~O~
Chapter Twelve: Pearl Mentality II
Yellow Pearl and Pearl spent some time talking together in that cave.
Pearl still kept her spear close at hand if necessary, but talking with another pearl was definitely...interesting. In a way, she missed it. Having gems who she cared for around was okay, but being able to relate to them was not something she could always do.
"...And what about Amethyst's?" Yellow Pearl grumbled. "Always messy!"
Pearl laughed and nodded. "Honestly!"
They shared a laugh together and for a moment, it almost seemed like just an every day scenario with an old friend. Yellow Pearl's smile disappeared a little.
"I don't know how a pearl could be her own gem," she said, with a frown. "I must admit, it's curious; how did you do it?"
"I had help," Pearl explained, "I was shown wonderful things from a wonderful gem. She told me what I could be. And I soon learned that there was more to life than servitude."
Yellow Pearl didn't seem to understand. "More to life than...this?"
"Well... Well, yes." Pearl replied, "Come on."
Yellow Pearl frowned, but followed her outside. She warily looked around, unsure of whether or not she'd see the corruptions. Pearl sighed, stared upwards before she gestured with a flick of her head.
"It's safe," she assured her.
Yellow Pearl followed her as they walked to a clearing that overlooked the woods. Pearl smiled and Yellow Pearl had to confess the sight was lovely.
"It is something." she admitted. "We don't have this on Homeworld."
"Exactly. This is one of the few reasons we sought to protect it."
Yellow Pearl frowned hesitantly.
Pearl stood beside Rose and they faced the wilderness together.
"There is more to life than servitude," Rose assured her.
Pearl looked at her with confusion. "What else is there?"
Rose smiled at her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'll show you," she said, "I'll show you the beauty of this world."
Pearl didn't understand it. Earth was nothing more than a mud-ball to her filled with unappealing human life. But Rose saw more to it, which made it worth fighting for. So Pearl would be by her side and fight for her.
Was it her own choice? Or was it by the command of Rose, the gem she was made for? Pearl would spend thousands of years wondering that.
Meanwhile, Jasper had been thinking about Pearl's departure on her own to seek out Yellow Diamond's Pearl. It bothered her to a degree, but she did understand it. Sometimes, these things had to be done on your own. She knew this more than most.
Spinel was happily dancing with herself on the beach, kicking up snow and humming in tune with the music box that Jasper was playing.
"Amethyst!" Spinel called, "Come dance with me!"
Amethyst was sitting on the porch, reading from a magazine when she glanced over at Spinel. "Why?" she asked.
"Dancing's fun! Dancing's my favorite thing!" Spinel said, smiling. "Well, next to puppies and humans!"
Amethyst laughed a little and shrugged. "Uh, sure. I guess."
She wandered onto the beach and Spinel cheerfully took her hands and began to spin around with her. Jasper watched the scene and shook her head. Ridiculous.
Then again, it made her smile a little.
O
White Diamond knew how illogical it was to dwell on the past. She had even created a law that made such a thing forbidden among her court. Even upon her cutting away her emotions, her mind would go to her sister and what her purpose was.
"What is our purpose?"
White Diamond didn't look up when Pink Diamond entered her court halls that morning. Such a visit from her youngest sister was surprising, but welcome. Pink Diamond had often bonded with Blue Diamond, but she would visit her for answers to questions that the others did not offer. Or didn't know of. As the eldest, White Diamond found herself responsible to educate her.
"Perhaps you could specify the meaning of your question." White Diamond suggested.
"I saw the murals," Pink Diamond told her, frowning. "Is that what we do? Do we destroy civilizations and species for our own benefit?"
White Diamond didn't react to the near accusation for a moment. "You have seen things before you were meant to, I see." she replied. "I intended to explain these to you in our next tribunal."
Pink Diamond exhaled. "No. Not at the next tribunal." she insisted, resting a hand on White Diamond's. "Please, just...talk to me."
White Diamond stared down at the hand that touched her, then she pulled away gently. She turned and faced her youngest sister.
"Very well." she said. "What do you wish to know?"
"What is my purpose on my colony?"
White Diamond answered without hesitation. "To foster the generation of soldiers. It was believed that your natural congeniality could properly balance their growth in ways that my own teachings could not." she explained. "The soldiers you command - "
"My gems." Pink Diamond corrected.
"The soldiers you command," White Diamond continued without pause, "Are the newest generation of servants to our authority."
Pink Diamond seemed to consider her words for a moment. "You believe that chaos and order and somehow opposites."
"Indeed." White Diamond said.
White Diamond stood before rows of gems who had been imprisoned before her; rebellious Homeworld creatures who had been driven by the Peridot's video feed. They trembled before her, no longer the fearless beings they had once been.
"Why do you tremble before me?" she asked. "I had assumed you possessed the courage of your convictions. You have fought bravely, and your battle prowess shall be remembered in future research. But know this; I do not abide treason."
No. She wouldn't abide treason.
Ever since Rose had destroyed her sister, she would never again allow the seeds of rebellion to grow. It would be ripped out of the earth before it had any opportunity.
White Diamond was standing by the window, leaning on it with one hand.
Blue Diamond stood behind her.
"White Diamond?" she said, quietly.
"I couldn't find them," White Diamond's voice sounded strained. "I searched everywhere but her shards are gone."
"We will find them. We must."
White Diamond addressed Homeworld that evening.
"Order. To some it is natural, like the flowing of space and time; to others, it is their very ruin." she began. Her visage appeared on screens and broadcast through radios. "The Rebellion lives; this video proves it. They are an infection. Their words and blasphemy seek only to separate us. They're discordant, disconnected from the reality of what their purpose is. And it is the Rebels who seek to undermine all that we have made.
I am certain they will call me many things; liar, dictator, persecutor. It is true that Yellow Diamond used many gems in experimentation. And it is true that they have suffered at the hands of her vengeance. But I do not desire such things. I desire nothing but evolution; a hope that every gem life-form will see themselves become better than they ever could.
It is the survivors who write the words of history on the walls. It is they who bend truth and logic to suit their agenda. They are Chaos and Ruin and we are Order and Logic. They may claim they fight with passion, inspiration and in the name of freedom, but I have dared lay my eyes upon these things. And I have witnessed the atrocities of it.
I was a Diamond of the highest Authority, but I was a sister, much like the rest of you. I was idolized and looked upon for wisdom and trust, but it was the spark of Rebellion rooted into one of her very own by Earth. And so, the beings who have kept you, preserved you, became the evil.
It has always been fascinating to me; this eternal comparison of good and evil. But who is worthy of judgment than those who shattered our dearest Pink Diamond? And what was it that corrupted Yellow Diamond? She had been driven by obsession for revenge, all at the thanks of these Rebels. This is why I have remained within the confines of my laboratory, seeking ways to finally put an end to this once and for all; to preserve the name of the gem race and to wipe out any threat that would bring us to ruin.
Perhaps they meant well in some point in history; perhaps they considered that destroying the Authority meant freedom and a certain sentience. Even now, they seek my voice among the silence. But don't think me vengeful. I extend my hand to help these rebellious gems find their true purpose once again. I say unto you, my gems, it is a privilege to be challenged by them this way; for with each challenge, we conquer and we grow stronger. Today, with the plenitude of my forces and my logical and material resources, we will become a formidable instrument for conquest and a certainty for victory.
Now, Homeworld, we remained silent and passive in the wake of this uprising, but no more. We must fight for the living, fight for the future, but also for the dead. We will rise so that the sacrifice of my sisters will never be in vain. Those who fell to chaos will be immortalized in the stones of our new order. And it is you who will rise above them, who will evolve beyond anything you were made for. And it is you who will stand eternal."
All across Homeworld, many gems cheered and chanted her name. Others had remained uncertain to her speech.
O
Yellow Pearl hadn't known what made Earth so special; why the Rebels fought hard for it and why they had died to protect the human race.
She was a pearl and so was this one. Nothing about what the defective one suggested made sense. Pearls were not supposed to be this way.
"Why did Yellow Diamond do it anyway?" Pearl asked, snapping her from her thoughts. "Why hurt Jasper? What did she hope to gain?"
Yellow Pearl sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know. Maybe Jasper was just an easy way for her to take out her frustrations. My Diamond's always been more...abrupt than most. Jasper was supposed to protect Pink Diamond. She saw her fail at it, so it was...easier I suppose."
Pearl scoffed. "Easier... Your Diamond was weak. She took out everything on a gem with no authority. One who was emotionally vulnerable and needed comfort."
Yellow Pearl laughed bitterly. "You think a Diamond needs to comfort us. Mere slaves?"
"I think we deserve to feel like we're worthy of it."
Yellow Pearl scowled at her, clutching her head with two hands. "Shut up! Stop trying to confuse me!" she shouted.
Pearl frowned. "I'm not trying to confuse you. I want to help you." she said. "That's why I came alone. Do you think I'd really waste my time saving you from a bear if I wanted to confuse you?"
Yellow Pearl seemed to think about it for a moment. Her eyes darted around; a nervous and cautious gesture.
"You're a pearl, just like me," she said, quietly. "It doesn't make sense..."
Pearl laughed a little. "Yeah, maybe. It didn't make a lot of sense for me at first too."
"This isn't what a Pearl's supposed to be..."
Rose stood across from Pearl in the Sky Arena. "We've already established that you are more than what any Pearl is supposed to be." she assured her. "You are more. You are something special. Something no Diamond has ever made. That is why you are special."
Pearl smiled a little. She lowered her eyes. "I'm not special..."
"You ARE." Rose insisted.
She drew her sword from her gem and stood in a fighting stance. "Now, retrieve your weapon."
Pearl hesitated. "It's not that good."
"It's okay. It's a symbol and extension of yourself. Bismuth assures me that your spear is nothing ever imagined by a pearl."
Pearl nodded. "Alright."
She drew her spear from her gem and stood a few feet from Rose.
"I don't want you as a slave, Pearl." Rose told her. "I want you as an equal. A gem I can trust and rely on in battle; not walking behind me, or in front of me, but alongside me."
Yellow Pearl observed a butterfly in silence.
"Sometimes it's confusion to change," Pearl told her, watching the butterfly with her. "But if given the chance, we can be better than we ever were. I think you can too."
Yellow Pearl faintly smiled. "I...I don't think anyone's ever had faith in me before."
"Well, like a wise gem once said 'You can't have met many nice gems before'." Pearl told her, with a gentle chuckle.
Yellow Pearl considered her words.
The sounds of snarling turned their attention toward the trees and throngs of corrupted gems began to pour their way out toward them. Yellow Pearl screamed in fright and Pearl quickly ushered her away.
"Hurry! We have to move!" she shouted.
Yellow Pearl followed her as they fled through a canyon. The corruptions were hot on their tails. Pearl jumped up onto a rock face and gestured for Yellow Pearl to jump up to her.
"Come on!" she cried.
"I-I don't know how!" Yellow Pearl cried, frantically attempting to mimic her jump.
Pearl had only a second to be confused by this, but didn't waste time and knelt down, grabbing her arm and hoisting her up with her. They were surrounded by the corrupted gems; sprayed with oozing fluid from their forms, swiped at by disjointed limbs.
"We can make it if we jump!" Pearl shouted, over the roar of their sounds. "Pearl, we can make it! You just have to..."
Pearl's voice faded in the back of Yellow Pearl's mind and her head began to ring, blocking out all other noise. She was frozen, holding herself and shaking as her frightened eyes focused on the horrific corruptions beneath them. She didn't feel Pearl shaking her shoulders in an effort to snap her out of it.
Pearl...!
A flash.
Yellow Diamond commanding her.
Another flash.
Yellow Diamond backhanding Jasper. Yellow Pearl watching from nearby, holding her hands over her ears in an effort to block out the sounds.
"PEARL!"
Reality returned and Yellow Pearl was forced to look at a desperate Pearl, who shook her in an effort to get her to focus.
"Look at me!" Pearl cried, "Look at me!"
Yellow Pearl's eyes filled and tears poured from them. Pearl had forgotten the corruptions for a moment and her own eyes widened when the other pearl smiled now. She knew that from the look that greeted her, this pearl was gone.
"I understand now." Yellow Pearl said, so softly. "Thank you."
Before Pearl could react, Yellow Pearl seized her spear and forced it through her abdomen. Pearl's eyes widened and she gave a cry, moments as Yellow Pearl's form dispelled. She stood there, unable to process what had happened as Yellow Pearl's gem fell uselessly at her feet.
The sound of a warp pad activating nearby... The other gems hurrying to dispel the corruptions...
Pearl couldn't hear Jasper calling for her.
O
"I tried. I tried to help her."
Pearl watched Yellow Pearl's gem float harmlessly in the bubble that Jasper had made. They stood together in the Burning Room, observing the few gems lost inside bubbles. It put an interesting perspective on the whole thing.
Jasper had trapped gems. The Crystal Gems had trapped gems. Both ideas were different, but still the same somehow.
"I thought I could." Pearl continued, lowering her eyes. "I thought maybe there was a way to help just one. I've seen you the same, Jasper. Maybe..."
She didn't finish. Jasper sighed and shook her head. "You can't save them all."
"But I saved you."
"That's different."
"How is it different? I've seen you when you lost Her, Jasper. Yellow Diamond's Pearl looked at me the same way you had...from before." Pearl told her, furrowing her brow. "And I... I just wanted to make it better. I wanted to help her the way I had helped you."
Jasper looked at her before putting her arms around her, kissing the crown of her head.
"You can't save them all..." she said, quietly. "I learned that long ago."
Tears fell from Pearl's eyes. She wiped them with the back of her hand. She didn't want to accept that, but Jasper was right.
I tried.
O
Note - Oh, just because I thought you guys should know, Moonstone's prophecy hasn't come to pass yet. If you thought it had in Lazarus, it hasn't. The ending was inspired by the song The Last Pale Light In The West by Ben Nichols.
Yellow Pearl tripping out from the sight of the corruptions was inspired by The Walking Dead - Season 4 OST - 4.16 - 03: Reckoning. The end part mostly.
