A/N: Another little shorty chapter for you all.

Pearl could feel her whole light form begin to shake. She was going to expose them all and they were going to die. How could she have been so stupid as to drop the gem? Why had she brought it out to play with? After all of their struggle this was how they were going to be finished. Because she had decided to keep secrets from her companions. She could feel tears of shame and fear beginning to burn the back of her eyes. She knew she had to get it under control. She was the renegade and if they saw her like this they would simply draw out her humiliation. Then what?

She felt frozen to the spot in horror as she watched the quartz soldiers look at the mirror. She could only catch small glimpses of what was going on but not nearly enough to determine what was really happening.

She heard one of them grunt in irritation. "Oh, so you think you're a funny gem, huh? Mocking Blue Diamond. We know you were a part of the rebellion. Don't insult our intelligence or that of Blue Diamond with your little games!"

The fury in the soldier's voice made Pearl shiver a little. She'd faced a lot of things in her time at war but hell hath no fury like a quartz scorned. She knew what they were prone to do if things weren't going exactly how they wanted them to. It was never good for the gem on the receiving end of it, that was for certain. The thought made her crouch lower in her hiding spot.

"Tell us about the Crystal Gems. Tell us where the rest of you are!" She roared, face darkening as she watched the same images play over the mirror's surface.

There was a loud rustling just to the left of where Pearl was hiding and she felt her hands and feet go numb. This was it. She was about to be found by more of the Home World gems. She bowed her head and quietly pulled out her spear. She wasn't going to go down without a fight, though. She was a Crystal Gem after all.

The noise caught the attention of pair down below in the clearing. They turned to see what was going on and Pearl readied herself for a fight. Much to her shock she saw a blur of color and something leaping over her into the clearing. It looked like a gem but it was so misshapen. It struck her that what she was seeing was a corrupted gem. Her stomach clenched in rage and sorrow.

In their state of surprise, the mirror was dropped and the soldiers ran away. The corrupted gem was in hot pursuit behind them. Thinking quickly, the lithe gem leaptover the bushes and snatched the now-trapped gem and tucked it away back into her own gem. With ease, she sprinted back to the warp and returned to the beach where the rest of her friends were.

She tried to steady herself as she walked along the sand but her mind was going a million miles a minute. What she'd seen... The corrupted gem. The quartz soldiers. Was the white light they'd been fleeing from responsible for what had happened to one of her fellow gems? It had to be. There was no other explanation.

She'd arrived at the mouth of the cave. Peering inside she found Garnet meditating, eyes closed. The third eye in the center of her forehead popped open and looked at her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," she murmured, moving to step back.

The other two eyes opened and she turned her head. "I don't mind. You're a good distraction to have."

Pearl smiled rather shyly but made her way into the cave to sit across from her friend. She still felt very deeply shaken.

"What's the matter?"

"I've just seen... Well, I suppose it is the aftermath of the rage of the Diamond Authority."

Her brows shot up. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that the Diamonds have- have done something awful." Her voice faded to a whisper and she stared deep into the fire.

Garnet stood and moved to her, tilting her chin up. "You need to tell me what you saw."

"They corrupted all the gems."

Her voice wavered and her throat grew tight. A deep seated rage played across the fusion's features.

"They did what?" She snarled, falling back.

"What's all the commotion?"

Rose appeared beside the duo looking concerned.

"Tell her what you saw, Pearl."

"The light, Rose... It was corruption."

She couldn't bear to face her leader. It was like she'd done this. In a way she had. She had been the one to encourage Pink's exploration. She was the one who had gone along with this stupid plan and now all of her friends, even her foes were done for. This was possibly even worse than being shattered. At least with shattering there was some finality to the suffering, but corruption was an eternal hell.

Rose Quartz inhaled sharply. "How do you know this?"

"I saw one. I was out for a walk to clear my head and I was hiding from a pair of quartz soldiers. I think they were sent back to make sure all of us were gone. Then I saw it. It chased them away."

Her eyes were glued to her feet, unable to even stand. The guilt and shame felt too heavy to move.

A pair of large pink hands scooped her up and hugged her close. "This isn't your fault," she whispered "They did this, not us."

She choked out a sob. "Our friends," she wailed, fists grasping at the fabric of her dress. "Our friends!"

There was a soft weeping coming from behind her and she knew without looking that Garnet was crying. The wetness that spilled onto her shoulders told her that her leader was as well.

The three of them stood there for a long time, Garnet eventually moving up behind them face buried in the crook of Pearl's neck, and wept for the devastation of their comrades. After a while the tears eventually slowed then stopped and they sat down side by side in silence. It was heavy and thick with anger and sadness. They allowed it to seep into their light forms as they formulated a plan.

"We'll find them all. We'll figure out a way to fix them," Rose said suddenly.

The others looked at her curiously.

"Then we'll have our revenge."

She stood, towering over them with a fierce look. Determination set into her features.

Pearl wondered if she should tell her about the lapis she had hidden away in her gem and decided now was not the right time.