Welcome back, everyone! I know it hasn't been long, but boy oh boy am I excited for this one! Before the chapter, though, one quick question: What do you all think of the music recommendations I put in these select scenes? With that asked, onto the gloriousness!
The halfway point of White Diamond's deadline was fast approaching. The tension in the home of the Crystal Gems was stifling as over thirty people milled about within the confines of the beach house's force field. Even Onion, for all his recklessness, knew to stay put until the situation blew over. Out of all of them, however, Greg was taking it the hardest as he watched Steven and Pearl remain unconscious. The sight of Pearl's arms literally fading into nothingness only made the situation worse.
His funk was broken, though, when he heard an odd clang come from outside.
"Uh, Greg?" asked Sadie, "Any ideas what that was?"
"Super big piece of hail?" shrugged the father, but another clang got his attention before anyone could roll their eyes at his humor.
Being the only one there with any proper weapon, though the father did start thinking of anything the girl could use as a spear in case he needed backup, he went outside to check on it. What he found a very angry ruby sliding down from the top of the force field alongside another one that was angrily yelling about the "stupid bubble" stopping her.
"Please be a coincidence…" muttered Greg, hoping somewhere that this was just two stragglers who got lost from the main force. Instead, he watched half a dozen more small red gems appear in a flash of light and crash into the bubble like bugs crashing into a windshield.
"Oh, great…" he deadpanned in a rare moment of sarcasm. He brought out one of his blasters as the small horde of rubies started banging on the force field. He aimed right for one of the visible gemstones and fires, but instead the shot just rebounds off the bubble and only succeeded in nearly blinding himself.
"You okay out there, big guy?" asked Barb from the main room.
"Someone splash Pearl and Steven with some water! We need backup ASAP!"
Outside the beach house, the battle was not going so well. The Crystal Gems were doing their absolute best at fending off the goons that Homeworld just kept throwing at them. Almost fifteen straight minutes of fighting later, though, and it seems that Silver Agate was not kidding about just how many gems wanted to join in on a suicide mission. They must have bubbled over fifty gems at this point, but what they were really focused on was finding some way out of this situation. Aside from several new additions to the temple's Burning Room along with several craters and scorch marks added to the battlefield, the only thing that seemed to be changed was the rebels getting more and more exhausted.
And yet, as she felt the halfway point to White Diamond's ultimatum come and go, Garnet refused to back down still. Her visor was cracked from a sucker punch that slipped through her guard and her hands ached from being curled into fists for so long, but she would sooner join Rose's fate than abandon the Earth.
The others were in even worse shape but no less defiant. Bismuth's hands were numb from all the literal hammering she had been doing, Peridot's trusty trash can lid has several dents in it, Lapis had several holes in her dress and even Adamite was beginning to pant from the exertion. They knew their options were limited both by the absence of Steven and Pearl, but that there was no way for any of them to fuse into something strong enough to repel the invaders.
They were soon beseeched by yet another wave from all sides as almost twenty enraged gems charged in from all sides. Topaz was met with two bitter jaspers who tried to grapple her into submission but splitting up kept her able to fight. Peridot was being chased after by four tenacious rubies who were repelled only thanks to her lid and the timely intervention of one of her friends. Cinnabar was also far less confident than normal as an agate, this one blue like the one on the Human Zoo, came after her with the intention of making her model extinct.
All the while, however, someone else was observing the fight. True to her word, White Diamond was keeping her eyes glued to the sight before her. The bonus to her was the sheer entertainment factor of it all. She felt a fantastic sense of catharsis seeing the dreaded Crystal Gems without their leader, against a horde of enemies that outnumber them over a hundred to one and she would finally see the Earth destroyed for all its trouble.
With the time halfway gone, though, she decided to amuse herself even more. Why not pile on the mental anguish to really set the mood?
She activated the same giant holo-screen as before and laughed at the Crystal Gems. "Goodness, you are a persistent bunch. I didn't think you'd have any will to go on by now."
"Oh will you shut up?!" growled Amethyst, "My legs are killing me enough without you yapping!"
"Oh dear, well I'm so dreadfully sorry that whatever mutation gave you that speed of yours has drawbacks. May I suggest having your gemstone cracked to remedy that?"
"Why did I ever want to work for her again?" moaned Adamite as she summoned more stones to fight off two incoming amethysts.
"Naiveté," said Garnet, "Trust me, we've all been there."
"Now, now," chastised White, "You all have plenty of time to regret your poor decisions in your final moments which, going by this battle, should happen any moment."
"As if you'd let us go even if, and that's a giant if, we ever wanted to work for Homeworld," scoffed Bismuth while also keeping a jasper in a chokehold.
"True, your crimes can never go unpunished, but at least then there would be some inner peace knowing that you renounced your evil ways at some point."
Lapis, having been completely silent for most of the fight, then did the last thing any of them expected; she laughed. A small chuckle that soon grew into her falling on the ground with tears in her eyes as if she heard the funniest joke in the world. All of the other Crystal Gems, the Homeworld gems attacking them and White herself were dumbstruck. Once she could finally breathe again, she looked up at the confused face of White Diamond and spoke up.
"You really don't understand us at all. For some grand leader of the 'greatest force in the universe' or whatever garbage you call yourself, you're really stupid."
All of the Homeworld forces rushed straight at her, but all she did was reveal her wings and fly above them as she kept talking.
"Here's a bright idea for you: we don't like you. We don't need you. We don't want anything to do with you now and for the rest of our lives. You wanna know why? Because you all suck."
"You dare mock me?!" roared White, "Do you have any idea who you're addressing?!"
"Yep. A loud, whiny, petulant, selfish child who has way too much power on her hands and has somehow convinced trillions of other gems that she's the single greatest thing in the universe. What do you think?"
The outcry from the gems below was even louder, but all Lapis heard was the other Crystal Gems cheering her on. The only exception was Adamite, keeping her mouth shut and trying to figure out why her cheeks were heating up.
"So, clod, get this through your thick head," finished Lapis, "We don't care about you, the other Diamonds, your precious empire or how you can't let things go. You want my advice for what to do about Pink Diamond? About how awful and tragic and sad it is that there's one less planet-conquering clod out there who sees living things as disposable? Get. Over. It."
The video screen shut off instantly. Lapis, realizing she was halfway up to the roof of the dome, flew back down into the fray. With that distraction over, the Crystal Gems had 26 minutes now to find a way out of this mess.
While all of that chaos was going on in reality, Steven was still trying to get Pearl to see reason. Although the world was not threatening to collapse around him like the last two times, something else was. He could feel a chilling despair enter his veins that made him want to lie down and accept the forgone conclusion that the Earth was doomed.
Meanwhile, Pearl was still on her knees as the once-pristine world she spent cleaning and sprucing up was now a red-tinted hellscape with everything except the lone building they were on reduced to wreckage. All of her will was gone. Millennia of standing in the face of adversity meant nothing now when she did not even have the strength to stand. At this rate she and Steven would both just fade away into nothingness and she did not even care.
"P-Pearl…" whispered Steven, his own voice hoarse and his words sluggish, "W-We can't give up… We have so much to live for…"
The gem did not answer. Steven could actually feel the energy leaving him now, but he still urged himself to talk.
"I love you, Pearl. You may not be Rose, but you've been a mom to me this whole time. With Amethyst as my big sister, Garnet as the awesome aunt and you, we've been a family for too long. We were all the Crystal Gems had…"
As he spoke, he felt something stirring in him. It was faint, but it still meant he was getting somewhere. He continued as he tried to get his legs to work.
"And now we've got Peri, Lapis, Bismuth, Topaz, Adamite, Cinnabar, Rutile, Padparadscha, Rhodonite and Fluorite. Heck, even Dad and Connie are Crystal Gems now!"
He stood up as a sudden jolt of electricity woke up his senses. His words were working for him, but Pearl remained as downcast as ever. The boy was not deterred as he took a few steps towards her.
"I… I don't know what the first gem war was like. Really, I don't want to know at this point but I'm still willing to protect the Earth! I can't do that without you, Pearl! Who will teach me awesome spear techniques and tell me stories about all the cool tactics that we can use to win?"
Pearl finally lifted her head, but her gaze was still depressed. "Steven, I'm the weak link these days."
"No, you're not! You're smart, fast, cool and super prepared for everything! We'll always need someone like that!"
"I needed to stand by Rose for all of that. I was a mess for so long. Heck, I still am most of the time!"
"That's not true and you know it!"
"Yes. It. Is!" she yelled, him flinching as a new wave of pain washed over him, "I'm the one who almost got you blown up with a spaceship just because of my nostalgia! I'm the one who completely flipped out over a stupid scabbard! I'm the one who made Connie suicidal when training her! I'm the one responsible for that entire Sardonyx problem! It was my idea to kidnap you as a baby! All of that because I was too weak to deal with the world…"
Every word drilled into Steven's heart like a bullet. It was not just that Pearl hated herself, she legitimately thought the Crystal Gems would be better off without her. Before he could fall apart again, though, Steven got an idea.
"Pearl, you're wrong and I can prove it."
He then took a few steps off the side of the building and let gravity do the rest. As he tumbled through the air, he felt a sudden surge of energy go through his heart. And that meant…
"STEVEN!" shouted Pearl as she leapt after him. All the doubt in her was gone, replaced by the burning desire to save her son. Rationally she should have known that Steven could easily save himself, but logic did not matter here. All she knew was that her boy was in trouble.
To make sure that she got the point, though, Steven had another idea. Since Pearl's mental world seemed design to try and help him at every opportunity, he willed it to make the fall even worse. Instead of fifty feet up, the ground seemed to be miles away. He willed himself to go faster and faster, a sonic cone forming around him as his falling body somehow gained more velocity. And yet Pearl was not only keeping up with him, but she was slowly gaining.
Steven still was not satisfied, though. He made it so the building would sprout brick walls in his wake to slow her down. She plowed through them with her fists like they did not even exist. He changed the direction so that now he was being pulled into outer space, but Pearl literally started flying after him. He had several dozens Homeworld gems appear to stop her, but all Pearl did was smash through them with her bare hands. With each new gem that blocked her, her resolve and will only grew. Steven could literally feel his heart swell as she made one final push for him as a final obstacle appeared – a copy of White Diamond herself that grabbed hold of Steven.
Pearl stared up at the colossal figure and the boy now in her grasp. A pristine white copy of Rose's sword appeared in her right hand and the world itself shook as she screamed in righteous anger.
"LEAVE MY FAMILY ALONE!"
With only one swing of the blade she made the queen scream in agony as the hand holding Steven was lopped clean off. She also somehow moved up right to White's face in a nanosecond. As the diamond tried to glare at her through the pain, Pearl raised her sword to the sky and it began glowing with a dazzling light that soon changed color from white to pink.
"This is for Rose Quartz!" she declared as she slashed White right between the eyes and forced another scream for her. Then the sword's light changed to blue as she reappeared behind the colossus.
"This is for all my fallen comrades!" she thrust the shining blade, now several times larger than its wielder, straight into the diamond's back and out through the other side. White's cries were loud enough to cause earthquakes, but Steven was mesmerized as Pearl's sword shrank and changed to silver.
"This is for the countless gems you've oppressed!" One clean swing of the blade and White tumbled as her feet were gone. Now desperately trying to stand, the diamond used her only remaining limb to send a punch at Pearl but the gem blocked it with no effort. As she did, the sword changed to a violent crimson as it literally sucked all the red from the world around it in to the metal to make it glow as bright as an actual sun.
"And this is for me. A servant turned savior. A victim who stands victorious over your tyranny! I AM THE RENEGADE PEARL! GUARDIAN OF EARTH! FRIEND TO ALL OF MANKIND! AND ONE DAY YOU WILL FACE MY WRATH FOR YOUR CRIMES, DIAMOND!"
With one final thrust she released all the energy stored in her burning blade with one final stroke and reduced the already crippled monarch to ashes. With her foe utterly destroyed she turned to find Steven's eyes turned into stars.
"That was the most epic thing I've ever seen!" he cheered as he ran up and hugged her. It took Pearl a moment to hug him back, but once she did the world around him started to return to normal. The pristine city rebuilt itself, the ground turned from wasteland to verdant plains and a radiant sun returned to the sky above them.
"Feeling better?" asked Steven coyly.
"Yes, but I don't appreciate that little stunt of yours." chastised the gem, more out of habit than anything.
"Sorry, but you needed a wake-up call. I knew the awesome Pearl who saves the world every week was in there somewhere."
"Thanks. I needed some help finding her again."
"Ready to save the world again even if you don't have Mom?"
"I don't need her for this. All I need is my will and a spear."
Steven woke up to an unusual sight. On the one hand, he saw all of the people he rescued crowded by windows and standing on the porch. On the other he saw a half-dissolved Pearl suddenly be brought back to wholeness as her gem glowed with brilliant white light. Steven ran outside to check on the commotion and saw his dad surrounded by very angry rubies.
"Dad, hold on!" he cried, readying his shield for battle. He leapt out of the force field and stopped a pair of the angry grunts from blindsiding Greg.
"Oh, kid, thank the stars you're here! Is Pearl okay?"
"All better now, but we've got our own problems…" the two readied themselves as the rubies charged all at once. Many of them went for "Rose Quartz" but some stuck to the annoying organic that had been giving them so much trouble for the past five minutes. With Steven's help much better arsenal and experience, though, the father and son soon took down half of the ring. The other half, actually being smart for once, tried to retreat.
"Fall back to the ship! We need to get reinforcements!"
"I don't think so," commanded Pearl from the roof of the beach house. She leaped out of the pink bubble and into the fray where three of the gems came at her. By the time she landed, all three of them were poofed.
"I'll have you know that this beach is private property," she ordered to the remaining four rubies, "Leave now or you'll pay for trespassing."
"Like we're gonna listen to a pearl!" barked one of the rubies as she ran at her with a gauntlet on her wrist. Pearl just twirled her spear and stopped her dead in her tracks before finishing her with a thrust in the back.
"Very well then. I tried to be courteous…" she taunted as the three gems tried to come at her all at once with knives out. With several graceful backflips and leaps, she dodged every swing and stab and capitalized on their sloppy forms. The first was forced to drop her weapon with a clean twist of the wrist and then stabbed through the gut. The second was easily tripped thanks to her poor stance and then poofed from a thrust through the head. The third was casually punted into the air like a football and was speared mid-air by her weapon like a makeshift javelin.
The observing humans cheered at seeing the red nuisances defeated, but they knew it was far from over.
"Man, I've gotta learn all of that?!" balked Greg, "How long did it take you?"
"Oh, nothing major, Greg," kidded the gem, "Just a measly 820 years."
"Terrific…"
"Now then, games aside, how much time is there?"
"Um," answered Steven with his phone, "15 minutes, wait, what?!" Now he suddenly felt nervous.
"Any word from the others?" she asked Greg.
"Nope and I've been getting pretty antsy here. Those rubies just appeared out of the air!"
"Meaning they've probably been summoning more reinforcements this whole time. Steven, stay here."
"Wait, huh? Are you sure?"
"Homeworld might send something that's too much for Greg to handle by himself, no offense."
"None taken!"
"Steven, I'm sure you're more than capable of watching the house."
"But… there's just one of you."
"Oh, that?" she asked curiously, "I might have a way to fix that."
(Cue Epic Theme Song: Misty Lake from Sonic and the Black Knight)
Her gem began to glow once again, but soon the light was focused into a beam that shone in front of her. At first she seemed to summoning one of her Holo-Pearls, but instead it became an exact duplicate! Everyone's jaws dropped, but that was not the end as both Pearls repeated the tasks and brought the total number to four copies.
"Thank you very much for the upgrade, by the way," obliged one of the Pearl clones.
"It will make cleaning so much easier!" giddily said another one.
"And now I can finally catch Amethyst raiding the fridge!" planned yet another one.
"Everyone focus!" commanded the last one as they all drew spears, "We've got a battle to win! Charge!"
The clones all ran headfirst into town where they quickly drew the attention of the remaining Homeworld gems.
"Hey, look at that! That must be Rose Quartz's renegade pearl!" called one of the amethysts in the area.
"I thought there was only one?" wondered a jasper.
"Who cares?! She's just some stupid servant!" answered a carnelian, "Let's just smash her to bits!"
"Trust me," spoke all of them in unison, "I'm far more than meets the eye!" The four all charged in, still outnumbered two to one, but far more than up to the challenge. With her confidence restored and her mind focused the Pearls managed to overwhelm the group but more soon came running from the commotion.
As the Pearl duplicates grouped together as a small ring of gems came around them, they had an idea. Just before the enemies all closed in, two of them leapt straight into the air with a third on their shoulders. Once the pair hit their maximum height, the third Pearl leapt off their shoulders and fell straight into the middle of another battle.
"Pearl!"
"You're okay!"
"And so is Steven!" reported the swordswoman as she pointed her spear straight at the confused Silver Agate. "And now that the Crystal Gems are united, we will send all of you miscreants back to your home planet!"
"Hah!" laughed the agate, "You and what army?"
Pearl smirked as she quickly put her new ability to use again. This time she summoned not one, but five more clones to even the numbers.
"Oh, heck yeah!" cheered Bismuth, "You clods are in for it now!"
"N-Nonsense!" rebuffed the agate, "We are still gems specially designed for combat, not some lowly servant who-"
She was cut off by one of the now-six Pearls planting a right hook to the face.
"You really not to be stop underestimating me," she warned before following up with a spear jab to the stomach. With their leader occupied and the Crystal Gems getting a second wind, the forces of Homeworld were suddenly on the ropes despite their still greater numbers.
Garnet and Bismuth teamed up to overpower the forces with brute strength, balls of ice and the occasional bad pun that sent several jaspers packing. Amethyst used her super speed to corral any gems trying to make a break for more reinforcements. It got to the point where she created a literal tornado to surround the battlefield, sweeping up any unfortunate soul who came too close.
Peridot ended up helping Adamite by sitting on her shoulder and acting as a second pair of eyes for the earth bender.
"Two clods, 8:00!" Adamite sent several high velocity stones at the unlucky saps from multiple directions.
"Another ruby, 1:00!" The attempted sneak attacker smacked straight into a stone wall hard enough to poof herself.
"Topaz needs help, ASAP!" The former bodyguard were surrounded by five of their own kinds, but thankfully Pearl heard the call and two of her clones rushed into help. Despite being the lightweight of the group, the duo had far superior training as they danced around any strike thrown their way while also helping the fusion get some training tips.
"Keep your legs bent," advised one while blocking an attack, "That way you'll always be ready to move."
"Aim low on opponents like these," instructed the other while kicking an enemy topaz hard enough to topple her, "They tend to have higher centers of gravity."
"Thanks!" appreciated the fusion, suddenly holding her own much easier as the improved stance helped her throw her weight around better and knock the wind out of an oncoming amethyst in one blow.
The unlikely duo of Lapis and Cinnabar were quite literally proving that opposites attract. While they could not use their respective elements to the fullest, they still found ways to empower themselves and each other. Lapis used her wings like a second set of fists and proved to pack quite a punch. Cinnabar lit all four of her limbs on fire and found that it gave her a surprising edge in combat by making her punches and kicks far stronger. The Homeworld gems were not sure which one was more shocking – two nearly extinct gems standing before them or the two actually beating them in close combat.
In the midst of all these scattered battles, though, was Pearl and Silver Agate. The frontline commander had summoned her weapon, a pair of tomahawks, and charged in as Pearl stood poised with her spear. She blocked the first several swings, impressed by the power behind them, before leaping to the side. The larger gem charged after her and managed to cleave into some rock but missed Pearl entirely.
"Not bad," admitted the rebel, "But I have a gut feeling you're more suited to commanding than combat."
"Silence!" ordered Silver as she threw her weapon straight at Pearl. While a tad surprised, the fencer actually caught the weapon by the handle and merely threw it aside before making a flying lunge for her foe. Silver summoned another weapon and blocked the assault but was then distracted by a kick hitting her in the side.
"It's terrible decorum to throw your weapon, you know," admonished a second Pearl, "They must have given you minimal weapons skills."
Silver refused to be intimidated and charged at both of her targets, but all she got was both of them grabbing her by the arms and flipping her over hard enough to leave cracks in the Earth. She got up in time to avoid a third Pearl flying in from nowhere and slamming into her. Now seeing three opponents, Silver screamed in frustration and started swinging like mad. Unfortunately for her that made it even easier for the triplets to predict her movements and deliver three hits for every one of hers.
"ENOUGH!" she roared, "I will not be beaten by some abomination of a pearl who thinks having more of her will-"
She was interrupted this time by a jasper flying into her from behind and bowling her over courtesy of two more Pearls.
"And one final lesson: Stop monologuing during a fight. It never ends well."
That Pearl, however, let her own guard down and an enemy amethyst took advantage to it. She landed a clean hit to her back with her club and sent the clone sprawling.
"Ha! Finally got you!"
"Congratulations…" she said sarcastically, "You still have the rest."
The gem did poof, but there was no stone left behind. She just disappeared in a puff of smoke as if she never existed. To really rub in how ineffective that was, one of the other Pearls easily summoned up a replacement five seconds later.
"I'd love to continue this sparring practice, but I'm afraid your leader has me on a time limit. I have a massive time bomb to deal so now I'll stop holding back."
Each of the six clones focused and summoned a clone of her own. Pearl finally revealed her maximum limit of twelve much to the shock of the Homeworld gems and to the delight of the Crystal Gems.
"Ladies," spoke one of them, "Ready your spears."
They all pointed their spears at the myriad of enemies around them while the other Crystal Gems all fled behind a nearby hill.
"OPEN FIRE!"
All of them began sending energy blasts from their weapons and nailing many of the unlucky Homeworld gems. Many tried to run, but that only made them easier targets as she spared none of the invaders. The force of roughly forty remaining gems turned to zero in the blink of an eye with only Silver Agate left to watch.
"I-Inconceivable…" she muttered while barely hanging on to her weapons, "H-How did you-?"
"Sorry, Crystal Gem secret," taunted the lead Pearl as she and her eleven copies all charged straight at her in a line. One by one they sent a decisive slash straight at the cowering commander and once they had all finished their strikes, she was poofed at last.
The other Crystal Gems were all ecstatic winning the battle, but now had another problem to deal with.
"Pearl, we have ten minutes left!" alerted Peridot, "We might be able to do something if we commandeer their ships but that may take more fighting if any guards are stationed…"
"Hm, a possibility," considered the gem as she dispelled all of her clones, "But I'm afraid time is of the essence."
"I've been thinking about this," added Garnet, "The one thing we haven't tried is going after the source of this force field."
Pearl looked up and saw the ring of devices that were still projecting the energy dome. They looked like nine ordinary spheres about the size of cars, but what really got the gem's attention was their position inside the dome.
"Garnet, that's it! Amethyst, get ready to form Opal!"
"Got it!"
The two gems wasted no time getting into position and timing their dances perfectly. With only nine minutes left, Opal sprang to life and wasted no time putting her newest power to the test as she summoned a dozen copies of herself.
"I suggest we all head back to the house," added Garnet before bidding the fusions a thumbs-up. While the rest of the Crystal Gems fled to the house, happy to see Steven and Greg still safe, the Opals got into position. They all ran in opposite directions heading straight for the edges of the dome. Once they reached their positions, all of them drew their bows and the rest of the team watched as one of the massive archers stood in the ocean and prepared to fire.
"Isn't this awesome, Garnet?!" giddily asked Steven.
"It is… But the collateral from this is gonna be a lot to fix."
"Pssh, since when has that ever stopped us?" asked Bismuth.
"NOW!" chanted all of the Opal clones as they let their light arrows fly. Like a series of comets, they rushed straight at the source of the dome and collided in a massive illuminating explosion. When the group was finally able to see again, they saw the ring of devices was annihilated by the blast and the dome began to fade. Now that the threat was done, they immediately started cheering and celebrating as all of the humans poured of the beach house.
"You guys all did it!" thanked Sadie as she and her mother hugged Steven and Greg respectively, "The whole town owes you our hides!"
"Man, Greg, I gotta hand it to you," complimented Barb, "I have a pretty excellent daughter, but your boy is something else!"
"Aw, shucks, he's just a good kid…" he shook off but Garnet was behind him with a hand on his shoulders.
"A good kid who can thank his heroic father to teaching him right from wrong. Thank you, Greg. You risked a lot for all of us."
"Enough sappiness!" ordered Cinnabar, "Let's party with fireworks!"
"Ahem," said Opal as she stood above her, both sets of arms crossed and giving her best stern parent face.
"Do you honestly think that's a good idea?"
"M-Maybe we should save that for later…"
"Well," said Adamite, "Getting Cinnabar to back down. That's the most amazing power you've displayed so far."
As the rest of the Crystal Gems and the people of Beach City laughed at that, there was one person who was anything but cheerful. True to her word White Diamond had watched the entire fight right up until the ring containing her camera was destroyed. Now she stood in her palace, immensely thankful that Yellow and Blue were not watching, and trying to keep her composure together. While her pearl may not have moved and directly under her diamond's control, even she was unnerved by the raw anger that seemed to be coming off her master.
"Pearl…" the monarch whispered.
"Y-Yes, my Diamond?"
"Have all the troops that were warping to Earth recalled immediately and have all record of this operation struck from our databanks."
"At once!"
As her servant left, the monarch finally lost control. She let out a massive bellowing scream that shook her entire palace to its foundation and made all of the gems in a twenty-mile radius want to lie down and die. Her entire body blazed with white-hot energy bright enough to resemble an actual star as she let out all her rage. Once she finally calmed down enough to think coherently again, she got to work on her next plan.
"Rose Quartz," she thought sharply, "I will have you destroyed molecule by molecule even if it takes every gem I have. I will have you destroyed."
So, three cheers for Pearl and her totally-not shadow clones! Another bright day for the Crystal Gems, but what happens next? White Diamond is many things and forgiving is the least of them! Tune in next time to find out!
Thank you all so much for reading! Please feel free to leave a review!
