Author's Note: This story was written several months ago for a fic exchange that I'm not really sure is still happening. In the meantime, canon has caught up with it in interesting ways (for me, at least - the timeline in particular is a bit of an AU affair now). Please enjoy!
"Well, here we are."
It wasn't the most creative or original set of words to mark the end of a very, very long journey in a relatively crowded ship among Gems who couldn't exactly be trusted, but it was the best Pearl managed. The simple phrase certainly couldn't begin to convey her relief. All the pretending had really started to get to her, and the brief times of respite and being allowed to be herself when the two of them got to be alone in Rose's cabin were far from enough to counteract the seemingly endless stretches of nothing, of standing around and standing on protocol and standing in wait and standing, standing, standing…
She was standing on the ship's gangway now, on the threshold to a new world, the last of the crew to disembark. But, far more importantly, Rose was standing right there beside her.
"This… is it, I suppose," Pearl went on, squinting at the very bright light of the local star that was allowed to pass through the atmosphere in some capacity, before turning her glance towards the overabundance of strange, variously-textured and mostly green substances around their landing site, presumably organic in nature. "Crystal System planet Earth. Doesn't really look like much."
"Pearl," Rose laughed, in that open, loud, free way she allowed herself when they were alone, "we've hardly seen anything of it. Don't be so quick to judge."
"Well, I still can't say I'm impressed. Our last two stops had a much more interesting atmospheric tint and solar configuration…"
"Give it some time," Rose nudged Pearl's shoulder with her own, still smiling widely. "It'll grow on you, I'm sure. I hear they've almost got the warp system active - we'll have a chance to go for some quick exploring. Oh, look at that!"
"Rose, slow down!" Pearl made a feeble attempt to grab hold of her arm, far too late to accomplish anything to even slightly dampen Rose's enthusiasm. "It might be unwise to-"
But Rose wasn't one to be stopped when something caught her attention and her fancy. It was the same wherever they went, really, from ice planets to volcanic wastes, and try as she might Pearl always failed to keep up anything like a serious facade - Rose's joy, just like Rose's everything, was far too contagious.
"Come here, Pearl! It's… some kind of local lifeform, and it's very friendly."
There was a small green tendril wrapped around Rose's finger, pulsing and squirming gently in time with her words. "Oh, hello," Rose greeted it, and it squeezed back lightly. "I'm very glad to meet you. Come say hi, Pearl."
Pearl strode over rather less enthusiastically and more carefully than Rose, and prodded the creature. Beyond wobbling slightly with the force she'd applied to it, nothing happened.
"Come now, don't be shy," Rose urged it, to another very animated response.
Pearl, on the other hand, remained completely ignored, and tried her best to convince herself she didn't care. "Maybe it just… doesn't like me?"
"Well, then our new friend doesn't have the best of taste. No offense," Rose added at the flurry of green movement that simply had to denote protest. "It's fine, though, I'm sure you'll see the error of your ways. Come on, Pearl, let's go see the Kindergarten site."
—
It didn't take them long to stumble upon the planet's apparently dominant species. There was a settlement of some kind near their original landing site, a little way off into the lush greenery, and Rose immediately made her way there, mumbling something about the importance of proper first contact.
They were afraid at first, the humans. It made sense to Pearl, of course - fragile organic things as they were, a sense of self-preservation was doubtlessly crucial to their continued survival. But what won over in the end was curiosity, and it didn't take very long until they were as enamoured with Rose as she was with them.
It also came to light that the reaction Rose had gotten from the so-called plant life was really not the expected or at all normal response, and Pearl couldn't help but feel a little relieved at that. Once again, the local flora was almost as enamoured with Rose as she was with it, and the humans found this remarkably quickly forged bond particularly impressive. It likely had to do with their propensity to feed from it, as well - another thing they needed in order to survive, and Pearl's list of observations on the species grew.
As the planet's rotational cycles went on, they scouted out more human settlements - or, in Rose's case, were shown the way to them by happy, helpful humans - and made the requisite official reports, to justify the absences more than anything. To very little acknowledgement - none of the Diamonds had time or reason to care about the organic lifeforms on targeted colony planets, of course. Pearl liked to imagine all the carefully-worded submissions ending up on some virtual garbage pile Pink Diamond had on hand for just such occasions, and couldn't make up her mind about whether she found this frustrating or strangely satisfying. It was a waste of good work, a lot of it her good work, even if nobody but her and Rose would ever know this - but it was also an indication that for the time being Rose could immerse herself in getting to know the Earth without too much fear of direct consequences.
For the most part the two of them were alone, except for the brief occasions when Rose was needed for approving reports and confirming patrol orders. Preparing for the first Kindergarten in the system was an impressive operation, demanding the full effort of a great many Gems, and the place would undoubtedly be an awe-inspiring sight to behold once active. But for now it felt like a game, almost - a dangerous game, perhaps, but one Rose was very good at, and one she'd already played to some extent with several past colonies-to-be: rerouting orders and delaying operations and demanding other things take precedence over the initial Kindergarten preparations; anything to postpone that inevitable transformation that would take hold of the Earth once colonisation began in earnest.
To say that Pearl didn't mind this general arrangement would be a severe understatement - the Earth colonisation effort was quickly turning into an endless number of opportunities to both stay away from prying eyes and get away from every painfully stifling and impossible thing she knew she was supposed to be. And Rose, well, Rose openly appreciated her help, and asked for her thoughts, and praised her creative ideas, and valued her opinions, and held her hand gently, and invited the softest grass to cover the hill they were on to make them a comfortable perch for lying down and watching the stars from, and…
Rose's quiet laugh - one Pearl could almost feel more than hear, with how close to each other they were sitting - broke through the haze that had chosen to settle on Pearl's mind. The next thing she knew, Rose was leaning over and tucking a small yellow flower into her hair. Pearl had half a mind to protest having a plant's garish reproductive organs anywhere on her person, but Rose - Rose looked so pleased with her handiwork and was gazing at her with such open adoration that words were quite hard to even think of.
Pearl snuggled closer into Rose's side and decided flowers were among her favourite things Earth had to offer. Since she'd started accompanying Rose Quartz on her travels the meaning of home kept changing so rapidly it left Pearl reeling, sometimes - the realisation of how little the where mattered, when it had Rose in it. But she had to admit being on Earth- well, the Earth, as a whole, with its overeager flora and just slightly annoyingly tilted axis and curious little humans and a general stubborn tenacity and constant unstoppable growth - it certainly didn't hurt.
—
It was what pearls were very deliberately made to be like, Rose knew: their long, spindly limbs and general air of being barely there a point of pride for artisans and a signifier of quality and prestige. But it still struck her how obviously fragile her companion could seem, especially when caught off guard. Pearl always looked so delicate under her hands, and only some of it deceptive - Rose often found herself worrying about breaking her with one wrong, thoughtless movement.
So she took extra care to be consciously gentle, with only the lightest of fingers running through wispy hair at the back of a long, elegant neck, and the softest of palms cupping Pearl's face - small, in comparison, but fitting in them so very well.
The care was well repaid in trust. There was a special charm to the way Pearl curled into herself and into Rose's side when they laid together to relax, or watch the stars, or just talk about nothing in particular. And there it was, just like with the flower - the feeling she had been given something irreplaceable, unique, and incredibly important to hold. Don't mess this up, Rose, a small, insistent voice in her went, don't rush and stumble about and ruin it.
"It's… nice," Pearl broke the silence after a good while, fingers tapping out some strange rhythm on Rose's forearm.
"Yes, it is," Rose agreed with a happy and somewhat absent sigh. "Oh- what did you mean?"
"Just… no one thing in particular. Any of it. All of it. The sky looks very nice tonight! I, um, like not having to… pretend, or hide." Pearl hesitated, the movements of her fingers on Rose's arm stilling for a moment, as well. Then she visibly gathered her courage with a few determined breaths, and leaned over. "Not having to wait and look around before… before doing something like this."
Her fingers were as cool as always when they touched Rose's cheek, and when she drew closer Rose could see every fluttery eyelash and the light dusting of blue on her face. Then all hesitation seemed to drain out of her as she pressed her lips to Rose's, briefly and gently but with definite, determined intent.
It was Pearl who broke away first, now almost painfully bright blue and unable to meet Rose's eyes, immediately launching into what could very well be a thousand stumbling half-excuses and explanations. "Oh, dear, I was- you seemed to be… interested in… when those humans were doing it, so I thought… I admit I was curious, too… I just…"
Rose offered no answer, but kissed her again.
—
Watching Rose watch the Earth, and humans with it, was an experience unto itself. The breathless enthusiasm in the midst of her stubborn insistence on accurately mimicking the breathing patterns of local species; the dawning surprise and joy on her face brighter than any rise of any sun in any system Pearl had ever been to - it was so… new, strangely. Countless planets in countless systems (all eventually crushed under the foot of some Diamond or other, but that grim thought Pearl tried to push out of her mind), and there was something about this one that was just…
Rose's excited voice broke through her thoughts again. "Oh, and they're really clever with their hands, and they make all sorts of tools, then use them to make all sorts of things … you'd love it, Pearl!"
Pearl nodded, not entirely convinced, but willing to give it all a chance, if nothing else then because Rose's enthusiasm was irresistible. Of course, yes, the humans showed certain promise, especially with the way they persevered in the face of their own notably brief existence, but Pearl preferred to keep herself in the role of an observer, at a healthy distance and with none of Rose's eager diving into things.
And then there it was, the realisation Pearl had been waiting for Rose to inevitably reach. Rose stopped in her tracks, frozen in the energetic, agitated pacing that she occasionally resorted to (she was all barely restrained movement sometimes - it was when her sheer power was most easily understandable and obvious). "I want to protect them," she said very simply, as if so much was now becoming clear to her. "I want to protect all of them, all of it. So much potential, and so much promise. I refuse to stand by and watch it all go to waste, and for what? Another quartz battalion or two to appease Pink Diamond's need for superiority? No. I won't allow it."
Pearl couldn't help but stare - it would be a crime to let a single moment of it go to waste, was her go-to excuse. And was Rose- was Rose looking at her? Potential and promise-
She agreed, of course she did, but there was something else that was very, very apparent about the situation, and that required Rose's attention before any other decisions could begin to be made.
"It's… it's just the two of us." Usually, and Pearl was quite self-aware enough to know, that would have been her preferred state of things. Usually. But now it might come to mean something else: a dramatic decrease of already impossible odds, a death sentence as soon as they drew the wrong attention to themselves, if they chose to travel down this strange, extreme new road. "How will we ever…"
"Pink Diamond will listen to me, I know she will. She trusts me with matters often enough to show her confidence in my decisions. In all these years of service I've yet to let her down. Besides," and there was that grin, and Pearl could feel the ground underneath her fall away, "I have a certain knack for getting both in and out of trouble."
But then, Rose Quartz could have said Run away with me with one of her charming, dashing, subtly irreverent smiles and it would have been all Pearl needed to wholeheartedly agree.
Oh, dear, her mind supplied, I am in trouble, indeed.
It was terrifying, but also beautifully exciting - her and Rose, taking on what may as well have been the entire universe. Diamonds would not be denied, after all, and making one change her mind wasn't a widely achieved feat. They were never going to get off lightly, should Rose's idea of diplomacy fail. But when Rose said she could do it, it was so very hard not to believe her.
—
Watching Pearl practice her swordfighting was a delight - always light on her feet, always moving with such grace and elegance, always making everything look like a dance.
She was also frustratingly prone to overexerting herself and working herself to exhaustion. If Rose got caught up in watching and got carried away herself, Pearl would never think to stop until the sword was all but falling out of her grip.
"Pearl, I'd love you even if you never touched the hilt of a sword again." Rose resorted, as she often did, to holding her close, hoping it would somehow help get the points across. "Please remember - you don't have to prove anything to me."
It had made all the sense in the world, when she'd first started feeling like she could understand at least some of what drove Pearl, often to extremes - it is hard to keep want away from a being, no matter what you do to them.
There was another thread running through her mind these days. Rose had already seen Homeworld was wrong about Pearl, and about pearls as a whole - and maybe even about Gems as a whole, too. And that made it so much easier to believe they were wrong about the Earth, too.
Pearl seemed to be thinking along some of the same lines. "It's interesting, to think…" she mumbled, making no move to leave Rose's embrace - her tired lean a sort of concession, perhaps, too. "The humans… well, some natural inborn aptitude and affinity matter, yes, but above all what takes precedence in their lives is choice. It's amazing. I wonder if-"
"If?" Rose prompted softly.
"If Gems could… how would that even work, not knowing what you're for? I mean, I- well, I… I know what I'm supposed to be, but I also know that what they want me to be is wrong and- it's a guideline at least, though, isn't it? A guideline of what not to be, if nothing else. Imagine there being nothing."
"Hm, well, it may be a bit too late for us, but imagine-" Rose trailed off, but Pearl squirmed in her grip and looked up at her eagerly. "Imagine Gems, on Earth, getting to choose things for themselves, just like humans. Far from the eyes of supervisors and commanders. Far from the eyes of the Diamonds."
It sounded ridiculous, now that she'd said it. Impossible. Treasonous, just the thought of it. Such a dangerous dream to harbour. And yet, from what she'd shared with Rose, Pearl's entire existence had been… dangerous. No guarantees, and no safety, even if she somehow kept at being the best and most perfect pearl imaginable. And she was far from the only Gem to have been forced to exist like that.
Rose filed the thoughts away and tried to avoid the irresistible comparison with freshly watered seeds her mind insisted on providing.
—
Rose's newest human acquaintance claimed to be a pilot of some sort of Earth vessel - it wasn't entirely clear what she was talking about, really, but she insisted on taking both Rose and Pearl for a demonstration - one for which they would need to travel to the nearby coastline.
"It's… beautiful," was all Rose could manage, faced with the span of the ocean for the first time. Her soft, enraptured gasp made Pearl's chest flutter with the usual jumble of yes it is and yes you are as she shifted her gaze from the calm, gently sparkling water before them to the awestruck face of the Gem at her side. She twined their fingers together and made no comments.
The vessel their human guide had spoken of appeared to be a relatively small boat, barely enough to fit all three of them aboard. The wind wasn't strong, but their captain was skilled enough at capturing it in her sails that they set off into the seemingly endless blue at a smooth, pleasant pace.
Rose was restless and insatiable - the captain could barely begin answering one question before being interrupted with another. Finally, after some rather confusing talk of fish and coral, Rose stopped, and seemed to come to a decision. "I want to see what's down there."
A slight tilting of the boat was the only warning any of them got, before Rose hopped overboard and disappeared from sight. Pearl turned to offer a comment, only to see the growing panic on their guide's face. "Oh, don't worry," she offered with a small, dismissive wave, perfectly matter-of-factly. "We don't need to breathe."
Strangely, that didn't seem to do much to appease the human. Pearl shrugged and turned her attention back to the water, drawing slow circles in it with one finger and settling in to wait until Rose emerged.
That evening they said goodbye to the poor overwhelmed captain and stayed near the water, which was quickly turning into one of Rose's earthly loves that Pearl felt she could genuinely share without hesitation. They went from dipping their feet to jumping in, and laughing, and kissing, and splashing around in perfect, complete denial of any other being in the universe.
But the dawn came, and with it a messenger from the court of Blue Diamond, and suddenly, far too quickly, Rose was a general again, and Pearl a pearl, and the Earth a planet whose days were numbered.
The jade was professional enough to suppress any visible reaction to the saltwater generously dripping from Rose's stubbornly gravity-defying curls, or the general state of disarray she was in. She also didn't seem to notice Pearl scrambling to put up her best proper, blank-faced and straight-backed-but-servile front. The delivery was nothing but a brief holo-chip exchange and the messenger left as quickly as she'd come. Pearl, keen to return to the giddy exploration of the day before, rushed into the shady little alcove Rose had retreated to to listen to the holo-recording.
"Rose, have you seen these crustaceans, they have this- Rose? What happened?"
It wasn't hard to see Rose's mood had changed completely - by the slump of her shoulders, or the furrowing of her brow, or the thousands of other tiny things that still seemed to scream distress to Pearl. Whatever was in that message had Rose uncharacteristically subdued and visibly unhappy, and in Pearl's view this couldn't be allowed to stand.
"Summons from Blue Diamond," Rose responded. "She's planning to come to Earth. It's an invitation to a court function, in fact, for me - but pearls permitted and encouraged, it says, since there is apparently some sort of showing planned…"
It was clear what was at stake, despite the window-dressing of some court happening or other: interest in the colony progress and a visit from Blue Diamond herself meant the certain end of any delaying tactics Rose might have wanted to try, and in the suddenly harsh daylight all their talk of protecting the planet and changing the course of its fate seemed to dissolve into wild, wishful, impossible nonsense.
"What do you suppose will happen when…" when the colony is completed, Pearl almost said, but didn't, when the planet you're charmed with becomes an efficient hollowed-out husk with nothing left on it that had you so entranced, "when it's over?"
"We'll be recalled, and we'll go back to Homeworld," Rose replied quietly, matter-of-factly, tone uncharacteristically flat. "Then, after a certain grace period, there will be another assignment."
Pearl nodded, but Rose didn't look at her, bowing her head and sighing instead, with a barely audible There is always another assignment.
—
Blue Diamond held court only in the most refined of places. This one was no different than her usual standard - a remarkable feat of Gem technology and artistry taking up almost the entirety of a gas giant's satellite; a palace of waterfalls and complex floating platforms, describing an impressive arch all the way up to the throne room.
Rose had barely made it two steps off the warp pad, Pearl demurely padding behind her, when one of the apatite attendants approached to escort her to her commanded audience with Blue Diamond - wordlessly barring Pearl from following, and pointing her over to a line of already waiting pearls along a far wall. Rose grimaced and hid her displeasure at this unexpected separation with some difficulty - but still considerably better than Pearl herself.
By the time Rose and her escort arrived at the heavily guarded entrance to the throne room her composure was outwardly restored, and she went through the requisite gestures of respect and humility without a hitch. "My Diamond," Rose offered curtly, but politely, doing her best to project the perfect image of the clear-cut quartz general that was undoubtedly expected.
"Ah, yes, Pink Diamond's best and brightest," Blue Diamond drawled. "She speaks of you often."
Rose barely suppressed a cringe, mind awhirl with not knowing what she truly wanted - to have been spoken of as a borderline disobedient nuisance well on her way to sabotaging colonisation efforts, or praised for atrocities she'd sowed all over several galaxies and which she could never, ever forget.
"I've recently started taking an interest in the colony-to-be on the Crystal System planet Earth," Blue Diamond continued without waiting for any response. "I understand that is where you are currently stationed. I require a detailed report of the state of things there, as well as concrete timeframes for development. I have no wish to be forced to hold court in some half-finished spire, you understand. These things are of great importance."
Rose took a deep breath and began.
—
The entire affair was dreary and oppressive in its forced opulence, doubly so after the refreshingly simple time they'd spent on Earth. Pearl had to struggle not to pull at her newly formed overcoat - a loud, frilly affair, designed, as such pearl-related things often were, to attract and hold attention. All in all, considering the other pearls around her, she'd apparently gone for a relatively moderate approach.
It was disconcerting, the familiarity of all the hated feelings, the short-lived but burning weight of all those fleeting, judgemental-but-not-of-her gazes on her, passing over her like- like she wasn't really there (because what was there, in a pearl, to be judgemental of? They were empty playthings, and nothing but reflections of their owners).
Rose had never, not once, looked at her like that.
She'd have liked nothing more than to grab onto Rose's wide skirts, fingers tangling deep into the pleasantly simple white, and hide from all sight but hers, with a tiny, strained whisper of Rose, can we leave soon?
But Rose was gone, escorted up to Blue Diamond's throne room as soon as they'd arrived, and the old game was weighing on Pearl like never before. Perhaps, she thought, it was the contrast - after all, one couldn't miss what one had never truly known; but oh, she'd known many, many things now. If anything, tonight was proof that there was truly no going back, ever, not for her, not even for silly, surface pretense.
The night went on and every minute seemed to wear on her like it had been hours - and Rose was still not back. A group of loud prasiolites came over at one point, inspecting every pearl in the lineup in turn, getting as close as they could without actually touching any of them.
"I can't do this," Pearl muttered to herself with a tiny whine as soon as the last of them were gone. It had apparently been loud enough for the pearl right next to her to overhear - the quick but warning-laden gaze she'd shot her spoke volumes. The other pearl had the best of intentions, she supposed, and was probably worried, but Pearl could feel her hands shake even when she balled them up into fists, and- "I can't, I can't, I can't, I-"
A step away from the wall and out of the line may as well have been a step towards certain doom, but Pearl took it with a trembling gasp - and ran straight into a stony-faced Rose. "Come, Pearl, we're leaving," was the only thing she said.
The rush of the warp stream pulling her away from what felt like a thousand eyes boring into her back was one of the most comforting things Pearl had ever felt.
—
As they travelled back, everything she'd been compelled to promise Blue Diamond crawled around Rose's mind like the ever-busy ants she'd spent entire afternoons observing. Things were coming to a head now, in a way she hadn't anticipated and frankly wasn't sure how to deal with at all.
"I'm sorry," came Pearl's voice all of a sudden, small and subdued.
Rose broke out of her wearying thoughts with a slightly confused frown. "What in the world do you have to be sorry for?"
"I've been nothing but trouble for you!" Pearl burst out, tears already visible in the corners of her eyes. "Rose, I- you should have just… gotten rid of me when you had the chance! And what will they say of you now? A quartz general with a second-hand defective pearl who can't even stand still during a reception, what a riot, what a-"
"Pearl! I won't have such talk!" Pearl winced, and Rose's tone softened considerably - she was causing hurt to the one target she didn't intend, and she regretted the outburst immensely. "Oh, Pearl, no, I'm sorry. Come here."
Pearl stepped into the embrace with what could only be described as obedience, and Rose cursed herself inwardly. One step forward, three steps back was just how it was some days, she knew, but she still hated it, even as she worked at patience and understanding. Pearl deserved that and so much more, after all.
"I'm so sorry," she muttered into Pearl's hair, pressing a kiss there for good measure. "I didn't mean to shout - I'm not angry at you, you know? I'm angry at everyone who made it so that you would think these things of yourself."
She felt Pearl's tiny nod against her neck, and ran a hopefully soothing hand down her back in return. Perhaps it wasn't something anyone could ever quite undo, but Rose could foster and nourish and tend to what was still there, and eventually coax it into bloom.
It was what she was good at, after all.
—
The confrontation with Pink Diamond came much sooner than either of them had anticipated, or planned for.
The top level of the soil in the Kindergarten was rapidly taking on a sickly, discoloured hue, and no matter what coaxing Rose tried, nothing would or could grow there. The Earth - or at least the small-for-now part of it the Kindergarten was drawing on - was dying.
The humans were hungry, and discontent, and - fragile organic creatures or not - their interference in Gem business meant significant delays to the construction and development efforts. Rose's refusal to deal with them in any manner other than talking meant that, in most eyes, the situation wasn't being dealt with at all. Blue Diamond was growing impatient and displeased as promised deadlines whooshed by without any acknowledgement from Rose - it made perfect sense, of course, that she'd take it up with Rose's direct superior.
Pink Diamond didn't seem particularly interested in anything Rose had to say on the matter, from what Pearl could see from her position by the entrance to the throne chamber - emptied, on Pink Diamond's orders, just for this occasion. If anything, she looked bored as she let Rose go on and on about hastily thrown-together plans that had a suspicious and highly costly - in both resources and time - whiff of relocating the Kindergarten about them.
"I'll go to them and explain they're only putting themselves in danger-"
"Remove the interfering humans." Pink Diamond was finally reaching the limit of her patience, it seemed, and one look at her face was enough to see that Rose getting another chance to explain herself was becoming extremely unlikely.
"But you haven't even seen them-"
"Enough," came Pink Diamond's most commanding, booming voice, anything resembling calm and sweetness, deceptive or not, gone from it. "I want the human settlements levelled, I want my primary Kindergarten expanded to its planned capacity, and I want no more arguments. Not from you, and not from anyone. Remember that my favour can be lost, just as easily as it can be won. Do not forget your place, Rose Quartz. You are just as replaceable as anyone."
Pearl had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying out in protest of that egregious lie. There was a long, heavy silence, and then Rose broke it with something Pearl had momentary trouble comprehending as real.
She'd said no.
In retrospect it was surprising how simple and unremarkable it had sounded; that one, brief No. Pearl remembered it with perfect clarity, as she did most things, and the sheer magnitude of what had transpired in that chamber could somehow never quite match its presentation.
Rose Quartz had said no, outwardly calm, almost quiet, almost matter-of-fact, as if she'd been turning down an offer at a marketplace. Just like that, she'd denied the will of her Diamond, and never even blinked.
What followed was even more incredible, and earth-shattering (an eerie but appropriate metaphor to use for the occasion, and an image Pearl's mind chose to stubbornly cling to).
There was a cry of outrage from Pink Diamond, then the bright pink light of Rose's shield flashing into existence. Then, another flash, this one burning and blinding in intensity, and the shield was cracked - but the faultline all along its width was perfectly mirrored in the one splitting apart Pink Diamond's gem.
Pearl was the next one to break the silence, as Rose stood frozen, her shield falling from her grip and vanishing the only movement in the spacious chamber. "Rose," she called, running over and tugging on her arm, increasingly frantic at the lack of response. And- was that the sound of guards stomping down the entrance corridor? Surely they couldn't already know… "We have to leave, now. Rose! Rose, please!"
Finally, finally, Rose shook off most of whatever daze had come over her together with the dust of Pink Diamond's disappearance, and moved to follow wherever Pearl led them.
"This way!"
The palace's service passages were wide enough for several pearls to walk abreast - or, far more likely, scurry around each other, going about their business. It was never meant for a quartz warrior to traverse, and this was slowing them down. Still, there was no better way for them to disappear, and Pearl rushed them both through the web.
Then, out of nowhere, Pearl felt her grip on Rose's hand slip away, and she was pulled around a different corner, a hand clamped over her mouth. "What are you-" she muttered through the fingers, trying to tear them away from her face. "Let me go!"
It was another pearl, struggling to hold her back. "Stop. I can help you. We take care of our own."
Pearl could feel panic clawing up her throat as she tried and failed to look around the corner and catch another glimpse of pink curls. "No, no nononono, you don't understand, she is my- Rose, oh no-"
They were supposed to escape together, using Pearl's knowledge of service corridors - her former Homeworld role and status an actual asset to them, for once. But this was wrong, all wrong, and now Rose would be-
"Are you cracked?" The other pearl grunted as Pearl's elbow landed somewhere below her chest. "What are you doing? You had nothing to do with- with what happened, but nobody saw, and nobody will argue when that quartz has you take the blame for it. Do you want to die so badly?"
"No, you don't understand, Rose would never-" Pearl was descending into rambling, trying to make the pearl see sense, but her thoughts kept rushing over each other, and the arm around her neck certainly didn't help. "And… they're not going to make an example of her, she's not going to stand trial for this, no matter how farcical, no, no. No, they're going to go for a cover-up, they can't allow something like this to be known, a Diamond herself, oh no… no, no, no, no, no…"
The terrifying chasm of a life without Rose Quartz yawned before her feet. It was far too soon, they'd had so little time… but Pearl knew there could simply be no such thing as enough time, not with Rose, no, not with so much light and laughter to take in. Every star in the universe would have winked out, Pearl was certain, by the time she got tired of Rose Quartz, of simply being allowed to exist in her presence.
Was she even still alive? Or were her shards being ground to dust under a blue or yellow or white boot at this very moment? Would anything at all ever spill from those lips now, and would Pearl ever get to hear that voice again?
Well, there weren't many conclusions she could go with, really - she either would, or she'd die trying. It wasn't at all a hard choice to make, and it felt like a moment of clarity, finally. She stomped on the other pearl's foot and struck at her chin from below, and pushed away from the corridor wall with all her might.
The force was enough to break her out of the hold, and enough to send her flying down the corridor… and there was Rose, calling for her, waiting for her, trying to find her, alive and whole and going to stay that way for as long as Pearl could hold physical form.
—
They ran, warped, and flew, laying down false trails as they went, not stopping until the sun started to peek above the horizon once more. Upon Rose's request, a nearby tree shifted some of its roots for them, allowing them to enter a surprisingly large cavern. Another whisper from Rose, and the entrance was covered again, leaving the two of them in darkness and something that might have felt like the beginnings of safety.
"This will do for now," Pearl concluded, voice a shaky whisper. "We should be safe until the sun goes down again - honestly, the inconsistent cycle length is still throwing me off!"
They weren't going to risk any lights. Rose pressed a hand against the cool and only slightly damp wall, and slid down to sit. Pearl kept pacing around, and Rose stretched out her arm in hopes of intercepting her. "Rose, what-" the agitated whisper reached her.
"There's no use wearing a trench into the floor, Pearl. Come sit with me. Get some rest, at least."
Pearl acquiesced immediately, somewhat surprisingly. Rose felt her drop down to sit on the ground beside her - finding her a bit closer than Pearl herself had expected, judging by the sudden startled scurrying away. Rose almost laughed, but managed to keep it to a few amused puffs of air. She bent down to whisper in Pearl's ear. "You don't have to move away."
The reaction was pleasantly surprising - Pearl attached herself to her side almost immediately, both long, wiry arms wrapped securely around Rose's much larger one, one cheek pressing into her shoulder. The gem on Pearl's forehead was cool and smooth against Rose's skin, and she took a few long moments to quietly marvel at the sensation.
"Don't ever do that again," Rose mostly felt Pearl murmur, barely breaking the silence.
"What, assassinate one of the all-powerful leaders of an intergalactic empire? I rather think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, don't you?" Her laugh was only slightly shaky and horrified, she liked to think. "Oh, dear," she said, once she'd caught enough breath to speak and as the reality of their situation began to sink in, "what have I done?"
"The right thing," Pearl concluded, determination radiating off her so obviously Rose didn't even need sight.
"No, you don't understand, I've forced their hand, they'll come after us with everything they have, they'll take it out on the Earth, and they'll- they'll come after you, they'll take you away-"
"Nobody is taking me anywhere," Pearl interrupted, indignant, chin lifted in a way that could only be called imperious. "I'd rather die than-"
"I don't want you to die!" Rose tried to keep her voice down, but it felt like it was out of her control entirely. "I don't want anyone to die. Don't you see? I wanted to stop the fighting, and instead I kickstarted it. I- I got angry, yes, but I just wanted to give the Earth the chance it deserves, and I couldn't stand the thought that someone - even a Diamond - could order something destroyed when she hadn't even taken the time to look at it. And now, thanks to me, the retaliation will be… well. A planet that caused a Diamond to fall can't be allowed to exist. Mercy isn't a word they know, or acknowledge. Aren't… aren't you scared?"
"Scared? " She could feel Pearl shuffling around in the darkness, somehow managing to communicate almost-insulted incredulity perfectly well. "No. Never. Not with you."
"You could still go back, you know," Rose brought up in response, trying so very hard to seem casual.
"I could," Pearl agreed, "but for what? Oh, they'd reintegrate me easily enough, I'm sure. It isn't hard to find a home for a second-hand pearl, and it's a waste of pricey craftsmanship to just dispose of one. They probably have no idea who I am - and even if they do, I'd be passed along as a curiosity, an exotic trinket. All this scandal might even increase my market value, for all I know."
"It… wouldn't be what I promised you, but it would be a life - comfortable, safe, and something I can't guarantee you'll get to have here, not after what I've done."
"A life? That? Comfortable and safe?" Pearl scoffed. "No, nothing of the sort. What is more likely, dying in a war with a sword through the gem, or meeting an unceremonious end for displeasing the wrong owner, or simply going out of style? No. Besides…" Pearl trailed off, a catch creeping into her voice. "How could I ever want a life without you?"
Pearl had these moments of terrifying honesty and earnestness that left Rose struck to the core. It was touching, and beautiful, and undoubtedly flattering, but the glimpses into the depths of Pearl's devotion were frightening - not least because it felt impossible to ever measure up to them, no matter how hard one tried.
"Pearl…" she started, weakly, but Pearl wasn't finished quite yet.
"Wouldn't it be interesting, though, if they knew who I was…"
What she could hear in Pearl's voice now was a strange combination of wistfulness and bitterness and a sense of what could almost be termed incredulity that she'd even come up with the thought, and Rose felt a sudden sense of certainty rise up.
They will know, and they would do well to remember you.
But she didn't say it aloud just yet.
—
It was easy to intercept the broadcasts on a transmitter cobbled together from some scrap Pearl had stored away in her gem - a just in case and you never know when you might need one ready for each of the components - once they'd left the cave behind them and fled into the relative safety of quite probably uncharted wilderness. Homeworld was casting the widest net possible, working their transmitters and communication towers to the limit.
"Rose Quartz is a backstabbing coward," the audio of the transmission crackled with a commenter beryl's outrage. "To see an honoured, decorated general, trusted right hand of a Diamond herself, commit such unthinkable treason..."
"Oh, the nerve," Pearl growled to no one in particular. A rosebush next to her might have given a small, disgruntled shake in sympathy. Or perhaps that was just the light Earth breeze - it was hard to tell with the Earth, sometimes. It did so like to participate in things.
"A Gem who harbours any thought of sympathy for the traitor or her mockery of everything the empire has ever stood for has lost every right to call herself a Gem."
"Well," Pearl muttered with a dark chuckle, only slightly bitter, "how convenient that I never had any right in the first place."
"Pearl."
"Right, right," she turned to face Rose who'd somehow crept up behind her, trying to dismiss her concern with a wave. "It's nonsense and they don't know what they're talking about. Speaking of them underestimating me- you know, we could still run away. Quite easily, in fact. A ship is something I could-"
"No," Rose spoke, slowly and with visibly growing determination, as an appropriate wind rose up around them again, and Pearl quietly started scrapping ship plans in favour of battlefield plans.
"No, I'm going to stay, and fight for this planet."