Pink Diamond awoke inside a room she had never seen before. Her body burned, and separating the covers from her wounds would rip the scabs clean off, so she remained still. Even opening her eyes and moving her head a few inches to one side made reality blur, so she didn't bother wiping the drool from the sides of her mouth, or her bubbling tears.
Her sore arms sat heavy against the old mattress of her mysterious bed, and she watched the sky transition from the relaxing blue to the peach tones of twilight, to the dense purple of night, until she fell asleep again. Dizzying dreams came in lopsided, like the projector that played them flashed its images sideways.
Most of them, however, were entirely dark. Nothing happened for a long time, and Pink's bruised body sank deeper into stillness that ended with ringing.
She awoke again to a tray of food on the floor. It held a salad of fresh fruit and lettuce, a tall glass of sweating iced tea, and a seasoned piece of chicken breast. Beneath the daylight, its silver shined and torched Pink's eyes behind their lids. She squinted into the full force of its glistening.
This time, Pink sat up to take the glow from her face. Without weighing the consequences, she rubbed her eyes. Any crust they might have had was no longer present, and the skin around her lips didn't tingle with any dried saliva that should have been there.
Her head sloshed like a lopsided hourglass, but she still came to her feet and marched her wretched body to the window.
Even looking between two of the bars, the sight almost made her fall backward.
Pink Diamond could only see the tower. Floating in and out, the clouds beneath her censored the raw green tops of trees and at no point could she see where the base met the earth. Her throat hitched and grew drier. She blinked her wide eyes that bulged like eight balls shoved into their sockets. Pink's palms began to sweat as the sand in her head tossed around too much, then went back to bed and sat down with a shrill creak.
In the loose-sleeved dress Yellow had chosen for her, she began to cry, wailing from her stomach as if electrocuted anew. Pink wept until the air left her lungs and her body sat like a crinkled paper ball against the dusty covers of her bed.
The light from the tray stopped flashing at her, and the chicken went cold while the salad went hot and the tea kept sweating, but she finally stood and sat before the meal. Her right hand jabbed the fork into the lettuce and caught one slice of mandarin orange, and after a few tentative bites, Pink ate the chicken breast in large, ripped apart quarters. Her teeth went at the salad like a weed whacker and her burning throat guzzled down the warm tea as if a fire raged at the base of it. Having acquired a little energy, she cried again and fell asleep again, as the world warped around the borders of her headache. The high altitude touched her open skin cruelly, but Pink lost consciousness without tucking herself beneath the blankets.
The next time she woke up, she had heard the sound of the silver tray touching the stone floor with a dull clink. At either handle were her sister-in-law's fingers and the golden bangles around her wrists.
Blue regarded Pink with wide eyes, and moved slowly. All of her bracelets jingled quietly, and she coiled her lips before they whispered at all.
Neither spoke, aside from the uncooperative jewelry, as Blue came and kneeled beside her sister-in-law, trailing a few prints inside her hair. She smelled of saltwater, and her ocean eyes had sunken in.
"I'm so sorry." Her plump lips gave a soft kiss. "I tried to reason with Yellow. I asked her not to lock you up here, but she insisted. It seemed you would never wake up." She gulped, and after her bracelets chimed, continued, "I'm sorry if you've been lonely. You didn't deserve this."
"Where are we? I can't remember anything."
Blue pulled back a bit. "We're in Orange Diamond's tower."
"Mom's…tower? But why?"
Blue's mouth creased into a frown. She chewed up one cheek from the inside. "Yellow doesn't want White to find you. I told her this was absolutely ridiculous, but…she sent White a note saying that she has a week to locate you."
Pink's face bent and crinkled. She focused through her cloudy migraine. "But what happens if she can't find me?"
"Yellow won't allow you to marry White."
For a moment, both Diamonds sat in silence as Pink stared at one wall and Blue studied the floor. Her internal abacus clacked loudly as Pink threw the beads from one side to another, over and over, until the whole thing caught fire and the heat brought tears to her eyes.
"She can't do that," Pink said. "Is she going to keep me here forever, then?" Her skull ached until Pink began weeping again. Still, she spoke. "I'll marry whoever I want. It's not her life!"
Blue held her, rubbing Pink's back as the light came through the bars in the window. It made the tray glare, and faded out again as the day receded and the night waded in.
During their time together, Blue treated Pink's burns. They appeared all over her rosy skin—upon her legs, and neck, but the densest patch was against her arm, where Yellow had grasped her to pull her along. Blue carefully applied the ointment, and though the gentle tips of her fingers hurt, Pink had no tears left to cry.
The two hardly shared any words and stayed together in the descending night, where the bruises faded into the shadows.
"I'll come back tomorrow."
Pink held her tight.
"Try to rest. It will help you heal faster." Blue kissed her on the cheek. "I'm sorry about all of this."
"It's not your fault."
Blue went as the darkness came, leaving under the light of the moon and the stars. Pink, guided by their glow, drifted to the window and placed her hands against the stone, where her vines began to grow.