Sorry for the wait, that last chapter was tough to write.
Weeks turned into months, yet none of the Crystal Gems could find where Pearl went. While it hurt not being able to find her, they knew she would come back if she wanted. That was the thought that nearly undid Garnet several times a day. She could look everywhere and not find her wife. She knows how she is: she never stood entirely still when she was calm, and grew ever more restless when upset. The only sign she had that Pearl was unharmed were the bubbled gems that appeared in the Temple regularly.
Each Gem coped with the change in their way. To her surprise, Celestite took everything harder than she thought she would. The lunar quartz knew well most of the terrible thoughts Blue Lace Agate expressed came from her lingering doubts. If she were honest with herself, she resented that she felt like that in the slightest towards a friend she highly respected. She would never admit it, but it was the smaller white Gem who convinced her to join Rose's army. She yelled angrily. As if apologizing wasn't difficult enough, now she had to wait until she knew where Pearl hid to do it. Her gaze wandered over to the area leveled by Blue Lace Agate. The land remained covered by felled trees from the fusion's rampage. Celestite jerked her head over to where Pearl's cherry tree stood, and felt relief flood through her at the discovery that it still remained.
Guilt crept back into her thoughts as she turned back to the new clearing, but an idea was slowly forming. She might not be a natural builder like Bismuths, or as technically minded like Pearl, but she did remember the plans Pearl showed her. There laid before her an abundance of materials. She could start building the town. Maybe if Pearl saw how she respected her skills, she would see how sorry she felt. Celestite thought about asking the others for help. Garnet would be no help. She barely kept herself together these days. Amethyst refused to leave her room in the temple. Rose… Rose kept looking at the warp pad hoping Pearl would come home. Shaking her head, the quartz came to her decision. The humans would be helpful after she did the first part of her plan.
The sound of several loud crashes drew Rose Quartz's attention away from the warp. Curious she went to see what made the noise, and she stopped when she saw Celestite lifting trees and arranging them in piles. Her stacks appeared to be sorted by type, and then size, and lined the entire coast. The soldier didn't want help, or she would have asked. Rose frowned. No, she would have asked if she thought anyone were capable of being helpful. She didn't notice Garnet stop next to her, her arms crossed and muttering to herself until the Gem stopped talking to herself and looked up. "She only wants help from William and Buddy. They'll need more nails."
"Oh, Garnet." Rose smiled sadly at her, "How are you feeling?" With one hand Garnet removed her glasses revealing her tired eyes.
"I feel terrible. I don't feel that way at all, and neither does Amethyst." Her vision blurred as she spoke. "We don't know why Sugalite said those things. Pearl didn't even look at me… us… She ignored us!" Her figure suddenly turned into blinding light that started to split down the middle. She struggled to hold it together. Several long moments passed until it dimmed again, leaving Garnet crying on her knees in the sand. Rose hugged her. All the while the sounds of Celestite lifting trees and setting them in their respective piles filled the air. Garnet gasped between sobs, "Her plan might work. I see many futures where it does. What if Pearl never wants to see me again?"
For some reason, that angered Rose. "No, Garnet. Don't question this. Pearl loves you, you know that! She just needs time and space."
"How can you be sure?" Garnet asked bitterly.
"Because you were the same way when the Sardonyx incident happened during the war." The words stabbed straight through Garnet. She hadn't realized that. All the hurt, anger, and betrayal she felt then—she'd just let it consume her. Pearl had tried to talk to her then, but she'd refused to talk or even look at her. It took Rose's intervention, Pearl's sacrifice to protect Ruby and Sapphire, and a vow of silence to mend their relationship after that. It ended with the alabaster knight forgetting how to talk along with extreme anxiety attacks nearly every time they came close to fusing. Now that Garnet was on the receiving end of that situation, she understood. She understood why Pearl looked so desperate to fix things between them. She understood how her silence hurt them both even as she was working through her own feelings at the time.
Garnet nodded. Rose could see her words had gotten through to her, so she left her to think about them while she checked on Amethyst. The temple door opened to a chaotic mess. Amethyst's junk piles were carelessly knocked over so where there once was a clear path through towering stacks of miscellaneous junk, now nothing was visible of the floor beneath. In the middle of it all overlooked a pile of toys. Amethyst sat on top playing with a stringed wooden object. Her hollow bell, Rose remembered, the one Pearl brought her from China. "Amethyst?"
"Yeah?"
"How are you feeling?"
"I only feel how I wanna feel," came the muttered response.
"How is that, then?"
"Terrible. She hates me now."
"That's not true. She couldn't hate you if she tried."
"Yeah, right." Upon closer inspection of the pile, Rose chuckled.
"You're sitting on the proof, Amethyst." She giggled. "Pearl usually avoids humans. Why would she bring you so many of their toys if she hated you?"
"I don't know," Amethyst grumbled, pulling her hollow bell back to her hand.
Rose ruffled her hair. "She loves you. I love you." She sighed. "If I see her, I'll tell her you miss her." That got the purple gem's attention.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
The pink quartz smiled. "I'm going to one of my gardens. Only Pearl and I are allowed in this one, so you must stay here." Amethyst pouted and went back to playing with her toy. She wanted to go see Pearl. She wanted Pearl to come back and not be mad at her anymore.
"Will you tell her I'm sorry?"
"Yes," Rose answered before leaving her room. She stood on the warp pad and hoped her lieutenant would go there. There was a lot they needed to talk about. Celestite was building Beach City all alone. Garnet now sat thinking about the parallels between their two biggest mistakes. Amethyst sulked in her room on a pile of gifts from her mentor. If only Pearl could see how she affected everyone, she might realize that Blue Lace Agate and Sugalite's opinions weren't everyone else's.