as her leader blinks rapidly and shakes her head, letting go of Pearl's cheeks (they go cold at their absence) to swipe at them.
"Pearl please," and Rose is begging now, and Pearl wants to curl up for a few centuries and not move because this was not okay, "I want you to stop. Just stop. You're hurt, too badly for my tears to do much. You need to regenerate, or you're going to die out here."
"But I-" she began to protest weakly, only to be cut off by a hiccupped sob from the taller woman, and then she couldn't dissolve fast enough because tears were already starting to form in her own eyes and why was Rose crying, Pearl was doing her job, she'd been fighting for her, oh nonononono-
She falls asleep, and knows no more.
A/N: ANGST. The SU fandom is full of it. I thought I'd add my share. I plan on this to be a three-part thing, but we'll see; if the feels demand it to be longer, than it shall be. Do you like it? Be honest, this is my first SU story. I'll see you next chap!
~Persephone